BUFFALO, N.Y. — Matt Murray checked out the scoreboard above him, counted down the seconds as they disappeared and at last pumped his fist.

It had been 638 days since Murray last felt that feeling come over him.

Bilateral hip surgery forced the Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender out of your entire 2023-24 season, the ultimate term of his four-year contract. There was no guarantee that the oft-injured Murray would play within the NHL again. A one-year contract gave him the lifeline to proceed operating far out of the limelight within the AHL with only one goal.

And over a yr and a half later, Murray was back where he struggled: within the NHL win column after stopping 24 shots in a 6-3 victory over the Buffalo Sabres.

“A long way. A big mountain to climb. But I kept that moment in my mind on the days when it was difficult,” Murray said.

With every word he said after the sport, the 30-year-old's eyes became redder. His voice was shaking.

“A big release,” he said, struggling to seek out the correct words to place his nearly two-year absence from the NHL into perspective. “A rush of emotions.”

The goalkeeper's typical hugs along with his teammates after the win were tighter and longer. In a physical game where a player's profession can turn right away, Murray's return resonated way over the 2 points the Leafs also added that day.

“It’s nice to see (Murray) smile,” Steven Lorentz said, “because you know he’s back doing what he loves.”

In the locker room, Max Domi immediately presented Murray with the team's WWE-style wrestling belt as Player of the Game. Murray's inconsistent performance was secondary.

“He got the thing 100 percent, he deserved it,” Domi said. “The ability to mentally persevere after all those days where I'm sure he had a lot of doubts is a long road to recovery. “We're all super happy with him.”

It's easy to quantify how long Murray's journey back to the NHL took in days: 628 of them between his last two appearances.

It is much more difficult to describe exactly how difficult this journey is.

Injuries have dogged Murray throughout his career, having won back-to-back Stanley Cup titles in his first two seasons in the NHL with the Pittsburgh Penguins. From 2018 to 2022, his play declined each season. After being traded to the Leafs in the summer of 2022, he struggled through his first season. It was fair to wonder if hip surgery would be the final blow of his NHL career.

But Murray still stayed with his teammates at the Leafs' training facility during his rehabilitation last season, feeling so close but so far away from the league he once conquered.

“The fact that he’s on his way here right now says a lot about his character and his commitment to the game,” Lorentz said.

Murray had a stand full of his equipment at this facility that was never used. An important and human gesture from the Leafs organization, but still a reminder that Murray didn't play any NHL games.

Even after signing a one-year, $875,000 contract with the Leafs, he felt like the organization's No. 4 goaltender. When the Leafs needed a goaltender to replace the injured Anthony Stolarz, they called up Dennis Hildeby. The lanky Hildeby is seven years younger than Murray.

How could Murray not wonder if his NHL return would ever come?

“There were definitely times when it felt really difficult,” Murray said. “But whenever I felt like that, I had a great group of people around me. That’s the only reason I’m here.”

All Murray could do was work his tail off far from the public eye and quietly hope for the return that finally came on Friday evening.

“Emotions were high today,” Murray said.

These emotions were perhaps at their highest before the game. The typically stoic Murray allowed himself to pause and appreciate how far he had come.

“I was able to take a moment during warmups and during the anthem to look around and appreciate the long journey it has been and think of all the people who helped me get here,” Murray said.

It was a game that reminded viewers of the fragility of an NHL career. Only a few years separated Murray from winning the Stanley Cup to largely retiring from the NHL, all essentially before the age of 30.

“You feel bad for a guy like that because he works so hard and wants it so badly,” Lorentz said. “We’re all rooting for him.”

Murray moved quite well on his return. He swallowed many of the 27 shots the Sabers threw at him and looked every bit the veteran he’s. Murray had conceded two goals and was recalled after a video review. His long-range save on Sabers forward Alex Tuch was a reminder of the athleticism he can provide now that he's also fully healthy.

These are all qualities that Leafs fans could have forgotten. But they’re qualities which are still on the forefront of Murray's Leafs teammates.

“I haven't forgotten what he accomplished in his career in this league,” said Leafs forward Max Pacioretty, who is not any stranger to debilitating injuries that threaten his profession. “It's hard to even begin to remember what you've done, what you've achieved, because it seems like all the noise is always in the moment, be it the injury or what's happened recently. “

Perhaps the Leafs victory could have been predicted in advance. Sure, they were playing against a shaky Sabers team that had now lost twelve in a row. And they were worn by an up-and-coming, red-hot line consisting of Max Domi, Bobby McMann and Nick Robertson. They're the third line in name only: The trio combined for three goals and six points against the Sabres.

But the opponent shouldn't denigrate what was at the forefront not only for Murray, but also for the Leafs in Buffalo. They wanted to do right by a player who did everything in his power to return to the NHL. You didn't have to squint to see a defender like Jake McCabe throwing the Sabers out of Murray's crease with a little more vigor.

“It gives you some incentive to go the extra mile knowing that (Murray) went the extra mile just to get back to the position he's at,” Lorentz said. “It's not that he was half-hearted about getting back to this point and that he expected to be here. Surgeries and injuries like the one he went through can put a damper on your career for a long time. You may never be able to return to your old form.”

But Murray is working to get back to his old Matt Murray. And the Leafs' need for Murray won't end as they head north on the QEW back to Toronto.

Stolarz's earliest return from a knee injury is anticipated to be mid to late January. Hildeby doesn't exactly have the total confidence of the Leafs organization for the time being after allowing just a few poor goals against the Sabers at home in a recent outing, combined with a less-than-stellar AHL season up to now. He will likely develop into an NHL player down the road, but there’s room for him to proceed to develop and develop into more confident in his game.

But Murray has what no other goalie within the Leafs organization has: experience. And that's vital for Brad Treliving and Craig Berube: Both value games played and would like to depend on veterans if possible.

They will depend on Murray due to the whole lot he has done and been through in his profession.

After Friday night, this profession looks completely different.

“The reality is you have to take each day as it comes and you never know when it will all be over,” Pacioretty said. “So you don’t want to take days for granted.”

After drying his eyes and slowly removing his sweat-soaked goalkeeping gear, Murray sat alone within the locker room. The Leafs equipment staff stopped unloading bags from the locker room to softly pat him on the shoulder.

Murray looked up and saw a note on a board within the locker room. The Leafs bus would go away in 20 minutes. There was one other NHL game on the horizon.

He was capable of smile again, knowing that it definitely won't be 628 days before he can do what he loves.

American issued greater than $850 billion on domestic leisure travel in 2023, a sum that’s more likely to rise in the approaching years. Whether it's a weekend getaway to a Taylor Swift concert, a long-awaited vacation visit with family, or a month-long tour of national parks, travel can have a long-lasting impact on the way in which we see ourselves.

In the age of social media, platforms like TikTok, Instagram and Reddit have turn out to be platforms for travelers to share their experiences and connect with others. Our current research results indicate this that this online engagement plays an underappreciated role in how much people enjoy their vacation.

We've found that travel satisfaction isn't just concerning the core event – the concert, meeting or sightseeing trip. Rather, it's all the journey that counts, from the anticipation prematurely to the enjoyment of telling stories afterwards.

This may sound intuitive to avid travelers. But as marketing ProfessorsWe consider the tourism industry could make higher use of those insights.

The power of “mental time travel”

Even before a traveler reaches his destination, what we call “mental time travel” shapes his experience.

Picture this: You're planning to take your teenage niece to her first Taylor Swift concert. The planning process itself is exciting: you may do research Airline optionscompare Seating arrangement and discuss the most effective airport. Next is finding a hotel – ideally near the venue but near shopping, dining and other entertainment options.

Once the tickets are secured, planning begins for the concert itself. You could seek for concert Tipsfrom once you arrive Instructions for making braceletsor even the expected setlist. Social media and forums have gotten invaluable tools for getting advice, envisioning the event and constructing anticipation – a satisfaction boost in itself.

Most of this mental time travel takes place in the shape of online noodles. For service providers, engaging consumers at this stage can result in greater satisfaction and loyalty. Because while a concert may only last three hours, the contacts revamped months of planning can last for much longer. And when an experience is over, people often return to online communities to share their stories, continuing the cycle of pleasure and engagement.

When the holiday starts before you permit the home

To understand the worth of mental time travel, we conducted a study two studies. The first was people on a web-based cruise forum who had booked their first cruise but had not yet traveled. These travelers, already energetic within the forum, imagined their upcoming experiences and reported increased expected loyalty before they even boarded the ship.

To confirm that this isn’t just limited to first-time visitors, we surveyed latest vacationers in our second study. They recalled how pre-trip activities shaped their experience, reported feeling more satisfied and dependable, and shared their positive views with others.

These results suggest that corporations should actively encourage social media participation and establish online communities to boost the pre-experience phase of travel. Hotels, airlines and tour operators could share planning suggestions, highlight customer stories and make connections that make the anticipation an unforgettable a part of the trip.

Offering incentives to top contributors, encouraging photo and video sharing, and interacting with customer posts could make the trip as enjoyable because the destination itself. By considering every stage – from planning to remembering – corporations can Creating an unforgettable experience from start to complete.

So are these dubs real?

We may know the reply to that before we all know who the subsequent President of the United States will probably be.

The Warriors are playing excellent basketball and are 6-1 this season. That's no coincidence – the Dubs are the second-best defensive team within the NBA, forcing 17 turnovers per game. These stops have helped create transition opportunities for the offense, allowing the team to play faster and take greater than 90 shots per game.

But before all of us start getting a handle on our calendars so we will watch Warriors basketball in May and June, it must be noted that the Dubs have undoubtedly played the best schedule within the league to date.

All credit on the earth for making the most of the chance – it was anything but easy considering Steph Curry just missed three games with an ankle injury. But who did the Warriors beat? Are there good teams?

I haven't seen one yet. Sorry, Houston.

That changes starting Wednesday, when a three-game road game begins against the three best teams within the NBA this season: the Celtics, the undefeated Cavs and the team to beat within the West, the Thunder.

I'm not going to say an NBA game in November is significant. It is way too early for such conversations.

So how about this: This troika, starting with a nationally televised showdown between the Warriors and the defending champions, will probably be… illuminating.

Let's deal with the primary of the three games: The Celtics have carried the momentum of their title into the 2024-25 season, entering with a record of 7-1, albeit against a listing of opponents that’s arguably as unimpressive as that the Warriors.

But the Celtics don’t have anything to prove. On the opposite hand, the Warriors have the whole lot to prove after a season during which they were the last team to succeed in the postseason within the Western Conference and were eliminated within the play-in tournament. And that was before an impromptu offseason remodel following Klay Thompson's departure to Dallas.

We don't know what the Dubs are yet.

A win on Wednesday at the location where the Warriors won the 2022 NBA title would tell us quite a bit.

Even a detailed game against the Celtics would say something in regards to the Warriors' future this season – that they’re able to be greater than competitive in a loaded Western Conference.

All of this is simpler said than done.

I don't wish to attempt to recreate history, however the Warriors won the title against a younger, greener Celtics team because Steph Curry ascended to the next level of basketball life and Andrew Wiggins – an All-Star starter that season – to that one level played.

That formula have to be in place on Wednesday, considering that Jayson Tatum – who Warriors coach Steve Kerr famously benched on the Olympics this summer – is playing just like the league's MVP and the Celtics have arguably the league's best fullback, Jrue Holiday, added. because these two teams faced one another on the largest stage in the sport.

But while the Warriors are betting that Wiggins could have an enormous season (what else can they do?), betting on a wild card normally doesn't work. And while Curry looked good in his return to the court against the Wizards on Monday, I don't should inform you why which may not be an excellent barometer for Wednesday.

Of course, the Warriors even have Strength In Numbers Redux this season. Kerr rocks a 12-, sometimes 13-man rotation and strives to remain grounded with fresh legs. The high talent level of this squad should make up for the general low ceiling.

But the Celtics aren't exactly skinny. Every yr, general manager Brad Stevens finds one other team's backup player to show him right into a solid rotation player to enrich the Celtics' always-strong second unit.

This yr, that player is Neemias Queta, who, as a fast aside, I once saw working with James Wiseman at a G League game in Stockton.

While the Warriors can have the most effective bench within the NBA this season – first in net rating based on NBA.com stats – the Celtics are ranked seventh and have the most effective starting unit within the league. (The Warriors check in there at No. 3, despite an ever-changing starting lineup.)

Oddly enough, for those who drop all pretense and just go by what we've seen this season, the Warriors and Celtics must be a fairly even matchup.

Of course it doesn't work that way.

If the Warriors lose on Wednesday, the bubble around this team will burst. But in the event that they can play and even win against the Celtics, it's an invite to imagine that this yr won't be just like the last two.

Until Friday then. Then the method begins again.

So are these dubs real?

Ask me on Sunday evening.

Originally published: November 5, 2024 at 2:40 pm PST

SAN FRANCISCO – A gray cat who leads a unprecedented lifetime of beach visits and lake trips undertook his biggest adventure alone: ​​traveling a whole lot of miles from Wyoming to California.

But how the cat named Rayne Beau — pronounced “Rainbow” — got home two months after getting lost during a summer camping trip in Yellowstone National Park stays a mystery.

RELATED TOPICS: Why two cats might be higher than one

Benny and Susanne Anguiano arrived at Fishing Bridge RV Park in Yellowstone with their two cats on June 4 for his or her first trip into the woods. But shortly after their arrival, Rayne Beau became frightened and bumped into the nearby trees.

The couple looked for him for 4 days, even laying out his favorite treats and toys. When they finally needed to drive back to Salinas, California, on June 8, Susanne Anguiano said she was devastated but never gave up hope of finding him.

“We were driving into the Nevada desert and suddenly I saw a double rainbow. I took a picture of it and thought, this is a sign. This is a sign for our rainbow that it's going to be OK,” she said.

A lady who first saw Rayne Beau wandering the streets of the northern California city fed him and gave him water until she caught him on August 3 and brought him to the local animal rescue group.

The next day, the Anguianos drove to Roseville and picked up their cat, who had lost 6 kilos.

“I am convinced that he covered most of the distance on his own. His paws were really battered. He had lost 40% of his body weight and had very low protein levels due to inadequate nutrition. That's why he was not cared for,” said Susanne Anguiano.

The couple still doesn't understand how their cat ended up in Roseville, but believes she was attempting to get home. They've turned to the media to fill within the gaps.

Benny Anguiano said that along with microchipping their cats, they’ve now equipped two of them with AirTags and Rayne Beau with a world GPS tracker.

The cats love traveling within the RV and watching deer, squirrels and other animals from the massive windows. But the family isn't able to travel with their pets again anytime soon, he said.

“It was a very ugly feeling after we lost him,” said Benny Anguiano. “We have to practice camping at home and camp in the driveway so he gets used to it.”

___

Valdes reported from Seattle.

Originally published: September 23, 2024 at 8:16 am

My favorite place on this planet will not be a hard and fast place. It is the JOIDES resolutionan internationally funded research vessel that spent its entire service consistently on the move, from the depths of the Antarctic to high within the Arctic.

Since 1985, scientific expeditions have drilled 370 kilometers of soil using this unique ocean-going laboratory. Sediment and rock cores – long cylindrical samples that provide a novel view of the ocean floor. The cores come from 1000’s of various locations and permit scientists from many universities all over the world to check changes contained in the Earth.

They also provide a window into the history of our planet. The seafloor preserves a geological library that documents tens of millions of years of climate change and evolution.

Unfortunately, the JOIDES Resolution, also generally known as JR, can have set sail for the last time. It docked in Amsterdam on August 2, 2024, with no clarity on how the $72 million per yr needed to operate the vessel could be raised. The bulk of this funding comes from the U.S. National Science Foundation, which announced in 2023 that it will wouldn’t finance the JR beyond 2024 since the contributions of international partners couldn’t keep pace with the rising costs. The crews have begun Removing scientific equipment from the ship.

The National Science Foundation says it would support ongoing research using existing core samples and work with scientists to plan the longer term of scientific ocean drilling. But for me and plenty of other scientists, the associated fee of running the JR is small in comparison with the damage attributable to a single large earthquake – just like the 2011 Tohuku-Oki quake in Japan. estimated at $220 billion – or the Trillions of dollars Damage attributable to climate change. Ocean core research helps scientists understand such events in order that societies can plan for the longer term.

A floating laboratory

No other ship has the capabilities of the JR. The ship is 469 feet (143 meters) long – 50% longer than a football field. It has greater than 5 miles (8 kilometers) of drill pipe It connects the ship to the seabed and the underlying layers, enabling core samples from the seabed to be transported to the ship.

The JRs dynamic positioning system means that you can stay in a single place for days or perhaps weeks. Only two other ships on this planet have this ability: the Chikyua bigger ship operated by Japan in Japanese waters, and a brand new Chinese drilling ship called the Mengxiang.

I made eight two-month expeditions with the JOIDES Resolution, mostly at high latitudes near the poles to check past climates. Each trip involved about 60 scientists and technicians and 65 crew members. Once the ship left port, operations ran 24 hours a day, every single day. We all worked 12-hour shifts.

These trips might be exhausting, but normally the joy of latest and infrequently unexpected discoveries and the camaraderie of the opposite participants made the time fly by.

Insights from JR expeditions

As early because the Sixties, geologists began to know that the Earth’s continents and oceans should not static. Rather, they’re a part of movable plates within the Earth's crust and upper mantle. The movement of the plates, especially where they collide with one another, creates earthquakes and volcanoes.

Marine sediment cores can penetrate a mile or more into the Earth's crust. They offer the one method to investigate continuous changes in tectonic plate interactions, study climate and ocean evolution, and explore the boundaries of terrestrial life. Here are 4 areas where the small print of those processes are starting to emerge:

Formation of tectonic plates

Oceanic crust Is fundamentally different from the crust that lies beneath the continents. When I first heard about it within the Nineteen Seventies, the model for its formation and structure was easy:

– Lava rose from magma chambers beneath chains of seafloor volcanoes called ocean ridges.

– It poured onto the ocean floor and formed a dark, often glassy volcanic rock called basalt.

– In the deeper, slowly cooling magma chamber, crystalline minerals formed, creating rocks with a granite-like texture.

– Over tens of millions of years, this latest crust moved away from the ridges and have become cooler and denser.

But the cores recovered by the JOIDES resolution and the investigations with Underwater robots, so-called submersiblesshowed that this view was incorrect. They showed, for instance, that seawater circulates through the crust and changes its composition and the chemistry of seawater itself.

Core studies also showed that the Earth's mantle – a foundation believed to lie deep beneath the surface – is moving and expanding upward on huge, previously unknown fault zones. to the surface of the ocean crustThe coat could provide clues to the origin of life.

These findings modified scientists’ fundamental understanding of the structure of our planet.

Climate records within the ocean crust

I’m particularly inquisitive about the sediments which might be deposited on the ocean crust. These deposits contain tiny microfossils of plankton, including organisms akin to Diatoms and coccolithophores that live to tell the tale or near the ocean surface. While they perform photosynthesisThey absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and produce half of all of the oxygen we breathe.

Plankton species vary depending on the temperature and chemical composition of the seawater. When they die and sink to the ocean floor, they preserve a wonderful record of past climates. Scientists use them to know how the Earth’s climate has warmed and cooled prior to now.

Another source of knowledge is sediment that falls from melting icebergs. Glaciers pick up rock as they flow over land. When they reach the ocean, pieces of it break off and form icebergs. The ice melts when exposed to warmer sea water, and the rocks fall to the ocean floor. These Rock deposits in sediments are a record of past transitions between warm and cold climates.

Record destruction and recycling

Most of the Pacific Ocean and a few areas of the Atlantic Ocean lie in zones that convergent edgeswhere tectonic plates grind against one another. This process pushes pieces of ocean crust and sediment into the Earth, where they melt and are eventually recycled into latest crust, often in the shape of volcanoes.

Huge faults along these edges can trigger enormous earthquakes, just like the one in 2011. Tohoku-Oki earthquake off the east coast of Japan. Core samples taken near such faults help scientists understand the forces that cause these events. They also create openings into which instruments might be inserted to watch future earthquakes.

Core samples from convergent margins have also make clear how volcanoes form and the way they affect long-term climate change by Produce carbon dioxide emissions.

The limits of earthly life

In the late Nineteen Seventies, exotic latest types of terrestrial life were discovered within the Pacific in zones where oceanic crust was forming. At plate boundaries, cold seawater seeped down through cracks within the crust. There it was reheated by hot magma and shot up through openings that scientists call Hydrothermal springs.

The hot water contained minerals that cooled after they got here into contact with cold seawater and hardened into chimney-like structures across the openings. Hundreds of life forms, including microbes, mussels and tube worms, colonized these structuresThey thrive near zones of high pressure and temperatures of as much as 120 degrees Celsius.

JR core drilling later revealed other life forms surviving deep within the ocean floor, under conditions of extreme lack of oxygen and energy. Scientists know almost nothing in regards to the diversity of those organisms or the metabolic strategies they use to survive of their demanding environment. Understanding how they thrive could support missions to other planets, akin to Saturn's moon Enceladus and Jupiter's moon Europa, which underground oceans that would harbor life.

What’s next for scientific ocean drilling?

The National Science Foundation has established a committee to think about what capabilities a brand new drilling ship must have, and Congress can Providing funds for extra JR expeditions in 2025. Given how much science still doesn’t learn about Earth's history and the challenges humanity faces in adapting to climate change, my colleagues and I hope that the JOIDES Resolution will still give you the chance to set sail again and that a brand new ship will eventually take up its mission.

Caltrain is finally electrified.

After greater than seven years of construction, lawmakers including Governor Gavin Newsom and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, business leaders and transportation officials boarded an electrical train on Saturday for its maiden voyage from San Francisco to Millbrae and back.

It was a brief but quiet ride, drawing applause from the several hundred people on board because the train returned safely to San Francisco station.

“Today marks an important milestone for electrified rail service that will serve our region for decades to come,” said Assemblyman Marc Berman, a Democrat who represents Menlo Park. “The quieter, cleaner and faster trains will improve the quality of life on the Peninsula. As we approach the light at the end of the tunnel, I congratulate Caltrain on their decades of hard work leading up to today and invite everyone who lives and works on the Peninsula to come see Caltrain's future for themselves.”

On Sunday, the primary electric trains will begin regular service to the general public, with additional electric trains being introduced each week until the brand new schedule and fully electrified service between San Francisco and San Jose is implemented starting Saturday, September 21.

Saturday's VIP event was a celebration atmosphere, with loads of Caltrain merchandise and a listing of speakers who all – in some unspecified time in the future – made the project possible. The event culminated in Newsom and Pelosi calling “All aboard!” from the conductor's window as a whole lot boarded the shiny latest red and white train.

Caltrain says the $2.4 billion electrification project, which has faced delays and other hurdles, signals a groundbreaking shift toward a faster, more frequent and more environmentally friendly public transit network along the San Francisco Peninsula.

The express service will allow commuters to travel between San Francisco and San Jose in lower than an hour. Previously, it took an hour and five minutes to travel through seven stations. The latest trains will travel through 11 stations in 59 minutes.

The latest trains will even improve service by 20% because they will speed up and brake much faster than diesel trains. Trains will run every 15 to twenty minutes at 16 stations during peak hours, and all stations will likely be served every half-hour on weekends, in comparison with previous wait times of 1 hour. The latest trains will even improve access and repair for low-income and underserved communities by greater than 25%, a Caltrain spokesperson said.

Caltrain says electrification will even help meet ambitious regional and state climate goals by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, improving air quality and reducing traffic congestion. Switching from diesel to electric trains will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 250,000 tons annually — the equivalent of taking 55,000 cars off the road every year, officials said.

“Today marks the beginning of a cleaner, greener and better connected Bay Area, led by an electrified Caltrain that will improve our air quality, combat climate change and bring real benefits to all who call this region home,” said State Senator Josh Becker, who represents San Mateo County and a part of Santa Clara County.

The latest trains will even feature improved amenities, including higher Wi-Fi, latest on-board digital displays, power outlets at every forward-facing seat, energy-efficient lighting, improved air-con, changing tables in the lavatory, security cameras and more under-seat storage.

According to officials, the project created 33,000 jobs in 36 states and promoted economic growth and innovation in local communities and across the country.

The project is a joint effort between the state, which contributed greater than $1.1 billion, the federal government, which contributed $1 billion, and native funding sources, which provided $262 million for the project, Caltrain officials said.

Caltrain is the primary electric rail system in California's history.

“The completed Caltrain project is an integral part of the high-speed rail network and the story California is telling about clean transportation,” Newsom said in an announcement. “And Californians are already seeing the results for themselves as we electrify Caltrain, complete structures, lay track, design and build stations, and purchase trains. We are making rail a reality in California.”

The launch on Saturday comes 25 years after the unique idea of ​​an electrified system.

“Proposals for electric trains have been made since 1999 and now they're finally here,” said San Francisco Mayor London Breed. “In bureaucratic years, that's a little fast, but not as fast as these trains.”

However, the project was not without challenges.

Three years ago, Caltrain announced that the launch of electrified service had been delayed by two years, citing complications installing signaling systems, unexpected conditions beneath Caltrain's tracks and the coronavirus pandemic, which severely disrupted supply chains. A 3-month delay in a $647 million federal grant in 2017 and environmental litigation also temporarily slowed the project.

As regular passengers entered and exited the San Francisco Caltrain station on Saturday, some said they were excited for a greener, cleaner and quieter train ride.

“I’m excited to try it out,” said San Francisco resident Tim Fellows, waiting for an old train.

Martyn Kavanagh was visiting San Francisco from Australia and took one among the old diesel trains to see town. “(Diesel) is not the image we expect of California,” he said. “Electric trains are a better fit for Silicon Valley.”

Originally published: August 10, 2024 at 2:51 pm

In the Old Town of Rhodes, a picturesque tourist destination within the Aegean Sea, there’s a monument to a dark time within the island’s past. In the previous “Djuderia” the Jewish quarterA marble obelisk commemorates the deportation of the island's small but vibrant Sephardic Jewish community to Auschwitz-Birkenau on July 23, 1944.

The 1,700 Jews of Rhodes had the misfortune of being deported not only towards the tip of the war, when the Allied victory was almost in sight, but additionally the longest journey of each Jewish community sent to Auschwitz – a dangerous journey that lasted 24 days.

In July 2024, 80 years after the tragic deportation, scientists, government officials, community leaders and Jews from Rhodes and their descendants – often called Rhodeslís – gathered on the island, which has been a part of Greece since 1947, to per week of commemorations. I participated as a historian from Seattle – Home to a big Rhodesli community – And as Chairman the University of Washington Sephardic Studies Program.

The fate of the Jews on this distant island is a testament to the size and scope of the Holocaust: How the genocide of the Jews remained a priority of the Nazis until the tip, and the variety of Jewish cultures was decimated through the war. The Holocaust destroyed not only the Yiddish culture of Eastern Europe, but additionally the Ladin culture of the Eastern Mediterranean.

Ottoman Echoes

Like many Jewish communities within the Eastern Mediterranean, the Jews of Rhodes are Sephardic Jews whose ancestors Expelled from Spain in 1492 and settled within the Ottoman Empire.

While the Jewish presence on Rhodes dates back to antiquity, across the second century BC, the Sephardic population emerged after the island was conquered by the Ottomans in 1522. Under the Sunni Muslim rulers of the Ottoman Empire, the Jews on Rhodes paid Special taxes in exchange for maintaining their very own institutions, rabbinic traditions and the Sephardic language, often called Ladino or Judeo-Spanish.

In 1840, an economic dispute over the trade in natural sea sponges put relations between the island's communities to the test. With the support of European consuls, Greek Orthodox Christians on the island incited violence by proclaiming a blood libel: the anti-Semitic accusation that Jews were using the blood of Christian children for ritual purposes. But the Ottoman Sultan intervened, confirmed the ritual murder legend as false and restored calm.

In 1912, the Italians conquered the Dodecanese Islands, of which Rhodes is the most important. Nevertheless, the Jews maintained good relations with their Muslim neighbors. Auschwitz survivor Samuel Modiano remembers that his father spoke Turkish along with his Muslim neighbours, while relations with the local Christians remained “significantly more difficult”.

This dynamic helps to clarify why a Torah scroll within the renovated Djuderia Jewish Museum survived the Nazi occupation through the intervention of the local muftia Muslim religious leader who hid the Torah in an area mosque.

Italian Paradoxes

The lives of the island's 4,300 Jews modified radically under Italian rule, which lasted from 1912 to 1943. Italy considered Ladino a Romance language, like Italian, and due to this fact saw the Jews as natural partners in spreading “Italianness” within the region. In 1928, when Benito Mussolini got here to power, the fascist government established a crucial rabbinical seminary on Rhodes, which attracted students from all around the Mediterranean.

But although Italian fascism looked as if it would contribute to the prosperity of the Jews on the island, it also contributed to their downfall.

In 1938, Mussolini followed Adolf Hitler’s example and introduced his own anti-Semitic Racial lawsThe laws defined the Jews as a separate, inferior race, prohibited mixed marriages and excluded Jews from military, government and skilled positions, in addition to public schools.

Modiano, who played a central role within the recent commemorations, recalled the humiliation being expelled from school: “That day I lost my innocence. In the morning I woke up as a boy. In the evening I went to sleep as a Jew.”

As a part of a broader Italianization campaign, the laws also expelled Jews who had arrived on Rhodes after 1919. Many Jews on the island had previously held Ottoman nationality, and Turkey was only 10 miles away. But as a part of its own nationalization project, the Turkish Republic refused to permit them to repatriate.

In letters to relatives in Seattle Clara Barkeywhose father was originally from Aydin, Turkey, compared her family's expulsion in 1938 to the expulsion of her ancestors from Spain in 1492. Barkey eventually secured passage to Tangier, Morocco, one in every of the few places willing to simply accept Jews, as Immigration quotas in countries just like the United States.

Others joined Rhodesli diaspora communities in places like ArgentinaBelgium and what’s now the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zimbabwe.

destruction

For the 1,000 Jews who were forced to go away Rhodes within the late Nineteen Thirties, the expulsion was a blessing in disguise. The Jews who remained behind couldn’t have imagined the fate that might befall them.

In September 1943, after Italy’s give up to the Allies, German troops invaded the islandBut for ten months the Nazis took no recent anti-Jewish measures. On Rhodes, Jews were neither locked up in ghettos nor forced to wear the yellow star. The following summer, the tide of war turned in favor of the Allies.

Nevertheless, the Third Reich made plans to increase the “final solution” to the DodecaneseOn July 20, 1944, SS officers drove a lot of the island's Jews right into a makeshift concentration camp. The pretext was an identity check, a trick that sealed their fate. But the local Turkish consul, Selahattin Ulkümenmanaged to exclude greater than 40 Jews who were, or based on his statement, residents of neutral Türkiye.

The SS crammed the island's Jews into the holds of three ships used to move livestock. On the strategy to the Greek mainland, the ships stopped to choose up 85 Jews from the island of Kos and continued on to the port of Athens. With little food and water, several prisoners needed to died through the week at seaand their bodies were thrown overboard.

In Athens, the Rhodeslis followed the trail previously taken by the 60,000 Jews of Greece – including the most important Sephardic Jewish community within the countryin Salonika. As the transport from Rhodes approached Auschwitz, the USA bombed nearby chemical plants and refineries – but never the railways, gas chambers or crematoriaOnly 150 Rhodeslis survived Auschwitz.

The decision of the Third Reich to liquidate the Jews of Rhodes so late within the war underscores the extent of the Hitler’s fixation on the mechanized mass murder of the Jewsdespite the price of the war effort. The Nazis used their dwindling resources to deport small Jewish communities on the sting of Europewhilst the British bombed Rhodesand although the Nazi occupation would collapse inside six weeks. Survivor Stella Levi recalled eerily: “It would have been easier to murder us all here.”

The 2024 commemorations on Rhodes honored the victims of the Holocaust – today there aren’t any Jews with pre-war roots living on the island. But in addition they honored the Traditions, Kitchen And Spiritkept alive under Rhodeslis within the Diaspora who made the pilgrimage to their home island – a “Island of Remembrance.”

In April 2024, during Passover, a bunch of American rabbis approached a border crossing in Israel. Attached to Rabbis for TruceThe group joined Jewish Israeli activists who were attempting to deliver food to the population of the Gaza Strip.

Seven months had passed because the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023 and the following Israeli attack on Gaza.

One of the American rabbis told reporters from Democracy Now! that this was the one way she could imagine to rejoice Passover, a vacation that celebrates the history of liberation from oppression and slavery. Marching to the gates of Gaza with food for ravenous Palestinians was in step with the Passover commandment to ask the hungry to each table.

As of April 2, 62% of America was Jewish consider Israel responded “acceptably” to the Hamas attack. But amongst U.S. Jews ages 18 to 34, that support drops to 52%, with 42% saying Israel's response is “unacceptable,” in response to a Pew Research Center poll.

Many of those young individuals are involved in various Jewish organizations which have been mobilizing for a ceasefire since October, resembling IfNotNow and Jewish Voice for Peace. Public attention focused on the protests on campus, through which many Jewish students participated – I’m a member Faculty of Justice in Palestinewhich was formed in response to concerns concerning the freedom of expression of US students mobilizing for Palestinian rights.

But a peace and non secular scholarI do know that the involvement of some US Jews in Palestinian solidarity movements began years before the present war. ethnographic researchThe activists emphasized that they were inspired to act due to their Jewish identity and values, not regardless of them.

Journey to Activism

Many respondents got here to activism for Palestinian rights after fighting the best way to reconcile their beliefs and ideals with the truth of Israeli policies that they don’t support – policies they are saying are sometimes carried out of their name is cited.

My book 2019“Days of Awe” examines American Jewish critics of Israeli policies and Zionism – support for a Jewish state within the Middle East. Some activists have focused on the Palestinian territories occupied by Israel since 1967, which they see as a departure from the country's ideals as a Jewish democracy. Others strongly disagreed with the concept of ​​Zionism, because the creation of the brand new state required the expulsion of the Palestinians.

Their activism has taken different forms: from protests within the West Bank against the occupation to Formation of anti-Zionist synagogues within the United States to rewrite Jewish liturgy to reflect solidarity with Palestinians and other oppressed people.

For example, an interviewee in his mid-20s recounted an experience from a Birthright trip to Israel in 2008, a free tour designed to strengthen young Americans' connection to the country. The trip coincided with Operation Cast Lead. in Gaza, which lasted about three weeks and resulted in a couple of dozen Israeli deaths, about 1,400 Palestinian deaths And Thousands of individuals were displaced.

A tour guide was reluctant to reply the young man's questions on the conflict, prompting the coed to examine it after returning to campus within the United States Palestinian experiences with the Nakba – meaning “catastrophe” in Arabic – of 1948, the 12 months the State of Israel was founded, when a whole bunch of 1000’s of Palestinians were expelled from their land or fled.

This respondent and others say their journey toward activism began because their understanding of Jewish values ​​didn’t align with what Israel was doing within the name of Jewish security. It has also been a journey of “unlearning” or criticism – difficult narratives that emphasize the concept of Jewish return to Israel or downplay Palestinian displacement.

They drew on Jewish tradition in recent ways—what I call “critical care.”

Take IfNotNow, an American Jewish group that opposes Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories. The movement was born through the 2014 Israel-Hamas war, when a bunch of young Jews organized a public recitation the Kaddish of the mournersthe Jewish funeral prayer. By reciting the names of each Jewish and Palestinian victims, they hoped to make use of Jewish tradition to counter the devaluation of Palestinian lives.

When I asked Rebekah – a pseudonym for a student within the American South who I interviewed for my book – how she understood her Jewishnessshe told me, “I always maintained that the foundation of my activism was my Jewish ideals, the radical equality that I had absorbed at home.”

Shadow of history

For Rebekah and lots of other American Jews, the cultural memory of the Holocaust and the common refrain of “Never again” inspires their activism for Palestinian rights.

“When you grow up in Hebrew schools, you grow up watching the nightmarish Holocaust films,” she emphasized. “The conclusion of this training should have been clear: 'You can't do that to another group of people!'”

This lesson is reflected within the cry: “Never again to anyone“, has been heard at demonstrations in recent months.

Another interviewee also claimed this their solidarity with the Palestinians relies on the legacy of the Holocaust: “It was difficult for me to understand the Holocaust because it was so enormous – it happened because many people made a conscious decision not to do anything. I didn't want to do anything.”

For these respondents, discriminatory or violent measures contradict their understanding of Jewish values, which they assert through their solidarity with the Palestinians.

Another interviewee told me: “I consider myself a spiritual Jew. I can separate Zionism from Judaism and believe in equality. Because I am Jewish, I protest – I am shaped by humanistic values, which form the main framework for my organization. The experience of doing solidarity work actually strengthened my Jewish identity. … My Judaism is reflected in my commitment to upholding universal humanistic values.”

Here and now

In 2017, several dozen Americans met with other activists within the southern hills of Hebron, within the West Bank. She founded a so-called “Sumud” camp – a Palestinian concept meaning steadfastness – to protest the Israeli military’s decision to declare the world a “closed military zone,” meaning Palestinians must leave the world.

The activists wore T-shirts that read “Occupation is not my Judaism.” They say the occupation dehumanizes Palestinians and Jews alike – which is why in addition they seek their very own liberation. Therefore, their “critical care” is just not nearly highlighting what Judaism is just not. It's also about rewriting what they consider Judaism is.

Many of those organizations The Role of Decentralized Zionism in Jewish Texts and Liturgies. Instead of emphasizing the concept that the “Jewish homeland” lies within the historical region of Palestine and Israel, some emphasize “doykayt.””, Yiddish for “hereness”: the concept that the true homeland of Jews is anywhere on the earth.

Doykayt is only one example of how these activists are embracing often ignored points of Jewish history, including marginalized voices like Arab Jews and Ethiopian Jews, while discovering recent ways to live their Jewish values. Through their activism, they seek to convey their understanding that Jews can’t be free until the Palestinians are free.

NEW ORLEANS – Rory McIlroy stands on the nineteenth green stage at TPC Louisiana with a beer in a single hand and a microphone in the opposite. He has Mardi Gras beads around his neck, stands next to one in all his best friends, Shane Lowry, and the drunken crowd in New Orleans continues to sing.

“Do you know any songs from the 80s?” asks the bandleader.

And then Journey starts playing.

The four-time major champion belted out “Don't Stop Believing” early Sunday night, throwing his head back to bury his chest within the notes. Lowry just laughed and drank his beer as he watched his buddy make a idiot of himself. As he left a moment later, Lowry replied as to why he didn't take part: “I would have sung a lot better.”

McIlroy just won a golf tournament. And he needed to win a golf tournament. But he needed far, excess of anything on a scorecard this week. McIlroy needed to rejoice.

This isn’t an exercise. Rory McIlroy sings “Don’t Stop Believing.” pic.twitter.com/y5PkEDoqo4

– Brody Miller (@BrodyAMiller) April 28, 2024

It all began with a “really drunk lunch” after her Ryder Cup win last fall. McIlroy asked Lowry if they may team up for the Zurich Classic – the PGA Tour's only team event. Lowry has attended this event before, but he never asked McIlroy to team up for fear of rejection. McIlroy sent Lowry an acknowledgment at Christmastime. He got here to New Orleans.

Fast forward to Saturday night: Just off Bourbon Street within the French Quarter, at a classic white-tablecloth Creole eatery called Arnaud's, McIlroy and Lowry received a standing ovation from the opposite diners. This isn't even a soothing weekend in Louisiana. It's Jazz Fest. It's NFL Draft week. The Pelicans are within the playoffs. Still, people were so excited to have the second-biggest player on the earth that they filled TPC Louisiana with the most important galleries conceivable and applauded them in restaurants. A television reporter joked that Reggie Bush was the last athlete to receive the award nearly 20 years ago.

“It was strange for me,” Lowry said. “That won’t happen to me.”

“That won’t happen to me either!” McIlroy joked.

“He’s getting old,” Lowry said with a cheeky grin. “But he can still move the needle a little bit. Rory attracts a lot of people and people love him.”

Somewhat context. McIlroy isn’t having a excellent season. Last week it became a running joke that Scottie Scheffler's caddie, Ted Scott, will surpass McIlroy in 2024. And McIlroy has had a stressful few years. He was the face of the PGA Tour in its war with LIV and essentially the most publicized board member. Then he was caught off guard when the PGA Tour entered right into a framework agreement with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia (the owners of LIV) and he described himself as a “sacrificial lamb” to talk to the media the following day.

He then reportedly lost an influence struggle over the long run of the Tour to Patrick Cantlay and decided to go away the board. As Sports Illustrated reported, Cantlay and others like Tiger Woods and Jordan Spieth focused more on catering to the tour's elites. McIlroy then modified his tune and advocated for a union with LIV. He angered people by publicly criticizing Spieth for saying the PGA Tour didn't “need” the Saudis. He repeatedly commented that the need for money was ruining the game. At the Players Championship he got into an unpleasant incident along with his playing partners Spieth and Viktor Hovland.

Oh, and the Golf suffered. Everything is relative. He's still in the highest 30 almost every week, but has only posted one PGA Tour finish higher than nineteenth all season. When he finished T22 on the Masters two weeks ago, he was asked if he needed to enhance his swing and do a full reset.

Then he went to New Orleans.

McIlroy wasn't locked up this week, a minimum of not for many of the week. This week was all about having fun along with his old buddy Shane. When they arrived on Tuesday, they didn't even practice because the sphere was too full, so that they messed around on the chipping green as a substitute. During Wednesday's Pro-Am, they barely played every other shot. They looked as if it would strike after they felt prefer it, as they walked and talked the remaining of the way in which. They crushed grilled oysters from Drago's on the tenth hole and teased one another.

Who knows how nervous they were after they entered the seventh hole on Sunday, fifth behind the leaders. Yes, they’re competitors and wish to win, but they simply went with the flow.

Then McIlroy got hot. Using an alternate shot, they birdied 4 of the following five holes to realize one back. McIlroy gave a cheeky little club spin that he hadn't shown off an ideal iron shot on 14 in years. And right around that point, he obviously began wanting it just a little more. When he took his drive right into a bunker on 16, he leaned over and kept his head down in frustration for a full minute.

But no worry. Lowry hit an ideal wedge from the bunker into the center of the green, and McIlroy hit an extended putt to grab a share of the lead.

On the par-3 seventeenth, Lowry's tee shot flew into the gang and he later missed a tough par putt. He was visibly upset with himself, but McIlroy quickly chased him off the green and said, “Hey, Shane. That was a good putt.”

“Rory is there this week supporting me,” Lowry said, “and he's been a great teammate and he's made me believe in myself. “It was good to have him there to do this.”

They then birdied 18 to send it to the playoffs, and thanks to a missed putt from Martin Trainer in the playoffs, McIlroy won his 25th PGA Tour tournament and Lowry secured a spot in the remaining PGA Tour signature events. Events. Cooperation.

Yes, possibly McIlroy was the important thing to victory this week, but there's a probability Lowry was the important thing to a much-needed week for McIlroy. Because he admitted that this week was about escaping the stress.

“Absolutely,” he said. “The reason Shane and I both started playing golf is because at some point in our lives we thought it would be fun. I think it can always be helpful to bring some fun back into a week like this.”

And because the event got here to a detailed, tournament organizers might be seen celebrating the coup of one in all the sport's biggest stars, who had won and will come back next yr to defend his title. This isn't exactly one in all the larger events on the tour. They would kill for McIlroy on the sphere again. So he was asked, “Did anyone try to sell you after you returned?”

“I don’t think they need to try,” McIlroy said. “I think we’ll be back.”