TOPS of things

  ‘Bout the same time you’re reading this Santa will be streaking around the world delivering all kinds of fishin’ stuff to those that have been on the nice list. Sure hope I’m on it to give it all a try this coming week with the beautiful forecast ahead. Big Bend fishing has been on fire as of late. This should continue through the New Years as temperatures are going to remain in the 70’s. If you’re a salt water fisherman and like to chase redfish, sea trout and sheepshead you’re in luck. All these have been found on shallow flats, creek and rivers. Kind of  depends on the amount of sunshine. I’m fishing closer to shallow rock structure where even the smallest bit of sunshine heats the water quicker. Anglers are finding crappie in lakes Talquin and Seminole in big numbers. On Lake Talquin, trolling near or in the main river has been working best. The stretch between William’s Landing and Harvey Creek is a great place to start. Captain Paul Tyre, of Lake Seminole Fis...

  Wales will see new Covid regulations introduced from 6am on Boxing Day which will affect various parts of our lives as the Welsh Government tries to slow the spread of Omicron. Professional and grassroots sport, gym-goers, fitness classes and kids' sport will all be affected. Here's a look at what the new rules will be in Wales from December 26: Professional sport Professional sport in Wales will have to be played behind closed doors without fans. It is a big blow as this would normally be one of the busiest times of the year for fans attending festive sports fixtures. Welsh Rugby Union chief executive Martyn Phillips has estimated that every Welsh derby or European fixture taking place without fans would mean a loss of more than £100,000 per match. The Welsh Government has announced a £3million Spectator Sports Fund to support affected venues. Gyms From Boxing Day, the alert level two measures will mean there is a general requirement of two-metre social distancing in all pre...

  US stocks rose to a record-high close on Thursday, marking the third consecutive advance for the $52tn market as promising economic data helped offset fears surrounding the spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant. The S&P 500 stock index added 0.6 per cent, following two days of more than 1 per cent increases. Together the gains have helped reverse sharp falls on Monday and late last week. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite closed 0.8 per cent higher, leaving the index up more than 3 per cent for the week. The record follows a volatile month of trading. Stocks have swung dramatically since the discovery of the Omicron strain in late November, and a recent shift from global central banks to tighten monetary policy. US markets will be closed on Friday for the Christmas holiday. Investors on Thursday digested data that suggested the world’s largest economy remained resilient. American consumers showed they were still spending at a rapid rate, with the US core personal consumption...

  China is furious with Lithuania for letting Taiwan's government open an office in its capital. Beijing claims Taiwan as part of its own territory. China is threatened Lithuania over its strengthening relationship with Taiwan. The tiny European nation allowed Taiwan to open an office in its capital, Vilnius. Beijing, which claims Taiwan as its own, reacted furiously and downgraded relations with Lithuania. China threatened to consign the tiny European state of Lithuania to "the garbage bin of history" after it defied Beijing by allowing Taiwan to open a representative office in the capital of Vilnius. Lithuania, which has a population of 3 million, broke from its European neighbors by formally recognizing Taiwan, a self-governing island that China claims belongs to it. In August, Lithuania said it would allow Taiwan to open an office in its own name, prompting fury from Beijing, which recalled its ambassador to Lithuania in response. It also downgraded diplomatic relatio...

Economically at least, this holiday season feels a bit more like it belongs to Ebenezer Scrooge than Santa Claus. Amid a resurgent pandemic, there are shortages at the grocery store and the highest inflation in almost 40 years. So who better to sum up 2021 and forecast 2022 than  Larry Summers , the man whose contrarian warnings about inflation have, at least at this point, largely proven accurate. On this special holiday edition of  Stephanomics , the former U.S. Treasury secretary shares with host  Stephanie Flanders  how he arrived at his prediction that inflation would run higher than most everyone else expected, and why he fears “we are already reaching a point where it will be challenging to reduce inflation without giving rise to recession.” Summers, a Harvard University professor and paid Bloomberg contributor, also explains why  he thinks “running the economy hot” is unlikely to help U.S. workers get a larger slice of the economic pie. If inflation isn’...

  LONDON -- British car manufacturers had their slowest November in 37 years as the sector struggled to cope with the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on global supply chains, industry data showed. Car production fell by 29 percent compared with November 2021 to 75,756 units, despite a 53 percent increase in electric vehicle output, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) said on Thursday. It was the fifth consecutive month of decline and represented the worst November performance since 1984. Some of the fall was due to the permanent closure of a Honda's car factory in July but SMMT Chief Executive Mike Hawes said the figures were "incredibly worrying" and underscored the severity of the industry's situation. It the first 11 months of 2021, British car production of just under 800,000 units was down by 433,000 compared with 2019, before the pandemic hit. "COVID is impacting supply chains massively, causing global shortages - especially of semicond...

BEIJING — Less than a week after Chinese electric car start-up Nio announced its latest competitor to Tesla, Huawei released details on a vehicle with specs it claims beat the Model Y. Technology giant Huawei specializes in telecommunications, smartphones, and says it won't make cars on its own. But it has been working with automakers on car technology such as autonomous driving. In a speech at Huawei's winter product launch event on Thursday, Richard Yu, executive director and CEO of the company's consumer business group, said the Aito M5 will be the first car to run on Huawei's HarmonyOS operating system. Deliveries are set to begin around Feb. 20 after the Lunar New Year, said Yu, who is also CEO of Huawei’s intelligent automotive business solution unit. Post-subsidy prices for the Aito M5 start at 250,000 yuan ($39,063). That’s lower than Tesla’s Model Y, which starts at starts at 280,752 yuan after subsidies. On Saturday, Nio revealed deliveries of its ET5 electric...

At the time of their release, police spokesman Gary Desrosiers told AFP news agency there had been weeks of negotiations between the gang, known as 400 Mazowo, and authorities. Two group members were freed in November, and another three in early December, but their identities have not been revealed. Speaking at the news conference, David Troyer, director of CAM, said "people who sought to help us provided funds to pay a ransom and allow the negotiation process to continue", although he did not explain whether any payment had been made. CAM, based in the US, describes itself as a channel for Amish, Mennonite, and other Anabaptist groups to minister to physical and spiritual needs around the world. CONTEXT: Who are the kidnapped missionaries? The gang provided food and clean drinking water to the missionaries, the church said, and baby formula for the infant. However the water for cleaning was contaminated, leading some of the escapees to get skin sores around their mosquito bi...

  Google’s insistence on cloud-based controls for its networking products has occasionally caused issues, even though it was supposed to make life with OnHub routers simple. Now it will be a reason pushing anyone still using the OnHub to find a replacement by the end of next year when Google’s apps stop allowing owners to change the settings on their devices. An email went out to users, and a support page revealed the changeover is scheduled for December 19th, 2022 (via Droid-Life). https://www.brazillifeassistant.com/cep-de-pc-felicidade-maria-da-fe-mg/ https://www.brazillifeassistant.com/cep-de-pc-n-sra-santana-pequia-es/ When it still seemed unusual for Google and Amazon to make their own hardware, Google teamed up with TP-Link and, eventually, Asus to build OnHub routers that made a point of blending in seamlessly with the rest of your house. They had slick mobile apps to simplify setup and controls, plus a style that blended in so people were more likely to place them in a cen...

This Tuesday, Google decided to celebrate the beginning of the winter season 2021 with a Doodle celebrating the longest night of the year as well as the shortest day, which happens in the upper half of the Earth, the northern hemisphere. In the Google Doodle for this Tuesday, December 21, you can see a hedgehog walking on snow, a clear reference to the beginning of the winter season and the winter solstice. Do you know what the winter solstice is? The winter solstice, also known as the December solstice, hibernation solstice or hiemal solstice, starts just today and happens when one of the Earth's poles moves away from the sun at its maximum distance. As a result, the day is shortened by the reduction of daylight, followed by the longest night of the year, an event that happens every year in December, between the 21st and 22nd, around the world in countries such as the United States, India, United Kingdom, China, Russia and Canada. How long does the winter season last? In the north...

  Stocks soared on Tuesday, with the Dow closing up more than 500 points and the S&P 500  rebounding from its worst three-day decline since September. The two reasons for the broad rally: no new lockdowns in the U.K., and investors buying the dip carved over the past few weeks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 561 points, or 1.6%, while the S&P 500 gained 1.8%, and the Nasdaq Composite advanced 2.4%.  On the Omicron watch, the U.K. has opted against new lockdowns—for now. That decision boosted investor confidence a bit, since other countries have already put new restrictions in place. And the dip buying is on: The S&P 500—flat since early November—had fallen as much as 4% from an all-time high to its low point in that stretch. Several economically sensitive sectors, like oil and banking, were in correction territory only Monday, down more than 10% from their peaks of late. On Tuesday, those two sectors outpaced the S&P 500’s gain. But the market isn’t...

  We’re sharing a round-up of the biggest changes and tests we’ve launched this year to give people who use Facebook more control over their News Feed and reduce negative experiences. We continually evaluate the effectiveness of News Feed ranking signals and give people insight into how content appears in their feeds. In 2021, we made significant progress in providing greater transparency into how the News Feed ranking process works, what gets distributed and why. We released new features to incorporate direct feedback we get from people who use Facebook by giving them more control over their feeds and reducing negative experiences.  Here are some of the biggest changes and tests we launched this year: February: new tests to reduce political content in News Feed in response to direct feedback.  March: the launch of Choose Who Can Comment, Favorites, the Feed Filter Bar, and an expansion of Why Am I Seeing This to suggested posts to provide people more context and control ...

People went shopping on Saturday before the lockdown was announced The Netherlands has announced a strict lockdown over Christmas amid concerns over the Omicron coronavirus variant. Non-essential shops, bars, gyms hairdressers and other public venues will be closed until at least mid-January. Two guests per household will be allowed - four over the holidays. Booster at least 80% effective against severe Omicron How can I tell I have Omicron? Covid map: Where are cases the highest? Under the new rules, people are being urged to stay at home as much as possible. Strict limits will be placed on the number of people who can meet - a maximum of two guests aged 13 and over will be allowed in people's homes, and four on 24-26 December and on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. Events are not permitted other than funerals, weekly markets selling groceries and professional sports matches with no spectators. All schools will be closed until at least 9 January, while other lockdown mea...

Heparin is a widely available drug that could help fight Covid, researchers say Heparin is a widely available drug that could help fight Covid, researchers say Australian researchers are conducting a trial to see whether squirting a blood thinner into the nose could offer protection against Covid. The nasal spray uses the cheap drug heparin in an attempt to neutralise Covid's spike protein. When sprayed into the nose of a Covid-infected person it appears to make them non-infectious, the researchers say. The trial will not conclude until mid-next year. If effective, it could be used with vaccines and other measures. Researchers hope the spray could help both as an early treatment and as a nasal mask to stop the virus spreading. It could be applied "anywhere where you mix with the public in a crowded situation", lead researcher Prof Don Campbell told the BBC. "For people like me who are afraid of Covid, the idea that I might take a squirt before I go shopping or to the...