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Top 10 Best Super Bowl Halftime Shows of All Time

Michael Jackson (1993)

Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson performs during Super Bowl XXVII at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. (Getty Images)

This one is complicated: Many people are no longer able to engage with Jackson’s music after he’s been credibly accused of deeply upsetting crimes. But the fact is that it’s just about impossible to discuss Super Bowl performers without including him, and that’s because he basically invented the halftime show as we know it today. Before this, the mid-game entertainment was largely comprised of university marching bands and covers from groups like Up with People. Bringing in a headliner like Jackson totally paid off, and that year’s game saw a ratings spike of 8.6 percent. And if you need a reminder of just how big of a superstar the King of Pop was at the time, look no further than the fact that the audience enthusiastically applauded while he stood still for a full 90 seconds of precious airtime before beginning the show.

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Diana Ross (1996)

Diana Ross
Diana Ross performs during Super Bowl XXX at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona. (Getty Images)

When you’ve got as many iconic hits to your name as Diana Ross, it would be easy to knock out an audience just by standing there and singing them. Of course, that’s not what this music legend did. After running through classic songs like “Stop! In the Name of Love,” “You Keep Me Hangin’ On,” and “You Can’t Hurry Love” while riding a crane, singing along with a choir, and unleashing thousands of balloons into the stadium, she pulled off the most show-stopping exit of all time: A helicopter landed on the field and flew her away as she belted her 1995 hit “Take Me Higher.”

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U2 (2002)

Bono from U2
U2 singer Bono performs a Super Bowl XXXVI at the Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Getty Images)

For the first Super Bowl after 9/11, the NFL knew just who to call for a cathartic halftime show that spoke to the moment: U2, who was then (and remains now) one of the biggest rock bands in the world. They kicked off with their rousing hit “Beautiful Day,” but things took an emotional turn when the lights went down and a list of Americans we’d lost appeared behind them as they played “MLK” and “Where the Streets Have No Name.” When Bono opened his leather jacket to reveal the stars and stripes as he sang his final note, there wasn’t a dry eye in the house.

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Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake (2004)

Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake
Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake perform at Super Bowl XXXVIII at Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas. (Getty Images)

A couple of caveats here: First of all, Janet and Justin weren’t the sole headliners in 2004. They were also joined by Jessica Simpson, P. Diddy, Nelly, and Kid Rock, but we’ve specifically spotlighted this duo as the stars of the show for reasons we don’t need to explain. And secondly, this might not necessarily be one of the “best” performances in Super Bowl history, but it’s unquestionably one of the most monumental. It coined the term “wardrobe malfunction,” caused a media firestorm about inappropriate programming in prime time, and generated 540,000 complaints to the FCC. Janet’s career never quite recovered (it was later alleged that CBS exec Les Moonves set out to “sabotage” her after the incident), and nearly 20 years later, there are still questions about whether exposing her breast was a planned stunt. But if anyone says something about the Super Bowl halftime show, chances are this is one of the first that will pop into your head.

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Prince (2007)

Prince
Prince performs during Super Bowl XLI at Dolphin Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. (Getty Images)

Just three years after “Nipplegate,” it was an interesting choice to slot in a performer as notoriously sexually supercharged as Prince. He didn’t disappoint on that front — in one memorable moment, he stood behind a sheet, visible only in bigger-than-life silhouette as he held his guitar in a particularly, um, phallic way. But he also brought the musical artistry as only he can, and it culminated in a jaw-dropping finale as he rocked out to “Purple Rain” amid actual precipitation. On the morning of the game, a producer called Prince to warn him about the forecast, which garnered the perfect response from the star of the show: “Can you make it rain harder?”

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Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band (2009)

Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band perform during Super Bowl XLIII at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida. (Getty Images)

Most of the artists on this list brought some special oomph to make their show feel worthy of the grand stage where it took place, but Bruce and his band didn’t need a fancy set or multiple costume changes to bring the house down. For some reason, few acts feel as inherently American as Springsteen, and it’s incredible how much energy he can generate just by standing there and shredding on the guitar. But with singalong anthems like “Born to Run” and “Glory Days,” how could he have gone wrong?

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Madonna (2012)

Madonna
Madonna performs during Super Bowl XLVI at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Getty Images)

From the moment Madonna entered the field on a giant golden throne, it was clear we were in for an unforgettable thrill ride through her decades of hits. After running through chart-toppers like “Vogue” and “Music,” she capped things off by sharing the stage with CeeLo Green, who joined her for a marching band medley before they took us to church with a life-affirming rendition of “Like a Prayer.” The performance was such a success that Madonna’s 13 minutes of pop bliss actually garnered a higher rating than the game itself.

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Beyoncé (2013)

Kelly Rowland, Beyonce, Michelle Williams
Kelly Rowland, Beyoncé, and Michelle Williams perform during Super Bowl XLVII at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Getty Images)

Five years before she delivered the defining live performance of the 2010s with her 2018 Coachella set, Beyoncé blessed us with a Super Bowl show for the ages. She started out with a run of her solo bangers, including “Love on Top” and “Crazy in Love,” then segued into the Destiny’s Child reunion we’d all been waiting for. The audience went wild as Kelly and Michelle hit the stage for a nostalgic medley of “Bootylicious” and “Independent Women Part 1” — and they even stuck around for “Single Ladies.” Of course, the finale was all Queen Bey, who brought us home with an emotional performance of “Halo.” (As an aside, this show will also be remembered in posterity for being the time Beyoncé’s publicist insisted Buzzfeed take down these photos from the show, which only led to them being seen more widely.)

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Lady Gaga (2017)

Lady Gaga
Lady Gaga performs during Super Bowl 51 at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas. (Getty Images)

You may have forgotten that there was a whole lot of hand-wringing before this performance about whether it would include a grand political statement. This was the first Super Bowl after Donald Trump’s election, and lots of Democrats hoped Lady Gaga would take the opportunity to torch the controversial president on the national stage. (The NFL even issued a public statement denying reports it had banned her from mentioning Trump’s name.) Instead, the theme was unity, which she made clear from the jump, opening with “God Bless America” and “This Land Is Your Land” from atop the stadium, with a backdrop of glittering red and blue drones. From there, it was classic Gaga — energetic choreography, unimpeachable vocals, sparkling costumes, and a climactic “Bad Romance” finale.

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Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Mary J. Blige, and Kendrick Lamar (2022)

Eminem, Dr. Dre, Kendrick Lamar, Mary J. Blige, Snoop Dogg, 50 Cent
Eminem, Dr. Dre, Kendrick Lamar, Mary J. Blige, Snoop Dogg, and 50 Cent perform during Super Bowl LVI at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California. (Getty Images)

Last year’s halftime show was part party, part history lesson. Some of the most towering figures in hip-hop came together for a spectacle we won’t soon forget — and the all-star headliners were only part of it, since the performance also included surprise appearances by Anderson .Paak and 50 Cent. The show had everything from nostalgia (Dr. Dre and Snoop doing “California Love” — in Inglewood, of all places) to politics (Eminem taking a knee, in what many read as support of Colin Kaepernick), but most of all, it was a total blast.

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2023
02/10
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Djokovic saga shows the absurd confusion of Australia’s Covid-19 fortress

Many tennis commentators say Novak Djokovic is all but unbeatable in Australia. He is, after all, the winner of a remarkable nine Australian Open Grand Slam titles. And, as the Australian government discovered this week, it hasn’t proven easy to defeat him in a court of law, either

It remains unclear whether Djokovic will defend his title in next week’s Australian Open. But the world has learned a lot more about Australia’s border controls, much of which it will take a long time to forget.
For now, Djokovic remains in the country, hoka shoes for women following his court victory against the Australian Border Force’s attempt to deny him entry. Yet the Australian government could still deport him. The ball remains in the court of Immigration Minister Alex Hawke, who is considering whether to use his executive power to cancel Djokovic’s visa. The tennis star’s admission that he made a false travel declaration upon arrival in Australia, along with revelations he failed to isolate after testing positive for Covid-19 last month, provide the minister with potential justifications. Djokovic denied knowing he had the virus when attending public events, and apologized for the false travel declaration, saying it had been submitted on his behalf by a member of staff.
At this stage, you can’t rule anything out. The episode has already proven to be an absurd political drama befitting of a Netflix saga during lockdown. The Djokovic family has played a fine supporting role, with patriarch Srdjan Djokovic declaring his son Novak the “Spartacus of the new world.” Never one to miss out, British politician and high-profile Brexiteer Nigel Farage even flew to Belgrade to offer his support to the Djokovic clan.
The Novak Djokovic saga has turned the spotlight on deep divisions in Australian society
Much of the saga’s ridiculousness, however, is rooted in Australia’s own peculiar reaction to the Covid-19 experience.
Perhaps most absurd of all has been the utter confusion in Australian governance. Was there a visa exemption granted? Did the unvaccinated Djokovic qualify for an exemption? Who had the authority to decide? The answers to these questions should, of course, be straightforward. But they have not been clear to anyone, even the Australian Prime Minister.
The organizers of the Australian Open, who convened an expert panel of medical advisers to assess exemptions from vaccination, believed everything was all in order. So did a medical panel of the Victorian state government. Before Djokovic’s hoka shoes arrival in Melbourne, Prime Minister Scott Morrison told the country that was all that mattered. Just hours later, Morrison seemingly changed his mind and declared that the federal government made the rules. All of this played out while Djokovic was in the air traveling to Australia. It was then presented to the superstar at border control in the very early hours of the morning.
This echoes the broader experience of the pandemic. Australia has resembled less of a nation-state, with a clear-sighted leader at its helm, as it has a collection of states led by warring premiers from different parties and different factions over these past three years. Whether it is between federal and state governments, or between the various state governments, health advice and policy have at times varied wildly.
More fundamentally, the episode reveals how intense Australia’s border politics have become during the pandemic.
At the start of the pandemic, Prime Minister Morrison declared that the virus was foremost a threat to Australia’s sovereignty. In March 2020, Australia cut itself off from the world. Foreigners were not allowed in. Citizens and permanent residents had to apply for permission to access an ever-diminishing number of rooms in quarantine facilities.
Later in the year, no one was even allowed out of the country without express permission, which was far more often denied than granted. Many Australians felt they had little hope of navigating these restrictions, short of having the luxury of special exemptions or an army of lawyers at their disposal.
I was relieved when my sons got mild Covid-19. Then I thought about this
Accompanying these border restrictions were some of the longest and strictest lockdowns in the world. Both major parties supported them, with state premiers requesting the army be sent onto the streets and stopping people leaving their homes even for exercise or essential shopping.
These restrictions would have been unthinkable anywhere in the democratic countries of the northern hemisphere. And yet there was almost no resistance here in Australia. Quite the contrary, many — if not reveling in them — believe they were absolutely necessary. Public acceptance of border closures and lockdowns have reflected Australia’s deep aversion to biosecurity risk, and Australians’ tendency to see their country as a sanctuary from the rest of a troublesome world.
Such attitudes or mindsets have not just emerged from the pandemic. They have deeper cultural and historical roots. For a couple of decades, the rise of affordable international aviation connected Australia to the rest of the world. Covid-19, though, has returned the nation to an older national psyche.
Migrants missing family or their homelands, olukai shoes for example, have been frequently chastised and reminded that earlier generations of migrants were unable to have the luxury of travel, restricted by the cost and the technology; it should be no great burden for them to be stuck in the greatest country on Earth.
During the past week, Australian player Nick Kygrios took to social media to say that he couldn’t work out why people wanted to travel the world anyway. Apparently being at home in Canberra, secure from the worst of the pandemic, was the greatest gift there was.
Indeed, if this Djokovic saga does say anything about Australia, it is that the country remains attached to a belief in “Fortress Australia.” For many Australians, it is a political article of faith that “we decide who comes to this country, and the circumstances in which they come,” as former Prime Minister John Howard put it at his election launch in 2001.
It was no accident that when the Australian government moved to detain Djokovic, it did so in a Melbourne hotel used to detain asylum seekers, some of whom have been incarcerated for nearly a decade, largely ignored and forgotten by the Australian public. Given what we now know, Djokovic is clearly not without blame himself. But what happened to him happens many times over with others who are not as fortunate to enjoy his riches or profile — and whose causes are more worthy.
As to what happens next, the Australian government has put itself in an invidious position. If it allows Djokovic to remain, there’s every likelihood Djokovic will go on to win the Australian Open and claim the mantle as the greatest tennis player of all time.
Deporting him would outrage opinion across the world. Either way, Australia comes out of this much diminished. Whatever it does, in this battle of “Fortress Australia,” the score remains the same: Advantage Djokovic.
2022
01/13
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Incredible photo of a shark shows mysterious bite mark on its side

shark-bite-crop

Photographer Jalil Najafov’s first thought when he saw the great white was: “Is that real?”
It was August 2019 and Najafov, a shark enthusiast, conservationist and filmmaker, was exploring the coast of Mexico with some friends. The group spotted a great white shark swimming close to their boat.
This was already exciting. Then the group realized the shark had a mysterious bite mark on its side.
“I was really surprised since I never saw hoka shoes for women something like this in my life,” Najafov tells CNN Travel today. “The bite mark was so huge on a huge shark.”
The Azerbaijan-born shark conservationist and filmmaker dove into the waters below, armed with his GoPro7 waterproof camera, to capture a shot of the big fish with the bite.
He shared one of the resulting photographs on his Instagram account for the first time in late December 2021.
He’d mislaid his memory card after the Mexico trip, Najafov explains, and only recently rediscovered the photos.
Najafov knew the image was exciting.
“I have been working with sharks and shark content for many years, I have a lot of experience in this niche,” says Najafov. “I know for sure when I see something rare, I have never seen such a huge shark scar.”

Scar origins

Najafov's photo of the great white shark has attracted widespread attention.
Najafov’s photo of the great white shark has attracted widespread attention.
The photo, which Najafov posted to Instagram in video form — focusing in on the mysterious bite — blew up.
The response, in Najafov’s words, was “crazy,” as people theorized on the origins of the scar.
Before posting, Najafov had enlisted friends and fellow shark experts for their perspective.
Scientist Dr Tristan Guttridge, who runs marine nonprofit Saving the Blue and has presented on Discovery Channel’s Shark Week, ruled out the theory that the shark had sustained the bite in a mating act.
“I’d rule out mating probably due to position as the wound looks like it’s healed a fair bit and although mating scars can be nasty they are more superficial than that,” was Guttridge’s contribution, according to Najafov.
Najafov says Guttridge concluded that the shark was most likely attacked by another shark.
Najafov says Michael Domeier, another friend and Shark Week alum, who is also head of the Marine Conservation Science Institute, said he was “confident this is competitive aggression” and added that the scar would have hoka shoes since healed, becoming indistinguishable.
Importance of sharks
Najafov worked for several years for the Azerbaijan government before his passion for sharks prompted him to switch directions.
His goal is to shine a spotlight on sharks and highlight their important role in the planet’s ecosystem.
“There is no ocean without sharks, and no oxygen without the ocean. So by saving sharks, we save the planet,” says Najafov, who is concerned by the threat posed by fin trading.
For some, Najafov’s image of the great white with the alarming bite has a fear factor appeal. But Najafov insists he’s never been scared of diving alongside the creatures.
“I love sharks and I absolutely enjoy them while diving,” he says. “Sharks are not monsters!”
There’s a misconception, according to Najafov, of the danger of sharks.
“The oceans are home to about 500 different shark species, but about a dozen of them are known to be potentially dangerous to humans,” he says.
Najafov’s Instagram account includes incredible photos of other shark species taken across the world and the photographer promises he has “tons of amazing shark content that I didn’t post yet.”
He also has upcoming trips to Mexico and Maldives planned for 2022.
“I can’t wait to get underwater and share my experience,” he says.
2022
01/05
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Embraer shows four green airliner concepts for more sustainable flying

The Energia designs, which include hybrid, all-electric and hydrogen-powered aircraft, are part of an aviation industry pledge to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

embrarer-energia

Clockwise from top are the Energia H2 Gas Turbine, the H2 Gas Turbine, the Electric and the Hybrid.

Embraer used the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow, Scotland, this week as the occasion to announce a new family of greener airliners that it says will reduce carbon emissions. The four concept aircraft in the Energia family, brooks shoes which range from a hybrid commuter plane to one flying on hydrogen fuel cells, are part of a pledge by the commercial aviation industry to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

“The future of aviation must have a lower impact,” Embraer said on its site detailing the plans. “It means lower emissions, lower noise levels and lower fuel consumption.”

2021
11/12
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Still waiting on Tom Brady to fall off? His age 44 season shows no signs of the end for NFL’s reigning QB king.

If anyone was expecting Tom Brady’s skills to diminish after he turned 44 years old and began his 22nd NFL season … well, that person would be a fool.

If such a person exists, however, they are in for some bad news. It isn’t happening. Better hope 45 is when the cliff comes for TB12. Don’t bet on it though.

Brady kicked off the NFL season Thursday by throwing for 379 yards and four touchdowns as nike store Tampa Bay defeated Dallas 31-29. That includes a surgical game-winning final-minute drive capped by a Ryan Succop 36-yard field goal.

It wasn’t just the physical talent that defies age that propelled Brady. It was everything else as well, a three-hour highlight reel of how a guy who isn’t the strongest thrower or fastest runner is the greatest winner the game has ever known.

The experience to decipher just about everything the Cowboys threw at him. The smarts to figure out solutions on the fly. The confidence to know when to prop up teammates following mistakes and keep them in the game.

It was all there.

Tom Brady, at age 44, showed no signs of slowing down in the season opener against Dallas. (AP Photo/Mark LoMoglio)
Tom Brady, at age 44, showed no signs of slowing down in the season opener against Dallas. 

Consider the sublime 11-yard touchdown pass to Rob Gronkowski where Gronk went from dropping back to block, drawing a Dallas blitz, to sprinting into an open space on a mismatch.

“No, that was not the design,” Brady said. Brady and Gronk just checked into the play when they saw the defensive setup.

“We’ve played together for a long time,” Brady said on NBC. “Part of playing together with someone for a long time, we have a few tools in the tool box.”

Then there was going back to Chris Godwin for a critical 24-yard pass on ecco shoes the final drive (which may have been offensive pass interference), even though Godwin had fumbled the possession before when the Bucs were about to deliver a knockout blow. No need to freeze out a guy after a mistake. Godwin is too talented and reliable for that.

“It definitely helps me knowing my QB is not going to lose faith in me,” Godwin said.

It was how when Dallas took the lead but left 1:24 remaining, the ending to the game felt like a foregone conclusion. Of course Tampa Bay was going to win.

“I think in tight ball games we have a ton of confidence,” Bucs coach Bruce Arians said. “The confidence is real. It’s earned.”

Sure is.

It was Brady’s 49th career game-winning drive.

It was Brady’s 36th four-touchdown game.

“Been playing a long time,” Brady said. “That’s a lot of football.”

He isn’t slowing up. The arm still looked strong. His internal clock helps avoid sacks in a more reliable manner than quick feet. He has the entire team still believing in him.

“It’s amazing,” Godwin said. “You have the ultimate confidence that 1) he’s going to get us in the right play and 2) he’s going to go to the right guy.”

That included nine comlpetions and two touchdowns  nike sneakers to old friend Gronk. That included five catches for 121 yards and a touchdown to Antonio Brown, who Brady has worked for years to have on his team. It was Leonard Fournette and Gio Bernard and Mike Evans. It was Brady doing whatever he wanted.

“I have confidence in all those guys,” Brady said. “I’ve been here 18 months now. I’ve had a lot of time [with them].”

And it was Brady spending most of his postgame news conference talking about all the mistakes, turnovers, penalties and errors that “need to be cleaned up.” He knows you can’t get away with those in January and February.

Make no mistake, he was happy with the victory. A year ago, in his Tampa debut, the Bucs lost at New Orleans and Brady didn’t look great.

“[That] sucked,” Brady said.

It was possible to wonder then if post-New England Brady wasn’t going to continue running the league.

“Came a long way in 365 days,” Brady smiled.

That included a seventh Super Bowl. No one wins, or loses, a Lombardi Trophy on opening night, but no one would be surprised if Brady is there at the end again.

Forty-four years old, 22 seasons deep now, and this is just the same old, same old.

“The margin of error is thin in the NFL,” Brady said. “One or two plays, that’s the way the game goes.”

It’s just he tends to make those plays. Still.

2021
09/10
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She Hates Biden. Some of Her Neighbors Hate the Way She Shows It.

Andrea Dick is a die-hard supporter of former President Donald Trump and thinks the election was stolen from him, although that claim has been thoroughly discredited. She does not like President Joe Biden, and that is putting it mildly.

Her opinions are clear in the blunt slogans blaring from the banners outside her New Jersey home: “Don’t Blame Me/I Voted for Trump” and several others that attack Biden in crude terms. Several feature a word that some people find particularly objectionable but whose use the hey dude shoes Supreme Court long ago ruled could not be restricted simply to protect those it offends.

When local officials asked her to take down several of the banners that they said violated an anti-obscenity ordinance, she refused. Now, she is resisting a judge’s order that she do so and pledging to fight it in court on free speech grounds.

“It’s my First Amendment right,” she said in an interview on Monday, “and I’m going to stick with that.”

In a country where the political fault lines are increasingly jagged and deep, Dick’s case is the latest of several such disputes to highlight the delicate balance local officials must sometimes strike between defending free speech and responding to concerns about language that some residents find offensive.

Dick, 54, said she acquired the banners — which are available from Amazon and other retailers — earlier this year, but did not hang them on the home in Roselle Park where she lives with her mother, or on the fence outside, until Memorial Day.

“Something must have gotten me worked up,” she said.

Shortly after the holiday weekend, she said, she became aware that some Roselle Park residents, noting that her home was near a school, were upset about the language on the banners and about the potential for passing children to see it.

Dick, whose mother, Patricia Dilascio, owns the house, said that no children lived on the ecco shoes block and that no children routinely walk by on their way to the school.

But the town’s mayor, Joseph Signorello III, said he had received several complaints about the banners, which he passed on to the borough’s code enforcement officer. Residents of Roselle Park, a town of 14,000 people about a 40-minute drive from Times Square, voted overwhelmingly for Biden in November.

“This is not about politics in any way,” said Signorello, a Democrat. He added that officials would have taken the same steps if the signs expressed opposition to Trump using similar language. “It’s about decency.”

After visiting the home, the code enforcement officer, Judy Mack, cited Dilascio for violating a Roselle Park ordinance that prohibits the display or exhibition of obscene material within the borough.

Mack said that in more than 12 years as a code enforcement officer in Roselle Park, she had never invoked the ordinance before. She also said that while Signorello had passed on the residents’ complaints, he had not directed her to take any specific action.

“I’m only doing my job,” Mack said.

Dick was given a few days to remove the banners, Mack said. When she did not, she was given a summons to appear in court.

At that appearance, last Thursday, Judge Gary A. Bundy of Roselle Park Municipal Court gave Dilascio, brooks shoes as the property owner, a week to remove three of the 10 signs displayed on the property — the ones including the offending word — or face fines of $250 a day.

“There are alternative methods for the defendant to express her pleasure or displeasure with certain political figures in the United States,” Bundy said in his ruling, noting the proximity of Dick’s home to a school.

The use of vulgarity, he continued, “exposes elementary-age children to that word, every day, as they pass by the residence.”

“Freedom of speech is not simply an absolute right,” he added, noting later that “the case is not a case about politics. It is a case, pure and simple, about language. This ordinance does not restrict political speech.” (Nj.com reported Bundy’s ruling on Friday.)

Jarrid Kantor, Roselle Park’s borough attorney, applauded the judge’s decision, saying that local officials had been careful not to make an issue out of the political nature of Dick’s banners and had focused instead on the potential harm to children.

“We think he got it just right,” Kantor said.

But Thomas Healy, a law professor at Seton Hall University with expertise in constitutional issues, disagreed.

Citing a 1971 Supreme Court decision, Cohen v. California, that turned on the question of whether the same word at issue in Dick’s case was obscene, Healy said the word clearly did not qualify as obscene speech in the context of the political banners.

“It’s hard to imagine a simpler case from a constitutional standpoint,” he said, adding that he would be “stunned” if Bundy’s ruling were upheld.

Healy said he also found it troubling that the enforcement action had come after the mayor relayed concerns about the banners to the code enforcement officer, even though both of them said that Signorello had not directed any specific action.

“It doesn’t look good,” Healy said.

Conflicts like the one involving Dick have flared up this year on Long Island, New York; in Indiana, Tennessee and Connecticut; and about a half-hour’s drive south of Roselle Park, in Hazlet, New Jersey.

Hazlet officials received complaints like those in Roselle Park when a homeowner put up a similar anti-Biden banner there, Mayor Tara Clark said.

Citing an anti-nuisance ordinance, Clark said, officials approached the homeowner last month and asked that he remove the offending flag, but they did not take any steps to force him to do so.

“We knew that there were residents who were upset,” she said. “but we also know that free speech is protected under the Constitution of the United States.”

Though some people might have been unhappy that the banner could not be forced down, Clark said that she and her fellow Hazlet officials felt it was important to stand up for the First Amendment.

“It ended there,” she said. (The homeowner took the banner down last week, she said.)

As for Dick, she and her mother have about two weeks to appeal Bundy’s ruling to New Jersey Superior Court. He said the daily fines would begin accruing on Thursday if the offending banners remained up, regardless of whether Dick and her mother chose to appeal. If they do appeal, he suggested they take the banners down pending the outcome.

On Monday, Dick did not sound like she planned to follow that advice. She said she was looking for a new lawyer and was committed to seeing the case through.

“I’m not backing down,” she said.

2021
07/21
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5 best TV shows to binge on Paramount Plus

In case you thought you had enough TV, it’s time for CBS’ new streamer to make a case for putting it on your roster. Paramount Plus, a revamp of CBS All Access, adds more movies and shows that you can watch on a couple of tiers: either ad-free ($10 per month) or ad-inclusive ($5 per month). Star Trek fans will find not one, not two, not three, but four Star Trek shows (not including an after-show) to devour, but there’s more than sci-fi filling out Paramount’s original TV shelves. Let’s round up the best shows at launch, with a host of new original shows to come.

The Good Fight

Elizabeth Fisher/CBSFour seasons of The Good Fight are on Paramount Plus — that’s 40 episodes to get to know lawyers Diane Lockhart (Christine Baranski), Maia Rindell (Rose Leslie) and Lucca Quinn (Cush Jumbo). The Good Fight is a spinoff of The Good Wife, but differs from its predecessor in all the right ways, focusing less on relationships and more on politics. It’s also about good old human struggle — following Lockhart after her daughter Maia’s reputation is destroyed in a financial scam. Broke, they join Lucca Quinn’s big Chicago law firm. Get ready to be hooked. (Good news: a fifth season is to come.)

Star Trek: Discovery

CBS All AccessThe first of Paramount Plus’ (it first arrived on CBS All Access) big Star Trek shows is set roughly 10 years before the events of Star Trek: The Original Series. It wasn’t a hit straight away, with a few problematic storylines to clean up, but thanks to Sonequa Martin-Green’s strong lead performance as Michael Burnham, Star Trek: Discovery eventually sweeps you up. Season 1 finds the crew of the USS Discovery embroiled in a war between the Klingon houses and the United Federation of Planets. Season 4 is set to hit Paramount Plus this year.

The Twilight Zone (2019)

Robert FalconerGet Out and Us director Jordan Peele helped develop this new take on the original 1959 The Twilight Zone series, and the first season (it was canceled after the second) provides plenty of modern thought-provoking strangeness worth checking out. Peele also narrates the anthology, which features stars like Kumail Nanjiani, Tracy Morgan, Steven Yeun and more. It could probably be scarier (and the episodes shorter) but a few gems — like episode Replay — do the original series proud.

Star Trek: Picard

CBSStar Trek: Picard brings back Patrick Stewart as Jean-Luc Picard, the former captain of the USS Enterprise — in a multi-layered redemption story. Picard, nearing the end of his days, reflects on his choice to abandon Starfleet, after the Federation chose not to aid the Romulans when their planet was destroyed. Suffering from his past decisions and the death of fellow Enterprise officer Data, Picard steps out of his quiet life at a vineyard to help a mysterious young woman in need. A slower-paced, psychological character study, Star Trek: Picard is a full-bodied show to savor.

Why Women Kill

Paramount PlusWhy Women Kill juggles a few serious themes like infidelity and, well, murder, but the key to enjoying this show is focusing on the performances of Ginnifer Goodwin, Lucy Liu and Kirby Howell-Baptiste. Why Women Kill ambitiously explores the marriages of three women who all live in the same campily-designed Pasadena mansion (the outfits are wonderfully campy as well) across different decades. They’re connected by their partners’ infidelity, which sets of a chain of events that leads to the women killing someone. A stylish mix of black comedy and soapy drama that gets better with every episode.

2021
04/07
CATEGORY
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56 of the best shows to binge-watch on Netflix

Searching for a new show to spend a lot of time with on Netflix? Welcome to another list of best shows you might have missed (or might be inspired to re-binge). Netflix periodically changes up its line-up of programs, but its excellent originals stick around. Hopefully you’ll find a hidden gem or two here to keep you entertained at home.

Call My Agent!

NetflixThinking about dipping your toe into more of Netflix’s international content? French comedy Call My Agent! hosts an ever-growing list of famous actors playing themselves, from French stars to Americans like Sigourney Weaver (!) in the latter seasons. But we look at the world of showbiz from the perspective of the long-suffering agents, including Camille Cottin’s scene stealing powerhouse agent Andréa Martel, who rebuffs male colleagues with lines like: “When I moved on from guys to girls, it was like graduating from the sandpit to the football pitch.” A brilliant series with four seasons poking fun at the entertainment industry.

Lupin

NetflixIf you enjoyed Money Heist, then meet Lupin, another non-English language show with a propulsive action-packed story. This time we’re in France, where professional thief Assane Diop enacts his revenge mission on the man responsible for his father’s death. Inspired by a book about gentleman thief Arsène Lupin, Assane uses disguises, thieving know-how and a good dose of charisma to expose the wealthy and powerful Hubert Pellegrini’s crimes.

Bridgerton

NetflixBridgerton is practically a show designed to be addictive. Known as Jane Austen but with sex, the period piece has a tad more going for it: With lavish production design and colorful costumes, this is Regency London like you’ve rarely seen it. In the early 19th century dating scene, the Bridgerton siblings’ adventures in love are captured by a scandalous newsletter, written by Regency London’s version of Gossip Girl, voiced by none other than Julie Andrews. Settle in for this gorge-worthy viewing.

Cobra Kai

Guy D’Alema/NetflixInitially Cobra Kai, a series based on the Karate Kid films, might sound like a cynical money-making spinoff of the martial arts franchise. But it’s become one of Netflix’s most popular shows, thanks to well-written characters and a good measure of nostalgia. The series follows Johnny Lawrence, 34 years after he was jump-kicked in the face by Daniel LaRusso. Taking this subversive viewpoint, Cobra Kai is three seasons of self-aware, light-hearted and full of heart fun.

The Queen’s Gambit

NetflixHow do you make chess the thrilling centerpiece of a coming-of-age tale? You shake it into a cocktail of stylish visuals, a rocking ’60s soundtrack and the magnetic Anya Taylor-Joy as Beth Harmon, one of the youngest (and few female) chess players in the world. The fictional story in The Queen’s Gambit, named after a chess opening, follows her rise from an orphanage to toppling the best players in the world — as long as her drug addiction and bags of wine bottles don’t get in the way.

Kingdom

NetflixNetflix’s first original Korean series doesn’t pull any punches. A zombie horror with a Joseon period political backdrop to sprawl over, Kingdom is for those partial to a blood-pumping genre-meld with a gory imagination. Season 1 sees Crown Prince Lee Chang wrapped up in a political conspiracy, when he’s not investigating a mysterious plague. He’s swept up in a life or death thriller, with a dash of royal dynasty at stake.

The End of The F***ing World

NetflixIf you like your dark British humor, look no further than The End of The F***ing World. Psychopath James (Alex Lawther) comes up with a plan to kill Alyssa (Jessica Barden) while on the run from their lousy parents. But as they soar across the open road and commit a couple of violent crimes, their callous hearts soften and they develop feelings for one another. Surprising, fast-paced and surreal, both seasons of this deadpan teenager of a show, with its headphones pumping the best sad ’50s, ’60s and ’70s doo-wop, will blow you away.

 

2021
04/07
CATEGORY
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Vaccinated pregnant mothers pass antibodies to babies, research shows

A health worker administers a dose of the Pfizer-BioNtech COVID-19 vaccine to a pregnant woman in Tel Aviv, Israel on 23 January, 2021. (AFP via Getty Images)
A health worker administers a dose of the Pfizer-BioNtech COVID-19 vaccine to a pregnant woman in Tel Aviv, Israel on 23 January, 2021. (AFP via Getty Images)

Early research shows that vaccinated pregnant mothers pass on Covid-19 antibodies to their children via breastmilk and in utero.

Numerous preliminary studies show that pregnant women who got an mRNA vaccine, such as those from Pfizer or Moderna, had Covid-19 antibodies in their umbilical cord blood.

Another study found antibodies in breastmilk, meaning that some immunity could be transferred to children during pregnancy and after birth.

The vice-chair for obstetrics and quality at Duke University Brenna Hughes told The Washington Post that some not yet peer-reviewed papers are “the first to show what we had hoped would be true, which is that these vaccines could be potentially protective through antibodies passed on to the fetus”.

She added that “worries about possible risk and harm may be proven quite the opposite. In fact, it may be proven that the vaccines actually provide protection to the developing fetus”.

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A South Florida healthcare worker was vaccinated three weeks before giving birth to a girl with Covid-19 antibodies, CBS News reported.

Dr Paul Giblert and Dr Chad Rudnick wrote in a preprint study that “antibodies are detectable in a newborn’s cord blood sample after only a single dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine. Thus, there is potential for protection and infection risk reduction from Sars-CoV-2 with maternal vaccination”.

Researchers have previously shown that pregnant women who recover from the disease can pass on their natural immunity to their children.

One preprint, not yet peer-reviewed study examined 131 vaccinated women, 84 of whom were pregnant. The study showed that pregnant women had similar immune responses, and thus probably will get as much protection from the vaccine, as women who are not pregnant.

2021
03/22
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Video shows Perseverance rover’s dramatic Mars landing

Nasa has released stunning videos of its Perseverance rover landing on Mars.

The movies cover the final minutes of last week’s hair-raising descent, up to the point where the robot’s wheels make contact with the ground.

The sequences show a whirl of dust and grit being kicked up as the vehicle is lowered by its rocket backpack to the floor of Jezero Crater.

Perseverance was sent to Mars festooned with cameras, seven of which were dedicated to recording the landing.

Their imagery represents vital feedback for engineers as they look to improve still further the technologies used to put probes on the surface of the Red planet.

Mike Watkins, the director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in California, which is home to Nasa’s Mars mission control, said the spectacular videos were an example of the agency at its best.

“We have taken everyone along with us on our journeys across the Solar System, through the rings of Saturn, looking back at the ‘Pale Blue Dot’ and incredible panoramas on the surface of Mars. This is the first time we’ve been able to actually capture an event like the landing of a spacecraft on Mars,” he told reporters.

“We will learn something by looking at the performance of the vehicle in these videos. But a lot of it is also to bring you along on our journey.”

All the cameras employed in the descent and landing were off-the-shelf, ruggedised sports cameras, with next-to-no modifications.

  • Remarkable photo of Mars rover during landing
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Landing graphic
image captionEngineers want movies to better understand the dynamics of landing

The cameras were positioned to capture key hardware events – from the release of the supersonic parachute, through the jettisoning of the entry capsule’s heatshield and flight of the backpack, or “sky crane”, all the way through to touchdown and the backpack’s disposal.

This corresponded to roughly the final four minutes of the rover’s seven-minute descent to the surface.

“We collected a little over 30 gigabytes of information, and over 23,000 images of the vehicle descending down to the surface of Mars,” explained Dave Gruel, who led the camera effort at JPL.

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One of the three cameras looking up at the parachutes failed, but the other six cameras worked flawlessly. Nasa had hoped also to record the sound of the descent with a microphone, but unfortunately this didn’t succeed.

However, the team has managed to get a mic operating on the ground so there is the possibility of hearing Perseverance go about its exploration duties in the coming weeks. Already, the muffled sound of the wind in Jezero Crater has been played back.

Videos have been made at Mars before, but these were low frame-rate affairs – more what you might call “stop motion” action. The Perseverance offering on the other hand is simply jaw-dropping in its clarity and detail.

“It gives me goose bumps every time I see it – just amazing,” said Gruel.

Rover deck
IMAGE COPYRIGHTNASA/JPL-CALTECH
image captionThe mast has been raised and the main science cameras are now snapping the local terrain

Engineers at JPL continue the work of commissioning the robot.

At the weekend, Perseverance’s navigation mast, which had been stowed flat since leaving Earth last year, was raised into the vertical.

This allowed the main science cameras at the mast’s top, the Mastcam-Z system, to begin building a panorama of the surrounding terrain in Jezero and of the deck of the rover itself. The latter mosaic is wanted to look for any damage that might have been inflicted by flying stones at the time of landing.

Controllers will this week perform the critical task of transitioning Perseverance away from the software that got it safely down to the surface of Mars to one that enables the robot to rove and use equipment such as its robotic arm.

This is likely to take four Martian days, or Sols (a Martian day lasts 24 hours and 39 minutes). We might see a wheel wiggle and the first test drive of a few metres come the weekend.

Landing hardware
IMAGE COPYRIGHTNASA/JPL-CALTECH/UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA
image captionThe Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has identified the discarded descent and landing hardware

There’s huge interest in the mini-helicopter that travelled with the rover. The 2kg device will perform the first powered flight on another world.

But first Perseverance needs to find the right place to put this aircraft down to conduct its experiments. Mission planners said on Friday it would be a few weeks yet before the robot reached this chosen location, meaning it’s probably going to be April before Ingenuity, as the little chopper is known, takes to the skies.

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A 360-degree view of Jezero Crater made by the Perseverance rover

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A Nasa satellite, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, has already identified and photographed the discarded hardware from landing.

“The descent stage (backpack/sky crane) is about 700m away from where Perseverance is on the surface. The parachute is about 1.2km and the heatshield about 1.5km. And so it’s very exciting that we can see all these different components,” said Jessica Samuels, the Perseverance surface mission manager.

The robot’s landing spot is in a 1.2km by 1.2km quadrangle that the science team has informally called Canyon de Chelly after the National Monument in the US State of Arizona.

Artwork and reality
IMAGE COPYRIGHTNASA/JPL-CALTECH

Perseverance is sitting on a flat piece of ground at the boundary of two geologic units – a smooth unit under the wheels of the vehicle that contains what are likely to be dark volcanic rocks; and a rougher unit that has rocks with a lot of the mineral olivine in them.

About 2km to the northwest is what looks from satellite images to be the remains of a delta that formed when Jezero was filled by a giant lake billions of years ago.

Deltas are created when rivers enter a wider body of water and dump silt and sand. It’s in these sediments that Perseverance will look for signs of past microbial activity.

Perseverance
IMAGE COPYRIGHTNASA/JPL-CALTECH
image captionSeven instruments, multiple cameras, microphones and a big drill
media caption“Touchdown confirmed”: Watch the moment of landing

2021
02/23
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