News of the day

What happened

Shares of ((( CBS NYSE:CBS) gained last month as the broadcaster reported better-than-expected profits in its third-quarter earnings report and investors anticipated the now-completed merger with Viacom NASDAQ:VIA) NASDAQ:VIAB). According to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence, the stock finished November up 12%.

As the chart below shows, the stock gained throughout the month except for a temporary setback after its earnings report came out.

So what

Coming into November, CBS’s merger with Viacom was on track to close in early December, and over the course of the month it made a number of updates on the deal. Those included its executive leadership team, that ViacomCBS (the new name of the combined companies) would be listed on the Nasdaq exchange, and that the expected closing date was Dec. 4.

During a time of rapid transition and consolidation in media — with Disney acquiring the entertainment assets of Fox, AT&T acquiring Time Warner, and Discovery taking over Scripps Networks — investors seem to think both CBS and Viacom could use a dance partner. As ViacomCBS, the two companies will have more content to offer streaming subscribers and can eliminate overhead costs.

In its final earnings report as a stand-alone company, CBS said revenue ticked up 1% to $3.3 billion, missing estimates at $3.36 billion, as a dispute with AT&T weighed on ad sales. But the company also said direct-to-consumer revenue from its streaming services grew 39%. Adjusted earnings per share fell 23% to $0.95 as the company invested in its streaming services, but that still beat estimates at $0.92.

Now what

In its final trading day before the merger with Viacom, CBS gained 3.6%, a further sign of optimism for the deal. The stock fell initially when the deal was announced in August, but investor sentiment may have changed since then, especially after the smashing launch of Disney+ last month showed how fast the industry is moving to streaming. Expect ViacomCBS to move quickly in strengthening its streaming services and cutting costs now that the merger is complete.

…read more

Source:: Daily Times

West Ham United boss Manuel Pellegrin hopes duo of Michail Antonio and Robert Snodgrass will be available for selection when they take on Arsenal on Monday night.

West Ham will play their third London derby in four games as they host Arsenal at the London Olympic Stadium on Monday night in a Premier League clash. And Pellegrini, who rested Antonio and in Wolves 2-0 defeat says he could be available for selection.

“It was a risk for Antonio to play this game. He was not able to play but I hope he will be recovered for Monday,” he said after Wednesday’s match.

On Snodgrass

“I think he’ll be fine. We will see on Thursday, he had a big kick to his chin but hopefully, he will be OK.”

Antonio, who was one of West Ham’s best players in the 1-0 win at Stamford Bridge on Saturday was badly missed as West ham succumbed to a seventh Premier League defeat of the season.

He was replaced by club-record signing Sebastian Haller who once again struggled to have an impact and has now gone 12 games without scoring.

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Source:: Daily Times

Whether or not humans will colonize Mars in the near future is no longer a matter of debate.

But what’s a lot less certain is exactly how we’ll pull it off.

There’s a good deal of skepticism about the merits of breaching this next space frontier in the scientific and commercial communities alike. And with good reason: On our own planet, the world is burning (literally in California, the Amazon, and Indonesia to name a few current locations), our ice caps are melting, and around the globe species are dying out.

This is all to say, there are plenty of problems on Earth that need fixing before we imprint ourselves on another planet. Should we really be spending money and resources on space exploration when we haven’t adequately addressed our own terrestrial crises?

And, is colonizing another planet really the answer to the potential extinction of our own?

Our Mars checklist

The motivational psychology theory of Maslow’s hierarchy of human needs (air, water, food, shelter, sleep, clothing, and reproduction) offers a useful Mars/Earth comparison framework:

Air

Mars: We need a solution for creating breathable air, similar to what’s used on the International Space Station (ISS) or potentially even using Mars’ atmosphere. MOXIE, or the “Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment,” is part of NASA’s Mars 2020 Mission to see if we can use the planet’s thin carbon dioxide atmosphere to manufacture oxygen.

Earth: Abundant (but becoming polluted).

Water

Mars: We need to extract water that is currently frozen on the surface, through the use of either drilling extractors or microwave vaporizes. This has been tested on Earth but never on Mars.

Earth: Abundant (but becoming contaminated).

Food

Mars: We need solutions for artificial sunlight that can help grow plants, as well as soil supplements that can help make Martian soil hospitable for Earth-based plants. Concurrently, we will require farming structures that can absorb and release excess oxygen from plants. The director of Utah State University’s Plants, Soils, and Climate department, Bruce Bugbee, is currently researching this and has successfully farmed lettuce in space.

Earth: Abundant (but becoming contaminated).

Shelter

Mars: We need to create specialized habitats that are able to withstand radiation, create an Earth-like gravitational environment, and provide a sense of home. NASA is allocating $30 million over the next five years to Habitats Optimized for Missions of Exploration ( HOME) and Purdue University’s Resilient ExtraTerrestrial Habitats Institute ( RETH) to look into this challenge.

Earth: Abundant (but easily destroyed by heightening natural disasters brought on by …read more

Source:: Daily Times