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Tiago Splitter Gives His First Impression of Bulls' Matas Buzelis
New head coach Tiago Splitter wants to turn the Chicago Bulls into a winning team again. Developing the 6-foot-9, two-way playmaker would be a good start in achieving that goal.
Merchants of Doubt and the attacks on Extreme Event Attribution science
Last week, I attended a meeting at Columbia University on attribution science and climate law, hosted by the Sabin Center. It was a fantastic event, bringing together scientists and legal experts working at the intersection of extreme event attribution and climate law. Subscribe For those unfamiliar with it, extreme event attribution attempts to quantify the contribution of climate change to an extreme event. For example, several groups analyzed the impact of climate change on Hurricane Harvey’s enormous rainfall totals over Houston, Texas and they found that climate change increased rainfall by 15 to 38%. One thing that came up again and again was how terrified fossil-fuel interests are of extreme event attribution science. They are acutely aware that this research could land them in court. And losing those cases would leave them legally liable for billions of dollars in climate damages. Because the legal stakes are so high, the blowback has turned ugly. I spoke with several scientists at the meeting who are facing ongoing harassment over their work. This blowback is a coordinated campaign to make the entire field look suspect. The goal is to create the impression that attribution science is too uncertain, too political, or too conflicted to be useful in court or in public policy. The strategy is not based on actual science or evidence of misconduct, but on the generation of doubt. The new Merchants of Doubt We’ve seen this before. In fact, not that long ago: We only have to go back a year to the Department of Energy (DOE) Climate Working Group (CWG) report to see an example of using doubt as the tool to push back against well-established science. This strategy is laid out in an email from a member of the CWG, Dr. Roy Spencer, that was released during litigation over the Climate Working Group process. The key quote is: About all I can hope is that what we write will provide sufficient “reasonable scientific doubt” regarding the science claims in the 2009 TSD [technical support document], based upon almost 2 decades of new science, to call into question the original reasoning for the EPA Administrator’s decision that CO2 presents a threat to human health and welfare. This statement is strong evidence that at least some members of the committee were working to support a particular policy outcome: revoking the Endangerment Finding. The email also explains how they planned to do it: by attempting to generate “reasonable doubt”. This is going to be hard, Spencer implies. Despite falsely claiming that “2 decades of new science” weakens the case, Spencer explicitly acknowledges that the actual peer-reviewed science of climate change overwhelmingly rejects his position: But if the science argument is decided upon by a vote, or by the number of published citations, we lose the science argument. We can go back even further: This CWG email shares unmistakable DNA with the infamous 1969 tobacco memo that declared: “Doubt is our product, since it is the best means of competing with the ‘body of fact’ that exists in the mind of the general public. It is also the means of establishing a controversy.” The tobacco memo also acknowledges the limit of this strategy: Like the CWG, they knew the science was not on their side. Share The new new Merchants of Doubt The people attacking the IPCC chapter on extreme event attribution are the newest iteration of the Merchants of Doubt. Their goal, like all Merchants before them, is to introduce doubt into the process. Because the report is not even out yet, they cannot attack its conclusions. So they are attacking the authors instead. Here is a press release from the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee: In the letter, the Chairmen express concerns about potential conflicts of interest involving members of the Attribution Committee, stating that “publicly available information suggests a troubling pattern” in which committee members are affiliated with nonprofits that support climate accountability lawsuits, “raising the appearance of impropriety and member bias.” To be clear, this is just innuendo. There is no actual evidence of bias. And given the robust process that these reports go through, including multiple lines of peer review, it seems very unlikely that significant bias can survive into the report. When the report comes out, critics will have the opportunity to make legitimate criticisms of the report — if any exist. If none do, however, they’ll still make criticisms, but they’ll be bogus, simply designed to generate doubt. We’ll see. A note to the press: Fix your frame To any journalists reading this: The public debate over extreme event attribution science is not going away. The science is simply too dangerous to fossil-fuel interests for them to stop fighting it. You very well might be assigned to write an article about this area of research in the future. When you do, do not automatically adopt the framing that climate misinformers want you to use. They want you to frame the story around questions like: Are climate scientists trying to put their thumb on the scale to achieve a predetermined, politically motivated result? Are climate scientists improperly letting their politics invade the science of the IPCC? That frame is a trap. Instead, you need to view this through the historical lens of the Merchants of Doubt. How does the ecosystem of doubt operate? Who funds it? What methods do they use to misrepresent science and slime researchers? What scientific results are they trying to keep people from understanding are legitimate? Ultimately, you instead need to focus your article on the generation of doubt as a way to maintain the fossil fuel industry’s social and legal license to keep burning oil, gas, and coal. If you treat the misinformers’ frame as a legitimate, good-faith scientific critique, you are helping them produce doubt. Don’t do it. Don’t be a Merchant of Doubt. Thanks for reading The Climate Brink! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support our work. Subscribe other stuff The Staying Curious Substack has an interesting post about the different flavors of climate sensitivity. This is crucial information if you want to understand how scientists think about how much warming the Earth will experience. I’d be grateful if you could hit the like button ❤️ below! It helps more people discover these ideas and lets me know what’s connecting with readers.
Colts rookie garnering attention in minicamp, 'operating like a vet'
Cam Bynum shared his initial impressions of Colts' rookie safety AJ Haulcy following minicamp.
Riq Woolen already making strong impression on Eagles in spring
Free agent pickup Riq Woolen is just a handful of practices into his Eagles career but is already making a strong impression.
JWST Measures Mass Of Most Distant Dormant Black Hole – Shattering Previous Record By 15 Times
JWST and gravitational lensing allowed scientists to resolve an area in the distant universe equivalent to looking at a "coin on the surface of the Moon."
Former Viking GM Reacts to New Vikings GM Hire
New Vikings General Manager Nolan Teasley was asked at his introductory press conference Wednesday about his impressions of Vikings quarterbacks […]
The Obama Center opens as a time warp to an old political order
Despite a range of controversies, the Obama Presidential Center makes a good first impression — even the “Obamalisk” at its center.
The Star Of Star Fox On Switch 2 Is Its Multiplayer
I have never played the original Star Fox, nor any of its myriad remasters and remakes. Steve Watts, our All-Things Nintendo™ editor, was unfortunately, at the last minute, unable to attend our appointment to go hands-on with the game. As such, the responsibility of writing up preview impressions for the upcoming title fell to me,...
Fletcher made 'hugely positive impression' in Scotland training
The Fletcher family were due to go to the World Cup as fans this summer. The shock choice says everything about the professionalism, diligence and work ethic Fletcher has shown in training. Once there, Fletcher made a hugely positive impression on Scotland's coaches.
Makai Lemon makes great first impression with Eagles' coaches
Makai Lemon is taking care of business with the Eagles. Crucially, he is earning trust with the most important people in the building
Impression 5 Science Center
Impression 5 Science Center talks about the new Career Exploration Series, When I Grow Up!, starting this summer.
Can the new tubeless Chilipad 2.0 finally end your night sweats? Our first impressions of the $3,000 bed cooling system
I tested the Chilipad 2.0 mattress topper for a week. Its active cooling and comfortable design impressed me, but it lacks sleep tracking.
Stephen Colbert's final 'Late Show' airs Thursday. Here’s how other great late-night hosts said their goodbyes.
From Carson to Conan, there’s a long history of late-night television hosts leaving an unforgettable impression as they sign off for the last time.
Fitbit Air: 24 Hours Later First Impressions
Here's your first impressions of the Fitbit Air, and how it compares physically to Whoop 5.0/MG, Amazfit Helio, and the Polar Loop.
Guardiola's personal to-do list for Pulis
My first encounter with Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola was when I was with West Brom. It was early in Pep's first Premier League campaign, 2016-17, and Manchester City had just beaten us at home. As people will tell you, I forced him to eat with us too, while we discussed his early impressions of the Premier League and English football in general.
Boston-black-politics-opposition-Wu
I’m skeptical, but that’s certainly the impression being given by a group of longtime community activists waging a high-profile battle against City Hall.
Samsung will let you block apps that spam notifications with ads
Samsung has a new feature for Galaxy phones that gives users the ability to easily block apps that are spamming...
'SNL' cold open skewers 'incompetent' Kash Patel, Aziz Ansari stars
On "SNL," Aziz Ansari debuted an impression of FBI Director Kash Patel, who declared he is the "first Indian person to suck at their job."
Playing 007: First Light makes me wonder if it's actually possible to nail James Bond - but IOI has made a cracking attempt
Our impressions of 007: First Light after a multi-hour hands-on, and interview with the James Bond game's art director, IOI's Rasmus Poulsen.
OLED TVs have long trailed Mini LED in brightness, but Samsung's S95H narrows the gap
I measured the Samsung S95H at 2,780 nits, making it the brightest OLED TV I've tested. Here are my first-look impressions of its picture and design.
I've seen 90 minutes more of The Blood of Dawnwalker and I'm excited - could this be 2026's breakout RPG?
Our impressions from a lengthy demo of the dark fantasy vampire game's grisly, sophisticated prologue.
Report: Diego Pavia accepts invitation to Ravens rookie minicamp
Diego Pavia is getting a chance to make a positive impression.
Disco Elysium dev's highly-anticipated follow-up, Zero Parades: For Dead Spies, has things to say about our nostalgia
Our impressions from the first few hours of the Zero Parades: For Dead Spies demo, available now on Steam.
NFL prospects share their first impressions of Pittsburgh
The NFL’s next stars are here in Pittsburgh for the draft.
No Man's Sky Xeno Arena Update Channels Pokémon, Lets You Raise, Train and Battle the Alien Creatures Found Across the Universe
No Man’s Sky’s latest update, Xeno Arena, is doing its best Pokémon impression by letting you raise, train and battle the alien creatures found across the universe. Here's everything you need to know.
The war in Iran: is Trump ‘on the run’?
Despite giving the impression of diplomatic talks, the US president could be ‘playing for time’
What To Order At A Business Dinner, According To An Etiquette Expert
Business dinners are all about chatting to connections and making a good impression, so there are certain foods to avoid, according to an etiquette expert.
How magnetic is the moon? A new study cracks the long-standing mystery
Researchers believe rock samples taken from the Apollo missions gave scientists a misleading impression
Marathon has sold 1.2M copies across Steam, PS5, and Xbox
Alinea Analytics estimates show that Marathon has generated gross revenues of $55M via 1.2M copies sold on Steam, PS5, and Xbox: Looking at the split between Steam, PS5, and Xbox, Steam is clearly the main platform for Marathon, accounting for a little under 70% of the audience (800K copies sold). Meanwhile, PS5 takes about 19% (217K) and Xbox (including console, PC, and cloud) accounts for a bit over 11% or 133K. Marathon is technically a first-party Sony title, so seeing the home console struggle to break 20% of the volume is a notable data point for the ongoing platform-agnostic debate. PlayStation Studios online games will almost certainly continue being multiplatform (despite Sony reportedly pulling back on PC releases). Subscribe for free to get the most accurate games estimates in your inbox twice a week 🫶 Subscribe As for Marathon, the consensus among hardcore players who pushed through the awkward onboarding phase – myself included – is that it’s fantastic. The gunplay, aesthetic, and presentation are among the best in the shooter genre. A great game doesn’t always equal an immediate hit, though, as shown by our estimates. Things are looking lukewarm right now. But this might be one of those marathon-not-a-sprint situations. Had to, didn’t I? Why wasn’t Marathon a hit on the same level as Arc Raiders? One topic that came up in a lot of conversations at GDC this year was why Marathon hasn’t hit the same stratosphere as Arc Raiders. On paper, they’re both extraction shooters, and Marathon has the Bungie pedigree – the house that built the gold standard for gunplay in Halo and Destiny. Marathon’s neon-futuristic aesthetic also distinguishes itself from the gritty realism of Tarkov or the post-apocalyptic hope of ARC Raiders. But vibes can only get you so far for first impressions if the onboarding feels like a brick wall. Marathon is a sweaty PvP-focused experience with a first-time user experience and UI that I can only describe as dreadful. Players are dropped into a complex ecosystem where the UI, though visually striking, is functionally uninformative, forcing users to manually hover over nondescript, identical icons just to identify basic gear or weapon mods. This lack of clarity is compounded by punishing mechanics like a severe heat gauge for movement and a scarcity of vital resources, all without a clear tutorial or a low-stakes mode to learn the ropes. Most people – even top streamers and veteran shooter players – have no idea what’s going on in Marathon at first. Arc is on the complete other end of the spectrum. As we covered here and here, Arc Raiders offers a more collaborative, approachable loop where players often work together toward shared goals. And the objectives are instantly clear. To many players, this contrast only emphasised Marathon’s issues, especially during the testing period. Players understand the Arc Raiders loop within 30 minutes, while Marathon acts as a massive filter, chewing up newcomers and spitting them out before they can experience the depth of Bungie’s signature gunplay. What I’m getting at here is that the poor first-time user experience of Marathon’s Server Slam likely stifled launch sales, while the opposite was true for Arc. Let’s look at the pre-launch copies sold for each game during their respective Server Slams (launch-aligned) : Looking at the trajectory: Arc Raiders saw a massive 80% jump in copies sold during its three-day Server Slam (day -13 to -11). Players jumped in, realised the water was fine, and immediately opened their wallets. Marathon, meanwhile, saw a 49% increase in the four days following its Slam (Day -7 to -3). At the time of each game’s respective launch, Arc Raiders had nearly double the Steam footprint of Marathon – and word of mouth only continued to grow. Bungie could have had more time to fix the onboarding process had the beta happened earlier. But Marathon launched three days after the beta finished. These factors limited the launch sales quite a bit, I reckon. Marathon has found a niche audience, though Despite the friction-heavy start, the data suggests that those who survived Marathon’s onboarding are loving life. We’ve been tracking cross-platform DAUs, and while there’s the expected post-launch leakage, many players are sticking with it. After peaking at 478K total DAUs on its first Saturday, Marathon has settled into a respectable rhythm, holding 345K DAUs as of yesterday and averaging 380K DAUs across the weekend. Steam continues to do the heavy lifting here, consistently accounting for the lion’s share of the daily players. Players have been putting in the hours, too: On Steam, Marathon’s average playtime has climbed to 27.8 hours, significantly outpacing the console averages on PS5 (16.5h) and Xbox (17.3h). Even more telling than the averages: 22% of the Steam audience has surged past the 50-hour mark, and nearly 7% have already logged over 100 hours. Subscribe for free to get the most accurate games estimates in your inbox twice a week 🫶 Subscribe This data suggests that once the Bungie magic clicks, it hooks players deeper than the average extraction shooter. There’s also started to be a shift in the game’s discourse. Marathon launched as one of those games that’s cool to hate. But as Marathon’s 100-hour club grows, we’re seeing conversations around its mechanical merit outweigh the negativity. Several high-profile creators, who were initially vocal critics, have spent the last week coming around on the mechanical depth of the endgame. It’s a subtle but positive signal; the hate train is losing steam, and a new narrative about the game is emerging. Bungie faithfuls unite Another interesting metric in Marathon’s first few weeks is who, exactly, is playing. Bungie leans heavily on its prestige as the “makers of Halo and Destiny,” in its marketing, and that message has clearly hit the mark. On Steam, the gravity (hammer) of Bungie’s previous work is unavoidable. A staggering 78.2% of Marathon players also played Destiny 2. The trend carries across other platforms, with 74.2% of PS5 players and 82.7% of Xbox players also having played Destiny 2. The Halo legacy lives on, it seems. More on that in a bit. While Destiny 2 went free to play, these numbers still represent a high-intent migration of a fanbase that trusts Bungie’s specific brand of kinetic gunplay and cryptic world-building. The Xbox data adds another layer of legacy. About 85.7% of Marathon players on Xbox have played Halo Infinite, while over half of the Steam audience has spent time in Halo Infinite and 36.1% in the Master Chief Collection (a paid collection of the old Bungie-made legacy games). Interestingly, we see a 55.9% overlap with ARC Raiders on Steam. Overlap is even higher there on PlayStation (60.5%) and Xbox (66.5%). And there’s also significant crossover with Helldivers 2 on all platforms, too. Subscribe for free to get the most accurate games estimates in your inbox twice a week 🫶 Subscribe Bungie has found some of its fans with Marathon, and the challenge now is keeping this engaged in a high-stakes PvP environment when they’ve spent the last decade primarily enjoying the power fantasies of PvE. On that note… Go the full 26 miles? Or cut and run? Time for some could’ve, should’ve, would’ve. These things would have improved Marathon’s performance at launch: A more robust onboarding process, perhaps in the form of a short single-player/PvE campaign. We know Bungie fans love this stuff. A traditional arena-based mode akin to Destiny’s Crucible could have been a bridge for the cautious players who’d have been otherwise deterred by the Server Slam. It’s also a great palate cleanser after getting merked. Introducing a dedicated PvE environment would have similarly diversified the conversation and lowered the barrier for the Bungie faithful who found the pure PvP extraction loop too abrasive. PvE is safer than PvP these days. There’s an argument that a thin PvE mode would have just felt like a budget Destiny, potentially hurting the brand more. But given how dire the FTUE is, I think it would have been a net positive. Any kind of tutorialised loop that demystifies the stakes, really. While there is merit in a studio sticking firmly to a singular creative vision, and going all in on the hardcore extraction loop. Less forgiving is the technical reality is that the user interface and first-time user experience (FTUE) were not at a commercial standard for launch. Subscribe for free to get the most accurate games estimates in your inbox twice a week 🫶 Subscribe In a landscape where player time is oversaturated and the most contested currency, a flawed FTUE is a critical failure point. But it’s not all doom and gloom, as Marathon has an incredible, unique gameplay loop, suggesting that financial success is still attainable if Bungie can pivot effectively. Bungie and PlayStation now face a difficult strategic crossroads, though – one within a challenging games market. They could: Double down on Marathon with a long-term Rainbow Six Siege- or No Man’s Sky-style recovery plan, which is something I heard Last Stand Media’s Chris Maldonado mention last week. While this could be a sunk-cost fallacy in action, it could eventually yield the audience the game’s mechanical depth deserves. Shift focus toward the inevitable Destiny 3 or another project, mitigating the escalating opportunity cost and cutting their losses, so to speak. Doing both is an expensive proposition, given the high overhead and burn rate of operating out of Bellevue, Washington. With Sony recently demonstrating a lower threshold for underperforming studios and projects, the margin for error has vanished. Whatever happens, the next six months will determine whether Marathon becomes a cornerstone of Sony’s live-service portfolio or a cautionary tale of vision exceeding accessibility. I’m hoping it’s the former, because Marathon rocks. As always, hit subscribe to get updates on Marathon and other relevant games. Subscribe Want to get your hands on our data for yourself – for free? We’re offering a free trial of our platform for games companies. Send us a message here, or reply to this email, and we’ll set you up. The last word Reply to this email – or reach out here – if you have any feedback for the newsletter – or want to request a game for us to cover. [Alinea Analytics boasts the most accurate PC and console estimates in the business. Game makers use our platform to understand their audience, keep an eye on the competition, monitor sales trends, and spot new opportunities. We equip game studios and financial institutions with accurate data and the confidence to make smarter, data-driven decisions. Want to talk about all things games market data? We’d love to chat!]
Chris Weidner: Climbing past the politics: the Iran I remember
Our first impression of Tehran was overwhelming. From the hillside beneath the Alborz Mountains we looked upon a sea of mostly white buildings — a metropolis home to more than 8 million people. Down there, thick pollution stung my eyes and …
CERN Discovers New Particle After Upgrading Large Hadron Collider
The proton's doubly charming cousin.
CERN Discovers New Particle After Upgrading Large Hadron Collider
The proton's doubly charming cousin.
Slay the Spire 2 is a bit too familiar for its own good
Early Access impressions: New characters shine, but it feels like we've done this before.
Paul Dano: ‘The sad thing about seeing celebrities get into politics is that it shows how impressionable we are’
Every generation needs an actor who fits into roles that are out of the ordinary. In ‘The Wizard of the Kremlin,’ Dano proves, once again, that he’s the man for the moment
Bungie ask Marathon critics to delay "full reviews" till the release of an endgame zone, and I am wistfully reminded of Vault of Glass
Bungie suggest that Marathon reviewers "hold your full review and impressions until you play Cryo Archive, Marathon's pinnacle endgame zone and experience".
iPhone 17e hands-on: Pretty in pink, with portraits enabled
Our first impressions of the new iPhone 17e.
Impression 5 Science Center's LEGO Palooza fundraiser supports hands-on learning for kids
Thousands of LEGO bricks came together over the weekend at Impression 5 Science Center in Lansing for the annual LEGO Palooza fundraiser.
Dante Nori headlines Phillies' farmhands to know in Clearwater
Several Phillies prospects are worth tracking this spring as the next wave of Philadelphia talent makes an impression.
Roundup: Here's What The First Reviews / Impressions Say About The Marathon Server Slam
What do you think of it?
Business Restructuring Review
In This Issue: The Year in Bankruptcy: 2025 A brief chronicle of the year's notable developments in corporate bankruptcy and restructuring, including business bankruptcy filings, significant court rulings, and legislative developments. [read more …] U.S. Bankruptcy Court Denies Chapter 15 Recognition of Maltese Liquidation Absent Evidence of Meaningful Activities Supporting Finding of COMI or Establishment in Malta In In re Geden Holdings, Ltd., No. 25-90138, 2025 WL 2484883 (Bankr. S.D. Tex. Aug. 28, 2025), stay pending appeal denied, No. 25-90138, 2026 WL 97993 (Bankr. S.D. Tex. Jan. 13, 2026), the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas ruled that, for purposes of recognition under chapter 15 of the Bankruptcy Code, although a foreign debtor may have had its center of main interests ("COMI") or an establishment in Malta when a liquidation proceeding was commenced for it in a Maltese court in 2017, the absence of any meaningful activity by the debtor's liquidator from that time until the liquidator filed a chapter 15 petition in the United States more than five years later meant that the debtor had neither a COMI nor an establishment in Malta on the chapter 15 petition date. The court accordingly denied the petition for recognition. [read more …] The Ninth Circuit's Expansive Reading of "Financial Accommodations" that Cannot Be Assumed or Assigned in Bankruptcy It is generally well understood that agreements to extend credit or provide financing to a debtor cannot be assumed or assigned in bankruptcy. Even so, the provision of the Bankruptcy Code that precludes assumption or assignment—section 365(c)(2)—also extends to "financial accommodations," a term that is not defined in the Bankruptcy Code and has been the subject of relatively few bankruptcy and appellate court rulings. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit examined the meaning of the term in In re Svenhard's Swedish Bakery, 154 F.4th 1100 (9th Cir. 2025). The court of appeals ruled that a deeply discounted settlement of pension plan withdrawal liability is a "financial accommodation" that cannot be assumed or assigned, thereby extending the reach of section 365(c)(2) well beyond conventional lending arrangements. [read more …] Pennsylvania District Court Applies "Hypothetical Test" in Determining that Patent License Agreement Is Assignable in Bankruptcy In Crivella Holdings Ltd. v. Mesearch Media Technologies Ltd., No. 2:25-cv-333, 2025 WL 2443400 (W.D. Pa. Aug. 25, 2025), the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania affirmed a bankruptcy court ruling denying a software licensor's motion for relief from the automatic stay to terminate the license agreement. The court found the license was assumable in bankruptcy under the Third Circuit's hypothetical test as a result of language in the agreement stating that it could be assigned to a "successor in interest" of the debtor without the licensor's further consent, thereby overriding federal patent law's general prohibition against the assignment of patents. [read more …] New York Bankruptcy Court Denies Motion to Terminate Chapter 15 Recognition and Dismiss Chapter 15 Case In In re Oi S.A., No. 23-10193 (LGB), 2025 WL 2806591 (Bankr. S.D.N.Y. Oct. 1, 2025), the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York considered whether chapter 15 recognition of a debtor's Brazilian restructuring proceeding should be terminated and the case dismissed due to the debtors' financial deterioration and inability to satisfy its restructuring plan obligations after entry of the recognition order. The court denied the motion, concluding that recognition of the Brazilian proceeding and a court-approved restructuring plan for the debtors should not be terminated under section 1519(d) of the Bankruptcy Code—according to the court, the sole authority for revocation of chapter 15 recognition—because, among other things, the restructuring proceeding was still pending, the debtors might still need relief authorized under chapter 15, and the debtors' prospects for reorganizing under a hypothetical chapter 11 case were uncertain at best. It also found that no provision of the Bankruptcy Code authorizes the dismissal of a chapter 15 case. [read more …] Newsworthy Effective January 1, 2026, Jones Day welcomed Isel M. Perez (Miami), Andrew M. Butler (New York), Sid Pepels (Amsterdam), and Anna C. Bretting (Munich) to the partnership in the Business Restructuring & Reorganization Practice. Sid Pepels (Amsterdam) has been nominated for the Future Leader Award by the Global Restructuring Review, an organization that acknowledges and honors excellence within the global restructuring and insolvency sector. This award is designed to recognize exceptional contributions made by both individuals and firms in the field. The 2026 edition of Chambers UK recognized Ben Larkin (London) in the practice area Restructuring/Insolvency and Adam R. Brown (London) in the practice area Restructuring/Insolvency: Litigation. The 2026 edition of Chambers Asia-Pacific ranked Roger Dobson (Sydney) in the practice area Restructuring/Insolvency. An article written by Corinne Ball (New York) titled "Backstop Fees for Lenders in Chapter 11 Plans: Absent Market Test, Equality of Treatment Now Required in Fifth Circuit After 'ConvergeOne'" was published on November 12, 2025, in the New York Law Journal. An article written by Oliver S. Zeltner (Houston) titled "Delaware Bankruptcy Court: No Legal Authority for Chapter 11 Plan Gatekeeping Provision" was published on November 20, 2025, by Lexis Practical Guidance. An article written by Daniel J. Merrett (Atlanta) titled "First Impressions: Eleventh Circuit Rules that Annulment of Automatic Stay Does Not Violate U.S. Supreme Court's Prohibition of Nunc Pro Tunc Orders" was published on November 21, 2025, by Lexis Practical Guidance. An article written by Genna Ghaul (New York) titled "Iowa District Court: Avoidance Claims Cannot Be Encumbered by Pre-Bankruptcy Liens" was published on November 20, 2025, by Lexis Practical Guidance. An article written by Dan T. Moss (Washington/New York), Corinne Ball (New York), David S. Torborg (Washington), and Ben Rosenblum (New York) titled "New York Bankruptcy Court Rejects Challenge to Barnet Rule Permitting Foreign Debtors to Obtain Chapter 15 Recognition With Only Minimal U.S. Assets" was published on November 21, 2025, by Lexis Practical Guidance. The M&A Advisor has recognized the Silvergate Capital Corporation Bankruptcy case as the Chapter 11 Reorganization of the Year (over $5 billion) during its 20th Annual Turnaround Awards. Jones Day is listed among the professionals for the representation of Exploration Capital, which was led by Joshua M. Mester (Los Angeles). Lawyer Spotlight: Sid Pepels Sid Pepels, a partner in Jones Day's Amsterdam Office, litigates and advises clients on commercial and international insolvency matters, with a focus on complex restructurings and insolvencies. He has advised and litigated high-profile cases, including: the cross-border WHOA (Wet Homologatie Onderhands Akkoord) proceedings concerning Vroon Group and Diebold Nixdorf; proceedings on behalf of expropriated SNS Reaal bond holders against the Dutch State; the bankruptcy of Intertoys, the leading Dutch toys retailer; the restructuring of Oi, the Dutch finance vehicle of the Brazilian telecom giant; and Blokker, the leading Dutch home appliances retailer. Sid holds a Ph.D. in European insolvency law and regularly publishes in academic journals on topics of cross-border insolvency. He has been recognized in The Legal 500 Netherlands and was noted by his peers for being client-minded and a creative thinker with a "strong grasp of the law and strong interpersonal skills." Sid was also nominated for the "Future Leader" award at the Global Restructuring Review Awards 2025. He is a board member for the Netherlands Association for Comparative and International Insolvency Law and a NextGen member of the International Insolvency Institute.
'Romeo Is A Dead Man' Receives Wide Range Of Review Scores, Hits Xbox This Wednesday
Impressions are all over the place
Is a kiss just a kiss? Exploring the art and science behind smooches
A single kiss can leave a lasting impression, whether it's in real life or on the silver screen. But why, exactly?
'Love Boat' star Ted Lange says famous guest star refused to shake his hand: 'Who does that to anybody?'
Bad first impressions last a lifetime — just ask 'The Love Boat' star Ted Lange, who has never forgotten a famous guest star on the show who refused to shake his hand.
Sunderland’s Comeback Win & City Revival: A Perfect Afternoon
As I headed home, I was left with one overriding impression – Sunderland AFC and the city the club calls home are marching together in lockstep towards a long-overdue renaissance in their fortunes.
Impression Entertainment Signs ‘Heated Rivalry’s François Arnaud
'Heated Rivalry's François Arnaud has inked with Impression Entertainment for management, Deadline has learned.
First impressions on Nokia’s Technology Standards business
I’ve admired Nokia’s IPR business for a long-time, and now I have had the chance to take a look under the hood.
The disunity of science is a feature, not a bug
Mathematical models wield miraculous power, but mistaking them for reality has trapped science in a destructive quest for a “Theory of Everything.” Physicist and philosopher Ragner Fjelland argues that this leads to bloated, Frankenstein theories kept alive by clumsy, ad-hoc amendments, which reduce rather than boost science’s power. Fjelland calls for a radical shift in our attitude: we must reorientate towards creating entirely new theories, celebrating rather than lamenting disunity and diversity in science. Science, from the scientific revolution in the seventeenth century to the present day, has more or less developed in a “reductionist” way. The fundamental assumption is that all sciences may be ordered in a hierarchy that can be represented as an upside-down pyramid. At the top we find the human sciences, and at the bottom physics. Strong (or “ontological”) reductionism maintains that all theories at one level can be completely reduced to the lower level, all the way down to theories of atoms and elementary particles, or whatever is “at the bottom.” In the end, all diversity in the world can be unified in one fundamental theory. Hence it is called a final theory, or a Theory of Everything.One of the central figures in developing the idea of a Theory of Everything is the Dutch theoretical physicist Gerard 't Hooft, who received a Nobel Prize in physics in 1999 for his work. He emphasizes the non-empirical status of the theory:There exists no closely resembling alternative theory. This means that any slight change brought about in the rules would make the theory unlikely or inelegant. The theory will be a "package deal": take it, or leave it. This should hold both for the local laws and for the boundary conditions.This endeavor is not new. On the contrary, it goes all the way back to the birth of Western philosophy 2,500 years ago. The Babylonians made regular astronomical observations during a period of 600 years, from 747 BCE until 150 ACE. They developed mathematical techniques to predict astronomical phenomena, but they made no attempts at explaining them. However, the Greeks developed models, both material and theoretical, to explain the observed phenomena.The best example is Plato’s late dialogue Timaeus. Here he introduces a divine craftsman, the Demiurge, who has constructed the universe according to an original plan. Plato seems to have thought that the original plan is what is actually real, while the material world is merely an imperfect realization of it. He therefore does not, in the Timaeus, reconstruct the material universe, but the original plan, which can then be used to explain the material universe.Plato’s aim in producing a theoretical model is to reconstruct the original plan. That is what he carries out in Timaeus—and some modern physicists have embarked on the same project. For example, Einstein’s basic attitude is reflected in the title of Abraham Pais’ biography: “Subtle is the Lord...,” echoing Einstein’s comment, “Subtle is the Lord, but malicious He is not.” In an interview Einstein compared our situation to a child who enters a huge library. The child knows that someone has written the books, but he does not know the languages in which they are written. He suspects that there is a mysterious order, but he does not know what it is.___“We have all been working in what Husserl called the Galilean style; that is, we have all been making abstract mathematical models of the universe to which at least the physicists give a higher degree of reality than they accord the ordinary world of sensation.”Steven Weinberg, Nobel Prize in Physics (1979)___This Platonist view is contrary to a widespread impression of science, symbolized by the picture of the “father” of modern science, Galileo Galilei, with his telescope. According to this impression, Galileo liberated himself from the dominating metaphysics of his day—basically Aristotelian philosophy—and constructed a telescope that he directed towards the sky, showing that Jupiter has four moons. He also performed experiments with bronze balls rolling down inclined planes and found the law of freely falling bodies.However, in other cases Galileo emphasized the unreliability of our senses. It is easy to see why. He defended Copernicus’ heliocentric hypothesis. According to this hypothesis, we are not at rest at the center of the universe, but moving at a tremendous speed through space. Why don’t we observe this motion? Galileo praises Copernicus because “with reason as his guide he resolutely continued to affirm what sensible experience seemed to contradict.” In other places he directly refers to Plato. SUGGESTED VIEWING The quest for a final theory With Michio Kaku Galileo’s Platonism goes back to his early writings. In The Assayer, published as early as 1623, Galileo compared the universe to a grand book that is written in the language of mathematics, and “its characters are triangles, circles, and other geometric figures without which it is humanly impossible to understand a single word of it.” Therefore, things that cannot be described by mathematics—for example, colors, smells and odors—are not real. They are merely subjective.This division into subjective and objective, advocated by Galileo and his younger contemporary René Descartes, is normally associated with a mechanistic world view, which is regarded as the opposite of Platonism. When we reduce something to, for example, molecules and atoms, we move “downwards.” In contrast, the Platonist moves “upwards,” to abstract entities. However, it only shows that when we address fundamental questions, we should be careful in applying everyday spatial metaphors like “up” and “down.”___Nature is complex, and we cannot in general construct mathematical models that adequately describe the world.___The endeavor of finding a Theory of Everything has been heavily criticized. In 2006, the theoretical physicist Lee Smolin published “The Crisis in Fundamental Physics.” He argued that one of the most fundamental principles of science is that we should only regard theories as scientific if we have the possibility to show that they are false by experiments. Although he did not refer to Karl Popper, other critics have referred to Popper and argued that a theory is not scientific if it cannot be falsified (see for example Ellis & Silk 2014).These were not the first physicists to be anti-reductionists. In 1972, the journal Science published an article by the physicist Philip Anderson with the title “More Is Different.” This is the kind of article a scientist would normally write only after he has won a Nobel Prize. However, Anderson won the Nobel Prize for physics five years later, in 1977. The article is amazing, not primarily because it argues in favor of anti-reductionism in general, but because it argues for anti-reductionism within physics itself. Anderson’s conclusion was:At each stage entirely new laws, concepts, and generalizations are necessary, requiring inspiration and creativity to just as great a degree as in the previous one. Psychology is not applied biology, nor is biology applied chemistry.We may say that Plato started the “unity of science movement,” based on Euclidean geometry as the model of all knowledge. A distinguishing mark of geometry is that all possible constructions can be reduced to a few fundamental principles. We have to acknowledge that this approach has limitations. In general, we can easily model technological systems. In addition, we may construct simplified and idealized models that capture important aspects of systems, from various perspectives and for various purposes. But nature is complex, and we cannot in general construct mathematical models that adequately describe the world. In a complex system, each level has its distinct, emergent, properties that are characteristic of this level. Therefore, a complex system should be investigated at different levels and from different perspectives. Instead of exclusively pursuing a scientific ideal based on the unity of science, we should acknowledge the diversity—or even the disunity—of science.
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