The Nintendo Switch[a] is a video game console developed by Nintendo, released on March 3, 2017. It is a hybrid console that can be used as a stationary and portable device. Its wireless Joy-Con controllers, with standard buttons and directional analog sticks for user input, motion sensing, and tactile feedback, can attach to both sides of the console to support handheld-style play. They can also connect to a Grip accessory to provide a traditional home console gamepad form, or be used individually in the hand like the Wii Remote and Nunchuk, supporting local multiplayer modes. The Nintendo Switch's software supports online gaming through Internet connectivity, as well as local wireless ad hoc connectivity with other Switch consoles. Nintendo Switch games and software are available on both physical flash-based ROM cartridges and digital distribution via Nintendo eShop; the system does not use region locking. As an eighth-generation console, the Nintendo Switch competes with Microsoft's Xbox One and Sony's PlayStation 4.
Known in development by its codename NX, the concept of the Switch came about as Nintendo's reaction to several quarters of financial losses into 2014, attributed to poor sales of its previous console, the Wii U, and market competition from mobile gaming. Nintendo's then-president Satoru Iwata pushed the company towards mobile gaming and novel hardware. The Nintendo Switch's design is aimed at a wide demographic of video game players through the multiple modes of use. Nintendo opted to use more standard electronic components, such as a chipset based on Nvidia's Tegra line, to make development for the console easier for programmers and more compatible with existing game engines. As the Wii U had struggled to gain external support, leaving it with a weak software library, Nintendo preemptively sought the support of many third-party developers and publishers to help build out the Switch's game library alongside Nintendo's own first-party titles, including many independent video game studios. While Nintendo initially anticipated around 100 titles for its first year, over 320 titles from first-party, third-party, and independent developers were released by the end of 2017.
The Nintendo Switch was unveiled in October 2016 and was released in most areas worldwide on March 3, 2017.[b] The console shipped nearly three million in the first month of its launch, exceeding Nintendo's initial projection of two million, and within a year of release achieved over 14 million units sold worldwide, outselling total lifetime sales of the Wii U. By the start of 2018, the Switch became the fastest-selling home console in both Japan and the United States. As of September 2019, the Nintendo Switch has sold more than 41 million units worldwide.[3] Switch sales have been strongly tied to sales of Nintendo's first-party titles, with five games, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Super Mario Odyssey, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, and Pokémon: Let's Go having sold over ten million units each. A handheld-focused revision of the system, called the Nintendo Switch Lite, was released on September 20, 2019.
Known in development by its codename NX, the concept of the Switch came about as Nintendo's reaction to several quarters of financial losses into 2014, attributed to poor sales of its previous console, the Wii U, and market competition from mobile gaming. Nintendo's then-president Satoru Iwata pushed the company towards mobile gaming and novel hardware. The Nintendo Switch's design is aimed at a wide demographic of video game players through the multiple modes of use. Nintendo opted to use more standard electronic components, such as a chipset based on Nvidia's Tegra line, to make development for the console easier for programmers and more compatible with existing game engines. As the Wii U had struggled to gain external support, leaving it with a weak software library, Nintendo preemptively sought the support of many third-party developers and publishers to help build out the Switch's game library alongside Nintendo's own first-party titles, including many independent video game studios. While Nintendo initially anticipated around 100 titles for its first year, over 320 titles from first-party, third-party, and independent developers were released by the end of 2017.
The Nintendo Switch was unveiled in October 2016 and was released in most areas worldwide on March 3, 2017.[b] The console shipped nearly three million in the first month of its launch, exceeding Nintendo's initial projection of two million, and within a year of release achieved over 14 million units sold worldwide, outselling total lifetime sales of the Wii U. By the start of 2018, the Switch became the fastest-selling home console in both Japan and the United States. As of September 2019, the Nintendo Switch has sold more than 41 million units worldwide.[3] Switch sales have been strongly tied to sales of Nintendo's first-party titles, with five games, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Super Mario Odyssey, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, and Pokémon: Let's Go having sold over ten million units each. A handheld-focused revision of the system, called the Nintendo Switch Lite, was released on September 20, 2019.
Chess is a two-player strategy board game played on a checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an 8×8 grid.[1] The game is played by millions of people worldwide. Chess is believed to be derived from the Indian game chaturanga sometime before the 7th century. Chaturanga is also the likely ancestor of the Eastern strategy games xiangqi (Chinese chess), janggi (Korean chess), and shogi (Japanese chess). Chess reached Europe by the 9th century, due to the Umayyad conquest of Hispania. The pieces assumed their current powers in Spain in the late 15th century; the modern rules were standardized in the 19th century.
Play involves no hidden information. Each player begins with 16 pieces: one king, one queen, two rooks, two knights, two bishops, and eight pawns. Each piece type moves differently, with the most powerful being the queen and the least powerful the pawn. The objective is to checkmate[note 1] the opponent's king by placing it under an inescapable threat of capture. To this end, a player's pieces are used to attack and capture the opponent's pieces, while supporting each other. During the game, play typically involves exchanging pieces for the opponent's similar pieces, and finding and engineering opportunities to trade advantageously or to get a better position. In addition to checkmate, a player wins the game if the opponent resigns, or, in a timed game, runs out of time. There are also several ways that a game can end in a draw.
The first generally recognized World Chess Champion, Wilhelm Steinitz, claimed his title in 1886. Since 1948, the World Championship has been regulated by the Fédération Internationale des Échecs (FIDE), the game's international governing body. FIDE also awards life-time master titles to skilled players, the highest of which is Grandmaster (GM). Many national chess organizations have a title system of their own. FIDE also organizes the Women's World Championship, the World Junior Championship, the World Senior Championship, the Blitz and Rapid World Championships, and the Chess Olympiad, a popular competition among international teams. FIDE is a member of the International Olympic Committee, which can be considered recognition of chess as a sport.[3] Several national sporting bodies (e.g. the Spanish Consejo Superior de Deportes[4]) also recognize chess as a sport. Chess was included in the 2006 and 2010 Asian Games. There is also a Correspondence Chess World Championship and a World Computer Chess Championship. Online chess has opened amateur and professional competition to a wide and varied group of players.
Since the second half of the 20th century, chess engines have been programmed to play with increasing success, to the point where the strongest programs play at a higher level than the best human players. Since the 1990s, computer analysis has contributed significantly to chess theory, particularly in the endgame. The IBM computer Deep Blue was the first machine to overcome a reigning World Chess Champion in a match when it defeated Garry Kasparov in 1997. The rise of strong chess engines runnable on hand-held devices has led to increasing concern about cheating during tournaments.
There are many variants of chess that utilize different rules, pieces, or boards. One of these, Fischer Random Chess, has gained widespread popularity and official FIDE recognition.
Play involves no hidden information. Each player begins with 16 pieces: one king, one queen, two rooks, two knights, two bishops, and eight pawns. Each piece type moves differently, with the most powerful being the queen and the least powerful the pawn. The objective is to checkmate[note 1] the opponent's king by placing it under an inescapable threat of capture. To this end, a player's pieces are used to attack and capture the opponent's pieces, while supporting each other. During the game, play typically involves exchanging pieces for the opponent's similar pieces, and finding and engineering opportunities to trade advantageously or to get a better position. In addition to checkmate, a player wins the game if the opponent resigns, or, in a timed game, runs out of time. There are also several ways that a game can end in a draw.
The first generally recognized World Chess Champion, Wilhelm Steinitz, claimed his title in 1886. Since 1948, the World Championship has been regulated by the Fédération Internationale des Échecs (FIDE), the game's international governing body. FIDE also awards life-time master titles to skilled players, the highest of which is Grandmaster (GM). Many national chess organizations have a title system of their own. FIDE also organizes the Women's World Championship, the World Junior Championship, the World Senior Championship, the Blitz and Rapid World Championships, and the Chess Olympiad, a popular competition among international teams. FIDE is a member of the International Olympic Committee, which can be considered recognition of chess as a sport.[3] Several national sporting bodies (e.g. the Spanish Consejo Superior de Deportes[4]) also recognize chess as a sport. Chess was included in the 2006 and 2010 Asian Games. There is also a Correspondence Chess World Championship and a World Computer Chess Championship. Online chess has opened amateur and professional competition to a wide and varied group of players.
Since the second half of the 20th century, chess engines have been programmed to play with increasing success, to the point where the strongest programs play at a higher level than the best human players. Since the 1990s, computer analysis has contributed significantly to chess theory, particularly in the endgame. The IBM computer Deep Blue was the first machine to overcome a reigning World Chess Champion in a match when it defeated Garry Kasparov in 1997. The rise of strong chess engines runnable on hand-held devices has led to increasing concern about cheating during tournaments.
There are many variants of chess that utilize different rules, pieces, or boards. One of these, Fischer Random Chess, has gained widespread popularity and official FIDE recognition.
A deadly Winnipeg home invasion, parts of which were heard by emergency dispatchers over the phone, has left the entire police service shaken, a spokesperson said.
A 17-year-old boy died after being attacked during a break-in in the city's West End, and the intruder is in hospital after being shot by police.
Police said the teen, Jaime Adao, was home with his grandmother on Sunday night when a man forced his way into the house on McGee Street, between Wellington and Notre Dame avenues.
When the break-in started, Adao called 911 and was talking with dispatchers. Then, the man got inside the home and began attacking Adao. It was all recorded and overheard by the dispatchers and later the police.
"There was a very calm and collected young man on the phone for the bulk of the phone call, and it turned into an absolutely gut-wrenchingly tragic event," said police spokesperson Const. Rob Carver.
Police were called around 9 p.m. about a break-in in progress, and when officers arrived, they found the teen being attacked by a man with a weapon.
The officers shot at the attacker, a 29-year-old man police say is well known to them. He was rushed to hospital where he remains in critical condition.
Adao, however, died from his injuries, police said.
"Our thoughts and condolences go out to the family in this absolutely tragic and senseless homicide," said Carver.
The incident has shaken the entire police service, from the emergency dispatchers to the officers who first responded and those that came afterwards, Carver said.
"I met with investigators this morning, and I have never met them looking as grave and heartbroken as they were today," said Carver, who paused often during the news conference.
"And I can tell you, I heard the 911 tape this morning and it is something I will never personally get over, and I've been doing this job for 26 years. I'm standing up here having a very, very difficult time doing something I do every single day of my career."
A 17-year-old boy died after being attacked during a break-in in the city's West End, and the intruder is in hospital after being shot by police.
Police said the teen, Jaime Adao, was home with his grandmother on Sunday night when a man forced his way into the house on McGee Street, between Wellington and Notre Dame avenues.
When the break-in started, Adao called 911 and was talking with dispatchers. Then, the man got inside the home and began attacking Adao. It was all recorded and overheard by the dispatchers and later the police.
"There was a very calm and collected young man on the phone for the bulk of the phone call, and it turned into an absolutely gut-wrenchingly tragic event," said police spokesperson Const. Rob Carver.
Police were called around 9 p.m. about a break-in in progress, and when officers arrived, they found the teen being attacked by a man with a weapon.
The officers shot at the attacker, a 29-year-old man police say is well known to them. He was rushed to hospital where he remains in critical condition.
Adao, however, died from his injuries, police said.
"Our thoughts and condolences go out to the family in this absolutely tragic and senseless homicide," said Carver.
The incident has shaken the entire police service, from the emergency dispatchers to the officers who first responded and those that came afterwards, Carver said.
"I met with investigators this morning, and I have never met them looking as grave and heartbroken as they were today," said Carver, who paused often during the news conference.
"And I can tell you, I heard the 911 tape this morning and it is something I will never personally get over, and I've been doing this job for 26 years. I'm standing up here having a very, very difficult time doing something I do every single day of my career."
Measles tripled. Hepatitis A mushroomed. A rare but deadly mosquito-borne disease increased.
And that was just the United States.
Globally, there was an explosion of measles in many countries, an unrelenting Ebola outbreak in Africa and a surge in dengue fever in Asia. There were also backslides in some diseases, like polio, that the world was close to wiping out.
"It’s been a tough year for infectious diseases,” said Dr. Jonathan Mermin of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
A look back at some U.S. disease trends in 2019:
MEASLES
There were nearly 1,300 cases of measles in the U.S. through November, That’s the largest number in 27 years. There were no deaths but about 120 people ended up in the hospital.
This from a disease that vaccines had essentially purged from the country for a decade.
“How can we have gone from eliminating the disease to reviving a disease? It’s mind-shattering that we would go in that direction,” said U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., who heads a congressional subcommittee that oversees public health spending.
Three-quarters of this year's cases were in Orthodox Jewish communities in or near New York City. As do most U.S. outbreaks, it started with travellers infected overseas who spread it to people who hadn't gotten a measles vaccine.
Vaccination rates in New York are good, overall. But it was a shock to learn how low they had dipped in some places, said Dr. Patricia Schnabel Ruppert, health commissioner in Rockland County, north of New York City. Distrust of vaccines had taken root in segments of the Orthodox community. The county took the unusual step of barring thousands of unvaccinated children from dozens of schools.
HEPATITIS A
Hepatitis A tends to be thought of as a kind of food poisoning, often traced to an infected restaurant worker with poor hygiene. But the latest wave began in San Diego among homeless people and people who use illicit drugs. In 2017, there were 1,500 cases in four states tied to the outbreak. This year, it boomed to 17,000 in 30 states, with Florida and Tennessee the hardest hit.
Hepatitis A usually is not considered a fatal disease, but it can be for people whose livers are already damaged by hepatitis C or longtime drinking. Nearly 200 died this year.
A vaccine for hepatitis A is now included in routine childhood vaccines, but most adults are too old to have gotten it as children. Attempts to give the vaccine to vulnerable adults met resistance, said the CDC's Dr. Neil Gupta, who tracks the outbreaks.
Public health workers took the shots out to people in drug rehab centres and to shelters and the streets to reach the homeless. Gupta said he's optimistic that cases may drop in 2020.
EASTERN EQUINE ENCEPHALITIS
This rare and deadly illness saw a small but worrisome increase last summer. Eastern equine encephalitis got its name because it was first seen in horses in Massachusetts.
The virus is spread to people through mosquitoes that mostly feed on infected birds but sometimes bite humans. Few people who are infected get sick but those who do can develop a dangerous infection of the brain, spinal cord or surrounding tissues. There is a vaccine for horses, not people
The numbers remain very low — just 38 cases this year. But that’s more than double the annual number in the past decade, and it included 15 deaths. That prompted health warnings in some places and even calls to cancel outdoor events scheduled for dusk, when mosquitoes are most active.
Among those who died was Scott Mosman, an outdoors-loving mechanical engineer in Taunton, Massachusetts. It’s not clear when Mosman was bitten by a mosquito, but it likely happened while working in his yard, said Sami Fam, a friend and former colleague.
”He’s kind of a big kid who always thought he was invincible," said Fam.
The 58-year-old Mosman died in October.
Better diagnosing may be a contributor to the increase in reports of eastern equine encephalitis and a few other diseases spread by bites from mosquitoes or ticks. Some also ebb and flow in cycles. But researchers say larger increases also may be related to climate change, as warmer weather can contribute to booms in insects and a northward expansion of where they live.
And that was just the United States.
Globally, there was an explosion of measles in many countries, an unrelenting Ebola outbreak in Africa and a surge in dengue fever in Asia. There were also backslides in some diseases, like polio, that the world was close to wiping out.
"It’s been a tough year for infectious diseases,” said Dr. Jonathan Mermin of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
A look back at some U.S. disease trends in 2019:
MEASLES
There were nearly 1,300 cases of measles in the U.S. through November, That’s the largest number in 27 years. There were no deaths but about 120 people ended up in the hospital.
This from a disease that vaccines had essentially purged from the country for a decade.
“How can we have gone from eliminating the disease to reviving a disease? It’s mind-shattering that we would go in that direction,” said U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., who heads a congressional subcommittee that oversees public health spending.
Three-quarters of this year's cases were in Orthodox Jewish communities in or near New York City. As do most U.S. outbreaks, it started with travellers infected overseas who spread it to people who hadn't gotten a measles vaccine.
Vaccination rates in New York are good, overall. But it was a shock to learn how low they had dipped in some places, said Dr. Patricia Schnabel Ruppert, health commissioner in Rockland County, north of New York City. Distrust of vaccines had taken root in segments of the Orthodox community. The county took the unusual step of barring thousands of unvaccinated children from dozens of schools.
HEPATITIS A
Hepatitis A tends to be thought of as a kind of food poisoning, often traced to an infected restaurant worker with poor hygiene. But the latest wave began in San Diego among homeless people and people who use illicit drugs. In 2017, there were 1,500 cases in four states tied to the outbreak. This year, it boomed to 17,000 in 30 states, with Florida and Tennessee the hardest hit.
Hepatitis A usually is not considered a fatal disease, but it can be for people whose livers are already damaged by hepatitis C or longtime drinking. Nearly 200 died this year.
A vaccine for hepatitis A is now included in routine childhood vaccines, but most adults are too old to have gotten it as children. Attempts to give the vaccine to vulnerable adults met resistance, said the CDC's Dr. Neil Gupta, who tracks the outbreaks.
Public health workers took the shots out to people in drug rehab centres and to shelters and the streets to reach the homeless. Gupta said he's optimistic that cases may drop in 2020.
EASTERN EQUINE ENCEPHALITIS
This rare and deadly illness saw a small but worrisome increase last summer. Eastern equine encephalitis got its name because it was first seen in horses in Massachusetts.
The virus is spread to people through mosquitoes that mostly feed on infected birds but sometimes bite humans. Few people who are infected get sick but those who do can develop a dangerous infection of the brain, spinal cord or surrounding tissues. There is a vaccine for horses, not people
The numbers remain very low — just 38 cases this year. But that’s more than double the annual number in the past decade, and it included 15 deaths. That prompted health warnings in some places and even calls to cancel outdoor events scheduled for dusk, when mosquitoes are most active.
Among those who died was Scott Mosman, an outdoors-loving mechanical engineer in Taunton, Massachusetts. It’s not clear when Mosman was bitten by a mosquito, but it likely happened while working in his yard, said Sami Fam, a friend and former colleague.
”He’s kind of a big kid who always thought he was invincible," said Fam.
The 58-year-old Mosman died in October.
Better diagnosing may be a contributor to the increase in reports of eastern equine encephalitis and a few other diseases spread by bites from mosquitoes or ticks. Some also ebb and flow in cycles. But researchers say larger increases also may be related to climate change, as warmer weather can contribute to booms in insects and a northward expansion of where they live.
Becky is a true country girl! Loves the outdoors and her dogs (the bigger the better) and being in front of the camera!