Sky Super Rugby Aotearoa: Blues beat under-strength Chiefs in dead-rubber finale
1 May, 2021 09:15 AM
5 minutes to read
Blues hooker Kurt Eklund scored the game s opening try. Photo / Photosport
Blues 39
Chiefs 19
The Chiefs five-match unbeaten run is over. Not that it matters in the context of the Super Rugby Aotearoa season, or was unexpected after they made 21 changes ahead of next week s final.
In fact, Saturday s loss to the Blues only enhanced Chiefs coach Clayton McMillan s confidence of potentially upsetting the Crusaders in the Christchurch final.
And who could blame him. Since assuming the reins in Warren Gatland s absence McMillan has inspired a dramatic transformation.
Chugging espressos and overly-caffeinated energy drinks in dorm rooms after pulling all-nighters filled with endless studying, most Penn State students are finishing the spring semester with a traditional stress-filled finals week.Â
While finals week has been a customary part of the college experience for decades, students have differing opinions on whether there should even be a finals week and what changes should be made to improve the stressful academic season.
Many students, including Alexis Snyder, said they acknowledge why finals are necessary, but they said improvements could be made in how exams and projects are administered.Â
âI understand why finals week is needed to evaluate what students have learned throughout the semester,â Snyder (sophomore-biomedical engineering) said via email. âBut this semester has been extremely taxing on studentsâ mental health â in light of the pandemic and in the absence of any real form of a break to recover f
Diana Wichtel: Prince Philip s funeral like a scene from Game of Thrones
30 Apr, 2021 04:00 AM
4 minutes to read
There was the small figure of the Queen , suffering stoically. Photo / AP These days we resent having to wait for the next episode of a new television series instead of bingeing until our eyes fall out. Imagine how fans of Charles Dickens felt in New York in 1841, forced to wait on the wharf for the final instalment of The Old Curiosity Shop to chug across the Atlantic so they could discover the fate of the freakishly virtuous Little Nell. Reader, she didn t make it. Even her creator was in bits. Old wounds bleed afresh when I think of this sad story, wrote Dickens. Oscar Wilde, on the other hand: One must have a heart of stone to read the death of Little Nell without laughing.