The Dow Jones Industrial Average ( ^DJI 1.18% ) might be the best-known of the major stock market indexes, but experienced investors know that the S&P 500 ( ^GSPC 1.09% ) is the index that best reflects the overall market. As the name implies, the index holds 500 of the top U.S. large-cap stocks. In order to join it, a company must be based in the U.S., be profitable on a generally accepted accounting principles ( GAAP ) basis over its last four quarters, and have a "large-cap" market cap, generally meaning above $10 billion. S&P Global , which runs the index, also considers liquidity, share float, and the stock's contribution to sector balance in the index. The S&P 500's managers review the index every quarter and generally swap one or two stocks in and out based on these criteria, so we're likely to see some more changes and new entrants next year. Two stocks in particular looking ripe to join the vaunted index are AppLovin ( APP 6.98% ) and The Trade Desk ( TTD -0.97% ) . The market's AppLovin it AppLovin has somewhat quietly been one of the best-performing large-cap stocks of 2024, going parabolic following its third-quarter earnings report. Through Dec. 19, the stock is up 700% year to date as the mobile adtech company has posted skyrocketing growth this year. Revenue jumped 39% in the third quarter to $1.2 billion, and its margins have dramatically expanded thanks to its investments in AI, including its Axon engine, an AI-driven platform that optimizes ad placement, enhancing ROI for its customers. Net income in the quarter jumped 300% to $434 million, while adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization ( EBITDA ) rose 72% to $72 million. Its software platform, built on Axon and its AppDiscovery marketing software, has become its primary growth driver, contributing more than two-thirds of its revenue in the quarter. AppLovin's other segment is Apps, which consists of more than 200 free-to-play mobile games, though growth in that segment was essentially flat in the third quarter. The emergence of AI and adtech is clearly what's driving the business. After its surge last year, AppLovin now has a market cap of $107 billion, which would rank it in the top 100 of S&P 500 companies by market cap. Even if the valuation falls, it seems hard to exclude it from the index based on recent trends. The Trade Desk has earned it Another adtech stock deserving of a spot in the S&P 500 is The Trade Desk. The Trade Desk has long been considered the leading independent demand-side platform (DSP) in adtech, as its tools help brands and ad agencies effectively manage and optimize their campaigns across an array of platforms, including Connected TV (CTV) and retail media. The Trade Desk has also established itself as a linchpin of the industry through products like Unified ID 2.0 (UID2), which gives brands a way of tracking users without using cookies, making it more amenable to internet privacy standards. Like AppLovin, The Trade Desk has also delivered solid growth of late. Revenue rose 27% in its third-quarter earnings report, while GAAP net income jumped 141% to $94 million. The business has long earned high marks for customer satisfaction, as it's reported customer retention of at least 95% every quarter for the last 10 years. Additionally, The Trade Desk continues to roll out new products like its Kokai AI platform and Ventura, a new streaming TV operating system, bringing it into direct competition with Roku . The Trade Desk has been profitable for several years now, and its market cap of $62.3 billion would put it well within the 200 most valuable companies in the S&P 500. Why joining the S&P 500 matters Gaining admission to the S&P 500 is about more than just recognition. When stocks are added to the broad-market index, the exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that track those indexes must buy them. ETFs like the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF now have total assets of more than $1 trillion, meaning an average of more than $2 billion is being invested in each stock in the index, though the fund leans heavily toward the most valuable stocks in the S&P 500, as the current market cap of the index is around $50 trillion. For that reason, stocks tend to jump when they are added to the S&P 500. S&P Global rebalances the index on a quarterly basis, so the next opportunity for these two stocks to gain admission will be in March. Based on this evidence, you shouldn't be surprised to see AppLovin and The Trade Desk join the S&P 500 at some point next year.Most of the time the Sun is pretty well-mannered, but occasionally it’s downright unruly. It sometimes throws extremely energetic tantrums. During these events, a solar flare or a shock wave from a coronal mass ejection (CME) accelerates protons to extremely high velocities. These are called Solar Particle Events or Solar Proton Events (SPEs). However, the exact timing of these events can be difficult to ascertain. New research has determined the date of one of the most powerful SPEs to strike Earth during the Holocene. No one alive today has witnessed the Sun’s extreme power. But ancient people did. In the last 14,500 years, there have been several solar storms and SPEs powerful enough to damage living things and create aurorae at middle latitudes, even at the equator. Understanding the timing of these ancient events is a key part of understanding the Sun. Powerful outbursts from the Sun are becoming a more significant threat as we expand our presence in space. They can damage satellites and pose a radiation threat to astronauts. Even the Earth’s surface isn’t safe from the most powerful SPEs which can knock out technological infrastructure like power grids and communications networks. “If they happened today, they would have cataclysmic effects on communication technology.” The Sun’s most powerful outbursts seem to occur during solar maximum, the period of greatest activity during the Sun’s 11-year cycle. But there’s some uncertainty, and since SPEs can be so damaging, there’s a need to understand them better, beginning with their timing. Only six SPEs have left their mark on Earth in about the last 14,500 years. Historical accounts can open a window into the timing of ancient SPEs, but they’re plagued by inaccuracies and inconsistencies. Fortunately, these natural events leave a trace in the natural world. These solar outbursts create what are called Miyaki Events after the Japanese physicist Fusa Miyake. Miyake discovered that they create a sharp rise in cosmogenic isotopes due to increased cosmic rays striking Earth’s upper atmosphere. The events create carbon-14 ( 14 C), a radioactive isotope that is present in tree rings. The events also create other isotopes like Beryllium-10 ( 10 Be)and Chlorine-36 ( 36 Cl) that are present in ice cores. In new research published in Nature Communications Earth and Environment, researchers pinpointed the timing of the last SPE to strike Earth. It’s titled “ The timing of the ca-660 BCE Miyake solar-proton event constrained to between 664 and 663 BCE. ” The lead author is Irina Panyushkina from the University of Arizona’s Laboratory for Tree-Ring Research. There have been several Miyake events depending on how they’re defined. “Thanks to radiocarbon in tree-rings, we now know that six Miyake events happened over the last 14,500 years,” Panyushkina said. “If they happened today, they would have cataclysmic effects on communication technology.” Carbon-14 continuously forms in Earth’s atmosphere because of cosmic radiation. In the atmosphere, it combines with oxygen to form CO 2 . “After a few months, carbon-14 will have traveled from the stratosphere to the lower atmosphere, where it is taken up by trees and becomes part of the wood as they grow,” said lead author Panyushkina. During a Miyake event, the amount of carbon-14 spikes, and that spike is reflected in tree rings. There have been several of these events, depending on how they’re defined, and several more awaiting more rigorous confirmation. There rate of occurrence is poorly understood, but the data we have shows that they occur every 400 to 2400 years. One of them occurred around 660 BCE, and that event is the subject of much research . “The precise positioning of a SPE in real time is extremely important for the parameterization of solar activity and forecasts,” the authors write in their research. “Notably, one of the recently confirmed SPE events does not have an exact calendar date. Multiple radionuclide evidence of an extreme SPE (or ME) event ca. 2610 BP (before 1950) more commonly referenced as ca. 660 BCE, was confirmed with high-resolution 10 BE records of three ice cores from Greenland in 2019.” The circa 660 Miyake event is different from the others. “However, the ca. 660 BCE ME has an unusual structure that is different from the short-term rapid increases in radionuclide production observed at 774–775 CE and 993–994 CE. One proposed explanation is the possible occurrence of consecutive SEPs over up to three years,” the authors explain in their research. If Miyake events can occur in such rapid succession, we need to know about it, for obvious reasons. In this new research, the team analyzed tree rings for 14 C content to generate an accurate date for the ca-660 BCE Miyake event. They focused on larch trees in arctic-alpine biomes, one in the Altai mountains and the other in the Yamal Peninsula . In these regions, larch trees are more sensitive to atmospheric changes and have clearer 14C spikes. Panyushkina and her co-researchers examined tree rings from ancient samples, including trees buried in mud and sediment and timbers excavated during archaeological digs and measured the Carbon-14 content. Next, they correlated their findings with other research into Beryllium-10 found in ice sheets and glaciers. Beryllium-10 is also created during Miyake events. It isn’t absorbed by trees, but is deposited in ice. “If ice cores from both the North Pole and South Pole show a spike in the isotope beryllium-10 for a particular year corresponding to increased radiocarbon in tree-rings, we know there was a solar storm,” Panyushkina said. This sounds like a nice tidy way to determine the dates of Miyake events, but it’s not so easy. Researchers have struggled to find a pattern. Tree rings are clearly marked by growing seasons, but ice cores are not. There’s also a lag time between the creation of Carbon-14 in the atmosphere and its presence in trees, and in ice. Different trees also absorb the carbon at different times and rates, and they also store and recycle the carbon, which can influence how they serve as recorders of atmospheric CO2. These and other challenges mean that conclusions don’t jump out of the data. But this research still has value, even if it isn’t the silver bullet when it comes to predicting these powerful solar events. The issue with the 660 BCE event is its complexity. It seems to have several spikes and declines in a short period, suggesting more complex solar behaviour than a simple single-spike storm. “Our new 14C data defined the two-pulse duration, considerable magnitude, and the precise date of what was previously described as the event ‘around 660 BCE’,” the authors write. “We showed that the double pulse of cosmic radiation during 664—663 BCE produced a nontypical pattern of ME cosmogenic isotope production recorded at multiple locations in northern Eurasia.” “The impact appears as a 2–3 year rise of Carbon-14 concentrations tailed by a 2–3-year peak (or plateau) before the signal decays,” the authors write. The Carbon-14 production in 664 BCE was 3.5 and 4.8 times greater than the 11-yr average. What does it all mean? There’s a lot of complexity. Different trees absorb carbon differently, the stratosphere and troposphere mix differently at different times, and growing seasons can vary significantly. “Finally, the double pulse of the 664–663 BCE ME onset and the prolonged waning of the 14 C spike signal implies possible uncertainties complicating the use of this spike signal for single-year dating of archeological timbers and occurrences,” the researchers explain in their conclusion. However, one thing is clear in all of the data. The Sun has blasted Earth with extreme SPEs in the past that are much more powerful than anything in modern time. “Extreme proton events that are hundreds or thousands of times stronger than those of modern instrumental observations may recur on the timescale of hundreds of years,” the authors write in their conclusion. Ultimately, the tree rings can shed light on how powerful these solar storms are, but they’re not exact when it comes to dating them. “Tree-rings give us an idea of the magnitude of these massive storms, but we can’t detect any type of pattern, so it is unlikely we’ll ever be able to predict when such an event is going to happen,” Panyushkina said. “Still, we believe our paper will transform how we search and understand the carbon-14 spike signal of extreme solar proton events in tree rings.”SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) — Eddie Lampkin Jr. and Donnie Freeman each posted a double-double and Jaquan Carlos finished an assist shy of joining them as Syracuse closed out its nonconference schedule with a 75-63 win over Bucknell on Saturday. The Orange evened their record at 6-6 with their sixth win in seven home games, taking a 12-point lead at intermission and maintaining it through the second half, handing the Bison (4-9) their seventh straight loss. Syracuse, which lost its Atlantic Coast Conference opener to Notre Dame, finished nonconference play 6-5. Lampkin and Freeman combined to score 24 first-half points and helped the Orange dominate the boards in the first half, 18-11. Pip Ajayi dunked near the 14-minute mark to get Bucknell within five, 48-43, but Elvin Edmonds IV missed a 3-point attempt to make it a one-possession game a minute later and Lampkin scored to push the lead to seven. Kyle Cuffe Jr. scored back-to-back baskets and Carlos added a layup to push the Syracuse lead back to a dozen points, 56-44. Lampkin finished with 18 points and 11 rebounds scored 15 points, grabbed 11 boards and dished three assists with a steal. Carlos posted 11 points with nine assists and three steals. Syracuse outrebounded Bucknell 43-27. John Bascoe hit 6 of 11 from behind the arc and led the Bison with 22 points. Noah Williamson finished with 12 points and eight rebounds. Syracuse opens the heart of its ACC schedule when it plays host to Wake Forest on New Year's Eve. Bucknell opens Patriot League play January 2 at Lehigh. Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here . AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

Vigil held at firebombed synagoguePatterson’s 25 help Northwestern State defeat Houston Christian 64-57

By LOLITA BALDOR and FATIMA HUSSEIN WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump said Wednesday that he has chosen Keith Kellogg, a highly decorated retired three-star general, to serve as his special envoy for Ukraine and Russia. Kellogg, who is one of the architects of a staunchly conservative policy book that lays out an “America First” national security agenda for the incoming administration, will come into the role as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine enters its third year in February. Trump made the announcement on his Truth Social account, and said “He was with me right from the beginning! Together, we will secure PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH, and Make America, and the World, SAFE AGAIN!” Kellogg, an 80 year-old retired Army lieutenant general who has long been Trump’s top adviser on defense issues, served as national security adviser to Vice President Mike Pence , was chief of staff of the National Security Council and then stepped in as an acting security adviser for Trump after Michael Flynn resigned. As special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, Kellogg will have to navigate an increasingly untenable war between the two nations. The Biden administration has begun urging Ukraine to quickly increase the size of its military by drafting more troops and revamping its mobilization laws to allow for the conscription of troops as young as 18. The White House has pushed more than $56 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since the start of Russia’s February 2022 invasion and expects to send billions more to Kyiv before Biden leaves office in less than months. Trump has criticized the billions that the Biden administration has poured into Ukraine. Washington has recently stepped up weapons shipments and has forgiven billions in loans provided to Kyiv. The incoming Republican president has said he could end the war in 24 hours, comments that appear to suggest he would press Ukraine to surrender territory that Russia now occupies. As a co-chairman of the American First Policy Institute’s Center for American Security, Kellogg wrote several of the chapters in the group’s policy book. The book, like the Heritage Foundation’s “Project 2025,” is a move to lay out a Trump national security agenda and avoid the mistakes of 2016 when he entered the White House largely unprepared. Kellogg in April wrote that “bringing the Russia-Ukraine war to a close will require strong, America First leadership to deliver a peace deal and immediately end the hostilities between the two warring parties.” Related Articles Trump’s proposed national security advisor U.S. Rep. Michael Waltz (R-Fla.) tweeted Wednesday that “Keith has dedicated his life to defending our great country and is committed to bringing the war in Ukraine to a peaceful resolution.” Kellogg was a character in multiple Trump investigations dating to his first term. He was among the administration officials who listened in on the July 2019 call between Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy in which Trump prodded his Ukrainian counterpart to pursue investigations into the Bidens. The call, which Kellogg would later say did not raise any concerns on his end, was at the center of the first of two House impeachment cases against Trump, who was acquitted by the Senate both times. On Jan. 6, 2021, hours before pro-Trump rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol, Kellogg, who was then Pence’s national security adviser, listened in on a heated call in which Trump told his vice president to object or delay the certification in Congress of President Joe Biden ’s victory. He later told House investigators that he recalled Trump saying to Pence words to the effect of: “You’re not tough enough to make the call.” Baldor reported from Washington. AP writer Eric Tucker in Washington contributed to this report.Kochi Students' Masterpiece for Christmas - A Cake Depicting Festive Mood and City's Iconic Sights