Latest news with #McCreary
USA Today
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- USA Today
Tennessee Titans' Roger McCreary says 2025 season is 'personal'
This season is personal… #Year4 In just a matter of days, the Tennessee Titans will report to training camp, and the grind of the 2025 NFL season will begin. For some players, the grind never stops, and they spend their offseasons getting into shape and honing their skills. Count Roger McCreary as one of those, and he is focused on making his fourth season in Nashville his best, declaring on social media that, 'this season is personal.' After posting his workout video with his declaration, he joined Mike Garafolo and Cameron Wolfe on The Insiders on the NFL Network to discuss his personal goals and outlook on the Titans heading into the 2025 season. To kick things off, Garafolo hit on the 'personal' comment. 'That's one thing I really want to do is talk more trash and get in people's heads.' #Titans CB Roger McCreary gave @CameronWolfe and me on The Insiders on @nflnetwork one of the more honest answers for a season goal — a season he says is 'personal.' 'It means a lot; this year is personal. Everybody knows me as a quiet guy, and I feel like going into my year four, I've got to show them all me,' he said. 'I just gotta express who I truly am on and off the field. And I feel this is the year.' After discussing his personal goals, which include being regarded as one of the top cornerbacks in the game, McCreary touched on the Titans and his outlook for the team heading into 2025. 'Going into the season with the Titans, I feel like we are going to show people who we're really made of and who we truly are.' He said, 'Because I feel like a lot of people don't respect us. They don't talk about the Titans.' McCreary is spot on with his take. Many outlets discount the Titans, and have them as almost an afterthought within the NFL landscape, and it is clear from the interview that he does take that personally. Tennessee has a tough decision ahead with McCreary, who is entering the final year of his rookie contract. If they don't extend him now, an outstanding season could price him out of Nashville, with the value of slot corner increasing with every contract. McCreary has been a productive player for the Titans and should be on their short list to retain.
Daily Record
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Record
Outlander prequel Blood of My Blood unveils haunting opening credits
Outlander: Blood of My Blood will premiere next month Outlander enthusiasts have been sent into a frenzy following the release of the opening credits for the upcoming prequel series, Outlander: Blood of My Blood, by Starz, reports the Express. The title sequence was revealed yesterday (July 17), featuring music composed by Outlander's composer and the ethereal vocals of Scottish singer and musician Julie Fowlis overlaying the eerie new track. Numerous fans flocked to Instagram's comments section to express their reactions. One individual posted: "Chills. Everything about this is stunning! Don't mind will be playing on a loop." Another fan exclaimed: "Omg I have chills! ! ! The transitions! ! ! ! AAAAAAAAAAAAAA! ! ! ! ! [sic]." A third chimed in: "okay. we all knew I was gonna pop on here to freak out about this. BUT NOT AM I ONLY FREAKING OUT BUT I will describe the live freak out I am having to this: CURRENTLY IN THE SUBWAY IN NYC FROM WORK NOW SINGING WITH A TEAR ALONG MY FACE BECAUSE OF THIS BEAUTY [sic]." Yet another added: "IM OBSESSED! such a perfect intro for the prequel while also a connection with Outlander's main title. Brilliant! [sic]." Another comment read: "No @bearmccreary, not too many bagpipes. You know just how & when. Goosebumps! & we don't even know much of the story yet. Melting here." In a similar vein to the original Outlander opening credits, scenes from Blood of My Blood are interspersed with the accompanying music. The title credits transition between scenes set in 18th century Scotland and WWI, mirroring the dual timelines explored in the series. Outlander showrunner Matthew B. Roberts, who also helms the prequel series Blood of My Blood, brought composer McCreary on board early in the process to craft his vision for the opening credits. Those familiar with the Outlander score may notice some echoes of McCreary's stirring track Dance of the Druids (feat. Raya Yarbrough) in Blood of My Blood's opening title credits. Speaking to Variety, Roberts revealed how assembling the Blood of My Blood opening sequence proved to be a demanding task, with the executive producer keen to avoid creating something too reminiscent of Outlander's rendition of the Scottish folk tune The Skye Boat Song. Nevertheless, he was determined to pay homage to the original series. He explained how the team sought a "song you sing to yourself when you're in the car or the shower". Furthermore, matching the visuals to the music presented its own difficulties, with the Scottish scenery initially resembling a "travelogue" rather than a dramatic series. It wasn't until post-production, when the team crafted transitions between the dual timelines, that the opening credits began to take shape. Roberts explained they aimed to create a "dance", presenting audiences with both Henry Beauchamp (portrayed by Jeremy Irvine) and Julia Moriston's (Hermione Corfield) romance, alongside Brian Fraser (Jamie Roy) and Ellen MacKenzie's (Harriet Slater) love story. The opening theme also incorporates both English and Gaelic lyrics, once again mirroring the twin narratives of Blood of My Blood. Roberts noted that the title sequence told its own tale and revealed his favourite moment featuring two hands. He shared with the media: "There are such lovely moments in the show, and as the story goes, that one of them is so for me, so beautifully shot and conceived."
Yahoo
17-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Hallucinations Create Complications When AI Goes to Court
Judges are losing their patience as AI mistakes pile up in US courts. The number of cases in which the tech has generated incorrect information or cited nonexistent cases to support lawyers' arguments is both alarming and increasing. In early June, the Utah Court of Appeals found that two lawyers had breached procedural rules by submitting a legal document citing multiple cases that did not existt. That wasn't an isolated incident. The Washington Post reported that court documents generated by AI, which include hallucinations, are rising across the country. These incidents are also tripping up large tech firms, such as model provider Anthropic, which admitted in mid-May to using an erroneous citation generated by its Claude AI chatbot in its legal battle with Universal Music Group and other publishers. One researcher found more than 150 incidents of hallucination filed in US courts since 2023, with 103 of those occurring this year. And using AI incorrectly in this context has consequences, including being referred to professional bodies and responsibility boards, fines of up to 1% of case value, court warnings, class action petitions, and sanctions costing thousands of dollars. AI is not a legal gray area anymore, and regulators are starting to enforce disclosures, transparency, and bias mitigation requirements, Mark G. McCreary, partner and chief AI and information security officer at Fox Rothschild, told CIO Upside. Clarifying where attorney-client privilege or trade secret risks arise when using external tools is a must, according to McCreary. That involves determining what data is being put into the AI tools that legal teams use. 'As CIO, I'd focus the conversation (with compliance officers and lawyers) on clarity, boundaries, and accountability,' he said. READ ALSO: Struggling to Navigate Thorny AI Contracts? Question Everything and Oracle Patent Keeps Large Language Models From Spilling Secrets A 2024 Thomson Reuters survey found that US lawyers using AI can save up to 266 million hours. That would translate into $100,000 in new, billable time per lawyer each year. The study also found that only 16% of lawyers think that using AI to draft documents is 'going too far.' Even if a company has AI legal policies in place, workers could be ignoring them, Wyatt Mayham, lead AI consultant at Northwest AI Consulting, told CIO Upside. 'If policies exist, but aren't enforced or tracked, they're worthless,' he said. McCreary advised companies to establish a light but structured governance framework. 'The point is not to restrict innovation, but to track and guide usage,' McCreary said: Self-registering legal teams to AI apps helps create logs that reveal who used AI, for what purpose, and what type of data was used, creating a system of record. Logs also can be used to ensure no sensitive data is being fed to non-compliant tools, or used in a way that violates ethics rules or client contracts, McCreary said. Legal teams need to be continually updated on how AI tool capabilities – and risks – evolve, he said. 'An AI feature that's benign today might add model training next quarter.' McCreary noted that an AI recognition program can also incentivize transparency and caution in using new tools, while reinforcing positive behavior. These programs can create a culture of AI literacy, not just compliance. As flawed AI inputs in legal cases continue to emerge, the reputations of firms, companies and clients are at stake. Courts have already made it clear that tolerance for the improper use of AI and AI hallucinations is low. Despite the push across industries to adopt AI, the damage may outweigh the benefits. 'Waiting for the law to 'catch up' is no longer an excuse; enterprise AI governance is not just an IT issue, it's a legal, reputational and strategic issue,' said McCreary. This post first appeared on The Daily Upside. To receive cutting-edge insights into technology trends impacting CIOs and IT leaders, subscribe to our free CIO Upside newsletter.
Boston Globe
05-06-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
‘Our moment to evolve': A nonprofit that launched after George Floyd is now navigating a DEI backlash
Related : But racism wasn't the only crisis gripping the country in those days. There was also COVID-19. And when the face masks started to come off in 2022, McCreary saw how society was ready, even eager, to move on from both Floyd and the pandemic. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up It was a familiar, vicious, cycle for Black America — progress, followed by painful setbacks. There was emancipation, then Jim Crow laws; the Civil Rights Act, then a generation of men jailed in the War on Drugs; equal opportunity laws, then a Supreme Court striking down affirmative action in college admissions. Advertisement Shellee Mendes, a mother of three, raised her sign during the March Like A Mother for Black Lives rally in Boston on June 27, 2020. Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff And now America has gone from electing its first Black president to having a White House that is openly dismantling diversity, equity, and inclusion. The New Commonwealth Fund hasn't been immune to the sea change. The group is shifting how it raises money, depending less on corporations and more on individuals. And just after the November election, the nonprofit removed the 'Racial Equity and Social Justice' part of its name from its website. Advertisement McCreary made this decision after counterparts around the country began receiving physical threats because of their work. She worried about the safety of her staff and people at other local organizations they work alongside. She wanted to set an example of how the organization could stay committed to racial equity while also practicing self-preservation. 'What we haven't done is we haven't changed our mission,' she said. From its headquarters in an industrial part of Roxbury, NCF provides about $3 million a year to nonprofits that are lifting communities of color, whether it be through justice reform or the arts. Since its launch, NCF has given out 448 grants to more than 250 organizations in Massachusetts, over $16.3 million in all. And even as the very idea of eliminating racial inequities feels under attack, the five-year anniversary of Floyd's death came at a time when organizations like NCF see their work as more essential than ever. 'How do we convince folks that this is the work for the long haul?' McCreary pondered. 'This is not a moment. This has to be a movement.' At first, Damian Wilmot wasn't as shaken by Floyd's murder as he had been by the Martin was the unarmed Black teen shot and killed in Florida by a neighborhood watch volunteer, George Zimmerman, who thought he looked suspicious. His death was the worst nightmare for every Black parent of a teenager. Advertisement 'I sort of saw my son in him,' said Wilmot. But when Floyd was killed, it was Wilmot's children doing the worrying. Floyd, who was killed by a white Minneapolis police while handcuffed, was 46 years old, and well over 6 feet tall. A mural dedicated to, from left, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Trayvon Martin and Ahmaud Arbery behind the Power Circle Barbershop in Tampa. Octavio Jones/For The Washington Post Wilmot, with a similar build, had just turned 50 at the time. His children saw Floyd in him. 'Daddy, it's not safe for you,' his son and daughter warned. Floyd's murder sparked discussions for Wilmot, both at home and at work as an executive at Vertex Pharmaceuticals, about what can be done to make sure no Black person dies like that again in police custody. 'Every company was making these proclamations about supporting social justice and doing something, but candidly I didn't think anyone really knew exactly what to do,' recalled Wilmot, who today serves as board chair of NCF. Vertex, like so many other corporations and organizations, issued a public statement vowing to fight racism and committed But Wilmot and other Black leaders in Boston wanted to do more. They called each other daily, and soon a group was regularly convening by Zoom. They felt a need to talk, to organize, and to use their hard-won collective power to do something they could call their own. It was a Advertisement A June 2020 photo of some of the founders of the New Commonwealth Fund. From left to right, Rodney Pratt, Malia Lazu, Damon Hart, Pamela Everhart, Quincy Miller, and Dr. Myechia Minter-Jordan. Suzanne Kreiter The prospect of starting their own nonprofit to end systemic racism was energizing. 'We all agreed, yes, but let's do it together ... and let's lead this,' Wilmot recalled. The money began to pour in, with initial commitments of $20 million, which has grown into about $45 million today. From the get-go, NCF wanted to disburse the money to grassroots organizations in sums that would be transformative for them. One of the first recipients was Today, Elevated Thought has 17 full-time staffers, with new programs and a budget three times as large as it once was. Marquis Victor, founder and executive of Elevated Thought, poses for a portrait in the visual arts apprenticeship space at his Lawrence nonprofit. Danielle Parhizkaran Similarly, NCF has been critical to supporting emerging nonprofits like 'We've had a really, really successful start as an organization, and NCF is one of the anchors of why that was possible,' said Ariel Childs, executive director of Vital CxNs, which so far has received about $667,000 from NCF. NCF's launch generated national headlines and inspired Black leaders in other cities to start similar foundations, such as the Advertisement It didn't happen overnight, and NCF saw today's challenges coming. McCreary engaged four law firms to review the nonprofit's grant-making processes and assess whether they could withstand legal challenge, especially after the activist who sued Harvard to overturn affirmative action in college admissions began targeting organizations engaged in racial equity work. NCF's lawyers concluded its work would pass legal muster because its mission is focused on eliminating racial inequities, but not at the exclusion of other groups. Makeeba McCreary, president of the New Commonwealth Fund. Jonathan Wiggs/Globe Staff For Eastern Bank's Miller, an NCF founder and board member, the legal threats underscore why the organization matters more than ever. He's confident it can weather the backlash against DEI — with a staff of 12 and millions of dollars committed. But smaller nonprofits focused on racial justice work don't have that luxury and could use NCF's help. Corporate support has slowed to a trickle, and there's only so much private money to go around, even as the needs keep growing. 'The work in 2025 is more important than the work in 2020,' Miller said. 'I don't even think it's close.' If anything, he views this moment as a chance to adapt. 'We have to evolve and change to keep supporting this work just like companies during COVID had to evolve and change,' Miller added. 'This is our moment to evolve.' Shirley Leung is a Business columnist. She can be reached at
The Age
27-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Age
When he was 16 this musician met Elmer Bernstein. It changed everything
Enthralled by the work of film composers such as James Horner, Alan Silvestri and Danny Elfman ('my north star'), going to the movies became an obsession, although his motives were different to those of his friends. 'They would go, 'Wow, that chick was so hot' or, 'Did you see that scene where the guy exploded?' 'And I would go, 'Did you guys hear what Jerry Goldsmith did with the French horns? I think that was the bad guys' theme, but he turned it upside down. I'm going to see it again tomorrow to find out.' 'They thought I was a weirdo,' he laughs. In high school, McCreary met an elderly gentleman named Joe, who ran the Bellingham Yacht Club and told him legendary composer Elmer Bernstein, who wrote McCreary's favourite score of all time in To Kill a Mockingbird, moored his yacht there. Joe offered to give Bernstein a tape of the then 16-year-old's work. Bernstein then took McCreary under his wing as a protege until his death in 2004. 'The reason I wanted to work with her is because of who she is, not just her voice. The rebel that she was. Between that recording and her untimely death we became friends. We were texting all the time. She was so funny.' Bear McCreary on Sinead O'Connor 'I didn't know what a life in film music could be,' McCreary reflects. 'And then I met Elmer, who was the sweetest, most thoughtful man I'd ever met. He had a great relationship with his wife and kids, people respected him immensely, and yet he took no shit. 'Getting to know him gave me something to point to. It wasn't even about the music, it was personal. You could have a life. That's where I want to be when I'm pushing 80.' McCreary's big break was scoring the 2004 TV reboot of the Battlestar Galactica franchise. But just as significant was working with Irish singer Sinead O'Connor, who sang the main title for season seven of Outlander, her final ever recording. 'The reason I wanted to work with her is because of who she is, not just her voice,' McCreary says. 'The rebel that she was. Between that recording and her untimely death we became friends. We were texting all the time. She was so funny.' Another life-changing moment came with Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019), for which McCreary recorded a hard rock cover of Blue Öyster Cult's Godzilla featuring System of a Down vocalist Serj Tankian and legendary heavy metal drummer Gene Hoglan. 'It was one of the best days of my life,' he beams. 'And I got in the car and I was driving home and I was totally buzzed. But by the time I got into my driveway I was really sad.' Over the space of that short car ride, it dawned on McCreary that this was likely a one-off experience. Then he was struck by a revelation. 'What if I just started writing some music for the people I want to work with, and it's not for a film?' he says. The result was McCreary's 2024 album The Singularity, a two-LP set that merges the grandeur of his scoring work with the bombast of hard rock and heavy metal. It features guests such as Tankian, Hoglan, Kim Thayil from Soundgarden, Slipknot's Corey Taylor and guitar heroes Joe Satriani and Slash from Guns N' Roses. McCreary will perform songs from The Singularity and his scoring career in Australia in July on his Themes & Variations tour. 'It's a celebration of everything I've written in my life. And it's a chance to hear all these pieces from The Singularity, from The Walking Dead, from Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, Godzilla. I'm re-envisioning it all in a format that fits the stage we're on.' Loading For someone experiencing his first taste of touring, adjusting to life on the road has taken some work. Luckily, McCreary has some experienced pals to call on. 'I got fantastic touring laundry advice from [Guns N' Roses bassist] Duff McKagan,' he says. 'I find myself texting a picture of my laundry to Slash and Duff and I'm like, I think I've got this figured out!' Given the contrast between his orchestral film scores and the guitar-fuelled tracks from The Singularity, one wonders what kind of audience he's been attracting on the tour. He reflects on a recent show in Europe.
