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Ravens coach John Harbaugh was adamant Sunday in denying that the Ravens sparked the investigation into the New England Patriots' deflated footballs in the AFC championship game. There have been unconfirmed reports that Harbaugh or the Ravens tipped off the Indianapolis Colts about the issue. The ongoing investigation, the so-called "Deflategate" led by NFL executive Jeff Pash and outside investigator Ted Wells, is based on allegations that the Patriots didn't have the footballs inflated up to NFL standards. "I heard all that, I couldn't believe it when I heard it," Harbaugh said Sunday afternoon on NBC during a Super Bowl pregame show when asked about the reports that the Ravens called the Colts. "It's ridiculous. It never happened. I never made any call. Nobody in our organization made any call. "Just to make sure I had all the facts, I called 1/8Colts coach3/8 Chuck Pagano this week and asked him, 'Did anybody else in our organization tip you off about any deflated footballs?' And he said, 'No way.' " There have been reports that the Colts first noticed the deflated footballs when former Maryland linebacker D'Qwell Jackson intercepted a pass by Tom Brady and handed it to an equipment manager. Harbaugh reiterated that the Ravens had no problems with the footballs during their AFC divisional-round loss to the Patriots at Gillette Stadium. "It never came up," Harbaugh said. "It never crossed my mind. It wasn't even an issue during the game. I didn't even think about it until I read about it later." | 1 | 5,600 | sports |
Jeff Bridges helps a couple find their moment of zen, in this Super Bowl ad for SquareSpace. | 8 | 5,601 | video |
Seven pre-game Super Bowl interviews into his presidency, President Obama just wants to show off his homemade beer. The president talked to "Today" show co-host Savannah Guthrie in the White House kitchen on Sunday, before the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots took the field in Phoenix for Super Bowl XLIX. "We make beer," said Obama, dressed in a lavender gingham shirt with the sleeves rolled up. "First president since George Washington to make some booze in the White House." The traditional game day interview was a brief one, and NBC will air a longer, sit-down interview on Monday. So Guthrie's chat with Obama in the kitchen was mostly fluff and football metaphors. After gauging his opinion about "Deflate-gate" (Obama: "if you break the rules, you break the rules"), Guthrie asked the president why with a terrible midterm election behind him and a GOP Congress before him he seemed so confident during his State of the Union address last month. "You laid out a bunch of proposals that you know can't get through Congress that's run by Republicans now," Guthrie said. "Isn't that counterproductive?" "I disagree with that," Obama said. "Republicans that believe that we should be building our infrastructure the question is how do we pay for it." "But you're offering tax hikes for the wealthy," Guthrie continued, "Something that won't get through the Congress run by Republicans." "My job is to present the right ideas," the president said. "If the Republicans have a better idea, they should present them." With politics talk done, Obama and Guthrie turned to taste-testing a honey ale and playing a light game of either/or. "Football or basketball?" Guthrie asked. "I'm still a basketball guy, but I love football," Obama replied. "Offense or defense?" "Always offense." "Wings, or chips and guac?" "That's tough. I'm going to go with chips and guac. I'm a fanatic about guac." "Hillary or Joe Biden?" which prompted this reaction: + President Obama's pregame interview on NBC, February 1, 2015. (Screengrab from NBC) "Love 'em both," he said. After sipping some beer with the commander-in-chief, Guthrie teased her forthcoming in-depth interview with a subject it's clear the network wanted to avoid on Super Bowl Sunday: "We'll talk about ISIS and whether it's really on the run." | 5 | 5,602 | news |
Superbowl Commercial: Microsoft | 5 | 5,603 | news |
The internet can be an ugly place in 2015 . Coca-Cola, peddler of sugary smiles for decades, wants to do away with all the trolls. But with Coke, presumably? In the company's Super Bowl somewhat bizarre ad tonight, all it took was for someone to accidentally pour some Coke on what could only be the server stack of the world to spread some happiness online. Cyberbullying? Defeated! Awful YouTube comments! Eradicated! Cable news punditry? Over! It's a nice sentiment, even if it's on the silly side. And the ad isn't the only spot to make a similar statement. Coke also teamed up with Ryan Seacrest and a bevy of stars to spread the online love. Because Ryan Seacrest isn't ever awkward: It's good that Coca-Cola has detected how terrible the internet has gotten of late. The ads are nice little dreams, too; we could seriously use some positivity in the world. But Coke probably knows it'll take a bit more work than expensive soft drink fantasies to solve these problems. Unless there's something new in Coke this year... | 5 | 5,604 | news |
Toyota honors Dad on Super Bowl Sunday. | 8 | 5,605 | video |
Breaking news: Gronk might be able to wreak havoc when single-teamed. | 8 | 5,606 | video |
Whether you're looking to drop a few pounds or make a bigger change, adding these foods to your diet will shift your metabolism into overdrive. Hemp seeds It's no wonder they're becoming more widely available. "Hemp seeds contain alpha-linolenic acids, a type of omega-3 fatty acid, which studies show help boost metabolism," says registered dietitian Frances Largeman-Roth, author of Eating in Color: Delicious, Healthy Recipes for You and Your Family . In fact, research conducted earlier this year discovered that omega-3s may help reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes, a condition linked to obesity. Sprinkle hemp seeds over basic cereal, yogurt, and salads for an extra boost. Green tea This antioxidant-rich tea has multiple health benefits, including boosting metabolism, says registered dietitian nutritionist Jackie Newgent, author of The With or Without Meat Cookbook . "It's because green tea contains plant-based compounds called catechins." Not only have these compounds been found to reduce body weight and fat, but the caffeine in green tea also acts as a stimulant that can increase the amount of energy your body uses. And then there's the H20. "Drinking water may promote thermogenesis -- the production of heat caused by metabolizing food -- and play a role in reducing calorie intake," adds Newgent. Steel-cut oats Along with improving cholesterol levels and overall cardiovascular health, the type of carbohydrate in oats is also responsible for boosting metabolism. "A resistant starch actually resists being broken down in the small intestine, and studies show that it helps you feel fuller for longer," says Largeman-Roth. Because of its vital role in weight loss and weight maintenance, there are even new technologies being explored to incorporate oats and barley into a wider variety of products. Eggs Whether your scramble, poach, or hard-boil them, eggs are the ultimate morning meal. "Since eggs are considered the gold standard in providing high-quality protein, eating them can enhance calorie burning," says Newgent. One study found that an egg breakfast encouraged 65 percent greater weight loss in overweight and obese people following a reduced-calorie diet plan. "Eating breakfast, especially one rich in protein, can be useful for improving satiety and significantly raise your resting metabolism -- perhaps by as much as 10 percent -- for the entire day," adds Newgent. Spicy salsa The hotness of chili peppers does more than just give this dip flavor. It also kicks your metabolism into high gear. "Research suggests that capsaicin, the naturally occurring compound found in hot peppers that gives them their burning sensation, can be helpful for weight loss because of its potential ability to generate heat, burn calories, and break down fat," says Newgent. Hot peppers can also increase your metabolic rate after a meal and leave you feeling more satisfied, so you're likely to eat less later, says Largeman-Roth. A "hot" and chewy protein bar IIt's no secret that protein can amp up your metabolic rate, and one recent study shows that eating a lot of it can be more useful than counting calories. "Protein seems to boost satiety, calorie burning, and lean body mass storage, all of which are helpful for weight management," says Newgent. Take the calorie-burning effects of something hot, like capsaicin, then tie in the act of chewing (since those who chew their food more tend to consume fewer calories, says Newgent), and you have a powerful, metabolism-jolting snack. She suggests keeping a Strong & Kind Roasted Jalapeno bar on hand, since planned, regular snacking can keep your metabolism working at its best. Coconut and palm kernel oil "Consuming blended coconut and palm kernel oil has been shown to increase both energy expenditure and fat metabolism," says Laura W. Lagano, a New York City-based integrative clinical nutritionist. One study published in the journal Lipids found that supplementing women's diets with two tablespoons of coconut oil each day not only decreased the weight carried around their abdomens, but also helped elevate HDL (a.k.a. the good) cholesterol levels. The key is to limit portions, since both oils are calorie-dense, containing between 40 and 117 calories per tablespoon. Low-fat dairy Cheese, please. Research has shown that a diet rich in calcium from dairy promotes weight loss in type 2 diabetics. Why? Not getting enough calcium may trigger the release of calcitriol, a hormone that causes the body to store extra fat. Another study came to a similar conclusion, and added that choosing low-fat dairy options increases weight loss while still allowing your body to absorb the calcium it needs. Quinoa To burn more fat, you want to focus on fiber-rich foods, which take longer to digest, helping to speed up metabolism. Fiber has also been shown to promote satiety and increase the secretion of gut hormones, two more factors that help digestion and contribute to weight loss. Enter quinoa. The supergrain provides 12 grams of dietary fiber per one-cup serving -- nearly twice as much as other grains. Plus, quinoa has been recognized by the Advances in Food and Nutrition Research as a complete food due to its protein quality and high nutritional value. Bananas This fruit has gotten a bad rap, but without good reason. For one thing, a large banana provides nearly 500 mg potassium. "Potassium helps your body regulate minerals and fluids in and out of your cells and may potentially increase basal metabolism, a measure of calories burned at rest while awake," says Newgent. "Bananas also contain resistant starch, which functions like fiber since your body can't digest it, and has metabolic benefits, including reducing blood sugar levels after meals." Keep in mind that the greener the banana, the more resistant starch it contains. Also, research shows that sniffing a banana can actually suppress your appetite, so you may want to breathe in its scent before enjoying it. | 7 | 5,607 | health |
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) -- The Minnesota Wild made a clean sweep on this Canadian trip. Devan Dubnyk stopped 35 shots and the Wild beat the Vancouver Canucks 4-2 on Sunday. Zach Parise, Jared Spurgeon, Thomas Vanek and Jason Zucker scored for the Wild. Zucker sealed it with an empty-net goal with 55 seconds left. This marked only the second time the Wild has swept Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver on the same road swing. The first time happened in March 2007. ''Confidence is one thing and a lot of credit has to go to (Dubnyk). Again the type of game they come out, get two or three chances and allows us to settle into the game and grab that first goal,'' Wild coach Mike Yeo. Ronalds Kenins and Daniel Sedin scored for the Canucks. Ryan Miller made 16 saves for Vancouver. Vanek scored his 10th goal of the season at 7:20 of the third period to make it 3-0. He took a pass from Mikael Granlund just past center ice, drifted to the right and shot above Miller's blocker. Kenins and Sedin scored goals just over a minute apart to get the Canucks close. Kenins scored his first NHL goal at 12:20 of the third, beating Dubnyk on his glove side. Sedin made it 3-2 when he converted Radim Vrbata's backhand pass from behind the net. ''We played well the last 20 minutes but it doesn't really matter,'' Sedin said. ''When we are down 3-0 it's tough. We have to be stronger when we have those down moments in a game. Right now we are not.'' Vancouver had a disallowed goal early in the third period when Alexander Edler's shot from the point was waved off for goalie interference. Vrbata was judged to have impeded Dubnyk's movement across the crease. ''Vrbata is in the crease and I can't get in my crease to where I need to be to make that save,'' Dubnyk said. Two goals in two minutes in the second period derailed the Canucks' momentum. Parise's attempted pass at 7:26 took a slight deflection off Lucas Sbisa before making its way under Miller. The Wild were on the power play a minute later when Nino Niederreiter drove to the corner before passing back to an open Spurgeon at the point. His shot found its way through a group of bodies in front of the net for the Wild's second goal. The Canucks tried to respond when Alexandre Burrows found an open Linden Vey in the slot, but his shot went straight into Dubnyk's chest. NOTES: The Canucks have three games left on a six-game homestand, including Tuesday against the Winnipeg Jets. ... Minnesota is heading back home to host a three-game homestand, starting Tuesday against the Chicago Blackhawks. ... This is the first time the Wild and Canucks have faced off this year, starting a three-game series. | 1 | 5,608 | sports |
Jeremy Lane picked a great time to get his first career interception, but it came at a potentially huge cost to the Seattle Seahawks cornerback. With the New England Patriots poised to break the scoreless deadlock in the first quarter, Lane intercepted a pass from Tom Brady at the goal line. On the subsequent run back, he suffered an arm injury. Kent Somers of AZCentral.com reported that Lane needed to have the arm completely immobilized: Lane with first career int, then leaving on a cart, left arm immobilized. Kent Somers (@kentsomers) February 1, 2015 Bleacher Report captured a screenshot from the NBC broadcast, which showed Lane's arm in an air cast: Seahawks' Jeremy Lane has to be carted off after his INT of Tom Brady. #SB49 pic.twitter.com/vy2BQuMgPV Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) February 1, 2015 According to Pro Football Talk, the 24-year-old is doubtful for the rest of the game: Jeremy Lane (arm) officially is doubtful to return. ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) February 1, 2015 David J. Chao weighed in on Lane's injury following his exit: By video, JEREMY LANE @Seahawks has both bone (radius & ulna) forearm fracture. Unfortunately will need surgery with plates/screws. David J. Chao, MD (@ProFootballDoc) February 2, 2015 The Seahawks have already had more than enough injury scares with their secondary in the last few weeks. The last thing Seattle needed was to have a player like Lane go down in the Super Bowl. | 1 | 5,609 | sports |
Former South Carolina running back Marcus Lattimore was hired by the program to be a coach. The guys share their thoughts on Steve Spurrier bringing in his former player. | 1 | 5,610 | sports |
To avoid the usual eclipse of smaller East Asian economies, look away for a moment from China's reforms-induced slower growth and Japan's monetary blind alleys. What you will see then are economies whose growth rates last summer were in the range of 1.6 percent to 5.6 percent -- clustering around an average growth of 4 percent. Remarkably, that strong economic activity was taking place in an environment of stable prices (except in Indonesia), balanced public and private savings and a surprisingly high degree of exchange rate stability in some of the region's most vulnerable economies. You won't find here European-style hopeless economic and financial basket cases, social unrest, raging military conflicts, ill-conceived and untenable monetary unions and devastating creditor-debtor relationships. No, East Asians are pursuing a process of an ever expanding intra-regional free trade, but, wisely, they would not even think of common currency areas. And neither would they contemplate economic ostracism and exclusion against their wayward fellow Asians. Speaking of Myanmar a few years ago, the secretary general of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) was saying: "We don't do sanctions." Excess savings to support growth Indeed, they are seeking harmony and inclusion. That serves them well because the increasing integration, sound fundamentals and strengthening intra-regional flows of commerce and finance will allow East Asian countries plenty of room to support demand, output and employment regardless of what happens to European and North American economies. The proof of that is that this region continued to be the fastest growing part of the world economy, despite recessions and subpar growth in Europe and in the United States. At the moment, East Asia (excluding China and Japan) is a net capital exporter to the tune of $245 billion a huge amount of excess savings that can be readily deployed to finance investment and current consumption throughout that area. Direct and portfolio investors might wish to think of this at the time when the world is spellbound by the prospect of rising dollar interest rates and the coming avalanche of euro liquidity. Now, bring in China and Japan to see how these two economies are enhancing the growth potential of the rest of East Asia. Look at China first. Beijing can easily sustain a sound and balanced economic growth somewhere in the range of 7-8 percent. Those who doubt that rising household consumption (which already accounts for 51 percent of the economy) can offset a widely expected decline of export sales need only think of 200 million people who will be moving from rural areas to urban communities over the next five years. Think of the boost to aggregate demand that will come from housing investments and spending on consumer durable goods, healthcare and education. And that will still leave more than 400 million people precariously living in China's countryside. Most of that population is potentially part of the government's vast urbanization project, requiring gigantic investments in modern infrastructure and social welfare services. With a savings rate of 50 percent of the gross domestic project (GDP), China has the means to finance this fundamental transformation of its economy and society, which virtually guarantees the country's strongly rising domestic demand over the coming years. China and Japan as regional growth factors That, of course, also means that China will remain a rapidly developing export market to its Asian neighbors. There is already an enormous progress in that direction because China's trade and investments with the rest of Asia are its main policy priority. The Chinese government is reporting that the country's trade volume with East Asia last year reached nearly $1.4 trillion. According to the same source, that was more than China's volume of trade with Europe and the U.S. taken together, with Asian countries now representing half of China's top ten trade partners. Similar trends are seen with respect to direct investment flows. The most recent data show that 70 percent of China's $102.9 billion in outbound foreign direct investments went to the rest of Asia. Japan with its highly sophisticated and diversified technologies -- is an equally good source of support for the development and modernization of East Asian economies. In the case of China, Japan's broad range of consumer and industrial goods can easily beat any other potential competitors on Chinese markets. I, therefore, believe that Japan's 13.4 trillion yen worth of exports to China last year an increase of 6 percent from 2013 is most probably well below the actual possibilities, provided the two countries can improve their strained political relations. The rest of Asia also looms large in Japan's trade. Last year, Japan's purchases from its Asian neighbors increased 7.3 percent from the previous year and accounted for 45 percent of its total merchandise imports. That helped to cut in half Japan's trade surplus with Asia, compared with 2013, and served as a net contribution to regional growth. The Philippines and Vietnam were the largest beneficiaries of the Japanese import demand. Japan's contribution to East Asian economic growth is bound to increase in the years ahead. That region already takes 29 percent of Japanese foreign direct investments, second only to the United States. Investment thoughts East Asia's large growth potential and vast development needs can be readily financed by the area's enormous excess savings. That regional pool of investment and consumption funding will provide an effective protection from possibly adverse swings of dollar- and euro-denominated capital flows. The regional focus of incoming financing institutions, such as the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), will also support and speed up the modernization of this fastest-growing segment of the world economy. Most of the East Asian stock markets have done well over the last twelve months. They will remain outstanding growth plays. But there is no need for anecdotal evidence. China has already moved to support Asian growth through two major financial initiatives: The New Development Bank and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. | 3 | 5,611 | finance |
A man uses Doritos to his advantage on a plane. | 8 | 5,612 | video |
GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) -- Tom Brady threw for four touchdowns and Malcolm Butler intercepted Russell Wilson's pass in the end zone with 20 seconds left, helping the New England Patriots hold on to beat the Seattle Seahawks 28-24 Sunday night for their fourth Super Bowl title. The Patriots had lost three straight Super Bowls since winning three in four years a decade ago. The 37-year-old Brady led them back, hitting Julian Edelman with 2:02 left for his 12th career Super Bowl touchdown pass, breaking Joe Montana's record. The Seahawks pulled off a miraculous rally to beat Green Bay in the NFC Championship game and were in position for another improbable victory when Jermaine Kearse made a juggling, 33-yard catch while on his back. With the ball on New England's 1, Seattle appeared to be headed toward a second straight Super Bowl title. Butler spoiled the Seahawks' bid, stepping in front of Ricardo Lockette for the interception. ------ Online: AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and AP NFL Twitter feed: http://twitter.com/AP--NFL ------ Follow Rob Maaddi on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP--RobMaaddieahawks 28-24 for fourth Super Bowl win | 1 | 5,613 | sports |
The walls of our homes have the power to speak volumes about our lives. Filled walls produce a lived-in look packed with personality, while blank walls suggest that you don't plan to stick around for long. All that empty space is just a missed opportunity. Perplexed by a blank wall? Here are 10 uniquely creative ways to jazz it up without having to reach for a brush and bucket of paint. Literally Speaking No need for expensive wallpaper when you can adorn your walls with the pages from an old book . This is a wonderful project for thinking outside the binding outdated textbooks, dictionaries, and coffee table books are great resources. Related: Wow with Words 10 Ways to Bring Typography Style Home Hang In There Pay tribute to the good old '70s with a splash of macramé on your wall. You can buy or DIY samples of this classic hand-knotted art for a happy hanging that's not-so-standard. Related: 7 Everyday Objects You Never Thought to Hang Wall of Washi Change your wall decor as easily as you change your mind with washi ! This wildly popular Japanese masking tape comes in several widths and literally hundreds of designs, so there's never a shortage of inspiration. Stripe your wall vertically, horizontally, or even diagonally to create a wallpaper-like pattern that's easy to remove. Related: 10 Wallpaper Options to Trick the Eye Plans to Decorate You'll always remember the creative phase of your remodeling project when the blueprints are memorialized on your walls. Mimic the look of this custom-printed wallpaper by Design Your Wall by decoupaging your own old blueprints on the walls of a small space. Related: 7 Classic Decoupage Projects for the Home Magnificent Mural A large-scale mural guarantees that a wall will make a statement. An elegant backdrop like this mural of the Musée du Louvre may appeal to you, or you can enlarge a black-and-white photo of your own and print it out panel by panel in several engineer prints for something more custom. Natural Elements For a soft and earthy look, try lining an accent wall with a sheet or tiled squares of cork . You'll be excited to know the end result is both eye-catching and eco-friendly: Natural cork tiles are a renewable resource, because the bark is merely "trimmed" and allowed to grow back. Related: Trending Now Cork Flooring Stick To It Give any space an instant makeover with an easy-to-adhere wall decal. Don't be fooled: These stickers are not just for kids' rooms anymore. Polka dots not your style? The sky's the limit. Vinyl decals are widely available in countless shapes, sizes, and themes. Worldly Design A wall-to-wall map adds a dramatic, globe-hopping thrill to any room. The look is impressive, but wall murals or even just giant classroom maps like these are easy to install and just as easy to take down, so you can take the world with you wherever you may go. Related: 5 Things to Do with... Maps Gallery Appeal Create the sense of a sophisticated gallery with a wall collage of photos from the pages of magazines. Start with a unifying theme whether it's black-and-white portraits or world architecture and then flip through titles known for spectacular photography, like Vanity Fair or National Geographic, for your clippings. Weave Walls One temporary, renter-friendly fix for a blank wall is to stick up your favorite print fabric. Look for a piece large enough to cover most of the wall; tapestries, patterned rugs, window treatments, or even shower curtains will get the job done. Related: 9 Temporary Options for Commitment Phobes | 4 | 5,614 | lifestyle |
Check out the trailer for Terminator Genisys. | 8 | 5,615 | video |
Carnival invites viewers to get on board and come back to sea. | 8 | 5,616 | video |
Chevy had you fooled, didn't they? Checkout the first memorable commercial from this year's Super Bowl. | 8 | 5,617 | video |
Checkout the movie trailer for Minions | 8 | 5,618 | video |
The British have a different take on taxation, in this Super Bowl ad for Turbo Tax. | 8 | 5,619 | video |
At 7 a.m. Monday, the Government Publishing Office's trucks will be raring to go, filled with thousands of copies, totalling millions of pages, of a new publication precious few have been allowed to see: a hard-copy outline of President Obama's hopes and dreams. By 8 a.m., print versions of Obama's fiscal 2016 budget submission will be at the Office of Management and Budget and on Capitol Hill, where cameras will await an annual only-in-Washington media ritual. GPO's digital team, meanwhile, will be standing by, watching the clock tick to 11:30 a.m., the moment when the budget can enter the public domain electronically. It'll take them about 10 seconds to move the files from an internal test environment into a format the world can see. Crafting the proposed budget involves countless meetings and intense analysis, a process that starts almost as soon as the last one ends. Once it's written the proposed money allocated down to the dollar it's turned over to GPO, which is charged with producing the expansive document and its appendix, analysis, and accompanying historical tables. "We know when it's coming [every year]," Ric Davis, GPO's chief technology officer, said, "but at the same time and even though we know what we're doing, and we know the process and generally the same people are here there is still a lot of work involved just to make sure that we get it absolutely right." Last Monday, OMB gave the budget's digital files to GPO, transmitting it using a secure channel to ensure the budget isn't tampered with in any way, Davis said. The two agencies work in tandem to review what's been transferred, double-checking all is the same. But the document isn't just put on the site as is. That wouldn't be user-friendly. Instead, it's compiled into volumes and chapters, as the digital team creates the look and feel of how the budget will appear to the public on the website, adding answers to frequently asked questions: What is the budget? Who is the author? How many pages is it? Then the testing of the digitized document begins. The team puts the budget up in a test space, intensely scrutinizing the product because they have a deadline they just can't miss: "As soon as we get the green light for releasing it, we're ready to make it available," Davis said. And the digital budget goes online, just as it has since fiscal 1996, available on GPO's federal digital system, www.fdsys.gov . The clicks begin with an estimated 60,000 views online the first day of the document's release and likely another 25,000 from the accompanying mobile app that GPO first created for the fiscal 2013 budget, GPO spokesman Gary Somerset wrote in an email. GPO also converted the material into three books. There are copies for Congress, the GPO retail and online bookstores, and OMB and special leather-bound books for the president, said John Crawford, GPO's managing director of plant operations. The book consisting of the fiscal 2016 proposed budget went to the printing press Monday evening and was completed midweek; the two others books the appendix and the analytical perspective were done by the weekend. Then they were combined into shrink-wrapped sets and boxed, with Saturday crews charged with prepping them for delivery. That's 15,000 copies in total of a roughly 150-page budget; a nearly 1,500-page appendix; and a roughly 400-page analytical perspective, all published in about a work week. And a CD-ROM that also includes the document's historical tables. The printing process used to take roughly five times longer, with employees hand-feeding the materials into machines. "It was labor-intensive, trust me," Crawford said. "Hundreds and hundreds of people." When the budget's four volumes were print-only, about 100,000 total copies were produced, but that number decreased once the Web gained traction. And in this digital age, it takes the manpower of fewer than 100 employees to produce the books, a decrease that stems from the 1990s purchase of a printer that cuts out the many tedious steps. "It's done so much better," Crawford said, "and so much faster." | 5 | 5,620 | news |
Weight Watchers helps in the battle to control your dinner plate, in this Super Bowl ad. | 8 | 5,621 | video |
Chevy Big Game Commercial | 8 | 5,622 | video |
Superbowl Commercial: Nationwide | 8 | 5,623 | video |
GLENDALE, Ariz. Who is this guy? If you had Seahawks wide receiver Chris Matthews as Seattle's X-factor through halftime, you were right. The unknown, 25-year-old rookie hauled in two catches for 55 yards and a touchdown in the first half of Super Bowl XLIX against the Patriots. They were the first two catches of his NFL career, and his 11-yard grab with two seconds left in the second quarter tied up the game at 14. Matthews left the Kentucky Wildcats program in 2010, and went undrafted. The Cleveland Browns briefly signed him, but released him before the start of the season. He didn't even play football in 2011. That's when he went to Canada. Matthews spent 2012-13 with the CFL's Winnipeg Blue Bombers and earned the 2012 Most Outstanding Rookie trophy after he caught 81 passes for 1,192 yards and seven touchdowns. The Seahawks signed the 6-foot-5, 218-pound receiver in February of 2014, but he didn't appear in any games until Week 14 of this year. Counting the postseason, Matthews has played in five games, but hadn't caught a pass in any of them. Originally a transfer from Los Angeles Harbor Junior College, Matthews collected 93 receptions for 1,279 yards in his career with Kentucky, including a team-high nine receiving touchdowns in 2010. How unknown of a player is Matthews? If you find his player page on the Seahawks official website, the photo of him is from his time with the Wildcats. Following his huge first half, as Matthews walked off the field and headed into the locker room, Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman embraced Matthews and seemed to motivate him. If Matthews has a similar performance in the second half, he could wind up being the most important Seahawks player and may even have a shot at the game's Most Valuable Player award. But no matter what happens, he'll still enter 2015 as a second-year player without a regular-season catch. | 1 | 5,624 | sports |
The finance chief of Ford Motor Co (F.N) expects ongoing problems in Russia where the decline of the rouble and the struggling economy was weighing on its market share, according to German newspaper Handelsblatt. Russia's currency and economic woes were cited last week by Ford as major reasons the company lowered expectations for its European business in 2015. Other carmakers have incurred losses and closed production plants in Russia for the same reason. "2015 does not look good," Ford's Chief Financial Officer Bob Shanks was quoted as saying about Russia in an interview to be published on Monday. Shanks told the financial daily that Ford has lost market share in Russia as "a number of competitors have aggressively cut their prices." Japanese car makers were able to cut prices on the back of the weak yen and Korean car makers had followed, he said. Shanks said that Ford was looking at measures to cope with the Russian crisis. "All options are on the table," he was quoted as saying. A market exit was not an option, Shank said. Ford spokespeople in Europe could not immediately be reached for comment outside office hours. Ford had previously estimated losses from Europe at about $250 million in 2015. On Thursday, however, it backed away from that forecast, saying the loss would narrow from $1 billion in 2014 but would be wider than previously thought. General Motors Co (GM.N) said last week it will suspend production at its St. Petersburg auto assembly plant in Russia from mid-March to mid-May and is raising prices for its products because of the weak and volatile Russian rouble. In addition, Volkswagen AG's (VOWG_p.DE) labor chief said on Thursday the company lost hundreds of millions of euros in Russia because of the decline of the rouble. (Reporting by Harro ten Wolde; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky) | 3 | 5,625 | finance |
You can keep your pj's on and stay on the couch for this workout! It's perfect for those days when you just don't want to move, but feel you should. Just grab a set of light or medium weights or a couple of cans or bottles of water, and get ready to work your arms. These moves are designed to define your muscles while strengthening them, too. | 8 | 5,626 | video |
Drs. Marc Siegel and David Samadi react to new study | 8 | 5,627 | video |
HLN's Mike Galanos gets up-close with some of the stars of this year's Puppy Bowl. | 8 | 5,628 | video |
A baby laughs at her dog barking | 8 | 5,629 | video |
Celebrity hairstylist Serge Normant offers advice on what hot tools to use on your hair. | 4 | 5,630 | lifestyle |
A boy named Braylon shows how Microsoft software can change lives, in this Super Bowl ad. | 8 | 5,631 | video |
Russell Wilson, despite his flourishing football career, still can't get enough of baseball. According to The Boston Globe , Wilson is planning to attend Rangers spring training for a second consecutive season. "I love baseball, so any opportunity I would have to hang out with the guys and take some swings, I'll take," Wilson said. Last spring, Wilson took batting practice and fielded ground balls for a day while the team sold his jersey. He's expected to do the same this year. The Rangers drafted Wilson from the Rockies in the Triple-A phase of the Rule 5 draft in 2013. The Rockies took a flyer on Wilson in the fourth round of the 2010 amateur draft out of NC State. Wilson played 93 games in the Rockies' farm system before entering the NFL Draft in 2012. | 1 | 5,632 | sports |
Another merger deal, followed by some more layoffs. No big surprise, right? Well, not if you happen to live in Canada. Not if the company that was acquired was Tim Hortons, whose coffee and doughnuts are an iconic national brand . It was even founded by a player of Canada's unofficial national game, the late NHL defenseman Tim Horton, who was killed in a car crash in 1974. And particularly not if the company doing the acquiring and now orchestrating the layoffs is Burger King, the giant US division of 3G Capital, a Brazilian investment firm. It's not the Brazilian part that irks Canadians: it's having a national icon swallowed up and jobs spat out again by an American behemoth. "Another foreign takeover approved by the Conservatives and another round of pink slips for Canadian workers!" thundered David Christopherson, a member of Canada's New Democratic Party, a left-wing opposition party, in parliament in the wake of the news that the newly merged Burger King/Tim Hortons would axe 350 jobs at the Tim Hortons head office and at regional headquarters. In fact, between listening to the political rhetoric and reading some of the comments online, I felt as if I had been transported in time back to the heyday of Canadian economic nationalism. "Now if we could only get Canadians to boycott "Burger Tims" for laying off all our citizens!", tweeted @DyBee. She got at least one taker, who pledged "I will no longer go to Tim Hortons #canadianjobsmatter". It's a tempest in a teapot when you consider that cross-border mergers hit $1.1tn last year, up from $713bn in 2013. But as the Tim Horton's/Burger King merger negotiations showed, even what should have been a straightforward deal to form what became the world's third largest fast-food chain drew ire on both sides of the border. The deal involved Burger King relocating its head office to Canada in one of the so-called tax inversions, a strategy to cut the new company's corporate tax burden. Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown, a Democrat, announced he planned to boycott Burger King in future, to protest that company's lack of patriotism. Related: Burger King acquires Tim Hortons and calls Obama's bluff over tax In Canada, the angst isn't just about job losses or about patriotism, however. It's about identity, which makes the whole debate even trickier. And it goes back a long, long way. And it just may matter. Here are the roots of it all. Consider, for a moment, that you live in Canada, and that a significant chunk of the jobs in key regions are directly or indirectly provided by a company on the other side of the US border typically, an automaker, an auto parts manufacturer or, in western Canada, in the energy industry. Then, if you're a blue-collar worker and you get home at the end of your working day, when you turn on the television, nearly all of the shows that are on are on are US sitcoms or dramas, too. That's the kind of situation that got a group of Canadian economists and thinkers talking about the concept of a " branch plant economy " back in the 1960s, when economic nationalism first got going as a force. A wave of ill-fated nationalization of energy assets followed under the late Canadian prime minister Pierre Trudeau . The policies of economic nationalism have largely been reversed since his conservative successor, Brian Mulroney, declared Canada to be open for business in 1985. Canada has even signed off on M&A deals that would have been unimaginable under Trudeau, such as the acquisition by Petronas, the Malaysian national energy company, of Progress Energy Resources , or the equally controversial takeover of Nexen by China's CNOOC Ltd. In the meantime, Israel rebuffed an attempt by Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan to snap up a controlling stake in Israel Chemicals, with the Israeli finance minister warning that approving the deal would be " un-Zionist ". It's even more ironic in light of the fact that Potash Corp. earlier had played the nationalism card to see off a takeover offer from an Australian-British mining conglomerate. But those decades left their mark on individual attitudes and awareness. Canadians remain wary of new US brand names even those well established at home. Some Canadian friends of mine boycotted Starbucks, peeved at what they saw as a deliberate attempt to put local chains like Second Cup out of business in an increasingly bitter coffee war . Consider the failure of Target's aggressive move into Canada , where it took over the leases of stores once occupied by Zellers, a name once as familiar to Canadians as Tim Hortons. My sister-in-law was one of those who was at first impressed by the bright, shiny aisles and underwhelmed by the cheap quality of the merchandise, and ultimately nostalgic for Zellers. Just because it had a reputation for being the recherché, upscale discount retailer south of the border, didn't mean that was going to convince her to shop there, she told me sternly. And she didn't. And other Canadians didn't. And Target shut down, leaving 17,600 very Canadian workers unemployed. And therein lies the rub. Like it or not, we live in a global economy. We buy smartphones made in South Korea or China and t-shirts made in Bangladesh. Yes, perhaps our cars are made in the United States but probably not all the components and microchips are. The irony is that this time around, Burger King/Tim Hortons or Restaurant Brands International, as the new entity is now known has managed to offend its customers on both sides of the border. And it has done so at a time when, even if governments are less prone to economic nationalism, individual consumers are increasingly focused on ensuring that our personal spending reflects our values and our identity. Canadians who have watched some great Canadian business ideas get acquired by US companies, who have shifted the base of operations and innovation south (think, Flickr, acquired by Yahoo), great Canadian entrepreneurs pursue their business ideas south of the border (think, Jeff Skoll) and watch as some other iconic brands collapse under their own weight ( Research in Motion , anyone?) may be feeling particularly vulnerable right about now. That doesn't mean that economic nationalism will be any more successful this time around. It does, however, suggest that whenever another crossborder deal is followed by job losses and that transaction involves a company that deals directly with the public, as Burger King and Tim Hortons do it might be a smart plan for the companies involved to devise something a little more deft than a mass layoff announcement a few weeks after the deal closes. That is, if they want to hang on to their customers. Because if Target can fail… | 5 | 5,633 | news |
Rachel Nichols sits down with Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll to discuss his unique coaching style. | 8 | 5,634 | video |
Around 9 p.m. last Friday, Nebraska coach Mike Riley ( @Coach_Riley ) tweeted: "Go Big Red, huge night for the #Huskers Family! #GBR A moment later, Andy Vaughn ( @Andy_Vaughn ), the Huskers' director of football and recruiting operations, took to Twitter, too: "I'm so JUICED we just got a great call, a Husker just said he is ALL IN the #BigRedFamily #WestCoastHusker" Vaughn's tweet was accompanied by a photograph of pro wrestler Hulk Hogan ripping off his shirt. What was that all about? A day later, Riley wasn't sure. "He did that? I didn't know about that," Riley said, laughing, adding: "I'm kind of old school, so it's really new to me." But the message was clear: Nebraska had just landed a nonbinding verbal commitment from a recruit. Sleuths quickly determined that Matt Snyder, a coveted tight end from San Ramon, Calif., was sticking with the Huskers despite a late push from Michigan. Thus the tweets from several Twitter handles associated with Nebraska coaches and staff, and an illustration of how college football programs, once notoriously secretive about recruiting, have begun promoting their efforts and are tiptoeing right up to the line on a longstanding NCAA rule that prohibits publicizing recruiting. "My first question always is, 'Are you sure that's legal?' " Riley said, laughing again. It is. And it has opened up the recruiting process which climaxes Wednesday with the start of the signing period in ways impossible without social media. Since the advent of Twitter, coaches have used it to keep up with recruits, and they've taken advantage its direct message function to communicate privately with them; the NCAA allows unlimited direct-messaging. But now, coaches and football programs are tweeting their whereabouts on the recruiting trail see Nebraska, again, where Riley regularly tweets maps that detail where each coach is headed next. And when recruits commit, coaches and staff members issue 140-character messages that aren't hard to decipher. "People have kind of pushed the limits a little bit here and there and the rules have loosened up," Vaughn said. Or at least, the coaches have loosened up. NCAA rule 13.11.2, which prohibits coaches from public comment on recruits, other than to confirm they are recruiting the player, has not changed. For years, fearful of committing a violation, coaches cloaked the recruiting process in secrecy. But it never precluded coaches from announcing their destinations along the recruiting trail, at least in general terms. And as it turns out, tweets that obliquely let everyone know of a commitment are OK, too. As long as those 140 characters don't actually contain a recruit's name or clearly identify him, it's allowable. "At first, it was stressful for the system, so to speak," said Jon Fagg, Arkansas' senior associate athletic director for administration and governance, who's spent 20 years working in NCAA rules compliance. "But the more people thought and talked about it, the more we realized this was within the spirit and the letter of the law. It is not publicizing the recruitment of a specific prospect. "Now people are having fun with it and it's pretty entertaining. It's fun. It makes the recruiting cycle more entertaining." Why the Hulk Hogan photo? Vaughn said he grew up a pro wrestling fan. He'd recently used photos of Ric Flair, the "Nature Boy," and said the wrestling meme quickly became a hit in the Nebraska football office. "People are coming by and volunteering their favorite wrestler now," Vaughn said. "It's just a different way to show some excitement," Vaughn said. "We did wrestlers this week. We may do something else next week. It's just something different and exciting." *** While Vaughn is tweeting out photos of wrestlers, Ole Miss signals commitments by sending out photos from coach Hugh Freeze's Twitter account ( @CoachHughFreeze ) of the coach holding a big bass. Get it? "I take pictures of every fish I catch that's decent size," said Freeze, who is proud that there's nothing phony about the photos; they're from fishing excursions on a 90-acre lake behind his house near Oxford, Miss. And every time the Rebels land a recruit, they tweet one of those photos. Freeze was among the early adopters of the new-school ways; he began doing it while head coach at Arkansas State in 2011, tweeting "#Yahtzee" to signal commitments. Everybody, it seems, is doing something. At Washington, it's "#Woof" Huskies barking for joy. At Tennessee, it's #BrickByBrick, sometimes accompanied by a photograph of a brick wall. Oklahoma's Bob Stoops tweets "Boom" and an area code. "Some of those guys," Nebraska's Vaughn said, "do stuff where it's almost like 'A Christmas Story' you need a decoder ring to figure it out. Some guys keep it light and easy to figure out." It's not always the head coach doing the actual tweeting. Freeze says when he tweets a motivational thought in the morning, "That's me." During the day, it's usually an Ole Miss staffer with access to the account. Riley says Ryan Gunderson, Nebraska's director of player personnel who accompanied Riley from Oregon State, "does the mechanical part of it, but we get together on the message." Whether it's an announcement or just updates on coaches' travels, the benefits are at least twofold. Recruits know they're being talked about in code. "They eat it up," said Branden Wenzel, Ole Miss' assistant recruiting director. "It's the excitement of announcing they're committing without really announcing they're committing." *** And at least as important, it excites the fan base. Recruiting has long been an offseason passion for a subset of devoted fans. Suddenly, Twitter has provided a direct outlet to provide them news, if only obliquely. "It's really more for our following, for the 'Rebel Nation' or our fan base, to feel like they're actively a part of knowing what's going on, without us being able to comment on things," Freeze said. "It motivates them to go check out the whatever the sources are they use (to learn) 'Who did we just get,' or 'What's going on?' I think they feel more connected to us. It's a way we can do that." And even though they're not named, the recruits get it. "Kids get a kick out of it because they know you're talking about them without breaking NCAA rules," Vaughn said. Especially for Riley and the new staff at Nebraska, Twitter has helped build excitement. Riley credits Gunderson and Vaughn with convincing him "it has to be a part of what we do in order to be out there." And he likes the resulting buzz. "It's, 'Hey, these guys are working,' " Riley said. "'They're going to see these guys tonight. That's awesome. We want these guys at Nebraska.' I don't mind people knowing." There are potential pitfalls. Thursday, UCLA coach Jim Mora's Twitter account tweeted a graphic of Maea Teuhema, an offensive lineman from Keller, Texas, wearing a UCLA uniform a definite no-no. A little later, @UCLACoachMora tweeted: "This account has been hacked, does not represent Coach Mora and hasn't since January 3rd." If, say, it wasn't hacking but a mistake, it would be a minor NCAA violation. It also wouldn't be an unusual graphic; personalized graphics like that one are routinely sent to recruits privately via direct message. Graphics might be the next step in a rapid evolution. Never mind #woof or Boom 214. Already, Twitter in recruiting is about more than 140 characters. "Kids are just so visual these days," Wenzel said. "It's no longer type out a (full-) page letter and send it to them in snail mail, it's quick messages." Thus, Nebraska's maps with the red arrows starting in Lincoln and pointing all over the USA. Or the graphic Wenzel tweeted a few days ago, during a coordinated recruiting push into Florida, of six fishing boats with Ole Miss assistant coaches' names, a photo of Freeze and a very large shark. The accompanying message: "We may need bigger boats if these Florida Land Sharks decide to come aboard with @CoachHughFreeze"). A semi-secret pursuit has morphed into who can be the most creative, within the rules, at posting a running tally of recruiting triumphs. "The element of surprise has kind of passed by," Wenzel said. "It's more about momentum within a program." For momentum, there's last Thursday night, when quarterback Kyler Murray reaffirmed his commitment to Texas A&M. Murray, a prized recruit from Allen, Texas, had long been committed to the Aggies. But after visiting Texas a few days earlier and tweeting a photo of a Longhorns jersey with the No. 1 his number there was sudden uncertainty over his destination. After Texas A&M coach Kevin Sumlin and offensive coordinator Jake Spavital visited Murray on Thursday, he announced his choice with, of course, a tweet. @TheKylerMurray : Following my heart… #GigEm Moments later, Spavital ( @JakeSpavital ) tweeted: "#LetsRide" A few minutes later, here was Sumlin ( @CoachSumlin ): "#WHOSNEXT" And a few minutes after that, the official Texas A&M football account ( @AggieFootball ) tweeted: "Now a good time to remind everyone to tune in to the Texas A&M Football #SigningDay Show? …" The message came through loud and clear. | 1 | 5,635 | sports |
Gear Gone Wild: 15 Pairs of Printed Workout Pants In an endless sea of black capris, take a stand with fresh, fun style. From bursts of loud pop art to girlie, laid-back looks, each pair of these flattering printed pants will refresh your workout wardrobe - without totally breaking the bank. Boho Gems These pretty pink Teeki Choose Roses Hot Pants ($72) have the perfect combination of feminine flair and funky design. The high waistband and quick-drying material make them an even more desirable pick. Wild Waves You'll love these jacquard leggings ($82) from Prismsport. Between the wide waistband, flattering ankle length, and tiny key pocket, you just can't go wrong with these. Sleek and Simple Striped gray Under Amour capris ($56, originally $75) add a little welcome style without too much flash. Batiked Blue The cool colors of these Chikum Stoka Pants ($57) will help you stand out from the pack. Wild Orchid The feminine flowery design on these Adidas Orchid Leggings ($35) will keep you feeling fresh as we enter spring. Cool Quilts If just one awesome print isn't enough, let these Without Walls Patchwork Print Leggings ($68) come to the rescue. They look like a kaleidoscopic quilt. Fired Up You'll love the volcanic activity happening on half of these Alo Yoga Goddess Ribbed Leggings ($94). Even better, the cut and material promise to help flatter your legs and "lift your booty." They're the perfect leggings for your next barre class. Flashy Florals The sweet pattern on these long leggings from Onzie ($65) makes us long for warm weather. The leggings provide lightweight, quick-drying coverage perfect for hot yoga and come in a wide variety of designs. We are quite partial to the peacock pattern, along with the Hawaii print (pictured here). Awesomely Abstract These eye-catching abstract print leggings ($20) will turn heads at the gym - and you can't beat that price! Just a Touch of Hippie Bring some low-key tie-dye flair to your workout with Nux's V-Ankle Pants ($79). Not only is the low-rise waistband flattering, but the pants also offer plenty of support and coverage. Hearts in the Sand Bring a bright and tropical vibe to your next yoga or barre class with these Om Shanti Power Pants ($75). Pretty in Pink These moisture-wicking Betsey Johnson Rose-Print Active Capri Pants ($40, originally $54) will keep you looking and feeling cool throughout a sweaty workout. In a Flash These tight, light, and stylish Nike Flash Tights ($150) will make you feel jet-powered on your next run. Zig and Zag These bright and flattering Fabletics leggings ($50 for members, $80 for nonmembers) come in this hot pink hue and a more subtle heather gray. Seriously Toned Show off your strong legs with these jaw-dropping and totally comfortable muscle leggings ($58). I stopped someone at Yoga Journal Live who was wearing these bad boys! | 7 | 5,636 | health |
West Texas Intermediate crude oil fell has been falling to new lows . "The recent collapse of oil prices has arguably been the most startling and far-reaching market development since the Global Financial Crisis," wrote Goldman Sachs' Allison Nathan in a research note this week. Goldman included this map with a wealth of data about the biggest oil producers and guzzlers. Moreover, it contains some clues about what low oil prices mean for their economies, and the damage that's already been done. For example, a Saudi Arabia derives a whopping 90% of its revenues from oil, and they need $83 a barrel oil to get their budget deficit to zero. Nigeria's naira and Canada's dollar have declined 14% against the US dollar since June 2014, when oil prices started to tumble. The US has very little exposure to the downside risks. Only 8% of its stock market is exposed to the energy sector. | 3 | 5,637 | finance |
Juventus missed the chance to extend its lead at the top of Serie A on Sunday as it turned in a somewhat off-color performance to draw 0-0 with Udinese at Stadio Comunale Friuli. With Roma's mid-season struggles continuing thanks to Saturday's 1-1 draw against Empoli, Massimiliano Allegri could have seen his side move nine points clear at the summit. However, the holder looked jaded following its 1-0 Coppa Italia success at Parma in midweek and could have been behind at the break if Bruno Fernandes and Cyril Thereau had been more clinical with first-half efforts. The visitor ended the half well and saw Roberto Pereyra hit the crossbar soon after the interval, but still it failed to find a breakthrough against a side whose last win at home in the league came in October. Andrea Stramaccioni was ultimately rewarded for a solid defensive showing - having survived a late scare when Carlos Tevez shot wide - but Allegri will no doubt be frustrated after seeing his side fail to score in a top-flight game for only the third time this season. Juve had taken 13 points from its last five league games on the road, but it was the host which started brighter despite missing the suspended Panagiotis Kone and injured midfielder Emmanuel Agyemang-Badu. Allegri was without midfield pair Arturo Vidal and Claudio Marchisio because of injury and suspension respectively, and Udinese almost made the most of their absences when Fernandes found himself clean through 12 minutes in only to stutter and miss the chance to apply a finish. Paul Pogba shot wide at the other end soon after, while Tevez continued to pose problems for the home side, but Udinese coped at the back and remained dangerous on the break. Thereau was next to go close but, like Fernandes, was unable to finish a slick counter-attack midway through the half. The unmarked Fernando Llorente headed wide from a corner and, while Juve ended the half on top, it was unable to find an opener before the change of ends. As in the first half, Udinese started the second positively and forced Gianluigi Buffon into a smart save when Danilo flicked on Antonio Di Natale's corner. In a fast-paced opening to the half, Pereyra rattled the crossbar with a powerful strike from inside the area before Allegri opted to replace Llorente with Alvaro Morata - matchwinner against Parma on Wednesday. The Spaniard nearly found himself clean through on goal following a careless pass from Giovanni Pasquale, but a last-ditch challenge from Ivan Piris cleared any danger. Morata's introduction gave Juve added impetus, with Tevez going close at the death with a close-range effort that went wide. Ultimately the visitor had to settle for a draw that moves it back into a seven-point lead at the top, while Udinese is now winless in six at home, but will doubtless be content with their first point against Juve since 2011. | 1 | 5,638 | sports |
JEREZ, Spain (AP) Red Bull and Williams have launched the Formula One cars they hope will be able to better compete with Mercedes when the new season starts in six weeks' time. Red Bull's RB11 and the Williams FW37 were unveiled Sunday prior to the first day of pre-season testing at the Jerez circuit in southern Spain. Mercedes, which won the constructors' championship by nearly 300 points, also launched its W06 on Sunday, with championship runner-up Nico Rosberg later taking the wheel for the first day of testing. F1 champion Lewis Hamilton drives on Monday. ''Long before the end of last season, development work on our 2015 car became the main priority,'' Toto Wolff, the head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport, said. ''It would be so dangerous to rest on our laurels after 2014.'' Red Bull finished second overall last year and was the only team to win a race other than Mercedes, with Australian driver Daniel Ricciardo winning three as Sebastian Vettel struggled. Williams finished third in the constructors' championship. The opening race is on March 15 in Melbourne and given how easily Mercedes dominated last year, tinkering with the new car was kept to a minimum, with the work centering on the chassis and power unit. A maximum of four power units are allowed this year, one less than 2014. ''Expectations are now high and a lot of assumptions are being made about our potential this season,'' Mercedes technical director Paddy Lowe said. ''You have to take risks to progress, but those risks must be carefully managed.'' While Red Bull and Ferrari changed their driver lineups - with Vettel joining Ferrari and two-time champion Fernando Alonso leaving Ferrari to join McLaren - Hamilton and Rosberg are driving together for the third straight season. The Williams pairing of Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas showed encouraging speed last year - with Bottas securing six podium finishes. The new Williams car features some small changes to the front nose and bulkhead. ''The momentum we carry from last year has been very encouraging,'' said Massa, the championship runner-up in 2008. ''I am excited to be continuing to work with Valtteri, a driver with so much talent who has so much to offer both the team and me.'' After years of stability with Vettel alongside former driver Mark Webber, Red Bull's new pairing of Ricciardo and 20-year-old Daniil Kvyat is exciting and untested. ''We've already seen what Daniel is capable of and we firmly believe that (Kvyat) has all the same attributes,'' team principal Christian Horner said. ''They're young, hungry, they're incredibly quick and I think they are going to push each other very hard.'' Needing to make vast improvements on last year, Red Bull made changes to the lower nose box, the front of the chassis and the Renault power unit. ''The relationship with Renault is a lot closer now,'' Horner said. ''Red Bull is the only partner for Renault now, through ourselves and Toro Rosso, and that focus from Renault - together with a close involvement with our design team - is yielding good results.'' | 1 | 5,639 | sports |
Run, dance, leap, and flow in athletic fashion that follows your every move. Watch as triathlete Katie Botini, dancer Madeline Wong, yogi Briohny Smyth, and choreographer Danielle Polanco take it to the next level. Directed by Steven Brahms, Fashion Editor Jorden Bickham | 8 | 5,640 | video |
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Tom Frieden on Sunday warned that the U.S. could see a "large outbreak" of measles. "We are very concerned by the growing number of people who are susceptible to measles, and the possibility that we could have a large outbreak in this country as a result," Frieden said on CBS's "Face the Nation." There are at least 102 reported cases in 14 states, according to the CDC. Frieden said that the U.S. is "likely to see more cases." Frieden said there is "aggressive public health action" to identify those with measles, isolate those sick and quarantine those who have been exposed. But he said the best way to prevent the spread of measles was vaccination. Frieden said despite the U.S.'s 92 percent vaccination rate, there is growing evidence more parents are not vaccinating their children. "What we've seen is, as over the last few years, a small but growing number of people, have not been vaccinated. That number is building up among young adults in society, and that makes us vulnerable," he said. Frieden acknowledged that some parents are concerned about the safety of vaccines, or think measles no longer exists. "One in six kids could have a fever ten days after, but the vaccine is safe and effective. And for those parents that may think that measles is gone, it's still here, and it can be quite serious," he said. Frieden also appeared on ABC's "This Week," urging parents to vaccinate their children. "What you do for your own kids doesn't just affect your family. It affects other families as well," he said. "The more kids who are not vaccinated, the more they're at risk and the more they put their neighbors' kids at risk as well." --This report was updated at 2:40 p.m. | 5 | 5,641 | news |
The fate of a Jordanian pilot held by Islamic State has raised public pressure on King Abdullah over his country's role in the U.S-led military campaign against the hardline group in Syria, fuelling the risk of broader discontent in the U.S. ally. After his capture in December, militants released pictures of the young pilot Muath al-Kasaesbeh being led out of the water by fighters. His F-16 jet had smashed onto the banks of the Euphrates River in Islamic State's stronghold in northern Syria. The images of the young, newly-wed pilot shocked Jordanians and brought home the stakes of the U.S.-ally's involvement the war. King Abdullah has defended the campaign, saying that moderate Muslims need to combat a group whose ideology and brutality have insulted the spirit of Islam. But in Kasaesbeh's hometown of Karak dozens of young people protested, chanting anti-coalition slogans and calling on the King to pull out of the campaign. "We will not be a sacrificial cow for America!" angry youths chanted last month in a city whose tribes have long been a bulwark of support for the Hashemite monarchy. Although few believe the crisis will compel Jordan to withdraw completely from the campaign, it may take a more low-key role like in the past, analysts and diplomats say. King Abdullah's father, King Hussein, did not take part in a U.S.-led military campaign against former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein after his invasion of Kuwait in 1990, going along with public opinion which was against military involvement. By contrast, his son has taken a bolder role in this campaign by sending its jets to Syria - the first time Jordan took part on bombing missions abroad rather than just providing intelligence and logistical support. King Abdullah's stance stems from his concern about the heightened threat of jihadis to his kingdom. Al Qaeda launched a series of deadly attacks in Jordan including a bombing on a hotel in Amman in 2005, killing 60 people. Islamic State has called for the release of Sajida al-Rishawi, one of the hotel attackers who was convicted after her explosive belt failed to detonate. It has said it will spare Kasaesbeh's life if she is let go but has not said it will release the pilot. "IT'S OUR WAR" Seeking to rally his people, King Abdullah has said concern about the pilot's plight united all Jordanians and his capture proved the war must be won. But as he comforted Kasaesbeh's parents and wife in the royal palace, demonstrations took place. "There is not a hour in the day that me and the armed forces are not working on this, our hero the pilot. Unfortunately the war today is one within the Islamic world and it's our war," the King told a group of tribal elders in a visit ten days ago. The case has polarized Jordanians. Nationalists say it is not time for recriminations and have called for rallying behind the throne while others say they will lay the blame on the country's political rulers if the pilot is killed. "People will blame the Jordanian regime and they will say why did you send him to this war. No one will blame Islamic State if it executes him, it will only increase support for them," said Ali Dalaen, a former deputy from the pilot's hometown. He led a demonstration on Friday calling for an end to military involvement and accusing the government of not negotiating seriously with Islamic State. Some Jordanians have even raised fears that Jordan would send land troops to battle Islamic State, which is also known by the Arabic acronym Daesh. "We insist this is not our war and if Daesh unfortunately sacrifices our son, we hope the wisdom of the government and the King would be furthest away from participating in a land campaign," said Hind al-Fayez, a deputy from the powerful Bani Sakhr tribe. Her comments provoked a strong backlash. Islamic State has released three emotive videos in response to repeated appeals by the family. The group says their son's bombing missions had been responsible for the deaths of women and children. Observers say Islamic State is trying to deepen domestic rifts in a country whose security forces are growing increasingly alarmed by the appeal of jihadist ideology, especially in impoverished cities across the kingdom. Dozens of youths even from the pilot's hometown have traveled over the border to fight alongside hardline groups in Syria and as far away as Afghanistan. "It's an impossible situation for (Jordan). They don't have a decent hand," a Western diplomat in Amman said. "It's clear that Daesh (Islamic State) is looking to manipulate the political space with Jordan, and unfortunately they are very adept at that." (Editing by Sylvia Westall and Anna Willard) | 5 | 5,642 | news |
A 3-year-old boy shot his father and pregnant mother while the family was in a hotel in Albuquerque, New Mexico. | 8 | 5,643 | video |
Jay Pharoah and Kenan Thompson parody Seattle Seahawks players Richard Sherman and Marshawn Lynch on "Saturday Night Live." | 8 | 5,644 | video |
No matter when you eat your biggest meal of the day, your calories should still work for you. These meals are jam-packed with nutrients - from energy-sustaining protein to disease-fighting antioxidants - while still ensuring you keep calorie counts low. Each of these comforting and filling meals is well under 500 calories, meaning you'll be full and satisfied afterward without sacrificing weight-loss goals. Check out the recipes below! - Additional reporting by Michele Foley, Lizzie Fuhr, and Jenny Sugar RelatedVegan, Paleo, and More: The Healthiest Desserts to Satisfy Your Sweet Tooth Lose Weight With These 50+ Meals Under 500 Calories No matter when you eat your biggest meal of the day, your calories should still work for you. These meals are jam-packed with nutrients - from energy-sustaining protein to disease-fighting antioxidants - while still ensuring you keep calorie counts low. Each of these comforting and filling meals is well under 500 calories, meaning you'll be full and satisfied afterward without sacrificing weight-loss goals. Check out the recipes below! - Additional reporting by Michele Foley, Lizzie Fuhr, and Jenny Sugar Related Vegan, Paleo, and More: The Healthiest Desserts to Satisfy Your Sweet Tooth Chickpea Coconut Curry With Sweet Potatoes After one bite of this chickpea and sweet potato curry with coconut rice , you will be sold. Plus you make it ahead, so it takes minutes to prepare. Calories: 397 Carrot Fettuccine With Mushrooms and Red Pepper Here's an equally satisfying, soft, and tender low-carb alternative to pasta that's as easy to whip up as a bowl of spaghetti. Calories: 478 Mexican Tempeh Quinoa Salad Made with cumin, cayenne, fresh lime juice, and cilantro, this filling dish offers zesty, fresh flavor that screams to be enjoyed with a margarita! Calories: 353 Smashed Avocado Chickpea Salad This creamy avocado chickpea salad throws together in less than 10 minutes, and you can even make a batch ahead of time to have a few days' worth of meals all ready when hunger strikes. Calories: 485 Paleo Shrimp and Grits If your ultimate comfort food tends to be Southern-fried, this clean-eating shrimp and grits recipe will curb (and satisfy) those greasy cravings. Riced cauliflower simmers on the stove in a coconut milk bath to stand in for traditional corn grits, while fresh lemon, a little spice, and a touch of ghee make the shrimp portion of this classic dish much lighter. Calories: 269 Broccoli Slaw Stir-Fry This veggie-packed stir-fry has all the flavors you're craving - but since broccoli slaw stands in for noodles, you save big on carbs and calories. Calories: 345 Maple-Cumin Tofu With Farro This tofu stir-fry is so easy to whip up - it's fail-proof - and only takes about 40 minutes. Rich in savory flavor and comforting textures, it'll soon become a staple in your weekly meal plan too. Thai Beef Salad This hearty, flavorful Thai beef salad is the perfect starter recipe if you've never cooked Thai food at home. Fresh, hydrating cucumber and romaine balance well with lean marinated beef for a filling post-workout dinner you'll crave. Calories: 452 Veggie Mac and Cheese If you're craving mac and cheese but are trying to cut back on pasta, this low-carb mac and cheese recipe is for you. Cheesy and creamy, this recipe lets Trader Joe's versatile organic broccoli slaw stand in for traditional noodles, so you won't leave the table feeling overstuffed and bloated. Calories: 312 Slow-Cooked Mexican Casserole This Paleo slow-cooked Mexican casserole is the perfect recipe to prep ahead on a Sunday afternoon for weekday breakfast-as-dinner days. Calories: 386 Broccoli Slaw Salad Instead of fatty coleslaw, mix up this lightened-up broccoli slaw salad recipe instead. Served with lean protein like grilled chicken breast atop, it makes for a low-calorie, filling comfort meal. Calories: 313 Cauliflower Fettuccine Alfredo Your guests will never guess that cauliflower stands in for cream in this ingenious dairy-free fettuccine alfredo recipe. Calories: 300 Taco Salad The homemade cilantro-lime dressing gives this taco salad a fresh and zesty flavor perfect for the warmer weather. The layered ingredients also offer almost 25 grams of both protein and fiber. This is a great dinner when you need something fast after a hectic day: prep in advance and store in your fridge for a ready-to-go dinner. Calories: 468 Sweet Potato Pizza Cut the carbs but not the comfort with this high-protein, vitamin-A-rich sweet potato crust pizza . Calories per serving (half a pizza): 351 Vegan Bean Salad After a hard workout, this vegan bean salad is the perfect, protein-packed refreshing meal. It has more than 13 grams of fiber and nearly 17 grams to fill you up and help your muscles recover. Calories: 349 Avocado Shell Salad No need for the oven for this refreshing dinner - avocado shell salad . It has 60 percent of your recommended fiber for the day, aids in digestion, and may even diminish belly fat . Calories: 468 Baby Kale Sesame Salad Kale may be a nutritious powerhouse, but its flavor is anything but timid. If you're tried of making soups, smoothies, and salads from the dark green roughage, baby kale makes an excellent alternative. The little leaves are tender, mild in flavor, and don't require the prep (chopping and massaging) required for their more mature counterparts, but it still contains the disease-fighting nutrients you need. Baby kale, baby spinach, and chard make a perfect delicate combo for this sesame chicken salad . Calories: 414 Crockpot Mexican Chicken For a healthy, protein-rich meal that doesn't rely on dairy for flavor, try this delicious Mexican-style chicken crockpot recipe full of fresh ingredients. This preparation results in an absolutely delicious, fall-off-the-bone piece of meat. Calories: 381 Coconut Curry Butternut Squash This comforting, creamy coconut curry butternut squash soup is cream-free and the perfect way to add a few metabolism-boosting spices like cumin and turmeric to your diet. Calories: 372 Sweet Potato Burger With Creamy Avocado Spread So robust in flavor, these hearty veggie burgers are made with the goodness of sweet potatoes, black beans, millet, and corn. The creamy avocado sauce on top adds the perfect touch. Calories: 367 Gluten-Free Veggie Pasta Bake Using a mix of veggies like zucchini, spaghetti squash, and other veggies instead of penne means you can load on the cheese and still enjoy a low-calorie, ooey-gooey, cheesy bowl of steamy pasta. Even better? This veggie pasta bake is gluten-free. Calories: 208 Oven-Fried Chicken Fried chicken is the definition of Southern comfort, but just one piece can weigh in at over 700 calories. Skip the classic, and opt for this lower-calorie, just-as-delicious fried chicken alternative that's baked in the oven. Calories: 335 Creamy Flat-Belly Soup If your digestion needs a reset, opting for high-fiber, antioxidant-rich foods will help you feel better from the inside out. This creamy chard and spinach soup is easy to make and full of belly-relieving nutrients. Leafy greens, almond butter, and bell pepper will help soothe your stomach and shrink your belly. Adding a touch of low-fat cream cheese turns this soup into a creamy concoction without adding a lot of calories. Calories: 194 Citrus Chicken Salad This version of Trader Joe's citrus chicken salad tastes better than the original and is just as low in calories. A mix of digestion-relieving cabbage and papaya and hydrating, antioxidant-rich daikon - along with a tangy, Thai-inspired citrus dressing - makes for a flavorful, filling lunch that's high in protein and low in fat and calories. Calories: 223 Spicy Sweet Potato Salad High-fiber sweet potatoes in this spicy salad recipe can regulate blood sugar and help you lose weight, while a spicy, antioxidant-rich red pepper and jalapeño dressing ties everything together. Calories: 270 Vegan Bolognese A comforting bowl of spaghetti bolognese is often what's needed after a long day (or any day, really). Loading down on beef, however, can leave you feeling heavy and tired. Solve this problem - and cut back on calories, fat, and cholesterol - with this recipe for vegan bolognese . Calories: 257 Cream-Free Potato Leek Soup You can do without the butter and cream of the classic potato leek soup recipe and go for this dairy-free potato leek soup , made velvety smooth from pureed beans and potatoes instead. Calories: 255 Apple Cabbage Detox Salad For a lightened-up take on classic coleslaw, whip up this detox salad instead. Apples marry with the dynamic duo of red and Savoy cabbage, combining for a fiber-filled meal that aids in digestion. The addition of fennel seeds adds to the fiber factor, plus a kick of cayenne boosts your metabolism. Calories: 289 Paleo Stuffed Peppers For a warming, quick supper, look to these Italian-style Paleo stuffed peppers for inspiration. With just a few ingredients and less than 30 minutes, you can create a fresh, clean meal with more than 30 grams of protein! Calories: 285 Hemp and Cabbage Detox Salad If you're on the hunt for a quick and tasty detoxifying recipe, this crunchy cabbage and hemp salad is for you. If you haven't tried them yet, it's time to give hemp seeds a try. They're a great source of omega-3s and vitamin E for vegans and vegetarians, and the combination of the cold-pressed oil and seeds in this recipe gives this fresh salad a nutty flavor you'll love. Calories: 381 Spaghetti Squash Mac and Cheese If you're looking to lighten things up the next time you dig into a comforting bowl of mac and cheese, opt for this twist on tradition that amps up the nutritional value as it cuts back on calories and carbs. Versatile and nutrient-rich spaghetti squash lays the base to this recipe , while broccoli adds more vitamin A. Calories: 296 Eggless Kale Caesar Salad For just the same addictive taste as the original with an added bonus - vitamin A-rich superfood kale - opt for this lighter Caesar salad dressing instead. This recipe omits the egg yolk and a lot of the cheese for a lower-calorie dressing that tastes exactly like the classic. Using kale instead of romaine lettuce increases the nutrients and adds texture and flavor and allows the salad to keep in your fridge without going limp. Calories: 175 Broccoli Slaw Pasta This cheesy, garlicky "pasta" from healthy chef Hungry Girl is the best of both worlds - it's just as fast to make as any simple pasta dish and doesn't come overloaded with carbs. And since it's a similarly low-calorie and low-carb pasta alternative as spaghetti squash (one whole bag of broccoli slaw is only 100 calories and five grams of carbs) without all the prep, it's perfect for any gluten-free girl on the go. Calories: 134 Cumin-Spiced Lentils Settle in with a large, comforting bowl of cumin-spiced lentils ; packed with protein and fiber, this gluten-free meal satisfies no matter how hungry you are. Calories: 370 Tofu Scramble Versatile, quick, and perfect for breakfast, lunch, or dinner, a basic tofu scramble is a great go-to meal. This vegan tofu scramble brings the Southwest to your table, fast. Calories: 135 Panko-Crusted White Fish This protein-packed, simply prepared panko-crusted white fish recipe is the perfect post-workout dinner. Calories: 442 Blueberry, Quinoa, and Kale Salad This colorful salad has a bit of everything: blueberries, carrots, tomatoes, almonds, nori, kale, and quinoa, all blended with an Asian-inspired soy ginger dressing. Talk about eating the rainbow! Calories: 377 Toasted Quinoa and Cabbage If you need a break from a weekend of heavy meals, then make this digestion-aiding lemony toasted quinoa and wilted cabbage dish. Calories: 348 Spicy Cauliflower Lasagna Red pepper flakes, cinnamon, and roasted cauliflower give this healthy version of lasagna amazing depth of flavor. Calories: 324 Vegan Split Pea Soup One-pot meals like this vegan split pea soup definitely don't lack dimension. With plenty of spices and sweet potatoes, a large bowl will fill you up for hours. Calories: 326 Mac and Cheese Yes, you can have delicious, healthy mac and cheese. This version owes its low calorie count - and appropriate orange hue - to pureed butternut squash. Calories: 285 Cheddar Soup A hearty bowl of creamy cheddar soup can soothe the soul, but it's not always so great for the waist. This healthy cheddar soup recipe keeps the texture you crave but nixes calories by using cauliflower to create a creamy soup base. Calories: 247 Chirashi Bowl A light, refreshing meal is perfect for hot Summer days. Try this chirashi bowl , made with fresh vegetables, brown rice, and sushi-grade tuna, to cool off in the heat. Calories: 403 Red Pepper and Lentil Bake High in vitamin A, vitamin C, and fiber, red bell peppers make a perfect accompaniment to protein-rich lentils in this low-calorie recipe. Even better news? You'll be surprised at how large an under-250-calorie portion of this cheesy red pepper and lentil bake really is. Calories: 233 Cauliflower Rice Fried rice should definitely not be on anyone's healthy-eating menu, so get the taste - and kill the cravings - with this paleo perfect cauliflower fried "rice" recipe instead. Calories: 278 Spaghetti Carbonara Lighten up traditional carbonara with this whole wheat spaghetti carbonara made with low-fat milk and, yes, a healthy dose of parmesan cheese. Calories: 376 Healthy Chicken Salad Traditional chicken salad clocks in at 500 calories, but this healthy chicken salad is 139 calories a serving. The secret? A simple swap of Greek yogurt for mayo. Serve with one or two slices of bread (like wheat bread, 220 calories for two slices). Calories (with two slices of wheat bread): 359 Thai Peanut Soba Noodles Make this Thai-inspired soba noodle salad for dinner, enjoy it for lunch the next day. The flavors develop with time, making this protein-rich and fiber-full cold dish perfect as leftovers. Calories: 424 Turmeric-Spiced Mushroom Pilaf Turmeric might just be a super spice: it's been known to boost immunity, relieve digestive discomfort, and possibly prevent disease. This turmeric-spiced mushroom pilaf is made with a generous dose of turmeric added to a brown rice and mushroom mixture. The result is a mildly spicy, satisfying one-pot meal that helps you feel your best. Calories: 201 Paleo Meatballs Serve these paleo meatballs on a salad or bed of zucchini noodles, and you'll still hit your under-500 calorie goal. Calories: 244 Sweet Potato, Chickpea, and Quinoa Burger This sweet potato, chickpea, and quinoa veggie burger is perfectly spiced and completely satisfying. At 202 calories per patty, you can add a 120-calorie whole wheat bun and lettuce, tomato, and ketchup ( 34 calories ) and still come in at well under 500 calories. Calories (with bun and fixings): 356 Cauliflower Crust Pizza Yes, you can eat half a pizza without guilt. This cauliflower crust pizza features a gluten-free crust and fresh tomatoes, skim mozzarella cheese, and basil leaves for a healthy take on a classic. Calories: 272 No-Mac and Cheese What's the secret to making a pasta-less mac and cheese just as irresistible as the classic? Cauliflower, the perfect vehicle for a cheesy, creamy sauce made from cheese, coconut milk, butter, and coconut flour. While this gluten-free no-mac and cheese is under 400 calories, note that it's high in saturated fat, so enjoy this comforting dish in moderation. Calories: 376 Zucchini Noodles Aglio et Olio For those days when you're craving nothing but pasta, reach for a huge bowl of this garlicky zucchini pasta dish . A sprinkle of almond meal instead of breadcrumbs takes this recipe over the top. Calories: 257 Chicken and Vegetable Quinoa Bowl For nights when you don't have time to spend in the kitchen, this chicken and sweet potato quinoa bowl comes together fast. With 40 percent of your recommended daily intake of fiber and 20 grams of protein, it makes an ideal post-workout meal. Calories: 409 Sweet and Sour Chicken Save money and hundreds of calories by opting for a lightened-up version of Chinese takeout. This sweet and sour chicken recipe is light on calories and fat. Calories: 348 Chickpea and Kale Soup Make a big batch of this chickpea and kale soup on the weekend, then enjoy hearty, healthy lunches or dinners all week. Calories: 502 | 0 | 5,645 | foodanddrink |
If you were out partying last night, you're probably feeling at least a little rough today. Perhaps your head is throbbing, your mouth is dry, and you are craving salt and sugar but aren't certain you can stomach any food. Even worse, if you have to get any work done, your mind is foggy and it's hard to focus. We get it. But what is it about veisalgia the medical term for a hangover, derived from kveis, a Norwegian word that means "uneasiness following debauchery" and -algia, a Greek root that means "pain" that leaves you feeling that way? Just a note: We're looking at hangover symptoms specifically here, not the effects of long term alcohol abuse or alcoholism, though frequent hangovers are a sign that you could have a drinking problem. Linette Lopez contributed to an earlier version of this article. A major component of hangovers has to do with the way our bodies break down alcohol. Researchers still don't know exactly what causes a hangover, but the way we metabolize alcohol is at least partly responsible, according to Richard Stephens, a psychology professor and member of the Alcohol Hangover Research Group , an organization that's trying to answer questions in what they call the "neglected issue" of hangover studies. Stephens told The Atlantic that one thing researchers know that our body first metabolizes ethanol, the main alcohol in booze. But after we break that down we start to break down other alcohols, including methanol, which our body turns into formaldehyde and formic acid toxins that make you hurt. This process happens about 10 hours after we stop drinking. There's a biological basis for the idea that "hair of the dog" helps but that also explains why hangovers are a risk factor for alcoholism. If someone has a drink the next morning, their body will soon realize that there's more ethanol in their bodies to start breaking down. Since our bodies prefer ethanol, they'll stop breaking down methanol into those toxins at this point, which is why a bit of the "hair of the dog that bit you" can at least temporarily take the pain and sick feeling of a hangover away. Stephens says that researchers think this is why hangovers may be a risk factor for alcoholism instead of a natural deterrent to becoming an alcoholic. Studies show that alcoholics get some of the most severe hangovers around. Hangovers actually get less severe as you get older. This may seem impossible lots of people recall being able to party AND study back when they were in college. But a study in the journal Alcoholism of 51,645 Danish men and women found that the older someone gets, the less likely they are to experience a severe hangover after a binge drinking session even after controlling for food consumption and quantity and frequency of regular drinking. Our bet? You might just physically feel worse in general if you are older and less fit than you once were. Plus, you might have more responsibilities that force you to get off the couch. Hangovers stress you out. Drinking and being hungover causes a spike in the stress hormone cortisol in your body, which has a long list of effects. Although we need cortisol to respond to stress, excess levels of the hormone can lead to improper stress responses, altering our mental status, metabolism, and more. Those high irregular cortisol levels can make us less able to deal with the regular stresses of life. For heavy drinking alcoholics, it takes seven days of abstinence for cortisol levels to stabilize. Binge drinking the cause of hangovers at least temporarily wrecks your immune system. A recent study showed that slamming back four or five vodka shots resulted in serious disruption of people's immune systems both two and five hours after those drinks. The aforementioned cortisol spike further suppresses our immune systems, diminishing our ability to fight off infections. Being hungover makes you a terrible driver. We all know that driving drunk is a terrible idea right? but it's best to stay off the road the morning after a binging session too. A recent study found that hungover drivers performed as poorly in a driving simulator as drivers with a blood alcohol content exceeding .05%, the standard international measure for drunk driving (in most of the US, it's .08). This matches previous research that shows that hungover study participants do as poorly (or worse) on cognitive tests and tests of motor skill, attention, and reaction time as participants with a BAC of .08%. Drinking dehydrates you, and that dehydration usually accompanies a hangover but probably isn't responsible for it. It's common wisdom that hangovers and the accompanying headaches are due to dehydration. People swear by chugging a jug of water before bed, or for more intense pain, Pedialyte Freezer Pops , specially designed to rehydrate children suffering from severe dehydration. But most researchers say that the dehydrating effect of alcohol is exaggerated, though still real. At least some of those dry mouth symptoms (and definitely headache symptoms) come from the breaking down of alcohol, not dehydration. And while we need water in our bodies to break down alcohol, we still won't feel better until our systems have dealt with the byproducts of that process. If your hangover is bad enough that you are vomiting or have diarrhea, definitely rehydrate using Pedialyte as needed. And go ahead and do it if it makes you feel better anyway. But don't expect a magical cure. Your brain doesn't work right when you are hungover. Anecdotally, we know this one to be true, but researchers have gone ahead and confirmed those findings. Along with dizziness, nausea, and anxiety, being hungover affects your working memory, which is required for holding information in your brain, performing mental tasks, and focusing on anything. Preliminary findings from some studies by the Alcohol Hangover Research Group show that hungover people experience about a 5-10% working memory loss, and those poor hungover souls make a shocking 30% more errors in certain tasks. Hangovers make you tired, but some hangover symptoms also overlap with the lack of sleep that can be caused by alcohol consumption. Researchers say that it's hard to isolate the hangover itself from the other effects of drinking too much in real life conditions, especially those caused by lack of sleep. Heavy alcohol consumption can knock you out, but most people experience disruptions to the second half of their sleep cycle if they've been drinking. This further contributes to daytime sleepiness, which has its own negative effects on cognitive and motor skill performance. But hangovers also frequently lead to low blood sugar , which can make people moody and sluggish. Food helps with hangover symptoms. While most "hangover cures" aren't shown to do much of anything (sorry, burnt toast and pickle juice), one thing that does help alleviate hangover symptoms is food, particularly, carbohydrates. Researchers think that this is because the glucose boost provided by eating those brunchy carbohydrates we love helps restore depleted blood sugar levels. So please, help yourself to some waffles. Does being hungover make you feel bad about yourself? Take Our 21-Day Program For Radical Self-Improvement >> Note: Linette Lopez contributed to an earlier version of this post. | 7 | 5,646 | health |
Alzheimer's is a terrible disease that seems to strike innocent people out of nowhere. Any news of something that can help prevent it is good news, especially if the new preventative is something people want to consume anyway, like beer. According to Foodbeast , a new study in the American Chemical Society's Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry reports that a compound commonly found in hops has an antioxidant property that can help protect brain cells. Oxidation causes damage to brain cells, which can contribute to the development of neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. According to the new study, antioxidant compounds in beer can help protect brain cells from oxidation. This study has so far only been conducted on rats, but the implications give one reason to be optimistic. Further studies will need to be conducted before any kind of protective effect on human brains can be confirmed, but in the meantime check out some of our best beer recipes for some easy ways to sneak some more hops into one's diet. | 7 | 5,647 | health |
National Signing Day is this week, which means the recruiting crazy has hit a rolling boil and is starting to spill out over the edge. Things really got weird on Saturday night, when five-star defensive tackle prospect and Tennessee commit Kahlil McKenzie hit send on this tweet to Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze: For context, Drew Richmond is a four-star offensive tackle recruit currently committed to Ole Miss. He was visiting Knoxville this weekend and there's been growing internet chatter that he could flip to the Vols. McKenzie, who's been actively recruiting Richmond on Twitter for a while now , suggested that the flip is imminent. [An aside: there's been no kind of official word on Richmond. As far as we know, he's still an Ole Miss guy.] Enter current Ole Miss offensive tackle Robert Conyers , who pointed to the scoreboard of the Rebels' beatdown of Tennessee in October. Freeze showed up with his support, then McKenzie took the dickishness to the next level. In fairness to McKenzie, he did issues this apology: Freeze and Conyers have deleted their tweets. Buckle up folks, it's only gonna get weirder between now and Wednesday. | 1 | 5,648 | sports |
Johnny Weir is at the Super Bowl. This is what Johnny Weir wears to the Super Bowl: Words fail me RT @PhilHecken Johnny Weir everyone. pic.twitter.com/htvQkKm0av (via @SInow @NBCSports ) CJ Fogler (@cjzero) February 1, 2015 That is what Cleatus the football robot is wearing under his football robot outfit. Please, take a peek at our Johnny Weir Outfit Tracker from the Olympics. | 1 | 5,649 | sports |
Microsoft is back at the Super Bowl tonight with super cash. The software giant is airing two new commercials that build on the "empowering" campaign that the company kicked off last year . Given NBC asks for between $4.4 million and $4.5 million per 30-second slot, it's safe to say Microsoft is spending millions for two 60-second ads. This is only the second time that Microsoft has aired a national Super Bowl ad, and this time around it's bringing in the voice of Common, an American hip hop recording artist, to narrate passages from speeches delivered by Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. Both of Microsoft's Super Bowl ads will run for 60 seconds during today's game between the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots, and they start by asking what can you do? The theme is very similar to last year and the first ad centers on Estella Pyfrom, founder of Estrella's Brilliant Bus in on. Raised in an underprivileged household, Pyfrom is passionate about improving the standard of living for underprivileged families. Pyfrom founded Estrella's Brilliant Bus as a mobile learning center that travels to communities and delivers technology straight to their doorsteps. Microsoft's second Super Bowl commercial focuses on Braylon O'Neill. Born missing tibia and fibula bones in both of his legs, six-year-old O'Neill is now playing sports thanks to technology and prosthetic legs. Last year's commercial was also focused on the idea of "empowering" people through software and services, and signalled Microsoft's attempt to remind the world why its own software still matters. This year's might not be as epic as Mophie's creative masterpiece or Kim Karshaian's self-parody for T-Mobile, but it's clearly designed to continue the idea of a "new" Microsoft, and one that's ready to be loved by the masses . Alongside Pyfrom and O'Neill's stories there are also hints at other similar anecdotes that form a prominent Microsoft logo during the commercial. Microsoft is showcasing a number of them at its new "empowering" site , including those used during the 2014 Super Bowl. | 5 | 5,650 | news |
Estella's Brilliant Bus shows the reach of Microsoft's software, in this Super Bowl ad. | 8 | 5,651 | video |
PHOENIX -- This isn't about deflation anymore. It's about elevation the Super Bowl XLIX legacies that four prominent participants and one vaunted defensive unit can cement when the New England Patriots meet the reigning Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks tonight. Consider what's at stake for: Russell Wilson The winningest quarterback through his first three seasons, Wilson at 26 years, 64 days could become the youngest quarterback ever to win two Super Bowl titles if the Seahawks complete their repeat quest. Tom Brady was the previous youngest. And Wilson would also be the only quarterback to win two titles in his first three seasons. The 5-11, 206 Wilson has a different brand of magic than Brady with his uncanny accuracy either from the pocket or on the move and his ability to exploit over-aggressive pass rushers with big runs. Tom Brady At 37, Brady appears to be at the peak of his powers with no sign he's lost his edge. If he wins a fourth Super Bowl, he'll do more than join a special fraternity that counts only his boyhood idol, San Francisco 49ers legend Joe Montana and Pittsburgh Steelers Hall of Famer Terry Bradshaw. Brady was reflective the other day about how much more appreciative he is now of the difficult challenge of winning a fourth Super Bowl after he racked up three in his first four seasons. If he leads his Patriots to another title, Brady could cement his legacy as the greatest quarterback ever by becoming the first quarterback to earn a Super Bowl ring after a 10-year drought. Pete Carroll The league's youngest 63-year-old grandfather credited his 1999 firing by New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft as the career-altering epiphany that helped him find his championship blueprint. Carroll is refreshing, after reinventing himself with a dominant 2001-2009 stint at the University of Southern California, then jumping back to the NFL to lead the Seattle Seahawks to consecutive Super Bowl berths. And if his Seahawks become the first team since the 2004 Patriots to win back-to-back championships, then, he'll be considered the architect of the league's newest dynasty. Bill Belichick There is no denying the 62-year-old hoodie wearing Belichick has earned a spot on the coaching Mount Rushmore as one of the greatest minds to ever don a headset. Belichick is coaching in his sixth Super Bowl, tying Don Shula for most ever. He's won three Super Bowls with two different kinds of teams, his early ones that leaned heavier on defense and a strong running game and his last one with a team increasingly reliant on the rare skills of Brady, who has helped Belichick get to three more Super Bowls. His legacy will be tarnished among some due to Spygate -- and perhaps the findings of the league's Deflategate investigation. But there is no denying Belichick's situational and personnel acumen as the de facto coach/general manager of a dynasty. Legion of Boom Hall of Fame quarterback and Seahawks radio analyst Warren Moon played against the legendary 1985-86 Chicago Bears defense and said this Seahawks defense that matched those Bears for allowing the fewest points and yards in back to back years is faster. That speed and physicality radiates from the vaunted secondary that is the biggest reason why this Seahawks unit is poised to take its place among the all-time historic defenses such as the "Purple People Eater'' Minnesota Vikings of the late 1960 and 1970s; the "Steel Curtain'' Pittsburgh Steelers of the 1970s; those Buddy Ryan-coached Bears and the 2000 Baltimore Ravens. | 1 | 5,652 | sports |
JEREZ, Spain (AP) Sebastian Vettel posted the fastest lap for Ferrari on the first day of pre-season Formula One testing, while last year's championship runner-up Nico Rosberg clocked a massive 157 laps. Rosberg lost out on the title to Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton in a gripping and often tense tussle last year that went down to the final race in Abu Dhabi. He is in the mood to go one better, if Sunday's testing is anything to go by. The German driver was so keen to pile on the laps that he even had lunch sitting in his car. Vettel's best lap of 1 minute, 22.62 seconds was .157 quicker than Swedish driver Marcus Ericsson and .486 better than Rosberg. There are four days of testing. Hamilton drives on Monday and Wednesday. | 1 | 5,653 | sports |
After 400 days in prison, jailed Al Jazeera journalist Peter Greste leaves Egypt for his native Australia. Gavino Garay reports. | 8 | 5,654 | video |
THE FIRST WORD: There are two truths about the 2014-15 college basketball season that we know so far. First: Kentucky is the best team in the country. Second: The Big 12 is the toughest, deepest conference in the country. In spite of this, the top-heavy ACC has the best chance to win the national title with five legitimate contenders. A wild Saturday that featured Duke edging Virginia and Louisville knocking off North Carolina only furthered this notion. The conference doesn't have the odds-on favorite to win it all, but it does have several teams capable of taking down Kentucky. The conference doesn't have the overall depth of the toughest league in the country, but its top half easily is better than the Kansas-led Big 12. As we enter the frenetic month of February, a lot of guesswork begins. Who gets into the NCAA tournament field? Who gets a No. 1 seed in the tourney? So why don't we cut straight to the chase. Who wins the national title? Kentucky, Wisconsin and Arizona jump out as legit contenders at this point in the season (sorry Gonzaga). Here's an assessment of the five title-contending ACC teams and why they could out-duel the field. Virginia Cavaliers (19-1, 7-1) Duke Blue Devils (18-3, 5-3) North Carolina Tar Heels (17-5, 7-2) Louisville Cardinals (18-3, 6-2) Notre Dame Fighting Irish (20-3, 8-2) TWEET THAT SPEAKS VOLUMES: Another Saturday, another SEC victory. STAR WATCH: Forward Seth Tuttle had a career-high 29 points to carry Northern Iowa to an upset win against Wichita State, ending the Shockers' 27-game regular-season winning streak that stretched back to 2013. "The best team won," Wichita State coach Gregg Marshall said after the game. "Tuttle was unstoppable." The Panthers are 20-2 and 9-1 in Missouri Valley Conference play. THE HIGHLIGHT REEL: North Carolina State's Trevor Lacey drilled a three-pointer at the buzzer to lift the Wolfpack past Georgia Tech, 81-80, in overtime. UNDER THE RADAR: SMU (18-4) eased past UCF on Saturday to improve to 9-1 in the American Athletic Conference, only trailing 9-0 Tulsa. The Mustangs have been covered in adversity since the summer when top recruit Emmanuel Mudiay left to play overseas. Last month top player Keith Frazier has been ruled academically ineligible, and the school has received a notice of allegations from the NCAA. In spite of all this, SMU is 18-4 and Larry Brown has this team positioned to lock up an NCAA tournament bid (something that eluded the Mustangs last season). Sure, this team went from Final Four potential in the early summer to marred by controversy at mid-season, but it just keeps winning despite it all. CONFERENCE RACE SPOTLIGHT: Big East. This is one of the most intriguing league races, with seven NCAA tournament-worthy teams. Villanova (beat DePaul 68-55 on Saturday) is out in front at 6-2, while Georgetown (beat Creighton 67-40 on Saturday) is close behind at 7-3. Then Providence (6-3), Butler (6-3), Seton Hall (5-4), Xavier (5-5) and DePaul (5-5) are all close behind. And St. John's picked up a much-needed victory, beating Providence 75-66 to improve to 3-5 in league play illustrating the parity in the conference. WINNERS, LOSERS: Saturday's victories and losses that matter most. Winners Losers POLL LOOKAHEAD: Following a crazy Saturday, the USA TODAY Sports' Coaches Poll (out Monday afternoon) should see a good chunk of shakeups. Will Virginia stay at No. 2 despite the loss to Duke or can Gonzaga hurdle the Cavs despite beating lower-tier competition? Where will Wisconsin and Arizona land after strong weeks? And what about a new team in the top 10? Stay tuned Monday. | 1 | 5,655 | sports |
WEST LINN, Ore. When doctors diagnosed Pilar Alcantara with advanced breast cancer, she felt lost and intimidated. Growing up in Mexico, she learned to deal with illnesses using home remedies and prayer. She was taught that doctors weren't to be questioned, and she preferred not to know the details of her illnesses or treatment plans. She felt hopeless, but that was before she connected with a Portland, Oregon-based nonprofit that takes cultural habits and beliefs into account while focusing on comfort and quality of life for patients with serious or terminal illnesses. She said the approach saved her. "A few years ago, because of the pain and uncertainty, I wanted to bail on life," Alcantara said. "Palliative care gave me more control over my cancer." Palliative care, which focuses on the well-being of patients with serious illnesses by improving doctor-patient communication and treating pain and side effects, has gained traction across the nation, but the culturally sensitive model embraced by Familias en Accion, the treatment center that has helped Alcantara, represents a new approach. The method has taken root in Portland and Seattle, and it's being taught to nursing students in California for its potential to improve care and reduce costs. Dr. Woody English, former medical director of palliative care at Providence Health and Services in Portland, said the multi-faceted approach "has the ability to transform the usual health care system." Studies show palliative care decreases emotional and medical crises and cuts down on unnecessary emergency room trips and hospitalizations, leading to cost savings sought under the Affordable Care Act. "A patient who is not having a crisis does not call 911," Dr. Diane Meier, director of the Center to Advance Palliative Care, said. By adding a cultural emphasis, health care professionals aim to address patient needs that would otherwise be overlooked. "Until we understand a patient's drivers and concerns the social, emotional, religious and historical contexts we can't begin to help the person," and help them, Meier said. Familias started its program in 2011 with a $260,000 grant from the Portland-based Cambia Health Foundation. The system involves patient navigators who help chronically ill Latinos access doctors, fill out insurance forms and find financial assistance. Familias also offers support groups and health literacy sessions to help ease stress, stabilize emotions and address cultural factors that might hinder care. At the outset, the group tracked 90 seriously ill patients for two years and showed a 62 percent reduction in inpatient, outpatient and ER costs. Among those who received help from Familias was Crispin Lopez Serrano, a liver cancer patient who had resigned himself to fate and faith. The 58-year-old suburban Portland resident had lost his private health insurance when his illness made him unable to work construction. "I was just going to get by with the grace of God, eating aloe and drinking herbal teas," Lopez Serrano said. A Familias navigator, however, helped him sign up for Medicaid and retain his same doctors. The support groups restored his hope and let him know he wasn't alone. Getting to know other Latinos who were fighting serious illnesses "motivated me to live," he said. Advocates want such programs expanded to help the increasing population of aging minorities, and the approach has popped up in spots around the U.S. At Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, where the foreign-born population has increased 40 percent over the past decade, culturally specific palliative care programs have been created for immigrants from Mexico, Somalia, Vietnam and elsewhere. And, citing a need for growth, California State University's Institute for Palliative Care has begun offering an online course that hones in on the needs of Latino patients. The programs help break down barriers that traditional care models miss, gaps that can lead to improper diagnoses and poor treatment. "Being culturally competent means you know where people come from, their values, and you take an extra step to go toward where they are," Olga Gerberg, director of patient navigators at Familias, said. "You need to address the mentality of the person's approach to illness." In Alcantara's case, the organization radically changed her approach by encouraging her to educate herself about different types of treatments and teaching her how to discuss them with her doctor. With the help of her patient navigator, the 45-year-old found a new oncologist and decided against chemotherapy, instead choosing a less taxing treatment that allows more time with her two children. She now volunteers as a patient navigator, helping other Latinos. She says there's a need, since others likely face treatment barriers similar to her own. Growing up, "health was just not so important," she said, explaining an obstacle that she once faced. "It wasn't something you discussed openly. If there were problems, you fixed it yourself." | 7 | 5,656 | health |
Even though it's one of the most classic cuts, most of us know next to nothing about standing rib roast AKA prime rib. The New York Times recently wrote about a resurgence in the cut and how more and more restaurants are putting it back on menus. Perhaps it was time to learn a thing or two. So we spoke with experts in the industry from both Old Homestead Steakhouse and BLT Steak . These are the 10 things you need to know about prime rib. Prime rib is technically a roast, not a steak . That is, unless you slice the ribs into steaks before cooking, in which case it becomes a rib eye steak. To buy prime rib from the butcher , ask for the dry-aged prime rib and specify that you want the meat to be "prime" (not "choice") and have a lot of marbling. The more marbling, the more flavorful it will be. A full prime rib is cut from the 6th through 12th ribs of the cow , so seven ribs in total. In addition to full prime rib, you can get a loin-end rib roast , which is also known as "first cut." It's a smaller cut with less fat and is a leaner, more expensive purchase. There's also the chuck-end rib roast or "second cut" which is cheaper, bigger, and has more layers of fat. Also, ask the butcher to leave the fat cap on the prime rib . It's a layer of fat on top of the meat that protects it while cooking and adds tremendous flavor. Cook your prime rib on the bones without the meat touching the pan . BLT Steak's Corporate Executive Chef Cliff Crooks says to keep the preparation simple with salt and pepper on the outside and roast it slow and evenly at 325 degrees for 30 minutes before testing the internal temperature. Once done, let it sit for 20 minutes to retain its juices. To see if your prime rib is done, test with a meat thermometer . Rare will be 115 degrees, medium-rare is 120 degrees, and medium is 130 degrees. Prime rib is called a "standing" roast because of the way you cook it. Both the teams at Old Homestead Steakhouse and BLT Steak say to order your prime rib medium-rare . "It retains all of the juices, making it more rich and flavorful," Old Homestead Steakhouse co-owner Greg Sherry explained. Get it with a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon and never, ever order it well-done. Prime rib isn't at most steakhouses because it's too expensive . Restaurants around the country have quietly eliminated prime rib from their menus because of rising wholesale beef prices. Because restaurants prepare the entire seven-rib roast, anything not served is lost revenue. However, many classic steakhouses like Old Homestead Steakhouse still serve prime rib. Now go forth and eat prime rib like a pro. Ready to cook prime rib like a pro? Watch these how-to videos from Rouxbe Cooking School: How to Select Prime Rib (4:26) Introduction to Roasting Prime Rib (1:01) How to Prepare Prime Rib (3:55) Roasting Prime Rib (4:42) Carving & Serving Prime Rib (1:53) | 0 | 5,657 | foodanddrink |
McDonalds, candies and soda: Sport stars with weird diets A number of sport stars have confessed of following unusual diets to take their game to another level. Let's take a look at some of those athletes. Ryan Lochte During the Beijing Olympics in 2008, the American swimmer had consumed around 8,000 calories a day by having breakfast, lunch and dinner from McDonald's. Lochte, who won four medals at the Olympics, has dropped his fast food consumption since then. Tim Lincecum Before the start of the 2011 season, the San Francisco Giants pitcher disclosed that he dined regularly at a burger joint named In-N-Out Burger consuming more than 3,000 calories. He stopped following this diet before the 2012 season. Babe Ruth A baseball legend, this New York Yankees slugger usually ate three hot dogs before a game. He also preferred having bourbon whiskey and ginger ale in the morning. Caron Butler Presently playing for the Detroit Pistons, Butler confessed the he used to drink "at least six 12-ounce Mountain Dews a day," before quitting it in 2009. "Honestly, those first two weeks without The Dew (were) the roughest two weeks of my life," Butler wrote on his blog. "I'm talking headaches, sweats and everything." Lyoto Machida The former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion told Brazilian magazine Tatame "I drink my urine every morning like a natural medicine." Machida was advised to drink his own urine by his father. Marshawn Lynch The NFL player has a handful of Skittles every time he scores a touchdown. This tradition has been carrying on since Lynch's high school days, when his mom used to give him a bag of Skittles before every game. Michael Phelps During the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the swimmer followed an amazing 12,000-calories-a-day diet, which included fried-egg sandwiches, a five-egg omelette, French toast, pancakes, pasta and pizza. Lamar Odom The former LA Lakers player, who is known for his obsession with candy, told reporters that he ate, "a whole plate of jellybean Starbursts" before a couple of playoff games. David Ortiz While being tested for steroids, the baseball player said that "all they are going to find is a lot of rice and beans." Venus Williams The tennis champion started following raw vegan diet after being diagnosed with Sjogren's syndrome in 2011. The diet includes uncooked fruits and veggies on a daily basis. Usain Bolt During the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Bolt was not happy with the local cuisine and switched his attention to Chicken McNuggets and yams. Winning three gold medals at the Olympics, Bolt also broke the world 100m record in Beijing. He revealed that he had around 1,000 McNuggets during the Olympics. Novak Djokovic Djokovic had a breakthrough season in 2011 when he won three majors. Crediting the success to his gluten-free diet, he's completely off products that have gluten in them including pasta, pizza, beer and bread. Derek Jeters The former New York Yankees player used to eat few sandwiches filled with peanut butter and jelly about an hour before the game. Brian Urlacher The Chicago Bears linebacker used to have a couple of chocolate chip cookies before every game. Sam Bradford Bradford had a very unusual eating habit of consuming a product in threes. Whatever he ate, it had to be in groups of three. Laffit Pincay Jr. The former jockey used to have a single peanut before each race. In the latter part of his career, he used to consume just around 800 calories to stay at his ideal riding weight. Justin Verlander The Detroit Tigers pitcher used to eat Taco Bell one night before the game, claiming that it helped him pitch better. He stopped the diet in 2014 following a rather disappointing 2013 season. | 7 | 5,658 | health |
We're deep in the heart of flu season right now, and it's already proven to be a relatively severe few months worsened by a fairly ineffective flu vaccine , there were already at least 61 pediatric deaths as of Jan. 24. Hoping to prevent the spread of the virus, scientists recently suggested in a study that people abstain from social contact with others. It makes sense after all, and now, just in time for Super Bowl Sunday, a new study inadvertently shows why this prevention strategy works. The new research, from Tulane University, finds cities whose teams make it to the Super Bowl experience 18 percent higher rates of flu deaths in adults aged 65 and older. "In seasons where the Super Bowl was closer to the peak," such as this one, death rates could even go as high as seven times over the norm, the researchers wrote. Boston and Seattle residents, therefore, should be extra careful with the food and drink they consume in order to prevent getting sick the flu can still travel up to 6 feet by air, but it's the Super Bowl; we're not just going to stay home. "You're going to the bar or to peoples' homes for watch parties and you're double dipping the chip or somebody else is and you're spreading the flu," said lead author Charles Stoecker, assistant professor of global health systems and development at the Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, in a press release . "Football fans might contract a mild case of influenza, but then pass it on to other, potentially more susceptible people." Kids and older adults both have compromised immune systems, making them more vulnerable to the flu than the general population. During most seasons, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that 90 percent of all flu-related deaths and 50 to 60 percent of flu-related hospitalizations occur in seniors. While it may only cause fever, runny nose, cough, and fatigue in younger populations, it can cause more severe symptoms and complications in older adults due not only to a weaker immune system but also to chronic diseases like those of the heart and lungs. For the study, Stoecker and his team looked at county health records of the cities hosting the Super Bowl as well as the cities participating teams came from between 1974 and 2009. They found that hosting cities seemed to be protected mostly because they were in warmer areas, where the flu is less easily spread while cities whose teams participated experienced surges in flu cases. They argued these findings proved causality on the basis that the teams that end up in the Super Bowl are random. Flu outbreaks, however, are not uncommon in areas where big events occur. Previous research has found increased risk of flu transmission during the 2002 Winter Olympics , for example, and the CDC offered recommendations for preventing transmission of not only the flu but other infectious diseases during last year's World Cup in Brazil. While it may be too late to get vaccinated, as Stoecker suggested in the press release, Boston and Seattle residents should still "wash those hands! and be careful around the dip." Source: Stoecker C, Sanders N, Barreca A. Success is Something to Sneeze at: Influenza Mortality in Regions that Send Teams to the Super Bowl. Tulane Economics Working Paper Series. 2015. | 7 | 5,659 | health |
Super Sunday has arrived. As kickoff nears, let's break down the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots by their individual units and see where each team might have an edge. Quarterback: New England's Tom Brady will go down as one of the greatest passers of all time, perhaps even the best ever given the big wins and gaudy numbers on his resume. But Seattle's Russell Wilson might be the better player Sunday. When the pass rush gets to Brady, he's generally on the turf in a heap. And he's faced with the daunting task of facing a Seattle defense that allowed the fewest points, fewest total yards and fewest passing yards in 2014. Conversely, Wilson thrives making downfield throws while scrambling if he doesn't take off outright (his 849 rushing yards paced all QBs in 2014). And consider Wilson's playoff record, which is 6-1 (.857). Brady is 11-8 (.579) since the Patriots last won the Super Bowl after the 2004 season. (Slight) edge: Seahawks Running back: LeGarrette Blount has done a nice job stabilizing the Patriots' run game since he rejoined the team in November. His 148-yard, three-TD day in the AFC Championship Game helped springboard New England back to the Super Bowl. And keep an eye on Shane Vereen, a superior receiver who can run routes like a receiver, which could make him an essential part of Sunday's gameplan. But Marshawn "Beast Mode" Lynch is the primary reason Seattle rushed for nearly 3,000 yards in 2014, and he usually saves his best performances for the brightest lights. And Lynch is even more effective because defenses have to honor the running threat Wilson poses. Edge: Seahawks Wide receiver: No wideout in this game had a 1,000-yard season, but that doesn't mean they won't make their presence felt. Though they bridle at being considered "pedestrian," Seattle's Doug Baldwin and Jermaine Kearse are steady, clutch, and do an excellent job finding windows once Wilson starts scrambling. They're also excellent blockers. Julian Edelman and Brandon LaFell both fell just short of 1,000 yards in 2014 and complement each other nicely. Edelman is a next-gen Wes Welker on short routes while LaFell is a solid outside threat who also blocks very well. And Danny Amendola has become a bigger factor down the stretch for New England, particularly in the playoffs. Lynch and Vereen both do a great job out of the backfield. Edge: Patriots Tight end: Seattle's Luke Willson has stepped up nicely since taking over full time for injured Zach Miller this season. He's caught three TDs in the last four games and separates better than most players at the position. But Patriots all-pro Rob Gronkowski was the best in the business this season, and his ability to get open against the Seattle defense could be the primary key to this Super Bowl's outcome. And as much as Gronkowski is known for making tough catches, getting open in the red zone and trucking defensive backs, he's also a quality blocker who can clear lanes for Blount. Edge: Patriots Offensive line: Both units are greater than the sum of their parts, with Seahawks C Max Unger the only real standout of the bunch (and he was hurt much of the season). Unger has played just four games since Oct. 6, but that includes both playoff victories as he's solidified the Seahawks' line play. Lynch obviously appreciates what his front five does. And though Wilson has been sacked about 40 times per year since he entered the league in 2012, many can be attributed to his penchant for extending plays rather than throwing the ball away to avoid sacks. Rookie C Bryan Stork stabilized New England's line after getting a Week 4 promotion to the starting lineup. But a knee injury forced him to miss the AFC Championship Game, and if he's ineffective, the Seahawks line could dominate in the trenches. Brady was sacked fewer times this season than any year since 2009, but the Ravens consistently got to him in the divisional round of the playoffs. Edge: Seahawks Defensive line: The biggest name here remains New England's Vince Wilfork, who's still an effective run plugger but hasn't had a sack since 2012. The Patriots' Rob Ninkovich can play from a two- or three-point stance and has a penchant for making big plays, while now healthy Chandler Jones can make noise off the edge. But the Seahawks are deeper and more talented, with versatile Michael Bennett one of their unsung stars. Look for him to attack all along the New England front. Tony McDaniel and Kevin Williams will play most running downs while passing situations will convey more snaps to O'Brien Schofield and Cliff Avril, who was in Peyton Manning's face all night in last year's Super Bowl. Edge: Seahawks Linebacker: Dont'a Hightower and Jamie Collins are budding stars, each flourishing after the loss of Patriots defensive leader Jerod Mayo early in the season. Both are excellent in all phases of the game with Hightower more likely to make the big hit while Collins can wow with his athleticism. On the other side, Seattle's K.J. Wright and Bobby Wagner are starting to get their due Wagner even garnered a vote for league MVP this year. They're every-down players who won't blitz much but will clog the middle of the field as exceptional pass defenders. Bruce Irvin will hunt Brady on passing downs. And in reserve for the Seahawks? Super Bowl XLVIII MVP Malcolm Smith. Edge: Seahawks Cornerback: Seattle's Richard Sherman and New England's Darrelle Revis are probably the NFL's top two corners in whatever order you place them. Both are intelligent, have excellent ball skills, play physically and will support the run as willing tacklers. Former Seahawk Brandon Browner (6-4, 221) is huge for the position and will have added motivation after missing last year's Super Bowl while suspended. His replacement in Seattle, Byron Maxwell, will likely get a lot of work Sunday opposite Sherman. Edge: Patriots Safety: Patriots Devin McCourty and Patrick Chung don't get a lot of ink especially compared to their Seattle counterparts but are more than capable, McCourty a former Pro Bowl corner. Assuming Revis and Browner take care of business against the Seattle wideouts, the safeties should be free to roam elsewhere. But Seahawks Earl Thomas and Kam Chancellor are the best safety combo in the league, and their long-term legacy seems almost limitless. Thomas' range will be a headache for Brady, while Chancellor is expected to frequently match up with Gronkowski in an anticipated clash of the titans. Chancellor's thunderous hit on Broncos WR Demaryius Thomas in last year's Super Bowl was a precursor to Denver's demise. Edge: Seahawks Special teams: New England K Stephen Gostkowski has been the league's leading scorer three years running. Seahawks K Steven Hauschka has drilled 89% of his field goals since 2012. Neither is likely to let his team down. Ryan Allen and Jon Ryan are both excellent punters, but the Seahawks' Ryan is also capable of making bonus plays with his arm and legs, which he showed in the NFC Championship Game. However New England should be able to take advantage in the return game. The departure of Percy Harvin left Seattle without a gamebreaker. Meanwhile, Edelman and Amendola are accomplished return men, and Seattle's cover teams have struggled, especially on punts. Edge: Patriots Coaching: New England's Bill Belichick and Seattle's Pete Carroll are both at the top of their profession, the former seeking a record-tying fourth Super Bowl ring as a coach, the latter trying to pull off the first repeat in a decade. Their outward approaches are a study in contrasts, but each brings a competitive fire and forward-looking approach that has established these teams as immediate and long-term contenders. Edge: Even Prediction: Seahawks 24, Patriots 23 *** Follow Nate Davis on Twitter @ByNateDavis | 1 | 5,660 | sports |
The first draft ever has some surprises, in this Super Bowl ad for Avocados from Mexico. | 8 | 5,661 | video |
The future of the Denver Broncos ' quarterback situation is one of the critical issues of the NFL offseason. Though Peyton Manning has yet to make a definitive public statement on the matter, it appears he'll announce his intentions to return soon, per Chris Mortensen of ESPN . According to the report, Manning seems on board with the idea of working with new Denver head coach Gary Kubiak. Kubiak has apparently expressed a willingness to tweak his offensive scheme to fit Manning's strengths. The quarterback had enjoyed some of his best years under the previous coaching regime that included offensive coordinators Mike McCoy and Adam Gase. Manning was noncommittal at the Super Bowl breakfast Friday, but he did tell The Denver Post he is "not interested" in letting his decision take longer than necessary. The Post also reported last month that Manning is expected to return next season. The most likely reason Manning has yet to announce is his health. He played through a torn right quad during the final stretch of the season which led to a significant downturn in his performance, including in a playoff loss to the Indianapolis Colts. The injury also led to Manning opting to not participate in the Pro Bowl. Even if Manning chooses to not make a decision next week, he will have one no later than March 9, when his $19 million salary for next season becomes fully guaranteed. Accordingly, the team will have to move on Manning before that clause is activated. | 1 | 5,662 | sports |
Stressful day at work? Taking a quick walk at lunchtime could solve that and a lot more: A recent study found that on days when employees walked for just 30 minutes at lunch, they were less stressed, more enthusiastic, and less fatigued than on days when they didn't. ( Prevention ) Sometimes, we need a protein kick in the morning, but we don't want to sacrifice the sweetness of a smoothie. On those days, try adding chia seeds and peanut butter to the mix ( like in this recipe ) to get both. Coffee is excellent, but it has one fatal flaw: It contains caffeine, so we can't drink it at every hour of the day. Which is why we're so excited about a new brand of decaf coffee that also has valerian root in it; it promises to soothe you to sleep. We've all gotten stuck in a mid-run slump at some point in our lives, but a new app could help you push through. Motigo is like a "personal cheering squad in your ear." ( Self ) And, while we're on the topic of pushing through, a simple mental trick can make working out a little more comfortable. One study suggests that just by changing our perspective on mild pain and imagining it to be less uncomfortable, we'll actually experience it that way. ( Shape ) | 4 | 5,663 | lifestyle |
One of the four drivers vying for a championship in last season's winner-take-all finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Joey Logano spent much of the race inside the top five and looked to be a serious threat for his first Sprint Cup title. Then came the 75-to-go mark, and disaster struck. Three poor pit stops -- all caused by different issues, among them a loose lug nut and a dropped jack -- sent Logano all the way back to 29 th for the final restart with nine laps to go. He rallied to finish 16 th but ranked last among the four championship finalists, 15 points behind champion Kevin Harvick. The late-race pit road debacle certainly left a bad taste in the mouths of Logano and his entire No. 22 Team Penske team heading into the offseason. So bad was the taste that Logano believes, if placed in a similar, high-pressure situation again, his pit crew would rise to the occasion. "I have confidence in my pit crew and all my team," Logano told FOXSports.com during this past week's Charlotte Motor Speedway Media Tour. "I shouldn't go to the racetrack if I don't feel like they're the best, right? If we don't feel like we're the best, we'd have some bigger issues to deal with right now. "I do feel like I have the best pit crew out there. I feel like I have the best team out there, and I feel like I'm the best driver out there, and that's the attitude you have to have when you get to the racetrack, because if you don't, you might as well just sit on the couch and watch it. You might as well not even be at the racetrack, because you don't have a shot at winning." The No. 22 team made a personnel change at the rear tire carrier position over the winter, but Logano's pit crew is otherwise the same as 2014. Don't think that there wasn't some major soul-searching done in the days and weeks after Homestead, however. "We looked at it from the car side, from the pit crew side and said, 'What could we have done differently? What happened? What drove this, and what can we do to help prevent that situation?' " crew chief Todd Gordon said. "I think we've all identified pieces that we could do differently. I look at that and say we got into the wall in the middle of the race and had to repair it from that. We came down pit road with 20-some to go in sixth, right behind Harvick, had a really good pit stop going, and the car fell off the jack. It happens." Gordon compared the implosion of Logano's pit crew at Homestead to situations in other sports where the participants fall wide of the mark when the pressure is at its zenith. "It's no different than third-and-goal and the quarterback throwing a ball a little long on a receiver, or the ninth inning and runners in scoring positions to win a game, and a guy hits a pop fly. It happens in sports," Gordon said. "Are we excited about it? No. Do we want to be perfect every time? Yes. But the level that we have to compete at, there are going to be mistakes. "Unfortunately, we made one, but we've all looked inwardly and said, 'What could we have done differently to help make this situation not happen?' And it's not just on our jackman. It falls on me with the car side. So we've got a lot of discussions and worked pretty hard at identifying what we could do to make sure that that situation doesn't happen again -- or any other situation that we could anticipate." Gordon blames the pit crew's failure to execute at Homestead on little more than a case of nerves. "It's just a situation where you get to a stop and it's high-pressure," Gordon said. "That's a money stop. That's a stop where if you come off pit road first, you're going to be in a really good position and, hey, we were close to it. In order to run stops the way we do, we have to push the envelopes, and some things get close, and that one got too close, and I'll take some of (the blame). With what we were doing with the race car side, I probably could have given him a better opportunity to be faster and have a broader window of what he could do." With the 2015 Sprint Cup campaign on the horizon and Logano widely considered among the handful or so of pre-season favorites to become champion, the driver believes that some good has already come from the team's Homestead snafus. "I feel like we've used it as a positive motivation going into this year with the way they practice," Logano said. "Obviously they were down on themselves for a week or two, but after a while you start pumping back up getting ready to go, and now they're taking it as something they want to improve on and they want to be better. They want to go out there and attack and prove a lot of people that they're wrong. Obviously, they caught a lot of grief about it, and I don't think it was deserving, by any means. "From our data, they were the fifth-best pit crew on pit road. They made one mistake at the most important time and right in the middle of the limelight which is going to attract the most bugs. But they're tough, they're grown men, they know how to handle it, and as a driver, I can help them get through it, because (of) obviously some of the situations I've been through before, and I talk to them as much as I can. I try to help them along with it, but I'm very proud of the way they've handled it and the way they take it as a positive thing and how they're ready to kick some butt this year." VIDEO: Comedian Jay Mohr busts on Joey Logano's pit crew during NASCAR postseason banquet | 1 | 5,664 | sports |
PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- If Boston successfully lands the 2024 Olympic Summer Games, some of its New England neighbors hope all that gold, silver and bronze adds up to green. Officials in Rhode Island, New Hampshire and Connecticut say a winning Boston bid could mean a huge economic boon to their states, each near enough to attract visitors, foreign competitors and maybe even some Olympic events. A Boston Olympics also could spur improvements to transportation systems -- some of them sought since the 2000 games in Sydney. "I think it could be a very good thing for the whole region," Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo said. The U.S. last hosted the Summer Games in 1996 in Atlanta. This time, Boston faces competition from Rome, Paris, Germany and South Africa. The International Olympic Committee will pick the host in 2017. Raimondo said she has spoken with Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker about collaborating and plans to put together her own team to explore how Rhode Island could benefit from Boston's bid. For example, Newport is known for world-class sailing and tourism officials hope to convince organizers they could put the sailing competition there. It's a former home of the America's Cup, and it will be the only U.S. stop for the around-the-world Volvo Ocean Race in May. The city also is home to the International Tennis Hall of Fame, which could host matches if Olympic organizers are willing to use grass courts like they did at Wimbledon during the 2012 London games. But those venues may be a tough sell: Boston's bid stressed it would be one of the most compact games ever, allowing athletes and spectators to mostly walk or use mass transit. Officials in Connecticut are offering up facilities too, including the XL Center and the Connecticut Convention Center in Hartford, the Rentschler Field stadium that is home to the University of Connecticut Huskies football team and the Connecticut Tennis Center in New Haven. "We threw it in there saying, 'Hey, it's worth a shot,'" said Michael Freimuth, executive director of Connecticut's Capital Region Development Authority. "Ninety miles away is not a big leap for these international events." To the north in New Hampshire, a Boston Olympics could provide a boost to long-sought efforts to extend commuter rail into the southern part of the state, a nearly quarter-billion dollar project that's been pushed for the past 15 years. "Everybody right now is very excited about the potential for the Olympics coming here in 2024," said Mike Izbicki, chairman of the New Hampshire Rail Transit Association. "There's a lot of positive energy here. It's a good time to be talking about transportation." Izbicki said if the project comes together as hoped, it could be completed by 2020. Tom Malafronte, an assistant director at Manchester-Boston Regional Airport in New Hampshire, said the airport is well-positioned to support the influx of athletes and spectators, taking some of the load off Boston's Logan International Airport. "The bottom line is it would be a huge boost not only for the state of New Hampshire, but the region," Malafronte said. Rhode Island U.S. Sen. Jack Reed said T.F. Green Airport could see a similar boost. Even if events are held solely in Massachusetts, the region will still benefit, said Evan Smith, head of the regional visitors' bureau Discover Newport. Olympic spectators will travel throughout New England and people watching on television could be enticed to plan trips. "New England would be featured in media all over the world," Smith said. "So it's going to not only induce travel during the Olympic experience, but set the seeds for travel for years to come." Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts is a possible venue. The stadium is home to the NFL's New England Patriots and visiting NFL teams often stay in Providence because it's closer to the stadium than Boston. The same could be true of international Olympic squads looking to save a few bucks. Any events in Foxborough would bring business to Rhode Island hotels and restaurants, said John Gibbons, who runs the sports division at the Providence Warwick Convention and Visitors Bureau. Rhode Island U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse said the Olympics could present opportunities for badly-needed infrastructure improvements, and in New Hampshire, U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen said a winning bid would be a welcome showcase for the region. "It's an exciting opportunity and I'm eager to support Boston's bid however I can," she said. In Massachusetts, there is some concern about the downsides of a winning bid, much of it centered on the traffic problems it could cause in a famously congested city. Critics also fear the games could cost taxpayers billions, despite what Olympics supporters promise. Boston's bid has an operating budget of less than $5 billion, practically austere compared with earlier competitions. The 2012 London games cost about $14.3 billion and the 2008 games in Beijing cost about $40 billion. | 1 | 5,665 | sports |
Celebrate the season with a handful of cookies that are anything but "break and bake." Mint, Peanut Butter, and Oatmeal Chip Cookie There's a lot happening in this combo cookie recipe , including mint, peanut butter, M&M's, oatmeal, and chocolate chips. But trust us - the weirdness works. Basic French Macarons What's not to love about a great macaron ? The rainbow hues, the adorable two-bite size, and the perfectly crisp, chewy texture make for a special cookie - whether or not you're in France! Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies Think beyond pumpkin pie for these cakey pumpkin chocolate chip cookies , which call for pumpkin puree. Vegan, Gluten-Free Lemon Cookies No gluten? Vegan? No problem. Whip up these cutout lemon cookies . Pecan Pie Cookies If pie isn't your thing, then try these pecan pie cookies . A thumbprint cookie with a caramelized-pecan filling, this cookie is reminiscent of pecan pie, only a lot easier to put together! Chai Snickerdoodles Bake - don't brew - these chai-infused snickerdoodle cookies . The secret is to seep chai tea bags in the melted butter. Edible Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough OK, sometimes you don't want to bake - you just want the dough. This edible cookie dough , is 100 percent safe to eat, because it's made without raw eggs. Muskotsnittar This Swedish cookie translates to nutmeg slices and tastes like Biscoff! Matcha Shortbread Cookies Matcha, a finely ground green tea powder, shines when mixed with a creamy, buttery shortbread cookie. A surefire hit, this green tea shortbread cookie will be devoured by cookie-lovers in record time. No-Guilt Cookies Beans and peanut butter come together for a guilt-free cookie that you can eat morning, noon, or night. Apple Pie Bars With a sugar cookie crust, caramelized apple filling, and crunchy oat topping, these apple pie bars are more addictive than the classic rendition. Vegan Teatime Cookies You would never guess that these dark-chocolate "buttercream" teatime cookies are vegan! Rolled in silvered almonds and topped with a smooth, creamy spread, they are nondairy but delicious! HIMYM's Sumbitch Cookies One episode of How I Met Your Mother centers around " sumbitch cookies ," crispy, chocolatey caramel and peanut butter cookies that are naughty in all the right ways. Vegan Cut-Out Cookies Flaxseed helps bind these vegan sugar cookies , but we don't think you'll even taste the difference. Cake Batter Cookies You will never be able to eat just one cake mix cookie . They're guaranteed to be a favorite any time of year! | 0 | 5,666 | foodanddrink |
I am standing on a street in Syria when the bomb goes off. My ears ring so loud I can hardly hear the screams as I stumble through the smoke. Looking down, there's a man cradling a crimson-soaked loved one on the curb. Others run for cover. I pull off my virtual reality headset. I've never been to Syria. Never been in a terrorist attack. Never experienced the confusion and fear, the loss of faith in my species in the face of senseless violence. But now I know just a little bit what it feels like. And it makes me want to help. What if you really could walk a mile in someone's shoes? Shared perspective breeds understanding. Until now, though, the closest we could come to that old saying was through video documentary. Follow someone around long enough and you get a taste for what their life is like. But it's still their life. Virtual reality represents a giant leap forward in mankind's propensity for compassion. You don't just walk in someone's shoes, but see the world through their eyes. In essence, a virtual reality headset is an empathy machine. Most people think of video games or maybe immersive cinema when they think of VR. But a burgeoning group of creators are producing virtual reality documentaries with unprecedented ability to affect us emotionally. Project Syria is perhaps the most vivid to date. Its creator Nonny de la Peña tells me "Syria is so far away from most Americans. How do you attract a younger audience who might not pick up the newspaper to think about these important issues? That's the point of all good journalism." But what you read in the New York Times or see on CNN pales in comparison to the power of VR journalism. It's a term I think we're going to hear a lot of. It was certainly the talk of Sundance Film Festival's New Frontier building, which showcases experiments in the future of cinema. One moment I'm comfy amongst the movie goers in Park City, Utah. The next, I'm marching through New York with the anti-police brutality protests that followed the verdict which let Eric Garner's killer go free. The air is electric, not just the screen. The claustrophobic volatility spurs me to keep looking over my shoulder to make sure the cops aren't closing in. Chants emanate from the surrounding crowd. My vantage point moves along with the 360-degree camera's, meaning I'm not just watching this act of civil disobedience. I feel like I'm part of it. This isn't a documentary about the protest. This is the protest, digitized. "Journalism is about bringing people to an event or something that they couldn't attend," says Chris Milk, the world's preeminent VR director. His other works likes the concert Sound & Vision demonstrated VR's potential to unlock emotions film can't touch . When you're standing on stage beside the performer Beck and the crowd applauds, you can't help but blush and feel bashful. His newest film Evolution Of Verse mimics a lucid dream. You hover over a tranquil lake until a locomotive splashes across its surface directly at you, only to bust into a thousand birds at the moment of impact. His collaboration with Spike Jonze "VICE News VR: Millions March" , eschews entertainment for empathy. "Here the viewer feels transported to that place. There's no translation. They're witnessing it first-hand themselves" Milk tells me. "There's something about this format that touches a more emotional place in the mind and the soul." Perhaps it's how the distance between our eyes and the scene is dismantled. In the real world, there is no gap, life starts the millimeter your cornea concludes. The intermittent space found watching a television, computer, or mobile phone constantly reminds us to look but not touch. Yet when you sit amongst the die-in on that VR-conjured Manhattan street, you feel compelled to rest a reassuring hand on the back of the protester beside you. "I can put you closer to another human being than you normally would go in real life" Milk exclaims. His company VRSE's app will let you watch the scene from home. Millions March teleports you in amongst a crew of men writhing on the concrete crying 'I can't breathe', Garner's last words. You see the passion in their eyes. Their lips quivering with rage and purpose. "If you were there you would keep a natural distance of 10 to 15 feet like everyone else" Milk says. "I'm letting you connect in that space in a way that's very safe." Because while your mind is present, your body is beyond harm's grasp. You can focus without worry for your own well-being. "You sort of exist in this place without any ego" Milk explains. "You can just feel." But some of the most piercing VR experiences won't make you the victim of tragedy. They'll make you the perpetrator. Perspective; Chapter 1: The Party places you at a beer-drenched college gathering. You play Brian, seemingly just another frat guy. As your eyes drift across the party, you come across Gina, pretty but pretty lonely, dancing by herself. You sway together, flirt, and drink. But fast-forward, and Brian and his buddy have discovered Gina passed on the floor of a bedroom. For just a moment, you hope the two of you have pure intentions as you pick her and place her on the bed. Then the scene turns sinister. Your friend suggests you take turns having sex with her as he gawks at Gina's unconscious body. The disgust and guilt are overwhelming. I winced, stomach churning as my character gruffly pulled off her boots. My cringing face relaxed only slightly when the scene went dark as it gets too graphic. The story continues as Brian and his accomplice scramble to escape the party, catching just a glimpse of Gina's expression of shell-shock at the top of the stairs. Most VR demos end with an attendant cheerily asking "How was it?!" I was thankful that the woman who took the Oculus Rift headset back from me said nothing. I avoided eye-contact. Left in the exhibition room modeled after The Party, complete with keg and sagging couch, I slinked out silently. These behaviors mirror those of true shame. I wanted to crawl somewhere dark and disappear. Once I began to digest the emotions, though, I wanted to mobilize against campus sexual assault . The empathy machine works. "Making people bear witness is effective" says de la Peña." To make VR journalism even more so, both Milk and de la Peña said 360-degree cameras need to get sharper, cheaper, and more portable. Paired with proper calls to action, simulated scenes could have a real impact on the real world. VR won't replace being there, but it can scale experiences to a much wider audience. Milk concludes "We're starting to move out of the technical 'wow' phase of this and into 'what does this mean for humanity?'" | 5 | 5,667 | news |
Looking for some fun ways to celebrate Valentine's Day with your kids? Try these three activities that inspire, encourage creativity, and - of course - spread the love. | 8 | 5,668 | video |
SOUTHAMPTON, England (AP) -- Southampton's surprise bid for Champions League qualification took a hit with a 1-0 home loss to Swansea in the English Premier League on Sunday. Jonjo Shelvey grabbed the winner in the 83rd minute with a swerving shot from the edge of the area, leaving Southampton to bemoan its inability to translate dominance into goals. A straight red card for left back Ryan Bertrand for a lunging tackle on Modou Barrow in the 89th capped a frustrating day for the hosts at St. Mary's. Southampton started the weekend a surprising third in the standings but dropped a point behind Manchester United to fourth, level on points with Arsenal. James Ward-Prowse, Dusan Tadic and Sadio Mane squandered great chances for Southampton, which failed to pierce a defense superbly marshalled by Ashley Williams. | 1 | 5,669 | sports |
When you want to isolate specific muscle groups in the arms, using dumbbells is truly effective - get ready to feel the burn! Depending on your strength, grab at least two size weights ranging from five to 15 pounds so you can switch up the appropriate size dumbbells for each move. Sumo Squat With Bicep Curls Work your middle arms and your lower body at the same time. Hold a pair of dumbbells in your hands with your arms straight and your palms facing away from you. Step your feet apart so there's about 20 inches between your heels. Point your toes out slightly.When you're ready, bend your knees and elbows at the same time. Keep your shoulders over your hips, and lower down so your weight is back in your heels. Then straighten your legs and arms. This is one repetition.Complete two to three sets of 10 to 12 reps. Upright Row This move will work the upper arms and shoulders. Stand with your feet hip distance apart, and place a dumbbell in each hand. Your closed palms should be facing your body. The shoulders should be over your pelvis, with knees slightly bent.Keeping the dumbbells close to your body, raise them to your shoulders, bending your elbows out to the sides.Slowly lower them to the starting position. This counts as one rep.Complete two to three sets of 10 to 12 reps. Overhead Triceps Extensions Here's a move you probably know and love that'll target the backs of the arms. Stand with your feet hip distance apart. Hold one dumbbell (go for your heavier weight) with both hands, bending the elbows behind your head.Straighten your arms to lift the dumbbell into the air, then slowly bend the arms to lower. This counts as one rep.Complete two to three sets of 10 to 12 reps. Bent-Over Row Get ready to feel this in your upper back and triceps. Lean forward and bend both knees, remembering to keep a flat back.Extend your arms so they are straight. Lift the dumbbells straight up to chest level, squeezing your shoulder blades together as you do. Be sure to keep your elbows in and pointed upward. Don't arch your back.Slowly lower the weights back to the starting position to complete one rep.Complete two to three sets of 10 to 12 reps. Bent-Over Reverse Fly You'll feel this one in your shoulders and upper back. Holding a dumbbell in each hand, stand with the knees slightly bent. Keeping your back flat, bend forward at the hip joint. Exhale and lift both arms to the side, maintaining a slight bend in the elbows and squeezing your shoulder blades together. Then, with control, lower the dumbbells back toward the ground. This completes one rep.Complete two to three sets of 10 to 12 reps. Bicep Curl and Overhead Press This move works both the biceps and shoulders. Stand with your feet directly under your hips, holding a dumbbell in each hand, palms facing out. Bend the elbows, bringing the weights to your shoulders, performing a bicep curl.Stabilize your torso and keep your arms moving upward, straightening the arms above you, performing an overhead press with the palms facing out.Bend the elbows coming back to the end of your bicep curl, then straighten the arms coming back to the starting position to complete one rep.Perform two to three sets of 10 to 12 reps. Single-Leg Scarecrow Challenge your sense of balance while shaping the shoulders and upper back. Stand on your left leg, and lift your right knee up until it is level with your hip. Holding a dumbbell in each hand, raise your arms out to the side until your upper arms are parallel to the ground. Bend your elbows to 90 degrees.Maintaining a strong sense of balance, rotate your upper arms forward to bring your fists to the floor; then rotate the upper arm backward to bring the fists up. Do not lower or raise your upper arms; keep them parallel to the floor. This completes one rep.Do 10 reps, then switch legs lifting the left leg up, and stand on the right foot for another 10 reps to complete the set.Complete another set. Lateral Arm Raise Here's a basic yet effective move to target the shoulders. Stand with your feet hip distance apart. Hold a dumbbell in each hand so your palms face in toward the sides of your body.Start with the right side first. With control, keep your arm straight (but don't lock that elbow) and as you inhale, raise your right hand up toward the ceiling. You want your palm to be facing down and your arm to be parallel to the floor. Then as you exhale, slowly lower your hand back to your body. You should be able to see your hand in your peripheral vision. Your arm won't be directly out to the side but slightly forward. Do the same move with your left arm.Then do both your right and left arms at the same time.Continue these moves of right, left, together, right, left, together, for a total of two to three sets of 10 to 12 reps. Pilates Boxer This move will target your entire arm, especially the triceps. Stand with your feet hip distance apart. Bend your elbows behind you, keeping your upper arms even with your back.Bend your knees to come into a half squat while creasing at your hips so your spine is almost parallel to the floor. Keep your spine neutral with the pelvis and head forming one long line.As you exhale, simultaneously extend your right arm straight out in front of you and the left arm straight behind you. Rotate both wrists so your front palm is down and your back palm is up. With control, return to the starting position and repeat on the other side. This completes one rep.Do 10 to 12 reps on each arm, and repeat for two to three sets. Reverse Lunge and Press This shoulder-shaping move will also target the thighs and butt. Stand with your feet together, holding the weights at your shoulders with your palms facing out.Step your left foot back coming into a lunge, making 90-degree angles with your front and back knee.Push off your left foot, bringing your left knee forward so it is even with your left hip, while raising your arms above your head. Do this motion with control.Without touching the floor with your left foot, step back into the lunge to start your second rep.To complete one set, do 10 to 12 reps, then switch legs.Repeat for one or two more sets. Skull Crushers No more bat wings! Tone those triceps with this move. Grab a set of dumbbells, and start by lying on your back with the knees bent.With one dumbbell in each hand, raise your arms so they are above your chest, making sure your elbows are straight but not locked.Slowly lower both arms toward your head, bending your elbows to 90 degrees as the dumbbells reach the mat. Aim to lower your dumbbells so they are on either side of your head, elbows bent and pressing in toward your head.Lift your arms back to starting position. This is one rep.Complete two to three sets of 10 to 12 reps. Lying Chest Fly This move looks relaxing, but it'll give your chest a little lift. Lie on your back with your hips and knees both at 90-degree angles. Using your low abs, press your lower back into the mat. Raise your arms toward the ceiling, palms facing each other, keeping the elbow joint slightly bent.Keeping your torso stable, open your arms out to the sides until your elbows are about two inches from the floor.Raise your arms back to the ceiling, bringing the weights together over your chest. This counts as one rep.Perform two to three sets of 10 to 12 reps. | 7 | 5,670 | health |
It's been a while since I got to do a fun demo on some kind of electric vehicle, so last week we took a trip to Golden Gate Park with the Storm eBike . It's a electric bicycle designed to be cheap and practical . It's the 1987 Honda Civic of electric bikes, stripped down to the basics. There's no regenerative breaking, or a fancy housing to disquise the massive batteries needed to give bikes any kind of range for commuting. While the frame isn't anything special, the tires that come with the bike certainly draw the eye. They're big round tubes that probably aren't doing the motor any favors but provide a stable, smooth ride on different surfaces. Going over pavement with cracks, paths with crunchy branch bits, and dirt the bike maintained a solid grip and could instantly get going with a push of the accelerator. I didn't get a chance to test the Storm eBike for the entirety of its battery life, but I did get to drive on a few different grades of hill to see how it performed. If you're commute is mostly flat (or if you just want to take it to the beach sometimes), it offers a fun ride with assistance that's also not too hard to pedal. If you live in an area with particularly steep slopes, the Storm won't completely eliminate the struggle. I had to max out the accelerator and pedal a bit to get up a hill that I probably wouldn't have struggled with too much on a lighter bike without a battery. Storm says that the bike can go 30 miles on a 90 minute charge. While the total distance available will likely drop off a bit over a few years of use, the quick charge time means it'll still be practical if your trips regularly take you somewhere with an outlet for topping off. At its $499 launch price on Indiegogo, the Storm eBike seems like a solid entry-level option. Comparable bikes I've tried cost a few hundred dollars more, and if you really do want things like fancy industrial design and regenerative breaking, you generally have to pony up well over $1,000. It seems ideal for those suburban commuters who could either bike or drive to work this would certainly make cycling the preferable option. | 5 | 5,671 | news |
A fourth-grader in west Texas has been suspended, his father says, because he pretended to have a ring like the One Ring from T he Lord of the Rings canon, and said it could make a classmate disappear. Dad Jason Steward said he was told his son's claim amounted to making a terrorist threat. Steward took his story to the Odessa (Texas) American on Friday, saying the boy had seen The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies the preceding weekend. He brought a ring to class and told another kid it would make him vanish. When Steward confronted the school principal to ask what was going on, he said he was told that threatening another child's safety whether the threats are magical or otherwise - are not tolerated. Neither the principal nor the district's superintendent would comment on the matter to the Odessa American . The New York Daily News got wind of the story and followed up with the dad. "I assure you my son lacks the magical powers necessary to threaten his friend's existence," Steward told the News . "If he did, I'm sure he'd bring him right back." This isn't his son's first scrape with authority; the boy has been suspended three times already, once for calling a black classmate black, the other for bringing a book to school that had a drawing of a pregnant woman. The family moved to the school district six months ago. | 5 | 5,672 | news |
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) -- Montay Brandon scored 18 points on 7-of-7 shooting, and Florida State rallied from a 16-point first-half deficit to beat No. 23 Miami 55-54 on Sunday. The Hurricanes' Sheldon McClellan missed a floater in the lane as time expired. Brandon had 12 of his points in the second half to spark the rally for Florida State (12-10, 4-5 Atlantic Coast Conference). Kiel Turpin added 10 points for the Seminoles, who shot 53.7 percent. Turpin put Florida State ahead for good with a baby hook with 1:41 left. McClellan led the Hurricanes (14-7, 4-4) with 13 points, and Davon Reed had 11 points and six rebounds. But Miami, which led 36-25 at the break, shot 6 of 19 in the second half and scored only 18 points. The Seminoles won despite committing 16 turnovers. But they had only five in the second half. Florida State went 10 minutes without a basket in the first half, and Miami's 19-1 run gave it a 30-14 lead with 3:12 left. Xavier Rathan-Mayes' 3-pointer at the end of the half pulled the Seminoles within 11. Brandon sparked the second-half comeback with a steal and a dunk, a 3-pointer and another steal and dunk to cut Miami's lead to 38-34 with 17:02 to go. TIP-INS Florida State: Florida State is now 7-0 against in-state teams this season. ... It's the first time FSU has defeated Florida and Miami in the same season since 2008-09. Miami: The Hurricanes were just 8 of 24 on 3-point attempts. UP NEXT Florida State hosts Clemson on Wednesday. Miami hosts Louisville on Tuesday. | 1 | 5,673 | sports |
Greece is counting on the European Central Bank to maintain a financial lifeline while the week-old government in Athens negotiates new terms on its international bailout package, Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis said. While the country is "desperate" for funds, it will forgo further disbursements of emergency aid until negotiating a "new social contract" with its creditors, he said. He set an end-May deadline for reaching a deal on a revamped rescue with the euro area and the International Monetary Fund. "For that period, we're not going to ask for any more loans," Varoufakis told reporters today in Paris after meeting French Finance Minister Michel Sapin. "During this period, it is perfectly possible in conjunction with the ECB to establish the liquidity provisions that are necessary." The danger for Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, who won power on Jan. 25 following pledges to undo more than four years of austerity tied to emergency aid, is that both the country's banks and the government could be left without funding as soon as next month. Greece has until end-February to qualify for an aid payment of as much as 7 billion euros ($7.9 billion) and hasn't indicated any willingness to seek an extension. Letting the review lapse under Greece's 240 billion-euro aid program could result in its banks effectively being excluded from ECB liquidity operations while the government is still shut out of international bond markets. At the moment, Greece has a special dispensation from the ECB because the country is considered to be complying with the bailout pact. That means its debt can be used in central-bank refinancing operations even though it is rated junk. "There will be no surprises if we find out that a country is below that rating and there's no longer a program that that waiver disappears," ECB Vice President Vitor Constancio said at an event in Cambridge, England, on Saturday. Varoufakis, whose Paris visit was the first of a series of trips to European cities to press his case, said he intends travel to Frankfurt to seek support for Greek banks from the ECB while a political accord on an aid overhaul is negotiated with the euro area and the IMF. He's scheduled to see British Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne in London tomorrow. A revamped rescue for Greece, where unemployment is more than 25 percent, would address a "humanitarian crisis," the need for investment and the country's debt mountain of about 180 percent of gross domestic product, he said. "What this government is all about is ending the addiction" to funds that are tied to demands for austerity, Varoufakis said. The government is willing to "go cold turkey for a while, while we're deliberating," he said. At the same briefing, Sapin said France would be willing to offer Greece debt relief in the form of longer repayment periods and lower interest rates while rejecting a writedown that Tsipras has demanded. That position mirrors the euro area's stance. To contact the reporters on this story: Mark Deen in Paris at [email protected]; Jonathan Stearns in Paris at [email protected] To contact the editors responsible for this story: Fergal O'Brien at [email protected]; Alan Crawford at [email protected] James Hertling, Ben Sills | 3 | 5,674 | finance |
Michael Rosenberg joins the crew via Skype to preview Super Bowl XLIX. Who is the key player in each game plan and how will distractions like Deflate-Gate impact the game? | 8 | 5,675 | video |
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Jakob Poeltl had 14 points and nine rebounds, and No. 11 Utah crushed Southern California 67-39 on Sunday. Delon Wright added 11 points and five rebounds and Jordan Loveridge scored 10 points for the Utes (17-4, 7-2 Pac-12). Utah was up 32-12 at halftime and led by as many as 29 points in the second half. Eleven different players scored for the Utes, who never trailed. Malik Martin scored 11 points to lead the Trojans (9-12, 1-8 Pac-12). USC shot just 26.5 percent, including 1 of 12 from 3-point range, to lose its sixth straight. It was the Trojans' largest margin of defeat this season. USC shot just 5 of 26, including 0 of 7 from 3-point range, and committed 10 turnovers in the first half to allow Utah to run away with it quickly. Two 3-pointers by Loveridge helped put the Utes up 17-5 early, as USC missed 11 of its first 13 shots. The Trojans didn't reach 20 points until Malik Martin's free throw with 13:19 left in the game. That foul shot was part of an 11-0 USC run that brought some life back into the previously moribund Galen Center, but the Trojans never cut the deficit below 17 points. TIP-INS Utah: The Utes outrebounded the Trojans 39-26, outscored them in the paint 38-18 and had 16 second-chance points. . They have won 11 games by at least 20 points this season, tied for most in the nation with Notre Dame. . Utah beat USC 79-55 in the Pac-12 opener Jan. 2 in Salt Lake City. USC: The Trojans set season lows in points, field goals made (13) and shooting percentage. . Katin Reinhardt's streak of nine consecutive games with a made 3-pointer was snapped. . The Trojans dropped to 3-24 in Pac-12 play over the last two seasons. UP NEXT Utah visits Colorado on Saturday. USC visits Cal on Thursday. | 1 | 5,676 | sports |
SI's Austin Murphy joins the crew to discuss what the Seahawks need to do defensively against the Pats, and whether more coaches adopt Pete Caroll's style if Seattle wins? | 8 | 5,677 | video |
GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) The retractable roof will be open for the Super Bowl. With temperatures in the upper 60s and no chance of rain Sunday, the NFL decided to let the sunshine in for the title game between New England and Seattle. It's a change of course at University of Phoenix Stadium, where the home team Cardinals have played with the roof closed for every game since December 2013. Weather is rarely an issue at the Super Bowl, in large part because the game is either played in warm-weather cities or at stadiums with domes. Last year in New Jersey, temperatures were in the low 40s at kickoff. The high in Glendale was forecast to be 67 degrees, with temperatures falling into the 50s by the fourth quarter. | 1 | 5,678 | sports |
AL UDEID AIR BASE, Qatar Working from this sun-scorched desert base, U.S. and allied commanders are beginning perhaps the most perilous phase of their fight against the Islamic State group: an attempt to recapture Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city, from the entrenched militant forces. Military officers here say airstrikes over the past two weeks helped sever two crucial routes that the extremist militants used to move fighters and supplies from the Syrian border to Mosul, their self-declared capital in Iraq and most significant battlefield prize. U.S. commanders who help oversee the air war say the joint offensive with Iraqi Kurdish ground forces pushed back the Sunni Islamists' defensive line west of Mosul, recapturing territory and removing a key obstacle, at least for now, as military planners consider tactics for retaking the city as early as this summer. American and allied advisers are training and equipping Iraqi security forces expected to lead any major ground assault. But options appear limited, given the woeful state of Iraq's army, White House resistance to any plan likely to cause heavy civilian casualties, and at least some support in the Sunni-dominated city for the occupying force. Although President Barack Obama has repeatedly vowed not to reintroduce U.S. ground troops in Iraq, Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told Congress in November that he would consider deploying a limited number of U.S. Special Forces to help direct airstrikes and assist the Iraqi army in an assault on Mosul. Retaking the city, home to about 1.4 million people, almost certainly would require urban combat against a tenacious foe. "Fighting inside a city like that will definitely not be easy, going street by street, house to house," said Ferhang Asandi, a Kurdish military officer. Islamic State militants are "trying to put all their effort and their fight in anticipation of the battle because they know that if Mosul is done it means the end" of a major source of prestige and recruitment. The stakes are equally high for Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Abadi's fragile government in Baghdad, which has struggled to rebuild its army since entire divisions collapsed before the insurgent onslaught last year. Another military defeat at Mosul would undermine government authority and shift the momentum back to Islamic State. "There is no way to create any form of unified or stable Iraq as long as Mosul is in hostile hands," said Anthony Cordesman, a senior military analyst at the nonpartisan Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. "Lesser victories are only a prelude to retaking Mosul." Warplanes from the U.S.-led coalition have dropped more than 6,000 bombs on Islamic State positions in Iraq and Syria since August. Combined with attacks by Iraqi government forces, Kurdish fighters and Sunni Arab tribesmen who oppose the Islamist group, the campaign has stopped the militants from seizing much new territory and pushed them back in several areas. In the past week, Kurdish fighters backed by hundreds of coalition airstrikes broke a four-month Islamist State siege on Kobani, a Syrian town on the border with Turkey. In Iraq, pro-government Shiite militias claimed they had taken "complete control" of Diyala province, northeast of Baghdad, after seven months of fighting the Sunni extremists. But Islamic State has not been dislodged from any of the cities that it captured during its offensive last year. Mosul fell quickly in June when convoys of heavily armed Islamic State fighters stormed out of neighboring Syria and overran much of western and northern Iraq. Declaring an Islamic caliphate, the insurgents used the city to launch attacks that pushed nearly 250 miles south to the edge of Baghdad before government forces and Shiite militias rallied to stop them. Many residents of Mosul, who faced discrimination from the Shiite-dominated central government and military, initially welcomed the Sunni invaders. The militants seized U.S.-supplied arms and munitions and hundreds of armored vehicles from fleeing government troops. In the deadliest single battle after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, U.S. Marines fought for six weeks in late 2004 to oust entrenched Sunni insurgents from Fallouja, a city less than a third the size of Mosul. The battle was heaviest urban combat for the U.S. military since Vietnam. More than 90 Americans were killed and nearly 600 were wounded. Fallouja fell to Islamic State fighters early last year. A battle in Mosul could be tougher. Kurdish officials say the militants already have reinforced their fighters, blocked roads and blown up a key bridge on the city's western edge to augment their defenses. They also have forged alliances with former Iraqi military officers and local Sunni officials who supported autocrat Saddam Hussein before he was toppled in the 2003 invasion. "We've received information that they are creating fortifications, digging trenches around the city," said Jabar Yawar, spokesman for the Kurdish armed forces in Irbil, capital of the semi-autonomous Kurdish region in Iraq. "Also in every area they control, it is their custom to put bombs and booby traps." An attacking force would need supporters or informants in the city for intelligence on the insurgents' positions and defenses. Although many Mosul residents complain of harsh edicts enforced by the extremists and shortages of basic commodities, the discontent does not appear close to a popular revolt. For now, Iraq's security forces are concentrated on protecting Baghdad and surrounding areas. In December, heavy clashes were reported west of the capital in Ramadi, capital of Sunni-dominated Anbar province. Photos posted by the militants showed their fighters using captured armored personnel carriers and firing rocket-propelled grenades in what appeared to be street-to-street fighting. Iraqi Kurdish fighters known as peshmerga are far closer to Mosul. Starting on Jan. 21, they launched an offensive on both sides of the Tigris River north of the city and seized a strategic junction at Kiske on an east-west highway that links Mosul to the Islamist State-held towns of Tall Afar, Sinjar and the Syrian border. The Kurds worked with the U.S. Air Force and other military strategists here at Al Udeid, the command post for the air war. After consulting on an attack plan, the peshmerga hit an array of insurgent positions near the Mosul dam, about 30 miles northwest of the city, forcing many fighters into the open. "It was literally like kicking an anthill," said Air Force Col. Lynn "Woody" Peitz, deputy commander of the air operations center at Al Udeid. "A lot of dynamic targets developed out of that." Coalition warplanes dropped precision-guided bombs on militant positions, weapons depots and armored vehicles. The Kurdish fighters ultimately took back about 300 square miles of territory, officials said, and cut the supply routes. Pentagon officials say they are encouraged by the gains but are under no illusions about the difficulties in trying to retake Mosul. "It's difficult terrain. It's a big city. And they are entrenched there," Rear Adm. John Kirby, the Pentagon spokesman, told reporters Tuesday. "And oh, by the way, the enemy gets a vote" in what happens. ���� (Special correspondent Nabih Bulos in Amman, Jordan, contributed to this report.) | 5 | 5,679 | news |
In honor of the United Nations' marking 2015 as the International Year of Light and Light-based Technologies, NASA has released a series of stunning new images of the cosmos. The mind-blowing images below show us wispy remnants of stars that exploded long ago and distant galaxies with energetic supermassive black holes at their centers. What makes this set so interesting is that some of these distant cosmological marvels are invisible to the human eye. In order to create the beautiful pictures shown to the right, NASA has combined the light detected from several different telescopes. The reason astronomers study light with different wavelengths and energies is because this technique illuminates the universe in ways that would otherwise remain hidden. And the more they see, the more astronomers can understand the cosmos. What humans see is only a very small part of what scientists call the electromagnetic spectrum. This spectrum encompasses all forms of radiation energy that moves through space. The term "visible light" refers to the part of the spectrum that we can see: NASA'S different space telescopes all pick up electromagnetic radiation from different parts of this spectrum: Chandra X-ray Observatory detects X-rays Galaxy Evolution Explorer detects ultra-violet rays Hubble Space Telescope detects visible light Spitzer Space Telescope detects infrared light NASA also uses telescopes on the ground like the Australia Telescope Compact Array, which detects radio waves, and the Digital Sky Survey, which (like Hubble) detects visible light. Most of the pictures below are not what you would actually see if you were looking through a powerful telescope. In order to study objects in different wavelengths, astronomers convert the non-visible parts of the spectrum into colors like purple, blue, and red, which you see in the images below. Star Bones Astronomers can study the bones of stars that exploded in a brilliant light show, called a supernova, millions of years ago. This image of a supernova remnant, called SNR 0519-69.0, is more than 163,000 light years away in a nearby galaxy called the Large Magellanic Cloud. If you could hop on a spaceship and travel to this gaseous nebula, you might be disappointed. That's because the image above is not what you would see in reality. Below is a gif of the two real images one of visible light from Hubble (which is what you could see through a telescope) and one of X-rays from Chandra and then the final composite image. It's amazing how NASA is able to combine them to create the final composite piece, using the special abilities of each individual telescope: A Star Without A Pulse The supernova remnant, called MSH 11-62, is a bit of a mystery. Judging from its shape, astronomers suspect that there is a rapidly rotating, extremely dense star, called a pulsar, toward the top of this cloud of gas. Pulsars emit powerful pulses of high-energy radiation and that, together with their spinning rotation, produces a signature-shaped, elongated cloud, like the one in the composite below. But astronomers have yet to detect any pulses within the distant nebula. This false-color image is made from images created by the Chandra in X-rays (blue), the Digitized Sky Survey in visible light, and the Australia Telescope Compact Array in radio waves (purple). Radio waves are lower in energy than visible light or X-rays, so they're good for detecting low-temperature gas, which shows up in the purple image below: Millennia In The Making About 2,000 years ago, ancient Chinese astronomers recorded a "guest star" that seemingly appeared out of nowhere and remained visible for eight months. Modern astronomers suspect that this guest star was a supernova and that the composite image below is the left-over guts of what remains of that star. The false-color picture above is made from combining a Hubble shot in visible light and a Chandra image in the X-ray part of the spectrum (blue/purple). See how NASA puts these two images together in the animation below: Hungry, Hungry Black Holes Located 700 million light years from Earth is the Cygnus A galaxy. This is a fascinating example of the power of supermassive black holes. Cygnus A is known as an active galaxy because the supermassive black hole at its center is emitting large amounts of radiation into space, which this image highlights in blue and red. In reality, this galaxy looks nothing like the image above. But with the help of Chandra and NSF's Very Large Array radio telescope, astronomers can see the dynamic nature of this galaxy's center. The false-color image above is made from three photos taken by Chandra in X-rays (blue), NSF's Very Large Array in radio waves (red), and Hubble in visible light. (Here, red is a false color and not what you would see in reality, unlike the true red color in the earlier Hubble image of SNR 0519-69.0.) Check out the stark contrast in temperature of the hot X-rays around the center versus the low-temperature gas that the black hole has ejected millions of light years away. The Most Picturesque Of All? Last but not least is one of the most picturesque galaxies in the universe: the Whirlpool galaxy. This galaxy floats in space 21 million light years from Earth and is part of a class of galaxies called spiral galaxies because of their distinct spiral arms swirling out from the center. Spiral galaxies are particularly interesting to astronomers because our home galaxy, the Milky Way, is also a spiral galaxy. Learning more about other spiral galaxies gives insight to our own. The false-color image above is made from four photos taken by Chandra in X-rays (purple), the Galaxy Evolution Explorer in in ultraviolet (blue), Hubble in visible light (green), and the Spitzer Space Telescope in the infrared (red). Astronomers study objects in infrared (red) wavelengths because, as with radio waves, infrared shows low-temperature gas. At higher energies, in ultra-violet (blue) wavelengths, astronomers can detect pockets of star formation. With that in mind, check out the level of activity at the galaxy's center in all of the images below: The infrared indicates that there's a great deal of dust around the center; the ultra-violet points to bright spots of star formation; visible light shows dark patches where gas is blocking the light; and the X-rays highlight blazing-hot gas, which the supermassive black hole at the center is shooting off into space. Without instruments like Chandra, Hubble, Spitzer, and many more, astronomers would understand very little about our universe. | 5 | 5,680 | news |
The Philippine interior minister said Sunday he did not know in advance of plans for an anti-terror raid that triggered a bloodbath in which 44 police commandos were killed. Manuel Roxas, who is in charge of the national police, said he had no foreknowledge of the January 25 operation. The huge losses shocked and enraged the nation and imperilled a peace pact with the main Muslim rebel group in the southern island of Mindanao. "They did not tell me about this... I'm not saying I would have known better but I also can't help feeling I was not given a chance to ensure there was better coordination," he told demoralised members of the police Special Action Force (SAF) at their headquarters. The SAF commandos were gunned down while on a mission to capture or kill Malaysian bombmaker Zulkifli bin Hir, alias Marwan, a leading member of the Jemaah Islamiyah group which staged the 2002 Bali bombings in Indonesia. While authorities say Marwan was killed, the commandos were later ambushed by Muslim armed groups -- including fighters of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) which signed a peace agreement with the government last March. The MILF said the raid should have been coordinated with them under the terms of the ceasefire. "Your job is tough and dangerous. It is the duty of the state to give you the full support, equipment and training and not to send you into hopeless operations," an apologetic Roxas said in a dialogue at SAF headquarters. However the minister, a close confidante of President Benigno Aquino, told the commandos to await the result of an investigation before jumping to conclusions. Aquino had previously said he was informed by top police of the operation. "We again appeal to everyone to give peace a chance," his spokesman Herminio Coloma said in a radio address. "Let us unite under this principle while seeking justice and accountability over what happened... last week." Coloma said a final peace agreement would require the 12,000-strong MILF to disarm in exchange for control over an autonomous region in Mindanao. But public anger threatens to derail efforts to pass legislation needed to implement the peace accord before Aquino steps down in 2016. The main gate of national police headquarters in suburban Manila has become an unofficial memorial bedecked with flowers, candles and other tokens left by mourners. About 200 military veterans and serving soldiers drove up on motorcycles on Sunday, offering prayers and lighting candles. | 5 | 5,681 | news |
After trailing by eleven at halftime, Florida State roared back to take a 55-54 comeback victory over in-state rival, Miami. Montay Brandon was huge for the Seminoles, scoring 18 points and adding six rebounds as FSU gives the Hurricanes their second loss of the week. | 1 | 5,682 | sports |
SI's Joan Niesen joins the crew to preview the Super Bowl from the Patriot perspective. Will the Pats have an advantage on defense, and who could be an X-Factor for the Pats? | 8 | 5,683 | video |
Spotify Ltd., the online and mobile music service, is working with Goldman Sachs Group Inc. on a new round of private financing that may push back the timing of an initial offering, people with knowledge of the matter said. The Stockholm-based music streaming site is seeking to raise about $500 million, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing private information. Spotify worked with Goldman Sachs, also an investor in the company, last year on raising a credit facility, a move that may presage an IPO in the US, people familiar with the situation said at the time. Banks often pitch loans to early-stage technology companies with an eye toward an underwriting role down the road, the people said then. Representatives for Spotify and Goldman Sachs declined to comment. Dow Jones reported earlier that Spotify is working with Goldman Sachs on a new financing round that could delay its IPO. Spotify enables users to share music on social-networking platforms, including Facebook Inc. and Twitter Inc. The company is backed by billionaire Li Ka-Shing. In 2013, Spotify raised $250 million in financing led by Technology Crossover Ventures to back its expansion into new territories, including Japan, a person familiar said then. Pandora Media Inc., the US online radio service and a Spotify rival, went public in June 2011. The shares have climbed almost 4 percent since their debut. | 3 | 5,684 | finance |
SI's Michael Rosenberg picks an X-Factor for the Super Bowl and makes his final prediction on who takes home the hardware. | 8 | 5,685 | video |
The National Football League's turbulent season reaches its apex Sunday as New England seek to burnish their Super Bowl legacy against a Seattle team out to forge a dynasty. The 49th edition of the NFL's championship spectacular is expected to attract some 115 million domestic television viewers, many of them tuning in to see Katy Perry's halftime show and the television advertisements that for some are as big a draw as the game itself. But despite a whiff of scandal dogging the Patriots, the game promises to be a classic, with New England quarterback Tom Brady leading his team in the Super Bowl for the sixth time trying to join boyhood idol Joe Montana and Terry Bradshaw as the only signal-callers with four Super Bowl titles. A league probe of whether the Pats purposely used under-inflated footballs on their way to the eighth Super Bowl appearance in franchise history has sparked both serious headlines and a welter of late-night chat-show jokes. It has clouded but not obscured the fact that the Patriots can become the sixth team with at least four Super Bowl titles. To do so they'll have to stop the Seahawks, who demolished the Denver Broncos in last year's championship game and are seeking to become the first team to win back-to-back titles since the Patriots themselves did so a decade ago. Sunday's game at the University of Phoenix Stadium will be played on the same field where the 2007 Patriots brought their 18-0 record into the Super Bowl only to be stunned 17-14 by the New York Giants. "I think over the years we've gotten some tough losses, and obviously we made it in '07 and '11, those were challenging games," said Brady, whose Pats also lost to the Giants after that 2011 campaign. "I don't think those things discouraged me at all. They just re-emphasized how hard and challenging it is to get to this point, and how challenging it is to win this game." - Seahawks seek rare repeat - The Seahawks are the 12th team to return to the Super Bowl after winning the title the previous season. Seven teams have achieved eight repeats, with Pittsburgh pulling it off twice. If they complete their double, the Seahawks will have beaten two of the greatest passers in league history on the game's biggest stage: Denver's Peyton Manning last year and Brady. Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson, at 26 years and 64 days, will be the youngest quarterback to start two Super Bowls and the fist quarterback to start two Super Bowls in his first three NFL seasons. The scintillating matchup is just what the NFL needed -- and critics would argue it doesn't deserve -- after a season in which the league and commissioner Roger Goodell were accused of complacency and even conspiracy in dealing with high profile cases of domestic violence. In his state of the league address on Friday, Goodell acknowledged it had been a "tough year." But he defiantly said he could see no scenario in which he would resign or be sacked. Among the commercials to air to the massive audience -- with air time commanding a reported $4.5 million for 30 seconds -- is a harrowing NFL-backed ad in support of domestic violence intervention. Dense fog around Glendale and Phoenix had burned off hours before the scheduled 4:30 pm (23:30 GMT) kickoff, and the stadium's retractable roof was open to shed a rectangle of sunshine on part of the field and stands. Even before winter storms this week blasted New England along with other parts of the United States, there were signs that the Seahawks' frenzied fans would outnumber Patriots backers in Arizona. Washington state residents were out-purchasing those from Massachusetts by a 5-to-1 ratio in the online market for re-sold tickets. By Saturday, however, some of those fans had been devastated to learn they were sold tickets the brokers didn't possess and they wouldn't be going to the game. | 1 | 5,686 | sports |
Jenny Yang explains everything you ever wanted to know about Asian-Americans. | 8 | 5,687 | video |
Need a little pick-me-up? Read on to see some photos that will crush your negativity and imbue you with happiness. Source: Getty This Dog That Thinks the Parade Is All For Him Tiger Licking Ice to Cool Down The Man Who Is So Happy With His Onion Baby Pandas Napping The Smile of a Sloth This Dog in a Bee Safety Suit Look at his shoes!Source: YouTube user GeoBeats News Cats With Ramen-Cup Hats Source: YouTube user shironekoshiro So Happy! Source: Prokino Filmverlieh The Best To-Do List Ever Source: Reddit user sawbutter via Imgur Spangles the Cross-Eyed Kitty Source: Facebook user spangles09 Cone of Happiness Source: Reddit user ado77 via Imgur Husky Photobomb Source: jfoster51 via Imgur Dad Makes Halloween Costume For Wheelchair-Bound Son Source: eBaum's World Hedgehog Bath Time Source: Reddit user rapol via Imgur Pocket Pal Source: Reddit user beatauburn7 via Imgur Vintage Cotton Candy This simple and sweet photo will bring up nostalgic memories from childhood. Source: Flickr user Sabino Aguad Groom Moved to Tears by Bride's Beautiful Vow Source: Reddit user patriot95 via Imgur Pure Bliss Source: Reddit user Sheasus via Imgur Thoughtful Gesture by Parents on a Plane Source: Reddit user gigantomachy via Imgur Elderly Couple Having a Great Time Polar Bear Cubs Sleep on Mom Motivational Speaker Nick Vujicic, Born Without Limbs, Holds His Child He called it a "dream come true." Source: Facebook user Nick Vujicic Fans Together For More Than 50 Years and Married For More Than Five John Darby and Jack Bird celebrating half a century of being a couple. This Awesome Dad Source: Reddit user resgestae via Imgur Mama Otter Holding Baby Otter Rojo the Therapy Llama Spreading Happiness Source: Facebook user RojoTheLlama Baby Walrus Taking a Bath Look at that face!Source: Alaska SeaLife Center | 4 | 5,688 | lifestyle |
The United Steelworkers Union called for its refinery workers to stage their largest walkout in more 30 years Sunday, saying its negotiations with Shell Oil Co. broke down less than two weeks after they began. The union asked about 3,800 workers at nine refineries mostly in Texas and California to strike shortly after their previous contract expired after midnight. Negotiations over a new contract started Jan. 21. The call for a strike happened after United Steelworkers, or USW, rejected Shell's fourth contract offer. The union said Shell refused to provide a counter offer and that the company's representatives had left the bargaining table. "We had no choice but to give notice of a work stoppage," USW International President Leo W. Gerard said in a statement. A Shell representative said in an email that the company remains "committed to resolving our differences with USW at the negotiating table to reach a mutually satisfactory agreement." USW Spokeswoman Lynne Hancock said the union wants a three-year contract and is focused on health care costs, safety, the use of contractors and staffing concerns, as well as wages. United Steelworkers represents about 30,000 workers at refineries, terminals, petrochemical plants and pipelines across the country. Shell is serving as the lead company in national oil bargaining talks with the union. Any agreement reached between the union and Shell would then be used as a pattern for negotiations involving local unions. The union called for a strike at the Marathon Galveston Bay Refinery in Texas City, Texas, the Shell Deer Park Refinery in Deer Park, Texas, and the Tesoro Carson Refinery in Carson, California, among other locations. Shell said its Deer Park operation has started strike contingency plans and will continue operations "in the normal course of business." It did not elaborate on the plans in a brief statement. The remaining sites not targeted for a strike will operate under contract extensions that renew every 24 hours until one side in the negotiations decides that they have reached an impasse, Hancock said. She added that negotiators normally reach an agreement on a new deal by the time these national contracts expire, or they extend the contract a few days to continue negotiations. "We haven't had a work stoppage like this since 1980," she said. | 5 | 5,689 | news |
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The St. Louis Blues are rolling. Against the Washington Capitals, an injury, an ejection and Alex Ovechkin's two goals weren't enough to stop them. Alexander Steen had two goals and an assist, Brian Elliot stopped 33 shots and the Blues beat the Capitals 4-3 on Sunday. "This was a real gutsy win. You lose one of your top defensemen second shift into the game. Your captain goes out," coach Ken Hitchcock said. "We didn't (just) hang on, we played really well. There's wins and then there's really impressive wins. This was a very impressive win." Defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk left with a first-period injury, forward and captain David Backes was ejected and the Blues still won their fifth straight game and third in four days. Dmitrij Jaskin and Vladimir Tarasenko also scored for the St. Louis, winners and 10 of 11, and T.J. Oshie had three assists. Ovechkin, who has 15 goals in his last 15 games, added an assist and his two scores gave him a NHL-leading 31 goals. He became the fifth player in NHL history to start his career with 10 30-goal seasons. Washington is 1-4-2 in its last seven after dropping back-to-back games over the weekend. Backes was booted for boarding Karl Alzner early in the second. The game turned, but not in the Capitals' favor. St. Louis killed off the 5-minute penalty, limiting the league's fourth best power-play unit to two shots. "It's confidence for us and frustrates their best players," Blues defenseman Alex Pietrangelo said about the penalty kill. "(Washington) is a team that thrives on the power play." Hitchcock called it the key to the game. "We took the energy out of the building, we took the energy out of their team," he said. St. Louis went ahead just over a minute later. Catching the Capitals on a change, the Blues skated in 3 on 2. Steen gave up the puck, but got it back in front of the net and banged his own rebound past Justin Peters for his second of the game to make it 2-1. "We just made some mistakes that cost us the game," Ovechkin said. "We didn't execute on the power play and we had a bad change when Steen scored their second one." The Capitals tied it after St. Louis turned the puck over in its own end and Ovechkin's wrist shot from the left circle got past Elliot at 14:30. Less than 2 minutes later, the Blues regained the lead when Jaskin slid the puck past Peters from the slot off a rebound. Tarasenko gave St. Louis a 4-2 lead when he converted a pass from Steen on a 2-on-1 rush for his 25th goal at 6:13 of the third period. Alzner pulled Washington to 4-3 with 7:32 remaining. Nicklas Backstrom and Mike Green had two assists each for Washington, and back-up goalie Peters made 36 saves. "I thought he made some key saves at critical times," Washington coach Barry Trotz said. "I don't have any problem with the way he played. We gave up 40 shots, that's not good." The teams traded power-play goals in the first period. Steen poked in a rebound for his 16th goal at the 2:34 mark and Ovechkin answered with his 30th of the season on a blast from the left circle at 9:50. NOTES: Hitchcock said Shattenkirk, who left the game with a lower-body injury after a collision with Ovechkin, will be evaluated tomorrow. ... Ovechkin (94) passed Peter Bondra (93) for first place on the Capitals' multi-goal games list. He joined Mike Gartner (15 seasons), Wayne Gretzky (13), Jari Kurri and Mike Bossy as 30-goal scorers in at least their first 10 seasons. ... The Capitals reassigned D Cameron Schilling to Hershey of the American Hockey League. ... The Blues were again without C Patrik Berglund and C Jori Lehtera, who both were hurt at Nashville on Thursday night. | 1 | 5,690 | sports |
Moody's Investors Service (MCO) is under investigation by the U.S. Justice Department for its actions in advance of the 2008 financial crisis, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday, with regulators probing why it issued favorable ratings to mortgage deals that ultimately went bust. Citing people familiar with the investigation, The Journal said DoJ officials have quietly met with numerous former executives of Moody's to discuss the agency's grading of key securities before the crisis. The investigation is in its early stages, and may not yield a lawsuit, the newspaper said, citing unnamed sources. Still, the DoJ has already targeted Standard & Poor's Ratings, as well as major banks, for their role in the crisis. According to reports, Justice officials are close to a settlement with S&P. Justice representatives have looked at internal company emails, and pressed Moody's former brass on whether the agency relaxed its standards in order to win business, The Journal reported. The deals under scrutiny involve residential mortgage deals from 2004-2007, the publication added. A spokesman for Moody's declined to comment to the WSJ. The entire story can be found on the WSJ's website (subscription required). | 3 | 5,691 | finance |
New Year's Resolution, 2015: Cut the cord. I know I'm late to the party by some accounts. Early adopters cut the cord years ago and haven't looked back. For me, turning off cable TV was an idea I flirted with, yet I just kept renewing my package deal for some reason. But there has been no better time to finally severe ties with big cable, and their pricey television packages that have you paying for hundreds of channels when you only watch a handful of shows many of which you're probably already streaming on Netflix or Amazon. I know there are people out there weighing the decision, too. So here's my entirely subjective, totally personal take on what it's been like to cut the cord in 2015: my personal diary of being a newbie cord cutter this year. The focus of this diary is largely on television, with less emphasis on sports and movies, though they are addressed. Everyone has their own reasons for cutting the cord, but my decision was both financial in nature, as well as based in common sense. I spend more time online than sitting around mindlessly watching television, outside of a few favorite shows. And there's so much quality TV content being produced these days that I have a massive selection of new shows to choose from after I binge watch my way through one series and need to move on to something new. * In this diary I will reference actual TV shows I watch. You are free to trash me in the comments for my lack of taste. Thanks. Day One: Actually Cutting the Cord Before cord-cutting, Verizon was my TV provider. My Verizon package deal, however, had ballooned to $189 for phone, TV and internet combined after my introductory offer period had ended. That's a lot of money, especially when I mostly use the internet for entertainment and rarely spend evenings vegging out in front the TV hunting for something to watch. I was moving, so I had to cancel my service anyway. It seemed like an ideal time to make good on my resolution. To do so, I had to resist a seriously hard pitch from one of the best phone sales guys I've ever encountered. It's almost like they brought in a specialist just to renegotiate with people dropping their cable. Or maybe I wasn't 100% certain I wanted to do this, and he took advantage of that fact. It took a lot of effort, but I stayed firm. I finally managed to spit out, "no, I only want internet service at this time. Thank you." It worked. I was free! Today, for the price of $65 per month, I have FiOS internet. I also pay $99 per year for Amazon Prime (which I use for more than Prime Instant Video, of course). And I pay for $8.37 per month for Netflix and $7.99 per month for Hulu Plus. For the three services combined (Amazon, Netflix, Hulu), that's $24.61 per month for "TV" and, frankly, that's just about right for the amount of shows and movies I watch. First Week Decisions: Box or Stick? Choosing The Right Living Room Device All the services I pay for are available online and on mobile devices. But there are times you'll still want to sit in front the big screen. I know I do. You'll need a set-top box or streaming stick, then. Here, personal preference comes into play quite a bit. For those invested in the Apple ecosystem, an Apple TV might make more sense, especially if you have an established library from iTunes. For those who prefer Google's services, there's the newer Android TV. And for Amazon subscribers, who may have a few "season passes" there or other acquired content, the Amazon Fire TV and Fire TV stick are also decent choices. A cheaper option is Google's Chromecast stick and apparently, people like cheap. The stick was the top streaming device in the U.S. in 2014, Google is now claiming. Some of these products are pricier than others, and they each have their advantages and disadvantages in terms of feature set, apps, and supported services. There's no need to reinvent the wheel here, so let me just link out to a handy, blow-by-blow comparison chart if you're undecided. If the only thing you care about is price, Amazon's stick or Chromecast will do, but they both can be frustrating at times. Investing in a product that has a remote (or can work with one, like Amazon's stick), makes for a smoother transition. I like the Roku 3's remote control. I like that I can plug headphones into the remote and not wake the kid when watching loud movies late at night. But mostly, I found that I liked Roku 3 best for its overall ease of use, content offerings, and feature set. There are other technical reasons to buy the Roku 3 over Roku's other products, like all the ports or the speed increases it offers. If you really can't swing the cost, the Roku 2 will get you by. But the truly great thing about Roku is that it's not biased towards its own content. Amazon, Apple and Google each offer their own TV and movie ecosystems, so they're promoting those with their devices, sometimes at the exclusion of others. Roku is agnostic. I can watch Netflix and Amazon and Hulu all from the same device. When I borrow an HBO GO password, it's right there, too. In fact, Roku offers 2,000+ channels, so you're never really hurting for content. You can watch news, play music, check out YouTube videos, and even access niche and indie fare. There are free channels like PBS, Crackle and Smithsonian, plus for-pay add-ons for sports including soccer, NHL, NBA and more. With Google's products, on the other hand, it's been frustrating because I couldn't easily stream the Amazon movies I had previously purchased without, say, Chromecasting a tab from my computer. I put my Chromecast in my daughter's playroom, and it's been a nightmare. Every few minutes, she wanted to grab my phone to change her chosen Netflix program. "I wanna watch something else!," she says, snatching the iPhone from my hands. And the number of times I've had to walk to the office computer to Chromecast our copy of Frozen or Tinker Bell from Amazon.com in these early days, I can't even tell you. Too many. I later transitioned her to the newer Android TV, mainly because it has a remote control. I don't like that there isn't a true "Kids" mode on the service though. (There's a restricted profile option, but it's more about limiting purchases). With Android TV, she sees recommendations for adult programs on the main home screen and it becomes a fight. (No, you cannot watch Family Guy . It's not a show for kids. Yes, I know it's a cartoon…) The Android TV, like Amazon Fire TV, offers a voice search option. This is reportedly a selling point for the service. I don't use it much. I feel strange talking to my TV. It's been years, and I'm still trying to make friends with Siri. Give me some more time, I guess. I leave the Android TV logged into Netflix these days as a workaround to the fact that I don't want it showing my daughter my "recommendations." Then I just power off the TV. I might upgrade this room to a Roku too, I think. Week 1 Through 2: Adjusting To A New User Interface While I've checked out a variety of set-top boxes, I found that I personally prefer the Roku for a number of reasons. Streaming from the Roku is simple, and requires only a few button presses on the remote to get to your content. And if you like to "cast" your shows from your phone, that's an option, too, with apps like Netflix and YouTube. Roku also offers its own smartphone app, but I'll admit I never use it. The user interface for navigating the Roku is best, in my opinion, as it's easy to drill down into selections like "Music" or "Sports" or "News" when you're looking for something specific. And the Roku's "Channel Store" lets you customize your device to show you just your favorite apps (e.g. Netflix, Hulu) on its main screen. But no matter which device you end up using, the most jarring thing about switching to streaming content over traditional TV, initially, is that each app's (service's) user interface is so different. The way you search, surface recommendations, access saved or favorited shows, turn on or off closed captions, etc. is unique for each one. You have to learn a new set of behaviors as you move in between apps something that wasn't an issue with traditional cable TV. That can be problematic for less technical users, but it's not an insurmountable challenge. After you reach a certain comfort level with the intricacies of using the software and apps themselves, that's when the reality of your disconnected, cord-cut state finally kicks in. Week 2: OH GOD, WHAT HAVE I DONE? NO LIVE EVENTS! I HAVE TO WAIT TO WATCH THAT SHOW? WHAT? I'm not going to lie, I've had a few moments of panic and regret following the decision to cut the cord (which technically took place in mid-to-late December). You might too. My annual tradition of watching Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve ? Ruined. The Golden Globes ? Missed them. Friend comes over to watch the game? Sorry! The next episode of that show you're watching week-to-week that left you on a cliffhanger? The one where you've literally been counting the hours until its resolution in the next episode? You'll have to wait at least another day, even when you subscribe to a Season Pass on Amazon or have it favorited on Hulu. And that's torture. Note: I found there's a workaround for this particular problem involving sites that aren't legal and that I'm not linking to, for fear of them being shut down. There's one in particular that has rescued me repeatedly and even gave me "DVR space" in the cloud. God bless you, seriously. For many, the sports problem is severe. I don't personally care about this, but you probably will. That's really a whole other post, though. I cannot begin to detail the hoops you have to jump through to watch live sports through less-than-legal means. But at least you have the Super Bowl, right? And may I suggest you make a friend who pays for cable? Or you go to a bar? Or get that Sling TV for some ESPN? Sling TV's service, in case you missed its recent launch, can ease your cord-cutting pain, not only for sports, but also if there are specifics channels you want to access without a cable subscription, like TBS, TNT or Disney and Disney Jr., all for $20-$25/month, depending on your selections. I don't see the point of doubling my "TV" bill for these extraneous channels, however, especially since I don't need the sports coverage. Week Three: Learning To Give Things Up The other funny thing about being a cord-cutter is what you realize you can live without. While I was sad to miss some of the live events, I don't miss my local news, and a good handful of shows that just became too hard to reach. News, after all, is online and on social media. And for every "just okay" show you have to drop, there are plenty more better ones to take its place. For those absolute must-have's that are too expensive…well, there are…uh, ways. For example, CBS has this funny notion that its shows are so good they deserve their own standalone, subscription service. Um, no. CBS is making five episodes of its shows available for free on its website, and for subscribers, the most recent seven episodes from top shows. Not the full season. And you have to watch ads. I mean, hey, I, too, sometimes hate-watch The Big Bang Theory , but will I go out of my way to watch the current season which isn't included on Hulu? Not really. (OK fine. I was super bored one time and bought an episode on Amazon. It won't happen again.) The larger point is that I'm fine with dropping some shows that I was only marginally committed to. And it's not likely that I'd pick up new ones from CBS unless they somehow produced a knockout hit of the Games of Thrones variety. Which they can't. Because they're network TV. In other words, CBS' greed here could be its downfall. They made their content harder to watch by paywalling it, as services like Netflix, Amazon and Hulu are producing dozens of original series, many of high quality. Award winners, even. Life without 2 Broke Girls exists, and it's just fine. That show is bad anyway. Goodbye, CBS. One Month In: Totally Binging, Getting Sick of Hulu Around a month into cord cutting, you begin to get used to the drawbacks of the new lifestyle and find that when you're forced back into old patterns, they grate on your nerves even more before. Hulu, for example, becomes exhausting. The user interface is fine, the content is plentiful, and you need it in the mix if you're watching network TV programming which, as a newbie to cord cutting, you're probably not entirely ready to give up. But the commercials! I mean, it's just like watching TV! Or worse! That can be a rough transition after binge watching your way through Orange is the New Blac k on Netflix. Not only does Netflix not interrupt you with ads, it even helpfully plays the next episode for you. Still binge-watching?, it occasionally stops and asks. Yep, go on. On Hulu, you can't avoid the ads and they're even more frustrating than when you had cable TV because you can't skip them and you often have to watch the same ad over and over at numerous commercial breaks. The limited access to content on Hulu is annoying, too. If you're keeping up with a "current" show, it's fine. But god forbid you're trying to transition from Season 1 on Netflix to the new Season 2 episodes on Hulu. You often can't do so seamlessly. That's because Hulu only maintains a handful of the "most recent" episodes. This is the dumbest, worst thing ever. So for example, when I starting streaming the newer sci-fi show The 100 , I killed Season 1 on Netflix in a matter of days. Then I went to Hulu for Season 2, but the first few episodes of the current season were already gone. To watch the show, I decided to get a Season Pass on Amazon. Now I'm caught up, but there's no reason to return to Hulu to watch. (OK, I could have bought just the missing episodes to save money, but figured I'd re-watch this one.) This sort of transition between services to access different seasons of the same show is not user-friendly. It would be so nice to watch everything available from a show in one place, but often, you cannot. My New Rule: No More "Currently Airing" Shows Thanks to this experience, I'm now learning another cord-cutting trick: don't bother picking up new shows that are still on the air. Wait until a service scores them as a whole entity. Committing to network TV also means you have to wait to find out each year if the show was renewed. Even if it is, you don't have a history of critical or user reviews to let you know if the show will tidy up properly with a satisfying resolution. (Would we all have gone as crazy for Lost if we knew they were just all dead? I mean, really.) And waiting week-to-week for new content is pretty much officially the worst. I much prefer the Netflix release schedule: they dump an entire season at a time. Who cares when people watch anyway? Shouldn't it just matter that they do? While I'm going to see my commitment of "currently airing" shows through (e.g. Modern Family , Parenthood ), when it comes time to fill the void, I'm looking for shows with many seasons under wraps already, those that release full seasons at a time, or those that have already ended, but that I never watched. I've already slipped up, though. Because I don't always pay close attention to what's actually "on" TV these days, I found myself streaming The Fall on Netflix. But as I was working my way through Season 1, I read online that Season 2 was only then coming to the service later that month. Whew! , I thought. I guess I lucky it didn't even occur to me that I may have picked up a new series where the second season wasn't going to be streamable. My newfound reticence won't always work, of course. In some cases, watching TV is about being a part of larger conversation. It's still the water cooler gossip and being behind on top shows means you're being left out that conversation, or worse: you're the one covering their ears shouting "no spoilers! no spoilers!" And the web is full of those, too. I never watched The Sopranos , for example, but I know how it ends. (And guys, that sounded like it sucked.) Week Five: Getting Bored. Recommend Me Something, Please. With cord-cutting, the bigger challenge now is finding good shows that you actually want to watch. TV is not this passive thing you turn on and click around on. It's become a thing I do with more purpose now. I turn it on to watch a specific show, movie, or special. I know what I'm going to watch in advance, usually, or have a good idea what's waiting for me in my Hulu queue. But now that I'm not filling my down minutes with random home makeover shows from HGTV, I find that I'm always looking for the next thing to binge. The Sopranos wasn't really my kind of thing, anyway, having a preference for family-friendly comedies I can watch around the kid, plus sci-fi, mystery and adventure. I know I don't care for extreme horror or lots of gore, which helps me avoid some arguably the better shows on TV ( The Walking Dead, American Horror Story ), which would be, for me, the worst. These days, picking up new shows can be totally hit-or-miss. Netflix, by far, has the best recommendations, but even theirs are often off the mark thanks to years of account sharing before the new profiles kicked in. I do, however, appreciate their Facebook integration and the recommendation prompts, so I can at least spot trends and get suggestions from friends. But still, I find that often my friends are, like me, just working their way through the classics. They're re-watching Friends , streaming old movies, or they're watching documentaries and comedy specials. And we definitely don't always like the same things. Outside of some of my favorites like Battlestar Galactica or X-Files (one of which is due for another run-through by next year, I think…wait, do these stream?), I'm not going to re-watch anything. I want new things. I come across recommendations haphazardly these days. A friend mentions they're watching something, and I hit up each service to see where it exits for online streaming, or if it even does. I heard, for instance, that the lady who played Cuddy on House had a new show about being a divorced (and, apparently, crazy rich) mom. Girlfriends Guide …um, something. I read a tweet that said it was okay, but then forgot about it for weeks. Randomly, I decided to check it out. I looked around. It's on Bravo? Where the heck does one find Bravo shows? Isn't that the Desperate Housewives channel? It simply wasn't available for free streaming on the big three services without a cable subscription. Of course, Amazon was offering to sell it to me. They're handy like that. But I didn't even know if I'd like it, much less want to commit to paying. So I stole it. (And you know what? It was only okay. I'm glad I saved my money.) In the long run, it was more hassle than it was worth to check out a new, not immediately streamable show. Again, I had to remind myself of my personal rule for cord-cutting: Stop watching current TV. Week 6: Oh Right, Movies! You Still Watch Those? Yes, I know I haven't mentioned movies. There's a reason for that. They're mostly really awful lately. Did you see The Interview ? Unwatchable. Horrible Bosses 2 ? The worst. The Hangover 3 ? Sad. It's cliché to complain about this: Do movie studios have any new ideas? Wasn't the book almost always better, anyway? There are only so many new movies I'm going to stream these days, and when they become available, it's probably worth it to just rent them online or grab a Redbox if they're really a must. The older classics that are actually worth another viewing are plentiful enough on the streaming competitors, and if your favorite is not, it's probably for sale somewhere online instead. There are just tons of ways to pay for movies, but Amazon, Google or Apple make the most sense, depending on which ecosystem you prefer. Roku also has other apps where you can pay for movies, and you don't have to think about what those are it shows you when you do a search what options are available for accessing the given film, and how much it costs on each. And if you're too cheap to pay? Well, you know how that works. The occasional movie purchase isn't a big impact to the "TV" budget's bottom line, because you probably don't see movies in the theater as much as you used to. After all, outside of "event" movies like the new Star Wars , trendy trilogies like The Hunger Games , or those meant for big screen viewing, like Interstellar , you don't need to go to the theater much these days. As for everything else, well, it's going to have to compete with some seriously good television: Breaking Bad. Sons of Anarchy. Homeland. True Detective. Mad Men. Orphan Black. Orange Is The New Black. Louie. Game of Thrones. House Of Cards. Downton Abbey. Boardwalk Empire. Girls. Arrested Development. Transparent. I've barely watched half of these, so I have content ready for months to come. (Can I point out, though, that "good" TV still seems to default to "drama" in most cases, and much of it is still emerging from traditional cable networks? We need more stream-first hit shows of a lighter nature, too. I'm still waiting for the breakout streamable titles that are the new Seinfeld , the new Lost , the new mainstream-friendly, murder-of-the-week, a la CSI , NCIS or Bones .) Six+ Weeks: So Far, It's Been Worth It This is only month one or technically, one and half since I actually moved in December and cut the cord then. I doubt I'm ever going back to cable TV. Ever. For the price and the content, the mix of the three services (Amazon, Netflix, Hulu) are all I need for now. And I hope that in a few years' time, Amazon and Netflix will have beefed up their original content to the point that I no longer have to lean on Hulu for more TV. I know I'm eventually going to buy a subscription to HBO GO, so I'm sort of dreading my "TV" bill's price increase for that. But I also know that HBO has a lot to offer in terms of quality TV, and that's what I need more of. Still, even as this entry goes up, the landscape is changing. CBS's standaonle entry is still fairly new. HBO GO's is nearly here. Kids' TV network Nickelodeon has a pay offering up its sleeve, too. Studios are renegotiating deals all the time. Amazon is testing new pilots constantly. Sling TV is solving (sort of!) the sports problem, while also bringing the YouTube Multichannel Networks like Maker Studios to the big screen, where they may find an expanded audience. Former Hulu CEO Jason Kilar is also betting that people will pay (a little!) for YouTube videos and those from other sites with his new service Vessel. (It's not on Roku yet, though.) By the end of the year, my personal cord-cutting experience may look entirely different. And that is, I think, a good thing. * This diary may be updated later in the year. Email me your cord-cutting story, or your Netflix recommendations: [email protected] | 5 | 5,692 | news |
Clear skies and a party atmosphere greet fans of the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks arriving hours before Sunday's Super Bowl. Rough Cut (no reporter narration). | 8 | 5,693 | video |
Brady named Super Bowl MVP New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady celebrates his second-quarter touchdown pass against the Seattle Seahawks to wide receiver Brandon LaFell during the NFL Super Bowl XLIX on Sunday. The Patriots won 28-24. IMAGES: SUPER BOWL GAME DAY Roaring through Dubai Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland throws his ball to the crowd after he had holed the winning putt on the par 5, 18th green during the final round of the 2015 Omega Dubai Desert Classic on the Majlis Course at the Emirates Golf Club on Sunday in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Big man dishes Heat center Hassan Whiteside makes a pass between Celtics' Brandon Bass and Marcus Smart in Boston Sunday. Miami defeated Boston 83-75. IMAGES: 2014-15 NBA SEASON Katy and her kitty Recording artist Katy Perry performs onstage during the Super Bowl XLIX Halftime Show Sunday in Glendale, Ariz. IMAGES: SUPER BOWL HALFTIME Amendola's big catch Danny Amendola of the New England Patriots catches a four-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter against Earl Thomas #29 of the Seattle Seahawks during Super Bowl XLIX on Sunday. The Patriots won 28-24. IMAGES: SUPER BOWL GAME DAY Storm surfing A man windsurfs during a southwester weather in Marmara Sea, in Istanbul, Turkey on Sunday. Fire and mud can't stop Batman A competitor jumps through the fire pits during the Tough Guy Challenge at South Perton Farm on Sunday in Wolverhampton, England. Big interception for Patriots New England Patriots strong safety Malcolm Butler intercepts a pass intended for Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Ricardo Lockette late in the fourth quarter in Super Bowl XLIX on Sunday. The Patriots won 28-24. IMAGES: SUPER BOWL GAME DAY Leader of the pack Yichi Liu of China leads the pack into a corner during the Women's Mass Start race on day 2 of the ISU Speed Skating World Cup at the Hamar Olympic Hall on Sunday in Hamar, Norway. Intense rivalry renewed Celtic's Leigh Griffiths is challenged by Rangers' Lee Wallace (L) and Ian Black (R) during their Scottish League Cup semi final soccer match at Hampden Park stadium in Glasgow, Scotland on Sunday. The toughest interview Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson speaks during a news conference after Super Bowl XLIX against the New England Patriots on Sunday. The Patriots won 28-24. IMAGES: SUPER BOWL GAME DAY Gone soaring Geoffrey Lafarge of France competes during the FIS Nordic World Cup Men's HS134/10k on Sunday in Val di Fiemme, Italy. Vianney Thibaut/Agence Zoom/Getty Images Crossing with cycles Athletes compete during the Men Under 23 race at the UCI cyclo-cross World championships on Sunday in Tabor, Czech Republic. Michal Cizek/AFP/Getty Images Wahlberg sees a Pats victory Actor Mark Wahlberg arrives at University of Phoenix Stadium before the NFL Super Bowl XLIX football game between the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots on Sunday in Glendale, Ariz. IMAGES: LOOK WHO'S WATCHING Balance and trust Pair Valentina Marchei and Ondrej Hotarek of Italy perform their free skating program routine during the ISU European Figure Skating Championships on Sunday in Stockholm, Sweden. Brooks cooks at Phoenix Open Brooks Koepka reacts on the 18th green on his way to winning the Waste Management Phoenix Open at TPC Scottsdale Sunday in Scottsdale, Ariz. IMAGES: PGA TOUR WINNERS GOOOOOOOAAAAALLLLL! Arsenal's Theo Walcott (2nd L) scores past Aston Villa's Brad Guzan during their English Premier League soccer match at the Emirates Stadium in London on Sunday. Flight of the Trojan Southern California's Chass Bryan, front, is fouled by Utah's Delon Wright during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game Sunday in Los Angeles. Utah won 67-39. IMAGES 2014-15 COLLEGE BASKETBALL SEASON Another win for Djokovic Novak Djokovic of Serbia holds the trophy after defeating Andy Murray of Britain in the men's singles final at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Sunday. Competing in Red Square Members of the Russian curling team Kirikov compete during an exhibition curling tournament at the Red Square in Moscow, Russia, Sunday. St. Bazil's Cathedral is at the background left. Ovi makes history Alex Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals celebrates after scoring a goal against the St. Louis Blues on Sunday in Washington, D.C. Ovechkin scored his 30th goal of the season, making him the 5th player in NHL history to score 30 or more goals per season during his first 10 seasons. Snow soccer Augsburg's Jan-Ingwer Callsen-Bracker, right, and Hoffenheim's Sven Schipplock challenge for the ball during the German first division Bundesliga soccer match between FC Augsburg and TSG 1899 Hoffenheim in the SGL Arena in Augsburg, Germany on Sunday. Wind up Alix Nyokas (L) of France shoots past Bertrand Roine of Qatar during their final match of the 24th Men's Handball World Championship in Doha on Sunday. Biking on the beach Bikers start off on the sand as they take part in the "Enduropale" motorcycle endurance race on the beach of Le Touquet, northern France on Sunday. About 1,000 motorbikes and 500 quad bike riders descend on Le Touquet every year for the event. Patriot pride The Patriots cheerleaders celebrate after defeating the Seahawks during Super Bowl XLIX Sunday in Glendale, Ariz. IMAGES: NFL CHEERLEADERS Six day endurance race The Copenhagen Six Days Cycling Race at Ballerup Super Arena on Sunday in Copenhagen, Denmark. Lars Ronbog/FrontZoneSport/Getty Images Calm down, madam Baylor coordinator of basketball operations Jennifer Roberts, left, holds back head coach Kim Mulkey, right, as Mulkey reacts to a a foul charged against her team during an NCAA college basketball game against Kansas on Sunday in Waco, Texas. You give it, you take it Richard Sherman #25 of the Seattle Seahawks and former teammate Brandon Browner #39 of the New England Patriots exchange words late in the fourth quarter during Super Bowl XLIX at University of Phoenix Stadium on Sunday in Glendale, Arizona. IMAGES: SUPER BOWL GAME DAY All set Daniel Ricciardo of Australia and Infiniti Red Bull Racing sits in his car in the garage during day one of Formula One Winter Testing at Circuito de Jerez on Sunday in Jerez de la Frontera, Spain. No, not when it's so cold Members of the 'Trois Pommes' team battle for the ball with team 'Badrutts Palace Hotel' during the Snow Polo World Cup 2015 on Saturday in St Moritz, Switzerland. I told you so A Ghanaian fan cheers for his team ahead of the 2015 African Cup of Nations quarter-final football match between Ghana and Guinea in Malabo on Sunday. . A line through the light Sebastian Vettel of Germany and Ferrari drives during day one of Formula One Winter Testing at Circuito de Jerez on Sunday in Jerez de la Frontera, Spain. IMAGES: PREVIOUS DAY'S PHOTOS | 1 | 5,694 | sports |
A win would give Tom Brady and Bill Belichick their fourth title, but a loss would ensure a third-straight Super Bowl loss. Will Sunday's game define Brady and Belichick's legacy? | 8 | 5,695 | video |
Army says attackers "incurred massive casualties" in battle for key city as fears mount for viability of upcoming polls. Army says attackers "incurred massive casualties" in battle for key city as fears mount for viability of upcoming polls. Nigeria's military has repelled a Boko Haram assault on the key city of Maiduguri as violence raged across the country's northeast just two weeks before national elections. Heavily-armed gunmen had attacked the southern edge of Maiduguri at roughly 3am local time (02:00 GMT) on Sunday, setting off explosives as they tried to enter the city, several residents said. Beaten back in the south by troops supported by vigilantes, Boko Haram regrouped and tried to take the city from the east, where they again met stiff resistance. As the gunbattles raged "the whole city [was] in fear," said resident Adam Krenuwa.Chris Olukolade, a defence ministry spokesman, said the assault on the city, where the group was founded more than a decade ago, was "contained" and that "the terrorists incurred massive casualties". "The situation is calm as mopping up operation in the affected area is ongoing," he wrote in a text message, a claim consistent with witness reports. The attack on the strategic capital of Borno state was the group's second attempt to take Maiduguri in a week. Threat to elections As government forces were holding off Boko Haram in Maiduguri, the airforce of neighbouring Chad was pounding the group's positions in Gamboru, a town on Nigeria's border with Cameroon, 140km to the northeast.With near-relentless violence plaguing much of the northeast, and Boko Haram still in control of large swathes of the region, fears are mounting over the prospect of organising polls on February 14. The opposition All Progressives Congress (APC), which claims to be gaining momentum in the campaign against President Goodluck Jonathan, has rejected calls for the vote to be postponed. But hundreds of thousands of voters in the northeast, an APC stronghold, could be disenfranchised by the unrest if the election goes ahead in two weeks time. | 5 | 5,696 | news |
Marcia gets a little hostile when she's hungry. Check out the full Snickers Brady Bunch commercial. | 8 | 5,697 | video |
Oakland Raiders' FS Charles Woodson sat down and discussed why he continues to play the game and why he wants to keep wearing the Silver and Black. To see more Raiders videos download the Raiders DeskSite. | 1 | 5,698 | sports |
New England's defensive backs describe their emotions leading up to Super Bowl XLIX. To see more Patriots videos download the Patriots DeskSite. | 8 | 5,699 | video |
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