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Ronda Rousey may be the UFC women's bantamweight champion, but that doesn't protect her from the harsh words of her haters, particularly those who body shame her. In a recent interview with the New York Times, Rousey dished on her personal struggles with body image and said with the utmost seriousness, "I swear to God, if anyone calls me fat one more time in my life, I'm going to kill them." Though Rousey is now known for representing body confidence, she struggled with weight limits for judo tournaments in her teenage years something that eventually led to bulimia. Rousey even admitted that she would wear zip-up jackets because, "I was afraid to show my big arms." | 8 | 94,800 | video |
Gov. Scott Walker (R-Wis.) said on Wednesday that there is a chance Donald Trump wins the GOP's presidential nomination in 2016. "It's possible," the former presidential candidate told host Charlie Sykes on 620 WTMJ News Radio in Milwaukee. "Right now he's ahead because he has a plurality," Walker said of Trump's voter support nationwide. "[He has] a plurality, not a majority." "I think the biggest thing is that there is such a big field," he added. "If there is a strong group of Republicans still in next to the end and that number's too big, then again, a plurality still leads the way in those early primary caucus states." Walker said Trump's lead in the polls could erode as Republican voters get more acquainted with the other candidates. "There's a certain element behind Mr. Trump," he said. "[But] there are still a good number of Americans who are still searching." "I still think in the end the majority of voters want someone with a conservative message for sure but [also] a positive message like [former] President Reagan had," Walker said. "In the end, if it gets down to just a handful of candidates, he is probably not the nominee." Walker stunned the GOP by ending his Oval Office bid late last month amid falling poll numbers. When dropping out, Walker urged other GOP candidates to follow his lead for the good of the party. "I never expected that when I made my announcement to suspend my campaign that people would run out the next day and follow suit," Walker said Wednesday. "I think if more of that happens you get a viable alternative [to Trump]." Walker added that he is satisfied with his decision and looks forward to serving Wisconsin well beyond the 2016 election cycle. "Instead of doing what a lot of candidates do and whining about this, that or whatever, to me, I accept it for what it is," he said of his suspended campaign. "I have a pretty good day job [and] I love being the governor of Wisconsin," Walker said. "For me, the best thing I can do is spend the next three years not just for Wisconsin, but for the country too being the best possible governor I can." | 5 | 94,801 | news |
Ever since the third quarter came to an end, oil stocks have been one of the hottest groups on the market. That is why when Jim Cramer saw crude pull back on Wednesday he decided to highlight a high quality company that could be taken advantage on weakness. "In short, I want you to have some energy exposure here, but I also want you to be smart about it, which is why I'm only recommending the highest quality companies with the safest stocks," Cramer said. One of those companies is Enterprise Products Partners, a pipeline master limited partnership that sports a juicy 5.5 percent yield. It has 51,300 miles of both onshore and offshore pipelines for oil and natural gas. In fact, Cramer remained bullish on the outlook of natural gas as he estimates 10 percent of it will be sent overseas in the next 5 years. So with the Federal Reserve on hold, there is no real bond market competition for the high yielding pipeline master limited partnerships, and Enterprise Products Partners remains as one of his favorites. Wal-Mart (WMT) has been known for its everyday low prices and discounts, but Jim Cramer saw the company put the entire stock market on sale when it lowered its guidance for both sales and profits. This announcement prompted the Wal-Mart's stock to cascade down 10 percent, taking the market down with it. "What's done is done. If you owned any stocks involving consumer spending you got clobbered today, and it continued after the close today with Netflix reporting domestic subscription growth that lagged expectations," the "Mad Money" host said. Cramer saw investors derive two conclusions from the Wal-Mart debacle. First, if 100 million shoppers go to Wal-Mart each week and the earnings can drop so substantially then things must be wrong with the economy. As a result, retailers and restaurant chain stocks were crushed. Second, investors jumped to the conclusion that lower gasoline prices aren't making a difference if Wal-Mart's numbers can be so bad. "I think this was a do-or-die move for Wal-Mart if it wanted to stay relevant as an American icon as well as a growth company," Cramer said. To get the full story, Cramer spoke with Wal-Mart President and CEO Doug McMillon. "People have known that $10 was coming for a while. This news today was just we quantified it for everybody. But the real issue is, are we doing the right things to position Wal-Mart for the future? Are we investing in the business to strengthen it?" McMillon said. (Tweet this) The CEO shared that the company has seen progress in areas such as customer service. It has taken its clean, fast and friendly score from 17 percent at the beginning of the year to being 67 percent favorable with customers. He attributed that to associates doing a better job of running stores and supporting customers. However, McMillon believes that building the retailer's e-commerce business and investing in its store experience has put pressure on short-term earnings. He said that the retailer's first priority is growth and winning over its customers. Ultimately, Cramer thinks investors were absolutely shocked with Wal-Mart's news on Wednesday. The CEO said that while the company has known for a long time that it was moving toward the $10-an-hour wage increase, if he had to do it all over again then he would have explained how the company was going to quantify that earlier on. "But it is what it is, and the news was going to be new at some point," McMillon said. (Tweet this) Cramer was forced to re-evaluate his ranking of the banking business on Wednesday when Bank of America (BAC) released its shocking quarterly report. "It smacked of what I can only call 'normalcy,' meaning all of the one-time hits and worries finally seem to be behind them. What's left is a growth machine that is no longer as dependent on the Fed raising interest rates to generate a big earnings boost. For Bank of America, the Chicago Cubs of banking, it's a whole new ballgame," the " Mad Money " host said. Cramer has mainly had three concerns with Bank of America over the years. It always appeared to him that it was in trouble with all sorts of governmental agencies, leading to colossal legal fees. Second, these lingering regulatory issues meant that it could not return as much capital to shareholders as other banks. And third, without a rate hike, he didn't think there would be real earnings power because the company was too dependent on higher rates for profits. The most recent quarter addressed all three concerns. At the end of the day, it seemed that the love of Bank of America on Wednesday had more to do with the fact that it was a C student that finally got an A. Still, Cramer thinks the stock could be on the way up and climb to $18 over time, or higher if the Federal Reserve tightens. "The others? I say stay the course if you own them, but recognize that it will take a rate hike before they even begin to challenge their old highs," Cramer said. On Wednesday morning, investors also learned that Jarden, the house of over 120 various household name brands is buying Jostens for $1.5 billion, Jarden products range all the way from Coleman outdoor gear, to Rawlins baseball gloves, to Crock Pots and Mr. Coffee machines. Additionally, Jostens is the leading maker of school memorabilia for such items as yearbooks, class rings and varsity jackets. Jarden has been a master of making smart acquisitions that allow it to dominate various niche markets, and the Jostens deal is the latest in a long string of acquisitions that have made Jarden's stock so strong. Can the stock continue to perform? To find out, Cramer spoke with Jarden's co-founder, chairman and former-CEO Martin Franklin. "This is a very Jarden-esque business. It's market leader, it's got a brand that students and schools alike recognize and the reality is it brings us into a new distribution channel. So our business is to make products that we can sell in to as many channels that we can put our products in and this is a new addition," Franklin said. In the Lightning Round, Cramer gave his take on a few caller favorite stocks: Osiris Therapeutics: "Osiris is a very real company, down a lot like a lot of these but still up for the year...the regeneration of human tissue I think is an exciting spec. The emphasis is on spec, but remember Celgene has come down a lot too and I like those." Opko Health Inc: "I thought that Dr. Phil Frost [CEO] when he came on acquitted himself well...and I think this stock is a buy right here, right now. I'm not afraid to stick my neck out for Phil Frost. He has made so much money for people." | 3 | 94,802 | finance |
One for the team The Toronto Blue Jays pose for a team photo as they celebrate the 6-3 win against the Texas Rangers in game five of the American League Division Series at Rogers Centre on Wednesday, in Toronto, Canada. IMAGES: 2015 MLB PLAYOFFS Great grab Toronto Blue Jays center fielder Kevin Pillar catches a ball hit by Texas Rangers left fielder Josh Hamilton (not pictured) in the fourth inning in game five of the ALDS at Rogers Centre in Toronto on Wednesday. IMAGES: 2015 MLB PLAYOFFS Royals clinch Kansas City Royals' Ben Zobrist, left, celebrates with starting pitcher Johnny Cueto (47) after their 7-2 win over the Houston Astros in Game 5 in baseball's American League Division Series on Wednesday, in Kansas City, Mo. IMAGES: 2015 MLB PLAYOFFS Stay on top of it Ottawa Senators' Clarke MacArthur, top, works for the puck against Columbus Blue Jackets' Cam Atkinson on Wednesday, at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio. IMAGES: 2015-16 NHL SEASON Speedster Delino DeShields of the Texas Rangers slides into home safely ahead of the tag by Russell Martin of the Toronto Blue Jays in the first inning of game five of the American League Division Series at Rogers Centre on Wednesday in Toronto. IMAGES: 2015 MLB PLAYOFFS Head over heels Kansas City Royals center fielder Jarrod Dyson does a backflip on the field as he celebrates his team's 7-2 win over the Houston Astros in Game 5 of baseball's American League Division Series on Wednesday, in Kansas City, Mo. IMAGES: 2015 MLB PLAYOFFS In the driver's seat Novak Djokovic returns a shot against Martin Klizan during the a singles second round match of Shanghai Rolex Masters on Wednesday in Shanghai. Djokovic won 6-2, 6-1. Someone to look up to Oregon State head coach Scott Rueck, center, smiles between Arizona State's Elisha Davis, left, and Oregon State's Ruth Hamblin during NCAA college basketball Pac-12 media day in San Francisco, Wednesday. Vigil for Odom The Rev. Jessie Jackson speaks to the media at Sunrise Hospital where ex-NBA player Lamar Odom has been hospitalized in Las Vegas on Wednesday. Odom was reported to be on a respirator and fighting for his life after being found unresponsive at a Nevada brothel. Wrestling time Ottawa Senators' Mark Borowiecki, top, fights with Columbus Blue Jackets' Gregory Campbell on Wednesday, at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio. IMAGES: 2015-16 NHL SEASON Lynx clinch another WNBA title Minnesota Lynx forward Maya Moore picks up head coach Cheryl Reeve after the game against the Indiana Fever on Wednesday, at Target Center, in Minneapolis. The Minnesota Lynx beat the Indiana Fever 69-52 to clinch the WNBA title Double team Los Angeles Clippers' Josh Smith, center, is blocked by Spencer Hawes, right, and Frank Kaminsky of Charlotte Hornets, left, during the NBA Global Games at the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Shanghai Wednesday. Jankovic advances Jelena Jankovic of Serbia plays against Anastasia Rodinova of Australia during the WTA Prudential Hong Kong Tennis Open on Wednesday at the Victoria Park Stadium in Hong Kong, China. Jankovic won 6-0, 6-2. Attempting a wrap around goal Philadelphia Flyers Michael Raffl attempts a wraparound goal on Chicago Blackhawks goalie Corey Crawford at the Wells Fargo Center on Wednesday, in Philadelphia. IMAGES: 2015-16 NHL SEASON Catching her face Indiana Fever forward Tamika Catchings fouls Minnesota Lynx forward Maya Moore in the fourth quarter at Target Center on Wednesday, in Minneapolis. The Minnesota Lynx beat the Indiana Fever 69-52 to clinch the WNBA title Flying save New York Red Bulls goalkeeper Luis Robles (31) makes a save on Toronto FC defender Josh Williams (23) during the first half at BMO Field on Wednsday, in Toronto, Canada. On the ropes Vasilii Egorov of Russia (red) fights Joahnys Argilagos of Cuba in the final of the Men's Light Fly Weight during the AIBA World Boxing Championships Doha 2015 at the Ali Bin Hamad Al-Attiya Arena on Wednesday in Doha, Qatar. In sync Misaki Matsutomo and Ayaka Takahashi of Japan compete during Day Two at the MetLife BWF World Superseries Premier Yonex Denmark Open Badminton at Odense Idratshal on Wednesday in Odense, Denmark. Dunkman A costumed stuntman dunks before the 2015 NBA Global Games China pre-season basketball match between the Los Angeles Clippers and Charlotte Hornets in Shanghai on Wednesday. Block party Poland's Mateusz Mika, Karol Klos and Mateusz Mika try to block as Slovenia's Tine Urnaut spikes the ball during the 2015 Men's European Volleyball Championship quarter-final match between Poland and Slovenia in Sofia on Wednesday. Ready to rumble IBF middleweight champion David Lemieux (34-2, 31 KOs) from Canada, second from right, and WBA middleweight boxing champion Gennady Golovkin (33-0, 30 KOs) from Kazakhstan, center, pose with their championship belts during a final press conference at Madison Square Garden, Wednesday. Golovkin and Lemieux will meet in a championship unification fight at the Garden on Saturday. A left hook to the head Lee Selby (R) lands a left on Fernando Montiel during the IBF featherweight championship title bout at Gila River Arena on Wednesday, in Glendale, Arizona. Great balance Ross Williams wins the 29th Tiree Wave Classic wind surfing competition on Wednesday on Tiree, Scotland. Practice jumps Mitch Chubey goes over a jump during a practice session for the Red Bull Rampage on Wednesday, in Virgin, Utah. The Red Bull Rampage is an invite-only free ride mountain bike competition held near Zion National Park. IMAGES: PREVIOUS DAY'S PHOTOS | 1 | 94,803 | sports |
Oct 14 -- Mark Halperin and John Heilemann discuss Hillary Clinton's debate performance on "With All Due Respect." | 3 | 94,804 | finance |
Wyoming's billboards are catching a lot of attention, which is what the health department was hoping for when it commissioned them in the first place. A Reddit user uploading an image of the gonorrhea billboards on display in Gillette, Wyo., and other states should probably be taking notes. The billboard in question reads, "Wyoming has gonorrhea. Do you? Get a free HIV/STD test at knowyo.org ." BuzzFeed Life reported that "KnoWyo" is part of the Wyoming Department of Health's STD prevention program. The website includes information on STDs, testing, unintended pregnancy, and myths surrounding STDs. There's also a quiz people can take to test their general knowledge. More importantly, people visiting the site can get a voucher that gives them access to free or low-cost testing at any of the state's 42 health clinics smart, considering restricted access to clinics only seems to drive STD rates up . If not for gonorrhea, then perhaps for HIV and other STDs. These billboards making passerby go "WTF," as BuzzFeed put it, are ultimately to help prevent people from becoming a statistic. More than 2,000 people in Wyoming are reportedly diagnosed with chlamydia each year, and just this past summer there was an outbreak of gonorrhea. "Wyoming has STDS. Do you?" Screen shot via knowyo.org "We found that direct, candid messages direct more people to the site and prompt them to get testing vouchers [more] than coy advertising techniques," Molly Adami, field epidemiologist for Wyoming's health department, told BuzzFeed . Studies show that gonorrhea and chlamydia tend to be the most prevalent STDs among younger populations , not just young men and women in Wyoming. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that "youth bear a disproportionate share of STDs": Americans age 15 to 24 make up just 27 percent of the sexually active population, but account for 50 percent of the 20 million new STDs in the U.S. each year. | 7 | 94,805 | health |
NFL Week 6 games ranked by watchability 14. Bears at Lions: The Bears are surging after a slow start, but the Lions are desperate to get their first win of the season. 13. Texans at Jaguars: Blake Bortles can't feel comfortable going against J.J. Watt after being sacked six times by the Buccaneers last week. 12. Dolphins at Titans: Dan Campbell makes his head-coaching debut in the Dolphins' first test after firing Joe Philbin. 11. Chiefs at Vikings: Kansas City could be in trouble with Jamaal Charles sidelined for the year. 10. Ravens at 49ers: Both of the Super Bowl XLVII participants have fallen on hard times this season. 9. Broncos at Browns: Will Peyton Manning quiet the questions about his abilities despite the team's 5-0 start? 8. Redskins at Jets: The Redskins face a tall task against the well-rested Jets and their stellar defense. 7. Falcons at Saints: Atlanta looks strong headed into Thursday night's matchup, but anything can happen in the NFC South. Update: The Saints beat the Falcons 31-21 . 6. Giants at Eagles: The Eagles can get back on track in the NFC East, but the Giants' offense is clicking. 5. Chargers at Packers: San Diego will be hard-pressed to keep up with Aaron Rodgers and Green Bay. 4. Cardinals at Steelers: Few have been able to keep up with the Cardinals, so the Steelers will have to control the clock with their offense. 3. Bengals at Bills: Rex Ryan's crew looks to be the first to knock off the Bengals. 2. Panthers at Seahawks: Seattle will really be feeling the heat if they fall to Carolina at home. 1. Patriots at Colts: Even if it's a blowout, the Deflategate rematch is must-see TV. | 1 | 94,806 | sports |
Should Nestlé be allowed to take spring water from a national forest in drought-plagued Southern California, bottle it and sell it nationwide? Under fire from locals, former forest employees and environmental groups, the Swiss-based company insists there's nothing wrong with piping tens of millions of gallons of water out of San Bernardino National Forest every year -- despite the fact that Nestlé's permit to extract water from the park technically expired in 1988. On Tuesday, three environmental groups filed a suit in a California federal court against the United States Forest Service, demanding it stop Nestlé from taking the water, sold in its "premium" Arrowhead brand. The company has no right to pipe out water since its permit expired almost 30 years ago, plaintiffs claim. They say that Nestlé's operation is damaging the forest. "The ecosystem in San Bernardino forest is being harmed," said Eddie Kurtz, the executive director of the Courage Campaign Institute, one of three groups that filed the suit. "It's not an environment that can afford to send its water to Nestlé to profit off of." The suit not only sheds light on the ethics and optics of bottling water during a historic drought. It also raises questions about the very idea of large corporations profiting off of what is widely considered a shared public resource. "This is exactly what happens when water is treated as a commodity and is sold for profit," John Stewart, deputy campaigns director at the nonprofit Corporate Accountability International, told The Huffington Post. "It is forcing us all as a society to say, 'Who is providing our water? Is it Nestlé or our own democratically governed towns and cities?'" Stewart's organization is not a party to the suit but works on other water issues. The litigation comes at a time of enormous growth in the bottled water industry. Americans bought a record 10 billion gallons of bottled water in 2014, spending nearly $26 billion, according to data from the Beverage Marketing Corporation, a research and consulting firm. The litigation is another knock in Nestlé's shaky reputation on water. The company, which pulled in about $15 billion in profits last year, is the leading bottled water company in the world. In a 2012 documentary called "Bottled Life," Nestlé came up for harsh criticism for extracting ground water from poor communities. Chairman Peter Brabeck-Letmathe caught flack the following year after an interview with the Guardian in which he parsed the idea of whether or not water is a human right. The multinational lost a battle with activists in Michigan in 2009 over a plan to pump millions of gallons of water out of the state for pennies on the gallon and sell it back customers in bottles at much higher prices. In San Bernardino, Nestlé is paying around $500 a year for the right to pipe out natural spring water. You can watch this explainer video from Story of Stuff Project, a nonprofit environmental group and one of the plaintiffs in the suit. The suit follows a damning investigation earlier this year from reporter Ian James at the Desert Sun. The article, which revealed Nestlé's permit had lapsed, received widespread attention, triggering protests and petitions against the Swiss-based multinational and was the driving force behind Tuesday's lawsuit. A spokeswoman from Nestlé emphasized that the company is not named in Tuesday's lawsuit, but said it is operating lawfully in San Bernardino. "Our permit for the pipeline remain in full force and effect," she said. A press officer from the Forest Service's regional office in California confirmed that the permit was under review and that it was fine for Nestlé to continue to operate because it had requested a renewal and the agency hadn't gotten to it yet. The company is now working with the Forest Service on getting its permit reviewed and renewed, a process that could take up to 18 months. That review only began after critics and the Desert Sun started asking about the expired permit, according to the Sun. "Bottled water is not a contributing factor to the drought," the chief executive of Nestlé's water subsidiary in the U.S., Tim Brown, wrote in a recent op-ed for the San Bernardino County Sun. Nestlé uses about 705 million gallons of water in the state each year, "roughly equal to the annual average watering needs of two California golf courses," he said. Brown went even further in an interview with a California public radio station : "If I stop bottling water tomorrow, people would buy a different brand of bottled water. We see this everyday," he said. "In fact, if I could increase [bottling], I would." Environmental groups say regardless of how much water the company is using, it's simply not OK to extract and profit from local waters during a drought. "This doesn't make sense," Kurtz told HuffPost. Other companies have decided to avoid the negative public relations hit that bottling water during a drought brings. Starbucks agreed to stop sourcing its bottled water brand Ethos in California earlier this year, noting the "serious drought conditions and water conservation efforts in California," in a press release. Environmental groups say regardless of how much water the company is using, it's simply not OK to extract and profit from local waters during a drought. Nestlé referred HuffPost to a defense of the San Bernardino operation on its website. The company says it removes 25 million gallons of water a year from the forest and that this does not harm the environment. Yet, no one has studied the environmental impacts of the operation. Former forest service employees and activists said that such research was imperative. "They're taking way too much water. That water's hugely important," Steve Loe, a biologist who retired from the Forest Service in 2007, told the Desert Sun. "Without water, you don't have wildlife, you don't have vegetation." Loe, who's was among the first to raise the issue with Nestlé, told the Desert Sun that the removal of water was responsible, in part, for the disappearance of at least one rare species of fish from the ecosystem. | 3 | 94,807 | finance |
Australian police revealed Thursday a 12-year-old is on the radar of counter-terrorism authorities as Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull urged closer cooperation with Muslim leaders to combat a growing extremist threat. The boy was listed on a federal court order among a group of males that may have helped Farhad Jabar, 15, who shot a police employee in the back of the head in Sydney earlier this month while reportedly shouting religious slogans. "We're shocked that a 12-year-old is on police radar for these types of matters," Australian Federal Police Commissioner Andrew Colvin told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. "This threat has evolved, it's become younger." He added that "the problem is getting worse for Australia, not better". "The numbers of individuals that we're concerned about overseas has plateaued a little. "Some very good work is being done by our border agencies and our police and security agencies to stop people from leaving for the conflict zones, but there's no doubt that this problem is becoming more acute and more difficult." Earlier this week, Canberra outlined plans to tighten counter-terrorism laws further, including restricting the movements of suspects as young as 14 in the wake of the deadly attack by Jabar on police employee Curtis Cheng. Jabar was killed by police fire soon after. Justice Minister Michael Keenan also expressed alarm at the age of children being targeted for radicalisation but declined to say how many under 14 were on watchlists. "I do not think it is appropriate for me to go into that," he said. Canberra has become increasingly concerned about the prospect of lone-wolf attacks by individuals inspired by groups such as Islamic State, and has already cracked down on Australians attempting to travel to conflict zones. Authorities lifted Australia's terror threat alert to high a year ago, introduced new national security laws and have since conducted several counter-terrorism raids. Turnbull opened a summit Thursday in Canberra of police and intelligence chiefs from around the country on how to deal with the rising threat, highlighting a dramatic drop in the age of suspects. "The shocking murder of Curtis Cheng, a shocking act of terrorism perpetrated by a 15-year-old boy, reminds us yet again that radicalisation, extremism can be seen in the very young," he said in opening remarks. "People that we would regard as children. This is a real home grown threat, and it appals all Australians and it appals all Muslim Australians." He urged closer cooperation with Muslim leaders and greater mutual respect across the country. "The Muslim community are our absolutely necessary partners in this fight against extremism and we need to work very closely with them," he said, adding that "the most critically important Australian value in all of this is that of mutual respect". | 5 | 94,808 | news |
"More volume, more memory" may sound like the tagline for a new hair commercial but, in fact, it's the nutshell results of a preliminary study which suggests the bigger the size of your hippocampus, the lower your risk of memory decline and dementia. The two seahorse-shaped structures tucked deep inside the brain on both sides, left and right, are referred to as the hippocampus. As part of the limbic system, the hippocampus plays a role in both emotion and the formation of new memories. Specifically, the hippocampus is where information usually emotionally-charged information is transferred, like some hasty transaction performed at the ATM, into the long-term memory banks. While the left hippocampus appears to help us retain words and language, the right hippocampus is linked to spatial memory, such as the layout of streets in your hometown. Unsurprisingly, the hippocampus is one of the first structures to erode in the brains of patients with Alzheimer's disease, a type of dementia that causes problems with memory, thinking, and behavior. Many previous studies of dementia have focused on the hippocampus and for the current study, the research team investigated how the size of this brain structure relates to risk of Alzheimer's disease. Led by Aaron Bonner-Jackson, the team examined 226 patients at the Center for Brain Health, Cleveland Clinic, to search for indications of dementia. Spatial Memory More Sensitive Of these patients, 34 had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease; 82 had amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment, a precursor to Alzheimer's disease; 13 had non-amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment; 72 had other neurological disorders, stroke, or vascular dementia, while 25 showed only the signs of age-related memory changes. After undergoing brain scans, the patients performed memory tests, some analyzing their ability with words, others assessing their ability with spatial tasks. When all the games were through, the researchers analyzed data and compared results. What did they discover? As expected, the 'normal memory' participants performed better than patients with cognitive impairment… but they also had larger hippocampi. In fact, a larger left or right hippocampus predicted whether they had better verbal or spatial memory. However, performance on the spatial memory task was a more sensitive measure of hippocampal volumes than performance on the verbal memory task, according to Bonner-Jackson. He and his colleagues believe the relationship between other brain structures within the limbic system, such as thalamus and amygdala, should also be examined in relation to Alzheimer's disease. Further study is needed to verify these preliminary results, the researchers noted. Source: Bonner-Jackson A, Mahmoud S, Miller J, Banks S. Verbal and non-verbal memory and hippocampal volumes in a memory clinic population. Alzheimer's Research & Therapy. 2015. | 7 | 94,809 | health |
New reports claim that when Lamar Odom was found unconscious at a Nevada brothel, needle marks were spotted on his arm and cocaine and opiates were found in his system. | 8 | 94,810 | video |
#Morewomen, please! | 8 | 94,811 | video |
NFL Media's Kurt Warner reveals his top 5 quarterback performances from Week 5, including a surprise appearance by Josh McCown. | 1 | 94,812 | sports |
While the US military continues to develop new and awesome ways of blowing aerial drones to smithereens, not many of these systems can easily be adapted to use in the civilian realm. That's why Battelle has developed the DroneDefender , a shoulder-mounted rifle that knocks UAVs offline with a barrage of radio waves. "It can help us in numerous settings, from the White House lawn to bases and embassies overseas; from prisons and schools to historic sites,"Alex Morrow, technical director on the project, said in a statement. "It easily and reliably neutralizes the threat." The weapon weighs roughly 10 pounds and can target drones up to 400 meters away. When the trigger is pulled, the gun emits a blast of electromagnetic energy tuned to the most common GPS and ISM frequencies, safely disabling the drone and preventing it from accepting any additional commands from its operator. This is especially helpful if the drone is equipped with an improvised explosive device . Battelle | 5 | 94,813 | news |
Encroaching desert and Boko Haram extremists. A punishing drought in Syria, pushing 1 million people to flee the countryside to cities already choked with war refugees. Scarce rains and sandstorms in China, forcing the country to import massive amounts of wheat…and sparking a spike in global prices that fed Egypt's 2011 revolution. Just weeks before a key climate change conference in Paris, experts and defense ministers from more than a dozen nations gathered Wednesday for a rare meeting in the French capital to confront the toxic effects of climate change on world security. "Climate change is a threat to peace," said French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, describing a world where floods, desertification and droughts will intensify conflicts over ever-scarcer resources and spark a massive wave of environmental refugees. The meeting included ministers from Chad, Niger, Haiti and the Seychelles, countries that are experiencing firsthand the threats and fallout of conflicts and climate-influenced catastrophes. Benjamin Bewa-Nyog Kunbuor, Ghana's defense minister, spoke of forests where he used to play as a child now reduced to desert, rivers drying up and the country's tree cover shrinking to just a fraction of its size compared with half a century ago. "Terrorism is significant, but naked hunger is as significant as terrorism," he said. "And the relationship between terrorist activities and naked hunger are obvious. If you look at the vectors of recruitment into terrorist cells, most of the most vulnerable are hunger-prone areas." Scare resources Nearly 150 nations have pledged to curb greenhouse gas emissions ahead of December's climate change summit in Paris. If carried through, experts say those cuts could limit global warming to 3 degrees Celsius (5.4 degrees Fahrenheit) - 1 degree beyond the limit at which they warn the planet could face catastrophic weather events. Also addressing Wednesday's meeting at the Military School in Paris, Niger's Defense Minister Mahamadou Karidjo described the nexus between climate change and the tangle of militant groups threatening the country, including Boko Haram, al-Qaida and the "Islamic State" group. All are directly linked to ever-scarcer resources, he said, as a creeping desert and vanishing arable land threaten the lives of millions of people. The surface area of Lake Chad- a lifeline that provides water to the four Sahel countries it straddles, including Niger- has shrunk 90 percent from its size in 1962 due to drying conditions. Scarce water has helped to intensify poverty, poverty, hunger and insecurity, Karidjo said - making people living on its shores more vulnerable to Boko Haram extremists. "The youth no longer listen to their parents. Increasingly, they become targets for Boko Haram terrorists," he said. "They become drugged, indoctrinated and return to their own villages to sow terror and insecurity." For his part, Defense Minister Lener Renauld of Haiti, which is threatened by massive deforestation and rising sea levels as temperatures warm, said he was convinced "there's no plan B" to fighting climate change. 'Urgent and growing threat' Even as experts say climate change is likely to intensify conflicts over increasingly scarce resources, they suggest mechanisms to fight global warming can help foster peace. "Reducing our greenhouse gasses, developing renewable energy that's accessible to all countries, decarbonising our economies, engaging in energy transition is less a constraint than a chance to seize," said French Environment Minister Segolene Royal. Officials described Wednesday's meeting in Paris as a first, but it comes as security risks are being increasingly factored into the climate change debate. In July, a report by the US Defense Department called climate change an "urgent and growing threat" to national security, and this week NATO's parliament demanded stronger action by member states to tackle a warming planet. In France, EELV Green Party Senator Leila Aichi organized a meeting this week between top military brass and environmentalists. French defense officials are lagging behind the Pentagon in confronting the risks and implications of climate change, she said, but they're heading in the right direction. "They're much more responsive on the question than politicians because they think in the long-term," she said. "The army is also in much closer contact with nature." But, she added, security risks are not fully factored into climate change talks taking place ahead the Paris summit. Nor has the French military formally incorporated climate change into its defense strategy. Olivier Dobbels, co-founder of Polarisk, a London-based consulting group that explores future risks in the Arctic and Antarctica, said he was doubtful about the military's ability to provide answers to climate change. "They're prepared from an operational standpoint," Dobbels said, drawing parallels between the military's response to climate change and peacekeeping operations in Africa and elsewhere. "Peace enforcement, civilian protection, yes. But from a strategic standpoint, they don't have a strategy to bring solutions to climate change." Author: Elizabeth Bryant, Paris Editor: Martin Kuebler | 5 | 94,814 | news |
Emergency responders have rescued a man who got stuck in a storm drain in Valley Stream in New York, US. | 8 | 94,815 | video |
Do you habitually dine while driving? Suffer from aggravated road-texting syndrome? Have yet to master Bluetooth communication skills? If so, you are a clinically distracted driver and a prime candidate for a Tesla Model S now that the company has rolled out its new Autopilot feature. As part of its continuous-improvement policy, every Model S manufactured after September 2014 is equipped with Autopilot hardware, the closest thing on the market to fully autonomous driving. That equipment is enabled as of October 8, via an automatic software download, assuming the car's owner says "yes." Autopilot provides adaptive cruise control, automatic hands-free lane keeping (Autosteer), on-demand lane changing (Auto Lane Change), automatic hands and feet off parallel parking (Autopark), and 360-degree collision warning (Side Collision Warning). (Adaptive cruise control and low-speed collision warning have been operational in Model S cars equipped with 6.0 software since the fall of 2014.) Tesla charges a one-time fee of $2500 to activate the Autopilot capability, but the Side Collision Warning is free. A select group of Tesla owners have enjoyed use of the alpha version of Autopilot for a month. What the rest of us are receiving is the 7.0 beta version upgraded with user feedback and the latest engineering changes. A new digital instrument cluster and center touch-screen displays with the necessary operating menus, driving icons, and warning symbols are also part of this upgrade. The system consists of a dozen ultrasonic sensors, half of which wrap discreetly around each end of the car in the bumper fascias; one forward-looking camera positioned behind the windshield between the rear-view mirror and the roof header; and a radar sensor located in a low-center position in the grille. Servos and controllers steer the front wheels, apply the brakes, and command the drive motor(s). The new driver's display is also updated with an analog clock, outside temperature display, tire-pressure information, seatbelt warnings, and door-close status. Trip- and energy-monitoring apps are also updated. Some information appears automatically when necessary, other data can be called up with a switch located on the right steering-wheel spoke. To engage Autosteer, you must first enable that capability in the driver-assistance menu while the Model S is switched on in Park. Then, while motoring between 18 and 90 mph, two rearward yanks of the cruise control stalk in quick succession enable Autopilot. (If there's a car ahead in your lane, the greater-than-18-mph requirement is waived.) Tesla's legal eagles are quick to note that, "Autopilot is a hands-on feature. You must keep your hands on the steering wheel at all times." Flaunting those admonitions, we quickly discovered it works just fine hands-free. To choose the spacing between you and the car ahead, you twist the end of the cruise control stalk to adjust between one and seven car lengths. Symbols in the cluster indicate your speed, the posted limit (a display that swells in size when you exceed that velocity), cruise-control engagement, lane borders marked in blue when the system is active, and the presence of a car ahead. Possible modes are: no car ahead, tracking the path of the car ahead (forward car marked blue if you engage below 18 mph), and maintaining the center of your traffic lane (distant car ahead marked white, close car ahead in black). Autosteer feels smooth and confident with no path wobbling as long as the lane markers are clean and clear. When the system loses the scent because of missing or obscure marks or sharp turns a "hold steering wheel" advisory appears, followed by a display depicting red hands on the wheel and a "! Take over immediately" message followed, if necessary, by a wake-up chime. We noticed that the take-over advisory sometimes appears for no apparent reason. Steering with your hands for a few seconds reassures and reengages the system. Of course, when two adjacent lanes merge, Autosteer (not to mention many drivers) becomes temporarily confused, requiring disengagement. We discovered that Autosteer works on damp pavement and will easily track a lead car onto and around an exit or entrance ramp. When the driver's hand connection is requested, there is no panic taking over command. Those who ignore the helpful warnings will suffer continuous chiming and a prompt loss of cruising speed. If no driver response is forthcoming, the Model S will slow to a halt and hazard warning lights will be activated. Of course, Autosteer can be disabled by applying steering-wheel motion, touching the brakes, or pressing the cruise-control stalk forward. If a car enters your lane, Autopilot is smart enough to provide appropriate following distance. Speed automatically changes to safely handle increasing- and decreasing-radius corners. Automatic cruise control is engaged by a tug of the stalk accompanied by up or down movements to set the speed. Rotating that lever clockwise to stretch the distance to the car ahead and counterclockwise to shrink seems slightly counter-intuitive to us, but the learning curve is short thanks to the helpful cluster display. The new Auto Lane Change (ALC) feature also works superbly well. With Autosteer engaged and ALC enabled in the settings menu, you simply engage the turn-signal stalk as usual and the Model S smoothly and surely does your bidding. You're allowed only one lane change at a time, even if you leave the stalk clicked for a double lane change. While we did not test it, the side-collision sensors now with increased range will stop you from clipping any nearby cars in the next lane. Side Collision Warning works between 20 and 85 mph. Autopark sniffs out potential parking spaces as long as the Model S is traveling below 15 mph. If a suitable spot defined as an open curb of sufficient length between a car ahead and a car behind is detected, a P symbol shows in the instrument cluster. If you then shift to reverse, the parking sequence begins with automatic control of the steering and speed, and a rear-camera view displayed in the center screen. Grabbing the steering wheel or tapping the brake aborts the procedure. Software upgrades unrelated to Autopilot help reach the set cabin temperature more quickly and with less energy consumption according to Tesla. The hill-hold function and the driveline jiggle we've noticed after engaging drive or reverse are also improved with the 7.0 software. Tesla's Autopilot ventures beyond the Mercedes-Benz S-class Intelligent Drive in three areas: it will control your direction of travel for miles on end versus the Benz's 11 seconds, with no hand contact on the steering wheel; it executes lane changes on command; and it provides automatic parallel parking when conditions permit. Chalk this up as one more proof point that Tesla's mission is to advance the automobile beyond the status quo. While we enjoy driving with our hands and eyes in use all the time and our feet employed most of the time, we concede there's no stopping the autonomous-driving freight train. Our attitude is that, since that train is coming, it should at least be a California Zephyr swift, supremely comfortable, never late. Tesla seems to be on a similar wavelength. Autopilot is impressive and, at the very least, a feature Model S owners will enjoy demonstrating to amazed friends and neighbors. Follow MSN Autos on Facebook | 9 | 94,816 | autos |
Scott Disick is getting some help. E! News confirms the 32-year-old ex of Kourtney Kardashian and father of three has entered rehab. His struggles with drug and alcohol abuse have been heavily chronicled on Keeping Up With the Kardashians. Kourtney and Scott are currently sorting out custody arrangements for their three children, Kourtney wants primary custody. And speaking of exes, Khloé Kardashian's ex-husband Lamar Odom is currently in a coma and on life support after being found unconscious in a Nevada brothel on Tuesday after an apparent drug overdose. | 8 | 94,817 | video |
CNN host Wolf Blitzer on Wednesday bluntly asked Lincoln Chafee when the former Rhode Island governor would end his Democratic presidential campaign. During an interview on CNN, Blitzer brought up a pair of blistering headlines following Chafee's performance in the first Democratic debate Tuesday night. "Here's what worries me, governor. Because of your distinguished career, you're going to wind up looking silly if you keep going on like this," Blitzer said. "At what point will you decide, you know what, there are other things for me to do instead of a futile effort to try to get the Democratic presidential nomination?" Blitzer asked. After allowing Chafee to speak for a few seconds about his role as an anti-war candidate in the race, Blitzer pressed, "So at what point will you drop out?" "I'm in it as long as I can continue to raise these issues. They're important," Chafee insisted. Chafee currently takes 0.3 percent nationally in the RealClearPolitics average , well behind Hillary Clinton, Vice President Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). Clinton and Sanders were joined at the debate by Chafee, former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley and former Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.), who poll at 0.4 and 0.9 percent, respectively. Chafee kicked off his long-shot White House bid in June. Two months later, late-night host Conan O'Brien launched a campaign to get him to 1 percent in the polls. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who is also pulling less than 1 percent in polls but on the Republican side of the presidential race, has also been asked about dropping out. Chafee displayed some excitement heading into the CNN interview: Getting ready to talk with Wolf Blitzer on @CNN ! pic.twitter.com/QFM8L8AGp3 Lincoln Chafee (@LincolnChafee) October 14, 2015 | 5 | 94,818 | news |
Heidi Klum is getting candid about her life as a single mother to 4 children. The supermodel explains she plays both mom and dad. | 8 | 94,819 | video |
When Russell Martin 's throw back to the pitcher hit Shin-Soo Choo , and Rougned Odor raced home to score the go-ahead run, the pages of baseball's rule book fluttered open across America and Canada. A stunned silence in the park hid the grinding of gears behind the masks, and in baseball's offices was that strange, strange play… legal? Yes, it turns out. To the consternation of the fans, who began to litter the field with debris. Twitter, the announcers, the fans it was bedlam. But investigating the rules that led to this play, and any rules that could clean up a play like this in the future, brings us to the never-ending unintended consequences that come with any alteration of the rule book. First, the play. Then, the rule that suggests that, yes, the ball is live and the run scores. 6.03(a)(6.06)(3) (a) (6.06) A batter is out for illegal action when: (3) He interferes with the catcher's fielding or throwing by stepping out of the batter's box or making any other movement that hinders the catcher's play at home base. Choo did nothing illegal because he was in the box and the umpire never ruled that he interfered on purpose. Any time out or sign that the ball was dead would actually be erroneous the only other call that could have happened, it seems, is calling the batter out for interference. Baseball also distributed an explanation of the rule to writers at the game, and it specifically states that "if the batter is standing in the batter's box and he or his bat is struck by the catcher's throw back to the pitcher (or throw in attempting to retire a runner) and, in the umpire's judgement, there is no intent on the part of the batter to interfere with the throw, the ball is alive and in play." Calling the batter out here for intention would go too far. Shin-Soo Choo was just setting up in the box. He was just adjusting his glove and was as surprised as any that Martin hit him. Even Martin, reflecting after the game, admitted that he didn't "really know what the rule was" and that Choo "was in the box." Wait, why was Choo in the box? Because of another (new) rule. Because of unintended consequences. Here's the rule that kept Choo in the box. (4) (6.02(d)) THE BATTER'S BOX RULE. (A) The batter shall keep at least one foot in the batter's box throughout the batter's time at bat, unless one of the following exceptions applies, in which case the batter may leave the batter's box but not the dirt area surrounding home plate: (i) The batter swings at a pitch; (ii) The batter is forced out of the batter's box by a pitch; (iii) A member of either team requests and is granted "Time"; (iv) A defensive player attempts a play on a run- ner at any base; (v) The batter feints a bunt; (vi) A wild pitch or passed ball occurs; (vii) The pitcher leaves the dirt area of the pitching mound after receiving the ball; or (viii) The catcher leaves the catcher's box to give defensive signals. This rule was enacted this year . Choo was following the new rules. Under the old rules, he probably would have been adjusting his gloves outside of the box, as was pointed out to me on Twitter . But the new rule kept him in the box, closer to Martin's throw. A rule put in place to improve the pace of play indirectly led to an 18 minute delay. So should we fix this rare play with a rule? I think the words spent on the way in here suggest no, but let's pretend that the Blue Jays lost the game on this play and that we have a country full of people who are currently apoplectic about the fact that this ball was live. I don't think anyone wants to see batters holding their bats across the plate hoping the catcher hits it on his throw back to the mound, so perhaps a new rule could help reduce the chance that this unintended consequence determines the outcome of a game. Let's say that any ball that hits the batter on the way to the pitcher is dead. We already have a rule that can provide a framework. This rule tells us that the ball is dead if the backswing of the batter unintentionally hits the catcher. 6.03(a)(6.06)(3)(c) If a batter strikes at a ball and misses and swings so hard he carries the bat all the way around and, in the umpire's judgment, unintentionally hits the catcher or the ball in back of him on the backswing, it shall be called a strike only (not interfer- ence). The ball will be dead, however, and no runner shall advance on the play. Easy enough to use that sort of language to say that the ball is dead if the catcher's throw unintentionally hits the batter on the way back to the pitcher. Easy enough, except that we've just changed the judgment call from the batter (was he blocking intentionally) to the catcher (was he throwing intentionally). And, if you were a savvy catcher with an axe to grind with a specific batter, it might be easy enough to wing a throw right into the batter, shrug, and say "ball's dead." We often call for new rules when we're faced with terrible injuries, or game-turning plays that just don't seem right. It's hard not to have sympathy for a Jays fan watching their season hang in the balance because of a strange thing that happened that pretty much nobody has seen before. If it had changed the game, we might actually be talking about a rule change. It's certainly happening in other phases of the game. But, as always, we have to carefully consider all the unintended consequences to any alteration of the rule book. In this case, the play was so bizarre and rare that it seems unlikely that the best way forward is to tempt those possible outcomes whatever they are. Maybe we should just revel in the weirdness of that moment and move on without legislation. Given that MLB is now requiring batters to stay in the box, however, it's probably worth thinking through whether that dynamic impacts the viability of other rules already on the books. A new rule, or even a modified rule, is not always the right reaction, but given that baseball made a significant change to batter placement between pitches last year, it might be time to evaluate the effects of that decision this winter. | 1 | 94,820 | sports |
A massive FBI sting put more than 150 pimps and other individuals behind bars and rescued more than 100 children. | 8 | 94,821 | video |
NEW YORK A gunrunner who smuggled more than 100 weapons from Atlanta and Pittsburgh into New York City on cheap interstate passenger buses bragged about it in a cellphone call to his ex-girlfriend while carrying a cache in a duffel bag on the streets of Manhattan, prosecutors said Wednesday. "I've got MAC-10s on me, an SK assault rifle and four handguns and I'm walking through New York," Michael Bassier said in the intercepted phone call in March, according to authorities. The conversation evidence in a yearlong undercover probe of a gun-trafficking ring demonstrates the persistent threat of guns that are bought in states with lax gun-control laws, resold to criminals in New York and used in shootings, authorities said a news conference announcing the arrests. Bassier, 31, was among eight reputed members of the gun ring facing conspiracy and other charges. He was being held without bail following an arraignment on Tuesday; there was no immediate response to a message left on Wednesday with his attorney. The takedown follows a series of similar investigations over the past several years, including recent ones targeting guns smuggled from the South in private cars and commercial airliners. While New York City has some of the strictest gun-control laws, the cases show the need for federal legislation to help address the problem, said Brooklyn District Attorney Kenneth Thompson. "So we had guns in a car, guns on a plane and now guns on a bus," Thompson said. "How many different ways to we have to try to get to these guns before we wake up as a country and realize that we have to stop the bloodshed?" An undercover New York Police Department officer using the alias "Zoey" infiltrated the ring last year and persuaded Bassier to make him his exclusive customer, authorities said. During the course of the investigation, the suspect made 12 trips by Chinatown-based buses to Atlanta and six trips by car to Pittsburgh to purchase semi-automatic pistols and assault weapons, they said. Bassier recruited straw purchasers to pay between $150 to $300 per gun at gun stores and pawn shops and on websites in their home states, then resold them for $800 to $1,200, authorities said. In all, he provided 112 weapons to the undercover in transactions that often took places in a Walgreens parking lot in Brooklyn, authorities said. The wiretap evidence shows Bassier knew exactly what he was doing, prosecutors said. "I'm selling them the right way and the wrong way," he told his ex. "When I'm out of state, like Atlanta and Georgia and all that, it's all legal ... but in New York, it's completely illegal." The woman expressed dismay, telling Bassier, "I thought you said you've changed." His response: "I have." | 5 | 94,822 | news |
Carrie Underwood Carrie Underwood feels guilty about everything since becoming a mother. The 'Blown Away' hitmaker, who has seven-month-old son Isaiah Michael with husband Mike Fisher, admits being a parent is overwhelming, even though she is "doing the best she can." The 32-year-old singer said: "Mom guilt is real! You feel guilty about every single thing, every decision you make, everything you do." The blonde beauty also says she is still struggling to breastfeed her little boy, so has been relying on formula to supplement his diet. She told PEOPLE magazine: "My supply is pretty nil." But Carrie insists she is much more "loosey-goosey" when it comes to raising Isaiah than she could have predicted and is trying not to put too much pressure on herself to be perfect. The 'Before He Cheats' hitmaker believes her life completely changed when she met professional ice hockey player Mike, 35, who she married five years ago, for the first time. She explained: "I never dreamt of my wedding day and the perfect guy. Then I met Mike, and I was like, 'Wow, so now I know what I was missing.' And the same with my son. I was never like, 'I want kids so bad.' And now that I have Isaiah in my life, I'm like, "What did I do before?' " | 6 | 94,823 | entertainment |
SAN FRANCISCO The classroom of 10th graders had already learned about sexually transmitted diseases and various types of birth control. Today, the 15-year-olds gathered around tables to discuss another topic: how and why to make sure each step in a sexual encounter is met with consent. Consent from the person you are kissing or more is not merely silence or a lack of protest, Shafia Zaloom, a health educator at the Urban School of San Francisco , told the students. They listened with rapt attention, but several did not disguise how puzzled they felt. Get Lifestyle News In Your Email from The New York Times "What does that mean you have to say 'yes' every 10 minutes?" asked Aiden Ryan, 15, who sat near the front of the room. "Pretty much," Ms. Zaloom answered. "It's not a timing thing, but whoever initiates things to another level has to ask." The "no means no" mantra of a generation ago is quickly being eclipsed by "yes mean yes" as more young people all over the country are told that they must have explicit permission from the object of their desire before they engage in any touching, kissing, or other sexual activity. With Gov. Jerry Brown 's signature on a bill this month , California became the first state to require that all high school health education classes give lessons on affirmative consent, which includes explaining that someone who is drunk or asleep cannot grant consent. Last year, California led the way in requiring colleges to use affirmative consent as the standard in campus disciplinary decisions, defining how and when people agree to have sex. More than a dozen legislatures in other states, including Michigan, Maryland and Utah, are considering similar legislation for colleges. One goal is to improve the way schools deal with accusations of rape and sexual assault and another is to reduce the number of young people who feel pressured into unwanted sexual conduct. Critics say the lawmakers and advocates of affirmative consent are trying to draw a sharp line in what is essentially a gray zone, particularly for children and young adults who are grappling with their first feelings of romantic attraction. In he-said, she-said sexual assault cases, critics of affirmative consent say the policy puts an unfair burden of proof on the accused. "There's really no clear standard yet what we have is a lot of ambiguity on how these standards really work in the court of law," said John F. Banzhaf, a law professor at George Washington University. "The standard is not logical nobody really works that way. The problem with teaching this to high school students is that you are only going to sow more confusion. They are getting mixed messages depending where they go afterward." But Ms. Zaloom, who has taught high school students about sex for two decades, said she was grateful for the new standard, even as she acknowledged the students' unease. "What's really important to know is that sex is not always super smooth," she told her 10th graders. "It can be awkward, and that's actually normal and shows things are O.K." The students did not seem convinced. They sat in groups to brainstorm ways to ask for affirmative consent. They crossed off a list of options: "Can I touch you there?" Too clinical. "Do you want to do this?" Too tentative. "Do you like that?" Not direct enough. "They're all really awkward and bizarre," one girl said. "Did you come up with any on your own?" Ms. Zaloom asked. One boy offered up two words: "You good?" That drew nearly unanimous nods of approval. Under the new law, high school students in California must be educated about the concept of affirmative consent but they are not actually being held to that standard. So a high school student on trial on rape charges would not have to prove that he or she obtained oral assent from the accuser. That was the case with a senior at the elite St. Paul's School in New Hampshire this year who was accused of raping a freshman. The senior was acquitted of aggravated sexual assault but found guilty of statutory rape sex with a minor. As for college students, the law passed last year in California does not change the way sexual assault cases are prosecuted in criminal courts, only in the way they are handled by colleges, which are permitted to use affirmative consent as a standard. Last year, Corey Mock, a student at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, was expelled after officials there found him guilty of sexual misconduct because he could not prove he had obtained verbalconsent from a woman who accused him of sexual assault. But a Davidson County Chancery Court judge ruled in August that the school had "improperly shifted the burden of proof and imposed an untenable standard upon Mr. Mock to disprove the accusation." The judge called the school's ruling "arbitrary and capricious." In a separate case, a former student at Clark University in Worcester, Mass., who was evicted from his dorm room after a student accused him of rape, filed a lawsuit in federal court in August against the school and several administrators. The former student, identified in court records only as John Doe, argued that he was denied the rights promised in the student handbook and that the adjudicators of his case had ignored records of text messages that supported his view of the encounter with the fellow student. Kevin de León, the California State Senate speaker pro tempore and lead sponsor of the high school legislation, said the new law was as much about changing the culture as it was about changing the law. "Sexual violence has always thrived in the gray areas of the law," Mr. de León said. "What we want to create is a standard of behavior, a paradigm shift as much as a legal shift. We're no longer talking about the old paradigm of the victim being blamed for their own behavior." But among teenagers, who are only beginning to experiment with their sexuality and have hazy ideas of their own boundaries, the talk tends to be about "hooking up" and what the new rules are. "Kids are still establishing patterns of behavior, and they have a lot of specific concrete questions," said Ms. Zaloom, who has written a curriculum for affirmative consent programs that is being used throughout the country. Students will ask, "Can I have sex when we are both drunk?" Ms. Zaloom said. "I get this one a lot: If I hook up with a girl and the next day she decides she didn't want to do it, then what do I do?" Typically she will use such questions as a way to begin talking about the benefits of sexual partners knowing each other. But sometimes there are no straightforward answers, she said. "We're trying to show them very explicitly that sex has to include a dialogue," she added, "that they have to talk about it each step of the way." In her 10th grade class, one girl asked about approaching someone about a casual encounter. "What if it's just a one-time thing?" "You have to be prepared to say 'no' and hear 'no,' " Ms. Zaloom said. Another girl chimed in: "If you don't care about a person too much, you might not be inclined to listen." Ms. Zaloom suggested making clear plans with friends ahead of time, like making pacts with each other to leave parties together. And she urged them to have conversations with potential sexual partners "before you get swept up in the moment." "How do we even start a conversation like that?" one boy wondered. "Practice," Ms. Zaloom answered. | 4 | 94,824 | lifestyle |
Though opening day in the NBA is less than a month away, Blake Griffin is in front of cameras off the basketball court, which means we're still very much entrenched in the offseason. In a new three-part Red Bull series, "The Crossover with Blake Griffin", the professional pitchman that also plays basketball for the Los Angeles Clippers visited New York City to cross-train with handball legend Timbo Gonzalez on the famous West 4th Street courts. | 1 | 94,825 | sports |
Many of the clichés of parenthood hold true, but this one does especially: Kids grow up so fast! Before you know it, they're standing level with your shoulder. To help us truly measure the passage of time before it's passed us by completely and to allow us to remember a time when our girls were once actually that little we created a growth chart in the form of a jumbo ruler. The beauty of this wall hanging? Should you ever have to move out of your house, you can carry those precious measurements with you rather than having to leave them behind on a doorway molding. Read on to learn how to make your own ruler growth chart to cherish for years to come. SKILL LEVEL: EASY This is one of the easiest, most basic projects you can do with your kids, and it's one they'll get to enjoy seeing on a daily basis. You don't need any power tools at all for this project, but a palm sander will speed up the sanding process and give kids a wonderful introduction to power tools. The sander may be noisy and the vibration may tickle their hands, but the tool is unlikely to cause injury. TOOLS AND MATERIALS - 6-foot-long 1x8 common pine board- 2 scrap blocks of wood- Sandpaper- Palm sander ( optional )- Tack cloth- Protective gloves- Painter's tape- Wood stain- Paintbrush- Clean rags or cut-up T-shirts- Urethane- Pencil- Tape measure- Ruler decal- Wood block or credit card- Command Strips or alligator hook STEP 1 Rest your 6-foot length of 1x8 lumber on two chunks of scrap wood so that it will be easier to work around the sides. Prep the piece for a nice finish by thoroughly sanding away all the chatter marks and scratches from milling and storage. Go over the board once with a piece of 80-grit sandpaper, then work your way down to something finer, like 220-grit. You can make the job even easier by firing up a palm sander! Don't forget to give all the edges a once-over, too, in order to dull their sharpness. STEP 2 Once you have completely sanded the board and have a smooth surface, clean your work area thoroughly. Run a tack cloth (or a clean cloth that's been dampened with mineral spirits ) over the entire board to remove all the dust. STEP 3 Pull on a pair of latex or rubber gloves to protect your hands as you work. Because the gloves aren't sized for the smaller hands of your little helpers, try wrapping a piece of painter's tape around your child's wrist to keep them on.We enhanced our pine lumber with stain, but you could just as easily apply a painted finish. If you choose to copy the natural look, brush the stain evenly onto your board in the direction of the grain, then allow it to sit for several minutes to penetrate the wood. Wipe off the excess with clean rags, and allow the stain to dry according to the directions on the can. Apply a second coat to get the most even coverage, allow it to dry once more, and then protect your new finish with a minimum of two coats of urethane. Wait at least 48 hours before numbering the edge of your jumbo ruler. STEP 4 You can paint the tick marks and numbers onto the ruler yourself, with or without a stencil, but we went an even easier route for a super-clean and professional result: premade decals. (You can order similar ones on Amazon !) If you're using decals, don't cheat the dry time. It's important that your stain and urethane be thoroughly dry and cured, or else the decals will not stick properly.When your board is ready, measure out and lightly pencil in where each piece of the decal will go. (Another perk to these decals: Each 12-inch strip has tick marks that are accurately spaced an inch apart.) Flip the decal over so the numbers appear backwards and peel away the backing, then place the decal carefully in position on the board so that the numbers show through the paper reading the right way. When the decal is in the correct spot, rub something stiff like a wood block or credit card back and forth over the paper to help the decal thoroughly adhere. Gently peel off the paper, and voilà you've got a jumbo ruler! STEP 5 Finally, flip the board over and attach an alligator hook or, to keep walls free of nail holes, a handful of strong Command Strips to the back for hanging. If you're concerned that the ruler will get knocked off by rowdy children, you could even screw it straight into the wall with anchors. Do whatever feels right for your home and your family! After you've hung your hand-built keepsake on the wall, go ahead and draw in the first of many measurements to mark the momentous occasion. | 4 | 94,826 | lifestyle |
Selena Gomez actress, singer and all-around bombshell admitted during an interview with YouTube star Lilly Singh that her impossibly gorgeous hair is, in fact, "very fake." Tugging at her perfectly quaffed chestnut locks mid interview, the 23-year-old singer implied that gasp her long tresses are actually just masterful extensions. Because no one in show biz has ever worn a weave before, right? In reality half of Hollywood can probably relate to the former Disney star though many celebs would be reluctant to admit it. Gomez has been extremely candid lately, answering a number of personal questions while promoting her new album, Revival. She's opened up about moving on from ex-boyfriend Justin Bieber, dished about her friendship with Taylor Swift, got real about fat-shamming and even explained her chronic health struggles. | 8 | 94,827 | video |
Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX ) is going vertical. This week, it launched its much-anticipated delivery service with a test run beginning in New York's Empire State Building. Although it's a modest start to what could be a booming business, the Green Apron Delivery service does give the coffee shop an idea of what to expect with urban delivery in general. You've got some 12,000 people crammed into a narrow geography, which should allow Starbucks to get a feel for how it might get around the rest of the city. It was almost a year ago that CEO Howard Schultz revealed on an earnings conference call Starbucks' plans to make it more convenient for customers to buy its coffee, which also forms the basis for Starbucks' national rollout of a mobile ordering app. Yet once Green Apron Delivery moves beyond the confines of a single building, there are some logistical hurdles to get over, not least of which will be quality control. To order, customers must be members of Starbucks' loyalty program who can log onto a dedicated website and place orders of up to 15 items. The Express store in the lobby of the iconic building will handle fulfillment, delivering the order within 30 minutes for a flat $2 fee. No tipping required (or allowed). While removing customers from the store's queue line in the morning may help speed up counter service, an influx of mobile orders may also lead to confusion, not to mention getting coffee to the customer while still hot will be key to the program's success. A $2 fee may not sound unreasonable, but for small orders, it reinforces the idea that Starbucks coffee is overpriced. If delivery is a hit, though, Starbucks plans to expand the concept, and it has said that by the end of the year, it will launch delivery in Seattle in partnership with Postmates. Outsourcing can solve some of the issues associated with delivery (i.e., using personal cars, ensuring drivers have clean records, and insurance concerns), but there are still liability issues. Pizza giant Domino's was famous for its 30-minute delivery guarantee, but it also came in for a lot of criticism -- and lawsuits -- from accidents caused by drivers hurrying to beat the deadline. In one case, the victim's family received a $79 million judgment. Getting around a building is a little different than winding one's way through city traffic, but delivery can expand Starbucks' growth potential, and it seems like a logical and obvious step forward. The next billion-dollar iSecret The world's biggest tech company forgot to show you something at its recent event, but a few Wall Street analysts and the Fool didn't miss a beat: There's a small company that's powering their brand-new gadgets and the coming revolution in technology. And we think its stock price has nearly unlimited room to run for early-in-the-know investors! To be one of them, just click here . Rich Duprey has no position in any stocks mentioned. | 3 | 94,828 | finance |
"Dancing With the Stars" pro Maksim Chmerkovskiy had some biting words for his former partner, Hope Solo. Chmerkovskiy was on the podcast "Allegedly With Theo Von & Matthew Cole Weiss" when he blasted Solo, who was his dance partner in 2011. "She's just a s person," Chmerkovskiy said. "People can be bad or good or whatever. You can have a s life growing up. You can have a tough upbringing. You can have history. You can have whatever. But, if you are just a bad person, you know what I mean? There's no excuse for that." Solo acknowledged in her 2012 book that she had a rough childhood. Her mother was an alcoholic, her father was jailed and the family had little money. She also alleged in her book that Chmerkovskiy was abusive toward her in practice, even slapping her across the face at one point. Chmerkovskiy's jab at Solo comes less than two weeks after a Washington court decided to reinstate her two counts of fourth-degree domestic violence after an appeal was filed when the charges were dropped in January. Solo was accused of assaulting her half-sister and nephew in June 2014. | 1 | 94,829 | sports |
ISIS has released a total of seven videos trying to convince members of Al-Shabab in Somalia to defect to their side. Six came out this month. | 8 | 94,830 | video |
screenshot via INSIDER Eric Hites, self-proclaimed "fat guy," took the internet by storm with his radical plan to win back his estranged wife. Unemployed, clocking in at 560 pounds, and with his marriage on the rocks, Hites vowed to take back control of his life by riding his bike from Massachusetts to the Pacific Ocean.His "Fat Guy Across America" campaign has taken off, and by the time he had reached Rhode Island, his wife Angie had already joined him.He has lost 70 pounds and plans to write a book about his trip. fat guy across america Eric Hites, self-proclaimed "fat guy," took the internet by storm with his radical plan to win back his estranged wife. Unemployed, clocking in at 560 pounds, and with his marriage on the rocks, Hites vowed to take back control of his life by riding his bike from Massachusetts to the Pacific Ocean. His "Fat Guy Across America" campaign has taken off, and by the time he had reached Rhode Island, his wife Angie had already joined him. He has lost 70 pounds and plans to write a book about his trip. The Indiana native weighed 560 pounds and had no job. After his wife left him, he devised an impressive plan to win her back. He decided to bike from the east coast to the west coast. Why? A few reasons. "1. To prove things to my wife and my love. 2. To take back my health and to lose the pounds I have collected over the years," he wrote on his website. "I want to be with her all the time, and she's my best friend," Hites says. "And we've always been best friends." Hites kicked off his journey in Massachusetts in June. "This trip is to save my marriage. It's to save my life. Save my health," he said. Fortunately, Hites didn't have to cycle 2,000 miles to save his marriage. By the time he got to Rhode Island, his wife Angie had decided to join him. "All I wanted to do was hold him, and I couldn't because he was miles away," she said. They're now back together. And Hites has lost 70 pounds. The pair just reached Philadelphia. Hites has raised $12,000 on his GoFundMe page to help pay for supplies, equipment, and costs for his cross-country journey. He plans to write a book about the experience. Another wild trip... 25 incredible pictures of Dubai from above > | 7 | 94,831 | health |
A lawsuit was filed Tuesday against the U.S. Forest Service, alleging the agency allowed Nestlé to pump millions of gallons of water from California's San Bernardino National Forest without a permit a move that activist groups say is harming the environment as the state faces a historic drought. | 3 | 94,832 | finance |
Rex Walters and his staff are getting used to their new offices in Memorial Gym and renovation might be an apt theme for the Dons this season. As you enter Memorial, the men's basketball offices are now on the front left side, switched from the back right side. Fans who enter the gym to see a game in 2015-16 should recognize two guards, senior Tim Derksen and sophomore Devin Watson. After those two, the rest of the team begins the season as a mystery. The Dons have three other returnees who have received little playing time and 10 players in their first season in the program. Walters' assistant coaches are almost all new as well, with the most notable addition being Frank Allocco, the longtime high school head coach at De La Salle-Concord. Allocco, 62, is the first assistant older than Walters, 45, on the USF staff since Walters took the job in 2008. "He's like your favorite uncle," Walters said of Allocco. "He's a guy that's got a wealth of knowledge, a wealth of experience as a coach, as a man, as a leader and when he talks, our guys listen." Derksen called Allocco a father figure. Said Derksen: "He makes everyone feel like that this is a winning basketball program. You're a winning basketball player. He just has that love for the game about him that makes you enjoy it." Allocco brings a reputation for defensive acumen to the Hilltop. He also finds a way to bring out some of Walters' personality that rarely is seen. "I think he's misunderstood by a lot of people because he really is a great, great guy, and he's a good friend," Allocco said of Walters. "That's one of the things I've told him: He really is such a wonderful man. He's got to let that side of himself show a little bit more." Walters said Allocco is "older than I am, but we relate in a lot of ways. That's been refreshing for me. … He gets me to smile. He gets me to laugh. People don't see that side of me a whole lot, but he's getting me to do that more." In turn, Walters would like to see Derksen who's by far the Dons' most experienced player stick with an upbeat demeanor. "I would rather him have fun," Walters said, "more so than worrying about being an example because he already is that. I want him to have fun and if he has fun, he's going to have a great year." The Dons are short on experience, and just plain short: Freshman forward Matthew McCarthy from Australia is the tallest man on the roster at 6-foot-9, and junior-college transfer Dont'e Reynolds (6-8) is the tallest possible starter. "We've got to own that, quite honestly," Walters said. "We've got to own the fact that we're not the biggest team." After nearly two weeks of practices, the Dons like Memorial Gym are a work in progress. Steve Kroner is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: [email protected] Twitter: @SteveKronerSF | 1 | 94,833 | sports |
Noa Sorrell is a complete inspiration! Not only is her cancer in remission, but she just debuted her first ever runway show -- at LA Fashion Week! Meet the fearless Noa here, and check out her super fun designs (that are sure to be on your daughter's wish list soon)! | 4 | 94,834 | lifestyle |
Shares in the world's biggest retailer, Wal-Mart, have plunged after it cut its profit forecast. The company said it expected earnings per share to drop by between 6% and 12% in the next financial year. The announcement sent shares of the company tumbling by 8%, their biggest fall in six years. Wal-Mart said the lower profit forecast was because it was investing in e-commerce as well as increasing employee wages. The retailer's spending efforts are in part a reaction to slowing sales, and competition from online retailers like Amazon. It is also spending more to train and retain employees. In April, the company raised its base salary to $9 (£5.81) per hour and will increase it to $10 next year. 'Digital capabilities' In a statement chief executive Doug McMillon defended the strategy. "Our investments in our people, our stores, and our digital capabilities and e-commerce business are the right ones," he said. The company revised down earnings figures for this year as well, predicting growth would be flat, rather than the previously forecast growth of 1%-2%. Wal-Mart has blamed the fall in part on the strong dollar affecting overseas sales, something that has also affected other US retailers. Profits for the company dipped over the summer as sales in its UK supermarket chain, Asda, declined. The retailer also announced it would repurchase $20bn in shares from investors. | 3 | 94,835 | finance |
15 Amazing Exercises You Forgot All About It's sometimes said that the best workout is the one you haven't done. After all, the body adapts quickly to even the most challenging of routines and a new program likely will stimulate different muscles and jump-start your enthusiasm for training. Guys who dabble in a little bit of everything CrossFit, yoga, obstacle racing, triathlon, paddle sports sometimes get away from some of the most basic, best-bang-for-your-buck exercises. In some instances, these moves have become overshadowed by new research or flavor-of-the-month trends. Other times they just fall between the cracks in the interest of saving time, even if they've served us well in the past. The best exercises tend to be timeless, producing some combination of strength, stability, endurance, and resistance to injury. They're versatile, requiring little to no equipment and you can do them anywhere. They also provide benefits that will help you thrive in any endeavor, along with mimicking the movements of everyday life. Most importantly, they're probably moves you've done at some point but now rank as lost classics. But by implementing some or all of them into your regimen, you'll jump-start your body and refresh your workouts without undergoing a learning curve. Here are 15 amazing exercises that perhaps you're forgetting. Mountain Climbers These build hip mobility and endurance and can be done anywhere. Add to the degree of difficulty by doing them on the beach in soft sand. Though they're not thought of as an abdominal exercise, they're actually more effective for building six packs than many ab routines. Pull-Ups Many guys give up on these in fourth grade after failing to do five on the Presidential Fitness Test. Hey, you're stronger now. Don't overlook this convenient move that builds upper body strength. Do swinging "kipping" pull-ups popularized by CrossFit if you need to build momentum initially, but work your way to the traditional up-and-down method. Romanian Deadlift Sort of a lost classic in the weight room, this move builds strength in your hamstrings, glutes, lower back, and upper back. Start with a lower weight and work up. Form is especially key to getting full benefits from the RDL. Burpees These aren't just for Spartan Race punishment. Few moves hammer the entire body while testing endurance. Work your way up to a set of 30 or, if you're older, your age. Add to the degree of difficulty by doing burpees under a pull-up bar and completing a pull-up at the end of each one. Box Jumps How often do you work on your lower-body explosiveness? This isn't about getting high enough to dunk, though it will help there, too; it's about creating the ability to mimic the activities of everyday life such as stepping off a bus or taking steps two at a time. Cobra/Superman We spend so much time sitting and crunched behind a wheel. This move pulls your body, especially the lumbar spine, back into alignment and keeps you from developing that hunched-over look. Bar Dips Another basic move that blasts the chest and can be done anywhere you find a pair of parallel bars. Or you can do reverse dips with a bench or table. Deadlift Considered a bodybuilding or power-lifting exercise, it actually mimics functional movement as well as any lift, keeping your back and hips strong. Whether you're moving furniture, lifting a child, or taking groceries out of the car, you're deadlifting. (Proper) Pushup Think you already have proper form? Get in position with a five-foot broomstick or dowel rod along the length of your spine with about a foot of the rod dangling over your head. If you have proper form, the stick will stay in position. If not: time to practice. Tricep Pushup Skip the triceps push-downs and skull-crushers in favor of pushups with the ends of your index fingers and thumbs touching. You'll blast the triceps without equipment. Dumbbell Bench Press Not as sexy as its barbell counterpart since nobody keeps track of their "max dumbbell bench," it's actually more effective in recruiting the muscles of your shoulders and chest. Split Squat/Lunge This move, while holding dumbbells, increases balance and strength in your hip and leg muscles. Whether you return to the starting position after each rep or do a walking version, you'll feel it in your hips and the front of your legs. Farmer's Carry Ever wonder why farmers don't need to work out? It's because they're accustomed to hauling heavy objects in both hands long distances. Work your way up to 45-pound plates for 50 yards. Cow/Cat These two opposite yoga moves raising and lowering your spine while on all fours work wonders for your back, which takes a beating from sitting all day. Don't save this one for the gym. A couple minutes in the middle of the workday goes a long way toward resetting your alignment. Foam Roller Exercises Just 15 minutes a day pays huge dividends in terms of muscle recovery and addressing knots and spasms. Few of us can afford a daily professional massage. But we all have time even in front of the TV to roll our way to recovery. What's more: You can actually do strength moves with a foam roller here's how . | 7 | 94,836 | health |
Not very smart but a Missouri man tried to put a garbage fire with his ammunition filled truck. It exploded. Patrick Jones (@Patrick_E_Jones) explains. | 8 | 94,837 | video |
Digital payments startup Square, founded by Twitter chief Jack Dorsey, announced Wednesday that it has filed with for a stock market offering to raise $275 million. The exact date Square will go public was not revealed, but the San Francisco-based company planned to trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "SQ." "We've built one of the fairest and most efficient payments businesses in the world," Dorsey said in a letter included with paperwork filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. "Creating more inclusion and greater equality in the global economy is both a social need and a huge business opportunity." Square started out in 2009 by providing financial transactions software for smartphones or tablets along with free "dongles" that plug into devices for reading magnetic strips on payment cards. Dorsey said that inspiration for the startup sprang from frustration experience by an artist friend who was unable to accept credit card payments for creations. Square recorded a loss of $77.6 million in the first half of this year as compared with a loss of $79.35 during the same period in 2014, according to the filing. Revenue for the first six months of this year at Square was $560.6 million as compared with $371.9 million in revenue taken in during the same period last year. Square warned in the filing that the rate of revenue growth was expected to drop for reasons including that major client Starbucks will switch to a rival payment system in the coming year. "Our sellers and other users of our services have no obligation to continue to use our services, and we cannot assure you that they will," Square said in the filing. Potential investors in the initial public offering (IPO) will have to decide whether they want to put their money into a company with a part-time chief. - Steering two ships - Early this month, Dorsey made his job as interim chief at Twitter permanent, giving him the task of steering two major companies in the online sector. Twitter is betting that the second coming of co-founder Dorsey as chief executive will bring blockbuster growth that has eluded its grasp and disappointed investors. The soft-spoken Dorsey, who will turn 39 next month, ran Twitter in 2007-2008 and served as interim chief executive after Dick Costolo resigned in June, brings the messaging company full circle. Media reports said Square took advantage of a US law to file for its IPO on a confidential basis earlier this year. The law allows firms with less than $1 billion in revenue to put off disclosure of financial data until 21 days before the "roadshow" for investors. In addition to the US, Square has operations in Canada, Japan and Australia and claims to have "millions" of users around the world ranging from independent craftsmen who use its dongle to accept credit card payments to large chain stores. | 3 | 94,838 | finance |
"I love you... Like a brother. I love you like a brother." | 8 | 94,839 | video |
How would you like one of the world's smartest computers to sift through gads of baseball stats and help you pick the perfect Fantasy Baseball team, then personally advise you on which players to play or bench all season long? In November, you'll be able to do just that, an IBM spokesperson tells Business Insider. That's when a new Fantasy Baseball beta service will launch from baseball stat company AriBall . The service will use IBM Watson to help people draft their Fantasy teams and then choose which players to play for any given game. Watson is a super smart computer service that understands regular language, reasons like a human and learns. The plan is to feed Watson heaps of baseball data from Baseball Reference.com and have the computer learn which stats for each player are the best predictors of future performance. Watson can, for instance, understand details like how right-handed hitters do against your star pitcher, or if your pitcher's fastball is getting slower late into the season, helping you know who to play for any given game, the spokesperson tells us. There's a similar service in the works for Fantasy Football fans. A startup called Edge Up Sports is working on it after a successful Kickstarter campaign. The Fantasy Baseball service is all part of a new kind of computing that IBM CEO Ginni Rometty calls "cognitive computing." She's on a mission to make computers that are so smart, they'll become the go-to advisor for just about every decision you make in life, including the really important stuff, like who to draft to your Fantasy sports teams. | 5 | 94,840 | news |
Are you willing to bet that Oilers rookie Connor McDavid will score at least 25 goals this season? #120Talk | 1 | 94,841 | sports |
One of the dilemmas that spread-offense teams have when preparing for Stanford is this: Where's the beef? Trying to duplicate the Cardinal's power ground game, with its extra offensive linemen and multiple-tight-end formations, isn't easy. Some teams don't really have a tight end. It's not easy for their scout teams to replicate the bulk and muscle that Stanford regularly applies. When the No. 15 Cardinal host No. 18 UCLA on Thursday night, they hope to ride that advantage to their eighth straight win in the series. Stanford beat UCLA twice in one week in 2012, including the Pac-12 title game. The Bruins were on the brink of winning the Pac-12 South last season until they were upset by Stanford 31-10 in the season finale. UCLA hasn't beaten Stanford since a 23-20 decision at the Rose Bowl in 2008, when Jim Harbaugh was in his second season as the Cardinal's head coach. Head coach David Shaw is 5-0 against the Bruins, but says that number and Stanford's seven straight wins in the series are irrelevant to the next game. "Most of the people who had a hand in those games aren't on either team," he said. "The big thing is: 'Where are both teams now, and can we play our best game on Thursday night and have a chance to win?' What happened last year or the year before doesn't matter." Guard Johnny Caspers said the team has "a slight sense of confidence" against UCLA as a result of previous successes. But he said, "What we build off more is what we've done this year as a unit as opposed to wins in the past." A fifth straight win would make the Cardinal the only team in the Pac-12 North without a loss in a league play. Then they would have three of their last five league games at home, only one of which is against a team that's currently ranked, No. 23 Cal. UCLA head coach Jim Mora is 0-4 against Stanford. His teams have allowed at least 192 yards rushing in each of those games. His defense wasn't helped by injuries to linebacker Myles Jack, defensive lineman Eddie Vanderdoes and cornerback Fabian Moreau. Meanwhile, the Cardinal have been clicking lately, scoring at least 41 points in their past three games. In four games against UCLA, Stanford quarterback Kevin Hogan has completed 65 of 88 passes for 776 yards and five touchdowns, with just one interception. Looking for a breakout: Even though Christian McCaffrey had kickoff returns of 67 and 31 yards in Stanford's last game, he hasn't broken one for a touchdown. "We don't get a lot of opportunities," special-teams coach Pete Alamar said. "People don't like to kick the ball to him. I guess, because we haven't run one back for a touchdown, we're the most over-respected kickoff-return team in America." If opponents are content to kick short and let Stanford take possession near the 35-yard-line, that's fine with Alamar. Stanford ranks last in punt returns, but Alamar thinks McCaffrey is just as capable of breaking a return there as he is on kickoffs. The rest of the special teams have done well. Conrad Ukropina is 7-for-8 on field-goal tries, and Alex Robinson is fifth in the league in punting (43.0). The kickoff-coverage team, spearheaded by Craig Jones and Peter Kalambayi, ranks second in the Pac-12. Tom FitzGerald is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: [email protected] Twitter: @tomgfitzgerald No. 18 UCLA (4-1, 1-1 Pac-12) vs. No. 15 Stanford (4-1, 3-0) Where: Stanford Stadium When: 7:30 p.m. TV/Radio: ESPN/1050 Story lines: Stanford is riding high behind its explosive offense and is looking to continue its domination (seven straight wins) over UCLA. Under head coach David Shaw, the Cardinal are 26-3 at home. UCLA is trying to get its season back on track after a 38-23 home loss to Arizona State. Injuries: UCLA LB Myles Jack (knee), DL Eddie Vanderdoes (knee), CB Fabian Moreau (foot), S Mossie Johnson (knee) are out for the season. Stanford OLB Kevin Anderson (undisclosed) is out. What to watch for It's Stanford's first look at heralded freshman QB Josh Rosen, who replaced Brett Hundley and is already setting UCLA passing records. Rosen isn't the runner Hundley was, but he has a strong arm and a quick release. Plus, Jordan Payton and Thomas Duarte are one of the best wideout combinations in the Pac-12. Stanford uncharacteristically has just six sacks and is tied for last in the Pac-12 in that category. Meanwhile, UCLA has allowed only four sacks second best in the league partly because Rosen has a very quick release and is smart about throwing the ball away when he can't find an open receiver. UCLA RB Paul Perkins is "Stepfan Taylor-like," according to Stanford head coach David Shaw, who predicts he'll have a long career in the NFL. Like Taylor, Perkins has quickness, elusiveness and the strength to break tackles. His average dipped to 115 yards per game after Arizona State held him to 63. Tom FitzGerald | 1 | 94,842 | sports |
Steve Spurrier, Steve Sarkisian and Randy Edsall all need to be replaced. Campus Insiders' business expert Kristi Dosh explains how much money athletic departments are spending to find new coaches. | 1 | 94,843 | sports |
Doubble-cable Kickback IFBB Bikini Pro Juliana Daniell demonstrates her ultimate arm workout using compound exercises that hit biceps and triceps from every angle. Do these exercises for sexy, sculpted arms. Works: Triceps Stand with your feet hip-width apart while holding a cable in each hand. bend forward until your back is flat, and secure your elbows on each side of your rib cage. Extend the cables behind you, "kicking back" your triceps until your arms are straight. Return cables to the sides of your chest. Perform two sets of 15 reps. Tip: If a dual-cable machine isn't available, use dumbbells or one single cable at a time. Workout by Gino Caccavale Squat-hold Preacher Curl Works: Biceps, Core, Legs Place feet shoulder-width apart and squat down with knees bent 90 degrees. Hold a straight bar in front of your body with your arms extended and palms facing up. Perform a biceps curl with your elbows resting on the insides of your knees, lifting the bar until it's slightly below chin level. Perform two sets of 15 slow, controlled repetitions. Tip: This is a great option for women who don't want to squash their chests on a preacher bench. Single-arm Bench Dip Works: Triceps, Core, Glutes Place your left hand on a bench with your fingers forward. keep your right knee bent at 90 degrees, with your left leg elevated parallel to the floor and your foot flexed. Extend your right arm forward, palm down, keeping your arm parallel to the floor. Slowly descend into a one-arm triceps dip until your upper left arm is parallel to the floor. Press back up until your left arm is straight but not locked out. Perform 20 reps, then repeat with the other leg and arm. Tip: Engage your abs throughout the move to help you maintain form. Resistance Band Biceps Burnout Works: Biceps Stand on a resistance band with your feet hip-width apart. hold the handles of the band at your sides with your palms forward. Curl your biceps up rapidly, keeping tension on the band. Perform two sets of 30 fast-paced reps. Tip: Don't pause at the top or bottom of the movement. Stability Ball triceps hammer Press Works: Triceps, Core Lie on a stability ball with your head on the ball and your pelvis pressed upward, knees bent 90 degrees and toes elevated. Hold dumbbells directly overhead. Lower the dumbbells to your temples, then extend your arms. Do two sets of 15 reps. Lying Overhead Cable Curl Works: Biceps, Core Lie on a bench with your knees bent and your feet on the bench. Reach your hands up with your palms facing the wall behind you, and firmly grasp the straight bar. Keeping upper arms straight, curl the bar to within two inches of your forehead. Then extend your arms back up. Repeat for two sets of 15 reps. Tip: Pause at the bottom for three seconds for an extra iso burn. Reverse-grip Barbell Pushup to Wide-stance Curl Works: Biceps, Triceps, Core, Legs Hold a 20-pound barbell with your palms facing away from you (reverse grip) at shoulder width. Place barbell on the floor with your wrists in line with your shoulders and thrust your legs back into pushup position. Perform two pushups. Thrust your legs forward, this time placing your feet wider than shoulder width, and stand with your knees slightly bent and your core engaged. Perform two biceps curls. Place the bar back on the floor and thrust your legs back again, feet at shoulder width. Perform two full sets of 10 reps. Tip: Don't rush. Make sure your shoulders and core are stabilized before doing pushups. | 7 | 94,844 | health |
Localytics has been taking a closer look at the iPhone adoption rates in the growing Asian markets, and the results show that Apple's latest hardware is proving to be more popular in these countries than the saturated Western markets. It's not all good news for Apple, as the global adoption rate of the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus is lagging behind last year's release of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. The new handsets are on 2.7 percent of Apple's total active devices, while last year's models reached 4.0 percent in the same timescale. That's down almost a third down year-on-year, although the increased size of the iOS device market should be taken into considered, along with Apple's own sales figures of thirteen million devices. That said, there are some territories where the new handsets are performing strongly, including the Asian market. Japan is showing the highest adoption rate of all the countries surveyed, with a total of 6.0 percent of the current iPhone market occupied by the new handsets. In second place is Hong Kong (5.8 percent) with Singapore coming in third (on 3.0 percent). The larger-screened iPhone 6S (which many believe is more suited to Asian markets), has the top adoption rate of the larger screened devices, followed by China and again Singapore. The Biggest Changes In iOS 9 As noted previously, the saturated Western markets see high-end smartphone manufacturers more reliant on churning customers from other handsets and platforms than finding new customers to sell them their first smartphones. This makes the increased adoption rates in Asia critical to Apple's ongoing financial supremacy. Not only will this give them a larger slice of the profits in the high-end space, but iOS has a much stronger loyalty factor than Android. That makes it likely that more of these customers will stay within Apple's ecosystem when they look to upgrade their handset. ( Now read my review of the iPhone 6S ). | 3 | 94,845 | finance |
WASHINGTON Two weeks of air and missile strikes in Syria have given Western intelligence and military officials a deeper appreciation of the transformation that Russia's military has undergone under President Vladimir V. Putin , showcasing its ability to conduct operations beyond its borders and providing a public demonstration of new weaponry, tactics and strategy. The strikes have involved aircraft never before tested in combat, including the Sukhoi Su-34 strike fighter, which NATO calls the Fullback, and a ship-based cruise missile fired more than 900 miles from the Caspian Sea, which, according to some analysts, surpasses the American equivalent in technological capability. Russia's jets have struck in support of Syrian ground troops advancing from areas under the control of the Syrian government, and might soon back an Iranian-led offensive that appeared to be forming in the northern province of Aleppo on Wednesday. That coordination reflects what American officials described as months of meticulous planning behind Russia's first military campaign since the dissolution of the Soviet Union outside former Soviet borders. Sign Up For NYT Now's Morning Briefing Newsletter Taken together, the operations reflect what officials and analysts described as a little-noticed and still incomplete modernization that has been underway in Russia for several years, despite strains on the country's budget. And that, as with Russia's intervention in neighboring Ukraine, has raised alarms in the West. In a report this month for the European Council on Foreign Relations, Gustav Gressel argued that Mr. Putin has overseen the most rapid transformation of the country's armed forces since the 1930s. "Russia is now a military power that could overwhelm any of its neighbors, if they were isolated from Western support," wrote Mr. Gressel, a former officer of the Austrian military. Russia's fighter jets are, for now at least, conducting as many strikes in a typical day against rebel troops opposing the government of President Bashar al-Assad as the American-led coalition targeting the Islamic State has been carrying out each month this year. The operation in Syria still relatively limited has become, in effect, a testing ground for an increasingly confrontational and defiant Russia under Mr. Putin. In fact, as Mr. Putin himself suggested on Sunday, the operation could be designed to send a message to the United States and the West about the restoration of the country's military prowess and global reach after decades of post-Soviet decay. "It is one thing for the experts to be aware that Russia supposedly has these weapons, and another thing for them to see for the first time that they do really exist, that our defense industry is making them, that they are of high quality and that we have well-trained people who can put them to effective use," Mr. Putin said in an interview broadcast on state television. "They have seen, too, now that Russia is ready to use them if this is in the interests of our country and our people." Russia's swift and largely bloodless takeover of Crimea in 2014 was effectively a stealth operation, while its involvement in eastern Ukraine, though substantial, was conducted in secrecy and obfuscated by official denials of direct Russian involvement. The bombings in Syria, by contrast, are being conducted openly and are being documented with great fanfare by the Ministry of Defense in Moscow, which distributes targeting video in the way the Pentagon did during the Persian Gulf war in 1991. That has also given officials and analysts far greater insight into a military that for nearly a quarter-century after the collapse of the Soviet Union was seen as a decaying, insignificant force, one so hobbled by aging systems and so consumed by corruption that it posed little real threat beyond its borders. "We're learning more than we have in the last 10 years," said Micah Zenko, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, noting the use of the new strike fighters and the new cruise missile, known as the Kalibr. "As it was described to me, we are going to school on what the Russian military is capable of today." The capabilities on display in Syria and before that in Ukraine are the fruits of Russia's short, victorious war in Georgia in 2008 . Although Russia crushed the American-trained forces of Georgia's government, driving them from areas surrounding the breakaway region of South Ossetia, Russia's ground and air forces performed poorly. The Russians lost three fighter jets and a bomber on the first day of the war that August, and seven overall, according to an analysis conducted after the conflict. Russian ground forces suffered from poor coordination and communication, as well as incidents of friendly fire. In the war's aftermath, Mr. Putin, then serving as prime minister, began a military modernization program that focused not only on high-profile procurement of new weapons new aircraft, warships and missiles but also on a less-noticed overhaul of training and organization that included a reduction in the bloated officer corps and the development of a professional corps of noncommissioned officers. Russian military spending bottomed out in the mid-1990s but has risen steadily under Mr. Putin and, despite the falling price of oil and international sanctions imposed after the annexation of Crimea, it has surged to its highest level in a quarter-century, reaching $81 billion, or 4.2 percent of the country's gross domestic product, a common measure of military expenditure. The Russian advancements go beyond new weaponry, reflecting an increase in professionalism and readiness. Russia set up its main operations at an air base near Latakia in northwestern Syria in a matter of three weeks, dispatching more than four dozen combat planes and helicopters, scores of tanks and armored vehicles, rocket and artillery systems, air defenses and portable housing for as many as 2,000 troops. It was Moscow's largest deployment to the Middle East since the Soviet Union deployed in Egypt in the 1970s. "What continues to impress me is their ability to move a lot of stuff real far, real fast," Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, the commander of United States Army forces in Europe, said in an interview. Since its air campaign started on Sept. 30, Russia has quickly ramped up its airstrikes from a handful each day to nearly 90 on some days, using more than a half-dozen types of guided and unguided munitions, including fragmentary bombs and bunker busters for hardened targets, American analysts said. Russia is not only bringing some of its most advanced hardware to the fight, it has also deployed large field kitchens and even dancers and singers to entertain the troops all signs that Moscow is settling in for the long haul, American analysts said. "They brought the whole package," said Jeffrey White, a former Mideast analyst with the Defense Intelligence Agency now at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. "It showed me they could deploy a decent-sized expeditionary force." For now, Russia's focus in Syria is mainly an air campaign with some 600 Marines on the ground to protect the air base in Latakia. Mr. Putin has excluded the idea of sending in a larger ground force to assist the Syrians. Michael Kofman, an analyst with the CNA Corporation, a nonprofit research institute, and a fellow at the Kennan Institute in Washington who studies the Russian military, said that the operations over Syria showed that Russia has caught up to the capabilities the United States has used in combat since the 1990s. That nonetheless represented significant progress given how far behind the Russians had fallen. "Conducting night strikes, with damage assessments by drones, is a tangible leap for Russia into a mix of 1990s and even current Western combat ability," he said. The Russian Air Force suffered a series of training accidents over the spring and summer losing at least five aircraft in a matter of months which Mr. Kofman described as "teething pains" as pilots increased operating tempo under Mr. Putin's orders. Even so, Russia's aviation is "often painted in the West as some sort of Potemkin village, which is not the case." He and others said that the biggest surprise so far has been the missile technology on display. The cruise missiles fired from Russian frigates and destroyers in the Caspian Sea were first tested only in 2012. With a range said to reach 900 miles, they had not been used in combat before, and despite the loss of four cruise missiles that crashed in Iran in one salvo, they represent a technological leap that could prove worrisome for military commanders in NATO. He noted that the advances in missile technologies improved the precision and firepower even of aging, Soviet-era ships or aircraft. "This is an amazingly capable new weapon," he added. Russia's state television network boasted on Monday that from the Caspian, they could reach the Persian Gulf, the Arabian Peninsula and the "entire Mediterranean Sea." It went on to note that trials of the missiles were underway aboard two ships in the Black Sea, which is bordered by three NATO allies: Turkey, Bulgaria and Romania. The Moskva, a guided-missile cruiser that is the flagship of Russia's Black Sea Fleet, based in the newly annexed Crimea, has also deployed with other ships off the coast of Syria, providing air defenses for the for the aircraft and troops Russia has deployed. Those missiles effectively protect the skies over Syrian territory under control of the government from aerial incursions, and all but block the establishment of a no-fly zone in Syria, as many have called for. American officials say Russia has closely coordinated with its allies to plan its current fight. Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani, the head of Iran's paramilitary Quds Force, went to Moscow in late July in an apparent effort to coordinate on the Russian offensive in Syria, and he is also spearheading the Iranian effort to assist Iraqi militias. "The broad outlines were decided months ago," said Lt. Gen. Richard P. Zahner, formerly the Army's top intelligence officer in Europe and in Iraq. American officials, while impressed with how quickly Russia dispatched its combat planes and helicopters to Syria, said air power has been used to only a fraction of its potential, with indiscriminate fire common and precision-guided munitions used sparingly. It is clear the Russians are already harvesting lessons from the campaign to apply to their other military operations, said David A. Deptula, a retired three-star Air Force general who planned the American air campaigns in 2001 in Afghanistan and in the gulf war. "Essentially," he said, "Russia is using their incursion into Syria as an operational proving ground." Follow the New York Times's politics and Washington coverage on Facebook and Twitter , and sign up for the First Draft politics newsletter . | 5 | 94,846 | news |
The United States and Russia could soon sign a pact establishing safety protocols in the skies above Syria as both powers carry out separate bombing campaigns, a US defense official said Wednesday. "We are nearing completion of a memorandum of agreement that would set up procedures to enhance air safety," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. "It could be signed and implemented in the coming days." The official's comments came shortly after Russia and the United States held a third round of video talks to decide rules so pilots don't inadvertently fly into each other. "Progress was made during the discussions, which were professional and focused narrowly on the implementation of specific safety procedures," Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis said. The US-led coalition has for more than a year been conducting regular drone and plane strikes in Syria and Iraq, targeting the Islamic State group. That mission got much more complex on September 30, when Russia launched its own military campaign to support President Bashar al-Assad. Moscow claims it is striking IS and other "terrorists." Further complicating matters, Russia last week fired cruise missiles into Syria from the Caspian Sea. The missiles typically fly at much lower altitudes than jets, but Pentagon officials were nonetheless distressed that Russian bombs were in the same air space as coalition planes. So far, there have been no major incidents in the Syrian skies, though Pentagon officials said coalition planes have had to change course to avoid being in the same space as Russian jets. And on Tuesday, Colonel Steve Warren, the spokesman for the US-led coalition, told reporters that coalition and Russian planes came close enough to establish visual contact. "There's always going to be some risk if there are uncoordinated actors in the battle space," he said. Officials say the so-called "deconfliction" talks come down to some basic operating procedures, including which language Russian and American pilots will use for communication, the choice of radio frequency for distress calls and the altitude at which warplanes will operate. | 5 | 94,847 | news |
U.S. grocery retailer Albertsons Companies Inc (ABS.N) postponed the pricing on Wednesday of what it was hoping would be a $2 billion initial public offering amid weaker than expected demand from investors, according to people familiar with the matter. Albertsons is now hoping to price its IPO on Thursday, the people said. First Data Corp (FDC.N) was also looking to price its IPO on Wednesday, raising as much as $3.7 billion in this year's biggest stock market flotation. The sources asked not to be identified because the deliberations are confidential. Albertsons did not immediately respond to a request for comment. (Reporting by Lauren Hirsch in New York) | 3 | 94,848 | finance |
A strong US dollar is slowing growth and stalling manufacturing according to a report released by the Federal Reserve. The Beige Book - a review of economic activity from the Federal Reserve - showed modest growth in the economy between mid-August and October. It also noted that wages across the country were "subdued". The report will contribute to the Federal Reserve's decision on whether to raise rates in October. The central bank is widely expected to raise rates for the first time since the financial crisis before the end of the year - but most economists predict the move will come in December. "Producers continued to cite weak oil and gas activity along with a strong dollar as key reasons for the sluggish activity," the report said. Papal boost It also suggested that wages across the country remained stagnant, a problem that has dogged the US labour market for the past several years. But the report added that businesses were "generally optimistic about the near-term outlook". The strong dollar has hurt tourism as well. The exception was Philadelphia where the Pope Francis's visit helped drive "modest growth". "The brief papal visit to Philadelphia shifted significant spending from Centre City stores and restaurants to mountain and shore destinations, as the region's population made way for tourists from around the nation and around the world," the report noted. The Beige Book is a survey of anecdotal data compiled from businesses across the Federal Reserve's 12 districts. | 3 | 94,849 | finance |
Don't bother tweeting or tagging anyone on Seton Hall this season, the Pirates swear they aren't looking. Isaiah Whitehead, a sophomore guard who is a preseason all-Big East second team selection, told Zach Braziller of the New York Post that the team has unanimously decided to give up social media (unless it's simply posting a photo to Instagram) for the duration of the 2015-16 season as a way to limit distractions. Whitehead says the ban will go into effect at the end of the month. "The one negative can break up a team so easily," Whitehead said during Big East Media Day on Wednesday morning at Madison Square Garden. "I think staying off of it will be good. Just trying to focus on the season. ... Coach loves it. He thought it was a great idea. Last season, the Pirates knocked off Villanova and St. John's, both ranked opponents, to begin conference play. Those two home wins reignited the fan base and launched Seton Hall into the top-25. However, Seton Hall finished the final month-and-a-half of the season losing nine of the last 10 games, finishing seventh in the league standings. The Big East preseason coaches' poll picks Seton Hall to finish in the same spot again this year, but a renewed focus, matched with the talented core of sophomores could make the Pirates a dangerous team. Seton Hall open the 2015-16 season on Nov. 13 against Dartmouth. | 1 | 94,850 | sports |
For the first time in recent memory, I had to call tech support. It wasn't for my computer or my smartphone. It was for my house. This summer, I had the bright idea to connect my home to the Internet. As anyone who has walked into a Home Depot recently can tell you, the future has supposedly arrived. And it's called the Internet of Things. The idea is that all the gadgets and devices in our home including light bulbs, security cameras, door locks, smoke alarms and thermostats will be connected online and can be controlled wherever there is the Internet, such as on our smartphones. Did the babysitter lock herself out of the house? Did you leave the lights on? Forgot to lower the thermostat? No worries. The solution is a few screen taps away. So to join the future, I picked up dozens of so-called smart products with the mission to install them myself. These products are touted as "plug and play," meaning they are supposed to just work. But as I soon learned, that could not be further from the truth. It took me the better part of a week to get these devices working. Some of them wouldn't find my wireless network, others wouldn't connect to my phone. Still others would give me indecipherable blinking red and yellow lights. So rather than you having to experience what I went through, let me walk you through some of the good, the bad and the downright abysmal devices I experimented with. Sign Up For NYT Now's Morning Briefing Newsletter The first thing I discovered is that these devices are not as simple to use as advertised. Take security video cameras. Not long ago, the equipment was expensive, hard to install and even pricier to maintain. Now there are hundreds of security webcams on sites like Amazon that promise peace of mind for under $200. Among the three I tried were Canary ($200), a cylindrical device that records video, sound and has a built-in alarm; Arlo (starting at $180), a wireless and weatherproof camera by Netgear; and, perhaps the most popular, Nest Cam ($200). While they all offered crisp video and motion detection, they each had a fatal flaw. The Canary worked perfectly until the night vision kicked in and sent me a security alert anytime a fly came within a few feet, which happened 5 to 10 times a night. Arlo worked nicely, but its app is terrible and some users have complained of short battery life in cold weather. Nest Cam, formerly known as Dropcam, didn't work for me at all. Hence my call to tech support. They sent me two replacements before one was able to connect to my Wi-Fi (so much for the 60-second setup). On top of that, there are additional fees of $100 a year to access your 10-day video history (or $300 a year for a 30-day history). Over 10 years, that's going to cost you $1,000 to $3,000. They must have taken a page from the razor-blade model . While some gadgets are hard to set up, others take the simplest tasks and make them more difficult. That was my experience with the August Smart Lock ($195), which allows you to unlock your front door with a smartphone. The lock is pretty, but rather than making life easier, it took 10 times longer to unlock than if I had taken the key out my pocket and turned the lock. (August is announcing a new lock this week that is supposed to fix these problems.) My wife threatened to move to a hotel unless I changed it back. I had a similar experience with the Nest Thermostat ($250). Sure, it's a beautiful piece of hardware, but something as simple as turning my air-conditioning off requires navigating a complex set of menus. So I resorted to turning the thermostat up to turn my A.C. off. But the "intelligent" thermostat interpreted my preferred temperature as 86 degrees, so my A.C. would turn off randomly, even when it was boiling. Some of the gadgets I tried seemed to be solutions looking for a problem. I'm talking about all those "smart" light bulbs, including Misfit Bolt and Philips Hue , that let you change colors from your phone. They are fun and easy to use, but I had a tough time figuring out what to do with those millions of colors, beyond creating an '80s disco party in my living room. That's not to say all these connected home devices are frustrating or useless. There were some I really liked. Lutron Caséta Wireless switches and plugs allow you to control your lights or other devices from your smartphone or the Apple Watch, even when you're not home. It was so simple to set up that I thought I had done something wrong. When I saw these lights work for the first time, I realized why I had started this painful endeavor in the first place. Telling your phone, "Siri, turn off my lights," is nothing short of magic. You can even turn your lights off when you're not home. Which leads me to one of my favorite gadgets in my connected home. The Ring ($200) is a Wi-Fi-connected doorbell. When mine arrived, I installed it by the front door and then honestly forgot about it. A few hours later, when I was out, my phone dinged and I had a video chat with the U.P.S. deliveryman as I ate Thai food in a restaurant. This was one of those "I live in the future" moments. But this story doesn't have a happy ending. When I finally got all these gadgets connected to my wireless network, I sat back with pride, gleaming that I had figured it all out. And then a geek's worst nightmare happened: My wireless router broke. I had to methodically connect every gadget to my new router, again. But there's a lesson here. Maybe all these connected-home gadgets aren't ready for the home. And maybe this is a job that should be left to the professionals, like painting your house or rewiring your outlets. Which is exactly what I tried next. Next week I'll explain what happens when you have an expert connect your home to the Internet. Follow our fashion and lifestyle coverage on any of these accounts: Styles on Facebook , Modern Love on Facebook , Styles , Fashion and Vows on Twitter and Fashion on Instagram . And sign up here to receive our NYT Living newsletter, a roundup of lifestyle news from the Style section and across the Times delivered to your inbox twice a week. | 5 | 94,851 | news |
Square intends to sell shares on the public stock market under the ticker symbol SQ for a proposed aggregate offering price of $275 million, according to an initial public offering filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Square, a financial technology start-up, makes devices that facilitate credit card payments when inserted into tablets, and offers services such as restaurant delivery courier Caviar and peer-to-peer payment system Square Cash. The S-1 filing provides a first look at the financial state of the company for potential investors. For instance, Square's total net revenue grew 51 percent year on year to $560.6 million for the six months ending in June. But overall, the company posted a net loss of $77.6 million over that time, the filing said. Square had pro forma cash and equivalents of $198 million, as of June 30. And Square's already started tapping its credit facility: The S-1 said it's drawn down $30 million as of June, with $195 million remaining. "The strength of this business is more than the money it generates," CEO Jack Dorsey wrote in the filing. "As a public company, our decisions will continue to reflect what we've done as a private one. We put our customers first. That means constantly asking the question: How can the financial system better serve people? We'll measure ourselves by our commitment to take the long view and focus on building a company that creates value over decades and not just a few fiscal quarters out." The official IPO filing comes after reports of a confidential filing sparked rumors this summer. It also means Dorsey could soon be running two publicly traded companies, after recently being named permanent leader of social media company Twitter (TWTR) , a factor that "may at times adversely affect his ability to devote time, attention and effort to Square," the filing said. Dorsey has 24.4 percent ownership of company in 71,124,082 shares, the filing said. The filing also pulled back the curtain on the inner workings of the so-called "unicorn" start-up, including executive compensation, and pending litigation over intellectual property, and the transaction costs and benefits of Square's payment processing agreement with coffee giant Starbucks (SBUX) . Square currently generates 95 percent of revenue from payments and point-of-sale services, the filing said. In 2014, sellers using Square processed $23.8 billion, or 446 million card payments from 144 million payment cards, the company said in the S-1. Before going public, the company was valued at over $6 billion, according to research firm CB Insights. Square had raised almost $600 million in private funding as of the end of September, according to database CrunchBase. The company's board will include heavy hitters like Larry Summers , David Viniar, Mary Meeker and Vinod Khosla, according to the filing. Non-executive investors include Khosla Ventures, JPMorgan Chase, Sequoia Capital and Rizvi Traverse, the filing revealed. Goldman, Sachs & Co., Morgan Stanley and J.P. Morgan are managing the deal, along with Barclays, Deutsche Bank Securities, Jefferies, RBC Capital Markets and Stifel. CNBC's Kayla Tausche contributed to this report. | 3 | 94,852 | finance |
Celebrities have condemned plans by the Australian government to cull two million feral cats. | 8 | 94,853 | video |
Mood Tracker Every day, I chose what mood I was in on a scale from "Awful" to "Great," and then stated why. Keeping my moods in check and reflecting on them made for better awareness of my emotions. The progress of my moods over the week. No crazy dips, but it's certainly telling. Meditations I breathed deeply to the sounds of a thunderstorm a number of times over the seven days, under the direction of the app. While I don't personally love deep breathing, I did get a little something out of it. Communities I was able to select from a long list of supportive communities, and I had the power to join whenever I wanted. I posted in "Quotes," "Relax," and "Books," with my status update in "Quotes" receiving the highest number of hearts (think Instagram). Everybody loves a good quote ! Thanks for the killer quote, Zen Shin Talks . Thinking Trap Within Pacifica, there's the option of keeping a brief record of the feelings experienced during some intense moment of the day, called a "Thinking Trap." After writing my entries, it would encourage me to highlight any negative words, and then pick what type of negative thought it was (some examples including "labeling and judging," "emotional reasoning," and "overgeneralization"). Pacifica would then prompt me to change the words into positive ones. Pretty neat technique! Goals I selected a new goal to complete every couple of days. After choosing one, Pacifica would ask how difficult I anticipated it to be on a scale of 1 - 10. After meeting the goal, it would ask if the task actually was as hard as I thought. I found myself actually enjoying tackling these simple challenges - and feeling ready to take on new ones. Verdict: Pacifica is, without a doubt, worth the shot for any anxious person. It may not eradicate ALL of your stress, but it certainly loosens you up - especially if you stick with it and add it to your daily routine (I recommend spending at least 10 minutes on the app a day). With this one, persistence is key. | 7 | 94,854 | health |
In August, the FDA approved flibanserin, also known as Addyi, for premenopausal women diagnosed with sexual desire dysfunction. Here's how it works and why some are calling it a game changer. | 7 | 94,855 | health |
In the stock market, insiders are a blanket term used to describe a company's directors and management. Investors may want to sit up and take notice when there's consistent insider purchases as it may indicate an undervalued share price. Persistent insider sales, on the other hand, may be a cause for concern regarding the strength of a company's business, though it must be noted that insiders could be selling for purely personal reasons. The actions of substantial shareholders with a company's shares may also be worth watching. Substantial shareholders (those who control 5% or more of a company), may not always be involved with managing the firm, but their large stakes would mean that they likely have done the requisite homework. With these in mind, let's take a look at two companies with either insider or substantial shareholder activity over the past two weeks. 1. Comfortdelgro Corporation Ltd (SGX: C52) It's hard to miss Comfortdelgro's large fleet of taxis in Singapore. But beyond that, the firm's actually one of the world's largest land transport companies with operations in seven countries including Australia, China, and the United Kingdom. In Singapore, Comfortdelgro has two subsidiaries which the public are likely to be familiar with. They are namely, SBS Transit Ltd (SGX: S61), which runs public bus and train services, and Vicom Limited (SGX: V01), which provides vehicle inspection and testing services. On 2 October 2015, BlackRock Inc, one of the largest asset managers in the world, had sold 251,200 shares of Comfortdelgro for nearly S$736,000. With the transaction, BlackRock's total interest in Comfortdelgro had been pared down very slightly from 6% to 5.99%. Comfortdelgro's shares closed at S$3.00 yesterday. At that price, it's valued at 22 times its trailing earnings. 2. Yongnam Holdings Limited (SGX: AXB) Yongnam is a structural steel contractor and specialist civil engineering solutions provider with more than 30 years of experience. Some notable projects it has been involved with in the past include Changi Airport Terminal 1 , parts of the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) network here, and commercial development One Raffles Quay . Some projects that Yongnam is currently working on include structural steelworks for Jewel at Changi Airport (a huge retail mall), and the construction of parts of the upcoming Downtown Line and Thomson Line for the MRT network. These projects are sizeable, with the MRT and Jewel contracts carrying a total worth of S$280 million and S$82 million respectively. For perspective, Yongnam had clocked revenue of S$212 million in the whole of 2014. Seow Soon Yong, the managing director and chief executive of Yongnam, has been actively purchasing shares of his company on multiple occasions since 19 August 2015. From a stake of 10.55% on 19 August 2015, Seow now holds an 11.37% interest in Yongnam (as of 14 October 2015). Yongnam's stock last changed hands at S$0.40 apiece yesterday after having fallen by more than half from a 52-week peak of S$0.98 that was reached in late 2014. At S$0.40, Yongnam's carrying a price-to-earnings ratio of 97. | 3 | 94,856 | finance |
Ten players from the Eritrean football team have refused to return home after playing a World Cup qualifying match in Botswana and are now seeking asylum there, officials say. The men were detained by police after deciding not to board their plane. They are reported to have refused to go home despite the intervention of the Eritrean ambassador in Botswana. There have been a number of mass defections by Eritrean athletes in recent years. One of the most noticeable was in 2013, when Uganda granted asylum to 15 Eritrean players and their team doctor after they absconded at the end of a football tournament. A senior official at the Botswana Football Association says it has yet to establish why the players refused to leave with their team-mates. However a report in the Botswana newspaper The Voice said that the players were distressed about the prospect of joining the Eritrean army and wanted to seek asylum despite being persuaded not to by the ambassador. The newspaper reported Botswana Football Association Vice President Basadi Akoonyatse as saying that the Eritrean players were found missing from their hotel rooms early on Wednesday morning by team officials. "A report was made to the police who spotted them loitering around Francistown, alleging that they were in search of a Red Cross centre where they could seek assistance to... be accorded asylum in Botswana," she said. Players' representative Dick Bayford told the Reuters news agency that he had received reports of an attempt to remove the players forcibly from Botswana. Eritrea is notorious for human rights abuses, with torture and slavery both reported by the United Nations Commission of Inquiry report to be commonplace. The country has also been accused by the UN of forcing its citizens to indefinite national service and of killing people trying to escape abroad. The Eritrean government dismissed the UN's findings as "totally unfounded and devoid of all merit". Eritrea - key facts InsertBodyImagePlaceHolder_2 Nation of six million on Red Sea - one of Africa's poorest countries One-party state - no functioning constitution or independent media Former Italian colony, later formed loose federation with Ethiopia 1962 - Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie dissolved Eritrean parliament, seized Eritrea Eritrean separatists - the Eritrean People's Liberation Front - fought guerrilla war until 1991, when they captured capital Asmara Eritrea voted for independence in 1993 May 1998 border dispute with Ethiopia led to two-year war costing 100,000 lives Still no peace settlement - thousands of troops face each other along 1,000km (620-mile) border Eritrea country profile Inside the secretive state of Eritrea The lone seven-year-olds fleeing Eritrea | 5 | 94,857 | news |
Through six weeks of the college football season, the field is wide open. Some normal powerhouses, like Auburn and Oregon, are performing way below expectations, while teams like Michigan and Utah have exploded onto the scene, and are real threats to win their leagues. There are surprises everywhere in the sport this year, and they have shifted how we view the individual conferences, and the divisions within them. The Pac-12 South, which has been competing with the SEC West for top billing in recent years, isn't quite what we thought, while a strong Michigan does a ton to raise the profile of the Big Ten East. Which divisions have thrived this season, and which are lagging behind? Which group has the deepest and most talented roster of teams, so far in 2015? Here is our ranking of college football's divisions this season. 9. ACC Coastal Despite their last-place ranking here, the ACC Coastal could legitimately place six teams in bowls this season. The problem is, at this point, it is hard to tell if anyone in the division is anything more than above-average, on a national scale. Outside of Virginia, which is yet to beat an FBS opponent, every team looks okay, but only one is ranked, and just barely, at that, Duke at #25. Duke continues to impress under program savior David Cutcliffe. At 5-1, its only loss was against a very good Northwestern team. The signature win thus far is probably 34-20 over Georgia Tech, which is a major problem for the division as a whole. Tech was supposed to be the standard bearer for the Coastal, and a trendy pick to take down Florida State and Clemson for an ACC crown before the season. Instead, the Yellow Jackets have been extremely disappointing, opening 2-3, also losing to middling UNC and most recently, getting blown out by Clemson. Pitt and Virginia Tech are fine, but have been ravaged by injuries to their best players, while Miami looks about as average as it usually does under Al Golden. Duke is a good team and a fine story, and outside of the Cavaliers, there are no outright bad teams here, but there are no good ones either, which is a major problem. 8. Pac-12 North For years, this division was defined by the Oregon-Stanford rivalry. The two programs were constants in the Top 10 and from 2009-13, they competed in a combined eight BCS bowls, while Oregon finished as the national runner-up last season. Stanford lost in Week 1 to Northwestern, which looks far more excusable now than it did then, but it has rebounded to win its next four, including a big win at USC. Oregon…Oregon's in trouble. The Ducks' quarterback situation is a mess with transfer Vernon Adams injured, and the defense has been completely porous, surrendering 38.7 points per game, which ranks 116th nationally. Without a strong Oregon, the Pac-12 North lacks the depth of the other power conference divisions. Cal might be pretty good this season, even after the recent loss to a very strong Utah team, but it is too early to call. Washington is a major question mark, and the USC win looks less impressive considering the turmoil surrounding the Trojans. Washington State is as enigmatic as its head coach, while Oregon State just looks weak this season. Stanford has gotten itself back into the national conversation as of late, but this division may only have one other relevant team. 7. Big Ten West Compared to normal expectations, which would typically pencil in Wisconsin and Nebraska at the top, the Big Ten West may be the division most turned on its head by this crazy 2015 season. The Badgers are down this season and Nebraska is the unluckiest program this side of Texas under new coach Mike Riley. Northwestern, which has impressive wins over Stanford and Duke, and the undefeated Iowa Hawkeyes, is leading the pack for the West. Those two teams face off in a fun battle this weekend: After the Wildcats and Hawkeyes, who still have a way to go to really gain the respect of the national audience, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and even Illinois, have all been fairly average teams, which is disappointing for the Huskers and Badgers, and great for the Illini. Purdue, at 1-5, is the only program that is lagging far behind, but even it has had some moments, nearly knocking off Michigan State. The Big Ten West bears a striking resemblance to the ACC Coastal, with more top end wins thus far. Seeing Iowa and Northwestern at the top of a division is a bit jarring, but who knows? Those two teams might actually just be quite good this season. 6. SEC East The SEC East has gotten a definite boost from the top 10 resurgence of Florida, although the 6-0 Gators have had a rough week off-the-field. In two weeks, Georgia has slipped from national title hopeful to possible Outback or Citrus Bowl participants. Kentucky has been a pleasant surprise and the 'Cats could significantly enhance their resume with a win over Auburn tomorrow. Elsewhere, Missouri looks pedestrian this year after back-to-back division titles, while Tennessee has been a disappointment. South Carolina and Vanderbilt? Not really much to talk about there, other than Steve Spurrier stepping down. There are some quality programs in this division, but once again, the East is behind the West in the SEC in terms of level of competition. 5. ACC Atlantic As usual, the Atlantic is shaping up to be a two-team race between Florida State and Clemson. The two heavyweights will face off on Nov. 7 in Death Valley, and that figures to be a must-see game. If the winner can get through the regular season undefeated and then win the ACC Championship Game, they'll qualify for the College Football Playoff. The rest of the bunch in the Atlantic is merely so-so. Louisville is having an uncharacteristically down year thus far, while Boston College's offense is non-existent and NC State has dropped two straight. Wake Forest is still Wake Forest and Syracuse's 3-0 start seems like a distant memory. In short, this division is top-heavy, but the two teams at the top of the pack are among the best in the country. 4. Pac-12 South This division hasn't exactly shaped up as planned through the first half of the season, but it's still a formidable group. All six teams have records of .500 or better. Utah is the jewel of the contingent right now, sporting a 5-0 record and a top-5 ranking. Injuries have hurt UCLA, while USC has underachieved on the field and been a mess off of it. Still, both programs are still well-stocked with talent and capable of making noise. Arizona State is dangerous (just ask UCLA), but Arizona is still searching for a quality conference win after being blown out by the Bruins and Stanford. Colorado is stuck in last place, but an upset or two down the stretch could make the Buffs a surprise bowl team. 3. Big 12 The Big 12 is home to two of the top three teams in the country, according to the AP Poll, and four of the top 16. Both Baylor and TCU have been in the top five since the preseason rankings were released, currently sitting at No. 2 and No. 3, respectively. Oklahoma has been in the rankings all season, though it has fallen with Saturday's loss. Oklahoma State, on the other hand, has been steadily creeping up ladder and now sits at No. 16. Texas even gave the Big 12′s depth a boost this past weekend, corralling a victory in the Red River Rivalry against Oklahoma. As of now, it looks like you can make an argument that Baylor is putting a better product on the field than any other team in the country, but we won't know for sure until it faces off against the likes of Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and TCU towards the end of the season. The Big 12 is home to some big football. 2. Big Ten East Home to the reigning national champions, the Big Ten East is one of the premier divisions in all of college football. It may be a bit top-heavy, but so is a sledgehammer. Comprised of seven members, the Big Ten East currently features three of the top 12 teams in the country, including No. 1 Ohio State. The Buckeyes hold the key to the castle, but Michigan and Michigan State have been surging as of late. It's not that unlikely that we may see all three of these teams ranked in the top 15 at the end of the year something that hasn't happened in quite some time. Ohio State, Michigan and Michigan State will collide this season, sending two of these teams falling down the rankings. But for now, all three of these teams are putting quality products on the field. If you're looking for the perfect combination of success and history, look no further than the Big Ten East. 1. SEC West Stop me if you've heard this one before, but the Southeastern Conference is the best in all of college football. And within the SEC, it's the SEC West that carries the weight. The SEC West is responsible for three of the top 10 teams and four of the top 13. It is still a powerhouse conference with superior talent, and that translates onto the football field. LSU running back Leonard Fournette currently leads the Heisman race by a landslide. Every time he enters the stadium, it's clear he's the best athlete out there, and that's pretty much what it looks like when members of this division take the field on Saturdays. When teams like Alabama and LSU are on the slate, opponents know they're in for a dogfight. The SEC West represents great college football past and present and remains king to this day. | 1 | 94,858 | sports |
PAHRUMP, Nev. Lamar Odom took cocaine and as many as 10 sexual-performance supplements leading up to his hospitalization in Las Vegas, according to a dramatic 911 call released Wednesday by the Pahrump Sheriff's Department. Odom, the former NBA player and husband of reality television star Khloe Kardashian, was rushed to a medical facility after being found unresponsive by staff at a brothel known as the Love Ranch, in Crystal, Nev., around 70 miles from Las Vegas. Sheriff Sharon Wehrly said two employees of the Love Ranch had stated Odom was unresponsive when they called 911 on Tuesday afternoon at 3:15 p.m. and informed dispatch of his drug use. "They confirmed his usage on Saturday but were unsure if it had continued throughout the weekend," Sheriff Werhly said. "They also informed dispatch that he had used up to 10 tabs of sexual performance supplements." One of the callers, Richard Hunter, the media director for the establishment, said on the 911 call that light red fluid and then white matter was oozing out of Odom's nose as he awaited the arrival of medical staff. Police understand that the supplements were legal and were obtained from the Love Ranch. The sheriff's department were unable to provide further information on Odom's condition but revealed contact has been made with one member of the Kardashian family, and that the person was "understandably distraught." | 1 | 94,859 | sports |
5 reasons Dale Earnhardt Jr. will win the Chase for the Sprint Cup 5 reasons Dale Earnhardt Jr. will win the Chase for the Sprint Cup Will this be the year that NASCAR's perennial most popular driver finally hoists the Sprint Cup Series championship trophy? Following are 5 reasons why Dale Earnhardt Jr. will indeed go all the way. 5. Consistency Earnhardt ran out of gas in the Chase race at New Hampshire. In the seven races before that, his worst finish was 12th, and average finish was 8.43. He was third two weekends ago at Dover. The No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports team is fielding good cars and Earnhardt is posting good finishes. That's what it takes to survive and advance this time of the year. 4. No Jimmie At Hendrick Motorsports, Earnhardt and Jimmie Johnson share a garage where their teams prepare and service their respective cars. With Johnson already eliminated from the Chase and Earnhardt still in it, the No. 88 team might just get a little more help than it normally would this time of year. 3. It's 'Dega, baby! The final race in the Contender Round is at Talladega, where Earnhardt won in the spring. He also won the July race at Daytona, the sport's other restrictor-plate track. With the whole season on the line and Talladega an elimination race, is there anyone else you'd rather have behind the wheel than Junior? The short answer: No. 2. Sense of urgency At almost 41 years of age and with marriage on the horizon, Earnhardt knows the clock is ticking if he wants to cement his legacy by finally winning a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship. He wants to win and he has the team to help him do just that. 1. Great tracks The two remaining races in the Contender Round of the Chase are at Kansas and Talladega, both places where the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series raced in the spring. In those races, Earnhardt finished third at Kansas and won at Talladega, giving him an average finish of 2.0. The three tracks in the Eliminator Round are Martinsville, Texas and Phoenix, all places where Earnhardt has won before and Hendrick usually runs well. | 1 | 94,860 | sports |
WASHINGTON Every day another Republican lawmaker seems to wake up and decide that he and in at least one case, she might make a pretty good speaker of the House. The profusion of potential candidates, now approaching double digits, is happening even with all attention focused on Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, the former GOP vice presidential nominee widely seen as the best person for the job. Ryan, who has made clear he does not want to be speaker, is home in Janesville, Wisconsin, thinking it over anyway under pressure from top party leaders. And with Congress out of session for a weeklong recess, Capitol Hill has fallen quiet after a series of wild days during which Speaker John Boehner shocked the House by announcing his planned resignation, and Boehner's heir apparent, Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, abruptly took himself out of the running. The stunning developments left a leadership vacuum at the pinnacle of Congress. Now into it are stepping a growing number of Republican lawmakers from around the country, some relative newcomers, others with experience to point to, united by a chance to lunge at the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to become speaker of the U.S. House, second-in-line to the presidency. Why any of them would want a job that defeated the current occupant and scared off his No. 2 is another question. The daunting rift between establishment-minded lawmakers and the hard-line conservatives who pushed Boehner to the exits shows no sign of dissipating, and threatens to complicate life for whoever next occupies the speaker's chair. Congress also faces a series of formidable tasks over the next several months, including increasing the federal borrowing limit to avoid a default and paying the government's bills to stave off a shutdown. Nevertheless, the wannabe speakers are multiplying. "I am humbled to have my name mentioned as a potential candidate, and I am considering the pursuit of the speakership in response to those requests," Rep. Bill Flores, R-Texas, wrote in a letter to fellow House members Wednesday. "If we all spend enough time on our knees praying for each other, we can heal our divisions and truly work together to restore America to the 'Shining City on a Hill' that President Reagan challenged us to become." Rep. Mike Pompeo, R-Kansas, released a statement observing: "I know every member of the House is looking for the right person. If I can serve the American people and the conservative movement in any way, sign me up. However, a couple weeks ago I was floated as a presidential candidate, so I might be pretty busy." And a freshman congressman from Montana, Ryan Zinke, got into the action. "We're looking at it. Our phones are ringing off the hook because I think America wants something different," Zinke said. "I haven't decided, but what I have decided is that Congress better do our duty and defend our values of this country." Several of the lawmakers sought to make clear that they were being urged by their fellow Republicans to run for speaker; not doing so out of their own ambitions. And several also took pains to make clear that they would run only if Ryan does not. "We are all hopeful that Paul is going to say that he would appreciate the opportunity to serve as speaker," said Rep. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, adding that she's been encouraged by colleagues to look at the job. "It is going to take a listening ear and a steady head to walk our conference through some of these issues," she said. Others who've suggested their interest in the speakership, or contacted fellow lawmakers to sound them out, include GOP Reps. Michael McCaul and Michael Conaway of Texas, Lynn Westmoreland of Georgia, and Darrell Issa of California. Reps. Daniel Webster of Florida and Jason Chaffetz of Utah were running against McCarthy before he dropped out, and remain in the race. Still others, such as Rep. Matt Salmon of Arizona, have seen their names pushed by outside groups seeking new leadership for the House GOP. "These are all really, really, good people, and I think if they could convince the conference that they would run the conference in a way that's more member-oriented, many of them could be good speakers," GOP Rep. Mick Mulvaney of South Carolina, a founding member of the hard-line House Freedom Caucus, said in an interview after several potential candidates contacted him to gauge support. Although Ryan would be the prohibitive favorite for the job if he does seek it, Mulvaney and others disputed arguments that he's the only one who could unite the House GOP. Ryan, an expert on budgetary matters who chairs the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee chairman, is already drawing criticism from some on the right for his support for comprehensive immigration legislation and government bailouts. "I like him and I respect him, and I think there are a number of directions he might take us that I don't want to go, and immigration is one of those," said Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa. "I don't think he would be one who would transform (the House) and turn it into a membership-driven organization and I think this is our one chance to do that." ___ Associated Press writer Matt Volz in Helena, Montana contributed to this report. | 5 | 94,861 | news |
The Los Angeles Kings are the worst team in the league right now. It's plain and simple. They're one of seven teams that are 0-3-0, their two total goals are the lowest in the league among teams with at least three games played, and their -10 goal differential is the worst in the league. There is no redeeming qualities in this team right now. They've walked out on the ice against three different divisional foes, and with each game, they have handed their rivals points in the standings. "We're playing too soft to get the pucks back," a deflated Anze Kopitar told the media. "When we chip the puck in, about 80 percent of the time (the opposition) comes right back with the puck. We got to get some stops and get some zone time, obviously." He's sort of right. The Kings have dominated the puck possession category in past seasons, but so far this year, they haven't quite reached that level of puck possession domination. To determine how well the Kings have possessed the puck so far this year, we are going to look at their team Corsi-For percentage. Corsi-For percentage is the overall percentage of shots that are being generated throughout the game for both the team itself and the opposition. No matter what type of shot it is, whether it makes it to the net, gets blocked, misses the net, it doesn't matter. It gets recorded. Corsi-For percentage takes into account Corsi-Against, which records the amount of shots that are being generated by the opposition. The percentage allows us to see if a team is generating more shots, or more shots are being generated against them. So, anything above 50 percent means that that team is generating more shots than their opposition, and anything below 50 percent means the opposition is generating more shots. Why is that important to measure possession? Because in order to generate any sort of shot, you have to possess the puck in your offensive zone, right? The more shots you are generating, the more likely you are out-possessing your opposition. As a team so far this year, the Kings have a Corsi-For percentage in close situations (meaning the game situation is either a one-goal game in the first or second period, or a tied game in the third period) of 51.5 percent, ranking them 14th in the league. That's pretty good, but when you consider that last season the Kings led the league with a 53.9 Corsi-For percentage, it's not as thrilling. But, it is still above 50 percent, which means the Kings are generally possessing the puck a bit more than their opposition. So why are they losing? They are really, really unlucky. There's a general way of measuring a team's luck over the course of a season. If you add a team's shooting percentage to a team's save percentage, you get what's called PDO. PDO gives us a loose idea on how "lucky" a team might be. If a team has a PDO score over 100, they are considered a "lucky" team. If it's below 100, the team is considered "unlucky." The best example of this is the 2012-13 Toronto Maple Leafs. They led the league in PDO that year at even strength five on five with a high score of 102.5. But, they were dead last in the league when it came to Corsi-For percentage. What ended up happening to the Leafs in the playoffs? They epically collapsed, and have since dwindled into a complete rebuild. So far this season, in all game situations, the Kings are dead last in PDO, with an absurdly low score of 87.6. Let's put that into some perspective. PDO is just your team save percentage plus your team shooting percentage. So, so far this season, The Kings team shooting percentage is just 2.6 percent. That is unsustainably low. To put that into perspective, last season, the league-wide average shooting percentage was 8.9 percent, according to Quant Hockey . Los Angeles' save percentage is equally low so far this season. The team save percentage is just .850 percent. And to put that into perspective at just how low of a percentage that is, the league-wide average save percentage last season was .915, again according to Quant Hockey . The Kings have gotten off to a really rough start to their season. Their team shooting percentage and their team save percentage are, quite literally, unsustainably low. The encouraging news is that, much like last season, they are staying afloat with a solid amount of puck possession. They've only played three games. Both their team save percentage and their team shooting percentage will progress towards the mean. And if it is accompanied by a continuously positive Corsi-For percentage, it's only a matter of time before Kopitar and his Kings start generating some offense and winning some games. They just need to power through this rough start. Statistical information obtained from War On Ice. | 1 | 94,862 | sports |
Demonstrators campaign outside the French Senate in Paris against a proposed amendment to a law on prostitution which would penalise clients. Diane Hodges reports. | 5 | 94,863 | news |
Chris Petersen hasn't exactly dazzled in his first year-and-a-half at Washington, managing an 8-6 record in his opening campaign with a roster that featured three first-round NFL Draft picks. Many among the Husky faithful have been concerned that Petersen's disciplinarian approach would not translate to a Power Five school like Washington. But if the last week has taught us anything, we learned that Petersen just might know what he's doing as should be expected of a coach who comes to a program after going 92-12 in his previous job. The departure of Steve Sarkisian to USC left Washington fans upset over losing a coach who dug the program out of the depths of an 0-12 season in 2008 and turned the Huskies into a consistent bowl-bound team. But when the clock struck zero at the L.A. Coliseum last Thursday, there was a clear contrast between Petersen - a coach who is finally starting to get his program running his way - and Sarkisian - whose personal demons have derailed USC's season and his career for the foreseeable future. This week Washington will face Oregon, a bitter border rival which has beaten the Huskies eleven consecutive times. It doesn't matter to Washington fans that Oregon has lost three games the most since 2009 halfway through the season, or that the Ducks are unranked. All that matters is a win. When Petersen was hired, he was asked at his introductory press conference, "Coach, are you going to beat Oregon?" Some members of the local press extolled Petersen's experience in beating the Ducks while at Boise State. Over the last 11 years, Washington fans have had to watch as a program that once had a little brother complex to the Huskies ran up scoreboards, went for two when it didn't matter, and unveiled 16,000 different new uniform combinations. But with Petersen settling in with Washington in his second season, and Oregon struggling to find itself in Mark Helfrich's third year, feeling around the UW football program is that now is the chance to finally beat the Ducks. Even Vegas has the Huskies favored over Oregon -- perhaps an overreach given the nature of this rivalry for the past decade. This Saturday's game will tell a lot about whether Petersen is the coach they hoped he'd be. MORE: Washington Bowl Projections On The Rise | 1 | 94,864 | sports |
CNBC's Meg Tirrell reports that Turing Pharmaceuticals CEO Martin Shkreli has not kept his promise to lower the price of Daraprim. | 3 | 94,865 | finance |
Have you ever wondered what it's like to be where your favorite horror movies were filmed? Gillian Pensavalle (@GillianWithaG) tells you about some places you can visit. | 2 | 94,866 | travel |
VAN NUYS, Calif. In an emotional 80-minute hearing in Los Angeles Superior court on Wednesday, Judge Thomas Rubinson postponed his ruling on former major league baseball player Milton Bradley's motion for early release from jail, pending the judge's receipt of a more complete "plan" for the post-prison life of Bradley, who was convicted on domestic abuse charges in June 2013. Bradley, who was found guilty of nine misdemeanor counts of physically and emotionally abusing his wife, Monique Bradley, had been seeking a reduction in his 32-month jail sentence based on his professed need to help raise his sons, who are nine and seven years old, respectively. At a similar hearing last month, Judge Rubinson indicated that he was open to considering early release, and asked Bradley and his attorney, Harland Braun, to submit a detailed plan as to "what Mr. Bradley's life would look like" should he be freed from L.A. County Jail five months into his 32-month sentence. "What is he going to do if and when I release him," Rubinson had asked. "I'm not just talking about laying around the house. I'm not talking about going back to some aspects of the life that he had before which was cars and Vegas trips and fancy this and fancy that … No, no." This morning, Rubinson declared that the plan submitted by Bradley and his counsel, which the judge said he received only yesterday, was "insufficient" and "not nearly what I had in mind." He asked for a new submission "that is much more detailed and comprehensive than this." Assistant City Attorney Michelle Lim, who has prosecuted the case since it was first filed nearly four years ago, stated at last month's hearing that her office was open to considering early release, based on the well-being of Bradley's children, who were described by Bradley in September as undergoing emotional, mental and developmental distress due to their missing father. (Monique Bradley died of an unrelated liver illness in September 2013, a few weeks after the guilty verdict against her estranged husband.) This morning, Lim reversed field and said that she now "vehemently opposes" Bradley's early release, based on new evidence filed by Bradley in juvenile dependency court that depicts the Bradley children as "doing just fine." "The court is being misled," Lim said. "He is using his children as a tool to gain his early release … This not a man who has changed his ways." Lim added that Bradley has repeatedly resisted the efforts of Monique's parents, Roger and Judith Williams of Akron, Ohio, to obtain custody of the children or to even visit them. Bradley, wearing an orange jail-issued jumpsuit and scruffy beard, spoke briefly on his own behalf and denied trying to mislead the court. During the hearing letters from Monique's friends and relatives were tearfully read aloud by local anti-domestic abuse advocates and Monique's friend, Christina Lee, the wife of former major league player Derrek Lee. At the close of the hearing, Rubinson asked Bradley and his counsel to submit by Oct. 28 a more complete plan for the retired outfielder's post-jail future. The next hearing on the matter is scheduled for Dec. 9, 2015. | 1 | 94,867 | sports |
Tesla (TSLA) is giving those who own a Model S or Model X the ability to take their hands off the wheel and let their vehicle take control when driving in certain conditions. The company is updating the software on thousands of these models through a new system called Tesla Autopilot. The technology, which will be rolled out Thursday, allows those vehicles to control steering, speed, braking and lane changing. "I think this is going to be quite a profound experience for people when they do it," Tesla CEO Elon Musk said Wednesday. "We've been testing it for over a year, so we've [gotten] quite used to it. But I've noticed that when I put friends of mine in the car, and they see the car drive, they are blown away. So it's really quite an interesting, new experience," Here's how it works: The system incorporates information from 12 ultrasonic sensors that are monitoring traffic all around the vehicle. In addition, a camera in the front windshield and long-distance radar in the front grille provide a constant "reading" of the road and what lies ahead. All of that information is combined with the GPS data streaming into the vehicle, which allows the autopilot system to control whether the Tesla Model S or X can change lanes, and whether it should slow down or turn when the road is curving. The automaker is careful to point out that the current version of Tesla Autopilot requires the driver to occasionally hold the steering wheel, as one way to keep the driver engaged. There are also visual prompts in the vehicle's instrument panel, and audio chimes to alert drivers when the system is active or they need to take control. In announcing the rollout, Musk reinforced the need for early users to be cautious while using the technology. "It's auto-pilot version one. We still think of it sort of as public beta. So we want people to be quite careful at first," he said. Right now, only those Tesla models built since September 2014 have the required hardware that enables them to incorporate the autopilot software. Those buyers who paid $2,500 for the Tesla technology package will get the autopilot software automatically. Tesla Autopilot currently has four functions. Autosteer , which keeps Tesla vehicles in their lanes and manages their speed; Auto lane change , which controls the vehicle changing lanes when it's safe to do so; Autopark , which allows Tesla owners to parallel park without having to touch the steering wheel; and Side-collision warning , which alerts drivers when the system detects other cars or obstacles that are too close to the side of their Model S or X. Tesla is not the only automaker or technology company that has been developing partial autonomous-drive technology. Several automakers plan to introduce similar features in their vehicles over the next couple of years. Meanwhile, many automakers already have technology in their vehicles that enables automated parking, or that alerts vehicles to the risk of side collisions when changing lanes. Tesla Autopilot has been in development for more than a year. A spokesperson for the automaker said the company has been regularly updating the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and other regulators about how Tesla Autopilot will work when used in everyday, real-world driving. Questions? Comments? [email protected] . | 3 | 94,868 | finance |
The world of gaming has plenty of room for halos and wings. Join http://www.watchmojo.com as we countdown our picks for the Top 10 Video Game Angels. | 8 | 94,869 | video |
10. Alabama > Female earnings as pct. of male: 72.6% (6th lowest) > Female median earnings: $32,136 (8th lowest) > Male median earnings: $44,245 (15th lowest) > Pct. of management jobs held by women: 39.7% (24th lowest) While populations with higher educational attainment generally earn more than population segments with less education, education levels and income among men and women in Alabama are a stark exception. About 23.8% of adult women in the state have at least a bachelor's degree, in line with the 23.1% of adult men with similar educational attainment. Despite the similar education attainment rates, the typical female worker in Alabama earns $32,136 annually, $12,109 less than the typical male worker. Not only do women have less power than men financially, they also wield less political power. While women are underrepresented in political office nationwide, making up 24.4% of any given state legislature on average, the problem is even worse in Alabama. Only 14.3% of Alabama legislators are women, the fifth smallest share in the country. 9. Montana > Female earnings as pct. of male: 74.3% (9th lowest) > Female median earnings: $31,696 (5th lowest) > Male median earnings: $42,679 (12th lowest) > Pct. of management jobs held by women: 36.5% (7th lowest) Women are much less likely to hold positions of power in Montana than they do in most other states. Women hold only 36.5% of management positions in the state, significantly less than the national share of nearly 40%. Additionally, Montana is one of 13 states with no female congressional representatives. While women earn only about 80% as much as men nationally, the discrepancy is much worse in Montana. The median annual income of women in the state is only $31,696, less than three-quarters of the typical male's salary of $42,679. Since Montana is one of 10 states that does not fund pre-K programs, more women in the state may be forced to take time off work for child rearing. The lack of state investment in pre-K programs may partially account for the income discrepancy in Montana. 8. Indiana > Female earnings as pct. of male: 75.3% (11th lowest) > Female median earnings: $34,846 (16th lowest) > Male median earnings : $46,273 (22nd lowest) > Pct. of management jobs held by women: 39.8% (23rd highest) Like women nationwide, female Indiana residents are slightly more likely than men to have a college degree. Yet, median earnings for women in the state is equal to just 75.3% of the typical male earnings, the 11th worst pay gap nationwide. Part of the explanation may also be that, due to the much higher likelihood that women will take time off work for child care, women tend to work fewer hours over the course of their careers than men. As Hartmann explained, however, the lack of public support for child care promotes this disparity and is itself a feature of the gender gap. As is the case in nearly all of the worst states for women, Indiana does not allocate any money to state-run preschool, in contrast with the $4,125 per child expenditure nationwide. 7. Kansas > Female earnings as pct. of male: 77.0% (14th lowest) > Female median earnings: $36,162 (24th lowest) > Male median earnings: $46,951 (25th lowest) > Pct. of management jobs held by women: 35.8% (6th lowest) Only 35.8% of women in Kansas are employed in management positions, significantly less than the national share of nearly 40%. For women managing companies and enterprises in professional, scientific, and administrative industries, incomes are much lower in Kansas than they are for men. While the typical male managing a company in the sector earns $71,167 annually, median annual income for a female in a similar position is $49,875, roughly $21,300 less. Although women in Kansas are not as financially well-off as women across the country, they have had a level of political power uncommon among the worst states for women. While just over half of all states have had, or currently have, a female governor, Kansas has had two. Only five other states have had more than one female occupying the state's highest office. 6. South Dakota > Female earnings as pct. of male: 76.2% (13th lowest) > Female median earnings: $32,048 (7th lowest) > Male median earnings: $42,034 (8th lowest) > Pct. of management jobs held by women: 31.8% (2nd lowest) Both men and women earn less in South Dakota than men and women nationwide. However, men earn a median annual wage of $42,034, nearly $10,000 more than the median income for women of $32,048. Fewer women than men hold the typically higher-paying management positions, which could partly account for the pay disparities. Women hold less than 32% of management positions in South Dakota, the second lowest share after only North Dakota. Similarly, women occupy just 21% of South Dakota's legislature seats, lower than the national share of 24.4%. Meanwhile, one-third of the state's congressional delegations are women. While this share is far from perfect equality in representation, it is tied for the sixth highest proportion of all states. 5. Mississippi > Female earnings as pct. of male: 77.0% (15th lowest) > Female median earnings: $31,465 (3rd lowest) > Male median earnings: $40,850 (2nd lowest) > Pct. of management jobs held by women: 39.9% (22nd highest) Mississippi is the only state on this list where the income gap between men and women does not exceed the national gap of $9,804. The relatively small gap, however, is likely due to the especially low income levels among residents overall. A typical Mississippi household earns less than the typical household in any other state, and the state's poverty rate of 21.5% is the highest nationwide. According to Hartmann, poor economic circumstances disproportionately affect women, and women are more likely to live in poverty in the first place. Even though women in Mississippi tend to be more educated than men, 23.5% of women in the state live in poverty, higher than the men's poverty rate and the highest nationwide. The maternal mortality rate in Mississippi of 19 deaths annually per 100,000 live births is the fourth highest nationwide. Both the female and male life expectancies, at 78 and 72 years respectively, are also the lowest in the country. 4. North Dakota > Female earnings as pct. of male: 71.3% (5th lowest) > Female median earnings: $36,087 (22nd lowest) > Male median earnings: $50,624 (17th highest) > Pct. of management jobs held by women: 31.2% (the lowest) Job discrimination is among the biggest drivers of the gender pay gap. The different likelihoods of men and women working in a particular industry is especially relevant in the case of North Dakota. A mining boom has added thousands of jobs in the state over the past five years, but men have filled the vast majority of these jobs. Women hold just 13.1% of mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction jobs, versus the national share of 14.1%. Women in these jobs also earn a fraction of what men in similar positions earn women earn a median of $39,202, versus $85,159 for the typical man working in the industry. The degree to which female state residents are represented by female politicians also contributes to the gender gap. While a third of North Dakota's congressional delegation are women tied for the sixth highest share fewer than one in five state representatives are women, one of the lower proportions nationwide. 3. Idaho > Female earnings as pct. of male: 72.8% (7th lowest) > Female median earnings: $31,019 (the lowest) > Male median earnings: $42,624 (11th lowest) > Pct. of management jobs held by women: 37.1% (9th lowest) Women in leadership roles, Hartmann noted, are more likely to have women's best interests in mind be it passing legislation on behalf of women, or providing equal pay to similar employees. While women hold 27.6% of Idaho state legislature seats higher than the nationwide proportion there are no female congress members from Idaho, one of 13 states where this is the case. Similarly, women hold 37.1% of management positions in the state, lower than the national share of nearly 40%. In addition to leadership disparities, earning a living in Idaho is very different for men and women. A typical woman in Idaho earns $31,019 annually, the lowest annual wage among females nationwide, and $11,605 lower than the typical Idaho male earnings. 2. Wyoming > Female earnings as pct. of male: 68.7% (3rd lowest) > Female median earnings: $35,652 (20th lowest) > Male median earnings: $51,926 (9th highest) > Pct. of management jobs held by women: 37.6% (10th lowest) Known as the Equality State for being the first state to grant women the right to vote, today, Wyoming is one of the worst states for women. The difference in median annual income between men and women in Wyoming is $16,274, the third largest income gap in the country. Moreover, women earn less in their jobs than men despite having a higher educational attainment rate. While 25.8% of men in Wyoming have at least a bachelor's degree, 27.3% of women have similar education. Women are also greatly under represented in local political offices. Women hold just 13.3% of the Wyoming state legislature seats significantly less than the average of 24.4% representation across all states, and the smallest share after only Louisiana. 1. Utah > Female earnings as pct. of male: 67.4% (2nd lowest) > Female median earnings: $34,351 (14th lowest) > Male median earnings: $50,937 (14th highest) > Pct. of management jobs held by women: 32.7% (3rd lowest) Utah is the worst state in the nation for women. While men in Utah tend to earn more than men nationwide, women in the state earn less than women nationwide. The difference of $16,586 between male and female median earnings in the state is the second largest in the country. The near nation-leading pay gap in Utah may be partly due to job discrimination. Women hold less than one in three management jobs in the state compared to the national share of nearly 40%. And of the 104 seats in the legislature, female politicians occupy just 16. While the state is not especially favorable for female residents, its economy is quite strong. The state's unemployment rate of 3.9% 3.7% among women and 4.0% among men is the fourth lowest in the nation. | 3 | 94,870 | finance |
Archaeologists exploring the site of a planned motorway in Poland explain how they unexpectedly found a Bronze Age cemetery with graves dating back 3,000 years. Rough Cut (no reporter narration). | 8 | 94,871 | video |
The parents of the youngest child to be cryogenically frozen tell the BBC's Jonathan Head about their hopes she will one day live again. | 8 | 94,872 | video |
Sam Dyson is upset about giving up the home run that cost the Texas Rangers a spot in the ALCS, and now he's acting like a sore loser. The Rangers relief pitcher called out Jose Bautista following Game 5 of the ALDS for doing a disrespectful bat flip after his monstrous 3-run home run that gave the Blue Jays a 6-3 lead in the seventh inning. "Jose needs to calm that down, just kind of respect the game a little more," Dyson said via The Washington Post's Barry Svrluga . "He's a huge role model for the younger generation that's coming up playing this game, and I mean he's doing stuff that kids do in Wiffle ball games and backyard baseball. It shouldn't be done." Dyson had a forgettable outing. He relieved Cole Hamels and tried to protect a 3-2 Texas lead. Instead, he allowed the tying run to score on a fielder's choice, and then he gave up the 3-run jack to Bautista, which was the game-winning shot. Dyson was so upset about giving up the game that he picked a fight with Edwin Encarnacion and then later started something with Troy Tulowitzki . Bautista said after the game that he reacted in the heat of the moment with his passionate bat flip. He also said he meant no disrespect by it. "It's just the whole game. It's a great game, it's do-or-die game on a tight series. Winner obviously advances. I don't mean any disrespect whenever I do anything like that, and I certainly didn't plan it," Bautista said in an interview with FS1's Ken Rosenthal. "It was just a moment, and I felt it and I did it. I was just glad that I was able to help out the team in that moment." Bautista was asked if he had a response for Dyson's comment and gave a one-word answer: no. Bautista's bat flip was the most talked about play of the game and will be remembered for ages. It's the kind of play and reaction that will get fans and the youth excited about baseball. And if Dyson is upset about that, well then next time he shouldn't leave a pitch up in the zone, and he wouldn't have to worry about being the goat. | 1 | 94,873 | sports |
There has been no honeymoon period for Nebraska coach Mike Riley. After taking the reigns of Husker football from Bo Pelini -- a man who made his living cranking out 9-4 seasons with surprising consistency -- the former Oregon State head coach has deeply divided a fan base not accustomed to such rocky starts to the season. By local measures, the 2015 season is a downright nightmare. Riley's six-game tenure is singularly defined by the team's penchant for late-game collapses. The Huskers are 2-4, and all four losses have been decided on the opposing team's final offensive play of the game. BYU's Hail Mary. Miami's overtime field goal. Illinois' touchdown drive in the waning seconds. Wisconsin's long field goal -- its second attempt in the final 90 seconds -- splitting the uprights with four seconds left. This isn't the progress fans were promised when Riley came in as Pelini's replacement. But as painful as the present has been, concerns about the future loom even larger. Is this 2-4 start merely a consequence of transition -- a growing pain as Nebraska finds itself under Riley's leadership? Or are these struggles the symptom of a program falling even further from grace? From the body of evidence -- limited as it is after only six games -- you could make an argument either way. Ask BYU to recreate its 42-yard touchdown pass as the clock read zero, and you'd be smart to bet against failure. That loss broke Nebraska's streak of 29 straight season-opening victories, yet another mile-marker on its gradual decline as a college football powerhouse. Then again, that streak was largely built on cupcake opponents who visited Lincoln to be steamrolled. BYU is no Alabama, but the team it brought to Nebraska had the chops to hang with a good team, and it showed that with a late rally to win. Similar excuses can be made for Nebraska's road loss at Miami. The Hurricanes aren't great, but they're good, and Nebraska's furious 23-point fourth-quarter comeback served up reasons to be optimistic, even though the Huskers eventually lost in overtime. At 2-2, and even with a flat eight-point win over Southern Miss, it was easy to frame Nebraska as a program with potential, and some minor kinks to work out. But then Illinois happened: A 14-13 road loss to a program that fired its head coach just before the season. Nebraska pounded Illinois 45-14 one year earlier. That represented a new low for the Huskers and served as the catalyst for true signs of smoke: Reports surfaced that Nebraska's locker room was divided. Some players had reportedly remained loyal to Pelini after his firing, sitting in quiet protest against the athletic administration for canning their coach after a 9-3 regular season. Jack Gangwish, one of Nebraska's six team captains, shot down rumors of locker room dissent but challenged players to step up as leaders in an already tumultuous season. "I think in some situations those guys can be even more influential than what a coach can be. It's massively important for our leaders, captains and otherwise, to step up and lead this team in the right direction," Gangwish said. Nebraska 247's Mike Schaefer says those rumors have been largely blown out of proportion. "There's some guys that maybe still wish they had the previous staff, but these guys still want to win," Schaefer tells ThePostGame. "You're going to have your troublemakers and that's going to happen everywhere, but it's not an epidemic." Riley took further heat for his leadership -- and particularly his playcalling at the end of the game -- when Wisconsin hit a long field goal to take a 23-21 lead with four seconds left. That score came after an earlier missed field goal by the Badgers, handing possession over to Nebraska. The Huskers only needed a first down to win the game. Instead, they called three uninspired running plays, punted the ball, and let the Badgers advance down the field just in range for the kicker to redeem himself. And now Nebraska finds itself in an unfamiliar place: Up against the ropes and in desperate need of pulling itself together. Fans have been thrown into chaos: As some call for patience with Riley, others are running Facebook and Twitter accounts calling for the coach to be fired. The rest of the season will be closely watched for signs that Riley can right the ship -- or that his tenure is doomed. But even a full season of evidence is unlikely to provide a conclusive answer. As demanding as today's fans may be, building a program is a time-intensive process. Coaches routinely face the hot seat -- and suffer the axe -- before they've had a chance to field a product that if wholly their own. Administrations want results, and turnarounds in football aren't always instant. For every Jim Harbaugh who walks in and lights a program back on fire, there are a handful of other coaches trying to do their best with the resources at hand. Riley is in far from an ideal situation. He's the new man on campus and doesn't have the trust or regard he enjoyed at Oregon State. He's also trying to run his system with Pelini's players. Only the team's true freshman are Riley recruits, and until those players are able to take on more prominent roles, the Nebraska coach has to work with what he has available. And it's possible that Riley is enduring a horrible streak of luck, seasoned with some poor decision-making at critical junctures. But if there are signs that a first-year coach is a dead man walking, they haven't cropped up in Lincoln yet. For every heartbreak and rumors of division, Nebraska comes out and competes every game. A resigned team wouldn't find itself battling down to the wire every game -- it would be steamrolled early on and listless well before the game's end. For the most part, Riley's roster is playing for him. Another sign of impending doom would be recruits jumping off ship before it leaves port. It would make sense if high school commits became alarmed by the downturn in success at Nebraska, and decided to cast their fate with a more stable program. But the thing about recruits: According to Schaefer, they're hardly ever scared off by losing. "Recruits view it as, 'Nebraska lost today, but they wouldn't have lost if I was playing,'" Schaefer says. "They think a team just needs another talented player. "You never talk to them about, 'Hey, you're probably going to spend most of your time playing under .500 in conference play.' It doesn't matter to them." There's no way of knowing whether Riley is right for the Nebraska job. Try as everyone might, you can't diagnose a coach's tenure based on a handful of games that went the wrong way. Is it possible Riley never accomplishes more than the close-but-not-quite success of Pelini's teams? Of course. And that's not a disaster: Nine wins in the Big Ten is a solid track record. But Nebraska's administration wasn't happy with earning straight B's on its report card. It saw the football program stagnating and new a change was needed. Change comes with risks. No matter how bad things get, Riley doesn't deserve to be fired after this season. Building a football program takes time, and there's much work to do at Nebraska. Give him time to recruit, time to gel with his current players. Time for his system to take root. "There's upheaval pretty much any time you change a coach, but I think you'd be setting a program back even further by [firing a coach after one season," Schaefer says. "Not only is 2015 a lost season, but 2016 is probably lost, too. And these coaches are already working on the 2017 and 2018 classes, building relationships with those players. "That's a lot of relationships to sacrifice. ... Really, you need to let things run the course for at least a couple of years before you know where things are going." Nobody wants to hear the line, "Good things come to those who wait." But just six games into the Mike Riley era, Nebraska fans have no other option. More: Nebraska Better Off Without Big 12 -- ThePostGame senior editor Jonathan Crowl is the author of The Nebraska Way . | 1 | 94,874 | sports |
Facebook Messenger is one of the most popular apps in the world more than 700 million people use it each month. Facebook separated Messenger from the main Facebook app last year, and since then, the company has updated it with several features that make it much more than a typical messaging app. For instance, did you know that you can send people money in Messenger and also use it to make video calls? Here are 9 features Facebook Messenger has that you may not know about. 1. Make voice and video calls for free over the internet. Messenger isn't just for sending text. The app supports voice and video calls over the internet, which means you don't need a traditional phone plan to speak to someone or have a video chat with them. To call someone who has the Messenger app installed on their phone, tap the video or phone icon in the top right of the message window next to their name. 2. Send people money. Facebook lets you transfer money from your bank account to anyone else on Messenger. It's easy to set up: Tap the little little icon with three dots next to the thumb icon and then "Payments." Enter the amount you want to send. Add your Visa or MasterCard debit card. Each transaction can take up to a few business days to send depending on your bank, but Facebook doesn't charge any fee for providing the service. You can also add or manage your debit cards in the Messenger app under "Payments" in the settings tab. 3. Talk to brands. Facebook has partnered with several retailers as well as Zendesk, a customer service platform, to let you talk with companies like you would in a normal message thread. When you buy something from Everlane, for example, and have your Facebook account tied into the order, your order details get sent to you in Messenger. You can request shipping status updates and get customer support directly in the app. Facebook is starting to integrate more businesses into Messenger, but for now, this experience only works with Everlane and Zulily for retail. 4. Share your location. When you're in a conversation, tap the three dots button in the bottom right corner and then tap "Location." You can choose to share your current location or a pin somewhere else on a map. 5. Use other apps in Messenger for sending stuff like GIFs. Apps like Giphy and ESPN integrate directly into Messenger. This means you can use Giphy to quickly share a GIF or share sports memes and highlights from ESPN. To see a list of all the apps you have access to, tap the three dots (in the bottom right corner) in a message thread. 6. Use Messenger from Facebook's web app. Did you know that Facebook Messenger has a web app for the desktop? Just log into Messenger.com and login. 7. Mute a conversation. If you'd rather not be annoyed by notifications from a message thread, you can mute the conversation without leaving it. Just tap the name of the person or group you're messaging at the top of the screen and then tap "Notifications." You'll be able to mute the thread for a certain amount of time or indefinitely. 8. Organize your group messages. A section of the Messenger app you probably don't use is Groups. But if you deal with a lot of threads with multiple people, the tab is a great way to organize your conversations. You can pin them in a grid view and create new groups with a dedicated picture and name. 9. Eventually you'll be able to use "M," Facebook's virtual assistant that will be able to do things like book a flight to call your cable company. Facebook is working on its own virtual assistant called M that will work directly in Messenger. Think of it like Siri, but more powerful. It will help you make restaurant reservations, buy stuff as if you were using Amazon, contact the DMV, book vacations, and more. Right now, Facebook M is only available to a very small group of people using the Messenger app in the San Francisco Bay Area, but the social network's ambition is to have M eventually work for all of Messenger's 700 million users. | 5 | 94,875 | news |
Tesla Motors today officially unveiled its software update 7.0, which adds autonomous driving capability to its Autopilot system. In addition to autonomous driving functionality, 7.0 will also allow the Model S to park on its own. With the new update, the Autopilot will automatically steer the vehicle on the highway, adjust speeds, and even change lanes. During his announcement and Q&A sessions, CEO Elon Musk said 7.0 is more like a "public beta" update and that drivers should still exercise caution while using autonomous functions. Drivers should still keep their hands on the wheel, though he acknowledges the temptation to leave Autopilot in complete control. Stop-and-go traffic is the most ideal situation for autonomous driving. Tesla began installing Autopilot hardware in Model S vehicles last October. The hardware includes a dozen ultrasonic sensors, one forward-facing camera, and one radar system. The camera determines where the lanes are and reads road signs, while the radar detects large objects and items that the human eye can see. One of the challenges Tesla faced were roads and highways with unclear lane makers. Here, the system will automatically depend on the GPS system and its high-precision digital map that actually includes precise lane positions and other details. Changing lanes is executed simply by activating the turn signal, while an automatic emergency steering system will steer the Model S away from an impending collision. The Autopark system will search for parking spots at your destination and has the capability to automatically parallel park. Autopark, however, will not park the Model S into a spot or a garage without the driver in the vehicle that feature will launch with software update 7.1, which will be announced at a later date. Tesla says about 60,000 Model S vehicles have the Autopilot hardware. Obtaining the software download costs $2,500 if you opt for it before you take delivery of your Model S, or $3,000 if you decide to buy it later. Update 7.0 will be available to U.S. customers starting today. Follow MSN Autos on Facebook | 9 | 94,876 | autos |
Third-ranked Rory McIlroy, still leading the European Tour's Race to Dubai with six weeks remaining in the campaign, launches his bid for a 2015-16 US PGA Tour crown Thursday. The new American season tees off just 18 days after the Tour Championship as McIlroy, a four-time major champion, and England's seventh-ranked Justin Rose, the 2013 US Open winner, top the names at the Frys.com Open. "I'm happy to be here and to get a bit of a start," McIlroy said Wednesday. "It seems like any time I come back to the PGA Tour in February, guys have played eight or 10 events and I'm trying to play catch-up." Most of McIlroy's top rivals are resting with number one Jordan Spieth, Australian number two Jason Day and most of the leading US PGA Tour players having taken part in the Presidents Cup in Korea last weekend. AFP | 1 | 94,877 | sports |
U.S. stock index futures indicated a higher open on Thursday, with traders eyeing the release of consumer inflation data and earnings from big banking names such as Citigroup and Goldman Sachs. Futures followed global markets higher amid hopes that recent softness in U.S. economic data will push out a rate hike. In Europe, the pan-European Stoxx 600 index (.STOXX) traded more than 1 percent higher on Thursday. In Asia, Japan's Nikkei (.N225) finished 1.15 percent higher, while in China the Shanghai Composite (.SSEC) closed 2.32 percent higher. On the data front, CPI data, initial claims and the Empire State manufacturing survey are scheduled for release at 8:30 a.m. ET. The Philly Fed index is set to be released at 10:00 a.m. Goldman Sachs reported earnings that missed on the top and bottom line as a decline in bond trading hurt profits. Citigroup earnings beat but revenue missed expectations and declined from the same period last year. Earnings season has started off with some weak corporate commentaries, despite the fact that most companies so far are beating on the bottom line. Wal-Mart's disappointing forecast Wednesday of a potential double-digit earnings decline in the coming fiscal year kicked a market already reacting to weaker-than-expected September retail sales, soft producer prices and flat business inventories. With earnings season well under way, Citigroup (C) , Goldman Sachs (GS) , Philip Morris (PM) , Taiwan Semiconductor, UnitedHealth (UNH) , US Bancorp, Blackstone (BX) , Charles Schwab (SCHW) and Winnebago (WGO) were all expected before the bell. Schlumberger (SLB) , Mattel (MAT) , Western Alliance (WAL) , People's United Financial (PBCT) and WD-40 (WDFC) are all due after the bell. In oil markets, Brent crude traded below $49 a barrel, down 0.3 percent, while U.S. crude held near $46.12 a barrel, off more than 1 percent. --CNBC's Patti Domm contributed to this report | 3 | 94,878 | finance |
GENEVA UEFA leaders were meeting Thursday to decide whether to continue backing Michel Platini, with some not yet satisfied by his explanation for a payment that led to his 90-day FIFA suspension. The UEFA president received 2 million Swiss francs (about $2 million) from FIFA in 2011 which, Platini says, was unpaid additional salary from his job as FIFA President Sepp Blatter's adviser between 1998 and 2002. Platini has not produced a written contract to show the money was owed to him. Because of his ban from any role in soccer, Platini is not allowed to attend Thursday's emergency meeting at UEFA headquarters. Executive committee member Allan Hansen, who is also a member of FIFA's audit and compliance committee, said earlier this week he could no longer support Platini if there was no written contract. "I expect to get some further information because I didn't so far," Hansen said as he arrived at Geneva airport on Thursday. FIFA investigators have yet to be convinced there was even an oral agreement between Platini and Blatter which accounts for the unpaid debt the former France captain called in at the start of 2011. Platini said he did not receive his full salary by 2002 because FIFA could not afford to pay him. Platini and Blatter, who is also serving a 90-day suspension imposed by the FIFA ethics committee, have denied wrongdoing but the payment is being investigated by the Swiss attorney general. "We need more information, more details," Romanian federation president Razvan Burleanu said before heading to UEFA headquarters in Nyon for the meeting of all 54 nations. If the explanation received in the meeting is not satisfactory, Burleanu said "it will be very difficult" to continue backing Platini. Honorary UEFA President Lennart Johansson sat on the FIFA executive committee at the time Platini was Blatter's adviser and said he did not know about the money owed to the Frenchman. "Not at all, never heard about it," Johansson said. "He is one of my friends and I respect him as the president of UEFA. But if this true then things will happen." Asked if Platini can continue running UEFA, Johansson responded: "I doubt it. We cannot be in the lead of the biggest sport in the world. We cannot have people who are corrupted. That is important. But I don't judge him yet." Johansson, who led European soccer until Platini was elected in 2007, said UEFA has been damaged by the FIFA ethics case into its president. "I was president for 17 years. We never had anything like is, never," the Swede said. "It is something I wouldn't believe until I face it now." Platini still hopes he can clear his name in time to stand in the FIFA presidential election in February, even though he is expected to be declared ineligible once the candidate integrity checks are conducted after Oct. 26. UEFA members want to discuss whether to put forward another candidate in the election. "This is what we have to decide today," said Burlean, the Romanian soccer leader. "My point of view is for sure we need a European candidate." Only Platini and Prince Ali bin al-Hussein of Jordan have said they have submitted their paperwork to FIFA ahead of the deadline for candidates. Platini has retained the support of Polish soccer federation president Zbigniew Boniek, a former teammate at Juventus in the 1980s. "Always," Boniek said. "We are friends and will be for all our lives." | 1 | 94,879 | sports |
New foreclosures may be back to nearly normal, but the mess from the epic housing disaster in the last decade is far from gone. Bank repossessions, the final stage of the foreclosure process, jumped 66 percent year over year in the third quarter of this year, according to RealtyTrac, a foreclosure sales and analytics company. It's the largest annual rise ever recorded in bank repossessions by RealtyTrac. More than 123,000 homes went back to the bank in just three months. "In states such as New Jersey, Massachusetts and New York, a flood of deferred distress from the last housing crisis is finally spilling over the legislative and legal dams that have held back some foreclosure activity for years," said Daren Blomquist, vice president at RealtyTrac. "That deferred distress often represents properties with deferred maintenance that will sell at more deeply discounted prices, creating a drag on overall home values." New York and New Jersey have the longest foreclosure timelines in the nation. In both states, foreclosures can take well more than three years. New Jersey has a formidable judicial process, as well as a strong voice in nonprofit housing activists working with distressed homeowners. Those combined to keep the foreclosure process at a snail's pace, until now. Banks have finally reached a point where they can push foreclosures forward, having streamlined all the extra paces required by laws and court rulings. "Additionally, more nonbank lenders who purchased nonperforming loans over the past couple years are moving forward with foreclosure, having passed the foreclosure moratorium of six to 12 months required by many of these purchase agreements," said Blomquist. With the backlog finally moving, New Jersey now has the nation's top foreclosure rate, just beating Florida, which was once the poster child for the housing crash and which also has a judicial foreclosure process. Foreclosure activity in the Garden State is more than twice the national average. New foreclosures there are falling, but bank repossessions jumped 351 percent from a year ago. Atlantic City now boasts the highest metropolitan foreclosure rate. Trouble in the local casino economy now is causing more new foreclosures, but the bulk of the bank repossessions are on homes that were in default well before that. While states like Michigan, Texas and Washington are also seeing increases in foreclosure activity, their numbers are far closer to normal levels. Foreclosure starts historically speed up between September and November before holiday moratoria set in. "The third-quarter increases are a sign that the foreclosure market has settled into a normalized pattern close to or even below precrisis levels, and in those states the overall housing market should easily absorb the additional foreclosure activity with little impact on home values," added Blomquist. Foreclosure activity in formerly hard-hit states, like Arizona and California, is falling. Those states had much swifter systems for processing foreclosures, and investors helped to put a floor on home prices. In New Jersey in August home prices were still higher than a year ago, but just barely, up 2 percent from a year ago according to CoreLogic. Compare that to national gains of 6.9 percent. Now, with a slew of distressed properties hitting the market in the East, home prices could be under further pressure. Investors, apparently, are not there yet in force the way they were in the West. "There are so many of them coming so quickly that investor demand hasn't kept pace with the new supply. That will probably change," said Rick Sharga, executive vice president at Auction.com, a real estate auction company. A lot of the properties, added Sharga, are either still occupied or not suitable for owners yet. They will need to be rehabbed before they're worth anything. Also, companies like Auction.com, which investors follow, are not a part of the auction process in those judicial states, because auctions are usually done by local county sheriffs. | 3 | 94,880 | finance |
Facebook is currently working to squash a bug that let users of its mobile website see view counts for their own and others' posts throughout the social network. Similar to how Facebook now displays the number of views under videos posted on its site, this bug let you see the number of views on any article or video link, including those from news media and other official organization pages. The end result, of course, is the crushing realization that nothing you say or share will ever be as popular among your friend group as a ClickHole article or maybe that BuzzFeed video on how to make ramen fries. The bug, discovered by some users today, only affects Facebook's mobile site, and not Facebook for desktop or the company's official mobile apps. Facebook confirmed the bug to The Verge and said it is removing the view counts from user posts. The changes should already be taking effect. The view counts display only under shared or posted links and sometimes under photos, and it's unclear if the metrics are entirely correct. As you can see here, my commentary related to a Doritos article from the Winston-Salem, North Carolina Fox affiliate was seemingly viewed by nearly 4 million people. Facebook's own page, which has more than 165 million likes, received only around 75,000 views on a post promoting global internet access. (Though of course society's relative interest in those two topics sounds reasonably accurate.) This disparity may make sense if the view count number is the total amount of views that particular link accrues across all of Facebook. Facebook has no future plans to let individual users see view counts, and for good reason. Part of using the social network is the tacit acceptance that you're feeding content into a black box, controlled by a mysterious series of algorithms you have no control over and will never understand. In fact, a Stanford University study conducted by assistant professor Michael S. Bernstein and Facebook's data science team in 2013 revealed that the average Facebook user only reaches about 35 percent of their friends with a single post. Over the course of a month, an average user will reach barely two out of every three friends. It's the same problem media organizations and other page owners have had with Facebook for years. Many have invested heavily in growing the number of likes on their page only to have the social network charge them for reaching more than a small fraction of their audience. But only Facebook holds the keys to the enigmatic News Feed. That's how it goes. Until a bug comes along, and we see just how popular or not we really are. | 5 | 94,881 | news |
Key points - VW to recall 8.5 million cars in Europe - Italian police raid VW and Lamborghini offices - Burberry warns of 'challenging' market for luxury goods - Tesco sells 14 sites to a property company - Goldman Sachs: Profits and sales fall in third quarter | 3 | 94,882 | finance |
Elvis Andrus talks about the Texas Rangers Game 5 loss in the ALDS to the Toronto Blue Jays. | 1 | 94,883 | sports |
Even the even rich and famous have hobbies. Find out what these successful people like to do in their free time. Successful people often prefer to work smart rather than hard. Working smart allows them to maintain a healthy work-life balance and enjoy their hobbies. And, some of the most successful people find a way to make a profit through their hobbies. Whether you enjoy hiking, reading or knitting, it's important to pick up a hobby outside of work. If you need help choosing a hobby, check out the hobbies of these 15 successful people. Related: 7 Pet Peeves of Highly Successful People 1. Warren Buffett: Playing Bridge Warren Buffett loves to play bridge. He discussed his hobby on CNN Money and said that more than 95 percent of his bridge games have taken place online over the last 15 years. John P. Hussman of Hussman Funds said that though Benjamin Graham Buffett's mentor was not talking about Buffett at the time, he does explain perhaps why Buffett periodically plays bridge. "I recall to those of you who are bridge players the emphasis that bridge experts place on playing a hand right rather than on playing it successfully," said Graham. "Because, as you know, if you play it right you are going to make money and if you play it wrong you lose money in the long run." 2. Meryl Streep: Knitting Knitting is Meryl Streep's hobby. In the PBS series Blank on Blank, the Academy Award-winning actress discusses her career and mentions her knitting bag. Carrie Barron, an assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at Columbia University, told The Washington Post that "the rhythmic movements of knitting offer many of the same kinds of benefits as meditation." 3. Iggy Azalea: Horse Riding Rapper Iggy Azalea revealed her hobby in a video she made exclusively for "On Air with Ryan Seacrest." She said that her hobby is horse riding, and she just bought a horse. "I like jumping horses," said Azalea. Besides the physical and athletic benefits that come with horse riding, this hobby can boost confidence and be very relaxing. 4. Larry Ellison: Sailing Larry Ellison, the former CEO of Oracle with a fortune estimated by Forbes to be around $48 billion, said his hobby is sailing. In 2013, he and his team won the America's Cup yacht race for the second time. He said, "It's funny, because I realized after losing twice that my personality wouldn't allow me to quit while losing. And then after winning the America's Cup, I discovered my personality doesn't allow me to quit while winning. I don't smoke, but I do sail," reports Business Insider . 5. Ariana Huffington: Sleeping Hobbies don't have to be complex or extreme, as proven by Ariana Huffington. In a 2011 interview with Rolling Stone , Huffington said, "My greatest hobby is sleep." The Huffington Post co-founder and editor-in-chief takes her sleep seriously. "Actually, one problem with our culture is that we are entirely sleep-deprived," she said. Read: 12 Brag-Worthy Hobbies for Cheap People 6. Taylor Swift: Baking This 25-year-old multi-Grammy award-winning singer and songwriter has done more in her young life than most people could dream of doing in a lifetime. But surprisingly, she has a rather "normal" hobby: baking. On her Instagram, Swift likes to share pictures of her latest baked sweets, like her chai sugar cookies with cinnamon eggnog icing. 7. Richard Branson: Kitesurfing Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Group, talked to Business Insider about his love for kitesurfing when he's at home on Necker Island, his private island in the Caribbean. Branson's morning routine involves swimming around the island and going kitesurfing, his favorite sport. "If the wind's up, I might sneak off for another kitesurf during the day," he said. 8. Bill Wyman: Metal Detecting Bill Wyman, former bassist of the Rolling Stones, must surely have one of the oddest hobbies out there: metal detecting. "Metal detecting is not just for anoraks or eccentrics; it's probably the best and most enjoyable way learning about our history," said Wyman in a press release announcing the Bill Wyman Signature Detector. He's the perfect example of someone who was able to turn their hobby into a money-making machine. 9. Simon Cowell: Tree Climbing The "X-Factor" judge and former "American Idol" judge hobbies mirror those of a 10-year-old boy. Simon Cowell told Nancy O'Dell from "Entertainment Tonight," "I climb trees, daily." As weird as it might sound, it might not be as weird as the fact that he also likes to watch cartoons, like "The Flintstones" and "The Jetsons," every morning. 10. Vin Diesel: Dungeons & Dragons Vin Diesel, the actor known for the "Fast and Furious" franchise, likes to play the tabletop, role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons in his spare time. He even got to write the foreword of the book "30 of Adventure: A Celebration of Dungeons & Dragons." And on his 48th birthday, Diesel celebrated with a cake designed as Dungeons & Dragons rule books. 11. Elon Musk: His Job Justine Musk, ex-wife of Elon Musk, told the New York Times that work is Elon's hobby. But take a minute to look at what he does, and then maybe it won't be so difficult to understand why: Elon was the co-founder of PayPal and founded SpaceX, which designs, manufactures and launches advanced rockets and spacecraft. One top of that, he is the current CEO of Tesla Motors. According to Forbes, Elon has an impressive net worth of $13 billion it looks like his "hobby" is paying off big time. 12. Angelina Jolie: Collecting Daggers Angelina Jolie's hobby is collecting daggers. She told W magazine in 2008 that her mom took her to buy her first daggers when she was 11 or 12. She introduced her eldest son, Maddox, to the art of dagger collection at a young age, but emphasized that the knife blades are dulled so they are not dangerous. Jolie also said that she accompanies knife purchases with discussions about violence, and "we also talk about samurais and about the idea of defending someone as good." 13. Steve Wozniak: Segway Polo The Apple co-founder's unusual hobby is Segway polo, which is exactly as it sounds: polo on a Segway instead of horses with some hockey and soccer influences. "Segway polo is the one thing I will block off my calendar," Steve Wozniak told Quartz at the latest Woz Cup, the world championship of Segway polo. 14. Mark Cuban: Going to Basketball Games Here's another billionaire who turned his hobby into a job. Before buying the Dallas Mavericks NBA team, Mark Cuban was a dedicated basketball fan. "I was a season-ticket holder for probably six years before I finally sold broadcast.com to Yahoo!" he said . While sitting in the low-energy stadium, he thought to himself, "You know what? I can do a better job than this." Cuban has since become a huge voice in the sports world. 15. Oprah Winfrey: Taking a Bath Oprah Winfrey, billionaire media proprietor and talk show host, said that bathing is her hobby. "For years I've said I need a hobby, then I said, this is my hobby, I'm really good at it!" she said . Oprah's hobby shows us that a hobby needn't be challenging, complex or difficult to do. The most important thing is that it allows you to switch focus and enter a different state with the effect of relaxing and re-energizing you. Keep reading: 21 Habits of Highly Successful Billionaires Like Warren Buffett and Mark Cuban | 3 | 94,884 | finance |
DENVER (AP) -- Jimmy Hayes, the first one is always the toughest to earn, right? "It's nice to go to the net and bang home a rebound," he said. Not his goal. A win. "Sorry," Hayes quickly responded, "feel selfish or something." BOX SCORE: BRUINS 6, AVALANCHE 2 Hardly the case. Hayes had his first goal of the season and three assists to help the Boston Bruins beat the Colorado Avalanche 6-2 on Wednesday night and avoid their worst start in 50 years. The Bruins raced out to a 5-0 lead by the second period and cruised from there to end a three-game slide. "That's huge for our team," Hayes said. "Carry the momentum." Kevan Miller and Hayes scored 2:22 apart in the first period, with Tyler Randell, Chris Kelly and Ryan Spooner scoring in the second. Spooner's goal with 4:28 remaining in the second ended a rough evening for Semyon Varlamov, who stopped 14 of 19 shots before being relieved by Reto Berra. David Krejci added an empty-net goal with 1:29 left. For Randell, it was the first goal in the first game of his NHL career. He plans to give the puck to his parents. "I never expected this to happen in the first game, but I'm pretty excited," Randell said. Just that sort of night for the Bruins. Jonas Gustavsson started for Tuukka Rask and stymied a high-powered Avalanche team that had 10 goals in two games. Gabriel Landeskog had a power-play goal and John Mitchell added another for Colorado. With the win, the Bruins avoided some dubious history. They hadn't started 0-4 in a season since 1964-65. Boston was without forward Brad Marchand (concussion) and defenseman Joe Morrow, who has the flu. The team spread out the scoring with 10 different players picking up a point, including two assists by captain Zdeno Chara. "I feel so sorry. I didn't play well today," Varlamov said. "Nineteen shots, five goals -- what can I say? I have to be better." Avalanche coach Patrick Roy felt the same way about his team's play. "I'm not happy. I'm not happy at all," Roy said. "We didn't compete like we should." Rask has gotten off to a rocky start this season. He has a 4.72 goals-against average and an .846 save percentage. Those aren't very Rask-like numbers, considering he's currently third in career GAA (2.18) and tied for second in save percentage (.925) among active goaltenders with at least 50 appearances. Gustavsson attended training camp with the Bruins on a professional tryout and was signed earlier this month. The 30-year-old was limited by injuries last season with Detroit, going 3-3-1 with one shutout. His best save of the night was when he turned back Avalanche rookie Mikko Rantanen on a breakaway late in the first period. In the third period, Gustavsson turned back Landeskog twice on a play -- once by using his left leg and again with his chest. "My goal is to try to stay healthy, so I can really work on my game and try to be there for the guys when they need me," said Gustavsson, who finished with 20 saves. Miller got Boston off to a fast start when he sent a slap shot over the right shoulder of a screened Varlamov. Moments later, Hayes grabbed a rebound and pushed it in for his first goal of the season. Carl Soderberg finished with no points and a minus-four against his former team. Really, though, no one could get on track for Colorado. "Getting outworked, that's unacceptable," Landeskog said. "Once we got our legs going and started playing better, we just started making bad decisions with the puck and it ended up costing us against a good team like this." NOTES: Bruins D Tommy Cross played in his first NHL game. He was called up from Providence of the American Hockey League on Tuesday. ... Avalanche F Jarome Iginla played in his 1,395th NHL game, tying him with Roman Hamrlik for 35th place on the league's all-time list. | 1 | 94,885 | sports |
U.S. prosecutors are probing Valeant Pharmaceuticals (VRX-CA) over how it prices and distributes drugs, the Canadian pharma giant revealed in a statement late Wednesday. Valeant said that it had received subpoenas from the U.S. Attorney's Offices for the District of Massachusetts and the Southern District of New York, requesting documents related to programs Valeant runs that help patients afford its medication, as well as documents on product distribution and pricing decisions. Prosecutors also want documents related to information Valeant provided to Medicare and Medicaid. Valeant chairman and chief executive Mike Pearson said that the company believed it had operated the business in a "fully compliant manner". "We remain committed to assisting eligible patients who need our products, and we will be working with the appropriate groups to submit the requested documents and plan to cooperate with the inquiries," he said. The pricing of medication in the U.S. has been in the spotlight since Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton lambasted Turing Pharmaceuticals in September over a 5,500 percent hike in the price of Daraprim, a drug used to treat malaria and dangerous parasitic diseases. Her promise to take on "price gouging" should she be elected sent biotechnology stocks tumbling. Valeant also revealed in its statement that it had responded to questions by Democrat Senator Claire McCaskill over the price of drugs called Nitropress and Isuprel. The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that Valeant told Sen. McCaskill that it spent $544 million in 2014 to help patients cover the out-of-pockets costs levied by private insurers, and would spend $630 million in 2015. The WSJ cited a research note from Sector & Sovereign that found Valeant's drug prices had grown at a compounded annual rate of 48 percent, making the company one of the biggest contributors to drug market inflation over the past 18 months. | 3 | 94,886 | finance |
Rod Sims, chairman of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, says the integration could hit competition in the rail haulage sector. | 3 | 94,887 | finance |
DAVIE, Fla. Something was missing, so Dolphins interim coach Dan Campbell stopped practice. He ordered the team's first-string offense to line up against the starting defense, even though neither unit looks much like this week's opponent. That was irrelevant, he said. He wanted to see each side get the best out of the other. The scout team would have to wait a few plays. File that as yet another disruption from Campbell's first 10 days on the job. "I hope I've changed enough," Campbell told USA TODAY Sports Wednesday during a walk back to his office. "We need to go the other way and we need to go the other way fast. We don't have an offseason to change what I feel like needs to be changed. So with that, you're trying to get these guys to buy into what you want to do within a little more than a week." Translation: More modifications are coming. Campbell is taking a chance on change because he needs to. Miami's first plan didn't work, and it fired Joe Philbin Oct. 5 following a disappointing loss to the New York Jets in London that dropped its record to 1-3. Before the season, the Dolphins on paper, at least were widely considered to be a team on the verge of a breakout, thanks to several high-profile offseason additions. Now, they're hitting the reset button. That means their best shot at turning things around is a complete overhaul. "I'm certainly encouraged, just from going to practice," executive vice president of football operations Mike Tannenbaum told USA TODAY Sports. "The validation has been just watching it every day. But that has to lead to better performance in games." Philbin's tenure was marred by a lackadaisical culture that failed to foster competition and bred complacency. Inconsistent play led to a 24-28 record with no playoff appearances in three and a half seasons. "It's tough when you lose a coach you've been with your entire career," quarterback Ryan Tannehill told USA TODAY Sports. "But you have to play the hand you're dealt. This locker room has bought in and everyone is on board. "We love Dan. We love the attitude and the energy that he brings. It's contagious. You can already feel it in practice, just the energy and enthusiasm and competition. I can't help but think that's going to translate on Sundays." Campbell, 39, is now the youngest head coach in the NFL, and there's no denying that his promotion is a risk. He's just six years removed from an 11-year career in the league and has just five years of coaching experience, all as Miami's tight ends coach. When asked what the hardest part about his promotion was, Campbell didn't say it was firing assistants, crafting game plans, or dealing with a room full of young multi-millionaires whose season is in danger of unraveling. "Everything outside of football," Campbell said, without hesitation. "Who sits where on the plane? What time are we going to leave on Saturday? What about food? How long do you want to serve food in the cafeteria? Those are things that have been more out of my comfort zone." Campbell has sought guidance from veterans on his staff like Darren Rizzi, whom he promoted to assistant head coach, but given his inexperience, it won't be a surprise to see some initial growing pains. Those could start as early as this Sunday when the Dolphins travel to Tennessee to face the Titans. To combat those, Campbell has found comfort in you guessed it disruption. He started one practice with a game of tug of war. The seldom-used Oklahoma Drill, which pits players against each other in a tight space, highlighted another. One morning last week, players showed up to work with the surprise that most of their lockers had been moved and organized by position group. But as Tannenbaum said, the Dolphins need to show up on Sundays. Tannenbaum declined to comment on whether Miami had a short list for its head coaching vacancy or whether the team had begun to approach replacements, though team owner Stephen Ross said in a conference call last week that Campbell "is certainly a candidate for the permanent job." Obviously, that depends on Miami's performance in its remaining 12 games. But if there was one person on the current Dolphins coaching staff who could spearhead a complete overhaul, it was Campbell. His experience as a player carries respect in the locker room. When coupled with his seemingly endless supply of energy, it's easy to see why Miami's players feel rejuvenated. "I've been there," Campbell said. "I've done that. I've sat where they sit. I know what makes them tick. I know what drives them. I know what wears them down. I know all those little things." As receiver Jarvis Landry added: "Man, that's something that we really needed here." Follow Lorenzo Reyes on Twitter @LorenzoGReyes . PHOTOS: Week 6 games ranked by watchability | 1 | 94,888 | sports |
PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Claude Giroux summed up what all of Philadelphia loves the most about Michal Neuvirth. "That he doesn't let any goals in," Giroux said. Just ask Florida and Chicago. BOX SCORE: FLYERS 3, BLACKHAWKS 0 Neuvirth stopped 30 shots in his second straight shutout, leading the Flyers to a 3-0 win over the Chicago Blackhawks on Wednesday night. Giroux, Sam Gagner and Matt Read scored to lead the Flyers to their 12th straight regular-season home victory over Chicago. The Flyers have not lost to the Blackhawks in Philly during the regular season since Nov. 9, 1996. The Blackhawks beat the Flyers in the 2010 Stanley Cup Final and clinched with a Game 6 win in Philly. Filling in for Steve Mason, Neuvirth was sensational in his ninth career shutout. Mason missed a second straight game because of unspecified family reasons and there was no word when he would return. He won't have to rush back -- Neuvirth has a shutout streak of 132 minutes, 5 seconds that dates to the third period of a 7-1 loss at Florida when he relieved Mason. Neuvirth had 31 saves in a 1-0 win over Florida on Monday for his first shutout since 2012. "The more I play, the better I feel and the more confident I get," Neuvirth said. The Flyers rolled out the black carpet for former defenseman Kimmo Timonen, a five-time Olympian, during a pregame tribute and both teams stayed on the ice in celebration. Timonen was traded to the Blackhawks last season and retired following the Stanley Cup championship run. Timonen stuck around to watch the Flyers storm past the Blackhawks. Gagner scored his first goal of the season and beat Corey Crawford on the power play. Gagner, whom the Flyers acquired in the offseason from Arizona, had been irked because he was a healthy scratch the first two games of the season. Gagner rebounded with an assist in the Flyers' 1-0 win over Florida on Monday and snapped one over Crawford's shoulder in this one to prove his worth. "I just wanted to get the puck past their first man. That's all you can do," Gagner said. "Guys are so good at blocking shots now days you just have to get it by their first man and let the guys in front do their jobs." Giroux, Philly's captain, punched in a rebound for his first goal of the season in his 500th career NHL game. Read scored his second goal of the season in the final minutes to secure the win. Neuvirth wrapped up the win with a 15-save third period. Jeff Hackett in 2003 was the only other Flyers goalie with shutouts in his first two starts. "I was relaxed, I just had fun and I trusted myself," Neuvirth said. Crawford had 26 saves. "There's some chances that we had, some open nets that could have changed the game that trickled away or got away from us. It wasn't our best game," he said. Flyers fans were hard on Blackhawks winger Patrick Kane, chanting "she said no!" throughout the game. Kane was booed each time he touched the puck and the crowd erupted in cheers when defenseman Radko Gudas crushed him into the boards. Kane is the subject of a sexual assault investigation in western New York. The All-Star winger has not been charged, and has said he expects to be exonerated. The packed crowd came, though, to celebrate Timonen. Acquired from Nashville in 2007, Timonen had 38 goals, 232 assists and 270 points in 519 games over seven seasons with the Flyers. He played 1,108 NHL games over 15 seasons and scored 571 points. The 40-year-old defenseman was traded to Chicago in February 2015 after he missed the start of the season while recovering from blood clots in his leg and lungs. "I went this morning to see morning skate, saw both teams and talked to a lot of guys," he said. "The music, the preparation, and getting ready for the game I kinda went, `Oh, this would be nice again.' Reality is, I'm 40 years old. I just had a glass of red wine. Can't really turn that down anymore." Notes: NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman presented a $950,000 check to the Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation on behalf of the National Hockey League Players Association. The check was awarded for the foundation's rink development and for its "Hockey is for Everyone" youth development program. "In terms of worthy causes and programs that make a difference this is at the top of my list," Bettman said. ... Blackhawks C Jonathan Toews played for Flyers coach Dave Hakstol at North Dakota. ... The Flyers killed off all five Chicago power plays have killed off 11 straight penalties over the past two games. | 1 | 94,889 | sports |
Fashion likes to play with our sartorial hearts. Even though we're all getting ready to bundle up in layers for Winter, we just finished watching all the gorgeous offerings for Spring and Summer 2016 during Fashion Month. We managed to put together the top seven trends for next season, and the best part is that you can start wearing these cool new styles right now. | 4 | 94,890 | lifestyle |
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) Former members of the upstate New York church where two teens were viciously beaten paint a picture of a once vibrant and joyous house of worship that declined into a place of fear and intimidation under new leadership. "When I first arrived, it was warm and welcoming. It was encouraging. It was helpful," said Chadwick Handville, a massage therapist in Phoenix, Arizona, who left the Word of Life Christian Church in June 2000 after 10 years that included a stint as a worship leader and trustee. Things went downhill after founder Jerry Irwin returned from some time away and reclaimed his position as pastor, Handville said. "What was off the wall was his attitude toward others," Handville said. "It wasn't happy. He accused every male of lusting after his wife." Handville said Irwin's preaching was filled with personal attacks on parishioners, whom he forced to work long hours renovating the Irwin family's apartment on the third floor of the former school building that houses the church in New Hartford, which is 100 miles west of Albany. "He did have good points," Handville said. "Through him I was able to memorize half the Bible. He taught me a lot. What he failed to teach me was how to use what I read, how to treat people." Handville said many current and former church members are afraid to talk publicly about the church for fear of recrimination. In a letter to the Post-Standard of Syracuse, former congregant Nathan Ames said the church started out as a fast-growing Pentecostal church but declined after Irwin reclaimed leadership. Ames described Irwin as controlling and intimidating. Since Irwin's fatal stroke several years ago, his wife, Traci, and their children Tiffanie, Daniel and Joseph have been in charge. Ames said they continued in the style of the founder. Six church leaders and parishioners now face charges including manslaughter and assault for a brutal beating in the sanctuary last Sunday that left 19-year-old Lucas Leonard dead and his 17-year-old brother Christopher hospitalized. Church members Bruce and Deborah Leonard, parents of the victims, face the most serious charge, manslaughter. Deborah Leonard's daughter, Sarah Ferguson, and Joseph Irwin, both face assault charges. Police say the beatings arose out of a "counseling session" that may have been related to Lucas Leonard wanting to leave the church. The New York Times reported that Daniel Irwin told investigators that his sister, Tiffanie, the pastor at Word of Life, told the church congregation that some members were practicing witchcraft. The newspaper reported that Irwin said Lucas Leonard was one of them and that he was going to make a voodoo doll of a church leader. New Hartford police said there is "no evidence that we are aware of that supports that Lucas Leonard was engaged in any such activity." The roughly 30-year-old church has declined from about 40 members to around 20, New Hartford police Chief Michael Inserra said. Remaining members are devoted to their pastor and often "wait to be told what to do," Inserra said. Traci and Tiffanie Irwin haven't been charged and haven't commented. David Bromley, professor of religious studies and director of the World Religions and Spirituality Project at Virginia Commonwealth University, said there are thousands of similar small, independent Christian churches around the country. They're typically very conservative, following a very strict fundamentalist theology with a literal interpretation of the Bible. "Every now and then, one pops up that has gone awry," Bromley said. "That's statistically not shocking because there are so many of them." The trend toward independent, conservative churches coincides with a decline in membership in mainline Christian churches. "A lot are forming in reaction to the liberalization of mainline churches," Bromley said. The churches generally start with a pastor, sometimes branching out from an existing congregation, who starts out with a group meeting in a home or rented storefront. Many disband after a few years, but some flourish. As with any organization, leadership may take a bad turn, Bromley said. "There are certainly cases of charismatic leaders who abuse their power," Bromley said. The theology of a congregation may lead to strong resistance to a member's wish to leave the group. "If you get into a very conservative group where there is only one way and God's wrath is about to be unleashed on humanity and we're the faithful remnant, then leaving the group is a very serious condition from the point of view of members," Bromley said. "Essentially, if you leave you're walking into Satan's dominion and your soul is lost." There are cases where groups use physical restraint to prevent a person from leaving, he said. "These cases look very bizarre to outsiders," Bromley said. "To scholars, they look like rare, radical events that occur in groups that are tightly organized and very conservative." | 5 | 94,891 | news |
BMW has just revealed the smallest (and likely the most affordable) entrant in its M performance line of vehicles. The new 2016 BMW M2 coupe leads the current BMW M235i as the top performance model in the 2 Series lineup. The M2, which was developed on the grueling Nrburgring, is the spiritual successor to the 2011-2012 BMW 1M Coupe. Power for the new 2016 BMW M2 comes from the automaker's N55 engine family. The 3.0-liter, turbocharged I-6 engine features an alloy block and head with four-valve DOHC design with direct-injection, Valvetronic variable valve lift control, Double-Vanos variable camshaft timing, and a twin-scroll turbocharger. With a 10.2:1 compression ratio, the boosted engine makes 365 hp at 6,500 rpm and 343 lb-ft of torque at 1,400-5,560 rpm. An overboost function temporarily boosts peak torque to 369 lb-ft from 1,450 to 4,750 rpm. BMW notes that the new M2 coupe makes 70 lb-ft more than the last-gen M3 with the 4.0-liter V-8. The quad-tipped exhaust system features an electronically controlled flap for a more boisterous sound. Related Link: Research BMW's Latest Models Transmission choices include a six-speed manual with automatic rev matching or a seven-speed dual-clutch (M DCT with Drivelogic) gearbox. The automaker's Active M differential puts power to the ground. BMW claims that when equipped with the dual-clutch transmission and launch control, the new M2 coupe can reach 60 mph in 4.2 seconds; manual-equipped cars take 4.4 seconds. The BMW M2 coupe is governed at 155 mph. To improve fuel consumption, BMW equipped the M2 coupe with auto start/stop and brake energy regeneration. Additionally, the coolant pump only operates when required, the oil pump is map controlled, and the air-conditioning compressor is disconnected when not in use. Electric power steering also helps reduce fuel consumption. The BMW M2 coupe's engine has been built to withstand sustained track abuse. The oil system features an additional oil sump cover to control oil movement under acceleration as well as a special suction system to supply oil to the turbo under acceleration. An extra suction pump sends oil to the rear under heavy braking. An additional coolant radiator keeps the M2 coupe's engine temperatures in check, and DCT-equipped models feature a transmission oil cooler. In order to reduce overall vehicle weight and improve handling, the BMW M2 coupe features aluminum front and rear axles from the larger M3 sedan and M4 coupe. BMW says the front strut suspension's aluminum control arms, wheel carriers, axle subframe, and the stiffening plate for the double-joint spring-strut front save 11 pounds overall. Aluminum is also used in the struts and tubular anti-roll bar. The front end is stiffened by an underbody plate that connects the axle subframe and the body stills. Out back, the rear five-link suspension features forged aluminum control arms and wheel carriers, which save 6 pounds. The rear subframe is made from lightweight steel. The 2016 BMW M2 coupe rides on a set of staggered forged alloy wheels and Michelin Pilot Super Sport tires. Up front, steering duties are handled by a set of 19-by-9-inch wheels wrapped in 245/35R19 tires, and the rear 19-by-10-inch wheels are wrapped in 265/35R19 tires. Braking duties are handled by a set of 15-inch rotors clamped by four-piston calipers up front and a set of 14.5-inch rotors and two-piston calipers out back. The rotors feature a two-piece design with an aluminum hub and a gray cast-iron friction surface; the calipers are a fixed design. BMW's Active M differential puts power to the ground. The multiplate limited-slip differential can lock from 0 to 100 percent depending on input from the dynamic stability control (DSC) system's various sensors. As with the upcoming Ford Focus RS, the new 2016 BMW M2 coupe comes with a "drift mode." The DSC features a new M Dynamic mode (MDM), which allows more wheel slip for enhanced traction and moderately controlled drifts. The signature kidney grilles feature black-painted double bars with the M logo that is said to reflect the style of the double-spoke wheels. The front fascia features large air intakes to direct cooling air, trapezoidal blades divert airflow through the wheel arches, and air curtains mounted in the outer air intakes guide air around the wheels. BMW says the M2 has 5 percent less drag than the standard 2 Series. Lift is reduced by 35 percent. Along the side, the front fender gills are inspired by the BMW 3.0 CSL. Overall width has grown at the front (2.1 inches) and rear (3.1 inches) wheel arches to house the wider wheels. The brake calipers are finished in blue. Out back, the 2016 BMW M2 coupe features a decklid spoiler. The vertical reflectors on the rear fascia are inspired by the front blades. Additionally, the quad exhaust tips peak out from the aerodynamic rear diffuser. Four exterior paint choices include Long Beach Blue Metallic, Alpine White, Black Sapphire Metallic, and Mineral Grey Metallic. Inside, the BMW M2 features a 200-mph speedometer and 8,000-rpm tachometer (155-mph top speed and 7,000 rpm redline, respectively). You'll also find the requisite M logos throughout (tachometer, gear shift lever, door sill plates, M leather steering wheel), front sport seats finished in black Dakota leather with blue stitching, and M logos in the backrests. The front seats also feature adjustable bolsters. The driver side has a footrest and center console kneepad. Other interior details include open-pore carbon-fiber and Alcantara door inserts, parking brake boot, and shift lever boot. And of course the BMW M2 is available with BMW ConnectedDrive infotainment system. The optional ConnectedDrive Services features several track-related apps, including a GoPro app for video recording and the M Laptimer data-logging app from BMW GmbH. Expect the 2016 BMW M2 coupe to be available in spring of 2016 with pricing released closer to its on-sale date. Follow MSN Autos on Facebook | 9 | 94,892 | autos |
As Argentina's presidential election approaches, the shadow of former first lady Eva Peron lingers more than ever over the country's political scene. | 8 | 94,893 | video |
Check out the most ridiculous plays from Wednesday, including Max Domi's goal, Elvis Andrus' errors and Jose Bautista's bat flip. | 1 | 94,894 | sports |
New Zealander Josh Geary withstood howling winds to claim a two-shot lead in the opening round of the Fiji International. Geary finished on an even-par 72, two shots ahead of a five-strong pack comprising American Matt Kuchar -- the bookies' favourite for the Aus$1.125 million (US$820,000) event -- and four Australians. Local hero Vijay Singh, the three-time major winner who designed the Natadola Bay course, was in 33rd position after shooting six over, while defending champion Steve Jeffress was 11th on four over. Geary said the unforgiving conditions made for tough going. "But I made some great saves and made some great putts, which is unlikely when it's so windy," he said. AFP | 1 | 94,895 | sports |
Why You Need B Vitamins Why You Need B Vitamins Vitamins can be a confusing category to navigate but when you're getting all of the vitamins and nutrients you need you'll be likely to have more energy and better recover from your workouts. This quick and easy guide will help you better understand B vitamins.What are the B vitamins responsible for?B vitamins are water-soluble, meaning your body will excrete the excess through your urine. Have you ever noticed that your urine is bright yellow after taking vitamin supplements? That's the excess being passed through your system. Vitamin B12 is the only water-soluble vitamin that doesn't get excreted through urine. Instead, it's absorbed into the intestine.B vitamins use your macronutrients (proteins, carbohydrates and fats) to generate energy by acting as coenzymes--"helper" molecules that assist in a biochemical reaction within your body. B vitamins help support your immune and nervous systems along with aiding energy metabolism. Deficiencies of this vitamin can become an issue for athletes, hard-core gym goers, and competitive bodybuilders because their diets are very restrictive and their training demands are much more than someone who's training for personal health. Your also lose B vitamins when you sweat.Eating a diet that's rich in the foods on the following slides will help ensure that you're getting enough B vitamins. If you're on a restrictive diet or feel that you might be deficient, consider taking a B complex supplement after consulting your doctor. B1 (aka Thiamine) What it does: Generates energy from carbohydratesHow it works in your body: It's involved in muscle contractions and sending nerve signals.Foods that contain this vitamin: Beans/legumes, edamame, tuna, trout, pork, whole grains B2 (aka Riboflavin) What it does: This vitamin supports glowing skin and healthy vision. (More foods to eat for healthy skin!)How it works in your body: Vitamin B2 uses fats for energy along with carbohydrates.Foods that contain this vitamin: Beef, oily fish, almonds, spinach, mushrooms, lamb, cheese B3 (aka Niacin) What it does: Most absorption takes place in the small intestine. This makes sense since niacin keeps the digestive track, skin and nervous system functioning correctly. How it works in your body: Niacin can help to increase fat burning, lowering cholesterol and supply energy when levels stay consistent.Foods that contain this vitamin: Peanuts, beef, chicken, turkey, peas, fish, avocados B5 (aka Pantothenic Acid) What it does: Pantothen is a Greek word meaning "everywhere." You can find pantothenic acid in almost every food. It also aids in a healthy digestive track and adrenal functioning. How it works in your body: Vitamin B5 has a key role in producing energy and supporting a strong metabolism. It also plays a role in creating red blood cells and sex hormones.Foods that contain this vitamin: Sunflower seeds, sweet potatoes, avocados, beef, chicken, turkey, mushrooms B6 (aka Pyridoxine) What it does: Aids in protein absorption, also helps with creating red blood cells and keeps your brain sharp. How it works in your body: Vitamin B6 is important for serotonin production within the brain. B6 aids in fat metabolism for energy and helps keep circulation to the skin and muscle tissues regulated.Foods that contain this vitamin: Pork, avocados, spinach, bananas, beef, turkey, pistachios, prunes B7 (aka Biotin) What it does: This B vitamin aids in fat and protein metabolism. How it works in your body: It helps regulate blood sugar and increase insulin sensitivity.Foods that contain this vitamin: Eggs, carrots, almonds, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, onions, salmon B9 (aka Folic Acid) What it does: It can aid in reducing heart disease as it helps to lower homocysteine levels. High homocysteine levels can cause inflammation in the blood vessels. How it works in your body: Folic acid is also important during pregnancy, as it's a major player in DNA synthesis, cell division and growth.Foods that contain this vitamin: Broccoli, beans, lentils, asparagus, spinach, avocado, lettuce, oranges B12 (aka Cobalamin) What it does: It plays a key role in the brain and nervous system and aids in decreasing anxiety.How it works in your body: It's important for building muscle mass as well as playing a role in DNA synthesis.Foods that contain this vitamin: Cheese, shellfish, liver, soy, beef, low fat dairy, eggs, whey powder | 7 | 94,896 | health |
FRISCO, Texas (AP) Mauro Diaz had a goal and an assist, and FC Dallas beat the Vancouver Whitecaps 2-0 on Wednesday night to grab sole possession of first place in the Western Conference. FC Dallas (16-10-6) has 54 points and is tied with the New York Red Bulls atop Major League Soccer's Supporters' Shield standings. Vancouver (15-13-5) is in third place with 50 points, one point behind the Los Angeles Galaxy. Michael Barrios opened the scoring in the 32nd minute. He drew a penalty in the box 10 minutes later, but Diaz's penalty kick was denied by David Ousted. Diaz made it 2-0 in the 52nd after a nice individual effort. Ousted got a hand on the shot but it found the back of the net. Vancouver had its winless streak extended to five games. The Whitecaps' best scoring chance came when Gershon Koffie's shot in the 19th minute hit off the post. | 1 | 94,897 | sports |
Markets in Asia were off to a choppy Thursday, as investors balanced signals of a weaker U.S. recovery with chances that the Federal Reserve will delay an interest-rate increase into next year. Major stock markets made a lackluster start, but gained momentum in early Asian trading hours. The Nikkei Stock Average was up 0.7%, South Korea's Kospi gained 0.9% and Australia's S&P ASX 200 gained 0.4%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 1% while the Shanghai Composite Index was down 0.2%. "The markets are trying to get a firm grip on what's happening," said Chris Weston, market analyst at brokerage IG. But without clarity from the Federal Reserve, "we are going to get choppy trade for at least another few weeks," he added. Overnight, soft readings on consumer spending, inflation and jobs in the U.S. bolstered the case for the Federal Reserve to hold off from raising interest rates in coming months. Futures-markets traders now see almost no chance of a rate increase this month and a one-in-three probability of a move by year-end. While higher borrowing costs could strain growth, many policy makers have urged the Fed to move to put market uncertainty to rest. U.S. stocks also stumbled after a gloomy earnings forecast from Wal-Mart Stores dragged down shares of consumer-focused companies. The continuing uncertainty of the Fed's timing added to worries about China's ability to meet its year-end growth target after disappointing Chinese trade and inflation figures earlier this week. "We don't know which way to look one day we're looking at China, one day we're looking at earnings from the U.S." said Mr. Weston. In Hong Kong, shares got a boost from China's telecommunications sector. China Unicom (Hong Kong) Ltd. said after trading hours Wednesday that two of its units will sell tower assets to China Tower Corp. for roughly 63.09 billion yuan ($9.94 billion). Shares of China Unicom, China Mobile Ltd. and China Telecom Corp. rose 2.2%, 2.1% and 1.5% respectively. The three firms jointly own China Tower. In Australia, the local dollar weakened to $0.7301 after officials reported that the country's unemployment was unchanged at 6.2% in September. The rate matched consensus although the number of people employed fell by 5,100 from August, compared with an expected 10,500 rise. Still, the Australian dollar was up 0.2% compared with late Wednesday in Asia. The South Korean won weakened immediately after the country's central bank held its base interest rate steady at a record low of 1.50%. While most analysts expected the outcome, pressure has been mounting on the Bank of Korea to ease policy after two rate cuts earlier this year have done little to alleviate dismal exports and weak demand at home. The won was last flat against the U.S. dollar compared with its trading level late Wednesday in Asia. Gold prices are up 0.6% to $1,186.30 a troy ounce in Asia from late Wednesday. The yellow metal surged to as high as $1,189.40 overnight and closed in U.S. trade at its highest in 3½ months. Write to Chao Deng at [email protected] | 3 | 94,898 | finance |
Retirement planning isn't as simple as it used to be. While many Americans are struggling to set money aside for retirement , those that do save could be mismanaging their funds. Whether you've taken a loan out against your savings or failed to take on enough risk, here are 11 ways you're putting your retirement at risk. 1. Not Saving for Retirement According to data from the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, 31 percent of non-retired adults do not have retirement savings. Not starting your savings for retirement is the biggest way that you can sabotage your retirement. What to Do: It's never too early to start planning and saving for retirement . Even a small amount saved when you are young can turn into significant savings as you grow older. 2. Borrowing From Retirement Accounts Sometimes, people treat their retirement accounts more like an emergency fund. "The most significant way folks can sabotage their retirement accounts is to withdraw money during a market downturn," said Chris Alberta , CEO of Senior Benefits Group and Senior Health Direct. "Sometimes, there's not a choice if income is needed or an emergency arises. Overall, though, the worst possible time to become a spender is when the money needs to be in to recover. Statistically, funds that have not had withdrawals recover losses much faster." What to Do: Build an emergency fund so there is less need to borrow from your retirement account when emergencies come up. Click ahead to see nine more ways you're sabotaging your retirement. 3. Not Increasing Your Earnings Potential Whether you like your job or feel stuck, your earnings could be holding you back. The Federal Reserve survey found that only 44 percent of respondents who reported wages lower than $40,000 have any retirement savings. Overall, 27 percent of survey respondents said they're not investing because they're unable to afford the expense, and 38 percent expect to continue working through retirement to cover expenses. What to Do: Brainstorm ways to increase your income. You could improve or update your skills, change jobs or pick up part-time work. You could also get creative and start a side business . Whatever you do, it's always a good idea to maximize your earnings potential while you are young. 4. Not Taking Advantage of Employer Contributions An employer might match 401k contributions made by an employee. "Too often, people assume that employer matching is extra, as opposed to being part of their total compensation package," said Michael Tove, president and founder of AIN Services . "Not taking full advantage of the offer to match contributions is literally like asking for a salary reduction." What to Do: Don't skimp on free money. Always contribute the amount needed to get the full employer match. 5. Not Prioritizing Retirement Savings From car insurance to childcare, a number of expenses will always be tugging at your wallet. As long as you have a paycheck, it will always seem as if there is not enough money. With so many competing claims on your money, it's often difficult to give retirement planning the attention it deserves. But there will likely never be an ideal time when you feel you have enough in your accounts, so the best time to cultivate the habit of saving for retirement is now. What to Do: If you are self-employed or your employer does not offer a retirement plan, look into opening up a traditional individual retirement account or Roth IRA and begin contributing to it. 6. Trading Instead of Holding Investments You've likely heard stories about master traders who were able to make millions in the financial markets. And you might dream of being in their shoes and trading your retirement account to make millions. However, even though trading can be lucrative, most people who attempt it ultimately lose because they have not first invested the time to study and master the process. Trading appears deceptively simple, but it is really difficult to do well consistently. Tove said a sure way to sabotage your retirement account is to try "to second guess the market and [buy and sell] based on what you think markets are about to do. Research has shown that a buy/sell strategy usually underperforms a buy-and-hold strategy." What to Do: If you want to trade, open a brokerage account and put a small amount of money into the account for trading. Only if you can consistently outperform a major index, like the Standard & Poor's 500 Index, should you consider trading with your retirement funds. 7. Not Seeking Retirement Advice According to a study of the financial habits of affluent investors by TIAA-CREF , most affluent Americans agree they need to seek financial advice throughout their careers and not just when they approach retirement age. Studying the financial habits of affluent investors can help you identify some of the key strategies in building wealth. What to Do: Seek out fee-only, certified financial planners. Online, you can use the Financial Planning Association to start your search. 8. Adding to Your Kid's College Fund Before Retirement Accounts You love your kids, and with the rocketing costs of a college education, you want to do all you can to make sure they are not saddled with huge amounts of debt. So, you start a college fund with the goal of freeing them from the burden of student loans. This is well-meaning and admirable, but contributing to that college fund comes at the expense of contributing to your own retirement fund. What to Do: Remember that your children have more time than you do to pay off loans. They also have access to grant and scholarship opportunities as well as financial aid programs. Do not let your desire to reduce their future indebtedness come at the expense of your retirement nest egg. 9. Carrying Too Much Debt According to a 2014 study by the Urban Institute , in September 2013 the average total debt per American with a credit file stood at $53,850. Not all debt is bad, such as debt taken on to buy a house or fund a college education. However, there are types of debt that people carry, such as credit card debt, that can burden them far into the future and sabotage their retirement goals. What to Do: Do not take on debt for consumption. Make a plan to pay down credit card debt, starting with cards charging the highest rates of interest first. As you free up the money used in servicing these revolving loans, make additional payments to your retirement accounts. 10. Being Impatient and Thinking Short Term People like to see their accounts grow in a linear fashion. But markets rarely move this way. Sometimes, there are market pullbacks, and when this happens, you'll see declines in your account balances. Compounding takes time, but people switch in and out of funds too frequently. When "people expect short-term results and seek to judge long-term possibility by artifacts of the short term, they become impatient for results and abandon any long-term strategy," Tove said. What to Do: Focus on the long-term and not on short-term results. Don't go chasing mutual funds based solely on past returns. Remember that investing for retirement is all about taking a long-term view. Keep Reading: What Retirement Without Savings Looks Like 11. Not Taking Risks Because You Worry About Retirement Some people fixate on growing their retirement accounts and the years and months left until retirement. This fixation can actually work to the detriment of living life in the present. People might give up on changing jobs, learning new skills, taking risks and opening themselves up to new opportunities because they fear the unknown. This thinking might go something like this: "If I stay in this job for the next 18 years, I will be able to retire with X amount." But if the job you are in does not challenge you, or if you are stuck or unhappy in your job, you probably won't maximize your earnings potential and are almost certainly sabotaging your future happiness. What to Do: Live in the present but with the future in mind. Seek retirement advice but don't be afraid to take risks and seek new ventures to ensure you're making the most of life. More on MSN Money: 8 Ways to Save $1 Million Before You Retire 10 Reasons Merchants Reject Your Credit Card The Most (and Least) Expensive States to Drive | 3 | 94,899 | finance |
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