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I called 911 because she never would. Because every time it happened, her first thought was about protecting him. Because every time it happened, the sweet, loving man we all cared for so much would come back with apologies, profuse, swearing up and down that he understood how bad what he had done was, and swearing never to do it again. We all loved him, but especially, especially her, and she wanted to believe that the behavior wasn't going to last. The reports of violence started with a kick on a private plane, then it was shoves and the occasional punch, until finally, in December, she described an all-out assault and she woke up with her pillow covered in blood. I know this because I went to their house. I saw the pillow with my own eyes. I saw the busted lip and the clumps of hair on the floor. I got the phone call immediately after it happened, her screaming and crying, a stoic woman reduced to sobs. I understood her heartbreak. He had been my friend, too, a person I loved very much. A person I had once referred to as a brother. A person with whom I had laughed at the absurdity of the media and their spicy claims about my role in their family. A person who came to my rescue in my darkest hour, who I have credited with saving my own life, who I lived with for a year by his invitation while I healed and worked. I knew him to be soft and gentle, with a temper and a dark side, but a golden heart. I didn't want to believe it either, until I saw the wreckage. When you call someone your brother, you also commit to calling them out when they are wrong. As she, shaking and crying, described this 195-pound man throwing the full weight of his body into head-butting his 120-pound wife in the face in a fit of rage, I found that an unforgivable line in my heart had been crossed. I witnessed firsthand the absolutely baffling mental pretzel that an abused person puts themselves into, trying to balance the desire to protect their aggressor, with the knowledge that their swollen face is unacceptable. I listened as she cycled through things she could've possibly done to provoke him, or how she could've made him upset enough to do this. I sat and listened, my own heart aching because I had so much care for the tender, generous man inside of all this rage, and yet...the bottom, unequivocal line is, nothing she ever could have said or done deserves what she describes as him dragging her up the stairs by the hair, punching her in the back of the head, choking her until she almost passed out, and smashing his forehead into her nose until it almost broke. We say domestic violence is bad, we condemn it. But as a culture, we create the most fertile breeding ground for it to thrive. The cycle of abuse is perpetuated by every person who asserts that the victim more likely punched themselves rather than addressing the very real evidence of violence in front of them. The culture of victim-blaming is the very thing that protects abusers' ability to get away with this kind of behavior. Right now, every battered woman in the world is watching this media circus, internalizing the message that when they come forward for help, when they break the cycle, they will be called a gold digger, a cheater, and be accused of having faked it all for attention. I'm looking at every journalist, every editor, every person who puts a comment on an article pointing an uneducated finger. You are the lynch mob. You are a deafening chorus. Your searching for an explanation for why he would have hit her sends the clear message that there CAN be a reason why someone hits their spouse. It doesn't matter what was said between the two lovers, it doesn't matter if the romance was coming to an end, because nothing warrants that response. No person, ever, should suffer violence at the hands of the person they love. I watched a woman with a broken spirit go on national television the next night, covered in makeup, smiling through a bloody lip, who nearly jumped out of her seat when someone casually put a hand on her shoulder because she didn't know what was coming. That's why, when it happened again, when I was on the phone with both of them and heard it drop, heard him say, "What if I pulled your hair back?" and her scream for my help, I wondered like so many times before if I should break the code of silence that surrounds celebrities and invite the police into the situation, and in a split second decided that, yes, I was going to. Because I realized that as long as I was protecting the abuser from consequences, I was enabling the abuse and I could no longer partake. I had to stand up for my friend, and for what I believe in my gut to be the code of conduct by which human beings have to behave with each other. Whether we loved him or not has nothing to do with it. When it comes to violence, "love" is no longer part of the equation. iO Tillett Wright is an artist, writer, and activist. | 6 | 98,800 | entertainment |
Since 2010, when Americans actually paid more on their credit card bills than they charged, the annual increases have risen from $2.5 billion in 2011 to $71.0 billion in 2015. Total credit card debt at the end of last year had reached $919.1 billion, and at current growth rates, should wind up 2016 at roughly $1 trillion. In the first quarter of 2016, Americans paid down $33.8 billion in credit card debt, including a $7 billion charge-off. According to research at CardHub, however, that's the smallest first-quarter pay-down since 2008 and almost 25% below the post-recession average. Average U.S. household indebtedness dropped to about $7,600 during the first quarter. That represents an increase of 6% in indebtedness, compared with the first quarter of 2016. Worse, perhaps, it is just $831 below a tipping point (where minimum payments become unsustainable and delinquencies skyrocket) that CardHub has said is unsustainable. CardHub projects that average indebtedness will rise to more than $8,500 by the end of 2016. Some other points to ponder from the CardHub study: With 8 of the last 10 quarters reflecting year-over-year regression in consumer performance, evidence is mounting to support the notion that credit card users are reverting to pre-downturn bad habits. Despite credit card debt levels trending significantly upward, charge-off rates remain near historical lows. Something clearly has to give, and it does not seem to be our spending habits. The first quarter of 2016 shares a lot of similarities with Q1 2007, including the pay-down amount, its size in relation to the previous quarter's build-up and the charge-off rate at the time. That is not good news for consumers, considering the financial turmoil that followed the last time around. In its report issued Tuesday on consumer credit, the Federal Reserve reported total revolving debt of $951.5 billion as of the end of April. That represents a 4.5% increase compared with April of 2015. At the end of 2015, revolving credit outstanding totaled $937.9 billion, according to the Fed. | 3 | 98,801 | finance |
Make this summer the one where you take a hike. | 8 | 98,802 | video |
We were shocked and a little grossed out when we found out that according to a Wall Street Journal study, most "100% Parmesan" cheese is actually diluted with wood pulp. But there is a silver lining to this dairy unfortunate situation. According to recent research by scientists at the Technical Research Center of Finland wood components like Xylan, fibrillated cellulose and lignin can actually improve the texture and quality of food. What Additives Are in Your Favorite Foods Slideshow Specifically, the study cites foods like yogurt, baked goods, and meat products could be improved by this chemical components. "The food industry is continuously looking for new, natural ingredients that improve the quality of food products and promote consumers' health," researchers say in their study. "Studies conducted by VTT have shown that xylan, fibrillated cellulose and lignin have properties that make them stand out from traditionally used ingredients." To put that in layman's terms: That wood pulp might actually make your cheese taste better. | 0 | 98,803 | foodanddrink |
The Japanese-backed charging-protocol group CHAdeMO readies its fast chargers for longer-range electric vehicles. The CHAdeMO Association, whose plug-in vehicle-recharging standard is backed by Japanese automakers, says it's working on a protocol for fast-charging systems designed especially for electric vehicles that can go at least 200 miles on a single charge. CHAdeMO's new standards will allow for a 150-kW power transfer, up from the current maximum of 100 kW, according to Hybrid Cars . A protocol for stations with a 350-kW capacity may be in place by 2018. The first installations of such stations with higher power capacity may take place as early as next year. That's a good thing because Nissan is readying itself to put out its next-generation Leaf EV, which will need a range of at least 200 miles to compete with the Chevy Bolt and Tesla Model 3. While the Japanese automakers back the CHAdeMO standard for fast charging, US and European automakers are behind the competing Combined Charging Standard (CCS), which is also known as SAE Combo. The CCS system was first unveiled in 2012, first installed in 2013 , and is supported by companies such as BMW, General Motors, Ford, and Volkswagen. They all say it's better than CHAdeMO because it allows for a single port to be used for both Level 2 and DC fast charges, whereas CHAdeMO requires two separate ports. But the CCS system had a bit of a setback earlier this year after GM, which is preparing to debut the 200-mile-range Chevrolet Bolt EV, said it wouldn't provide funding towards CCS fast-charging infrastructure . Meanwhile, CHAdeMO, which is supported by Nissan, Toyota, and Mitsubishi, appears to be making inroads in Europe . In March, the CHAdeMO Association said it was planning to install more than 500 DC fast chargers throughout Europe by the end of the year, with the European Union kicking in some funding for infrastructure. | 9 | 98,804 | autos |
NBA superstar Steph Curry made a funny face swap video with his wife, and it's going viral and making everyone laugh. Sean Dowling (@seandowlingtv) has more. | 8 | 98,805 | video |
Get outdoors and skip the lines during the high season Capitol Reef, UT Annual attendance: 700,000 Why it's awesome: It's Utah's second-largest national park, with slot canyons, arches, cliffs, and 31 miles of well-marked trails yet only one-fifth the number of Zion's visitors. Throw in ancient petroglyphs, a river running through a lush valley of 2,000 fruit trees, crazy geology like the 100-mile-long Waterpocket Fold, and the knockout 8-mile Scenic Drive (sans traffic). Trail to yourself: It's a steep 2 miles up the Golden Throne Trail , but the views will do their mightiest to distract you. OMG moment: Walking the Hickman Bridge Trail, a 133-foot-long natural stone bridge, with the Fremont River rushing nearby. Where to pitch a tent: With a free wilderness permit from the visitor center, you can pitch a tent in the backcountry. Or choose one of the 71 shaded sites along the river at Fruita Campground ($10). Where to book a room: Head to the funky town of Torrey, 10 miles away, for budget motels, or to the luxe Lodge at Red River Ranch in Teasdale (from $160; redriverranch.com ). North Cascades, WA Annual attendance: Fewer than 20,000 Why it's awesome: Two peaks soar more than 9,000 feet, plus there are 312 glaciers and nearly 400 miles of hiking trails. Trail to yourself: Worth every one of its 5.2 uphill miles, gaining 5,095 feet in elevation, Sourdough Mountain Trail is a backcountry trek to a fire watchtower that presides over 360° of awe. OMG moment: Seeing peregrine falcons swoop, from your perch on the 389-foot-high Diablo Dam. Where to pitch a tent: At Colonial Creek Campground ($12), you can skip stones on Diablo Lake, just outside your tent. Where to book a room: The new lakeside Base Camp (from $95/person; ncascades.org ), at the North Cascades Institute's environmental learning center, offers gourmet organic fare and nature programs. Kootenay, southeast B.C. Where is it? The park is 200 miles north of Sandpoint, Idaho, and about two hours from Calgary International Airport. The trailhead for the Stanley Glacier Trail , featured here, is off Highway 93 in the park, 10 minutes south of better-known Banff. Where to pitch a tent: In a subalpine spruce forest, 61 sites at Marble Canyon Campground (from $22 U.S.) are a five-minute drive from the trailhead. Where to book a room: Your best bet for bed, bath and hot tub is in Banff. The Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise (from $408 U.S.; fairmont.com ) is the luxe and large option. Kootenay Park Lodge log cabins (from $132 U.S.; kootenayparklodge.com ) are an intimate, affordable alternative, as is the Banff Boutique Inn (from $205 U.S.; banffboutiqueinn.com ). Great Basin, NV Annual attendance: 90,000 Why it's awesome: California's Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks have giant trees, but this park has ancient ones like 4,000-year-old Great Basin bristlecone pines. And you can drive most of the way up 13,065-foot Wheeler Peak for extraterrestrial views of northeastern Nevada and Utah. Trail to yourself: Lexington Arch Trail zigzags 3.4 miles to an amazing six-story limestone arch. OMG moment: The bristlecone pines, especially when they glow in the morning sun on their namesake trail. Where to pitch a tent: At 10,000 feet, you'll feel the altitude, but the vistas at Wheeler Peak Campground ($12) are worth a minor headache. Where to book a room: The options are slim in the gateway town of Baker. Whispering Elms Motel (from $57; greatbasinmotel.com ) is adequate. Rustic Hidden Canyon Ranch B&B (from $139; 775/234-7172) lies on 380 acres outside the park. Grand Canyon, AZ Mule rides from the South Rim book up months in advance and cancellations are as rare as a room with a canyon view. Instead, go to the North Rim , 215 miles away. It sees a third of the visitors and has plenty of mules for hire. Arrive at the trail rides desk in the Grand Canyon Lodge when it opens at 7, and you may find yourself in the saddle, loping in the early-morning light down the vertiginous Kaibab Trail ($75 half-day; canyonrides.com ). Zion, UT Since only shuttle buses are allowed on Zion Canyon Scenic Drive through October, check out Kolob Canyons. This lesser-known paradise in Zion's northwest corner (about 25 miles north on U.S. 15 from the Zion turnoff at Toquerville) remains open to private vehicles. Chug up Kolob Canyons Road, which snakes between sandstone cliffs and gains 1,000 feet of elevation in 5 miles. From the summit, hike the Timber Creek Overlook Trail , a moderate 1-mile round-trip with an eagle's perspective of Kolob's finger canyons each a mini Zion. | 2 | 98,806 | travel |
A tabloid story claiming reclusive Richard Simmons has transitioned to living as a woman is "absolute madness and not true," the fitness guru's rep says. "Our official comment is complete, absolute denial," publicist Tom Estey told the Daily News on Wednesday. The National Enquirer 's new cover story touting a photo of Simmons in long brunette locks and a fur coat boldly alleges that seldom-seen Simmons, who disappeared from the spotlight three years ago, is now living as "a softly spoken woman named Fiona." Where's Richard Simmons? Twisted mystery has friends concerned The report, heralding Simmons as "the new Caitlyn Jenner," went on to claim that the 67-year-old aerobics enthusiast had received breast implants and hormone treatments over the last two years. The supermarket tabloid's dubious story came on the heels of Simmons being hospitalized for dehydration Friday, with conflicting reports on when he actually left the hospital. He was said to have been discharged the next day, but photos obtained by TMZ reportedly showed his live-in housekeeper, Teresa Reveles, visiting the hospital twice on Monday. The site later published photos of what appeared to be a bearded Simmons leaving Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in a car Monday night. Estey, meanwhile, insisted Simmons was doing "absolutely great." The "Sweatin' to the Oldies" star, known by his friends to sometimes wear women's clothing, disappeared from the spotlight in 2013. His worried friends told The News recently they believed Reveles was controlling him. Simmons later insisted his seclusion was voluntary during phone interviews with "Entertainment Tonight" and the "Today" show. "He has the right to live his life, and if he chooses to do so in private for a couple of years, that's his right to do," Estey told The News on Wednesday. | 6 | 98,807 | entertainment |
A Tennessee woman who fatally shot her husband over a text message sent to another woman has been sentenced to 15 years in prison. Tammy Lynn Talford, 57, pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in the death of her husband, Leon Talford, in Knox County Criminal Court on Monday. Mrs. Talford shot and killed her husband in April 2015 after prosecutors said she found a message to another woman on his phone that read, "I love you." Talford's husband had suffered a gunshot wound to his upper chest before police say she tried to claim initially that the shooting was an accident. The story eventually changed under interrogation, when authorities say Mrs. Talford admitted to shooting the 52-year-old after discovering the message. However, Talford claimed even Monday that she never intended to kill her husband. Mrs. Talford must serve at least 45 percent of her 15 year sentence before she is eligible for parole. Watch: Mom Dismembers Her Three Young Sons After Stabbing Them to Death: Cops | 5 | 98,808 | news |
Considering a visit to the beach soon? A hotel booking may not be necessary; nearly 100 mattresses were found near coastal shorelines in 2015, according to a report released by Ocean Conservancy last month. The mattresses are just a portion of the 14 million items of ocean debris volunteers found along 25,000 miles of coastline in nearly 100 countries during the annual International Coastal Cleanup event hosted by the advocacy group in September 2015. That averages to more than 500 pieces, or 700 pounds, of trash per mile of coastline. A 2015 study estimated that between 4.8 and 12.7 million metric tons of plastic enter the ocean each year, much more than 800,000 or so volunteers could collect and properly dispose of in one day. "We can't just focus on the cleanups. We need to make some strides upland and inland," says Allison Schutes, senior manager of Trash Free Seas and the International Coastal Cleanup at Ocean Conservancy. The Ocean Health Index an assessment of how well coastal countries and regions are able to utilize and protect their ocean ecosystem in terms of 10 benefits, including clean water, tourism and biodiversity has remained relatively unchanged in recent years. In addition to individual behavior changes like passing on plastic straws, the fifth-most common item collected during the cleanup local and international policies can help with lasting change, Schutes says. Ocean and coastal health has even recently become part of the Brexit debate. Members of the Green Alliance think tank wrote in a letter to the UK 's environment secretary that leaving the European Union "would be damaging for Britain's environment," including "the quality of Britain's beaches" and "the seas we fish in." More conservative politicians in favor of Brexit have said the inverse. But no one country is to blame, Schutes says. In many, waste management programs simply lack the infrastructure to keep pace with development. The Philippines had the most volunteers participate in the cleanup this year, the first country to beat out the United States in the program's 30-year history and a sign that, Schutes says, attention on and awareness of the issue of ocean health is growing. The Philippines is a nation comprised of thousands of islands in the South China Sea, making resilient public infrastructure "a major structural challenge," according to a working paper from the International Monetary Fund. Investment in the country is well below that of its regional peers, but its citizens are helping to spark change. Just in time for World Oceans Day , here are the 10 countries with the dirtiest coastlines be they along oceans, seas or lakes according to data submitted by volunteers from nearly 100 countries participating in the International Coastal Cleanup. COUNTRY Pieces of Trash Each Volunteer Found Per Mile of Coastline Cambodia 1,072 Albania 877 Morocco 568 Malawi 388 Nigeria 232 Vietnam 150 Turkey 147 Tanzania 126 Argentina 106 Russia 94 Copyright 2016 U.S. News & World Report | 5 | 98,809 | news |
The upcoming NFL season could present the end of the line for some quarterbacks who are hanging on to their starting jobs or in some cases, their NFL careers, by a thread. In some situations, rookies could oust starters should injuries and poor performances arise. Meanwhile other quarterbacks must prove to their respective teams that they are not just one-hit wonders moving forward. Whatever the circumstance may be, the following six quarterbacks are facing make it or break it seasons this fall. Sam Bradford, Philadelphia Eagles At this time, the Eagles appear to be honoring their word that Bradford will be the starter come Week 1. This comes despite the Eagles catapulting up in the draft to No. 2 to select Carson Wentz and Bradford's initial holdout of the team's voluntary practices. Now that Bradford has come back to his senses, it is go time. He must improve on his 7-7 record from last season that saw him record 19 touchdowns to 14 interceptions. Plus, there should be no more "deer in the headlights" looks from Bradford when he is pressured in the pocket. This comical, but accurate, analysis was made by Hall of Famer Shannon Sharpe of Bradford's performance last season. "We all know he folds like lawn chair in the pocket." It will be up to Bradford to use his feet to avoid the heat. Competing in a division in which nobody which NFC East team will prevail, another lackluster win/loss record could spell doom for his future as a starter. The Eagles would most likely turn to Wentz should this happen, sending Bradford into a disgruntled tizzy to seek a trade. Sadly, we all know how far that got him the last time around. With little margin for error, Bradford simply cannot regress. >" style="position:static;vertical-align:top;margin:0 auto;display:block;width:600px !important;max-width:100%;min-height:585px !important;max-height:none !important;border:none;overflow:hidden;" frameborder="0" height="585" width="600"> Sam Bradford Career TD and INT Percentages | PointAfter Kirk Cousins, Washington Redskins After posting a commendable 9-7 record, Cousins helped lead Washington to its first postseason since 2012. Following such a successful campaign that saw Cousins complete a league-high 69.8 percent of his passes for 4,166 yards, 29 touchdowns and just 11 interceptions, Washington pledged its faith with a generous one-year, $19.953 million deal. Now, it is Cousins' job to show he is worth the money and an eventual long-term contract. A lapse in performance such as when he committed a horrific nine turnovers in the first seven weeks last year could see Washington pulling the plug on Cousins as a long-term option. Although if he picks up where he left off, he should have no worries about his future job security. Hopefully, the latter scenario is the case. Cousins certainly has plenty of talent to ensure he remains a fixture in Washington for years to come. >" style="position:static;vertical-align:top;margin:0 auto;display:block;width:600px !important;max-width:100%;min-height:560px !important;max-height:none !important;border:none;overflow:hidden;" frameborder="0" height="560" width="600"> Kirk Cousins Career Passing Accuracy | PointAfter Blaine Gabbert/Colin Kaepernick, San Francisco 49ers The 49ers will hold a quarterback competition between incumbent Gabbert and former starter Kaepernick this summer. After Kaepernick struggled tremendously in the first half of 2015, the 49ers had no choice but to turn to Gabbert. While he proved more successful than Kaepernick, some might compare the current 49ers' quarterback dilemma to being asked if you would rather be covered by spiders or cockroaches. Both are distasteful options. At this point, either one of these guys could be the starter come September. If Gabbert prevails during training camp and leads a successful 2016 campaign, Kaepernick might as well pack his bags. Should Kaepernick suddenly rebound to his Super Bowl worthy season, then Gabbert will revert to being nothing more than a middling backup. The worst-case scenario for the 49ers is both quarterbacks flop and the team has to start over from scratch next season. If that is the case, neither Kap or Gabbert would possess much appeal in an open market. May the lesser of the two evils win. >" style="position:static;vertical-align:top;margin:0 auto;display:block;width:600px !important;max-width:100%;min-height:520px !important;max-height:none !important;border:none;overflow:hidden;" frameborder="0" height="520" width="600"> Colin Kaepernick Career Passing Yards and TDs | PointAfter Tyrod Taylor, Buffalo Billls Taylor is the here and now in Buffalo. But, is he really the long-term solution to the Bills' ongoing quarterback woes? After serving as a backup in Baltimore for four seasons, Taylor at least proved to be an upgrade at the position in his first year as a starter. Plus the Bills have Taylor locked up in an ultra-affordable three-year, $3.35 million contract while they evaluate his performance again this year. Realizing that he could potentially earn more money comparable to some of his counterparts, Taylor is remaining patient that a new deal is on the horizon. Tyrod Taylor reiterated what he's been saying. He's confident his contract situation will work itself out. He's not worried about it. Matthew Fairburn (@MatthewFairburn) June 6, 2016 This equates to Taylor building on his last season's performance. In 2015, Taylor completed a notable 63.7 percent of his passes for 3,035 yards, 20 touchdowns and only six interceptions. Though, health was an issue. If he declines and the Bills struggle to post more than the eight wins they notched in 2015, then it could be Cardale Jones time in 2017. That's not exactly a fabulous bargaining tool for Taylor moving forward. >" style="position:static;vertical-align:top;margin:0 auto;display:block;width:600px !important;max-width:100%;min-height:520px !important;max-height:none !important;border:none;overflow:hidden;" frameborder="0" height="520" width="600"> Tyrod Taylor Weekly Passer Rating in 2015 | PointAfter Mark Sanchez, Denver Broncos Ever since his release from the New York Jets, Sanchez has been trying to revive his NFL career. Due to the Bradford factor in Philly, Sanchez most recently found himself a member of a Super Bowl winning Denver Broncos. Fortunately, he has the prime opportunity to start for a winning franchise. That is unless he blows it. As it appears, Sanchez seems the logical choice to start in Week 1. However, an up-and-coming Trevor Siemian and rookie Paxton Lynch anxiously await in the wings. Provided Sanchez starts, all it would take is a few losses right off the bat or some classic Sanchez turnovers for him to get the hook early on. If he winds up getting benched this season, his tenure as a Bronco will likely come to a screeching halt. Thankfully, Sanchez is paired with one of the best defenses in the NFL and some amazing offensive weapons. In order to reduce the odds of Sanchez choking, we can bet a ton of handoffs to C.J. Anderson and company this fall are part of Gary Kubiak's game plan. If Sanchez is still surviving come Week 17 and the Broncos are winning more than losing, there will be millions of doubters eating crow. >" style="position:static;vertical-align:top;margin:0 auto;display:block;width:600px !important;max-width:100%;min-height:500px !important;max-height:none !important;border:none;overflow:hidden;" frameborder="0" height="500" width="600"> Robert Griffin III, Cleveland Browns RG3 received another opportunity in the NFL after the Browns took him under their wing in free agency. If Griffin stays ahead in the quarterback competition over rookie Cody Kessler and veterans Josh McCown and Austin Davis during training camp, he will be golden to start in September. Though, another significant injury or a stretch of poor performances could spell the end for RG3. Fans of Griffin have been waiting since the end of his smashing rookie debut for an encore. And that simply has not happened yet. At this point, Griffin needs to step up and prove to his new team he is worth keeping beyond 2016. If injuries and inaccuracies prevail and the Browns post a measly two or three wins, Griffin will be joining the ranks of the unemployed next season. Let's just hope that an early Griffin practice episode that had playground kids scrambling to avoid flying footballs is not a telling sign of worse things to come in 2016. >" style="position:static;vertical-align:top;margin:0 auto;display:block;width:600px !important;max-width:100%;min-height:520px !important;max-height:none !important;border:none;overflow:hidden;" frameborder="0" height="520" width="600"> Robert Griffin III Career Passing Yards and TDs | PointAfter | 1 | 98,810 | sports |
PHILADELPHIA (AP) Each entrepreneur got just 12 minutes. In that time, the women pitched tote bags, baby pillows, headphones and more to representatives of QVC telling their stories, demonstrating their products and hoping they'd win the approval of people who help decide what merchandise the home shopping channel will sell. Getting a product on QVC is a small business owner's dream. The company says it reaches 360 million households worldwide through broadcast, cable and satellite, and had nearly 1 billion visits to its e-commerce sites last year. Those at the November session in Philadelphia that focused on women entrepreneurs knew it was aimed at giving them feedback, with no guarantee QVC would agree to sell their products. But since then, several have indeed landed a presence on QVC.com, and the company has told others it's interested in offering their products through programs aimed at helping young companies. Before an entrepreneur can get on TV, they must have the right products, says Rich Yoegel, QVC's vice president of merchandising. "We must determine if it will be better than something else we sell, and is it going to resonate with our customers," he says. Selling products on TV was the springboard for Joy Mangano, who has sold mops, clothes hangers, luggage and other merchandise on QVC and its rival, the Home Shopping Network, since 1990. Mangano was the subject of the 2015 movie "Joy" and portrayed by Jennifer Lawrence, who garnered an Academy Award was nomination. And Lori Greiner, who appears on the reality show "Shark Tank," got her start on QVC in 1998 and sells household products, home decor, storage items and more. Some small businesses have thrived on home shopping TV even as they compete with national brands and QVC's private-label goods for viewers' money. IT cosmetics, which had $1 million in revenue in 2010, when it first appeared on QVC, has seen its revenue grow to more than $200 million. A look at how some entrepreneurs have fared since the Philadelphia pitch session: PRODUCT: MinkeeBlue bags, totes that include a lunch bag and coin purse ENTREPRENEUR: Sherrill Mosee, of Philadelphia LIGHTBULB MOMENT: Mosee was tired of carrying a purse, laptop case and tote bag, and also saw mothers carrying multiple bags for toys and diapers plus their purses. In 2014, she designed a bag with different compartments and components. THE PITCH: Mosee, who was already in contact with QVC about an earlier version of her bags, showed the panel the latest model. They liked it but wondered about the cost; the suggested price was about $200. While Mosee demonstrated the bag as something for working women, the panel asked whether the bags could be marketed to mothers. "We want to have as broad a mass appeal as possible," Albany Irvin, a QVC program host, told Mosee. THE UPSHOT: Mosee had already had a good response to the previous version of the bag from panel member Christine Dunn. After the pitch, Dunn contacted Mosee and said QVC wanted to sell the bags in its Sprouts program, designed to help young companies get ready for mass merchandising. But in March, Mosee heard separately that QVC and NBC planned a joint pitching competition. Mosee applied, appeared on the "Today" show in April and was a finalist; now one of her totes is selling on QVC.com. PRODUCT: Loopit, headphones designed to look like jewelry ENTREPRENEUR: Vanessa Chan, of Philadelphia LIGHTBULB MOMENT: Chan found it irritating to untangle headphone wires whenever she used them, so in 2014 she designed phones that combined with a metal chain to look like a necklace. THE PITCH: Chan demonstrated how tiny magnets turn her headphones into jewelry. The panel was impressed with the idea and that she had answers to technical questions and had a manufacturer lined up. THE UPSHOT: In early December, QVC told her its buyers would look at Loopit. In January, QVC said it was interested in including Loopit in its Sprouts program. But Chan also heard about the QVC/NBC competition, also appeared on "Today" and Loopit is now on QVC.com. Chan has had interest in her headphones from other retailers since her TV appearance, and has gotten an order from a store in Virginia. After having been on TV, Chan says, "I'm feeling great. ... I couldn't be happier." PRODUCT: Proper Posie, pillow and lounger designed to elevate babies' heads and upper bodies, to help children with acid reflux ENTREPRENEUR: Karissa Tunis, of Lititz, Pennsylvania LIGHTBULB MOMENT: Tunis' children suffered from acid reflux, which causes stomach acid to be forced up into a baby's esophagus and mouth. They had to be propped up on extra pillows. She designed a pillow that can be adjusted to give a baby's body more elevation and began selling it last year. THE PITCH: Tunis made her first pitch ever for her product, hoping to at least get some feedback. "I really didn't know what to expect," she says. "I wasn't expecting a deal." The panel liked Proper Posie, its fabric and the way it was constructed. THE UPSHOT: QVC employees contacted Tunis and proposed selling her product on the online site Zulily. She's working toward that goal, but is taking some time to develop colors besides pink and aqua to improve her chances of success. PRODUCT: Shea Radiance, skin and hair care products made with shea butter from West Africa ENTREPRENEUR: Funlayo Alabi, of Ellicott City, Maryland. LIGHTBULB MOMENT: Alabi was given shea butter to soothe eczema as a child in Africa. About 10 years ago, she used it to help her son. She found shea butter products were either cheap and didn't work well, or very expensive. She wanted to create shea butter products that worked well and were a good value. THE PITCH: Alabi was emotional as she told the panel about the millions of women in Africa who make a living collecting shea nuts and processing them into shea butter. Shea Radiance buys its ingredients from women in Nigeria. The panel listened soberly, tried her moisturizers and complimented Alabi on the feel and scent of the products and her packaging. THE UPSHOT: QVC representatives told Alabi they were interested in Shea Radiance for the Sprouts program. However, skin and hair care products must undergo laboratory testing before QVC will sell them "The testing is expensive, not in our budget. We are going to do it when we can afford to do it," Alabi says. PRODUCT: ShoeCandy, women's shoes and accessories ENTREPRENEUR: Kara Mac, of Mount Kisco, New York LIGHTBULB MOMENT: When Mac commuted to work, she carried an extra pair of shoes if she had an evening social event. In 2014, she decided to design basic flats, pumps and boots that could be dressed up with interchangeable bows, heel covers and other bling THE PITCH: Mac showed the panel how her shoes and accessories are mixed and matched. The panel was enthusiastic; Irvin and Lori Goldstein, who sells fashion merchandise on QVC, said she had a great idea. Mac was surprised at how receptive they were; it was a big change from previous pitches she's made. "How many times I've presented and they looked at me with a blank stare," she says. THE UPSHOT: QVC representatives were initially interested in ShoeCandy, but its buyers later said no. Mac is selling her products through her website and at conferences, meetings and events that working women are likely to attend. She's hoping QVC will change its mind and says doing the pitch did help her confidence. | 3 | 98,811 | finance |
DETROIT After hearing good things about the latest in crash-prevention technologies, you decided to add automatic emergency braking to your new car. The feature costs north of $2,000 on most vehicles. Yet even though data show it can prevent crashes, the discount from your insurer is likely to be zero. Most insurers aren't yet ready to give a break to car owners who invest in automatic braking or other new electronic technologies such as lane departure warning or blind spot detection. Many companies are still compiling their own data to confirm that the devices stop crashes, while others say automakers don't always make it clear which models have the new technologies. The Associated Press found that of the 11 biggest U.S. auto insurers, only two offer discounts for the new electronic devices. But experts say that because they are so effective in reducing crashes, it's just a matter of time before widespread rate cuts arrive. "We certainly are seeing significant effects from automatic emergency braking," says Russ Rader, spokesman for the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, an industry research group. "To the extent that vehicles get into fewer crashes, that will ultimately be reflected in the rate you pay." Among big insurers, only Hartford Insurance Group and Liberty Mutual Insurance Cos. offer discounts for automatic braking, which uses cameras and radar to spot objects in the way and slow or stop vehicles if the driver doesn't react. Other companies say they're studying claims data before offering specific discounts. Many say the discounts are baked into overall rates on cars equipped with automatic braking that crash less often. An IIHS study released this year found that 40 percent of rear-end crashes would be cut if all cars had automatic braking. That means about 700,000 crashes would be prevented annually, based on 2013 crash data. The government and most major automakers have agreed to make autonomous braking standard on most cars by 2022. Among other new electronic safety features, lane-departure warning hasn't been as effective, while blind-spot detection shows promise in early data, Rader says. One reason why not all insurers offer discounts is because automatic braking still isn't on that many vehicles. The consulting firm IHS estimates that it will be on 21 percent of the vehicles produced in North America this year. Also, insurers have a hard time verifying if cars actually have the devices. When insurers check a car's vehicle identification number, they usually see a list of features. But electronic safety devices aren't yet included by most automakers. Insurers say they're working with car companies to include them. Once expensive and limited mainly to high-priced luxury cars, automatic braking is now more affordable and included on more mainstream vehicles. This year, automatic braking is standard equipment on 17 of 194 of the most popular models in the U.S., and available on 71 others. Toyota is making it standard on nearly all new Lexus and Toyota models by the end of next year. While most companies include it as part of more expensive packages, Toyota lowered prices for the feature as an option on 2016 models to $300 to $635. Insurance companies also are trying to determine whether the radar sensors and cameras used in automatic braking could drive up repair costs. On many models, the sensors are mounted in front-end emblems or bumpers, said Justin Herndon, a spokesman for Allstate Insurance. "Something that used to cost 60 or 70 bucks for an emblem to be replaced now can cost a couple grand," he says. Still, The Hartford has already determined that automatic braking is worth a cut in rates, which could help entice drivers to get the new features. The company cuts up to 3 percent of the annual premium on cars with automatic braking and other devices. Currently the discount is only in five states Illinois, Ohio, Minnesota, Oklahoma and Arkansas but could be expanded, said spokeswoman Julia Zweig. "Safety technologies are becoming more widely available and are expected to improve driver safety and reduce the likelihood of collisions," Zweig said in an email. Liberty Mutual said it couldn't state the size of the discounts because they vary by feature and driver, and may vary by state. Hartford's discount works out to only about $30 per year on the average annual insurance premium of about $1,000. But the discounts could grow as more vehicles get automatic braking as standard equipment and insurance companies see in claims data that it reduces crashes. | 3 | 98,812 | finance |
Maria Sharapova has been banned for two years by the International Tennis Federation for using a prohibited drug. | 1 | 98,813 | sports |
Marijuana's official designation as a Schedule 1 drug something with "no accepted medical use" means it is pretty tough to study. Yet numerous anecdotal reports, as well as some studies, have linked marijuana with several purported health benefits, from pain relief to helping with certain forms of epilepsy. Still, experts say more rigorous scientific analyses are needed. Use of marijuana, a psychoactive drug, can come with risks , especially in people who may be prone to addiction or mental illness. And now for the first time, researchers have found a link between daily, decade-long weed use and a difference in how the brain processes reward. Addiction and the brain For years, researchers have suggested that such a link exists and if it does, that it could play a powerful role in addiction. An important part of this line of thought is that addicts, far from amoral individuals incapable of making intelligent decisions, simply respond differently to drugs neurologically, psychologically, physiologically than people who are not addicted. And this response is probably the result of many factors outside the person's control, including genetics, behavior, and environment. So for their study , published on Wednesday in the journal Brain Mapping, researchers at the Center for BrainHealth at the University of Texas, Dallas took a look at the brains of 53 daily, long-term pot users (14 of whom met the American Psychiatric Association's criteria for addiction) and 68 people who'd never used the drug daily. Then the researchers showed them with a series of objects meant to test their reward response. The objects included one type of fruit (the "natural cue"), a pencil (the "neutral cue"), and either a bong, a pipe, or a joint (the "cannabis cue"), depending on which one they said they preferred. Importantly, this study did not look at so-called "recreational users" those who use the drug every few weeks or months. Instead, it focused on people who used the drug every day for an average of 12 years, several of whom met the criteria for being addicted to the drug and many of whom displayed some signs of past or present problems with weed. Why? Because the researchers wanted to tease out how changes to the brain's reward pathway might affect who used the everyday for years and more importantly, why. Not surprisingly, when the chronic users were presented with either the bong, pipe, or joint, they displayed a stronger response in several parts of their brain linked with reward than they did when they were shown the natural fruit cues. In contrast, the non-users did not show a significantly greater response to either the weed or fruit cues, and some parts of their brains showed a greater response to the fruit than to the bong, pipe, or joint. "This study shows that marijuana disrupts the natural reward circuitry of the brain, making marijuana highly salient to those who use it heavily," Dr. Francesca Filbey, the director of Cognitive Neuroscience Research in Addictive Disorders at the Center for BrainHealth and an associate professor in the School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, said in a press release . "In essence, these brain alterations could be a marker of transition from recreational marijuana use to problematic use," she added. Marijuana and the brain For another 2014 study also by Dr. Filbey, she and her team found that, compared with people who didn't use pot, long-term, heavy users tend to have a smaller orbitofrontal cortex, a brain region critical for processing emotions and making decisions. And, interestingly enough, the heavy users also appeared to have more cross-brain connections. Scientists think regular users may develop these links as a means of compensating for the difference in size. The regular pot users also had lower IQ scores overall when compared to the people who didn't use the drug. To arrive at their results one of the first comprehensive, three-dimensional pictures of the brains of adults who'd smoked weed at least four times a week, often multiple times a day, for years the researchers used a combination of MRI-based brain scans. Still, that study did not show that chronic weed use caused certain regions of the brain to shrink or that pot use caused lower IQ scores; it simply showed a relationship among those factors. "We cannot honestly say that that is what's happening here," Filbey told Business Insider in 2014 . Similarly, the latest study does not show that chronic pot use causes a change in the brain's reward response; the reverse could also be true, that the changed reward response influenced the chronic pot use. | 7 | 98,814 | health |
Here's a look at vintage images of America's Wild West. Vintage Wild West We are taking you back to America's wild, wild west! (Pictured) A rodeo rider on a bucking bronco in Burwell, Nebraska, circa 1919. Circa 1867 A group of Gold Rush prospectors pose with their equipment. 1867 The Gold Hill mining camp in California. Circa 1885 A miner pans for gold in California. Circa 1885 A Union Pacific Railway train crosses Dale Creek Bridge in Wyoming. 1889 Men pan for gold in a stream in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Circa 1890 Children of the Klondike area of Yukon Territory, Canada bask in the sun. Circa 1897 Gold miners on a trail in Alaska. Early 20th century Cowboys near a chuck wagon. Circa 1901 A train crosses the Devil's Gate Bridge, in Georgetown Loop, Colorado. 1902 A miner pans for gold in Alaska. Circa 1905 Crow Indians in Montana. Circa 1905 Portrait of a family at their home with musical instruments, in Harney County, Oregon. Circa 1908 Rodeo cowgirls in Cheyenne, Wyoming, USA. Circa 1908 A group of men and women enjoy a meal by a chuck wagon next to a barn in Oregon. Circa 1909 A cowgirl on horseback in the prairies of Montana. Circa 1909 A cowboy gets ready for roundup time on a ranch in Geneseo, Kansas. Circa 1910 A cowboy with his horse. Circa 1910 Piegan Indians with their horses on a hill. 1921 Cowgirls a the Western Rodeo held in Idaho. Circa 1926 The last stagecoach running in Montana. Circa 1934 A pair of cowboys seen near a mountain camp. 1939 Farmers in front of a load of logs in Ola, Idaho. 1939 A cooperative sawmill in Ola, Idaho. | 2 | 98,815 | travel |
In its relatively short history, Airbnb has been a hit with families and tourists but the platform hasn't been optimized for business users. That's beginning to change. At its OpenAir conference on Wednesday in San Francisco, Airbnb announced new tools for business users including the ability for an executive assistant or company travel manager to book rooms on behalf of another employee. By itself, the feature is only a small and perhaps overdue nod to the needs of business travelers, but its introduction signals how serious Airbnb is becoming about them. Airbnb says more than 50,000 companies have now booked travel through Airbnb for Business, and 10% of all travel that happens on the platform is for business cases. Early partners include tech companies like Google, Salesforce, and Github, but Airbnb is now also a corporate travel option for mainstays like Morgan Stanley. Mike Curtis, Airbnb's VP of Engineering, noted in his keynote presentation that the number of nights booked for business tripled in the first quarter for 2016. Yet already, 11% of Airbnb bookings for business are made by someone other than the traveler even without official support for that function. "With all that incredible growth, we've been missing something incredibly important for business travelers," Curtis said. The ability for travel managers to book for other employees goes hand in hand with other relatively new features, like Instant Booking rooms that can be booked without pre-approval from the host and Business Travel Ready rooms that have essential business amenities like free WiFi, a work desk, and 24-hour check-in. | 3 | 98,816 | finance |
Ahmed ""Iron Monkey"" Kerigo performed a flying push-up using stacks of small benches 1.36 meters high, a RecordSetter World Record. Visit RecordSetter.com to challenge the record or to create a new record of your own. | 8 | 98,817 | video |
For the fifth time in his career, Kelly Johnson has been traded and his latest transaction comes with an added sense of familiarity. The Atlanta Braves sent Johnson, 34, to the New York Mets for the second time in as many seasons, acquiring high-strikeout minor-league reliever Akeel Morris in the process. Last season, while Atlanta wrapped up its Cooperstown festivities around John Smoltz's Hall of Fame induction, Johnson was packaged with Juan Uribe to bring back productive prospects John Gant and Rob Whalen. The veteran utility option has watched his production fall off this season, his 12th in the majors, as he's hitting just .215/.273/.289 with one home run. Still, the Mets lead only the Braves and Phillies in runs scored this season a similar scenario as their 2015 season, needing to find offense to complement a dominant pitching staff and Johnson provides a well-known, versatile commodity. Unlike the "flyer"-type prospects the Braves acquired in their Jhoulys Chacin and Jason Grilli deals, though, the 23-year-old Morris offers real intrigue and is much, much closer to MLB-ready. The right-hander posted double-digit strikeout rates at every single minor-league stop in his career striking out 12.79 batters per nine innings this season in Double-A and he posted a sub-2.50 ERA in each of his past four seasons. (He's sitting with a 4.62 ERA and dealing with some command issues this year.) More from FanGraphs : "Morris has a live arm with setup potential, but he is very reliant on his arm speed to generate his stuff. He lands on a stiff front leg without much hip rotation, resulting in a lot of effort and rigidity in his upper body and arm. His fastball looks faster than it actually is with his quick arm action, and he has a solid changeup with good run. If he can improve his control, there's nothing stopping him from settling into a seventh- or eighth-inning role." Johnson joins Chacin and Grilli as the early trade pieces for this Braves roster, and more moves could be on the horizon with the likes of Jim Johnson, Bud Norris, Alexi Ogando, Eric O'Flaherty, Chase d'Arnaud and Jeff Francoeur on low-cost contracts. (Bigger pieces such as Julio Teheran, Nick Markakis and Arodys Vizcaino have also warranted consideration around the industry.) Given Johnson's struggles thus far, it's difficult to picture Atlanta's front office extracting a more valuable asset than Morris, who could very well factor into their bullpen plans in the near future. | 1 | 98,818 | sports |
Early on in life, people tend to start thinking of themselves as "creative" or "not creative." This often stems from childhood experiences, like whether or not you had a talent for art in school. If you were better at solving a math problem than drawing a tree, you may have placed yourself in the not-creative bucket and pursued a career centered around more logical reasoning. But being artistic and being creative don't necessarily go hand in hand. So, even if you still can't draw a decent tree, it doesn't mean that you don't have the capacity to be a creative thinker. Creativity isn't something you're born with or without; everyone has the capacity to be creative. You just need to learn how to tap into your creativity. One way to do that is to study the habits of highly creative people. Following their example isn't a formula for guaranteed success, but it will help you cultivate your creativity and go beyond what you thought was possible. Here are some of the habits of highly creative people that can help you develop your own creativity. They follow a routine. Many creative people tend to stick to a strict schedule and are disciplined about when and how they work. Routines don't inhibit your creativity but allow it to flourish. Psychologist William James said that schedules "free our minds to advance to really interesting fields of action." They combine work and play. "Hybrid forms of work and play may actually provide the most optimal context for learning and creativity, for both children and adults, and that play and intrinsic joy are intimately connected, creating a synergy that naturally leads to greater inspiration, effort, and creative growth," write Scott Barry Kaufman and Carolyn Gregoire, authors of Wired to Create . In other words, having fun is good for you. It makes you happy and inspires you, which is key to nurturing creativity. They can work anywhere. Whether you're trying to write your first novel or launch your first business, you're probably dealing with a lot of competing priorities. But if you're holding out for a serene environment and a completely clear schedule, you're probably never going to realize your dream. In fact, if you feel like you can only work in a specific place at a specific time, you're doing yourself a disservice. "Studies show that changing environments is beneficial to productivity and creativity," writesTravis Bradberry in Forbes . They daydream. Creative people are disciplined, but they also understand the value of letting their minds wander. Kaufman and Gregoire write, "A review of the latest science of daydreaming has shown that mind wandering offers very personal rewards, including creative incubation, self-awareness, future planning, reflection on the meaning of one's experiences, and even compassion." When you allow your mind to travel from the task at hand, you open yourself up to new ideas and creative solutions that you hadn't considered. They know when to walk away. Creative people are good at coming up with interesting and sometimes unorthodox solutions to problems, but that doesn't mean they can make everything work. In fact, the difference between a successful creative person and an unsuccessful one could be knowing when to step away from something. Social psychologist Richard Nisbett and his colleagues have studied successful creative people and found that those who thrive over the long term are those who are willing to walk away from projects that aren't working, despite how much time and effort they have invested in the endeavors, according to Fast Company . Knowing when to walk away shows that you're free-thinking enough to realize when it's time to try something different. | 4 | 98,819 | lifestyle |
[Question]"Like A Virgin": Didn't know how lost I was… [/Question] [Answer]'Cause only love can last[/Answer] [Answer-Correct]Until I found you[/Answer-Correct] [Answer]Feels so good inside[/Answer] [Answer]Can't you hear my heart beat[/Answer] [Question]"Vogue": Look around, everywhere you turn is… [/Question] [Answer]The dance floor[/Answer] [Answer]Black or white[/Answer] [Answer]Music[/Answer] [Answer-Correct]Heartache[/Answer-Correct] [Question]"Crazy For You": Strangers making the most of the dark, two by two… [/Question] [Answer]I'm deeper into you[/Answer] [Answer-Correct]Their bodies become one[/Answer-Correct] [Answer]Standing still in time[/Answer] [Answer]You'll know it's true[/Answer] [Question]"Take A Bow": I've always been in love with you, I guess you've always… [/Question] [Answer-Correct]Known it's true[/Answer-Correct] [Answer]Took my love for granted[/Answer] [Answer]Been one lonely star[/Answer] [Answer]Played[/Answer] [Question]"Papa Don't Preach": He says that he's going to marry me… [/Question] [Answer]It's a sacrifice[/Answer] [Answer]We're in an awful mess[/Answer] [Answer]I've been losing sleep[/Answer] [Answer-Correct]We can raise a little family[/Answer-Correct] [Question]"Like A Prayer": I hear you call my name… [/Question] [Answer]It's like an angel sighing[/Answer] [Answer-Correct]And it feels like home[/Answer-Correct] [Answer]I close my eyes[/Answer] [Answer]It's like a dream to me[/Answer] [Question]"Material Girl": 'Cause the boy with the cold hard cash… [/Question] [Answer]I think they're ok[/Answer] [Answer]They can't raise my interest[/Answer] [Answer-Correct]Is always Mister Right[/Answer-Correct] [Answer]Is living in a material world[/Answer] [Question]"Who's That Girl": When you see her, say a prayer and kiss… [/Question] [Answer]Her feet[/Answer] [Answer-Correct]Your heart goodbye[/Answer-Correct] [Answer]The fire[/Answer] [Answer]Your life goodbye[/Answer] [Question]"Live To Tell": The light that you could never see… [/Question] [Answer]It's where beauty lives[/Answer] [Answer]To go very far[/Answer] [Answer]I've hidden it well[/Answer] [Answer-Correct]It shines inside[/Answer-Correct] [Question]"Express Yourself": You don't need diamond rings or… [/Question] [Answer-Correct]Eighteen karat gold[/Answer-Correct] [Answer]Rubies[/Answer] [Answer]A crown[/Answer] [Answer]Gold and platinum[/Answer] [Question]"Open Your Heart": I think that you're afraid to look… [/Question] [Answer]Away[/Answer] [Answer-Correct]In my eyes[/Answer-Correct] [Answer]Into your heart[/Answer] [Answer]Your future[/Answer] [Question]"Justify My Love": I want to hold your hand in… [/Question] [Answer]Venice[/Answer] [Answer]Bad times[/Answer] [Answer]Paradise[/Answer] [Answer-Correct]Rome[/Answer-Correct] [Question]"Causing A Commotion": I've got the moves baby… [/Question] [Answer]Get into the groove[/Answer] [Answer-Correct]You got the motion[/Answer-Correct] [Answer]But opposites attract[/Answer] [Answer]We won't let it die[/Answer] [Question]"I'll Remember": Say good-bye to not knowing how to cry… [/Question] [Answer]You told me that[/Answer] [Answer-Correct]You taught me that[/Answer-Correct] [Answer]But I helped you[/Answer] [Answer]You changed me[/Answer] [Question]"True Blue": You're the one I'm dreaming of, your heart fits me… [/Question] [Answer-Correct]Like a glove[/Answer-Correct] [Answer]Perfectly[/Answer] [Answer]And I won't let go[/Answer] [Answer]Like we're meant to be[/Answer] [End] [/End] | 6 | 98,820 | entertainment |
How architect Joel Barkley and interior designer Todd Klein reinvented a historic Kentucky estate When Augusta Holland inherited Ashbourne , a historic estate in Louisville, Kentucky, she knew she had to maintain the nostalgia of the property it's been in her family since her great-grandparents bought it in the 1920s while updating it for the needs of her own modern family. "I wanted to keep the connection to my father and grandparents while making the place not only our own but also one for future generations," says Holland. So she enlisted her friend, the interior decorator Todd Klein, and architect Joel Barkley to modernize the house without erasing its classic charm. The result is a home that pays homage to the original farmhouse while establishing plenty of visual interest for the contemporary age. Here, five ways to upgrade an old home with inspired design. Opt for contemporary riffs on traditional furnishings. In the master bedroom, a slim-profiled Rose Tarlow Melrose House four-poster is a new take on a classic shape. Choose unexpected colors. The powder room juxtaposes classic brass finishes and marble countertops with a bold turquoise hue on the walls and ceilings. Use fabric to modernize timeworn pieces. A Christopher Farr flocked linen gives a staid sofa in the family room an extra dose of personality. Bring in new art. A Gabi Trinkaus collage gives the otherwise classic family room a forward-leaning vibe. Make it bright. Todd Klein painted the ceiling of the living room with reflective white lacquer, a sure way to lighten up dated rooms with few or small windows. The blue striations on the living room's handmade silk wall covering by Gracie inspired the rest of the space's palette. Arranged near the fireplace are a sofa in a custom-colored TylerGraphic linen, a Regency armchair in a Pierre Frey solid, and a club chair in a TylerGraphic floral linen; at far right is a pair of green 1960s resin lamps by Silvano Pantani from Swank Lighting. Designer Todd Klein coated the ceiling in reflective white lacquer, a room-brightening trick he learned from his mentor Albert Hadley; the rug is by Beauvais Carpets. | 4 | 98,821 | lifestyle |
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) The NCAA says attendance at men's college basketball games declined slightly last season. Total attendance in all three NCAA divisions was 32,382,283, the 10th-highest total in history. The per-game average dropped by 25 from 2014-15. Fewer fans also attended Division I games, dropping to 27,234,610. And though the NCAA Tournament attracted 703,854 fans, it was well off the tourney record of 800,377 from 2012-13. The Big Ten Conference drew the highest number of fans, with slightly more than 3.1 million attending games and 11 of 14 schools averaged more than 10,000 per game. Kentucky's average crowd of 23,361 was the nation's highest, dethroning reigning two-time champion Syracuse. Kentucky and Syracuse were followed by Louisville and North Carolina. Maryland had the largest average increase at 5,169 per game. | 1 | 98,822 | sports |
[Question]Tom Hanks announced that he was diagnosed with this disease in 2013.[/Question] [Answer-Correct]Type 2 diabetes[/Answer-Correct] [Answer]Endometriosis[/Answer] [Answer]Psoriasis[/Answer] [Answer]Parkinson's Disease[/Answer] [Trivia]It's a condition when the amount of glucose in the blood is too high because the body is unable to use it properly.[/Trivia] [Question]Pamela Anderson blamed her ex-husband Tommy Lee for contracting this disease in 2002.[/Question] [Answer]HIV[/Answer] [Answer-Correct]Hepatitis C[/Answer-Correct] [Answer]Hepatitis B[/Answer] [Answer]Cirrhosis[/Answer] [Trivia]Hepatitis C is a blood-borne virus that infects the cells of the liver, causing inflammation and significant damage to it.[/Trivia] [Question]Selena Gomez underwent treatment for this autoimmune disease in 2013.[/Question] [Answer]Rheumatoid arthritis[/Answer] [Answer]Vasculitis[/Answer] [Answer-Correct]Lupus[/Answer-Correct] [Answer]Psoriasis[/Answer] [Trivia]It's a chronic illness where the body's own immune system attacks healthy tissue.[/Trivia] [Question]Rapper Missy Elliot was first diagnosed with this serious medical condition in 2008.[/Question] [Answer]Leukemia[/Answer] [Answer]Adrenal insufficiency[/Answer] [Answer]Lupus[/Answer] [Answer-Correct]Graves' disease[/Answer-Correct] [Trivia]An immune system disorder that results in the overproduction of hormones by the thyroid gland.[/Trivia] [Question]Michael J. Fox was diagnosed with this ailment in 1991, when he was 30 years old.[/Question] [Answer]Dyskinesia[/Answer] [Answer-Correct]Parkinson's disease[/Answer-Correct] [Answer]Huntington's disease[/Answer] [Answer]Dementia[/Answer] [Trivia]Breakdown of nerve cells (neurons) in the brain leads to a gradual loss of control in limb movements.[/Trivia] [Question]Sarah Michelle Gellar blames this medical condition on her aversion to wearing both backpack straps as a teenager.[/Question] [Answer-Correct]Scoliosis[/Answer-Correct] [Answer]Dorsalgia[/Answer] [Answer]Kyphosis[/Answer] [Answer]Spondylitis[/Answer] [Trivia]It's a condition when the spine bends to the side, in some cases affecting the sufferer's posture.[/Trivia] [Question]Lil Wayne suffered multiple seizures in 2013 because of this neurological disorder.[/Question] [Answer]Multiple sclerosis[/Answer] [Answer-Correct]Epilepsy[/Answer-Correct] [Answer]Meningitis[/Answer] [Answer]Asthma[/Answer] [Trivia]Epilepsy is the general description for a brain condition making the sufferer prone to regular epileptic seizures.[/Trivia] [Question]Demi Lovato entered a treatment facility in 2010 after being diagnosed with this disorder.[/Question] [Answer]Celiac disease[/Answer] [Answer]Heart disease[/Answer] [Answer]Hepatitis C[/Answer] [Answer-Correct]Bipolar disorder[/Answer-Correct] [Trivia]It is characterized by extreme shifts in mood ranging from a manic to a depressive state.[/Trivia] [Question]Rosie O'Donnell deals with a lifelong struggle with this emotional condition?[/Question] [Answer-Correct]Depression[/Answer-Correct] [Answer]OCD[/Answer] [Answer]ADHD[/Answer] [Answer]Anorexia[/Answer] [Trivia]A common mental disorder usually manifesting as feelings of guilt, low self-worth, sadness, and anxiety.[/Trivia] [Question]Martin Scorsese's lifelong condition kept him indoors as a child.[/Question] [Answer]Crohn's disease[/Answer] [Answer-Correct]Asthma[/Answer-Correct] [Answer]Vitiligo[/Answer] [Answer]Graves' disease[/Answer] [Trivia]Often caused by allergies, it's a chronic disease that makes breathing difficult as airways in the lungs are inflamed.[/Trivia] [Question]Seal's facial scars are a result of this health condition.[/Question] [Answer]Scoliosis[/Answer] [Answer]Cirrhosis[/Answer] [Answer-Correct]Lupus[/Answer-Correct] [Answer]Psoriasis[/Answer] [Trivia]Specifically, Seal suffers from discoid lupus erythematosus, which often affects the skin.[/Trivia] [Question]Venus Williams was forced to withdraw from the 2011 U.S. Open due to this disease.[/Question] [Answer-Correct]Sjögren's syndrome[/Answer-Correct] [Answer]Endometriosis[/Answer] [Answer]Psoriasis[/Answer] [Answer]Heart disease[/Answer] [Trivia]With two very common symptoms dry eyes and a dry mouth - this autoimmune disorder can cause joint pain and fatigue.[/Trivia] [Question]Catherine Zeta-Jones checked herself into a treatment facility in 2011 and 2013 for this disease.[/Question] [Answer]Depression[/Answer] [Answer]Dementia[/Answer] [Answer]Adrenal insufficiency[/Answer] [Answer-Correct]Bipolar disorder[/Answer-Correct] [Trivia]According to the National Institute of Mental Health, the disorder can cause more than 9 years' reduction in expected life span.[/Trivia] [Question]Daniel Radcliffe revealed in 2011 that he suffers from a medical condition that afflicts one percent of the population.[/Question] [Answer-Correct]Cluster headaches[/Answer-Correct] [Answer]Vasculitis[/Answer] [Answer]Cirrhosis[/Answer] [Answer]Endometriosis[/Answer] [Trivia]A very painful type of headache often centered around one eye or on one side of the head.[/Trivia] [Question]Kim Kardashian inherited this disease from her mother Kris Jenner.[/Question] [Answer-Correct]Psoriasis[/Answer-Correct] [Answer]Asthma[/Answer] [Answer]Lupus[/Answer] [Answer]Bipolar disorder[/Answer] [Trivia]An autoimmune disease, it causes raised, red, scaly patches to appear on the skin.[/Trivia] [Question]Halle Berry was diagnosed with this disease in 1989.[/Question] [Answer]Scoliosis[/Answer] [Answer-Correct]Diabetes[/Answer-Correct] [Answer]Psoriasis[/Answer] [Answer]Hepatitis C[/Answer] [Trivia]The two common types of diabetes are Type 1, caused by lack of insulin production; and Type 2, which results from the body's ineffective use of insulin.[/Trivia] [Question]Jimmy Kimmel often pauses while talking to take a pill to counter the effects of this disease.[/Question] [Answer-Correct]Narcolepsy[/Answer-Correct] [Answer]Dyskinesia[/Answer] [Answer]Spondylitis[/Answer] [Answer]Cluster Headaches[/Answer] [Trivia]A sleep disorder characterized by Excessive Daytime Sleepiness (EDS), an overwhelming sense of tiredness and fatigue throughout the day.[/Trivia] [Question]Cher found that she suffered from this illness during the filming of "The Witches of Eastwick" (1986).[/Question] [Answer]Sjögren's syndrome[/Answer] [Answer]Crohn's disease[/Answer] [Answer-Correct]Epstein-Barr Virus[/Answer-Correct] [Answer]Graves' disease[/Answer] [Trivia]It can be caught by close contact with a sufferer, and can cause (among other symptoms) Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.[/Trivia] [Question]Miley Cyrus opened up about her non-life-threatening medical condition in 2009.[/Question] [Answer-Correct]Tachycardia[/Answer-Correct] [Answer]Celiac Disease[/Answer] [Answer]Fibromyalgia[/Answer] [Answer]Multiple Sclerosis[/Answer] [Trivia]It's a medical condition when the heart beats faster than the normal heart rate.[/Trivia] [Question]Jon Hamm's medical condition developed as a result of working on his hit TV show "Mad Men".[/Question] [Answer]Narcolepsy[/Answer] [Answer-Correct]Vitiligo[/Answer-Correct] [Answer]Endometriosis[/Answer] [Answer]Fibromyalgia[/Answer] [Trivia]It's an autoimmune disease that results in the loss of skin color in patches.[/Trivia] [End] [/End] | 4 | 98,823 | lifestyle |
Were people in the past crazy, or just lacking taste buds?? Check out these Insane Dishes from History. Feeling Hungry? Beaver tail, rotten fruit, vinegar pie... some of the things our ancestors ate would make our stomachs turn today. Were they insane? Insatiably curious? Lacking taste buds? None of the above. With less access to fresh ingredients and exotic herbs and spices, foodies before us had to cook whatever they could, however they could. Cultural and religious norms of the time also dictated the way food was prepared and eaten, all of which led to flavor combinations and cooking methods that seem utterly bewildering now. Check out these top insane dishes from history. Beaver Tail "I say, pass me another slice of that beaver tail, good sir!" That's something you could have heard at the table of a European Catholic family in the Middle Ages. Fasting for religious reasons generally meant abstaining from animal products, except for fish. So how does the beaver get onto the table? In that era, the beaver (always swimming about with it's scaly tail) was officially considered to be a fish. Seems like a bit of a stretch, but 10 points for creativity. Garum Fermented Fish Blood Sauce Usually if you leave something organic out in the sun for three months, it ends up in the garbage, not on your plate. The Ancient Romans always were a bit different though. A popular condiment of its time, garum was essentially fish sauce made of fish intestines and blood, salt and herbs, and fermented in the sun. Whole towns were devoted to the production of this pungent paste, and the Romans used to put it on absolutely everything, including dessert. Rôti Sans Pareil You might have heard of the turducken (a chicken, stuffed inside a duck, stuffed inside a chicken) but have you heard of the Rôti Sans Pareil? Literally the 'Roast Without Equal', this incredible dish was first described in 1807, and consists of no less than 17 birds stuffed inside each other. Seventeen! (It's a warbler inside a bunting, inside a lark, inside a thrush, inside a quail, inside a lapwing, inside a plover, inside a partridge, inside a woodcock, inside a teal, inside a guinea fowl, inside a duck, inside a chicken, inside a pheasant, inside a goose, inside a turkey, inside a Great Bustard). It's not clear if this insane dish was ever actually made or just dreamed up to boost sales of the cookbook it appeared in: Almanach des Gourmands by Alexandre Balthazar Laurent Grimod de la Reynière. Perhaps he got the inspiration from his similarly overstuffed name. Pies Stuffed With Live Animals Speaking of stuffing things... one of the hottest dining trends in the 15th and 16th Centuries was to stuff pies with live animals and people, serving them up as show pieces during major feasts. One notable such occasion was the 1626 feast in honor of King Charles I of England, during which a seven-year-old dwarf called Jeffrey Hudson popped out of a large pie, suit of armor and all. Apparently Queen Henrietta Maria was so taken with the boy that she accepted him as a gift, and he spent years with her at court. Pretty sweet gig for an ingredient. A 16th-century Italian cookbook also describes how to bake a pie with live birds, which might have inspired the nursery rhyme lyrics 'Sing a song of sixpence, A pocket full of rye. Four and twenty blackbirds, Baked in a pie.' Rotten Medlar Medlar, a kind of fruit very similar to a loquat, has been harvested since Roman times. Despite being known among the French as "dogs ass" fruit because of its unusual appearance, the Victorians wasted no time getting it onto their plates. They figured out that the fruit was basically inedible unless left to blet, or partially rot. Once sufficiently rotten, the flesh of the fruit would be scraped out and eaten with sugar and cream or made into jelly, cheese, tart or jam. Not likely to displace Nutella at the breakfast table any time soon. Roasted Heron If you happen to have a copy of the 1390 English cookbook The Forme of Cury lying around, you'll notice that it contains cooking instructions for quite an amazing array of animals, including seals, whales, porpoises, cranes and herons. Herons are not famous for being easy to catch, nor plump and filling when served at the table, but there they are. The inclusion of this strange bird is probably due to the lack of consistent food sources in Medieval times and chefs who had to get creative with whatever they had. In case you were wondering, The Forme of Cury recommends wrapping the plucked heron up in bacon and ginger and roasting it whole. Cockentryce Part of becoming confident in the kitchen is experimenting and trying new flavor combinations and cooking methods. But did you ever experiment so hard you invented an entirely new life form? Humans have been imagining hybrid creatures since forever (think the Sphynx, Chimera, Griffin and Pegasus) but chefs in the Tudor period went a step further by actually eating them. One popular hybrid animal was the 'Cockentrice', which was comprised of half a pig sewn to half of a capon (a kind of rooster), which was then stuffed, battered and roasted. Another popular variation was the 'Helmeted Cock', in which the capon was outfitted with a lance and helmet, and sat astride the pig, like a knight on his horse. Kind of puts our deep-fried-avocado-bacon-maple-cheese sandwich to shame. Fish Bladder Jelly If you weren't very enthusiastic to try rotten Medlar on your toast, perhaps you can be tempted with sweet fish bladder jelly? Those Victorians were at it again with this bizarre dish made from the swim bladder of the sturgeon fish. The organ, used by fish to regulate their buoyancy in water, contains a form of collagen called isinglass, which is used like gelatin to thicken liquid. Isinglass was once widely used to make jellies and other foodstuffs, and today it's still used in the refining process of some beer and wine, notably Guinness stout. Toast Sandwich Burger joints often experiment by replacing buns with patties of meat or including extra layers of bread to create monstrously tall sandwiches, but this dish takes the cake. The delicious filling of a Toast Sandwich is.... a piece of toast. Yep. It's a slice of grilled bread, between two slices of un-grilled bread. You can add a bit of butter or salt and pepper if you're feeling wild. This spectacularly unappealing sandwich first appeared in the 1861 cookbook Miss Beeton's Book of Household Management, a very popular title that also holds the distinction of being almost completely plagiarized. Stuffed Doormice The amount of time, effort and money required to raise, butcher, stuff and roast a doormouse hardly seems worth it, considering how little meat they contain, but that was exactly what the Ancient Romans liked about them. Any Roman willing to fuss about with, and appreciate this strange delicacy was obviously wealthy and sophisticated. The hibernating doormice were raised in terracotta jars complete with little staircases, air holes and places where they could store food. When they were nice and fat, they were killed, stuffed with nuts and roasted with honey and spices. Vinegar Pie Nicknamed "the poor man's lemon pie", vinegar pie began appearing in kitchens in the American South around the mid-1800's. It's not clear exactly how or why it was created, but it's likely that cooks began using cider vinegar instead of the fruit or lemon juice because it was cheaper. In the same spirit, Great Depression-era cooks used to make "apple pie" filling from crackers and lemon juice. Despite its unappealing name, vinegar pie has actually made a bit of a comeback in recent years, appearing on the menus of several fancy restaurants. Turtle Soup While these days most species of turtles are protected from hunting, turtle soup was all the rage in 18th-century Britain. Imported live from the West Indies, the turtles were butchered in situ, and made into a soup fit for a banquet. Well two soups actually, calipash and calipee, made from the upper and lower flesh of the turtle and served in the animal's upper and lower shells. Importing the live turtles, butchering and preparing the soup was so expensive and time-consuming, that by the 19th century, tinned or dried turtle was often used instead. Shortly after, even this was too expensive and mock turtle soup, made from calf, became popular. Butterless, Eggless, Milkless Cake The last insane historical recipe comes directly from the Oregon Trail. Pioneers in 1800's America, making the hard slog west from Missouri, weren't lucky enough to have refrigerators, freezers, fresh vegetables or even much in the way of canned food. Between battling disease, famine and exposure, they used their meager supplies to create a surprising array of recipes like this cake, sans butter, egg and milk. Made with brown sugar, shortening, cinnamon, cloves, salt, raisins and cold water, it sounds pretty unappealing, but apparently it worked quite well. Want to give it a try? Check out the recipe here. | 0 | 98,824 | foodanddrink |
Humankind is really something special. Jonathan Marcus, compelled by the challenge to create something for a convention called (no joke), " Stupid S**t No One Needs & Terrible Ideas Hackathon ," found a way to deep fry water . Stupid s**t no one needs? Perhaps. But terrible idea? Not so much. Here's how he did it, according to Vice : Marcus had the wherewithal to realize that the key to frying water would be to enclose a portion of it in a membrane of some sort. He turned to calcium alginate, a gelatinous substance that is made from aqueous calcium chloride and aqueous sodium alginate (a tried-and-true staple of molecular gastronomy). It's similar to the spherical rainbow drop cake that has recently become a Cronut-level trend. Marcus delicately rolls his congealed balls of water in egg and panko crumbs and carefully places them into his deep fryer, frying them up before slurping them down. How does it taste? "That was the blandest fried thing I've ever tasted," he says. Whatever. At least deep fried water is now a thing you can now drink. Or eat? We're just going to call it "dreatink," a new form of ingesting food that has now been demonstrated by a man in a Massachusetts kitchen. We should note that mixing water and hot oil together can create an explosive reaction and should be handled with extreme care . Needless to say, don't dreatink this at home. | 5 | 98,825 | news |
Watch out, golf world. An 11-year-old girl from Oklahoma shot a 66 to win a local lady's club championship earlier this week, beating out older and more experienced competitors. The Southwest Times Record reports the Raychel Nelke, who has been playing competitive golf since the age of 8, brought her A-game to Hardscrabble Country Club on Sunday -- and wound up with a bogey-free, personal best 66. "It was overwhelming. I think I was near tears," Raychel's mother Tina told the paper. Her father was similarly proud: "Sixty-six is new for her. She's shot in the low 70s before, but it was sure fun to watch." Raychel's success on the course had her feeling confident and even more dedicated to the sport that she loves. "This is really the only thing I want to do," she said. "It's my favorite sport." | 1 | 98,826 | sports |
Business is a game of revenue, profits and expenditures. If those metrics are out of balance, sustaining a business will prove difficult. Even if your projections show a rapid increase in profits in the next four months, you may not be around long enough to witness them. The challenge: You have to make enough money to stay open during that time, no matter how rosy the future opportunities you foresee for your company. This is where cash flow comes in. It needs to be optimized, which doesn't just mean increasing your revenue (though that might be a piece of the puzzle). Rather, cutting costs, speeding up invoicing and earning interest on your various accounts are the factors that will play the biggest part in keeping your business afloat. Click through to see five ways to boost your cash flow. 1. Reevaluate and fine-tune the pricing of your products Are you selling your products for too little? Could you be selling them for more? You may be concerned that your sales will suffer if you raise your price too much, and that is always a possibility, but it's best not to come to any preconceived conclusions without first testing and finding out what the market can bear. This is especially important when running an ecommerce business , where you have physical inventory you must first invest in. When you increase the price of your products, their perceived value also tends to rise. Customers who haven't been taking advantage of your offerings may be more inclined to make use of them if they require a larger investment at the outset. If your pricing is too affordable, you won't be taken seriously. But if your pricing is too expensive, you will lose some business to competitors. So, you have to recognize that a lot of margin sits in the happy middle and that your task is to find a price point that helps boost your cash flow while not resulting in lost sales. 2. Replace old equipment and inventory Old equipment takes up space and is inefficient, to boot. For example, print devices can quickly become outdated and incompatible with the latest technology. With many companies moving from desktops to laptops, and laptops to mobile devices, the replacement process can be frustrating. Managing, maintaining and repairing multiple brands and models is costly, since each requires its own proprietary toner or ink cartridges. In addition, your team has to be trained in usage and maintenance on each new machine . Leasing devices, therefore, can be cost-effective, since you'll always have the latest technology available at your fingertips, and because newer devices are more power efficient. But whether you're dealing with equipment or inventory, if either one is obsolete, not working or not being used, you'll need to replace or eliminate it entirely, as it is just taking up space. In some cases, too, selling old equipment can also result in taxable gains, another way to boost cash flow. Old inventory, however, isn't likely to be worth anything, especially as you continue to update your physical products. Don't hold on to surplus unless there is a good reason to. Consider running a blowout sale if your older products still have value, and use a comprehensive inventory management system to keep track. 3. Re-negotiate long-term contracts Do you have long-term contracts with suppliers and service providers? Most businesses make use of a variety of tools to keep their businesses running smoothly. Even small expenses can add up as you begin paying for dozens of subscriptions. But there may be an opportunity to re-negotiate contracts with companies with whom you have an established rapport. If you know that you're going to be keeping those companies on over the long haul, you can approach them with a new, more cost-efficient arrangement. Many of those businesses will be willing to work with you if they know they'll be able to keep you as a customer for several years to come. That's an advantage for them, since they won't have to check in every month to see if you're going to renew. Not all providers will be willing to make changes to your account, but as you contact them, you may discover that you have add-ons or extras you no longer need. So, you can improve cash flow that way: by cancelling services you aren't using. 4. Create incentives for early payments and penalties for late payments For many businesses, invoicing is a painful process that sometimes requires a lot of back and forth. If you find it difficult to keep your clients accountable and loathe having to follow up when they're late in paying, you may find it's time to implement an incentive and penalty program. For instance, discounts could be applied to any account paid early or on time, and interest could be added to any invoice that has gone neglected for too long. These moves will encourage your customers or clients to get payments to you early, thus immediately improving your cash flow picture. There are multiple benefits here, since not only will more of your customers pay early or on time, you'll actually be able to save on the time and resource costs of constantly having to confirm that payments have been received. 5. Improve your marketing Any improvements you can make to your business will ultimately lead to better cash flow. Marketing, in particular, is a key factor. The reason is that improving marketing reduces your cost-per-lead, boosting the lifetime value of your customers and opening up untapped markets. Are you having trouble fostering trust and gaining credibility with your customers? It may be time to implement a content marketing initiative that educates your leads, improves your conversions and boosts your company image, especially online. Are you interested in upselling but don't know what products to create? Survey your customers, or have a third-party consultant conduct customer interviews to determine what your next offering should be. Final thoughts If you're experiencing cash-flow problems, you'll want to take an honest look at your business and how you're running it. Your business infrastructure needs to be monitored and tweaked regularly. This is not a set-and-forget exercise. When you're tempted to blame your customers, be willing instead to examine how you're allocating your money, and determine what changes might be made. Using the strategies outlined above, you'll be able to speed up your cash flow and position yourself to win in the game of business. Related: 4 Tips for Revving Up Revenue When You Need It Most 10 Expert Tips on Managing Cash Flow as a New Business | 3 | 98,827 | finance |
Morgan Stanley has agreed to pay a $1 million fine to settle U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission civil charges that security lapses at the Wall Street bank enabled a former financial adviser to tap into its computers and take client data home, the regulator said on Wednesday. The settlement resolves allegations related to Galen Marsh's unauthorized transfers from 2011 to 2014 of data from about 730,000 accounts to his home computer in New Jersey, some of which was hacked by third parties and offered for sale online. Marsh was sentenced in December to three years probation and ordered to pay $600,000 in restitution after pleading guilty to one felony count of unauthorized access to a computer. Prosecutors had sought prison time. According to the SEC, Morgan Stanley violated a federal regulation known as the Safeguards Rule by failing to properly protect customer data, allowing Marsh to access names, addresses, phone numbers, and account holdings and balances. "Given the dangers and impact of cyber breaches, data security is a critically important aspect of investor protection," Andrew Ceresney, director of the SEC enforcement division, said in a statement. Morgan Stanley did not admit or deny wrongdoing. In a statement, the New York-based company said it has changed account numbers and offered credit monitoring and identity theft protection services for affected clients. The theft did not result in fraud against any client account, it added. Marsh accepted a related five-year securities industry ban from the SEC, the regulator said. He has said he did not offer to sell customer information to anyone. "We appreciate the SEC taking a look at the full weight of the evidence and making an appropriate decision," his lawyer Derrelle Janey said in an interview. He said Marsh and his wife are now raising their 6-month-old daughter. | 3 | 98,828 | finance |
E-commerce in India is largely dominated by a pair of homegrown internet giants in Flipkart and Snapdeal, but Amazon.com's Jeff Bezos is doubling down on his effort to make the U.S.-based tech giant a major player in the country. At a Washington D.C. event connected to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the U.S. capital Wednesday, Bezos said the company will invest another $3 billion in growing its business in India, on top of the $2 billion it has already invested in the country. Since 2013, when it first launched its online marketplace in India, Amazon.in, Amazon has opened about 21 fulfillment centers across the country and partnered with India Post to deliver to all serviceable zipcodes, while sticking to its traditional model of faster and cost-effective delivery by domestic postal services where possible. Amazon, which has been a disruptive force in U.S. retail for years now, is much more challenger than champion in India. The company accounts for just 16% of the country's $22 billion e-commerce market with the lion's share held by Flipkart at 44% and 32% for Snapdeal. At present only 0.6% of sales come from the country, but the opportunity for more is significant. India's internet journey has just begun as opposed to rival China, which has already surpassed the U.S. and accounts for 35% of global internet sales, according to a report from Morgan Stanley. India has tripled its internet user base since 2014, to 300 million people, and the numbers will keep growing as access expands to semi-rural and rural areas, and smartphone penetration increase. The same Morgan Stanley report forecasts the Indian e-commerce market could grow to $137 billion a more than 500% spike by 2020. Even as internet users multiply, the challenges for domestic e-commerce retailers continue to hurt their bottom lines. Amazon's investment comes at a time, when domestic players are struggling to get new funding at already high valuations . The lure of discounted price and ease of delivery promotes loyalty from shoppers, but offering such services is costly. However, its still unclear if Amazon's increased efforts in India will turn it into a conqueror. In March, Indian regulators allowed 100% foreign direct investment in online retail businesses, but stipulated that marketplaces cannot influence product prices and no group or single vendor can have more than 25% of total sales. That may mean relationships with vendors will be just as important as capturing market share in the fast growing e-commerce industry that will continue to draw upon from rising consumer spending in India in coming years. | 3 | 98,829 | finance |
Laziness begets laziness. Laziness begets laziness. Why go to the gym tonight? After all, you haven't gone in a week. Why take out the garbage when your whole apartment is a mess? Good points. But it's time to break the cycle. We browsed two Redditthreads on overcoming laziness and pulled out the easiest ways to set yourself on a path toward greater productivity. These aren't major life overhauls instead, they're small tweaks to your mindset and daily routine that can help you start getting stuff done. Read on and get inspired. 1. Set a 10-minute alarm Multiple Redditors shared some variation on the idea that you should tell yourself you'll only work on the dreaded task for a designated time period and then you can stop. Here's an example, from backformore : "I set an alarm for 10 minutes and then see how much I can get done in that time. Usually, it gets me motivated to keep going after the timer goes off, but if it doesn't at least I did something." Meanwhile, psychologist and procrastination expert Timothy A. Pychl gave Psychology Today much the same advice. Essentially, you "make a deal with yourself" that even though you don't like doing the task, you do it anyway for 10 minutes. Once you're already involved, it's less tempting to quit. 2. Leave yourself an easy task for the following morning Rosco7 points out that he's more likely to procrastinate at work when he's got a hard problem ahead of him. If, on the other hand, he knows that the problem won't take much time or effort to solve, he dives right into it, and then into the rest of his work as well: Here's my big trick: I always try to leave myself something easy to do first thing the next morning. If I find a programming bug and see that it will be an easy fix, I leave it for the next morning. If I need to package up an installer for a new release, leave it for next morning. That way I have something easy to start out with, and I'm less tempted to do something else first. 3. Exercise Several Redditors highlighted the importance of exercise for beating laziness, particularly when you do it first thing in the morning. As hackday puts it , "Once you get your blood pumping, you will realize that you feel wakeful and energetic instead of sleepy and lethargic. "Indeed, research has found that young adults who reported being fatigued all the time felt more energetic and less tired when they exercised at a low or moderate intensity. 4. Switch up your work environment "I find that I procrastinate constantly when I'm at home, so when I want to be productive, I go to a library or another public space," writes scissa . "If I have a choice, I prefer public spaces where people are working, because they encourage me to do the same. "Scissa is onto something: Recent research suggests that being around other people who are working hard can motivate us to buckle down, too. That could potentially explain why we're less inclined to log onto Twitter while sitting in a coffee shop full of people who seem super-focused. 5. Get a partner HeartlySerious suggests finding a partner to hold you accountable for your non-lazy behavior. For example: "If you schedule time at the gym with a friend, you'll have more motivation to actually get up. "If you re thinking about getting an accountability buddy or group, take a few tips from productivity expert Laura Vanderkam. Writing in Fast Company , Vanderkam recommends picking people with a track record of achieving difficult things and communicating with them frequently. 6. Dress up Here's a tip that's particularly useful for those who work remotely. If you can't find the energy to stop futzing around on Facebook and start writing your project proposal, consider changing out of those stained sweatpants. "If you dress different, you will act different," says sidianmsjones . "Get together some outfits that you feel make you look really classy, businessy, whatever. Make it a special point in the morning to get FULLY dressed. Shoes and all, as if you were going out, even if you don't. "As fashion psychologist Karen Pine told Forbes , "When we put on an item of clothing it is common for the wearer to adopt the characteristics associated with that garment. A lot of clothing has symbolic meaning for us, whether it's 'professional work attire' or 'relaxing weekend wear', so when we put it on we prime the brain to behave in ways consistent with that meaning." 7. Write down the problems you're putting off facing "Procrastinating starts with avoiding to think about the problems awaiting you," says visarga . "Before you get your work energy up stop and think about the problems, the details, put them on paper, make a list, a graph, whatever you like to describe it." Maybe you'll realize the problems aren't as big as you imagined, or that you can break them down into smaller chunks, and it will be easier to get started tackling them. Oscar-winning Pixar director Pete Docter uses this trick to to turn overwhelming tasks into something more manageable. "Usually, soon into making the list, I find I can group most of the issues into two or three larger all-encompassing problems. So it's really not all that bad. Having a finite list of problems is much better than having an illogical feeling that everything is wrong," he told Pixar president Ed Catmull in " Creativity, Inc ." 8. Do the thing you're thinking about "The best advice I have seen is when you catch yourself thinking about something you should be doing, but aren't, just get up and do it," writes burglarysheepspeak . 9. Follow the 'two-minute rule' GEEKitty has a "two-minute rule ": "If it takes less than two minutes, just do it." That might include washing your dirty breakfast dishes or picking your laundry up off the floor. It's similar to a strategy used by David Allen , the author of " Getting Things Done ." As soon as Allen sees an email in his inbox, he decides whether he can deal with it in two minutes or less. If so, he deals with it right then (e.g. by responding or deleting). 10. Don't 'break the chain' iluvucorgi points out the "calendar trick" that actor and comedian Jerry Seinfeld uses to motivate himself to write. As Seinfeld told software developer Brad Isaac , for every day he gets his writing done, he puts a big 'X' over that day on the calendar. After a few days, he has a nice chain and his only job is not to break it. | 4 | 98,830 | lifestyle |
A traditional Polynesian sailing canoe travels all over the world, from the Pacific Ocean to the New York City Harbor, with little to no modern technology. | 8 | 98,831 | video |
Hoot! Hoot! In a sweet photo shared by a Mississippi animal rescue organization, an injured owl named GiGi appears to "hug" a staff member who helped rehabilitate her. Wild at Heart Rescue shared photos of the sweet interaction on Facebook on June 4. In the pictures, GiGi's wings rest on staff member Doug Pojeky's shoulders, as the bird appears to nestle her head into the nape of his neck. "Doug was checking on his little patient, and this is what happened," the rescue organization wrote in the post. "She threw both wings around him and gave him an owl hug." GiGi was brought to the Wild at Heart Rescue facility with head trauma, which was likely caused by a car crash, according to the organization. Pojeky played a pivotal role in helping to rehabilitate GiGi, and appears to have made a friend of his patient along the way. "They show their gratitude," the post said. "Nothing these birds of prey do anymore surprises me." Follow @MaryBowerman on Twitter. | 5 | 98,832 | news |
Contract talks between the Denver Broncos and their star linebacker Von Miller have broken off. The Broncos set a deadline of 10 p.m. Tuesday to reach an agreement on a long-term contract with Miller, who was the MVP of the team's Super Bowl 50 win in February. Absent an agreement, the Broncos have withdrawn their multiyear contract proposal, leaving Miller to play the 2016 season on his $14.129 million franchise tag. Although the two sides reached a partial agreement in recent days on the years and total value of Miller's proposed contract six years worth a total value that slightly exceeded the $143.375 million Miami's Ndamukong Suh received in 2015 to become the NFL's highest-paid defensive player there were significant differences in how the deal was structured. The key component to NFL contracts is the guaranteed dollars, particularly within the first three years of any deal. Although the NFL's collective bargaining agreement gives teams until July 15 to work out a multiyear contract extension with franchised tag players, the Broncos moved up their deadline with Miller because they wanted him to attend to attend the team's minicamp this week. Past experiences with Ryan Clady and Demaryius Thomas provided Broncos general manager John Elway with the motive to move up his deadline on Miller. Clady received the franchise tag in 2013 and Thomas in 2015. Both missed their entire offseason workout program before signing their long-terms deals prior to training camp in July. Clady, a former All Pro left tackle, received a five-year, $52.5 million extension, then suffered a season-ending foot injury in Game 2 of 2013, played through rust in 2014 and suffered another season-ending injury on the first day of OTAs in 2015. When paycut negotiations broke down this year, Clady was traded to the New York Jets. The Broncos wound up paying $33 million in three years of that Clady extension. Thomas received a five-year, $70 million deal last summer and although he had 105 catches in 2015, his yards per catch went down from 15.1 in the first five years of his career to 12.4, his touchdowns decreased from 11 in 2014 to six in 2015 and his drops went up. One problem the Broncos and Miller's camp confronted during negotiations was the difference between fair value in the open, free-agent market, and the franchise tag market. The Broncos have the right under the CBA to slap the franchise tag on Miller each year for three consecutive years at $14.129 million this year, $16.955 million in 2017 and $24.4 million for 2018. That's a three-year total of $55.48 million. The Broncos believe they have been more than fair with Miller because their offer significantly exceeded the first, second and third-year franchise tag amounts. Miller's camp, led by agent Joby Branion, points out his dominance he all but singlehandedly won Super Bowl 50 with his two strip sacks that led to two touchdowns in a two touchdown victory and the fact nearly every other first-round standout from the 2011 draft received contract extensions before they became eligible for free agency. Miller's reps refered not only to Suh's contract, but the recent $17 million a year deal the New York Giants gave defensive lineman Olivier Dean that included $29 million in year one cash. Vernon has 29.0 career sacks and no playoff appearances. Miller has 60.0 career sacks and 6.5 more in the postseason. It's unclear whether Miller will play on the $14.129 million tag. It's possible he could sit out the season because that would prevent the Broncos from again applying the "exclusive" franchise tag next year. Klis writes for KUSA, a TEGNA property. PHOTOS: Broncos' trip to White House | 1 | 98,833 | sports |
My five million-dollar idea is a Yelp for gas station provisions (and bathrooms). Waze, permission to steal it because I want it that bad. Until then, a more rote solution is imperative. If you road trip at all, you know the sludge that resurrects you from a stiff night of sleep the stuff that comes in a Styrofoam or latte-colored vessel, flimsy top, 99.8 percent water, 0.2 percent "coffee." Little red plastic stirrers that likely melt in the coffee, 54 creamer thimbles. I have brought a pour over and grounds on a road trip before, but people look at me in the gas station funny. And come on, you're on a road trip! And it's not being photographed by Heidi Swanson. And, if you're me, you only brought one outfit (PJs). So, semi-make coffee with even more packaged food. Bring hot chocolate packets (or buy them at the gas station). They cost little, weigh less, and take up no space they happen to slip nicely into your glove compartment box for immediate grabbing. Dump half or more of the hot chocolate into your cup o' and you made a mocha! The coffee is still the afterthought, but instead of coffee-flavored funky water, you have coffee-scented hot cocoa. While the antithesis of artisan coffee (so sweet and good in how artificial it tastes, like boxed cake), it still relaxes your back and makes you forget you were going to buy a Red Bull, too. Whether you also go with marshmallows depends on how much of a show off you were in Girl Scouts. Tell us: What are your road trip essentials? Now watch Mess-Free Road Trip Hacks for Kids in the Car : | 0 | 98,834 | foodanddrink |
Aqib Talib is back in Denver and preparing to rehab his leg with the help of Broncos trainers and medical personnel. Less than one week after he was shot in the leg in Texas, he also reportedly met with teammates and coach Gary Kubiak to discuss exactly what happened. MORE: Incident hurts Denver's (slim) chances | Whose been shot since 2006? "The only thing I'm concerned about right now is his health,'' Kubiak told reporters Tuesday, via ESPN . "That's what I'm trying to get him for, so we can see him, get our hands on him, know exactly what's going and go from there. … I've obviously had many conversations with Aqib since this has taken place, but right now that's between he and I and the club. Still trying to get more information on exactly what happened. … The thing I'm concerned about is his health.'' The team also will ask him to stay in Denver until training camp begins in July so the Broncos' medical staff can keep tabs on his progress. Even though the incident appears to be an accident, Talib could face charges in Texas for carrying a gun into a nightclub, which is against a new state law that forbids firearms from being brought into an establishment that sells alcohol. The NFL is also investigating the incident. | 1 | 98,835 | sports |
WALWORTH, N.Y. A roomful of marijuana has gone up in smoke during a fire at a house on High Street in a New York town. The Wayne County sheriff's office says firefighters were called to the house in Walworth shortly after 5 a.m. Tuesday. They found smoke coming from a locked office upstairs. Once the fire was out, investigators found 40 to 50 potted marijuana plants under grow lights in the room. The sheriff's office says the fire is believed to have been sparked by an electrical malfunction. Firefighters contained the blaze to that room and the roof. None of the four residents were hurt. A man who lives there was charged with a misdemeanor count of unlawful growing of marijuana and released on a court appearance ticket. | 5 | 98,836 | news |
STUTTGART, Germany (AP) Roger Federer was a break up in the first set against Taylor Fitz when rain set in for the evening, ending his comeback after seven games at the Mercedes Cup on Wednesday. The break put top-seeded Federer 4-3 up against the American teenager, whose big serve deserted him in that seventh game. But steady rain then forced organizers to abandon play for the day. Federer is returning from a back injury that forced him to miss the French Open. The Stuttgart event is a tune-up for Wimbledon, where Federer is a seven-time champion. Federer's second-round match will resume Thursday, with the winner to play qualifier Florian Mayer, who beat Michael Berrer 6-3, 3-6, 6-4. Seventh-seeded Philipp Kohlschreiber beat Denis Kudla 7-5, 6-3 to reach the quarterfinals. | 1 | 98,837 | sports |
We catch up to the Roadkill Crop Duster while running the 2016 Hot Rod Drag Weekend at Fontana, CA. | 9 | 98,838 | autos |
Blue jeans are about as American as apple pie. While many can argue why their personal favorite is the greatest pair that ever was, few know the history behind the go-to wardrobe essential. Everyone from cowboys to crooners like Bing Crosby wore jeans in the 19th and 20th centuries and celebrities today are no different. While the perspective on jeans has changed over time it used to be seen as a manual laborer's garment, instead of the closet staple it's become the basic design has not. Which brings us to those weird little silver or copper studs. Go ahead, look down: Chances are, the pants you're wearing today feature exactly that. The round metal attachments are actually called rivets and are "very specifically placed to reinforce an area of high tension in a garment," said Jac Cameron, creative director and co-founder of AYR , a denim and sportswear brand available online and at Nordstrom locations. (The name stands for "All Year Round," so you know Cameron knows a thing or two about clothing that lasts!) Related slideshow: 20 new celebrity jean looks we're loving (Provided by Redbook) In the original design, rivets were used to hold jeans together at places where they were most likely to come apart, like at the pockets. Although the practical purpose and circular shape remain, Cameron said that "as [metal] molds have advanced, so has the design." Bar tacks "a necessary anchor placed at the top and bottom of a belt loop" and zippers are other essential elements that have been added to jeans over time. But a Nevada-based tailor named Jacob Davis started it all by patenting the technology of rivets in 1873 with none other than Levi Strauss, who hoped make denim last longer and wear better, according to the denim brand's website . This has cleared the way for other evolutions, such as legging hybrids, stretch styles and trends like culottes and boyfriend jeans. Whichever denim style you fancy, just remember that those rivets are hard at work to keep it all together! Related video: A store in NYC customizes vintage jeans (Provided by INSIDER) | 4 | 98,839 | lifestyle |
The largest insect migration in the world ends each year in Michoacán, Mexico. Millions of monarch butterflies travel from the United States and Canada to pass the cold months in the towering trees of this beautiful forest. | 2 | 98,840 | travel |
A 14-year-old girl whose father said she loved running died Tuesday during cross-country team practice when she was hit and killed by a car in Shenandoah, Iowa, authorities said. Kinsee Rooker was running with the Shenandoah High School cross-country team, which had started practice a week earlier, said her father, Darrin Rooker. "When I was driving her to practice this morning, she told me, 'Dad, I really do love cross-country,'" Rooker said Tuesday evening. Though Kinsee was running with her teammates, the girls had spread out some while running, so she was the only one struck, Rooker said. State Patrol spokesman Sgt. Nathan Ludwig said no charges have been filed against the driver, and the crash is under investigation. As an incoming freshman, Kinsee had just joined the high school cross-country team. Kinsee told her dad she enjoyed working with her coach and teammates. She had also played volleyball and basketball over the years but had grown to love running the most, he said. Rooker said his family, including Kinsee's mom and two sisters, were still in shock Tuesday evening. "You don't expect bad things to happen to your kid," he said. "She was my 14-year-old bundle of sunshine." Rooker said Kinsee sometimes took time to warm up to people, but she liked everyone she met, and she could always cheer up her friends and family. "She was the most loving person you could ever want to meet," her dad said. Kerri Nelson, superintendent for the Shenandoah Community School District, said in a statement that the school district is "heartbroken" over Kinsee's death. "(We) want to express our sincere empathy toward the family. Our hearts and prayers are with them," Nelson said. Guidance counselors have been made available at Shenandoah High School to help students cope, Nelson said. Many students met with counselors Tuesday morning and in the early afternoon, and staff members remain available for assistance, Nelson said. Read more at the Des Moines Register . | 1 | 98,841 | sports |
[Question]In "Independence Day: Resurgence," which actor will play the stepson of war hero Steven Hiller?[/Question] [Answer-Correct]Jessie Usher[/Answer-Correct] [Answer]Jaden Smith[/Answer] [Answer]Michael B. Jordan[/Answer] [Trivia]Ross Bagley portrayed Dylan Dubrow-Hiller in "Independence Day" (1996).[/Trivia] [Question]Which famous sequel was the first to win an Oscar for Best Picture?[/Question] [Answer]Rocky II[/Answer] [Answer-Correct]The Godfather: Part II[/Answer-Correct] [Answer]The Empire Strikes Back[/Answer] [Trivia]"The Godfather" (1972) and "The Godfather: Part II" (1974) remain the only original-sequel combination to both win the Best Picture award.[/Trivia] [Question]In "The Conjuring 2," Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga reappear as which real-life paranormal investigator couple?[/Question] [Answer]Ed and Lorraine Wilson[/Answer] [Answer]Ed and Lorraine Whyman[/Answer] [Answer-Correct]Ed and Lorraine Warren[/Answer-Correct] [Trivia]Ed, a demonologist, and Lorraine, a self-professed clairvoyant, claimed to have probed over 10,000 cases.[/Trivia] [Question]Which popular fantasy film actor will play a tech prodigy in "Now You See Me: The Second Act"?[/Question] [Answer-Correct]Daniel Radcliffe[/Answer-Correct] [Answer]Elijah Wood[/Answer] [Answer]Robert Pattinson[/Answer] [Trivia]The character Walter Mabry threatens the Horsemen into pulling off their latest trick.[/Trivia] [Question]Who directed the sequel "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny"?[/Question] [Answer]Ang Lee[/Answer] [Answer-Correct]Yuen Woo-ping[/Answer-Correct] [Answer]Chen Kaige[/Answer] [Trivia]The renowned martial arts choreographer has also worked on action sequences in "The Matrix" series and "Kill Bill" (2003).[/Trivia] [Question]Who will play Eric's wife in "The Huntsman: Winter's War"?[/Question] [Answer]Kristen Stewart[/Answer] [Answer]Jessica Biel[/Answer] [Answer-Correct]Jessica Chastain[/Answer-Correct] [Trivia]She plays Sara, who was believed to be dead by her husband in the original film, but is revealed to be alive.[/Trivia] [Question]Which of these is the sequel to "Olympus Has Fallen"?[/Question] [Answer-Correct]London Has Fallen[/Answer-Correct] [Answer]Paris Has Fallen[/Answer] [Answer]Rome Has Fallen[/Answer] [Trivia]Gerard Butler played U.S. Secret Service agent Mike Banning in both the films.[/Trivia] [Question]Who played Valentina Valencia's role in "Zoolander 2"?[/Question] [Answer]Kristen Wiig[/Answer] [Answer]Milla Jovovich[/Answer] [Answer-Correct]Penelope Cruz[/Answer-Correct] [Trivia]Her character is a member of the Fashion Interpol, and seeks the help of Derek and Hansel to uncover an assassin.[/Trivia] [Question]Who was the voice behind Absolem the Caterpillar in "Alice Through the Looking Glass"?[/Question] [Answer]Stephen Fry[/Answer] [Answer-Correct]Alan Rickman[/Answer-Correct] [Answer]Michael Sheen[/Answer] [Trivia]This was the last film the veteran actor worked on before his death on Jan. 14, 2016.[/Trivia] [Question]Who played the vigilante Casey Jones in "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows"?[/Question] [Answer-Correct]Stephen Amell[/Answer-Correct] [Answer]Will Arnett[/Answer] [Answer]Noel Fisher[/Answer] [Trivia]Amell also plays the DC Comics superhero Oliver Queen/Green Arrow in the series "Arrow."[/Trivia] [Question]In "Toy Story 2," which of Andy's toys gets stolen by a greedy collector?[/Question] [Answer]Buzz Lightyear[/Answer] [Answer]Little Bo Peep[/Answer] [Answer-Correct]Sheriff Woody[/Answer-Correct] [Trivia]Voiced by Tom Hanks, Woody is a stuffed cowboy character.[/Trivia] [Question]Which renowned boxer made a cameo appearance in "Rocky Balboa"?[/Question] [Answer-Correct]Mike Tyson[/Answer-Correct] [Answer]Timothy Bradley[/Answer] [Answer]Floyd Mayweather[/Answer] [Trivia]Tyson also played cameos in the first two "Hangover" films, "Entourage" (2015), and "Back in the Day" (2016).[/Trivia] [Question]In "X-Men: Apocalypse," which actor played super-villain Apocalypse?[/Question] [Answer]Aaron Stanford[/Answer] [Answer-Correct]Oscar Isaac[/Answer-Correct] [Answer]Channing Tatum[/Answer] [Trivia]He was last seen in 2015's "Star Wars: The Force Awakens," playing X-wing fighter pilot Poe Dameron.[/Trivia] [Question]In "Captain America: Civil War," who played Winter Soldier/Bucky Barnes?[/Question] [Answer]Paul Bettany[/Answer] [Answer]Jeremy Renner[/Answer] [Answer-Correct]Sebastian Stan[/Answer-Correct] [Trivia]The Romanian actor has played the brainwashed assassin in three "Captain America" films and "Ant-Man" (2015).[/Trivia] [Question]Who played Han Solo's son Kylo Ren in "Star Wars: The Force Awakens"?[/Question] [Answer]James Marsden[/Answer] [Answer-Correct]Adam Driver[/Answer-Correct] [Answer]Ben Whishaw[/Answer] [Trivia]Michael Fassbender and Hugo Weaving were initially considered for the role.[/Trivia] [Question]Which actor played Father Maurice in "Sister Act 2"?[/Question] [Answer-Correct]Barnard Hughes[/Answer-Correct] [Answer]James Coburn[/Answer] [Answer]Michael Jeter[/Answer] [Trivia]The WWII veteran was an accomplished actor both on stage and on the screen, with a Tony and an Emmy Award to his credit.[/Trivia] [End] [/End] | 6 | 98,842 | entertainment |
Relax with one of these page-turners while enjoying the sunshine! Whether you're planning on taking a beach break this summer or just want to unwind with a cheerful read, we've got the books that will keep you in a sunny mood all day long. There's something here for everybody. So kick back, put your feet up and get lost in another world. All Stories Are Love Stories by Elizabeth Percer Two major earthquakes strike San Francisco within an hour of each other, destroying the city. In the midst of the chaos, three characters come together and their lives are forever changed as a result. This captivating, and at times heartrending, novel demonstrates the powerful forces of nature and love. All Stories Are Love Stories by Elizabeth Percer, $25.99; Amazon.com The Summer Before the War by Helen Simonson Beatrice Nash, the new schoolteacher in a small English town, craves independence after her father's death, but she is soon drawn into the lives of the other residents, many of whom she comes to care for. What begins as a study of small-town society becomes a compelling account of war and its aftermath. The Summer Before the War by Helen Simonson, $28; Amazon.com My Mrs. Brown by William Norwich Emilia Brown is an elderly widow who was never one for frivolity, but when she spots a beautiful Oscar de la Renta dress while helping inventory an estate, she is entranced she must own it. Motivated by a moving secret, she embarks on a journey to raise enough money to travel to New York City and purchase the dress of her dreams. My Mrs. Brown by William Norwich, $24; Amazon.com Miller's Valley by Anna Quindlen Taking place from the 1960s to the present, the story follows Mimi Miller as she grows up in Miller's Valley, a tiny community whose future is threatened. Quindlen creates fascinating characters, most notably Mimi's mother and her troubled brother, and writes movingly about how family secrets thread through generations and continue to affect lives. Miller's Valley by Anna Quindlen, $28; Amazon.com Everyone Brave Is Forgiven by Chris Cleave This World War II novel follows 18-year-old Mary North, a fiercely independent aristocrat determined to do her part to help the war effort, despite what her family thinks about her actions. Caught in a love triangle between a civil servant, Tom, and his best friend, Alistair, a soldier, Mary must do whatever she can to survive the devastating consequences of love and war. Everyone Brave Is Forgiven by Chris Cleave, $26; Amazon.com Relativity by Antonia Hayes Ethan is a 12-year-old with a brilliant mind for physics. Raised by a single mother, he begins to wonder about his dad's identity when he's suddenly hospitalized, the reason possibly linked to a tragic incident from his infancy. Ethan and his parents are pulled back together and must confront the regrettable events that once tore them apart. Relativity by Antonia Hayes, $26; Amazon.com The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper by Phaedra Patrick Quiet and reserved, 69-year-old Arthur Pepper always stuck to his daily routine until he finds an unfamiliar bracelet belonging to his late wife, Miriam, a year after her death. He embarks on a multicountry journey to uncover Miriam's secret past, learning along the way how to heal from loss and embrace life's unpredictability. The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper by Phaedra Patrick, $24.99; Amazon.com The Girls In the Garden by Lisa Jewell Controversy surrounds a London neighborhood after a young girl finds her 13-year-old sister, Grace, unconscious and hidden in a remote corner of a communal garden. The entire community denies any part in the act, and an investigation ensues, ultimately revealing secrets and betrayals that lie beneath the neighborhood's picturesque exteriors. The Girls in the Garden by Lisa Jewell, $25; Amazon.com Eight Hundred Grapes by Laura Dave When Georgia returns from Los Angeles to her family's small Sonoma, CA, vineyard in a mud-covered wedding dress, things are not what they seem. The ceremony is still five days away, but big secrets about her fiancé and her family are surfacing and Georgia's marriage plans are unraveling. Eight Hundred Grapes, $16.17; Amazon.com A Lady of Good Family by Jeanne Mackin This charming historical novel is an imagined account of the life of Beatrix Farrand, one of the first female landscape architects. A chance meeting with a handsome stranger in a rose garden leads Beatrix to weigh her desire for independence against the joys of romance. A Lady of Good Family, $12.48; Amazon.com Music for Wartime by Rebecca Makkai This varied collection of short stories focuses on finding beauty in the darkest of times. From a story about a boy who sees ghosts to one about a reality show producer who manipulates an on-screen romance, these tales will delight and haunt you long after you have closed the book. Music for Wartime, $19.86; Amazon.com The Marriage of Opposites by Alice Hoffman Living on the lush island of St. Thomas and pushed into an arranged marriage, Rachel Pomie worries she'll never know passionate love. But a friend foresees that this marriage is only the start of Rachel's story. As the prophecy comes true, she finds out what she must sacrifice in the name of love. The Marriage of Opposites, $20.51; Amazon.com Let Me Die in His Footsteps by Lori Roy This lyrical novel follows three generations of Kentucky women cursed with "the know-how," a knack for predicting the future. Fearing her talent may be a work of evil, Annie endeavors to find out the truth about her family lineage, the curse and an old, unsolved crime. Let Me Die in His Footsteps, $18.36; Amazon.com A Window Opens by Elisabeth Egan Forced to bring in more money when her husband quits his firm, mom and book lover Alice Pearse takes a job at an exciting but semi-sinister company that aims to revolutionize reading. As cracks begin to form in both her work and family life, Alice struggles to reinvent herself. A Window Opens, $19.26; Amazon.com A Master Plan for Rescue by Janis Cooke Newman When an 11-year-old boy from New York and a man from Berlin meet during World War II, they devise a plan to memorialize the people they've loved and lost. Their poignant tale explores the power of hope, and proves that one idea can change the lives of many. A Master Plan for Rescue, $20.48; Amazon.com The Sunlit Night by Rebecca Dinerstein A Viking museum near the top of the world proves an unusual setting for an even more unusual romance. When a young girl named Frances flees to an isolated artist's colony in Norway, she finds a friend in Yasha, who is there to bury his father. This funny and deftly written novel reflects on how running away and coming home can be the same thing. The Sunlit Night, $17.77; Amazon.com The Book of Speculation by Erika Swyler The twists and turns in this novel kept us on the edge of our seats," says BJ Levis, member of the Coffee Talk book club of Louisville, KY. The story begins when Simon Watson, a librarian who lives alone on Long Island Sound, finds a water-damaged diary that once belonged to the owner of a traveling circus in the 1700s. One of the many mysterious entries tells of a circus mermaid who drowned just as Simon's mother and grandmother did. Fearing his family is cursed, Simon must quickly try to solve the diary's secrets before his sister (also a circus performer) suffers the same fate. "The plot totally pulled us in," says BJ. "It was like a puzzle, and we had a blast trying to put the pieces together." The Book of Speculation, $16.19; Amazon.com Etta and Otto and Russell and James by Emma Hooper In this lyrical novel, an 83-year-old woman, Etta, walks hundreds of miles from her farmhouse in Canada to the ocean, which she's never seen. Etta's husband, Otto, a WWII veteran, stays home and writes her love letters. The couple's lifelong romance is a touching reminder that age really is just a number. Etta and Otto and Russell and James, $12.91; Amazon.com The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins Rachel takes the same train into London every day, daydreaming about the lives of the occupants in the homes she passes. But when she sees something unsettling from her window one morning, it sets in motion a chilling series of events that make her question whom she can really trust. The Girl on the Train, $8.18; Amazon.com The Strangler Vine by M.J. Carter Set in Colonial India in 1837, this action-packed historical novel follows Avery, a reluctant junior officer in the East India Company, as he searches for a famous author who has been reported missing. In traveling along dangerous roads with prickly companions, he discovers some dark truths about his employers and himself. The Strangler Vine, $7.07; Amazon.com Picnic in Provence by Elizabeth Bard This charming follow-up to the author's bestselling Lunch in Paris takes us through the next period in Elizabeth's life, when she moves with her family from Paris to a small town in the south of France. Each chapter weaves her take on rural living and new motherhood with recipes to bring the tastes of Provence off the page and onto your table. Picnic in Provence: A Memoir with Recipes, $18.21; Amazon.com At the Water's Edge by Sara Gruen On New Year's Eve 1944, Maddie is living comfortably in Philadelphia with a handsome, well-to-do husband. But when he suddenly drags her to Scotland in search of the Loch Ness monster, Maddie is forced to rethink her way of life and the people in it. At the Water's Edge, $20.82; Amazon.com Lost & Found by Brooke Davis "The whimsical writing and surprising story line hooked us immediately," says Jessica Taylor, one of the founders of The Chapters & Cheese book club in New York City. The novel is told from the perspective of three eccentric characters 7-year-old Millie, 82-year-old Agatha and 87-year-old Karl who have each lost someone close to them. After Millie's mother abandons her, the three embark on an emotional (and, at points, hilarious) road trip across Australia to find her. "The characters' stark age differences demonstrate the things that are universally appreciated and the unique ways we cope with hardship," says Jessica. "It is a candid look at life, death and everything in between." Lost & Found, $18.90; Amazon.com The Secrets of Midwives by Sally Hepworth A look at the powerful bonds of motherhood, this novel follows Neva, 29, her mom and grandmother. The women work together as midwives, but can't see eye to eye personally. When Neva reveals she's unexpectedly pregnant, the trio begin to appreciate the others' perspectives especially as more secrets are spilled. The Secrets of Midwives, $19.59; Amazon.com Life from Scratch by Sasha Martin The author, a popular food blogger, reaches into her past to figure out why she began cooking in the first place. As she untangles her deeply emotional relationship with food, what she finds out about herself will make you cry and laugh and feel very hungry. Life from Scratch: A Memoir of Food, Family and Forgiveness; $15.95; Amazon.com Whiskey & Charlie by Annabel Smith "We unanimously loved this novel, which rarely happens!" says Kim Bell, one of the founders of the Chick Lits book club in Akron, PA. The story moves back through time to unravel the strained relationship between twin brothers with dramatically different personalities. Growing up, Charlie feels isolated, always living in the shadow of the outgoing and confident Whiskey. But when an accident leaves Whiskey in a coma at age 32, Charlie deals with feelings of resentment, guilt and forgiveness as he contemplates their rocky past. "This book made us reflect on our own relationships," says member Gail Hibshman. "We cared about the characters and couldn't put it down!" Whiskey & Charlie, $11.41; Amazon.com Tempting Fate by Jane Green Gabby's happy, 18-year marriage is thrown off track when she meets a younger man who makes her feel alive again. Her lust for the exciting, intoxicating affair changes her life in ways she never saw coming. Tempting Fate, $13.23; Amazon.com Love the One You're With by Emily Giffin This New York Times bestselling author delivers another heartfelt and witty novel. For Ellen, Andy is the one. They had it all perfect wedding, perfect marriage, perfect life until she runs into her old flame, Leo. After his reappearance, Ellen begins to wonder about the life she is leading versus the life she is meant to have. Full of insightful characters, a fluid narrative, a lovable heroine and one dangerous flirtation, this is a must-read for anyone who has ever wondered, "What if…" about the one that got away. The One & Only, $12.80; Amazon.com | 4 | 98,843 | lifestyle |
A new system can keep tabs on the health and production of honeybees and wirelessly report hive conditions via text message. Ben Gruber reports. | 8 | 98,844 | video |
France has launched a smartphone app ahead of the Euro 2016 football championships that can alert its users to extremist attacks, as fears continue to rise over the security threat posed to the tournament. The app called SAIP (Systeme d'Alerte et d'Information aux populations, or Population Alert and Information System) will allow users to sign up for alerts for eight different "zones" of France, with tips on how to remain safe. It will flash if there is an attack close to the location of the user, or if there is a warning of an impending attack. The alerts will not make a phone ring or vibrate in the event that the phone owner would have to hide during an attack. The app, commissioned by the French Interior Ministry, is available on devices operating iOS and Android software platforms. The move to launch the app comes after radical Islamists struck the French capital three times in 2015, killing more than 150 people. Extremists linked to both Al-Qaeda and ISIS carried out attacks on the offices of the satirical Charlie Hebdo magazine and a Kosher supermarket, both in January, and several civilian sites in coordinated shooting and suicide bomb attacks in November. France remains under a state of emergency. In neighboring Belgium, attacks in Brussels in March saw an Islamic State militant group (ISIS) cell killed 35 people at a metro station and the city's airport. The British government has warned fans traveling to the competition in France that stadiums and transport terminals were "potential targets for terrorist attacks" and called on supporters to be "vigilant at all times." Ukrainian officials said Tuesday that it had arrested a French national suspected of plotting to carry out extremist attacks at the tournament after he was found to be transporting two rocket launchers, ammunition, Kalashnikovs and explosives. France is to deploy some 90,000 police to guard fan zones and stadiums at the tournament, with Paris having 13,000 members of security to patrol the capital's stadiums and fan zones alone. | 5 | 98,845 | news |
On an afternoon in May, 34 protesters breached the locked doors of the administration building at the University of Chicago and dashed upstairs to the fifth-floor lobby of the president's office. Sprawling on chairs and on the floor, equipped with food and chant sheets, they settled in for a long sit-in. The protesters, who were mostly students, demanded, among other things, a "living wage" for campus workers, more accountability from the campus police and disinvestment from fossil fuels. It was part of a school year of student demonstrations across the country, often tolerated or even celebrated by members of the faculty or administrators. But this one was different: Days later, the student body president, Tyler Kissinger, who had allowed the protesters into the building, was threatened with expulsion the day before graduation. Sign Up For NYT Now's Morning Briefing Newsletter "My parents are concerned because they don't know if they should be coming to observe my graduation or not, or if I should be spending the few dollars to buy my cap and gown," said Mr. Kissinger, 21, who is from Lewisville, N.C., and is a first-generation college student. "I don't know if I'm actually going to use it. Why would I waste the money?" Administrators at other universities have been more accommodating in this year of unrest. Harvard Law School abolished its slavery-linked crest after protests, including a sit-in; Yale discontinued the use of the term "master" for heads of its student residences after protests; the president of the University of Missouri resigned after protests by the football team. A spokesman for the University of Chicago, Jeremy Manier, said that because of student confidentiality rules, he could not disclose information about disciplinary action. But he defended the university's record on free speech generally. "Freedom of expression and dissent are fundamental values of the University of Chicago," Mr. Manier said in an email. "The university's policies do not prevent students from engaging in protest, and the university does not discipline students for speaking out on any issue." Mr. Kissinger said he had been formally charged with "premeditated and dishonest behavior to gain entry to Levi Hall, creating an unsafe situation." He is to appear before a disciplinary committee on Friday, about 24 hours before he was expecting to join his classmates for graduation. Mr. Kissinger and his fellow demonstrators note that the University of Chicago has been roundly praised by free-speech organizations. "I think it's scary for a lot of people," Mr. Kissinger said. "If they are cracking down on people who are protesting, I don't understand what the university means by free expression." The University of Chicago's reaction is consistent with the tough line it took during the last period of major upheaval on college campuses, the demonstrations of the 1960s. In 1967, the university suspended 58 students for taking over the administration building in a protest against the draft, though most of the suspensions were not carried out, according to an account on the University of Chicago library website. In March 1969, the university expelled 42 students, suspended 81 students and put three students on probation for a two-week occupation of the administration building in support of a sociology professor they thought was being denied reappointment because of her leftist views and because she was one of a minority of women on the faculty. The sit-in this spring, on May 19, was conceived after university administrators refused invitations from a community organizing group, the IIRON Student Network, soon to be renamed Student Action of Metropolitan Chicago, to attend a public meeting to discuss its demands. Among other things, the group wanted the university to institute a $15 an hour minimum wage for campus workers, and to provide more access to the records of the university police force, which it has accused of racial profiling in the surrounding neighborhood. The university said it already posts information from field interviews and traffic stops. On the day of the sit-in, Mr. Kissinger got past security by saying he was on official business as student body president. He hid in a bathroom for a few minutes, he recalled, then used his backpack to prop open a door so everyone else could get in. The protest ended an hour later when a university official told the protesters they could be arrested and students possibly expelled. Four days later, at a meeting of the student government, the university provost, Eric D. Isaacs, was confronted with students and campus workers pressing the demands. Mr. Kissinger was later called to a meeting with the dean of students, Michele Rasmussen, who criticized him, he said, for letting the student assembly get out of hand and for allowing campus workers to attend. After that meeting, he received the summons to a disciplinary hearing. Mr. Kissinger, whose mother is a food service worker at Wake Forest University, said he let the protesters into the building because he thinks that the university should be an open place, run in a collaborative way. "I think students, faculty and staff should have uninhibited access to administrators on their campuses, administrators who are making decisions about their lives," he said. "So I kind of reject the premise that an administration building should be locked and cordoned off." "I think that is ultimately what this is at its core about competing visions of how universities should work," he said. | 5 | 98,846 | news |
Preliminary results of a New York investigation found that Time Warner Cable gave customers far slower Internet speeds than advertised, resulting in movies freezing, websites loading endlessly and games becoming non-responsive. The New York Attorney General's office disclosed the tentative findings in a Wednesday letter that urged Charter Communications to make major service improvements following its recently completed $79 billion acquisition of Time Warner Cable. Approved in May by the Federal Communications Commission, the deal also included the Bright House Networks and created the world's second-largest cable TV and Internet provider. Charter is rebranding the companies under the name Spectrum. Time Warner Cable served 29 states, and provided video, high-speed data and voice service to an estimated 16 million customers. "In short, what we have seen in our investigation so far suggests that Time Warner Cable has earned the miserable reputation it enjoys among consumers," Tim Wu, senior enforcement counsel for New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, wrote to Thomas Rutledge, Charter Communications' chairman and CEO. "In advertisement after advertisement, Time Warner Cable promised a 'blazing fast,' 'super-reliable' Internet connection," the letter said. "Yet it appears that the company has been failing to take adequate or necessary steps to keep pace with the demand of Time Warner Cable customers." Charter Communications representatives did not immediately respond to an email and phone messages seeking comment. Preliminary results of the New York investigation found that Time Warner at times let connections with key Internet content providers become so congested that large volumes of data were regularly lost or discarded. This translated into degraded performance for customers who used popular on-demand video services, such as Netflix. "The problems appear to have been particularly acute at primetime, precisely when many customers log on or tune in," wrote Wu. "In addition, it appears that Time Warner Cable has been advertising its WiFi in ways that defy the technology's technical capabilities." The preliminary findings stem from an investigation Schneiderman's office launched in October with a letter that asked Time Warner Cable for information about its broadband customers and the service packages for which they subscribed. The letter sought "substantiation" for the company's claims that its customers would receive promised Internet speeds, and also requested documents related to subscriber complaints about the broadband service. Schneiderman staffers subsequently asked New York customers of Time Warner Cable and other major broadband providers to use open-source tools that tested the Internet speeds they received from the companies. "The results we received from Time Warner Cable customers were abysmal," Wu wrote. "Not only did Time Warner Cable fail to achieve the speeds its customers were promised and paid for (which Time Warner Cable blamed on the testing method), it generally performed worse in this regard than other New York broadband providers." Schneiderman's office urged Charter Communications to use the corporate takeover as an opportunity "to clean up Time Warner Cable's act and deliver the quality Internet service New Yorkers deserve and have long been promised." Although Schneiderman's legal jurisdiction is limited to New York state, any service improvements Charter makes in response to the investigation findings would likely be shared by all Time Warner Cable customers. | 3 | 98,847 | finance |
The theorized connection between the trillions of bacteria that call our guts home and conditions like obesity has steadily become more concrete over time. Studies have found that a diet high in fat, a common risk factor of obesity, can trigger widespread disruptions to the microbial environment, or microbiota, in test animals like mice and zebrafish. Others, meanwhile, have showed that this link works both ways: When scientists transplanted gut bacteria from a group of healthy mice into a group of mice engineered to have no bacteria whatsoever, the lean germ-free mice became fatter. This same effect was seen even when the gut bacteria from obese people was transplanted into these mice. For the most part, though, we're still largely in the dark as to how this relationship actually operates. Without understanding this crucial piece of the puzzle, it'll be impossible for us to ever manipulate the connection to our benefit in order to prevent or treat obesity. A new mouse study published Wednesday in Nature, however, may shine a light on where to look. A new study suggests that our gut bacteria promote obesity by producing a chemical that makes us hungrier and secrete more insulin, but only in the presence of a high-fat diet. Pixabay, Public Domain A High-Fat Trigger Senior author Dr. Gerald Shulman, co-director of the Yale Diabetes Research Center, told Medical Daily that he and his colleagues had embarked on a series of experiments that were meant to follow up on a mouse study of theirs published the year before. This study found a distinct link between insulin resistance, a risk factor of both Type 2 diabetes and obesity, and increased levels of the chemical acetate, which is part of a motley crew known as short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs). For their new study, they wanted to trace how and why this happened. After examining insulin-resistant mice fed high-fat diets for up to four weeks, they found that these mice had much more acetate in their bodies than mice that were on a normal diet. All this acetate then promoted the increased secretion of insulin from the pancreas (triggered by higher levels of sugar in the blood) as well as increased levels of the hunger hormone ghrelin. The researchers said this process was likely activated through the parasympathetic nervous system, which consists of specialized nerves that help regulate unconscious body processes like salivating, sexual arousal, and digestion. Theorizing that the gut bacteria of the high-fat mice had gorged on the food and produced acetate, they mucked around with the mice's digestive systems by cutting out their entire colon for instance. Once done, acetate levels dropped back down to around normal. In two other experiments, the researchers also saw gut bacteria produce acetate when cultured in the lab, and when they treated droppings from these mice with broad-spectrum antibiotics, they saw a marked drop in acetate production. All of these experiments strongly suggested that the gut microbiota, fueled by a high-fat diet, was the main source of acetate production in the mice, the authors wrote. Shulman and his colleagues were also able to create a positive feedback loop; by constantly infusing their hapless mice with acetate for 10 days straight, they effectively turned the mice into obese eating machines. In other words, the mice secreted more insulin and ghrelin because of the acetate, which then led to increased hunger and food intake, and ultimately to insulin resistance, weight gain, and other metabolic problems. All the added food only pumped more acetate into the system, which started the loop all over again. In people, this same loop might be seen when they constantly eat a high-fat diet the diet gradually changes the landscape of their gut microbiota to favor acetate-producing bacteria, which then makes people eat more food. Then, the cycle repeats. "Together, these findings identify increased acetate production resulting from a nutrient-gut microbiota interaction and subsequent parasympathetic activation as possible therapeutic targets for obesity," the authors wrote. Of course, obesity and its related conditions are a multifaceted problem, caused by a complex and sometimes contradictory mix of factors. Other SCFAs, like butyrate produced when our gut bacteria digest fiber have shown the ability to protect against the development of obesity. And while a high-fat diet is known to promote the growth of the bacterial species Firmicutes while decreasing levels of Bacteroidetes (including in the current study), we still don't know whether resculpting our gut microbiotas will stop the loop dead in its tracks. That said, some early evidence has shown that obese people given fecal transplants from lean donors go on to experience positive changes in their metabolism. Shulman's team now plans to test whether its results can be replicated in people. Source: Perry R, Peng L, Barry N, et al. Acetate mediates a microbiome brain β- cell axis to promote metabolic syndrome. Nature. 2015. | 7 | 98,848 | health |
Every year in March, a Russian cargo plane takes off for the North Pole with an impossible-sounding mission: Air drop a pair of tractor-plows, 50 tons of equipment and a landing crew, on a moving chunk of ice just off the polar ice cap. Within a few days, they construct a tent city and carve out a runway in temperatures below -20 degrees Celsius. Barneo Ice Camp then opens for business for one month, welcoming tourists and athletes who have spent a minimum of $20,000 just to reach the top of the world. Barneo, which is built on a floating ice sheet in the Arctic Ocean, is run by Russia. But to get there, you have to go through Norway. For a decade, Barneo has flown tourists out of the remote Norwegian settlement of Longyearbyen. That working relationship just came to an end. See, Barneo is also used by the Russians to conduct military drills activity that has stepped up significantly in recent years. And it's making Norway increasingly nervous. This year a Norwegian TV thriller debuted on Netflix called "Occupied," about a dystopian future where the Russians assert control over Norway. "The storyline is a bit extreme, but I think it definitely plays into ... a nationalistic fear in Norway, that you are bordering Russia and Russia's always been the big bad enemy to the east," says Andreas Osthagen, a research fellow at the Norwegian Institute for Defense Studies. "I think that's what the Norwegian government is fearing the most, that if they show too much weakness or unwillingness to actually respond to these Russian actions, then Russia sees that as a sign of weakness or a sign that Norway's not actually willing to step up and say defend its power of the Arctic. So it seems to me a little bit of a tit-for-tat game." This year, the game began when Chechen paratroopers were dropped off at Barneo to conduct survival and rescue drills in early April, firing off machine guns on the ice. Norway didn't come right out and publicly condemn the exercises, but it did cancel all of Barneo's remaining flight permits. And that threw the plans of tourists waiting in Longyearbyen into chaos including 47 runners from around the world, who had come to compete in the annual North Pole Marathon. Polar explorer Eric Larson was among those left hanging. "It was just kind of this wild roller coaster ride of information 'OK, get your stuff packed and get ready, we're going.' 'Oh no, wait, there's this problem with the bureaucracy and can you call this person to hopefully put some pressure on the Norwegian government.'" According to Victor Boyarsky, one of Barneo's founders, Barneo staff had nothing to do with organizing the Chechen military exercises. And he points out that the paratroopers didn't make a stop in Norway. "They jump from the plane, which flew from Russia, and returned the same way back," Boyarsky says. "It was a kind of wrong impression." But he also says the soldiers had a right to be there. Norway did ultimately lift the flight embargo on Barneo after a couple of days, allowing the North Pole Marathon to continue. But Norwegian officials also introduced strict new flight regulations, which Boyarsky says were difficult to accept. Given the Arctic's volatile weather, Boyarsky says, flexibility is key. You just can't fly to the Pole according to a rigid timetable. So at the end of this year's polar season, Barneo announced it's moving out of Norway. Those hoping to visit the North Pole via Barneo next year will have to go through a remote territory in Russia. And unlike traveling through Longyearbyen, getting there will require a visa. So is it time to cue the "Occupied" theme song? Andreas Osthagen says not yet. There's too much at stake for both Russia and Norway to risk their relationship. And he points out a lot of countries conduct military drills in the Arctic, including the US. "Norway's reboosting its own military, right, so it kind of goes both ways," Osthagen adds. In the long run, though, it's probably global warming, not cold war politics, that poses the biggest threat to Barneo. The ice floe supporting the camp snapped four times this year, causing greater delays than the Norwegians ever did. | 5 | 98,849 | news |
The 2016 Paris auto show will be a big deal for Mercedes-Benz. According to a new report from Autocar, the automaker is set to unveil an all-electric SUV concept. Insiders told the British outlet that this is the first part of Mercedes' EV strategy and will provide a preview of what exactly an EV SUV wearing a three-pointed star could look like. According to Autocar's sources, Mercedes-Benz is looking to release the all-electric SUV for public consumption in 2019 as t he first in a lineup of EVsthe company is currently working on. The EV SUV is aimed directly at the Tesla Model X and it will also compete against all-electric SUVs from other competitors like Audi and BMW. An EV luxury sedan is also part of the plan and will compete with the Tesla Model S once it hits the market. In the U.S., the only EV sold by Mercedes-Benz is the B-Class Electric Drive. Mercedes-Benz debuting the all-electric SUV concept at the 2016 Paris auto show will be the first time the automaker makes its electrification plans public, and will preview its new design language developed by its in-house design team. A Mercedes-Benz official told Autocar that the automaker's new design language "takes into consideration the unique properties of electric vehicles." Ola Kaellinius, Mercedes-Benz' marketing boss, also hinted to Autocar that the automaker may enter Formula E to boost its activities with electric vehicles. However, Kaellinius said that the automaker is interested but no decision has been made just yet. He continued by stating that there must be a way for technologies used in the race cars to transfer over to road cars. Earlier this year,our colleagues at AUTOMOBILE reported that the German automakers were preparing an EV assault with Mercedes-Benz creating a dedicated modular EV platform that's been dubbed EVA2, set to debut in 2021. EVA2 will underpin two crossovers and two sedans, and will have a range of 260 miles for AMG versions and over 400 miles for the standard variants. Prices for Mercedes' dedicated EVs should be comparable to gas and diesel vehicles it currently sells, according to an inside source that spoke with AUTOMOBILE. Source: Autocar , AUTOMOBILE Follow MSN Autos on Facebook | 9 | 98,850 | autos |
A 12-year-old dancer just couldn't contain her happiness after auditioning for So You Think You Can Dance. Jordyn Rolling (@jordynrolling) has the scoop! | 6 | 98,851 | entertainment |
ESPN will provide live coverage of Muhammad Ali 's memorial service Friday in his hometown of Louisville. As a result, the network is shifting its coverage of the opening match of the European soccer championships between host France and Romania to ESPN2. Coverage for both events begin at 2 PM ET. Ali died Friday in Arizona after suffering for years with Parkinson's disease. The three-time heavyweight champ and worldwide sports icon was 74. President Bill Clinton, Billy Crystal and Bryant Gumbel are among those scheduled to give eulogies at the service, to be held as the 22,000-seat KFC Yum! Center. That comes after a funeral procession travels along Muhammad Ali Boulevard and past his boyhood home on its way to Cave Hill Cemetery. The pallbearers include Will Smith, who played the champ in 2001's Ali . ESPN, meanwhile, will carry 39 matches in Euro 2016 including the title game July 10. ESPN2 will show 12 matches and ESPN Deportes 45 live matches and six tape-delayed on dates with concurrent matches. All matches will be streamed live in English and Spanish on WatchESPN. | 6 | 98,852 | entertainment |
TEL AVIV, June 8 (Reuters) - Two Palestinian gunmen killed three people and wounded seven on Wednesday in an attack at a popular shopping and dining area near Israel's Defence Ministry in Tel Aviv, police said. Both of the gunmen who opened fire outside the open-air Sarona shopping complex were apprehended, and one of them was wounded, Israeli police said. Hospital officials said four of the seven people wounded were in critical condition. People caught up in the evening assault, one of the most serious in Israel's business and entertainment capital since a wave of Palestinian violence began eight months ago, ran for their lives as shots rang out. LATEST UPDATES: Follow this story via BreakingNews.com Police said they had no advance intelligence of any plan to strike in Tel Aviv. The frequency of Palestinian street attacks in Israel, which have included stabbings, shootings and the ramming of cars into pedestrians, has slowed significantly in the past several months, although tension has remained high. "I was with the family, eating pizza. We heard the shots, we didn't know what was happening, and everybody got down on the floor. We managed to escape to a cellar," a woman, who gave her name only as Annette, told Israel's Channel 10 television. Police said the gunmen came from a village near the Palestinian city of Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Channel 10 reported the two were cousins, in their 20s, and that they had been eating at one of the restaurants when they pulled out their guns and began firing. Security guards shot back. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, returning from a visit to Moscow, convened consultations with security officials at the Defence Ministry in Tel Aviv after the attack. In the last half year, Palestinian attacks have killed 31 Israelis and two visiting U.S. citizens. Israeli forces have shot dead at least 196 Palestinians, 134 of whom Israel has said were assailants. Others were killed in clashes and protests. (Reporting by Rami Amichai; Writing by Ori Lewis; Editing by Jeffrey Heller/Mark Heinrich) | 5 | 98,853 | news |
Google has added a third cellular network to Project Fi. US Cellular, the fifth-largest carrier in the country, will be available to Project Fi customers in the coming weeks, according to Google. Project Fi was announced in April of last year , and it offers a few twists on the way wireless carriers traditionally work. For one, it employs multiple different cell networks Project Fi phones switch between T-Mobile, Sprint, and Wi-Fi networks depending on which connection is strongest at any given moment. US Cellular will give some Fi users a boost in coverage Google also offers a much more customer-friendly payment plan with Fi. Project Fi starts at $20 a month for all the basics (like talk, text, Wi-Fi tethering, and international coverage), and then data is sold separately at a price of $10 per GB. The benefit of this model is that Google credits customers for the data they don't use, so if you pay $40 for 4GB and only use 3GB, the company will give back that $10 difference. The only "catch" is there are only three compatible phones at the moment: the Nexus 6, Nexus 6P, and the Nexus 5X. Adding US Cellular should help bolster Project Fi's LTE coverage, which was previously focused on big cities or metropolitan areas (especially New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and San Francisco). According to Google, US Cellular offers 4G LTE coverage for more than 99 percent of its subscribers, which are scattered across 23 states. The biggest gains from this, judging from US Cellular's map, appear to be in parts of Oregon, Oklahoma, Nebraska, West Virginia, Texas, and Maine. | 3 | 98,854 | finance |
For the first time in an annual survey, online purchases outnumbered those in-store. | 8 | 98,855 | video |
Pack like a pro with our tutorial. | 8 | 98,856 | video |
It's avocado season and if you're looking for inspiration, we have 13 delicious dishes featuring this beautiful green superfood! No. 1: Poached Eggs with Bacon, Avocado and Lime Mojo This elegant and flavorful option features poached eggs and a Cuban-inspired spicy mojo sauce served on a bed of crispy bacon on a toasted baguette, with avocado and lime sprinkled above. Delish! No. 2: Green Migas Deviled Eggs For this deviled egg recipe , Rach adds the equivalent of pico de gallo (finely chopped tomatoes, onion, jalapeno and cilantro) to her egg yolks, then adds a whole ripe avocado, green hot sauce, and grated garlic. Rach pipes it into her egg whites then tops with green onion slices and crushed tortilla chips. No. 3: Rotisserie Chicken Cobb Salad with Avocado Ranch Dressing For a hearty but still light and refreshing summer side, try this Cobb salad , also made with time-saving rotisserie chicken. No. 4: Eat-Your-Greens Burgers with Avocado Ranch Dressing For this juicy burger , Rach grinds up baby kale and puts it right into the patties! Brilliant! No. 5: Scarlett Smorynski's Avocado Ice Cream Why not cool down with some healthy avocado ice cream ? This recipe really could not be easier. Just blend up avocado, heavy cream and agave, then freeze, that's it. No. 6: Chorizo-Zucchini Posole with Chipotle Rachael compares her take on the traditional Mexican stew posole to a healthy version of nachos, because she plates up homemade tortilla strips, shredded cheese, radishes, avocado, and pours a rich, spicy chicken and zucchini soup over it. No. 7: Mexican Hot Dogs Put a Mexican spin on an American favorite with Rachael's hot dog recipe . She garnishes her bacon-wrapped dogs with pico de gallo, refried beans, crispy tortilla chips and an avocado crema. No. 8: Turkey and Green Chili Burgers with Guacamole This hugely flavorful burger is one you don't have to feel guilty about, since it's made with turkey and also features nutrient-dense avocado! No. 9: BLTA Dip This dip will be a home run at any time of year, but especially during baseball season! Ryan starts with a base of cream cheese, sour cream and mayo, then adds scallions, both smoked and regular mozzarella, crisp chopped bacon, roasted green chiles, then bakes it all in a pie plate. Right before serving, he adds lemon juice-dressed romaine spears, roasted cherry tomatoes, grilled avocado wedges and Ritz crackers. Yum! No. 10: Bob Harper's Avocado Tuna Salad This tuna salad isn't missing anything! Bob mixes mashed avocado with tuna, diced cucumbers, sugar free pickles and pickled jalapenos. Delish! No. 11: Deviled Chicken Salad-Stuffed Avocados Find yourself in a lunch rut? Even if you have practically no time to prepare a healthy meal for yourself, we are positive you can handle this delicious treat . Just shred some rotisserie chicken, whip up a quick salad, and heap it into a halved avocado. Lunch is served! No. 12: Grilled Guacamole For this different take on guacamole , the tomatoes, onion, pepper and avocado are grilled to bring out a deeper flavor. Rachael also toasts her chips, which results in a nutty taste. Yum! No. 13: Taco Baked Stuffed Potatoes Want tacos AND potatoes? No need to choose just one. Rachael created this delicious Taco Stuffed Potato that melds all your favorite taco elements seasoned ground beef, cheddar cheese, jalapenos, and even lettuce, avocado and salsa toppings with yummy baked potato goodness. What's your favorite dish that features avocado? Share below! | 0 | 98,857 | foodanddrink |
VIDEO: A match made in heaven. | 8 | 98,858 | video |
The Harris Poll of unemployed Americans shows almost half of all jobless Americans have stopped seeking work. | 3 | 98,859 | finance |
When Donald Trump attacked a federal judge whose parents were born in Mexico, Hispanic Americans were outraged. Other minority groups saw a pattern of bigotry. Democrats had a hard time concealing their glee. Republican leaders pretended they disapproved. Well, to be fair, they did disapprove in a way not because Trump believes the things he says, but because he says them so directly. Sign Up For NYT Now's Morning Briefing Newsletter Far too many Republicans share this kind of racism and have for a long time. Trump has just dispensed with dog whistles and revels in his bigotry instead. But this is the party the Republicans have been deliberately and assiduously building for many decades, the party of division and intolerance. George H.W. Bush's racist tactics in 1988 against Michael Dukakis the Willie Horton ad in particular seem almost genteel by comparison. Today's Republicans have stymied every effort at reforming immigration, at achieving true equality for women, at ending the scourge of racist drug laws and criminal sentencing rules. The Republican Party has generated a wave of laws designed to make it harder for black Americans and other minorities to vote. It's not that Republicans don't want to deport millions of Mexicans and ban Muslims from our shores. They just don't like to talk about it in the open. So when Donald Trump started to attack Mexicans, Muslims and anyone else who popped into this head, Republican leaders may have thought it was bad tactics. But all that talk this year about the "Republican establishment" being aghast at Trump for his outlandish ideas was nonsense. What really bothers Republicans is that Trump is not a member of their club and did not observe party discipline by saving his disdain for Democrats. None of Trump's Republican challengers, of course, had the vision, the guts or the personality to defeat him, and now it's far too late. By the time Trump attacked Judge Gonzalo Curiel, who is hearing one of the lawsuits against Trump's infomercial disguised as a university, the Republican leadership had long since painted itself into a corner. Senator Mitch McConnell, the Republican majority leader, could not stir himself to call Trump's comments racist. McConnell said on "Meet the Press" last Sunday that he did not agree with Trump that the judge should recuse himself, but that was all the interviewer could get out of what passes for a statesman in the G.O.P. these days. Asked about one right-wing blogger who said Republicans were backing a racist candidate, McConnell simpered that what matters is winning the White House. "The right-of-center world needs to respect the fact that the primary voters have spoken," he said. Yes, in favor of blatant intolerance. Paul Ryan, the speaker of the House, who practically strained his back flipping from denouncing Trump to endorsing him, said that "claiming a person can't do their job because of their race is sort of like the textbook definition of a racist comment. I think that should be absolutely disavowed. It's absolutely unacceptable." Not so unacceptable that he is withdrawing his endorsement. "I believe that we have more common ground on the policy issues of the day and we have more likelihood of getting our policies enacted with him than we do with her," he said, referring to Hillary Clinton. Senator Tim Scott, the highest-ranking black Republican, would not revoke his endorsement after what he called "racially toxic" comments. What about John McCain, whom Donald Trump once mocked for getting captured and tortured by the North Vietnamese? Surely he was outraged. Nope. One or two Republicans dissented, but most of them are on the outs with their party anyway. Bill Kristol, the neoconservative commentator who evidently loathes Trump, tweeted : "Official position of the leadership of the Republican Party: Trump is an inexcusable bigot, and Trump must be our next president." Given the cowardice of his fellow members of the party of Lincoln, Trump is, naturally, doubling down on running for racist in chief. On Monday, Bloomberg Politics reported that Trump told campaign surrogates in a conference call to keep up the attack on Judge Curiel. And on Tuesday, he said in a statement , "It is unfortunate that my comments have been misconstrued as a categorical attack against people of Mexican heritage." His evidence for his tolerance was, as usual, that he has lots of Mexican-Americans working for him. Trump said he would not comment further on the lawsuit against Trump University or the judge. He doesn't have to. Mission accomplished, as George W. Bush might say. But he obviously plans to go on riding this tiger because he thinks it will take him into the White House; because he is engaged in a creepy act of self destruction to avoid actually having to be president, which is hard work; or simply because he enjoys making bigoted comments. Supporters of Bernie Sanders who talk about voting for Trump instead of Clinton if their candidate finally decides to drop out should consider this latest episode, and Trump's larger pattern, carefully. They should know they would be voting for a racist. | 5 | 98,860 | news |
Show off your love for the US of A this summer while expressing your creative side! Use red, white and blue as your inspiration to create and personalize these fun Fourth of July projects. Today I am going to share with you 3 quick and simple craft projects to help you to celebrate the 4th of July. DIY your own Fourth of July T-shirt. This project is simple to make and can be made with or without breaking out your sewing machine. It's a great one for your kids to help out with. Just be sure to watch them closely when using the iron. Supplies: T-Shirt Paper backed fusible web (buy "light" if you plan to sew your appliqué, buy "Ultra Hold" if you want a no-sew option). Fat quarter of fabric (a fat quarter is a piece of fabric that measures 18 inches x 22 inches) Pencil Light box or window Iron Scissors Optional: sewing machine with matching thread U.S.A. template (download for free here ) Directions: Download the template for the outline of the United States (you can find here ). Flip the U.S.A. outline over so that the image is backwards. Place it on top of the light box or tape it onto a bright window. Cut a piece of paper backed fusible web slightly larger than the U.S.A. outline. Trace the U.S.A. outline onto the paper side of the paper backed fusible web using your pencil. Cut it out loosely around traced outline. Iron the paper backed fusible web onto the wrong side of your fabric. Cut out the image precisely. Peel off the paper backing and iron onto your T-shirt. If you would like, use your sewing machine to run a line of stitching around the edge of the appliqué. Our next project would make a fabulous centerpiece for your 4th of July BBQ. Create fun and whimsical red, white and blue pinwheels You can pick up all of these supplies in the craft aisle of your favorite store. Supplies: Double sided scrapbook paper, cut to 6 inches x 6 inches 1/4-inch or larger brads 1/8-inch hole punch Paper straw Scissors4 Directions: Fold your paper in half diagonally. Unfold it and fold it diagonally in the other direction. Unfold it. 2. In the very center (where the two folds meet), poke a small hole with the brad or another object (like a pen or small scissors). Cut along each fold line up to 1 inch to 1 1/2 inches from the center. Do not cut all the way to the center. Your piece now looks like 4 triangles being held together in the center. Using your hole punch, punch a hole in one corner of each "triangle," make sure to punch the same corner on each triangle. Bring one of the corners toward the center and feed the brad through the hole. Bring the remaining 3 corners forward, tucking each one onto the end of the brad. After you've got all 4 corners tucked in, poke the brad through the hole you made in the center of the pinwheel. Spread open the tines to hold all the layers in place. Flatten one end of the straw and punch a hole through the center. Undo the tines on the brad and feed it through the straw. Refold the tines and voila!! 3. Frame your favorite Fourth of July Print. Our last project is the simplest of all! Add a touch of red, white and blue to your home décor by framing your favorite Fourth of July print. If you look online, you can find dozens (if not hundreds) of cute and free Fourth of July printables. If you like the one in my photo, you can download it on my site. Just click here . Print out your image on cardstock, then simply frame it! Just make sure that it fits properly. Most frames are 8 inches x 10 inches and standard paper is 8 1/2 inches x 11 inches, so after you print your image you'll need to trim it down a bit. The best part is you can use the frame as a decoration for multiple holidays. Just swap out the printable as the seasons change. If you're looking to add a sweet spark to your 4th of July, check out these 19 Patriotic desserts. Just don't forget to floss, brush and protect those teeth with Aquafresh ® red, white and blue TRIPLE PROTECTION™ toothpaste for all-around cavity protection. This post is part of a sponsored collaboration between Aquafresh and SheKnows | 4 | 98,861 | lifestyle |
A month-old Bactrian camel named Alexander Camelton at Chicago's Lincoln Park Zoo is a social media star. Rough Cut (No reporter narration). | 5 | 98,862 | news |
PARIS (AP) Michel Platini can be invited to the European Championship in France, UEFA said Wednesday, citing updated information from FIFA about the terms of his four-year ban from any official roles in soccer. FIFA's ethics body had previously indicated the sanction would only allow the banned UEFA president to attend matches as an ordinary fan and no longer mix with the high-ranking officials in stadiums. But after seeking a clarification of the rules, European soccer's governing body said it was informed by FIFA ethics judge Hans-Joachim Eckert that Platini can now be invited to its showpiece competition. ''The letter, signed by Mr. Eckert, says Mr. Platini can be invited in a personal capacity as long as he doesn't perform any official function,'' UEFA general secretary Theodore Theodoridis said at the Stade de France, which is hosting Friday's Euro 2016 opener between host France and Romania in Group A. ''This will be transmitted to our executive committee and then they will make a decision probably about an invitation for Michel Platini for the whole of the tournament. As for Friday I do not expect he will be there.'' Attending matches in the VIP areas, mixing with soccer and political leaders, could still give the impression that Platini is there in an official capacity while banned. Platini's communication team told The Associated Press that the former France great does not currently plan to attend matches at the month-long tournament. Platini was the chief organizer of the 1998 World Cup, the last major soccer tournament to be staged in France. Its success helped him gain the job at FIFA, which ultimately led to his sanction last year. Platini was found guilty by Eckert in December of ethics violations for taking a payment of 2 million Swiss francs ($2 million) from FIFA in 2011. The money was uncontracted extra salary for working as Sepp Blatter's presidential adviser from 1999-2002. The race is now on to succeed Platini as UEFA president, with an election on Sept. 14 to complete his four-year term, which ends in 2019. Slovenian soccer federation leader Aleksander Ceferin entered the presidential contest on Wednesday at a regional meeting of 14 UEFA member federations in Moscow. Ceferin, a 48-year-old lawyer, follows UEFA vice president Michael van Praag of the Netherlands in launching a campaign. UEFA and FIFA vice president Angel Maria Villar of Spain is another expected entry by the July 20 deadline. | 1 | 98,863 | sports |
Tattoos require commitment, and one true American demonstrated his deep feelings for a chocolate chip cookie recipe by getting it tattooed on his leg. A Reddit user in Minnesota posted a photo after meeting this tattooed man at a breast cancer charity walk, Metro writes . The user, Rudecarp, shared a photo of the man's leg, which boasts a neatly scripted list of the necessary ingredients and a single line of directions: "Bake at 350 degrees for 12 minutes." Rudecarp went on to test out the recipe and shared a photo of how they turned out, and they look pretty good . Mind you, the leg recipe doesn't offer specific instructions as to the mixing order, so if anyone's tempted to give the recipe ago, it may be helpful to consult a more detailed set of instructions for guidance. Either way, the tattoo is some serious dedication to a tried-and-true cookie recipe and certainly falls in the category of "quirky things people will do to show their love for food." In Houston, the owner of the Pi Pizza Truck started a #FreePizzaForLife promotion for people who got Pi Pizza-themed tattoos, and in 2014 a woman in the UK landed a similar free food deal for getting a tattoo of a local curry house. Now watch: 12 Wine and Girl Scout Cookie Pairings You Need Right Now | 0 | 98,864 | foodanddrink |
Who better to predict the winner of this year's Euro Cup than a robot created by UCLA's Robotics and Mechanisms Lab (RoMeLa)? Special thanks to Dr. Dennis Hong and his incredible team at UCLA's Robotics & Mechanisms Lab. To learn more about RoMeLa visit: http://www.romela | 8 | 98,865 | video |
HELSINKI Finnish reindeer herders in the Arctic have painted Rudolph's antlers in fluorescent colors, hung reflectors around their necks and even used movable traffic signs, but none of the efforts have helped reduce the annual 4,000 reindeer road deaths. Now they have decided on a new tactic: an interactive reindeer warning app where drivers can tap their mobile phone screens to register any reindeer they see and get warnings if they are approaching an area where reindeers have been spotted. They're hoping to save at least some of the 300,000 reindeer that wonder freely in the wilds of Lapland, sometimes described as the last wilderness in Europe. In a pilot project, drivers of heavy transport vehicles are being given 1,000 free handsets, which have been deactivated for any other use than the reindeer warning system. If it proves successful, the app will be available for download on smartphones later this year. Anne Ollila, director of the Finnish Reindeer Herders' Association, said Wednesday the other methods simply didn't work. "Drivers often mistook reindeer with reflectors for people in the dark, thinking they wouldn't run into the middle of the road when they saw car headlights approaching," she told The Associated Press. "And the deer would tear the reflectors off." Reindeer traffic warning signs were pinched by tourists for souvenirs, and reindeer would scrape off the fluorescent paint from their antlers. "Somehow the reindeer know they had paint on their antlers maybe their friends laughed at them," Ollila said. Reindeer husbandry provides work for some 10,000 people in the region. | 5 | 98,866 | news |
Smart ways to get ahead. According to the famous song lyrics, "You can't always get what you want." And it's true that unless you're a dictator (or maybe Beyoncé), your negotiations with others will generally involve some back and forth, paired with some give and take. But you can sometimes get what you want and how often depends on how well you can sway others in your direction. To find out the best persuasion strategies we tapped professionals who are skilled at convincing people to follow their lead: lawyers, life coaches, new business owners, and communication experts. Read on, and you'll be sure to score more of what you want or at least negotiate a better deal. (Looking to take control of your health? 1. Ask, and be specific. This suggestion is so obvious that it may seem borderline insulting, but experts say not following it is the biggest obstacle to getting what you want. People often want something but either haven't articulated it clearly enough, or at all. "You have to remind yourself that people aren't mind readers," says Keli L. Knight, who cofounded her own law practice in Chicago. "They are so wrapped up in themselves that others' needs take a backseat." Being a tough negotiator is part of Knight's day-to-day responsibilities and she is constantly asking for what she wants, for herself and for clients. Though it comes with the job, she has grown more comfortable doing it because of all the practice. "It takes confidence to be able to assert your needs, but the more you do it, the more natural it will become," she says. Before she heads into an important meeting, she preps with a mental outline (though you could certainly write it down if that's helpful) and nails down her main objective. "When things aren't clear, people are confused and less likely to say yes. Having concise points helps them understand what they are signing up for," she says. 2. Help others come up with your idea. If you know you are going to be pitching a notoriously hard-to-sell person, it's better to hold off presenting your whole package and instead open up a discussion in which you gently nudge her toward your plan. Disclaimer: this strategy is bit more involved and might take more than one session to achieve, so use it if you need to sell a big idea (say, a move across the country to a partner or a vision to implement more telecommuting at the office) or if your plan doesn't require immediate action. Why does this work? "When you mention a new idea to someone, their initial reaction is often a defensive one," explains Dave Kerpen, CEO and author of The Art of People. "But if you help them come up with the idea, suddenly it's not them giving you want you want, it's them doing what they want." In most cases, if it's not an idea you're trying to get credit for, but rather a personal move or relationship suggestion, so it doesn't matter that you're not receiving credit in the end, you're still getting what you want, just without the attribution. (If you're on the other side of the conversation, here's how to avoid being defensive .) The best way to do this is to start the conversation by gently stating your goal , but then opening up the floor to questions and alternatives. Phrases like "What do you think about this?" or "What sorts of solutions did you have in mind?" help you get a better sense of the other person's perspective. You can then guide the discussion down your path by replying with "What you do think about us doing X?" or "I was thinking about X, how does that sound?" During the conversation, you also want to stay on top of validating the other person's ideas. No need to proclaim their solutions as The Best Idea Ever, but offering positive feedback such as "I think that is a good solution" or "That is really original, I didn't think of that" helps make them feel good and eventually become more receptive toward accepting your ideas, says Kerpen. 3. Watch your words. When we're talking about what we want, it can be difficult to keep ourselves out of it it is what we want after all. But sometimes what we say may not even be heard if we are unintentionally offending the other person with our word choices . "Communication, both verbal and nonverbal, is super important in any conversation," says Emma Seppälä, PhD, a Stanford psychologist and the author of The Happiness Track. "But especially when you want others to be on board with your suggestions, you have to avoid things that will make them defensive, because they will be less likely to agree with you." A really easy and effective fix is to swap I or we for you instead of "You need to stick to your share of housework" try "I would like to change how we divide chores." The first comes off as a personal attack, whereas the latter offers a solution that two people can discuss and come up with. Seppälä adds that phrasing things objectively is also useful since it doesn't imply that the other person has any shortcomings. Describe the situation instead of evaluating it, and don't place blame. So instead of "Because you haven't pulled your weight, we are going to be late with this project due tomorrow" try "The project is due tomorrow, it looks like we are running behind and I was hoping we could find a way to divide the workload in a fair way." (Here's how to use body language to get what you want .) 4. Really listen. Everybody listens. But not everybody is an active listener. Studies from the University of Minnesota have found that within 8 hours, we forget up to a third of what we've heard. After 2 months, we have lost 75% of that information it basically went in one ear, and out the other. "People think they are listening, but what they really are doing is waiting for their turn to say something," says Kerpen. "If you're just waiting to make your case, you could be disregarding important information that could help you further your idea, such as any concerns or questions the person you are speaking to has, that if you listened closely, you could address or dispel." Good listening is like meditation you really need to tune out other thoughts and be present with the other person. How to do this in today's distracting world? First of all, ditch the smartphone, since it's almost impossible to focus if you're distracted by incoming text messages or emails, says Kerpen. Once you're tech-free, home in on the person's face no need to stare, but just use it as a focal point so your wandering eyes don't pick up something more interesting in the environment. Also, try giving a recap of the speaker's perspective every few exchanges to make sure you're getting the message. Once you have, then you can continue with a response. 5. Ask for help. For some reason, people have a hard time asking for backup. But every expert in this story has confirmed that soliciting help is really no big deal it won't make you look bad, stupid, or incompetent (common concerns), and it can help you get what you want. "Admitting that you need help doesn't make you weak it makes you human," says Erin Bried, an entrepreneur who recently launched a print magazine for young girls, called Kazoo. "And that's not actually a scary thing to admit at all, because guess what? Everyone already knows it." Bried had wanted to move forward with her dream of starting a magazine, but she needed financial aid. After sitting down and cranking out personal emails to her network (no mass emails, she cautions), Bried was amazed at the generosity she received all she had to do was ask. Thousands of people contributed to her Kickstarter campaign, 98% of whom she didn't know personally. Research from Stanford University found that we seriously underestimate how much people are willing to help us. In one study, participants were instructed to ask strangers to use their cell phone after estimating how many people they felt would deny their requests. Scientists found that participants thought they would need to ask twice as many people before getting a cell to use. In other words, ask and you shall receive. 6. Keep relationships a priority. It's not news that we need others to support or vouch for our ideas, especially when they will impact more than one person, like a family or a team at the office. "You could be the smartest, most hard-working person, but if you're working alone in a corner and not getting to know your coworkers, boss, upper management, or even your acquaintances or relatives, when it comes time to push an idea you're going to have a hard time," says Lauren Zander, a mediator and corporate and private life coach who has worked with top companies like New York Times and LinkedIn. "It's absolutely true that people are more trusting of the individuals they know on a deeper level I don't care how good your idea or proposal is." Been a little reserved at the office or skipping happy hour with community board members? Zander has a foolproof way to make up for it: Ask questions. "You should be curious about those around you, and you can start with the most mundane details," she says. Ask about where they live, what they like to do on weekends, if they are into the latest shows on Netflix. Once you're comfortable and have built rapport, suggest a lunch or grab a mid-afternoon coffee. "People are always going to go for the happiest person in the room and that person gets there by being interested in and caring about other people," she says. | 4 | 98,867 | lifestyle |
As rates of syphilis infections in the United States continue to rise, doctors should increase screening for the disease among high-risk individuals, according to new recommendations from a government-backed health panel. People with the highest risk of infection, including men who have same-sex partners and people living with HIV, should be tested every three months, rather than once a year, according to recommendations released Tuesday by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF). The recommendations, published in the Journal of American Medical Association , reaffirm that doctors should be aware of their patients' sexual behaviors and local rates of infection while considering screening. "Clinicians play an important role in helping to control the rising rates of syphilis infection and should focus on screening those at increased risk," Ann E. Kurth, task force member and dean of the Yale School of Nursing, said in a statement. Syphilis is a highly contagious sexually transmitted disease that, if left untreated, can cause blindness, dementia and paralysis. According to the CDC, in 2014, almost 20,000 cases of syphilis were reported in the United States. In 2005, that number was just under 6,000 cases. According to the report, there is little risk of increase screening, aside from the potential of a false-positive, which could result in "unnecessary anxiety to the patient." "Everyone can reduce their risk for syphilis infection by consistent and correct use of condoms, limiting sexual activity to a mutually monogamous relationship with a partner who does not have syphilis," USPSTF said in a statement. Follow @MaryBowerman on Twitter. | 7 | 98,868 | health |
This Is What the 1996 Tony Awards Looked Like The 1996 Tony Awards On June 2, 1996, stars descended on New York City's Majestic Theatre for the 50th Annual Tony Awards. The night was led by Best Actress in a Musical Winner Donna Murphy (The King and I), Best Actor in a Musical Winner Nathan Lane (A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum), Best Actress in a Play Winner Zoe Caldwell (Master Class), and Best Actor in a Play winner George Grizzard (A Delicate Balance). With just days until the 2016 ceremony, see photos from 20 years prior, ahead. Presenter Matthew Broderick and Then-Girlfriend Sarah Jessica Parker Performer and Presenter Liza Minnelli Presenter John Rubinstein and Bebe Neuwirth Presenter Diahann Carroll Presenter Jane Seymour Joan Allen Presenter Christine Baranski and Sigourney Weaver Presenter Gregory Hines and Best Actor in a Musical Nominee Savion Glover (Bring in 'da Noise, Bring in 'da Funk) Best Featured Actress in a Play Winner Audra McDonald (Master Class) Presenter and performer Bernadette Peters and Then-Husband Michael Wittenberg Bernadette Peters, Nathan Lane, Liza Minnelli, Savion Glover, Andrew Lloyd Weber, and Jane Seymour Presenters Eli Wallach and Hume Cronyn Best Actor in a Musical Nominee Adam Pascal (Rent) and Julie Fishe Carol Channing Leslie Uggams Barnard Hughes Best Featured Actor in a Musical Winner Wilson Jermaine Heredia (Rent) Best Actor in a Musical Nominee Lou Diamond Phillips (The King and I) and Then-Wife Kelly Phillips | 6 | 98,869 | entertainment |
We're inching closer to the start of the college football season. In fact, we're almost 12 weeks away from the first full Saturday. That's 12 weeks of summer before the going gets tough for all 128 teams in the FBS. Some teams, however, have it a little tougher than others. MORE: Top 25 active coaches Sporting News looked at 12 of those questions. Schedules, quarterback controversies and everything else in between are covered. Here are 12 tough questions for 2016.: 1. Who has toughest schedule on paper? Wisconsin. Who in the hell made this schedule? Absent any schedule formula, just look at the Badgers' schedule. The opponents had a combined winning percentage of .623 in 2015. The Lambeau Field opener against LSU is just the start. MORE: Ranking Big 10's primetime TV games | Big 10 revenue jump The Badgers play four consecutive teams with 10-or-more wins from last season at one point, beginning with cross-over games at Michigan State and Michigan. The final crossover game is against Ohio State at home before the Big Ten West opener at Iowa. 2. Who has toughest first month? Ole Miss. There's still the specter of the NCAA looming over the program, but the September schedule might be a bigger problem. The Rebels open against Florida State in Orlando on Labor Day night. They play Wofford on a short week before home games against Alabama and Georgia on Sept. 17 and Sept. 24. MORE: Hugh Freeze addresses allegations If Ole Miss is 4-0 when Memphis visits on Oct. 1, then they might be ranked No. 1 in the country. 3. Who has toughest opener? Oklahoma. Put yourselves in the Sooners' position. The defending Big 12 champions' last impression was a 37-17 loss to Clemson in the College Football Playoff semifinals, and they open at NRG Stadium to face Houston, which can vault itself in the playoff conversation with an upset against Oklahoma. MORE: Mayfield granted extra year | Big 12 right to add title game This is the most-intriguing game in Week 1, and it's a noon kick. 4. Who is the toughest team to figure out? UCLA. The Bruins could be a Pac-12 and playoff contender. Jim Mora Jr. continues to recruit well and UCLA has the best pro prospect-in-waiting at quarterback in Josh Rosen. He should improve as a sophomore, but the Bruins had all kinds of talent last year and finished with five losses. UCLA also has nonconference games against Texas A&M and BYU before conference plays begin. MORE: Ranking Pac-12 quarterbacks Neither a one-loss season nor six-loss season would come as a complete surprise. 5. Who is Alabama's toughest opponent? LSU. Ole Miss is ranked higher in Sporting News' Top 25 and has knocked off Alabama in each of the last two years, but the biggest game on the schedule right now remains LSU. Consider this: Alabama shut down Leonard Fournette in a 30-16 victory against the Tigers last season. Alabama went on to outscore its next seven opponents 228-80 en route to winning the national title. MORE: Alabama deserves No. 1 until someone takes it The Nov. 5 date with LSU at Death Valley is still the pivot point of the season for the Crimson Tide. 6. Who has toughest road back to playoff? Michigan State. The Spartans lost a talented senior class led by quarterback Connor Cook and defensive end Shilique Calhoun, and the schedule isn't easy. Notre Dame and BYU are the nonconference headliners and cross-over games at Wisconsin, Northwestern and even at Illinois could be tricky. At least Michigan and Ohio State come to East Lansing. MORE: Michigan State has high expectations The Spartans are still a top-10 caliber team capable of winning the Big Ten again. It's just a bigger challenge for coach Mark Dantonio to embrace. 7. Who has toughest QB decision? Notre Dame. Maybe tough isn't the best word here. Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly has a nice problem here with Malik Zaire and DeShone Kizer, and it's entirely possible he works both quarterbacks into the game plan each week. Ohio State's Urban Meyer felt that last season with J.T. Barrett and Cardale Jones. MORE: Notre Dame's top priority is QB situation You can play it right the Buckeyes did go 12-1 but everybody will be second-guessing the entire plan after that first loss no matter what. Kelly is no stranger to mixing-and-matching quarterbacks, but this is his toughest decision yet. 8. Who else? BYU. Taysom Hill is on his way back from yet another season-ending injury, and he'll better with Tanner Mangum for the starting job. Both are learning from new offensive coordinator and former Heisman Trophy winner Ty Detmer. This is another one of those nice problems to have, and it doesn't hurt given the Cougars' ridiculous schedule. MORE: Hill changes number to honor late brother Whoever starts will have to be ready in road games at Utah, West Virginia (at Landover, Md.), Michigan State, Boise State and Cincinnati. 9. Where is the toughest place to play? Ohio State. Yes, the case could be made for either Death Valley, but Ohio State is 40-4 (.909) at The Shoe since 2010, the best mark among Power 5 schools. Only Northern Illinois has a better home record at 31-2 (.939). Alabama, Clemson, Florida State and LSU are all 38-4 (.905). MORE: These win total predictions for Buckeyes, Tide look wrong Considering the Buckeyes have only lost twice at home in four years under Urban Meyer (Virginia Tech, Michigan State) and the other two losses came under interim coach Luke Fickell (Michigan State, Penn State), we'll give the Buckeyes the nod. 10. Where is a tough place to play this year? Utah. The Utes were 6-1 at Rice-Eccles Stadium last year, and that included wins against Michigan, UCLA and Cal. Utah is a tough out there, and that's going to be a tall test for BYU as that rivalry resumes. MORE: Ranking Pac-12 wide receivers Pac-12 championship hopefuls USC, Arizona, Washington and Oregon all come to Utah this season. 11. Who is the toughest team not getting attention? Georgia. Tennessee is getting most of the offseason hype, and Florida is the defending SEC champion. Yet Georgia with first-year coach Kirby Smart is every bit as capable of winning the division. The Bulldogs have two awesome running backs in Nick Chubb (pictured) and Sony Michel, and we can't wait for quarterback Jacob Eason's arrival. MORE: Top 25 college running backs Tennessee still has to come to Athens, too. 12. Where is the toughest job right now? Texas. Charlie Strong's task in Year 3 isn't easy. He has to get Texas to a bowl game. The Longhorns have to be competitive in the Big 12, too. It has to be particularly frustrating considering the Longhorns went 5-7 last season despite beating Oklahoma and Baylor. Texas recruited well, but Strong might be resting his job security on freshman quarterback Shane Buechele. MORE: F ive hyped teams that could break conference droughts It all starts with the Sunday home opener against Notre Dame. Texas must have a better showing there, too. | 1 | 98,870 | sports |
Reports indicate women in the U.S. are larger than in the past. No one is sure why but experts are looking at today's advertising for hints. Keleigh Nealon (@keleighnealon) has the story. | 8 | 98,871 | video |
Sir Wiggleton was in the Detroit Dog Rescue for almost 100 days before musician Dan Tillery found him and adopted him. Now named, Diggy, was so happy his smiling pictures have gone viral. Alyse Barker (@IamAlyseBarker) has the story. | 8 | 98,872 | video |
Austria's far-right Freedom party (FPÖ) will contest the outcome of last month's presidential elections, it has announced. In a knife-edge contest that divided the country and captured the attention of the entire continent, the FPÖ candidate, Norbert Hofer, lost to Green-endorsed Alexander Van der Bellen by 30,863 votes. In the immediate aftermath of the election, Hofer had appealed to his supporters to accept Van der Bellen as president. "We should all pull together," Hofer said at the time. "There are no signs of electoral fraud." But at a press conference on Wednesday, the FPÖ leader, Heinz-Christian Strache, claimed that reports of irregularities in 94 voting districts "obliged" his party to contest the result. Related: Far-right Austrian presidential candidate dismisses voter fraud claims "We are not bad losers, but this is about securing the foundations of democracy," Strache said. "You don't have to be a conspiracy theorist for these irregularities to give you a funny feeling." The FPÖ has handed in a 150-page complaint to Austria's constitutional court that details the alleged irregularities. If the court investigates the alleged irregularities, it could lead to a repeat of the vote in the affected regions. A ruling is expected before 8 July, the date that Van der Bellen is due to be sworn in as president. The FPÖ leadership appears to have felt emboldened by the interior ministry's decision to investigate allegations of malpractice on behalf of electoral commissions in six districts in Carinthia, Styria and Lower Austria. In some cases the interior ministry established that counting centres had begun to process postal votes on the eve of the election, rather than on the day after the election, as Austrian electoral law requires. Related: Far-right candidate narrowly defeated in Austrian presidential election While postal votes did prove crucial in winning the election for Van der Bellen, commentators point out that the economist would have edged ahead of his rightwing competitor even without the votes in the six voting districts where irregularities are being investigated. In order to proceed with the FPÖ's complaint, the constitutional court would first have to establish whether the alleged irregularities could have proved crucial in determining the overall outcome. The FPÖ has repeatedly called for the abolition of the postal vote in its current form. "The postal vote we have is an error in the system, it should have been abolished," Strache said on Wednesday. | 5 | 98,873 | news |
NHAN TRACH, Vietnam Since a devastating fish kill blighted the waters along 120 miles of coastline in central Vietnam, hundreds of people are believed to have fallen ill from eating poisoned fish. Here in the fishing village of Nhan Trach, the squid that sustain the local economy have virtually disappeared. And a fishing ban has left hundreds of traps sitting unused on the beach and dozens of small fishing boats idle. Sign Up For NYT Now's Morning Briefing Newsletter "We are so angry," said Pham Thi Phi, 65, who operates a fishing boat in Nhan Trach with her husband and three grown sons. "If we knew who put the poison in the ocean, we would like to kill them. We really need to have an answer from the government on whether the ocean is totally clean and the fish are safe to eat." While the immediate cause appears to have been toxic waste from a nearby steel mill, fury over the episode has exploded into a national issue, posing the biggest challenge to the authoritarian government since a spate of anti-Chinese riots in 2014. Protesters demanding government action have marched in major cities and coastal communities over the past six weeks, escalating what had been a regional environmental dispute into a test of government accountability and transparency. But two months after the fish started washing up on beaches here, the government has yet to announce the cause of the disaster or identify the toxin that killed marine life and poisoned coastal residents. The government's failure to respond and its previous support for the Taiwan-owned steel plant at the heart of the crisis have fueled widespread suspicion of corruption, cover-up and the hidden influence of foreign interests at the expense of Vietnamese livelihoods, a potent mix that challenges the legitimacy of Communist Party rule. "Quite simply, in Vietnam, human life is less important than the political life of the government and government institutions," said Nguyen Thi Bich Nga, an activist in Ho Chi Minh City. "In this way, we can explain all that is unusual in this country." The government has said little about the marine die-off while cracking down on the protests, which have occurred every Sunday since May 1, when thousands of people took to the streets of Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and five additional cities. More than 500 people have been arrested, and demonstrators have been beaten by the police. "The response by the government has been one of ineptitude," said Carlyle Thayer, a Vietnam analyst at the Australian Defense Force Academy. He said the fish kill was the most serious environmental issue to confront the government in several years and reflected poorly on the government of Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, who took office in April. Last month, the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights urged the government to avoid excessive use of force, citing "increasing levels of violence" against the protesters. But the protests have continued. On Sunday, more than 1,000 people turned out in a coastal district of Nghe An Province, north of the steel plant, to demonstrate. Many wore T-shirts bearing a fish skeleton. Some carried signs reading, "Fish need clean water, citizens need transparency." "It seems the government tries to cover up for the culprit," the Rev. Anthony Nam, a Catholic priest and protest leader in Nghe An, said by telephone. "We will protest until the government says what caused the spill." In Nhan Trach, about 40 miles south of the steel factory, the dead and dying fish first appeared in early April, floating in the surf and washing up on the beach. Initially, it seemed like a windfall, and many people here ate and sold them. The fish kept coming, tons of them, day after day for more than a month, residents said. "Some of the fish were dead; some were dying," said Ho Huu Sia, 67, who buys and dries fish for a living. "We ate the fish that were still alive. We ate the fish for two weeks." His daughter, Ho Thi Dao, 32, said she became ill, experiencing vomiting, diarrhea, headaches and dizziness. She went to the local clinic and received intravenous fluids. She said she met others there who also suffered poisoning. "I ate the fish and got poisoned," she said. "Many people got sick like me." Belatedly, the government announced that aquatic life had been poisoned along the coastline of four provinces. The authorities warned people not to eat fish and ordered a halt to fishing. As compensation, officials distributed bags of rice and gave fishermen 50,000 dong, or about $2.20. "We are just sitting with tears running down our cheeks looking out at the ocean," said Ms. Phi, who has been fishing from Nhan Trach all her life. "What can we do with 50,000 dong?" Coastal residents and journalists quickly identified the culprit as the Formosa Ha Tinh Steel plant, which opened in December. According to news reports, the fish kill happened after the factory washed unspecified cleaning chemicals through its wastewater pipeline. A company representative seemed to confirm the suspicions in April when he said it would not be surprising if the factory's wastewater harmed marine life. "You have to decide whether to catch fish and shrimp or to build a modern steel industry," he told reporters. "Even if you are the prime minister, you cannot choose both." His comments incited a flurry of criticism on social media and spawned a popular hashtag, #ichoosefish, which has become a protest slogan. The company later insisted that it met Vietnam's environmental standards and said that the spokesman had been fired. Company officials did not respond to requests for comment. The government has been just as reticent. At first, the government suggested a toxic algae bloom was responsible. In mid-May, Pham Cong Tac, deputy science and technology minister, told Vietnamese news outlets that the ministry had a "convincing scientific basis" to explain the fish deaths, but he did not disclose what it was. Last week, Mai Tien Dung, minister and head of the government office, said that the authorities had identified the cause but indicated that officials could not tell the public because an investigation was continuing. "The work of identifying the cause of the dead fish is also related to identifying the culprit," he told reporters. "This not only needs scientific evidence but also complete evidence of a legal violation, especially of environmental law." The lack of information has only fueled the protesters' anger. Villagers say the authorities collected water samples immediately after the episode, and foreign experts say test results should have been known within days. Nguyen Hoang Anh, a university professor in Hanoi, said the government should have immediately revealed the toxin, especially to the poisoning victims and their doctors. "It's not fair," she said. "It's not ethical. It's a crime." She said the cover-up had the potential to make the fish kill Vietnam's Chernobyl, the 1986 nuclear disaster that contributed to the unraveling of the Soviet Union. That is what the government most fears, analysts say, and it is why it acts quickly and at times brutally to suppress protests before they ignite a popular uprising. But critics say the government has another motive for wanting to bury the controversy. The government has supported the steel plant, giving the company a sweetheart deal, including tax incentives and a bargain price for the property, to build on the coast. The company, a subsidiary of the Formosa Plastics Group, paid $4.3 million for a 70-year lease on 8,150 oceanfront acres, according to Vietnamese news reports. That is about $530 an acre. To clear the site for construction, the government relocated nine communities with more than 14,000 people. In 2012, the prime minister at the time, Nguyen Tan Dung, attended the groundbreaking ceremony for the project, which includes a seaport and a power plant. "Some important people in the government made a corrupt deal to put the factory there, and it is therefore partly responsible for the spill," Huynh Ngoc Chenh, former editor of the Thanh Nien newspaper and a prominent blogger, said in an online interview. "So it can't easily blame Formosa or take responsibility. So it is saying nothing and cracking down on protests." Two years ago, while the factory was under construction, it became a prime target of the riots over China's placement of an oil rig in waters off Vietnam in the South China Sea. More than 200 factories owned by Chinese and other foreign companies were looted and set ablaze around the country. But the worst rioting occurred at Formosa, where four people were killed. The company is based in Taiwan, but thousands of imported laborers from mainland China were building the factory. Protesters stopped buses, pulled off Chinese passengers and beat them. The authorities have been more careful not to let the current protests get out of hand. But even if they can be quelled, the economic costs have continued to mount. On a recent morning, more than a dozen fish traders gathered at a drink shop across from the beach here. A few played board games, and others joined in a spirited game of cards. There was nothing to do but kill time, one said. Around the corner, Phan Dinh Son, 49, sat at a table in his all-too-quiet open-air shop. He used to sell hundreds of blocks of ice a day. Now he sells about 20, he said. A separate business buying and trading shellfish has been suspended because no one wants to eat local fish. "The fish market is empty," he said. "I would hope the government and the party would come up with a solution and give a clear answer so we can do our business." | 5 | 98,874 | news |
Filipino boxing champion and politician Manny Pacquiao explains the importance that the late Muhammad Ali had on his own boxing career. | 1 | 98,875 | sports |
Summer is an opportune time to save money for college and reduce college-related expenses. 10 ways incoming freshmen can save for college Summer is a great time to gear up financially for school to develop a college budget and find money through work, scholarships , online services and e-commerce sites. Experts say it's not just a 529 tax-advantaged education savings account that helps savvy high school students save for college; opening a checking account helps students put money away and establish healthy financial habits. Click through to see how you can save money when heading to college. Work a Part-Time Job A part-time job working as a lifeguard or at a local restaurant or fast-food chain is one way for students to pay for college and gain work experience. Some of these part-time jobs especially those at fast-food giants offer tuition benefits to some hourly workers. Find a Paid Summer Internship Not only can a paid summer internship fund college-related expenses, but it can help with job prospects down the road. More than half of the internships offered at private companies or the federal government are paid, according to a National Association of Colleges and Employers student survey . NACE finds that students with paid internships also improve their prospects for a full-time job offer after graduation. Take Advantage of Summer Youth Programs Some U.S. cities have public or private programs that support teen employment during the summer, such as New York City's Summer Youth Employment Program . The program is one of the oldest in the country, employing more than 54,000 youths between the ages of 14 and 24 during the summer months. Program participants make at least minimum wage. Win Cash Via Summer Reading Programs Keep active during the summer and enroll in a summer reading program some of these programs offer participants a chance to win up to usually around $1,500 in cash for their tax-advantaged college savings account . Some states have announced these reading programs with possible college cash, such as Oregon , Minnesota and Oklahoma , to name a few. Take Summer College Courses Enrolling in summer classes can be a smart way to decrease college costs especially if you opt for courses at a less expensive community college. This strategy can shave off time needed to graduate, reducing costs by spending less time in school. But before taking a summer course, it's important to talk with your college's transfer credit evaluator about whether these credits will transfer. Apply for Scholarships With Summer Deadlines Though most scholarship deadlines have passed, students can search online to find scholarships with summer entry dates . You, Me, And Poetry Scholarship Slam allows students to show their poetic style for a chance to win $1,000 with an original poem, and the entry date is mid-July. Another literary scholarship with a July deadline is the From Failure to Promise Scholarship Essay Contest . By entering a 1,500-word essay, a student can win $500 or $10,000. Start Your Own Business The possibilities are endless for creating your own business to earn cash during the summer months from dog walking, gardening and baby-sitting to designing websites. There are also plenty of online services to make it easier for students to get started such as Rover or DogVacay , two websites for connecting pet owners with dog-sitters, or TaskRabbit , which outsources household errands such as paying someone to pick up groceries. Make Money Online Earning money online is one way to supplement your income to pay for school expenses. There are several websites to make money for your talents, ranging from filling out online surveys or using your media expertise, experts say. Websites such as MySurvey and Swagbacks will pay for your participation in consumer research. Students can be paid for media talent, from tweeting for money with IZEA to contributing stock photos through Foap . Create Cash From Your Clutter Clean out your closets and bedroom and sell anything you're not using anymore. Clothes in the back of the closet can be sold as vintage on eBay, Etsy or at a local consignment store, for example, financial experts say. Consider hosting a yard sale to make extra cash that you can contribute to a college fund. Ask for Gifts Tell family friends to consider contributing to a college savings account as a birthday or high school graduation gift. An increasing number of students prefer college savings over material presents. Around 40 percent of high school students, for instance, say they are willing to forgo material items to save for college, according to a 2015 College Savings Foundation report . | 3 | 98,876 | finance |
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. A man convicted of killing a teenage boy after an argument over loud music outside a Florida gas station wants a new trial. The Florida Times-Union (http://bit.ly/1rbEGci) reports an attorney for 49-year-old Michael Dunn asked an appeals court Tuesday to throw out his murder conviction and life sentence. Dunn, of Satellite Beach, was convicted of fatally shooting 17-year-old Jordan Davis of Marietta, Georgia, in November 2012 after a confrontation sparked over loud music coming from the SUV in which Davis was riding. Attorney Terry Roberts argued for the new trial, saying prosecutors didn't refute Dunn's claim that Davis had threatened to kill him before the shooting. Dunn was at the Jacksonville gas station after attending his son's wedding, where he had been drinking. Prosecutors say Dunn, who is white, fired 10 times into the vehicle carrying black teenagers. ___ Information from: The (Jacksonville) Florida Times-Union, http://www.jacksonville.com | 5 | 98,877 | news |
It was a spectacle, all right. The 100th running of the Indianapolis 500, which was staged over Memorial Day weekend, marked the first sellout in the history of what is known as The Greatest Spectacle in Racing. Approximately 350,000 people witnessed rookie driver Alexander Rossi taking the checkered flag in Speedway, Indiana, making it the largest attended single-day sporting event in history. Or was it? Speedway, a suburb of Indianapolis, is a town of fewer than 15,000 whose roads are not ideally suited to accommodate the sudden influx of thousands of vehicles of all sizes. Cars, trucks and RVs arranged bumper to bumper snaked in lines 2 miles long outside the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Thus, an attendee of this latest Indy 500 sat in hours of traffic in the pursuit of watching hours of traffic. Where does commuting end and sport begin? "We think it's a sport if the machine is a car?" asks David Goldblatt, author of The Games: A Global History of the Olympics . "Why have we invested so much of our identities in the internal combustion engine? I've never heard anything so ridiculous in all my life." To be fair to Goldblatt, a cheeky Brit, he was discussing Formula One racing, a close cousin of IndyCar racing. And to be fair to auto racing, we are not here to vilify its worthiness as a sport. Rather, we come to ask a more rudimentary question: What is sport? Last month, ESPN, the self-proclaimed "Worldwide Leader in Sports," televised both the Indy 500 and the Scripps National Spelling Bee, as it has done for years. Next month, it will air both the World Series of Poker and the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest. This month, ESPN is airing the NBA Finals and a plethora of Major League Baseball, both "traditional" sports, but are they any more or less valid than the aforementioned endeavors? "Does it matter?" asks Scott Van Pelt, host of ESPN's midnight SportsCenter telecast. "If people are enjoying, if they are keeping score, isn't that enough?" Two summers ago, ESPN3 streamed the world championships of Dota 2, a popular video game, that were being held in front of 17,000-plus fans at KeyArena in Seattle. In September of that year, ESPN President John Skipper famously said of the event, "It's not a sport it's a competition. Chess is a competition. Checkers is a competition. Mostly, I'm interested in doing real sports." Skipper's words drew a generational line in the sand. Two months earlier, the United States government had decided to grant professional gamers, as they are known, the same travel visas it grants to professional athletes. Uncle Sam says esports are a sport, even if the head of the Worldwide Leader in Sports disagrees with him. And Skipper's not the only one. "Gamers, you know, pffft ," says Goldblatt, who teaches a course on the Olympics at Pitzer College in Claremont, California, where many of his students are esport enthusiasts. "Are they sports? It's just like, thumbs , man. Esports is just people using their thumbs. I'm not enjoying the thumbs." Cheese-rolling. Pole-vaulting. Wife-carrying. Figure skating. Cup-stacking. Bobsledding. Ferret-legging. Golf. Somewhere someone right now is endeavoring to become more proficient at every one of these activities. Half the sports on that list are imbued with the prestige and promise of an Olympic medal, but is there anything more intrinsically worthy about performing a triple salchow than there is about keeping an angry ferret inside your trousers for two minutes? The upcoming Summer Olympics from Rio de Janeiro will feature 306 different events in 42 sports, or so the official Rio2016.com site tells us. But how many of those sports, such as synchronized swimming or equestrian events, do you consider a sport? "If someone invented gymnastics today," says Goldblatt, "it would just be a specialized form of Zumba." Each of us brings our biases and tastes to the question of whether any activity is a sport. Most of us require less time to decide than Stephen Curry needs to get off a three-pointer. "Chess is as pure a sport as there is because it is in no way left up to the judgment of other people," says Tim Crothers, a former senior writer at Sports Illustrated who teaches sports journalism at the University of North Carolina. "At the bottom of the barrel, you have figure skating, which is just an exhibition judged by people we have no trust in." Crothers is adamant that chess is a sport, while Amelia Boone, the world's premier female obstacle racer, is just as adamant that it is not. How about a cheerleading contest? "Yes," says Boone. "In high school, I wrote a column titled 'Cheerleading Is Not a Sport,'" says best-selling sports book author Jeff Pearlman. "The next day in the cafeteria, I was surrounded by a group of angry cheerleaders. That was the greatest thing, to that point in my life, that had ever happened to me." Pearlman does not believe golf is a sport, but Van Pelt, a former Golf Channel studio host, insists it is. "Before you even factor in striking the ball, just walk 7,500 yards in one afternoon," he says, "and see how sore you'll be the next day. Oh, and then I'll play poorly on top of that. "A spelling bee is not a sport, though. For starters, it's an antiquated skill. If I spell something incorrectly, a red line just pops up under the word." "How can a spelling bee be a sport?" asks Goldblatt. "Even Stephen Hawking can win a spelling bee." Angela Gleason teaches a seminar at Yale University titled History of Sport, and she approaches the course with the objectivity of a scholar. Each semester, she opens class with the same succinct speech. "Whatever we discuss, you'll never know if it is my opinion or not. Except for one thing: I feel very strongly it is not just my opinion but also my conviction that NASCAR is not a sport." Does Sex Count? George Costanza: And then, as I watched him struggling, I realized something was obstructing its breathing. From where I was standing, I could see directly into the eye of the great fish Jerry Seinfeld: Mammal. Costanza: Whatever. You may recall the classic scene from Seinfeld in which Costanza relates how he removed the golf ball Kramer had hit into the surf that was obstructing the blowhole of a whale. The scene relates to sports on a surface level no pun intended but also on a more philosophical plane. Consider the whale. It lives in the ocean. It swims. It has fins. Whales are aquatic creatures, and yet most of us, marine biologists or not, know whales are mammals. Whales are classified as mammals because in the 18th century, Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus, the "father of modern taxonomy," created an objective system for classifying plant and animal life based on a hierarchy of traits. Whales are mammals because they are warm-blooded, have glands to produce milk for their young and possess a four-chambered heart, all of which Linnaeus observed were more fundamental shared traits than, say, being an attraction at SeaWorld (an aside: The documentary Blackfish is a huge misnomer). Moby-Dick and the shark in Jaws may have been great and white and the object of someone's obsession, but taxonomically, Captain Ahab's whale had more in common with King Kong. And no one disputes that because Linnaeus's system of classification is universally accepted in the scientific community. In the sports community, on the other hand, denizens cannot even come to a consensus on what is a strike, or traveling, or even if O.J. did it (he totally did it; c'mon!). The National Football League is nearing its centennial 2020 and still haggling over what constitutes a catch. Last summer, I was in a bar in Chatham, Massachusetts, in which two men far burlier than me were arguing over whether golf is a sport. When they learned that I write about sports for a living, the more menacing of the two said, "Great, you can tell him that golf is a sport." Summoning all of my temerity, fully aware that I might be seconds away from being the loser in my first ultimate fighting match, I said, "But golf isn't a sport." We will get to why I said that and how many stitches I needed later. First, let's accept that very few people are able to provide a succinct definition of sport , while matter is defined as "anything that has mass and volume." There it is, the entire universe in six words but defining sport is impossible? Second, let's acknowledge that almost everyone is able to declaratively opine, and with great conviction, on the validity of a sport. Competitive eating? "Absolutely not," says Boone. "No!" agrees Van Pelt. "There's nothing more American than sanctioned gluttony, it's the most American thing there is. But it's not a sport." Finally, let's understand that if most of us feel comfortable pronouncing an activity as a sport or denouncing it as not one, then we must possess a subconscious, perhaps even instinctive, knowledge of what constitutes sport. "This reminds me of the case on pornography," says Boone, who is an attorney at Apple. "I can't define it, but I know it when I see it." Pornography, by the way, is not a sport. Yet. Gary Belsky, former managing editor of ESPN the Magazine and co-author (with Neil Fine) of On the Origins of Sports , says, "You don't need a definition of sports. It's more quantum physics, like the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle. There are simply too many variables." But what if you did have to define it? Let's give Dan Lebowitz, the executive director of the Center for the Study of Sport in Society in Boston, a crack at it: "I'm big on 'Sport is a competitive endeavor that involves athleticism in which the goal is to win.'" Competition. Athleticism. Keeping score. That eliminates both chess and figure skating, if you believe that scoring should not be determined by a judge. Those are three valid metrics, but why stop with Lebowitz? Let's make defining sport a sport, if you will. "There has to be an idea of a healthy connection, something that you are doing for your physical well-being," says Boone. "There must be the acceleration of more than one limb simultaneously," says Goldblatt. "And let's not forget having fun." "I have a definition that I believe in very much," says Gleason, who has dedicated much of her professional life to plumbing the why of sport. "Sport is our greatest expression of attaining or witnessing bodily excellence. "Bodily excellence moves us the way beauty moves us," she explains. "I don't want to get all warm and jammy here, but I think it makes us proud to be human. There's no doubt in my mind, at the bottom of this is that we all appreciate excellent bodies." I Win, Therefore I Am Let's take another run at fun. "It's a summer day, and a bunch of 8-year-olds are sitting around with nothing to do," says Crothers, a father of two. "Eventually, they're going to figure out a competition. And I think that goes back to the beginning of time." When Boone was an associate at a Chicago law firm, she used to time herself walking from her condo to her office each morning. "People walking on the other side of the street had no idea they were racing me," says Boone, who finished first in her law school class. "There are some people who really don't have a competitive bone in their bodies. Sometimes, I'm kind of jealous of those people." Pearlman never visits a diner with his son without engaging in a contest to build the taller sugar-packet castle. "I don't know any other animal that wants to win for the sake of winning," says Pearlman, a former senior writer at Sports Illustrated . "You know why they have jockeys in the Kentucky Derby? Because horses don't look at one another and say, 'Let's race!'" However, all mammals do, to varying degrees, compete for sexual primacy. Gleason suggests that most other mammals do not keep score "because they don't have hands," but how far apart are two rams locking horns from the climactic drag race scene in Grease ? Is there a connection in the fact that former Los Angeles Lakers center Wilt Chamberlain put up numbers involving both backboards and headboards that more than half a century later remain unattainable? Athletic prowess relates to sexual prowess, and opportunity, which extends back to the dawn of man and the most primal of urges. No one is suggesting that fifth-grader Nihar Janga or seventh-grader Jairam Hathwar, the recently crowned co-champions of the Scripps National Spelling Bee, are going to make it rain at the club any time soon, but certainly their "Bee All That You Can Bee" moment has enhanced their self-esteem. "Sports decides who is best," says Gleason. "One thing that has always interested me is why faculty members hate sports so much. I think there's a deep resentment among many of my colleagues. They could write a book that would change the scope of art history, but the fact that they can't make a foul shot is all that matters." Competition is fun. Suspense is fun. "We like suspense," says Boone. "I will watch any game, any sport, anytime, anywhere that is coming down to the last second and the outcome is undecided," says Crothers. "Then I'm in. I don't care if it's underwater tiddlywinks." Remember that riveting film about the team heavily favored to win that did so without any adversity? You don't? That's because it has never been made. We play sports because we crave suspense, which is delivered by one of two means: a struggle between two or more combatants who are evenly matched (Rocky Balboa vs. Apollo Creed) or one in which a participant is doing something historically unprecedented, be it good (Secretariat clinching the Triple Crown by winning in the 1973 Belmont Stakes by 31 lengths) or bad (Jean van de Velde blowing a three-shot lead on the final hole of the 1999 British Open). "Ernie Els, one of the best golfers in the world, six-putted the first hole at the Masters earlier this year," says Crothers. "How could you not be captivated by that?" Dan Shaughnessy, a sports columnist for The Boston Globe , created a ruckus earlier this spring when he tweeted that the University of Connecticut women's basketball team, in the midst of a 75-game winning streak (their third winning streak this century of 70-or-more games), was not watchable. Shaughnessy was called a curmudgeon and a misogynist, but to an extent he was correct. The Huskies, who regularly win contests by 50 points, are not "watchable" from a sports perspective. They are only watchable from an artistic perspective. There was very little suspense to watching Salvador Dali paint, but the end product was a masterpiece. Making Sport of Trump In 1896, Pierre de Coubertin, a French baron, resurrected the ancient Greek Olympic games, which had been dormant for a few millennia, as a quadrennial showcase of sport. Before the 1912 Stockholm Olympics, de Coubertin attempted to persuade the Swedish officials to stage artistic, literary and musical competitions in which medals would be awarded. The hosts demurred, but as the father of the modern Olympics, de Coubertin overruled them (Does anyone refuse Lorne Michaels a cameo on Saturday Night Live ?). He then solicited submissions and announced that he would judge these competitions. In the poetry event, an ode to sport won the gold medal, and below is its opening stanza: O Sport, pleasure of the Gods, essence of life! You appeared suddenly in the midst of the grey clearing which writhes With the drudgery of modern existence. Georges Hohrod and Martin Eschbach It may not surprise you to learn that Hohrod and Eschbach were not the era's most potent poetry-penning pair, but rather a pseudonym for...Pierre de Coubertin. The father of the modern Olympics awarded himself a gold medal minus any real competition, a matter of verse over versus. "The idea of writing as a competition is absurd," says Goldblatt, a prolific author. "Jim Thorpe won only one more gold medal than de Coubertin in Stockholm. He must have thought, You silly people." Linnaeus performed taxonomy by identifying elemental distinguishing traits: Some creatures are warm-blooded and others are cold-blooded. Some give birth to live offspring and others lay eggs; some have feathers and others have hair. Is it possible to taxonomize sports and to a more rudimentary degree than the International Olympic Committee announcing that there will be 42 sports comprising 306 events in Brazil? We must try, and we will begin by being all-inclusive (for the moment, you're in, wife-carrying and chess). Some sports require participants to play defense. Some sports require athleticism. Some sports are decided by judges. Some sports are ruled by a clock. Some involve inhaling mass quantities of food and no, sorry you're out, competitive eating. "The problem is, what is and what isn't a sport is decided by a collective consciousness," says Goldblatt. He's right. Two thousand years ago, people recognized rowing as slave labor: If you and a group of colleagues were pulling oars in synchronicity, you were probably shackled together on a Roman trireme. Nowadays, incorporating the same talents, you can be a gold-medal winner. Is cotton-picking up for discussion for the 3008 Olympics? It sounds absurd, even offensive, to suggest as much, but no more than heavyweight eights would to Ben-Hur. The other problem is passion. Sports are a reservoir of passion, and thus any suggestion that certain popular sports are in fact merely athletic activities will instantly be met with defiance by that sport's ardent fans. Where, however, do we draw the line? If auto racing is a sport, why not vacuum cleaning? "I don't think there's much of a future, as a spectator sport, in pushing an Electrolux around," says Goldblatt. But what if there were? Is an activity a sport simply because it features competition and can attract huge crowds and/or television ratings? And if so, when will SportsCenter begin covering the 2016 presidential election? "This election has been packaged just like a sports event," says Van Pelt. "The map of the United States is the scoreboard, and the team colors are red and blue. The polarization, that's nothing new to sports fans. You're as likely to see a guy in a "Make America Great Again" hat vote for Hillary as you are to see a guy in Crimson Tide gear shout 'War Eagle!' There's an element of sport to it." True, but there is also an element to sport of love and war where, like professional wrestling (not a sport), all's fair. Eventually we arrive at this conundrum: If every competition is a sport, are we not devaluing the term? "Why do I really care?" asks Boone. "If poker is or is not a sport, that's not going to keep me up at night." But it will keep me up at night, which is why I risked the welfare of my proboscis at that bar last summer to overrule a burly stranger. And so, not unlike a certain promotional HBO ad featuring Bill Simmons, allow me to tell you what I believe. I believe that a sport must be (1) a competition of undetermined outcome (thereby eliminating pro wrestling and the Democratic primary) that has (2) codified rules, (3) a pronounced element of athleticism and (4) defense. Yes, defense. Baseball, basketball, football, hockey, tennis, water polo, rugby, ultimate fighting, etc. are all sports. Swimming, golf, marathoning, the 100-meter dash even the Tour de France are all athletics. Sports are athletics, but all athletics are not sports. "I don't agree with that," says Van Pelt, who fondly recalls playing "Kill the Guy With the Ball" as a lad in Montgomery County, Maryland. "The most exciting nine-and-a-half seconds this summer are going to be when Usain Bolt hears the gun in the men's Olympic 100-meter final." Van Pelt may be right. However, there is nothing, at least not in my taxonomy, that puts sports on a higher stratum than athletics. It's simply that there is a basic difference between an athletic competition in which your opponent is directly and physically thwarting your progress and those that do not feature that component. "Ultimately, sports can be thought of as a game of competing against one another with an aspect of territorial acquisition or invasion," says Belsky. "So in that way, I can see your point. But there's another adage that may fit just as well: It's a sport if ESPN covers it." Back in Cape Cod, I offered my potential assailant at the bar this analogy. Line two competitors up side by side on a shooting range and it's a competition. Line them up at opposite ends of that shooting range, facing each other, and now we have a sport. | 1 | 98,878 | sports |
A Pakistani teenager was burnt alive by her mother on Wednesday after marrying a man of her own choice, police said, the latest in a string of so-called "honour killings" in the country. Zeenat Bibi, 16, was set on fire by her mother Perveen Bibi in the eastern city of Lahore a little more than a week after the wedding, police said. "Perveen Bibi killed her daughter Zeenat Bibi by burning her alive around 9:00 am on Wednesday," Haidar Ashraf, a senior police official told AFP, adding the teen had married a man named Hasan on May 29. It was the third such "honour killing" in as many months. Last week, 19-year-old Maria Sadaqat was tortured and burned by a group of people in a village close to the holiday resort of Murree, outside the capital Islamabad, for refusing a marriage proposal from the son of a former colleague. Another woman believed to be aged between 16 and 18 was drugged, strangled and her body burnt on the orders of a village jirga (council) in northwest Pakistan on April 29, allegedly for helping a friend to elope with her lover. Zeenat's husband Hasan told local TV station Geo News that the pair had eloped, but he had reluctantly allowed her to return to her family home after they promised they would hold a celebration and not harm her. He said: "After living with me for four days following our marriage, her family contacted us and promised they would throw us a proper wedding party after eight days then we could live together. "Zeenat was unwilling to go back to her home and told me that she would be killed by her family but later agreed when one of her uncles guaranteed her safety. "After two days, she called me and said that her family had gone back on their word and asked me to come get her, but I told her to wait for the promised eight days. Then, she was killed." Ashraf, the police official, said Perveen and other family members had confessed to the crime and that police had seized kerosene oil from the scene. Another senior police official confirmed the details of the killing. Hundreds of women are murdered by their relatives in Pakistan each year on the pretext of defending what is seen as family honour. "A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness" -- a film telling the story of a rare survivor of an attempted honour killing -- won an Oscar for best documentary short in February. Amid publicity for the film, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif vowed to eradicate the "evil" of honour killings but no fresh legislation has been tabled since then. | 5 | 98,879 | news |
Amazing picture snapped off coast of Byron Bay | 8 | 98,880 | video |
Drug overdose is fast becoming the leading cause of accidental death in the United States, with opioid-related deaths headlining the majority of the increase. The alarming findings are gaining widespread attention creating a national conversation. A critical predictor of overdose has remained absent from the conversation: opioid-related overdoses, both fatal and non, and more often than not they involve the use of at least one other drug. The bottom line, the vast majority of opioid-related overdose death is accidental and entirely preventable. | 7 | 98,881 | health |
Remember E3 2006? Ten years ago, Microsoft shared its roadmap for the still young Xbox 360 with a list of big-name titles, including the first Gears of War , Crackdown , and Forza Motorsport 2 . The Xbox 360 era was very good for Microsoft. Now that it's the underdog to Sony's massively successful PlayStation 4, the company is looking at ways to close the gap and expand the Xbox platform. That includes new hardware, new big-name games... and yes, perhaps a new Gears of War , new Crackdown , and new Forza . Microsoft's E3 2016 press conference is Monday, June 13th at 9:30AM ET. Here's what we expect to see. A slimmer Xbox or two Alongside the usual teasers of upcoming games, Microsoft looks to launch a wide range of new Xbox hardware this year . Rumors suggest the first new device we'll see is a slimmer and smaller version of the current Xbox One. Sources familiar with Microsoft's plans tell us that it will be around 40 percent smaller than the current model, and will likely support 4K video playback. Microsoft previously created a slimmer version of its popular Xbox 360 console, so an Xbox One Slim isn't exactly surprising. What might be surprising is what's inside. Microsoft could opt to ditch its Kinect port or even the HDMI-in port it uses for TV set-top box controls. Speaking of TV and Xbox, Microsoft is also rumored to be launching two new Xbox streaming devices at E3. The first is said to be Chromecast-like, with simple streaming options for entertainment. Microsoft's second "Xbox TV" could be the more interesting option. Rumors have suggested it will be more like a set-top box, and allow owners to use Windows 10 apps or play casual games. If the device is genuine, it's likely that Microsoft will allow streaming of Xbox One games to the set-top box so you wouldn't need two consoles in a house to play elsewhere. Codenamed Scorpio: the future of Xbox Microsoft's hardware showcase might not end with just streaming options and a slim console, however. Polygon recently reported that Microsoft may detail its plans for future Xbox hardware upgrades . A new, more powerful, console is expected next year, and it's currently codenamed Scorpio. Although it's unlikely we'll see exact specifications about Scorpio, a price point, or even what it looks like, Microsoft could outline how it plans to move toward a more PC-like upgrade cycle for the Xbox One. Microsoft is relying on its universal apps strategy to ensure future titles will still work on older Xbox One consoles, all while the company upgrades the components of the Xbox more regularly. Exclusives, exclusives, exclusives E3 is Microsoft's chance to show off what consumers can get with Xbox and only Xbox. The company has a number of exclusive franchises with sequels expected this year, chief among them Gears of War 4 , which is already set to launch this October . There's also a new Halo Wars to showcase, as well something new for Forza and (hopefully) an update on the long-awaited Crackdown 3 , which first debuted at E3 2014. And then there are all the exclusive games from last year's Xbox press conference that still haven't seen the light of day. At the top of that list is ReCore , from Keiji Inafune ( Mega Man ) and the former developers of Metroid Prime . To name a few more: Rare's "ambitious" pirate-themed Sea of Thieves , DayZ creator Dean Hall's Ion , and Capybara Games' stylish roguelike Below . Okay, that last one's actually from E3 2013, but it's due out later this year, so we're hoping it makes one more appearance on stage beforehand. Seriously, just watch the ReCore trailer again: More merging of Xbox and Windows Alongside the more powerful hardware plan, Microsoft is also expected to talk more about its platform plans to integrate Windows 10 and Xbox. We've seen plenty of concepts in the past, but the reality of Windows apps and games reaching the Xbox (and vice versa) is finally arriving this summer. Windows 10 apps will be able to run on the Xbox One thanks to a new update, and even Cortana is making its way to the console. This sets the stage for even deeper integration, and it's possible Microsoft might want to share its vision for turning PCs into Xbox One consoles . Either way, expect to hear more about how Windows 10 and Xbox are going to work together, especially on how the new store will work for game and app purchases. Oculus? HoloLens? Microsoft surprised everyone last year when it partnered with Oculus to ship its Xbox One controller with the Rift. We haven't heard much more on the partnership, or when the promised game streaming to the VR headset will arrive. E3 would be an ideal time and location to provide an update on Microsoft's VR plans, and to answer whether its rumored Scorpio console will support VR natively. Microsoft still seems focused on augmented reality, or what it calls "mixed reality" with its HoloLens headset, and the company is unlikely to miss an opportunity to show off some more of it in action at E3. (Last year's press conference had an extended Minecraft demo using HoloLens .) Microsoft wants its Windows Holographic software to power AR and VR headsets in the future, and we'll likely to see some demonstrations of exactly how that will work. Microsoft wants to bridge the gap between AR and VR with its own platform, and convince hardware makers to adopt it and games publishers to build for it. E3 is the place to start those tough conversations. ... and now the long shots And now for all our wishful thinking. New Battletoads . New Perfect Dark . New Viva Pinata . Something else big from Rare. New Kinectimals . New Kinect Adventures . New Kinect Sports . New anything Kinect-related. Anything at all. Remember Kinect? Good times. | 5 | 98,882 | news |
Two mosques on Wednesday invited US presumptive Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump to visit during his trip to Scotland later this month to inaugurate his newly revamped golf course. "Before he makes another inflammatory speech, Mr Trump should learn more about the Muslims that offends almost every time he opens his mouth," said the statement from the Annandale and Roxburgh Street mosques in Edinburgh published in the Herald Scotland. "We would welcome the opportunity to show him the work that we are doing in the community in Edinburgh when he comes to Scotland later this month," it said. Contacted by AFP, Mohammad Saleem Irshad from the Annandale Mosque said: "We wanted to tell Mr. Trump that what he thinks about Muslims is not a reality". "He should come to the mosque and check it. Are they teaching terrorism? He should come and study Islam." Trump has said he will arrive in Britain on June 22 and inaugurate his Trump Turnberry golf resort in southwest Scotland on June 24, prompting calls from political leaders and activists for protests. The billionaire tycoon would then visit the second golf course he owns in Scotland and one in Ireland, he said in a series of tweets earlier this month. Trump caused global furore by calling for a ban on Muslims entering the United States after a killing spree by a US-born Muslim and his Pakistani wife in December apparently inspired by the Islamic State group. | 5 | 98,883 | news |
Thanks to continued improvement in public health care, Americans today are healthier than ever. Thanks to continued improvement in public health care, Americans today are healthier than ever. The average American is expected to live 79 years, about six years longer than in 1975. The improvement, however, has not been uniform across the United States, and some cities are stuck in the past. In some of the least healthy cities, life expectancy is as low as it was 40 years ago. To determine the least healthy cities in the country, 24/7 Wall St. compiled an index of various health factors and outcomes. Health factors in an area, including eating and exercise habits of residents, the availability of clinical care, social and economic conditions, and the physical environment, tend to be accurate predictors of an area's health outcomes -- its residents' length and quality of life. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, up to 40% of deaths from the five leading causes are preventable. Premature death can often be prevented through changes to personal behavior. In every metro area in which a larger share of adults smoke, are physically inactive, and are obese than the country as a whole, the premature death rate is high and more years of potential life are lost due to premature death per capita than the national average. Residents in many of the least healthy metro areas lack the means necessary to lead a healthy lifestyle. In an email with 24/7 Wall St., Amanda Jovaag, data lead at health advocacy group County Health Rankings & Roadmaps, said, "Income provides economic resources that shape choices about housing, education, child care, food, medical care, and more. As income and wealth increase or decrease, so does health." In each of the least healthy metro areas, the typical household makes at least $4,700 less than the typical American household. The number of primary care physicians, dentists, and mental health providers per capita can also dictate the availability of medical care and consequently affect health outcomes. The number of preventable hospitalizations is another indicator of the quality of a metro area's health care system. In 24 out of the 25 least healthy cities, there are more preventable hospitalizations per capita than the national average of 54 per 1,000 Medicare enrollees. Access to the health care system is perhaps as important as its quality. In many of the cities with the worst health outcomes, a large share of residents is uninsured. "Those without insurance are often diagnosed at later, less treatable disease stages than those with insurance and, overall, have worse health outcomes, lower quality of life, and higher mortality rates," Jovaag said. For a variety of reasons, rural populations tend to be less healthy than urban ones. "The reasons behind this difference are varied," Jovaag said. "Certainly, resources such as access to clinical care and healthy foods play a role, but we also know that poverty and unemployment are more prevalent in rural counties." Many of these factors contribute to the differences in health outcomes between rural and urban cities. As part of a recent epidemic, deaths from drug overdose have been on the rise and have contributed to the first increase in the U.S. death rate in a decade. Injury deaths, a leading cause of which is drug overdose, disproportionately affect many of the communities on this list. To determine the least healthy cities, 24/7 Wall St. created an index modelled after analysis conducted by County Health Rankings & Roadmaps, a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute joint program. To identify the least healthy cities, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed all U.S. metropolitan statistical areas. The index rankings are based on overall health outcomes, a weighted composite of length of life, quality of life, and overall health factors. The health factors component is itself a weighted composite of healthy behaviors, clinical care, social and economic factors, and physical environment measures. Data on life expectancy came from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, a global health research center affiliated with the University of Washington. These are the least healthy cities in every state. 25. Rocky Mount, NC >Premature death rate: 444.3 per 100,000 > Adult obesity rate: 34.1% > Pct. adults without health insurance: 13.4% > Poverty rate: 20.5% Rocky Mount is one of several low income, rural metropolitan areas in the Southeast among the least healthy in the country. More than one-fifth of Rocky Mount residents live in poverty, and almost half in rural households -- each some of the higher shares nationwide. Such factors can hinder the ability to lead a healthy lifestyle and negatively impact health outcomes. In Rocky Mount, 21.8% of adults report being in fair or poor health, much higher than the 14.0% of adults nationwide who report less than optimal health. Also, for every 100,000 metro area residents, 444 die before the age of 75, one of the highest premature death rates in the country. 24. Farmington, NM >Premature death rate: 383.7 per 100,000 > Adult obesity rate: 30.3% > Pct. adults without health insurance: 17.9% > Poverty rate: 21.5% A larger share of Farmington residents engage in unhealthy behaviors than nearly any other city in the country. Only 36.4% of the population has access to places for physical activity, a smaller share than any metro area. The area's adult smoking rate of 21.0% is higher than the national smoking rate of 17.0%, and the area's adult obesity rate of 30.3% is similarly higher than the national obesity rate. Farmington also has some of the least accessible health care nationwide. About 18% of residents lack health insurance, nearly the highest uninsured rate of any metro area. Just 54.0% of older women receive proper screening for breast cancer compared to the 63.0% national rate. Similarly, just 54.4% of diabetic Medicare enrollees receive proper monitoring, the smallest share in the country. ALSO READ: Cities Americans Are Abandoning 23. Jonesboro, AR >Premature death rate: 480.1 per 100,000 > Adult obesity rate: 37.2% > Pct. adults without health insurance: 12.2% > Poverty rate: 22.1% In Jonesboro, 22.1% of residents live in poverty and 40.1% live in rural households, some of the largest shares of any metro area. Poor, rural Americans tend to struggle to find healthy food and quality health care more than wealthy, urban Americans, and as a result they often have worse health outcomes. In addition, 34.0% of Jonesboro adults do not engage in any physical activity, a larger share than in all but four other U.S. cities. Idle lifestyles can take a toll on physical health. The city's 37.2% obesity rate is the sixth highest in the country. Jonesboro's smoking rate of 24.3% is similarly unhealthy, the fourth highest of any metro area. 22. Huntington-Ashland, WV-KY-OH >Premature death rate: 464.7 per 100,000 > Adult obesity rate: 36.1% > Pct. adults without health insurance: 8.0% > Poverty rate: 18.8% One-third of all Huntington-Ashland adults engage in no physical activity, much more than the nearly one-quarter national share. Lack of exercise may be one reason for the metro area's high obesity rate, which at 36.1% is one of the highest in the country. The area's 22.9% smoking rate is also one of the highest. The unhealthy lifestyles in Huntington-Ashland may also contribute to the high likelihood of premature death. For every 100,000 metro area residents, 465 die before the age of 75, one of the highest premature mortality rates of any city. Huntington's life expectancy of just 75.3 years is three years shorter than that of the average American. ALSO READ: The Best (and Worst) States to Be Unemployed 21. Tuscaloosa, AL >Premature death rate: 453.5 per 100,000 > Adult obesity rate: 33.3% > Pct. adults without health insurance: 8.5% > Poverty rate: 19.7% While American adults feel physically unhealthy for 3.5 days a month on average, adults in Tuscaloosa report feeling in such a state for 4.6 days on average, nearly the most of any metro area. Frequent feelings of malaise in Tuscaloosa may be partially due to poor clinical care in the metro area. Tuscaloosa has fewer primary care physicians, dentists, and mental health providers per capita than the country as a whole. This can significantly limit the availability of health care in the metro area. There are also 72.4 preventable hospitalizations per 1,000 Medicare enrollees, one of the highest rates in the country and an indication of low quality care. Another sign of both poor health and health care is the 11.5% of babies born underweight in Tuscaloosa -- the ninth largest share. 20. Weirton-Steubenville, WV-OH >Premature death rate: 487.9 per 100,000 > Adult obesity rate: 34.9% > Pct. adults without health insurance: 8.8% > Poverty rate: 16.5% Decades of heavy pollution from a major steel industry has made Weirton-Steubenville a fairly unhealthy place to live. Soot emissions, which went unregulated until 1987, were shown in studies to significantly impact the area's mortality rate. Although the steel industry has mostly left the metro area, today there are still 14.1 micrograms of particulate matter per cubic meter of Weirton-Steubenville air, one of the highest concentrations in the nation. While the metro area's mortality rate has declined with soot emissions, Weirton-Steubenville still has one of the highest instances of premature death in the country. For every 100,000 Weirton-Steubenville residents, 488 die before the age of 75. An estimated 10,373 years of potential life per 100,000 residents are lost to premature death, the sixth most nationwide. ALSO READ: States Drinking the Most Soda 19. Jackson, MS >Premature death rate: 453.2 per 100,000 > Adult obesity rate: 33.8% > Pct. adults without health insurance: 12.1% > Poverty rate: 19.9% For every 1,000 Medicare enrollees in Jackson, there are 69.7 preventable hospitalizations, one of the higher such rates and an indication of low quality health care. Jackson also has a higher share of babies, at 13.4%, born with low birthweight than any other metro area -- yet another sign of low quality health care as well as of poor health among residents. In Jackson, 33.8% of adults are obese, much more than the 27.0% national obesity rate. This may be partially due to the state's large share of residents who do not exercise, which at 31.8% is one of the highest inactivity rates nationwide. 18. Fort Smith, AR-OK >Premature death rate: 476.6 per 100,000 > Adult obesity rate: 36.5% > Pct. adults without health insurance: 15.2% > Poverty rate: 22.0% Nearly one-third of adults in Fort Smith do not engage in any physical activity, one of the largest shares in the country. This could partially explain the 36.5% of adults in the metro area who are obese, a much larger share than the 27.0% national obesity rate. Fort Smith adults are also more likely to smoke than the average American. The metro area's smoking rate of 22.7% is one of the highest nationwide. The unhealthy behaviors in Fort Smith may increase the likelihood of poor physical health and premature death. While the average American feels in poor physical health for 3.5 days a month on average, adults in Fort Smith report feeling in such a state for five days on average, the fifth most of any metro area. There are 477 premature deaths per 100,000 area residents, nearly the highest incidence of premature death in the country. ALSO READ: The Best (and Worst) Cities for Single Mothers 17. Hot Springs, AR >Premature death rate: 494.5 per 100,000 > Adult obesity rate: 31.0% > Pct. adults without health insurance: 13.0% > Poverty rate: 22.1% Hot Springs is a small, largely rural, metro area with fewer than 100,000 residents. The typical area household income of just $39,558 a year is significantly less than the $53,482 national median household income. Such low incomes are likely an impediment to leading a healthy lifestyle. In Hot Springs, 23.2% of adults are smoke, one of the highest smoking rates in the country. The area also nearly leads the country in deaths from injury. For every 100,000 residents, there are 118 injury deaths -- a leading cause of which is drug overdose -- the second most of any metro area. Overall, 10,492 years of potential life are lost per 100,000 residents in Hot Springs due to premature death, the fifth most of any city nationwide. 16. Memphis, TN-MS-AR >Premature death rate: 451.0 per 100,000 > Adult obesity rate: 34.4% > Pct. adults without health insurance: 13.4% > Poverty rate: 19.4% There are 1,034 violent crimes per 100,000 Memphis residents a year, nearly three times the national violent crime rate. Exposure to crime and violence can induce stress and ultimately compromise psychological well-being. Similarly, growing up in a single-parent household can adversely affect mental health. Nearly half of all Memphis children live in single-parent households, the ninth largest share in the country. Memphis residents feel mentally unhealthy for 4.2 days each month on average, among the most of any city. The metro area reports other poor health outcomes, including low birth weights, which is also a sign of poor health care. In Memphis, 10.8% of all babies are born underweight, one of the largest shares nationwide. ALSO READ: States Adding (and Losing) the Most Jobs 15. Montgomery, AL >Premature death rate: 438.6 per 100,000 > Adult obesity rate: 32.9% > Pct. adults without health insurance: 10.9% > Poverty rate: 18.9% By multiple socioeconomic measures, Montgomery is one of the least healthy places for children. Just 70.7% of high schoolers graduate within four years, far lower than the national 82.0% graduation rate and an indication that many residents may lack proper resources to make healthy choices. Montgomery is one of only two metro areas in which more than one in every 100 residents has chlamydia, more than twice the national rate. On average, residents feel in poor mental and physical health for 4.6 and 4.7 days each month, respectively, nearly the most of any metro area. Another sign of an area's poor health is low birthweight. In Montgomery, 10.9% of all babies are born underweight, the 11th largest share in the country. 14. Morristown, TN >Premature death rate: 477.9 per 100,000 > Adult obesity rate: 29.8% > Pct. adults without health insurance: 13.2% > Poverty rate: 19.6% One-fifth of Morristown residents live in poverty and 49.0% live in rural areas, each some of the largest shares in the country. Living in poor, rural conditions can limit access to health care and significantly impede the ability to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Just 58.6% of Morristown residents have adequate access to opportunities for physical activity, significantly lower than the 84.0% of all Americans who have such access. More than one-third of residents do not exercise, the eighth largest share of any metro area. While the city's 29.8% obesity rate is not as high as most of the least healthy U.S. cities, the area's 22.5% smoking rate is one of the highest nationwide. ALSO READ: States Drinking the Most Beer 13. Charleston, WV >Premature death rate: 496.8 per 100,000 > Adult obesity rate: 32.3% > Pct. adults without health insurance: 8.3% > Poverty rate: 16.1% Charleston residents have some of the least healthy behaviors of any city. Charleston's adult smoking rate of 23.6% and inactivity rate of 31.0% are some of the largest of any U.S. metro area. Charleston also nearly leads the country in deaths from injury, the leading cause of which is drug overdose. For every 100,000 residents, there are 104 injury deaths, the seventh highest death rate nationwide. Area residents also report some of the worst health outcomes. On average, area residents feel in poor physical health 5.0 days per month and in poor mental health for 4.7 days per month, the most and sixth most time spent in such poor states, respectively, of any metro area. Also, 497 Charleston residents per 100,000 die before the age of 75, one of the highest premature death rates in the country. 12. Alexandria, LA >Premature death rate: 499.9 per 100,000 > Adult obesity rate: 36.1% > Pct. adults without health insurance: 14.6% > Poverty rate: 20.2% In Alexandria, 20.2% of residents live in poverty and 46.2% live in rural areas, some of the largest shares in the country. Poor, rural Americans tend to have less access to healthy food and health care than wealthy, urban Americans, and as a result they often have worse health outcomes. Nearly one-fourth of all Alexandria adults smoke, the second largest share in the country. The metro area's 36.1% obesity rate is also fairly high and is likely a factor in the area's high incidence of premature death. There are 500 premature deaths per 100,000 Alexandria residents, the seventh highest incidence of any metro area. ALSO READ: The Richest Town in Every State 11. Aniston-Oxford-Jacksonville, AL >Premature death rate: 520.7 per 100,000 > Adult obesity rate: 32.0% > Pct. adults without health insurance: 10.7% > Poverty rate: 21.7% In Anniston-Oxford-Jacksonville, 21.7% of residents live below the poverty line, a much higher poverty rate than the 15.6% national rate. Residents of less wealthy areas tend to exhibit less healthy behaviors, and Anniston-Oxford-Jacksonville is no exception. The metro area's adult smoking rate of 23.8% and physical inactivity rate of 33.6% are among the highest such figures in the country. The high poverty, along with the high smoking and inactivity rates, have likely contributed to the area's high premature death rate. For every 100,00 metro area residents, 521 die before the age of 75, the third highest premature death rate nationwide. 10. Macon, GA >Premature death rate: 507.5 per 100,000 > Adult obesity rate: 30.9% > Pct. adults without health insurance: 14.7% > Poverty rate: 23.3% The median household income in Macon of $39,609 a year is much lower than the typical American household income of $53,482 annually. The low income is likely an impediment to leading a healthy lifestyle. The area has above average smoking, obesity, and inactivity rates, as well as nearly the highest incidence of premature death in the country. Residents of Macon are expected to live for just 74.4 years, more than four years less than the national life expectancy of 78.5 years. ALSO READ: Counties With the Worst Allergies in Every State 9. Shreveport-Bossier City, LA >Premature death rate: 466.8 per 100,000 > Adult obesity rate: 34.5% > Pct. adults without health insurance: 13.9% > Poverty rate: 19.4% A high school education significantly increases the chances of making healthy choices later in life. In Shreveport-Bossier City, only 70.0% of high schoolers graduate within four years, far lower than the national 82.0% graduation rate. Also, Shreveport-Bossier City is one of just four metro areas in which more than half of all children live in single-family households, which can also negatively impact the health of children. Unhealthy behaviors in the metro area may also contribute to poor health outcomes. In Shreveport-Bossier City, 22.9% of adults smoke and 34.5% are obese, each some of the highest such rates nationwide. Also, 467 Shreveport-Bossier City residents per 100,000 die before the age of 75, one of the highest premature death rates of any metro area. 8. Gadsden, AL >Premature death rate: 546.4 per 100,000 > Adult obesity rate: 34.7% > Pct. adults without health insurance: 12.4% > Poverty rate: 19.6% Just 44.0% of Gadsden residents have access to places for physical activity, the second smallest share in the country. As a result, as many as 32.5% of metro area adults do not engage in any physical activity, a much larger share than the 23.0% national inactivity rate. Gadsden adults exhibit other relatively unhealthy behaviors, including the area's 22.3% adult smoking rate and 34.7% obesity rate, each higher than the corresponding national figures. As a result, Gadsden has some of the worst health outcomes in the nation. On average, residents feel in poor mental and physical health for 5.1 and 5.0 days per month, the most and third most time spent in such a state of any metro area. Also, 546 Gadsden residents per 100,000 die before the age of 75, the second worst premature death rate in the country. ALSO READ: The Most Dangerous States for Pedestrians 7. Florence, SC >Premature death rate: 513.5 per 100,000 > Adult obesity rate: 36.3% > Pct. adults without health insurance: 12.8% > Poverty rate: 22.0% In Florence, 22.0% of residents live in poverty and 44.9% live in rural areas, some of the largest respective shares in the country. Like many poor, rural populations, Florence adults tend to be less healthy than the average American. Of all adults in the metro area, 21.5% smoke and 36.3% are obese, each some of the highest rates of any metro area. Unhealthy behaviors are likely one reason for the high incidence of premature death in Florence. For every 100,000 residents, 514 die before the age of 75, the fourth most of any city in the country. Florence residents are expected to live for just 73.8 years, almost five years shorter than the national life expectancy of 78.5 years. 6. Monroe, LA >Premature death rate: 465.7 per 100,000 > Adult obesity rate: 35.3% > Pct. adults without health insurance: 16.0% > Poverty rate: 24.8% Monroe is one of the least healthy places for children. In the metro area, 38.3% of children live in poverty, one of the highest child poverty rates in the country. Children living in single-parent households are at higher risk for depression, substance abuse, and unhealthy behaviors. In Monroe, as many as 50.7% of children live in single-parent households, the third largest such share. Almost one in every 100 Monroe residents has chlamydia, and more than one in 20 teenage girls between the ages of 15 and 19 give birth, each some of the highest rates in the country. A sign of both poor health and poor health care, 12.6% of all babies born in Monroe are underweight, the fifth largest share nationwide. ALSO READ: States Investing the Most in Higher Education 5. Albany, GA >Premature death rate: 480.3 per 100,000 > Adult obesity rate: 35.9% > Pct. adults without health insurance: 17.8% > Poverty rate: 26.8% Poverty can result in an increased risk of mortality, disease, depression, and unhealthy behaviors. Albany's 26.8% poverty rate is the eighth highest of any metro area and likely hinders the ability of many residents to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Only 63.8% of Albany residents have adequate access to places for physical activity, a much smaller share than the 84.0% national share. Access to food is similarly low -- 31.8% of metro area resident do not have reliable access to food, one of the largest shares nationwide, which likely contributes to the high obesity and premature mortality rates among Albany residents. 4. Mobile, AL >Premature death rate: 490.3 per 100,000 > Adult obesity rate: 36.1% > Pct. adults without health insurance: 12.9% > Poverty rate: 19.9% The average Mobile adult feels in poor mental shape for five days a month on average, far longer than the 3.5 days the average American feels in such a state. Poor mental health outcomes in Mobile may be tied to multiple unhealthy behavioral and socioeconomic factors in the area. Mobile's 36.1% obesity rate and 29.6% inactivity rate are both far higher than the corresponding national figures. Additionally, nearly one-fifth of area residents live in poverty, and 7.0% of the workforce is unemployed, each some of the highest such figures in the country. ALSO READ: States Investing the Most in Higher Education 3. Hammond, LA >Premature death rate: 496.1 per 100,000 > Adult obesity rate: 40.3% > Pct. adults without health insurance: 16.4% > Poverty rate: 21.7% A large share of Hammond residents are relatively poor and lack access to many of the resources necessary to maintain a healthy lifestyle. The typical Hammond household makes just $40,721 a year, and just 61.7% have adequate access to locations for physical activity, such as parks and recreation centers, each some of the lowest such figures in the country. Clinical care in the area is also subpar. The metro area has fewer than half as many primary care physicians and mental health providers per capita than the country as a whole, and nearly the most preventable hospitalizations of any city. Coupled with the area's unhealthy behavior -- Hammond is the only city in which more than two in five residents are obese -- Hammond is ranked as the third least healthy place in the country. 2. Pine Bluff, AR >Premature death rate: 500.9 per 100,000 > Adult obesity rate: 38.3% > Pct. adults without health insurance: 10.0% > Poverty rate: 24.2% In Pine Bluff, 51.4% of children live in single-parent households and 44.4% of children live in poverty, the second and third largest such shares in the country. Such living situations can negatively impact the mental health of children. Pine Bluff also has among the worst teen birth and chlamydia rates nationwide. Unhealthy behaviors are relatively common amongst Pine Bluff residents. The metro area's 25.5% smoking rate, 36.2% inactivity rate, and 38.3% obesity rate are respectively the highest, second highest, and third highest such rates in the country. Also, 501 Pine Bluff residents per 100,000 die before the age of 75, nearly the highest premature death rate of any metro area. ALSO READ: The Size of a Home the Year You Were Born 1. Beckley, WV >Premature death rate: 553.4 per 100,000 > Adult obesity rate: 34.5% > Pct. adults without health insurance: 9.6% > Poverty rate: 18.6% A large share of Beckley residents are relatively poor and lack access to resources necessary to maintain a healthy lifestyle. The typical household in the area makes just $38,606 a year, and only 47.2% of residents have adequate access to opportunities for physical activity, each some of the lowest figures in the country. The city's 22.9% smoking rate, 34.5% obesity rate, and 34.5% inactivity rate are also among the highest of any metro area. Beckley also leads the country in injury deaths, a leading cause of which is drug overdose. For every 100,000 metro area residents, 121 die of an injury, more than twice the national rate. Also, 553 Beckley residents per 100,000 die prematurely before age 75, the highest premature death rate in the country. | 7 | 98,884 | health |
Lululemon is continuing to pull in the big bucks from shoppers, but it's not helping lift its bottom line. The yoga retailer reported a double-digit rise in sales during its first quarter on Wednesday and bumped up its forecast for the year, but said profits still fell. Lululemon has been working to revive its image after a series of mishaps, including a massive recall of sheer pants and unseemly comments made by billionaire founder Chip Wilson thereafter. It's expanding its product selection and working to offer more options for men and children, for instance. Yet last week Wilson slammed the company , saying it had "lost its way" and criticizing its inability to turn rising revenue into higher profits for shareholders. Wilson is no longer involved with the company but remains its largest individual investor. In an indication that new product offerings are taking hold, total revenue rose 17% to $495.5 million, topping analyst estimates of $487.72 million. Sales at existing stores rose by 3% and would've risen 5% if not for currency headwinds. However, profits fell to $45.3 million, or 33 cents per share, down from $47.8 million, or 34 cents per share, in the same period a year ago. Adjusted for certain items, earnings were 30 cents per share and narrowly missed Wall Street analyst estimates of 31 cents per share. The bottom line was pressured by rising costs, with selling, general and administrative expenses surging 32% in the quarter. CEO Laurent Potdevin said he was "pleased" with the results and noted that sales were strong and gross margin surpassed expectations. Looking ahead to the full year, Lululemon is calling for earnings of $2.05 to $2.15 per share on revenue of $2.31 billion to $2.34 billion. Previously Lululemon had projected revenue between $2.29 billion and $2.34 billion. For the second quarter, Lululemon anticipates earnings of 36 cents to 38 cents per share on revenue of $505 million to $515 million. Analysts were looking for earnings of 39 cents on revenue of $514 million. Lululemon is facing increasing competition from heavyweights like Nike and Under Armour and Wilson suggested that new leadership and a new board of directors might be in order. A Lululemon spokesperson told Forbes last week that the company has the right people in place. "I'm extremely proud of our teams who have relentlessly built the capabilities and infrastructure necessary to support profitable growth," said Potdevin in prepared remarks on Wednesday. | 3 | 98,885 | finance |
On the morning of May 24, a gardener working in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park spotted something out of the ordinary. At the eastern edge of the scenic park, less than a hundred yards from Haight Street and its bustling shops, lies a small, shallow pond called Alvord Lake. In that lake floated a dead body. On Monday, authorities charged two men in connection to what they described as a brutal incident of vigilante justice among the park's homeless population. According to prosecutors, Stephen Billingsley and Nikki Lee Williams attacked fellow homeless person Stephen Williams because they believed the victim had masturbated near children in the park. The two suspects are "transients without long-standing ties in the city," San Francisco Police spokesman Carlos Manfredi told the San Francisco Chronicle . Police are still looking for additional suspects. Billingsley, 19, has been charged with murder, torture, conspiracy, elder abuse and assault, according to local media . Nikki Lee Williams, 36, has been charged with conspiracy, assault, elder abuse and false imprisonment. Billingsley's nickname is "Pizza Steve," prosecutors said. Nikki Lee Williams is known simply as "Evil." The gruesome killing, which allegedly stretched over three days, comes at a tense time for San Francisco. The city, long synonymous with hippie culture, is in the midst of a raging debate over homelessness. Although the debate has been decades in the making, it has intensified in recent years as the rise of Silicon Valley has driven up rents and increased complaints about the homeless. In February, a San Francisco tech entrepreneur wrote a widely circulated and widely criticized open letter to the mayor complaining that homeless "riff raff" were turning the city into an "unsafe" and filthy "shanty town." And on June 29, in an unprecedented act of coordination, at least 30 media in the Bay Area will devote blanket coverage to homelessness and possible solutions to the problem. Adding urgency to the discussion is a growing sense that young, occasionally aggressive, often drug-addled transients pose a danger. "Homeless youth in San Francisco experience a mortality rate in excess of ten times that of the state's general youth population," according to a recently published study , which cited suicide and drug or alcohol addiction. The May 24 killing was not the first recent slaying allegedly committed by a homeless youth against another homeless person in Golden Gate Park. On Oct. 3, three young "drifters" killed a young Canadian backpacker in the park after tying her up and robbing her, according to prosecutors. Those same three suspects are also charged with killing a popular yoga instructor on a hiking trail outside the city two days later. Acquaintances described the trio as "tweakers" who used methamphetamine and displayed angry outbursts, according to the Chronicle . 'Homelessness is a visible and pressing concern' Homelessness and crime aren't new problems for Frisco. In the summer of 1982, the San Francisco Examiner published a month-long undercover investigation called "Nightmare in Wino Park" that described drug trafficking and violence in what had been envisioned as a utopian space for the homeless. Thirty-four years later, the city is wrestling with the same issues. "Our city is facing challenges. We can't deny that," Mayor Ed Lee said on May 31 as he announced a budget with an increase of $32 million for anti-homelessness programs, according to the Examiner . "Neighborhood crime is up. Homelessness is a visible and pressing concern." The city's struggle with homelessness has garnered national attention. In February, software developer Justin Keller wrote to Lee complaining that he "shouldn't have to see the pain, struggle, and despair of homeless people." "The wealthy working people have earned their right to live in the city," he said in an open letter that went viral to widespread criticism. "They went out, got an education, work hard, and earned it. I shouldn't have to worry about being accosted." Last month, media across the Bay Area announced they were banding together to provide a one-day blitz of homelessness coverage on June 29. "We are all fed up. We feel there is not enough movement and accountability on the issue," Jon Steinberg, the editor in chief of San Francisco magazine, told the New York Times . "We want the full force of the Fourth Estate to bear down on this problem." Twice recently, Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) has also mentioned the city's homelessness problem. "I've just been in San Francisco for a few hours now but it really is stunning to see the number of people in this city who are sleeping out in the street," he said during an unscheduled stop last month. "We are seeing a proliferation of millionaires and billionaires while people sleep out on the streets of San Francisco," Sanders told a large crowd on Monday. 'They appear to be lost souls' Perhaps the biggest headline regarding the homeless in San Francisco, however, came in October when three young drifters were arrested and charged with two murders. Morrison Haze Lampley, 23, Sean Michael Angold, 24, and Lila Scott Alligood, 18, stole a gun from an unlocked car near Fisherman's Wharf on Sept. 30 or Oct. 1, according to authorities. A couple of days later, the trio allegedly shot Audrey Carey in the head as she rested in Golden Gate Park. The 23-year-old Canadian woman was backpacking across the West Coast. Two days later, Lampley, Angold and Alligood ambushed Steve Carter, a yoga instructor, as he walked his dog along a trail in Marin County, authorities said. The drifters allegedly killed Carter and also shot his dog, who survived. They were arrested several days later in Oregon driving Carter's car. Angold has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the Carter slaying and is expected to testify against Lampley and Alligood when their trial begins this fall. The two slayings shocked San Francisco and intensified scrutiny of the city's homeless community. "All three people seem to be living off the radar," Marin County Sheriff's Lt. Doug Pittman told ABC7 . "The best way I can describe it? They appear to be lost souls." Some San Franciscans said the city's current transient population shared little with previous generations of beatniks and hippies. "I'm not trying to group everyone together, but there is a totally different, very negative element of drug dealing that I would like to get rid of," vintage store owner Cicely Hansen told the Chronicle . "To me, they're not street kids. They're vagrants who choose not to be part of the culture. They're just hanging around hoping for free money. If you were here in the '60s, you gave something back, even if it was just street art. You weren't just taking up space and being vile." In community meetings, locals said the city's homeless now have a confrontational edge to them. "We have a new type of homeless," Flip Sarrow, 58, said during a meeting in mid October, shortly after the arrests, according to the Chronicle . "This is something different. They are aggressive, they block the sidewalk, they believe that they own the street." "Unfortunately, the system and the enforcement from our district attorney is such that there are no consequences for these type of people, and they get the correct impression that they can do anything because there's no consequences," Chuck Canepa, president of the Cole Valley Improvement Association, said at the same meeting. "This fosters the kind of thing where all of sudden two people are dead and nothing's going to change. It's going to happen again." 'Evil' and 'Pizza Steve' It happened again on May 24 when Stephen Williams's body was found floating face down in Alvord Lake. He died from "multiple traumatic injuries," according to the medical examiner's office. Stephen Billingsley and Nikki Lee Williams no relation to the victim attacked the 66-year-old because they believed he had masturbated near children in the park, prosecutors said in court documents, the Chronicle reported . The two men wanted to deliver "street justice," according to the charging documents. A video obtained by NBC Bay Area shows part of the alleged three-day series of attacks. It shows two men force the older man into the waist-high water. Pair arraigned, allegedly beat elderly homeless man in days leading up to drowning in #SF https://t.co/eSp61RjU4K pic.twitter.com/xeHq3BSOBT KTVU (@KTVU) June 8, 2016 "In the pond you go," shouts a man recording the incident. The cameraman can be heard cheering as one of the attackers, believed to be Nikki "Evil" Williams, punches Stephen Williams and dunks him in the lake. The alleged attack continued the next day, when, three blocks away in the Haight district, "Pizza Steve" Billingsley and others stomped on and struck the victim until he blacked out, according to court records reviewed by the Chronicle. On day three, "Pizza Steve," "Evil" and others allegedly beat Stephen Williams unconscious once again, then dragged him into the lake. That's where his body was found the next morning. As many as eight or nine people may have participated in the attacks, authorities said. Police are investigating whether two gangs that operate in the park were involved, according to NBC Bay Area . Billingsley walked into the park's police station after the attack and confessed to being involved, investigators told the TV station. Both suspects are being held on $1 million bond. Their attorneys declined to comment on the case to NBC Bay Area. Despite claims of the victim's lewd behavior, authorities said Stephen Williams's death was "incredibly tragic." "All human life is precious," Max Szabo, a spokesman for the San Francisco District Attorney, told KTVU in a statement. "And whether you live in a palace or in a park, we will pursue those who resort to violence." | 5 | 98,886 | news |
Every day, when I am walking to work, or just walking through the streets of downtown Washington, I encounter homeless people on the street. The homeless cover many categories, but prominent among them are those with serious mental illnesses. They know no boundaries of race or education; there was a prominent story last year in the Washington Post of a homeless man with schizophrenia who told a judge that he didn't need a lawyer, that he was a lawyer. When the judge reacted with bemused skepticism, the man informed the judge accurately that they had been in the same class at Harvard Law School (which also included Chief Justice Roberts!) I used to pass most of the people on the streets by studiously looking the other way, sometimes reacting with annoyance if someone was talking to himself or shouting. But after a difficult, 10-year journey of serious mental illness with my brilliant and talented son, which ended in tragedy, I have a different attitude. My son had, as an integral part of his illness, a phenomenon called anosygnosia, the inability to recognize you are ill. And given the laws and approaches in the country, since he was over 18 when he became ill, my wife and I were powerless to do anything to help. He did not end up homeless, or tased or shot by police, or abused or killed in jail or prison, which is the fate of many with serious mental illness. But he died at 34 from an accident shaped by his lack of judgment from his illness. I encountered in the worst possible way the tragic nature of these terrible brain diseases and the tragic failure of our policies to find ways to help reduce the pain and the costs, in money and heartache, that come with them. Cultural dynamics and public-policy choices made my son's problems, and those of others like him, much worse; our focus has been far more on less serious illnesses like anxiety and depression than on the most serious mental illnesses, and our deep and understandable concern about civil liberties has gone too far when it comes to those who either don't recognize they are ill or have deep psychoses. For them, freedom of choice can mean homelessness, jail, or worse. Our commendable sensitivity to privacy also means that parents and other loved ones can be shut out of any role and knowledge of what their children, grandchildren, or siblings are encountering within the system. In a larger sense, the roots of the current problems go back more than 50 years. One of the signature achievements of the John F. Kennedy administration was the Community Mental Health Act of 1963. Spurred by a broad and visceral reaction to the horrific conditions of those with serious mental illnesses warehoused in state mental hospitals, the president and Congress embraced a major reform: Release the patients and get them into community health centers, where they could get humane treatment and in most cases be able to live in their communities, with their families or on their own. The idea was to create a win-win help people and save money by creating more efficient and cost-effective facilities. The impulse was commendable, the policy was balanced and reasonable and the act was a spectacular failure. Why? The law was built around a two-step process release and catch, as it were. De-institutionalize the mentally ill in these deplorable institutions, and then get them into the system of community health centers. But there was no step two. More than half of the proposed community health centers were never built. Many states were delighted to close the cash-draining state mental hospitals, and pocket the savings without replacing them with community health centers. Those that were in operation were never fully funded. Inadequate treatment capacity and an over-emphasis on those less severely ill remain the case today. Indeed it has gotten worse in some respects. As the Associated Press' Michelle Smith pointed out in 2013, on the 50th anniversary of the Act, 90 percent of beds in state hospitals have been eliminated, leaving only the streets, jails, or prisons for those with serious mental illness. Twenty percent of the beds have been eliminated in just the last five years. The lack of beds can have tragic consequences. Despite having legal and medical clearance, Virginia State Senator Creigh Deeds was unable to get his profoundly ill son a bed when he became seriously psychotic; his son Gus subsequently stabbed his father, nearly killing him, and then turned a gun, fatally, on himself. To be sure, if only half the community mental health (call them behavioral health) centers were built, that still means a sizable number of facilities are out there in operation and there are others provided and run by private, charitable groups. But they face another problem getting adequate reimbursement from insurance companies including from Medicaid and Medicare. Thanks to the yeoman efforts of the late Senator Paul Wellstone, along with Pete Domenici, the law provides for parity in insurance coverage for mental-health and physical-health services, a provision that was underscored in the Affordable Care Act. But as lots of people who have tried to get reimbursement from their providers for psychiatric care could attest, parity in theory and in practice are two different things. And even where providers cover the services, the reimbursement rates are often well below what is provided for physical health issues. If these centers are available and in operation, with adequate staff, they can be the first stop for someone in a mental-health crisis. If not, the first stop is jail, with often-horrific consequences. Of course, we need more than an effective first stop; we also need sustained treatment with a range of services to help those who cannot cope themselves. For the first time in a long time, there is an awareness of the problems in public-policy and political circles, in counties, states, and even in Washington. In Florida, inspired by the dramatic success of a brilliant Miami-Dade judge named Steve Leifman, who has transformed the way the criminal-justice system deals with those with mental illness, the state legislature has kicked in money and helped reform the laws. In Hennepin County, Minnesota, money is being added to community behavioral-health facilities to provide an alternative to jailing people in crisis. Nationally, Leifman has inspired the National Association of Counties, in conjunction with the Council of State Governments and the American Psychiatric Foundation, to build a network of best practices across counties, called the Stepping Up Initiative. There are so many problems that need to be addressed. Some involve a commitment of resources the number of beds and appropriate facilities to handle cases of serious mental illness is shockingly low, and some flaws in the law do not allow Medicare or Medicaid reimbursement even if beds are in existence and available. One inevitable result is that the jails and prisons become the places where America houses those with serious mental illness; where the personnel are untrained, and often sadistically hostile; and where jail and prison officials know this, have no real interest in effectively becoming psychiatric facilities, but are still placed in that awful position of needing to try. Sometimes, the mentally ill people who end up in jail are lucky for others, the encounters with police can end very badly. Crisis intervention training for police, as well as for jail and prison guards and even teachers in schools, has been shown to make a dramatic difference in outcomes. And mental-health courts, as well as veterans' courts to help those with serious trauma who should be treated instead of imprisoned, save lives and in the end save a lot of money. There is also a need to shift significantly the resources and change the structures that deal with mental illness and substance abuse. SAMHSA, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, focuses the lion's share of its resources on wellness and less serious mental-health issues important to be sure, but to the detriment of the most serious problems, which also become the most draining for those who are ill, for their families, and for society as a whole. And, for people with the most serious diseases, who cannot recognize they are ill or who have deep psychoses that leave them detached from much of reality, we need to recalibrate the balance between civil liberties and the need to provide real treatment the kind of wraparound, assisted outpatient treatment (AOT) that Leifman has pioneered in Florida while making it easier, with appropriate safeguards, for family members to intervene to help their loved ones. In Washington, the good news is that reforming the system to deal with mental illness is one of the few areas where there is serious bipartisan cooperation and action including, in the Senate, Democrats like Debbie Stabenow, Chris Murphy, and Al Franken, and Republicans like Roy Blunt, Bill Cassidy, and John Cornyn. In the House, there's a major bill cosponsored by Republican Tim Murphy, the body's only psychologist, and Democrat Eddie Bernice Johnson, a former psychiatric nurse. Of course, there is bad news this is American politics in 2016. The highly dysfunctional Congress is stymied from action so far even in areas that have broad and deep bipartisan support, like Puerto Rico's debt crisis, the opioid crisis, and criminal-justice reform The biggest question surrounds the broad bills crafted by Murphy and Cassidy in the Senate and Murphy and Johnson in the House. A revised version of the Senate bill passed the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee unanimously, thanks to the leadership of Lamar Alexander and Patty Murray, and is awaiting action by the chamber. A revised version of the House bill, being crafted by Energy and Commerce Chair Fred Upton, is being voted on later this week by the full committee. The initial versions of both bills were excellent, because they focused on a panoply of problems facing those with mental illness, and especially those with serious mental illness. The Senate bill, however, significantly diluted the original package. The revised Upton bill is much stronger, retaining a plan for a new Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services for Mental Health and Substance Abuse Disorders who can move the resources and focus more to where they are needed, improving Medicaid coverage, expanding resources for AOT, increasing access to care, and making it easier under HIPAA for families to get information about those with serious illnesses. One hopes that in the end, the House version will prevail, making a giant step forward. At the same time, a Senate-passed bill authored by Franken and Cornyn to authorize significant expansion of CIT training as well as those mental-health and veterans courts, is awaiting action in the House but will need an appropriation to fund the expansion. What about those promised community mental health centers? A modest attempt to deal with this problem was enacted in 2014. Called the Protected Access to Medicare Act, or PAMA, it included an eight-state demonstration project over two years, enabling community behavioral health clinics that met a range of criteria, including 24-hour crisis psychiatric care, screening, and assessment capability for both mental health and substance abuse patients, and peer counselors, to be certified and guaranteed payment comparable to other medical services. This was a baby step; Michigan Democratic Senator Debbie Stabenow and Missouri Republican Roy Blunt have a proposal to make it more robust; they found a pay-for to triple the commitment and allow half the states in the union to move forward with planning grants and action programs. So there are bills ready to go in a Congress that is distracted by the tumultuous presidential campaign, filled with members nervous about their own situations, and with a tiny number of days left before both houses leave Dodge to tend to the home fires. The best hope for the Stabenow-Blunt bill is to incorporate it into the opioid-crisis bill now in a conference committee, which itself is a half-step forward to deal with a huge problem in the country, constrained as every other major problem and crisis is by the unrealistic requirement to take any funds for the urgent problems out of already pinched existing programs. The opioid crisis and the mental-health crisis are in fact inextricably linked; the majority of those with serious mental illness have dual diagnoses, including drug issues, which is often the aspect of their situations that sends them to jail or prison. Enacting the larger bill, the Murphy-Johnson and Murphy-Cassidy contribution, fundamentally requires a strong commitment and push from congressional leaders. Speaker Ryan and Majority Leader McConnell have commendably made those commitments, but the big hurdles getting a strong bill through both the House Energy and Commerce Committee and then passed by the full House, and an expeditious move through a conference committee before time runs out remain. I do not want to see other families go through the turmoil and heartache my family faced and even more important, I do not want to see other people like my son Matthew, hit through no fault of their own with an illness that devastates their lives and brings unimaginable stigma and pain, suffer unnecessarily. I have not even mentioned the need for a major ramp-up in resources for research on the brain. We know so little, and the available treatments are often inadequate. But for many, access to treatment and a push to get treatment not just drugs, but therapy, social assistance, housing, and peer counseling can make a dramatic difference. And moving people from jails or the streets to productive and consequential lives can save money at the same time. This is what policy-makers are supposed to do. | 5 | 98,887 | news |
Officials investigating how cat got out of enclosure | 8 | 98,888 | video |
Get ready for glorious seafood towers, nonna-style pastas and save-the-world burgers as restaurant editor Kate Krader reveals the country's 10 best openings. High Street on Hudson Get ready for glorious seafood towers, nonna-style pastas and save-the-world burgers as restaurant editor Kate Krader reveals the country's 10 best openings. New York City: If I were going to spend the entire day at a single restaurant, it would be High Street on Hudson. In the cozy West Village space, F&W Best New Chef 2014 Eli Kulp has teamed up with baker Alex Bois and pastry chef Samantha Kincaid to offer an incredible around-the-clock array of dishes. In the morning I'd start out with the Hickory Town breakfast sandwich with Lancaster bologna, fried egg and pickle mayo. Lunch would be the duck-meatball sub. At night, my order would be honey-glazed chicken with chicken-skin Caesar. It's designed for sharing, so hopefully I'll have made a friend during my dream day. 637 Hudson St.; highstreetonhudson.com Death & Taxes Raleigh, North Carolina: I have no idea how FedEx delivered the 1,900-pound, custom-made-in-Texas grill that is the focus of Ashley Christensen's gorgeous restaurant (named for its previous lives as both a mortuary and a bank). Christensen has mastered the tricky art of live-fire cooking, using her grill to make everything from insanely good littleneck clams with embered butter to The Pig, an epic pork chop that is brined, braised and then cooked to charred and juicy perfection. 105 W. Hargett St.; ac-restaurants.com/death-taxes Cala San Francisco: When Gabriela Camara opened her acclaimed restaurant Contramar in Mexico City, she broke a few rules. "Nobody was serving ceviches or tostadas in an elegant environment," she says proudly. "That was food you would eat in a market or at a beach shack." Now the star chef has brought her sensational Mexican cooking to the Bay Area. At Cala, the menu is predominantly seafood, prepared with local ingredients: "I made a point of not bringing many products from home," Camara says. Once again, she's doing unconventional things, making tamales with sea urchin and charred habanero-leek relish, trout tostadas with fried leeks, and abalone-and-oyster aguachile (ceviche) with sea beans. Camara is also shaking things up outside the kitchen by hiring nonviolent felons. "They get out of jail, and they can't find jobs," she notes. "And there's a serious staffing issue in the Bay Area." If you need another reason to love what Camara is doing, walk to the alley behind Cala and grab one of the outstanding tacos she sells from a counter on weekdays; with luck she'll be serving the stewed pork with orange. 149 Fell St.; calarestaurant.com Monteverde Restaurant & Pastificio Chicago: At Monteverde, chef Sarah Grueneberg (above) goes beyond the boundaries of her kitchen: She has a pastificio, a table where she and her team make some of the most outstanding pasta in the country. A giant mirror hangs over it so diners can watch an Italian nonna in action. There are original pastas like wok-fried strangozzi noodles and traditional Italian ones, too. You can see a cook stuff tortelli verde with spring greens and ricotta; a few minutes later it arrives at the table bathed in green-garlic butter. 1020 W. Madison St.; monteverdechicago.com Brewer's Table at Surly Brewing Minneapolis : Across the country, people are eating better food and drinking better beer every day. I can t imagine a more satisfying place to do both than Brewer s Table. Upstairs from the vast Surly beer hall is this 70-seat dining room, where chef Jorge Guzman oversees a deceptively simple-sounding menu. The four-course tasting is a bargain at $70, especially since it includes beer pairings. Guzman serves sopa de lima as an ode to his Yucatan heritage, preparing the tortilla soup with avocado-leaf-infused chicken broth. His steak frites comes with bone marrow gel and a brilliant powdered bearnaise sauce, plus a glass of Surly s barrel-aged Pentagram beer destination-worthy on its own. 520 Malcolm Ave. SE; surlybrewing.com Shaya New Orleans: Alon Shaya (left) has joked that he wanted to open a restaurant with no silverware. In fact, at Shaya, his remarkable Israeli place, it's easy to forgo forks and knives. The pita that he constantly pulls from the oven is ultra-tender and pillowy, and the scent perfumes the room (Shaya might be the country's best-smelling restaurant). That bread is terrific for scooping up the supercreamy hummus with toppings such as crispy fried cauliflower. There are also monumental dishes like short rib couscous, but to go silverware-free, stick with the pita and hummus. 4213 Magazine St.; shayarestaurant.com Locol Los Angeles: I'm outrageously proud of Locol, the restaurant that supports the unlikely concept that fast food can be a force for good in the world. It is the brainchild of F&W Best New Chefs Roy Choi (class of 2010) and Daniel Patterson (class of 1997), but that's not the reason I'm the hugest supporter. Located in L.A.'s underserved Watts neighborhood, with plans for expansion to Northern California, Locol employs and trains people from the community to run the operation. It also uses top-quality ingredients like Straus Family Creamery milk for the soft-serve sundaes but manages to keep prices superlow. The most expensive items on the menu are the $6 bowls, which include crushed tofu with vegetable stew. Choi and Patterson taught the staff to griddle the $2 bean-and-cheese foldies (tortillas) and the $4 Jack cheeseburgers with tangy chile "awesome sauce," served on a bun created by the legendary Tartine baker Chad Robertson. Not everything on the menu is healthy, but the food at Locol feels good for you on many levels. 1950 E. 103rd St.; welocol.com The Dabney Washington, DC: It's no small feat for a restaurant to source 100 percent of its ingredients from the region, especially if the area is the mid-Atlantic, which isn't known for bountiful produce. To turn those ingredients into outstanding food is more challenging still. To do this at The Dabney, chef Jeremiah Langhorne obsessed over historic cookbooks. The resulting dishes aged ham toast with truffle Mornay sauce, peanut butter cake with celery ice cream taste wonderfully modern but have roots that go back hundreds of years. The local pride extends beyond food to an excellent list of hard ciders, all also found in the mid-Atlantic. 122 Blagden Alley NW; thedabney.com Launderette Austin: Rene Ortiz is a guy who loves hyperbole (like a few other chefs I know). In this case, his food is so good, it usually deserves everything he says about it. At his bright, airy cafe in a converted Laundromat, Ortiz creates next-level versions of the standards. Take mussels, which I'd gotten bored with. Ortiz cooks his Prince Edward Island ones in a broth enhanced with ground pancetta and salami, then throws in chopped Castelvetrano olives and fermented serrano chile butter. They're unbelievable. Likewise, he mixes a little bacon and lard into his burger blend, so it's superrich and funky. Laura Sawicki, Launderette's incredible baker, makes the buns. "They're the squishiest ones on the planet," says Ortiz. Next door to Launderette is Ortiz's new project, Mister Mc's Grocery Market. What looks like a Quick Mart is in fact a lovingly curated specialty food store, with bottles of Pol Roger Champagne in the cooler next to the Bud Light. Mc's serves a few NOLA-inspired dishes, like boudin balls and a muffuletta made with superb salami and mortadella and homemade olive salad. "It's the best in the world," Ortiz says. 2115 Holly St.; launderetteaustin.com Townsman Boston: If you want to experience the genius of chef Matt Jennings in one dish, order the Grande Plateau (below) at his handsome brasserie. Standing three feet high, the tower is loaded with the local seafood that Jennings is so passionate about, like Northeast oysters and Jonah crab claws. But what's truly sensational is his seafood charcuterie swordfish lardo, tuna head cheese. There's traditional pork charcuterie on offer here as well, including country pate and salami, served with pickles and mustard made in house. 120 Kingston St.; townsmanboston.com | 0 | 98,889 | foodanddrink |
Aimee Copeland's morning waitress shift at The Sunnyside Café in Carrollton, Georgia, was winding down when she and a couple of girlfriends decided to spend the rest of that sunny day in May 2012 by the nearby, local river. The adventurous 24-year-old , who was getting her masters degree in psychology at The University of Georgia, changed into her bathing suit and waded into the shallow creek-bed waters. Suspended in the trees above, about six feet up, they discovered a homemade zip-line not much more than a dog wire with handlebars. On Aimee's second turn the wire snapped, sending her crashing onto the sharp rocks just below, leaving her with a large, deep gash in her outer left calf. For more of Aimee Copeland's life now, tune in to PEOPLE's List, Saturday June 11, 8/7c on ABC "I knew I was cut really bad and I knew it hurt but I didn't know to what extent," Aimee, now 28, tells PEOPLE. At the hospital, doctors initially stitched her up with 22 surgical staples and sent her home. But over the next three days, she says, "Something just didn't feel right in my leg." She even told one of her friends, who'd stopped by her house, that she thought there might be "bad blood" because she'd started feeling pain in her left upper thigh. Three days after the accident, in the early-morning hours of May 4, things took a horrific turn. Aimee woke up with blood blisters, and overnight, her left leg had rotted to her thigh and she couldn't speak. "My tongue was all shriveled up like a lizard tongue," she recalls. "My boyfriend immediately threw me over his shoulder, threw put me in the car and drove me to the emergency room." At the hospital, doctors knew right away that she had necrotizing fasciitis, a rare flesh-eating bacteria that almost took her life. They quickly turned into "saving my life" mode, says Aimee. Miraculously, Aimee survived, but she was never the same. Doctors had to amputate all four of her limbs both arms below the elbow, her right leg below the knee, and her left leg almost to her hip. Recalling the grueling weeks just after the accident, she says, "One day I asked my parents if they could take these heavy boots off my feet, and they had to tell me, 'You don't have feet.' That was the phantom limb pain." A Long Recovery It was very dark time but Aimee says she was always determined to "fight for her life" and push forward, despite unimaginable obstacles both physical and emotional. Sitting in her power-wheelchair in the living room of her adaptable three-bedroom home in Atlanta on a warm day in May, she says, "I wasn't going to let anything hold me back. There is always hope for another day and that continual instinct to keep on trying and never give up." Anytime someone told her she couldn't do something because of her disability like making a ponytail it only served to motivate Aimee even more. During her two months in rehab, her occupational therapist told her that most women in her situation "cut their hair short," because they can no longer style their own hair. For Aimee, "that wasn't an answer." "I vowed on that day to learn how to do a ponytail," she says, standing in front of her bathroom mirror and pulling her hair up. "If you really want it then one day and maybe it will be 50 years from now you'll figure it out." Recovering her self-confidence was tough, too especially when she realized her relationship with her boyfriend of three years had changed. Following the accident, she says he was "extremely supportive." But as time went on, something changed between them and, she says, "a large part of that was intimacy." Aimee could tell he wasn't attracted to her anymore. "That became more and more clear the longer we stayed together," she says. She adds: "We had been together for so long and I felt like he was my last connection to the girl I was before. He expected any day now I would just come walking in with legs and hands. It took him a long time to realize that wasn't going to happen." Ultimately, Aimee made the decision to end their relationship in 2014 when she says it became "really unhealthy for me and really bad for my self-esteem." Present Day Getting back into dating "with no hands or feet was very tough," she says but, with encouragement from a friend, she signed up for a couple of dating apps and put herself out there. The last thing she expected was to find was Steven, a 29-year-old from Fayetteville, Georgia. They were a 93 percent match, immediately hit it off and now, over a year later, are still dating. Aimee says Steven thought her body was "perfect," something she never thought she'd hear anybody say to her ever again. "He accepted me for something much deeper than what I present on the outside," she says. These days, there's no stopping her. Aimee loves cooking for friends in her open kitchen, working out, kayaking and adding to the 80,000 miles she's already driven in her customized van. She recently finished her second master's degree in social work and has plans to open up a non-profit holistic community center for people with disabilities. With her whole life ahead of her, she says, "My self-confidence has never been higher." "I've let go of the girl I was before," she adds. "I've completely embraced who I am." | 7 | 98,890 | health |
(Bloomberg) -- Brexit: It's "the most significant event risk of the year," and yet it could ultimately make the pound strengthen, according to Barclays Plc. This seemingly perverse forecast doesn't mean the firm's strategists are blind to the uncertainties that have helped roil U.K. markets, pushing implied volatility on the pound past seven-year highs. It's because, in the event of a vote to leave the EU on June 23, they predict the risks to the country will very soon be supplanted by risks to the rest of the continent risks which, unlike the self-inflicted Brexit vote, have yet to be fully ingested by the markets. With elections scheduled in France, Germany, Spain, and the Netherlands within the year, the incitement a 'leave' vote would offer some of Europe's richest economies to reconsider their relationship with the bloc means that the pound could soon end up rebounding relative to the euro, as disaffection with the union spreads. "Although arguably depreciating less than the GBP in the aftermath of the vote, a U.K. exit will likely have more of a political and institutional fallout for the rest of Europe than for the U.K., in our view," write the analysts, led by Marvin Barth. In the aftermath of the vote, as the focus of attention turns to the threat to the monetary union "the U.K. begins to look like a 'safe haven' within Europe," they say. Barclays predicts the eurozone currency will strengthen against the pound only for the quarter in which the referendum falls. After that the pound will outperform, as the U.K.'s precedent plays out across the continent in ways that are hard to predict. The report comes just after the Pew Research Center published a poll showing that hostility toward the European Union is growing across its member states, with fewer than half the population in France and Spain holding a favorable view, as in the U.K. "The UK's vote is about the future of Europe," Barclays concludes. To contact the author of this story: Isobel Finkel in Istanbul at [email protected]. To contact the editors responsible for this story: Joe Weisenthal at [email protected], Tracy Alloway at [email protected]. ©2016 Bloomberg L.P. | 3 | 98,891 | finance |
Russian oil giant Rosneft said Wednesday that low oil prices in the first quarter of the year had haemorrhaged its profits, with tumbled by 80 percent. The company reported a first-quarter net profit of $200 million, after having recorded profits of $1 billion during the same period last year. Rosneft's total revenue suffered a 32.6 percent drop, falling to $14.5 billion, slightly exceeding the expectations of analysts quoted by Russia's Interfax news agency. The company said its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA), a measure of underlying profitability, also fell by 26 percent to $3.7 billion. Oil prices hit in January a low of nearly $25, a level not seen since 2003 and sending shockwaves through the global oil industry, which has been forced into massive layoffs and numerous bankruptcies. While prices have recovered to rise above $50 this week, they are still far below the $100-plus level of just over two years ago, when a global supply glut sent prices on a downward slide. Rosneft head Igor Sechin said in a statement that the company was focusing on "business efficiency" by reducing extraction costs amid rampant inflation and "negative market conditions." Sechin added that the company had nevertheless maintained a "stable level of operating cash flow" to pay for all planned investments and fulfil its financial obligations. The Russian government is trying to reduce its stake in Rosneft, which has been targeted by Western sanctions over Moscow's role in the Ukraine crisis, in an effort to fill the state coffers. The government has for years discussed reducing its stake in Rosneft, a sprawling energy holding in which state ownership is now 69.5 percent. In January, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said Russia could sell a 19.5 percent stake in Rosneft. Officials are now increasingly raising the question of privatisation due to the economic slump, despite worries about unfavourable market conditions and the weak value of the Russian ruble. | 3 | 98,892 | finance |
MILPITAS, Calif. - In a probation report obtained by CBS News, Brock Turner, a former Stanford swimmer convicted of sexual assault , apologized to his victim in a statement to the court and expressed remorse for his actions, saying: "I would give anything to change what happened that night... I made a mistake, I drank too much, and my decisions hurt someone." The former Stanford swimmer is serving a six-month jail penalty for three counts of sexual assault, reports CBS News correspondent John Blackstone. The sentencing itself has become controversial, as many call it too lenient. "The judge really bent over backwards in order to give this young man a light sentence," Stanford University law professor Michele Dauber said. Hundreds of thousands are calling for the judge who handed down the punishment, Aaron Persky, to be removed from the bench . But others say he was fair. In an interview for the probation report last month, the victim herself said: "I want him to be punished, but as a human I just want him to get better... He doesn't need to be behind bars." "Judge Persky did a tremendous job in deriving this sentence," public defender Gary Goodman said. Goodman knows Persky well and said he doesn't deserve the backlash he's receiving . "The fact that people are calling his courtroom and threatening him and his family, hoping that he dies badly... I mean that's just ridiculous," Goodman said. Persky received at least 39 letters from Turner's family and friends advocating for the 20-year-old. His sister wrote "a series of alcohol-fueled decisions...will define him for the rest of his life." Watch: Controversy over Stanford student's 6-month sentence for rape Turner's sexual assault conviction stems from a 2015 fraternity party on Stanford's campus. Witnesses described the victim as "lying on her back motionless" while Turner "aggressively thrusted his hips into her" in the grass near a dumpster. "She was unconscious. And I checked her and she didn't move at all," witness Carl-Fredrik Arndt said. When the victim read an emotional letter in court last week, she said she was "severely disappointed" by his failure to "exhibit remorse or responsibility." On campus, the reaction to her letter has been "absolute outrage," said Stephanie Pham of the Stanford Association of Students for Sexual Assault Prevention. "Social media has been on fire. People are angry, they are frustrated and they want to find a place to direct that energy," Pham said. According to The Stanford Daily , the school newspaper, a protest is being planned for commencement this Sunday. | 5 | 98,893 | news |
FILE In this June 8, 2015 file, Beats co-founder and Apple employee Jimmy Iovine speaks at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco when the maker of iPods and iPhones announced Apple Music, an app that combines Beats 1, a 24-hour, seven-day live radio station, with an on-demand music streaming service. Apple Inc. says it has 15 million users on its streaming-music service, including 6.5 million paying subscribers. The Wall Street Journal says (http://on.wsj.com/1LAy1Mz ) in a report from Laguna Beach, California, posted early Tuesday, Oct. 20 on its website that Apple launched Apple Music on June 30 and offered every user a three-month trial period. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File) In its effort to acquire more subscribers and interest as many people as possible in what it has to offer, Apple Music is going out of its way to appeal not just to the masses, but also those music lovers that love fashion. The two forms of art have always gone hand in hand, so why should things be any different in the streaming age?The company has now recruited big-name fashion designers to create custom playlists specifically for the platform, starting with celebrity fave Alexander Wang. In addition to short collections of specially-chosen tunes, pages dedicated to the participating designers will also contain unique images and editorial content, which will be compiled by the brands themselves.Each designer will see their playlists highlighted for an entire month, and then Apple will apparently move on to the next, because as Heidi Klum always said on Project Runway , "One day you're in, the next day you're out." While they may no longer be the focus, a designer's presence won't completely disappear from the service, and those that are big fans of the brand can continue to follow it, and new content will appear from time to time.This may be a slightly new feature for Apple Music, but it is not the first time the company has partnered with the fashion world. Late in 2015, the tech giant announced that British retailer Burberry had come on board as a "curator," and that the brand would have a special page dedicated to up-and-coming musical talent from the British Isles handpicked by those at the company.Playlists have been deemed one of the better features of Apple Music, which is coming up on one year old. Both the curated playlists and the radio arm of the streaming platform, named Beats 1, have been praised, while its social channel Connect hasn't taken off in the same way, and it might not be long for this world. In fact, it has been reported that at this year's upcoming Worldwide Developer's Conference, an annual event that Apple hosts every year that is watched very, very carefully by both fans of the tech conglomerate and the media, the company will announce something of a reboot for its own streaming site, having learned what its millions of users like and what they don't particularly care for. If all goes well with Alexander Wang and the designers set to follow him (which have yet to be revealed), Apple Music may begin working with other kinds of brands to create curated playlists. Spotify is working on something similar, allowing companies to sponsor several of the Swedish streaming service's most popular playlists for certain periods of time. These engagements may be short-lived Spotify's sponsored playlists are typically for a week, while these new designer-created setlists on Apple Music will be in focus for a month but with tens or even hundreds of thousands of listeners, these partnerships could be very effective means for brands to connect in a meaningful, fun way with potential consumers. | 3 | 98,894 | finance |
Sen. Claire McCaskill was one of the first members of Congress to endorse Hillary Clinton for president, nearly two years before Clinton started her 2016 campaign. Now as Clinton makes history as the first woman to become the presumptive nominee of a major U.S. political party, McCaskill joins "CBS This Morning" to discuss what this means to her personally and the state of the 2016 race. | 5 | 98,895 | news |
A new smartphone app designed to alert users to possible terror attacks is launched by the French government, amid growing security concerns over the Euro 2016 football tournament. | 8 | 98,896 | video |
NEW YORK (AP) The longtime head of the nation's largest municipal jail guard union was paid tens of thousands of dollars in cash, delivered in a Ferragamo handbag, in exchange for steering $20 million in union money to a hedge fund, according to a criminal complaint. Norman Seabrook, the brash and defiant president of the 9,000-member New York City Correction Officers' Benevolent Association, and Murray Huberfeld, the hedge fund's founder, were arrested by FBI agents on conspiracy and fraud charges Wednesday. The arrests are the latest development in a series of overlapping public corruption investigations coordinated by U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, with other targets including high-ranking New York Police Department officials and political fundraising activities of people with ties to New York's mayor. Seabrook "made decisions about how to invest the nest egg for thousands of hardworking civil servants based not on what was good for them but on what was good for Norman Seabrook," Bharara said. A scheme by Huberfeld to hand out hundreds of thousands of dollars in kickbacks to Seabrook in exchange for the investments in his fund, Platinum Partners, L.P., was facilitated by someone who has pleaded guilty and is cooperating with federal investigators, the complaint says. The court papers don't name the cooperator. But two people with direct knowledge of the case identified that person as Jona Rechnitz, a businessman who has contributed to Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio's campaigns, was friendly with top city police officials and has been captured on FBI wiretaps in a related gifts-for-favors probe. The people weren't authorized to discuss the ongoing case and spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity. A lawyer for Rechnitz didn't return a request for comment Wednesday. Union representatives didn't immediately respond to comment requests. There was no immediate information on an attorney who could comment on Huberfeld's behalf, and an email to Platinum was not immediately returned. The complaint appears to corroborate many of the claims raised by a union official in a state lawsuit last year. The official said Seabrook made risky multimillion-dollar investments in a hedge fund without board approval. Though Seabrook was promised more for his investments, he ultimately was paid $60,000 by Rechnitz, the complaint says. The middleman stashed the cash in an $820 bag he bought at "one of Seabrook's favorite stores, Salvatore Ferragamo on Fifth Avenue," before handing it to the union boss at a meeting in Manhattan in December 2014, it says. Investigators searching Seabrook's home recovered the luxury bag and 10 pairs of Ferragamo shoes, prosecutors said. Huberfeld reimbursed Rechnitz for the kickback by having him create a fake invoice for eight games from his season tickets to the New York Knicks, the complaint says, at a time the team was in the midst of the worst season of franchise history. Platinum then paid the bill by check, it adds. Seabrook has fiercely defended his union members amid repeated allegations of brutality and misconduct at the Rikers Island jail complex and elsewhere in the 10,000-inmate jail system. In his more than 20 years in power, he has become a political powerbroker, contributing heavily to state and local elections and influencing almost every administrative decision affecting the city's jails. But according to the complaint, he was desperate to gain personally from his work investing union funds, complaining drunkenly in a hotel room during a trip to the Dominican Republic with Rechnitz that he "worked hard to invest COBA's money and did not get anything personally from it," adding "it was time that 'Norman Seabrook got paid.'" Shortly after Rechnitz introduced Seabrook and Huberfeld in December 2013, union lawyers sent a letter to Huberfeld expressing interest in investing $10 million in union annuity funds in a Platinum fund, the complaint says. In subsequent months, Seabrook unilaterally invested two other $5 million payments, leaving "COBA with just over $3 million cash on hand for the union," it says. De Blasio, who sought to distance himself from Seabrook on Wednesday, said if the allegations against Seabrook are true they are "disgusting" and "very, very sad." "What Norman Seabrook did with his pension fund has nothing to do with the way we run our government day to day," he said. ___ AP reporters Kiley Armstrong and Ezra Kaplan contributed to this report. ___ This story has been corrected to show the allegations are contained in a criminal complaint, not an indictment. | 5 | 98,897 | news |
Canadian bank stocks are an integral part of most Canadians' portfolios. We can't live without them. They consistently pay juicy 3% dividend yields that retirees can't live without; not to mention the Big Six make a ton of money each year, which drives their stock prices ever higher. It's a winning combination to be sure. For those investors who favour Bank of Nova Scotia (TSX:BNS)(NYSE:BNS) because of its presence in emerging markets like Latin America and India, there's an easy way to own its stock--but it requires doing a little math first. Economic Investment Trust Limited (TSX:EVT) is Canada's oldest closed-end investment trust formed all the way back in 1927. Initially capitalized at $2.6 million, today it has net assets of $745 million. Like all closed-end funds, it trades at a discount to the net asset value per share. Currently, you can buy a dollar of its assets for approximately 75 cents. That's a great deal. But before you run off and buy it, you'll want to figure out a few numbers. First, Economic Investment Trust has historically traded at a discount between 20% and 45%. Earlier this year that discount got as low as 18.79% making its shares relatively expensive given its trading pattern over the years. In recent times, its discount hasn't got anywhere near 45%; the closest was a 34% discount in 2012. What does any of this have to do with Bank of Nova Scotia? Well, the fund has two components. First, it owns, directly and indirectly, three Canadian stocks as long-term investments. Those stocks are E-L Financial Corporation (TSX:ELF), Algoma Central Corporation (TSX:ALC) and Bank of Nova Scotia. These represent 52% of its total equity investments. The remaining 48% is an externally managed portfolio of 47 global equities. Burgundy Asset Management was paid 0.42% in 2015 to manage the $367 million global portfolio. The fund's Bank of Nova Scotia investment is held through two private companies. It represents 5.3% of its $784 million investment portfolio. At the end of 2015, it was carried on the books at $48.5 million. The equivalent amount of Bank of Nova stock on December 31, 2015, would have cost $55.97 per share, buying you approximately 866,536 shares. If you'd bought the same amount of shares at the June 6 closing price of $65.86, it would have cost you $57.1 million. Applying the fund's 25% discount means you get the stock for $49.40 per share, or $42.8 million, almost $6 million less than the carrying value at the end of 2015. The bank's stock is up 19% year-to-date. By investing in Economic Investment Trust, you essentially get all of the bank stock's 2016 appreciation for nothing. Want more top dividend stocks? These three top stocks have delivered dividends for shareholders for decades (and even centuries!). Check out our special FREE report: "3 Dividend Stocks to Buy and Hold Forever" . Click here now to get the full story! Fool contributor Will Ashworth has no position in any stocks mentioned. | 3 | 98,898 | finance |
The Islamic State militant group (ISIS) claimed responsibility on Tuesday for the grisly killing of a Hindu priest in Bangladesh as a series of suspected Islamist attacks continue in the country. In a statement, the radical Islamist group said that its "soldiers of the caliphate" were behind the hacking to death of 70-year-old Ananta Gopal Ganguly. "God willing, the knives of Mujahedeen will continue until we cleanse Bangladesh from the wrath of polytheism," the statement read on the group's semi-official Amaq news agency. Ganguly was traveling to his temple in the western district of Jhenaidah when three men on a motorcycle attacked him. His body was discovered in a field near the temple and his head almost completely severed from his body. A Bangladeshi government spokesman told the BBC that ISIS militants were not behind the attack, blaming Ganguly's death and other recent attacks on domestic militants, saying that the radical Islamist group has no presence in the country. While ISIS lacks infrastructure in many countries where it has claimed attacks, the group's rise to become the flag-bearer of the global jihad has influenced many radical Islamist lone wolves or cells within those countries. Affiliates of the group have also sprouted in several countries such as the Philippines, Afghanistan and Yemen. The killing of Ganguly is the latest is a spate of violent attacks against figures from various sections of Bangladeshi society. On Sunday, assailants killed a Christian man at a food store in northwestern Bangladesh, while attackers killed the wife of a police chief fighting militant groups in the southeastern city of Chittagong on the same day. Al-Qaeda, ISIS's rival in the competition to lead the global jihad, has also claimed a series of attacks in Bangladesh in the past year, including the murder of the editor of the country's only LGBT magazine, alongside his friend in March. Suspected Islamist militants have also targeted professors and secular writers. | 5 | 98,899 | news |
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