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<human>: Produce an article summary of the following news article: Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders is now beating Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton in Iowa, according to a new poll, just over a week away from the Iowa caucuses.
The CNN/ORC poll shows the Vermont senator has 51% support, while Clinton has 43% support. The findings indicate a significant shift from a CNN/ORC December poll that found Clinton leading with 54% support and Sanders trailing with 36%.
Sanders has also overtaken Clinton in New Hampshire, according to a recent CNN/WMUR poll that showed the Senator ahead of the former Secretary in the state 60% to 33%. As he has gained ground in the race, Sanders has made clear that he sees his insurgent campaign as having a real chance at winning the White House. “People say, ‘what we’re hearing, Bernie, is that people like your ideas but they think you can’t win—you’re a nice guy, but you can’t beat the Republicans,’” Sanders told TIME. “That’s wrong.”
The Iowa poll of 280 Democratic likely caucus-goers was conducted from Friday to Wednesday and has a margin of error of plus or minus 6 percentage points.
Recent polls also showed Sanders is also leading Clinton in New Hampshire.
<bot>: The Vermont senator was trailing Clinton in December
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<bot>: A url for this news article could be:
http://web.archive.org/web/20160614022537id_/http://time.com:80/4189537/bernie-sanders-hillary-clinton-poll-iowa/ |
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<human>: Produce an article summary of the following news article: Net Worth: $34.1 billion Source: Compound Interest, Long-Term Investments Age: 370 Marital Status: Married (4 adopted children) Hometown: Forks, Wash.
Immortal vampire and small-town doctor has quietly amassed a fortune over three centuries. In 1670 received generous handout from Italian friends; put savings in bank, reaped billions in compound interest. Made shrewd long-term investments in steel, gold, oil, thanks to prescience of daughter turned financial advisor Alice; saw recessions coming, invested early in Wal-Mart, Apple. Earned doctor's salary for 340 years without paying for groceries, health care expenses. Avoids sunshine and public displays of wealth, but owns several valuable properties, including yacht, private island, collection of Renaissance art. New member. (For more on Carlisle Cullen, see "Blood Money.")
Featured in the Twilight books and films.
<bot>: This vampire boasts a net worth of $34.1 billion on this year's list of fiction's richest.
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<bot>: A url for this news article could be:
https://web.archive.org/web/2010041919id_/http://www.forbes.com/2010/04/13/carlisle-cullen-bio-opinions-fictional-15-10-twilight.html |
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<human>: Produce an article summary of the following news article: A Brigham and Women’s Hospital stem cell study, which raised the possibility that the human heart could repair itself, has been retracted after an internal investigation showed the researchers used compromised data.
The retraction comes just a week after a Japanese scientist was accused of fabricating data in a major stem cell paper that was led by a different Brigham scientist.
The authors of the retracted paper claimed they had found evidence that heart muscle can regenerate at a higher rate than previously thought. The work was part of a broad effort to discover the body’s natural regenerative abilities and harness them to create therapies that could repair damaged or diseased hearts.
The paper, published in 2012 in the journal Circulation, was withdrawn Tuesday by the journal’s publisher, the American Heart Association. “An ongoing institutional review by Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital has determined that the data are sufficiently compromised that a retraction is warranted,” the journal said.
“This retraction is highly significant. In my 30 years in cardiovascular science I cannot recall a paper of similar prominence being retracted from Circulation,” Dr. Charles Murry, codirector of the Institute for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine at the University of Washington, wrote in an e-mail. “This appears to settle the controversy about the rate of cell replacement in the human heart.”
Dr. Rose Marie Robertson, chief science officer for the American Heart Association, said that the journal received the retraction request from Harvard Medical School, in a letter that described concerns about several figures in the paper. She declined to elaborate on what the specific problems were.
The journal’s retraction notice does not specify whether the data irregularities were accidental or intentional, or which researchers were at fault. The authors include several high-profile scientists, including Dr. Piero Anversa, a cardiologist whose research has often raised questions from other scientists, and Dr. Joseph Loscalzo, chief of medicine at the Brigham.
Robertson said that based on the information provided by Harvard, the Heart Association did not have concerns about the role Loscalzo played in the paper. Loscalzo is the editor of the journal Circulation and recused himself from the retraction process, she said.
The study was supported by funds from the National Institutes of Health. In 2013, Anversa’s lab received $6.9 million from the agency, according to an NIH website. The federal Office of Research Integrity, which reviews allegations of scientific misconduct on federally sponsored research, said because of privacy reasons, it could not confirm or deny an investigation.
The key authors of the paper did not respond to direct requests for comment, and a Brigham spokeswoman declined to make them available. The hospital released a statement saying, “Any questions, concerns, or allegations regarding research conducted at BWH are confidentially evaluated per the hospital’s policies and federal regulations.”
In 2009, Dr. Jonas Frisén, a professor of stem cell research at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, published a study showing a very low rate of renewal of human heart muscle cells — around 1 percent of cells turned over per year. The finding was surprising, because the heart had long been viewed as an organ that does not have the ability to regenerate at all. That low rate has been replicated in other laboratories.
But in 2012, Anversa’s laboratory used the same technique — measuring an isotope of carbon found in the nucleus of cells — to detect a much higher rate of heart muscle cell renewal, as much as 23 percent turning over per year. The laboratory also found that the rate of renewal increased with age, contrary to what other scientists had found. Frisén said he and his colleagues read the paper extremely carefully, but could not make sense of it.
“It wasn’t possible from what they had written to understand exactly what they had done and how they had treated the data,” Frisén said.
He began corresponding with the authors and asking detailed questions. He said there were some minor mistakes that appeared accidental, such as using the wrong units, and some errors that may have stemmed from their unfamiliarity with using the technique. For example, he said the Brigham team didn’t appear to have controlled for contamination.
But there were also “cases where they had treated data in ways that were not described, or individual data points seemed to have been treated in a different way than the rest of the data. I don’t know if it was intentional or accidental,” Frisén said. “I can say that these alterations made the data look more similar to what they had proposed” as their conclusion.
Several scientists said that, given the controversy and questions that have surrounded some of Anversa’s other work, they hope the investigation will go further than this one paper.
“We need to know which parts of his work are really true for the field, because this is such an important area of science and medicine,” said Dr. Kenneth Chien, professor of cell and molecular biology at Karolinska Institute. “The last thing our field needs to lose is the trust of other scientists, of other industry leaders, and most importantly — of patients with heart disease.”
The field of cardiac stem cells has pushed hard to translate basic research findings into experimental treatments for patients, which means that questions surrounding Anversa’s findings may have repercussions beyond the laboratory.
Dr. Eduardo Marbán, director of the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute, said that data presented at an American Heart Association meeting in November 2013 called into question some of Anversa’s earlier work, which found that cells that carried a marker called c-kit were a type of stem cell that could give rise to heart muscle cells.
The presentation by Jeffery Molkentin, a researcher supported by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute who is traveling and could not be reached, raised real doubts about that finding, Marbán said.
“It is hard to imagine stronger evidence against the idea that c-kit-positive heart cells are innate stem cells that can repopulate the injured heart,” Marbán wrote in an e-mail.
The work on c-kit-positive heart cells helped lay the groundwork for clinical trials.
In 2011, Anversa and colleagues published another controversial paper in the New England Journal of Medicine. The authors claimed to have identified a type of stem cell that could give rise to different types of cells in the lung. Other researchers were highly skeptical of the results, and the journal Nature Medicine took the unusual step of publishing three critiques of the study, despite the fact that it did not appear in that journal’s pages.
In 2001, Anversa’s laboratory published evidence that bone marrow cells could “transdifferentiate,” giving rise to cells that could repair the heart. But in 2004, two separate teams of scientists published conflicting results that suggested that transdifferentation was rare, if it was occurring at all, and offered alternative explanations.
That work helped lay the groundwork for a number of clinical trials.
<bot>: A Brigham and Women’s Hospital stem cell study, which raised the possibility that the human heart could repair itself, has been retracted after an internal investigation showed the researchers used “compromised” data. The retraction comes just a week after a Japanese scientist was accused of fabricating data in a major stem cell paper that was led by a different Brigham scientist. The authors of the retracted paper claimed they had found evidence that heart muscle can regenerate much faster than previously thought. The work was part of a broad effort to discover the body’s natural regenerative abilities and harness them to create therapies that could repair damaged or diseased hearts. The paper, published in 2012 in the journal Circulation, was withdrawn Tuesday by the journal’s publisher, the American Heart Association.
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https://web.archive.org/web/2014041219id_/http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/science/2014/04/09/study-prominent-brigham-scientists-retracted-due-compromised-data/CV5kwmhGCsdtJ7lQkHj0PM/story.html |
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<human>: Produce an article summary of the following news article: Today is the day: Windows 8.1 is now available as a free download for all Windows 8 users. The update includes several new and enhanced features, and notably — perhaps infamously — marks the return of the Start button to the Windows desktop environment.
To receive the new version, all existing Windows 8 users need to do is launch the Store app in the modern UI. The Windows 8.1 upgrade will appear as the first large tile on the left; clicking or tapping on it starts the upgrade process.
If you're on an earlier version of Windows, the Windows 8.1 upgrade costs $119.99 for the regular version and $199.99 for Windows 8.1 Pro. DVD copies of Windows 8.1 will also be for sale in some stores.
Windows 8.1 is the first major update to Windows 8, which completely revamped Windows for touch devices when Microsoft formally launched it about a year ago. Microsoft added many organizational tools — including a more customizable Start Screen, better multi-monitor support and a "global" search — but it also responded to user feedback by reversing itself on some key design decisions.
The most obvious one will be the return of the Start button on the Desktop. While the new button is just a quick doorway back to the Start screen (and doesn't have its own pop-up menu, as in previous versions of Windows), its return has been the source of much discussion, with some saying it represents a capitulation of sorts for Microsoft. Windows 8.1 also includes a Boot to Desktop option, another highly demanded feature Microsoft left out of the initial release of Windows 8.
What Windows 8 users are most looking forward to, however, are the new toys. One of the most powerful is the new Global Search function, powered by Bing, which will return an intelligently parsed search "hero" with organized information on whatever term you type from the start screen. For example, searching for "Lady Gaga" will call up the musician's Wikipedia entry, relevant videos and songs that can be immediately streamed from Xbox Music — in addition to a visually driven list of relevant links.
Windows 8.1 also features deeper integration with SkyDrive, Microsoft's cloud-storage service, and it becomes the default place to save new documents. Every file on SkyDrive has a "placeholder" file on the device, similar to an alias, that lets the user interact with the file as if it were local (it shows up in searches, has a preview, etc.). The placeholder files allow users to have fast access to files while keeping device storage open.
Another feature that will relieve many users is the auto-updating of apps. Like iOS 7, Windows 8.1 will simply download and install updates to apps when they're available, making manual updates (and the dreaded number on the Windows Store live tile) a thing of the past.
For a full rundown of the new features in Windows 8.1, check out our guide, and browse the gallery below.
Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.
<bot>: About a year after the launch of Windows 8, Microsoft is releasing the first major upgrade, Windows 8.1, which marks the return of the Start button.
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https://web.archive.org/web/2013101719id_/http://mashable.com/2013/10/17/windows-8-1-available/ |
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<human>: Produce an article summary of the following news article: Astronaut James Lovell (SSPL/Getty Images)
A famous set of notes from the failed Apollo 13 mission is now up for auction in Texas, with bids expected to reach the six figures for the checklist alone.
The 1970 space flight, one of the best-known in NASA’s history, can be summed up in five words: ”Houston, we’ve had a problem.”
That quote, often misreported as “Houston, we have a problem,” signaled the beginning of a long ordeal for the three astronauts, whose spacecraft was slated to land on the moon.
On the third day of the mission, an oxygen tank exploded. The command module – which housed the astronauts’ computer guidance system – became uninhabitable. While orbiting more than 200,000 miles from Earth, the astronauts were forced to use the lunar module as their “lifeboat,” a dramatic series of events captured in the film “Apollo 13.”
“They found out they had minutes to get from commander module to the lunar module or they were going to die,” said Howard Weinberger, a senior space consultant at Heritage Auctions in Dallas who has been collecting space artifacts for nearly two decades.
“What they needed to do was transfer data from the guidance computer of the commander module to the computer in the lunar module,” said Weinberger.
Astronaut James Lovell did some quick calculations two hours after the explosion, then asked Houston to check his math. Mission control confirmed his calculations were correct, and he entered them into the lunar module guidance computer.
Lovell’s notes, scrawled in pencil on portions of the 70-page checklist, will now go to the highest bidder in an auction that includes more than 200 other space artifacts.
“It looked like these guys were going to die, but they kept their heads and made it home,” said a Heritage Auctions spokesman. “It’s a great American story, a great American moment.”
The live auction starts Nov. 30, but the items are already available for bidding online.
The checklist, which went up for auction about two weeks ago for $12,500, already has four bidders and is currently going for $35,000 online.
“This particular item … is really at the top of the list in terms of important artifacts that a collector or museum or institution could own,” Weinberger said.
He expects the price to go as high as $111,000, if not higher.
Weinberger, who travels around the country visiting astronauts, “the heroes of my youth,” he said, cultivates relationships that have led to multiple space auctions since he began working with the Heritage Auctions in 2007.
“The supply of quality material that exists from these fellows is not very plentiful – it’ certainly kind of winding down,” he said.
Lovell donated his checklist, and it has never been owned by anybody else.
“He’s over 80 years old, his kids have received whatever it is they wanted, he’s donated a great deal of things to the museum in Chicago. Now, after awhile, I guess you want to pass it on and let the new custodian enter,” Weinberger said of Lovell’s decision to at last part with the checklist.
Of the 214 items up for auction, Weinberger said about 130 are directly from the personal collections of several Apollo astronauts.
The checklist, he said, “is certainly the highlight of the sale” but there are at least a dozen more items he described as “very noteworthy.”
Collectors will find a rotational hand controller from Apollo 9 and the identification plate from the first lunar module ever taken up in space. Also for sale: an American flag from Apollo 11.
But the piece de resistance remains that Apollo 13 checklist.
“It’s really an incredible opportunity for collectors both new and seasoned,” said Weinberger. “This is certainly the highlight of the sale.”
<bot>: Astronaut James Lovell (SSPL/Getty Images) A famous set of notes from the failed Apollo 13 mission is now up for auction in Texas, with bids expected to reach the six figures for the checklist alone. The 1970 space flight, one of the best-known in NASA’s history, can be summed up in five words: ”Houston, we’ve had a problem.” That quote, often misreported as “Houston, we have a problem,” signaled the beginning of a long ordeal for the three astronauts, whose spacecraft was slated to land on the moon. On the third day of the mission, an oxygen tank exploded. The command module…
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<bot>: A url for this news article could be:
https://web.archive.org/web/2011112419id_/http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/technology/2011/11/apollo-13-astronauts-notes-up-for-auction/ |
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<human>: Produce an article summary of the following news article: The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute Gala on Monday had more than its share of gorgeous gowns on the red carpet, as we showed in our photo gallery. But there were some other fashion moments that were drawing stares for other reasons. Christina Ricci's Thakoon dress with the ginourmous bow, for instance. Did she plan to stand up all night? Florence Welch's Alexander McQueen made her look like a wedding cake or a polar bear. Marc Jacobs was the night's most outre, in a transparent lace dress, white boxers and pilgrim-buckle shoes. "I didn't want to be boring," he reportedly said. Also eye-catching, but more in a good way, was model Coco Rocha who bypassed gowns for a stunning vintage Givenchy pants outfit, pink bustier, shoes by Sergio Rossi and pink dip-dyed hair. It didn't quite match the occasion, but it sure was a fun look.
Alice Cooper, 64, plays himself in Tim Burton's "Dark Shadows," which opens Friday. The film is set in the early 1970s, when Cooper was at the peak of his popularity. On the red carpet at the movie's Hollywood premiere on Monday, he talked about aging -- kind of. "They decided that they were going to do a computerized thing where they make me [look like I'm from] 1972," he said. "And I said, 'Well, don't make me look younger. In '72, I was a mess. I looked 20 years older in '72 than I do now.'" [Los Angeles Times]
An Australian artist says the label on Madonna's Truth or Dare fragrance ripped off his trademark logo. [Toronto Sun]
After the announcement a few days ago that the House of Schiaparelli is returning from the dead this year -- it's been closed since 1954 -- people are wondering if John Galliano will be named creative director. [Cut]
Fashion designers are lauding the election of Francois Hollande as France's new president. [WWD] (subscription required)
And now that she won't bogged down by being first lady of France anymore, model Carla Bruni plans to release a new album in an effort to revive her show biz career. [Daily Mail]
Esteban Cortazar, best known for his three seasons at Emanuel Ungaro, is relaunching his signature brand, with the help of Net-a-Porter. [WWD] (subscription required)
A former employee is suing Chris Burch on charges of discrimination, saying he was fired for not being gay. The $1-million suit, filed in federal court in Manhattan, claims that Burch (ex-husband of Tory Burch) said he “only hired gay men because they were productive and he trusted them.” Burch's lawyers deny the allegation. [New York Post]
Brad Pitt is the new celebrity face of Chanel No. 5, one of the world's most classic women's fragrances. [Racked]
PHOTOS: Mother's Day gift guide
Frugal Fashion: Christian Siriano at the Kentucky Derby
Fashion News: New York's night on the red-carpet, the Met Gala
Photos, clockwise from top left: Christina Ricci, wearing Thakoon with a huge bow, arrives at the Metropolitan Museum of Art's 2012 Costume Institute Gala; Florence Welch, wearing Alexander McQueen; Marc Jacobs showing how to not be boring; Coco Rocha in vintage Givenchy. Credits: Charles Sykes / Associated Press; Justin Lane / EPA
<bot>: Some looks on the red carpet at the Met Gala were just strange -- like Marc Jacobs' transparent dress. Alice Cooper talks about aging at "Dark Shadows" premiere.
<human>: What could be a url for this news article?
<bot>: A url for this news article could be:
https://web.archive.org/web/2012051019id_/http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/alltherage/2012/05/fashion-news-met-gala-fashion-dark-shadows.html |
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<human>: Produce an article summary of the following news article: The corporate graveyard fills up quickly these days. Blackberry, Newsweek, Kodak, Blockbuster, Dell…once storied brands now routinely sell for a fraction of their heyday value. Steve Blank, four-time entrepreneur and author of The Four Steps To The Epiphany, argues that companies should get used to the churn.
“Companies in the 21st century are facing continuous disruption,” he says. “The 20th century rules don’t apply anymore.”
Known for developing the practice of customer development, the act of actually figuring out what customers want before developing a product, Blank’s ideas now guide startup founders around the world. (The practice was popularized by Eric Ries’ The Lean Startup.) Since publishing Four Steps in 2003 he’s gone on to help teams funded by the National Science Foundation commercialize their research. Next in his sights: corporations.
In an interview filmed last month, Blank told FORBES that large companies might place nominal value in the idea of “innovation”—reflected by new positions like Chief Innovation Officer and VP of Innovation—but most have no idea how to consistently execute on new ideas. “Rather than understanding that this is a systemic problem common among all corporations, every company is trying to solve it tactically themselves,” Blank says.
But tacking another division onto an already broken structure won’t change things, he argues. “The internet has changed the world completely. The cycle times of large corporations for innovation means our existing structures—P&L business units, advanced R&D in a corner over here, M&A over here, VC group over here—that stuff doesn’t work anymore.”
Instead, Blank favors a more radical rethinking of corporate structure: “The solution is actually blowing up the architecture completely and figuring out how to make continuous innovation an integral part of the organization.”
The threat doesn’t just apply to technology companies, he argues. Exxon, for example, was taken off-guard by the natural gas boom, paying dearly with its rocky $41 billion acquisition of natural gas giant XTO. Incumbent car companies face pressure from upstarts like Tesla while retail giants like Sears, Barnes & Noble and JCPenney have seen their top lines deteriorate as e-commerce grows.
Yet some companies–Amazon, Apple and Google come to mind–seem to innovate effortlessly. “What we really need to do,” Blank says, “is take those best practices and make them a common corporate type.” This is exactly what he intends to do over the next year. Joining him in the effort will be Henry Chesborough of Berkeley’s Haas School of Business and Alexander Osterwalder, developer of the business model canvas.
Blank envisions a future where companies publicly choose one of two paths. One group will opt for maximizing short-term profits and dividends in lieu of long-term sustainability. Others, like Amazon, will maintain slimmer margins to innovate and survive over decades. Wall Street, in turn, will have to judge companies differently according to their declared major.
Will corporate America actually listen to Blank’s theories? “I think it’s going to be like the Lean Startup movement,” he told me in an interview last May. “I was writing for a decade and all of a sudden it’s here.”
Ed. Note: Steve Blank is a contributing author on Forbes.com.
Follow me @JJColao and on Facebook.
<bot>: The corporate graveyard fills up quickly these days. Blackberry, Newsweek, Kodak, Blockbuster, Dell…once storied brands now routinely sell for a fraction of their heyday value. Steve Blank, four-time entrepreneur and author of The Four Steps To The [...]
<human>: What could be a url for this news article?
<bot>: A url for this news article could be:
https://web.archive.org/web/2013092619id_/http://www.forbes.com/sites/jjcolao/2013/09/26/how-to-turn-corporations-into-innovation-machines/ |
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<human>: Produce an article summary of the following news article: <![if ! lte IE 8]> <![endif]>
Basketball player LeBron James, who recently left the Miami Heat to rejoin the Cleveland Cavaliers, has cut the price of his Florida mansion to $15 million, down from $17 million, according to listing agent Tomi Rose of Opulence International Realty.
Mr. James bought the six-bedroom, 8½ bathroom estate in Miami’s Coconut Grove for $9 million in 2010, according to public records. He put it on the market in October, after announcing in July that he would return to his hometown team, the Cavaliers.
With more than 16,000 square feet of space, the estate sits on Biscayne Bay and has dock space for two 60-foot yachts, Ms. Rose said. It also has a wine cellar, guesthouse, a roof deck off the master suite, an infinity pool and movie theater. Ms. Rose also noted that the master suite has two equally large closets. “In most of these estates, the man gets shortchanged in the closet area,” she said. “Not in this one.”
Ms. Rose said she has had several offers for the home, but she hopes the price reduction will help “take advantage of the springtime buyers and move the property.” Mr. James didn’t respond to requests to comment.
<bot>: The NBA player listed the Coconut Grove estate for $17 million in October, after announcing that he would leave the Miami Heat to return to the Cleveland Cavaliers
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<bot>: A url for this news article could be:
https://web.archive.org/web/2015031919id_/http://www.wsj.com/articles/lebron-james-cuts-price-of-miami-mansion-to-15-million-1426623115 |
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<human>: Produce an article summary of the following news article: Monsters aren’t the only ones who hide under the bed; burglars do, too.
One sneaky would-be thief, Jason Hubbard, hid quietly under a homeowner’s bed for three days on Ellenel Blvd. in Spotswood, N.J., back in May, cops said.
Hubbard casually walked through an open door while the homeowner was taking out the trash, NBC 4 Washington reported.
With nowhere to go, the intruder decided to hide under a bed in a guest room.
What he might have envisioned as a quick robbery turned into a three-day stakeout.
The intruder lay there for the next few days, playing on his four cell phones and recharging them in the outlet next to the bed.
The hide-and-go-seek gig finally came to an end on May 10, when Hubbard made a noise and the homeowner caught him.
It still wasn’t clear when Hubbard was planning to make his move to rob the home.
Police arrested Hubbard and charged him with criminal trespass, burglary and theft of services.
He is being held on $50,000 bail at Middlesex County Adult Corrections Center.
<bot>: A burglar hid under the bed in a New Jersey home for three days.
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<bot>: A url for this news article could be:
https://web.archive.org/web/2015072319id_/http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/sneaky-would-be-thief-hides-bed-days-article-1.2300760 |
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<human>: Produce an article summary of the following news article: Spirit brands like to use their big anniversaries as an excuse to debut limited edition bottles with high price tags and the Hennessy 250 Collector Blend from the spirits company co-owned by Diageo and LVMH is no exception: the $600 rendition is an ode to the Hennessy’s quarter millennium existence.
Unlike other collectible liquors in hand-cut crystal bottles that drive the cost well into the four digits, the 250 Collector Blend isn’t priced out of reach since the bottle is made of far more affordable glass. “The highlight is not the bottle; it’s what’s inside it,” says Kathy Chan, Hennessy’s ambassador in the U.S.
The smooth, amber colored brandy does deserve to be the star: it has a spicy aroma and opening notes of bitter orange, peppermint and a touch of saffron which give way to licorice. The finish is slightly sweet and honey like, and the overall taste is bold but not overwhelming.
Master blender Yann Fillioux, who is the seventh generation in his family to have the job, spent four years crafting the celebratory drink and did so by combining 100 of the highest-quality eaux de vie or double distilled white wine, made from locally grown ugni blanc grapes, produced over the course of his 50-year career. The blend was stored in French oak casks in a mild, humid climate in Hennessy’s sprawling cellars near the banks of the Charente River in the city of Cognac in western France.
And while the cognac can usually be enjoyed with ice, Chan says the best way to experience the optimum flavor of this version is to sip it neat and at room temperature.
Also, ditch any notions of saving it for after-dinner—the sturdy character compliments savory foods and pairs especially well with duck breast or firm white fish like halibut.
In sticking with the event’s landmark number, only 250 barrels of the cognac (with a capacity of 250 liters each, rather than the usual 270) were produced. That’s the equivalent of a few thousand bottles, which will be available worldwide starting today at premium liquor stores and at reservebar.com.
<bot>: The French cognac house celebrates its 250th anniversary today with the release of only a few thousand bottles of its Hennessy 250 Collector Blend.
<human>: What could be a url for this news article?
<bot>: A url for this news article could be:
http://web.archive.org/web/20150415175216id_/http://fortune.com/2015/04/15/hennessy-250-collector-blend/ |
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<human>: Produce an article summary of the following news article: By Jerry Potter, USA TODAY
"The hardest thing to do is get him to listen to things I say," Harmon said.
"Wait," Haney said. "Remember who you're talking to."
Harmon was talking about Phil Mickelson, who within days would win the Masters, his fourth victory in a major championship but first under Harmon's tutelage.
Haney was talking about Tiger Woods, who within weeks would split with Haney, ending a six-year relationship. Before Haney, Woods ended a 10-year run with Harmon.
Although the two helped Woods win 14 major championships and reach No. 1 in the world, they found that front-row seat to the greatest golfer was too hot to sit in long.
"When you work with a great player," Haney says, "the expectations get higher and higher. The chance for stress is greater. It's not the easiest job."
As Woods returns to competition today to start defense of his title at the Memorial, his last tuneup before the U.S. Open in two weeks, the hot seat remains empty. He said Wednesday he has no plans to hire a new teacher.
"That's the great thing about technology," he said. "We can use video. That's what I've been doing and been working on it that way."
Jim Flick and David Leadbetter, veteran teachers with successful tour players, say they are not surprised by Woods' decision.
"Tiger knows more about his swing than anyone else," says Leadbetter, whose star pupils have included Nick Faldo and Ernie Els. "Golf is an individual sport, but you have to find it yourself."
Woods has gone it alone before, including a stretch of months in 2003, after Harmon and before Haney. Even so, it's unusual in the modern game. The vast majority of elite golfers rely to some extent on a swing coach.
The meshing of a player's equipment and his swing is done with high-speed cameras and video equipment, but it takes a trained eye.
"Video is nothing more than an X-ray or MRI," Haney says. "It will show you what's wrong, but it will not tell how to correct it. In some cases players aren't that knowledgeable of the swing, and they don't know what they're seeing when they look at a video."
The recreational player may wonder why a great golfer would need a teacher. Yet, for the last century the best players usually have had them, and now the average players have them.
Bobby Jones had Stewart Maiden; Jack Nicklaus had Jack Grout; Faldo had Leadbetter.
"In golf you can't see yourself," Harmon says. "What a golfer feels he's doing in the swing and what he's doing aren't the same. You need another set of eyes."
What's really important, Harmon says, is that the golfer and the teacher agree on what they're trying to do.
Zach Johnson, the 2007 Masters champion who won the Colonial on Sunday, says the trust a player has in a teacher is essential because it helps the player develop confidence.
Johnson's teacher is Mike Bender. Each year they have the same argument.
"I don't overpower a golf course," Johnson says. "I don't hit drives that carry 300 yards. I tell Mike I need to get longer off the tee. He says I don't; that to try to do that would only destroy my swing. He says my game is hitting the ball in the fairway, hitting the green and beating them with the short game."
Johnson says after their conversation he accepts Bender's advice and goes back to work.
Some coaches, such as Bender and Leadbetter, also work with LPGA players.
"Every player is different," says Leadbetter, who teaches Michelle Wie. "As a general rule women are more feel oriented and men are more mechanical."
Sometimes, even world-class players demand more of themselves, even though they've had success. Padraig Harrington changed his swing after winning three times in a span of six majors and rising to No. 3 in the world in 2008.
"You get to a certain point, and you like to tear it apart and see how it works and put it back better," Harrington said.
Why'd he change? He wanted to be No. 1.
"The mind-set of a great player is that you're either getting better or you are getting worse," Haney says. "There's no such thing as staying the same. If you attempt to stay the same you will be losing ground to everyone who is improving."
Woods had other teachers as a junior golfer, but it was Harmon who rebuilt his swing twice and watched as Woods won three U.S. Amateur championships and eight major championships. Woods won six majors while working with Haney.
The two teachers couldn't be more different. Haney is considered a method teacher. He has a style he believes works. Harmon teaches whatever he thinks the student needs to succeed.
Harmon taught Woods a swing where the club moves back and up and stays in front of the shoulders. Haney taught Woods a swing that's more around the body.
Either swing works, so why change?
"Tiger likes to tinker," Harmon says. "I don't believe in changing things that work."
Woods, 34, says his body has changed so he can't execute the same swing he had 10 years ago.
"My body is bigger and more stable," he said Wednesday, "but I'm older. There aren't many of us who can say we have the same clubhead speed now that we had in our teens."
From 1999 though 2001 Woods dominated the PGA Tour, winning 22 tournaments, including four consecutive majors, from the 2000 U.S. Open to the 2001 Masters.
Harmon says he has never seen a golfer play better, so he adds, "I wasn't giving him anything new. I was just giving him maintenance."
When Haney took over Woods already was a celebrity, a player on his way to becoming the best in the history of golf. The news media attention was intense, and the public curiosity was never satisfied. No matter what Haney accomplished with Woods it wasn't enough for critics.
"I don't know what people thought my role was," Haney says. "I'm not an offensive coordinator who calls the plays."
Harmon thinks Haney has been criticized unfairly, but he says criticism goes with the job.
"Hank wasn't used to getting criticized," Harmon says. "My skin was a little thicker."
Haney, who resigned on May 10, was disappointed Woods didn't openly defend him, especially when he was criticized by TV golf analysts.
Curtis Strange, a two-time U.S. Open champion and current analyst for ESPN, says he was frustrated by what he saw in Woods.
"If a player of Tiger's talent is struggling with his swing for three, four or five years," Strange says, "then maybe that's not the right swing for that player."
One of the key stats often cited in comparing the two eras of Woods' swing is driving accuracy. He hit an average of 67.8% of the fairways under Harmon and 59.44% under Haney.
"Tiger has been losing accuracy every year," Haney says, "but so has every other player. If you drive the ball farther it's more difficult to keep it in the fairway."
A teacher, especially for great golfers, is little more than a second set of eyes. Haney says it's a mistake to assume that the player actually is listening to observations or advice.
"A coach's job is to get a player to buy what you're telling him," Haney says. "All that's more difficult when you're working with a pro player. If you're working with an amateur you're working with a sponge that's soaking up everything you're telling him."
The tradeoff is great players have the physical ability to do great things. Amateurs don't, but they're easier to teach.
"When you work with an amateur for a while," Haney says, "you think, 'Just let me have somebody with talent.' When you work with an elite player, you think, 'Just let me have somebody who will listen.' "
Some viewers and players may see coaches as a crutch or scapegoat when their game comes unhinged. Among some issues facing pros are changes to courses and equipment.
"It's easy to place blame," says Johnson, who has seven career wins on the PGA Tour. "I have a caddie to carry my bag. I have a coach. I have a manager. I have a family outside the ropes. Ultimately, you are your own boss."
Haney says players often use excuses to boost their self-confidence.
"The problem comes when the excuses keep piling up, and the player doesn't take responsibility for his game," he says. "I don't think people understand what a coach does. The scope of our input is far less than what people perceive it to be."
Strange agrees that the emphasis on teachers is overblown.
"I don't like this posse of teachers that follow some players around," says Strange, who was a star in the 1980s. "The last thing I wanted at a big tournament was a bunch of people around me."
But Harmon says the days of a solitary player, beating balls until he understands the swing, are gone. They passed with the demise of Ben Hogan, Sam Snead and Byron Nelson, great players of the 1940s and '50s.
"They used to say Hogan dug it out of the dirt," Harmon says. "Now, if you want to be among the best players in the world you need all the help you can get."
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<bot>: Tiger Woods says he has no plans to hire another swing coach as he moves into a critical part of the season with two majors on courses where he has won by lopsided margins.
<human>: What could be a url for this news article?
<bot>: A url for this news article could be:
https://web.archive.org/web/2010060319id_/http://www.usatoday.com/sports/golf/pga/2010-06-02-tiger-woods-swing-coach_N.htm |
{'source': 'newsroom'} |
<human>: Produce an article summary of the following news article: After teasing the song with a hashtag earlier this month, Alicia Keys has unleashed "It's On Again," a uptempo anthem of empowerment for The Amazing Spider-Man 2 movie.The single (listen, below) begins with an explosive rap from Kendrick Lamar before Keys jumps into a superhero-infused lyric, singing, "There's no day off for heroes" several times throughout the nearly four-minute jam. Pharrell Williams and Hans Zimmer, co-composers of the upcoming film's score, had a hand in creating "It's On Again."
RCA Records and Keys uploaded the song to SoundCloud on Monday:
"I'm very excited to be a part of such a powerful collaboration with Kendrick Lamar, Pharrell Williams and Hans Zimmer," Keys said in statement. "This is the next chapter in the Spider-Man legacy and we really feel 'It’s On Again' captures the experience, the story — and most importantly — the meaning behind the film, which is that we all have the potential to be extraordinary. There's a little bit of a superhero in all of us.”
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 from Columbia Pictures hits theaters on May 2. Its predecessor grossed more than $752 million at the worldwide box office.
Andrew Garfield returns as the title character and his out-of-suit role as Peter Parker, while Emma Stone reprises her role as love interest Gwen. Oscar winner Jamie Foxx enters the franchise as high-voltage villain Electro. The sequel introduces Parker's old friend Harry Osborn (Dane DeHaan). Osborn's father runs Oscorp Industries, where Max Dillon got his villainous powers after an electrical accident and eventually transformed into Electro.
The film's final trailer arrived March 19, which you can watch below:
Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.
<bot>: Alicia Keys has unleashed "It's On Again," a uptempo anthem of empowerment for "The Amazing Spider-Man 2" movie. It features rapper Kendrick Lamar.
<human>: What could be a url for this news article?
<bot>: A url for this news article could be:
https://web.archive.org/web/2014033119id_/http://mashable.com/2014/03/31/alicia-keys-amazing-spider-man-2-song/ |
{'source': 'newsroom'} |
<human>: Produce an article summary of the following news article: After Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005, friends Cathy Deano and Renee Maloney found a way to twist a tragedy into a purpose. The storm flooded Deano's house and destroyed Maloney's husband's three truck stops in Mandeville, La., but the two fundraising enthusiasts wanted to focus on helping their community recover.
Knowing their neighbors needed to destress, they thought it'd be fun to hold events where people could learn to paint, drink wine and relax. They jointly invested $10,000 and, in 2007, opened Painting with a Twist, which offered two- to three-hour painting classes four times a week. They kept prices low, $35 to $45. "It was bring your own wine. We supplied everything else," said Maloney. Once a month, they donated a day's worth of sales to charity.
The business did well enough for Maloney and Deano to expand: Today they own 4 locations and the business has 81 franchise locations nationwide. Maloney expects to add 70 new locations by the end of the year.
"In a world of mass technology, where things are bombarding us every second, we want to let people have a normal, relaxing and meaningful experience for a few hours," said Maloney.
<bot>: From painting classes where you bring your own wine to a truck that offers mobile video-game parties, these young franchises have been expanding fast.
<human>: What could be a url for this news article?
<bot>: A url for this news article could be:
https://web.archive.org/web/2013021719id_/http://money.cnn.com/gallery/smallbusiness/2013/02/12/hot-franchises/index.html |
{'source': 'newsroom'} |
<human>: Produce an article summary of the following news article: <![if ! lte IE 8]> <![endif]>
In the broadest strokes, the U.S. economy looks a lot like it did in December. After all, three months isnât much time to change the outlines of an $18 trillion global powerhouse.
But in December, the Fed raised its interest-rate target. In this weekâs meeting, itâs unlikely to raise it again.
So whatâs different? How people feel about it.
The economy hasnât changed significantly, but perception of it certainly has.
Every month, the Conference Board asks consumers about the state of the economy, as well as their outlook, for its much-watched measure of consumer confidence. It also releases the findings as detailed polls providing a snapshot of the American consumer.
The biggest shift came in views about how the stock market will perform next year. (This question always attracts a large share of strong opinions and tends to experience big swings.)
Alongside those worries about stocks was an even more troubling drop in the number of folks who expect their income to rise or at least stay steady in the next year. The share of Americans who expect their income to drop is as high as it has been in more than a year.
And consumers are more worried about the job situation than they were in December, despite continued payroll growth and a falling unemployment rate.
At the same time, their outlook for the job market, which generally tends to be more optimistic, took a small hit despite steady hiring.
And while consumer faith in current business conditions has fallen since the Fed raised rates…
…the more troubling move may be that more believe business conditions are going to worsen in coming months, a shift toward pessimism that echoes consumer worries about stocks, incomes and employment.
5 Things to Watch at the Fed Meeting (March 15)
WSJ Survey: More Economists See Fed Waiting Until June to Raise Rates (March 10)
Fed Likely to Stand Pat on Rates, Keep Options Open for April or June (March 8)
<bot>: In the broadest strokes, the U.S. economy looks a lot like it did in December. Then, the Fed raised its interest-rate target. In this weekâs meeting, itâs unlikely to raise it again. So whatâs different? How people feel about it.
<human>: What could be a url for this news article?
<bot>: A url for this news article could be:
https://web.archive.org/web/2016031619id_/http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2016/03/16/how-americans-perceptions-of-the-economy-have-changed-in-just-three-months/ |
{'source': 'newsroom'} |
<human>: Produce an article summary of the following news article: A Wisconsin district court has indicted the chief of the U.S. Air Force Fire Service, accusing him of stealing more than $130,000 intended for charities and using those funds to pay for vacations, gambling and paying off credit card debt.
James E. Podolske Jr., 59, of Panama City, Fla., faces up to 25 years in prison and $500,000 in fines on two counts of fraud, U.S. Attorney Gregory J. Haanstad of the Eastern District of Wisconsin announced Thursday in a Department of Justice news release. According to the release, Podolske used his position in the Air Force to defraud about 25 businesses’ funds that were meant to go to charity.
He is also accused of disclosing proposal information to give a defense contracting company a competitive advantage. The Justice Department did not name the company in the news release.
Between 2009 and 2013, Podolske organized charity banquets and a golf outings in association with an annual conference put on by the International Association of Fire Chiefs. According to the release, Podolske took donations from contractors looking to work with the U.S. Air Force and the Pentagon. While he sent a portion of the funds to charities, he sent the vast majority of the donations to a personal bank account. He then “converted these charitable donations for his personal use to pay off credit card debt, pay for vacations and for gambling at Gulf Shore casinos,” the release said.
According to a report in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Podolske raised $164,000 in total, $133,000 of which he took for himself.
Citing the ongoing litigation, Air Force spokeswoman Erika Yepsen said it would be inappropriate to comment on the case.
Podolske solicited donations that ranged from $100 to $500 dollars and said they were intended for five different charities, the Journal Sentinel reported, including Toys 4 Tots and the Parkland Foundation Burn Camp. If convicted Podolske, will probably have to forfeit the amount of funds he embezzled from his fundraisers.
According to the Justice Department release, the case was investigated by the U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations, the FBI, the Defense Criminal Investigation Service and the Naval Criminal Investigation Service.
<bot>: James Podolske raised $164,000 in total, $133,000 of which he took for himself, according to the Justice Department.
<human>: What could be a url for this news article?
<bot>: A url for this news article could be:
https://web.archive.org/web/2016090919id_/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2016/09/09/air-force-fire-chief-accused-of-stealing-133000-intended-for-charity-and-using-it-for-vacations/ |
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<human>: Produce an article summary of the following news article: Apple Inc. suppliers have been told to start production of a larger-screen iPad in the second half of this year as the U.S. tech giant wrestles with new designs and features for the enterprise market, people familiar with the matter said.
The Cupertino, Calif., company had originally told suppliers that it wanted to start mass production of the 12.9-inch iPad in the first quarter of this year, the people said.
<bot>: Apple suppliers have been told to start production of a larger-screen iPad in the second half of this year as the U.S. tech giant wrestles with new designs and features for the enterprise market.
<human>: What could be a url for this news article?
<bot>: A url for this news article could be:
https://web.archive.org/web/2015030619id_/http://www.wsj.com/articles/apple-suppliers-told-to-mass-produce-larger-ipad-pro-in-second-half-1425530886 |
{'source': 'newsroom'} |
<human>: Produce an article summary of the following news article: It was a measure of Prince Saud al-Faisal’s skill as a diplomat that he helped sustain the long friendship between the United States and Saudi Arabia through events that could have (maybe should have) shattered it–an oil embargo, several Arab-Israeli wars, the rise of Al Qaeda, the failed U.S. occupation of Iraq, and the menace of Iran.
Through it all, Saud did what foreign ministers advocate but rarely achieve: He took the long view. He had been educated at Princeton, and he remained fundamentally pro-American through his 40 years as foreign minister. He attached the kingdom to America, and vice-versa, for better and sometimes for worse. He had the diplomat’s skill of conciliation. He made inaction seem like a virtue.
Saud, who died Thursday at 75, had the stately appearance of a Bedouin prince of the desert. He was tall and thin, careful in his speech, ascetic in his personal manner. He seemed immune from the swings of optimism and pessimism that often afflict outsiders who deal with the region. He suffered in his later years from Parkinson’s disease, which caused his hands and voice to tremble. The frailty of his body accentuated the precision of what he said.
I interviewed Saud many times. The most poignant encounter was the last, in Riyadh in November 2011. The revolution then known as the “Arab Spring” was raging across the Middle East, toppling governments and bringing havoc, and the Saudi establishment was in a panic of self-preservation. Saud was one of the few Arab leaders who looked past the tumult to the fundamental fact that long-overdue changes were coming and that they could, over the long run, be positive.
“It is a great transformation in the Arab world,” he told me. “It is happening in different ways in different countries for different reasons. I think the similarity in these cases is a lack of attention to the will of the people by the governing bodies, and an assumption that they can go on neglecting the will of the people because they control the situation. But you can never avoid what the people want, no matter what government you have.”
Saud wanted Arabs to write their own history, even if they made mistakes. “One doesn’t know what will result from these revolutions,” he said. “A revolution can turn out well: In America, it was a good revolution. But in France, it brought the Reign of Terror. What will happen in our part of the world?” Saud reflected for a moment, and then said: “Whatever decision they take, it will be their decision.”
As for Saudi Arabia, he said, “We will listen to our people and develop accordingly. We are developing, maybe not as quick as a revolution, but we are developing in a way that’s stable.” Four years later, with a new king and a new generation rising to power, the House of Saud continues to defy predictions that it’s on the verge of revolution and collapse.
Saud’s innate caution often frustrated Americans, who wanted the kingdom to be more engaged and active on America’s agenda for the region. U.S. officials often didn’t listen carefully enough. Perhaps the clearest example was Iraq.
I spoke with Saud in April 2003, on the eve of the U.S. invasion to topple Saddam Hussein. The Saudi prince seemed to have a premonition that it would fail, that America would overreach.
“We think the worst thing that could happen after a war in Iraq is a military occupation,” he told me. “This would bring all the old images of imperialism, and give truth to what is being presented as an effort by America to rob Iraq of its wealth, rather than to bring peace and stability.” If America tried to use occupied Baghdad as a platform to transform the Arab world, Saud warned that it would be a recipe for “a continuous war.”
Saud’s weakness was that he allowed the kingdom to work with violent groups (sometimes with America’s secret encouragement) to try to check threats. The Saudis supported Yasser Arafat and the Palestine Liberation Organization back when they truly were a terrorist group. They financed the Taliban resistance to Russian occupation in Afghanistan, creating the foundation for what became Al-Qaeda.
Tragically, the Saudis made a bargain with the most conservative and intolerant strand of Islam, the Wahhabi sect, to maintain the House of Saud in power. To appease their clerics, they allowed them to repress Saudi subjects and to export the extremist brand of Islam to Pakistan, Afghanistan and a dozen other countries.
The Arab-Israeli issue vexed Saud through his career. He became foreign minister two years after the 1973 war, and the “peace process” was his perpetual concern. He encouraged American officials to believe that Saudi Arabia might eventually lead a Muslim acceptance of Israel’s existence through the late King Abdullah’s Arab Peace Initiative, but it never bore fruit.
Saud was a genuinely wise man, but it was clear, listening to him, that wisdom alone isn’t enough to solve problems. If the crises that surrounded the U.S.-Saudi relationship had been addressed by both sides more honestly, the region’s history might have been different. What Saud might have done as king we’ll never know, but he was a uniquely gifted diplomat.
David Ignatius writes a twice-a-week foreign affairs column and contributes to the PostPartisan blog.
<bot>: The prince, who died on Thursday, was a uniquely gifted diplomat.
<human>: What could be a url for this news article?
<bot>: A url for this news article could be:
https://web.archive.org/web/2015071119id_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2015/07/10/an-appreciation-of-prince-saud-al-faisal/ |
{'source': 'newsroom'} |
<human>: Produce an article summary of the following news article: Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) recalled arm-wrestling Russian President Vladimir Putin in the 1990s, when the leader was young and relatively unknown. Here, Putin fishing at the Tokpak-Khol Lake in Russia in July.
Russian President Vladimir Putin was muscling U.S. politicians as far back as the early 1990s.
Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) recalled Thursday that a young and relatively unkown Putin bested him in a drunken arm-wrestling match in Washington, D.C. — long before the Russian leader would outfox President Obama over the crisis in Syria.
PHOTOS: VLADIMIR PUTIN IN ACTION
The bizarre encounter began when Rohrabacher, who had just been elected to Congress after serving as a speechwriter for Ronald Reagan, received a Russian delegation that included Putin.
The young Russian bureaucrat introduced himself as the deputy mayor of St. Petersburg, the congressman told a California radio station. The group played a friendly football game featuring Putin, Rohrabacher and some of Rohrabacher’s “right-wing friends” like Scooter Libby, who was then a rising star in the Defense Department. Libby would later serve as top advisor to Vice President Dick Cheney.
RELATED: U.S., RUSSIA TO CONTINUE TALKS ON SYRIA, CHEMICAL WEAPONS
Afterwards, the motley crew went to the Irish Times Pub, Rohrabacher told the radio station.
“We were having a little bit too much to drink I guess. But anyway we started arguing about who won the Cold War, etc., and so we decided to settle it like men do when they've had too much to drink in the pub,” Rohrabacher said.
RELATED: U.S. LAWMAKERS TAKE ISSUE WITH OP-ED WRITTEN BY VLADIMIR PUTIN
“So we got down to these arm-wrestling matches and I ended up being paired off with Putin! And he's a little guy but boy I tell you, he put me down in a millisecond. He is tough! His muscles were just unbelievable.”
The moral of the story, according to Rohrabacher is that Putin is a “tough guy,” but that should not prevent the United States from negotiating with him.
<bot>: Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) recalled being defeated by a young and relatively unknown Putin during an arm-wrestling match in the 1990s. Rohrabacher said the moral of the story is that while Putin is a 'tough guy,' the United States should still negotiate with him.
<human>: What could be a url for this news article?
<bot>: A url for this news article could be:
https://web.archive.org/web/2013091419id_/http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/putin-arm-wrestled-u-s-pol-90s-article-1.1455785 |
{'source': 'newsroom'} |
<human>: Produce an article summary of the following news article: Jun. 16 2011 - 3:16 pm | 606 views | 0 recommendations |
Calling all Turkers. My liver needs your help. Image via Wikipedia
When they say health care costs are out of control, they’re not kidding.
I’ve spent hours toiling in Amazon‘s virtual salt mine to raise enough capital to improve my life. The problem: when it comes to using that service to actually do something about the insane price of health care, the users on Amazon’s Mechanical Turk are slow to respond… even after I paid a whole dollar to outsource an article on Apple and Intel‘s new Thunderbolt technology (see “A Turker’s Take On Where Apple And Intel Are Going With Thunderbolt“). Ingrates.
To recap, I’ve been rejected for life insurance because — while otherwise healthy — I have an AST (SGOT) score of 78 u/l, and an ALT (SGPT) score of 192 u/l. My doctor is threatening to subject me to an MRI of my liver if this score isn’t lower on the blood test he’s scheduled for me. So I’ve turned to the Turkers. What do those results mean? What herbal and homeopathic remedies can be used to improve this score? For answers, I’ve offered 25 cents (see “Paying Turkers To Steal Readers, Write My Articles, Do My Reporting, And Fix My Liver“). A decent sum, considering the hours I’ve spent on much less interesting task for mere pennies.
Hours later, no one has responded. Granted, I was pretty strict when deciding who would be able to answer this question. To play doctor with me, you have to live in the United States, 95 percent of the jobs you perform on Amazon Turk must be approved, and you have to have performed at least 100 tasks. I know realize top talent like that probably keeps pretty busy. Still, who do these slowcoaches think they are, government bureaucrats?
To be sure, Amazon’s Turkers aren’t highway robbers. Many of them seek tasks that are broken up into hundreds or thousands of identical bits that they can race through quickly, turning pennies into dollars over the course of a day’s work. Yet what I’m asking for is a one-off job. If you’re a Turker, there’s no scalability here.
So I give in. I’m feeling sluggish. I have for months. I’m starting to worry. So I’m raising my rate. I’m going to offer $5.25 to tell me what my results might mean, and for advice on how to fix my balky organ (tack on Amazon’s fees and my total cost here is $5.775). I’m also going to go global and offer this job to anyone working anywhere in the world. I need the best minds on earth on this problem. It’s my health, after all. I think I’m worth it (although I do plan on trying to sneak this onto my expense report — don’t tell anyone).
UPDATE: Within moments of posting my updated request to Amazon Turk, I got this answer.
The enzyme aspartate aminotransferase (AST) is also known as serum glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase (SGOT) alanine aminotransferase (ALT) is also known as serum glutamic pyruvic transaminase (SGPT) In both cases the u/l is units of aminotransferase per liter of serum, so for AST 78 per liter and for ALT, 192 units per liter. Based upon the associated symptoms than are alongside elevated AST and ALT levels it may be recommended you take the fllowing homeopathic remedies… Chelidonium is used when the liver is tender and enlarged, the pain extends from the liver back through the right shoulder blade, and the stools are clay-colored or bright yellow. China is used when there is a great deal of sweating, bitter belching which brings no relief, and the liver and spleen are both enlarged. Lycopodium is called for when eating or drinking even small amounts of food produce gas and bloating. Mercurius is used when the liver is enlarged, sensitive to even the slightest pressure, and stools are mucoid and greenish in color. Natrum sulphuricum is used when stools are watery and yellow, and there is been a history of heavy drug use. Phosphorus helps when the liver is large and hard and you crave cold, carbonated drinks.
Good work. I’ve been downing lots of soda pop, and I don’t have a history of heavy drug use, so it looks like phosphorus is what I need. I’ll begin the recommended course of treatment Friday.
<bot>: When they say health care costs are out of control, they're not kidding. I've spent hours toiling in Amazon's virtual salt mine to raise enough capital to improve my life. The problem: when it comes to using that service to actually do something about the insane price of health care, the [...]
<human>: What could be a url for this news article?
<bot>: A url for this news article could be:
https://web.archive.org/web/2011061619id_/http://blogs.forbes.com/briancaulfield/2011/06/16/the-rising-cost-of-health-care-upping-what-ill-pay-to-fix-my-liver-to-5-25-updated/ |
{'source': 'newsroom'} |
<human>: Produce an article summary of the following news article: Bob and Cortney Novogratz are a design duo — and parents to seven children — who blog about home renovation, decorating ideas, and getting creative as a family. Check back regularly on PEOPLE.com as they share expert tips and tricks. You can follow them on Twitter at @TheNovogratz.
Brazil holds a special place in our hearts; we’ve had a home in Trancoso, Brazil, for over 10 years, and we’re inspired every time we go. We love Trancoso so much we wrote a book about the town and our home there. To celebrate all things Brazilian, here are some tips for bringing a tropical flair to your home this summer.
To keep up with the Novogratz family’s most exciting design project yet, visit PEOPLE.com/novogratz.
<bot>: The decorating family shares inspiration from their own home in Trancoso, Brazil
<human>: What could be a url for this news article?
<bot>: A url for this news article could be:
https://web.archive.org/web/2016072819id_/http://site.people.com/home/the-novogratz-tropical-decor-ideas/ |
{'source': 'newsroom'} |
<human>: Produce an article summary of the following news article: Actors: Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner
You never saw such an improvement in a movie franchise. Or a girl. In Breaking Dawn-Part 2, the magically schlocky last (please) installment of The Twilight Saga, Bella Cullen, nee Swan (Kristen Stewart), is officially a vampire. She’s incredibly strong and capable—no harnesses needed if Bella wants to rock climb; she pretty much flies these days—and now she and Edward (Robert Pattinson) can have mutually rough vampire sex 24/7 if they want, complete with orgasms that sparkle like a disco ball. “You really were holding back before,” Bella murmurs, preparing to mount her husband again.
Even better, the sulks, moodiness and lip biting are gone. Vampire Bella is even funny. “You think you have some sort of moronic wolfie claim on her?” she bellows at her former suitor Jacob (Taylor Lautner), who has transferred his affections to her newborn half-vampire, half-mortal daughter Renesmee. (He imprinted. It’s a wolf thing.) By the time Bella wakes after her traumatic-caesarian-section-by-teeth as seen in BD-Part 1, Jacob has taken to calling the child Nessie, which seems a reasonable approach to a name fit to crush the spirits of elocutionists everywhere. “You nicknamed my daughter after the Loch Ness monster?”
The movie is a wildly campy, action-packed end to what has been a stultifying though undeniably beloved series; I have resisted each installment but had a shrieking good time at this one. What’s the difference? Director Bill Condon shot both parts of Breaking Dawn, the last of Stephenie Meyer’s four Twilight books, simultaneously and using the same screenwriter, Melissa Rosenberg, who adapted the other three books for the screen. But this time the age of avoidance and resistance is over; it’s not just the virtue of a young mortal in love with an extremely well mannered vampire at stake, it’s the future of a Very Special Child and the entire Cullen clan.
(READ: All the rotten but true things this reviewer said about Breaking Dawn-Part 1)
The fascist police of the vampire world, the Volturi, based in Italy and led by Aro (an over-the-top hilarious Michael Sheen) and Jane (Dakota Fanning, who is not in the least constrained by acting only with her eyes) do not take kindly to the news of Renesmee’s presence among the Cullens. Not realizing her origins, they assume she’s an immortal child, one who has been turned into a vampire and is forever uncontrollable, trapped in the terrible twos forever. “A single tantrum could destroy a whole village,” the Cullen family’s “dad” Carlisle (Peter Facinelli) explains. The Volturi eliminated all immortal children centuries ago in the only way you can get rid of one of Meyer’s vampires, pulling off their heads and tossing them into flames. This could happen to Renesmee (played from infancy on by spooky little beauty Mackenzie Foy), although I don’t see why they couldn’t try telling the Volturi she’s Bella’s American Girl doll, a totally plausible fib.
The Cullen’s resident clairvoyant Alice (Ashley Greene) forsees that the Volturi will come when “the snow sticks to the ground.” (Why the delay? Soccer season in Italy?) They all assume the Volturi won’t listen to reason in regard to Renesmee, so in preparation they gather “witnesses” from all over the world (including Ireland, the Brazilian rain forest, the Middle East) to bear testimony to the truth of the matter. The logic here is dubious at best, especially since no one can lie to Aro. All he has to do is touch someone to know the truth. But logic has never been the strong suit of the Cullens. Who else would give Bella and Edward a cosy, ivy-covered, fully decorated cottage of their own, right nearby, and then immediately announce that it was time to leave Washington state so that Bella’s dad Charlie (Billy Burke) doesn’t figure out she’s turned into a vampire. (Never fear, Jacob has a most excellent way of handling that problem. Shirtless.)
(READ: The last time Mary Pols claimed a Twilight movie was the “best so far.” Clearly, she’s on Team Jacob.)
I do appreciate the Cullens sense of home décor however, which they often seem a part of. The vampires have a habit of grouping themselves in their modern living room, paired off like tasteful ottomans and easy chairs while the camera pans over their faces, smiling or looking concerned as the situation calls for. The framing of these Twi-oramas is somewhere between soap opera and the cover shoots for Vanity Fair’s annual Hollywood issue. Their frozen quality speaks to the chronic lack of action in the series. This time the camera has to work overtime to make sure all of the visiting witnesses are included. Every time a shot paused on the Irish vampires—red heads dressed in various shades of green, fisherman sweaters and tweed caps—the audience howled at the sublime artifice. Saturday Night Live couldn’t parody Twilight better than Breaking Dawn-Part 2 itself does.
But that’s nothing compared to the howls that greeted the big dramatic showdown in a snowy field between Cullen and Co. and the Volturi. Many of the witnesses have X-Men-like special powers—influencing the elements, lightning bolts from the finger tips and such. My personal favorites are the duo whose only gift is sounding just like Count Chocula. Even though the Cullens are outnumbered by the Volturi, there’s potential for a good brawl. No spoilers, but what happens is far more dramatic and zesty than I ever would have predicted; even the dedicated Twilight fans in attendance at my screening seemed thoroughly shocked by some of it (slight spoiler: a little deviation from the book). The production still looks as cheap as a Sear’s commercial (though this movie was reportedly the most expensive of the five) and the special effects are, as usual, terrible, but all this jells perfectly with Condon’s B-movie atmosphere of melodrama and mayhem. Should I go so far as to describe Breaking Dawn-Part 2 the way Aro describes Renesmee, after a fabulous mad cackle, as “magnifico”? No. And I hope to God there isn’t some Disney-George-Lucas-style deal where we are consigned to endless Twilight movies. But while parting involved no sorrow, it was sweeter than expected.
SEE: Where the last Twilight Saga movie ranked on Time’s Top 10…Worst Movies list of 2012
<bot>: In which our reviewer exhibits signs of Stockholm Syndrome and claims this is the best Twilight movie ever
<human>: What could be a url for this news article?
<bot>: A url for this news article could be:
https://web.archive.org/web/2012111619id_/http://entertainment.time.com/2012/11/15/it-was-the-best-of-the-worst-of-times-breaking-dawn-part-2/ |
{'source': 'newsroom'} |
<human>: Produce an article summary of the following news article: As they say, the more Lyft riders, the merrier.
Lyft, the San Francisco ride-sharing company best known for its signature pink mustache logo, said Tuesday it will expand its short-distance carpooling service to six new markets the week of April 11. During that week, the service will become available to passengers in Seattle, Denver, Philadelphia, San Diego, Silicon Valley, and New Jersey.
Lyft originally debuted the service, which lets passengers request to share their ride with others nearby who are headed in a similar direction for a lower fare, in the summer of 2014 in San Francisco. It has since expanded it to Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, and Washington, D.C. Its main rival, Uber, introduced an identical service that same day, and has since made it available in a total of 29 cities.
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Currently, Lyft Line makes up almost 40% of all rides in markets where it’s available, the company says.
Though most consumers think of ride-hailing services like Lyft and Uber as private car services similar to taxis, Lyft’s founders got their start in carpooling when they founded their original company, Zimride. Zimride was a marketplace that let drivers and passengers match up for long trips, like going from San Francisco to Los Angeles, to share the costs and the experience. In a way, Lyft Line—and Lyft Carpool, the company’s new service for work commute carpooling—is the company going back to its roots.
For passengers who have extra time to spare, these carpooling services are a welcome way to save a few bucks on each ride. But for the ride-hailing companies, they’re a way to eventually increase their earnings by packing more paying passengers into one ride. For now, however, both Uber and Lyft are heavily subsidizing their carpooling services as they work to entice passengers with low prices to increase the demand, though Uber recently told The New York Times that the service is profitable in “many” of its cities.
Founded in 2012, Lyft has raised $2 billion in total funding and is currently valued at $5.5 billion.
<bot>: Lyft has roots in carpooling.
<human>: What could be a url for this news article?
<bot>: A url for this news article could be:
http://web.archive.org/web/20160419221849id_/http://fortune.com:80/2016/04/05/lyft-line-expansion/ |
{'source': 'newsroom'} |
<human>: Produce an article summary of the following news article: A good coleslaw is sufficient accompaniment, but if you want potatoes, just cut some into one-inch cubes, toss them in a shallow roasting tray and pour over a tablespoon or two of oil, add a few unpeeled cloves of garlic and a sprinkling of sea salt and mix well. Roast them in the oven below the chicken. When the chicken is done, let it rest for about 15 minutes, keeping the potatoes in to crisp up.
As for the coleslaw, James Beard once wrote that it ''is as old as cabbage and has known many different versions -- and strangely enough, practically all of them are good.''
Some weeks ago I made a slaw in which the cabbage was mixed with half-moons of red onion, chopped pistachios and snipped apricot. I love it that way, but any variation would be good in this meal.
Strawberry streusel cake is the perfect end to a summer meal. But here's the interesting thing: eat it slightly warm and it's dessert; let it get cold, and it makes a great coffeecake for breakfast the next day.
The cake is slightly tricky to assemble: as you press the sticky batter into the pan, then pour over the blended strawberries and finally sprinkle on the streusel, you are likely to feel that it's all an awful mess and never going to work. But it does: everything comes together in the pan as it bakes.
This is the kind of thing you can cook on the weekend, when there's a little more time to spend in the kitchen (bake it before you roast the chicken); it's not a recipe you would necessarily want to embark on at the end of a long working day. For, just as cooking depends on the small tweaking of what might seem minor ingredients, what you want to cook depends on how your life is at any moment. It would be a sad life, however, that couldn't ever find room for a tender, fragrant strawberry sour cream streusel cake.
Time: 1 hour 30 minutes, plus overnight marinating
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 cloves garlic, lightly crushed
1 tablespoon crushed black peppercorns
1 tablespoon Maldon or other sea salt
2 tablespoons fresh rosemary leaves, roughly chopped.
1. Butterfly chicken by placing breast side down and using heavy-duty kitchen shears to cut along both sides of backbone. Discard backbone, turn chicken over and open it like a book. Press gently to flatten it.
2. Place chicken in a large freezer bag. Add buttermilk, 1/4 cup oil, garlic, peppercorns, salt, rosemary and honey. Seal bag securely and refrigerate overnight or up to two days.
3. Heat oven to 400 degrees. Remove chicken from marinade and place on a rack so excess can drip off. Line a roasting pan with foil and place chicken in pan. Drizzle with remaining 2 tablespoons oil. Roast for 45 minutes, then reduce heat to 325 degrees. Continue roasting until well browned and until juices run clear when chicken is pierced where leg joins thigh, about another 20 minutes.
4. Place chicken on a carving board and allow to rest for 10 minutes before cutting into serving pieces. Place a portion on each of four plates, and drizzle each serving with pan juices.
STRAWBERRY SOUR CREAM STREUSEL CAKE
Time:About 1 hour, plus cooling
2 cups plus 2 tablespoons flour
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) cold butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
2 teaspoons Demerara or turbinado sugar.
1. Prepare strawberry purée: In a blender, combine strawberries and jam. Make a paste of cornstarch and vanilla, and add to blender. Purée until smooth. Set aside.
2. Prepare cake: Heat oven to 375 degrees. Oil a 9-inch springform pan and set aside. In a large bowl, combine sugar, flour, baking powder and baking soda. Sprinkle in butter cubes and rub them in by hand until mixture resembles large coarse crumbs. Remove 1/2 cup and set it aside. To large bowl, add sour cream, egg and vanilla. Mix well.
3. Using a little over half the cake batter, drop dollops of batter into pan. Pat batter across bottom of pan and about 1 inch up sides; mixture will be very sticky and somewhat uneven. Add strawberry purée, making an even layer across bottom of pan and leaving a rim of dough above it. Cover with remaining cake mixture.
4. Prepare crumble topping: In a medium bowl, combine reserved 1/2 cup dough and Demerara sugar. Stir with a fork to mix. Sprinkle evenly over cake.
5. Bake cake until lightly golden, about 45 minutes. Cool completely before serving.
<bot>: Nigella Lawson column on making buttermilk roast chicken and strawberry sour cream streusel cake; recipes; photos (M)
<human>: What could be a url for this news article?
<bot>: A url for this news article could be:
http://web.archive.org/web/20160525001719id_/http://www.nytimes.com:80/2004/07/21/dining/at-my-table-spatchcock-the-chicken-cut-the-cake-ah-summer.html? |
{'source': 'newsroom'} |
<human>: Produce an article summary of the following news article: A balanced diet is crucial for overall health. But do certain foods also have specific benefits for managing psoriasis? Many people with the disease believe so. However, research has yielded mixed results. Here’s what’s known about diet and psoriasis—and what’s not.
Fatty types of fish—such as salmon, albacore tuna, herring, lake trout, and sardines—are high in omega-3 fatty acids. These healthy fats help fight inflammation. And that might mean they’re helpful for psoriasis, which is an inflammatory skin condition. Numerous studies have tested this theory. Unfortunately, the results didn’t always show that omega-3s led to a clear-cut improvement in psoriasis.
There’s stronger evidence that eating fish is good for your heart. The American Heart Association recommends consuming fish—particularly fatty fish—at least twice a week. (Children and pregnant women should avoid types of fish that are more likely to have high levels of mercury contamination, such as shark, swordfish, king mackerel, and tilefish.) Your heart and blood vessels will thank you for that fish filet. And if it turns out to also help your psoriasis, that’s a nice bonus.
Some people with psoriasis believe that wheat worsens their symptoms. It’s possible that they’re sensitive to gluten, a protein found in wheat, rye, and barley. A 2008 study, published in the Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology, supports this theory. It found that psoriasis patients had increased levels of certain antibodies in their blood that are signs of gluten sensitivity.
If you have both psoriasis and gluten sensitivity, a gluten-free diet might help control your psoriasis symptoms. This type of diet rules out wheat, rye, and barley, which are found in most breads, pastas, and cereals as well as many processed foods. Look instead for gluten-free products, made with potato, rice, soy, buckwheat, amaranth, quinoa, or bean flour.
Some people report that red meat or fatty foods aggravate their psoriasis. No research clearly supports this connection. But it’s possible that food triggers vary from person to person. If you suspect that certain foods might be making your psoriasis worse, test it out: Stop eating those items and see what happens.
Smart food choices—such as eating more fruits and veggies and limiting saturated fat, trans fat, and added sugar—promote general health. Combined with regular exercise and adequate sleep, a healthy diet also helps manage stress and fend off infections, both of which may trigger psoriasis. Plus, a balanced diet helps control your weight. And that’s important, because research has linked a higher level of body fat with more severe psoriasis symptoms.
When you have psoriasis, eating well and enhancing wellness go hand in hand.
<bot>: Do certain foods also have specific benefits for managing psoriasis? Many people with the disease believe so.
<human>: What could be a url for this news article?
<bot>: A url for this news article could be:
https://web.archive.org/web/2012073119id_/http://inhealth.cnn.com/psoriasis/can-you-eat-to-beat-psoriasis |
{'source': 'newsroom'} |
<human>: Produce an article summary of the following news article: The Trump University scandal has bubbled up yet again for presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump, and this time there is on-the-record testimony from former employees essentially saying that the whole thing was a scam.
One former employee cited in various news reports is Ronald Schnackenberg, who served as a sales manager at the Trump Organization for eight months in 2006 and 2007.
“I believe that Trump University was a fraudulent scheme,” Schnackenberg said, according to a recently unsealed court document, “and that it preyed upon the elderly and the uneducated to separate them from their money.”
Related: Here Are Trump University’s Aggressive Sales ‘Playbooks’
According to a Linkedin profile, a Ronald Schnackenberg who worked for the Trump Organization at the same time as the man who gave the testimony is currently employed at Conversant LLC, a digital marketing company based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Schnackenberg also says that during the whole time he worked for Trump University, he never once saw Donald Trump.
Attempts to reach Schnackenberg via Linkedin and through Conversant were unsuccessful. A request for comment from the Trump campaign was not immediately returned.
If this is indeed the same Ron Schnackenberg, he has another connection to the anti-Trump political force still growing in the U.S.: after he worked for Trump, he spent 11 months working at The Glenn Beck Program. Beck, a prominent conservative media personality, has been virulently anti-Trump since the beginning. Just this week, SiriusXM siri announced it is “evaluating” The Glenn Beck Program after suspending the program citing “comments recently made by a guest on the independently produced [show], in our judgment, may be reasonably construed by some to have been advocating harm against an individual currently running for office, which we cannot condone.”
Related: Here’s Why Glenn Beck Was Suspended From SiriusXM
Neither Glenn Beck nor SiriusXM could immediately be reached for comment.
<bot>: He doesn't like Donald Trump, that's for sure.
<human>: What could be a url for this news article?
<bot>: A url for this news article could be:
http://web.archive.org/web/20160604032916id_/http://fortune.com:80/2016/06/01/trump-university-fraud-ronald-schnackenberg/ |
{'source': 'newsroom'} |
<human>: Produce an article summary of the following news article: By Jayne Clark, USA TODAY
They're not Orlando. And they certainly aren't Las Vegas. But that's the point of the towns on the annual America's Dozen Distinctive Destinations list selected by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
For the past 11 years, the organization has chosen locales that might not be obvious vacation destinations, but nevertheless harbor rich cultural and recreational experiences and "exude an authentic sense of place."
The 2011 winners were announced today and the NTHP wants you to vote for the place that deserves the No. 1 spot (or just has the most fans). Voting continues through March 15 and stuffing the online ballot box is allowed -- you can vote once a day -- but you must be 18 or older and a U.S. resident. Voters are automatically entered to win a two-night stay at any Historic Hotel of America.
GALLERY: See photos of this year's distinctive destinations
Alexandria, Va. – The culturally rich Washington, D.C., suburb sports an "extraordinary blend of early America and modern chic, (with) an eclectic mix of neighborhoods, historic sites, dining and shopping."
Chapel Hill, N.C. – Well-preserved historic districts and a bustling downtown are some of the assets in a city nicknamed the "Southern Part of Heaven."
Colorado Springs, Colo. – The historic Rocky Mountain town has fabulous views of Pikes Peak from almost everywhere in town.
Dandridge, Tenn. – Set in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains, the southern Appalachian town has "a welcoming small town spirit and a charming historic downtown."
Eureka, Calif. – The beautifully preserved Victorian seaport on the state's northern coast boasts "a lively Old Town, the Carson Mansion -- one of the most photographed homes in America -- and nearby forests of majestic old growth redwoods."
Muskogee, Okla. – Once the unofficial capital of Indian Territory, the town has a multi-cultural history that blends Native American, African American and Euro American influences. It celebrates that history with a number of festivals in its vibrant downtown.
New Bedford, Mass. – Scenic beaches, maritime history, architectural and historical riches and a growing arts community make this former whaling port an attractive place.
Paducah, Ky. – The river town has thriving historic districts with one-of-a-kind shops and eateries. It's a community that "creatively celebrates its cultural and artistic heritage."
San Angelo, Texas – "A bustling downtown historic district and vibrant cultural offerings" exude authentic Old West ambiance.
Saint Paul, Minn. – "Visitors can browse the quaint shops of Grand Avenue, dine in the strikingly restored warehouse district, or be awed by the stately mansions along Summit Avenue."
Sheridan, Wyo. – The town has a lively Main Street commercial district, plus lots of recreational opportunities in the shadow of the Big Horns.
Sonoma, Calif. – "The town offers all the perks of being in the heart of wine country, with the added benefit of a laid-back vibe that complements the award-winning wine and food."
Did the National Trust leave any deserving towns off the list? Weigh in here.
Posted Feb 15 2011 5:03AM
<bot>: They're not Orlando. And they certainly aren't Las Vegas. But that's the point of the towns on the annual America's Dozen Distinctive Destinations list selected by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. For the past 11 years, the organization has chosen locales that might not be obvious vacation destinations, but nevertheless harbor rich cultural and recreational experiences and "exude an authentic sense of place."
<human>: What could be a url for this news article?
<bot>: A url for this news article could be:
https://web.archive.org/web/2011021519id_/http://travel.usatoday.com/destinations/dispatches/post/2011/02/meet-the-usas-newest-top-12-distinctive-destinations-which-should-be-no-1-1/143003/1 |
{'source': 'newsroom'} |
<human>: Produce an article summary of the following news article: As I wrote in Thursday’s paper, the Fukushima Daiichi accident is renewing a debate over whether the emergency venting systems that were added to boiling water reactors 20 years ago should be opened only directly by operators or function automatically.
At Fukushima and at plants in the United States, they variously require button-pushing in the control room, electricity or compressed gas to operate the valves, and/or muscle power on a crank. After the March 11 earthquake in Japan, operators there couldn’t make the valves work through any of these methods.
This may have made the Fukushima accident more serious, because in several of the reactors, pressures rose well above design limits and the primary containments, the steel-and-concrete enclosures that are a crucial barrier against the release of radioactive materials, sprung leaks. It is not clear now precisely where those leaks are, but the containments are penetrated by pipes in numerous places, and a seal around one or more of those pipes may have failed. The leaks have made stabilization more difficult because the Tokyo Electric Power Company has been pouring in water by the ton to submerge the reactor cores and prevent melting. Instead, the water is flowing out through the holes into the secondary containments, and from there, in some cases into the soil and the sea, picking up radioactive contamination on the way.
When the reactors were designed in the 1960s, the idea was that in the event of an accident, all of the radioactive materials would be bottled up in the primary containment. This was itself a philosophical reversal, in the sense that it was an acknowledgment that it might be impossible to hold everything in.
The notion was that early in the accident, the steam would present a risk of overpressure but would not hold very much radioactive material; letting out a burp, the thinking went, would keep other structures intact so that more contaminated materials would be held in. The part that was vented, the torus, a tank holding about one million gallons of water, would “scrub” the dirty stuff out of the steam and leave the fragments of fuel and other radioactive materials behind in the water. Thus the radioactive releases would in theory be quite small.
Yet since 1989, when the Nuclear Regulatory Commission told American plant operators that it liked the venting idea, the thinking has changed further on the operation of boiling water reactors. For one thing, most American reactors have been allowed to bolster their steam output so they can make more electricity. To get permission to do this, a reactor owner must arrive at a calculation that the emergency core cooling system could still work in case of excess heat.
Some plants now anticipate high pressure, and, in fact, require it for safe operation.
In an accident in which a reactor vessel dumped water on the floor, emergency pumps would suck that water up and put it back into the reactor. But if those pumps sucked too hard, they would pull in steam bubbles or air, which could disable the pump.
Reactor operators have argued, though, that steam bubbles will not develop, even at relatively high temperatures. The reason is that in an accident, the containment will be at a higher pressure, and water will not boil at the standard 212 degrees at high pressure; temperatures have to be much higher.
The pumps can continue suctioning water in those conditions. But this requires keeping control of venting, because if the pressure falls too far, the pumps will stop working. This phenomenon is known as net positive suction head. or N.P.S.H.
“Vents and the N.P.S.H. problem go hand in hand,’’ said Arnie Gundersen, a nuclear consultant and critic of the Vermont Yankee plant, which was one of the first to use the argument to win permission to boost its output.
“If a vent sticks open or if the containment breaches, the emergency core cooling system pumps will fail to cool the core if they rely on the overpressure credit,’’ he said.
If the vent is operated with an electrically driven valve, as in the current design, operators can control how much steam they let out and how much pressure they keep in. The alternative is probably a rupture disk, a thin piece of steel that breaks at a pre-designed level, just below the pressure that is likely to rupture the containment.
In a system that relies on a rupture disk, a valve left in the open position would also be installed. If the disk ruptured, the only way to re-close the system would be to close the valve. But just as the Fukushima operators discovered that in an accident there may be no way to open a valve, some experts fear that in another accident, with a rupture disk having performed its function, there would not be a way to close the valve.
Anthony G. Sarrack, an engineer who warned the Nuclear Regulatory Commission five years ago that the vents would work better with a passive design, suggested in an e-mail that the debate over passive venting is essentially over.
“Although multiple people claim that they aren’t clear about whether it is better to have passive venting or valves that require action to allow containment venting,” he said, the next generation of boiling reactor waters include a passive design (nearly identical to the one I recommended).”
<bot>: Emergency venting systems in Japan and the United States variously require button-pushing in the control room, electricity or compressed gas to operate the valves, and/or muscle power on a crank. After the quake in Japan, operators there couldn't make the valves work through any of these methods.
<human>: What could be a url for this news article?
<bot>: A url for this news article could be:
https://web.archive.org/web/2011051919id_/http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/05/19/the-importance-of-venting-when-a-reactor-threatens-to-blow-its-stack/ |
{'source': 'newsroom'} |
<human>: Produce an article summary of the following news article: If you’re shopping for a personality disorder to call your own, you might want to avoid becoming a narcissist. It’s true that you’ll be confident, charismatic, extroverted and irresistible, but only until people discover that you’re also arrogant, self-absorbed, insensitive and unlovable. Now, one more contradiction in the narcissistic personality has been revealed. Even as narcissists take better care of themselves than nonnarcissists do — eating well and exercising regularly — they’re also likelier to engage in risky behaviors that could kill them before they can take advantage of those good habits.
That’s the conclusion of a new study by psychologist Erin Hill of West Chester University in Pennsylvania. Like most researchers studying narcissism, Hill knew there is much more nuance to the disorder than there seems to be. Narcissists are cocky, yes, but they’re hungry too — for recognition, applause, approval, validation. Their profound sense of insecurity also bumps up against a paradoxical sense of indestructibility — a belief that they are immune to the kinds of dangers most other people take pains to avoid.
To test the self-enhancing and self-destructive crosscurrents in the narcissistic temperament, Hill recruited 365 undergraduate students and asked them to take the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI), a 40-item questionnaire that is considered the best available tool to diagnose the condition. NPI scores can range from a theoretical low of zero to a theoretical high of 40, but in the U.S. the average is about 15.5. The students in Hill’s study averaged a bit higher — 18.25 for males and 16.04 for females — which is typical for a population of young people who have yet to be chastened by setbacks in life.
Hill next asked her subjects to answer a number of questions about how they live — in both good ways and bad. In the first category, she asked them how many fruits and vegetables they eat per week, how consistently they maintain a healthy eating pattern overall, how often they exercise and whether they regularly practice safe sex. In the second category, she asked them if they smoke, how often and how much they drink, whether they use marijuana or other drugs, and whether they engage in reckless driving behaviors like texting behind the wheel or not wearing a seat belt.
MORE: How Do You Spot a Narcissist? Just Ask
The results were a mix of reasonably good news and very bad news. Narcissism did not seem to be linked to increased smoking, use of drugs other than pot or a greater likelihood of practicing unsafe sex — suggesting that some health messages are getting through even to people who typically think they’re above such concerns. But high NPI scores were significantly related to more drinking—as well as more binge drinking — greater marijuana use and reckless driving.
When it came to healthy behaviors, narcissists weren’t any likelier to eat more fruits and veggies than other people, but they were likelier to maintain a healthy diet over all. They were also significantly more inclined to play sports or otherwise exercise regularly.
Those good habits, while commendable, were not necessarily well motivated, Hill concluded — perhaps little more than part of the narcissist’s deep need to be the prettiest person in any room. If that means going to the gym and saying no to dessert, fine.
The happy news for the trim and toned narcissists is that good health habits can stick for life, while bad risk behaviors do tend to decline over time, as even the hopelessly self-adoring eventually discover that they’re not invulnerable to harm. Narcissism as a whole, however, is a much harder thing to shake — which leads to the final paradox of the narcissistic personality. All that working out and eating well may be perfectly fine, but it does you little good if the people you were trying to impress have long since quit having anything to do with you.
<bot>: A strange mix of living well and taking risks adds one more puzzle to the narcissistic personality
<human>: What could be a url for this news article?
<bot>: A url for this news article could be:
https://web.archive.org/web/2015041419id_/http://time.com/3815153/narcissists-health-risks/ |
{'source': 'newsroom'} |
<human>: Produce an article summary of the following news article: Gallup Organization interviews with a random sample of 946 Muslim Americans in 2008 shed light on the demographics of this rarely studied group:
RACE: Muslims are the nation's most racially diverse religious group. At least a third of Muslim-Americans are black mostly converts or children of converts to Islam. "The significant proportion of native-born converts to Islam is a characteristic unique to the United States," Gallup said. More than a quarter call themselves white, while nearly one in five identified as Asian and about as many classified themselves as "other."
RELIGIOSITY: Muslim-Americans are more religious than other Americans, but less likely than those in predominantly Muslim countries to say religion plays an important part in their lives 80% of Muslim-Americans compared to virtually all in Egypt, Indonesia, Bangladesh and Morocco, for example.
IDEOLOGY: Muslim-Americans are the U.S. religious group most evenly spread out along the political spectrum 29% liberal, 38% moderate, 25% conservative.
PARTISANSHIP: 49% of Muslim-Americans called themselves Democrats, 8% Republican and 37% independent. Gallup found that among all Americans in 2008 34% identified as Democratic, 26% Republican and 33% independent. But voter registration was relatively low among Muslim-Americans.
OTHER DEMOGRAPHICS: Muslim-Americans skew young, with 36% age 18-29, double the rate for the general population. They're more likely than other Americans to be single. Forty percent have at least a college degree, compared to 29% of Americans overall. Muslims may be slightly more likely than other Americans to report low household income.
Results were subject to sampling error of +/- 4 percentage points for Muslim-Americans, 0.2 points for all Americans
NEW YORK (AP) Some Muslims who were initially indifferent about a proposed Islamic center near the
site are now rallying around the plan, partly in response to a sense that their faith is under assault.
A summit of U.S. Muslim organizations is planned for Saturday and Sunday in New York City to address both the project and a rise in anti-Muslim sentiments and rhetoric that has accompanied the debate over the project.
It has yet to be seen whether the group will emerge with a firm stand on the proposed community center, dubbed Park51. The primary purpose of the two-day meeting is to talk about ways to combat religious bigotry.
But Shaik Ubaid of the Islamic Leadership Council of Metropolitan New York, one of the groups organizing the gathering, said he has a growing sense that the project is being embraced by American Muslims and Muslim groups after some initial trepidation.
"Once it became a rallying cry for extremists, we had no choice but to stand with Feisal Rauf," he said, referring to the New York City imam who has been leading the drive for the center.
Groups scheduled to participate in the summit include the Islamic Society of North America, the Islamic Circle of North America, the Muslim Alliance of North America and the Council on American Islamic Relations.
Gauging support for the center among U.S. Muslims is difficult. As a group, they are diverse, ranging from blacks who found the faith during the civil rights movement to recent immigrants hailing from opposite ends of the globe. They rarely speak with one voice.
Yet after a pastor in Florida injected himself into the debate by threatening to burn copies of the Quran, U.S. Muslims stirred.
"I think most Muslims outside New York City are more concerned about the backlash than the actual center, which most of them will never directly benefit from," said Shahed Amanullah, the editor-in-chief of the website altmuslim.com and a group of other Islam-themed sites.
"Grass-roots support is indeed building," he said, "but that is probably more due to the pushback against the general hostile climate."
The center's location two blocks from the World Trade Center site has upset some relatives of Sept. 11, 2001, victims and stirred nationwide debate and angry demands that it be moved. Critics say the site of mass murder by Islamic extremists is no place for an Islamic institution.
Rauf has called for the 13-story Islamic center to be open to people of all faiths, while his co-leader of the project, Manhattan real estate developer Sharif El-Gamal, has stressed its non-religious aspects, which include a health club and culinary school.
The weekend summit comes as some supporters of the center have encouraged its organizers to include prayer space for Jews, Christians and other religious groups as a way of countering critics who say it will be a monument to Islamic supremacy.
Julie Menin, the chairwoman of the Manhattan community board that endorsed the project months ago, said she is scheduled to meet with Rauf to discuss the interfaith possibility in the coming weeks.
"They had always talked about giving the center an interfaith concept," she said, "like having classes in Buddhism."
"It's one thing to have panel discussions, but if you really want to bring these factions together ... have a nondenominational interfaith space, like the chapel at the Pentagon, where local rabbis and priests could hold services on different days of the week."
There has always been some interfaith support for the center.
Its backers modeled their concept for the center after the city's two popular Jewish community centers and consulted at length with the managers to learn how to make their model work downtown, and reached out to some neighborhood politicians for support.
There was much less outreach to Muslims, Ubaid said.
Rauf, he said, may have been a regular talking head for the national news media on Muslim world affairs, but among New York City imams he was something of an outsider, Ubaid said.
"He was not that involved with the local Muslim community," Ubaid said. He said that included a general failure to round up support for the center before going public with his plans. "Had we consulted us, we probably would have told him, gently, no."
Even after the proposal became public, there was a hesitation by some Muslim groups to quickly endorse the idea, in part because of questions about its feasibility.
Questions about the project's finances have indeed lingered. The investment partnership that owns the property, led by El-Gamal, quickly fell more than $224,000 behind on its property taxes this summer.
The city's finance department confirmed Friday that El-Gamal had begun resolving that debt Wednesday, turning over a check for a little more than $35,000 and signing on to an eight-installment payment plan to pay the rest.
El-Gamal said in a statement that the failure to pay was due to a dispute with the city over the assessed value of the property — an appeal that is still pending.
Rauf and his wife, Daisy Khan, have also been sued by a small city in New Jersey over the conditions in two apartment buildings they own there. Khan said in court papers filed Thursday that repairs are underway.
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<bot>: Some Muslims who were initially indifferent about a proposed Islamic center near the World Trade Center site are now rallying around the plan, partly in response to a sense that their faith is under assault.
<human>: What could be a url for this news article?
<bot>: A url for this news article could be:
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<human>: Produce an article summary of the following news article: Investors who love their Google stock will soon have two more reasons, as today is the day the company will pull off its unusual two-for-one stock split.
The much anticipated and widely misunderstood split will award Google shareholders with two additional shares of the company for everyone one they own as of March 27. But there’s a twist that makes this deal much less appealing than it appears. Investors who own the company’s common Class A shares will be receiving two shares of a newly created Class C shares. The Class A shares will trade under a new symbol, GOOGL, while the new Class C shares trade under GOOG starting Thursday.
The problem for investors is the voting rights. These new Class C shares receive absolutely no voting rights. This means that founders’ Larry Page and Sergey Brin, who own the super voting control Class B shares, solidify their control of the company they founded. These new 330 million Class C shares will be like free money for Page and Sergey, giving them the ability to buy other companies without risking watering down their voting stakes.
The company’s famously high stock price, now north of $1,100 apiece, will likely fall to between $500 and $600 a share to reflect the influx of new shares outstanding.
Page and Brin currently own north of 50% of the company’s voting power. If the company continued to issue shares to employees and to buy other companies, their grip on the company was threatened. To prevent them from losing control, this move is being taken.
If the move seems unfriendly to shareholders, some agree. Some investors filed a lawsuit, including Brockton Retirement Board. Conflict over the unusual split is one reason why it took so long to complete the split. The result is a convoluted system where Google would compensate Google Class C shareholders if the value of the non-voting shares were to fall at least 1% below the value of the Class A shares through April 2, 2015.
<bot>: Investors who love their Google stock will soon have two more reasons, as today is the day the company will pull off its unusual two-for-one stock split. The much anticipated and widely misundersto...
<human>: What could be a url for this news article?
<bot>: A url for this news article could be:
https://web.archive.org/web/2014040219id_/http://marketsblog.usatoday.com/2014/04/02/google-stock-two-for-one-stock-split-happens-today/ |
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<human>: Produce an article summary of the following news article: Every time Jacob Hall calls, the conversation goes about the same. “Hello, this is Jacob, how are you today?” he begins.
“I’m fine, Jacob,” you might respond. “How are you?”
“I’m doing fine, thanks for asking. I’ll make this brief. I’m calling from the National Tax Help Center and we might be able to help you eliminate 70 to 90 percent of your liability, and in some cases even more….”
As a conversationalist, Hall sounds friendly enough at first, but then his awkward pauses and repetitive phrases make it obvious there’s something unnatural about him. When asked directly, Jacob will deny that he’s a robot, or that he is a soundboard being manipulated by a real person deploying pre-recorded messages, or even that he’s making a sales call. But even as much about him remains a mystery, one thing is clear: Jacob Hall does lie.
Jacob is one of a growing legion of cyborgs conducting telemarketing operations that walk a thin line between creepy and outright illegal. After receiving calls in December from a similar recorded voice, who called herself Samantha West, TIME has been looking into the sources of these weird, unsettling telemarketing calls. What we found in Jacob’s case was even weirder. The company that effectively “employs” him claimed no knowledge of his work, and could not trace how he got hired.
The technology that enables both Hall and West is so new that many people who receive their calls do not know they are speaking with a recorded voice. In online chat rooms, people have been complaining of late about strange phone calls from these almost-human telemarketers. Some people think West and Hall are actual humans. Some people confuse them for autonomous robots. In fact, they are soundboards run by real-live people who hold “conversations” through pre-recorded utterances. They allow employees with heavy accents, subpar voice tones or a shaky hold on the English language to speak in perfect, friendly voices to a prospective mark. They are basically machine-enhanced humans, or cyborgs.
If you entertain his queries, after a few minutes, Hall will hand you off to a live person speaking with his or her own voice at the California-based company Authority Tax Services, by all indications a perfectly legitimate, above-the-board tax accounting firm. We called the CEO, prominent tax attorney and Loyola Law School adjunct Wayne Johnson, to ask about the questionable telemarketing operation.
“What you’re describing doesn’t sound like something we do—or that we’re supposed to be doing,” Johnson said. He seemed truly bewildered by the telemarketing cyborg Jacob. “I’m as curious as you are at this point,” he said.
He referred TIME to Michael Hernandez in his operations department, but Hernandez was almost as stumped as Johnson. After TIME reporters called Jacob and got through to Authority Tax Services, Hernandez said the account showed up in his system simply as an “inbound business lead.” Hernandez said he did not know what company had employed Jacob to generate sales leads to sell to Authority Tax Services. He said he tried to trace the call through the marketing companies he does business with but came up empty handed.
“We don’t even know that this person is calling on our behalf, if they are. Which is bizarre,” Johnson said. “Which goes back to whoever the lead generators are must be out there subbing out to other companies, and the other companies are doing the robo-dialing.”
Unsolicited cyborg phone solicitations aren’t just a matter of annoyance. From two separate area codes in Colorado and California, Jacob had repeatedly called a TIME reporter’s phone number that is on the Federal Trade Commission’s Do Not Call list, a violation of which can incur a penalty of up to $16,000—per call. A completely separate company that has little or nothing to do with Authority Tax Services may be running a telemarketing operation, or subcontracting such an operation out, that violates the Do Not Call registry to generate business for Johnson’s firm without Johnson’s knowledge.
In many cases, firms that get leads from Do Not Call violators are sketchy operations themselves, but a search turned up no litigation or formal complaints against Authority Tax Services, which appears to be running a normal, legal business. The company, by all appearances, is just contracting with other firms that get sent client prospects by a telemarketing firm that employs cyborgs.
<bot>: Cyborgs may be the strangest new development in companies' efforts to sell you something over the phone. And we found one company that didn't even know it was using robots
<human>: What could be a url for this news article?
<bot>: A url for this news article could be:
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<human>: Produce an article summary of the following news article: Mr. Bhasker, who had just finished a long day in the studio with Beyoncé, had already canceled two meetings with Mr. Ruess. He said he had decided to give Mr. Ruess, a 30-year-old songwriter from Phoenix, just 10 minutes.
But the two started talking about music, and Mr. Bhasker became intrigued by Mr. Ruess’s desire to merge hip-hop beats and electronic effects with his theatrical pop-rock, reminiscent of 1970s bands like Queen and Electric Light Orchestra. Mr. Bhasker invited Mr. Ruess to his room to hear some Beyoncé tracks he had been working on. Slightly tipsy and feeling inspired, Mr. Ruess belted out the chorus for “We Are Young,” an unfinished song that had been rattling around his head.
“I was kind of blown away,” Mr. Bhasker recalled. “He sings me the song, and I immediately booked a studio for the next day.”
The song they recorded that week eventually became a breakout hit that topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart this week and has sold more than 1.2 million digital copies. It anchors Fun.’s second album, “Some Nights,” which made its debut last week at No. 3 on the Billboard album chart and remains at No. 12 this week, having sold 95,000 copies.
Those numbers represent a remarkable success for this New York-based indie group; its first album, “Aim & Ignite” (Nettwerk, 2009), has sold only 75,000 copies and has never climbed above No. 71 on the album chart. The spike in popularity is even more rare for an alternative rock outfit: It has been more than a decade since a rock band had a song enter the pop chart in the top spot. (Nickelback did it in December 2001 with “How You Remind Me.”) Billboard put Fun. (yes, it’s spelled with a period) on its cover this week.
The song has also been gaining airplay on independent stations in recent weeks. “It doesn’t sound like anything else on the radio — it’s fresh,” said Bruce Warren, the assistant station manager for WXPN (88.5 FM) in Philadelphia. “At the same time, though, it has almost immediate familiarity. Obviously the harmonies bring to mind a band like Queen, so there’s a touch point for older listeners.”
The success of “We Are Young,” which features Janelle Monáe as a guest vocalist, owes something to a couple of marketing coups for its record label, Fueled by Ramen. Last year the producers of Fox’s “Glee” decided to cover the song, even though it had not yet been released, and the show generally avoids songs by new bands before they become famous, Tracey Raftery, a “Glee” spokeswoman, said. Then Chevrolet used it in a commercial shown during the Super Bowl, and the single soared, selling 301,000 copies last week alone.
Mr. Ruess has a knack for writing grandiose pop tunes with complex structures, soaring hooks and pensive verses. During a creative dry spell in late 2010, he began to pester the head of his label, John Janick, about working with Mr. Bhasker. He had become fascinated with Mr. Bhasker’s experimental hip-hop tracks on Drake’s “Thank Me Later” and Kanye West’s “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.”
“I started falling in love with the Drake album and the Kanye album, and I thought, that’s really theatrical, and it’s hip-hop music, and I make really theatrical music,” Mr. Ruess said. “Why can’t I add a hip-hop element?” He said his idea was “to take that ’70s songwriting style but modernize it a little bit more.”
Musically, Mr. Bhasker pushed Mr. Ruess and his band mates — the guitarist Jack Antonoff and the keyboardist Andrew Dost — to use a more lush sonic palette with heavier rhythmic underpinnings than they had on their previous album, which they produced themselves.
Mr. Bhasker layered Mr. Ruess’s crystalline tenor upon itself like “a Freddie Mercury choir,” in Mr. Bhasker’s words, and sometimes altered the singer’s voice with Auto-Tune, the pitch-correction device, to give it a robotic sound. Several tracks feature the ominously low synthesizer parts Mr. Bhasker is known for.
Unlike the group’s previous album, this one has drum tracks that are completely synthetic, but rich, propulsive and booming, with very few cymbals, echoing Peter Gabriel’s work. Mr. Bhasker mixed in odd strains of exotic instruments on some tracks, like Irish drums and whistles on the lilting “Carry On.”
Mr. Ruess’s lyrics give the album a troubling and introspective edge. “We Are Young” starts out with a confused, fumbling apology in a bar — a young man trying to atone to someone for a mysterious past offense — before breaking into an anthemic chorus about being young. Another song, “It Gets Better,” relates an unromantic scene in which a girl loses her virginity.
The title track expresses the existential angst of a young man a long way from home and includes lines like:
My heart is breaking for my sister and the con that she called love
and when I look into my nephew’s eyes
Man, you wouldn’t believe the most amazing things that can come from
“He can tackle these really dark subjects and put this pop melody to it,” Mr. Bhasker said.
Mr. Ruess said he moved to New York and formed the trio in 2008 after the breakup of his Phoenix-based band, the Format. He recruited Mr. Antonoff, who had been a guitarist with Steel Train, and, Mr. Dost, who played keyboards for Anathallo. They had all had a modicum of success in the indie-pop world but never broke into the ranks of the big-earning acts. Fun. is a second-chance band, Mr. Ruess said, and the members never expected it to be a commercial success.
Mr. Ruess, who lists Fleetwood Mac and Van Morrison among his favorites, said he did not want to revive the ’70s pop-rock sound so much as reinvent it.
“I remember George Harrison once said E.L.O. is what the Beatles would have sounded like if they had kept going,” he said, referring to Electric Light Orchestra. “I think that ’70s classic music — if it had continued to go — that this is what it would sound like.”
This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:
An earlier version of this article gave the wrong call-letters and frequency for a radio station in Philadelphia. It is WXPN (88.5 FM), not WPXN (104.9 FM), which is a station in Illinois.
An earlier version of this article gave the wrong call-letters and frequency for a radio station in Philadelphia. It is WXPN (88.5 FM), not WPXN (104.9 FM), which is a station in Illinois.
<bot>: Nate Ruessâs long-awaited meeting at the Bowery Hotel with a sought-after producer, Jeff Bhasker, helped change the trajectory of his band.
<human>: What could be a url for this news article?
<bot>: A url for this news article could be:
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<human>: Produce an article summary of the following news article: Giants 20-17. - January 30, 2012 & February 6, 2012 (cover date) - The New England Patriots's quarterback Tom Brady and Owner Robert Kraft were featured on the cover in consecutive weeks leading up to the Super Bowl. On February 5, 2012, the Patriots went
even though it no longer... Just one day before his New England Patriots hosted the Baltimore Ravens in the AFC Championship, Robert Kraft attended a Boston Bruins game at the TD Garden and took a whole lot away from his experience. Kraft enjoyed the Bruins
head of Caesars Entertainment — which is in a fierce casino license battle against Patriots [team stats] owner Robert Kraft and mogul Steve Wynn — rebuffed critics of legalized gambling at a Hub luncheon today and insisted that a Boston casino would be better
Super Bowl. Well, everybody put your shirt back on (not you, Gronk, you’re cool). This was an after party set up by owner Robert Kraft - it was a party whether you win or lose affair, and I give the Pats a pass here for being able to celebrate a good season,
<bot>: Collection of all USATODAY.com coverage of Robert Kraft, including articles, videos, photos, and quotes.
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https://web.archive.org/web/2012020619id_/http://content.usatoday.com/topics/topic/People/Sports+Coaches,+Team+Owners,+Execs,+Officials/NFL/Robert+Kraft |
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<human>: Produce an article summary of the following news article: Just days after a failed attempt to predict the end of the world another doomsday group says Armageddon will happen before the end of the year.
A blog post by a group who call themselves Brussell Sprout has proclaimed a new apocalyptic date, most likely in December — a belief that was also shared by website Before It’s News and is circulating around the Internet.
CHRISTIAN LEADER WHO SAID WORLD WOULD END GETS DATE WRONG
A more accurate ending date will be figured out closer to that time, the post said.
Unlike popular theories that believe the world will conclude in wraths of fire — like a recent prophecy that the world would end on Oct. 7 — this apocalypse calls for a celestial collision.
A tenth planet known long ago as Nibiru — or various other monikers such as Planet X, The Destroyer, and The Frightener — is heading toward Earth, the blog said.
As with most conspirators, the widely-shared idea claims the government is keeping people in the dark about Planet X.
“We're dealing with one of the biggest cover-ups in the history of mankind, and that's saying a lot, because the competition is so fierce,” the blog said.
Both the blog and other websites have shared frightening pictures and videos to prove the end of times is near.
The rogue planet idea has long been speculated to destroy Earth.
Notably, it was in part the basis for the Mayan apocalypse and the movie, “2012.”
The year 2012, the blog writes, was meant to throw people off about the actual meteorological super-diaster that will come this year, if not, almost certainly next year.
While believers wait to see if this end-of-the-world scenario materializes, the online Christian organization behind the failed October predication offered a lengthy explanation for their miscalculation.
“The world ending on that date was a “strong likelihood,” the fellowship’s leader, Chris McCann, wrote on a FAQ on the group’s website.
“E Bible Fellowship was incorrect regarding the specific day of its end, but we were not incorrect concerning the fact that it will one day soon come to an end,” he added.
McCann compared the unsuccessful prediction to a terminal patient who outlives his diagnosed life expectancy.
“It’s still certain he will die from his disease. It’s just a matter of when,” he wrote.
The fellowship is unique in a wide net of doomsday theories in that they’ve already wrongly predicted the world’s end twice.
Besides the October date,the group loudly shared the world world would end on May 21, 2011.
<bot>: Just days after a failed attempt to predict the end of the world, another doomsday group says it will happen before the end of the year.
<human>: What could be a url for this news article?
<bot>: A url for this news article could be:
https://web.archive.org/web/2015101719id_/http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/theorists-predict-world-december-article-1.2400154 |
{'source': 'newsroom'} |
<human>: Produce an article summary of the following news article: The section of Upper Manhattan known as Sugar Hill, poised on a bluff overlooking the Harlem Plain and distinguished by graceful rowhouses and elegant apartment buildings, achieved renown in the 1930s and 1940s, when it was home to prominent African-American professionals, political leaders, artists, musicians and writers. The song “Take the ‘A’ Train,” written by Billy Strayhorn and popularized by Duke Ellington, commemorated the neighborhood, where both lived. Nowadays, though, some newcomers say they had not heard the name Sugar Hill before they arrived.
“I just thought of the area as Harlem,” said Heva Loriston, a Haitian-American resident who does administrative work at Columbia University and who recently moved to the neighborhood with her family. “We were looking for something reasonably priced, and we found it in the area — but now we plan on staying there.”
Ms. Loriston and her husband bought the three-bedroom apartment where they live with their three daughters last June for $130,000. The apartment is a Housing Development Fund Corporation co-op, which carries income restrictions, and also needed work, she said.
Some people consider Sugar Hill — likely named for the sweet life its affluent residents were thought to enjoy in its heyday — to extend from 135th to 162nd Streets and between Edgecombe and Amsterdam Avenues. The three Sugar Hill historic districts are in a smaller area, from 145th Street to 155th Street and between Edgecombe and Amsterdam.
“A lot of times Sugar Hill is more of a state of mind than a real location, so you can have a lot of different opinions,” said Don Moses, a real estate consultant with Exit Realty Landmark who specializes in the area. Most buyers, he said, “are driven by price, first and foremost.”
But what they end up discovering is an architecturally striking neighborhood with a rich culture tied to the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s and 1930s and “a sense of community,” Mr. Moses said.
There are still some old-timers who remember the neighborhood’s glory days, but the area is changing rapidly, Mr. Moses said. Census data show the percentage of black residents shrank from 62.5 percent of the population in 2000 to 45.7 percent in 2010, while white residents increased from 2.3 percent to 10.6 percent and Hispanics grew from 31.4 to 38.6 percent. The population of the neighborhood is around 12,000.
Real estate agents said they are working with a growing number of foreign home buyers in Sugar Hill. Two years ago Lars Nordstroem, a scientist who works in the Bronx, bought a two-and-half-bedroom apartment that needed renovation — the half-bedroom was originally a maid’s quarters — in an H.D.F.C. co-op in the neighborhood. The price was $105,000.
Originally from Scandinavia, Mr. Nordstroem said he and his wife, who is from Sri Lanka, had never heard of Sugar Hill, but have been happy to call the changing neighborhood home.
“Even just over the past three years, walking around and going to the subway, there’s much more diversity than there used to be,” he said. “There’s just been tremendous change, with new restaurants and shops popping up all over the place.”
Sugar Hill, often considered part of Hamilton Heights, is almost entirely residential. It has rows of four- and five-story townhouses, generally over 4,000 square feet, said Willie Kathryn Suggs, the owner of a brokerage by that name in Sugar Hill.
“When people think of Sugar Hill, they think of the classic townhouse, something drop-dead gorgeous and dripping with Victorian details,” said Ms. Suggs, who bought a townhouse on Hamilton Terrace in 2005.
Attractive prewar apartment buildings, now co-ops, are also common. Some examples are 409 Edgecombe Avenue, which was home to the painter Aaron Douglas, the scholar and civil rights leader W. E. B. DuBois, and Thurgood Marshall, then an N.A.A.C.P. lawyer, later a Supreme Court justice. Nearby is 555 Edgecombe, a historic landmark that was home to the actor and singer Paul Robeson, the musician Count Basie and the boxer Joe Louis.
“Some of these co-ops are spectacular, with 12- or 14- or 16-room apartments,” Ms. Suggs said. There are a few newer condominiums, such as Hamilton Park on West 152nd Street and the Capstone on West 150th. More prevalent, however, are the income-restricted Housing Development Fund Corporation co-ops, which Ms. Suggs called “some of the best buys in the neighborhood.”
Even excluding income-restricted housing, Sugar Hill is still relatively underpriced, especially for townhouses, Ms. Suggs said. “Townhouses are in some cases less than half the price per square foot of the apartments, so they’re a bargain,” she said, pointing out that Harlem apartments are generally listed at around $800 to $900 per square foot, but may sell for as little as $600.
Mr. Moses said in Sugar Hill studio co-ops are generally $120,000 to the low $200,000s; one-bedrooms are $150,000 to $350,000; two-bedrooms are $300,000 to $425,000; and three-plus bedrooms are $450,000 to almost $800,000. Condos usually cost about 20 to 25 percent more than co-ops, he said.
Prices in Sugar Hill in general increased by about 15 percent to 18 percent from 2013 to 2014, Mr. Moses said.
Rental apartments are in multifamily buildings, small walk-ups and townhouses, said Águeda Ramírez, an agent with the Bohemia Realty Group. Typically, studios range from $1,350 to $1,700 a month; one-bedrooms from $1,500 to $2,000; two-bedrooms from $1,800 to $2,500, and three-bedrooms from the low $2,000s to $3,500, she said.
Sugar Hill is centrally situated in Upper Manhattan with access to its parks, including the 12.8-acre Jackie Robinson Park, which has a recreation center, a swimming pool, ball fields, playgrounds and a band shell. The neighborhood is also home to the Dance Theater of Harlem and the Harlem School of the Arts, which both have classes and performances. The newly built Sugar Hill Children’s Museum of Art and Storytelling is scheduled to open this year. The Hamilton Grange Library is a state and national landmark.
Residents usually head to Amsterdam Avenue and Broadway to shop or dine. Many restaurants have opened in the last five years, including the Chipped Cup coffee shop and Unione Restaurant and Bar, serving Italian food; both are on Broadway.
One school favored by parents, Ms. Loriston said, is Public School/Intermediate School 210, the 21st Century Academy for Community Leadership, serving about 470 students from prekindergarten to Grade 8. On state tests, 16 percent of students met standards in English, versus 28 percent citywide, according to its 2013-14 School Quality Snapshot. In math, 22 percent met standards, versus 34 percent citywide. The Sugar Hill Museum Preschool opened last fall on West 155th Street.
The A, B, C and D subway trains stop at 145th Street and St. Nicholas (the B and C part time), and the C stops at 155th Street. The 1 train runs nearby along Broadway, stopping at 145th and 157th Streets. The trip to Midtown takes about 15 to 20 minutes on express trains. Buses serving the neighborhood include the M3, the M100, the M101, the Bx6 and the Bx19.
According to the Landmarks Preservation Commission, the rocky plateau that later became known as Sugar Hill was the setting for grand estates in the late 1700s and 1800s. By the mid-1890s, the area was home to white middle- and upper-middle-class residents, joined by immigrants from Italy, Ireland and Germany. In the early 1920s blacks began to move in, and Sugar Hill reached its prime as an African-American neighborhood in the 1940s. It began to decline in the 1950s, and many prominent black residents began moving to places like Riverside Drive or St. Albans, Queens.
<bot>: The Harlem neighborhood, often considered part of Hamilton Heights, is almost entirely residential, and much of it falls within the rowhouse-laden historic districts.
<human>: What could be a url for this news article?
<bot>: A url for this news article could be:
https://web.archive.org/web/2015040919id_/http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/12/realestate/sugar-hill-rich-in-culture-and-affordable.html |
{'source': 'newsroom'} |
<human>: Produce an article summary of the following news article: Mary F. Calvert for The New York Times
Pineapple sauce poured over a banana split.
The exotic tastes of tropical fruit evoke an endless summer of ocean breezes, sandy beaches and drinks with umbrellas. But just like their colder-climate cousins (say, blueberries and peaches), these fruits have their season.
Most plants produce only one harvest a year, and for pineapples and mangoes that harvest time is now. So they are showing up at groceries in great abundance, ripe and ready to be enjoyed, just as we tire of eating cold-storage apples and pears.
For the apprehensive canner, both the mango chutney and pineapple sauce here are straightforward, uncomplicated and sophisticated condiments: beautiful in the jar, complementing and enhancing the simplest fare, and well worth preserving before the season is over.
With a little knife work and a slow simmer, the pineapple sauce is ready in no time at all. While it shines in a banana split, turning a sundae from typical to tropical, you’ll find many other ways to use it: between the layers of a classic yellow cake, added to yogurt or cottage cheese, or combined with spicy mustard and chopped scallions for a sensational baked chicken.
If the knife work strikes fear into your heart, buy the pineapple already cored and peeled. I won’t tell.
Chutneys are often made with unripe or dried fruit; they always include vinegar, sugar and spices. This recipe, with ripe fruit, offers a two-toned flavor: sweet and tropical offset by sultry spices and the heat of chilies. It’s welcome in a grilled-cheese sandwich, stirred into mayonnaise or yogurt for a quick dip or spread, or alongside any curry or daal.
Please don’t forget the “Mad Men”-era hors d’oeuvres: a wheel of Brie, doused in mango chutney and wrapped in refrigerator crescent-roll dough. Substitute puff pastry and a chunk of sharp Cheddar for an updated version.
There are thousands of varieties of mangoes, but two are predominant. The Tommy Atkin is green, blushed with rose, and as large as a softball. The champagne mango, the size of a large peach, is pale gold, with a floral flavor. I prefer the champagne, which tends to be less fibrous and has an impossibly lovely scent, but any mango is a boon. The fruit is full of such promise.
One last suggestion: As you start these preserving projects, type “steel drums” into Spotify and imagine winter away.
<bot>: With the season for mangoes and pineapples finally arriving, preserve them while they are at their best.
<human>: What could be a url for this news article?
<bot>: A url for this news article could be:
https://web.archive.org/web/2013032019id_/http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/20/dining/preserving-mangoes-and-pineapples-at-their-peak.html |
{'source': 'newsroom'} |
<human>: Produce an article summary of the following news article: H. Armstrong Roberts / Retrofile / Getty Images
A Western Union messenger, circa 1930s, announces a telegram
In a throwback to the days of yore — before email, Twitter, and Facebook put us in a state of perennial communication overload – Western Union is bringing back the singing telegram. But this time around, it’s being given a modern twist with the introduction of electronic delivery.
On Thursday the company will launch the microsite wu-singingtelegram.com, which will facilitate sending the audio messages via email. In the past, a singing telegram would be delivered by a Western Union operator, but now the sender can utilize their own voice, or choose one from a lineup of artists who have signed on with the company, including Snoop Dogg, Timbaland, and K’Naan. Thus, the 2011 version will provide a more user-generated experience. The singing telegrams will be free through the rest of 2011, though the company will begin charging a fee at the start of the new year.
(MORE: Western Union: The Fastest Way to Make Money)
Located in 200 countries, Western Union was founded in 1851 as a telegraphy company, and twenty years later began to offer money transfers, which is where the bulk of its business comes from today. Though it had been transmitting messages since the 19th century, Western Union’s first singing telegram was sent in 1933. The company continued to offer a telegram service until 2006, when it acknowledged the fading of the medium and sent its last telegram. Several smaller companies still send messages via telegraphy, though none has the clout or power of Western Union.
Various niche media have attempted to fill the void left by the demise of the singing telegram, with ideas like candygrams, gorillagrams, and even strip-o-grams. None has had the same impact as the original. By and large, society gave a collective shrug and moved on to newer technologies.
So the question remains: does anyone today even know – or more importantly, care — what a singing telegram is? Obviously no one is clamoring for telegrams to replace email. But when you can, with relative ease, independently create and send a webcam video of yourself singing a message, will consumers be interested in paying for this service? Western Union is about to find out.
MORE: Follow the Money: How Remittances Are Keeping the Developing World Afloat
<bot>: Show a loved one you care, in a (sort of) old-fashioned way.
<human>: What could be a url for this news article?
<bot>: A url for this news article could be:
https://web.archive.org/web/2011120119id_/http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/11/30/western-union-tries-to-resuscitate-the-singing-telegram/ |
{'source': 'newsroom'} |
<human>: Produce an article summary of the following news article: NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — Look around — what do you see?
A paltry 5 percent of what the universe is made of, that’s what.
All the rest is what scientists call the dark sector, composed of things we can’t see directly, things we can observe only by their impacts on other objects.
This summer at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility in Newport News, a team headed by MIT physicists will begin a multiyear effort to try to glean evidence of at least one tiny theoretical piece of all that darkness: a dark photon — a particle that interacts with both dark and light matter.
Called the DarkLight experiment, it could unearth the first evidence of what one researcher calls a bridge between the universe’s visible and invisible sectors.
So far, bare hints of the existence of dark photons have been teased out from nuclear and particle physics experiments and from astrophysical observations.
“When you look out into the universe, you see galaxies spiraling, rotating,” said Richard Milner, a former director of MIT’s Laboratory of Nuclear Science.
“And, of course, what you see are objects that emit light — the so-called visible matter. If you look at how the matter in a galaxy behaves as you go out from the center of the galaxy, you can only explain the motion if there’s a lot of matter that you do not see but which interacts gravitationally with the matter that you do see. Hence, it’s called dark matter.”
Physicists believe dark matter comprises about 27 percent of the total matter in the universe.
There’s also dark energy, which is even less understood, comprising 68 percent of total matter and based on observations that the universe is accelerating and expanding.
Milner and his colleague Peter Fisher hope to gain harder evidence of a dark photon by using the Jefferson lab’s free-electron laser, the most powerful electron beam in the world.
“It’s going to be very pioneering,” Milner said. “Jefferson Lab has absolutely unique accelerator facilities — it’s the only place in the world where you could imagine doing this experiment.”
But a dark photon isn’t the only thing they’ll be hunting.
The physics world is buzzing over speculation that a Hungarian experiment may have found evidence of a new particle that could constitute an elusive fifth fundamental force of nature.
If the 17-MeV particle, as it is called, exists — and physicists say that’s a big “if” — it would go a long way toward reconciling the standard model of physics to explain dark matter.
“It would be incredible,” said Chris Carone, a theoretical physicist at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg.
Carone said he’s skeptical that the 17-MeV particle exists. But if DarkLight should find it, this would be the first conclusive evidence of physics beyond the standard model, the accepted theory of known elementary particles and their interactions.
“And the Holy Grail is to find something that goes beyond it,” Carone said. “Some new particle which could be a force-carrier or otherwise that will give some hints about what physics explains — sort of the unanswered questions about the standard model.”
The Jefferson lab is ideal for the DarkLight experiment because its megawatt-power electron beam is extremely bright, extremely clean and halo-free, Milner said.
Dark photons are believed to interact with visible matter, but only very rarely and elusively.
Often, they’re only hinted at by unexplained anomalies.
For instance, said Kandice Carter, a science writer at Jefferson Lab, a measurement of high-energy electron-positron pairs in outer space found more pairs than could be explained by typical cosmic-ray production, suggesting that dark photons produced the extra pairs.
Milner and his team say they believe a charged particle beam such as the free-electron laser could coax a dark photon out of hiding.
“Each of these experiments looks at different energies, different locations to find these dark photons,” Carter said. “DarkLight is going to look in an area that no one else has ever looked in.”
DarkLight will focus on particles with mass energies from 10-MeV to 100-MeV, or mega (million) electron-volts, Milner said. 10-MeV is 1 percent of the mass of a proton, while 100-MeV is 10 percent of the mass.
The team will shoot beams through a target of hydrogen gas, whose atoms consist of a proton and an orbiting electron.
When the beam’s electrons hit the hydrogen, they’ll blast away the protons, leaving a scattered electron, a proton — and an electron-positron pair that may come from the decay of a dark photon.
“We’re looking in a different place,” Milner said. “Maybe we’ll learn something. Maybe we’ll find something.”
Robert McKeown, the lab’s deputy director for science, likened it to looking for a needle in a haystack.
But such a discovery, McKeown said, “would represent a historic breakthrough in fundamental particle physics worthy of a Nobel Prize.”
DarkLight is also well positioned to find evidence of the 17-MeV particle, Milner said, although, like Carone, he is skeptical about doing so.
“I’m a physicist, so we’re careful,” Milner said. “You can’t predict it, because you’re at the frontier. We have to worry about doing the highest-quality experiment we can. And, obviously, not miss it, if it’s there.
“I think DarkLight is as suitable an experiment to look for it as any other experiment,” he added. “It’s probably the most suitable.”
If the particle is found, it would become the fifth fundamental force of nature, joining the particles associated with gravity, electromagnetism and the strong and weak nuclear forces.
Milner said the researchers expect to start the beam by the end of July and take measurements in August.
But DarkLight will take time: The team expects to run the experiment for at least three years.
— Newport News Daily Press
<bot>: They’re hunting for a road to the invisible part of the universe at a lab in Virginia.
<human>: What could be a url for this news article?
<bot>: A url for this news article could be:
https://web.archive.org/web/2016062519id_/https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/what-scientists-plan-to-do-with-the-most-powerful-electron-beam-in-the-world/2016/06/24/3f66b91a-38a7-11e6-9ccd-d6005beac8b3_story.html |
{'source': 'newsroom'} |
<human>: Produce an article summary of the following news article: The father of a Muslim U.S. Army captain killed saving his troops from a suicide bomber said he isn’t a proxy for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign despite taking swipes at Donald Trump in a Democratic convention speech that has spurred a tense exchange with the GOP nominee.
Khizr Khan, who said in an interview Sunday that he would happily speak before Republican groups if asked, was hardly known before several days ago. But the flare-up with Mr. Trump dominated campaign coverage over the weekend. During the...
<bot>: Khizr Khan, the father of a Muslim U.S. Army captain killed in 2004, said he isn’t a proxy for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign despite taking swipes at Donald Trump at the Democratic convention.
<human>: What could be a url for this news article?
<bot>: A url for this news article could be:
http://web.archive.org/web/20160802204009id_/http://www.wsj.com:80/articles/father-of-slain-soldier-volleys-back-at-donald-trump-1470014072 |
{'source': 'newsroom'} |
<human>: Produce an article summary of the following news article: By Toby Harnden in Jamestown, Kentucky Last Updated: 7:16AM BST 22 Oct 2008
The party's leaders are bracing themselves for heavy losses in Congress, with Democrats aiming to seize a commanding majority.
Standing on the steps of the local courthouse in Jamestown, in staunchly Republican rural southern Kentucky, Senator Mitch McConnell, Senate Majority Leader, admitted: "This race is going to be close. It's not going to be a coronation."
He is fighting for his political life against a virtually unknown opponent whose campaign is based principally on the fact that he does not have the word "Republican" in brackets after his name. Barely 50 people had turned out to see Mr McConnell speak in Jamestown.
Even if he ekes out a win, he will be leading a shrunken of Republican caucus in the Senate. Three open seats in Virginia, New Mexico and Colorado are almost certain to go to the Democrats, while he and seven incumbent colleagues in New Hampshire, Minnesota, Oregon, Alaska, North Carolina, Georgia and Mississippi are all under threat.
A loss of nine Senate seats would give Democrats a 60-40 majority and allow them to stop Republican filibusters - attempts to prolong debates on legislation in order to prevent its passing.
Just six years ago, Republicans held the White House and both houses of Congress. If Barack Obama wins the White House, Democrats are set to be in their strongest position in Washington since Jimmy Carter won the presidency in 1976, two years after a Democratic tidal wave in the mid-term congressional elections after the Watergate scandal.
In a year in which hatred of professional politicians and the Washington class is all-pervasive and President George W. Bush is one of the most unpopular presidents in history, Mr McConnell's election pitch is a risky one.
He is introduced on the campaign trail as "my soul mate, my roommate" by his wife Elaine Chao, Mr Bush's Labour Secretary for the past eight years and argues that as the ultimate Washington insider only "the guy you're looking at" he has the "clout and influence" in the American capital to stand up for Kentucky.
Mr McConnell, 66, boasts about securing for Kentucky the congressional earmarks - government funding for state projects - that Republican presidential candidate John McCain condemns as "pork" and a sign that Washington is broken.
In Jamestown, he stated proudly that he was behind a "tobacco buyout" by the US government that "I wrote and put into a bill related to another subject" and that last year alone he brought back the bacon to Kentucky to the tune of $500 million.
Choosing not to re-elect him to a fifth six-year term, he argued, would be "trading in the guy who can deliver for our state" in exchange for "a rookie" who would "take a couple of years to work out where the men's room is".
Phil Aaron, a local doctor in Columbia, Kentucky and McConnell backer said: "Washington's been good to us. We've had a special relationship with Washington because of McConnell and our representatives."
But Mr McConnell's very presence in rural areas pleading for voters to "run up the score" in Republican places like Jamestown is a stark reminder of his plight as liberal outside groups pour money into Kentucky in a bid to oust him.
"I'm a lot bigger target than I used to be," he said. "I got enemies all over America on the Left who didn't even know my name a few years ago."
The Democratic "rookie" he is facing is Bruce Lunsford, 60, a wealthy businessman who owns houses in Chicago, Arizona, Miami, New York and California and recently admitted to a Lincoln car, two Porches, a Jeep Wrangler and a Mercedes.
He is trailing Mr McConnell by a just a few percentage points and the answer phone at his campaign headquarters asked people to leave messages with a cheery: "Have a nice day and let's ditch Mitch."
Mr McConnell is warning of the perils of a Democratic sweep on Nov 4. "I think Americans like some balance in their politics," Mr McConnell told The Daily Telegraph. "We've had divided government for much of the time since World War Two. People don't like one side to steamroll things in one direction."
Across much the lush countryside of Kentucky - the seventh poorest of America's 50 states and a place where, one local politician supporting Mr McConnell said "you can have a .357 and a New testament in your home and not be criticised" - few voters seemed to have heard of Mr Lunsford.
But that didn't seem to be a reason why they would not vote for him.
At the Pennzoil garage in Jamestown, the mechanic David Kerns said he had given up on Republicans. "I used to vote Republican but they have no idea how the common man is suffering.
"It's all about big business and staying in power. I'm sick and tired of the mud slinging and nothing ever getting done. We need to throw the lot of them out."
<bot>: Republicans are facing their biggest electoral disaster since the Watergate scandal with even the party's Senate leader in grave danger of losing his seat.
<human>: What could be a url for this news article?
<bot>: A url for this news article could be:
https://web.archive.org/web/2008102219id_/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/uselection2008/3236507/Republicans-facing-electoral-disaster-in-Congress.html |
{'source': 'newsroom'} |
<human>: Produce an article summary of the following news article: Google has made its first acquisition of 2011 with eBook Technologies, a company that focuses on hardware and software distribution of e-books and e-book readers. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.
“eBook Technologies, Inc. is excited to announce that we have been acquired by GoogleGoogle,” the company announced yesterday on its website. “Working together with Google will further our commitment to providing a first-class reading experience on emerging tablets, e-readers and other portable devices.”
It’s no secret that Google has big ambitions in e-books. It launched a web-based e-books store in December, after all. While there’s not a great deal of difference between competitors like the Kindle Store and iBooks, Google Books can be accessed from any mobile or desktop web browser and it allows users to see actual scans of books, rather than just the book’s text.
While most of ebooktechnologies.com has been taken down, a Google Cache version of the website reveals that the company had five primary products: actual e-book hardware, firmware for e-book devices, an “online bookshelf” software interface, an online e-bookstore and e-book publishing tools.
When we dug deeper, we found ETI-1, one of the two e-book devices the company was developing. It sports an 8.5-inch LCD screen, USB port, 8MB of memory, an ethernet port and a 56k modem.
Yes, you read that correctly: it has a 56k modem and no Wi-Fi. If that weren’t enough, the 5.5-inch version actually has a 33.6k modem.
We can forgive eBook Technologies, though — we believe this device was developed in the late 1990s or early 2000s. The company launched its first product in 1998, so it’s been around for a while. Our guess is that its e-readers are legacy devices.
This acquisition is most likely about patents, personnel and technology, rather than hardware or software. Google’s e-book interface is vastly superior to the one created by eBook Technologies, and we doubt the search giant has any plans to launch a Kindle competitor, especially with a device that still uses a 56k modem.
Former eBook Technologies CEO John Rivlin and President Garth Conboy are the inventors of several e-book patents, though. Here’s what the company’s website used to say:
“John is co-inventor and patent holder of a system to provide secure electronic book delivery. He is also a co-inventor of a patent-pending system to provide offline catalog shopping on an electronic book.
“Garth is inventor or co-inventor of seven issued eBook patents; technologies include: cryptography and secure content distribution, eBook UI, resource/database dynamic conversion for cross-platform applications, and optimal paginated document presentation.”
Google would definitely have an interest in owning that technology and the people who invented it. While some of these technologies were developed at their previous jobs at Gemstar-TV Guide and SoftBook Press, eBook Technologies has likely accumulated several different patents and proprietary technologies over the years. Google could only get them by acquiring the company.
Rivlin and Conboy’s expertise in e-books and distribution will likely serve Google well in its quest to distribute its massive library of electronically scanned books to the masses. Couple that with its proprietary technology and it’s no wonder Google forked over the cash for this company.
<bot>: Google has made its first acquisition of 2011 with eBook Technologies, a company that focuses on hardware & software distribution of e-books and e-book readers
<human>: What could be a url for this news article?
<bot>: A url for this news article could be:
https://web.archive.org/web/2011011319id_/http://mashable.com/2011/01/13/why-google-acquired-ebook-technologies/ |
{'source': 'newsroom'} |
<human>: Produce an article summary of the following news article: ST. ANDREWS, Scotland – Jordan Spieth’s run at golf history is alive and well.
After a bogey on the ninth hole left him seething, Spieth birdied the next three holes Sunday and finished with a 6-under-par 66 in the third round of the British Open, putting himself 11-under par for the tournament and near the top of the leaderboard entering Monday’s final round.
Spieth, who is vying to become the first golfer since Ben Hogan in 1953 to win the first three majors of the year, had his best round of the tournament on a calm, partly sunny afternoon at the Old Course. But he was hardly alone in taking advantage of the favorable scoring conditions.
Irish amateur Paul Dunne shot a 66 to grab a share of the clubhouse lead at 12 under. His 204 marks the lowest 54-hole score by an amateur in Open history. Louis Oosthuizen and Jason Day are also tied for the lead, as each shot a 67 on Sunday to move to 12-under.
Dustin Johnson began his round alone in first place but went without a birdie until the 15th hole. He immediately negated that gain with a bogey on No. 16.
In addition to the golfers just ahead of Spieth in the lead, there is a crowd of contenders just behind him. With three pairings still on the course Sunday, there were 10 other players within three strokes of the lead.
For the latest sports coverage,
<bot>: Jordan Spieth’s run at golf history is alive and well after shooting a 66 in Sunday's third round.
<human>: What could be a url for this news article?
<bot>: A url for this news article could be:
https://web.archive.org/web/2015071919id_/http://blogs.wsj.com/dailyfix/2015/07/19/spieth-storms-back-into-contention-at-st-andrews/ |
{'source': 'newsroom'} |
<human>: Produce an article summary of the following news article: Police blocked the Sun from publishing allegations that Jimmy Saville was a serial child abuser three years before his death by refusing to confirm the TV star had been quizzed by detectives, a court has heard.
Reporter Jamie Pyatt said he had lined up four sex abuse victims to speak about Savile in 2009 while the former television presenter was still alive.
But the story went unpublished because Surrey police refused “point blank” to help him and the Sun was concerned about being sued by Savile. “Jimmy Savile was a very litigious person, and I was told he had sued us before for £200,000,” said Pyatt.
“The paper would not put themselves in the position of going against Jimmy Savile, so I thought I would phone the Surrey police press office.
“They went away for a day to get a response back, and they said they couldn’t help me.
“Normally Surrey police would give me a steer, but they refused point blank to help me.”
Pyatt said he had tracked down four of Savile’s victims through posts on Friends Reunited and they had agreed to speak to the newspaper.
He believed Savile had been quizzed by police in 2007 and 2009, but the police refused to confirm that detail.
“As a result, nothing was published and later that year Jimmy Savile died,” Pyatt said.
“Surrey police carried out an investigation. They said they had interviewed him in 2007 and 2009 but they had made mistakes in the investigation.
“They hadn’t joined all the dots of the victims and the chance to bring him to justice while he was still alive was lost.”
Richard Kovalevsky QC, defending Pyatt, asked: “If a source had stood that up, what would you have done?”
Pyatt replied: “I would have run it, stuck my neck out and told the editor ‘let’s go for it’.”
The reporter is on trial with the paper’s former head of news, Chris Pharo, accused of paying a Surrey police officer for a string of leaks over the course of a decade.
Pyatt has admitted arranging for the officer to be paid on several occasions between 2002 and 2011, and said this was “sanctioned” by his bosses at the paper.
Kovalevsky told the court that the editor, deputy editors, news desk executives and subeditors had all read the stories provided by the police officer.
He asked: “Did you have any complaints from anyone about any of these stories?”
Pyatt replied: “I never had any comeback from anybody.”
Kovalevsky asked: “Are they all justifiable in the public interest?”
Pyatt said: “I think if you looked at the 15 stories in the tabs, if you picked up each of these stories over breakfast, I don’t honestly believe you would think ‘how am I getting this information?’.
“You’ve got a perfect right to read all the information in those stories.”
Pharo, who was in charge of the news desk, said he was unaware that Pyatt’s source was a police officer and was shocked when he found out.
They have both been charged under Operation Elveden, the Met’s inquiry into alleged corruption between the press and public officials.
Jurors heard the police officer source first contacted the Sun in 2000 when singer Mick Hucknall was arrested on suspicion of rape. (The allegation was dropped a day later.)
Pyatt said he stayed in touch with the officer to encourage him to provide more stories that might make the paper.
“My expectation was he would come to me when he had information, material, tips that he felt fitted my criteria,” he said.
“He didn’t want to waste my time and I didn’t want to waste my time.”
Pyatt said he also used the police officer as a way of checking whether information he had was accurate. “If I asked ‘Has George Michael been arrested for crashing his car?’, and he would say ‘yes he’s in custody’,” he said.
“If he knew, he would tell me. If he didn’t, he would say leave it with me.” Pyatt added that he did not know how the officer checked the information, and did not know if he searched for it on the police national computer.
Pharo and Pyatt deny aiding and abetting misconduct in public office.
<bot>: Reporter says Surrey police refused ‘point blank’ to confirm TV presenter was being questioned by detectives, leading to concerns over possible legal action
<human>: What could be a url for this news article?
<bot>: A url for this news article could be:
https://web.archive.org/web/2015100219id_/http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/oct/02/sun-jimmy-savile-surrey-police |
{'source': 'newsroom'} |
<human>: Produce an article summary of the following news article: Rita Gam, who made her eye-catching Hollywood debut without saying a word and played a real-life bridesmaid at the fairy-tale wedding of her former roommate Grace Kelly, died on Tuesday in Los Angeles. She was 88.
The cause was respiratory failure, said Nancy Willen, a spokeswoman for the family.
Ms. Gam, who was once married to the film director Sidney Lumet, made her Broadway debut in Ben Hecht’s 1946 play “A Flag Is Born” and, after three more Broadway roles, made her first movie six years later, opposite Ray Milland in “The Thief,” a suspense film without dialogue.
Life magazine featured her on its cover that year as a “silent and sexy” star who “can express herself eloquently without words.” In just a few moments on the screen, the magazine said, Ms. Gam “makes a striking movie debut without uttering a word.”
She also appeared in two movies with Gregory Peck, “Night People” (1954) and “Shoot Out”(1971); “Sign of the Pagan” (1954), with Jack Palance and Jeff Chandler; “Hannibal” (1959), with Victor Mature; “King of Kings” (1961), in which she played Queen Herodias; and “Klute” (1971), with Jane Fonda and Donald Sutherland.
Ms. Gam won a Silver Bear as best actress at the 1962 Berlin Film Festival for her performance in Tad Danielewski’s adaptation of Jean-Paul Sartre’s play “No Exit.” She also acted on television and in regional theater and produced two documentary series, “World of Film” and “World of Beauty.”
Rita Eleanore Mackay was born in Pittsburgh on April 2, 1927, to Milton A. Mackay, a native of Alsace-Lorraine who died when she was 4, and the former Belle Fately, who was born in Romania.
She took the name of her stepfather, Benjamin J. Gam, a dress manufacturer, who was born in Russia. (As a synonym for glamorous legs, “gams” predates her film career.)
Raised in Manhattan, she attended the private Fieldston School in the Bronx and at 17 ran away from home (about 25 blocks, to a Midtown hotel), finding work modeling hats and selling stuffed pandas while pursuing an acting career.
She was married and divorced twice, first to Mr. Lumet (from 1949 to 1955) and then to Thomas Guinzburg (1956-63), a book publisher and co-founder of The Paris Review. She is survived by her daughter, Kate Guinzburg, a film producer; her son, Michael Guinzburg, a novelist; and two granddaughters. Thomas Guinzburg died in 2010 and Sidney Lumet in 2011.
As an actress, Ms. Gam befriended and roomed with Grace Kelly and was a bridesmaid at her wedding to Prince Rainier of Monaco in 1956, a union of European aristocracy and Hollywood glamour that was one of the biggest social events of the decade.
An early participant at the Actors Studio, Ms. Gam also played a leading role, along with Hume Cronyn, Jessica Tandy, Zoe Caldwell and others, with the Minnesota Theater Company in 1963 during the opening season of the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis.
After generally being typecast in supporting roles in two dozen films for what Life described as “her sultry face and insinuating voice,” she recalled in 1992, “I looked into the black pit at 40 and wondered, what do I do for an encore?”
Before producing documentaries, she learned to type and wrote two books: “Actress to Actress” (1986), which included a chapter on Grace Kelly, and “Actors: A Celebration” (1988).
<bot>: In addition to her films, Ms. Gam was known for having been Sidney Lumet’s first wife and one of Grace Kelly’s bridesmaids.
<human>: What could be a url for this news article?
<bot>: A url for this news article could be:
https://web.archive.org/web/2016032419id_/http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/24/movies/rita-gam-midcentury-hollywood-actress-dies-at-88.html |
{'source': 'newsroom'} |
<human>: Produce an article summary of the following news article: The bus that crashed in the Bronx last month, killing 15 passengers, was traveling as fast as it could go — 78 miles an hour — less than a minute before it flipped onto its right side and slammed into a signpost, federal investigators said Friday.
The National Transportation Safety Board said for the first time that the bus had been exceeding the speed limit on Interstate 95 just 45 seconds before it veered off the highway, according to a preliminary report by the board about the March 12 crash.
The State Police have also been studying the crash and interviewing witnesses to help the Bronx district attorney determine whether to file criminal charges against the driver of the bus, who was returning to New York from a trip to a casino in eastern Connecticut.
The driver, Ophadell Williams, 40, of Brooklyn, told investigators that a tractor-trailer passing him had swerved, forcing him to veer off the road. A truck driver contacted the police later that day to say he had seen the crash. But the report said that investigators found no evidence of any contact between his truck and the bus and that on March 22 the truck driver was cleared of any responsibility.
The safety board’s report did not reach a conclusion about the cause of the crash, which it is still investigating. In the 90 seconds before the crash, the bus traveled at different speeds, the report said, but was going 78 miles per hour within 45 seconds of the crash. The bus’s speed decreased just before the crash, the report said.
The posted speed limit on that stretch of I-95, just south of the Westchester County line, is 55 m.p.h. The report indicated that the engine of the bus was limited to a top speed of 78 m.p.h.
The only public comments by Mr. Williams about the crash have been made through his lawyers. State officials revoked his driving privileges after reports became public of Mr. Williams’s criminal record, which includes serving time in prison for convictions of manslaughter and larceny.
Howard Lee, a lawyer representing Mr. Williams, said Friday that he had not yet read the safety board’s preliminary report and so had little to say about it. But as he has in the past, Mr. Lee questioned whether speeding caused the crash. He also expressed skepticism about the decision to clear the truck driver, who he said could have played a role in the crash even if the two vehicles did not collide.
Lawyers representing some surviving passengers and relatives of victims of the crash have claimed that Mr. Williams fell asleep at the wheel before the crash, which occurred at 5:45 a.m. The bus, operated by World Wide Travel of Greater New York, a company based in Brooklyn, was returning to Chinatown in Manhattan from an overnight trip to the Mohegan Sun casino in Uncasville, Conn.
Mr. Williams had driven the bus to the casino the previous night. While the passengers were inside the casino, he bought a meal, then returned to the bus, ate and slept for a few hours, his lawyers have said.
The report said that none of the 33 passengers, other than Mr. Williams, could have been wearing a seat belt because his was the only one on the 12-year-old bus. It also said that there was a video camera in the front of the bus facing forward but that “the system was not designed to record video information and was not operating at the time of the accident.”
The safety board said that the fateful run was one of 14 daily round-trips between New York City and the casino. It said World Wide Travel received a “satisfactory” rating in its latest review for compliance with federal bus-safety regulations.
<bot>: The safety boardâs report still hasnât determined a cause, but it found that 45 seconds before the crash the bus was at its maximum, 78 miles an hour.
<human>: What could be a url for this news article?
<bot>: A url for this news article could be:
https://web.archive.org/web/2011041619id_/http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/16/nyregion/casino-bus-was-speeding-just-before-crash-investigators-say.html |
{'source': 'newsroom'} |
<human>: Produce an article summary of the following news article: Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court disavowed the truth about marriage that diverse cultures and faiths around the globe have embraced for millennia: that marriage is a union between a man and a woman.
Why has this fact been recognized so universally and for so long? The answer is simple: the truth about marriage appears unmistakably in the complementary design of man and woman. Unique among all others, only the intimate relationship of man and woman can create a new life. And a new life born of a committed man-woman couple finds its natural home in the embrace of its natural parents, giving rise to the family—the fundamental building-block of society.
Friday, the Supreme Court averted its eyes from what is self-evident. It overlooked the abiding connection between marriage and the creation of new life, and ignored marriage’s unique role in connecting children to both their mother and their father. It also cast aside the will of Americans in 31 states who, recognizing the singular importance of man-woman marriage, voted to affirm it in their state constitutions.
Disregarding both the truth about marriage and the people’s freedom to affirm that truth in law, the Supreme Court held that states may no longer lift up one-man, one-woman marital unions for special protection.
The court’s decision is built on the premise that, as a matter of constitutional law, the dignity of human relationships derives largely from government recognition and approval.
That premise promotes a dark and dangerous principle. It is the flawed notion that the state does not recognize and protect—but rather creates—our fundamental institutions, rights, and relationships. And it is the false idea that no institution—not marriage, not the family, and not individual rights to life, liberty, property, or the exercise of religion—has any significance or meaning independent from that which the state imparts.
But, as the Declaration of Independence makes clear, all people are “endowed by their Creator”—not by their government—“with certain unalienable rights.” Rejecting this principle carries a sinister implication: if the state bestows our rights, the state can take them away at its whim.
That should concern anyone who cares about our first freedom: religious liberty. A person’s faith involves their relationship with their Creator and thus demands their highest allegiance. But now the Supreme Court has mandated a new definition of marriage that contradicts the core religious convictions of tens of millions of Americans. The ruling pits faith against law, forcing Americans to choose between their God and their government.
This conflict will play out in battles and skirmishes large and small, in courts of law and courts of public opinion. As a result of the Supreme Court’s ruling, we can expect many more lawsuits against individuals and business owners who refuse to participate in the celebration of same-sex ceremonies because doing so would violate their deeply held religious convictions.
We can expect more prosecutions of people of faith like Barronelle Stutzman, the owner of Arlene’s Flowers in Washington State, who declined to create floral arrangements for a same-sex ceremony because doing so would violate her sincere Christian beliefs. The state and the ACLU hauled her into court for allegedly violating Washington law, and she may now have to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in attorneys’ fees.
The Supreme Court’s ruling also puts the coercive power of government on the side of those who support the new “any two persons” definition of marriage, legitimizing the forceful suppression of conflicting faith-based views. It is not a stretch to say that we can therefore expect increasing hostility against anyone who expresses or attempts to live out their faith in public.
The Supreme Court cannot, of course, alter the true nature of marriage. Marriage is and always will be the union of one man and one woman for life, regardless whether the government incorrectly applies the label of marriage to other kinds of relationships.
But Friday’s ruling inscribes in our Constitution an entirely new and incorrect definition of marriage that contravenes the self-evident purposes of the institution and contradicts the core convictions of countless people of faith. The Supreme Court’s grave error compels Americans to take sides in an unprecedented conflict between faith and government coercion. The People’s collective response will determine the future of religious liberty in our Nation.
Doug Wardlow is legal counsel with Alliance Defending Freedom, which filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the marriage cases at the U.S. Supreme Court.
<bot>: Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court disavowed the truth about marriage that diverse cultures and faiths around the globe have embraced for millennia: that marriage is a union between a man and a woman.
<human>: What could be a url for this news article?
<bot>: A url for this news article could be:
https://web.archive.org/web/2015062919id_/http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2015/06/26/supreme-court-disavows-truth-about-marriage-pits-faith-against-law.html |
{'source': 'newsroom'} |
<human>: Produce an article summary of the following news article: A metaphysical road movie about life, death and the limits of knowledge, “Once Upon a Time in Anatolia” has arrived just in time to cure the adult filmgoer blues. It was directed by the Turkish filmmaker Nuri Bilge Ceylan, whose earlier movies include “Distant” and “Three Monkeys” and who in recent years has emerged as one of the consistently most exciting directors on the international scene. His latest, which shared the grand prize at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival, takes the unassuming form of a police investigation that, as miles and words mount, evolves into a plangent, visually stunning meditation on what it is to be human.
The story is direct, if the journey less so. A man has been murdered, and a small battalion — a doctor, a prosecutor, a few policemen, several soldiers, diggers with shovels and a transcriber with a laptop — has invaded the countryside with the suspect to dig up the body. The trouble is that the accused, Kenan (Firat Tanis), claims to have been drunk when he committed the murder and can’t remember where he buried the body. And so off the men go in two cars and a Jeep, driving up and down the sensuous, rolling hills of Anatolia, the enormous peninsula that constitutes most of Turkey and which the ancient Greeks called the land of the rising sun.
The sun has nearly set when the men first appear en masse, pulling into a turn in the dirt road where a solitary young tree pierces the parched amber landscape like a shot arrow. Making the most of his wide-screen frame — a format made for landscapes like these and filmmakers as sensitive as this one — Mr. Ceylan initially keeps his distance from the characters by showing them in extreme long shot, a vantage that accentuates how small they are in relation to the wide world enveloping them. This is the first in a series of stops that the men will make as, again and again, they look for the body in a search that reveals far more about the living than about the dead.
Mr. Ceylan soon cuts in for a closer look as he turns his brilliant eye for landscape to the gaunt and rounded, pitted and smoothed faces of his travelers. Much like the stopovers during the search when the men clamber out of their vehicles, these faces — including those of the doctor, Cemal (Muhammet Uzuner), and the prosecutor, Nusret (Taner Birsel) — are effectively narrative layovers, breaks in the larger journey. There’s a murder at the story’s center, but as one after another face fills the frame, a tear violently trembling in one man’s eye while the memory of a dead wife hovers in another man’s look, it becomes evident that the greater mystery here is of existence itself.
The title of “Once Upon a Time in Anatolia” suggests the work of Sergio Leone, including most obviously Leone’s 1968 masterpiece, “Once Upon a Time in the West.” I don’t want to make strong claims about the influence of that or any other Leone film on “Anatolia,” though the twinned landscapes of this movie’s natural vistas and the ugly beauty of its fantastic faces evoke Leone. (More than a few of Mr. Ceylan’s actors could outgargoyle Leone performers like Jack Elam.) Yet, like most westerns, “Once Upon a Time in Anatolia” is, among other things, an examination of violence and masculinity, one in which women remain critical if largely off-screen figures, silent if never truly mute.
Mr. Ceylan doesn’t trumpet his ideas, but lets them quietly surface, often through the stories that the men tell one another and that at times take the form of parables. In one, a driver, Arab Ali (Ahmet Mumtaz Taylan), tells the doctor how he likes to drive to the countryside for target practice, just to let off some steam. Enveloped in darkness, the wind rising like sighs, Arab Ali at first registers as a somewhat buffoonish, borderline-dangerous character whose Hobbesian worldview (it’s shoot or be shot) is a reminder that this is, after all, a search for a murdered man. Yet, like the doctor, the prosecutor and the police chief, Naci (Yilmaz Erdogan), Arab Ali proves more complex than he seems because his words are those of a man puzzling through the meaning of life.
Words can fail the men, whose stories of lost wives and other ghosts drench the movie in an acute sense of loss, one that is offset by the effulgence of the natural world, a gift that none seem to see. The dead haunt “Once Upon a Time in Anatolia,” but so does beauty. At one point, after several futile attempts to find the body, the men drive to a village. There they are greeted by its leader, or mukhtar (Ercan Kesal), who, amid a hospitable meal, tells the travelers that the town needs a new morgue. Most of the young people have left, he says, and when an old villager dies, they beg to see the dead one last time, holding onto a past that fills them with longing. And then the mukhtar’s beautiful daughter joins the men, her face bathed in a light that until then has eluded them.
ONCE UPON A TIME IN ANATOLIA
Opens on Wednesday in Manhattan.
Directed by Nuri Bilge Ceylan; written by Ercan Kesal, Ebru Ceylan and Nuri Bilge Ceylan; director of photography, Gokhan Tiryaki; edited by Bora Goksingol and Nuri Bilge Ceylan; art direction by Dilek Yapkuoz Ayaztuna; produced by Zeynep Ozbatur Atakan; released by the Cinema Guild. At Film Forum, 209 West Houston Street, west of Avenue of the Americas, South Village. In Turkish, with English subtitles. Running time: 2 hours 37 minutes. This film is not rated.
WITH: Muhammet Uzuner (Doctor Cemal), Yilmaz Erdogan (Commissar Naci), Taner Birsel (Prosecutor Nusret), Ahmet Mumtaz Taylan (Driver Arab Ali), Firat Tanis (Suspect Kenan) and Ercan Kesal (Mukhtar).
<bot>: “Once Upon a Time in Anatolia,” an award winner at Cannes, directed by the Turkish filmmaker Nuri Bilge Ceylan, is both police procedural and existential meditation.
<human>: What could be a url for this news article?
<bot>: A url for this news article could be:
https://web.archive.org/web/2012010619id_/http://movies.nytimes.com/2012/01/04/movies/once-upon-a-time-in-anatolia-directed-by-nuri-bilge-ceylan-review.html |
{'source': 'newsroom'} |
<human>: Produce an article summary of the following news article: While President Obama was delivering his victory speech in the early hours of Wednesday, Nov. 7, people were still standing in line in Florida to vote. Thousands had waited hours to vote in New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio, some in the cold, some giving up wages to do so. In a spontaneous aside — “by the way, we have to fix that” — the president acknowledged the unnecessary hardship of casting a vote in the United States and established a goal that he now has an obligation to address.
The long lines can be shortened with commitments from Washington, as well as state and local governments, but they are just the most glaring symptom of a deeply broken democratic process. In too many states, it’s also needlessly difficult to register to vote. States controlled by Republicans continue to erect partisan impediments to participation. And the process for choosing a candidate remains bound to unlimited and often secret campaign donations that are bound to lead to corruption.
“Fixing that” can start with the following actions:
MAKE IT EASIER TO VOTE Voting in the United States is controlled by a widely varying patchwork of state, county and local laws. Many election boards are poorly financed or run by dysfunctional partisans, unable to quickly fix broken scanners or touch screens. Some state lawmakers have no interest in making the process easier, believing that too few polling places or other impediments make it harder for minorities or poor people to participate.
This is where Congress can play a role. It has the power to establish a nonpartisan federal elections board to maintain a national registration database, mandate the choice of voting machines and set standards for counting provisional ballots. A federal law, such as those proposed by Representatives George Miller of California and John Lewis of Georgia, could require a clear early-voting period, removing the issue as a political football in states like Florida and Ohio, and standards for absentee voting.
Congress also can provide financial incentives to the states to do the job right. A bill introduced recently by Senator Christopher Coons, a Democrat of Delaware, would give grants to states that make registration easy, including allowing same-day registration; allow early voting; require no excuses for voting absentee; properly train poll workers; and provide sufficient polling places.
But states don’t have to wait for a resolution to the inevitable partisan struggles over these bills. Seventeen states already send electronic registration data from motor vehicle departments to election agencies, and 10 allow people to register online. These paperless systems have the potential to enroll significantly more people.
REMOVE THE BARRIERS The Republican drive to keep Democratic-leaning groups from voting, through methods like voter ID requirements, failed miserably this year and may have produced a backlash among minority voters, who turned out in large numbers. It’s time for Republicans to give up this misguided and offensive effort. And, if they don’t, Mr. Obama should make a national effort to pressure them now that he has no personal stake in it.
DILUTE THE POWER OF MONEY Unlimited contributions aren’t going away, even though many outside Republican groups lost this year. A bill introduced by House Democrats would sever the informal relationships between “super PACs” and the candidates they support, and use federal matching money to encourage small contributions to presidential and Congressional candidates. It also remains vital for Congress to pass the Disclose Act and eliminate the use of secret campaign donations.
Ultimately, only a constitutional amendment can counter the misbegotten Supreme Court assertion that money is speech and thus can play an unlimited role in American politics.
<bot>: President Obama and Congress can make voting easier for all Americans and reduce the role of big money.
<human>: What could be a url for this news article?
<bot>: A url for this news article could be:
https://web.archive.org/web/2012112119id_/http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/21/opinion/how-to-fix-a-broken-election-system.html |
{'source': 'newsroom'} |
<human>: Produce an article summary of the following news article: Art Behind Barbed Wire Walker Art Gallery Liverpool, until 3 May
The railway cuts alongside a stretch of barbed wire to the end of the camp, where a guard tower stands silhouetted against a sky laden with ominous black clouds. The painting's title is Dead End, but this is not Auschwitz-Birkenau - this is Huyton, outside Liverpool.
Nor is it an extermination camp - the imagery is an ironic twist that uncannily underpins a remarkable and brave exhibition of work by two artists, Walter Nessler and Hugo Dachinger. Works which capture one of the nastiest episodes in Britain's own wartime narrative: the mass round-up and internment of some 27,000 'enemy aliens' during 1940, on the infamous instruction of Prime Minister Winston Churchill to 'collar the lot'.
Some internees were Britons of mainly German or Italian extraction, but the majority were refugees - Jewish, political dissidents or both - in flight from Hitler. At one point, Churchill was, according to Chamberlain, 'strongly in favour of removing all internees out of the United Kingdom'. Among those internees was a host of distinguished artists, scientists and intellectuals. Expressionist Martin Bloch and photographer John Hatfield both passed through Huyton, as did Sir Claus Moser, while the dadaist Kurt Schwitters was interned at a main camp on the Isle of Man, where three members of the Amadeus String Quartet met and played.
There was music at Huyton, too, by Hans Gal, a work for two violins and flute, the instruments that just happened to be played by three internees.
Huyton, established in May 1940, was a transit camp from which internees were either eventually released, deported to Canada or Australia or moved on to the Isle of Man. To site it, the unfinished Woolfall Heath corporation estate was cut in half by barbed wire and houses intended for a single family were crammed with up to 17 internees. Conditions were harsh, food little and terrible, treatment degrading.
In a foreword written in 1988 to his 1940 The Internment of Aliens, François Lafitte recalls that a thousand internees died, either committing suicide out of despair, from diseases contracted in the camps, or because the ships on to which they were herded for deportation were torpedoed.
This courageous exhibition addresses not that Britain fought the Third Reich but an aspect of how it did so. An additional boldness lies in the fact that Liverpool is preparing to be European Capital of Culture in 2008, while here, the Walker stages what curator Jessica Feather calls a 'less palatable' moment in Liverpool's history.
Interned artists worked sometimes with brushes made from beards, using cheap materials - wallpaper and newspaper. Nessler was from Leipzig, not Jewish but denounced as 'degenerate' by the Nazis. His drawings of the camp are spectral, in lines nervously etched, charged with the haunted depression of a prisoner whose convoy had been frogmarched though Liverpool, spat upon by crowds told that they were Nazis.
Jewish Dachinger fled his native Austria at the behest of British customers. His work even in this gallery is varied, much of it burlesque in the manner of George Grosz. There are two real masterpieces by Dachinger; universal paintings on newspaper about the disintegration of humanity and identity in camp confinement. Mad, Mad World and Identity Lost set fragmenting faces against backdrops of barbed wire and guard towers. When Dachinger's daughter, Miriam Murphy, beheld what she called 'their irony, their originality' at the opening on Wednesday night, she was close to tears. 'My father talked very little about this time in his life,' she said.
Two bitter resonances emanate from and beyond the work. The first is that which makes the pictures additionally unsettling to contemplate: the iconography is exactly that of the Holocaust, which the internees, unknown to them, had escaped by being in Britain. There is disturbing paradox in the fact that these men had escaped the fate of millions they left behind, but were prisoners.
The second resonance is straightforward: these pictures scream at the present. The exhibition opened on the day that the paper on which some of Dachinger's paintings are done - the Guardian - revealed the Government's plans to establish an internment camp for asylum-seekers in Tanzania.
And during a week in which Home Secretary David Blunkett pursued his 'war on terror' and scrambled to restrict the entry and rights of our new EU partner citizens from the same eastern European countries whence many refugees came, while, by contrast, welcoming continuing droves of white Australians from a Commonwealth country to which many of Huyton's internees were deported.
The echoes are loud: Churchill's internment policy was, in large part, playing to the political gallery, and clamour of the popular press. 'Act! Act! Act! Do It Now!' ran the headline to one article, which continued: 'All refugees from Austria, Germany and Czechoslovakia should be drafted without delay to a remote part of the country and kept under strict supervision. Britain fails to realise that EVERY German is an agent.' That was the Daily Mail on 24 May 1940.
<bot>: Art: An exhibition of Second World War art by Liverpool internees resonates with our modern view of refugees.
<human>: What could be a url for this news article?
<bot>: A url for this news article could be:
http://web.archive.org/web/20130827224928id_/http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2004/feb/29/art1 |
{'source': 'newsroom'} |
<human>: Produce an article summary of the following news article: Last week, the designer Olivia Wendel yanked open the door to the Bushwick, Brooklyn, building where she lives and works, and smoothed her white blouse, printed with muddy-looking flowers — a gift from her sisters. “They always find what end up being my favorite things, and this vintage top is one of them,” Wendel, 29, says later, ensconced on her couch across from her debut collection of scarves. “Very early on in my designing process, I would think specifically of Lilly and Zoë, and what I could get them to wear.”
For the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and RISD grad, who spent time at Suno, Proenza Schouler and Kate Spade, and recently collaborated with Pollack Fabrics, a scarf can “be cherished and brought with you and modified however you want to use it”; most importantly, it’s an “accessible way of sharing art.” Wendel’s first six styles, adapted from her own black and white paintings, deal with duality: For instance, “Bloom” and the toile-like “Forest Creatures” represent her take on flora and fauna (the latter includes portraits of her parrot and her Shar-Pei). Meanwhile, “A Gathering” and “Wild,” reminiscent of modernist figure studies, are both printed on wool instead of silk, resulting in a watercolor effect and perhaps the best translations from paper to textile. “I made a point of preserving the mistakes that happened, the splatter of the ink,” Wendel says, mentioning that her mother refused her an eraser during childhood drawing sessions. “I think this lends a piece life, an authenticity, and that was my intention with starting this company.” With the help of Lilly, a senior designer at Proenza Schouler, and Zoë, the design director of Loeffler Randall (and Wendel’s twin), Wendel found a factory in Como, Italy, that prints in such detail that each brush stroke remains distinguishable.
The centerpieces, however, are “Wood Into Water,” which shows how Wendel imagines women “would be in the wild — unrestrained and moving in every possible way,” and “The Performance,” inspired by the German choreographer Pina Bausch, which places the women, now clothed, in a tight, circular formation. “I am by nature a feminist, but I didn’t expect these issues to currently be at the forefronts of all of our minds,” Wendel says. “To me, there’s nothing sexual about a body — my work is about how our bodies convey emotion and the vulnerability of being a woman, but also the innate compassion that women have for one another.” That said, “the paintings and scarves are personal, but I like that people can interpret them as they choose,” she adds. “It’s not this aggressive thing of me telling you what to feel.”
<bot>: Olivia Wendel’s first six pieces were adapted from her own black and white paintings — and launch today.
<human>: What could be a url for this news article?
<bot>: A url for this news article could be:
https://web.archive.org/web/2016111819id_/http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/17/t-magazine/fashion/olivia-wendel-scarves.html |
{'source': 'newsroom'} |
<human>: Produce an article summary of the following news article: Monday's White House Summit on Working Families did not offer major policy pronouncements, but it may signal a shift in one of the nation's least family-friendly workplaces: the White House itself.
White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough sent an e-mail to his staff Monday telling them that as President Obama urged both federal agencies and the private sector to provide flexibility for its employees, the West Wing needs to adjust its workplace practices.
"Just as we are asking businesses to recognize the value of offering workplace flexibilities and work-life programs to their staffs, so too must we lead by example," McDonough wrote, noting Obama "signed a memorandum directing government agencies to expand the availability of flexible work arrangements, to increase training on their beneficial use, to lift up our successes, and to hold ourselves accountable for our results."
While the memorandum does not establish any new policies, it emphasizes that federal employees have -- in McDonough's words -- "the right to request flexible work schedules through thoughtful conversations with our managers."
"These steps aren’t a silver bullet, but they are designed to move us in the right direction," he wrote. "You’ll be hearing more from us on these efforts in the coming months. I know how hard each of you works to support the President and the nation. Please know that we’ll be looking for ways to better support you as well."
What does this mean for public servants who are expected to be on call if not 24 hours a day, 18 hours a day? When President Obama remarked Monday afternoon at the conference that he was lucky enough to have dinner each night with his family because he lives "upstairs from the store," it prompted a quick reply on Twitter from New America Foundation President Anne-Marie Slaughter, who served as the State Department's director of policy planning during Obama's first term.
"It's great that makes time to have dinner w/ his family most nights; why can't nat sec council staff do same?" tweeted Slaughter, who stirred an intense public debate two years ago when she published an essay in The Atlantic titled, "Why Women Still Can't Have It All."
McDonough's e-mail did not spell out exactly how the White House would change its operations, but Michelle Obama specifically referenced the missive during her session at the conference Monday.
"You’re going to see in this administration, they’re going to do everything in their power administratively to make changes and to lead by example," she told ABC's Robin Roberts, who was interviewing her onstage. " I think one of my young staffers said that she just got an e-mail from the chief of staff who said because of this Summit this administration is going to start asking a set of different questions and so on. So the first thing that the president can do is make sure that his administration is leading by example."
And while President Obama made a point of saying twice in the last week that his wife showed up at her job interview at the University of Chicago Medical Center more than a decade ago with her infant daughter Sasha in tow to make a political statement about the importance of work-life balance, the first lady explained to the audience it reflected her child-care situation as much as her ideological beliefs.
"And who I was at the time was a breast-feeding mother of a four-month old," she said as the crowd applauded, "and I didn’t have a babysitter, so I promptly took Sasha to the interview with me. And I thought, look, this is who I am. I've got a husband who’s away. I've got two little babies. They are my priority. If you want me to do the job, you’ve got to pay me to do the job and you’ve got to give me flexibility."
In other words, you might be seeing more baby carriers in the White House complex over the next couple of years. But a job-share program might be a little more practical.
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<bot>: The White House will try to be a more family--friendly workplace, according to its chief of staff
<human>: What could be a url for this news article?
<bot>: A url for this news article could be:
https://web.archive.org/web/2014062419id_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2014/06/23/a-more-family-friendly-white-house/ |
{'source': 'newsroom'} |
<human>: Produce an article summary of the following news article: By Ben Mutzabaugh, USA TODAY
Virgin America is the best airline in the USA. At least that's according to Condé Nast Traveler magazine. The publication revealed this week that the California-based low-cost carrier was named the top North American airline in its 2010 Readers' Choice Awards. It was the third-consecutive year Virgin America took the top spot in Condé Nast Traveler's rankings.
"All of us here at Virgin America are humbled and honored to have been named the best domestic airline by Condé Nast Traveler readers for the third year consecutive year," Virgin America CEO David Cush says in a press release. "This award is not only an affirmation of our industry-leading service, but also a testament to our teammates' efforts to build a different kind of airline from the guest up. We're pleased to hear that our service is continuing to resonate with the travelers who expect more from a domestic airline."
Virgin America beat out rival discounter JetBlue to take the top spot. Rounding out the North America top 10 (in order) are Hawaiian, Alaska Airlines, Frontier, Continental, USA 3000, Southwest, Horizon Air and AirTran. Continental is the only legacy carrier to have made the top 10.
Globally, Singapore Airlines was tabbed as the world's top carrier, a familiar position for the carrier. It has taken the top spot in 22 of the 23 year years that Condé Nast Traveler has issued its Readers' Choice Awards.
Singapore edged out two Middle East carriers for the top spot, finishing ahead of No. 2 Etihad and No. 3 Emirates. Rounding out the global top 10 are V Australia, Virgin Atlantic, Cathay Pacific, Korean Air, Air New Zealand, ANA (All Nippon Airways) and Japan Airlines (JAL).
In its online recap of the awards, Condé Nast Traveler suggests that "entertainment mogul Richard Branson has an aerial monopoly on fun." The publication notes Sir Richard "owns three of the five carriers that score the highest for In-flight Entertainment: Virgin America, Virgin Atlantic, and V Australia."
How are the awards tabulated? The publication says that "every year since 1988, a select sample of Condé Nast Traveler readers have taken the Readers' Choice Survey. The questionnaire is available to all readers through a secure Website."
The final rankings were compiled by tabulating 25,916 responses. Condé Nast Traveler says airline were rated on five categories: cabin comfort, cabin service, entertainment options, food/beverages and ticketing/ground services.
TODAY'S TALKER: What do you think of these rankings? Are they on target or way off base? Share your thoughts.
Posted Oct 15 2010 11:07AM
<bot>: Virgin America is the best airline in the USA. At least that's according to Condé Nast Traveler magazine. The publication revealed this week that the California-based low-cost carrier was named the top airline in North American in its 2010 Readers' Choice Awards. It was the third-consecutive year the Virgin America took the top spot in Condé Nast Traveler's rankings.
<human>: What could be a url for this news article?
<bot>: A url for this news article could be:
https://web.archive.org/web/2010101619id_/http://travel.usatoday.com/flights/post/2010/10/virgin-america-singapore-top-airline-/127567/1 |
{'source': 'newsroom'} |
<human>: Produce an article summary of the following news article: One of the hot-button issues this election season is health care reform. While there are strong, differing opinions about it, the piece that both presidential candidates and voters agree on is that medicines are too expensive. Everyone is fed up with high drug prices and wants something to be done about it.
Fortune’s Susie Gharib talked with the CEO of Novartis International, one of the world’s biggest pharmaceutical companies, for his take on this issue. Novartis is best known for making Gleevec, the blockbuster cancer drug that treats leukemia. Until it went off patent in early 2016, physicians estimated that the cost of treatment for a leukemia patient could be as much as $120,000 a year.
Novartis’ Joe Jimenez says his company wants to be “part of the solution,” but adds that drugs account for only 15% of the total cost of health care in the U.S. His solution: “Let’s look across the entire health care system, from pharmaceuticals to insurance companies to the hospitals and the physicians, and let’s dissect the true costs of managing a disease,” adding, “We think we can save substantial amounts of money.”
<bot>: But says big pharmaceutical companies can’t do it alone
<human>: What could be a url for this news article?
<bot>: A url for this news article could be:
http://web.archive.org/web/20160627145128id_/http://fortune.com:80/video/2016/06/15/novartis-ceo-wants-to-help-lower-the-cost-of-medicine-in-the-u-s/ |
{'source': 'newsroom'} |
<human>: Produce an article summary of the following news article: EXCLUSIVE: Highly classified Hillary Clinton emails that the intelligence community and State Department recently deemed too damaging to national security to release contain “operational intelligence” – and their presence on the unsecure, personal email system jeopardized “sources, methods and lives,” a U.S. government official who has reviewed the documents told Fox News.
The official, who was not authorized to speak on the record and was limited in discussing the contents because of their highly classified nature, was referring to the 22 “TOP SECRET” emails that the State Department announced Friday it could not release in any form, even with entire sections redacted.
The announcement fueled criticism of Clinton’s handling of highly sensitive information while secretary of state, even as the Clinton campaign continued to downplay the matter as the product of an interagency dispute over classification. But the U.S. government official’s description provides confirmation that the emails contained closely held government secrets. “Operational intelligence” can be real-time information about intelligence collection, sources and the movement of assets.
The official emphasized that the “TOP SECRET” documents were sent over an extended period of time -- from shortly after the server's 2009 installation until early 2013 when Clinton stepped down as secretary of state.
Separately, Rep. Mike Pompeo, R-Kan., who sits on the House intelligence committee, said the former secretary of state, senator, and Yale-trained lawyer had to know what she was dealing with.
"There is no way that someone, a senior government official who has been handling classified information for a good chunk of their adult life, could not have known that this information ought to be classified, whether it was marked or not,” he said. "Anyone with the capacity to read and an understanding of American national security, an 8th grade reading level or above, would understand that the release of this information or the potential breach of a non-secure system presented risk to American national security."
Pompeo also suggested the military and intelligence communities have had to change operations, because the Clinton server could have been compromised by a third party.
“Anytime our national security team determines that there's a potential breach, that is information that might potentially have fallen into the hands of the Iranians, or the Russians, or the Chinese, or just hackers, that they begin to operate in a manner that assumes that information has in fact gotten out,” Pompeo said.
On ABC's “This Week” on Sunday, one day before the Iowa caucuses, Clinton claimed ignorance on the sensitivity of the materials and stressed that they weren’t marked.
"There is no classified marked information on those emails sent or received by me," she said, adding that “Republicans are going to continue to use it [to] beat up on me.”
Clinton was pressed in the same ABC interview on her signed 2009 non-disclosure agreement which acknowledged that markings are irrelevant, undercutting her central explanation. The agreement states "classified information is marked or unmarked … including oral communications."
Clinton pointed to her aides, saying: "When you receive information, of course, there has to be some markings, some indication that someone down the chain had thought that this was classified and that was not the case.”
But according to national security legal experts, security clearance holders are required to speak up when classified information is not in secure channels.
"Everybody who has a security clearance has an individual obligation to protect the information," said national security attorney Edward MacMahon Jr., who represented former CIA officer Jeffrey Sterling in the high-profile leak investigation regarding a New York Times reporter. "Just because somebody sends it to you … you can't just turn a blind eye and pretend it never happened and pretend it's unclassified information."
These rules, known as the Code of Federal Regulations, apply to U.S. government employees with security clearances and state there is an obligation to report any possible breach by both the sender and the receiver of the information. The rules state: "Any person who has knowledge that classified information has been or may have been lost, possibly compromised or disclosed to an unauthorized person shall immediately report the circumstances to an official designated for this purpose."
The Clinton campaign is now calling for the 22 “TOP SECRET” emails to be released, but this is not entirely the State Department's call since the intelligence came from other agencies, which have final say on classification and handling.
"The State Department has no authority to release those emails and I do think that Secretary Clinton most assuredly knows that," Pompeo said.
Meanwhile, the release of other emails has revealed more about the high-level exchange of classified information on personal accounts. Among the latest batch of emails released by the State Department is an exchange between Clinton and then-Sen. John Kerry, now secretary of state. Sections are fully redacted, citing classified information – and both Kerry and Clinton were using unsecured, personal accounts.
Further, a 2009 email released to Judicial Watch after a federal lawsuit -- and first reported by Fox News -- suggests the State Department 's senior manager Patrick Kennedy was trying to make it easier for Clinton to check her personal email at work, writing to Clinton aide Cheryl Mills a "stand-alone separate network PC is ... [one] great idea."
"The emails show that the top administrator at the State Department, Patrick Kennedy, who is still there overseeing the response to all the inquiries about Hillary Clinton, was in on Hillary Clinton's separate email network and system from the get-go," Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said.
Kennedy is expected to testify this month before the Republican-led Benghazi Select Committee.
Catherine Herridge is an award-winning Chief Intelligence correspondent for FOX News Channel (FNC) based in Washington, D.C. She covers intelligence, the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security. Herridge joined FNC in 1996 as a London-based correspondent.
Pamela K. Browne is Senior Executive Producer at the FOX News Channel (FNC) and is Director of Long-Form Series and Specials. Her journalism has been recognized with several awards. Browne first joined FOX in 1997 to launch the news magazine “Fox Files” and later, “War Stories.”
<bot>: Highly classified Hillary Clinton emails that the intelligence community and State Department recently deemed too damaging to national security to release contain “operational intelligence” – and their presence on the email system jeopardized 'sources, methods and lives,' a U.S. government official who has reviewed the documents told Fox News.
<human>: What could be a url for this news article?
<bot>: A url for this news article could be:
https://web.archive.org/web/2016020119id_/http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2016/02/01/official-withheld-clinton-emails-contain-operational-intel-put-lives-at-risk.html |
{'source': 'newsroom'} |
<human>: Produce an article summary of the following news article: Don Cherry thinks Major League Baseball may have an agenda against the Toronto Blue Jays.
The popular hockey commentator isn't pleased with how the American League Division Series has played out so far — Toronto is down 2-0 to the Texas Rangers in the best-of-five set — and he noted a few reasons why on his Coach's Corner segment Saturday night.
"I think they're getting stiffed. Nobody will say it," Cherry said before specifically pointing out the fact that Roger Centre's retractable roof remained closed for Game 1 despite fair Toronto weather and making note of home plate umpire Vic Carapazza's controversial strike zone during Game 2.
Cherry also had an issue with a replay review that was upheld in the 14th inning of Game 2 that eventually led to Texas' winning run in a 6-4 Blue Jays loss.
Replays showed that Toronto shortstop Troy Tulowitzki had applied a tag to Rangers second baseman Rougned Odor as Odor slid back in to second base. But Odor's foot appeared to bounce off the bag as Tulowitzki tried to get his glove down. Whether or not Odor got his foot back on the bag fast enough or if Tulowitzki tagged him in time was debatable.
Cherry didn't think so, however.
"The guy off second base, he's off that far," Cherry said, motioning a couple inches with his fingers. "They go and look at it and they say it's all right.
"We're getting stiffed. You know why we're getting stiffed? Because they do not want a Canadian team in the final. That's my opinion."
The Blue Jays, in the post-season for the first time since 1993 when they beat the Philadelphia Phillies to complete back-to-back World Series championships, are facing elimination in the ALDS with Game 3 to be played in Texas on Sunday night.
Cherry doesn't think a comeback is likely.
"They'll win one or two games. I can't see them winning three," he said.
<bot>: Don Cherry doesn't believe the Toronto Blue Jays are getting a fair shake from the MLB given how the ALDS has played out.
<human>: What could be a url for this news article?
<bot>: A url for this news article could be:
https://web.archive.org/web/2015101119id_/http://www.cbc.ca/sports/baseball/mlb/don-cherry-blue-jays-1.3266561 |
{'source': 'newsroom'} |
<human>: Produce an article summary of the following news article: Another GOP presidential candidate is joining the boycott against Nevada for its attempt to move forward in the nominating process. Herman Cain is joining the boycott according to spokesman J.D. Gordon.
While he will attend Tuesday's debate in Las Vegas, Cain will otherwise not campaign in Nevada until its caucus date is placed after Jan. 17, 2012. That would leave New Hampshire and Iowa enough time in January to conduct their first in the nation contests without either being crowded within seven days.
A move forward by Nevada could lead Iowa and New Hampshire to push their contests up to December with political ads and campaigning running full steam between Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Rick Santorum, Jon Huntsman, Newt Gingrich, and Michele Bachmann are also boycotting the primary while Rick Perry, Mitt Romney and Ron Paul are not.
Nevada officials including the governor and state GOP chairman have been discussing options since New Hampshire Secretary of State Bill Gardner said Tuesday that if Nevada did not move to Jan. 17 or after, New Hampshire by law would have to leapfrog ahead and Dec. 6 and Dec. 13 would be serious possibilities.
Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval indicated earlier this week that Nevada would not likely move but the boycott changes the calculus.
If more than half the field blows off the caucuses, including Cain who is now a top tier frontrunner, Nevada's relevance will be questioned.
The ill-will at risk for forcing the contests into this calendar year could also prove costly for Nevada at future RNC calendar meetings. The state also risks losing half of its 28 nominating delegates if it moves forward without the RNC's blessing. But Nevada officials are undeterred.
"Any serious GOP contender has to understand that Nevada is a competitive battleground state," said David Gallagher, executive director of the Nevada Republican Party. "It's really to their detriment to snub the voters in Nevada."
Nevada GOP leaders also pointed to the Florida GOP for starting the scramble to move voting dates.
Fox News Producer and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
<bot>: Another GOP presidential candidate is joining the boycott against Nevada for its attempt to move forward in the nominating process. Herman Cain is joining the boycott according to spokesman J.
<human>: What could be a url for this news article?
<bot>: A url for this news article could be:
https://web.archive.org/web/2011101519id_/http://politics.blogs.foxnews.com/2011/10/14/cain-boycott-nevada-caucus |
{'source': 'newsroom'} |
<human>: Produce an article summary of the following news article: BANGKOK, Thailand, Nov. 13— Without a formal vote, President Joseph Estrada of the Philippines was impeached by his country's House of Representatives today on corruption charges centering on millions of dollars in payoffs from illegal gambling.
The bill of impeachment now goes to the Senate, where wavering members are sampling the political winds in advance of a trial that could end in Mr. Estrada's removal from office.
To shouts of protest from Mr. Estrada's supporters, witnesses said, House Speaker Manuel Villar asserted that no vote was necessary because more than the required one-third of the 218 House members had already signed a petition supporting impeachment.
''It's official now that the impeachment rap is with the Senate,'' Mr. Villar said after gaveling it through. ''We have indicted the president.''
Mr. Estrada is the first Philippine president to be impeached, though impeachment motions have been raised unsuccessfully against others. Removing him from office requires a two-thirds vote of the 22-member Senate.
The Senate trial promises to be lurid, with plans to call a variety of Mr. Estrada's cronies and possibly some of his mistresses, whose homes he is said to have acquired through questionable means.
He has reacted to the charges by rallying his base, the poor majority of Filipinos, playing once again the role that made him a heartthrob as a movie actor: the simple, scrappy guy who faces down the powerful elite.
''My conscience is clear,'' he said today in a nationwide radio broadcast shortly before the House acted. ''I did not become president to rake in money.''
He was impeached on four charges involving bribery, corruption, betrayal of public trust and culpable violation of the Constitution.
They grew out of allegations by a provincial governor who is a crony of the president that Mr. Estrada accepted nearly $11 million in payoffs from illegal gambling as well as a cut of provincial tobacco taxes.
Mr. Estrada repeated today his assertion that he had not received ''a single centavo'' from illegal gambling. Last week he did acknowledge that he had been offered what he called a $4 million bribe from the governor, Luis Singson, but he insisted that he had refused it.
After the initial accusations a month ago, Mr. Estrada has come under intense pressure to resign. The powerful Catholic Church and much of the business community have called on him to step down, and key members of his party in the House and the Senate have turned against him.
His opponents -- including his two immediate predecessors, Fidel V. Ramos and Corazon C. Aquino -- have held huge rallies calling for his ouster. A coalition of his opponents, ranging from millitant labor unions to mainstream business associations, scheduled a nationwide general strike for Tuesday.
In his radio address today, Mr. Estrada sounded like a man pursued by a pack of hounds. ''I appeal to you not to go through with it,'' he said of the strike. ''We have a crisis. Let's join hands and pull out of this, for the sake of the nation.''
But as a barometer of the national mood, the stock market and the currency do not favor the president. Whenever word passes around that he might step down, the market and the currency strengthen; when it seems that he will hang tough, they plummet.
When he dug in his heels two weeks ago, the peso fell to an all-time low of 51.95 to the dollar. Today, as it appeared that the impeachment battle might drag on for weeks or months, the stock market sagged by 2.2 percent.
That volatility grows out of a mounting unhappiness with Mr. Estrada, who is seen to have allowed the economic gains of the Ramos administration to slip away. Among investors and businessmen, the Estrada administration has acquired a reputation for mismanagement, corruption and cronyism.
Political analysts in Manila said Mr. Singson's allegations might not have gained momentum if they had not underscored a growing sense of dismay over Mr. Estrada's leadership.
''It's been building up,'' said Paulynn P. Sicam, editor in chief of an online newsmagazine called Dyaryo. ''I think mainly it's shame. It's terrible when your moral standards begin to accommodate this person's lifestyle. We've lowered our standards of propriety and morality till we realize we've been wallowing in it. It just feels so dirty. This has got to stop.''
Still thrilled by their ''people power'' ouster of President Ferdinand E. Marcos in 1986, many Filipinos are working energetically to recreate the passionate political theater of their great moment.
Before the House session today, opposition congressmen prayed and lit candles near a Philippine flag. They wore peach-colored ribbons on their shirts signifying, naturally, ''impeachment.''
Mr. Estrada's fall has been precipitous. In May 1998 he was elected by one of the largest margins of any president in history. But his support came largely from the poor, who loved his persona as a tough man of the people when he was an actor in cheap popular movies.
The political and business elite was mortified by the image of a shambling, mumbling, confessed drinker and womanizer who looked less like a president than, indeed, like an actor in cheap movies.
What the Philippines saw was what it got as president -- a lackadaisical leader with little interest in economic management, famous for his karaoke-style ''midnight cabinet'' meetings and his late-morning arrivals at his office.
It is said that when a group of business leaders held a luncheon for Mr. Estrada soon after his election, he asked to see the kitchen staff, saying he wanted to meet some people who had actually voted for him.
His accuser, Mr. Singson, was a participant in the president's happy hours, where among other things Mr. Estrada recently admitted that they had played mah-jongg for millions of pesos.
An illegal gambling lord himself, Mr. Singson said he had turned on the president when he was cut out of the profits of a new legalized form of gambling. He cheerfully asserted that he was part of a falling-out of thieves.
Mr. Singson presented a Senate hearing with lists of payoffs that he said he had made to Mr. Estrada and members of the president's family. Those included $8.6 million in profits from an illegal but highly popular numbers game called jueteng, as well as $2.8 million in provincial tobacco taxes.
Despite the public clamor for Mr. Estrada's removal, preparations are under way for a hard-fought battle in the Senate. Mr. Estrada's allies still hold majorities in both houses, and they moved today to replace the House speaker and the Senate president, who broke ranks a week ago.
Mr. Singson said today that he felt vindicated by the impeachment. ''If President Estrada is ousted, I want it to serve as a lesson to all public officials,'' he said.
That might possibly include himself.
When asked recently whether he might be incriminating himself with his testimony about Mr. Estrada, he said, ''It would be an honor to go to prison with the president.''
Photo: Opposition members of the Philippine House of Representatives hugged one another yesterday after articles of impeachment against President Joseph Estrada were read. A battle is expected in the Senate. (Associated Press)
<bot>: Without a formal vote, President Joseph Estrada of the Philippines was impeached by his country's House of Representatives today on corruption charges centering on millions of dollars in payoffs from illegal gambling. The bill of impeachment now goes to the Senate, where wavering members are sampling the political winds in advance of a trial that could end in Mr. Estrada's removal from office.
<human>: What could be a url for this news article?
<bot>: A url for this news article could be:
http://web.archive.org/web/20160523143649id_/http://www.nytimes.com:80/2000/11/14/world/philippine-congress-impeaches-president-on-graft-charges.html |
{'source': 'newsroom'} |
<human>: Produce an article summary of the following news article: to win the South shortly after picking up a bucket with biscuits from
. This choice has mostly to do with freshman center
' enormous wing span and a feeling this might finally be Coach
Kentucky's path is paved with bluegrass as the Wildcats need only two wins to get from
Wichita State is coached by Gregg "two Gs"
, which is good this year for two tournament wins before a bow-out against Kentucky.
to upset No. 6 Nevada Las Vegas because the
is miffed about getting only 11/2 teams into the tournament — California has to win a "first four" game just to make the field of 64.
is looking forward to Kentucky-
in a regional final, a rematch of the 1992 overtime classic, but the hiccup here is that Baylor beats Duke in a regional semifinal.
Every tournament needs a roll-the-dice pick, and this year's choice was between No. 6 Murray State and No. 12
. We're guaranteeing with Monopoly money at least a combined four wins for those two programs, with Murray State making a run to the Final Four based on our "Moon Shines on Kentucky" theme. Daniel Boone's state has produced three stand-up teams this year in Kentucky, Louisville and Murray State.
The shocker in this bracket will be Dan Monson's Long Beach State beating No. 5 New Mexico in Portland on Thursday and then stunning
tournament champion Louisville on Saturday. Long Beach lost at Louisville by 13 this season, but the 49ers will be much more comfortable playing at a neutral-site sub-regional near water.
Long Beach State finally runs out of steam against Michigan State, but Murray State defeats
to set up an MSU vs. MSU final.
appearance since 1946, when it lost a first-round game to Ohio State, knocks one out of its yard and makes it to a regional with wins over No. 5 Vanderbilt (overconfident after beating Kentucky) and Wisconsin (still mourning
Harvard is stopped on home turf in Boston by
. Sentimentalists note that Syracuse won the national title the last time it was decided in New Orleans, back in 2003. But that flashback magic didn't work this year in football for
. The Tigers lost the national title in New Orleans to Alabama after winning
crowns there in 2003 and '07.
Syracuse advances to the regional final but loses to
, which has somehow gone from a football powerhouse under
tournament basketball champion over traditionalists Duke and
What a season it will continue to be for St. Mary's of Moraga, which captured the
regular-season and tournament titles for the first time. People will really be impressed after the
knock out No. 10 Purdue and No. 2 Kansas on the first weekend and then ask everyone to meet them in St. Louis for the regional semifinals. There, St. Mary's makes one more valiant stand with a win over
, but then is put back in its beautiful East Bay hilltop place by the powder-blue giants from North Carolina.
The bells and whistles of St. Mary's will nearly drown out neighbor California's regional underdog noise. If the Pac-12 has an iota of pride left, Mike Montgomery's team will win the "first four" game against
and then, as the No. 12-seeded team, take down No. 5 Temple on Friday in Nashville.
If that doesn't happen, please use this article to line your bird cage.
When you pull out the rake and clear out all the leaves, though, North Carolina has the most potent combination of talent and experience in the field.
North Carolina avenges its ACC tournament defeat to Florida State with a payback victory against the Seminoles.
In a bluegrass battle, Kentucky lets kid brother Murray (State) hang around for a half before getting on with the business of advancing to Monday night.
Kentucky moves a step closer to its goal of eclipsing
's record of 11 national titles by winning its eighth with a victory over North Carolina.
<bot>: South Regional
<human>: What could be a url for this news article?
<bot>: A url for this news article could be:
https://web.archive.org/web/2012031419id_/http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-0313-dufresne-ncaa-picks-20120313,0,3468733.column |
{'source': 'newsroom'} |
<human>: Produce an article summary of the following news article: Over the past few weeks, Christine Haughney has reported that guests at the lunchtime reception for Prince William and Kate Middleton today at Buckingham Palace will dine on canapes, while Eric Asimov has wondered if they would also be drinking English sparkling wine.
The results are in, and it’s yes to the two-bite appetizers, no to the British bubbly.
The palace has released the menu, and it turns out the corks that are popping today come from bottles of Pol Roger nonvintage brut. (The royal family’s beloved lemon refresher, made with the laxative powers of Epsom salts, will also be poured.) The complete menu:
— Cornish crab salad on lemon blini
— Pressed duck terrine with fruit chutney
— Roulade of goats’ cheese with caramelised walnuts
— Assortment of palmiers and cheese straws
— Scottish smoked salmon rose on beetroot blini
— Miniature watercress and asparagus Tart
— Poached asparagus spears with Hollandaise sauce
— Quails eggs with celery salt
— Scottish langoustines with lemon mayonnaise pressed confit of pork belly with crayfish and crackling
— Wild mushroom and celeriac chausson
— Bubble and squeak with confit shoulder of lamb
— Grain mustard and honey-glazed chipolatas
— Smoked haddock fishcake with pea guacamole
— Miniature Yorkshire pudding with roast fillet of beef and horseradish mousse
— Blood orange pate de fruit
— Rhubarb creme brulee tartlet
— White chocolate ganache truffle
— Milk chocolate praline with nuts
— Dark chocolate ganache truffle.
And, of course, there will be a wedding cake.
<bot>: Buckingham Palace has released the royal wedding reception menu, and the corks that will be popping come from Champagne.
<human>: What could be a url for this news article?
<bot>: A url for this news article could be:
https://web.archive.org/web/2011042919id_/http://dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/29/royals-say-yes-to-canapes-no-to-english-wine/index.html |
{'source': 'newsroom'} |
<human>: Produce an article summary of the following news article: Over the final weekend of the longest election campaign since 1872, the NDP is holding a suite of oversized campaign rallies in key regions, designed to send to voters the message of momentum.
NDP Leader Tom Mulcair and wife, Catherine Pinhas, wave to supporters at a campaign rally in Edmonton on Friday. Canadians go to the polls in the 42nd federal election on Monday. (Ryan Remiorz/Canadian Press)
The events in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal (following one in Edmonton Friday night) will also serve to rally party activists who will be critical to the party's get-out-the-vote operation — the most expensive and "impressive," in the party's history, according to insiders.
There's a frustrated but relentless optimism in the NDP campaign, rooted in pride in the party's organization and hope in its ground strength among voters in districts key to its success.
The core belief among key organizers is that the national polls don't reflect the truth on the ground. Quebec, insiders say, is still very strong, especially among francophone voters.
In other regions, polling analysis does not account for discrepancies in strength between ridings, one NDP campaigner explained. A seemingly low number reported in Ontario looks much brighter when it's understood there are some ridings in which the NDP is polling 40 per cent and will likely win seats.
The party's optimistic view seemed validated in B.C. on Saturday when several thousand people showed up to the rally in Vancouver.
The crowd at the Vancouver Conference Centre was loud and enthusiastic and Mulcair seemed to feed off its support, delivering his case as best he could.
"We have an historic opportunity before us, an opportunity that we must not pass up," Mulcair said. "An opportunity to replace the politics of fear and division with our enduring belief in hope and optimism."
Mulcair also received the blessing of NDP royalty, in an introduction delivered by former leader and party icon Stephen Lewis.
"Mr. Harper has made this election irreversibly personal," Lewis said in a scathing warm-up speech that roused the crowd.
"It's his own views, expressed categorically, that have defamed and defaced the integrity of the prime ministerial office. Tom Mulcair says that Stephen Harper is playing a dangerous game: That game, for crude political advantage, leaves Canadian multiculturalism in tatters."
But the NDP's optimism is also rooted in the feeling much of what has happened to its support over the final four weeks of the campaign was beyond the party's control.
"We were running away with it," one insider told CBC News. And then along came the niqab. The source said it's clear to him that Conservative campaigners felt the NDP was running too hot, and needed to have its support struck down.
Success for the Conservatives in many ridings relies on modest support for the NDP, blocking support from the Liberal party.
NDP Leader Tom Mulcair signs autographs during Friday's rally in Edmonton. (Hannah Thibedeau/CBC)
And the NDP's early strength was concerning for Conservatives.
"I don't know if they [the Conservatives] knew it was coming," one source said of the Federal Court of Appeal's ruling on the niqab. But when it arrived, "they ran with it."
"They decided we need to be killed," the NDP insider said, and "they threw a dead cat on the table."
That dead cat struck the NDP hard.
The party found itself on the outside of public opinion in Quebec, where the NDP relies on support from a coalition of Bloc and other largely francophone supporters.
That fact resulted in a 15-point drop in the public opinion polls in two weeks in Quebec, and a five-point drop in Ontario, as well, NDP analysis suggests.
Mulcair responds to Conservative newspaper endorsements0:40
But the real trouble for the NDP was not the niqab (support has bounced back in Quebec), it was the narrative of failure and loss that accompanied the niqab-driven decline.
Some in the NDP camp believe the media has overplayed pictures and footage of Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau, seen here with his son Hadrien on Oct. 12. (Paul Chiasson/Canadian Press)
There's also a belief in some corners of the NDP campaign team that the media was biased toward more alluring pictures and video of the younger Justin Trudeau (and his young and handsome family) over pictures of a grandfatherly Mulcair.
The visual narrative is important in a campaign and it's crucial for a party to tell a strong visual story to engage photographers and videographers.
That's why the party is focusing on holding large rallies on this final weekend of the campaign, to tell the story of public support and strength.
But the party is also working to convert the support it has into seats by using more paid organizers than ever before and focusing a larger share of its campaign budget on supporting that ground game.
By comparison, the NDP believes the Liberal efforts have been focused on the air war — advertisements and the leader's tour — a tactic that has won it broad support in this campaign that may be difficult to harness into seats.
But the NDP are wary the Liberal support could grow even further. If that happens, the Liberal strength would be realized with larger numbers of MPs elected to the House of Commons.
A collapse in Conservative support is largely beneficial to the NDP, say insiders, with better chances for the party to pick up seats in British Columbia, southwestern Ontario and possibly in Saskatchewan — but not in Atlantic Canada, where the Liberals would be the beneficiaries.
The question of how to counter Trudeau's apparent popularity has gone largely unanswered until this week.
Mulcair: PM should meet House "very rapidly"0:51
The story of Dan Gagnier's advice on lobbying from inside the Liberal campaign and his subsequent resignation has buoyed NDP hopes and given the party a hammer with which to smash at Trudeau's so-far clean image.
It was almost with glee Thursday and Friday the party went after Trudeau, comparing the Gagnier story to the worst Liberal excesses during the sponsorship scandal.
Expect that to continue straight through until Monday.
The result, in any event, may not be as positive as the party once hoped.
It's possible, given the math and the way things could shake out, that the election might result in the NDP's second-best result ever.
Not bad, right? But still less than it won in 2011.
Put simply, this weekend still matters.
<bot>: Despite being behind in the polls, the core belief among key NDP organizers is that the numbers don't reflect the truth on the ground. Quebec, they say, is still very strong, especially among francophone voters.
<human>: What could be a url for this news article?
<bot>: A url for this news article could be:
https://web.archive.org/web/2015101719id_/http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-election-2015-mulcair-ndp-campaign-1.3276364 |
{'source': 'newsroom'} |
<human>: Produce an article summary of the following news article: It used to be when you thought of fall, you thought of cider, falling leaves, and hot soup. Now, as autumn begins, the American landscape is dominated by a single force: pumpkin spice.
Look about you and you’ll see it, in coffee and doughnuts, bagels and pancakes. At Starbucks Starbucks, Pumpkin Spice Lattes have become the Beaujolais Nouveau of the new millenium: heralded by a press release and hand-drawn chalkboards outside Starbucks stores.
This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Starbucks drink (now known by an acronym, PSL) and the company says it has sold more than 200 million thus far.
If you just do the math, that means Starbucks has sold an average 20 million beverages a year whose flavoring once belonged primarily in a seasonal pie, another accomplishment for the company run by billionaire Howard Schultz.
At the basic price of about $4 for a 12-ounce tall size, PSL means at least $80 million in revenue this fall for Starbucks, which serves it beginning in September. (That’s not including sales of pumpkin spice sauce, which we’ll talk about later). The company says the PSL is by far the most popular seasonal beverage in its lineup.
It’s been a newsworthy beverage for Starbucks, too. Last year, there was talk of a pumpkin spice shortage; this year, vegans, who say they can’t drink it because there is milk in the drink mix, have petitioned to get a vegan friendly version.
On Friday night, Jimmy Fallon included the PSL in his weekly Thank You Notes segment. The drink even has its own Facebook fan page. (Starbucks is undoubtedly much happier to have people focused on pumpkin spice lattes than on the debate over people toting guns in its stores.)
Starbucks is far from alone in its embrace of pumpkin spice. Pumpkin is featured in at least five different variations at Dunkin Donuts, including new pumpkin flavored coffee K-packs.
Meanwhile, breweries abound with pumpkin ales, there are pumpkin M&Ms this fall, and several distilleries are making pumpkin flavored whiskey. It’s even moved over into the regular fragrance world, notes Yahoo Yahoo News, with pumpkin spice lotion, shampoo and candles.
For those who’ve managed to avoid pumpkin spice thus far, what we’re talking about is a mix of cinnamon, ginger, allspice, nutmeg and cloves. (Here’s a recipe for making your own.) Each are distinctive flavors that temper and blend nicely when mixed together.
I’ve always been interested in how flavors’ popularity spreads throughout the culinary world (I wrote about the swift journey from high end restaurants to local hangouts a few years ago for the New York Times).
My kitchen has always had a jar of Pumpkin Pie Spice, which sped up the baking process at Halloween. Every so often, when I thought a non-pumpkin muffin or cake needed a little kick, I’d toss some in. It’s great in bread pudding, for example.
Friends have asked me why people are so obsessed with the PSL. It could be the scarcity, since it’s seasonal, or because we live in an obsessive society where no one thinks it’s odd to line up for hours to be among the first to get something, whether an iPhone or an espresso drink.
My personal theory on pumpkin spice’s popularity is that it is the perfect cross-cultural flavor. I come from New England roots, and grew up thinking it was just fine to eat pumpkin pie for breakfast. You’ll find cinnamon used in a wide variety of cuisines, ginger in Asian food, nutmeg in Middle Eastern dishes, and cloves in a variety of Mediterranean and African foods.
We might not all pick up the idea of fall from pumpkin spice, but we might find something from our own background when we taste it.
Now, about the pumpkin sauce that Starbucks puts in its PSLs. It’s essentially pumpkin, milk, brown sugar, vanilla and the spices (there are make-your-own instructions here).
I just got an email from Starbucks inviting me to “enjoy pumpkin spice at home.” Its pumpkin spice sauce, made by Fontana, sells for $21.95 for 63 ounces. Starbucks helpfully adds that it’s good over ice cream, too. If you’d like to try making up a batch, this is a copy cat recipe. So kick back, enjoy your PSL, and credit a coffee company for making pumpkin spice the hottest thing in fall flavors.
<bot>: Image via Papermag.com It used to be when you thought of fall, you thought of cider, falling leaves, and hot soup. Now, as autumn begins, the American landscape is dominated by a single force: pumpkin spice. Look about you and you'll see it, in coffee and doughnuts, bagels and pancakes. At Starbucks, [...]
<human>: What could be a url for this news article?
<bot>: A url for this news article could be:
https://web.archive.org/web/2013092219id_/http://www.forbes.com/sites/michelinemaynard/2013/09/22/how-starbucks-turned-pumpkin-spice-into-a-marketing-bonanza/ |
{'source': 'newsroom'} |
<human>: Produce an article summary of the following news article: Greece is at a crossroads following a referendum on Sunday, in which 61 percent of Greeks voted "no" against the country's bailout program and the austerity measures it entails.
Following the vote, the leftwing Greek government hopes to return to discussions with lenders and euro zone partners in a stronger position to negotiate more financial aid, but with fewer spending cuts.
Whether there is any appetite in Europe to give Greece another chance – and another bailout -- is unclear, however. On Tuesday, the Greek government is expected to present new reform proposals to euro zone finance ministers and officials, who are meeting to discuss their next move.
Read MoreGreek crisisintensifies: Tourists begin to worry
It comes amid concerns that letting Greece leave the euro could set a precedent for other, poorer members of the region. If it left the single currency, Greece could devalue an alternative currency and regain competitiveness.
Grillo said that Italy -- a country with the second-highest debt pile in the euro zone after Greece, according to the European Commission -- should leave the 19-member single currency union.
When asked if Italy should return to the lira, its currency before the euro, Grillo was emphatic: "Yes, with a central (bank) that has the exchange rate under control… the European Central Bank could do that. Each (country) with its own currency, and the ECB controlling fluctuations in the exchange rate."
Read MoreBye, Yanis, helloEuclid. Can this man save Greece?
He conceded that he was not an economist, however, but advocated the pro-growth, anti-austerity policies suggested by economists Joseph Stiglitz and Paul Krugman.
"They're saying this system isn't working. I say it with my soul. I say with the common sense of a comedian," he said.
Despite Grillo's ambivalence towards the euro and austerity, Italy's economy is on the path to recovery after a prolonged recession. The country's economy grew 0.3 percent in the first quarter of 2015 on the previous three months, according to Italian statistics agency ISTAT.
Read MoreItaly looks to teach Greece a lesson
Although the Italian government is slowly trying to reform the labor market to make it more flexible, unemployment in Italy remains high, coming in at 12.4 percent in May, according to Eurostat.
The rate is nowhere near as bad as in Greece, however, where 25.6 percent of people were without work in March and around half of young people are unemployed.
<bot>: Greece will have to "confront an exit from the euro," Beppe Grillo told CNBC -- and Italy should follow suit.
<human>: What could be a url for this news article?
<bot>: A url for this news article could be:
http://web.archive.org/web/20150823232251id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/07/07/italy-should-also-leave-the-euro-beppe-grillo.html |
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<human>: Produce an article summary of the following news article: (CNN) -- It was the day after Thanksgiving 2012, and Michael Dunn had just left his son's wedding. He'd had two drinks but wasn't buzzed, and he and his girlfriend were in a "great mood" -- headed to a nice bed and breakfast in St. Augustine, Florida, where they planned to enjoy a bottle of wine, he told police.
A stop at a Jacksonville gas station would flip the happy day on its head. His car doors and windows shut, he was annoyed by the "heavy bass" coming from a nearby SUV and asked four teens to turn it down.
He heard what might have been a threat, Dunn told police, then saw what might have been a gun. He pulled a 9mm handgun from his glove compartment and fired four times. Then four more times. He picked up his girlfriend as she came out of the convenience store and fled the scene, not realizing one of his eight bullets had killed 17-year-old Jordan Davis, Dunn told police interrogators.
The couple continued on to St. Augustine, where they checked into their room and ordered pizza but didn't call police, Dunn said.
Opening statements are expected to begin Thursday in Dunn's trial. He has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in Davis' death and to three counts of attempted first-degree murder for shooting at three teens accompanying Davis. Dunn has told police fear for his safety drove his actions that day.
Though jury selection has lasted three days -- after which the judge is expected to order that the jurors be sequestered -- the trial should proceed quickly and shouldn't last past February 14, two days before what would have been Davis' 19th birthday, said John Phillips, an attorney for the family.
Dunn's attorney, Cory Strolla, said that as of Tuesday evening he had filed no motion to dismiss the charges based on Florida's stand your ground law, which received national attention during the George Zimmerman trial.
"We are relying on Justifiable Use of Deadly Force as an affirmative defense," Strolla said in an e-mail to CNN.
In a police interrogation video filmed the day after the shooting, Dunn tells a police interviewer that the November 23, 2012, incident began when he asked four teens to turn down the music emanating from their Dodge Durango.
"I was polite. I asked them nicely. ... I said, 'Hey, would you guys mind turning that down?' They shut it off, and I was like, 'Thank you,' " Dunn tells police.
One of the passengers became "agitated," Dunn further explains, and someone turned the music back up. Dunn says he wasn't sure if the teens were singing, but he heard someone say, "Kill him," so he rolled down his window and asked if they were talking about him.
"It was like, um, 'Kill that bitch,' " Dunn says, claiming that he saw one of the Durango's occupants produce what looked like a shotgun and open the vehicle's door.
Asked later if he was certain he saw a gun, he replies, "I saw a barrel come up on the window, like a single-shot shotgun ... It was either a barrel or a stick."
"I'm sh***ing bricks, but that's when I reached in my glove box, unholstered my pistol ... and so quicker than a flash I had a round chambered in it, and I shot," he says, adding that he has owned the 9mm handgun since 1990 and "always" keeps it fully loaded in his glove compartment.
He initially fired his weapon four times, Dunn tells police, and the Durango began to pull away.
"I was still scared and so I shot four more times ... trying to keep their heads down to not catch any return fire. And that was it," he says.
His girlfriend exited the convenience store to see what was happening, and Dunn told her, " 'Get in the car. We have to go.' I didn't feel safe there," he recalls during the interrogation.
The couple had plans at a "fairly expensive" bed and breakfast in St. Augustine, 40 miles south of Jacksonville, so they drove there and ordered pizza. Dunn didn't call police, he says, because he wanted to go back to his South Patrick Shores home, another 130 miles south of St. Augustine.
Dunn "was waiting till we get around people we know" to call authorities, and he wanted to ensure "our dog and everybody were where they needed to be. I did not want to bring a s**tstorm down on them in Jacksonville," he tells interrogators.
In hindsight, he says, he shouldn't have left the scene, but he was too afraid to stay.
"I went over this a million times, and what I should've done is put the car in reverse" to escape the confrontation, he says, but "it was fight or flight. I don't think there was any time for flight at that moment. I was going to get shot."
One of the police interrogators tells Dunn, "I will be the first to tell you that there are no weapons in that car. I don't know what you saw."
"Is it possible when they drove off they dumped it?" Dunn asks.
"They never left the parking lot," the officer replies. "They drove off, circled right back around and came right back to that spot."
Toward the end of the interview, one interrogator tells Dunn, "There are clear-cut cases where you go, 'Yup, sure did, buddy. You defended yourself. Have a nice day.' "
Adds the other interrogator, "Let me be the first to tell you, this ain't one of them."
While some observers are drawing parallels between Dunn's trial and the case involving Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman -- not the least of which being that State Attorney Angela Corey is the prosecutor in both -- Zimmerman's former attorney says he doesn't see many similarities outside of the racial factor. Davis was black and Dunn is white.
"George was quite injured, and there were witnesses to suggest that there was an ongoing, physical confrontation and fight. Compare that to the Dunn case, where you have a verbal altercation," said attorney Mark O'Mara, a CNN contributor.
As for Dunn's claim of self-defense, O'Mara said he feels Dunn will face the burden of answering a key doubt among jurors: "You were in a car. Put it in drive, get out of there and then call the cops rather than take out a weapon and put eight shots into a car, killing one person."
Jordan's mother, Lucia McBath, said the time since her son's death has been "the most difficult, challenging year of my life, the most painful year of my life" -- something she'd wish on no parent -- but she's found some solace using her platform to speak out against gun violence in the nation.
"The gun culture, at this point, I believe is really fueling a lot of fear. Citizens are in fear of one another, fear of people that they don't know, people that don't think like them, look like them, act like them," she said in a CNN interview last month.
She said she thinks about the Zimmerman case "all the time" and she's concerned that Dunn is following Zimmerman's lead in claiming self-defense as an immunity and could "possibly walk away free."
Dunn's former attorney, Robin Lemonidis, previously told CNN, "When all the evidence has been flushed out, I believe that it will be extremely clear that Mr. Dunn acted as any responsible firearm owner would have under the same circumstances," Lemonidis said.
Shooting is no Trayvon Martin case, attorney says
CNN's Holly Yan, Vivian Kuo and Tory Dunnan, and HLN's Amanda Sloane contributed to this report.
<bot>: Opening statements are set to begin in the case of a Florida man who fatally shot an unarmed 17-year-old after a confrontation over loud music, attorney says.
<human>: What could be a url for this news article?
<bot>: A url for this news article could be:
https://web.archive.org/web/2014020619id_/http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/05/justice/florida-loud-music-murder-trial/index.html |
{'source': 'newsroom'} |
<human>: Produce an article summary of the following news article: Actress Hayden Panettiere and New York Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez might make a picture-perfect couple, but that doesn't mean the duo are actually an item.
It all started with an innocent trip to a Malibu In-N-Out Burger over Memorial Day weekend when paparazzi photos of the pair walking side by side started romance rumors, but it looks like Sanchez isn't actually Panettiere's rebound guy.
"They're not dating at all," a source tells People. "They're really just friends." So the fast food run wasn't an actual burger date.
Of course, Panettiere is no stranger to high-profile relationships; she just got out of one a few weeks ago. The starlet announced her split from Ukrainian boxer Wladimir Klitschko in mid-May. And who can forget her romance with "Heroes" costar Milo Ventimiglia?
For now, it looks as if Hayden is still one of the single ladies.
Hayden Panettiere and boxer Wladimir Klitschko break up
Will the Amanda Knox story hurt Hayden Panettiere, or vice versa?
'Scream 4' premiere: Hayden Panettiere discusses being the fresh blood [Video]
Photo: Hayden Panettiere. Credit: Chris Pizzello / Associated Press
<bot>: Hayden Panettiere and Mark Sanchez were spotted together at In-n-Out Burger in Malibu. But are they dating? A source says no.
<human>: What could be a url for this news article?
<bot>: A url for this news article could be:
https://web.archive.org/web/2011060119id_/http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/gossip/2011/06/hayden-panettiere-mark-sanchez-dating-burgers-new-york-jets-.html |
{'source': 'newsroom'} |
<human>: Produce an article summary of the following news article: Texas Gov. Rick Perry raised eyebrows Wednesday night by comparing homosexuality to alcoholism during an appearance in San Francisco. But that wasn’t his only quotable utterance of the evening.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry, speaking to the Commonwealth Club of California. Photo: The Chronicle
It turns out, the staunch Republican and likely 2016 presidential candidate likes Hillary Clinton. Quite a bit.
Appearing at the Commonwealth Club of California, Perry was asked for his impression of Clinton, who is widely considered the most likely Democratic candidate to replace Pres. Obama in 2016. Many Republicans delight in bashing Clinton and her performance as secretary of state. The criticism reached a fever pitch after a U.S. ambassador and three other Americans were killed in Benghazi, Libya on Sept. 11, 2012.
But Perry apparently has a different view of Clinton. He called her, “a very, very capable public servant, great secretary of state and first lady.”
Keep that in mind, if they ever end up in a presidential debate.
<bot>: Texas Gov. Rick Perry raised eyebrows Wednesday night by comparing homosexuality to alcoholism during an appearance in San Francisco. But that wasn't his only quotable utterance of the evening.
It turns out, the staunch Republican and likely 2016 presidential candidate likes Hillary Clin
<human>: What could be a url for this news article?
<bot>: A url for this news article could be:
https://web.archive.org/web/2014061219id_/http://blog.sfgate.com/nov05election/2014/06/12/texas-gov-perry-calls-hillary-clinton-a-great-secretary-of-state/ |
{'source': 'newsroom'} |
<human>: Produce an article summary of the following news article: RABAT, Morocco – Morocco's Interior Ministry says an Islamist party has won the most seats in parliamentary elections and is set to lead the next government.
Announcing final results Sunday, the ministry said the Justice and Development Party has taken 107 seats in the 395-seat legislature following the nationwide vote two days earlier.
The PJD -- known by its French initials -- is the latest Islamist party to win an election brought about by the Arab Spring. The right-of-center Istiqlal, a potential ally for the PJD, placed second with 60 seats.
Morocco has been swept by pro-democracy protests decrying lack of freedoms and widespread corruption. King Mohammed VI sought to defuse tensions by ordering a constitutional reform that gives parliament more power and moving up legislative elections by a year.
<bot>: Morocco's Interior Ministry says an Islamist party has won the most seats in parliamentary elections and is set to lead the next government.
<human>: What could be a url for this news article?
<bot>: A url for this news article could be:
https://web.archive.org/web/2011112719id_/http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/11/27/islamist-party-wins-majority-seats-in-morocco-election/ |
{'source': 'newsroom'} |
<human>: Produce an article summary of the following news article: While he might not accept the Cleveland Cavaliers' standing as a heavy underdog in the 2016 NBA Finals, LeBron James understands how much of a challenge Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson will pose to the Cavs' shaky defense.
Two days before the Cavs and Golden State Warriors play Game 1 at Oracle Arena, James told reporters that the Warriors' All-NBA backcourt features "probably the two greatest shooters" ever:
"They shoot the ball extremely well," James said. "Klay and Steph are probably the two greatest shooters that we've probably ever seen. Obviously in today's game they are. Some of the shots, there's nothing you can do about it. Better offense beats great defense any day. That's just always been a saying in basketball. So you have to be able to do other things to stop them. But it's hard to contain them. We all know that. The whole league knows that. Our team knows that. But we have a game plan and we have to follow it and be true to it."
James' assertion isn't a revelation, of course.
Curry and Thompson probably aren't even at the halfway mark of their careers, and yet they've already reached all-time status as 3-point snipers (Curry more so than Thompson, but the latter isn't far behind). Their shooting flurries are unprecedented in league history, and limiting those runs arguably will be the Cavs' No. 1 priority defensively.
Klay Thompson and Stephen Curry have both surpassed the previous playoff record for the most 3-pt FG in a single series
Former Warriors head coach Mark Jackson might have misused them at times, but he deserves credit for being the first person to publicly call the tandem "the greatest shooting backcourt in the history of the game" — there's simply no disputing that statement anymore. It's a fact. We've never seen two shooters of this caliber in the same backcourt, and we may have never seen two shooters like this, period.
Curry is the greatest shooter ever. That's indisputable. Thompson has crept into the same tier as Ray Allen, Larry Bird, Steve Nash, Reggie Miller and a few others, but after historic performances like Game 6, it's becoming easier to justify his standing as No. 2.
Regardless of how one determines the criteria for the best shooters of all-time, Curry and Thompson are near the top of the list — Curry already should be No. 1 — and will present the Cavs with a slew of unsolvable problems on the defensive end.
<bot>: At this point, most would agree with him.
<human>: What could be a url for this news article?
<bot>: A url for this news article could be:
https://web.archive.org/web/2016060119id_/http://www.foxsports.com/nba/story/golden-state-warriors-cleveland-cavaliers-lebron-james-stephen-curry-klay-thompson-053116 |
{'source': 'newsroom'} |
<human>: Produce an article summary of the following news article: In February, Uber CEO Travis Kalanick admitted the ride-hailing app is losing some $1 billion a year battling for market share in a fiercely competitive Chinese marketplace. But speaking on the sidelines of a conference in China, Kalanick said the company’s China operations will see profits in just two years.
With “hundreds” of cities crossing the threshold to profitability for the company over the past six months, Uber can afford to invest heavily in its China operations, Kalanick said. “If you are focused on profits right out of the gate, you’re gonna have the smallest profitable business that has ever been seen,” he told CNBC.
Uber now operates in 400 cities worldwide and is generating $1 billion in profit from its top 30 cities globally, Kalanick said. Valued at more than $62 billion, the company’s U.S. operations now turn a profit, he said. But its Chinese operations are a different story. Local rivals like Didi Kuaidi—itself valued at $16.5 billion with backing from Chinese behemoths like Tencent and Alibaba baba —have kept pace with Uber’s investment in the country (Uber’s China business is valued at around $8 billion based on its latest funding round in January).
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Kalanick refers to the company’s $1 billion annual expense in China as an “investment” rather than a loss. “If you took our top 30 cities today, today they’re generating over $1 billion in profit a year, just our top 30 cities. And that profit multiplies every year because we’re growing,” he told Reuters on Friday. There are other cities outside that top 30 that are also profitable, he added, and those profits allow Uber to confidently invest in loss-makers like Chinese cities in order to establish market share there.
For now, the investment seems to be paying off. At the beginning of last year Uber held between 1% and 2% market share in China. Today that’s up to about 30%, Kalanick said, although Didi Kuaidi disputes that assertion and, quoting an analyst report, says the real number is only about half that.
The company has made expansion there a top global priority—one worth throwing billions of dollars after—though the move has rallied its fair share of skeptics. China has proved a particularly tough environment for foreign Internet companies, which tend to encounter both cultural and regulatory headwinds. Uber’s reputation for somewhat assertive—some might say brash—tactics could put it at loggerheads with Chinese authorities.
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Nonetheless, Uber recently brought its service to 18 new cities across China, for a total footprint there of more than 50 cities. By year’s end, Kalanick has said Uber will be operating in 100 cities across China—not as many as Didi Kuaidi’s roughly 200, but enough to continue claiming significant market share.
“I’m not yet sure how much…investment will take to get to profitability in China, but I’m optimistic that within the next couple of years we’re going to start seeing Chinese cities start to prop up and be profitable,” Kalanick told CNBC.
<bot>: Uber isn’t losing $1 billion a year in China. It’s “investing” $1 billion a year in China.
<human>: What could be a url for this news article?
<bot>: A url for this news article could be:
http://web.archive.org/web/20160623111819id_/http://fortune.com:80/2016/03/28/uber-china-profit-two-years/ |
{'source': 'newsroom'} |
<human>: Produce an article summary of the following news article: Updated APR 29, 2015 2:28p ET
PHOENIX -- If there is one thing Diamondbacks players know, it is that Kirk Gibson will meet his battle with Parkinson's disease full force.
Google Gibson's home plate collision with Kansas City catcher Pat Borders in a 1995 game.
"He's a fighter. He's strong-willed," D-backs right-hander Brad Ziegler said. "You feel like if somebody is going to beat it, it is going to be him. You know he is not going to give up at any point. He is going to keep fighting. He probably looking at it like, 'I'm going to kick butt and do what I can and not change anything about the way I live because this is who I am.'"
Gibson, 57, made public Tuesday that he has been diagnosed with Parkinson's, a degenerative disorder of the nervous system. Muhammad Ali and actor Michael J. Fox are among those who have been afflicted.
"It was a shock to all of us," D-backs president and CEO Derrick Hall said. "Gibby, obviously, means a lot to this organization. He had a couple of wonderful years here as a manager and is always gong to be part of this family. We're here to support him. It's got to be devastating news for him as it was for us. He is a competitor, whether it is on the field or in his personal life. He's definitely going to tackle it hear on, we know that. There are some great treatments out there. He is going to have a lot of options."
Gibson is the last manager to lead the D-backs to the postseason, when his 2011 team won the NL West after a 29-game improvement from the previous year in his first full season on the job. He was removed as manager on the final weekend of the 2014 season, when the D-backs finished a major-league worst 64-98.
"I have faced many different obstacles in my life, and have always maintained a strong belief that no matter the circumstances, I could overcome those obstacles," Gibson said in a prepared statement.
"While this diagnosis poses a new kind of challenge for me, I intend to stay true to my beliefs. With the support of my family and friends, I will meet this challenge with the same determination and unwavering intensity that I have displayed in all of my endeavors in life. I look forward to being back at the ballpark as soon as possible."
As Gibson's son, Cam, tweeted: "Kick it's ass Dad!!! Thank you all for the support." Cam is a junior outfielder at Michigan State, Gibson's alma mater.
Like Hall, many of the D-backs reached out with texts or phone messages Tuesday.
"It's tough, but we know if he takes half the approach that he did on the game itself, he'll be fine," said D-backs second baseman Aaron Hill, who was among the several players who has hunted with Gibson in his northern Michigan spread.
"He became a great friend. I obviously had a tremendous amount of respect for him as a player, as a manager. Off the field, I don't think people really know how good of a guy he is. He has a big heart, a kind man. I know he has tremendous support around."
Colorado manager Walt Weiss was a contemporary of Gibson's during the playing days. Weiss was Oakland's shortstop in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series for the most memorable of Gibson's 262 career home runs, his one-handed, two-run, walkoff homer that gave the Dodgers a 5-4 victory. Gibson was the NL MVP that year.
"It's awful, especially when it's a guy who had such passion and energy when he played and when managed," Weiss said of Gibson's diagnosis. "It's tough to even think that a guy like that is struggling with a disease like this. I'm sure he'll fight it the same way he showed up as a player every day."
Like Hill, Josh Collmenter spent time in the offseason hunting with Gibson in the Michigan woods.
"You are blind-sided. You don't really expect anything like that to happen," Collmenter said. "To know him the last four years, the things that he's been able to do in this game, to have something like this that could cripple you. A lot of times I'm sure you feel invincible, like something like that could never happen to you. I'm sure it's as shocking to him as well in that realization. You wish him the best."
D-backs manager Chip Hale was the third base coach on Bob Melvin's staff in 2007, when Gibson was the bench coach.
"I've learned so much from him," Hale said. "We had such great conversations and good time together. It's just hard where you about this. This is a situation where, as he always has in his whole life, whether he was a football player in college or a great major league player, he is just going to attack that thing with the same fervor that he's always had."
In their one season together, D-backs closer Addison Reed grew to see the toughness that marked Gibson, whose 14-year career took such a toll that he walked with a limp and could not pronate his left arm.
"He is by far the most mentally strong man or human I have ever met in my life," Reed said. "He's going to fight it, and there is no doubt in my mind that he is gong to be all right."
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<bot>: Arizona Diamondbacks players comment on the news of former manager Kirk Gibson's Parkinson's diagnosis.
<human>: What could be a url for this news article?
<bot>: A url for this news article could be:
http://web.archive.org/web/20150501201239id_/http://www.foxsports.com:80/arizona/story/kirk-gibson-parkinson-s-d-backs-reaction-042815 |
{'source': 'newsroom'} |
<human>: Produce an article summary of the following news article: The body of a missing hunter has been found about 110 kilometres from Nhulunbuy, in an area of the Northern Territory known as the Gurrumurru Floodplain.
The 50-year-old man, from central Queensland, had been hunting with a friend in an area filled with crocodiles and wild buffalo when he went missing on Thursday.
His body was discovered on Sunday following days of air and land searches.
"It's pretty wild terrain," a NT Police spokesman told AAP.
"It was thought that both were well equipped for bushwalking, but we became concerned when there was an emergency beacon and he did not activate it."
No details on the circumstances of his death have been released and police are yet to recover his body.
<bot>: The body of a man, who went missing while hunting in the Northern Territory, has been discovered in wild terrain.
<human>: What could be a url for this news article?
<bot>: A url for this news article could be:
https://web.archive.org/web/2015110819id_/http://www.9news.com.au/national/2015/11/08/21/22/missing-qld-hunter-s-body-found-in-nt |
{'source': 'newsroom'} |
<human>: Produce an article summary of the following news article: With Hurricane Hermine forcing the cancellation of all Friday track activity at Darlington Raceway, NASCAR has modified its schedule for Saturday.
Qualifying for both the NASCAR Sprint Cup and XFINITY Series races at Darlington has been cancelled, with the field to be set by the NASCAR rule book.
The XFNITY Series will have a single round of practice from 9 to 9:55 a.m. ET, while the Sprint Cup teams will practice from 11 a.m. to 12:25 p.m., with Happy Hour running from 1:30 to 2:50 p.m.
The green flag for Saturday's XFINITY race is set for 3:45 p.m.
And the forecast looks solid with little chance of rain on Saturday, according to weather.com, which is 5 percent at 8 a.m. dropping to zero percent by noon.
<bot>: NASCAR has changed up Saturday's schedule at Darlington Raceway after Hurricane Hermine forced the cancellation of all Friday track activity.
<human>: What could be a url for this news article?
<bot>: A url for this news article could be:
https://web.archive.org/web/2016090119id_/http://www.foxsports.com/nascar/story/updated-darlington-raceway-schedule-as-sprint-cup-xfinity-qualifying-cancelled-090116 |
{'source': 'newsroom'} |
<human>: Produce an article summary of the following news article: There is something crazy about what is going on in our country today. Our fiscal condition continues on an unsustainable path, the European currency is heading for a crackup, the Arab world is in the midst of a crackup, unemployment is creeping upward and basically our two parties are telling us that they will not make the reforms that we know are necessary because it would involve too much pain and could imperil their chances of winning the presidency in 2012.
Ever since President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s legendary “First 100 Days” in office — which stabilized a country ravaged by the Depression — the first 100 days of every president have been used as a measuring stick for success. That’s over. I’ve said this before, and I believe it even more strongly today: We’ve gone from the first 100 days to the “Only 100 Days.”
Really — it feels as if Barack Obama had 100 days to push through the basics we needed to stabilize the economy and then lay the basis for his one big initiative — health care reform — and then he was preparing for the midterms, and then he was recovering from his midterm losses and then he was announcing his re-election bid and then, judging from all the Republicans who have declared for the presidency already, the 2012 race got started. As such, the chances of the two parties successfully doing something big, hard and together to fix the huge problems staring us in the face are very small — unless the market or Mother Nature imposes it upon them.
Therefore, let us all now hold our breath and hope that nothing really bad happens until the next president has his or her 100 days in early 2013 to take a quick shot at fixing the country before getting ready for the 2014 midterms and 2016 elections.
There is no way that America can remain a great country if the opportunities for meaningful reform are reduced to either market- or and climate-induced crises and 100 working days every four years. We need a full-time government, and instead we’ve created a Congress that is a full-time fund-raising enterprise that occasionally legislates and a White House that, save for 100 days, has to be in perpetual campaign mode.
To get elected today, politicians increasingly have to play to their bases and promise things that they cannot possibly deliver (5 percent annual growth for a decade) or solutions to our problems that will be painless for their constituencies (we’ll just raise taxes on the rich or we’ll just cut taxes even more) or to keep things just as they are even though we know they can’t possibly stay that way without bankrupting the country (Social Security and Medicare benefits).
The truth is, we need to do four things at once if we have any hope of maintaining American greatness: We need more stimulus to keep the economy from slipping back into recession. But we need to combine that stimulus with a credible, legislated, long-term plan for cutting spending and getting the deficit under control — e.g., the Simpson-Bowles deficit-reduction plan. And we need to raise new revenues in order to reinvest in the sources of our strength: education, infrastructure and government-funded research to push out the boundaries of knowledge.
That’s right. We need to do four things at once: spend, cut, tax and invest. And unless we do all four at once we’re not going to break out of our slow decline. But to do all four at once will require a new hybrid politics, which does not conform to the political agenda of either major party.
The Democrats are ready for more stimulus but have refused to signal any serious willingness to cut entitlements, like Medicare, that we know are unsustainable in their present form. The Republicans are all for spending cuts but refuse to accept any tax increases that we need to pay for the past and invest in the future. So what we’re basically saying as a country is that unless the market or Mother Nature make us pay, we are going to hand this whole bill over to our children.
Maybe it is just my friends, but I find more and more people completely disgusted by this situation and looking for a serious Third Party candidate who could run in 2012 and deliver the shock therapy to the corrupt, encrusted, two-party duopoly now running the show in America.
Such a Third Party would have a simple agenda: 1) Inject a short-term stimulus. 2) Enact Simpson-Bowles. 3) Shrink our presence in Afghanistan. 4) Raise automobile mileage standards. 5) Impose a gasoline tax to pay for a massive increase in government-supported scientific research and a carbon tax to pay for new infrastructure and stimulate clean-power innovation.
Do I think such a Third Party can win in 2012? Not likely. But it doesn’t have to win to be effective. If such a party attracted substantial voters on such a platform, it would shape the agendas of the Republicans and Democrats. They would both have to move to attract these voters by changing their own platforms and, in so doing, might even create a mandate for the next president to govern for an entire term — not just 100 days.
<bot>: The first 100 days of every presidency are regularly used as a measuring stick for success. Unfortunately, it seems as if thatâs the only time anything gets done.
<human>: What could be a url for this news article?
<bot>: A url for this news article could be:
https://web.archive.org/web/2011062219id_/http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/22/opinion/22friedman.html |
{'source': 'newsroom'} |
<human>: Produce an article summary of the following news article: March 18, 2011: Then-Libyan senior Rebel commander Khalifa Hifter at a press conference in Benghazi, Libya.AP
May 21, 2014: Secretary of State John Kerry speaks to U.S. Embassy employees in Mexico City.AP
The State Department Tuesday urged all U.S. citizens to immediately leave Libya due to security concerns.
The evacuation warning came shortly after the USS Bataan, with about 1,000 Marines aboard, sailed into the Mediterranean Sea to assist Americans in leaving if necessary, according to U.S. military officials. The officials made clear the ship has received no formal orders to conduct new missions.
Officials said the Navy amphibious assault ship sailed from the Arabian Sea and was already scheduled to go to the Mediterranean to participate in a multi-county military exercise in the region.
The State Department issued a statement Tuesday night saying,"The Department of State warns U.S. citizens against all travel to Libya and recommends that U.S. citizens currently in Libya depart immediately. The security situation in Libya remains unpredictable and unstable. The Libyan government has not been able to adequately build its military and police forces and improve security following the 2011 revolution."
The unrest has caused the State Department to limit staffing at the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli, and it is "only able to offer very limited emergency services to U.S. citizens in Libya," according to the release.
The statement added that "various groups" have called for attacks against U.S. citizens and U.S. interests in Libya, and said military-grade weapons remain in the hands of private individuals, including those that are capable of attacking civilian aircraft.
The warning was issued in light of fighting taking place earlier this month in the capital of Tripoli, where renegade Libyan Gen. Khalifa Hifter is waging an offensive against Islamists.
Hifter began his so-called "Dignity Operation" more than 10 days ago to crush Islamist militias and their political backers.
Hifter has the support of politicians, diplomats, army units and tribes that want him to impose order and rein in the country's unruly militias, three years after they toppled and killed longtime dictator Muammar al-Qaddafi.
However, the Al Qaeda-inspired group Ansar al-Shariah has now vowed to fight Hifter, whom it accuses of being an "American agent."
Ansar al-Shariah is believed to have played a role in the deadly Sept. 11, 2012, attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, in which U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans were killed.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
<bot>: The State Department on Tuesday called for all U.S. citizens to immediately leave Libya due to security concerns.
<human>: What could be a url for this news article?
<bot>: A url for this news article could be:
https://web.archive.org/web/2014052819id_/http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/05/27/state-department-calls-for-all-us-citizens-to-leave-libya/ |
{'source': 'newsroom'} |
<human>: Produce an article summary of the following news article: During a Direct Pre E3 Presentation today, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata announced a number of ground breaking new features for the upcoming successor to the Wii, the Nintendo Wii U.
Since last year’s E3 conference it’s been known that the new system, which has been in the works since 2008, would feature a controller with a touchscreen pad. Today we learned that Nintendo is calling the device the Wii U GamePad.
The GamePad will register both stylus and finger-touch interaction, serve as a universal infrared television remote and allow players to conduct video chats over their TV sets using the controller’s built in webcam. The device will also have a sensor that can read codes and feed information into games.
Along with new touchscreen controller, Iwata made a clear move at also catering to hardcore gamers, introducing a second, very XBox-looking “pro” controller stripped of touch controls. He went on to tout the Wii U’s anicipated high definition graphics. These moves look to welcome third party developers back to Nintendo, who have long been focused on HD titles for PS3 and XBox 360.
In addition, Nintendo shared that the Wii U GamePad would serve as a “social window,” allowing users to send text messages to a new social networking service designed around Nintendo gameplay. The network allows gamers to post on boards and chat with friends before, during and after gameplay. Nintendo assured that this network will also be made available on the 3DS, on PC and mobile devices.
Stay tuned to Tech This Out for more breaking game news as it is announced at this week’s E3 conference in Los Angeles.
<bot>: (Courtesy of Nintendo) During a Direct Pre E3 Presentation today, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata announced a number of ground breaking new features for the upcoming successor to the Wii, the Nintendo Wii U. Since last year’s E3 conference it’s been known that the new system, which has been in the works since 2008, would feature a controller with a touchscreen pad. Today we learned that Nintendo is calling the device the Wii U GamePad. The GamePad will register both stylus and finger-touch interaction, serve as a universal infrared television remote and allow players to conduct video chats over their TV sets using the…
<human>: What could be a url for this news article?
<bot>: A url for this news article could be:
https://web.archive.org/web/2012060419id_/http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/technology/2012/06/nintendo-brings-social-networking-to-your-games-tv-with-wii-u/ |
{'source': 'newsroom'} |
<human>: Produce an article summary of the following news article: The victim in this week’s murder-suicide on University of South Carolina’s campus was a cancer researcher.
The attacker gunned down Raja Fayad, a 46-year-old Lebanese immigrant, in a fourth floor officer of the school’s Arnold Public Health Research Center, the Richland County Coroner’s Office confirmed Friday.
The shooting shortly after 1 p.m. put USC’s campus under lockdown for less than two hours, blasting students and staff with a message to seek shelter and gun shots erupted.
The victim, a Syrian-educated doctor, joined the university last year as an associate professor and to research colon cancer and Crohn’s disease.
His death comes shortly after he moved out of his home shared with an ex-girlfriend to be with another woman, neighbors told the State.
It’s not known if his “stormy relationship,” as described by neighbors, with the ex-girlfriend is related to Thursday’s shooting.
University president Harris Pastides called Fayad’s death “a great tragedy.”
“Sadly, a shooting in one of our buildings has left two dead in what appears to be a murder-suicide,” Pastides said in a statement. “The thoughts and prayers of our entire community are with the families of the deceased tonight.”
He died of complications from multiple gunshot wounds to the upper body, according to the medical examiner’s report.
His assailant’s identity remains unknown pending contact with the next of kin.
Though Fayad had been staying with a relative up until his death, according to the Coroner’s Office, he had a separate home address.
That’s where his ex-girlfriend continued to live after he left. She had lost a job in Chicago and mostly stayed home while struggling through unemployment.
Internet and electrical services had been turned off at the home, a neighbor also told the State.
A motive in Fayad’s death has yet to surface.
<bot>: A shooting was reported Thursday afternoon at the public health building on the Columbia campus of the University of South Carolina.
<human>: What could be a url for this news article?
<bot>: A url for this news article could be:
https://web.archive.org/web/2015020719id_/http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/shots-fired-university-south-carolina-campus-official-article-1.2104555 |
{'source': 'newsroom'} |
<human>: Produce an article summary of the following news article: The reversal of the Chicago River a century ago, to send the city's sewage to the Mississippi River instead of into Lake Michigan, was hailed as an engineering marvel. Now Michigan is suing Illinois to potentially re-reverse the river to prevent the movement of voracious, invasive Asian carp into the lake.
The suit, which is going to the Supreme Court, also challenges Chicago's controversial withdrawal of up to 2 billion gallons of water a day from Lake Michigan.
Environmental groups have long called for the ecological separation of the Great Lakes from the Mississippi River basin to curb the spread of invasive species and to retain Great Lakes water in the Great Lakes basin. It is estimated the Chicago diversion has lowered lakes Michigan and Huron by three inches.
The Chicago River was reversed by connecting it through a system of canals to rivers whose waters flow into the Mississippi. Varying degrees of ecological separation could be achieved by closing the canals: using sluice gates to allow lake water to flow but blocking fish or boats; or using measures such as bubble or sound "curtains," chemicals or electricity to limit the movement of fish and smaller organisms.
Since 2002, the Army Corps of Engineers has run an electric barrier in the canal to block Asian carp. But tests by the University of Notre Dame and the Nature Conservancy in the fall found Asian carp DNA beyond the barrier near Lake Michigan, indicating that it might have failed to keep the voracious fish at bay.
If Asian carp make it into the Great Lakes, environmentalists and policymakers say, they could wipe out plankton that makes up the base of the food chain, severely impacting fishing and lake-based tourism.
"It's a matter of self-defense economically and ecologically for Michigan," said Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox.
Michigan's suit, filed Dec. 21, reopens a 1922 lawsuit filed by Great Lakes states challenging Chicago's right to divert water. That suit resulted in a consent decree limiting the amount of water Chicago sends to the Mississippi. Michigan's suit also calls for a preliminary injunction to force the temporary closure of locks, used for flood control and navigation.
"They've been saying they have this under control, but they really don't, and they're going back to the status quo," said John Sellek, a spokesman for the Michigan attorney general. "Their primary interest is keeping the waterway open, keeping that barge traffic on the canals. But Michigan's interest is far larger than that. The Great Lakes fishing industry is worth $7 billion all by itself, let alone the hundreds of thousands of jobs that are connected to the Great Lakes."
The Corps of Engineers and other federal, state and local authorities would probably be involved in closing the canals or other ecological separation measures, which could also be mandated through legislation.
If the canals were closed, barges could not travel from the Mississippi River into the Great Lakes. Freight would probably have to be transferred to trucks or rail cars and carried over land to Great Lakes ports. That would be a costly undertaking.
The national industry group for barge operators, which opposes closing the locks, says about a quarter-million truck trailers' worth of goods make the passage annually on barges. But national environmental groups say the potential economic impact of Asian carp and other invasive species in the Great Lakes make freight reconfiguration worth the cost.
<bot>: The reversal of the Chicago River a century ago, to send the city's sewage to the Mississippi River instead of into Lake Michigan, was hailed as an engineering marvel. Now Michigan is suing Illinois to potentially re-reverse the river to prevent the movement of voracious, invasive Asian carp into...
<human>: What could be a url for this news article?
<bot>: A url for this news article could be:
https://web.archive.org/web/2009122819id_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/26/AR2009122601568.html |
{'source': 'newsroom'} |
<human>: Produce an article summary of the following news article: “I don’t think there’s widespread corruption here,” said Mayor Vincent C. Gray (D) today, after former D.C. Council chairman Kwame Brown pleaded guilty to a federal fraud charge. “I think, before people jump to conclusions, look at how the city is running — and it’s running very well.”
That’s pure, unadulterated poppycock. “Corruption” and “how the city is running” are two totally disconnected conditions.
No one ever suggested that the machinery of the federal government was not up and running when the Nixon White House engaged in the Watergate cover-up conspiracy.
Congress has continued to conduct public hearings, pass legislation, and serve constituents’ needs even as corrupt members have been trundled off to prison.
A culture of corruption has taken hold in this city. To deny that is delusional.
Italian Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini may have “made the trains run on time” during his rule, but his regime was still rotten to its core.
“Running very well,” says Gray. So are the federal prosecutions.
<bot>: He tries to change the subject from malfeasance to governance.
<human>: What could be a url for this news article?
<bot>: A url for this news article could be:
https://web.archive.org/web/2012060819id_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/post/does-gray-recognize-dcs-culture-of-corruption/2012/06/08/gJQAnmAzNV_blog.html |
{'source': 'newsroom'} |
<human>: Produce an article summary of the following news article: The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.
Sepp Blatter’s decision to step down as president of scandal-besmirched FIFA presents an excellent opportunity to raise the organisation’s governance skills. As well as ridding itself of association with all sorts of foul play, soccer’s governing body should align its power base more closely with those who, in corporate financial parlance, are the beneficial owners of the sport: the players and fans.
Recent scandals have already pushed FIFA to say it will press for fundamental change. Its ideas are fine as far as they go. Limiting the tenure of officers, including its president, would be refreshing.
But soccer needs to go much further. FIFA’s current structure has three tiers. As well as the president, FIFA operates a 25-member executive committee. Even Blatter now concedes that is too big. It is hard for a board that size to arrive at good decisions and harder to ensure effective execution. A smaller executive committee would improve the system of presidential checks and balances.
FIFA’s 209-member Congress constitutes the third tier of power. Under current governance arrangements, it also holds much of the ultimate responsibility for FIFA’s affairs. But it is a cumbersome body poorly suited to the task of holding senior officers of the organisation to account.
It is also badly constructed because each soccer nation gets a single vote, regardless of size. Giving smaller and poorer football nations a voice is laudable. But the big South American teams have just 5 percent of the votes at FIFA Congress while supporting 10 percent of the world’s registered players and 14 percent of the audience for the 2010 World Cup – the most recent statistics available.
African nations, on the other hand, account for 26 percent of Congress votes yet only 8 and 11 percent shares, respectively, of the world’s registered players and TV viewers.
Europe has a quarter of the votes at FIFA’s ruling Congress. After factoring high numbers of registered players but a more modest TV audience, a Breakingviews analysis finds it warrants around 35 percent of the governance clout.
Such a match-fit FIFA would give better representation to the millions of people who play the sport and the hundreds of millions who follow it.
<bot>: Sepp Blatter has resigned as the besmirched president of soccer’s governing body. Needed reform is now unavoidable. FIFA’s best strategy would be to embrace it by enfranchising the beneficial owners of the sport: the players and the fans. It would also usher in better governance.
<human>: What could be a url for this news article?
<bot>: A url for this news article could be:
https://web.archive.org/web/2015060319id_/http://blogs.reuters.com/breakingviews/2015/06/03/match-fit-fifa-would-give-players-fans-more-ball/ |
{'source': 'newsroom'} |
<human>: Produce an article summary of the following news article: A few months ago, Mayor de Blasio said he hoped Pope Francis would visit the city “some day.”
On Monday, the mayor extended an official invitation.
Without his own direct pipeline to the Vatican, de Blasio transmitted the invite through Timothy Cardinal Dolan.
“I’ve been very clear that I hope he will visit New York City,” the mayor said at a press conference on school enrichment programs in Brooklyn.
“We sent a formal request through Cardinal Dolan asking for a papal visit, so I’m hopeful that we’ll have a chance for that, perhaps next year.”
Pope Francis has yet to respond.
“There has been no word from the Vatican on a visit by Pope Francis to New York (or to anywhere else in the United States, for that matter), so we wait — prayerfully and hopefully!” said Joseph Zwilling, spokesman for the Archdiocese of New York.
In April 2008, Pope Benedict XVI visited Ground Zero, Yankee Stadium, and the U.N. during his trip to the Big Apple..
The mayor is headed to Italy on Friday for a 10-day vacation and official trip.
<bot>: A few months ago, Mayor de Blasio said he hoped Pope Francis would visit the city “some day.” On Monday, the mayor extended an official invitation. Without his own direct pipeline to the Vatican, d...
<human>: What could be a url for this news article?
<bot>: A url for this news article could be:
https://web.archive.org/web/2014071519id_/http://nypost.com/2014/07/15/de-blasio-invites-pope-francis-to-visit-new-york/ |
{'source': 'newsroom'} |
<human>: Produce an article summary of the following news article: WASHINGTON— The woman whose complaints sparked an FBI investigation that led to CIA Director David H. Petraeus' resignation was identified Sunday as an unpaid social liaison to MacDill Air Force Base near Tampa, Fla., where Petraeus formerly was stationed.
Military sources identified her as Jill Kelley, who had complained about harassing emails that investigators traced to Paula Broadwell, a married Army reservist who was Petraeus' biographer, according to military sources.
U.S. officials say the FBI's investigation of Broadwell's emails led them to discover explicit messages between her and Petraeus suggesting they were carrying on an extramarital affair.
Also Sunday, members of Congress demanded a fuller explanation of how and when law enforcement agents learned that Petraeus was having the affair.
Petraeus told National Intelligence Director James R. Clapper about the situation Tuesday, election day, and Clapper urged Petraeus to resign. The White House first learned of the affair Wednesday, officials said, and President Obama accepted Petraeus' resignation Friday. Key members of Congress found out only hours before the public did.
Kelley, 37, was described as a close friend of Petraeus. Officials have said that Broadwell, 40, considered the woman she emailed a rival for the retired Army general's affections.
Broadwell, who has two children, could not be reached for comment.
Kelley and her husband, Scott, issued a statement to the Associated Press on Sunday evening: "We and our family have been friends with Gen. Petraeus and his family for over five years. We respect his and his family's privacy and want the same for us and our three children."
Petraeus, one of the most influential military minds of his generation, took the CIA job last year after retiring as a four-star general and having been the top U.S. ground commander in both the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
Broadwell met Petraeus when he gave a 2006 speech at Harvard University, where she was studying for a master's degree. She decided to make Petraeus' leadership style a doctoral dissertation topic and, later, to write his biography.
She received special access to Petraeus when he was in charge of U.S. Central Command in Tampa from 2008 to 2010, according to a U.S. officer who served under him.
"She was always in Tampa, sometimes for weeks at a time, and it was always explained that she was writing a book about him," said the officer, speaking anonymously to discuss an ongoing investigation.
When Petraeus took command in Afghanistan, Broadwell started showing up there periodically too, according to several U.S. officers who served in Kabul. She often stayed for several weeks or more at Petraeus' headquarters in downtown Kabul, where she received a room at the special quarters reserved for visiting dignitaries.
"She stayed in the distinguished visitor residences on base, much like the other traveling gang of think-tankers," said an official who served in Kabul at the time. "She did travel with him a bit too."
When the biography, "All In: The Education of General David Petraeus," came out in January, the publisher's promotional materials said that Broadwell was "afforded extensive access by Gen. Petraeus, his mentors, his subordinates and his longtime friends," and that she "embedded with the general, his headquarters staff and his soldiers on the front lines of fighting."
Petraeus' resignation sent shock waves through Congress that continued on the Sunday talk shows.
Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said that when Petraeus told her Friday he was quitting over an affair, it was "like a lightning bolt."
Appearing on "Fox News Sunday," Feinstein said she wanted to know why the bureau didn't notify the intelligence committees sooner. The incident "could have had an effect on national security," Feinstein said. "We should have been told."
Feinstein backed away from her earlier statement that Obama should not have accepted Petraeus' resignation. "When you realize additional complications ... I think he did the right thing," she said. "I think the president really had no choice but to accept that resignation."
Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.), chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, had questions about how the matter was handled and about the former CIA director's conduct, a senior committee aide said.
<bot>: WASHINGTON— The woman whose complaints sparked an FBI investigation that led to CIA Director David H. Petraeus ' resignation was identified Sunday as an unpaid social liaison to MacDill Air Force Base near Tampa , Fla., where Petraeus formerly was stationed.
<human>: What could be a url for this news article?
<bot>: A url for this news article could be:
https://web.archive.org/web/2012111219id_/http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-petreaus-20121112,0,295595.story |
{'source': 'newsroom'} |
<human>: Produce an article summary of the following news article: It's rough being a middle child.
The oldest kid gets undivided attention from overeager parents, while the youngest gets more freedom and special treatment. Meanwhile, the middle child is just there, squished between siblings. Right?
Despite the challenges middle children may face, some of the suggested symptoms of middle child syndrome (MCS) might be slightly hyperbolic.
In the book You’re a Better Parent Than You Think, Dr. Ray Guarendi defines MCS as “feelings of isolation, of not belonging. Enjoying neither the parental attention and expectations given to the eldest, nor the relaxed parental standards experienced by the youngest, the middle child is supposedly lost in the shuffle, caught in between with no unique position of his own.”
Even though many people believe MCS is linked to identity problems, withdrawal and behavioral issues, Guarendi explains that middle child syndrome, as a clinical disorder, just doesn't exist. It's merely a "prime example of how to create pathology using only a name."
But how do you explain that to children who seem to truly feel the effects growing up in the middle? You have to start with the sometimes disputed study of birth order.
Anyone who has even a passing familiarity with the The Brady Bunch will recognize the scene above. In it, young Jan Brady, the middle daughter, sums up the experience of constantly living in her older sister's shadow. That pop moment, which aired in 1971, has come to be a defining summary of the middle child experience, and how maligned they've felt for decades.
However, middle children didn't become the focus of actual scholarly research until much later.
"In the last maybe 10 or 15 years, there have certainly been studies that have focused either specifically on middle-borns, or [that] have at least included middle-borns in the analysis," Dr. Catherine Salmon, associate professor of psychology at the University of Redlands, tells Mashable. Salmon co-wrote The Secret Power of Middle Children, a book on birth order research and the psychological benefits middle children can use to empower themselves.
Prior to specific focus on middle-borns, the study of birth order was championed by Austrian physician Alfred Adler in the late 1920s, suggesting it had an influence on how a person leads his or her life. Unfortunately, as birth order studies continued to develop, there was one common thread — an absence of middle children. A 2010 review of 200 birth order studies, published in The Journal of Individual Psychology, found that "second-born children are largely ignored" in research literature, in a cruel twist of irony.
"The majority of research on birth order compares the first child to everybody else — which maybe tells me something about the birth order of the researchers," Salmon laughs.
The 2000-2006 TV show "Malcolm in the Middle" explored a dysfunctional family through the eyes of its gifted middle child.
While one could argue this proves middle children truly are the most ignored kids of the bunch, the measurable effects of birth order have too many variables to deal with as far, such as gender and socioeconomic status.
In the Journal review, researchers found that "some consistent themes appear" over the decades, but the findings won't "settle the ongoing debate about the influence of birth order." Similarly, Salmon has grappled with the conflicting scholarly conversations about birth order, but has found common themes with middle children.
"It is pretty clear, I think, that they get less attention and investment from their parents," she says. "Now, whether or not that causes a problem is a bigger question."
Which brings us back to whether middle child syndrome has true psychological effects. Salmon says her research shows being a middle child can have an influence on personality and attitude toward family. Furthermore, middle children are typically left more to their own devices — but that doesn't equate to a disorder.
"Do I think it's a syndrome? Not really," she says. "The end result is that most middle children are as well-adjusted as any other children when they grow up."
Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.
<bot>: Why do middle children get such a bad rap?
<human>: What could be a url for this news article?
<bot>: A url for this news article could be:
https://web.archive.org/web/2015020819id_/http://mashable.com/2015/02/08/middle-child-syndrome/ |
{'source': 'newsroom'} |
<human>: Produce an article summary of the following news article: The Nuggets excuse Chris 'Birdman' Anderson from all team related activities while he deals with the reported investigations.
DENVER - Denver Nuggets reserve center Chris "Birdman" Andersen was excused indefinitely from all team-related activities after sheriff's deputies searched his home Thursday as part of an investigation by the department's Internet Crimes Against Children unit. The team announced its decision shortly before the Nuggets faced the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 6 of their playoff series. The team said Anderson was excused "as he deals with the reported investigation" and declined further comment. The 10th-year pro hasn't played in the postseason after averaging 5.3 points and 4.6 rebounds during the regular season. Douglas County Sheriff's spokesman Ron Hanavan confirmed that the search took place. Andersen has not been arrested and Hanavan said no arrest warrant has been issued. The department began investigating Andersen in February after receiving information from a law enforcement agency in California. Hanavan declined to release details, including the nature of any pending charges, citing an ongoing investigation. He said they're asking that the case, including the search warrant, be sealed. Andersen answered the door at his Larkspur, Colo., home, about 40 miles south of Denver, and let deputies in, said Deborah Sherman, another sheriff's spokesperson. "He did cooperate. He spoke with deputies," Sherman said. The unit investigating Andersen investigates child porn, Internet luring, child predators and child pornography. The sheriff's office said it recovered property from Andersen's home that investigators believe is connected with the case. Sherman said items typically seized by the unit include computers, hard drives, and thumb drives, though she said she could not provide details on what items were seized from Andersen's home, citing the ongoing investigation. An arrest is not imminent, Sherman said, saying that it typically takes several weeks to a month for investigators to collect evidence from the seized items. Mark Bryant, who serves as Andersen's agent and attorney, said: "At this time, I respect the process and I have no further comment to protect the integrity of everyone involved. We'll proceed from there." A message left at Andersen's home wasn't immediately returned. "For me right now, I think I'm at a stage where I don't know enough information," Nuggets coach George Karl said before Thursday night's game. "I think we all were advised probably not to talk about it until we know the information. The only thing I will say is I trust Chris. In my years with him, he's been fantastic. I think he's really grown as a person. We're going to support him and stand by him." Andersen is in his seventh season in Denver, although his playing time dropped dramatically this season as young players gobbled up more minutes. "He's been dealt a bad hand by me," Karl said. "For a guy that's played great basketball for me and the Nuggets over the years, (he's) kind of been phased out because of the youth movement, and in the middle of the season is not always fair. I personally think Bird is a very good basketball player, can play for many NBA teams. He could play for us someday, if the situation would open itself up again." Karl said he had a chance to speak with Andersen after the morning practice. "He was emotional. I was in a state where I didn't think, I didn't want to spend a lot of time on that," Karl said. As for how the news might affect his team on the court, Karl wasn't quite sure. "I think enough guys individually have been told what's going on. I don't think we have the full information, the full story to analyze or scrutinize," Karl said. "Like I said before, I trust Bird. I think Bird will figure this out." Andersen has a history of helping out charities during his time in Denver and New Orleans, where he played from 2004-08. According to the Nuggets' media guide, Andersen raised money for Mount Saint Vincent, a home for troubled and abused children, and was honored at the home's 2009 Silver Bell Ball. He's also involved with Alliance for Choice in Education, which provides scholarships for low-income families to use in private schools. His middle name is Claus, and he dressed up as Santa to raise money for ACE in 2009, according to his media guide bio. He also helped with hunger initiatives while with the Hornets. With his colorful tattoos and high-flying, shot-blocking act, Andersen has long been a favorite with the fans in the Mile High City. Andersen began his career in Denver in 2001, before bolting to New Orleans three seasons later. He had a breakout season with the Hornets in 2004-05, only to have his career derailed by drugs. He was kicked out of the NBA on Jan. 27, 2006, for violating the league's drug policy. Following a ban that lasted more than two years, Andersen returned to New Orleans late in 2008, playing in five games and blocking four shots. Andersen then rejoined Denver for the 2008-09 season, providing a spark off the bench and swatting 175 shots in the regular season. His play around the rim helped the Nuggets make a run to the Western Conference finals, where they fell to the Lakers in six games. Andersen parlayed that big season into a five-year deal he signed with Denver in July 2009.
<bot>: Denver Nuggets reserve center Chris “Birdman” Andersen has been excused indefinitely from all team-related activities after Douglas County sheriff’s deputies searched his home Thursday as part of an investigation by the department’s Internet Crimes Against Children unit.
<human>: What could be a url for this news article?
<bot>: A url for this news article could be:
https://web.archive.org/web/2012051219id_/http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/basketball/denver-nuggets-chris-anderson-house-searched-police-team-charged-investigating-child-predators-article-1.1076099 |
{'source': 'newsroom'} |
<human>: Produce an article summary of the following news article: The morning after is quiet. Newsstands flutter with papers. One reads "hope has returned". And that sums up the mood, the feeling of Iranians after one of the country's most unexpected election results. So many are still walking around in shock: Rouhani did it. The day before was a tense one, the night also a very long one for so many millions of Iranians. As soon as the interior ministry made the announcement, they began coming, filling squares, streets and highways all over the capital – indeed the country.
Music and horns blared well into the early hours of the morning. The sound of happiness, too. Hassan Rouhani has promised to bring change, but for at least one night, he brought people hope. In Tehran's northwest, police tried to keep the buoyant crowds from blocking traffic, but traffic was blocking the streets too. Young Iranians screamed and cheered, chanted pro-reformist slogans, chanted for the release of political prisoners, chanted praise for the man who will become the country's seventh president. The mood was clear: they voted for someone they believe can ease their burdens. One young Iranian could barely contain herself, as she stood out of the sunroof of a car, screaming "Victory, we were victorious!" while flashing peace signs. She had wrapped a purple scarf around her head, the official campaign colour of Rouhani. "I am so happy I don't even know what to say, we made this victory and all I hope is that everything goes well, like we wish. I want us to be happy and to live in a way that we want," she said.
Another young man and his friend said they were happy because it was their victory. "It was our votes, they counted our votes, it was our win, nobody else had a hand in it," they said, alluding to what they thought was a rigged election in 2009. But there is also a cautiousness learnt from experience. These people have had a reformist president – Mohammed Khatami. He is still the reformist hero, who gave the people of Iran a much more relaxed era of politics, one with more civil liberties and a better economy. He also presented the world with a softer face for the Islamic Republic.
But, inevitably, big expectations lead to big disappointment. Both parliament and the Guardian Council blocked Khatami's attempts at reform. Voters are cautious that the same thing may happen – that they will end up disappointed again; that their candidate will fail them or - even worse - not keep his word.
Another voter, in his mid 50s, said simply: "Mr Rouhani should do his job in a way that in four years, at this time, we will gather here again. Don't disappoint us."
Speaking on state television after his win, Rouhani asked for the people of Iran to help him: "I'm proud that the great people of Iran, the honourable people, thought that I deserve this. They trusted me so that I can begin on the path to serve the country, to enhance people's lives and welfare, and preserve national pride and national interests. I deeply feel that I need your assistance along this path. I need you to be there. I need your cooperation." The more than 18 million Iranians who cast ballots for him were there – they brought Rouhani to victory. They just hope he's going to continue to be there for them too; not just in the feverish aftermath of an election – but through the next four years, whatever these four years bring.
<bot>: Moderate cleric says he is proud the people have trusted him so that he can "begin on the path to serve the country".
<human>: What could be a url for this news article?
<bot>: A url for this news article could be:
https://web.archive.org/web/2013061719id_/http://blogs.aljazeera.com/blog/middle-east/iranians-bask-rouhani-victory |
{'source': 'newsroom'} |
<human>: Produce an article summary of the following news article: FORTUNE — Dear Annie: I’ve been following the recent debate about whether women need to improve their negotiating skills and, if so, how. This interests me because I suspect that, if I want to take my career to the next level, I’m going to have to start asking for more of what I believe I’ve earned, rather than just accepting whatever comes along. Can you recommend any resources for learning to be a better negotiator? — Alison in Atlanta
Dear Alison: This is indeed a hot topic lately, and for good reason. Lee Miller, co-author (with his daughter, real estate executive Jessica Miller) of a new book called A Woman’s Guide to Successful Negotiating, believes that a reluctance to haggle is holding many women back.
“It doesn’t have to be that way,” says Miller, who teaches courses on negotiation at Columbia Business School. His firm, NegotiationPlus, counts among its coaching clients American Express AXP , Bank of America bac , Dell dell and the National Football League.
Although women now earn, on average, 20% less than men in the same jobs, Miller says, “for some women who have learned to negotiate, that statistic has been completely reversed.” He points to recent U.S. Census data showing that single women aged 22 to 30 in major metropolitan areas now earn 8% more than their male peers.
“The irony is that women have been socialized in certain ways that make them quite good negotiators, if you can get them to do it,” observes Jennifer Allyn, a managing director at PriceWaterhouse Coopers. “The biggest hurdle is usually persuading them to try.”
Copious academic research bears that out. Consider: When Carnegie-Mellon professor Linda Babcock asked men and women to choose from a list of metaphors to describe how they feel about the prospect of negotiating, the men’s top pick was “winning a ball game.” The women’s: “Going to the dentist.”
Those vastly different perceptions help explain why, Babcock’s research found, men negotiate four times more often than women do. “Men tend to see more situations as negotiable. They look for opportunities to negotiate,” says Allyn. “Women, by contrast, often don’t see opportunities that are right in front of them.”
In an attempt to close the gap, PriceWaterhouseCoopers launched a training course on negotiation and gender this spring, available online to all 15,000 of its female employees, and is conducting in-depth discussions on the topic at its offices across the U.S. for the rest of this year. A few highlights:
Practice asking. Making requests and proposing changes, a skill like any other, gets easier the more you do it. “Think of negotiating as an ongoing conversation, rather than just a big, rare event like asking for a raise,” Allyn suggests. “If you practice on small stuff, like delegating day-to-day tasks or requesting a change in a deadline, you’ll be more comfortable with the process.”
Build your case by pretending you’re asking on someone else’s behalf. Harvard professor Hannah Riley Bowles found in her research that many women regard asking for anything for themselves as “greedy or selfish. But men have no such reservations,” notes Allyn.
“So, when you’re getting ready to make a request, imagine that you’re doing so on behalf of your team or a colleague. How would you present the case for them? What supporting data would be most compelling?” Taking this more objective view can help you get out of your own way.
Aim high. Bear in mind that “in most negotiations, there is an expectation that where you start is not where you will end up,” says Lee Miller. “If you ask for too little, you can be sure that’s what you will get.”
In the PriceWaterhouse Coopers course, Stacey Blake-Beard, a professor at Simmons College and an expert on networks and mentoring, tells an anecdote from early in her own career. While preparing to discuss the terms of a new position, she told her mentor she planned to ask for just two things. “No! No!,” he said. “Here are 18 things you should insist on. You’ll probably get nine of them.”
Blake-Beard balked at the list he gave her, which covered everything from the size of her office to the location of her parking space to the number of students in her classes. But she made all 18 requests anyway. She got nine.
Expand your network. Blake-Beard’s story illustrates an important point, Allyn says: “You don’t have to go it alone.” Brainstorming with people you trust and getting their advice can make you a far more effective negotiator. “Investing in relationships is one of the most important long-term negotiation strategies there is.”
One common theme emphasized in both PriceWaterouse Cooper’s course and the Millers’ book is that many women’s ingrained talent for empathy can be a double-edged sword.
“Women are always thinking of how the other side views the situation and what will make the other person happy,” Allyn observes. “You can use that to your advantage in negotiations. The key is to connect what’s good for you with what’s good for the organization.”
Or, as Lee Miller puts it, “Empathy is about understanding other people’s needs, not necessarily about giving them what they want — especially at the expense of getting what you want.” Avoiding what he calls “the empathy trap” could, he believes, go a long way toward turning more women into powerhouse negotiators.
Talkback: Are you reluctant to ask for what you want or need at work? What negotiating strategy has worked best for you? Leave a comment below.
You Can’t Fire Everyone: Have you recently taken a salary cut? Have you recently jumped off the salary ledge and taken a lower-paying job? Did you choose to make the leap or was it chosen for you? How has it worked out? Tell us your stories. We’ll highlight the most interesting and instructional ones. Email us at fired@fortune.com.
<bot>: PriceWaterhouseCoopers has launched a huge training program to develop its female employees’ negotiation skills. The first step: Getting women comfortable with sitting at the table.
<human>: What could be a url for this news article?
<bot>: A url for this news article could be:
http://web.archive.org/web/20140917031218id_/http://fortune.com:80/2011/06/17/how-women-can-be-better-negotiators/ |
{'source': 'newsroom'} |
<human>: Produce an article summary of the following news article: The three Republican members of the Gang of Six — the half-dozen senators engaged in bipartisan health care talks — are getting some special attention from the conservative Club for Growth.
The organization, known for supporting primary election challengers to Republicans it deems lacking in conservative cred, says it will begin running home-state television ads on Thursday urging Senators Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, Mike Enzi of Wyoming and Olympia Snowe of Maine to resist expansive Democratic proposals.
“We believe it is vital that these three Republican senators do not cave in to the far left, as three Republican senators did to provide the winning margin for President Obama’s failed ‘stimulus’ spending bill,” said Chris Chocola, a former Indiana congressman who heads the group.
The ads come as leading Democrats are growing more pessimistic that Mr. Grassley, a linchpin in the talks, will be able to come to terms with Democrats. Some Republicans say he could face a primary challenge or be denied a top committee position if he cooperates with the opposition. Mr. Grassley has said political threats will not influence his position.
<bot>: A conservative group will start airing television ads intended to sway three key Republican senators.
<human>: What could be a url for this news article?
<bot>: A url for this news article could be:
https://web.archive.org/web/2009082019id_/http://prescriptions.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/20/conservative-group-targets-gang-of-6-republicans/index.html |
{'source': 'newsroom'} |
<human>: Produce an article summary of the following news article: July 9, 2014: A woman walks in front of the building that once housed the human rights group Fundacion Operacion Gaya Internacional in Heredia, Costa Rica. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix)
WASHINGTON – An Obama administration program secretly dispatched young Latin Americans to Cuba using the cover of health and civic programs to provoke political change, a clandestine operation that put those foreigners in danger even after a U.S. contractor was hauled away to a Cuban jail.
Beginning as early as October 2009, a project overseen by the U.S. Agency for International Development sent Venezuelan, Costa Rican and Peruvian young people to Cuba in hopes of ginning up rebellion. The travelers worked undercover, often posing as tourists, and traveled around the island scouting for people they could turn into political activists.
In one case, the workers formed an HIV-prevention workshop that memos called "the perfect excuse" for the program's political goals -- a gambit that could undermine America's efforts to improve health globally.
But their efforts were fraught with incompetence and risk, an Associated Press investigation found: Cuban authorities questioned who was bankrolling the travelers. The young workers nearly blew their mission to "identify potential social-change actors." One said he got a paltry, 30-minute seminar on how to evade Cuban intelligence, and there appeared to be no safety net for the inexperienced workers if they were caught.
"Although there is never total certainty, trust that the authorities will not try to harm you physically, only frighten you," read a memo obtained by the AP. "Remember that the Cuban government prefers to avoid negative media reports abroad, so a beaten foreigner is not convenient for them."
In all, nearly a dozen Latin Americans served in the program in Cuba, for pay as low as $5.41 an hour.
The AP found USAID and its contractor, Creative Associates International, continued the program even as U.S. officials privately told their government contractors to consider suspending travel to Cuba after the arrest of contractor Alan Gross, who remains imprisoned after smuggling in sensitive technology.
"We value your safety," one senior USAID official said in an email. "The guidance applies to ALL travelers to the island, not just American citizens," another official said.
The revelations of the USAID program come as the White House faces questions about the once-secret "Cuban Twitter" project, known as ZunZuneo. That program, launched by USAID in 2009 and uncovered by the AP in April, established a primitive social media network under the noses of Cuban officials. USAID's inspector general is investigating that program, which ended in September, 2012.
Officials said USAID launched "discreet" programs like ZunZuneo to increase the flow of information in a country that heavily restricts it. But the AP's earlier investigation found ZunZuneo was political in nature and drew in subscribers unaware that the service was paid for by the U.S. government.
"USAID and the Obama administration are committed to supporting the Cuban people's desire to freely determine their own future," the agency said in response to written questions from the AP. "USAID works with independent youth groups in Cuba on community service projects, public health, the arts and other opportunities to engage publicly, consistent with democracy programs worldwide."
In a statement late Sunday, USAID said the HIV workshop had a dual purpose: It "enabled support for Cuban civil society while providing a secondary benefit of addressing the desire Cubans expressed for information and training about HIV prevention."
Creative Associates declined to comment, referring questions to USAID.
Both ZunZuneo and the travelers program were part of a larger, multimillion-dollar effort by USAID to effect change in politically volatile countries, government data show. But the programs reviewed by the AP didn't appear to achieve their goals and operated under an agency known more for its international-aid work than stealthy operations. The CIA recently pledged to stop using vaccine programs to gather intelligence, such as one in Pakistan that targeted Osama bin Laden.
The travelers program was launched when newly inaugurated President Barack Obama's administration was talking about a "new beginning" with Cuba after decades of mistrust, raising questions about whether the White House had a coherent policy toward the island nation.
Drawing on documents and interviews worldwide, the AP found the travelers program went to extensive lengths to hide the workers' activities. They were to communicate in code: "I have a headache" meant they suspected they were being monitored by Cuban authorities; "Your sister is ill" was an order to cut their trip short.
"We worked it so that the government here didn't know we were traveling to Cuba and helping these groups," said Yajaira Andrade, a former administrator with a Venezuelan organization. "Because that was when (President Hugo) Chavez was in power, and if he had known about us -- that some Venezuelans were working to stir rebellion -- we would have been thrown in jail."
To evade Cuban authorities, travelers installed innocent-looking content on their laptops to mask sensitive information they were carrying. They also used encrypted memory sticks to hide their files and sent obviously encrypted emails using a system that might have drawn suspicion.
It is illegal in Cuba to work with foreign democracy-building programs. Nevertheless, one contract was signed days after Gross' detention.
"They arrested a contractor from another agency. That could be dangerous," one Skype message between two project workers would later read. "Thank God he's not one of ours."
Documents show Creative Associates approved the use of the travelers' relatives to carry cash to the Cuban contacts. But the family members weren't to be told that the funds were from the U.S. government.
Hector Baranda, who was a college student in Cuba when he was befriended by a group of traveling Venezuelans, said he was surprised to hear from the AP they were working for the U.S. government and had profiled him.
"How would you feel if you offered your sincere friendship and received this kind of news?" Baranda asked.
The travelers' project was paid for under the same pot of federal money that paid for the ZunZuneo program. But USAID has yet to provide the AP with a complete copy of the Cuban contracts under a Freedom of Information Act request filed more than three months ago.
Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who was in office during the program and is a likely Democratic presidential candidate in 2016, said in her new book "Hard Choices" that she was pleased "to see change slowly creeping into the country."
<bot>: An Obama administration program secretly dispatched young Latin Americans to Cuba using the cover of health and civic programs to provoke political change, a clandestine operation that put those foreigners in danger even after a U.S. contractor was hauled away to a Cuban jail.
<human>: What could be a url for this news article?
<bot>: A url for this news article could be:
https://web.archive.org/web/2014080419id_/http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/08/04/us-reportedly-dispatched-latin-americans-to-foment-cuba-political-change/ |
{'source': 'newsroom'} |
<human>: Produce an article summary of the following news article: Doug Glanville on baseball, its controversies and its lessons for life.It was impossible this week not to think about the incredible staying power of baseball.
Doug Glanville on baseball, its controversies and its lessons for life.
There is something transformational about connecting with the game at the right time in your life — almost always in youth — when you learn to fully embrace its character and every potential: the patience and endurance required, the long season, the triumph, the forgiveness. When you fall in love with this game, there is no doubt.
Even as childhood fades, we still believe in what the game can impart. That youthful affection can be kept alive even in the face of a midlife crisis or bad news at the doctor’s office. Baseball gave my sick father hope when he watched me play on television from his hospital room, the same hope he had when I hit my first Little League home run and he slipped me a $10 bill as a reward. Time stops for baseball.
And so the game seems to have an uncanny ability to endure through the great challenges the world brings to us — not just larger events like wars and struggles for racial equality, but internal wounds suffered by the game: from the Black Sox cheating scandal to the age of steroids.
Given all that, the game and its magic appear indestructible. It gives rise to a kind of faith. But even the most faithful at times experience doubt.
Melky Cabrera is no icon. And so his positive drug test and 50-day suspension from baseball this week isn’t the kind of news that evokes a head-shaking nod of recognition. Instead its the kind of news that forces us to accept that the culture of drugs touched all levels of our game, from the journeyman outfielder, to the megastar, to the 25th guy to make the team. It’s the kind of news that plants a seed a doubt, not only about Cabrera — or in another recent case, the 2011 National League M.V.P., Ryan Braun, whose positive test result was ruled invalid upon appeal — but about the essential nature of the game.
Cabrera was far from a household name going into this season. After being jettisoned by his first team, the New York Yankees, in 2009, he moved to Atlanta, then to Kansas City and finally, San Francisco, where this year, almost magically, it seemed no one could get him out.
His run continued right through the All-Star game where he was named the game’s M.V.P. When Cabrera’s suspension was announced, it seemed almost absurd. Another M.V.P.? The M.V.P. of the All-Stars? Another bright star imploding.
As a player, I learned quickly that in every locker room I would call home, I was surrounded not by the superheros I envisioned populating the locker rooms of my childhood’s favorite teams, but by people. We had our flaws; we were scared; we worried about longevity and our batting averages. But being thrust inside of this realm of imperfect humanity did not change my hope for the game, even as it shredded some of my ideals. As a professional, I had to mature and accept a dose of reality — injuries, slumps, being traded, being released, being marginalized — while still believing in what I remembered from my days of playing Wiffle Ball in front of my house.
Yet I can’t help but wonder if baseball has a finite currency of some kind. Can it expense its way into irrelevance? Does the resiliency ever wane? Is there some tipping point at which one too many players is accused of drug use, and it is not the player who is blamed, but the game?
I suppose it is a battle we face in most endeavors, where the perception of the individual threatens the collective, when the choices of a Cabrera, a McGwire or a Bonds come to represent the game itself.
This is why I never bought one of the arguments in support of Pete Rose regarding his ban from baseball and the Hall of Fame for gambling on the sport. In comparing him to some of the less admirable men who were in the Hall, the argument goes that gambling was less offensive than, say, Ty Cobb’s racism. But gambling destroys the game itself, to its core. People question if what they see is real because anyone and everyone could be on the take. Was that error intentional? Was that strike really a ball? Cobb reflected a culture of his times, one that through today’s lens, seems disturbing and unfortunate, even dangerous. But the game can shrug that off. Cobb was not baseball. His opinions and prejudices were his own and at times, aligned with those of his times. But gambling on the game is considerably bigger. It brings into question every play, every player and his ability to directly influence the game. It changes the game from pure competition to patronizing choreography. Once revealed, doubt becomes certainty.
Reasonable doubt is doubt that makes us believe that something could have happened to support the possibility of innocence. That’s how Ryan Braun was exonerated. But the true danger is in spiritual doubt. The kind of doubt that creates an existential threat to the game. The day when a critical mass of fans decides that the game is really an incubator of these problems, that it celebrated these transgressions, allowed and even supported them — on that day the game is irreversibly at fault. “Reasonable” becomes certain. That will be a day that will change the game forever. Maybe even end it.
I would like to think that will not happen, that the game will remain bigger than any individual, that it can retain its aura of divinity and thrive through the very human acts of its participants. Maybe the game can absorb Cabrera as it has done with a litany of marquee players before.
Still it is probably safe to say that no currency, no matter how magical, is infinite. Eventually, enough players, or a certain kind of player, could send the game downhill, brakeless and irretrievable. We could reach that point where one player’s choice is the final, and fatal, element of doubt that creeps into the game.
I hope we never get there.
<bot>: Melky Cabrera is no baseball icon. But his suspension for failing a drug test brings us one step closer to shaking the faith we invest in the game.
<human>: What could be a url for this news article?
<bot>: A url for this news article could be:
https://web.archive.org/web/2012081919id_/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/17/baseball-faith-and-doubt/ |
{'source': 'newsroom'} |
<human>: Produce an article summary of the following news article: I lost five pounds on the Fashion Week Diet, and I ate anything I wanted!
Actually, that is not entirely truthful.
I, fearless fashion reporter, lost the five pounds covering the last round of nonstop runway shows in September, by eating whatever was available, which was sometimes a feast, sometimes not a lot. Do-gooders are so concerned about underfed models, yet no one asks about us peons (critics, reporters, bloggers) who work the same 14-hour days, hoofing it to shows all over town, often on the subway since this isn’t Condé Nast.
Were you under the impression that Fashion Week was all about the glamour? Did you read that on a blog?
An editor once caught me eating a dusty lozenge discovered on the bottom of a colleague’s handbag (it was lunch, and I was grateful for it) and suggested it was time for an intervention. And so, for a season, I kept track of what I ate, documenting every slice of pizza inhaled on the go, every canapé snatched from a tray, every empty calorie consumed along the way, and compared this to the distance traveled on foot.
Measured with a Nike FuelBand, a wrist band that monitors exercise, the numbers were shocking. I walked 63.1 miles, burning enough calories to outweigh those consumed. But other factors must have come into play. The stress. The deadlines. The salt.
Alas, the weight loss was fleeting. The pounds have returned (with plus-ones). And as another Fashion Week begins, I can tell you only this: I am hungry. Watch your bags.
9 a.m.: I began the day with a Fashion Week ritual: A cinnamon-raisin bagel in the office, carb-loading before Richard Chai, my first show at Lincoln Center, followed by back-to-back shows in Chelsea and the West Village.
2:30 p.m.: Took the A train back to the office to write a report on those shows and grabbed a roast beef sandwich and a Coke from the New York Times cafeteria, while contemplating plans for coverage of Fashion’s Night Out. (My strategy centered on stores that might be serving food.)
10 p.m.: After two unsuccessful loops on Madison Avenue, including one Ryan Lochte sighting at Calvin Klein, took the subway home to Brooklyn and ordered a takeout cheeseburger and fries in his honor.
1 p.m.: After Peter Som’s show in Chelsea, there was time for a quickie spinach quiche from Dean & DeLuca (in the Times building) before hitching a ride to Jason Wu, who likes to show way downtown, vastly inconvenient to mass transportation (not that anyone else would notice).
4:30 p.m.: Low blood sugar moment following two blog posts and a video interview in Mr. Wu’s overheated backstage area. Seriously, a concerned model had to hand me a bottle of water. Ordered a red velvet cupcake and an Orangina at Billy’s Bakery on Ninth Avenue, then walked to the Rag & Bone show on the Hudson River.
10 p.m.: Three men’s shows in Chelsea and one Emporio Armani party later, scarfed roughly 24 pieces of sushi (and 2 glasses of white wine) with Frédéric Fekkai at Reed Krakoff’s rooftop dinner party on the Upper East Side.
9 a.m.: One Sicilian tomato breakfast pizza from Bien Cuit after the gym, then back to Chelsea for the Parsons graduate-student show.
2 p.m.: A salami panino from Piccolo, a small cafe by the office, before heading downtown to see Christian Siriano and then to the West Side for Alexander Wang.
Midnight: Fridge raid! After seeing Altuzarra’s engineer stripes in the West Village and then racing to Carine Roitfeld’s party at the Frick, where there was no food, ahem, I inhaled four beef spareribs, a tub of collard greens and a half-pint of Jeni’s Whiskey & Pecans ice cream.
10 a.m.: Ate a ham-and-cheese croissant in full view of Anna Wintour and Maria Sharapova at Victoria Beckham’s show at the New York Public Library. Shhhh!
<bot>: Eric Wilson, a fearless fashion reporter, lost five pounds covering the last round of nonstop runway shows in September, by eating whatever was available, which was sometimes a feast, sometimes not a lot.
<human>: What could be a url for this news article?
<bot>: A url for this news article could be:
https://web.archive.org/web/2013020719id_/http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/07/fashion/the-fashion-week-diet.html |
{'source': 'newsroom'} |
<human>: Produce an article summary of the following news article: HARARE, Zimbabwe (CNN) -- Zimbabwe's opposition party said four of its activists and the wife of Harare's mayor -- an opposition member -- have been killed by supporters of President Robert Mugabe, just days ahead of next week's presidential runoff.
President Robert Mugabe says war veterans will take up arms again if Tsvangirai wins.
Thursday's report came as U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice accused Mugabe of sponsoring efforts to starve, beat and kill supporters of his opponent Morgan Tzvangirai so he can win the election.
Rice was speaking on the same day that Tendai Biti, the opposition Movement for Democratic Change's secretary-general, was charged with treason after being held in jail without charges for a week. If convicted, he could face the death penalty.
His arrest and treason charges have been criticized by African and international leaders who characterize it as a ploy by Mugabe supporters to intimidate the opposition party before his June 27 runoff against Tsvangirai.
A spokesman for the MDC blamed Mugabe's Zanu-PF party for the five most recent deaths, saying they brought to 70 the number of MDC party members killed since a bitterly contested election three months ago.
The body of the mayor's wife, 27-year-old Abigail Chiroto, was found in a mortuary close to the couple's house north of Harare. She had been beaten so severely with rocks and iron bars that her face was almost unrecognizable, MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa said. Watch CNN's Nkepile Mabuse report on the violience »
Chiroto was kidnapped, along with her 4-year-old son, on Tuesday. Some of her kidnappers wore military uniforms, Chamisa said. Chiroto's son was released unharmed.
Her husband, Emmanuel Chiroto, is an MDC member who was recently elected mayor of Harare. He was not home at the time of the kidnapping.
Also Thursday, the MDC said that four other activists were found dead in Chitungwiza. The victims' bodies showed evidence that "they were heavily tortured until they died," an MDC statement said.
"It's unbelievable the way people are being killed or murdered," Chiroto said. "It's almost mass butchering."
Police confirmed the deaths of the activists but did not link the victims to any political party.
Mugabe's party denied any part in the deaths, saying MDC officials made such accusations frequently.
"They are claiming anyone who dies. They phone CNN," said Bright Matonga, a Zanu-PF spokesman. "Whenever someone dies in the hospital, they rush to claim them."
Matonga said Harare was run by a commission. "There is no MDC mayor in Zimbabwe," he said. "There is no newly elected mayor in Harare." Learn more about Zimbabwe »
In New York, Rice convened a meeting about the situation in Zimbabwe at the United Nations on Thursday.
"Mugabe is increasing violence against [the] opposition. ... President Mugabe has squandered the promise of the very nation that was hailed as the jewel of Africa," Rice said at a roundtable discussion attended by representatives from many international governments.
"Clearly we have reached a point where broader, stronger, international effort is needed," she added.
On Friday, a magistrate judge will determine whether prosecutors have enough evidence to proceed with a trial against Biti. The judge also will determine whether Biti will be granted bail or will continue to be jailed until the trial.
Biti was charged Thursday with treason, communicating false information prejudicial to the state, bringing the office of the president into disrepute and causing disaffection among armed forces, according to a journalist who was in the Harare courtroom. He denies all the charges. Watch Biti arrive for his court hearing »
Biti, wearing a red jacket and looking exhausted, held his head in his hands as the proceedings took place in the packed courtroom.
"I think that one must express very serious objection to the manner in which this whole case is being handled," said Tsvangirai, who was in court. "The accusations are frivolous."
Three of the charges stem from a document titled "The Transitional Strategy," which Biti is said to have written ahead of the March 29 election. Biti is denying that he wrote the document, and his lawyers described it as "doctored."
The fourth charge of communicating falsehoods alleges that Biti announced that Tsvangirai had won the March presidential election by an outright majority, meaning no runoff vote would be needed.
In recent weeks, opposition groups and churches have reported numerous cases of kidnappings, torture and other violence in the country targeting opponents of Mugabe. Zanu-PF members have been suspected of being behind the acts.
Zanu-PF claims that the MDC is behind the violence. It said MDC members attacked the mayor of Kadoma, a city 140 km (87 miles) southwest of Harare. It also accused MDC activists of causing millions of dollars damage to private business.
Last week, Mugabe warned that veterans he commanded in his country's liberation war nearly three decades ago would take up arms again if Tsvangirai won. Watch an ad vilifying Tsvangirai »
The MDC is using word of mouth and file-sharing sites such as YouTube to disseminate its campaign advertisements, claiming that they are banned by state media.
The group sent advertisements to supporters via e-mail, asking them to forward them to their friends and relatives.
"Since the regime has denied the MDC access to state media, please send the adverts to as many people as you can," the e-mail says. "A new Zimbabwe is near. The dictator is finished. Let's finish it!"
Mugabe has been Zimbabwe's only leader since the war ended in 1980 but is blamed for the economic collapse of a country once considered a regional breadbasket.
Zimbabweans increasingly are unable to afford food and other essentials, with agriculture paralyzed by land reform and the world's highest rate of inflation.
Police have arrested Tsvangirai several times in the weeks leading up to the runoff, most recently on Saturday, with 11 other officials and supporters from his party.
South African President Thabo Mbeki met Mugabe and Tsvangirai on Wednesday in the hope of quelling tensions.
Mbeki was visiting in his capacity as mediator with the 14-nation Southern African Development Community, the South African government said Wednesday.
He is under domestic and international pressure for his perceived conciliatory stance toward Mugabe, but the South African leader recently said he would continue his quiet diplomacy despite recent events.
CNN's Nkepile Mabuse contributed to this report.
All About Zimbabwe • Robert Mugabe • Morgan Tsvangirai • Gordon Brown
<bot>: Zimbabwe's opposition party said four of its activists and the wife of Harare's mayor -- an opposition member -- have been killed by supporters of President Robert Mugabe, just days ahead of next week's presidential runoff.
<human>: What could be a url for this news article?
<bot>: A url for this news article could be:
https://web.archive.org/web/2008062119id_/http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/africa/06/19/zimbabwe.violence/index.html |
{'source': 'newsroom'} |
<human>: Produce an article summary of the following news article: Halle Berry's ex, Gabriel Aubry, "went nuts" whenever anyone would refer to their daughter as "black" ... sources tell TMZ.Sources connected with the former couple tell TMZ ... whenever Gabriel would read a story about Nahla that referred to her as "black," he would go off, insisting his baby was white. We're told Gabriel would tell Halle and others they should demand a "retraction" when such references were made regarding his daughter.As TMZ previously reported, sources tell us Gabriel has called Halle the "N" word -- and one woman previously involved with him referred to him as a "borderline racist."We have been unable to get in touch with Gabriel's reps for comment.
<bot>: Halle Berry's ex, Gabriel Aubry , "went nuts" whenever anyone would refer to their daughter as "black" ... sources tell TMZ. Sources connected with the…
<human>: What could be a url for this news article?
<bot>: A url for this news article could be:
https://web.archive.org/web/2011090319id_/http://www.tmz.com/2011/02/04/halle-berry-gabriel-aubry-black-child-custody-war-fight-divorce-nahla/ |
{'source': 'newsroom'} |
<human>: Produce an article summary of the following news article: Belgian police launched more raids in Brussels and beyond early Monday, detaining five more people as they continued their hunt for a fugitive suspect in the Paris attacks.
In Paris, British Prime Minister David Cameron said he will ask for parliamentary approval for the U.K. to join airstrikes against Islamic State extremists in Syria.
The raids began late Sunday, capping a tense weekend that saw hundreds of troops patrolling and authorities hunting for one or more suspected extremists including Salah Abdeslam, a fugitive since being named a suspect in the Nov. 13 Paris attacks. Between Sunday night and midday Monday, 21 people were detained
Brussels in 3rd day of lockdown2:53
The Belgian government kept the capital on the highest state of alert in the face of what it described as a "serious and imminent" threat, preventing a return to normal in the city that is also host to the European Union's main institutions.
The Canadian government said its embassy in Brussels will be closed until further notice.
Federal prosecutor Eric Van Der Sypt said 19 raids were carried out Sunday in Molenbeek, home to many of the Paris attackers, and other boroughs of Brussels, and three raids were carried out in Charleroi. Abdeslam was not among those arrested. Van Der Sypt said no firearms or explosives were found.
Belgian Interior Minister Jan Jambon told the RTL network that Abdeslam "must have a lot of support on our territory. That's why all these searches being conducted at the moment are important."
Police fired two shots at a car that approached them as they searched a snack bar in Molenbeek, Van Der Sypt said. The vehicle escaped but was stopped later in Brussels, and a wounded person inside was arrested. It was not immediately known if the person was linked to the investigation into the Paris attacks.
Cameron and French President Francois Hollande, meeting in Paris, paid a quiet visit to the Bataclan concert venue, which saw the worst of the carnage in Paris. Hollande plans to meet later this week with Russian President Vladimir Putin, German Chancellor Angela Merkeld and then U.S. President Barack Obama in pursuit of a unified strategy in Syria.
Britain has been carrying out airstrikes in Iraq, but Cameron has long wished for an expanded mandate to include targets in Syria. But having lost a vote once two years ago, his government had been reluctant to even suggest a vote until it could be certain it would win.
French president François Hollande, right, and British Prime Minister David Cameron, left, arrive for a meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris on Sunday. (Ian Langsdon/EPA)
Belgian authorities said more raids Monday in Brussels and eastern Liege yielded five more detentions.
The federal prosecutor said in a statement that a BMW sighting near Liege that had been rumoured to contain Abdeslam had no links with the ongoing investigation.
Several of the Paris attackers had lived in Brussels, including Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the plot's orchestrator who was killed Wednesday in a standoff with French police. Police issued a new public appeal for help in identifying the third attacker who was killed in the assault at the national stadium. They posted a photo of the man on Twitter, asking the public for information.
France has intensified its aerial bombing in Syria and Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle, which has been sent to the Mediterranean, will be "operational" from Monday and "ready to act."
France has extended a state of emergency which allows police raids, searches and house arrest without permission from a judge, for three months. On Saturday, it also extended a ban on demonstrations and other gatherings through Nov. 30, when a U.N. climate conference with more than 100 heads of state is scheduled to start.
The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for the attacks in Paris that killed 130 people and wounded hundreds more; the suicide bombings in Beirut that killed 43 people and injured more than 200; and the downing of the Russian jetliner carrying 224 people in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula. All happened within the past month.
<bot>: Belgian police launched more raids in Brussels and beyond early Monday, detaining five more people as they continued their hunt for a fugitive suspect in the Paris attacks.
<human>: What could be a url for this news article?
<bot>: A url for this news article could be:
https://web.archive.org/web/2015112319id_/http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/paris-attacks-cameron-hollande-1.3330579 |
{'source': 'newsroom'} |
<human>: Produce an article summary of the following news article: THE RADIANT FUTURE By Alexander Zinoviev. Translated by Gordon Clough. 287 pp. New York: Random House. $13.95.
IF novels were events, ''The Radiant Future'' would be a circus. Despite its title, it is not science fiction, nor is it a romance about a collective farm; it is a book about the adventures of the mind. In Moscow in the mid-1970's, Alexander Zinoviev compiled tracts, skits, doggerel and some of his own public satirical and philosophical lectures about a surreal society and turned them into ''The Yawning Heights'' (published in English in 1979). He withheld a chapter and expanded it into ''The Radiant Future.'' ''The aim of the book,'' Zinoviev writes about a book within this book, ''is to give an objective description of communism as it really is from the point of view of its deepest underlying laws, its tendencies and its future prospects.'' The comment is appropriate to the book at hand.
''The Radiant Future,'' written in the form of dialogues and intellectual confessions and anecdotes by an unnamed narrator, is directed against the intelligentsia which defends an ideology that prevents people, capable of being human, from becoming intelligently human. Zinoviev's main professional interests are in nonclassical logic and its application to the analysis of the language of science. His literary ambition is to tell the truth about his culture in work that will make people talk about that culture. Though he honors fellow mathematician Solzhenitsyn's study of the labor camps, he scorns his dogmatism. Zinoviev's thesis is that Communism, like any self-perpetuating social system, is normative and adequate, that it reproduces basically and exclusively the human material which preserves it, and that internally originated change is inconceivable not because the system is perfect but because there is no juridical protection of the individual. Political rights have no meaning; judicial retribution has no meaning; there is nothing to believe in because there is no basis of meaning. Moral sickness has become the norm. All are sick; therefore, all are healthy. Those who talk about sickness are anathematized as ill. The supreme falsehood is that the state expresses the collective will of the people; the truth is that a few have power, and that many comply. ''God,'' the narrator of ''The Radiant Future'' thinks aloud, ''when will someone decide to get rid of all these idiots and replace them with some worthwhile people?''
The book is a non-novel novel. Its material is fresh; its prose is keen; but the fiction is thinly allegorical. There is scarcely a plot, and there are no individuated characters. The figures are types - housewife, teen-age daughter, administrator, absentminded professor. The ''plot'' concerns the construction, deterioration and abuse of a huge billboard, which says ''LONG LIVE COMMUNISM - THE RADIANT FUTURE OF MANKIND,'' built by the institute in which the narrator is head of a department. This is intertwined with the narrator's hopes of being elected to the Academy of Sciences and with his neighbor Anton's search for a Western publisher for his critical study of Soviet life. By asking Anton what he has written, the narrator gives us a serious analysis of Soviet society from within; and by describing what happens to the sign - its metal is ripped off, its letters fall out, it is defaced, and finally repairs begin - Zinoviev mixes satiric vignettes with sharp commentary. Essentially, each episode is an illustrative philosophic dialogue formed by contrast of styles (high discourse followed by an obscene poem) or reversal of an expected point of view. For example, Marxism, which is ''not a science,'' stands against Christianity, which ''has always tried to attract the best brains''; or ''Marxism ... is the quintessence of mediocrity. A boring, unaesthetic ideology. An ideology of oppressors created for oppressors. And for the oppressed as well.''
Zinoviev's quest for integrity began before the Second World War, when, at 16, he entered the university; it continued after his military service as a bomber pilot. He thought then of becoming a writer, but ''decided it would be foolish.'' He did become a member of the party after Stalin's death and, until 1976, tried to work within the party. The last thing he foresaw, he says, was the success of ''The Yawning Heights.''
Zinoviev's knowledge of Marxism comes from intensive textual study, exemplified by his doctoral thesis, ''A Method of Progression From the Abstract to the Concrete (on the Basis of Marx's 'Das Kapital'),'' written in his early 30's. Shortly before he was 40, he successfully defended the thesis, taught at the Institute of Philosophy and at Moscow University, where he became a full professor in 1966. For two years he served on the editorial board of Problems in Philosophy; in 1974 he was elected to the Finnish Academy of Sciences. In the Netherlands two of his books were published in English translation - ''Philosophical Problems of Many-Valued Logic'' (1963) and ''Foundations of the Logical Theory of Scientific Knowledge'' (1973). Party member, full professor, author of much yetto-be-published work, in addition to the eight or nine volumes that attested to his eminence among international scholars, Zinoviev was exceptional. As two of his translators pointed out in an introduction to one of his books, ''For many years (Zinoviev) has been the only Russian philosopher writing on symbolic logic to have a first-hand technical knowledge of modern mathematics.'' In December 1976, his party colleagues in the Institute of Philosophy condemned ''The Yawning Heights'' without having read it; the K.G.B had been following him; and within two years he was persuaded to emigrate to Germany.
Many writers have analyzed and satirized the pompous bleakness of contemporary Soviet culture. Zinoviev, the skeptic, now adds a dialectical base for discussing a society that has no moral consciousness or institutions to support one. Marxism and its romantic ideology have nothing to do with what actually goes on. The truth is that no literature and no arithmetic will repair Russia. One struggles against them however one can. Meanwhile, this saucy, irreverent book holds the mirror up to a grotesquely self-satisfied society. But even the man who tells the truth tells only partial truth and, therefore, partial falsehood. ''The Radiant Future,'' for all its virtues, evokes the magical line of the 19th-century poet Tyutchev: ''A thought put into words is a lie.''
<bot>: THE RADIANT FUTURE By Alexander Zinoviev. Translated by Gordon Clough. 287 pp. New York: Random House. $13.95. IF novels were events, ''The Radiant Future'' would be a circus. Despite its title, it is not science fiction, nor is it a romance about a collective farm; it is a book about the adventures of the mind. In Moscow in the mid-1970's, Alexander Zinoviev compiled tracts, skits, doggerel and some of his own public satirical and philosophical lectures about a surreal society and turned them into ''The Yawning Heights'' (published in English in 1979). He withheld a chapter and expanded it into ''The Radiant Future.'' ''The aim of the book,'' Zinoviev writes about a book within this book, ''is to give an objective description of communism as it really is from the point of view of its deepest underlying laws, its tendencies and its future prospects.'' The comment is appropriate to the book at hand.
<human>: What could be a url for this news article?
<bot>: A url for this news article could be:
http://web.archive.org/web/20150524081436id_/http://www.nytimes.com/1981/03/15/books/a-send-up-of-soviet-russia.html |
{'source': 'newsroom'} |
<human>: Produce an article summary of the following news article: By Kevin Johnson, USA TODAY
Antonio Martinez was suddenly suspicious.
In the midst of planning a spectacular car bomb attack on a military recruiting center in a Maryland suburb, the 21-year-old construction worker also known as Muhammad Hussain learned that the FBI had infiltrated the planning of a similar, but unrelated, attack in Portland, Ore., federal court documents allege.
The Portland sting operation resulted in the arrest of a Somali-born suspect on federal charges. Martinez worried that one of his new confederates in the Maryland scheme also might be a government agent, federal prosecutors and the FBI say in the court documents.
"Who is this brother?" Martinez demanded, according to a transcript filed in court documents. He was referring to the seemingly well-connected partner — the man with professed access to firearms and explosives who had joined the operation just days before. "I'm not falling for no b.s."
Martinez, charged last week with attempted murder and the attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction, had every reason to be suspicious. The "Afghani brother," court documents say, was indeed an undercover FBI agent whose intense courtship of the terror suspect reflected a key strategy in the government's effort to thwart new attacks against the United States.
When terrorist hijackers struck on Sept. 11, 2001, the federal government had few contacts among international terror informants and little intelligence about global terrorism. Now, government investigators increasingly are resorting to a controversial tactic that has netted alleged plotters in Dallas, Washington, D.C., New York and Chicago.
But the simultaneous, months-long operations in Portland and suburban Baltimore are raising new questions about whether the government is going too far in trying to identify potentially dangerous operatives, prompting a debate about whether investigators are entrapping suspects who lack the genuine desire or ability to carry out the plots. In both cases, government informants first identified the suspects on the Internet and then undercover agents engaged them in elaborate ruses culminating in the delivery of dummy bombs to their alleged targets.
Federal investigators have been deployed in complex undercover stings for decades to battle a host of traditional enemies, from the Mafia and drug dealers to gun traffickers and spies. Its application in terror inquiries, however, is a more common recent strategy as the FBI confronts a growing, homegrown terror movement.
"All of this seems very unusual," says Peter Fleury, an assistant federal public defender in Dallas.
Fleury says he had never encountered such tactics until this year, when he was appointed to help represent Hosam Smadi, 20, a Jordanian national snared in a plot to attack a downtown Dallas skyscraper with a bomb that, it turned out, was fake and had been assembled by the FBI.
"I had never seen it happen before," Fleury says of the FBI's extensive involvement. He says Smadi, ultimately sentenced to 24 years in prison, was a victim of entrapment.
"Left to his own devices, he wouldn't have been able to pose a danger to anybody," Fleury says.
Farhana Khera, executive director of the Muslim civil rights group Muslim Advocates, says the sting operations suggest the FBI could be wasting valuable resources on people who, without the FBI's planning and technical help, may be incapable of little more than spouting unpopular political rhetoric.
"Some of these cases look and feel like entrapment," Khera says. Entrapment occurs when police persuade a person to carry out a crime the suspect had no previous intention to commit.
"But for the government's role in these cases," she says, "the suspects may have been left with their own bravado. Law enforcement resources need to be focused on actual threats."
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder defends the government's tactics, saying they have been "critical" in neutralizing criminals for years.
"I make no apologies for how the FBI agents handled their work," Holder told Khera's group last week. "Those who characterize the FBI's activities … as entrapment simply do not have their facts straight or do not have a full understanding of the law."
The FBI's courtship of Mohamed Osman Mohamud in Portland — like that of Martinez in Baltimore — began online.
Government investigators intercepted a series of Mohamud's e-mails to undisclosed contacts in Pakistan from August to December 2009, federal prosecutors and the FBI say in court documents.
The suspicious electronic communications, which allegedly contained "coded language" discussing Mohamud's preparations for "violent jihad," ultimately launched an inquiry that, as described in a 36-page federal criminal complaint, reads in part like a movie script.
It also set in motion a widening national debate — accelerated by last week's arrest of Martinez in Baltimore —over whether the government pushed the suspects to do something they could not have done, and perhaps would not even have attempted, on their own.
"The question we'll be looking into is the question of entrapment," Steven Wax, chief federal public defender in Oregon, said after a hearing last month in which Mohamud pleaded not guilty to the attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction. "One of the issues that will be coming up is whether and how he was directed by government agents."
In all, undercover FBI agents met with Mohamud seven times from July 30 to Nov. 26, when he was arrested after attempting to detonate a dummy explosive near a crowded public square. The court documents describe contacts including:
•Undercover FBI agents, posing as eager jihadists with connections to Mohamud's contacts in Pakistan, arranged secret meetings at Portland-area hotels.
•There were discussions of possible targets before Mohamud settled on a Nov. 26 Christmas tree-lighting ceremony at the city's Pioneer Square.
•A Nov. 4 dry run, just three weeks before the designated attack date, displayed the bonafides of undercover agents who arranged for the assembly and the detonation of a test explosive in rural Lincoln County, Ore.
•Agents posing as jihadists after the test explosion also helped Mohamud — dressed in a white robe, head-dress and camouflage jacket — prepare a "Sheik Osama-style" video in which Mohamud allegedly recites a rambling statement taking responsibility for the planned attack.
The extensive contacts, Wax has argued, raises the prospect that the alleged action "was instigated by government agents."
"The government provided the money, the government provided the transportation, the government was involved in the meetings," Wax told reporters after last month's hearing.
The defense team also plans to delve into details surrounding the first meeting between Mohamud and the FBI — July 30 — when the suspect allegedly told an undercover agent that he wanted to become "operational but noted he did not know how and he would need training."
Unlike other meetings and contacts with Mohamud, the July 30 conversation was not recorded "due to technical problems," according to the court documents.
"There will be questions raised about that," Wax says.
But Portland FBI chief Arthur Balizan says in a statement that Mohamud was "absolutely committed to carrying out an attack on a very grand scale."
FBI agents offered Mohamud several chances to withdraw from the plot, the court documents say, and he pushed forward each time.
"I want whoever is attending that event to leave … either dead or injured," Mohamud allegedly told agents.
On the day Mohamud allegedly had selected to carry out the attack, he unknowingly was videotaped inspecting the handiwork of FBI technicians.
Stowed in the back of a white van were six 55-gallon drums, a coil of detonation cord, blasting caps and a gallon of "strong"-smelling diesel fuel, all arranged to look powerful vehicle bomb.
"Beautiful," Mohamud allegedly declared — just moments before he unsuccessfully tried to detonate the phony device and was placed in handcuffs.
The elaborate props, says Don Borelli, a former assistant agent-in-charge of the FBI's New York Division, often are integral parts of investigations that have targeted drug lords, spies and now, terrorists.
In the highly secretive espionage investigation of former FBI counterintelligence agent Robert Hanssen unmasked in 2001, for example, the FBI purchased a house across the street from the now-convicted spy's house in Vienna, Va., and had an agent posing as a neighbor conduct constant surveillance.
The deception was designed to catch Hanssen turning over classified government documents, but agents did not actually pose as Russian spies. Hanssen later pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison.
In terror cases, Borelli says, the FBI's Quantico, Va., laboratory serves as a studio where inert bombs and other devices are designed and assembled. The design and study of bomb-making has been an intense focus of investigators, especially since U.S. troops increasingly began encountering improvised explosive devices in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"It's almost like a movie set," Borelli says. "They can manufacture anything."
Borelli says the deception does not constitute entrapment.
"We are getting more (terror) cases that avail themselves to this type of investigation," says the former counterterrorism agent, now vice president of a New York-based security firm.
He says federal prosecutors "like the technique" because the sting operations lend themselves to gathering potentially powerful audio and video evidence.
"We have to show in court absolutely that the intent of the subject was to follow through with the plan," Borelli says. "We want them to go through all the steps, dialing the cellphone or pulling the trigger. As we're doing so, we're giving these guys options to back out. It's not entrapment."
In New York Wednesday, Abdul Kadir was sentenced to life in prison for plotting to bomb JFK International Airport. Early in that sting operation, which also involved an FBI informant, Kadir's lawyers raised the prospect of entrapment.
The Center on Law and Security at New York University School of Law, which tracks federal terror prosecutions, reported in September that the entrapment defense has never been successful in a post 9/11 terror trial.
In a Baltimore federal courtroom Monday, prosecutors again defended the tactics used by FBI agents in last week's arrest of Martinez.
The investigation began in September, after an FBI informant noticed a series of threatening postings on Martinez's Facebook account, according to federal court documents.
An FBI affidavit outlining the operation portrayed Martinez as so eager to lash out against the USA that he unsuccessfully sought to recruit three unidentified accomplices. He was arrested Dec. 8 after allegedly trying to detonate a fake car bomb outside the Catonsville, Md., recruiting station.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Christine Manuelian said video recorded throughout the investigation shows the suspect "grinning" as he armed a vehicle bomb to attack the suburban military recruitment center.
"There is no indication of any remorse, any concern … that he is about to kill people," Manuelian said before Martinez was ordered to jail pending trial.
Defense attorney Joseph Balter, like his counterpart in Portland, disagrees with the government's assessment.
He characterized the plot in Monday's court hearing as "the creation of the government."
"There was nothing provided," Balter said, "which showed that (Martinez) had any ability whatsoever to carry out any kind of plan."
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<bot>: Simultaneous, months-long operations in Portland and suburban Baltimore are raising new questions about whether the government is going too far in trying to identify potentially dangerous operatives, prompting a debate about whether investigators...
<human>: What could be a url for this news article?
<bot>: A url for this news article could be:
https://web.archive.org/web/2010121619id_/http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2010-12-15-fbi-sting_N.htm |
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<human>: Produce an article summary of the following news article: Mitt Romney doesn’t elicit passion, as Ronald Reagan did in Detroit. Or respect, as Poppy Bush did in New Orleans. Or excitement, as W. did in Philadelphia. Or admiration, as John McCain did in St. Paul.
The emotion he evokes is pity. Romney slogged and spent his way to the G.O.P. convention his dad craved for himself only to find that his role is not so much leading man as forgotten man.
Following an adulatory promotional video about himself, Chris Christie splashed in the Narcissus pool, giving a preening keynote speech that gassed on for 1,800 words and 16 minutes before he even deigned to mention “our actual nominee,” as Sarah Palin sardonically put it on Fox News.
Christie, who has already said he may run in 2016 if Romney loses, urged “sacrifice” and “tough choices” even though the blurry Romney beckons with an all-you-can-eat buffet of defense spending and tax cuts.
When TV cut away to Mitt in the hall to capture what should have been a thrilling moment, he looked as though his jelled skull might burst into flames.
He must have been fuming over why his high-priced mercenaries, who vetted Christie’s speech two weeks ago, failed to ask the New Jersey governor to cool it on the solipsism. In a conflict of consultants, the Romney adviser who’s helping run the convention, Russ Schriefer, is a once (and future?) Christie strategist.
Do Romney’s consultants, like some other conservatives here, have a thinly veiled disdain for an animatronic aristocrat who insists on being in a business he has no business in?
This synthetic convention aches with the enormity of the effort involved in trying, and failing, to make Mitt alluring and compelling, the fruitless, endless hunt for the enigma code that will decipher the cipher.
It’s absurd that Romney is still working tirelessly to show who he is given that he has spent the past six years running for president. Ann Romney was straining so hard to come up with heartwarming, personal anecdotes about Mitt and her family, she actually hit on one with CBS News about her son mourning her miscarriage that a startled Mitt said he had never heard.
Even when conservatives try to defend Romney, they manage to insult him.
“If you’ve just been diagnosed with a brain tumor,” Mike Huckabee told Howard Kurtz of The Daily Beast, “you honestly don’t care if your neurosurgeon is a jerk.”
David Brooks of The Times mocked press critiques of Romney, but the satire slashed the candidate, too: “Romney owns many homes without garage elevators and the cars have to take the stairs.”
If conservatives think Reagan is a candidate for Mount Rushmore, Romney brings to mind a Sisyphean rock.
As Bill Kristol put it on Fox News, hailing Paul Ryan as Romney’s savior: “It feels less like a couple of hundred people in Boston working very hard to kind of push the boulder up the hill and more like a genuine exciting cause.” (Mitt’s dad urged him to “be bold,” not boulder.)
Charles Krauthammer dryly suggested on Fox News that to be more likable, Romney “should go out on stage with the dog that he had on the roof of the car and have the dog endorse him right there ... Seamus and Mitt.” (Except Seamus is dead, and Mitt is struggling to prove he’s alive.)
Romney is seen more as maître d’ than nominee, ushering the party to a better table in the future. In Politico, conservatives referred to the placeholder Mitt as a transitional figure and “an ideal segue.”
When Mitt awkwardly came out on stage at the end of Ann’s speech in what was supposed to be a crescendo, the room went flat. The few ripples of excitement in the Ward Cleaver-Betty Crocker convention with the generic music and anesthetized delegates have centered on younger 2016 prospects.
On the convention floor Tuesday night, Rick Perry told Chuck Todd of NBC News that he would “absolutely” consider running in 2016.
On “The Daily Show,” Jon Stewart hailed Marco Rubio as “Charisma Boy,” saying it was good that Marco had dodged the problem of being Mitt’s running mate because, if he wins, “it would have been uncomfortable for you to run against him in 2016.”
After Condi Rice, glamorous in a salmon suit, impressed the crowd Wednesday night, Marc Ambinder of The Atlantic and GQ tweeted: “OK, HRC v. Condi in 2016 is on.”
And, of course, there was the evening’s main course and future, Ryan, who brought the zombie convention alive with a zowie speech — building up Romney and tweaking him about what’s on his iPod, “which I’ve heard on the campaign bus and on many hotel elevators.”
Ryan’s deft speech conjured the president’s nightmare — that disillusioned voters might decide it’s time to try something new.
<bot>: Stuck between a rock and a hard race, will Mitt Romney be bold or boulder?
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<bot>: A url for this news article could be:
https://web.archive.org/web/2012083019id_/http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/30/opinion/will-they-decipher-the-cipher.html |
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<human>: Produce an article summary of the following news article: Dwight Woolhouse proudly admits that he cried during each of the 133 space shuttle launches.
“It affects me very deeply,” Woolhouse told FoxNews.com. “I think it’s just the culmination of so many hours of hard work.”
Woolhouse was on the shuttle's original design team, helping NASA craft the space taxi nearly 40 years ago. Today, he works as the program manager of shuttle orbiter development at Boeing, where he oversees 300 engineers. But he remembers clearly the day his decades-long love affair with space exploration began.
“It was the Chicago Daily News, and the cover read, ‘Russia Sends Man to Space,’’ said Woolhouse -- who also happens to be a retired newspaper delivery boy. “I knew it then: That was what I had to do.”
After that, Woolhouse read anything he could about space exploration -- and annoyed his mother terribly when he would cut out space articles from newspapers. After graduating with an aerospace engineering degree from San Diego State University in 1968, he -- ahem -- landed a job at McDonnell-Douglas, where he helped design Skylab’s water system.
“Some people grow up wanting to be an astronaut,” he told FoxNews.com. “I was a little more realistic; I was fine with giving them a machine to do what they have to in.”
While working for McDonnell-Douglas, he heard that Rockwell International, another aerospace company, won the contract from NASA to build the space shuttle.
“That’s where I knew the future would be,” he said.
He applied for a job and was hired in 1972. Woolhouse was “at the bottom of the totem pole” as an engineer, but as time passed he grew in the company. Before long, he assumed important tasks, designing the orbiter’s side hatch and eventually the flight-control actuator, which controls the rudder on the wings and tail that steers the shuttle during reentry.
The nine-year design process was humbling, he said. During a normal day at the vast facility in Downey, Calif., engineers would hatch ideas, argue about why they wouldn’t work, bring it to the lab, refine the idea, go back to the drawing board and begin the process the next day.
NASA told the company it wanted a spacecraft that had a 100-flight lifespan. He said engineers delivered. These orbiters may be retiring, but they are in many ways in the prime of their career, Woolhouse believes.
As Endeavor's final launch looms, the shuttle fleet is one step closer to the pages of history books. And around Boeing's Huntington Beach campus, there is an underlying feeling of sadness among the 300 designers who, in many cases, worked with each other during the entire program.
“It’s a little sad for all of the design team,” Woolhouse told FoxNews.com. “We look at the shuttles like they’re our children.”
And like all parents, even if they don’t want to admit it, Woolhouse has a favorite: “The Discovery is one sweet machine," he said, with a tinge of excitement. “It’s just beautiful.”
Although most of the shuttles -- Enterprise, Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis and Endeavour -- contributed to the International Space Station, Woolhouse said the Discovery was the initial shuttle to put the Hubble space telescope into orbit -- and it was the first to launch after both shuttle disasters.
Woolhouse, 65, doesn’t know his job’s future at Boeing. But his love affair with space exploration will continue the rest of his life, even if it’s just talking with his wife Carolyn about the newest technology over breakfast.
So during Endeavor’s final liftoff Friday afternoon, Woolhouse will pull up a chair at his office, make sure all Boeing's components are prepared for launch and watch the liftoff one last time. Boeing has a strict, no-alcohol policy at the Huntington facility -- so the champagne will have to stay on ice.
Woolhouse will likely cry, again, when Endeavour lifts off. But he’s not worried about his colleagues being annoyed.
“They’re used to it,” he said with a laugh.
<bot>: Dwight Woolhouse was on the space shuttle's original design team, helping NASA craft the space taxi nearly 40 years ago. Today, he works for Boeing as the program manager of shuttle orbiter development where he oversees 300 engineers. But he remembers clearly the day his decades-long love affair with space exploration began.
<human>: What could be a url for this news article?
<bot>: A url for this news article could be:
https://web.archive.org/web/2011042819id_/http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/04/28/space-shuttle-designers-looks-career-exploration/ |
{'source': 'newsroom'} |
<human>: Produce an article summary of the following news article: It looks like Kanye West can't take a joke. The "Yeezus" rapper embarked on an epic Twitter rant slamming Jimmy Kimmel after the late-night host poked fun at the new dad for boasting of being the No. 1 rock star on the planet in a BBC interview. "Jimmy Kimmel is out of line to try and spoof in any way the first piece of honest media in years," West tweeted in capital letters. "I don't take it as a joke ... You don't have scum bags hopping over fences trying to take pictures of your daughter. Jimmy Kimmel, put yourself in my shoes." The Twitter explosion came a day after a skit on ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live" featured two bratty kids reenacting West's BBC Radio 1 interview. The rapper later forgave the TV host during an appearance on Kimmel's show.
From one controversial star to another, Sinead O'Connor took to her Facebook to post an angry open letter to Miley Cyrus. The "Nothing Compares 2 U" singer's rant comes after Miley slammed the 90's star in a controversial tweet comparing her to Amanda Bynes -- mocking O'Connor's own Twitter meltdown last year in which she hinted at feeling suicidal. "Before there was Amanda Bynes ... There was (O'Connor)," Cyrus, who prior to their feud told "Rolling Stone" that her nude "Wrecking Ball" video was inspired by O'Connor's 1990 video for "Nothing Compares 2 U." The 46-year-old hit back with a vengeance, suggesting the 21-year-old "wake up and understand" how her recent antics can affect people around her, "I hope that you will apologize to Amanda Bynes and to any person who has been wounded by your mockery of those who have suffered."
It's the battle of the divas! The contestants aren't the only ones going head to head this season on "American Idol," the judges are getting in on the drama too. Newcomer Nicki Minaj unleashed a foul-mouthed tirade against fellow "Idol" co-star Mariah Carey on Oct. 2, 2012, ultimately threatening to punch the singer out after the two new judges disagreed over a contestant's performance while taping in Charlotte, N.C. Carey had been goading Minaj for hours, sources said, ultimately calling the wild-haired, wig-loving "Your Love" songstress a "b---h." Then again, Miss Minaj is known for her temper ...
Don't diss Nicki Minaj! That's the lesson radio station Hot 97 learned after morning host Peter Rosenberg spoke disparagingly about Minaj's song 'Starships.' The rap superstar was supposed to headline Hot 97's Summer Jam concert at MetLife Stadium but was pulled from hip-hop's biggest concert just hours before she was slated to perform because the Hot 97 on-air personality dissed her angering the head of her record label, Lil Wayne, who then axed her performance. But they aren't the only celebs with a bone to pick. Check out some of Hollywood's meanest heavyweights that won't give up a fight ...
If Amanda Bynes is looking for sympathy from fellow starlet Lindsay Lohan, she better think again. The former Nickelodeon star may have had her car impounded by police after she was pulled over on a suspended license earlier this summer, but Lilo, who served 14 days in jail in 2010 after violating her probation in her own 2007 DUI case, seems to think Bynes got let off a little too easy. "Why did I get put in jail and a Nickelodeon star has had NO punishment(s) so far?" Lohan tweeted on Sept. 16.
Jon Hamm can't quit Kim Kardashian. The dashing 'Mad Men' star, who recently called the reality TV bobblehead a 'f---ing idiot,' has made yet another mention at the brunette bombshell's expense. 'The sexy thing is so ephemeral and meaningless other than in the world of selling magazines,' Hamm tells the British magazine. 'Who cares, when it's reduced to just that? You might as well be a Kardashian and have a sex tape.' The actors dig makes reference to Kardashians infamous 'leaked' sex tape with then-boyfriend Ray J in 2007, a scandal that ultimately skyrocketed the socialite's career.
Joan Rivers does NOT like Chelsea Handler. 'She's an ordinary girl that was f--king somebody high up in the industry and they gave her a break and she's doing okay,' the fiery 78-year-old 'Fashion Police' host said on Howard Stern's Sirius XM radio show. 'The girl made it on her back f--king the president, we all know that, of the network.' Handler, 36, dated 56-year-old Ted Harbert, the CEO of Comcast Entertainment Group, for four years before the two split in 2010. Handler's response? 'Joan Rivers? What the f--k do I care about Joan Rivers?' she shot back to Stern when asked about her reaction to Rivers' recent criticism of her.
James Bond really can't stand those Kardashians. Daniel Craig, the steely-eyed actor behind the most recent incarnation of the tuxedoed super agent, has a few choice words for the reality family in the January issue of GQ. 'Look at the Kardashians, they're worth millions, he said. 'I don't think they were that badly off to begin with but now look at them. You see that and you think 'what, you mean all I have to do is behave like a f--king idiot on television and then you'll pay me millions?' Craig, 43, pointed to the Kardashians as an example of how celebrities' public and personal lives can become dangerously intertwined.
For January Jones, her cold-as-ice Betty Draper character isn't much of a stretch. Jared Gilmore, the young actor who has played her son Bobby on 'Mad Men' for two seasons, has some words of warning for the boy who will replace him next season on the AMC drama. 'Be careful around January Jones,' the 11-year-old told TV Guide. 'She's not as approachable as the others. She's really serious about what she does. Everyone else is so nice.'
Abercrombie & Fitch wants The Situation to leave its clothes in his dirty laundry pile. The neo-preppy retailer is offering to pay the 'Jersey Shore' star not to wear its clothes because they're afraid his buffoonish image is sullying its brand. 'We are deeply concerned that Mr. Sorrentino's association with our brand could cause significant damage to our image,' the retailer said in a statement.
NeNe Leakes must put a lot of emphasis on the 'enemy' part of 'frenemy.' After saying on 'The Ellen DeGeneres Show' that she and 'Celebrity Apprentice nemesis Star Jones 'are okay right now,' Leakes went on to dish some harsh criticism. 'I don't think she's easy to get along with,' the reality star began, starting off mildly. 'She's a tough girl.' Then Leakes added about Jones, 'She is bossy; she is manipulative, conniving. And I'm not even being funny. I think that is real. I honestly think that is who she is.'
Though Kim Kardashian's never-ending desire to play the field was said to be the reason for her brief relationship with Gabriel Aubry fizzling out, it turns out that someone else was to blame: Halle Berry. 'Halle was very upset,' a Berry source told People magazine. 'She was upset at the idea of someone like that being in her daughter's life.' The source added that Berry was 'aggravated' by Kardashian's reality star status. 'She just didn't want Nahla exposed to the cameras that are undoubtedly around a reality star,' the insider said.
Truce! Snooki and Joy Behar hammered out their own version of a peace treaty this week when the 'Jersey Shore' star offered an apology for her scathing parody of the talk show maven. Appearing on 'The Wendy Williams Show,' Snooki explained that the video in which she pretended to be Behar and made derogatory comments was intended to be a joke. 'Everyone took it too seriously, so I took the video down,' she said. 'We feel bad about it.' Behar agreed to make her own peace. 'I found the apology quite sobering,' she admitted, 'although maybe that's not the right word.'
Joan Rivers has a new slogan for 'Fair and Balanced' Fox News: 'Liar, liar, pants on fire.' New York's doyenne of comedy accused the cable network of doing 'damage control' after she went public with the story that she and daughter Melissa had been unceremoniously booted from Thursday's 'Fox & Friends' guest lineup because of acid remarks she'd made about Fox News contributor Sarah Palin. 'Joan says they're a bunch of dirty liars and they're backpedaling,' Rivers publicist Judy Katz said. Prompted by media coverage, 'Fox & Friends' executive producer Lauren Petterson stated that due to 'the volume of news topics,' a booker had 'mistakenly canceled Joan's appearance instead of rescheduling her for Friday's show.' She added that 'Fox & Friends' was 'in the process of booking' Rivers on an upcoming show.
Kim K's got a bone to pick with 'Teen Mom' and she took to her blog to make it public. 'It seems that shows like 'Teen Mom' are all of a sudden making teen pregnancy seem cool in the eyes of young girls,' the 30-year-old wrote in an entry directed 'to all young girls out there.' 'The kids from these shows are all over the news, even on the covers of magazines, and have been become almost like celebrities, but girls, these are not people you should idolize!' Kardashian said. Not surprisingly, at least two of the 'Teen Mom' cast members weren't pleased with Kardashian's post.
According to footage from the Dec. 3 taping of 'Chelsea Lately,' Handler hits Angelina Jolie with a verbal smackdown. 'She's a homewrecker. She is ... She can rescue as many babies from as many countries as she wants to,' Handler was quoted saying. In her own defense, Handler remarked that she's been 'making fun of Angelina Jolie since she made out with her brother,' back in 2000.
After Keith Olbermann called her 'the worst person in the world' on MSNBC for her position on abstinence, Bristol Palin got by with a little love from her friends on Facebook. But it seemed either Bristol or someone in her camp, finally snapped. The 'Dancing With the Stars' alum posted an eloquent letter to the MSNBC host on her page to defend her position as an abstinence advocate, despite having a baby as a teen. 'Accusing me of hypocrisy is by now, an old canard,' she wrote. 'What Mr. Olbermann lacks in originality he makes up for with insincere incredulity.'
The beef is back! During a radio show interview, Shia LaBeouf hurled an insult at Frankie Muniz's way, reigniting a years-long feud between the young actors. The 'Wall Street 2' star deflected the credit for his box office success, saying, "While that's flattering as hell, you could have put Frankie Muniz into any of the movies I've been in and those movies still would've still been No. 1.' Muniz managed to give a retort by taking to Twitter. 'Dear Shia Labeouf. It's getting creepy the fact that you can't stop talking about me. It's been 12 years now. I don't know you. Thanks,' he tweeted.
Sean Penn is not a supporter of Wyclef Jean's presidential bid in Haiti and he's not afraid to say it. In August 2010, the actor told Larry King that he worried the singer's campaign was simply 'about a vision of flying around the world, talking to people.' He later penned a column for the Huffington Post criticizing the singer for being absent after the January earthquake in Haiti. 'None among us felt or expressed anger toward it, but rather a universal sadness for his silence, as he is America's most admired cultural link to Haiti,' the actor wrote. In response, Jean lashed out at Penn, suggesting the actor's recreational drug use led to him criticizing the singers presidential bid. 'I got a message for Sean Penn: Maybe he ain't see me in Haiti because he was too busy sniffing cocaine,' he sang while performing his 2004 hit 'President' at Hot 97's On the Reggae Trip.
Diamonds might be Naomi Campbell's best friend, but Mia Farrow sure isn't. The actress contradicted Campbell's claim at the war crimes trial of former Liberian President Charles Taylor that she had no idea who gave her a bag of 'dirty-looking pebbles' that turned out to be blood diamonds. Farrow said she and Campbell met Taylor at a 1997 reception in South Africa hosted by Nelson Mandela. Campbell, who had to be subpoenaed to testify in early August, said she didn't know who Taylor was when she met him at the reception. She said she turned over the sack of stones to Jeremy Ractliffe, who used to run a Mandela charity.
The drama that unfolded after the firing of celebrity stylist Rachel Zoe's sharp-tongued fashion assistant, Taylor Jacobson, has finally come to light. During the season premiere of 'The Rachel Zoe Project,' Jacobson was accused of swiping and never returning the company's high-priced designer merchandise. 'Not much shocks me in my life, but this is one of the things that has really shocked me the most in my life and my career, for sure,' Zoe wrote on her Bravo blog, adding that she has not spoken to Jacobson since the incident occurred November 2009.
Can't say we blame her! Comedienne Joan Rivers couldn't help but crack a few jokes at Lindsay Lohan's expense after the troubled actress received her jail sentence. Rivers, 77, tweeted, 'Lindsay Lohan is so dumb. Her idea of being sworn in is cursing at the judge,' referring to Lohan's F-word manicure. Not one to walk away from a fight, Lohan, 24, fired back. 'Joan Rivers and her 'stargument' make me believe that she and Michael Lohan are a match made in heaven, Lohan tweeted about Rivers and her estranged father.
It's the feud that just keeps on giving. Michelle (Bombshell) McGee, the first alleged mistress of Sandra Bullock's husband Jesse James, quickly learned what happens when you attack funny lady Chelsea Handler. The 32-year-old tattoo model lashed out at the 'Chelsea Lately' host for the second time April 2 via Facebook, writing, 'Dear Chelsea, glad to see my grandma's old clothes put to good use in your wardrobe. Her mu-mu's look AMAZING on you.' 'P.S. You need to hire another midget to hold up those saggy boobies of yours...all that breast feeding from Chuy has really taken its toll.' Chuy Bravo is Handler's personal assistant and appears on her E! show. McGee's burst of vitriol is her latest response to a blog post Handler wrote last week. 'Michelle really believed that Sandra [Bullock] and Jesse were separated and was 'shocked' to see them together at the Oscars,' Handler wrote. 'I guess she doesn't read magazines, which makes sense since she basically has one on her face.'
Troubled starlet Lindsay Lohan lashed out at comedian George Lopez after he made a quip about her powdery shoes on his show. Lilo took to Twitter to vent spleen on the 'Lopez Tonight' host when during his monologue he laughed about the highly publicized photo of her with white powder billowing out of her heels. 'Thanks for the childish comment regarding baby powder in my shoes to loosen up the leather,' she tweeted. 'Don't you have kids? U wouldn't wanna hear that about them, or would you? Act like a grown man, have some respect and dignity for yourself.' In response to Lohan's furious post, Lopez asked the actress to visit his show, saying, 'You want me to stop talking about you I will,' he tweeted. 'Come and tell me ... To my face ... I'll stop!! Respectfully.' Stay tuned to see who wins round two of this celeb feud ...
While in the last season of 'Real Housewives of New York,' Bethenny and Jill were total besties, this season, the claws are out and the housewives are being forced to choose teams. The rift allegedly began when Bethenny wasn't there for Jill over the summer when her husband Bobby was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. On the show, Jill attacks the newlywed for only sending flowers. How the drama escalated to the point where the two are no longer friends is a game of 'she said, she said,' but Bethenny's voice mail telling Jill to 'get a hobby' didn't help matters much. Of the demise of their friendship, Jill told 'The Insider,' 'For me it became toxic. She just started to get mean and go below the belt.'
Gabourey Sidibe may have kept her mouth shut after radio shock jock Howard Stern viciously mocked her weight on-air, but the 'Precious' star's mother isn't keeping quiet. 'Get a life!' Alice Tan Ridley ranted on 'Inside Edition' about Stern, who called her daughter 'the most enormous, fat black chick I've ever seen.' 'He can see, you can see, I can see Gabby is a big girl,' Ridley said. 'She's a big woman, so what's wrong with that?'
Late night comedian Conan O'Brien was forced to leave NBC made a series of scheduling mistakes that made them the butt of every joke in late 2009. In the end, NBC came out as the biggest loser, Leno's primetime show will go down in history as one of TV's epic failures, and Conan took his pay day and will hopefully resurface on a new network to greater success.
Courtney Love is getting anything but affection from Lily Allen and their clash is all over Twitter. The feuding singers have been at each others' throats since London's Brit Awards in early February, according to E! Online. Following the NMEs, Allen took to Twitter to address reports that Love had confronted her about putting a 'lock' on anyone else wearing Chanel to a previous award show. 'She's upset because she has got it into her head that i put a lock on some dresses for the brit awards. She's made no secret of this and, when i saw her at the NME's she tried to talk to me and i told her to shut up and stop spreading stupid rumours about me.'
It may not be Lindsay Lohan's fault that her life is a tabloid train wreck; her actions may stem from her parents tumultuous marriage, which ended in 2007. The actress has made many accusations against her father Michael, saying he cheated on and physically abused her mother, Dina. Since being released from jail, Michael declared himself a born-again Christian and has publicly scolded his ex-wifes parenting skills, saying she views her children as a 'bankable commodity.'
Things can got downright nasty when the two notoriously outspoken celebs butted heads. Rosie O'Donnell threw the first punch in 2006 when she accused Donald Trump of using then-Miss USA Tara Conner's hard-partying scandal as a publicity vehicle for Trump's pageant. The former 'View' co-host also referred to Trump as a 'pimp.' Trump retaliated - vehemently - by calling O'Donnell a 'fat pig' and 'degenerate' who is 'unattractive.' Trump also threatened to steal O'Donnell's partner, Kelli Carpenter, away. The two continued to lash out at each other for months, and the Donald even reiterated his dislike for O'Donnell on an episode of the 2010 season of 'Celebrity Apprentice.'
Plastic surgery fan Sharon Osbourne has come out swinging against Nicole Kidman for denying she's ever gone under the knife. Ozzy's better half told Chelsea Handler that Kidman's forehead 'looks like a f---ing flatscreen TV,' adding the actress and other stars who shoot down plastic surgery rumors are 'lying b----es.' Kidman has repeatedly poo-pooed surgery reports, most recently telling Marie Claire magazine that she's 'completely natural. I have nothing in my face or anything.'
Heather Locklear stopped speaking to former pal Denise Richards in 2006 after learning the 'Wild Things' star was dating her estranged husband, Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora. The two never publicly traded barbs, but plenty of hijinx reportedly went on behind the scenes. Locklear even once allegedly parked outside Richards' home and blasted Bon Jovi's 'Livin' on a Prayer' - a childish prank which she denies ever took place.
Family get-togethers won't be the most comfortable situation at the Palin household, thanks to Sarah's war of the words with the baby daddy of her first grandson. When Levi Johnston split with Sarah's daughter, Bristol, the 19-year-old didn't hold back his opinions about the former Alaskan governor. He's trashed parenting skills and bad mouthed her run for Vice President. But Sarah got the last laugh when she appeared on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" and jokingly referred to Levi, who will be appearing semi-nude in an upcoming Playboy spread, as 'Ricky Hollywood.' Oh that maverick with her one-liners ...
Memo to Rush Limbaugh: Sarah Palin's distaste for jerks who use 'retard' as an insult goes for right-wing pals like you, too. The ex-Alaska governor took the talkmeister to task in February after he waded into the firestorm over White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel's use of the word 'retarded' - and promptly committed the same offense. 'Our political correct society is acting like some giant insult's taken place by calling a bunch of people who are retards, retards,' Limbaugh said on his show. 'I mean these people, these liberal activists are kooks.'
As if Kanye West couldn't stir up more controversy, the rapper caused an uproar when he rushed the stageto interrupt Taylor Swift during her acceptance speech for the Best Female Video award at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards. 'Imma let you finish, but Beyonce had one of the best videos of all time. One of the best videos of all time!' Kanye barked before a booing audience.
Tom Cruise surprised fans in 2005 when he verbally attacked Brooke Shields on the 'Today' show. In a heated interview, Cruise told Matt Lauer that Shields should have treated her postpartum depression, detailed in her book, 'Down Came the Rain,' with 'vitamins and exercise' - not drugs. Shields wrote an op-ed piece for the New York Times soon after in which she said, 'I'm going to take a wild guess and say that Mr. Cruise has never suffered from postpartum depression.' While Cruise eventually apologized, he had far bigger foes than Brooke Shields to worry about ...
In 2005, Comedy Central's animated mega-hit, 'South Park,' took aim at Scientologist Tom Cruise with the episode, 'Trapped in the Closet.' In the episode, Stan Marsh joins the Church of Scientology in order to find something 'fun and free,' but is soon thought to be the reincarnated founder of the church, L. Ron Hubbard. The show also made fun of Tom Cruise's rumored homosexuality, as an animated version of the actor literally refused to come out of Stan's closet.
Rapper 50 Cent announced in the summer of 2007 that he would retire as a solo artist if his album, 'Curtis,' failed to outsell Kanye West's CD, 'Graduation.' Both albums were released on the same day. West, who mostly stayed mum during 50 Cent's public declarations, beat his 'rival.' 50 Cent later recanted his statement about retiring.
Tension between these two twentysomething starlets started in 2006 when Lindsay Lohan reportedly scrawled a profane phrase about Scarlett Johansson on a bathroom stall at a bar in New York's Lower East Side. Scarlett Johansson never responded to the incident directly, but she did tell Parade magazine earlier this year that she is 'responsible' and 'not the kind of person who is going to show up to work three hours late, or not come at all' -- an apparent jab at Lohan who was publicly chastised for her irresponsible behavior on the 'Georgia Rules' set.
Some words of advice: Don't ever date Eminem - unless you want your dirty laundry aired. Mariah Carey learned this the hard way when she impersonated the rapper in her music video, 'Obsessed.' And like any spiteful musician, Eminem retaliated with an atomic music bomb - a track that reveals nasty details about their sex life (the rapper claims they had a relationship; she has long denied it) that would make Paris Hilton's sex-tape videographer blush. Eminem also threatened to release photos and voice-mail recordings that he has been holding onto all this time. Um, obsessed, much?
Words hurt, but punches don't feel so good either, Perez Hilton has learned. The gossip blogger falsely accused Black Eyed Peas member Will.i.am of punching him 'two or three times' for publicly stating his distaste of the band's single, 'Boom Boom Pow.' According to the singer, the fight began when openly gay Perez screamed, 'You're a faggot, will.i.am! You're not a fing artist!' A member of the Peas' camp allegedly threw punches, resulting in a black eye for Perez. After posting a tearful video post recounting the altercation, and ultimately apologizing for the gay slur, Perez learned he was punched by Peas manager Polo Molina.
Pitt said his World War II movie can kick Cruise's Nazi film's butt. While promoting his film, 'Inglourious Basterds,' Pitt trash-talked 'Valkyrie,' Cruise's WWII movie about a colonel who plots to kill Hitler. 'It was a ridiculous movie,' Pitt scoffed.
Former childhood friends Christina Aguilera and Britney Spears had an intense rivalry that began during the late '90s - on the charts, at least. Despite reports of behind-the-scenes drama, the ex-'Mickey Mouse' club members publicly maintained that they weren't rivals. 'It's really sad to see that some tabloid magazines still have to manufacture ill will between Britney and me,' Aguilera said in a statement posted on her Web site in 2005. 'We are both grown-ups and have the utmost respect for each other personally and professionally.'
<bot>: Check out some of Hollywood's meanest heavyweights that won't give up a fight.
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<human>: Produce an article summary of the following news article: Following is the unofficial transcript of a FIRST ON CNBC interview with SpaceX CEO Elon Musk today on "Closing Bell." SpaceX was named #1 to CNBC's second annual CNBC Disruptor 50 list, which was announced earlier today. Video from the interview is available at CNBC.com.
All references must be sourced to CNBC.
KELLY EVANS: WELCOME BACK. THIS DISRUPTOR 50 LIST HIGHLIGHTING KEY PLAYERS ACROSS 27 INDUSTRIES. COMPANIES THAT ARE INNOVATING AND REVOLUTIONIZING AND DISRUPTING OF COURSE THEIR RESPECTIVE SECTORS. OUR JULIA BORSTEN HAS FRONTED THIS FASCINATING CNBC INITIATIVE AND JOINS ME NOW. AND SO DOES THE MAN BEHIND OUR NUMBER ONE DISRUPTOR. IT'S SPACEX AND ELON MUSK IS HERE. WELCOME TO YOU BOTH.
ELON MUSK: THANKS FOR HAVING ME.
EVANS: SPACEX CHOSEN AS THE MOST DISRUPTIVE COMPANY. WHAT'S YOUR VISION?
MUSK: FOR SPACEX, I THINK WHAT WE HAVE DONE THUS FAR IS RELATIVELY MINOR HONESTLY. I WOULD CHARACTERIZE IT AS EVOLUTIONARY. WHEREAS WHAT WE HOPE TO ACHIEVE AND CAN PERHAPS ENCOURAGE INDUSTRY TO DO IS TO ACHIEVE HAVE FULL REUSABILITY WITH ROCKETRY. IT'S NEVER BEEN DONE. YOU CAN IMAGINE IN ANY MODE OF TRANSPORT IF THERE WAS NOT REUSABILITY LIKE AIRCRAFT OR CARS THAT THERE COULD BE VERY LITTLE USE OF THAT. SO THAT'S THE THING THAT IF WE ARE ABOUT TO ACHIEVE IT, AT THAT POINT THAT'S REALLY QUITE DISRUPTIVE. WHAT WE HAVE DONE THUS FAR IS RELATIVE TO THAT, MODREATELY DISRUPTIVE.
JULIA BOORSTIN: YOU HAVE A BIG COMMERCIAL SATELLITE LAUNCH ON FRIDAY. WHAT'S THE NEXT THE NEXT BIG THING IN TERMS OF THE NEXT HORIZON FOR COMMERCIAL SPACECRAFT?
MUSK: WELL, ESSENTIALLY WHAT I WAS ALLUDING TO A MOMENT AGO WAS IS TO BE ABLE TO RECOVER THE ROCKET BOOSTER AND THEN REFLY IT. THAT'S THE REVOLUTIONARY POTENTIAL. NOW WE HAVE BEEN TRYING TO DO THAT FOR 12 YEARS AND HAVEN'T YET SUCCEEDED. BUT I FEEL AS THOUGH WE ARE FINALLY CLOSE TO ACHIEVING IT. WE HAVE A SHOT WITH THE NEXT LAUNCH OF RECOVERING THE ROCKET BOOSTER. IF NOT WITH THIS LAUNCH I THINK A VERY GOOD CHANCE LATER THIS YEAR AND THEN POTENTIALLY TO REFLY THE BOOSTER NEXT YEAR. THIS WOULD REALLY MARK A SIGNIFICANT CHANGE IN THE TECHNOLOGY OF ROCKETRY.
EVANS: HOW ARE YOU CAPITALIZING THIS COMPANY? OBVIOUSLY THE U.S. GOVERNMENT HAS BEEN INVOLVED IN SOME OF YOUR OTHER INITIATIVES INCLUDING THE NEXT POSSIBLE CREW CARRIER TO THE SPACE STATION.
EVANS: IF THEY DON'T CHOOSE YOUR DRAGON V-2 MODEL, HOW MUCH OF A PROBLEM IS THAT FOR NOT ONLY THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CREW CARRIER BUT SOME OF THE OTHER PROJECTS AS YOU MENTIONED THE ONE YOU HAVE BEEN WORKING ON FOR OVER A DECADE?
MUSK: FIRST OF ALL I SHOULD ACKNOWLEDGE THE CRITICAL ROLE NASA PLAYED IN THE SUCCESS OF SPACEX. WE WOULDN'T BE ARE WHERE WE ARE WITHOUT THE HELP OF NASA. AND IT'S POSSIBLE WE MAY NOT WIN THE COMMERCIAL CREW CONTRACT. WE CERTAINLY HAVE DONE THAT WE CAN FOR OUR PART. AND I THINK WE HAVE GOT A GREAT DESIGN SOLUTION. IF NASA IN THE END DOESN'T GO WITH US, BECAUSE ALSO WE ARE COMPETING WITH BIG ESTABLISHED COMPANIES LIKE BOEING THEN WE'LL DO OUR BEST TO CONTINUE ON OUR OWN WITH OUR OWN MONEY.
EVANS: DO YOU HAVE ENOUGH MONEY TO CONTINUE ON YOUR OWN?
MUSK: WELL IT DEFINITELY WOULD SLOW US DOWN BUT WE WOULD KEEP GOING AND WE SHOULD KEEP LAUNCHING COMMERCIAL SATELLITES. WE HAVE AN EXISTING CONTRACT TO TRANSFER…FROM THE SPACE STATION SO WE WOULD KEEP GOING IT JUST WOULD BE SLOWER.
BOORSTIN: IN TERMS OF FINANCING THOUGH YOU SAID IN THE PAST YOUR TIME HORIZON IS TOO LONG TO GO PUBLIC. IS THAT STILL THE CASE?
MUSK: IT IS. AS YOU KNOW, INCREDIBLE FAMILIARITY WITH THE PUBLIC MARKETS. THE INCENTIVE STRUCTURE TENDS TO BE SHORT TERM. YOU CAN TRACE IT BACK TO PEOPLE THAT OWN THE STOCKS, PORTFOLIO MANAGERS. THEY ARE EVALUATED ON A QUARTERLY BASIS OR AT LEAST AN ANNUAL BASIS. THEY PUSH COMPANIES TO PRODUCE RESULTS ON A QUARTERLY OR ANNUAL BASIS. WITH SPACEX WE ARE TRYING TO DEVELOP TECHNOLOGY THAT WILL ULTIMATELY BE ABLE TO TAKE LARGE NUMBERS OF PEOPLE TO MARS. THAT'S REALLY DIFFICULT TO GET PORTFOLIO MANAGERS. IT'S BEYOND THEIR TENURE IN OWNING THE STOCK. SO IT IS DIFFICULT TO ASK THEM TO LIKE THAT
EVANS: IN THIS COUNTRY, WE HAVE INSTITUTIONS, PENSION FUNDS, INSURANCE COMPANIES WHO POTENTIALLY ARE STRUCTURED TO INVEST FOR A PERIOD OF 30 YEARS OR MORE. WHY COULDN'T IT BE THE CASE. LOOK YOU PROBABLY HAVE MORE PERSONAL CAPITAL TO BE ABLE TO GO OUT AND TRANSFORM THIS INDUSTRY AS ANYBODY OUT THERE. COULDN'T YOU GO THEM AND SAY, LOOK, I WANT A PIECE OF YOUR CAPITAL. THIS IS A COMPLETELY SPECULATIVE PROJECT. MAYBE I'M SAYING TOO MUCH THERE. IT SOUNDS SPECULATIVE.
EVANS: WHY COULDN'T YOU DO THAT OR EVEN GO THE TO THE PUBLIC DIRECTLY? PEOPLE HAVE TALKED ABOUT THE NEED FOR A LONG-TERM STOCK MARKET.
MUSK: WELL I THINK PEOPLE TALK ABOUT THE LONG-TERM STOCK MARKET AND THERE ARE CERTAINLY SOME INVESTORS THAT DO HAVE A VERY LONG TIME HORIZON. BUT THEN THERE ARE ALSO A BUNCH THAT HAVE A SHORT TERM HORIZON AND WE SEE THAT IN THE HUGE FLUCTUATIONS IN THE STOCK PRICE. I DO FIND IT'S ALSO CAN BE A BIT OF A DISTRACTION TO EMPLOYEES. SOMETIMES A MOOD BAROMETER. YOU REALLY DON'T WANT PEOPLE TO BE HAPPY OR SAD BASED ON THE STOCK MOVEMENT. YOU WANT THEM TO BE WORKING ON HELPING ON DEVELOPING NEWS PRODUCTS AND IMPROVING THE OPERATIONS OF THE COMPANY. I THINK FOR SPACEX WE REALLY NEED TO GET TO WHERE THINGS ARE MAYBE STEADY AND PREDICTABLE. MAYBE WE ARE CLOSE TO DEVELOPING THE MARS VEHICLE. OR IDEALLY WE HAVE FLOWN IT A FEW TIMES. THEN I THINK GOING PUBLIC COULD MAKE A LOT OF SENSE.
BOORSTIN: HOW FEASIBLE IS IT TO PUT PEOPLE ON MARS? HOW MANY YEARS AND HOW MANY BILLIONS OR MILLIONS OF DOLLARS WILL IT TAKE?
MUSK: THIS IS A VERY DIFFICULT THING OBVIOUSLY. I'M HOPEFUL THAT THE FIRST PEOPLE COULD BE TAKEN TO MARS IN 10, 12 YEARS. I THINK IT'S CERTAINLY POSSIBLE FOR THAT TO OCCUR. THE THING THAT MATTERS LONG TERM IS TO HAVE A SELF-SUSTAINING CITY ON MARS. TO MAKE LIFE MULTI PLANETARY. THAT WILL DEFINE A FUNDAMENTAL BIFURCATION OF THE FUTURE OF HUMAN CIVILIZATION. WILL EITHER BE A MULTI PLANET SPECIES AND OUT THERE AMONG THE STARS OR A SINGLE PLANET SPECIES UNTIL SOME EVENTUAL EXTINCTION EVENT, NATURAL OR MAN MADE.
EVANS: I WONDER WHAT'S THE DIFFICULT CHALLENGE. GETTING PEOPLE TO MARS OR GETTING A CAR BATTERY THAT COSTS LESS THAN $5,000.
MUSK: I THINK PROBABLY MARS. THE CAR BATTERY CERTAINLY IS HARD. I'M QUITE OPTIMISTIC THOUGH ABOUT IMPROVEMENTS IN THE BATTERY PRICE OR THE COST OF THE BATTERY. THE FUNDAMENTAL COST. WE HAVE DAILY MEETINGS WITH PANASONIC, OUR KEY DEVELOPMENT PARTNER, ON THIS. I AND REALLY FEELING QUITE GOOD ABOUT BEING ABLE TO PRODUCE A COMPELLING MASS MARKET CAR IN ABOUT THREE YEARS.
EVANS: BECAUSE THERE IS THIS COMPANY PHINERGY AN ISRAELI COMPANY, PERHAPS YOU ARE FAMILIAR WITH THEM.
MUSK: NO BUT IM SURE MAYBE THEY HAVE GOT SOMETHING COOL.
EVANS: AS I UNDERSTAND IT FINERGY IS TESTING AN ELECTRIC VEHICLE WITH A RANGE OF 1100 MILES ON TECHNOLOGY THAT IS ALUMINUM AIR TECHNOLOGY. HAS ACTUALLY BEEN AROUND SINCE THE 1960s. THERE HAVE BEEN ISSUES IN THE PAST I GUESS WITH ITS DURABILITY BUT ALCOA IS NOW A PARTNER FOR THEM. COULD THIS METHOD SUPPLANT OR EVEN GO A STEP BEYOND WHAT TESLA SO FAR HAS BEEN ABLE TO DEVELOP?
MUSK: MY RESPONSE, WHEN THERE IS A BATTERY BREAKTHROUGH ANNOUNCED IS ALWAYS TO INVITE THEM TO SEND US AN EXAMPLE THAT WE CAN EVALUATE IN OUR LABS. JUST TO SORT OF VERIFY CLAIMS. WHAT WE FIND IS THERE ARE A LOT OF CLAIMS MADE BUT THESE CLAIMS DO NOT SURVIVE THE LIGHT OF DAY. NOW THAT MAY NOT BE THE CASE IN THIS PARTICULAR SITUATION BUT I CAN TELL YOU THE GENERAL PROBLEM IS WITH BATTERIES THAT ARE ANYTHING AIR WHICH IS THAT THEY HAVE A PER CYCLE LIFE. YOU CAN HAVE LITHIUM AIR BATTERIES. THAT'S REALLY VERY HIGH ENERGY. YOU CAN'T RECHARGE THEM VERY EASILY BECAUSE THEY HAVE SOMETHING CALLED DENDRETIC GROWTH AND FALL APART AFTER A FEW CHARGES. YOU NEED A NEW BATTERY QUITE FREQUENTLY.
BOORSTIN: YOUR MOVE TO OPEN UP TESLA'S PATENTS TO ANYONE WAS REALLY UNUSUAL VERY DISRUPTIVE. WHAT'S THE LONG TERM PLAY HERE IN TERMS OF THE TYPES OF SERVICES OR TECHNOLOGY TESLA COULD SELL TO MAKE THIS ALL WORTHWHILE.
MUSK: WE ARE REALLY NOT -- THERE IS NO GRAND PLAN WITH THE OPEN SOURCING OF PATENTS. WE THOUGHT IT WOULD BE HELPFUL TO THE INDUSTRY. PEOPLE COULD USE THEM OR NOT. FOR A WHILE WE THOUGHT WE HAVE TO HAVE THESE PATENTS BECAUSE THE BIG CAR COMPANIES WOULD JUST COPY OUR STUFF AND USE THEIR SCALE TO OVERWHELM US. THEN WE'LL BE DEAD. WHAT WE FOUND IS THAT ACTUALLY THE BIG CAR COMPANIES AREN'T GOING TOWARD ELECTRIC CARS VERY SWIFTLY OR AT ALL IN SOME CASES. WE THOUGHT THERE WAS NO POINT IN HAVING THESE PATENTS. BECAUSE THE PATENTS ARE NOT THE THING STOPPING THEM FROM GOING. MAYBE IF WE OPEN SOURCE THE PATENTS THEY WILL BE MORE INCLINED TO MAKE ELECTRIC CARS. THAT SEEMS LIKE A GOOD THING TO DO.
EVANS: WHAT'S THE POINT OF HAVING ELECTRIC VEHICLES? IN OTHER WORDS IS FROM AN ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY POINT OF VIEW? IS IT A REDUCTION OF TRADITIONAL OIL AND OTHER FOSSIL FUELS? I ASKED BECAUSE MORE AND MORE PEOPLE ARE STARTING TO SAY LOOK IF IT TAKES THE EQUIVALENT OF LOTS OF COAL TO POWER OR FIRE THE VEHICLES, HOW IS THAT IN OUR PUBLIC INTEREST? WHAT YOU THINK THE POINT OF HAVING ELECTRIC VEHICLES IS?
MUSK: I'M GLAD YOU ASKED THAT QUESTION. TODAY WE ANNOUNCED AT SOLAR CITY WE ARE ACQUIRING SILEVO A COMPANY WHICH HAS GREAT SOLAR PANEL TECHNOLOGY. WE THINK THERE IS A POTENTIAL BREAK THROUGH WITH HIGH EFFICIENCY LOW COST SOLAR PANELS THAT CAN GENERATE SUSTAINABLE ELECTRICITY AND THEN YOU CAN COMBINE THE SORT OF SUSTAINABLE ELECTRICITY GENERATION WITH ELECTRIC CARS AND YOU HAVE AN OVERALL SYSTEM THAT WORKS AND CAN SCALE TO WORLDWIDE CAPABILITY. BECAUSE YOU'RE RIGHT. IT WOULDN'T HELP TO JUST SOLVE ONE SIDE OF THE QUESTION TO HAVE ELECTRIC CARS POWERED BY COAL. WE NEED SUSTAINABLE POWER GENERATION AND SUSTAINABLE POWER CONSUMPTION.
BOORSTIN: ONE OF THE OTHERS STARTUPS ON THE DISRUPTOR 50 LIST IS ABOUT CHARGING STATION, CHARGE POINT. I KNOW YOU ARE IN TALKS TO COLLABORATE WITH YOUR RIVALS NISSAN AND BMW, ON THESE CHARGING STATIONS. WHAT'S THE NEXT FRONTIER IN TERMS OF HELPING TO BUILD OUT THE INFRASTRUCTURE SO IT'S REALLY WORTHWHILE FOR MORE PEOPLE TO BUILD ELECTRIC CARS AND AS WELL AS BUY THEM.
MUSK: WELL, YEAH. THE REASON WE BUILT UP THE SUPER CHARGED NETWORK IS BECAUSE THERE WAS NO HIGH SPEED CHARGING AVAILABLE. YOU HAVE TO MATCH THE CONVENIENCE OF THE GASOLINE CAR IN ORDER FOR PEOPLE TO BUY AN ELECTRIC CAR. THEY DON'T WANT TO FEEL AS THOUGHTHEIR FREEDOM CURTAILED IN BUYING ELECTRIC CARS. THEY WANT TOBE ABLE TO DO A CROSS COUNTRY TRIP, VISIT FRIENDS AND FAMILY, GO ON VACATION. THESE KIND OF THINGS. THERE WAS NO CHARGE SYSTEM THAT COULD DO IT. WE DEVELOPED THE SUPER CHARGER TECHNOLOGY. WE ARE MORE THAN HAPPY TO HAVE OTHER MANUFACTURERS USE IT. WE HAVE OFFERED THIS TO BMW AND DAIMLER AND TOYOTA AND OTHERS. REALLY THE ONLY REQUIREMENTS IS THE CAR HAS TO BE ABLE TO TAKE THE POWER LEVEL OF THE SUPER CHARGER. IF IT ONLY TAKES A SMALL AMOUNT OF POWER IT WILL HOG THE SPOT. IT HAS TO TAKE THE POWER LEVEL. THEN THEY HAVE TO PROPORTIONATELY SHARE THE COST OF THE SYSTEM. THAT'S ALL.
BOORSTIN: NOW YOU'RE SO ENCOURAGING OF YOUR COMPETITORS IN THE TESLA, IN THE ELECTRIC CAR SPACE. IT SEEMS LIKE A SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT SITUATION WHEN IT COMES TO SPACEX. YOU HAVE EXPRESSED FRUSTRATION ABOUT THE FACT THAT BOEING AND LOCKHEED JOINT VENTURE HAVE A VIRTUAL MONOPOLY ON THE DEFENSE SATELLITE LAUNCHES.
BOORSTIN: WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO TO BREAK THAT MONOPOLY AND HOW DO YOU DEAL WITH THOSE COMPETITORS?
MUSK: WELL, I GUESS THE THING WE ARE MAD ABOUT THERE IS THAT THERE WAS THIS HUGE BLOCK OF NATIONAL SECURITY LAUNCHES THAT WERE NOT OPEN TO COMPETITION. SO SOMETIMES PEOPLE THINK WELL WE ARE MAD BECAUSE WE DIDN'T WIN. BUT ACTUALLY, WE'RE JUST MAD BECAUSE WE NEVER EVEN GOT THE OPPORTUNITY TO COMPETE. THAT DOESN'T SEEM RIGHT. YOU KNOW, IT SEEMS THE LAW OF THE LAND IS YOU SHOULD COMPETE THINGS. SO THAT'S THE NATURE OF OUR PROTEST IS THAT YOU KNOW, LAUNCHES SHOULD BE COMPETED AND THEN WHATEVER THE BEST DEAL IS FOR THE AMERICAN TAXPAYER, THAT IS WHAT SHOULD WIN.
EVANS: WE WANT TO TALK A LITTL BIT ABOUT SOME OF YOUR BIG IDEAS. BEFORE WE DO THOUGH, YOU MENTIONED THE DEAL THAT SOLARCITY HAS JUST MADE TODAY BUYING SOLEVO.
EVANS: AND THIS ONE IS INTERESTING FOR A COUPLE OF REASONS. IF YOU TALK ABOUT SOLAR TECHNOLOGY TODAY, SOLAR PANEL MANUFACTURING, THERE IS A LOT OF OVERSUPPLY IN THE INDUSTRY. HERB GREENBERG EARLIER TODAY WAS SAYING, YOU KNOW, WE STILL NEED CONSOLIDATION. WE STILL NEED FEWER OF THESE PANELS MADE. AND OTHERS SAY IT'S STILL TOO EXPENSIVE. IT STILL MIGHT COST $25,000 OR SOMETHING FOR A HOUSEHOLD ON TOP OF THE COST OF ACTUALLY INSTALLING THESE PANELS TO USE THEM. HOW IS THIS ACQUISITION GOING TO CHANGE THE GAME? GOING TO MAKE IT CHEAPER? OR , IS THAT THE POINT FIRST OF ALL. AND HOW MUCH CHEAPER? AND HOW LONG UNTIL HOUSEHOLDS AND CARS ARE GENUINELY RUNNING ON SOLAR TECHNOLOGY IN THIS COUNTRY?
MUSK: WELL WE CERTAINLY HAVE A LONG WAY TO GO BEFORE SOLAR IS ANY HUGE PERCENTAGE OF OUR ELECTRICITY GENERATION. THE WAY WE SEE IT AT SOLARCITY IS THAT ALTHOUGH THERE IS SORT OF AN OVERSUPPLY OF A PARTICULAR TYPE OF PANEL, THE LOW EFFICIENCY OR MODERATE EFFICIENCY PANELS TODAY, WHAT THERE IS NOT ENOUGH OF, ARE THE HIGH EFFICIENCY PANELS. AND AS WE LOOK FURTHER OUT, EVEN JUST TWO OR THREE YEARS OUT, WE ACTUALLY SEE THERE BEING INSUFFICIENT CAPACITY FOR SOLAR PANELS. WHICH IS IN PART CAUSED BY THE OVERSUPPLY OF THE SORT OF LOW EFFICIENCY PANELS TO DATE WHICH PREVENTS PEOPLE FROM THEN INVESTING IN THE FUTURE. SO IT'S A WEIRD BOOM AND BUST. SO IT IS SORT OF LIKE IN THE BUST TIMES, YOU HAVE TO INVEST IN ORDER FOR THE BOOM TIMES TO WORK OUT AND NOT BE SUPPLY CONSTRAINED TWO OR THREE YEARS FROM NOW. SO WE ARE JUST TRYING TO THINK A FEW MOVES AHEAD HERE. AND ALSO TO MAKE SURE THAT THE HIGH EFFICIENCY PANELS ARE MADE IN HIGH VOLUME. I MEAN, AT THE RISK OF SORT OF GETTING INTO A SORT OF SLIGHTLY COMPLICATED SITUATION, THE HIGHER EFFICIENCY PANELS ALLOW YOU TO HAVE A SMALLER FOOTPRINT OF THE SOLAR PANELS. SO YOU NEED FEWER PANELS IN ORDER TO GENERATE THE SAME AMOUNT OF ELECTRICITY. AND THE LABOR COSTS AND THR INSTALLATION COSTS AND THE WIRING AND ALL THAT ARE PROPORTIONATE TO THE SURFACE AREA. SO IN ORDER TO LOWER THE TOTAL SYSTEM COST, IT'S VERY IMPORTANT TO HAVE HIGH EFFICIENCY PANELS.
BOORSTIN: NOW, I HAVE TO ASK YOU ABOUT A COMPANY THAT YOU INVESTED IN. AS YOU SAID, YOU MAKE ALMOST NO INVESTMENTS OUTSIDE OF SPACEX AND TESLA.
MUSK: YEAH I'M NOT REALLY AN INVESTOR.
BOORSTIN: YOU'RE NOT AN INVESTOR?
MUSK: RIGHT. I DON'T OWN ANY PUBLIC SECURITIES A PART FROM SOLARCITY AND TESLA.
BOORSTIN: THAT'S AMAZING. BUT YOU DID JUST INVEST IN A COMPANY CALLED VICARIOUS. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE. WHAT IS THIS COMPANY?
MUSK: RIGHT. I WAS ALSO AN INVESTOR IN DEEPMIND BEFORE GOOGLE ACQUIRED IT AND VICARIOUS. MOSTLY I SORT OF – IT'S NOT FROM THE STANDPOINT OF ACTUALLY TRYING TO MAKE ANY INVESTMENT RETURN. IT'S REALLY, I LIKE TO JUST KEEP AN EYE ON WHAT'S GOING ON WITH ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE. I THINK THERE IS POTENTIALLY A DANGEROUS OUTCOME THERE AND WE NEED TO –
EVANS: POTENTIALLY, YES. I MEAN, THERE HAVE BEEN MOVIES ABOUT THIS, YOU KNOW, LIKE "TERMINATOR".
EVANS: WELL YES, BUT MOVIES ARE – EVEN IF THAT IS THE CASE, WHAT DO YOU DO ABOUT IT? I MEAN, WHAT DANGERS DO YOU SEE THAT YOU CAN ACTUALLY DO SOMETHING ABOUT?
BOORSTIN: WELL WHY DID YOU INVEST IN VICARIOUS? WHAT EXACTLY DOES VICARIOUS DO? WHAT DO YOU SEE IT DOING DOWN THE LINE?
MUSK: WELL, I MEAN, VICARIOUS REFERS TO IT AS RECURSIVE CORTICAL NETWORKS. ESSENTIALLY EMULATING THE HUMAN BRAIN. AND SO I THINK –
BOORSTIN: SO YOU WANT TO MAKE SURE THAT TECHNOLOGY IS USED FOR GOOD AND NOT TERMINATOR-LIKE EVIL?
MUSK: YEAH. I MEAN, I DON'T THINK – IN THE MOVIE "TERMINATOR," THEY DIDN'T CREATE A.I. TO – THEY DIDN'T EXPECT, YOU KNOW SOME SORT OF TERMINATOR-LIKE OUTCOME. IT IS SORT OF LIKE THE MONTY PYTHON THING. NOBODY EXPECTS THE SPANISH INQUISITION. IT'S JUST – YOU KNOW, BUT YOU HAVE TO BE CAREFUL. YEAH, YOU WANT TO MAKE SURE THAT –
EVANS: BUT HERE IS THE IRONY. I MEAN, THE MAN WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR SOME OF THE MOST ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY IN THIS COUNTRY IS WORRIED ABOUT THE ADVANCES IN TECHNOLOGY THAT YOU ARE AWARE OF.
EVANS: I MEAN, I GUESS THAT IS WHY I KEEP ASKING, SO WHAT CAN YOU DO? IN OTHER WORDS, THIS STUFF IS ALMOST INEXORABLE, ISN'T IT? HOW IF YOU SEE THAT THERE ARE THESE BRAIN-LIKE DEVELOPMENTS OUT THERE CAN YOU REALLY DO ANYTHING TO STOP IT?
BOORSTIN: BUT WHAT SHOULD A.I. BE USED FOR? WHAT'S ITS BEST VALUE?
MUSK: I DON'T KNOW. BUT THERE ARE SOME SCARY OUTCOMES. AND WE SHOULD TRY TO MAKE SURE THE OUTCOMES ARE GOOD, NOT BAD. YEAH.
EVANS: OR ESCAPE TO MARS IF THERE IS NO OTHER OPTION.
MUSK: THE A.I. WILL CHASE US THERE PRETTY QUICKLY.
EVANS: SO WHAT ELSE IS IN THE ELON MUSK NOTEBOOK? WHAT'S THE LATEST WITH THE HYPER LOOP?
MUSK: I UNDERSTAND THAT THERE ARE SOME COMPANIES THAT ARE FORMING TO TRY TO MAKE THE HYPER LOOP HAPPEN. I ENCOURAGE THEM. I THINK THAT'S GREAT. I'M SUPER FOCUSED ON TESLA AND SPACEX AND A SMALL AMOUNT ON SOLARCITY. SO THAT BASICALLY COMPLETELY USES UP MY BRAIN. BUT I HOPE SOMETHING HAPPENS WITH THE HYPER LOOP. AND IF NOTHING HAPPENS WITH IT, THEN I MEAN, I WILL PROBABLY DO SOMETHING DOWN TO ROAD AND TO TRY TO MAKE IT HAPPEN.
BOORSTIN: AND YOU'VE SAID ONCE YOU GET TESLA TO A CERTAIN POINT WITH AN AFFORDABLE CAR ON THE MARKET YOU ARE GOING TO BE READY FOR YOUR NEXT THING. WHAT IS THE NEXT THING?
MUSK: WELL, I'M ALWAYS GOING TO BE INVOLVED WITH TESLA. I MEAN, FOREVER. THE ONLY QUESTION IS WHETHER I WILL BE CEO FOREVER OR AT LEAST UNTIL I DIE, YOU KNOW. SO I'M COMMITTED TO BE CEO OF TESLA THROUGH VOLUME PRODUCTION OF THE MASS MARKET VEHICLE. BUT I WILL CONTINUE TO BE INVOLVED WITH TESLA AS FAR INTO THE FUTURE AS I CAN POSSIBLY IMAGINE. THE ONLY QUESTION IS WHETHER I WILL REMAIN AS CEO, SAY, FIVE YEARS FROM NOW. THAT'S THE ONLY QUESTION.
BOORSTIN: AND AS THE ULTIMATE DISRUPTOR, WHEN YOU LOOK AT THE TECHNOLOGIES OUT THERE, YOU'VE TALKED A LITTLE BIT ABOUT ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE. WHAT ELSE DO YOU THINK IS REALLY DISRUPTIVE TO THE STATUS QUO RIGHT NOW?
MUSK: WELL, WRITING GENETICS. REWRITING HUMAN GENETICS. THAT WOULD BE QUITE DISRUPTIVE.
BOORSTIN: AND ARE THERE ANY COMPANIES YOU WOULD POINT TO THAT YOU THINK ARE DOING A GOOD JOB? THEY ARE LEADING THE CHARGE?
MUSK: I DON'T KNOW MUCH ABOUT THAT ARENA. EXCEPT THAT, IF YOU ASK WOULD IT BE A VERY DISRUPTIVE THING, I THINK THAT WOULD BE VERY DISRUPTIVE. I MEAN, AT THIS POINT, HUMAN LIFE SPAN IS MOSTLY ABOUT OLD AGE. IT'S NOT ABOUT CANCER OR ANYTHING ELSE. IF YOU CURED CANCER, I THINK THE AVERAGE LIFE EXPECTANCY WOULD INCREASE FROM TWO YEARS. YOU WOULD GO FROM 80 TO 82 OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT. WE JUST HAVE A GENETIC LIFE SPAN. IT'S KIND OF LIKE IF YOU TAKE A FRUIT FLY AND GAVE IT THE BEST EXERCISE AND DIET POSSIBLE, THE PERFECT LIFE. MAYBE IT WILL LIVE FOUR WEEKS INSTEAD OF THREE WEEKS. GENETICS JUST DRIVES A LOT OF THESE THINGS. SO FOR SOMETHING TO BE TRULY DISRUPTIVE ON THAT FRONT, YOU WOULD WANT TO DO SOMETHING WITH GENETICS. I DON'T HAVE MUCH INVOLVEMENT THERE. OR ANY INVOLVEMENT REALLY.
BOORSTIN: NOW, THERE IS A COMPANY THAT SEQUENCED DNA – 23ANDME THAT CAME UP AGAINST SOME MAJOR GOVERNMENT REGULATION WHICH IN EFFECT SHUT DOWN ITS BUSINESS. YOU HAVE COME AGAINST SOME GOVERNMENT REGULATION WITH YOUR TESLA DEALERSHIPS IN NEW JERSEY. WHAT'S YOUR PERSPECTIVE ON THE ROLE THE GOVERNMENT SHOULD PLAY IN INNOVATION?
MUSK: WELL I THINK THE GOVERNMENT IS SORT OF LIKE THE REFEREE. I GUESS THE REFEREE AND RULE MAKER. THAT'S REALLY THE ROLE OF THE GOVERNMENT. I MEAN, GENERALLY, THE GOVERNMENT SHOULDN'T GET ON THE FIELD UNLESS IT REALLY HAS TO. BUT I DO THINK THERE WAS A ROLE FOR GOVERNMENT TO MAKE SURE THAT THE RIGHT THING IS HAPPENING. IN THE CASE OF NEW JERSEY, OF COURSE SOMETIMES THAT DOESN'T HAPPEN. BUT I SHOULD POINT OUT THAT THE NEW JERSEY LEGISLATOR HAS RECENTLY PASSED A LAW TO ALLOW TESLA SALES IN NEW YORK, AT LEAST ON THE HOUSE SIDE. AND WE ARE WAITING TO SEE WHAT HAPPENS ON THE SENATE SIDE.
EVANS: DO YOU EXPECT THAT TO MOVE FORWARD? GOVERNOR CHRISTIE SIGNS THIS INTO LAW?
MUSK: I HOPE SO. IT CERTAINLY – GIVEN THAT IT WAS UNANIMOUSLY APPROVED BY THE NEW JERSEY HOUSE. I THINK THERE WERE THREE – TWO PEOPLE WEREN'T THERE AND ONE ABSTAINED. SO IT WAS ESSENTIALLY UNANIMOUS. SO IF THE NEW JERSEY HOUSE IS SAYING IT IS UNANIMOUS, THEN I WOULD ASSUME THE GOVERNOR WOULD ULTIMATELY SIGN THAT LAW.
EVANS: AND HAVE YOU MADE UP YOUR MIND ON THE GIGAFACTORY YET?
MUSK: NO, NOT YET. ONE THING I SHOULD SAY ABOUT THE GIGAFACTORY IS THAT I THINK THAT A LOT OF PEOPLE THINK WE ARE JUST TRYING TO PUT THE SCREWS TO VARIOUS STATES TO GET THE MOST INCENTIVE – AS MUCH INCENTIVE AS POSSIBLE.
EVANS: WHICH HAS CERTAIN LOGIC TO IT, BY THE WAY.
MUSK: I GUESS IT DOES, BUT THAT'S NOT ACTUALLY OUR GOAL. REALLY, OUR MAIN CONCERN IS TO MAKE SURE THAT THE GIGAFACTORY – THAT THE GIANT BATTERY FACTORY IS READY WHEN THE THIRD GENERATION CAR IS READY. BECAUSE IF WE GO AND DESIGN THE CAR AND WE TOOL UP TO PRODUCE THE REST OF THE CAR WHICH IS ALSO A BIG EXPENSE, BUT THEN THERE ARE NO BATTERIES TO SUPPLY IT, IT WOULD BE A TERRIBLE OUTCOME FOR TESLA. WE MIGHT FAIL AS A COMPANY. SO THAT HAS TO BE PARAMOUNT IN OUR DECISION-MAKING. SO WE ARE ACTUALLY GOING TO BE MOVING FORWARD AT A PRELIMINARY PHASE WITH AT LEAST TWO, MAYBE THREE LOCATIONS. ALL WITH AN EYE TOWARDS COMPLETING IT IN TIME FOR WHEN THE REST OF THE CAR IS READY. THAT IS REALLY WHAT IT IS ALL ABOUT.
EVANS: ELON, THANK YOU FOR YOUR THOUGHTS ON SUCH A WIDE RANGE OF ISSUES THIS AFTERNOON. REALLY APPRECIATE ALL OF YOUR TIME. JULIA BOORSTIN, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE DISRUPTOR 50 LIST AND ALL OF THE WORK YOU HAVE BEEN DOING. FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE INTERESTED, BE SURE TO TUNE IN NOT ONLY TO THE REST OF THE DISRUPTOR 50 ONLINE BUT TOMORROW, AS WE CONTINUE TO DIVE INTO THE LIST, IT WILL BEGIN AGAIN AT 7:00 A.M. EASTERN. ELON MUSK, WE APPRECIATE IT.
With CNBC in the U.S., CNBC in Asia Pacific, CNBC in Europe, Middle East and Africa, CNBC World and CNBC HD , CNBC is the recognized world leader in business news and provides real-time financial market coverage and business information to approximately 371 million homes worldwide, including more than 100 million households in the United States and Canada. CNBC also provides daily business updates to 400 million households across China. The network's 15 live hours a day of business programming in North America (weekdays from 4:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m. ET) is produced at CNBC's global headquarters in Englewood Cliffs, N.J., and includes reports from CNBC News bureaus worldwide. CNBC at night features a mix of new reality programming, CNBC's highly successful series produced exclusively for CNBC and a number of distinctive in-house documentaries.
CNBC also has a vast portfolio of digital products which deliver real-time financial market news and information across a variety of platforms. These include CNBC.com, the online destination for global business; CNBC PRO, the premium, integrated desktop/mobile service that provides real-time global market data and live access to CNBC global programming; and a suite of CNBC Mobile products including the CNBC Real-Time iPhone and iPad Apps.
Members of the media can receive more information about CNBC and its programming on the NBC Universal Media Village Web site at http://www.nbcumv.com/programming/cnbc.
<bot>: First on CNBC: CNBC Transcript: SpaceX CEO Elon Musk Speaks with CNBC's "Closing Bell"
<human>: What could be a url for this news article?
<bot>: A url for this news article could be:
http://web.archive.org/web/20151009131702id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2014/06/18/first-on-cnbc-cnbc-transcript-spacex-ceo-elon-musk-speaks-with-cnbcs-closing-bell.html |
{'source': 'newsroom'} |
<human>: Produce an article summary of the following news article: In every crisis there is opportunity. Being the eighth-largest economy in the world, California’s epic water crisis is a promising opportunity to invest in companies engaged in water recycling, reuse, efficiency, metering, drip irrigation, consulting services and analytic devices.
The Golden State is expected to grow by 17.7 million residents — equivalent to all of New York state — between 1995 and 2025, driven by immigration. The state is forecasted to go from 12% of the U.S. population to 15% by 2025, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
California needs to spend $39 billion to meet its drinking water infrastructure needs over the next 20 years and $29.9 billion in wastewater infrastructure over the next 20 years, according to the American Society of Civil Engineers.
Because of California’s dry climate, it drinks up significantly more water than the rest of the U.S. Californians consume an average of 137 gallons per capita per day compared with 72 gallons in the Northeast and 82 gallons in the Midwest, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor and the U.S. Geological Survey. Some 60% of domestic use goes to watering landscape. But domestic use only makes up 1% overall water use. Most water is used for irrigation and power generation.
“By 2050, annual statewide water demand to meet combined urban, agricultural, and environmental uses and to eliminate groundwater overdraft is expected to be 83.7 to 86.9 million acre-feet per year, 3.6 to 6.8 million acre-feet per year higher than the total current average annual demand of 80.1 million acre-feet,” policy makers wrote in the 2014 Infrastructure Capital Funding Plan.
SAN JOSE, CA – APRIL 03: Low water levels are visible at the Los Capitancillos Recharge Ponds on April 3, 2015 in San Jose, California. As California enters its fourth year of severe drought and the state’s snowpack is at record lows, little water runoff is reaching reservoirs and recharge ponds that capture water and that percolates through the soil to replenish underground aquifers. California Gov. Jerry Brown has ordered a statewide 25 percent mandatory water useage reduction for residents and businesses. Significant cuts in use will be imposed on cemeteries, golf courses and facilities with large landscapes. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
<bot>: Being the eighth-largest economy in the world, California’s epic water crisis is a promising opportunity for companies engaged in water recycling, reuse, efficiency, metering, drip irrigation, consulting services and analytic devices.
<human>: What could be a url for this news article?
<bot>: A url for this news article could be:
https://web.archive.org/web/2015040519id_/http://www.forbes.com/sites/trangho/2015/04/04/irresistible-investment-opportunities-gushing-from-californias-epic-water-crisis/ |
{'source': 'newsroom'} |
<human>: Produce an article summary of the following news article: Soon after Bjorn Rebney founded Bellator Fighting Championships the it became the world’s leading tournament-based mixed martial arts organization and was profitable. Bellator’s fights are currently showcased Friday nights on MTV2 and EPIX, with prelims on Spike.com.
But in the dog eat dog world of MMA, where rivals like EliteXC were going bankrupt and and Strikeforce was being gobbled up by top dog Ultimate Fighting Championship, Rebney knew a rich partner with a big media platform would give his promotion a lot more muscle.
Last yer Rebney sold a majority of his company to Viacom and in 2013 Bellator will launch a reality television show on Spike TV, the channel owned by the media giant. The show is the creation of eight-time Emmy Award winner Bertram van Munster, the visionary behind “The Amazing Race.”
I recently interviewed Rebney for Forbes SportsMoney on the YES Network. In the clip below, Rebney discusses the strategy behind the Viacom deal.
<bot>: VideoSoon after Bjorn Rebney founded Bellator Fighting Championships the it became the world’s leading tournament-based mixed martial arts organization and was profitable. Bellator's fights are currently showcased Friday nights on MTV2 and EPIX, with prelims on Spike.com. But in the dog eat dog world of MMA, where rivals like EliteXC were going [...]
<human>: What could be a url for this news article?
<bot>: A url for this news article could be:
https://web.archive.org/web/2012050919id_/http://www.forbes.com/sites/mikeozanian/2012/05/09/vicaom-purchase-of-bellator-fighting-should-make-mma-promotion-stronger/ |
{'source': 'newsroom'} |
<human>: Produce an article summary of the following news article: Updated JAN 22, 2014 11:32a ET
MSN Ad Configuration DEFAULTPG=SPTRF4AP=1089SIZE=300x250 2 COLUMNPG=SPTRF4AP=1089SIZE=300x250 1 COLUMNPG=SPTRF4AP=1089SIZE=300x250
Want another reason to like Tiger Woods?
Commenting on a policy by Mission Hills Shenzhen – the same country club where he and Rory McIlroy played an exhibition match late last year – in which anyone under the age of 16 can play the par-3 Zhang Lian Wei course for free, Woods has urged other venues around the world to adopt the same policy.
“I think it should be duplicated around the world,” Woods told reporters. “It’s definitely a model that people should be looking at.”
“Junior golf development has always been a central pillar of our strategy,” said Tenniel Chu, vice president of Mission Hills Group. “We very much hope that this will benefit junior golf development right across the region as people increasingly see China as a top golfing destination for junior development tournaments and golf leisure.”
As readers of the Back9Network are well aware, changing the way golf is played so more people can enjoy it is something we strongly support. It seems that Tiger Woods is on the same wavelength, which is absolutely no surprise.
Hey Tiger; we’ve definitely got your back on this one.
<bot>: Embracing a chinese club's policy of letting anybody under 16 golf for free, Tiger Woods suggests the rest of the world follow suit.
<human>: What could be a url for this news article?
<bot>: A url for this news article could be:
https://web.archive.org/web/2014012219id_/http://msn.foxsports.com/buzzer/story/tiger-woods-wants-the-kids-to-golf-for-free-012214 |
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