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http://fortune.com/2010/09/29/ceos-sue-to-water-down-shareholder-rights/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20160610045841id_/http://fortune.com/2010/09/29/ceos-sue-to-water-down-shareholder-rights/ | CEOs sue to water down shareholder rights | 20160610045841 | Business leaders are saying thanks but no thanks to shareholder democracy.
The Chamber of Commerce and the Business Roundtable, the lobbying groups representing many of America’s biggest companies, sued the Securities and Exchange Commission Wednesday to overturn a rule that ends management’s exclusive lock on nominating corporate directors.
The rule, known as proxy access and adopted last month, allows major long-term shareholders to nominate directors to a big company’s board without organizing a costly and time-consuming proxy contest.
The idea is to let investors hold directors accountable for corporate performance. SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro has said proxy access aims “to ensure that a company’s owners have a meaningful opportunity to nominate directors.”
Gadflies such as Nell Minow at the Corporate Library describe proxy access as “a modest and most welcome step forward” in reforming rules that vest almost total control over the composition of corporate boards with the managers who supposedly report to them.
But that’s not how the Chamber and Business Roundtable see it. They say the rule would allow the big labor unions whose pension funds own large stakes in many big companies to further pervert corporate decisionmaking, if such a thing is possible, by pressing their own, non-shareholder-focused agenda. They also claim the rules will be costly and ineffective, echoing complaints made by other pro-business types about other financial reform efforts.
“The SEC’s proxy access rule empowers unions and other special interests at the expense of the vast majority of retail shareholders,” said David Hirschmann of the Chamber of Commerce. “This special interest-driven rule will give small groups of special interest activist investors significant leverage over a business’ activities. This will undermine a company’s ability to grow and create jobs.”
The Council for Institutional Investors, which represents pension funds that have $3 trillion invested, said it will oppose the suit seeking to have proxy access overturned. It called the proxy access rules a key tool for investors dissatisfied with a board’s performance.
“The Council fought long and hard for U.S. shareowners to gain the right to have their board candidates considered alongside those of management,” said Ann Yerger, the Council’s executive director. “Proxy access will make companies more responsive to their shareowners and more vigilant in their oversight of companies. This basic right is widely accepted in many other countries and the Council will fight to preserve it here.”
And the claim that big companies are in danger of being taken over by union-nominated directors – socialists, in effect – is not winning over the likes of Minow. Indeed, she sees just the opposite happening.
“Market forces will operate far more efficiently if board members are subjected to even the very small market test of a very limited ability for shareholders to put alternate candidates to a vote,” she wrote last month after the SEC adopted its rule. “The complaints of those who see specters of ‘special interests’ are hypocritical and disingenuous. No one will be elected to the board without the support of more than 50% of the shareholders.”
But the Chamber is just getting warmed up. It also claims the SEC adopted the rule without sufficiently weighing its risks and rewards. A court will decide on the veracity of that claim, but at the very least the Chamber may have coined a new catchphrase in the neverending war on faceless bureaucracy.
The SEC, charges Robin Conrad of the National Chamber Litigation Center, “failed to engage in evidence-based rulemaking.” | Business leaders are saying thanks but no thanks to shareholder democracy. The Chamber of Commerce and the Business Roundtable, the lobbying groups representing many of America’s biggest companies, sued the Securities and Exchange Commission Wednesday to overturn a rule that ends management’s exclusive lock on nominating corporate directors. The rule, known as proxy access and… | 10.730159 | 0.984127 | 31.301587 | low | high | extractive |
http://fortune.com/2016/05/06/valeant-committee-drug-pricing/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20160610071226id_/http://fortune.com:80/2016/05/06/valeant-committee-drug-pricing/ | Valeant Just Formed a Committee to Ensure it Doesn't Price Gouge | 20160610071226 | Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, which has acknowledged mistakes in its drug pricing practices amid U.S. congressional probes, said on Thursday it has formed a new committee to oversee pricing of the company’s drugs.
The Patient Access and Pricing Committee will initially be chaired by Joseph Papa, Valeant’s new chairman and chief executive officer. The committee is made up of a team of Valeant employees including doctors, scientists and other executives.
Valeant vrx said that, among other issues, the committee will review the pricing of Nitropress, Isuprel, Cuprimine and Syprine—four products at the center of a hearing last week before the Senate Special Committee on Aging.
Valeant raised the price of Isuprel by about 720% and Nitropress by 310%, after acquiring the heart medications in 2015. Prices of the other two drugs, used to treat a genetic disorder that causes copper to build up in the body’s organs, were raised by 5,878% and 3,162%, respectively.
“Valeant has made mistakes in how it priced its drugs in the past, and we are committed to ensuring those mistakes are not repeated,” CEO Papa said in a statement. “This new committee will take a disciplined approach to reviewing the company’s pricing of drugs, and will consider the impact on patients, doctors, and our health care industry partners.”
The company said that since last week’s hearing, it has reached out to hospitals to follow up on concerns raised that they had not received expected discounts on Nitropress and Isuprel.
Valeant, whose share price has plunged almost 90% since August, has about $30 billion of debt and has been negotiating with creditors, some of whom issued notices of default after it missed a deadline for the filing of its financial results. | Last year, it raised the price of one drug by 5,878%. | 24.142857 | 0.857143 | 2.285714 | medium | medium | mixed |
http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB843584844789846000 | http://web.archive.org/web/20160610130234id_/http://www.wsj.com:80/articles/SB843584844789846000 | Seymour Cray Listed as Critical After Traffic Accident on Sunday | 20160610130234 | Supercomputer pioneer Seymour Cray battled for his life after breaking his neck and severely injuring his head in a traffic accident blamed on a careless driver.
The Rocky Mountain News reported that following the accident, Mr. Cray was listed in critical condition.
Mr. Cray, 70, was in critical and unstable condition at Penrose Hospital,... | Supercomputer pioneer Seymour Cray was severely injured in an automobile accident. For years, he was instrumental in technical advances that led to development of some of the world's fastest computers. | 1.852941 | 0.470588 | 0.823529 | low | low | abstractive |
http://fortune.com/2016/06/07/samsung-foldable-phone/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20160610221040id_/http://fortune.com:80/2016/06/07/samsung-foldable-phone/? | Samsung's Foldable Phone Screen Could Appear In Early 2017 | 20160610221040 | If you like the idea of being able to change the size of your smartphone screen, Samsung ssnlf will reportedly soon have the solution for you.
According to Bloomberg‘s sources, the Korean Galaxy maker may release two new smartphones with bendable screens as soon as early next year. IBK Securities analyst Lee Seung Woo is quoted in the piece as saying the 2017 timeframe is “probable,” so long as Samsung comes up with a suitable user interface.
The screens would use Samsung’s organic light-emitting diode (OLED) technology, as currently found in the company’s Edge phones. One of the devices would “fold in half like a cosmetic compact,” while the other would have a regular smartphone-sized screen that “unfurls” into a small tablet-sized display.
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Samsung has been teasing the world with its vision of a foldable smartphone for the last few years. Check out this video from CES 2013, when it unveiled the “Youm” tech that made its way into the Edge the following year:
The company has recently been filing patents that describe such a device.
Korea’s ETNews reported at the start of April that Samsung had made a prototype of its foldable smartphone, and mass production of the screens would start in the second half of this year.
Sam Mobile, a site that specializes in Samsung leaks, last year predicted that the device would appear early this year, which clearly didn’t happen.
As for the phone with the “unfurling screen,” perhaps it would use this rollable screen technology that Samsung showed off at a trade show last month: | Galaxy maker Samsung will reportedly release phones with foldable, bendable screens early next year. | 20 | 1 | 2.125 | medium | high | mixed |
http://fortune.com/2016/04/05/starz-launches-standalone-streaming-service/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20160611021237id_/http://fortune.com:80/2016/04/05/starz-launches-standalone-streaming-service/ | Starz Launches Standalone Streaming Service | 20160611021237 | Starz has joined HBO and Showtime in going over the top with the launch today of a standalone streaming app that also allows users to download most of the available programs.
Starz is offering the app in partnership with Apple and Google. The service costs $8.99 a month, $2 less than Showtime’s $10.99 offering and six dollars below HBO’s monthly price tag of $14.99.
Starz emphasized that users have the option to download programs for viewing without the need of a wi-fi or broadband connection, a function Starz touted as viewer-friendly and unique to its service.
The app will be available to consumers on a standalone basis while existing customers who receive Starz through an MVPD subscription will receive free authenticated access to the app. At the same time, Starz will not offer live real-time streaming.
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Starz CEO Chris Albrecht had hinted in recent months that the company was pouring resources into the development of a cutting-edge streaming service. Starz’s first move to reach consumers outside of the traditional pay TV world came late last year when it pacted with Amazon to allow Starz to be offered as a paid add-on to existing Prime memberships.
The app will be distributed via Apple’s App Store and Google Play, supported on a range of iOS and Android devices.
“Starz has entered the market today with an enormous value proposition for consumers,” Albrecht said. “Our programing will now be more widely available to the 20 million broadband only homes of cord nevers, cord cutters and cord shavers, including Millennials and other underserved consumers who need other viable subscription service options.”
Read More: Starz’s Chris Albrecht on the Network’s Future
Starz aims to whet viewer appetite for the service by streaming the first episode of the fantasy drama Outlander‘s second season as of April 7, two days before its linear premiere. The costume vehicle has emerged as a buzzy hit with a worldwide fan base for Starz and producer Sony Pictures TV.
Starz plans to make all of its original series available via the app, along with a slew of movies including later this year Disney’s blockbuster, Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
Starz’s move follows HBO’s launch of HBONow a year ago this month and Showtime’s dive into the broadband-only world last July. | Starz's move follows HBO's launch of HBONow nearly one year ago. | 32.571429 | 0.714286 | 1.714286 | medium | low | mixed |
http://www.nydailynews.com/autos/news/outlander-proves-easy-hack-vw-diesel-fix-article-1.2664923 | http://web.archive.org/web/20160611033814id_/http://www.nydailynews.com:80/autos/news/outlander-proves-easy-hack-vw-diesel-fix-article-1.2664923 | Outlander proves easy to hack, VW gets OK for diesel fix and more | 20160611033814 | Looking for a roundup of the latest and most important news from the automotive world? You’ve found it in the Daily Drive-Thru. Check it out every weekday to see what you missed and what you need to know.
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If you’re worried about your neighbors stealing your WiFi, you might want to avoid the new Outlander.
A car that connects to your smartphone can be pretty cool. Take, for example, the new Mitsubishi Outlander plug-in hybrid electric vehicle, or PHEV, which allows you to turn its lights on, fire up its heat/air conditioning, set its charging schedule and even activate the security system all from your phone. The trouble is: the WiFi connection that allows the Outlander to do those tricks is incredibly easy to hack.
Pen Test Partners, a U.K.-based penetration testing and security services firm (a.k.a. a collective of do-good hackers), successfully hacked the Outlander’s WiFi system in just a few days using fairly basic software. Once Pen Test cracked the WiFi key, it was able to intercept the messages being sent between phone and car, then reverse-engineered them to disarm the security system. Mitsubishi is working on a solution to this issue.
The German government has given the OK to a plan from Volkswagen to fix 800,000 Passat, CC and Eos models that were outfitted with illegal emissions regulation-cheating software. Volkswagen has been belagging well behind its intended recall-repair ratebecause of interference from German regulators which, understandably, wanted to make sure removing the emissions cheating software wouldn’t impact the cars’ fuel economies.
This recall will only apply to some of the affected vehicles with 2.0-liter TDI EA 189 engines. The vehicles with 1.2-liter TDI EA 189 engines will be recalled at a later date, as will the remaining 2.0-liter vehicles. Across all of Europe, Volkswagen has to fix roughly 8.5 million diesel-powered vehicles. Meanwhile, in the States, the automaker is hoping wrap up its federal, class-action lawsuit with American TDI owners by the end of this month.
Despite numerous unanswered questions about the safety of and regulation for the imminent wave of self-driving vehicles set to crash over the global auto market in the coming years, IHS Automotive predicts that sales of fully- and partially-autonomous cars will hit 21 million by 2035. Bear in mind that the first properly autonomous cars won’t hit the market until 2020, at the earliest.
IHS Automotive predicts global autonomous sales will hit 600,000 in 2025 then skyrocket with an annual growth rate of 43 percent during the following decade. Come 2035, the U.S. is predicted to be the leader in the market, with 4.5 million vehicles expected to be deployed on American pavement.
Tesla Motors is hoping to ramp its annual vehicle production up to half a million by 2018, which is more than double the output of the average single automotive plant. Needless to say, it’s gonna take a lot of batteries to reach that goal. That’s why Tesla and Samsung are discussing a partnership in which the Korean tech company will supply lithium ion batteries for the American EV startup's forthcoming Model 3 sedan.
With 373,000 orders already in place for Tesla’s first affordable electric vehicle already on the books, this could be a quite a lucrative deal for Samsung, should it come to pass. Additionally, Samsung would also provide batteries for other Tesla energy storing devices, such as car chargers and in-home battery packs. Tesla currently gets all of its batteries from Japan’s Panasonic Corp.
Marooned motorists will now have access to roadside assistance with the mere tap of a touchscreen. Rather than having to scroll through Google pages or scour Yelp suggestions for a decent local repair shop, drivers can access on-demand roadside help through the Openbay mobile app.
Originally created as an online marketplace for automotive repair services, Openbay now allows users to instantly request help for common issues such as dead batteries, flat tires, lockouts and dry gas tanks. It can even arrange a tow for cars that are rendered inoperable. It operates on a pay-per-use system, with basic assistance starting at $64.95 and towing services starting at $79.95. The app is available for both iOS and Android operating systems.
Did you find this article helpful? If so, please share it using the "Join the Conversation" buttons below, and thank you for visiting Daily News Autos. | We've also got the latest news on autonomous cars, a budding partnership between Tesla and Samsung, and more in today's Daily Drive-Thru. | 29.862069 | 0.827586 | 2 | medium | medium | mixed |
http://fortune.com/2016/06/08/why-tesla-talks-samsung/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20160611113958id_/http://fortune.com:80/2016/06/08/why-tesla-talks-samsung/ | Why Tesla Has Been In Battery Talks With Samsung for Years | 20160611113958 | A single tweet by Tesla CEO Elon Musk sent hundreds of millions of dollars of market value from Samsung SDI, a division of South Korean electronics giant Samsung, to Japanese battery maker Panasonic on Wednesday.
Why? Musk’s tweet denied a Reuters report that said that Tesla was in talks to add Samsung as a battery partner for the Model 3, Tesla’s upcoming $35,000 car. Such a deal would be bad news for Panasonic, which is currently the only company supplying Tesla with batteries for its electric cars.
However, Musk clarified in a follow-up tweet that Tesla could be considering working with Samsung as a battery partner for Tesla’s grid batteries, which plug into buildings or are paired with solar panels.
It’s not new for Tesla TSLA to talk to battery suppliers other than Panasonic, despite the Japanese giant’s importance to the upstart automaker’s future. Panasonic is Tesla’s core partner for its massive battery factory, dubbed the Gigafactory, under construction outside of Reno, Nev. Panasonic plans to spend $1.6 billion helping build the battery cell equipment in the factory.
But despite the close relationship with Panasonic, Tesla has actually been talking to Samsung for years about batteries. That same Reuters reporter wrote about battery discussions between Tesla and Samsung three years ago, and those earlier discussions were reportedly about the Model X, an electric SUV. That initial report was also confirmed by both Tesla and Samsung at the time. (Musk confirmed this week that Panasonic is providing batteries for the Model X, not Samsung).
To learn about why some suppliers think Tesla’s production ramp isn’t viable watch our video.
Tesla also previously worked with LG Chem, a battery division of South Korean electronics company LG, to procure batteries for its first electric car, the souped up Roadster sports car. After this first car, only of which a couple thousand were ever produced, Tesla started working with Panasonic as its main battery supplier for the Model S, the Model X, and now the Model 3.
Tesla’s deal with Panasonic is on one hand crucial for the small car company. It shares the huge cost of builing the Gigafactory, as well as enlists the help of a close to a century-year-old company that has spent decades researching and manufacturing lithium-ion batteries.
But having only one battery supplier and partner could also make Tesla vulnerable. That’s one of the reasons why Tesla wanted to build the Gigafactory in the first place, so the company could have more control over the production of the batteries that it wants and needs.
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Tesla needs a huge amount of batteries. Its cars each use thousands of individual battery cells. As Tesla tries to increase its production to make 500,000 cars in just two years (from around 50,000 annually now) it will need ten times the batteries it uses today. The Gigafactory will supposedly double the world’s lithium-ion battery production when fully built.
Because the battery industry has been mostly dominated by only a handful of giant battery makers—largely in Japan, South Korea and China—the industry tightly controls the world’s battery supply chain. A young company like Tesla originally had a difficult time getting commitments for large battery orders for just tens of thousands of cars. It didn’t help that startups like Fisker Automotive, a now defunct car maker, has projected producing huge numbers of electric cars before flaming out a few years later.
As Tesla chief technology officer JB Straubel put it during the company’s recent shareholder’s meeting, building the Gigafactory is the company’s “chance to reinvent battery manufacturing.” Quite frankly, without the Gigafactory, Tesla would be unable to meet its aggressive (and many think not viable) plans to make so many cars so quickly.
If Tesla brought in Samsung SDI as a partner for its grid batteries, it would reduce its reliance solely on Panasonic’s batteries. But even discussing such a deal—or other deals over the years—probably gives Tesla leverage when getting the best battery deals possible from Panasonic and others. Apple works in similar ways with its suppliers.
A deal between Samsung and Tesla could also potentially focus on a different type of battery for the power grid, versus for the batteries needed for electric cars. The energy storing devices can be used in very different ways. When used with clean energy, grid batteries can sometimes supply longer duration power, say trickling for many hours, while an electric car usually requires a shorter period but stronger burst of power.
At the end of the day, if such a deal does happen between Samsung and Tesla, Panasonic might not have such a problem making peace with it. Not many people know this, but Panasonic actually sells its own grid batteries in certain markets, putting it in direct competition with Tesla.
Panasonic likely wants to grow this grid battery business, given its long history in the energy sector. Perhaps the companies have decided to draw a line in the sand there.
The relationship between Panasonic and Tesla is one of the most unusual and important in the tech industry. But at the end of the day the companies can’t rely on each other too much. | It's all about leverage, diversity, and competition. | 91.636364 | 0.727273 | 0.909091 | high | low | abstractive |
http://www.aol.com/article/2009/08/27/secrets-your-dentist-doesnt-want-you-to-know/19134395/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20160611133152id_/http://www.aol.com:80/article/2009/08/27/secrets-your-dentist-doesnt-want-you-to-know/19134395/? | Secrets your dentist doesn't want you to know | 20160611133152 | Recently, I addressed the annual convention of the International Association of Comprehensive Aesthetics (IACA), an organization of dentists dedicated to continuing education. It was quite an eye-opener.
I realized I knew very little about my dentist. Even worse, I didn't know how to determine if my dentist had the right qualifications and equipment to provide first-class dental care.
There are approximately 165,000 dentists in the U.S., and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that the yearly earnings of dentists averaged $147,010 in 2007. There is no doubt we are spending a lot of money on dental care and most people do not have dental insurance. But are we spending our money wisely? This is an area of particular interest to retirees and those planning to retire, because dental health issues tend to become more pressing as we age.
Here are the secrets your dentist may not want you to know -- but you need to know to get the best care possible:
The full entries are below.
Since dental implants involve the removal of a tooth and replacing it with an artificial tooth, many patients assume that an oral surgeon is best qualified to do it. This can be a flawed assumption.
Periodontists, who specialize in gum disease, may be a better option. Periodontists have special training in gum tissue and underlying bone in the mouth, which are significant issues in dental implants.
Whether you use your general dentist, a periodontist or an oral surgeon, you should ask these questions:
What is your success rate with implants? It should be at least 94 percent.
How long is the procedure? It should be no more than thirty minutes.
Do you use a surgical guide? A surgical guide directs the implant drilling system and provides for accurate placement according to the digital surgical treatment plan. It is important to confirm that the dentist doing your implant uses a surgical guide.
Do you use a CT scan and 3-D imaging software? This technology assesses bone structure and identifies the best sites for dental implant placement while avoiding vital structures like nerves.
Many dentists hold themselves out as implant specialists. You need to screen them very carefully before entrusting them with this surgical procedure. | Going to the dentist may seem like a mundane chore, but it can quickly become an expensive one. Here's what you need to know to get the most for your money when | 12.228571 | 0.742857 | 2.057143 | low | low | mixed |
http://www.cbsnews.com/media/tech-predictions-back-to-the-future-part-ii-got-right/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20160611230719id_/http://www.cbsnews.com:80/media/tech-predictions-back-to-the-future-part-ii-got-right/ | Tech predictions "Back to the Future Part II" got right | 20160611230719 | If we're being honest with ourselves here, we've been trying since 1989 to keep up with the movie's vision of a hoverboard future (not the other way around). And we kinda made it happen. Kinda. Hoverboards do technically exist now, though we're not anywhere close to actually cruising the streets on one.
Just as the movie predicted, hoverboards don't work over all surfaces. Griff Tannen (grandson of Biff, the enemy from the original film) and his crew know that their hoverboards don't work over water (without extra propulsion). Today's maglev version of the hoverboard -- the Hendo -- only works on a non-magnetic conductive surface, such as a copper sheet.
Another modern take on the personal hovercraft works over any surface, but is ridden over water for safety.
Lexus teased its own hoverboard over the summer. | It's not exactly the 2015 Marty and Doc visited in the movie, but we're getting there | 8.894737 | 0.578947 | 0.894737 | low | low | abstractive |
http://fortune.com/2016/03/03/who-won-the-republican-debate-7/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20160612014645id_/http://fortune.com:80/2016/03/03/who-won-the-republican-debate-7/ | Republican Debate: Who Won? | 20160612014645 | Donald Trump is showing some wear and tear. The Republican front-runner took withering incoming from both Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz on a Detroit debate stage on Thursday, frequently appearing rattled as the pair laced into his checkered business record and history of flip-flopping on core positions.
It was a rough day all around for Trump, with Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican nominee, earlier delivering a devastating assault on him as a “fraud” who would lead the country into a “dark abyss” in a speech from Utah. Romney’s critique quickly won an endorsement from the 2008 nominee, Sen. John McCain, as the GOP’s old guard rallied behind a last-ditch effort to deny Trump the nod.
As the party apparently began cleaving over his candidacy, Trump arrived for the Thursday evening showdown with his trademark mix of swagger and prickliness in abundance. He opened the proceedings, for example, by attesting to the size of his manhood—a claim, it can safely be said, that has never before been made in a presidential debate.
But Trump quickly found himself on the defensive. And he was forced to fight from that position for much of the night as Rubio and Cruz, picking up where Romney left off, repeatedly laced into his business history in particular, continuing a joint if uncoordinated attempt to make a liability out of one of Trump’s key strengths with voters. To spell out the connection, Rubio premiered a new line: “He has spent a career of convincing Americans that he’s something that he’s not in exchange for their money. Now he’s trying to do the same in exchange for their country.”
Trump did not fare well in the face of the attacks. An extended exchange over the performance of real estate seminars branded Trump University was especially brutal.
Rubio brought the issue up as further evidence that the billionaire has willfully conned working people. But after some sniping between Rubio and Trump over the facts, Fox News moderator Megyn Kelly interjected to note that, in fact, as Rubio had maintained, the enterprise earned a “D-minus” rating from the Better Business Bureau, is now facing a class-action suit from over 5,000 plaintiffs, and a counter-suit by Trump had been tossed out with Trump required to cover the fees. “This is what the Court of Appeals found,” Kelly said, “They said that the plaintiffs against you are like the Madoff victims.” All of sudden, the debate felt more like a court proceeding, with Trump as the defendant.
Rubio jumped back in to describe a conversation he’d just had with a constituent who took the course, then requested a refund “when they finally realized what a scam it was,” and was denied. Trump replied uncharacteristically meekly that he, “gave many people their money back,” which a viewer could take as a tacit acknowledgment that the seminar wasn’t what it purported to be.
Meanwhile, Cruz —coming off Super Tuesday wins in Texas, Oklahoma and Alaska, a run that revived his argument that he’s the most effective anti-Trump in the field — also came alive in the debate. After a relatively sleepy turn in the last one, the Texas firebrand successfully pressed the point that voters should wonder what Trump is hiding about his plans to overhaul immigration, considering the dustup over off-the-record comments he made on the issue to the New York Times editorial board. And he managed to float somewhat above the fray of the hotter exchanges between Rubio and Trump, asking after one, “Let me ask the voters at home, is this the debate you want playing out in the general election?”
Whether any of it matters is the question that will obsess Republican leaders for the next two weeks. Trump has made it to the cusp of the party’s nomination having piled up scores of controversies any one of which would have sunk an aspirant under the normal laws of political physics. And he’s given similarly flimsy debate performances only to turn around and win the next contest. But the campaign does appear to be entering a new phase, in which the willing anti-Trump money from big donors will marshall behind a final attempt to shrink his support by highlighting all the vulnerabilities in his biography.
The aim, as Romney alluded to in his speech, will be to find ways, state by state, to deny Trump the 1,237 delegates he needs to clinch the nomination. If that’s possible, the fight will carry all the way to the July convention in Cleveland, where the party will have an opportunity to rally around an alternative. But it remains an increasingly long-shot proposition, born of desperation. | Trump withered under sustained incoming from both Rubio and Cruz. | 82.636364 | 0.818182 | 1.909091 | high | medium | mixed |
http://fortune.com/2016/04/05/allergan-pfizer-treasury-inversions/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20160612060342id_/http://fortune.com:80/2016/04/05/allergan-pfizer-treasury-inversions/ | Here's Why Allergan Shares Are Tanking on New Treasury Inversion Rules | 20160612060342 | The U.S. Treasury Department took new steps on Monday to curb tax-avoiding corporate “inversions,” with the pending $160 billion merger of Pfizer and Allergan seen as a potential casualty.
The changes, less than a year before President Barack Obama ends his term, follow sharp political criticism of Pfizer’s and Allergan’s merger, which would be the largest inversion deal ever. While the rules did not single out this deal, one of the provisions takes aim directly at it.
Shares of Dublin-based Allergan agn fell 22% in after-market trading, while shares of New York-based Pfizer pfe rose 3%.
The companies said they were reviewing the Treasury Department’s notice. “Prior to completing any review, we won’t speculate on any potential impact,” the companies said in a joint statement.
The federal government has grappled with a wave of inversions in recent years as U.S. companies have sought to slash their tax bills by redomiciling overseas, though their core operations and management usually remain in the United States even as they claim a new tax home. Several U.S. presidential candidates, including Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton, have seized on the issue in their campaigns.
Obama, a Democrat, has called repeatedly for action by the Republican-controlled U.S. Congress on inversions, but lawmakers have done little. He repeated his appeal to Congress on Monday and said he welcomed the Treasury’s action.
The Treasury said in a statement it will impose a three-year limit on foreign companies bulking up on U.S. assets to avoid ownership limits for a later inversion deal.
“In simple words, Allergan’s key deals in the prior 36 months won’t be counted (as far as meeting the inversion threshold is concerned) when doing the ownership math for the Pfizer-Allergan deal,” Evercore analyst Umer Raffat wrote in a note.
These deals include the $66 billion merger of Allergan and Actavis, the $25 billion purchase of Forest Laboratories and the $5 billion takeover of Warner Chilcott.
“The real issue is not so much what Allergan may prove or disprove, or whether Treasury overstepped its authority. The real question is whether Pfizer reads today’s regulations as reason enough to not continue to pursue the deal,” Raffat wrote.
Under the agreement between Pfizer and Allergan, either party may terminate the deal if an adverse change in U.S. law would cause the combined company to be treated as a U.S. domestic corporation for federal income tax purposes. The terminating party would have to pay the other company up to $400 million for its expenses, according to the merger agreement.
Lew Says Legislation Still Needed
Treasury also said it is proposing rules to tackle a practice known as earnings stripping that is often undertaken following an inversion.
Earnings stripping covers a range of financial dealings that shrink the taxable U.S. profits of multinationals. A common strategy is to load up the U.S. unit of a redomiciled foreign company with debt and then shift U.S. profits to the new lower-tax foreign jurisdiction through interest payments.
The new Treasury rules would restrict related-party debt for U.S. subsidiaries in dealings that do not finance new investment in the United States. As part of these proposed regulations, the Internal Revenue Service would also be able to divide debt instruments into part debt and part equity, Treasury said.
Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said the new actions would “further rein in” inversions, while he repeated his call that only legislation in Congress could prevent such deals.
But at least one business group, the Organization for International Investment, which advocates for foreign-based companies, condemned the new rules.
“Treasury’s action would increase the cost of investing and expanding across the United States for all foreign companies and put at risk more than 12 million American workers that are supported by foreign direct investment in the United States,” Nancy McLemon, the group’s chief executive, said in a statement.
Such tax avoidance schemes have long been a thorn in Treasury’s side. The proposed deal between Pfizer and Allergan, which would create the world’s largest drugmaker, prompted renewed scrutiny.
Pfizer plans to redomicile in Ireland, where Allergan is based, and the companies expect to complete their merger in the second half of this year.
Last November, following the announcement of the Allergan-Pfizer deal, Treasury clamped down on inversions by limiting a U.S. acquirer’s ability to set up a new foreign parent in a third country and to “stuff” assets into a foreign parent to meet post-inversion ownership limits.
On Treasury’s latest steps, Senator Charles Schumer of New York, who has been a co-sponsor of legislation to curb inversions, said in a statement: “These regulations will make potential inverters and foreign acquirers think twice before making the leap, and those bad actors should be on notice that we intend to clamp down even further.” | Under new Treasury rules, the pending $160 billion merger of Pfizer and Allergan could be at risk. | 47.5 | 1 | 5.1 | high | high | mixed |
http://www.aol.com/article/2016/04/07/s-carolina-bill-aims-to-limit-transgender-access-to-bathrooms/21340215/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20160612084004id_/http://www.aol.com:80/article/2016/04/07/s-carolina-bill-aims-to-limit-transgender-access-to-bathrooms/21340215/ | S.Carolina bill aims to limit transgender access to bathrooms | 20160612084004 | April 7 (Reuters) - South Carolina lawmakers have introduced a measure that would require transgender people to use public bathrooms matching their sex at birth, disregarding a growing outcry for a repeal of a similar provision enacted last month in North Carolina.
Legislation such as the bill proposed in the Republican-controlled state Senate on Wednesday has fueled a national debate, with states entrenched on either side of the issue and major companies calling for a rollback on measures restricting transgender rights.
The South Carolina measure would prohibit local governments from requiring private businesses to provide restroom access based on gender identity rather than birth gender.
"Men should use the men's room, and women should use the women's room - that's just common sense," Republican Senator Lee Bright, a sponsor of the bill, told The State newspaper. "North Carolina is getting so much flak over what is common sense."
Related: Protests of a similar law in North Carolina:
S.Carolina bill aims to limit transgender access to bathrooms
In this photo taken Thursday, May 12, 2016, signage is seen outside a restroom at 21c Museum Hotel in Durham, N.C. North Carolina is in a legal battle over a state law that requires transgender people to use the public restroom matching the sex on their birth certificate. The ADA-compliant bathroom signs were designed by artist Peregrine Honig. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)
Opponents of House Bill 2 protest across the street from the North Carolina State Capitol in Raleigh, N.C., Monday, April 11, 2016 during a rally in support of the law that blocks rules allowing transgender people to use the bathroom aligned with their gender identity. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)
A police officer confronts a lady holding a sign at the North Carolina State Capitol in Raleigh, N.C., Monday, April 11, 2016, during a rally in support of a law that blocks rules allowing transgender people to use the bathroom aligned with their gender identity. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)
DURHAM, NC - MAY 10: The 'We Are Not This' slogan is posted at the entrances to Bull McCabes Irish Pub on May 10, 2016 in Durham, North Carolina. Debate over transgender bathroom access spreads nationwide as the U.S. Department of Justice countersues North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory from enforcing the provisions of House Bill 2 (HB2) that dictate what bathrooms transgender individuals can use. (Photo by Sara D. Davis/Getty Images)
Supporters gather at the North Carolina State Capitol in Raleigh, N.C., Monday, April 11, 2016, in support of House Bill 2, a law that blocks rules allowing transgender people to use the bathroom aligned with their gender identity. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)
Opponents of House Bill 2 protest across the street from the State Capitol Building in Raleigh, N.C., Monday, April 11, 2016 during a rally in support of the law that blocks rules allowing transgender people to use the bathroom aligned with their gender identity. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)
Two protesters hold up signs against passage of legislation in North Carolina, which limits the bathroom options for transgender people, during a rally in Charlotte, N.C., Thursday, March 31, 2016. The rally drew around 100 people at the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Government Center. (AP Photos/Skip Foreman)
Demonstrators protesting passage of legislation limiting bathroom access for transgender people stand in front of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Government Center in Charlotte, N.C., Thursday, March 31, 2016. Approximately 100 people gathered for the rally, many chanting and carrying signs. (AP Photos/Skip Foreman)
FILE - In this March 30, 2016 file photo, Human Rights Campaign Executive Director Chad Griffin, center, speaks at a news conference at the old state Capitol Building in Raleigh, N.C. Griffin was among several LGBT leaders who headed to the state to join in protests and plot strategy for trying to overturn a new law limiting bathroom options for transgender people. Stung by setbacks related to their access to public restrooms, transgender Americans are taking steps to play a more prominent and vocal role in a nationwide campaign to curtail discrimination against them. (AP Photo/Gary Robertson, File)
People protest outside the North Carolina Executive Mansion in Raleigh, N.C., Thursday, March 24, 2016. North Carolina legislators decided to rein in local governments by approving a bill Wednesday that prevents cities and counties from passing their own anti-discrimination rules. North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory later signed the legislation, which dealt a blow to the LGBT movement after success with protections in cities across the country. (AP Photo/Emery P. Dalesio)
People protest outside the North Carolina Executive Mansion in Raleigh, N.C., Thursday, March 24, 2016. North Carolina legislators decided to rein in local governments by approving a bill Wednesday that prevents cities and counties from passing their own anti-discrimination rules. North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory later signed the legislation, which dealt a blow to the LGBT movement after success with protections in cities across the country. (AP Photo/Emery P. Dalesio)
North Carolina lawmakers gather on the House floor for a special session Wednesday, March 23, 2016 in Raleigh, N.C. to consider stopping a new Charlotte ordinance set to take effect April 1 that gives protections to transgender people to use the restroom of their gender identity. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)
This March 10, 2015 photo shows a PayPal sign outside of the main entrance to an office building in San Jose, Calif. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
Elaine Martin, right, listens as Chris Sgro, executive director of Equality NC, speaks during a press conference to announce filing of federal lawsuit challenging North Carolina's HB 2 law at the LGBT Center of Raleigh on Monday, March 28, 2016. Several different advocacy groups and some of the lead plaintiffs spoke at the event. (Chris Seward/Raleigh News & Observer/TNS via Getty Images)
Joaquin Carcano, center, the lead plaintiff in the case, speaks during a press conference to announce filing of federal lawsuit challenging North Carolina's HB 2 law at the LGBT Center of Raleigh on Monday, March 28, 2016. Several different advocacy groups and some of the lead plaintiffs spoke at the event. Joaquin was born a woman and is now a man. Simone Bell with Lambda Law is at left; Chris Brook with the ACLU is at right. (Chris Seward/Raleigh News & Observer/TNS via Getty Images)
TO GO AFP STORY BY BRIGITTE DUSSEAU - Transgender delegates Jamie Shier (L) and Janice Covington pose for photographs at the Convention Center in Charlotte, North Carolina, on September 4, 2012. The Democratic National Convention Committee announced Wednesday that US President Barack Obama would move his acceptance speech from the outdoor Bank of America Stadium to the indoor Time Warner Cable Arena due to predictions of thunderstorms. AFP PHOTO / Mladen ANTONOV (Photo credit should read BRIGITTE DUSSEAU/AFP/GettyImages)
The South Carolina measure is narrower than North Carolina's law, which precludes local governments from adopting anti-discrimination ordinances with protections based on gender identity and sexual orientation.
But opponents warned the new proposal could spark the economic backlash seen this week in North Carolina, where PayPal Holdings Inc cited the discriminatory nature of the law in canceling a new operations center that was to employ 400 workers in Charlotte.
More than 130 business leaders, including the chief executives of Bank of America, Herbalife and American Airlines, have signed a letter with the Human Rights Campaign calling for a repeal.
"Government simply has no place in our bathrooms," said Jeff Ayers, executive director of South Carolina Equality, a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights group.
Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf signed two executive orders on Thursday aimed at safeguarding the rights of transgender people. One of them bans the state from discriminating against any employee or job applicant based on a host of criteria including "gender expression or identity."
"This is the right thing to do. ... This is also the smart thing to do," Wolf said, citing PayPal's decision in North Carolina.
Last year, the Democratic governor named a transgender woman as the state's physician general, a Cabinet-level post.
More than a dozen states have considered bathroom provisions this year that would restrict access for transgender people, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
The measures come amid a wave of legislation pushed by social conservatives after the U.S. Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage last year.
Mississippi's Republican governor on Tuesday signed a law allowing people with religious objections to deny wedding services to same-sex couples and permitting employers to cite religion in determining workplace policies on dress code, grooming and bathroom and locker access.
In response, a number of governors and mayors have banned non-essential government travel to Mississippi or North Carolina.
Last week, the governors of Georgia and Virginia vetoed "religious liberty" bills, which critics said discriminated against same-sex couples.
(Reporting by Colleen Jenkins in Winston-Salem, N.C., and Daniel Trotta in New York; Editing by Dan Grebler and Peter Cooney)
More from AOL.com: PayPal pulls North Carolina plan after transgender bathroom law Mississippi governor signs religion law over gay rights protests 9 cities and states impose travel bans over anti-gay laws | It would prohibit local governments from requiring private businesses to provide restroom access based on gender identity rather than birth gender. | 82.090909 | 0.954545 | 20.045455 | high | high | extractive |
http://time.com/19345/free-to-be-boys-and-girls-40-years-after-the-failed-gender-revolution/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20160612101234id_/http://time.com:80/19345/free-to-be-boys-and-girls-40-years-after-the-failed-gender-revolution/ | Gender Roles Are Still Separate | 20160612101234 | This week marks the 40th anniversary of an event close to the hearts of gender activists everywhere. On March 11, 1974, ABC aired Marlo Thomas’ “Free to Be…You and Me” — a musical program celebrating gender-free children. Thomas and her fellow co-neutralists envisioned a world where the sex distinction would melt away. Instead of “males” and “females,” there would be mutually respectful, non-gendered human persons. The project resulted in a platinum LP, a best-selling book, and an Emmy. More than that, the idea of gender liberation entered the national zeitgeist. Parents everywhere began giving their daughters trucks and sons baby dolls. Like so many dream boats floating on the utopian sea, this one crashed and sank when it hit the rocks of reality.
In one “Free to Be” song, two babies discuss their life goals: the female wants to be a fireman; the male, a cocktail waitress. Another tells about a girl who liked to say, “Ladies First” — only to wind up being the first to be eaten by tigers. The songs drive home the idea that we are all androgynous beings unfairly constrained by social stereotypes. “William‘s Doll” is memorable. “A doll, said William, is what I need. To wash and clean and dress and feed.” In the end his kindly grandmother buys him the coveted toy.
A few months ago, I found myself in a place William would adore: the American Girl doll palace in New York City. But nearly all the children there were girls. “They know what girls love,” said a transfixed seven-year-old girl attached to my hand. We were standing in front of a doll salon, where you could make appointments for your doll to have her hair and nails done. The hundreds of little girls in that store showed a purposefulness and sense of well-being I had not witnessed since the summer before, when I visited the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. Only in Cooperstown it was little boys who were enthralled. Hundreds of them filled the shops where they carefully examined and evaluated an unfathomable number of little cards with photos and data about baseball heroes. Yes, I realize there are boys who would enjoy the American Girl doll store and girls whose dearest hope is to visit Baseball Town — but those are the exceptions. I am talking about the rule. And as a rule, the young Williams of this world do not want a doll.
“Don’t Dress Your Cat in an Apron,” another jaunty “Free to Be” song, tell us: “A person should do what he likes to. A person’s a person that way.” Well, OK, maybe sometimes. But, after 40 years of gender activism, boys and girls show few signs of liking to do the same things. From the earliest age, boys show a distinct preference for active outdoor play, with a strong predilection for games with body contact, conflict, and clearly defined winners and losers. Girls, too, enjoy raucous outdoor play, but they engage in it less. Girls, as a rule, are more drawn to imaginative theatrical games — playing house, playing school — as well as exchanging confidences with a best friend. Boys playing kickball together in the schoolyard are not only having a great deal of fun, they are forging friendships with other males in ways that are critical to their healthy socialization. Similarly, little girls who spend hours in deep conversation with other girls or playing theatrical games are happily and actively honing their social skills. What these children are doing is not only fun but developmentally sound.
The year 1974 was a long time ago. It was the Age of Aquarius, and Marlo Thomas and her friends can be forgiven for thinking gender neutrality to be a workable and desirable plan. But in a recent interview, Thomas, now 76, said she found nothing dated about “Free to Be.” Children, she said, “need to hear that … boys and girls are pretty much the same except for something in their underwear.” Except that they are not.
In 2009, David Geary, a University of Missouri psychologist, published the second edition of Male, Female: The Evolution of Human Sex Differences. This thorough, fair-minded, and comprehensive survey of the literature includes more than 50 pages of footnotes citing studies by neuroscientists, endocrinologists, geneticists, anthropologists, and psychologists showing a strong biological basis for many gender differences. And, as Geary recently told me, “One of the largest and most persistent differences between the sexes is children’s play preferences.” The female preference for nurturing play and the male propensity for rough-and-tumble hold cross-culturally and even cross-species. Researchers have found, for example, that female vervet monkeys play with dolls much more than their brothers, who prefer balls and toy cars. Nor can human reality be tossed aside. In all known societies, women tend to be the nurturers and men the warriors. Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker points to the absurdity of ascribing these universal differences to socialization: “It would be an amazing coincidence that in every society the coin flip that assigns each sex to one set of roles would land the same way.”
Of course, we can soften and shape these roles, and that has been, in every epoch, the work of civilization. But civilization won’t work against the grain of human nature, and our futile attempts to make it do so can only damage the children that are the subjects of the experiment. Though few would deny that parents and teachers should expose children to a wide range of toys and play activities, almost any parent will attest that most little girls don’t want to play with dump trucks and few boys show an interest in Hello Kitty tea sets. “Free to Be” purports to be an anthem to freedom; but to “liberate” children from their gender will require unrelenting adult policing, monitoring, correcting, and shaming. Enlightened opinion tells us not to do that with gender non-conforming children; but surely it is just as misguided to do it with kids who conform to the conventions of their sex.
The writer Andrew Sullivan is right when he describes the sex difference as “so obvious no one really doubted it until very recently, when the blank-slate left emerged, merging self-righteousness with empirical delusion.” That delusion was jumpstarted in 1974 with the advent of “Free To Be… You and Me.” Today, an army of gender scholars and activists is marching in support of the genderless ideal. But these warriors forget that ignoring differences between boys and girls can be just as damaging as creating differences where none exist. “Free to Be” is a cautionary example of how an idealistic social fantasy can turn into a blueprint for repression.
Christina Hoff Sommers is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. She is the author of several books, including The War Against Boys. Follow her @CHsommers. | 1974's 'Free to Be... You and Me' feels like an eternity ago. And, amazingly, kids and adults have yet to morph into mutually respectful, non-gendered human persons. | 36.105263 | 0.736842 | 3.052632 | high | low | mixed |
http://fortune.com/2015/09/14/apple-burberry-music/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20160612161602id_/http://fortune.com:80/2015/09/14/apple-burberry-music/ | Apple taps Burberry to bolster its music streaming service | 20160612161602 | Apple AAPL has recruited a familiar partner to beef up its music streaming service: Burberry.
The English luxury house, best known for the tartan pattern that adorns its scarves, raincoats, and other high-end clothing, will on Tuesday become the first such brand to have a dedicated channel on Apple Music. Burberry has long been an advocate for British music with its Burberry Acoustic showcase, founded in 2010 and aimed at bolstering its status as a lifestyle brand.
The channel, which will live in Apple Music’s “Curators” section, will show off both emerging and established British artists, including performances, songs, videos and playlists of British legends past and present. Since its inception, Burberry Acoustic has filmed nearly 100 performances that have garnered some 19 million views on YouTube. The program’s artists have included Clare Maguire and Keane.
With the Apple tie-up, the company is betting on a lot more exposure.
“I am excited about our partnership with Apple on this amazing platform which will enable us to take what we do now with Burberry Acoustic and share it with an even bigger audience,” said Burberry CEO and chief creative officer Christopher Bailey in a statement.
Bailey succeeded Angela Ahrendts two years ago when she moved to Apple to head its retail business. It is not clear if Ahrendts played a direct role in this Burberry-Apple partnership. (For more on Ahrendts’ work at Apple, please read this feature story from the September 15, 2015 issue of Fortune magazine.)
For Apple, the collaboration with Burberry appears to be a way to enhance the appeal of its nascent streaming music service that hasn’t been an out-of-the-box smash since its June launch. (Apple last month said 11 million iPhone users had signed up, though the company was offering a free three-month trial so it is anyone’s guess whether those people will pay for the service after the free run is done. And that number represented only 2% of Apple’s installed base of 500 million iPhones and good enough to be the #6 streaming service.) With its Beats 1 radio station, Apple premiered curated programs from artists such as Q-Tip, St. Vincent, Dr. Dre, and Pharrell; perhaps Apple Music could benefit from the influence of an additional tastemaker.
This is also not the first time that Burberry and Apple have teamed up. Two years ago, Burberry used Apple iPhone 5s devices to capture and share all digital images, video, and live-streamed content before, during, and after a fashion show. Burberry has also collaborated with Apple’s digit music store, iTunes, to produce exclusive, unique recordings of the soundtracks that accompany runway shows.
Burberry plans to launch its Apple Music channel with a series of special videos as well as a concert by Alison Moyet, to be held at its womenswear show in London next week. | The tech giant has lined up Burberry as its first global brand with a dedicated channel on Apple Music, a move that could bolster the music streaming service. | 18.7 | 0.8 | 1.733333 | medium | medium | mixed |
http://fortune.com/2015/09/17/salesforces-dreamboat-cruise-ship-dreamforce/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20160612172053id_/http://fortune.com:80/2015/09/17/salesforces-dreamboat-cruise-ship-dreamforce/ | Salesforce's Dreamforce conference cruise ship in photos | 20160612172053 | Salesforce’s annual Dreamforce conference didn’t just take over San Francisco’s downtown this week. The cloud software company also took over one of the city’s piers with a giant cruise ship.
Because finding a hotel in San Francisco during conference season can be a major hassle, Salesforce CRM went to the unusual length of partnering with cruise ship operator Celebrity Cruises to provide attendees with lodging.
People willing to pay $250 to $850 a night, depending on the type of room, got the chance to sleep in a ship outfitted with a blitz of Salesforce marketing as if still inside the Dreamforce conference hall, albeit with nicer views and a fresh sea breeze.
More than 1,100 conference attendees took rooms on the ship rather than at a hotel. From the deck, in every direction, visitors could see a famous San Francisco landmark like the Bay Bridge, the Golden Gate Bridge, the Transamerica Pyramid, Coit Tower, and Alcatraz Island.
But, of course, Salesforce made sure to remind everyone that this ship was an extension of its trade show.
“Salesforce gets the capability to do what they want,” said Ron Gulaskey, global director of corporate sales and charters at Celebrity Cruises. Gulaskey was referring to the ship decorations and lighting. Just like at the company’s conference at San Francisco’s Moscone Center, blue lights lit up the public spaces like a giant aquarium. Meanwhile, slogans like “Customer love” and large placards of gushing customer testimonials plastered the walls. Salesforce set up a Wi-Fi network at the nearby pier where the ship was docked so attendees could always access the web and work.
Compared with some other cruise ships, this one was rather sedate. There were no waterslides or carnival-like attractions. “It is definitely not The Love Boat,” said Julie Liegl, Dreamforce’s conference chair.
Although there was a casino on board with slot machines and Vegas-style games, guest were not allowed to gamble because of California law, said Gulaskey. Gambling is only allowed in international waters (or when investing in startups).
At night, however, guests could loosen up with fancy cocktails in a lounge. One drink, appropriately called the Dreamboat, contained sparkling wine, vodka, and simple syrup, and was, of course, blue.
Guests who didn’t want to attend the actual conference could sit in a private theater on board that was big enough for 1,000 people, and watch conference sessions on the screen. It’s hard to blame anyone for wanting to avoid the throng of 100,000 people at the convention center.
At checkout time on Friday at 10:00 am, guests will have to leave for solid ground. Salesforce must remove all logos, lighting, and decorations by noon. Soon after, the cruise ship leaves for the Panama Canal on another cruise.
Dreamboat logo in a swimming pool.
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For more on Salesforce, check out the following Fortune video: | See photos of Salesforce's Salesforce's Dreamforce cruise ship where conference attendees slept instead of a hotel. | 30.842105 | 0.736842 | 1.368421 | medium | low | abstractive |
http://www.people.com/people/article/0%2C%2C1142562%2C00.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20160613235706id_/http://www.people.com:80/people/article/0,,1142562,00.html?xid=popsugar | Justin Timberlake and Cameron Diaz Break Up | 20160613235706 | Diaz and Timberlake in New York City on Sept. 9
01/11/2007 AT 05:40 PM EST
After almost four years together, Cameron Diaz and Justin Timberlake have called it quits, the couple said in a statement Thursday.
"It has always been our preference not to comment on the status of our relationship, but, out of respect for the time we've spent together, we feel compelled to do so now, in light of recent speculation and the number of inaccurate stories that are being reported by the media," the pair said. "We have, in fact, ended our romantic relationship, and have done so mutually and as friends, with continued love and respect for one another."
Diaz, 34, and Timberlake, 25, met in April 2003 at the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards, and by July, Diaz had joined her new beau on the road as he toured with Christina Aguilera.
They seemed at first like an unlikely pair: A former 'N Sync-er, Timberlake previously dated Britney Spears; Diaz had been in relationships with fellow movie stars Matt Dillon and Jared Leto.
And then there was their nine-year age difference. "It's not like this is the first time in the history of human relationships that people were drawn to one another because of who they are, not what age they are," Diaz told
But they surprised skeptics, staying together despite relentless rumors of strife. In July 2004, Timberlake
after it claimed he'd cheated with model Lucy Clarkson, and in May 2005, Diaz sued U.K. tab
for suggesting she'd had an affair with Shane Nickerson, the producer of her MTV adventure show
Along with breakup rumors, they faced near constant speculation that they were engaged. In August 2004, Diaz was spotted wearing a gold band on her left ring finger, but her rep denied the couple were altar-bound. Another source told PEOPLE at the time: "Cameron has always said she has no interest in getting married."
That was their story, and they stuck to it. In September 2006, Timberlake
she could buy a dress for their wedding – then quipped, "The only thing is, you'll have to stay the same size for the next 15 years."
Two months later, Diaz made
on DeGeneres's show, and told the host of getting married: "I'm a commitment-phobe. Don't want to do it."
his FutureSex/LoveShow tour. Meanwhile Diaz
for favorite leading lady at the People's Choice Awards on Tuesday. | Timberlake and Diaz officially call it quits after dating for nearly four years | 38.615385 | 0.692308 | 1 | high | low | abstractive |
http://www.people.com/people/mobile/article/0%2C%2C21011646%2C00.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20160614001253id_/http://www.people.com:80/people/mobile/article/0,,21011646,00.html | Jazz Jennings Confronts Anti-Trans Teacher After He Accuses Her of 'Brainwashing' Kids with Her Book | 20160614001253 | isn't afraid to stand up for herself.
In an exclusive sneak peek at Wednesday's episode of her TLC docu-series
confronts a teacher and the anti-LGBTQ Liberty Counsel at a public town hall.
"You are trying to brainwash some of these kids," a man tells Jennings, 15. "I think it's a sick thing basically."
The man, who is a teacher, also asked Jennings what bathroom she uses.
"I use the female restrooms because I am female," replies Jennings.
Alongside her mother Jeanette and Jessica Heathel, who co-authored Jennings' children's book
then takes on the teacher and an anti-trans group that threatened to sue a Wisconsin school system for a planned reading of
"As soon as I could express myself, I instantly said that I was a girl and I knew who I was and I didn't let anyone else define me," Jennings tells the crowd.
returns Wednesday at 10 p.m. ET, and Jennings' memoir | The I Am Jazz star took on an anti-LGBTQ group at a public town hall | 11.823529 | 0.823529 | 2.470588 | low | medium | mixed |
http://time.com/3917394/lionel-messi-tax-fraud-appeal-barcelona/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20160614031320id_/http://time.com:80/3917394/lionel-messi-tax-fraud-appeal-barcelona/ | Lionel Messi's Faces Trial Over Tax Fraud | 20160614031320 | Claiming ignorance doesn’t seem to be working for Lionel Messi this time around. After his newest appeal was rejected, it looks like the four-time World Player of the Year and Barcelona star will have to go to court in Spain to face tax evasion charges.
According to the BBC, Messi and his father, Jorge, are accused of withholding earnings between 2007 and 2009 by funneling income through companies in Belize and Uruguay responsible for selling the soccer star’s image rights. The contracts involved companies like Danone, Adidas, Pepsi-Cola and Procter and Gamble. The case against them claims they’ve defrauded the government of over €4m.
His previous appeal, thrown out by a Spanish judge last October, was based on the argument that Messi was not responsible for managing his finances. According to El Pais, Messi’s defense team argued he “never devoted a minute of his life to reading, studying or analyzing” the contracts. Instead, his father was primarily responsible for the player’s books.
A similar appeal was made this time around. But Spanish courts don’t think Messi’s professed ignorance is a good enough reason to drop the charges against him, the BBC reports.
In August 2013, Messi and his father voluntarily made a €5m payment to cover the tax and interest. | The soccer star will likely have to stand trial | 28.333333 | 0.666667 | 1.555556 | medium | low | mixed |
http://www.aol.com/article/2016/02/03/minn-family-church-wont-bury-grandmother-next-to-her-late-hus/21307263/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20160614110507id_/http://www.aol.com:80/article/2016/02/03/minn-family-church-wont-bury-grandmother-next-to-her-late-hus/21307263/ | Minn. family: Church won't bury grandmother next to her late husband | 20160614110507 | Before you go, we thought you'd like these...
A Minnesota family is outraged after they say their 84-year-old relative was kicked out of a Lutheran Church and is no longer allowed to be buried next to her late husband.
Darleen Pawelk had reportedly been a member of St. Mark's Lutheran Church in New Germany for more than 50 years but hadn't frequently attended services at the church over the past year. As KMSP reports, that's what led to a letter being sent to her home.
SEE ALSO: WHO calls for further investigation into sexual spread of Zika virus
The letter, which her grandson posted on Facebook, reads, in part, "In 2014, the voters of St. Mark adopted a self-exclusion policy. In summary, the policy states that members who have not gathered together with us in worship to receive the Lord's Supper at least four times in one calendar year will have excluded themselves from fellowship with us."
As a result, the letter said, Pawelk can't be buried at St. Mark or St. John's Crow River cemeteries.
However, church leaders say this is all a misunderstanding. They're expected to meet with the family to smooth things over on Wednesday.
More on AOL.com: People online are faking illnesses for sympathy and money -- here's how to spot them Video shows officer babysitting, watching cartoons with little girl while her dad appears in court British peer Lord Lucan declared dead 42 years after he disappeared | Darleen Pawelk had reportedly been a member of St. Mark's Lutheran Church for more than 50 years but hadn't frequently attended services over the past year. | 9.896552 | 1 | 10.862069 | low | high | extractive |
http://www.people.com/article/are-you-one-mtv-season-4-premiere-ryan-devlin-exclusive | http://web.archive.org/web/20160614115631id_/http://www.people.com/article/are-you-one-mtv-season-4-premiere-ryan-devlin-exclusive | Are You the One? Ryan Talks Love at First Sight on Season 4 Premiere : People.com | 20160614115631 | returns Monday night with a $250,000 twist that host Ryan Devlin considers "super romantic."
This season's newest switcheroo, which will award the contestants an extra quarter million dollars if they can spot their perfect matches within seconds, raises the stakes not only financially but also emotionally.
"To have a quarter of a million dollars on the line right out of the gate, it forces these women and men to have real, meaningful, deeper conversations and try to figure out:
Much more than money, though, Devlin and the other producers were excited to introduce this twist because "there's something super romantic about love at first sight, walking into a room and connecting with somebody and just feeling that spark."
Devlin admits he probably could have used a similar nudge in his own life. Before he married his sister's best friend in 2009, he confesses he was "blind to this perfect match that was right in front of my eyes – and, by the way, my wife never lets me live it down because she always had a crush on me."
"I probably would have benefited from a Truth Booth earlier on in the relationship," he says of the show's signature test, which reveals whether two people are a a perfect match based on extensive testing.
While the contestants are all about finding love, but Devlin admits he wasn't always feeling it while filming the new season. As with previous seasons, passion sometimes overrules logic and strategy, hurting the pairs' chances to match up and take home the prize money.
Though Devlin does not know the 10 sets of perfect matches at any point before the finale reveal, he says, "I'm there to help them, and when I get frustrated and when I get mad, it's only because they're being dumb and getting in their own way. I really try to represent the perspective of the audience. ... If these guys are being dumb, I'm really going try to get them back on course [and say], 'It feels like you guys are blowing this thing.' "
He says this season's competitors "call me 'Dad' when I get mad. You're going to see Mad Dad Ryan a few times this season for sure."
And no one has brought out "Mad Dad Ryan" more than the season 3 contestants, who suffered a $250,000 penalty one week by failing to identify any new matches and who went into the final matching ceremony with only three of the required 10 perfect matches to win the cash prize.
They shockingly beat the odds and took home the $750,000 prize, creating a flurry of speculation that the results had been rigged.
Though he "got blown up on Twitter," Devlin empathically denies any behind-the-scenes interference: "There's no letting them lose or helping them win. We are 100 percent hands-off."
He continues, "To be perfectly honest, I felt they didn't deserve the win, and I was kind of disappointed when they won, which is such a weird thing to say because I want people to win, but it didn't feel like they'd really earned that win."
He explains, "They only won because they sucked so bad that they learned enough to win. When you get a blackout, that's a group Truth Booth. When you score so poorly at the matchup ceremony, you can go back and reverse-engineer it. If they were doing better, it's much tougher to do that, but they were
that they actually learned enough to pull the frickin' thing off at the end!"
Cast of Are You the One?
As the exclusive clip above shows, there are a few cast members who will make waves from the first moments of Monday's premiere.
One of those is 24-year-old Israeli breakdancer
fans might recognize from the "Street" team in season 12.
He quickly gets into a dustup with cast mate
when he calls her "fatass" – though Asaf insists he's not calling her fat because he didn't
she "has a fat ass." (Because apparently there is a distinction?)
Says Devlin, "What's great about Asaf is, English isn't his first language, so he continually puts his foot in his mouth throughout the course of this season and then kind of gives this coy little smile and says, 'Well, you know, I'm not so good with the English.' "
But, says the host: "He
knows what he's saying – and he gets away with it! That's the crazy thing."
Devlin adds that Asaf saves himself by bring "positive energy" to the table.
"This is a guy who wears his heart on his sleeve, he's in it 100 percent for this experience and to find love," he says. "He can almost do no wrong with the house – until he does. His good will kind of runs out at a certain point, and things get pretty heated."
On the whole, it's a more "vulnerable and emotional" cast than in previous seasons, and Devlin teases, "There are some rally scary moments, to be perfectly honest."
Two more players who are also bringing the heat? "I would really keep an eye on
," says Devlin. "They have a really interesting story throughout the show, and when I spoke earlier of the passion and the emotion and the rawness of this cast, I think Kaylen and Gio separately and together, at times, really show that side of things."
(who is "just a hell of a lot of fun"), he notes that "this cast is super solid. Every single one of them has their moment on this season."
premieres Monday at 10 p.m. ET on MTV. | "They only won because they sucked so bad," Devlin tells PEOPLE of last season's contestants | 61.210526 | 0.894737 | 5.105263 | high | medium | mixed |
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2014/04/bill-clinton-surprised-at-black-hawk-down-raid | http://web.archive.org/web/20160614200309id_/http://abcnews.go.com:80/blogs/politics/2014/04/bill-clinton-surprised-at-black-hawk-down-raid | Bill Clinton 'Surprised' at Black Hawk Down Raid | 20160614200309 | Newly released documents from the Bill Clinton library provide a fascinating look at how the administration dealt with Somalia before, during and after the disastrous battle of Mogadishu, also known as Black Hawk Down, which resulted in the deaths of 18 U.S. troops and outraged the nation.
In notes from a meeting in May of 1994 between President Clinton and the family of one of the soldiers killed, Clinton admits that he didn't have prior knowledge of the raid to take down the Somali warlord Mohammed Farah Aidid. When asked by one family member why the raid was launched when the U.S. was "making good progress toward a diplomatic solution," Clinton puts the responsibility on the military command operating in Somalia.
"It's true that we had made good progress by mid-August through the efforts of former President Carter to reach a diplomatic solution. And by mid-September we thought we could start drawing back a bit. I knew we had good intelligence that indicated we could take some of the people who killed the Pakistani soldiers off the street, but I was surprised when I heard about the raid."
Clinton goes onto say that Vietnam taught the U.S. that military decisions should not be made in Washington, but from the "commander on the scene," but he then repeats that he was as surprised as the public to find out about the raid and "saddened" by the casualties.
The memo notes that "the president then reiterated his belief that the U.S. should not have been the police force in Somalia."
The batch of documents shows memos from March of 1993, some seven months before the battle, where the administration is trying to convince skeptical Republican members of Congress that U.S. troops already in the country for humanitarian reasons, sent by former President Bush, should now be part of a UN peacekeeping mission in Somalia. In particular then Sen. Sam Nunn expressed reservations about U.S. troops serving under U.N. command and also thought that the action should be subject to Congress approval under the War Powers Act. There was also a separate bill proposed, the Hamilton Act, which would allow U.S. troops in the country to act outside of the UN if necessary. According to the memos that bill finally passed in May of 1993, after a hard press by the administration
"If we get enough democratic votes to pass the resolution, Republican votes will be easier to influence. I believe we can work this with Republican leadership once we have enough votes," Alphonso Maldon Jr., director of the White House Military Office, writes in one memo.
Fast forward to October 5, 1993; one day after U.S. troops were killed and images of their burnt bodies being dragged along Mogadishu streets being broadcast around the world, and the documents show an administration in damage control mode.
"I think that it would be helpful if [Secretary of Defense] Aspin and [Secretary of State] Christopher were to call Sen Byrd today and try to talk him out of offering an amendment on the floor tomorrow to the defense appropriations bill to cut off funding for the Somalia operation and withdraw troops by Nov 15, 1993 unless Congress authorizes the operation in Somalia," writes Maldon, who orders the calls made before a planned Congressional briefing.
"Otherwise, I think we can expect Byrd to heavily influence Member's opinions to withdraw troops in this briefing today," he writes, adding that the President was working on a report due to Congress by the 15 th of October.
"Incidentally, I am informed that there is still quiet [sic] a bit of work to be done on OBJECTIVES and U.S. INTERESTS and in addressing Somalia POLITICALLY," writes Maldon. | Documents show former president had no role in attack that killed 18 US troops. | 47 | 0.733333 | 1 | high | low | abstractive |
http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/music/ryan-adams-1989-taylor-swift-1989-article-1.2368288 | http://web.archive.org/web/20160614222346id_/http://www.nydailynews.com:80/entertainment/music/ryan-adams-1989-taylor-swift-1989-article-1.2368288 | Ryan Adams’ ‘1989’ vs. Taylor Swift’s ‘1989’ | 20160614222346 | Not that the world was waiting, but folk rocker Ryan Adams has finally released his full track-by-track cover of Taylor Swift’s “1989.” (Streaming in full on Spotify here.)
Adams says the LP is a tribute to Swift — and Swift has returned the compliment. But which “1989” is the one you should keep close to your heart? We called in our resident Taylor Swift and Ryan Adams fanatic — me — to break it down, track by track:
1. Welcome to New York
Swift’s “tribute” to her adopted hometown is worse than the most poorly written promotional flier from NYC&Co. But at least it’s peppy. In Adams’ version, not even a faux Springsteen sound, circa 1989, can redeem those horrible lyrics. At least Swift’s innocence makes the hokiness of the original version work as a pop anthem.
Here’s where Adams’ downbeat approach works. In place of Swift’s vehemence, we get Adams’ whispery voice and a sadness that makes it clear: this singer is the victim, not the victimizer.
Swift said she recorded “1989” as a tribute to the pop music of that era. But Adams’ version of “Style” is much more of an uptempo rocker out of that era than Swift’s. Dueling guitars — reminiscent of U2? Poison? Van Halen? — pace a blinding version.
4. Out of the Woods
Neither artist does a particularly good job with this melancholy lament about getting to the safe space in a relationship. But Adams’ version is feels bad Fleetwood Mac or, worse, even worse Loggins and Messina. Every strum of that mandolin is a death knell for Adams.
5. All You Had to do was Stay
Ryan Adams says he recorded his track-by-track cover of Taylor Swift’s “1989” as a tribute.
This is the only draw of the contest. Adams’ version is very 1989 — in the bad, Tina Turner way. But at least Adams sings the tune better. He’s nicely angry, which gets at the song’s bitter core. Taylor, you’re too nice and too sad.
Adams takes what is arguably Swift’s anthem and puts it into slow motion. In doing so, he loses the empowering message — and beat — of Swift’s iconic version. And the way Adams sings it — sadly — he sounds like he believes the haters who are going to hate (hate hate hate) rather than affirming his ability to shake them off. He took Swift’s song and turned it backwards into a dirge of defeat. And he doesn't even do Swift’s rap in the middle!
7. I Wish You Would
After a classic Ryan Adams guitar opening, he downshifts to a Tracy Chapman style of singing that the song desperately needed. His version is stronger, not desperate like Swift’s.
Not much can save this song lyrically, but at least Adams takes Swift’s dirge and makes it feel personal.
The problem with Swift’s version is that she can’t tell what the song is about. Her voice is just breathless and flat. It sounds like she’s about to sneeze. Adams brings a folk rock approach and his singing actually makes the song make sense, especially in the chorus. He even brings a nice Roy Orbison falsetto. Swift wouldn’t even dare.
10. How You Get the Girl
This is another time where Swift’s song is catchier. Adams brings the sadness but you never feel he'll get the girl. Yes, he'll wait forever and ever, just like Swift, but by the end, you don’t want him there anyway. Swift’s version has more punch.
Adams’ version is just flat out boring. The piano and cello is dour and loses some of Swift’s youthful exuberance.
Adams’ tango beat adds an element of spy movie mystery to the the song, influenced by Swift’s staccato vocal. And the chorus gets an upbeat redo by Adams. Overall, the song sounds much smarter.
The classic Ryan Adams approach works here, getting to the bottom line sadness of the song. Although to be honest, Ryan becomes his hated Bryan Adams a tiny bit here.
Final Score: Adams, 7-Swift, 5-Even, 1 | But which "1989" is worth your time? | 83.3 | 0.7 | 0.9 | high | low | abstractive |
http://fortune.com/2015/08/31/apple-virtual-reality/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20160615020104id_/http://fortune.com:80/2015/08/31/apple-virtual-reality/ | Apple has entered the virtual reality Twilight Zone, says Gene Munster | 20160615020104 | If augmented reality and immersive 3-D experiences are the next big thing, Facebook and Google are already there.
Facebook has snapped up at least five companies in the virtual reality/augmented reality space, including Oculus, maker of the Cadillac of VR goggles, for $2 billion last summer.
Google’s Cardboard, a fold-out kit for turning any Android smartphone into a crude VR headset, is already on version 2.0.
Now, according to Piper Jaffray’s Gene Munster, Apple has entered the Twilight Zone.
In a note to clients Monday, Munster reports that Cupertino has assembled its own team of virtual and augmented reality engineers and is “exploring the [augmented reality] space.”
“While augmented reality is likely 10 years away from broader consumer adoption,” Munster writes, “we believe it has the potential to be as profound a technology platform as the smartphone today.”
That’s a pretty bold claim, especially given the kinds of applications Munster mentions: Gaming, telepresence, overlay holograms for navigation, etc.
It’s hard to see Apple getting excited about any of those markets—even immersive gaming.
But the fact that Apple is investing anything in the technology suggests that it sees a broader market, one closer to the intersection of technology and the liberal arts.
My guess? Apple, with its Pixar connections, is looking—for starters—at the same application that’s caught Hollywood’s attention: Personalized, immersive story telling.
Think of it as 3-D movies that you don’t have to go to the CinemaPlex to experience.
If the content ever catches up to the technology, according to research cited by Variety in January, the market for personalized VR devices could grow from 200,000 users in 2014 to 170 million in 2018.
That’s big enough to get Apple’s attention.
Add some haptic feedback for touching and feeling, and who knows where this could go. See, for example, here (not entirely safe for office viewing).
Follow Philip Elmer-DeWitt on Twitter at @philiped. Read his Apple AAPL coverage at fortune.com/ped or subscribe via his RSS feed. | Does Apple see mass market opportunities nerdier companies might have missed? | 34.666667 | 0.5 | 0.5 | medium | low | abstractive |
http://fortune.com/2016/01/27/trump-vs-fox/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20160615084952id_/http://fortune.com:80/2016/01/27/trump-vs-fox/ | Trump vs. Fox Battle Is One Giant Media Entity Against Another | 20160615084952 | Everyone has their own metaphor for the current war between Donald Trump and Fox News over whether the former is being disrespected by the latter.
The Godfather makes a good one, if you’re a film fan. Or maybe it’s a storyline from World Wrestling Entertainment, which features mock dramas and morality plays starring characters like Rick Flair, The Undertaker, The Rock, or “Stone Cold” Steve Austin. If you’re into hip hop, it might be the “beefs” between Drake and Meek Mill or Kanye West and Wiz Khalifa. Whatever the analogy, it makes for good theater.
This is about more than just theater, though. Trump may be seen by some—perhaps even by many—as a sideshow, full of sound and fury but signifying little. But he also happens to be the frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination, which means there’s a chance he could become the president of the United States. So while we might be tempted to see him as entertainment, as the Huffington Post claimed it would at the outset of the campaign, there is something very serious underneath that bluster.
Cynics might argue that the whole back and forth between Fox and Trump is cleverly designed to do exactly what those WWE dramas do best—stir up passion among the fan base of both contenders and compel each side to watch the resulting battle. In this case, to use wrestling terminology, Trump is the “heel,” or the nasty character fans are supposed to be cheering against. (Can you smell what the Donald is cooking?) The battle is what The Atlantic called a ritual of “performative masculinity.”
Current theory: Trump and Fox are hatching Wrestlemania-style surprise entrance. (Auditorium goes dark, Trump enters to "Hells Bells," etc)
— Marcus Wohlsen (@MarcusWohlsen) January 27, 2016
The stage for this battle is the next Republican presidential debate, which Fox News is hosting on Thursday—the debate that Trump has said he absolutely will not attend, under any circumstances, because of the way he has been treated by the network. Its journalists are mediocre, he says, and its agenda is to attack him.
It’s possible, of course, that this beef was all cooked up between Trump and Fox News head Roger Ailes, both of whom love drama, as a way to boost the ratings for the debate. The leading Republican contender refuses to come, Fox gets up on its high horse about journalistic principles, and then Trump shows up anyway and everyone tunes in to see the fireworks. This would be just the kind of Machiavellian move everyone expects from Fox News head Roger Ailes, who many see as an expert political puppet-master.
Ted Cruz just challenged Trump on skipping the debate. Watch:
But let’s assume there’s at least a little reality beneath the Trump-Fox feud. When you strip away some of the more theatrical aspects of the fight—the statement from the network FOX that talked about how Trump “terrorized” its employees, or Trump’s response in which he took yet another potshot at Fox host Megyn Kelly—what you have is one massive media entity going up against another. And both are used to winning.
Fox, obviously, has been at the center of Republican and conservative circles in the U.S. almost since it launched. It caters to that mind-set (catering that all too often turns into pandering) and it sees itself as the only authentic voice of that viewership—the heartland, the fly-over states, etc. But it is also trying to broaden its appeal and tone down some of the right-wing rhetoric, and the battle has exposed some cracks in its armor.
This Trump/Fox beef feels like the inevitable conclusion of a celebrity who realizes the media needs him more than he needs the media.
— Kevin Roose (@kevinroose) January 27, 2016
Ailes likes to see his network as the king-maker in Republican circles, the one who chooses the most important player, and Trump isn’t playing by the rule book. Trump’s attitude is that he’s the only one who matters, not Fox News. To complicate matters even further, Fox chairman Rupert Murdoch appears to be backing late-comer and fellow billionaire Michael Bloomberg, who is said to be considering a presidential bid.
While Fox is large, Trump is a new-media entity in his own right, in part because networks like Fox have helped turn him into one. He is used to being celebrated and feared and having the spotlight on him, and the presidential campaign is the biggest spotlight yet. And he has been able to marshall a host of supporters through social media who descend on anyone who criticizes him. In that sense, his challenge of Fox represents a leveling of the traditional media playing field.
Fox's sneering Ayatollah statement was a strategic mistake. Dropped objectivity. Played into Trump's Kelly narrative.
— John Nolte (@NolteNC) January 27, 2016
In a way, Fox is now fighting with the monster it helped create. Trump has reportedly said he will only deal directly with Murdoch, Ailes is said to be trying to win him over by calling his wife Ivanka and daughter Melania, and Trump has said he is toying with the idea of having his own event and inviting other networks to cover it.
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From Fox’s point of view, Trump is the one who stands to lose by not attending the debate—he looks high-handed and petty, and his obsession with Megyn Kelly seems more than a little bizarre for someone who expects to someday be the leader of the free world. That was the subtext of the network’s statement about how he would handle a visit from the Ayatollah or Russian president Vladimir Putin. All of this could cost him votes in Iowa, or so the thinking goes, which in turn would make him look weak.
Trump, however, sees himself as the one in the puppet-master’s seat. After all, he’s the front-runner. How could they have a debate without him? Their ratings would plummet, and they would also look like they have it in for him, which could hurt the network in its core Republican constituency. As is often the case with Trump, it’s impossible to know how much of what he’s saying is bluster, and how much is reality. | In this narrative, they're both playing the "heel." | 96.461538 | 0.923077 | 1.076923 | high | medium | abstractive |
http://www.bbc.com/autos/story/20160614-racing-game-becomes-stategy-game | http://web.archive.org/web/20160615133759id_/http://www.bbc.com/autos/story/20160614-racing-game-becomes-stategy-game | Racing game becomes strategy game | 20160615133759 | ASK ANY FORMULA 1 DRIVER — or fan — what they think of the sport, and they’ll be quick to inform you that it’s nuanced and complex, an exercise in strategy. An upcoming independent racing game, called Vienna Automobile Society, aims to prove that. It boils the excitement and split-second decision-making of F1 racing down to an almost haiku-like minimalism.
This isn’t intended to be a rival to Gran Turismo or Forza Motorsport. Instead of dropping you into a hyper-realistic driver’s seat like typical computer and console racing games, Vienna Automobile Society gives players an aerial view of a complete racetrack. From there, you’re not even driving the car — rather, you’re managing its speed and trajectory around the course.
Instead of steering the car with a game controller or keyboard commands, the player tweaks the lines marking the moving car’s path around the track by moving them up or down with the controller, trying to pick the quickest trajectory and avoid other cars. While shifting gears to modulate the tiny, rectangular car’s speed, the player aims the car like a projectile, changing its angle and speed to make the hairpin turn and not fly off the track. All of it encourages you to look at road-course racing from a different perspective: not as a driver sitting in a car, but as a tactician gazing down from above.
“I’m trying to present a more strategy-oriented version of racing,” says independent developer Nic Tringali, whose previous game was a critically-acclaimed text adventure about exploring the solar system. The word-heavy nature of that project left him burnt out and eager to create something that didn’t require any writing at all. So he made an unusual leap from the world of interactive fiction to car-racing simulations.
The latter is still a relatively new interest for Tringali. “I haven’t been watching Formula 1 racing very long,” he says. “That’s what lead me to make the game in the first place.”
All of it encourages you to look at road-course racing from a different perspective: not as a driver sitting in a car, but as a tactician gazing down from above.
He saw his first F1 race in person last year, attending the United States Grand Prix in Austin, Texas. Unlike the oval tracks used for many races in the US-based Nascar series, where most of the circuit is a view of the grandstand, Formula 1’s road courses allow spectators to see only a sliver of the track. Tringali realised that the race's most interesting moments were not necessarily playing out on the 30 metres of track visible to him — or any single corner or straight — but across the course as a whole.
“When you pass someone, it’s almost never out of the blue; you’re slowly advancing over the course of multiple corners or laps before you make a daring move,” he says. “Those are the experiences I really want to capture and distill. That’s why the camera never moves—it’s always showing the entire track. Because it’s not just about getting past someone, but knowing where and when to do it.”
Although Tringali looked at iconic Formula 1 circuits for inspiration, the tracks in Vienna Automobile Society — like the controls — are significantly simplified. “I can’t replicate the same size of track that they actually race … but I’m trying to go for similar design principles,” he says.
The physics in the game aren’t intended to mimic real-world racing, either, but rather to capture the urgency of making quick decisions and thinking three turns ahead.
Vienna Automobile Society is slated for release late this year or early next year on Mac and PC, and will be a local multiplayer game for two to four players. Tringali describes the one-on-one races as more of a “duel,” while adding more opponents to the track can incite a delightful mayhem, particularly as the cars crowd together in the corners.
As a relatively new fan of Formula 1, Tringali wants the experience to feel accessible both to the sport's existing fans and to newcomers — a principle that has guided his minimalist approach since the beginning.
“I’m going for a game that feels right, but keeps the input as limited as possible,” he says. “That even people who don’t know anything about it can say, well, there are only a few buttons here to figure out, so I can get a grasp on what’s going on.”
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And if you liked this story, sign up for the weekly bbc.com features newsletter, called “If You Only Read 6 Things This Week”. A handpicked selection of stories from BBC Autos, Future, Earth, Culture, Capital and Travel, delivered to your inbox every Friday. | This unusual Formula 1 simulation turns the driver into a tactician. | 83.166667 | 0.916667 | 1.25 | high | medium | abstractive |
http://fortune.com/2016/06/13/walgreens-theranos-wellness-centers/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20160616002948id_/http://fortune.com:80/2016/06/13/walgreens-theranos-wellness-centers/? | Walgreens Is Officially Cutting Ties With Theranos | 20160616002948 | Walgreens Boots Alliance wba said it is terminating its relationship with Theranos and closing operations at all 40 Theranos Wellness Centers at its stores in Arizona.
The company, the largest drugstore chain in the United States, said it will be working over the next several days to help transition customers.
Walgreens said it informed Theranos that tests collected at its Wellness Centers at Walgreens stores in Arizona must be sent only to Theranos certified lab in the Phoenix area or to an accredited third-party lab for analysis.
It said no patient samples were to be sent to the Newark lab until all issues raised by Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services have been fully resolved.
Theranos was sued in late May and is accused of endangering customer health through “massive failures” that misrepresented the accuracy and quality of its blood tests.
The blood-testing company once touted its Edison device as a ground-breaking technology able to test blood from just a pinprick.
The CMS said in January that Theranos’s practices violated several clinical-laboratory regulations, jeopardizing patient health and safety.
Theranos has been in the spotlight after reports in the Wall Street Journal suggested that its blood-testing devices were flawed and had problems with accuracy. | It's closing its 40 Theranos Wellness Centers as the blood-testing startup remains under fire. | 13 | 0.722222 | 2.055556 | low | low | mixed |
http://www.people.com/article/beaches-closed-disney-alligator-attack-toddler | http://web.archive.org/web/20160616012801id_/http://www.people.com/article/beaches-closed-disney-alligator-attack-toddler | Beaches at Disney Resorts Closed as Rescuers Look for Victim of Alligator Attack : People.com | 20160616012801 | By Steve Helling and Char Adams
06/15/2016 AT 11:55 AM EDT
Beaches at Walt Disney World resorts are closed as rescue teams scour the water for a 2-year-old boy who was
by an alligator near a hotel at the Orlando theme park, PEOPLE has learned.
An employee at a neighboring resort tells PEOPLE that guests and employees aren't even allowed to go on the sand.
"This is a big deal. This isn't like a ride malfunction and someone got hurt. This is tragic. Everyone's freaked out about it," the source says. "[The company] is going to train us all about what we should do when this type of thing happens."
The source adds, "The beaches are closed. There is tape keeping people away from any of the lakes. They are taking this very seriously."
Rescue teams search for toddler dragged in to lagoon by alligator
The new precautions come just hours after a toddler was dragged into the Seven Seas Lagoon by an alligator at around 9:30 p.m. on Tuesday – the animal is believed to be from 4 to 7 feet long," authorities announced.
A police helicopter searches the Seven Seas Lagoon outside the Grand Floridian Resort & Spa
Phelan M. Ebenhack / AP
The Nebraska boy was on vacation with his family at the
. The boy was playing in about a foot of water when the alligator came out of the water and attacked, according to authorities. There were "no swimming" signs posted around the area.
"They have wildlife experts who are going to go to every lake and check it for safety," the employee says. "There is already a rule that you can't swim in any of the lakes, but now they're going to really strictly enforce it.
Orange County Sheriff's officers search the Seven Seas Lagoon between Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom theme park.
Phelan M. Ebenhack / AP
"If we see someone in the water, we are authorized to throw them off of the property."
The source says that couples who had planned beach weddings at Disney resorts have been given the option of having their ceremonies at other locations around the property with no additional charges.
Orange County Sheriff's officers search the Seven Seas Lagoon between Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom theme park.
Phelan M. Ebenhack / AP
A witness tells PEOPLE that the beaches are blocked off "with at least one policeman and staff posted around the entrances."
Orange County Sheriff Jerry L. Demings told reporters Tuesday night, "We're not leaving until we recover the child."
Sheriff's office spokesman Jeff Williamson echoed Demings statements on Wednesday.
"We are very hopeful," Williamson said. "Sometimes you get the worst, but we are hoping for the best." | "The beaches are closed. There is tape keeping people away from any of the lakes. They are taking this very seriously," a Disney World resort employee tells PEOPLE | 16.575758 | 1 | 17.909091 | medium | high | extractive |
http://fortune.com/2016/06/13/facebook-philippines-war/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20160616024114id_/http://fortune.com:80/2016/06/13/facebook-philippines-war/? | Facebook Accidentally Declared The Philippines To Be At War | 20160616024114 | Sunday was Independence Day in the Philippines and, to celebrate, Facebook fb let users in the country send an appropriate greeting.
Unfortunately, the message implied the country was at war.
The problem was the flag that Facebook displayed in its message. Uniquely, the Philippine flag can be inverted to indicate the country is in a state of war—normally, the blue stripe goes above the red stripe.
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Facebook’s greeting, surrounded by pictures of fireworks, showed the red stripe above the blue.
“This was unintentional, and we’re sorry,” Facebook said in a statement sent to The Philippine Star.
“We care deeply about the community in the Philippines and, in an attempt to connect people on Independence Day, we made a mistake.”
The Philippines declared independence from Spain on June 12, 1898. It first flew its inverted flag during the Philippine-American war that began the following year. | Facebook slipped up with its greeting message for the national independence day of the Philippines. | 11.9375 | 0.6875 | 0.9375 | low | low | abstractive |
http://fortune.com/2016/02/08/twitter-algorithm/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20160616080139id_/http://fortune.com:80/2016/02/08/twitter-algorithm/ | Here's What's Wrong With Algorithmic Filtering on Twitter | 20160616080139 | Algorithmic filtering of some kind is coming to Twitter, it seems. According to CEO and co-founder Jack Dorsey, it isn’t rolling out this week, as some initially speculated, but it is almost certainly coming in some form, and soon. And while it likely won’t kill Twitter—despite what some hysterical Twitter users seemed to fear—it is not a magical solution to Twitter’s problems, and it does have some pretty clear downsides that are worth talking about.
As the hashtag #RIPTwitter started trending following BuzzFeed’s initial report on Saturday, the corporate Twitter machine went into defensive mode: Dorsey responded with a series of tweets saying he was listening, and that Twitter values the traditional timeline, and noted Twitter investor Chris Sacca said that there was “zero chance” the chronological view would disappear.
I *love* real-time. We love the live stream. It's us. And we're going to continue to refine it to make Twitter feel more, not less, live!
— Jack (@jack) February 6, 2016
The argument from defenders of a filtered feed is two-fold: 1) Since many new users find Twitter confusing and it takes time to find accounts worth following, giving them an algorithmically-sorted feed (i.e., with tweets ranked by a computer program) is a good “on-boarding” strategy. And 2) Almost everyone who follows more than a handful of people misses plenty of tweets already, so sorting things via algorithm isn’t really much different, and probably better.
Based on all of the commentary from Twitter executives, it seems likely that any algorithmic filtering of the timeline will be an option for users rather than the only way you can see your Twitter feed, as The Verge described in a post based on some user testing of the new feature.
So is the fuss over filtering just another molehill that users are turning into a mountain? Is it the same as changing the star that represented favorites into an exploding heart—just another fuss that will blow over in time? Perhaps, although users of social services often come to accept many things that might not be good for them. Even the former CTO of Facebook, Adam D’Angelo, acknowledges that there are problems with a filtered feed.
If we need an example of both the benefits and the risks with a filtered feed—even one that is theoretically optional for users—we already have a pretty massive one, namely Facebook. Many supporters of Twitter’s move argue that Facebook users initially complained about filtering too, and then eventually went along with it, and engagement at the social network continued to soar. In other words, no big deal.
It’s worth noting, however, that while Facebook allows users to opt out of algorithmic filtering, the opt-out setting is difficult to find (it also automatically resets itself to filtered after a certain period of time). As a result, most people don’t opt out because they don’t even know the option exists. In user design, defaults are everything.
Evan Williams says Twitter is primarily a news network
A survey by researchers from the University of Illinois showed that 60% of users didn’t even know that Facebook filters their feed at all. Some might wonder if that’s such a bad thing. Another former Facebook chief technology officer, Bret Taylor, noted on Twitter that an algorithmic feed “was always the thing people said they didn’t want but demonstrated they did via every conceivable metric.”
So if users enjoy their experience, then who cares whether it’s filtered without their knowledge? Usage goes up, everyone is happy. Where’s the problem?
Algorithmic feed was always the thing people said they didn't want but demonstrated they did via every conceivable metric. It's just better.
— Bret Taylor (@btaylor) February 6, 2016
The problem with filtering is that the algorithm—which of course is programmed and tweaked by human beings, with all their unconscious biases and hidden agendas—is the one that decides what content you see and when. So ultimately it will decide whether you see photos of refugees on the beach in Turkey and shootings in Ferguson or ice-bucket videos and photos of puppies.
Does that have real-world consequences? Of course it does, as sociologist Zeynep Tufekci has pointed out in a number of blog posts. It can serve to reinforce the “filter bubble” that human beings naturally form around themselves, and that can affect the way they see the world and thus the way they behave in that world.
Whatever plays well to the algorithm will go further since more will see it. There is no getting around this feedback loop.
— Zeynep Tufekci (@zeynep) February 6, 2016
Defenders of Twitter and Facebook make the point that newspapers and other forms of media do this kind of filtering and selection all the time. But they theoretically have a journalistic mission of some kind (in addition to just wanting to sell newspapers). Do Facebook or Twitter have a commitment to journalism, or accuracy, or any of the other goals media outlets have?
Twitter at least has shown in the past that it cares about freedom of the press, and is willing to stand up in court and defend those principles. But how will that affect its filtering of your timeline? It has commercial and political considerations as well, since it is a for-profit company.
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Facebook, meanwhile, has argued that it doesn’t choose what to show you—that you, the user, do that by clicking and liking and sharing. The algorithm, Facebook says, is just a reflection of what you have already said you want. In other words, it has specifically rejected the idea that it plays any kind of editorial role in what users see. But this seems like dancing around the issue.
By definition, algorithmic filtering means that you are not the one who is choosing what to see and not see. A program written by someone else is doing that. And while this may be helpful—because of the sheer volume of content out there—it comes with biases and risks, and we shouldn’t downplay them. As social platforms become a larger part of how we communicate, we need to confront them head on. | As Facebook has shown, algorithmic filtering of your news feed has benefits, but also significant risks | 68.611111 | 0.944444 | 1.611111 | high | high | mixed |
http://www.aol.com/article/2014/09/03/couple-stranded-on-sailboat-for-nearly-a-week/20956427/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20160616114046id_/http://www.aol.com:80/article/2014/09/03/couple-stranded-on-sailboat-for-nearly-a-week/20956427/ | Couple stranded on sailboat for nearly a week | 20160616114046 | Before you go, we thought you'd like these...
about what it was like being stranded on his sailboat with his wife Elizabeth, who is 61, for nearly a WEEK without any food.
The Florida couple ate their entire supply of food on the first day, not knowing what was about to happen.
. They couldn't call for help because their phone died.
To make things worse, a storm ripped their sail - which meant they couldn't sail the boat to shore.
Fortunately a worried friend alerted the
after a few days and the search for the Makowski's began. The team who found the couple, was surprised to see that, despite being exhausted, they were in good shape.
And you might think this would make the couple seasick, but Bogdan told WTLV they plan to go back out next season after fixing their boat.
He said, "I don't care about this because I am a sailor."
Whether it's the weather or some other force of nature, be prepared for anything out on the open water.
Last year, newlyweds on their honeymoon
for a few extra days when a giant lazy elephant seal took up shop on their dinghy and refused to budge. That's something we would never see coming. | Bogdan Makowski, 69, told KTBS about what it was like being stranded on his sailboat with his wife Elizabeth, who is 61, for nearly a WEEK without any food. The Florida couple ate their entire | 6.146341 | 0.926829 | 18.780488 | low | medium | extractive |
http://www.tmz.com/2016/05/12/craig-wayne-boyd-married | http://web.archive.org/web/20160616230656id_/http://www.tmz.com:80/2016/05/12/craig-wayne-boyd-married | 'Voice' Champ Craig Wayne Boyd Secretly Hitched, Ya'll | 20160616230656 | "The Voice" winner Craig Wayne Boyd put a smile on his baby's face by making her an honest woman ... on the sly.
Sources close to the couple tell TMZ the country star got hitched to his fiancee, Wilhelmina model Taylor Borland, on April 28, but there was no big fancy ceremony. Instead, they did the deed at the Franklin, TN courthouse. Craig's assistant and 2 of Taylor's family members were there too.
CWB's wedding ring is turquoise with diamonds, and we're told it set Taylor back about $10k. Don't worry, she's got a giant rock on her hand too.
The couple plans to throw a huge party at the end of the year for family and friends. Craig and Taylor got engaged last August, and already have a 4-month-old daughter. | "The Voice" winner Craig Wayne Boyd put a smile on his baby's face by making her an honest woman ... on the sly. Sources close to the couple… | 4.764706 | 0.941176 | 15.705882 | low | medium | extractive |
http://www.aol.com/article/2011/08/19/3-crucial-career-fair-tips-for-college-students/20021243/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20160616231304id_/http://www.aol.com:80/article/2011/08/19/3-crucial-career-fair-tips-for-college-students/20021243/? | 3 Crucial Career Fair Tips For College Students | 20160616231304 | So why is the Career Fair so important? After all, most of the time students feel as if they stand in line (sometimes 30 minutes, especially with the larger companies) just to talk to a company representative who then basically tells them to go apply on the website. What a waste of time right? Wrong! Look, when you boil it down the Career Fair is a chance to be seen; a chance to impress.
Yes, the odds are not in your favor when there are dozens of students in line trying to do the same thing. But let's approach it another way. Let's break it down to what I like to call, "The Prime Directive," or your number one priority for being there.
There are a few tricks and tips I will tell you that will make you stand out at any company, no matter how many people are in line. These tricks have proven to be very effective by students I have taught, across the U.S. at colleges and universities from coast to coast. But they are rarely used and I always wondered why for years; until I discovered that students just don't know about them.
I am surprised that many students are not quite sure what their number one priority is at the Career Fair. Yes, they want to impress company reps in hopes to get hired....but hold on! That sounds right, but you're missing a big step. Simply put, your number one priority should be ...TO GET AN INTERVIEW! It is not to get a job! At least not yet. What company would talk to you for 3 minutes at the Career Fair booth and then just offer you a job without an interview?
Of course, there are a couple of exceptions. For example, freshmen or sophomores who are not familiar with what companies want or what is out there may come to the Career Fair to learn what it is all about; to get the lay of the land. That's fine. It is actually more than fine. It is an excellent idea that I encourage all underclassman to do. But I would argue that they are still linked into The Prime Directive. They are learning how to work the event. They are learning what they are in for so when they are ready, they have the tools to put their best foot forward and score an interview. Another exception is people that go just to get the FREE giveaways. But they clearly are not in the demographic recruiters are looking for.
OK, so let me take you through the Career Fair step by step. You should have plenty of copies of your resume. You should be dressed up in your interview clothes...please understand: to recruiters, the Career Fair is a mini interview or a short screening interview. Your job is to impress them enough so that they send you to the next step. For many companies, that is an interview for the next day on campus. But that is not always the case. For some, it may be a phone interview at some time in the future.
The bottom line: Your job is to impress the recruiter enough so that they will want to send you to the next step in the process, the interview.
But how do you do that with so many people trying to do the same thing? Well, there are some specific things you can do to greatly enhance your chances:
So now, you show up to the Career Fair booth. You are dressed properly, and you are prepared. However, so are most of those great candidates in line with you...and not everyone is going to succeed at The Prime Directive (to get an interview) because there is a limited number of interview slots. For example, at the Career Fair booth, I probably have chosen one out of every ten to fifteen candidates to interview. But you don't have to worry about that. You have something extra. You have something that will most assuredly show the recruiter they should take a chance on you and give you an interview. You have something that will reduce their fear of making the mistake of picking the wrong person.
This something is a copy of your past performance evaluation. This is HUGE! What is more powerful than handing them your resume and then handing them a past performance evaluation that is excellent? There are very few tips or tricks that have this level of effectiveness at changing a recruiter's mind set over to your side so quickly.
I cannot express to you how powerful this is. Again, as we talked about, recruiting is not an exact science. It is not a hard science like a mathematical equation where it is either a right or wrong answer. Yes, we have official interview forms that quantifiably score each person on the same set of criteria. But there is no way, I repeat, no way to take all the subjectivity out of the equation. In this situation, you are at the Career Fair. Your job is to impress the recruiter enough to get an interview. By you offering a written document from another company or by your past boss, illustrating that you are a top performer and that your past work has been great, means not only are you well prepared, but you have shown the recruiter you are willing to take the extra step; go the extra mile. You are proud of your past work and your past performance, and you are essentially saying to the recruiter, "This is the kind of performance you can expect if you help me get into your company."
JACKPOT! By providing them a copy of a past performance evaluation, you have shown them you are not just another candidate. You have shown them that the risk they have in choosing you for an interview and potential job is low. You have shown them that you are prepared and have the right attitude. Try it! You have nothing to lose and everything to gain. This just might be that one thing that gets you the interview!
The best performance evaluations are those that are quantifiable; in other words, they score you on a scale of numbers. Also, they need to be signed by your manager or your boss. A letter of recommendation is NOT a performance evaluation and it is not quantifiable. It is not the same thing nor does it carry even close to the same weight. As a matter of fact, it carries very little weight simply because I know it is going to put you in a positive light. But a performance evaluation scores or ranks you in many performance areas. It just doesn't simply say you were great, it tells the story of your greatness across many categories.
You are prepared, you have plenty of copies of your resume and your past performance evaluation, and you are standing in line waiting to talk to the recruiter. Why is it that while standing in line most candidates talk to their friends, talk on their cell phone, text message, and look around seemingly in a daze, etc...? Then, when you get up to the booth, you do your best at answering the questions we ask you. But what if there was a way for you to know the questions we are going to ask you before you get up to the booth. Well there is! Here's how:
While standing in the line of companies that are at the top of your list to work for, listen to the questions that the recruiters are asking the candidates ahead of you. This is simple yet brilliant! Why? Because recruiters for the most part develop a script or set of questions they like to ask all candidates at the Career Fair. This is human nature. Do you think we make up new questions for everyone we see? Well, we don't.
In general, we stick to the same few questions for each candidate. That is why if you listen to the questions we are asking the candidates ahead of you, we will probably ask you the same ones or some of the same ones. In the Career Fair seminar that I teach when I go out on campuses, I even go as far as telling the students that before they stand in line, to approach the booth casually and to listen to the questions. Then write them down. Next, go to the end of the line and while you are waiting, formulate your answers. If you are not comfortable with that, after you listen to the questions, walk to some quiet corner of the room and formulate your answers. Then, get back in line and practice them until you are next.
If you don't like either of those methods, get a friend to do some reconnaissance for you. Have them causally listen in on the questions and report back to you. Now that I think about it, you could even hire a freshman for like $3 to go up to the booth and ask the recruiter what questions they normally ask candidates. Freshmen come to the booth all the time asking what we look for in candidates and what they should do to prepare for a future job with us, questions like this.
Yes, there are times when we see something on your resume that we ask specifically about, but it is usually something positive that we picked up on. Also, at booths that have little traffic, the recruiters have a lot more time to spend so they might ask you more questions...but that is because they have time because they don't have a lot of people coming to their booth. So now you have even less competition, and those tips I have mentioned still are extremely effective.
This tip is probably the most effective tip I have seen used successfully many, many times but only if you do it the right way. Don't make the mistake of thinking that if you just ask for an interview, you will get one, although you might. You have to both do it at the right time and use the right words. This is the key! Here is how: You did both Huge Tip #1 & #2 and you are talking to the recruiter. Chances are that if you followed both tips before this one, the recruiter is just signing you up for an interview.
But what if that has not happened yet and the conversation is winding down? Let's say the recruiter starts to say something like, "Well, you have some really good things on your resume. Make sure you go apply online, and you have a good chance at getting noticed." Then, the recruiter reaches out his/her hand to shake yours. What this means is that you didn't get an interview, and they are trying to politely conclude with you and get on to the next person.
But wait! You still have a great opportunity to get an interview. This is when you use the best tip. I would call it a "Hail Mary" play, but it is much more effective than that. This is exactly what you say, "I would really appreciate an interview with you tomorrow. If you grant me an interview, I promise I won't let you down." POWERFUL! Read it again but read it slow. Do you see the emotion? Do you see that it is not only a personal plea but a promise you are making to that recruiter? This is psychology, and it works!
You have now infused emotion into the equation. You have gotten the recruiter out of their script and out of their comfort zone and you, in two sentences, made it personal. You made yourself the underdog. Everyone loves to root for the underdog. I have seen how effective it is because I came up with it and I have taught it. You would not believe how successful this technique is. What do you have to lose? Nothing! You were being told to go to the website. You were done. But then you came thundering back with this statement. You changed the game. It works! Just do it!
Next: Why Education and Employment Go Hand-in-Hand | So why is the Career Fair so important? After all, most of the time students feel as if they stand in line (sometimes 30 minutes, especially with the larger companies) ju | 65.25 | 0.972222 | 34.027778 | high | high | extractive |
http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/feb/22/extract-from-stan-grants-new-book-talking-to-my-country | http://web.archive.org/web/20160617001055id_/http://www.theguardian.com:80/australia-news/2016/feb/22/extract-from-stan-grants-new-book-talking-to-my-country? | Exclusive extract from Stan Grant's new book, Talking to My Country | 20160617001055 | Black American writer Ta-Nehisi Coates has said of the American dream that it exists in ice-cream socials and Fourth of July cookouts. I see the Australian dream in shopping malls and coffee shops. It is in cinemas and playgrounds. The dream lives in the beach and the outback: it is a tourist brochure.
We advertise the dream on television. It is in the smile of a young blonde-haired girl driving a new car. The dream is a mother and father and a girl in pigtails carrying a doll, turning the key in the front door of their new home.
The first people of this land who have suffered for your greatness did nothing to deserve it
On weekends I get up close to the dream. It is on the sidelines at my sons’ football games. Fathers, in loafers and boots and checked shirts and sweaters. It is in steak sandwiches and beers. It is in how comfortable they are with each other, regardless of where they hail from.
They welcome me. Yet in a deep, fundamental way they are strangers. As close as I get I still can’t become one of them. I can count them as friends. I can smile, I can stop and chat but deep down I also know we are speaking a different language. The fault is as likely mine. There is a chasm here and I am not yet ready to cross. We occupy the same land, but we tell ourselves very different stories.
They tell themselves this is a great country of good people.
Related: Stan Grant: why, after years of foreign reporting, I'm now turning my focus on to my own people
Here is how we – Indigenous people – see the Australian dream: here’s the worst of it. Aborigines rounded up and shot, babies buried into the sand and decapitated, women raped, men killed as they hid in the forks of trees, waterholes poisoned, flour laced with arsenic. The Australian dream abandoned us to rot on government missions, tore apart families, condemned us to poverty. There was no place for us in this modern country and everything we have won has come from dissent, it has been torn from the reluctant grasp of a nation that for much of its history hoped that we would disappear.
We know this history, my people. This is a living thing. We touch it and we wear it. It is written in the scars on the bodies of men like my father. It is carried deep within us, mental wounds that cannot heal. It is so close we can touch it.
When I was a baby my grandfather held me in his arms; he was the son of a man born on to the frontier before the collection of colonies even became Australia. A frontier marked with violence, disease and death. From me to my grandfather to his father: that’s how close it is.
Being good and great does not absolve you from a terrible sin and a pain inflicted on a people who did nothing to deserve it. Remember that: the first people of this land who have suffered for your greatness did nothing to deserve it. A truly great country – if we truly believe that – should be held to great account.
Watching my son sleep, hearing his steady breathing as we move through our land, calms me. I could be alone forever in these moments, surrounded by my country and with the boy whose bloodline through me stretches back an eternity. We are together in our place and I am aware that it may seem as if I have defied history. But we never do: do we?
I was born into what the anthropologist WEH Stanner called the “great Australian silence”. It was the period of forgetting. The myths we created fed Australia’s lie: that no blood had stained the wattle. We were told a story of peace and bravery and the conquest of a continent. This was the inevitable push into the interior, a land opening up before the explorers. It was empty; tamed and claimed.
These were the myths of my childhood, the myths of my education. In this telling, Australia was discovered by Captain James Cook. The Endeavour was a ship of destiny that led to the first fleet. On 13 May 1787, 11 ships set sail with a cargo of prisoners to found a penal colony in New South Wales – but the true first fleet landed here 60,000 years earlier. I was told that Lawson, Blaxland and Wentworth were the first people to cross the Blue Mountains.
There were people standing on the shore as Cook weighed anchor. Smoke from campfires trailed the white men who trekked over the great mountains west of Sydney; black people watched these people who appeared like ghosts. But that story wasn’t told in my classroom. The lesson I learned was that we didn’t matter. In fact we didn’t even exist.
I was young when I began to question all of this. Even through the eyes of a boy the glory of Australia did not match with the reality of our lives. Something was rotten here. Each morning at school I would stand in line to recite the pledge: I honour my God, I serve my Queen, I salute the flag. And then, in the evening I would return home to where this flag had deposited us. Home was wherever we could find it. It was a home on the margins, outside of town, outside looking in.
Here, was my place, among the detritus of the frontier: the huddled remnants of the hundreds of nations who formed here as the continent formed around them. Two thousand generations of civilisation and culture, all of it now smashed against the reality of white settlement, a people whose land was taken because the people themselves were not legally here.
School told me we faded from the frontier. The dying pillow was smoothed to soften our inevitable extinction.
It need not have been this way. The birth of Australia was meant to be so different. For a brief moment there was hope. Captain Arthur Phillip founded a penal colony with instructions from the crown to protect the lives and livelihoods of Aboriginal people and forge friendly relations with the natives. There were reports of black and white people dancing together with joy in the early days of the settlement. The local people began teaching their language to the newcomers. Here’s what we could have been. In this moment there was a glimpse of a better Australia, and we failed.
Within a matter of years violence had broken out on both sides and Phillip would now instruct raiding parties to bring back the severed heads of the local warriors. Within a generation the heads of Aborigines were shipped back to Britain in glass cases, to be studied as relics of a doomed race.
Enlightened people throughout the world were wrestling with ideas of humanity and civilisation. The notion that all men are created equal was alive in the world. The “immortal declaration” – as it was known – had been penned by Thomas Jefferson at the birth of America’s independence a decade before the first fleet arrived on these shores.
Yet, such lofty ideals had no place here. Not for us. We were dismissed as brutes. We were deemed to be the living example of what the 17th century philosopher Thomas Hobbes meant when he spoke of the natural state as being “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short”.
At best to some we were the “noble savage”. We belonged to those so-called primitive people uncorrupted by civilisation. Yet such relics were seen to have no place in a modern world. The great writer of his age, Charles Dickens, spoke for many when he described such peoples as cruel, bloodthirsty and murderous. In Dickens’ words we were whistling, clucking, tearing savages that he wished civilised off the face of the earth.
Related: Closing the political gap: listen to us, engage with us, empower us | Stan Grant
Charles Darwin – the father of the theory of evolution – visited Australia and despaired at the impact of colonisation. There was some “mysterious agency”, he said, that meant that “wherever the European has trod, death seems to pursue the aboriginal [sic]”. There was of course nothing mysterious at all in the theft of land and the disease and violence that followed. Yet to Darwin – as sad as our passing may be – this was unavoidable, inevitable. His theories were born out of a belief in our common humanity but his name was linked to a popular acceptance of a hierarchy of races where the stronger trumps the weaker: “social Darwinism”.
How easy it can be in the sweep of history to stop seeing the individual lives. These were my ancestors they were speaking of, my great-great-grandparents. Such views formed a powerful logic that was unshakable. It provided the moral blindfold through which people could no longer even see the atrocities perpetrated on my people. Even those people, whose eyes were opened to this suffering, accepted that our fate was doomed.
My ancestors were driven to the brink of extinction. We survived – the half-white remnants of the first nations herded on to Christian missions. We were told this would save us from the brutality of the frontier. But we often lived like inmates, roped and tied if we dared escape.
Now, I was a confused young boy at school, ashamed of what I was. I would cringe against the black-and-white ethnographic films: the snot-smeared faces of the little “piccaninnies”, the flyblown women grinding seed into flour, the bedraggled, bearded men gripping a spear, one leg resting against a knee. I remember there was always a narrator with perfectly rounded vowels telling of the “once proud tribes of Aborigines”. Each head turned to look at me, and I felt anything but pride.
I saw my reflection in Australia and felt diminished. Everything told me I wasn’t equal. The whites told the story of this land now; there was no glory in us. There was nothing that redeemed my ancestors. In books proudly titled The Making of Australia – a key school text of the 1960s – we were dismissed as the “dark-skinned wandering tribes who hurled boomerangs and ate snakes”, not fit to be counted in the glorious tale of white men and women who found the land, explored it, and made it a nation.
Back then no one wrote of our great deeds. If we existed at all, we were a footnote, a prehistoric relic.
“What does it feel like to be an Indigenous person in Australia?”
A boy who grew up with a love of words … was now being asked to speak to his country
I am standing in a radio studio in Sydney trying to explain why it is that we are so vulnerable and exposed in our own country. The interviewer – ABC’s Richard Glover – I have always found a gentle soul. His interviews are less about what divides us; at his best he looks to knit together the frayed fibres of our shared humanity. He has learned first-hand that what we do to each other can come from something missing or damaged in ourselves. He has also learned one of the most valuable lessons of life, that we are better than our worst. He has written eloquently of his own journey into his troubled family and how it has shaped him. It lends Richard empathy and there is softness in his question that is comforting and disarming.
What does it feel like?
I could resort to moral outrage. I could recite the litany of injustice and brutality that has been visited on my people. I could roll out that endless list of damning statistics that always ends in that same mantra: we are the most impoverished, disadvantaged people in the country. All of this would be true. I could speak with anger throwing up words like guilt and shame and blame. In this too I would not be wrong. But I find myself searching for something else.
I have grown beyond the angry student of my youth. I have had to confront my own failings so it is not hard to understand, even forgive, the failings of others. Australia is bigger than us all and we only hold it for a brief moment before handing it to our children. I suppose I am a diplomat by nature; I seek equilibrium and balance. In this I am the essence of my astrological sign, Libra. More than that there is harsh pragmatism; we are only a fraction of this country’s population and if we can’t speak to the country as a whole then I fear we are doomed. As I look for the words to try to answer Richard’s question, I seek the language of healing because we just can’t take any more pain.
I tell Richard how vulnerable we can be. I tell him of the little boy I once was who felt so ashamed of his colour that he tried to scrub it off. I tell him of the ache of poverty and how my family had roamed the back roads looking for a home in a land we had lost. I tell him of how a sideways glance or a snickering child could steal our souls. I tell him how we have learned to measure our words and lower our voices for fear of being howled down. I tell him that even now, despite carving out a place for myself, I could so easily be crushed by rejection. And he listens. He gives me the space to find these words and he lets them settle.
Related: Stan Grant: I can tell you how Adam Goodes feels. Every Indigenous person has felt it
As I speak my mind reaches back through the years. At times I swallow hard and feel my heart beat that fraction quicker. I find a space at the back of the studio and fix my gaze, occasionally glancing away when my voice catches and a tear forms. At these moments I am with my mother and father; I am seated on the steps on a sunny day with my grandfather circling the tips on his racing form guide. I am flicking towels and dunking my friends – black brothers all – on an egg-frying-hot day at the Griffith swimming pool. I feel them all with me and know that I am never alone and what I say speaks for them too.
My life had led me to this point. A boy who grew up with a love of words, who sat at the feet of his parents and heard stories of struggle and survival, was now being asked to speak to his country. I felt this responsibility heavily and I had come to it reluctantly. But old wounds were being reopened. I had grown up with the legacy of Australian racism and here it was rearing its head again. We – Australians black and white – meet each other across the gulf of our history. If I was being called to this story then it came from my ancestors: it came from my great-grandfather Bill Grant – a man born of black and white, a man whose name I read on the roll call of people from Bulgandramine mission. I was following the tradition of a man they called the storyteller.
• Talking to My Country by Stan Grant is published in Australia by Harper Collins, priced $29.99 – and is available in iBooks here.
In July 2015 Stan Grant, presenter and international editor of Sky News in Australia, wrote a piece for Guardian Australia condemning the booing meted out by some elements of the crowd to Adam Goodes, an Indigenous man and star Australian rules footballer. Grant wrote: “To Adam’s ears, the ears of so many Indigenous people, these boos are a howl of humiliation. A howl that echoes across two centuries of invasion, dispossession and suffering.”
The article – a “game-changer” in the words of the judges of the Walkleys, Australia’s premier journalism awards, electrified debate about the country’s treatment of its Indigenous people. The reaction encouraged Grant, son of a Wiradjuri man and Kamilaroi woman, to change his career path. Earlier in his career, Grant writes, he “made a conscious decision that I would not be the ‘Indigenous reporter’.” Now he found that the most important story he wanted to cover was his own: the Indigenous Australian story.
Grant became Indigenous affairs editor of Guardian Australia and managing director of National Indigenous Television. In January 2016 a speech Grant had given three months previously, arguing that racism was “the foundation of the Australian dream”, became an internet sensation. Indigenous leader Noel Pearson described it as black Australia’s companion speech to former prime minister Paul Keating’s 1992 landmark Redfern speech acknowledging the brutal impact of European settlement. Grant has said the response to his speech has left him considering whether to enter politics. | Guardian Australia’s Indigenous affairs editor describes how he grew up ashamed of his background, in a land where his people were treated as a ‘prehistoric relic’ – and tells why inspiration from his ancestors has now driven him to stand up and speak out. ‘Everything we have won has come from dissent’ | 57.614035 | 0.877193 | 2.070175 | high | medium | mixed |
http://www.nytimes.com/1990/11/28/books/national-book-awards-to-middle-passage-and-house-of-morgan.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20160617051021id_/http://www.nytimes.com:80/1990/11/28/books/national-book-awards-to-middle-passage-and-house-of-morgan.html | National Book Awards To 'Middle Passage' And 'House of Morgan' | 20160617051021 | Charles Johnson won the National Book Award for fiction last night for "The Middle Passage" (Atheneum), his novel about the voyage of a freed slave. The award for nonfiction went to Ron Chernow for "The House of Morgan: An American Banking Dynasty and the Rise of Modern Finance" ( Atlantic Monthly Press ), a study of the role of the Morgan family in the evolution of modern banking.
Mr. Johnson, who is 42 years old, became the fourth black writer to win the prize in its 40-year history. Another winner, Ralph Ellison, whose "Invisible Man" won the prize in 1953, was in the audience as the award was handed out in a ceremony at the Plaza Hotel. Two black women have won the award: Gloria Naylor for "The Women of Brewster Place" in 1983 and Alice Walker for "The Color Purple" in 1983. From Complaint to Celebration
In accepting the prize, Mr. Johnson said he was "profoundly grateful" to Mr. Ellison for inspiring his own literary efforts in the last 20 years. He predicted that black American fiction would shift in the coming decade "from narrow complaint to broad celebration," a change he described as Ellison-esque.
"I've been waiting my entire life for this," Mr. Johnson, who teaches English at the University of Washington, said in a clearly emotional acceptance speech. Mr. Johnson, a native of Illinois, has published two previous novels, several collections of short fiction, and numerous essays and reviews.
As his prize was announced, editors from MacMillan, Atheneum's parent company, stood and cheered. So did Terry McMillan, the one black member of the five-member fiction jury, who twirled her arms above her head in wild celebration.
"The Middle Passage," described by the novelist Thomas Keneally as "heroic in proportion" and written in the "honorable tradition of 'Moby-Dick,' " chronicles the experiences of a newly freed slave, Rutherford Calhoun. He is aboard a slave clipper bound for Africa, where it is to collect new African slaves. The voyage proves to be one of self-discovery for Calhoun.
The decision to give Mr. Johnson the prize followed sharp disagreements among the jurors about the criteria for selecting the finalists. One juror, Paul West, said this week he believed "ethnic concerns, ideology and moral self-righteousness" had compromised considerations of style and merit.
Catharine Stimpson, a writer who was the chairman of the fiction jury, said, "We had our differences." But she said they only reflected the great number of worthy books the panel had to read and assess.
"The house of fiction is crackling with talent and vitality," Ms. Stimpson said, adding that the lunch at which the decision was made yesterday had been "delightful" rather than the bitter repast predicted by one juror. A Timely Perspective
Mr. Chernow's book, an exhaustive 812-page study that critics praised for giving a calm and timely perspective to the gyrations of Wall Street in the 1980's, uses the concern started by more than a century ago by Junius Spencer Morgan as a vehicle for exploring the changing relationship between financiers and industrial companies in the United States and abroad. It also focuses on the personalities of the Morgans, and on the sometimes tumultuous relations between international borrowers and lenders.
Mr. Chernow, 41 years old, was in charge of financial policy studies at the 20th Century Fund before beginning his study of "The House of Morgan."
The other fiction finalists were "Chromos," by Felipe Alfau ( Dalkey Archive Press ); "Paradise," by Elena Castedo (Grove Weidenfeld); "Dogeaters," by Jessica Hagedorn (Pantheon), and "Because It Is Bitter, and Because It Is My Heart," by Joyce Carol Oates (E. P. Dutton/William Abrahams).
The other nonfiction finalists were "Small Victories," by Samuel G. Freedman (HarperCollins); "Richard Milhous Nixon," by Roger Morris (Henry Holt); "Righteous Pilgrim: The Life and Times of Harold L. Ickes," by T. H. Watkins (Henry Holt); and "Jackson Pollock: An American Saga," by Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith (Clarkson N. Potter). Small Publishers Do Well
Several publishers, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said there appeared to have been an attempt to choose books from small publishing houses to signal that diversity is important in a publishing business increasingly dominated by media conglomerates.
But both the National Book Foundation, the nonprofit organization that sponsors the annual awards, and the chairman of the fiction jury, Catharine Stimpson, said the selection process had been based entirely on considerations of literary merit.
Neil Baldwin, who was appointed executive director of the National Book Foundation 18 months ago, said a drive has begun to raise money for an elaborate effort to promote the works of the winning authors, including paid tours of schools, libraries and bookstores.
Last night Saul Bellow, a Nobel Prize winner, was given the National Book Foundation Medal for distinguished contribution to American letters.
Mr. Johnson and Mr. Chernow each received $10,000 and a specially commissioned sculpture by Joel Shapiro.
Photos: Charles Johnson (Joan Johnson); Ron Chernow (Benjamin Ford) | Charles Johnson won the National Book Award for fiction last night for "The Middle Passage" (Atheneum), his novel about the voyage of a freed slave. The award for nonfiction went to Ron Chernow for "The House of Morgan: An American Banking Dynasty and the Rise of Modern Finance" ( Atlantic Monthly Press ), a study of the role of the Morgan family in the evolution of modern banking. Mr. Johnson, who is 42 years old, became the fourth black writer to win the prize in its 40-year history. Another winner, Ralph Ellison, whose "Invisible Man" won the prize in 1953, was in the audience as the award was handed out in a ceremony at the Plaza Hotel. Two black women have won the award: Gloria Naylor for "The Women of Brewster Place" in 1983 and Alice Walker for "The Color Purple" in 1983. From Complaint to Celebration In accepting the prize, Mr. Johnson said he was "profoundly grateful" to Mr. Ellison for inspiring his own literary efforts in the last 20 years. He predicted that black American fiction would shift in the coming decade "from narrow complaint to broad celebration," a change he described as Ellison-esque. | 4.393162 | 0.991453 | 79.307692 | low | high | extractive |
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2016/02/23/opec-has-failed-to-stop-us-shale-revolution-admits-energy-watchd/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20160617052556id_/http://www.telegraph.co.uk:80/business/2016/02/23/opec-has-failed-to-stop-us-shale-revolution-admits-energy-watchd/ | Opec has failed to stop US shale revolution admits energy watchdog | 20160617052556 | "It's not good news for oil security. Over the past 30 years we have never seen oil investment dropping two years in a row," he said.
"It is easy for consumers to be lulled into complacency by ample stocks and low prices today, but they should heed the writing on the wall: the historic investment cuts raise the odds of unpleasant oil security surprises in the not too distant future," he said.
The warnings were echoed by Opec's secretary-general, Abdalla El-Badri, who said the current slump will lead to serious trouble when the cycle turns. "It sows the seed for a very high price in the future," he said at the CERAWeek forum.
Mr El-Badri said he had lived through six oil cycles over his career but the surge of shale oil supply from the US has made this one of the most vicious. "It is a supply bubble. This cycle is very nasty," he said.
The Opec chief admitted that the cartel has been caught badly off guard by crash, blaming the wild moves on speculative forces with control over 5m "paper barrels" on the derivatives markets. "The fundamentals have not changed that much," he said.
But Mr El-Badri sent mixed signals about the real problem in the crude markets, letting slip that Opec and the US shale industry may not be able to "live together" and that frackers will take advantage of output cuts intended to stabilize the market. "If there is any increase in price, shale will come back immediately," he said.
Contrary to widespread assumptions, the IEA report said Saudi Arabia and the Opec club will lose market share, treading water as North America and Brazil's "pre-salt" basin in the Atlantic account for most of the growth in global output by the early 2020s. Algeria, Venezuela, Nigeria and Indonesia are all going into decline.
Iran's grand plan to reach 5m b/d and regain its place as the cartel's number two is dismissed as "aspirational". It will struggle to add much once it has recaptured its pre-sanctions level of 3.6m b/d. Iran's major fields are 70 years old and need sophisticated technology, yet foreign investors are wary of taking the plunge.
Outside Opec, there will be a steady erosion of output in China, Mexico, Colombia, Egypt, Oman and the North Sea, all chipping away at global supply and leaving the world vulnerable as demand rises by an average of 1.2m b/d each year - hitting 100m b/d by 2020.
China's demand will ratchet upwards by an accumulated 2.5m b/d even as its own output slips, a scissor effect likely to tighten the global market relentlessly from 2017 onwards. | The current crash in oil prices is sowing the seeds of a powerful rebound and a potential supply crunch by the end of the decade, but the prize may go to the US shale industry rather Opec, the world's energy watchdog has predicted. | 11.680851 | 0.702128 | 1.212766 | low | low | abstractive |
http://www.people.com/article/sabrina-carpenter-sofia-carson-remember-christina-grimmie | http://web.archive.org/web/20160617055011id_/http://www.people.com:80/article/sabrina-carpenter-sofia-carson-remember-christina-grimmie | Sabrina Carpenter and Sofia Carson Remember Singer : People.com | 20160617055011 | 06/14/2016 AT 05:05 PM EDT
and Sofia Carson are still coming to terms with the death of
, whom they both say influenced them greatly as they grew up.
The two stars of Disney's
opened up to PEOPLE about their memories of Grimmie, 22, and the impact of her death.
"There's something that's so close to home," Carpenter, 17, said. "To see that she was doing what she loved and didn't get to finish her story is – there's nothing to describe it. There's no words. It's nothing but tragic, and we wish it didn't happen."
Sofia Carson and Sabrina Carpenter
Carpenter had admired Grimmie since she was a
Upon learning of her death, she took to Twitter to recount how thrilled she was when Grimmie commented on one of her own YouTube covers six years ago.
"I was so excited I screamed," Carpenter wrote. "She was such an inspiration to me."
Carpenter loved the way Grimmie told her own story with confidence.
"I just wish I could have posted videos like her and that's what I tried to do. She was always so kind to me," Carpenter said. "She was just a role model from the beginning."
Although Carson, 23, never met Grimmie, she was a fan of the singer and her "angelic" voice for years.
"When I heard the news, I didn't really have any words to describe it," Carson told PEOPLE. "The scariest part is that it can happen to any of us – not just musicians; it can happen to anyone."
by Kevin James Loibl – who was quickly tackled by Grimmie's brother Mark before shooting himself – late Friday after opening for pop-rock band Before You Exit at the Plaza Live in Orlando. | The stars of Disney's Adventures in Babysitting share the influence Christina Grimmie had on them | 22.8125 | 0.6875 | 1.4375 | medium | low | abstractive |
http://www.people.com/people/package/article/0%2C%2C20981907_21012539%2C00.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20160617055128id_/http://www.people.com:80/people/package/article/0,,20981907_21012539,00.html? | Chad Johnson Running for Vice President? : People.com | 20160617055128 | updated 06/15/2016 AT 12:00 PM EDT
•originally published 06/13/2016 AT 06:40 PM EDT
, but he's not going anywhere quite yet. The season 12 villain will return for more in a week, with previews promising a dramatic final confrontation between Johnson and the other guys.
But in the meantime, the Oklahoma-based luxury real estate agent has been providing plenty of fodder online to tide viewers over during the agonizing two-week wait between episodes.
Here's a timeline of what he's been up to in the past few days.
has ended, Johnson's work on
has just begun, with executive producer Mike Fleiss revealing that the villain is continuing his antics during the filming of the show, currently in production. "Chad is being Chad-ish," Fleiss tweeted Friday.
Chad is being Chad-ish... #BachelorInParadise
Johnson thinks he can help the presidential hopeful make American great again.
"I hear you need a VP Running Mate. Look no further. Let's do this," he tweeted Friday.
Unfortunately, at 28, Chad is seven years too young to be considered for the VP spot. See you in 2024, Chad?
@realdonaldtrump I hear you need a VP Running Mate. Look no further. Let's do this #MakeAmericaGreatAgain #MakeTheBachelorGreatAgain
star Jax Taylor has faced
, and believes he and Johnson might hit it off.
"So I am told chad and I should be friends from the #Bachelorette," Taylor tweeted last week. "I like him already." Johnson responded in kind, writing, "Our friendship would be so awesome it would probably cause people's brains to explode inside their heads... "
Our friendship would be so awesome it would probably cause people's brains to explode inside their heads... 2much4tv https://t.co/GqKst6giOv
Johnson is out for vengeance when he returns to the
next week, and has thinks he has the perfect role model in
's Rambo. Johnson has repeatedly said on the show that he hasn't been the one to instigate things with the other guys ⦠but that he will be the one to finish it, and that sounds an awful like the fictional Vietnam vet.
For those who haven't seen 1982's
, it centers on Rambo attempting to reintegrate into society after Vietnam. He finds himself mistreated by local police, eventually waging a one-man war on them after traumatic memories from the war are triggered. Let's hope things are a little more peaceful in next week's episode.
On my way back to #TheBachelorette house like.... #theydrewfirstblood pic.twitter.com/bZq2ste11R
Though Johnson had trouble connecting with the other guys on
thinks he's totally bromance material, tweeting, "Chad looks like a fun dude to chill with!" Johnson appreciated the compliment, writing back on Twitter, "You get me!"
You get me! lol @mrkevinconnolly https://t.co/Jh5iy1PHVi
Johnson finally took the plunge and sat back and watched an episode of
with his sister. He delighted fans by having his sibling record him while watching a scene. "So I finally watched the show at my sisters.. Holy tits now I understand why some people hate me!" Johnson captioned an Instagram video. "Haha but some parts were hilarious too. LOL"
There is sure to be much more from Johnson next week.
returns June 20 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC. | Johnson was sent home after JoJo Fletcher learned the full extent of his threats against her other suitors | 36.5 | 0.333333 | 0.333333 | high | low | abstractive |
http://www.tmz.com/2011/12/14/joan-rivers-daughter-dating-steve-hirsch | http://web.archive.org/web/20160617101536id_/http://www.tmz.com:80/2011/12/14/joan-rivers-daughter-dating-steve-hirsch? | Joan Rivers: I'm ECSTATIC My Daughter's Dating a Porn King | 20160617101536 | couldn't be happier her daughter is dating the god of sex tapes
and her new XXX man are a perfect fit ... in more ways than one.
Joan tells us, not only is Steve crazy about Melissa -- "He makes a great living ... and he's Jewish."
But Melissa -- who hooked up with Steve through a friend -- isn't the only one reaping the benefits of her new relationship ... Joan adds, "I'm 78 years old and now I get a discount on lubricant."
TMZ broke the story -- Melissa and the Vivid honcho
for a couple weeks now -- and sources tell us ... "The relationship is going great." | Joan Rivers couldn't be happier her daughter is dating the god of sex tapes Steve Hirsch -- telling TMZ Live, Melissa Rivers and her new XXX man are a… | 4.125 | 0.8125 | 7 | low | medium | mixed |
http://fortune.com/2016/06/15/macys-future-store/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20160618052355id_/http://fortune.com:80/2016/06/15/macys-future-store/ | Macy's Unveils Prototype of New Store of the Future | 20160618052355 | If you want to see how Macy’s m plans to shake its deep and lengthy sales funk, look no further than the retailer’s newly renovated store at a Columbus, Ohio mall.
The Macy’s department store is wrapping up a major renovation, including new areas where it will give master classes to demonstrate beauty products, larger spaces to allow mannequins to display the latest trends, and an overhauled area for selling athletic wear and wellness products. The store, whose work will be done by June 25th, is serving as a prototype for how a lot of Macy’s stores will look in the future.
“It’s really about letting the customer experience the products,” Kathi Newton, vice-president and the store manager, told Fortune to explain the philosophy behind the changes.
But it’s also about giving Macy’s, the largest department store chain, a new lease on life at a time customers are radically shifting how they shop, buying more and more frequently online at Amazon.com amzn and at discount fashion retailers like TJX Cos’ tjx T.J. Maxx.
Macy’s, which also owns Bloomingdale’s, last month reported that first-quarter comparable sales fell a much worse-than-expected 5.6%, the fifth straight such decline. The latest slump prompted Macy’s to lower its 2016 sales and profit forecast because of what it called “the uncertain direction of consumer spending.”
What’s more, Macy’s is under enormous pressure from activist shareholders to fix its business, with shares down more than half off a 52-week high.
Macy’s executives have acknowledged that stores have to be more exciting and inviting to give shoppers a reason to come in rather than go online. The company has decided to focus on its 150 best stores, which includes the Easton, Ohio, store in its 800-location fleet for enhancements, an approach it calls its “Top Door” strategy.
For instance, the cosmetics department at Easton is getting a complete makeover with new fixtures and counters and the addition of a Bluemercury shop, the cool beauty retailer Macy’s bought last year that also offers salon services like microdermabrasion, brow tinting, facials and waxing. And working with vendors like Chanel and Estée Lauder Cos’ el Clinique, Macy’s is making the counters more interactive so customer and seller can sit together rather with more access to product rather than be separated by a physical barrier. Macy’s installed an event space prominently at the front of the store to hold daily “master classes” by one of the brands. “That’s so floor space isn’t just about selling,” says Newton.
Elsewhere, Macy’s has set up a row of 30 mannequins lined up to showcase the latest fashions. It has set up a Connect @Macy’s kiosk to one-on-one service to customers as soon as they walk into the store and a more convenient spot to pick up orders they placed online rather than have to queue up at customer service. Macy’s is also pushing its wedding business and heavily promoting its already existing My Stylist @Macy’s personal shopping service.
Other efforts include bringing together fitness items like men’s and women’s activewear, yoga gear, snacks and cookbooks together in a wellness area called “The Restore, Nourish and Strengthen” department. That will include the Finish Line brand (Macy’s already operates stores-within-a-store for that brand) and various brands like Gaiam Yoga merchandise and Fitbit fit watches.
If some of these initiatives sound familiar, it’s became many of Macy’s rivals are making the same moves. So how much this all will move the needle if deployed to other stores is an open question.
Kohl’s for instance has revamped its beauty section and is creating express lanes for in-store pickup of online orders. J.C. Penney continues to open new Sephora beauty boutiques within its stores and upgrading its InStyle beauty salons. And Target tgt has added beauty consultants on the sales floor and improved its health and wellness.
Still, for Macy’s, these moves give it a chance to make better use of its large emporia and vast assortment.
“Department stores are big, so you can see how everything in different areas works together,” Newton said. | Take that, Amazon. | 163.2 | 0.6 | 0.6 | high | low | abstractive |
http://www.aol.com/article/2016/02/10/north-carolina-releases-results-of-welfare-applicant-drug-tests/21310643/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20160618160116id_/http://www.aol.com:80/article/2016/02/10/north-carolina-releases-results-of-welfare-applicant-drug-tests/21310643/ | North Carolina releases results of welfare-applicant drug tests, and barely any came back positive | 20160618160116 | Before you go, we thought you'd like these...
In September 2013, despite Governor Pat McCrory's veto, North Carolina enacted a law that required welfare applicants to be screened and tested for illegal drug use. After a huge delay in actually implementing the law, yesterday state officials in North Carolina released results from the first round of tests, the Charlotte Observer reports. Of 7,600 applicants to the state's Work First program — a program that provides families with cash benefits, job training, and support services — 89 (or about 2 percent) were referred for drug testing. Of those, 21 (or less than 0.3 percent of those screened) tested positive — a percentage vastly below both the state and national average rates of self-reported drug use.
The law, which was enacted in August, first requires social workers to screen both new applicants and people who already receive benefits. Social workers must ask them about their habits of drug use in the past year; if there's reason to suspect an applicant has been using illegal drugs, he or she is referred for testing. Anyone convicted of felony drug offenses three years before applying is automatically referred. Related: A history of welfare programs in the U.S.:
North Carolina releases results of welfare-applicant drug tests, and barely any came back positive
UNITED STATES - JANUARY 18: Bayard Rustin representing the Negro Labor Council during a welfare workers strike at Murray St. (Photo by Frank Russo/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images)
UNITED STATES - JULY 07: Policeman comes to the aid of an employee being attacked by an angry Welfare Department striker, as she tries to cross the picket line at 260 E. 161st Street, Bronx. (Photo by Richard Corkery/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images)
UNITED STATES - JULY 19: Helen and Ricardo Guardiola and seven of their eight children ponder their future in a West Side welfare hotel. The city has maintained them in the hotel at a cost of $469 a week. Now, they've found a home in the Bronx for $250 a month, but they need a $500 deposit., (Photo by James Garrett/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images)
DEC 1 1974, DEC 2 1974; Happiness In A Christmas Doll; Margaret Gallegos, 16 months, seems content with the Raggedy Ann doll she received Sunday at a Christmas Party for underprivileged children at Volunteers of America Senior Center, 1865 Larimer St. About 500 children attended. The Christmas toys were provided by Montgomery Ward & Co. and Super Serve Drug Stores. The VOA is a United Way Agency which provides a variety of social welfare services. Santa was also present at party.; (Photo By Jodi Cobb/The Denver Post via Getty Images)
SACRAMENTO, UNITED STATES: US President Bill Clinton speaks to the annual convention of the California Democratic Party 08 April in Sacramento. President Clinton said 08 April that Republican welfare reform plans neglect children's real needs and don't put poor people to work. AFP PHOTO (Photo credit should read JOHN G. MABANGLO/AFP/Getty Images)
UNITED STATES - AUGUST 29: Valerie Smith, who used to be on welfare, now works as Food Service Manager at NYU - 556 LaGuardia Place. (Photo by Susan Watts/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images)
UNITED STATES - OCTOBER 15: WELFARE FEATURE--Kevin D. Brydie of Gulf Computers in Baltimore works on data entry. He recived his job through the Welfare to Work program. (Photo by Douglas Graham/Congressional Quarterly/Getty Images)
UNITED STATES - OCTOBER 24: WELFARE TO WORK:Garry Stanley and Deborah Washington learn how to work on air condition and heating units at the Center for Employment Training in Alexandria Virginia. (Photo by Douglas Graham/Congressional Quarterly/Getty Images)
UNITED STATES - NOVEMBER 09: OREGON WELFARE--Dave Van Wormer, of the North Salem Branch of the Oregon Department of Human Resources, Adult and Family Services, talks to members of a Fast Forward class on its first day. The class is designed to raise the self-esteem of long-time welfare recipients and give them practical knowledge on how to get and keep a job. Van Wormer often alternates between humor and a boisterous manner to emphasize his meaning. (Photo by Scott J. Ferrell/Congressional Quarterly/Getty Images)
UNITED STATES - FEBRUARY 16: WELFARE-TO-WORK--Transitional Work Corporation facilitator Renaya Furtick-Wheelan talks to TWC paricipants (seated, left to right) Sakiya Fooks (blue sweater), Kimberly Reed and Fatima Sutton about time cards on their last day of a two-week orientation during which they developed personal skills and reviewed employer expectations, professional responsibility, job interviewing, and were matched to 'transitional' jobs. Next comes up to six months of work experience and training. TWC is in downtown Philadelphia, Pa. (Photo by Scott J. Ferrell/Congressional Quarterly/Getty Images)
UNITED STATES - FEBRUARY 16: WELFARE-TO-WORK--Richard Greenwald, president and CEO of the Transitional Work Corporation in the lobby of TWC in downtown Philadelphia, Pa. (Photo by Scott J. Ferrell/Congressional Quarterly/Getty Images)
COLUMBUS, UNITED STATES: US President George W. Bush delivers remarks on welfare reform to a crowd inside the Stephen's Community Center 10 May, 2002 in Columbus, OH. The President later attended a fundraising luncheon raising over 2 million USD for Ohio Governor Bob Taft's re-election campaign and the Republican party 10 May, 2002 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Columbus. AFP PHOTO Paul J. Richards (Photo credit should read PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP/Getty Images)
UNITED STATES - OCTOBER 08: Members of the Community for Creative Non Violence, located in DC, attend a rally on the West Front to supoort legislation designed to end homelessness through a dramatic expansion of affordable housing and social services to help nearly 3.5 million homeless Americans. Tripp and Lopez, a veteran, were both homeless at a point in their lives. (Photo By Tom Williams/Roll Call/Getty Images)
A man listens during a rally in Upper Senate Park on Capitol Hill February 12, 2013 in Washington, DC. The group including Democratic members of Congress and labor leaders rallied to support Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and other social welfare programs. AFP PHOTO/Brendan SMIALOWSKI (Photo credit should read BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images)
Leonard Edwards speaks to reporters during an inverview at Bread for the City, a private non-profit social services organization, on November 13, 2013 in Washington, DC. Edwards is a client receiving assistance from the group, but also offers his time as a volunteer to the organization. The United States celebrates its 'land of plenty' Thanksgiving Day this week, but for the poor and most vulnerable, there is less food on the table after Congress cut aid. As Americans stocked up on turkeys for The NOvember 28, 2013 traditional Thanksgiving dinner, food pantries and charities braced for higher demand after lawmakers slashed $5 billion from the nation's largest hunger safety net. AFP PHOTO/Mandel NGAN (Photo credit should read MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images)
Bread for the City Chief Executive Officer George Jones, speaks during an interview at Bread for the City, a private non-profit social services organization, on November 13, 2013 in Washington, DC. The United States celebrates its 'land of plenty' Thanksgiving Day this week, but for the poor and most vulnerable, there is less food on the table after Congress cut aid. As Americans stocked up on turkeys for The NOvember 28, 2013 traditional Thanksgiving dinner, food pantries and charities braced for higher demand after lawmakers slashed $5 billion from the nation's largest hunger safety net. AFP PHOTO/Mandel NGAN (Photo credit should read MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images)
FILE - In this April 16, 2015, file photograph, Gov. Sam Brownback, left, shakes hands with Department for Children and Families secretary Phyllis Gilmore, right, after signing a welfare reform bill into law in Topeka, Kan. Gay rights, including marriage and DCF drama, was voted a top story in Kansas in 2015. (AP Photo/Orlin Wagner, File)
If an applicant tests positive, their benefits are cut off; of the 21 positive cases from this round of testing, 12 were reportedly approved for reduced payment "because children were involved." Benefits are also cut off if an applicant misses a test appointment, which was the case for 70 people in the last five months of 2015. In keeping with the vaguely humiliating nature of the law — which is, let's face it, less about limiting drug use than it is about reminding poor people who's boss — the state requires each welfare applicant to pay for the drug test and for any subsequent treatment received. North Carolina is one of 13 states with such legislation in place. | Of 7,600 applicants to the program, roughly 2 percent were referred for testing. Of those, less than 0.3 percent of those screened tested positive. | 61.607143 | 0.964286 | 4.25 | high | high | mixed |
http://www.nytimes.com/1983/06/20/world/little-joy-after-common-market-session.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20160618172205id_/http://www.nytimes.com:80/1983/06/20/world/little-joy-after-common-market-session.html | LITTLE JOY AFTER COMMON MARKET SESSION | 20160618172205 | STUTTGART, West Germany, June 19— A three-day meeting of Western European leaders ended today without a resolution to the European Economic Community's grave financial problems and with a victory for Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher on reducing Britain's contribution to the group's budget.
Camouflaging the lack of a substantive accord, the 10 heads of Government agreed that their Foreign and Finance Ministers would meet under ''a special emergency procedure'' to draft a package of proposals to be submitted to the next Common Market summit meeting in Athens in December.
Chancellor Helmut Kohl, who strove to keep the meeting from breaking up in open disagreement, acknowledged at a news conference that its outcome ''gave no reason to be excessively joyful.'' But he expressed the hope that a ''process'' had been started that could lead to wider agreement.
''We cannot have an atmosphere of conflict in the community at a time when we must muster to face the security challenge and other challenges in the world,'' said Mr. Kohl, who faces the possibility of civil unrest if American medium-range missiles are installed in West Germany in December.
According to several informants, the Chancellor made it plain to other participants at the meeting that a bitter quarrel within the community would weaken his hand when he travels to Moscow next month to meet with Yuri V. Andropov, the Soviet leader.
In his eagerness to avoid an embarrassing setback in his debut as a host and mediator for Western European summit meetings, Chancellor Kohl demonstrated West Germany's continued willingness to underwrite the Common Market's finances.
West Germany, already the single largest contributor, agreed to pay $117.6 million more to the organization's budget in order to ease a repayment to Britain, which has long argued that its contribution is unfairly high. Mrs. Thatcher 'Very Pleased'
Fresh from her sweeping election victory, Mrs. Thatcher vigorously pressed Britain's perennial budget complaint, which ended up dominating virtually two days of the deliberations. The other nine members agreed to a $675 million repayment to Britain for 1983, but linked it to an overall resolution of the community's strained finances.
''I'm very pleased with this weekend's work,'' Mrs. Thatcher said at a news conference. ''I came thinking we would get nowhere. By very hard pounding, we got a settlement on the short term and the possibilites for a settlement on the long term.''
The preoccupation with financial issues prevented the leaders from discussing at length major foreign policy issues or examining the implications of last month's summit conference of industrial democracies at Williamsburg, Va. There was no statement, for example, on persisting irritation over high American interest rates.
As a result of the Israeli-Lebanese agreement on withdrawing foreign forces in Lebanon, the leaders quietly ended a freeze on Israel's negotiations over association with the community. The freeze was imposed at the time of the Israeli invasion of Lebanon last year. The Western European leaders said the American-fostered agreement on troop withdrawal ''constitutes a step that must be followed by others'' - an allusion to Syria. On Central America's Problems
The leaders took their distance from the Reagan Administration by asserting that Central America's problems ''cannot be solved by military means, but only by a political solution springing from the region itself and respecting the principles of non-interference and inviolability of frontiers.''
They noted, too, that the visit by Pope John Paul II to Poland had demonstrated ''the depth of the aspirations of the Polish people'' and said that ''only a national reconciliation can lead Poland out of its grave crisis.''
The leaders also signed a Solemn Declaration on European Union, which West Germany's Foreign Minister, Hans-Dietrich Genscher, has been promoting for some time to give a new impulse to Western Europe's fragile political institutions.
But after a number of revisions and objections from member nations, the declaration was gutted of its political content and spoke mainly in generalities about distant goals. Several countries objected to language that would have made majority community decisions binding in all situations. A Target Date Deleted
Another sign of the weakening of the thrust of decisions taken in Stuttgart was the deletion of a reference to 1984 as the target date for the completion of negotiations on the accession of Spain and Portugal to the community. Before he left the meeting on Saturday to attend a long-planned ceremony in France, President Francois Mitterrand warned that fixing a date could lead to disillusion if it were not ultimately met.
West Germany's emergence as the community's most generous contributor seems certain to open Mr. Kohl to domestic criticism that he is sacrificing his own program of savings in the Bonn budget to the distant goals of European cooperation.
''We Germans don't only pay into Europe,'' Mr. Kohl said today. ''We profit most of all through trade. And don't forget that we are a divided country. We need Euorpe more than do others.''
Asked how he would explain this summit meeting to his wife and children, Mr. Kohl answered soberly: ''I would tell them that, in a very difficult time, we did not suffer a setback.''
Illustrations: Photo of Margaret Thatcher | A three-day meeting of Western European leaders ended today without a resolution to the European Economic Community's grave financial problems and with a victory for Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher on reducing Britain's contribution to the group's budget. Camouflaging the lack of a substantive accord, the 10 heads of Government agreed that their Foreign and Finance Ministers would meet under ''a special emergency procedure'' to draft a package of proposals to be submitted to the next Common Market summit meeting in Athens in December. Chancellor Helmut Kohl, who strove to keep the meeting from breaking up in open disagreement, acknowledged at a news conference that its outcome ''gave no reason to be excessively joyful.'' But he expressed the hope that a ''process'' had been started that could lead to wider agreement. | 6.640523 | 0.986928 | 50.320261 | low | high | extractive |
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/18/nyregion/books-a-tale-of-montauk-and-naked-women.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20160618173135id_/http://www.nytimes.com:80/2004/07/18/nyregion/books-a-tale-of-montauk-and-naked-women.html? | BOOKS; A Tale of Montauk And Naked Women | 20160618173135 | A FEW years ago, a long-haired, bearded Montauk fisherman who goes by Bo-Bo spray-painted a message across his battered pickup truck: ''Tourons, Go Home!'' The large letters merged ''tourist'' and ''moron'' into one very unambiguous statement. The chamber of commerce was indignant, but other residents cheered whenever the truck rumbled by. Thus Montauk's struggle with its evolution from fishing village to beach resort, a struggle that is decades old, played out once more.
Bo-Bo's movable graffiti does not appear in a popular new book of photography, ''The End: Montauk, N.Y.,'' by Michael Dweck. But he and dozens of other Montauk residents, especially those who surf at Ditch Plains Beach, do. ''The End'' refers to Montauk's position at the easternmost tip of Long Island, and its reputation for being a fine place to stagnate, if one is so inclined.
Perhaps that was why the $75 art book's first printing of 5,000 copies sold out in less than three weeks. (And a second printing of 2,500 copies is expected to do the same, according to the publisher, Harry N. Abrams.) Or maybe the locals portrayed in it and those who know a local have been snapping them up. Or maybe it's just all those topless young women, photographed in the dreamy, black-and-white manner of Abercrombie & Fitch or Calvin Klein ads, who cavort through the book for the sake of art.
''I see that part of Montauk as being a very hedonistic lifestyle, where your good looks are your currency,'' Mr. Dweck said in a telephone interview. He sidestepped the question of whether the naked women were hired models, saying ''some were local, some transient.''
At once nostalgic and cunningly commercial, ''The End'' purports to reminisce about all that Montauk has lost since the 1970's when Mr. Dweck, who lives in Glen Cove, first found it. Gone are some of the oddball characters who gave the hamlet its eccentric reputation. Gone are the marlin fishermen and the marlin, too. Also gone is the private haven that Ditch Plains Beach once was for surfers. Mr. Dweck's version of the history of surfing at Ditch -- as the locals call it -- is the core of his coffee-table book.
Photos of those who surfed there in the summer of 2002, when he shot most of the photos, are juxtaposed against others of the now-middle-age surfers who discovered Ditch in the 1970's and earlier. Ditch is reportedly still one of the best point breaks on the East Coast. When the swell is up, he said, a dozen men and women may be found in the parking lot squeezing into their wetsuits at 6 or 7 a.m. Mr. Dweck said the nudes were, for him, just a byproduct of surfing.
But nudists and voyeurs be warned: despite the frequent appearance in the book of topless women with jutting hipbones, Ditch is really a family beach where PTA moms loudly discourage nudity.
Still, the oversize book has been a big seller.
John Brancati, who owns East End Books in East Hampton, said Mr. Dweck's June 19 book-signing there drew an unusually large crowd of 150 and that sales had been exceptional. Why? ''It's the local interest,'' he said. ''The work is beautiful. A lot of people are buying it because they know someone in it. Some are buying it because of the naked people.''
Bo-Bo, whose real name is Robert Bazoge, called the book a fantasy that denigrates locals by suggesting they aren't a worthy enough subject on their own, without nude models.
''We've got enough of those people out here with the wrong attitude, looking down on us,'' he said. ''It's only going to attract more of those uppity yuppities.'' | Article on evolution of Montauk, NY, from fishing village to beach resort in light of popular new book of photography, The End: Montauk, NY, by Michael Dweck; Dweck, in interview, sidesteps question of whether naked women in photos are hired models; photos (M) | 14.090909 | 0.854545 | 2.672727 | low | medium | mixed |
http://fortune.com/2015/08/19/audi-electric-suv-a-tesla-killer/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20160618211844id_/http://fortune.com:80/2015/08/19/audi-electric-suv-a-tesla-killer/ | Audi's all-electric concept SUV is already being called a Tesla killer | 20160618211844 | Audi released a teaser photo of an all-electric SUV concept car this morning and like every other luxury all-electric vehicle to be unveiled in the past year, it’s already being called a Tesla killer by the media.
The e-tron quattro concept vehicle, described by Audi as a sporty SUV, is the company’s first large-series electric car. Audi, a subsidiary of Volkswagen Group VLKAY , will unveil the e-tron quattro concept at the International Motor Show 2015 to be held next month in Frankfurt. The SUV will go into series production beginning in 2018, Audi says.
Tesla Motors is diminutive—in size, sales, and employees—compared with its luxury automaker counterparts. For example, the Palo Alto, Calif.-based company is expected to deliver 50,000 cars this year. Audi sold 146,000 vehicles in July alone.
And yet major automakers, including General Motors
, BMW, Porsche, Daimler AG’s Mercedes-Benz unit and Audi all seem to be responding to Tesla’s
success in building a luxury all-electric vehicle people want to drive.
Many of these automakers are developing electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles to comply with emissions regulations in Europe. However, Audi’s new project seems geared more for North America, where SUV sales continue to soar. But will it offer U.S. buyers an alternative to Tesla’s
, which customers who preordered are expecting to be delivered in September?
We won’t really know until the Audi e-tron quattro goes into production, which isn’t expected to begin until 2018. That gives Tesla more than two years to gain market share in the all-electric SUV segment.
The Audi e-tron quattro SUV will have a battery range of more than 500 kilometers, or about 310 miles. This is the same range that was floated earlier this month when Audi, Samsung, and LG Chem said they were teaming up to develop a battery designed for an all-electric SUV. Under that deal, LG Chem LGCLF and Samsung SDI SSNLF will supply Audi with batteries produced at their European plants. The South Korean tech companies will also invest in cell technology in Europe.
A couple of notes about this concept car: Audi isn’t modifying an existing SUV. This concept car was designed from the ground up as an electric car. The underbody is completely closed—just like Tesla’s Model S—which makes it more aerodynamic. The drive system is based on the Audi R8 e-tron sports car. Three electric motors—one on the front axle and two on the rear axle—drive the Audi e-tron quattro concept.
Seating is one major difference between the Audi e-tron quattro and the Model X. The Audi e-tron quattro will have space for four people, while the Model X has seating for up to seven people. | Tesla might be small in size and sales, but its success seems to be evoking a broad response from its much bigger counterparts. | 22.16 | 0.72 | 1.04 | medium | low | abstractive |
http://time.com/2980989/stop-making-sense-anniversary-david-byrne-jonathan-demme/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20160619031857id_/http://time.com:80/2980989/stop-making-sense-anniversary-david-byrne-jonathan-demme/ | David Byrne & Jonathan Demme | 20160619031857 | It’s been 30 years since the release of Stop Making Sense, the Jonathan Demme-directed Talking Heads concert pic that’s widely recognized as one of the greatest live music films of all time.
Stop Making Sense paired Demme — years before he won Best Director for Silence of the Lambs — with the band Talking Heads, just as the New York-based art rock group were becoming musical icons.
The film begins with the band’s frontman and impresario, David Byrne, walking on stage a boombox in hand. He sets it down, turns it on and starts to sing along with the Talking Heads’ song “Psycho Killer.” He is soon joined by bassist Tina Weymouth while stagehands build a drum platform for Chris Frantz. Backup singers and horn players appear and the show goes on, building into a frenzy while Byrne throws himself around the stage like a possessed version of Mick Jagger. That energy carries throughout the film, fusing Demme’s sweeping cinematographic style with Byrne’s eye for stagecraft and the art of the show.
To mark the occasion, the film is being made available digitally for the first time ever by Palm Pictures, along with a limited theatrical engagement this summer and fall. When asked why it took so long for a film that used some of the most modern equipment and techniques of its age — it was the first rock movie made using entirely digital audio techniques — to become available digitally, Demme shrugged: “I guess we just weren’t paying attention?”
TIME talked to both Demme and Byrne as they reflected on making Stop Making Sense and the lasting legacy of the film:
Demme: “In early 1983, Gary Goetzman and I went to see my favorite band, the Talking Heads, at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles. The show was like seeing a movie just waiting to be filmed. We tracked David Byrne down and pitched him on the idea of teaming up to make the picture.”
Byrne: “I realized the show was ‘cinematic’ and that it sort of had a narrative arc. It might work on film, or so I believed.”
Demme: “David really saw this movie in his own head long before we came and pitched him on letting us shoot it.”
The two connected through a mutual friend, Nadia Ghaleb (according to Byrne), but they already shared a mutual appreciation of each others’ work.
Byrne: “I knew Jonathan’s work. I loved Melvin and Howard.”
Demme: “I was a Talking Heads fan from the very beginning.”
To make the film, the band turned to the parent company of their record label, Sire, for funding.
Byrne: “Our manager, the late Gary Kurfirst, went to Warner Records for a ‘loan.’ They got paid back and sold some live albums too.
With financing secured, the filming could begin.
Byrne: “Jonathan followed us on tour for about a week or so prior to filming, so he knew the show pretty well.”
Demme: “The big suit, the lighting, the staging, the choreography, the song line-up — everything was there in the show before the filmmakers showed up.”
The so-called big suit became one of the most iconic images of the show, the band and the film:
Demme: “It was all part of David Byrne’s original concept for the staged show, from the beginning.”
Byrne: “I was in Japan in between tours and I was checking out traditional Japanese theater — Kabuki, Noh, Bunraku — and I was wondering what to wear on our upcoming tour. A fashion designer friend (Jurgen Lehl) said in his typically droll manner, ‘Well David, everything is bigger on stage.’ He was referring to gestures and all that, but I applied the idea to a businessman’s suit.”
Filming took place over four nights at the Pantages Theater in Los Angeles, while the Talking Heads were on tour following the release of their album, Speaking in Tongues:
Demme: “Those four nights of filming were four of the most thrilling shoots of my life. Everything went flying by so fast it was just one ecstatic blur for me.”
Byrne: “During the shoot every day was spent re-balancing the lights so that the show would look to the camera as it did to the eye, as well as blocking out camera moves.”
Demme: “It was wonderful that our Director of Photography was the late/great Jordan Cronenweth, because Jordan was able to help David achieve on screen what was never completely possible with the lighting scheme in those big live arena shows, because there’s so much ambient light in those rooms that it blows out the starkness of true graphic black and white lighting design.”
Byrne had an attention to detail and an eye for design that was vast in scope:
Byrne: ”Edna Holt, one of the incredible singers (see 20 Feet from Stardom) changed her hair the day before we started shooting! I freaked out — hair whipping was a big part of the show —so I paid for her to get a weave immediately. It took her many, many hours, poor girl, but it worked.”
Stop Making Sense was a true collaboration between the two men, with each contributing their own aesthetic ideas about music, cinematography and stagecraft into a cohesive whole of avant-garde rock-and-roll theater. Both Demme and Byrne were eager to credit their collaboration and each other for the end result:
Demme: “Most of these dynamics arose from David Byrne’s original vision, but it was a highly collaborative experience.”
Byrne: “Jonathan saw things in the show that I didn’t realize where there or didn’t realize how important they were.”
Demme: “We shot it together, cut and mixed it together, and we all went running off to the festival circuit together as soon as we had our first print.”
Byrne: “[Demme] saw the interaction of the personalities on stage, how it was an ‘ensemble piece’ if it were viewed as one would a scripted film. He also realized that to suck the viewer into that ensemble, there would be no interviews and no shots of the audience until almost the very end.”
Demme: “In the cutting room we quickly discovered that there was always something far more interesting going on on stage than in the ‘best’ of our audience footage. This led to the realization that if we pulled back from showing the live audience, it made our film feel that much more specially created for our movie audience!”
The film also used a number of long camera shots to capture all the on-stage action in beautiful sweeping shots. It’s something Demme would replicate in future music documentaries like Storefront Hitchcock and Neil Young: Heart of Gold.
Demme: “The use of extended shots instead of quick cuts is a result of my belief that there is great power available by holding on any extended terrific moment and letting the viewer become more deeply involved in the performance at hand, instead of constantly interrupting the flow with un-needed cuts. Too much cutting usually speaks to a lack of editorial confidence in the players and the music.”
While Byrne tends to be the film’s focal point — and he is rarely off-camera throughout — the real star of the show is the music: the exuberant, funk-influenced rock that pushed the Talking Heads from the New York underground, where they opened for the Ramones at CBGB, to hitting the Billboard charts. The film captures their energy perfectly, building in tempo and attempting to force even the most reluctant audience members from their seats:
Byrne: “There were many screenings, film festivals and all that — many of which featured dancing in the aisles.”
Demme: “I adore film and I adore music. I often find myself feeling that filming music is somehow the purest form of filmmaking. This crazed collision of sound and images, the intense collaboration, these incredibly cinematic performances. And for the nights you’re filming, a non-player like me gets to feel somehow part of the band.”
Byrne: “I think the film and the show showed that a pop concert could be a kind of theater — not in the pretentious sense, but in the sense that it could be visually and even sort of dramatically sophisticated and yet you could still dance to it.”
Demme: “I knew that we had captured the magic of an extraordinary band at just the right moment, but didn’t imagine it would still be so around and feeling so fresh 30 years later. Makes sense now, though.”
Demme: “I love this film passionately with all my heart.”
You can purchase Stop Making Sense on iTunes here.
MORE: Love Story: A Q&A with Singer-Songwriter Robyn Hitchcock
MORE: Tommy Ramone RIP: The 9 Best Ramones Songs | The Talking Heads frontman and the film's director reflect on the seminal rock documentary | 117.266667 | 0.733333 | 1.533333 | high | low | mixed |
http://fortune.com/2015/07/17/donald-trump-net-worth-calculator/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20160619081635id_/http://fortune.com:80/2015/07/17/donald-trump-net-worth-calculator/ | The Donald Trump Net Worth Calculator | 20160619081635 | Donald Trump is running for president of the United States because he thinks he can make the country better off. He may have also come up with a formula to make us all wealthier, at least on paper.
On Wednesday, Trump filed his financial disclosure forms. His campaign said Trump’s net worth exceeds $10 billion. They used capital letters.
Others disagree. Wealth-X, a consulting firm, puts Trump’s net worth at $4.5 billion. Forbes says the real estate tycoon-turned-reality star-turned-presidential hopeful is worth $4 billion. And the magazine estimates that Trump’s net worth has dropped by at least $125 million since he announced his presidential run a month ago. Author Timothy O’Brien famously estimated Trump’s net worth was as little as $125 million. Trump sued for libel, but the case was thrown out by the judge.
Who’s right? It’s hard to tell based on what Trump has disclosed so far. In his statement on Wednesday, Trump said he had income of $362 million last year. That didn’t included dividends or other capital gains. After taxes, that’s $217 million. If Trump were a stock, for him to be worth $10 billion, he would have a price-to-earnings ratio of 46. Facebook FB has a p/e that’s roughly equivalent to that. But the social network’s cash flow is rising by 40% a year. Trump’s, likely, is not.
You have worth, a lot of it. The biggest discrepancy between what Trump thinks he’s worth and what others say is the value of his brand. Forbes used to say it was worth $125 million, but now it might be zero, as business partners have severed their relationships with him recently, after some remarks. Trump says his personal brand is worth somewhere north of $3 billion. So figure out what you might be worth, and then add some zeros.
Real Estate. Trump doesn’t own many of his properties but rather a long-term lease holder. So if you rent, go ahead and add the value of the place to your net worth. Trump also seems to think his clubs are more valuable than they are worth, about $1 billion more than what Forbes says.
Your wish list is a reality. Trump includes $300 million in his net worth for properties under development. Others have said the value of those projects, since they are not completed, and it’s not clear trump owns the land, is essentially zero. So, are you thinking of eventually building that dream beach house, but don’t actually own any land yet? No problem. That’s worth a few million. Tack it on.
Of course, calculating net worth is not a science. So Trump’s method could be just as valid as the ones used by any of the others who have examined his assets. What would you be worth if you used the Trump method? Follow the steps above or enter what you think you’re worth and our Trump Net Income Calculator will do the math. (Just numbers and commas. No dollar signs.) | The presidential hopeful says he's worth $10 billion. Many others disagree. What would you be worth if you used the Trump method? Here's how to calculate it yourself. | 17.714286 | 0.828571 | 5.171429 | medium | medium | mixed |
http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/gossip/grease-star-jeff-conaway-die-home-planning-viking-funeral-girfriend-vikki-lizzi-article-1.170902 | http://web.archive.org/web/20160619091855id_/http://www.nydailynews.com:80/entertainment/gossip/grease-star-jeff-conaway-die-home-planning-viking-funeral-girfriend-vikki-lizzi-article-1.170902 | Jeff Conaway wants to die at home, planning Viking funeral | 20160619091855 | Jeff Conaway can't break his addiction to prescription drugs and now says he wants to die at home.
Conaway's girlfriend Vikki Lizzi told E! News that the former star of "Grease" and "Taxi," who couldn't get clean after two stints in VH1's "Celebrity Rehab," even has his funeral planned.
"He's talking about being burned on a boat and sent out to sea like a Viking funeral. It sends chills up my spine," Lizzi said.
"We're all trying to save his life, and he's not listening," she added.
Conaway, 59, is recovering from surgery after a fall last week that resulted in hip and head injuries.
Lizzi said Conaway has taken several falls and has brought up the subject of suicide more than once.
"This is just devastating," she said in the interview. "I tried to save him from himself by trying to get him help ... He wants to die at home. He knows the meds are killing him. He can't get off them.
"I don't think he wants to die," she added. "I think it's the meds that are destroying his mind."
Lizzi said few of the actor's famous friends have been in touch. Conaway's "Grease" co-star John Travolta has sent flowers.
Two years ago, Conaway credited Scientology with helping him kick drugs and said it was Travolta who brought him to the controversial religion.
Dr. Drew Pinsky, the creator of "Celebrity Rehab," has been consulting with Conaway, Lizzi said. But she believes more is called for.
"He needs an intervention," she said. | Jeff Conaway can't break his addiction to prescription drugs and now says he wants to die at home. Conaway's girlfriend Vikki Lizzi said that the former star of "Grease" and "Taxi," who couldn't get clean after two stints in VH1's "Celebrity Rehab," even has his funeral planned. | 5.508197 | 1 | 27.065574 | low | high | extractive |
http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/gossip/confidential/insider-kanye-snl-rant-wasn-directed-cast-crew-article-1.2536446 | http://web.archive.org/web/20160619154202id_/http://www.nydailynews.com:80/entertainment/gossip/confidential/insider-kanye-snl-rant-wasn-directed-cast-crew-article-1.2536446 | Insider: Kanye's 'SNL' rant wasn't directed at cast or crew | 20160619154202 | Kanye West is upset that a recording of a private tantrum he had in front of his entourage during the taping of last week's "Saturday Night Live" is being spun in a way that implies it was SNL's cast he was admonishing.
"He did not yell at 'SNL' staff," a source close to West tells Confidenti@l. "This audio was secretly recorded while he was venting his frustration in a private moment with his team. He found out his stage design was changed and taken apart under the direction of the show's lighting director without anyone's approval," says that West insider.
A second source close the situation confirms West's rant was not directed at anyone connected to the show.
KANYE WEST'S RANTS ARE GETTING MORE RIDICULOUS BY THE TWEET
In that recording, West is heard ranting that he is "50% more influential than any other human being" and asking if the NBC comedy show's crew is "f---ing crazy" for changing the set.
"Look at that s---, they took my f---ing stage off of 'SNL' without asking me," West ranted in a bizarre diatribe that also alluded to Pablo Picasso, Pablo Escobar and St. Paul the Apostle, for reasons that are unclear from the recording. He also continued his verbal assault on singer Taylor Swift during the recording, also for reasons unclear.
According to our insider, West "had spent an entire day rehearsing and a lot of hard work into the performance. Dramatic set changes were made 30 minutes before going live. It should be understandable why he was upset after being completely blindsided."
The insider also said West hugged "SNL" honcho Lorne Michaels after the show and thanked producers on his way out.
West's reps declined to comment. Reps for NBC could not be reached for comment. | Kanye West is upset that a recording of his backstage "SNL" tantrum is being spun to imply he was admonishing show staff. | 14.4 | 0.92 | 3.88 | low | medium | mixed |
http://www.nytimes.com/1999/01/17/nyregion/decision-to-testify-haunted-boy-who-was-later-killed.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20160619170156id_/http://www.nytimes.com:80/1999/01/17/nyregion/decision-to-testify-haunted-boy-who-was-later-killed.html? | Decision to Testify Haunted Boy Who Was Later Killed | 20160619170156 | BRIDGEPORT, Conn., Jan. 16— At the Boys and Girls Club of Bridgeport, B. J. Brown was one of the most reliable and joyful leaders, always jumping up to take attendance or pass out craft supplies. He was only 7, but had the poise to ask a girl in his class if they could go on a date when he turned 10.
Then one summer evening, a Chevrolet Lumina pulled up beside the car in which B. J. was riding with his mother's fiance, whom he called Dad. From a foot away, according to the police, a man in the Lumina fired three rounds from a Smith & Wesson pistol, wounding the fiance in the forehead, piercing his car door and shattering a passenger-side window.
The bullets missed B. J., but they cost him his childhood. He got a good look at the gunman, and when the police asked him who he thought had done it, the boy did something that few adults would have dared to do: he told.
Now B. J. and his mother are dead, shot two Fridays ago at their home in a safe, working-class neighborhood here. The police and terrified residents fear that the two were murdered because of what B. J. said.
The decision to help the police had haunted the boy, a rambunctious jokester, his teachers and counselors said, making him brooding and paranoid. He had flashbacks, and feared the consequences of helping the law. On B.J.'s first day back at the club after the first shooting, in September 1997, Gladys Marquez, a Boys Club counselor, knew she was dealing with an entirely different boy.
''His head was down and he was crying,'' she recalled. She told him to be good and to hold his head up, and he told her that he believed that God would help him.
But as the weeks passed, B. J. grew more glum. ''It was still vivid in his mind,'' Ms. Marquez said. ''He felt it wasn't going away.''
His sense of foreboding was well founded. Largely because of B. J.'s help, the police charged Russell Peeler, 27, of Bridgeport, with attempted murder. While free on bond, according to court papers, Mr. Peeler began taunting the mother's fiance, Rudolph Snead Jr., 28, on the street, saying he was going to ''get'' him.
Nine months later, Mr. Snead was shot seven times as he watched television in a barbershop. As he fell to the floor, dying, he screamed, ''It was Russell, yo!'' according to police documents. Two weeks later, Mr. Peeler was charged with murder, but was still able to make bail.
One witness to the earlier shooting was gone, leaving B. J. to tell the tale. His mother, Karen J. Clarke, was in tears the next time she took him to the Boys Club, and begged B. J. not to go outside. He did not.
''He was distraught,'' Ms. Marquez said. ''He was paranoid, really.''
On Jan. 8, B. J. was found shot to death at the top of the stairs inside the duplex his mother had bought in July -- her first home of her own. Ms. Clarke had been shot in the back, in her bedroom. They had just come back from grocery shopping. The police believe that the intruder or intruders, hiding in the house, confronted them after the mother and son closed the front door, and chased them upstairs.
Karen Clarke was 29. B. J. Brown was two months shy of his ninth birthday. He was in the third grade at the Read School here. Mother and son are to be buried in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., where she has family.
In hindsight, his death can be cast as frighteningly foreseeable. On a judge's order, prosecutors had turned B.J.'s name and address over to Mr. Peeler's lawyer. The disclosure was protested by the prosecutors, who said in court papers that ''there have been threats made against several of the state's witnesses.'' But the information was required by a three-year-old change in state court procedure that was intended to help defendants prepare their cases. Mr. Peeler's lawyer, Gary A. Mastronardi, has said that he did not give his client the information and that Mr. Peeler already knew where B. J. lived.
In a further sign of the boy's possible vulnerability, detectives had reports that Mr. Peeler had been seen outside the duplex where B. J. lived. The police briefly provided protection for B.J. and his mother, but they stopped after she decided it made them even more conspicuous.
Until this week, B. J.'s statement implicating Mr. Peeler -- signed in a careful, manly cursive script, with boyish practice signatures in the margins -- was in a public court file for all to see.
The possibility that B. J. was killed because of what he had seen has produced anguish and outrage in a city that has never quite recovered from the crack epidemic of the 1980's, which turned whole sections into war zones. Bridgeport, Connecticut's largest city with 140,000 residents, has undergone a broad makeover since emerging from the brink of bankruptcy in 1992, but it has long been a pocket of blight in wealthy Fairfield County.
Annette Garcia, a single mother of three who lives opposite an elementary school in Bridgeport, says she hears gunshots three or four nights a week. Her daughters' bedroom is in the front of the house, so they sleep with her, and their room is used to store toys and clothes. | At the Boys and Girls Club of Bridgeport, B. J. Brown was one of the most reliable and joyful leaders, always jumping up to take attendance or pass out craft supplies. He was only 7, but had the poise to ask a girl in his class if they could go on a date when he turned 10. Then one summer evening, a Chevrolet Lumina pulled up beside the car in which B. J. was riding with his mother's fiance, whom he called Dad. From a foot away, according to the police, a man in the Lumina fired three rounds from a Smith & Wesson pistol, wounding the fiance in the forehead, piercing his car door and shattering a passenger-side window. | 8.029197 | 0.992701 | 68.029197 | low | high | extractive |
http://www.tmz.com/2013/11/25/paris-hilton-sex-tape-money-rick-salomon-1-night-in-paris/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20160619170721id_/http://www.tmz.com:80/2013/11/25/paris-hilton-sex-tape-money-rick-salomon-1-night-in-paris/ | Paris Hilton -- I Never Made a Dime Off My Sex Tape | 20160619170721 | never made ONE CENT off of her sex tape -- which has produced untold millions in profits ... at least that's her story.
It's a shocking statement ... given that "1 Night in Paris" has grossed tens of millions of dollars.
TMZ knows ... Paris signed off on the skin flick in 2004, but sources connected with Hilton tell us ... she claims she gave all the profits to her co-star,
. We know in the first year alone, Salomon reported to the IRS that he made $10 mil, and that was almost all sex tape $$$.
So the question ... why would Paris sign off on the tape if she didn't want to cash in? We can't answer that question.
Paris made the revelation at LAX. We were asking her about
that's profiting off of "1 Night in Paris" when she dropped the bombshell. | Paris Hilton never made ONE CENT off of her sex tape -- which has produced untold millions in profits ... at least that's her story.It's a shocking… | 5.5 | 0.96875 | 20.09375 | low | high | extractive |
http://www.tmz.com/2014/11/18/mark-mcdaniel-facebook-profile-deleted-mama-june-child-molester/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20160619201202id_/http://www.tmz.com:80/2014/11/18/mark-mcdaniel-facebook-profile-deleted-mama-june-child-molester/ | Mama June's New Man -- Booted off Facebook ... No Child Molesters Allowed | 20160619201202 | 's boyfriend has been booted from Facebook ... because he's a child molester.
was active on Facebook until Tuesday ... when his profile was yanked from the site. Turns out Facebook has a policy of rejecting sex offenders, but apparently they didn't know until recently ... presumably after we posted the story that McDaniel did time for molesting Mama June's child.
McDaniel's profile pic showed him cradling his granddaughter. There were various "welcome home" posts ... presumably from friends who found out he had been released from prison.
It's interesting ... June was absent from McDaniel's profile page, and we're guessing it's because they both knew it was wrong for her to | Mama June's boyfriend has been booted from Facebook ... because he's a child molester. Mark McDaniel was active on Facebook until Tuesday ... when… | 4.551724 | 0.896552 | 9.310345 | low | medium | extractive |
http://fortune.com/2016/06/17/sec-national-stock-exchange/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20160619214511id_/http://fortune.com:80/2016/06/17/sec-national-stock-exchange/ | SEC Approves New National Stock Exchange To Rival NYSE, Nasdaq | 20160619214511 | (Reuters) – The Securities and Exchange Commission has granted the hotly debated request by alternative trading group IEX Group to launch a new public stock exchange, a move likely to intensify arguments over current market structure.
IEX, made famous by Michael Lewis’ 2014 book “Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt,” is notable because it would be the only exchange in the United States to include a so-called speed bump – a 350 millionths-of-a-second delay in all incoming and outcoming orders.
According to IEX, that delay protects investors from high-frequency traders who can pick up on trading signals and use their faster technology to electronically front-run slower investors.
Other exchanges, including Nasdaq, the New York Stock Exchange and BATS Global Markets, have vigorously opposed the idea of IEX gaining regulatory approval as a U.S. stock exchange. Nasdaq has suggested that any SEC approval could be legally challenged.
The approval marks the first time in three years that the SEC has sanctioned a new trading exchange. The most recent approval was when International Securities Exchange’s options exchange, ISE Gemini, received the green light in July 2013.
Critics of the application have argued the speed bump violates the SEC’s own rule against intentional delays of price displays, also known as Regulation NMS, for National Market System.
Competing exchanges have also complained about IEX asking for discretion to send orders to other exchanges without a speed bump. Critics say this would give IEX too much leeway to decide how individual trades are made, with some trades being based on delayed quotes and others executed immediately.
For more about NYSE, watch:
The IEX decision comes as the biggest exchanges have been losing market share to private trading venues, called dark pools, and other newer exchanges. The New York Stock Exchange and NYSE Arca, for example, combined for about 29 percent of market share in 2009, based on trading volume. They now have about 24 percent market share this year, according to Rosenblatt Securities data.
Any new exchange coming online would add a player to the pie, meaning revenue from market participants would be split among more competing exchanges. In addition, IEX’s speed bump could dampen trading volumes, which would also drag on exchange revenue.
IEX expects to implement trading in all stock symbols on Sept. 2, ceasing operations of the IEX Alternative Trading System (ATS), also known as a dark pool, according to its website. | Other stock exchanges oppose the new competition from IEX. | 47.4 | 0.8 | 1 | high | medium | abstractive |
http://time.com/3929658/greg-holden-boys-in-the-street/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20160620000109id_/http://time.com:80/3929658/greg-holden-boys-in-the-street/ | How to Write an Ethical LGBT Anthem | 20160620000109 | It’s a song that regularly makes people cry. It’s a song Tom Hanks called “perfect.” But it’s also a song that had the potential to rub a lot of people the wrong way. Greg Holden’s “Boys in the Street” is an emotional account of a father coming to accept his gay son, but over lunch in New York a few weeks before the premiere of its music video, Holden sounds a little nervous about how it will be received. “I think the radio folk want to push it quite fast,” he says. “I’m not really too keen on doing that. I don’t want to ram it down anyone’s throat. I don’t want to be announcing it from the rooftops: ‘This is my new single!’”
It’s easy to understand why. The song, which Holden says he wrote in just 20 minutes and which was instrumental in getting his record deal, could be the big breakout track from his album Chase the Sun. But Holden, who is straight, has seen how pop culture sometimes criticizes artists who write about LGBTQ acceptance. Some critics said Macklemore and Ryan Lewis’ advocacy on “Same Love”—it was the first song in Top 40 to explicitly endorse marriage equality—crossed the line into self-appointed spokesmanship; detractors felt that it took an oversimplified, even condescending approach to issues of sexuality and race. And Lady Gaga, even though she identifies as bisexual, faced backlash for her 2011 song “Born This Way,” which many dismissed as pandering.
“Sometimes people can use the message,” says Holden, who heard from a fan who said “Boys in the Street” helped him through a period of suicidal thoughts. “My concern with the song is people might hear it and think, ‘Well, what does he know?’ I didn’t want it to just be advertising for Greg Holden. If it’s going to have a message, it has to follow through all the way.”
Holden wrote “Boys in the Street” after Kristin Russo and Dannielle Owens-Reid, the co-founders of Everyone Is Gay, an organization that supports LGBTQ youth, asked him to contribute to their 2014 fundraiser compilation, The Gayest Compilation Ever Made II. There were no instructions, only that the song touch upon sexuality or gender identity in some way. “I have all these musicians who are close to me who have told me, ‘I want to stand up for equality but I’m afraid my audience will turn around and say, ‘You can’t talk about that stuff because you aren’t queer,’’” Russo says. “It’s a really fine line, and for Greg, he’s a really respectful and very aware person, and that makes all the difference when you’re tackling a project or topic like this.”
Here’s what Holden did right:
Write what you know Much of the song was inspired by Holden’s relationship with his stepfather. “He was constantly telling me that I wasn’t going to achieve anything and would never amount to anything,” he says. “It was easy for me to say those things—it was coming from a genuine point of respect.”
“I don’t think he was trying to tell a story that he didn’t know about,” Russo adds. “What works is that those emotions that he was feeling are very similar to the emotions that somebody feels when they are coming from a place of, ‘I’m gay, I’m queer, I’m trans, and I don’t want to tell my father because my father disapproves.’”
But still do your homework Having knowledge about the community you’re writing about is paramount, says Russo, who is married to singer-songwriter Jenny Owen Youngs. “[When Youngs] has written songs about historic events and things like that, she doesn’t think, ‘I kind of know what happened, I’m going to write a song about it,’” she says. “She spends time learning and gathering information.”
Russo says it’s the same lesson that guided the production of Amazon’s original series Transparent, which extensively consulted with and employed many members of the transgender community. “You have to be in a dialogue with the reality that’s happening with those communities,” she says. Had she raised an objection to something in Holden’s song, she says: “Without batting an eye he would have had a conversation with us, we would have been able to have a dialogue about what he learned, and he would have gone back to that lyric or that verse and amended it.”
Get involved “I think it’s important [to] put my money where my mouth is,” Holden says. Because it was included it on the Everyone Is Gay compilation, “Boys in the Street” directly supported an organization working with LGBTQ youth, and he says he’d like to record more songs like “The Lost Boy,” his 2012 charity single that was inspired by the story of a Sudanese refugee and raised money for the Red Cross.
But being responsible doesn’t always have to be about money. Whether it’s giving other artists who are LGBTQ a platform or advocating politically—Macklemore released “Same Love” to raise awareness about Referendum 74 in Washington and donated some profits to a marriage-equality group—the important thing is to make “sure the work you do is empowering the communities that you’re speaking about,” Russo says.
Watch your message By just telling a simple story on “Boys in the Street,” Holden avoids making sweeping generalizations or assumptions about life as an LGBTQ person. And though Russo says she’s never challenged material submitted for her organization’s compilations, there are certain messages she cautions straight artists against. “If you say it’s not a choice, it implies that if you could choose you, you would not,” Russo explains. “It automatically makes the inference negative. [Many people] had never considered the larger implication.” That doesn’t mean you won’t hear LGBTQ artists themselves use that language, as Mary Lambert did on the chorus of “Same Love.” “That’s her experience and her story,” Russo says.
Watch your visuals, too In the music video for “Boys in the Street,” you won’t see another human being besides performance shots of Holden, who hates starring in his videos—the entire story is told through simply dressed mannequins. “We didn’t want to stereotype the dad, we didn’t want to stereotype the child,” Holden says. “I just wanted to make it as completely neutral to tell the story through the body language.”
Don’t speak up only when it’s convenient A few weeks after Holden and I speak, I learn from his label that he’s no longer doing interviews about the song and video, preferring to let the music speak for itself. That said, he won’t shy away from playing it live. “The places where you’d think [“Boys in the Street”] would go down badly, I get more excited about playing them,” Holden says. “The applause got less and less as I traveled south through the U.S. That gave me a rush. I’m really inspired by the artists who are trying to say something important in their songs. That always gave me chills. I want to try and do that, you know? If I think it’s going to make anybody uncomfortable, I get excited.” | Greg Holden's 'Boys in the Street' offers one blueprint for success | 105 | 0.5 | 1.5 | high | low | abstractive |
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/americans-hate-the-u-s-government-more-than-ever/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20160620082300id_/http://www.cbsnews.com:80/news/americans-hate-the-u-s-government-more-than-ever/ | Americans hate the U.S. government more than ever | 20160620082300 | A handful of industries are those "love to hate" types of businesses, such as cable-television companies and Internet service providers.
The federal government has joined the ranks of the bottom-of-the-barrel industries, according to a new survey from the American Customer Satisfaction Index. Americans' satisfaction level in dealing with federal agencies --everything from Treasury to Homeland Security -- has fallen for a third consecutive year, reaching an eight-year low.
The declines represent some backsliding for the U.S. government, given that satisfaction saw some improvement in 2011 and 2012, which may have been the result of spending in the wake of the recession. While the comparison with private enterprise isn't apples to apples given the nature of government services, the findings have some implications for bureaucrats.
"Satisfaction is linked to broader goals in the political system that it wants to maximize, like confidence and trust," said Forrest Morgeson, director of research at the ACSI. "It's much more difficult to govern if the entire population dislikes you."
Although satisfaction is down for the federal government as a whole, the research found that consumers have vastly different views of specific agencies. The department that received the highest score was the Department of the Interior, which received a ranking of 75 points. That could reflect Americans' positive feelings toward national parks, which many visit while on vacation, Morgeson noted.
The lowest-ranked department may not be much of a surprise to taxpayers: Treasury, which received a score of just 55 points, or 20 points below the Department of the Interior. Treasury, as a reminder, oversees the IRS.
"If you think about the most contacted government agency, it'll be the IRS," Morgeson said. "If you think about what the IRS does, which is take money from citizens, you'll have low satisfaction."
Despite the overall lower score for the government, there were some signs of improvement in citizens' experiences, with the feds earning improved scores in customer service and information, which means many citizens believe agencies are delivering information in a clearer way than a year ago.
The government report is based on surveys with more than 2,000 people who were surveyed late last year.
© 2016 CBS Interactive Inc.. All Rights Reserved. | Citizen satisfaction with the government has fallen to an eight-year low, ranking on par with cable TV | 22.3 | 0.85 | 2.05 | medium | medium | mixed |
http://www.nytimes.com/1999/08/13/business/earle-jorgensen-reagan-adviser-dies-at-101.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20160620125417id_/http://www.nytimes.com:80/1999/08/13/business/earle-jorgensen-reagan-adviser-dies-at-101.html | Earle Jorgensen, Reagan Adviser, Dies at 101 | 20160620125417 | LOS ANGELES, Aug. 12— Earle M. Jorgensen, who built one of the nation's largest steel distribution companies and helped persuade Ronald Reagan to go into politics, died Wednesday at his home in Los Angeles.
He was 101 and until weeks before his death went to work nearly every day at the business he founded, the Earle M. Jorgensen Company in Brea, Calif., which has annual sales of about $1 billion.
Mr. Jorgensen served on Mr. Reagan's ''kitchen cabinet,'' an informal network of businessmen who advised Mr. Reagan and urged him to run for governor of California in 1966 and later for President. But Mr. Jorgensen declined to take any job in Washington, saying that he wanted to stick with his business.
William A. Wilson, a California businessman who served as Ambassador to the Vatican in the Reagan Administration, said Mr. Jorgensen's personal success story ''had a lot to do with influencing'' Mr. Reagan's economic policies in support of free enterprise. ''Everyone had appreciated the fact that Earle had started with nothing and built himself a nice fortune,'' Mr. Wilson said.
In a statement issued today, Mr. Reagan and his wife, Nancy, said: ''Earle Jorgensen was one of our oldest and dearest friends, and we will miss him terribly. However, he has left us with many wonderful memories.''
Mr. Jorgensen was a former chairman of the Los Angeles chapter of the American Red Cross and was the largest individual contributor to the chapter over the years. He donated to many universities and was a trustee of the California Institute of Technology for 42 years, despite having never gone to college, or even finishing high school. He was also a founder of the Los Angeles Music Center and the Los Angeles Art Museum and involved in many other civic organizations.
Mr. Jorgensen was born in San Francisco on June 22, 1898, the son of Danish immigrants. His father, a sea captain, died when Mr. Jorgensen was in high school, forcing him to drop out and get a job, according to Mr. Wilson, a friend who has known him since 1936.
After serving in the Army Tank Corps in World War I, Mr. Jorgensen came to Los Angeles in 1920 and, the next year, began trudging over sand dunes to sell steel to oilmen working on the beach. The business eventually prospered as a supplier to California's growing aerospace and construction industries.
In 1989, Mr. Jorgensen's son John, who had become president of the steel company, died of cancer at the age of 64, forcing Mr. Jorgensen, at age 91, to resume a more active role in the business. Mr. Jorgensen sold the company to Kelso & Company, a New York leveraged buyout firm, in 1990 for $264 million, with his 32 percent stake worth $84 million. He remained chairman until 1994, when he became chairman emeritus.
His slogan, written on a sign on his office wall, was ''Hustle! -- That's All.'' In his desk he kept stacks of a book called ''The Go-Getter: A Story That Tells You How to Be One,'' about a scrappy kid who becomes a successful salesman. Mr. Jorgensen had stumbled upon the book, written by Peter B. Kyne in 1921, in a bookstore and liked it so much he bought the publishing rights and gave away signed copies to visitors.
The friendship with Mr. Reagan came after Mr. Jorgensen was introduced to the Hollywood scene, apparently through his wife of 47 years, Marion, who had previously been married to Milton Bren, a Hollywood producer. Mr. Jorgensen became the stepfather of his wife's two sons, Donald and Peter Bren. Donald Bren is now a billionaire real estate developer as owner of the Irvine Company, outside of Los Angeles.
In addition to his wife and stepsons, Mr. Jorgensen is survived by two children from his first marriage, Maren Long of Ojai, Calif., and Earle M. Jorgensen Jr. of Mariposa, Calif. His son John and a daughter from that marriage, which ended in divorce, predeceased him. He also had 17 grandchildren, 21 great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild.
Mr. Jorgensen did not take up sports until learning to ski at age 59, according to Mr. Wilson. He then moved to tennis and golf. Even in his 100th year, he was getting up at 5 A.M. three days a week to work with a personal trainer. But work was always paramount and it seems he credited it for his longevity.
''I've always worked,'' he told Forbes magazine last year. ''I'm too busy to die.''
Photo: Earle M. Jorgensen, with his wife, Marion, and President Reagan. (Associated Press, 1981) | Earle M. Jorgensen, who built one of the nation's largest steel distribution companies and helped persuade Ronald Reagan to go into politics, died Wednesday at his home in Los Angeles. He was 101 and until weeks before his death went to work nearly every day at the business he founded, the Earle M. Jorgensen Company in Brea, Calif., which has annual sales of about $1 billion. | 12.197368 | 0.986842 | 37.328947 | low | high | extractive |
http://www.nytimes.com/2000/02/22/world/china-says-taiwan-cannot-continue-delaying-reunion.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20160620151128id_/http://www.nytimes.com:80/2000/02/22/world/china-says-taiwan-cannot-continue-delaying-reunion.html | CHINA SAYS TAIWAN CANNOT CONTINUE DELAYING REUNION | 20160620151128 | BEIJING, Feb. 21— Less than one month before presidential elections in Taiwan, the Chinese government released the bluntest warning yet that it will not wait indefinitely for the island to reunite with the mainland. A prolonged lack of negotiations, in itself, China warned, could provoke a military attack.
The Chinese have long made it clear that any moves by Taiwan toward formal independence would lead to war. But today's government report on Taiwan adds -- for the first time in such a definitive policy statement -- that if Taiwan refuses indefinitely to pursue ''the peaceful settlement of cross-straits reunification through negotiations, then the Chinese government will only be forced to adopt all drastic measures possible, including the use of force, to safeguard China's sovereignty and territorial integrity.''
The report does not provide timetable or deadline for negotiating progress. Still, ''This is a signal that Beijing is getting impatient with the delays in the process of reunification,'' said Andrew Yang, secretary general of the China Council of Advanced Policy Studies, a private group in Taipei. ''This is a warning to the people of Taiwan.''
Taiwan officials said they would not comment until they had studied the document. As of tonight, the candidates in the March 18 presidential elections had not responded. The top contenders have favored talks of some sort, but not Beijing's vision of reunification.
The 11,000-word report, entitled ''The One-China Principle and the Taiwan Issue,'' was released by the Taiwan affairs office and the information office of the state council, China's cabinet.
It elaborates on China's longstanding proposal for a negotiated return of Taiwan under a version of the ''one country, two systems'' formula, with even greater autonomy than was given to Hong Kong, which reverted to Chinese rule in 1997. ''Provided that it is within the framework of one China, any question can be discussed,'' the report says, including ''Taiwan's international space for economic, cultural and social activities compatible with its status, the political status of the Taiwan authorities and other questions.''
That formula has been rejected as too confining by Taiwan's leaders and the three leading presidential candidates.
The dire warnings in the document were a reminder of what an emotional issue the reunification of Taiwan with the ''motherland'' is for Beijing, especially now that Hong Kong and Macao have returned to the fold. While there was no ultimatum or threat of immediate attack, they also underscore how explosive the confrontation across the Taiwan Strait is, potentially drawing the United States into war with China.
Today's report lambastes the United States for providing advanced weapons to Taiwan, which China says violates promises, and for proposals in Congress for a closer military relationship with the island, which it calls a ''gross interference in China's internal affairs and a grave threat to China's security.''
The United States officially supports the concept of ''one China,'' but is also committed to providing Taiwan with the means to defend itself against attack.
In Washington, the State Department said there would be no official response until the report was studied ''very carefully.'' But the harder line on Taiwan was likely to cause political problems for the Clinton administration as it faces a battle for Congressional approval of to get China's membership in the World Trade Organization approved in Congress. And the report's denunciation of the Congressional bill to upgrade military ties with Taiwan, which passed the House this month, could enhance support for the bill in the Senate.
The new Chinese report bitterly condemns Taiwan's president, Lee Tung-hui, accusing him of destroying previous talks with his assertion last summer that Taiwan would negotiate with China only on a ''state-to-state'' basis and his refusal to repeat the traditional homage to the concept of ''one China.''
After Mr. Lee's statement last summer, China broke off planned high-level meetings, charging that Mr. Lee was secretly scheming for independence even though he professes to support reunion at some distant point -- after the mainland, too, has become a democracy.
The report condemns Mr. Lee's suggestion of waiting for democracy as ''an excuse for postponing and resisting reunification,'' since China has offered to allow different political systems to coexist under the banner of one China.
It is too early to tell what effect China's sharp words might have on Taiwan's election campaign. In 1996, before Taiwan's first direct elections for president, China was angered by Mr. Lee's defiant statements and fired missiles near Taiwan as a warning. The United States sent two aircraft carriers to the region.
Mr. Lee won election handily and seemed to gain popular appeal though his brinkmanship, but since then many Taiwanese who had toyed with the idea of declaring independence have had second thoughts.
China lacks the military power to invade Taiwan, experts say, and is no match for American forces should they be drawn into a confrontation. But China is steadily improving its navy; it recently received the first of two Russian-built guided-missile destroyers designed to penetrate American carrier group defenses. And it is building up forces of ballistic and cruise missiles. Both could be used to cripple Taiwan's economy by disrupting sea lanes.
So far, this year's election campaign has involved fewer military tensions, and in Taiwan the candidates have gone out of their way to avoid sounding provocative. Surveys show that a large majority of the Taiwan public, after enjoying years of prosperity and democracy, does not want a military confrontation with China.
All three major candidates, -- Vice President Lien Chan of the governing Nationalist Party; James Soong, a former Nationalist leader who is running as an independent, and Chen Shui-bian, of the Democratic Progressive Party -- have made vague pledges to resume negotiations of some sort with China and to encourage more trade and business links. But none endorses China's formula for reunification, and it is unclear what the two sides might say in future to talks to give China a sense of progress toward unity.
Some political experts think that today's Chinese warning may be intended, in part, to scare voters away from Mr. Chen, whose party has long been associated with Taiwan independence. The founding charter of his party calls for a referendum on whether the island, still formally called the Republic of China, should be renamed the Republic of Taiwan.
Mr. Chen, seeking to broaden his electoral appeal, has declared that since Taiwan is already independent in practice, it does not need a formal declaration and that if elected, he would not pursue a referendum on the issue unless Taiwan came under attack. He has offered to discuss improving communications and economic ties, something the mainland badly wants.
The report released today unequivocally rejects the legitimacy of any referendum in Taiwan on independence, warning, ''Any attempt to separate Taiwan from China through so-called referendum would only lead the Taiwan people to disaster.''
In effect, today's warning puts the Taiwan candidates on notice that China does not intend to allow a repeat of Mr. Lee's performance, which it believes brought a halt to even the pretense of negotiations toward symbolic unification.
Photo: Policy toward Beijing dominates Taiwan's presidential campaign, with leading candidates avoiding provocative remarks. Lien Chan, right, of the governing Nationalists, has pledged to ease trade with the mainland. (Associated Press)(pg. A10) Map showing the location of Taiwan: Taiwan is in the midst of a presidential election campaign. (pg. A10) | Less than one month before presidential elections in Taiwan, the Chinese government released the bluntest warning yet that it will not wait indefinitely for the island to reunite with the mainland. A prolonged lack of negotiations, in itself, China warned, could provoke a military attack. The Chinese have long made it clear that any moves by Taiwan toward formal independence would lead to war. But today's government report on Taiwan adds -- for the first time in such a definitive policy statement -- that if Taiwan refuses indefinitely to pursue ''the peaceful settlement of cross-straits reunification through negotiations, then the Chinese government will only be forced to adopt all drastic measures possible, including the use of force, to safeguard China's sovereignty and territorial integrity.'' | 10.265734 | 0.993007 | 76.097902 | low | high | extractive |
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/howtogrow/3348813/How-to-grow-Verbena-rigida.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20160621024933id_/http://www.telegraph.co.uk:80/gardening/howtogrow/3348813/How-to-grow-Verbena-rigida.html | How to grow: Verbena rigida | 20160621024933 | It is one of 200 species of verbena. All but two are found in Latin America, and V. rigida is a native of Brazil and Argentina. It was introduced into Europe circa 1820 by Dr John Gillies, in an era when many South American plants were collected by copper-mining engineers setting up new businesses. It soon dazzled and, being easily raised from seed, it found itself bedded out in three grand French gardens - Versailles, Malmaison and Fontainebleau.
If your garden has heavy, wet soil you will have to gamble and grow V. rigida as an annual in the hopes that it may come through winter. If this is too onerous, try a taller, more slender verbena from the damp meadows of North America - V. hastata.
V. rigida is easily grown from spring-sown seeds. They germinate within 3-4 weeks and seedlings can then be pricked out individually into 3in pots of John Innes No 2. Once the roots reach the bottom of the pot, usually within 5 weeks, the individual plants can be put out into position. They may not flower until September in their first year, but in their second year will perform for many months. When flowering is over, leave the head and leaves intact throughout winter as protection against hard weather. The foliage weathers to an attractive light brown and stays rigid. Cut the plants down in mid-spring and they will soon reshoot.
The rigid heads of deep purple flowers mix well with soft, silky grasses that flop. The best combination is provided by the cream-white powder puffs of Pennisetum villosum, a grass of similar height which will also overwinter in the same well-drained conditions. But if your soil is damper, or your garden very exposed, plant the hardy, P. alopecuroides 'Hameln'. The annual barley-like grass, Hordeum jubatum, is also excellent. But it's a short-lived perennial for a hot spot, although always happy to self-seed a little.
For a sharp contrast, plant with the acid yellow Achillea 'Moonshine. Or place the purple flowers against one of the later, less invasive orange crocosmias ('Severn Sunrise' or 'Star of the East'). This tuberous-rooted verbena is also excellent among dahlias. The dark, deep reds, such as 'Bishop of Llandaff', will look more vibrant. Or you could use the warm orange 'David Howard'.
V. rigida can also line a path. I grow mine among silver-leaved rock roses such as 'Wisley Primrose' and the orange 'Chocolate Blotch'.
Buy Verbena rigida from the Telegraph Gardenshop. | Val Bourne on a plant that gives great garden value. | 46.454545 | 0.454545 | 0.454545 | high | low | abstractive |
http://www.nytimes.com/1994/03/24/garden/an-afternoon-with-masters-and-johnson-divorced-yes-but-not-split.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20160621032259id_/http://www.nytimes.com:80/1994/03/24/garden/an-afternoon-with-masters-and-johnson-divorced-yes-but-not-split.html? | AN AFTERNOON WITH - Masters and Johnson - Divorced, Yes, But Not Split - NYTimes.com | 20160621032259 | ST. LOUIS— PROFESSIONALLY, they were the most renowned couple engaged in the study of human sexuality. To the world at large they were, quite simply, the sex experts. All of which made the news of their separation in 1992, after 21 years of marriage, and their divorce last year, a major surprise.
Dr. William H. Masters, 78, and Virginia E. Johnson, 69, have always been full of surprises. They have been lambasted and lauded, lightning rods for controversy and criticism, for almost three decades. When these voluble and strong-willed partners published a physiology textbook in 1966, they suddenly became public creatures. The book, "Human Sexual Response," dealing with the science of human sexuality, became a huge popular success, and their names were inextricably linked. Their marriage, in 1971, officially sealed the pairing.
Their parting was amicable; they went out to dinner after signing the divorce papers. A year later, they were interviewed together, at their request, in the three-story house here that Ms. Johnson kept after the divorce.
They now seldom see each other socially but continue to collaborate, most recently on the just published "Heterosexuality" (HarperCollins, $27.50).
Both Dr. Masters and Ms. Johnson said they were surprised at the reaction to their separation. Scores of letters and telephone calls poured in, most of them, Ms. Johnson said, both poignant and amusing.
"Amusing to us," she said, "because there was an assumption we had had a sexual problem. It was like, 'Poor things, can we help you?' "
One writer said, "It's like my mother and father getting a divorce." Another wrote, "How can you help others if you can't help yourselves?"
"We never thought we had that persona," Ms. Johnson said. "We would tell them we did help ourselves: we did exactly what we wanted to do in accord with our clear and considered requirements."
The 595-page volume "Heterosexuality" was written with Dr. Robert C. Kolodny, a former associate at the Masters & Johnson Institute, who is now the medical director of the Behavioral Medicine Institute in New Canaan, Conn. A distillation of 30 years of research and clinical programs, it covers what seems to be every conceivable area of male-female sex, including AIDS, sexual addictions, sex and aging, and discrepancies in desires.
Dr. Masters, who during the interview showed few signs of Parkinson's disease, which he has had for several years, still travels and lectures and is actively involved in research. The institute, which the couple founded in the 1950's, has become smaller in recent years. While it pioneered the field of therapy for sexual dysfunctions, it no longer has a formal training program for therapists, instead concentrating on research and treatment programs, especially concerning sexual traumas like rape and molestation.
Still in operation is the institute's famous two-week intensive psychotherapy program, emphasizing communication and problem-solving skills to identify psychological and medical obstacles to a pleasurable sexual relationship. The program, for couples, includes a year of follow-up, and can cost up to $3,500.
Dr. Masters's "professional preoccupation was always 80 to 90 percent of his life," said Ms. Johnson, who has pulled back from institute work. "It was seven days a week, including Thanksgiving, Christmas and every holiday."
Still, at one point, she added, "I don't remember a time at home when the sound of some sport was not coming over television and radio."
"She makes too much of it," Dr. Masters interjected.
Her plans now include producing videos "using many forms but no explicit sex," she said, adding: "I'm developing a way to convey information to couples so that they can individually understand and appreciate their own sexuality. The whole issue is self-discovery."
Dr. Masters was remarried last summer, to Geraldine Baker Oliver, a woman he met 55 years ago while he was in medical school at the University of Rochester, had seen only a few times in the ensuing years and met again by happenstance. "It's a wonderful experience," he said in his mellifluous voice.
Ms. Johnson added, "He had an opportunity to do what few people can: go back to a wonderful time in his life before he was as involved professionally."
Ms. Johnson has not remarried. She was married twice before her marriage to Dr. Masters, first to a lawyer who she said was not interested in having children, then to George Johnson, a musician with whom she had a son and a daughter. Dr. Masters was also married previously and he, too, has a son and a daughter.
Ms. Johnson sat in a dark green chair that matched the sofa and other chairs in a living room that was almost devoid of personal objects, clever picture arrangements or other decorative touches. Clearly, such things are not her chief concerns. Halfway through a three-hour conversation, she began to discuss marriage.
"It never occurred to me that I would not marry," she said. "I was following a societal imperative. Now, it's not a priority, but I like a man in my life, and commitment, and I probably will remarry."
The two are still apt to finish each other's sentences, and they engage in light sparring. "What year were we married?" she said suddenly.
"Nineteen seventy-one," Dr. Masters replied.
"That was a fun question," she said. "I just wanted to see if he remembered."
"I'm damn lucky I did," he said.
There was apparently little time for banter during the marriage.
"We kind of belonged to other people, not ourselves," Ms. Johnson said. "We thought in terms of our work and what we hoped to accomplish, not a private or social life. | PROFESSIONALLY, they were the most renowned couple engaged in the study of human sexuality. To the world at large they were, quite simply, the sex experts. All of which made the news of their separation in 1992, after 21 years of marriage, and their divorce last year, a major surprise. Dr. William H. Masters, 78, and Virginia E. Johnson, 69, have always been full of surprises. They have been lambasted and lauded, lightning rods for controversy and criticism, for almost three decades. When these voluble and strong-willed partners published a physiology textbook in 1966, they suddenly became public creatures. The book, "Human Sexual Response," dealing with the science of human sexuality, became a huge popular success, and their names were inextricably linked. Their marriage, in 1971, officially sealed the pairing. | 7.308642 | 0.993827 | 85.709877 | low | high | extractive |
http://www.nytimes.com/1985/10/06/business/what-s-new-in-the-world-of-beds-waterbeds-for-just-plain-folks.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20160621040241id_/http://www.nytimes.com:80/1985/10/06/business/what-s-new-in-the-world-of-beds-waterbeds-for-just-plain-folks.html | WHAT'S NEW IN THE WORLD OF BEDS | 20160621040241 | THEY were a 1960's counterculture fad at first. Along with ripped, faded bluejeans, bandannas and long hair, water beds were yet another way to make the statement: We're against convention. ''Really, the water bed is about the only symbol of that era that's lingered,'' said Jerry Long, director of sales and marketing at Wavecrest, a California-based waterbed manufacturer.
Water beds have not only lingered - they have thrived. Over the last decade, water bed sales have increased by about 100,000 units each year.
Last year, 3.4 million water beds were sold in the United States. When the prices of accessories -chemicals for the water, special linens and the like - are counted in, water beds represented a $2 billion industry in 1984, according to Facts Consolidated, a Los Angeles research firm.
Conventional bedding manufacturers are jumping into the market, either through acquisitions or additions to existing product lines. In the last two years, the Ohio Mattress Manufacturing Company, a large manufacturer of conventional mattresses, has acquired Wavecrest and Monterey Manufacturing, as well as Wood Stuff, which makes waterbed frames. The three acquisitions are generating more than $60 million in annual sales for their new parent.
Since 1978, Sears, Roebuck & Company has been selling water beds. Sears has begun a national magazine advertising campaign for its water beds, as well as a direct mail program and radio campaign. Simmons, meanwhile, added water beds to its line in 1979.
Water beds, which normally sell from $500 to $900, come in many versions. They can be virtually motionless (for those who find the wave action of some waterbeds unpleasant) or full-motion. They can have temperature controls and, for queen- or king-size beds, dual controls. And they can be hardside - a water-filled mattress enclosed by a wood frame - or softside - a mattress with a water-filled cavity.
Industry insiders say that the softsides (also called ''hybrid'' mattresses) are the fastest-growing segment of the water bed market. They are less prone to leakage than the hardsides. And they look more like conventional beds, and thus can be suited to headboards and other bed accessories.
According to Facts Consolidated, softsides accounted for one of every eight water beds sold in 1984. Softside sales climbed to 408,000 in 1984 from 350,000 in 1983, a 16.5 percent increase.
For most adults, water beds are an acquired taste. But the manufacturers are trying to get the next generation into the water bed habit as early as possible. According to Mr. Long, 75 percent of all stores that sell water beds offer a selection of water bed cribs. | THEY were a 1960's counterculture fad at first. Along with ripped, faded bluejeans, bandannas and long hair, water beds were yet another way to make the statement: We're against convention. ''Really, the water bed is about the only symbol of that era that's lingered,'' said Jerry Long, director of sales and marketing at Wavecrest, a California-based waterbed manufacturer. | 6.844156 | 1 | 77 | low | high | extractive |
http://fortune.com/2016/04/15/president-obama-cable-bill/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20160621050341id_/http://fortune.com:80/2016/04/15/president-obama-cable-bill/ | President Obama Is Pushing FCC to Open Competition in Cable TV Boxes | 20160621050341 | The Obama administration on Friday weighed into the debate over allowing consumers to switch pricey cable television boxes for less expensive devices, urging an agency to set an example for other parts of government to boost competition.
Consumers can spend nearly $1,000 over four years for renting cable set-top boxes. Opening the business to competition and allowing consumers to chose devices or apps they can own could mean quick savings, an official said.
“You could have a set a standards such that anyone could connect any box to their cable and those boxes could compete for lower prices and greater innovation,” Jason Furman, the chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers told reporters in a teleconference.
The Federal Communications Commission, an independent agency, in February proposed a rule opening competition in the $20 billion television set-top box market. It set a 60-day comment period on the rule that could cost major cable companies.
The rule would allow consumers to obtain video services from providers such as Alphabet googl , Apple aapl and Tivo tivo , instead of cable, satellite, and other television providers such Comcast cmcsa and Verizon Communications vz .
It is unclear if the rule will be implemented before Obama leaves office next January. Cable and television companies have lashed out against the proposal saying it could stifle innovation.
The administration entered the debate through a rare filing into the FCC’s comment period. “When the President personally gets involved is when it’s of real great importance, in his mind, to consumers, to competition, and to the economy more broadly,” Furman said.
Obama will also sign an executive order on Friday calling on federal agencies and departments to report in 60 days on specific areas where additional measures can be taken to open competition.
Furman would not venture a guess on what kind of pro competition measures that order could spur. The administration is looking to add to actions it has already taken for consumers on cell phones, net neutrality and retirement advice.
“This is going to be a whole of government effort to empower consumers, workers and small businesses,” Furman said. | And give you more options. | 67.666667 | 0.666667 | 0.666667 | high | low | abstractive |
http://time.com/2966515/landline-phones-cell-phones/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20160621122307id_/http://time.com:80/2966515/landline-phones-cell-phones/ | 41% of Households Don't Have Landline Phones Anymore | 20160621122307 | It’s not just Millennials anymore—a growing number of older American adults are getting rid of their landlines and going cellphone-only. 41 percent of U.S. households were wireless-only by of the end of 2013, according to new data from the National Center for Health Statistics.
Young adults are unsurprisingly the cohort the most likely to live in wireless-only homes, with 66 percent of people between 25 and 29 using cellphones exclusively. Americans between 30 and 34 were the next largest group of cord-cutters, with 60 percent of them living in wireless-only homes. 53% of people between 18 and 24 are now cellphone-only, while 48% of people aged 35 to 44 and 31% of people aged 45 to 64 have made the jump.
Just 14% of adults over 65 have dumped their landlines, though. Overall, more than half of wireless-only adults are now 35 or older, up from 47.6% in the second half of 2010.
People who live at or below the poverty level are also more likely to forego landlines. Fifty-six percent of people in that group live in wireless-only households, while 46% of of people who live near the poverty level and 36% of non-poor people are cellphone-only.
Americans’ growing reliance on cellphones helps explain the increasingly heated battle over consumers among the major wireless carriers. But these devices are hardly even being used in the same way landline phones are. Sixty-three percent of U.S. adults use their phones to go online, according to the Pew Research Center, and cellphone carriers now generate more revenue from data fees than from voice calls. | 41% of American homes are now wireless-only | 32.2 | 1 | 2 | medium | high | mixed |
http://www.aol.com/article/2015/12/24/ted-cruz-flip-flops-on-same-sex-marriage-in-closed-door-recordin/21287879/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20160621134006id_/http://www.aol.com:80/article/2015/12/24/ted-cruz-flip-flops-on-same-sex-marriage-in-closed-door-recordin/21287879/? | Ted Cruz flip-flops on same-sex marriage in closed-door recording | 20160621134006 | Before you go, we thought you'd like these...
Politico obtains recording of a Cruz fundraiser where the Texas senator reverses course on fighting same-sex marriage.Fresh off an outcry of support in the wake of a Washington Post cartoon that depicted his daughters as monkeys, Ted Cruz still had negative press to deal with on Wednesday.See Cruz on the campaign trail:
Ted Cruz flip-flops on same-sex marriage in closed-door recording
STAFFORD-MARCH 1: Ted Cruz holds his victory rally at the Redneck Country Club in Stafford, Texas. On the left is his wife, Heidi and their two daughters and on the right is the Lt. Governor of Texas, Dan Patrick. (Photo by Lucian Perkins /for The Washington Post via Getty Images)
Senator Ted Cruz, a Republican from Texas and 2016 presidential candidate, stands on stage during a Super Tuesday night event in Houston, Texas, U.S., on Tuesday, March 1, 2016. Cruz said Monday in Dallas that Super Tuesday will make the Republican primary a 'two-man race,' predicting that he and Donald Trump will finish far ahead of rivals Marco Rubio, John Kasich and Ben Carson in terms of delegates. Photographer: Matthew Busch/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Senator Ted Cruz, a Republican from Texas and 2016 presidential candidate, greets attendees with his wife Heidi Cruz and children during a campaign event in San Antonio, Texas, U.S., on Monday, Feb. 29, 2016. Cruz said Monday in Dallas that Super Tuesday will make the Republican primary a 'two-man race,' predicting that he and Donald Trump will finish far ahead of rivals Marco Rubio, John Kasich and Ben Carson in terms of delegates. Photographer: Matthew Busch/Bloomberg via Getty Images *** Local Captions *** Ted Cruz; Heidi Cruz
US Republican presidential hopeful Sen. Ted Cruz speaks at a presidential campaign rally in Dallas, Texas on February 29, 2016 one day before the 'Super Tuesday' primaries. Americans in a dozen states head to the polls for a slew of primaries and caucuses March 1 on what is considered the most important day of the presidential nominations calendar. / AFP / Laura Buckman (Photo credit should read LAURA BUCKMAN/AFP/Getty Images)
UNITED STATES - FEBRUARY 27: Presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, arrives for a campaign rally near the Georgia State Capitol Building in Atlanta, Ga., February 27, 2016. (Photo By Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)
HOUSTON, TX - FEBRUARY 24: Republican presidential candidate U.S. Sen Ted Cruz (R-TX) greets people during a campaign rally at the Mach Industrial Group on February 24, 2016 in Houston, Texas. The process to select the next Democratic and Republican Presidential candidates continues. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
AMES, IA - JANUARY 30: Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) arrives at a campaign event at the Gateway Hotel on January 30, 2016 in Ames, Iowa. The Democratic and Republican Iowa Caucuses, the first step in nominating a presidential candidate from each party, will take place on February 1. (Photo by Brendan Hoffman/Getty Images)
DES MOINES, IA - JANUARY 31: Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) speaks to Iowa voters at the Iowa State Fairgrounds January 31, 2016 in Des Moines, Iowa. The U.S. presidential election kicks off tomorrow with the state's caucuses. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
HAMLIN, IA - JANUARY 30: Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) speaks at a campaign event at Darrell's Place on January 30, 2016 in Hamlin, Iowa. The Democratic and Republican Iowa Caucuses, the first step in nominating a presidential candidate from each party, will take place on February 1. (Photo by Brendan Hoffman/Getty Images)
HAMLIN, IA - JANUARY 30: Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) (C) greets an audience member as he is introduced at a campaign event at Darrell's Place on January 30, 2016 in Hamlin, Iowa. The Democratic and Republican Iowa Caucuses, the first step in nominating a presidential candidate from each party, will take place on February 1. (Photo by Brendan Hoffman/Getty Images)
Republican presidential candidate, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas speaks during a campaign stop at the Freedom Country Store, Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2016, in Freedom, N.H. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)
Republican presidential candidate, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, departs a campaign stop, Monday, Jan. 18, 2016, in Washington, N.H. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Shown is Republican presidential candidate, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, shadow as he speaks during a campaign stop Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2016, in Hollis, N.H. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Delaney Anne tries to make a selfie with Republican presidential candidate, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, during a campaign stop, Monday, Jan. 18, 2016, in Tilton, N.H. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Republican Presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, campaigns at Penny's Diner in Missouri Valley, Iowa, Monday, Jan. 4, 2016. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik)
LAS VEGAS, NV - DECEMBER 17: Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) speaks during a campaign rally at the Siena Community Center on December 17, 2015 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Two days after participating in the fifth GOP presidential debate, Cruz began a swing through eight Super Tuesday states in five days. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, speaks during a town hall meeting at Furman University on Monday, Dec. 7, 2015, in Greenville, S.C. (AP Photo/Rainier Ehrhardt)
Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, speaks Saturday, Dec. 5, 2015, during the Rising Tide Summit at the US Cellular Center in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. (AP Photo/Scott Morgan)
Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas speaks to supporters on the Statehouse steps in Concord, N.H., Thursday, Nov. 12, 2015, after filing papers to be on the nation's earliest presidential primary ballot. (AP Photo/Jim Cole)
WASHINGTON, DC - DECEMBER 03: Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) leads a moment of silence for victims of the San Bernardino shooting prior to his address to the Republican Jewish Coalition at Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center December 3, 2015 in Washington, DC. Candidates spoke and took questions from Jewish leaders and activists. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, shops for jewelry from ChildVoice International with his daughters Catherine, left, and Caroline during a campaign stop at the Deerfield Fair Friday, Oct. 2, 2015, in Deerfield, N.H. ChildVoice International is a non-profit organization seeking to restore the voices of children silenced by war.(AP Photo/Jim Cole)
Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump, right, speaks with fellow Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, during a rally opposing the Iran nuclear deal outside the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2015. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
Senator Ted Cruz, a Republican from Texas and 2016 presidential candidate, speaks during a Tea Party Patriots rally against the Iran nuclear deal on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2015. A revolt among U.S. House Republicans delayed action on the Iran nuclear deal today as some members insisted they aren't bound by a Sept. 17 deadline in their efforts to kill the agreement. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Republican presidential candidate Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, center, right, posses for a photo with Timothy Lewis after a campaign event at the Stockyards in Forth Worth, Texas, Thursday, Sept. 3, 2015. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
Photographed through attendees, Republican presidential candidate, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, speaks at the Americans for Prosperity Road to Reform event Friday, Aug. 14, 2015, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)
DES MOINES, IA - AUGUST 21: Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) speaks to supporters at his Religious Liberty Rally on August 21, 2015 in Des Moines, Iowa. Earlier in the day Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) visited and spoke to guests at the Iowa State Fair. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Senator Ted Cruz, a Republican from Texas and 2016 presidential candidate, speaks at the Iowa State Fair Soapbox in Des Moines, Iowa, U.S., on Friday, Aug. 21, 2015. A day after Jimmy Carter appeared on national television to talk about the cancer that's ravaging his body, Cruz criticized the former president's administration in a speech in Iowa. Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Senator Ted Cruz, a Republican from Texas and 2016 presidential candidate, eats a pork chop at the Iowa Pork Producers tent during the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines, Iowa, U.S., on Friday, Aug. 21, 2015. A day after Jimmy Carter appeared on national television to talk about the cancer that's ravaging his body, Cruz criticized the former president's administration in a speech in Iowa. Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Senator Ted Cruz, a Republican from Texas and 2016 presidential candidate, speaks at the Rally for Religious Liberty in Des Moines, Iowa, U.S., on Friday, Aug. 21, 2015. A day after Jimmy Carter appeared on national television to talk about the cancer that's ravaging his body, Republican presidential candidate Cruz criticized the former president's administration in a speech in Iowa. Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Images
UNITED STATES - AUGUST 8: Presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) spends a few moments with his daughter Catherine before the start of the Cruz bus tour rally in a field behind Sprayberry's BBQ in Newnan, Ga., on Saturday, Aug. 8, 2015. (Photo By Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)
Texas Senator Ted Cruz participates in the Republican presidential primary debate on August 6, 2015 at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. AFP PHOTO / MANDEL NGAN (Photo credit should read MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images)
UNITED STATES - JULY 29: Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, awaits for the elevator doors to close as he arrives in the basement of the Capitol, July 29, 2015. (Photo By Al Drago/CQ Roll Call)
WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 28: Republican presidential candidate, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) speaks during a Anti-abortion rally opposing federal funding for Planned Parenthood in front of the U.S. Capitol July 28, 2015 in Washington, DC. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) announced a Senate deal to vote on legislation to defund Planned Parenthood before the Senate goes into recess in August. (Photo by Olivier Douliery/Getty Images)
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, speaks to reporters following a rare Sunday Senate session on Capitol Hill in Washington, Sunday, July 26, 2015. Senior Senate Republicans lined up Sunday to rebuke Cruz for attacking Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, an extraordinary display of intraparty division played out live on the Senate floor. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
WASHINGTON, USA - JULY 23: Republican Presidential Candidate Senator Ted Cruz speaks out against the nuclear deal with Iran during a demonstration that was interrupted by counter protestors in Lafayette Park across the the street from the White House in Washington, DC on July 23, 2015. (Photo by Samuel Corum/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)
Senator Ted Cruz, a Republican from Texas and 2016 U.S. presidential candidate, speaks during The Family Leadership Summit in Ames, Iowa, U.S., on Saturday, July 18, 2015. The sponsor, The FAMiLY LEADER, is a 'pro-family, pro-marriage, pro-life organization which champions the principle that God is the ultimate leader of the family.' Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Images
AMES, IA - JULY 18: Republican presidential hopeful Senator Ted Cruz of Texas fields questions at The Family Leadership Summit at Stephens Auditorium on July 18, 2015 in Ames, Iowa. According to the organizers the purpose of The Family Leadership Summit is to inspire, motivate, and educate conservatives. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Senator Ted Cruz, a Republican from Texas and 2016 presidential candidate, stands outside while waiting to speak during the Faith and Freedom Coalition's 'Road to Majority' legislative luncheon in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Thursday, June 18, 2015. The annual Faith & Freedom Coalition Policy Conference gives top-tier presidential contenders as well as long shots a chance to compete for the large evangelical Christian base in the crowded Republican primary contest. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images
WASHINGTON, DC - JUNE 04: Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) participates in a Judiciary Subcommittee hearing on the Affordable Care Act on Capitol Hill June 4, 2015 in Washington, DC. The hearing is billed as 'Rewriting The Law, Examining the Process That Led to the ObamaCare Subsidy Rule'. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
Senator Ted Cruz, a Republican from Texas and 2016 presidential candidate, speaks during a press conference at the Hampton Inn and Suites in Seneca, South Carolina, U.S., on Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2016. Cruz says Donald Trump sent his lawyers cease and desist letters over a Cruz campaign ad that portrays Trump as pro-choice saying that if the Cruz campaign doesn't pull ad, they'll see immediate legal action to prevent the continued broadcast of this ad, according to Cruz. Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Politico reported on closed-door recordings it obtained from a Manhattan fundraiser for the Texas senator in which he flip-flopped on his vow to fight the legalization of same-sex marriage.
At the big-money fundraiser, Cruz was asked if fighting the Supreme Court's ruling legalizing same-sex marriage would be a "top three priority." Cruz answered, "No."
Also Read: Washington Post Pulls Cartoon Depicting Ted Cruz's Daughters as Monkeys (Photo)
This is a radical departure from previous comments Cruz made in June that promised to make reversing the ruling "front and center" of his 2016 campaign.
He followed up those comments in July by calling the Court's decision the "very definition of tyranny," while urging states to ignore the ruling.
Also Read: Ted Cruz, Conservative Media Blast 'Out of Touch' NY Times for Front-Page Gun Editorial
Cruz's brand and messaging centers on him being anti-establishment and different than go-along-to-get-along politicians, so reports like this don't help his cause.
Cruz has also railed against the media in debates and interviews for what he perceives as a left-wing bias. Those same outlets he's attacked are likely to focus on his inconsistencies and dig in to try and uncover more.
More from The Wrap:Josh Elliott to Leave NBC SportsMadonna's Son Ordered Back to US to Spend Holidays With HerWalmart Driver in Tracy Morgan Crash Charged With Manslaughter | The Republican presidential candidate and senator reversed courses on fighting for the controversial issue during a fundraiser in Manhattan. | 151.25 | 0.8 | 1.4 | high | medium | abstractive |
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/luxury/design/walter-knoll-celebrates-150-years/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20160621153606id_/http://www.telegraph.co.uk:80/luxury/design/walter-knoll-celebrates-150-years/ | Walter Knoll celebrates 150 years | 20160621153606 | Wilhelm and Walter Knoll – Wilhelm's sons – took over the business in 1907 and modernised the offering with new forms and functions for upholstered seating. Despite the international economic crisis, their approach won through, with products such as the Antimott range reinventing traditional elaborate techniques with patented horizontal coil springs. For the zeppelins of the age, they launched a lightweight aluminium chair.
Walter Knoll went his own way in 1925, founding Walter Knoll & Co with a mission to bring modernity into furniture in the way he saw it impacting the worlds of architecture, art and culture across Europe and the US. Together with designer Paul Hahn, he developed new, modern upholstered furniture for mass production. The rest is history, and over the years many design luminaries have created pieces for the brand, including Foster + Partners, Kengo Kuma, Claudio Bellini and Ben ven Berkel. A portfolio of success stories such as the bucket seat 369, designed in 1956, are still going strong today.
In 1993, prestigious family furnishing firm Rolf Benz bought the company, and Markus Benz has been running the business ever since. And with the increasing merging of commercial and residential design sensibilities over the last decade, the company has increased its performance more than tenfold since the last century. Walter Knoll furniture can be found everywhere from the residence of the German Embassy in Brasilia and banks in Dubai to the Hearst Building in New York. | For those who are good at staying abreast of birthdays, it might be a little confusing to hear that this year Walter Knoll celebrates its 150th. | 9 | 0.4 | 0.466667 | low | low | abstractive |
http://fortune.com/2016/05/16/hacker-guilty-press-release-scheme/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20160621203814id_/http://fortune.com:80/2016/05/16/hacker-guilty-press-release-scheme/ | Hacker Pleads Guilty Over Press Release Insider Scheme | 20160621203814 | A Ukrainian man has become the first computer hacker to plead guilty in what U.S. authorities called a worldwide scheme to hack into services that distribute corporate news releases, and use stolen information to conduct insider trading.
Vadym Iermolovych, 28, of Kievm, on Monday joined three traders in admitting criminal wrongdoing over the largest known hacking scheme designed to game financial markets, resulting in more than $100 million of alleged illegal profit.
The defendant had not previously been linked publicly to the alleged theft of more than 150,000 news releases from Business Wire, Marketwired, and PR Newswire from February 2010 to August 2015, and subsequent trades based on the stolen content.
Ten defendants, including three hackers and seven traders, have been criminally charged by federal prosecutors in New Jersey and Brooklyn.
More than 40 individuals and entities were also charged civilly by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
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Iermolovych pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit computer hacking, and aggravated identity theft, U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman in New Jersey said.
K. Anthony Thomas, a public defender representing Iermolovych, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Authorities have said traders, including many with ties to Russia, gave hackers “shopping lists” of releases they wanted to see in advance, including financial results, and then traded in companies such as Caterpillar, Home Depot, Las Vegas Sands, and Panera Bread.
Iermolovych admitted to hacking PR Newswire between January and March 2013, after buying an employee’s credentials that had been stolen in a hack on a social networking website.
The defendant also admitted to selling news releases stolen from Marketwired for tens of thousands of dollars and buying access to Business Wire’s network, court papers show.
Iermolovych had been arrested in November 2014 on other charges related to computer hacking and credit card fraud.
He entered his plea before U.S. District Judge Madeline Cox Arleo in Newark, N.J. Iermolovych faces roughly 5-1/2 to 6-1/4 years in prison under recommended federal guidelines at his August 22 sentencing.
The other accused hackers include Oleksandr Ieremenko and Ivan Turchynov, both of Ukraine. Their whereabouts were not immediately known.
Business Wire is a unit of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway. PR Newswire is a unit of UBM being sold to Chicago-based Cision. Marketwired is owned by Nasdaq. None was accused of wrongdoing. | 10 defendants have been criminally charged by federal prosecutors in New Jersey and Brooklyn. | 31.066667 | 0.933333 | 11.333333 | medium | medium | extractive |
http://nypost.com/2016/05/31/sensitivity-rules-are-turning-our-cops-into-shrinks/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20160622094653id_/http://nypost.com:80/2016/05/31/sensitivity-rules-are-turning-our-cops-into-shrinks/ | Sensitivity rules are turning our cops into shrinks | 20160622094653 | NYPD cops are about to become street shrinks, under new rules that require them to use calming phrases when they have to subdue dangerous disturbed people, The Post has learned.
The touchy-feely mandate is part of a broad series of changes to the “use of force” guidelines that Commissioner Bill Bratton announced in October — following the mistaken takedown and false arrest of tennis star James Blake and the chokehold death of Eric Garner.
“I am [name] and I’m here to help,” officers should tell an emotionally disturbed person on the street, according to the 16-page pamphlet’s directives, which go into effect Wednesday.
The cops also are told to listen closely and “Identify what the subject wants so you can determine solutions that incorporate the concerns of the subject.”
The instructions include “Emotional labeling” — by saying to the person, “You seem [insert appropriate emotion].”
Cops told The Post the rules are absurd, as most of the disturbed people they encounter on the street won’t listen to reason. “You know what most perps say if you talk to them like that? ‘Get the f–k out of here.’ It’s laughable,” a high-ranking official said.
The pamphlet also lists several obvious signs that someone is out of control, including screaming, cursing, balling his or her hands into fists and sweating profusely.
“By lowering their emotional state through de-escalation, you may be able to appeal to their rational mind, which may enhance the probability that the subject will voluntarily comply,” the booklet says.
Other changes include a mandate that cops fill out a new “Threat, Resistance or Injury Incident Worksheet” every time they fight with a suspect or use pepper spray or a Taser.
A supervisor also will be required to investigate anytime someone is injured or there’s an allegation of brutality.
Furthermore, the new rules explicitly prohibit cops from using force to keep suspects from swallowing illegal drugs or to remove them from someone’s mouth or other orifice, and from using a Taser on someone handcuffed behind their back.
The booklet is based on a newly created section of the NYPD Patrol Guide.
Cops blasted the mandatory investigation of all low-level violence and brutality complaints as stacking the deck against them.
“They want the supervisor — probably a lieutenant — to interview the perp and ask him, ‘Do you think the officer did anything wrong?’” a source said.
“That’s so stupid. What’s he gonna say? ‘No, it’s OK for him to kick my ass’?”
Meanwhile, the court-appointed monitor of the Police Department’s “stop-and-frisk” program on Tuesday asked a federal judge to sign off on a recommendation that the “mere presence” of someone near a building enrolled in an anti-trespassing program “is not sufficient to establish reasonable cause for a stop.” | NYPD cops are about to become street shrinks, under new rules that require them to use calming phrases when they have to subdue dangerous disturbed people, The Post has learned. The touchy-feely ma… | 14.74359 | 0.948718 | 28.333333 | low | high | extractive |
http://www.nytimes.com/1995/02/17/world/shared-hate-jews-and-arabs-mark-mosque-slayings.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20160622134056id_/http://www.nytimes.com:80/1995/02/17/world/shared-hate-jews-and-arabs-mark-mosque-slayings.html | Shared Hate - Jews and Arabs Mark Mosque Slayings - NYTimes.com | 20160622134056 | QIRYAT ARBA, Israeli-Occupied West Bank, Feb. 16— A year after Dr. Baruch Goldstein massacred 29 Muslim worshipers in the Cave of the Patriarchs shrine in Hebron, his admirers gathered at his grave today to mourn him.
A few hundred people attended a memorial service marking the Jewish calendar date on which Dr. Goldstein, a Brooklyn-born physician, was battered to death by survivors of his attack last Feb. 25.
In an attempt to keep down attendance, the army declared this militant Jewish settlement and neighboring Hebron closed military areas, turning away visitors.
Those who did arrive read psalms calling for vengeance, blew silver trumpets, kissed Dr. Goldstein's grave and placed small stones on it, in keeping with Jewish custom.
"He was a righteous Jew who did what has to be done to deter the Arabs before they are totally expelled from this country," said Moshe Levy, a yeshiva student from this town of 5,000, where Dr. Goldstein lived.
Covered with a marble tombstone and flanked by stands for memorial candles and prayerbooks, the grave has been converted into a shrine, a pilgrimage site visited regularly by Dr. Goldstein's supporters. The tombstone inscription calls him a saint, a man of "clean hands and a pure heart" who "gave his life for the people of Israel."
The tomb is in a park named after Meir Kahane, the slain militant rabbi whose virulent anti-Arab ideology was espoused by Dr. Goldstein. Rabbi Kahane's supporters sold posters of Dr. Goldstein today, showing him against a retouched likeness of the Cave of the Patriarchs, its mosque minaret toppling.
The gathering in Qiryat Arba, after several days of unrest in Hebron, demonstrated how a year after the massacre, Jews and Arabs here are locked more than ever in closed worlds of mutual hatred.
The massacre has deeply scarred Hebron, and it has also intensified Arab-Jewish violence in other parts of the country. Since the Hebron killings, Muslim militants have increasingly attacked civilians and soldiers inside Israel, killing 59 people in a string of suicide bombings.
In Hebron this week, street clashes flared as stone-throwing youths battled Israeli soldiers behind barricades of burning tires. On Tuesday, the massacre anniversary on the Muslim calendar, the town was paralyzed by a general strike, and about 300 worshipers attended a memorial service at the site of the killings. Police and army reinforcements surrounded the area, on rooftops and in the streets.
For the 100,000 Palestinians living in Hebron, the massacre is still taking a toll, tearing the fabric of daily life. Normal routines have been heavily disrupted by Israeli security measures to prevent revenge attacks on an enclave of 450 Jewish settlers in the city center.
Once a bustling hub of activity, the area now resembles a ghost town.
To block car-bombings and other attacks, Arab motorists are barred from the zone, which straddles several main roads. Army checkpoints and searches have also deterred pedestrians, causing shops to close down and residents to move out.
The vegetable market, a major source of income that served surrounding villages and towns, has also been closed by the army. Settlers living nearby have put watchdogs outside the shuttered stalls and scrawled anti-Arab graffiti, adorned with Stars of David. "Arabs Out," say the slogans, "Hebron will be Hebrew forever."
The Cave of the Patriarchs has been divided into areas for Jewish and Muslim worship, a measure protested by the Palestinians, who consider the whole shrine a mosque known in Arabic as Al-Haram al-Ibrahimi, or the Sanctuary of Abraham.
"The measures have prevented life from returning to normal, and remind us daily of the massacre," said Mayor Mustafa Natsheh.
Many residents describe the restrictions as salt on their wounds. "We, the victims, are being punished," said Abdel Hafiz Ashhab, a local doctor who holds the communications portfolio in the Palestinian self-governing authority.
Chances of an extension of self-rule here, as part of an Israeli pullback from West Bank towns, seem dim. Entangled in a web of religious conflict, both Jews and Arabs in Hebron say they have little faith in any arrangements under the accord between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization.
"As long as the settlers are in Hebron, there is a possibility of more massacres," said Sheik Taysir Bayud al-Tamimi, a prominent Muslim cleric. "The settlers have to be moved out of the city. Then life will return to normal."
Photo: In memory of Dr. Baruch Goldstein, who was killed a year ago after killing 29 worshipers at a mosque, an 11-year-old boy prayed at his tomb. The boy regards Dr. Goldstein a hero of Israel, as inscribed on the tomb. (Rina Castelnuovo for The New York Times) Map shows the location of Qiryat Arba, Israeli-Occupied West Bank. | A year after Dr. Baruch Goldstein massacred 29 Muslim worshipers in the Cave of the Patriarchs shrine in Hebron, his admirers gathered at his grave today to mourn him. A few hundred people attended a memorial service marking the Jewish calendar date on which Dr. Goldstein, a Brooklyn-born physician, was battered to death by survivors of his attack last Feb. 25. | 13.753623 | 0.985507 | 33.768116 | low | high | extractive |
http://www.forbes.com/2007/07/03/banking-credit-wealth-biz-wall-cx_lm_0703credit.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20160623093607id_/http://www.forbes.com:80/2007/07/03/banking-credit-wealth-biz-wall-cx_lm_0703credit.html | The World's Most Exclusive Credit Cards | 20160623093607 | With loans to consumers with bad credit blowing up all over the place, it’s only natural that banks would turn their attention to the other end of the spectrum: credit for the extremely rich, or at least extremely credit worthy.
The field for elite credit cards is growing increasingly crowded with products offering select customers outlandish perks like access to private jets and personal shopping services for spending hundreds of thousands of dollars using their plastic.
Bank of America joined the field last month with its Accolades card, issued on the American Express network. It includes a fairly standard set of perks, like access to premium concert tickets, airline rewards programs and the like, and Bank of America will wave the annual fee for customers who stick with its private wealth and investment management division.
The card coincides with the Charlotte bank’s acquisition of U.S. Trust, a private bank that caters to the super rich, though Paige Brockman, credit and banking executive at the company, says it was in the planning well before that $3 billion acquisition was announced.
Still, U.S. Trust vaults Bank of America over JPMorgan and Citibank in the ranks of private banks–with $427 billion of client assets under one roof–and puts pressure on it to make those newly acquired private banking clients happy.
Banking to the ultra rich has been long dominated by JPMorgan and big brokerage houses, like Morgan Stanley , where the threshold to just get in the door is often $30 million of assets or more. Strong brands have made it challenging for others, like Bank of America, to make a name in private banking without the boost that special programs can offer.
Cards are an obvious way into the market, and though lenders aren’t going to make much in the way of late fees and interest charges (assuming rich people pay their bills on time and in full, which isn’t always the case) they make up for it in the fees they charge to merchants to process transactions. American Express network transactions mean fees of about 4% each purchase, so a $60,000 car charged to a Black Amex could potentially rake in $2,400 in processing revenue.
Even if the issuer takes half of that and pays it back to cardholders in the form of outlandish perks, the profits are still good, says Curtis Arnold, editor of CreditRatings.com.
Everyone is playing catch-up to American Express, the 800-pound gorilla of high-end cards, with its invitation only Centurion (aka, Black) card legendary among Hollywood types.
The Luxury Institute’s recent survey of customer preferences ranked Centurion first and its Platinum card second.
“Special access, unparalleled benefits and enhanced customer experience” were cited as the reasons. The survey was done online and targeted consumers with a minimum net worth of $5 million and $200,000 in annual income.
Of course, just because someone is rich doesn’t mean these cards are for them. Amex Black carries an annual fee of $2,500 and a minimum annual purchase threshold of $250,000. A miser like Ebenezer Scrooge (pre-ghost visits) wouldn’t necessarily want that. A spendthrift, however, might find it a great deal.
“The bottom line is you have to do a cost-benefit analysis,” Arnold of CreditRatings.com said. “Do it just for status? Heck no. That doesn’t justify the fee.”
Comments are turned off for this post. | Black is the new platinum as the field for elite credit cards gets crowded. | 44.133333 | 0.866667 | 2.333333 | high | medium | mixed |
http://fortune.com/2016/05/18/mexico-moves-closer-to-allowing-same-sex-marriage/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20160623101424id_/http://fortune.com:80/2016/05/18/mexico-moves-closer-to-allowing-same-sex-marriage/ | Mexico Moves Closer To Allowing Same-Sex Marriage | 20160623101424 | President Enrique Pena Nieto proposed to legalize same-sex marriage in Mexico on Tuesday, a move that would enshrine on a national level a Supreme Court ruling last year that it was unconstitutional for states to bar such couples from wedding.
If it is approved, Mexico would become the fifth country in Latin America to make same-sex marriage legal. The announcement was hailed by LGBT activists and criticized by church officials in Mexico, which is home to the second-largest Roman Catholic population on the planet.
Speaking at an event on the International Day Against Homophobia, Pena Nieto said he signed initiatives that would seek to amend the constitution and the national civil code.
Pena Nieto said he wants to change Article 4 of the constitution to clearly reflect the Supreme Court opinion “to recognize as a human right that people can enter into marriage without any kind of discrimination.”
“That is, for marriages to be carried out without discrimination on the basis of ethnicity or nationality, of disabilities, of social or health conditions, of religion, of gender or sexual preference,” he added.
Pena Nieto’s Twitter page and other government Twitter accounts were changed to include the rainbow colors as he made the announcement.
A two-thirds majority vote in congress is required to amend the constitution. Pena Nieto’s party and allies control about half the seats in both houses, and the measure could also pick up support from the leftist opposition Democratic Revolution Party.
It would then need to be ratified by a simple majority of states before going to the president for his signature.
The Rev. Hugo Valdemar, spokesman for the Catholic Archdiocese of Mexico City, urged lawmakers to listen to their “conscience” and oppose the initiative.
“Marriage has some very concrete aims which, of course, two people of the same sex do not fulfill,” Valdemar said, referring to procreation.
He called Pena Nieto’s initiative a “distraction” in a country where “there are more serious issues that should be attended to” such as violence and corruption.
About 80 percent of Mexicans are Catholic, though only about 15 percent to 20 percent regularly practice the faith, said Andrew Chesnut, chairman of Catholic studies at Virginia Commonwealth University.
He added that a recent Pew survey said Mexicans’ acceptance of gay marriage and LGBT issues in general closely mirrored views in the United States, where same-sex marriage was legalized by the Supreme Court last year.
The president’s announcement “is just of monumental significance,” Chesnut said. “It really is symbolic of the rapidly waning, eroding influence of the Catholic Church on both politics and the social front.”
Gay marriage is already legal in some parts of Mexico such as the capital, the northern state of Coahuila and Quintana Roo state on the Caribbean coast. Adding it to the constitution and the civil code would expand gay marriage rights across the country.
Last June, the Supreme Court ruled it was unconstitutional for Mexican states to ban same-sex couples from getting married. But the decision did not specifically overturn state laws, meaning couples have had to sue in court in each particular case.
Alejandro Brito, director of Letra S, a human rights group specializing in sexual diversity issues, called Pena Nieto’s announcement great news.
“I think it sends a very clear message of respect and against discrimination toward sexual diversity,” Brito said. “If it is enshrined in the constitution and the Supreme Court has established a precedent on this, it would seem just a question of time before all (government) entities across the country recognize equal marriage. … I think this is a battle that has been won.”
Twenty-three countries around the world have legalized gay marriage, according to Pew Research. Argentina became the first in Latin America to do so in 2010, followed by Brazil and Uruguay in 2013 and Colombia earlier this year. Chile allowed same-sex civil unions last year. The U.S. island territory of Puerto Rico also legalized gay marriage by executive decree after the U.S. Supreme Court ruling.
“This, in tandem with Colombia, which is still close to about 80 percent Catholic and is usually kind of looked to as the most devout Catholic nation in Latin America … it’s amazing,” Chesnut said. | The world's 2nd largest Catholic country moves with the times | 75.545455 | 0.636364 | 0.818182 | high | low | abstractive |
http://nypost.com/2016/06/20/khaleesi-needs-to-go-to-westeros-right-now/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20160623114749id_/http://nypost.com:80/2016/06/20/khaleesi-needs-to-go-to-westeros-right-now/ | Khaleesi needs to go to Westeros right now | 20160623114749 | The foreplay finally came to an end on “Game of Thrones” Sunday night with the show’s most spectacular battle ever: Jon Snow (Kit Harington) v. Ramsay Bolton (Iwan Rheon).
The bloody showdown at Winterfell between Bolton’s band of thugs and Stark & Co. made “Lord of the Rings” look like a first-grade production of “The Very Hungry Caterpillar.”
But the more significant development was during the first half of the episode when Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) was approached by Yara (Gemma Whelan) and Theon Greyjoy (Alfie Allen) to reclaim the Iron Islands from their vulgar uncle. And the dysfunctional siblings brought a whole fleet of ships along with them.
Start spreading the news! She’s leaving today!
Here’s hoping. Daenerys is the most exciting character on “Game of Thrones” and yet she’s been trapped in Slaver’s Bay for six seasons, running for student council president.
What have we learned in Meereen? Dany loves freeing slaves, loathes the masters, and is a divisive figure around town. Got that? Good. Mother of Dragons, pack your things, book a one-way stateroom on the Greyjoy of the Seas and don’t look back.
Now is the time for Khaleesi to go to Westeros.
The groundwork has been laid. The Stark flag is flying high at Winterfell again; cherub King Tommen (Dean-Charles Chapman) has turned into a religious zealot who changed the law so he can off his serpent mom and brother-in-law; Arya Stark (Maisie Williams) escaped “The Matrix”; and the White Walkers are in hot pursuit of Raisin Bran Stark (Isaac Hempstead Wright).
Strike while the Iron Throne is hot. Spare us another whole season of Daenerys negotiating in a pyramid while her dragons make cameos. Nobody — and I mean nobody — cares one bit about the Sons of the Harpy.
If the Breaker of Chains doesn’t say, without any ambiguity, “It’s time to take back what is rightfully mine” and then stare off into the horizon, Sunday’s season finale will go up in flames like so many Shireen Baratheons.
Burning the khalasar’s hut to a crisp and unleashing her dragons on the masters’ naval fleet was all a hoot — but neither did anything to change Daenerys’ big-picture situation: biding her time, twiddling her thumbs, and saying, “I don’t have enough ships yet.”
Now she’s got the ships, she’s got an army, she’s got allies, she’s got Tyrion (Peter Dinklage). Like a 20-something who’s saved up enough cash for her first crummy apartment, Dany is ready to move out of the house and set the world on fire. | Warning: Spoilers galore! The foreplay finally came to an end on “Game of Thrones” Sunday night with the show’s most spectacular battle ever: Jon Snow (Kit Harington) v. Ramsay Bolton (Iwan Rheon).… | 12.25 | 0.909091 | 32.863636 | low | medium | extractive |
http://www.bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/food-dining/2016/05/16/they-took-clues-from-archeological-digs-then-used-them-make-this-feast/PPrVj3C2K0kMgHk13E09ZJ/story.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20160623115534id_/http://www.bostonglobe.com:80/lifestyle/food-dining/2016/05/16/they-took-clues-from-archeological-digs-then-used-them-make-this-feast/PPrVj3C2K0kMgHk13E09ZJ/story.html | They took clues from archeological digs, then used them to make this feast | 20160623115534 | On a Monday afternoon, in a steamy test kitchen at Boston University, chefs and archeologists were hard at work cooking up a curious feast.
Doctoral candidate Daniela Hernandez was wrist-deep in a concoction of amaranth grain and honey that has survived unchanged since the time of the Aztecs. At the next station, Dan Fallu, also a PhD student, stirred a rich stew right off the menu from a Mycenaean palace. Other students were already plating a dessert — peach marmalade sponge cake, popular with the prostitutes of 19th-century Boston.
Their recipes came not from Pinterest, but from the remains of privies, the bottoms of millennia-old clay pots, and the traces of cooking fires thousands of years extinguished. In a few hours, they hoped to allow hungry members of the public a chance to experience a taste — several tastes, in fact — of history.
The dinner, aptly named “Eating Archeology,” was the brainchild of Ilaria Patania, a graduate student who is as passionate about food as she is about archeological science.
Food is practically Patania’s native tongue; her parents run a hotel and restaurant in her native Italy. “To me, cooking is such an important part of who I am,” she said. “It reminds me of where I’m from when I’m far away.” If food could connect Patania to her roots, she wondered, what about the deeper past? What would it mean to taste a recipe thousands of years old?
So this semester, armed with funding, Patania and her colleagues set out to reconstruct the past through food. They split into four teams, comprising students in BU’s archeology and culinary schools, as well as graduates who had gone on to become chefs. Each team tackled an era: Bronze Age China, Bronze Age Greece, pre-Colombian Mesoamerica, and — closest to home in both space and time — Boston’s 19th-century Endicott Street brothel, uncovered years ago in the Big Dig.
Of course, the ancients didn’t write down recipes. It all had to be reconstructed by examining what they left behind. “You can scrape off residue from a pot and analyze it and tell what was cooked in it,” Patania said. “All of these different pieces of the puzzle have to be put together.”
Hernandez, for example, researched botanical remains at Aztec sites, as well as ethnographic studies of Mexican foodways. The amaranth-and-honey dish, known as alegria today, “still has a ritualistic purpose” in parts of central Mexico, she said. “They mix it with blood and offer it for the Day of the Dead.”
Nearby, Fallu held up the remains of a lamb shank. “Do we have any use, analytically, for bleached and stewed bones?” he asked colleague Caroline Pierce. Their stew was based on residue found on ancient Mycenaean clay pots, but they agreed that the leftover bones could serve science, too: By comparing their chemical composition and microscopic structure to ancient lamb bones, they can tell how long the Mycenaean simmered their stew. “We have ways of making these bones talk,” Fallu said.
They also gained insight through culinary reenactment. Patania had a local potter reconstruct ancient Chinese vessels, so her team could see how they worked when actually used for cooking. “Every time you make a dish,” Patania said, “you’re re-creating movements and re-creating tastes that have been re-created by thousands of generations of people thousands of years ago.”
Of course, tastes change. One of the hardest recipes to get right was one of the few that was written down. The peach-marmalade sponge cake, inspired by the remains of peach pits found at the brothel site, came from an 1850s cookbook. The first test run was strictly historically accurate, and almost inedible — way too dense and too sweet, said graduate student Jade Luiz. “The Victorians really loved their sugar,” she said ruefully.
At 5 p.m., as BU students and interested others lined up to sample the modified version — lighter and spongier — they seemed pleased. Luiz and her colleagues had a more faithful version on hand, just in case anyone was curious.
For Patania, it was a way of accessing the intangible, and ephemeral, parts of ancient cultures — not just the pottery shard, but the taste of the food it once held. “Isn’t this more powerful than going to the Museum of Fine Arts and looking at [an artifact] in a vacuum-sealed case?” she said. “The food is here now, and even though you consume it and it goes away, it’s still powerful, still beautiful, and still ancient.” | Chefs and archeologists team up to re-create dishes from Bronze Age China, a Boston brothel, and more | 44.285714 | 0.904762 | 2.047619 | high | medium | mixed |
http://fortune.com/2016/06/19/fathers-day-elizabeth-nyamayaro/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20160623142345id_/http://fortune.com:80/2016/06/19/fathers-day-elizabeth-nyamayaro/ | How Your Dad Can Advance Women’s Rights | 20160623142345 | The women’s rights movements of the 20th century focused on liberating women from restrictive traditional roles, and being equally valued in all areas of work and home life. The long revolution for gender equality begun, but has a long way to go.
While women made huge progress in the workplace, the early victories that provided additional opportunity, also created additional burdens.
Stagnating wages in the developed world meant single income households became far less common, but women were still seen as the primary caregiver. Expectations for both parents to work rose, but flexible work structures to support this did not catch up.
This is not a women’s issue; it is a family issue and economic issue and it effects all of us. As Judith Shulevitz said in The New York Times, “we need another feminism — and it needs a name that has nothing to do with gender.”
We need to recognize parents of all genders as equal caregivers with shared rights and responsibilities. So this Father’s day, we need to totally rethink how we see parental leave.
The argument is usually framed in purely financial terms and the cost that greater leave would have to businesses. But even where equal parental and paternal leave policies are in place, take-up does not always follow.
In 2013, provisions for paternity leave were in place in 80 countries and parental leave in 66, but studies still find that men are stigmatized for taking their leave entitlements and sometimes considered less worthy of promotion.
We need to reframe the issue. Parental leave is not about days off work; it is about the freedom to define roles, to choose how to invest time, and to create new positive cycles of behavior.
We need to show how much Dads matter. Fantastic action to show this is already happening at a grassroots level. Communities of men are coming together to promote the equal importance of their parenting – but they need to be heard more.
Al Ferguson from ‘The Dad Network’ recently sparked a wave of discussion on Reddit by posting a T-shirt that read: “Dads don’t babysit, it’s called parenting.” John Legend made headlines with his active support of paternity leave. It was positive for the attention it drew, but it also highlighted an important issue for male celebrity parents.
The business case is clear as well. Breaking the cultural stereotypes of leaving childrearing to women frees mothers up to earn more and develop their career. Sweden, a leader in gender equal policymaking and one of the HeForShe IMPACT 10x10x10 Champions, showed that for every month that fathers took of paternity leave, the mothers’ income rose by 6.7%.
More active involvement from both parents has benefits on the health and career prospects of the mother and child as well, reducing a range of long-term social costs for the state. Involved fathers and households that divide duties in a more gender equal way report improved maternal health at childbirth, lower rates of domestic violence, and improved career prospects for the children.
This is not a problem without a solution but it will require commitment and leadership from those in government and companies at a policy-making level, and efforts to change the stereotypes around parental responsibility at an individual level.
Innovation is never just a technological leap forward. Behind every business disruption is a behavior or cultural change that makes the change possible. Let’s use this father’s day to push for an overdue cultural change that could simultaneously strengthen our economies, improve the opportunities of half the workforce, and protect the well-being of the next generation.
Elizabeth Nyamayaro is senior advisor to the Under-Secretary-General of UN Women and Head of HeForShe Initiative. | Happy Father’s Day. | 142.6 | 0.8 | 2 | high | medium | mixed |
http://time.com/4050338/desk-that-turns-into-a-bad-nap/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20160623162824id_/http://time.com:80/4050338/desk-that-turns-into-a-bad-nap/ | Nap Desk That Converts Into Bed: Sleep At Work | 20160623162824 | The invention of the nap desk is bringing a whole new level to feeling like you live at work. Greek Design firm Studio NL has created a workstation with a lower panel that doubles as a single bed for all your work-napping needs.
While appearing at first glance to be a normal desk, the hybrid features a front panel that slides out, and a side panel that folds into an elevated headrest. A few easy adjustments transforms your workspace into a comfortable resting area.
“The main concept was to comment on the fact that many times our lives are ‘shrinking’ in order to fit into the confined space of our office,” Athanasia Leivaditou, designer of the desk, said. “Eventually, I realized that each civilization may have a very different perception of things depending on its social context. For example, this desk could be used for a siesta or for a few hours of sleep at night on those days when someone struggles to meet deadlines.”
And with recent studies suggesting that the negative health effects of a sleepless night can be combatted by a quick snooze, it seems like the perfect time for the “1.6 S.M. of Life” prototype to hit the market.
It also seems like the perfect time for you to volunteer to be the first in your office to test it out. | Work-life balance...at work | 36.428571 | 0.714286 | 1.285714 | high | low | abstractive |
http://fortune.com/2015/12/11/california-regulators-online-lending/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20160624024347id_/http://fortune.com:80/2015/12/11/california-regulators-online-lending/ | California Regulators To Take A Deeper Look Into Online Lenders | 20160624024347 | California State regulators have launched an inquiry into a number of online lenders, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
The California Department of Business Oversight, a state agency which regulates securities and lending in the state, asked 14 online lending companies for more information about their investors, lending policies, and business models. Online lending companies currently involved in the industry include SoFi, Prosper Marketplace, Avant, Kabbage, and On Deck Capital ONDK .
The inquiry follows recent reports that Prosper facilitated a $28,500 loan to Syed Farook, just weeks before he and his wife Tashfeen Malik killed 14 people during an ISIS-inspired shooting spree in San Bernadino. In July, the U.S. Treasury Department announced it would be opening an investigation into the growing online industry.
Loans issued through online lenders have increased rapidly over the past year, calling into question whether the industry needs to be regulated more heavily. According to Morgan Stanley, online lenders issued $14 billion worth of loans in 2014.
According to WSJ, the information provided to the California Department of Business Oversight by the companies could be used to determine whether the agency needs to consider new rules and regulations for the lenders.
It’s worth noting that the inquiry was planned before officials discovered that Prosper issued a loan to the terrorists involved in the San Bernadino tragedies.
But many believe that it’s only a matter of time before online lenders face increased scrutiny and regulation. Arthur Levitt, the longest-serving chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and an advisor to SoFi, told Fortune earlier in the year that the industry would likely face increased regulation. But perhaps that’s not such a bad thing for these companies.
Levitt explained, “[r]egulation is the good housekeeping seal of approval. If you are known early on by key players the U.S. House of Representatives, U.S. Senate and SEC, it places you ages ahead of competitors.”
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For more on online lenders, check out the following Fortune video: | The fast-growing online lending industry could face increased regulation. | 33.5 | 0.916667 | 2.083333 | medium | medium | mixed |
http://www.aol.com/article/2014/02/20/had-big-career-success-and-now-struggling-to-get-a-job-heres-wha/20832777/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20160624133726id_/http://www.aol.com:80/article/2014/02/20/had-big-career-success-and-now-struggling-to-get-a-job-heres-wha/20832777/? | Had Big Career Success & Now Struggling To Get A Job? Here's What To Do... | 20160624133726 | After 20 years in sales, and then running his own business for a short while, Charles is now struggling to find a job. He's hitting all the local networking events and has applied to hundreds of jobs online. However, it's only landed him four interviews and no job offers. Recently, he befriended a woman in HR at a business networking breakfast. Charles asked her if she'd be willing to give him some candid feedback on his resume. Imagine his surprise when she agreed. Even more surprising to Charles was her honesty. She told him the following:
I've seen you at multiple networking events and I know you had a long career in sales followed up by owning your own company. I can tell you right now nobody wants to hire you because they think you will be too difficult of an employee.
And she's right. When you've owned your own company, or had a long, prosperous career, (or both in Charles case), your success can work against you when looking for a job. Here's why...
As you climb the ladder of success, people watch you go up. They see you reaching new levels of professional and financial satisfaction. So, when they see you've climbing back down (i.e. closed your business, lost your job, etc.) and are now looking to start over, they assume you won't be very happy until you are right back up at the top of the ladder.
Why would you have climbed in the first place if you didn't want to stay there? Or, go even higher? That's why many employers will avoid hiring someone with a lot of experience and success. They fear you will be:
Even if you feel certain this doesn't describe you, employers will continue to assume you'll be this way until
Charles needs to be proactive and start to spread a message amongst his network that shows how recent experiences have taught him he wants to be an employee again. He also needs to prove to all those he networks with that in spite of his past success, he is not high-maintenance.
Let's breakdown what he should do:
Charles started his own company when his former employer got bought. Instead of finding a new employer, he thought with all of his years of experience and customer relationships that he should be in business for himself. He quickly learned he couldn't compete with the bigger competitors and had to close up shop after several years.
Entrepreneurs are seen as very independent. After all, if you have the courage to start your own company, you must have the confidence and belief in your abilities. The downside is that employers will assume that you wouldn't do well as an employee now that you've had a taste of entrepreneurship. They see you as potentially being bossy, opinionated, and tough to manage.
- Charles needs to proactively spread the message that his experience owning his own business taught him to appreciate working for an employer. He must be able to articulate clearly why he would rather rejoin the ranks of the employed. It might sound something like this:
Owning my own business was a powerful experience that taught me a lot about myself professionally. After all those years in sales, I thought being an entrepreneur would be a good fit. But, what I learned is I prefer being part of something bigger. I missed having a team of colleagues and an abundance of resources that working for a larger company provides. I also gained a whole new respect for managers and executives running these organizations. Having been in their shoes, I now see all that goes into running a company and feel I can support the management team's goals better as a result. Now, I want to take this experience and channel it in to my next job. I am really looking forward to getting back to work with a firm where I can leverage my skills and abilities to get them results.
By sharing his experience and all it taught him about how hard it is to run a business, managers will see Charles as an excellent person to have on their staff because he was humbled by the experience. They know he will have greater respect for them as a result of it.
- Charles needs to create a bucket list of companies he wants to work for and focus his networking on meeting people who work there. Then, he can share his story and seek their advice on the best way to earn an interview with their company. The more he can connect and tell his story, the more likely he'll be to get people to refer him to jobs. It's very important he use this technique because applying online won't work. The Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) and the recruiters will most likely skip his resume for the reasons listed above. Charles needs to go around the process and have in-person conversations with people who can hear his messaging first-hand. This will have a greater impact and help him get in front of hiring managers faster.
Charles is a talented professional who enjoys working hard and achieving his goals. He's learning now that his track-record of success brands him as someone who employers think wouldn't be a good fit due to the "too many cooks in the kitchen" cliche. They assume he'll act in charge and expect too much. It's up to Charles to market himself differently so he can prove to employers he would be more than happy as an employee. | Image by Shutterstock Welcome to the "AOL Career Luck Project." Inspired by you, our readers, this new weekly series offers practical advice by showcasing real-life example | 31.352941 | 0.5 | 0.735294 | medium | low | abstractive |
http://nypost.com/2016/03/13/brett-gardner-passes-key-test-before-anticipated-return/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20160624212704id_/http://nypost.com:80/2016/03/13/brett-gardner-passes-key-test-before-anticipated-return/ | Brett Gardner passes key test before anticipated return | 20160624212704 | TAMPA — It was just a simulated game, but the swings were real, and Brett Gardner said he was encouraged by how his balky left wrist came through another test this spring.
“I’m excited by how good it felt,” Gardner said after taking 10 at-bats against several pitchers on a back field behind George M. Steinbrenner Field Sunday morning.
Gardner said he saw no reason to believe he wouldn’t be ready to make his spring debut Wednesday at home against the Blue Jays as he recovers from the left wrist bone bruise he suffered in the wild-card loss that ended last season.
“That’s very reasonable,” Gardner said of the timetable. “We’ll see how it responds later [Sunday] and [Monday].’’
Gardner previously had just gone through batting practice and hitting in the cage.
“Everything is very controlled,’’ Gardner said. “You don’t swing and miss, really. You don’t foul balls off. As much as you try to do things at 100 percent, it’s hard to really turn it up until you get in a game situation like this. But this was all good.”
Manager Joe Girardi watched Gardner and came away impressed, as the left fielder showed no ill effects in any of his swings.
Brian McCann left Sunday’s 3-0 loss to the Phillies after being hit near his left knee with a foul ball.
“It was above the kneecap,” said McCann, who added he would have stayed in had it been a regular-season game, but opted for caution.
“I would have been fighting it the rest of the game,” McCann said.
Girardi said no tests were planned, and it’s unlikely McCann was going to travel to Fort Myers Tuesday to play the Red Sox, even before the injury. The Yankees are off Monday.
“We’re not overly concerned, but it’s a bruise,” Girardi said. “We’ve got to work through it and see how it is.’’
Chasen Shreve pitched another scoreless inning in the loss. He has thrown 4¹/₃ innings without giving up a run this spring.
The left-hander, who had a terrible end to 2015, has been one of the few bright spots among candidates for the middle of the bullpen.
Not surprisingly, lefty Jacob Lindgren ended up in the team’s first round of cuts this spring.
He was optioned to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and sent to minor league camp. Others reassigned included RHP Domingo German and James Kaprielian, SS Jorge Mateo and OF Aaron Judge, Lane Adams and Dustin Fowler.
Michael Pineda threw three scoreless innings, giving up just a hit and a walk, while striking out four in the Yankees’ 3-0 loss to the Phillies on Sunday.
“Everything is working perfect,” said Pineda, who hasn’t surrendered a run in five innings this spring. “I feel great.”
Pineda started the fourth inning after CC Sabathia, Dellin Betances and Andrew Miller already had taken the mound.
“I thought Michael threw good,” Joe Girardi said.
The Yankees made five errors in the loss.
“We did not play a good game,” Girardi said. “We were sloppy. You know [you’re] gonna have those [games], but you can’t just say, ‘We’re gonna have those.’ We need to fix it.”
Jacoby Ellsbury, Aaron Hicks, Carlos Beltran, Mark Teixeira and Brian McCann combined to go 0-for-11 in another lackluster day for the lineup.
The Yankees are off. They return to action Tuesday in Fort Myers when Ivan Nova faces the Red Sox at 6:05 p.m. | TAMPA — It was just a simulated game, but the swings were real, and Brett Gardner said he was encouraged by how his balky left wrist came through another test this spring. “I’m excited by how good … | 17.023256 | 0.976744 | 29.627907 | medium | high | extractive |
http://fortune.com/2016/06/23/gm-navy-hydrogen-fuel/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20160625052935id_/http://fortune.com:80/2016/06/23/gm-navy-hydrogen-fuel/ | GM is Working With the Navy to Bring Hydrogen Power to Undersea Drones | 20160625052935 | General Motors is working with the U.S. Navy to develop hydrogen fuel cell-powered underwater drones that can operate without recharging for more than 60 days.
The automaker has been working on hydrogen fuel cells, which convert hydrogen gas into electricity producing vehicles with greater range than those powered with batteries, for years. An unmanned drone could be used for a number of purposes, including research or patroling waters.
This latest collaboration, which was announced Thursday, marks GM’s deepening relationship with the military and the automaker’s exploration into the different ways its fuel cell technology could be used. Recently, the Naval Research Laboratory evaluated a prototype underwater drone equipped with a GM fuel cell.
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The partnership is an important part of the U.S. Navy’s goal to develop a long endurance, reliable unmanned undersea vehicle, said Karen Swider Lyons, head of alternative energy division at the Naval Research Laboratory, during a conference call Thursday.
“When you look at what the Navy’s trying to do with unmanned undersea vehicles, they’re looking for weeks, if not months of endurance and therefore we require a highly reliable system,” Lyons said. “Highly reliable systems can take decades to develop and billions of dollars and we think we’ve found that with our partnership with General Motors.”
The Navy is looking at fuel cells because research has shown that the technology is superior for long endurance travel, Lyons added. Hydrogen fuel cells don’t generate carbon dioxide emissions either, which is desirable for the environmental benefits and because it’s stealthier. Once the hydrogen gas is converted to electricity, water vapor is the only emission. Recharging takes only minutes.
“Batteries are important and everybody likes to pursue the question about is it batteries or is it fuel cells,” Charlie Freese, executive director of global fuel cell activities with GM, said on the call. “We’re very certain the answer is you need both.”
GM has found that fuel cell technology is the best way to propel a vehicle for certain uses, said Freese, adding that hydrogen fuel cells solve some unique technical and performance challenges for the Navy. The partnership aims to take advantage of GM’s years—and billions of dollars in investment—of research and development to make fuel cell systems smaller, more durable, and reliable, Freese said. | The goal is for these unmanned subs to operate for more than 60 days. | 30.533333 | 0.866667 | 2.866667 | medium | medium | mixed |
http://nypost.com/2014/09/07/the-mac-baller-brims-nycs-most-dangerous-gang/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20160625072910id_/http://nypost.com:80/2014/09/07/the-mac-baller-brims-nycs-most-dangerous-gang/ | The Mac Baller Brims: NYC’s most dangerous gang | 20160625072910 | They are the new Mafia, a ruthless Bronx-based cabal of drug dealers and gunrunners that officials call the most dangerous gang in the city.
The Mac Baller Brims, a set of the national Bloods gang, form a terrifying band of crime-happy hoods who own much of New York’s street drug trade and dominate Rikers Island, where they control the contraband and decide who lives and dies, police and jail sources say.
“Top dogs in the city,” said one law enforcement source. “There are more of them than any other Bloods, and they’re highly organized, extremely violent, very powerful. Other gangs fear them.”
The gang, which also calls itself the “Mac Balla Family,” is based in the Morrisania section of The Bronx but has tentacles across the city, especially in Brooklyn and Staten Island, as well as upstate and New Jersey.
Its violence has claimed at least five innocent bystanders, three of them teenage girls, authorities say.
They include Vada Vasquez, 15, a Bronx student who miraculously survived being hit in the head with a stray bullet during a revenge attack on the gang by its well-armed rival, the Gorilla Stone Bloods, in 2009.
Another victim was not so lucky. Bronx prom queen Samantha Guzman, 18, died in a spray of bullets on Mother’s Day 2006 when she and her friends wandered into a Mac Baller shootout in Morrisania.
Their reach extends along the Eastern Seaboard, where the gang’s operations — gunrunning, robbery and kidnapping — can be found in Maryland, Virginia, the Carolinas, Kentucky and Georgia.
In one remarkably brazen assault in March, jailed Mac Baller member Kelvin Melton orchestrated the abduction of a North Carolina prosecutor’s father.
The snatching was retaliation: Victim Frank Janssen’s daughter Colleen, an assistant district attorney in Wake Forest, had put Melton away for life in 2012. Eight thugs pistol-whipped Janssen and held him for five days before the FBI rescued him.
The leader is convicted killer Larry “O” Calderon, 37, a Bronx-born career criminal who spent 17 years in state prison in two stints and is now facing life for murdering a subordinate, according to a top investigator familiar with the gang.
Calderon is known as the “godfather” or “don” of the Mac Baller Brims.
He and his top associate, Eli “Blood Eli” Rios, 38, who is doing life upstate for homicide, oversee an extensive network in the state and city jails as head of a Mafia-like commission that dictates all family matters, including the sanctioning of hits on rivals and turncoats, the investigator said.
The decisions of this “board of directors” — conveyed with the help of girlfriends and family through cryptic messages on Facebook and Twitter — affect what happens on the street and behind bars, the source said.
There are at least 525 confirmed members, although police suspect the actual number is much higher as it doesn’t count scores of associates and wannabe “YGs,” or young gangsters, who hope to join.
Initiation rites range from being “jumped in” — the proposed member must endure a group beating — to committing murder. Not all survive. Shaaliver Douse, 14, was told last year he needed to carry out a hit to be accepted. He missed his target, then was killed by cops.
One notorious member is Scott “Murder One” Fields, who earned his nickname for “beating two murder raps,” said one source, including the slaying of a john he allegedly set up for a robbery in the Park Hill section of Staten Island.
Fields, who has been arrested many times and eventually served seven years for manslaughter for a separate slaying, dared to try to launch his own Bloods set but was turned down by the Mac Baller leaders. Fields was lucky not to be targeted himself, the source said.
“He was looking to trying to get authorization. He was going to call it the Staten Island Rangers. He tried to drop his flag. That’s a violation.”
The gang features a money unit and a murder unit.
The money unit rakes in millions from dealing heroin, crack, pot and prescription pills like OxyContin. Members trade extensively in illegal handguns brought to New York through the “Iron Pipeline” and earn cash from home robberies, street muggings, extortion, prostitution and kidnapping.
That doesn’t include their control of a bustling underground market of contraband at Rikers, where a single loose cigarette, known as a “finger,” can fetch $10 and vulnerable inmates pay protection money to avoid being stabbed or beaten.
Assault in the big house also pays well: The MBBs supply hospital-grade scalpels for $100 apiece — tiny, razor-sharp weapons favored by inmates for slashing enemies.
Some of these guys have a lot of money … There are Mac Ballers who have properties, businesses, real estate companies, houses in New Jersey. They’re not stupid.
One alleged supplier was gang associate Michael “Lucky” Walcott, an employee at St. Luke’s Hospital, who took used scalpels straight from the surgical discard bins and had women smuggle them into jail by hiding them in body cavities, the sources said.
The gang is also heavily involved in the rap industry, law enforcement sources say. A young artist calls himself Balla Mac, though it’s unclear if he’s a member of the gang.
“Some of these guys have a lot of money,” said one source. “There are Mac Ballers who have properties, businesses, real estate companies, houses in New Jersey. They’re not stupid.”
Like Italian gangsters, the MBBs have their own language and customs, which date to 1969 in California and a group once called the LA Hat Gang. Their name changed in the 1970s to the 5-9 Brims (their home turf being at 59th Street in South LA’s Harvard Park) as the Bloods grew and unified out West before an East Coast branch was created in 1993.
That occurred when jailed leader Omar Portee established the United Blood Nation in Rikers to battle the more powerful Latin Kings. Known as O.G. Mack (for “Original Gangster”), Portee set up 10 sets of Bloods across the city. One was named the 59 Brims after its LA counterpart, though it operated independently.
The Mac Baller Brims, which formed in 2001, are the most powerful of the four Brim sets in New York (collectively the New York Blood Brim Army) and are now seeking to break away because of their numbers and influence.
Their name mixes a tribute to Mack Portee with slang for gangster or drug dealer (“baller”).
They embrace a code of ethics every bit as strict as the Mafia’s “omerta.”
Calderon — who got busted in April along with more than 60 other suspected Mac Baller members — is facing murder charges for allegedly killing one of his own over an ethical transgression.
Gang member Frank Russell participated in a botched and unsanctioned home-invasion robbery in 2011 in which one of the MBB members was killed and another, Geo Ramirez, was wounded. Instead of helping his companion, Russell bolted and left Ramirez behind.
Calderon and Rios then allegedly put out a hit on Russell, who was killed by three associates, the charges state.
Rios could face more time but is already serving life for a cold-blooded slaying on a Bronx street in 2004.
The killer, accompanied by half a dozen gang members, was apparently put off that the victim, Paul Anderson, and a companion dared to be in the area, asking the pair, “What are you doing on my block?”
So he pulled out his gun and chased the two as they fled. Rios killed Anderson and wounded an innocent bystander in the knee.
The new indictment, which comes on the heels of a takedown of 14 top Mac Ballers in Binghamton in March, spells out 109 alleged crimes, including two homicides and four attempted murders. Bronx DA Robert Johnson called it “an extensive catalogue of violent crimes.”
And it reads like an episode of the TV show “The Wire,” with patched-together transcripts of conversations made over disposable cellphones. The defendants used nicknames such as Chaddy, Rizo and Weezy, who is heard expressing his “regret for not shooting someone that he had a disagreement with.”
But will these roundups dent the Mac Ballers’ power?
A lot of YGs and YBs [young Bloods] are going to the Mac Ballers.
Not anytime soon, say experts familiar with the gang.
“They’re being careful,” said one source, noting that bugged conversations used to get indictments have made the Mac Ballers ultra-cautious. “Guys will drop their cellphones every 20 days,” he said.
And, he said, there is no slowing the stream of young gangsters and young Bloods angling for admission.
“A lot of YGs and YBs [young Bloods] are going to the Mac Ballers,” he said.
The new generation is supplying bodies so fast, even Rios can’t keep up. He was heard remarking on the youth of the gang’s newest prison arrivals.
“Most of the kids you got me locked up here with I don’t even know,” he said. | They are the new Mafia, a ruthless Bronx-based cabal of drug dealers and gunrunners that officials call the most dangerous gang in the city. The Mac Baller Brims, a set of the national Bloods gang,… | 43.690476 | 1 | 22.714286 | high | high | extractive |
http://nypost.com/2015/04/12/incorrect-date-costs-broker-nearly-23m-in-liabilities/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20160625100833id_/http://nypost.com:80/2015/04/12/incorrect-date-costs-broker-nearly-23m-in-liabilities/ | Incorrect date costs broker nearly $23M in liabilities | 20160625100833 | A trading regulator found discount brokerage Interactive Brokers liable for posting an incorrect date and awarded a New Jersey man a record $2.4 million in damages.
But that’s only a fraction of the $22.7 million he lost on a botched trade because of the bad information.
The pyrrhic victory for day trader Frank M. Cerisano Jr. by the Financial Industry Regulation Authority is three times the next-largest award against IB, according to Cerisano’s lawyer, Sam Lieberman of Sadis & Goldberg.
Cerisano plies his trade in the backwaters of day trading — derivatives and the esoteric future contracts, where millions can be bet with little upfront.
This special breed of people manage to get to sleep at night with huge positions hanging fire as Asian markets can take out a wager in a flicker of the screen.
The last thing a futures trader needs is to have his trading platform also go against him. This is what Cerisano and his lawyer alleged.
In June 2013, Cerisano was taking a huge position in VIX Futures that climbed as high as $200 million with leverage.
The Chicago Board Options Exchange’s Volatility Index (VIX) was on the move then. In the six weeks prior to the position, the VIX spiked nearly 42 percent on central banks sending markets mixed messages of future easing.
If the trade had been executed on the expiration date Cerisano found on IB’s website, he would have netted roughly $2.5 million in profit.
But IB maintained the expiration date was the following day, which created a huge loss as the VIX moved dramatically away from Cerisano’s position.
The botched futures trade appears to be human back-office error at IB, which used the correct expiration date internally, but then inexplicably displayed it as a day earlier on its website, which Cerisano used to price his gains.
Interactive was not accused of fraud. But Cerisano certainly felt misled.
At the IB internal expiration date, the broker dealer settled the trade and took $25.3 million out of Cerisano’s account, according to his lawyer.
Cerisano is said to be one of Interactive’s largest derivative traders.
When Cerisano figured out what actually happened, he lodged his complaint. Instead of sympathy and recompense, he got the cold shoulder, according to his attorney. “My client has had to pay tens of millions of dollars in commission to Interactive Brokers over the years, so he was surprised that that was the approach, even when they were caught red-handed,” Lieberman told The Post.
Some trading experts were surprised at how the events played out.
“Someone sophisticated enough to manage a $100 million VIX Futures portfolio also has the resources to verify something as simple as the expiration date of a product, particularly if that expiration poses significant risk to their portfolio,” said Mark Longo, a former trader at the Chicago Board Options Exchange and CEO of industry news outlet The Options Insider.
Still, it may not have been that simple. The back office at Interactive Brokers may have been thrown into confusion, too, Lieberman said. The industry had changed the expiration date of the relatively new VIX Futures on several occasions since 2011.
Others say the fiasco illustrated some disturbing aspects of modern electronic trading. “Many of the back-office systems are so antiquated in the options and futures markets,” said Chris Nagy, a market structure expert and CEO at the KOR Group. “Humans do make mistakes, and computers don’t know enough to understand those mistakes.”
Lieberman said there are a lot of other investors who potentially incurred losses on VIX Futures through Interactive. “They just haven’t looked at their account statement to see the difference,” he added.
Interactive Brokers, based in Greenwich, Conn., had no comment for this story.
It’s not the first time Interactive has run into trouble with its online system and the regulators.
Last month, for example, a reported $667,000 was awarded by a separate Finra arbitration panel in another Interactive case. The discount broker was ordered to pay that amount to a hedge fund that suffered losses when Interactive’s system was found to have malfunctioned. | A trading regulator found discount brokerage Interactive Brokers liable for posting an incorrect date and awarded a New Jersey man a record $2.4 million in damages. But that’s only a fraction of th… | 21.810811 | 0.945946 | 22.513514 | medium | high | extractive |
http://time.com/4344301/ken-loach-palme-dor-cannes-film-festival/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20160625113747id_/http://time.com:80/4344301/ken-loach-palme-dor-cannes-film-festival/? | Ken Loach Wins Palme d’Or Prize at Cannes Film Festival | 20160625113747 | British director Ken Loach on Sunday took home the Palme d’Or, the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival for his film, I, Daniel Blake.
The 79-year-old, who had returned from retirement to make the film, said in French that it was “very strange” to win the prestigious award in such a glitzy surrounding considering the conditions endured by the people who inspired his movie, The Guardian reports.
“The festival is very important for the future of cinema,” Loach said, according to the newspaper. “When there is despair, the people from the far right take advantage. We must say that another world is possible and necessary.”
I, Daniel Blake is about an injured carpenter who fights to stay on welfare.
This is the second Palme d’Or that Loach has received, according to The Guardian. He had also won the prize for his 2006 film The Wind That Shakes the Barley. | It's his second time winning the prestigious award | 20.222222 | 0.666667 | 1.333333 | medium | low | abstractive |
http://fortune.com/2016/04/20/the-worlds-most-powerful-women-april-20th/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20160626084506id_/http://fortune.com:80/2016/04/20/the-worlds-most-powerful-women-april-20th/ | The World’s Most Powerful Women: April 20 | 20160626084506 | Good morning, WMPW readers! The former speaker of Greece’s parliament is starting her own political party, a girl in Afghanistan is braving the odds to lead an orchestra, and corporate boards in India are getting more women, albeit gradually. Want to share some news on a powerful woman? Get in touch, at: laura.cohn@gmail.com or @laurascohn. Have a fabulous Wednesday! | Setting sail in Greece | 17.75 | 0.5 | 0.5 | medium | low | abstractive |
http://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/scientists-reconstruct-ancient-womans-head-to-surprising-results/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20160627000527id_/http://www.cbsnews.com:80/amp/news/scientists-reconstruct-ancient-womans-head-to-surprising-results/ | Scientists reconstruct ancient woman's head, with surprising results | 20160627000527 | Jun 22, 2016 1:52 PM EDT SciTech
By Tia Ghose / Livescience.com
The grave of a woman with a bizarre, long-headed skull has been unearthed in Korea.
The woman was part of the ancient Silla culture, which ruled much of the Korean peninsula for nearly a millennium.
Unlike some of the deformed, pointy skulls that have been found throughout the world in other ancient graves, however, it is unlikely that this woman had her head deliberately flattened, the researchers said. [See Images of the Long-Headed Woman's Facial Reconstruction]
The ancient Silla Kingdom reigned over part of the Korean Peninsula from 57 B.C. to A.D. 935, making it one of the longest-ruling royal dynasties. Many of Korea's modern-day cultural practices stem from this historic culture. Yet despite its long reign and wide-ranging influence on culture, the number of Silla burials with intact skeletons remained few and far between, said study co-author Dong Hoon Shin, a bioanthropologist at Seoul National University College of Medicine in the Republic of Korea.
"The skeletons are not preserved well in the soil of Korea," Shin told Live Science in an email. [7 Strange Facts About North Korea]
However, in 2013, researchers had a lucky break while excavating a grave near Gyeongju, the historic capital of the Silla Kingdom. Inside a traditional burial coffin, called a "mokgwakmyo," lay the nearly perfectly intact bones of a woman who died in her late 30s.
The team managed to extract the woman's mitochondrial DNA, or DNA that is passed from mother to daughter. The analysis revealed that she belonged to a genetic lineage that is present, though not common, in East Asia today. Analysis of the carbon isotopes (versions of carbon with different weights) in the skeleton also revealed that the woman was likely a strict vegetarian, in keeping with the interpretation of Buddhism that was prevalent at the time in the country. She also ate a greater percentage of her calories from foods such as rice and potatoes, versus millet or maize, the researchers reported June 1 in the journal PLOS ONE.
The team was also able to reconstruct her facial features and head shape based on skull fragments. It turned out that the woman was dolichocephalic, meaning her head width was less than about 75 percent of its length.
That differs somewhat from the trends in the region today, where people are more commonly brachycephalic, meaning their head width is at least 80 percent of the head length.
One possibility is that the head was deliberately deformed to have this elongated shape. Skull deformation has occurred throughout the world, and in fact, archaeologists have unearthed evidence of skull deformation from the neighboring Gaya Kingdom, said study co-author Eun Jin Woo, a physical anthropologist at Seoul National University in the Republic of Korea.
However, the team ultimately ruled out this explanation because heads that are deliberately deformed usually have flatter bones in the front of the skull. To compensate for all of the pressure that head deformation causes, the bones in the side of the skull tend to grow more, Woo said.
"The skull in this study did not show the shape changes in deformed crania," Woo told Live Science in an email. "In this regard, we think her head should be considered as normal variation in the group."
Original article on Live Science. | The woman's head had distinctly different proportions from what we're used to seeing today | 41.125 | 0.625 | 1 | high | low | abstractive |
http://fortune.com/2016/06/24/privacy-shield-improvements/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20160627065916id_/http://fortune.com:80/2016/06/24/privacy-shield-improvements/ | There May Have Been a Breakthrough On the U.S.-EU Privacy Shield Deal | 20160627065916 | The European Commission claims to have improved its deal with the U.S. over the so-called Privacy Shield agreement, which aims to make it easy for U.S. multinationals to legally process the personal data of EU employees and customers.
Privacy Shield is the successor to the Safe Harbor agreement, which was last year struck down by the European Court of Justice (ECJ), the EU’s highest court. When its details were first released, many regulators pointed out that the Privacy Shield draft did not give enough protection to EU citizens to survive another legal challenge at the ECJ.
Now, according to Commission officials, a revised draft includes “a number of additional clarifications and improvements.”
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The officials said the Commission had agreed on “additional clarifications” with the U.S. on American mass surveillance powers, the role of the “ombudsperson” who will adjudicate complaints from EU citizens about their data being abused, and the transfer of EU citizens’ data to other companies.
The last point is important, as online services are deeply interconnected these days—a U.S. company could sign up to the Privacy Shield register, promising to stick to its rules about protecting EU citizens’ privacy rights, but then it will often transfer that data to other companies for processing.
Now, according to the Commission officials, those other companies would have to tell the company on the Privacy Shield register when they cannot offer sufficient protection to the EU citizens’ data.
The U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence has apparently now spelled out how “bulk collection of data” can only be used under specific preconditions, in a way that is as targeted as possible.
However, it remains to be seen whether this element does satisfy the EU courts, as it is not clear whether this targeting only applies to the use of data that has been collected in bulk, or to the collection itself. The U.S. only tends to see surveillance as something that happens when people look at the collected data, whereas the EU legal system sees the collection as surveillance.
As for the new ombudsperson, the new Privacy Shield draft apparently tightens up the language around the role’s independence. EU regulators have warned that, if the ombudsperson does not have real independence from intelligence agencies, it cannot fulfil EU citizens’ rights by giving them an effective complaint route.
For more on privacy, watch our video:
The Commission gave the new draft to representatives of the EU member states on Thursday night. These representatives (a group known as the Article 31 Working Party) now need to vote on the draft.
“After the vote…the College of Commissioners will be able to adopt the final Privacy Shield early July,” a Commission spokesperson said. The Commission was originally aiming to finalize the deal in June.
U.S. multinationals had better hope the new Privacy Shield deal is watertight. They are fast running out of ways to legally handle EU citizens’ personal data, and privacy activists are certain to challenge the new deal in court if they are not satisfied with its details. | European Commission negotiators claim to have improved the details of the Privacy Shield, which will let U.S. firms handle EU personal data. | 24.791667 | 0.833333 | 1.583333 | medium | medium | mixed |
http://nypost.com/2014/03/19/three-must-see-spring-home-design-events/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20160628103053id_/http://nypost.com:80/2014/03/19/three-must-see-spring-home-design-events/ | Three must-see spring home design events | 20160628103053 | Navigating this massive event — where 500-plus brands of furnishings, appliances, fabrics, flooring and more are both on display and for sale — can be exhausting. What luck, then, that there’s now an Outdoor Pavilion, where you can kick back on comfy D’Apostrophe furniture, under Sunbrella’s revolutionary “Twisty” shade, and catch top chef Jonathan Waxman whipping up quesadillas on David Rockwell’s new Caliber grill (Sat., 3 p.m.).
You’ll also see a lot more technology this year than ever before. “It’s like a consumer electronics show, where technology is finally integrating into all aspects of the home,” says Giulio Capua, vice president and publisher of Architectural Digest.
“There will be traditional products, like Crestron, along with those that are just beginning to penetrate the US market, like the TopBrewer. If you can imagine a countertop with just a spout — all the TopBrewer machinery is underneath, in one self-contained unit. And it’s controlled by any smartphone, so you can adjust the milk, the foam for, say, a latte, then walk downstairs and it will be ready. It’s part of a trend of clean and modern, but also cool and functional.” And pricey, too — a TopBrewer will run you about $11,000.
Fortunately, not everything at the show is so out of reach. “We’ve tried to provide an interesting balance — high-end brands, plus individual artisans all under one roof,” says Capua. “And there’s a new retail area called The Shops at ADHDS — with the Cooper-Hewitt Museum Shop, DwellStudios, several others — appealing to a wide range of price points.”
Info: Architectural Digest Home Design Show, March 20-23, is open to the trade and VIP ticket holders today, and to the public Friday through Sunday. Admission is $30 in advance, $40 at the door. Pier 94, 55th Street at 12th Avenue.
For the first time ever, Sotheby’s is launching a Designer Showhouse, using pieces from its upcoming spring sales, including European and American furniture, silver, paintings, prints, ceramics and more. The series of spaces — set on the sixth floor of the auction house’s Manhattan headquarters — will replicate an eclectically luxurious home, from a modern-masculine living room to a drawing room that would work in a contemporary English country house.
“It’s a different approach,” says Csongor Kis, specialist in French & Continental Furniture for Sotheby’s, who helped develop the concept. “We show that you can mix and match contemporary art and design and create a modern and livable space.”
Sotheby’s has selected a broad range of marquee interior designers to curate the rooms. Expect a fashion-forward approach to the entry hall, complete with taxidermy, from Ryan Korban — who has crafted retail stores for Alexander Wang and Balenciaga. For the study, design star Daun Curry of Modern Declaration is combining mid-century modern pieces with solid and classical English furniture. Shaler Ladd Design Corporation created the library, using a Francis Bacon print as its centerpiece. “It’s not your typical stockbroker’s Tudor library,” says Andrew Ogletree, specialist in English Furniture for Sotheby’s. “It’s kind of a philospher’s library, where each piece has been thought out.”
The lineup of other design talents includes Olasky & Sisteden, run by Bunny Williams protégé Catherine Casteel Olasky and Maximilian P. Sinsteden, and the esteemed McMillen Inc.
Info: The Designer Showhouse, March 24-28, is free and open to the public. Sotheby’s, 1334 York Ave.
No red-checked tablecloths here — it’s all about crazy, creative dining environments envisioned by top tastemakers from the fields of interior design, fashion and architecture. Among the 34 installations (plus three student designs and four centerpiece tables), look for Diane von Furstenberg’s bold, bright animal-print room using Kravet fabrics; Calvin Klein Home’s totally Zen Japanese dining area; and Slade Architecture for Axor (the high-end bathroom fixture company), featuring wallpaper printed with the brand’s chrome fixtures.
The event shares space with the Architectural Digest Home Design Show — which means you can wander over and check out the tabletops free with your admission ticket — but it’s much more fun to party with the designers themselves. There’s tonight’s preview celebration, Cocktails by Design, with drinks and gourmet bites from NYC eateries like Asellina and Indochine, along with a silent auction; or splurge for the fancy-pants Dining by Design Gala on Monday night, which guarantees a seat at one of the spectacular tables. All funds benefit organizations that help those affected by HIV/AIDS.
INFO: DIFFA Dining by Design, March 20-24. Tickets for the cocktail preview are $200; gala tickets are $650. Pier 94, 55th Street at 12th Avenue.
The lineup of other design talents includes Olasky & Sisteden, run by Bunny Williams protégé Catherine Casteel Olasky and Maximilian P. Sinsteden, the esteemed McMillen Inc. and Rush Jenkins from WRJ Design. | Architectural Digest Home Design Show Navigating this massive event — where 500-plus brands of furnishings, appliances, fabrics, flooring and more are both on display and for sale — can be exhausti… | 28.428571 | 0.942857 | 23.114286 | medium | medium | extractive |
http://fortune.com/2016/02/24/wall-street-energy-bets/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20160629035539id_/http://fortune.com:80/2016/02/24/wall-street-energy-bets/?iid=recirc_f500profile-zone1 | Wall Street Won’t Give up on Its Energy Bets | 20160629035539 | This piece originally appeared on Oilprice.com.
The oil and gas industry is suffering through its worst cycle in a generation, with most companies losing money at today’s prices. Debt is piling up and the losses are starting to become a concern for lenders. Shareholders are getting burned by plummeting share prices. Yet, major investors are still not ready to throw in the towel on oil and gas. Some are even doubling down, raising their bets in an effort to predict the bottom and profit from a rebound.
Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway stepped up its share purchases of Kinder Morgan kmi at the close of 2015, according to The Wall Street Journal. Kinder Morgan is one of the largest energy infrastructure companies in North America, and controls over 84,000 miles of pipelines. The company’s share price is off more than 60% from its peak in 2015, but Berkshire Hathaway saw that as a buying opportunity, purchasing $396 million worth of shares in the fourth quarter.
Carl Icahn also added a bit to his stakes in Cheniere Energy lng , which is set to begin shipping the first American LNG abroad this year. Cheniere’s share price is also down more than 60% since last year, amid an increasingly depressed and oversupplied LNG market. Icahn also has an 11% stake in Chesapeake Energy, the second largest natural gas driller in the United States, which is fighting off speculation of an imminent bankruptcy. Icahn lost $2.8 billion across seven different energy investments, but apparently has not backed off.
Equity markets have not entirely closed their doors to energy companies, despite the decline across the entire sector since large offerings were issued in 2015. Devon Energy issued another 69 million shares of common stock on February 17, raising nearly $1.3 billion in fresh equity. Texas driller Energen Inc. also issued new stock on the same day, raising another $334 million. Raging River Exploration, a junior oil and gas company in Saskatchewan, offered new equity as well.
“When capital markets are open you take it,” David Tameron, an analyst at Wells Fargo Securities, told the WSJ.
It is not at all clear that these bets will pay off. Picking the bottom of the investment cycle could be lucrative, but so far that has not been the case. Several companies that raised new equity or took on more debt last year have already filed for bankruptcy.
The WSJ reports that a record $18 billion in energy equity was issued in 2015, but those offerings have since lost about $7.2 billion in value. Or, viewed another way, only seven of the 58 energy offerings in 2015 have actually seen their share price move above their offering price.
That has resulted in very large string of losses for energy investors, although much of that is unrealized. According to Reuters, at least thirteen large activist investors—investors that take stakes in companies and seek to change decision-making—suffered at least $9.2 billion in losses last year.
Reuters found that Corvex Management, one activist investment fund, is stuck in a particularly bad position. It has $1 billion tied up in Williams Companies, a pipeline operator that is getting dragged down by the bankruptcy rumors surrounding Chesapeake Energy chk . Williams has contracts with the natural gas driller, which guarantee that the company gets paid for providing pipeline capacity. But if Chesapeake goes under and cannot fulfill its end of the bargain, Williams Companies would suffer from the fallout. Chesapeake had to issue a statement in early February denying any plans for a bankruptcy. Corvex Management is heavily exposed to Williams Company, which represents 14% of its entire portfolio.
More from Oilprice.com: Rudderless OPEC Doesn’t Know How To Respond To U.S. Shale This Is What Will Cause A Lasting Oil Price Rally Saudi Oil Minister Says Oil Production Cut “Not Going To Happen”
The problem for some major hedge funds and activist investors is that their own shareholders have short time horizons, expecting quarterly paybacks. That means the funds may not have the ability to wait out the downturn.
Over the past 20 months or so since the downturn in oil prices began, Wall Street has largely remained bullish on energy, increasing positions in an effort to predict the bottom. It has not worked out well, with oil prices repeatedly plumbing new lows. But with little room left for oil on the downside, at least some energy investors are once again trying to load up on positions. Time will tell if those bets pay off. | The energy industry is suffering, but activist investors continue to double down on their bets. | 50.823529 | 0.882353 | 1.588235 | high | medium | mixed |
http://time.com/3063763/3-reasons-you-should-eat-more-spicy-food/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20160629050628id_/http://time.com:80/3063763/3-reasons-you-should-eat-more-spicy-food/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+time%2Ftopstories+%28TIME%3A+Top+Stories%29 | You Should Eat More Spicy Food | 20160629050628 | Hot peppers add a lot of flavor to our food, but they may be doing much more than just making our eyes water. New research shows they might have tumor-fighting benefits, as well. Here are a few reasons you should consider adding some spice into your diet.
It may reduce risk for tumors
A new study in mice published in the journal The Journal of Clinical Investigation found that the spicy chemical in peppers, capsaicin, can activate cell receptors in the intestinal lining, thereby creating a reaction that reduces the risk of developing tumors. The researchers suggest that capsaicin, which is also used as a analgesic by exhausting nerves so they cannot report pain, could help turn off an over-reactive receptor that might spur tumor growth. They fed capsaicin to mice genetically prone to develop more tumors and found that the capsaicin reduced tumors and extended the lives of those mice, especially when they were also given an anti-inflammatory drug. The findings are very new and haven’t be replicated, but it could be another win for spicy food lovers down the line.
It improves your sex life
Now, there’s some debate over how effective natural aphrodisiacs really are, but hey, if you’re not interested in trying pharmaceutical libido boosters, why not give more flavorful food a try. A review of research published in the journal Food Research International in 2011 found ginseng and saffron booth boosted sexual performance. What’s unknown are what the most effective doses are, and how it’s best to consume them. But adding a pinch here or there won’t hurt.
It helps with weight loss
Research has shown that spicy food can increase satiety, but researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, Center for Human Nutrition have also shown that peppers might actually encourage your body to burn more calories. In a small study of men and women, those who were taking pills with pepper components over one month were shown to burn more fat than those taking a placebo. Other researchers at Purdue University found that eating less than a teaspoon of dried cayenne red pepper lowered appetite and increased calorie burn.
While the science isn’t bulletproof, it’s growing, and provides a simple way for eaters to give themselves an edge. Not to mention the numbers show that consumers are eating more spicy food anyway. A 2014 food industry report found that 54% of consumers say hot or spicy foods are appealing compared to 46% in 2009. And, younger diners between ages 18 and 34 are the most likely to order something spicy off the menu. | They have more health perks than you know | 61.75 | 0.625 | 0.625 | high | low | abstractive |
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/success/fastcompany/tca-finding-a-seat-at-the-table-for-women-20160427-story.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20160629175539id_/http://www.chicagotribune.com:80/business/success/fastcompany/tca-finding-a-seat-at-the-table-for-women-20160427-story.html | Finding a seat at the table for women | 20160629175539 | Karla Martin remembers the phone calls. A recruiter would be putting together a slate of board candidates for a company and would reach out to see if she was interested. The hitch: She would have only until the next day to decide.
Martin, a former director of global business strategy at Google with more than 20 years of experience advising companies on how to drive growth, was certainly qualified to sit on a board. But her mentors warned her to be wary of becoming the token female and African-American candidate: If recruiters were seriously considering her for the position, they would have reached out earlier.
"I’m sure there’s a good number of women and people of color who respond, and they do get the board seat," Martin says. "But my experience has been roughly what my mentors expected."
When Facebook went public in 2012, its directors included venture capitalists and tech and media executives—but not a single woman until chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg was added to the list a month later. Twitter went public the following year with no female directors (it has since added two). And it continues. Fitbit’s high-profile IPO last year was conducted without a woman on its board. Which raises the question: How can otherwise forward-thinking companies have such retrograde boards?
Sukhinder Singh Cassidy, a serial entrepreneur and former Google executive, wants to change that dynamic. Currently the CEO of the shopping site Joyus, she has plenty of board experience herself: TripAdvisor, Ericsson, and formerly J.Crew.
But a few years ago, she started paying more attention to the overwhelming maleness of Silicon Valley boards. She saw how it could hamstring female colleagues, who miss out on invaluable opportunities to raise their profiles, meet other high-level executives, and learn important management skills. Just as important: A lack of gender parity can affect businesses. Companies with diverse boards mirror their customers’ demographics and have been shown to function better—a recent meta-analysis published in the Academy of Management Journal found that female representation is associated with increased board-level monitoring and strategy.
When Singh Cassidy recently polled male founders and CEOs for an explanation, she kept getting the same answer: Finding great female directors takes too long and is too hard. Singh Cassidy suspects that most people simply aren’t considering the right women.
"You may not know her, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t exist," she says. In February, she launched the Boardlist, a searchable, for-profit database of female candidates, nominated largely by Silicon Valley businesspeople. The site, which operates as a benefit corporation, offers a fast and simple solution to the problem of locating qualified women for boards. But, as Singh Cassidy is discovering, the issue may not be so easy to address.
The standard board appointment process for tech startups—candidates advertise themselves, founders ask around—has been largely informal. And given the demographics of Silicon Valley’s elite, it has favored white men. Singh Cassidy’s insight in creating the Boardlist was to take that back-channel process and replicate it more formally online. (Though the Boardlist isn’t the only database of female candidates, it is the most Silicon Valley–centric.)
The site allows a curated group of executives and investors (including, yes, many men from Sand Hill Road) to nominate women for inclusion on the list. The site’s staffers create profiles for each candidate, populating them with information such as whether the nominator believes a woman is best suited for an early-stage startup or a company that is further along. Women, crucially, are not allowed to nominate themselves (they can only submit a request for consideration), though they may edit their profiles once they have been created.
There are now more than a thousand women on the list. CEOs can search for potential board members for free, while frequent users such as venture-capital firms and recruitment companies pay a fee. If a board is interested in someone, the Boardlist’s staffers contact her to gauge interest and make introductions. The idea is not only to introduce founders to more women, but to make the process less frustrating for the candidates themselves.
A few months after the Boardlist launched, following a beta period, it touted more than five dozen active searches and one early success: The site facilitated Martin’s appointment to the board of Challenged, an app that promotes social media challenges along the lines of the ALS ice-bucket phenomenon. But no other appointments had followed.
"It’s going slow," Singh Cassidy admits. One issue has been that Singh Cassidy and her colleagues had to play executive recruiters—phoning Boardlist members to persuade them to take interviews, advising CEOs about attainable candidates. They hope this time-consuming process will eventually become more automated. But Singh Cassidy has also learned that boards’ gender imbalance isn’t just about supply, as people often claimed. At least as often, it’s about demand.
The root of the problem lies in the way startup boards are often constructed. Most of a typical company’s seats are filled by its founders and funders—who, in Silicon Valley, are disproportionately white men. The remaining, independent seat frequently goes to someone with CEO or founder experience (again, usually a man). The result: Only about 22 percent to 25 percent of private tech boards include any women, compared with 97 percent among S&P 500 companies.
What’s more, when the Boardlist, with the analytics firm Qualtrics, surveyed CEOs and founders about their boards, 39 percent said their independent seat—the best hope of getting a woman appointed—was still unfilled. These habits stand in contrast to those of big public companies, which fill seats as soon as they’re vacated and seek people with specialized expertise (auditing finances, compliance issues), creating opportunities for female candidates who may not have CEO–level experience.
Today, Singh Cassidy makes a point of counseling founders on the importance of that independent board seat. She tells them that having an independent member mitigates their investors’ control, delivers an outside perspective, and adds a tie-breaking fifth vote to four-member boards. And because female board candidates with CEO and founder experience are relatively scarce in Silicon Valley, she encourages startups to consider lower-level executives who nonetheless have overseen growth—a group that includes far more women.
Someone who runs a big division of Facebook, she argues, may be just as knowledgeable as a higher-level executive elsewhere. | Karla Martin remembers the phone calls. A recruiter would be putting together a slate of board candidates for a company and would reach out to see if she was interested. The hitch: She would have only until the next day to decide. | 27.73913 | 1 | 46 | medium | high | extractive |
http://time.com/3974273/spanish-treasure-florida-capitana-1715-treasure-fleet/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20160630004157id_/http://time.com:80/3974273/spanish-treasure-florida-capitana-1715-treasure-fleet/ | Treasure Hunters Find Over $1M Worth of Shipwrecked Spanish Gold | 20160630004157 | A Florida family of professional treasure hunters has struck gold after discovering over $1 million worth of coins and jewelry in a huge Spanish shipwreck from the 18th century, Florida Today reports.
The Schmitt family, who are subcontractors for treasure hunting company 1715 Fleet–Queens Jewels LLC, discovered the treasure off the Florida Coast in the wreck of the Capitana, the flagship of a Spanish treasure fleet.
The haul includes 51 gold coins, 40 ft. of ornate gold chain and a Tricentennial Royal, an extremely rare Spanish coin valued at over $500,000, Florida Today says.
This is not the first time that gold has been found in this famous shipwreck. Captained by Don Juan Esteban de Ubilla, the Capitana carried an enormous fortune in Spanish jewels when it sunk in a hurricane in July 1715, according to Florida Today, and has been the subject of books, documentaries and blog posts.
The Schmitts are seasoned treasure hunters, Florida Today adds, having first found gold in September 2013. They came across the Capitana haul last month, but the news of their discovery was withheld to coincide with the 300th anniversary of the shipwreck. | Haul comes from a 300-year-old wreck off the Florida coast. | 16.923077 | 0.692308 | 1.615385 | medium | low | mixed |
http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/gossip/kylie-jenner-fender-bender-18-days-16th-birthday-article-1.1440583 | http://web.archive.org/web/20160630012525id_/http://www.nydailynews.com:80/entertainment/gossip/kylie-jenner-fender-bender-18-days-16th-birthday-article-1.1440583 | Kylie Jenner gets into car crash 18 days after 16th birthday | 20160630012525 | Kylie Jenner has only had her driver's license for a little over two weeks, but she already has a car accident to her name.
On Wednesday, the 16-year-old daughter of Kris and Bruce Jenner was driving her brand-new $125,000 Mercedes SUV around the chic neighborhood of Calabasas, Calif., on Wednesday when she rammed into the back of a Toyota, TMZ reported. The Toyota then reportedly slammed into the back of a Subaru SUV.
A witness told the gossip site that Jenner immediately got out of her car, apologized, and then exchanged insurance information with the other drivers. The Toyota was damaged in the back, and the Subaru had minor damage to the front.
By the time police arrived, Jenner was already gone. No charges were filed.
Jenner was first spotted behind the wheel of the pricey new car at her birthday party. According to TMZ, Jenner passed out party favor bags to attendees valued at $1,000 each. The bags included headphones, jewelry and gift cards. She turned 16 on Aug.10. | The 16-year-old daughter of Kris and Bruce Jenner was driving her brand-new $125,000 Mercedes SUV around the chic neighborhood of Calabasas, Calif., Wednesday when she rammed into the back of a Toyota, TMZ reported. | 4.72093 | 1 | 24.116279 | low | high | extractive |
http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0%2C%2C20350242%2C00.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20160630142923id_/http://www.people.com:80/people/archive/article/0,,20350242,00.html | Jason and Molly's Wedding! | 20160630142923 | It had all the makings of the ultimate dream wedding: The resort was decked out with white orchids.
's Jason Castro was performing. The bride was wearing Monique Lhuillier and $600,000 of Neil Lane diamonds. But a torrential downpour was not part of the plan. Still, as
's Jason Mesnick and Molly Malaney exchanged their very soggy vows in front of 300 guests outside the Terranea Resort in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., on Feb. 27, it was clear that nothing could dampen their magical moment. "Jason was so sweet and wiped tears off Molly's face," says an onlooker. As the ceremony ended, "they kissed passionately. They looked so happy to finally be married." It had been a rocky road to the altar for the pair, who met when Malaney, 25, vied for the 33-year-old single dad's affection on
last year. Mesnick first proposed to Melissa Rycroft, but he reunited with Malaney six weeks later, after dumping Rycroft on-air. That drama seemed far behind them as the ecstatic duo sneaked away from their wedding guests (including
alums Trista and Ryan Sutter), umbrella in hand. "Whenever they got a second alone, they would start kissing," says a source. "They looked extremely happy together." | After a Wild Year, the Controversial Bachelor Couple Tie the Knot | 20.833333 | 0.5 | 0.5 | medium | low | abstractive |
http://www.people.com/article/jennifer-garner-supports-families-west-virginia-floods | http://web.archive.org/web/20160630194331id_/http://www.people.com/article/jennifer-garner-supports-families-west-virginia-floods | Jennifer Garner Lends a Hand to Families Hit by the West Virginia Floods : People.com | 20160630194331 | 06/29/2016 AT 02:10 PM EDT
is doing her part to help her home state of West Virginia heal after devastating floods.
Garner, 44, has teamed up with the charitable organization
to help raise awareness about aiding families who have lost homes, vehicles, and other personal belongings in the floods that left
"My heart is breaking for beautiful West Virginia," said Garner in a statement.
The actress, who grew up in Charleston, West Virginia, is urging people to get involved and donate to families dealing with severe damages as a result of the floods.
"The people of my home state are the most resilient you will find, but the damage caused by the storm and deadly floods has been catastrophic for these families and communities," she said.
According to Save the Children West Virginia Director Anna Hardway, the floods have left children walking barefoot through contaminated water and "traveling in vehicles without car seats, because their own cars were washed away," she said.
Garner is a trustee and longtime supporter of Save the Children, which serves families in five West Virginia counties through health, early education and after-school programs. The organization has partnered with local schools to help nearly 2,000 children in the state.
"I am relieved to know that Save the Children will continue to be on the ground in West Virginia throughout the cleanup and recovery, to make sure basic needs are met," concluded Garner.
was declared in 44 of the state's 55 counties on June 24 after devastating flash floods. At the time, Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin said the flooding was "among the worst in a century for some parts of the state." | Jennifer Garner and Save the Children encourage citizens to donate to families affected by the recent West Virginia floods | 17.157895 | 0.736842 | 1.578947 | medium | low | mixed |
http://time.com/3611610/dog-sings-let-it-go/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20160701040509id_/http://time.com:80/3611610/dog-sings-let-it-go/?xid=time_readnext | Dog Sings Let It Go From Frozen in Car: Viral Video | 20160701040509 | Oakley the dog is no fan of Charli XCX’s “Boom Clap” and has an uncanny ability to sleep right through the catchy track. But, the pup’s catnap comes to an abrupt halt when the opening dulcet strains of Frozen track “Let It Go” start up.
On the first note the dog’s ears perk up, turning this way and that like adorable satellite dishes seeking a signal. By the time the opening bars have started, Oakley’s eyes are wide open and when Idina Menzel begins to sing, the pup’s head is up and he is seemingly trying to sing along with the chorus of the omnipresent song.
While in the commentary on the video, the puppy’s owner claims this is Oakley’s favorite song, it’s unclear whether he is actually enjoying the tune or trying to make the dreaded earworm stop — at least until the Frozen sequel, which is still only a rumor, hits theaters.
Either way, Oakley is still better at singing “Let It Go” than Ben Affleck. | Whether he hates it or loves it, he just can't stop singing it | 13.333333 | 0.666667 | 0.8 | low | low | abstractive |
http://time.com/3831656/time-100-gala-misty-copeland/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20160701053225id_/http://time.com:80/3831656/time-100-gala-misty-copeland/ | Misty Copeland Speaks at the Time 100 Gala | 20160701053225 | Ballerina Misty Copeland spoke about her humble beginnings and overcoming professional and personal challenges in a toast at the TIME 100 gala on Tuesday.
Copeland, who was the only African American ballerina at the American Ballet Theater during her first decade there, said she felt a calling to dance in unlikely circumstances. “As a 13-year-old growing up in Los Angeles, California, this very diverse place, I was living in a motel with my single parent, with my mother and five of my siblings. And that’s when ballet found me,” she said.
The author and dancer, who was named one of the world’s most influential people in the 2015 TIME 100, said that one of her major influences was Raven Wilkinson, the first African American ballerina to dance in an elite international dance company, and now her neighbor in New York City.
“She’s become an incredible role model for me, and someone who has sparked this curiosity for me to try and open up the doors for the history of African American ballerinas that I feel is just not told.” | Inspiration can come from the unlikeliest of places | 26.125 | 0.25 | 0.25 | medium | low | abstractive |
http://fortune.com/2016/06/28/pat-summitt-marciniak/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20160701112806id_/http://fortune.com:80/2016/06/28/pat-summitt-marciniak/ | One of Pat Summitt's Players Explains What Made Her a Great Leader | 20160701112806 | Pat Summitt, the winningest Division 1 coach in the history of college basketball, died on Tuesday at 64 after a battle with early-onset Alzheimer’s.
In 2011, when the then-University of Tennessee Lady Vols coach first made the stunning announcement that she was suffering from the disease, Fortune’s Pattie Sellers asked Michelle Marciniak, who was once one of Summitt’s top players, to explain what made her former coach so successful. Marciniak, the MVP of the ’96 national champion Tennessee team, played in the WNBA and coached at the University of South Carolina before going on to become co-founder and co-CEO of SHEEX, which sells “high-performance” bedding made out of temperature-control athletic fabric. Here’s what she had to say:
Pat and I had a love-hate relationship when I played for her at Tennessee. I had a tremendous work ethic and a passion to play the game like no other, but I was young and tried to do things “my way” while Pat was coaching me “her way.” Regardless of the ways that I drove Pat crazy with my Polish stubbornness, there was never a time I lost respect for her.
Pat is a Champion–thinks like a champion and coached me with endless passion and gutless determination. She didn’t care if I liked her or agreed with her. Pat wanted results. She thinks in terms of “championships.” She sets the bar so high that anything less than a national championship “isn’t good enough.”
When you play for Pat, winning is an expectation. And when you win, there are no slaps on the back, no congratulations. You are, after all, one game closer to winning a championship–which is always the “bar”–but you’re still not there yet. Work needs to get done to tweak, refine and work toward the greater goal. The goal is pristine execution. When you get sloppy, you lose. There is no “it was an ugly win, but we’ll take it” in Pat Summitt-speak. If that happens, you are in for a punishing day at the gym. On the flip side, when you lose a game at Tennessee, it’s not acceptable. The punishing day just crossed over to brutal.
Tennessee coach Pat Summitt coaching in a game against North Carolina on Dec. 2, 2007 in Knoxville, Tenn. Photograph by Wade Payne — ASSOCIATED PRESS
There’s only one thing that is “good enough” for Pat, and that is when you cut down that championship net. I had the unique experience to play for two national championships at Tennessee: won one and lost one. Lost my junior year and dealt with the demands of Pat breathing down my neck that it “wasn’t good enough” until the day I led my team to a national championship my senior year. Painful? Yes. Scary? I was scared to death. Pressure? You can’t imagine how much…but Pat prepared me through a constant refining process.
When someone pushes you that intensely–pushes you to be better than you think you can ever be (even as you are fighting, kicking and screaming), you begin to make new molds for yourself. You grow in ways you never thought imaginable and you learn life lessons that you carry with you for the rest of your existence on earth. As I have. Starting my SHEEX business and living the life of an entrepreneur has been one of the most challenging things I have ever experienced. It’s difficult. It’s exhausting. It’s scary. But I know, having now transitioned from sports to the corporate world: If you don’t have the “it’s not good enough” mentality…if you don’t push yourself past your comfort zone…if you don’t sacrifice each day with the goal of pristine execution in mind, you will never win a championship in business.
Michelle Marciniak attempts to elude UConn Huskies player Nykesha Sales (left) during the Final Four in 1996. Photograph by Matthew Stockman — Getty Images
Has this woman impacted my life? I never knew how much until I was thrown into the jaws of the real life of business and adult relationships. Pat prepared me for the “tough” part of my life. I have developed a relentless resilience and my own measure for success, which is to build SHEEX in to a global mega-brand. That’s a lofty goal, but so was winning a National Championship.
What I once thought was a person being so hard on me to the point of breaking me, I now know is one of the greatest blessings of my life. Thank you, Pat. | In this 2011 post, Michelle Marciniak writes about Summitt's tough love. | 65.142857 | 0.714286 | 0.857143 | high | low | abstractive |
http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/music/joey-ramone-lead-singer-ramones-dies-49-2001-article-1.897175 | http://web.archive.org/web/20160701125011id_/http://www.nydailynews.com:80/entertainment/music/joey-ramone-lead-singer-ramones-dies-49-2001-article-1.897175 | Joey Ramone, lead singer of the Ramones, dies at 49 in 2001 | 20160701125011 | (Originally published by the Daily News on April 16, 2001. This was written by Martin Mbugua and Dave Goldiner)
Joey Ramone, the bushy-haired, leather-clad outcast from Queens who helped launch the punk-rock revolution as lead singer of the Ramones, died yesterday of lymphoma. He was 49.
Last night, loved ones and fans around the world mourned the man who helped make songs like "I Wanna Be Sedated," "Sheena Is a Punk Rocker" and "Rockaway Beach" influential punk classics in the 1970s.
He died at 2:40 p.m. yesterday as U2's song "In a Little While" played in his room at New York-Presbyterian Hospital.
"Just as the song finished, Joey finished," his mother, Charlotte Lesher, of Queens, told the Daily News last night. "He was too, too young to go, but we'll always love him. People will never forget his music."
Joey, who was born Jeff Hyman and was reared in Forest Hills, was heavily medicated when his brother, Nicky, switched on the song as friends and relatives gathered at his bedside. But his mother is certain he heard the music.
"He's free now," she said. "He heard it and now he's gone."
Their faces hidden behind bushy black bangs and dark sunglasses, the Ramones - four pals who adopted the same last name - burst onto the New York club scene in the mid-'70s.
What they lacked in musical training, Joey, DeeDee, Tommy and Johnnie made up with energy and a rare insight into the workaday world around them.
All drums, bass chords and yelps, they raced through songs in less than two minutes and left fans in the U.S. and England screaming for more.
"They touched a lot of people with their music," Lesher said. "More people than I ever knew."
They inspired English punk groups such as the Sex Pistols and the Clash - and even future superstars such as Bruce Springsteen.
They starred in the 1979 cult movie "Rock 'n' Roll High School," but never cracked the Top 40 before the band officially broke up in 1996.
Outside CBGB's, the grungy East Village club the Ramones helped make famous, two candles burned last night as fan Joe Saffer came to remember Joey.
"It's like the end of all history," said Saffer, 32, a waiter from Brooklyn. "He saved the music scene, actually."
CBGB's owner Hilly Kristal sat mournfully at his desk near the entrance to the club.
"It's not a happy time," said Kristal, 69, who booked some of the Ramones' earliest gigs. "People loved Joey. He was a lovable man, a good man."
Arturo Vega, the group's longtime spokesman, dropped by the club, clad in a Ramones sweatshirt, to break the sad news to Kristal.
"I feel like I got off the world," Vega said. "It's an ugly feeling that Joey is not here." | Joey Ramone, the bushy-haired, leather-clad outcast from Queens dies of lymphoma. | 34 | 0.944444 | 11.388889 | medium | high | extractive |
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/a-name-you-can-trust/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20160701233148id_/http://www.cbsnews.com:80/news/a-name-you-can-trust/ | A Name You Can Trust? | 20160701233148 | Barack Obama raised this question at the Democratic Convention in 2004, when he described himself as "a skinny kid with a funny name, who believes that America has a place for him, too." But does his "funny" name really matter to voters? What can pollsters find out about how open the American public is to candidates whose names (and backgrounds) are different from those of typical presidential candidates?
It takes time for rare or unusual names to be accepted. In the Broadway hit "Fiorello" (the story of Fiorello LaGuardia – the former mayor of New York City) by Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick, a group of Republican Party bosses turn their poker game into a search for a candidate to face the powerful Tammany political machine, a search for "Some qualified Republican who's willing to lose." One possible candidate with a polysyllabic ethnic name is rejected because, as one of them sings: "Nobody likes a candidate whose name they can't spell!"
John Kennedy's obviously urban Irish background, along with his Catholicism, was new to many voters in 1960. The 1988 Democratic presidential nominee Mike Dukakis, the first U.S.-born member of his family, had name issues with some voters. During his campaign, the country singer Loretta Lynn
that Dukakis was simply not her kind of politician…. "Why, I can't even pronounce his name!'"
There don't seem to have been any polls taken that year about Mike Dukakis's name and how it affected voters. But in the most recent CBS News poll, we tried to see how voters reacted to the name "Barack Obama." It was hard to formulate such a question. Media pollsters who are measuring public opinion (as compared to the candidates' own pollsters, who may be trying to learn how to influence voters) don't want to put ideas into people's minds. We need to learn what ideas are there already.
we asked a number of questions that we hoped would tell us whether Obama's name was an issue. For some people, about 10 percent of registered voters, it was actually top-of-mind. For nearly four times as many, it was a worry, perhaps not for them personally, but for how it might affect other voters.
Late in the questionnaire, we reminded registered voters of the speech at the 2004 Democratic Convention that had catapulted Obama to public consciousness, and in which he'd said he had a "funny name." We then asked "Do you think many people would have a problem voting for him because of his name, or not?" Thirty-eight percent said many voters would have a problem voting for him because of it. And while that doesn't mean the individual respondent would, it clearly says something about their perception of other Americans, and perhaps other Americans they know. More Republicans than Democrats (45 percent to 36 percent) say it will be a problem with voters.
For some people, the concern was personal. Long before we asked the question that mentioned Obama's name and his characterization of it, and before we mentioned
of the Democratic candidates, we asked this question: "Other than running for President, what is the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the name Obama?"
Ten percent of registered voters said the first thing that came to their mind when they heard the name was the foreignness of it, and/or a perceived association with "Osama bin Laden." And those voters who did NOT have a favorable opinion of Obama were twice as likely as those with a favorable opinion to mention this. Those who thought his name would affect others also were more likely to be thinking of it themselves. Nearly one in five of those who said that they thought many voters would have a problem voting for Obama because of his name said in the earlier poll question that the name's non-American associations were the
thing they thought of when they heard his name.
Name and ethnicity work together, of course. And Obama's race is part of voters concern, especially for African-Americans. In our polls, black voters have consistently been more likely than white voters to say America might not yet be ready for a black president, although they do think Obama could win the presidency if he won the Democratic nomination.
Obama could overcome this problem, because the foreign connection is much more likely to be made by those who are paying less attention to the campaign than by those paying closer attention: Fourteen percent of those paying little or no attention to the campaign say it's the first thing that comes to mind when they hear Obama's name, compared with just 7 percent of those paying at least some attention.
As Obama keeps campaigning, and as voters start paying more attention, pollsters like me will continue to try and find out what voters see and whether their focus moves beyond his name, to the candidate himself and his platform.
Copyright 2007 CBS. All rights reserved. | <b>CBS' Kathy Frankovic:</b> Some Voters Think Barack Obama's Name, Background Will Give Him Problems | 46.47619 | 0.619048 | 1.095238 | high | low | abstractive |
http://fortune.com/2016/06/29/alaska-airlines-bill-ayer-airmap/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20160702000554id_/http://fortune.com:80/2016/06/29/alaska-airlines-bill-ayer-airmap/ | Former Alaska Airlines CEO William Ayer Joins AirMap Board | 20160702000554 | The rising use of drones has not escaped the attention of former Alaska Air Group CEO and chairman William “Bill” Ayer.
Ayer, who worked at the airline for over 30 years and spent roughly a decade as its CEO until his retirement in 2013, has joined the board of a relatively new drone startup called AirMap. He was previously an advisor to AirMap, but the new board seat means he will be more involved with the startup as it tries to take off.
Drones represent “the next frontier” for the aviation industry, Ayer told Fortune, and he believes that emerging companies in the space can turn into big businesses—similar to how automobiles and airplanes led to new huge industries.
“The early companies have a real opportunity to set the standards and help develop the acceptance” of new technologies, Ayer said.
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AirMap built a mobile app that drone pilots can use to receive updates from airports and air traffic management teams about flight conditions “so they don’t get too close to an airplane” or don’t land in places they shouldn’t be, like “on the White House lawn,” said AirMap CEO Ben Marcus. It also sells its technology to airports so that they know when drones may be flying too close.
Drone navigation technology is a hot sector with startups like AirMap, ANRA Technologies, and Skyward all building their own variations. That’s one reason why NASA, various universities, drone startups like AirMap and Skyward, as well as big companies like Google goog and Amazon amzn are trying to build a national drone traffic management system. The drone traffic management system would essentially provide the infrastructure to allow drones to safely integrate into the commercial airspace alongside airplanes.
“There is an existing infrastructure and you got to figure out how you ought to relate to that and integrate,” Ayer said about new drone navigation systems one day working with existing air traffic control technology.
Regarding, the Federal Aviation Administration’s recently released commercial drone regulations that provide rules on how businesses can use drones Ayer said they represent a “big step forward” for the both the drone and aviation industry.
The rules, which open the door for any business to fly drones, will lead to more companies creating innovative drone technology and new use cases, some of which have yet to be considered, he said. “They listened a lot to the industry and they are providing a lot of flexibility here,” he said.
However, the drone rules must keep evolving because “the needs of tomorrow are different from the needs of today,” Ayer added.
As to whether today’s drone startups will become big publicly traded companies and whether big airliners may eventually get into the drone business themselves, Ayer said “the crystal ball isn’t clear—it never is.”
And although AirMap’s 26 employees are just a fraction of the roughly 13,000 people that Alaska Air Group alk employed during Ayer’s tenure as CEO, there are some similarities. Every company, regardless of size, needs to be quick to react, because there’s always a competitor or a sudden change in the market that can hurt a business.
For more about drones, watch:
“I always thought it was healthy to wake up with a good dose of paranoia every day,” said Ayer.
He felt that competitive pressure “continually” during his time at Alaska, and faced a number of challenges, including a rapidly changing airline industry. Every legacy airliner, except for Southwest Airlines luv and Alaska, “went through at least one Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the time that I was CEO,” Ayer said.
A bad economy, fuel prices, and the 9/11 terrorist attack all seriously impacted the airline industry, he explained. Alaska Air survived without going bankrupt, but it “wasn’t perfect by any means” and there were some “tough decisions and layoffs.”
But companies learn from the bad times, and that knowledge of how to survive and grow is something Ayer can channel for his new role at AirMap. In April, the company landed a $15 million in investment from General Catalyst Partners, Social Capital, TenOneTen Ventures, Bullpen Capital, and the Pritzker Group.
“Fasten your seatbelt, because this is going to be an interesting ride,” Ayer said. | Finally the old-school aviation industry and drones collide...safely. | 65.076923 | 0.538462 | 0.692308 | high | low | abstractive |
http://www.aol.com/article/2016/01/28/clinton-predicts-greatest-threats-next-generation-will-face/21304411/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20160702084238id_/http://www.aol.com:80/article/2016/01/28/clinton-predicts-greatest-threats-next-generation-will-face/21304411/ | Clinton predicts greatest threats next generation will face | 20160702084238 | If she is lucky enough to win the Democratic nomination and go on to become the next president, Hillary Clinton says the first task she wants to accomplish is raising incomes for American workers.
SEE MORE: Hillary Clinton opens up about her greatest political regret
But when asked about what threats she thinks the next generation -- the one her granddaughter Charlotte is a part of -- will face, she worries about their opportunity to succeed and achieve their full potential.
"I think there are two kinds of threats. One attacks your spirit and heart and you feel like you just aren't able to live up to your potential, that the opportunities are there," Clinton tells AOL.com.
Check out behind-the-scenes photos from AOL.com's interview with Clinton:
Clinton predicts greatest threats next generation will face
While her own grandkids may never lack for opportunity, Clinton says she feels "a real obligation to make sure that my grandchild and everyone's grandchildren have that chance."
That's an issue many candidates, both Democrats and Republicans, have pledged to tackle, but not necessarily the same way.
SEE MORE: Clinton opens up about surprising concerns voters have days ahead of Iowa caucuses
Clinton wants to raise the minimum wage, make schools more affordable, and ease the burden on working moms by improving child care and family leave policies. She also wants to close tax loopholes for the wealthy to free up budget to give middle-class families greater tax cuts. Her Democratic rival Sen. Bernie Sanders wants to raise the minimum wage set at $15 an hour, and make college entirely free.
Many of the candidates seeking the Republican nomination plan to use a combination of deregulation and economic incentives for business owners to help create job opportunities for workers. Donald Trump has a tax plan designed to lower rates for lower income workers and businesses as well, often saying on the campaign trail that he'd use his negotiation skills -- especially in trade with China -- to help increase job opportunities.
Watch AOL.com's full interview with Clinton:
Clinton tells AOL.com she's concerned about more than just economic threats to our next generation.
SEE MORE: Hillary Clinton speaks out on Oscars' diversity problem
"There are new diseases coming to our country, this horrible Zika disease, that mosquitos are carrying that affects pregnant woman, we had never heard of that before," she said.
Officials from the World Health Organization announced on Thursday they plan to convene an emergency committee on the "explosively spreading" virus, warning that up to 4 million cases could occur in the Americas.
Clinton also identified terrorism and cyber attacks as major concerns. For more on how Clinton would reassure Americans who are worried about the threat of ISIS, watch the clip below: | Hillary Clinton is a proud grandma, and while she wants the best for her granddaughter, she says she's concerned about all children in that generation. | 18.482759 | 0.827586 | 1.586207 | medium | medium | mixed |
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/SFO-crash-survivor-was-run-over-by-two-fire-rigs-5055771.php | http://web.archive.org/web/20160702094410id_/http://www.sfgate.com:80/bayarea/article/SFO-crash-survivor-was-run-over-by-two-fire-rigs-5055771.php | SFO crash survivor was run over by two fire rigs | 20160702094410 | An image from the helmet-mounted video camera of a San Francisco fire battalion chief at the scene of the crash of Asiana Flight 214 shows a firefighter covering the body of passenger Ye Meng Yuan at San Francisco International Airport on July 6, 2013 in San Francisco, California.
An image from the helmet-mounted video camera of a San Francisco fire battalion chief at the scene of the crash of Asiana Flight 214 shows a firefighter covering the body of passenger Ye Meng Yuan at San
SFO crash survivor was run over by two fire rigs
A teenage survivor of the Asiana Airlines crash at San Francisco International Airport was run over by not one but two Fire Department rigs after firefighters mistakenly concluded she was dead without checking her vital signs, according to findings of a federal investigation released Wednesday.
The Fire Department had already admitted that one foam-spraying rig ran over 16-year-old Ye Meng Yuan of China as it took part in firefighting efforts after the July 6 crash.
But documents released Wednesday show that a second rig also ran over Ye. That rig's spotter had seen the girl on the ground and directed the driver around her as she lay near the burning Boeing 777's left wing.
The spotter then went to help at the crash site. Fourteen minutes later, that rig was the first to strike the girl, who by then was covered with flame-retardant foam, according to summaries of firefighter interviews released by the National Transportation Safety Board.
Several minutes later, another rig ran over Ye as the driver left to refill her vehicle with water.
The San Mateo County coroner has concluded that Ye was alive before she was struck. However, she appeared to be dead to firefighters who saw her in the first minutes after the crash, the federal documents show.
Roger Phillips, a firefighter based at the airport, was the first to spot Ye as he was riding in a rig called Rescue 10. He told investigators that he got out of his rig and walked 15 feet to where she lay.
"She looked to be dead 'by appearance,' but he did not check her vitals," according to the safety board's summary of its interview with Phillips. "He thought it was a mannequin because her face looked like wax. Her eyes were rolled back and her face 'looked like a grimace.'
"The body looked like a CPR dummy they used for training," Phillips said, according to the summary.
Phillips said he notified Rescue 10's driver, Jimmy Yee, about the girl and directed him around her, then told fire Lt. Christine Emmons about the find.
According to Phillips' account to the safety board, "She replied, 'Yes, yes, OK, OK. We've gotta get a line inside,' " referring to the need to get a hose into the burning craft as part of an effort to rescue victims.
Yee told fire officials that Phillips had identified an obstacle for him to avoid. "As I drove by, being careful not to run over what I thought was debris, I saw that it was a deceased victim," Yee said.
Emmons told federal investigators that she had seen the girl and "immediately categorized it as a casualty," the safety board said.
The girl "was not making any sounds and was not moving," Emmons told investigators. "She made a 'three-second' visual assessment and thought, 'That's our first casualty,' and considered her as 'DOA' - but she also wanted to make sure she was not rolled over by a vehicle."
Rescue 10 maneuvered around the girl at 11:36 a.m., about nine minutes after Asiana Flight 214 had crashed. However, 14 minutes after it drove around her, Rescue 10 moved near the left wing and ran over Ye, the safety board's report says, citing surveillance-camera footage taken aboard the rig. By that point, the girl was covered in foam.
Then, at 12:01 p.m., a second rig, known as Rescue 37, also ran over Ye's foam-obscured body as the driver, Elyse Duckett, went to refill the vehicle with water, the report says. That is the rig visible in footage of the scene recorded by the helmet camera of a commanding officer, Battalion Chief Mark Johnson.
Another firefighter pointed out Ye's body to Johnson a short time after Rescue 37 hit her, according to the helmet-camera footage, which was reviewed by The Chronicle. It was apparently the first time any fire supervisor at the scene had been alerted to Ye's presence.
Duckett's July 9 statement to Fire Department investigators contains no indication that she knew she had run over anyone.
There is no summary of any interview with Johnson in the documents the federal safety board released.
It is unclear how Ye, who was sitting toward the back of the plane, ended up on the ground by the left wing. However, Deborah Hersman, chairwoman of the federal safety board, said interviews with other passengers indicated that Ye hadn't been wearing her seat belt and may have been thrown from the plane.
Under firefighting protocols, Ye's body should have been marked and protected as crash evidence even if she was dead before being run over. However, none of the firefighters who reported seeing her and concluding she was dead said they told Fire Department superiors of their find.
Firefighters weren't the only ones who thought Ye was dead. Henry Choy, a safety officer who works for the airport, told federal investigators that he had seen the girl before she was run over and that "he did not realize it was a real person," the safety board said.
"There was no blood around the body and there was no movement," the summary of Choy's interview said. "It looked more like a 'big doll.' "
In an interview with safety board investigators, Assistant Deputy Fire Chief Dale Carnes said firefighters had thought Ye "was obviously deceased."
He testified before the board Wednesday and said, "It is not a matter of us being careless or callous - it was the fact that we were dealing with a complex and dynamic environment and we were focused on saving as many lives as possible."
San Mateo County Coroner Robert Foucrault, told that firefighters hadn't checked Ye's vital signs, said in an interview with The Chronicle, "That's not how you pronounce somebody dead."
"There has never been any documentation to support that she was obviously dead or any protocol to make that determination," Foucrault said. "There's overwhelming scientific evidence to prove that she was alive when she was struck."
San Francisco Chronicle staff writer Carolyn Lochhead contributed to this report. Jaxon Van Derbeken is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: jvanderbeken@sfchronicle.com | A teenage survivor of the Asiana Airlines crash at San Francisco International Airport was run over by not one but two Fire Department rigs after firefighters mistakenly concluded she was dead without checking her vital signs, according to findings of a federal investigation released Wednesday. Fourteen minutes later, that rig was the first to strike the girl, who by then was covered with flame-retardant foam, according to summaries of firefighter interviews released by the National Transportation Safety Board. [...] rigSeveral minutes later, another rig ran over Ye as the driver left to refill her vehicle with water. According to Phillips' account to the safety board, She replied, 'Yes, yes, OK, OK. [...] 14 minutes after it drove around her, Rescue 10 moved near the left wing and ran over Ye, the safety board's report says, citing surveillance-camera footage taken aboard the rig. [...] Deborah Hersman, chairwoman of the federal safety board, said interviews with other passengers indicated that Ye hadn't been wearing her seat belt and may have been thrown from the plane. Henry Choy, a safety officer who works for the airport, told federal investigators that he had seen the girl before she was run over and that "he did not realize it was a real person," the safety board said. Assistant chief testifiesIn an interview with safety board investigators, Assistant Deputy Fire Chief Dale Carnes said firefighters had thought Ye "was obviously deceased." | 4.665505 | 0.937282 | 32.972125 | low | medium | extractive |
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/06/politics/06INTE.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20160702203110id_/http://www.nytimes.com:80/2003/11/06/politics/06INTE.html | Iraq Said to Have Tried to Reach Last-Minute Deal to Avert War | 20160702203110 | WASHINGTON, Nov. 5 — As American soldiers massed on the Iraqi border in March and diplomats argued about war, an influential adviser to the Pentagon received a secret message from a Lebanese-American businessman: Saddam Hussein wanted to make a deal.
Iraqi officials, including the chief of the Iraqi Intelligence Service, had told the businessman that they wanted Washington to know that Iraq no longer had weapons of mass destruction, and they offered to allow American troops and experts to conduct a search. The businessman said in an interview that the Iraqis also offered to hand over a man accused of being involved in the World Trade Center bombing in 1993 who was being held in Baghdad. At one point, he said, the Iraqis pledged to hold elections.
The messages from Baghdad, first relayed in February to an analyst in the office of Douglas J. Feith, the under secretary of defense for policy and planning, were part of an attempt by Iraqi intelligence officers to open last-ditch negotiations with the Bush administration through a clandestine communications channel, according to people involved.
The efforts were portrayed by Iraqi officials as having the approval of President Saddam Hussein, according to interviews and documents.
The overtures, after a decade of evasions and deceptions by Iraq, were ultimately rebuffed. But the messages raised enough interest that in early March, Richard N. Perle, an influential adviser to top Pentagon officials, met in London with the Lebanese-American businessman, Imad Hage.
According to both men, Mr. Hage laid out the Iraqis' position to Mr. Perle, and he pressed the Iraqi request for a direct meeting with Mr. Perle or another representative of the United States.
"I was dubious that this would work," said Mr. Perle, widely recognized as an intellectual architect of the Bush administration's hawkish policy toward Iraq, "but I agreed to talk to people in Washington."
Mr. Perle said he sought authorization from C.I.A. officials to meet with the Iraqis, but the officials told him they did not want to pursue this channel, and they indicated they had already engaged in separate contacts with Baghdad. Mr. Perle said, "The message was, `Tell them that we will see them in Baghdad.' "
A senior United States intelligence official said this was one of several contacts with Iraqis or with people who said they were trying to broker meetings on their behalf. "These signals came via a broad range of foreign intelligence services, other governments, third parties, charlatans and independent actors," said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. "Every lead that was at all plausible, and some that weren't, were followed up."
There were a variety of efforts, both public and discreet, to avert a war in Iraq, but Mr. Hage's back channel appears to have been a final attempt by Mr. Hussein's government to reach American officials.
In interviews in Beirut, Mr. Hage said the Iraqis appeared intimidated by the American military threat. "The Iraqis were finally taking it seriously," he said, "and they wanted to talk, and they offered things they never would have offered if the build-up hadn't occurred."
Mr. Perle said he found it "puzzling" that the Iraqis would have used such complicated contacts to communicate "a quite astonishing proposal" to the administration.
But former American intelligence officers with extensive experience in the Middle East say many Arab leaders have traditionally placed a high value on secret communications, though such informal arrangements are sometimes considered suspect in Washington.
The activity in this back channel, detailed in interviews and in documents obtained by The New York Times, appears to show an increasingly frantic Iraqi regime trying to find room to maneuver as the enemy closes in. It also provides a rare glimpse into a subterranean world of international networking.
The key link in the network was Imad Hage, who has spent much of his life straddling two worlds. Mr. Hage, a Maronite Christian who was born in Beirut in 1956, fled Lebanon in 1976 after the civil war began there. He ended up in the United States, where he went to college and became a citizen.
Living in suburban Washington, Mr. Hage started an insurance company, American Underwriters Group, and became involved in Lebanese-American political circles. In the late 1990's, he moved his family and his company to Lebanon.
Serendipity brought him important contacts in the Arab world and in America. An influential Lebanese Muslim he met while handling an insurance claim introduced him to Mohammed Nassif, a senior Syrian intelligence official and a close aide to President Bashar al-Assad.
On trips back to Washington last year, Mr. Hage befriended a fellow Lebanese-American, Michael Maloof, who was working in the Pentagon as an analyst in an intelligence unit set up by Mr. Feith to look for ties between terrorist groups like Al Qaeda and countries like Iraq. Mr. Maloof has ties to many leading conservatives in Washington, having worked for Mr. Perle at the Pentagon during the Reagan administration.
In January 2003, as American pressure was building for a face-off with Iraq, Mr. Hage's two worlds intersected. | In the weeks before the war, an influential adviser to the Pentagon received a message: Saddam Hussein wanted to make a deal. | 39.92 | 0.92 | 7.48 | high | medium | mixed |
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Out-of-control-big-rig-crashed-into-San-Carlos-6864106.php | http://web.archive.org/web/20160702214756id_/http://www.sfgate.com:80/bayarea/article/Out-of-control-big-rig-crashed-into-San-Carlos-6864106.php | Out-of-control big rig crashed into San Carlos home | 20160702214756 | Ulyssis Gonzales, 29, of San Jose driver rammed an 18-wheeler loaded with dirt into a San Carlos home Monday afternoon. No one was inside the home and
Ulyssis Gonzales, 29, of San Jose driver rammed an 18-wheeler loaded with dirt into a San Carlos home Monday afternoon. No one was inside the home and
Out-of-control big rig crashed into San Carlos home
An 18-wheeler carrying a load of dirt crashed into a San Carlos home and overturned, luckily while the homeowners were away on vacation, California Highway Patrol said Tuesday.
The big rig was traveling downhill on Torino Drive toward Winding Way when the driver lost control about 1 p.m. on Monday and went straight through a stop sign at the intersection, said CHP Officer Art Montiel.
The truck plowed through a guardrail, a metal fence post and a power pole before it hit the two-story home in a residential area and overturned its load, Montiel said. More than 140 people were left without power for about three hours in the aftermath of the crash.
When officers arrived they found the driver, 29-year-old Ulysses Gonzales of San Jose, sitting on the corner of Torino Drive and Winding Way. He escaped from the truck with several cuts and taken to Stanford Medical Center with minor injuries. He was released the same day, Montiel said.
There was no one else in the truck, and the house was unoccupied because the family was on vacation. Half of their home was destroyed, and a portion of the load spilled into the house, officials said.
“They were called last night and said they were going to be heading back,” Montiel said of the homeowners. “Apparently, it’s the second time a vehicle drove through their house.”
It took crews hours to remove the big rig and trailer from the home.
Pacific Gas and Electric Co. officials were called out to restore power, Montiel said.
Jason King, a spokesman for PG&E, said the initial outage from the crash occurred around 1:11 p.m. and took down two power lines. All 142 customers except the home that was crashed into had power restored by 4 p.m. Crews worked quickly and safely to restore power, he said.
An investigation into the crash is under way. Drugs or alcohol do not appear to be factors, Montiel said.
Jenna Lyons is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jlyons@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @JennaJourno | An 18-wheeler carrying a load of dirt crashed into a San Carlos home and overturned, luckily while the homeowners were away on vacation, California Highway Patrol said Tuesday. The big rig was traveling downhill on Torino Drive toward Winding Way when the driver lost control about 1 p.m. on Monday and went straight through a stop sign at the intersection, said CHP Officer Art Montiel. The truck plowed through a guardrail, a metal fence post and a power pole before it hit the two-story home in a residential area and overturned its load, Montiel said. When officers arrived they found the driver, 29-year-old Ulysses Gonzales of San Jose, sitting on the corner of Torino Drive and Winding Way. Jason King, a spokesman for PG&E, said the initial outage from the crash occurred around 1:11 p.m. and took down two power lines. | 2.877301 | 0.97546 | 31.699387 | low | high | extractive |
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/09/nyregion/09CLUB.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20160703050644id_/http://www.nytimes.com:80/2002/12/09/nyregion/09CLUB.html | For Globe-Circlers, a Number Nice and Round | 20160703050644 | Once, these types made front-page news. When the world was hungry for stories of explorers' exploits and dazzling derring-do, off they went to unheard-of destinations: temples and tombs, spires and sphinxes.
Look at them now, living in a been-there, done-that world that yawns and wonders if there is even such a word as derring-did.
Unfazed, the Circumnavigators keep going places. So where have they been lately, and why?
Manhattan, it turns out, to toast a century of decals on suitcases, smudged stamps on passports and complicated, "here to there and then would you believe there" itineraries.
The Circumnavigators Club, a group of globe-trotters that calls its meetings to order with a whale-tooth gavel brought back by William Jennings Bryan in the days when John Philip Sousa and Herbert Hoover were on its membership roster, turned 100 over the weekend.
The club was founded when people still marveled at Nellie Bly for shaving eight days off Jules Verne's notion of going around the world in 80. When the club was nine years old, one Circumnavigator beat Bly's time by nearly five weeks, finishing in 39 days. Two years later, another Circumnavigator, John Henry Mears, returned home in a straw hat and a bow tie after a mere 35 days, 21 minutes.
Fourteen years later, Lindbergh did it in 33 1/2 hours — the New York-to-Paris part. But he never joined the club. His famous solo flight did not qualify him. The club's main membership requirement is to cross every meridian while going in the same direction on a single trip. Or two trips, under what one club official called "the Magellan exception." After all, Magellan did not make it to the Pacific on the first try.
"What's so special about circumnavigating the globe?" asked Jeffrey P. Kelly, an investment banker who stepped down on Saturday after five years as president of the 1,000-member group. "Some folks don't understand why you'd ever leave New York City — `Hey, this is it.' Others say, `Have you ever been on a bumboat going from Mersing off the southeast coast of Malaysia across the South China Sea to Pulau Tioman, which is where they filmed `South Pacific?'
"You can get myopic, living in New York," Mr. Kelly went on. "You have to pinch yourself when you're off in some of these incredible destinations around the world."
So there they were, Circumnavigators in New York for the weekend, telling believe-it-or-not stories. Robert Ripley, who created the syndicated feature "Believe It or Not," was a Circumnavigator, Mr. Kelly said.
Charles Stotts, who first sailed around the world in 1969, talked about filling out customs questionnaires that asked, "How many coffins are you carrying?"
"These are things you do not get on a cruise ship," Mr. Stotts said, before explaining that his last trip was to New Zealand, by air.
There was an explanation — from his wife, Hertha, his crewmate since that first trip (they met on a street in Norway, where he had gone to pick up the boat that had been built for him).
"After so many years," she said, "I wanted first class. He wanted to get another boat. I said, `I'll meet you there.' "
Jim Pirtle and Schirmer Riley, who do their circumnavigating in a single-engine plane, talked about the time they landed in Brazil and were placed under house arrest.
An officer there "assumed we were drug haulers," said Mr. Pirtle, a photographer from Bedford, Ky. They were freed after a Brazilian aviation official they knew convinced the officer that they really did go places just to say they had been there.
"If you travel with true travelers," said another Circumnavigator, Lee Barthel, of Farmington Hills, Mich., "you never have disasters. Their philosophy is, it could be worse, and other than major illness or death, everything else is interesting. My wife and I have agreed that there is a likelihood that one of us will expire while traveling, so whichever one it is, the survivor will get the body cremated and hopefully finish the trip."
Circumnavigators circumstantiate their comings and goings in a magazine, The Log, which does some things in a circumlocutory way. Members who have died, for example, are described as having "passed over the horizon." Some Circumnavigators circumambulate ("to walk around," in Webster's New World Dictionary), but at the North or South Pole, they can take an around-the-world walk in minutes — the meridians converge there.
The Circumnavigators have a march — Sousa's last. It was first performed at the annual meeting in New York on Dec. 10, 1931, three months before his death, and a recording was played on Friday, before the club's anniversary dinner.
"I am a member of the Circumnavigators Club for the following reasons," the composer wrote in the sheet music, describing a journey that took him from New York to London to the Canary Islands to South Africa to Australia to Tasmania to New Zealand to Fiji to Hawaii to Canada and back to New York.
In the race to organize a club — at the turn of the last century, when clubs were a staple of social life — the Circumnavigators finished first. The Explorers Club will not celebrate its centennial until 2004.
But the Circumnavigators never went in for real estate, the way the Explorers did in the 1960's. So they spent Saturday at the Explorers' clubhouse on the Upper East Side. This sounds like Macy's setting up shop in Gimbel's for a day.
Helen Jenkins, a financial adviser in Wales, stood a few feet from the Explorers' teeth-flashing polar bear (stuffed) and explained that she had qualified as a Circumnavigator with a 1981 trip that took her from London to Frankfurt to Rome to Singapore to Bangkok to Hong Kong to Honolulu to San Francisco to Salt Lake City to New York and back to London.
She also explained that she got lost on the way to the Explorers Club. She went looking for 70 East 46th Street, not the correct address, 46 East 70th Street.
"I'm so embarrassed," she said.
The Explorers call the Circumnavigators Club a group about travel. They call themselves a group about travel with a purpose — research. So the Explorers sponsored Thor Heyerdahl's across-the-Pacific adventure on the raft Kon-Tiki, but the Circumnavigators welcomed him into membership upon his return.
"It's so different from 100 years ago," said James B. Rogers Jr., who went on a round-the-world motorcycle expedition 10 years ago and a two-year trip by car that ended earlier this year. "It was extraordinary in 1902. In 1802, nobody had done it. It was the same even in 1952. In 1992, when I was inducted, you could still do it and take your life in your hands, but this is not Magellan anymore. Magellan didn't make it, as I'm sure you know." | The Circumnavigators Club, a group of globe-trotters that calls its meetings to order with a whale-tooth gavel, turned 100 over the weekend. | 49.37931 | 1 | 18.37931 | high | high | extractive |
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