31 March, 2018

Reddit and the Struggle to Detoxify the Internet | The New Yorker

Reddit and the Struggle to Detoxify the Internet | The New Yorker: "How do we fix life online without limiting free speech?
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How to Get $29 Million for Classroom Projects? Just Ask - The New York Times

How to Get $29 Million for Classroom Projects? Just Ask - The New York Times:

This week, those requests, along with the more than 35,000 others listed on DonorsChoose.org, a crowdfunding website for school and classroom projects, were fully funded thanks to a single $29 million donation.
“A million students, overwhelmingly in low-income communities, are going to feel the impact of this gift within the next few weeks,” said Charles Best, chief executive of the nonprofit group, which he founded in 2000 while teaching history and English in a Bronx classroom.
Photo
Charles Best, founder and chief executive of Donorschoose.org, at a conference in 2014. Mr. Best emailed Ripple’s chief executive with an audacious proposal: What if it fulfilled every request on the website? CreditAlison Yin/Invision for Intuit Quickbooks
The gift, by far the largest ever received by the charity, came after the site reached out to Ripple, a virtual currency company that has amassed wealth at an astonishing pace, and its executives.


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Psychologists have profiled the kind of person who is willing to confront anti-social behaviour – Research Digest

Psychologists have profiled the kind of person who is willing to confront anti-social behaviour – Research Digest: "The personality factors that were associated with an intention to speak out included extraversion, confidence, persistence, being good at regulating emotions, valuing altruism and being comfortable expressing opinions. Those who already felt socially accepted, and happy to take on social responsibility – such as voting and paying taxes – were also more likely to say they would intervene. This is a very different picture from the Bitter Complainer. These traits are related to successfully managing difficult situations in teams, and to taking the risk to whistle-blow on organisations. Accordingly, Moisuc’s group characterises this as the “Well-adjusted Leader.”

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Zoffat comments on Facebook VP's internal memo literally states that growth is their only value, even if it costs users their lives

Zoffat comments on Facebook VP's internal memo literally states that growth is their only value, even if it costs users their lives: "Smith arguing national greatness is dependent upon the happiness of the poor, not the rich: No society can surely be flourishing and happy, of which the greater part of the members are poor and miserable. It is but equity, besides, that they who feed, cloath and lodge the whole body of the people, should have such a share of the produce of their own labour as to be themselves tolerably well fed, clothed, and lodged. hapter VIII, p. 94.

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30 March, 2018

NHL - Chicago beer-league teammates toast emergency goalie's big-league moment with Blackhawks

NHL - Chicago beer-league teammates toast emergency goalie's big-league moment with Blackhawks: "But Foster wasn't there on Thursday night, even as his Wight & Company rec-league team was preparing for its regular-season finale against the Lumberjacks. The 36-year-old accountant and father of two was instead at the United Center for the Blackhawks' game against the Winnipeg Jets. As one of Chicago's three emergency goalies, Foster attends 13 games per season, and "gets to show up in his suit and eat nachos and hot dogs in a box and go home, with minimal probability that he's ever going to get in a game," according to beer-league teammate Michael Hendrie. "A lot of stars have to align for him to play. And they did last night."

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The Americans season 6 review: farewell to TV’s most (accidentally) relevant show - Vox

The Americans season 6 review: farewell to TV’s most (accidentally) relevant show - Vox: "Season six, then, feels like it’s finally homing in on the series’ great theme, which is to say it’s about communication, about the gaps that open up when we don’t tell each other what’s necessary and instead stick to what’s self-serving. The Americans has never argued for a political point of view because its essential point of view has always been a radically humanist one. We are only as good as what we share with each other, or what we do for each other. But codes of nationalism, of conflict between peoples set up by their governments, do everything they can to corrupt this.

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29 March, 2018

Voyager 1 Fires Up Thrusters After 37 Years | NASA

Voyager 1 Fires Up Thrusters After 37 Years | NASA: "If you tried to start a car that's been sitting in a garage for decades, you might not expect the engine to respond. But a set of thrusters aboard the Voyager 1 spacecraft successfully fired up Wednesday after 37 years without use.

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Braves erase 5-run deficit, win in walk-off

Braves erase 5-run deficit, win in walk-off: "Down five runs to another club looking to be this year's Cinderella, the Braves saw Freddie Freeman, Ozzie Albies and Nick Markakis power them to their largest Opening Day comeback victory in the modern era. Markakis' first career walk-off homer provided a celebratory finish to an 8-5 win over the Phillies on Thursday at SunTrust Park.

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What is the worst state in the United States and why? : AskReddit

What is the worst state in the United States and why? : AskReddit: "Georgia is my favorite state of the south for sure! It’s like Tennessee and Florida had a baby! As far as landscapes go. You have mountains, rivers, lakes, hills, water falls, as well as natural springs and swamps! Some parts are very hilly and rolly and some as flat as could be. And everyone there is so nice and hospitable! I love Georgia!

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Slain Renfroe Middle student wrote an essay about forgiveness months before her death | Decaturish - Locally sourced news

Slain Renfroe Middle student wrote an essay about forgiveness months before her death | Decaturish - Locally sourced news: "Holding a grudge doesn’t make us strong; it makes us bitter. Forgiving doesn’t make people weak; it sets people free. I believe in forgiveness, the kind that has the ability to release someone from a position of anger or hate, to a position of peace.

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28 March, 2018

For Government, It's DSO or Die

For Government, It's DSO or Die: "In an age of rapid private sector innovation, those agencies and civil servants will need to be able to leverage technology effectively if they want to keep up with their private sector counterparts. If they don’t, the public will want to privatize these services. It’s that simple.

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‘The Americans’ is one of the most humane shows on TV. We need it now more than ever. - The Washington Post

‘The Americans’ is one of the most humane shows on TV. We need it now more than ever. - The Washington Post: "These qualities have long made “The Americans,” which begins its final season on Wednesday, one of the most humane shows on television. And although the show’s portrait of the Cold War carries some superficial relevance in an age of escalating tensions between the United States and a Russia dominated by a man eager to avenge the humiliation of the Soviet Union’s defeat, that’s not why “The Americans” feels so essential today. Rather, the series is an argument — and a vital one in a polarizing time — that ideology isn’t the sum total of a life. Our dogmas will not save us.

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Russia's Cyberwar on Ukraine Is a Blueprint For What's to Come | WIRED

Russia's Cyberwar on Ukraine Is a Blueprint For What's to Come | WIRED: "Now, in Ukraine, the quintessential cyberwar scenario has come to life. Twice. On separate occasions, invisible saboteurs have turned off the electricity to hundreds of thousands of people. Each blackout lasted a matter of hours, only as long as it took for scrambling engineers to manually switch the power on again. But as proofs of concept, the attacks set a new precedent: In Russia’s shadow, the decades-old nightmare of hackers stopping the gears of modern society has become a reality.

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black05pr3y comments on The Machismo Filler - GZCL

black05pr3y comments on The Machismo Filler - GZCL:

The high school had their four performances of Les Miserables over this past weekend. It was a huge production, with a cast of 40+ people, a professional pit orchestra, and all the bells and whistles. My son played Gavroche, a big part for a little guy, with four solos and a big spoiler for those who aren't familiar with the musical. As I sat in the audience on Saturday night, I was overcome by the amount of talent, hard work, and dedication I was watching up on stage. Everyone was putting everything they had into putting on a great performance. Once my son hit the stage, it really hit me. He was shining up there on stage, brighter than I had ever seen him shine on a wrestling mat.
In the end, I realized who am I to judge what is more manly for my son to be doing with his time? What right do I have to try tying him to what I think is best for him when it's obvious he's got things under control?


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The True Story Of A Man-Eating Tiger's 'Vengeance' : NPR

The True Story Of A Man-Eating Tiger's 'Vengeance' : NPR: ""What's so fascinating to me about that region is that there are human beings and tigers hunting for the same prey in the same territory — and they don't have conflicts." But if you make the mistake of attacking a tiger, you will regret it, he says.

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Frank Page, Southern Baptist leader, retires due to 'inappropriate relationship' - Religion News ServiceReligion News Service

Frank Page, Southern Baptist leader, retires due to 'inappropriate relationship' - Religion News ServiceReligion News Service: "(RNS) — Frank Page, the Southern Baptist Convention’s top executive, is retiring as president and CEO of its executive committee following what he called a “personal indiscretion.”

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27 March, 2018

The American Scholar: The Privilege Predicament - Robert Boyers

The American Scholar: The Privilege Predicament - Robert Boyers: "Does privilege exist? Of course it does. Only a fool would deny that advantage is real and that some people have what others lack. Though advantage is unevenly distributed in any population, or within any racial or ethnic group, it is legitimate to assert that whiteness—like maleness—has long been an advantage, however little some wish to acknowledge it. Just so, other kinds of privilege often determine, unfairly, the way people live, and suffer, or thrive. But then these are commonplaces, and if not everyone is as yet prepared to accept them, that is hardly a good reason to employ privilege in the way it has lately been used. The culture of grievance that has taken shape in recent years has led to what Phoebe Maltz Bovy calls “the fetishization of powerlessness” and the not always “polite bigotry” that makes it acceptable to target groups or persons not because of what they have done but because of what they are.

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One Reason Cross-Cultural Small Talk Is So Tricky

One Reason Cross-Cultural Small Talk Is So Tricky:

A good way to prepare is to ask yourself whether the new culture is a “peach” or a “coconut”. This is a distinction drawn by culture experts Fons Trompenaars and Charles Hampden-Turner. In peach cultures like the USA or Brazil people tend to be friendly (“soft”) with new acquaintances. They smile frequently at strangers, move quickly to first-name usage, share information about themselves, and ask personal questions of those they hardly know. But after a little friendly interaction with a peach, you may suddenly get to the hard shell of the pit where the peach protects his real self and the relationship suddenly stops.
In coconut cultures such Russia and Germany, people are initially more closed off from those they don’t have friendships with. They rarely smile at strangers, ask casual acquaintances personal questions, or offer personal information to those they don’t know intimately. But over time, as coconuts get to know you, they become gradually warmer and friendlier. And while relationships are built up slowly, they also tend to last longer.


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I'm a college philosophy professor. Jordan Peterson is making my job impossible. : enoughpetersonspam

I'm a college philosophy professor. Jordan Peterson is making my job impossible. : enoughpetersonspam: "But in the past few months internet outrage merchants have made my job much harder. The very idea that someone could even propose the idea that there is a conceptual difference between sex and gender leads to angry denunciations entirely based on the irresponsible misrepresentations of these online anger-mongers. Some students in their exams write that these ideas are "entitled liberal bullshit," actual quote, rather than simply describe an idea they disagree with in neutral terms."



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I Tried to Befriend Nikolas Cruz. He Still Killed My Friends. - The New York Times

I Tried to Befriend Nikolas Cruz. He Still Killed My Friends. - The New York Times: "I am not writing this piece to malign Nikolas Cruz any more than he already has been. I have faith that history will condemn him for his crimes. I am writing this because of the disturbing number of comments I’ve read that go something like this: Maybe if Mr. Cruz’s classmates and peers had been a little nicer to him, the shooting at Stoneman Douglas would never have occurred.

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French terror attack: Officer who swapped places with a hostage dies - CNN

French terror attack: Officer who swapped places with a hostage dies - CNN: "A police officer who swapped places with a female hostage during an attack by an ISIS supporter on a supermarket in southern France has died of his wounds, French authorities said."



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26 March, 2018

SpecialistSix comments on [WP] In order to get a shot at going to Valhalla, you must die with a weapon in your hands. You just died and are now sitting in front of Odin's advisory board as they discuss whether a spatula actually counts.

SpecialistSix comments on [WP] In order to get a shot at going to Valhalla, you must die with a weapon in your hands. You just died and are now sitting in front of Odin's advisory board as they discuss whether a spatula actually counts.: "In order to get a shot at going to Valhalla, you must die with a weapon in your hands. You just died and are now sitting in front of Odin's advisory board as they discuss whether a spatula actually counts."



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Max_Stern comments on Fire in shopping mall in Kemerovo,Russia kills 64

Max_Stern comments on Fire in shopping mall in Kemerovo,Russia kills 64: "Remember these two blocked halls in the cinema? Nobody opened them, children and their parents (mostly women) were just blocked inside the cinema. They were burnt alive, that's not what you see in this post but that's how they met the death. Wives were calling their husbands and telling that they are blocked and that they will die because they can't escape, emergency exits were somehow blocked as well (idk about it).

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Nicole Cliffe on Twitter: "OKAY: I am going to tell the story of my bigamous grandmother at the current time. Please mute me if you heard it two years ago. Please do not steal it for an Elite Daily story (happened last time.)"

Nicole Cliffe on Twitter: "OKAY: I am going to tell the story of my bigamous grandmother at the current time. Please mute me if you heard it two years ago. Please do not steal it for an Elite Daily story (happened last time.)": "I am going to tell the story of my bigamous grandmother"



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Trump, Joining Allies, Expels 60 Russians Over Poisoning in U.K. - The New York Times

Trump, Joining Allies, Expels 60 Russians Over Poisoning in U.K. - The New York Times: "In a call with reporters, senior White House officials said that the move was to root out Russians actively engaging in intelligence operations against the country, and to show that the United States would stand with NATO allies. The officials said that the closure of the consulate in Seattle was ordered because of its proximity to a U.S. naval base.

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Texas parents poured hot oil on daughter for refusing marriage - NY Daily News

Texas parents poured hot oil on daughter for refusing marriage - NY Daily News:

The parents of a 16-year-old Texas girl were arrested Friday for allegedly pouring hot cooking oil on her body after she refused an arranged marriage, authorities said.
Abdulah Fahmi Al Hishmawi, 34, and Hamdiyah Saha Al Hishmawi, 33, are accused of physically abusing their daughter, Maarib Al Hishmawi, who has been reported missing since Jan. 30.
“The only way that this young lady could bring an end to this abuse was to verbally agree to become a party to this marriage,” Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar said Friday.
Maarib’s parents beat her with broomsticks, choked her until she was unconscious, and poured hot oil on her because she did not want to get married, he added.


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25 March, 2018

The Other Minnesota Twins - How Twins Work | HowStuffWorks

The Other Minnesota Twins - How Twins Work | HowStuffWorks:

(WLS sidenote: how many of these traits are geographically rooted?)


In her book Entwined Lives, Nancy Segal lists the following shared characteristics:
  • As youngsters, each Jim had a dog named "Toy."
  • Each Jim had been married two times -- the first wives were both called "Linda" and the second wives were both called "Betty."
  • One Jim had named his son "James Allan" and the other Jim had named his son "James Alan."
  • Each twin had driven his light-blue Chevrolet to Pas Grille beach in Florida for family vacations.
  • Both Jims smoked Salem cigarettes and drank Miller Lite beer.
  • Both Jims had at one time held part-time posts as sheriffs.
  • Both were fingernail biters and suffered from migraine headaches.
  • Each Jim enjoyed leaving love notes to his wife throughout the house.


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windsostrange comments on 13 years ago today The Office aired for the first time ever

windsostrange comments on 13 years ago today The Office aired for the first time ever:

they realized that what was missing from the UK Office scripts was heart. Americans need redemption, and heart. These things aren't funny. You don't laugh at them, and they have no place in British comedy. But Americans can't laugh without the promise of them. They need that dose of it just at the end, riiiight before bed, or else the bad thoughts seep back in. Just like Homer.
So, Mindy and BJ gave Michael Scott Homer's heart. --> <3
They had each written an episode for the first season: BJ's on race, Mindy's on relationship. But the most important episode in the history of the American Office and the one that set it on the path to being one of the most beloved shows in the history of American television was the premiere of season 2, "The Dundies," written by Mindy Kaling.


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Sister Jean is Loyola-Chicago’s 98-year-old scouting report writing nun who got props from Barack Obama - SBNation.com

Sister Jean is Loyola-Chicago’s 98-year-old scouting report writing nun who got props from Barack Obama - SBNation.com: "“She’s like another coach,” senior guard Donte Ingram said. “The first game (as a freshman), it caught me off guard. I thought she was just going to pray. She prayed, but then she starts saying, ‘You’ve got to box out and watch out for 23.’

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24 March, 2018

Former Decatur High athletics director entering state Hall of Fame

Former Decatur High athletics director entering state Hall of Fame: "Former Decatur High Athletics Director Carter Wilson gets inducted into the Georgia Athletics Directors Association Hall of Fame at the state ADs conference in Savannah March 25.

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Hansen: Omaha man ‘liked’ a tweet, and then he lost his dream job | Matthew Hansen | omaha.com

Hansen: Omaha man ‘liked’ a tweet, and then he lost his dream job | Matthew Hansen | omaha.com:

His mother was proud to tell her friends that her son worked for a big hotel chain.




“I had to tell my dad that I got fired from this job because I pissed off China,” Roy says.


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I used to think gun control was the answer. My research told me otherwise. - The Washington Post

I used to think gun control was the answer. My research told me otherwise. - The Washington Post:

By the time we published our project, I didn’t believe in many of the interventions I’d heard politicians tout. I was still anti-gun, at least from the point of view of most gun owners, and I don’t want a gun in my home, as I think the risk outweighs the benefits. But I can’t endorse policies whose only selling point is that gun owners hate them. Policies that often seem as if they were drafted by people who have encountered guns only as a figure in a briefing book or an image on the news.
Instead, I found the most hope in more narrowly tailored interventions. Potential suicide victims, women menaced by their abusive partners and kids swept up in street vendettas are all in danger from guns, but they each require different protections.


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Protecting the Second Amendment - United States Senator Mike Lee

Protecting the Second Amendment - United States Senator Mike Lee:

Gun control isn't about guns — it's about control. And the right to bear arms isn't about the arms — it's about the right.
The protection of individual liberty is absolutely the job of government, but it is not exclusively the job of government. It is first and foremost the job of "we the people" — individually as local communities and collectively as a nation. Well-enforced laws can deter crime, but even the best police and prosecutors in the world can not eliminate crime. 
Therefore, the first defense against criminal threats to our persons and property is ourselves. That's why we have a right — a right granted by God and protected by the Constitution — to arm and protect ourselves.


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Emma González on Why This Generation Needs Gun Control | Teen Vogue

Emma González on Why This Generation Needs Gun Control | Teen Vogue:



We need to digitize gun-sales records, mandate universal background checks, close gun-show loopholes and straw-man purchases, ban high-capacity magazines, and push for a comprehensive assault weapons ban with an extensive buyback system.



It would also benefit us to redefine what assault weapons are so that when we call for a ban against them, it’s clear that we aren’t trying to ban all guns. No one needs to use an assault weapon to protect themselves while walking home at night. No one should be allowed to use an AR-15 to strategically hunt people, which, in case anyone forgot, is what made us speak out in the first place.



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23 March, 2018

cahutchins comments on TIL Mr. Rogers told the U.S. Supreme Court during the attempt to ban VCRs that he sided with the VCR, as it helped families to watch his show together. Supreme Court said his testimony was a contributing factor which allowed VCRs

cahutchins comments on TIL Mr. Rogers told the U.S. Supreme Court during the attempt to ban VCRs that he sided with the VCR, as it helped families to watch his show together. Supreme Court said his testimony was a contributing factor which allowed VCRs: "He might say that the internet is a wonderful tool for learning and for communicating, but it can also be used to try to hurt other people. Many people in our world today feel alone, or feel that they don't get enough of the positive attention from others that makes us feel loved and valued. And it can be very tempting, when you feel alone and unloved, to do and say things that are rude or shocking in order to get attention. We should always try our best to behave in a way that lets the people around us know that we value them just the way they are. Maybe you can be the person that helps another person not feel so lonely and unloved.

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She started acting at 88. Four years later, she’s recognized everywhere for ‘Black Panther.’ - The Washington Post

She started acting at 88. Four years later, she’s recognized everywhere for ‘Black Panther.’ - The Washington Post:

Steel didn’t grow up wanting to be an actor. She was born and raised in Detroit and eventually worked for the federal government as a senior revenue officer for the Internal Revenue Service for decades before retiring on Dec. 7, 1984 — a date she rattles off with impeccable memory. Steel also lived in the Virgin Islands for 20 years before moving to Georgia to be closer to her son, Scott Wardell, and grandson.
She has lived an active life full of adventure and travel (she bounced around the world as part of her job and was a bowler until age 86), and never thought of acting as a career.
But from a young age, Steel enjoyed escaping into the make-believe worlds of her books, something that acting allows as well.


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Inside Broadway’s Secret Laboratory: ‘Hamilton,’ ‘Frozen,’ and So Much More - The New York Times

Inside Broadway’s Secret Laboratory: ‘Hamilton,’ ‘Frozen,’ and So Much More - The New York Times:



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The Tech Industry’s Psychological War on Kids – Richard Freed – Medium

The Tech Industry’s Psychological War on Kids – Richard Freed – Medium: "My practice as a child and adolescent psychologist is filled with families like Kelly’s. These parents say their kids’ extreme overuse of phones, video games, and social media is the most difficult parenting issue they face — and, in many cases, is tearing the family apart. Preteen and teen girls refuse to get off their phones, even though it’s remarkably clear that the devices are making them miserable. I also see far too many boys whose gaming obsessions lead them to forgo interest in school, extracurricular activities, and anything else productive. Some of these boys, as they reach their later teens, use their large bodies to terrorize parents who attempt to set gaming limits. A common thread running through many of these cases is parent guilt, as so many are certain they did something to put their kids on a destructive path.

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22 March, 2018

How the Las Vegas Gunman Planned a Massacre, in 7 Days of Video - Video - NYTimes.com

How the Las Vegas Gunman Planned a Massacre, in 7 Days of Video - Video - NYTimes.com



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Catshit-Dogfart comments on Thought this belongs here.

Catshit-Dogfart comments on Thought this belongs here.:

the Addams Family
The husband and wife are madly in love, but they're also best friends. They share their hobbies and interests but also have time apart, they're never condescending to each other's talents and occupations, and they're just meant for each other.
And they encourage that individuality in their children too. They're supportive to the kids interests no matter how different, they make themselves available for guidance and advice. They're never needlessly strict parents, but they're not endlessly permissive either. Often strongly involved with raising their kids, but not "helicopter parents" either, they let their kids make their own mistakes and live their own lives.
It doesn't follow the negative stereotypes common in family sitcoms, they're all very happy with each other.


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Mitigating speculative execution side channel hardware vulnerabilities – Security Research & Defense

Mitigating speculative execution side channel hardware vulnerabilities – Security Research & Defense: "Side channel attacks consist of three phases: the priming phase which is used to place a system into a desired initial state (e.g. flushing cache lines), the triggering phase which is used to perform the action that conveys information through the side channel, and the observing phase which is used to detect the presence of the information conveyed through the side channel. These phases can occur architecturally (by actually executing instructions), or speculatively (through speculative execution).

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We Need an Independent Investigation of Sovereign... | Christianity Today

We Need an Independent Investigation of Sovereign... | Christianity Today: "Allegations of child sexual abuse and staff cover-up continue to swirl. Let’s set an example for all churches to follow, bringing healing to victims and churches alike.
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Phantine comments on Gambia to switch from glass marble voting to use of ballot papers

Phantine comments on Gambia to switch from glass marble voting to use of ballot papers: "for those who don't keep up on Gambian politics, here's the tl;dr of recent events

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20 March, 2018

Fred Rogers

Fred Rogers: "It was for this new national series that Fred asked Johnny Costa to be his musical director. This was a surprising choice, since Costa had an extraordinarily nuanced and sophisticated musical style, especially for a children's program. Each day, Costa's musical trio performed all the songs and music live in the studio, as each episode of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood was videotaped. The trolley whistles, Mister McFeely's frenetic Speedy Delivery piano plonks, and the vibraphone flute-toots as Fred sprinkles flakes of fish food into the aquarium were also performed live, as well as Fred's entrance and exit songs. Discerning listeners can easily observe that no rendering of any score across two episodes of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood are even close to identical.

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San Francisco is officially $10 billion in the hole - by patrick-wolff - March 18, 2018 - The San Francisco Examiner

San Francisco is officially $10 billion in the hole - by patrick-wolff - March 18, 2018 - The San Francisco Examiner: "Large and growing structural deficits mean that — all else equal — San Francisco must keep cutting city services and/or raising taxes year after year after year. Why is this happening? The largest source, by far, of San Francisco’s budget pressures is also one of the least understood: the obligations The City has already incurred and must now honor for health care and pension payments.

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19 March, 2018

Julie Yip-Williams | My cancer fighting journey

Julie Yip-Williams | My cancer fighting journey: "Cancer is completing my life, making it whole.  It’s a strange thing to say, isn’t it?  Most would say that cancer, the terminal kind, is truncating and destroying their lives.  For a long time, especially in the beginning of this cancer journey, I felt that way too, but no longer.  It all makes sense now.  Cancer and even congenital blindness make sense now.  The “Why?” question I’ve spent my entire life asking and which I never thought I would be able to decipher, at least not in this life, has a credible, tangible answer now.  All the suffering and all the joy, all the tears and all the laughter, from the moment of my birth to my very last breath, a life that has seen more than its fair share of excruciating pain as well as spectacular achievements, I understand it all now.  I have found the meaning and purpose I have desperately sought my entire life.  And that is an incredible, beautiful, glorious thing to be able to say.  No one, and certainly not I, could ask for more than that in one lifetime, as brief as it may be."



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An employee whose job was to be sacked | The Vision of the Pension Playpen

An employee whose job was to be sacked | The Vision of the Pension Playpen:

Harrods in the sixties employed someone to be sacked- surely the best job in the world.
Apparently  the employee was paid to sit among the boxes on Harrods top-floor smoking his pipe and reading the Sporting Life. From time to time a bell would ring and he would be summoned to a department where an irate customer was  being mollified by the Head of the Department.


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18 March, 2018

Black-White Marriages Rise, But Couples Still Face Scorn - The New York Times

Black-White Marriages Rise, But Couples Still Face Scorn - The New York Times: "Eight years ago they were married. They have survived their families' shock and disapproval and the stares and unwelcome comments of strangers. They know not to stop in small towns or rural areas when they travel.

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notsostubby comments on Greg Ferro of packetpushers.net is quitting his CCIE. Thoughts?

notsostubby comments on Greg Ferro of packetpushers.net is quitting his CCIE. Thoughts?:

There needs to be some kind of IT Administration professional field which requires complete knowledge and understanding of a centrally administered standard body of knowledge, working standards, implementation standards, documentation standards, and culpability standards.
Certifications are not this.
Degrees and Diplomas are not this.
CIPS/ISACA are kind of in the right direction, but they aren't widely accepted. HR departments don't even know what these are, which defeats the purpose.
As someone who does good work to high standards in support of the business goals and in protection of the business, I seek recognition of that standardized level of professionalism, aptitude, and capability, which certifications do not represent.


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17 March, 2018

‘My God, that’s Kimberly!’: Scientist solves perplexing mystery of identity thief Lori Ruff | The Seattle Times

‘My God, that’s Kimberly!’: Scientist solves perplexing mystery of identity thief Lori Ruff | The Seattle Times: "The Seattle Times in 2013 published a real-life mystery story about Lori Ruff, who died in 2010, leaving a husband and child in Texas. Years earlier, she had stolen another person’s identity. Who was she really? Finally, we have an answer.

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How did UMBC Retrievers manage to take down Virginia Cavaliers NCAA tournament

How did UMBC Retrievers manage to take down Virginia Cavaliers NCAA tournament: "The Retrievers scored an incredible 53 points in just 35 second-half possessions. The works out to 1.53 points for every trip down the floor, a level of scoring that's close to unheard of from any offense playing against any defense. UMBC quite simply played the sport as well as it can be played.

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16 March, 2018

Police: Women who snatched items from Tempe mosque arrested

Police: Women who snatched items from Tempe mosque arrested:

“Really, for me, it’s mixed emotions,” Ahmad Al-Akoum, imam at the mosque, said after a police commander notified him of the arrests Thursday. 
“I really hate for people to be in trouble with the law,” he said. “However, I think the lesson needs to be taught to everybody who feels they’re entitled to infringe on other people’s properties and rights. People need to learn.” 
The imam said he won't let attacks change how the mosque operates: It will continue to leave its doors unlocked and welcome visitors of all faiths.


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Meet Alabama's loudest fan at the NCAA Tournament, the 'Heckling Piccolo' | AL.com

Meet Alabama's loudest fan at the NCAA Tournament, the 'Heckling Piccolo' | AL.com:

Alabama's official position on its pep band heckling opponents is "Roll Tide."
"Make sure you include that our witty banter is always respectful, Disney-esque, light-hearted humor," said Neal Flum, Alabama's director of pep bands. "Sportsmanship personified."
Yeah, OK.


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Meet Alabama's loudest fan at the NCAA Tournament, the 'Heckling Piccolo' | AL.com

Meet Alabama's loudest fan at the NCAA Tournament, the 'Heckling Piccolo' | AL.com:



Alabama's official position on its pep band heckling opponents is "Roll Tide."
"Make sure you include that our witty banter is always respectful, Disney-esque, light-hearted humor," said Neal Flum, Alabama's director of pep bands. "Sportsmanship personified."
Yeah, OK.


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Heated abortion debate greets El Salvador woman released after 15 years in prison over miscarriage

Heated abortion debate greets El Salvador woman released after 15 years in prison over miscarriage:\

The release of a Salvadoran woman who spent 15 years in prison for murder after a miscarriage late in to her pregnancy has sparked a new round of heated debate about El Salvador’s extreme anti-abortion laws.



Maira Figueroa was working as a domestic servant when she started hemorrhaging nine months into her pregnancy, which was the result of rape. After being taken to hospital she soon found herself handcuffed to her bed and accused of killing her baby.



At the age of 19 she was sent through a swift trial, filled with irregularities, that led to a 30-year sentence that has now been cut in half by El Salvador’s supreme court.



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Can we talk about Disney and their business practices? : movies

Can we talk about Disney and their business practices? : movies: "They demand their movies play in the biggest theaters for weeks or even months even if the theater would make better money playing something else. Otherwise: good luck keeping a theater going without access to Marvel/Star Wars/Pixar, because Disney will pull their business!

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Allison Stanger Appearances Show Faculty Rift – The Middlebury Campus

Allison Stanger Appearances Show Faculty Rift – The Middlebury Campus: "Stanger additionally spoke of her frustration that there is a sentiment emerging at Middlebury that freedom of speech and inclusivity are mutually exclusive ideas.

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15 March, 2018

philipjf comments on Being a Dad and raising a son, would love to hear from this sub

philipjf comments on Being a Dad and raising a son, would love to hear from this sub: "Love your son. Love him completely, absolutely. Love him for who he is, and not just what he does. Tell him how much you love him. You can tell tell him now even though he can't understand your words. And, you can keep telling him, keep showing him, how much you love him every single day until he leaves home and then you can keep telling him. Teach him with your example that he is worth loving, and that to love others is the greatest and most fulfilling thing we can do. Little kids at better at loving than anyone: they love their parents, the love their friends, they love the cartoon characters on their lunchboxes. Show him that he doesn't have to bury that that side of him self, that love isn't a scarce resources that must be hoarded, and that men love, that women love, that boys love, and that girls love, and that all of it is beautiful and wonderful, that it enriches and doesn't hurt.

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ArePolitics comments on In joint statement, US, UK, French and German leaders agree Russia was behind nerve agent attack on former spy

ArePolitics comments on In joint statement, US, UK, French and German leaders agree Russia was behind nerve agent attack on former spy: "Only Russian trolls could believe that sanctions are war mongering but a chemical attack in a civilian restaurant isn't.

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Statement from the United States, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom on the Attack in Salisbury

Statement from the United States, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom on the Attack in Salisbury:

We, the leaders of France, Germany, the United States and the United Kingdom, abhor the attack that took place against Sergei and Yulia Skripal in Salisbury, United Kingdom, on March 4, 2018. A British police officer who was also exposed in the attack remains seriously ill, and the lives of many innocent British citizens have been threatened. We express our sympathies to them all, and our admiration for the United Kingdom police and emergency services for their courageous response. This use of a military-grade nerve agent, of a type developed by Russia, constitutes the first offensive use of a nerve agent in Europe since the Second World War. It is an assault on the United Kingdom’s sovereignty and any such use by a state party is a clear violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention and a breach of international law. It threatens the security of us all. 



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14 March, 2018

'Fortnite' Legend Ninja Talks Twitch Fame And Fortune, And The Game That Got Him There

'Fortnite' Legend Ninja Talks Twitch Fame And Fortune, And The Game That Got Him There:

This is a growing space, both streaming and YouTube. It is verydifficult to "make it" as a top broadcaster or YouTuber. I encourage every person to follow their dreams and believe that they can do anything, but the harsh reality is...reality. People need to be true to themselves, and if entertaining and content creating is something that does not come naturally and is really difficult, they should find something they are passionate about and love and do that instead. For me, the only difficulties that I ran into had to be the game that I chose to create content for. I started in Halo: Reach and that was the downswing of Halo. Less people playing equaled less viewers, and a lower ceiling for my growth. My advice to content creators in the future is try to have the foresight to see a popular game coming out, and be the first to make content.



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In China, ‘Black Panther’ is a movie about America | The Outline

In China, ‘Black Panther’ is a movie about America | The Outline:

Sometimes, literally. When T’Challa indignantly tells Okoye, “I never freeze!” as he’s about to head out on a mission to fetch ex-girlfriend Nakia, it’s translated to “My leg is fine!” When he re-enters Wakanda, the barren world beyond its borders giving way to the civilization within, he says, “This never gets old,” which is translated into the far blander, “It’s so beautiful.”
Each of these moments is a missed opportunity to connect with its audience. And these missed opportunities added up, leading some Chinese viewers wondering what the big fuss was about.


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Books of The Times; Making the Big Bang Almost Understandable - The New York Times

Books of The Times; Making the Big Bang Almost Understandable - The New York Times: "As Mr. Hawking points out, the 20th century has already witnessed breakthroughs that forever destroyed our notions of an unchanging cosmos. The theory of relativity put an end to the idea of absolute time, while quantum mechanics (and the uncertainty principle, which says it is impossible to predict precisely both the location and the momentum of a particle at a given moment) introduced a new element of randomness into the dream of perfect science. What's more, observations made by the astronomer Edwin Hubble in the 1920's showed that our own Milky Way is not the only galaxy, and they further suggested that the universe itself is not static or eternal but dynamic and expanding. Yet if such developments have resulted in a more precarious sense of man's condition, it is also important to remember, Mr. Hawking notes, that ''the whole history of science has been the gradual realization that events do not happen in an arbitrary manner,'' that they instead ''reflect a certain underlying order.''

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NATO - News: Statement by the North Atlantic Council on the use of a nerve agent in Salisbury, 14-Mar.-2018

NATO - News: Statement by the North Atlantic Council on the use of a nerve agent in Salisbury, 14-Mar.-2018: "Allies expressed deep concern at the first offensive use of a nerve agent on Alliance territory since NATO’s foundation. Allies expressed solidarity with the UK, offered their support in the conduct of the ongoing investigation, and called on Russia to address the UK’s questions including providing full and complete disclosure of the Novichok programme to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. Allies agreed that the attack was a clear breach of international norms and agreements.

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The Nerve Agent Too Deadly to Use, Until Someone Did - The New York Times

The Nerve Agent Too Deadly to Use, Until Someone Did - The New York Times:

LONDON — For nearly three decades, since a Soviet whistle-blower told the world of its existence, the nerve agent Novichok has scared American weapons experts. The Pentagon sent teams to destroy abandoned laboratories that once produced the chemical, believed to be orders of magnitude more lethal than sarin or VX.
There was no sign of it ever being used. Until last week.


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Stephen Hawking, Rama Samkari, digital, 2018 : Art

Stephen Hawking, Rama Samkari, digital, 2018 : Art: "Stephen Hawking, Rama Samkari, digital, 2018"



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13 March, 2018

APNewsBreak: Green Party candidate was on state GOP payroll

APNewsBreak: Green Party candidate was on state GOP payroll: "HELENA, Mont. (AP) — A man who registered as a Green Party candidate for Montana's U.S. Senate race was on the state Republican Party's payroll and heads a newly formed anti-tax group, according to a review of election documents.

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12 March, 2018

For Decades, Our Coverage Was Racist. To Rise Above Our Past, We Must Acknowledge It

For Decades, Our Coverage Was Racist. To Rise Above Our Past, We Must Acknowledge It: "“Americans got ideas about the world from Tarzan movies and crude racist caricatures,” he said. “Segregation was the way it was. National Geographic wasn’t teaching as much as reinforcing messages they already received and doing so in a magazine that had tremendous authority. National Geographic comes into existence at the height of colonialism, and the world was divided into the colonizers and the colonized. That was a color line, and National Geographic was reflecting that view of the world.”

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There's No Scientific Basis for Race—It's a Made-Up Label

There's No Scientific Basis for Race—It's a Made-Up Label: "When people speak about race, usually they seem to be referring to skin color and, at the same time, to something more than skin color. This is the legacy of people such as Morton, who developed the “science” of race to suit his own prejudices and got the actual science totally wrong. Science today tells us that the visible differences between peoples are accidents of history. They reflect how our ancestors dealt with sun exposure, and not much else.

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What It's Really Like Inside the Olympic Village | Outside Online

What It's Really Like Inside the Olympic Village | Outside Online: "With the extinguishing of the Olympic flame, my Olympic journey as an athlete has officially come to a close. I can’t believe 16 years have gone by since my first games in Salt Lake City. It’s been such an incredible ride. While it’s bittersweet to be moving on, I have so many amazing memories and lifelong friends. Like the founder of the modern Olympics so eloquently said, “I have taken part, and for that I am better for it.”

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A beloved restaurant owner was deported. A community was in uproar. Then it moved on. - The Washington Post

A beloved restaurant owner was deported. A community was in uproar. Then it moved on. - The Washington Post:

The calls started coming in from the local television stations and then from around the nation. A lawyer took up their case. A letter-writing campaign soon commenced to the mayor of South Bend — the city next door — and to Trump himself.
The phones at Eddie’s wouldn’t stop ringing, though most were liberals who had called to berate Helen for voting for Trump.


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11 March, 2018

MikeTython7 comments on 1000HP Toyota Celica Shears off 5 lug nuts on launch

MikeTython7 comments on 1000HP Toyota Celica Shears off 5 lug nuts on launch: "Under full throttle, a dragster engine consumes 1.2 gallons of nitro methane per second; a fully loaded 747 consumes jet fuel at the same rate with 25% less energy being produced.

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Man Accused of Drunkenly Riding His Horse on a Highway Says: 'The Horse Knows The Way Home' | Inside Edition

Man Accused of Drunkenly Riding His Horse on a Highway Says: 'The Horse Knows The Way Home' | Inside Edition: "A man who was busted for allegedly riding his horse on a Louisiana highway after drinking said he thought it was a good idea because "the horse knows the way home," according to reports.

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10 March, 2018

“We All Wear All Black Every Day”: Inside Wall Street’s Complex, Shameful, and Often Confidential Battle with #MeToo | Vanity Fair

“We All Wear All Black Every Day”: Inside Wall Street’s Complex, Shameful, and Often Confidential Battle with #MeToo | Vanity Fair:

One woman, who started her career in the 1980s, says that a few years ago she was struck by an incident at her firm’s holiday party, when a senior man got drunk. The next day he was fired. She heard about it and called the C.E.O., hoping to intervene on his behalf. The C.E.O. told her, “I had three incoming calls from women in their 20s who said they could no longer work with him. Didn’t you notice what he was doing?” Her response: No! She hadn’t noticed.
“It’s because I was raised in the 1980s, and it was way worse then,” she says. “[The younger women] thought it was so threatening that they wouldn’t report to him anymore, and I called the C.E.O. to intervene! In that way, it has changed. Young women do not tolerate it.”


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Susan Sarandon: Hollywood Rewards Actors Who "Don’t Ask Questions" | Hollywood Reporter

Susan Sarandon: Hollywood Rewards Actors Who "Don’t Ask Questions" | Hollywood Reporter:

"it’s certainly not a requirement to be smart in my business. ... Mediocrity is rewarded time and time again. A lot of the time you’re hired because you don’t ask questions. It takes more time to ask questions, it takes more time to fight for something with integrity."



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How a Remote Design Team Created a New Brand Site in Six Months

How a Remote Design Team Created a New Brand Site in Six Months: "As a user-centered company, we recently took steps towards making a unified visual identity—a guide and collection of resources to help staff and others we collaborate with know how to design and write with Zapier. This is where it lives, and here's how we made our brand more cohesive in six months (when typically this can take about a year).

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09 March, 2018

ChubanSandwich comments on Ex-Teachers/Professors of Reddit - What was your "Fuck this." moment?

ChubanSandwich comments on Ex-Teachers/Professors of Reddit - What was your "Fuck this." moment?: "The mentality of the American high schooler right now is an incredibly toxic one. They've been sold this idea that they need a perfect 4.0 GPA and extracurriculars and a good ACT/SAT score if they want to get into a "good college", and if they don't get into a "good college" they may as well sign up to work at McDonald's and set up shop in their parent's basement because they are failures who will amount to nothing. This created a strict dichotomy of students who were halfway to an ulcer by the end of 9th grade because they were convinced they needed to be perfect and students who knew they couldn't do that, so they gave up and started doing drugs at 14 years old. I did my best to get through to them, but so many of them had already given up on the system that even if I could reach them, their response would still be "Okay Mr. ChubanSandwich, you're cool, but that doesn't change the way the world works". It was honestly heartbreaking.

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08 March, 2018

Huge MIT Study of ‘Fake News’: Falsehoods Win on Twitter - The Atlantic

Huge MIT Study of ‘Fake News’: Falsehoods Win on Twitter - The Atlantic:

Though the study is written in the clinical language of statistics, it offers a methodical indictment of the accuracy of information that spreads on these platforms. A false story is much more likely to go viral than a real story, the authors find. A false story reaches 1,500 people six times quicker, on average, than a true story does. And while false stories outperform the truth on every subject—including business, terrorism and war, science and technology, and entertainment—fake news about politics regularly does best.

Twitter users seem almost to prefer sharing falsehoods. Even when the researchers controlled for every difference between the accounts originating rumors—like whether that person had more followers or was verified—falsehoods were still 70 percent more likely to get retweeted than accurate news.


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I Got a Story to Tell | By Steve Francis

I Got a Story to Tell | By Steve Francis:

You gotta understand something about my story, and it’s really gonna seem impossible to anybody under the age of 20. Because pretty much all these NBA dudes now came up the same way. Prep school. AAU. Free shoes. Free meals. One-and-done. And that’s a good thing. Good for them, man.
But me?
Four years before I was on that plane with Hakeem telling me we’re going shopping for cashmere suits together — four years before I was about to go play against Gary Payton — I was on the corner of Maple Ave in Takoma Park, Maryland, selling drugs outside the Chinese joint.
My mother had passed away. My father was in a federal penitentiary. We had 18 people living in one apartment. I had dropped out of high school. No scholarships. No GED. No nothing.


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Larry Nassar abused hundreds of gymnasts and eluded justice for decades

Larry Nassar abused hundreds of gymnasts and eluded justice for decades:

The procedures were invasive enough that Karageanes once asked Nassar, "aren't you worried about being sued ever by touching girls like this on their bottoms?"
Nassar laughed.
Then he rattled off a long list of resources supporting pelvic floor treatment, citing specific websites and articles. He never seemed defensive about it. And he was always prepared to talk about how important it was.
Later, Karageanes said he realized all of those efforts were Nassar trying to normalize his predatory behavior.
"He worked very hard at that," Karageanes said.


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07 March, 2018

GA ranks #2 in nation for consumer fraud - WALB.com, South Georgia News, Weather, Sports

GA ranks #2 in nation for consumer fraud - WALB.com, South Georgia News, Weather, Sports:



FFINGHAM CO., GA (WTOC) -The Federal Trade Commission ranks Georgia second in the country for consumer fraud in 2017. 

The FTC said it received 96,316 consumer reports of fraud from Georgia in 2017 - or 924 per 100,000 state residents.
Much of the fraud in the Coastal Empire comes from card skimming at gas stations. Effingham County made a large bust recently recovering more than $1,000,000. The Effingham Sheriff's Office says with today's technology, the crime is easy but the criminal is hard to catch.


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Xi Jinping Amends China's Constitution - Lawfare

Xi Jinping Amends China's Constitution - Lawfare: "The instantaneous reaction to the momentous news that Xi Jinping will be eligible to serve a third term and beyond as chairman of China’s government is the most recent demonstration that we live in a connected world. Domestically, Xi’s bold move to amend his country’s Constitution, although undoubtedly popular with the masses, has clearly generated significant elite opposition. This has been visible even in non-transparent China, despite Xi’s stifling of information and free expression. Indeed, adoption of what could be life tenure for Xi apparently inspired considerable opposition even within the secret confines of the Communist Party Central Committee, which reportedly had to be dragooned into supporting his political coup.

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