text
stringlengths 5
144k
| label
int64 0
9
| id
int64 0
100k
| label_text
stringclasses 10
values |
|---|---|---|---|
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev is under fire after he made an off-the-cuff remark to a pensioner. | 3 | 99,500 | finance |
Draymond Green was ripped by some fans for smiling in a photo with a fan after the Warriors lost Game 3 of the NBA Finals on Wednesday by 30 points. Some felt that Green being jovial and taking a photo meant he wasn't taking the Warriors' 120-90 loss to Cleveland hard enough. Take this for instance: Someone wasn't too concerned with that 30-point loss #FanLove https://t.co/BlktY6VV0P Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) June 9, 2016 Though it seemed odd to see one of Golden State's team leaders smiling after such a beatdown, we reserved judgement. Perhaps the woman was a friend Green hadn't seen in a long time, we thought. Well, it turns out that was exactly the case. The woman in the photo is Ari Washington, a PR rep who knew Draymond from college at Michigan State. @dgaulmanshow oh well. I was working in MSU basketball office when he was a freshman. That's fam! Ari Nicole (@arinicolelife) June 9, 2016 She said the two hadn't seen each other for years. @alexiskmorgan @BleacherReport thank you! I actually worked for Msu basketball when he was in college. Hadn't seen each other since then Ari Nicole (@arinicolelife) June 9, 2016 The photo turned out really nice: Spartans for life @Money23Green pic.twitter.com/fHrTcXJul3 Ari Nicole (@arinicolelife) June 9, 2016 The irony here is that while many thought taking a photo with a fan showed Green's lack of heart, it really shows us that despite a tough loss, he can put his anger/frustration aside to be nice to a friend. Now that is the mark of strong character. | 1 | 99,501 | sports |
Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders heads to the White House for a sit down meeting with President Obama to discuss his next move, following Hillary Clinton's victory in clinching the party's nomination. Linda So reports. | 5 | 99,502 | news |
Apartments in a large number of grand estates in the U.K. now tend to attract international buyers as well as locals looking for luxury on a manageable scale. Photo: Vanessa Berberian for The Wall Street Journal | 3 | 99,503 | finance |
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) -- As the faithful chanted a Muslim prayer in unison, dignitaries and fans stood shoulder to shoulder to honor a man who used his celebrity to push for peace among races, religions and cultures. On phones and screens around the globe, thousands more joined the service from afar through streams and broadcasts, watching a traditional Muslim funeral ceremony play out for one of their heroes. The prayer service Thursday, known as Jenazah, began two days of memorials that Ali crafted himself in exacting detail years before his death Friday. He designed them with the intent to make them open to the world and to offer a view into a faith many Americans know little about. "Ali was the people's champion and champion he did the cause of his people," said Sherman Jackson, a Muslim scholar who spoke at the service. Jackson said Ali did more to normalize the Islamic faith than anyone else, both in his life and in his death. "Ali made being a Muslim cool," he said. "Ali made being a Muslim dignified." More than 14,000 got tickets for the Thursday service in Ali's hometown of Louisville. Some traveled thousands of miles to attend. Civil rights activist Jesse Jackson, boxing promoter Don King, former boxer Sugar Ray Leonard and Louis Farrakhan, head of the Nation of Islam, were among the high-profile guests in attendance. Ali joined the Nation of Islam, the black separatist religious movement, in the 1960s. He left after a decade in favor of mainstream Islam, which emphasizes an embrace of all races and ethnicities. Ali insisted he wanted the traditional Muslim ceremony to be open to all, organizers said. The attendees were young and old; black and white; Muslims, Christians and Jews. Some wore traditional Islamic clothing, others blue jeans or business suits. Outside the arena, millions more were able to watch. The term "Jenazah" trended on Twitter as the service started. "We welcome the Muslims, we welcome the members of other faith communities, we welcome the law enforcement community," Imam Zaid Shakir told the crowd at the start of the service. "We welcome our sisters, our elders, our youngsters." "All were beloved to Muhammad Ali." Muhammad Ali: The World's Greatest | Graphiq The service lasted less than an hour. There was no stage or altar. Speakers stood in front of a black curtain on the ground near the casket that faced mecca. The crowd of thousands lined up directly in front of them, many holding their phones high in the air trying to capture video of the legend's coffin. The service began with four recitations of "Allahu Akbar" or "God is Great," with silent prayers in between. They prayed that Ali find safe passage to the afterlife, and that his loved ones find a way to live without him. Several speakers, including two Muslim women, described Ali's impact on their own lives and as a champion for civil rights and acceptance of the Islamic faith. Jackson said Ali's passing "made us all feel a little more alone in the world" and detracted "from the sweetness of life itself." "Ali inspired us. He filled us up. He gave us courage," he said. "And he taught us something about how to fight, not only inside the ring but outside as well." The memorials come amid a fever of anti-Muslim political rhetoric and wave of assaults on U.S. mosques. Terrorist attacks carried out by Islamic extremists in Europe and California have caused many around the world to view the religion with fear or contempt. Organizers of Ali's memorials say the events are not meant to be political. Yet Muslim leaders and many faithful at the service say it represents a chance to demonstrate the beauty of the religion through the legacy of Ali, one of the most famous people on the planet. "In this climate we live in today, with Islamophobia being on the rise and a lot of hate-mongering going on, I think it's amazing that someone of that caliber can unify the country and really show the world what Islam is about," said 25-year-old Abdul Rafay Basheer, who traveled from Chicago. "I think he was sort of the perfect person to do that." A fellow Muslim who shares the boxing great's name arrived in Kentucky with no hotel reservation, just a belief that his 8,000-mile pilgrimage was important to say goodbye to a person considered a hero of his faith. Mohammad Ali met the boxer in the early 1970s and they struck up a friendship based on their shared name. The Champ visited his home in 1978 and always joked he was his twin brother, he said. He stood weeping at the funeral, a green Bangladeshi flag draped over his shoulder, holding snapshots he took of the boxer during his visit, one standing with his family, another of him sprawled on a bed in his home. Attending was so important to him, he delayed a scheduled open-heart surgery so he could travel around the world for the service. Mustafa Abdush-Shakur leaned on his cane as he limped into the arena. He came 800 miles from Connecticut despite a recent knee replacement that makes it excruciating to walk. "This is a physical pain," he said. "But had I not been able to come and pray for my brother, it would have caused me a spiritual pain and that would have been much deeper." He believes Ali made the world more accommodating to Muslims. "He never backed off from his religion he never denied who he was," he said. "He had an ability and a capacity to reach into places and to people who the average person wasn't able to reach." ------ AP religion reporter Rachel Zoll contributed to this report from New York. Reporters Jeff Karoub contributed from Detroit | 1 | 99,504 | sports |
For 21-year-old Richard Schaefer, dressing up as his favorite Disney princesses has opened up a whole new world of possibilities - and all of them are absolutely stunning. " I decided to start cosplaying as princesses because of how androgynous people used to say I was ," he told the Daily Mail . "Curiosity got the best of me, so I decided to transform myself into my favorite princess - Ariel, who I have loved since I was a child. I was pleasantly surprised at how convincing I looked so I decided to stick at it and try different princesses too." Since then, Schaefer has amassed a gorgeous collection of 40 costumes and 30 wigs to help him transform into his favorite Disney stars, and it's safe to say he's incredibly dedicated to his craft. Not only does he wear a steel-boned corset and chest padding to help him achieve a Disney princess figure, but he also learned professional makeup techniques to help him look more " doe-eyed ," much like an animated character. Apparently, Schaefer takes as long as two hours for each transformation, on top of the fact that he makes a lot of his costumes himself. He's a self-proclaimed Disney addict, and every ounce of his passion is apparent in every princess he becomes. As Schaefer goes on to explain, he was bullied as a kid for his weight, but found confidence by the time he reached his senior year of high school - and his Disney transformations have only helped fuel the fire. " Being a princess definitely helped me to become a more confident person ," he told the Daily Mail. "Not only do I feel beautiful as a person but I feel even more beautiful when I'm just myself, the ball gown is just an added bonus." . | 4 | 99,505 | lifestyle |
Down payment assistance programs can slash closing costs, but few buyers know about them If coming up with the cash for a down payment on a house seems daunting, there is help, but not nearly enough potential buyers appear to be taking advantage. Despite close to 2,500 mostly local down-payment assistance programs nationwide that can drastically reduce the amount of money buyers need to pay at closing, too few buyers and real-estate agents know about them. That's the analysis from RealtyTrac, an Irvine, Calif.-based real-estate research firm, along with Down Payment Resource , an Atlanta-based company that aggregates programs for real-estate agents and buyers. The firms found that across 513 counties surveyed in its 2016 report, buyers using available down-payment assistance programs could save an average of $17,766 in both down payment costs and interest savings. The total savings breaks down to an average savings of $5,965 on the down payment for a median-priced home, and an average savings of $11,801 on monthly house payments over the life of the loan for a median-priced home, RealtyTrac said. "Saving for a down payment can be difficult for prospective first-time home-buyers given the absence of substantial wage growth in recent years combined with the burden of student loan debt many are struggling under," said Daren Blomquist, senior vice president at RealtyTrac. "Even just a 3% down payment requires 14% of annual wages on average across the 513 counties we analyzed, and in 67 counties a 3% down payment requires more than one-fifth of annual wages," he said. On average, the amount of down-payment assistance (DPA) in 2016 was $12,434, up from an average of $11,565 in the counties analyzed by the two firms in 2015. For example, on a $250,000 home with a 3% down payment of $7,500, the closing costs for the buyer could typically add up to another $13,000, once costs such as loan origination fees, broker's commission, title, recording and transfer taxes were factored in. But a down payment program could lower the closing costs to just $200. RealtyTrac's Blomquist noted in November 2014 that for a household with the estimated median U.S. income in 2014 of $54,417 it could take more than 12 years to save up for a 20% down payment for a home priced at the median value at a typical annual savings rate of 5.6%, but it could take less than two years to save for a 3% down payment. Still, the problem, according to RealtyTrac and Down Payment Resource, is that few buyers and agents know about possible assistance. According to a NeighborWorks research study, 70% of American adults don't even know these programs exist. "Down payment assistance tends to suffer from lack of awareness," Mark Hughes of First Team Real Estate, in Irvine, California, told RealtyTrac in 2015. "Guidelines and specifics tend to change with economic swings. Agents typically don't keep up with the changing requirements," he said. Markets where buyers using down payment assistance programs can realize the biggest total dollar savings compared with buyers not using down payment assistance were Kauai County, Hawaii ($80,148 total savings over the life of the loan); Placer County, Calif. in the Sacramento metro area ($78,539); San Francisco County, Calif. ($77,411); Orange County, Calif. in the Los Angeles metro area ($74,268); and Shasta County (Redding), Calif. ($70,806). Other markets with total savings of more than $50,000 over the life of the loan included counties in Miami, New Orleans, Seattle, Orlando, and New York, RealtyTrac said. The lack of awareness of down-payment aid is comparable to the situation with Veterans Administration housing-aid programs; while many veterans can qualify for zero-down-payment home loans, experts say too few know about the program . "Prospective buyers or their agents willing to put in a few minutes of time to find out what programs are available to them will put themselves in a much better position to successfully purchase a home," said Blomquist. A second loan to cut closing costs. Down payment programs are offered through a wide range of organizations cities or counties, local housing finance agencies, nonprofits or even employers. Most are offered in the amount of $10,000, according to Down Payment Resource, and as much as 87% of U.S. homes are eligible for some form of financial assistance. A typical down payment program, known as a Community Seconds, works by adding a subordinate low-interest or no-interest mortgage to the first mortgage for the purpose of eliminating or reducing closing costs. The payment is often deferred or forgiven for each year the buyer remains in the home and sometimes has several emergency relief provisions for the borrower, though the loans can have a higher interest rate than the first mortgage. Other programs include Mortgage Credit Certificates that can provide up to $2,000 in annual tax credits for the life of the loan. There are also programs that provide loans to revitalize downtrodden neighborhoods that have been hit hard by foreclosures. Real estate pros say that wider use of down-payment programs could supplement recent efforts by the mortgage industry and the federal government to draw more buyers into the market, especially younger buyers struggling to scrape together a down payment. In 2014, Federal Housing Finance Agency director Mel Watt ordered Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to begin buying loans that have as little as a 3% down payment (or a 97% loan-to-value ratio), down from its earlier minimum limit of 5% (95% LTV). Despite the availability of down payment help, some buyers who use down payment programs still lose out on purchases when they compete with buyers who can put the traditional 20% down or make all-cash offers. "While down payment assistance programs are beneficial for assisting buyers in achieving the American Dream of home ownership, current low available housing inventory is creating an inability to leverage such programs to the benefit of buyers," Michael Mahon, president at HER Realtors, covering the Cincinnati, Dayton and Columbus markets in Ohio, told RealtyTrac. 10 U.S. counties with most homes qualifying for down payment help in 2015 This story has been updated. | 3 | 99,506 | finance |
THURSDAY, June 9, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- California on Thursday becomes the fifth and largest state in the country to allow terminally ill patients to end their own lives. With the state's right-to-die law in effect, the percentage of terminally ill U.S. adults who can ask for medical aid in dying will leap from 4 percent to 16 percent, according to advocacy group Compassion & Choices. As many as 34,000 terminally ill Californians per year are expected to ask their doctors for information about the law, according to the group, and up to 1,500 prescriptions will be written each year. That's based on experiences in states that have already enacted similar legislation. "We know in Oregon that for every one prescription that is written, it's noted that 25 people inquire about the process," said Sean Crowley, national spokesman for Compassion & Choices. Stanford University family physician Dr. Catherine Sonquist Forest believes the law will comfort patients dealing with a fatal illness. "Studies have demonstrated that simply having the option of medical aid in dying and the ability to shorten an unbearable dying process provides great peace of mind to terminally ill people and their families," said Sonquist Forest, medical director of the Stanford Health Center at Los Altos and a clinical assistant professor at Stanford Medicine. "I'm relieved to know that starting [Thursday], mentally capable terminally ill California adults with a medical prognosis of six months or less to live will have the option to request physician-prescribed aid in dying," she added. Three states have already passed right-to-die laws -- Oregon, Washington and Vermont. A court has ruled that medical aid in dying is legal in Montana. Elizabeth Wallner, a 52-year-old single mother from Sacramento, Calif., told reporters that she's "grateful" to have the option provided by the new law. Wallner has been battling advanced colon cancer since March 2011, undergoing 18 weeks of chemotherapy, six surgeries to remove parts of her liver, lung, diaphragm, gall bladder and colon, and additional radiation therapy. Her cancer has since spread to her liver and lungs. Once the act takes effect, "I will then be able to ask my doctors for a prescription for medication that I can decide to ingest if my suffering becomes intolerable in my final days," Wallner said at Wednesday news briefing held by Compassion & Choices. "That will allow me to have a measure of control and allow me to die peacefully at home in my sleep and surrounded by my loved ones, as opposed to scared, in pain or even worse in the hospital." The new law has met with resistance from some religious organizations, however. The California Catholic Conference issued a statement this week saying that California will cross an "unwelcomed threshold" when the law takes effect. "By allowing doctors to prescribe a lethal dose of drugs to their patients, California is embarking on a dangerous course," the statement reads. "This new law will place the disabled, the elderly and other vulnerable people at risk for abuse and mistreatment and will undermine the healing professions' venerable commitment to 'First, do no harm.'" But Compassion & Choices' Crowley said that, under the new law, people are not required to take their life-ending prescription within any sort of timeframe. "Every year in Oregon, two-thirds of folks end up using the medication, and one-third do not," he said. People with a terminal illness must also complete a series of legal hurdles before they can receive a lethal prescription to be filled and used at their own discretion, according to an analysis by the California Medical Association's legal counsel: The person must be able to prove they are a resident of California, and have a physician who has diagnosed them with an incurable disease that is expected to end their lives within six months. They must submit two oral requests to their doctor at least 15 days apart, as well as one written request. The written request must be signed and dated in the presence of two witnesses. All three requests must be received by their doctor, not a designee or surrogate. Both the person's doctor and a second consulting physician must agree that the patient is capable of making medical decisions for himself or herself, is not being coerced, and has made an informed decision regarding the right to die. The patient's doctor is required to counsel him or her to have another person present when they take the fatal dose, to not take the drug in a public place, to keep the drug in a safe and secure place prior to use, and to consider participating in a hospice program. The patient is not required to undergo a mental health assessment as part of the process, but their doctor can ask for one if the patient seems to have a mental disorder. The mental health assessment then becomes part of the supporting paperwork. A mentally ill person can still qualify to receive an aid-in-dying drug, but a mental health specialist must determine that the person is not suffering from impaired judgment and is capable of deciding for themselves, the California Medical Association says. The law specifically states that a terminally ill patient's use of a properly acquired aid-in-dying drug is not considered suicide. The California Catholic Conference said it's concerned that the law does not require a psychological assessment for all people requesting assisted suicide. It also is concerned there may not be enough safeguards built into the law. California passed the law following the widely publicized ordeal of Brittany Maynard, a 29-year-old resident of northern California who moved to Oregon in 2014 after being diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. Maynard became a strong advocate in the right-to-die movement before ending her life on Nov. 1, 2014. Prior to her death, she recorded testimony on behalf of right-to-die legislation being considered in California. "I am immensely proud of this conversation that my wife Brittany started, and the impact that her voice made on this basic human right," Maynard's husband, Dan Diaz, said Wednesday at the news briefing. More information For more on helping a loved one cope with a terminal illness, visit the Mayo Clinic . | 7 | 99,507 | health |
How to make the most of your polish: from wedding day dress emergencies to handy ways to fix a chipped tile. Smooth out slightly splintered wood Seal a wooden surface with a coat of clear nail polish (for stained wood surfaces, first find a color that matches the wood). The new finish will stop supplies such as wooden hangers from snagging clothes and keep fingers splinter-free. Here's how to remove a splinter using adhesive tape. Waterproof your garden labels Make plant labels waterproof by coating them in clear nail polish. You'll never have to Google how often to water your herb garden again. This trick also works for waterproofing address labels on packages. Try these expert gardening tips for beginners. Prevent rust stains Coat the bottom of metal cans (think shaving cream and hair spray) with clear nail polish to prevent rust from developing and staining your sink or medicine cabinet. Stop a run in tights in its tracks Keep a small hole from spreading by dabbing the run with clear nail polish. Try these tricks for solving common wardrobe malfunctions . Fix peeling pearl buttons Coat (fake) pearls with clear nail polish to stop them from peeling. Here's how to clean your own jewelry at home . Prevent frayed fabric from getting worse Tame frayed fabric, such as the wisps on the cuffs of a nylon-lined jacket or the tiny broken threads on the bottom of a well-worn wool pencil skirt, with clear polish. Stop a cracked windshield from getting worse Stop a small windshield crack in its tracks with clear polish. Working in the shade, paint the crack on both sides of the glass. Move the car into the sun to allow it to dry. You'll eventually need to repair the windshield, but in the meantime, use polish to buy time and shop around for the best estimate. Try these tricks to clean your car . Treat an unraveling shoelace Dip an unraveling shoelace in clear nail polish. Twist it back into shape and allow it to dry. Protect tarnish-prone costume jewelry Prevent costume jewelry from tarnishing by brushing over it with clear nail polish. This hack will also stop skin discoloration and irritation from cheap jewelry. Seal an envelope Seal an envelope with a brush of nail polish. For a fun letter, such as a party invitation or thank you note, use a bright color. Hide scuff marks on a shoe or bag Fill in a scuff with a dab of nail polish that matches the piece. No one will be any the wiser. (Note: If you plan to resell a vintage or designer item, the paint could lower its value.) Hide a chipped tile Color in a small chip on a kitchen or bathroom tile with a matching nail polish color. The small brush and variety of colors available will ensure accuracy. Tighten a loose screw Secure a screw by first painting it with nail polish, which will give it extra stickiness. Paint over the top of the screw to prevent it from developing rust. Prevent chipped car paint from rusting A small indent or piece of chipped paint could develop rust once the spot is exposed to the elements. Seal yours off with a coat of clear nail polish. Organize a jumbled set of keys Organize your mess of keys by painting the tops of the most important ones with different colored nail polish. You'll always know that blue means home and red means gym locker. Reattach a loose rhinestone The ultimate wedding must-have? A bottle of clear nail polish. In addition to fixing any manicure fiascos, the polish can also be used to reattach a loose rhinestone or crystal. Fix a window screen Mend a torn window screen with a dab of clear nail polish. | 4 | 99,508 | lifestyle |
U.S. stocks traded lower Thursday, amid a pullback in oil prices from recent multi-month highs and a decline in global benchmark yields. "I think the theme of the day would be the feeling we've got a big problem in the world as far as growth goes," said Peter Coleman, head trader at Convergex. Traders also noted some pressure on stocks from an overnight Wall Street Journal report, citing sources, that billionaire investor George Soros recently directed a series of "big, bearish investments" of purchases in gold and gold miner shares after a long break from trading. Financials traded more than 1 percent lower to lead S&P 500 decliners in morning trade. The Bank (KBE) and Regional Bank (KRE) ETFs traded more than 2 percent lower. The German 10-year bund yield hit a fresh all-time low of 0.026 percent, according to Reuters Tradweb data. The U.S. 10-year Treasury yield hovered just above its lows for the year so far, last trading near 1.67 percent, while the 2-year yield traded near 0.76 percent, around its lowest since May 16. "It's not just flight to quality, it's not just the Fed's dead. There are some global influences at work," said Bryce Doty, senior fixed income manager with Sit Investment Associates. The European Central Bank began its corporate bond purchase program Wednesday. In a speech Thursday, ECB President Mario Draghi warned of "lasting economic consequences" of years of weak output. "They're aggressively buying corporate bonds over there. They're buying them for a reason because they're worried about the economy in Europe," Coleman said. U.S. crude oil futures were trading more than 1 percent lower near $50.50 a barrel after settling above $51 at its highest since July on Wednesday. "Oil stabilizing around $50 is really good for the markets. .. That helps stabilize emerging markets and is maybe a commentary on growth that recently demand is picking up," said Jeff Kravetz of the Private Client Reserve at U.S. Bank. On the data front, weekly jobless claims fell to a seasonally adjusted 264,000. Wholesale inventories rose 0.6 percent in April. "I don't think (the decline in stocks) is anything more than maybe a bit of profit-taking," said Robert Pavlik, chief market strategist at Boston Private Wealth. U.S. stocks closed higher Wednesday, with the Dow Jones industrial average above the psychologically key 18,000 level for the first time since April and the S&P 500 at its highest since July. The U.S. dollar index traded about 0.4 percent higher after touching its lowest since May 6 on Wednesday. The euro was near $1.133 and the yen near 106.5 yen against the greenback. "What I think is really driving markets now is random moves based on flows ahead of the (U.K.) referendum," said Athanasios Vamvakidis, head of G10 FX strategy in Europe at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. The U.K. is set to vote June 23, the week after the June Fed meeting, on whether to leave the European Union. "Polls related to the referendum have become more inconclusive," Vamvakidis said. European stocks were trading nearly 1 percent lower or more in morning trade ET. China's consumer price inflation in May rose a lower-than-expected 2.0 percent from a year earlier, while producer prices fell a less-than-expected 2.8 percent, Reuters said, citing the National Bureau of Statistics. Markets in mainland China and Hong Kong were closed for a holiday. The Nikkei 225 closed nearly 1 percent lower. In morning trade, the Dow Jones industrial average declined 54 points, or 0.30 percent, at 17,944, with Caterpillar leading decliners and McDonald's the top advancer. The S&P 500 fell 9 points, or 0.41 percent, to 2,110, with materials leading seven sectors lower and utilities the top gainer. The Nasdaq composite declined 21 points, or 0.44 percent, to 4,952. The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX), widely considered the best gauge of fear in the market, traded higher near 14.4. About three stocks declined for every advancer on the New York Stock Exchange, with an exchange volume of 47 million and a composite volume of 122 million in morning trade. U.S. crude oil futures for July delivery declined 78 cents to $50.45 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gold futures for August delivery gained $2.40 to $1,264.70 an ounce as of 9:36 a.m. ET. On tap this week: Thursday 1 p.m. $12 billion 30-year bond auction Friday 10 a.m. Consumer sentiment 2 p.m. Federal budget *Planner subject to change. | 3 | 99,509 | finance |
Russian President Vladimir Putin has not been sleeping well of late, he was caught telling his Belarussian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko. Putin arrived in Minsk on Wednesday to meet with Lukashenko and as the two sat down for a joint press meeting, discussing Russian and Belarusian relations, the microphones were switched on just in time to catch their small talk before the start of the address. "Everything alright," a cheerful Lukashenko is seen asking the slightly glum Russian president. "I'm alright. I don't sleep much," Putin shared with his Belarusian counterpart. "The day before yesterday I slept four hours. Last night five hours. I go to bed at three and I wake up at eight." "That's bad," Lukashenko replied, as the cameras start flashing. The footage appeared on YouTube , and spread quickly on Russian social media. Putin did not explain what had kept him awake over the last few days. The nights he was referring to happened to coincide with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to Moscow . On Tuesday the two attended the Bolshoi Theatre together. Last year Putin told a boy from Russia's city of Nalchik , who dreamt of becoming president one day, that a good night's sleep is vital for the making of a "healthy president." It seems the Russian president does not heed by his own advice though as the head of his administration Sergei Ivanov has previously said that Putin frequently goes to bed "very late" and gets up too early, dedicating most of his day to work. The Russian leader is known to enjoy the odd night of late night revelry. He once famously missed a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel during a 2014 summit in Milan, after spending the night partying with his friend the former Prime Minister of Italy Silvio Berlusconi . The Kremlin said Putin left Berlusconi's house at around 4am, with a second day of meetings ahead of him. Russian social media speculated on the other things that might be robbing the president of his sleep. Some suggested he might be trembling under his duvet in fear at how much more expensive his grocery shopping might get as Russia's economic crisis worsens, while others suggested noisy neighbours could be the source of his woes. One Twitter user drew a parallel between Putin and another famous Vlad with abnormal nocturnal habits Dracula. "Is the coffin too uncomfortable," he asked. Путин Лукашенко: "...сплю мало. Позавчера спал четыре часа, а этой ночью пять часов" Неудобно в гробу... pic.twitter.com/wzuU4xrAVO Голобуцкий Алексей (@Holobutsky) June 8, 2016 Although Lukashenko and Putin have been close allies for almost two decades, their meetings often have a gaffe or two, most recently when Lukashenko was left blushing at their meeting in February after he confused Putin for Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev in conversation. | 5 | 99,510 | news |
PARIS Uncollected trash rotting on the streets of Paris. Strikes on trains that go to the national stadium, and on planes that should be carrying fans. With the eyes of Europe and the world turning to France for the European Championship, the host nation isn't putting on its best face. A tug of war between the Socialist government and labor leaders over changes to French workplace practices is ensnaring fans hoping for a month of fine football and a great time. Already Thursday, strikes threw train services to the national stadium into disarray before the opening game it hosts on Friday night. For Friday, railway and Metro authorities promised extra trains to bypass the strikers and carry 70,000 people - as many as with any normal match - to the stadium in the hours immediately before and after the game, to and from central Paris. The remaining 10,000 of the 80,000 spectators are expected to come by road. Trains will run every six minutes on the RER B line, bracing to carry 30,000 and every 10 minutes on the RER D, for 20,000 people, the SNCF rail authority said. The Metro expects to carry 20,000 fans to and from the game. Strikes are also planned from Saturday on the national air carrier, Air France. In swanky Paris neighborhoods, overflowing garbage containers spewed stinking bags of trash onto the streets, uncollected by strikers. With kick-off just a day away, both the government and labor leaders warned fans to brace for hardship. "The strike, clearly, will disrupt the Euros," said Beranger Cernon of the left-wing CGT union, leading strikers at the Gare de Lyon, one of Paris' main rail hubs. "We will continue to strike." Using the arrival of the European Championship to ratchet up pressure on the government is the latest step in an extensive protest movement against a labor bill that will loosen workplace protection. Recent weeks have also seen violent demonstrations and fuel shortages. At least two million foreign visitors are expected for the 24-nation tournament, Europe's biggest sports event since terror attacks in Paris in November and in Brussels in March. The government's minister for towns, youth and sports accused strikers of "guerrilla" tactics and of making France look bad and suggested that Paris' bid for the 2024 Olympic Games could be undermined as a consequence. "Ruining the party ruins the image of France," said the minister, Patrick Kanner. "Ruining France's image weakens France long-term." A big question was how 80,000 fans would get to the opening game, France against Romania at the Stade de France at 9 p.m. on Friday night. The giant stadium on Paris' northern outskirts, in Saint-Denis, is hosting a total of seven games, including the July 10 final. Organizers generally recommend that spectators take public transport to get there, with two overland lines and one underground Metro line serving the arena. But strikes made that difficult Thursday on the eve of the match. While the Metro line to the stadium was running normally on Thursday and will have extra trains for the game, the two overland lines were severely disrupted. The strikes are having smelly repercussions, too, with trash collection disrupted in half of Paris' 20 districts since Monday, City Hall said. Just one of six trash-collection centers in the French capital was operating normally and one-third of trash-truck drivers were refusing to work, City Hall said. Air France said 20-30 percent of its flights would be cancelled on Saturday, day two of the championship, because of a pilots' strike. CEO Frederic Gagey told reporters the carrier offered a new proposal in a long-running dispute over working conditions, but unions rejected it. There was a silver lining: Heavy rains that caused extensive flooding, raised the Seine River in Paris to danger levels and played havoc with the tennis schedule at the French Open last week has given way to welcome sunshine. Clouds but no rain are forecast for the skies above the Stade de France on Friday night. | 1 | 99,511 | sports |
Tesla announces two new low-end models, the 60 and 60D, which start at $66,000. Important upgrades are purchasable after the fact, if buyers are interested. It used to be that when Tesla introduced a new version of its standard-bearer - the Model S - it was at the upper end of the spectrum. Think of the Ludicrous options or the P90D. Today, though, Tesla announced an expansion of the Model S range at the bottom end. Tesla will soon sell a Model S 60 and 60D, both of which will offer at least 200 miles of range. If that sounds familiar, then you probably remember that Tesla used to sell a Model S with a 60-kWh battery (the Model S numbers are based on the battery size) but stopped selling it last year. In 2013, Tesla also ended sales of the 40-kWh model . This is the first time that a cancelled model is making a return but, as you might suspect, things are a bit different this time around. For one thing, the price is lower. The new 60 will start at $66,000, whereas the previous 60 started at $70,000. There's also an all-wheel drive version available (as the 60D indicates, for "D"ual motors). Plus, the new 60 has a secret inside: a 75-kWh battery pack , which matches the current (until this announcement, anyway) smallest size Model S pack. This is not a new strategy for Tesla. The new 60s also come with Autopilot hardware, so if someone who buys a new Model S 60 wants to upgrade the battery pack (i.e., access the extra kWh for more range) or turn on the Autopilot options, that will be possible. The full details, as far as we know them, are available in the press release below. Follow MSN Autos on Facebook From the press release: As you know, Model S is designed to be a great car for every lifestyle, and we continue to make it even better. Last month we introduced design updates to Model S, and through continual software updates we've made Model S faster, smarter, safer and more enjoyable to drive. It's part of Tesla's relentless commitment to making its products better. With these improvements, we've heard from a number of people who would like to buy a Model S, but can more easily afford it only at a lower price point. To respond to these requests, on Thursday June 9 we're introducing two new variants of Model S Model S 60 and 60D, offering a compelling feature set and a great value at a new low price. The new Model S 60 delivers more than 200 miles of range, a top speed of 130 mph and zero-to-60 acceleration in 5.5 seconds, starting at $66,000. The all-wheel drive option brings even more range and performance, beginning at $71,000. And every Tesla comes equipped with active safety features and Autopilot hardware. Keep in mind that when comparing the price of any electric vehicle to an internal combustion vehicle, it's important to compare not just the out-of-pocket price, but also the effective cost of ownership. Factoring in annual fuel savings which typically ranges between $1,000 and $1,500, as well as available tax incentives, the effective cost of owning Model S 60 comes to about $50k. And there are other advantages to owning a Tesla that add up over time, including: Less maintenance Tesla vehicles don't require regular maintenance like oil changes, fuel filters or smog checks. And our four-year/50,000 mile bumper to bumper warranty and eight-year/infinite mile battery and drive unit warranty come standard with Model S. Ample charging options for most Tesla owners, home charging provides plenty of range for daily travel, and with an EPA range of over 200 miles, that's still the case for Model S 60 and 60D. For long distance travel, there are many convenient Supercharger and Destination Charging locations throughout our network. New features via free software updates as with every Model S, the 60 and 60D will receive free over-the-air software updates that add functionality and continue to improve the driving experience for years to come. To provide customers even more flexibility over time, Model S 60 and 60D owners may later choose to upgrade their vehicles to a 75kWh battery with a software update, should they want to add to their car's battery capacity in the future. | 9 | 99,512 | autos |
Haters have a way of complicating very simple things. Just because something's popular doesn't mean it sucks, and just because something's different doesn't mean it's cool. Take Tri-Five Chevys, for instance. They've appealed to such a broad spectrum of hot rodders for such a long time that they've taken the shape of everything from street cruisers and straight-axle gassers to big 'n' littles Pro Streeters and do-it-all Pro Touring machines. No other platform can make that claim. Instead of taking a conventional approach to building an oddball car, John Turbyfill prefers standing out from the pack by taking an unconventional approach to building a very popular car. Understated, elegant, and devastatingly potent, John's 1955 Chevy defies the two-tone paint schemes and Torq-Thrust rollers that are the Tri-Five norm. Instead, it conceals its supercharged, 930-horsepower LS small-block, six-speed automatic, big disc brakes, and cutting-edge chassis beneath stock sheetmetal and black paint. By shaving the emblems and ornaments to clean up the clutter, then dropping it all down on a set of well-proportioned wheels, the keep-it-basic approach lets the timeless beauty of the Tri-Five illuminate its surroundings, just like GM designers intended. The formula is so simple and so effective it makes you wonder why anyone would hack up the sheetmetal to try to make it look like an Italian exotic. See more classic cars on MSN Autos Although John could easily afford to park a couple of Ferraris in his garage, the car he's always lusted after is a '55 Chevy. "There was a kid back in high school that had a black '55 Chevy that I really liked, and I've always wanted one, too. I have had several muscle cars since then, including a '67 Camaro SS and an SS396 Chevelle, but I've never built a hot rod before," says John. For decades, the demands of building a successful furniture company from the ground up left little time for hobbies, but the extended wait time meant that he had plenty of time to plan out the direction of his Tri-Five build. "I didn't want to build a traditional car. No hood ornaments. No two-tone paint. I just wanted an ultra-clean '55 Chevy with contemporary lines, lots of power, a nice stance, wide tires, and a modern interior." Once John reached the point in life where he could enjoy the fruits of his labor, he picked up a '55 Chevy from Colorado that had been sitting in storage for 25 years. Unfortunately, a run-in with a budget bodyman turned what was once a solid car into a sad heap of its former self. Determined to get things right the second time around, John turned to Dooley and Sons Hot Rod Shop ( www.dooleyandsons.com ) to fix the mess. "The bodywork was so bad that you could put a straightedge anywhere on the car and fit your finger beneath it," Jeff Cameron of Dooley and Sons recounts. "The body was already primered so we had to strip it down, dip it, and start all over again. We ended up replacing the doors, quarter-panels, hood, and fenders." Granted that the Tri-Five did indeed go under the knife, the cosmetic surgery simply enhanced the factory lines instead of fundamentally changing them. "To clean things up and modernize everything, we got rid of the wipers, changed up the cowl, welded up the side trim holes, built a new trans tunnel, and filled in all the seams," explains Jeff. "All the underhood sheetmetal is custom, including the firewall and inner fenders. We also built custom tubs to make room for the 345mm-wide tires." As big as the rear meats may be, they're still no match for the 427ci supercharged Don Hardy Race Cars LS under the hood. Based on a Chevrolet Performance LSX block, it packs a Callies Magnum 4.00-inch steel crank and billet rods matched with forged Diamond pistons. A big Lysholm 4.0L huffer squeezes air through a set of Dart LS3 cylinder heads, and a custom DHRC hydraulic camshaft sends a mean thump out a set of custom Dooley and Sons stainless steel headers and dual 3-inch Borla mufflers. Massive cubic inches and boost culminate in the form of 930 horsepower and 875 lb-ft of torque, which are routed to a TCI Automotive six-speed automatic and a Currie 9-inch rearend. To bring the ride and handling up to modern standards, Dooley and Sons slid one of its Street Force chassis beneath the Tri-Five's body. It features twin heavy-duty A-arms up front, a four-link out back, and adjustable coilovers all around. Beefy splined sway bars keep body roll in check and a Flaming River rack-and-pinion assembly improves steering feel tremendously over the floppy factory box. Sticking it all to the pavement are Michelin Pilot Super Sport tires that wrap around Schott Mod 5 wheels measuring 19x8 up front and 20x12 in the rear. Six-piston Wilwood brakes clamp down on 14-inch rotors to bring everything to a halt. Open the doors and the understated elegance spills into the cabin as well. The interior is still unmistakably '55 Chevy, but everything just looks cleaner and more modern. "The interior panels and center console are all handmade one-offs. The seats and headliner are also custom," explains Jeff. "We covered the stock dash in leather and installed a support bar beneath the dash to mount everything to. We used a Kugel Komponents 90-degree mount to hide the master cylinder under the dash, and the Holley ECU and Vintage Air A/C unit are hidden as well." Other enhancements include Dakota Digital gauges, power windows, an Audiovox stereo, a Billet Specialties steering wheel, and an E-Stopp electric parking brake. After nearly 50 years of patiently waiting to build his dream car, what John enjoys most is stomping on the throttle. "I love how you can really get after it with a supercharged motor. You can hit the gas at 80 mph and break the tires loose," says John. By aspiring to build a Tri-Five that isn't too traditional, what John actually built is an unconventional version of a very popular car that stands out for all the right reasons. And doesn't that sound way more appealing than building a Vega or a LUV pickup just to be different? Follow MSN Autos on Facebook | 9 | 99,513 | autos |
Being an adventurous eater isn't always easy, especially when simply the terminology surrounding food items trips up your ordering game. OpenTable recently released the results of a survey that shows that 29 percent of diners feel some restaurant menus are more confusing than they need to be. Conducted online by Harris Poll, the canvass also reveals that more than half of diners (56 percent) feel ordering an unfamiliar menu item will ruin their experience. In turn, nearly 75 percent said they feel they will be wasting their money if they don't enjoy their meal. ("Diners" are defined as people who eat out at least once a month.) In short, people are afraid to order new things but there's a quick and easy way to decipher unknown terms: a dictionary. To help eaters parse the big wide world of food lexicon, OpenTable recruited a team of graphic designers to create a " menu jargon decoder ," covering everything from amuse bouche to pavlova . The guide has Illustrations, pronunciations, and definitions to help you fully prepare for your next culinary foray. You can see a list of the least-understood menu items according to those polled, the top five of which are okonomiyaki , gochujang , piri piri , yuzu , and bibimbap . Now Watch Restaurant Menu Money Makers: | 0 | 99,514 | foodanddrink |
A final vote next week will make Philly just the second city in the U.S. to tax sugary beverages After more than six hours of private negotiations, truck rallies and toddler read-ins, city council members gave preliminary approval to a 1.5 cent-per-ounce tax on sodas and sugary drinks last night. The decision won't be final until council takes a full official vote next week but yesterday a majority of members approved the bill in committee after spending the afternoon and evening meeting with opponents from the grocery and beverage industries. According to Philly.com , The levy, which is expected to face legal challenges from a beverage industry that has spent millions fighting it, would hit thousands of items, including all sweetened beverages, whether sugar-based or diet. That includes bottled or fountain sodas, teas, sports drinks, flavored waters, and energy drinks, among other products. Exempt products include baby formula and beverages that are more than 50 percent fresh fruit, fresh vegetables, or milk. Beverages for which customers request sweetener or add it themselves (such as at a coffee shop) are also exempt. The paper reports that council members finally approved the proposal after years of failed similar attempts because money raised from the tax would go to support an expanded pre-k program, libraries and rec centers. However, in a sudden development initiated by the mayor's administration yesterday, a portion of the levy will go into the city's fund balance -- the difference between revenue and expenditures -- through 2020. The last-minute announcement didn't derail the plan, just as the rally of soda delivery trucks outside City Hall and the group of small children reading books in the hallways likely didn't impact any votes, either. Philly.com reports that if the proposal passes, Philly will be the first big American city to levy a tax on sugary beverages and just the second city to do so after Berkeley, CA. | 0 | 99,515 | foodanddrink |
SAMMAMISH, Wash. -- When Inbee Park finishes the first round of the KPMG Women's PGA Championship on Thursday she'll officially complete 10 years on tour and qualify for the LPGA Hall of Fame. What we don't know is how much longer we are going to see the remarkable 27-year-old from South Korea with seven major championships among her 17 LPGA wins play competitive golf. The fact Park is plagued by a sore left thumb and is thinking about starting a family with her coach Gi Hyub Nam, whom she married in October 2014, has sparked rumors on tour that she is thinking of retiring, rumors she tried, somewhat unsuccessfully, to shoot down Wednesday at Sahalee Country Club. "If I knew right now how long I'm going to play, I'd tell you right now," Park said. "But unfortunately there is no surprise announcement right now, where I'm going to retire after this year. I really don't have an answer for you right now." Park has always set her own agenda, treating her parents with enormous respect and appreciation but holding them at arms length and not spending all of her free time on the practice range, as do many of her countrywomen. She has other interests besides golf, and walking away from the game would not come as a total surprise. "I'd like to have a family, probably within three years or so," Park said. "And after that I'm not sure if I'm going to play professionally or whether I'm just going to retire. That I don't know." But then she opened a door of uncertainty that let in plenty of room for speculation about her future. "I am happy right now that I'm here, so I am playing," she said. "But it can be tomorrow. It can be three years. It can be five years in time. It can change overnight." Will it change as early as after the first round of the KPMG Women's PGA Championship? Will it change before the South Korea Olympic team is finalized on July 11, a team she appears likely to qualify for? Will it change after the Olympics? Or is it all years down the road? It's just one more storyline that makes this tournament pretty damn compelling. Park is looking to win the KPMG four years in a row on four different courses. Lydia Ko is trying to win her third straight major. And Ariya Jutanugarn is after her fourth win in four starts. Having the No. 2 player in the Rolex Rankings walk away at 27 would be bizarre. Then again, when Lorena Ochoa stepped away from the game in 2010, she was 28 and No. 1 in the world. More from Golf Digest: The Hottest PGA Tour Wives and Girlfriends How Tiger's Swing Has Changed This Weekend's Best Golf Instagrams | 1 | 99,516 | sports |
For gamers, World of Warcraft represents a massive universe in which they've spent many hours. But for many moviegoers, WoW's Azeroth is a completely foreign place they know nothing about. So for his new movie, Warcraft, director Duncan Jones a gamer himself had to create a world that would bring in new fans and make long-time WoW players feel like they were coming home. In this interview with WIRED, he explains how he worked with Industrial Light & Magic to make that happen. | 8 | 99,517 | video |
Tax would add extra 1.5 cents per ounce to the cost of sugary drinks | 0 | 99,518 | foodanddrink |
Bill Gates, the world's richest man, stood on the 68th floor of 4 World Trade Center in the heart of New York's financial district Wednesday morning, dispensing advice on a new asset class that promises sky-high returns: chickens. "There is no investment that has a return percentage anything like being able to breed chickens," Gates said as a gaggle of 30 birds clucked inside of a coop behind him at the fifth annual Forbes 400 Summit on Philanthropy. "Our goal here is to take West Africa, where 5% of the households have chickens, and get that up, country by country, to about 30%." Bill Gates stands in front of a chicken coop inside 4 World Trade Center on Wednesday morning. It's an ambitious plan, one that could drastically increase nutrition and income levels in one of the most impoverished regions of the world. And in typical Gates fashion, it's all based on math: A farmer who starts with three hens and one rooster can breed them to have 12 chickens within three months and 250 within a year. One chicken in Africa sells for roughly $5. That means a small starter kit of four birds could yield a yearly flock worth $1,250, a sum twice as high as the extreme poverty line. Gates is providing the seed capital to get it all going. His foundation invests $400 million in its livestock programs annually and hopes to reach its 30% goal in five years. He has already started work in Ethiopia, investing $7 million to create a massive operation that provides the chicks to get farmers started. Expenses for the farmers are minimal. A vaccine for Newcastle disease, which can devastate flocks of chickens, costs less than 20 cents. The birds find much of their own food, eating bugs, grass and other things that humans cannot consume. And building a basic chicken coop is relatively cheap, requiring little more than wire and sticks. Genetics are also a key part of the equation. Typical African hens are generally far less productive than their American counterparts, but African chickens do have better resistance to heat and disease. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is now breeding the two types of livestock to try to create super birds that are both resistant to disease and extremely productive. An added advantage: Chickens help empower women, because they generally stay close to the house. Larger livestock like cows and goats tend to wander farther away and are more likely to be cared for by men. That matters because women, as a percentage, are more likely to spend income on things like food for their family and school fees than men are. Gates' wife Melinda, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, has recently focused much of her philanthropic work around empowering women, as Forbes outlined in a feature story last December. Gates served as the CEO of Microsoft until 2000 and stepped down as its chairman in 2014. He still owns a stake in the company, but the bulk of his fortune is now spread out over a diversified portfolio of holdings. His full-time job these days is figuring out the smartest way to give away his fortune. He started learning about farming in Africa in the late 1990s but didn't fully recognize the opportunity of livestock until the mid-2000s. After investor Warren Buffett, the 3rd-richest man in the world, committed to give the vast majority of his fortune to the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation, the Microsoft cofounder expanded his agricultural philanthropy. "It's the classic thing of teaching somebody how to fish," says Gates. "If you don't live near water, then it's pretty hard to fish. But you know, the parable could have been stated in terms of giving someone a chicken and showing them how to raise chickens. In fact, in West Africa at least, there's more people who can raise chickens than there are who can go out and go fishing." | 3 | 99,519 | finance |
Violence, globally, cost each individual on earth $1,876 in 2015, or 13.3 percent of the world's gross domestic product (GDP), according to a new report by the Institute of Economics and Peace (IEP). That's a staggering total of $13.6 trillion - the equivalent of 11 times the size of global foreign direct investment. And in the last ten years, the economic impact of violence has cost the world $137 trillion, according to the index which was released this week. Even more depressingly - there are just ten countries on the globe that are considered to be fully at peace: Botswana, Chile, Costa Rica, Japan, Mauritius, Panama, Qatar, Switzerland, Uruguay and Vietnam- which are all free from both internal and external conflict. These rank differently to the world's most peaceful countries- in which Iceland ranks number one- but don't enjoy "absence of the fear of violence," explained Thom Morgan, IEP research fellow and one of the authors of the report, to CNBC. Denmark, Austria, New Zealand and Portugal also rank among the world's most peaceful countries. "They [the most peaceful countries] may have a small commitment to supporting Afghanistan or Syria, for example whether it be peacekeeping or aid," said Morgan, on Thursday to CNBC, therefore not making them free of conflict. Nearly 1 percent of the world's population are refugees and displaced persons. The figure has risen dramatically over the last decade, doubling to approximately 60 million people between 2007 and 2016. There are now nine countries with more than 10 percent of their population displaced in some form, including in Syria the world's most dangerous country- which has been "fairly consistent" in terms of ranking at the bottom of the index in the past few years, said Morgan. However, over the past decade, both Syria and Libya are the list's biggest movers, having not been anywhere near the bottom of the list when the index was started ten years ago. Today, "no country comes close" to Syria's impact on the conflict scale, said Morgan, with 60 percent of its population refugees or displaced persons. Europe, although once again considered the world's most peaceful region in the index, saw its score move down due to the attacks in Paris and Brussels and its involvement in wars in the Middle East. In fact, only 23 percent of countries listed have not experienced a recent terrorist incident. The IEP also highlighted Brazil as a "striking" case, said Morgan. The South American giant, which recently experienced a huge political upheaval, has dropped five places in the index, due to factors such as an "increase in political instability and rising incarceration rates," Morgan told CNBC. The IEP also noticed a "growing inequality of peacefulness" in the index, said Morgan. The countries with strong peaceful indicators only became more peaceful, while the ones that experienced conflict, such as Syria, only seem to worsen. Follow CNBC International on Twitter and Facebook . | 3 | 99,520 | finance |
Certain factors, such as where and when you were born, can increase your risk for developing allergies. Allergies can range from being annoying to downright life-threatening. A recent report suggests that as much as 30 percent of the adult population and 40 percent of children worldwide experience some type of allergy, but this number is increasing. Thankfully, not everyone is equally susceptible to developing allergies, and although some risk factors, such as a having a family history of allergies, may be obvious to most, others are far more obscure. Our bodies' immune systems do an awesome job of protecting us from disease by targeting and destroying foreign entities, such as viruses or bacteria. However, every now and then, the immune system can mistake an otherwise harmless substance as dangerous. When this occurs, it is called an allergy, according to Pollen.com . Allergy symptoms, which range from the annoying runny nose to life-threatening breathing difficulties, are signs the body is trying to defend itself against what it perceives as a threat. As mentioned, the prevalence of allergies is on the rise , especially in the United States, and one study suggested that merely being born in America could be enough to up one's chances of developing some type of allergy. The study , which was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 2013, was based on nearly 80,000 children from around the world, but concluded that about 35 percent of U.S.-born children had some type of allergy disorder compared to only 20 percent of foreign- born children. The results may back the "hygiene hypothesis" which states that exposure to dirt and pathogens at a young age is critical for building a healthy, balanced immune system. Unfortunately, some believe that America's recent shift toward being overly clean, through the use of antibacterial soaps and gels, has deprived new generations of children of this critical exposure. "The U.S. and other first world cultures are too clean and we are very industrialized with pollution," Dr. Purvi Parikh, an allergist and immunologist with the Allergy and Asthma Associates of Murray Hill and NYU Medical Center, told Medical Daily. "Kids aren't exposed to playing outside with dirt and we don't have as much exposure anymore to these good bacteria that make your immune system stronger." Of course, where you are born is not the only surprising factor that can help increase your asthma risk. When you are born may also play a role. Although our genes are set in stone, certain external factors, such as what we eat or whether we smoke, can affect which genes are switched on and off. These are called epigenetic changes and can in turn affect one's health. A study released earlier this year suggested that the season you were born in can cause epigenetic changes that affect your allergy risk. The research finds those born in the fall and during winter are at increased risk. Even habits that seem harmless (and healthy), such as brushing your teeth, can up your risk. One 2012 study from Norway found that exposures to triclosan, a chemical commonly used in toothpaste as well as other cosmetic products such as deodorant, could increase likelihood of developing allergies. For the study, research tested the urine of 623 10 years olds for levels of Immunoglobin E (IgE), antibodies produced by the body in response to an allergy. Results showed that children exposed to greater amounts of triclosan had higher levels of IgE in their system and increased rates of hay fever. The researchers suggested that the reason for this was due to triclosan's ability to change the bacterial flora in the body, a behavior that can increase your risk of allergies. This may be why some individuals are more likely to develop allergies than others. While genetics continues to be the biggest risk factor for developing allergies, Parikh recommends steps that parents can take to try and minimize their children's risk. "The best thing is to not be too limited in what you expose your child to," said Parikh. "It's safe to introduce them to things such as peanuts and we've found now that early introduction reduces your chances of developing allergies in the long run. Let your child be dirty and play. There is an instinct to keep your child very clean but that may hurt them in the long run." Source: Silverberg JL, Simpson EL, Durkin HG, Joks R. Prevalence of Allergic Disease in Foreign-Born American Children. JAMA Pediatrics. 2013 Bertelsen RJ, Longnecker MP, Lovik M, et al.Triclosan exposure and allergic sensitization in Norwegian children. Allergy . 2016 Lockett GA, Holloway JW, and Soto-Ramirez N, et al. Association of Season of Birth with DNA Methylation and Allergic Disease. Allergy. 2016. | 7 | 99,521 | health |
Here are baseball's top 10 most disappointing players drafted with the No. 1 overall pick, going back nearly 50 years. No. 10: Dave Roberts (1972) After his selection, Roberts bypassed the minors and headed straight for The Show. The Padres' first-round pick in 1972 did the exact same thing. That player, Dave Winfield, is one of just two Padres in the Hall of Fame. Roberts never had anywhere close to that success. His best season came in 1973, when he hit .286 with 21 home runs. He never hit more than 10 home runs in any other season and left the game after hitting .182 for the Phillies in 1982. No. 9: David Clyde (1973) A dominant high school ace, the Rangers elected to go with the local product, partly to boost their sagging attendance. Like Roberts, Clyde skipped the minors entirely and made his major league debut at age 18 just three weeks after pitching his last high school game. Despite his talent, Clyde never caught on in the majors. In his five year career, he went 18-33 with a 4.63 ERA and a 1.53 WHIP. By the time he was 24, Clyde was out of the majors for good. He remains a cautionary tale for not rushing talent to the big leagues. Making matters worse for the Rangers were the three players taken immediately after Clyde: future All-Star catcher John Stearns went No. 2 overall and future Hall of Famers Robin Yount and the aforementioned Dave Winfield went No. 3 and No. 4, respectively. No. 8: Matt Anderson (1997) In his first season with the Tigers, Anderson showed flashes of dominance. As a 21-year-old rookie in 1998, the right-handed flamethrower had 44 strikeouts in 44 innings of work and a 3.27 ERA. He stayed in middle relief for the Tigers for a few seasons but in 2002, he tore a muscle in his armpit and was never able to reach the frightening velocity which made him one of the game's top prospects. Some have speculated that Anderson's injury was related to an octopus throwing contest Anderson competed in held by the Tigers. He claims it was related to working out. After the Tigers let him leave in 2003, Anderson pitched just six more games in the majors, posting a 12.60 ERA for the Rockies in 2005. No. 7: Al Chambers (1979) Eight years before Seattle made Ken Griffey Jr. the top pick in the draft, the Mariners chose another tools-laden high school outfielder. Unfortunately for Seattle, the results were far different. In the minors, Chambers could hit (.288/.382/.466, 85 home runs over nine seasons). In fact, in 1981, the Harrisburg, Penn., native had 20 homers and 77 RBIs. But his success in the minors never translated to the majors. Chambers played just 57 games across three big league seasons, hitting .208 with two home runs and 11 RBIs. He was sent down from Seattle when he was 24 and never made it back to the bigs. No. 6: Shawn Abner (1984) A multi-sport athlete oozing with talent, the Mets took Abner first overall in 1984. Like their top choices in 1980, when New York picked Strawberry and future Oakland A's general manager Billy Beane with first-round picks, Abner fit the mold of an overly athletic high school outfielder with an ostensibly limitless ceiling. He proved to be anything but. Abner never reached the majors with the Mets, and in 1985, he was part of a multi-player deal with the Padres. He finally debuted in 1987, and in six major league seasons, Abner would hit .227/.269/.323 with just 11 homers in 840 at-bats. By the time he was 26, Abner was out of the majors with as many career triples as organizations he'd been a part of (four). No. 5: Bryan Bullington (2002) Bullington's numbers at Ball State were far short of dominant, making him something of a surprise choice for Pittsburgh in a draft that also included B.J. Upton, Zack Greinke , Prince Fielder, Cole Hamels and Matt Cain. Unlike those players, Bullington never found a home in the majors. He bounced around four different organizations after the Pirates placed him on waivers in 2008. He last pitched in the majors in 2010, having compiled a career record of 1-9 with a 5.62 ERA and 1.58 WHIP. No. 4: Danny Goodwin (1975) Though there are No. 1 picks with worse career numbers than Goodwin, the former Southern University product earns his ranking for one key reason: He was the top pick twice. Goodwin never signed with the White Sox after being the top choice in the 1971 draft. Instead he went to college and was taken by the Angels with the first pick in 1975. He went to the majors and embarked on what became an ultimately forgettable career. In seven seasons, Goodwin hit .236 with 13 home runs over 252 games. He left the majors in 1982 and tried to resurrect his career four years later with a stop in Japan. Goodwin would later wind up having a much longer career in the Braves front office. No. 3: Steve Chilcott (1966) In baseball's first amateur draft, the Mets chose Chilcott one spot before the Kansas City A's selected Arizona State prospect Reggie Jackson. While Jackson soon became, it was once said, a "superduperstar" who wound up in the Hall of Fame, Chilcott never even reached the majors and he played just 22 games in Triple-A. He had seemed to be a dream prospect a power hitting catcher with a 5'11", 185-pound frame and a hose for an arm. But a chronic shoulder issue and a shin infection, among other maladies, helped prevent him from reaching his potential near his full potential. He retired at 24 after seven seasons (spent mostly in A-ball), during which he hit .248 with 39 home runs for the Mets, Yankees and Expos organizations. No. 2: Brien Taylor (1991) Taylor was declared by some to be the greatest high school pitching prospect of all-time when the Yankees drafted him first overall. However, in the 1993 off-season, Taylor was involved in a fight which ruined his pitching arm and required serious surgery. He was never the same. In 1996, Taylor posted an 18.73 ERA over nine starts in A-ball, walking 43 in 16 innings. The next season, he put up a 14.33 ERA with 52 walks in 27 innings. Taylor's career ended in 2000 following an unsuccessful season at A-ball in the Indians organization, making him the second top pick to never reach the majors. Among the players on Cleveland's roster that year was a hitting star who had also gone in the first round in 1991 and, as a New York native, might have been attractive to the Yankees: Manny Ramirez. No. 1: Matt Bush (2004) No first overall pick has had as ignominious of a career as Matt Bush. The two-way prospect gave a hometown discount to the Padres and his struggles began immediately. He hit just .192 without a home run at rookie ball and low-A, and followed it up by hitting .221 at Class A. After being turned into a pitcher in 2007, he was traded him to Toronto. While Bush has shown new life in 2016 as a middle reliever with the Rangers, it's his long string of transgressions off the field starting with his arrest in a bar fight shortly after being drafted which cement him as the worst No. 1 pick of all-time. The player drafted immediately after Bush was Justin Verlander, the 2006 AL Rookie of the Year and 2011 AL Cy Young and MVP. | 1 | 99,522 | sports |
Yay! Your teen has passed that driver's test! She or he is celebrating a big step towards adulthood, and you are excited by the break from constant chauffeur duties. But one call to your insurance agent will likely dampen your celebratory mood. That's when you discover that it can cost upward of $6,000 a year to have a male teen added to your policy. In some cases, adding a teen of either gender costs about 227 percent more than it would to add an adult, according to Insurance.com (now Insure.com). The good news is that there are ways that you can lessen the cost of your teen's auto insurance according to Penny Gusner, consumer analyst for Insure.com . 1. Raise your comprehensive and collision deductibles That saves you money on your premium and will make you or your teen think twice before submitting a claim for minor damage. "Making claims, especially multiple claims, will raise your future rates," says Gusner. "Paying out-of-pocket for minor incidents is a wise move." 2. Insist your teen strive for at least a B average in school High school and college students under the age of 25 may be eligible for "good student" discounts if they maintain grade of B or a 3.0 GPA. Making the Dean's List or Honor Roll may also result in a discount, too. The discount varies among companies but generally is between 5 percent and 15 percent, says Gusner. 3. Set limits A few insurers offer discounts if you have a teen-parent driving contract that sets up basic rules, Gusner says. Rules might include the allowable maximum number of passengers, mandatory seat belt use, and a ban on texting and other mobile phone use while behind the wheel. 4. Choose the car wisely A teen who drives a four-door sedan will pay less for insurance than a teen who drives a sports car. If the car is older, you may want to remove collision and comprehensive insurance coverage, says Gusner. Considering paying a few dollars more for extra liability insurance, though, because teens are more apt than adults to crash. 5. Ask about driver training discounts Some insurers, including Liberty Mutual and Farmers, give discounts to young drivers who complete designated courses, says Gusner. 6. Get a break on driving breaks Is your teen at college without a car? Is your teen on a European trip sans car? Tell your insurance agent, and you may be eligible for an "away student" discount. 7. Enroll in monitored driving Some insurers offer discounts to those deemed safe drivers through monitoring of their driving, says Gusner. The industry calls these "telematics," according to Fortune magazine . Their use is fairly simple. Some companies have hardware that plugs into the car's steering column. Others monitor the driving via the car's factory-installed on-board communication system. Whatever the transmittal method, the car's speed, time of travel and braking pressure are monitored and transmitted to the insurance company. 8. Shop for insurance Your insurance rates may be low, but your rates may skyrocket if a teen is added, notes CBS News . Check prices with various insurers and consider having a teen 18 or older secure their own insurance. | 3 | 99,523 | finance |
According to an obtained company memo, the Shell Oil Company is dropping its sponsorship of the PGA Tour's Houston Open. First reported by the Houston Business Journal , Shell president Bruce Culpepper told employees the decision was due to a downturn in business. In January, the company announced the cut of 10,000 jobs, and will leave it's namesake building in downtown Houston by the end of the year. "As you might imagine, this was a very difficult decision, driven in large part by the need to adjust our cost structure in response to the challenging business environment in which we operate, but also by a refresh of our branded sponsorship strategy globally," Culpepper said to the HBJ. Shell had been the third-longest title sponsor on the PGA Tour, serving as host since 1992. More from Golf Digest: The Hottest PGA Tour Wives and Girlfriends How Tiger's Swing Has Changed This Weekend's Best Golf Instagrams | 1 | 99,524 | sports |
Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) on Thursday defended his endorsement of Donald Trump, saying that the presumptive GOP nominee "won fair and square." "He won fair and square," Ryan (R-Wis.) told Wisconsin radio host Jay Weber, as reported by Politico . "The person who wins 1,237 delegates by the Republican electorate wins the primary. It's just that simple." Ryan's support for Trump has come under microscope as the real estate mogul continues to receive blowback from both Democrats and Republicans for comments that a Indiana-born federal judge is biased against him because of his Mexican heritage. Earlier this week, Ryan called Trump's remarks "the textbook definition of racist comments." The Speaker later clarified that he wasn't calling Trump a racist and only pointing out that his comments were. "No, I'm not - I'm saying that the comment was," Ryan said. "I don't know what's in his heart. I can't speak to that whatsoever. What I'm saying is to suggest that a person's race disqualifies them to do their job is textbook. That's what I'm saying." But Ryan expressed optimism that Trump can "fix this" and run a positive campaign going forward. "Do I think that these kind of antics are distracting and give us a campaign that we cannot be part of? Yeah," Ryan said in the Thursday interview. "But, I think and hope and believe that he can fix this to the point where he can hopefully run a campaign that we can all be proud of." Trump has repeatedly accused Judge Gonzalo Curiel of bias and said that he cannot preside over a lawsuit against Trump University because "he's a Mexican" and even said that it's "absolutely" possible he'd be treated unfairly by a Muslim judge. The presumptive nominee issued a statement earlier in the week that the media "misconstrued" his comments. "It is unfortunate that my comments have been misconstrued as a categorical attack against people of Mexican heritage. I am friends with and employ thousands of people of Mexican and Hispanic descent," Trump said. "I do not feel that one's heritage makes them incapable of being impartial, but, based on the rulings that I have received in the Trump University civil case, I feel justified in questioning whether I am receiving a fair trial." | 5 | 99,525 | news |
No weights, no prob. The next time you slip on something sleeveless and wish you'd worked your arms at the gym, you can R-E-L-A-X and firm them up on the spot with this yoga-inspired four-minute circuit from certified fitness trainer Alex Silver-Fagan . Bonus: No dumbbells required. Alex is wearing a Black and White Tie-Dye Pattern Bra , ALALA, $75; Red Colorblock Sports Bra , SPLITS59, $58; Red Cropped Leggings , ALALA, $105; Black Mesh Sneaker s, H&M, $40 . For the first five moves, perform as many reps as you can in 30 seconds before moving onto the next exercise. Then finish strong by performing the last exercise for 60 seconds straight. If you've got more than four minutes to spare, repeat the entire circuit up to three times, ideally at least twice a week for visible results. THE MOVES 1. Down Dog Hip Drop (30 Seconds) How to do it: Get into plank position and lift your hips up toward the sky as you move into downward-facing dog. Reach your left hand toward your right toes, then circle the left arm up overhead until your fingers are pointing toward your right heel. As the arm moves overhead, dip your right hip to come into a right-side plank with staggered feet, toes pointing left. Reach your left arm up and overhead to place the palm back in starting position as you square your hips to the ground. Repeat on the opposite side, reaching your right hand toward your left toes, then coming into a left side plank. Continue to alternate sides. 2. Push-Ups (30 Seconds) How to do it: Get into plank position with your wrists under your shoulders and your body in a straight line between the top of your head and your heels. Keeping your core engaged and spine neutral, bend your elbows to lower your chest toward the ground. Extend your arms to return to starting position and complete one rep. Continue, lowering to your knees if necessary. 3. Forearm Plank to Dolphin Pose (30 Seconds) How to do it: Get into a forearm plank position with your shoulders stacked over your elbows, forearms parallel, and palms pressed into the ground. Keeping your core engaged and spine in neutral position, lift your hips straight up to the sky. Return to starting position with control to complete one rep. 4. Plank Up-Downs (30 Seconds) How to do it: Get into a forearm plank position with your shoulders stacked over your elbows, forearms parallel, and palms pressed into the ground. Place your right palm beneath your right shoulder and your left palm beneath your left shoulder, extending the elbows to come up into a hands plank position. With control, place your right forearm back to starting position, then the left forearm. Repeat, this time leading with the left side. Continue to alternate between hands and forearm planks, alternating lead side. 5. Shoulder Tap to Side Plank (30 Seconds) How to do it: Get into hands plank position with your shoulders stacked above your wrists and body in a straight line between the top of your head and your heels. With your left hand, tap your right shoulder, then open your body to the left as your reach your left hand straight up to the sky. Return to starting position, then repeat on the opposite side. Continue to alternate sides. 6. Superman Swimmers (60 Seconds) How to do it: Lie facedown on a mat and reach your arms and legs, with toes pointed, to opposite corners a few inches above the floor. Without touching the floor, raise your right arm and left leg as you lower your left arm and right leg. Then raise your left arm and right leg as you lower your right arm and left leg. Continue to alternate. | 7 | 99,526 | health |
When Jared Goff and Carson Wentz were selected with the top two picks in this year's draft, it marked the third time in five years that quarterbacks went 1-2. But unlike the first two times, the Los Angeles Rams and Philadelphia Eagles didn't take players who were superstars in college. Andrew Luck was the presumptive first overall pick for years before the Indianapolis Colts finally got him at the top of the 2012 NFL Draft, and he was followed by Heisman Trophy winner Robert Griffin III. Three years later it was a pair of Heisman winners at the top of the 2015 NFL Draft when Jameis Winston and Marcus Mariota went Nos. 1 and 2, respectively. But neither Goff nor Wentz was ever close to winning a Heisman Trophy. Goff endured a 14-23 record as a starter at Cal, keeping him off the national radar, and Wentz was hidden from the spotlight at North Dakota State, even as he led the Bison to back-to-back championships. The Denver Broncos were the final team to draft a quarterback in the first round, when they grabbed Memphis' Paxton Lynch at No. 26. Memphis belongs to the American, a non-power conference, and similar to Goff and Wentz, he didn't have much name recognition before the draft. The benefit for this trio is that they won't face the intense pressures and expectations that college stars like Johnny Manziel and Winston did immediately after they were drafted. However, all three teams made trades to move up -- the Rams and Eagles in particular traded away significant draft capital -- in order to take players they expect to be the faces of their franchises for years to come. So what counts as success for Goff, Wentz and Lynch in their first year in the league? Jared Goff: Learning on the job The Rams made a huge investment in Goff by trading up from No. 15 to No. 1 two weeks before the first round even began. Being the No. 1 pick is already a world of pressure, but the expectations for Goff are only elevated by the fact that the Rams sent away their first-round pick in 2017 and a handful of second-day selections. If he isn't good, it isn't just a bad pick for Los Angeles, it's one that will set the franchise back significantly. Yet, his rookie season will be one without too many unfair expectations, says Joe McAtee of SB Nation's Rams blog, Turf Show Times : The more I think about it, he can't really fail on 2016 as a gauge alone. If Goff puts up impressive numbers, it'll justify some sense of "success" on his individual performance. If the Rams are able to put up a winning record and get to the playoffs, it'll be impossible not to assign much of the reason why to Goff. And if he struggles and the Rams put up Fisherball's regular 7-win season or worse, there are too many other factors to blame or worry about. The real success for Goff is to avoid a Sam Bradford /RGIII path. If going into the 2020 season he's still the coveted cornerpiece for the franchise, that's success. The Rams have been stuck in neutral during the Jeff Fisher era. But consistently finishing in the bottom half of the NFC West standings has allowed the team to add plenty of talent, and that means Goff is headed to a team set up to win in the long run. Los Angeles has one of the NFL's best defensive players in Aaron Donald , and a 21-year-old star at running back in Todd Gurley. What held the Rams back in 2015 was the league's worst passing offense, but Goff isn't the instant fix. The team will also need to add tools around him better than Kenny Britt , Tavon Austin , Brian Quick and Pharoh Cooper. Unlike the other first-round rookies, the reins are firmly in Goff's hands in Year 1, and that means he can make things happen right away in Los Angeles. Carson Wentz: Patience ... at first If Goff wasn't a national star at Cal, Wentz certainly didn't draw national attention at North Dakota State. While Goff didn't earn many wins during his collegiate career, Wentz did nothing but rack up victories during back-to-back national FCS championship campaigns. His blend of size, athleticism, intelligence and knack for winning convinced the Eagles to take the leap and trade up from No. 8 to No. 2 a week before the draft, despite the fact that they had already signed starter Sam Bradford to a $35 million extension and handed backup Chase Daniel $21 million just months earlier. Although going from the FCS to the NFL is no small task , the few quarterbacks who have made the jump have all been successes. Wentz joins Joe Flacco , Phil Simms, Doug Williams, Steve McNair and Dan Pastorini as the only six FCS passers since 1970 to get selected in the first round. If Wentz doesn't make the Super Bowl in his career, he'd be the first of that group of six to not get there. Philadelphia fans shouldn't expect that to happen any time soon, though. The Eagles will almost certainly rely on Bradford at quarterback in 2016, and if it's a good year for the oft-injured former No. 1 pick, Bradford may keep his hold on the job in 2017 too. The expectation is that Wentz will have time to learn from the sideline and ease into the fire. Via Brandon Lee Gowton of SB Nation's Eagles blog, Bleeding Green Nation : Success is obviously a relative term but the general idea is that Wentz needs to make it so that the Eagles are realistically in the mix for championship contention each year. Like how they were when they had Donovan McNabb. Also like McNabb, the success doesn't have to be immediate. No one is really expecting Wentz to even play all that much as a rookie. I'd say by Year 3 he needs to show that he's at least capable of taking the Birds to the playoffs. From there it's about being able to win in the playoffs and get to the Super Bowl. Not only does Wentz need some time to adjust to the speed of the NFL, the Eagles need some time to rebuild the team around him. Former head coach Chip Kelly made a ton of changes to the franchise when given personnel control, and almost none of those moves worked out well for the team. Philadelphia has already distanced itself from Kelly's decisions by trading away Kiko Alonso , Byron Maxwell and DeMarco Murray. But it'll likely take some time to restock the roster with talent and that means Eagles fans should temper their expectations for Wentz in his first years in the NFL. Paxton Lynch: More of a luxury pick It's difficult to imagine any passer could walk into a better situation than Lynch has. The reigning Super Bowl champions had the NFL's No. 1 defense in 2015 and the unit choked the life out of the Pittsburgh Steelers , New England Patriots and Carolina Panthers in the playoffs en route to the Lombardi Trophy. Peyton Manning rode off into the sunset with another ring, but make no mistake about it: Quarterback was one of the biggest weaknesses for the Broncos last season. Unfortunately for Denver, which gave up a third-round pick to move up five spots in the draft, Lynch is probably not the instant fix for the 2016 season. The likely starter for the Broncos is Mark Sanchez , a 29-year-old veteran with 72 career starts, no matter how poorly you think he played in them. Like Wentz transitioning from the FCS to the NFL, Lynch didn't play elite competition in college and was taken in the first round for his big potential. Per Tim Lynch of SB Nation's Broncos blog, Mile High Report : For this Paxton Lynch pick to be considered a success for the Broncos the team will need to compete in the playoffs in most years. That's provided he continues to have the kind of team around him that Elway has assembled. If not, then it will come down to his stats and finishing among the Top 10 quarterbacks in the NFL in most years. As with the other two first-round quarterbacks, the expectations for Lynch aren't too high in his rookie year. If he gets any playing time at all, the responsibility will be on the Broncos' defense and running game to lead the way, just like they did when Brock Osweiler was in the starting lineup during the back half of the 2015 regular season. Eventually the Broncos will want more from Lynch and they hope he develops into a franchise quarterback, but he doesn't carry the weight of being a top-two pick and Denver is a team that can afford to be patient with his development. * * * The 2016 NFL Draft featured unprecedented trades in the weeks before the first round even began, and even Lynch was acquired after a swap of picks. Yet the low profiles each of the three rookie quarterbacks managed to carry in college means there isn't a burden of success right away. If they don't become the faces of their respective franchises, the picks will be failures. However, Goff, Wentz and Lynch don't need to ascend to those roles as rookies. | 1 | 99,527 | sports |
If you're in search of a dividend-growth stock to buy and hold in your TFSA for decades, then this article is for you. I've compiled a list of five stocks that have raised their dividends for five consecutive years or more and are well positioned to continue growing their payouts going forward, so let's take a quick look at each to determine if you should buy one or more of them today. 1. Canadian Western Bank Canadian Western Bank (TSX:CWB) is one of the largest banks in Canada's four western provinces with over $24.2 billion in total assets. It pays a quarterly dividend of $0.23 per share, or $0.92 per share annually, which gives its stock a yield of approximately 3.4% at today's levels. Investors must also note that the company's two dividend hikes since the start of 2015, including its 4.6% hike in December, have it on pace for 2016 to mark the 24th consecutive year in which it has raised its annual dividend payment. 2. Imperial Oil Limited Imperial Oil Limited (TSX:IMO)(NYSE:IMO) is one of the world's largest integrated oil and gas companies, and it's Canada's largest petroleum refiner. It pays a quarterly dividend of $0.15 per share, or $0.60 per share annually, which gives its stock a yield of approximately 1.4% at today's levels. Investors must also note that the company's two dividend hikes since the start of 2015, including its 7.1% hike in April of this year, have it on pace for 2016 to mark the 22nd consecutive year in which it has raised its annual dividend payment. 3. Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. (TSX:ATD.B) is one of world's largest owners, operators, and franchisors of convenience stores with nearly 11,700 locations across North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa. It pays a quarterly dividend of $0.0675 per share, or $0.27 per share annually, which gives its stock a yield of approximately 0.5% at today's levels. Investors must also note that the company's two dividend hikes since the start of 2015, including its 22.7% hike in November, have it on pace for 2016 to mark the seventh consecutive year in which it has raised its annual dividend payment. 4. Brookfield Renewable Energy Partners LP Brookfield Renewable Energy Partners LP (TSX:BEP.UN)(NYSE:BEP) is one of the world's largest owners, operators, and developers of renewable power-generation facilities with over 250 facilities across North America, Latin America, and Europe. It pays a quarterly dividend of US$0.445 per share, or US$1.78 per share annually, which gives its stock a yield of approximately 6.1% at today's levels. Investors must also note that the company's 7.2% dividend hike in February of this year has it on pace for 2016 to mark the sixth consecutive year in which it has raised its annual dividend payment, and it has a long-term distribution-growth target of 5-9% annually. 5. Enercare Inc. Enercare Inc. (TSX:ECI) is one of Canada's largest home and commercial services companies, providing water heaters, air conditioners, furnaces, and other HVAC rental products and services, and it's one of the country's largest providers of non-utility sub-metres for condominiums and apartments. It pays a monthly dividend of $0.077 per share, or $0.924 per share annually, which gives its stock a yield of approximately 5.6% at today's levels. Investors must also note that the company's two dividend hikes since the start of 2015, including its 10% hike last month, have it on pace for 2016 to mark the sixth consecutive year in which it has raised its annual dividend payment. Stock buy alert hits astounding 96% success rate! The hand-picked investing team inside Stock Advisor Canada , recently issued a buy alert for one special type of "bread-and-butter" stock where The Motley Fool U.S. has banked profits on 23 out of 24 recommendations. Frankly, with an astounding 96% success rate that has delivered average returns of 260%, chances are this new pick could deliver life-changing returns as well. Because the team at Stock Advisor Canada fully embraces the same time-tested investing philosophies that have led to countless Motley Fool winners globally. So simply click here to unlock the full details behind this new recommendation and join Stock Advisor Canada . *96% accuracy includes restaurant stock recommendations from Motley Fool U.S. services Stock Advisor, Rule Breakers, Hidden Gems, Income Investor and Inside Value since each services inception. Returns as of 5/27/16. Fool contributor Joseph Solitro has no position in any stocks mentioned. Alimentation Couche-Tard is a recommendation of Stock Advisor Canada. | 3 | 99,528 | finance |
The New Jersey Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that the state's 2011 public pension reform did not improperly freeze retirees' cost-of-living increases in a case that could have cost the state billions of dollars. Governor Chris Christie's administration suspended the so-called COLA payments, which are tied to inflation, as part of bipartisan reforms aimed at curtailing the ballooning cost of public pensions. (Reporting by Hilary Russ in New York Editing by W Simon) | 3 | 99,529 | finance |
Lately, there have been many media outlets reporting that VHS tapes of classic Disney movies have become so rare and coveted, you can sell the ones sitting in your closet for thousands . According to those claims, Beauty and the Beast is one of the top moneymakers, especially if it says "The Classics" in a black diamond on the side of the cover. But before you quit your day job and take up selling VHS tapes on eBay full-time, Snopes has unearthed some important details behind those big claims. First off, it's important to note that eBay users can list anything they want for whatever price they want. If you search ' beauty and the beast vhs ,' for instance, you'll likely see eBay listings as high as $25,000. But that doesn't mean people are actually paying that much money for the tapes-or even bidding on them at all for that matter. After conducting our own unscientific search of the site, we didn't find any thousand-dollar Beauty and the Beauty VHS tape listings with active bids on them. Plus, with over 4,000 currently active listings, Beauty and the Beast VHS tapes don't seem to be that "rare" after all. For a more accurate idea of what Disney VHS tapes could be worth, we filtered the site for ' sold listings .' In our search, most of the sold listings were in the $5 to $25 range (or slightly higher, in some cases). Sure, that's more cash than you had in your pocket before, but it's hardly the "jackpot" some are saying it is. (If you do happen to find a thousand-dollar sold listing- like this one -it's possible someone did pay that much for the item, but it's more likely that a lower price was negotiated, which ended the original listing). Either way, it certainly wouldn't hurt to list some of your VHS tapes on eBay if you're looking to make some money; just don't expect to retire off of them. (h/t Snopes ) Follow Woman's Day on Instagram . | 4 | 99,530 | lifestyle |
Republicans should have been panicking long ago. Nevertheless, the confluence of several phenomena Donald Trump's continued attacks on Republicans, his lack of a ground game, his declaration that he does not need to raise the billion dollars he said he would raise, and his racist attack on a judge and non-apology have prompted a heightened awareness of the GOP's predicament. The issue is no longer whether the GOP can win the 2016 election few dispassionate observers on the right think so but whether the GOP will suffer a party-ending wipeout. It is dawning on Republican candidates and elected officials that condemning racist remarks while supporting the racist candidate requires an unsustainable level of cognitive dissonance. Suddenly, the press has figured out that contrary to the "GOP falls in line" narrative, a significant number of Republican heavyweights have not endorsed Trump or are un-endorsing him. "The anti-Trump movement is now growing rather than shrinking: At least eight GOP senators either won't vote for Trump or have declined to back him publicly," Politico observes . "Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and Rep. Bill Flores of Texas, who chairs the conservative Republican Study Committee, both said Wednesday they weren't ready to get on board, either." Hence, we now see chatter about a contested convention ripple through the conservative ranks. Jon Ward reports : "'There is a rapidly moving train toward the convention to try to obstruct it at the convention. Trump in the last 72 hours has given hope to people who think it's now possible. . . . He's starting to give everybody hope that he should be stopped at the convention,' Erickson said, though he cautioned that if Trump 'cleans up his act then I think that hope will go away.' "One of the central players inside the movement to recruit an independent conservative candidate also said Monday that an anti-Trump group was 'actively recruiting and setting a convention strategy.'" Bill Kristol, a leader in the #NeverTrump movement, tells me, "I'd been a skeptic on the potential of s convention fight. But Trump's behavior is making it a possibility that the delegates vote their conscience and save the party from someone who won, after all, only a minority of the primary votes cast." What would it take to pull this off? "First, an unprecedented amount of spine from RNC leadership who realize this isn't just an election; it's an existential choice about whether the GOP exists after Trump," GOP consultant Rick Wilson says. "Next, it requires the Rules Committee to withstand a few days of fury from the Trump horde." By that he means the Republican National Committee rules committee likely would need to insert a "conscience" clause or some other barrier that would allow delegates to have a proverbial off-ramp from the Trump campaign. That might require "at least some signals from a prominent Republican or two" that they'd be willing to step up to the plate if the delegates found a mechanism for dislodging Trump. Another active leader in the #NeverTrump movement Quin Hillyer, a longtime conservative activist and journalist, confirms, "In all the discussions with active #NeverTrump-ers it is clear that there is great enthusiasm for a convention effort to replace a bigot with a much better candidate." He points out that all that is needed is for bound delegates to abstain or to support a rule change that "a nominee must release his tax returns, like every candidate since Richard Nixon." A conscience clause authorizing abstentions may be needed. Hillyer points to a section of the existing Rule 16B of the convention rules that would actually instruct the chair to count bound delegates as votes for Trump even if they abstain ( "the secretary of the convention shall record the delegate's vote or nomination in accordance with the delegate's obligation under state law or state party rule"). Compelling a vote in such a fashion, says Hillyer, is "sick and un-American." (Perhaps an elected official serving as a delegate should publicly dare the RNC to count his abstention as a vote of support.) In short, the enthusiasm is there but no agreed upon mechanism for accomplishing for a delegate vote. It is fortuitous for the #NeverTrump movement that this week Mitt Romney is hosting his Experts and Enthusiasts (E2) confab in Park City, Utah. This annual event where Romney political favorites rub shoulders with major donors takes on special significance given the firestorm over Trump and angst about the future of the GOP. The Salt Lake Tribune reports , "It isn't expected to be a Trump-bashing event, with presenters coming from a variety of backgrounds, but it's highly likely that supporters will ask Romney how he and other conservatives should respond to a nominee that they find unpalatable." The #NeverTrump hopefuls should be on the lookout for several developments. First, they should see how openly House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), an invited speaker, expresses frustration with the Trump debacle and whether he recognizes that his agenda is actually imperiled by a Trump campaign and, heaven forbid, a Trump presidency. Donors may signal whether they think Ryan's own future is endangered by trying to simultaneously "support" Trump and denounce his bigotry and policy gibberish. Second, anti-Trump forces should watch the reception that Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.), who for a time was a favorite of those recruiting an independent conservative candidate, gets. A spokesman for Sasse tells Right Turn, "As he has done before, Senator Sasse will likely speak about the vision deficit resulting from both exhausted political parties and the need for Republicans to meet the challenges of the current moment rather than pretending we can return to a 1950s economy." Do big donors make another run at Sasse, trying to get him to lead the "dump Trump" effort either as a third candidate or an alternative at the convention if Trump can be sidelined? Equally important will be his long-term view of the GOP's future or if it even has one. Third, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), who readily fell in line behind Trump, might be pressed to explain why Hillary Clinton is not a much better choice than Trump if Cotton wants to promote an internationalist foreign policy that strengthens alliances, does not leave vacuums for bad actors to fill and won't make excuses for Vladimir Putin or express admiration for Kim Jong Un. If a president's most important role is as commander in chief, how could Cotton possibly support him? Cotton here risks sacrificing his short-term image with Arkansas voters for his long-term prospects as a leader, not a follower, in the conservative movement. Don't expect a white puff of smoke coming from Park City to signal election of a new GOP candidate. The Vatican is far more powerful and better organized than any conservative grouping. Nevertheless, the degree to which the #NeverTrump movement finds a receptive audience and offers of assistance at Romney's retreat may determine the party's fortunes in 2016 and beyond. | 5 | 99,531 | news |
Airbnb hasn't always gotten along with city administrators, even in its home of San Francisco. But the $25 billion startup has a new tactic to seduce obstinate mayors: collecting tax revenue. Airbnb is offering hotel tax revenue as a carrot for cities to come to terms with home sharing. The company announced on Thursday that it has agreements with 190 cities and states to collect and remit taxes directly from users to the government and that it has already remitted $85 million worldwide since launching the program in 2014. Airbnb claims that over the next decade it could provide at least $2 billion in tax revenue at the top 50 American cities. This is all part of a pitch Airbnb will make directly at the U.S. Conference of Mayors meeting in Indianapolis later this month. Recently, Airbnb's Head of Global Policy Chris Lehane wrote a letter to mayors around the country that "cities should take advantage of this opportunity." At the conference, Airbnb plans to "discuss how cities across America can enter into a Voluntary Collection Agreement… to expedite the process and help ensure Airbnb begins generating revenue for your city." Hotel taxes also known as tourist, occupancy, or lodging taxes typically apply not just to traditional hotel chains, but to any short-term property rental. Airbnb hosts were expected to report and pay those taxes themselves, but many didn't. The tax issue became another sticking point in Airbnb's already fraught relationship with cities like New York that technically don't allow owners to rent out some residential properties for less than 30 days. Airbnb operates in those cities anyway. Airbnb began collecting taxes through its platform (guests see the charges alongside service and cleaning fees) in San Francisco and Portland in 2014. It has since expanded its partnerships to include such places as Paris, France, the state of Alabama, and the District of Columbia. In the five largest U.S. markets where cities have partnered with Airbnb, the company says it is now remitting an average total of $2.5 million per month. | 3 | 99,532 | finance |
We're still impossibly curious to study how the Ford Edge's 2.0-liter EcoBoost inline-four and 3.5-liter, naturally aspirated V-6 would perform in our signature First Test, but we find ourselves once again at the wheel of the Sport AWD trim. That's the one with the fabulous I'm-passing-everybody-on-the-freeway-quickly 2.7-liter, twin-turbo V-6. It's painted white, too, just like the first 2015 Edge Sport AWD we tested for this generation. This puts our count of Ford Edge Sport AWD meet-ups at four in two model years. The million dollar question then: Will we notice anything different between the 2015 and 2016 SUVs? We suspect that Ford hopes the answer would be no when it comes to customers of 2016 Edge Sports and Titaniums (the latter equipped with the Driver's package). Adaptive variable-ratio steering is now standard on Sport and optional on Titanium, and the whole idea is the steering "makes it easier for drivers to maneuver a vehicle at low speeds while making the vehicle more fun to drive and agile at high speeds," per the Ford press release. Variable-ratio steering makes a living in many a vehicle on sale today, but Ford's unique application of the technology is worth more than a few words. Rather than varying teeth spacing on the steering rack or gearing the pinion assembly (both of which present their own validation issues) or strictly using software to interpret the driver's steering request (as true steer-by-wire would do), Ford moves the ratio altering upstream to inside the steering device itself. A gear concentrically wrapped around the steering shaft sits behind the steering wheel's thin, specially designed, tightly packed Takata airbag. An electric motor spinning a worm-screw gear turns that collar gear on the shaft and can add or subtract to the shaft motion (independently of the driver's action) that ultimately moves the tie rods. The electric motor is assigned to change ratio and not to adjust effort. (That'd be the power steering e-motor's responsibility.) The Edge's nominal 15.3:1 steering ratio meaning that every 15.3 degrees of steering wheel rotation induces 1 degree of steer wheels' turn (measured through the tires' centerlines) can be quickened by up to 30 percent at low speeds and slowed by up to 10 percent at high speeds. Related Link: Find more photos, expert reviews, pricing & specs for the 2016 Ford Edge on MSN Autos The adaptive steering profile is personalized for individual applications. The Edge Sport's adaptive steering will be more responsive and sporting; the Edge Titanium's adaptive steering will be more titanium-y, err, less sporting. Variables such as vehicle speed, the steering wheel input, and the rate at which the steering input is applied help decide the ratio. There's driver-selectable Normal and Sport steering modes, and either can be assigned to the transmission's D and S shift positions. It's not a night and day difference between the two; it's more like the difference in the sun's overhead position between 12 p.m. and 1 p.m. In practice, there's a lot less turning of the steering wheel needed for low-speed maneuvers. Turns lock to lock is cut down to 2.0 (720 degrees needed to go from turning sharp left to turning sharp right) thanks to the changing steering ratio. The 2015 Edge Sport AWD without adaptive steering logged 2.6 turns lock to lock (936 degrees), representing 30 percent more arm work. Dancing in and out of parking spots initially feels strange. The steering wheel nudges lock on either side more quickly than what would feel normal for a medium-size SUV. The way we see it, there will either be surprise and delight at the first encounter, or it'll be off-putting. But your arms' muscle memory eventually wins the day. Once it feels natural, parking a different vehicle without adaptive steering takes noticeably more effort. The lack of steering precision, which we aired in the 2015 SUV's First Test story, appears to have been eradicated, marking another victory for adaptive steering. The biggest compliment we can give the steering for its high-speed behavior is that it doesn't feel unnatural and offers a sense of stability. The use of lower-octane fuel is another difference between our 2015 and 2016 Edge Sport AWD tests. Ford recommends premium-octane gas for best performance, and that's what the 2015 model burned on its way to a 5.7-second 0-60 time and 14.3-second run through the quarter mile while trapping 95.9 mph. But there's no indication near the fuel-level gauge or on the fuel-filler door that 91 octane and up should be used. Plus, the first line in the owner's manual section on fuel quality is, "Your vehicle is designed to operate on regular unleaded gasoline with a minimum pump (R+M)/2 octane rating of 87." The 2016 SUV was topped off with 87-octane, and yes, vehicle-to-vehicle variance makes this a less than ideal means for comparison. Peak torque doesn't change with octane, but horsepower drops in the 2.7-liter EcoBoost V-6. The exact hp number is a hush-hush matter, but we're told the drop is marginal. Once the dust settled, the 2016 Edge, also 109 pounds heavier than before, ended up marching to 60 mph in 6.2 seconds and through the quarter mile in 14.7 seconds at 92.9 mph, showing losses of 0.5 second, 0.4 second, and 3 mph, respectively. Wearing 21-inch wheels (1-inch larger than last year) and 265/40 Pirelli Scorpion Verde All Season tires (opposed to 245/50R20 Hankook Ventus S1 Noble2 ultra-high-performance all-seasons), lateral acceleration averaged out to 0.85 g, just 0.02 g less than last time. The 26.4-second figure-eight time is 0.2 slower, and the 120-foot 0-60 braking distance is identical to the 2015 model. What is it like to drive this quick, firm-riding SUV that doesn't prioritize on-road ride comfort or fuel savings (16.5/23.9/19.2 city/highway/combined Real MPG)? Pretty much the same as last time. Aside from the presence of the attractive and faster-reacting Sync 3 and the newly gained ease of parking thanks to adaptive steering, it was a challenge to spot the differences. 2016 Ford Edge Sport AWD (with adaptive steering) BASE PRICE $41,295 PRICE AS TESTED $47,995 VEHICLE LAYOUT Front-engine, AWD, 5-pass, 4-door SUV ENGINE 2.7L/315-hp/350-lb-ft twin-turbo DOHC 24-valve V-6 TRANSMISSION 6-speed automatic CURB WEIGHT (F/R DIST) 4,515 lb (59/41%) WHEELBASE 112.2 in LENGTH x WIDTH x HEIGHT 188.1 x 75.9 x 68.6 in 0-60 MPH 6.2 sec QUARTER MILE 14.7 sec @ 92.9 mph BRAKING, 60-0 MPH 120 ft LATERAL ACCELERATION 0.85 g (avg) MT FIGURE EIGHT 26.4 sec @ 0.68 g (avg) EPA CITY/HWY/COMB FUEL ECON 17/24/20 mpg ENERGY CONS, CITY/HWY 198/140 kW-hrs/100 miles CO2 EMISSIONS, COMB 0.99 lb/mile Tested on regular 87-octane gas Follow MSN Autos on Facebook | 9 | 99,533 | autos |
There's a time and a place for fine dining, but there's nothing quite like washing down a grilled cheese sandwich with a chocolate malt at a retro greasy spoon. Here: the 20 best diners across the 50 states. Fremont Diner; Sonoma, Ca There's a time and a place for fine dining, but there's nothing quite like washing down a grilled cheese sandwich with a chocolate malt at a retro greasy spoon. Here: the 20 best diners across the 50 states. You might be tempted to pass by this unassuming shack on your drive from Sonoma to Napa Valley…but don't. Instead, grab a table on the outdoor patio and order anything containing fried chicken. The tangy, homemade pickles are a much-welcome addition. 2698 Fremont Dr, Sonoma; 707-938-7370 or thefremontdiner.com Florida Avenue Grill; Washington, D.C Called the oldest soul food restaurant in Washington, this Southern cookin', U-Street spot attracts everyone from politicians to college students for its hot cakes, grits and biscuits. 1100 Florida Ave NW, Washington, DC; 202-265-1586 or floridaavenuegrill.com Miss Worcester Diner; Worcester, Ma Known as Miss Woo, this '50s-style diner in the working class neighborhood of Worcester specializes in French toast. In fact, the menu offers over a dozen varieties like S'mores and Apple Pie. 300 Southbridge St, Worcester; 508-753-5600 or yelp . Little Goat; Chicago This Chi-town favorite is a classic diner with a modern twist, serving creative interpretations of classic comfort foods. We're talking kimchi, bacon and eggs scallion pancakes and Fat Elvis Waffles topped with peanut butter, banana and bacon maple syrup. 820 W Randolph St, Chicago; 312-888-3455 or littlegoatchicago.com A1 Diner; Gardiner, Me A1 Diner an original Worcester Diner Car-- hasn't changed much in 60 years. Walking into the chrome enclosure and sitting at one of the mahogany booths is like stepping back in time. Make sure to order a side of the famous potato hash. 3 Bridge St, Gardiner; 207-582-4804 or facebook . Highland Park Diner; Rochester, Ny This '40s era-dining car is as quaint and old school as they come. The milkshakes are phenomenal, and each month you'll find a new special on the menu. Order it. 960 Clinton Ave S, Rochester; 585-461-5040 or yelp . RELATED : The Best Ice Cream in Every Single State (Because We Had to) Mickey's Diner; St. Paul, Mn This Art-Deco landmark in St. Paul has been run by the same family for three generations. Stop by for breakfast 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and order a "One Eyed Jack" an egg-in-a-hole-meets-grilled ham and cheese sandwich. 36 7th St W, St Paul 651-222-5633 or mickeysdiningcar.com RELATED : The Best Sandwich Shop in Every Single State (OK, and D.C) Town Topic Hamburgers; Kansas City, Mo This Kansas City staple has been serving its famous griddled, steamed hamburgers since it opened its doors in 1937. Sure, it puts the "greasy" in greasy spoon, but in the very best way. 2021 Broadway St, Kansas City; 816-842-2298 or towntopic.com Tops Diner; East Newark, Nj In a state teeming with Diners, this is surely "top" dog. The menu is enormous, but the MVP is Tops' famous meatloaf with gravy. 500 Passaic Ave, East Newark; 973-481-0490 or thetopsdiner.com Harry's Coffee Shop; La Jolla, Ca In 1959, Brooklyn-native Harry Rudolph moved to California and opened this blue collar joint, known for its straightforward all-day breakfast menu. If you've never had eggs benedict on a waffle, now's your chance. 7545 Girard Ave, La Jolla; 858-454-7381 or harryscoffeeshop.com RELATED : Every Kind of Egg Order Finally Explained Tom's Restaurant; Brooklyn Tom's original Prospect Heights location is certainly one Brooklyn's most beloved breakfast spots. The weekend lines can be rough, but free coffee and the promise of blueberry ricotta pancakes makes it all worthwhile. 782 Washington Ave, Brooklyn; 718-636-9738 or yelp . RELATED : 24 Things You Really Need to Eat in Brooklyn Modern Diner; Pawtucket, Ri Three words: Custard French toast. That's the dish to order at this Ocean State Diner, listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The thick cut French toast layered with a custard-like vanilla pudding, fresh fruit and raspberry syrup puts Modern Diner on the map. 364 East Ave, Pawtucket; 401-726-8390 or themoderndinerri.com 24 Diner; Austin Not your run-of-the-mill breakfast spot, this Austin eatery serves what it calls "chef-inspired comfort food." Order up a sourdough, cheddar, Havarti and roasted tomato grilled cheese or fried chicken and waffle at any hour of the day. 600 N Lamar Blvd, Austin; 512-472-5400 or 24diner.com Ruth's Diner; Salt Lake City This Salt Lake City tradition has been around for nearly 90 years, making it Utah's second oldest restaurant. It's one of few diners that can boast canyon views, but the real reason to visit is for the fluffy, "Mile High Biscuits." 4160 Emigration Canyon Rd, Salt Lake City; 801-582-5807 or ruthsdiner.com The Blue Benn; Burlington Step into this old dining car and find a long lunch counter, booths and jukeboxes that'll play your favorite old-time songs for 25 cents. Three generously sized blueberry pancakes will cost you only about $5 at this cash-only establishment. 314 North St, Bennington; 802-442-5140 or yelp . Big Al's Diner; Cleveland Huge, cheap breakfast plates are the specialty at this no-frills Cleveland spot. Big Al's corn beef hash, made with thick, chunky potatoes and green peppers, got a shout-out on Food Network's The Best Thing I Ever Ate, but locals rave about the eggs benedict. 12600 Larchmere Blvd, Cleveland; 216-791-8550 or yelp . Skillet Diner; Seattle Serving American comfort food from an Airstream trailer, Skillet has become a local favorite in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood. Think: creative twists on classic diner favorites like the "Ultimate Grilled Cheese," served with bacon jam and a fried chicken thigh. 2034 NW 56th St, Seattle; (206) 922-7981 or skilletfood.com Rick?s White Light Diner; Frankfort, Ky This divey hot spot serves Cajun-style dishes like oyster po' boys and crawfish étouffée in a lively setting. With a handful of tables and half a dozen counter stools, it draws a serious lunch hour line. 114 Bridge St, Frankfort; 502-696-9104 or whitelightdiner.com Historic Village Diner; Red Hook, Ny There's always a crowd at this 1920s-style, Hudson Valley diner. On weekend mornings, the booths are packed with road-trippers and locals fueling up on eggs and homemade muffins. 7550 N Broadway, Red Hook; 845-758-6232 or historic-village-diner.com | 0 | 99,534 | foodanddrink |
SAN ANTONIO Police arrested a woman on Thursday morning suspected of encouraging a man to gun down her ex-husband in the parking lot of a bar on the West Side in May. Sandy Guerrero, 30, faces a charge of murder for her alleged role in the death of Miguel Guerrero, who died outside of Joe's Volcano, 6844 Ingram Road, around 2:40 a.m. on May 15. San Antonio Police Department spokesman Sgt. Jesse Salame said the victim went out to the bar with his current wife earlier in the evening and happened to run into Sandy Guerrero, who was there with a group of friends. RELATED: Shooting at popular West Side club leaves one dead Salame said a physical altercation took place inside, and everyone involved was asked to leave. Shortly after, the group came back together in the parking lot and again began to exchange words while Sandy Guerrero sat inside a Cadillac Escalade with two other men. Salame said the woman shouted "Shoot him! Shoot him!" just before the passenger opened fired on Miguel Guerrero, who died a short time later. Officers developed information shortly after the shooting that pointed to Sandy Guerrero as a key suspect. Salame said investigators had trouble finding her, and believe that she may have fled the country for a short time. RELATED: 5-year-old girl dies a week after being shot while sleeping on East Side He said that even though she did not fire the shots that killed her former husband, she still faces a murder charge because she encouraged the shooter. "If you aide, encourage, assist, if you participate in any way to commit a crime, you can be charged with exactly that same crime," he said. Investigators have identified at least two others suspected of involvement in the case, and more arrests are expected to follow, police said. mdwilson@express-news.net Twitter: @MDWilsonSA | 5 | 99,535 | news |
During a campaign rally in Fresno, Donald Trump made two misleading claims about California's drought and water issues: Trump suggested "there is no drought" in California because the state has "plenty of water." But California is in its fifth year of a severe "hot" drought, the kind that's expected to become more frequent with global warming. He also said water is being shoved "out to sea" to protect a "three-inch fish" at the expense of farmers. But officials release fresh water from reservoirs primarily to prevent salt water from contaminating agricultural and urban water supplies. On May 27, Trump met with farmers for a private half-hour meeting before his rally in Fresno, as reported by the Los Angeles Times . During his speech, Trump references this meeting, stating , "I just left 50 or 60 farmers in the back and they can't get water. And I say, 'How tough is it? How bad is the drought?' 'There is no drought. They turn the water out into the ocean.'" Earlier in this speech, he made similar claims: Trump, May 27: You have a water problem that is so insane. It is so ridiculous, where they're taking the water and shoving it out to sea. And I just met with a lot of the farmers, who are great people, and they're saying, "We don't even understand it" … I've heard it from other friends of mine in California, where they have farms up here and they don't get water. And I said, "Oh that's too bad. Is there a drought?" "No, we have plenty of water." I said, "What's wrong?" "Well, we shove it out to sea." And I said, "Why?" And nobody even knows why. And the environmentalists don't know why. Now, they're trying to protect a certain kind of three-inch fish. Trump also told his audience in Fresno that if he wins the election, "Believe me, we're going to start opening up the water, so that you can have your farmers survive." He added, "We're going to get it done quick. Don't even think about it. That's an easy one." According to the New York Times , Trump is right that some farmers believe the preservation of fish species has caused the state's water issues. In June 2015, the newspaper reported that, "Farmers in the Central Valley call it a 'man-made drought,' complaining that water needed for crops is going to fish instead." Carly Fiorina, previously Hewlett-Packard's CEO and a GOP candidate, also made similar claims when she was considering running for president last year. But California's water issues can't be reduced to the preservation of a threatened fish species. Experts told us water management practices, the state's natural climate and global warming have all contributed to the state's current drought and water issues. California's De Facto Drought California's current drought began in late 2011. By Jan. 17, 2014, Gov. Jerry Brown declared the drought a state of emergency. California's current drought has meteorological, hydrologic and agricultural elements. The U.S. Geological Survey calls the dry conditions that often develop after below average amounts of precipitation a "meteorological drought." These conditions can then cause a "hydrologic drought," where the flows and levels of streams, rivers, lakes and reservoirs decline. Drought also affects farmers by reducing soil moisture, hindering crop growth, which the USGS calls an "agricultural drought." Most of California's precipitation falls between October and April. As a result, the state's ecosystems are accustomed to seasonal drought outside of those months. Droughts lasting multiple years are also a regular characteristic of California's climate. However, California's current drought is "unique" when compared with past years, write Jeffery Mount and others at the Public Policy Institute of California in an August 2015 report called, " What If California's Drought Continues? " "Taken together, the past four years have been the driest since record keeping began in the late 1800s," write Mount, a watershed scientist, and colleagues. In other words, the state has experienced the low levels of precipitation characteristic of a meteorological drought. But the current drought is especially different because 2015 and 2014 were also the two warmest years on record in the state (and it's likely globally as well). Scientists call the combination of dry and hot conditions a "hot" drought . Record heat contributed to California's current meteorological drought, in part, by reducing snowpack in the Sierra Nevada mountains. During the dry season (May to September), this snowpack melts and provides about one-third of the state's farms and cities with fresh water. On April 1, 2015, California's Department of Water Resources estimated the snowpack of the Sierras to be at 5 percent of the average for that time of year lower than any year in records since 1950. And this is a period when snowpack is supposed to be at its peak. In addition to receiving less precipitation during winter, warmer temperatures caused what snow had accumulated "to melt faster and earlier, making it more difficult to store and use," according to California's water resources department . While El Niño did bring more precipitation during the following winter ( 2015 to 2016 ), and thus more snowpack, it wasn't enough to end the drought. El Niño changes global atmospheric circulation such that some regions receive more rainfall and others less. With less precipitation and less water from snowpack, the flow and level of ground and surface water reservoirs also declined in the state, leading to a hydrologic drought. And with less water in reservoirs, there's less water for urban and agricultural use. Not to mention that record heat in California also dried up soils and stressed crops, which, in turn, led to a greater need for irrigation (i.e. an agricultural drought). Mount and his colleagues call California's current drought a " drought of the future " because the state is more likely to experience such conditions as the region's climate warms in the coming decades. "The drought revealed our weaknesses in how we manage water for all sectors," Mount told us in an email. "It gave us an unwelcome … glimpse into the future as conditions warm in California and competition for water becomes more intense." In short, California's drought is very real and the state does not have "plenty of water," as Trump suggested. California's water issues are also not solely caused by the preservation of fish species, as we'll explain in the next section. Water Wars Water management practices, along with the drought, have contributed to difficulties for farmers in parts of California. To start, not only does California receive the majority of its precipitation between October and April, but it also primarily rains and snows in the northern parts of the state . This creates a water management "problem" because most of the demand is from farms in the San Joaquin Valley and coastal urban areas, such as Los Angeles, Peter Moyle , a wildlife ecologist and associate director of the Center for Watershed Sciences at the University of California, Davis, told us in an email. The San Joaquin Valley makes up the southern two-thirds of California's Central Valley . The northern one-third is known as the Sacramento Valley. The San Joaquin Valley is divided into the San Joaquin Basin and the Tulare Basin. Fresno, where Trump gave his speech, lies in the Tulare Basin, the southernmost section of the Central Valley. "Massive water projects … have turned essentially desert areas into places where people can live and farm," Moyle told us. As the New York Times reported , these projects include giant pumps that transport water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to the Central Valley and to cities in southern California, such as Los Angeles. The water flowing into the Delta originally comes from farther north, including from the Sierra Nevada mountains. However, "During long droughts there is a natural tendency to keep in the north the water that has been produced there, assisted by very old and sacred water rights," Moyle told us. "Many farmers in the south not only have a very limited indigenous supply of water, but they have very junior water rights to use both local rivers and imported water." This creates competition for water between northern and southern farmers, but also exacerbates issues between Central Valley farmers and environmentalists, Moyle said. With less water in general due to drought and fewer rights to the water that is available, Central Valley farmers argue the current drought is man-made because water is being "wasted to the ocean" to preserve fish species, Moyle added. So how is available water actually distributed in California? Back in July 2014 , Mount and colleagues at the Public Policy Institute of California broke down water use in the state into three sectors: 50 percent environmental, 40 percent agricultural and 10 percent urban. But "environmental" water usage is only partly used for preserving fish species, such as the delta smelt and Chinook salmon . For one, "More than half of California's environmental water use occurs in rivers along the state's north coast," write Mount and colleagues. Farmers in the Central Valley and elsewhere can't access most of this water because it's largely isolated from the state's water management infrastructure (i.e., the Delta pumps). Many of the rivers of northern California are designated as wild and scenic , which means they can't be dammed without an act of Congress. In a blog post , Mount writes, "Most of the volume that flows down Wild and Scenic Rivers is in the North Coast and includes flood flows, where there is no practical way to recover it for either agricultural or urban use." In areas where water is shared by all three sectors , agricultural use dominates at 53 percent, compared to 33 percent environmental use and 14 percent urban use, according to Mount and his colleagues. Even still, some environmental water use benefits farmers, as it's needed to maintain water quality for agricultural and urban use. How so? As previously mentioned, the current drought has reduced surface water levels and flows, which left the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta more susceptible to salt water intrusion from the ocean. And when salt water infiltrates fresh water supplies, it can't be used for urban and agricultural purposes. To solve this problem, officials release water from reservoirs to prevent salt water from contaminating fresh water in the Delta. Reservoir water also needs to be released because the state's water infrastructure itself, which directs water north to south, disrupts the Delta's natural ability to flush salt water out to sea (an east to west flow), Mount told us. But these releases also help keep the Delta's water fresh for threatened species, such as the delta smelt. The state is mandated by law to protect this fish, the Chinook salmon and other species under the Endangered Species Act . During his rally, Trump was most likely speaking about the delta smelt when he referred to a "certain kind of three-inch fish." We reached out to Trump's campaign for clarification, but have yet to hear back. The Chinook salmon "has equal or greater impact on water supplies" compared to the delta smelt, Mount also told us. "The reason is that salmon do not just need flow, but they need cold water." The state's water infrastructure, which includes dams in addition to pumps, has "cut off more than 85% of the historic spawning habitat for salmon," primarily in the Central Valley, added Mount. To make up for the loss of spawning habitat, "we have to reserve cold water, which collects at the bottom of reservoirs, to release for salmon, particularly winter- and spring-run Chinook which are teetering on the brink of extinction," said Mount. "This causes a delay in the release of water until late in the irrigation season, which directly impacts supplies to farms." However, Mount and colleagues estimated that in 2014, 71 percent of "ocean outflow," or released fresh water from reservoirs, was needed for urban and farm water salinity control, while 18 percent was required to preserve fish habitat. So despite what the Fresno farmers may have told Trump, California's water issues go far beyond protecting "a certain kind of three-inch fish." First, delta smelt are not the only fish that require preservation. Chinook salmon and other species also benefit from the release of fresh water from reservoirs. Second, most of the water that is being flushed out to sea is needed to prevent salt water from infiltrating agricultural and urban water supplies. And lastly, the infrastructure that was developed to deliver water to farmers in the Central Valley has itself disrupted the Delta's natural ability to flush salt water out to sea, contributing to the need to release fresh water from reservoirs. Overall, it's unlikely the solution to California's water wars will be "quick" and "easy," as Trump said. "Water management issues are never black and white," Mount told us. Editor's Note: SciCheck is made possible by a grant from the Stanton Foundation. https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/c768eae0-94b6-49ad-a208-7e384a5efacb | 5 | 99,536 | news |
Is fat making you fat? | 8 | 99,537 | video |
The benefits of marriage extend beyond social interaction and tax breaks to certain health benefits, including a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease , heart attack and a longer life . Now, new research presented at the British Cardiovascular Society Conference in Manchester suggests that married people who suffer heart attacks may be more likely to survive and need fewer days in the hospital afterwards. Researchers at institutions including Aston Medical School and the University of East Anglia found that married people were 14 percent less likely to die after a heart attack than single people. They are also more likely to be discharged from a hospital two days sooner than single people, which is a financial benefit. "Our results should not be a cause for concern for single people who have had a heart attack." Dr. Nicholas Gollop of the University of East Anglia said in a statement . "But they should certainly be a reminder to the medical community of the importance of considering the support a heart attack survivor will get once they're discharged." For the study, researchers examined more than 25,000 patients diagnosed with heart attack between January 2000 and March 2013. Nearly 12,000 were married, 2,500 were single, more than 1,000 were divorced, 4,000 were widowed, and more than 5,000 were unmarried. It also included five people who had a common law relationship, 284 who were separated, and 241 people whose marriage or relationship status were unknown. Participants were on average age 67; 80 percent were white; and 64 percent male. Thirty-eight percent of the heart attack patients died, and survivors stayed in the hospital for seven days on average. Widowed patients had the highest mortality rate at 62.9 percent, with unmarried, married, and divorced patients coming in at 35.3, 34.3 and 34.2 percent, respectively. Single patients only had a crude mortality of 29.7 percent. However, after accounting for age, sex, and gender, researchers found that married, widowed, and never-married patients had statistically lower mortality rates when compared to single people, or those who may have been married before. Based on the findings, researchers concluded that marital status has a clinically important impact on heart attack survival and length of hospital stay as single patients showed higher mortality rates and longer length of hospital stay compared to married patients. They aren't exactly sure why married people are more likely to survive heart attacks but it may have to do with the physical and emotional support they receive from spouses. In other words, married individuals have resources to help them cope that many single people may lack. This support may give them a better chance of recovering from a potentially life-threatening event. "A heart attack can have both devastating physical and psychological effects most of which are hidden from the outside world," said Dr. Mike Knapton, associate medical director at the British Heart Foundation. "These findings suggest the support offered by a spouse can have a beneficial effect on heart attack survivors, perhaps helping to minimize the impact of a heart attack." Being discharged from the hospital sooner has its financial incentives, but it can also lower a patient's risk of hospital-acquired infections such as bloodstream infection (BSI), pneumonia, and urinary tract infection. The bottom line is doctors are wise to consider psychosocial and coping resources their heart attack patients may have available to them before discharging them, the researchers advise. "It is reasonable to suggest that these results may be due to reduced social support at home and this should be taken into account when considering the holistic care of [heart attack] patients," researchers wrote. The team's next step is to examine longer-term outcomes and consider the impact being married has on other heart conditions, such as heart failure. Source: British Cardiovascular Society Conference. 2016. | 7 | 99,538 | health |
Once associated with the "crummy beer your dad drinks," the humble aluminum can has seen a renaissance within the craft beer industry as a thirsty new generation of drinkers across the globe give it another look. The canned craft beer trend started in the United States and is now spreading to Europe, Asia and South America. The cans found favor within the "hipster" subculture before recently landing in a prominent place in mainstream supermarkets and grocery stores. "It's starting to spread around the world," Peter Love, third-generation CEO of Canada-based Cask Brewing Systems, said in a phone interview. Love's company, which offers canning systems to small and medium-sized craft breweries, has customers in 34 countries including Australia, Croatia, Belgium, India, Chile, Peru, Bhutan and even in Norway's Svalbard islands just 800 miles from the North Pole. "There's been a perception of 'Well, my dad drinks canned beer' ... and it's taken a while to get over that," Love said, adding that millennials have now embraced the style of packaging due to the generation being big on the kind of "sustainability" the product offers. Why cans? There are obvious benefits of a can being 100 percent recyclable. Aluminum or steel cans are able to return to the store shelf in three months, according to the U.K. trade body The Can Makers, although there is research suggesting benefits for both bottles and cans in this area. But industry types list a range of other factors. No light penetrates a can that may damage the flavor, which is "particularly good for very hoppy beers," according to Neil Walker, marketing manager at SIBA (the U.K.'s Society of Independent Brewers). The seal is also tighter than a bottle cap, so an airtight can helps to keep the beer's freshness, according to the brewers. (Bottles can also adequately keep beer fresh if filled and stored correctly.) Cans also chill much faster than bottles. Cans are lighter and cheaper for distributors to ship, and easier and more convenient for the end consumer. Martin Constable, chairman of The Can Makers, told CNBC that the "minimum order quantity" is usually lower and cans come "fully printed" with a label. A falling aluminum price amid a broader slide in commodities has only helped the argument. Related video: Craft beer is on the rise David Ward, a sales manager at Australian Brewery, which claims to the first craft brewer in Australia to package exclusively in cans, explained to CNBC why it has paid off for his company. "As the costs are significantly higher for craft over macro brewing, you need to constantly innovate with an eye for maintaining and improving the quality of the beer. With zero light, less oxygen and environmental benefits canning was an easy decision," he said via email. Walker said a can is one way a small craft brewer can "really set themselves apart" from the crowd. Some brewers are even pushing the design to the extreme with "edible" biodegradable rings for six-packs. The expanding market Global beer consumption in general may be down but craft beer has proven to be a lucrative growth sector albeit still a tiny slice of the overall market. And the statistics for canned craft beer show growth. Around 55 percent of all beer consumed in the U.S. is served in an aluminum can, according to the Beer Institute. But drilling deeper, the Brewers Association estimates that canned craft beer volume in the country increased to 10 percent of total craft volume in 2014 from 2 percent in 2011. This was an increase of nearly 2 million barrels, or around 1 percent of the total U.S. beer market. "As craft occupies a larger share of overall beer and brings more beer lovers into the craft category, it is only natural that some of that growth will come from adopting practices in the larger industry," Bart Watson, chief economist for the Brewers Association, said in a report last October. Additionally, Craftcans.com suggests there are 548 craft brewers in the U.S. canning 2,138 different beers. This is up from 200 craft breweries canning 600 beers in 2012. In the U.K., canned craft beer has begun to appear on the shelves of established food stores like Marks & Spencer, and there's a festival now in its second year devoted to the indie beer can. The Can Makers estimates that total can deliveries were 9.628 billion last year in the U.K. with 10.37 million in craft beer. Already 50 percent of that figure has been achieved in the first quarter of this year. Meanwhile, SIBA says the U.K. market has grown from four brands using cans two years ago, to more than 100 this year. Analysis group Mintel adds that 16 percent of all craft beers launched in the U.K. this year have been packaged in a can, up from 8 percent for all of 2015. Elsewhere, Nina Anika Klotz, a Berlin-based journalist who runs an online craft beer publication, told CNBC that cans have been appearing in local stores since last year. Stone Berlin, BROY and BRLO as just three brands that she highlights that have taken to this type of packaging. "We'll see more cans in the future, I'm sure," she said via telephone. Top-line figures The prime example of the recent growth that the industry can manage comes from Colorado's Oskar Blues Brewery, the first craft brewery in the U.S. to brew and hand-can its beer. After producing 150 barrels of beer in 2002, it has surged to 192,000 barrels last year. The brewery reportedly filled 50 million cans with fresh beer in 2015, achieving over 30 percent growth in year-over-year sales. Love's canning company has achieved 30 percent revenue growth in last five years, and he's predicting the good times to continue. Australian Brewery's Ward says it has generated major volume for the company. "Some of the biggest craft brewers in Australia have also adopted the format along with (for better or worse) the hipster movement," he said. There's even an mergers and acquisition story in the sector, although little evidence that this boom in sales has fueled any willingness for a firm to let go of its cash. Last year, Colorado's since Ball Corp. (BLL) unveiled a $6.38 billion takeover of U.K.-listed rival Rexam , which the Financial Times reported would be the world's largest maker of metal drinks containers. And into Asia Rob Trent, a globe-trotting craft beer enthusiast who writes a blog dedicated to Asia beer, has seen cans creep into some markets in the region, but with varying success. "In the Philippines only 2 of about 30 craft breweries are canning their product. The consumers do not see canned beer as of high quality as bottled beer due to lack of education," he told CNBC via email. However, he believes that "funky artwork" on cans and the ability to market to resorts will definitely help boost demand. In India, he noted that cans are used by most of the macro brewers due to local laws restricting bottling and even kegging. China also has tough regulations on small breweries to start bottling or canning, he added. "Korea recently has seen two craft breweries venture into cans, however laws inhibit smaller breweries from being able to offer their products on the retail level," he said. "Overall, it will take a great shift in education to consumers to get them to look positively towards canned craft beer. The can will suit places like The Philippines well as transport, light exposure and environmental concerns will be key selling points." The challenges As well as a minefield of varying national laws on labeling, many industry experts point to an image problem being the major hurdle. More specifically, brewers say that many consumers still fear a metallic taste, and some are concerned that it might even just be a gimmick that quickly fades. Cans now have a water-based polymer lining that eliminates any metallic flavors, and brewers usually suggest pouring a beer regardless of the packaging into a glass. But it just still proves too much for some. "It is really only the older generation 45-plus that have these worries, and it is just a throwback to when cans were tin or steel and not the aluminum we use," Ward told CNBC. "It is literally a placebo thing," he added. | 3 | 99,539 | finance |
Is Jim Harbaugh's antics at his satellite camps and rivalry with Nick Saban good for college football? We talk with Campus Insider's Ray Crawford. | 1 | 99,540 | sports |
Here are five of the best powerhouse postseason teams from the last 40 years. 1976 Cincinnati Reds The Cavs have been the most dominant team in the NBA playoffs this year. And they take their place alongside other great squads, across sports, that tore through the playoffs. Here are five of the best powerhouse postseason teams from the last 40 years. The Big Red Machine was one of the greatest baseball juggernauts of all time. Johnny Bench, Tony Perez, Joe Morgan, and Pete Rose led this superteam to a World Series title. They are the only MLB team (since postseason expansion in 1969) to go an entire playoffs undefeated. They swept the Phillies 3-0 in the NLCS and the Yankees 4-0 in the World Series, outscoring them 41-19 in those games. 1987-88 Edmonton Oilers With the top two point scorers in NHL history in Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier both on their team, how could the Oilers not end up on this list? Edmonton went 16-2 in the playoffs, averaging 4.8 goals per game during the run. Gretzky and Messier combined for 77 points in 18 playoff games, with the offensive onslaught taking care of all challengers. 1989-1990 San Francisco 49ers After a 14-2 regular season, the 49ers stomped all opponents on their way to winning the Super Bowl. Joe Montana threw 11 touchdown passes in dominant playoff wins over the Vikings, Rams and Broncos. With the deadly combination of Montana and Jerry Rice behind a stout defense, the 49ers outscored opponents 126-26 on their way to their fourth championship in nine seasons. 2000-2001 Los Angeles Lakers Kobe and Shaq would get the middle jewel of their three-peat of NBA championships with an incredible playoff run. O'Neal averaged 30.4 points per game in the playoffs, with Bryant right behind him, putting up 29.4 points a game. The Lakers went 15-1 in the playoffs and beat the Philadelphia 76ers 4-1 in the NBA Finals, with Shaq taking home his second consecutive NBA Finals MVP. 2013 Minnesota Lynx After a 26-8 regular season the Lynx had a perfect WNBA postseason. Minnesota swept Seattle and Phoenix to reach the finals against the Atlanta Dream. Maya Moore won WNBA Finals MVP in a 3-0 sweep. Moore averaged 20 points a game against Atlanta, and Rebekkah Brunson backing her up by averaging 10 rebounds a game as Minnesota finished off a perfect 7-0 postseason. | 1 | 99,541 | sports |
When the 2006 World Cup kicked off at the Allianz Arena exactly ten years ago Manuel Neuer had yet to make his Bundesliga debut. Today the World's Best Goalkeeper aims to expand his honours collection by one of the few titles he has not won yet: the European championship! "We're glad it's finally starting," the Bayern netminder said on Thursday, "we can't wait to be out on the pitch." The atmosphere in the squad is "very good," according to Neuer, who will follow Friday's opener between France and Romania together with Thomas Müller, Mario Götze & Co on TV. "We'll all sit in front of the TV and watch the game." The world champions take on Ukraine in their first group match in Lille on Sunday at 21.00 CET. Kimmich resumes squad programme After recovering from a bad cold Joshua Kimmich resumed the Germany squad programme on Thursday. The Bayern starlet is likely to be available for selection against Ukraine on Sunday. Lukas Podolski and Julian Weigl were also back on the training ground in Evian-les-Bains. Mats Hummels is still recovering from a torn hamstring and missed the session, as did Jonathan Tah, who was only called up on Tuesday. Two FCB legends in all-time Euro XI A great accolade for two former FC Bayern internationals! Philipp Lahm and Franz Beckenbauer have been voted into UEFA's "all-time Euro XI" by users of the European governing body's website. More than 3.5 million fans participated in the poll. UEFA announced the results at a ceremony at Paris City Hall. Gianluigi Buffon from Italy features between the sticks behind a back four comprising Germany's Lahm and Beckenbauer, Carlos Puyol from Spain and Paolo Maldini from Italy. Andrés Iniesta from Spain, Andrea Pirlo from Italy and Zinedine Zidane from France are in charge of the midfield, whereas Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo, Thierry Henry from France and Dutchman Marco van Basten form the attacking unit. | 1 | 99,542 | sports |
Conor McGregor joins three boxers who made Forbes' top 100 list. Forbes' Top 100 Highest Paid Athletes for 2016 has been released, and unlike last year, which had a total of zero MMA fighters featured, Conor McGregor managed to make this list. Topping the list are football superstars Cristiano Ronaldo ($88 M) and Lionel Messi ($81.4), and two-time NBA champ LeBron James ($77.2 M). The UFC featherweight champion is currently ranked at #85. Forbes estimates McGregor's earnings to be at $22 million, where he took home $18 million for his salary from three bouts, and $4 million in endorsements with "Reebok, Fanatics, Monster Energy, BSN, Bud Light, Rolls Royce and Electronic Arts". McGregor's PPV cut bumped up his payday, with his last three bouts against Diaz, Aldo, and Mendes getting 1.5 M, 1.2 M and 850 K buys respectively. Three other combat sports stars also made the list, with Floyd Mayweather ranked at 16 ($44 M), Manny Pacquiao at 63 ($24 M), and Canelo Alvarez at 92 ($21.5 M). Mayweather and Pacquiao each had one retirement bout which bombed at the pay-per-view, with neither event drawing over 500,000 buys. Alvarez had two bouts in that stretch, and drew a total of 1.5 M PPV buys. The boxing stars still managed to take home significantly more than McGregor on each bout, despite McGregor having considerably larger pay-per-view events than all three combined. That all stems from the differences in business models in MMA and boxing. For an in-depth look at the UFC's finances, check out everything we know about Zuffa's revenue, debt, and earnings. | 1 | 99,543 | sports |
A wave of young, educated, high-earning workers are flooding city neighborhoods like Ohio City, in Cleveland, creating challenges and opportunities for urban development. Photo: Rich-Joseph Facun for The Wall Street Journal | 3 | 99,544 | finance |
A collection of stunning photographs from the week gone by. New York Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton arrives to speak during her California primary night rally held in Brooklyn, on June 7. Calabasas, Calif. A helicopter makes a water drop run over the "Old Fire" on June 4. Sanaa, Yemen A displaced boy poses for a photo at a camp for internally displaced people, June 8. Gaza City, Palestine Baker Magadma, a member of Palestinian sports group Bar Palestine, performs on the street on June 3. Los Angeles Democratic presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders prepares to board a flight from Los Angeles back to Vermont on June 8. Chenango, Texas Cattle are herded through floodwaters toward higher ground, June 4. Doksy village, Czech Republic A participant dressed as an orc character from 'The Hobbit' book by J. R. R. Tolkien, prepares for the reenactment of the 'Battle of Five Armies' in a forest on June 4, 2016 near Doksy village, Czech Republic. Bristol, England Children skip past a mural, painted by graffiti artist Banksy, on the wall of a primary school, June 6. Jakarta, Indonesia A group of youths read the Koran as they wait to break the fast during the holy month of Ramadan inside Istiqlal mosque, June 9. Kolkata, India Musafir, a pet monkey, eats a Jalebi sweet, June 9, 2016. Skopje, Macedonia A police officer is splashed with paint balloons during an anti-government protest, June 6. New York City A double rainbow appears over Lower Manhattan following a rainstorm, June 5. Kraków, Poland A Humboldt penguin swims in a pool at the city zoo, June 3. Melbourne, Australia People wander through a maze of mirrored panels at the National Gallery of Victoria, on June 7. Kolkata, India A boy peeps into a taxi with its roof covered in grass ahead of the World Environment Day, on June 4. Nablus, West Bank The entrance to the Old city of Nablus is decorated with colorful umbrellas to celebrate the holy month of Ramadan, on June 4. Caracas, Venezuela Supporters of Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro hold a flag during a rally in support of the government's food distribution programs, June 8. Rio de Janeiro An NGO activist poses in front of pictures by Marcio Freitas, representing female victims of sexual abuse. The 420 underpants strewn on the beach represent the number of women raped in the country every 72 hours. Jerusalem, Israel A Palestinian girl prays in front of the Dome of the Rock during the holy month of Ramadan, on June 7. Mendig, Germany Red Hot Chili Pepper's bassist Flea and drummer Chad Smith (R) perform at the Rock am Ring music festival, June 4. Lombardy, Italy An aerial view of the installation in-progress, "The Floating Piers" by Bulgarian-born artist Christo Vladimirov Yavachev, on Lake Iseo, on June 7. Tel Aviv People hug each other following a shooting attack that took place in the center of the city, June 8. Mumbai, India People get drenched by a large wave during high tide on June 6. Jakarta, Indonesia Muslims attend the Ramadan tarawih prayer at Istiqlal mosque, June 5. Brussels Flight attendants pose inside a turbine engine of an airplane as the Belgium football team departs for Euro 2016 tournament, June 7. Sydney Justen Allport competes during the Cape Fear surfing tournament on June 6. Almaty, Kazakhstan People participate in the YARKOcross color run race, June 5. Krasnoyarsk, Russia A zoo employee feeds a three-week-old Eurasian eagle-owl at the Royev Ruchey zoo, June 7. Caracas, Venezuela An opposition supporter shouts in front of riot policemen during a rally to demand a referendum to remove President Nicolás Maduro, on June 7. Erfurt, Germany A bumble-bee lands on a flower, June 7. Normandy, France British veteran William Harrison during the 72nd D-Day commemorations, June 6. London A visitor walks through the Serpentine Pavilion, designed by Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), as part of Serpentine Gallery's program of pavilion building, June 7. Zhangye, China A raging sandstorm engulfs buildings, June 3. Sutamarchán, Colombia Revelers during the 10th annual Tomatina festival, June 5. Graford, Texas Mexican diver Jonathan Paredes prepares to dive from the 90 feet high platform on Devil's Island during the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series, on June 4. Van, Turkey A seagull feeds on pearl mullets at a lake, June 6. Sydney A man watches a wave hit a rock pool at Curl Curl beach, June 6. Taipei, Taiwan Attendees observe a moment of silence during the 27th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre, on June 4. Nairobi, Kenya Protesters ride a motorcycle during a demonstration calling for the disbandment of the national electoral commission, June 6. | 5 | 99,545 | news |
Every year, the top decision-makers of the international security world and those who follow them meet for the Shangri-La Dialogue , named after the Singapore hotel at which the conference is typically held, to discuss Asian security issues. These dialogues are usually genteel and formal, the kind of meeting where one is more likely to hear bromides than to exchange barbs . But this year's conference was different. China's increased assertiveness especially in the waters of the South China Sea, through which $1.2 trillion of American trade flows , and the East China Sea, which borders Japan and Taiwan was at the forefront of everyone's mind. Fortunately, recent developments in Asian capitals have created an opportunity for the U.S. to take a lead on constraining China's advances, but whether the U.S. government is up to the task remains to be seen. Why is China's behavior a concern? China has been improving its strategic position for decades. It's hardly news that China's tolerance for risk has correspondingly increased, and that its military has modernized at an alarming clip. For years, many chose to look past these facts, hoping that as China rose, it would behave in ways that were in line with the rules-based international order. But its recent activities suggest that it is more interested in playing by its own rules. Beijing likely rejects the American position, for example, that the Law of Armed Conflict should be applied to cyberspace, and recently reorganized its military to better compete in this realm. Through its openly published " three warfares " strategy, it has pursued activities aimed at wearing down the populations of its adversaries, at manipulating information to suit its interests and at exploiting loopholes in international law for its own advantage. Actions such as the building of artificial islands in the South China Sea or the unilateral declaration of an Air Defense Identification Zone in the East China Sea in 2013 are just parts of an incremental strategy to expand control. America's response to Chinese provocations has been insufficient. Although the "pivot to Asia" is commonly thought of as a tool to create a counterbalance to Chinese power in the region, the administration's public position toward China has been one of increased cooperation . The implementation of "the pivot" has hardly curtailed Chinese aggression; if anything, its anemic implementation may have worsened the situation. The declining readiness of America's navy and the reduction of its regional maritime presence to "photo ops" signaled to Beijing that a window of opportunity had opened for it to assert its ambitions more quickly and with more aplomb. Deterring China from acting counter to U.S. interests will take more than a "pivot," it will take persistence and presence, in the maritime domain, yes, but also in the realms of information, cyber and space. But because deterring China is also in the interest of the nations that surround it, America won't have to deter China alone, and now is a particularly auspicious time for the U.S. to deepen cooperation with its Pacific allies and partners. Take Japan. In addition to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's internal reforms to Japan's national security infrastructure, such as establishing a National Security Council to coordinate responses to threats, his government recently implemented an initiative that expands Japan's ability to cooperate with the U.S. and other allies on defense issues. In 2014, Japan overturned a ban on defense exports, which makes available one more tool to cement relations between Japan and countries that share a similar outlook on security issues. Furthermore, the recently revised security cooperation guidelines between the U.S. and Japan specifically call for enhanced cooperation on a number of issues, including in the realms of cyberspace and outer space, where Chinese actions have been of particular concern . Or take Taiwan. Former President Ma Ying-jeou sought to expand economic ties to mainland China, and made history by meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in January of this year. But the recent election of President Tsai Ing-wen, from the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party, has cooled relations between the two capitals. Tsai has already shown that she is far less risk-averse than her predecessors when it comes to relations with the mainland, marking an opportunity for the U.S. to expand its ties with Taipei. Expanding military-to-military cooperation with Taiwan will better deter China from launching an attack against the island, which the U.S. is bound by treaty to defend. Allies in other parts of Asia are also increasingly willing to work together and with the U.S. to curtail the Chinese threat. The Philippines recently agreed to allow U.S. troops to position there on a rotational basis, for example, and the recent souring of relations between South Korea and China, coupled with the rapprochement between Seoul and Tokyo on the "comfort women" issue, signals an opportunity for enhanced trilateral cooperation between Japan, South Korea and the United States. As evidenced by the recent lifting of a decades-old weapons embargo, the U.S. is in the process of turning Vietnam, a prior enemy, into a security partner, and further to the south, America's staunch ally, Singapore, is increasing its cooperation with another U.S. ally, Australia. Many of these developments are a direct response to China's increased assertiveness. But to truly deter China, the United States will need to reaffirm its commitment to its regional allies, to fill in their capability gaps, and to encourage more cooperation among them. The U.S. will need to maintain or help support a more persistent allied and partner presence, not just in the sea but also in the air, on the ground and, critically, in cyberspace and outer space. And yes, the U.S. Congress should also ratify the Trans-Pacific Partnership, as its strategic benefits far outweigh the costs that the agreement might incur. For this to occur, though, many in Washington will need to come to terms with Beijing's strategies and increased capabilities . As one scholar at the Center for American Progress, a think tank that employs many previous Obama administration officials, put it in 2014 , "U.S. leaders are finding to their alarm that as China rises, its leaders are developing their own ideas about how the international system should operate." If China's incremental advances could previously be glossed over in favor of a rosier outlook, its more recent behavior is harder to ignore. Defense Secretary Ash Carter's remarks at the Shangri-La dialogue indicate that the current administration is finally awakening to the important role that it plays in establishing the rules of road in the Pacific, and America's allies are increasingly prepared to push back on Beijing's assertiveness. What remains to be seen is whether its current efforts are too little, too late, or. more importantly, whether presumptive presidential nominees Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton will seize upon the current momentum in Asian capitals to limit China's advances. Copyright 2016 U.S. News & World Report | 5 | 99,546 | news |
PITTSBURGH Has Phil Kessel done more for the Pittsburgh Penguins than Sidney Crosby in the Penguins' playoff run? And has rookie goalie Matt Murray done more for the cause than either of them? If the Penguins capture the Stanley Cup tonight by winning Game 5 against the San Jose Sharks (8 p.m., ET, NBC), these questions will have to be answered by the panel of Professional Hockey Writers Association members who will vote on the Conn Smythe Trophy, given annually to the NHL's playoff MVP. The voting might be close enough, especially between Crosby and Kessel, that what happens in tonight's game could have a direct bearing on voting results: It should be noted that players from the Stanley Cup runner-up have won the Conn Smythe in the past, but it won't happen this season because the Sharks' top players thus far are struggling in the Stanley Cup Final. Should the Sharks win tonight, it will be a different story moving forward. Here are the Penguins' top candidates: Kessel : The speedy winger's consistently impressive play has been the talk of the postseason. He leads the Penguins in goals (10) and points (21) in 22 games. Coach Mike Sullivan has raved about his plucky overall game. He has a goal and two assists during the Stanley Cup Final. He has been visible, dangerous and engaged in every game. He has generated 91 shots on goal in these playoffs, and no other forward has more than 70. Crosby : He's the Penguins' driving force. He posted three game-winning goals in the Eastern Conference Finals, and then designed and set-up an overtime game-winner by Conor Sheary in the championship series. He's been a gritty, effective force at both ends of the ice. He wins critical faceoffs. He's the captain. The Penguins' success flows through him. Murray : What he has accomplished as a rookie goalie is reminiscent of Patrick Roy coming on the scene and leading the Montreal Canadiens to a Stanley Cup in 1986. Murray has a poise and calmness well beyond his years. At 14-5, with a 2.09 goals-against average and .925 save percentage, Murray has the numbers to support his candidacy. The Penguins feed off Murray's composure. Nick Bonino : He's deserving of consideration for the playoff run he has enjoyed with his 17 points and his solid plus-minus (+9). He's made himself one of the top five or six players on this impressive Penguins squad. | 1 | 99,547 | sports |
From Hollywood to New York and everywhere in between, see what your favorite stars are up to A GRAND NIGHT Pharrell Williams brings some psychedelic color to the Grand Ole Opry stage on Tuesday as he performs with (from left) Jimi Westbrook, Karen Fairchild, Kimberly Schlapman and Phillip Sweet of Little Big Town. MODEL SCENT Adriana Lima, the face of Marc Jacobs Decadence, is ever-elegant at the 2016 Fragrance Foundation Awards on Tuesday in N.Y.C. THE KEY TO CREATIVITY Alicia Keys takes the stage at the 50th Anniversary of the New York Office of Film, Theatre and Broadcasting event in N.Y.C. on Wednesday. DANGEROUS DUO Tori Spelling and James Franco buddy up at the premiere of Franco's reboot of Mother, May I Sleep with Danger?, premiering June 18 on Lifetime, at New York's Crosby Theater on Tuesday. BATTER UP Jessie James Decker poses at the 26th Annual City of Hope Celebrity Softball Game in Nashville on Tuesday. DOUBLE DUTY Josh Groban takes a break from hosting duties at the Find Your Light Foundation Gala on Monday to pose alongside singer-songwriter Sara Bareilles in N.Y.C. (HOT) MAN ON THE STREET A sporty Orlando Bloom pounds the pavement and shows off his toned arms! in Malibu, California, on Wednesday. MADE IN SHADES Ashlee Simpson emits biker vibes as she walks through L.A. on Wednesday. ON-SET SHENANIGANS What's so funny? Girls actress Allison Williams cracks up on the set of the show in N.Y.C. on Tuesday. GREAT HAIR DAY Black-ish star Tracee Ellis Ross is New York City chic on Tuesday as she strikes a pose on the sidewalk. LOLLIPOP GIRL Jaime King sports a voting sticker and an off-the-shoulder dress as she walks outside a building in Beverly Hills on Tuesday with a delicious treat in her hand. ACTING OUT Mr. Robot's Christian Slater participates in Tuesday's Ghetto Film School Table Read in N.Y.C. DAY DREAM Stripes are nice for actress Busy Phillips, who wore a J.Crew dress while shopping on Melrose Avenue in Beverly Hills. HISTORY, MADE What a moment! Hillary Clinton declares victory in the Democratic presidential primary on Tuesday in Brooklyn, New York. SNAP TO IT Footballer Tim Tebow is selfie aware on Tuesday on the set of Extra in Universal City, California. DOWNHILL FROM HERE Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon and actor Ethan Hawke perform "FML" country songs on Tuesday in N.Y.C. DINNER CHIC Kate Upton is head-to-toe glamorous for dinner at Nobu in N.Y.C. ALL HAIL The Path's Aaron Paul catches a cab in N.Y.C. on Wednesday. LIFE IS GOOD Bill Murray arrives on the set of Jimmy Kimmel Live on Tuesday in L.A. ON THE GO Jennifer Garner hits the sidewalk in workout gear on Tuesday in Brentwood, California. FIERCELY FUNNY Comedian Kate McKinnon strikes perfect poses at Elle magazine's Women in Comedy event on Tuesday in L.A. DOG'S BEST FRIEND America's Got Talent host Nick Cannon cozies up next to Heidi the dog while attending the AOL Build Speaker Series on Wednesday in N.Y.C. RALLY IN CALI Rumer Willis shows her support for Bernie Sanders at a primary election night rally on Tuesday in Santa Monica, California. PRIMARY DAY Reese Witherspoon steps out with a smile perhaps on account of her enthusiasm for voting? on Tuesday in Beverly Hills. TOO CUTE Cute couple alert! Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos step out in New York's Central Park on Monday. SUMMER DAYS Hilary Duff is all smiles as she films scenes for season 3 of her show, Younger, in N.Y.C. on Tuesday. DO THE WAVE Bella Thorne greets photographers as she stops by Extra in L.A. on Tuesday. TEAM SPIRIT President Obama is presented with his very own Denver Broncos jersey as he celebrates the team's Super Bowl Championship with a ceremony at the White House on Tuesday. MINI REUNION Former Will & Grace costars Sean Hayes and Debra Messing embrace on Monday at the opening night after party for An Act of God in New York. CROWNING AROUND Newly crowned Miss USA 2016, Deshauna Barber, breezes through midtown Manhattan on Tuesday. ON THE MIC Freddie Prinze Jr. can't contain his grin as he stops by N.Y.C.'s AOL Studios to discuss his new cookbook, Back to the Kitchen, on Tuesday. PUPPY LOVE Star Wars star Carrie Fisher hugs her dog, Garry, as she attends an event in London for the #StopYulin campaign, which petitions the Chinese government to end the Yulin Festival, in which thousands of animals are slaughtered. MOM ON THE GO Model Chrissy Teigen opts for distressed jeans and beige jacket for a windy walk through N.Y.C. on Tuesday. SO MUCH FUN Jessica Alba, husband Cash Warren and their daughters, Haven and Honor, attend family fun day at Jessica Biel's Au Fudge restaurant in West Hollywood on Sunday. GLAMOUR GIRL Susan Sarandon strikes a pose as she arrives at the Glamour Women of the Year Awards in London on Tuesday. BABE CITY Broad City stars Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer crack each other up as they attend the CFDA Fashion Awards in N.Y.C. on Monday. DOUBLE TROUBLE Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Kevin Hart put on a show for photographers at the Spanish photo call for their upcoming film, Central Intelligence, in Madrid on Tuesday. SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE Jamie Foxx speaks passionately onstage at a rally in support of Hillary Clinton in L.A. on Monday, in an attempt to encourage people to vote in the Democratic primaries. MIC CHECK Ryan Seacrest is all smiles as he attends the launch party for his Ryan Seacrest Distinction Rio collection at Macy's Herald Square in N.Y.C. on Monday. PEACE AND LOVE Eva Longoria flashes a peace sign and her new wedding bands as she leaves the Hillary Clinton event. NOW SEE THIS Actress Lizzy Caplan is wildly aware of Mark Ruffalo's camera at the Now You See Me 2 premiere in New York on Monday. HEY THERE! Morgan Freeman gives a wave at the Now You See Me 2 premiere in N.Y.C. on Monday. T-SHIRT WEATHER Leonardo DiCaprio takes it all in on Monday as he casually walks through New York's East Village neighborhood. LEGS FOR DAYS Model Hailey Baldwin struts her stuff in N.Y.C.'s Soho neighborhood on Monday. HATS ALL, FOLKS Beyoncé accepts The CDFA Fashion Icon Award in a striped Givenchy suit at the 2016 CFDA Fashion Awards in N.Y.C. FAMILY AFFAIR Sisters Ashley, Mary-Kate and Elizabeth Olsen make quite the trio on Monday at the 2016 CFDA Fashion Awards. RED-Y TO SHINE Also at the 2016 CFDA Fashion Awards, actress Jennifer Hudson who stunned at the event held at the New York's Hammerstein Ballroom. LAUGH FACTORY Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt stars Tituss Burgess and Ellie Kemper laugh it up on Monday as they attend a panel for their show in L.A. HOT SEATS Taraji P Henson and Terrence Howard have a ball on Monday at a promotional event for their show, Empire, in Johannesburg, South Africa. EASY BEING GREEN Jamie Lee Curtis sports a serious costume at the film premiere of Warcraft on Monday. HAIR-RAISING PERFORMANCE Meryl Streep transforms into Donald Trump at the 2016 Public Theater Gala in N.Y.C. on Monday. NOTHING TO WINE ABOUT Kate Upton dances alongside Auction Napa Valley chairman Agustin F. Huneeus at the world's top wine event on Saturday. WIGGING OUT Daniel Radcliffe looks completely unrecognizable as he goofs off with Jimmy Fallon during an appearance on the Tonight Show on Monday. PIANO MAN John Legend sings his heart out as part of the "Hillary Clinton: She's With Us" concert in L.A. on Monday night. CENTER STAGE Later in the night, Ricky Martin can't help but smile after his own performance. FLOWER POWER Meanwhile, Chloë Grace Moretz gives photographers a smile on her way home from the concert. LIFE'S A BEACH Modern Family star Ty Burell shoots a campaign for Gain in Malibu, California. NEW YORK MINUTE Dakota Fanning beats the summer heat in a breezy outfit and an iced coffee while out and about in New York on Monday. DATE NIGHT Vanessa Hudgens and boyfriend Austin Butler attend Cinespia's screening of Mean Girls on Saturday in Hollywood. PITCH POWER Marvel Comics legend Stan Lee throws the first pitch at the Saturday Texas Rangers vs. Seattle Mariners game in Arlington, Texas. CITY GIRL Karlie Kloss leaves her apartment in the West Village neighborhood of N.Y.C. on Monday. HORSING AROUND Actress Marion Cotillard takes in the Longines Athina Onassis Horse Show in Saint Tropez, France on Saturday. AS FRESH AS IT GETS First Lady Michelle Obama joins students for a White House Kitchen Garden harvest Monday in Washington, D.C. GOOD POINT The Night Shift's Scott Wolf is ready for his close-up while stopping by SiriusXM Studios on Monday in N.Y.C. MERMAID VIBES Olivia Culpo heads to the ocean during the ME Cabo resort grand re-opening on Saturday in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. CUTE REUNION They meet again! Clueless stars Stacey Dash and Donald Faison reunite at the SiriusXM Studios on Monday in N.Y.C. KNOCK-OUT Prince Harry jokes around with a trainee at the Double Jab Boxing Club where he shows his support for Sport for Social Development initiatives in London on Monday. BETTER TOGETHER Model Irina Shayk and boyfriend Bradley Cooper go for a Saturday stroll in N.Y.C.'s Battery Park. BALLIN' TIME One Direction's Louis Tomlinson and Niall Horan enjoy their time on the field at the Soccer Aid to raise money for UNICEF on Sunday in Manchester, UK. LACY LUNCH Kim Kardashian West heads out after having lunch with husband Kanye West and daughter North in N.Y.C. on Sunday. | 6 | 99,548 | entertainment |
In honor of LGBT Pride Month, here is a list of remarkable and captivating reads that provide an inside look at coming out in society. Whether you're LGBT or simply an ally, these stories are inspiring. A look at coming out in society In honor of LGBT Pride Month, here is a list of remarkable reads that provide an inside look at coming out in society. Whether you're LGBT or simply an ally, these stories are inspiring. 'Blue Apple Switchback' Blue Apple Switchback: A Memoir by Carrie Highley At 16, Carrie Highley knew she was gay. But living in the south as a gay woman was and still is something to be feared, and she chose to live life in a heterosexual marriage and have two children. As she seeks to build a passion in cycling in her thirties, Carrie finds herself having an affair with another woman. Soon she discovers the courage to come out and discusses the aftermath of that pivotal moment in her life with grace, grit and warmth. 'A Work in Progress'' A Work in Progress: A Memoir by Connor Franta YouTube star, philanthropist and entrepreneur Connor Franta shares his story of coming out as a millennial in a new digital age of LGBT acceptance. While his words resonate with his generation, his story remains a timeless tale on self-identity and acceptance. 'Sweet Tooth: A Memoir' Sweet Tooth: A Memoir by Tim Anderson When you're a sweets-loving young boy growing up gay in the '80s in North Carolina, one might assume being diagnosed with type 1 diabetes is God's way of punishing him. This roaring, uplifting and delicious memoir will throw readers into audible "lol's" and tear-soaked frenzies. 'Uncovered' Uncovered: How I Left Hasidic Life and Finally Came Home by Leah Lax Leah Lax grew up in a secular Jewish household. But with unstable parents, her way of rebelling against her family was to be the exact opposite of unstructured and liberal household and join orthodox Jewish life as a covered woman. After getting married young living in a Hasidic community and giving birth to seven children, Leah also realizes that she is indeed a lesbian . Hailed by Gloria Steinem, New York Public Library and Redbook, this daring memoir discusses coming out in unimaginable circumstances proving to readers it's never too late to say "yes" to who you truly are. 'Whatever... Love is Love' Whatever… Love Is Love: Questioning the Labels We Give Ourselves by Maria Bello Actress and activist Maria Bello's memoir is not a story of coming out you've heard before. It's an in-depth look at relationships and falling in love that disregards labels and focuses on the root of it all: love. After making waves with an essay in which she tells her son she's fallen in love with her best friend who's a woman, her son tells her, "Whatever Mom, love is love." This propels Maria to question the roles she plays in love, work, motherhood and life. 'Not My Father's Son' Not My Father's Son: A Memoir by Alan Cumming Alan Cumming, the beloved star of stage, television and film, exposes his emotional and complicated life story that shaped his career. Growing up with a physically and emotionally abusive father, Alan has struggled with trauma his entire life. After television producers in the UK asked Alan to appear on a celebrity genealogy show, he hoped to solve a mystery about his maternal grandfather. But as the facts are uncovered, Alan learns more than he bargained for. Moving from past to present, Alan reveals how his painful past led him to an artistic and fearless adulthood . 'Being Jazz: My Life as a (Transgender) Teen' Being Jazz: My Life as a (Transgender) Teen by Jazz Jennings As a trans woman, YouTube star and spokesperson for the trans community, Jazz Jennings's memoir has garnered praise from Oprah Winfrey, Laverne Cox, Janet Mock and Jodi Picoult. Coming out as trans at age five, Jazz Jennings has had support from her family as she continues to be one of the youngest teen activists and trailblazers of our time. In her memoir, Jazz reflects on her very public appearances, including the time at age six when she was interviewed by Barbara Walters at a time when the country was less knowledgeable on trans issues. Through it all, Jazz remains a strong woman with an incredible family support system who seeks to inspire and change the world. 'Switching Teams' Switching Teams: What Coming Out Later in Life Taught Me about Love, Conquering Fear and Accepting Change by Dawn Elizabeth Waters "My coming out was the first step in reclaiming my life as it was supposed to have been," Dawn Elizabeth Waters writes in Switching Teams . At 39 years old, Dawn's life as a wife and stay-at-home mom dramatically changed after coming out as a lesbian. Her life became even more interesting when she confesses her love for her best friend of 10 years who happens to feel the same way. Switching Teams tells the incredible true story of a woman who risks it all to live an authentic life. "This Book Is Gay" This Book Is Gay by James Dawson Wouldn't it be great if there were an instruction manual for coming out as a gay, lesbian, bisexual or trans person? This Book Is Gay is just that , and it has all the answers to your questions about sex, politics, stereotypes, coming out and more as well as stories from real people across the sexual and gender spectrums. It's entertaining and informative, but most importantly, it reminds you that you are exceptional and that you matter. 'Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out' Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out by Susan Kuklin In Beyond Magenta , author and photographer Susan Kuklin met and interviewed six transgender or gender-neutral teens and weaves together a groundbreaking literary work that has been recognized as a Stonewall Honor Book. Every story offers a new perspective, and Susan introduces readers to these young adults in an intimate and relatable way. | 4 | 99,549 | lifestyle |
The Washington National Cathedral, one of the nation's most prominent houses of worship, said on Wednesday that it would remove two images of the Confederate battle flag that have been part of its stained-glass windows for more than 60 years. The windows that depict the two flags were installed in 1953 to pay tribute to Gen. Stonewall Jackson and Gen. Robert E. Lee of the Confederate Army. The cathedral said in a statement that, until the flags are taken down, they would "serve as a catalyst for the difficult and uncomfortable conversations about race that we need to have on the road to racial justice." "Instead of simply taking the windows down and going on with business as usual, the cathedral recognizes that, for now, they provide an opportunity for us to begin to write a new narrative on race and racial justice at the cathedral and perhaps for our nation," the Rev. Dr. Kelly Brown Douglas, the cathedral's canon theologian, said in the statement . The two small areas of the bay of windows that depict the Confederate battle flag will be removed "as soon as we can do it," said Mariann Edgar Budde, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington and the interim dean of the cathedral. She said it would take no longer than a few weeks. Bishop Budde said that neither she nor the previous dean, the Very Rev. Gary Hall, knew that the windows contained images of the flag until last summer. It was a shock to learn they were there, the bishop said, and Father Hall called for their removal last year. "They were brought to our attention after the Charleston massacre last year," Bishop Budde said, referring to the mass shooting by a white supremacist who killed nine people at a historically black church in South Carolina. "That's when it resurfaced in our consciousness that the Confederate flag was part of our stained-glass artistry." The cathedral is one of many prominent institutions in the United States that have grappled in recent years with the legacy of racism and slavery. The Confederate battle flag was removed from the grounds of the South Carolina Statehouse one month after the shooting, and Georgetown University, which is not far from the cathedral in the nation's capital, has publicly struggled with the fact that it sold 272 slaves to southern plantation owners in 1838. The windows depicting General Lee and General Jackson were installed in the cathedral almost a century after the end of the Civil War with the financial assistance of the Daughters of the Confederacy and a donor from the North, Bishop Budde said. She described it as part of "the way the Civil War memory was encoded in American history in the 20th century." "At the time it was publicized as a reconciliation effort between daughters of the North and the South basically white people on both sides of the Mason-Dixon line coming together to memorialize heroes from the Civil War in heroic, and in Lee's case really mythic, language," she said. The decision to remove the images was made after a six-month study by a five-person task force , the cathedral said. That group also recommended an audit of all art and iconography on the premises, it said. The cathedral will also devote "significant liturgical, artistic and programmatic resources" over the next two years to a series of discussions to decide whether the entire bay of windows should be removed. "Whatever the chapter's ultimate decision, the windows will not live in the cathedral in the same way they have in the past," the task force wrote in a report that was published online Wednesday. | 5 | 99,550 | news |
Tiger Woods' U.S. Open Near-Misses Tiger Woods' U.S. Open record is already plenty impressive: three wins, including an all-time, "Was he playing the same golf course as us?" 15-stroke win in the 2000 U.S. Open. Throw in a dominant showing at soggy Bethpage Black in 2002 and his legendary win on a broken leg in 2008 at Torrey Pines, and it's hard to believe that Woods' U.S. Open record could have been better. But in fact, it could have been much better. Woods boasts five other top 10s in his 19 appearances in the National Open, along with at least a couple of other occasions when he was squarely in contention on the weekend. What follows is a brief recap of both his best and most frustrating moments in the U.S. Open. 1999: Pinehurst No. 2 Two years after his landmark win in the Masters, Woods was still looking for a second major title and was beginning to see the fruits of a swing overhaul under Butch Harmon. Although he hadn't contended in his first two U.S. Opens as a pro, he found himself two shots behind leader Payne Stewart coming into the final round. After a birdie on the 16th hole pulled him within one of the lead, Woods was undone by missing two short putts late on Sunday. He ended up two shots behind Stewart and another shot behind Phil Mickelson to finish T-3. But don't feel too bad for him . . . 2000: Pebble Beach Woods recovered in a BIG way the next year. After capturing his second major at the 1999 PGA, he won his first U.S. Open by 15 (!) shots. In fact, Woods would rattle off four straight majors between that Open and the 2001 Masters, which fueled talk of a calendar Grand Slam. Which meant . . . 2001: Southern Hills Woods faced incredible scrutiny heading into Southern Hills, but he never really got going. After opening with a 74, he played one under the rest of the way. But it was still only good enough for a T-12, seven shots out of the playoff between Retief Goosen and Mark Brooks. "I don't think people really understand how difficult it is on you to keep putting yourself there and the stress it puts on you coming down the back nine on Sunday with a chance to win," Woods said at the end of his major streak. "More times than not it wears you out." 2002: Bethpage Black However frustrated he was by coming up flat at Southern Hills, Woods answered the next year at the Black, outlasting Phil Mickelson by three shots to claim his second Open and eighth major title. 2005: Pinehurst No. 2 Back to the site of his close call in 1999, Woods made another run six years later, and this time, he was chasing down an unheralded leader in New Zealand's Michael Campbell. Once within a shot of the lead in the final round, Woods' saw his opportunity slip away with bogeys on the 16th and 17th holes. He ended up losing by two. 2007: Oakmont Another U.S. Open, another golden chance for Woods to add to his major haul. Chasing Argentina's Angel Cabrera on Sunday, Woods moved into a share of the lead at the eighth hole, but couldn't hold it. He had a chance to tie Cabrera on the short, drivable par-4 17th, but his bunker shot skirted across the green and he had to settle for par. He lost by one, but could still afford a smile afterward. 2008: Torrey Pines Alas, Woods recovered in a big way the next year, winning his third U.S. Open in a playoff over Rocco Mediate, all while contending with a broken leg. He would miss the rest of the year due to reconstructive surgery. Little did we know it could be the last major he won. 2009: Bethpage Black A second rain-plagued Open at the famed Long Island muny saw Woods rack up another top 10. This time, though, he was playing catch-up from the start. After a sluggish 74 in the opening round, Woods strung together three rounds in the 60s to close and made a brief rally with consecutive birdies on the 13th and 14th holes in the final round. But a bogey on 15 stalled his momentum, and Woods finished T-6, four shots behind winner Lucas Glover. 2010: Pebble Beach Woods had only recently emerged from a self-imposed hiatus following his sex scandal, but a return to the site of his most dominant performance brought the promise of positive vibes. He indeed summoned some of the old magic by birdieing the final three holes on Saturday to shoot 66. But that was as close as he got, imploding to a 75 on Sunday to finish T-4. 2012: Olympic Club The 2012 season featured Woods' first wins after his sex scandal, and at Olympic Club through the first two days, he seemed poised to capture another major. After opening 69-70, Woods teed off Saturday with a share of the 36-hole lead. Again, though, he couldn't sustain it. He played the final two rounds in eight-over par, and finished a disappointing T-21. More from Golf Digest: The Hottest PGA Tour Wives and Girlfriends How Tiger's Swing Has Changed This Weekend's Best Golf Instagrams | 1 | 99,551 | sports |
If you're in it just for the money, find another line of work. Some founders I coach hate hearing that. Real entrepreneurs get it. A founder's focus on being rich is one criteria I use to filter out seed investment opportunities . I do so because if someone is too concerned with lining their own pockets, they won't be concerned enough with building a business, crafting a corporate culture or taking care of their employees -- all of which, ironically, are necessary for a founder to get rich. Here are three reasons to stay focused. The transient value of money One reason money is not a worthy objective is because cash is of transient value. Yes, you can buy many fancy and luxurious things. But these are items of comfort and amusement and not anything that creates human value. One aspect of Silicon Valley culture I am delighted with is the near universal attitude of giving away fortunes in personal wealth in order to improve humanity. Our locally minted billionaires routinely shed most of their lucre, knowing that what little they keep is more than sufficient for a luxurious lifestyle. They understand that they were not primarily in business to be rich, but to change things. Once they earned more money than they could possibly spend, they sought to use that money to continue changing things through charity. The permanent value of achievement This is the nature of entrepreneurialism -- the desire for change. Change comes in many forms. One can change a market, as Apple did with iPhones. You can change an industry, as Linus Torvalds did by creating and maintaining the Linux operating system. You can change the world, as Ronald Reagan did by encouraging and facilitating the fall of the Soviet Union. Creating change is an achievement, and achieving things is hugely motivating. In my book "Tough Things First" I tell the story of how, as a teenager, I mastered the high hurdles, despite functional handicaps (short legs, having to jump using alternate leading legs, etc.). There was no money involved in high school track and field events. But there was a great sense of accomplishment when the school's track coach, who once told me I could not run high hurdles, had to hand me the medal for winning the championship. This sense of accomplishment is what does and should drive most entrepreneurs. At times it is understated, as when a technically minded founder is exploring what is possible with a product. Other times it is nearly messianic as a business leader seeks to dominate their industry. In the middle you have those startup CEOs who find joy in the minutia of building their business and being as involved in every aspect of it as they can. On rare occasions, a founder demonstrates all three elements. The enduring value of business Discussed too little is the value of building an enduring business. When one creates a company that outlasts the founders and his grandchildren, then there is a level of accomplishment that is historic. It can be as iconic as the 130-year-old American beverage company Coca Cola (founded in 1886) or as obscure as the Japanese construction company Kong? Gumi (founded in 578 and operated for 1,428 years). Such empires require more than a strong leader, because leaders grow old and die. It requires establishing a mission in which generations of employees believe, a corporate culture that guides their decisions and directions and a public trust that institutionalizes a brand. Foremost in creating enduring businesses is creating great employees. I told Micrel employees I might not make them rich, but I would help them to be better people. So much of Micrel corporate culture focused on the dignity of every individual. By focusing more on people than profits, we elevated both. What is your motivation? Before developing your product and launching your startup, search your soul. Be sure of your motivations. I hope you do get rich, but even more I hope you have purpose, as that makes getting rich that much easier. Related: 5 Learnings For Entrepreneurs From SRK's Recent Graduation Speech 7 Ways to Get People to Take Responsibility | 3 | 99,552 | finance |
Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen's 30 most stylish moments The most fashionable twins on the planet -- that would be Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen -- have parlayed their unique and iconic fashion sense into a $1 billion fashion empire. The actresses-turned-style-dynamos have been fronting fashion lines since age 14 and started their own couture label, The Row, 10 years ago. They've also been named Womenswear Designer of the Year by the Council of Fashion Designers of America TWICE since 2012. To mark their 30th birthday on June 13, 2016, Wonderwall.com is rounding up 30 of MK and Ashley's most memorable fashion moments, starting with their 2016 Met Gala appearance. Keep reading for more... This pic goes way back -- back before they adopted their famous pruning pose. A smiley Mary-Kate Olsen and Ashley Olsen went with bright prints for the "Charlie's Angels 2" premiere in June 2003. Slightly older twin Ashley selected a brown and white floral halter dress, while Mary-Kate went with a flowing, long-sleeved red and blue floor-length dress. MK had also darkened her blond hair at this point, setting the fraternal twins apart. A knit beanie paired with formalwear? That should be filed under "things only Mary-Kate Olsen can pull off." The slightly taller twin rocked a red crocheted beanie with a glamorous black gown for a boho-chic vibe during an event at Paris Fashion Week in October 2006, while sister Ashley Olsen opted for something more Parisian chic. Layered up, blanketed in fur and clad in all-black? It's the Olsen twins trifecta! Ashley Olsen and Mary-Kate Olsen both have a major (and controversial) affinity for fur -- and the style has provided them many an iconic red carpet moment, for better or for worse. When the two attended the WWD @ 100 Anniversary Gala in New York City in November 2010, the twins arrived in corresponding black fur jackets over monochromatic dark ensembles and incorporated three of their favorite fashion staples at once. Mary-Kate Olsen and Ashley Olsen's Hollywood icon status was solidified in April 2004 when they received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. For the occasion, the former "Full House" stars wore feminine frocks and heels. Mary-Kate opted for a lovely lilac slip dress while Ashley stuck with one of her favorite hues in a classic, crisp white dress. The Olsen twins' street style is almost more fascinating than their red carpet looks. Known for her eccentric layering, Mary-Kate Olsen's vibe was often affectionately dubbed "homeless chic" in the early '00s, while sister Ashley Olsen's usual uniform was typically comprised of classic cuts and more feminine pieces. But both women share a deep love of the color black, oversized pieces -- especially their sunglasses -- as well as loading up on layers. For this coffee outing in Los Angeles' Brentwood neighborhood in August 2005, the twins showed off their massive shades and laid-back California style in layers and flip flops. They love their oversized shades so much that sometimes they wear them on the red carpet! Though it's usually a fashion faux pas, Mary-Kate Olsen and Ashley Olsen pulled off the look at the Broadway opening of "Lend Me A Tenor" in New York City in April 2010. Both were decked out in glamorous black gowns -- MK's frilled and Ashley's sheer. Ashley Olsen and Mary-Kate Olsen solidified themselves as fashion icons at the 2013 Met Gala in New York City. Ashley's orange beaded Dior dress was stunning and made an entrance on its own. Her twin also went with beading, picking a Chanel drop-waist gown and covering it up with a quintessentially Mary-Kate fur-trimmed coat. Mary-Kate Olsen isn't likely to be seen wearing casual sandals on the red carpet these days, but back at the 2004 Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards, she rocked some simple gold ones with a navy dress. Ashley Olsen was the dressier twin for the occasion, opting for a halter top, long skirt and chunky heels. Both girls opted for ponytails at the event, and Ashley even smiled -- with teeth! -- as they posed in their trendy mid-'00s ensembles. Occasionally, Mary-Kate Olsen and Ashley Olsen go back to their roots and decide to match. This happened at the 2015 Met Gala , where the glamorous twins showed up in corresponding dramatic black Dior gowns. Pointy-toed flats were all the rage in the mid-'00s, and Mary-Kate Olsen and Ashley Olsen wore the trend while stopping by another '00s staple -- MTV's "TRL" -- in May 2004. Mary-Kate stole one of her sister's signature colors and wore a white lacy dress with green pointy flats while Ashley took a page out of Mary-Kate's book with a sleek black dress and silver flats. Tulle and trains! At the 2010 ELLE Style Awards in February 2010, Mary-Kate Olsen and Ashley Olsen both stunned in super-glamorous gowns. Ashley slayed in a stunning tan and blue Christian Lacroix dress while Mary-Kate stayed true to her sleek, dark style in a black Lanvin creation. Ashley goes dark! Mary-Kate Olsen and Ashley Olsen attended a Teen Vogue party in New York City in November 2006 with one twin sporting a drastically different look: Ashley rocked a slinky black gown to go with her new darker hair, while Mary-Kate opted for a surprising pop of color in a flowing bright red dress. Styling and matching since 1993! A then-7-year-old Mary-Kate Olsen and Ashley Olsen dressed to impress at an ABC TV Upfronts party in New York City that May, rocking matching nautical themed outfits and looking all sorts of adorable. We love this leather coordination! In February 2008, Mary-Kate Olsen rocked an impossibly chic studded leather jacket, while Ashley Olsen went with leather pants, a gray sweater and simple coat while shopping in Paris. The twins know just how to use a corresponding accent color. At a dinner for The Row in New York City in October 2007, Mary-Kate Olsen and Ashley Olsen both went for all-black looks but incorporated a white accent -- MK's in the form of a white fur coat, and Ashley's with a white scarf. Ashley Olsen and Mary-Kate Olsen attended the 2002 Vanity Fair Oscar Party in Beverly Hills, California, as matching 15-year-olds: Both donned sweet and simple black lace dresses and high-heeled sandals. Clad in their own designs, Mary-Kate Olsen and Ashley Olsen attended the 2012 CFDA Fashion Awards in June 2012. Their The Row gowns complimented one another, with Ashley donning a magenta-hued dress and Mary-Kate going for a sleek black number. Black and gold is a classic Olsen combination, and the pair wore the complementary colors at the 2008 Met Gala. Both were decked out in custom Diane Von Furstenberg that night: Mary-Kate Olsen rocked a glittery gold confection and Ashley Olsen showed a lot more skin than usual in a sexy black frock with side cutouts. Matching furs! The twins love a good fur moment, and a matching one is quintessentially Olsen. At a WWD 100 Anniversary Party in New York City in November 2010, both women wore black furs and posed so similarly that it's actually hard to tell which twin is which! A cheetah coat? That hat? In a classic Mary-Kate Olsen moment, the fashion designer turned up at an event at The Museum of Modern Art in New York City in November 2009 wearing a glam cheetah-print coat over an all-black outfit with a dark lip, while her sister stayed true to her own style sense and rocked a feminine frilled blue-and-white dress. Ashley Olsen and Mary-Kate Olsen complemented each other in different brown dresses at the premiere of their 2004 flick "New York Minute." Mary-Kate paired her brown and white polka-dot frock with bright pink heels, while Ashley stayed classic with metallic stilettos for her silky chocolate brown dress. Ashley Olsen sported a chic menswear look while Mary-Kate Olsen rocked a mini-dress and tights at the Free Arts NYC's Seventh Annual Art and Photography Auction Benefit in 2006. The two even styled their hair in opposite fashions: Mary-Kate's wild and down; Ashley's twisted up. Mary-Kate Olsen and Ashley Olsen stuck with complementary black and white on a trip to Stockholm in August 2013. Mary-Kate wore her usual all-black uniform, while Ashley provided a pop of white with her turtleneck. Olsen twins love an oversized coat! The duo rocked one of their favorite staples at a Rolling Stones concert in Los Angeles in April 2013, with Mary-Kate Olsen opting for a half-up, half-down hairdo with her tan coat and Ashley Olsen picking a bright red velvet variety. The twins are always so true to their individual style and we love it! Their red carpet appearance at the premiere of "The Union" in April 2011 is a clutch example -- with Mary-Kate Olsen dressing perfectly out-of-the-box a fiery orange Celine fur jacket paired with tangerine pants and patterned Louis Vuitton heels, and Ashley Olsen staying cool and conservative in a simple black Prada dress and understated Lanvin pumps. We're fairly certain the Olsen twins are always cold, because they love themselves some coats and furs, sometimes combined. At the premiere of "Tower Heist" in October 2011, Mary-Kate Olsen combined their two loves with a black coat with fur over it, while Ashley Olsen opted for a neutral tan coat. Back in 2002, Mary-Kate Olsen and Ashley Olsen went casual for the July 2002 premiere of "Austin Powers In Goldmember," opting for matching sheer tanks complete with butterfly patterns and lace. Matching smiles and matching coats -- it must be 2002! Mary-Kate Olsen and Ashley Olsen attended the Hollywood Reporter's Annual Women in Entertainment: Power 100 Breakfast in Beverly Hills, California, in December 2002 wearing matching corduroy coats. Ashley's was tan and Mary-Kate's was chocolate. Both toted black clutches at the event. Mary-Kate Olsen and Ashley Olsen made an elegant statement at the 2014 Met Gala in New York City. Both wore conservative, buttoned-up gowns with dramatic trains with their hair slicked back. Mary-Kate's black vintage Ferre frock was both striped and sleeved, while Ashley's navy blue Chanel dress featured gold button detailing. | 6 | 99,553 | entertainment |
As Hillary Clinton narrows down her potential vice presidential picks, MSNBC's Steve Kornacki runs through the pros and cons of Elizabeth Warren filling that position. | 5 | 99,554 | news |
Poor Dad. While Mom gets showered with flowers and eggs Benedict on her special day, Father's Day has been reduced to a charcoal commercial: grill a steak, crack a beer, rinse, repeat. We don't know about you, but our fathers are way cooler and more interesting than this tired stereotype. So this year, we're going to toast them with a drink that's worthy of them. Below are a few options that will show Dad how much you appreciate him. 1. Sin Cyn An elegant scotch cocktail can be difficult to achieve, thanks to the bold character of the liquor itself. This recipe demands balance and creates order while still being tough, much like a father figure or Elliot Stabler. Get the recipe for the Sin Cyn. 2. Maraschino Snakebite Let's give dads a little more credit than the beer-guzzling Homer Simpson style caricature. Pops' palate is more refined than a six-pack of Bud, so it's time to upgrade his beverage to this elegant beer-cider hybrid. It's low in alcohol and way more refreshing than a can of Duff. Get the recipe for the Maraschino Snakebite. 3. Black Pepper Gibson Here's your chance to show Dad you've flourished in adulthood as someone of class and substance. Make him this clean, savory riff on a Martini , and he'll no doubt be impressed. But remember: Just one will do ya. (Fatherly pride stops when things get sloppy.) Get the recipe for the Black Pepper Gibson. 4. Hemingway Daiquiri When it comes to papas who like their liquor, Hemingway is at the top of the list. So why not treat Dad to the scribe's own take on a Daiquiri , made with white rum, maraschino liqueur, grapefruit and lime juice. Get the recipe for the Hemingway Daiquiri. 5. Ferrari Salute the man who taught you how to ride a bike and let you borrow his car by gifting him with a new ride. Not in your price range? Then settle for the next best thing: a round of Ferrari shots, featuring Campari and fernet. Get the recipe for the Ferrari. 6. Spazerac The Sazerac is the Atticus Finch of cocktails: honest, balanced and a role model for all of the other drinks. But it's not our first choice for June drinking, so we're grateful for this variation, which takes the components of the classic to the blender. A Sazerac that's appropriate for the pool? We never thought we'd see the day. Get the recipe for the Spazerac. 7. Ready Aim Fire Firing up the grill on Father's Day is traditional, but if you don't want to go the barbecue route (pyromaniac? vegetarian?), rely on this cocktail to capture that essence, sans open flame and meat sweats. Mezcal provides smoky backbone, while a pineapple syrup and Bittermens Hellfire Habanero Shrub bitters add sweetness and heat. Get the recipe for the Ready Aim Fire. 8. Summer Session Old Fashioned Here's a drink for the father who's doesn't take himself too seriously. If your traditional Old Fashioned is a straitlaced disciplinarian, then this pitcher cocktail, featuring plenty of citrus and thyme simple syrup, is all about dad jokes and letting you stay out past curfew. Get the recipe for the Summer Session Old Fashioned. | 0 | 99,555 | foodanddrink |
Costco members join the warehouse club for a variety of reasons. Some people carefully shop across all the aisles, looking for bargains, while others focus solely on food or even outliers like hearing aids, eyeglasses, tires, or travel deals. The chain gives people a lot of reasons to spend $55 each year for its "Gold Star" membership, but it's possible that all those other areas of potential savings don't matter if you just buy one thing regularly from the retailer. If you join Costco and take advantage of its on-site gas stations, that alone may be worth the price of joining, depending on how much gas you buy, if the Costco station is convenient for you, and what competing stations charge. How does Costco gas work? While Costco does not have gas stations at all of its clubs, the ones that do all work roughly the same. Aside from in New Jersey and Oregon, where full-serve stations are legally mandated, all Costco gas stations are self-serve, with traffic flowing only in one direction. To buy gas, customers must either swipe their Costco membership card or pay via a Costco gift card. The chain does not take cash or checks, only credit cards. Costco also does not name its gasoline provider, instead offering a number of assurances on its website that its gas meets "top-tier" standards as set forth by a number of automakers including BMW , General Motors , Honda , Toyota , and Mercedes Benz. Related video: The top 3 jobs at Costco How much will you save? Costco does not promise a certain amount of savings. The chain also declined to comment for this story. Exactly how much you will save on gas varies by market, time of year, and by what other gas stations choose to do. Anecdotally, in the two markets where I live -- Hartford, Connecticut, and West Palm Beach, Florida, Costco has the cheapest gas of any area station with the savings varying from a few cents to around $0.15 from the next-cheapest. For example, as of the morning of June 9, miamigasprices.com, a GasBuddy.com website, shows that gas in the state of Florida averages $2.34 while multiple Costco stations have prices of $2.19 per gallon, according to information submitted by drivers. There are other stations in that range, but when looking at the lowest reported prices, Costco consistently comes in below the average. That does not mean there are not outlier stations that equal Costco's pricing, but in a broad sense the chain is consistently cheap. Gasbuddy.com has geographic search capabilities that you can get to starting at the miamigasprices.com site here . Dialing in for a more specific example, GasBuddy shows the Costco near Hartford, Connecticut, coming in at $2.21 a gallon, $0.07 lower than the next-lowest reported station. That's generally in line with findings from The Christian Science Monitor and SavingAdvice.com , which reported savings anywhere from a couple of pennies a gallon to $0.30. There is, of course, one big exception to Costco being the cheapest and that's markets where rival Sam's Club, which is owned by Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT), also has gas stations, and its prices rival Costco's. There's no definitive number by which Costco is always lower, but in a conservative broad sense let's say over the course of a year you will save $0.07 per gallon compared to any station other than Sam's. Of course there can be local exceptions and The Christian Science Monitor noted that markets like Chicago, which have a heavy tax burden, saw less fluctuation between high- and low-priced stations. That said, if you save $0.07 per gallon while using the roughly 15 gallons of gas each American household consumes each week, according to numbers from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), you would save $54.79 each year. Of course, how much you actually drive, the mileage you get, and whether it's feasible to always get your gas from a Costco has to be considered. Numbers will fluctuate throughout the year, but it's important to examine your own situation and do the math for yourself. Also, any savings estimates based on buying gas at Costco are purely based on pump prices. It's possible you would save more money using rewards programs from credit cards, supermarkets, or other methods to gain a discount which Costco does not offer. Is it worth joining Costco just for gas? While the numbers above are just a very broad estimate and the actual savings could be a little better or a little worse, in a broad sense, joining Costco just for gas works for people who drive more than the average American. If you fill up more than once a week -- and can do so at a Costco -- you should recoup the $55. It's important to do the math where you live. These numbers work for me in Connecticut and Florida, but gas prices vary widely depending upon where you live. Remember to factor in any possible other ways to save on gas (like rewards programs) and analyze your own situation. Of course, unless you drive well more than the average citizen of the United States does, it's not worth spending $55 up front for a small savings. The real value is in viewing the gas savings as paying for a membership that otherwise might no have been a good deal for you. Even average gas consumers could offset most, if not all of the cost of a Gold Star membership, essentially making every other perk Costco offers free. SPONSORED: A secret billion-dollar stock opportunity The world's biggest tech company forgot to show you something, but a few Wall Street analysts and the Fool didn't miss a beat: There's a small company that's powering their brand-new gadgets and the coming revolution in technology. And we think its stock price has nearly unlimited room to run for early in-the-know investors! To be one of them, just click here . | 3 | 99,556 | finance |
HARTFORD, Conn. Connecticut State Police say a student has been detained in connection with a threat that forced a lockdown at a high school in Hartford. No one was injured. City officers and a state police SWAT team responded to Prince Technical High School on Thursday morning. Hartford Deputy Police Chief Brian Foley says someone made a threat on social media. He says initial reports of a student with a handgun at the school were incorrect. He says students are safe and he expects the lockdown to be lifted shortly. Details of the threat weren't disclosed. A school official declined to comment Thursday morning. Many concerned parents gathered outside the school and were waiting to see their children. | 5 | 99,557 | news |
Following successful neck surgery, former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) middleweight champion Chris Weidman appears to be on track for his mixed martial arts (MMA) return, which could come on the UFC 205 pay-per-view (PPV) fight card this November inside New York's Madison Square Garden. That's according to a report from MMA Fighting , which indicates a return to "hard sparring" in roughly two weeks. After coughing up his title to Luke Rockhold at UFC 194, "All American" was expected to run it back with his American Kickboxing Academy (AKA) nemesis in the UFC 199 main event; however, a bum neck forced him to withdraw from their 185-pound do-over. Then something crazy happened. Longtime veteran Michael Bisping stepped in to take his place, then wiped the floor with Rockhold in just one round ( see it ). It remains to be seen where Weidman fits into the current middleweight title picture , especially with Ronaldo Souza and Yoel Romero soon to return. Stay tuned. | 1 | 99,558 | sports |
As Donald Trump's campaign for the White House kicks into high gear, the controversial billionaire will be jetting across America on his private Boeing 757-200 airliner. Unlike most presidential candidates, The Donald actually owns his campaign plane. "Trump Force One" as some have dubbed the jet will be one of the most visible symbols of Trump's run for the Oval Office. Trump likes to call it the "T-Bird," according to a Discovery Channel documentary featuring the plane. Trump's Boeing 757 cost a whopping $100 million. Trump has owned the Boeing airliner registration N757FA since 2011 and has customized the aircraft to his liking. Click ahead for a closer look at Donald Trump's personal Boeing 757-200 jet. Although The Donald may be the jet's current owner, he wasn't its first. Trump's Boeing 757-2J4ER first flew in May 1991. The brand-new airliner was delivered to Sterling Airlines, a now defunct Danish low-cost carrier. A couple of years later, it found its way into the fleet of Mexico's TAESA, also a now defunct airline. In 1995, the jet was purchased by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen. For the next 15 years, the Boeing served as a corporate runabout for the billionaire's various interests. In 2011, Trump took delivery of the then 20-year-old jet and added his personal touches, at great expense. The current 757 took the place of Trump's former plane a Boeing 727 built in 1969. The Boeing 757 is powered by a pair of Rolls-Royce RB211 turbofan engines. The Rolls-Royce engines are a feature Trump was very keen to have on his plane. Although it's not the most fuel-efficient engine in the world, it is incredibly powerful. In fact, it's earned the 757 a reputation among pilots for being a bit of a hotrod. Up front, the Boeing is outfitted with a modern "glass cockpit." In airline operations, the Boeing 757-200 can carry as many as 239 passengers, but Trump's plane is configured for only 43. It has all of the features you'd expect Donald Trump to enjoy, such as ... ... a silk-lined master bedroom equipped with ... ... a big-screen entertainment system ... ... a master bath with 24-karat gold fixtures and ... ... a shower! In total the plane is equipped with two bedrooms. In fact, virtually every fixture in the plane is 24-karat gold plated. Even the seat belts! The plane's headrests and pillows are embroidered with the Trump family crest. Trump's guests also travel in style. There's a dining room. The seats have personal entertainment systems; they convert into beds. There's also a private guest room ... ... with another entertainment system. However, if you want to watch something communally, there's the main lounge, with its 57-inch screen and access to 1,000 movies. Everything is controlled by touchscreen. Even access to The Donald's DVR. If you get hungry, there's a galley on board. Here's a complete video tour of the plane from Trump's YouTube channel. | 3 | 99,559 | finance |
Husar, a 400-kilogram male manatee, arrived at his new home in the Paris Zoo Thursday morning after travelling from Italy. | 8 | 99,560 | video |
Verizon Communications Inc (VZ.N) did not submit the highest offer this week in the second round of bidding for Yahoo Inc's (YHOO.O) core internet assets, according to a person familiar with the matter. No committed financing was required for second-round bids, and Yahoo will put together in the coming days a new shortlist of bidders from which it will solicit binding offers, the person added. Yahoo and Verizon offered no immediate comment. Earlier on Thursday, CNBC reported, citing sources, that Verizon's bid of more than $3.5 billion was topped by multiple offers at or above $5 billion. It did not name the parties that made those offers. AT&T Inc (T.N), private equity firms such as TPG Capital LP and a consortium comprising Bain Capital Private Equity and Vista Equity Partners Management LLC, as well as a Quicken Loans Inc founder Dan Gilbert-led group backed by Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRKa.N) Chairman Warren Buffett have been in the running for Yahoo's web assets, Reuters has previously reported. (Reporting by Greg Roumeliotis in New York; Editing by Steve Orlofskyh) | 3 | 99,561 | finance |
These classics are worth a second look. Twelve Classic Cars That Are Criminally Overlooked Gems These days, it seems as though all the great classic cars have been discovered and in turn, skyrocketed in value. There are still some hidden gems living in the shadows of more popular cars that are great to drive, and often times, a bargain to buy. Volkswagen Karmann Ghia Everyone fawns over the classic VW Beetle and the Bus, but the Karmann Ghia is left in the shadows somewhat. Strange, considering it's easily the prettiest of the three. Get one while prices are still low and you'll have something that lacks speed, but makes up in style. Alfa Romeo Giulia Sedan With the arrival of the excellent new Alfa Romeo Giulia, now is a good time to take a second look at the classic Giulia sedan. Arguably one of the first sports sedans ever made, this classic combined Alfa's genius twin-cam four-cylinder with the same chassis as the popular GT coupes. A Giulia 1600 TI Super like the one above won't be cheap, but the more common, lower-displacement versions represent a great value. Mercury Cougar The Ford Mustang is easily one of the most iconic cars ever made, but its Mercury brother, the Cougar tends to be forgotten. The first-gen Cougar has more or less the same bones as the Mustang in a package that's easily as pretty. BMW E3 BMW's shark-nosed E9-chassis coupes (3.0CS) are some of the brand's most beloved cars, but their sedan counterparts are excellent as well. Similarly great looks, with top-notch straight-six power. The U.S.-only Bavaria with its 2.8- or 3.0-liter straight-six is an excellent classic car find. Ford Ranchero The Chevrolet El Camino is the definitive American ute, but the Ford Ranchero was there first. While we could wonder why the Ranchero never got the love of its Chevy counterpart, we'd rather just build a hot rodded version. Datsun Sports You always see a little Datsun Roadster at classic car shows, but for whatever reason, it's not as beloved as its British contemporaries or Datsun's later masterpiece, the 240Z. Its styling definitely borrows from the European roadsters of its day, but it's much more reliable. Fiat 600 The Fiat 500's slightly bigger brother, the 600, might not be quite as cute as the tiny city car icon, but it's still a design triumph. While the regular 600 (pictured above) is great, the variants it birthed, like the innovative 600 Multipla, the lovely 600 Jolly, and the Abarth 750, are even greater. Volkswagen Scirocco Volkswagen in the mid-1970s was very interesting. It finally had a replacement for the iconic Beetle in the Golf hatchback, and it replaced the stylish Karmann Ghia coupe with this, the Scirocco. Its Giugiaro-penned lines still look fresh today. Studebaker Lark Never having achieved the success of the American "Big Three" Studebaker has always been doomed to obscurity. The Lark was one of the more interesting compact cars available in the early-1960s, and they're somewhat of a bargain now. You could even buy a Super Lark with a supercharged V8 the prototype for the muscle cars that dominated the 1960s. Sunbeam Tiger The AC Cobra wasn't the only British roadster Carroll Shelby stuffed a Ford V8 into. The other was this, the Sunbeam Tiger, which previously existed as the four-cylinder Sunbeam Alpine. Prices on these are rising, but they're still a bargain compared with the Cobra. AMC AMX AMC made some of the coolest muscle cars of the 1960s and early-1970s, but they never get the same love as those from Ford, GM, and Chrysler. The two-seat AMX, a quasi-Corvette competitor, was easily the coolest. Ferrari Dino 308 GT4 It's hard to say any Ferrari is overlooked, but the Bertone-designed 308 GT4 has always lived in the shadow of its (prettier) two-seat brother, the 308 GTB. The GT4 is still an excellent handling car with a lovely 3.0-liter V8, and hey, we kinda dig the looks. | 9 | 99,562 | autos |
When you think of credit cards, the first thing that probably comes to mind is rewards (hopefully not followed by debt!). That's why we're pumped at the possibility that Bed Bath and Beyond might be launching a credit card program that could include just that. The rumor stems from the news of the home retailer's partnership with Alliance Data's card services division, a company behind many credit card and loyalty programs. The purpose behind the partnership is to help retain shoppers and also entice new ones. "We are confident that our innovative marketing approach, premier predictive analytics and brand- and customer-centric philosophy perfectly align with Bed Bath and Beyond's goals of attracting new customers and increasing brand engagement among loyal cardmembers," Melisa Miller, president of Alliance Data's card services business, told PR Newswire . If the perks of this program are anything like the retailer's unbeatable 20% off coupons , the savings could really stack up. However, there have been rumblings of changes coming to those famous discounts, including scaling back on how many they give out and setting an expiration date on them (the horror!). We're keeping our fingers crossed - and our coupons close by. [h/t PR Newswire ] | 4 | 99,563 | lifestyle |
Breakfast cereals are tied so closely to our childhoods that we decided to find out which brands launched the year you were born . Everyone has a favorite and remembers spending the morning at their family's kitchen table. And now, for the first time in 15 years, General Mills is debuting a new cereal to make a.m. memories over. Launching in two flavors, Tiny Toast is a blueberry- and strawberry-sprinkled mini toast-shaped whole-grain oat and corn cereal. The brand is aiming for an all-family appeal, much like customer favorites like Honey Nut Cheerios and Cinnamon Toast Crunch. The newbie, like the most recent iterations of its predecessors, contains no artificial ingredients or colors . Yet "people told us that both varieties tasted real, and not fake like they typically associate with fruit-flavored cereals," Mike Evenson, product developer, wrote on the company's blog . What's most interesting is that the company hasn't launched a cereal that's still on shelves in 25 years (its 1991 launch, Basic 4, was discontinued). Yet General Mills noted via press release that it has seen direct sales increases from revamping old recipes and toying with new, improved ingredients in old standbys like Cinnamon Toast Crunch . So we'll have to see how this newcomer fares with breakfast fans. Follow Delish on Instagram . | 0 | 99,564 | foodanddrink |
It's your turn to pop the question. 1) Personalized Bridesmaid Proposal Ideas It's your turn to pop the question. 2) A Message in a Balloon She'll open the box to find a hand-pumped balloon with a special safety pin to pop it with inside, a paper reads "Will you be my bridesmaid?" ($12, etsy.com ) 3) A Cupcake in a Jar An easy way to win a future bridesmaid's heart: food. These cupcakes in a jar come with a spoon and special napkin, where she'll find the Big Question in pretty typeface. Get the tutorial at Mary This » 4) A Personalized Wine Bottle It's impossible to say no to a bottle of vino. These sweet things allow you to write a special note to your bridesmaid-to-be and you can save the drinking part for the next big day you share. (Perhaps when she gets engaged?) ($7, etsy.com ) 5) ...Or Three Mini Bottles Just like you're going to want a little sip of champagne on the Big Day, your bridesmaid-to-be will probably want to do the same and for all the fun festivities leading up to it. This thoughtful kit will take care of everything. Cheers! Get the tutorial at Something Turquoise » 6) Punny Jewelry You've already got the sparkly ring now spread the love with a little jewelry for your bridesmaids. These sweet bow charm necklaces are like grown-up friendship bracelets. Perfection. ($11 each, etsy.com ) 7) A Pretty Puzzle If you want to tease out the big question, these cutesy jigsaws come in dozens of personalized versions, right down to the bride's hairstyle. ($22, zazzle.com ) 8) A Ring Pop! Perfect for a friend you've known since childhood, a Ring Pop proposal brings the ultimate bridesmaid bling. ($5, etsy.com ) 9) A Scratch-Off Card You know those scratch-off lottery cards that your Aunt always gives you around the holidays and you've never won a dollar? These adorable bridesmaid cards will make your friends feel like they've won the jackpot. ($4, etsy.com ) 10) Paper Dolls Start the planning early with these floral-happy bridesmaid cards (you can also specify a maid or matron of honor). Everything from the dress color to the hair is customizable. ($27, etsy.com ) 11) A Custom Coke Bottle If your bridesmaids have a special place in their heart for caffeine (don't we all), they'll appreciate this old-school Coke bottle proposal more than anything. Get the tutorial at Wedding Chicks » | 4 | 99,565 | lifestyle |
Research has shown that contempt is the top predictor of divorce , but perhaps the (un)happy couple should simply ask their wedding guests for honest feedback if they really want to know what's in the cards. A recent Reddit post which asked, "What happened at a wedding that let you know the marriage was going to end in a divorce?" sparked nearly 12,000 comments, as former wedding guests weighed in on the red flags they had witnessed at receptions. Then, Daily Mail covered the thread, drawing even more comments from its own readers. Here are some of the earliest indicators of a future trip to divorce court , according to comments: 1. Empty promises: "During the vows they had written for each other, the bride starts with, 'I know I can be a pretty terrible person, and I don't know why you've stuck around, but that's all going to change starting today!' They were divorced a year later." 2. Stubborn standoff: "We knew the couple was in trouble when they frowned during most of the ceremony and later didn't go on a honeymoon because they couldn't agree on a destination. They had plenty of money - just no desire to compromise." 3. Match maid: "The groom said in his speech, 'When I joined a dating agency I never thought I'd be so lucky as to find my own personal cook, dishwasher, and washing machine.' 4. Junk mail: "I was a wedding planner, and [one of the brides] went through all of the invites and threw away [the groom's] family's invites, but left his parents. When the wedding day came, he walked in, looked around, saw his mother, who then told him no one else was invited. [The couple] had a huge argument, there and then at the aisle. Needless to say, the wedding didn't go through." 5. Wedded diss: "The father of the bride at my best friend's wedding told him, 'She's just like her mother. I don't know how you're doing this.' They got divorced less than a year later." 6. Meddling mother-in-law: "The groom looked drunk and the bride seemed incredibly angry. There was this woman walking around during the reception placing bets on when they would divorce. I later found out she was the mother of the groom." 7. Major misnomer: "My now ex called me by his ex-wife's name on our wedding night. The next day his father called me "Catherine." My name is Julie." 8. Honest vows: "The bride had the minister put 'Til death, or divorce, do us part' into the ceremony." 9. Twisted logic: "At the end of the reception the guys are sitting at a table away from everyone else talking and we ask the groom why he proposed. His answer? 'Because she was naked.' The marriage lasted about a year and a half." 10. Tell-tale giggles: "During the ceremony when the priest started asking the bride "Do you take this man to be your...", she started laughing uncontrollably and couldn't stop. Is was cute for about 10 seconds and then things got uncomfortable. They lasted a year and change." 11. Self-sabotage: "The bride told us, as she was going from table to table thanking the guests, that she didn't think it would last. They lasted about a year." 12. Cold shoulder: "She flinched when he turned to kiss her. They were divorced within six months." 13. Sibling rivalry: "During the groom's speech at the wedding, he told us that he was first attracted to his wife's sister." (h/t Daily Mail ) Follow Woman's Day on Instagram . | 4 | 99,566 | lifestyle |
"Throw the record books out the window when these two teams meet!" College football is a sport defined in no small part by its rivalries. One of the constants with rivalry games is that we read and hear this same sentence on an annual basis when old enemies are about to meet. This is especially likely when two teams are not evenly matched. No broadcaster wants to admit, "Team A is a lot better than Team B and will probably crush its rival, but tune in anyway to see the blood splatter." Thus, the cliche gets trotted out to build interest. But is it true? And if so, which rivalries tend to produce anomalous results? Let's test the cliche. We'll start by compiling a list of the best rivalries in college footb all. Rather than just accepting my subjective opinion, I'll aggregate a number of subjective opinions found on the first three pages of a Google search for "best rivalries in college football," then count each mention of a specific rivalry as a vote. After suffering through a bevy of slide shows, I have a clean cut. The following 23 FBS rivalries, a few of which are on hiatus, get at least three votes each from the 13 articles on those three pages: Votes Army-Navy 13 Alabama-Auburn 13 Michigan-Ohio State 13 Oklahoma-Texas 12 Florida-Georgia 10 Notre Dame-USC 10 BYU-Utah 9 Cal-Stanford 8 Clemson-South Carolina 8 Florida-Florida State 8 Florida State-Miami 8 Oregon-Oregon State 8 UCLA-USC 7 Mississippi State-Ole Miss 6 Texas-Texas A&M 5 Georgia-Georgia Tech 4 Minnesota-Wisconsin 4 Pitt-West Virginia 4 Alabama-LSU 3 Auburn-Georgia 3 Kansas-Missouri 3 Michigan-Michigan State 3 Oklahoma-Oklahoma State 3 So with our rough list of the 23 best rivalries (feel free to add Harvard-Yale or Lafayette-Lehigh or your personal choice in your mind to get to 25), we will take a look over the last 30 years (a big enough sample to get some interesting results, but not so big that we start dipping into the period before scholarship limits, when the sport was very different) for truly unpredictable results. To measure unpredictability, we'll look for instances when the winning team was at least three points worse that year overall. We'll use Bill Connelly's Estimated S&P+ ratings . In other words, these are years in which the losing team would've been favored by at least three points if the game had been played after bowl season: Number of statistical upsets, 1986-2015 Upset years Recor d Florida-Georgia 8 92, '97, '02, '03, '05, '07, '12, '14 Florida 5-3 Oklahoma-Texas 7 89, '91, '96, '01, '06, '08, '15 Texas 5-2 UCLA-USC 7 87, 92, 94, 95, 00, 06, 12 UCLA 5-2 Michigan-Michigan State 6 90, '93, '95, '01, '11, '15 MSU 6-0 Kansas-Missouri 6 92, '96, '97, '99, '03, '08, Kansas 4-2 Minnesota-Wisconsin 5 88, '93, '94, '01, '05 Minnesota 3-2 Michigan-Ohio State 4 94, 95, 96, 01, Tied 2-2 Texas-Texas A&M 4 98, 06, 07, 11 Tied 2-2 Cal-Stanford 4 86, 91, 07, 09 Tied 2-2 Pitt-West Virginia 4 97, '07, '09, '10 Tied 2-2 Oklahoma-Oklahoma State 4 01, '02, '13, '14 OSU 3-1 Alabama-LSU 4 87, '93, '95, '10 Tied 2-2 Auburn-Georgia 4 86, '96, '01, '06 UGA 3-1 Florida State-Miami 3 92, '05, '07 Miami 2-1 BYU-Utah 3 88, '93, '12 Utah 3-0 Oregon-Oregon State 3 98, 03, 07 OSU 2-1 Georgia-Georgia Tech 3 89, '06, '14 GT 2-1 Army-Navy 2 90, '05, Tied 1-1 Notre Dame-USC 2 96, '13 Tied 1-1 Florida-Florida State 2 96, '97 Tied 1-1 Mississippi State-Ole Miss 2 93, 00 Tied 1-1 Alabama-Auburn 1 02 Auburn 1-0 Clemson-South Carolina 1 08 Clemson 1-0 So maybe the maxim should be "Throw the record books out the window, but only if the game is played at a neutral site." The Red River Shootout and the World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party are played in split stadiums roughly in between the two campuses, and of the biggest rivalries, they have produced the most anomalous results in the past three decades. And UCLA-USC ties for second. Its stadiums and campuses are just a few miles apart , meaning it's difficult to say either team will often have a truly dominant home field advantage in that rivalry. Florida-Georgia Upsets in this series have been especially costly. The Dawgs kept superior Gators out of the SEC Championship in 1997, 2007 and 2012, but UGA fans might be entitled to feel even more aggrieved. Mark Richt would almost certainly still be the head coach in Athens without a few of these losses to Florida, specifically because: (1) 2002 SEC champion Georgia likely would have played Ohio State for the national title without a loss to a Florida that was statistically eight points worse overall, and (2) Georgia would have won the East and been playing for a Playoff spot against Alabama in 2014 if not for the inexplicable loss to Will Muschamp's last Florida team and a strange loss to Georgia Tech. Oklahoma-Texas The Cotton Bowl has seen more than its share of suspect losses in the past three decades, with Oklahoma suffering five of the seven: 1989 and 1991 (both under Gary Gibbs, when the Shootout was a non-conference game), as well as 2006, 2008, and 2015 under Bob Stoops. The latter three are interesting in that they did not prevent Oklahoma from winning the Big 12 in each season. While the 2006 loss kept the Sooners out of the running for the national title game, the '08 and '15 Sooners both made the title game/Playoff, each time losing in the Orange Bowl to a team with orange helmets quarterbacked by a dual-threat star (Florida's Tim Tebow and Clemson's Deshaun Watson). Similarly, Texas won the Big 12 South in both seasons in which the Horns were upset by inferior Oklahoma teams in Dallas, so maybe it's a good omen for the superior team to lose this rivalry. UCLA-USC USC should really hate UCLA. On five separate occasions, demonstrably superior USC teams have lost to UCLA, often with a conference or national title on the line: 1992 (to a walk-on fifth string quarterback), 1994 (with the Rose Bowl possibly on the line), 1995, 2006 (with a national title shot on the line), and 2012 (with a spot in the first Pac-12 title game at stake). In contrast, UCLA has only suffered two statistically bad losses in the recent series, and one of the two (2000) didn't have anything other than bragging rights riding on it. Michigan-Michigan State The six instances in which an inferior team has won the Paul Bunyan Trophy all have something in common: Michigan State was the lesser team each time. When Michigan State has had the superior team (seven times in the past 30 years), it's won. When numbers say Michigan has the superior team, the fun begins. Lots of in-state rivalries are said to have a dynamic in which the "Little Brother's" players feel an extra oomph because they did not get offers from the bigger programs and therefore play their best to prove a point, but Michigan-Michigan State seems to be the rivalry where this dynamic most plays out most frequently. In other listed rivalries between a state's big power and an in-state public rival, the rival is 13-7 in upset games. Little Brothers abound! SB Nation College Football Southern chalk Four of the six rivalries on the bottom of the unpredictability ranking involve SEC teams and are all played on the last weekend of the regular season, now after the annual SEC-SoCon Challenge . So when you hear "Throw the record books out the window for this one!" before any of those, you can ignore it as an empty cliche. If you are looking to differentiate Michigan-Ohio State and Alabama-Auburn and you value unpredictability, this is where one would look. In recent history, only the 2002 Iron Bowl (when an eventual 9-4 Auburn beat an eventual 10-3 Alabama) and 2008 Clemson-South Carolina (when the Tigers, who'd just replaced Tommy Bowden with Dabo Swinney midseason, beat the Gamecocks) stand as truly unexpected results among the two most predictable rivalries on this list. | 1 | 99,567 | sports |
Forget the fall, it's silly season in golf with LPGA and Senior majors on the cusp of another U.S. Open at Oakmont. Let's get to the times and goodies. Sahalee Is Back, Inbee Goes For History The LPGA's second major of the season heads west for the KPMG Women's PGA Championship at Sahalee Country Club. Just a year removed from the sports-crazy Seattle market hosting a major, we'll find out just how devoted they are as major championship golf returns to the Ted Robinson-designed course where Vijay Singh won the 1998 PGA Championship. They have 18 of the world top 20, including Lydia Ko, Inbee Park and Lexi Thompson and all-in, prime time coverage from the Golf Channel as well as NBC. That's right, the LPGA in prime time on network TV. Park this week attempts to become the first female golfer to win the same major in four consecutive years while Ariya Jutanugarn tries to win her fourth straight start. Tournament Airtimes on Golf Channel (Eastern): Thursday: 7-10 p.m. (Live) / 1:30-3:30 a.m. (Friday replay) Friday: 7-10 p.m. (Live) / 1:30-3:30 a.m. (Saturday replay) Saturday: 5-6 p.m. (Live) / 9 p.m.-Midnight (Replay) Sunday: 6-8:30 p.m. (Live) / 11:30 p.m.-2:30 a.m. (Replay) Tournament Airtimes on NBC (Eastern): Saturday: 2-5 p.m. (Live) Sunday: 4:30-6 p.m. (Live) Here is Sahalee in 1998 when people wore golf shirts past their elbows. Philly Cricket In The Spotlight! The ~~twelfth~~ third senior major of 2016 is at a must-see venue, A.W. Tillinghast's restored Philadelphia Cricket Club (Wissahickon Course), Flourtown, Pa. Keith Foster did the meticulous work and the geezers should love playing this venerable layout. You'll be shocked to find out that Bernhard Langer defends a title he won by six. Tournament Airtimes on Golf Channel (Eastern): Thursday: 12:30-3:30 p.m. (Live) / 3:30-5 a.m. (Friday replay) Friday: 12:30-3:30 p.m. (Live) / 3:30-6 a.m. (Saturday replay) Saturday: 3-5 p.m. (Live) / 3:30-5:30 a.m. (Sunday replay) Sunday: 3-6 p.m. (Live) / 4-5:30 a.m. (Monday replay) Philadelphia Cricket Club from above. Memphis Provides One Last U.S. Open Tune-up: Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka and Ernie Els headline the FedEx St. Jude Classic this weekend on CBS. Keep an eye on Wesley Bryan, who has two wins on the Web.com Tour, making his PGA Tour debut on a sponsor's invite. Tournament Airtimes on Golf Channel (Eastern): Thursday: 3:30-6:30 p.m. (Live) / 10:30 p.m.-1:30 a.m. (Replay) Friday: 3:30-6:30 p.m. (Live) / 10:30 p.m.-1:30 a.m. (Replay) Saturday: 1-2:30 p.m. (Live) / Midnight-3:30 a.m. (CBS Sunday replay) Sunday: 1-2:30 p.m. (Live) / 2:30-4 a.m. (CBS Monday replay) Tournament Airtimes on CBS (Eastern): Saturday: 3-6 p.m. Sunday: 3-6 p.m. More from Golf Digest: The Hottest PGA Tour Wives and Girlfriends How Tiger's Swing Has Changed This Weekend's Best Golf Instagrams | 1 | 99,568 | sports |
A printing error by the U.S. mint could cost one lucky buyer $35,000. | 3 | 99,569 | finance |
Tesla Motors said Thursday it will offer two less-costly versions of its electric Model S sedan, starting at $66,000 in the U.S. market. The current Model S starts around $76,000 and is often delivered to customers at a price of about $100,000. Prices are before tax incentives are applied. The new versions, the Model S 60 and the Model S 60D, will have slightly less range and a smaller battery pack than the Model S. The S 60 and S60D battery pack provides 60 kilowatt-hours, compared with the S's 75 KWh. The newer models will have a range of more than 200 miles, Tesla said in a statement. | 3 | 99,570 | finance |
Armed with only scuba suits and syringes, an army of divers is taking on one of the biggest threats to the Great Barrier Reef - the Crown of Thorns Starfish - one shot at a time. Rough Cut - no reporter narration | 8 | 99,571 | video |
President Obama offered his formal endorsement of Hillary Clinton with a video Thursday and plans to campaign with the former secretary of state in Wisconsin next week, efforts aimed at speeding the Democratic Party's unification around its presumed presidential nominee. "I know how hard this job can be, that's why I know Hillary will be so good at it," Obama says in the video. "In fact I don't think there's ever been someone so qualified to hold this office. She's got the courage, the compassion and the heart to get this job done." The swift endorsement came after the president met with Sen. Bernie Sanders at the White House earlier Thursday and the senator from Vermont indicated he is preparing to exit the Democratic nominating battle. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) will offer her own endorsement later Thursday on MSNBC's Rachel Maddow Show, a person close to Warren confirmed on condition of anonymity. The only Democratic woman in the Senate who had not yet endorsed Clinton, Warren's support is expected to help bring Sanders supporters and the left generally in line behind the presumptive nominee. Sanders has been under pressure to stand down and help unify the party after a long and contentious contest with Clinton for the nomination. One of Obama's tasks will be to try to rally those who have backed Sanders behind Clinton's candidacy The short video provides a preview of the central theme Obama is likely to hammer away at for months to come: that Clinton's experience, toughness and values make her more qualified to lead the country than a real estate magnate who's never held public office. "And from the decision we made in the Situation Room to get bin Laden, to our pursuit of diplomacy in capitals around the world, I have seen her judgment, I've seen her toughness," the president said. "I've seen her commitment to our values up close." Clinton and Obama will campaign together in Green Bay, Wis., her campaign confirmed. In an interview with Bloomberg News, timed to correspond with the video's release, Clinton welcomed the Obama endorsement. "It just means so much to have a strong, substantive endorsement from the president. Obviously I value his opinion a great deal personally," Clinton said. "It's just such a treat because over the years of knowing each other, we've gone from fierce competitors to true friends." Sanders told reporters after his White House meeting he is looking forward to working with Clinton to defeat Trump in the fall. "Needless to say, I'm going to do everything in my power, and I'm going to work as hard as I can, to make sure that Donald Trump does not become president of the United States," he told reporters, as his wife, Jane, stood behind him. After meeting with Obama, Sanders vows to stay in for D.C. primary Trump, meanwhile, offered his thoughts in a tweet: "Obama just endorsed Crooked Hillary. He wants four more years of Obama but nobody else does!" Sanders said he still plans to compete in Tuesday's final Democratic primary in the District, but he added that "in the near future" he hopes to meet with Clinton who this week clinched the Democratic nomination to talk about ways they can work together. His comments suggested that Sanders is preparing to exit the long and grueling presidential race so long as leading Democrats make a genuine effort to incorporate his policy ideas into their broader agenda. The hour-long meeting with Obama came on a busy day for Sanders in Washington, where he also met on Capitol Hill with Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) and Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.); Reid has sought to play the role of peace broker at the end of a contentious nominating contest between Sanders and Clinton. An afternoon meeting with Vice President Biden was also added to Sanders's schedule for Thursday. The two are set to meet at the vice president's residence at the Naval Observatory, said Sanders spokesman Michael Briggs. "He is seeking out the counsel of people he admires and respects," Briggs said of Sanders. Increasingly, Sanders's aim seems to be using the leverage that he and his millions of loyal followers now have to ensure that his campaign agenda anchored around issues of income and wealth inequality has a central place in the Democratic Party's platform and general-election strategy. Following his meeting with Obama, Sanders ticked off several priorities, including: fighting childhood poverty, expanding Social Security benefits, reducing college debt, rebuilding the nation's "crumbling" infrastructure and making corporations and wealthy individuals pay more in taxes. Sanders's visit to Washington prompted reflections from many who know him, particularly on Capitol Hill. Speaking to reporters there, Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.), an Obama ally, said that "of course" Sanders will have leverage over the party's direction and platform. "I remember when he first left. It was kind of everybody with a real smile and put their arm around him and said, 'Good luck, Bernie. And then we watched as he put together an incredible campaign, not just in the fundraising but in the way that he lit up so many Democrats and even independents who came to his side. He became a force, a political force, and a positive one as far as I'm concerned. I think our party can learn from his candidacy and I think we're going to count on him to bring us across the finish line with a victory in November." Sanders planned to end the night with the kind of large-scale rally that has become a signature of his campaign, this one at the D.C. Armory, adjacent to Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium in the District, before flying home to Burlington, Vt. The rally comes four days ahead of the Democratic primary in the District. Twenty delegates are in play, but there is little at stake following Clinton's clinching of the nomination this week, punctuated by her decisive win Tuesday in California, the nation's most populous state. Nonetheless, Sanders said he would make statehood for the District a prominent part of his campaign here, noting that it has a similar population to Vermont, which is represented by two senators and a congressman in Washington. A senior administration official said that Obama had told Sanders on Sunday that he was planning to endorse Clinton. The Sanders campaign asked that Obama wait until after meeting with Sanders, according to the administration official, who requested anonymity to speak more freely about private conversations. The Obama video was taped on Tuesday, before Clinton had claimed victory, according to White House press secretary Josh Earnest. Sanders's 11:15 a.m. meeting Thursday with Obama was arranged at the senator's request, according to the White House, and went longer than scheduled. Standing before reporters after his meeting with Obama, Sanders began his remarks by thanking the president and the vice president "for the degree of impartiality" they showed throughout the primary after promising to stay neutral. "What they said at the beginning is that they would not put their thumbs on the scale," he said, "and in fact, they kept their word, and I appreciate that very, very much." After outlining the movement he has sought to create over the past year, saying he would continue to push for a more expansive federal government that would help the poor, senior citizens and young people, Sanders made clear he sees the Republican nominee as a serious threat to U.S. society. "Donald Trump would clearly, to my mind and to, I think, the majority of Americans, be a disaster as president of the United States," he said. "It is unbelievable to me, and I say this with all sincerity, that the Republican Party would have a candidate for president, who in the year 2016 makes bigotry and discrimination the cornerstone of his campaign." Speaking to reporters Thursday, Earnest said Obama and Sanders had "a friendly conversation that was focused on the future" and the senator was "not surprised" by his endorsement of Clinton. He also made it clear Obama had backed Clinton all along, saying, "I'm not aware the president ever changed his mind in the course of the Democratic primary." He even went so far as to say that Clinton is more qualified to be president than Obama was in 2008. "Just take a raw look at qualifications, I think that's pretty obvious." Earnest said. Prior to the meeting, Obama and Sanders smiled and chatted as they walked along the White House colonnade Thursday, as a throng of White House reporters recorded the moment. They then walked into the Oval Office. The president and Sanders have had five conversations since January, according to White House officials, two of which have been in person. Reid has said both Sanders and Clinton will have to play a role in forging Democratic unity moving forward. As Sanders sat down in Reid's Capitol suite Thursday afternoon, sitting on a chair across from Reid by a bookshelf, he sat silent as reporters asked him about the Obama endorsement. "Okay you guys, we're not going to take any questions," Reid said as Sanders stared straight ahead with his hands on his knees. "That's kind of the deal that I made." Sanders had not spoken to the media since Tuesday afternoon. Most notable in his interactions with voters, both in California and later with volunteers in Vermont, has been what has gone unsaid: He has rarely taken shots at Clinton or even mentioned her, save for a brief crack while shaking hands with voters about whether she received any votes in California and later telling supporters that he had a "very gracious call" with her. Sanders lost four of the six primaries and caucuses Tuesday, including the two largest, New Jersey and California. He had hoped to make a statement in California by beating Clinton by a sizable margin. According to people close to him, carrying on his campaign was an unsurprising but deeply personal decision made by Sanders on Tuesday at his hotel in Los Angeles as the results came in. In spite of the disappointing results, Sanders remains convinced that the gains he has made and the movement he has led should not be quickly discarded in the name of party unity. Sanders flew home on Wednesday to Burlington, the city where the self-described democratic socialist launched his political career and served as mayor prior to winning a seat in Congress. | 5 | 99,572 | news |
If they can navigate your smartphone better than you, they can also help save a life. Essential first aid skills for kids If they can navigate your smartphone better than you, they can also help save a life. You won't always be nearby when your children get hurt. But teach them a few basic first aid skills, and they'll be empowered to help themselves in the meantime. After all, if they can master your smartphone better than you, they can learn to stop a boo-boo from turning into an uh-oh. Check out more of my lifesaving advice for when medical help is not on the way here. Teach your kids: How to call 911 Say: 'Have an emergency? Call 911.' When children are old enough to know their numbers, they're old enough to call 911. You can also program 911 into a speed-dial button on every home phone and paint that button red with nail polish. Teach your kids to tell the operator they need help and to say where emergency personnel should come. Keep your address next to all the landlines, or put it into your cellphone and show your children how to find it. Teach your kids: How to stop a bleed Say: 'See blood? Put pressure on it.' Most wounds stop bleeding with direct pressure. A wadded-up cloth pressed down with the base of the hand is preferable, but the bare hand works also. If your child is helping another person, finding some plastic to put on their hands can protect them from that blood. Better yet, teach them to have their friend put pressure on their own wound. Here's how to use a T-shirt as a medical supply . Teach your kids: How to do CPR Say: 'Someone's not breathing? Start CPR.' Usually a child is 10 or older before they have enough strength and weight to press a chest down for effective CPR. If your kids are old enough, why not take the whole family for a CPR course? Have some fun while learning a basic skill. This 23-year-old helped save her dad's life by doing CPR after a car collapsed on him. Teach your kids: How to treat a burn Say: 'Get burned? Get to water.' Cool a burn. That's all they need to know. Run the burned skin under cool water. Afterward, someone can clean it and slather on the aloe vera. These are other home remedies for burns to know. Teach your kids: How to prevent a scratched cornea Say: 'Eye hurts? Don't rub it.' What mom told you is true. If you think something is in your eye, don't rub it. Doing so could scratch the cornea, which could lead to more problems. Many times the tears will wash the object out. If that doesn't happen, your kid should keep the eye closed until they can get help. Teach your kids: How to treat a bee sting Say: 'Get stung? Swipe it off.' A bee stinger has a barb that may stay stuck in the skin after the bee flies away. Attached to the barb is a tiny venom sack that will pump until empty. If your kid sees the barb, they should brush it off quickly with a finger. Get more first aid tips and tricks Find more must-know medical tips in Dr. Hubbard's newest book, The Survival Doctor's Complete Handbook and share it with your tween and teenage children! Visit TheSurvivalDoctor.com for even more evidence-based tips for dealing with medical problems when getting expert care is impossible. | 7 | 99,573 | health |
WASHINGTON, June 9 (Reuters) - A Virginia man who allegedly trained with Islamic State in Syria for nearly one month earlier this year was charged in a complaint unsealed on Thursday with providing material support to the militant group, the U.S. Department of Justice said. Mohamad Jamal Khweis, 26, was captured by Kurdish forces in northern Iraq in March. He will have his initial appearance at the federal courthouse in Alexandra this afternoon, a DOJ statement said. | 5 | 99,574 | news |
Cam Newton is making a major change to his game this season. It became his signature celebration during his MVP season but Newton has decided it's time to put the "Dab" bed. He told a Charlotte radio station on Thursday morning that he's got something else in mind. Cam: The Dab has been put aside. New stuff coming that he is working on. Travis Hancock (@TBoneWFNZ) June 9, 2016 • DUCEY: 'Dab on them folks;' A brief history of the Dab dance in sports? Maybe he saw all the kids doing it at the spelling bee and decided it wasn't so cool anymore. Hopefully pearl-clutching moms still write letters about whatever new dance Cam chooses. - Dan Gartland | 1 | 99,575 | sports |
The U.S. Supreme Court, siding with a death row inmate, ruled on Thursday that Pennsylvania's former top judge should have stepped aside when his court heard a case in which he earlier as a prosecutor had authorized seeking capital punishment. The Supreme Court ruled 5-3 in favor of Terrance Williams, convicted in the 1984 bludgeoning murder of a 56-year-old man in Philadelphia. Williams, 18 at the time of the crime, said the man had sexually abused him as a youth. Williams will now get a new hearing before Pennsylvania's Supreme Court to challenge his death sentence. The justices threw out a 2014 ruling by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court that upheld the death sentence given to Williams. Williams' appeal focused on the actions of Ronald Castille, who served as Philadelphia's district attorney when Williams was convicted and was Pennsylvania's chief justice and served on the state Supreme Court when it affirmed the death sentence. (Reporting by Lawrence Hurley; Editing by Will Dunham) | 5 | 99,576 | news |
Try one of these brilliant travel hacks for keeping you organized and comfy on your next trip. Try one of these brilliant travel hacks for keeping you organized and comfy on your next trip. For tangle-free necklaces: tape Store all your necklaces in one pouch and you could end up with a tangled mess. To keep jewelry in control, cover the chains with tape before packing them to prevent them from making knots. For makeup: pencil case Throw a loose pair of stockings into your luggage and they could end up with unsightly runs. Keep them safe from catching on unruly objects by storing rolled-up pairs in a pencil case when you're packing. Pencil cases also make handy containers for makeup. Pick up a plastic waterproof one instead of a pricy cosmetic bag and you'll save some money. For a comfy ride: bubble wrap Travel in comfort during long road trips by covering the seat and back with two layers of bubble wrap, with the bubbles facing out. The bubbles will add a boost of comfort while you sit for hours in the car. Read this to learn how to recover from a long day of sitting . For earrings: pill box Pill containers make a handy storage for jewelry. Put a pair of earrings in each compartment to avoid digging around in a big pouch for a match. To fake 'blackout' shades: clothes pins The curtains at some hotels won't stay fully closed, meaning you lose privacy and light gets in while you're trying to sleep. Store clothes pins in your bag to clamp draperies together if they don't shut. For fast first aid: balloon An uninflated balloon takes up next to no space in your luggage but can turn into a handy makeshift heat pad or ice pack. If your muscles are sore or you have an injury, fill the party product with hot or cold water at a hotel or rest stop, and press it against the pained spot. Here are some surprising first aid items in your car . For sharp objects: binder clip Clamp a large binder clip over the head of your razor to protect the blade in your toiletry bag. To fake 'trial size' liquids: contact case Large bottles and jars for toiletries can waste precious luggage space, especially if you're flying and have limits to your liquids. Instead of packing full-size containers of face creams and liquid makeup, fill a contact case with the products so you have just enough for your trip. To fake an air freshener: dryer sheets Stick a dryer sheet between clothing items as you pack. You'll arrive at your destination with fresh-smelling wardrobe. Plus, you can put the sheet in front of the AC in a hotel to blow a pleasant scent into the room. For spill-free shampoo: plastic wrap Unscrew the lid of a toiletry bottle and cover the opening with a layer of plastic wrap before putting it back. The plastic wrap will help seal the bottle to keep liquids from spilling if the lid opens. For easy luggage retrieval: ribbon To make your suitcase stand out from the crowd, tie a brightly colored ribbon around the handle with your luggage tag. The vivid color will catch your eye as you scan through a sea of suitcases. Avoid making these suitcase packing mistakes . For crunchy snacks: coffee creamer container Convert an empty plastic coffee creamer bottle into a snack carrier. Wash out an empty container, leaving it filled with vinegar overnight if you can't get rid of the smell, then fill it with snacks like Goldfish or dry cereal. Unlike a zip-lock baggie, the stiff plastic will keep your snack from getting crushed in your bag. For a cleaner suitcase: shower cap Place shoes in a shower cap before packing them in your suitcase to keep dirty footprints off your clean clothes.Sources: 99¢ Solutions, BuzzFeed, Travel + Leisure, StockpilingMoms.com | 4 | 99,577 | lifestyle |
Pull them from the vine, grab them from the market however you get your hands on fresh tomatoes, celebrate tomato season with these simple, fresh dishes. Garden tomato salad For as long as I can remember, Mom made a salad of tomatoes and cucumbers. Now I make it whenever beautiful tomatoes are in reach. Shannon Arthur, Wheelersburg, Ohio Get the recipe on TasteofHome.com Cucumber-stuffed cherry tomatoes This is a wonderful appetizer that you can make ahead. I often triple the recipe because they disappear fast. Christi Martin, Elko, Nevada Get the recipe on TasteofHome.com Mild tomato salsa I got this salsa recipe from my sister, and my children and I have been making batches of it ever since. We pair pint jars with packages of tortilla chips for zesty Christmas gifts. When the kids give this present to their teachers, they can truly say they helped make it. Pamela Lundstrum, Bird Island, Minnesota Get the recipe on TasteofHome.com Tomato-French bread lasagna For a big hearty meal, I make this recipe as a side dish to go with veal cutlets or a roast. But you could also serve the beefy lasagna as a main dish. Just pair it with a tossed green salad and loaf of garlic bread. Patricia Collins, Imbler, Oregon Get the recipe on TasteofHome.com Fresh corn & tomato fettuccine This recipe combines delicious whole wheat pasta with the best of fresh garden produce. It's tossed with heart-healthy olive oil, and a little feta cheese gives it bite. Angela Spengler, Tampa, Florida Get the recipe on TasteofHome.com Fresh tomato bruschetta The topping for this simple fresh tomato bruschetta appetizer can be put together ahead of time and refrigerated. We also love it on top of grilled chicken sandwiches, hamburgers, and homemade pizza. Samantha Cass, Swartz Creek, Michigan Get the recipe on TasteofHome.com Spinach-topped tomatoes The perfect taste of summer, this colorful side dish is sure to please. The spinach and tomato, combined with the Parmesan cheese, give it a fabulous fresh flavor. My daughter especially loves this dish, which I make often. Ila Mae Alderman, Galax, Virginia Get the recipe on TasteofHome.com Rustic tomato cheese tart My fresh tomato tart is perfect when you want a taste of summer any time of year. The crust stays nice and crisp and the toppings are bursting with garden-fresh flavor! Moji Dabney, Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey Get the recipe on TasteofHome.com Tomatoes with buttermilk vinaigrette I like to make the most of tomatoes when plentiful, and I love an old-fashioned homemade dressing with a summery taste. Judith Foreman, Alexandria, Virginia Get the recipe on TasteofHome.com Shrimp fettuccine with no-cook tomato sauce Dressing pasta doesn t get any easier than this. Chopped tomatoes and fresh basil come together in a light sauce that s great with almost anything you decide to add to it in this case, shrimp. Sally Stiefvater, Pelham, New York Get the recipe on TasteofHome.com Tomato-onion phyllo pizza With a delicate crust and lots of lovely tomatoes on top, this dish is a special one to serve to guests. I make it often when fresh garden tomatoes are in season. It freezes well unbaked, so I can keep one on hand to pop in the oven for a quick dinner. Neta Cohen, Bedford, Virginia Get the recipe on TasteofHome.com Artichoke tomato salad For a little zip, crumble feta over the top of this artichoke tomato salad. Add shredded rotisserie chicken for a beautiful main dish. Deborah Williams, Peoria, Arizona Get the recipe on TasteofHome.com Cherry tomato salad This recipe evolved from a need to use the bumper crops of delicious cherry tomatoes we grow. It's become a summer favorite, especially at cookouts. Sally Sibley, St. Augustine, Florida Get the recipe on TasteofHome.com Balsamic chicken with roasted tomatoes This entree is a great way to savor fresh tomatoes, especially during the warm summer months. It's quite simple, but the sweet, tangy tomato glaze is just so good. Karen Gehrig, Concord, North Carolina Get the recipe on TasteofHome.com Fire and ice tomatoes You won't miss the salt in this refreshing tomato salad! It's well-seasoned with cayenne pepper, mustard seed, and vinegar but not the least bit spicy. This dish is always a hit at potlucks. Nan Rickey, Yuma, Arizona Get the recipe on TasteofHome.com Bacon caprese salad In summer, I am always looking for ways to use the fresh basil and tomatoes that grow in my herb garden. This recipe combines the two flavors in a wonderful salad that you can make any time of year! Mary Ann Turk, Joplin, Missouri Get the recipe on TasteofHome.com Heirloom tomato & zucchini salad Tomato wedges give this salad a juicy bite. It's a great use of fresh herbs and veggies from your own garden or the farmers market. Matthew Hass, Sussex, Wisconsin Get the recipe on TasteofHome.com Broiled parmesan and swiss tomatoes Planning to serve steak or tenderloin? These cheesy tomatoes make the ideal accompaniment. Plus, the recipe is simple to double for guests. Mary Price, Youngstown, Ohio Get the recipe on TasteofHome.com Tomato and avocado salad Here's a cool alternative to guacamole. The slightly tart dressing showcases the garden-fresh flavors of ruby-red tomatoes and ripe avocados. Taste of Home Test Kitchen Get the recipe on TasteofHome.com Fresh heirloom tomato salad This tomato salad is a summertime must. The standout dressing takes these tasty ingredients to a brand-new level. Taste of Home Test Kitchen Get the recipe on TasteofHome.com No-Cook fresh tomato sauce Try this sauce at times when you have a box of pasta or a store-bought pizza shell and need a sure-fire topping. Dinner is served. Julianne Schnuck, Taste of Home designer Get the recipe on TasteofHome.com Festive tomato wedges Since I have a large vegetable and herb garden, many of the ingredients in this recipe are truly 'homegrown.' I found this simple recipe in a magazine years ago and it quickly became a favorite at family picnics. Wilma Purcell, Alma, Illinois Get the recipe on TasteofHome.com Balsamic cucumber salad This fast, fresh salad is a winner at every get together. It's an easygoing, healthy side dish for kabobs, chicken or anything hot off the grill. Blair Lonergan, Rochelle, Virginia Get the recipe on TasteofHome.com Triple tomato flatbread Tomatoes are the reason I have a vegetable garden, and I developed this recipe as a way to show off my garden's plum, sun-dried and cherry tomatoes. It's so easy, and will absolutely impress. Rachel Kimbrow, Portland, Oregon Get the recipe on TasteofHome.com Dill garden salad I love to cut up whatever fresh vegetables I have on hand and toss them with this delicious dressing and fresh dill. This salad shows up on our table regularly during the summer. Bethany Martin, Lewisburg, Pennsylvania Get the recipe on TasteofHome.com Fresh tomato relish My two grown sons (I have two granddaughters) actually eat this as a salad, but that's a bit too hot for me! The recipe's from my late husband's mother, and I haven't varied it over the years. I usually make a batch as soon as the first tomatoes of the season are ready. Lela Baskins, Windsor, Missouri Get the recipe on TasteofHome.com Sliced tomato salad I got this recipe from my grandmother. It's a perfect platter to serve with burgers or hot sandwiches. Kendal Tangedal, Plentywood, Montana Get the recipe on TasteofHome.com Grilled tomato with fresh corn Grilling the tomatoes and corn makes this side dish feel special and it's so simple to do. I like to serve it with French bread, but it's 'killer' dished up on its own. Roxanne Chan, Albany, California Get the recipe on TasteofHome.com Layered garden bean salad For easy entertaining, cover and refrigerate the salad a few hours before guests arrive so you don't have to fuss with last-minute assembly. Turn it into a light lunch by adding sliced rotisserie chicken, salmon, or tuna. Melissa Wharton, Cincinnati, Ohio Get the recipe on TasteofHome.com Grilled pizza with greens & tomatoes This smoky grilled pizza scores big with me for two reasons. It encourages my husband and son to eat greens, and it showcases fresh produce. Sarah Gray, Erie, Colorado Get the recipe on TasteofHome.com | 0 | 99,578 | foodanddrink |
What's the first car you'd buy if you won the lottery? It's a question we've all been asked and probably all have an answer to. For a lot of people, it's a hypercar like the McLaren P1 or Porsche 918 Spyder. For others, it's a classic like a Shelby AC Cobra or a Jaguar E-Type. For me, it's the Mercedes-AMG S65 Coupe . I completely understand why someone would spend their hypothetical lottery winnings on any of the other cars I mentioned, but they'd all make terrible daily drivers. The S65 Coupe, on the other hand, is a rare combination of incredible luxury, insane power, and comparatively subtle styling. Obviously, there's nothing subtle about the sound of the car's twin-turbo V12, but compared to a Ferrari 488 GTB or Lamborghini Huracan, you're going to fly under the radar much better in the AMG. But considering the S65 Coupe's $234,050 base price, a normal guy like me would have to win the lottery to ever put one in his garage. Except Mercedes-AMG also recently got its hands on the similarly styled C-Class Coupe, and as it turns out, you can get the S65 Coupe's cool-guy swagger in a much-less expensive package. That's the C43 Coupe. Wearing glossy red paint, the C43 looks classy and elegant in a way the BMW 4 Series can't match. It's missing the swollen fender flares of the C63, but unless you're parked next to one, no one is going to notice. All they're going to see is one of the best-looking coupes you can buy new today. Mercedes has shied away from hard edges and distinct lines, instead using flowing curves to create the coupe's shape. Especially in this glossy paint, it looks like it's made from blown glass and not sheetmetal. And while the front end is all C-Class, the large rear end and sweeping roofline make sure you don't mistake it for anything but a coupe. Inside, it's pretty much a standard C-Class, which if you've driven one lately, is a wonderful thing. No, the infotainment screen still isn't cleanly integrated into the dash, but that's something the rest of the cabin's elegant design easily makes up for. Plus, there's room in the back seats for people with legs. They can't have long legs, but at least they can have them. But when you turn the car on, that's when the real fun begins. If you spring for the sports exhaust (and you should), it sounds absolutely incredible. It growls and snarls angrily, like a C63 that's been told to behave. And on downshifts, it pops and crackles, encouraging you to unleash your inner hooligan. If you're cross-shopping this with the 4 Series, the exhaust note is definitely a point in the C43's favor. And thankfully, unlike the C450 sedan I drove a few months ago, the C43 has Mercedes' nine-speed transmission now. As with the SL450 with the same engine-transmission combination, it makes the C43 feel much quicker. Mercedes quotes a 0-60 mph time of 4.7 seconds, a tenth of a second quicker than the sedan, but judging by the seat of my pants, I suspect it's even quicker than that. This time, it actually feels like the twin-turbo V6 has all 362 horsepower and 384 lb.-ft. of torque being advertised. It's not quite a supercar for the real world quite like C63 is or the leather-clad rocket ship the S65 is, but on public roads, the C43 is plenty fast. And when you put the car in one of its sportier settings, the transmission does a great job of keeping the revs up and minimizing turbo lag. Thanks to the adjustable suspension, you have the option of putting the car in Comfort, Eco, and Sport modes, but I suspect most enthusiasts will choose to leave it on the sportiest setting, Sport+. It's certainly firm, but only the bumpiest of city streets will be too uncomfortable. The payoff, of course, comes any time the road gets twisty. On the winding back roads we were driving, the C43 proved to be a plenty capable handler. Its all-wheel-drive system defaults to sending 69 percent of its power to the rear wheels, which makes the car feel more nimble than it would otherwise. And the abundance of grip means you can safely carry a significant amount of speed through every corner. But at the same time, the steering can be vague and lacks feel. That's fine on a city street but it isn't what you want on a backroad. However, the C43 has a swagger and a presence that makes it feel special in a way the 4 Series can't touch. Nor can most any other car in the sub-$60,000 price bracket. Its combination of luxury coupe style and sports coupe performance isn't something you see very often these days. It both oozes class and excites your soul. In a sense, it's a lottery car you don't have to win the lottery to afford. | 9 | 99,579 | autos |
California becomes the 5th state to pass a law legalizing doctor assisted suicide for terminally ill patients. MSNBC's Ari Melber discusses. | 5 | 99,580 | news |
After two blowout losses in Oakland, it was clear that the Cavaliers needed to find a spark as the series moved to Cleveland. Since Kevin Love was sidelined with a concussion and LeBron James seemed unable to dominate as he did in last year's Finals , Kyrie Irving had to be the one to provide it. He answered the call, scoring 30 points on 48 percent shooting from the floor to go with eight assists in Game 3. Kyrie was one of the biggest reasons why the Cavaliers beat Golden State and could be the key for Cleveland's offense going forward, now that his role has changed. RELATED SLIDESHOW: NBA playoffs Normally a great Irving performance wouldn't feel this unexpected, but he had such a difficult time in Game 2 that it was hard to see it coming. He was extremely passive on Sunday and finished with 10 points in 14 attempts as Golden State obliterated the Cavaliers in a 33-point blowout. He completely disappeared on a huge matchup and Tyronn Lue seemed to be going away from him in favor of Love and James. Game 3 showed how big of a mistake that was. Irving was used to set the table instead of being the one attacking in Game 2. James and Love screened for Irving only to force a switch. They would then get the ball and try to overpower a smaller defender. Since James is no longer a reliable threat from outside, he was in primary ball handler mode while Irving played off the ball to prevent the Warriors from overloading the strong side on defense. While the strategy made sense in theory, the Cavaliers were falling right into the Warriors' trap by trying to attack one-on-one on a perceived mismatch. Golden State simply has too many versatile defenders that can make life hard for Cleveland's stars even after switches. Worse yet, the game plan prevented Irving from controlling the ball and attacking as a pick and roll ball handler, his bread and butter during the regular season . That all changed in Game 3. Instead of James screening for him, trying to force a mismatch, Irving got screens from the Cavaliers' centers, which signaled he had the green light to attack. That made all the difference. Since the secondary defender was in the paint instead of the perimeter, he had room to shoot. When they tried to meet him further out, he turned on the jets and drove past them. The adjustment not only allowed Irving to get better shots than in past games, but it also unlocked his passing game. In Game 3 he had eight assists, more than in the two other matchups combined. When he got to the middle of the floor, he found the open man as the second defender helped. Since he was scoring well, the defense had to pay extra attention to him, which opened up room for the screeners, as well. Lue needed to make an adjustment to get his point guard going and he did. While Irving simply hit shots that he was missing in previous games, giving him the ball and having the Cavaliers' centers screen for him did wonders for his aggressiveness. It should be noted that unleashing Irving in the pick and roll is no small tweak. The fact that Love wasn't playing made it easier because there was one fewer star wanting touches. Richard Jefferson , who started in his place, was happy to space the floor, hit open shots and make hustle plays. Whether Love, who has already accepted a much smaller role than he's had in the past, will be willing to be marginalized even further in the offense remains to be seen. Yet it might give the Cavaliers their best shot at beating the Warriors. Attacking switches in the post just hasn't been working. It doesn't mean they should never attempt to do it anymore -- Love is good in the post , despite his struggles in this series -- but they should make it a smaller part of their game plan. If they do, there's no reason why Love can't take on Jefferson's role as floor-spacer and energy guy. The other option would be to keep Jefferson in the starting lineup and bring Love off the bench, where he might get to feast on the Warriors' second unit. The Cavaliers' bench has been a non-factor so far, so doing that could help on two fronts. It might be a tough sell, but Love was willing to sit in fourth quarters in the David Blatt era to help the team. Regardless of what happens with Love, Game 3 made it obvious that the way to maximize Irving is to get him in attack mode by having centers screen for him on the pick and roll. It's one of the few things that has gone right for the Cavaliers on offense in this series, so they need to continue to use him that way until the Warriors adjust. Irving proved that when he's allowed to play his game, he can make a positive impact. If he can continue to break down the Warriors' defense going forward like he did on Wednesday, the Cavaliers' chances of pulling off the upset will increase exponentially. Kyrie Irving vs. Stephen Curry 2016 Playoff Stats | PointAfter | 1 | 99,581 | sports |
17 years ago, Larry Page teamed up with Sergey Brin to launch Google. Now he's busy pushing two teams of engineers to launch cars into the sky.Page has been quietly bankrolling two separate California companies for the past several years. The first, Zee.aero, set up shop right next to Google headquarters in Mountain View back in 2010. Kitty Hawk came along a few years later and opened their offices a few blocks away. | 3 | 99,582 | finance |
(Bloomberg) -- Viacom Inc. is forging ahead with a plan to sell a stake in Paramount Pictures, Chief Executive Officer Philippe Dauman said, even though representatives of controlling shareholder Sumner Redstone say the nonagenarian billionaire opposes a deal. More than 40 participants have been involved in discussions on the movie-studio stake, and Viacom is having detailed talks with a limited number of potential investors, Dauman said at the Gabelli & Co.'s Movie & Entertainment Conference. "Naturally, recent events have slowed down the process," Dauman said. "Our original target of the end of June is going to slip. We are going to continue to explore the potential for unlocking value with select partners with strategic value." Dauman and Viacom director George Abrams sued last month after Redstone removed them from a trust that controls his $40 billion media empire, which includes Viacom and CBS Corp. Lawyers for the men, who are seeking to be reinstated, urged a judge to hold a quick trial over their claims that the 93-year-old Redstone was mentally impaired when he made the decision to oust them and is being manipulated by his daughter Shari. Redstone has filed his own lawsuit in Los Angeles seeking court approval of his decision to fire Dauman and Abrams. Earlier this week, Redstone's lawyer told a judge in Massachusetts that the media mogul isn't mentally impaired, just old -- arguing against a request by Dauman to have the billionaire medically evaluated. Dauman called Redstone "my great friend" in his remarks Thursday. The legal battle over Redstone's mental capacity come as the billionaire takes steps to reassert control over Viacom, the owner of MTV and Paramount Pictures. The billionaire said June 3 that he had the backing of four out of seven trustees, which means Dauman and Abrams will be out of the trust even if they win their case. To contact the reporter on this story: Gerry Smith in New York at gsmith233@bloomberg.net. To contact the editors responsible for this story: Crayton Harrison at tharrison5@bloomberg.net, Paul Barbagallo ©2016 Bloomberg L.P. | 3 | 99,583 | finance |
Former tennis champion Bob Hewitt will be jailed in South Africa after losing an appeal Thursday against a six-year sentence for raping young girls he coached decades ago. Australia-born Hewitt, 76, was convicted last year of raping two girls aged 12 and 13 in the early 1980s, and of indecently assaulting a 17-year-old girl in 1994. Supreme Court of Appeal judges said they had considered Hewitt's advanced age, but decided "it is not a bar to a sentence of imprisonment". "The sentences fitted the criminal and the crime and fairly balanced the competing interests," the judges said. A frail-looking Hewitt, who was often accompanied in court by his elderly wife, had pleaded not guilty to the charges. The appeal court said the former champion, who runs a citrus farm in South Africa's Eastern Cape province, did not suffer from a terminal or incapacitating illness and leads a healthy life. His lawyers had argued that the trial court had "overemphasised the seriousness of the offences" at the expense of Hewitt's personal circumstances. They added that "he had only raped each of the rape complainants once and had not repeated the offences." Hewitt won numerous Grand Slam doubles titles during his career in the 1960s and 1970s and was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1992. His name was removed when the series of sexual abuse allegations came to light. Born in Dubbo, Australia, Hewitt has spent much of his life in South Africa. It was not immediately known when he would start his sentence. | 5 | 99,584 | news |
Is Lindsay Lohan an unofficial member of the Kardashian family? "My #twin has arrived," the newly-minted Londoner wrote on her Instagram Wednesday, posting a selfie with Kourtney at her side. Apparently, the eldest Kardashian sister and Lohan are still tight, five years after the Parent Trap star was a guest at Kim Kardashian's 2011 nuptials to Kris Humphries. #theparenttrap my #twin @kourtneykardash has arrived!! 🙏🏻🇬🇧🇺🇸💋🙏🏻❤️ A photo posted by Lindsay Lohan (@lindsaylohan) on Jun 8, 2016 at 7:20pm PDT They're close enough to borrow from one another's closets, anyway. Kourtney, who jetted across the pond to hang out with her red-haired buddy, appeared on Instagram in the same dress that Lohan wore out later that night. ❤️🇬🇧💙 A video posted by Kourtney Kardashian (@kourtneykardash) on Jun 9, 2016 at 2:04am PDT The thing about growing up with sisters is that nothing you own is ever really your own. We're sure both Kourtney and Lindsay Lohan understand that fact deeply. The two spent the night out on the town together. Lohan's boyfriend, Egor Tarabasov, also came along. for the ride. | 6 | 99,585 | entertainment |
You may actually look forward to doing your laundry. | 8 | 99,586 | video |
For nearly two decades, retired officer Randy Sutton has been Jacqueline Martinez's guardian angel. Together, they celebrated the teenager's high school graduation. 17 years ago, Sutton saved Jacqueline's life following a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas. He wasn't responding to the scene, rather passing by when he saw the commotion. That's when he saw Jacqueline; just a baby at the time shot in the face. Sutton gave Jacqueline who wasn't breathing mouth to mouth. | 8 | 99,587 | video |
People pay their respects to Muhammad Ali during the jenazah prayer, an Islamic funeral prayer, for the late boxing champion. People pay their respects to Muhammad Ali during the jenazah prayer, an Islamic funeral prayer, for the late boxing champion. Salma Selenica, 12, adjusts the headscarf of her sister Layla, 8, ahead of the jenazah, an Islamic funeral prayer, for the late boxing champion Muhammad Ali in Louisville on June 9, 2016. A man holds the Koran as he arrives to attend the jenazah prayer, an Islamic funeral prayer, for late boxing champion Muhammad Ali in Louisville on June 9, 2016. Nahed Ahmed Zeead, 51, of Iraq, takes part in the jenazah, an Islamic funeral prayer, for the late boxing champion Muhammad Ali in Louisville on June 9, 2016. A kid waits to attend the jenazah, an Islamic funeral prayer, for late boxing champion Muhammad Ali in Louisville on June 9, 2016. Zvair Ali, 5, arrives to take part in the jenazah, an Islamic funeral prayer, for the late boxing champion Muhammad Ali in Louisville on June 9, 2016. People read from prayer books before taking part at the jenazah, an Islamic funeral prayer, for the late Muhammad Ali at Freedom Hall in Louisville on June 9, 2016. A woman takes a selfie with her mobile phone as people arrive to attend the jenazah, an Islamic funeral prayer, for late boxing champion Muhammad Ali in Louisville on June 9, 2016. Sayfullaah Ali reads from a prayer book before taking part at the jenazah, an Islamic funeral prayer, for the late Muhammad Ali at Freedom Hall in Louisville on June 9, 2016. Women gather to take part in the jenazah, an Islamic funeral prayer, for the late boxing champion Muhammad Ali in Louisville on June 9, 2016. People attend the janazah prayer, an Islamic funeral for the late boxing champion Muhammad Ali in Louisville on June 9, 2016. | 1 | 99,588 | sports |
It has been revealed that Amber Heard pleaded with cops to wipe her own domestic abuse record shortly after meeting Johnny Depp. It has been revealed that Amber Heard pleaded with cops to wipe her own domestic abuse record shortly after meeting Johnny Depp. TMZ recently reported Heard had been arrested at Seattle/Tacoma International Airport after assaulting her domestic partner Tasya van Ree in 2009. The prosecutor then reportedly dropped the case, because the couple lived in California. Heard then connected with her now-estranged husband Johnny Depp at the premiere of The Rum Diary in October 2011. Weeks after the pair got together, Heard's lawyer wrote to Seattle police to have record wiped clean as she was never prosecuted. We recently reported that Heard accused Johnny Depp of domestic abuse, filed for divorce and even applied for a restraining order against the 52-year-old actor. How many more twists will this story have? The actress was arrested in 2009 after assaulting her domestic partner at an airport. She was never prosecuted and was thus eligible to have her record wiped clean. Her lawyers only attempted to have the incident wiped from her record after she met Johnny Depp. | 6 | 99,589 | entertainment |
The Food and Drug Administration doesn't require food manufacturers to quickly recall dangerous food that can cause illness or death, according to a report released Thursday by a watchdog agency inside the Department of Health and Human Services. In one case, the manufacturer of a nut butter took 165 days to recall a product contaminated with salmonella, a bacteria that can be deadly, according to the report from the Office of the Inspector General, which looked at 30 recalls between 2012 and 2015. Fourteen people in 11 states became ill in the outbreak. "Consumers remained at risk of illness or death for several weeks after FDA knew of potentially hazardous food," according to the "early alert," which is part of an ongoing audit. In another series of recalls, at least nine people became ill from listeria bacteria in cheese, including a baby who died. Two women also miscarried. Yet "81 days passed from the date FDA became aware of the adulterated product and the date the firm had voluntarily recalled all affected products," according to the report. The FDA doesn't have an "efficient and effective" process to set a deadline for food manufacturers to voluntarily recall tainted food, a problem that requires the FDA's "immediate attention," according to the report. The FDA is required to give companies a chance to recall products voluntarily, before announcing a mandatory recall. The new report is not the first to find problems with food recalls. A 2011 audit also found the recall program was "inadequate." About one in six Americans, or 48 million people, get food poisoning each year, including 128,000 who are are hospitalized and 3,000 who die, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In a statement, the FDA called the delays "unacceptable," but noted that recalls are generally issued within an average of about a week. "Public health is our top priority and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration works hard to ensure the U.S. food supply remains among the safest in the world," the FDA said in a statement. "A small number of these recalls fell well outside of that average, with months passing before all impacted products were taken off shelves, even though the FDA notified the companies involved of a contamination as soon as it had evidence. . . . The recall process should be as swift as possible." The FDA said it is already taking "concrete steps" to speed up the recall process by creating a "rapid-response team" and using new technology. Some of the delays involved in food recalls aren't the FDA's fault, said Seattle food safety lawyer Bill Marler, who represents people sickened by tainted food. After people become sick, their doctors are responsible for reporting the food poisoning to a local health department, which investigates to see if the illness is part of a larger outbreak and, if necessary, shares it findings with the FDA. Some local and state health departments never publicize outbreaks, and attorneys such as Marler find out about them only after filing Freedom of Information Act requests. Delays by state health departments can lead regulators to recall the wrong product, Marler said. "By the time I'm filing a law suit, the outbreak is over," Marler said. Food manufacturers need better safety processes, as well, said Sandra Eskin, diirector of Food Safety The Pew Charitable Trusts "Recalls are the last line of protection," Eskin said. "A recall means that whatever processes a food company puts in place aren't working." | 5 | 99,590 | news |
Who's had the best career of all of MLB's first overall picks? We count them down by career Wins Above Replacement to determine who's truly No. 1. No. 10: Darin Erstad (1995) WAR: 32.3 Erstad was a dual-sport star at the University of Nebraska: He was the starting punter for the Cornhuskers' football team and was part of the 1994 National Championship team while also leading the school's baseball team. Erstad made his MLB debut the same year he was drafted, ultimately spending 10 seasons with the Angels and winning a World Series in Anaheim in 2002. He also made the All-Star team twice and won three Gold Gloves. No. 9: Rick Monday (1965) WAR: 33.1 The first-ever No. 1 pick, Monday played 19 years in the majors, going from the Athletics to the Cubs to the Dodgers. He made two All-Star teams and was an integral part of Los Angeles' 1981 World Series-winning team, best remembered for hitting the game-winning home run in Game 5 of the NLCS that year between the Dodgers and Expos. No. 8: B.J. Surhoff (1985) WAR: 34.3 Originally from the Bronx, Surhoff was a two-time All-American at UNC and was chosen first overall by the Brewers, making his MLB debut in 1987. Surhoff spent 19 years in the majors, making an All-Star team in 1999 and playing every position but pitcher in his big league career. No. 7: Harold Baines (1977) WAR: 38.5 A Maryland native, Baines was drafted out of high school and debuted for the White Sox in 1980, beginning a 22-year career spent mostly with Chicago. In stints for the White Sox, Orioles, Athletics, Rangers and Indians, Baines racked up 2,866 hits and made six All-Star teams. No. 6: Darryl Strawberry (1980) WAR: 42 The Straw's career never blossomed as it should have thanks to his problems with drugs, but he was one of the league's brightest stars in his youth. Making his MLB debut in 1983, the Los Angeles native won the Rookie of the Year award that season, helped the Mets to a World Series title in '86 and was an eight-time All-Star. No. 5: Adrian Gonzalez (2000) WAR: 42.4 Though originally a Marlins draft pick, Gonzalez never played a game in Miami. The team sent him to the Rangers in a package for reliever Ugueth Urbina in 2003; two years later, Texas dealt Gonzalez to San Diego, his hometown team. It was there where Gonzalez's career took off, as the slugging first baseman emerged as a perennial All-Star and brilliant defender while with the Padres, Red Sox and Dodgers. No. 4: Joe Mauer (2001) WAR: 49.5 Arguably the best high-school player in the country, Mauer was a no-brainer at No. 1 for the Twins. Since debuting for Minnesota in 2004, Mauer has won an AL MVP award (2009) and won the batting title three times, the first catcher ever to do so. The six-time All-Star was shifted to first base in 2014. No. 3: Ken Griffey Jr. (1987) WAR: 83.6 The son of former MLB outfielder Ken Griffey Sr., Junior blossomed into one of the best players of his generation, winning the AL MVP award in 1997, making the All-Star team 13 times, picking up 10 Gold Gloves and hitting 630 career homers. Griffey also led Seattle to its first postseason appearance in 1995. Junior was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2016. No. 2: Chipper Jones (1990) WAR: 85 One of the greatest players in Atlanta's franchise history almost wasn't a Brave. The team originally wanted to select Todd Van Poppel with the first pick in that year's draft, only to be told the pitcher would refuse to sign with Atlanta. The Braves instead took Jones out of a Jacksonville high school; he went on to win a 1996 World Series and the '99 NL MVP award in 19 years with Atlanta, hitting 468 career homers. The eight-time All-Star will be eligible for the Hall of Fame in 2018. No. 1: Alex Rodriguez (1993) WAR: 117.4 Picked out of Westminster Christian School in Palmetto Bay, Fla., Rodriguez made his MLB debut for the Mariners just one year later at 18. In a career marked by controversy and suspensions, A-Rod has nonetheless won three MVP awards, a World Series and two Gold Gloves, and is also a 14-time All-Star. Rodriguez sits fourth all-time in career home runs behind Bonds, Aaron and Ruth. | 1 | 99,591 | sports |
A Baltimore police officer fatally injured black detainee Freddie Gray by giving him a "rough ride" in transport van, a prosecutor said on Thursday in opening statements of the murder trial of a third officer in Gray's death. A lawyer for Officer Caesar Goodson Jr., 46, said Gray's death in April 2015 was accidental and that Gray caused his own injuries. "There will be no evidence showing he gave a rough ride or drove improperly," defense attorney Andrew Graham said at the start of what is considered the most high-profile trial in the case. Goodson drove the police van in which Gray suffered a broken neck. His death triggered protests and rioting in Baltimore and stoked a U.S. debate on police treatment of minorities. Goodson is accused of second-degree depraved heart murder, the most serious charge against the six officers accused in Gray's death. He also faces manslaughter and other charges. Prosecutor Michael Schatzow said Goodson bounced Gray around in the van by driving unsafely in retaliation for yelling and kicking the inside of the van. Gray had been arrested for fleeing officers unprovoked in a high-crime area. Schatzow said Goodson failed to follow procedures when Gray was put in his van while shackled and was not secured with a seat belt. "There is no good reason for the defendant to fail to seat-belt Mr. Gray," Schatzow told Judge Barry Williams, who is hearing the case in a bench trial. Schatzow said Goodson had run a stop sign and crossed the street's center line. Goodson also stopped the van at one point and saw that Gray was injured, he said But Graham said Goodson was a conscientious officer who had driven cautiously. Gray was injured because he thrashed around and stood up in the back of the van, he said. Before opening statements, Williams had criticized Schatzow and his team for withholding evidence from the defense. The prosecution had failed to hand over material from a May 2015 interview with Donta Allen, who was put in a separate van compartment after prosecutors contend Gray was injured. Schatzow told Williams that Allen's comments were similar to what he had said before. Williams said Schatzow would face sanctions and ordered the prosecution to turn over all material to lawyers for Goodson and the four other officers still facing trial. The trial of one officer in Gray's death ended in a hung jury and Williams issued an acquittal in a second one. (Writing by Ian Simpson in Washington; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe and Bill Trott) | 5 | 99,592 | news |
According to Atlanta Hawks point guard Jeff Teague, he played the 2015-16 season with a tear in his patella. In a post on Teague's Instagram (which was later deleted), he wrote: "They wont tell y'all but I played with a tear in my patella the whole year and could barely jump or stop but it's coo got that taken care #illbebackdunking #theywontsaythatpart" He also tweeted : "First time in life I've never been able to hoop this long I'm getting frustrated." According to the Atlanta Journal Constitution , Hawks officials are aware of the posts. Teague averaged 15.7 points, 5.9 assists, 2.7 rebounds and shot 43.9% from the field in 79 regular season games for the Hawks this season. He played 28.5 minutes per game. Follow AJ Neuharth-Keusch on Twitter @tweetAJNK | 1 | 99,593 | sports |
Found a lump? Don't panic: 85 percent of all breast lumps have nothing to do with cancer. A breast lump could be: Fibroadenoma Found a lump? Don't panic: 85 percent of all breast lumps have nothing to do with cancer. The most common type of breast growth is a fibroadenoma a fancy word that really just means lump, according to Jeanne Conry, MD, ob-gyn and chair of The National Preconception Health and Health Care Initiate. The solid, non-cancerous tumors are most often found inside the breast during puberty, young adulthood, and especially pregnancy. The Mayo Clinic describes them as 'firm, smooth, rubbery or hard with a well-defined shape, like a marble in the breast, moving easily under your skin when touched.' Fibroadenomas generally don't come with any other symptoms and aren't worrisome on their own, Conry says. However any palpable lump needs an evaluation, so you should always get it checked out by your doctor. 'Depending on the situation, she may need nothing more than reassurance or further evaluation in the form of mammogram or ultrasound,' she says. These are health secrets your breasts wish they could tell you . A breast lump could be: A cyst Small fluid-filled sacs called cysts may appear in one or both breasts and may feel like a hard or squishy lump, Dr. Conry says. They're benign too. They're most common in premenopausal women but can occur at any time in a woman's life. (Fun fact: You can also get 'milk cysts,' which grow in your mammary ducts and are filled with milk.) On their own cysts usually don't cause any symptoms or need treatment. However, if they get large enough that they cause pain, discomfort, or disfigurement, they can be drained or surgically removed. A breast lump could be: Dense breast tissue File this under things that more women need to hear: Your breast tissue may just be lumpy. Just like we all have different breast sizes or nipple colors, we also have unique tissue and nearly half of women have breasts that are naturally more dense and/or lumpy feeling, Dr. Conry says. Dense breast tissue simply means that you have less fat and more connective and glandular tissue. But while naturally dense or lumpy breast tissue isn't a problem by itself, it can increase your risk of breast cancer and make screenings a little more difficult so it's important to stay on top of your check-ups and make sure to see your doctor if you notice any changes in your breasts. Don't fall for these breast cancer myths . A breast lump could be: An injury Did you get hit in the chest with a softball, were you in a car accident, or did you recently suffer some other type of trauma to your chest? Just like any other tissue, breasts can bruise or swell when they're injured and sometimes this may feel like a hard knot or lump. See your doctor if there's a lot of pain with it or if it doesn't resolve on its own within a week or two. A breast lump could be: Fibrocystic breasts Fibrocystic breasts are made of up of nodular or granular tissue that feels ropey, lumpy, or fibrous. In the past it used to be considered a disease but scientists have since discovered that over half of women will experience fibrocystic breasts during their lifetime so it appears to be a normal state of breast tissue, according to the Mayo Clinic . Usually the condition doesn't cause symptoms but some women do experience pain and tenderness with it, especially during the latter part of their menstrual cycle. A breast lump could be: Lipoma Lipomas are slow-growing fatty lumps that sit right under your skin. The lumps may feel doughy, usually aren't tender, and can be moved easily with your finger, the Mayo Clinic says . They're most common in middle age, and you may get several at a time. Like other benign growths, these aren't cancerous, generally don't cause other symptoms, and don't require treatment. If they're bugging you (they can be unsightly), they can be surgically removed. A breast lump could be: Intraductal papilloma There's no easy to say this: You can get warts in your breast. An intraductal papilloma is a small wart-like growth of gland tissue that forms inside your milk ducts and is most common in women over age 40. Because of their location, they're most often caught because of unusual discharge from the nipple. While they're not cancerous themselves, having multiple papillomas can increase your risk of breast cancer so be sure to have it regularly evaluated by your doctor. | 7 | 99,594 | health |
Wedding season is officially upon us! Toast to the season of walks down the aisle with this heartwarming compilation of the most memorable weddings featured in pop culture. | 4 | 99,595 | lifestyle |
As real estate evaporates, skinny urban dwellings fill in the gaps With the demand for urban real estate soaring through the roof literally many architects are building slimmed-down structures to create residences in cities with limited land availability. Rail-thin lots that might have been left undeveloped get outfitted with tiny homes. Empty buildings are transformed into living spaces through adaptive reuse . Prefabricated units such as shipping containers become pint-size dwellings. Tiny Houses in the City (Rizzoli, $30) explores inventive responses to diminishing city space, presenting a case for smart storage solutions, modular living, and generally thoughtful design that makes less square footage more stylish than ever. Shown: This 15-foot-wide contemporary townhouse in Landskrona, Sweden, is a stark white contrast to the two older buildings that flank it. The 11-foot-wide-by-22-foot-long Minim House in Washington, D.C., designed by Foundry Architects, is like a slightly roomier trailer, and includes a solar energy system and a rainwater harvesting mechanism. The white metal façade of the three-story White Hut and Tilia Japonica house, created by Takahashi Maki architects in Saitama, Japan, boasts two long windows that run from the first floor to the third. Situated on a tight urban plot about the size of a parking space, this Fujiwara-Muro house, also in Kobe, uses skylights and large windows to bring light deep into the home. More: 5 Tips to Make Your Small Kitchen Feel Large This small house in Kobe, Japan, designed by Fujiwara-Muro Architects has an odd, angular configuration that allows each room to get natural light, despite its long, narrow footprint that measures 13 by 50 feet. The Slim House in London by Alma-nac Collaborative Architecture a renovation of a 19th-century residence that was built in an alley is just 7.5 feet wide. Behind its traditional façade featuring a red door and windows, the home has a sloping slate-clad roof dotted with strategically placed skylights. In Bordeaux, France, Fabre/deMarien Architects transformed a dilapidated 18th-century garage in a cobblestone alley into a 441-square-foot home, replacing a run-down garage door with a sliding pine façade. The Billboard House perches atop a two-story building in the Mexico City's Polanco neighborhood. While the project conceived by architect Julio Gomez Trevilla was commissioned by an advertising agency, it acts as a prototype for how the densely-populated city might approach an impending housing shortage. Anonymous Architects erected the 15-foot-wide, two-bedroom Eel's Nest named for the Japanese term for very narrow lots in L.A.'s Echo Park neighborhood, where new buildings join older bungalows on the hilly streets. The narrow home actually replaces a skinnier structure dating from 1927. More: Here's Why It's Okay to Have a Small Kitchen | 4 | 99,596 | lifestyle |
16-year-old surrenders after his ATV runs out of gas in Florida | 5 | 99,597 | news |
Which one is illegal, again? What does smoking pot for 20 years do to your lungs? Apparently, not nearly as much as tobacco. A new study followed over 1,000 smokers-about half pot smokers, half tobacco smokers-from ages 18 to 38. That's 20 years of inhaling chemicals into the body. By the end of the study, researchers found that tobacco smokers had worse lung function, metabolic health, and systemic inflammation. The pot smokers, on the other hand, experienced none of these related health problems. What the pot smokers did have, according to Think Progress , were gums that looked like they had never been flossed in 20 years. Incidentally, a new study found a third of American adults never floss, according to CNN , so the pot smokers aren't alone. So, to recap, smoke tobacco for 20 years and wreak havoc on your lung health, or smoke pot and risk gum disease. Gum disease is unpleasant, sure, but it's also fairly treatable . You pick-though, just as a reminder, one is still illegal in almost every state. Not that the growing research done on marijuana would ever change politicians' minds or anything. | 7 | 99,598 | health |
If you've ever followed the scent of fresh, buttery soft pretzels through the mall or airport, you know the magic of Auntie Anne's. We love those gloriously chewy pretzels so much that we came up with a copycat version of the secret recipe! Whether you like yours salted or dusted with cinnamon sugar, you've gotta know how the company's original twists came to be. 1. Auntie Anne is a real person. Anne Beiler grew up in an Amish Mennonite family on a farm in Lancaster County, PA. She was raised alongside seven brothers and sisters and became an aunt to 30 nieces and nephews, so it only made sense that she became known as "Auntie" Anne. 2. She got her start at a farmer's market. Jonas Beiler dreamt of opening a family counseling center, so Anne began looking for a way to earn extra money to help support her husband's goal. When a stand opened up at the farmer's market in Downington, PA in 1988, Anne jumped at the opportunity and began making soft pretzels with the existing equipment. 3. The famous dough recipe was created by accident. Auntie Anne had the equipment she needed to make the pretzels, but no stellar recipe in her back pocket. One day, they accidentally ordered the wrong ingredients, resulting in some disappointing pretzels-but Jonas suggested adding a few extra ingredients and inadvertently created the beloved proprietary recipe that's used today! Crafted by hand… A photo posted by Auntie Anne's (@auntieannespretzels) on Feb 18, 2016 at 2:48pm PST 4. The original logo has a funny backstory. The company's first logo with Old English type included an image of a pretzel, which was created when an employee took a real, baked pretzel and photocopied it on an office machine. In 2006, it was replaced with the current "Pretzel Perfect" logo since it's easier to read, complete with a shiny halo on top. 5. All those pretzels are made and twisted on the spot. Auntie Anne's definitely doesn't serve pre-made pretzels! Every location receives shipments of the signature flour mixture, which is put in a mixer along with water and yeast. They're baked, brushed with real butter, salted and served right there. 6. You can try all different flavors. We love a good salted pretzel, but we can't resist all the amazing varieties that Auntie Anne's offers! For a sweet fix, try cinnamon sugar or almond, or branch out to savory options like sour cream, onion, and roasted garlic Parmesan . 7. The original pretzels are being outsold. The classic twists will always have a place in our hearts, but another product has eclipsed the original item! Pretzel nuggets have been all the rage since they were first introduced in 2010, and they're now the official best seller on the menu. How can you beat the convenience and portability of those delicious, bite-size morsels? 8. You've gotta try the lemonade. What could go better with a salty snack than a tall glass of refreshing lemonade? From the beginning, the stalls have sold their signature version of the tart drink alongside the pretzels. 1,735 gallons of Auntie Anne's lemonade was even used to fill the largest cup of soft drink/lemonade in the world, which is now in the Guinness Book of World Records! 9. There are new menu items coming. Auntie Anne's likes to change things up by adding fresh products to the menu now and then. We practically lost our minds when we heard about the breakfast sandwich collaboration with Carl's Jr. , and the limited-edition items for summer 2016 have us even more excited. Bacon Cheddar-Stuffed Pretzel Nuggets and a Wild Berry Lemonade Mixer are new on the scene-run and grab them while you can! 10. You can always find Auntie Anne's on the go. The company has more than 1,600 locations, spanning 48 states and more than 25 countries. There are locations at airports, in malls, and on college campuses across the country, so customers can enjoy the treats while they're on the move. The first travel location opened at Penn Station in New York City in 1995, and they've since expanded to amusement parks and even food trucks. 1 1. Employees can roll pretzels wicked fast. Auntie Anne's company conventions are a time to review what's going on with the business-but there's a bit of fun thrown in, too! Employees face off to see who can twist up the pretzel dough at lightning speed, and the fastest recorded time is 3.5 seconds. At that rate, it's no wonder they've made enough pretzels to circle the earth 50 times! We tried to roll some ourselves, and trust us ... it's not as easy as it looks. 12. You can nab free pretzels. Auntie Anne's is always one to participate in National Pretzel Day celebrations. All you have to do to get a gratis twist on the holiday is sign up for the My Pretzel Perks mobile app, which allows you to rack up points, learn about new products and get special offers right on your phone. | 0 | 99,599 | foodanddrink |
Subsets and Splits