$50 million lawsuit: Eric Bolling vs. Yashar Ali over Fox News host sexting scandal

What hell hath Peter Thiel and Hulk Hogan vs. Gawker wrought?

The Fox News host Eric Bolling is suing social media star and Huffington Post contributor Yashar, who last week reported Bolling sent grotesque sexual messages to female colleagues some years ago.

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at 4:45 pm | | | 13 comments

Why NASA's Voyager mission almost didn't happen

On August 20 and September 5, 1977, NASA launched two spacecraft, Voyager 1 and 2, on a grand tour of the solar system and into the mysteries of interstellar space. It was an incredibly audacious mission, and it's still going. My friend Timothy Ferris produced the Voyager golden record that's attached to each of the spacecraft and went on to write a dozen enlightening books about science and culture. (Tim also wrote the liner notes for the Voyager Golden Record vinyl box set I co-produced that's now available here.) In the new issue of National Geographic, Tim tells the remarkable story of the Voyager mission and why "it almost didn’t happen." From National Geographic:

The prospect of a “grand tour” of the outer planets emerged in 1965 from the musings of an aeronautics graduate student named Gary Flandro, then working part-time at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, the world’s preeminent center for interplanetary exploration. At age six, Flandro had been given Wonders of the Heavens, a book that showed the planets lined up like stepping-stones. “I thought about how neat it would be to go all the way through the solar system and pass each one of those outer planets,” he recalled.

Assigned at JPL to envision possible missions beyond Mars, Flandro plotted the future positions of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune with paper and pencil. He found that they would align in such a way that a spacecraft could tap the planets’ orbital momentum to slingshot from one to the next, gaining enough velocity to visit all four planets within 10 or 12 years rather than the decades such a venture would require otherwise. The mission launch window would open for a matter of months in the late 1970s, then close for another 175 years.

It was an ambitious idea at a time when the apex of interplanetary exploration was Mariner 4 shooting 21 grainy photos as it flew past Mars. No probe had ever functioned for anything close to a decade in space. None had the intelligence to manage complex planetary encounters at vast distances without constant human hand-holding. Playing crack-the-whip past multiple planets might work in theory but had never been attempted in practice. “I was told, ‘This is impossible; stop wasting my time,’” Flandro recalled.

"Why NASA’s Interstellar Mission Almost Didn’t Happen" (National Geographic)

at 3:03 pm | | | 5 comments

NurturePod: the future of parenting

Artist and experiential futurist Stuart Candy created a hypothetical near-future product called the NurturePod, a "programmable para-parenting pod" that takes care of all the bothersome things parents have to do to raise a baby, like pay attention to it. NurturePod is on exhibit at M HKA, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Antwerp, Belgium.

Andrew Curry interviewed Stuart about the project:

AC: One more thing that strikes me about this, about the languaging, is it's not just about marketing. There are a whole lot of cues about the idea of the new, the idea of the modern, and the classic ways in which technology companies make us feel inadequate and then sell us reassurance.

SC: I suppose using those tropes could be said to invite reflection on how embedded in the tropes we are, because we know this particular thing doesn't exist. But that's a bit of an intellectual angle. I find people's emotional responses interesting, from watching them interact with it and from what they've shared in conversation.

AC: What sort of things have they said?

SC: "I'm really drawn to this, and also repulsed by it." There's this sense of being torn, and that is quite satisfying to hear, because I think creating or inviting a complex emotional response is something that we should strive for in futures work. This is why design and film and performance and games are important –– the whole repertoire of approaches to experiential futures; like the proverbial toothbrush that reaches places regular ones can't. Hopefully we are on our way to a better futures toothbrush.

Related: Baby cries furiously whenever phone taken away, instantly pacified when returned

at 2:00 pm | | | 24 comments

In the tabloids: Obama’s secret bunker and a stool-pigeon parrot

A CPR tutor needed resuscitating when he went into cardiac arrest during class, it rained pork sausages in Florida, and a pet parrot turned canary to help convict a killer.

It’s reassuring to know that good old-fashioned tabloid stories haven’t entirely disappeared, though this week's magazines persist in offering their warped window on the world of politics.

“33 Clinton Enemies Murdered!” screams the 'Globe’ cover, asking: “Who’s Behind The Killings?” We don’t have to wait long for the answer: it’s on page 8: “Hillary Killing Her Enemies!” Cue the libel lawsuit. “Evil Clintons will do ANYTHING to bury the truth about corruption,” adds the story, which claims that “Ruthless Hillary Clinton’s secret squad of brutal assassins is quietly rubbing out her enemies.”

After citing a succession of suspicious deaths the ‘Globe’ source concedes: “No one has ever proven if any of these people were actually murdered on Bill and Hillary’s orders - but there are just too many of them to ignore!” Right. That should stand up in court.

The ‘National Enquirer’ continues its Trump-loving coverage with its cover exclusive: “Obama’s Plot to Destroy Trump!” Its source is none other than ‘Enquirer’ political columnist (a job title that must count as a career pinnacle) Dick Morris. He exposes former President Obama’s “secret war room” in Washington D.C. with its “bunker” that “reeks of sabotage, intrigue & dirty tricks.” Obama is allegedly trying to save his legislative achievements, which is hardly shocking or nefarious. The ‘Enquirer’ even quotes “political maverick Roger Stone” allegedly confirming the existence of an “Obama war room,” explaining “The Obamas are desperate to return to power. Barack intends to insert his wife as president.” Because former presidents have the authority to declare their spouse the next president? Is that really how it works, Roger?

“Gotcha!” yells the ‘Globe’ headline (echoing the infamous headline in the ‘Sun’ when Britain sunk Argentine warship the ‘General Belgrano' during the Falklands War) reporting on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arresting 114 “vicious crooks and perverts” in a New York raid, The 11-day operation was “spearheaded by Donald Trump,” reports the ‘Globe,’ which implies that he was out on the raids wearing a SWAT flak jacket and carrying a battering ram, rather than just ranting repeatedly about criminal immigrants. But ICE officials have declined to say if many of those arrested were picked up at courthouses - a self-selecting group that would give the false impression that the majority of immigrants picked up in raids are criminals, and a practice denounced by legal aid groups.

But you can't argue with a publication that on the same cover reports on Brad Pitt’s marital split keeping him from his daughter: “Shiloh: 323 Days Without Daddy!” That’s an awfully long time for an 11-year-old not to see her father. Except when you read the story on page 4, the ‘Enquirer’ reports: “Brad has weekly supervised visits with all the kids . . . “ So, it’s actually been no more than seven days since Shiloh last saw her father? That’s close to 323 days, isn’t it?

‘Titanic’ movie stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet “take their romance off-screen,” claims the ‘Enquirer,’ assuring: “It’s Real Love!” Poolside photos show DiCaprio with his arm around Winslet’s shoulder, while she has slipped an arm across his back. Why, they could almost be old friends. The fact that Winslet is married, and that DiCaprio has an appetite for supermodels half his age seems to have been ignored.

Back in the real world, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s “divorce is off” according to ‘Us’ magazine, which quotes a less-than-convincing unnamed source saying: “It wouldn’t be surprising if they announced that they’re calling it off and trying to work things out.”

‘People’ magazine’s cover girl this week is TV’s ‘Bachelorette’ Rachel Lindsay, who explains why she chose to give her final rose to Bryan Abasolo: “I followed my heart.” Does that mean she ignored her head, and all the voices of logic that told her not to get engaged to a man after only two months of public serial cheating with 30 other men?

Fortunately we have the crack investigative team at ‘Us’ magazine to tell us that Jennifer Garner wore it best, Cat Deeley loves cheese (“the stinkier the better”), and that the stars are just like us: they shop at Whole Foods, ride rollercoasters, and play with their pets. Actress Lili Simmons carries bamboo reusable eating utensils, pink Beats headphones and rose quartz from Sedona “that reminds me to love and stay grounded” in her Louis Vuitton purse, How does rose quartz help you stay grounded - unless you carry 200 pounds of the mineral in your purse? Try getting that off the ground.

Or 15 pounds of Italian pork sausage, which is what inexplicably fell from the sky and landed on the roof of a South Florida family, according to the ‘National Examiner,’ which also brings us the story of CPR instructor David Knowles who had to tell his students how to save his life when he suffered a heart attack while teaching a class in Exeter, Britain. Both stories, sounding implausible, are of course among the few accurate reports in this week’s tabloids, as is the ‘Enquirer’ story about the parrot which apparently witnessed a Michigan woman killing her husband and whose repeated squawks of “Don’t shoot!” helped convict her.

What is the world coming to if the most inane stories in the tabloids are actually true?

Onwards and downwards . . .

at 1:01 pm | | | 2 comments

"God has given Trump authority to take out Kim Jong-Un," says evangelical Trump supporter

Televangelist superpastor Robert Jeffress says God has given Trump permission to bomb North Korea. "When it comes to how we should deal with evil doers, the Bible, in the book of Romans, is very clear: God has endowed rulers full power to use whatever means necessary — including war — to stop evil. In the case of North Korea, God has given Trump authority to take out Kim Jong-Un.”

From Vox:

Jeffress has long been one of Trump’s political allies, one central to Trump and his team’s increasingly unsettling conflation of Christianity, nationalism, and pro-Trump cult of personality. Jeffress spoke at Trump’s inauguration. In July, he led a “Freedom Rally,” during which he praised Trump as God’s choice for America and a church choir sang a hymn with the lyrics “Make America Great Again,” which is now available for pastors to download for their own worship services.

Jeffress also attended an impromptu White House evangelical prayer meeting last month, which, I previously argued, heralded a new age in church-state relations for the Trump administration. It was clear that Trump wasn’t just appealing to evangelicals to fire up his voter base, but rather using the rhetoric of divinely ordained rule to delegitimize criticism from the mainstream media or even fellow Republicans.

at 12:32 pm | | | 64 comments

Kid with "Uncombable Hair Syndrome" has Instagram account

Uncombable hair syndrome is a real thing. It also goes by the names Pili trianguli et canaliculi, Spun-glass hair, and Cheveux incoiffables. According to Wikipedia:

The hair is normal in quantity and is usually silvery-blond or straw-colored. It is disorderly, it stands out from the scalp, and cannot be combed flat. The underlying structural anomaly is longitudinal grooving of the hair shaft, which appears triangular in cross section. This is caused by mutations in one of three possible genes; PADI3, TGM or TCHH3.

Today profiled Shilah Yin (Instagram), "one of only about 100 people in the world known to have the genetic condition."

“Shilah loves her unique hair, but that has come from constant positive reinforcement at home from friends and family,” her mom Celeste Calvert-Yin, who lives in Melbourne Australia, told TODAY via email.

People often say she has hair like Doc Brown from back to the future, lucky it's one of our fave movies #uncombablehairsyndrome

A post shared by Shilah Madison Calvert-Yin (@shilahmadison) on

at 12:07 pm | | | 10 comments

Short film of drivers making last minute decisions

"Terminal Communication"(2007) is a film made from found security camera footage, accompanied by accordion music that drives home the idea that life is absurd.

From the YouTube description:

Terminal Communication is a fixed-frame work featuring the actions of drivers as they approach a badly signed junction leading into Rosslare Harbour ferry port, in County Wexford. Filmed from a vantage point overlooking the junction, the camera captures the incidents which locals then claimed was an everyday occurrence. Since the work was made the temporary blockade has been removed.

This work was made with the assistance of Mike Kavanagh and commissioned under Wexford County Councils Per Cent for Art Programme in 2007. Music used in the work is by Valerio.

at 11:21 am | | | 13 comments

How to create fake Instagram star accounts and trick brands to give you money

An influencer marketing agency called Mediakix showed how easy it was to create a phony Instagram star and get brands to pay money for the star to plug their products. They created two different accounts. For calibeachgirl310 they hired a model and photographed her in a lot of different outfits posing in beachy spots. The second account, wanderingggirl, was made completely from free stock photos of exotic locations, some with a blonde woman seen from the back.

Then they bought fake followers for the fake stars:

We started with buying 1,000 followers per day because we were concerned that purchasing too many followers at the onset would result in Instagram flagging the account. However, we quickly found that we were able to buy up to 15,000 followers at a time without encountering any issues.

The pricing for followers ranged from $3-8 per 1,000 followers, depending on the reliability of the service. Websites that sold followers on the lower end of that price range often did not deliver in a timely manner, or sometimes at all, so we switched to more expensive follower providers later in the project. Even at $8 per 1,000 followers, we were able to accumulate over 30,000 followers for the travel account and over 50,000 followers for the fashion account with minimal investment over the course of just two months.

Step three was to buy fake engagement -- between 500 to 2,500 fake likes and 10 to 50 fake comments per photo. "We paid around 12 cents per comment, and between $4-9 per 1,000 likes."

Then they registered the fake accounts on various influencer marketing platforms:

We secured four paid brand deals total, two for each account. The fashion account secured one deal with a swimsuit company and one with a national food and beverage company. The travel account secured brand deals with an alcohol brand and the same national food and beverage company. For each campaign, the "influencers" were offered monetary compensation, free product, or both.

at 10:55 am | | | 11 comments

Oops! BBC worker watches R-rated scene on screen in back of live newscast

Someone at the BBC is in trouble with the boss. During a news broadcast where anchor Sophie Raworth is talking about the game of cricket, a more interesting video is playing on a screen in the background, watched by a BBC employee who was slumped in a chair wearing headphones. A half-dressed woman peels off her shirt, and then proceeds to take off her black bra. The BBC's 3.8 million viewers got an eyeful – if they happened to look towards the left of the screen.

According to The Sun:

“The employee is on borrowed time when bosses catch up with him. You can’t get away with this sort of stuff anymore.”

Andrew Allison, of The Freedom Association, which wants to axe the BBC license fee, said: “I’m surprised the BBC hasn’t got internet filters to stop staff doing this sort of thing. I bet they get them now.”

Bemused viewers took to social media. Zane Jawad tweeted: “@BBCNews why is there a porn video playing behind one of your news anchors during a report?”

Another user wrote: “Did I just see boobs on News at Ten?”

at 10:34 am | | | 15 comments

Hunt for creepy jogger who pushes woman in front of a moving bus

A jackass jogging down Putney Bridge in London pushes a 33-year-old woman out out of his way and into oncoming traffic. A bus has to swerve to avoid hitting her. According to The Telegraph, the bus stopped and passengers helped the woman, who had minor injuries.

Officers said the jogger ran the other way across the bridge around 15 minutes later and the victim attempted to speak to him, but "he did not acknowledge her".

An appeal has been launched for witnesses or anyone who recognises the jogger in the CCTV.

The jogger is described as white in his early to mid-30s, with brown eyes and short brown hair.

He was wearing a light grey T-shirt and dark blue shorts.

Anyone with information is asked to call police on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.

at 9:33 am | | | 30 comments

AquaBounty salmon: the first genetically engineered food animal for sale to humans is a hit with eaters

AquaBounty GMO salmon is a huge hit in Canada. Five tons have been sold since it came on the market a few months ago, reports The Guardian.

Originally developed by a group of Canadian scientists at Newfoundland’s Memorial University, the salmon can grow twice as fast as conventionally farmed Atlantic salmon, reaching adult size in some 18 months as compared to 30 months. The product also requires 75% less feed to grow to the size of wild salmon, reducing its carbon footprint by up to 25 times, the company has claimed.

In recent months, approximately five tonnes of GM salmon has been sold in Canada at a market price of US$5.30 per pound, AquaBounty said in a statement. “The sale and discussions with potential buyers clearly demonstrate that customers want our fish, and we look forward to increasing our production capacity to meet demand,” said Ronald Stotish, the company’s CEO.

Coming next: GM cows, chickens and pigs, and "Some 30 other species of GM fish."

Image: The Guardian.

at 8:24 am | | | 58 comments

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