Why the former USSR has far fewer men than women

In our map above, countries depicted in the darkest blues have far fewer men than women – and the former Soviet Union stands out from the rest of the world.

This region has been predominantly female since at least World War II, when many Soviet men died in battle or left the country to fight. In 1950, there were just 76.6 men per 100 women in the territory that is now Russia. That number rose steadily in subsequent decades, climbing to 88.4 by 1995 before declining again.

The gender ratio in Russia is currently 86.8 men per 100 women, and the ratios in Latvia (84.8), Ukraine (86.3), Armenia (86.5), Belarus (86.8) and other former Soviet nations are similarly low.

(By contrast, the ratio in the U.S. is 98.3 men per 100 women, and the global ratio is 101.8 men per 100 women, according to 2015 United Nations data. The U.S. has been more female than male since at least 1950, while the global population first became majority male around 1960.)

So what are the factors that set the former Soviet bloc apart?

The population in Russia and the former USSR as a whole is older than that of the world. Most of these nations, including the most populous, also have low fertility rates compared with the global average. This skews the population’s gender ratio because older people are more likely to be female, while more younger people are male.

Adjusting for age: Another way to look at global gender ratios Research over hundreds of years shows that boys naturally outnumber girls at birth. Historically, there have been about 105 boys born for every 100 girls, and this leads to more males than females in younger age groups. At the same time, women have lower premature mortality rates than men and tend to live longer, leading to a higher number of older females than older males. We created an alternative list of age-standardized gender ratios (.xlsx) for each country (though we didn’t use it in the analysis for this post) by weighting the gender ratios so that each country has an age distribution more closely aligned with the world’s age distribution overall. After the adjustments, former USSR nations disappeared from the list of top 15 countries that have the fewest number of men per women. That’s because the Soviet bloc is older than much of the world, skewing its population more female.

Younger men in the former Soviet Union also have an unusually high mortality rate, which has widened the population’s gender imbalance. One way to see this is to look at the life expectancy of men and women and the differences between those numbers.

Russian women born from 2010 to 2015 are expected to live to age 75.6, while Russian men are expected to live to age 64.2, a gap of 11.4 years. Other former USSR countries, such as Belarus, Ukraine and Latvia, have similarly high gaps, with many men in this area losing their lives to alcohol-related incidents, suicides and diseases, among other causes (as noted by demographer Murray Feshbach). The only nation with a higher life-expectancy gap between genders is war-torn Syria.

Alcoholism has long been a problem in the former USSR, especially for young men. A 2014 study in The Lancet medical journal found evidence that excess vodka use is a top killer in Russia, responsible for a disproportionate amount of deaths among Russian men. And a 2013 Pew Research Center survey found a stark gender divide on attitudes toward drinking in Russian society: 52% of women believe that drinking alcohol is morally unacceptable, compared with just 36% of men who say the same.

Topics: Birth Rate and Fertility, Demographics, Gender, Population Geography, Population Trends, Russia

This region in Eastern Europe has been predominately female since at least WWII.

The population is older and women live longer


This Is Why You Should Never Let Your Dog Lick You

It's all part of being a pet owner – sometimes, you're just going to get slobbered on. But, as one Wisconsin man has found out, what we might think of as harmless doggy affection could actually lead to some terrifying consequences.

Greg Manteufel, a 48-year-old man who had apparently enjoyed a long history of dog ownership, ended up in the emergency room last month after contracting a rare bacterial infection in his blood. Although the illness originally only caused flu-like symptoms in the previously-healthy man, it didn't take long for things to get worse. Much worse.

"It took a week and they were taking his legs," Dawn Manteufel, his wife, told local news outlet Fox 6 Now.

Yes, you read that right – Greg Manteufel ended up needing his legs, and then parts of his arms, amputated. The couple are now relying on online crowdfunding to help them afford prosthetics after the extreme treatment.

"We can't wrap our heads around it," Dawn Manteufel told the reporters. "[A]ll of the sudden, he's 48 years old and been around dogs all of his life... and this happens."

The cause of this horrifying illness? Not a bite from a rabid stray, but a friendly lick from his own pet pooch.

Dog bites are known to cause extreme medical problems, but we don't often worry about affectionate gestures like licks. Both, however, have the potential to spread Capnocytophaga, a bacteria found in the mouths of up to 74 percent of dogs and 57 percent of cats, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In fact, it can also be found in human mouths, and is usually not harmful – it causes what's known as "opportunistic infections", normally only affecting people with weakened immune systems. But when it takes hold, it can cause blistering, fevers, stomach problems, and life-threatening conditions such as sepsis, inflammation, and organ failure. In Manteufel's case, it caused a critical drop in blood pressure and circulation.

"This type of bacteria comes from the saliva of dogs. This infection in his blood triggered a very severe response on his body," confirmed Dr Silvia Munoz-Price, infectious disease specialist at the local hospital, to Fox 6 Now. "Sometimes it [blood pressure and circulation] decreases so much that the arms and legs just die."

This type of infection is particularly nasty – it can cause death within 72 hours, so the CDC urges people to be aware of the symptoms. Thankfully, it's also very rare, affecting only 0.67 people per million in a nationwide survey in the Netherlands, so dog owners shouldn't worry too much about their beloved pet landing them in a medical catastrophe.

"More than 99 percent of the people that have dogs will never have this issue," Dr Munoz-Price explained. "It's just chance."

Why You Should Never Let Your Dog Lick Your Face

You can catch ringworm, MRSA, staph, etc. Dogs also eat fecal matter. #StopClickBait


A doctor has given anti-vax parents the most glorious smack down we’ve ever seen.

Dr Nelu is a paediatric doctor who is passionate about kids’ health and aims to educate and inform parents about the health of their children.

She says she loves sharing hints and tips that she picks up in her everyday work with her followers.

And a new video, released on her website for OZ Kids shows just where she stands when it comes to vaccinations.

"I’m just going to cut the crap and tell it how it is. The one thing that really pisses me off is parents who choose not to vaccinate their kids," she says.

The video has been released in an effort to debunk some of the more common reasons she hears for why parents choose not to immunise.

Dr Nelu says she can’t even take her dog to a kennel without proving that he is vaccinated.

"This to me just doesn’t make any sense. My dog is more protected in a kennel than my child is at school."

"I really don’t understand why we are not getting the message out there," the doctor adds.

Dr Nelu says she hopes the community can work together to eradicate diseases that are "coming back" and urges parents to immunise their children, for their own good and for the health of the wider community.

Doctor responds to anti vaccination parents

A leading doctor has released a new video in which she challenges anti-vax parents and common reasons for parents not wanting to vaccinate their children.

She said anti-vaxers piss her off, then dropped a couple of vague facts through a video with a jump cut every 2 seconds - 2 Clicks Saved


How one CS:GO player took catching hackers into his own hands

Cheating in CS:GO is its own small sub-industry, a hard-to-kill parasite riding on the skin one of the PC’s most popular games. Some ne'er-do-wells get off avoiding the notice of the VAC system for as long as possible. Others leverage cheating as a profitable enterprise , offering premium programs and services. Some professionals have even used cheats during competition (with disastrous , career-ending consequences ). For Valve, combating the risk of hacking is an endless war. Just last week, Valve’s elimination of a popular Team Fortress 2 cheat nabbed nearly 170 pro TF2 players. And last year, it dealt over 1 million bans to suspected accounts; with ownership counts likely exceeding 20 million , CS:GO likely represents a significant chunk of that figure.

Earlier this year, CS:GO player AndroidL was inspired to take matters into his own hands. In late January, AndroidL created and dispersed a pair of free hack programs on a popular cheat forum. Unbeknownst to their downloaders, the programs were time bombs. They’d function normally for a set period of time before permanently skewing the user’s view angle to an abnormal tilt and enabling a constant bunnyhop script—huge, obvious red flags that would immediately trigger a VAC ban. Although clever, the first few hack releases earned modest attention—roughly 1,000 downloads apiece, according to AndroidL’s Reddit post .

"CS:GO has a cheating problem," AndroidL explained to me over multiple private messages. "I don’t think Valve is doing enough to prevent cheating; it doesn’t speak publicly about VAC (for obvious reasons) or cheating in general. For such a competitive game with such an active and thriving community, Valve fails to at least acknowledge cheating is an issue in CS:GO which is appalling. Due to their failure to communicate, we aren't sure if Valve are actually attempting to combat cheaters or not. It's impossible to play a game of CS:GO today without suspecting someone on the enemy team of cheating."

AndroidL used this chart taken from vac-ban.com to illustrate the impact of each hack's release.

AndroidL’s hack took a more direct approach. It dispensed with timers and prompted a ban the moment a user would load the hack and enter a match by continuously topping off health, ammo, and armor values. Yet despite the almost instant effect, it achieved greater success, accumulating over 3,500 downloads.

Contributing to the hack’s propagation was a simple testing method: "I set the launch options of CS:GO to ‘+sv_lan 1 -insecure’ which disables VAC (but consequently prevents me from joining any VAC enabled servers)," AndroidL wrote. "This means I can test the hacks without getting banned. I just played an offline game with bots where I was able to confirm the features such as editing my view angles along with health and ammo numbers."

Once the hack’s usability was confirmed, AndroidL uploaded it onto the cheat forum through a VPN to stay anonymous. The forum account "was only days old with no reputation," which would typically undermine the legitimacy of the hack. But to promote the hack, AndroidL went for a straightforward solution: "I had a few of my friends post messages such as ‘great, the hack worked!’ and so on until the comments overflowed onto a second page. Most hackers don’t check the second page of posts; they’ll only read the first few comments and then download the hack." As publicly released programs tend to last only a few days before detection by VAC, dummy nods of approval was enough to push the scheme in front of as many eyes as possible while it lasted.

AndroidL’s favorite forum complaint. "It's strange how people think they're entitled to free hacks, as if someone else is to blame for the consequences of their cheating."

And it worked. The hack’s impact was magnified by its sheer efficiency; a cheater couldn’t react fast enough between launching CS:GO and meeting VAC’s awaiting hammer seconds later. As bans started snowballing, users flooded the host forum with warnings and grievances of their sudden downfall. AndroidL feigned innocence by "coming up with excuses as to why it wasn't my hack banning people to encourage others to download it."

Members of the CS:GO community could already participate in culling the cheater population through Valve’s Overwatch initiative for a few years now, but AndroidL’s accomplishments demonstrate how one can more surgically hamper hackers with only modest extra effort. The victory could very well be temporary at best—devoted cheaters can simply create a fresh Steam account and spend the $15/£11 on another CS:GO copy—but from AndroidL’s perspective, the self-demise of those who sought an ostensibly easy access to a hack was worth it.

The skewed view that a hacker would eventually see with AndroidL's hack.

"I think Overwatch is a very good idea," AndroidL wrote. "It's another filter cheaters have to go through, but the only reason Overwatch exists is because VAC lacks the capabilities to detect all cheaters. Although I believe VAC is a good safeguard against cheaters, I don’t believe it is a strong enough safeguard. There is little to no effort involved for a hack developer to bypass VAC—it is a decent system to keep away the masses of people using public cheats, but other than that VAC is essentially futile.

"I do have a plan with similar tactics and I probably will do this again sometime," AndroidL continued. "It would be great if I could cooperate with Valve to get a larger number of cheaters banned. Taking cheating into our own hands seems to be the only solution right now, and I encourage others that have the skills to do this to create similar fake hacks. Furthermore, I want to put off those thinking about cheating. This wasn’t the first fake hack, and it definitely won’t be the last."

Cheating in CS:GO is its own small sub-industry, a hard-to-kill parasite riding on the skin one of the PC’s most popular games. Some ne'er-do-wells get off avoiding the notice of the VAC system for as long as possible. Others leverage cheating as a profitable enterprise, offering premium programs and services. Some professionals have even used cheats during competition (with disastrous, career-ending consequences). For Valve, combating the risk of hacking is an endless war. Just last week, Valve’s elimination of a popular Team Fortress 2 cheat nabbed nearly 170 pro TF2 players. And last year, it dealt over 1 million bans to suspected accounts; with ownership counts likely exceeding 20 million, CS:GO likely represents a significant chunk of that figure.Earlier this year, CS:GO player AndroidL was inspired to take matters into his own hands. In late January, AndroidL created and dispersed a pair of free hack programs on a popular cheat forum. Unbeknownst to their downloaders, the program

He made and distributed a hack that instantly got players banned, by continuously topping off health, ammo, and armor values the moment it loads. #StopClickBait


How Dogs Find Their Way Home (Without A GPS)

Animals’ ability to navigate long distances has long been shrouded in mystery. From the skill of racing pigeons to find their way home, to the seasonal breeding migration of the humpback whale, a huge range of creatures are capable of navigating in a consistent, precise and effective way.

Science has been slow to fully identify and understand the processes and cues involved in animal migration. However, evidence now suggests that a vast array of species, from beetles to birds to dogs, demonstrate amazing abilities to travel long distances, without the use of electronic GPS – something many humans have perhaps become over-reliant upon.

In April, the story of Pero, an adventurous four-year-old working sheepdog was reported. Pero managed to find his way from Cockermouth in Cumbria back to his previous home, near Aberystwyth, on the coast of mid Wales. In a real-life story reminiscent of "Lassie Come Home", Pero somehow navigated about 240 miles in two weeks. Significantly, his microchip confirmed this was not a case of mistaken identity, this young sheepdog really had made it back to his first home.

Stories like that of Pero’s often attract media interest, leaving readers puzzled over how an animal can travel so far. Without speculating over whether the dog had been simply dropped off at the farm by someone who recognised him, these sorts of tales apparently prove the remarkable nature of animal instincts. The deep relationship between people and their dogs also seems to drive a desire to believe that there is something magical about this ability. So, is this navigation skill because of "personal bonds" between owner and dog, or is there a scientific understanding of the biology involved?

Sniffing out adventure. www.shutterstock.com/Kevin Lobene

A huge variety of animals use a number of different sensory systems in order to travel distances. Desert ants, for example, use environmental olfactory cues and odour plumes – clouds of scent dispersed by the wind moving odour molecules – to navigate their way both to food sources and back to their nests. Honeybees appear able to recall routes to feeding sites when exposed to scent from that location. Other species such as sea turtles, some amphibians, spiny lobsters and birds are able to use magnetic positional information to migrate or orientate towards specific target locations. This latter ability to exploit geomagnetic information is significant, as it is unlikely to be affected by weather conditions, cycles of light and dark, seasonality or global position in the same way that other cues might be affected.

In addition to a "magnetic compass", birds also appear to use sun and star "compasses" for navigation. Parasitic nematode worms are capable of moving towards new hosts by responding to seismic vibrations and other species use vibrations for prey capture. Bats, birds and marine mammals can also identify location and travel with the help of sonar and infrasound, while visual landmarks appear critical for species such as ourselves.

But just how did Pero find his way home? It is likely that many animals, including dogs, navigate using an integration of many of the internal systems and external signals mentioned above. Dogs are also very reward driven – so positive associations with particular places or people are likely to result in a desire to return. The intense olfactory ability of dogs is also likely to assist location awareness – my own dogs appear to "smell" the beach miles before we actually see it.

Interestingly, recent evidence that dogs and some primates possess a molecule associated with magnetoreception – the ability to sense a magnetic field – might further explain Pero’s return home. Cryptochrome 1 is a light-sensing molecule that regulates circadian rythmns in species as diverse as plants and fish. It seems that this molecule is present in the retinal cone cells of a range of other species too, including dogs, foxes, wolves, bears and badgers. It has also been identified in some primate species including the Bornean orangutan.

The reason for the presence of this molecule remains undetermined and researchers have acknowledged that it might not be related to magnetoreception. However, the identification of cryptochrome 1 in the photoreceptors of these mammals' eyes is identical to the location of the same molecule in birds. This might suggest that the ability to respond to magnetic positional information is maintained in birds and some mammals. Indeed, magnetoreception has been documented in different mammal species, leading to the suggestion that dogs might even defecate in response to the earth’s magnetic field.

It is interesting to note that researchers have as yet failed to identify this molecule in species such as bats, an animal already known to be capable of navigating using magnetic fields. Perhaps some species have evolved different ways to use magnetic fields to identify location, or, alternatively, a range of interacting biological processes may be involved.

It is important to remember however, that Pero and other animals reported as having travelled miraculous distances tend to be the exception rather than the rule. For every amazing story of a pet dog or cat travelling huge distances to return "home", there are many more who are quite simply, lost. For those animals, even a deep bond with their human caregiver is not enough to drive or facilitate a long-distance return.

So while there does appear to be some fundamental biology that means even our domesticated species can navigate long distances, nailing down the exact science that enabled Pero’s exceptional feat of navigation remains tricky.

Jacqueline Boyd, Lecturer in Animal Science, Nottingham Trent University

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.


Surprise director announced for "Divergent" sequel

Robert Schwentke has been chosen to replace Neil Burger as director of "Insurgent," the sequel to the upcoming adaptation of Veronica Roth's "Divergent." The news was first reported late on Tuesday night by Deadline.com, and followed seven minutes later by widely disseminated press release from Summit Entertainment, the studio behind the budding YA franchise.

"We are excited to announce that we have found the perfect director to carry on the story of Tris Prior and the expanded world of 'Insurgent' in Robert Schwentke," Erik Feig, Lionsgate Motion Picture Group’s President of Production, said in a statement. (Lionsgate owns Summit Entertainment, the studio releasing "Insurgent.") "Robert, with whom we have already had a successful relationship, has proven a master storyteller in multiple genres and we can't wait to see what he brings to Veronica Roth's next installment of the 'Divergent' series. As well, we are very happy to welcome Todd Lieberman and David Hoberman to the team as executive producers."

Schwentke previously directed "Red" for Summit Entertainment. The 2010 action thriller grossed $199 million worldwide. He had less success with his follow-up to that film, Universal's "R.I.P.D.," a flop upon its release last July. (Schwentke did not direct the "Red" sequel, which was coincidentally released on the same day as "R.I.P.D.")

"Divergent" stars Shailene Woodley as the aforementioned Tris Prior, and features an all-star cast that includes Kate Winslet, Miles Teller, Maggie Q, Theo James, Ansel Elgort, Ashley Judd, Mekhi Phifer and Jai Courtney. Summit will release the film on March 21. "Insurgent" is due in theaters on March 20, 2015, and the tight turnaround was given as the reason why Burger did not return for the second installment. A similar situation happened with the "Hunger Games" franchise when original director Gary Ross declined to return to the sequel, "Catching Fire," because of time issues, among other reasons.

According to Summit Entertainment, "Insurgent" is "currently being written by Akiva Goldsman from a draft initially written by Brian Duffield."

Robert Schwentke Will Direct 'Insurgent,' The Sequel To 'Divergent'

Robert Schwentke has been chosen to replace Neil Burger as director of "Insurgent," the sequel to the upcoming adaptation of Veronica Roth's "Divergent."...

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Senator's husband brokered real estate deals for lobbyists campaign donors

WASHINGTON -- Washington is a small town at the top, and lawmakers and their spouses tend to move in overlapping circles. This reality was underscored Tuesday by a Washington Examiner report that Beltway super lobbyist Tony Podesta had hired real estate agent Frank Snellings, the husband of Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.), to sell his Capitol Hill townhouse.

Podesta had previously hired Snellings, a lawyer-turned-property agent, to broker his 2009 purchase of the townhouse for just under $1.5 million. The house has been a regular venue for fundraisers for lawmakers from both parties since then.

"I don't remember when I first met Frank, but it was a long time ago," Podesta told HuffPost. "Frank's a really go get 'em agent, and he has a good instinct," the lobbyist said.

Podesta said Snellings' marriage to Landrieu was "totally immaterial" to his decision to list the townhouse with Snellings.

"We just thought he was a really good real estate agent," Podesta said, a compliment borne out by the Examiner story that the townhouse, which was listed earlier this summer for $1.9 million, is under contract with a buyer.

The arrangement does not violate Senate ethics rules, and Landrieu is not required to disclose her husband's clients on her Senate financial disclosure forms, although they do disclose that he earns income through real estate. But mixing personal finances with political connections runs the risk that one party or the other could potentially have more than just real estate in mind.

Podesta, for instance, counts giant defense contractor Lockheed Martin and oil behemoth BP among his clients. Landrieu, who sits on the Senate Appropriations Committee and comes from a state with a booming oil industry, is undoubtedly a key senator in the eyes of both of these corporations.

Podesta assured HuffPost that he never discussed his clients or Landrieu's work with Snellings and that he has never lobbied Landrieu directly on behalf of Lockheed Martin or BP.

But the veteran lobbyist rarely misses an opportunity to strengthen his network of powerful friends.

At the 2012 Democratic National Convention, he reminded Sen. Kay Hagan (D-N.C.) that she had "a permanent invitation" to visit the Podestas' vacation home in Venice, Italy, Mark Leibovich reported in his recent book "This Town." The driving force behind the Capitol Hill townhouse sale -- Tony Podesta's divorce from fellow super lobbyist Heather Podesta -- may require that invitation to be amended. Regardless, it's been previously reported that the Podestas have entertained some 20 members of Congress over the years at their Venice home.

Tony Podesta's hiring of Snellings has drawn attention. After the Examiner highlighted the townhouse deal, a slate of other publications in Washington and Louisiana picked up the story.

Selling homes on Capitol Hill essentially guarantees that you'll run into a fair share of lobbyists and other power brokers, whether you're married to a senator or not, and Snellings has also represented many clients with no connection to politics. Real estate is a fundamentally word-of-mouth business based on personal networks, so it's not surprising that some of his clients have connections to Landrieu and Louisiana.

Landrieu's communications director, Matt Lehner, told HuffPost, "After practicing law in Louisiana for 19 years, Mr. Snellings decided 11 years ago to sell real estate. At that time, he and Sen. Landrieu received guidance from the Senate Ethics Committee that stated it is completely permissible and appropriate for Mr. Snellings to be a real estate agent for anyone. Mr. Snellings and Sen. Landrieu have always abided by the committee's rules and guidance, and they disclose their finances every year."

Since Snellings entered the real estate business in 2002, however, he has brokered houses for a number of Louisiana power players, starting with big-time lobbyist John Breaux. Snellings handled two transactions, a sale and a purchase, for Breaux in 2006, worth close to $2 million in total.

A former Louisiana senator, Breaux now works with the law and lobbying firm Patton Boggs, whose employees are also Landrieu's second most generous source of campaign funds. The firm has deep ties to Louisiana: Name partner Thomas Hale Boggs Jr. is the son of the late Thomas Hale and Lindy Boggs, who between them represented the state in Congress for over four decades.

Another Louisiana political player on Snellings' client list is Richard Zuschlag, a health care industry CEO and Landrieu campaign donor. Employees at Zuschlag's company, Acadian Ambulance Services, have donated more than $85,000 to Landrieu's election campaigns over the course of her career, placing them fourth among her all-time highest donors. Acadian employees have also given to Republicans, including Rep. Charles Boustany (R-La.), and to both major parties' campaign committees.

Zuschlag and his family have personally contributed $23,566 to Landrieu over the senator's career, a relatively small amount when compared to the $399,325 the family has given to Republican candidates for federal office since 1990. He has also been honored by then-President George W. Bush, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) and other Louisiana officials.

In 2006, Snellings helped Zuschlag buy a house a few blocks from the vice president's mansion. Zuschlag owned the property through a holding company until he retained Snellings again, in 2011, to sell it. In the meantime, the house was occupied by Zuschlag's daughter, Emily Zuschlag and, later, her husband Ross LeBlanc, whom she married in 2008. LeBlanc has his own Landrieu connection: He started out as a scheduling assistant in Landrieu's Senate office, before becoming a research analyst for the Senate Small Business Committee, which Landrieu chairs. LeBlanc and his wife left Washington in 2011.

A top lobbyist at Comcast, Melissa Maxfield, hired Snellings to help her buy a house in 2006, three years after she decamped from Capitol Hill to K Street. Maxfield has since been a host for at least three of Landrieu's annual Crawfish Fest fundraisers, in 2010, 2012 and, most recently, in June of this year. She has also made donations totaling $3,600 to Landrieu's political campaigns since 2006.

Former Louisiana Rep. Chris John (D) turned to Snellings to sell his Capitol Hill row house in 2007, before moving back to his home state to work as a lobbyist for the Louisiana Mid-Continent Oil and Gas Association. Later the same year, Landrieu made news in Washington when she cast a deciding vote with Republicans to maintain billions of dollars in subsidies for the oil industry. With the senator facing criticism for voting against her party, it was John who came to her defense, writing in The Washington Post about the "courage" she had shown by backing oil and gas interests.

Also on Snellings' client list are a handful of Democratic and progressive politicians from other parts of the country, including former Florida senator, and later governor, Bob Graham; New Hampshire Sen. Jeanne Shaheen; and Puerto Rico's former congressional representative Carlos Romero Barcelo.

Mary Landrieu's Husband Brokered Real Estate Deals For Lobbyists, Campaign Donors

WASHINGTON -- Washington is a small town at the top, and lawmakers and their spouses tend to move in overlapping circles. This reality was underscored Tu...

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Ever wonder why Prince George is always wearing shorts?

LONDON — Prince George might just be the best dressed three-year-old around.

Not a day goes by without the little prince sporting a quintessentially British ensemble, complete with his signature shorts and knee socks.

George's shorts-wearing has been a constant in Britain and around the world almost from his birth. But the adoring public might not know the reason behind his sartorial choices.

Prince George of Cambridge leaves Victoria on 1 October 2016 in Victoria, Canada. Image: Pool/Sam Hussein/WireImage Prince George of Cambridge visits the Royal International Air Tattoo at RAF Fairford. Image: Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images

Etiquette expert William Hanson told Mashable that George's propensity for wearing shorts actually stems from an age-old aristocratic tradition, one that the royal family has been sticking to for generations.

"The reason is predominantly to do with social class because everything in British society is to do with social class," Hanson told Mashable.

November 1951: King George VI with Prince Charles on his third birthday. Image: Topical Press Agency/Getty Images

Hanson says that the reason for wearing shorts also has "historical roots" and is a "custom we can trace back to the 16th century".

"If you look back at old paintings of children from aristocratic families, you see little boys aged two and under dressed as girls, wearing gowns and dresses," Hanson continued.

"In the 17th and 18th centuries, boys of age three or four were put in breeches, which are basically shorts," said Hanson.

Prince William on his first day at nursery school on September 24, 1985. Image: David Levenson/Getty Images Princess Diana with Prince William And Prince Harry at Aberdeen Airport. Image: Tim Graham/Getty Images

'Breeching' dates back to the mid-16th century and pertains to the first moment a young boy dresses in breeches rather than a gown or dress.

"From the late 18th century, it just became the thing to put young boys in shorts," Hanson said. "Trousers were something to be worn by men, and little boys would be put in shorts."

This aristocratic tradition is still being upheld by the royal family and countless other members of the British upper crust, according to Hanson.

"It has a little to do with the snob factor. A lot of mothers want their little boys to dress like little boys rather than like men," Hanson told Mashable.

Queen Elizabeth II with Prince Charles at Windsor Great Park, during a polo match, 1956. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images) Image: Getty Images

Dressing young boys in trousers is something of a "suburban practice", says Hanson.

"The royal family is not suburban. That doesn’t mean it's ‘common;’ it's just a different set of values," Hanson continued.

BONUS: Journalist dresses as Prince George for a week

Here's why Prince George is always wearing shorts

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What Happens When You're Struck By Lightning?

If you want to know what happens when you get struck by lightning, there are a couple of ways to go about it. The experiential approach is thorough and comprehensive, but has its drawbacks. May we recommend a gentler option, provided by Julian Huguet in today's DNews report?

Getting hit by lightning is rare enough that you don't have to really worry about it. In the U.S, your odds in a given year are about one in one million -- not as long as lottery odds, but still pretty reassuring.

Some Fun Facts© : Lightning is essentially a stream of supercharged electrons shooting from the sky to the ground. There are about 25 million cloud-to-ground lightning strikes each year. The typical lightning bolt delivers 100 million to one billion volts of electricity, with temperatures reaching 50,000 degrees Fahrenheit.

If you do get hit by lightning, here's what you can expect. Direct hits are usually lethal, but only about 10 percent of people struck by lightning die, thanks to phenomena like side flash and surge voltage. If you're not instantly killed, you can still die from cardiac arrest as the lightning short-circuits your heart's electrical rhythms. Respiratory arrest and seizures are common as well.

Assuming you survive all that, expect third degree burns on your body at the entrance and exit points of the arc. You might also develop the genuinely freaky pattern of scars known as Lichtenberg figures. Any metal you're wearing -- watches or belt buckles, say -- will become superheated and leave more burns. Because a lightning strike superheats the air like an explosion, you may also experience a shock wave that can burst your ear drums, tear your clothes apart, and literally knock your socks off.

The good news is that the indignity of it all will seem diminished compared to the searing physical pain. Also, you'll be able to look forward to aftereffects like chronic headaches, muscle twitches, chronic pain and various psychological complications.

And if you're very lucky indeed, several months after being hit by lightning, you may become a piano virtuoso. No, really.

The chances of being struck by lightning are about 1 in a million. What exactly is lightning and what happens if it hits you?

current events, science, thunderstorm, lightning

It's really painful and you might die. Saved you a click and a 3 minute video of a nerd telling you way more than you needed to know about electrons and making bad jokes.


In today’s society, people will go to great lengths to become someone else or to look like someone else. This woman, in particular, paid $10,000 to look like a Disney princess and the results are amazing! Take a look at her transformation:

She transforms herself into 17 princesses and they look so real.

Here she is with a fan of Else from Frozen.

Here she is dressed up like Anna from Frozen.

She is so good that she has her own business called Princess Ever After.

http://pixel.quantserve.com/pixel/p-z0zMG4nCgXzzj.gif?labels=This Woman Paid Over $10,000 To Look Like A Disney Princess

She made very expensive dresses, not had plastic surgery as the title implies


The best TV show of every year since 2000, according to critics

Check out the best TV show of every year since 2000, according to critics:

What critics said: "It's difficult to single out any particular aspect of the show: It's just plain brilliant." — Variety

What critics said: "It takes a little while to get into it (episode two clinched it for me), but once you get used to the accents and dry humor, you're hooked." — The Chicago Sun-Times

What critics said: "The pleasure to be taken from 'Office' isn't merely that of laughter — it's the pleasure of watching a piece of entertainment so perfectly made and so delicately acted." — Entertainment Weekly

What critics said: "Quite possibly the finest closing chapter ever for a TV series." — The San Francisco Chronicle

What critics said: "If you do that rare TV thing of actually paying close attention, HBO's complex, richly detailed crime drama will sweep you away like a fine novel." — The Detroit Free Press

What critics said: "Magnificently profane and entirely engaging, 'Deadwood' remains one of TV's best character-driven dramas." — The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

What critics said: "Brilliant, scathing, sprawling, 'The Wire' has turned our indifference to urban decay into a TV achievement of the highest order." — USA Today

What critics said: "It has become one of the most reliably amusing comedies on TV, taking little annoyances, indignities, and offenses, and worrying at them until they bubble into fantastically overblown debacles." — Entertainment Weekly

What critics said: "Every single scene of 'The Wire' is meticulously scripted and dramatically riveting." — Salon

What critics said: "It all makes for a rich, captivating series to look at. And listen to. Even, or especially, when it's not saying anything at all." — Time

What critics said: "True-blue fans will swoon. Everything they — you — love about this classic is laid out, banquet-like, Sunday night — the fashions, style, elegance, writing, characters, precision, beauty and most of all, the humor." — Newsday

What critics said: "'Breaking Bad' is unquestionably one of the greatest dramas in TV history." — The Hollywood Reporter

What critics said: "The arc of this character — series creator Vince Gilligan's invention of Walter White as a sick soul — is, it's clear now, one of the great narratives in television history." — Entertainment Weekly

What critics said: "The show's must-see second season is one of the best stories I've experienced in a long time." — The Huffington Post

What critics said: "The acting is delightful, the visuals are sumptuous, the stories couldn't be more surprising." — The Wrap

What critics said: "The new season of 'Fargo' shows TV-making at its most impressive, with every single aspect — the writing, the acting, the directing, the cinematography, the music, the set design — spot on and in sync." — The Boston Globe

What critics said: "It allows us to know and care for these characters even when they try to hold us at arm's length, by embracing their truths in quiet moments that connect us to their loneliness, uncertainty, and ultimately their hope." — Collider

Each year in television, one show stands out from the rest as the most critically acclaimed program of the year. Since the turn of the new century, review aggregator Metacritic has compiled an annual list of the year's most well-received TV show seasons by assigning scores based on their composite critical reception. We selected the top show from each year starting with 2000. The resulting list includes repeated appearances from contemporary classics like "Breaking Bad," "The Wire," and "Mad Men" for their most notable seasons.

Business Insider, Television, TV & Radio, Culture

2000: "The Sopranos" (Season 2)
2001: "The Office: UK" (Season 1)
2002: "The Office: UK" (Season 2)
2003: "The Office: UK" (Season 3)
2004: "The Wire" (Season 3)


Wait, You’re Supposed To Wash Your Bras HOW Often?

Let’s face it: We can do better when it comes to bras.

Whether we’re guilty of wearing the wrong size, going too long between washes or worse ― washing them incorrectly ― there’s a slew of things than can go wrong when it comes to our precious undergarments.

Thanks to the fine folks at Rigby & Peller, we’re feeling a bit more supported when it comes to bra maintenance. The U.K.-based lingerie retailer has over 75 years of experience finding the perfect bras for their customers, and is now helping women in 41 locations worldwide.

We chatted with Candece Etafo, Rigby & Peller’s Fifth Avenue boutique manager in New York about all things bras. Herewith, 11 things she wants you to know.

1. You’re probably not getting measured nearly as often as you should be.

If the last time you were measured for a bra involved a Victoria’s Secret employee wrapping a pink measuring tape around you in middle school, it’s definitely time for a check in. Etafo notes that "A lot can happen, life changes. You could get pregnant, you could gain weight, you could lose weight. So much happens in life that you should check in with your lingerie stylist every six to eight months."

2. If your clothing doesn’t fit properly, chances are it has nothing to do with the actual clothing.

Having everything in its correct place is crucial not just for supporting what’s underneath, but for making sure everything looks right on the outside, too. Etafo says, "You need a firm band. A loose band is why your breast tissue is sitting lower when it should be higher. You might say, ‘I know I’m not a size 12, this 10 should fit.’ Once clients come in and get in the right cup size all of a sudden it fits, they can move."

3. Tightening your straps when a bra feels loose is far from a cure all.

We are quick to tighten straps on a bra to make it feel more supportive, but in reality, it’s the band that does all the work. Etafo explains: "If you needed to put it into numbers, the band is really doing 90 percent of the supporting. It’s important that the band, not the straps, are very firm.

4. You’re not washing your bras enough. Period.

When was the last time you washed your favorite bra? A week ago? A month, perhaps? We’re not here to shame you, but we are here to shock you. Etafo says a bra should be washed after every three wears, and those wears should never be in a row. "You’re stretching them out. Would you do that to your favorite pair of shoes? Your favorite jeans? No." Just like your clothing, you should rotate your bras.

5. And you’re probably not washing them correctly, either.

We’re all guilty of throwing our bras in with the rest of our laundry every now and then, but Etafo says that’s a big no-no. "Ideally we want to hand wash with a lingerie wash. However, I’m a realist, I know we live in a busy city so if you do have to, a lot of new machines have a hand wash cycle or a delicate cycle. You can close the bras and put them inside a wash bag. After they’re washed you want to hang them dry. What’s important about using lingerie wash is that it has ingredients that help your fabric and band bounce back into place. It’s good for anything like your bodysuits, swim, hosiery, etc."

6. Straps should *never* dig in to your shoulders ― no matter your bra size.

And if they do, Etafo says you "need shoulder cushions in your life."

7. But it’s OK for one cup to be slightly less full than the other.

Everyone has one breast that is a bit bigger than the other, and Etafo says even if there is a small gap or space on one side, it won’t show through your clothing.

"A D is a D, but a DD is the same as an E," Etafo says. "There might be a tiny difference in some retailers, but typically not. In this country we’re used to doing D, DD, DDD but it’s actually D, E, F, G, H, etc. You have a specific cup size, and you should always go by the U.K. sizing so you know the correct one."

9. Sleeping in a bra is your choice, but...

"The more supported your breast tissue is, the more elevated they will stay," Etafo says. She recommends women wear supportive sports bras, if they do choose to sleep in them.

10. Even if you have enough bras in your wardrobe, chances are you’re not wearing all of them.

We all have those bras in our dressers that haven’t been touched in years, and Etafo says it’s time to give those the boot. "We’ve found that women only wear two out of the 10 bras in their wardrobe. Ideally you want to have between seven and 10 that you wear regularly. That includes a strapless, a sports bra and a convertible."

11. Most of all, we need  to take better care of our bras.

Wearing the right bra can change your entire look and the way you feel, so why are we still treating them like afterthoughts? "You have to give that same tender loving care that you do to you clothing as you do to your bras," Etafo says.

How Often You Should Wash Your Bras, Plus More Genius Lingerie Tips

Hint: you're DEFINITELY not washing them enough.

bras,sports bras,strapless bras ,bra problems ,bra fittings

After every three wears, with the wears not being in a row [Huffington Post]


She glues coins on the bottom of her daughter’s shoes for a brilliant reason! Something to think about...

Everyone has coins they don’t use like this at home! You can certainly take them to the bank or toss them aside, but it’s important to not throw them away, because would you believe that these coins that are worth so little (to be honest!) can be used for something!

In fact, we have found the 10 best ideas just for you - for simple, beautiful, and unique decoration!

1. Put them in a sandbox to make your child believe he’s on a treasure hunt!?

3. To steady a table, put them under a leg

7. A perfect way to measure tread on tires

9. Get the same distance between ceramic tiles

10. A perfect decoration for living room tables

Everyone has coins they don’t use like this at home! You can certainly take them to the bank or toss them aside, but it’s important to not throw...

news, sheldon cooper, big bang theory, Articles

Page gives 10 reasons (in comments). The one in the title is on making tap dancing shoes.


Pope Francis racks up another surprising magazine cover

Pope Francis racked up yet another magazine cover with his appearance on the front of iconic rock magazine Rolling Stone. He is the first pope to ever be featured.

Mark Binelli's extensive, 7,700-word cover story reflects the pope's unusually wide appeal, which cuts across demographic lines of age, political views, and even religious affiliation.

Binelli's piece, "Pope Francis: The Times They Are A-Changing" goes "Inside the Pope's Gentle Revolution" to investigate why this pontiff is so different from those before him. Alluding to Bob Dylan's anthem, Binelli portrays the pope as "Cool Pope Francis," a politically-savvy leader, PR expert, and friend of the crowded masses.

This is by no means Pope Francis' first appearance on a magazine cover. He graced the covers of Time Magazine and Vanity Fair Italia after the publications named him "Person of the Year" and "Man of the Year," respectively.

The New Yorker also put him on the cover less than a week after he became Time's "Person of the Year."

Perhaps his most unexpected appearance was on the cover of The Advocate, an LGBT-focused magazine who named him "Person of the Year" for his landmark statement, "If someone is gay and seeks the Lord with good will, who am I to judge?"

The Rolling Stone cover shows that the world's fascination with the "People's Pope" is still going strong. It seems the times are a-changing, indeed.

Pope Francis' Rolling Stone Cover Cements His Prominence In Pop Culture

Pope Francis racked up yet another magazine cover with his appearance on the front of iconic rock magazine Rolling Stone. He is the first pope to ever be...

Pope Francis,pope francis magazine covers,pope francis rolling stone cover,rolling stone cover,Rolling Stone,pope news,pope francis rolling stone,pope

.@RollingStone; first pope to be featured


There’s an iOS 10 update coming on September 30th and at least one new feature was revealed

There’s a long list of reasons users can become frustrated with Apple’s virtual personal assistant, Siri. No one would argue that progress has been slow with Siri — the feature was an absolute mess when Apple first released it as a beta alongside the iPhone 4S back in 2011. Since then, Siri’s capabilities have expanded exponentially and reliability has improved dramatically as well. There are still plenty of wrinkles to be ironed out, however, and at least one of them will be apparently fixed late next month. How do we know? Because a certain celebrity let it slip that she spoke with Apple CEO Tim Cook, who told her about it personally.

When you’re a regular iPhone user and you have a problem with Siri, the best you can do is hit Facebook, Twitter or Apple’s support forum and complain about it. You won’t really accomplish much, but sometimes it helps to vent and to chat with other people who might have the same complaint. Of course, if you’re Barbra Streisand and you have a problem with Siri, you’ve got another option: Call Apple CEO Tim Cook directly and convince him to fix it.

Hollywood Reporter) that ran last week month, Streisand shared a funny little anecdote that happened to include possible confirmation of an upcoming iOS 10 update set to be released on September 30th. Apple is expected to release iOS 10 to the public 2 weeks prior to that, so the company may already have a small update planned soon after the new software’s initial release. Considering how quickly Apple has been pushing out iOS 10 beta updates, it really wouldn’t surprise us. In an interview with NPR (via) that ran last week month, Streisand shared a funny little anecdote that happened to include possible confirmation of an upcoming iOS 10 update set to be released on September 30th. Apple is expected to release iOS 10 to the public 2 weeks prior to that, so the company may already have a small update planned soon after the new software’s initial release. Considering how quickly Apple has been pushing out iOS 10 beta updates, it really wouldn’t surprise us.

During her interview with NPR, the interviewer pulled out his iPhone and asked Siri, "who’s was the only female vocalist who’s had hit records for six straight decades?" Siri’s response, of course, was "Barbra Streisand." Upon hearing the response however, Streisand commented that Siri pronounces her name incorrectly, and then shared an interesting little tidbit.

"Streisand with a soft S, like sand on the beach," she said. "I’ve been saying this for my whole career. And so what did I do? I called the head of Apple, Tim Cook, and he delightfully agreed to have Siri change the pronunciation of my name, finally, with the next update on September 30th."

Apple obviously hasn’t publicly announced any new iOS 10 update that’s set to be released at the end of September, but this seemingly comes straight from the horse’s mouth.

iOS 10 Features List: New update coming on September 30th

There's a long list of reasons users can become frustrated with Apple's virtual personal assistant, Siri. No one would argue that progress has been slow with Siri — the feature was an absolute mess when Apple first released it as a beta alongside the iPhone 4S back in 2011.

Siri will start pronouncing Barbra Streisand's name correctly


Over on Uproxx, Shane Black - writer of Iron Man 3 - has just dropped a bombshell on the Marvel Cinematic Universe. We've known for a long time that office politics in Marvel caused a lot of trouble, eventually forcing Disney to restructure the company last year. But it seems they had seriously interesting impacts on Iron Man 3.

Asked about Rebecca Hall's Maya Hansen, Black commented:

"All I’ll say is this, on the record: There was an early draft of Iron Man 3 where we had an inkling of a problem. Which is that we had a female character who was the villain in the draft. We had finished the script and we were given a no-holds-barred memo saying that cannot stand and we’ve changed our minds because, after consulting, we’ve decided that toy won’t sell as well if it’s a female."

It's a matter of record that Marvel's reclusive CEO Ike Perlmutter has never believed that female superheroes sell. That's why we're yet to get a Black Widow movie, and why one controversial toy based on a scene from Avengers: Age of Ultron had Black Widow replaced with Captain America.

But now we're learning that Perlmutter's concern with the toy merchandise actually forced a rewrite of the script.

Black's careful to add that the problem was with Marvel corporate, not Kevin Feige. When Ike Perlmutter's name is dropped into the conversation, he doesn't exactly leap to Perlmutter's defene.

"Yeah, Ike’s gone. But New York called and said, "That’s money out of our bank." In the earlier draft, the woman was essentially Killian – and they didn’t want a female Killian, they wanted a male Killian. I liked the idea, like Remington Steele, you think it’s the man but at the end, the woman has been running the whole show. They just said, "no way.""

Kevin Feige has described Iron Man 3 as one of the hardest Marvel movies to make. Perhaps one reason is that office politics weakened the movie, right down to completely forcing the villain to be gender-swapped.

Do you think this would have been a better plot? Let me know in the comments!

I wonder how different this could have been...

The Villain of Iron Man 3 Was Gender-Swapped - For A Reason You Won't Believe!

Over on Uproxx, Shane Black - writer of Iron Man 3 - has just dropped a bombshell on the Marvel Cinematic Universe. We've known for a long time that office politics in...

A female villain wouldn't sell as many toys


The crew of this flight did the sweetest thing for the grandmother of one of the Orlando shooting victims More

In the days since the tragic terrorist attack at Pulse nightclub in Orlando, we’ve seen some beautiful instances of compassion and unity which have helped us remain hopeful in the wake of such a horrible event. One such story is what happened aboard a JetBlue flight bound for Orlando.

Yesterday, Kelly David Karas, a flight attendant with JetBlue, was part of a crew on a flight that was carrying the grandmother of Luis Omar Ocasio-Capo (known as Omar to his friends and family), one of the victims of the Orlando shooting. Omar’s distraught grandmother was headed to be with family in the aftermath of the tragedy. Kelly and her fellow flight attendant, Melinda, wanted to do something special for Omar’s grandmother to show their support during such a difficult time. So they passed a paper around the plane for the passengers to sign with a note of condolence.

But once the paper began circulating, something amazing happened. The passengers wrote pages and pages for Omar’s grandmother, and when the flight was over, every single person aboard the plane stopped to talk to her personally and tell her how sorry they were about her grandson.

Kelly was so moved by the incident that she took to Facebook to share what happened aboard the flight, posting a photo of Omar, along with the whole story.

"Below is a picture of Luis Omar Ocasio-Capo. Omar, as his friends and family called him, was a Latino man gunned down at an LGBTQ bar in Orlando last weekend. He was 20-years-old. Today my dear friend Melinda and I had the sad privilege of attending to his grandmother on our flight as she made her journey to Orlando to join her family during this unspeakable time. Knowing she was making this hard journey alone, JetBlue employees made sure to be at her side every step of the way. Melinda stood quietly by her wheelchair while we waited until it was time to board. Kellie, the gate agent, boarded with her and helped get her settled. Melinda and I gave her a blanket, a pillow, a box of tissues and water so she could be as comfortable as possible. She was understandably distraught, but met us with kindness and gentleness. And gratitude. But here’s where our flight got truly inspiring. I had the idea to pass around a piece of paper to everyone on board and invite them to sign it for this grieving grandmother. I talked it over with Melinda and she started the process from the back of the plane. As we took beverage orders, we whispered a heads up about the plan as we went.

Halfway through, Melinda called me, "Kel, I think you should start another paper from the front. Folks are writing PARAGRAPHS." So I did. Then we started one in the middle. Lastly, running out of time on our hour and fifteen minute flight, we handed out pieces of paper to everyone still waiting. When we gathered them together to present them to her, we didn’t have just a sheet of paper covered in names, which is what I had envisioned. Instead, we had page after page after page after page of long messages offering condolences, peace, love and support. There were even a couple of cash donations, and more than a few tears.

When we landed, I made an announcement that the company had emailed to us earlier in the morning to use as an optional addition to our normal landing announcement, which states "JetBlue stands with Orlando." Then with her permission and at the request of a couple of passengers, we offered a moment of silence in Omar’s memory.

As we deplaned, EVERY SINGLE PERSON STOPPED TO OFFER HER THEIR CONDOLENCES. Some just said they were sorry, some touched her hand, some hugged her, some cried with her. But every single person stopped to speak to her, and not a single person was impatient at the slower deplaning process. I am moved to tears yet again as I struggle to put our experience into words. In spite of a few hateful, broken human beings in this world who can all too easily legally get their hands on mass assault weapons – people ARE kind. People DO care. And through our customers’ humanity today, and through the generosity of this wonderful company I am so grateful to work for, I am hopeful that someday soon we can rally together to make the world a safer place for all. I will never forget today. #Orlandoproud"

We’d like to join JetBlue in offering our sincere condolences to Omar’s loved ones. And we want to thank Kelly, the rest of the crew and every person aboard that JetBlue flight. The entire country is devastated by what happened in Orlando, but stories like this give us hope.

In the days since the tragic terrorist attack at Pulse nightclub in Orlando, we’ve seen some beautiful instances of compassion and unity...

They collected notes of condolences from passengers and presented them to her


This one cool trick may eliminate clickbait forever

Online publishers and advertisers for some time have measured success almost entirely with a single metric: clicks. It’s created a perverse system that rewards publishers and their content producers for goading users into landing on a page with splashy or misleading headlines and content that's attractive and easily digestible, but without much value. Measuring page views = clickbait, in other words.

Brian Boyer, the head of National Public Radio’s visuals team, wants to change that online measure of success for news organizations. Boyer and a team of three others were recently awarded a $35,000 grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation to come up with a tool that measures the impact of media -- whether it’s a story, slideshow, video or interactive feature -- beyond someone having landed on a webpage. The project, called Carebot, is still in early development -- the project kicks off in February and the team will launch something by April. But the goal is to produce a prototype that measures impact in a more meaningful, substantive way. The Huffington Post spoke with Boyer about the project.

Tell me a little bit about the problem you set out to solve. How did the idea first come about?

The question that all of us eventually ask ourselves is: Are we doing our jobs, right? Do we have an impact? When I was at ProPublica, at the morning meeting we would shout, "Impact!" when Congress passed a bill related to our reporting. But at NPR, our bread and butter isn't really accountability journalism; it’s about introducing the audience to people and ideas they're not familiar with. So we started thinking about different alternative ways to look at our analytics, and other data we could be gathering that might give us more of a window into if a story made somebody give a shit.

At the end of the day, empathy is our impact.

My joke about it is we can't put our audience in an MRI machine every day, and we don't have a window into their souls. So, what can we use as a proxy for those things? A raw page view is just a proxy for: Did we provoke you to click? It's not a proxy for if you read it. It's not a proxy for if you gave a shit. It's a proxy for: Were we successful at provoking you? Google Analytics provides us a "time on site" number, but that only roughly allows you to estimate how much time someone spent on a story.

The important number we've come up with to measure impact so far is completion rate -- what proportion of people who landed on a page cared enough to read it through? We’re still brainstorming and experimenting with ways to measure how much someone cared about a story. We’re testing the use of buttons at the end of the story that ask the user if they loved the content. We’re looking at the number of shares on social media per page view -- the percentage of readers who were moved to tell their friends about a story. But using page views as the denominator and not the numerator seems like a smart thing to do.

How would this make a difference in which stories are celebrated?

One of my favorite pieces is a piece we did about the civil war in Yemen. That's about as "eat your broccoli" as a news story gets, right? And the number of raw page views is something like 50-60,000 people, which is not a barn burner, but not a total failure. But of those 60,000 people, something like 65 percent completed the piece. That's a perfect example of, hey, the page view number was okay, but the people who saw it gave a shit.

What has been the project’s most surprising finding thus far?

One experiment we ran earlier today asked people at the end of a story a very simple question: "Did you love this story?" Instead of having a proxy for measuring impact, why don't we just ask them? They can click on a button that says yes or no. We A/B tested it and the results were fascinating.

In one test, we put a "Support Public Radio" button at the end of a story, and only a tiny fraction of a percentage of people clicked it. But when we asked them if they loved the story before asking them to donate, they were 10 times more likely to click the donate button, which blew our minds.

I know that you're still in the beginning stages of development, but are you thinking about bringing different metrics into a single number and having something like a Klout score, which measures online social influence?

That's one of the big questions. We certainly thought about it, and the wall you run into is, "Well, if I'm going to combine these numbers, then I need to give them some kind of weighting." And at this moment, we haven't gathered enough data about enough stories to really decide for ourselves.

What are you envisioning in terms of a product? Something like an analytics dashboard?

We're going to have to spend some time designing it, but the general feeling is to be pretty lightweight about the visuals; if there's even anything on the Web, it'll be pretty simple.

Instead of having an elaborate analytics dashboard you log into, we’re thinking of a system that is notification-based. It would be along the lines of an email that says, "Hey, Sarah, your story really killed it in making people care yesterday." Or I can imagine us writing a Slackbot because the messaging app is the place where the team hangs out. Otherwise, you create a dashboard, people just have to go to it, and it’s always an uphill battle getting people to add anything to their routine. You've got to get in people's inboxes.

Say the entire industry starts tracking itself in terms of impact rather than clicks. What changes?

News organizations are probably more like churches than regular businesses, and NPR is one of the prime examples of an organization that actually acts like a church. We ask people to regularly tithe, and so, for me, if we can create more stories that make people care, then they will, hopefully, become giving members of their local radio station, and it reinforces our business model. We have fewer perverse incentives to write clickbait.

Watching The Washington Post staff up their digital organization and then get heavy in the clickbait business, and then celebrate surpassing The New York Times in page views bums me out. There are great journalists there, and the work that they're publishing that surpasses -- that they're celebrating -- it's not their best work!

Speaking of impact, what do you hope the impact of your project will be?

It's really important what you celebrate. If we celebrate and highlight stories that have impact as opposed to just generating page views, does our behavior change? Does their output of stories that make people care increase? I don't know the answer. That's our hypothesis.

This One Neat Trick Will Eliminate Clickbait Forever

NPR's Carebot project aims to move beyond page views to change the way online publishers measure success.

Brian Boyer,Carebot,John S. and James L. Knight Foundation,NPR,media future,national public radio,clickbait,page views


Google Doodle honors "World's Best-Loved Woman"  #ImpactX

In honor of her 153rd birthday, Hull House founder, social activist and Nobel Prize winner Jane Addams was celebrated in Friday's Google Doodle.

The simple, colorful doodle depicts the red Hull House that Addam's co-founded in 1889 in Chicago for recently-arrived immigrants from Europe.

Addams, who was "a pioneer social worker in America, as a feminist, and as an internationalist," was the first American woman to win a Nobel Peace Prize in 1931.

On her death in 1935, the Christian Science Monitor notes she was called "the greatest woman in the world," the "mother of social service," "the greatest woman internationalis"’ and the "first citizen of Chicago." Additionally, the New York Times said in her obituary, "She was, perhaps, the world's best-known and best-loved woman."

Jane Addams, Nobel Prize Winner And 'World's Best-Loved Woman' Honored With Google Doodle (PHOTO)

In honor of her 153rd birthday, Hull House founder, social activist and Nobel Prize winne...

jane addams birthday,Jane Addams,google doodle jane addams,impactx,Jane Addams Hull House Museum,jane addams google doodle,google doodle,jane addams birthday google


That 'S' Thing Everyone Drew in School, WHAT IS IT?

I was about eight when someone showed me how to draw this. It started with two sets of three parallel lines that were joined diagonally left to right, then capped off at the top and bottom with pointy bits. It was a fierce, beautiful S, and drawing it was addictive.

Soon all my schoolbooks were covered in The S. I never questioned what it meant or where it came from, I just knew I loved it. But it turns out I wasn't the only one.

I recently googled The S and discovered that although everyone loves it, no one knows its origins. Various Reddits and notice boards are full of really nostalgic people without a clue.

It seems The S has appeared throughout all of North America, South America, Europe, Russia, Asia, and Australia. Some people think it's a 90s thing, others report seeing it as early as the 1960s. There were theories that it was the symbol of some 80s hair metal band. Other people thought it was the original emblem for the clothing brand Stussy. Others thought it was an incarnation of the Superman logo. No one was sure.

"That's the Superman S," mused Ben, our in-house graphics guy. I asked him if that meant it was actually from Superman but he said it wasn't. "No, I think it's just what kids think when they're drawing it. They really just draw it because it's cool."

I got on the phone to DC Comics to find out if they knew anything. According to Benjamin LeClear, who manages the comics library at their studio in Burbank, California, the S has nothing to do with Superman.

"It doesn't look like any of the emblems from the old Superman Shield logos," he said after rummaging through their collection. "His 'S' has a lot of open space and almost never connects to itself."

Benjamin told me he'd become intrigued and, like me, launched his own mini investigation on the web only to turn up nothing. "I didn't realise what a crazy urban myth/mystery this Pointed S thing is," he said. "I would love for this to be Superman-related, but I don't think it is. Though Superman has the most famous 'S' symbol of all time."

"It's the Stussy S!" exclaimed Ramona, one of our producers. Like Ben's guess, she didn't think it was actually an emblem associated with Stussy, but refused to believe it had any other name. "It's definitely called the Stussy S," she said, then drew her own version that wasn't as good as mine.

Pretty much every forum on the web mentions Stussy—the Californian surf/street wear company founded in the 80s. A lot of people seem convinced the symbol was originally a Stussy logo, so I called Stussy.

"No, this is not an original Stussy Logo," stated Emmy Coates, who has worked alongside Shawn Stussy since 1985. "I personally get asked this a lot, but people have been drawing this S long before Stussy was established. People have just assumed it was Stussy and it's sort of spread from there. It's actually quite amusing."

I finally asked Emmy what she thought the symbol looked like. "It looks like Suzuki logo," she replied.

I was tempted to call Suzuki but didn't. I needed to zoom out and take in the bigger picture, so I got in touch with an expert in symbols and semiotics: Paul Cobley.

Paul is a Professor in Language and Media at Middlesex University in London. According to him the theory that it was a hair metal symbol was also ridiculous—"It's certainly not the Saxon logo," he said. "Theirs was far more sharp and had a staff." Then he offered the most likely yet bland explanation of all. That is, it's fun to draw.

"The reason kids go through this is probably because it's a Moebius strip," he said, referring to the sort of looped one-surface shapes Escher was fond of drawing. "It can't be drawn continuously, but it does have a perpetual flow."

I think he was on to something. Most nine-year-olds can't draw, so when someone hands them a magical recipe to create something fairly cool, on demand—that'll go viral. Especially when the shape has the sophisticated, mathematical lineage of a Moebius strip. Yes I'd learned the term ten minutes earlier, but whatever. Moebius strip.

The S isn't a Stussy logo or a Superman emblem or a gift from aliens, I think it's just the most fun ever.

Children have been drawing the "Pointy S" since the dawn of time. I used journalism to find out where it came from, sort of.

culture, news, lgbtq, politics, journalism, video, documentary, sex, drugs, film, tv, entertainment, travel, crime,mystery,Superman,The SS,drawing,Vice Blog,pointy s,Stussy S,will we ever know

Author has literally no clue. Asked his work-mates who also has no clue. Ended the article by saying that "It's the most fun ever"


7 expert tricks to master if you suck at shopping

No more wasting time wandering around the store.

1. 1. To quickly assess an item’s quality, hold the fabric up to a bright light.

Here’s an example of two different silk blouses held up against a strong light. "The thicker the material, the higher the quality," Debbie Roes — creator of the Recovering Shopaholic blog — told BuzzFeed.

2. Do the "scrunch test" to see if clothes stay wrinkly.

Ball part of the garment up in your fist, hold it for a few seconds, and then let it go. Does the fabric stay wrinkled or do the wrinkles come out quickly? If it can’t stand being wrinkled for a few seconds in your hand, it’s probably not going to withstand the test of time.

3. Make sure your pattern matches at the seams.

Check the side seams of a shirt and around any pockets to instantly tell if quality is high or not. "Matching a plaid or horizontal stripe may mean using more fabric to cut out the individual pieces of the garment, which can drive up the cost," Roes said.

4. Check out clothing AFTER you try it on.

Well-made clothing retains its original shape. Odds are that if it looks misshapen after wearing it for 5 minutes, it’ll only go downhill from there. Before you leave the fitting room, see if any pulls or misshapen areas have started to form so you don’t waste your money.

5. If you’re shopping for a sheer fabric or lingerie, look for French seams.

French seams are a favored seam-finishing technique for designers, Roes explained, since the raw edges of the fabric are hidden in a neat finished seam. French seams are best for fine, thin fabrics that can fray easily, or for lingerie so you don’t have a rough seam against your skin.

"Well-made jackets have a taped edge holding lining to the jacket material," Roes said.

7. And lastly: Find something you love with a pen stain on it? Remove it with hairspray when you get home.

Spray the pen mark with hairspray and then wipe away with a damp sponge. Try this BEFORE you take the tags off — if the pen turns out to be permanent marker and won’t budge, you can still return it.

7 Expert Shopping Tips That’ll Save You Money


George Northwood is a man who knows a thing or two about hair. According to his website, the hair stylist boasts of high profile clients like Rosie Huntington-Whiteley and Alexa Chung.

Speaking to Vogue recently, Northwood ran through several before and after bed routines to get the perfect hairstyle for the day ahead.

But the one thing he said you should never do in the morning is brush:

Never, ever brush in the morning. For one thing it leads to frizz, and secondly there's always an element of mechanical damage. Use your fingers and you'll be able to feel out any tangles.

The one thing you should never do to your hair first thing in the morning The list

For most people, the three basic parts of a good morning routine involve a quick shower, brushing one's teeth and then, most crucially of all: getting the hair-do on point for the day ahead. But there's one cardinal sin that many of us are apparently committing in this final part of the trio without even realising it.


Libertarians are often called a fringe group: too small and "strange" to be taken seriously. But is that characterization accurate? As Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson's poll numbers have recently shown, Libertarians could be a serious contender in the upcoming presidential election. More than a million people voted for the Libertarian presidential nominee in 2012, and with a growing number of people leaving the two-party mentality, the Libertarian party has been growing by leaps and bounds. It isn't widely known that many celebrities have also been vocal in their support for the Libertarian party. So which celebrities have spoken out in favor of the Libertarians?

"The way the media tend to present Libertarians is that we’re conservatives, or we’re people with money who want to smoke dope. And it’s really not true at all for me. I do not come to Libertarianism because I’m a really successful businessperson, or a CEO, or because I have to fight regulations..."

"I really come to it from a purely hippie point of view. I have always been a peacenik... I started thinking that one really good definition of government is that government is supposed to have a monopoly on force. The government is the guys with the guns, and we are the people who tell the government what they can do. So in my morality, I shouldn’t be able to tell anyone to do something with a gun that I wouldn’t do myself." - Newsweek

Penn Jillette has been quite outspoken about his support of Libertarians. The example above is from a 2016 speech at a CATO event, and shared on Newsweek. In this YouTube video from 2011, he spoke of the same political leanings: "I voted Libertarian for many years now

"I never thought I was a Libertarian until I picked up Reason magazine and realized I agree with everything they had printed.." - From an August 9, 2007 interview with Time, that was also shared on Reason.com

"The less the better. As far as your personal goals are and what you actually want to do with your life, it should never have to do with the government. You should never depend on the government for your retirement, your financial security, for anything. If you do, you’re screwed." - From Drew's 1997 interview with Reason magazine, shared on The Advocates. (Getty)

Drew Carey talks openly on his Twitter about supporting Gary Johnson. In fact, at the end of June he announced that he was going to host a big fundraiser for Johnson. (Twitter/Drew Carey, from Derek Dwilson)

"I am by nature Libertarian... don’t tread on me, just leave me alone, that’s all."— Kurt Russell, 1997 to Talking Pictures Magazine

"I’m a Libertarian. I think a lot of people are Libertarians and are afraid to admit it — or don’t know."— Kurt Russell to The Washington Post in 1997

"I was brought up as a Republican. But when I realized that at the end of the day there wasn’t much difference between a Democrat and Republican, I became a Libertarian." — to the Toronto Sun in 1996 (re-shared by The Advocates)

Kurt Russell has spoken multiple times about his Libertarian beliefs. When Russell introduced former House Speaker Newt Gingrich at a speech in Los Angeles, he said the same thing in 1998. (Originally reported in Variety, and shared by The Advocates): "I’m not a Republican

I’m a Libertarian." In 2004, he told The O'Reilly Factor why he preferred Libertarianism: "...limited constitutional government. I believe in that. Freedom, freedom, freedom. Being a Libertarian, I do believe that limited government is good." (Getty)

In a 2015 interview with Playboy, Vince Vaughn went into detail about why he's a Libertarian. Here are a few quotes from the article.

"I would use the term Libertarian to describe my politics. I like the principles of the Constitution and the republic ... A republic did very well in Rome until they got a lot of central power and Caesar decided he knew what was best for everyone."

He also spoke about his admiration for Ron Paul. "Ron Paul woke a lot of people up to the fact that government can’t handle everything for you. Once you start playing that game, where does it stop?"

Vaughn also wants to end the Patriot Act.  "Let’s get rid of it. Undeclared wars, doing away with personal liberties—let’s understand how that has worked out historically to see that it has led to some horrible things. Once our personal liberties are gone ...  where is our country?"

When asked if he owns a gun, Vaughn told Playboy that he did, but added that he believes in freedom for all people, regardless of nationality or belief:  "I believe in the right to defend yourself if need be. Hopefully you’re never in that situation, but I think you’re fairly naive to believe there will never be a cause for self-defense. But again, I believe it’s up to the individual. I don’t believe rights come in groups. You shouldn’t get more or fewer rights because of what you believe in or what nationality you were born into."(Getty)

When asked by Howard Stern in 2015 who he would vote for in the coming election, Duvall said: "I’ll probably vote Libertarian." This was shared on a secondary source call InfoWars, but it wasn't the first time he was referred to as Libertarian. Back in 2004, 60 Minutes referred to Duvall as being "fiercely Libertarian." In 2015, many publications took Duvall's statement to Howard Stern as meaning that he might vote for Rand Paul, when Rand was still in the race. In the past, he has also aligned with conservative Republican politicians, such as endorsing Mitt Romney in 2012. But in 2014 he changed his mind and told The Daily Beast that he was going to vote independent because the Republican Party was "a mess." (Getty)

"I’m a registered independent with a lot of Libertarian leanings. [but] I think we should have stoplights, fire departments, and strategic missile defense. I’m keeping quiet about a lot of that right now but I’m becoming so concerned that I might have to speak up. I don’t know if that will help me get more work in Hollywood. So be it." — Tom Selleck in a 2004 interview with National Review

In 2000, Parade Magazine referred to him as "firmly on the record as a Libertarian-leaning registered Independent," but also said he typically didn't like talking about his political views. Interestingly, in 2008 Selleck endorsed John McCain.(Getty)

"I think it (Libertarian) is an apt description for me personally, and that has probably seeped into the show. But we never set out to do a Libertarian show." — Matt Stone, in an interview with Reason in 2006

Trey Parker and Matt Stone, best known for creating South Park, have both said at various times that they are Libertarian. Parker said that he is "a registered Libertarian," according to a 2001 article in the Los Angeles Times. In an interview with Reason in 2006, Parker said people always asked if he was Libertarian. His answer: "I still don’t really know the answer to that question. I think I am, though." Stone was more decisive about his Libertarian beliefs during the same interview, as indicated in the quote above. (Getty)

"I like the Libertarian view, which is to leave everyone alone. From a Libertarian point of view, you would say, ‘Yeah? So what?’ You have to believe in total equality. People should be able to be what they want to be and do what they want — as long as they’re not harming people." — 2004 Interview with USA Weekend, shared by the History News Network

"I've always been a Libertarian. Leave everybody alone. Let everybody else do what they want. Just stay out of everybody else's hair. So I believe in that value of smaller government. Give politicians power and all of a sudden they'll misuse it on ya." — In a 2008 interview with The Guardian, where Eastwood reiterated his Libertarian beliefs. (Getty)

"I don’t believe in government. In other words, I think we can all look after ourselves. ... Generally, what the government accomplishes, 99% of that is (expletive) ... I look at government as businessmen working for bigger businessmen. There’s obvious things — don’t steal, the Ten Commandments. There’s what we call victimless crimes. In my opinion, if you don’t actually have a victim who’s a human being, someone who’s been hurt or their property has been hurt, there’s no crime." — 2014 USA Today Interview (Getty)

"...I’m a complete Libertarian..." 2008 NY Press Interview

"I don't like telling anyone what to do really. I don't feel like it's very polite." — A 2014 interview with The Guardian, when asked what he means when he says he's a "complete Libertarian." (Getty)

Which celebrities are Libertarians? Have any of them endorsed Gary Johnson yet for president? You'll be surprised by who's on this list.

Yes, Pen Gillette, Drew Cary, Kurt Russel, Robert Duvall, Tom Selleck, Vince Vaughn, Trey Stone and Matt Parker, Clint Eastwood, Woody Harrelson, and Rufus Wainright

Penn Jillette
Drew Carey
Kurt Russell
Vince Vaughn
Robert Duvall


The one item every man needs in his closet

There are lots of guys who rarely wear suits, and plenty of dudes probably couldn't give two hoots about accessories like pocket squares or sunglasses. But almost all men can agree that a leather jacket is one item that can make all the difference.

Why every man should own a leather jacket:

1. Leather jackets have been the uniform of cool guys since the era of Brando, Dean and Zuko...

2. ... and for guys today, like Beckham, Pattinson and Pitt.

3. You can wear a leather jacket with just about anything, from jeans and plaid shirts to dress pants and a tie.

What to know before you buy a leather jacket:

1. Decide what kind of style you want. A jacket with oversized lapels (far left)? A motocross jacket with a petite collar (middle)? Or a bomber with a fitted waistband and sleeves (far right)?

Kilbourne Jacket, Belstaff, $1,197; Stockton Racer Jacket, J. Crew, $895; Leather Bomber Jacket, PS by Paul Smith, $1,280.

2. Decide how much you want to spend. A higher price often indicates softer leather, higher quality hardware and a better fit. But there are great jackets at a variety of prices.

Rambler Leather Moto Jacket, 7 Diamonds, $435.49, Shift Leather Bomber Jacket, AllSaints, $455; Ludlow Jacket, Marc New York by Andrew Marc, $174.98.

3. If you're hesitant about making the splurge, give it a test-run: Faux leather jackets are more abundant (and look better) than ever.

Biker Jacket, H&M, $69.95; (Minus The) Leather Biker Jacket, Express, $228; Faux Leather Jacket With Knitted Collar, Zara, $59.99.

4. And whatever you do, do NOT get a leather blazer.

The One Item Every Man Should Have In His Closet: A Leather Jacket

There are lots of guys who rarely wear suits, and plenty of dudes probably couldn't give two hoots about accessories like pocket squares or sunglasses. B...

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These two countries are leading the global economic recovery

Britain and the United States are leading global recovery, the head of the IMF has said. In a major boost for David Cameron, Christine Lagarde praised the UK's "eloquent and convincing" lead in the European Union's battle for prosperity.

The IMF managing director was last year forced to admit that the global economic watchdog got it wrong after it had previously warned Britain was "playing with fire" by pushing ahead with austerity.

At the start of roundtable discussion in Washington on Thursday that she co-hosted with the Prime Minister on the global economic outlook for 2015, Lagarde said on global recovery: "The UK is leading in a very eloquent and convincing way in the European Union."

She said there were two countries that were leading the way on growth. "One is the USA, where growth is solid, anchored and where we foresee a 2015 that will be also a good year," she said.

"And the UK where clearly growth is improving, the deficit has been reduced, and where the unemployment is going down. Certainly from a global perspective this is exactly the sort of result that we would like to see. More growth, less unemployment, a growth that is more inclusive, that is better shared, and a growth that is also sustainable and more balanced."

Cameron is discussing the global economy at a working dinner in the White House with US President Barack Obama. The Prime Minister let slip recently that the president calls him "Bro".

Asked by the BBC about the nickname, he replied: "We have a very good relationship. It's normally Barack and David, I hasten to add. Well it's been said. The point is this, he became president six years ago, I became prime minister not quite five years ago. We've both faced very big challenges. We work very closely together, we get on very well, I think we see these issues in the same way and it's a very good partnership."

Britain And The US Are 'Leading The Global Recovery', Says IMF Chief Christine Lagarde

Britain and the United States are leading global recovery, the head of the IMF has said. In a major boost for David Cameron, Christine Lagarde praised th...

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