‘Crisis’: NRA seeks path forward after Oliver North’s surprise resignation, New York probe
Mr. North was decrying the “disarm America” movement to an adoring crowd on Friday, but on Saturday he was announcing — by proxy — that he would no longer be the group’s president after tensions with Wayne LaPierre, the group’s executive vice president, boiled over.
… The only thing that’s guaranteed in life is we’ll all die one day.” The NRA’s board of directors is slated to meet Monday to discuss next steps, and rank-and-file members said they want answers after Mr. North said he was concerned that alleged financial improprieties by top NRA officials could endanger the group’s coveted nonprofit status.
Mr. LaPierre said in a letter to board members that Mr. North and Ackerman McQueen, the group’s longtime advertising firm, were threatening to release allegedly damaging information about the group if Mr. LaPierre did not resign from his position.
The firm, which has called the lawsuit frivolous and inaccurate, did not respond to requests for comment.
Members ultimately voted to refer the matter to the board.
Ms. Hammer said she has known Mr. LaPierre for more than 30 years and that he “fights for, lives and breathes” the Second Amendment and the NRA.
As an employee of a vendor of the National Rifle Association, his loyalty appears to be to that vendor and not to the organization.” Mr. Friedman also defended Mr. LaPierre and said he expects that the executive vice president has enough support to retain his post.
Brewer III, an attorney for the NRA, said in a statement.
Some members were puzzled over Mr. North’s subsequent departure, saying they liked his enthusiasm and thought he was a good fit for the job.
“He was enthusiastic about it, and that’s what I thought we needed because a lot of the presidents in the past didn’t have the enthusiasm Charlton Heston had, and I thought he was going to bring that.” Mr. Schneck also applauded Mr. LaPierre for the job he’s done but said it might be time for some “younger blood” in that position.
1550 Years Ago, Somebody Ate A Rattlesnake Whole, And There’s Evidence To Prove It
they have poo to prove it.
The desiccated coprolite—archaeologists’ term for ancient poop—contained the scales and bones of the snake along with remnants of a small rodent and an assortment of edible desert plants.
It’s a great example of how coprolites can give archaeologist a direct (sometimes unnervingly direct) look at what ancient people ate.
The remains were found in the Chihuahuan Desert and scientists are trying to figure out how this came about.
Was it a normal part of those ancient peoples’ diet?
Or perhaps it might have had some cultural or religious significance, as in a ritual of some sort?
For now, there is no way of knowing why, until they can excavate further artifacts that may serve as a clue to figure out why somebody had eaten a rattlesnake whole.
Nonetheless, it must have been a very difficult feat to do.
Even though there are people who eat snakes, eating one whole is unheard of.
So we will have to wait and see what comes up in the research.
How to Build a Ladybug House
2 Sand the wood with 180-grit sandpaper to remove rough edges.
Work on the wood pieces 1 at a time.
Make sure the side panels are flush with the longer end of the back panel.
Then, nail them in place with 3 1⁄2 in (8.9 cm)-long finishing nails set in each corner.
Position the nails about 1 in (2.5 cm) from the edges of the boards to keep them strong.
4 Connect the front panel to the house’s side panels.
Get another of the 5 1⁄2 in × 5 in (14 cm × 13 cm) panels and position it opposite from the back panel.
Now the ladybugs need a way to get in and out of the house.
To make the raisins bigger and last longer, soak them in water for 5 minutes, dry them gently with a paper towel, then cut them in half.
[11] Alternatively, make your own pool.
John Steinbeck’s Stunning, Sobering, Buoyant Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech
It grew out of human need for it and it has not changed except to become more needed.
My great predecessor, William Faulkner, speaking here, referred to it as a tragedy of universal physical fear, so long sustained that there were no longer problems of the spirit, so that only the human heart in conflict with itself seemed worth writing about.
He knew that the understanding and the resolution of fear are a large part of the writer’s reason for being.
Indeed, it is part of the writer’s responsibility to make sure that they do.
With an eye to the dark backstory of how the Nobel Prize was founded, Steinbeck reflects: Understandably, I have been reading the life of Alfred Nobel; a solitary man, the books say, a thoughtful man.
I think he found it finally only in the human mind and the human spirit.
They are offered for increased and continuing knowledge of man and of his world — for understanding and communication, which are the functions of literature.
The test of his perfectibility is at hand.
Having taken God-like power, we must seek in ourselves for the responsibility and the wisdom we once prayed some deity might have.
Man himself has become our greatest hazard and our only hope.
Podcast Episode 246: Gene Tierney’s Secret Heartbreak
In this week’s episode of the Futility Closet podcast we’ll describe Tierney’s years of heartbreak and the revelation that compounded them.
“Oleg Cassini,” Times, March 21, 2006, 63.
“Actress Gene Tierney, Star of ‘Laura,’ Dies at 70,” Associated Press, Nov. 8, 1991.
“Movie Recalls Gene Tierney,” Lodi [Calif.] News-Sentinel, July 3, 1980, 3-G. Seymour Peck, “Star Trouble,” New York Times, April 8, 1979.
“Gene Tierney Re-Enters Clinic,” New York Times, Jan. 22, 1959.
“Gene Tierney Gets Divorce,” New York Times, April 9, 1953.
“Gene Tierney Robbed in Britain,” New York Times, July 8, 1952.
“Gene Tierney Gets Divorce,” New York Times, Feb. 29, 1952.
“Gene Tierney, Actress, Wed to Count Cassini,” New York Times, June 2, 1941.
“Popular Dog Has Book Signing, Meets Fans at Museum of Fine Arts,” News 7 Boston, April 17, 2019.
The Space Exploration Initiative, 30 Years After
NASA plans to send humans back to the moon and then move on to Mars.
That was the objective of the Space Exploration Initiative (SEI) and the directive given by the late President George H.W.
Bush to NASA, 30 years ago.
There had already been plans to have human exploration on Mars and beyond three decades before, and yet what happened to those initiatives?
The ambitious plan proposed NASA return to the Moon in a decade and send by human missions to Mars in the 2010s.
But distrust between the White House and NASA and a politically disastrous $500 billion initial cost estimate sank the initiative.
Yet here we are, 30 years later, in a familiar set of circumstances: a sudden announcement with details yet to be worked out by NASA, a National Space Council, an involved White House, a promise of additional funds, and the hope that there are new ways of doing business that can somehow lower the cost.
There are a few lessons we can learn from these failed initiatives and Casey Dreier lists them down.
As there are further plans being made on space exploration in the future, changes in space policy may improve the progress toward reaching beyond our solar system.
(Image credit: Alan Chinchar/NASA)
Gravitational Waves Detected Only For The Second Time Possibly Due To Neutron Star Merger
Ripples or disturbances in space-time called gravitational waves have been theorized by Albert Einstein in his theory of general relativity but they have only been recently detected, confirming their existence.
The first instance was in August 2016 which was recorded by astronomers with the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO).
This was followed up by its detection of a neutron star merger in 2017.
The second such case of gravitational wave detection was believed to have occurred last Thursday.
Astronomers say that the gravitational waves might have been caused by a neutron star merger, also the second time that such merger was picked up.
LIGO’s first detection of a neutron star merger came in August 2017, when scientists detected gravitational ripples from a collision that occurred about 130 million light-years away.
Astronomers around the world immediately turned their telescopes to the collision’s location in the sky, allowing them to gather a range of observations across the electromagnetic spectrum.
The 2017 detection was the first time an astronomical event had been observed with both light and gravitational waves, ushering in a new era of “multi-messenger astronomy.” The resulting information gave scientists invaluable data on how heavy elements are created, a direct measurement of the expansion of the universe and evidence that gravitational waves travel at the speed of light, among other things.
This second observation appears to have been slightly too far away for astronomers to get some of of the data they had hoped for, such as how nuclear matter behaves during the intense explosions.
(Image credit: Dana Berry/NASA/Swift)
How to Drink Protein Powder
While there is a debate as to whether protein drinks are better before or after a workout, whey protein is quickly digested and can serve as a boost of energy and fitness before a workout.
1 Choose a liquid base and a fruity addition to mix with your protein powder.
Opt for milk or yoghurt if you want more protein, but use water if you don’t want to go over your daily amount.
Milk, water, and even thin yoghurt are great options for the liquid base, but follow whichever recipe sounds good to you.
3 Mix your protein powder and your liquid base in the blender.
4 Add fruits, nuts, and other additions to bring flavor to your shake.
If the shake seems too thick to drink, add some more of your liquid base and blend it again to loosen it up.
1 Mix protein powder and water for an easy workout drink.
Both animal milk and dairy-free milk have a high protein content, so this is a perfect mix for people who require a lot more than the regular daily recommended amount.
Mix 30 g (2 tbsp) of protein powder with a tall glass of milk and blend it together with a fork for a boost to both your protein intake and your calcium.
Halo Rings Around the Reefs: Who’s Making Them?
These halo rings were first described in the 1960s and is now known as “grazing halos.” Now it has been investigated by Joshua and Elizabeth Madin, both ecologists and are husband and wife.The grazing halo theory says that the sea urchins and the fishes eat everything around the area.
This leaves behind bare sand.
But why “grazing halos”?
… these grazers are loathe to venture into the open, where they could be easily picked off by sharks, barracuda, snappers, and jacks.
Their fear keeps them close to the reef, and their hunger keeps that zone free of greenery.
Hence: grazing halos.
No one had ever truly tested it, so the Madins decided to do so.
As they waited for the weather to calm down, they waded through the waist-deep lagoon and sowed clumps of seaweed in various locations.
Anything they placed within nine meters of a patch reef was quickly eaten; everything else was largely untouched.
The grazer hypothesis was right.
Khloe Kardashian Shares Moment Daughter True Takes First Steps
I’m One Proud Mama!!!
True Thompson is growing up right before our eyes … because Khloe Kardashian’s baby girl is taking her first steps, and it’s all on video!!!
Khloe posted these super cute clips to her Instagram story on Sunday, cheering on True as she starts walking for the first time all on her own!
The family milestone went down in Khloe’s house, with True booking it through the living room and the playroom.
Guess it helps to have an NBA superstar for a father.
Tristan Thompson’s kid is already walking tall.
True is the youngest member of the Kardashian-Jenner family … with Khloe and Tristan putting their recent relationship drama aside earlier this month to celebrate True’s 1st birthday party.
It’s a huge weekend for the Kardashian-Jenner klan … also on Sunday, Kim threw a CBD-infused baby shower celebrating the arrival of her 4th child with Kanye West.
But, this moment is all about True and we can already feel our hearts melting!
Kids … they grow up so fast.
History’s Forgotten Pioneer: The First Native American Doctor
Susan La Flesche Picotte was a child when she witnessed a woman die on her Omaha reservation after a white doctor refused to come even after being summoned four times.
She vowed to become a doctor herself, although that was unheard of in 1873.
La Flesche graduated from medical school in 1889 and became the first Native American medical doctor.
She could have made a good living in the big cities of the East, but went back home to serve her people.
She was 24 and had her work cut out for her.
The only physician for more than 1,200 patients spread across 1,350 square miles, she used a horse and buggy to make house calls.
She delivered babies and treated diseases like cholera, influenza and tuberculosis on the reservation and in the surrounding White towns.
Seeing an urgent need for more centralized care, she set to work on her ultimate dream of building a hospital where everyone could be treated.
In 1913, with $9,000 — raised primarily from her East Coast connections, and without a single taxpayer dollar — La Flesche opened the first-of-its-kind modern reservation hospital in Walthill, Nebraska.
Yet, in spite of her achievements, La Flesche and her family sparked controversy back home.
The Chabad synagogue shooting victims: A rabbi, two Israelis and a ‘Woman of Valor’
Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein was preparing for his sermon during services Saturday morning, a series of ceremonies on the final day of Passover, when he walked into his synagogue’s banquet hall and heard the deafening bang.
[Authorities identify suspect in ‘hate crime’ synagogue shooting that left 1 dead, 3 injured] So when he heard the bang, Goldstein thought Kaye may have fallen, or that perhaps a table had toppled.
When he turned to look, though, he saw not Kaye, but a man wearing sunglasses and holding an assault rifle.
The rabbi raised his hands and bullets badly mangled his fingers.
Kaye did not.
It could have been so much worse.” Just weeks before, Kaye and her husband had flown to New York to celebrate the wedding of Goldstein’s daughter.
Peretz, who still lives in Israel, told the local TV station Channel 12 that dodging rocket fire has become instinctual — and that those instincts helped him flee the bullets Saturday morning.
One of Peretz’s nieces, 9-year-old Noya Dahan, was injured in the face and leg by shrapnel and received treatment at a hospital, her father told CNN.
Dahan told CNN that his children asked him Saturday, “Why are we staying here?” At the news conference Sunday afternoon, the rabbi stood before reporters with both of his hands wrapped in bright blue casts.
The most important news stories of the day, curated by Post editors and delivered every morning.
Resurgence of Fabella Bones in Human Knees
The fabella bone found in our primate ancestors was once rare in humans and scientists believed that we might have lost this primordial knee bone during evolution.
However, a recent study from Imperial College of London found an increasing occurrence – this bone is now three times more common in humans than it was a hundred years ago.
The fabella bone is a small bone behind the knee and up until now nobody knows its function. “We don’t know what the fabella’s function is – nobody has ever looked into it,” says one of the team, Michael Berthaume. “The fabella may behave like other sesamoid bones to help reduce friction within tendons, redirecting muscle forces, or, as in the case of the kneecap, increasing the mechanical force of that muscle.
Or it could be doing nothing at all.”
What we do know is that the fabella is linked to knee pain and arthritis, though it doesn’t necessarily cause it – people with osteoarthritis of the knee are twice as likely to have a fabella than people without osteoarthritis, for example.
It seems like our scientists will be busy in studying the relation between fabella and osteoarthritis.
(Image Credit: Imperial College London)
WATCH: Pharrell Williams interview with WAVY
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) – The 3-day Something in the Water Festival at the Virginia Beach Oceanfront comes to a close Sunday night and all signs point to it being a success.
Tens of thousands of people descended on the resort city to hear major names in the music industry perform, and there have been no major incidents to report.
Virginia Beach native, superstar and event organizer Pharrell Williams sat down with WAVY News 10’s Aesia Toliver on the final day of the festival.
He says the weekend showed Virginia is open for business. “I’ll say it like this… music was definitely the thread that threaded everything together, but the fabric of what happened this weekend and what’s going on is so much bigger,” said Williams. “I think people are getting behind it because this is 2019 and it’s time for our community to ascend and we can only go the next step up if we work together.
If we don’t work together, we have a broken foundation and you can’t build upon that,” Williams told 10 On Your Side.
Despite having to cancel the first day of the festival because of the weather’s impact, Williams says it has been going smoothly.
Williams says his inspiration behind the event was local college students.
Those students are the inspiration and when I was asked what do I think of it I’m like ‘well first of all if we have guests here we have to give them something to d; like let’s entertain them; let’s let them see the beauty of our city and the beauty of our region,'” said Williams.
Scientists Discover Nearly 200,000 Kinds of Ocean Viruses
In 2015 a team documented 5,476 distinct kinds of viruses in the ocean.
“We know so little about viral ecology in much of the ocean, and this is some of the most impressive, and global, data ever collected.” The twelvefold leap was enabled by an ambitious global sampling expedition and more sophisticated genomic analysis.
The schooner Tara has made its way around the ocean, collecting samples from the surface to the depths and from pole to pole.
About 40 percent of the novel virus populations came from the new Arctic samples.
“The algorithms we use to assemble viral genomes out of chunks of DNA got much, much better,” said Ann Gregory, a microbial ecologist at the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium and one of the lead authors of the study.
Because viruses don’t contain the necessary machinery to replicate independently, some biologists do not consider viruses even fully “alive.” Instead of species, Gregory classified the viruses into “populations” in which “there’s more gene flow within a group than between groups of viruses.” If sequenced viruses shared at least 95 percent of their DNA, she called them members of the same discrete population.
Varying temperatures support different kinds of microbial host communities, Zayed explained, and viruses adapt accordingly.
The researchers did find increased diversity at the equator, but they also found a surprising amount of diversity in the Arctic.
Sure, but I’m hopeful at this point that we’ve largely captured the abundant viruses that we can with this method,” he said, adding, “at least until we get into totally new environments with totally different selective pressures.” According to Curtis Suttle, a microbial ecologist at the University of British Columbia, viruses play a major role in global biogeochemical cycles, including the carbon cycle, whereby carbon moves between Earth’s biosphere and atmosphere.
“Getting this kind of data out into the community is hugely important to understanding the role of viruses in global processes.” Suttle explained that the oceans currently absorb approximately half of the carbon emissions caused by humans, and the amount of carbon dioxide absorbed continues to rise.
Here’s why privately-owned cities are a terrible idea
In Pakistan, its name is synonymous with one man: property developer Malik Riaz, one of the ten richest people in the country and the city’s ultimate proprietor.
Bahria Town is vast in scope, but Malik Riaz is not the only wealthy individual to have ambitions of building his own city.
Like Bahria Town, it markets itself as an ordered and calm alternative to the chaos of India’s rapidly-expanding cities.
There was something about the identikit apartment blocks and villas, the uniformly-planted palm trees, that was strangely generic.
Around the world, urban space is being privatized — either through the construction of altogether new cities, or existing ones outsourcing services and construction that the municipalities cannot afford.
This points to both the appeal and the problem with privatized urban spaces.
Privatization advocates argue that bureaucratic government entities cannot operate at the same speed as private companies, and that the free market can meet public demand faster, more efficiently, and more accurately.
This is starkly evident in Karachi, where Bahria Town has illegally appropriated land on a massive scale, bulldozing villages and agricultural lands to make way for the new city — to the extent that, in 2018, Pakistan’s Supreme Court ordered a halt on all further construction until landowners were properly compensated.
Essentially, this is about a lack of accountability — and it applies just as much to the residents of these new cities and neighborhoods as it does to those who were displaced to make room for them.
It has the right to evict, to tax, to determine the use and design of land, to change the governing body, and to change the rules while controlling the rights of people to object to these processes.” This came sharply into view for the first wave of Bahria Town residents when Pakistan’s Supreme Court issued its construction halt order in November 2018, which led to the company taking a big financial hit.
Nubia announces Red Magic 3, the first gaming phone with an internal cooling fan
With the mobile game market booming, one company has taken the next step in portable gaming: it’s created a phone with an internal cooling fan.
Chinese smartphone manufacturer Nubia has announced the latest refresh for its popular mobile gaming device, the Red Magic 3.
Speaking of the competition, the smartphone comes with a Red Magic Game Space 2.0 dashboard that sounds reminiscent of the Razer Cortex Mobile.
With this feature, users can easily access their video game library as well as customize cooling fan controls and other phone settings for optimal gameplay.
The Red Magic 3 is powered by a Snapdragon 855 CPU along with an Adreno 640 GPU.
A maxed out Red Magic 3 will boast 256GB of storage and a whopping 12GB of RAM.
There are front-facing speakers with DTS:X surround sound and a 3.5mm headphone jack.
Gamers will be able to get an hour of playtime after just 10 minutes worth of charging thanks to the phone’s 5,000mAh battery featuring 27W quick charging.
Pricing for the China launch starts at around $430 for the 6GB RAM model with 64GB of storage.
The maxed out Red Magic 3, with 12GB RAM and 256GB of storage, will cost about $640.
Why your board needs an AI council
Imagine you’re sitting on the board of a thriving global corporation in the year 1980, before anyone had ever heard of a Chief Information Officer.
In 2019, artificial intelligence (AI) holds comparable potential to disrupt and reshape the world.
What, why, who, and how What: The AI council is an advisory council with a board-level mandate to ensure that company strategy actively anticipates and keeps pace with AI advances.
The AI council also drives efforts to establish clear and sufficient governance of AI development and application, ensuring that AI practices are ethically and fiscally responsible.
Shareholders implicitly rely on your board to ensure that the company is taking full advantage of the former, while steadfastly safeguarding against the latter.
Specific imperatives that merit sustained AI council attention include: Leadership.
Corporate social responsibility.
Most importantly, the board should think expansively, creatively, and realistically about the caliber of insight and expertise required across emerging and maturing technologies, AI ethical and social implications, AI risk management, and tech-driven M&A.
The role of the AI council is not to relieve the board of responsibility for staying ahead of AI disruption.
That is why your board needs an AI council.
This 3D Scanner Is Your Ticket To Photogrammetry
It seems 3D printers have been around for ages and still we don’t have a good solution for turning physical 3D objects into digital ones.
It’s a 3D printed device meant to take pictures of an object that can then be used by photogrammetry software to construct a point cloud.
The latest version of the scanner is an improvement over the previous version that kind of, sort of looked like the Machine from Contact.
This was a gigantic hubless ring, with a smartphone attached to the rim.
Needless to say, a simpler design prevailed.
That doesn’t mean the old version didn’t look awesome.
The electronics are simply an Arduino clone, two stepper drivers, a character display for control and some headers for connections and power supplies.
This is pretty normal stuff for the RepRap crew.
Running this machine is as simple as putting an object in the device and taking a few pictures.
There is some support for remotely controlling some cameras, but everything is universal if you have a remote shutter release.
South Korea is a mobile gaming haven — even for Western studios
More than half of South Korea’s population play games on their smartphones.
But what is gaming culture like in South Korea?
South Korea was one of those countries.
The size and shape South Korean’s mobile market According to Newzoo, Fifty-three percent of South Koreans play mobile games at least once a month.
South Korea has the highest smartphone penetration rate in Asia and is No.
The South Korean mobile game market made $3.2 billion last year.
Interestingly, the average revenue per paying gamer in South Korea is among the highest in the world, coming only second after Japan, according to Newzoo.
Mintegral found that 40% of smartphone users spent money on mobile games in 2018.
Role-playing games.
But it’s important to make sure that your game complies with local regulations to ensure you can grab the opportunity in the Korean mobile gaming market.
While You Were Offline: When Donald Met Jack
But at least when it comes to the Avengers, the good guys can win in the end.
Fed Up What Happened: One of the requirements to be nominated to the Federal Reserve Board by President Trump would seem to be very poor judgement, going by what happened to his two nominees last week.
What Really Happened: It was a rough week for presidential nominees for the Federal Reserve Board.
The Takeaway: So, will Moore become the second Trump nominee for the Federal Reserve Board to withdraw in a week?
The Takeaway: Then again, maybe a comedian really is the best anyone can hope for.
What Happened: With all the important matters needing his attention, perhaps it’s a good thing that President Trump spent part of last week meeting with the man responsible for his—and everyone’s!—favorite social media platform, Twitter.
He even had time to sit down with none other than Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey at the White House in the middle of the week, as he eagerly announced on—of course—Twitter: Apparently, the much talked about closed-door meeting happened even though Dorsey knew that some Twitter employees probably didn’t want it to.
The Takeaway: That all of this was happening as North Korea was meeting with Russia was just a very strange, very unfortunate coincidence.
Yes, Biden is running!
Amongst those not convinced, a familiar name from American political history, who spoke out after the announcement was made.
Which Tech Company Is Uber Most Like? Its Answer May Surprise You
This Uber-is-like-Amazon argument will grow louder starting on Monday, when the ride-hailing firm’s top executives begin meeting investors on a so-called roadshow ahead of its I.P.O.
“Just like Amazon was able to build this extraordinary infrastructure on the back of books and go into additional categories, you are going to see the same from Uber.” Uber declined to comment, citing the quiet period before it goes public.
But nearly a decade later, that growth has slowed.
Then a year later, Amazon disclosed how large and profitable its cloud computing business had become.
When it finally broke out the details of the cloud business, it turned out that Amazon Web Services had $5 billion a year in sales and was growing almost 50 percent a year, with fat margins.
On Friday, the company also said in its filing that it was working on its payments infrastructure, which is used by more than 91 million people to pay for rides and by the company to instantly pay its drivers.
While it invests in its future, Uber will continue to lose money.
So the company needs Wall Street to put up with its spending on these initiatives before they potentially pay off with profit.
“Just like Amazon sells third-party goods, we are going to also offer third-party transportation services,” Mr. Khosrowshahi said in an interview with Recode last year.
“We want to kind of be the Amazon for transportation.”
Putting some Smarts into an Electric Car Charger
Many electric cars feature a timer capability that allows the owner to set which hours they want the vehicle to start pulling a charge.
The Renault Zoe that [Ryan Walmsley] owns has this feature, but not only does it cost him extra to have it enabled, it’s kind of a hassle to use.
Now controlling high voltages with a lowly microcontroller might sound dangerous, but it’s actually not nearly as tricky as you might think.
You just need to intercept the control signals between the two devices and modify them accordingly.
As [Ryan] eventually realized, he didn’t need to bother learning how the control signals actually worked since he wasn’t trying to do anything tricky like set the charge rate.
So all he had to do was put the control signal from his car through a relay controlled by a Particle Photon, allowing him to selectively block communication.
The charger also had an optional key lock, which essentially turns the controller off when the contacts are shorted.
[Ryan] put a relay on that as well so he could be absolutely sure the charger cuts the juice at the appropriate time.
Then it was just a matter of getting the schedule configured with IFTTT.
He mentions the system could even be tweaked to automatically control the charger based on the instantaneous cost of electricity provided by the utility company, rather than assuming overnight is always the most economical.
7 bodies found at 2 separate locations in Tennessee, suspect captured after manhunt
WESTMORELAND, Tenn. — An officer in rural Tennessee shot the suspect in the investigation into the discovery of seven bodies in two homes, capping an hourslong manhunt Saturday that ended with his capture.
Tennessee Bureau of Investigation spokesman Josh DeVine said Michael Cummins, 25, was taken into custody that night about a mile away from one of the Sumner County crime scenes.
Cummins was shot after he emerged from the woods, is believed to have produced multiple weapons and the situation escalated, DeVine said.
None of the responding officers were injured.
TBI’s airplane was able to help authorities spot Cummins on the ground in a creek bed, DeVine said.
A number of law enforcement agencies had been searching for Cummins, saying he could be armed and dangerous.
“The community should hopefully be able to rest a little bit easier tonight, knowing that (Cummins) is in custody tonight,” DeVine said.
Police said officers responding to a 911 call from a family member led to the original discovery of four bodies and an injured person at the first home.
The injured victim was transported to a hospital with unspecified injuries.
The TBI believes the two scenes are related.
49ers draft recap: A look at how John Lynch, Kyle Shanahan arrived at their picks
The 49ers began the three-day NFL draft with six draft picks.
2 overall selection.
“Then you kind of look at where your team has the biggest need, and while we would have been very happy with Quinnen, (but) Nick, we felt like that was a piece that we still could use, another edge guy.” Best reaction to getting drafted A year ago, the Seattle Seahawks selected Australian-born punter Michael Dickson in the fifth round of the draft.
In fact, that’s how Shanahan described Baylor’s Jalen Hurd, as “an NFL receiver, kind of.” Hurd was a running back at University of Tennessee.
Shanahan loves the versatility that Hurd has to offer to his offense.
“He got drafted as an NFL receiver, kind of.
One thing is clear: The 49ers felt most of the issues a year ago stemmed from the lack of a pass rush.
When it was the 49ers’ turn to select at certain spots in the draft, they felt as if there was more to offer at other positions.
Smith is a good blocker who can be used as a compliment, but certainly not a replacement, to George Kittle.
Cobb scouted the West Coast, and the 49ers selected two players – Wishnowsky and Smith — that he scouted heavily.
Kim Kardashian Throws CBD-Infused Baby Shower Ahead of 4th Kid’s Arrival
CBD for Everyone!!!
Even on baby no.
4, Kim Kardashian’s still finding ways to make baby showers unique — and SUPER zen — by loading up her GFs on CBD everything, baby!!!
Kim admitted during Saturday’s event … she was “freaking out” because she and Kanye West are expecting their newest baby’s arrival — by surrogate — within a couple weeks.
So, since she needed to chill out, Kim thought, “What better way to celebrate than to have a little CBD?”
As they say … the crowd went wild.
Guests — including Paris Hilton — got to concoct their own CBD-infused body oils and bath salts … before chilling out with a sound bath.
Kim also gave all her peeps in attendance, blue Yeezy slides that even Paris rocked … and there were blue accent decorations — all celebrating baby #4, who, as we reported, is a boy.
She also might have dropped a BIG hint on the kid’s name when she zoomed in on a name on the wall, Robert Harut (Armenian) means he has risen.
Robert would also be a homage to her late dad.
The White House Correspondents’ Dinner didn’t have Trump in attendance or a comedian as host, but there were still a few jabs at the president
The annual White House Correspondents Dinner was held on Saturday.
For the third year in a row Trump did not attend and the White House reportedly banned administration officials from attending.
Chernow offered defenses of the press and also cracked a few jokes at Trump’s expense.
For the third year in a row, President Donald Trump did not attend the annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner, an event designed to celebrate the press corps that covers the president.
Instead of a comedian hosting the dinner, the White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) chose historian Ron Chernow, whose books include the biography of Alexander Hamilton that became a hit Broadway musical.
Read more: The White House reportedly ordered all Trump administration officials to boycott the White House Correspondents’ Dinner» While the night lacked the viral flair of previous correspondents dinners, Chernow did manage to take a few swipes at Trump during his speech.
The crack alluded to Trump’s reported critique of Washington during a recent trip to Mount Vernon. “If he was smart, he would’ve put his name on it,” Trump said, according to Politico. “You’ve got to put your name on stuff or no one remembers you.”
The historian also quoted the legendary author Mark Twain.
Yes, Katy Perry definitely hung out at Jazz Fest in disguise before her big performance
Local attorney Chris Mann and his family were strolling the grounds of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival on Friday when he noticed a woman in a big, fuzzy yellow hat and pink sunglasses carrying a parasol.
His wife, Jen, recognized that this wasn’t a typical fest-goer: it was pop superstar and “American Idol” judge Katy Perry, out and about in disguise 24 hours before she would headline Jazz Fest’s main Acura Stage. “She and her group were completely into it,” Mann said.
He offered his 10-year-old son, Sam, a $20 bribe to go over and ask to take a selfie with Perry.
According to Mann, “She said, ‘Sure, Sweety,’ and took the photo for him.
But Perry seems to have fully embraced her mostly anonymous day off at Jazz Fest.
In another photo, she embraces a big, inflatable Tabasco bottle.
She threw out Jazz Fest references early and often.
“This is (from) yesterday.
And I’m proud of it.” Mann watched Perry’s Acura Stage show the day after she made his son’s day in the Economy Hall Tent.
Her ‘final good deed’: Woman hailed as hero after taking bullets to protect rabbi during synagogue shooting
A gunman opened fire during Passover services at a California synagogue, leaving one dead and several injured.
Authorities said Lori Gilbert-Kaye, 60, was killed at Chabad of Poway when a nursing student opened fire with an AR-style rifle.
Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein suffered defensive wounds to his hands but survived the attack and then gave a sermon to the huddled congregation before going to the hospital, Audrey Jacobs, a friend, said in a Facebook post. “Your final good deed was taking the bullets for Rabbi Mendel Goldstein to save his life,” Jacobs wrote in a post she said had been approved by the other victims and their families.
Kaye’s husband, a doctor, was with her at the synagogue and rushed to help the victims, not knowing one was his wife, Dr. Roneet Lev, a family friend, told the San Diego Union Tribune.
“He took her for a higher purpose to send this message to fight anti-Semitism.” Goldstein was in the synagogue’s banquet hall when he heard loud noises and became “face-to-face with this murderer, this terrorist” when he turned around, he said during a phone interview on “Sunday TODAY with Willie Geist.” Goldstein said he put his hands up to protect himself and lost one of his fingers in the shooting.
Also injured in the shooting were Noya Dahan, 8, and her uncle, Almog Peretz, 34, who was visiting from Israel, authorities said.
Israel’s minister of diaspora affairs, Naftali Bennett, on Sunday morning called Kaye a hero, the Jewish Press reported: “She sacrificed her own life, throwing herself in the path of the murderer’s bullets to save the life of the Rabbi. “I condemn the abhorrent attack on a synagogue in California; this is an attack on the heart of the Jewish people,” he posted on Twitter.
Hate crimes are real and are deadly.
Preschool Teacher Installed Tattle Phone For Kids To Tattle Into
They will say what’s on their minds without any self-editing mechanism because they haven’t been exposed to a world of cues and subtle meanings behind body language and other forms of communication.
It’s savage but also cute.
They are the ones who have to mediate between tattling children.
So what one preschool teacher did was to install a tattle phone where kids can tattle into which was recorded with permission.
And the kids started to use it immediately and with great enthusiasm.
Kid 1 Eli told me a lie.
Kid 2 Seamus wasn’t sharing with me, and I don’t like it, and I’m very upset.
Catch that one?
Nathan farted in my face, and I said, yuck, Nathan.
But the real crime?
The Fossils That Inspired
The title character in the 1979 film Alien kept surprising us -at least the first time we saw the movie.
It was quite otherworldly, but still resembles creatures of earth, some that lived millions of years ago and others that still exist.
Each phase of the alien’s life was inspired by a different species.
The design of the “chestburster” and the full-grown xenomorph (“alien-shaped thing”) is based on Giger’s “Necronom IV”, an artwork created in 1976.
The surrealist drawing shows a female figure composed of different parts of insects, parts of vertebrates and even fossils.
Giger used the fossils of 300 million-year-old crinoids, commonly called sea lilies, on display in the Aathal dinosaur museum as a source of inspiration.
The earliest known crinoids date back to the Ordovician (some 450 million years ago).
It wasn’t just the look of the alien that came from nature, but its behavior and life cycle, too.
The team that produced Alien apparently found the scariest things about different animals and combined them to create the horror of Alien.
-via Real Clear Science
The Padstow ‘Obby ‘Oss
May Day brings a peculiar spring ritual in Padstow, Cornwall.
It begins at midnight on May first, when the villagers erect a May Pole and sing to awaken the Hobby Horse, or ‘Obby ‘Oss in the local dialect.
In the morning, the ‘Obby ‘Oss emerges.
It consists of a large round platform supporting a black apron.
The man who carries the beast puts his head through a whole at the centre of the structure.
He wears a mask with a tall pointed cap, a menacing otherworldly image.
At one end of the platform is a tail and at the other, a stylized head with snapping jaws.
Simpson and Roud have noted that, ‘by no stretch of the imagination does it look like a horse’.
The costume-wearing man cavorts along the streets, accompanied by a ‘teaser’ who leads the ‘Oss in a traditional dance to the sound of accordions and pounding drums as the participants sing the ‘Day Song’.
The tradition has it that any woman caught beneath the apron will be married or pregnant within the next year.
How to Become a Real Life Superhero
Across the world, regular people are donning costumes and creating personas to prevent crime and help their communities.
Being a real life superhero means that you’re taking on a responsibility to your community and the people around you.
While putting your life on the line is extreme and not advised, stepping in and stopping an assault or theft are potential things that you could do.
Many real life superheroes fight for a particular cause.
Think about what you care about personally, such as protecting people from domestic assault, providing food for the homeless, or keeping your community safe.
Many real life superheroes use real protective material like kevlar as part of their costume.
Patrolling your neighborhood is especially important if it’s prone to crime, there is not a regular police presence, or there is a lack of a neighborhood watch.
Understand laws regarding the actions of citizens and against crime.
Allow people to talk it out.
Being a real life superhero can become stressful over time.
From ‘Devil Made Me Do It’ Case
The “Ghost Adventures” star has purchased the “Devil’s Rocking Chair” — a chair with ties to famed paranormal investigator Lorraine Warren and the notorious “Devil Made Me Do It” Case — to display at his museum in Las Vegas.
The story goes like this — Lorraine and her husband, Ed, helped exorcise a possessed 11-year-old boy named David Glatzel in the early ’80s.
David and Lorraine also claim to have seen the devil sitting in it.
The Warrens backed him up … but the judge didn’t buy it and he was convicted of first-degree manslaughter.
The story’s the premise of the 1983 book, “The Devil in Connecticut” and is rumored to be the plot of “The Conjuring 3.”
Anyway … Bagans dropped $67,000 to add the creepy chair — which still has holy oil stains on it left by Ed Warren — to his collection.
Zak bought it from Carl Glatzel, David’s brother.
We’re told Carl decided to sell the chair because he’s moving and doesn’t want to take it with him … even though it’s been in his family since the ’50s.
BTW — we’re told Bagans bought the “Devil’s Rocking Chair” from Carl just hours before Lorraine died.
As we reported … she passed away last week at the age of 92.
Construction crane falls on busy Seattle street during storm, killing 4
(Photo: Joe Nicholson, AP) SEATTLE – A construction crane fell from a building on Google’s new Seattle campus during a storm that brought wind gusts, crashing down onto one of the city’s busiest streets and killing four people.
They and a 28-year-old man were taken to Harborview Medical Center.
But it’s a time when we come together because Seattle is a city that rallies around each other,” she said.
Officials do not yet know the cause of the collapse.
An observation station on nearby Lake Union showed winds kicked up with gusts of up to 23 mph at 3:28 p.m., just about the time the crane fell.
“The other half fell down on the street, crossing both lanes of traffic.” The office building the crane fell from was badly damaged, with several of its windows smashed.
The state Department of Labor and Industries cited two companies for workplace-safety violations after an investigation that found a flawed design for the crane’s base.
“Trudi and I join all Washingtonians in extending our deepest condolences to the family and friends of the four people who died in this afternoon’s tragic accident,” Washington state Gov.
Jay Inslee said in a statement.
Inslee also said he hoped for a speedy and full recovery for those injured, thanked first responders and urged people to stay clear of the accident scene.
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