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In news that's sure to give Michelangelo a raging green boner (PROTIP: try not to look at it), Stoned Oven Gourmet Pizza in Los Angeles is now selling cannabis infused frozen pizzas through dispensaries (although people have been making weed pizzas themselves forever). Cool, but what are supposed to eat AFTER it gets you high and you're hungry again? SPOILER: Seconds.

Each [$10] six-inch personal pizza contains 250 mg of ethanol-extracted THC concentrate from an indica-dominant hybrid strain. The concentrate is made in Mendocino by an extraction company called The Earth's Harmony Essentials. "Everyone loves pizza," [owner Henry Mark] says. He spent four months developing the recipes for his 5-Star Cheese, OG Pepperoni and Very Margarita Jane pizzas with a chef from the Soho House who is no longer involved in the project. Mark's advice is to eat a quarter of his pizza, drink some water, wait 30 minutes and then decide whether to try some more.

Are you thinking what I'm thinking? "Cold cannabis pizza for breakfast?" Exactly -- the ol' wake and no-bake. Then we'll go out for brunch and bottomless mimosas. Afterwards, we'll hit the beach or arcade. On your deathbed, you will look back on that Saturday as the best day of your life. Thanks to PYY, who wisely informed me any size pizza can be a personal pizza if you try hard and believe in yourself. Amen to that.

It is September, the month of some nice things — crisp, non-humid weather —  and some not-so-nice things, like capitalism selling us on Pumpkin Spice Lattes and the disappearance of sunshine. This map from Metric Maps uses NASA data to show just how quickly sunlight disappears in September:

(Metric Maps)

The NASA data shows the average kilojoules of sunlight for each square meter of America. And, throughout the course of September, the numbers keep on falling. Southern California and Texas do end the month with some of the highest levels of sunlight, whereas Maine experiences some more drastic change. Goodnight, sun: winter is indeed coming.

We’ve recently featured many wearable tech products, but none are as ostentatious as this giant glittery, hot pink selfie-taking sombrero designed by Acer U.K. and Christian Cowan-Sanluis, a 20-year-old designer who’s previously worked with Lady Gaga. Equipped with an Iconia A1-840 tablet that spins 360 degrees, this high-tech hat appears to poke fun at the overblown selfie phenomenon while allowing the user to take better glamor shots. The limited edition hat is only viewable by appointment and retails at £599 ($980).

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In they sure as hell don't make them like that anymore news, this is an ultra-impressive wooden desk with all sorts of mechanized, moving parts and secret compartments. I LOVE secret compartments. It was built over 200 years ago without the use of any power tools. Probably because power tools didn't exist 200 years ago, but that's just a guess. Honestly, I started drinking at lunch and have just been watching videos at my desk until my boss leaves so I can get out of here for the weekend. Will he give me a last minute assignment to finish before Monday? PROBABLY. Will I tell him where he can shove that assignment? After I see him out the window heading to his car I will! I'm a badass and I don't take shit from anyone. Keep going for the worthwhile video.

This is a video of (now ex) Anchorage, Alaska KTVA 11 news reporter Charlo Green revealing on air that she's actually the owner of the Alaska Cannabis Club on which the station has been reporting, and quits her job like an all-star. Her actual quote, which begins around 3:00 in the video: "Now everything you heard is why I, the actual owner of the Alaska Cannabis Club, will be dedicating all of my energy toward fighting for freedom and fairness which begins with legalizing marijuana here in Alaska. And as for this job, well, not that I have a choice but, f*** it, I quit." KTVA 11 news director Bert Rudman has since apologized for Green's language and insured viewers she's since been terminated, although I thought it was crystal clear from the video she already quit. Now I'm not sure what the hell you've been smoking, Bert, but I'd consider sticking to cannabis if I were you. Keep going for the whole news segment, resignation starts at 3:00.

In heartwarming news, 6-year old Addison, who's in remission from leukemia, got to travel to Hawaii and go on a unicorn-meeting adventure as part of a Make-A-Wish project. Addison believes unicorns are real and live in Hawaii, clearly because she knows what's up.

Addison, who is in remission after a two-and-a-half year battle with leukemia, traveled all the way from Georgia to Oahu. There, playwright Alvin Chan joined volunteers from Diamond Head Theatre to write and produce a magical adventure for her. They transformed Waimea Valley into the fairytale town of "Arboretia," and had "Princess Addison" accomplish special tasks in order to release a mythical unicorn and free the town's Queen. Addison's journey took her through Waimea Valley to find the prettiest flower in the forest and then the prettiest fruit. When it came to searching for the long lost unicorn, played by a horse named Sonny, Addison had to sing a song -- "Somewhere Over The Rainbow." Eventually, the pink unicorn emerged.

Beautiful. If you got to meet any mythical beast, which would you choose? I think I'd choose a fire-breathing dragon, but only if I got to keep it as my own flying mount. Could you imagine me riding a dragon into battle? "You'd fall off." That bastard would probably drop me in a volcano." Good luck Addison, and keep believing. Keep going for several more shots of Addison meeting the unicorn, but be sure to check out the official Make A Wish project page for the pictures and story of her whole adventure.

Yellowstone National Park just annoucned plans to kill up to 900 bison this winter in an effort to control the size of the park’s herd. Any animals that stray from the park over the winter months will be killed in what could be the largest cull of the US’ last free-ranging pure-bred bison in seven years. Currently, Yellowstone‘s bison population is estimated at 4,900, and the park hopes to reduce this number to 4,000.

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Answer: This facial feature, absent since 2001, is primed for a comeback on "Jeopardy!"

Question: What is Alex Trebek's moustache?

The "Jeopardy!" host's 'stache hasn't been seen for 13 years, but he's brought it back for this, the long-running game show's 31st season.

Trebek said he had a two-and-a-half month period in which he wasn't taping the show, so he grew the facial hair back on a whim.

And he's leaving it up to fans to decide whether to keep it. The host asked viewers at the start of Monday's season premiere to let him know via Facebook or Twitter whether he should keep the little pushbroom or shave it off, reports The L.A. Times.

Trebek even introduced a pair of hashtags: anyone who wants the 'stache to stay should submit their feedback under #KeepItTrebek, while those who think it should go can tweet under #ShaveItTrebek.

The host's request was a far cry from his demeanour in an interview on "Good Morning America" last week. Here was his response to the frenzy around his upper lip:

Alex Trebek's response to people excited he's growing back his mustache: Get a life.

— Good Morning America (@GMA) September 11, 2014

Ouch. Mixed messages for $500 please, Alex?



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WARNING: What you are about to watch may cause you to prematurely wish away summer.

Sherpas Cinema, a film production house run by Calgarians living in Whistler, B.C., has released the trailer for their latest project, and it looks pretty gnarly.

The 'Sculpted in Time’ series follows the ski tracks of other past Sherpa epics 'Into the Mind' and 'All.I.Can.'

But unlike their other feature-length films, 'Sculpted in Time' is broken down into four short films, meant to capture the unique stories and deep spirit of skiing in Alberta.

The Sherpas have once again used their jaw-dropping cinematic tactics, including extreme slow motion footage, long time lapses and intense musical scores, creating an adrenaline-filled look at Alberta's mountain culture and those who live it.

Banff National Park plays backdrop to this latest project, and crews spent 30 rigorous days filming across Mt.Norquay, Lake Louise Ski Resort, Sunshine Village and parts of the park backcountry.

“To have the opportunity to complete a project like this in the Canadian Rockies was a dream come true for us”, said Malcolm Sangster of Sherpas Cinema.

“The Sherpas founders, including myself, Dave Mossop and Eric Crosland, all grew up together in Calgary and it was these very hills where we cut our teeth — both as skiers and filmmakers. The peaks of Banff National Park have truly had an everlasting positive impact on our personal lives and careers, their beauty and grandeur instills a sense of awe, humbleness and respect in everyone that lays eyes on them.”

We couldn't have said it better ourselves.

The short films will be ready for viewing, one released each week for four weeks, beginning Sept. 29 at skibig3.com/sherpas.

Check out more work from Sherpas Cinema:

Into The Mind - Official Teaser from Sherpas Cinema on Vimeo.

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This is the Windows desktop Redditor Croft1342 came back to after having a friend repair his computer. Apparently a single one of the Chrome icons is actually Chrome, and the rest are all Internet Explorer. No word if Croft knew how to solve the riddle without going through each icon individually, but if Jigsaw deleted all my p0rn I would hunt that f***er down, tear his head off, and use it to smash his tricycle. Thanks to lilco, who would like to think somebody smart enough to open a Reddit account would also know how to pull a new Chrome icon to the desktop, but you never know.

Naysayers like to point to wind turbines as brutal bird-killing machines, wiping out huge populations of birds, but new research sheds some new light on the controversy. According to a massive study supported by the American Wind Wildlife Institute, wind turbines account for around 214,000 – 368,000 deaths each year. While any death is something to be avoided, that number is tiny compared to the fatalities from collisions with radio and cell towers, which kill 6.8 million birds every year.

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The personal genetics testing company 23andMe is reversing plans to make a major change to its privacy settings, after a Vox story raised concerns about the move.

On September 9, we published a feature about some of the pitfalls of personal DNA testing, with a focus on 23andMe, a leading company in the field. We talked to some people who used 23andMe and ended up unexpectedly finding close family members they didn't know they had. In one case, a professor's parents divorced after the site revealed that his father had a child before he was married.

We reported that 23andMe was planning to alter its user settings in a way that could make these unexpected reunions happen more frequently:

23andMe is actually moving toward giving people fewer warnings about the secrets they may unlock in their DNA. Before Pearl and Schwartzman found each other, they had to consent to allow 23andMe to reveal close DNA relatives - by clicking "yes" on a message that asked them if they wanted to find their closest relationships. But as of September 12, 2014, new customers will automatically be opted into the service. (Existing members will be made aware of the change and given a chance to opt out.) This means anyone who signs up for 23andMe could now make an accidental discovery with no warning at all.

But, because of concerns raised by the Vox story, the company reversed its decision to make those changes. It is also going to hire a Chief Privacy Officer.

23andMe CEO Anne Wojcicki posted this update to the service's community forum over the weekend:

Dear Community,

We made a change from what we promised and I want to apologize. We promised that the roughly 350,000 customers that had not consented to see Close Relatives in our DNA Relatives feature would be automatically opted in at the end of a 30 day notification period. I understand that that was extremely exciting for many of you to have so much data potentially come your way. It was unfortunately a mistake that we promised that.

I do not think it was ever the right call to promise that we would automatically opt-in those customers. Core to our philosophy is customer choice and empowerment through data. The Close Relatives features can potentially give a customer life changing information, like the existence of an unknown sibling or the knowledge that a relative is not biologically related to them. Customers need to make their own deliberate and informed decision if they want this information. It is 23andMe's responsibility to make sure our customers have a choice and that they understand the potential implications.

The timing of the change is unfortunate and I apologize the announcement came late on a Friday night at the end of the 30 day period. The article in Vox made me and others look into the language in the consent form and that is when I learned about the proposed changes coming to the DNA Relatives community. As 23andMe has moved from being a start up to a bigger and more mature company, I am not involved in every decision. This is a decision that should have come to my attention but it did not. We will learn from that. 23andMe is hiring a Chief Privacy Officer and that too will help us avoid these types of mistakes in the future. We are also already planning to evolve the consent process to make it simpler and more clear for customers.

Going forward, we will continue to prompt the customers that have not made a choice about Close Relatives to make a choice. We understand how important that is to you. We will do a mix of emails to these customers and pop-up prompts at login to get customers to make a choice.

I apologize again for the disappointment and for not having clearly communicated the reason for reversing course. 23andMe continues to grow and pioneer the way we think about consumers exploring their DNA. While we continue to innovate we may also err along the way. We can only promise that we will always listen to and do right by you, our customer, and will never fear having to redirect our course when it is the right thing to do.

Sincerely,
Anne Wojcicki

So as not to detract from the surrounding landscape, the Ion Hotel was built to look like an extension of the land, emerging from the mountain base like a mass of hardened lava. The architects renovated and expanded the hotel using mnmMOD, a prefabricated panelized building system that helps reduce the building's carbon footprint. Floor-to-ceiling windows capture natural daylight and offer panoramic views of the surrounding moss and lava landscape.

Related: MinArc's Serene Icelandic Eco Retreat Harmonizes With the Landscape

The interior of the hotel is furnished with locally sourced and recycled material, from the organic and fair trade bed linen to the lights made from lava and reclaimed wood. The hotel is equipped with water-saving shower systems that are powered by clean, energy-efficient geothermal heating and hot water. Contemporary Icelandic arts and crafts are featured throughout the hotel to immerse visitors in local culture.

+ Minarc Architects

Via ArchDaily

Images via Minarc Architects, Ion Hotel Facebook Page

Science!

This is the shot Schenectady High School student Draven Rodriguez is petitioning to be used as his senior yearbook photo. School authorities agreed the photo could appear in the yearbook, just not as his senior photo. Apparently because its Sears Portrait Studio awesomeness would break up the monotony of all the other boring senior photos. My senior yearbook picture? Eyes closed. Thankfully a "friend" signing my yearbook took the time to draw pupils in for me. Plus a penis in my ear. I couldn't wait to go to college out of state. Thanks to lilco, who agrees if you want to use a Glamour Shot for your senior photo, you should be allowed.

Which countries do Americans like — and dislike — the most? A new report reveals some fairly interesting American attitudes towards important countries like Iraq and Israel.

The data comes from the 2014 edition of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs survey of Americans, which attempts to provide a comprehensive assessment of Americans' views on global politics and US foreign policy. There's a lot of interesting stuff there: Dan Drezner, who was on one of the report's advisory board, rounds up ten important findings in the Washington Post. But one of the most interesting findings is how Americans feel about other countries.

The survey asked a sample of 2,108 people to rank a list of 25 countries on a scale from zero to 100. Zero means they had "very cold, negative" feelings towards that country, while 100 means "very warm, favorable feelings." 50 is perfectly neutral. Here are the average results for each country:

Immediately, the bottom five countries stick out. North Korea and Iran are probably the most obviously hostile to most Americans, so it makes sense that they are on the bottom. The survey was taken just after Russia's invasion of Crimea, perhaps explaining why Russia ranks so low — the lowest, according to Chicago Council, since the end of the Cold War.

But Iraq and the Palestinian Authority (PA) are different. The United States provides a pretty significant amount of assistance to both. It provides a great deal of economic and security aid to the PA, and, even before the current joint military campaign against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), broadly supported the current Iraqi state as the best thing the United States was likely to get.

In other words, it seems like American attitudes towards Iraq and the Palestinian Authority aren't determined by relations between their governments and the US. The dim American view of the PA probably has to do with the well-established fact that Americans overwhelming take Israel's side over the Palestinians in the ongoing conflict. As for Iraq, the fact the each of the last four American presidents have announced military campaigns in the country might give Americans a somewhat dim view of the country.

Americans just don't know or care a lot about foreign policy

The cluster right around 50, a neutral rating, is also pretty interesting. Taiwan, a country America pledges to defend, is at 52 — barely above Turkey at 50, a NATO member that the US is often at odds with over its support for American enemies like Hamas and its increasingly authoritarian rule. Venezuela, whose government is actively anti-American, is only slightly below Turkey at 46.

The fact that these very, very different countries all cluster around a neutral 50 rating probably reflects the fact that Americans just don't know or care a lot about foreign policy. Poll after poll finds that Americans rate foreign policy as a much lower priority than domestic issues. It makes sense that, aside from high profile countries like Israel, Iraq, Russia, China, and major advanced democracies, the American public doesn't really know enough about most countries to have strong opinions about them.

Speaking of those advanced democracies: Americans love the United Kingdom and, especially, Canada. I get that.

One of the most common questions I hear as a prego is, "How are you feeling?" I genuinely appreciate every person who asks, (it's certainly better than hearing "Girl, you chunky"), but I lie to virtually every one of them. Not because I don't want to be honest, but because the truth is quite a mouthful and we don't have all bloody day now do we. Right now, I don't just feel one thing. I feel everything. And if I answered you honestly, I just might explode all over your life.

How am I feeling? Don't say I didn't warn you.

First of all, I'm happy to be having another baby. I'm grateful to be a fertile Myrtle and that my husband is shooting some serious ammo from his skin pistol and that we will have a daughter and Max will have a sister and spare parts all that sweet miraculous jazz.

I'm truly amazed that there's this person kicking and punching me from the inside and no matter how many millions of years that's been happening on the planet, it's still pretty darn freaky.

But I'm also dreadfully afraid to give birth again because -- NEWSFLASH -- it's hurts like a motherfucker and there's a very strong possibility that this time my insides will fall out altogether and someone will have to stuff them back inside me like crumbly meat into a pita. I'm annoyed that we put a man on the moon almost half a century ago but still haven't found a way to make childbirth painless. Seriously people.

I'm pissed that I'm the one who has to endure all this primitive bullshit (isn't it my husband's turn, damn it?), and it's frustrating that some people seem to be more irritated by my drama than sympathetic to the fact that I'm growing a fucking person up in here. But I know I can't make them understand, so I'm trapped in this bubble where swallowing my feelings is survival (and keeping me out of jail).

I'm baffled to infinity that so, SO many women go through this many times over without a single hesitation. Do they have vadges like slip 'n slides? Are they just stronger than me? Am I a pussy??? Or are they scared shitless too and just faking it? I'm confused. And I'm more and more anxious as the moment of truth gets closer, because god knows what will happen, and there is no god so nobody knows. This is a nine-month transaction with no guarantee. I know there's a "kid" in here but it could be a baby goat for all I know. Let's be honest, that figure on the ultrasound machine did not look fully human.

I'm also bored, because while I wait for this moment to come I can't ride my new bike, I can't have a martini, I can't relax in a hot tub, I can't buy nice clothes because I'm a house, I can't sleep comfortably, I can't walk far without wanting to die, I can't even eat raw cookie dough -- not that I'd want to, but if I did, I couldn't, so there. I ordered a bunch of stuff online yesterday just so I can feel surprised when I come home to a new package on the front step, even if none of it is for me. It's a crib mattress so the baby doesn't have to sleep in a drawer, and a whip and satchel for Max so he can be Indiana Jones for Halloween and not just a kid in a fedora, and a snowsuit for him so he'll be warm when the winter comes, because I'M THE ONE who thinks of all these goddamn things and I'M THE ONE who takes care of it all and nobody notices except that I'm being a crazy, list-making bitch. I'm overwhelmed thinking about all the things I still need to do and buy and get rid of and clean up before babytime, while working full-time and blogging and promoting my book and giving my vagina pep talks and cleaning up before my mother arrives and god knows what else.

I'm torn because my family always comes first, but I also have these ideas and opportunities and the iron is hot and I'm not getting any younger and this is my time, bitch. I'm riddled with guilt just typing that, because society and my upbringing and all that bullshit has programmed me to believe I'm a mother now, so I'm supposed to sacrifice my own dreams for everyone else's. But I'm determined to try my best to fuck that noise and do it all, even if I don't do any of it perfectly. I'd rather live with failure than regret.

I'm shocked and excited that my little boy is off to kindergarten. I'm sad that my dad is not here to see it. I'm nervous that I haven't bought him the right school supplies or prepared him enough or that he'll get made fun of and I won't be there to kick some tiny ass to defend his honour. I'm terrified I'll get a colicky baby and turn into a sleep-deprived monster and flip out at Max's first request for a snack and he'll hate me forever. I'm worried I'll miss his first goal because I've become Zombie Mom at home while Rad Dad gets to be the hero out there in the big wide world. I'm already feeling shitty that he can't swim yet because we haven't been diligent enough with swimming lessons and now he's totally going to drown in a teaspoon of water because I failed him miserably.

I feel weak because I'm rotund and slow and, truth be told, I could use one of those rails installed in the bathtub and by the toilet and by the bed. THIS IS NOT HOW I AM.

I feel strong because I know there's this dragon I have to fight at the end and I'm not turning back. Even if I could, I wouldn't.

I'm thrilled. I'm petrified. I'm lucky. I'm alone. I'm full of piss and vinegar and love.

So, to keep it simple when someone asks how I'm feeling, I just tell them about this pain in my ass. That's not a metaphor for all of the above. I genuinely have pain in my left butt cheek because the joints and ligaments around my pelvis are getting ready to thrust out a human skull. Believe it or not, this answer is much, much easier for everyone.

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Picture a 6'2" professional football player, beating a four-year-old with a stick until the little boy is left with blood all over his body.

While it may sound like a scene from a horror movie, this is sadly the awful truth behind the Adrian Peterson child abuse case. In May, the 29-year-old running back for the Minnesota Vikings beat his four-year-old son with a switch. The blows from the wooden stick left the child covered in painful welts, bruises and cuts, which were still shockingly visible a week later.

Corporal punishment is a controversial matter, but this vicious physical assault on a defenseless young child is not discipline. It falls into the category of abuse, which is certain to lead to an endless cycle of violence.

On September 12, Adrian Peterson was charged with child abuse as a result of the horrifying May incident. However, CBS News reports that the Vikings have reinstated the NFL star and allowed him back on the football field. Peterson is set to play a game at New Orleans on September 21, despite the charges.

What's troubling is the fact that Peterson believes a simple apology can resolve the situation and undo the harm he's inflicted upon his young son.

He has issued an apology, saying, "I am not a perfect son. I am not a perfect husband. I am not a perfect parent, but I am, without doubt, not a child abuser."

After this scandal has come to light, we believe this public apology should be corrected.

Peterson is not a perfect son. He is not a perfect husband. He is definitely not a perfect parent, but he is also, without doubt, a child abuser.

By Fatima Syed



The Purple Fig is an online women's blogazine with an emphasis on realistic and inspiring personal stories from women of all age groups, lifestyles, and nationalities. We feature essays about parenting, the journey to womanhood, feminism, overcoming challenges in both career and personal life, and issues surrounding sexuality, relationships, and family life. This is where women go to be inspired by the knowledge they are never alone.

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Kent Brantly has a unique perspective on the Ebola epidemic: he has both worked as a doctor to treat the virus in patients and he is a victim of the disease, having contracted Ebola in July while working as a medical missionary in Liberia.

Today, he testified in DC before a senate senate committee on the West African outbreak. Here are highlights from his speech:

On the horror of having Ebola

On July 23, I started to feel ill. Three days later, I learned that I had tested positive for Ebola Virus Disease. I became a patient, and I came to understand firsthand what my own patients had suffered. I was isolated from my family, and I was unsure if I would ever see them again. Even though I knew most of my caretakers, I could see nothing but their eyes through their protective goggles when they came to treat me. I experienced the humiliation of losing control of my bodily functions and faced the horror of vomiting blood-a sign of the internal bleeding that could have eventually led to my death.

How the world woke up to Ebola after he was infected

This unprecedented outbreak began nine months ago but received very little attention from the international community until the events of mid-July when my friend and colleague, Nancy Writebol, and I became infected. Since that time, there has been intense media attention and therefore increased awareness of the situation on the ground in Liberia, Guinea, Sierra Leone and neighboring countries.

The response, however, is still unacceptably out-of-step with the size and scope of the problem now before us.

What it's like to treat Ebola patients

Treating Ebola patients is not like caring for other patients. It is grueling work. The personal protective equipment (PPE) we wore in the Ebola Treatment Unit becomes excruciatingly hot, with temperatures inside the suit reaching up to 115 degrees. It cannot be worn for more than an hour and a half. Because of the elaborate safety protocols involved in treating an Ebola patient, each one takes an average of 30 minutes of time from a team of three to five people. It is easy to see that a significant influx of medical personnel will be needed to adequately care for the thousands of people that epidemiologists now are predicting will fall victim to the disease in the coming weeks.

On using military to respond to the Ebola virus

The use of our military is a legitimate and defensible request because if we do not do something to stop this outbreak now, it quickly could become a matter of U.S. national security-whether that means a regional war that gives terrorist groups like Boko Haram a foothold in West Africa or the spread of the disease into America. Fighting those kinds of threats would require more from the Department of Defense than what I am asking for today.

Why the outbreak got out of control in Liberia

The laboratory we used to confirm Ebola Virus Disease in patients was 45 minutes away and inadequately staffed. A patient would arrive at our center in the afternoon, and their blood specimen would not be collected until the following morning. We would receive results later that night at the earliest. This means that the turn-around time to positively identify Ebola cases was anywhere from 12 to 36 hours after the blood was drawn. If a patient is not infected with the virus, that can be a life-threatening delay...

These laboratory delays can have an even greater-and deadlier- consequence. The longer it takes to confirm a positive result, the longer an Ebola- infected patient is left in the "suspected" side of the isolation unit. Every precaution is taken to protect people in that part of the facility from cross-contamination, but there is always the potential that those without the disease can become infected if they are in close proximity to an Ebola-positive person.

On receiving the experimental treatment ZMapp

I am deeply grateful to the personnel at Mapp Biopharmaceuticals who even before this outbreak had devoted their lives to combatting Ebola.

I hope that the devastating impact of the current epidemic will result in new discoveries for treatments and vaccines in the future, but we cannot wait for a magic bullet to halt the spread of Ebola in West Africa. The current epidemic is beyond anything we have ever seen, and it is time to think outside of the box.

The challenges ahead

Historically, Ebola outbreaks have been contained through the identification and isolation of suspected cases, and this has worked extremely well to stop the disease. Today, however, the number of cases and rate of transmission are surpassing the ability of these traditional interventions to bring the situation under control. Intensive medical care is important, but it is given only to patients in isolation units. We know that the virus is being spread primarily by those who are unwilling or unable to go to an Ebola Treatment Unit...

The World Health Organization has laid out a roadmap similar to what I have just described, but they are so bound up by bureaucracy that they have been painfully slow and ineffective in this response. Their recommendations for home care were made August 28, and I am not aware of any significant progress in the implementation of their plan to date. It is imperative that the U.S. take the lead instead of relying on other agencies...

Many have used the analogy of a fire burning out of control to describe this unprecedented Ebola outbreak. Indeed it is a fire-a fire straight from the pit of hell. We cannot fool ourselves into thinking that the vast moat of the Atlantic Ocean will keep the flames away from our shores. Instead, we must mobilize the resources needed to keep entire nations from being reduced to ashes.

Learn more about why this Ebola outbreak became the worst we've ever seen in our 2-minute Vox explainer

Celine Dion made some grand entrances over her career but the 46-year-old superstar might have outdone herself during a recent television appearance: water-skiing on the St. Lawrence river before being hoisted on a crane onto a talk-show set.

As posted on her official site, Dion appeared on the television talk show "L'ete Indien" (Indian Summer) which aired on TV5Monde on Sept 7 but was taped last July.


The YouTube clip begins with host Michel Drucker introducing Dion as well as co-host Julie Snyder from a location on the Montreal waterfront. The clip then shows Dion (on the right) and Snyder in the water awaiting the speed boat to power up and get them up on their skis. Dion manages to get up without much difficulty, holding onto the handle to balance herself as the boat picks up speed. Snyder and Dion then high five each other as Dion's version of "River Deep, Mountain High" can be heard as the background music.

A closeup of Dion shows her saluting the host and audience as they ski past a large luxury liner in port and then making a slight turn towards the live audience and talk show set. Roughly 90 seconds into the clip both Snyder and Dion release the handles and gently fall backwards into the water. After the audience is shown clapping at the spectacle, a large crane then hoists a cage-like frame holding both Snyder and Dion high above the audience, Snyder seems content to stand on the cage floor while Dion sits on the bar and waves. The two then embrace as they are lowered onto the set safely with Dion pretending to swim briefly before they softly land.

But this isn't actually the first time Dion's water-skiid on TV. A YouTube clip from 1985 shows her taking to the water with relative ease alongside Olympic gold medalist Sylvie Bernier for a television special entitled "C'est Pour Toi."



As reported last month, Dion has put her touring and recording commitments on hold in order to focus her energies towards her husband and former manager Rene Angelil as he battles cancer.

Luxury hotel chain the Four Seasons has launched its second Food Truck tour which will roll out across the Eastern Seaboard in the US serving up local favourites like lobster rolls and pastrami sandwiches.

After debuting last year on the West Coast, the mobile restaurant will make its way from Boston to Miami this fall, offering regional specialties created by local Four Seasons chefs.

The truck will spend up to six days in each destination throughout the tour, serving lobster rolls in Boston, for example, pastrami sliders in New York and Savannah crab cake sandwiches in Atlanta.

A portion of sales will be donated to a local charity for causes like breast cancer, education, and pediatric cancer research.

Meanwhile, the man widely credited with having launched the gourmet food truck movement in the US, Roy Choi of Kogi BBQ, made the reverse move from mobile restaurant to brick and mortar eatery after being enlisted by The Line Hotel in Los Angeles to helm its dining offerings.

The trendy hotel, located in the city’s bustling Koreatown, recently opened Choi’s latest restaurant Commissary which focuses on vegetable-based dishes.

You can find recipes and follow the food truck on http://taste.fourseasons.com/food-trucks/ with the hashtag #FSFoodTruck on Twitter and Instagram.

September 15-20: Boston, MA
September 22-27: Philadelphia, PA
September 29 – October 4: New York, NY
October 6-11: Baltimore, MD
October 13-18: Washington, DC
October 20-25: Atlanta, GA
October 27-28: Orlando, FL
October 30 – November 4: Palm Beach, FL
November 6-11: Miami, FL

Last week, in the wake of the NFL's Ray Rice domestic abuse suspension, CBS decided to pull a segment from Thursday Night Football that featured Jay-Z's and Rihanna's song "Run This Town." Now, the network, according to Rihanna, is using the song for its second week of Thursday night coverage. That isn't sitting well with the Grammy-Award-winning singer:

CBS you pulled my song last week, now you wanna slide it back in this Thursday? NO, Fuck you! Y'all are sad for penalizing me for this.

— Rihanna (@rihanna) September 16, 2014

The decision to cut the Rihanna song was made because the network "needed to have the appropriate tone and coverage," CBS Sports chairman Sean McManus told Sports Illustrated. Underneath that corporate speak is an acknowledgment that Rihanna was a victim of a highly-publicized domestic abuse case and a tacit fear that audience members would have been reminded of the Rice video because they associate Rihanna with domestic abuse.

While the network believes what it did was in good faith, it essentially punished Rihanna for being a victim of domestic abuse and penalized her for Ray Rice's assault. Rihanna is more than a poster image for a crime she didn't commit. And CBS, by pulling her song, made it that much harder to get this point across.

The audacity...

— Rihanna (@rihanna) September 16, 2014

CBS has not responded to Rihanna's statements.

onlylolgifs:

Kids Who Lost The Fight Against Sleep

New Yorkers may be proud that Kira Kazantsev brought home the title of Miss America on Sunday, giving the Empire State the crown for the third consecutive year. But singers across the country probably don’t feel the same amount of delight (they probably weren’t tuning in), despite the fact that Kazantsev’s talent was a vocal performance of Pharrell Williams’s “Happy.”

Unlike New Yorkers, who can only claim six Miss America titles, this was the 46th win for a vocalist (there was no talent portion for eight years of the 88-year pageant). In fact, despite the competition’s historical reputation of less serious plate-spinning and baton-twirling, musical performances — singing, dancing and playing an instrument — dominate.

The 1945 to 1964 period is notable, however. Of its winners, nine performed dramatic recitations as their talent.

These days, such recitations are few and far between. Since 2010, there have been only three that could (with a stretched definition) fit into that category: two comedic monologues (Miss Montana in 2013 and this year’s Miss Maine) and one act of ventriloquism (this year’s Miss Ohio). Of the 318 performances since 2010, just 10 do not explicitly fit into the singing, dancing or musical instrument categories. (A quick note: There were two winners in 1984 because Vanessa Williams stepped down.)

Musicality wins. Why stray from the tried-and-true when no one has won the title by doing so since 1979 (in which the nonconformist was Miss Virginia, with a gymnastics routine)?

But in a competition to be “Miss America,” it’s worth asking how well these women actually represent America. Is a plethora of musical performances indicative of a particularly musical people? Data on how many recreational singers, dancers, instrument-players, comics and ventriloquists we have in the United States is hard to come by, but the Census does give us a way to approximate an answer.

The 2010 Census asked people whether they had participated in various leisure activities within the past year, and although nearly half of the respondents ate out in that period, the numbers aren’t as high for singing, dancing and playing an instrument.

About 9 percent of respondents had danced, 8 percent had played an instrument and 4 percent had sung karaoke.

The withdrawal of US troops from Iraq and Afghanistan means that fewer American soldiers are in harm's way. But new data from the Department of Defense suggests that the drawdown has done little to solve the serious problem of military suicides. The rate of military self-inflicted deaths has stayed roughly the same even as combat deaths have fallen.

Last year alone, 475 active service members took their own lives according to a report published last week by the Department of Defense. In the same year, 127 soldiers lost their lives in the line of duty reported icasualties.org — a website that has been documenting war deaths since the Iraq War in 2003. That's the lowest level since 2008.

The same Department of Defense report said that 120 personnel took their own lives in the first quarter of 2014, a rate of nearly one soldier every day. That compares with 43 soldiers who lost their lives on the front line between January 1 and September 11, 2014.

This has been an issue since the US deployed troops to Iraq and Afghanistan more than a decade ago. But policymakers have been slow to address the problem. Legislation focused on the subject has stalled in the Senate, and a Defense Department initiative to reduce military casualties has achieved little success.

A report by the Institute of Medicine concluded that the Department of Veteran's Affairs and the Department of Defense should have a clear chain of command, a best practices system and a data collection mechanism for the effectiveness of treatments.

Currently diagnosis is still governed by a list of direct questions prescribed by the National Institute for Mental Health — an approach that's known to be ineffective. "Questionnaires are self-reported and when the issue carries a stigma, it's not hard to lie," said Dr. Craig Bryan, a former US Air Force psychologist and adjunct professor at the National Center for Veteran Studies.

This September has been declared suicide prevention month by the VA.

NYC-based tech startup Volta Group has just installed its first EnGo public charging station that powers mobile devices with a clean energy combo of kinetic tiles and solar panels. Students at Webster University in St. Louis, Missouri can now recharge up to 14 portable devices (10 cables, two USB ports and two wireless charging pads) from the sun and their footsteps as electricity is generated every time someone walks across the kinetic energy tiles. The stations also include free Wi-Fi and an emergency intercom.

Read the rest of EnGo Public Charging Station is Powered by Kinetic Tiles and Solar Panels in Missouri

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Wearable technology has yet to hit the mainstream, but that isn’t stopping the fashion industry from trying to add a stylish twist to the high-tech novelties. Earlier this month, Intel, in partnership with French fashion house Opening Ceremony, unveiled a luxurious smart bracelet made out of snakeskin and semi-precious jewels at New York Fashion Week. Dubbed MICA (My Intelligent Communication Accessory), this luxurious piece of wearable technology will be available at Barney’s starting this winter.

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Did you know that breastfeeding has numerous health benefits – including reducing type 2 diabetes, hypertension, obesity, female cancers, heart disease and osteoporosis? Unfortunately, most breast pumps on the market suck – they’re loud, hard to transport, difficult to clean, and awkward to use in small spaces. Fortunately, MIT is looking to change all that by launching the “Make the Breast Pump Not Suck” Hackathon! The event will follow up on an earlier workshop that sought to “generate ideas for how we could change our machines and our society to make breastfeeding and breast pumping a normal, painless, and not-degrading experience for moms.” The event will convene over 150 parents, engineers, designers, and health care specialists to “catalyze innovation in maternal and pediatric health” – read on to learn more!

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Image of breast pump via Business Insider

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In an effort to raise awareness of the dangers of walking and texting, China has opened separate walkways for people who are using their cell phones, and people who aren't. They're meant to be ironic though, and encourage people to think before texting and knocking over somebody's grandma and breaking her hips. That poor old lady. You monster!

The special 50-metre route was mapped out in the Chinese city of Chongqing and at first seemed as if they was intended to make the journey of smartphone users easier. But Nong Cheng, who works for area managers the Meixin Group, confirmed the lanes were meant to be ironic and remind people it's dangerous to tweet while walking the street. 'There are lots of elderly people and children in our street, and walking with your cellphone may cause unnecessary collisions here,' she said.

Listen, if you want to walk and text safely, here's what you do: don't. Go lean up against a wall or something. Will people think you're a prostitute? Maybe. You know how often I get mistaken for a prostitute? Waaaaaaaaay too often. "Maybe stop wearing that "HANDJOBS: $5" t-shirt." But it's so soft. Keep going for one more shot.