Heavily armed police have secured the U.S. Capitol nearly four hours after supporters of President Donald Trump pushed past barricades and forced themselves inside the complex on Wednesday. Officials say four died: one woman who was shot by police, three in medical emergencies.
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The Texas Department of Public Safety closed the state Capitol and surrounding grounds Wednesday after supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., during the certification of President-elect Joe Biden’s victory.
An official with the law enforcement agency confirmed the move in a statement to The Texas Tribune.
“The Capitol and Capitol Complex are closed to the public effective immediately,” the agency said in a statement attributed to Freeman Martin, its deputy director of homeland security operations.
In a statement soon after, an agency spokesperson told the Tribune that the building and its grounds were closing to the public “out of an abundance of caution” and that “DPS will continue to adjust our operations as needed to maintain public order and address potential threats.”
By Wednesday evening, an agency official said that the Capitol would reopen to the public 9 a.m. Thursday.
The news comes as chaos erupted in Washington as Trump supporters rioted during the certification of the Electoral College. The shutdown of the Texas Capitol, which reopened to the public Monday after being closed for months, also comes days before the Texas Legislature is set to convene for its 2021 legislative session.
Earlier Wednesday, Trump supporters had also started gathering outside the state Capitol. Media reports indicated that the event did not appear to be violent, with rally attendees holding signs and cheering as cars drove by.
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Texas politicians in both parties pleaded for peace Wednesday afternoon after supporters backing President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol, disrupting the Electoral College certification of his reelection defeat.
“I like many people voted for President Trump in the 2020 election and hoped for a different result,” tweeted U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Austin. “But violence and destruction is not the way to express your grievances. This is disgraceful and has to end.”
U.S. Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Houston, was more succinct in a tweet, saying, “Stop this bullshit right now.”
The fracas began shortly after some GOP lawmakers, led by Texas U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, launched a dispute to the certification of Arizona’s electoral votes. Over the ensuing hour, scenes emerged of Trump supporters storming barricades, breaching the Capitol and even reaching at least one of the chambers.
“Those storming the Capitol need to stop NOW,” Cruz wrote on Twitter, adding that violence is “ALWAYS wrong” and that “those engaged in violence are hurting the cause they say they support.”
Cruz has spent weeks leading up to Wednesday’s vote sowing doubts in the electoral process and repeating unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud.
By early afternoon, proceedings in the Capitol ground to a halt as security rushed Vice President Mike Pence out of the U.S. Senate chamber and the building was placed on lockdown. The mayor of Washington, D.C., Muriel Bowser, ordered a curfew starting at 5 p.m.
Reports from the scene show Trump supporters swarming the hallways of the Capitol carrying pro-Trump paraphernalia — just steps from where lawmakers were meeting. Lawmakers and reporters described hundreds of pro-Trump supporters barreling past fence barricades and clashing with officers. Some demonstrators also mobbed the second floor lobby just outside the Senate chamber while law enforcement officers attempted to guard the chamber doors.
“I’m currently sheltering in place. The Capitol building has been breached and both chambers are locked down,” wrote U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-El Paso. “This is the chaos and lawlessness @realDonaldTrump has created.”
Several others Democrat lawmakers — Reps. Colin Allred of Dallas, Sylvia Garcia of Houston and Vicente Gonzalez of McAllen — tweeted that they were safe.
Amid the chaos and confusion, several Republicans encouraged Trump to rally his supporters to tamp down on the violence.
“Mr. President, get to a microphone immediately and establish calm and order. Now. And work with Capitol Police to secure the Capitol. It’s the last thing you’ll do that matters as President,” tweeted U.S. Rep. Chip Roy of Austin. In a subsequent interview with The Texas Tribune, Roy, who noted he and his staff were safe, called on the White House to “take action immediately” and for the president to “speak and tell people to retreat from the Capitol.”
Among those in Washington on Wednesday was Attorney General Ken Paxton, who spoke at a pro-Trump rally outside the White House before Congress began the Electoral College certification process. Last month, Paxton led an unsuccessful lawsuit challenging the presidential election results in four battleground states.
On Wednesday afternoon, Paxton called for calm.
“I am sorely disappointed today in the certification of the election, but I don’t believe violence is the answer,” Paxton said.
But later in the afternoon, Paxton tweeted a baseless claim, saying “These are not Trump supporters.” Many of the supporters in the videos are waving Trump flags and signs and wearing “MAGA” hats and other clothing. Paxton’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Another state leader, Gov. Greg Abbott, issued a statement saying the “violence and mayhem must stop.” Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick also addressed the situation in a statement that invoked both the pro-Trump protesters Wednesday and apparently those who demonstrated against police brutality last summer.
“Those who burned down our cities last year and those who stormed the U.S. Capitol today do not represent the people of this country,” Patrick said. “We can disagree loudly and protest peacefully but the behavior we’ve seen today and in the last year can never be acceptable to any American.”
Patrick chaired Trump’s reelection campaign in Texas and has sided with him in his post-election fixation with voter fraud despite no evidence of widespread fraud. Patrick at one point offered up to $1 million as a reward for evidence of fraud.
The Republican Party of Texas also weighed in, saying in a tweet that it supports free-speech rights but “we do condemn violence and pray for all in our nation’s capital.” Its chairman, Allen West, was a vocal supporter of Paxton’s lawsuit and suggested secession by “law-abiding states” after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the suit. West has also appeared at “Stop the Steal” events following Trump’s reelection defeat.
The state party also said it was removing its sergeant at arms, Walter West, due to a statement he had made “about the lawlessness occurring at the Capitol Building.” The party said it “in no way endorses” his statement. West made multiple Facebook posts Wednesday encouraging people who were storming the Capitol, including one where he shared images of the protesters and said, “You Accepted ANTIFA burning down your cities… Now Deal with them taking back OUR HOUSE!”
Perhaps the strongest condemnation of the pro-Trump rioters among Texas Republicans came from former Rep. Will Hurd of Helotes. He wrote in a tweet: “This is an attack on our democracy and domestic terrorism to try to stop certifying elections. This should be treated as a coup led by a president that will not be peacefully removed from power.”
There were also denunciations from Texas Republicans who had resisted objecting to the Electoral College certification, including Roy.
“To those storming the Capitol — I am on the House floor and I will not be deterred from upholding my oath, under God, to the Constitution by mob demand,” he wrote. The Austin-area Republican made his disdain for Wednesday’s events clear, telling the Tribune he didn’t think Congress “should be going down this road” of objecting to the certification and calling for criminal action against members of the mob who breached the Capitol.
“People need to go jail,” Roy said. “They need to go to jail for a very long time.”
Early Wednesday evening, U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Tyler, a staunch pro-Trump Republican, urged protesters to refrain from violence. Gohmert was the subject of a censure resolution from Democratic U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, of Florida, after he warned of post-election violence following a string of court losses by Trump and his supporters.
“Please people; no violence. That only hurts our cause. Those leading the charge like the guy in yellow with the communist hammer & sickle tattoo: stopping the violence applies to you too,” Gohmert tweeted.
Texas Democrats, meanwhile, were explicit in linking the harrowing scene to Trump’s refusal to accept the election outcome and belligerent rhetoric.
“This is what Trump wanted,” tweeted U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin. “Trump’s sedition: determined to keep us from doing our constitutional duty.”
At a news conference in Delaware, meanwhile, Biden said Trump supporters’ breach of the Capitol was “an assault on the rule of law like few times we’ve ever seen it.” The Democrat went on to demand that Trump go on television and publicly “demand an end to this siege.”
“At this hour, our democracy’s under an unprecedented assault, unlike anything we’ve seen in modern times,” Biden said. “An assault on the citadel of liberty, the Capitol itself.”
In an interview with C-SPAN, U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, said the pro-Trump rally that took place earlier Wednesday likely “sent a strong message to a lot of the folks here.” Cuellar then reprimanded Trump for being “quick to call the National Guard ... and other folks to certain places when the left was protesting,” but not responding as fast to condemn his own supporters.
Trump previously called on his supporters to rally in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday. At a protest earlier in the day, Trump acknowledged that rallygoers were going to march toward the Capitol to encourage lawmakers not to certify the vote.
“I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically, make your voices heard today,” he said.
After facing criticism for not doing enough to end the violence at the Capitol, Trump tweeted a video Wednesday afternoon urging his supporters to “go home in peace” — though he continued to share a baseless claim that the election had been stolen from him.
“We have to have law and order. We don’t want anyone hurt,” he said in a video message filmed at the White House. Then, the president appeared to offer encouragement to his supporters: “We love you. You’re very special,” Trump said. “I know how you feel.”
Protesters supporting US President Donald Trump storm the US Capitol, clashing with police and forcing a delay in the constitutional process to affirm president-elect Joe Biden's win.
The curfew comes after thousands of President Trump's supporters headed to the U.S. Capitol, prompting the House and Senate to swiftly go into recess as Capitol Police locked down the complex.
(Image credit: Win McNamee/Getty Images)
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Thanks to phones, you can't punish anyone because we're already in Hell.
Elections in 2022 and 2024 hang over Senate Republicans’ certification vote.
Senate Republicans face a clear choice on Wednesday: They can either side with President Donald Trump and challenge the results of the 2020 presidential election based on no evidence — or they can vote in support of the actual outcome, the will of the voters, and the country’s Democratic process.
The decision should be an obvious one, but it has split the conference. While Senate leadership, including Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, has previously urged Republicans to refrain from objecting to the election results, at least 13 lawmakers, including Sens. Josh Hawley (R-MO), Ted Cruz (R-TX), and Ron Johnson (R-WI), have already expressed their plans to do so.
The Republicans opting to stand by Trump are doing so to send a message, one they argue is intended to represent concerns voiced by their constituents.
But another key motivation for those going down this route could well be the same one that’s kept so many Republicans aligned with Trump for years: They’re keen to hang on to the support he has from many GOP voters — including for upcoming elections in 2022 and 2024.
“One of the biggest threats Republicans do face, especially if they come from red states, is the threat of a primary challenge if they’re seen as insufficiently pro-Trump,” says Cook Political Report’s Jessica Taylor. “Probably nothing will matter more to Trump and his loyal base over the next few years unless you opposed the certification of electoral votes — even though it’s ultimately futile.”
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Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call via Getty Images
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Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call via Getty Images
And the objections are futile. Those who intend to mount these challenges are forging ahead despite there being no evidence to support the claims of voter fraud that Trump has cited as the reason behind his efforts to undercut the election’s outcome. As Cameron Peters has explained for Vox, at least 60 lawsuits detailing allegations of election improprieties have failed in court, and every state has now certified its results as accurate (following recounts in multiple swing states).
Nevertheless, Cruz and Johnson are among the 11 senators who’ve demanded a 10-day audit of election outcomes in “disputed states” and who’ve vowed to challenge the certification of their results if this doesn’t happen. Hawley has announced a separate objection, claiming legal issues with the election process in Pennsylvania. According to Politico’s Olivia Beavers, state results that Republicans in the House and Senate plan to object to include Georgia, Arizona, and Pennsylvania.
Congress’s vote on the outcome is one of the last steps needed to complete the presidential transition ahead of the inauguration later this month. On Wednesday, Vice President Mike Pence will read off the election results submitted by each state, giving lawmakers a chance to object to each. If a member from each chamber objects, a simple majority of lawmakers in both the House and the Senate must vote to support that objection for it to take effect.
Given these rules, none of Republicans’ planned objections will result in any actual changes to the election results: Even if a majority of the Republican-controlled Senate backed a challenge, there’s no chance a majority of lawmakers in the Democratic-controlled House would. But that has not stopped the Republicans planning to stick with Trump.
For months, McConnell has cautioned Republicans against raising objections to the electoral results, because for every challenge that’s brought by both a House and a Senate member, both chambers will ultimately have to debate and hold a vote on it. And as the Associated Press has reported, McConnell has expressed concerns that these votes could put Republican senators in a difficult position.
Those who do vote with Trump are effectively rejecting voters’ voices and undermining the Democratic process that elections are built on. On the other hand, those who don’t back Trump could face his ire — and potentially that of his supporters — down the line, possibly setting up difficult races that could drain party resources and put the size of the Senate GOP caucus in jeopardy.
This dynamic has already been apparent in the case of Senate Majority Whip John Thune, whose opposed the certification challenges and previously said they would go down “like a shot dog” in the Senate. Since then, he’s been a major target of the president’s attacks, with Trump urging South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem to levy a primary challenge against him in 2022. (Noem has declined and said she intends to pursue another term as governor.)
I hope to see the great Governor of South Dakota @KristiNoem, run against RINO @SenJohnThune, in the upcoming 2022 Primary. She would do a fantastic job in the U.S. Senate, but if not Kristi, others are already lining up. South Dakota wants strong leadership, NOW!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 1, 2021
The 13 lawmakers who have announced their decisions to move forward with a challenge include a handful facing upcoming elections. Of those who’ve voiced support for electoral objections, Sens. James Lankford (R-OK), Ron Johnson (R-WI), and John Kennedy (R-LA) are up for reelection in 2022. Separately, there’s speculation that Hawley and Cruz could be potential presidential candidates in 2024, and may be using this vote to position themselves for that contest.
A Cruz spokesperson said in a statement, however, “Sen. Cruz is calling for an emergency electoral commission to resolve the deep distrust Americans have in our democracy and restore faith in our system.”
Those who have committed to these objections broadly represent reliably Republican states, with the exception of Johnson in Wisconsin and Sen. Kelly Loeffler in Georgia, a lawmaker who ran in the state’s runoff elections Tuesday.
“There should little or no question this will not succeed, so one must conclude it is simply one of the most blatantly hypocritical and cynical moves in American political history to incur favor with Trump supporters,” says Chip Felkel, a Republican strategist and adviser for the Lincoln Project.
According to national polls in November and December, a majority of Republican voters do question the presidential election results — which suggests that lawmakers’ objections could resonate with a wide GOP base. A Reuters/Ipos poll cited by Cruz and other Republicans mounting this challenge found that 67 percent of Republicans think the election was “rigged.”
“Those allegations are not believed just by one individual candidate. Instead, they are widespread,” the lawmakers write. They argue that their position is intended to assuage these concerns.
There is, of course, a lot of circular reasoning at play in this argument: A big reason many voters support Trump’s allegations of election fraud is because the president has been falsely hammering this message for months, and many Republican leaders have amplified his message.
There are also several Republicans facing reelection in 2022 who’ve opposed efforts to challenge the election certification, however, including Sens. Rob Portman (R-OH) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) — both of whom have said they want to help preserve existing trust in the electoral system.
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Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call via Getty Images
“I urge my colleagues from both parties to recognize this and to join me in maintaining confidence in the Electoral College and our elections so that we ensure we have the continued trust of the American people,” Murkowski said in statement.
According to a Washington Post count, 25 Republicans have said they plan to vote against objections that are raised, while several others have yet to state how they’ll vote. Sens. Mitt Romney (R-UT), Susan Collins (R-ME), Ben Sasse (R-NE), and Pat Toomey (R-PA) are among those who’ve been vocal in their opposition to these challenges.
“We have a bunch of ambitious politicians who think there’s a quick way to tap into the president’s populist base without doing any real, long-term damage,” Sasse said in a December Facebook post. “But they’re wrong — and this issue is bigger than anyone’s personal ambitions.”
The willingness of some senators to question the Electoral College results signals that Trump still holds significant influence, at least with certain members of the Republican Party, but the fact the conference isn’t unified is a reminder that it’s unclear how his sway will persist as Congress enters its new term.
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Spencer Platt/Getty Images
There is some expectation that Trump will continue to influence the party for some time. “Most, if not all, Republicans know that Trump and his voters are going to hold considerable sway in the party for the foreseeable future,” says University of Southern California law professor Franita Tolson.
Despite this, in the Senate, especially, leadership has grown more open to clashing with Trump as his term nears its end: Most recently, McConnell has stymied his demand for $2,000 stimulus checks, as well as his veto of the National Defense Authorization Act. Other members of the conference, however, have remained closely aligned with the president’s wishes.
The split on Wednesday votes could indicate more divisions among Republicans down the road.
“These fissures may be harbingers of infighting to come within the party that would resuscitate some of divisions last apparent back in 2015 when Trump appeared on the scene,” says University of Wisconsin political science professor Barry Burden.
As Politico’s Alex Isenstadt reported, the divergent stances that Hawley and Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) — another potential future GOP presidential contender, who opposes the election certification challenges — have taken could underscore fault lines between Trump’s anti-establishment backers and more traditional Republicans that may continue to play out in 2024 and beyond.
Election Twitter was blown away by Black voter turnout in the Georgia Senate runoffs.
More than any other factor, the high turnout from Black voters in Georgia’s Senate runoff elections appears to have won Democrats Rev. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff their seats and their party control of the US Senate.
Warnock’s victory over Sen. Kelly Loeffler and Ossoff’s win over Sen. David Perdue have been called by Decision Desk. Perdue has announced plans to challenge the results of his race; the contest was within the legal recount threshold as of Wednesday morning.
It was a historic night: Georgia made Warnock the second Black senator from the South since Reconstruction. The big reason, according to Twitter’s most widely followed election analysts, was the remarkable level of Black turnout. Cook Political Report’s Dave Wasserman, who has also declared victory for both Democrats, called the figures “phenomenal.”
Here's the story right now:
— Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict) January 6, 2021
1. Black turnout looks, frankly, phenomenal.
2. Perdue/Loeffler are approaching Trump %s of the vote in a lot of deep red rural counties, but turnout there isn't anything special.
3. It's getting harder to see a path for either R, but esp. Loeffler.
Turnout was high in general, hitting more than 80 percent of the turnout in the November general election. But turnout rates were slightly higher in Democratic strongholds (north of 90 percent in general) and especially in predominantly Black precincts.
Turnout are as a share of general by type of precinct:
— Nate Cohn (@Nate_Cohn) January 6, 2021
>80% Trump: 88%
>80% Biden: 92%
>80% Black: 93%
>50% college: 92%
>80% no college&white: 87%
Urban 91%
Suburban 90%
Rural 88%
Looks like strong Black turnout is what's powering Democrats to likely victories in both Senate races.
— Ryan Matsumoto (@ryanmatsumoto1) January 6, 2021
Counties that are <10% Black barely shifted from the general election to the runoff.
But majority Black counties shifted 4 percentage points left on average.#GASEN pic.twitter.com/TfOgh1ST2m
Those margins, especially in populous and heavily Black Fulton and DeKalb counties, were decisive for the Democrats. Warnock’s 50,000-vote lead is significantly larger than President-elect Joe Biden’s 13,000-vote win over President Donald Trump in November; Ossoff is also currently outpacing the president-elect’s margin of victory. Randolph County — a small, rural majority Black community — essentially matched its November turnout; and a number of suburban Black counties reached 90 percent or more of their November numbers.
According to CNN’s exit poll, Ossoff saw his share of Black voters grow from 87 percent in the November general to 92 percent in the January runoff. It’s difficult to compare Black turnout in the general and runoff election for Warnock since his November race featured more than a dozen candidates, including several Democrats. However, both CNN and NBC News exit polls found that Warnock won 92 percent of Black voters against Loeffler.
The Democratic advantage with Hispanic voters also grew from November to January, with CNN’s Ryan Struyk reporting a 28 percent increase in support for Ossoff among that demographic.
Nonwhite voters in Georgia per preliminary exit polls:
— Ryan Struyk (@ryanstruyk) January 6, 2021
Black voters:
November: Ossoff (D) +76
Jan runoff: Ossoff (D) +86
Hispanic voters:
November: Ossoff (D) +9
Jan runoff: Ossoff (D) +30
Black voter turnout has been the focus of former Georgia gubernatorial candidate and voting rights activist Stacey Abrams’s campaign to turn Georgia blue over the last four years. The New Georgia Project, which she co-founded, has registered 500,000 people to vote since 2014. As Vox’s Anna North has reported, many other organizations, such as the Georgia Coalition for the People’s Agenda, also worked toward increasing Black voter participation.
“We knocked on our 2 millionth door yesterday, we’ve made 5 million phone calls, 3 million text messages to Georgia voters,” Nsé Ufot, CEO of the voting rights group New Georgia Project, told Vox’s Ella Nilsen ahead of the runoffs. “We were all surprised with the results of the November election, and I maintain Georgia is a battleground state.”
Activists rooted in other communities — including Latino and Asian American — did similar work.
Abrams fell short in her own bid to be governor in 2018. But Georgia has now delivered twice for Democrats in the 2020 elections, first helping cement Biden’s win over Trump and now securing control of the Senate in the runoffs.
Cleta Mitchell's now-former law firm, Foley & Lardner, said this week that her involvement in the president's call with Georgia officials alleging a stolen election was "concerning."
(Image credit: Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP)
Here at Time, we made several major changes in 2020. Now that 2021 is here, we’re rolling out a brand new set of regulations.
A minute used to be sixty seconds long. Then in 2020, we made a minute take either one hour or 3.5 seconds. Well, we’re pleased to announce that in 2021, a minute simply no longer exists. Like pennies, minutes are now totally useless. Enjoy!
You may remember last year we adjusted a day so that instead of taking 24 hours, it would be over the moment you first ask yourself, “What time is it?”
We thought this could use improvement. This year, a day is over the moment you think about a recent activity you did, and you ask yourself, “Wait, that was yesterday?” That’s the moment a day ends.
Speaking of which…
From here on out, yesterday will always feel like it was about one to two weeks ago.
Last year, we changed a work-week so that it lasted an entire year. Everyone really hated this, so we did a little recalibration.
This year, a work-week lasts ten and a half days. This might sound random and hard to keep track of, but it’s the number that tested the best. And it will make total sense once you read about…
In 2020, we announced that we got rid of weekends. To make up for that, in 2021, you will always think it’s the weekend, even if it’s the middle of the week.
It will be Wednesday afternoon and your boss will email asking if you’re sick and that’s why you didn’t work today. And you’ll realize that it’s not Sunday like you thought it was, because it’s tough to keep track of ten and a half day work-weeks.
And you don’t want to tell your boss you thought today was Sunday, so instead you lie and say that you are sick, but you make it clear that it’s not COVID.
But then your boss will think you do have COVID, because that’s just what someone who doesn’t want their boss to know they have COVID would say.
And that will all happen every single week.
Months used to be pretty inconsistent: some were 30 days, some were 31, and one was 28 or 29. We made this easier last year and said that months would all last exactly four days.
This ended up feeling way too short. So now every month is two months long. This might seem like a paradox, and that’s because it is. Good luck!
Tomorrow will never come.
Last year, we didn’t have an exact estimate for how long a year was, because the year hadn’t ended yet. Now that 2020 is over, we have clear evidence that one year lasts approximately forty-two months.
Now: we are expecting 2021 to feel a little shorter—perhaps thirty-five or thirty-six months. But who knows? We’ve been wrong before, and you can bet we’ll be wrong again.
That’s all for our updates. See you in thirty-five to forty-two months!
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
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The other option is to get all the combustibles out of your house by using extreme heat and patience.
Bearing in mind that the number of medical injections might soon be increasing, and that some find them painful, a question can arise – ‘What are the options for minimizing the pain of a medical injection?’ Have you considered holding a chopstick in your mouth (to induce a fake smile) or maybe grimacing?
Sarah Pressman, [not pictured, see note 1 below] who is Professor of Psychological Science at the University of California, Irvine, and Principal Investigator of the Stress, Emotion & Physical Health Lab (STEP) has co-authored a recent paper which describes experiments aimed at reducing needle injection pain – by manipulating facial expressions.
“Expression was covertly manipulated via cover story and chopstick placement in the mouth.”
The experiments also investigated ‘grimacing’.
“Together, these findings indicate that both smiling and grimacing can improve subjective needle pain experiences, but Duchenne smiling may be better suited for blunting the stress-induced physiological responses of the body versus other facial expressions.”
See: Smile (or grimace) through the pain? The effects of experimentally manipulated facial expressions on needle-injection responses Emotion, Pressman, S. D., Acevedo, A. M., Hammond, K. V., & Kraft-Feil, T. L. (2020)
Notes:
[1] The photo is from a previous study also involving chopstick smiles, and also co-authored by Professor Pressman : Contrasting Experimentally Device-Manipulated and Device-Free Smiles Front. Psychol., 15 October 2019.
[2] SmileSticks
(an hygienic alternative to a chopstick, which were evaluated in the study above) can be purchased here
[3] The 2010 Ig Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Richard Stephens, John Atkins, and Andrew Kingston of Keele University, UK, for confirming the widely held belief that swearing relieves pain.
Research research by Martin Gardiner
Hello! Welcome to 2021, also known as the future! Welcome also to the 700th Awkward Zombie comic! We both made it!!
I actually drew this comic over a month ago, before Sephiroth had been announced as the latest Smash Brother, but I figured I had a pretty good chance of being right.
America's top infectious disease expert hits back after the US President says the country's coronavirus numbers have been misrepresented, saying "those are real numbers, real people and real deaths".
And now to log on to the world-wide inter-net and see what everyo-
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Also can we please get rid of numbers over 100?
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Look, he's been in quarantine since March, okay?
Now’s your last chance to squeak in some web game nostalgia. As Zynga warned in September, today is the last day to play the original FarmVille. The developers are shutting down the 11-year-old game after December 31st, 2020, in sync with Adobe ending Flash support needed for the game to run. You can still play the follow-ups, of course, but it won’t be quite the same if you’re looking to relive some memories.
You’ve likely known about this for a while if you’re a regular player. Zynga turned off in-app purchases for FarmVille on November 17th, leaving gamers to spend whatever credits they had left for the last several weeks.
The closure marks an end to a notable part of internet gaming history. FarmVille was the most popular Facebook game for years, and helped set some trends — for better and for worse. While you might have appreciated the social network tie-ins, the game was also the classic example of a free-to-play title that let you spend real money to get certain crops or accelerate progress for your fields. Like it or not, that trend in modern gaming was popularized here.
