Bolla

Watching cable news over the weekend, I came across one of those “gold is the only real investment,” commercials. Since 2008, though, gold has not been a very good investment. But people fall for these commercials all the time.

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A discounted KitchenAid stand mixer, IZOD clothes for the guys, Madden NFL 17 Super Bowl edition for Xbox One, and more lead Tuesday’s best deals.

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Mindfulness and meditation are well-known ways to combat anxiety and stress, but they can be hard to fit into a busy schedule. If you need a quick way to curb a stream of anxiety-inducing thoughts, try this grounding exercise that you can fit in no matter where you are.

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Deadspin LeBron James Has Had Enough Of Charles Barkley’s Shit | Jezebel State Senator Demands Release Of Melania Trump’s Immigration Documents | Gizmodo First Genetic Results From Scott Kelly’s Year In Space Reveal DNA Mysteries | The Grapevine No, You Can’t Just Wake Up and Decide to Be Black |

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It’s not just the camera that separates a professional-looking video from an amateur one. You need excellent and proper lighting, too, and it all begins with a strong grasp of three-point lighting. This video explains what you need to know in a bit over two minutes.

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Kacie's kitchen lacked personality, especially this corner nook which she found drab and dingy. Armed with paint and plywood, she and her husband created a bright, cheerful spot for family dinners and game night with friends.

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submitted by Everyday Carry

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"Whether you need to slice through rope, open packages, or cut open boxes, this tiny everyday carry knife will get the job done. It’s perfect for hanging from your zipper, thanks to its quick-release clip. Measures 2.26″ long overall, with..." (via TheAwesomer)

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submitted by Mikey Bautista

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Let's face it: even if your wallet's made from the hide of the finest cattle or from the rarest exotic metal on the planet, it doesn't mean a thing if your cards and cash aren't protected. Rain, dust, dropping your wallet into a puddle of mud—the horrible possibilities are endless. If you often find yourself in situations where your essentials could take a beating, then what you need is a wallet that can beat right back, like Pelican's incredibly rugged Sport Wallet.

Yes, Pelican—the same brand that makes the indestructible padded cases and flashlights you're familiar with. The Sport Wallet is designed to be rigid, crushproof, and at just 0.85” thin, EDC-friendly. That's good news for your currency and smaller essentials that need the extra protection like a first aid kit or extra SD cards. You can organize it all using the wallet's pair of mesh pockets, securing your belongings while still making them easy to retrieve.

Like most Pelican cases, the Sport Wallet latches shut and secures with an IP 54 rating, meaning its contents are safe from sweat or spray. No need to move all your stuff to a dry bag or leave anything at home when you're out and about. And while the Sport Wallet can slip into your pockets, an included lanyard gives you additional options for everyday carry.

Don't wait for close encounters of the damaging kind when it comes to your wallet and its contents. Pick up Pelican's Sport Wallet from the Amazon link below.

Buy on Amazon

While the American public's attention was focused on the thousands of families whose lives were disrupted and even put at risk by Trump's ban on Muslims entering the USA, the US Director of National Intelligence and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff were removed from the list of permanent attendees in the President's National Security Council. They were replaced with white nationalist Trump advisor Steve Bannon. (more…)

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You'll be happy to know that we've proven love to be a lie!

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There is much I take for granted in my life, and the normal functioning of American government is one of those things. In my 46 years, I've lived under nine different presidents. The first I remember is Carter. I've voted in every presidential election since 1992, but I do not consider myself a Democrat, or a Republican. I vote based on leadership – above all, leadership – and issues.

In my 14 years of blogging, I've never written a political blog post. I haven't needed to.

Until now.

It is quite clear something has become deeply unglued in the state of American politics.

• The nuclear doomsday clock was just moved as close to midnight as it has been in 64 years.

• America was downgraded from a Democracy to a Flawed Democracy.

As of 2017, the United States, through a sequence of highly improbable events, managed to elect an extremely controversial president.

A president with historically low approval ratings, elected on a platform many considered too extreme to even be taken literally:

Asked about Trump’s statements proposing the construction of a wall on the US-Mexico border and a ban on all Muslims entering the country, Thiel suggested that Trump supporters do not actually endorse those policies.

“I don’t support a religious test. I certainly don’t support the specific language that Trump has used in every instance,” he said. “But I think one thing that should be distinguished here is that the media is always taking Trump literally. It never takes him seriously, but it always takes him literally.”

The billionaire went on to define how he believes the average Trump supporter interprets the candidate’s statements. “I think a lot of voters who vote for Trump take Trump seriously but not literally, so when they hear things like the Muslim comment or the wall comment their question is not, ‘Are you going to build a wall like the Great Wall of China?’ or, you know, ‘How exactly are you going to enforce these tests?’ What they hear is we’re going to have a saner, more sensible immigration policy.”

A little over a week into the new presidency, it is obvious that Trump meant every word of what he said. He will build a US-Mexico wall. And he signed an executive order that literally, not figuratively, banned Muslims from entering the US — even if they held valid green cards.

As I said, I vote on policies, and as an American, I reject these two policies. Our Mexican neighbors are not an evil to be kept out with a wall, but an ally to be cherished. One of my favorite people is a Mexican immigrant. Mexican culture is ingrained deeply into America and we are all better for it. The history of America is the history of immigrants seeking religious freedom from persecution, finding a new life in the land of opportunity. Imagine the bravery it takes to leave everything behind, your relatives, your home, your whole life as you know it, to take your entire family on a five thousand mile journey to another country on nothing more than the promise of a dream. I've never done that, though my great-great grandparents did. Muslim immigrants are more American than I will ever be, and I am incredibly proud to have them here, as fellow Americans.

Trump is the first president in 40 years to refuse to release his tax returns in office. He has also refused to divest himself from his dizzying array of businesses across the globe, which present financial conflicts of interest. All of this, plus the hasty way he is ramrodding his campaign plans through on executive orders, with little or no forethought to how it would work – or if it would work at all – speaks to how negligent and dangerous Trump is as the leader of the free world. I want to reiterate that I don't care about party; I'd be absolutely over the moon with President Romney or President McCain, or any other rational form of leadership at this point.

It is unclear to me how we got where we are today. But echoes of this appeal to nationalism in Poland, and in Venezula, offer clues. We brought fact checkers to a culture war … and we lost. During the election campaign, I was strongly reminded of Frank Miller's 1986 Nuke story arc, which I read in Daredevil as a teenager — the seductive appeal of unbridled nationalism bleeding across the page in stark primary colors.

Nuke is a self-destructive form of America First nationalism that, for whatever reasons, won the presidency through dark subvocalized whispers, and is now playing out in horrifying policy form. But we are not now a different country; we remain the very same country that elected Reagan and Obama. We lead the free world. And we do it by taking the higher moral ground, choosing to do what is right before doing what is expedient.

I exercised my rights as a American citizen and I voted, yes. But I mostly ignored government beyond voting. I assumed that the wheels of American government would turn, and reasonable decisions would be made by reasonable people. Some I would agree with, others I would not agree with, but I could generally trust that the arc of American history inexorably bends toward justice, towards freedom, toward equality. Towards the things that make up the underlying American dream that this country is based on.

This is no longer the case.

I truly believe we are at an unprecedented time in American history, in uncharted territory. I have benefited from democracy passively, without trying at all, for 46 years. I now understand that the next four years is perhaps the most important time to be an activist in the United States since the civil rights movement. I am ready to do the work.

• I have never once in my life called my representatives in congress. That will change. I will be calling and writing my representatives regularly, using tools like 5 Calls to do so.

• I will strongly support, advocate for, and advertise any technical tools on web or smartphone that help Americans have their voices heard by their representatives, even if it takes faxing to do so. Build these tools. Make them amazing.

• I am subscribing to support essential investigative journalism such as the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and Washington Post.

• I have set up large monthly donations to the ACLU which is doing critical work in fighting governmental abuse under the current regime.

• I have set up monthly donations to independent journalism such as ProPublica and NPR.

• I have set up monthly donations to agencies that fight for vulnerable groups, such as Planned Parenthood, Center for Reproductive Rights, Refugee Rights, NAACP, MALDEF, the Trevor Project, and so on.

• I wish to see the formation of a third political party in the United States, led by those who are willing to speak truth to power like Evan McMullin. It is shameful how many elected representatives will not speak out. Those who do: trust me, we're watching and taking notes. And we will be bringing all our friends and audiences to bear to help you win.

• I will be watching closely to see which representatives rubber-stamp harmful policies and appointees, and I will vote against them across the ticket, on every single ticket I can vote on.

• I will actively support all efforts to make the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact happen, to reform the electoral college.

• To the extent that my schedule allows, I will participate in protests to combat policies that I believe are harmful to Americans.

• I am not quite at a place in my life where I'd consider running for office, but I will be, eventually. To the extent that any Stack Overflow user can be elected a moderator, I could be elected into office, locally, in the house, even the senate. Has anyone asked Joel Spolsky if he'd be willing to run for office? Because I'd be hard pressed to come up with someone I trust more than my old business partner Joel to do the right thing. I would vote for him so hard I'd break the damn voting machine.

I want to pay back this great country for everything it has done for me in my life, and carry the dream forward, not just selfishly for myself and my children, but for everyone's children, and our children's children. I do not mean the hollow promises of American nationalism …

We would do well to renounce nationalism and all its symbols: its flags, its pledges of allegiance, its anthems, its insistence in song that God must single out America to be blessed.

Is not nationalism—that devotion to a flag, an anthem, a boundary so fierce it engenders mass murder—one of the great evils of our time, along with racism, along with religious hatred?

These ways of thinking—cultivated, nurtured, indoctrinated from childhood on— have been useful to those in power, and deadly for those out of power.

… but the enduring values of freedom, justice, and equality that this nation was founded on. I pledge my allegiance to the American dream, and the American people – not to the nation, never to the nation.

I apologize that it's taken me 46 years to wake up and realize that some things, like the American dream, aren't guaranteed. There will come a time where you have to stand up and fight for them, for democracy to work. I will.

Will you?

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Game equipment manufacturer Razer, most famous for all sorts of gaming mice, keyboards, audio products and the slender laptop Razer Blade , has now gone hen and bought smartphone manufacturer Nextbit .

Razer acquiring company with all employees, according to Next Bits CEO. Tom Moss will continue to do what they already do – that make mobiltelefoner- and services.

But while adding Nextbit its only product to date, namely “cloud phone” Robin on ice, having promised to follow up with updates and security fixes for another year.

Now we know of course not what Razer plans, over the past few years, already tried his hand at everything from gaming tablet and smart bracelet to VR and hefty laptop prototypes .

And last fall bought the lydselskapet THX – mainly for the brand name.

But considering that earlier Nextbit in many ways still going to get to do their own thing, we hope of course that the fullness of time will be talking about a leaking smartphone with the Razer logo on.

Certainly with a lot of the quality and innovation that the company has managed to nudge into the Razer Blade and certain other products.

Not to mention that it will then be a product we would like to see the Norwegian store shelves – something that has not been the case with the aforementioned Razer Blade.