firehose

Victims of organized crime don’t typically think to sue the mafia, unless they’re living Japan.

goodstuffhappenedtoday:

This 1973 photo of five children playing in a Detroit suburb has gone viral on the Internet. The children were Rhonda Shelly, 3 (from left), Kathy Macool, 7, Lisa Shelly, 5, Chris Macool, 9, and Robert Shelly, 6.

Photo: Joe Crachiola/Courtesy of The Macomb Daily

 

In late July 1973, Joseph Crachiola was wandering the streets of Mount Clemens, Mich.„ a suburb of Detroit, with his camera. As a staff photographer for the Macomb Daily, he was expected to keep an eye out for good feature images — “those little slices of life that can stand on their own."

The slice of life he caught that day was a picture of five young friends in a rain-washed alley in downtown Mount Clemens. And what distinguishes it are its subjects: three black children, two white ones, giggling in each others’ arms.

"It was just one of those evenings," Crachiola remembers. “I saw these kids — they were just playing around. And I started shooting some pictures of them. At some point, they saw me and they all turned and looked at me and struck that pose that you see in the picture. It was totally spontaneous. I had nothing to do with the way they arranged themselves."

This week, Crachiola, who now lives in New Orleans, posted the vintage photo on his Facebook page.

"For me, it still stands as one of my most meaningful pictures," he wrote in his post. “It makes me wonder… At what point do we begin to mistrust one another? When do we begin to judge one another based on gender or race? I have always wondered what happened to these children. I wonder if they are still friends."

After several days when the world seemed to be reduced to one big argument about race, the elegantly simple photo hit a nerve — in a good way.

After his Sunday post, Crachiola’s Facebook page blew up — as many as 100,000 page views. Six thousand “likes" and thousands of shares. The Macomb Daily reprinted the photo on its Web page and sent someone to the archives to help identify the children, who are now middle-aged.

It’s hard not to smile while looking at this picture. Crachiola liked it so much himself that he printed a large copy and has it hanging in his dining room. Former Michigan Rep. Don Riegle reportedly also liked it so much, he got a framed copy and hung it in his office.

Crachiola says that learning of the verdict in the George Zimmerman trial reminded him of the photo and made him think to post it.

He’s been gratified by the response. Between Facebook and the newspaper, he has solid leads on where the children are today. “Someone emailed me saying he works with one of the guys who was in the picture," Crachiola says. “He actually works for the Macomb County Road Commission." And just before we spoke, Crachiola saw someone had posted an even more intriguing note: “This," wrote Darnesha Taylor Shelly, “is my husband and sister in laws."

Looks like a reunion might be imminent.

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Muslims living in countries where the sun doesn't set during Ramadan have to get creative to avoid completely starving during the religious holiday.

• Ahnooie-4 where Spaceman Spiff (Calvin) decides to put a repulsive blob out of its misery
• Bog—where Spaceman Spiff (Calvin) avoids pools of toxic chemicals under a choking atmosphere of poisonous gases
• Gloob—above which Spaceman Spiff, Calvin from the comic (Calvin and Hobbes), has a malfunction in his hyper freem drive and is blasted with a deadly frap ray by the aliens
• Mok, where Spaceman Spiff (Calvin) undergoes water torture (his mother washes his hair)
• Plootarg—where Spaceman Spiff (Calvin) crashes after being zorched by a Zarch spacecraft
• Q-13—where Spaceman Spiff (Calvin) faces despicable scum beings with his mertilizer beam and mordo blasters
• X-13—where Spaceman Spiff (Calvin) is captured and brought before the Zorg despot
• Zark, where Spaceman Spiff (Calvin) has several adventures escaping sinister aliens
• Zartron-9—home of the awful bug beings who blast Spaceman Spiff while he reboots his saucer’s computer and tries to recalibrate his weapons
• Zog—where Spaceman Spiff makes a (very rare) perfect 3 point landing
• Zok—where Spaceman Spiff is marooned
• Zokk—where Spaceman Spiff bounds across the landscape given the low gravity
• Zorg—where Spaceman Spiff sets his gun on deep-fat fry to blast aliens

Link

The question of if and when China will take America’s place as world’s largest and most powerful economy has inspired a lot of debate. US intelligence analysts predict it will happen by 2030; according to OECD estimates, it could be as early as 2016. Going by Chinese estimates, the country’s economy might not surpass the US at any point this century.

As for the general public’s opinion, China has already overtaken the US as the world’s largest and most powerful economy, or will soon. Since the financial crisis, an increasing number of people around the world believe China has surpassed the US, according to a yearly survey (pdf) by the Pew Research Center.

This year’s poll of about 38,000 people found that in 23 of 39 countries surveyed, a plurality of respondents said they believed China would or had already replaced the US as the world’s no. 1 superpower. Looking at 20 countries polled in 2008 and then again this year, Pew found that the percentage of those who placed China in the top spot went up in all but one country (Mexico). The median percentage of people (the midpoint in the range of percentages in each of the 20 countries) who view China as top dog in these 20 countries rose to 34% this year, from 20% in 2008. Meanwhile, the median percentage that named the US fell to 41% from 47%.

In other words, when comparing 2013′s data with that of 2008, there were more countries in 2013 that had a higher percentage of people who put China in the top spot.

The poll also shows that in terms of image, the so-called US-China rivalry may be something of a zero sum game. Some of the regions where the US is most popular are where China is the least popular, and vice versa.

In Asia, the median percentage of those who viewed China well was 58%; compared to 64% who were positive about America. The clearest cases in that region are Japan, where only 5% viewed China favorably compared to 69% who had a positive image of the US, and Pakistan where 81% liked China but only 11% viewed the US in good light.

In the Middle East, only 21% viewed the US favorably compared to 45% who saw China in a good light. Perceptions of China were the lowest in Europe and Canada, where favorability for the US was high.

Here’s a list of all the countries surveyed this year, and where they stand on which country is the foremost global economic power.

The numbers: Solid. Revenues rose 4.3%. Verizon profits increased 23%. It added 941,000 contract wireless subscribers, the most profitable kind. That’s a 6% year-over-year increase. But investors didn’t seem too impressed; the stock is down.

The takeaway: Verizon wireless is growing like gangbusters. Unfortunately, the New York-based telecom giant doesn’t get all the profits. Verizon Wireless is a joint venture with Vodafone, which is entitled to 45% of the bottom line.

What’s interesting: Verizon has been trying to get Vodafone to part with its share of Verizon Wireless for years. Vodafone is understandably reluctant to let such an investment go, but Verizon may start playing rough. Its agreement with Vodafone says it has to pay up, but it doesn’t say when. Verizon is making noises (paywall) about opting instead to pay down debt rather than pay the large dividend, which would deprive Vodafone of a big chunk of its revenue and raise pressure on the company.

A human mission to Mars will last more than 8 months, each way. Ship quarters will be sardine-esque. Communications will be laggy and intermittent. And, despite the thrilling nature of the larger mission, astronauts en route to the Red Planet will likely struggle with psyche-crushing boredom. So how might an astronaut occupy her time on such a venture?

Read more...

NBCNews.com (blog)

Juror weeps as witness in 'Whitey' Bulger trial details strangling death of woman CNN Boston (CNN) -- A juror wept Friday as James "Whitey" Bulger's former partner told a tragic tale of a slip of the lip and the ensuing result -- the strangling death of a 26-year-old woman, who was killed because she'd heard too much. What made this recitation of ... Death of Whitey Bulger trial witness 'suspicious': reportNBCNews.com (blog) How did a potential Whitey Bulger witness die? Boston buzzing.Christian Science Monitor Flemmi recounts Bulger's savage waysBoston Globe NECN -New York Daily News -WWGP 1050 AM all 292 news articles »

On July 17, a Chinese journalist blew the whistle on the chairman of one of China’s most powerful state-owned enterprises, China Resources, alleging that he had lost shareholders billions of dollars. The reporter, Wang Wenzhi, works for Economic Information Daily, which is owned by state-run Xinhua, so it’s no wonder he took to Sina Weibo to publish his views.

Wang’s Weibo post, which has since been deleted, was addressed to the Communist Party’s disciplinary organ, which monitors corruption. Because Song Lin, the chairman of CRP, runs the international investment arm (paywall) of the government’s State Council, he ranks at the same level as a vice-minister under Party hierarchy.

Chinese-language articles about the post were pulled. However, earlier today, six shareholders announced that they had already filed a lawsuit against China Resources Power (CRP), the unit of China Resources listed in Hong Kong, over similar accusations.

CRP shares plunged nearly 12% since July 16:

The shakeup follows another Weibo-inspired leak about government corruption: A Caijing reporter accused Liu Tienan, a former director of the National Energy Administration and deputy director of the government’s economic planning body, of corruption.

Weibo has attracted a growing number of whistleblowers in the past few years, mostly because it circumvents the editorial discretion of government-controlled media. Investigative pieces implicating government officials have long put editors in a tough position since they’re both journalists and Party propaganda arms. Remarks by the Economic Information Daily’s deputy editor-in-chief, Luo Guojun, highlighted this tension.

“It’s his civil right to blow the whistle on someone who he thinks has done something wrong, but you shouldn’t issue it on behalf of the paper,” Luo said, reports the South China Morning Post (paywall). ”How could he have done it before even letting us know? That’s not our organization’s spirit. Organization is important for the Communist Party, right?”

Of course, blasting out incriminating content on Weibo has its downsides. A popular whistleblower in southern China known for calling out local Party officials was just attacked by assailants who burned him with acid and hacked with knives.

Government crackdowns are also on the rise. The website and Sina Weibo account of another anti-corruption blogger, Zhu Ruifeng, were blocked yesterday, as Global Voices reports, noting that 107 similar blogs have been pulled recently, ostensibly to rein in anonymous blackmailing.

In this way, the government’s corruption crackdown has the unfortunate side effect of stymying transparency. And yet, more and more journalists seem willing to take the risk of piping up.

New York Daily News

Biden lauds US recovery, says 'America is back' United Press International, Asia WASHINGTON, July 19 (UPI) -- Vice President Joe Biden, discussing the U.S. economic recovery, said "America is back." The United States is now "better positioned than any time before" to achieve its goals, Biden said. The vice president made the ... Joe Biden, American originalWashington Post (blog) all 163 news articles »

Bruce Willis and his retired and extremely dangerous pals rustle up old and new tricks in "RED 2," once again delivering a hugely fun action-comedy in the sequel to 2010's surprise hit.

By 1900, factories in New York and Germany were producing 3,500 hand-crafted pianos per year, roughly the same number being made today. Then, as now, each Steinway grand piano took a year to build, and it involved the work of many skilled craftspeople.

This pretty much sums up EXACTLY what will happen if Artie T is ousted.

Google Glass has the powers of facial recognition — and more — that Google never intended.

urbanination:

The original designs for Seattle’s Space Needle. 

With Apple's OS X 10.9 "Mavericks" having better OpenGL performance and in compliance with OpenGL 4.1 rather than being GL3-limited as with existing OS X releases, new benchmarks were carried out at Phoronix to see how well Apple's OpenGL driver stack on the current OS X 10.9 developer preview compared to Ubuntu Linux when testing the Intel graphics driver.

wellingtongoose:

Does John have post traumatic stress disorder?

Can crime solving cure psychiatric illnesses?

Why is John limping after being shot in the shoulder?

I attempt to explore the enigma that is our favourite army doctor and in the process:

• Solve the dilemma of how John got shot in the first place (doctors do not fight on the front line)
• Attempt to diagnose Dr Watson
• Explain why people get psychosomatic limps
• Suggest what John might really have suffered from (and its much more mundane than PTSD)

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This is brilliantly reasoned. Period.

fwips:

klrkland:

mikakasa:

blueswoobat:

mikakasa:

THERES GONNA BE A SHOW ON DISNEY CALLED FANDOM IM GONN A CRY

WAIT WHAT THE FUCK

i cant wait to see the part where they address the gay fetish anal porn

(chuckle) Quite.

ICEnJAM used a soundboard that contains the voice of Septimus Signus, a character from The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, to prank call libraries and ask if they have the actual Elder Scrolls.

Hermaeus Mora decides to reward Septimus Signus’ service to him by informing Septimus of several libraries that possess an Elder Scroll…too bad they think he’s a weirdo.

via Kotaku

kyosoma:

amy-lou-who-916:

welc0me-tohell:

This is my dog, Lily. My sister and I bought her, without my dads permission and brought her home as a puppy about a year ago. My dad hates her, but me & my 2 sisters love her to death. This dog helps me cope with my depression and shes always great company to my sisters and I. My dad describes her as “tolerable." Today, after having this dog for over a year, my dad is saying she needs to go, while he is angry at us for bringing her home, she has become part of the family and we can’t get rid of her, it’s too painful. After begging my dad for a while, he was still stuck on getting rid of her. I mentioned tumblr as a final option, and surprisingly he agreed to it. If I can get 200,000 notes by the end of July, we can keep her. He thinks it’s impossible, but I have faith. I’ve seen tumblr do it before. Please guys help me, I love this dog more than myself. Please oh please :c 

ALL OF MY FOLLOWERS BETTER REBLOG THIS

REBLOG THIS SHIT NOW GUYS

Why not?

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djempirical

This news likely will be important to journalism’s two remaining copyeditors and no one else.

Signs are up at KFC eleven, the new concept KFC is testing on Bardstown Road. Also, note the name is KFC eleven, not KFC 11. This news likely will be important to journalism's two remaining copyeditors and no one else.

Earlier this month, details about KFC eleven emerged via a job ad for a general manager. "Flatbreads, sandwiches, salads and rice bowls share the menu with refreshing new drinks and indulgent sweets," according to the posting.

Original Source