WASHINGTON – Newly released video of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s private meeting with Black Lives Matter activists in New Hampshire last week shows a testy exchange between Clinton and the activists.
In the race for ride-hailing domination, Uber is far in front. But Lyft, its second-place rival, may be catching up.
Lyft’s users (that is, people who have the Lyft app downloaded on their phone) are more likely to open the app than Uber users are likely to open the Uber app, according to an analysis from Wefi.
Off-Broadway play has Dov Charney saga written all over it New York Business Journal “Unseamly,” a five-year-old play whose sexual harassment lawsuit plot bears a strong resemblance to the real-life legal drama surrounding ousted American Apparel founder Dov Charney, is coming to New York City. Set to debut off-Broadway on Oct. 8 at ...
Every Wednesday is Wearable Wednesday here at Adafruit! We’re bringing you the blinkiest, most fashionable, innovative, and useful wearables from around the web and in our own original projects featuring our wearable Arduino-compatible platform, FLORA. Be sure to post up your wearables projects in the forums or send us a link and you might be featured here on Wearable Wednesday!
You’d think getting a college degree would lead to the kind of wealth-building that would allow people to weather the storms of financial crises, both micro and macro. But a new report shows that’s not the case for everybody.
From 2007 through 2013, the typical black and hispanic households in the US headed by people with four-year college degrees lost more than half their net worth. That was not only much worse than similarly educated white and Asian households, but even blacks and hispanics without degrees, according to a recently released report from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, titled “Why Didn’t Education Protect Hispanic and Black Wealth?”
“College is not playing the same role for those families as others,” William Emmons, who authored the paper with Bryan Noeth, told Quartz.
The researchers, who used Survey of Consumer Finances data, found that black and hispanic finances were in much rougher shape before the financial crisis, leaving them more exposed to disruption. For example, they had lower cash reserves, little asset diversification, and higher debt-to-income levels than their white and Asian peers.
The findings are consistent with previous research that has shown, at least among black families, household wealth tends to be more concentrated in the home (with the attendant mortgage debt) than assets like stocks and bonds. A Washington Post series on the foreclosure crisis in Prince George’s County, Maryland, showed how destructive that combination could be.
Emmons told Quartz that, as in Prince George’s, the kinds of higher-income (and likely better-educated) black and hispanic families who had degrees were disproportionately given more expensive subprime loans that made it harder for them to pay down mortgage debt and build up equity in their homes. Indeed, thanks to housing segregation, the typical middle-class black family lives in neighborhoods with lower incomes than the typical low-income white family (paywall). And when black and hispanic families are roped off in segregated neighborhoods, subprime-loan targeting gets even worse.
On top of that, the payoff from the investment in a college degree is lower for blacks and hispanic Americans, making it even more difficult to build the wealth needed to protect against a downturn.
As for solutions, Emmons pointed to maintaining sound financial health, rather than addressing underlying structural forces at play.
“That would be the least controversial thing that we could say with our data: That young families with lots of financial vulnerability should avoid getting into debt.”
Henry Conklin’s dog, Oliver, is one of those very vocal dogs who likes to try to let you know what he’s thinking. By barking. A lot. Henry says:
I decided that his thoughts and comments needed to be shared with the world. Thus the @OliverBarkBark project was born. By connecting a Rasberry Pi, a wifi dongle, and a microphone, I was able to make a system that automatically detected, filtered, and published each and every one of Oliver’s deafening vocalizations.
Henry has built a system around a Raspberry Pi that listens out for sounds over a certain volume, and triggers a recording when that constraint is met.
But there are things in Oliver the dog’s vicinity which are also pretty noisy, so a second, filtering step is needed. Henry says:
Oliver barking is by far the loudest thing within several miles, so the volume threshold should be sufficient. However, the recordings are still triggered occasionally by unwanted junk. To guard against this, I needed to perform a second step to filter the barks from the junk.
I took a machine learning approach to filter out the barks. I built a model using the pyAudioAnalysis library and around a day’s worth of barks (about 20). I then set up a bash script to run every ten minutes, classify each recorded sound, and forward the barks on to the next step.
The output is forwarded to the Twitter API, where they’re published by an account called @OliverBarkBark. Right now, a random string of barks, woofs, howls, and ruffs are published, but Henry is looking at adding some more sophistication by designing a dog-to-text translator which will say “bark” when Oliver barks, “ruff” when Oliver ruffs, and “woof”…you get the idea.
All the code you’ll need to replicate the scheme in your own house (you’ll need a dog first) is available on Henry’s GitHub at https://github.com/HenryWConklin/barkdetect. Thanks Henry, and please give Oliver a biscuit for us.
Are there links between China’s minority Uighur population and the Bangkok bomb that killed 22 people on Aug. 17? That is one of the theories officials in Thailand are investigating.
Thai investigators are “focusing on a revenge motive by Uighur militants,” who may have been retaliating for last month’s forced repatriation of Uighur refugees who fled China, unnamed police sources told the Bangkok Post. Police are now searching for three suspects who were captured on closed circuit television before the blasts, a police spokesman told reporters, including a foreigner.
Six of the fatalities in the bombing and 22 of the injured were from Greater China, which includes Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the mainland. The Erawan shrine where the bombing took place was particularly popular with Chinese tourists.
The Royal Thai Police distributed a sketch of the main suspect in the bombing—a man seen in a yellow shirt leaving a backpack at the shrine before the blast:
Police spokesman Prawut Thawornsiri told reporters late on August 19 that the suspect was a foreign man, who was overheard speaking a foreign language. Police suspect he may be a Muslim from South or Central Asia, according to South China Morning Post coverage (paywall) of the press conference:
Prawut also gave a description of the suspected ethnicity of the alleged bomber, using the Thai phrase “khaek khao” – a word often used to describe light-skinned Muslims from South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East.
“His skin is white and he has a high nose. Whether khaek khao or not I don’t know. But from the footage it looked like that,” he said.
Some Chinese media reports also reported on suggestions that the attack (link in Chinese) could be revenge for the Uighur repatriation.
A link between the Bangkok bombing and China’s separatists, if proven, would be a significant, and alarming, development, signaling that China’s homegrown problem of Uighur minority unrest was spilling out from the country’s borders. Targeting China’s far-flung tourists and businesses around the globe would represent a major escalation in the conflict.
China’s central government has long been criticized for its heavy-handed, draconian treatment of its largely Muslim Uighur population, which has included banning religious holidays like Ramadan, banning parents from speaking about Islam with their children, and offering incentives and government jobs to Han Chinese population that relocate to the region.
In recent years, China has been home to dozens of incidents of terrorism and ethnic clashes, mostly linked by Chinese media to Uighur separatists, although independent reporting in the area is nearly impossible because of the high level of government surveillance. As Quartz has previously reported, these incidents have spread from the northwest through China in recent years:
The Uighur group deported from Thailand was originally fleeing to Malaysia or Turkey, but sought asylum in Thailand after being detained, claiming they faced persecution for their religion and harsh treatment in China. They had been in Thailand for more than a year.
can we take a second to ponder on the fact that a kids movie did lady armor better than the entire film and comic industry
guess who i’m talking about
did you guess? Well you’re fucking WRONG because it’s Susan goddamn Pevensie
They gave her light armor, appropriate for a small archer:chainmail, an arm brace, chest plate, and a light skirt she can easily run around murderizing dudes in the face in
her hair is also only loose in the promo pictures because Susan is fucking busy not dying because her hair was flying into her eyeballs so she braids that shit back
her mail shirt is also loose enough that it doesn’t impede her arm movements it’s almost like she’s dressed for a fight wow
I like the pinks and purples under her bitchin as hell leather armor here, because you don’t have to be masculine to shoot someone in the goddamn face
saucie: "Bridge and Burn's kicks off this week with up to 70 percent off (and at least 40 percent off) spring items"
Thursday, Aug 20
Mercantile is ushering fall with a four-day trunk show for Frame Denim, with $25 off purchases from the line during the event. 729 SW Alder, through Sunday, Aug 23
Friday, Aug 21
End of season sales keep on cropping up, and Bridge and Burn's kicks off this week with up to 70 percent off (and at least 40 percent off) spring items through the end of the month. 1122 SW Morrison, bridgeandburn.com
Saturday, Aug 22
Caravan traveling market is a new series of events that promise to be part pop-up shop and part flea market, mixing vendors of new and vintage clothing, plants, beauty products, salt and honey, furniture, accessories, and an ice cream truck. The lineup of vendors is pretty great: Jacobsen Salt Co., Bee Local Honey, AK Vintage, Billy Goat Vintage, and Fifty Licks, to name just a few. 410 NW Flanders, 11am-4 pm
The Division location of Adorn is hosting Prairie Underground's Portland sample sale this weekend. For two days you'll find past season samples and factory seconds at 50-70 percent off retail—over 1,000 items (!) and sizes XS-XL. It kicks off on Saturday, but there'll be an influx of new merch on Sunday, too. 3366 SE Division, Sat 10 am-8 pm & Sun 11 am-7 pm
The Chinese government has officially placed its bet against Uber’s success, and not just inside of China—outside, too.
GrabTaxi, a Kuala Lumpur-based Uber competitor that’s active in 21 cities in Southeast Asia, confirmed today that it raised $350 million from investors that included China Investment Corporation—China’s sovereign wealth fund, or CIC—as well as Didi Kuaidi, the Chinese Uber competitor that’s active in over 300 cities nationwide.
News of the investment comes after CIC invested $500 million into Didi Kuaidi earlier this month. The two investments plunge CIC, and by extension the Chinese government, deeper into an alliance of global investors who share a common goal: take on Uber.
Softbank, a Japanese telco that’s quickly becoming one of the most influential investors in Asia, began its anti-Uber tear when it led a $250 million investment in Ola, India’s homegrown ride-hailing startup. Less than two months later, in December 2014, it sunk $250 million in GrabTaxi, and later led $600 million in Didi Kuaidi.
Tiger Global, one of the most aggressive investors in Indian startups, is also a member of this anti-Uber coalition. It invested $5 million in Ola in 2013, and has remained on board since, including through the startup’s $400 million round last April. Tiger Global has also invested in GrabTaxi and Didi Kuaidi, as well as Brazil’s 99Taxis.
Coatue Management, which participated in GrabTaxi’s current round along with a few previous rounds, has also emerged as an anti-Uber investor. The New York-based firm participated in rounds for Lyft and Didi Kuaidi.
It’s difficult to assess how Ola, Didi Kuaidi, and GrabTaxi are faring against Uber because none of the firms will reveal much data about revenue and trips.
Will these anti-Uber investors merge GrabTaxi, Ola, and Didi Kuaidi into a single entity? There’s not much historical precedent in the industry that can help us draw predictions.
In the past, taxi-hailing mergers have only occurred inside a single country’s borders. Ola purchased hometown rival Taxiforsure for $200 million to expand into smaller cities more quickly, and Didi Kuaidi itself was borne out of a $6 billion merger in order to end a vicious money-burning war. But the advantage to merging cross-border in this sector isn’t entirely clear. Even if the companies were to re-invent themselves as GrabOlaDidi, or some such, their primary challenge would remain the same: beat Uber.
“The healthcare business is probably the most distressing example of what happens when we ‘let the market decide.’ Health care for profit means delivering the least amount of health care service for the maximum amount of money.”
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(Paul D'Amato)
This topic gets me so wound. Forgive the verbal spew in advance, reader.
It’s more insidious than what’s written above, though! When you’re having a heart attack, are you shopping around for the cheapest ambulance ride? Are you making sure the ER they’re rushing you to is in network? How about your attending doctor? Their consulting cardiologist? The anaesthetician? (Yes, all of these services are billed separately. Yes, they can be from different care networks. Messed up, yes?)
The healthcare system in america is designed to keep the healthy people healthy under the terms listed above, and then to utterly bankrupt and ruin those individuals or families unfortunate enough to face a genuine emergency or chronic illness. Most families in America are one car crash, one cancer diagnosis, or one heart attack away from poverty. And nobody really wants to talk about this, because it means confronting the inevitability of one’s own eventual decline and death.
Barring sudden demise, everyone reading this post will at one point or another require some form of terminal medical treatment. And when the hospital bills start mounting up, and the 80/20 cost split begins to pile on– assuming you’re fortunate enough to have insurance… single payer health insurance will start sounding pretty good.
But nobody will want to listen to you then, because they’re healthy. They don’t want to pay for your illness. Why should they have to cover the costs of your care?
The vast majority of people in my generation are going to die not only penniless, but in massive amounts of debt. The institutional poverty that the working and middle classes have escaped for the better part of the last century? That’s going to come creeping back one bankrupt estate at a time.
People are fooling themselves if they imagine this isn’t by design. This is why expansions to Medicare, Medicaid, and Obamacare are crucial in the near term, and a total revolution in our national health care system is required in the long term.
My kid’s college education shouldn’t disappear because my wife had to have spinal surgery. My retirement savings shouldn’t disappear because she had to take medical leave from work. They did. Were it not for my privileged birth and repeated intercession by my wealthy parents we wouldn’t have a house, a car, any money in the bank, functional credit… none of that.
My kid’s education is highly at risk and my retirement is just gone. Ten years of work on my 401k evaporated. And I am one of the lucky ones.
NEW YORK—Highlighting the man’s trustworthiness, even temperament, and overall decency, Wall Street broker Simon Hansen revealed to reporters Monday that his cocaine dealer, Tim Arndt, is easily the most upstanding person he knows. “Tim’s a real professional, no question—he’s the only person I know who’s always there for me when I need him—but what really sets him apart is what a good guy he is,” said the Goldman Sachs financial specialist, admitting that of all the colleagues, clients, and acquaintances he interacts with in Lower Manhattan, the man who regularly supplies him with narcotics is, by and large, the most genuine and unselfish person in his life. “I have some coworkers and a few buddies from other firms that I like hanging out with, but if I had to point to one person as the most honest and dependable in my life, I ...
…changed my life. I was born on a small farm in the boonies, very little television, very remote. Everyone around me was a very conservative farmer.
I can’t talk about this much right now, I just found out the news.
One day I got to go to a cousin’s house and watch a rerun of the Batman syndicated show. I’d never seen it. And I saw Yvonne Craig as Batgirl and my little girl mind was blown. It is not exaggeration to say my life was changed forever.
A girl who could kick bad guy butt, who was a librarian, who had RED HAIR, who was smart, and tough, and rode a motorcycle. I can’t even begin to explain what that meant to me. I’ve said it many times, but after seeing Yvonne Craig on television, I stood a little taller in my school, I spoke up a little louder in class, and when bullies picked on other kids, I would take a stand. Because of Batgirl, because of Yvonne Craig.
To this day, a huge chunk of the joy in my life is because I discovered Batgirl, and because Yvonne Craig played her so beautifully.
The writing I do, the travel I take, the readers I meet, it’s all because one day, a painfully shy redheaded girl with big dreams and no way to express them saw a life-changing portrayal. It may have been camp to some, it wasn’t to me.
I am not being articulate right now, I’m actually having trouble typing. But I just want to say for myself, and all the other kids of all genders who felt the same way…thank you, Yvonne.
You are still the coolest thing to ever wear the cowl.
If you want to use Windows 10 on a Mac with either Parallels Desktop or VMware Fusion, you’ll have to strongly consider buying a new version of your virtualization software of choice.
Parallels on Wednesday this week is releasing its latest upgrade, Parallels Desktop 11 for Mac, with perpetual licenses costing $79.99 per device (or $49.99 if you're upgrading from version 9 or 10). VMware should be following up soon with its next version, Fusion 8.
You may have spent money on either Parallels 10 or Fusion 7 just a year ago, but that year-old software will only provide bare-bones support for Windows 10, which Microsoft released last month.
DAVID LAUDE, vice-provost, UT-Austin: When you line up a student most likely to graduate in four years and you line up the students who have the greatest economic need, there is a substantial correlation. Students with economic need have a 30 percent chance of graduating in four years.
HARI SREENIVASAN: But belonging or lack of belonging is something that almost every college student feels at some point, don’t they?
DAVID LAUDE: Well, it gets back to trusting that college is going to work out. You’re a first-generation student coming from a single-parent family, and you fail that first test, it’s very different than when you come from an affluent family. An affluent kid fails the first test, calls home, the father says, don’t worry about it, that happened to me when I was in college.
The student coming from an under-resourced background calls home and the mom says, see, I told you so.
HARI SREENIVASAN: Troubles at home can also weigh heavily on first-generation students.
Moises Correa’s father suffered an injury and can no longer work.
MOISES CORREA: Sometimes, I feel like I’m not really helping my family. And here I am like living a luxury, like, eating food here as much as I want, and having my own place to live and stuff.
HARI SREENIVASAN: Recently, Correa sent $400 of his scholarship money to pay his parents’ electric bill.
STUDENT: My mom called me and she asked if I could send her some money to help pay for the bill. And I was eager to say yes. And so I was able to do that for them.
BRENDA TA: Second Thursday every month.
HARI SREENIVASAN: Brenda Ta feels enormous pressure to succeed in order to help with the family’s finances.
BRENDA TA: I don’t see a problem with helping my parents, because they gave me everything when I was a kid. It’s just a lot of pressure, because sometimes I feel like other students are just like, oh, it’s — you know, I’m just here for college. I’m going to have fun.
And I’m like, yes, of course I want to have fun too, but, you know, it’s really hard sometimes whenever, like, no, you have to succeed, you can’t screw up, because, if you screw up, then you’re screwing up mom and dad, too. And you can’t do that.
Super Opinionated.
Every Wednesday is Wearable Wednesday here at Adafruit! We’re bringing you the blinkiest, most fashionable, innovative, and useful wearables from around the web and in our own original projects featuring our wearable Arduino-compatible platform, FLORA. Be sure to post up your wearables projects in the forums or send us a link and you might be featured here on Wearable Wednesday!
Jay Margalus of Spacelab discusses labor unions, Maker Faire, and how union works and Makers often overlap and share a love of hands-on DIY.
