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A driver in central New Jersey came within feet of an out-of-control semi truck.

Black ice on the I-95 turnpike caused a string of accidents, and sent the huge truck flying over a median. The driver who captured the crash on camera says in the video's YouTube description that he was stuck behind two immobile trucks when he pulled out his phone to take a photo. That's when he heard the sound of the truck behind him

Several multi-car pileups — including one involving dozens of vehicles — in icy conditions on interstates in the Philadelphia area claimed at least four lives and injured dozens on Sunday as hundreds of crashes were reported across eastern Pennsylvania. There were multiple deaths due to weather-related accidents up through Delaware and New Jersey as well Read more...

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A young boy who skipped his friend's birthday party after RSVP'ing "yes" would later be invoiced $25 by the birthday child's parents — and threatened with a lawsuit.

5-year-old Alex Nash had RSVP'd "yes" to his friend's birthday party, but on the day of the party, his parents discovered that they had mistakenly double-booked their child.

Instead of attending the birthday, held at a local ski slope, the young boy spent time with his grandparents instead. 

Nash's father, Derek Nash, said he didn't have contact information for the birthday child's family, so he didn't contact the parents to let them know the change of plans.

"So on the first day following the missed birthday adventure, Alex returned to Torpoint Nursery and Infant School and soon found a brown envelope slipped into his school bag," The Washington Post reports. "It was addressed to the “Parent/Guardian” of Alex Nash and showed a balance of nearly 16 pounds. Details: 'Child’s Party No Show Fee.'" 

16 pounds is about $25.

When Nash told the birthday child's mother he would not be paying her the money, the mother threatened to take him to small claims court.

This all unfolded over Facebook, The Telegraph reports, between two women: Tanya Walsh (who seems to be the mother of Alex Nash) and Julia Lawrence, who seems to be the mother of the birthday child.

You can read some of the back-and-forth messages here.

In one of the final messages, Walsh writes: "If you had come up to us the first day back and explained about the money, then I could have explained about alex, then maybe we could have sorted something out. Instead you send an invoice."

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Single but wish you weren't? There's an app for that.

Meet "Invisible Boyfriend" (and "Invisible Girlfriend"), the app designed to send you texts, calls, and even leave voicemails to help you convince everyone around you that you've found love.

The apps, founded by St. Louis’s Matthew Homann and Kyle Tabor, launched today. 

“[Imagine] you’ve got conservative grandparents in the Bible Belt who can’t believe you might be gay or lesbian,” Mr. Homann told BetaBeat reporter Jordyn Taylor.

BetaBeat reports,

We needed to know: how does the service generate text messages and voicemails that seem real? We should make it clear that users don’t just receive generic, robotic texts; the messages read like they come from a human, and your Invisible partner will actually respond if you text them back.

Mr. Homann said the recipe is a “secret sauce,” but hinted that “you can tell in many cases there’s a real person on the other end of the message.”

“One of our users,” he said, “[has] actually told us she’s texted her Invisible Boyfriend practicing things she might say to a young man she might meet in St. Louis that she’s interested in.”

Invisible Boyfriend and Girlfriend also generate believable pics of your pretend partner by soliciting selfies from ordinary people, as opposed to using posed-looking stock images.

The service costs $24.99. The package includes 100 texts, 10 voicemails, and 1 handwritten note. 

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Pope Francis is firmly upholding church teaching banning contraception, but said Monday that Catholics don't have to breed "like rabbits" and should instead practice "responsible parenting."

Speaking to reporters en route home from the Philippines, Francis said there are plenty of church-approved ways to regulate births. But he said most importantly, no outside institution should impose its views on regulating family size, blasting what he called the "ideological colonization" of the developing world.

African bishops, in particular, have long complained about how progressive, Western ideas about birth control and gay rights are increasingly being imposed on the developing world by groups, institutions or individual nations, often as a condition for development aid. Read more...

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An anonymous reader writes: Toronto researchers have found the amount of time a person sits during the day is associated with a higher risk of disease and death, regardless of regular exercise. The paper, published Monday in the Annals of Internal Medicine (abstract), found that prolonged sedentary behavior was associated with a 15 to 20 per cent higher risk of death from any cause; a 15 to 20 per cent higher risk of heart disease, death from heart disease, cancer, death from cancer; and as much as a 90 per cent increased risk of developing diabetes, said Alter. And that was after adjusting for the effects of regular exercise. ... Engaging in 30 to 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous daily exercise does not mean it's OK to then "sit on your rear" for the rest of the day.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

If you're someone with excellent credit, consider yourself lucky: Banks are going to great lengths to make you their new credit-card customer, and they're offering unprecedented deals that could save you a lot of money.

Since the 2008 financial crisis, banks have been cautious about acquiring customers with questionable credit. But they're actively trying to get people with excellent credit — anyone with a credit score of 750 or higher — to use their cards.

NextAdvisor.com, a consumer information site that reviews credit cards from all major issuers to help consumers save money, compiled the top seven credit-card offers specifically for people with excellent credit.

1. Blue Cash Preferred Card from American Express

Why you should get it: This is a great cash-back card featuring up to 6% in cash-back rewards and a 0% intro APR. It's particularly appealing to those who spend a decent amount on groceries and gas, as they'll get a lot of bang for their buck.

What to know: 

• Earn 6% back at supermarkets (on up to $6,000 in purchases annually), 3% at gas stations and select department stores like JCPenney, Sears, Kohl's, Nordstrom, and Macy's, and 1% cash back on the rest of your purchases.
• $100 intro bonus and one year of Amazon Prime after spending $1,000 in the first three months.
• $75 annual fee.

If you want a similar card with no annual fee, check out the Blue Cash Everyday Card from American Express, which has the same 15-month 0% APR but lower cash-back rates and a slightly reduced intro bonus.

2. Chase Slate

Why you should get it: This card was made with credit-card-balance consolidation in mind. NextAdvisor discovered that it's the only card with both a lengthy 0% introductory APR and no balance-transfer fee. You shouldn't be paying any credit-card interest if you have excellent credit, so get this card and transfer your balances.

What to know:

• 0% 15-month APR on balance transfers and purchases.
• No balance-transfer fees during the first 60 days of card membership.

 

 

3. Citi Simplicity

Why you should get it: If you're interested in transferring balances from other high-interest credit cards or making a large purchase (or several purchases), this is the perfect card for you. Citi Simplicity lets you make big purchases and then carry that balance into 2016 without paying any interest.

What to know:

• 18-month 0% intro APR for purchases and balance transfers.
• No late fees or annual fee.

4. Barclay Arrival Plus World Elite MasterCard

Why you should get it: This is an ideal card for frequent travelers. Not only is there a generous intro bonus, but the ongoing rewards are substantial. Plus it's easy to use your earned miles: Just book your travel and then redeem your miles for a statement credit against your travel costs.

What to know:

• Earn 2x miles on all purchases. Miles don't expire as long as your account is open, active, and in good standing.
• Get a 10% bonus on all miles you redeem for travel. (That means if you redeem 40,000 bonus miles for travel, they'll be worth 44,000 miles or $440.)
• $89 annual fee that is waived the first year.
• No foreign-transaction fees.

5. Citi Double Cash Card

Why you should get it: This newly launched card offers a unique twist on earning unlimited an 2% cash-back rewards on all purchases. The first 1% cash back is issued when you purchase the items. You'll receive the second 1% cash back after you've paid for your purchases. As long as you're paying the minimum due each month, you can take as long as you want to pay off your balance and get the additional 1% cash back.

What to know:

• Effective 2% cash back on all purchases.
• 15-month 0% APR on purchases and balance transfers.
• No annual fee or caps on the cash-back rewards you can earn.

6. BankAmericard Cash Rewards Credit Card

Why you should get it: This is a solid cash-back rewards card that has it all: cash back, an extra cash-back bonus, a lengthy 0% intro APR, and no annual fee.

What to know:

• Earn 3% cash back on gas, 2% on grocery stores (for the first $1,500 in combined grocery and gas purchases each quarter), and 1% on everything else.
• $100 cash back after spending $500 in the first three months.
• 12-month 0% APR on balance transfers and purchases.
• No annual fee.

7. Chase Sapphire Preferred

Why you should get it: This is a rewards cards with lots of flexibility, a generous point bonus, and travel perks. Redeeming your points through Chase Ultimate Rewards saves 20% off travel costs, and you can also redeem your points for cash back, gift cards, and merchandise.

The best part is that you can transfer your points 1:1 to many frequent travel programs with no transfer fees, including United MileagePlus, SouthWest Rapid Rewards, Hyatt Gold Passport, and Marriot Rewards — perfect for anyone who is a member of various partner programs.

What to know:

• Earn 2 points for each dollar spent on travel and dining out, as well as 1 point per dollar on all other purchases.
• $95 annual fee, but it's waived the first year.
• 40,000-point bonus after you spend $4,000 in the first three months (equal to $500 in travel rewards).

Learn more about which credit card is right for you.

This post is based on an article originally published on NextAdvisor.

This post is sponsored by NextAdvisor.

Find out more about Sponsored Content.

SEE ALSO: Here Are The Best Credit Cards For 2015

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When you ask the hiring manager, "What's your vacation policy?" they hear: "I can't wait to not be at my new job!"

When you say your biggest flaw is that you're "a perfectionist," they hear: "I'm a liar."

Fast Company Studios recently created a hilarious video, starring Upright Citizens Brigade actors, that reveals how employers really interpret what we say or ask during job interviews. 

Here's the video: 

SEE ALSO: 3 Surprising Qualities That Will Get You Hired

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A Harvard Law School professor fears the school's new sexual misconduct policy may unfairly punish students who have sex after "a few drinks."

Harvard law professor Elizabeth Bartholet has been an outspoken critic of changes made last year to the university's sexual harassment policy, writing in a letter to The Wall Street Journal's Law Blog last week that the updated policy fails to protect students wrongfully accused of rape. In a statement sent to Business Insider, Bartholet outlined what she believes is another issue with Harvard's policy, which states that sexual conduct is "deemed unwelcome" when a student is "so impaired or incapacitated as to be incapable of requesting or inviting the conduct."

According to Bartholet, this policy is potentially problematic as it "specifically covers impairment not just incapacitation, covering the situation where students would simply have had a few drinks."

"This means that students who engage in sexual touching or sexual intercourse while having a few drinks are all at risk of being held guilty of the very serious charges of sexual assault and rape, regardless of their understanding at the time that they mutually consented to such activity," she writes.

The issue of a student's ability to give consent while intoxicated has become increasingly visible in the discussion surrounding campus sexual assault. Even if consent is perceived to be given voluntarily at the time, it can be determined to be invalid depending on a complainant's level of impairment.

Most colleges have language in their sexual assault policies about a student's inability to consent to sex while incapacitated, although not every school makes the distinction between "impairment" and "incapacitation" that Harvard does. Typically, incapacitation is understood to be a level of impairment that prevents a person from being aware of the potential consequences of their actions.

In a statement, Bartholet writes that Harvard's sexual harassment policy omits "entirely all issues of substance" and is "guilty of gross overreach." Check out her full statement below:

They omit entirely all issues of substance. The Harvard University SH Policy is guilty of gross overreach. For example, in cases of sexual contact while mutually impaired (by alcohol or drugs), the HU Policy puts students at serious risk of being found guilty of serious misconduct (sexual assault or rape). The Policy specifically covers impairment not just incapacitation, covering the situation where students would simply have had a few drinks. There is no requirement of wrongful intent on the part of the accused. Nor is there any requirement that the complainant's claims regarding unwelcomeness or impact on the educational environment be judged by an objective reasonableness standard. This means that students who engage in sexual touching or sexual intercourse while having a few drinks are all at risk of being held guilty of the very serious charges of sexual assault and rape, regardless of their understanding at the time that they mutually consented to such activity. This is inconsistent with the standards established in the courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, which have attempted to appropriately balance the importance of protecting against sexual misconduct with the importance of individual autonomy in personal relationships, fairness to the accused, and other values.

Here is the section of Harvard University's sexual harassment policy that deals with a student's ability to consent:

In addition, when a person is so impaired or incapacitated as to be incapable of requesting or inviting the conduct, conduct of a sexual nature is deemed unwelcome, provided that the Respondent knew or reasonably should have known of the person’s impairment or incapacity. The person may be impaired or incapacitated as a result of drugs or alcohol or for some other reason, such as sleep or unconsciousness. A Respondent's impairment at the time of the incident as a result of drugs or alcohol does not, however, diminish the Respondent's responsibility for sexual or gender-based harassment under this Policy.

The definition of incapacitation can be controversial because it is often subjective and dependent on a college's investigation, as well as what adjudicators believe reveals a student's inability to understand their own actions. It also may become tricky in cases involving two impaired students.

Last year, Business Insider detailed a sexual assault case at Occidental College involving two highly intoxicated freshmen students. While the school determined that the female Jane Doe had been incapacitated during sex, the male John Doe — who was expelled and has since filed a lawsuit against the school — contends that although she was impaired, she was still aware of her actions.

According to one witness statement from another Occidental student, "Jane Doe's demeanor did not appear as if she knew what was going on, but her text messages and her physically going to John's room seem to indicate that Jane Doe had some idea of where she was, of what was taking place, and of what would happen if she went to John's room."

Among John Doe's evidence is a text message from Jane Doe asking if he had a condom and the fact that she was able to direct herself to his dorm room from her own. While acknowledging John's points, the college found that because Jane couldn't remember having sex and made decisions that night she said she normally would not have — such as removing her shirt in public — the female student was incapacitated and unable to give valid consent.

Also up for question is John Doe's own responsibility for the alleged sexual assault. Although an adjudicator's report stated that his "level of intoxication so impaired the Respondent's ability to assess the Complainant's incapacitation that he did not have actual knowledge of the Complainant's incapacitation," the college still found that John should have recognized Jane's incapacitation, as he would have if he were sober.

Like Harvard, Occidental's sexual assault policy includes language that basically states that intoxication does not remove a student's responsibility to obtain valid consent from their partner, even if they are unable to understand that the other student may be too intoxicated to reliably give consent. Although John Doe's judgement was determined to have been impaired, the policy required him to evaluate Jane Doe's ability to consent with the same judgment he would have employed had he been sober.

It should also be noted how Occidental's policy is different than Harvard. The California college only lists "incapacitated" as reason for invalid consent, unlike the Ivy, which now has two separate terms — "impaired or incapacitated" — to judge students by.

We have reached out to Harvard for comment about their policy and whether it may have the effect of punishing students for drunk sex. We will update with any comment.

SEE ALSO: How 'Consensual' Sex Got A Freshman Kicked Out Of College And Started A Huge Debate

SEE ALSO: HARVARD PROFESSOR: The Government's Position On College Rape Is 'Madness'

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Alcohol consumption varies widely across the globe, and US drinkers can keep up with the residents of many other countries. 

As the map below from the World Health Organization shows, Russians and their neighbors drink more than almost everyone else in the world.

Portugal, Grenada, and Andorra are also ranked in the highest category at more than 12.5 liters per person over the age of 15 in 2010.

WHO notes in its 2014 report on alcohol and health that 48% of those included in this data abstain from drinking altogether. So if those people were excluded, per capita consumption among those who do drink would be even higher than what's shown on this map.

Check it out:

Canadians drink more than Americans, keeping pace with most European countries. Alcohol consumption is low in northern Africa, but the southern half of the continent sees higher drinking rates, especially South Africa and Namibia.

Alcohol consumption in Russia is a major concern. A study last year found that the high number of early deaths in Russia could be attributed to people drinking too much. Commons causes of early deaths include liver disease, alcohol poisoning, and getting into accidents or fights while drunk.

Other countries near Russia, including Ukraine and Belarus, have similar levels of alcohol consumption.

WHO's report notes that the European region contains just 14.7% of the world's population above the age of 15, but accounts for 25.7% of the total alcohol consumed worldwide. 

In addition to having some of the highest alcohol consumption rates in the world, Russia and Ukraine also have the most risky patterns of drinking, according to WHO:

To determine which countries have the riskiest drinking patterns, WHO considers the usual quantity of alcohol consumed per occasion, proportion of drinking events when drinkers get drunk, proportion of drinkers who drink daily or nearly daily, festive drinking, drinking with meals, and drinking in public places.

SEE ALSO: Beers Of The World [MAPS]

NOW WATCH: Is Draft Beer Better Than Bottled Beer?

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“The position of the stars and planets will not affect your life in any way, shape, or form, whatsoever.” (more…)

India’s government has lifted a block on four of the 32 websites it banned in the country Wednesday, reportedly in an effort to curb ISIS propaganda to the country.

The ministry of communications said it is taking action to lift restrictions on vimeo.com, dailymotion.com, gist.github.com and weebly.com, while the other 28 sites will remain blocked, the Times of India has reported.

As of publication, that means recognizable websites like Archive.org and Pastebin remain blocked in the country. Pranesh Pakesh, a director at the Centre for Internet and Society in Bangalore, made the full list of sites public on Wednesday.

According to Arvind Gupta, head of the Bharatiya Janata political party, sites that cooperate with the Indian government on investigations, or whom remove the “objectionable content” are being unblocked.

The website ban has been decried as censorship on social media, sparking the Twitter hashtag #GOIBlocks and inspiring at least one threat from loosely organized online activist group Anonymous. 

Photo via GitHub

Playful, simple series of visual jokes by Swedish illustrator and graphic designer Viktor Hertz. Read the rest

Twitter has rolled out its first non-chronological feature, TechCrunch reports.

See also: Twitter Demystified: How To RT, MT, #FF And Fave Like A Pro

Called “While You Were Away,” the feature operates similarly to the Facebook timeline, highlighting the “best” tweets that occurred while you were off Twitter. The rollout follows Twitter’s preview of the feature back in November.

See also: Your Twitter Gender Is Probably Male, Even If You're Female

“While You Were Away” is not yet live for all users, and Twitter has declined to comment on when it will be. It’s also unknown how the Twitter algorithm chooses which tweets in your feed constitute its “best” content.

Illustration by Nigel Sussman for ReadWrite

I sleep with my iPhone.

Don't roll your eyes and pretend you haven't done that before. Or that you don't do it regularly. It's pretty common. At least that's what I'm telling myself.

Anyway, since ditching my iPad mini last year in favor of the iPhone 6 Plus, I use my phone in bed a lot more than I used to before going to sleep. I catch up with articles I saved to Pocket. I scroll through Twitter. I stream something on Netflix or Hulu.

Until last week, my phone would be almost dead by the time I woke up. Part of that was because I almost always fall asleep in the middle of a show on Netflix and it automatically moves to the next few episodes as I snooze.

It's also because the Lightning cord that comes with the iPhone is too short to reach from under my nightstand to my bed.

But on Christmas my mom got me a two-meter long Lightning cable at the suggestion of an Apple Store employee.

It seems like a silly thing to get excited about, but it really has made things a lot better. Now, I can charge my phone and still use it in bed. I'm at 100% when I wake up.

I'm also considering buying one for the office. I have a standing desk, and the standard Lightning cord is too short to reach from my to my ear if the phone is plugged in and charging. (I'm over six feet tall.)

The downside: This thing is way too expensive at $29. Cables are historically one of the most wickedly marked up tech accessories. Apple's cable is no exception.

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The average American eats one ton of food each year. 

Literally: It's a shade under 2,000 pounds. 

Social scientists have provided many explanations for all that eating, from our increasing dependency on restaurant meals to an on-going love affair with meat.  

But one of the most foundational reasons for all that eating is one of the most controllable.

It's called completion compulsion. 

Coined by University of Alabama psychologist Paul Siegel in 1957, completion compulsion describes an uncomfortably familiar eating habit — that we're more likely to finish what's on our plate than just stop eating because we've gobbled up enough food. 

In commenting on the first-ever study of portion size, Siegel wrote that in "cookie consumption, compulsion is marked enough to stimulate a chuckle ... On only one occasion was a fraction of a cookie left behind." 

Siegel's breakthrough was the realization that we take a meal a 'unit' of food, and we're compelled to do everything in our power to finish it. 

In the immortal words of Louis CK, "The meal is not over when I'm full. The meal is over when I hate myself!" 

Since Siegel's time, loads of research has been done around how portions relate to eating habits. The science is simple: the bigger the portion, the more people eat.

As Penn State psychologist BJ Rolls described one study, 

On five occasions we served men and women an afternoon snack that consisted of 28, 42, 85, 128 or 170 g of potato chips in a plain, unlabeled foil bag.

Participants ate directly from the bag so that they had few visual cues to guide consumption.

The results showed that portion size had a significant effect on snack intake for both men and women.

For example, when served the 170-g package, women ate 18% more and men ate 37% more than when served the 85-g package. As subjects increased their snack intake with increasing package size, they reported feeling fuller; however, they did not adjust their intake at the subsequent dinner to compensate for the increased energy intake.

Similarly, when men and women were served larger portions of a 'regular' soda size, women drank 10% and men drank 26% than before.

So what can we do with this info? 

Telling people to "eat less" probably isn't the best approach, Rolls has argued. Instead, she suggests a strategy of eating more foods with a lower "energy density, " or calorie count. The idea is to eat the same amount of food — you'll still feel full – but while taking in fewer calories.

The Mayo Clinic says you need to pay attention to three things regarding energy density:

Water. Fruits and vegetables are generally high in water content, which provides volume and weight but not calories. That's why they're low-energy-dense foods. Grapefruit, for example, is about 90 percent water. Half a grapefruit has just 37 calories. Raw, fresh carrots are about 88 percent water. A medium carrot has only about 25 calories.

Fiber. High-fiber foods not only provide volume, but also take longer to digest, making you feel full longer on fewer calories. Vegetables, fruits and whole grains all contain fiber. Popcorn is a good example of a high-volume, low-calorie whole grain. One cup of air-popped popcorn has about 30 calories.

Fat. Fat is high in energy density. One pat of butter, for example, contains almost the same number of calories as 2 cups of raw broccoli. Foods that contain fat naturally, such as dairy products and various meats, or foods with added fats are higher in calories than are their leaner or lower fat counterparts.

So with a little dietary finesse, you can make completion compulsion work for you. If you have lots of low-energy-dense foods on your plate, you'll "get full" on things that nourish you.

SEE ALSO: 56 Cognitive Biases That Screw Up Everything We Do

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James Lavigne, the former mayor of Pearl River, Louisiana, ended 2014 with a bang.

According to the New Orleans Advocate, Lavigne had a rough year that included an indictment, questions about his spending, and losing an election after six terms in office. Lavigne's farewell speech on New Year's Eve was no less eventful. 

The newspaper reported the mayor called for an "emergency" meeting of the local Board of Aldermen on Wednesday to give his final address. He was surprised when reporters began showing up and started "demanding" to know how they found out about the meeting.

According to the Advocate, Lavigne's question was answered by WWL-TV's Ashley Rodrigue, who the newspaper said "broke the story on financial irregularities at the town."

"It’s a public meeting," Rodrigue said, adding, "It was all over Facebook."

"Facebook can kiss my ass, and you too and Channel 4 news," Lavigne responded. 

After encouraging Facebook and the local media to embrace his posterior, Lavigne reportedly got into his car and drove away. A member of the Board of Aldermen then read his speech, which the Advocate said was "five pages of single-spaced copy" and included his explanation for his spending. 

"I am not the best bookkeeper or paperwork man in the world, but I am certainly no thief," the speech said. "There is no indication in my personal lifestyle, my home, my investments or any other assets that I have stolen or misappropriated a dime from the Town of Pearl River. If anything, I have given, given, given to the town."

(h/t Jim Romenesko)

 

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The number of murders in New York City dropped to a record low for 2014.

However, the New York City of the 1970s looked very different from the safe and gentrified metropolis we know today. The Bowery, now lined with luxury apartments, housed much of the city's illicit activities, while drug dealers and prostitutes worked openly from Park Slope to Times Square.

Industrial decline, economic stagnation, and white flight led to the dramatic downturn for America's largest city.

In 1976, 2,383 arrests were made for prostitution citywide. Of these, 1,165 were girls between the ages of 15 and 20.

Two members of NYPD's "Pimp Squad" arrest an alleged prostitute in Times Square.

Source: Publication of New York Women in Criminal Justice in collaboration with the Prostitution Task Force

There were an estimated 40,000 prostitutes in New York City in the '70s, many with sad stories. This picture shows a hotel where a 15-year-old prostitute died in 1975.

The Hotel Belmore in Manhattan marked the end of Karen Baxter's life. A 15-year-old runaway from Cambridge, Mass., she resorted to prostitution to survive New York City until one of her customers choked her with a metal chain in 1975. The photo was taken five days after her murder. 

Source: Publication of New York Women in Criminal Justice in tangent with the Prostitution Task Force

Authorities were of little help. In this picture, Sydney Biddle Barrows, the "Mayflower Madam," celebrates with champagne after pleading guilty to promoting prostitution in return for a $5,000 fine and no prison sentence.

Barrows ran Cachet, a high-end escort service from 1979 to 1984.

Source: Publication of New York Women in Criminal Justice in collaboration with the Prostitution Task Force

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

Former San Francisco 49ers coach and now University of Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh is known as one of the most intense, competitive coaches out there. He was widely respected for coaching the 49ers to a Super Bowl and two conference championships, but his relationship with the team's front office wasn't all that stable because of Harbaugh's demeanor.

ESPN's Seth Wickersham wrote a long profile on Harbaugh, highlighting the coach's fiery intensity and competitiveness. Other sources have also documented Harbaugh's antics.

Here are some of the most amusing, startling examples, Michigan players and coaches are in for a real treat.

He taunted Peyton Manning during a recruiting visit in 2012.

According to Wickersham, when Peyton Manning was a free agent in the summer of 2012, he paid a visit to the San Francisco 49ers to explore signing with them. Manning and Harbaugh were playing catch during the meeting when Harbaugh commented that "his passes had more mustard on them" than Manning's.  Manning signed with the Denver Broncos that summer.

He used to the run the hills with players at University of San Diego, continuing on through his own vomit. 

With the 49ers, he makes the winning team in scrimmages run sprints after two-minute practice.

49ers tight end Vernon Davis said, "He's really good at making it suck."

While coaching in San Diego, he practiced push-ups every day, just to prove to players he could do 100 in a row.

According to MLive, Harbaugh could only manage 30 push-ups in a row at first. Over time, he got to 100, then 110, changing grips and technique to show off.

At a team meeting early in the season, Harbaugh delivered a typed, eight-page, passionate, borderline crazed speech to the team.

According to Wickersham, the speech involved never letting up on a play, enduring pain, and killing an opponent. One particularly abstract segment went: "My opponent is going to have to die. But does he have to kill me too? He is killing me. But he has a right to. I have never seen a greater opponent than him."

He fired several coaches and stripped another coach of offensive responsibility after Stanford's first winning season in eight years.

One of the fired staff members was a friend and former player who had attended Harbaugh's wedding.

As a player, he got into a giant feud with his coach Mike Ditka after ignoring Ditka's orders and calling an audible for a pass play that turned into a pick-six.

Harbaugh left the Bears the next season. The two later healed their relationship, and Harbaugh has a framed note from Ditka that reads, "I am still — believe it or not — your greatest fan."

Harbaugh hunted down a 10-year-old in laser tag at his own bachelor party.

The story of Harbaugh's competitiveness, even at his bachelor party, was revealed by MLive. Erik Bakhtiari, a former player under Harbaugh said, "All his shots came against this 10-year-old kid. He just sat there, hunting this 10-year-old kid so he could win."

Practice comes first, even on the days of special events, like the opening ceremony of the 49ers' new stadium.

Harbaugh held a rookie practice that day, meaning team assistants and players' wives and families couldn't attend the ceremony. Harbaugh also showed up to the ceremony, with Roger Goodell in attendance, wearing a black 49ers sweatshirt and khakis.

He has a rivalry with Seahawks coach Pete Carroll, dating back to 2007 when Harbaugh joined Stanford and Carroll coached USC.

According to a USA Today, when Harbaugh joined Stanford, he questioned Carroll's future job security, claiming "We bow to no man; we bow to no program here at Stanford."

After a game in 2009, Harbaugh was so intense and fiery on the sidelines, when the two met at centerfield, Carroll asked, "What's your deal?"

During the 2011 NFL lockout, Harbaugh "willed himself" to keep up in athletic challenges with 49ers' GM Trent Baalke.

According to NFL.com, Baalke was in much better shape, but Harbuagh refused to fall behind in push-up counts and bench presses. Harbaugh, despite balky knees, also pushed himself to beat Baalke in racquetball, to the point where Harbaugh couldn't walk normally for two days after.

He is already scouting and preparing for his 1-year-old son to play football.

When Barack Obama said he'd have to seriously think before letting his son play football, Harbaugh responded (via Yahoo):

"If President Obama feels that way, then there will be a little less competition for Jack Harbaugh when he gets old enough... But he's a really big kid. He's got an enormous head... As soon as he grows into that head, he's going to be something... expectations are high for young Jack."

Read the entire ESPN profile of Harbaugh here >

SEE ALSO: The 49ers-Jim Harbaugh Power Struggle Is Getting Serious

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Commenter Keisertroll shared a photo of possibly elite quarterback Joe Flacco—back when he was a student at Audubon (N.J.) High School—during Gawker's search for notable people in their readers' yearbooks . Flacco looks so over it.

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The Appoquinimink, DE school board is contemplating requiring parental permission slips for students who want to check YA novels out of their school library; district secondary education curriculum director Ray Gravuer came up with this silly idea in response to a parental complaint. Read the rest

For the last four years, thousands of Redditors have participated in a Reddit Secret Santa gift exchange. A whopping 212,894 users signed up this year, including — for the second year running — Bill Gates. 

His gift ended up being incredibly thoughtful. User Calid7, a 25-year-old woman named Cali, writes that she was in shock when she discovered that Gates was her Santa.

Not only did he send her a Loki helmet she had listed as her "pie in the sky wish," but he also gifted her a book of gorgeous pictures of Africa (a place she says she desperately wants to visit), a stuffed polio virus microbe, and a donation in her name to Shot@Life, a program that provides vaccines to kids in poor countries who need them.

Here's Cali posing in her helmet with the signed note from Gates:

Cali writes that the donation made her glow: "I can't even begin to describe how incredible it makes me feel knowing that he made this donation in my name! I always donate what I can for charities, which is never much cause money is always extremely tight, it really makes me glow!"

The inscription in the book Gates got Cali reads, "Melinda and I have been to Africa many times and loved it. I hope you get a chance to visit and check that off your bucket list. Merry Christmas, Bill Gates."

"I can not [sic] believe it. I am literally shaking right now," Cali writes of getting Gates as her Secret Santa. "I AM IN SHOCK."

You can read Cali's full reaction on Reddit Gifts. 

Last year, Gates gave a Reddit user named Rachel a stuffed cow, representing the real cow he'd donated in her name to Heifer International, and a National Geographic travel book called "Journeys of a Lifetime."

SEE ALSO: BILL GATES: 2014 Was A Huge Year For The Things That Really Matter

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Liverpool (AFP) - Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers felt his players demonstrated the character necessary to revitalise their challenge for a top-four Premier League finish in their last-gasp 2-2 draw with Arsenal.

After Philippe Coutinho's opener was swiftly cancelled out by Mathieu Debuchy in first-half stoppage time at Anfield on Sunday, Olivier Giroud struck in the 64th minute to set Arsenal up for an opportunistic victory.

But having earlier required treatment for a head wound inflicted by Giroud that left him with a bandaged head and led to nine minutes of injury time, Martin Skrtel claimed an equaliser with an emphatic 97th-minute header in front of the Kop.

The point was the least Liverpool deserved after restricting Arsenal to a 36 percent share of possession -- their worst performance in that domain since passing statistics began to be compiled in 2003.

And although Liverpool trail leaders Chelsea by 17 points and lie nine points adrift of the Champions League places, Rodgers is convinced that last season's runners-up are on the right track.

Asked if Liverpool could sustain a challenge for a top-four finish, he told reporters: "Yes, absolutely.

"It was always going to be a big challenge. Of course we've got to make up points over the next part of the season, but we have shown this is a group that can go on a run of games (wins).

"In the second half of last season we went on a run of 11 games and if we can put a run of games together, that can very quickly move you up. 

"The most important thing is the confidence and the ability in the team. You bring (injured striker Daniel) Sturridge back in January, then you get back to being that team we have been in the last few years.

"There's a bit of work to do, but at least we're moving in the right direction again, which is what we want."

 

- 'Bad memories' -

 

Rodgers was pleased with the "intensity" and "arrogance with the ball" Liverpool showed, but he was less complimentary about his side's defending.

Citing the build-up to Debuchy's goal, when the hosts were beaten in the air three times after Alexis Sanchez curled a free-kick into the box, he said: "A lot of the goals we give away are poor goals.

"I didn't think it should have been a free-kick. I think Sanchez has dived once he realised he wasn't getting the ball, and the referee fell for it.

"But when it comes in, we lose three one-v-one headers in the box. We have to be better at that. That's not about organisation. That's about winning the duel."

Rodgers said he had "no complaints" about the injury-time dismissal of substitute Fabio Borini, who collected yellow cards for dissent and a high boot against Santi Cazorla.

He also paid tribute to Slovakian centre-back Skrtel, who stayed on to score the winner despite having been left with an ugly gash on the back of his head after Giroud unintentionally caught him with his studs.

"He's a real warrior, Martin," said the Northern Irishman, whose side registered 27 attempts on goal. "He showed great character and determination to stay on."

Arsenal had been destroyed 5-1 on their previous visit to Anfield in February, when they conceded four times in the first 20 minutes, and beaten manager Arsene Wenger suggested the memory had played on his players' minds.

Asked to explain a sluggish first-half display, Wenger cited "tactical and psychological reasons" and explained: "Maybe (there were) bad memories from last year. Some players were not at their best. I think we played with the handbrake too much in the first half."

He added: "Overall it's a fair result, but it's also a frustrating result for us because they came back at a moment in the game when we had plenty of defenders on the pitch.

"Today (Sunday) was frustrating because they came back to 2-2. But overall it's not the most frustrating day of the season."

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The Amazon price glitch on December 12 hit a huge number of companies. For around an hour, RepricerExpress, an automated pricing system for Amazon's online retailer's MarketPlace, went wrong and priced thousands of products at a single penny.

During the glitch, up to 75 million items were set to 1p and more than 2,000 sellers were affected. There are fears some businesses might go bankrupt as a result of the error, writes City A.M. It has cost retailers across the UK thousands. And caused issues in terms of reputation — some negative customer feedback has been damaging.

Amazon says "it responded quickly" to cancel most of the orders placed. Obviously, the situation sparked a buying frenzy as consumers hoped to make the most of the bargains. But some purchases slipped through the net and were distributed over the succeeding weekend, especially those from companies that have automated fulfilment centres. 

Go2Games, a small, privately-owned independent retailer of consoles and video games, says it has a confirmed loss of £11,000 as a result. It's brand has suffered and claims it was even "directly targeted in some cases", as people looked to snap up digital products cheaply. Go2Games saw that people had posted links to the "deals" across the web.

"It has been incredibly stressful," Jess Wright, of Go2Games tells Business Insider. "We were at our company Christmas party on Friday evening celebrating all of our work for the year when the glitch struck, so we didn’t catch it right away. As soon as we found out, we were working tirelessly through the weekend to try and reach out and repair the damage."

The sheer cost of the stock sold and dispatched poses a real threat to Go2Games, Wright explains. If all orders had been completed the company would've lost well over £350,000, with a gross total sales of only £262. The confirmed losses are far less, but remain significant — 220 orders were automatically shipped by Amazon over December 13/14. Only £146.59 came in.

Wright says the problems go further than instant monetary losses: "Aside from the financial implications of this error, we are also seeing a threat to our brand. We have managed to maintain 100% positive customer feedback for our 2 years trading on the channel.

"With many cancellations on the horizon, our customer satisfaction has dipped, with our feedback seeing an immediate decline as a result. It is such a shame as we have been working so hard to make a name for the company in terms of quality of service, we were just starting to come into our own."

And some customers are annoyed they didn't receive their 1p buys. "We're not looking at a handful of disappointed customers," Wright notes, "we're looking at thousands".

Wright adds that the situation is "mostly upsetting," but says there are some positives. After sending out emails to customers and posting an "urgent appeal" blog explaining what happened, some people returned their items for a refund rather than see a small company at risk.

Still, "most customers seem to be under the impression they are buying directly from Amazon and nobody gets hurt," adds Wright. They appear unaware that livelihoods are at stake.

As of December 17, Go2Games had yet to receive a "firm response" on how the ongoing situation will be handled from Amazon or RepricerExpress — though the two have assisted in part. Overall however, it seems there is no definitive prospect of compensation.

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"Cryptophasia" is the term for the secret languages that apparently 40 percent of identical twins develop. Nautilus investigates:

The most famous example of cryptophasia is identical twins Ginny and Grace Kennedy from California.

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You can kick and scream, America, but Stephen Colbert's character from The Colbert Report will be dead and gone come Friday

The final episode of The Colbert Report airs Thursday, and although the real Stephen Colbert will grace our screens as the new host of the Late Show, replacing David Letterman, his exaggerated character will be missed

In honor of Colbert's years of insightful comedic genius, we've compiled some of his most memorable quotes to help you cope with the loss

Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments. Read more...

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There can be no doubt that the job market has been more resilient since the financial crisis than many imagined. Unemployment did not rise as far as was feared and the recovery in employment to pre-recession levels has been quicker than forecast by even the most optimistic labour economists. So, time for some self-congratulatory back-slapping among policy makers then? On the surface of things, at least, it looks like a jobs miracle, despite the belt-tightening of austerity.

Unfortunately, having studied the quality of jobs which many people in the United Kingdom are now doing, this is not entirely the case. The UK labor market is, indeed, performing well but we have a growing and potentially corrosive problem of poor quality, precarious and temporary work which threatens our productivity and competitiveness, levels of social inclusion and, ultimately, the health of the workforce. Read more...

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Kristi Castlin is a very good hurdler. How good? The 26-year-old Atlanta native beat American record-holder Brianna Rollins in the 100-meter hurdlers in the spring, breaking Rollins' two-year winning streak. It came down to the thousandth of a second—Castlin's 12.571 seconds to Rollins' 12.576—and when the margin for winning and losing is so slight, every ounce counts.

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theodp writes: "CS Principles," explains the intro to a Microsoft Research talk on a new Computer Science Toolkit and Gaming Course, "is a new AP course being piloted across the country and by making it more accessible to students we can help increase diversity in computing." Towards this end, Microsoft has developed "a middle school computing toolkit, and a high school CS Principles & Games course." These two projects were "developed specifically for girls," explains Microsoft, and are part of the corporation's Big Dream Movement for girls, which is partnering with the UN, White House, NSF, EU Commission, and others. One of Microsoft's particular goals is to "reach every individual girl in her house." According to a document on its website, Microsoft Research's other plans for Bridging the Gender Gap in computing include a partnership with the University of Wisconsin "to create a girls-only computer science Massive Open Online Course (MOOC)."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Airlines are moving toward mobile boarding passes, and looking to a paperless future of air travel.

But there are clearly still some kinks to work out, one of which is the security behind mobile boarding passes. A passenger found a serious flaw in Delta's mobile boarding system on Tuesday that reveals anyone can access other passengers' boarding passes.

Dani Grant, an ad product intern at BuzzFeed and founder of Hackers of NY, discovered the flaw when she realized she could simply share the URL to her boarding pass.

"I thought it was probable that I could send my boarding pass to someone and that they'd be able to open it," Grant told Mashable. "If that was the case, anyone could probably open any other boarding pass, too." Read more...

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