While phones like the Moto X let you issue voice commands without touching the device, they’re still not ideal for driving; if you search for something on the web, you’ll still have to take your eyes off the road to see the results. That could change…
BLOOMINGDALE, Ill. (AP) — Michelle Lesco is petite, but the 115-pound competitive eater still managed to gobble down more than 28 hot dogs — and buns — to win an eating contest in suburban Chicago.
The (Arlington Heights) Daily Herald reports (http://bit.ly/1mFPOWX ) the Arizona native won Saturday’s qualifiers for the July 4 hot dog-eating contest at New York’s Coney Island. The competition in Bloomingdale, about 20 miles from Chicago, was one more than a dozen preliminary rounds before the main event. Eight people faced off to see who could eat the most hot dogs in 10 minutes.
Lesco set a new Illinois record and beat Eric “Badlands” Booker, who gobbled more than 27 hot dogs. He weighs about four times that of Lesco.
After winning, Lesco said: “I can’t wait to burp.”
PHOTO CREDIT: Tom Rafalovich
Alison Sweeney has been a regular on your television screen since she was 5 years old. You might not remember her original Kodak moment but no doubt you know her for her role as Sami Brady on NBC’s Days of Our Lives.
In 2007, a new opportunity came her way; host of the hit series The Biggest Loser. She’s able to cheer on contestants each week as she watches their struggle to lose weight, something she’s had first hand experience with.
As if Days & Biggest Loser weren’t enough on her plate, she found time to write Scared Scriptless , a book that hits the stores June 3rd.
The opportunity to talk with this busy lady about her collecting interests had me rethinking a meeting over coffee…
PHOTO CREDIT: Austin Hargrove
I’ve never understood wine collecting. Isn’t wine really for consumption? I read in 2013, 330 million cases of wine was consumed in the US alone.
Do you really collect it, or are you just throwing fabulous dinner parties?
I love everything about wine. I love visiting the vineyards, and seeing how the grapes are grown, and listening to growers talk about why the climate, the weather, the earth, all contribute to how it tastes. And I definitely collect wine to drink it – I love to buy boutique or cult wines, and cellar them for several years before pulling them out for a fancy dinner, or to give as gifts to the wine aficionados I know.
Consumers often pick a wine off the shelf because the label catches their eye. What makes a bottle worthy of entering your collection?
I buy mostly wine either I’ve tasted myself, or wine that comes highly recommended. I work with the Wine House in West LA, and he helps me pick out wines for my parties and we discuss new wines, or smaller vintners I may not have heard of. It’s fun to experiment with wines from different regions too. A bottle is worthy of being added to my collection if it’s interesting, a conversation piece as well as delicious, and if laying it down for several years will make it better.
For those that don’t know, there are a vast array of places to buy wine outside of your local liquor store. Private dealers, auction houses with wine departments, online stores, etc. Where are some of your favorite places to acquire bottles for your collection?
I love visiting Santa Ynez, which is such a quick trip from LA, but they have such a fantastic, rebel wine culture there. So many growers are making fantastic, wines like Samsara, this small production, boutique wine, that always delivers top notch quality, and gets great reviews… and the winemaker has become a friend of mine! We bonded when I bought a couple cases from his tasting room during my first visit. Last time I was up there, I was writing my novel, Scared Scriptless, in between wine tastings. The perfect weekend!
If you could pluck one bottle of wine from anyone’s collection to add to yours, which one would it be?
My friend Joe Bastianich has an epic wine cellar. I would dive into a vertical tasting of his Vespa Blanco anytime!!
I hope to get an invite to her next dinner party!
Follow Sweeney’s exciting career on Twitter at @Ali_Sweeney
LUCKNOW, India (AP) — Three men have confessed to the gang rape and slaying of two teenage girls who were found hanging from a tree in northern India, police said Sunday, in a case that has recast a light on rampant sexual violence in the country.
Authorities continued to search for two additional suspects in last week’s attack on the 14- and 15-year-old cousins in Uttar Pradesh state, police officer Atul Saxena said. The girls, from an impoverished family with no toilets in their home in the tiny village of Katra, about 300 kilometers (180 miles) from Lucknow, the state capital, disappeared Tuesday night after going into fields to relieve themselves.
After the girls were found hanging from a mango tree on Wednesday, hundreds of angry villagers stayed next to the tree, demanding that police find the attackers before allowing them to remove the bodies. Indian television stations showed footage of the villagers sitting under the girls’ bodies as they swung in the wind.
Police arrested two suspects on Wednesday and another on Saturday.
When questioned by police, the men admitted they had attacked the girls, Saxena said.
The suspects, who are cousins in their 20s from an extended family, face murder and rape charges, crimes punishable by the death penalty.
Saxena said police were preparing identity sketches of the two missing suspects based on descriptions provided by the three men who were arrested.
Authorities also have arrested two police officers and suspended two others for failing to investigate when the father of one of the teenagers reported the girls missing Tuesday night.
Federal authorities are expected to take over investigation into the case this week, Saxena said.
India has a long history of tolerance for sexual violence, but the attack on the girls has caused outrage across the nation, and is reminiscent of the reaction to the December 2012 fatal gang rape of a 23-year-old woman aboard a moving bus in New Delhi, India’s capital.
The nationwide outcry following that attack led the federal government to rush legislation doubling prison terms for rapists to 20 years and criminalizing voyeurism, stalking and the trafficking of women. The law also makes it a crime for officers to refuse to open cases when complaints are made.
Health workers, police and women’s rights activists say women and girls in India face the risk of rape and harassment when they go out into fields or bushes due to the lack of toilets in their homes.
More than a half billion Indians lack access to toilets. A recent study said around 30 percent of women from poor families faced violent sexual assaults every year because they did not have access to a safe toilet.
Bindeshwar Pathak, a well-known sanitation and hygiene expert, said Sunday that his New Delhi-based social service organization, Sulabh International, would pay for toilets to be installed in all 108 homes in Katra, the girls’ village.
Also in Uttar Pradesh state, police on Sunday arrested two people for setting a 16-year-old girl on fire after sprinkling kerosene on her following a land dispute with her father in Kaptanganj, about 200 kilometers (125 miles) southeast of Lucknow.
The girl was hospitalized with burns over a quarter of her body, said Mukul Goel, an inspector-general of police.
NEW YORK (AP) — The biggest box-office debut of Angelina Jolie’s career propelled Disney’s twisted fairy tale “Maleficent” to a scary-good $70 million opening.
The PG-rated fantasy beat forecasts to easily top all films over the weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday. Though “Maleficent” was early on considered a risky endeavor for Disney that might turn away family audiences by retelling “Sleeping Beauty” from the villain’s perspective, the film emerged as a hit largely because of the draw of Jolie. Star power has been increasingly elusive in modern Hollywood, where name-brand concepts often rule the box-office. But Jolie, in her first live-action starring role in years, drove interest for “Maleficent” despite lackluster reviews from critics.
“It’s a unique thing,” said Dave Hollis, head of distribution for Disney. “Her star power transcends borders and genre.”
Seth MacFarlane’s Western comedy “A Million Ways to Die in the West” was out-gunned by “Maleficent.” The R-rated Universal release opened in third place with a tepid $17.1 million despite a starry cast of Liam Neeson, Charlize Theron and Amanda Seyfried. By contrast, MacFarlane’s “Ted” (for which he’s making a sequel) opened with $54.4 million in 2012.
Last weekend’s top film, Fox’s big-budget mutant sequel “X-Men: Days of Future Past,” dropped to second with $32.6 million. It’s a somewhat steep decline for “Days of Future Past,” but the film made $95.6 million internationally in its second week, good enough to push its global cumulative total passed $500 million already.
But “Maleficent” dominated the marketplace, which has seen female-leading films continually challenge the much-disputed but still prevalent notion that male stars fuel box office.
“The whole movie kind of rises and sets on her performance,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior analyst for box-office tracker Rentrak. “The concept is the character. The character is completely linked to the person playing that role.”
The film was a balancing act for Disney, which is used to churning out brighter tales. Hollis credited the company’s marketing department for “walking the fine line” of selling the movie to families (which made up 45 percent of the audience, according to Disney) and suggesting an edginess that would appeal to a broader audience. “Maleficent” earned about $100 million internationally.
“If you go to Disney, the longest lines are for the scariest rides,” said Dergarabedian. “We’re going to see more of this, where the villains are the new heroes.”
Disney has had success reimagining fairy tales in recent years with “Alice in Wonderland” ($116 million in 2010) and “Oz the Great and Powerful” ($79.1 million debut in 2013). “Maleficent” fell short of those releases, but it was made in the same lineage. Robert Stromberg, the production designer for both earlier movies, makes his directorial debut with “Maleficent.”
Next weekend will bring a battle between Shailene Woodley in the young adult novel adaptation “The Fault in Our Stars” and Tom Cruise in the sci-fi thriller “Edge of Tomorrow.” ”Edge of Tomorrow” got a jump on its North America release, taking in $20 million in 28 countries over the weekend.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Rentrak. Where available, latest international numbers are also included. Final domestic figures will be released on Monday.
1.”Maleficent,” $70 million, ($100.6 million international).
2.”X-Men: Days of Future Past,” $32.6 million ($95.6 million international).
3.”A Million Ways to Die in the West,” $17.1 million ($10.3 million international).
4.”Godzilla,” $12.2 million ($15 million international).
5.”Blended,” $8.4 million.
6.”Neighbors,” $7.7 million ($7.6 million international).
7.”The Amazing Spider-Man 2,” $3.8 million ($4.1 million international).
8. “Million Dollar Arm,” $3.7 million.
9.”Chef,” $2 million.
10.”The Other Woman,” $1.4 million.
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Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at international theaters (excluding the U.S. and Canada), according to Rentrak:
1. “Maleficent,” $100.6 million.
2. “X-Men: Days of Future Past,” $171.1 million.
3. “Edge of Tomorrow,” $20 million.
4. “Overheard 3,” $19.5 million.
5. “Godzilla,” $15 million.
6. “A Million Ways to Day in the West,” $10.3 million international.
7. “Neighbors,” $7.6 million.
8. “Frozen,” $5.8 million.
9. “A Hard Day,” $4.8 million.
10. “Qu’est ce qu’on a fait au Bon Dieu?!,” $3.6 million.
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Universal and Focus are owned by NBC Universal, a unit of Comcast Corp.; Sony, Columbia, Sony Screen Gems and Sony Pictures Classics are units of Sony Corp.; Paramount is owned by Viacom Inc.; Disney, Pixar and Marvel are owned by The Walt Disney Co.; Miramax is owned by Filmyard Holdings LLC; 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight are owned by 21st Century Fox; Warner Bros. and New Line are units of Time Warner Inc.; MGM is owned by a group of former creditors including Highland Capital, Anchorage Advisors and Carl Icahn; Lionsgate is owned by Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.; IFC is owned by AMC Networks Inc.; Rogue is owned by Relativity Media LLC.
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Follow AP Film Writer Jake Coyle on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jake_coyle
My fair readers — it is a week before the Tony Awards. What does that mean? It’s time for The Drama Desk Awards. There are a good amount of awards that honor theater, but the Drama Desk is certainly the largest award to honor both off-Broadway and Broadway. It’s our version of the Golden Globes. I wish people sat at tables. Sadly, they do not. Also, I’m upset John Ellison Conlee did not receive a nomination for his performance in The (Curious Case of the) Watson Intelligence, for which he recently won an Obie. This all said, please watch the live stream on Theatermania. Other than the Tony Awards, this is the one big theater award show you can watch from the comfort of your own home. Do that. Support.
What else is on my mind today?
M&M’s. I have written a lot about eating in the theater. Starting in 2007 with this Times story and continuing on as more and more theaters began to allow/even encourage seat snacks. But I don’t think I’ve ever been quite as distracted by this trend as I was Wednesday night. On Wednesday, I completed my Tony season by seeing, All The Way. First, let me say, I had previously written about how excited I was to see such a huge cast in a straight play on Broadway. The show didn’t disappoint. I am not an American history person at all. I can maybe name a dozen presidents, if that. But I found the play very engrossing and well directed by Bill Rauch; it is about more than Bryan Cranston’s (future Tony-winning) performance. I was so glad I went. However my enjoyment was threatened at the start of the second act when everyone around me seemed to be eating M&M’s. The noise created by the bag wrinkling and the snack pouring, coupled with clanking ice (because you need your beverage with your M&Ms), created more noise than the actors on the stage. Theater owners — I beg of you — stop selling M&M’s. I know I’ll never win on the snack front in general, but, please, think about the noise created by the snacks that you do sell. A Snickers bar, for example, is chocolate, and a lot less noisy than M&M’s. Ice cream is common in the West End and at some regional theaters, including Yale Rep.. People love ice cream, and it is quiet. Jordan Roth, I’ll promote a related campaign for you. (I’m only picking Mr. Roth because he is an identifiable head of an organization that owns many Broadway theaters, not because I believe Jujamcyn Theaters are particularly bad on this front. I swear.)
I am not a cabaret person. There are a whole host of differences between Adam Feldman and me (actually I’m sure no one would think of us in the same sentence even) and this is one of them. I read Adam’s cabaret reviews, the only cabaret reviews I read. Every once and a while if he loves a show and it is still playing, or it is coming back, I’ll go. There are also occasions where I love the performer so much I attend. Mostly though, I like my theater-style shows to have strong librettos. Therefore I’m not a huge Broadway concert person either, as those have even less book than cabaret shows. Nevertheless, I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart for certain benefits and other concerts. Each time I have attended Broadway by the Year, I have found it interesting. I really wanted to go see the May 12 installment, but I missed it. Over half of the next installment will be songs from shows I have seen, but I still might head over to Town Hall on June 23. I encourage my readers who are just getting into musical theater to buy a ticket — $55 for orchestra — and attend. Other journalists (not me) talk about how the Broadway musical is dead, but I think you’ll realize that there have been some pretty good songs created in the last 24 years.
I never thought Broadway 4D would ever actually happen. I am shocked that they even filmed one number. But a very small part of me held out hope that it would because I was looking forward to being inside the Times Square Theater. Maybe, now that it is in the news again, someone will take it over. Mr. Roth? Disney? It seems like it could be a good The Hunchback of Notre Dame location.
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi is preparing to use its new voter ID law for the first time, culminating a long political fight in a state with a troubled past of voting-rights suppression.
People will be required to show a driver’s license or other government-issued photo identification at the polls during Tuesday’s party primaries for U.S. House and Senate. The secretary of state’s office says about 1,000 people who lacked an acceptable form of photo ID have received a free one from local election clerks.
Until last summer, Mississippi and other states with a history of racial discrimination had to get federal approval for any changes to elections laws. A U.S. Supreme Court ruling erased that mandate and cleared the way for Mississippi’s voter ID law, which had been awaiting Justice Department clearance.
Most smartphone users want a native local file management utility. Windows Phone users have been out of luck as far as an officially developed utility is concerned. However earlier this month word came from the company’s WP chief that a team was working on a file manager for Windows Phone 8.1. Microsoft has now released that tool, simply titled Files.
Windows Phone boss Joe Belfiore was asked earlier this month if Microsoft had plans of releasing a file manager for Windows Phone 8.1. He replied in the affirmative, even sharing some screenshots of the work in progress. He also said that they expected to get it into the store by the end of May. Microsoft has followed through on its promise and now Windows Phone 8.1 users have an official local storage management utility.
Since the intended function is fairly simple, so is the app. It lets users access locally stored content as well as content stored on external storage cards. Crucial tasks like moving and deleting files and content is support along with the ability to create and delete folders. Just your basic file manager stuff.
Files for Windows Phone 8.1 is free and available for download right away. Those who are still on Windows Phone 8 will have to upgrade, even though Microsoft has only released a developer preview of WP8.1. It is expected to publically release Windows Phone 8.1 over the summer.
Microsoft Releases File Manager For Windows Phone 8.1
, original content from Ubergizmo, Filed in Cellphones, Microsoft, windows phone 8.1,
Nature in Borneo, Indonesia is in desperate shape. My colleague Leif Cocks, founder of The Orangutan Project, is on a mission to save the critically endangered Borneo orangutan and he needs your help.
Leif Cocks is the founder of The Orangutan Project and has been the President since its inception. He has worked hands on with and for orangutans for more than 25 years including the most successful breeding colony of orangutans in the world, orangutan rescues and the successful reintroduction of numerous orangutans included the first two ever successful zoo-born reintroductions. Photo credit: Orangutan.org.au
The “War Against Nature” is escalating at an exponential rate throughout Indonesia. Its bloating population of in excess of 238 million humans is now feeling the wrath of climate disruption and the consequences of razing its magnificent jungles. Today there are more severe and frequent floods displacing a half of a million people regularly, massive hillside slumps, extinction of fauna and flora and unimaginable squalor with nil by way of sanitation for people.
Thousands of people are displaced regularly now when torrential rains dump feet of water onto the capital city of Indonesia, Jakarta and its burgeoning populations of 10.2 million people. Photo credit: telegraph.co.uk
The assault on nature is mostly from multi-national companies that regularly bribe government officials. Irreparable damage has occurred to priceless rainforests and millions of people are suffering.
It’s predicted to get far worse as a potent El Nino is currently brewing in the Western Pacific Ocean. During El Nino’s, haze from an area three quarters the size of Massachusetts that is clearcut each year kills approximately 300,000 people. Ancient peat forests are set alight to make room for monoculture palm oil plantations. All forests animals are doomed. And the human race looses the greatest carbon dioxide warehouses to have ever evolved on Earth, Indonesia’s rainforests.
Tropical rainforests along with coral reefs have the highest diversity of life forms on our globe. According to the U.S. National Cancer Institute over 2,000 tropical rainforest plants (including Indonesia) contain the following potent chemicals that offer humans relief from: inflammation, fungal diseases, rheumatism, diabetes, muscle tension, malaria, coronary disease, skin diseases, arthritis, glaucoma and dozens of other cancers with thousands of medicines awaiting discovery. The caveat: Stop destroying all priceless tropical forests. Photo credit: fineartamerica.com
Infuriatingly, it’s not just palm oil gluttony in Borneo and Sumatra that are impoverishing biodiversity and bleeding mega tons of heat-trapping greenhouse gases into an ever-rising atmospheric pool. It’s also colossal, devastating open-pit coal mining operations.
Mountains of coal are being barged down the polluted Mahakam River every few moments. Indonesia is racing to supply the insatiable demand for coal from China and India. Photo credit: phys.org
This rapacious and accelerated human-induced ecocide including Alberta’s tar sands and Queensland’s Galilee coal basin that’s occurring and elsewhere globally has recently been identified as the primary reason why our natural world is in the midst of the 6th Great Extinction.
Clearly, it is time we all lend a helping hand to reverse this staggering, life-ending ecocide. Last week the German banking giant Deutche Bank sold its stake in Bumitama, an Indonesian palm oil company that annihilates Borneo’s rainforests, leaving all animals homeless.
The race to deforest Borneo for palm oil and coal is leaving so many animals like this orangutan homeless. It is, in fact, up to each of us to make the correct consumer choices. Scrutinize all labels, refuse to purchase any products containing palm oil. Together our purchasing power is indeed formidable. Timber-mining Borneo’s rainforests and their conversion to vast monoculture palm oil plantations is expediently killing our planet. Photo credit: ngm.com
Orangutans are great apes, only found on my two favorite Indonesian islands: Borneo and Sumatra. Orangutans rely solely on the rainforests for their habitat.
Orangutans are wondrous creatures that can live in excess of 30 years, and, just like people, they relish honey and bird eggs. Photo credit: Orangutan.org.au
Orangutans are intelligent toolmakers like elephants, dolphins, alligators, ants, ravens, crows and humans. There are no more than 1,600 orangutans left on Earth and their habitat is vanishing quickly.
So here’s what each of us can do to make a difference and save these sentient animals.
The Trans Borneo Challenge aims to raise $100,000 to protect the critically endangered orangutans. It also seeks to heighten worldwide awareness of orangutan plight and the rampant destruction of their exquisite rainforest habitat. Photo credit: OrangutanOdysseys.com
Please consider supporting one of the 10 adventurers racing on foot across 600 miles of Borneo’s wilderness.
I asked Leif Cocks what his main message was? He told me that “There is no good reason to let the orangutans go extinct and all the destruction of their habitat is against Indonesian law. We should not let a greedy few profit at the expense of the many.”
Leif Cocks years in the field have earned him respect within the conservation field. He has been a key player in developing conservation plans for orangutans and influencing positive change for orangutan protection and survival. This respect has given The Orangutan Project world standing in conservation, and allows Leif to successfully negotiate conservation agreements with the Indonesian Ministry of Forestry and other government officials. It has also allowed The Orangutan Project to attract major sponsors. Photo credit: Orangutan.org.au
Children are fascinated by orangutans and rightfully so. “It’s crucial for school children to know that they will pay the true cost of the rainforest’s destruction with global warming and an unstable regions as unsustainable land-uses collapse. If we can connect them to at least helping one orphan, then they can make a difference,” says orangutan expert Cocks.
Eighty percent of orangutans live in degraded habitat outside of protected areas, in unviable declining populations. “We have our backs up against the wall and need to put everything into turning the tide in the next few years,” says a passionate Cocks.
Bruised, tied up and caged: The desperate plight of starving orangutans forced into villages to look for food. Is this the legacy that we wish to leave for our children? Photo credit: dailymail.co.uk
When I asked Cocks what each of us could do, he told me, “That we all live better off through cheap goods, as the true cost of converting the forest is passed onto the powerless — local people, wildlife and future generations. If everyone just gave a little of that back to an effective charity such as The Orangutan Project, with as little as $10 a month regular giving we can save the orangutan.”
It’s time for each of us to act together and make an enormous difference by saving these magnificent creatures now, because extinction means forever.
Amnesty for all orangutans — Just do it! Photo credit. panada.org
Earth Dr Reese Halter is a broadcaster, biologist, educator and author of the forthcoming book ‘Shepherding the Sea: The Race to Save Our Oceans.’
There has been no shortage of rumors about what to expect from Apple at WWDC 2014. On Monday its annual developers conference kicks off. The keynote is penciled in for the first day when CEO Tim Cook and top brass take the stage to make some announcements. We know software is on the agenda and there’s little doubt that the focus will be on iOS and OS X. If you had any doubts about what the next iOS iteration might be called images from the conference site put them to rest. iOS 8 is most definitely on the agenda for WWDC 2014.
The keynote takes place at Moscone Center which is being dressed up for the event on Monday. Banners have been put up both inside and out. Particularly large banners with the number “8″ have also been put up which is as close as it gets to an official confirmation prior to the keynote itself.
iOS 8 isn’t expected to bring any major user interface improvements, however it is believed to focus heavily on mobile health and fitness tracking. Apple is expected to show off OS X 10.10 as well which if reports are true might end up being called OS X Yosemite. Last year’s iteration was called OS X Mavericks. Seems like Apple is sticking to California-inspired naming theme.
There has been chatter about new hardware making the cut as well, but since the event is less than 24 hours away, no use in speculating about that now. We just have to wait for a little bit longer.
iOS 8 Unveil All But Confirmed By WWDC 2014 Banners
, original content from Ubergizmo, Filed in Apple, iOS 8, OS X 10.10, WWDC 2014,
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
