Before the Ping May, a rusty cargo vessel, could disembark from the port of Santa Marta en route to the Netherlands in late August, Colombian inspectors boarded the boat and made a discovery. Hidden in the ship’s chain locker, amidst its load of coal bound for Europe, were approximately 40 kilograms, or about 90 pounds, of cocaine. A Colombian Coast Guard official told The Nation that there is an ongoing investigation.
L.A. is water. Our story begins on the banks of the L.A. River — and it was man-made rivers we built that provided the lifeblood that allowed our city to grow from its original pueblo into the global metropolis we are today.
Now, amidst a record drought, water is becoming increasingly scarce — and increasingly precious. Currently, Los Angeles is forced to use expensive, imported water for 80 percent of our needs. This is both environmentally and economically unsustainable.
We need bold action, which is why I have issued an executive directive to reduce Los Angeles’ water use by 20% by 2017 and our Department of Water and Power’s purchase of imported water by 50% by 2024. This means reducing our use of water and renewing our local water sources. Of particular importance is reducing outdoor water use, which accounts for 50% of residential water consumption.
City government will lead by example. I am directing the city to reduce watering and replace lawns and other water intensive landscaping at city buildings, on street medians, and sidewalk parkways.
It’s just as critical, however, that Angelenos do their part. That’s why I’ve launched a public awareness campaign on social media with #DroughtHack highlighting the many opportunities and incentives our city is offering to those who reduce their water use including a twenty five percent increase in the lawn replacement incentive. That means if you have a water-thirsty lawn, the City of LA will pay you $3.75 per square foot that you replace with California-friendly, drought-resistant plants.
We are also asking residents to take the following steps:
For a more complete list of steps you can take, visit my office’s #DroughtHack HQ. However, it’s impossible to come up with a fully comprehensive list because there is always another, better idea to reduce water use. Some people take a bucket with them to the shower. Others take another person. I want Angelenos to brag about and share all the creative methods they devise to conserve water. That is how we #DroughtHack.
The fact is 4 million residents live 4 million very different lives which is why my directive begins with voluntary actions. spurred by city incentives, to reduce water use. But, the California drought is real and serious — and our response must reflect that. That is why if we are not on track to reach our water goals, mandatory measures will be implemented. These will include new outdoor watering, swimming pool, and car washing restrictions.
The targets that must be met are a 10% reduction in per capita fresh water use by July 1, 2015 and a 15% reduction by January 1, 2016, leading up to our overall goal of a 20% reduction by January 1, 2017.
Keep in mind that reducing water use is not just good for our environment, it lowers consumer water bills. Reaching our goal of reducing water use by 20% would save ratepayers up to $120 million every year.
The actions in this directive help us prepare for the future, and create a more resilient city and economy. Given the reality of climate change, our snow pack is greatly reduced and our precipitation is less predictable. And water piped in from hundreds of miles away is more vulnerable to disruption after an earthquake or other major disaster.
For our city to thrive, our relationship with water must evolve. We cannot afford the water policies of the twentieth century, which were focused on pumping as much water out of the ground as possible, and when it ran out, taking it or buying it from hundreds of miles away.
We must instead conserve, recycle, and rethink how we use our water to save money and make sure that we have enough water to keep L.A. growing.
And to those who don’t believe that we can both grow this city and reduce water use, our history is the best rejoinder. We currently use the same amount of water in Los Angeles as we did 30 years ago despite one million more residents in the city. Angelenos know how to #DroughtHack. Now is our chance to show the world how it’s done.
“Fear is debilitating” — as cliché as this phrase may be, it’s something you should remind yourself of every day of your life if you are or want to be a business owner.
This post was inspired by a good friend who told me exactly what I needed to hear a few years ago when I was looking to launch a business; my own brand of fashion jewelry. I took his advice… and never looked back.
We met at a Starbucks off of Robertson Blvd, close to my home in West Hollywood, CA. I’d often come here to work on the computer. He asked me about my life and what I had been working on. I was so excited to tell him about my new venture! “Well, I’ve been designing!” I blurted out. He was intrigued, “Oh, yeah? What have you been designing?” I went on to tell him that I was designing a collection of fashion jewelry. I told him that I had been sketching my designs for some time, but I didn’t know what my next steps should be. I was overwhelmed with doubt and fear that I even had what it took to pull off such a feat.
Then the floodgates opened up, “How was I going to pay for manufacturing, product packaging, inventory, labor, and website design?? Would anyone even take me seriously without formal education in jewelry design? What sort of business permits would I need? How did copyright laws work? Should I be an LLC or a sole proprietor? Also, who the hell did I think I was to come out with my own label of fashion jewelry? I’m just a kid, who would buy my pieces?”
He shook his head, “Johnathan, stop!” He paused for a second, looked at me and very matter-of-factly said, “Just do the THING. Forget all the minutiae and details. All of that will take care of itself in time. Just do the THING that’s the most important THING you need to do to turn your designs into a tangible object you can hold, feel, admire, and subsequently sell for profit. Then… Then you have a business.”
I was a little taken aback. It was such a simple concept that made so much sense. As a creative type and designer my one job was to design and produce. I had been holding myself back with all of these tiny details that realistically would take no time at all to take care of once I had produced my own collection. So, I took his advice and did exactly that. I sourced a manufacturer and had my first piece made. Then I continued to design an entire collection and repeat the process.
If you’re looking to launch your own business you have to find the THING and make that your soul focus. In my case the THING that I enjoyed, the THING I was good at and the THING I needed to focus all my energy on was to design and produce.
Why are you launching a business in this particular field you have chosen anyways?
Your answer should be:
1. Because I enjoy it
2. Because I’m freaking amazing at it
3. Because I want to be doing this for the rest of my life
4. Because it’s who I am
I think this concept is especially important to apply to your work if you’re a creative type e.g. artists, designers, singers, and performers. It’s so easy to become derailed by the details involved with turning your creative talent into a business that you completely neglect the THING you were meant to be doing 24/7.
E.g.
1. So, you want your own vintage furniture store on Abbot Kinney in Venice Beach because you absolutely love vintage furniture and have a trained eye for unique, show-stopping pieces.
Great! Now, your job is to do exactly what you were already doing. Continue to shop for unique, vintage pieces, source the best possible vendors, and build the most amazing collection of vintage furniture Abbot Kinney has ever seen — doing exactly what you were already doing.
2. You want to be a professional dance choreographer for hire because you’ve spent most of your life dancing and you are the bee’s knees.
Amazeballs! Now, your job is to do exactly what you were already doing. You don’t spend the vast majority of your time taking pricey headshots, sending out resumes and searching for an agent. You get your act on every social platform known to man and continue to dance your little (or maybe it’s big) butt off. Without fail, you stick to a schedule and post a new, amazing, out-of-this-world, self-choreographed dance to YouTube, Instagram, Vine, Twitter, Facebook, etc. You get the idea.
You’re obviously going to have to focus on the minutiae at some point. While it’s not what you want to be spending your time doing, it is an integral part of any business. For this reason I apply an 80/20 rule to my work life; 80% the THING and 20% minutiae.
Now, go on with your bad self and do the damn THING. – JC
Documentary filmmaker Steve James stopped by “The BIG Interview Show,” at The Abbey Pub in September 2014, to talk about his new movie, “Life Itself,” about the life of Roger Ebert.
Our next show is Nov. 7, at The Hideout, in Chicago, with Kelly Hogan and more! http://www.ticketfly.com/purchase/event/693931 and theinterviewshowchicago.com.
Thanks to Ben Chandler, Adam Peindl, Neal Heitz.
On the heels of her powerful United Nations speech in the name of gender equality, Emma Watson covers Elle UK’s feminism issue and discusses how she is using her fame to make a difference.
Watson made headlines around the world for her powerful speech when launching the HeForShe campaign at the U.N. Summit in September. She took to the podium and declared that feminism is “the belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities,” and that men can be feminists, too.
“I was very nervous,” she told Elle UK. “It wasn’t an easy thing for me to do. It felt like: ‘Am I going to have lunch with these people, or am I going to be eaten? Am I the lunch?'”
The British actress skyrocketed to fame after first appearing as Hermione Granger in the “Harry Potter” films franchise, which began back in 2001. However, celebrity hasn’t been the easiest role for her. Speaking out on behalf of equality is her way of channeling and managing that fame.
She is passionate about the cause of feminism.
“Feminism is not here to dictate to you,” she told Elle UK. “It’s not prescriptive, it’s not dogmatic. All we are here to do is give you a choice. If you want to run for president, you can. If you don’t, that’s wonderful, too. I’m lucky I was raised to believe that my opinion at the dinner table was valuable. My mum and I spoke as loudly as my brothers.”
Head over to Elle UK to read more. The full interview appears in the December 2014 issue, on newsstands Oct. 30.
Nintendo announced Thursday it is developing a new device that will track people’s fatigue levels and “map their sleep” without making physical contact with them.
The device, which has yet to be named, comes from a newly created health care division within the Japanese game company — a division that Nintendo president Satoru Iwata says he expects will turn a profit in the next two years.
Nintendo will develop the device in partnership with ResMed Inc., a medical equipment company that creates devices to treat sleep disorders. ResMed is best known now for its S+ device, which it calls “the world’s first non-contact sleep system.”
The device will supposedly be “the size of a hand” and sit on a bedside table. It will also use microwave transmission sensors to track your sleep, collect data and then do “something fun” with it, whatever that means. (Your mobile phone also uses microwave transmission to send and receive information.)
Nintendo said it expects the device will be available before the end of March 2016. It’s unclear what the device will cost, but Iwata suggested it could be offered on a subscription model, something Nintendo has rarely experimented with in the past. Representatives from Nintendo and ResMed did not immediately respond to requests for comment from The Huffington Post.
The announcement comes one day after Nintendo announced its first profit in 4 years. Strong sales of new games like “Mario Kart 8” and “Super Smash Brothers for 3DS” were largely credited with pulling the company back into the black.
ResMed’s own S+ sleep sensor is priced at $149.99. It, too, functions as a contactless device that sits on your bedside table. It “reads and tracks your chest movements” while you sleep and provides advice like, “Your deep sleep was short last night. If heartburn or other stomach problems disturb your sleep, try lying on your left side.”
The ResMed S+, available now, tracks your sleep patterns without touching you.
Nintendo has long been interested in products that purport to make their customers healthier. Well-known examples include “Brain Age: Train Your Brain In Minutes A Day!” for the Nintendo DS and “Wii Fit” for the Nintendo Wii.
However, the company has come under fire in the past for dubious health claims. Speaking to WebMD, experts criticized Wii Fit’s Balance Board, saying the weight-tracking device doesn’t “equate to how fit a person is.” Polygon went so far to call Wii Fit U “potentially dangerous” for encouraging repetitive running in place.
November is bringing some great new titles to Netflix. But unfortunately, that means we also have to say goodbye to some of our favorite movies and TV shows currently on the site. With only a couple days left before the end of the month, start planning your marathon of all the disappearing films you haven’t had a chance to watch with this list of titles leaving Netflix come November.
This list is tentative and subject to change. HuffPost Entertainment contacted a representative for Netflix to confirm that these films will disappear from the service on Nov. 1 and beyond.
Movies
“101 Dalmatians”, 1996
“American Psycho,” 2000
“Apocalypse Now,” 1979
“Apocalypse Now Redux,” 2001
“Balibo,” 2009
“The Big Chill,” 1983
“Blown Away,” 1992
“Breezy,” 1973
“Brighton Beach Memoirs,”1986
“Broadcast News,” 1987
“The Buddy Holly Story,” 1978
“Bullet Proof Monk,” 2003
“Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,”1969
“Candyman,” 1992
“Caveman,” 1981
“Cheech & Chong’s Next Movie,” 1980
“Cloak & Dagger,” 1984
“The Conqueror Worm,” 1968
“The Dogs of War,” 1980
“Elvis ’56,” 1987
“The Escape Artist”, 1982
“Footloose,” 1984
“For a Few Dollars More,” 1965
“Fire in Babylon,” 2010
“The Good, the Bad and the Ugly,” 1966
“The Great Outdoors,” 1988
“Hammett,” 1982
“Hannibal,” 2001
“He Said, She Said,” 1991
“Heat Wave,” 2011
“Iceman,” 1984
“King Solomon’s Mines,” 1985/”Allan Quartermain and the Lost City of Gold,” 1987
“La Bamba,” 1987
“Les Miserables,” 1998
“The Ninth Gate,” 1999
“The Odessa File,” 1974
“One from the Heart,” 1982
“Orca: The Killer Whale,” 1977
“The Prince of Tides,” 1991
“A Raisin in the Sun,” 2008
“Red State,” 2011
“Say Anything,” 1989
“Serenity,” 2005
“Silent Running,” 1971
“Single White Female,”1992
“Small, Beautifully Moving Parts,” 2011
“St. Elmo’s Fire,” 1985
“Starman,” 1984
“Steel Magnolias,” 1989
“Stephen Fry in America,” 2008 (Nov. 8)
“Tetro,” 2009
“Thelma & Louise,” 1991
“Tortilla Soup,” 2001
“Trees Lounge,” 1996
“Under the Tuscan Sun,” 2003
“Up at the Villa,” 2000
“Vigilante Force,” 1976
TV Shows
“Bob the Builder,” 1999-2012
“Land Girls,” 2009-2011 (Nov.8)
“The Magic School Bus,” 1994-1997 (Nov. 5)
“Thomas & Friends,” 2005-2012
There is nothing quite as touching as watching a group of children sitting quietly, though quite anxiously, for their names to be called to receive a special gift. We see it every day but yesterday I really felt it.
During our morning Reading Party, 4-year old Louis needed a reading partner and that was me. Louis had black hair, spiked up a bit, and a very round cherub-like face. He was so adorable. He was also shy but he smiled easily. Louis (such a grown-up name I thought!) nodded “yes” when I asked him if he would like me to read with him. He took my hand without hesitation and my heart melted. We walked into our Scholastic Book Nook to find his perfect book.
“What do you like?” I asked Louis. “Animals? Superman? Dinosaurs?”
“ALEXANDER!” he exclaimed as he reached for the colorful paperback titled, Alexander, Who’s Not (Do You Hear Me? I Mean It!) Going to Move.
“I love Alexander!” I told Louis.
He smiled big. I smiled big.
Together we went in search of a place to sit. Twenty children and twenty volunteer readers make a fun filled – and crowded – reading party. Every coupling finds their very own area of the floor or reading room to call their own. Many of the children and volunteers choose a place right on our colorful rugs for comfy, Indian-style sitting while others find beanbag chairs to lounge cozily on together. Some of the children are drawn to our Carter’s Children’s Gallery where colorful chairs and tables make for comfortable reading partners.
He wanted us to sit on the floor so I lead him to our big Alphabet rug.
“Let’s sit on “L” for Louis,” I excitedly suggested.
“Can you find “L?” I asked him.
“He scanned the letters, pointed eagerly, and pulled me to “L.”
There we sat. Me, with my legs in a very cramped position and wishing I could move, and Louis extremely comfortable leaning on me as he listened to every word I read about how Alexander did not want to move!
When it was time for everyone’s special surprise, the children were directed to sit facing the front in rows. Then we began. One of us called a child’s name and pulled out a beautiful pair of new pajamas tied with a ribbon from our giant Pajama bag! Everyone clapped as we waited for that child to jump up and come up to get his or her gift. One by one we read each child’s name and handed over a gift. We want each child to feel really special, to know their gift was chosen just for him or her and tied with that curly ribbon with love. It was pure joy for all of us. I really don’t know who is thrilled more – we who give the pajamas or the children who receive them.
I heard Louis’ name called and I was elated. I watched him stand and bashfully walk up to the front with a big grin on his face. He glanced at me with pride. I cheered and clapped as if he were my own child who had just won the county spelling bee. My heart swelled and my eyes watered. “That’s my boy,” I thought to myself. It may sound silly, but I’ll bet every volunteer in the room was thinking the same thing when her child’s name was called. We may be the ones giving the children pajamas and books but they give us an even greater gift.
If you thought you’d only be in Paris during the French Revolution in Assassin’s Creed: Unity, you’d be wrong. The French Revolution Simulation is collapsing. All of Assassin’s Creed is a simulation, after all. You’re about to be dropped in a different time entirely. Steampunk? Naw. Dropping in via Mr. Peabody and Sherman? Time travel can only be done that … Continue reading
MSI makes some pretty amazing gaming laptops, and even some peripherals that make laptops pretty awesome for gaming. Their new GT80 Titan might just take the cake, though. Not only is it the world’s thinnest and lightest gaming laptop, but it has a mechanical keyboard built right in. For those gamers who want the feel of a mechanical keyboard — … Continue reading
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.
