Hasta La Gadget!

Last week Sony Pictures became the victim of a cyberattack. Top secret files of the company were compromised and some were even leaked online. Hackers also obtained copies of unreleased movies which quickly spread online through torrent sites. Sony Pictures began investigating a possible link of the hack with North Korea. When asked about the matter, while not confirming anything, North Korea is also no denying any involvement with the Sony Pictures hack.

When asked about the matter, a spokesman for the North Korean government said that “The hostile forces are relating everything to the DPRK (North Korea). I kindly advise you to just wait and see.”

That’s as vague a statement as you can make. Links with North Korea are being investigated because Sony Pictures has a movie coming up where the plot is the assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un by two journalists sent to the Hermit Kingdom to interview him, with an ulterior motive aided by the CIA.

North Korea has already expressed its reservation over this movie, called The Interview, multiple times going so far as to call it “undisguised sponsoring of terrorism.”

The FBI is also investigating the matter but no formal announcement has been made yet regarding the people behind this hack.

Moreover, security companies investigating the attack have found code similar to that found when several South Korean entities were targeted, which was also believed to be the work of North Korea.

North Korea Not Denying Involvement In Sony Pictures Hack

, original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.

Most of us spend a good part of our day looking down at our phones, tablets and various devices. While it’s incredibly convenient to have everything from email to games in the palms of our hands, it can also be a quite literal pain in the neck.

According to fitness expert and author of The Roll Model Jill Miller, looking down too much at our devices can lead to both neck pain and neck instability. The good news: There’s a cure, and all it takes is 20 seconds. In the above video from the web series #OWNSHOW, Miller demonstrates the simple exercise that can make a big difference.

“To do this, all you need is your own hand,” she says, sitting up with her back straight. “You want to have your skull right above your rib cage. Your left hand pushes against the side of your head — you want to try to meet your pressure — and hold for five seconds.”

Then switch to the other side, with your right hand pressing against the right side of your head.

“The head actually doesn’t move anywhere. You just want to meet your own strength,” Miller instructs.

Next, do the same thing going forward, pushing your hand against your forehead. Finally, interlace your fingers behind your head and push from this position as well. It’s a quick technique, but don’t be fooled into thinking it’s a total piece of cake.

“I’m actually shaking,” Miller says, as she demonstrates the moves. “There’s a lot of work going into this!”

The impact of this exercise is powerful as well. “Your head will literally fit on top of you better — and it might just be the impetus to not let your head drag down the next time you pick up your cell phone,” Miller says with a smile.

Still feeling pain in your neck? Try using this secret pressure point to find relief.

More from #OWNSHOW

@media only screen and (min-width : 500px) {.ethanmobile { display: none; }
}

Like Us On Facebook |
Follow Us On Twitter

The environment may be the last frontier in which we need to fight for social justice. Hazardous waste that enters the air and our waters causes enormous damage and harmful changes that can become permanent. If we understand our actions will impact our lives and affect the generations to come, will we change our ways?

We tend to live according to the philosophy of “NIMBY”: not in my back yard. As long as “it doesn’t” happen in my own little “kingdom” that I have built, then we have no responsibility for any of the consequences of “it”. As long as the damage and the mess does not happen on my little piece of property, then it doesn’t matter what I, or others, do. This individualism and selfishness is slowly destroying the earth.

We tend to live in ignorance of consequences in our lives. We are inclined to believe that as long as it doesn’t happen in our own street, yard, or neighborhood, we will not be doomed. The longer we stay in denial, the worse our planet will become for everyone.

Therefore there are hundreds of environmental and religious organizations which are consciously and effectively addressing our worldwide concerns and taking measures to improve sustainability and climate justice.

In September of this year, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon held a Climate Summit with World Leaders in New York City. While the event was significant, the continual work of the world leaders to address climate justice must not stop with a Climate Summit. They must continue to work in their own countries with dedication and commitment to lower greenhouse gas, work for sustainability, and environmental justice. World leaders must continue to develop an international plan to account for “out of state” pollution that crosses borders to befoul air and water. It is becoming increasingly clear that the lack of plan to save the environment will result in ongoing devastation on our planet.

Without the commitment and work of each nation, each government, each community and every individual, we are slowly on the road to environmental apocalypse. Climate justice is a relatively new term in the world of social issues.

The concept of climate justice is based on the inference, from changes in climate, that the industrial and commercial activities of highly industrialized countries create climatic effects on countries they have done nothing to create those effects. These effects may manifest themselves in human health and climate displaced migration problems, inhibit agriculture or animal husbandry affecting a wide range of human rights: right to food, right to water and sanitation, right to a safe environment. It also assumes that, while laws rarely bridge national borders, countries can and should be held accountable morally for befouling the health and welfare of other countries. Climate change is a clear example of the extraterritorial effects of our actions.

To this end, in 1992, at the Rio Summit, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change emerged to tackle the issue of reducing greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere. The Conference of the Parties (COP) was designated as the supreme governing body of the Convention. This initiative has led to some positive results. In 1997, the Kyoto Protocol, a binding instrument of the Convention, was adopted. The Protocol expressed how much industrialized countries should reduce their CO2 emissions. At COPs, 195 countries meet once a year to share information on greenhouse gas emissions, national policies, optimal practices and negotiate how to prevent major consequences from climate change. Discussions include adaptation, mitigation, climate finance, technology transfer in order to support developing countries on climate change.

COP20, the 2014 meeting, will take place at the Army General Headquarters in Lima, Peru from December 1 to 12, 2014. Peru became a member of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in 1994 and joined the Kyoto Protocol in 2002. Peru is committed to sustainability and contributes to the global effort of reducing greenhouse effect gases generated by human activity.

Many religious organizations and groups work for climate justice. The World Council of Churches (WCC) participates in the COP meetings as a nongovernmental organization. At the last COP, held in Warsaw, Poland, in 2013 representatives of faith communities expressed that the meeting concluded without fulfilling the expectations of the victims of climate change The World Council of Churches has raised the issue of the importance of climate justice for vulnerable communities.

The agreements reached at COP19 proposed a new mechanism to help victims of typhoons, floods, droughts and other impacts of climate change. Discussions on loss and damage continue as steps taken are still far from sufficient to respond adequately to the climate crisis in developing countries. Churches and faith communities have called to continue praying, fasting and advocating for climate justice until COP21 in Paris, where a new climate agreement should be reached.

Since the 1970s, the WCC has helped develop the concept of sustainable communities. Since the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change was adopted in 1992, a WCC delegation has participated at all COPs, organizing side events, ecumenical and interfaith celebrations, presenting a statement at the high level segment of the Conference. Over the years, the WCC helped foster a movement for climate justice touching millions around the world, including thousands of congregations from dozens of denominations.

God entrusts us with the stewardship of the earth. As in the recent film, Noah, one can speculate that the flood was punishment for bad stewardship of the land. This is an allegory that may become all too real, if climactic changes lead to events not unlike Noah’s great flood. God calls on us to care for the poor of the earth and calls the rich to share and live sustainably so all people might have life and have it in its fullness.

The greed of nations, corporations, and individuals contributes to climate change that plays a role in the destruction of this planet. This, in turn, creates problems for the human family, particularly the people who have been pushed to the margins. For the sake of creation, for the sake of our sister and brothers, for the sake of the planet, and for own sake, is is important to work for justice and continue to fight to reverse climate change.

We all need to join in the work of fostering climate justice before it becomes too late.

In January 2014, photos of the ice covered St. Joseph, Michigan lighthouse went viral – thanks in large part to the Huffington Post featuring my photos many months prior. At the time, people assumed the images were taken during the current polar vortex, so they swarmed to the St. Joseph shore to take a look for themselves. To their disappointment, the lighthouse was encased in little ice. This did, however, create a buzz for frozen lighthouse images. While the images are unusual, the event is not, and I try to photograph each one.

In fact, in late November of this year, an early arctic weather pattern turned the Midwest cold and windy – the perfect ingredients for iced lighthouses on the Great Lakes. When I arrived at the lighthouse, my expectations were correct. This was the earliest I can remember, where the outer lighthouse in St. Joseph, Michigan was completely covered in ice. As a rule, mid to late December is the typical time for icing -cold, windy, and the lake is still liquid. Any later, and Lake Michigan tends to freeze over, and the splashing and spray are suppressed, so the lighthouses don’t ice up.

Beating the forecast for warm weather and rain, I headed out to photograph the lighthouse before the ice melted, and before the skies turned to rain. Following an hour or two capturing images from shore, I headed out on the inner pier only to find the railings completely ice covered. While this is nothing new, the ice also covered the only space between the rails allowing people to walk to the inner and outer lights. I considered climbing over, but the return climb was certainly not as easy, and not safe.

After a time photographing the pier and inner light, a rather familiar person came walking down the pier. It was a local man who studies bird migrations from the pier. I’ve run into him over the last six or seven years here, no matter what winter day I venture out to photograph the lighthouse from the end of the icy pier. Today, along with his spotting scope, he was armed with an axe, and ready to chop the ice away from a portion of the railing so he could access the far end of the pier.

He worked at chopping the ice for almost an hour; I watched along with two fishermen and a few amateur photographers. He finally made enough progress for us to safely climb over the rail. He held my camera gear as I climbed over to fasten a rope to the catwalk upright about 20 feet away, then back to the rail for a handhold in case we needed it on the return trip. Once over, I assisted a fellow photographer over the rail, and we made our way on the narrow surface past the inner lighthouse, to the outer light. We were the first people this season to access the frozen outer light, and also to photograph it from the end of the pier.

Rounding the far corner of the inner lighthouse, I was greeted by white, sun-bathed ice against a deep blue sky. The lighthouse tower is 35 feet tall, and it was covered in ice to the top. The connecting catwalk was built about 10 feet above the pier to protect lighthouse keepers and workers from the dangerous waves of Lake Michigan. It’s easy to see by the ice formations, that the catwalk would do little to prevent workers from getting soaked by the spray, and possibly washed over the rail.

Because it was an early freeze, the deck of the outer pier was wet, not frozen, as the waves of Lake Michigan washed over it. The water was just above freezing, so it kept the ice from forming on the deck, allowing safe passage without the worry of slipping into the cold water. This was something unexpected, as I often need to walk on lumpy ice and snow to access the outer lighthouse.

You can view more images from this photo journey in this Huffington Post feature.

In a few more weeks, the water will freeze almost instantly on the deck, creating very dangerous conditions for visitors. The shore of Lake Michigan in winter can be extremely dangerous – deadly in fact. One must understand just how deadly before they venture out near the winter shore. More about that in a later post…

Andy Cohen says he is a “gold-star gay.”

The Bravo host sat in the hot seat for an interview with “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” star Lisa Vanderpump in his “Watch What Happens Live!” clubhouse. Vanderpump was allowed to ask him anything, so she asked when was the last time he had sex with a woman.

“Never. Never full, full-monty. I’m a gold-star gay,” Cohen responded, before he admitted to “fooling around” with women before.

“How do you know you don’t like it?” Vanderpump asked.

“Well, because I like dudes so much more,” he said. “But I thought maybe it would be fun if I was in a throuple with a man and a woman. That would be interesting.”

Cohen opens up about his dating life in his new book The Andy Cohen Diaries: A Deep Look at a Shallow Year. He also touches on using Tinder in New York City.

“I got caught up in the tech buzz and randomly joined,” he writes. “I said ‘yes’ to a few. … Tinder is my ticket to meeting people I wouldn’t normally come across, like an architect who lives in Murray Hill, or a scientist from Williamsburg. Welcome to my rich fantasy land.”

Watch Cohen’s interview below. He’s asked about his sex life around the 6:38 mark.

H/T Towleroad