You have choices when it comes to Bluetooth speakers. Lots of choices. Be it bombastic offerings from big-name manufacturers or impressive boxes from smaller companies, the market is saturated. With that, we got our hands on Inateck’s latest, a Bluetooth speaker with a small footprint that wants to do big things. Dual 1.5-inch speakers promise big sound, with Inateck boasting … Continue reading
Tennis history was made today as Serena Williams defeated Maria Sharapova to win her 6th Australian Open. More importantly, Serena’s 19th Grand Slam singles title surpasses my childhood tennis icons Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert. This latest victory reminds me why Serena knows how to stand out and WIN – in tennis and in life.
Since bursting onto the tennis scene in the late 1990s, Serena (as well as older sister Venus) knows what it is like to not fit in. In the hallowed halls of professional tennis, it’s rare to see top players who are black – not just from the United States, but from any country. Serena and Venus were outsiders who challenged the tennis establishment, and that’s why I gravitated to them. As an immigrant, racial minority and gay man, I root for anyone who stands out as different and still succeeds.
And that’s what we can all learn from the Serena experience. While sports accomplishments brought her to our attention, Serena transcends the tennis court and is memorable to even non-tennis fans precisely because she stands out as herself.
Serena shows that you don’t have to come from a privileged background or learn to play at a country club to become a tennis champion. After winning in Australia, I love her flashback to childhood, remembering: “I went on court with a ball, a racket and hope.”
Serena shows that you can speak your mind – even as a woman. In a world where athletes – and especially female athletes – are often trained to give media-polite responses, Serena does not shy away from expressing her true opinions. Yes, she has sometimes stepped over the line (2009 and 2011 US Opens: how she yelled at a lineswoman and chair umpire was not warranted). But I want to live in a world where women feel empowered to speak their mind more, not less.
Serena shows that you can pursue multiple passions – such as launching fashion and nail polish lines – rather than being boxed into just one of your interests.
Serena shows that an athlete of any race can consistently win in any sport – as long as you have the talent and work hard. She is now judged by the quality of her matches, not the color of her skin.
Serena shows that women don’t have to play sports with a soft touch; just like male athletes, they can exude fire and ferocity.
Serena shows that a woman can flaunt – rather than shy away from – her physical strength.
Serena shows that – although your path may be harder – you don’t have to fit into any expected mold in order to succeed.
Even with history made today, I’m sure there’s already another milestone now in Serena’s sights: Steffi Graf’s impressive Open era record of 22 major titles. I, for one, am rooting for Serena to break that mark – while she continues to stand out and WIN.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Sheriff’s investigators Saturday were reviewing a video of an incident in which hip-hop music mogul Marion “Suge” Knight hit two men with his pickup truck, killing one, that may help provide clarity on whether Knight was the victim or attacker in his most serious run-in with the law to date.
The video is in “police custody” said Knight’s defense attorney James Blatt, and he said he would be seeing it on Monday or Tuesday. Sheriff’s spokeswoman Nicole Nishida confirmed that detectives are reviewing the video, but “they have made no such arrangements with the attorney” nor did they have plans to show it to him. Meanwhile, Knight remained jailed on suspicion of murder after turning himself in early Friday. He’s being held on $2 million bail.
Sheriff’s deputies said Knight hit and killed his friend Terry Carter, 55, with his pickup truck Thursday in a Compton fast food restaurant parking lot, also injuring Cle “Bone” Sloan, 51, an actor and film consultant who was hospitalized and in stable condition late Friday.
Blatt said Knight was an innocent victim who accidentally ran over the men as he tried to escape a vicious attack.
The incident was the latest in a long line of brushes with death and the law for the 49-year-old founder of Death Row Records, one of the genre’s leading labels.
Knight started the label that helped solidify West Coast rap with Dr. Dre, who had been a member of the legendary group N.W.A. The label also launched the career of Snoop Dogg and had Tupac Shakur in the last months of his life.
The fatal run-in occurred a short while after Knight was told by deputies providing security to leave a film location after arguing with Sloan, who was working on the set, during a break from filming a promotional video for the biopic “Straight Outta Compton” about the rise of N.W.A. at the time.
The argument resumed and escalated a short while later at a fast-food restaurant a few miles away, with Knight and Sloan exchanging punches through his open window, sheriff’s Lt. John Corina said.
Corina said Knight backed up his pickup truck and knocked Sloan down.
“Then he puts the truck in drive, drives forward, running over him, and then keeps going forward and keeps on driving, and runs over Carter, who is standing in the parking lot, and keeps on going after that,” Corina said.
He said witnesses told investigators it looked like an intentional act.
Authorities said they do not believe Carter was involved in the altercation.
Blatt said Knight was called to Tam’s Burgers in Compton by Carter for a meeting and was attacked by four people, including Sloan, as he slowed his truck. The men beat him through his window, tried to pull him outside, and threatened to kill him.
Knight punched the gas and fled in fear, Blatt said. He had no idea he hit two men. Corina said that claim is hard to believe, and there’s no evidence thus far of four attackers.
The fatal run-in comes less than six months after Knight was shot six times at a West Hollywood nightclub in August — the second shooting he’s survived. No arrests have been made.
At 6-foot-4 and weighing 325 pounds, Knight’s reputation as an imposing figure is credited, in part, with helping create Death Row Records when he strong-armed another label to release Dr. Dre from his contract, said Chuck Creekmur, CEO of allhiphop.com.
Knight was at the center of one of the most notorious rap conflicts of the 1990s, pitting rappers Tupac Shakur against Biggie Smalls in an East Coast-versus-West Coast rivalry.
Knight was sent to prison for nearly five years for badly beating a rival with Shakur at a Las Vegas hotel, just hours before Shakur was fatally shot while riding in Knight’s car just east of the Strip.
Smalls, whose real name was Chris Wallace, was shot to death in a similar attack six months later.
Knight and Dre later had a falling out, and Dre left. The record company eventually declared bankruptcy and was auctioned off.
Dr. Dre and Ice Cube, another former N.W.A. member, were at the film location Thursday, but they didn’t see Knight.
In November, Knight pleaded not guilty to a robbery charge filed after a celebrity photographer accused him of stealing her camera in Beverly Hills, California. Because of prior convictions, he could face up to 30 years in prison.
Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) has pledged to introduce legislation on police accountability following the dismissal of charges against a Detroit police officer who fatally shot a 7-year-old girl.
On Friday, the case was dropped against Officer Joseph Weekley in the 2010 death of Aiyana Stanley-Jones, who was killed during a botched police raid while she was sleeping in the couch. Conyers released a statement Saturday saying the decision was unlikely to end the controversy over the incident.
“However, our community must not lose sight of the greatest tragedy of all in this situation — the loss of a 7-year-old innocent child, Aiyana Stanley-Jones,” the congressman said. “I extend my deepest condolences to the family of Aiyana Stanley-Jones during this very difficult time.”
Conyers went on to add that the tragedy should lead toward “cultivating community-focused, smart policing,” starting with basic reforms like police retraining and minimizing use of deadly force.
“The troubling circumstances of this case further exemplify the urgency of enacting legislative reforms to address the legal hurdles often faced in creating a system for better police accountability and illustrate the need for major reform in our criminal justice system,” he said. “I plan to take two steps. First, I plan to review the matter very closely. Second, I plan to continue my work on police accountability and follow through by introducing legislation.”
Weekley was first through the door shortly after midnight during the 2010 raid in search of a murder suspect, and shot Aiyana shortly after a flash-bang grenade was thrown. A television crew was filming the incident for a reality show about murder investigations, raising questions about police procedure for the raid.
The circumstances of the shooting were disputed at two trials — Weekley maintained Aiyana’s grandmother had touched his gun, which she denied — that both ended in a mistrial. At the second trial in October, the judge granted a motion to dismiss the involuntary manslaughter charge, leaving just the charge of careless discharge of a firearm causing death or injury, a misdemeanor that carries a 2-year maximum sentence.
Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said Wednesday they would not seek a third trial for Weekley and called the judge’s decision to drop the manslaughter charge “unfortunate.”
In December, Conyers and two other congressmen sent a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder inquiring about the role the Department of Justice plays in the monitoring and training of SWAT teams and local police forces’ use of military-style equipment.
You can buy almost anything online. There are lots of normal options, like shoes or groceries. But you can also order a ton of whacky shit, like a life-size statue of obese Arnold Schwarzenegger or a TaskRabbit to come stand motionless and unblinking in your kitchen while you dance around them to the music of Fleetwood Mac. Amazon will sell you a 55-gallon tub of lube!
Superbowl XLIX is tomorrow. Cord-cutting SportsHeads need not fret: If you don’t have a TV, it’s pretty easy to watch it online this year. NBC is streaming it for free on its website, and even if you don’t have cable, you’ll be able to watch from within the U.S.
Wireless charging is more trick than treat for most smartphone users, but those able to take advantage understand its benefits. Set your phone down on a pad, and it charges. There are no fussy cables to pick up, and you don’t risk screwing up your charging port (which does much more than just charge your phone). With TYLT’s new Vu … Continue reading
NEW YORK (AP) — A 7-alarm fire destroyed a warehouse and sent giant clouds of smoke across Brooklyn and into Manhattan on a day so cold that water froze on firefighters’ helmets.
FDNY Chief of Department James Leonard says the large volume of water and the efforts of 275 firefighters failed to save the building Saturday. He says one person was treated at the scene in the Williamsburg neighborhood for smoke inhalation. The fire was reported at about 6:30 a.m., two hours after firefighters were summoned to the building to put out a small fire.
Leonard says the search for a cause will work to determine if the two fires were related.
The building contained offices and storage and lots of paper, which served to fuel flames that burned through walls.
Americans probably like to think of their countrymen as a group of achievers, hardscrabble hustlers who pull themselves up by the bootstraps each morning to go to work, eat apple pie, and fall asleep watching baseball.
While that’s certainly true in some cases, another silent majority is popping up and it’s almost all in the shadows: the story of America, the gambler. And what better time of year to tell that story than right before the Super Bowl, the pinnacle of legal and illegal gambling in our great country?
It’s said that over $3B gets bet on the Super Bowl every year between small prop bets, Squares, pools, and other sundry wagers amongst friends and co-workers. What’s amazing is that only $100M of that will be done legally. While I’m not here to debate the ridiculousness of that figure – do you think any states could use that tax revenue? – I am here to say that if you’re going to partake in any of that delicious, gray-area action, you may as well use math to give you an advantage.
(Ah, using things to gain an advantage. Now THAT’S American, baby!)
You probably don’t need a fancy algorithm to tell you that the Seahawks have a great defense. They rank #1 in defensive efficiency, but there’s a slight difference between how good they are against the pass (#1) and against the rush (#4). The common logic here is that Belichick likely knows that a downfield passing game against Richard Sherman and company isn’t likely, so the earlier they can get settled with a power running game, the better.
Our algorithm predicts him at 15.28 attempts, which makes the OVER a good play. It gets even better when you dig into the numbers – we at numberFire use advanced analytics and similarity scoring to generate these insights, it should be noted – and realize that seven out of the top nine strongest predictors for Blount’s performance all top 15 carries.
This one isn’t for us, but it might be for you. It’s hard to really build a mathematical model around this sort of thing, but we can say that only three anthems over the past nine years have gone over two minutes. Jennifer Hudson’s languorous, throat-shedding 3:10 version before Super Bowl XLIII skews things quite severely. Idina Menzel is this year’s singer – I must admit, I don’t know much about her – so this is an UNDER unless you happen to know that her style lends itself to long solos and Aguilera-esque tremolos.
I’ve already gone on record that advanced analysis shows that while Russell Wilson is very good, he’s not elite. And let me tell you, my Twitter feed can confirm that a lot of Seahawks fans disagreed. Well, here’s another one for you, ‘Hawks faithful: Wilson won’t top 200 yards in Sunday’s game.
In fact, we’re projecting only 173.05 yards for Wilson. Part of the reason is because the Patriots have a very strong pass defense (#4), but another, perhaps larger part of the reason is Wilson just isn’t a bulk passer. He’s only likely to throw the ball about 28 times in the game, and with the worst WRs situation of any team that made the playoffs, there isn’t much of a downfield threat to speak of.
Be sure to follow these bets on numberFire Live, a brand-new predictive platform that makes following the game more exciting. Check it out here.
Hopefully some of these prop bets will not only give you another reason to stay glued to the game, but a nice windfall in which to take your significant other to a nice dinner to make up for how little you paid attention to them during the actual game.
The New York Times recently led its “Review” section with a very long, data-filled summation of where men and women stand on the subject of sex. Alongside pieces on “How Auschwitz is Misunderstood” and “Who Will Rule The Oil Market,” you could learn that “one of the more common questions for Google is “How big is my penis?” and that “women show a great deal of insecurity about their behinds.”
Was the newspaper of record–the one that still resists reporting gossip–finally getting down and dirty? Even while cloaking those ‘he says, she says’ numbers in so-called academia? (Would you tell a pollster the truth on how many times a week?) Forget that there was little context to the survey, or that it felt excruciatingly intrusive. The truth is, it was yet another public step into an area many feel should be kept private.
Alas, more analysis and sex-tistics are soon to come: the justification, I predict, being the movie version of 50 Shades of Grey, which opens in a few weeks. There is nothing inherently wrong with surrounding a fictional phenomenon with interesting perspectives. But you have to wonder when it becomes an excuse for just a tad more titillation, the ultimate in high-brow meets low.
50 Shades, by, the way, has not been previewed by its makers: usually a sure sign that it will not land on any ten-best lists. On the other hand, the movie will likely be critic-proof and already, pre-sales are huge. I confess I have never read one word of the trilogy by author E.L. James: perhaps a shameful admission for someone who supposedly keeps tabs on the culture. Is it snobbism because the books are apparently literary-challenged? Is it reluctance, because I might be intrigued by the sexcapades? Is it pure and simple jealousy that this first-time writer is making zillions? But enough about me.
These are strange times we live in, when virtually nothing is private and everything is virtual. Just ask “60 Minutes” correspondent Steve Kroft, whose sleazy texts to a former lover recently enjoyed a tabloid run. Just ask actor Stephen Collins, whose audio messages landed him in what might be called his own Seventh Hell. Much like what the Sony folks learned regarding business affairs, public figures–in fact all of us— need to save erotic thoughts for in-person dealings. Or for academic researchers, apparently.
At times it is difficult to imagine that anything new can be said, or more revealing can be shown, about sex. Personally, even if I cared about the size of one’s genitalia, I wouldn’t share it, and I don’t care what anyone else thinks on the subject. I am insecure about a lot of things, (though not my behind) but am not sure why that matters to anyone else. As for what we see on screen, I will refrain from saying things were sexier when they were implied. Nor will I say that I mostly dislike how Lena Dunham’s girls and boys express their sexual desires because I fear younger generations will wonder why they should ever look forward to coupling.
Perhaps I am in the minority, but regardless, stay tuned, as “experts” lecture about dominance and submissiveness, and why we may secretly crave them. Already the discussion has begun:The author of that New York Times piece claimed she was finally ready to reveal all her research, writing, “Call it everything you wanted to know about sex, but didn’t have the data to ask.”
Really? Who asked?
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.
