Hasta La Gadget!

It looks like YouTube’s Android app is all set to be all the more useful, as we have received word that the upcoming version of the app will feature a permanent Cast button in addition to new privacy icons, now how about that for progress in the right direction? This update would mean that a permanent Cast button will be added to the action bar, regardless of whether there is any Chromecast or Android TV in the vicinity. Should there be no use for the permanent Cast button, it will remain greyed out so that you do not have to select it by accident.

Apart from that, there will also be new icons which will appear whenever one decides to select the privacy level of content that one is adding to YouTube. There will be a sense of familiarity to it, since all same three choices (Public, Unlisted and Private) will still apply, although the icons could very well be considered to be easier to understand.

If you cannot wait, there is an APK signed by Google which be sideloaded, although it might be better to just play the patience card and let Google push this particular update through Google Play. You will need a device that runs on Android 4.0.3 or higher if you decide to choose the former route.

YouTube Android App To Get Permanent Cast Button , original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas (AP) — A South Texas woman has given birth to triplet girls, with two of the babies conjoined at the pelvis.

A spokesman at Driscoll Children’s Hospital in Corpus Christi said the conjoined babies, who share a colon, were in good condition Monday. Catalina, Ximena and Scarlett were born Saturday at Corpus Christi Medical Center-Bay Area. A spokeswoman for that hospital says the conjoined girls — Ximena and Scarlett — were transferred Sunday to Driscoll.

She says the girls were born to Silvia Hernandez of Brownsville via cesarean section, at about 34 weeks. A normal pregnancy is about 41 weeks. Each baby weighed 4 pounds, 11 ounces. They were breathing without respirators.

Catalina remains at Corpus Christi Medical Center-Bay Area in good condition.

Hernandez and husband Raul Torres also have 2-year-old son.

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The Formula One Grand Prix of Monte Carlo – which is held again next weekend (21-24 May 2015) – may well be the world’s most glamorous sporting event, but its arena remains (outside of the actual competition) one of the most accessible venues of all. Nowhere else can you just walk onto the “field of dreams” any day of the week to bask in the glory of sporting history.

The fastest cars will complete the 2-mile lap around the Monte Carlo circuit in about 75 seconds. You will need a little longer, but if you are up for it, here is where to go.

Start your walk right down the middle of Boulevard Albert 1er: this is where the checkered flags go up and down, right outside the offices of the Automobil Club de Monaco.

When you walk out of Monaco train station, you will find the spot a couple of hundred meters on your right.

Now walk back in the direction of the station for the first turn of the race, the so-called St Devote (named after the chapel in front of the station), notorious for the large number of accidents it has caused through the decades, even though most of these were of the harmless variety and mainly pile-ups immediately after the start.

Walk right up the Avenue d’Ostend – this stretch is called Beau Rivage …

… and follow the street through its long left-hand curve before taking a sharp right-hand turn into the Avenue des Beaux Arts past Casino Square.

Continue straight into Avenue des Spélugues and turn right at the end, walking down to the slowest section of the course, actually the slowest section of any course in present-day F1 racing.

This is the famous Fairmont Hairpin (formerly the Loews Hairpin and before that the Station Hairpin). There were days when cars attempted to overtake here, probably because the other cars seemed so temptingly slow.

Although the sheer dimensions of modern racing cars no longer allow such manoeuvres, accidents still occur frequently here – like on the first lap of the 2000 race when Pedro de la Rosa’s Arrows spun around and blocked the track for the following traffic. Only nine cars finished the race on that day, a record low.

After a double right-hander, the so-called Portier, the cars now enter the famous tunnel, the only one in F1 (apart from a much shorter one in Abu Dhabi’s Yas Marina Circuit).

This tunnel is known to cause a range of problems to the drivers: firstly, the cars become difficult to handle because they lose roughly a quarter of their downforce in the tricky, semi-subterranean areodynamic conditions. Secondly, of course, there is the weather: on sunny days, the drivers’ eyes take nearly as long to adjust to the changing light as they take their cars to come out on the other end. On rainy days, the tunnel stays dry while everything outside is wet.

Out of the tunnel, with the Princess Grace Theatre high up on your right hand side …

… you are approaching the location of the Nouvelle Chicane, added to the track in the redesigns of 1973 and 1976, the only place where it still appears possible to overtake. Consequently, this has been the site of several large accidents, including that of Karl Wendlinger in 1994, Jenson Button in 2003 and Sergio Perez in 2011.

On the last section of the straight that follows the tunnel, the most recent of Monaco’s (altogether 4) fatal accidents occurred: this was in 1967 when Lorenzo Bandini crashed his Ferrari upside down into the straw bales, immediately bursting into flames while fire marshals stood helplessly by. When they eventually managed to drag Bandini’s burning body away from the wreckage, it was already too late, and he died a day after in hospital.

Poignantly, one year before that, Bandini – in his capacity as the F1 racing adviser to the movie Grand Prix – had suggested to director John Frankenheimer to use this exact spot as the location for the movie’s great showpiece accident.

Immediately behind the accident spot, there is the Tabac corner (named after the tobacconist who once operated on the other side of the street), a tight left-hander for which the drivers only slow down to about 200 km/h …

… before accelerating back up to 225 km/h for Piscine, the left-right combination of turns around Monaco’s public swimming pool.

This is where Alberto Ascari – still the only Italian ever to win the F1 crown in a Ferrari – drove his car into the sea in 1955, miraculously escaping with only a broken nose. (He was rescued by the crew of Aristotle Onassis’s private yacht.) Only four days later, Ascari suffered a fatal accident at a sports car race in Monza.

Almost immediately behind Piscine, you will arrive at the tight right-hander called Rascasse. If you want to follow F1 action at close range, this is where you should stand during the Grand Prix: nowhere in F1 racing are spectators allowed to come this close to the track.

In the 2006 qualifying, they would have been able to witness a rather curious spectacle when Michael Schumacher appeared to deliberately stall his car to slow down two other drivers behind him (Fernando Alonso and Mark Webber) who were threatening to improve his qualification time and send him back on the starting grid. (This is also where the pit lane starts on race days, above the restaurants on your right hand side.)

Now into the Antony Noghes right-hander, leaving the statue of 5-time world champion Juan Manuel Fangio on your right hand side …

… down the stretch where in 1970 Jack Brabham, seemingly destined for victory in the last curve of the last lap, crashed his car into the wall, handing the win to Jochen Rindt.

And that’s it: after a short sprint… you have arrived at the finishing line.

In the unlikely event that nobody expects you there with a bottle of champagne, drinks are served one level below in a row of outdoor bars that are surprisingly inexpensive, considering their location and the views they provide across the most glamorous harbor in the world.

Michael Schuermann aka Easy Hiker has more suggestions on where to go in Monaco here.

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Dear Senator Fasano,

In recent days, much has been made of House Republican Leader Themis Klarides’ reaction to Governor Malloy’s statement that a law that adversely impacts people and communities of color is racist in its outcome. And, to be clear, the Governor was right. Regardless of intent, policies that negatively affect minority communities are inherently racist in outcome.

But, of late, missing from the conversation on making our communities fairer and safer has been the voice of Senate Republicans.

Just months ago, you announced the Republican “urban agenda,” an attempt to restore Republicans’ fractured image in our cities. And you even expressed measured support for the Governor’s Second Chance Society initiatives. It seemed to be a step in the right direction. But why aren’t you holding press conferences now to discuss real policies and decisions that can level the playing field for residents of our cities? Your urban agenda appears to have waned in the face of misleading attacks from members of the Republican minority in the House.

The opposition to this legislation from House Republicans is fueled by a fear that supporting this legislation will fuel backlash against GOP legislators from the conservative base of the Republican Party. And based on the silence of the past several days, I fear that this opposition has spread to Senate Republicans.

But if that is the case, there is political cover. On the national level, criminal justice reform is an issue that has gained bipartisan support, including from national Republicans like Rick Perry, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, and Rand Paul.

Are Connecticut’s legislative Republicans really that far to the right of some of the nation’s most conservative Republicans on the issue of criminal justice?

As I believe you know, the truth is that Second Chance Society legislation would not just help nonviolent offenders – many of whom made a mistake as a very young person – escape from a lifetime of punishment, but it would improve our communities and continue to make our state safer.

As the architect of the Republican “urban agenda,” we hope you will weigh in on an issue that undoubtedly affects our cities and can help make Connecticut a Second Chance Society.

In the words of Rick Perry, “for some people, a chance is all they really need.”

Sincerely,

Nick Balletto
Chair, Connecticut Democratic Party

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Off Broadway plays can get really weird. Like, watermelon-being-smashed-to-bits-on-stage weird. So when the basic Broadway lineup starts to feel tired, it can be difficult to navigate theater options that extend beyond seeing “Wicked” for the fourth time. Here to help you avoid being needlessly splattered with fresh fruit, we bring you the May edition of our monthly roundup of five Off and Off Off Broadway shows.

“Queen of the Night”
Great For: Wine-drunk acrobats

“Queen of the Night” is hard to explain, but it is perhaps most accurately described as an experimental, immersive dinner theater circus. Brought to you by the creator of “Sleep No More,” it incorporates interactive elements around a dance-heavy floor show with a mix of acrobatics. Imagine Cirque du Soleil set in a PG-13 version of that masked party featured in “Eyes White Shut.”

There’s a dark, partly tongue-in-cheek theatricality about the way the cast has transformed the Diamond Horseshoe supper club. The show starts in earnest at 8 p.m., though the performance really begins as soon as you walk through the door at 7:30. A crew of dancers wearing androgynous uniforms (halter tops paired with long shorts and dress shoes) swoop through the crowd mingling over drinks, engaging with audience members.

The cast searches for participants through pounds of eyeliner, reading their potential victims based on energy. It’s possible to shirk that element of the evening all together, though you’d be missing the point. Experiences range from a silent ceremony with the queen on the main stage to a milk bath (about which the publicist would only say “the experience is private”).

Once the show is in full session, dinner is served. While dinner theater food is usually a pre-made frozen afterthought, the culinary aspect of “Queen of the Night” is very much a part of the experience. The meal varies by night, but is often an extravagant extension of the show itself, and has included an entire lobster or whole roasted pig.

Much of the show is what you make it (and how adventurous you may be feeling beforehand), though some elements are consistent for all audience members. Even if you stay firmly planted in your seat, avoiding eye contact and gripping a glass of wine, “Queen of the Night” manages to be a thrilling mix of the eerie and garish. It vacillates between beautifully haunting and grotesquely dramatic — as if Stanley Kubrick and Baz Luhrmann were co-directors at war for the soul of the show. But, for the love of Nicole Kidman, I mean that in a good way.

In performances until June 30 at The Diamond Horseshoe.

“Churchill”
Great For: Teenage history buffs

“Churchill” is sort of like watching a kindly old professor enact an impression of the indelible Winston in hopes of reinvigorating his students. In spite of the set, it is far closer to a dramatic lecture than a one-man show. While the history of the great prime minister is well studied, the accent is not. For a general vision of what actor Ronald Keaton’s Winston is like, imagine Churchill doing an impression of a Midwestern American doing an impression of himself.

In performances until Sept. 13 at New World Stages.

The Stepfathers
Great For: Stepchildren, but also most human beings

A better example of the Harold does not exist in New York. For those that don’t willingly identify as “comedy nerds,” the Harold is a form of improv invented by Del Close that threads a narrative through scenes, enacted by a group and inspired by a suggestion from the crowd. Of course, this is far too simple an explanation, like explaining a monarch butterfly’s metamorphosis by saying “a worm becomes aesthetically pleasing.” But you will understand it all quite clearly in the masterful hands of the troupe that comprises The Stepfathers. The whole thing makes “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” look like child’s play.

In performances at Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre.

“Queen for a Day”
Great For: “Sopranos” fans who deign to watch primetime crime drama

For fans of “The Sopranos,” watching Vincent Pastore (“Big Pussy” Bonpensiero) and David Proval (Richie Aprile) on stage is inherently sublime on some level. Yet once you get past the thrill of these actors playing mobsters once again, there are obvious flaws to be seen. For one, it is wholly unclear if “quirky old Italian man” is Proval’s character or just what he’s like in real life. And while it is fun to see poor Pussy rise to the role of mob boss, he shows up on stage far too late to salvage a play that ultimately feels like an elongated interrogation scene from an Italian-themed episode of “Law & Order.”

In performances until July 26 at the Theatre at St. Clements.

“The Glass Menagerie”
Great For: Denzel Washington

Masterworks Theater Company put on Tennessee Williams’ classic play with the mission statement of “igniting” young audiences. Things are certainly updated and reimagined in a more modern theatrical manner, invigorated with an exciting reading of each line. And yet, the central dilemma — the tragedy of becoming an old maid — feels out of place amid the updates. Your heart still aches for the helplessly jittery Laura (played by Olivia Washington, daughter of one Denzel) and yet her plight feels lost in time amid the reinvigorated choices of director Chris Scott, as well as the archaic ideas the show contains. This was certainly an ambitious effort, but if Masterworks Theater Company would like to “ignite” their audience, they ought to bring a bit more lighter fluid.

Now in performances at 47th Street Theater.

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