During his remarks on poverty at Georgetown University on Tuesday, President Obama noted the discrepancy in pay between two very different sets of workers.
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You may have recently spent your weekends binge-watching Netflix’s “Daredevil,” “Grace and Frankie” or “The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt,” but you’ll have to learn patience for the streaming service’s latest series.
Netflix’s new thriller “Between” premieres on Thursday, May 21, but you won’t be able to watch the entire show all at once. The six-episode drama, which stars Jennette McCurdy (“iCarly”), will be released like any other TV series, with one episode per week.
“Between” follows a mysterious plague that’s wiped out anyone over the age of 21 in a town called Pretty Lake. After the government quarantines the area, the survivors must find a way to survive. Check out the new trailer above, which looks like “The Walking Dead” meets “Children of Men” meets Lord of the Flies. And if the idea of waiting for an episode each week is too much to handle, don’t worry, there’s still “Sense8” and “Orange Is the New Black” to binge-watch soon.
“Between” premieres on May 21 at 11:30 p.m. ET, followed by new episodes at the same every Thursday on Netflix.
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As we turned the corner onto Route 80 East, a symbolic right turn out of Happy Valley, Pennsylvania towards New York City, I became overwhelmed with images from my daughter’s graduation weekend from Penn State.
“Well, we’ll never be back here,” I said to my partner of 16 years.
“Not unless our grandchildren decide to go here,” he replied. After being together 16 years and now living in an empty nest, it’s OK to reference grandchildren once in awhile (even thought that’s a long way away).
What a weekend! Graduation weekend is a celebration of a journey accomplished, a future unbridled and for us, an unconventional family filled with love. These images filled my emotions as we drove up and around the beautiful landscape of Pennsylvania, making our way back home to New York.
My daughter is a planner. She planned every minute of her entire four years at Penn State, squeezing in every experience possible including a semester away in Australia. She’s now planning the next two years in graduate school at the University of San Diego, where she will major in Marriage and Family Therapy. The girl knows what she wants.
As we progressed through the weekend with a drink at the first bar we’d ever been to together on College Avenue, to the Mexican place that serves great frozen margaritas on the outdoor terrace, to brunch with the Roommates of 403 and then to a buffet dinner with her mom, we celebrated my daughter’s many accomplishments through the four years, snapping pictures on our smartphones to immortalize each moment of the weekend.
I think that’s what struck me most about the graduation experience, more than anything else, is how so many of the graduates were just continually snapping pictures. Click, click, click. Sure, they were living moment to moment in celebration, but they were also moving picture to picture in an attempt to capture it all.
I have to remember that this is the generation that coined the phrase, “It there’s no picture then it didn’t happen.” It’s the Image Generation, and they are graduating in droves.
As a dad who has volumes of pictures from every stage of my two kids’ lives, I can relate.
So of course I jumped at the selfie in the kitchen, and the photo opp in front of Old Main and the solo under the cherry blossom tree. So of course, I smiled along as we took pictures of my daughter on the graduation floor from up in the bleachers while she took pictures of us from the graduation floor sitting up in the bleachers. So of course I held the banner that her mom made so that she could snap a pic. Of course I said yes.
This is the Image Generation after all, where we click, post and share every experience in order to immortalize the moment and showcase it. I’m all about it, one click at a time, share after share. Without these images, we’d have nothing to reflect back on these magical moments to spark our memories. Trust me I know, I live for #TBT when I can post old pictures I’ve now scanned of the kids growing up.
So it’s only natural to be clicking away a big weekend like a graduation from college. Her friends barely took their faces from their phones, and I don’t blame them. They’ll want those images for their last week together on campus and for the years that go by in their lives. They’ll want those images to sustain them through the hard times, and to give them laughs at reunions when they all get together again.
And as a dad who couldn’t be prouder, I also couldn’t be happier. Happy to be in at least a few of those pictures. I’ve already got one framed on my desk.
Happy Graduation to all the graduates this year! Best of luck in your future endeavors. Keep a photo by your side at all times to remember this magical time in your life.
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You hang on, hold on and hope that things will be different than how they actually are. And then one day you decide you are done.
You re-think, regret, re-live and then, then, relief.
You head out into the world and then you scurry under ground.
You try again, you have bad dates, you have good dates, you make new friends and you keep trying, at everything.
You go on a non-date and decide you wish it were a date.
Your non-date asks you on a real date, which you think, is a non-date.
You realize you want to stop dating your other dates and only date this date.
And then…you see that….
You thought love had to hurt to be worth it and then find it doesn’t ever have to hurt.
You got so used to everything being your fault and then your life is free from blame.
You were so afraid to be yourself that you were no one and then suddenly you are utterly loved for being entirely yourself.
You became invisible and then you hear “wow, you look pretty, you are pretty” and you blush.
Your opinion didn’t matter and now it’s what matters most.
Your life became smaller until tiny, and then it got louder and brighter and your entire world expanded exponentially.
You gave up your dreams and then are given the opportunity to dream new ones.
You feared making noise and then found freedom to stomp loudly.
You revolved around someone else and then someone starts asking about your day.
You lost your voice and then, you found it.
You forgot how good it felt to laugh and then, you laughed.
You cried silently and then have someone pained by your sadness who cries for you.
You accepted less than and then you don’t and never do again.
The one thing you feared most is the one thing you are now grateful for. Everyday.
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CLEVELAND, May 12 (Reuters) – An Ohio sheriff looking into the death of a 12-year-old boy shot by two Cleveland police officers while he played with a replica gun said on Tuesday the investigation was mostly complete, but provided few details.
The brief statement to reporters from Cuyahoga County Sheriff Cliff Pinkney on the November death of Tamir Rice appeared to be in response to a demand last week for answers from Rice’s mother, Samaria Rice, and family attorneys.
Timothy Loehmann, the officer who shot Rice, and Frank Garmback, who was driving the police squad car, are white. Rice was black.
The incident was one of a series of killings of black people by white police officers that fueled national outrage over the use of force by law enforcement officers.
Pinkney said that his office could not review a redacted version of the city’s investigative file on the shooting until mid-February – more than a month after the sheriff was assigned the case. The redacted file lacked statements from police officers given as part of an internal review but which generally cannot be used in criminal prosecutions.
Prosecutors received both redacted and unredacted files in January, Pinkney said.
Rice, a sixth-grader, was playing with a replica handgun that mainly shoots plastic pellets when he was shot twice by police responding to a 911 emergency call about a man with a gun outside a recreation center. Rice died the next day.
A security camera video of the shooting shows Loehmann shooting Rice less than two seconds after the two officers’ squad car arrived.
Pinkney said that while it would be “politically expedient” to provide an arbitrary deadline to complete the investigation, he would not sacrifice the probe’s integrity to do that. He declined to take questions.
“All parties involved know that my department is conducting a fair, impartial and thorough investigation, one that leaves zero stones unturned,” said Pinkney.
Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy McGinty has said the shooting evidence will be presented to a grand jury when the sheriff completes his investigation.
Pinkney said his investigators have reviewed thousands of pages of documents and conducted numerous interviews, but a few more witnesses need to be interviewed.
Some family members shouted questions at Pinkney, including Tamir’s cousin, Latonya Goldsby.
“We want charges brought against these officers for their recklessness,” Goldsby later told reporters. “You can see in the video that they were totally reckless.”
(Editing by Mary Wisniewski and Will Dunham; Editing by Christian Plumb)
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LONDON (AP) — Prince Charles’ secret letters to government officials are set to be released to the public Wednesday after a long court battle.
The memos to various governmental departments have long been sought via a Freedom of Information Act request by Guardian newspaper journalist Rob Evans.
The court case relating to memos written a decade ago to the Labour Party government led by Prime Minister Tony Blair has pitted Charles’ right to privacy against the public’s right to know.
The government has sought for years to keep the letters out of the public domain for fear that publishing them might damage public perceptions of Charles’ neutrality, which is required for a future monarch.
The 27 contested letters have been called the “black spider” memos because of Charles’ cramped handwriting style.
The government was ordered to release the letters in 2012 after losing its court case. But the attorney general vetoed the decision, arguing that Charles’ letters were part of his preparation to become king and should be kept private.
That was upheld by one court, but then overturned in 2014 by the Court of Appeal, which decided there was no justification for overturning the earlier freedom-of-information decision.
Britain’s Supreme Court in March supported that ruling, leading to Wednesday’s planned publication of the memos. It is expected the government will make some redactions before publication.
As heir to the throne, Charles is expected to stay out of political matters. He has in the past expressed views about architecture, genetically modified food and climate change.
Charles has said he is disappointed his privacy will not be upheld.
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You might think you’re better off without Facebook — that it has become a wasteland of people needlessly expressing political and religious beliefs in long, overly aggressive status updates, sharing pictures of glamorous vacations, or simply the sandwich they’re eating for lunch — and reconnecting with people they forgot existed. But regardless of how you feel about it for your personal life, if you own a business, the importance of using Facebook shouldn’t be overlooked.
Today, some business owners insist Facebook and other social media platforms aren’t for them — that spending any time or money on social media advertising and marketing campaigns are a waste.
To get specific in their defense, they may point to articles, like the one recently featured on Fast Company, arguing top brands on Facebook and Twitter aren’t reaching very many fans because, on average, “only .07 percent of followers actually interact with each post.” But perhaps using isolated statistics on specifics like post interaction shouldn’t be generalized to evaluate the effectiveness of social media for business.
But just because something isn’t commented on does not mean it isn’t noticed (though an increasing number of people, namely the “internet trolls,” seem to believe otherwise). When used correctly, social media is an effective tool for business owners of all industries — key phrase being when used correctly.
Benefits of Advertising on Facebook
Social media offers advantages other types of marketing does not. In fact, “social media has a 100 percent higher lead-to-close rate than outbound marketing.”
The main and obvious differentiator is interaction. Many business owners unfamiliar with social media platforms assume the goal is to get as many “likes” and “shares” as possible. There is more to it than that. According to Mark Zuckerberg — who seems like a pretty good person to take advice from — says an often over-looked Facebook feature businesses can use for unparalleled customer engagement is Messenger, which provides real-time, instant accessibility for customer support services.
At the bare minimum, businesses should have a Fan Page, which allows them to display basic information such as hours and links to their website, as well as regularly post content to gain a fan following — for free. The page also allows people to “check in” and update their friends and families of their interaction with the business, simultaneously increasing brand exposure.
Unfortunately, for many small business owners, creating this Fan Page is the end of the road, directing their full attention on search engine optimization, building back-links, and pay-per-click campaigns. And while this is good, it’s not the only way to drive traffic and increase sales.
Social shares, comments and, yes, even “likes” can influence how online shoppers perceive a company, and can be effective in persuading their decision to use — or not use — a company. As Erik Qualman, bestselling author and digital leadership speaker, points out in #Socialnomics, “93 percent of shoppers’ buying decisions are influenced by social media, because 90 percent trust peer recommendations.”
There’s also the Facebook feature of ad campaigns, which allows business owners to get real-time feedback on analytics and metrics, gain marketing insights, as well as the number of impressions their content has made, click-through rates, etc. — all while directing specific ads at the users most likely to benefit from the company.
Don’t Change the Goal — Just the Approach
There’s no disputing that people are now spending more time online than ever before. Millions of web users spend time on Facebook everyday — even if it is only for a few minutes. (In my experience, even the people who say they “can’t stand Facebook” still have an account they check at least a couple times a week, even if they don’t post often — or at all.)
As Hearsay Labs Founder, a Facebook marketing software company, Ms. Shih, points out, “You can waste a lot of time on Facebook. But if you’re a business, you don’t have any time to waste. Figure out your objectives first, start small and do things that help you accomplish your objectives.”
Again, engagement is not your only option, even if it is one of your goals. But simply knowing there are different applications, features and metrics on Facebook isn’t enough to determine which ones are right for you. That happens, most often, through trial and error. And in order to test out the different features and approaches Facebook and social media have to offer, business owners need to first have an audience. As a business owner, your social media presence needs to provide consumers with incentive to follow you.
One of the biggest mistakes businesses make is posting the same recycled and promotional content over and over again, and letting their frustration with the lack of new followers and engagement discourage them from using it all.
So, What’s in it for the Customers?
People follow brands on social media because they enjoy the opportunity to provide feedback, directly access customer service, stay up-to-date on latest product and service information, and be the first to receive discounts and promotions.
The problem many business owners face is not that Facebook and other platforms are ineffective — just that, typically, their approach to it is. It isn’t enough to create a Facebook page, schedule posts, sit back and hope the following comes.
You need to establish what your goals are and tailor your efforts accordingly. For example: e-commerce sites, with increased sales as their focus, should use the apps that sync products for sale seamlessly onto their Facebook page and provide customers a way to access and purchase products without having to go to the website.
There is a difference between knowing something exists, and actually understanding how it works. The key is identifying and understanding which features and applications make the most sense for your brand, and which tools and strategies will provide your audience with the most benefit.
As a business owner, you can’t afford to be blasé about social media marketing; just because you don’t personally use Facebook, doesn’t mean your customers don’t.
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Every day is a day for celebration! Do you stop and reflect and feel good about all of the progress you make in life, or like most people, do you just let life pass you by without noticing?
My guess is, you aren’t completely the same person you were ten years ago, or maybe even ten days ago. We are all works in progress, but so often people neglect to feel good about their evolution.
Similar to paying attention to the simple pleasures in your life, noting our successes and progress and feeling good about them, takes practice. I regularly ask clients to list things they are proud of and/or what they like about themselves. What happens next usually surprises them more than it surprises me, but often they can’t come up with much, if anything.
What do you like about yourself? What are you proud of? How do you feel when you think about these questions? Do you feel warm and fuzzy, or are you left feeling worse than before you read this? My purpose for asking is definitely not to leave you feeling like a failure. It’s to shine a light on the fact that most people are so busy focusing on what they aren’t proud of, what’s bothering them, and what they think they aren’t doing well, that they don’t look for reasons to celebrate.
A few weeks ago, I had a mole removed. For many people this would be no big deal, but I left my dermatologist’s office feeling giddy. This is because for years I would get so worked up over things like this, that I would sometimes faint. I would have to seriously prepare myself beforehand, sometimes medicate myself, and then lay on the exam table for a while after until I returned to calm. That day, I went in, had the mole removed with no drama, and left. I felt proud because I have a come a LONG way. This could have been easy to ignore, but instead I used it as feel good fuel.
Another day recently, I noticed that neither my back nor my hamstrings (which for years have caused me pain), didn’t ache as I walked down the street. It’s really easy to pay attention when our bodies hurt, but do you acknowledge when your body feels good? Just realizing this, added a little bounce to my step. This wasn’t something to necessarily be proud of, but it sure was cause for celebration!
I tell my clients, “You don’t need to win a Nobel Prize, an Oscar, or write a bestselling book to feel proud,” and “You don’t need a birthday to celebrate.” All you really need is an open mind and a true desire to feel better each day.
Give yourself permission to feel good about any and all progress no matter how big or small. If last week you didn’t exercise at all, and this week you worked out once, celebrate! If you completed a project at work that was challenging for you, celebrate! If you pushed yourself to have a difficult conversation, celebrate! If you made a difficult decision, celebrate! If you’re reading this because you want to live a more fulfilling life, celebrate! Heck, if you didn’t want to get out of bed this morning and you managed to anyway, celebrate!
Anything and everything that is moving you forward towards living a happier life is worth honoring. In order to truly love the life you have today, you must practice admiring yourself. You must pay attention to the good stuff, and acknowledge how far you’ve come. Try not to get caught up in focusing on all the things you think you “should” be doing, and choose to let go of your illusions of perfection.
Be proud. No one can be you better than you can. Stop looking for outside validation and praise. Only your opinion can really make the difference when it comes to becoming the best version of yourself. Don’t wait until tomorrow to celebrate. You can always find reasons to feel unworthy of it, but if you look, you will find that there is no better time than today, and you deserve it!
Happy Day!
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Academic studies can be fascinating… and totally confusing. So we decided to strip away all of the scientific jargon and break them down for you.
The Background
When it comes to sex, people often think: The more, the better. (And if you’re having fun, why not?) Researchers often take that one step further, suggesting: The more sex you have, the happier you’ll be. Considering all of the health and mood benefits of orgasms, this sounds logical enough, but research has yet to establish that having more sex actually causes people to experience a boost in happiness.
The Setup
Researchers from Carnegie Mellon University recruited 64 married heterosexual couples between the ages of 35 and 65, asked how much sex they were having and told half of those couples to double their sexual activity for the duration of the 90-day study. The second group of couples wasn’t told to do anything regarding their sex lives. Couples who reported significant health problems, pain during intercourse or negative sexual tension in the relationship were excluded from the study. To keep track of how often the couples had sex and their happiness, the researchers had all couples answer 10-minute surveys each morning during the study.
The Findings
The couples in the double-your-sex group followed instructions perfectly, and did just that. As for that accompanying boost in happiness the researchers suspected they’d find? There was none. Dutifully having more sex actually made these couples slightly less happy — and even reduced their desire for and enjoyment of sex. Instead, happiness was linked with how close partners felt to one another and whether or not the sex they were having was enjoyable.
The researchers had some concerns about these findings, though, since the couples in the study’s test group weren’t getting it on voluntarily — they were doing it because it was a requirement of participation. This “excitement-dampening” effect, as the researchers put it, may have caused couples to lose intrinsic motivation for sex, which could have lessened the enjoyment they got from it. Thus, no subsequent lift in well-being.
The Takeaway
This new research doesn’t mean that more sex can’t cause people to become happier. It just means that upping the frequency of the physical act alone isn’t the key. If couples feel compelled to do it more often — say, because they read dogmatic article after dogmatic article directing them to do so — that might just set them up for failure. If you’re having sex when you and your partner both want to have it and the sex is good, then you’ll probably be happier. There’s no need to force it or stress out if you’re not riding the “sex every night” wave.
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Yesterday we had a treasure trove of great deals on Logitech gear, and today, it’s Anker’s turn. Anker makes some of the most popular external batteries we’ve ever posted , and today on Amazon, they’re having a nice little sale on some of their other highly-rated products.
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.
