Several of the games I’ve written about at this year’s E3 have been massive reinventions of huge franchises. That made the all-too-brief time I spent with ReCore (developed by Comcept and Armature Studio) one of the more relaxed and enjoyable gaming…
With an $18.2 billion emissions scandal weighing heavy on its bank balance, Volkswagen is hoping electric cars will offer a brighter future. At a recent press conference, company CEO Matthias Müller unveiled “Together – Strategy 2025,” a new ini…
When it comes to quality smartphones that are not attached to a price tag that breaks the bank, you can be sure that the many names from China would fit the bill perfectly, although there is still much work that needs to be done on the software side of things in order to ensure that it will work efficiently and is on part with other more established brands in the market. Meizu is one of the China names that have stamped a mark for itself in recent times, with devices like the Meizu M3 note, and here we are with Meizu’s latest – the beautiful looking Meizu M3s.
This latest smartphone from the folks over at Meizu is certainly a looker, although some might think that it is somewhat dated in its form factor. From what we do know, the Meizu M3s will arrive in two flavors – 2GB of RAM alongside 16GB of internal memory, while the other variant would come with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal memory. On the outside, the Meizu M3s will boast of a smooth and delicate metal body, which was accomplished by using 360° sand blasting. Those who have set their hearts on the new Meizu M3s will be able to take their pick from a quartet of color options – namely silver, grey, gold and rose gold.
Your eyes will greet the 5” High Definition display without any issues, thanks to its full lamination technology. Not only that, there is the 2.5D glass design that delivers visual joy and while feeling great in the hand, and underneath the hood lies an octa-core A53 processor that will be able to roll out the relevant kind of performance in its class.
At the back lies a 13MP camera that is capable of supporting quick and automatic phase focusing, while various photography modes have been thrown into the mix as well such as long exposure or panorama mode. In front would be a new 5MP camera that has a large ƒ/2.0 aperture, ensuring that it can still do its job even in low light conditions.
Running on the Flyme OS that is based on Android 5.1 Lollipop, we do wish that it came with Android 6.0 Marshmallow right out of the box instead. Any takers?
Company Page
[ Meizu M3s delivers a lesson in metal copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]
Now that Game 7 of the NBA Finals looms, ever wonder what it would be like if the Cavaliers and Warriors went at it like school kids on the local baseball diamond?
Wonder no more.
Check out The Kicker-posted spoof that transposes the heads of the championship adversaries onto the child actors of the 1993 movie “The Sandlot.”
Just hearing a little LeBron James (with a really big head) telling tiny Stephen Curry that “you mix your Wheaties with your mama’s toe jam” makes it all worthwhile.
The fun vid was posted before Game 6, but we figure the “Sandlot”-style trash talk will only increase before the final showdown.
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A waitress in northwest Spain saved a coffee cup from crashing to the floor by sensationally back-heeling it into a sink without even looking.
Surveillance video from the Posito bar in Moaña, Spain, shows the woman using her epic reflexes to kick out backward at a mug she’d just sent tumbling from a high shelf.
Incredibly, her left foot connected with the cup as it fell behind her, and she somehow sent it splashing into the nearby water completely undamaged.
The bizarre incident was captured on May 31 and is now going viral.
A local newspaper, La Voz de Galicia, compared the unidentified waitress to Portugal and Real Madrid soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo — lightheartedly adding that it’s only a matter of time before she’s signed up by a local team.
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I love Juana Medina‘s whimsical and charming illustrations and was delighted to have the chance to ask her some questions about her delicious new counting book, 1 Big Salad, with adorable fruit and vegetable characters helping children learn numbers — and a great recipe!
When you go to the grocery store, do you look for characters or food?
For both! I greatly enjoy looking at food. With time, I’ve learned that searching for food for illustrations has to happen separately from grocery shopping, otherwise leaving the store becomes impossible!
While working on 1 Big Salad, I was lucky to count on very, very patient farmers selling their produce at the University of the District of Columbia (UDC) Farmer’s Market, they graciously answered my questions and allowed me to take a long time choosing fruits and vegetables based on their appearance.
What helped you decide which animals go with which numbers?
Observing the shapes of fruits and vegetables led to imagining how they could be transformed into animals. There were plenty of unsuccessful attempts, where the animals were a little too abstract or where the photographed food element wouldn’t really go along with the salad, but it was all worth the experimentation — little by little, I was able to find a combination that seemed to make sense.
How do you make sure that characters based on the same food have such different personalities and expressions?
No two carrots are the same! Each vegetable, fruit or nut brought great richness in terms of color, shape, and texture, which naturally guaranteed a great diversity of characters. I also was careful to keep the illustrations simple, but as playful as possible in order to keep the readers engaged.
Do you ever draw on the food or do you take photos and draw on that?
Initially, I did start by drawing on food or photographing food along with the ink illustration, but maintaining fresh and vibrant food for any length of time is difficult.
Photographing the food beforehand and drawing digitally, afterward, allows for me to try many iterations before I committing to a final image. (I should point out that I’ve been able to enjoy most of the food I work with after I photograph it, so very little of it goes to waste!)
Do you create your drawings with pens or brushes or computers?
I use both. For this book, the final art was done digitally, but many of the initial sketches were done with pencil on paper.
What kind of adventures do you think your food animals like to have?
Jumping, swinging and flying across the page!
Do the lions and alligators ever frighten the mice and kittens?
I hadn’t thought about that! I’d dare say, it could well be the other way around — those clementine kitties can be feisty!
Are the colors or the shapes more important in deciding which foods go with which animals?
The shapes were essential in determining the animals; and the colors and textures helped each character pop off the page.
How do you pick the color and shape of the letters and numbers?
That’s the beauty of working with a fellow graphic designer! I presented to Nancy Brennan, designer extraordinaire at Penguin, my vision for the typography and layout and she added the right dose of flair to make it all work.
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STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIALS LOBBYING FOR MILITARY STRIKES IN SYRIA “More than 50 State Department diplomats have signed an internal memo sharply critical of U.S. policy in Syria, calling for military strikes against President Bashar Assad’s government to stop its persistent violations of a civil war ceasefire.” [Reuters]
BRITAIN REELS FROM MURDER OF JO COX The 41-year-old British lawmaker was shot dead after meeting with constituents. Cox was a rising political star, outspoken for Syrian refugees and preventing the Brexit. Her suspected killer reportedly had ties to a neo-Nazi group. [Charlotte Alfred, HuffPost]
SECOND BLACK BOX OF MISSING EGYPTAIR FLIGHT FOUND Authorities retrieved the cockpit recording Thursday. [Reuters]
CLEVELAND CAVALIERS FORCE GAME 7 LeBron wouldn’t let his teamgo quietly in the night, as Cleveland routed the Golden State Warriors. Steph Curry got ejected from the game, and his wife claimed theseries was rigged. Most important question, though: Will you watch “Game of Thrones” or Game 7 live Sunday? [ESPN]
SUPPORT FOR GUN CONTROL SPIKES In HuffPost/YouGov’s latest poll. More details are emerging about Omar Mateen’s communication with his wife during the attack. And the “So That Happened” team reminds us of the real crime in Orlando. [Ariel Edwards-Levy, HuffPost]
FALLUJAH MAYOR’S OFFICE TAKEN BACK In the “first significant victory” in the city for Iraqi security forces in their battle against the Islamic State. [WSJ]
PHILADELPHIA FIRST TO TAX SODA Somewhere, Michael Bloomberg is smiling. [Reuters]
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU GET YOUR LAW DEGREE — AND NO JOB “Such is the atavistic rage among those who went to law school seeking the upper-middle-class status and security often enjoyed by earlier generations, only to find themselves on a financial treadmill and convinced their schools misled them, that there is now a whole genre of online writing devoted specifically to channeling it: ‘scamblogging.'” [NYT]
For more video news from The Huffington Post, check out this morning’s newsbrief.
SO MUCH FOR YOU GOTTA GET WITH MY FRIENDS Sporty and Posh might get replaced on a “Spice Girls” tour. [Vulture]
IS DONALD TRUMP STARTING HIS OWN MEDIA EMPIRE? “Trump is indeed considering creating his own media business, built on the audience that has supported him thus far in his bid to become the next president of the United States. According to several people briefed on the discussions, the presumptive Republican nominee is examining the opportunity presented by the ‘audience’ currently supporting him.” [Vanity Fair]
JUST IN TIME FOR YOUR ‘ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK’ BINGETONIGHT Here’s a refresher on how all your favorite Litchfield inmates ended up there. [HuffPost]
WE HAVE JUST THREE AND A HALF MORE YEARS UNTIL ‘WICKED’ HITS THE BIG SCREEN Not that we’re counting. [HuffPost]
DIVORCE CONCIERGES ARE A THING NOW If you have quite a lot of cash lying around. [NYT]
BETTER MORTGAGE YOUR HOUSE FOR THOSE ‘HAMILTON’ TICKETS ASAP Lin-Manuel Miranda is leaving the show in July. [Vulture]
~ Bible study, one year after the Charleston shooting.
~ D.C., NYC and Boston could become one big “mega-city.”
~ Meat Loaf collapsed mid-concert.
~ You can actually walk on water — seriously.
~ This week’s Middlebrow column tackles why “lady pop stars have no time for slacker anthems.”
~ Scholastic talks the importance of diverse children’s books on their latest podcast, Scholastic Reads.
~ This grandma knows how to Google — politely.
~ Bradley Cooper may have found his superstar for his “A Star Is Born” remake with Lady Gaga.
~ Because Taylor Swift wasn’t in the tabloids enough this week, Kim Kardashian threw some fuel on the ongoing fire of the Kanye/Taylor beef.
~ Congrats to Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis, who are expecting their second child!
Send tips/quips/quotes/stories/photos/events/scoops to Lauren Weber lauren.weber@huffingtonpost.com.
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Defending the United States and its allies is serious business. That’s all the more reason Congress should stop playing games with Pentagon spending. A good place to start would be to put aside proposals to add billions to the department’s already ample budget. The Senate took a step in the right direction earlier this month when it beat back an amendment by Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) that would have added $18 billion in Pentagon spending beyond the amount agreed to in last year’s bipartisan budget deal.
Unfortunately, the House of Representatives has shown no such restraint. During the consideration of the defense authorization act, House Armed Services Committee chair Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-TX) pushed through a proposal to steal $18 billion from the war budget and use it to pay for pet projects that the Pentagon hasn’t even asked for, like 11 additional F-35s and 14 more F/A-18s. This raid on the war budget is fine for Lockheed Martin and Boeing, the builders of the F-35 and the F-18. But what happens when the war budget runs out of funds to support the troops in the field? Thornberry’s answer is to let the next administration worry about it. The House inserted a $16 billion raid on the war budget in its appropriations bill, setting up a fight over the issue in the House/Senate conference committee on Pentagon spending that will convene later this year.
Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter has denounced Thornberry’s maneuver in no uncertain terms, calling it a “terrible distraction” that “undercuts stable planning and efficient use of taxpayer dollars, dispirits troops and their families, baffles friends, and emboldens foes.”
To add insult to injury, Thornberry and his colleagues claim that they are robbing the war budget because there are insufficient funds for readiness – the training and maintenance activities needed to sustain our armed forces. Yet an analysis by the Project on Government Oversight has found that the net result of Thornberry’s proposal would be to cut operations and maintenance – the funding source for readiness activities – by over $11 billion.
Advocates of higher Pentagon outlays claim that the rapid pace of change in the world – from the terror attacks in Paris and San Bernardino to the continuing threats posed by ISIS and Russian aggression in Ukraine – has rendered last year’s budget deal obsolete. This is a questionable proposition. With total resources of over $600 billion proposed for the Department of Defense and related agencies, the Pentagon’s FY 2017 request has allocated just $7.5 billion in direct funding to fighting ISIS, and an additional $3.4 billion to the European Reassurance Initiative, the primary U.S. response to Russia’s military moves along its borders. Even allowing for indirect expenditures devoted towards these purposes, ISIS and Ukraine account for a modest portion of the Pentagon’s budget.
The truth about the current level of Pentagon spending is not that it is inadequate, but that there are tens of billions in unnecessary expenditures tucked away in the department’s budget. A coalition of 17 government watchdog groups has identified $38.6 billion in cuts that can be made without compromising our security. Items targeted for cuts include the F-35 combat aircraft, the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS), the new nuclear-armed cruise missile, and the Pentagon’s overuse of private service contractors, which now number more than 600,000. Taking even some of these steps would eliminate the need for engaging in budget maneuvers of the kind being promoted by Rep. Thornberry.
Unlike its counterparts, the Senate Appropriations Committee was able to find $15 billion in savings in the Pentagon budget. The committee’s action shows that with a little bit of effort, a way can be found to stave off the large increases called for by Rep. Thornberry and Sen. McCain.
Adding billions of dollars to the budget beyond what the Pentagon has asked for is wrong in its own right, but it is also troubling because it is just the latest example of undisciplined budgeting on the part of the Congress and the Pentagon. Hopefully the House and Senate conferees will eliminate the war budget shell game when they meet later this year. If not, President Obama should follow through on his threat to veto any bill that diverts funds from the war budget to pay for non-war related projects.
William D. Hartung is the director of the Arms and Security Project at the Center for International Policy.
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Taking heart at Donald Trump’s plummeting favorability numbers? You think he maybe finally jumped the shark by taking a victory lap over the Orlando massacre? You think the Republic is now safe?
It isn’t. The Republic is already sick. It’s like we had a bad clam — a steady diet of bad clams – and the convulsions aren’t likely to stop soon.
Whether or not a particular martinet ignoramus wins the presidency in November, America and our idealized notion of it have been sullied forever. We thought we were sooooo special. e pluribus unum. “Give me your tired, your poor…” Equal protection under the law. The American Way. How we flaunted our exceptionalism and condescended to the lesser democracies, with their ugly nationalism and crappy militaries but our KFCs.
Old-world losers. Look at us! We’ve got ethnic news anchors and rainbow bumper stickers and chief diversity officers and female CEOs of dying tech companies. We’re practically a Benetton ad! Aren’t we something.
Yes, we are something. We are self-deluding on a grand scale.
Let’s start with the inconvenient fact that 13,300,472 Americans cast their primary votes for Donald Trump. Notwithstanding his recent popularity plunge, if polls are correct and the election were held today he’d still collect 40 percent of the vote. Which is in the neighborhood of 50 million.
Fifty million — pulling the lever for a pathological liar, peddler of vile racist, misogynist, xenophobic ravings and sneering trampler of our most fundamental American values. Not to mention the Constitution, with which he seems unfamiliar. Not to mention a personality I’d call infantile, if I weren’t afraid of insulting infants. And tiles.
Fifty million Americans are for that. If you took those voters and laid them end to end around the circumference of Mars, you’d get no argument from me. Because to support Trump is to spit on the American flag and all it stands for.
But let’s just pretend for a moment that the 50 million number is deceiving, that just as there’s a structural unemployment rate that will never entirely vanish, there’s a structural disenchantment rate — ordinarily populated by the dumbest, the most gullible, the most irritable, the meanest, the hurtingest, the most selfish Americans — whose numbers swell during certain frightening moments in history. Such as war, economic recession, globalization and inequitable concentration of wealth along Gilded Age lines.
That’s the narrative we’re hearing in the press. The problem is, what’s happening now isn’t some transitory blip; it’s the culmination of a 40-year campaign, an incessant drumbeat of grievance against minority rights, gun control, same-sex marriage, secularization, tax-and-spend Big Government, climate hoax, “job killing” regulation, feminism and the rest of a sinister Liberal Agenda that amounts, of course, to tyranny.
Yes, Trump is riding a wave of resentment, but this isn’t a natural ocean, it’s a wave pool at a bizarro theme park, operated by the Heritage Foundation, the American Family Association, Fox News Channel, the NRA, Mark Levin, the Club for Growth, the American Enterprise Institute, Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, Breitbart and the Tea Party. Trump’s calumnies are little more than a “Best of” collection from the Great Rightwing Conspiracy.
Go back to 2012 and the last set of Republican primary candidates. Newt Gingrich called for the arrest of federal judges for “activist” decisions. Michele Bachmann denied the separation of church and state. Ron Paul said the United Nations was going to usurp American sovereignty and take away our guns, property and rights. Gingrich called the Obama administration “socialist” and Bachmann called it “gangster government. Rick Santorum said Obama “has a deep-seated antipathy toward American values and traditions.”
Sound familiar at all? It’s a never ending chorus, Ted Nugent-style.
Creeping extremism has defined deviancy way, way down. Remember 2008 when the Howard Dean caucus night “scream” got him painted as too excitable and undignified for high national office? Two years later, Tea Party candidate Sharron Angle won 45 percent of the vote in her U.S. Senate race against Majority Leader Harry Reid, despite musing about armed insurrection against the government.
“I hope that’s not where we’re going, but, you know, if this Congress keeps going the way it is, people are really looking toward those Second Amendment remedies and saying my goodness what can we do to turn this country around? I’ll tell you the first thing we need to do is take Harry Reid out.”
In fairness, she did make her case for violent sedition in a pleasant, measured tone of voice.
And many of her Tea Party confederates, dog whistling similar sentiments, actually won their elections. What used to be the lunatic fringe is now called the House of Representatives. And what used to be at least controversial is now the mainstream. Today, today, three days after Trump painted the president as a terrorist conspirator, the chairman of the Republican National Committee tweeted this:
Flying to Dallas now with @realDonaldTrump…Reports of discord are pure fiction. Great events lined up all over Texas. Rs will win in Nov!
— Reince Priebus (@Reince) June 16, 2016
Paul Ryan, the speaker of the House, endorses Trump. His predecessor John Boehner endorses Trump. His former nomination rivals Newt Gingrich, Mike Huckabee, Bobby Jindal, Marco Rubio and Rand Paul endorse him. Senators John McCain, Orrin Hatch, and John Cornyn endorse him. Rupert Murdoch and the Wall Street Journal editorial page endorse him. Jerry Falwell Jr., the pastor of the Gospel, endorses him.
The penalty for inflaming the masses with hatred and lies turns out to be the blind loyalty of the very conservative establishment Trump loathes. (Sorry, fellas. Take a number.) The Party of No sees no evil, hears no evil. Meanwhile, his followers flock to his rallies, ecstatic in his thrall, and to the internet, portraying his political opponent as an anti-Christ. Because they fear for their American identity, because they fear for their sovereignty, because they fear for their majority, because they fear for their security and because someone must be blamed. Such as immigrants, women, Latinos, gays, experts, black presidents and the media.
Yes, like demagogues before him, he is making America grate again. Never mind that e pluribus unum and the Bill of Rights and the Pledge of Fucking Allegiance argue otherwise.
Twentieth century history, of course, teaches us the toll of scapegoating, from Nazi Germany to the Indian partition to Rwanda to ex-Yugoslavia. Pay attention. Today, just as Reince Priebus was tweeting his support of Donald Trump’s vision for America, a British member of parliament was being murdered for supporting Brexit, by a man who reportedly screamed “Britain first!” — because he too feared for his country’s identity, sovereignty, security and the rest.
Well, we can no longer cluck about those foreigners and their tribal hatreds. The melting pot has been turned down to simmer, and entrenched political powers are cultivating a seething army of nationalists. Tens of millions of them, and — because we are so exceptional — no doubt the best, angriest, most resentful nationalists in the world!
With access to 300 million guns. What will they do to make America great? Sharron Angle had some thoughts on that. So did Charleston Church shooter, the Kansas Jewish Center shooter, the Sikh Temple shooter, the Gabby Gifford shooter, the Planned Parenthood shooter and the Oklahoma City bombers.
Mind you, I am not predicting helter skelter. What I am saying is that I’m heartsick and ashamed to be forced to even contemplate it. But contemplate it we must, because the body politic has been poisoned and these nativist forces unleashed.
Maybe Trump will be humiliated in the general election. Maybe the quisling GOP will go down with him. But have no fear of that American society will be lowered in the process. That descent is long since underway.
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BERLIN (Reuters) – A 94-year-old former Auschwitz guard was convicted on Friday of being an accessory to the murder of 170,000 people, according to the judge presiding over what could be one of Germany’s last Holocaust trials.
Reinhold Hanning was sentenced to five years in prison for his role in facilitating the slaughter at the Auschwitz death camp in Nazi-occupied Poland.
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