Hasta La Gadget!

When Andria Farthing was planning her June 17 wedding in Madison, Wisconsin, she knew just who to ask to be her flower girl: Patrick Casey, her 28-year-old cousin.

Casey told Huffpost that he and Farthing were close growing up and once served as flower girl and ring bearer at a wedding together when they were little kids.

Four years ago, Casey was introduced to Farthing’s now-husband Jake and immediately liked him. He had a feeling the couple would end up together and began pestering them to include him in their wedding.

“I was lobbying to be their ‘flower man’ even before they were engaged,” Casey said.

And, it turns out, the couple didn’t think it was such a bad idea.

“A little later, after their engagement, they honored me by bestowing me with the duty I so craved,” he said.

When the wedding day came, Casey took his role very seriously:

“I used the same flower basket that she used when we were in that wedding together as children!” Casey told HuffPost.

Casey thoroughly believes his untraditional role added some “levity to their special day.”  

“A good marriage includes a lot of laughing,” Casey told HuffPost. “So what’s wrong with a bit of fun at your wedding with someone you both love and who loves you both?”

And although Farthing was on board to have Casey be her flower man, not everyone else was ― at first.

“I think there was some skepticism, but after, many people complimented me on being funny while not crossing the line,” Casey said.

“I think most people were won over when I stopped at the end of the aisle, put the basket down…”

″…And pulled flower petals from my pockets and threw them in the air, LeBron powder-toss style.”

Casey, who says he was honored to share in this special moment with his cousin, does lament one tiny thing about his experience as flower man.

“My only regret is forgetting to use the flower petals I had stuffed into one of my shoes,” he said. “Maybe next time!”

You can see Casey’s entire walk down the aisle in the video above.

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Hotels are notorious for blocking guests’ ability to connect their own devices to in-room TVs, and that includes streaming sticks and Google Chromecast devices. AT&T is helping change this alongside SONIFI Solutions’ StayCast, allowing hotels with DirecTV service to order StayCast for their rooms. Hotels that take advantage of this will enable guests to cast content from their phone or … Continue reading

Tesla has continued to one-up its achievements as a successful proprietor of safe, green and increasingly autonomous electric vehicles. But it might venture out from the niche its carved for a much more saturated market: Streaming audio. Music indust…

Even if you’re not interested in virtual currencies, you might have heard the names ethereum and GDAX yesterday on social media. Ethereum is a cryptocurrency, much like Bitcoin, and it’s one of the more actively traded virtual currencies. There was a “flash crash” in its value yesterday, the term refers to a steep immediate decline in value, which wiped out many traders but also apparently minted a millionaire.

Ethereum’s price on the GDAX cryptocurrency exchange fell to as low as 10 cents from $319 in about a second due to a “multimillion dollar market sell” order. It was trading as high as $352 on Wednesday.

Vice president of the GDAX exchange Adam White said that the flash crash was initiated by a multimillion dollar market sell order that was executed around 12:30 pm PT. It resulted in orders being filled from $317.81 to $334.48.

The flash crash was basically caused by automated market orders that are designed to help a trader limit their losses. They are called stop loss orders, as the name suggests, the order is automatically executed once the instrument’s price reaches a certain limit so that the trader can cap losses.

Once the multimillion dollar market sell order was fulfilled, the price continued to fall which trigged another 800 stop loss orders. Moreover, margin funding liquidations further exacerbated the problem and pushed the cryptocurrency’s value to as low as 10 cents.

Many ethereum traders criticized GDAX on social media and some even alleged that perhaps some illegal activity was taking place. However, White says that initial investigations show no signs of wrongdoing or account takeovers. A thorough investigation into the flash crash is being conducted as well.

The GDAX exchange had to temporarily halt trading of the virtual currency so that the system could be restored. It has confirmed that all of the trades executed during this time are final and will not be reversed. Some traders have seen their positions being wiped out, losing as much as $9000 in seconds, while one trader may have benefited from the flash crash spectacularly.

One trader is believed to have an automated order set to buy 3,800 ethereum if the price fell to 10 cents on the exchange. The trade would have cost $380 to purchase 3,800 coins. The price shot back up to $300 soon after the system was restored thus valuing those 3,800 coins at well over a million dollars.

Ethereum is currently trading at levels around or above those before the flash crash took place. What this tells us is that trading in virtual currency remains very risky even though efforts are being made to bring them more in line with traditional financial instruments.

If you don’t know what you’re doing or don’t have a high risk tolerance, maybe don’t try your hand at cryptocurrency trading.

Ethereum Crash Wiped Out Many And Also Minted A Millionaire , original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.

WASHINGTON ― The White House on Thursday appeared to concede that President Donald Trump issued a baseless statement about “tapes” of a conversation with his just-fired FBI Director James Comey in order to impugn his credibility.

“I think it was more about raising the question of doubt in general,” said deputy press secretary Sarah Sanders, responding to a question about why Trump had sent out a tweet positing the existence of such tapes before conceding Thursday that he was unaware of any recordings.

Sanders did not respond to a HuffPost query asking for a clarification of her answer.

The top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee questioned whether Trump was trying to stop Comey from talking.

“If the president’s statement is accurate, it of course raises as many questions as it answers, the most significant being: If the president had no tapes, why did he suggest otherwise?” said California Rep. Adam Schiff. “Did he seek to mislead the public? Was he trying to intimidate or silence James Comey? And if so, did he take other steps to discourage potential witnesses from speaking out?”

Sanders’ extraordinary admission came at the very end of a 20-minute off-camera press briefing that began shortly after Trump sent off a pair of tweets that ended 41 days of drama that he himself had created.

“With all of the recently reported electronic surveillance, intercepts, unmasking and illegal leaking of information, I have no idea … whether there are ‘tapes’ or recordings of my conversations with James Comey, but I did not make, and do not have, any such recordings,” Trump wrote Thursday afternoon.

On May 12, three days after Trump fired Comey, Trump tweeted: “James Comey better hope that there are no ‘tapes’ of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!”

Based on that tweet, Schiff’s committee demanded that Trump turn over any such tapes and set a Friday deadline.

Comey had been leading the FBI investigation into Russia’s meddling in the 2016 presidential election with the goal of helping Trump win, and whether Trump’s campaign colluded with Russian officials. Trump had asked Comey to drop a related probe into Trump’s first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, and his contact with Russians. Comey did not end that investigation, and Trump subsequently fired him.

“Did he seek to mislead the public? Was he trying to intimidate or silence James Comey?
Rep. Adam Schiff, top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee

Trump’s press office initially claimed Trump was merely following the recommendations of Attorney General Jeff Sessions and his top deputy to dismiss Comey. But Trump on May 11 told NBC News that he was going to fire Comey regardless of the Justice Department’s recommendation, and added that the Russia investigation played into his thinking. Trump also told Russia’s foreign minister and its U.S. ambassador during their May 10 Oval Office visit that Comey’s probe was putting “great pressure” on him, and that Comey was a “nut job,” according to a New York Times report that the White House has not rebutted.

Nearly six months after U.S. intelligence agencies released a report agreeing that Russia had meddled in the presidential election to help candidate Trump win, President Trump continues to call that conclusion a hoax.

In a series of four tweets Thursday morning, Trump wrote:

“Former Homeland Security Advisor Jeh Johnson is latest top intelligence official to state there was no grand scheme between Trump & Russia. By the way, if Russia was working so hard on the 2016 Election, it all took place during the Obama Admin. Why didn’t they stop them? …Why did Democratic National Committee turn down the DHS offer to protect against hacks (long prior to election). It’s all a big Dem HOAX! …Why did the DNC REFUSE to turn over its Server to the FBI, and still hasn’t? It’s all a big Dem scam and excuse for losing the election!” 

This is a commander-in-chief who prizes his own ego over the welfare of our country.
Former CIA analyst Ned Price

That view, though, goes against the consensus view of 16 U.S. intelligence agencies. In a report issued on Jan. 6, The Office of National Intelligence wrote:

“We assess Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an influence campaign in 2016 aimed at the US presidential election. Russia’s goals were to undermine public faith in the US democratic process, denigrate Secretary Clinton, and harm her electability and potential presidency. We further assess Putin and the Russian Government developed a clear preference for President-elect Trump. We have high confidence in these judgments.”

One former CIA analyst said Trump’s continued disparagement of the intelligence community showed his priorities.

“This is a commander-in-chief who prizes his own ego over the welfare of our country. He said nothing today that he hasn’t said in the past — from the multiple times he’s rejected the intelligence community’s analysis to calling them leakers and even Nazis,” said Ned Price, who was the National Security Council’s spokesman under former President Barack Obama. “The damage between the intelligence community and this president is irreparable. I have no doubt the intelligence community will remain focused on its core missions, even as the president chooses not to take his seriously.”

Sanders, during Thursday’s press briefing, pointed out that Trump did concede early in the year “that it probably was Russia” behind the theft of Democratic emails released through WikiLeaks to hurt Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

Schiff responded to Trump’s Thursday morning tweets with one of his own: “A better question, Mr. President, is why did you encourage them? ‘Hey Russians, if you’re listening, hack Hillary’s emails.’ Sound familiar?”

On July 27, 2016, Trump, during a news conference, invited Russia to hack into computer systems to find the emails Clinton had deleted from her private server: “Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing.” Trump later said he was joking.

Ironically, Trump’s original “tapes” tweet may have caused more trouble for him. Comey testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee this month that when he read Trump’s statements, he leaked detailed notes he had taken of his conversations with Trump with the hopes of getting a special counsel to take over the investigation.

On May 17, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appointed former FBI director Robert Mueller to handle the Russia probe, which now includes as a component possible obstruction of justice for Trump’s firing of Comey.

Sanders, though, said Trump had no regrets about his “tapes” tweet. “I don’t think so,” she said.

— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.