Gabe's Musings

Tuesday, June 18, 2019

Could alleged OJ Simpson knife threats on Twitter “I will cut you!” send him back to jail?

The juice is loose and could be starting Twitter beef in his first week on the social media platform.

OJ Simpson reportedly has threatened to cut a man behind a Twitter parody account that made fun of him and the nasty text exchange could land OJ back in jail for violating the terms of his parole, The Daily Mail reports.

But is it really him?

—OJ Simpson joins Twitter and says he has a ‘little gettin’ even to do’—

On Sunday, OJ’s Twitter account @TheRealOJ32 reportedly sent seven direct messages to the parody account @KillerOJSimpson, which makes fun of the former football star who was charged and acquitted in the brutal slaying of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman.

OJ reportedly first sent a demanding message to the parody account writing: “Delete this account or I will have my lawyer remove it for false misleading content I didn’t post.”

The man behind it refused to which OJ following up with a stronger demand: “Like I said, delete this ‘Parody’ account as you call it or face serious consequences by me. I’ll find your a** one way or another so don’t mess with me. I got nothing to lose. Grow up.”

Um yeah, @TheRealOJ32 Just sent this scary ass DM treating me to delete my parody account. Watch the video. 😐🤣🔪 RT this @WORLDSTAR @TMZ Funny stuff. #OJSimpson pic.twitter.com/3bXha7n47U
— O.J. Simpson🔪 (@KillerOJSimpson) June 17, 2019

The parody account played OJ and sent a thumbs-up emoji and a knife emoji, further agitating him.

Simpson then too sends a knife emoji reply back with the message: “You think I’m playing? Tired of all your bulls–t. I WILL FIND YOUR A** AND CUT YOU — Don’t believe me? Just watch and see b**h.”

OJ then reportedly send 16 more knife emojis followed by the message “You next.”

O.J. launched the Twitter account with a video post in which the former football star said he’s got a “little gettin’ even to do.”

—Manhattan D.A. refuses to review thousands of past sex crime convictions following Central Park Five series—

According to the New York Post, a spokeswoman for the Nevada Department of Public Safety said that Simpson was still on parole, and that the Division of Parole and Probation “takes threats or acts of violence against public safety very seriously and is looking into the alleged complaints.”

“If there is an alleged violation, an investigation will be conducted and appropriate actions will be taken by the Division and the Parole Board,” spokeswoman Kim Smith told the Post.

Under Nevada law, knowingly threatening to “cause bodily injury in the future to the person threatened” is outlawed as harassment, which is punishable as a misdemeanor for a first offense.

The post Could alleged OJ Simpson knife threats on Twitter “I will cut you!” send him back to jail? appeared first on theGrio.

from theGrio https://on.thegrio.com/2IShkU3
via

Father held at gunpoint with his family by Phoenix police at Family Dollar calls for their firing “They put a gun in my daughter’s face'”

TheGrio has launched a special series called #BlackonBlue to examine the relationship between law enforcement and African-Americans. Our reporters and videographers will investigate police brutality and corruption while also exploring local and national efforts to improve policing in our communities. Join the conversation, or share your own story, using the hashtag #BlackonBlue.

The family who went viral about a clips surfaced showing Phoenix police holding them at gunpoint after their 4-year-old daughter allegedly walked out of a Family Dollar store with $1 doll, are scoffing at the Police Chief’s apology.

—Jay-Z helps Black family held at gunpoint by Phoenix police at Family Dollar as they sue city for $10 million—

Parents, Dravon Ames, and Iesha Harper blasted the police chief after she apologized for how police brutally confronted and harassed the couple and their young daughter after threatening them with guns for allegedly stealing items from a store.

Ames, who was with his 24-year-old pregnant girlfriend and their two young children, said he thought he was going to die on May 27, The Daily Mail reports.

Now the family is suing the city for $10 million and although they haven’t been charged in the case, Jay-Z has stepped in to pay their legal bills.

Police claim Ames also took underwear from the store.

“They put a gun in my daughter’s face, and you’re asking me about drawers?” Ames, the father told reporters as he held back tears.

Ames explained that he thought he and his family were going to be “executed.” The cops he said yelled for them to “put their f****** hands up or I’ll put a f****** cap in your head.”

“My family has been through enough. You see in the video the fear. The sounds of my daughters crying, and you’re asking me about some drawers?

—Family viciously harassed by officers after 4-year-old leaves discount store with a doll—

“I thought we were all going to be executed. By the grace of God, someone was there to video this,” he said.

As for police chief Jeri Williams’ apology, Ames said she can save it.

“It feels like a half apology. The officers are still working. It’s a slap in the face. It’s like putting lemon juice on an open wound.

“Everyone knows they are not fit to be policing,” he said.

A town hall meeting is scheduled for tonight.

The post Father held at gunpoint with his family by Phoenix police at Family Dollar calls for their firing “They put a gun in my daughter’s face'” appeared first on theGrio.

from theGrio https://on.thegrio.com/2N5knxM
via

VIDEO: Trevor Noah blasts Phoenix police for holding Black family at gunpoint at Family Dollar

On Monday, Daily Show host Trevor Noah sounded off on the Phoenix police over the brutal confrontation of a Black family that ended with aiming guns in the face.

Parents Dravon Ames and his pregnant fiancee, Aisha Harper, said they were completely unaware that their 4-year-old daughter had taken a doll from the store, but that officers responded by pointing guns and yelling obscenities at them and their two young daughters. A viral video released on Friday back up their claims and shows the harrowing encounter that has many calling for the officers to be fired.

The family has responded to the incident by filing a $10 million claim against the city accusing the police of battery, unlawful imprisonment, false arrest, and infliction of emotional distress. The couple also maintain cops violated their civil rights.

—Family viciously harassed by officers after 4-year-old leaves discount store with a doll—

“There’s no excuse for this,” host Noah said. “There’s no excuse. Unless maybe the cop says he arrests people in the way that he thinks that they speak. Maybe he’s like, “Yo, Black man, get your ass on the ground. And as for you, ese, you better stop acting like a pendejo. And you, Belgian guy, I don’t know how you speak. Waffles, waffles waffles.”

Noah then turned from stoking laughs from his audience to chastising the police for their brutal handling of the family May 27^th.

“I’m sorry, guys, you don’t need to show up like a SWAT team to rescue a Barbie from a little girl,” Noah said, according to AZ Central.

“If anything, you should be rescuing the little girl from the Barbie. You should be getting there like, little girl watch out, that Barbie can give you a warped sense of what a woman’s body is supposed to be!”

—Jay-Z helps Black family held at gunpoint by Phoenix police at Family Dollar as they sue city for $10 million—

“You would think that cops cursing at civilians and pointing guns at a 4-year-old child would be as bad as the story could get,” Noah said. “But what makes it even worse is that if we didn’t have these videos, those cops would have been able to paint a very different picture of how this all went down.”

“You know what’s most troubling about this,” he continued, “is that it makes you wonder how many people have been arrested and put in jail because everyone assumes the police version of events is always the truth. Time and time again, cellphone videos contradict the official reports.’”

Jay-Z’s Roc Nation is stepping up to offer financial support to the young family victimized on May 29.

The post VIDEO: Trevor Noah blasts Phoenix police for holding Black family at gunpoint at Family Dollar appeared first on theGrio.

from theGrio https://on.thegrio.com/2WRACme
via

Vigil for Black man shot 20 times by US Marshal in mother’s driveway held in Memphis

Family, friends and community members gathered to celebrate the life of a young father gunned downed by U.S. Marshals Service members last week while standing in his mother’s driveway.

Jaleta Clark, grappling with the death of her 20-year-old son, stood outside her home on Friday and remembered Brandon Webber as a smart young man who previously attended the University of Memphis.

—Violent protests erupt in Memphis suburb after US Marshals shot and killed Black man—

As tears streamed down Jaleta Clark’s face, the grieving mother wore a “Justice for Brandon” t-shirt and spoke solemnly before a crowd of people who took to the streets to protest the killing of her first-born son last Wednesday, The Commercial Appeal reported.

“Brandon loved life, he loved his people, he loved his brothers, he loved all of his cousins,” she said who holding on to her son Blake.

Webber was reportedly shot upwards of 20 times as Marshals attempted to serve several warrants.

A vigil was held by community members and Webber’s family to call for calm in the neighborhood.

Candles spelled out the slain main’s name.

—Memphis police enforce tense calm after killing, unrest—

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) claims Webber allegedly rammed his car into US Marshals vehicle as they tried to serve warrants. They then reportedly shot him.

The post Vigil for Black man shot 20 times by US Marshal in mother’s driveway held in Memphis appeared first on theGrio.

from theGrio https://on.thegrio.com/2ZsH3t1
via

Are E-Bikes and Scooters Doomed?

Opinion: China's e-biking masses offer a model for our struggling scoot-scape

from Wired http://bit.ly/2Xlhcpt
via

A Plan to Stop Breaches With Dead Simple Database Encryption

Database giant MongoDB has a new encryption scheme that should help slow the scourge of breaches.

from Wired http://bit.ly/2ZzLDpw
via

Lesotho gives condoms to inmates to prevent spread of HIV

Lesotho is aiming to curb the spread of HIV in prisons by distributing condoms to inmates

from BBC News - Africa https://bbc.in/2IpLcIB
via

Low-income African countries 'pay 30 times more' for drugs

Lack of competition means quality is poor and prices are high, a leading health expert tells the BBC.

from BBC News - Africa https://bbc.in/2KXRYa7
via

Roli Lumi Keyboard: Price, Specs, Release Date

The keys on the Roli Lumi light up different colors, and a companion mobile app uses those colors to teach you how to play a song.

from Wired http://bit.ly/2ZAtxnh
via

Review: Gocycle's GX Is a Fast, Foldable, and Spendy Ride

Gocycle’s folding electric bike is fun and stable, but its high price tag puts it out of reach for most people.

from Wired http://bit.ly/2Xk2IGm
via

What Adam Savage Needs to Know to Fly an Iron Man Suit

In the first episode of Savage Builds, Adam Savage tries to build and control an Iron Man flying suit. But he didn't quite figure out the controls.

from Wired http://bit.ly/2Zx2TM0
via

2020 Candidate Pete Buttigieg must confront racism after Black father killed by police

South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg pulled himself off the presidential campaign trail Monday after the fatal shooting of a black man by a white police officer in his hometown forced him to confront issues of race and policing.

The Democrat canceled several days of campaign events after returning to South Bend, where he spent the day meeting with community members and faith leaders following the shooting of 54-year-old Eric Jack Logan early Sunday.

Sgt. Ryan O’Neill had been responding to a call about a suspicious person going through vehicles when he spotted Logan leaning inside a car, St. Joseph County Prosecutor Ken Cotter said. When confronted, Logan approached the officer with a 6- to 8-inch knife raised over his head, Cotter said. That’s when O’Neill fired twice, with the other shot hitting a car door, Cotter said.

The shooting presents both political peril for a candidate who’s struggled to connect with minority voters and an opportunity to show leadership on issues of race and policing that are critical — and personal — for much of the Democratic primary electorate.

Buttigieg has transformed from a relatively obscure 37-year-old mayor to a top-tier candidate in a crowded Democratic presidential field. His handling of the shooting could also test his ability to navigate the demands of the campaign trail while still performing his day job.

“I did consider it important to be here to have these conversations,” Buttigieg said in South Bend on Sunday after cutting short a campaign trip. “I know that whenever an incident like this happens, there is tremendous hurt that can come about. That the city will be hurting.”
Asked by a reporter how the shooting might affect his presidential bid, Buttigieg declined to answer, saying, “Right now I’m here as mayor.”

The white mayor has had a sometimes-tense relationship with the black community dating back to his first term in office, when he fired the city’s first black police chief. He has also faced criticism for his handling of police misconduct cases, including a case involving an officer who was twice disciplined for civil rights violations but not fired, and for not having a police department that reflects South Bend’s diversity. Roughly 40% of the city’s residents are black or Hispanic; the department is almost 90% white.

Buttigieg said Sunday that he was sometimes hesitant to speak publicly after shootings involving police earlier in his time as mayor and that he heard from the black community that he needed to be more open and transparent.

“One of the reasons we’re communicating up front right now is because of lessons learned from members of the community,” he said.

Logan’s wife, Shafonia Logan, told reporters after meeting with the police chief Sunday night that she had many questions about what happened to her husband of 13 years. She said her husband called her early Sunday asking her to pick him up, as he was out with friends, but she was in bed, and he replied that he would walk to his mother’s house a few minutes away.

“I don’t know what happened or what they say — he was breaking into a car?” she said. “Was that justified for him to shoot and kill him about breaking in a car?”

Shafonia Logan said that she never knew her husband to carry a knife or a gun and that he was afraid of police officers. She also questioned why her husband was taken to a hospital in a police car rather than in an ambulance.

She said her husband had five children from other relationships.

Logan was released from prison in June 2018 after serving a sentence for a 2009 St. Joseph County conviction on three felony counts of dealing cocaine or narcotics, according to Indiana Department of Correction records. He had other convictions since 1988 on drug possession and handgun violation charges.

Cotter said no police video exists of the confrontation as the officer’s dash and body cameras weren’t automatically activated because he was driving slowly without his emergency lights on while looking through a parking lot.

DeRay McKesson, who began protesting the police killings of black men in 2014 in Ferguson, Missouri, and has advocated for reforms addressing policing and communities of color, also said there are many questions left to be answered. He said that Buttigieg made the right choice to leave the campaign trail.

“We will all be watching to see how Buttigieg deals with this latest case of a police officer killing a citizen,” McKesson said. “He is still the mayor of South Bend. In leaving the campaign trail to be the leader he was elected to be, we will get perhaps the best glimpse into how he makes decisions under public pressure.”

Buttigieg initially canceled Monday campaign events in New York, then later canceled a Tuesday trip to California, where he had a series of fundraisers scheduled, including one at the home of director and producer Ryan Murphy and his husband.

The candidate has proved to be a fundraising juggernaut, raising more than $7 million in April alone, according to a person close to the campaign who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss financial details.

The post 2020 Candidate Pete Buttigieg must confront racism after Black father killed by police appeared first on theGrio.

from theGrio https://on.thegrio.com/2Kqb6Oy
via

Harvard pulls Parkland student’s admission over racist n-word social media posts

A survivor of the Parkland school shooting announced Monday that Harvard University withdrew his admission over racist comments he made in a shared Google Doc and text messages nearly two years ago.

In a series of posts on Twitter, Kyle Kashuv shared several letters he received from the Ivy League school first notifying him that his admission offer was being reconsidered in light of the comments and, later, that it was being revoked.

The decision stems from comments that have surfaced online recently and that Kashuv says were shared among friends when he was 16, months before the February 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland.

Screenshots that have circulated on social media appear to show Kashuv using racial slurs on Google Docs, an online word processor, and in text messages. The comments include anti-Semitic barbs and repeated use of a slur referring to black people.

Kashuv, now 18, has apologized for the comments and said he didn’t remember them until they spread online. In a May 22 statement on Twitter, as the comments began to spread, he said they were made by a “petty, flippant kid” and not the person he has become. He later said he made poor choices but bears no real racial hatred.

“We were 16-year-olds making idiotic comments, using callous and inflammatory language in an effort to be as extreme and shocking as possible,” he wrote in his May 22 apology. “I’m embarrassed by it.”

Two days later, Kashuv received a letter from Harvard demanding an explanation for the comments, noting that the school reserves the right to withdraw offers of admission for behavior that calls into question an applicant’s “honesty, maturity or moral character.”
Kashuv told Harvard that he “unequivocally” apologizes and that the remarks don’t represent the person he is today. “I take responsibility for the idiotic and hurtful things I wrote two years ago,” he wrote in a letter. “I made absolutely no excuse for those comments.”

In a June 3 response, Harvard’s admissions dean thanked Kashuv for his candor but said the school’s admissions committee, which makes the final call on applications, had voted to withdraw his offer.

“The committee takes seriously the qualities of maturity and moral character,” William Fitzsimmons wrote in a letter that Kashuv shared online Monday. “We are sorry about the circumstances that have led us to withdraw your admission, and we wish you success in your future academic endeavors and beyond.”

Harvard spokeswoman Rachael Dane declined to comment on the decision, saying the university does not publicly discuss individual admission cases.

Only rarely do colleges withdraw acceptance offers, but it occasionally happens. Harvard sparked debate in 2017 when it pulled offers from 10 incoming freshmen after they reportedly made racist and sexually offensive comments on Facebook.

Some experts said the 2017 case raised questions about freedom of speech, while others said colleges are right to have a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to racism and hate.
While some Parkland survivors have gone on to become prominent advocates of gun control, Kashuv has championed gun rights and the Second Amendment as he pushes for other school safety measures.

Kashuv said he had been planning to take a year off before starting at Harvard, so he could continue his work promoting school safety. Now he’s “exploring all options,” he said, but has missed the deadline for many colleges and already turned down other offers.
Kashuv’s posts on Monday drew mixed reactions on social media, with some saying he deserved to be forgiven and others saying Harvard made the right decision.

The post Harvard pulls Parkland student’s admission over racist n-word social media posts appeared first on theGrio.

from theGrio https://on.thegrio.com/2IV6CMH
via

US to Russia on Nuke Experiments: Do as We Say, Not as We Do

The US is quietly ramping up its plutonium experiments even as Washington raises concerns about Russian testing.

from Wired http://bit.ly/2ImOsEy
via

Inside Backpage.com’s Vicious Battle With the Feds

For years, it was the largest portal for sex on the internet. Now its fate could shape the future of Silicon Valley.

from Wired http://bit.ly/2Ftpvpd
via

Nigeria: 'Children used' as suicide bombers in Borno attack

Boko Haram is believed to be responsible for the attack that killed 30 people and left 40 injured.

from BBC News - Africa https://bbc.in/2KnfM7O
via

The Ambitious Plan Behind Facebook’s Cryptocurrency, Libra

Facebook designs a cryptocurrency that it won't fully control, but that will uniquely benefit Facebook.

from Wired http://bit.ly/2ZwsC74
via

Monday, June 17, 2019

Mohammed Morsi: Egypt faces pressure over death during trial of ousted leader

Authorities face questions after Mohammed Morsi, 67, died on Monday after collapsing in a court room.

from BBC News - Africa https://bbc.in/2IOIZW6
via

Tiffany Haddish presents Jada Pinkett Smith with top honor at MTV Movie & TV Awards

The MTV Movie & TV Awards aired Monday night and Jada Pinkett Smith took home the night’s biggest honor when she won the Trailblazer Award.

The host of Red Table Talk was dressed in a silver suit when she took the stage to accept the award from her Girl’s Trip costar, Tiffany Haddish.

Our new fave: 5 powerful life lessons we could all learn from Lizzo

“Starring in some of my favorite TV shows and movies isn’t what makes her a trailblazer. Neither is the fact that she’s dedicated her life and much of her own dollars and time to help those less fortunate than herself with the Will and Jada Pinkett Smith Foundation,” Haddish said during her week introduction.

“She’s the one everyone who knows her goes to…That’s why I always ask her if I can have some money and it’s the fact that she’s never stopped pushing boundaries. She doesn’t know the meaning of the word ‘No,’ which is also why I ask for money,” she joked. “She’s not making a talk show. She makes a show with real talk.”

Jada Pinkett Smith speaks on past porn problem: ‘I had a little porn addiction’

Queen Latifah and Alicia Keys also shared some loving words about their friend in a pre-recorded clip before Jada took the stage with her son, Jaden Smith, by her side.

“I had to think, ‘Jada, why don’t you think you deserve this award?’ And it was because I was comparing myself to all the many trailblazers that I admire and I realized, ‘Okay, maybe we do have something in common.’ Often we applaud the trails people blaze in the external world that we can see, but very rarely do we applaud the trails that are blazed in the hidden rooms of the mind that are full of uncertainty, false beliefs and pain,” she said during her acceptance speech. “It’s these internal obstacles that must be challenged in order to muster the courage to forge new paths that we can see in the world…Every last person in this room must do that in some capacity. That means that every single person in this room is trailblazing whether it’s within or without,” she continued.

Pinkett Smith took time to shout out everyone in the room before she concluded her speech.

“I want to say, ‘Here’s to us for all of our trailblazing,'” she said. “Keep it up and thank you.”

The post Tiffany Haddish presents Jada Pinkett Smith with top honor at MTV Movie & TV Awards appeared first on theGrio.

from theGrio https://on.thegrio.com/2InKaN1
via

Dwayne Johnson honored with Icon Generation Award at MTV Movie & TV Awards + full list of winners

The MTV Movie & TV Awards aired Monday night and honored some of the biggest names in entertainment. The annual event brought out celebs like Tiffany Haddish, Jada Pinkett Smith, and featured an incredible performance from Lizzo.

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson took home a golden popcorn trophy when he was honored with the Icon Generation Award and he delivered a touching acceptance speech.

Dwayne Johnson gets emotional after buying his father a new home

“I thank you, all of you at home. You are the reason I’m getting this…I want to share a really quick lesson with you guys, I’ve learned the most powerful thing we can be is ourselves,” he said.

“We are still that little kid just aspiring to be something better, aspiring to be important. When I first got to Hollywood, Hollywood they didn’t know what the hell to do with me. I mean I was half black, half Samoan, six-foot-four, 275-pound pro wrestler…I was told at that time you’ve got to be a certain way, you’ve got to drop some weight, you’ve got to be somebody different, you’ve got to stop working out, stop doing the things that I love, you’ve got to stop calling yourself ‘The Rock.’ For years I bought into it because you think, ‘Oh, that’s what I’m supposed to do and I was miserable doing that. I made a choice that I wasn’t going to conform to Hollywood, Hollywood was going to conform to me,” he continued.

“When I was 15, I heard a quote and I’ll never forget it, “It’s nice to be important but it’s more important to be nice.”

Dwayne Johnson and Will Smith have Hollywood’s highest salaries

Check out the full list of winners:

BEST MOVIE

WINNER: Avengers: Endgame

BlacKkKlansman

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before

BEST SHOW

WINNER: Game of Thrones

Big Mouth

Riverdale

Schitt’s Creek

The Haunting of Hill House

BEST PERFORMANCE IN A MOVIE

WINNER: Lady Gaga (Ally) — A Star Is Born

Amandla Stenberg (Starr Carter) — The Hate U Give

Lupita Nyong’o (Red) — Us

Rami Malek (Freddie Mercury) — Bohemian Rhapsody

Sandra Bullock (Malorie) — Bird Box

BEST PERFORMANCE IN A SHOW

WINNER: Elisabeth Moss (June Osborne/Offred) — The Handmaid’s Tale

Emilia Clarke (Daenerys Targaryen) — Game of Thrones

Gina Rodriguez (Jane Villanueva) — Jane the Virgin

Kiernan Shipka (Sabrina Spellman) — Chilling Adventures of Sabrina

BEST HERO

WINNER: Robert Downey Jr. (Tony Stark/Iron Man) — Avengers: Endgame

Brie Larson (Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel) — Captain Marvel

John David Washington (Ron Stallworth) — BlacKkKlansman

Maisie Williams (Arya Stark) — Game of Thrones

Zachary Levi (Billy Batson/Shazam) — Shazam!

BEST VILLAIN

WINNER: Josh Brolin (Thanos) — Avengers: Endgame

Jodie Comer (Villanelle) — Killing Eve

Joseph Fiennes (Commander Fred Waterford) — The Handmaid’s Tale

Lupita Nyong’o (Red) — Us

Penn Badgley (Joe Goldberg) — You

BEST KISS

WINNER: Noah Centineo & Lana Condor (Peter Kavinsky & Lara Jean) — To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before

Camila Mendes & Charles Melton (Veronica Lodge & Reggie Mantle) — Riverdale

Jason Momoa & Amber Heard (Aquaman & Mera) — Aquaman

Ncuti Gatwa & Connor Swindells (Eric Effiong & Adam Groff) — Sex Education

Tom Hardy & Michelle Williams (Eddie Brock/Venom & Anne Weying) — Venom

REALITY ROYALTY

WINNER: Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta

Jersey Shore: Family Vacation

The Bachelor

The Challenge

Vanderpump Rules

BEST COMEDIC PERFORMANCE

WINNER: Daniel Levy (David Rose) — Schitt’s Creek

Awkwafina (Peik Lin Goh) — Crazy Rich Asians

John Mulaney (Andrew Glouberman) — Big Mouth

Marsai Martin (Little Jordan Sanders) — Little

Zachary Levi (Billy Batson/Shazam) — Shazam!

BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE

WINNER: Noah Centineo (Peter Kavinsky) — To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before

Awkwafina (Peik Lin Goh) — Crazy Rich Asians

Haley Lu Richardson (Stella) — Five Feet Apart

Mj Rodriguez (Blanca Rodriguez) — Pose

Ncuti Gatwa (Eric Effiong) — Sex Education

BEST FIGHT

WINNER: Captain Marvel — Captain Marvel vs. Minn-Erva

Avengers: Endgame — Captain America vs. Thanos

Game of Thrones — Arya Stark vs. the White Walkers

RBG — Ruth Bader Ginsburg vs. Inequality

WWE Wrestlemania — Becky Lynch vs. Ronda Rousey vs. Charlotte Flair

BEST REAL–LIFE HERO

WINNER: Ruth Bader Ginsburg — RBG

Alex Honnold — Free Solo

Hannah Gadsby — Nanette

Roman Reigns — WWE SmackDown

Serena Williams — Being Serena

MOST FRIGHTENED PERFORMANCE

WINNER: Sandra Bullock (Malorie) — Bird Box

Alex Wolff (Peter) — Hereditary

Linda Cardellini (Anna Tate-Garcia) — The Curse of La Llorona

Rhian Rees (Dana Haines) — Halloween

Victoria Pedretti (Nell Crain) — The Haunting of Hill House

BEST DOCUMENTARY

WINNER: Surviving R. Kelly

At the Heart of Gold: Inside the USA Gymnastics Scandal

McQueen

Minding the Gap

RBG

BEST HOST

WINNER: Nick Cannon — Wild ‘n Out

Gayle King — CBS This Morning

Nick Cannon — The Masked Singer

RuPaul — RuPaul’s Drag Race

Trevor Noah — The Daily Show with Trevor Noah

MOST MEME-ABLE MOMENT

WINNER: The Bachelor — Colton Underwood jumps the fence

Lindsay Lohan’s Beach Club — The Lilo Dance

Love & Hip Hop: Hollywood — Ray J’s Hat

RBG — The Notorious RBG

RuPaul’s Drag Race — Asia O’Hara’s butterfly finale fail

BEST MUSICAL MOMENT

WINNER: A Star Is Born, “Shallow”

Bohemian Rhapsody, “Live Aid Concert”

Captain Marvel, “Just A Girl”

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, “Masquerade”

On My Block, “Look At That Butt”

Riverdale, “Seventeen”

Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse, “Sunflower”

The Umbrella Academy, “I Think We’re Alone Now”

The post Dwayne Johnson honored with Icon Generation Award at MTV Movie & TV Awards + full list of winners appeared first on theGrio.

from theGrio https://on.thegrio.com/2XVnitw
via

Building the tools of the next manufacturing revolution

Over a century ago, a visitor to Henry Ford’s new assembly line in Highland Park, Michigan, could watch workers build automobiles from interchangeable parts, and witness a manufacturing revolution in progress.

Today, someone who wants to glimpse the future of manufacturing should make a visit to John Hart’s lab. Through projects including next-generation 3-D printers, carbon nanotube fibers for use in electric motors and lightweight composites, and printing flexible materials for medical devices, Hart and his research group are developing technologies to reimagine the way things are made, from the nanoscale to the scale of the global economy.

Hart, an associate professor of mechanical engineering at MIT and the director of the Laboratory for Manufacturing and Productivity and the Center for Additive and Digital Advanced Production Technologies, is an expert in 3-D printing, also known as additive manufacturing, which involves the computer-guided deposition of material layer by layer into precise three-dimensional shapes. (Conventional manufacturing usually entails making a part by removing material, for example through machining, or by forming the part using a mold tool.)

Hart’s research includes the development of advanced materials — new types of polymers, nanocomposites, and metal alloys — and the development of novel machines and processes that use and shape materials, such as high-speed 3-D printing, roll-to-roll graphene growth, and manufacturing techniques for low-cost sensors and electronics.

“In my lab, through our partnerships with industry and via the startup companies I’m involved in, we’re seeking to redefine manufacturing at scale and rethink how resources are committed to manufacturing throughout the product life cycle,” Hart says. “One major focus is creating new kinds of 3-D printers. These are printers that are 10 to 100 times faster, more accurate, and process both well-known materials and materials that have never been possible before.”

A focus on applications and scale

Hart grew up in the Detroit area — one of the country’s great manufacturing hubs since Henry Ford’s time — and studied mechanical engineering as an undergraduate at the University of Michigan. He spent summers interning for General Motors, and when he started in the master’s degree program in mechanical engineering at MIT, he thought he would eventually make his way back to the auto industry.

Once he got to Cambridge, though, new horizons opened up. “Coming to MIT, I simply enjoyed the environment, the sense of challenge, learning, and open-mindedness,” he says.

Hart’s work with his advisor, professor of mechanical engineering Alexander Slocum, sparked an interest in nanomaterials manufacturing. He decided to pursue a PhD investigating new ways to build carbon nanotubes, which are long molecules that are stronger than steel and more conductive than copper.

When he returned to MIT in 2013 as a new faculty member, after several years as a professor at the University of Michigan, he started exploring another new frontier: 3-D printing.

As the director of the newly formed MIT Center for Additive and Digital Advanced Production Technologies and the co-founder of two Boston-area 3-D printing startups — Desktop Metal and VulcanForms — Hart is advancing this frontier on multiple fronts, through education, entrepreneurship, and engagement with industry.

Although the research projects in his lab span from the nanoscale to the macroscale, he has an eye trained on the bigger picture. Leveraging advances in computation, digitization, and automation, along with his own expertise with materials processing and machine design, Hart’s group sees the potential for 3-D printing to dramatically streamline and speed up global supply chains. The group is also pursuing a series of projects related to Hart’s longstanding interest in carbon nanotubes, exploring ways to form nanotubes into advanced wires, fibers, and structural composites.

Hart sees this convergence of digitally driven manufacturing technologies as a means of overcoming the logistical hurdles of long lead times, complex supply chains, and steep capital requirements.

And, he is motivated by finding new applications to benefit society at large. “That could be a better medical implant or sensor to measure the health of soil, a wire that is more conductive than copper, or a new business enabled by rapid access to 3-D printing in a dense city or a rural environment,” he says.

“If you want to make a new medical device, or even an automotive part, think of the supply chain you have to figure out and manage. Every part requires a lot of detail, time and investment to design, validate, and eventually produce, whether it’s made locally or overseas. One reason 3-D printing is fundamentally different is that it allows designers and engineers to iterate more quickly, and to, in the near future, produce parts on demand in large quantities without fixed up-front investment.”

Shaping the future

To be sure, “It’s not that 3-D printing will replace all of manufacturing or even a tenth of it in the near future,” Hart says. “It is the cornerstone of a digital transformation in the way we go about designing, producing, and servicing products in a responsive, market-driven manner.”

As these new technologies become more widely used, the resulting changes in industrial manufacturing processes could have profound implications for the workers of the future, and for their training and education. Hart is deeply engaged with those questions, too.

“We also like to think at the system level, in terms of economic modeling of new manufacturing technologies including 3-D printing, and understanding how companies work and what transformations may be needed in product-development processes and in the skills of their employees,” he says.

That research has been inspired by Hart’s involvement in MIT’s Work of the Future initiative, for which he’s assembled a team to examine how demands on workers across the product life cycle — from the designer to the engineer to the production worker — will be influenced by the rise of automation and digitization.

Hart’s own workflow has become ever more diverse, in pace with the rapid developments in the field. But his teaching, research, and work with industry all go hand in hand, he says. “It’s all symbiotic. All these activities and interests feed to and from one another. We also have a prime responsibility to consider the sustainability of the manufacturing technologies that we develop, and the implications of more flexible manufacturing — both positive and negative — on the resource pressures of the planet.”

In addition to his own experience as an entrepreneur — and becoming co-inventor of more than 50 pending and issued patents — Hart gains insights and energy from teaching industry professionals and students alike.

He’s a recipient of the prestigious Ruth and Joel Spira Award for Distinguished Teaching at MIT, as well as the MIT Keenan Award for Innovation in Undergraduate Education, for his work teaching MIT’s flagship undergraduate manufacturing course 2.008 (Design and Manufacturing) and its equivalent as an open online course on edX. As the Department of Mechanical Engineering’s “Maker Czar,” he oversees the design and manufacturing shops used by hundreds of students, working with instructors and various department leaders to make sure facilities have state-of-the-art equipment and capabilities and that students become proficient with both established and emerging technologies.

He also created and leads an online MITxPro course for professionals, “Additive Manufacturing for Innovative Design and Production,” which has enrolled over 2,500 participants from around the world who have sought to learn the fundamentals and applications of 3-D printing and apply this knowledge to their jobs.

“The experience of teaching and developing courses for industry, both in person and digitally, has been incredibly helpful in shaping my perspective of how we at MIT can contribute to the future of manufacturing,” Hart says.

from MIT News http://bit.ly/2KpcRva
via

South Africa thrashed by Germany

Germany punish an error-strewn display from South Africa to finish top of Group B at the Women's World Cup.

from BBC News - Africa https://bbc.in/2x1rg8o
via

Nuro’s Pizza Robot Will Bring You a Domino’s Pie

It’s about half the size of a sedan, and for now it needs a chase car with a babysitter. For now.

from Wired https://www.wired.com/story/nuro-dominos-pizza-delivery-self-driving-robot-houston
via

Comcast’s Xfinity X1 Eye-Tracking Remote Lets You Control a TV With Your Eyes

The new web-based interface for Comcast's television software was developed for people with visual or physical impairments.

from Wired http://bit.ly/2XSqSVx
via

'Star Wars' News: 'The Rise of Skywalker' Got Made On the Run

One of the movie's editors was cutting it together while it was being shot.

from Wired http://bit.ly/2Kob49I
via

Hey Alexa, Why Is Voice Shopping So Lousy?

A new study suggests smart speaker owners aren’t using those devices to buy things on the internet—because it’s a bad shopping experience.

from Wired http://bit.ly/2IkUy8c
via

Jay-Z helps Black family held at gunpoint by Phoenix police at Family Dollar as they sue city for $10 million

Jay-Z’s Roc Nation is stepping up to offer financial support to the young family victimized by police in Phoenix May 29.

Parents , Dravon Ames, 22, and his pregnant fiancee, Aisha Harper, said they were completely unaware that their 4-year-old daughter had taken a doll from the store, but that officers responded by pointing guns and yelling obscenities at them and their two young daughters. A viral video released on Friday back up their claims and show the harrowing encounter that has many calling for the officers to be fired.

The Roc Nation team reached out to the family to offer legal support, request termination of the police officers involved in the incident and “ensure the well-being of the children,” said Didier Morais, a PR spokesperson for Roc Nation told AZ Central.

A passer-by filmed the incident and posted a clip on social media. In their clip, police are heard screaming: ‘Put your f****** hands up or I’ll put a f****** cap in your head.’

Morais said Jay Z’s team is offering up high-profile attorney Alex Spiro pro bono to join the family’s legal team and that the attorney will file papers in the court against one of the officers for child neglect.

In a statement, Roc Nation Managing Director of Philanthropy Dania Diaz called the incident “absolutely sickening.”

“There is no place for that behavior in our world – let alone our justice system – and we are calling for the immediate termination of the police officers in question,” Diaz said in the statement, according to AZ Central. “We are committed to supporting the family to ensure that justice is served.”

And Roc Nation is proving once again to be a family. When the philanthropic arm of the company informed its signed artists of the disturbing incident, rapper Meek Mill took to Twitter to lambast police for how they handled this incident.

Do you hear the tone of their voices … they want to kill!!!! https://t.co/hnUiLxNRIG
— Meek Mill (@MeekMill) June 14, 2019

Phoenix Police Chief Jeri Williams reportedly apologize to the traumatized family and is spearheading the investigation into the officer’s actions.

Williams told family members that officers should not have pointed guns and yelled profanities as they responded to a Family Dollar store’s report of shoplifting, according to AZ Central.

A bystander reportedly captured the footage outside an apartment complex after the family left a Family Dollar store location back in May but the video went viral last friday.

“Every time I look a that video its extremely unsettling,” Chief Williams said in an interview that aired Sunday on ABC15. “I apologize to the family, I apologize to the community.”

“We need to communicate better and we’re going to be looking at some different things. We’re going to be looking at policy. We’re going to be looking at more training,” said Chief Williams. “Culture is a good. We are seeing situations of individuals who are tarnishing our reputation not just as Phoenix police officers but as law enforcement in general and I am certain that we are going to repair that.”

Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego, also posted an apology to the family on her Twitter page Saturday.

“I, like many others, am sick over what I have seen in the video depicting Phoenix police interacting with a family and young children. It was completely inappropriate and clearly unprofessional. There is no situation in which this behavior is ever close to acceptable. As a mother myself, seeing these children placed in such a terrifying situation is beyond upsetting,” Mayor Gallego writes in the post.

“I am deeply sorry for what this family went through, and I apologize to our community. This is not who we are, and I refuse to allow this type of behavior to go unchallenged. I have spoken directly with our Police Chief, City Manager, and our Public Safety Subcommittee Chairman.”

The officers in the video have reportedly been placed on desk duty during the investigation.

The post Jay-Z helps Black family held at gunpoint by Phoenix police at Family Dollar as they sue city for $10 million appeared first on theGrio.

from theGrio https://on.thegrio.com/2FfiA2F
via

Phoenix police chief and mayor apologizes to Black family held at gunpoint by police in Family Dollar store video

Phoenix Police Chief Jeri Williams offered an apology for a disturbing incident caught on video between out-of-control police officers and a young family on May 29.

Williams told family members that officers should not have pointed guns and yelled profanities as they responded to a Family Dollar store’s report of shoplifting, according to AZ Central.

A bystander reportedly captured the footage outside an apartment complex after the family left a Family Dollar store location back in May but the video went viral last friday.

“Every time I look a that video its extremely unsettling,” Chief Williams said in an interview that aired Sunday on ABC15. “I apologize to the family, I apologize to the community.”

The family has responded to the incident by filing a $10 million claim against the city for civil rights violations by police officers, according to the AZ Central.

Williams said she will oversee an internal investigation into the incident.

Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego, also posted an apology to the family on her Twitter page Saturday.

The officers in the video have reportedly been placed on desk duty during the investigation.

The parents’ attorney said the child and father were injured in the violent encounter.

The post Phoenix police chief and mayor apologizes to Black family held at gunpoint by police in Family Dollar store video appeared first on theGrio.

from theGrio https://on.thegrio.com/2XmrPZ3
via

Tiffany Haddish cancels Atlanta show over abortion law

Actress and comedian Tiffany Haddish has canceled her upcoming Atlanta performance because of Georgia’s new restrictive abortion law.

News outlets report that the “Girls Trip” star sent a statement to ticketholders Saturday, saying she cannot “in good faith” perform in Georgia unless it withdraws the so-called heartbeat bill. Haddish had been scheduled to perform June 22 at the Fox Theatre.

The new law would ban abortion once a fetal heartbeat is detected, which can be as early as six weeks, before many women know they are pregnant. Unless it’s blocked in court, it’s set to go into effect in 2020. The ACLU has already said the group will mount a legal challenge.

Major Hollywood studios have said they may reevaluate filming in Georgia if the law goes into effect.

The post Tiffany Haddish cancels Atlanta show over abortion law appeared first on theGrio.

from theGrio https://on.thegrio.com/2ImgEHp
via

Stacey Abrams not ruling out a presidential run

Former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams said Thursday she has not ruled out running for another political office.

Abrams, who spoke at the Women’s E3 Summit at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, said she has not yet settled on the next steps for her political career.

“I am not being coy when I say that I have not decided what I’m going to do next,” said Abrams, the event’s keynote speaker. “I’m not going to make a choice because I feel a sense of urgency from others. I’m going to make a choice because it’s the right thing to do.”

Abrams said she expects to decide soon.

The Georgia Democrat’s supporters want her to run for president, serve as a Democratic contender’s running mate, run for governor again or try for a U.S. Senate seat. However, Abrams said that while she enjoys politics, she does not feel the need to serve in a political office if she is not the best person to do so.

Abrams made history last year as one of the first black women to run for governor. She lost to Republican Brian Kemp in a highly contested race.

Abrams refused to concede to Kemp in protest of what she called a broken political system.
She has since created the organization Fair Fight Action, a nonprofit organization that accused Kemp and Georgia’s election board of mismanaging the election and disenfranchising voters. The organization’s lawsuit is pending.

Abrams’ organization also advocates for voting rights in Georgia and around the nation. “I may not be the governor of Georgia, but my responsibility to the people of Georgia did not end on November 6,” she told the women at the summit.

The post Stacey Abrams not ruling out a presidential run appeared first on theGrio.

from theGrio https://on.thegrio.com/2XhDcSe
via

Brazil’s supreme court votes to make homophobia a crime

Brazil’s supreme court officially made homophobia and transphobia crimes similar to racism on Thursday, with the final justices casting their votes in a ruling that comes amid fears the country’s far-right administration is seeking to roll back LGBT social gains.

Six of the Supreme Federal Tribunal’s 11 judges had already voted in favor of the measure in late May, giving the ruling a majority. The final justices voted Thursday for a tally of eight votes for and three against.

Racism was made a crime in Brazil in 1989 with prison sentences of up to five years. The court’s judges ruled that homophobia should be framed within the racism law until the country’s congress approves legislation specifically dealing with LGBT discrimination.
The court’s judges have said the ruling was to address an omission that had left the LGBT community legally unprotected.

“In a discriminatory society like the one we live in, the homosexual is different and the transsexual is different. Every preconception is violence, but some impose more suffering than others,” said justice Carmen Lucia.

Justice Ricardo Lewandowski, one of the judges who voted against the measure, recognized the lack of congressional legislation on the issue but said he voted against putting homophobia inside the framework of the racism legislation because only the legislature has the power to create “types of crimes” and set punishments.

While same-sex marriage is legal in Brazil, it is still a dangerous country for members of the LGBT community and has a large evangelical movement often critical of gay rights. According to the rights group the Grupo Gay da Bahia, 420 LGBT people were killed across Brazil in 2018, while at least 141 have been killed so far this year.

President Jair Bolsonaro, a former army captain who assumed office on Jan. 1, has a history of offensive comments about gays, blacks and other minorities, openly acknowledging he is a homophobe. He has said he would rather have a dead son than a gay son.

The post Brazil’s supreme court votes to make homophobia a crime appeared first on theGrio.

from theGrio https://on.thegrio.com/2ZzYtUF
via

Rapper T.I. and Atlanta church work to end mass incarceration

Music artist T.I. is lending his voice to a project involving the late Martin Luther King Jr.’s home church in Atlanta.

Ebenezer Baptist Church plans a three-day conference at the historic church in Atlanta to address mass incarcerations.

The Rev. Raphael Warnock said in a statement that the End Mass Incarceration Conference will run Monday through Wednesday at the church.

Warnock said goals of the conference include helping communities to fight the rise of the prison industrial complex in the United States and systems that unfairly imprison people of color.

Ebenezer said T.I. will be participating in helping to bail out of jail dozens of poor and working-class citizens in the Atlanta area.

The post Rapper T.I. and Atlanta church work to end mass incarceration appeared first on theGrio.

from theGrio https://on.thegrio.com/2XmJgZq
via

Protesters demand firing of Utah cop who pulled gun on 10-year-old child

About 100 protesters gathered outside a police agency in northern Utah to demand an officer who pulled his gun on a 10-year-old child last week be fired.

The crowd carried Black Lives Matter signs Friday evening and others protesting the incident, including one that said “Hey Cops! Don’t pull guns at our kids.”

The officer’s actions drew criticism after Jerri Hrubes said the white police officer pulled his gun on her son, DJ, who is black, while he was playing on his grandmother’s front lawn June 6 in a state where African Americans make up just 1.4% of the population, according to U.S. Census figures.

Black Lives Matter in Utah founder Lex Scott said her group was inspired to organize the protest after learning the officer would stay on the job.

“I do believe it was a hate crime,” Scott said. “That child was targeted because of his skin color.”

Woods Cross Police Chief Chad Soffe said last Monday that officials don’t intend to fire the unidentified officer. He said the officer used good judgment and mistook the boy for a potential suspect during a pursuit of armed suspects.

“We want to learn from this, we don’t want people to be traumatized by our efforts to protect the community,” Soffe said.

Hrubes has said her son had no toys or objects in his hands. The officer told DJ to put his hands in the air and get on the ground and told him not to ask questions. After Jerri Hrubes confronted the officer, he got in his car and left, she said.

Soffe said the officer was part of a group chasing suspects after authorities received reports of a shooting and were told the suspects were black, Hispanic or Polynesian, he said.

Scott’s group was joined Friday evening by members of other civil rights advocacy groups, including, Utahns Against Police Brutality and Mormon Women for Ethical Government, though the latter group has not demanded that the officer be fired.

Heather White, an attorney working with the police department, said Friday that the Utah Department of Public Safety will investigate the Woods Cross police officer and evaluate whether he acted with racial bias or unnecessary force and whether any crimes were committed.

Protesters called for more police officer accountability and better training for how to deescalate situations and identify bias.

A lawyer working with Hrubes said the mother is pleased that the state will investigate. But Scott and another protester said they are concerned the investigation won’t be fair.
“I’ve seen hundreds of investigations, and guess who’s never found guilty? The police,” Jacob Jensen of Utahns Against Police Brutality told the crowd.

Scott said “police tend to investigate themselves and find themselves innocent. It’s a conflict of interest. It’s not OK.”

The post Protesters demand firing of Utah cop who pulled gun on 10-year-old child appeared first on theGrio.

from theGrio https://on.thegrio.com/2Knr2kK
via

These Protein Picker-Uppers Keep Your Cells Clean and Healthy

New drugs based on proteasomes could treat previously undruggable diseases.

from Wired http://bit.ly/2IT3Xmu
via

The Best Cleaning Products, Supplies, and Tech (2019)

Your house is a mess, and everything is a disaster. Start by vacuuming your floors.

from Wired http://bit.ly/2WKGQEy
via

Are Rare Earths the Next Pawn in the US-China Trade War?

China is the world's largest producer, and processor, of 17 elements that are key ingredients in smartphones, airplanes, medical devices, and military gear.

from Wired http://bit.ly/31BtpFN
via

Tame Your Picture Overload With These Google Photos Hacks

There are dozens of life-transforming features hidden inside the unassuming image-keeper—features you're likely not using.

from Wired http://bit.ly/2MSQuR8
via

Change Your Life: Bestride the Bidet

A cheap bottom-washer from Tushy transformed my relationship to my nethers.

from Wired http://bit.ly/2IH5z2A
via

Tidy the F*ck Up: A Conversation With Messie Condo

It’s time to put some big girl pants on and deal with your crap.

from Wired http://bit.ly/31FtDvM
via

Tricky Scam Plants Phishing Links in Your Google Calendar

Scammers are taking advantage of default calendar settings to try to trick users into clicking malicious links.

from Wired http://bit.ly/2Rk7iil
via

At least 30 killed in Nigeria suicide bombings

The bombers detonated their devices outside a hall where people were watching a football match on TV.

from BBC News - Africa https://bbc.in/31ELnXO
via

Eritrea's seizure of Roman Catholic Church properties criticised

The Roman Catholic Church says its health centres have been closed down in the one-party state.

from BBC News - Africa https://bbc.in/2KlYBU1
via

Africa Cup of Nations: Mohamed Salah helps Egypt win warm-up match

Africa Cup of Nations hosts Egypt warm up with a 3-1 win over fellow qualifiers Guinea as Morocco lose second consecutive friendly.

from BBC News - Africa https://bbc.in/2ILleyc
via

Sunday, June 16, 2019

Africa Cup of Nations: Nigeria coach Gernot Rohr cools title talk

Nigeria coach Gernot Rohr downplays his team's chances of winning a fourth title at the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt which kicks off on Friday.

from BBC News - Africa https://bbc.in/2WPgSLv
via

Teaching artificial intelligence to connect senses like vision and touch

In Canadian author Margaret Atwood’s book "Blind Assassins," she says that “touch comes before sight, before speech. It’s the first language and the last, and it always tells the truth.”

While our sense of touch gives us a channel to feel the physical world, our eyes help us immediately understand the full picture of these tactile signals.

Robots that have been programmed to see or feel can’t use these signals quite as interchangeably. To better bridge this sensory gap, researchers from MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) have come up with a predictive artificial intelligence (AI) that can learn to see by touching, and learn to feel by seeing.

The team’s system can create realistic tactile signals from visual inputs, and predict which object and what part is being touched directly from those tactile inputs. They used a KUKA robot arm with a special tactile sensor called GelSight, designed by another group at MIT.

Using a simple web camera, the team recorded nearly 200 objects, such as tools, household products, fabrics, and more, being touched more than 12,000 times. Breaking those 12,000 video clips down into static frames, the team compiled “VisGel,” a dataset of more than 3 million visual/tactile-paired images.

“By looking at the scene, our model can imagine the feeling of touching a flat surface or a sharp edge”, says Yunzhu Li, CSAIL PhD student and lead author on a new paper about the system. “By blindly touching around, our model can predict the interaction with the environment purely from tactile feelings. Bringing these two senses together could empower the robot and reduce the data we might need for tasks involving manipulating and grasping objects.”

Recent work to equip robots with more human-like physical senses, such as MIT’s 2016 project using deep learning to visually indicate sounds, or a model that predicts objects’ responses to physical forces, both use large datasets that aren’t available for understanding interactions between vision and touch.

The team’s technique gets around this by using the VisGel dataset, and something called generative adversarial networks (GANs).

GANs use visual or tactile images to generate images in the other modality. They work by using a “generator” and a “discriminator” that compete with each other, where the generator aims to create real-looking images to fool the discriminator. Every time the discriminator “catches” the generator, it has to expose the internal reasoning for the decision, which allows the generator to repeatedly improve itself.

Vision to touch

Humans can infer how an object feels just by seeing it. To better give machines this power, the system first had to locate the position of the touch, and then deduce information about the shape and feel of the region.

The reference images — without any robot-object interaction — helped the system encode details about the objects and the environment. Then, when the robot arm was operating, the model could simply compare the current frame with its reference image, and easily identify the location and scale of the touch.

This might look something like feeding the system an image of a computer mouse, and then “seeing” the area where the model predicts the object should be touched for pickup — which could vastly help machines plan safer and more efficient actions.

Touch to vision

For touch to vision, the aim was for the model to produce a visual image based on tactile data. The model analyzed a tactile image, and then figured out the shape and material of the contact position. It then looked back to the reference image to “hallucinate” the interaction.

For example, if during testing the model was fed tactile data on a shoe, it could produce an image of where that shoe was most likely to be touched.

This type of ability could be helpful for accomplishing tasks in cases where there’s no visual data, like when a light is off, or if a person is blindly reaching into a box or unknown area.

Looking ahead

The current dataset only has examples of interactions in a controlled environment. The team hopes to improve this by collecting data in more unstructured areas, or by using a new MIT-designed tactile glove, to better increase the size and diversity of the dataset.

There are still details that can be tricky to infer from switching modes, like telling the color of an object by just touching it, or telling how soft a sofa is without actually pressing on it. The researchers say this could be improved by creating more robust models for uncertainty, to expand the distribution of possible outcomes.

In the future, this type of model could help with a more harmonious relationship between vision and robotics, especially for object recognition, grasping, better scene understanding, and helping with seamless human-robot integration in an assistive or manufacturing setting.

“This is the first method that can convincingly translate between visual and touch signals”, says Andrew Owens, a postdoc at the University of California at Berkeley. “Methods like this have the potential to be very useful for robotics, where you need to answer questions like ‘is this object hard or soft?’, or ‘if I lift this mug by its handle, how good will my grip be?’ This is a very challenging problem, since the signals are so different, and this model has demonstrated great capability.”

Li wrote the paper alongside MIT professors Russ Tedrake and Antonio Torralba, and MIT postdoc Jun-Yan Zhu. It will be presented next week at The Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition in Long Beach, California.

from MIT News http://bit.ly/2IkwgLz
via

A droplet walks into an electric field …

When a raindrop falls through a thundercloud, it is subject to strong electric fields that pull and tug on the droplet, like a soap bubble in the wind. If the electric field is strong enough, it can cause the droplet to burst apart, creating a fine, electrified mist.

Scientists began taking notice of how droplets behave in electric fields in the early 1900s, amid concerns over lightning strikes that were damaging newly erected power lines. They soon realized that the power lines’ own electric fields were causing raindrops to burst around them, providing a conductive path for lightning to strike. This revelation led engineers to design thicker coverings around power lines to limit lightning strikes.

Today, scientists understand that the stronger the electric field, the more likely it is that a droplet within it will burst. But, calculating the exact field strength that will burst a particular droplet has always been an involved mathematical task.

Now, MIT researchers have found that the conditions for which a droplet bursts in an electric field all boil down to one simple formula, which the team has derived for the first time.

With this simple new equation, the researchers can predict the exact strength an electric field should be to burst a droplet or keep it stable. The formula applies to three cases previously analyzed separately: a droplet pinned on a surface, sliding on a surface, or free-floating in the air.

Their results, published today in the journal Physical Review Letters, may help engineers tune the electric field or the size of droplets for a range of applications that depend on electrifying droplets. These include technologies for air or water purification, space propulsion, and molecular analysis.

“Before our result, engineers and scientists had to perform computationally intensive simulations to assess the stability of an electrified droplet,” says lead author Justin Beroz, a graduate student in MIT’s departments of Mechanical Engineering and Physics. “With our equation, one can predict this behavior immediately, with a simple paper-and-pencil calculation. This is of great practical benefit to engineers working with, or trying to design, any system that involves liquids and electricity.”

Beroz’ co-authors are A. John Hart, associate professor of mechanical engineering, and John Bush, professor of mathematics.

“Something unexpectedly simple”

Droplets tend to form as perfect little spheres due to surface tension, the cohesive force that binds water molecules at a droplet’s surface and pulls the molecules inward. The droplet may distort from its spherical shape in the presence of other forces, such as the force from an electric field. While surface tension acts to hold a droplet together, the electric field acts as an opposing force, pulling outward on the droplet as charge builds on its surface.

“At some point, if the electric field is strong enough, the droplet can’t find a shape that balances the electrical force, and at that point, it becomes unstable and bursts,” Beroz explains.

He and his team were interested in the moment just before bursting, when the droplet has been distorted to its critically stable shape. The team set up an experiment in which they slowly dispensed water droplets onto a metal plate that was electrified to produce an electric field, and used a high-speed camera to record the distorted shapes of each droplet.

“The experiment is really boring at first — you’re watching the droplet slowly change shape, and then all of a sudden it just bursts,” Beroz says.

After experimenting on droplets of different sizes and under various electric field strengths, Beroz isolated the video frame just before each droplet burst, then outlined its critically stable shape and calculated several parameters such as the droplet’s volume, height, and radius. He plotted the data from each droplet and found, to his surprise, that they all fell along an unmistakably straight line.

“From a theoretical point of view, it was an unexpectedly simple result given the mathematical complexity of the problem,” Beroz says. “It suggested that there might be an overlooked, yet simple, way to calculate the burst criterion for the droplets.”

A water droplet, subject to an electric field of slowly increasing strength, suddenly bursts by emitting a fine, electrified mist from its apex.

Volume above height

Physicists have long known that a liquid droplet in an electric field can be represented by a set of coupled nonlinear differential equations. These equations, however, are incredibly difficult to solve. To find a solution requires determining the configuration of the electric field, the shape of the droplet, and the pressure inside the droplet, simultaneously.

“This is commonly the case in physics: It’s easy to write down the governing equations but very hard to actually solve them,” Beroz says. “But for the droplets, it turns out that if you choose a particular combination of physical parameters to define the problem from the start, a solution can be derived in a few lines. Otherwise, it’s impossible.”

Physicists who attempted to solve these equations in the past did so by factoring in, among other parameters, a droplet’s height — an easy and natural choice for characterizing a droplet’s shape. But Beroz made a different choice, reframing the equations in terms of a droplet’s volume rather than its height. This was the key insight for reformulating the problem into an easy-to-solve formula.

“For the last 100 years, the convention was to choose height,” Beroz says. “But as a droplet deforms, its height changes, and therefore the mathematical complexity of the problem is inherent in the height. On the other hand, a droplet’s volume remains fixed regardless of how it deforms in the electric field.”

By formulating the equations using only parameters that are “fixed” in the same sense as a droplet’s volume, “the complicated, unsolvable parts of the equation cancel out, leaving a simple equation that matches the experimental results,” Beroz says.

Specifically, the new formula the team derived relates five parameters: a droplet’s surface tension, radius, volume, electric field strength, and the electric permittivity of the air surrounding the droplet. Plugging any four of these parameters into the formula will calculate the fifth.

Beroz says engineers can use the formula to develop techniques such as electrospraying, which involves the bursting of a droplet maintained at the orifice of an electrified nozzle to produce a fine spray. Electrospraying is commonly used to aerosolize biomolecules from a solution, so that they can pass through a spectrometer for detailed analysis. The technique is also used to produce thrust and propel satellites in space.

“If you’re designing a system that involves liquids and electricity, it’s very practical to have an equation like this, that you can use every day,” Beroz says.

This research was funded in part by the MIT Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation, BAE Systems, the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering via MIT Lincoln Laboratory, the National Science Foundation, and a Department of Defense National Defence Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship.

from MIT News http://bit.ly/2KVsoSY
via

Letter from Africa: 'Sudan's revolutionaries offline but not silenced'

The internet has been shut down but pro-democracy protesters are finding ways to fight back.

from BBC News - Africa https://bbc.in/2MMe0yT
via

Meek Mill wins lawsuit over leaked audio featured in upcoming #FreeMeekMill documentary

A prominent Philadelphia lawyer lost his lawsuit against Amazon and Roc Nation over an alleged illegal recording of comments he made about his client, who just so happens to be the judge at the center of rapper Meek Mill’s probation violation case.

On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Gerald McHugh dismissed attorney A. Charles Peruto Jr.’s actions against producers of a forthcoming documentary series titled #FreeMeek, alleging they violated the Pennsylvania and Federal Wiretap Acts. Peruto was also seeking the return of the audio files, but the federal judge shot him down, The Hollywood Reporter reports.

The case stems from the #FreeMeek project, which chronicles the hip-hop star’s rise to fame and his 10-year battle with the Philadelphia justice system. Peruto represented Judge Genece Brinkley, who infamously sent Meek Mill to prison on multiple occasions for probation violations. For that reason, the filmmakers interviewed Peruto in May 2018, during which he made statements about the issue that he believed were off the record and not being recording.

“That was hard to do because defending this judge is now becoming – why doesn’t she just grant this f*cking thing?,” he allegedly states. The camera had been turned off but the audio was still recording, and Peruto reportedly never makes clear to the interviewers that what he’s about to say is off the record.

In his ruling, Judge McHugh notes how Peruto thanks the defendants and gestures to remove his mic. He then says, “Let me tell you something,” and the camera turns off. The audio, however, continues to record, according to McHugh, and that’s when the attorney makes the colorful statement about his client.

The audio was eventually leaked to The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Peruto sued Amazon, Roc Nation and others in September over claims that they recorded him without his knowledge. He argued that he made an off-the-record disclaimer before making the statement about Genece but that it was edited out. Judge McHugh wasn’t buying it, and dismissed the case at the summary judgment phase last week.

“Mr. Peruto spoke freely in front of a room full of individuals, some of whom he did not know, in the presence of recording equipment,” McHugh said. “Peruto knew the recording devices had just been recording, yet he began disparaging his client before he even had time to fully remove his microphone.”

As for Peruto’s allegation that the defendants violated the Pennsylvania and Federal Wiretap Acts, the judge wrote that both laws require a speaker to have “a reasonable expectation of privacy” during an oral communication in order to support accusations of violations.

The post Meek Mill wins lawsuit over leaked audio featured in upcoming #FreeMeekMill documentary appeared first on theGrio.

from theGrio https://on.thegrio.com/31ARYmd
via

Prince Harry celebrate his first official Father’s Day

OJ Simpson joins Twitter and says he has a ‘little gettin’ even to do’

LOS ANGELES (AP) — O.J. Simpson launched a Twitter account with a video post in which the former football star said he’s got a “little gettin’ even to do.”

Simpson confirmed the new account to the Associated Press on Saturday, saying in a phone interview while on a Las Vegas golf course that it “will be a lot of fun.”

“I’ve got some things to straighten out,” he said.

He did not elaborate before he said he had to go and ended the call.

Simpson has generally kept a low profile since his release from prison in October 2017 for robbery and kidnapping over an attempt to steal back some of his sports memorabilia from a Las Vegas hotel room.

In the Twitter video, Simpson said his followers would get to read all his thoughts and opinions on “just about everything.”

“Now, there’s a lot of fake O.J. accounts out there,” he said, adding that this one would be official. He appeared to record the message himself and ended it with a grin.

#TheJuiceIsLoose
— OJ Simpson (@The_OJSimpson32) June 15, 2019

The 71-year-old recently told the AP he was happy and healthy living in Las Vegas 25 years after the killings of his ex-wife and her friend. Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman were stabbed to death on the night of June 12, 1994.

Simpson was ultimately acquitted of the crime after a televised trial that riveted the nation and raised thorny issues of racism, police misconduct, celebrity and domestic violence.

Relatives of the two victims have expressed disgust that Simpson is able to live the way he does. Simpson was ordered to pay $33.5 million for the wrongful deaths of the two victims, but most of the judgment has not been paid.

Simpson has continued to declare his innocence in the two slayings. The murder case is officially listed as unsolved.

Killer? You got the wrong guy….. only crime I was convicted of was tryin to get my shit back! https://t.co/MauBg9M7gh
— OJ Simpson (@The_OJSimpson32) June 16, 2019

In his recent interview , Simpson told the AP that neither he nor his children want to talk about the killings ever again.

“My family and I have moved on to what we call the ‘no negative zone.’ We focus on the positives,” he said.

The post OJ Simpson joins Twitter and says he has a ‘little gettin’ even to do’ appeared first on theGrio.

from theGrio https://on.thegrio.com/2WPE3dd
via

‘Orange Is the New Black’ star Lorraine Toussaint splits from husband

“Orange Is the New Black” actress Lorraine Toussaint is putting the full stop on her marriage of nearly two years.

On Thursday, the Trinidadian-American actress and producer filed for divorce from husband Michael Tomlinson in Los Angeles, TMZ reports. According to the court docs, they tied the knot on June 25, 2017, and have no minor children together, although there are reports that they share a teen daughter, Samara.

The star of NBC’s The Village previously shared in an interview that she wants to teach Samara “to be an independent, awesome, strong-minded young woman.”

She also explained to The HuffPost that “I want to teach my daughter — not with my words, but with my being — how to be in her body.”

The 59-year-old is asking the court to award her spousal support, and to block support to her estranged husband.

While Toussaint has been racking up television credits for years, her break out role came with inmate Yvonne “Vee” Parker on season 2 on the hit Netflix show, ‘OITNB.’ The role earned her a Critics’ Choice Television Award For Best Supporting Actress In A Drama and a SAG Award For Outstanding Performance By An Ensemble In A Comedy Series.

Her television credits also include Law & Order, Ugly Betty and Friday Night Lights. More recently she has starred in the hit wed comedy Grace and Frankie (2018), the AMC series Into The Badlands (2018-2019) and The Village (2019).

Toussaint has joked that she has two husbands, as it has been erroneously written for years that she was married to “Micah Zane.”

During an April interview on Live with Kelly and Ryan, Lorraine spoke about her “Internet husband.”

“I have a real husband and an Internet husband. My Internet husband is Micah Zane. I’ve been married to Micah Zane for many, many years now,” she said. “When I take Micah Zane off the Internet, he comes back on. My real husband is Michael Tomlinson.”

When asked why folks believe Zane is her husband, Toussaint explained, “Because everyone writes that. It’s on the Internet that I’m married to Micah Zane… I actually call my real husband Micah Zane sometimes.”

The post ‘Orange Is the New Black’ star Lorraine Toussaint splits from husband appeared first on theGrio.

from theGrio https://on.thegrio.com/2XOmNRX
via

Jennifer Lopez admits she doesn’t ‘really count’ two of her previous marriages

Jennifer Lopez is known for being a triple threat– singer, actor and dancer– but many have long been fascinated by her love life and multiple marriages.

The Bronx-born diva is currently on the road for her 50th birthday tour, and in a new behind-the-scenes mini documentary, Lopez opens up about her love life and forthcoming wedding to Alex Rodriguez — while taking shots at her first two marriages.

The former MLB star proposed to JLo. in March, after more than two years together. He was previously married to Cynthia Scurtis from 2002-08, and they share two daughters Natasha and Ella. Rodriguez will be Lopez’s fourth husband, and she hopes they tie the knot “soon but next year,” she says, PEOPLE reports.

“I’d like a big wedding, I’d like to get married in a church this time. Never been married in a church,” she admits.

Lopez was previously married to Ojani Noa from 1997-98 and Cris Judd from 2001-03, but she doesn’t recognize them because the romance with each was short lived.

“I’ve been married three times: once was nine months and once was 11 months. So I don’t really count those.”

Lopez was also married to Latin singer Marc Anthony from 2004-14, with whom she shares 11-year-old twins Max and Emme.

“I was married to Marc for 10 years with the kids. I was very young the first two times I tried to get married. I’m saying tried to get married,” she added, laughing.

Lopez, who famously dated Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs and Ben Affleck, admits she got married for all the wrong reasons when she was young and coming up in the entertainment business.

“It seems like in this life you’re always surrounded by people so you’re never lonely but it’s very lonely. So you always want somebody with you,” she said. “So I felt like if I got married then I would always have somebody but that’s not how life works. That’s not how it goes, a bad reason to get married. Not the right one, the wrong one.”

Jenny from the Block believes “The right one is when you find somebody who makes you better.”

A. Rod, meanwhile, recently gushed about his lady-love on Twitter, giving her props for “all the hard work” she has put into the tour, and noting how he’s having a blast watching Lopez bring her vision to life.

5 shows down, many more to go! Continue to be in awe of @JLo for all the hard work she put into this tour and bringing her vision to life. Having so much fun watching you do what you love. Proud of you, baby! ❤️ #JLOItsMyParty #ItsMyParty pic.twitter.com/Pl6RLtT7cN
— Alex Rodriguez (@AROD) June 15, 2019

The couple has reportedly started planning for their big day, and a source tells PEOPLE, they may opt for “a small family celebration that will, of course, include all four kids.”

The post Jennifer Lopez admits she doesn’t ‘really count’ two of her previous marriages appeared first on theGrio.

from theGrio https://on.thegrio.com/2wZssJb
via

Pages - HTML

Translate

Pages

Pages

Pages

Tuesday, June 18, 2019

Monday, June 17, 2019

Sunday, June 16, 2019