July 24, 2015

Top News Stories –

WWE Cuts Ties With Hulk Hogan Amid Report That He Used Slurs –
World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. has severed ties with Hulk Hogan amid a report that one of the biggest stars in professional wrestling history used racial slurs in a conversation caught on a sex tape. The company deleted most references to Hogan on its website and issued a statement Friday saying it had terminated its contract with him. WWE did not give a reason, but issued a statement saying it is “committed to embracing and celebrating individuals from all backgrounds as demonstrated by the diversity of our employees, performers and fans worldwide.” On Friday, a joint report from RadarOnline.com and The National Enquirer said that Hogan had used racial slurs in a conversation caught on a sex video that is the subject of an invasion of privacy lawsuit. [NY Times]
Hulk_hogan_2014Hulk Hogan in 2014

Converse launches first Chuck Taylor update in 98 years –
Converse has announced it is launching a Converse Chuck Taylor All Star II – the first update to the iconic canvas shoe in nearly a century. The update is made of durable Tencel canvas, as opposed to the cotton kind, with higher tech shock absorption in Nike Lunarlon for the footbed. The idea is to make the show [sic – sole] more comfortable. Jim Calhoun, the 48-year-old chief executive of Converse, said many customers had complained that the original Converse was not supportive enough. The easily recognisable rubber toe cap will remain. The new shoe goes on sale on July 28 in black, white, red and blue. [Daily Telegraph]
Converse-red-shoeThe new Converse red

Apple patents Apple TV remote with Touch ID –
Entering passwords to log into Netflix could become a thing of the past after a patent for an Apple TV remote complete with fingerprint scanner emerged. Apple has been granted a patent for an Apple TV remote with inbuilt Touch ID sensor, allowing users to use their biometric data to enter TV passwords, created personalised profiles or controlling connected devices. The patent, filed in January 2014, explores how biometric information collected through fingerprint sensors could be harnessed to personalise user profiles and access accounts without the need for ‘annoying and/or burdensome’ logins. Data could also be supplied through retinal or facilia images, palm, toe or hand prints, voice samples and gesture patterns, according to the filing. [Daily Telegraph]

Video of the Day –

Janet Jackson – “No Sleeep” Feat. J. Cole

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1 Hulk Hogan Hulk Hogan Hulk Hogan
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  • A large explosion, which triggers other explosions and a fire (which threatens a nearby forest) at a fireworks factory in southeastern Italy(Modugno, Metropolitan City of Bari, Apulia Region) kills 7 people and injures several more, some seriously. Emergency vehicles were on the scene and the cause is being investigated; it is the peak season for fireworks in Italy because of the summer festivals there. (BBC)
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July 25, 2015

Top News Stories –

Parking attendant ‘mistakenly gives away’ Grandmaster Flash’s car –
Hip-hop pioneer says he returned to garage to find his customised Dodge Charger had been given to someone “dressed like him”. When you leave your customised muscle car with a valet parking service in New York, you assume it is in safe hands.Particularly if you are a hip-hop superstar. But when Grandmaster Flash returned to the garage in Manhattan where he had left his Dodge Charger for two hours he was told by the attendant that his “whip” – slang for souped-up car – had been given to someone else. To make matters worse, he had left thousands of dollars of vintage vinyl in the car. [Daily Telegraph]

Has Kim Kardashian just fixed Twitter? –
Reality TV star wants to be able to edit misspelled tweets and Twitter co-founder says ‘great idea’. It is easily one of the most annoying things about Twitter: the inability to edit tweets that contain mistakes, spelling errors or just came out sounding a bit wrong. Instead, Twitter users have the delete the tweet, and repost a new version, which leads to all kinds of problems if the earlier tweet had been retweeted, and on it goes. But hopefully not for long. Enter Kim Kardashian, the reality TV star and unofficial queen of Twitter, who uses the site daily to communicate with her 33.8 million followers and promote herself. On Friday, Kardashian turned her attention to the workings of the site, asking why it wasn’t possible to simply edit tweets. Not long afterwards, she got a reply from Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, which suggests a fix for the problem isn’t far off. [Daily Telegraph]
Kim Kardashian Twitter fixKim Kardashian Twitter fix with Jack Dorsey

Kim-KardashianKim Kardashian

Video of the Day –

Otherwise Engaged from Jack Sidey on Vimeo.

Written and Directed by Alicia MacDonald @AliciaMacDonald

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March 18, 2016

Top News Stories –

Hulk Hogan awarded $115m in Gawker sex tape case –
A Florida jury has awarded Hulk Hogan $115m (£79m) after the gossip news website Gawker published a sex tape of the retired professional wrestler. Mr Hogan’s legal team argued the New York-based website violated his privacy and the video was not newsworthy. The case, which pitted freedom of the press against a celebrity’s right to privacy, has been closely watched. The video was posted in 2012 after Mr Hogan was secretly recorded having sex with his friend’s wife. Mr Hogan, whose given name is Terry Bollea, said the release of the sex tape hurt his career. He was one of the most popular professional wrestlers of the 1980s and 1990s and later starred in his own reality television show with his family. [BBC]
Hulk_Hogan_2014Hulk Hogan

Sport Relief raises ‘a record’ £55m –
More than £55m has been raised so far for charity on Sport Relief’s live TV show, ahead of a weekend of fundraising. David Walliams, Alesha Dixon, Gary Lineker and Greg James were among those who hosted the BBC show, broadcast from London’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. Highlights included a Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em sketch featuring tennis siblings Andy and Jamie Murray. The total of £55,444,906 breaks the previous on-the-night record of £51m. [BBC] See List of the Day
Sportrelief_logo

Iain Duncan Smith quits over planned disability benefit changes –
Iain Duncan Smith has dramatically resigned from the [UK] Government in protest at George Osborne’s proposed cuts to benefits for the disabled. The former Conservative leader said that plans to cut the benefits paid to the disabled by more than £1 billion were a “compromise too far” and said that welfare for pensioners should be cut instead. He added that they are “not defensible” when announced alongside a budget that benefits higher earning taxpayers. Mr Duncan Smith [a former Conservative Leader] also accused the Chancellor of forcing through cuts to welfare for “political” rather than national economic reasons. [Daily Telegraph]
Iain_Duncan_SmithIain Duncan Smith

Australia Senate passes reforms after farcical all-nighter –
Monty Python references, a colonoscopy analogy and a pyjama-clad senator featured during an all-night sitting of Australia’s upper house. The Senate has finally passed changes to how its members are elected after 28 hours of debate. The changes will disadvantage so-called micro parties that have gained increasing power in the Senate. The ruling conservative Coalition formed an unlikely partnership with the Greens party to pass the reforms. But the opposition Labor Party and micro party senators, who opposed the laws, dragged out the debate with filibuster tactics and amendments. During the all-night debate, Labor senators consistently spoke off-topic to delay votes to the legislation giving voters greater control over where their preferences were allocated. The laws eventually passed by a margin of 36-24. [BBC]

Video of the Day –

Proof of evolution that you can find on your body

List of the Day –

Total charity donations “on the night” by BBC Sport Relief

2004 £11,078,359
2006 c. £18,000,000
2008 £19,640,321
2010 £31,633,091
2012 £50,447,197
2014 £51,242,186
2016 £55,444,906

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June 10, 2016

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Spanish town’s giant dog dropping goes walkies –
A town in Spain is facing an unexpected bill after thieves apparently made off with a giant dog dropping being used as part of a local campaign. Torrelodones, a municipality just outside the capital Madrid, is 2,400 euros ($2,726; £1,885) out of pocket after the three-metre high inflatable bought as part of a campaign to encourage pet-lovers to pick up after their dogs went missing, El Pais newspaper reports. The bizarre inflatable disappeared after it had been packed away in its carry-case and the police are now on the trail of the 30 kilogramme dog poop, town officials say. Speaking to the ABC newspaper, town councillor Angel Guirao said staff were shocked and perplexed by the theft, and a replacement excrement was already on order because “we know that the campaign has been a great success”. The inflatable is not the only symbol of the municipality’s “Lay an egg” campaign. Torrelodones has also left a number of concrete dog poops around the town bearing the message “This is a big blockage to living together. If you have a dog, help us”. People taking the time to engage with the campaign by posting photos on social media can win “Lay an egg” T-shirts, tastefully illustrated with a picture of a hen’s egg. [BBC]

Video of the Day –

A Brief History of Video Game Title Design from Art of the Title on Vimeo.

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