Month: September 2021

This article originally appeared on 10.30.17

When you try to pick a fight on Twitter it’s probably best to know who you’re dealing with. A conservative blogger learned this lesson the hard way after trying to troll a woman who’s far from his intellectual equal.

On Monday, Twitter user Katie Mack tweeted her concern about climate change.

Just like every other time she has tweeted about climate change, the trolls came out of the woodwork. This time it was Gary P. Jackson, editor and publisher of a blog dedicated to Ronald Reagan’s brand of conservatism.

And Mack’s response was perfect.

What Jackson didn’t know is that Dr. Katherine J. Mack received a PhD in astrophysics at Princeton University and an undergraduate degree in physics at Caltech. So she does know a little bit about science. In fact, probably more than a guy who has a blog dedicated to the man who ripped the solar panels off the White House and famously said, “Trees cause more pollution than automobiles do.”

This burn-heard-’round the world even attracted the attention of Harry Potter creator, J.K. Rowling.

This article originally appeared on 09.19.17

There’s an arms race happening at your local wing joint. According to QSR, it’s because Americans have strayed from eating traditional fare and are embracing spicier ethnic foods such as Mexican and Asian cuisine.

A 2013 Consumer Flavor Trend Report found that a majority of Americans (54 percent) prefer hot or spicy foods, including sauces, condiments, and dips, compared with 48 percent in 2011 and 46 percent in 2009. Now, a new report out of China shows that this new trend in American eating habits could prolong our life spans.

Researchers discovered the connection between spicy food and longevity after studying the results of a survey of 500,000 Chinese people taken from 2004 to 2008. The survey asked people about their dietary habits, including the amount of chili they consumed on a weekly basis. When researchers checked back in with respondents seven years later, those who consumed spicy foods once a week had a 10 percent lesser chance of death. And those who ate spicy foods three to seven times a week had a 14 percent lesser chance of death.

“We know something about the beneficial effects of spicy foods basically from animal studies and very small-sized human studies,” Lu Qi, associate professor at the Harvard School of Public Health, told Time. Studies have shown that that capsaicin, the active ingredient in spicy foods, is linked to a lower risk of cancer as well as heart and respiratory diseases. It also has a positive effect on metabolism, weight, and gut bacteria.

“It appears that increasing your intake moderately, just to one to two or three to five times a week, shows a very similar protective effect,” Qi said. “Just increase moderately. That’s maybe enough.” So, if you want an extra dab of Tabasco on your tacos, go for it. But you might not want to eat a dozen fried, greasy buffalo wings every night—that will probably cancel out the positive effects of the chili.

This article originally appeared on 08.18.19

When Molly Galbraith posted on Facebook a photo of herself on a beach in a bikini, her caption wasn’t your usual “look at me” selfie.

“This not a before picture. This is not an after picture,” she writes.

Based in Lexington, Kentucky, Galbraith is the owner and co-founder of Girls Gone Strong, a company that seeks to provide fitness solutions and community not influenced by the juggernaut, multi-billion dollar weight loss industry, and in her caption for the Facebook post, she creating a litany of what her body has experienced and withstood. “This is a body that loves protein and vegetables and queso and ice cream. This is a body that loves bent presses and pull-ups and deadlifts and sleep. This is a body that has been abused with fast food and late nights and stress. This body has been publicly evaluated, judged, and criticized.”

Galbraith’s list goes on, and, so far, the image and caption have spread like wildfire across Facebook, inspiring many others.

“This is the first year in as long as I can remember that I have made NO resolutions to change the way my body looks,” writes Galbraith. “Today this is a body that is loved, adored, and cherished by the only person whose opinion matters — ME.”

via molly galbraith

As often, a lot of the conversation in the NBA world has revolved around the Pacific Division during the 2021 offseason. The Los Angeles Lakers are one of the league’s flagship franchises, the Golden State Warriors are always an intriguing topic, the Los Angeles Clippers bring uncertainty with the injury to Kawhi Leonard, and the Phoenix Suns are the reigning Western Conference champions. Even the Sacramento Kings have various angles to think about and, with only a few weeks until training camps open across the league, invested NBA observers are looking to plant their flags through the lens of season win totals.

Picking the over or under for each NBA win total is basically a national pastime, and it is time to formally weigh in on the five teams in the Pacific. For the sake of clarity and transparency, each line below comes from the folks at DraftKings and they will arrive in alphabetical order.

Golden State Warriors – Over 48.5

I have to make a pick on each team. Otherwise, I would run screaming from the Warriors. Golden State is clearly in “win now” mode with Stephen Curry, Draymond Green and Klay Thompson, but they won at only a 44-win pace a year ago. Some of that stemmed from uneven supporting talent and the absence of Thompson, but it is impossible to know what Thompson will be in 2021-22. Golden State did make strong additions in Otto Porter Jr., Andre Iguodala and Nemanja Bjelica, but they add a pair of rookies in Moses Moody and Jonathan Kuminga. To be clear, I liked both picks, but the two youngsters, plus James Wiseman, probably don’t help the win total this year, and I’m simply leaning Over out of respect to the vets.

Los Angeles Clippers – Under 45.5

The Clippers actually had a good offseason, retaining Nic Batum and Reggie Jackson while adding reclamation projects in Eric Bledsoe and Justise Winslow. The big factor, though, is the absence of Kawhi Leonard, and given the uncertainty, I am going to assume he doesn’t play much, if at all. Los Angeles should be quite competitive without him, in part because Paul George is awesome, but this is a highly competitive Western Conference landscape. The roster just doesn’t stand out as much without a top-five guy in the mix.

Los Angeles Lakers – Under 52.5

For years, sharp NBA observers almost blindly took the Under on the Lakers, especially in Las Vegas. Casino shops artificially inflated the price on Los Angeles as arguably the most “public” team in the league, and it was almost like getting two or three free wins. With nationwide sports betting coming into view, that isn’t happening as much these days, and it is now almost popular to doubt the 2021-22 Lakers. Frankly, I was shocked that the total was only 52.5 wins, and that foiled plans to just say “Under” with conviction and move on. I’m still going to take the Under when forced to choose, but the skepticism I have about Russell Westbrook and a bizarrely constructed roster doesn’t push me far enough to fully advocate against LeBron, AD and company. Proceed with caution.

Phoenix Suns – Over 51.5

The Suns finished the 2020-21 season on a 58-win pace over 82 games. Even if you went off their point differential, Phoenix was a 56-win club. Factor in some built-in skepticism of a return to that same form, and there is still some cushion if you assume that the Suns are at least similar to last year’s bunch with almost every player on the roster is on the upswing, rather than the downside of their career arcs. Now, Chris Paul is decidedly on the opposite side of that aging curve, and the Suns were quite healthy last year, but they do bolster their backup center spot with JaVale McGee, and internal growth should offset any other questions. This is a fair number, but I’d lean to a repeat effort.

Sacramento Kings – Under 36.5

In going through a similar exercise to that of Phoenix, the Kings were a 35-win club (on an 82-game pace) a season ago by their record, but they actually outperformed their point differential. That means you have to think Sacramento is going to improve by more than a win or two in terms of real performance to take this Over, and I can’t project that. De’Aaron Fox and Tyrese Haliburton are quality young players, and the Kings do have solid vets in Richaun Holmes and Harrison Barnes. On the flip side, the Kings inexplicably flipped Delon Wright into Tristan Thompson and, while Davion Mitchell projects as a better-than-average rookie given his age and defensive aptitude, he isn’t likely to change the team’s fortunes as a backup to Sacramento’s top two pieces. The Kings are at least capable of going Over if everything breaks well, but projecting that is something different.

Before she was an Emmy winner and Marvel Cinematic Universe regular, Zendaya was a Disney Channel star. The Euphoria actress made her Disney debut on Shake It Up, which premiered to huge numbers in 2010 (the first episode was seen by 6.2 million viewers) and ran for three successful seasons. She was still a teenager at the time, so her first kiss was going to be on Shake It Up — until she intervened.

“I remember being on Shake It Up and being like, ‘I’m not gonna do this. I’m going to kiss him on the cheek because I haven’t been kissed yet so I don’t want the kiss to be on camera,’” she told British Vogue.

Zendaya also discussed her interest in directing.

Art, she believes, is “a huge catalyst for change. If I ever do become a film-maker, I know that the leads of my films will always be black women.” And that’s certainly on her list. On set, she likes to sit near the monitors and ask questions about storyboarding shots. “I gotta hurry up and figure out how to f*cking become a director, man. I’m trying, I’m learning every day, I really am. There’s so much I want to do.”

Zendaya’s busy year continues with roles in Dune and Spider-Man: No Way Home.

(Via British Vogue)

NBA 2K22 launches this Friday, which means this week should see us get the last major information about the game as 2K tries to convince folks to once again purchase the latest edition of the game.

The gameplay trailer looked an awful lot like other recent versions of the game, and the selling point for 2K is really about a new MyCareer mode and the Neighborhood environment that is where most players spend their time both in the career mode and in online play. This year, that is the area in which 2K seemed to spend the most time working on a major update, as the Neighborhood becomes the City for next-gen consoles (PS5 and Xbox Series X/S), while those on PS4/Xbox One/Switch will be on a cruise ship.

On Tuesday, we got our first look at the City, as 2K dropped a new trailer showing some of the MyCareer story arc and a number of the things you’ll be able to do in the suddenly expansive new Neighborhood.

There is still a fairly robust storyline to the MyCareer mode this year, which has been a staple of NBA 2K games for some time, but in recent years they have cut back some on cut scenes, which has been a welcome sight. We’ll see if that continues this year or not — it’s hard to tell from a trailer that purposefully shows a number of those moments — but you have interactions throughout the City, with a lot of emphasis on your off-court life, including dabbling in fashion and music.

According to a new report at The Daily Beast, the new Tiffany & Co. ad campaign featuring Beyonce and Jay-Z posing alongside a rarely-seen canvas by Jean-Michel Basquiat has drawn the ire of the artist’s closest friends and collaborators, some of whom say they were “horrified” to see the ad. They maintain that Basquiat himself would not have approved of such commercial use of his work, calling it a “prop” to give the ad empty cultural clout.

Alexis Adler, who is described as a girlfriend of the late painter who lived with him during his early career, told The Beast, “I’d seen the ad a couple days ago and I was horrified… the commercialization and commodification of Jean and his art at this point—it’s really not what Jean was about.” Alder pointed out that while Basquiat certainly wanted to be commercially successful, he also wanted his art to be accessible. “Unfortunately, the museums came to Jean’s art late, so most of his art is in private hands and people don’t get to see that art except for the shows,” she notes. “Why show it as a prop to an ad? Loan it out to a museum. In a time where there were very few Black artists represented in Western museums, that was his goal: to get to a museum.”

Al Diaz, Basquiat’s partner in the duo SAMO, also criticized the ad for misappropriating Basquiat’s image and reputation as a “luxury” association. “People think that his association with luxury was because he was impressed with that shit, but he couldn’t care less,” he explains. “It’s not just about wearing an Armani suit. If he wore it, it’s because he could buy it and fuck it up, it wasn’t because the stitches were fabulous or well-made… People won’t see the depth. At this point, the only people that could afford a Basquiat are the people he was targeting. Like, you’re the oppressor. They buy it out so that it becomes meaningless.”

And an unnamed curator of Basquiat’s work takes issue with the company’s insistence that the distinctive blue tone used on Equals Pi would ever be a simple tribute to the remarkably similar “Tiffany blue” signature. “Let’s say he did reference that color on purpose — which seems out of character for him to do something that simple — I think it really flattens his artistic approach,” they said. “He was a really deep thinker. His work wasn’t like, this symbolizes this. Everything references something but then it tells a story of that thing. But let’s say he did though… to use it in an ad, it wouldn’t have been the context. It wouldn’t be used to sell Tiffany’s but to say something critical, maybe about blood diamond extraction or something. I just think it’s a reach.”

The full article can be read here.

Tripwire is a video game publisher best known for games like Maneater and the Killing Floor series. However, nobody is talking about their games after the CEO for the publisher, John Gibson, tweeted out praise for a controversial bill in Texas that bans abortions after a woman has been pregnant six weeks. The bill also allows people to legally target anyone attempting to aid women in getting reproductive healthcare including abortions.

Shortly after Gibson Tweeted out his praise, it was announced by Tripwire that he would be stepping down as CEO immediately and would be replaced by Alan Wilson. The statement that followed from Tripwire said that they do not agree with Gibson and feel that he doesn’t reflect what the company believes in.

However, while Tripwire’s swift response is appreciated, it’s worth noting that this is not the first time Gibson has shown his beliefs. He’s even done so in games they have published such as Killing Floor 2 where he inserted his own Christian Metal Band into the game, where they sang songs that included anti-abortion lyrics.

Since Gibson tweeted out his statement, there was been a wide response from not only fans that planned to boycott games published by Tripwire but even some of the developers they worked with. Shipwright Studios, the developers of Maneater and Chivalry 2, immediately cut off their relationship with Tripwire in response to Gibson’s tweet.

While Tripwire says that Gibson’s beliefs don’t reflect their own, and that’s why he’s stepping down, it feels more likely that he’s doing so because his statements are harming the company’s bottom line.

Televangelist Franklin Graham—the eldest son of the late televangelist Billy Graham, and heir to the family business—spent Labor Day paying tribute to America’s workers by declaring that the millions of people who are unemployed during the pandemic are lazy, God-ignoring money-grubbers.

In a Twitter thread posted on Monday afternoon, Graham — who serves as president and CEO of both Samaritan’s Purse charity and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association — had a lot of thoughts to air about the state of employment in America and how the financial incentives that many have received amidst the COVID pandemic have impacted the country’s workforce:

Today we celebrate the American worker—the entrepreneurs w/ their dreams & the workers w/their skills who built this nation. But it’s troubling to see the disregard we now see for hard work. Almost every business is trying to hire people, but so many don’t want to work. #LaborDay

With @POTUS45 Trump, the US had the strongest economy, some say since Eisenhower, & we had more people working than at any time in our history—but it’s evaporating. COVID had an impact, but political mismanagement has dealt a debilitating blow.

Repeated stimulus payments & giveaway packages have encouraged people not to go to work. The Republicans seem to know how to get people to work and the Democrats seem to know how to tax your money and give it to people as an incentive not to work.

God created us to work. On this Labor Day, join me in thanking Him for His hand of blessing on this nation through the years. And pray for America and our leaders to turn to God and ask for His forgiveness, His mercy, and His continued blessings. That is what we need most.

It’s been a while since I’ve read the Good Book, but praising Donald Trump while eviscerating hard-working Americans who are not paid a living wage and mentioning COVID as a sort of afterthought as to why so many people have been out of work doesn’t sound like the most Christian of things to say. Of course, it didn’t take long for people to react to Graham’s post.

Some people schooled him on the details of the Bible:

Some people likened Graham’s message to the slogan of Nazi concentration camps:

Many laughed at the irony of Graham, who reportedly rakes in a salary of about $900,000 per year, would know the first thing about working hard.

Still others just went straight for the most obvious fact that Graham was leaving out: The abusive and unfair conditions so many people work under without even earning a living wage in order to line the pockets of fat cats (which is basically what Graham is, just under the guise of being a God-fearing do-gooder):

Your move, Frank.

What sets Olivia Rodrigo’s music apart from that of most other modern pop stars is her heavy incorporation of rock elements, like with her hit single “Good 4 U.” Now, Camila Cabello has taken on the track, but instead of rock, she infused it with a Latin flavor.

In the BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge, Cabello offered a cover of the song that’s more inspired by salsa music than it is punk-rock. She takes the tempo down a notch as she sings the track, backed by musicians playing conga drums, accordion, guitar, and more.

Ahead of the performance, Cabello said of “Good 4 U” and of Rodrigo, “I feel like she’s such an incredible vocalist and an amazing singer. I think her songs really lend well to… this song was a challenging song to practice. It’s pretty high and demands a lot of breath, and I was excited to do it. I love her kind of punk-rock vibe.”

Speaking of covers, Cabello recently busted out some songs in the middle of the street for a “Crosswalk The Musical” segment on The Late Late Show. Meanwhile, Cabello recently confirmed that, despite the rumor she unintentionally started, she and Shawn Mendes are not actually engaged.

Watch a clip of Cabello performing “Good 4 U” above and find the full Live Lounge broadcast here.