Year: 2022

Kyle found a unique way to revitalize his January album It’s Not So Bad this week, turning the album to an MFT (Music Fungible Token) in collaboration with Opulous. According to WeFunder, this marks one of the first times future master recordings for an entire album are tokenized into MFTs. Because It’s Not So Bad is nearly five months old, those who purchase MFTs will immediately begin earning a portion of the album’s royalty revenue.

Opulous has previously worked with artists such as Lil Pump, Soulja Boy, and Ardz Ardz. Kyle had this to say about the venture: “I wanted to release a whole MFT album with Opulous so that my fans and I can get closer to a model of becoming successful as a unit, redefining success together. Sharing this experience with fans and maybe even friends and family is a valuable thing. I don’t think anything will be able to match the feeling as we cross the finish line together.”

The 12-track album It’s Not So Bad featured Craig David, Ivory Scott, Dougie F, and Beam. Kyle and Opulous are offering multiple tiers including different perks such as meeting Kyle in person or at one of his concerts. Purchase your MFTs for It’s Not So Bad here.

Next week will mark one month since Young Thug, Gunna, and 26 other members of the Young Stoner Life (YSL) record label were hit with numerous charges as a part of a 56-count Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) case. The charges against the YSL members include conspiring to violate the RICO Act, murder, armed robbery, and participation in criminal street gang activity. Gunna, who is only charged with conspiring to violate RICO, was recently denied bond in the case and his next court date was set for January 9, 2023.

According to Billboard‘s Jewel Wicker, Young Thug, born Jeffery Williams, was also denied bond during a hearing on Thursday and it comes just a week after Gunna had his own denied. “I realize that Mr. Williams is presumed innocent,” Judge Ural Glanville said during the hearing at Fulton County Superior Court. “However, in this particular circumstance there have been significant [claims] about Mr. Williams being a danger to the community.” Thug’s attorney Brain Steel offered the option of an “incredibly expensive” house arrest to reduce those fears, but prosecutor Don Geary said the rapper should not be able to “buy” his way out of jail.

Ultimately, Judge Glanville sided with the prosecution and denied bond for Thug. His next court date will be on January 9, 2023.

You can listen to Judge Glanville’s ruling in the video above.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Whenever a new Final Fantasy game is on the horizon there is always excitement. It can be argued that there are better JRPG franchises, but nobody can disagree that the Final Fantasy franchise is the most important JRPG for western audiences. It’s the franchise that helped an entire genre gain popularity overseas and to this day is still thriving. We would not have many of our favorite games if it wasn’t for Final Fantasy and that’s why whenever a new game comes out everyone pays attention.

On Thursday, at this summer’s PlayStation State of Play, a new trailer for Final Fantasy XVI was revealed. Not only was this more expansive than the previous trailer, but it gave us a Summer 2023 release date for the game.

The trailer is filled with flashy cinematics and action sequences so it can be a little difficult to make out what is taking place, but the combat appears to be similar to the more action oriented direction that Final Fantasy XV went in. These action sequences are spread out sporadically throughout the trailer, but they’re very cool and could make for a really fun game if handled the right way. A fair criticism of Final Fantasy XV is that the combat, while fun, was more style than substance. Hopefully, this one will have a little more depth to it.

Of course, we still have an entire year before the game’s potential release date. There is plenty of time for us to not only learn more about the game, but for the developers to polish the game until it’s the best it can possibly be. There’s a lot to be excited about here for JRPG fans.

The Golden State Warriors are getting a boost in their backcourt rotation from the jump during the 2022 NBA Finals. After not appearing in a game since suffering a fractured elbow during the Western Conference Semifinals against the Memphis Grizzlies, Shams Charania and Anthony Slater of The Athletic reported on Thursday morning that Payton was on track to dress for Game 1 against the Boston Celtics.

Eventually, Steve Kerr confirmed that Payton will, indeed, be available as the NBA Finals begin — along with Andre Iguodala and Otto Porter Jr., giving Golden State their full complement of wings for Game 1.

Payton went down in the opening moments of Game 2 against the Grizzlies, as the Warriors’ tenacious guard attempted a layup and was on the receiving end of a hard foul by Memphis wing Dillon Brooks. After the play was reviewed, Brooks was ejected for a Flagrant 2 and eventually suspended for Game 3, while Warriors coach Steve Kerr was not shy about expressing his belief that the foul crossed the line.

As for Payton, the incident caused him some serious discomfort in his left elbow, and immediately left the game before being diagnosed with a fracture and some slight ligament damage. There was, however, optimism he’d be able to eventually return to the team as they pursued a championship. One of the stingiest defensive players in the NBA, Payton averaged 6.1 points, three rebounds, 1.3 assists, 0.9 steals, and 0.7 blocks in 15.9 minutes per game during the postseason prior to his injury.

Seth Green has been having a really tough time after losing his ape, Fred. The ape is not a real animal, to be clear (that’s Alan Cumming’s problem). It is his NFT who is supposed to star in Green’s upcoming (and horrendous looking) comedy series White Horse Tavern, but the show was put on hold because someone stole the NFT. Are you following? Well, get ready because there is a new development.

After Buzzfeed reached out to the person who is in possession of Green’s Bored Ape, the two seemed to have gotten in touch with each other. As it turns out, DarkWing84 purchased the NFT from hackers for nearly $200K. Now, Green and Mr. DarkWing are working together to find the original hacker who stole dear old Fred.

Green posted a triumphant tweet and confirmed he and DarkWing have been in contact. “Good news frens, @DarkWing84 & I connected- working together to prosecute the original thieves & hopefully make this space safer. Huge thanks to @BoredApeYC community for maintaining the collaborative spirit of the project. Can’t wait to see you at #WhiteHorseTavern“

White Horse Tavern, of course, is the television show starring Green’s Bored Ape as a bartender, among real, live-action humans. Now that Green is on his way to getting the show back on track, it might actually happen. Now that’s dark. Even though Green might get his friend back, many, many, other NFT holders are losing money, and now they are tweeting at Green for help. Maybe that could make for an interesting show!

Most people don’t wake up and wonder how they can become a hero that day. In most instances, it’s about being in the right place at the right time and acting on instinct. That’s what happened when Kansas resident Tom Westerhaus was alerted by his 12-year-old daughter, Maddox, that their neighbor’s preschooler had fallen into the pool. The dad, who had been trained as a lifeguard in his youth, went directly to his training, even though it had been years since he took the required classes. He dived in and was able to pull the 4-year-old out of the pool and immediately begin chest compressions. The child had been submerged for more than three minutes.

The boy’s mother, Alexis Rigney, was living many parents’ worst nightmare. The mom-of-two said she was taking care of her 4-month-old when she noticed her door was open and her older child was missing. Rigney reported that her son, Xzavier, has autism and when she ran outside to locate him, she heard sirens. Thanks to her neighbor’s heroic instinct, her child began breathing on his own after more than two minutes of chest compressions.

Paramedics arrived shortly after the boy began coughing up water and confirmed that if Westerhaus hadn’t jumped in when he did, Xzavier probably wouldn’t have survived. The father-daughter duo received Hometown Hero awards from Lawrence-Douglas County Fire Medical for their quick thinking and lifesaving actions. The first responders said that drowning is the leading cause of unintentional death in children and drowning doesn’t always look the way people think.

Thank goodness Maddox recognized something was wrong and alerted her father. Hopefully the pair went out for ice cream to celebrate their new hero status. Surely Xzavier’s mom is storing up on snuggles with her little guy and undoubtedly grateful for her neighbor’s quick acting.

Marcus Mosley was born in 1995 at just 26 weeks gestation, meaning he spent his first few months of life in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Now, 27 years later, Mosley has graduated medical school with the intention of specializing in the same kind of medicine that saved his life. He recently graduated from the CUNY School of Medicine at The City College of New York. His journey from being a patient to being a doctor in the NICU is well underway and the future is looking bright.

“It was very frightening when he was born and they told me that he was in the NICU,” Mosley’s mother, Pauline Mosley told “Good Morning America.” “The doctors told me, they just kept giving me all these different percentages of very slim chance of him being normal, like less than 10% chance. They kept saying 90%, he might not be able to see. Eighty to 90%, he would have developmental delays. They didn’t know.”

While it’s true that being born premature (before 37 weeks gestation) can lead to developmental delays and health problems that range from minor to severe, it’s hard for doctors to predict that at the outset. The effects of being born premature and the care received aren’t always known until the child gets older, but there is evidence that shows that Black babies are more likely to receive subpar NICU care.

A review of 41 studies that was released in 2019 found that Black preterm babies are the most vulnerable. Typically, hospitals with a higher amount of Black preemies had fewer nurses and lower-quality care compared to hospitals with a smaller amount of Black babies. Additionally, evidence showed that “minority-serving” NICUs had higher death rates. Lack of resources and understaffing at hospitals that serve communities of minorities is part of the problem.

Black parents have also talked about a lack of support as their babies leave the NICU. Some of the studies showed that Black parents were less likely to get referrals for follow-up care for their preemies. These parents also reported feeling less satisfied with their experiences, likely for the reasons mentioned above. If you’re not feeling supported, then you’re certainly not going to have a good experience.

Thankfully for the Mosley family, Marcus didn’t suffer from any long-term health problems. But a return to the NICU when he was 13 set his life on its current trajectory. During the visit to the Westchester Medical Center, he met Dr. Edmund LaGamma, the chief of neonatology at Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital at Westchester Medical Center. A relationship was forged between the two that would lead Mosley to make one of the most important discoveries of his life.

“He had called and said that he was a former patient of the Regional Neonatal Intensive Care Center and he was in high school and wanted to know if he could do a shadowing program over the summer,” LaGamma told “Good Morning America.”

LaGamma explained that in the time since Mosley had been a patient, “a lot of advances had been made,” and he invited the young man to come join the team for rounds. Shadowing Dr. LaGamma and the team left quite the impression on Mosley.

One of our many star students and now Dr. Marcus Mosley was featured in his hometown paper and on Good Morning America. https://t.co/UQYak1j4Qx @GMA @CSOM_Official @CityCollegeNY pic.twitter.com/m4KDqbXPAZ

— Dr. Victoria Frye (@DrVictoriaFrye1) May 27, 2022

“That is what really piqued my interest and then solidified my interest in wanting to go into medicine,” Mosley explained.

After that summer of shadowing, LaGamma began to act as a mentor to Mosley, especially when he enrolled in the accelerated B.A/M.D. program at City College, which happens to be LaGamma’s alma mater. Mosley is gearing up to begin his pediatrics residency at New York-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital.

“I’m really excited and looking forward to starting residency and to be able to take care of patients now,” Mosley said. “I’ll be responsible for patients and involved in patient care and treating families.”

And his mentor thinks that he is just the right person for such a special and important kind of job. “I think he has that personality which comes across as engaging and inviting so that he’ll do well as a pediatrician,” LaGamma said, adding that he’s already offering Mosley a fellowship position in the future.

It’s beautiful to see how a formative part of your life can lead you down a specific life path.

David Tan of Middleton, Wisconsin, spent 40 years in the cockpit as a military, professional and private pilot and he’s still in the air, but now his co-pilots are mostly rescue dogs. Since 2012, he’s flown more than 360 dogs to safety as well as 23 cats, a potbelly pig and even a bat that he helped deliver to a rescue preserve.

Tan transports the animals in his Aermacchi SF-260, a two-person Italian plane used for aerobatics and by countries with smaller air forces.

It all started back in 2012 when he heard about Pilots N Paws, a 501(c)(3) organization that brings together pilots and shelters to transport pets to safety or new forever homes.

“The intent of Pilots N Paws is to provide an environment in which volunteers can come together and arrange or schedule rescue flights, overnight foster care or shelter, and all other related activities,” the organization’s website reads.

Tan is one of 6,000 volunteer pilots who donate their time, planes and fuel to transport pets in desperate need of help. Typically, a rescue will require multiple pilots who fly legs of around 250 miles before handing the animal off to another plane.

Tan says that most of his rescue missions are in the southern states. In March, Tan picked up a rescue named April who was abandoned by her owners because she went to the bathroom in the house so they brought her to the vet to be euthanized.

“There are just some terrible stories out there [about] how cruel people can be to animals, especially down south; the abandonments are horrible,” Tan told Madison Magazine. “A family would just leave them, discard them like a piece of old furniture or something. So that kind of gets me. I feel good when at least … I can contribute toward where they go.”

Tan also works one-on-one with a network of rescuers that he’s met over a decade of flying pups around the country.

His job is usually to transport the animals between the airports, but sometimes he’s lucky enough to introduce them to their new forever families. “You sort of say, ‘Hope you have a great rest of your life,’ you know?” he says. “‘Hope these people love you forever.’”

Sometimes the families will hand him a few bucks for his efforts but he never keeps the money. He gives it back to the rescues, as they are always in desperate need of funds to pay for medical costs associated with the animals they save.

“They’re always short, especially when it comes to medical care for the animals,” Tan said. “It just costs so much nowadays.”

u201cIt’s National Rescue Dog Day! We’re celebrating all the puppies, dogs, and yes kitties too, that have found their furever homes thanks to all our volunteer pilots. Do you have a rescue dog? u2708ufe0f ud83dudc3e ud83dudc36 ud83dude0dn#pilotsnpaws #nationalrescuedogday #rescuedog #rescuepup #volunteersinactionu201d

— Pilots N Paws (@Pilots N Paws)
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Flying requires constant practice so pilots need a lot of flying time to maintain their skill set. Tan believes that his work rescuing dogs helps keep him in tip-top shape.

“If you fly, it’s a perishable skill and you must keep current,” he says. “So rather than take a flight and go somewhere for what we call the proverbial $200 hamburger, I’d rather be flying dogs.”

Sometimes pets are what keeps people struggling with addiction and other mental health issues going. Pets provide a level of responsibility outside of yourself and they thrive on routine. For example, if you have trouble waking up in the morning, don’t just set your alarm, start feeding your animal at the time you’d like to wake up. After a week or so of this new and rewarding habit for your pet, they will be sure to remind you it’s feeding time. By simply existing, pets can give their owners purpose on top of all of the great mental health benefits. It’s no wonder that pets can also be the reason people don’t seek out treatment for substance use issues, especially if it requires a lengthy stay away from home. But now, people in Utah struggling with addiction no longer have to choose between their sobriety and their pet.

Some people that find themselves addicted to drugs or alcohol can become isolated from healthy relationships with their friends and family. Being isolated makes it difficult to find someone trustworthy to care for your pets while you’re caring for yourself. As one could imagine, if the social network is depleted and if the only people available to help with pets are other people struggling with addiction, it makes sense to them to prioritize their pet’s safety over seeking treatment. When you’re deep in the throes of addiction, clinging to the one thing that is holding you together most days is understandable.

Ruff Haven Crisis Sheltering typically offers free short-term housing for pets while their owners are going through a difficult time like domestic violence or homelessness. It recently partnered with Odyssey House, Utah’s largest comprehensive addiction program, which offers residential programs for teens and adults. The nonprofit also offers sober housing and a program designed for single parents. With Ruff Haven Crisis Sheltering working hand in hand with Odyssey House, potential clients can rest assured their animals will be cared for during their time in treatment.

The animal crisis shelter can keep the animals for up to three months of free boarding while the pet’s owner is receiving treatment. Ruff Haven’s foster coordinator, Beth Henry, told The Salt Lake Tribune, “This is really person-based, like person-led.” Henry explained that the animals are kept safe in a foster home until the owner completes treatment and reaches a place of safety and stability. Before the pet is placed in a foster home, the owner must complete an application, which includes the owner’s current situation. Once the application is complete, the animal is assessed regarding its general condition including vaccinations and if it’s fixed or scheduled to be. After all criteria is met, the pet is matched with a foster and the client can check in on their pet once a week via text. This includes foster parents sending pictures and videos to the owner to help ease their minds while they focus on getting clean.

Some animals are even able to get visitation with their humans at the Dogs All Day facility, where the owner can schedule some much-needed cuddles with their pooch. Ruff Haven’s Executive Director Kristina Pulsipher told the paper, “A lot of times [owners] worry that they’re gonna forget them during that period — the pets never forget their person. The reunions are why we do this. And we have many people who have been clients that volunteer with us now, or foster for us.”

This program is such a compassionate solution to a difficult situation and will hopefully catch on in other states. It’s so important for people to be able to get the help they need without worrying about abandoning their pets. Since Ruff Haven opened in June 2020, it has already helped around 500 animals and 320 families.

The world takes a collective breath as the dumpster fire that was the Depp v. Heard trial has come to an end. While some people had no interest in watching the trial, others set up tents in the camps of the actor they found most believable. One conversation emerging from the trial, no matter which side you’re on or how indifferent you feel about the verdict, is that men can be victims of domestic violence too.

If you’re a fan of “Law & Order SVU,” you’ve heard of the perfect victim idea. It’s that if the victim isn’t absolutely and unequivocally perfect, they won’t be believed in court or in the public eye. There is some truth to that. Victims come in all shapes and sizes and from many different backgrounds, and the same is true regarding domestic violence victims. Women report being victims of domestic violence at a higher rate and are more likely to die at the hands of their perpetrator than anyone else, especially when they are leaving the relationship or pregnant.

Knowing that women are the most likely victims of domestic abuse doesn’t negate that men can also be abuse victims. For so many people, the perfect victim thought happens automatically—if the man claiming abuse isn’t small framed and timid, they have a hard time being believed. But abuse doesn’t usually start out as physical violence—abuse starts psychologically. The abuser typically starts by saying small things to slowly break a person’s spirit only to gaslight them into believing they’re overreacting. Before long, abusers tend to isolate you from your family and friends as they continue to slowly chip away at your self-confidence. Once they’re sure you aren’t leaving, that’s when the physical abuse starts and the cycle of abuse intensifies.

While for some people it may be difficult to imagine a woman being the abuser of a much larger man, it’s not unheard of. Men are victims of domestic violence and they don’t have to be smaller than their abuser for it to be true. Male victims of intimate partner violence (IPV) are much less likely to report their abuse to the authorities, which makes data a little scarce. But, according to the CDC, approximately 1 in 10 men in the United States experienced sexual violence, physical violence and/or stalking. It reports that 97% of men that reported domestic violence only had female partners.

The statistics are staggering, and the CDC is calling IPV against men a significant public health problem. Domestic violence is an issue that needs to be talked about, but we can’t let our bias allow us to jump to conclusions about who the victim is. All victims deserve to feel heard. They deserve to know that people are in their corner and will believe their story, even if the victim doesn’t fit into the image we’ve painted in our minds.

Believing men can be abused by their female partners does not mean that we have to stop believing female victims. Abusers do not care what anatomy you possess. Anyone can be a victim of domestic violence. Men, women and gender nonconforming people can all be victimized, and this trial has ignited a much-needed conversation on the topic.