Category: News

Is there a sound on Earth that fills people with more rage than the following:

“We’ve been trying to reach you concerning your car’s extended warranty. You should have received something in the mail about your car’s extended warranty. Since we have not gotten a response, we are giving you a final courtesy call before we close out your file. Press 2 to be removed and put on our Do-Not-Call list. Press 1 to speak with someone about extending or reinstating your car’s warranty.”

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) says there have been more than 8 billion unlawful prerecorded message auto warranty scam calls sent to American consumers since at least 2018.

The scammers lure people in with the lie that they’re calling about a car warranty and then ask for sensitive financial information to defraud them. Unfortunately, even though Americans lost out on $39.5 billion last year to phone scammers, the government has not been very effective at stopping the calls.

A recent study published by The Ascent revealed that last year, 68.4 million Americans fell victim to phone scams with 20% being victimized on multiple occasions. The scams are more likely to defraud younger people and men.

The sheer number of annoying robocalls has driven many people to stop picking up the phone altogether.

u201cI love that there was a period of time when it was like ‘grrr someone should fix these robocalls’ and then they never really did and now we just don’t answer phones anymoreu201d

— Lord Businessman (@Lord Businessman)
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In 2019, Congress passed the Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence (or TRACED) Act but the audio-dialing industry has been able to keep a step ahead of the law. Fortune says that blame can also be placed on federal agencies whose inaction has allowed scammers to get off scot-free and big businesses for their “tacit support for robocalling.”

On July 7, the FCC announced that it is actively investigating the calls for formal legal violations. This step could mean the end of years of foot-dragging.

“Billions of auto warranty robocalls from a single calling campaign. Billions! Auto warranty scams are one of the top complaints we get from consumers and it’s time to hold those responsible for making these junk calls,” FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said in a statement.

u201cIn the past 2 years, auto warranty scam #robocalls have resulted in more consumer complaints to us than any other unwanted call category. These calls usually claim your insurance or warranty is about to expire, and they often use PII to make it seem legit. https://t.co/Rc6t4ioUvnu201d

— The FCC (@The FCC)
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It also sent cease-and-desist letters to top phone carriers asking them to stop carrying the calls within 48 hours from Roy Cox Jr., Aaron Michael Jones, their Sumco Panama companies and other international associates.

The FCC says that the Cox/Jones/Sumco Panama operation could be responsible for the 8 billion scam calls.

“The Enforcement Bureau will use all the tools at its disposal to protect consumers and U.S. telecommunications networks from the scourge of illegal robocalls,” Acting FCC Enforcement Bureau Chief Loyaan A. Egal said in a statement.

Let’s hope that the new regulations passed by the FCC are successful at stopping these fraudsters who are annoying at best and at their worst, take advantage of the most vulnerable. A phone should be a means for communication, not an open hotline for scammers around the globe to try to take advantage of people.

Then, just maybe, we’ll feel free to pick up the phone again.

Optical illusions are always fun to play with, but some can be particularly challenging on the old eyes and brain. It’s fascinating to see how different people process them and how quickly or slowly—or sometimes not at all—people see things that aren’t really there or see images hidden within other images.

Not to brag, but I’m kind of an optical illusion savant. It usually doesn’t take me longer than a few seconds to see whatever it is people say they are seeing. But occasionally an illusion comes along that stumps me to the point where I wonder if people are actually lying about what they are seeing.

This rectangle/circle illusion is one of those.

It’s called the coffer illusion and was created by Stanford University psychologist and vision scientist Anthony Norcia. The image is made up of a pattern of black, white and gray lines of various shades that create the illusion of rectangles. It’s easy enough to see the rectangles.

What’s not so easy to see are the 16 circles in the image. Yes, they really are there.

Take a look:

u201cLook closely.nnThere are actually 16 circles in this image.nnAnd once you see them, the image appears changed forever. nnThe wonderful coffer illusion, by Anthony Norciau201d

— Gavin Buckingham (@Gavin Buckingham)
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Seriously, at first my brain said, “Nope.” How could there be circles? All I see are straight lines. Straight lines horizontally. Straight lines vertically. Not a single curved line anywhere in sight. How can there be circles if there are nothing but right angles in the image?

So I did what any self-respecting social-media-savvy person would do and started scrolling the comments to see if anyone explained how they saw circles.

(Warning: Spoilers ahead if you’re still trying to see the circles on your own.)

One way to see the circles is to focus on the vertical bars between the rectangles. For some, that makes the circles suddenly pop off the screen.

u201c@DeVore @adamgreatkind @DrGBuckingham Thanks, I was staring and staring, following your advice, nothing, still just rectangles, and then I blinked and the circles were there. Magic!u201d

— Gavin Buckingham (@Gavin Buckingham)
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For people who need more of a visual clue, someone broke it down with colored shapes, literally circling one of the circles.

u201c@nathangs20 @DrGBuckingham THANK YOU. nnSo weird, my brain actually jolted when I saw them.u201d

— Gavin Buckingham (@Gavin Buckingham)
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Once you see them, it’s pretty easy to switch back and forth, but hoo boy, does it take a while to actually see them the first time.

Why is that?

According to an explanation from a professor and student from the University of Sydney, the reason we have a hard time seeing the circles at first is because of our brain’s strong tendency to identify objects in what we’re seeing. The lines come together to form edges, contours and shapes, and our brains fill in the objects.

“For most people, the grouping into rectangles initially dominates,” the authors write. “This may be because rectangles (including the ones we see in door panels) are often more common than circles in our daily environment, and so the brain favours the grouping that delivers rectangular shapes.”

I figure it’s also likely due to the rectangles looking more 3D (therefore like a real object) while the circles appear as 2D.

Aren’t our brains amazing?

Since Better Call Saul’s “midseason finale” in May, I’ve been in denial about the show ending. If the show never ends, I will be happy. I could watch Jimmy McGill and Kim Wexler have weird sexual tension while doing pranks and watching old movies in their extremely early aughts apartment endlessly. But, sadly, Better Call Saul is coming to an end, and the end starts when it returns for its final episodes on Monday, July 11.

The first half of the final season was not kind to those who get emotionally attached to fictional characters. First, they took sweet Nacho Vargas which was expected but excruciating. Then, in the last episode to air in May, they took the heavily tanned, blonde, and annoying lawyer Howard Hamlin. For a majority of the series, Hamlin was an antagonist to Jimmy (and by association Kim), but his death was distressing and gutting. If it could happen to Howard, it could happen to anyone on this show.

It’s possible that at this point, Better Call Saul has no more characters left to kill off, especially given that much of the cast has to live to experience the events of Breaking Bad. Despite that, here are some theories about the fate of the three major characters left (who do not live and then die in Breaking Bad, like Gus Fring and Mike Ehrmantraut).

Jimmy McGill/Saul Goodman/Gene

Death Forecast: 85% chance of death

How? Lalo Salamanca hunts down Gene in Nebraska.

Better Call Saul and Breaking Bad display the true nature of Jimmy McGill. As much as he tries to be earnest throughout the prequel series, he eventually acts selfishly, cuts corners, and brings others down to get ahead (and get rich). Essentially, Better Call Saul has not been leading to a happy ending for the man once known as Jimmy McGill. As much as I would like to think that the final shot of the show will be Jimmy and Kim skipping on the beach at sunset holding hands, it’s more likely that Jimmy will meet a permanent end, a violent consequence of years of greed. If Lalo Salamanca is still alive (more theories on that if you keep reading this!), he could come to haunt him. It could also be Kim or former client Jesse Pinkman.

Kim Wexler

Death Forecast: 30% chance of death

How? I don’t want to think about it, but it would most likely be at the hands of Lalo Salamanca.

After years of wondering, “why the hell is Kim Wexler completely absent from Breaking Bad?” we are weeks away from the answer. Season after season, people agonized over Kim’s fate. Her notable absence from Breaking Bad suggests she’s dead, but that’s unlikely. Kim is the kind of person who takes matters into her own hands, including facing off with dangerous people like Lala Salamanca. Kim knows how to get herself out of precarious situations, and she also, despite herself, always sticks by Jimmy. Either it is revealed that Kim was married to Saul Goodman throughout the entire run of Breaking Bad, or Kim pays a visit to the Disappearer years before Jimmy does (a Best Quality Vacuum Repairs business card was introduced earlier this season). The alternative is that Lalo Salamanca kills her but he already killed Howard, so while Lalo is a murderous asshole, at this point, Kim’s fate is likely sad, but not fatal.

Lalo Salamanca

Death Forecast: 40% chance of death

How? Gustavo Fring.

Lalo Salamanca is terrifying, but Tony Dalton has so much natural charisma that it’s hard to root against him, even when he’s breaking into people’s apartments and shooting their former bosses in the head. Like Kim, Lalo’s absence from Breaking Bad indicates ill fate. But like Kim, I think it’s quite the opposite. Saul Goodman mentions Lalo by name in Breaking Bad using the present tense, indicating that he’s still alive. If he dies, it will be at the hands of Gustavo Fring (or more likely Mike Ehrmantraut) who has been coming for him ever since he showed up on the show. If Lalo is alive, which he probably is, he’s probably hiding from Gustavo Fring thanks to Best Quality Vacuum Repairs, which would explain his absence from Breaking Bad. Saul Goodman is corrupt, but he is a damn good and criminal lawyer, loyal to even his worst clients.

Over the weekend, Ja Morant made some waves in an interview with Bleacher Report’s Taylor Rooks when he said he would’ve “cooked” Michael Jordan like he does today’s stars, making the point that he has to have that level of self confidence to believe no one could stop him.

That very real quote was juicy enough to become fodder for sports radio and sports television shows in the A-block on Monday, but unfortunately for ESPN’s This Just In, they didn’t talk about that Ja Morant quote but instead a different one — one that wasn’t real. As David Jacoby filled in for Max Kellerman, he read Kendrick Perkins a fake quote from Ballsack Sports, a Twitter account that exists solely to produce fake quotes and try to get people to believe them — which they succeed at an upsetting amount of the time.

Jacoby reads the quote to Perkins and asks for his thoughts on the disrespect, which was, again, not real.

It’s fairly embarrassing and sadly not the first time ESPN has run a TV segment off a fake quote making the rounds on social media. As someone who is in the business of writing about quotes that often come from other interviews and sources, I’m fairly empathetic to how you can initially be duped by one of these, but for it to make it to air (or in my case print) requires far too many people to sign off on running with something without ever putting in the relatively mild amount of work to find the original source. There are dozens of accounts that exist solely to try and get aggregated — with ending up on national TV the greatest reward of all — and at this point it has to be standard practice to find the actual source of the quote before you’re willing to run with it.

That can be time consuming, but in the process it it will assure that you don’t run a fake quote if you can’t find the original source. ESPN didn’t do that and in the process ended up making Jacoby and Perk foolish in the process.

The House Oversight Committee is planning to hold another televised hearing detailing the build-up to the Jan. 6th insurrection and this one sounds like it could be the most shocking yet.

Over the course of six different hearings, testimonies from Trump White House insiders like Attorney General William Barr, Ivanka Trump, and, most recently, Cassidy Hutchinson, aide to White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, have exposed the absolute chaos governing Trump’s bid to overthrow the 2020 Presidential Election. But, according to Rep. Jamie Raskin, Tuesday’s hearing will be the most damning yet. That’s because the Jan. 6th panel plans on exposing an Oval Office meeting held on Dec. 18th, 2020 by members of Trump’s “Team Crazy,” AKA former attorney Rudy Giuliani, conspiracy theorist Sydney Powell, and retired general Michael Flynn.

“Donald Trump was, of course, the central figure who set everything into motion,” Raskin told CBS News’ Face The Nation. But, according to witness testimony, the panel intends to share with the public, Giuliani, Flynn, and Powell were the ones who encouraged the “seizure of voting machines around the country,” despite senior advisors in the administration trying to convince Trump that no evidence of voter fraud had been found. The divide between the two groups — the White House officials urging Trump to accept defeat and Giuliani’s team — led to insiders dubbing the trio “Team Crazy.” They’re the ones who, according to Raskin, prompted Trump to tweet to his followers, demanding they mobilize in protest of the election results.

That tweet, and the meetings between Giuliani, Powell, Flynn, and Trump, will be the subject of the next hearing with testimony from former White House counsel Pat Cipollone expected to play a big role in showcasing Trump’s involvement in the planning stages of the Jan. 6th insurrection.

“He was the White House counsel at the time. He was aware of every major move … that Donald Trump was making to try to overthrow the 2020 election and essentially seize the presidency,” Raskin said of Cipollone adding that this was the “first time in American history when a president of the United States called a protest against his own government, in fact, to try to stop the counting of Electoral College votes in an election he had lost. [This was the] greatest political offense against the union by a president of the United States in our history. Nothing comes close to it.”

(Via HuffPost)

R. Kelly may be going to prison for a very, very long time, but that doesn’t mean the saga of his mistreatment of women is over yet. According to TMZ, one of his alleged victims, Joycelyn Savage, wrote to the judge in his New York case ahead of his sentencing to ask for a more lenient sentence. In her letter, she introduces herself as “Robert Kelly’s fiancee,” suggesting that at some point in the past nine years — Savage is currently 26 years old and met Kelly when she was 17 — the pair became engaged.

She also asserts that “I’m not the victim that the government has portrayed me to be,” writing that the relationship between the two is “amazing” despite the near-30-year difference in age (Kelly is 55) and the disturbing circumstances under which they met. However, Savage’s parents, Timothy and Jonjelyn, are not convinced. They told TMZ through their attorney that Joycelyn never made any engagement known to the family, and wonder why she put it in a letter to the judge rather than mentioning it in court while under oath.

In 2017, Savage told TMZ in an interview that she was “not being brainwashed or anything like that,” insisting that she was staying with Kelly of her own free will shortly after it was reported that Kelly was keeping multiple young women in a “sex cult.” Obviously, it has been since revealed that his activities went much further than that, with a jury convicting Kelly of racketeering and sex trafficking; he was sentenced to 30 years in prison.

The fourth edition of Brandi Carlile’s Girl Just Wanna Weekend festival was announced today and in a most unusual, but highly welcome twist, Carlile welcomed fan input when putting together the lineup. The festival itself takes place in Mexico’s Riviera Maya from January 9th to the 13th and Carlile is of course the headliner (and playing multiple sets.) But there’s a star-studded cast of all female-fronted acts joining her on the tropical getaway music festival’s bill.

Maren Morris, Sara Bareilles, Wynonna, Lucius, and Yola are all slated to perform. As well as Allison Russell, Joy Oladokun, Ruby Amanfu, Natalie Hemby, Brandy Clark, and Brittney Spencer. The all-inclusive “concert vacation” is held at the Hard Rock Hotel, with lodging offered at the swank Barceló Maya Riviera resort as well.

“This LINEUP!!!!!….We asked you what artists you wanted to see on the Girls Just Wanna Weekend stage and we listened!” Carlile tweeted. “This will be the party to beat all parties. Ladies Of The ’80s brings on the apocalypse! See you in the hot tub misfits, the island awaits you!”

There are a number of ticketing and room packages that are going on sale this week. Check out the Girls Just Wanna Weekend 4 website for full details on purchase options.

On Sunday afternoon, Kelsey Plum stole the show in Sue Bird and Sylvia Fowles’ final appearance in the WNBA All-Star Game, tying the all-time record with a 30-point performance to lead Team Wilson to a 22-point win in Chicago and earned All-Star MVP honors.

While it was a well-deserved honor, many fans couldn’t help but notice how hysterically small the WNBA MVP trophy was when she was presented it at midcourt by commissioner Cathy Engelbert.

The tiny trophy was so funny that even Plum’s Aces teammates had to crack jokes about it, with Theresa Plaisance and Dearica Hamby putting on a reenactment of the ceremony in Las Vegas’ team hotel to the delight of Plum and everyone else by using a squeezable apple juice in lieu of the very small trophy while everyone cracked up.

The real trophy really is preposterous, like they realized on Saturday they didn’t have an actual trophy and just drove out to a local shop in Chicago that supplies little league team trophies. In any case, Plum’s performance was sensational and deserving of the MVP honor, but probably a more substantial trophy. Hopefully next year they can get figure out something that looks better but at least everyone got some laughs about it this year.

Thanks to a hidden “cubcam,” the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) gave the world some truly adorable—and super rare—footage of a mama tiger giving birth to triplets.

The video shows Gaysha, a 10-year-old Sumatran tiger, carefully tending to her three little newborns in a cozy den filled with straw by the ZSL zookeepers. Even Asim, proud tiger dad, makes an appearance as he pops in to welcome each cub. At one point, the entire tiger family can be seen sleeping together peacefully. It doesn’t get much sweeter than that. Aside from nothing being cuter than baby animals, there’s something else that makes this footage particularly special. Sumatran tigers are not only the smallest of their species (a male Sumatran tiger maxes out at about 310 pounds, compared to a Siberian tiger, which can weigh up to 660), they are also the rarest. With fewer than 400 Sumatran tigers remaining, the World Wildlife Fund has deemed this subspecies critically endangered.

The good news is, each new birth brings in a little more hope for all Sumatran tigers. And according to a statement on the ZSL website, the zoo has added a total of eight cubs to its Tiger Territory since its launch in 2013. Before her summertime triplets, Gaysha had previously delivered a tiger cub near Christmas time in 2021. Now with triple the babies, we have triple the reasons to celebrate.

London Zoo Head of Predators Kathyrn Sanders shared that since their early morning arrival on June 27, the tiger babies have already reached a “key milestone”—feeding and taking small steps almost immediately. Pretty soon they will be ready to open their eyes, receive vaccinations and be named. Until then, the zookeeper will be observing from afar, “taking care not to disturb the family so that they can continue to bond together.”

You can watch the video below. Enjoy all the stripy goodness.

Sports moments tend to live on forever, thanks to highlight reels and the emotions they can evoke in their fans. Recently, a video has been making the rounds that reminds people of some of those moments. In December 1999, sports channel ESPN compiled some of the greatest sports moments of the 20th century to air on New Year’s Eve.

With a new millennium approaching, the network wanted to remind sports fans (die-hard and casual alike) of just how far most sports had come in the 1900s. Football helmets used to be leather! Jackie Robinson integrating Major League Baseball! Babe Ruth! Even by 1999, a lot of those moments were being forgotten by younger generations. The video is a beautiful mash-up of the awesome wins and moments that made people hold their breath, mostly set to the song “Dream On” by Aerosmith.

Arguably one of the best basketball players of the 20th century (and beyond), Michael Jordan gets a lot of face time. He had an absolute chokehold on 1990s culture; from his partnership with Nike to his McDonald’s commercials, everyone wanted to be “like Mike.”

Muhammad Ali also gets a lot of attention, given that he was a formidable figure in the boxing world for 20+ years. From his early days as Cassius Clay to the moment he lit the Olympic torch in 1996 (his hands shaking due to Parkinson’s), it’s impossible to talk about great sports moments of the 20th century without highlighting his contribution.

There are some moments that you may not remember if you’re a certain age. The Chicago Bears performing the “Superbowl Shuffle” is one of them, but it is iconic.

Noticeably missing was Kerri Strug’s winning vault in 1996 after she had severely injured her ankle. If you were a young woman in the ’90s, that is one of the sports moments that would stick out to you vividly. But they do show gymnasts Mary Lou Retton and Nadia Comăneci. We also get flashes of track and field star Florence Griffith Joyner, aka FloJo, tennis star Martina Navratilova, and the iconic moment soccer star Brandi Chastain ripped her shirt off after scoring the World Cup winning penalty kick. We also see Nancy Kerrigan holding her knee after being ambushed at the ’94 Olympics.

Comments on the video are full of nostalgia, many people remembering watching the clip for the first time.

“Remember exactly where I was when I first saw this back on December 31st, 1999…with my late father getting ready to start celebrating New Year’s Eve. He watched the whole thing without comment and then just said, “Wow”. We both had chills…maybe ESPN’s finest moment.”

“I’m not even a sports fan, but damn if this video doesn’t give you a sense of the achievement and dedication that these athletes have. Such an epic video.”

“Arguably the Greatest Sports Journalism Montage Ever Produced… PERIOD. I saw it live in 1999 and it brought tears to my eyes then. It’s now 2020 and we just celebrated Kobe yesterday. It STILL brings me to tears 20 years later! Bravo ESPN and Thank You!”

Watch the video below: