Twenty years ago this week, the Harry Potter series of books was released. Author J.K. Rowling debuted Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, on June 26, 1997. And since then, Hogwarts and its young wizards have morphed into a life all their own, with a collection of box office smashes and an entire theme park.
Because there’s nothing quite like a spiffy montage to celebrate a birthday, the folks over at Digg have compiled every food scene in the film series — starting with terrible Uncle Vernon holding some sort of cookie — which can be enjoyed in less time than it takes to down a mug of butter beer.
A surprising statistic makes us a threat to sharks: For every human killed in a shark attack we kill around two million of their kind.
The fear and threat of sharks is huge when in fact these attacks are pretty rare. Scientists think that sharks don’t attack with the intent of eating or killing us, they usually take the first bite to see what kind of animal we are and to check if we pose a threat to them, which is when things get scary for us. A surprising statistic makes us a bigger threat to them, claiming that for every human killed in a shark attack we kill around two million of their kind. Pretty brutal right? These numbers should make us reconsider what we’re doing with our free time and should also make sharks want to stay far away from us.
Still, shark attacks can happen and its important to know what to do if you’re faced with this once in a lifetime experience. Check out this shark battling list:
You have to know that our bodies don’t stand a chance against sharks, so hold off the possibility of confrontation for as long as you can, and keep your eye on the prize. Sharks have different ways of attacking, they can just go crazy and attack you directly, they can circle around you for a while and then pounce, or they can sneak up behind you. Keep your eyes on the shark and be as cool as possible.
Stay Calm
Sudden movements and anxiety are your enemy. If you see a shark while diving in the middle of the ocean, it’ll probably go away after a little while and pretend you’re not even there. Sharks have notorious bad vision. If you (understandably) go crazy and start moving around, you’ll attract it’s attention and then you’re in trouble, because you can’t out swim a shark even if you’re Michael Phelps.
If you’re near the shore or a boat, move slowly towards it without splashing around. If you’re in the shark’s path then move slowly out of their way and don’t stand between it and the open ocean. Don’t turn your back to the shark, remember to always keep it in your sights.
If you don’t have a fast way out of the ocean then try to eliminate all angles where the shark can possibly attack you. If you’re in shallow water keep your feet firmly planted on the ground and try to back up against a reef or a rock so that the shark can’t attack you from behind or find ways to circle around you.
Fight
While obviously this is the last option, it’s good to know the main weak spots of the sharks. While their bodies are made out of muscle and they have like a billion teeth, they do have some sensitive areas, like their eyes, their gills and their snouts. A hard punch to any of these areas should make them retreat, because they’ll think you’re a powerful threat. If you have a spear or a rock, use them, if not use your fists, elbows and knees.
Escape & Get Help
The most important thing to do when faced with a shark is to escape, so be sure to do so safely if you get the chance. If the shark swims away and you can’t see it, you must still get out of the water. Wait quietly for a boat to come and get you or swim smoothly and without thrashing to the shore. If you’ve been bitten then stop the bleeding as soon as possible, with a ripped piece of fabric or a shirt. Shark bites can cause a lot of blood loss depending on the area, so get medical attention ASAP.
You’re a shark warrior now! Just kidding. It’s super important to avoid shark infested waters and to avoid diving alone. When exploring open water, it’s best if you’re with a group that’s managed by someone who knows about first aid and who’ll be helpful in these types of situations.
You wouldn’t think Taylor Swift and Russell Westbrook hold much in common. She sings catchy pop songs, he dunks basketballs like he’s John Wick and they just murdered his dog.
Westbrook won the NBA’s Most Valuable Player award. It was well-deserved. Russ practically played basketball 1-on-5 every game and won many game. His effort was both Herculean and Sisyphean in nature. You could argue he didn’t uphold the foundation of basketball chemistry and philosophy, not being a necessary nurturing force to teammates, but that would make you boring. (If the MVP actually went to the player who earned the moniker of being most valuable, the award would go to LeBron James for the past five years.)
Anyways, following Westbrook’s win, the Oklahoma City Thunder tweeted out a congratulatory video for the player. The video included no one from the organization Westbrook plays for. Instead, it was a video from Taylor Swift, who has been hiding in self-imposed publicity and media exile this year. Westbrook was worthy of leaving her cave it appears.
But this isn’t the first public displays of affection the two celebrities have had for one another. The two have been all too keen to shower each other with praise via social media.
2013: Westbrook sings T-Swift with his crutches
Russell Westbrook had a lot of down time in the summer of 2013. He’d suffered an ACL injury and was in recovery, meaning he had a lot of time to kill. That included jamming to Taylor Swift’s Red. In a Vine video (RIP Vine), Westbrook strummed his crutch like a guitar, quietly crooning along to Swift: “I’m pretty sure we almost broke out last night.”
2015: Russ loves “Bad Blood”
https://www.instagram.com/p/3ABgtwiiMI/
How do you know you really love a song? By blasting it in your car, singing along at the top of your lungs. How do you show you really love a song in the social media era? By blasting it in your car, singing along at the top of your lungs, and recording the scene. Check and check for Russ and “Bad Blood.” (Now Kevin Durant left the following year and they kind of maybe were getting along that year and if you were to diss a teammate publicly the last song you’d choose would be a T-Swift joint, but….was this a subtweet at KD???)
2015: Westbrook attends Swift concert at Staples Center
https://www.instagram.com/p/62fJXGiiIU/
Russ loved Swift’s 1989 tour as much as you did. He attended the concert in Los Angeles, showing off his excellent floor seats. His fandom apparently was limited to just attendance. No recorded moment of the two meeting up until this point.
2015: Westbrook Shares pregame ritual with Jimmy Kimmel
Russell Westbrook appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live in September of that year. Walking onstage, the band played Swift’s “Shake It Off,” causing Kimmel to ask Russ about his Swift fandom. He replied that “Shake It Off” was “the best” and “her music is so catchy.” He also shared his pregame ritual of napping, eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (wheat bread, toasted, cut in half only please), and calling his parents. Just adorable.
2016: Russ takes his love to Snapchat
Russell Westbrook from OKC Thunder jammin' to 'We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together' on his snapchat today! pic.twitter.com/akuLXAdW1v
Different year, different app. The old Westbrook showed his love on Vine and Instagram. But the new Westbrook filmed himself on Snapchat, singing along to “We Are Never Getting Back Together.”
2016: Westbrook AMA
That same year Russell Westbrook hosted an AMA on Reddit. He was asked various questions, revealing he enjoyedOrange is the New Black on Netflix and Goldeneye was his favorite video game. But it also showcased more Swift love. He shared that Taylor made the pregame playlist and he has “a lot of favorites of T.Swift.”
Now we’re back where we started. It might have taken Russell Westbrook achieving the highest individual honor an NBA player could earn, but he received his Swift shout-out in return.
There seems to be a phase every year in which dessert companies try to come up with insane mashups fit for social media. This phase lasts about three months and is often referred to as “summer.”
If a waffle ice cream sandwich is made and no one is there to photograph it, does it really exist?
The front runner for 2017’s crazy summer sugar bomb is this ice cream burrito wrapped in cotton candy.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BVinnINFT79/
Foodbeast reports the hybrid is the brain freeze child of Sugar Sugar in Ontario, Canada. It’s three scoops of ice cream (bubble gum, birthday cake, cotton candy) atop a flattened cloud of cotton candy that’s rolled up like a damn burrito. Oh, and it’s sprinkled with UNICORN DUST WHATEVER THAT IS.
It appears Tori and Dean’s mounting financial problems have reached the critical zero hour. “All their debts, which just keep growing and growing, have put them so deep in the hole that it seems there may be no way out,” an insider says. “But what’s truly scary is how much they owe the government. Having their money actually seized shows just how serious their problems are. Tori’s running out of options, and the walls are closing in.” The situation is so dire, sources insist, the mom of five could find herself serving time behind bars.
Rihanna Spent ‘Hundreds Of Thousands’ On Birthday Party
A new report says the party featured a Louis Vuitton tent and a Chanel tent filled with expensive gifts from each fashion house. The party was “over the top.”
As an employee of any sports franchise, your job is constantly under scrutiny. Fans love cherry-picking your decisions, believing you didn’t do enough, are incompetent, and should be replaced at various points over your career. For example, if you’re Phil Jackson, New York Knicks fans thought all those things at once.
ESPN broke the new Wednesday morning MSG executive chairman Phil Jackson and Jackson had “agreed to part ways.” This is the nice way of saying Jackson was fired. Questions abounded whether Jackson, 71, held the “fitness” necessary to fulfill his roles. Following public clashes with Knicks star Carmelo Anthony and openly discussing up-and-comer Kristaps Porzingis, not to mention Jackson’s insistence the team run the obsolete triangle offense, you could say Knicks fans grew frustrated.
To say they’re ecstatic at Jackson’s firing is an understatement. Knicks’ fans exist in a state of euphoria currently. They are freed from incompetent management—obligatory mention that James Dolan remains with the franchise—and see hope with their team where they’re previously wasn’t.
What I’m telling you is this: If you’re father is a Knicks fan, ask him for that iPad you always wanted. In his manic high he will buy you anything you want. If you’re boss is a Knicks fan, ask for a raise or a promotion. If you’re a Knicks fan, don’t check yourself. You earned this. Buy yourself what your bank account can’t afford.
I mean, just look at how happy all these people are. From the celebrity Knicks fans to the media to the casuals. Everyone is really, really happy.
If people are this happy at your firing, you were bad at your job. Like really, really bad. In the spirit of all Knicks fans: Bye Phil Jackson. See ya never.
Do you really need a high-tech, smartphone-enabled humidor to keep your stash from drying out? The answer, clearly, is no. But would you love to have a beautifully built piece of craftsmanship that keeps your cannabis out of view, locked from curious children and perfectly calibrated for temperature and humidity? Of course you would.
Photo courtesy of Cannador
Cannador calls itself “a premium storage brand that focuses on functional design and balanced humidity for the home.” The uniquely designed airtight cannabis storage box preserves your cannabis by controlling humidity at the perfect ratio to maintain freshness and taste.
Yes, glass jars work. But translucent containers allow in UV light, which can damage the dried herb. And putting your bud in a humidor designed for cigars may leave it too humid.
Cannador recently partnered with Massachusetts tech firm, Blustream, to bring smartphone-enabled, relative humidity (RH) monitoring and temperature calibration to home cannabis storage.
Why Does Humidity Matter?
When storing cannabis, an excessive amount of humidity or moisture can lead to mold and mildew. Not enough humidity or dryness can turn buds crumbly. The herb will also become harsher and less potent as the trichomes and terpenes fade.
If cannabis gets hit with humidity in the upper 70s or above, mold could become an issue. A rule of thumb is to keep marijuana stored at about 60 percent humidity. Above 65 percent may present a problem with mold. One study found that by maintaining a relative humidity of 62 percent, the terpene content of cannabis by 15 percent. Terpenes are a vital component in cannabis for many reasons, including taste. Dried out terpenes will leave your bud less flavorful.
Photo courtesy of Cannador
In most homes, trying to keep cannabis in a controlled, consistent, stable environment can be difficult to do and even more difficult to measure. Which is where Cannador’s value becomes clear.
The Blustream Sensor and App syncs with a small sensor, which includes a hygrometer and thermometer that is placed inside of your humidor. The app communicates with the sensor to let you know the RH and temperature in real time. The app tracks the RH and temperature every hour and displays this information on a timeline that you can scroll through.
Perfect For The Tree-Hugger
And if you are an environmentalist, this is a brand for you. According to its website:
“As part of our corporate social responsibility, we have pledged to plant one tree for every Cannador purchased. As citizens of the earth, we believe in replenishing what we take and therefore have a responsibility to create a better planet for future generations. Plant-It 2020 is a non-profit in Colorado dedicated to properly planting, maintaining and protecting as many indigenous trees as possible. We will be working with Plant-It 2020 to help meet their goals in promoting sustainable reforestation.”
So if you’re looking for a classy, high-tech way to store your cannabis — and help plant a tree — check out the Cannador.
Two of the hottest sectors in the Silicon Valley economy — based on Internet buzz and mainstream news headlines — are artificial intelligence and cannabis. Put those two scorching hot industries together and you get PotBotics, a startup that uses AI to to provide medical marijuana recommendations to patients.
Probotics, which has offices in Silicon Valley and New York, promises to “guide [medical marijuana] patients to the appropriate cannabinoid levels, medical cannabis strains, and consumption methods for their specific ailment.”
For patients searching for the right type of cannabis for their individual needs, this scientific approach is much better than the random trial-and-error method or the “it-worked-for-me-so-it-might-work-for-you” method.
In many states where medical or recreational marijuana is legal, budtenders provide an important customer service. But budtender training is spotty at best and may offer advice that simply does not work for you.
Probotics claims its technology is a blend of “artificial intelligence, DNA analysis, and cannabis research” and it can zero in on the data available to benefit patients.
“We want to help patients get better consulting and advice when considering medical marijuana,” said Dr. Boris Goldstein, the company’s founder. Another co-founder is his father, Baruch Goldstein, who previously worked on AI projects after receiving his PhD in mathematics.
“We don’t talk about taste, flavor, or smell, and we stray away from strain names,” Boris Goldstein told Fast Company. “Strain names aren’t tied to medical benefits because certain strains at different dispensaries don’t give the same therapeutic relief since their cannabinoid levels are different.”
On the company’s website, it explains why its technology is preferred by patients:
“Patients who are recommended medical marijuana are given very little information on the different strains available to them on the market. There are more than 750 strains of cannabis to choose from and many methods of consumption such as tinctures, dabs, edibles, lotions, vaporizers and sprays. Choosing the wrong strain and form of ingestion can aggravate symptoms instead of alleviating them.”
Launched three years ago, PotBotics claims to be the first biotech company to merge robotics and artificial intelligence with cannabis. Its first product offering, named PotBot, is an artificially intelligent avatar that can understand organic speech, engage in two-way communication, and assist patients with tailoring strains to their specific needs, the company says.
The PotBot app is available in Apple’s App Store and the Google Play store. There is also a desktop app available. The company reports that more than 600,000 smartphone users already have tried the technology.
Last year, the company was named in Entrepreneur Magazine‘s ‘Top 10 Startups in Cannabis You Need To Watch’ for its innovative approach to patient health.
How Does It Work?
It’s pretty intuitive:
First, the patient provides a few pieces of basic information (age, weight, gender, state of residence, etc.)
Next, the patient selects the ailments it is hoping to treat with cannabis.
The PotBot will then provide recommendations for the marijuana most appropriate for your specific condition.
The app will also locate a nearby dispensary or retailer near you. It will also search for a doctor in your area.
In states that have legalized marijuana in a manner similar to alcohol, law enforcement agencies are conducting fewer roadside traffic searches, according to the latest data provided by the Marshall Project and the Center for Investigative Reporting.
For decades, the criminalization of marijuana has been a feather in the cap of police departments all across the nation. Since the herb is the most commonly used illicit substance in the world, it has been relatively easy for cops to establish probable cause to search vehicles for drugs during routine traffic stops.
From personal experience, highway patrols in areas of prohibition have been able to use the presence of items such as a French fry (thinking it was a joint) as a means to conduct a search.
However, in states like Colorado and Washington, where marijuana is now legally sold to adults 21 and older, police officers no longer have as much incentive to shakedown motorists in an effort to pull weed off the streets.
“After marijuana use was legalized, Colorado and Washington saw dramatic drops in search rates,” the study’s authors wrote. “That’s because many searches are drug-related. Take away marijuana as a crime and searches go down.”
But this doesn’t mean that every citizen is in the clear – racial disparities in these legal jurisdictions still exist. The report finds that while it is essentially safe to be a white driver in legal states, blacks and Hispanics are still being subjected to vehicle searches at a much higher rate. There is speculation that the situation is even worse in urban areas.
Although marijuana advocates often argue that legalization is necessary in order to bring an end to these kinds of injustices, legal experts say this policy change alone is simply not enough.
“Legalizing marijuana is not going to solve racial disparities,” said Mark Silverstein, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Colorado. “We need to do a lot more before we get at that.”
The latest data is consistent with other studies showing a decrease in marijuana-related arrests in states where it is legal. In fact, a 2016 report from Colorado’s Department of Public Safety shows that arrests for marijuana have dropped off by almost half since weed became a part of taxed and regulated commerce. Yet, blacks are still getting busted at a rate of nearly three times more than whites.
A report from the ACLU shows that 88 percent of the drug arrests in the United States are for marijuana possession. This means that legalizing the leaf at the national level may be the most common sense approach to combating the war on drugs.
Kennedy tried to support Lord and Miller by adding extra helpers. Anxious to avoid an outright rupture, Kennedy is said to have made attempts first to support and eventually to supplant Lord and Miller to some degree, as happened with Gareth Edwards on the troubled Rogue One. In that case, screenwriter Tony Gilroy took on significant duties with the cooperation of Edwards; in this case, sources say, Kennedy attempted to cast Lawrence Kasdan in that role. Unsurprisingly, Lord and Miller were less accommodating than Edwards, still a novice, had been.
Lord & Miller were always a “mismatch” for the Star Wars universe. Some insiders say that while the talent of Lord and Miller is undeniable, nothing in their background prepared them for a movie of this size and scope. These sources say they relied too heavily on the improvisational style that served them so well in live-action comedy and animation but does not work on a set with hundreds of crewmembers waiting for direction. “You have to make decisions much earlier than what they’re used to,” one of these sources say. “I don’t know if it’s because there were two of them but they were not decisive.” Production department heads began to complain. While the pair appeared to listen when told of festering problems, this person says their approach did not change.
Alden’s Han Solo isn’t good enough. Matters were coming to a head in May as the production moved from London to the Canary Islands. Lucasfilm replaced editor Chris Dickens (Macbeth) with Oscar-winner Pietro Scalia, a veteran of Ridley Scott films including Alien: Covenant and The Martian. And, not entirely satisfied with the performance that the directors were eliciting from Rules Don’t Apply star Alden Ehrenreich, Lucasfilm decided to bring in an acting coach. (Hiring a coach is not unusual; hiring one that late in production is.) Lord and Miller suggested writer-director Maggie Kiley, who worked with them on 21 Jump Street.
Ron Howard is trying to be a nice guy about it. Stepping in to replace directors who have been fired is not something that many filmmakers would want to do. Ron Howard is probably one of the few who could and would — at least, in this particular set of circumstances. Insiders say he was concerned about how Lord and Miller would react and has been emailing with them; another source says the two have been “very supportive, very elegant.” Howard arrives in London on June 26 and shooting, which began in February and was supposed to be completed in July, will continue into the first week of September as Howard captures new material. Still, an insider says much of what Lord and Miller shot will be “very usable.” [From The Hollywood Reporter]
Duchess Kate Is Hiring ‘Super Nanny’ To Deal With ‘Tantrums’
Prince William and Kate Middleton have hired a ‘super nanny’ for George and Charlotte, just three months before George starts school, according to Grazia magazine. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have previously described their son in interviews as ‘a little bit of a rascal’.
And sources have now reportedly told Grazia that Will and Kate have hired a ‘£250,000 super nanny’ for Prince George, 3, and Princess Charlotte, 2. The new nanny, who’s yet to be named, will work alongside George and Charlotte’s current nanny, Maria Borrallo, the source revealed.
The decision has come three months before George starts at Thomas’s School in Battersea, South London. The source told Grazia: ‘The new nanny is a graduate of Bath’s prestigious Norland College. She’s fluent in six languages and will speak to the children in French and Spanish, as well as using her skills as a qualified child behavioural specialist to help Kate and William deal with tantrums and other issues.’ [From Grazia via NetMums]
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