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18 Jul, 2015

Killed in struggle

Murder0 Comments

Falls is shot in a Charleston, West Virginia home. Falls allegedly was answering an escort ad online and showed up to the house armed with a gun. The victim only identified as Heather:

When he strangled me, I grabbed my rake, and when he laid the gun down to get the rake out of my hands, I shot him. I grabbed the gun and shot behind me.

17 Jul, 2015

Ant-Man

Directs0 Comments

Reed directs this action film, based on the Marvel comic book. Paul Rudd plays Scott Lang, a con-man whose super-suit gives him the ability to shrink in scale but increase in strength. Lang must must help his mentor, Dr. Hank Pym, plan and pull off a heist that will save the world. Co-starring Evangeline Lilly and Hayley Atwell. Co-writer Adam McKay:

Peyton is really, really wonderful, and will be proving that soon enough. As I said to the Comic-Con audience a few years ago, ‘You might not have heard of [Captain America: The Winter Soldier directors] Joe and Antony Russo, but you’re going to be big fans of them soon.’ And I’d say the same thing about Peyton Reed now.

Ant-Man Official Teaser Trailer #1 (2015) - Paul Rudd Marvel Movie HD

Retires

Retirement0 Comments

Connolly retires from the NFL.

It’s important to me to leave the game healthy. I’m able to be here for my kids and walk away on my own terms. I feel like I got everything I could out of football in playing ten years, winning a Super Bowl, and playing alongside some truly great players.

‘The trolls are winning the battle’

Writes Article0 Comments

In an article for The Washington Post, Pao says trolls are winning the “battle for the internet”. She says that, while at Reddit, she and several colleagues, were targeted with harassing messages, attempts to post her private information online and death threats.

I have just endured one of the largest trolling attacks in history. And I have just been blessed with the most astonishing human responses to that attack…Balancing free expression with privacy and the protection of participants has always been a challenge for open-content platforms on the Internet. But that balancing act is getting harder. The trolls are winning.

The foundations of the Internet were laid on free expression, but the founders just did not understand how effective their creation would be for the coordination and amplification of harassing behavior. Or that the users who were the biggest bullies would be rewarded with attention for their behavior. Or that young people would come to see this bullying as the norm — as something to emulate in an effort to one-up each other…

No one has figured out the best place to draw the line between bad and ugly — or whether that line can support a viable business model. So it’s left to all of us to figure it out, to call out abuse when we see it. As the trolls on Reddit grew louder and more harassing in recent weeks, another group of users became more vocal. First a few sent positive messages. Then a few more. Soon, I was receiving hundreds of messages a day, and at one point thousands. These messages were thoughtful, well-written and heartfelt…As the threats became really violent, people ended their messages with “stay safe.” Eventually, users started responding on Reddit itself, using accurate information and supportive messages to fight back against the trolls. In the battle for the Internet, the power of humanity to overcome hate gives me hope. I’m rooting for the humans over the trolls. I know we can win.

Invites terminally ill girl to concert

Donation0 Comments

Sheeran heart girlSheeran invites terminally ill woman Channan Petrides and her friend backstage at Wembley Arena in London to fulfill her dream of seeing Sheeran perform.

He was so lovely and genuine, he had a great sense of humour and was really easy to get on with. He signed my programme and we took some selfies together. He smelt amazing. A few months ago, I was so unwell I was worried if I’d ever make it to Ed Sheeran’s gig, but I did and it was incredible and I also got to meet him backstage. My life is now complete.

15 Jul, 2015

Buys $5.4 million LA mansion

Home purchase/sale0 Comments

2A8A048800000578-3161729-image-m-18_1436929712772Lavigne and Kroeger buy a $5.4 million mansion in Los Angeles. The 7,888-square-foot French-style property is in a leafy part of Sherman Oaks on half an acre of land. It features six bedrooms, seven and a half bathrooms, a gym, basketball court, outdoor kitchen, a gourmet eat-in kitchen with three dishwashers, vaulted ceilings, a number of hand-carved fireplaces, four Juliet balconies, a dramatic bridal staircase, an ivy-covered outdoor terrace and an over-sized swimming pool.

Falls, breaks neck vertebrae

Personal Injury/Fall0 Comments

Bush falls while at his summer home in Kennebunkport, Maine, breaking a vertebrae in his neck. He is taken to a hospital in Portland. Hi is in stable condition, and the injury is not life threatening. Spokesperson:

We are not expecting a long stay.

14 Jul, 2015

Expecting baby

Pregnancy0 Comments

Tomlinson announces that he is expecting a baby early next year to Jungwirth. According to friends, Tomlinson has vowed to be at Jungwirth’s side and to be a “hands-on dad” when the baby arrives early next year. Source:

Louis is happy and very excited about becoming a dad and he thinks Briana will be an amazing mother. It was a surprise at first, but he and Briana are very, very close friends and this has brought them even closer.

$15 million environmental donation

Donation0 Comments

The actor’s foundation awards $15 million in grants to a host of environmental organizations, including Amazon Watch, Save the Elephants, Tree People and the World Wildlife Fund. DiCaprio:

The destruction of our planet continues at a pace we can no longer afford to ignore. We have a responsibility to innovate a future where the habitability of our planet does not come at the expense of those who inhabit it.

13 Jul, 2015

Sandra Bland dies age 28

DeathSuicide0 Comments

Bland is found dead, hanging from a noose made from a plastic bag, in her cell at the Waller County Jail. While prosecutors rule Bland’s death a suicide, her family and friends maintain that they do not believe she would have taken her own life.

Writes two blog posts

Writes Article0 Comments

Abdulazeez writes two Islam-themes blog posts, the only posts on his blog. In the first, A Prison Called Dunya, Abdulazeez uses the hypothetical example of a prisoner who is told he would be given a test that would either take him out of his earthly prison—or send him into a more restrictive environment.

I would imagine that any sane person would devote their time to mastering the information on the study guide and stay patient with their studies, only giving time for the other things around to keep themselves focused on passing the exam. They would do this because they know and have been told that they will be rewarded with pleasures that they have never seen. [This life is a test] designed to separate the inhabitants of Paradise from the inhabitants of Hellfire.

The second, Understanding Islam: The Story of the Three Blind Men, uses the example of blind men who feel an elephant but can’t quite tell what the creature is. He says Muslims have a similar understanding of the earliest companions of the Prophet Muhammad, who he says were not like priests living in monasteries is not true, but were actually a mayor of a town, governor of a state, or leader of an army at the frontlines.

We ask Allah to make us follow their path. To give us a complete understanding of the message of Islam, and the strength the live by this knowledge, and to know what role we need to play to establish Islam in the world.

Quits, says Pao faced ‘glass cliff’

Quits Job0 Comments

Blount quits after less than two months on the job as Reddit Chief Engineer, having come there from Facebook. She said her move is not directly linked to Pao’s exit, but noted that she had lost confidence in the new direction of the company, and that she could not deliver on promises being made to the community.

I feel like there are going be some big bumps on the road ahead for Reddit. Along the way, there are some very aggressive implied promises being made to the community — in comments to mods, quotes from board members — and they’re going to have some pretty big challenges in meeting those implied promises.

Blount says she believes Pao’s exit was an indirect consequence of gender discrimination, and that Pao had been placed on a “glass cliff” — a term used to describe women being set up for failure by being put in leadership roles during crises.

Victoria wasn’t on a glass cliff. But it’s hard for me to see it any other way than Ellen was. [However] I wouldn’t say my decision to leave was directly related to my gender.

Withdraws with testicular cancer

Illness0 Comments

Basso withdraws during the first rest day of the race after a routine medical check up reveals a tumour in his left testicle. Basso is to return to his home country of Italy for further medical tests. This leaves the eight remaining members of his Tinkoff Saxo team to carry on in their quest to put Alberto Contador into the yellow jersey.

Storms out of show

Fight0 Comments

Goodrem has a verbal fight with fellow coach Jessie J and storms off the set of the The Voice, Australia, after a performance of Marilyn’s Monroe’s Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best Friend by O’Callaghan. Goodrem says O’Callaghan’s performance has a good vibe, despite it not turning any seats. Jessie disagrees and continues to critique her. Goodrem takes off her microphone and earpiece, swears and leaves the set.

I’m over this s**t. I’m out.

Later:

I can’t sit there and watch artists be embarrassed on stage. I think I had, had enough of the tough love. I want to be someone who wants to encourage people’s dreams.

Jessie J says she knows Goodrem was “genuinely angry” with her but she wasn’t going to change her tune.