The president who brought God back to the White House -- and had a complicated history on racial discrimination.

Editor's note: This is the 39th entry in the writer's project to read one book about each of the U.S. Presidents in the year prior to Election Day 2016. Follow Marcus' progress at the @44in52 Twitter account and the 44 in 52 Spreadsheet.

Hard as it is to believe, there was a time when religion wasn't such a big deal during the race for the White House.

Outside of a few instances (John Adams' supporters claiming Jefferson was an atheist, fears over JFK's Catholicism), I haven't encountered much in the way of religion affecting an election during this project.

SEE ALSO: The fevered dreams of a paranoid president

Randall Balmer's Redeemer: The Life of Jimmy Carter focuses on Carter, religion, and the rise of evangelicals as a rising segment of the voting population.

It was also a book I listened to while driving cross-country. That big move, which I first mentioned in my Nixon post, finally got underway as I wrapped up Ford. My traditional wariness of audiobooks went out the window for Redeemer, partly because there was nothing to distract me from listening as I drove mile after mile.

There were two particular threads that caught my interest. The first came early in Carter's political career: after losing a bid for Georgia governor in 1966, he used racially-charged politics to capture the same position in 1970 — aligning himself with segregationist Democrat George Wallace.

Ballmer's preface does an excellent job of laying out the arch of evangelicals and politics in the 20th Century and how Carter squeezed in. — 44 in 52 (@44in52) September 30, 2016

It's startling to hear about such a campaign by a man who has come to represent liberal compassion. Balmer doesn't relent on his criticism of Carter's decisions here.

When you run a campaign that's comparable to George Wallace... jeez. Ballmer uses the phrase "prostituting" to describe how Carter won — 44 in 52 (@44in52) September 30, 2016

Never realized the depths he went to in order to win the office. Even he was sick of himself for that. Whatever it takes... — 44 in 52 (@44in52) September 30, 2016

But neither does he ignore the guilt that Carter felt — and the way Carter atoned for his pro-segregation stance. It seems the ongoing guilt from that effort pushed Carter to emphasize his liberal slant in later years.

The other thread is more closely tied to the religion angle. Balmer outlines how a Democrat like Carter was able to ride a wave of religious revival into the White House — before evangelicals made the shift to the right that we're now familiar with.

A peculiar religious-themed ad for Jimmy Carter. Image: ASSOCIATED PRESS

There's plenty on the infamous Playboy interview in which Carter admitted to feeling "lust" in his heart (someone take a time machine to 1976 and show them this year's election rhetoric). But it was the description of how evangelicals abandoned Carter over the course of his single term in office that had me hooked.

Balmer lays out the rise of Jerry Falwell and Phyllis Schlafly — and how they led a semi-revolt against Carter for being soft on Communism and abortion, often cited as the reason why evangelicals turned against Carter in favor of Reagan in 1980.

But Balmer argues it was a court case over perceived segregation in religious schools that really turned the tide against Carter: Coit v. Green (later Green v. Connally). The Supreme Court upheld a decision that revoked the tax-exempt status of private religious schools — if they practiced racial discrimination.

Rise of religious right / moral majority came from school case about segregation at religious schools (Coit v Green) — 44 in 52 (@44in52) September 30, 2016

What's even stranger is that both the decision and the IRS' effort to enforce it on Bob Jones University both happened before Carter took office. Yet Carter became the target for evangelicals like Falwell and Paul Weyrich, founder of the Heritage Foundation, who opposed the ruling.

I take all of this about Carter to heart because he's a fellow Southerner, one of a string of Southern presidents in my lifetime (particularly if you count George W. Bush's Texas as the "south" — although Texans may disagree with that, because Texas is its own universe).

The South and religion have always been tightly bound together. That a Southern evangelical Democrat could win the Presidency seems almost impossible in 2016. As my wife and dog slept and the road kept flying by, I couldn't help but think of my native South and wonder if such a thing would even be possible again.

A Southern Democrat reached the White House with evangelical votes -- and a compromised record on racism.

religious-right, 44-in-52, jimmy-carter, entertainment, mashreads, history, politics


1 of world's richest women is in major battle with her kids

SYDNEY, Oct 18 - A bitter legal battle between Gina Rinehart and her children over control of Australia's largest mining fortune could ultimately lead to a shift of power in the board room and loosen the tycoon's legendary grip on her business empire.

Asia's richest woman is being sued by two of her children who accuse Rinehart of breaching her duty as the sole trustee of a $4 billion family trust. She denies acting improperly and recently agreed to step down as trustee.

But the feud, which has gripped Australia as details of the family's testy relationships have been laid bare in personal emails tendered to the court, still has a risk of playing out in the boardroom of privately held Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd.

With the disputed trust and Rinehart the only shareholders, her power over Hancock Prospecting has been virtually absolute as the sole trustee of the fund for her four children.

So the appointment of a new trustee could have major ramifications in the two-year legal battle with her eldest two children, John Hancock, 37, and Bianca Rinehart, 36.

With access to the trust, the children could press their rights as minority shareholders for representation on the board, leaving Hancock Prospecting more open to external influence, legal experts say, just as Rinehart is trying to wrap up funding for a $10 billion iron ore project.

"They will become substantial shareholders and may push for influence in management decisions, rather than being passive shareholders," said Professor Michael Adams, dean of the law school at the University of Western Sydney.

John, Bianca and their sister Hope Rinehart Welker, 28, sued in 2011 to remove their mother as the trust manager after she pushed out its vesting date until 2068, meaning the children would not get their shares until they were in their 80s and 90s.

Rinehart warned they would be hit with a huge tax bill if the trust was allowed to vest and offered them each $300 million to accept the change in the vesting date.

Lawyers for the children are also examining changes made by Rinehart to the rules governing the trust, barring the children from transferring their shares to each other and giving Rinehart preemptive rights to buy the shares if any of them want out.

Rinehart later made concessions -- moving the vesting date to April 2012 and, ahead of the trial, stepping down as trustee.

She said the changes to the company constitution overseeing the trust were necessary because she needed total control for negotiations with Rio Tinto to form a joint venture to develop the Hope Downs mine.

Lawyer Christopher Withers, representing John and Bianca, told the New South Wales Supreme Court there was no evidence to support this and argued the changes were for Rinehart's benefit.

Rinehart's hard head for business is legendary. The so-called "Pilbara Princess", the only child of Australia's most prominent frontier miner, has used a string of lawsuits to protect her riches, estimated by Forbes at $18 billion.

Rinehart, 59, has multiplied the fortune left by her father, Lang Hancock, who is credited with discovering the world's largest deposit of iron ore in Australia's Pilbara region.

"The value of the trust property has grown enormously through Mrs Rinehart's responsible endeavours and very hard work," her lawyer Paul McCann said.

Among the revelations in court was an email from Hope, who pulled out of the case earlier this year, to her mother complaining about being "down to my last $60,000". Younger sister Ginia, 27, who has sided with her mother in the dispute, told Hope in another email to "just take the 300 million dollars mum has repeatedly offered you and walk away."

Rinehart, in turn, has described her elder children as lazy, spoilt and lacking skills to run the multi-billion-dollar trust.

Just who will become the new trustee -- and have responsibility for managing a shareholding controlling almost a quarter of Hancock Prospecting -- will now be determined by the court after the family was unable to agree on a candidate.

Judge Paul Brereton has asked for further submissions before making a decision, while there will be further hearings to decide whether anyone is liable for damages.

While the children's combined shareholding is just shy of the 25 percent needed to pass special resolutions, it puts them in a position to press their rights as minority shareholders and seek more power via the courts, legal experts say.

As well as the restrictions imposed by Rinehart's changes due to the Rio joint venture, Hancock Prospecting's current constitution bars them, even as shareholders, from a board seat or from increasing dividends they receive.

Gina is entitled to a seat as a 75 percent shareholder. That, combined with the fact she is trustee of the only other shareholder, has given her power to appoint -- and remove -- the children on the board as they have fallen in and out of favour.

"It would be a strong argument that the majority shareholder has so changed the constitution to reduce the genuine trust value of the minority shareholders," said Roger Downs, a senior partner at Kells Lawyers in Sydney.

A move to vest the trust and hand the children direct control of the shares would be down to the new trustee, but it's likely that one or more of the children will push for board representation.

This could also theoretically mean they could take out loans using shares as a collateral that in the event of a default could be claimed by an external lender, said Downs.

Law Professor Adams also said Rinehart could suffer reputational damage if found to have breached corporate governance rules, an outcome that could be unsettling for future negotiations with investors.

Rinehart, who did not respond to a request for comment, has complained that the litigation was damaging her attempts to line up funding for the Pilbara-based Roy Hill iron ore mine.

Sources told Reuters in July that Roy Hill had overcome key hurdles holding up debt negotiations, but the company was yet to make a formal announcement.

Roy Hill has faced delays lining up $7 billion in debt funding and is now expected to begin production in 2015. Hancock owns 70 percent of the project, with the rest held by South Korea's POSCO, Japan's Marubeni Corp and Taiwan's China Steel Corp.

Hancock Prospecting's lawyer, David Studdy, told the court that Bianca and John were on a "kamikaze mission" that could threaten the Hope Downs venture with Rio Tinto. Withers, representing the children, said they had no interest in damaging the agreement and legal fixes were available to avoid that scenario. (Editing by Ed Davies)

Gina Rinehart's Family Drama Could Threaten Her Empire

* Gina Rinehart legal dispute could eventually lead to power  shift in company                * Children accuse mining mogul of breaching du...

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Here's the Most Dangerous City in California

When asked to name the most dangerous place for crime in California, Compton, L.A.'s Eastside or the East Bay might come to mind.

The most dangerous city in the Golden State when it comes to crime, police presence and other "community factors" such as poverty, the high school graduation rate and comparatively low police budgets, is in the Inland Empire.

That, at least, is according to the Southern California law firm of Graham Donath, which commissioned a report that crunches the numbers and gives us a list of California's most dangerous cities.

San Bernardino, a Great Recession–embattled town that's in bankruptcy, doesn't have the highest crime rate. Oakland and Stockton are worse when it comes to serious, violent crimes (murder, rape, robbery and assault), the analysis found.

But when all the factors were calculated, including unemployment, police per capita and even the number of days in a year when the high temperature was higher than 80 degrees, San Bernardino is your winner, the Donath report says.

The city, for example, ranked in the top 10 for municipalities with the lowest investment in law enforcement. It also ranked in the top 10 for those "community factors" we talked about.

All across this great state there's a lot to be desired when it comes to fixing lawlessness, however.

The analysis notes that all of its top-10 cities had a poverty rate of nearly 15 percent (14.5) or greater. That includes Los Angeles, where about one in five people (21.2 percent) lives in poverty, according to the report.

San Bernardino's poverty rate is pegged at a whopping 30.6 percent.

The analysis cites the high cost of living as a possible pressure point for crime. We don't need to tell you that housing costs in L.A. are out of control.

"One explanation for high poverty levels in California cities could be the rising cost of living with stagnant wages," the report says. "The poverty has actually grown in the state since 2007, and this could be because the increased cost of living is sending people into debt. It’s also encouraging people to leave or discouraging them from moving to the state."

Los Angeles, by the way, ranked 19th on the dangerous cities list.

One analysis of crime and other data says San Bernardino is California's most dangerous city.

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Michael Phelps explains the hilarious reason he named his son Boomer

Michael Phelps just explained the hilarious reason he named his son Boomer More

It doesn’t surprise us these days when people name their kids unusual names anymore. But it’s always nice to hear the reasoning behind their atypical choice. And since Michael Phelps has just revealed why he and his fiancée, Nicole Johnson, named their son Boomer, we have to admit it’s pretty hilarious.

On Thursday, Phelps was on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon and revealed the news:

His reasoning? It was the only thing they came up with.

"We heard the name, and we didn’t want, like, a normal name," Phelps said.

"Boomer, like boom boom — we didn’t know either," he said, laughing. "We had no second option — once we picked that, we were like, ‘Yeah.’ I mean, he’s definitely gonna be the cool kid."

With his super cool parents and his growing Internet fame, how could he not be?!

Of course, you remember Boomer from the Olympics in Rio.

And, ever since, he has hundreds of thousands of fans on Insta (which Phelps himself runs for Boomer).

With that super cute face and calm demeanor, how could we forget him?!

If you want to follow Boomer yourself, click here. Just be warned: You’re in for some seriously adorable posts.

The post Michael Phelps just explained the hilarious reason he named his son Boomer appeared first on HelloGiggles.

It doesn’t surprise us these days when people name their kids unusual names anymore. But it’s always nice to hear the reasoning behind their....


A guy just transcribed 30 years of for-rent ads. Here’s what it taught us about housing prices

Update: Before you read this, know that there’s since been some pretty persuasive criticism of Fischer’s initial model (and therefore my analysis of it) summarized here. His raw data, in any case, is unimpeached.)

I don’t know anything about Eric Fischer except that he’s a freaking hero.

Much like everyone else who has recently attempted to live in San Francisco, Fischer is very interested in housing costs. However, unlike every other such person, Fischer decided to contribute to this conversation by doubling the depth of modern historical data about them.

Until now, the most commonly cited information about SF housing prices had gone back to 1979, when the city started tracking the "median rent of two-bedroom apartments advertised in the San Francisco Chronicle on one Sunday per year."

Unfortunately for this data, 1979 also happens to be the year that San Francisco Mayor Dianne Feinstein imposed a rent freeze that transitioned into rent control. If you want to argue about the merits of rent control — and in the handful of U.S. cities facing rapidly rising housing prices, who doesn’t? — your arguments on either side aren’t going to be very useful without any information about the situation before rent control so you have something to compare to.

So Fischer found the "before rent control" data. He gathered it himself ... by spending many, many hours going through old image files and microfilm of the San Francisco Chronicle.

Fischer talks a lot about his methodology in his excellent post about this project, published Saturday. Here’s the short summary: His methodology is not perfect but it’s solid and I don’t see any great ways to improve it.

Instead of getting any further into that, this blog post exists to re-emphasize what his new data revealed: this chart.

That, my friends, is 70 years of San Francisco housing prices. There are some ups and downs, but for the most part there is a very simple trend: 6.6 percent.

That’s the amount the rent has gone up every year, on average, since 1956. It was true before rent control; it was true after rent control. It wasn’t entirely true during the 2000 tech bubble, but it was still sort of true and it became true again afterward.

6.6 percent is 2.5 percentage points faster than inflation, which doesn’t seem like a lot but when you do it for 60 years in a row it means housing prices quadruple compared to everything else you have to buy.

That’s bad. But that’s SF today, compared to 1956.

So what caused prices to go up? That’s the really exciting part of Fischer’s discovery. Armed with his data, he more or less answered that question.

This is as close as you’re ever likely to see to an answer to life, the universe and everything.

It’s a chart that almost perfectly predicts the San Francisco housing market using only three variables:

The number of jobs located in San Francisco County. The number of places in San Francisco County for people to live. The total amount of money that is paid to everyone who works jobs in San Francisco County.

It’s all summarized in the formula at the top of the chart. If you gave me values for (1), (2) and (3) above, then I could predict to you with startling accuracy how much the median two-bedroom apartment in San Francisco will cost to rent in that situation.

It follows that if we could change (1), (2) or (3), then we could maybe change what it costs to rent a place in San Francisco. Here’s how Fischer summarizes a scenario in which, his formula suggests, apartment prices would drop 67 percent:

It would take a 53% increase in the housing supply (200,000 new units), or a 44% drop in CPI-adjusted salaries, or a 51% drop in employment, to cut prices by two thirds.

OK, so this would mean the way to make San Francisco as affordable as (say) Portland would be to either cut everybody’s salary in half, or fire half of them, or rapidly increase the number of homes by 50 percent, which would let the population rapidly leap to about 1.2 million.

But wait, you might be saying. Prague has about 1.2 million residents. Milan has about 1.2 million residents. Those are nice cities. It would actually be fine if San Francisco turned into Prague, especially if the prices went down by two-thirds.

That’s probably true. The problem is that rapidly turning into Prague would require thousands of developers to go bankrupt, because (remember?) rents would drop by 67 percent so all those developers would not be able to pay off the loans they took out to build those 200,000 new homes.

Come to think of it, thousands of bankrupt developers may not sound too bad to you, either. But believe me, it sounds bad to the developers. Which is why there could never be a situation where private developers would add that many new homes at once — they would stop building long before that return to paradise could happen.

The way I see it, this leaves us with a few interesting lessons for San Francisco:

Adding new units is mostly only going to keep shit from getting worse.

2. Rent control does not seem to be a huge cause of the problem per se. Shit was bad before; shit was bad after; shit did not get notably better or worse for the median apartment seeker, at least if you start in 1956. (On the other hand, something odd is going on in Fischer’s early price data from the 40s. If you omit the 1950–1960 dip in rents, then everything before rent control in 1979 starts looking more like a plateau. Here’s his first chart again for good measure.)

2a. The way that rent control might matter indirectly is if it leads indirectly to fewer new units, for example because it gives people a reason to protest or sue to prevent developers from replacing little old rent-controlled buildings with big new market-rate ones. Which is pretty understandable on the part of the poor people but it’s still a shitty outcome, because (as Fischer’s formula suggests) every fancy new roof holds prices down a little bit because the rich people under it don’t push middle-class people out from under their middle-quality roofs, and so on down the line until someone ends up in a tent.

2b. Still, there’s no clear sign in this data that rent control has had this additional anti-new-housing effect on San Francisco. Again: shit was bad before. Shit was bad after.

3. Cutting infill development costs would help if there are ways to do that without screwing other things up too much.

4. If there is something stopping the housing market from building enough new homes for newcomers, then it’s probably got to be something that arrived around 1960 or earlier.

I’m going to stop talking about San Francisco at this point, because San Francisco depresses me. Basically, I think San Francisco is fucked.

Instead, I’m going to close with a lesson for cities that are adding jobs and/or wealth faster than homes but are not yet San Francisco: Portland, Seattle, Austin, Denver, Minneapolis. Maybe Oakland and Los Angeles and San Diego and DC still, too.

For the love of god, keep adding homes. Keep adding homes so things don’t get any worse and you’re not trapped in a lose-lose-lose shitstorm like San Francisco.

Rent control? This particular renter is nervous but sure, maybe try it out as long as you are working hard to ensure that it’s not going to get in the way of continuing to add homes.

Endless sprawl? That’ll keep the houses cheap (just ask Atlanta, Dallas and Phoenix) but it fucks up the planet and it seems to make us fatter and lonelier, plus cars are expensive. So maybe try doing townhouses if you can. Townhouses are great. Cliff and Claire Huxtable lived in a townhouse. Duplexes are nice too. A lot of cities have actually made it illegal to build either of these. That is nuts.

Taxes to create public or other subsidized housing? The poorest people will never be able to afford market-rate housing, and people in cheap but livable little homes tend to get into much less trouble than people in tents. So yeah, probably it’s a good idea to use taxes to build cheap but livable little homes for poor people, while also looking for other ways to help people get out of poverty.

Mass layoffs? Well, apparently those would reduce rents but somehow I don’t think they’d get the mayor re-elected.

But whatever you do, definitely buy Eric Fischer a drink if you see him. He earned it.

Update: Before you read this, know that there’s since been some pretty persuasive criticism of Fischer’s initial model (and therefore my analysis of it) summarized here. His raw data, in any case, is...


You Won’t Believe How Much Britney Spears Spends On Her Pets

Britney Spears may be frugal when it comes to some of her expenses (this killer bathing suit she caused a sensation in is just $22!), but when it comes to her pets and personal grooming, she spares *no* expense. But not to worry — we’ve got a feeling she won’t be sharing in Adele’s credit card embarrassment anytime soon!

Due to the nature of her conservatorship, which requires her to file how much she makes and spends in a public court, we got a little insight into the life of Ms. Spears, and let’s just say her pooches are living large.

In 2015 alone, Britney spent more than $8 million total, $37,360 of which was all spent on her dogs..

Topping that? Massages, manis and pedis, which rang in at $67,800 (in all fairness, girl probably has a LOT of kinks to work out after all that dancing) and clothes, which totaled $62,813.

While that all sounds absurdly excessive, when you consider the fact that she is estimated to have raked in a whopping $51 million last year, it quickly turns into a drop in the bucket.

All we’ve gotta’ say is, those are some lucky pups!

Are you shocked by Britney’s spending habits? Share your thoughts over @BritandCo!

(h/t E!, photos via Frazer Harrison + Kevin Winter/Getty)

You Won’t Believe How Much Britney Spears Spends on Her Pets


Stephen Hawking Crushed Donald Trump And His Supporters In One Sentence

We here at Elite Daily seem to really love a good hot take on Donald Trump.

But, Trump’s latest critic may be our favorite one yet.

In a recent interview with In a recent interview with CNN affiliate ITV , legendary scientist Stephen Hawking was asked to explain why someone like Donald Trump would have such a meteoric rise to political fame.

However, the most brilliant mind living couldn’t find an answer.

He is a demagogue, who seems to appeal to the lowest common denominator.

Here are a few appropriate reactions to this comment:

However, believe it or not, Hawking still thinks there is one thing worse than Donald Trump.

Hawking added in his interview, he believes climate change is the single biggest threat facing all of humanity. He says,

A more immediate danger is runaway climate change. A rise in ocean temperature would melt the ice-caps, and cause a release of large amounts of carbon dioxide from the ocean floor. Both effects could make our climate like that of Venus, with a temperature of 250 degrees.

So remember to reduce, reuse, recycle and, according to Hawking, don’t vote for Trump.

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Electrician Tries to Fix Broken PS4, Makes Startling Discovery

A electrician in Brazil was attempting to fix a busted PlayStation 4, when he discovered a dead snake inside, fused with internal circuits in multiple places.

According to the ViralHog video, the electrician's bug report stated, "It turned on and then off, and it released a strong smell." So the man opened up the console, thinking it might be an electrical failure. What he found was the the remains of the small snake.

As you can see in the video, the snake had fused with the circuit board, resulting in the electrical problem--and a nasty smell, apparently.

Check out the full video above (via CNET). There is no word on how the snake got into the console or what species it is.

This incident occurred in December 2015, in Braganca Paulista, Sao Paulo, though the video only came online this week. This does not mean Metal Gear Solid 6 is confirmed.

While repairing a busted PS4, an electrician smelled something foul and opened the system to make a remarkable discovery.


The substance Charlie Sheen blames for his infamous 2011 behavior isn't what you'd guess.

2011 was a time so dominated by bizarre Charlie Sheen news that browser plug-ins blocking mentions of Sheen's antics were necessary for just making it through the day. In an upcoming interview with 'respected medical professional' Dr. Oz, the self-proclaimed "Vatican assassin" revealed that his very public breakdown five years ago was caused by...testosterone cream?

Testosterone cream made this man get up to a lot of odd things in 2011.

Testosterone cream is not the first substance you'd suspect as the culprit when it comes to a man who allegedly participated in a crack sex tape. According to Page Six, Sheen said:

"That was a very specific period of time that did feel very out-of-body and very just detached from all things real. I felt superhuman during some of that...I was taking a lot of testosterone cream and I think I went too far with it. It was, kind of, like, a borderline, not a 'roid rage, but a 'roid disengage."

If a cream really did cause Charlie Sheen to consume unthinkable amounts of crack cocaine and pay porn stars to hang out with him, the FDA's regulation standards should be put under thorough investigation.

Below is a clip from the interview, set to air Wednesday, where Sheen will reportedly open up about his tumultuous relationship with ex-wife Denise Richards and his desire to enroll in a clinical trial for an HIV treatment developed by CytoDyn.

Charlie Sheen blames his 2011 meltdown on testosterone cream, which is confusing.

2011 was a time so dominated by bizarre Charlie Sheen news that browser plug-ins blocking mentions of Sheen's antics were necessary for just making it through the day. In an upcoming interview with 'respected medical...


Bride Is 11, Groom Is 35. When They Get Married, Watch What Her Family Does...

John and Lilly’s wedding looks as stunning as any other.. The event was filled with roses, ribbons, and beautiful decor. John’s and Lilly’s families were there, too. On the surface, it looked like something out of a storybook. But the heartbreaking truth for Lilly — an 11-year-old girl — is true for the very real 15 million little girls who are married every year. Bridal Musings and UNICEF have collaborated on this powerful video to show the horrors of child marriage. These little girls are treated more like property than human beings. Child marriage happens all over the world, in just about every continent, but together we can stop it.

According to Bridal Musings and UNICEF: "The sad truth is that a girl who is married as a child is more likely to be out of school, experience domestic violence, and become infected with HIV/AIDS. She is more likely to have children when she herself is still a child, and is far more likely to die due to complications during pregnancy and childbirth."

In the video, Lilly, who would normally be in middle school, marries 35-year-old John. Watch as her family looks on complicity in the living tragedy. They do nothing to stop it; in fact, they help move the process right along.

Watch UNICEF’s Powerful Video To End Child Marriage

John and Lilly’s wedding looks as stunning as any other. The event was filled with roses, ribbons, and beautiful decor. John’s and Lilly’s families were there, too. On the surface, it looked like something out of a storybook. But the heartbreaking truth for Lilly — an 11-year-old girl — is true for the very real...


Here's Why Bam Margera Is Nicknamed 'Bam'

Bam Margera has made a career out of putting his body in harm's way, so it's quite an achievement that he's managed to make it to his 37th birthday, which he'll celebrate tomorrow.

The professional skateboarder, stunt performer, and television personality rose to fame as part of MTV's Jackass crew and went on to star in shows such as Viva La Bam and Bam's Unholy Union.

Some of his most ridiculously dangerous stunts included 'Electric Avenue', which involved him getting hit by a stun gun, and 'Grass Skiing', which involved him running full speed up a ramp and jumping onto the top of the tree. As you do.

On of my personal favourites is from the first season of Jackass, when Bam pushes a shopping cart which Brandon DiCamillo is sat in dressed as a knight, swinging a sword. DiCamillo goes flying in the air and crashes on the floor and it's brilliant.

Anyway, if you've ever wondered why the 37-year-old daredevil calls himself 'Bam', wonder no more.

It turns out his grandfather nicknamed him that at the age of three because of his habit of running into walls. Sounds about right, that, doesn't it?

Apparently, when he gained professional success, he changed his legal name to it.


Released earlier this week, the report -- Pornhub's "2013 Porn In Review" -- says that Americans spent an average of 10 minutes, 39 seconds on the website every time they visited this past year. That's a whole minute longer than the average visit from porn lovers in the U.K., who claimed the second spot on the list.

According to Pornhub, which is one of the Web's largest porn sites, people in Mississippi (11:47), Hawaii (11:36) and Arkansas (11:32) spent the most time, per average session, watching porn on the site. In contrast, residents of Rhode Island, Vermont and New Hampshire had the shortest porn-watching sessions.

Of course, Americans aren't the only ones who enjoy their porn. In its report, Pornhub also revealed just how many visitors it received worldwide in 2013.

"Over the last year, our oh-so-valued users came to Pornhub an astonishing fourteen billion, seven hundred seventy–five million times," the site writes. "That works out to roughly 1.68 million visits per hour over the entire year."

According to the report, January was the most popular month and Monday was the most popular day of the week for porn-viewing worldwide, while August was found to be the least popular month and Sunday the least popular day.

As for search terms, the report says that "teen" and "milf" were among the top search terms worldwide in 2013. "Compilation," "lesbian" and "anal" were also hot terms this year.

For more on Pornhub's "2013 Porn In Review," click here.

One Stat That Proves America Really Enjoys Its Porn

Americans' porn-watching sessions are, on average, the longest on the planet, according to a new report about the world's porn habits in 2013.

Releas...

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How to get that song out of your head, according to science

Are you imagining music in your head? If so, it’s probably a certain Kylie Minogue hit. Sorry. But hopefully, once you’ve read this, you’ll be in a better position than you were before to get rid of it, or any other imaginary music playing on repeat in your mind’s ear.

Research suggests that 'earworms' – that experience of having music stuck in your head – are commonplace. It also suggests, contrary to popular belief, that most of the time earworms are not particularly troublesome. But I’m not alone in sometimes seeking to silence those silent songs. So here are six tips for earworm eradication based on the latest research.

First of all, avoid music. This is certainly easier said than done – and, as a musician, not something I would seriously recommend. That being said, I’m careful to avoid hearing any music before going to bed, since its transformation into an earworm interferes with my sleep. Repetition and recency are the dreaded 'Rs'of earworm sufferers.

Try not to listen to a song over and over again, and avoid music that is in itself highly repetitive. We also know that having heard a song recently is the most cited reason for then imagining it. If you’d rather that a different song played from your mental jukebox, make sure that this is the last thing that you hear.

There is also some evidence that if the music we are listening to is interrupted, we continue it mentally (known as the Zeigarnik effect). To prevent this from happening, it’s advisable to listen through to the end of the track.

But should these earworm prevention tips have failed, how can we get rid of intrusive musical thoughts?

A recent research paper claims that chewing gum provides a simple solution. In a series of experiments, participants who were given gum to chew reported fewer earworms than those who weren’t. Normally, our vocal apparatus is involved in singing, so the theory goes that when our jaws are otherwise engaged, our ability to imagine music is impaired.

Another tip to foil your earworm is to walk at a much faster or slower pace than the song’s beat. It seems that we form relatively accurate memories for the tempo of familiar music.

We also know that movement (for example dancing, tapping, nodding along) is an important contributor to earworm experience. By using body movement to disturb our memory for the musical tempo, we can interrupt the musical flow to end the seemingly automatic mental replay.

A popular way to engage with music is to sing it. Research suggests that if you’re prone to everyday singing, you’re also prone to earworms that last for a relatively long time. Why not turn this to your advantage and make an active choice to serenade those around you with music that would provide a positive mental accompaniment to your day?

When that unwanted earworm starts, sing something else, out loud. Singing the theme to 80 Days Around the World, the cartoon from the 1980s, used to be my personal antidote, but now I’m more selective in my musical choices.

One of the factors shaping my choice of music to imagine is my mood. An extensive survey of earworm reports points to the importance of mood, stress and emotional state in the occurrence of earworms.

There is also some evidence that when we imagine a particular song, our mood approximates the way we felt when we heard it. So if you were angry when you heard Justin Bieber on the radio this morning, you might feel angry when it’s circling your brain later in the day.

More psychological research is needed to understand whether we deliberately imagine music to regulate our emotions. In the meantime, if the mood evoked by the music in your head does not correspond to your desired emotional state, change the (mental) record.

To eradicate earworms altogether, consider doing a mental activity that is either more or less challenging. We know that routine activities which are low in cognitive load, such as tooth brushing, are conducive to mind wandering, which can, in turn, lead to involuntary musical imagery. On the other hand, mentally demanding tasks such as difficult homework have also been associated with earworms.

But mind wandering rarely occurs when we socialise; an activity that lies in the middle of the range for its mental challenge. A potentially pleasant way to banish unwanted musical thoughts could be to spend time with friends.

It would be remiss of me not to warn you of the irony that attempts to deliberately control our thoughts have been known to have the opposite effect. Interestingly, differences in how much we want to suppress earworms appear to be reflected in the cortical structures of our brain.

If your earworms have resisted all deliberate attempts to banish them, my final advice is to stop trying and to distract yourself. Some people find musical or verbal distractions such as watching TV to be particularly effective if you have the leisure. I should be so lucky. ("Lucky, lucky, lucky...")

Freya Bailes, Academic Fellow in Music Psychology, University of Leeds.

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

How to Get That Song Out of Your Head, According to Science

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If you've shared this status on Facebook, delete your account

In the image, 'Zuckerberg' is alleged to have replied that if the screenshot received 500k likes, 50k comments and 20k shares, he would ban the Republican presidential candidate from Facebook.

Because there's no problem with mob rule dictating the use of censorship. Nope. None.

Here's the problem. Why in his right mind would Zuckerberg reply? This is a fairly obvious case of 'like-farming', when users create spurious Facebook posts just for the likes, as many other media outlets have claimed.

The Huffington Post already cast doubt of the veracity of Mccaster's story, as did Yahoo News - it's a format well trodden with free Lamborghini's, although the banning of a presidential nominee would be novel.

To add to this, there are other posts on Mccaster's Facebook purporting to be conversations with other well knowns.

For instance, here is this 'conversation' allegedly with the Donald himself.

And here's an identical post to that one, from 'Callan Brown'. The writer David Puente has been debunking these posts by Brown, who also shared the Zuckerberg posts when they began appearing in September.

But back to the 'Zuckerberg' post, perhaps the Zinoviev letter of the 21st century. It has become a social media juggernaut.

As of Monday morning, the post had exceeded every single target. It had over 1,000,000 likes, over 200,000 comments, and had been shared over 179,000 times.

Even if this were real and verified, there's a broader point here about free speech - despite all this enthusiasm Trump is still on Facebook.

Mark Zuckerberg is highly unlikely to use his awesome power over Facebook audiences to sway a presidential election in such an overt manner.

In addition, if 'likes' meant anything then all the posts about keeping Facebook 'free' must have worked - and all your information is definitely set to 'private' ever since we all copied and pasted a message about it.

If you've shared this Facebook post about Donald Trump it's probably time to delete your account

There's a pointless 'campaign' happening on Facebook to get Donald Trump banned from the website. Here's all you need to know about it.  On Saturday, someone asked Mark Zuckerberg what it would take to have Donald Trump banned from Facebook. According to the post, the multi-billionaire accepted the premise of the question from a stranger and set them a challenge. The user, Gavin Mccaster told (slightly forcefully, if we're honest) Zuckerberg that he would be taking a screenshot of their conversation.


10 New Year's resolutions for your wallet

Love or hate New Year's resolutions, there probably are a few you could stand to make for your wallet's sake. They can be short-term, easy fixes to save money throughout the year, while also potentially helping you achieve larger financial goals.

Here are my 10 suggestions to make sure you start off 2017 on the right financial footing:

1. Clean out your wallet. A cluttered wallet isn't just bulky; it also can be expensive if you're paying for cards you don't use. Start lean and mean in 2017. Review the cards and figure out how they benefit you. Many people, myself included, signed up for some cards merely for their cool factor or maybe to pursue a one-time benefit   such as a juicy sign-up bonus that has long since been exhausted. At best, these cards can be a distraction and waste of space. At worst, they can cost you an annual fee without making up for it in benefits. Keep only cards earning high rewards that you'll actually use or cards that are important to maintain your credit score.

2. Prioritize your purchases. Healthy budgeting may sound about as fun as healthy dieting, but success for both often can start with something as simple as understanding what works best for you. At its heart, a budget helps you recognize trade-offs in your purchases. Movies or dining out? Game console or summer vacation? New clothes or weekend getaway? Until you're able to identify and plan for these trade-offs in advance, you're not in charge of your money.

3. Optimize your credit cards. Whether you're trying to maximize rewards or minimize the cost of credit card debt, you probably have room for improvement. At this point, 1.5% cash back is the new gold standard for rewards, so make sure you're earning at least that much on every purchase. And if you're looking to minimize the cost of debt, a 12-month, 0% intro APR offer is a good baseline. If you're unsure what kind of card you might qualify for, I recommend checking your free credit score or seeing whether you pre-qualify for a card.

4. Upgrade your checking account. As I emphasized a couple of columns ago, bank fees bite. If you're paying fees for your checking account regularly, that's a sign you could be doing better   either with your own money management or your choice in banks. A new account might also come with new capabilities such as mobile check deposit or better ATM access. Here's a handy guide to find the right checking account for you.

5. Upgrade your savings account. There's a fair chance you could be earning higher interest in the coming new year than you did in 2016. Many online banks are offering annual percentage yields of 1% or higher, which we hope will rise since the Federal Reserve increased its funds rates in December.

6. Open a P2P account. Still writing and receiving physical checks to and from friends and family? What a hassle. It's nearly 2017, not 1987. If you need to pay someone back quickly and easily   whether for baby-sitting, splitting utility bills or sharing a restaurant tab   open an account on a peer-to-peer (P2P) payment app such as Venmo, PayPal, Zelle or Square Cash. Ask around to see what's popular among your friends, as they'll need to use the same app to receive or send money.

7. Boost your savings rate. Saving money can be hard, especially if it's for a less-immediate goal such as retirement, an emergency fund (see below) or a down payment on a home. Here are tips to boost your savings rate: (1) If your employer matches 401(k) contributions, make sure you're contributing enough from your paycheck to get the full match. (2) Divert some of your wages automatically into your savings account before you have the chance to spend it. (3) Plan now to save any windfalls, such as tax refunds, gifts or the occasional lottery winnings. (4) Check your credit card and checking account statements to see whether you can cut any charges for recurring services that aren't needed.

8. Build an emergency fund. A key measure of financial freedom is the ability to cover short-term emergencies with cash instead of by taking on debt. That said, many of us already have plenty of debt, and it's often difficult to decide between saving cash or paying down that debt. The short story? All things being equal, putting a little money in the bank generally should be prioritized in most cases.

9. Use your rewards card for every purchase. Sure, credit card rewards rates won't make you rich, but the 1.5% you could earn back on every purchase adds up. It can help boost your savings or make a significant dent in a planned purchase.

10. Use your airline miles. Airlines historically devalue points on their loyalty programs every few years, and you'll also want to make sure there's no expiration policy on your points or miles. Saving them for some big future vacation might sound nice, but if they need to be redeemed by a certain point, don't let them slip through your fingers.

10 New Year's Resolutions For Your Wallet

Life leaves our wallets full of relics from past financial decisions — some good, some bad. As the new year approaches, take the opportunity to ensure you have the right products working for you, and clean out the rest.


You’ll never believe what’s making the ocean look like a Van Gogh painting

NASA just beamed down an incredible photo of Earth taken via satellite, but what is it exactly?

While your first guesses might be pollution or some kind of chemical, this is actually a natural phenomenon that takes place twice a year. What you’re looking at is the Atlantic Ocean hosting a massive phytoplankton bloom. Practically billions (if not more) of these creatures are spawning in the water, leaving it with a greenish-hue. And don’t let their microscopic size fool you, these things actually form the foundation of the underwater food chain.

The reason NASA is taking an interest in them, however, is much more interesting. The agency believes phytoplankton play a role in carbon cycling. Through the process of photosynthesis, these tiny creatures can actually consume as much carbon dioxide as forests. Phytoplankton are sometimes referred to as a "biological carbon pump" because they can transport these gases to deeper parts of the ocean, whether because they died or because they were eaten by a predator.

As a result, researchers want to see if tiny phytoplankton actually have the power to influence clouds and climate. The space agency has actually been observing these blooms for some time. Here is another image it released from 2004:

Unfortunately, all researchers will say for sure is that the image of these phytoplankton shows a link between ocean physics and biology...whatever that means.

"The features that jump out so clearly represent the influence of ocean eddies and physical stirring on the concentration of phytoplankton pigments and, possibly, colored dissolved organic matter," phytoplankton ecologist Michael Behrenfeld said in a statement.

For now, we guess we’ll sit back and enjoy the pretty image. But remember phytoplankton, because they may have a lot more to do with global warming than we realize.

You'll never believe what's making the ocean look like a Van Gogh painting - The Loop

The Loop is Canada’s source for social lifestyle and entertainment content. From life hacks and beauty tips to sex advice from the Golden Girls, we serve up fresh content daily with a dash of perspective and plenty of humour. It’s just what you need, just when you need it!


This website will share your personal information with anyone — here's how to stop it

A writer named Anna Brittain recently made people aware of a site called FamilyTreeNow, which lets anyone search for someone by name and location for free. The results show family members, their birthdays, their home addresses, your possible associates, and your own current and past addresses. It may seem creepy, but all of this information is already available in various public records. The ease with which it is viewable, however, is a bit unnerving. Fortunately, there is a way to opt out.

This website will share your personal information with anyone â here's how to stop it

A genealogy website may haveÂ given cyber criminals an easy tool to help them steal your identity, and the Internet is freaking out.


They Found An Abandoned School Bus In The Woods, And Couldn’t Believe What Was Hiding Inside!

With the rising popularity of tiny homes and DIY houses, people are making living spaces out of all kinds of unconventional structures, from lighthouses, to shipping containers, and even grain silos.

One father and son team enjoy finding these quirky little places, so they took a trip to a small farm in Saxapahaw, North Carolina. There, they found a peaceful meadow, a bubbling stream... and the most unusual house they’d ever seen.

Who would have thought that a school bus would turn out to be the perfect tiny home? The son wrote of his experience in this funky crash pad: "While the amenities were very sparse, staying in this bus reminded me of just how little we need to survive, and how cheaply we can attain it."

Check Out This Cool Converted Old School Bus!

Tiny homes are everywhere these days, but this one made from an old converted school bus definitely has character.


Why Demi Lovato didn't think she would live to 21

Demi Lovato gets candid about her history with addiction and an eating disorder in a new interview with American Way.

The 23-year-old singer told the American Airlines magazine that her mother and grandmother both struggled with eating disorders, which made Lovato self-conscious of her body when she was very little.

"Even though I was 2 or 3 years old being around somebody who was 80 pounds and had an active eating disorder ... it’s hard not to grow up like that," Lovato said.

Lovato traces her experience with bulimia back to age 9.. Participating in pageants at a young age and later getting bullied at school only increased the "Cool for the Summer" singer's issues with eating. As her fame grew, Lovato told American Way that she was cutting herself and self-medicating with alcohol, cocaine and OxyContin.

"I lived fast and I was going to die young," the singer said. "I didn’t think I would make it to 21."

Lovato has credited rehab and therapy for helping her battle bulimia and her addictions, as well as manage her bipolar disorder. In an interview with HuffPost Live in 2015, Lovato also said her then-boyfriend Wilmer Valderrama (the two recently split) helped save her life.

"He'll never take credit for a lot of my sobriety and my recovery, but I guarantee it, I wouldn’t be alive without him today," said the singer.

To read the rest of Lovato's interview, head here.

Why Demi Lovato Didn't Think She Would Make It To 21

The singer opens up about her past struggles in a new interview.


When a K-9 died, its handler seemed distraught. But then investigators dug up his back yard.

Veteran K-9 officer Daniel Peabody has been accused of killing three of his dogs, two of which were K-9 police dogs. (CBS46)

At least, that’s the way it looked to students whenever Peabody, a hulking and heavily tattooed school cop, strode into northern Georgia classrooms with a K-9 at his side.

The lieutenant loved his animal partners so much that when one dog retired, Peabody promptly adopted him.

But Peabody wasn’t the dog savior he portrayed himself to be, authorities say.

Instead, the veteran K-9 officer now stands accused of leaving one police dog in a roasting car to die and executing another.

Cherokee Co Schools Police Lt Daniel Peabody could face animal cruelty charges. His K9 Inka died in his hot car. pic.twitter.com/OGqDGohNMz — Matt Johnson (@MJohnsonWSB) June 11, 2016

On Tuesday, investigators announced that the remains of a third dog — unearthed in Peabody’s back yard — indicated the animal also had been shot, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The alleged case of animal cruelty is all the more bizarre because of the special protections police departments bestow on the expensive and highly trained animals.

[‘No choice but to start stabbing’: Family fights off retired K-9 as he mauls man who gave him water]

In Georgia, for instance, it is a felony punishable by up to five years in prison to intentionally kill a K9 — a penalty stiffened just last year after a police dog was killed in the line of duty.

Few in Cherokee County could have imagined that the biggest threat to a beloved police dog was the man holding its leash.

Daniel Peabody. (Cherokee County Marshal’s Office)

The strange story dates to at least 2012, but only came to light last month.

On June 10, Peabody and his pawed partner, Inca, a four-year-old Belgian Malinois, came home from work about 4:15 p.m.

Peabody, a 16-year police veteran who had worked with K-9s for five years, rushed inside to deal with another dog, Cherokee County Marshal’s Office Maj. Jamie Gianfala told the Marietta Daily Journal.

Nearly three hours later, Peabody suddenly remembered he had left Inca in his squad car. When Peabody went outside to check on the dog, she was dead, Gianfala said.

Gianfala also said Peabody’s 2001 Ford Crown Victoria was not equipped for police dogs.

"There’s no kennel, there’s no alarms," he added. "It’s basically just a Crown Vic police car."

Gorgeous K9 gone too soon. Inka died when she was left in a hot car. Ch. 2 right now. https://t.co/o07Uq0QIdn pic.twitter.com/7exiUb9KAs — Matt Johnson (@MJohnsonWSB) June 12, 2016

The temperature that afternoon was in the 90s, "and that was outside, so I’m sure the temperature in that police car was much higher," added Chief Marshal Ron Hunton..

Hunton told the Daily Journal that Peabody was visibly distraught over the dog’s death, hyperventilating so badly that he had to be taken to a hospital and passed out at one point.

"He is very, very upset about the death of his dog," Hunton said.

A few days later, Peabody abruptly resigned, according to the Journal-Constitution.

When authorities investigated Inca’s death, however, they quickly stumbled upon other suspicious incidents involving the K-9 officer and his partners.

When they asked Peabody about Dale, a yellow lab he adopted in 2012 after five years of working alongside the animal, Peabody initially said the retired dog died in a freak accident.

Dale, retired k9 living w/former school police Lt. Daniel Peabody. Police say Peabody killed him too. Live at 4 pic.twitter.com/uVkLRwEuXO — Tyisha Fernandes (@TyishaWSB) June 22, 2016

"Peabody initially claimed Dale’s death was accidental due to Dale choking on a toy," the marshal’s office said in a statement, according to the Journal-Constitution. "However, the investigation yielded evidence that Dale was in fact shot and killed by Peabody at his Paulding County home."

On June 20, investigators executing a search warrant on Peabody’s former home in Paulding County unearthed the remains of a dog they suspected was Dale.

Peabody was charged with aggravated cruelty to animals and making a false statement to investigators.

His wife, Tyler Verlander, meanwhile, was cited for operating a dog boarding and training business without a Cherokee County occupation tax certificate, according to the Journal-Constitution. She was also charged with operating a boarding and training business inside a residential district and too close to a residential property. The charges are unrelated to the K-9 deaths.

On Tuesday, investigators announced yet another twist in the curious case.

A forensic veterinarian had determined that the dog remains did not, in fact, belong to Dale.

Instead, they belonged to a Belgian Malinois — possibly Inca’s grandmother.

The discovery brought to three the number of dogs Peabody is suspected of killing, although authorities say the development won’t affect charges facing the former school cop.

Daniel Peabody, a former K-9 officer and school cop in northern Georgia, is now suspected in the deaths of three dogs.

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The Horrible Choice Zika Is Forcing Some Brides to Make

Sara Brooks was sure Cabo would be the perfect place for her destination wedding this coming November. The desert landscape reminded her of her Arizona hometown, and Will had always loved to surf the coast of Mexico. Plus, she and Will had their first Tinder conversation in Spanish, so it seemed like a special gesture to get married in a Spanish-speaking country. But that was December 2015, when no one had even heard of the Zika virus, a mosquito-borne illness that can cause severe birth defects, which was spreading northward from South America.

"Five months into planning my dream wedding, my maid of honor called to tell me she was pregnant and didn’t feel safe traveling to Mexico," Brooks says. Her other best friend also said it was highly unlikely she’d attend, saying she plans to be pregnant or actively trying by November. "I had what I can only describe as a mini nervous breakdown in my office."

Brooks, 33, called her fiancé and told him they had to cancel the wedding because there was no way she was getting married without her best friends there. "I had visions of the entire wedding party in mosquito net dresses," she says. She embarked on a 48-hour tailspin of planning three alternate weddings in other locations and tried to convince herself she was all right with losing the nearly $35,000 that canceling the Mexico wedding would mean. The venues in Cabo told her they weren’t giving any deposit refunds as there hasn’t yet been a case of Zika in the region.

But after a few days of "mediation and an attempt at return to logic," Brooks decided that she wasn’t going to cancel the wedding. "I realized that by November, no one knows where Zika could be," she says, thinking it might be affecting most of the U.S. by then. Her fears of Zika’s spread weren’t unfounded: The CDC is currently reporting 691 travel-associated cases in the United States as of June 8.

Many couples are now faced with the same decision Brooks had to make. In 2015, Destination Weddings Travel Group found that 24 percent of couples chose destination weddings, and the top four destinations are Jamaica, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, and Hawaii. The top emerging destinations are Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, St. Lucia, and Grenada. Of those eight locales, seven are in areas the CDC has now placed under alert for active Zika transmission. The CDC and many OBs advise pregnant women or anyone thinking of conceiving - i.e. a lot of engaged couples and wedding guests - against traveling to Zika-affected territories to avoid the risk of microcephaly, a birth defect where the brain and head develop smaller than normal. ( There have been 1,326 confirmed cases of Zika-caused microcephaly in Brazil alone .) It’s an unusual and unpleasant dilemma: Cancel your wedding and forfeit many thousands of dollars, or don’t cancel and accept the absence of some of your closest friends, plus the risk of you or someone you love contracting a virus that has no cure.

‘The wedding planning process is stressful enough. If someone were to get sick, god forbid, the guilt just wouldn’t be worth it.’

The choice to cancel might seem like the easy one - and when the news of Zika really started to break in February, there was a higher-than-average rate of cancellations. Jennifer Doncsecz is president of VIP Vacations, a travel agency that plans about 115 to 200 weddings a year, mostly in Mexico, Puerto Rico, and the Caribbean. This year, Doncsecz saw guests cancel in almost all 50 destination weddings she planned between March and June. "In February we had three or four weddings with contracts in hand who backed away," she says. "And that month, at the height of everything, we also had three weddings planned for this summer that canceled entirely."

Karrah Pieper, 27, and her fiancé Zach, 33, who live in Austin, had just sent out their save-the-dates in February when they decided to cancel their plans for a November wedding in Puerto Rico. "The wedding planning process is stressful enough as it is," Pieper says, "and if someone were to get sick, god forbid, the guilt just wouldn’t be worth it." Since they were set on a beach wedding, the couple switched their nuptials from an island in November to Vancouver in August, losing about a third of their guests due to the date and location change. Thanks to a good lawyer and a "natural disaster" clause in their Puerto Rico cancellation policy, they were able to get back their $2,250 lodging down payment. But other couples’ venue contracts aren’t so forgiving.


You won't believe how much Baz Luhrmann's new series cost

After two-and-a-half-years of reshoots, rewrites, stopping, starting and earning the nickname "The Shut Down", Baz Luhrmann's new Netflix series will finally air this Friday.

However The Get Down wasn't exactly cheap to make.

According to The Daily Telegraph, Luhrmann's new project has broken records before airing, being tipped as the most-expensive series Netflix has ever produced after the budget exceeded $120 million

The director has a history was going over budget - and film schedules - with his 2012 retelling of The Great Gatsby going significantly over budget.

Similarly to the Gatsby, Luhrmann went through numerous script writers for The Get Down, and according to Variety, "two showrunners and every inch of the patience among executives at Sony Pictures Television."

Jaden Smith on set of The Get Down. Source: Getty

Despite this, the show, that chronicles funk music in the Bronx during the 1970s, has already received some decent reviews.

Indewire have called it Luhrmann’s best work since Moulin Rouge while The Hollywood Reporter have said the series thrives when Luhrmann’s influence becomes less evident.

"(Luhrmann’s) excesses work best in specific environments (Moulin Rouge) and less effectively in others (Australia, The Great Gatsby)," they wrote.

Jaden Smith stars in the series, alongside Jimmy Smits, Shameik Moore and Justice Smith.

The series will air on Friday. Source: Netflix


This Is What Happens When You Ask for Weed on Twitter

If you're looking for some sweet ganja on the 'net, keep this in mind — police departments are on Twitter too.

WHOS IN SARASOTA FLORIDA AND HAS WEED #Sarasota

When @preznixon16 tweeted out a request for weed in Florida, police department in Sarasota, Florida, responded, asking @preznixon16, whose Twitter name is Fly Shit Only, to stop by its headquarters. Busted.

If you'd like to stop by our HQs, our Narcotics Detectives would be more than happy to talk. #SayNoToDrugs #LESMhttps://twitter.com/preznixon16/status/729138884878192642 ...

And she would have gotten away with it, too if it weren't for that meddling hashtag. Fly Shit Only included #SARASOTA at the end of her tweet — which probably put the tweet on the Sarasota Police Department's radar. If you search for "weed" on Twitter, it's a goldmine of illegal tweet nuggets. @preznixon16 responded by retweeting department's request.

This isn't the first time a Florida police department used its Twitter presence to instill fear in desperate #marijuana seekers — the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office also responded to a request for weed in July 2015.

Where should we meet you?https://twitter.com/Rosa_Sparkz/status/623585018087100416 ...

It remains to be seen who sent the tweet to Fly Shit Only, but it likely wasn't a police officer scouring #Sarasota weed tweets on their iPhone. A Sarasota Police Department Narcotics Investigations official said in a phone call that the person in charge of the department's media affairs runs the social media account and probably sent out the tweet, possibly running it by the narcotics team first. We have reached out to the media affairs contact for comment.

As to whether Fly Shit Only scored some dope via the web, she tweeted at Mashable's Brian Koerber, "Unfortunately not." She has since turned to Twitter as a soap box to advocate for the legalization of weed.

This Is What Happens if You Ask for Weed on Twitter

twitter, marijuana, weed, police department, Tech


The townhouse from @Beyonce's "Halo" video hits the market for an insane price

While Beyoncé's super secret visual album practically broke the Internet with its release earlier this month, a pricey piece of New York City real estate with ties to the singer has one prospective homeowner going for broke.

The 13,000-square-foot loft townhouse located at 214 Lafayette Street in Manhattan's SoHo neighborhood features 3 bedrooms, 3.5 bathrooms, a 925 square-foot terrace, an indoor pool and full basement, according to a listing on real estate website Street Easy. The "architectural masterpiece," as its described, is also where Mrs. Carter filmed the video for one of her biggest hits back in 2009.

Recognize these ethereal digs? (Hint: The loft was also featured in John Mayer’s "Who Says" video.) Check out the answer after the jump.

According to listing agent Steven Halpern of Urban Compass, the Lafayette Street townhouse where Beyoncé filmed her 2009 video "Halo" is now available for rent for $80,000 per month. It's also available for $20,000 a day — or $50,000 a week, Street Easy notes.

The 6-story townhouse also features 19-foot ceilings overlooking SoHo, an open, industrial chef's kitchen and a massive "cinematic living/dining area" with exposed brick, wood-burning fireplace and motorized movie screen.

Townhouse From Beyoncé's 'Halo' Video Hits The Market For An Insane Price (PHOTOS)

While Beyoncé's super secret visual album practically broke the Internet with its

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Can a Dinner Plate Inspired by a Sponge Actually Help Reduce Calories?

Ad agency BBDO Bangkok created a prototype for the Thai Health Promotion Foundation to create a new kind of dinner plate designed to help extract excess calories from greasy Thai dishes. Inspired by the surface of a sponge, the AbsorbPlate is perforated with 500 holes that its creators claim can collect and hold micropuddles of oil, siphoning up to 7 ml (about 0.24 ounces) of grease from a serving of food, shaving a potential 30 calories from every meal.

"Thai food is delicious but sometimes very greasy," BBDO writes in a project description, adding that the hundreds of stir-fry and deep fried dishes cooked with oil are one of the reasons that Thais have the second highest obesity rate in Southeast Asia. "Unhealthy eating behaviour is hard to change, and most Thai people go for what's delicious. How can we help Thai people eat healthier without changing their regular meal?"

But 30 calories per meal is such a negligible amount that this is certainly not a silver bullet. A pound roughly equals 3,500 calories, so a dieter needs to reduce his or her caloric intake by 500 to 1,000 calories per day to lose about 1 to 2 pounds per week, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But it might catch on as an even more effortless form of pizza blotting.

Ad agency BBDO Bangkok created a prototype for the Thai Health Promotion Foundation to create a new kind of dinner plate designed to help extract exces ...

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9-Year-Old Asks ‘Am I Not Pretty Enough?’ Then The Judges Fire Back With The Perfect Response

A t just nine years old, Molly Sings already knows how to belt out the notes during her blind audition on The Voice Kids Australia. But the t just nine years old, Molly Sings already knows how to belt out the notes during her blind audition on The Voice Kids Australia. But the sentiment of the song is not lost on the judges, especially the female judges, Mel B.. and Delta Goodrem.

The lyrics beg the questions: Am I not pretty enough? Is my heart too broken? Do I cry too much? Am I too outspoken? Don’t I make you laugh? Should I try it harder?

Kasey Chambers, the musician who penned the song, is a grown woman with life experience. But there’s something about hearing these lyrics sung by a little girl that really pulls at the heartstrings. It’s heartbreaking to imagine a child having questions and insecurities like the ones mentioned in the song — and Molly does a great job of emoting these questions as she sings.

But the most heartwarming part of this performance is the reaction coming from backstage. Every time the camera pans to Molly’s mom, dad and brother, it’s clear all three of them are so incredibly proud of her. As each judge turns around in their chair, their eyes fill with more tears.

After Molly’s audition, Mel. B says she’s the best coach for her, and for very good reason — Girl Power! "You had control. When I turned around, you had confidence. I’m a girl, you’re a girl. I have four kids that are girls. So if I was you, from girl-to-girl, I would go with me."

At just nine years old, Molly Sings already knows how to belt out the notes during her blind audition on The Voice Kids Australia. But the sentiment of the song is not lost on the judges, especially the female judges, Mel B. and Delta Goodrem. The lyrics beg the questions: Am I not pretty enough? Is my...


Anyone who has watched cricket in the last decade will have noticed MS Dhoni's habit of collecting a stump to commemorate every victory. The Lt Colonel of the Indian Territorial Army's peculiar post-game ritual has most of us speculating about the reason behind the behaviour. Though we all have our versions for why he does it, we never knew the answer. Until now.

So why exactly does the wicketkeeper-batsman take a stump for each triumph?

The reasons behind this ritual has been the cause of much speculation for Dhoni fans.

There have been stories behind the act, ranging from the astrological to the completely unreal. Some say, Dhoni's zodiac sign being Cancer gives him the personality trait of being a habitual hoarder. Another far-fetched story claimed that Dhoni has been collecting stumps to help one of his friends build a fence around his house with it (fairly uneconomic idea, if you ask me).

But Dhoni recently explained the real reason behind his collection.

In a recent interview with BCCI.tv, Dhoni explained the idea behind collecting the stumps as memorabilia. He said, "That’s my retirement plan. The good thing is that I do collect a lot of stumps but the bad one is I don’t put a mark as to which match they were from. So, after I retire I’ll watch the videos of all my matches, look closely at the sponsors logos on the stumps and figure out which match a stump belongs to. It will be my post-cricket pass time!"

Now, that's one retirement plan I can't follow.

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The National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) has gotten hold of a "mystery device" that thieves have been spotted on security cameras using to electronically open and start cars.

The organization says that it obtained it through an outside security expert who purchased it overseas. It describes it as a "relay attack" unit that was originally designed for manufacturers to test the security of their wireless systems, but it and others like it have made their way into criminal hands, and handmade versions have also been discovered.

It is actually two devices working together. The first intercepts the signal from a nearby proximity key fob, either being carried by someone or left in a car, and transfers it to the other, which can then be used to open the lock and start the vehicle.

The NICB tested it, with approval, in several situations that included car dealerships, a car auction and on its own employee’s vehicles. It tried it on 35 different vehicles from a variety of brands and was able to open 19 and start and drive away in 18 of those.  After the ignitions were turned off, the device was able to restart 12 of the 18 cars. It didn’t provide a detailed list of makes and models that were affected by the device, but did point out that the four 2017 Chevrolet models it tried were immune.

Since it leaves no trace of the method of entry or ignition, the NICB is warning drivers to be wary of anyone around when using these types of keys, and not leaving them behind in the car. It also points out that if you give access to your key fob to someone, including a parking valet, they can potentially use a unit like this to skim the codes and then enter or steal the car later on.

In the hands of criminals around the world.


"Hagrid couldn't produce a Patronus. It's a very difficult spell."

Given that he was abandoned by his mother, his father died, and he was expelled from school after being framed by Tom Riddle, it could be possible that Hagrid never had enough positive feelings to conjure a Patronas.

Ever since Rowling's tweet, Twitter-fiends have been expressing their sadness for Hagrid on their social media platform of choice.

Hagrid has no Patronus. I pity him having not enough happy memories to conjure one. :( — Kevin (@johnkevinsj) August 21, 2015 Well this makes me extremely sad, that Hagrid doesn't have a Patronus. I hope someday Harry teaches him how to. https://t.co/n6r848oMm2 August 21, 2015

J.K. Rowling reveals sad truth about beloved character Hagrid - AOL E...

Ever since Rowling's tweet, fans have been expressing their sadness for Hagrid on social media.


Kat Dennings slammed rumors that Lindsay Lohan was difficult to work with on the set of "2 Broke Girls." After her guest appearance on the show, Contact Music ran a story in which an audience member called Lohan a "train wreck" who could not remember her lines, but Dennings chimed in to set the story straight.

"This article is complete bullshit. Lindsay was prepared, sweet to everyone, & professional," Dennings tweeted. "Not nice to spread lies."

Dennings' co-star Beth Behrs added that Lohan "was kind to everyone, professional and knew her shit."

As Celebuzz noted, Lohan's own account reflected a great experience with the show, including an Instagram from backstage.

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She Is The Queen Of Country, But The Traumatic News That She Just Revealed Had Me Bawling – God Today

Loretta Lynn is the queen of country music. She is the epitome of what it means to be a country legend. She grew up with nothing to become one of the biggest stars in history. She always remained loyal to her family, and never once was she involved in extreme controversy. Many of the current country stars could learn a few things form little old Loretta.

Loretta Lynn became famous after her husband, Doo convinced her to pursue her singing career. Doo booked bar rooms, restaurants, and basically any place that would let her play. His efforts and her skill eventually led her to success, but with success comes great tragedy. Loretta has suffered more than most, and my heart will always ache for her poor soul.

Loretta has buried two children, best friends, and her husband. She has become stronger and stronger after each loss, but recently she admitted something. She said that it wasn’t strength that was getting her through it. It was the idea that she knows that she will join her friends soon enough. She says she is getting old, and death no longer scares her.. She said the most scared she ever was of death was when her best friend and mentor Patsy Cline was tragically killed. Do you love Loretta Lynn?


EU referendum: What happens if the U.K. votes for Brexit

Later this month, Britain may do what no country has done before and vote to leave the European Union.

Opinion polls suggest the public is split down the middle. The referendum on June 23 is too close to call.

Those in favor of walking out of the EU -- the Brexit option -- say European rules stifle U..K. business and leaving would boost the economy. They also say Britain would regain control of its borders and be able to limit immigration.

Those campaigning for the U.K. to stay -- including the government -- paint a much grimmer picture of life outside the EU. They say trade and investment would suffer, triggering a recession, killing jobs, slamming the pound and causing house prices to fall.

The referendum is the biggest decision Brits have faced in a generation. The last direct vote on the country's ties with Europe was in 1975.

A win for Brexit would shape the future of the U.K.. and Europe for decades to come. The big problem is that nobody knows exactly how.

Prime Minister David Cameron would face huge pressure to resign. He is campaigning for Britain to stay in the bloc, but his Conservative party (and government) is bitterly divided over the issue.

Fellow Conservative and former London mayor Boris Johnson leads the Brexit campaign and may be a candidate to succeed Cameron.

Whoever leads the government, he or she would eventually have to give formal notice to the other 27 EU countries of the U.K.'s intention to quit.

There is no deadline for that to happen, but once it does there is no turning back. The U.K. would then have two years to negotiate its divorce from the EU -- including the terms of trade with its 440 million remaining consumers.

The U.K. government, the International Monetary Fund, the Bank of England, Fed Reserve Chief Janet Yellen, President Obama and other world leaders have all warned that leaving the EU would hurt the U.K. economy -- the fifth biggest in the world.

They're worried about the impact on trade. By leaving, Britain would lose its automatic right to trade freely with the rest of the EU, which currently buys about 45% of British exports. The EU is an even bigger market for British services, such as banking and insurance.

On the other side, "Brexiteers" say the government could negotiate a new free trade agreement. But no country outside the EU has been able to secure that kind of privileged access to European markets without agreeing to pay into the EU budget or to accept free movement of citizens -- principles rejected by the Brexit campaign.

Investment and employment may also suffer. Many U.S. companies are heavily invested in Britain and use it as a gateway to the rest of Europe. So they may scale back in the U.K.

Other EU countries poured £496 billion ($708 billion) into Britain in 2014 -- almost half of all foreign investment. Those campaigning to remain in the EU say the flow of money could fall if the U.K. severs its links with the bloc. Many companies sell goods from their U.K. factories to other EU countries, and Brexit would make that harder.

A recent survey by professional services firm EY found that 72% of global companies see access to Europe as a key factor in deciding where to put their money. Nearly a third intended to either freeze or reduce their investment in the U.K. until the result of the referendum is known. Real estate investment has already been hit hard.

World leaders: Brexit is a 'serious risk to growth'

U.K. officials have said that up to 820,000 jobs could be lost if Britain leaves the EU. Several global companies have hinted they might shift jobs out of the U.K. The latest warning came from JPMorgan (JPM) last week.

Some Brexit campaigners have acknowledged that a vote to quit the EU could initially cost Britain jobs.

Migration is another hot topic. One of the core principles of the EU is the free movement of people, which gives citizens of any member state the right to live and work in any of the 28 countries in the union.

Those in favor of Brexit say leaving the bloc would allow the U.K. to decide which migrants to let in.

But an exit from the EU would raise questions about the status of roughly 3 million people from other EU states who currently live in the U.K.. Campaigners say they would be allowed to stay, but future EU migrants would likely need a visa.

Brexit would also impact the roughly 1.2 million Brits living in other EU countries, as they could lose their right to travel around freely and access benefits such as healthcare.

Brexit: The big numbers you need to know

A British vote to leave the EU could be the start of turbulent times for Europe. The EU is grappling with the world's worst refugee crisis in 70 years, and populist parties are gaining strength. The economy remains weak and unemployment high.

Support for the EU is falling sharply. A Pew Research Center study this week found that 47% of people in 10 member countries have an unfavorable opinion of the EU.

EU leaders are worried that if Britain decides to leave, other countries could follow. That could lead to a gradual unraveling of the EU, with huge consequences for the global economy, security and stability.

A more immediate threat is the risk that the United Kingdom could break apart. Leaders of the Scottish National Party have said they would seek a new referendum on Scotland's independence if Britain votes to leave the EU.

Scots are expected to vote in favor of keeping the U.K. in the EU.

Britain could become the first country to quit the European Union. A landmark vote on Brexit is just days away, and the result will have enormous consequences.

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The US dropped 67 nuclear bombs on this tiny island nation — and now it’s far more radioactive than we thought

The Marshall Islands served as a test theater for American nuclear weapons from 1946 to 1958. Wikimedia Commons

More than 60 years after the US dropped dozens of nuclear bombs on the Marshall Islands, residents of the tiny nation still may not be able to return.

Radiation levels in some areas of the country are almost double what is deemed safe for human habitation, according to a new Columbia University study in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Between 1946 and 1958, the United States tested 67 nuclear weapons on the Marshall Islands, a chain of atolls in the Pacific Ocean with a population of just 52,000.

The most famous test, the "Bravo shot," was dropped on Bikini Atoll in 1954 and was 1,000 times more powerful than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

Residents of the atoll were displaced, and today it remains uninhabited.

The researchers discovered that radioactive materials on Bikini Atoll are producing 184 millirems of radiation a year - almost double the safety standard of 100 set by the US and the Marshall Islands. Some parts of the region hit a whopping 639 millirems per year.

Scientists had once predicted Bikini Atoll's radiation levels to be as low as 16 millirems a year, suggesting that the radiation has persisted far longer than previously imagined, according to Science News

There is a silver lining for the Marshallese: The other five islands analyzed in the study fell safely below the 100-millirems-per-year threshold.

The research could help clear the way for many displaced Marshallese to return home. Currently, almost half of the population lives in the main urban area of Majuro, and as rising shorelines threaten to submerge entire islands , the country is becoming increasingly overcrowded.

American nuclear testing remains an unmistakable piece of the national psyche, and officials continue to fight for global nuclear disarmament. In March, the nation sued the UK, India and Pakistan in a largely symbolic attempt to pressure them to dismantle their nuclear arsenals.

Meanwhile, refugees and their descendants are finding homes in the United States, particularly in the thriving Marshallese communities in Honolulu and Springdale, Arkansas

More testing needs to be done on the islands' food and water sources to determine whether they are safe for habitation, the scientists wrote.

The US dropped 67 nuclear bombs on this tiny island nation — and now it's far more radioactive than we thought

American nuclear testing remains an unmistakable piece of the national psyche.


So THAT's What That Weird, White String Is Inside A Raw Egg

The egg: One of the most basic staples in the American diet.

You've probably cracked one open over a frying pan for breakfast, whisked a few into flour to make a birthday cake, or maybe you've gone full-on Rocky and chugged those babies raw.

But no matter how many times you've handled a raw egg, one thing has left you, at the very least, mildly perplexed: What the heck is that white, gooey, ropey thing that's hanging onto the yolk?

It's time you met the chalaza. (Pronounced: cuh-lay-zuh.)

Relax. Despite its weird ropey appearance, it is not an umbilical cord.

The chalazae (plural) can be found on two sides of the yolk and their main purpose is to hold the yolk at the center of the egg -- like little anchors.

Because the cords, which are a special form of protein, are connected to both the lining of the eggshell and the yolk, they are usually most noticeable when separating egg whites -- and they can sometimes make the task a bit challenging.

The chalazae are also completely edible, so removing them is unnecessary. In fact, seeing those stringy cords clearly is a sign that you're looking at a fresh egg.

An egg's chalazae disappear as the egg ages, so if you can't find at least one after cracking an egg open, chances are the egg has been sitting at the store (or in your refrigerator) for a while.

So now that you know what to look for in terms of freshness, you might want to whip up one of the 38 delicious egg recipes below -- before those ever-important chalazae disappear.

What's That Weird, White String Inside A Raw Egg? Behold, The Chalaza

It might look gross, but that twisted cord is actually a good sign.  🐣

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The one thing you can do to help you make better more rational decisions

Cutting your losses is hard. When you've already invested so much time and energy into something, it's not easy to make the decision to call it quits (you can thank stubbornness, and a sense of not wanting to be wasteful, for that) -- something called "sunk-cost bias." It's the reason why you will continue to stand in line for that exhibit for another two hours even though you've already been waiting for three ("Well, I've been here this long...")..

Sometimes sticking around and refusing to admit you were wrong can lead to even more bad outcomes. However, researchers from INSEAD and The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania have found that mindfulness meditation -- which is awareness of the present moment -- can help you to make a rational decision in the face of this sunk-cost bias.

Mindfulness meditation helps to combat the bias in two ways: "First, meditation reduced how much people focused on the past and future, and this psychological shift led to less negative emotion," study researcher Zoe Kinias, assistant professor of organizational behavior at INSEAD, explained in a statement. "The reduced negative emotion then facilitated their ability to let go of sunk costs."

The findings, published in the journal Psychological Science, are based on several experiments. In one of them, study participants answered questions online about how often they focused on the present moment. They also read a number of scenarios with sunk-cost situations (like whether they would go to a music festival that they'd already paid for if they were sick or the weather was bad), and said what decision they would make in each of the scenarios.

Researchers found an association between increased focus on the present moment, and an increased willingness to ignore the sunk costs and make the rational decision to cut the losses.

In other experiments, study participants actually went through brief mindfulness meditation training before making hypothetical decisions on sunk-cost scenarios. Like the first experiment, researchers found an association between mindfulness and making rational decisions in the face of sunk-cost bias.

The One Thing You Can Do To Help You Make Better, More Rational Decisions

Cutting your losses is hard . When you've already invested so much time and energy into something, it's not easy to make the decision to call it ...

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Pokemon Go Trick: How to find rare Pokemon using incense

Pokémon GO’s had its fair share of hoaxes and miscommunication over the past month or so, and by now we’ve grown used to taking everything we hear with a grain of salt. This is no exception to that rule, but if you’re interested in learning how you can potentially have a much easier time finding rare Pokémon, then keep reading.

Whilst the following is merely a well thought out theory, it’s apparently been holding up and doing the job. There’s plenty of evidence to suggest it’s completely legit, but you’ll be wanting to try it yourself to be sure.

Quite simply, make sure you’re in an area where all of the following criteria are met: no streets, gyms, or Pokéstops are nearby, and where no "wild Pokémon spawn." Once you’ve done that, you should start seeing more and more rare Pokémon turn up, ready to be caught.

This information comes from the video down below, and honestly, the ‘evidence’ is pretty conclusive. I suppose the only problem is there’s no way to confirm whether it’s legit or not – but I’d assume it is.

If you're interested in learning how you can potentially have a much easier time finding rare Pokémon in Pokémon GO, this is the guide for you.


Here's the year when millennials will take control of Congress

When the millennial generation assumes power in American politics, they will bring with them a very different set of priorities than the current status quo.

Millennials accept that Global Warming is real, broadly support equality for the LGBT community, have no qualms about interracial marriage and are much more diverse, more civic-minded generation.

With Congress so dysfunctional, we could hope a lot of things will improve once Generation Y takes over. But don't expect them that to happen any time soon.

Millennials will make up the majority of members of the House of Representatives around 2035, "give or take a couple of years," according to research from First Person Politics. Millennials will take over the Senate sometime between 2036 and 2044.

First Person Politics came to this conclusion based on a 30-44-53 rule.

A person is not elected to Congress until the eldest of their age bracket turns 30. Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-Fla.) is the first millennial who was elected to the House. He's in his first term and currently the youngest member of Congress. Currently no millennial serves in the Senate, and the earliest one could be elected is in 2016.

"When the oldest members of a rising generation reach age 44, that’s the year they typically become the second largest generation in the House, or what we call 'the largest minority,'" the group writes on its blog. A generation gets its first majority in the House around the time the eldest turns 53.

To back up their research, they show that the Boomer generation became the "largest minority" in 1987, "exactly as predicted," and reached their "first majority in the House in 1995, the year the oldest Boomers were turning 52 (one year earlier than the expected 53)."

Generation X hasn't even had their first majority in the House yet, but if these projections arrive on time they'll get control in 2014.

So while millennials will become more influential as voters, it'll be a while before they are the ones Americans are casting a ballot for.

Millennials Won't Be In Charge Of Congress Until At Least 2035

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The most heartwarming song to make the iTunes top 10

Last week, Fred Stobaugh melted hearts across the world when a song he wrote for his late wife went viral.

His lyrics to 'Oh Sweet Lorraine,' were originally entered into a singer-songwriter contest at Green Shoes Studios in Illinois. An employee, Jacob Colgan, surprised Stobaugh by putting the words to music. And now, the song is topping the charts.

By Friday, 'Oh Sweet Lorraine' was number seven on U.S. iTunes, alongside names like Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, and Miley Cyrus, BBC News reported.

The song also entered Billboard's Rock Digital Songs sales chart at No. 49 with 6,000 downloads, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Today, 'Oh Sweet Lorraine' is holding steady at number 31 on iTunes. The original YouTube clip, however, that introduced Stobaugh to the world, has jumped to nearly 3 million views.

In case you missed it, here's Stobaugh listening to his song for the first time:

Fred Stobaugh's 'Oh Sweet Lorraine' Makes iTunes Top 10!

Move over, Lady Gaga. Our favorite 96-year-old is looking to dominate the music charts.

Last week, Fred Stobaugh melted hearts across the world when ...

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He Looks Into A Sad Shelter Dog’s Eyes, Then He Notices THIS About The Floor...

Take a walk through your local shelter, and you’ll see sad eyes looking back up at you, each one desperately hoping to find their forever home. That’s exactly what blogger Stuart Edge discovered when he arrived at the Janice R. Johnson Center for Animals in Deseret, UT.

He simply wanted to volunteer his time to the facility and give some of the pups a nice long walk and some playtime. However, as soon as Edge stepped in, their precious faces inspired him to go one step further.

Before leaving that day, he asked the shelter employees if there was anything more he could do to help make life a little better for the four-legged cuties while they wait on a loving family.

They explained how much a few beds would mean to their pooches who, at the time, were forced to try find comfort on the hard concrete floors of their pens.

So, Edge gathered up a few of his friends and made their way to the pet store. With his car now filled to the brim with fluffy cushions, he made his way right back to the shelter.

First, though, the group of buddies brought a few of the pups outside for some fun in the sun! You can see a big difference in their demeanor as soon as they feel the sun on their fur.

Then, it was time to finally enjoy their cozy new digs.

And be sure to SHARE the inspiring video with your friends!

Kind Blogger Donates Tons Of Dog Beds To His Local Animal Shelter

There’s few things in this world more heartbreaking than seeing a sweet animal in need. Take a walk through your local shelter, and you’ll see sad eyes looking back up at you, each one desperately hoping to find their forever home. That’s exactly what blogger Stuart Edge discovered when he arrived at the Janice R....