Bitcoin prices recovered above $9,000 after regulators had "productive" discussions on cryptocurrency at a G-20 meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on Tuesday.

 "The spirit of the discussion was very productive, and I agree that everybody left very pleased," governor of the Central Bank of Argentina, Federico Sturzenegger, said Tuesday during a press conference. "It was a very good meeting."

 Cryptocurrency discussions happened during a closed-door session earlier Tuesday, a spokesperson from the G-20 told CNBC.

 Bitcoin rose more than 4.5 percent above $9,000 for the first time in a week, according to CoinDesk's bitcoin price index. The cryptocurrency was trading about 4.8 percent higher near $9,008 as of 4:13 p.m. ET, up 22.8 percent from a low of $7,335.57 hit over the weekend.

 Bitcoin performance over the last week ||||| Researchers discover illegal content within the distributed ledger, making possession of it potentially unlawful in many countries

 German researchers have discovered unknown persons are using bitcoin’s blockchain to store and link to child abuse imagery, potentially putting the cryptocurrency in jeopardy.

 The blockchain is the open-source, distributed ledger that records every bitcoin transaction, but can also store small bits of non-financial data. This data is typically notes about the trade of bitcoin, recording what it was for or other metadata. But it can also be used to store links and files.

 Researchers from the RWTH Aachen University, Germany found that around 1,600 files were currently stored in bitcoin’s blockchain. Of the files least eight were of sexual content, including one thought to be an image of child abuse and two that contain 274 links to child abuse content, 142 of which link to dark web services.

 “Our analysis shows that certain content, eg, illegal pornography, can render the mere possession of a blockchain illegal,” the researchers wrote. “Although court rulings do not yet exist, legislative texts from countries such as Germany, the UK, or the USA suggest that illegal content such as [child abuse imagery] can make the blockchain illegal to possess for all users.”

 “This especially endangers the multi-billion dollar markets powering cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin.”

 While the spending of bitcoin does not necessarily require a copy of the blockchain to facilitate, some processes, such as some mining techniques, require the downloading of the full blockchain or chunks of it.

 “Since all blockchain data is downloaded and persistently stored by users, they are liable for any objectionable content added to the blockchain by others. Consequently, it would be illegal to participate in a blockchain-based systems as soon as it contains illegal content,” the researchers wrote.

 Since mining is essential for the function of bitcoin, as the process records the transactions into the blockchain to verify trades and generates new bitcoin in the process, having illegal content such as child abuse imagery within the blockchain could cause significant issues for the currency.

 “We anticipate a high potential for illegal blockchain content to jeopardise blockchain-based systems such as bitcoin in the future,” the researchers wrote.

 This is not the first time warnings over the ability to store non-financial data within the blockchain have been issued. Interpol sent out an alert in 2015 saying that “the design of the blockchain means there is the possibility of malware being injected and permanently hosted with no methods currently available to wipe this data”.

 The agency warned that the technology could be used in the “sharing of child sexual abuse images where the blockchain could become a safe haven for hosting such data”.

 But this is the first time such content has been shown to actually exist, creating a moral and legal quandary around possession and the blockchain. ||||| Bitcoin’s price rose above $9,000 for the first time in a week on Tuesday evening, despite reports that its underlying blockchain contains hundreds of links to child pornography.

 The reports, based on a paper published by German researchers, points to a potentially serious legal flaw with the blockchain concept.

 Blockchains, which are transaction ledgers that are stored on many computers, are supposed to be immutable, in order to guarantee the integrity of the information they hold. They can theoretically be altered, but only if most of the network’s participants agree to use a new version or “fork” of the blockchain, rather than the original. This has never happened with Bitcoin.

 However, some blockchains, such as that underpinning the Bitcoin ecosystem, can contain all sorts of fragments of information, some of which may be illegal in certain jurisdictions—and if you can’t delete that information, everyone with a copy of the ledger could end up in trouble with the law.

 It was already known that blockchains could seriously clash with European data protection laws, which say people must be able to have their personal data deleted or amended, wherever it is stored—transactions and public cryptographic keys, which are regularly stored on blockchains, usually qualify as personal data.

 The issue of child sexual abuse material is even more politically and legally sensitive. Nonetheless, the Bitcoin community doesn’t seem to be concerned about the potential impact of the latest news on the cryptocurrency’s ecosystem.

 Bitcoin price has instead been rising on news that G20 finance ministers aren’t cracking down on cryptocurrencies just yet. The leaders said on Tuesday that they will only propose harmonized global regulations in July, after collecting more information.

 At the time of writing at 6 a.m. Eastern Time on Wednesday morning, Bitcoin’s price stood at $9,097. It fell below the $9,000 mark a week ago, after Google followed Facebook in banning cryptocurrency-related ads from its platform. Twitter is reportedly planning to do the same, amid concerns that people are being enticed by scammers offering “initial coin offerings” (ICOs) that have no real business behind them. ||||| In recent months, Bitcoin’s supporters have pointed to its falling use in illegal transactions as a sign of the cryptocurrency’s growth toward mainstream acceptance. But German researchers say that links to child pornography within technology underlying Bitcoin could stifle its development.

 While the blockchain is largely known to be an immutable ledger of Bitcoin transactions corroborated by copies held by participating computers, it also allows its users to leave coded messages. Bitcoin’s creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, famously left a cryptic message on the blockchain’s original block: “The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks.”

 Like that very first message, most of the content left on the blockchain has been relatively benign—tributes to the late Nelson Mandela, or messages to loved ones on Valentine’s Day. But the ones that could be illegal, containing links to child porn, for example, could be an outsized problem for the Bitcoin community.

 “While most of this content is harmless, there is also content to be considered objectionable in many jurisdictions, e.g., the depiction of nudity of a young woman or hundreds of links to child pornography,” the paper authored by members of RWTH Aachen University and Goethe University read. “As a result, it could become illegal (or even already is today) to possess the blockchain, which is required to participate in Bitcoin.”

 The researchers said they found 1,600 instances in which transactions on the blockchain included non-financial information, representing about 1.4% of transactions. Since the Bitcoin blockchain is immutable, those who download it are also unwittingly downloading links to child porn.

 The Department of Justice did not respond to requests for comment from Fortune.

 It’s not the first time curious onlookers have found links to child pornography in Bitcoin’s blockchain. Users first pointed out the links in 2013. Though this is perhaps the first time researchers have been able to quantify the volume of potentially illicit material hidden in the blockchain.

 Additionally, since Bitcoin has buyers and traders all over the world, items in the blockchain also raise questions about legality in other nations. As the blockchain researchers note: “In China, the mere possession of state secrets can result in longtime prison sentences. Furthermore, China’s definition of state secrets is vague and covers, e.g., activities for safeguarding state security. Such vague allegations with reference to state secrets have been applied to critical news in the past.”

 The researchers pointed out that the blockchain includes online news articles concerning pro-democracy demonstrations in Hong Kong in 2014, demonstrations that were a point of irritation for Beijing. |||||

Write a summary.

– For anyone who carefully tracks bitcoin, Tuesday brought the good with the bad. On a positive note, the cryptocurrency's value topped $9,000, up from a weekend low of $7,335, reports CNBC. On a more dour note comes the news that child abuse photos are lurking within its blockchain. The Guardian offers a primer on the technology: The blockchain is the open-source ledger that keeps track of every bitcoin trade; it has the ability to store additional data, say, a note or file on what the transaction was for. Fortune says "benign" messages are also present, and it gives the example of a Nelson Mandela tribute (indeed, the study found six wedding-related images). But German researchers discovered there are more than financial notes and sweet memories being parked within the blockchain. They looked at the 1,600 files that have been uploaded to it and found eight were sexual in nature. One they suspect may depict child abuse; two compiled 247 links to child abuse content (Fortune reports such links were identified as far back as 2013, but this is "perhaps the first time" such content has been quantified). And that "endangers the multi-billion dollar markets powering cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin," say the researchers. Their reasoning is simple: If bitcoin contains content that is illegal to possess, then it's possible that downloading and storing the bitcoin's blockchain is "illegal to possess for all users." But Fortune reports people don't seem spooked: It notes bitcoin hit $9,000 as the reports on the study were coming out. (Read about an "intensifying guerilla warfare" over bitcoin.)


WASHINGTON — In July 2014, after Jonathan J. Pollard had served 29 years of a life sentence for spying on behalf of Israel, his hopes for freedom were thwarted when a federal panel denied his request for parole.

 But that hearing set in motion an intense scramble by lawyers for Mr. Pollard to ensure a different result a year later, when he would be eligible for parole after serving 30 years. They wrote letters, cited statistics and introduced evidence that their client met two legal standards for parole: that he had behaved well in prison, and that he posed no threat of returning to a life of espionage.

 On Tuesday, the effort finally succeeded, as the United States Parole Commission announced that Mr. Pollard, 60, met the legal standards and would be released just before Thanksgiving.

 Mr. Pollard, one of the country’s most notorious spies, will walk out of federal prison in Butner, N.C., on Nov. 20. Eliot Lauer, one of the two lawyers who have been working pro bono for the past 15 years to free Mr. Pollard, called his client on Tuesday with the news. ||||| (CNN) Convicted spy for Israel Jonathan Pollard has been granted parole and will be released from an American jail on Nov. 21, his lawyer announced Tuesday.

 Pollard's release -- exactly 30 years after his arrest -- could help ease the tensions between the United States and Israel that have grown over the Iran nuclear deal, which President Barack Obama supports and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vehemently opposes. Netanyahu has long sought Pollard's release, and the prospect has surfaced many times in discussions between the U.S. and Israel.

 The White House has said it won't challenge the granting of parole for Pollard but denied his release was in any way connected to the Iran deal.

 JUST WATCHED Jonathan Pollard granted parole Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Jonathan Pollard granted parole 02:02

 "Mr. Pollard's status was determined by the United States Parole Commission according to standard procedures, and the Parole Commission's decision was in no way linked to foreign policy considerations," said National Security spokesman Alistair Baskey. "Mr. Pollard will serve his sentence as mandated by statute for the very serious crimes he committed The President has no intention of altering the terms of Mr. Pollard's parole."

 Both the Justice Department and Pollard's pro bono attorneys, Eliot Lauer and Jacques Semmelman, confirmed his release date Tuesday.

 Read More |||||
What is a one-paragraph summary of the above article?

– After 30 years in prison, convicted spy Jonathan Pollard will indeed go free this year. His lawyers and officials with the Justice Department have confirmed the news, which surfaced last week, reports CNN. Pollard, a former Navy intelligence analyst who got caught passing classified information to Israeli operatives, will go free when he becomes eligible for mandatory parole on Nov. 21. US officials could have objected to the parole and kept the 60-year-old in prison on national security grounds, explains the New York Times. "Mr. Pollard is looking forward to being reunited with his beloved wife Esther," says a statement issued by his lawyers. He "would like to thank the many thousands of well-wishers in the United States, in Israel, and throughout the world, who provided grass roots support by attending rallies, sending letters, making phone calls to elected officials, and saying prayers for his welfare." US officials have denied that his release is any way linked to soothing Israel's anger over the Iran nuclear deal.


Write an article based on this summary:

– JPMorgan reported a $4.4 billion trading loss this morning, a figure far worse than analysts were expecting, in the wake of the "London Whale" fiasco. That drove the bank's earnings down 8.7%, but still left it with $4.96 billion in profit for the second quarter, down only a bit from its $5.43 billion mark a year ago, the Wall Street Journal reports. "We are not proud of this moment, but we are proud of the company," Jamie Dimon said. "We're not making light of this error, but we do think it's an isolated event." At the same time, however, the bank said it would soon revise its first-quarter results southward, thanks to "recently discovered information that raises questions about the integrity of the trader marks and suggests that certain individuals may have been seeking to avoid showing the full amount of losses." Analysts tell Bloomberg that the larger-than-expected losses will leave the bank struggling to restore investor confidence. "The reputation problem will just get worse," one analyst said.

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 J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. said traders appear to have hidden problems in a portfolio whose losses have ballooned to $5.8 billion, the latest twist in an episode that has tested the reputation of Chief Executive James Dimon as one of Wall Street's soundest risk managers.

 A review of roughly 1 million e-mails and tens of thousands of voice tapes suggests traders within the once-obscure Chief Investment Office "may have been seeking to avoid showing the full amount of losses" during the first quarter by placing inaccurate prices on their positions, the bank said Friday. One trader, nicknamed the "London ... ||||| JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), the largest U.S. bank, reported a $4.4 billion trading loss in its chief investment office, bigger than analysts estimated, that helped drive second-quarter profit down 9 percent.

 Net income fell to $4.96 billion, or $1.21 a share, from $5.43 billion, or $1.27, in the same period a year earlier, the New York-based company said today in a statement. Six analysts surveyed by Bloomberg estimated the CIO trading loss at $4 billion. The company also restated first-quarter earnings, reducing net income by $459 million, and used securities gains and an $800 million accounting benefit to help boost profit.

 The trading loss may complicate efforts by Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon, 56, to restore investor confidence after losing $39.7 billion in market value since April 5, when Bloomberg News first reported that the company had amassed an illiquid book of credit derivatives at the London unit. The firm also is being probed over the possible gaming of U.S. energy markets and was subpoenaed in global investigations of interest- rate fixing in London.

 “The restatement is not good, and at first glance, the numbers are so-so,” said Paul Miller, a former examiner for the Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank and analyst at FBR Capital Markets Corp. in Arlington, Virginia.

 JPMorgan rose to $34.79 in New York trading at 7:36 a.m. from $34.04 yesterday. The shares were down 2.4 percent this year through yesterday.

 Analysts’ Estimates

 Second-quarter net income excluding the effect of accounting adjustments known as DVA was $1.09 a share. Excluding DVA, loan-loss reserve reductions and a Bear Stearns-related recovery, profit was 67 cents. Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg had estimated adjusted earnings per share of 76 cents.

 In a departure from his customary earnings-day conference call, Dimon is meeting analysts in person for two hours starting at 7:30 a.m. today at the bank’s New York headquarters to field questions about the loss and what he’s doing to contain the damage.

 Dimon dismissed reports about the London operation as a “tempest in a teapot” when the bank reported first-quarter earnings on April 13. He reversed course less than four weeks later, disclosing a $2 billion loss that he said could grow to $3 billion or more during the quarter.

 Securities Sales

 JPMorgan said May 10 that it had taken $1 billion in profits from securities sales in the CIO to mitigate the trading loss and planned more asset sales if needed to offset the damages, which was caused by a wrong-way bet on credit derivatives by London trader Bruno Iksil. Dimon hired Iksil’s boss, London CIO chief Achilles Macris, in 2006 with a mandate to generate profits. Macris and Iksil eventually built up a position in credit derivatives that was so large it couldn’t be unwound without roiling markets.

 JPMorgan said today that it recently discovered information that suggests some individuals at the company may have been trying to avoid showing the full amount of the losses. All employees working on synthetic credit derivatives in the CIO have left the bank, the company said today.

 “We have already completely overhauled CIO management and enhanced the governance standards within CIO,” Dimon said in the statement. “We believe these events to be isolated to CIO, but have taken the opportunity to apply lessons learned across the firm.”

 The company said the CIO loss may increase by $800 million to as much as $1.6 billion in an extreme scenario.

 Ina Drew

 Chief Investment Officer Ina Drew, 55, retired four days after the loss was disclosed with about $57.5 million in stock, pension and other pay, according to regulatory filings and estimates from consulting firm Meridian Compensation Partners LLC. About $21.5 million of that money, based on the May 14 closing price, would have been automatically forfeited if she had been fired for cause.

 JPMorgan said today it will claw back compensation from individuals responsible for the losses on a case-by-case basis.

 Dimon is also grappling with historically low interest rates that have compressed profit margins on lending as well as yields on investments. Moshe Orenbuch, of Credit Suisse Group AG, was among analysts who lowered earnings projections for banks amid weak trading revenue and market turmoil caused by Europe’s sovereign debt crisis.

 Corporate bond issuance dropped almost 19 percent in the second quarter from $927 billion a year earlier as companies backed away from plans to raise capital.

 Europe Damper

 “Europe continues to put a damper on just about everything,” said Nancy Bush, an analyst and contributing editor at SNL Financial LC, a research firm based in Charlottesville, Virginia.

 Consumer credit is one bright spot for the industry as delinquency rates decline. Fewer borrowers fell behind on their credit-card payments in May, 2.35 percent, from 3.09 percent a year earlier, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Government programs and mortgage rates near record lows have also helped fuel higher volume and bigger profits on home loans.

 JPMorgan set aside $335 million more toward its litigation costs during the second quarter. Dimon previously told shareholders that the company would be making as much as $24 billion in annual profit if it weren’t for all of its mortgage losses.

 Revenue fell 16 percent to $22.9 billion from $27.4 billion during the second quarter of last year. Revenue at the investment-banking unit fell 7 percent to $6.77 billion from $7.31 billion last year.

 Fixed Income

 Fixed-income and equity-markets revenue excluding accounting adjustments dropped to $4.54 billion from $5.36 billion a year earlier, the company said.

 U.S. banks are in the middle of the industry’s worst two years of revenue growth since the Great Depression, according to Mike Mayo, an analyst with independent research firm CLSA Ltd. in New York.

 Retail banking, which includes home loans and checking accounts, earned $2.27 billion, up from $383 million a year earlier. The bank’s net interest margin, a measure of lending profitability, declined to 2.47 percent from 2.72 percent a year earlier.

 JPMorgan benefited from gains in mortgage lending as low interest rates and federal incentive programs encouraged homeowners to refinance. Mortgage fees and related revenue totaled $2.27 billion, up from $1.1 billion a year earlier.

 Unemployment Rate

 Demand for loans rose as the unemployment rate fell to 8.2 percent from 9.1 percent in the same period of 2011. Mortgage originations industrywide probably climbed 28 percent to $372 billion in the second quarter from the same period last year, driven by refinancings spurred by federal programs, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

 Fewer consumers fell behind on their credit-card payments in the second quarter compared with the same period in 2011. Loans at least 30 days overdue, a signal of future write-offs, fell to 2.14 percent from 2.98 percent in 2011. Write-offs dropped to 4.35 percent from 5.82 percent the prior year.

 To contact the reporter on this story: Dawn Kopecki in New York at dkopecki@bloomberg.com.

 To contact the editor responsible for this story: David Scheer at dscheer@bloomberg.net |||||


Published on Mar 5, 2018

 Passengers on board a United flight had to step in and restrain a woman who tried to open the plane door and was ranting about God. CBS News transportation correspondent Kris Van Cleave has the latest.

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 The "CBS Evening News" premiered as a half-hour broadcast on Sept. 2, 1963. Check local listings for CBS Evening News broadcast times. ||||| WASHINGTON -- Passengers onboard United Express Flight 5449 restrained a Boise, Idaho, woman who was ranting about being God. Video posted online purportedly shows a passenger working to tie up the woman's feet as another man holds her down in the aisle.

 "I am God, I am God, I am God," she was heard screaming in the video.

 Moments earlier she'd tried to open the aircraft cabin door while the plane was in flight which was traveling from San Francisco to Boise earlier Monday.

 The plane landed safely and Boise police were waiting at the gate. The woman was taken for medical evaluation.

 CBS News

 The United Express Embraer 175 was operated by SkyWest Airlines and had 73 passengers on board.

 Experts say it would be impossible to open a door in the pressurized cabin of a plane in the air, but that wouldn't make it less terrifying for the people on board.

 A spokesperson for the Boise police says officers will forward the police report to the local prosecutor to decide if charges should be filed. The FBI may also review the case. |||||
What is a one-paragraph summary of the above article?

– A passenger who apparently believed she was some kind of deity was restrained by fellow fliers after trying to open an airplane cabin door during a flight from San Francisco to Boise, Idaho, on Monday. In video of the incident on United Express Flight 5449, the woman can be heard screaming "I am God" repeatedly as other passengers tie up her feet, reports CBS News, which notes that it would have been impossible for her to open the door in the pressurized cabin. The flight landed safely in Boise, where the woman was taken into custody. Police say the woman is being medically evaluated and the prosecutor's office is reviewing possible charges, KTVB reports. The FBI is also investigating. (This Alaska Airlines flight had to return to Anchorage on account of nudity.)


News article:

The average American woman weighs 166.2 pounds, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. As reddit recently pointed out, that's almost exactly as much as the average American man weighed in the early 1960s.

 Men, you're not looking too hot in this scenario either. Over the same time period you gained nearly 30 pounds, from 166.3 in the 60s to 195.5 today. Doing the same comparison as above, today's American man weighs almost as much as 1.5 American women from the 1960s. At 195.5 pounds, put five American guys in a room and you've gathered roughly half a ton of manhood.

 Overall weight gain since 1960 is slightly greater for women (18.5 percent) than for men (17.6 percent). And both sexes have gained roughly an inch in height over the same period, which accounts for some of that weight gain.

 But story is mostly one of growing girth, and it basically boils down to three factors: we're eating less healthy food, we're eating more of it, and we're not moving around as much. According to a study published in 2012 in the journal BMC Public Health, Americans are now the world's third-heaviest people, behind only the Pacific island nations of Tonga and Micronesia.

 The average American is 33 pounds heavier than the average Frenchman, 40 pounds heavier than the average Japanese citizen, and a whopping 70 pounds heavier than the average citizen of Bangladesh. To add up to one ton of total mass, it takes 20 Bangladeshis but only 12.2 Americans.

 Together, the world's adult human beings added up to 287 million tons of biomass in 2005, according to the BMC Public Health study. But if every country had the same weight distribution as the U.S., the world would be 58 million tons fatter, an increase of 20 percent.

 The study concludes that "tackling population fatness may be critical to world food security and ecological sustainability." And as with so many of the world's problems, the solutions start at home -- on the bathroom scale in this case. But boy, those donuts sure do look delicious. ||||| Atlanta, Ga. (CBS ATLANTA) — The average American woman now weighs as much as the average American man weighed in 1960.

 Both U.S. men and women have been packing on the pounds since 1960, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showing that the average American woman now weighs 166.2 pounds – nearly identical to what American men weighed in the 1960s. And U.S. men have expanded greatly in the same time period, having gained nearly 30 pounds from the 1960s to 2010 – 166.3 pounds to 195.5 pounds today.

 The CDC data shows that both sexes have gained almost an inch in height from the 1960s, which factors into some of the overall weight gain. But women have seen an 18.5 percent increase in weight gain from 1960 and men have shown a 17.6 percent increase in overall weight gain.

 Today’s American male weighs nearly as much as 1.5 American females from the 1960s, with today’s U.S. male weighing an average 195.5 pounds and having a nearly 40-inch waist circumference (39.7 inches).

 American women today have an average waist circumference of 37.5 inches and weigh in at 166.2 pounds, up from about 140 pounds in 1960.

 The CDC data shows that more than one-third (35.1 percent) of U.S. adults over the age of 20 are considered obese. And 69 percent of American adults over the age of 20 are either overweight or obese.

 More than 1-in-5 U.S. children between the ages of 12-19 are considered obese, with 17.7 percent of kids ages 6-11 also weighing in at obesity levels.

 A 2012 study published in the journal MBC Public Health finds that Americans are now the world’s third-heaviest people, trailing only the Pacific Island countries of Tonga and Micronesia. The average U.S. adult is 33 pounds heavier than the average Frenchman and 70 pounds heavier than the average Bangladeshi citizen. To compile a ton of total mass, it would require only 12.2 Americans in a room versus 20 average citizens of Bangladesh.

 A 2005 BMC Public Health study revealed that the world’s adult human beings make up 287 million tons of biomass, but if every country was as large as the U.S., Earth would be 58 million tons fatter.

 — Benjamin Fearnow |||||
What is a shorter version of the above article?

– Picture the average American couple in the 1960s. Now picture the average American couple today. Something more than questionable fashion should stand out, according to new data from the CDC, which finds the average weight of a US woman is now 166.2 pounds—about the same weight as the average man in the 1960s—up from about 140 pounds during that time, reports the Washington Post. That's an increase of 18.5%. Men, who weighed 166.3 pounds in the 1960s, now tip the scales at an average of 195.5 pounds, for a 17.6% gain. Is it as bad as it seems? Essentially, yes, though the typical height of men and women has grown by an inch, which at least accounts for something. But the main reasons for our growing bellies are no surprise: Americans are eating more food, but less health food, and are exercising less. The data shows 35% of Americans over 20 are considered obese, while 69% of adults are either overweight or obese, reports CBS Atlanta. As for children, one in five between 12 and 19 and 18% between 6 and 11 are obese. A 2012 study found Americans were the third-heaviest people on the planet behind residents of Tonga and Micronesia. The average American was 33 pounds heavier than a Frenchman, 40 pounds heavier than a citizen of Japan, and 70 pounds heavier than a person in Bangladesh, adds the Post. Dying to get back to that 1960s frame? It's actually more important to watch what you eat rather than exercise constantly, though exercising and eating healthy together is obviously beneficial. The New York Times notes that 30 minutes of jogging achieves the same calorie reduction as cutting back on two 16-ounce sodas. (Click to read why we weigh less on Fridays.)


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 A bullfighter and a man participating in a village bull-run were killed in Spain on Saturday, while another two men were gored by the animals at the world-famous festival in the town of Pamplona.

 Spanish bullfighter Victor Barrio, 29, is carried out from the bullring. ANTONIO GARCIA / EPA

 Victor Barrio, a 29-year-old professional bullfighter, was killed when a bull's horn pierced his chest in front of spectators as he competed in a fight in the town of Teruel in the eastern region of Aragon.

 His death, shown live on television, was confirmed on the website of Madrid's Las Ventas bullring, where Barrio began as an apprentice bullfighter in 2010. He is the first Spanish bullfighter to die in a ring since the turn of the century.

 Related: Bullfighter Dives Over Charging Bull in Spain

 In the southeastern village of Pedreguer near Valencia, a 28-year-old Spaniard was killed during a bull-run, in which people risk life and limb by racing alongside specially-bred fighting bulls through narrow streets.

 A bull's horn pierced his lung and heart as he was trying to help another runner during the event, a spokesman for the regional government said.

 Buen tentadero en la plaza toros de #Peralta con vacas de Jose Antonio Baigorri #SeguimosAvanzando #MañanaMasYMejor pic.twitter.com/ltKPBkGJj0 — Víctor Barrio (@BarrioVictor) December 26, 2015

 Many of Spain's towns hold summer festivals involving bulls, and several people die each year.

 The San Fermin festival, in which bulls chase red-scarved runners through Pamplona's cobbled streets during nine days of events, attracts thousands of revellers from Spain and overseas.

 In Saturday's run there, a 33-year-old Japanese man was gored in the chest and a 24-year-old Spanish man in the arm, while 12 others suffered minor injuries, the local government said on its website. ||||| FILE - In this May 16, 2011 file photo, Spanish bullfighter Victor Barrio performs during a bullfight of the San Isidro's fair at the Las Ventas Bullring in Madrid. The matador has been fatally gored... (Associated Press)

 MADRID (AP) — A bullfighter was fatally gored in Spain in an eastern town — the first professional matador to be killed in the ring in more than three decades.

 Victor Barrio, 29, was pronounced dead late Saturday by a surgeon at the Teruel bullring. Barrio was first gored in the thigh by the 1,166-pound (530-kilogram) bull's left horn and his body was flipped over.

 He was gored a second time in the chest and the blow penetrated a lung and his aorta as the matador was on the ground.

 Medics were at his side almost immediately, but attempts to save his life were unsuccessful. The goring of Barrio was broadcast live on television and news of his death stirred widespread reaction ranging from the bullfighting community to well-known politicians.

 "My condolences to the family and colleagues of Victor Barrio, the deceased bullfighter this evening in Teruel. Rest in Peace," Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy tweeted.

 Prominent bullfighter Enrique Ponce said he was "deeply saddened by the death of my colleague in the ring. Let God embrace him in all his glory. Great matador."

 Participants at the famed running of the bulls at the San Fermin festivities in Pamplona wore improvised black armbands in honor of the fallen matador while dashing along the streets on the way to the bullring on Sunday morning.

 Festivities in Teruel were immediately suspended following Barrio's death, and Las Ventas, the Madrid bullring were he debuted back in 2010, posted a heartfelt remembrance of the young bullfighter.

 He was the first professional matador to die during a bullfight in Spain since 21-year-old Frenchman Jose Cubero Yiyo was fatally gored in 1985 in Madrid.

 Before Barrio's death, Manolo Montoliu, then 38, and Ramon Soto Vargas, 39, were also fatally gored in 1992 in Seville while serving as "banderilleros," matador's assistants. |||||
What is a one-paragraph summary of the above article?

– A Spanish bullfighter was gored to death Saturday on live television in a horror not seen in the ring in more than three decades, reports the AP. Victor Barrio, 29, was pronounced dead late Saturday by a surgeon at the Teruel bullring. Barrio was first gored in the thigh by the 1,166-pound bull's left horn and his body was flipped over. He was gored a second time in the chest and the blow penetrated a lung and his aorta as the matador was on the ground. Medics were at his side almost immediately, but attempts to save his life were unsuccessful. The goring of Barrio was broadcast live on television and news of his death stirred widespread reaction ranging from the bullfighting community to well-known politicians. "My condolences to the family and colleagues of Victor Barrio, the deceased bullfighter this evening in Teruel. Rest in Peace," Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy tweeted. Prominent bullfighter Enrique Ponce said he was "deeply saddened by the death of my colleague in the ring. Let God embrace him in all his glory. Great matador." Participants at the famed running of the bulls at the San Fermin festivities in Pamplona—which also suffered two non-fatal gorings on Saturday, reports NBC News—wore improvised black armbands in honor of the fallen matador while dashing along the streets on the way to the bullring Sunday morning. Festivities in Teruel were immediately suspended following Barrio's death, and Las Ventas, the Madrid bullring were he debuted in 2010, posted a heartfelt remembrance of the young bullfighter. He was the first professional matador to die during a bullfight in Spain since 21-year-old Frenchman Jose Cubero Yiyo was fatally gored in 1985 in Madrid.


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The restaurant chain Golden Corral was a hot topic on Reddit Monday morning as images surfaced of purported disgusting kitchen conditions and a video by an alleged employee charged that the chain keeps its meat by the dumpster.

 A Reddit user named GCWhistleblower posted four pictures of a kitchen overflowing with garbage near food that is spilling out of boxes. The caption: "Just an average day for a Golden Corral Employee, best working conditions ever!"

 SEE ALSO: Taco Bell Employee Who Licked Taco Shells Is Getting Fired

 That, coupled with the video above, has prompted a subReddit devoted to the chain.

 A rep from the chain offered the following statement:

 A video was recently posted showing an incident of improper food handling at our Port Orange, Fla., location. None of these items were served to a single customer. All were destroyed within the hour at the direction of management. Brandon Huber, the employee who made the video, participated in the disposal of the food.

 The following day, the father of the employee, posted an offer to sell the video for $5,000, which was not accepted.

 The manager involved in the improper storage was terminated for failing to follow approved food handling procedures.

 Huber could not be reached for comment.

 The barrage comes after images of a Taco Bell employee licking some taco shells emerged on Facebook last month. In general, restaurant chains appear uniquely vulnerable to such charges. The first such example of this phenomenon appears to be a Domino's Pizza YouTube scandal in 2009 that showed a couple of rogue employees doing disgusting things to pizzas intended for customers. Such incidences illustrate how images and videos on social media can undo millions of dollars in advertising.

 Image courtesy of Flickr, Rob_rob2001 ||||| Golden Corral cook Brandon Huber actually likes his job at the national buffet chain's Port Orange, Florida, location.

 That's why he tried going directly to Golden Corral management first before reaching out to the media about his restaurant's ironic efforts to avoid receiving poor health inspection marks.

 But after being turned down by a number of news outlets, Huber decided to speak directly to the Internet about his branch's practice of storing both raw and cooked foods near the dumpster ahead of the health inspector's visit.

 "I'm an employee, I've been working here for a long time, and I don't think this is right," Huber informed his viewers in the fast-rising video.

 The young man is being compared to whistleblower Edward Snowden, albeit with tongue planted firmly in cheek, but the blowback Golden Corral is likely to receive from this bad practice is no joke.

 UPDATE: Golden Corral has just responded to Huber's claims in the video's comments section (thanks Lamont!):

 UPDATE 2: Huber filmed a follow-up video briefly discussing why he chose to bring this practice to light.

 In an official statement sent to Gawker, Golden Corral reiterated its claim that the food was destroyed without being served to customers, and that Huber personally participated in the food's disposal.

 They further allege that Huber's dad tried to sell the video to the company for $5,000 — an offer that was rejected.

 As for ramifications, Metro Corral Partners says the manager was terminated "for failing to follow approved food handling procedures." No word yet on Huber's current employment status. |||||

– Food chains around the country must rue the day someone decided to add cameras to phones. Golden Corral is the latest to have its dirty ground beef aired online, as Reddit exploded this morning in reaction to a video from one employee showing all manner of meat camped out near the dumpster in what he alleged was an attempt to hide it from food inspectors, Mashable reports. "I've been working here for a long time, and I don't think this is right," says cook Brandon Huber, who shows his face and identifies himself on camera. Golden Corral later commented on the video, saying that the food was never served to customers, that it was thrown away immediately, and that the manager at the restaurant was terminated, Gawker reports. It also accuses Huber of trying to sell the video, and says he participated in disposing of the food.


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Reynolds American Inc. agreed to acquire Lorillard Inc. in an ambitious and risky $25 billion deal that would reshape the landscape of U.S. tobacco and make Newport menthols an even more formidable rival to Altria Group Inc.'s top-selling Marlboro.

 The transaction would add Lorillard's Newport, the No. 2 U.S. cigarette brand, to Reynolds's portfolio, which includes Camel and Pall Mall cigarettes, giving Reynolds a commanding... ||||| Reynolds American Inc. (RAI) agreed to buy rival Lorillard Inc. (LO) for about $25 billion excluding debt, a deal that would leave the 400-year-old U.S. tobacco industry with two competitors controlling 90 percent of the market.

 Reynolds, the maker of Camel and Pall Mall cigarettes, will pay cash and stock valuing Lorillard at $68.88 a share, according to a statement. British American Tobacco Plc (BATS) will fund $4.7 billion of the transaction, letting it maintain a 42 percent stake in Reynolds. BAT’s U.K. rival Imperial Tobacco Group Plc (IMT) will acquire brands such as Kool and Blu e-cigarettes for $7.1 billion in a bid to assuage antitrust concerns.

 Modernized Cigarette Seeks Respectability

 Decades of anti-tobacco health campaigns have hurt demand and put pressure on the industry to consolidate. Acquiring Lorillard, the U.S. industry’s third-largest competitor, would help Reynolds cope with the slowdown and give it the Newport menthol line, which is popular in urban areas. Still, the deal faces challenges, and investors signaled that they’re uncertain it will close in its current form. Lorillard shares slid to $60.17 in New York, 13 percent below the purchase price.

 “There’s a lot of risk,” said Owen Bennett, an analyst at Nomura Holdings Inc. in London. “There are a lot of factors involved.”

 Photographer: Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg Lorillard Inc. brand Newport cigarettes aa a store in Shelbyville, Kentucky. Close Lorillard Inc. brand Newport cigarettes aa a store in Shelbyville, Kentucky. Close Open Photographer: Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg Lorillard Inc. brand Newport cigarettes aa a store in Shelbyville, Kentucky.

 Including debt, the purchase is valued at $27.4 billion. The new company will have annual revenue of more than $11 billion -- almost two-thirds the yearly sales of U.S. market leader Altria (MO) Group Inc. -- and operating income of about $5 billion.

 Market Share

 Reynolds shares also fell, dropping 6.9 percent to $58.84. Imperial Tobacco declined 3.7 percent to 2,638 pence in London, while BAT fell 1.8 percent to 3,532 pence. Altria dropped 3.7 percent to $41.76.

 Reynolds said the combined company will account for almost 33 percent of the U.S. industry. That leaves the U.S. with two competitors -- Reynolds and Altria -- selling nine out of every 10 cigarettes. Imperial said its market share will more than triple to 9.5 percent from 2.5 percent.

 The companies will fight for customers in an industry where health concerns and smoking restrictions have eroded sales. Total U.S. cigarette shipments fell by a median of 2.9 percent in the first quarter among the nation’s top tobacco companies, according to data compiled by Bloomberg Industries.

 Yet even amid the slump, the companies have remained profitable, with Altria, Reynolds and Lorillard all boosting net income last year.

 Lorillard Drops

 The deal -- which followed months of intermittent talks -- will have to pass antitrust hurdles. As part of the effort to overcome those challenges, Imperial will acquire well-known brands such as Salem, Winston and Maverick. Getting the Blu lineup also gives Imperial a foothold in the emerging market for e-cigarettes -- battery-powered devices that can deliver nicotine and other substances through vapor.

 “The most surprising element is that Imperial is taking the e-cigarette business from Lorillard,” said Philip Gorham, an analyst at Morningstar Inc. in Amsterdam. “It was probably the sweetener that convinced them to buy what is essentially a selection of third-tier brands.”

 Including the Blu brand in the deal was needed to get Imperial to the table and reduced antitrust concerns from having the products in the same company as Reynolds’s Vuse e-cigarettes, said a person familiar with the matter.

 E-Cig Sales

 U.S. e-cig sales were forecast by Euromonitor International to triple last year to $1.5 billion and then double annually through 2018. Still, the products face uncertainty as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration explores how to regulate them while cities and employers debate where they can be used.

 Reynolds is “absolutely confident” in the future of its Vuse e-cig brand, Chief Executive Officer Susan Cameron said today in an interview.

 Reynolds said cost savings from the deal will be about $800 million and that it will add to earnings in the first year. Cameron will continue as CEO of Reynolds after the acquisition, and the company will remain headquartered in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Murray Kessler, chairman, president and CEO of Greensboro, North Carolina-based Lorillard, will join Reynolds’s board.

 Reynolds and BAT also agreed to share next-generation tobacco technology, including heat-not-burn cigarettes and vapor products. Imperial will acquire Lorillard’s manufacturing and research facilities in Greensboro and about 2,900 employees, including a national sales force.

 Newport Brand

 Lorillard’s biggest product, Newport, will give Reynolds fresh ammunition against Altria, whose brands account for more than half of the U.S. retail cigarette industry. Altria’s Marlboro by itself has market share in the U.S. of about 44 percent, according to the company’s website.

 Newport is the second-most-popular brand among all U.S. cigarettes and the leader among menthol smokes, which account for about a third of the $90 billion U.S. cigarette market. The brand was the main selling point for Reynolds, and recent signals that the FDA won’t institute overly onerous regulations on menthols gave the company confidence to move ahead with the purchase, said a person familiar with the situation.

 Lazard served as lead financial adviser to Reynolds, which also consulted with JPMorgan Chase & Co., while Centerview Partners and Barclays Plc advised Lorillard. Jones Day LP provided legal counsel to Reynolds, while Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP served as Lorillard’s legal adviser.

 Imperial Tobacco, which said it will fund its portion of the transaction entirely through debt, is being advised by Credit Suisse Group AG and Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

 Months Talking

 Reynolds, Lorillard and London-based BAT have been in talks since last fall to reach an agreement that would satisfy all three parties, people familiar with the matter have said.

 Those discussions got a boost when Cameron returned as Reynolds’s CEO in May, Kessler said in an interview.

 She was instrumental “in getting this transaction from what was sort of out there and theoretical to a very compelling transaction that our board could support,” Kessler said. “She was extremely helpful in bringing that home.”

 The companies made a tentative deadline of July to reach a deal because of an agreement by BAT not to raise its stake in Reynolds without the approval of Reynolds’s board until this month, people familiar have said.

 BAT’s agreement keeping it from increasing its stake in Reynolds dates back to the merger of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings Inc. with Brown & Williamson Tobacco.

 Hard Look

 The Federal Trade Commission is likely to take a hard look at the latest proposed transaction, according to David Balto, a Washington attorney and former policy director for the FTC who litigated BAT’s merger with Reynolds in 2004.

 The FTC allowed that deal to go through because Brown & Williamson was losing market share and Lorillard was still a viable competitor, according to the FTC. The market is more consolidated now, and this deal will face serious scrutiny, Balto said.

 Selling off the minor brands to Imperial, and even unloading a bigger name like Camel, may not be enough, he said.

 “I wouldn’t put any number on the likelihood of this deal being approved,” Balto said in an interview. “I think it would need to be more substantial than Camel.”

 To contact the reporters on this story: Duane D. Stanford in Atlanta at dstanford2@bloomberg.net; David Welch in New York at dwelch12@bloomberg.net; Gabi Thesing in London at gthesing@bloomberg.net

 To contact the editors responsible for this story: Nick Turner at nturner7@bloomberg.net; Mohammed Hadi at mhadi1@bloomberg.net Kevin Orland |||||

– Reynolds American, the maker of Camel and Pall Mall cigarettes, has agreed to buy Lorillard, the maker of Newport menthols, in a deal that will make it a strong second to Marlboro manufacturer Altria in the US tobacco market, the Wall Street Journal reports. Reynolds will pay a combination of cash and stock amounting to about $27.4 billion. It will also sell off its Kool, Salem, Winston, Maverick, and Blu eCigs brands to Imperial Tobacco Group for $7.1 billion, in the hopes of easing antitrust concerns—though analysts say regulators will be taking a hard look at the deal anyway. Altria controls about half of the US cigarette market, while Reynolds and Lorillard controlled 25% and 15%, respectively, before the tie-up. "It’s transformative because it creates a duopoly in the US," one analyst tells Bloomberg, which will help dull the pain of a longstanding downward sales trend. The deal also serves to boost Reynolds' presence in tobacco's fastest-growing product categories, menthols and e-cigarettes, the New York Times points out.


– Whoa. Medical faculty at the University of Alberta in Canada booked a reiki expert to lead a spoon-bending workshop—and no, this is not a joke. “This experiential workshop will teach a guided meditation/energy transfer technique which will have most participants bending cutlery using the power of their minds," says a poster for the workshop, "Spoon Bending and the Power of the Mind," per the CBC. The poster boasts that "typically 75% or more" of workshop attendees will be able to bend spoons with nothing but their brain. The spoons were to be provided. “Just let that sink in," writes one skeptic at Science Blogs. "Whoever runs the Pediatric Integrative Medicine Rounds thought that it was a good idea to invite an 'energy healer' to demonstrate how to use the 'power of the mind' to bend a spoon!” Unfortunately for aspiring spoon-benders, the workshop was canceled after a law professor at the University of Alberta tweeted a photo of the poster, bringing countless accusations of promoting "medical quackery" against the university. “Bending spoons is a great entry level activity. Sadly my med school taught science," tweeted a New England pediatrician. “Solid skills for every physician to possess. Yikes," added a Canadian researcher and city councillor.

Expand this summary.

UPDATE: The University of Alberta says the spoon bending workshop has been cancelled. "It has since been withdrawn by the presenters," a statement from the university said.

 "Pediatric Integrative Medicine rounds this month was going to address existing information about reiki and other energy therapies, highlighting how and why patients and therapists use it for personal and professional health care, and acknowledging that there is a lack of evidence about how, and how well, it works (the evidence-informed part of the rounds, as set out by Royal College)," the statement read.

 Another poster appeared on the campus acknowledging the cancellation and protesting against "the unethical institutional support from the University of Alberta for medical quackery."

 The original article appears below:

 A law professor at the University of Alberta is calling out the school's faculty of medicine for scheduling a workshop called "Spoon Bending and the Power of the Mind."

 Timothy Caulfield, a professor of health law and science policy at U of A, tweeted a poster for the workshop on Wednesday.

 The workshop is to be presented on June 28 by Anastasia Kutt, an Edmonton "energy healing therapist" and "registered reiki master," according to her website.

 "This experiential workshop will teach a guided meditation/energy transfer technique which will have most participants bending cutlery using the power of their minds," the workshop description says.

 "This will not be a scientific evaluation of the process," the poster notes.

 Caulfield's post has been spread around social media by doctors, scientists and others skeptical of spoon bending and of energy healing in general.

 @CaulfieldTim @UAlberta @UAlberta_FoMD @PharmacistScott Bending spoons is a great entry level activity. Sadly my med school taught science. — @skepticpedi

 Definitely not satire?? It just feels so much like it should be reported on @CBCThisIsThat https://t.co/34eAZ1Ks4P — @poorcate

 Spoon bending. Cutlery provided or bring your own. Solid skills for every physician to possess. Yikes. https://t.co/yIER2degvN — @squamishsusan

 I have no words. I'm going to attend this event dressed as a bent spoon. https://t.co/81SYI5tSvp — @UbakaOgbogu

 There were many references to illusionist and self-proclaimed spoon bender Uri Geller and to The Matrix.

 Stop knocking it. I hear they throw in five minutes with the Oracle. https://t.co/HHVo6WWElo — @petersankoff ||||| After over 11 years at this blogging thing, I periodically start to fear that I’m becoming jaded. In particular, after following the infiltration of quackery in the form of “complementary and alternative medicine” (CAM), now more commonly known as “integrative medicine,” because it integrates CAM with evidence-based medicine. Of course, in reality, what “integrative medicine” really does is to integrate prescientific, pseudoscientific, and antiscientific quackery with real medicine, and that’s what I mean. I thought I had seen it all in academic medical centers and medical schools: the faith healing that is reiki at National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated comprehensive cancer centers, acupuncture at more universities than I can recall, functional medicine and traditional Chinese medicine at at the Cleveland Clinic; naturopathy and therefore, whether the MDs in the integrative medicine departments know it or not, The One Quackery To Rule Them All, homeopathy, which is an integral part of naturopathy; and even Rudolf Steiner’s ultimate woo, anthroposophic medicine at my damned alma mater!

 Yes, I thought I had seen it all, until I came across this Tweet by Tim Caulfield, an outspoken critic of CAM from our neighbors up north:

 And:

 Yes, you read that right. It’s a flier for Pediatric Integrative Medicine Rounds at the University of Alberta’s CARE Program for Integrative Health and Healing advertising a spoon bending workshop. No wonder most people thought it was a joke or some sort of satire. It wasn’t; it even showed up on the CBC News website:

 The workshop is to be presented on June 28 by Anastasia Kutt, an Edmonton “energy healing therapist” and “registered reiki master,” according to her website. “This experiential workshop will teach a guided meditation/energy transfer technique which will have most participants bending cutlery using the power of their minds,” the workshop description says. “This will not be a scientific evaluation of the process,” the poster notes.

 It won’t be a scientific evaluation of the process? Imagine my relief. Particularly hilarious is the part about typically “75% of workshop participants can bend the spoon.” Only 75%?

 Naturally, I wandered over to Anastasia Kutt’s website, Luminous Tranquility, where I learned:

 Anastasia Kutt (click here for bio) is an energy healing therapist and workshop facilitator in Edmonton, Alberta. She is a Registered Reiki Master Teacher with the Canadian Reiki Association, and offers Reiki workshops at Healing Connections Wellness Center. She is one of 20 certified Trilotherapists in Canada, and also has extensive training in the Yuen Method of Energy Clearing. Please see Workshops for upcoming events and Treatments for information about treatments.

 Kutt appears not to be actually treating anyone, but rather making her living doing workshops on reiki and “energy medicine,” including spoon bending workshops, and selling a guided meditation CD. So, obviously, someone at the Pediatric Integrative Medicine program at the University of Alberta must have hired Kutt to do this workshop. Just let that sink in. Whoever runs the Pediatric Integrative Medicine Rounds thought that it was a good idea to invite an “energy healer” to demonstrate how to use the “power of the mind” to bend a spoon! Ultimately, it was reported that the event was canceled, which just goes to show that shining the light of day on these excesses of quackademic medicine is the best disinfectant for

 At this point, it would be very easy to go on a fun (and hopefully funny) rant about just how bad things have gotten in quackademic medicine that anyone at an actual medical school would take the claims of spoon bending at face value. Very easy indeed. It would have been a hell of a lot of fun, too, which made it difficult for me to restrain myself. However, as I read over this sad story of credulity, I was reminded of something that happened a mere two weeks ago at the Northeast Conference on Science and Skepticism (NECSS), when Scientific American journalist John Horgan gave a talk with the intentionally inflammatory title, Dear “Skeptics,” Bash Homeopathy and Bigfoot Less, Mammograms and War More: A science journalist takes a skeptical look at capital-S Skepticism, which he later posted on his Scientific American blog. It provoked a lot of reactions because it was so fractally wrong, including two responses from Steve Novella, Daniel Loxton, Jerry Coyne, and, of course, yours truly.

 Basically, Horgan’s criticism of skepticism boiled down to an accusation that we don’t take on the “hard” targets, preferring instead to go after “easy” targets like Bigfoot, homeopathy, astrology, and the like. While there is a grain of truth in that characterization, overall Horgan’s whine came across as the fallacy of relative privation or, as I like to put it, “You should stop caring about what you care about and care about what I care about instead because it’s so much more important than what you care about.” Part of that characterization was to disparage “bigfoot skeptics.” Do you see where I’m going with this?

 One of the most basic issues of skepticism, one that many skeptics cut their teeth on, is Uri Geller, the man who bends spoons with the power of his mind. At least, that’s how he characterized himself in the 1970s and onward. I first heard about him when I was a teenager. Being a teenager and of not more than average skepticism, I was just as puzzled as many people were over Geller’s spoon bending. Now, spoon bending is an obvious magic trick, which is why James Randi was so easily able to duplicate it and why he was so easily able, working with Johnny Carson, to expose Geller as a fraud on national TV:

 These days, it’s so well known that spoon bending is a magic trick and not evidence of a man’s ability to bend metal with his mind that a quick Google search for “How do you bend spoons?” turns up many links that tell you just how to duplicate Geller’s feat that amazed so many for so many decades, for instance:

 There’s even a Wikipedia entry on spoon bending.

 This sort of skepticism is exactly the sort of skepticism that Horgan so contemptuously dismissed as “Bigfoot skepticism.” After all, it’s just a con man named Uri Geller bending spoons using a magic trick that most magicians know and fooling the public into thinking that he was using the “power of his mind” to accomplish it. The skill set required to demonstrate that Geller was a fraud was straightforward and not particularly complex. That’s why the story of Uri Geller’s spoon bending con is a basic story that nearly all skeptics encounter fairly early on in their journey to becoming skeptics. It’s the very epitome of what John Horgan considers wrong with organized skepticism.

 And yet…

 And yet there is a major Canadian academic medical center that had at least one faculty member that doesn’t exercise skepticism about a woman who claims to be able to manipulate “life energy” from the “universal source,” which is what reiki is when you boil it down to its essence, and offers workshops on how to use the power of your mind to bend spoons. Just think about it. If the person putting together Pediatric Integrative Medicine Rounds for the University of Alberta had been inculcated with a bit of the ol’ “Bigfoot skepticism,” maybe he or she wouldn’t have agreed to let Anastasia Kutt to do a workshop there. If that person knew that spoon bending was nothing more than a simple magician’s trick, perhaps he or she wouldn’t have fallen for Kutt’s nonsense. That didn’t happen, unfortunately. Bigfoot skepticism could have prevented this, but in the world of quackademic medicine there isn’t even Bigfoot skepticism. There isn’t much, if any, skepticism at all. More’s the pity.

 Then, of course, Horgan also heaped his scorn on skeptics who debunk homeopathy. As I’ve discussed many times in the past, on the surface, there doesn’t appear to be much in the way of homeopathy in academic medical centers. However, if you consider how many CAM or “integrative medicine” programs have naturopaths on faculty and offer naturopathy services, you’ll soon realize that there are a lot of academic medical centers offering homeopathy. The reason is simple. Homeopathy is such an integral part of naturopathy that you can’t have naturopathy without homeopathy.

 In fact, a little bit of that “Bigfoot skepticism” could prevent atrocities against science-based medicine like the Pediatric Integrative Medicine (PIM) trial:

 The Pediatric Integrative Medicine Trial (“PIM Trial”) started recruitment of hospitalized children at the Stollery Children’s Hospital in Edmonton, Alberta in early 2013, and the clinical intervention phase starts in the fall. While the initial focus is on children with cancer, plans to include children in other areas of the hospital are underway. Led by the CARE Program and supported by the University of Alberta, the trial will study the effects of an inpatient PIM service when added to conventional medical care. The service consists of pediatricians and credentialed therapists in acupuncture, massage therapy, and reiki who will offer consultations and treatments for children experiencing pain, nausea/vomiting, and/or anxiety (“PNVA”). Choice of therapy is guided by each patient and family, and informed by established research on its safety and effectiveness; there are no obligations to start or continue the PIM Trial’s therapies, and there is no cost to the family or to the hospital. The trial will assess and compare costs, length of hospital stay, safety and effectiveness of therapies (CAM and conventional), and quality of life and satisfaction with care as determined by patients, their caregivers and health care providers.

 Of course, acupuncture and reiki are the purest of vitalistic quackery, modalities that have no place in any hospital purporting to provide evidence- and science-based care to patients. “Bigfoot skepticism” is useful in identifying how reiki, at least, is quackery. Acupuncture is a little bit more difficult, given that it involves sticking actual needles into patients, but it’s not that much more difficult to demonstrate that acupuncture is a theatrical placebo. Sadly, the University of Alberta is not alone in embracing quackery. It has lots of company.

 Scientific skepticism strives to separate claims that are supported by evidence and science from claims that are not. Claims like the ones made by Uri Geller over the years are clearly ridiculous, but, contrary to what Horgan seems to think, they are not at all unimportant because they are widely believed. In fact, they’re so widely believed that they have served as the basis of a workshop offered by a respected academic medical center. All it would have taken is a single skeptic applying “Bigfoot skepticism” to the claims being made by, for instance, the University of Alberta. Where was that skeptic? Nowhere, or so it would seem. It’s not as though it’s always difficult to test these sorts of implausible claims, either. Indeed, in the case of “therapeutic touch” (also called “healing touch”), a form of “energy medicine” widely taught in nursing school that posits that the person doing the therapeutic touch can sense and manipulate the patient’s “energy field” to healing effect, disproving the woo is so easy that even an 11-year-old can do it. Unfortunately, the environment at some academic medical centers has become so credulous that highly educated physicians and nurses accept this kind of nonsense. Sure, it’s possible that a lot of physicians saw the spoon-bending flyer and scoffed derisively, but the very fact that the workshop was scheduled is a symptom of a serious problem.

 In fact, I’d argue that we could use some “Bigfoot skeptics” in medicine. Horgan paints efforts debunking homeopathy with the same brush, as taking on an “easy” target that isn’t worth the effort, but homeopathy is a multibillion dollar industry. We could use some in politics as well, because, for example, there is a whole category of health care pseudo-professionals called naturopaths for whom homeopathy is such an integral part of their practice that it is part of their licensing examination. In my state (Michigan), there is a bill, HB 4531, that would grant licensure and a broad scope of practice to naturopaths. If there were more “Bigfoot skeptics” in our brain dead legislature, maybe the bill wouldn’t have made it out of the House Committee on Health Policy to be considered by the whole House.

 Skepticism and critical thinking are a world view that is desperately lacking in most people. Horgan seems to think that it’s not worthwhile to exercise these skills on anything less than world peace and complex questions about whether screening for cancer saves enough lives relative to the cost in money and overtreatment, but there are plenty of examples of much more straightforward questions need to be examined with science and a critical eye. Unfortunately, one of these examples is in medicine myself. If even a few physicians can be accepting enough of a claim that a common magician’s trick is in reality evidence of the power of the mind that they’re willing to schedule a workshop on spoon bending at a major medical center, we have a problem, and it’s a problem that “Bigfoot skeptics” are most suited to tackle. ||||| Published on Mar 1, 2011

 Spoon boy: Do not try and bend the spoon. That's impossible. Instead... only try to realize the truth.

 Neo: What truth?

 Spoon boy: There is no spoon.

 Neo: There is no spoon?

 Spoon boy: Then you'll see, that it is not the spoon that bends, it is only yourself. |||||


These crawls are part of an effort to archive pages as they are created and archive the pages that they refer to. That way, as the pages that are referenced are changed or taken from the web, a link to the version that was live when the page was written will be preserved.Then the Internet Archive hopes that references to these archived pages will be put in place of a link that would be otherwise be broken, or a companion link to allow people to see what was originally intended by a page's authors.The goal is to fix all broken links on the web . Crawls of supported "No More 404" sites. ||||| SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A treasure trove of rare gold coins discovered by a California couple out walking their dog has gone on sale, with one coin selling for $15,000 on Tuesday.

 FILE - This Feb. 25, 2014 file photo shows some of the 1,427 Gold-Rush era U.S. gold coins displayed at Professional Coin Grading Service in Santa Ana, Calif. A treasure trove of rare gold coins discovered... (Associated Press)

 The coins date from 1847 to 1894 and have been valued at $11 million.

 Several coins were auctioned at the Old San Francisco Mint at 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, and one of them — an 1874 $20 double eagle that is usually worth $4,250 — sold for $15,000.

 Don Kagin, whose firm is handling the sale, says most of the remaining 1,400 coins had gone on sale on Amazon.com and Kagins.com after the auction.

 The couple, whom Kagin declined to identify, found them last year buried under the shadow of a tree on their rural Northern California property.

 Here are five things to know about the coins and their origin:

 WHY ARE THEY SO VALUABLE?

 Experts say paper money was illegal in California until the 1870s, so it's extremely rare to find any coins from before that period. Additionally, most of the coins are in mint condition, having been stashed away seemingly immediately after they were minted. They were valued by Don Kagin, a numismatist who is handling the sale and marketing of the coins.

 WHO FOUND THEM?

 Kagin says the couple — a middle-aged husband and wife — does not want to be identified in part to avoid a gold rush on their rural Northern California property by modern-day prospectors. They discovered the coins in eight cans buried in the shadow of an old tree on the property. They plan to keep a few of the coins themselves and use the money from the rest to pay off bills and donate to local charities. Money from Tuesday's auction will benefit the effort to turn the Old Mint into a museum.

 WHERE DID THE COINS COME FROM?

 Most of the coins were minted at the San Francisco Mint, according to Kagin. It's not clear, however, who put them in the ground or how they were obtained, though theories have abounded. Kagin says people have linked the coins to stagecoach bandit Black Bart, outlaw Jesse James and a theft at the San Francisco Mint, but none of the theories has panned out.

 WHAT IS IN THE COLLECTION?

 The treasure consists of four $5 gold pieces, fifty $10 gold pieces, and 1,373 $20 double eagles. Among the coins that will be on display Tuesday is the crown jewel of the collection — an 1866-S No Motto $20 gold piece valued at more than $1 million.

 HOW DOES THIS DISCOVERY COMPARE TO OTHER COIN FINDS?

 Kagin calls this coin find the largest such discovery in U.S. history. One of the largest previous finds of gold coins was uncovered by construction workers in Jackson, Tennessee, in 1985 and valued at $1 million. More than 400,000 silver dollars were found in the home of a Reno, Nevada, man who died in 1974 and were later sold intact for $7.3 million. Gold coins and ingots said to be worth as much as $130 million were recovered in the 1980s from the wreck of the SS Central America. But historians knew roughly where that gold was because the ship went down off the coast of North Carolina during a hurricane in 1857. |||||

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– The "buried treasure" found by a California couple out walking their dog—an estimated $11 million worth of rare gold coins from the 1800s—has started to be auctioned off. Last night at the Old San Francisco Mint, an 1874 $20 double eagle sold for $15,000, the AP reports. A few other coins were also auctioned there, and most of the remaining 1,400 are now on sale on Amazon.com and Kagins.com, according to the firm handling the sale. The anonymous couple, who found the coins on their own property, are also keeping a few. As for the money they make, they'll pay bills and donate to local charities—and the money from last night's auction will help turn the Old San Francisco Mint into a museum. About 60 of the coins will be displayed there, USA Today reports. It's still not clear where the coins, most of which are in mint condition, came from—the numismatist who valued the coins and is handling the sale says theories (none of which panned out) have linked them to stagecoach bandit Black Bart, outlaw Jesse James, and a heist at the San Francisco Mint. And, of course, there are people out there who claim the coins belonged to their distant relatives—one of whom has threatened to sue. But none of the stories so far is legit, according to federal officials.


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– Myrna Arias didn't like the GPS app on her phone that constantly tracked her, so she uninstalled it. The problem: Arias' iPhone was issued by her employer, which required her to run the app constantly, and after she removed it, the California woman was fired. Now she's suing her former employer, money transfer service Intermex, for invasion of privacy, unfair business practices, and retaliation, among other things, Ars Technica reports. Arias started researching the app, then called Xora—its website touts the app's ability to let employers "instantly see where their employees are and where they have been"—and eventually she and some of her colleagues asked a trainer from the app company to clarify. Boss John Stubits then, per the suit, "admitted that employees would be monitored while off duty and bragged that he knew how fast she was driving at specific moments." Arias says she has no problem being monitored while at work, but she complained to Stubits about being tracked in her free time; he was unsympathetic and said she should have no problem because of how much she was being paid by Intermex. "Her manager made it clear that he was using the program to continuously monitor her, during company as well as personal time," the complaint states, noting that he told Arias she needed to keep her phone on at all times in case a customer called. Arias' attorney tells Courthouse News that there was no way to turn the app off, as it would constantly run in the background. "She found it very offensive that they were treating her like a felon," the attorney says. Arias says her boss "scolded" her for uninstalling the program last year, and fired her soon after. (Elsewhere, a woman got fired over a text mistakenly sent to the boss.)

(This story has been updated with comments from the plaintiff's attorney.)

 A Central California woman claims she was fired after uninstalling an app that her employer required her to run constantly on her company issued iPhone—an app that tracked her every move 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

 Plaintiff Myrna Arias, a former Bakersfield sales executive for money transfer service Intermex, claims in a state court lawsuit that her boss, John Stubits, fired her shortly after she uninstalled the job-management Xora app that she and her colleagues were required to use. According to her suit (PDF) in Kern County Superior Court:

 After researching the app and speaking with a trainer from Xora, Plaintiff and her co-workers asked whether Intermex would be monitoring their movements while off duty. Stubits admitted that employees would be monitored while off duty and bragged that he knew how fast she was driving at specific moments ever since she installed the app on her phone. Plaintiff expressed that she had no problem with the app's GPS function during work hours, but she objected to the monitoring of her location during non-work hours and complained to Stubits that this was an invasion of her privacy. She likened the app to a prisoner's ankle bracelet and informed Stubits that his actions were illegal. Stubits replied that she should tolerate the illegal intrusion…..

 Intermex did not immediately respond for comment.

 The suit, which claims invasion of privacy, retaliation, unfair business practices, and other allegations, seeks damages in excess of $500,000 and asserts she was monitored on the weekends when she was not working.

 Arias' boss "scolded" her for uninstalling the app shortly after being required to use it, according to the suit. Her attorneys said the woman made $7,250 per month and that she "met all quotas" during a brief stint with Intermex last year.

 "This intrusion would be highly offensive to a reasonable person," the filing said.

 Arias' attorney, Gail Glick, said in a Monday e-mail to Ars that the app allowed her client's "bosses to see every move the employees made throughout the day."

 The app had a "clock in/out" feature which did not stop GPS monitoring, that function remained on. This is the problem about which Ms. Arias complained. Management never made mention of mileage. They would tell her co-workers and her of their driving speed, roads taken, and time spent at customer locations. Her manager made it clear that he was using the program to continuously monitor her, during company as well as personal time.

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 So what's next? ||||| September 5, 2014: Maintaining strong relationships with customers, not to mention delighting them, is a crucial part of your business’ success, particularly in hypercompetitive service industries. In theory, you know you need to deliver great service to keep and grow your customer base. But in practice, you probably don’t… ||||| 'Timecard' App Tracks Workers, Woman Says BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (CN) - A money-transfer company fired an employee for refusing to install an app that would track her location even when she was off the clock, the woman claims in court.

 Myrna Arias sued Intermex Wire Transfer LLC in Kern County Superior Court on May 5.

 Headquartered in Miami, Florida, Intermex describes itself on its website as " a leading processor of money-transfer services in the U.S. to Latin America corridor."

 It has 30,000 locations worldwide and offers services in 45 states and 16 Latin American countries, the website adds.

 Arias says she worked for Intermex as a sales executive and account manager from February 2014 to May 2014.

 She was still working for rival NetSpend Corporation when she was hired. Her boss, Intermex's regional vice president of sales John Stubits, agreed to let her work for both NetSpend and Intermex for three months until she qualified for Intermex's medical insurance because she was suffering from a severe vitamin B-12 deficiency and did not want to lose her treatment, according to the complaint.

 Arias says she did well at her job, meeting all her quotas and earning around $7,250 a month.

 But everything changed in April 2014, when she claims Stubits told her and several other employees to download an app from Xora onto their smartphones that "contained a global positioning system function which tracked the exact location of the person possessing the smartphones on which it was installed."

 Xora Inc., now ClickSoftware Solution, is not a party to the complaint.

 According to a September 2011 press release, the app enables employees to create electronic timecards on their phones to track when their shifts start, when they take breaks, and when a shift ends.

 Plaintiff attorney Gail Glick told Courthouse News that Arias was one of the first employees asked to put the app on her phone.

 "They were guinea pigs," Glick said.

 Arias says in her complaint that she researched the app and asked Stubits if Intermex would be tracking her whereabouts when she was off the clock.

 "Stubits admitted that employees would be monitored while off duty and bragged that he knew how fast she was driving at specific moments ever since she had installed the app on her phone," Arias says in her complaint. "Plaintiff expressed that she had no problem with the app's GPS function during work hours, but she objected to the monitoring of her location during non-work hours and complained to Stubits that this was an invasion of her privacy. She likened the app to a prisoner's ankle bracelet and informed Stubits that his actions were illegal. Stubits replied that she should tolerate the illegal intrusion because Intermex was paying plaintiff more than NetSpend."

 Stubits also told Arias she had to keep her phone on "24/7" to assist clients, and "scolded" her when she uninstalled the app to protect her privacy, the complaint adds.

 Arias says Intermex fired her a few weeks later.

 Glick said that an employer can legally monitor employees at work if there is a "legitimate business interest" to do so.

 "But if an employee can't stop it, then that is a complete violation of California and federal laws against invasion of privacy," she said.

 Arias objected to the app because there was no way to turn it off when she was at home. Even if she shut down the app on her phone, it would still be running in the background, Glick said.

 "She found it very offensive that they were treating her like a felon," she added. "She was not underperforming, so there was no reason to monitor her."

 To make matters worse, Glick said, Intermex was so angry at her objection to the app that it went "above and beyond a normal wrongful termination and interfered with her ability to earn a livelihood."

 Arias says in her complaint that Robert Lisy, Intermex's president and CEO, "telephoned John Nelson, vice president of NetSpend, and informed Nelson that plaintiff had been disloyal to NetSpend and was employed by Intermex. As a result of Lisy's intentional and malicious interference with plaintiff's contract with NetSpend, NetSpend fired plaintiff promptly. NetSpend specifically cited Lisy's phone call as the reason for the decision to terminate plaintiff," the complaint states.

 Lisy, Nelson and NetSpend are not parties to the complaint.

 With two black marks against her and a gap in her employment record, Arias has had a hard time finding a new job, Glick said.

 Representatives for Intermex did not respond to comment requests by press time.

 Arias seeks an injunction and general, special and punitive damages for invasion of privacy, retaliation, labor code violations, intentional interference with contract, wrongful termination and unfair business practices.

 Her attorney Gail A. Glick is with Alexander, Krakow & Glick of Santa Monica. "We intend to pursue this aggressively and get her the justice she deserves," Glick said. "What we have here is a really egregious situation, and we are hoping to right that wrong." |||||


– A "mini-mammoth" the size of a baby elephant has been identified on the island of Crete. Mammuthus creticus is the tiniest mammoth ever found, and is another example of "dwarfism" on islands, where scare resources can keep animals small, notes the Telegraph. Fossilized teeth of the three-foot-tall mammoth were first discovered in 1904, but were initially believed to be elephant teeth. Scientists only recently re-examined them and determined they were evidence of a miniature mammoth. They also returned to the spot in Crete and discovered a mini leg bone. "Dwarfism is a well-known evolutionary response of large mammals to island environments," said lead researcher Victoria Herrige from London's Natural History Museum. "Our findings show that on Crete, island dwarfism occurred to an extreme degree, producing the smallest mammoth known so far." Researchers believe the animals may have evolved from regular-sized mammoths as long as 3.5 million years ago.

Expand this summary.

Focused crawls are collections of frequently-updated webcrawl data from narrow (as opposed to broad or wide) web crawls, often focused on a single domain or subdomain. ||||| These crawls are part of an effort to archive pages as they are created and archive the pages that they refer to. That way, as the pages that are referenced are changed or taken from the web, a link to the version that was live when the page was written will be preserved.Then the Internet Archive hopes that references to these archived pages will be put in place of a link that would be otherwise be broken, or a companion link to allow people to see what was originally intended by a page's authors.The goal is to fix all broken links on the web . Crawls of supported "No More 404" sites. |||||


Here is a news article: Focused crawls are collections of frequently-updated webcrawl data from narrow (as opposed to broad or wide) web crawls, often focused on a single domain or subdomain. ||||| Reeva Steenkamp texted Oscar Pistorius to say "I am sometimes scared of you" just weeks before she died, the athlete's trial has heard.

 An emotional message from Ms Steenkamp on January 27 last year accuses Pistorius of picking on her "incessantly" and denies flirting with her friend's husband at an engagement party.

 It also accuses the athlete of being "nasty" and throwing tantrums in front of people.

 "I'm scared of you sometimes and how you snap at me and how you act to me," says Ms Steenkamp.

 She tells Pistorius the pair have a "double standard relationship" where he is "quick to act, cold and off-ish when you are unhappy".

 Pistorius apologises for his behaviour in one message

 Police IT expert Captain Francois Moller told the trial he had extracted text and WhatsApp messages from the phones of both Ms Steenkamp and Oscar Pistorius.

 In a message displayed on court monitors, Pistorius admits he is "tired and sick" but says it is not an excuse for his jealous behaviour.

 Play video "Texts Say Reeva Was Scared Of Oscar" Video: Texts Say Reeva Was Scared Of Oscar

 He accuses Ms Steenkamp of ignoring him while she spoke to another man and touched his arm.

 Ms Steenkamp also complained Pistorius got upset if she ever mentions something about an ex-boyfriend, while "every five seconds I hear how you dated another chick".

 "I just want to be loved and to love. Maybe we cannot do that for each other," she says.

 A separate message from Pistorius also mentions Ms Steenkamp smoking "weed" and refers to her as "Angel", while she calls him "Baba".

 Captain Moller told the trial in Pretoria he had "jailbroken" the mobile phones to access pages of messages between the pair.

 Play video "Oscar And Reeva's Texts Examined" Video: Oscar And Reeva's Texts Examined

 He said there were also many normal and "loving conversations" between the couple.

 More messages are expected to be revealed when the trial continues on Tuesday.

 Earlier, the court heard from Pistorius' neighbour Annette Stipp, who said she woke at around 3am on Valentine's Day last year, the day Ms Steenkamp was killed.

 She said she heard three sounds which sounded like gunshots and moments later heard a woman's "terrified, terrified screaming".

 She then heard a man and woman screaming at the same time, before a second set of shots, and then silence.

 1 / 12 Gallery: Oscar Pistorius Trial: Key Figures June Steenkamp, mother of Reeva Steenkamp.

 Mrs Stipp recalled telling her husband: "It sounds like a family murder. Why else would a woman scream like that?"

 The lights in Pistorius' bathroom were on from the moment she first woke up, Mrs Stipp told the court.

 She said the screams did not sound muffled or like they were coming from an enclosed space.

 The defence tried to discredit Mrs Stipp's evidence when, under tough questioning, she admitted an inaccuracy in her signed police statement.

 She told the court she had not seen a male figure walking in Pistorius' bathroom, despite initially saying she had.

 1 / 17 Gallery: South Africa's Golden Couple Olympic sprinter Oscar Pistorius faces a charge of murdering Reeva Steenkamp, his girlfriend, on Valentine's Day 2013

 "This is not first time that it appears her memory has failed her," said defence lawyer Kenny Oldwadge.

 He also suggested the second set of gunshots Mrs Stipp described was in fact the sound of a cricket bat as Pistorius smashed down the bathroom door.

 Paralympic star Pistorius is accused of the premeditated murder of his girlfriend but says he shot her by mistake because he thought she was an intruder.

 He is also accused of illegally possessing ammunition and two further counts related to shooting a gun in public in two separate incidents before the killing.

 He denies all the charges.

 1 / 10 Gallery: Pistorius: A Sporting Pioneer Pistorius was born in Johannesburg on November 22, 1986. A congenital condition meant he had no bones in his lower legs.

 The prosecution's case is expected to finish this week and Pistorius is likely to be the first witness for the defence.

 Originally expected to last for three weeks or so, the trial has now been extended until the middle of May.

 Both sides agreed to an extension after just 18 of 107 possible witnesses were heard in the first three weeks. ||||| These crawls are part of an effort to archive pages as they are created and archive the pages that they refer to. That way, as the pages that are referenced are changed or taken from the web, a link to the version that was live when the page was written will be preserved.Then the Internet Archive hopes that references to these archived pages will be put in place of a link that would be otherwise be broken, or a companion link to allow people to see what was originally intended by a page's authors.The goal is to fix all broken links on the web . Crawls of supported "No More 404" sites. |||||
A summary of this is?

– Another neighbor testified at Oscar Pistorius' murder trial today, saying she heard "terrified, terrified screaming" that didn't sound as though it was emanating from an enclosed space, like a bathroom, the morning of Reeva Steenkamp's death, the Telegraph reports. But the most attention-grabbing part of today's testimony took the form of texts between Pistorius and Steenkamp, which were shown on monitors. While a police IT expert said 90% of the WhatsApp messages were normal and "loving," a small portion showed a complicated, jealous relationship. A sampling, per Sky News, the Telegraph, and the Independent: Steenkamp: "I'm scared of u sometimes and how u snap at me and of how u will react to me." "I do everything to make u happy and to not say anything to rock the boat with u. You do everything to throw tantrums in front of people." "I'm sorry you think I was hitting on my friend's husband and u think so little of me. I just want to be loved and to love. Right now I am very unhappy and sad" "I can't be attacked by outsiders for dating you and then be attacked by you..the one person I need protection from." Pistorius: "I was standing tight behind me watching you touch his arm. But when I left, u just kept on chatting to him. I'm sorry I asked u to stop touching my neck." Pistorious admitted he is "tired and sick" but that doesn't excuse his jealous behavior. Apparently in reference to a shooting incident, he wrote "Angel, please don't say a thing to any one, Darren told everyone it was his fault. I can't afford for that to come out. The guys promised not to say a thing." The Telegraph notes the prosecution's case is expected to close this week.