The Weird, Random and Interesting Things That Fit Nowhere Else Thread

[ShadySands]

The US middle class is disappearing, which makes dollar stores very happy

 

As more and more US department stores close and malls are mothballed, Amazon is being blamed for the “retail apocalypse”. But there’s another dynamic crippling American retailers—a shrinking middle class exacerbated by a widening inequality gap. Between 1971 and 2015, the share of US income held by America’s middle earners has contracted from 61% to 50%, according to Pew Research. Wealthy families had three times as much wealth as middle-income families in 1983; by 2013, they had seven times as much.

Interesting to me because my wife works in higher end retail and they're struggling

[ShadySands]

Sorry for the double post but I just saw in my news feed about a cop being acquitted in the killing of a suspect and after watching the video I have a couple of questions. Or I guess I only have one main question. I get that the cop got scared when the guy went to pull his shorts up but why not just cuff him while you have him laying on the ground? Why make him crawl towards you at all? Is that the policy?

[Malcador]

Sorry for the double post but I just saw in my news feed about a cop being acquitted in the killing of a suspect and after watching the video I have a couple of questions. Or I guess I only have one main question. I get that the cop got scared when the guy went to pull his shorts up but why not just cuff him while you have him laying on the ground? Why make him crawl towards you at all? Is that the policy?

Shame the US doesn't have any really hot wars on right now, a win-win rotating some of these cops through those.

[Malcador]

No apologies for double posting!

 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2017/12/08/youtuber-cements-his-head-microwave-prank-fears-his-life-fire-officials-save-him/934829001/

 

Jay Swingler, 22, of the TGFbro YouTube channel placed a plastic bag over his head, held a tube to his mouth to breath and then stuck his head into a microwave filled with Polyfilla, a plaster, on Wednesday. A friend then used a hair dryer to harden the mixture. About 10 minutes of blow drying stiffened the "cement" nearly solid, according to a video posted by the group.

 

When Swingler stood up, he said his airway became blocked.

 

“I’m going to die,” he can be heard saying in the video.

[Katphood]

 

 

[Raithe]

National Geographic - Heart wrenching video of starving polar bear on iceless land

[Raithe]

[Elerond]

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/daniel-shaver-shooting-ex-arizona-police-officer-not-guilty-murder-n827641

 

Last year's fatal shooting of a Texas man by Arizona police was caught on body-camera video and showed him sobbing with his hands up, begging for his life in his final moments.

Jurors who watched the full video showing Daniel Shaver's death agreed Thursday to acquit former Mesa officer Philip Mitchell Brailsford of murder, ending an emotional six-week trial. Brailsford faced as many as 25 years in prison for the second-degree murder charge.

 

Brailsford's attorney, Michael Piccarreta, put an arm around his client after the verdict was read.

"There are no winners in this case," Piccarreta said, "but Mitch Brailsford had to make a split-second decision on a situation that he was trained to recognize as someone drawing a weapon and had one second to react."

Laney Sweet, Shaver's widow, shook her head "no" after the decision was read and later declined to answer questions, reported The Associated Press. She and Shaver's parents have filed wrongful-death lawsuits against the city of Mesa.

Mark Geragos, an attorney representing the Shaver family, called the shooting an "execution" and said the "justice system miserably failed," reported The Arizona Republic.

 

At the heart of the prosecution's case was the shaky bodycam footage taken at a Mesa hotel on the night of Jan. 18, 2016. Shaver, 26, a pest-control worker, was in Mesa on business and was with acquaintances at his room.

According to the prosecution, Shaver showed them an air rifle used to exterminate birds and at one point waved it outside of his fifth-floor window — prompting a witness to notify the hotel front desk, which led to police to being called. Police said he had been drinking at the time.

 

When officers got there, they ordered Shaver out of his room and to lie face-down in a hallway and refrain from making sudden movements — or risk being shot.

"Listen to my instructions or it's going to become very uncomfortable for you," one of the officers shouted.

"Please do not shoot me," Shaver said before he was ordered to crawl toward officers. As he inched forward, he reached toward the waistband of his shorts.

That action led Brailsford to fire his rifle, he said, because he believed Shaver was grabbing for a handgun.

While no gun was found on Shaver's body, two pellet rifles related to his pest-control job were discovered in his room.

 

The detective investigating the shooting agreed Shaver's movement was similar to reaching for a pistol, but has said it also looked as though Shaver was pulling up his loose-fitting basketball shorts that had fallen down as he was ordered to crawl.

The investigator noted he did not see anything that would have prevented officers from simply handcuffing Shaver as he was on the floor.

During his trial testimony, Brailsford, 27, told jurors that he was terrified for the safety of officers and a woman who were in the hallway. He also said he felt "incredibly sad" for Shaver.

Brailsford served as a Mesa officer for about two years before he was fired two months after the shooting for violations of departmental policy, including unsatisfactory performance.

 

Video of shooting

https://twitter.com/i/videos/939014159726870530

[Hurlshort]

It's a tough case. I mean I can see why a jury doesn't want to send the officer to prison. The reality is he was trained to handle this type of situation in this manner. We need to drastically think the way we are training officers to respond to these scenarios. 

[Volourn]

Cold blooded murder.  Plain and simple. But, cops  are allowed to commit cold blooded murder and then hid ebehind their  obviously poor training.  The police are a Nazi organization. Shoot an unarmed amn who is on the ground and obeys your commands while even crying for you not to kill him because 'you feel scared'. The guy with the gun and has control of the situation and has backup is the one whining about scared.

 

Yet there are cases where people who suffere break ins and defend themselves get in trouble with the law if not flat out convicted depending where they are.

 

This fake sadness the officer claims to feel is nothing but crocodile tears. He feels proud. He probably had an orgasm when he took the shot.

 

EVIL.

[injurai]

 

Even God has made some bad art...

[Rosbjerg]

We need to drastically think the way we are training officers to respond to these scenarios. 

 

Yeah, when cops are trained like military, it seems fairly logical that they are going to deal with any threatening situation like a para-military organization, with extreme prejudice and escalation to neutralize the threat. Police officers should be peace-keepers first and foremost, with training always emphasizing deescalation.

 

The warrior mentality in particular needs to die, a cop obviously needs to be able to defend him or herself, but that video seemed more like a powerfantasy of toying with victims and less like a trained official trying to deescalate a situation.

[Malcador]

It's a tough case. I mean I can see why a jury doesn't want to send the officer to prison. The reality is he was trained to handle this type of situation in this manner. We need to drastically think the way we are training officers to respond to these scenarios. 

 

Helps when they create a situation they can then react violently to, what with the bizarre instructions. But then again, with the cop etching "You're ****ed" on his weapon...can't expect too much from that kind. 

Edited December 10, 2017 by Malcador

[Raithe]

[ShadySands]

^I wish all the worst life has to offer on those kinds of people

 

Anyways, Lakewood man convinces armed robber to drop him off at work; suspect goes on six-hour crime spree

 

DENVER – A Lakewood man held at gunpoint convinced an alleged robber to drop him off at work before the suspect reportedly stole his car to continue a crime spree that lasted more than six hours.

 

At around 4 a.m. Saturday, a man heading to work in the area of Morrison Road and South Kipling Parkway was confronted by a man who pulled a gun on him and forced him into the victim’s red Nissan.

 

The victim reportedly told the carjacker, “Look, man, I just want to go to work. Drop me at work and you can keep my car,” according to Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Marc Techmeyer.

[Gromnir]

"hearing" a silent gif?

 

 

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/how-can-you-hear-silent-gif-180967491/

 

HA! Good Fun!

Edited December 11, 2017 by Gromnir

[rjshae]

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/alien-probe-or-galactic-driftwood-seti-tunes-in-to-oumuamua/

 

A signal is heard: "This is your final warning. Move your planet or else!"

[Malcador]

Hope that guy has to watch his wife bleed out and die.

[Hurlshort]

Morgan Spurlock from Super Size Me has taken an unusual tack in this whole misconduct thing. I guess it is something that he came forward with it, but I don't see much to sympathize with.

[Raithe]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-42338067'>BBC - Broadband over 'wet string' test for fun

 

Engineers at a small British internet service provider have successfully made a broadband connection work over 2m (6ft 7in) of wet string.

The connection reached speeds of 3.5 Mbps (megabits per second), according to the Andrews and Arnold engineer who conducted the experiment.

The point of the experiment appears to have been purely to see if it was achievable.

The firm does not believe there is a way to exploit the finding.

 

"To be honest it was a bit of fun, which one of our techies decided to try out - we have equipment we could test in the office, and why not?" Adrian Kennard, the internet provider's director, told the BBC.

 

"There is no commercial potential that we are aware of."

"What it does show, though, is how adaptive ADSL really is. This can be important when it comes to faulty lines with bad (or even disconnected) joints still providing some level of broadband service."

 

An asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) is used by nearly half of premises in the UK. It works by splitting a single copper telephone line into separate voice and data channels.

 

The string used in the experiment was first put in salty water - chosen because salt is a good conductor of electricity.

Prof Jim Al-Khalili from the University of Surrey's department of physics explained how it worked: "Although wet string is clearly not as good a conductor of electricity as copper wire, it's not really about the flow of current.

 

"Here the string is acting as a waveguide to transmit an electromagnetic wave. And because the broadband signal in this case is very high frequency it doesn't matter so much what the material is."

 

Matthew Howett, principal analyst at research firm Assembly said: "While we often get tied up in knots over whether it should be fibre to the street cabinet or fibre all the way to the home, one thing's for certain and that's that this isn't going to make it into the mix of technologies companies like Openreach or Virgin Media will be using."

Edited December 14, 2017 by Raithe

[ShadySands]

Is 'man flu' real? Medical science delivers comfort to helpless male snufflers

 

Snufflers?

 

 

WOMEN OVER 85 ARE HAPPIER BECAUSE THEIR PARTNER IS DEAD BY THEN, PSYCHIATRISTS SAY

Edited December 14, 2017 by ShadySands

[Hurlshort]

I'm planning on tapping out around 65, so my wife will get a nice couple decades to enjoy life.

[injurai]

Chinese woman offered refund after facial recognition allows colleague to unlock iPhone X

[ShadySands]

Everybody Should Be Very Afraid of the Disney Death Star

The first episode of the Streaming Wars is over. The rebels won. Now the empire strikes back.

Disney announced on Thursday that it would acquire most of the entertainment assets of 21st Century Fox for about $60 billion in stock and debt, in what would be the largest-ever merger of two showbiz companies. Already the most storied entertainment empire in the U.S., Disney would become a global colossus through this deal, gaining large stakes in the biggest entertainment companies in both Europe and India. The deal will almost certainly receive regulatory scrutiny, as the Justice Department has been lately dubious of mega media mergers.

 

The yuletide haul includes some of the most famous properties in television and film. In the transfer of power, Disney would receive the 20th Century Fox film studio, including the independent film maestros at Fox Searchlight (Best Picture Oscar–winners include: Slumdog Millionaire, 12 Years a Slave, and Birdman), the X-Men franchise, Fox’s television production company (worldwide hits include: The Simpsons, Modern Family, and Homeland), the FX and National Geographic cable channels, and regional sports networks, including the YES Network that broadcasts New York Yankees games. Disney also acquires a majority stake in the TV product Hulu, which it may use to kickstart its entry into the streaming wars.

 

These additions would enrich an overflowing treasury at Disney, whose assets includes Star Wars, Marvel, Pixar, ABC, ESPN, the world’s most popular amusement parks, and, of course, its classic animated-film division. When Mufasa tells Simba in The Lion King that “everything the light touches is our kingdom,” it isn’t just memorable screenwriting. It is corporate guidance.

 

Edited December 15, 2017 by ShadySands

[Raithe]

Because, Not politics, have some cute: