ABC promo blunder: Snow White's magic crotch... -

ABC promo blunder: Snow White's magic crotch... - 



ABC scored an accidental social media bullseye during Once Upon a Time last night. A pop-up animated graphic for the show’s Wonderland spin-off featured the White Rabbit making a magic portal in exactly the wrong spot — or the right one. The moment came just after Snow White (Ginnifer Goodwin) uttered the line: “You’re searching for something powerful enough to vanquish the queen.” Wonderland‘s White Rabbit, it seems, has a suggestion.
Here’s the gif, then see below for Once Upon showrunners giving their take on the promo.

russfrushtick

http://instagram.com/p/fJaRdjDCUD/

EW spoke to Once Upon a Time and Wonderland showrunners Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz about the goof.
“I never thought I would have so many emails about Ginny’s vagina,” Kitsis joked, then more seriously noted: “It’s embarrassing, but at the same time, it’s so silly it’s hard to take serious. It’s so obvious that somebody didn’t realize what they were doing.”
“We’re grateful ABC is spending so much time promoting both shows, but it was an interesting cross-promotion,” Horowitz added.
The “magic crotch” promo actually could turn out to a blessing. With Wonderland premiering Thursday in a tough time slot at 8 p.m., the tremendous online and social media pickup of the spot arguably promotes the new series in a whole new viral way.

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http://insidetv.ew.com/2013/10/07/once-upon-promo-blunder-snow-whites-magic-crotch/

Gulf States Developing Medical Test to Detect Gay Travelers... -

Gulf States Developing Medical Test to Detect Gay Travelers...



A medical test being developed by Kuwait will be used to 'detect' homosexuals and prevent them from entering the country – or any of the Gulf Cooperation Countries (GCC), according to a Kuwaiti government official.
GCC member countries – Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates – already deem homosexual acts unlawful. 
This controversial stance is being toughened, with members of the LGBT community stopped at the border and banned from entering the country, according to Yousouf Mindkar, the director of public health at the Kuwaiti health ministry.

He told Kuwait newspaper Al Rai: ‘Health centres conduct the routine medical check to assess the health of the expatriates when they come into the GCC countries. However, we will take stricter measures that will help us detect gays who will be then barred from entering Kuwait or any of the GCC member states.’

Those taking part in homosexual acts in Kuwait, if they’re under 21, can receive a jail sentence of up to 10 years.
Earlier this month Oman newspaper The Week was suspended over an article that was deemed to be sympathetic to homosexuals, according to the BBC.
It’s illegal to be gay in 78 countries, with lesbianism banned in 49. Five countries mete out the death penalty to gay people – Iran, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Yemen and Mauritania.

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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2449051/Gulf-states-introduce-medical-testing-travellers-detect-gay-people-stop-entering-country.html

Is Homeland Security Preparing for the Next Wall Street Collapse? -

Is Homeland Security Preparing for the Next Wall Street Collapse? - 



Reports are that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is engaged in a massive, covert military buildup. An article in the Associated Press in February confirmed an open purchase order by DHS for 1.6 billion rounds of ammunition. According to an op-ed in Forbes, that’s enough to sustain an Iraq-sized war for over twenty years. DHS has also acquired heavily armored tanks, which have been seen roaming the streets. Evidently somebody in government is expecting some serious civil unrest. The question is, why?

Recently revealed statements by former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown at the height of the banking crisis in October 2008 could give some insights into that question. An article on BBC News on September 21, 2013, drew from an explosive autobiography called Power Trip by Brown’s spin doctor Damian McBride, who said the prime minister was worried that law and order could collapse during the financial crisis. McBride quoted Brown as saying:

If the banks are shutting their doors, and the cash points aren’t working, and people go to Tesco [a grocery chain] and their cards aren’t being accepted, the whole thing will just explode.

If you can’t buy food or petrol or medicine for your kids, people will just start breaking the windows and helping themselves.

And as soon as people see that on TV, that’s the end, because everyone will think that’s OK now, that’s just what we all have to do. It’ll be anarchy. That’s what could happen tomorrow.

How to deal with that threat? Brown said, “We’d have to think: do we have curfews, do we put the Army on the streets, how do we get order back?”

McBride wrote in his book Power Trip, “It was extraordinary to see Gordon so totally gripped by the danger of what he was about to do, but equally convinced that decisive action had to be taken immediately.” He compared the threat to the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Fear of this threat was echoed in September 2008 by US Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, who reportedly warned that the US government might have to resort to martial law if Wall Street were not bailed out from the credit collapse.

In both countries, martial law was avoided when their legislatures succumbed to pressure and bailed out the banks. But many pundits are saying that another collapse is imminent; and this time, governments may not be so willing to step up to the plate.

The Next Time WILL Be Different

What triggered the 2008 crisis was a run, not in the conventional banking system, but in the “shadow” banking system, a collection of non-bank financial intermediaries that provide services similar to traditional commercial banks but are unregulated.  They include hedge funds, money market funds, credit investment funds, exchange-traded funds, private equity funds, securities broker dealers, securitization and finance companies. Investment banks and commercial banks may also conduct much of their business in the shadows of this unregulated system

The shadow financial casino has only grown larger since 2008; and in the next Lehman-style collapse, government bailouts may not be available. According to President Obama in his remarks on the Dodd-Frank Act on July 15, 2010, “Because of this reform, . . . there will be no more taxpayer funded bailouts – period.”

Governments in Europe are also shying away from further bailouts. The Financial Stability Board (FSB) in Switzerland has therefore required the systemically risky banks to devise “living wills” setting forth what they will do in the event of insolvency. The template established by the FSB requires them to “bail in” their creditors; and depositors, it turns out, are the largest class of bank creditor. (For fuller discussion, see my earlier article here.)

When depositors cannot access their bank accounts to get money for food for the kids, they could well start breaking store windows and helping themselves. Worse, they might plot to overthrow the financier-controlled government. Witness Greece, where increasing disillusionment with the ability of the government to rescue the citizens from the worst depression since 1929 has precipitated riots and threats of violent overthrow.

Fear of that result could explain the massive, government-authorized spying on American citizens, the domestic use of drones, and the elimination of due process and of “posse comitatus” (the federal law prohibiting the military from enforcing “law and order” on non-federal property). Constitutional protections are being thrown out the window in favor of protecting the elite class in power.

The Looming Debt Ceiling Crisis

The next crisis on the agenda appears to be the October 17th deadline for agreeing on a federal budget or risking default on the government’s loans. It may only be a coincidence, but two large-scale drills are scheduled to take place the same day, the “Great ShakeOut Earthquake Drill” and the “Quantum Dawn 2 Cyber Attack Bank Drill.” According to a Bloomberg news clip on the bank drill, the attacks being prepared for are from hackers, state-sponsored espionage, and organized crime (financial fraud). One interviewee stated, “You might experience that your online banking is down . . . . You might experience that you can’t log in.” It sounds like a dress rehearsal for the Great American Bail-in.

Ominous as all this is, it has a bright side. Bail-ins and martial law can be seen as the last desperate thrashings of a dinosaur. The exploitative financial scheme responsible for turning millions out of their jobs and their homes has reached the end of the line. Crisis in the current scheme means opportunity for those more sustainable solutions waiting in the wings.

Other countries faced with a collapse in their debt-based borrowed currencies have survived and thrived by issuing their own. When the dollar-pegged currency collapsed in Argentina in 2001, the national government returned to issuing its own pesos; municipal governments paid with “debt-canceling bonds” that circulated as currency; and neighborhoods traded with community currencies. After the German currency collapsed in the 1920s, the government turned the economy around in the 1930s by issuing “MEFO” bills that circulated as currency. When England ran out of gold in 1914, the government issued “Bradbury pounds” similar to the Greenbacks issued by Abraham Lincoln during the US Civil War.

Today our government could avoid the debt ceiling crisis by doing something similar: it could simply mint some trillion dollar coins and deposit them in an account. That alternative could be pursued by the Administration immediately, without going to Congress or changing the law, as discussed in my earlier article here. It need not be inflationary, since Congress could still spend only what it passed in its budget. And if Congress did expand its budget for infrastructure and job creation, that would actually be good for the economy, since hoarding cash and paying down loans have significantly shrunk the circulating money supply.

Peer-to-peer Trading and Public Banks

At the local level, we need to set up an alternative system that provides safety for depositors, funds small and medium-sized businesses, and serves the needs of the community.

Much progress has already been made on that front in the peer-to-peer economy.  In a September 27th article titled “Peer-to-Peer Economy Thrives as Activists Vacate the System,” Eric Blair reports that the Occupy Movement is engaged in a peaceful revolution in which people are abandoning the established system in favor of a “sharing economy.” Trading occurs between individuals, without taxes, regulations or licenses, and in some cases without government-issued currency.

Peer-to-peer trading happens largely on the Internet, where customer reviews rather than regulation keep sellers honest. It started with eBay and Craigslist and has grown exponentially since. Bitcoin is a private currency outside the prying eyes of regulators. Software is being devised that circumvents NSA spying. Bank loans are being shunned in favor of crowdfunding. Local food co-ops are also a form of opting out of the corporate-government system.

Peer-to-peer trading works for local exchange, but we also need a way to protect our dollars, both public and private. We need dollars to pay at least some of our bills, and businesses need them to acquire raw materials. We also need a way to protect our public revenues, which are currently deposited and invested in Wall Street banks that have heavy derivatives exposure.

To meet those needs, we can set up publicly-owned banks on the model of the Bank of North Dakota, currently our only state-owned depository bank. The BND is mandated by law to receive all the state’s deposits and to serve the public interest. Ideally, every state would have one of these “mini-Feds.” Counties and cities could have them as well. For more information, see http://PublicBankingInstitute.org.

Preparations for martial law have been reported for decades, and it hasn’t happened yet. Hopefully, we can sidestep that danger by moving into a saner, more sustainable system that makes military action against American citizens unnecessary.

Read more - 

http://www.webofdebt.com/

http://www.blacklistednews.com/Is_Homeland_Security_Preparing_for_the_Next_Wall_Street_Collapse%3F/29414/0/0/0/Y/M.html

‘Sugar Daddy’ Dating Sites Say Government Shutdown A Huge Boost To Sign-Ups - 



An online dating website which bills itself as “The World’s Largest Sugar Daddy Dating Website” says it has recorded a 50 percent jump in average daily sign-ups since the start of the government shutdown.

SeekingArrangement.com claims its traffic has seen a dramatic rise in people seeking “sugar daddy’s,” which Merriam-Webster defines as: “A well-to-do usually older man who supports or spends lavishly on a mistress, girlfriend, or boyfriend.”

Similarly, WhatsYourPrice.com – which allows first-dates to the highest bidder – has reported a similar massive increase in daily signups since last Sunday despite the fall typically being a slow time of year for such financial matching websites.

“We usually have a lull in September and October,” Seeking Arrangement’s public relations manager Jennifer Gwynn told NPR. “For us to peak at the end of the month in September, and this week in general, it makes no sense for us to have a growth like this.”

Loss of funds and a quick-fix for cash from the federal government shutdown are being attributed as factors for the websites’ current success. Seeking Arrangement’s website says it always free for “Sugar Babies,” and says the site is for matchmaking between “successful and wealthy benefactors, and attractive guys and girls.”

“Half of the new members are single moms, so we’re thinking that it’s tied directly to the government shutdown, since programs like WIC (the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children), that help more than 9 million moms, have been stalled. It would make no sense for growth otherwise.”

Read more - 

http://washington.cbslocal.com/2013/10/07/sugar-daddy-dating-sites-say-government-shutdown-a-huge-boost-to-sign-ups/

Police Ticket Girl’s Pink Barbie Jeep For Blocking A Driveway -

Police Ticket Girl’s Pink Barbie Jeep For Blocking A Driveway - 



American Fork police ticketed a little girl’s pink Barbie Jeep after an officer noticed it in the road blocking a driveway, according to KUTV.

Two sisters, 7 and 9 years old, reportedly left the Jeep in the street after riding around in it. An officer saw the vehicle and placed it in their driveway.

When their dad woke up the next morning, he noticed an “abandoned vehicle tag” on the Barbie Jeep.

There was no fine or notice on the ticket, though.

“We would hope that people would appreciate the fact that we’re there in their neighborhood and we’re looking out for them and their property,” police told KUTV.

The girls say they’ve learned a lesson and will keep the Barbie Jeep in the garage from now on.

Read more - 

http://lasvegas.cbslocal.com/2013/10/07/police-ticket-girls-pink-barbie-jeep-for-blocking-a-driveway/

Olympic flame arrives in Russia … and extinguishes itself - and has to be relit with lighter -

Olympic flame arrives in Russia … and extinguishes itself - and has to be relit with lighter - 



The Olympic flame, which was lit a week ago in Greece and flown to Moscow on Sunday, briefly went out as the torch bearer ran towards the Kremlin.

The glitch occurred when the man ran through a long passageway, which apparently created a wind tunnel, extinguishing the flame. A man standing along the route pulled out a lighter and the flame leaped back to life.

The torch relay will stay in Moscow for the next three days, with hundreds of athletes, cultural figures and others, including Prince Albert II of Monaco, taking part.

The flame will then begin its journey across Russia, travelling from the western enclave of Kaliningrad to the easternmost point just across the Bering strait from Alaska, before swinging back through the vast country to Sochi in time for the opening ceremony on 7 February 2014.

For most of the 39,000-mile (65,000km) trip, the flame will travel by plane, train, car and even reindeer sleigh, safely encased inside a lantern. But 14,000 torch bearers also will take part in the relay at the more than 130 stops along the way.

One of the silver and red torches, unlit, will be carried into space in November for a brief visit to the International Space Station, and this same torch will be used to light the Olympic flame in Sochi.

Read more - 

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2013/oct/06/olympic-flame-arrives-in-russia-and-extinguishes-itself

New Air Force cargo planes fly straight into mothballs - $50 million each & still hasn’t stopped ordering them -

New Air Force cargo planes fly straight into mothballs - $50 million each & still hasn’t stopped ordering them - 



The Pentagon is sending $50 million cargo planes straight from the assembly line to mothballs because it has no use for them, yet it still hasn’t stopped ordering the aircraft, according to a report.

A dozen nearly new Italian-built C-27J Spartans have been shipped to an Air Force facility in Arizona dubbed “the boneyard,” and five more currently under construction are likely headed for the same fate, according to an investigation by the Dayton Daily News.  The Air Force has spent $567 million on 21 of the planes since 2007, according to purchasing officials at Dayton’s Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Of those, 16 have been delivered – with almost all sent directly to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, where some 4,400 aircraft and 13 aerospace vehicles, with a total value of more than $35 billion, sit unused.

The C-27J has the unique capability of taking off and landing on crude runways, Ethan Rosenkranz, national security analyst at the Project on Government Oversight, told the newspaper. But with sequestration dictating Pentagon cuts, the planes were deemed a luxury it couldn't afford.

“When they start discarding these programs, it's wasteful,” he said.

The planes are built by Rome-based Alenia Aermacchi, under what was initially a $2 billion contract, though that was scaled back.

Local politics appear to have played a role in the planes continued manufacture, according to the newspaper. Ohio's senators, Democrat Sherrod Brown and Republican Rob Portman, were both defenders of the C-27J when 800 jobs and a mission at Mansfield Air National Guard Base depended on it. Brown urged the military in a 2011 letter to purchase up to 42 of the aircraft, saying too few planes "will weaken our national and homeland defense." Congress pulled the plug on the broader expenditure.

But canceling orders for planes already being built is not feasible -- even if they are not needed, according to Air Force spokesman Darryl Mayer.

"They are too near completion for a termination to be cost effective and other government agencies have requested the aircraft," Mayer told the paper.

Read more - 

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/10/07/new-air-force-cargo-planes-fly-straight-into-mothballs/?intcmp=latestnews

Bendable, foldable phones coming... -

Bendable, foldable phones coming... - 



LG Electronics Inc's display unit said on Monday it will start mass production of curved smartphone displays as the South Korean phone maker plans to launch a smartphone with the new screens next month to catch bigger rival Samsung Electronics Co Ltd.

Samsung said last month it would introduce a smartphone with a curved display in October as the world's top handset maker seeks to set the pace of hardware innovation amid slowing growth in the high-end smartphone market.

Curved displays are in the early stages of development and allow bendable or foldable designs that could eventually allow mobile and wearable gadgets to take new forms that could radically change the high-end smartphone market.

LG Display Co Ltd said on Monday it has started production of a six-inch display curved top to bottom. LG Electronics plans to launch a smartphone with the curved display in November, a source familiar with the matter said.

By contrast, Samsung's phone will have a display curved side to side, another source who has direct knowledge of the matter said.

In January Samsung, which has taken over from Apple Inc as the global smartphone leader, showed off prototype products with a flexible screen and a display that extends from the side of a device.

Technology firms have yet to figure out how to mass produce the parts cheaply and come up with display panels that can be thin and heat resistant.

Read more - 

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/10/07/us-lg-curved-displays-idUSBRE99607720131007

Journalism Students Get News From CBS, MSNBC, NBC, NPR, NYT -- and Jon Stewart... -

Journalism Students Get News From CBS, MSNBC, NBC, NPR, NYT -- and Jon Stewart... - 



You want to know why most members of the press are liberal?

Well, as CNN's Reliable Sources showed Sunday during an interview with a group of journalism students at the George Washington University School of Media and Public Affairs, these folks apart from Facebook and Twitter get their "news" from liberal sources such as the Associated Press, CBS, CNN, MSNBC, NBC, NPR, the New York Times, the Washington Post, and believe it or not Jon Stewart



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