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Jon Stewart Compares CNN's Lack Of Baltimore Coverage To 'Masturbating In The Street'

Jon Stewart Compares CNN's Lack Of Baltimore Coverage To 'Masturbating In The Street'


As demonstrators took to the streets of Baltimore to protest police brutality on Saturday night, CNN largely stuck with its coverage of the White House Correspondents' Dinner. As Jon Stewart pointed out on Monday night's "Daily Show," it got pretty awkward.

During a discussion of the celebrity red carpet arrivals, one CNN host noted that many people on social media were asking for coverage of the unrest.

"This is what people want to hear about, this is what people are talking about," one host said.

"Yeah, it's important," another host agreed, but then quickly added: "I do want to get to the red carpet."

That led Stewart to make a memorable analogy.

"It's one thing to say, 'Oh, that's terrible. We should be doing that,' and then go do it," Stewart said. "But to say it's terrible, we should do it, and not do it, it's sort of like standing in the middle of the street going, 'Oh, people are saying I shouldn't be masturbating in the street, but ... you know ... my balls aren't going to release themselves."

Stewart even played a clip of one of the network's commentators suggesting people could find the latest information on Baltimore elsewhere.

After mimicking a head explosion, Stewart responded: "To be clear, a guy on CNN just said 'Hey, if people are looking for news, I'm sure they can find it somewhere.' It would be like Google going 'What's your question? I don't know, just look it up yourself, I'm busy.'"

See his full takedown of CNN in the clip above.

Charity, Solidarity Arise In South Africa After Anti-Foreigner Attacks

Charity, Solidarity Arise In South Africa After Anti-Foreigner Attacks


JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Recent attacks on immigrants and their businesses in some parts of South Africa revealed anger over limited economic opportunities and a degree of intolerance, but they also gave rise to charity and solidarity.

Gift of the Givers, a South African aid group inspired by a Muslim Sufi group from Turkey, established a camp on the grounds of an Anglican church in Johannesburg for foreigners, most from other African countries, who sought shelter from the attacks. "There are no boundaries," Emily Thomas, a Gift of the Givers representative, said on Sunday in reference to the working relationship with the Christ Church in the city's Mayfair district.

At the Regina Mundi church in the Soweto area of Johannesburg, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela on Saturday expressed gratitude for a gathering of people opposed to the violence.

"We are so grateful that today we can be here as one, speaking about peace," Madikizela-Mandela, a leading dissident in the apartheid era and divorced wife of the late Nelson Mandela, said at the church where, years ago, blacks fleeing the guns and truncheons of the apartheid security forces had sought refuge.

She said the word xenophobia "should not even exist in South Africa."

The Alma Chamber Orchestra, which includes musicians from top French orchestras, performed Mozart and Vivaldi concertos at the Soweto church and was joined by a local string ensemble. Some spectators danced in the aisles as South African violinists sashayed and stamped to their own urban rhythms.

The looting and violence killed seven people in parts of Durban and Johannesburg and led to soul-searching as South Africa on Monday celebrated Freedom Day, a public holiday marking the anniversary of its first all-race elections on April 27, 1994. The ruling African National Congress said the vast majority of South Africans are not "hostile and intolerant of our brothers and citizens from the rest of the African continent."

Zodwa Makau, a Soweto resident who attended the church concert, said she hoped the anti-immigrant violence is over.

"I think 95 percent of people (in South Africa) understand that this should not have happened," Makau said.

Everglades Under Attack

Everglades Under Attack


THE FLORIDA EVERGLADES is one of the most unique natural resources in the world, with an abundance of wildlife found nowhere else. It also soaks up carbon dioxide from the air better than major rainforests around the world, researchers say.

But it is slowly disappearing, and has been for more than a century. Today, the Everglades is about the size of New Jersey — half the size it once was.

Much of the damage has been caused by humans through water diversion, population pressures, and agricultural run-off. But there are more subtle forces at work, including the growing effects of climate change.

Healthy Living - 5 Ways to Leave a Great Legacy

Healthy Living - 5 Ways to Leave a Great Legacy


The discussion of leaving a legacy has come up in conversation lately among my friends and family. Most of my friends are almost or just past mid-century age, and my sons- and daughters-in-law are almost 40 years old or older. There must something in the water.

I thought about the concept of legacy when my grandchildren were born and that was 10 years ago when I was 61. It seems my friends and family are way ahead of me on the idea of a life well lived and what they will leave future generations. One of my sons said to me the other day: "My work is done on this earth. I have three wonderful children." I tried not to tear up.

The idea of leaving a legacy is the need or the desire to be remembered for what you have contributed to the world. In some cases, that contribution can be so special that the universe is unalterably changed. However, for most mere mortals walking this earth, most will leave a more modest legacy that doesn't necessarily change the world but does leave a lasting footprint that will be remembered by those whose lives you touched.

You hope your life matters in some way. I know I do. I've been teaching since the age of 22 and teaching is my legacy, my contribution that hopefully enlightened the lives of my students whether they became actors, scientists, doctors, mothers or yogis. My teaching is a gift that keeps on giving because it leads me to other learning and knowing experiences that I share with others.

My purpose legacy is my family: two sons and five grandchildren. I hope I am fully present to be the best that I can be as a mother and grandmother. I also hope that I am leaving a legacy as a good daughter and a loyal and loving sister and friend.

2015-04-26-1430087291-6383317-images.jpeg

"Carve your name on hearts, not tombstones. A legacy is etched into the minds of others and the stories they share about you." -- Shannon L. Alder

Here are five ways to leave a great legacy:

1. Support the People and Causes That are Important to You
My best friend of decades ago once asked me what I thought was the most important attribute of friendship. I replied that support was the major theme of friendship. There isn't any more wonderful feeling in life than making the choice to sustain loyalty to a friend by lovingly supporting everything that is good and right about that person's life. My friend was an advocate of a few major causes in the city we resided in and I supported those causes, too, as she supported mine. Although we parted ways when I moved out of the city, she would always reach out to me and remember my work, my life and my family.

2. Reflect and Decide What is Most Important in Your Life
When you review your life's journey, several ideas may come to mind: Did you grow and perhaps transform your life, make changes when you needed to, find your truth, inspire others, become a leader or influence others? Touching lives and exemplifying a truthful path is paramount to living a joyful and purposeful life. Your legacy will live on.

3. Share Your Blessings With Others
I was walking two dogs the other day -- one dog was totally blind and the other dog stubbornly knew her mind. I stopped suddenly in the middle of my son's beautiful neighborhood to observe with wonder the late afternoon thunderclouds bulging out from the mountains. I thought of all the blessings I have in life and how I try to be mindful of sharing with others the richness of my life. I have been given abundance and such is my fate. And it is my legacy to give back this abundance to others. Everyone has blessings to share, even if it a simple smile of acknowledgement.

4. Be a Mentor to Others
A mentor by definition is a more experienced or more knowledgeable person with an area of expertise. Everyone has some significant truth to impart to others that will guide less experienced people in life. The mentoring/mentee relationship involves personal development and support. This process involves an exchange of knowledge complimented by psychological and/or social support that is crucial to sustaining new mindsets. Sometimes these relationships last a lifetime, even when the mentee has moved on to influence others.

5. Pursue Your Passions Because They Are Infectious
Your passions are your legacy. Passion comes from an outpouring of the interests and ideas that make a difference in your life. Finding and pursing your passion allows you to see your destiny clearly. That's what happened to me with yoga and dancing tango. I can attest to the fact that life won't be any fun if you don't pursue your passions to the fullest. It's contagious. It's religious. It's religious. Don't miss the opportunity to pursue your passions and then continue to look for new adventures.

Leaving a legacy is an important part of your life's work. A legacy develops from a life dedicated to self-reflection and purpose. What will be revealed and what will endure is a truthful and value driven body of living.

Joan Moran is a keynote speaker, commanding the stage with her delightful humor, raw energy, and wealth of life experiences. She is an expert on wellness and is passionate about addressing the problems of mental inertia. A yoga instructor, Moran is the author is "Sixty, Sex, & Tango, Confessions of a Beatnik Boomer." Visit her at www.joanfrancesmoran.com.

Healthy Living - Nepal Earthquake Happened Right On Schedule, Scientists Say

Healthy Living - Nepal Earthquake Happened Right On Schedule, Scientists Say


A devastating 7.8-magnitude earthquake in Nepal on Saturday was part of a pattern of major temblors that have become so predictable that many seismologists had been expecting this one -- and at least one team of researchers warned just weeks ago that a major quake was due in the exact location where this one struck.

Nepal sits right where the Indo-Australian Plate is pushing itself beneath the Eurasian Plate, a collision that gave rise to the Himalayan Mountains. As the plates push, pressure builds, eventually resulting in a quake to relieve that pressure.

And according to Nature, the Indo-Australian Plate is still pushing itself under the Eurasian Plate at a rate of nearly 2 inches per year.

"Geologically speaking, that's very fast," Lung S. Chan, a geophysicist at the University of Hong Kong, told the Wall Street Journal. "Earthquakes dissipate energy, like lifting the lid off a pot of boiling water... But it builds back up after you put the lid back on."

That immense and constant pressure has led to an unusually regular pattern of major quakes, making it "one of the most seismically hazardous regions on Earth," according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

Major earthquakes in the region are so regular that they occur roughly every 75-80 years. With the last one hitting just east of Kathmandu 81 years ago in 1934, most seismologists believed the area was due for another.

"We knew it was going to happen. We saw it in '34," USGS geologist Susan Hough told the Washington Post. "The earthquakes we expect to happen do happen."

One team of researchers not only expected this earthquake to happen, but even pinpointed the location.

Laurent Bollinger of the CEA research agency in France told the BBC that his team had been digging trenches along the fault. Using carbon dating on charcoal samples found in the trenches, they discovered one segment that hadn't moved in nearly 700 years.

The last time it did was in 1344, and it came 89 years after a segment of the fault east of Kathmandu moved -- the same segment of the fault that moved 81 years ago in 1934.

As it's common for strain to transfer from one part of a fault to another, Bollinger's team warned at a Nepal Geological Society meeting in early April that the same pattern could occur again. And now that it has, Bollinger is warning that Saturday's quake may not have been enough to relieve all the pressure.

"Early calculations suggest that Saturday's magnitude-7.8 earthquake is probably not big enough to rupture all the way to the surface, so there is still likely to be more strain stored, and we should probably expect another big earthquake to the west and south of this one in the coming decades," Bollinger told the BBC.
-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

Healthy Living - San Francisco Will End Chronic Vet Homelessness This Year: Mayor

Healthy Living - San Francisco Will End Chronic Vet Homelessness This Year: Mayor


San Francisco is on track to reach a major milestone in its fight against homelessness, according to its mayor.

During a stop at the city's veterans memorial on Wednesday, Ed Lee announced the Golden Gate City would house all of its chronically homeless veterans this year "by committing the resources necessary," the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

According to the news outlet, the city -- through partnerships with federal agencies and nonprofits -- has placed about 500 chronically homeless veterans into stable housing since 2013.

San Francisco has used both city and federal funding to put roofs over vets' heads, like renovating the former Stanford Hotel to accommodate 130 homeless people.

Lee's announcement comes amidst a nationwide prioritization among cities to find housing for every veteran who's struggled to find stable shelter.

On Monday, first lady Michelle Obama praised New Orleans for becoming the country's first major city to achieve the feat last December, and -- despite experiencing record-highs of overall homelessness in recent months -- the Big Apple could end the crisis among veterans in 2015, too, according to Mayor Bill de Blasio.

"Those who fight abroad to protect our freedom should never be left without a home here in the country they defended," De Blasio said in February, the Gotham Gazette reported. "It makes no sense, and we won't let it happen."

The U.S. has made considerable progress on the issue under President Obama, according to the White House. Between 2009 and January 2014, veteran homelessness dropped 33 percent, including a 42 percent reduction in veterans who were living unsheltered (as opposed to staying in impermanent housing conditions, such as shelters).

Although San Francisco is expecting to win its war against veteran homelessness, the city counted 6,436 homeless people in total in its latest survey -- a figure that has remained relatively unchanged since at least 2005.

Gary Kamiya, executive editor of San Francisco magazine, wrote about the city's longstanding struggle to curb homelessness in a recent article for San Francisco magazine.

"Even as the city undergoes another of its seismic transformations, with new skyscrapers piercing the horizon, gleaming apartment buildings popping up every month, and startup companies sprouting from every crack and corner like sour grass," he wrote in the magazine's March issue. "One thing has not changed about its landscape: The homeless."

To help fight homelessness, support PATH (People Assisting The Homeless) by using the Crowdrise widget below.

Fundraising Websites - Crowdrise

Police Throw Rocks Back At Protesters In Baltimore

Police Throw Rocks Back At Protesters In Baltimore


Baltimore police officers targeted by rock-throwing protesters on Monday appeared to hurl projectiles toward crowds on at least two occasions.

One photo shows a projectile, possibly a rock or piece of concrete, leaving an officer's hand.

protests baltimore

(AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

Video taken from a helicopter appears to show another officer hurling objects toward protesters, including many who appeared to be teenagers.




At least seven officers were injured Monday as protesters launched rocks, bricks and other objects at police. Some of the projectiles were reportedly heavy enough to break police riot shields. Baltimore police Capt. Eric Kowalczyk said one of the officers who had been hit was "unresponsive," and others had "broken bones."

Kowalczyk suggested police would deploy traditional riot-dispersing tools. "You're gonna see tear gas, you're gonna see pepper balls," he said.

Police didn't immediately answer a request for comment about the photos of officers throwing projectiles.

On Monday morning, mourners gathered for the funeral of 25-year-old Freddie Gray, who sustained a fatal spinal injury in Baltimore Police custody earlier this month. He was arrested for running away from officers, and was placed in the back of a police van without a seatbelt, a violation of department policy. Video of his arrest and questions about his death had led to multiple rounds of mostly peaceful protests throughout the city before Monday.

Emi Mamiya Allegedly Stabs Husband Over Bathroom Stink: Report

Emi Mamiya Allegedly Stabs Husband Over Bathroom Stink: Report

This situation stinks for everyone involved.

A Japanese woman faces attempted murder charges after she allegedly slashed her husband's face with a kitchen knife. Tokyo police said the attack was spurred by a stink that the victim left in the bathroom at their home in Otaku.

Emi Mamiya, 29, allegedly said her husband went to the bathroom and left an intolerably bad smell behind on the afternoon of April 12, according to Japanese wire service Jiji Press.

She also said the 34-year-old man then tried to help their 3-year-old use the toilet "without washing his own hands first," Agence France Presse reports.

According to TBS News, Mamiya became enraged and attacked the victim with a knife, leaving a 7-inch gash in his left cheek. Officers from the Tokyo Metropolitan Police arrested Mamiya at the scene.

She denies that she tried to kill her husband.

This Controversial Chinese Company Wants To 3-D Print Your Next House

This Controversial Chinese Company Wants To 3-D Print Your Next House


SUZHOU, China -- Walking through WinSun's show lot in the Suzhou Industrial Park, one gets a glimpse of the past and possible future of building construction. Views from the fifth story of a boxy concrete structure reveal a horizon typical of the outskirts of Chinese cities today: Clusters of construction cranes surround high rises sprouting from rice fields.

Streams of trucks flow to and from these construction sites, carrying in the raw ingredients of China's construction industry -- migrant workers, steel and lots of cement -- and departing with loads of wood scraps and building waste. It's a model that has fueled the largest urbanization and housing boom in history, while also helping pollute China's skies and deplete its natural resources.

square houses from above

WinSun (Chinese name: Yingchuang) says it wants to overturn that model. That boxy concrete structure isn't made of the usual blend of ingredients. It was 3-D printed inside WinSun's factory, using a machine that turns construction waste and digital designs into precisely layered walls. That's a production model that could upend labor markets, housing markets and the entire architectural design process.

Or it could be a gimmick, a publicity ploy based on stolen technology with no real chance of working in the real world. At this point it's hard to tell for sure, and that's part of what makes the emerging world of buildings printed in 3-D so fascinating.

WinSun's 3-D printed structures have attracted equal parts buzz and controversy. The company advertises itself as the breakout innovator in a field that will dramatically reduce building waste and labor inputs. But the academic credited as the founding father of this field says WinSun infringed on his patents, stealing innovative techniques that took him decades to formulate. Developers, architects and researchers remain similarly divided over whether 3-D printed houses are safe, affordable or even desirable.

mansion and puddle

The company at the center of the controversy got its start as a supplier of construction materials, but made international headlines last year when it unveiled 10 small houses in Shanghai that it had printed in its factory.

In 3-D printing (also known as additive manufacturing) objects are built up layer by layer. A 3-D printer intakes a digital design, and then a moving nozzle deposits successive layers of fast-hardening liquid, with each layer drying before the next layer is set down. 3-D printing allows for greater flexibility in the design and prototyping process, but is usually slower and and more expensive than mass production using molds.

WinSun took the basic concept behind 3-D printing and applied it on a much larger scale, using a cement-like mix of construction waste as the liquid. Structures standing in the WinSun lot bear enlarged hallmarks of 3-D printing -- the walls are composed of hundreds of stacked layers, each about an inch thick and rough to the touch. WinSun says it could smooth out the layers but maintains their original outline to demonstrate the technology.

gradient and staircase

Clusters of empty and roofless structures abut a more polished mansion with some bare bones furnishings inside. WinSun says the mansion's five-story neighbor is the tallest building ever produced by a 3-D printer, but it has a 100-meter-high tower in the works.

The company says it has already secured orders for its machines from clients in several countries, including a firm that hopes to print out 20,000 affordable houses for the Egyptian government. WinSun won't divulge the names of its clients, but one employee claimed that the relative of a Saudi prince toured the facilities and was considering ordering a mansion.

In marketing its technology, WinSun emphasizes the environmental benefits of reductions in construction materials (30 to 60 percent, according to some estimates). WinSun CEO Ma Yihe says that in the coming years the company will build "dream factories" around the world, using sand and other construction waste as the main ingredients in its liquid. Ma says WinSun has already begun construction on a handful of factories in China and one in Dubai.

"We'll use local materials, build locally and sell locally," Ma told The WorldPost.

tree framed

Most appealing to Chinese developers is the labor-saving nature of the machines. After three decades in which China's number of migrant laborers reached into the hundreds of millions, recent labor shortages have led to wage hikes. On a recent Friday, Xu Feng, a real estate developer from a neighboring province, wandered the WinSun lot, asking for cost specifications and taking pictures with his iPad.

"Right now the biggest problem in real estate is migrant workers," Xu told The WorldPost. "If this can replace migrant workers, then it'll definitely be the trend of the future. Absolutely."

According to WinSun, the company's 3-D printer is 150 meters long, 10 meters wide and 6.6 meters tall. It can allegedly crank out at least one story of a building each day, and these component pieces are then assembled and stacked on site. WinSun doesn't allow anyone to view its machine or production processes, citing concerns over intellectual property.

wall top view

Those are precautions Dr. Behrokh Khoshnevis didn't take. Khoshnevis, a professor at the University of Southern California, pioneered a 3-D printing technique for concrete known as Contour Crafting. That technique recently won a major award from NASA, and based on video recordings, it appears strikingly similar to techniques employed by WinSun. The similarity is no accident, according to Khoshnevis.

"WinSun basically copied my patents, infringed on my patents," Khoshnevis told The WorldPost.

Khoshnevis says WinSun's CEO approached him in 2013, offering to act as a materials supplier for Khoshnevis' project. Ma visited Khoshnevis' Los Angeles workshop and Khoshnevis saw Ma's company in China.

"He showed me materials and asked me to show him the consistency and all that," says Khoshnevis. "I showed him a lot of things thinking he was going to supply material."

Khoshnevis remains indignant about the incident, but says he isn't pursuing legal action because he believes his technology is years ahead of his rival's. He believes his technology holds massive promise for affordable housing, post-disaster relief and even space colonization.

guard shack

WinSun's CEO says Khoshnevis isn't pursuing legal action because he has no basis for his claims. Ma says WinSun developed the crucial liquid entirely on its own, and points out that Khoshnevis and his team have yet to build a complete structure.

"I don't know what kind of intellectual property he has and I don't really understand the things he's done because there isn't anything there," Ma told The WorldPost. "What does he have that we could look at? Nothing. What does he have that we could learn from? Nothing. Even if we wanted to learn from his stuff, there'd be no way for us to learn."

Khoshnevis says he has been working on Contour Crafting for 20 years, and he claims that he could have produced WinSun-like structures as early as 2004. But to-date he hasn't been able to complete a full structure because of funding limitations and U.S. liability laws.

"We cannot build a structure out in the field without having a permit from authorities," Khoshnevis explains. "If we build something and some homeless guy goes and lives in there and they have an earthquake, then I would be liable."

walking between

Those concerns haven't held back WinSun, and the company's first-mover status has brought huge amounts of publicity. Khoshnevis and some experts in the field maintain that WinSun's structures aren't earthquake resistant, but in January the company's structures received the thumbs-up from the lead engineer at a major state-owned construction company. Ma claims that the companies' first structures already have people living in them.

Those people are "very brave," according to Lei Yu a Harvard-educated architect who now conducts research and produces 3-D printers in Beijing. He argues that major problems exist in maintaining stability between printed layers in the event of an earthquake.


rebar pins


Yu has extensive experience in both architecture and cutting-edge 3-D printing, but he says for now the fields are tangentially related at best. While 3-D printing is helping architects build models to better conceptualize organic and non-linear structures, Yu and other architects say we'll likely see traditional homes put together by robots before we see 3-D printers popping out finished structures.

In the meantime, both Khoshnevis and WinSun are forging ahead. Khoshnevis says he is now forming a company and acquiring the factory space that will allow Contour Crafting to finally produce finished structures. Ma claims he welcomes the competition.

"We hope they'll produce something and give us an opportunity to learn," Ma said. "But so far we haven't seen it and he hasn't contacted us." -- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.