Adidas Wilson's Blog, page 132
June 19, 2017
How Travel Leads to Stronger Romantic Relationships
Last year, a flight delay almost ended my marriage.
My wife and I were en route to a West Coast wedding when a storm diverted us from our layover in D.C. to an unexpected landing in Richmond, Virginia. Ever easygoing, my wife embraced the situation, securing us a flight out the next morning and reserving a room at a boutique hotel. Prone to panic, I soon broke the serenity when I realized our bags were still on the original flight. To save our orphaned luggage, I forced us back on the plane to our nation’s capital—headed to an airport we no longer had tickets out of. Tensions were high; regrets were immediate. As we approached, the pilot announced that another squall had us rerouted, once again, to Richmond. We submitted to fate, and ended the evening sharing laughs, Korean tacos, and one-too-many craft brews in the historic Virginia capital.
Though the stakes may be exaggerated, the point is sound: Travel is a test kitchen for a committed relationship. When a couple spends uninterrupted time together for an extended period in an unfamiliar setting, the challenges that arise truly test their mettle. But for those who endure through adversity, the rewards of a travel-eccentric relationship are bounteous—and research backs this up.
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A 2012 survey by the U.S. Travel Association revealed that couples that took regular trips reported higher levels of satisfaction with their relationships, and considered their vacations an important venue for romance. Similarly, a 2013 Journal of Travel Research article by experts at Texas A&M found that partners who traveled together experienced improved communication, and that connectivity extended into their life back home—with one important caveat. For a couple to reap such benefits, they must want the same thing out of the vacation, and that experience must include shared activities that nurture the relationship.
“Vacation experiences are made up of seeking and escaping motives. Some are seeking adventure; others are escaping and want to relax. The dyad has to match up,” says Dr. James Petrick, professor of Recreation, Park and Tourism Sciences and co-author of the Texas A&M review. “Outside of your usual environment, you have to process much more and evaluate situations in an in-depth manner. Vacations awaken all your senses. You’re more in tune with each other, with the environment around you.”
Cincinnati residents Jocelyn Gibson, 34, and Justin Leach, 33, were married last October after dating since 2014. Part of what drew them together was a mutual love of travel—the pair have already flexed their compatibility on excursions to Madrid, Copenhagen, Marseille and Berlin in that three-year span. While they cop to the occasional argument—Justin likes to plot things out, while Jocelyn prefers to wander—they have similar interests, leaving much to bond over.
“We are constantly noticing the historic architecture, street life, public spaces,” Gibson says. “We both love food, so our meals are satisfying and memorable. On countless occasions we will be doing something ordinary, and we’ll recall a specific memory from one of our trips and be struck by nostalgia.”
Source:
http://www.cntraveler.com/story/how-travel-leads-to-stronger-romantic-relationships
Google outlines 4 steps to tackle terrorist-related content on YouTube
Google has outlined four steps it’s taking to fight the spread of extremist material on its YouTube video service.
Kent Walker, general counsel at Google, said Sunday the U.S. technology giant is “committed to being part of the solution” to tackling online extremist content.
“Terrorism is an attack on open societies, and addressing the threat posed by violence and hate is a critical challenge for us all,” Walker wrote in a blog post.
“There should be no place for terrorist content on our services.”
The four new steps are:
Putting more engineering resource into developing further artificial intelligence software that can be trained to identify and remove extremist content.
Expanding the number of independent experts in YouTube’s Trusted Flagger program. Google will add 50 expert non-government organizations to the 63 organizations that are already part of the program, and support them with additional grants. Google said Trusted Flagger reports are accurate over 90 percent of the time.
Taking a tougher stance against videos that do not clearly violate YouTube’s rules. For example, a video that has inflammatory religious or supremacist content will appear behind a warning, will not be monetized, recommended or even eligible for users to make comments on. The aim is to make these videos have less engagement so they are harder to find.
YouTube is working with Jigsaw – a company behind “The Redirect Method” – which uses ad targeting to send potential ISIS recruits to anti-terrorist videos, which could change their mind about joining extremist organizations. Google said that in previous trials of this system, potential recruits have clicked through on the ads at an “unusually high rate” and watched over half a million minutes of video content that “debunks terrorist recruiting messages.”
The latest measures build upon Google’s previous efforts to fight extremist content on its platform amid a broader criticism of internet companies from politicians.
Source:
http://www.cnbc.com/2017/06/19/google-youtube-tackles-terrorist-videos.html
June 17, 2017
June 16, 2017
Amazon to Buy Whole Foods for $13.4 Billion
Amazon agreed to buy the upscale grocery chain Whole Foods for $13.4 billion, in a deal that will instantly transform the company that pioneered online shopping into a merchant with physical outposts in hundreds of neighborhoods across the country.
The acquisition, announced Friday, is a reflection of both the sheer magnitude of the grocery business — about $800 billion in annual spending in the United States — and a desire to turn Amazon into a more frequent shopping habit by becoming a bigger player in food and beverages. After almost a decade selling groceries online, Amazon has failed to make a major dent on its own as consumers have shown a stubborn urge to buy items like fruits, vegetables and meat in person.
Buying Whole Foods also represents a major escalation in the company’s long-running battle with Walmart, the largest grocery retailer in the United States, which has been struggling to play catch-up in internet shopping. On Friday, Walmart announced a $310 million deal to acquire the internet apparel retailer Bonobos and last year it agreed to pay $3.3 billion for Jet.com and put Jet’s chief executive, Marc Lore, in charge of Walmart’s overall e-commerce business.
“Make no mistake, Walmart under no circumstances can lose the grocery wars to Amazon,” said Brittain Ladd, a strategy and supply chain consultant who formerly worked with Amazon on its grocery business. “If Walmart loses the grocery battle to Amazon, they have no chance of ever dethroning Amazon as the largest e-commerce player in the world.”The idea of Amazon, a company founded 23 years ago on the premise of shopping from the comfort of a computer screen, moving forcefully into the crowded field of brick-and-mortar retail, with its limitations on selection and lack of customer reviews, once seemed ludicrous. But in the past several years, the company has dabbled with stores, opening or planning more than a dozen bookstores around the country.
Source:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/16/business/dealbook/amazon-whole-foods.html?_r=0
June 15, 2017
June 14, 2017
‘Deadpool’ Pirate Arrested; Illegal Copy Of Fox/Marvel Movie Watched By 5M On Facebook
A Fresno, Calif., man shared a full version of “Deadpool” on his Facebook page while the 20th Century Fox film was still in theaters — and more than 5 million people watched the pirated copy, according to U.S. law enforcement officials.
Federal agents on Tuesday arrested Trevon Maurice Franklin, 21, who used the screen name “Tre-Von M. King,” on the criminal charge of copyright infringement. The Department of Justice alleges that he uploaded “Deadpool” approximately eight days after its Feb. 12, 2016, theatrical release.
Franklin faces up to three years in federal prison on the charge. He was busted after a federal grand jury in April returned an indictment alleging he reproduced and distributed a copyrighted work, based on an investigation by the FBI.
“Deadpool,” starring Ryan Reynolds as the titular Marvel antihero, grossed $363 million at the U.S. box office, according to Box Office Mojo. Twentieth Century Fox is producing “Deadpool 2” with Reynolds reprising the role, set to be released June 1, 2018.
It’s not clear how long the pirated copy of “Deadpool” remained on Facebook. Reps for the social giant did not respond to a request for comment by press time.
The case against Franklin is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Ryan White and Vicki Chou of the DOJ’s Cyber and Intellectual Property Crimes Section.
Separately, this week a group of 30 entertainment companies, including Disney, Netflix, Amazon, CBS, NBCUniversal and Warner Bros., announced a new anti-piracy coalition aimed at fighting copyright infringement online and suing criminals.
Source:
Feds Arrest California Man for Posting ‘Deadpool’ Full Movie on Facebook
