An employee of China’s Guangzhou Central Sports Co. ,Ltd. made a post on the WeChat app. The post contained his love for the some of the Pokemon franchise’s oldest characters, the members of Team Rocket, the organization that hatches plans to profit by dishonest means. Shortly after the employee’s post, the company issued a statement, apologizing for their  employee posting “inappropriate content that adversely affects society.” Can you believe that this harmless post made the company and the employee apologize for it? The post might only look harmless, as SoraNews24 detailed: 

It turns out there’s another wrinkle to the situation, though. In his initial post expressing his love for Team Rocket, the man also included two images. One was of Pokémon characters Jessie, James, and Meowth, but the other was a screen capture of an article about the recent controversy regarding the Chinese government and U.S. professional basketball team the Houston Rockets, which started when Rockets general manager Daryl Morey sent out a tweet expressing support for protesters in Hong Kong. That led to a local media boycott of last week’s exhibition game between the Los Angeles Lakers and Brooklyn Nets in China, as well as an apology from the U.S.-based National Basketball Association.

In Chinese the names of both Team Rocket and the basketball-playing Rockets are written the same way: 火箭队. “I wasn’t talking about the Houston Rockets,” the man’s signed apology says. “I was talking about Pokémon’s Team Rocket,” but the inclusion of the Houston Rockets article screen capture seems like a deliberate attempt to create a parallel between the two organizations.

image credit: via SoraNews24

Windsor Castle, the queen of the United Kingdom’s grand estate, has opened a new area for public viewing. The public can now visit the Inner Hall, a historic space inside the castle, which has been sealed since 1886. The historic hall has been home to George IV’s grand entrance for guests, until it was sealed and used as a fancy storage space. The entire restoration of the space took two years to complete, as Vogue detailed: 

But the space was restored thanks to the Royal Collection Trust. Paint was chipped away to uncover the original ceiling design: the work of the famous Regency-era ornamentalist carver Francis Bernasconi. A view of Windsor Castle’s leafy-lined, two-and-a-half-mile Long Walk—the final stretch of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s fairy-tale carriage ride after their royal wedding—can be seen from the antique windows. 

image credit: via wikimedia commons

The moment Lyndsey Raby said yes to her now-husband’s proposal, she knew that she wanted to have her grandmothers involved in her big day, and were they ever involved! Raby chose her four grandmas to act as flower girls, dressed in matching lacy blue dresses and coordinating jackets. Now, we usually expect flower girls to be children, but the grandma flower girl squad was actually amazing! The flower girls were Raby’s 90-year-old great grandmother, Kathleen Brown; the groom’s 70-year-old grandmother, Joyce Raby; Lyndsey’s 76-year-old grandmother, Wanda Grant; and her 72-year-old grandmother, Betty Brown.

image credit: Natalie Caho via Metro

Cirque du Soleil is the largest contemporary circus producer in the world. Performing death-defying stunts in front of millions of audience, what does it take to be a member or a performer of the Cirque du Soleil? Without actually spending the time, effort, and money, watch as two regular people, Buzzfeed’s Eric Tabach and Spencer Althouse,  go to Las Vegas and try to train like professional stunt performers! 

A 58-year-old man and six siblings, aged 18 to 25, lived in a farm basement in Drenthe, Netherlands, waiting for the world to end. The 58-year-old man is not their father nor the owner of the farmhouse, and the siblings’ mother is believed to have died before the family moved into the farmhouse. Dutch media revealed that the children were not registered, and that the family had no contact with the outside world, living self-sufficiently off a vegetable garden and a few animals. 

The family wouldn’t have been discovered if the eldest of the siblings hadn’t escaped and asked the staff at a pub in Ruinerwold for help. The family is in a safe place now, Mayor Roger de Groot said.

(via CBS News)

image credit: via CBS News

Hitesh Sirohi had been digging a grave to bury his own daughter, who died a few minutes after birth, when he found an earthen pot with a newborn girl inside it. The baby girl was wrapped in a cloth and crying when Sirohi found her, and he immediately rescued her and dialed for help. The case of the newborn baby girl being found buried has shone a light on female infanticide in India. Female infanticide is widespread in the country because of parents preferring sons (who are viewed as investments and heirs) instead of daughters (seen as a liability). A local politician is paying for the newborn’s hospital bills,  as she is now receiving medical care. 

(via The Guardian) 

image credit: Allison Joyce/AP via The Guardian

Allie Davis had her boyfriend, Ty Birge, take a Beyonce exam to make sure they could be together. Even if Birge wasn’t able to give a complete narration of the Solange Met Gala elevator incident, it was still passable for Davis. For someone who has “zero interest in Beyonce”, as his girlfriend told The Huffington Post, it was pretty good. From passing the Beyonce exam, it seems that Birge has managed to finally put a ring on it, as the couple got married in a Beyonce-themed wedding:

The groom walked down the aisle to “Halo,” while Allie walked down to “Ave Maria” sung by Ty’s cousin. At the reception, the wedding party was introduced to the strains of “Crazy In Love.”

Now that Allie and Ty are married, we wondered: Has Ty become more of a Bey fan? Not really, Allie told us, but she still keeps him in the loop about Beyhive news.

“My husband has basically zero interest in Beyoncé but has learned way more than he probably cares to know about her,” she said. “He says he really respects her work ethic and drive, though.” (Clearly, he’s seen the Beychella Netflix doc.)

I gave my boyfriend a Beyoncé exam to make sure we can stay together. He passed. pic.twitter.com/Lqv3VEKWFx

— Allie (#1 Bigger Stan) (@Fergyonce) April 6, 2015

image credit: Tracy Brewington Photography via The Huffington Post

In a New York press event, Google unveiled new Pixel smartphones. The Pixel 4 phones come in two sizes, both with higher quality cameras, a radar sensor to track hand gestures and a faster virtual assistant.  The radar sensor will allow users to skip songs or issue other commands by waving their hands above the screen. In addition, Google also announced its first moderately priced laptop and the brand’s first wireless earbuds, as Reuters detailed: 

The fourth-generation Pixel starts at $799 for a 5.7-inch (14.5-cm) display and $899 for a 6.3-inch display, and for the first time all four major U.S. wireless carriers will offer the smartphones, beginning Oct. 24.

Google slashed costs for Pixelbook Go by shifting to magnesium from aluminum for the laptop exterior and removing hinges and wiring that enabled the prior model to be used like a tablet, product leaders Ben Janofsky and Matt Vokoun said in an interview.

It also improved the design of components such as the trackpad to cut manufacturing mishaps and therefore costs. But the company still included a 15% larger battery and reduced the overall weight of the device to 2.3 lb (1.04 kg) from 2.4 lb.

Google also announced Pixel Buds, a set of wireless earbuds with hands-free access to Google Assistant launching next spring in the United States for $179.

image credit: via Reuters

The use of artificial intelligence-powered voice assistants has been prevalent in today’s generation. Whether it’s for weather, news, homework help, or just simply asking Alexa, Google Assistant or Apple’s Siri to do something on our behalf, these interactions with these voice assistants are frequent and can be done by anyone. This current situation begs the question as to whether or not these machines deserve the respect we give towards fellow human beings, should we use words like “please” and “sorry” when we ask these voice assistants to look at the weather for us? USA Today has the details: 

Dr. Laura Phillips, a clinical neuropsychologist at the Child Mind Institute, says the answers are “complicated and really nuanced."

What makes things more complicated is that “digital assistants have this aura of authority,” says Dr. Pamela Rutledge, director of the Media Psychological Research Center in Newport Beach, California. We may know that they’re not human, but to kids, "they sound like adults, know lots of stuff and are easy to anthropomorphize." As conversational interfaces and AI evolves further, such distinctions may blur further.

"Kids learn through repetition, which is why we all say, 'What’s the magic word?' infinitum,” she says. 

“These AI-driven, non-human entities don’t care if you sound tired and crabby, or if you are purposely rude because it’s 'funny.' But interactions of all kinds build patterns of communication and interaction. The more you are used to bossing Siri around or bullying her, the more you’re used to that communication pattern," Rutledge says

In Iowa City, senior marketing manager Dana Turner says her husband has come up with another sound reason for treating voice assistants nicely. He “always says 'thank you’ to her because, he says, one day AI is going to take over the world and he wants to be saved.”

image credit: via wikimedia commons

Kirkland Dawson, a 34-year-old New York-based attorney, toppled over the third-floor staircase railing and landed on the ground floor of the Brooklyn Museum. The tragedy occurred during the museum’s monthly “First Saturdays” program, and Dawson was rushed to New York-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital, but he died from his injuries the next day.  In an interview with a newspaper, Dawson’s family revealed that the museum never reached out to them about the accident, as Hyperallergic detailed: 

 Dawson’s family told the newspaper that the museum never reached out to them to provide details about the accident or offer condolences. “I wish they would call,” the deceased’s mother, Kathy Dawson, told the Daily News. “They haven’t offered me condolences or anything,” she added. “To not even get a call saying we’re sorry or anything, nothing.”

“We’re really just hearing word of mouth what happened,” said the victim’s sister, Taylor Dawson. “We still don’t really know. No one at the museum has reached out to his mom or me,” she added. “A detective reached out to my mom and said it was a freak accident,” Dawson continued. “He was falling from some type of landing and couldn’t stop his fall from the stairwell he was on. They said he suffered brain damage and head trauma.”

image credit: via wikimedia commons

Louie Zong has given us a blessing in the form of animation and music, a video that you can leave playing in a separate tab as you do your task, or you can watch as you procrastinate! Watch as cute animated ghosts blast on a soothing, full choir of soft tunes to ease your worries away, or make you feel hyped for the spooky season! Personally, this video is on repeat for its cuteness and great sound! 

Discount retailers, members-only wholesale clubs, fast food restaurants, car washes, and gas stations are some of the subjects the San Fernando Valley-based artist Marc Trujillo depicted in his visual records of “North American Purgatory”. These photorealistic paintings are depictions of the spaces and places that are not designed to be enjoyed, with people mostly just passing through them: 

"It's this little slice that we spend a lot of our lives in," he says. "I like these kind of places people don't go to be there. If I paint a USA gas station, the painting has a real chance at being more of an experience than you have when you're actually there."

image credit: Marc Trujillo via KCET

Mark, Juliane and Loihi Pokini of Kula, Maui have the world’s heaviest avocado, weighing 5.6 pounds! The family shared that they picked the avocado in December and suspected they had a world record contender. They were correct, as their avocado beat the previous record at 5.5 pounds. In addition to their new Guinness World Record, the family shared that they previously grew a whopping 5.7 pound avocado. Unfortunately, they were unable to get the proper documentation to Guinness. Well, they have the record now! 

(via UPI)

image credit: Guinness World Records via UPI

I didn’t know that a Kidz Bop cover of Old Town Road existed until I stumbled upon this video, and how they altered the lyrics so well for children. Watch as jacksfilms get mystified on the choices Kidz Bop made for their version of the hit song. It may break you, or mystify you. I’ll just stick to the original one and its remixes, thank you very much. 

In a special video to commemorate the Sanrio star’s first channel anniversary, Hello Kitty answers questions from fans and subscribers, like what she does in her free time. Mixed in the causal queries was a question about whether it’s wrong for guys to like Hello Kitty. The sweet-as-sugar Sanrio star replied with such a fiery look on her face, that it is not wrong to like her, and that guys should not feel ashamed to like her. In addition to that fiery reply, she also apologized for making anyone feel bad: 

“Honestly, this is because I haven’t been strong enough to shake off my pubic image as ‘a character that’s just for girls.’ I’m sorry for making anyone feel bad.”

“But I hope that we’re slowly progressing towards people no longer criticizing or being criticized by others for what they like, and that doesn’t just go for liking me. I’ll do my best to help make that happen. I’ll do my best!”

(via SoraNews24)