"The Interview": Dangerous To Go See?

The premiere of "The Interview" staring Seth Rogen and James Franco has been canceled in New York due to this message sent by the Sony hackers:

“Warning…We will clearly show it to you at the very time and places “The Interview” be shown, including the premiere, how bitter fate those who seek fun in terror should be doomed to. Soon all the world will see what an awful movie Sony Pictures Entertainment has made. The world will be full of fear.”

This message was emailed to various reporters along with a series of leaks about employee emails, health and financial information. Theses hackers call themselves "Guardians of Peace" and sent that message to people planning to attend screenings of "The Interview" and warning people who live near cinemas to leave home.

Sony Pictures Entertainment told theater owners on Tuesday that it will be supportive of their individual decisions on whether or not to show the film, which is still set for a Christmas release, according to multiple reports. Carmike Cinemas is the first to pull the screenings of the film. This cinema chain is the fourth largest in the country. Regal, AMC, and Cinemark have yet to comment on their plans of showing the film.

The Department of Homeland Security has said that there is no credible intelligence to indicate a threat, but is still investigating the message.

The movie portrays Rogen and Franco as spies set to kill North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. The movie shows Kim dying in a gruesome manner, which has been toned down due to the threats.

Missing Marine That Killed 6

Authorities are searching for 35-year-old Bradley William Stone, who they say shot and killed six family members and wounded another Monday in a rampage that left dead bodies in three different homes in Montgomery County, Pa. Stone is a Marine veteran suspected of killing his ex-wife and five of her relatives amid a bitter child custody dispute near Philadelphia. Some schools were closed Tuesday, hospitals and other public places increased security and residents remained on heightened alert, even as officials lifted a shelter-in-place order for parts of Bucks County, where a knife-wielding, fatigue-clad man resembling suspect Stone attempted a carjacking Monday night. The rampage began around 3:30 a.m., when Stone allegedly shot and killed Patricia Flick, the sister of his ex-wife, Nicole Stone, at her home in Souderton, also killing Flick's husband, Aaron Flick, and her 14-year-old daughter, Nina Flick. Her 17-year-old son, Anthony Flick, was receiving treatment at a hospital in Philadelphia for a head wound. Nicole Stone's mother, Joanne Hill, and grandmother Patricia Hill were killed next at their home in nearby Lansdale. Investigators were alerted by a hang-up call to emergency dispatchers. At around 5 a.m., Stone went to Nicole Stone's apartment, located in the Harleysville section of Lower Salford Township, investigators said. Stone broke in through a glass door, shot and killed Nicole Stone, and fled with their two children, the woman's neighbors said. Authorities said Stone then delivered the two children, who were unharmed, to a neighbor in Pennsburg. Stone's vehicle and cell phone have been recovered but no information about where he is going has been recovered. "As I stand here right now, we do not know where he is," Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman said.

Is Ebola Effecting Chocolate Supply?

This Ebola outbreak is expected to have long-lasting, international implications, including its effect on the supply and prices of one of the world's favorite: Chocolate.

West Africa produces about three-quarters of the world's chocolate. Sixty percent of that chocolate comes from Ivory Coast and Ghana. The outbreak of Ebola being so close to these countries have led to concerns that if the disease were to spread into these countries, it could cause a major disruption in cocoa productions and spike the prices of chocolate.

The demand for chocolate has risen over the years, before the Ebola outbreak. The uncertainty about cocoa supplies is causing jitters among chocolate-related industries around the world, and concerns about chocolate prices.

"If prices rise at a greater rate, chocolate manufacturers will pass the increase onto consumers," Andrew Rolle of Juremont, a major Australian importer of chocolate ingredients, told the Sydney Morning Herald. "It's a fragile market there at the best of times. There will be labor issues with the cocoa farmers in the fields, political issues, transport issues with accessing stock through ports."

Most major confectioners in the U.S. are reluctant to talk about how a potential cocoa shortage might directly affect them, however Hershey did offer some perspective, saying the company is in close contact with its cocoa suppliers in West Africa over the Ebola outbreak and its potential impact on cocoa supplies.

"Our suppliers have assured us they will be able to continue to supply our cocoa orders without interruption, even if the disease begins to impact the major cocoa-growing countries in the region," Jeff Beckman, Hershey's director of corporate communications, tells CBS MoneyWatch.

For now, the disease has not effected the cocoa production and operations continue uninterrupted. 

Dumbwaiter Gone Wrong

Brook Baures was a 21-year-old senior and a standout gymnast at Winona State University in Minnesota. December 1, she died of severe head injuries from getting her head caught in  dumbwaiter at a restaurant that she worked at. She was working at a banquet on the second floor that day. If the witness' statements are true, police believe that Baures was the only one that could have pressed the dumbwaiter's control button. They have come the the conclusion that no crime was committed. The autopsy had found that there was "excessive destruction" and concluded that the cause of death was severe head trama. Police believe that her head "was located almost entirely inside the cab of the elevator canted slightly to her right as the cab descended. When the roof of the cab passed the sill of the second floor access, Brooke sustained fatal crushing injuries to her brainstem and cerebellum," according to the autopsy report. I find this shocking in a way. I don't think that she would have gotten caught in there. I don't understand how this happened.

Rated S For "Sexist"

A Swedish video game industry trade organization is hoping to develop a system to label whether or not games promote gender equality. They have been given $36,672 grant by Vinnova, an “innovation agency” funded by the Swedish government, to work with game developers to look at the ways which video games depict gender issues.

According to Per Strömbäck, the organisation's spokesperson,  the Pan European Game Information, or PEGI, rating system has long included a category for “discrimination,” meaning that a “game contains depictions of, or material which may encourage, discrimination.” Sexually offensive or derogatory content has been monitored,however, Strömbäck wrote that there is a greater interest in addressing issues of gender inequality since video games are becoming more popular.

To the critics who think of video games as nothing more than a hobby or a fun diversion, Strömbäck added that his organization views games as “a form of artistic impression … they can be used to describe a vision of society, or a dystopia, or just plain fun.”

“One of the interesting questions we will ask in our concept study for the certification is ‘how is diversity expressed in games without characters, storylines or voice-over?’ Only a minority of games are similar to film and television, most of them have different characteristics, like puzzle, quiz, and word games,” Strömbäck wrote. “Some of our members have done a lot of thinking about these issues and we want to spread that conversation.”

Bad News For Chocolate Lovers-No More Chocolate?

Are we really running out of chocolate? According to major chocolate producers, we are consuming more chocolate than we are producing. In the last year alone, we ate 70,000 metric tons more than it produced.  Seventy percent of the world’s cocoa is produced in the Ivory Coast and Ghana.  However, disease, drought, and farmers wanting to grow more productive crops, like corn and rubber, made growing conditions less than than perfect. 

But there is hope for chocolate!

In Costa Rica, new disease resistant strains of cacao are being developed. Three specific strains are showing promise, not only because of them being resistant to disease but also because they have a better taste than the other strains being developed.

It is still unclear if these new strains can reverse the shortage, however these cacao beans could be a sweet promise for the future. 

Ferguson

On August 9, an 18 year old black male, Michael Brown was shot and killed by white Officer Darren Wilson. The Grand Jury decided that Wilson would not go to court. This caused riots and people started destroying their own community. Why? Why are they burning their own buildings? What does that do for them? Nothing. It doesn't help them what so ever. It only makes the situation worse. I don't understand why this is such a big deal.

A Conversation Between Plants

When we think of plants, we think of them just quietly growing, minding their own business. But, in fact, they are plotting to take over the world. They are sharing nutrients and information with each other and even sabotaging unwelcome plants with toxic chemicals. 

About 90% of land plants are in a relationship with fungi, mutually-beneficial of course. Fungi are made up of a mass of thin thread like things called mycelium. By simply plugging in to mycelial networks, it makes them more resistant to diseases.

It has taken decades to find out what this fungal internet can do. In 1997, Suzanne Simard found what Douglas fir and paper birch trees were transferring carbon between them via the mycelia. 

Sharing information, getting together to kill off unwanted plants, and using fungi, plants are communicating with each other which we never really knew before.

Frat Party Gone Wrong

Nolan Michael Burch, 18, was a freshman at West Virginia University. He died Friday, two days after he was found unconscious and not breathing at a frat party. 

Earlier that day, he sent out a tweet saying-"It's about to be a very eventful night to say the least."

Burch sent out a paragraph of text in a tweet on Tuesday that ended, "If you're reading this, congratulations, you made it today. You made it."

The Buffalo News had reported Friday that others at the frat house party "challenged" him into drinking a large amount of liquor. Frankly I find this upsetting that these fraternities have these parties and make people drink so much. Don't they know that it can kill people? Also, this frat already has had incidents with people being arrested and cited for causing late-night disturbances. 

And The Winner Is...

Sen. Pat Roberts has narrowly won the Kansas Senate Race 53.24% to 42.50%. 
My prediction was, however, wrong. Roberts won because he over come the anti-incumbent fervor, his weak showing in the primary, criticism that he was out of touch with the state, and an unusually cold Kansas political scene for Republicans. Outside groups also helped by putting $10 million to support him and oppose Orman. All of these efforts and his aggressive campaign saying that Orman was a lapdog for Washington Democrats help Roberts pull off a win.

Winner Prediction Of Kansas Senate Race 2014

Independant Greg Orman has said that he will caucus with whichever party takes the majority of the Senate, and, by the looks of the races, it seems that Republicans will take the Senate.

If the Republicans do take the Senate, and Orman does what he says he will, then it doesn't matter if Orman or Roberts win, Kansas will still be a Republican state.

My prediction for this race is that  Greg Orman will narrowly win. Right now, the poll are so close in numbers that it is very hard to get a clear prediction, however, the most recent polls show him leading by at most two points. Both men believe that they will win.

New Poll Says Race Nearly Tied

According to the latest poll by KSN News, which was released Tuesday, Orman now has a slight lead at 44 percent to Roberts' 42 percent. However, ten percent (including 21 percent of younger voters) still remain undecided. These numbers are up 7 percent from the last poll which was three weeks ago. 

Ages 18 to 34 favor Roberts over Orman

Ages 35 to 65+ are favoring Orman

This race is so close that it is still anyone's race. These polls are based on what people would vote for, so it's possible that not everyone who was polled is going to vote. I think no one will know for sure who will win until the winner is announced.

What Orman Needs To Do In Order To Win

Republican Senator Pat Roberts has made a come back in the race after Greg Orman jumped ahead when Democrat Chad Taylor dropped out of the race. Polls are leaning towards a win by Roberts, however, Orman could pull out ahead and win in a week. Roberts isn't ahead by that much at all, so Orman still has a shot at it.

Orman stayed our of the spotlight and shunned the press while Roberts scrambled to catch up. Orman needs to get back into the spotlight and with the press again. He needs to stand firm and not crumple under the criticism by the press and voters. He needs to get back out there.

Roberts Climbs Back Into The Kansas Senate Race

After Democrat Chad Taylor dropped out of the race, Pat Roberts (R) trailed behind Greg Orman (I) by more than 7 points on average in late September. With some hard work and some time for outside money to come to his aid, Roberts is now back in the race with a narrow 0.5-point edge.

By playing hard to the conservative base and relentlessly calling Orman out as a closet liberal who will boost Obama's agenda, he has managed to take the lead. However, there is a risk in doing this. Roberts responded by going hard right, but, in order win, he must hold onto some moderates in order to counter Orman's support by the middle and the Democrats.

I believe Roberts could hold on to his narrow lead, but he does need the support of moderate GOP voters with the newly converted conservatives to do so. He needs to stay aggressive and show message discipline. 

Kansas Senate Race 2014

Currently, Pat Roberts (R) is the Kansas Senator. He was elected in 1996, and is seeking his fourth term. He will be running against independent candidate, Greg Orman in the general election. Democrat Chad Taylor was on the ballot but has withdrew from the race. Before his withdrawal, Roberts was the favored candidate but now Orman poses a threat to unseat Roberts.

Greg Orman (I) has surged in popularity within a short amount of time based on recent polling and endorsements.

I believe that Chad Taylor (D) dropped out of the senate race because the Democrats felt that the Independent candidate would get more voters and, if he should win, would then side with the Democratic party.