We Are Winning The War Against Harassment, Twitter Inc Says

Addressing issues such as harassment on Twitter has long been on management’s to-do list. Now it seems the company is getting a grip on the matter with the help of a string of updates in recent months.

Progress in checking harassment on Twitter

About six months ago, Twitter’s general manager of consumer product and engineering, Ed Ho, said they will put a check on the problem “in days and hours, not weeks and months.” Thereafter, a string of new updates was seen, and on Thursday, Ho announced that improvements have been seen in checking harassment on Twitter.

“While there is still much work to be done, people are experiencing significantly less abuse on Twitter today than they were six months ago,” Ed Ho said.

Though he admitted that there is still a lot to be done to make the website safer and more welcoming, he also offered a few data points to mark the changes that have been made. According to Ho, the number of flagged accounts on which Twitter has been taking action on a daily basis has gone up ten-fold year over year.

“It’s critically important that people can come to Twitter and talk about what’s happening without worrying about feeling safe,” said Ed Ho.

Twitter is also identifying repeated offenders who are trying to dodge its efforts by opening new accounts after their old accounts have been blocked. Over the past four months, the micro-blogging firm has taken action against twice as many “backup” accounts as it did previously.

Are the Twitter updates really working?

Twitter has made several changes to its existing products to bring down the number of incidents of online abuse. From notification filters to blocking mentions, the company has done quite a commendable job to address the issue. The company also amended its reporting tools to make it easier for users.

One of the features, often referred to as a “shadow ban,” is quite a popular tool to limit abuse. The technology helps limit the audience of the user on a temporary basis. However, users are not aware of any such bans, so when posting, they are under the impression that their comment is on the public forum. However, the message is only visible to them.

Despite the claims made by Ho, the reach of these safety tools seems only limited. Recently, Rob Kardashian posted nude pictures of his ex-fiance Blac Chyna on Twitter, and it was only after half an hour that those pictures were removed from the platform. British singer Ed Sheeran also had to delete his Twitter account entirely after being trolled for his Games of Thrones appearance on July 16.

Since Twitter has shared no additional data on the progress being made, the current status of its efforts is unclear. According to a study from Pew Research Center released this month, the micro-blogging firm is not the only social networking website where harassment is rampant. The report claimed that four in ten adults in the United States say that they have been harassed online.

More information is expected on July 27 when Twitter reports its second-quarter earnings.


Source: valuewalk.com

Coffee with a 'Viagra-like' ingredient was just recalled, and it reveals a bigger problem

The ingredient is increasingly being used in supplements claiming to have "male enhancement" properties. While some limited evidence suggests that taking a specific tongkat ali supplement can improve the quality and concentration of sperm in infertile men, there is little evidence to support its use for erectile dysfunction, athletic performance, or low testosterone.

The ingredient can also have dangerous side effects, which is why it's important for people to know what they are consuming.

According to the FDA, desmethyl carbodenafil can interact negatively with some prescription drugs by lowering blood pressure to dangerous levels. Men who have diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or heart disease are at particular risk.

The 'proprietary blend' loophole

To illustrate the problems plaguing the supplement industry, Cohen likes to compare the safety framework for supplements with the one we have for food.

Ingredients in food products have to meet a guideline known as the "generally recognized as safe," or GRAS, standard. Ingredients introduced to supplements do not.

There are some laws regulating dietary supplements, however. In 1994, Congress passed the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act to address the labeling and safety of supplements. Several more recent regulations mandate that manufacturers observe what is known as "good manufacturing practices," including ingredient testing.

But Cohen said those regulations are "not anywhere near the level of scrutiny" applied to food. A PBS Frontline investigation even found that the DSHEA received investments from many players in the supplement industry.

Under the DSHEA, manufacturers that list ingredients under the "proprietary blend" category don't have to note the amounts of individual items in that category. Instead, they only have to list the ingredients within the blend and the total amount of it. But certain ingredients are still often left out or mislabeled — either intentionally or not.

The act also allows supplement makers to claim their products do things they may not — so long as it says somewhere on the package that they are "not intended to treat, diagnose, prevent, or cure diseases."

If a product is unsafe, then, it becomes the FDA's responsibility to prove it, and supplements as a whole are subject to far less investigation than other products.

"From a regulatory perspective," Cohen said, all of these supplements "are presumed to be safe, but the reality is many people ... are harmed."


Source: businessinsider.com

Sue Bird Talks About the 2017 WNBA All-Star Game in Seattle

“My rookie year, I got voted in, and I didn’t really understand it fully,” Sue Bird says. “I remember being in a huddle at one point, and I don’t exactly remember the other starters, but I wanna say it was Lisa Leslie, Tina Thompson, Ticha Pinacheiro, Sheryl Swoopes. And I had a moment of ‘Oh, I belong in this group now?’”

Bird’s memory is correct. Back in 2002, she started with those legends and led that year’s All-Star Game in assists, handing out 8 helpers in the West’s 81-76 win.

Now with the WNBA world getting ready to travel to Seattle, where Bird’s been dishing out dimes for her entire Hall of Fame career, she’s played her way into ASG history.

By getting voted into this year’s game, she’s been selected to 10 All-Star games, tying Tamika Catchings for the most ever in the WNBA. Her young teammate, Breanna Stewart, has been named to her first All-Star appearance, and so have nine of the other players who will lace up in Seattle on Saturday. Bird, the ultimate leader and veteran, has advice for the first-timers.

“Usually you just wanna have fun with the All-Star Game,” she says. “It’s a great opportunity to play with these other great players. That’s how I felt my first year. I’m sure that’s how they’ll be feeling. You just want to have fun with it. You wanna put on a good show. Stay competitive, but also enjoy. Just enjoy the whole weekend and know that you got selected as an All-Star, and that’s saying something so you should take pride in that.”

At 36-years-old, Bird’s averaging a career-best 6.9 assists per game and shooting 43 percent from three-point land. She and the Storm haven’t been winning all that much, sitting at 9-11, but they’re not out of the playoff race.

Bird’s planning on enjoying the upcoming weekend-long basketball celebration before thinking about the postseason. And once the rest of the W gets up to Seattle, Bird knows they’ll enjoy the city just as much as she does.

“The basketball culture and community here is really one of a kind,” Bird says. “I’m from New York, I don’t say that lightly. The city isn’t quite as big as a New York, but it produces great basketball players. And not only that. Whether it’s the University of Washington, the defunct Sonics and then with us, there’s so many great players that have come through here. Whether you’re from Seattle or not, you’ve made your mark on the city and it really has made for this special, special community. From a basketball standpoint, the fans know good basketball. They’re gonna be cheering, they’re gonna be loud. And I think the community, in general, is really excited for this All-Star Game.”


Source: slamonline.com

Moon dust heading to auction after galactic court battle

NEW YORK – A bag containing traces of moon dust is heading to auction – surrounded by some fallout from a galactic court battle.

The collection bag, used by astronaut Neil Armstrong during the first manned mission to the moon in 1969, will be featured Thursday at a Sotheby’s auction in New York City of items related to space voyages. The pre-sale estimate is $2 million to $4 million.

The artifact from the Apollo 11 mission was misidentified and sold at an online government auction. NASA fought to get it back.

In December, a federal judge ruled that it legally belonged to a Chicago-area woman who bought it in 2015 for $995.

Sotheby’s declined to identify the seller. However, details of the 2015 purchase were made public during the court case.

Investigators unknowingly hit the moon mother lode in 2003 while searching the garage of a man later convicted of stealing and selling museum artifacts, including some that were on loan from NASA.

The 12-by-8 1/2-inch bag was misidentified and sold at an online government auction.

Nancy Carlson, of Inverness, Illinois, got an ordinary-looking bag made of white Beta cloth and polyester with rubberized nylon and a brass zipper.

Carlson, a collector, knew the bag had been used in a space flight, but she didn’t know which one. She sent it to NASA for testing, and the government agency, discovering its importance, fought to keep it.

The artifact “belongs to the American people,” NASA said then.

U.S. District Judge J. Thomas Marten in Wichita, Kansas said that while it shouldn’t have gone up for auction, he didn’t have the authority to reverse the sale. He ordered the government to return it.

The judge said the importance and desirability of the bag stemmed solely from the efforts of NASA employees whose “amazing technical achievements, skill and courage in landing astronauts on the moon and returning them safely have not been replicated in the almost half a century since the Apollo 11 landing.”

When it comes to moon landings, Thursday’s auction is far from the final frontier.

A group called For All Moonkind, Inc. mentioned the moon bag this week while campaigning for “measures to preserve and protect the six Apollo lunar landing sites.”

It plans to take up the issue next month at the Starship Congress 2017 in California.


Source: spokesman.com

Sonic Forces Gets Trailer Showing More of the New Villain ‘Infinite’

Sega launched a new trailer for their fast-paced action game Sonic Forces, coming to PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC Holiday 2017.

The trailer shows more of the new villain in Sonic Forces named “Infinite”. This characters has joined up with Eggman’s henchmen, which include Chaos, Metal Sonic, Shadow and Zavok, who have already taken of the world. The group will try and stop Sonic at every turn as he attempts to put a stop to their plans to create more panic and disorder.

The character was first revealed during E3 2017, but now we see exactly what he is capable of in a new cutscene. Interestingly, he is faster than Sonic and seems to be stronger, but as we’ve learned every enemy has their weakness.

Sonic Forces borrows gameplay from multiple Sonic titles and brings them together for a fast action title featuring 3D and 2D levels for players to experience.

Additionally, players will be able to create custom heroes to play as throughout the game’s story. This will include in-depth customization mechanics, which will be sure to produce some interesting characters once players get their hands on the game this holiday.


Source: dualshockers.com