(Mirror Daily, United States) – A recent analysis found that three Americans are as rich as the poorest half of the population in America: Amazon’s boss Jeff Bezos, Microsoft’s founder Bill Gates, and billionaire investor Warren Buffet.
This means that they hold as many assets as 160 million Americans. The three mens combined wealth currently stands at $248.5 billion. Researchers at the Institute for Policy Studies, which conducted the study, believe that the current situation has sparked a “moral crisis”.
A separate report estimates that President Trump’s policies could help widen more the gap between the nation’s rich and the poor. The GOPs tax reform could boost “wealth disparities” as 80% of the new benefits would make the 1% even richer.
“Wealth inequality is on the rise,”
co-author Chuck Collins told The Guardian.
Collins called for a reform that can tackle inequality rather than giving the wealthiest Americans tax cuts.
Billionaires Getting Richer
Forbes magazine’s annual list of the world’s richest people include 400 persons whose combined fortune amounts to $2.68 trillion, which is more than the GDP of some of the wealthiest Western economies.
The report estimates that the Forbes billionaires own more wealth than 64% of Americans, which makes them richer than the populations of Mexico and Canada combined.
Researchers also found that the income inequality is growing at the fastest rate ever recorded. The last time so much wealth and power were concentrated in the hands of so few people was before the First World War.
At the turn of the 20th Century, the Vanderbilt, Carnegie, and Rockefeller families held such large fortunes from oil, banking, and rail endeavors that President Roosevelt decided to break up the monopolies and boost taxes on the rich in the early 1900s. So, we might as well be speaking about a “second gilded age.”
Image Source: Wikimedia
(Mirror Daily, United States) – Kristie Love, whose post about her being raped at a private resort in Mexico was deleted without warning by TripAdvisor, was outraged to learn the company had lied about issuing an apology to her for the incident.
Last week, TripAdvisor issued an announcement claiming that it had apologized to Love for refusing to publish her story on the platform. On LinkedIn, the company’s CEO Steve Kaufer claimed that the website “apologized to the victim for her experience.”
“WHAT APOLOGY?”
the rape victim wrote on the employment-oriented site.
Love disclosed that TripAdvisor has yet to contact her and no apology has been made. On Wednesday, she wrote to the TripAdvisor boss a letter, informing him that she hasn’t received “a single phone call or email” from the travel website company. She thinks that Kaufer probably thinks a press release issued on November 1 should be considered an “apology”.
Love, however, is not the only user whose posts have been deleted as “hearsay”. Dozens of other travelers to Mexican resorts got their complaints taken down from the platform for the same reason.
TripAdvisor Deletes Rape Claim
Love claims that she was raped by a Mexican security guard during a visit to Mexico in 2010. The post detailing her ordeal was abruptly deleted by TripAdvisor. After her complaint, at least two other women said they were assaulted at the same location.
The TripAdvisor CEO eventually called Love to apologize, but it was too late for her.
Other users accuse the company of sweeping under the rug their warnings about the terrible experiences that happened during their trips. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that dozens got their negative reviews blocked on the platform.
In the end, the company flagged three Mexican resorts as risky. The resort where the three women were sexually assaulted, the Iberostar Paraiso Maya, was also added to the blacklist.
Image Source: Flickr
China is looking to eradicate frauds across its ecommerce environment by changing a law.
(Mirror Daily, United States) – China voted for thorough changes that regard a particular law within the business competition domain. All these efforts have one goal which is that of eradicating frauds across ecommerce environment. This online world has been known for its exaggerated public data. Merchants publish increased sales numbers while websites are full of fake positive product reviews. In lack of articulate regulations, online shoppers are always at risk.
Chinese Congress Voted to Update a 1993 Competition Law to Modern Practices
On Saturday, the National People’s Congress voted in favor of revisions of the Anti-Unfair Competition Law. The changes regard online retailers and will come into effect as of January 1st, 2018.
The new regulations were announced only days before the start of the Chinese version of America’s Black Friday. This event entitled 11 Singles’ Day is supported mostly by Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. However, the Chinese bargain day encompasses by far the U.S. as far as the revenue is concerned.
The business competition law appeared in 1993, and it advocated protection of entities and shoppers against illegal market practices. However, the regulation became outdated with the appearance of the main pillars of the Chinese ecommerce environment. These are Alibaba, Baidu Inc., JD.com Inc., and Tencent Holdings Ltd.
The Ecommerce Environment Will Become More Trustworthy
The new law alterations claim that no operator should build a fake image of itself to attract new customers. Therefore, the law specifically eyed those website owners that publish counterfeit sales numbers or resort to ‘click farm’ practices.
These are only some strategies that buyers have grown angry with. The new changes are going to apply to all ecommerce fields, be it movie ticketing or food delivery.
Some of the ramifications will no longer put up with businesses deleting bad reviews or forcing people to write good reviews. Another common practice that will be perceived as illegal is the purchase of massive movie tickets to the same production. This way, websites were securing strong box-office rankings for a particular film.
The punitive measures in case these new amendments are broken include fines ranging from $30,000 to $150,000. However, the new law permits regulators even to revoke business licenses in extreme cases.
Image source: 1
New York commuters have to expect a less functional Penn Station in summer.
The New York Pennsylvania Station serves an average of 600,000 passengers a day. This station became an important part of the lifestyle and culture of thi metropolitan region. It is also considered to be the busiest service in the Western Hemisphere. However, this summer New York commuters might lose almost 25% of their trains because of some construction projects.
Several Track Projects Might Affect New York Commuters in the Following Years
On Thursday, the president of the federal rail agency, Wick Moorman, announced during a press conference that the Pennsylvania Station is going to be under construction for 44 days, this summer. However, this important transport artery will have only 25% of its trails affected.
“My best estimate is certainly more than 75 percent of the trains will operate.”
Nonetheless, New York commuters have to wait until next week to find out more details about these summer works. Moreover, while there is not much information available on this upcoming track project, officials have already announced that locals would experience same disturbance next year as well. However, they didn’t have an official date for the second set of traffic disruptions.
The rail network is already showing signs of malfunctions. It was only on Wednesday when the Penn Station had its night service completely disrupted. On top of that, officials are not fully aware of the causes behind this event.
The Rehabilitation Efforts Will Happen Mostly at Night
As such, the upcoming work project will take place between July 7 and August. Wick Moorman confirmed suppositions that this program was issued to alleviate the problems of New York commuters with their main public transport means. Moreover, the rehabilitation efforts will happen mostly at night, so that during daytime the passengers won’t feel the full impact of the constructions.
On the other hand, lawmakers found it curious that the company wouldn’t start the operation during Fourth of July and Labor Day weekends. This is when the majority of New York citizens will be on vacation. To this, the company responded that the majority of its staff asked for time off as well.
Image source: 1
Tad Cummins and Elizabeth Thomas were hiding in Cecilville, California.
According to a recent statement issued by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, the nerve-racking search for Ted Cummins, the 50-year-old former school teacher who abducted his 15-year-old student, Elizabeth Thomas, has been concluded. Acting on a tip received from an eye-witness, the authorities tracked down Cummins and Thomas to a secluded cabin, bordering Oregon.
Elizabeth Thomas Found. Tad Cummins Is in Custody.
Josh DeVine, a Tennessee Bureau of Investigation spokesperson, declared during a press conference held on Thursday afternoon, that Elizabeth Thomas was found, thus ending a nationwide search that took almost six weeks.
Acting on a tip received from an eyewitness, on Wednesday night, the authorities moved in and arrested Tad Cummins. According to DeVine’s statements, the two of them sought refuge in a remote cabin located in Cecilville, California, approximately 100 miles away from Oregon’s border.
DeVine added that the cabin where Cummins and Thomas were discovered is in a very remote area, with the limited mobile signal. Since the disappearance of Elizabeth Thomas on the 13th of March, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and several other agencies received no less than 1,500 tips regarding the couple’s whereabouts. Unfortunately, not of all them were reliable enough.
The Story of Tad Cummins’ Arrest
Soon after receiving the tip that the two of them might be hiding in a cabin located in a secluded Californian area, the TBI coordinated with the Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office and managed to track down Cummins’s vehicle, a silver Nissan Rouge.
The authorities quickly located the vehicle and placed it under surveillance. Several hours later, the law enforcement agents stormed the cabin and took Tad Cummins into custody. Mark Gwyn, TBI’s acting director, declared that the 15-year-old girl was in a good physical condition and that she will be reunited with her family as soon as possible. TBI’s director said that the girl would be transported on a TBI jet.
As for Tad Cummins, the authorities believe that, given his deeds, he will spend at least several years in jail. Cummins was charged with aggravated kidnapping, engaging in sexual relations with a minor, and transporting a minor into another state with the intent of engaging in sexual relations, an offense which carries a 10-year sentence.
Thomas’s father told the reporters that he is more than relieved that this nightmare has ended and that he waits for his daughter to return home. The man also added that his family might need professional help in reaching Elizabeth, whose state of mind is currently unknown.
Image source: Pixabay
While a barbacoa taco at a Mexican diner, a woman found a piece of meat with teeth.
As shocking as it would might sound, a woman from Texas found several teeth in a barbacoa taco she ordered at a Mexican restaurant. Naturally, the woman took a picture of the nausea-inducing piece of meat and posted it on her Facebook account. The Mexican locale’s spokesperson explained that the mystery meat she found in her taco is actually a pair of beef lips.
Courtney Aguilar was a regular customer of the El Rincon, a Mexican restaurant in Texas whose specialty is the barbacoa taco. During one of her visits to the El Rincon, the woman discovered that her taco had a most unusual shape. Upon taking a closer look, Aguilar found a big chunk of meat with several teeth still clinging to it.
Disgusted by the reviling piece of flesh sticking out of her barbacoa taco, the woman took a picture of it and uploaded her discovery on her Facebook account. Of course, the picture was also accompanied by a lengthy description in which Aguilar told her followers that she is never going to eat at the El Rincon.
As expected, most of the Facebook users who commented on the post stood by Aguilar’s side, saying that it’s indeed disgusting and that they will steer clear of the restaurant. However, there were those who defended the El Rincon, including one user who told Aguilar to stop complaining about her food since the presence of the beef teeth clearly indicates that the dish is made with real beef and not a poor substitute.
It was not long before one the restaurant’s spokespersons made a statement about the mysterious piece of meat Aguilar discovered in her barbacoa taco. According to the spokesperson’s statement, the piece of meat is actually beef lips. Furthermore, it would seem that the mix-up was caused by the El Rincon’s meat provider who did not separate the meat properly.
On behalf of the restaurant, the spokesperson apologized for Aguilar’s bad experience and informed the restaurant customer’s that the contract with the vendor has been terminated. Subsequently, El Rincon is now looking for a new meat provider in order to prepare its famous barbacoa taco.
As a result, the house’s specialty will not be served until a new supply chain is established. Aguilar’s post was seen and shared by more than 2,000 people, many of them saying that even in a case of a supply mix-up, there was no way that the server could have not noticed a bit chunk of meat with teeth.
Image source: Wikipedia
Oculus just launched Mission ISS, a space simulator which puts players in the boots of an ISS astronaut.
Have you ever dreamed of becoming an astronaut and working on board the International Space Station? Regrettably, most of us won’t be able to experience what it’s like to float around in zero gravity or what Earth looks like from space. Becoming an astronaut takes years of hard training and, even then, the chances of being selected for a space mission are quite slim. But what if we told you that you could experience life aboard the ISS without actually having to undergo all that rigorous training?
Since the concept of virtual reality was introduced, more and more software developers have tried to create fascinating and never before seen environments and characters. However sensational the idea of playing games in VR may be, the harsh truth it that not everyone affords to buy one. But VR companies are working on that.
Meanwhile, Facebook’s Oculus, the company which spearheads the VR revolution, has just announced that a new VR experience is now available. After a long and fruitful collaboration with various international space agencies such as NASA, ESA, CSA, and CNES, Oculus managed to put together a great VR application which puts the players in the boots of a wannabe astronaut, who just boarded the ISS.
Naturally, Oculus’s latest simulator will have a couple of limitation, but all in all, we have to admit that the attention to detail is overwhelming. Although we can’t experience things like floating and working in Zero-G, the game will allow us to experience other aspects of living on board the International Station.
For example, players are able to explore, interact with various objects, complete minor and mission-critical tasks, help other astronauts complete their experiments, docking various space vehicles, and, of course, taking a couple of laps around the block (spacewalking).
Now let’s go for a quick round of that lovely game called good news/bad news. So, the good news is that Mission ISS, the game developed by Oculus, is free and can be downloaded directly from the company’s official website. The bad news is that you will need to purchase the Oculus Touch controllers in order to play.
Another piece of good news is that the developers managed to reconstruct the life of astronauts serving aboard the ISS in minute details minus dunking the player in a deep pool to experience the effects of zero gravity. The bad news is that you will need a top-notch PC in order to play the game.
An Alabama twin communicates with his deceased sibling from beyond the grave.
(Mirror Daily, United States) – Mirror Daily is proud to bring you the sad story of Walker Myrick, a 9-year-old boy from Alabama, who continues to share every with his Willis, his twin brother, who passed away at birth. The infant died due to a rare condition called TTTS or twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome. Brooke, Walker’s mother, said that although nine years have passed since Willis passed away, the boy still talks about his identical twin and regularly visits his grave.
Walker Myrick is a regular nine-year-old boy from Alabama – he attends school, plays lots of games with his friend, and does pretty much anyone would expect from a boy his age. However, there are times when the boy would begin talking as if there was a person near him.
Brooke Myrick, the boy’s mother, explains that her son doesn’t have an imaginary friend, and is actually talking to his twin sibling, Willis. According to Brooke’s story, when the twins were still in the womb, the doctors diagnosed them with a rare condition called TTTS (twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome).
As the doctors explained, during the time spent in their mother’s womb, twins share a common placenta. However, due to this rare condition, a blood flow imbalance, resulting in one twin receiving more blood than the other. TTTS is considered quite dangerous as it can result in the loss of one or both infants.
Unfortunately, Brooke was one of the poor souls who was diagnosed with twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome. Wills, Walker’s twin sibling, passed away shortly after birth, leaving his mother scarred for life. The boy was too young to remember anything about his mother’s experience with Willis.
However, according to Brooke, ever since the boy could, he would always ask her about his twin sibling, and, sometimes, would share his daily highlights with him.
And now, even though nine years have passed since Willis died, Walker and Brooker continue to visit his grave. Brooke said that each time they go to the cemetery, Walker hugs his brother’s gravestone and talks to him about what his experiences.
Even when he’s at home or waiting in the car for his mother, Walker, the Alabama twin, talks to Willis as if he was standing right beside him. Brooke said that identical twin are known to share a strong connection, and in Walker and Willis’s case, this bond transcends death.
The Alabama twin’s mother wants to use this opportunity in order to raise awareness on twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome.
Image Source: Pixabay
Facebook is now looking for a brain-computer interface engineer for brain-reading tech.
In other news, it would seem like Facebook’s looking for a way to read human thoughts. At least this is what suggests a list of rather peculiar job opening announcements recently posted by Zuckerberg’s company.
According to a recent job opening list posted by Facebook’s Building 8, the company is currently on the lookout for a brain-computer interface engineer, an audio engineer, and an engineer to work on a new and non-invasive neuroimaging technique.
However, the job opening announcements are quite explicit when it comes to the nature of the work. For instance, the job posting for the brain-computer interface engineer reads that the candidate must have at least one Ph.D. in neurosciences and that he or she must be willing to partake in a project that will take at least two years.
As for the audio engineer, according to Facebook’s job description announcement, the individual must be willing to create processing algorithms for audio signals using by novel computing platforms. The other job openings require skilled engineers to partake in the creation of a new type of neuroimaging system, which will be non-invasive.
In other words, Facebook is looking for talented people to create brain-scanning technologies. Naturally, when confronted with the perspective of Facebook being able to read the minds of its users, Zuckerberg chose to remain silent, saying only that the company is preparing something new and amazing.
Could this be the end of online privacy? Zuckerberg thinks not. In a press conference held back in 2015, Zuckerberg, Facebook’s founder, and CEO revealed how the future would look like from his point of view. Zuckerberg said that one day, users would be able to tell each other what they feel and what they think with the use of technology.
How does this work? Facebook’s founder explained that a user simply has to think of something to say, and the other user will receive it in the blink of an eye. It’s that easy and elegant.
However, the perspective of being telepathically connected to another human being through social media platform raises one big question: how can I be sure that the thoughts remain my own and that the company won’t be able to eavesdrop on what I’m thinking?
Unfortunately, we are still far from being able to answer this question. We’ll need to sit tight and wait to see how this thing plays out.
Image source: Pixabay
Authorities report that while most snowballs aren’t bigger than a tennis ball, some of them have more than one meter in diameter.
(Mirror Daily, United States) – After a freak storm had hit Siberia, giant snowballs began to appear in a coastal area. The mysterious icy spheres left behind by the terrible blizzard occupy an area of approximately 11 miles.
As strange as it would may seem, a large coastal area from Russian is currently occupying by spheres made of ice. While some of them are no larger than a tennis ball, some of them have more than one meter in diameter.
According to the local authorities, the mysterious spheres appeared after a large storm that came out of nowhere. The coastal area where this phenomenon was sighted is near the Nyda village. The villagers said that they hadn’t seen anything remotely resembling these icy spheres.
The authorities stated that the giant snowballs are the result of a natural phenomenon. Due to the sudden weather shift, the wind’s speed increased. The constant flow of water combined with the howling winds shaped these spherical marvels.
A similar phenomenon took place in the United States of America on Lake Michigan back in 2014. As scientists recall, after a polar vortex swept the shore of Lake Michigan, hundreds of giant snowballs washed up near Glen Arbor.
At that time, Joe Charlevoix, a meteorologist monitoring the phenomenon came up with an explanation to account for the event. As the scientists explained it at that time, the waters of Lake Michigan have temperatures slightly below the point of freezing.
This means that at all times there are ice fragments in the water. The movement of the waves forces the water to freeze in layers, thus creating these spherical objects. In the end, these giant snowballs are pushed by the wind, and end up on the shore.
Sergei Lisenkov, the acting press secretary of the AARI (Arctic and Antarctic Researcher Institute) offered a similar explanation. The scientists declared that there is indeed a natural phenomenon at work and that the spheres are the result of water and wind working together.
It’s quite plausible that the sphere’s themselves formed on the sea and were pushed on the shore by the bitter Siberian winds.
The giant snowballs might be just natural occurring phenomena in the eyes of others, but it would seem that they’ve managed to attract a very large crowd. People from all over Russia are going to the Nyda in order to view these spherical wonders for themselves and to take lots of selfies.
Image source: Pixabay