"13 Reasons Why," "Riverdale" Star Ross Butler on Asian Leading ...

13 Reasons Why | Date Announcement | Netflix

David Buchan/REX/Shutterstock

Ross Butler has been busy.

Back in January, Riverdale the CWs Gossip Girl meets Twin Peaks adaptation of the famous Archie comics debuted with Butler playing Archies (KJ Apa) bully Reggie. On Friday, Netflix released the highly anticipated 13 Reasons Why an adaptation of the popular book by Jay Asher, courtesy of Selena Gomez with Butler playing Zach.

Variety spoke with Butler about 13 Reasons Why, Riverdale and playing parts that arent necessarily Asian roles.

How was working on Selena Gomez passion project 13 Reason Why?

It was amazing. It was not a show I was expecting of Selena. This seemed like a complete 180. When I heard that she was a part of it, it was really interesting and drew me to it. After I got to work with her, I have some much more respect for her and the message shes trying to put out there.

Tell me about Zach. How does he fit into the mystery?

Hes one of the reasons. Hes one of the jocks there are a few that are involved and hes not the smartest guy, but he definitely has an emotional side to him that people dont expect because he puts on this front.

Both 13 Reasons Why and Riverdale share a lot of similarities. Both cover modern issues faced by high schoolers like bullying and depression, and both end up with a student at the school dead. What was different about 13 Reasons Why, or Zach compared to Reggie, that drew you to the show?

With Riverdale its a murder mystery. You dont know who the killer is, and you dont know why. Over the course of the season youre meeting new characters and youre learning new information about them. with 13 reasons why you start off knowing that the girl Hannah (Katherine Langford) committed suicide, and you know that there are 13 reasons. It unfurls through the season which I thought was a super unique way of telling a mystery.

In terms of Reggie and Zach being different, Id say Reggie is a jock through and through. Hes loud, and obnoxious, and doesnt care what people think. With Zach hes much more grounded, for me, in reality. Hes a jock that has very dark and lonely feelings, and throughout the first season you really witness what happens with him.

Jumping over to Riverdale, how has it been working with material as iconic as Archie comics?

Its really interesting, and not what I expected. When I first saw the breakdown for the characters, I didnt know it was going to be a murder-mystery. They were keeping that a secret. Reggie was originally Caucasian, and when they brought me in I got very excited thinking, Yes, we actually get to do the reverse of whats usually done in Hollywood. That personally was really fun to get some ethnicity in there from the Asian-American side.

It was also fun to take this family-friendly comic and make it super dark by throwing in a murder. There are all these characters that you associate with being colorful and happy, and you get to see their darker side. The writers did a great job making it current and gritty.

Theres been a lot of talk about the lack of Asian actors in TV and film. As an actor playing a character who was originally Caucasian, whats your take on it?

Its something that were all aware of and something thats really talked about. There are no Asian leading men in Hollywood. Theres not an Asian Ryan Gosling or an Asian Brad Pitt. Reggie was important to me because he isnt seen as an Asian character, because he wasnt. Hes just known as one of the guys, and in a comic that was based in American culture. The show is no different. Im not the Asian kid of Riverdale; Im Reggie and I just happen to be Chinese.

Its important because its telling the story that Asian-Americans are in American culture. Theyre a big part of our population. Its a stepping stone to helping find our Asian-American leading movie stars. Thats the next step.

The show just got renewed for a second season. Is there anything that youd like to see happen to Reggie in Season 2?

I think that Reggie needs to have a dog. Reggies dog has been a big character in the comics. Archie has a dog in the show, but I dont have a dog. I want a dog. Id also like to explore more of Reggies family life. We dont really get to see them at all, and in the comics there are some interesting stuff about them and how theyre never really there. Thats definitely something Id like to explore.

13 Reasons Why is available now on Netflix. Riverdale airs Thursdays on the CW.

Source: http://variety.com/2017/tv/news/13-reasons-why-riverdale-ross-butler-1202020231/

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LeBron James passes Shaq in scoring but Cavs" slide continues in 99-93 loss to Bulls

Chicago Bulls vs Cleveland Cavs - 1st Half Highlights | March 30, 2017 | 2016-17 NBA Season

CHICAGO -- The Cavs" slide continues, and the best anyone can say about them right now is March is almost over.

Cleveland fell to the Chicago Bulls 99-93 on Thursday night in a game in which LeBron James passed Shaquille O"Neal (28,596 points) for seventh place on the NBA"s all-time scoring list.

Now is not a time for the Cavs to celebrate personal accolades. James said the milestone "means absolutely nothing right now." It"s time to put out a dumpster fire that consumed them this month.

With the loss, Cleveland fell to 6-10 in March with a game to be played Friday at home. The Cavs have lost three in a row and five of seven. As an aside, they lost all four games this season to the Bulls, who pulled to within a game of eighth place in the East.

The possibility exists for a Cavs-Bulls first-round matchup come playoff time. But at the moment, Cleveland is again a 1/2 game behind Boston for first.

And the losses continue to mount. At least a stretch of six out of seven on the road has come to a merciful end.

"For a team to beat us four games out seven, it will be tough," cavs coach tyronn lue said before the game, when asked how confident he would be if the playoffs started today. His reply was "very confident."

"We"ve been going through some ups and downs as of late, but still confident we"re the best team right now and we just gotta start playing like that," Lue said.

Any time now would be great, fellas.

James scored 26 points to go with 10 rebounds and eight assists. A free throw with 4:28 left in the fourth quarter pushed him ahead of Shaq, his former teammate on the Cavs.

But James was fouled at the 3-point line, so he had two more free throws. And missed them both. He entered play shooting .679 from the line and was 3-of-7 Thursday. This is the worst season of his career from the charity stripe.

Kyrie Irving added 20 points and shot 7-of-20. J.R. Smith was better than he"s been, scoring 12 points on four 3s. Tristan Thompson was strong with 15 points and nine boards.

Kevin Love had a rough night. He finished with eight points and 10 boards on 3-of-10 shooting, and fouled out. He picked up his fifth foul with 11:47 left in fourth quarter, and about eight seconds after he returned to the game he fouled out with 6:08 remaining on a reach into Jimmy Butler. The Cavs looked at Love with stunned expressions.

Nikola Mirotic tied a season high with 28 points for the Bulls. Butler added 25. Rajon Rondo finished with seven points, nine boards and 15 assists.

Chicago shot just 42.2 percent from the field -- an improvement for the Cavs" defense -- but were 12-of-25 from 3-point range.

The Cavs were without Richard Jefferson, who"s battling left knee tendonitis, and Kyle Korver is still out with his sore left foot.

James finished the first half with a 19-footer at the buzzer. He scored 19 in the first two quarters and the Cavs went to the locker room with a 50-41 advantage.

The Bulls turned that around with 37-point third quarter. All of Cleveland"s problems returned, from poor defense (the Bulls shot 15-of-25 overall and 5-of-8 from the perimeter) to turnovers (six for 11 Bulls points).

As for passing O"Neal, who played with James in 2009-10 in Cleveland, James said: "Shaq is an all-time great, and the most dominant player to ever play this game. He re-defined what the big man was all about. He"s like a big brother of mine.

"But I could care less about me passing him. Means absolutely nothing."

NEXT: The Cavs start a three-game homestand Friday night against the Philadelphia 76ers at 7:30.

Source: http://www.cleveland.com/cavs/index.ssf/2017/03/lebron_james_shaquille_oneal_c.html

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Top Venezuela official breaks with government, protests escalate

Henrique Capriles contra el Golpe de Estado de Maduro en Venezuela. 30 - 03 - 2017.

CARACAS Venezuela"s powerful attorney general on Friday rebuked the judiciarys takeover of congress, breaking ranks with President Nicolas Maduro"s socialist government as protests and international condemnation grew.

"It constitutes a rupture of the constitutional order. It"s my obligation to express my great concern to the country," said Luisa Ortega, usually considered a key ally of the Socialists who have ruled Venezuela for the last 18 years.

While various prominent political figures have leveled criticism after leaving the government, it is extremely rare for a senior official to make such criticism. It may be interpreted by opponents that Maduro"s internal support is cracking.

From early morning, several dozen students marched in Caracas to the Supreme Court, which this week assumed the functions of the opposition-led National Assembly.

They were pushed back by soldiers with riot shields.

Small pockets of protesters also briefly blocked highways around Caracas, waving the Venezuelan flag and banners reading: "No To Dictatorship." Police moved them on.

"We have to demand our rights, in the streets, without fear," said opposition lawmaker Miguel Pizarro, who led a knot of demonstrators into a subway train.

Having already shot down most of the National Assembly"s measures since the opposition won control in 2015, the pro-Maduro court this week said it was assuming the legislature"s functions because it was in "contempt" of the law.

Outraged foes said that was a "coup" against an elected body.

Maduro, 54, a former bus driver and self-declared "son" of late leftist predecessor Hugo Chavez, was narrowly elected in 2013 amid widespread support for the ruling Socialist Party"s oil-fueled welfare programs.

But his ratings have plummeted to just over 20 percent as Venezuelans struggle with a fourth year of recession, scarcities of food and medicines and the highest inflation in the world.

Critics blame a failing socialist system, whereas the government says its enemies are waging an "economic war". The fall in oil prices since mid-2014 has exacerbated the crisis.

INTERNATIONAL ANXIETY

The Supreme Court"s move also brought condemnations and concern from the United States, Organization of American States (OAS), European Union, major Latin American nations and the top U.N. human rights official.

Ally Russia, however, bucked the trend in a statement on Friday urging the world to leave Venezuela alone.

"External forces should not add fuel to the fire to the conflict inside Venezuela," it said. "We are confident in the principle of non-interference in internal affairs."

Maduro accuses Washington of leading a push to topple him as part of a wider offensive against leftists in Latin America. Brazil, Argentina and Peru have all moved to the right recently.

However, new U.S. President Donald Trump seems to have other priorities or has not yet fully formed policy on Venezuela.

OAS head Luis Almagro, whom the Venezuelan government views as a p**n of Washington, has been pushing for its suspension from the 34-nation regional bloc and wants an emergency meeting after the latest developments.

But suspension appears unlikely, diplomats say, given venezuela"s support from other leftist governments and small nations who have benefited from its oil largesse.

"It"s false there has been a coup d"etat in Venezuela," Venezuela"s foreign ministry said, alleging a regional right-wing conspiracy.

"On the contrary, institutions have adopted legal correctives to stop the deviant and coup-seeking actions of opposition parliamentarians openly in contempt of decisions by the republic"s maximum tribunal."

Venezuela"s opposition Democratic Unity coalition, made up of about two dozen parties and groups, declared itself in "permanent session" and promised rolling street protests.

But the coalition is hobbled by disunity: leaders called at least four separate overlapping news conferences on Friday.

Opposition supporters are also acutely aware, however, that street tactics have failed on numerous occasions.

Vast rallies in 2002 helped briefly topple Chavez, but he was back about 36 hours later after his supporters poured onto the street and military factions came to his aid.

In 2014, hardline opposition activists led months of protests, but they turned violent and led to 43 deaths, their leader Leopoldo Lopez was jailed, and Maduro consolidated power.

Then last year, hundreds of thousands marched, but still authorities thwarted the opposition"s push for a referendum to recall Maduro and also postponed local elections.

The opposition is hoping the military - whose top ranks still pledge absolute loyalty to Maduro though there is believed to be dissent lower down - may nudge him into bringing forward a presidential election slated for the end of 2018.

But there is no public sign of that happening.

"Given that the government controls all the state"s institutions, including the armed forces, the security apparatus is likely to strongly repress protesters with opposition leaders facing higher detention risks," said Diego Moya-Ocampos, a Venezuelan analyst with the IHS Markit consultancy.

The Supreme Court"s contempt charge stems from vote-buying accusations against three lawmakers from southern Amazonas state. Even though they no longer sit in Congress, the court said parliamentary leaders had not handled their case legally.

(Additional reporting by Diego Ore, Girish Gupta, Eyanir Chinea, Corina Pons, Andreina Aponte in Caracas; Kevin O"Flynn in Moscow; Editing by W Simon)

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-politics-idUSKBN1721P8

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Friday is C�sar Ch�vez Day, but who was C�sar Ch�vez?

Take Action: Urge a Cesar Chavez National Day of Service

Cesar Chavez speaks at a United Farm Workers convention in 1992. Courtesy Jocelyn Sherman

The Spanish phraseS, se puedeYes, it can be donewas used as a rallying chant long before it was echoed in the streets of todays protests on civil, worker and immigrant rights.

It was coined by a man named Csar Chvezduring a 1972 fast in which the Latino American farm worker rights advocate protested a signed Arizona bill that deniedfarm workers the right to strike and boycott during harvest seasons.

Chvez legacy as aleader among farm workers unions is honored Friday on what would have been his 90th birthday.

despite high odds against him, Chvez succeeded in creating the first farm worker union in the U.S., a group that is still active today as the United Farm Workers.

According to Richard Jensen and John Hammerback, authors ofThe Words of Csar Chvez, the forthcoming leader quit his job with the Community Services Organization, a group dedicated to grassroots organizing, in 1962 and moved to Delano, California, to start a union among farm workers.

There he faced a challenge that pitted two groups of people against one another: The uneducated, poor, ethnic minority crop pickers versus the wealthy, powerful growers whose dominance held influence at the state political level.

It was clear from the beginning that Chvez was a unique leader, the authors wrote.

Born in Yuma, Arizona, on March 31, 1927, Chvez was the Roman Catholic son of an auto-repair shop and poolroom owner.He spent hischildhood as a migrant, changing schools often as he moved across California with his family. He joined the Navy in 1944 and was discharged in 1946.

Described as quiet, warm, intelligent, charismatic and exceedingly pleasant in The Words of Csar Chvez, Chvez delivered countless speeches throughout his career. In addition to organizing farm workers unions, he coordinated voter registration drives, helped people obtain citizenship papers and pensions and worked to end police violence in barrios.

My goal has always been very simple, he said of his public speaking; Dont preach to people, try to involve people and get serious.

InThe Rhetorical Career of Csar Chvez,Jensen and Hammerback wrote that Chvez redefined often-fearful farm workers so that they could act out their courage, dignity, idealism, dedication, and willingness to work hard and sacrifice for their cause without expectation of appreciation or material gain. In turn, these reconstituted farm workers would themselves become rhetors who embodied their message as they educated, persuaded, and at times reconstituted audiences.

Chvez died in 1993 in the small worker town of San Luis, Arizona, according to the Cesar Foundation.

In Austin, the street formerly known as First Street, which runs from MoPac to U.S. 183, was renamed in 1993 to honor the union organizer and Hispanic rights activist who died that year.

Girard Kinney, an architect who helped create the Great Streets Master Plan in downtown Austin, remembers the resistance that came with the name change.Kinney said he was a strong supporter of bringing Csar Chvez Street to Austin.

Theres always been a valid opposition to renaming numbered streets, he said. If you say First and Congress, everyone knows intuitively what youre talking about.

Austin isnt the only place to designate the activists name on a streetsign. In Texas alone, roadways in San Antonio, Lubbock, San Juan, Houston, El Paso, Dallas and Edinburg have been renamed after Csar Chvez. Nationwide, streets in various California and Arizona cities and in St. Paul, Portland, Milwaukee, Salt Lake City, Kansas City and Boise bear his name.

The University of Texas installed a statue of Cesar Chavez on its Austin Campus in 2007.

The University of Texas also honored the activist with a statuelocated atWest Mall on a site between Battle Hall and the West Mall Office Buildingin 2007.

In 2014, former U.S. President Barack Obama proclaimed March 31 as Csar Chvez Day.

The values Csar Chvez lived by guide us still, Obama wrote in the proclamation.As we push to fix a broken immigration system, protect the right to unionize, advance social justice for young men of color, and build ladders of opportunity for every American to climb, we recall his resilience through setbacks, his refusal to scale back his dreams.

According to the Texas Comptrollers Office, Csar Chvez Day is an optional holiday in the state, meaning a state employee is allowed to observe the day.

On April 1 and 2 across various rural communities in the U.S., Chvez S,se puede chant may be heard again, as farm workers are planningmarches in his honor.

Source: http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&ct2=us&usg=AFQjCNGM8pYedzIAIfYfkk4ULHf5UlwGKQ&clid=c3a7d30bb8a4878e06b80cf16b898331&cid=52779443057772&ei=14jeWOCwD5GX3AGu84SQAQ&url=https://communityimpact.com/austin/central-austin/history/2017/03/29/friday-cesar-chavez-day-cesar-chavez/

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Film Review: "The Boss Baby"

The Boss Baby - Movie Review

Its a routine feeling to want a movie to be smarter. Every so often,though, you may want a movie to be a little dumber to be true to what it actually is. The Boss Baby, the jokey new 3D animated lark from DreamWorks Animation (its being distributed by 20th Century Fox), is a visually brisk, occasionally clever low-concept comedy thats also trying, half-heartedly, to be some sort of Pixarish masterpiece. You may wind up wishing that it had been one or the other.

The title character is an insanely precocious, arrogant, walking-and-talking infant who dresses in a black business suit, carries a briefcase, has big marble eyes that narrow down to devious slits, and snaps out observations and demands in the mellifluous cutthroat voice of Alec Baldwin, who has a peerless gift for making bombs-away statements that dont raise his pulse by a beat. The character, who is never called anything but Boss Baby, is a kick to look at, with a blockish head thats nearly as tall as his body, and he gets to bark out a lot of lines like Wheres HR when you need em? or (upon being told that he hates someone) Hate is a strong word. Its the right word, but still

The Boss Baby was loosely inspired by Marla Frazees 2010 childrens book, and if the movie had simply had been a feature-length Look Whos Talking riff about a tyrannical baby whos running the household like a corporate titan (a perfect metaphor, of course, for how the parents of a newborn feel he really is the boss), it might have been a perfect throwaway hoot. Back in 1989 and 90, the critics were never too kind to the Look Whos Talking films they were held in contempt but this critic, for one, found them more funny than not, and there is of course one fantastic talking baby in popular culture: the snobbish, irascible, hilariously merciless Stewie on Family Guy the purest expression of Seth MacFarlanes id on that show. As a character, Boss Baby is like an executive knockoff of Stewie, and though his lines arent as witty or adult scandalous, as long as youre chuckling at his autocratic bravura, the movieis amusing enough.

But heres whats a little weird and overly complicated about it. In Frazees book, Boss Baby simplyis. (The same way that Stewie is.) In The Boss Baby, he arrives from Baby Corp., a baby-making corporation in the sky thats like an assembly-line version of Heaven as the little brother of Tim (voiced by Miles Christopher Bakshi, and as the films grown-up, looking-back narrator by Tobey Maguire). Tim is a seven-year-old boy who thought that life was perfect when it was just him and his parents (voiced with generic sweetness by Jimmy Kimmel and Lisa Kudrow), crooning him to sleep with family renditions of Blackbird. But Tim, who indulges his penchant for make-believe by turning everything that happens to him into a story, is threatened by the new baby, because hes suddenly not getting the attention he craves. To him, the infant is the enemy. So the whole tale were watching of how Boss Baby comes in and takes over isnt actually happening. Its Tims elaborate fantasy of whats happening. Got it?

The conceit makes perfect sense, and doesnt sound all that complicated, but it still makes your head hurt, because the director, Tom McGrath (of the Madagascar films), working from a script by Michael McCullers, tries to use the its-all-in-Tims-mind premise to turn The Boss Baby into a variation on Inside Out: not just a daffy comic trifle about an authoritarian tot, but a timeless tale of the imagination, and of how kids use it to ease their heartache. The trouble is, instead of taking us deeper into a childs reality the way Inside Out did, The Boss Baby is at once overly busy and oddly detached from a childs reality. The conceit stays locked on that one literal level (though occasionally we see what Tims parents see just two kids playing), and so basically were watching an elaborately kooky junior buddy movie that pretends to be about experience but is really about throwing an overly arduous chase comedy in the audiences face.

Commercially, theres no reason that this shouldnt work out just fine. The Boss Baby is blithe, fast-moving, and dazzlingly animated, with the kind of supple, light-reflecting surfaces that may remind you of the lustrous visual textures that Brad Bird brought off in Ratatouille. There are irresistible bits, like the opening Baby Corp. delivery sequence, or Boss Babys James Brown funk waddle out of his taxi, or a baby action sequence set to the theme from S.W.A.T., or the moment leading up to the climactic sequence in Las Vegas that features a bunch of Elvis impersonators whose Fat Elvis patter is so slurry-cool it practically leaves words behind.

yet theres a reason the Boss Baby still feels standard issue and a wee bit tiresome. It has one of those relentless mechanical plot lines thats all booby-trapped logistics in this case, about how Boss Baby is on a mission from Baby Corp. to stave off an epidemic of puppy love. It seems the growing obsession with cute new dog breeds is draining away the love for babies, and at the Vegas Convention Center, its up to Boss Baby to gather intel on a new pooch about to be launched: a creature called the Forever Puppy whose endless adorability represents the ultimate threat. This is the definition of a clanking cartoon narrative that doesnt matter because it doesnt signify anything, emotional or otherwise. Whereas the plot of a movie like Inside Out or, on a less heady but still artfully affecting level, Finding Dory or Trolls has an organic undertow.

Will kids go for The Boss Baby? Theyll crack up at parts of it, like a grooming montage that features a bare-b**t baby-powder fart, and theyll enjoy the image of Boss Baby, with his ridiculous glowering command. So will adults. But hes a character who deserves a better movie, one thats more fun and less pleased with itself.

Source: http://variety.com/2017/film/reviews/the-boss-baby-review-alec-baldwin-1202004561/

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BDB: Slow clap for SpaceX; a woman goes berserk in 7-Eleven and what to do if you find a painted rock

Трансляция повторного пуска и посадки SpaceX Falcon 9 (SES-10)

SpaceX"s big accomplishment explained with... a Keurig. Jessica Saggio, FLORIDA TODAY

SpaceX made history last night by reusing a rocket booster. THIS IS A BIG DEAL, PEOPLE.(Photo: The awesome Craig Bailey and Jessica"s crappy paint skillz)

They did it! THEY REALLY DID IT!

Before we begin, can we all just take a minute to give SpaceX a slow clap?

SpaceX did it. The company reused a rocket booster to launch its Falcon 9 back into space with a communications satellite last night. I"ve been hyping this up all week.Why? Because SpaceX just changed the space industry, and for the better at that. By reusing a rocket booster, SpaceX proved to the world it can revolutionize space travel by significantly reducing the cost of launching stuff into the big, black beyond.

Here"s how I explain it:Imagine rockets are Keurig coffee machines, and the booster (or stage) is a K-cup. A Keurig isn"t much good without a K-cup (i.e. you need a booster to launch a rocket), but after you"re done with a k-cup, you just toss it out.

well, spacex basically just created a reusable K-cup. So imagine only havingto buy one K-cup that"s good for several cups of coffee. That"s pretty much what SpaceX achieved, but on a much grander scale.

This means more companies will likely have access to space because they"ll be able to afford it. In turn, thismeans better products, better connectivity and better intelligence for all of us.

Some not-so-lucky pennies

A woman who tried to pay for items with pennies became enraged when a clerk refused to accept them. Wochit

I was always under the assumption that money is money, right? That if you want to pay with 1,000 pennies, you are a tool, but its legal tender, so youre in the clear.

Yeah, apparently thats not the case. Businesses selling regular ol goods and services can reject your money if they see fit. This was the case at a 7-Eleven on Babcock Street in Melbourne and the rejection didnt sit so well with the woman who was trying to pay with a jar of pennies.

The woman picked up a few items at the gas station, but when she went to pay for them, she presented what police describe as an old, dirty jar of pennies.

According to reports, the store clerk wouldnt accept the payment, saying it was just too many pennies, not to mention the pennies were gross and gunked together. This is when the woman went bonkers, pushing and throwing items off the counter and threatening to kill the clerk. She then left the store and came back with two firearms.

Well, that escalated quickly.

Good news, she didnt fire those firearms. But she did leave in a white, four-door sedan and is on the loose. If caught, she could face aggravated assault and battery charges. So if you see a woman trying to pay with an old, gunked-up jar of pennies with a Sideshow Bob haircut, alert the authorities.

Keep an eye out for painted rocks

A pay-it-forward movement is underway in Brevard. People are decorating rocks for others to find. The goal? to brighten someone"s day Wochit

There is a really cool movement happening in Brevard right now. People are leaving painted rocks outside stores, restaurants, in parks and other public places for people to randomly find. The goal is to brighten someones day and, hopefully, they will pay it forward. Some of the rocks have inspirational sayings, others just have pretty pictures. Basically, its a big game of hide and seek happening. It all started with a Facebook group called Brevard Rocks. Anyone can join the group, and this is where people show off their latest creations and rocks they have found. If you find a rock, youll likely see Brevard Rocks painted on the back, telling you to visit the group. The unwritten rules are that if you find a rock, you either keep it and replace it somewhere with a new painted rock, or you move that rock to a new location once youre ready to part ways. Participants are encouraged to share their finds on Facebook so the movement grows.

So if you see a painted rock somewhere, thats why. Be cool. Keep it going.

This could be you:

A winning Fantasy 5 ticket was sold in Merritt Island and the winner has not come forward yet. So pull out that ticket and double check because it could be worth $53,485.61. The winning numberswere 3-10-19-20-25, and the drawing was Wednesday night. As for me, I"ll just be over here counting my dirty jar of gunked-up pennies.

McDonald"s big announcement

McDonald"s made the announcement to use 100 percent pure fresh beef in its Quarter Pounders. But social media users are not keeping it 100, having "beef" with McDonald"s latest decision. USA TODAY

McDonalds just announced that they will be using fresh beef in its hamburgerswell, some of them. Quarter Pounders, the Quarter Pounder with Cheese Deluxe and Signature Crafted Recipe burgers will now be made with fresh beef. Big Macs and other burgers will remain not fresh? With word of this news, McDonalds stockjumped 57 cents per share. Investors are apparently very excited about this. In other words:

McDonalds wont make the switch until next year in most of its U.S.-based restaurants. The company says the change is in response to customer demand and will likely encompass other sandwiches in the future. Company officials say the change has nothing to do with upping its game against such competitors as Shake Shack or Wendys. Rigggggght.

OK, so this is all well and great, but whats better is the legendary Wendys Twitter account didnt miss a beat. Talk about 50 shades of shade. The thread is full-on savage. Actually, I think Wendys is perhaps getting more attention for McDonalds announcement than McDonalds is on social media.

About BDB:

A quick snapshot that explains our Boiled Down Brevard column. By Jessica Saggio. Posted Aug. 9, 2016

Boiled Down Brevard is an irreverent daily news column that discusses Brevard"s biggest headlines and has a little fun along the way. Go ahead, hop on this crazy train because things get pretty weird around these parts. To get BDB daily, download the Florida Today app and allow notifications. We"ll send you an alert every morning to get your day started with a smile.

Read or Share this story: http://on.flatoday.com/2nGTa5P

Source: http://www.floridatoday.com/story/news/2017/03/31/bdb-slow-clap-spacex-woman-goes-berserk-7-eleven-and-what-do-if-you-find-painted-rock/99829640/

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Mike Pence doesn"t eat alone with women. That speaks volumes

Vice President Mike Pence Keynote Speech at AIPAC 2017

I have to hand it to conservatives: its 2017, and somehow they have Americans debating whether its appropriate to dine alone with a woman.

You see, this week a Washington Post article about Karen Pence revealed that the vice-president will not eat a meal with a woman other than his wife. Those on the right are commending Pences marital devotion and moral fortitude, claiming that such a rule is a smart defense against sexual temptation.

One conservative blogger questioned where there was ever a good reason for a married person to eat out alone with a member of the opposite s*x; the former CEO of the blog RedState chimed in to answer: Planning your spouses surprise party or funeral and that is it.

Why overwhelming sexual desire is only a danger over a plate of pasta, Im not sure, but perhaps this explains the noticeable lack of women in White House photos theyre all out to lunch!

While Republicans swoon over Pences supposed old-school propriety, the rest of us were simply reminded that you dont need to brag about grabbing p*****s to be a misogynist.

Never mind what it means for the (very few) women who work in the White House, who apparently cant count on business dinners or mentorship over a meal. The underlying message of a rule like Pences is the same one thats taught to teens in abstinence-only education classes: men cant control themselves when alone with women.

Its an insulting view of men, a limiting role for women were there to either entice or domesticate and an archaic take on gender roles more generally.

As the Black List founder Franklin Leonard noted, if Keith Ellison who is Muslim refused to dine one on one with women and used his religion to justify it, the political right would lose their minds.

While we were all fighting about Pences dinner plans, though, Republicans were hard at work attacking women and their rights while putting on a show of caring about gender justice.

The same week the first lady gave a speech at the state departments International Women of Courage Awards, insisting: We must continue to fight injustice in all its forms, in whatever scale or shape it takes in our lives, the White House press secretary, Sean Spicer, chastised the veteran reporter April Ryan for shaking her head at him. (Just last month, Trump asked Ryan if the those in the Congressional Black Caucus were friends of hers.)

While the president was asking a room full of women if they had ever heard of Susan B Anthony, the conservative Fox News host Bill OReilly was under fire for making a racist and sexist comment about the California congresswoman Maxine Waters hair and an Iowa legislator said that if a pregnant woman found out her fetus has died, she should carry the pregnancy to term anyway.

And while Pence trended on Twitter for his old-school sexism, what went largely unremarked on was that the vice-president cast the tie-breaking vote to push forward legislation that allows states to discriminate against Planned Parenthood and other healthcare providers that provide abortion when giving out federal title x funds.

pence is a misogynist. We know it from his voting record, we know it from the things that hes said about womens rights and now we know it because of his odd personal rule not to dine with women alone. But lets not let one mans sexism distract us from his whole partys sexist agenda.

Source: http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&ct2=us&usg=AFQjCNFSpKz9lZnNbU0uR-HakJgP2V6UZQ&clid=c3a7d30bb8a4878e06b80cf16b898331&cid=52779445118377&ei=H27eWLDJDNfC3gH68KKwCg&url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/mar/31/mike-pence-doesnt-eat-alone-women-speaks-volumes

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