These are the top maybe-not headlines from the past 36-hours presented by The Conversation Project from raw engagement data from our social media to the headlines posted over the past day.
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The 8 topics that our followers ranked as the most conversational are:
QUEEN APPROVES UK GOVERNMENT’S REQUEST TO SUSPEND PARLIAMENT FOR BREXIT
The suspending of Parliament is known as “proroguing” Parliament. When this happens, any motions or questions lawmakers have put forward then lapse until Parliament formally opens again. However, the highly controversial move has dragged the monarch into the Brexit debate for the first time. The last time a British government asked the monarch to suspend Parliament in order to avoid opposition to government policy was 1948, five years before Queen Elizabeth II assumed the throne, according to the Institute for Government.
[SOURCE: abcnews.go.com]
FITBIT VERSA 2 SMARTWATCH WITH AMAZON ALEXA ANNOUNCED FOR $200
The Fitbit Versa 2 has a few upgrades over the original Versa. It’s has a more powerful processor, which means apps and data load quicker. Also, it offers up to five days of battery life, which is a lot longer than the two or so days you can expect from an Apple Watch. And unlike the Apple Watch, the Versa 2 can track sleep, with a new “sleep score” that averages the data it collects while you snooze and tells you how well you slept.
[SOURCE cnbc.com]
‘SHARK TANK’ STAR KEVIN O’LEARY’S BOAT INVOLVED IN FATAL CRASH
Sources connected to Kevin tell TMZ, the “Shark Tank” star says there is video that captures the area of the lake where the collision occurred, and he is looking to get the video enhanced to prove the navigation lights on the other boat were NOT on. Kevin believes this will exonerate his wife and him. However, sources connected to the other boat owner insist the navigation lights on that boat WERE on at the time of the collision.
[SOURCE: https://www.tmz.com]
NEAL CASAL DEAD AT 50
Between 2005 and 2009, Casal was a member of Ryan Adams’ Cardinals. He also joined former Black Crowes leader Chris Robinson’s band Chris Robinson Brotherhood and Hard Working Americans, a blues-rock supergroup that featured two members of Widespread Panic. In 2015, Casal masterminded Circles Around The Sun, the band that recorded the interlude music that played during the Grateful Dead’s farewell shows. And Casal was also a member of the Skiffle Players, a band that also featured Cass McCombs and a few former members of Beachwood Sparks; they released albums in 2016 and 2018. Just this year, Casal played on records from people like Chuck D and Fruit Bats, and he also contributed to a GospelbeacH album that won’t be out until fall. This past weekend, Casal performed at Virginia’s LOCKN’ Festival as part of Oteil & Friends, a one-off supergroup that also featured Bob Weir, Devon Allman, and Duane Betts.
[SOURCE: spin.com]
JESSI COMBS KILLED IN LAND-SPEED RECORD CRASH
Combs held the title of “fastest woman on four wheels” after setting a record of 398 mph in her jet-powered North American Eagle Supersonic Speed Challenger in 2013. More recently, she had piloted that same car to 483.227 mph in a single shakedown run in October 2018, though that run ended prematurely with mechanical troubles. (Governing bodies require two back-to-back runs in opposite directions to set an official speed record.)
[SOURCE: roadandtrack.com]
MINOR LEAGUE BASEBALL PITCHER’S FAMILY KILLED IN VIRGINIA TRIPLE HOMICIDE
A 911 call around 8 a.m. Tuesday morning reported that a person had been shot, the spokesperson said. Deputies went to the scene where they found a deceased woman in the driveway and the bodies of another woman and a child inside the home. Matthew Thomas Bernard, 18, was taken into custody as he ran from a wooded area around 12:15 p.m., the spokesperson said. A first court appearance has not been scheduled. CNN has attempted to reach out to the surviving family of the suspect with no comment.
[SOURCE: wtkr.com]
LOWE’S EXECUTIVE VP JOE MCFARLAND APOLOGIZES FOR SAYING A DRILL WAS A PERFECT FOR HISPANIC CUSTOMERS WITH SMALL HANDS
The comments, first reported by The Washington Post, came Monday during a pre-recorded video presentation broadcast to Lowe’s employees touting a $99 DeWalt 12-volt cordless drill. McFarland is shown in the video wearing a camouflage vest and extolling the virtues of the drill, when he added, “Some of our Hispanic pros with smaller hands, this is perfect for them.” The video was broadcast to managers gathered in Lowe’s conference rooms, the Post reported. It soon sparked concerns among employees in the company’s online forums, the newspaper added.
[SOURCE: cbsnews.com]
PROFESSOR MATTHEW MCCONAUGHEY: OSCAR-WINNING ACTOR TO TEACH AT UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS
McConaughey will co-teach the Script to Screen class with Associate Professor Scott Rice. The class meets once per week for three hours and McConaughey will attend in person as his schedule permits, said Kathleen Mabley, director of marketing and communication for UT’s Moody College of Communication. He also films lessons from the set that are viewed and discussed in class. McConaughey’s salary each semester is dependent on the number of courses he teaches or co-teaches. For the fall semester, he’ll earn less than $10,000.
[SOURCE: dallasnews.com]
Eight Things To Talk About uses the raw engagement data from the social media engagement from The Conversation Project to generate the top-ranking headlines over the course of a weekend.
A full weeks’ data (from Friday to Friday) is compiled, weighed, and sorted to produce the content for the Wrap-Up Show with J Cleveland Payne, published every Saturday as a podcast available at ThisIsTheConversation.com or wherever your favorite podcasts are found.
To ‘participate’ in the rankings of the headlines for this newsletter or the podcast, follow the Conversation Project on social media and engage with the posts to give them more ‘votes.’ The Conversation Project can be found on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
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