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:
KIK IS SHUTTING DOWN ITS MESSAGING APP TO FOCUS ON SEC CRYPTOCURRENCY FIGHT
The SEC alleges that the company was using the $100 million Kin ICO as a last bid “hail Mary” to try to turn things around after a decline in popularity. Thet the subsequent lawsuit over the initial coin offering is what’s ultimately causing Kik to shutter. ironic, to say the least. CEO Ted Livingston notes that in order to continue fighting the SEC, the company is taking three actions: shutting down Kik entirely, firing over 100 employees to reduce the company to “an elite 19 person team,” and focusing exclusively on “converting Kin users into Kin buyers.”
[SOURCE: theverge.com]
ALEX JONES SUES THE YOUNG TURKS: THEY ‘TOLD THE WORLD’ I SENT CHILD PORN TO SANDY HOOK PARENTS
As Law&Crime reported before, lawyers representing families of Sandy Hook mass shooting victims in a defamation suit accused Jones of sending electronic files containing child pornography as part of the discovery process; the plaintiffs sued Alex Jones for his “years-long campaign of abusive and outrageous false statements in which Jones and the other defendants have developed, amplified and perpetuated claims that the Sandy Hook massacre was staged and that the 26 families who lost loved ones that day are paid actors who faked their relative’s deaths.” Jones’s lawyer in the latest defamation suit, Robert Barnes (who has penned columns for Law&Crime before), addressed the child porn controversy, saying the FBI “cleared JONES and his employer,” and identified Jones as the “target victim”:
[SOURCE: lawandcrime.com]
ANHEUSER-BUSCH TO HAVE ‘NO FURTHER ASSOCIATION’ WITH CARSON KING OVER SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS
In a statement to KCCI, Anheuser-Busch said, “Carson King had multiple social media posts that do not align with our values as a brand or as a company and we will have no further association with him. We are honoring our commitment by donating more than $350,000 to the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics.” The content of the offensive posts have not been released, but the Des Moines Register reports that the posts compared black mothers to gorillas and make light of black people killed in the holocaust. On September 13, King created a sign reading “Busch Light supply need replenished. Venmo Carson-King-25” for “ESPN College GameDay” at Jack Trice Stadium in Ames. The sign generated national attention, inspiring donors from across the country to contribute to King’s Venmo account. When King announced he would donate the money to the University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital, Anheuser-Busch and Venmo offered to match his donation.
[SOURCE: kcci.com]
GE, NASA PARTNER TO ADVANCE THE FUTURE OF ELECTRIC FLIGHT
Electric flight is becoming a tantalizingly close reality for shorter-range service. But increasing passenger carrying capacity and flight times to economically accommodate longer routes will require a major rethink of crucial components. One of these is the inverter, which changes the direct current of batteries into alternating current used by the airplane’s propulsion system. The problem is there aren’t many inverters rated for aviation. Those that exist are big and heavy, two characteristics that don’t mix well with electric flight. Now, GE is partnering with the NASA Advanced Air Vehicles Program (AAVP) on a new generation of inverter using GE’s silicon Carbide (SiC) technology. The project aims to deliver a next gen inverter that provides significantly increased power density over existing technology but is small enough to support electric flight.
[SOURCE: zdnet.com]
VOX MEDIA ACQUIRES “BRILLIANT” AND “DESPICABLE” NEW YORK MAGAZINE
After more than 50 years of chronicling the highbrow, lowbrow, brilliant and despicable characters of the city whose name it took, New York Magazine has a new owner. On Tuesday, Vox Media agreed to acquire New York Media, the company behind the biweekly print magazine and five popular online offshoots, in an all-stock transaction. Neither company would disclose the value of the deal.
[SOURCE: nytimes.com]
HEALTH CARE COSTS ARE EATING US ALIVE, A NEW SURVEY SHOWS
The latest data from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation’s annual survey of employers underscores why this debate is so important. In the past 10 years, the average premium for job-based health insurance that covers a family has risen 54%, to $20,756. Moreover, the amount of that premium workers pay for family coverage has increased 71%, to $6,015. During that same decade, the share of workers whose health plans carry deductibles requiring them to pay hundreds or thousands of dollars in out-of-pocket costs before their insurance coverage kicks in has increased from 63% to 82%. The size of the average deductible has grown from $826 to $1,655. At the same time, income hasn’t kept pace. From 2009 to 2019, earnings have gone up just 26%.
[SOURCE: huffpost.com]
A HIGH SCHOOL IN KENTUCKY TURNED GIRLS AWAY FROM A HOMECOMING DANCE AFTER MEASURING THEIR DRESSES WITH A RULER
In a blog post about the situation, Carrie Vittitoe, who has a 15-year-old daughter at Eastern High School in Middleton, Kentucky, said administrators were measuring dresses with a ruler, and many students whose dresses fell shorter than two inches above the knee were denied entry to the homecoming dance over the weekend, even though they had paid for tickets. A dad estimated that 100 girls had been turned away because of their dress length, WDRB reported. Jefferson County Public Schools confirmed to the Courier Journal that girls had been turned away from the dance, but the spokesperson did not give a specific number. JCPS Spokesperson Renee Murphy told the Courier Journal that administrators will be reviewing the dress code.
[SOURCE: businessinsider.com]
14 STUNG BY YELLOW JACKETS IN NEW BOSTON; CONSERVATION AREA TRAIL CLOSED
Fourteen people, including seven children, were stung by yellow jackets in New Boston, New Hampshire on Tuesday. The fire chief said one person was stung 13 times. The incident happened just before 4 p.m. Tuesday in the Betsey Dodge Conservation Area off Saunders Hill Road, when two teachers from New Boston Central School were leading an after-school hiking club for fifth- and sixth-graders. One student stepped on the nest and the group was swarmed, the teachers said.
[SOURCE: wmur.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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