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:
PG&E POWER SHUTOFF IN BAY AREA, NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
Pacific Gas & Electric has warned residents in the Bay Area and beyond that it plans to shut off power in certain neighborhoods starting early Wednesday. In all, nearly 800,000 people in 34 California counties may be affected by the outage, which could last for days in some cases. In the Bay Area, the notice affects the counties of San Mateo, Santa Cruz, Santa Clara, Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Solano, Sonoma and Napa. Besides the Bay Area, the notice covers portions of the counties of Alpine, Amador, Butte, Calaveras, Colusa, El Dorado, Glenn, Humboldt, Lake, Mariposa, Mendocino, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, San Joaquin, Shasta, Sierra, Siskiyou, Stanislaus, Tehama, Trinity, Tuolumne, Yolo and Yuba.
[SOURCE: mercurynews.com]
PS5: SONY CONFIRMS PLAYSTATION 5 NAME, 2020 RELEASE DATE WINDOW, AND MORE
Sony has officially confirmed its next-generation console will be called the PlayStation 5, as well as when it’s coming out: The PS5 will launch in Holiday 2020. It’s also shared the first details on its controller–at least for now, not yet called the DualShock 5–and more about the discs it uses, ray-tracing support, SSD, UI features, and other aspects of the system. Here’s what we learned. The company announced the news in a blog post. “I’m proud to share that our next-generation console will be called PlayStation 5, and we’ll be launching in time for Holiday 2020,” said Sony Interactive Entertainment present Jim Ryan. “These updates may not be a huge surprise, but we wanted to confirm them for our PlayStation fans, as we start to reveal additional details about our vision for the next generation.” Ryan went on to share more details on Sony’s vision for the next generation, as well as its plans for the PS5 controller: “One of our goals with the next generation is to deepen the feeling of immersion when you play games, and we had the opportunity with our new controller to reimagine how the sense of touch can add to that immersion.
[SOURCE: gamespot.com]
VEGAN FOOD COMPANY SUING ARKANSAS OVER TRUTH IN LABELING LAW
A vegan food company is suing the state over its Truth in Labeling law and has asked a federal judge to temporarily place the law on hold. On Monday, attorneys with the American Civil Liberties Union represented the company Tofurky in federal court. Tofurky’s attorney, Brian Hauss, told KATV they believe ACT 501 violates their First and Fourteenth Amendment rights. Earlier this year, Arkansas lawmakers created the law which prohibits companies from using meat names such as burgers and sausages if the product is not made from agricultural products. This includes labeling foods that do not contain livestock, poultry, dairy and rice products. In court, the state argued that this law is aimed at making sure consumers are not confused by vegan or plant-based products using words such as veggie “burgers” and tofu “sausages”. Hauss argued that consumers are not ignorant and Tofurky clearly labels their products as plant-based. While Tofurky is only challenging parts of the law that affects their bottom-line, the Arkansas Rice Federation, a stakeholder in favor of the law, is keeping a close eye on this lawsuit. Tofurky has not changed its labels while they challenge this law in court, which is why they’re asking a judge to temporarily prohibit the state from enforcing it.
[SOURCE: katv.com]
3 INFANTS DIE FROM BACTERIA AT PENNSYLVANIA HOSPITAL
Eight premature infants were infected with a waterborne bacteria while in a neonatal intensive care unit. Three of the infants have died. The babies were in the NICU at Geisinger Medical Center in Danville, Pennsylvania. Out of “an abundance of caution,” the medical center will temporarily direct mothers who are delivering prematurely — before 32 weeks gestation — to other area facilities, the center reported. The infants had contracted a pseudomonas infection caused by pseudomonas bacteria. This waterborne bacteria causes one of the most common hospital-acquired infections and can create severe symptoms in those with compromised immune systems. The center found no evidence of the bacteria throughout the hospital, said Dr. Mark Shelley, director of infection prevention at Geisinger. Instead, hospital officials believe that the bacteria was limited to the intensive care unit. “It’s really too soon to say exactly where the organism is coming from,” Shelley said. He said that the center has done extra cleaning, put filters on taps and changed its medical center processes. The facility is also working closely with the state health department and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to eliminate the bacteria and prevent additional cases. The hospital is dedicated to finding out why the infections occurred and not letting it happen again, Shelly said.
[SOURCE: abcnews.go.com]
PENN STATE FOOTBALL COACH JAMES FRANKLIN DEFENDS JONATHAN SUTHERLAND AFTER DB GETS LETTER CRITICIZING DREADLOCKS
Penn State coach James Franklin on Tuesday denounced a letter that was sent to one of his players that members of the team have interpreted as being racist. Safety Jonathan Sutherland received a letter from a Penn State alum that was critical of his appearance and said his “shoulder length dreadlocks look disgusting.” In the letter, written by Johnstown, Pennsylvania, resident Dave Petersen, Sutherland’s hair, appearance and demeanor are criticized. Petersen said in the letter that he and his wife “…miss the clean cut young men and women from those days. Watching the Idaho game on TV we couldn’t help but notice your — well — awful hair. Surely there must be mirrors in the locker room! Don’t you have parents or [a] girlfriend who’ve told you those shoulder length dreadlocks look disgusting and are certainly not attractive.” Petersen also wrote that while he believes Sutherland will be “playing ‘on Sunday'” someday, he and his wife “have stopped watching the NFL due to the disgusting tattoos, awful hair and immature antics in the end zone.” Sutherland’s teammates, including defensive lineman Antonio Shelton, made the letter public through social media, and it has since gone viral. Shelton’s tweet had over 13,700 retweets and 46,200 likes on Twitter as of Tuesday afternoon. In his own Twitter statement Tuesday, Sutherland called Petersen’s opinions “degrading,” but said that he has taken “no personal offense.”
[SOURCE: espn.com]
BACHELOR PETER WEBER UNDERGOES EMERGENCY SURGERY, SPLITS FACE OPEN
During a game of golf on Monday, the ABC leading man split his head open after he fell and hit his head on multiple cocktail glasses, Radar Online reports. “He went to step on the cart but fell and and split his face open on two cocktail glasses he was carrying,” a source told the outlet. As a result of the nasty injury, Weber, 27, reportedly traveled two hours to a hospital for an operation in which he received 22 stitches in his face. The incident occurred one day before the women competing on his season were supposed to arrive in Costa Rica, according to Radar. During the season finale of Bachelor in Paradise in September, ABC announced that Weber — a.k.a. “Pilot Pete” — would be handing out the roses for the ABC series’ 24th season, which premieres in January 2020.
[SOURCE: people.com]
ROBERT DOWNEY JR. INVOLVED IN GREEN ROOM FIGHT BEFORE HOWARD STERN INTERVIEW
Robert Downey Jr. revealed during his interview with Howard Stern today that he was actually involved in an altercation, right before his appearance, in the show’s green room. Howard has been broadcasting all day from Los Angeles, after helping launch Sirius/XM’s new Los Angeles studio.The day has been packed with huge celebrity interviews including Jimmy Kimmel, Jennifer Aniston, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. During his conversation with the ‘Iron Man’ star, Downey Jr. told Stern he was involved in an argument in the green room right before he came into the studio. Robert described the dispute saying “I was just standing out there…standing in front of the TV screen when this little nebbish big wig says “out of the way!”
[SOURCE: theblast.com]
SPUD TRUCK OVERTURNS, SPILLING POTATOES ACROSS HIGHWAY 30
Idaho State Police reported Tuesday morning that a potato truck overturned on U.S. 30 near Pocatello, spilling Idaho’s most iconic produce across the road and causing traffic delays. The truck overturned near the Simplot plant outside Pocatello, according to ISP. Traffic was still moving as of about noon, despite a lane being blocked by the spuds, but drivers were urged to use caution.
[SOURCE: idahostatesman.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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