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:
GEORGIA SOUTHERN STUDENT-ATHLETE JORDAN WIGGINS HAS PASSED AWAY
New information on the death of a Georgia Southern University student-athlete. The Bulloch County Coroner says Jordan Wiggins’ death has been ruled suicide by overdose. On Monday evening, a family member called Georgia Southern Police to request a welfare check at Jordan Wiggins’ residence hall in Statesboro. Upon arrival, officers found Wiggins unresponsive. He was transported to East Georgia Regional Medical Center, where he later passed away. Per university protocol, when a student death occurs, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation was called in to conduct an investigation. While no results are yet available, authorities did indicate that no foul play is suspected at this time. Wiggins was a freshman football player on the Georgia Southern football team, and the news of his death hit his teammates hard. Monday was a scheduled day off from practice for the team, and Tuesday’s practice has been canceled.
[SOURCE: wjcl.com]
THE KING OF THAILAND ABRUPTLY STRIPPED ALL ROYAL TITLES FROM HIS 34-YEAR-OLD CONSORT, WHO IS ACCUSED OF PLOTTING AGAINST THE QUEEN TO TAKE HER PLACE
King Maha Vajiralongkorn on Monday stripped Sineenat Wongvajirapakdi, 34, of all her royal title and military rank for disloyalty, Channel News Asia and the BBC reported, citing the palace. The 67-year-old king had bestowed on Wongvajirapakdi the title of royal noble consort in July in a ceremony attended by Queen Suthida, whom the king had married just two months earlier. The role of the royal noble consort is to be the king’s spouse or companion. Wongvajirapakdi, believed to be one of the king’s longtime girlfriends, was the first person to receive that title since 1921. According to the palace’s statement, translated from Thai by the Channel News Asia correspondent Pichayada Promchertchoo, Wongvajirapakdi had tried to stop the king from marrying Suthida in May because she wanted to be queen herself. The Thai king had tried to ease tensions between Wongvajirapakdi and Suthida after the marriage by giving Wongvajirapakdi the title of royal consort — an approach that appears not to have worked. Despite her new rank in the royal court, Wongvajirapakdi “did everything to make herself equal to Queen Suthida” by showing disobedience to the royal couple and giving commands and claiming that the king had told her to do so, Promchertchoo said, paraphrasing the palace. The palace’s official announcement described Wongvajirapakdi as “ambitious” and “disrespectful,” the BBC reported.
[SOURCE: businessinsider.com]
SKIN CARE BRAND SUNDAY RILEY WROTE FAKE SEPHORA REVIEWS FOR ALMOST TWO YEARS
According to the FTC, employees of the company were ordered to write fake reviews and dislike negative ones in order to boost sales. As part of the settlement, Sunday Riley agreed not to write fake reviews. The company did not admit wrongdoing or receive any form of punishment. Sunday Riley and Sephora did not respond to CNN emails for comment Tuesday. The Texas-based company, founded by CEO Sunday Riley, posted fake reviews from 2015 to 2017, the FTC said. The investigation into the company started when a former employee accused Sunday Riley of faking reviews. “The Commission’s investigation confirmed the whistleblower’s claim and found that the scheme to generate fake reviews of Sunday Riley products involved Ms. Riley herself,” FTC commissioners Rohit Chopra and Rebecca Kelly Slaughter said in a letter. “Rather than relying on satisfied customers to generate real buzz about her products, she directed her employees to write glowing reviews and bury negative ones, while offering detailed instructions on how to avoid detection. The FTC shared snippets of multiple emails sent by the CEO. In these emails, Riley urged her employees to always use a “virtual private network”, or VPN, before writing fake reviews so they aren’t traced back to the company. Most recently in April 2018, interns of the company were also asked to make fake Sephora accounts and write reviews of Sunday Riley skincare products. FTC commissioners Chopra and Slaughter disagreed with the settlement, arguing that the company should have paid a higher price.
[SOURCE: cnn.com]
WOMAN LEARNS SHE HAS CANCER FROM PHOTO AT TOURIST ATTRACTION: ‘I WOULD NEVER HAVE KNOWN’
Bal Gill, a 41-year-old mother from Berkshire, England, visited Camera Obscura & World of Illusions in Edinburgh, Scotland, during a family vacation in May 2019 and later wrote to the museum to share how one of its attractions may have saved her life. According to the museum, the thermal camera offers guests “the chance to see just how hot, or cold you are” — and for Gill, the attraction revealed a surprising hot spot on her chest. After Gill and her family returned home to England, she came across the image again in her camera roll and decided to do some digging on thermal imaging and the possible significance of the hot spot. She discovered that thermography, also called thermal imaging, is a tool used by breast cancer specialists that utilizes a special, noninvasive camera to measure the temperature of the skin on the breast’s surface. Since cancer cells are growing and multiplying at a rapid rate, blood flow and metabolism are higher in cancerous tumors than in non-affected areas of the body. As blood flow and metabolism increase, skin temperature goes up, which is how thermal cameras can detect cancer’s presence. Andrew Johnson, the general manager of Camera Obscura & World of Illusions, said he was moved to learn of Gill’s story, “as breast cancer is very close to home for me and a number of our team.” Gill ultimately expressed gratitude toward the museum for the lucky incident that led her to seek early treatment. Gill’s story comes amid Breast Cancer Awareness Month, an annual October campaign meant to increase awareness of the disease and highlight the importance of education and research. In the United States, 1 in 8 women will develop breast cancer in their lifetime, according to the National Breast Cancer Foundation. In 2019, the nonprofit estimates that 268,600 new cases of invasive breast cancer will be diagnosed in women in the U.S., as well as 62,930 new cases of noninvasive breast cancer. It also estimates that 41,760 women will die from breast cancer in the U.S. during this year alone.
[SOURCE: aol.com]
PABLO ESCOBAR’S BROTHER IS THREATENING TO SUE ELON MUSK FOR $100 MILLION FOR STEALING HIS DESIGN FOR A FLAMETHROWER
Over the past few decades, Elon Musk has come up with multiple schemes on his way to obtaining more money than most people would ever know what to do with but he’s repeatedly made it clear he’s not satisfied with resting on his laurels. After making an unholy amount of cash thanks to PayPal, the entrepreneur would turn his attention to the world of transportation and help launch multiple ventures in an attempt to conquer how people get around the world (and, in the case of SpaceX, beyond it). A few years ago, Musk found himself sitting in traffic in Los Angeles and decided the best way to rectify that problem in the future was to found a new venture in the form of The Boring Company, which broke ground on an underground tunnel in the city in 2018. While Musk used some of his $20 billion net worth to help fund the venture, he also turned to some more unconventional fundraising sources, the most notable which was the sale of flamethrowers (which were marketed as “Not A Flamethrower” to get around a California law banning the sale of such items). Musk raked in millions of dollars thanks to the sale of the devices but regulators in his home state weren’t the only people who weren’t exactly thrilled with it, as Musk would eventually find himself on the receiving end of the wrath of Pablo Escobar’s brother, Roberto. Over the summer, the man who once served as the accountant for the Medellín Cartel accused Musk of stealing his design after one of the entrepreneur’s engineers visited his compound in Colombia in 2017. Musk would flippantly dismiss the accusations after the allegations came to light but it appears Escobar is not going down without a fight, as The Telegraph reports he’s now on the verge of filing a $100 million lawsuit for the supposed infringement (he’s also commissioned a musician to make a diss track for good measure). It’s worth noting that Escobar also told the outlet he’s working on an unspecified product he claims “will be much better than anything Apple ever did” so I’m not exactly sure what reality he’s grounded in.
[SOURCE: brobible.com]
DUNKIN’ IS LAUNCHING ITS BEYOND MEAT SANDWICH NATIONALLY
Dunkin’ is launching its Beyond Meat breakfast sandwich nationally in November, two months ahead of schedule, after a highly successful test of the product this summer. The buzzy new sandwich is a way for the chain to capitalize on growing consumer interest in plant-based proteins — and take up more space in the increasingly competitive breakfast segment. Dunkin’ first introduced a breakfast sandwich featuring Beyond Meat’s meatless sausage in New York City this July. That test “exceeded our expectations,” Dunkin’ CEO Dave Hoffmann said in a statement Monday. The Beyond Sausage Sandwich is now the second best-selling item in Dunkin’s Manhattan stores, following the company’s bacon, egg and cheese bagel. Sales of the sandwich were more than twice as high as expected. The enthusiastic customer reaction inspired Dunkin (DNKN)’ to speed up the national launch, which was previously scheduled for January. Over 9,000 Dunkin’ locations will serve the sandwich starting November 6. The speedy rollout echoes Burger King’s trajectory with the Impossible Whopper. Burger King first tested out the meatless Whopper, which features a patty made by Impossible Foods, in April. Just a month later, Burger King announced that it would make the product available nationally because the test had gone “exceedingly well.” The Impossible Whopper launched across the United States in August. For chains like Burger King, Dunkin’ and others, the meat substitute protein trend could be a boon.
[SOURCE: cnn.com]
NORTHERN IRELAND TO LEGALIZE ABORTION AND SAME-SEX MARRIAGE
At the stroke of midnight on Monday, Northern Ireland’s restrictive abortion and same-sex marriage laws came to an end, after the region failed to restore its power-sharing executive that collapsed more than 1,000 days ago. The changes were imposed by lawmakers in Westminster, who had given Northern Ireland a deadline until October 21 to restore its assembly at Stormont or have the laws changed directly from London. Despite the Stormont assembly meeting on Monday morning for the first time in three years, it was unable to prevent the amendments that meant same-sex marriage would be legalized and abortion would be decriminalized in the province. Despite abortion being legalized in the UK when the 1967 Abortion Act was passed, it has never been extended to Northern Ireland — where a law from 1861 still exists. The legislative actions by Westminster bring Northern Ireland’s laws into line with the rest of the UK. The region has one of the most restrictive abortion laws in the world, with the procedure carrying maximum sentences of life imprisonment, even in cases of rape, incest and fatal fetal abnormality.
[SOURCE: cnn.com]
WARRIORS NEWS: KLAY THOMPSON MIGHT NOT PLAY THIS SEASON, SAYS STEVE KERR
The Warriors marksman was expected to return after the All-Star break after sustaining a torn ACL injury in Game 6 of the NBA Finals against the Toronto Raptors in June. Thompson did not undergo surgery until July, which initially pushed his recovery timeline a little further than expected. Other players have suffered similar injuries in the past, like Chicago Bulls guard Zach LaVine, who sat out 11 months while Atlanta Hawks forward Jabari Parker missed nearly an entire year. Kerr tore his ACL while in college at Arizona and believes Thompson could be on the same timeline as the aforementioned players. Thompson was expected to return earlier than others, given an impeccable track record of being available for his team, even with injuries that would put others out for several days or even weeks. Yet every player has its limits, and the Warriors aren’t willing to push Thompson to those, taking in account that they signed him to a five-year, $190 million deal this summer, banking on his long-term health.
[SOURCE: clutchpoints.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.
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