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:
KYLE LONG RETIRES FROM BEARS AT 31
Long played in just four games in 2019 before a hip injury ended his season. It occurred prior to a Week 4 game against the Minnesota Vikings that he sat out. He returned to play every snap of a Week 5 game against the Oakland Raiders before the team placed him on injured reserve for the fourth straight season. Between the injured reserve designation and general manager Ryan Pace’s comments this past week, it appears that Long’s time in Chicago may have been up regardless of his decision to retire.
[SOURCE: yahoo.com]
IRAN HACK: US GOVERNMENT WEBSITE HACKED WITH IMAGE OF BLOODY TRUMP
The images appeared on the Federal Depository Library Program program’s website late Saturday before the site was taken offline. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, a division of the Department of Homeland Security, said it was monitoring the situation. The statement added that “in these times of increased threats” all organizations should increase cyber monitoring, back up IT systems, implement secure authentication and have an incident response plan ready should a hack take place.
[SOURCE: usatoday.com]
JOAQUIN PHOENIX DROPS MULTIPLE F-BOMBS IN GOLDEN GLOBES SPEECH, BLASTS HOLLYWOOD HYPOCRISY
Joaquin Phoenix took home the Golden Globe on Sunday night for his role in “Joker,” but not without some drama. After acknowledging his fellow nominees, Phoenix, a long-time skeptic of Hollywood awards shows, said “There is no f—ing best actor.” NBC proceeded to cut out the audio as he dropped multiple f-bombs, all of which were muted for TV viewers.
[SOURCE: variety.com]
MERCEDES-BENZ RECALLS 750,000 CARS FOR ISSUES WITH SUNROOF
The cars affected by the recall include the Mercedes-Benz’s C-Class, E-Class, CLK-Class and the CLS-Class, made between 2001 and 2011. All four vehicle classes came with an optional sunroof, and the bonding material on those sunroofs can deteriorate, resulting in the sunroof detaching from the car, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
[SOURCE: usatoday.com]
GHOSN TOOK BULLET TRAIN TO ESCAPE FROM TOKYO, JAPAN, NTV SAYS
The former head of Nissan Motor Co. and Renault SA took a bullet train around 4:30 p.m. local time on Dec. 29 from Tokyo’s Shinagawa station, according to the report. He then took a taxi from Shin-Osaka station and stayed at a hotel near Kansai Airport, it said. A spokesman for Central Japan Railway Co., a bullet train operator connecting Tokyo and Osaka, said he doesn’t have any information to confirm the report.
[SOURCE: bloomberg.com]
PUERTO RICO ROCKED BY A MAGNITUDE 5.8 EARTHQUAKE, WITH MORE TREMORS EXPECTED
The magnitude 5.8 tremor happened at 5:32 a.m. ET, the US Geological Survey said. It was centered about 8 miles south-southeast of Indios, Puerto Rico, at a depth of about 3.7 miles below ground. No major injuries were reported, Puerto Rico Director of Emergency Management Carlos Acevedo said. He said some homes were damaged in Guanica, and a home collapsed in Guayanilla.
[SOURCE: cnn.com]
TIMOTHÉE CHALAMET TO PLAY BOB DYLAN IN NEW BIOPIC
The biopic, reportedly titled Going Electric, will chronicle Dylan’s rise from Greenwich Village folk singer to rock messiah—particularly focusing on his controversial embrace of the electric guitar in 1965. Chalamet will join a pantheon of actors who have previously portrayed Dylan, including Cate Blanchette, Christian Bale, Richard Gere, and more from the 2007 film I’m Not There. Back in 2018, Call Me By Your Name director Luca Guadagnino said that he planned to turn Dylan’s 1975 classic Blood on the Tracks into a film.
[SOURCE: pitchfork.com]
A MODEL IS SENDING PEOPLE NUDES IF THEY DONATE TO THE BUSHFIRE CRISIS
LA-based Kaylen Ward has posted a message to her fans on Twitter saying that if they donate at least $10 then she will send them a naked picture of herself to them. She posted a massive list of places to donate and people who are keen on the deal have to show evidence that their transaction has gone through. Since uploading the fundraising technique Kaylen says she has raised a whopping $720,000. That is one hell of a lot of nudes that have been sent.
[SOURCE: ladbible.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.
Connect with us directly by emailing us at theconversationinbox@gmail.com or by simply visiting thisistheconversation.com.
