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:
TEXAS RANGERS HALL-OF-FAMER JOSH HAMILTON ACCUSED OF HITTING, THROWING CHAIR AT DAUGHTER
According to an arrest-warrant affidavit, Keller police began investigating after one of Hamilton’s three daughters with his ex-wife, Katie Hamilton, told her mother about an incident that took place the morning of Sept. 30. The girl told authorities that Hamilton became upset about something she said and threw a full water bottle at her, hitting her in the chest, while cursing and yelling. He then pulled a chair out from under her feet and tossed it at her before yanking her to the ground, the affidavit says.
[SOURCE: dallasnews.com]
DEADSPIN STAFF RESIGNS EN MASSE AMID REVOLT OVER ‘SPORTS ONLY’ POLICY
Deadspin staff resigned en masse on Wednesday following a public clash with top leaders at the site’s new parent company G/O Media. The staff’s top editors and writers shared on Twitter late Wednesday that they were leaving the sports and culture website after the company mandated that the site no longer cover topics unrelated to sports. In a statement to The Daily Beast, a company spokesperson said G/O was “sorry that they couldn’t work within this incredibly broad coverage mandate. We’re excited about Deadspin’s future and we’ll have some important updates in the coming days.” The resignations came just a day after the site fired a top editor for refusing to hew to G/O’s mandate to cover exclusively topics related to sports, a break with the site’s freewheeling editorial culture which often prided itself on its non-sports content.
[SOURCE: thedailybeast.com]
SOUTH KOREA COMPARES JAPAN’S ‘RISING SUN’ FLAG TO SWASTIKA AS OLYMPIC ROW DEEPENS
In September, South Korea’s sports ministry asked the International Olympic Committee [IOC] to ban the flag – regarded by many Koreans as a symbol of Japanese militarism and colonial rule. But having failed to secure a commitment from the IOC, South Korean MPs recently adopted a resolution calling for a ban on the use of the flag at the Olympics, describing it as akin to the Nazi swastika. In September, South Korean media quoted An Min-suk, an MP in the ruling Democratic party, as saying: “A flag symbolising war is not suitable for peaceful Olympic Games. “The rising run flag is akin to a symbol of the devil to Asians and Koreans, just like how the swastika is a symbol of Nazis which reminds Europeans of invasion and horror,” he reportedly said.
[SOURCE: theguardian.com]
BAHAREH ZARE BAHARI: BEAUTY QUEEN SAYS SHE WILL BE KILLED IF SHE IS DEPORTED TO IRAN
Bahareh Zare Bahari, a contestant in the recent Miss Intercontinental pageant in Manila, claims Tehran is attempting to silence her because of her public stand against the government. In a press release last week, the Philippines Immigration Department said the international police agency Interpol issued a worldwide request to arrest Bahari, known as a red notice. The statement did not specify which country requested the red notice, but Bahari told CNN that an immigration official told her Iran requested one in 2018. Bahari said she has been confined to a passenger room in Terminal 3 of Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport since she arrived from Dubai 12 days ago. “I’m really mentally sick,” she said, adding that the uncertainty over her case is wearing her down. Bahari believes she is being targeted for supporting the exiled Reza Pahlavi, the son of the Shah of Iran overthrown in the country’s 1979 revolution.
[SOURCE: cnn.com]
SONY KILLS PLAYSTATION VUE
Just days after it was reported that Sony Interactive Entertainment was potentially looking to sell off PlayStation Vue, its TV subscription service, the whole thing is dead. Sony Interactive Entertainment has officially announced that PlayStation Vue will be a thing of the past starting early next year. PlayStation Vue was Sony’s TV service that allows its users to stream different shows and live channels for cable-like bundles. It had more expensive versions with additional options like HBO and Showtime, similar to how other streaming services work, but it did not focus on original content like Hulu and Netflix. Despite the name, PlayStation Vue could — and still can be, until January — be accessed on multiple different devices.
[SOURCE: comicbook.com]
KEYSTONE PIPELINE LEAKS UNKNOWN AMOUNT OF OIL IN NORTH DAKOTA
A pipeline that carries tar sands oil from Canada through seven states has leaked an unknown amount of crude oil over more than a quarter-mile swath in northeastern North Dakota, state environmental regulators said Wednesday. State Environmental Quality Chief Dave Glatt told The Associated Press that regulators were notified late Tuesday night of the leak near Edinburg, in Walsh County. Glatt said pipeline owner TC Energy shut down the pipeline after the leak was detected. The cause of the spill is under investigation. The Calgary, Alberta-based company formerly known as TransCanada did not immediately respond to AP’s phone messages seeking comment Wednesday. State regulators were on the scene Wednesday afternoon, and they estimated that the area of the spill was 1,500 feet long by 15 feet wide. Glatt said some wetlands were affected, but not any sources of drinking water.
[SOURCE: cbsnews.com]
AMAZON AXES $14.99 AMAZON FRESH FEE, MAKING GROCERY DELIVERY FREE FOR PRIME MEMBERS TO BOOST USE
The move is part of a bigger effort that Amazon is making into grocery delivery, which now covers some 2,000 cities when you combine Whole Foods and Amazon Fresh delivery locations. Alongside free delivery, Amazon is giving users one and two-hour delivery options for quicker turnarounds, and it’s making users’ local Whole Foods inventory available online and through the Amazon app. Prime members who were already using Amazon’s grocery delivery services — either for Amazon’s own-branded service or to get Amazon-owned Whole Foods shopping delivered — will continue to get these, now free. But Prime members who might be interested in trying this out for the first time will have to sign up and wait for an invite. (“Given the rapid growth of grocery delivery we expect this will be a popular benefit,” Amazon explained about the waitlist.) It seems that the footprint for Amazon Fresh is currently quite small — around 21 metro areas, Amazon tells me — with the rest of that 2,000 covered by Whole Foods, so the sign-up process could also be one way for Amazon to decide where to roll out Amazon Fresh next.
[SOURCE: techcrunch.com]
STEPHEN STRASBURG BRILLIANT AS NATIONALS OVERCOME DEFICIT, CONTROVERSY TO FORCE GAME 7 VS. ASTROS
In a back-and-forth Series featuring unprecedented success for the road team and the steely resolve of two clubs now far beyond proving they are championship caliber, the Washington Nationals forced a winner-take-all climax by prevailing in a battle of towering aces and redoubtable sluggers, riding their greatest hitter and most dominant pitcher one more time to set the stage for an unforgettable climax. In the end, the burgeoning October legends of Stephen Strasburg and Juan Soto were not to be denied. Strasburg has pitched in six games in these playoffs and the Nationals have won them all, none more important than Tuesday’s taut, gut-wrenching and occasionally absurd 7-2 conquest of the Astros.
[SOURCE: usatoday.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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