Author Archives: Carol Edwards

After the Trump administration went nearly hours this weekend without a heart-stopping scandal, Trump’s lawyer, Michael Cohen, bravely decided he’d be the one to break the reverie.

On Sunday night, Cohen tweeted a photo of his daughter in lingerie and announced that he was proud of his “Ivy League daughter” for having “beauty and brains.” Normally, a photo like this would cause an uproar, inspiring 10 different Medium posts, an Everyday Feminism explainer and an ethics investigation led by the nation’s chief hallway monitor, Jason Chaffetz.

But because it’s 2017 and this is Trump we’re talking about, Cohen’s photo barely sparked the social media riot it so deeply deserved. Read more…

More about Watercooler, Donald Trump, Michael Cohen, and Watercooler

How did trolls, men’s rights activists, conspiracy theorists, gamergaters, “incels,” neo-Nazis, and a variety of other subcultures end up coming together to engage in one of the most successful disinformation campaigns ever?

A toxic combination of internet savvy, media negligence, and a shared interest in destroying establishment institutions, according to an exhaustive new report from Data & Society. 

“Taking advantage of the opportunity the internet presents for collaboration, communication, and peer production, these groups target vulnerabilities in the news media ecosystem to increase the visibility of and audience for their messages,” wrote Alice Marwick and Rebecca Lewis, authors of the report.  Read more…

More about Alt Right, Fake News, and Business

Pop-Tarts are the grab-and-go breakfast of our childhood. But Pop-Tarts have been pushing the definition of “breakfast” for a while now by offering sugar-laden flavors that seem more appropriate as dessert.

And now Pop-Tarts have departed from breakfast entirely with three newly announced flavors. Hitting stores later this month are Jolly Rancher-flavored Pop-Tarts in three varieties: green apple, cherry, and watermelon.

More about Watercooler, Conversations, Breakfast, Candy, and Kelloggs

After teaching AI to draw and paint with AutoDraw, Google has set its sight on conquering another art form: music

The company’s AI research team, Google Magenta, announced a new project in April called Neural Synthesizer, or NSynth, which generates audio using deep neural networks. That technology will be demonstrated at Durham, North Carolina’s annual arts and technology festival, Moogfest, later this week.

To create music, NSynth uses a dataset containing sounds from individual instruments and then blends them to create hybrid sounds. According to the company, NSynth gives “artists with intuitive control over timbre and dynamics and the ability to explore new sounds that would be difficult or impossible to produce with a hand-tuned synthesizer,” the company said in their announcement. Read more…

More about Google, Music, Research, Ai, and Neural Network

Apple’s latest ad is about a New Orleans barber shop that gets a viral boost thanks to some well-placed headshots. 

But if you look closely, there is one guest who might look a little familiar. Albert Einstein makes a cameo among the shop’s diverse influx of new clientele.

Aside from the famous scientist, Nigerian funk musician William Onyeabor, the man behind the ad’s soundtrack also gets a trim. And a newscaster from a television set within the ad makes an appearance in line.

Apple says the haircuts are all real, and the clippings were donated to the charity Locks of Love. Read more…

More about Apple, Business, and Advertising

Mother’s Day this year was all about showering our moms with love, telling them how much we appreciate them, and apparently, shooting them with Nerf guns. Moms just never stop putting up with all of the annoying things we do, even on their day.

Youtube user Brant Coltrain uploaded this video of him firing a Nerf bullet at his poor, innocent mom when she isn’t looking. She just happens to be blowing a bubble with her gum at the exact second of firing, and the foam pellet lands directly on the formed bubble and miraculously sticks to the gum. The accuracy is impeccable. 

This mom is impressed with her son’s shot, too, but moments like this are the reason why every day needs to be Mother’s Day.  Read more…

More about Watercooler, Viral Videos, Moms, Son, and Nerf Gun

Up there on the list of “most heart-wrenching things ever” is seeing a pet in a cast. Pets, as good and pure beings, don’t deserve to feel any pain or have to go through any suffering.

But alas, animals are no more immune to illness and injury than we are. So all we can do is ease as much as possible any suffering they do have to experience.

Kate Doyle, a veterinary nurse in Perth, Australia, is doing her part for pets and pet owners by creating stunning custom casts for animals who go through surgery.

More about Watercooler, Conversations, Pets, Cute Animals, and Veterinarian

Katy Perry is in trouble.

Sure, not actual trouble. Whatever happens next, the multimillionaire pop star with global legions of loyal fans will be just fine. But in terms of sizzle for her next act, well, Perry has lost her sparkle. 

There are likely some serious conversations happening at Katy Perry HQ right now. 

The singer released her second single, “Bon Appetit,” off her forthcoming album on April 28, and instead of putting the singer back on the top of the charts, it’s already in free-fall mode, debuting at No. 76 on the Hot 100 chart (and that’s with ultra-cool Migos). That poor showing was even before the desperate cannibalism companion video that dropped Friday was met with simultaneous shrugs and disgust.  Read more…

More about Music, Katy Perry, and Entertainment

Well this is awkward.

Donald Trump, the president who cries “fake news!” almost daily, recently fell victim to a doctored cover of Time Magazine … given to him by a member of his very own staff.

K.T. McFarland, Trump’s deputy national security adviser, reportedly handed the president a printout of two Time covers on climate change, according to Politico: one from 2008, and another that appeared to be from 1977, titled, “How to Survive the Coming Ice Age.” 

But thing is … the latter was completely fake.

To make matters worse, Trump actually believed both covers, getting “lathered up about the media’s hypocrisy,” writes Shane Goldmacher, chief White House correspondent for Politico. Luckily for the president, a group of less gullible staff members stepped in before Donald Trump publicly mentioned the fake, debunking the already-debunked 1970s cover before the president had the chance spread the own fake news. Read more…

More about Conversations, Politics, Donald Trump, Time, and Climate Change

At least he consistently rhymed.

Moms are notorious for keeping cards and gifts from their children’s youth and it’s always nice to look back at the sweet words they wrote. However, Cole Sprouse found that his younger self had a darker mindset than most kids, especially when it came to how much he loved his mom.

The actor turned photographer shared a poem he wrote to Twitter on Mother’s Day. It starts off very sweet and complimentary before quickly turning into a deadly threat to anyone who tries to keep him and his mom apart. Read more…

More about Watercooler, Poem, Mother S Day, Cole Sprouse, and Watercooler