Author Archives: Carol Edwards

What makes Saturday Night Live’s Lisa from Temecula sketch so funny, isn’t the material itself. It’s that everyone in the sketch from Nwodim to host Pedro Pascal can’t hold character the entire time.

The sheer, utterly amazing performance Ego Nwodim puts into this sketch is so good, there are no survivors. The sketch starts innocently enough with a celebration of a friend’s birthday party (Punkie Johnson). However, things go bad fast as Nwodim tries to cut into her extra, extra well-done steak. It’s a tough cut of meat and as Nwodim tries to cut herself a bite, hilarity ensues. It’s hard to describe the following events but everyone breaks character, with the best break being Bowen Yang who cracks after Nwodim claims they’re getting complaints cause “they’re Black.”

It seems the success of HBO’s The Last of Us has gotten to the heads of the executives, who are now making plans to reimagine another hugely popular video game into a gritty psychological drama. And that game is…Mario Kart?

Yes, that’s right, Saturday Night Live presented to us the fictional trailer for “Mario Kart,” a gritty post-apocalyptic drama featuring host Pedro Pascal as the titular Mario. In a world devastated by Bowser (Kenan Thompson), Mario must escort Princess Peach (Chloe Fineman) to Rainbow Road. It will also star Luigi (Mikey Day), Yoshi (Bowen Yang), and Toad (Marcello Hernández) as potential allies who also just so happen to be bisexual.

From the high production value, intentional overacting, and attention to detail, this is quite honestly one of the best-produced sketches in recent SNL memory. It’s worth a watch, even to just hear Pascal say “It’s a me, Mario,” in a gruff, action-protagonist voice.

TL;DR: As of Feb. 5, you can pick up a refurbished Microsoft Surface 3 Tablet for only $159.99 instead of $594 — that’s 73% in savings.

Whether we like it or not, multitasking is a necessary skill in today’s world. From balancing work and home life to juggling side hustles and 9-5 gigs, we’ve all got a lot of balls in the air. And sometimes, we need a little help keeping track of everything…which is where a tablet can really come in handy.

If you’re looking for a quality tablet that won’t put a big dent in your wallet, a refurbished model is a great option. Not only are you helping the environment by reducing e-waste, but you’re also receiving an awesome gadget for a fraction of the price. Like this Microsoft Surface 3 Tablet in sleek silver, which typically costs $594, but is available now for 73% off at just $159.99 for a limited time. 

The Microsoft Surface 3 Tablet could make your life a little easier…or a lot more organized. It comes equipped with a quad-core Intel Atom x7-Z8700 processor that’s ready to help you multitask away, letting you work in between apps without any annoying lag. Load up your tablet with apps that make your day-to-day go smoothly thanks to the 64GB of storage, a generous amount that also lets you save your important files right to the device. Need more storage? You can easily expand it up to 200GB with a microSD card. 

Enjoy a 10.8″ full HD display that supports up to 4K with a 1920×1280 resolution, with three available external displays — including Mini DisplayPort for one display and one USB port for a second, if needed. Two USB 3.0 ports are available for your convenience, and a kickstand folds from the back when you’d like to take a much-needed break and sit back, relax, and stream a show. 

This tablet hails from 2015 but includes Windows 10, which is compatible with most apps and software. It offers an impressive amount of battery life, with up to ten hours of video playback. And it supports standard WiFi protocols and Bluetooth 4.0 for easy connecting. 

Simplify your life with this refurbished Microsoft Surface 3 Tablet for $159.99, 73% off the usual price tag, for a limited time. 

Prices subject to change.

TL;DR: As of Feb. 5, you can get a refurbished Embr Wave 2 Wristband for $239 instead of $349 — that’s 31% in savings.

Hot flashes are a frustrating part of life, but you might be able to turn down the fan and find another way to help deal with them. The Embr Wave Two is a wearable cooling device that has been clinically tested to help provide relief from hot flashes, and you can get a refurbished Wave for 31% off, just $239. 

Help find relief from hot flashes 

The Embr Wave Two is a stylish way of working through your hot flashes. This cool wearable looks like a smartwatch but hides on-demand relief. Download the Wave app from the Google Play Store or Apple App Store. From there, you can configure the thermal sensations that your Wave will produce. Based on your input, the Wave generates different levels of cooling at the push of a button. You can save your favorites to the buttons on the side. 

The manufacturers claim that the thermal sensation could provide instant relief from hot flashes. It’s a modern take on the same cooling method that has been used in exercise for years. Studies have shown that cooling the wrist can help reduce your core temperature quickly. Embr just does it in a way that’s always ready for you and doesn’t require a hand constantly full of ice. The battery may even last for several days at a time.

There are other applications for an on-demand cooling wearable. A common quick way of reducing anxiety is to cool down. If you’re having trouble sleeping due to anxiety, Embr may be the cool side of the pillow you were looking for. 

A wearable that could help you cool down 

Whether you’re suffering from hot flashes or anxiety, this smart wearable may help. For a limited time, get a refurbished Embr Wave 2 Rechargeable Thermal Wristband on sale for $239 (reg. $349). 

Prices subject to change.

TL;DR: As of Feb. 5, you can get a lifetime subscription to the Jillian Michaels Fitness App for just $179 instead of $449.95. That’s a 60% price drop for a limited time.

As much as it’d be nice, there’s no one magic solution to meeting your fitness goals. From the kitchen to the gym, there are tough decisions to make that can help you get where you want to be. If you want some guidance, then try getting professional input from celebrity trainer Jillian Michaels. You may have seen her on The Biggest Loser, or maybe you remember her workout DVDs, but now you can see her on your phone with the Jillian Michaels Fitness App. New users can get on-the-fly workouts, full routines, and meal planning for life with this membership which just dropped to $179 for a limited time.

Fitness guidance for life 

Start training with 800+ exercises shot in HD. Just select your fitness level, the intensity you want to exercise at, and the workout equipment you have on hand. You’ll get a curated list of exercise suggestions that you can customize whenever you want. You can customize the music, too. Spotify, Apple Music, and Pandora are all integrated into the app. 

Choose from long-term and on-demand workouts based on your fitness goals. If you don’t like an exercise, just swap it out for another. If you really don’t like one, you can even ban it (adios, burpees!). Need to give your sore muscles a break after a hardcore workout? Try the audio-only meditations and some light stretching or yoga. Going for millennial nostalgia? Fire up digital versions of those DVDs we mentioned — you’ll get full access in the app.

When the workout is done, check out what’s on the menu in your daily meal plan. Your meals are curated based on your fitness goals, whether you’re trying to slim down or build muscle. 

Sweat with a celebrity trainer 

Fitness is a lifelong pursuit, and meeting your goals can be tougher than you thought when you were making them. For a limited time, get a lifetime subscription to the Jillian Michaels Fitness App on sale for $179 (reg. $449). 

Prices subject to change.

TL;DR: As of Feb. 5, you can score a Nationwide Players Pass Annual Golf Membership and a $50 Restaurant.com eGift card for only $49 — that’s a 75% discount from the usual value.

It’s never too early to start planning for golf season. Soon enough, you may be making the switch from home golf simulators back to the links you know and love. You may be able to make this upcoming golf season the most exciting one yet with a Nationwide Annual Golf Membership Player’s Pass. It even comes with a $50 Restaurant.com eGift Card so you can have a celebratory dinner after your first day back on the course. The golf membership plus the gift card are on sale for just $49 (reg. $199). 

Play at thousands of courses nationwide 

You may be used to your home course, but this membership gives you access to a whole lot more: 3,000 courses nationwide. Just check out the full list of links to see where you could be playing. There are courses in every state except North Dakota and Alaska, and there may be a few close to you. Your membership also includes two-for-one green fees and up to 70% off last-minute tee times. With savings of $20 to $40 every time you play, your membership pays for itself in just a few rounds. 

Celebrate the end of your first game this season with a meal covered by your $50 Restaurant.com eGift Card. You might be flying around the country on a golf tour, but that’s no problem. Restaurant.com has selections in all 50 states, even North Dakota and Alaska. You’ve got over 62,000 restaurants to choose from, and you don’t even have to dine in (your card also works for takeout and delivery). Just go to Restaurant.com and search your zip code to see what options are available. You might want to specify which hole you’re at if you try to get a pizza delivered to the golf course, though. 

It’s time for a great meal and an awesome game of golf

In some states, the golf season might already be starting. Get the Nationwide Annual Golf Membership Player’s Pass and a $50 Restaurant.com eGift Card for $49 (reg. $199). 

Prices subject to change. 

You may have heard that an eBay user is selling a jar filled with what they call sand from “Tom Brady’s exact retirement spot,” and it’s been bid up to an astonishing $99,900.00 as of this writing. But is this actually a jar of sand kissed by the butt cheeks of the greatest NFL quarterback of all time on one of the most auspicious days of his career? 

It’s highly doubtful, our investigation has found.

To recap, on Feb. 1, the ageless Tom Brady (actual age: 45) announced his apparently real-this-time retirement after a lackluster final season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The announcement came in the form of a video posted to Twitter and Instagram around the same time, showing Brady on a sandy beach. It looks for a second like he’s going to announce that he’s engaged to himself, but then he gets to the point right away and makes his announcement.

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In short order, the video was watched by millions of people, and Miami area Brady fans were quickly able to identify the stretch of beach where Brady made the video: Surfside Beach in Surfside, Florida, on a patch of sand near the 94th street entrance. 

One fan who found the spot was TikTok user @betrcaroline, who posted a video explaining that she was bitter after apparently gambling on the Buccs all season, and was going to make all her money back by selling Brady’s butt sand. She then holds up a bag of sand. There’s no word on how she plans to sell it. 

It’s not abundantly clear when @betrcaroline scooped up that sand, but regardless of when the video was posted, it does seem to have been filmed the afternoon of Feb. 1, since it’s daylight, and @betrcaroline says “good afternoon” at the start of the video. 

On Feb. 2, an eBay auction appeared, titled “Tom Brady’s exact retirement spot –  Bottled Sand.” The auction is for “an 8oz mason jar bottled with the exact sand the GOAT Tom Brady made his retirement video on,” according to the text of the auction, which sounds much more pro-Brady than the embittered @betrcaroline. The hands in the eBay auction photos are clearly not @betrcaroline’s.

One photo on the eBay auction includes the Feb 1 New York Times. This is a famous method for dating photos during kidnappings and other situations where proof is needed that someone is still alive. Since newspapers don’t magically vanish after one day, the newspaper proves only that the photo was taken on Feb 1 or any time after that.   

@betrcaroline’s TikTok post and the eBay auction both blew up online and started getting a lot of publicity. An article in The Daily Mail on February 4 attributes that eBay auction to @betrcaroline, who sometimes shortens her name to Carol, saying “Carol helps prove the authenticity of her jar of sand by photographing it in front of Brady’s retirement video backdrop,” and that “She also includes a copy of the February 1 edition of The New York Times to prove that the photos are recent.”

But a second @betrcaroline TikTok video about the sand seems to refute this. @betrcaroline says in the video that she plans to put her bagged sand on eBay for the relatively low starting price of $100. Her Feb. 1 video showed her holding what she calls, “the real sand from the day of, and not this fake shit that they’re putting up because the wind blew.” 

“It’s probably not even the real sand,” she says.

Mashable has asked @betrcaroline for a link to the correct eBay auction, and for the exact time she scooped up her sand, but as of this writing, she had not replied.

But assuming she really did get there on Feb. 1 hours after Brady had posted the video, is @betrcaroline’s sand the actual sand from the video, with possible fibers from Tom Brady’s khakis mixed in? 

That’s pretty doubtful.

On the night of January 31 — mere hours before the retirement video was posted — Tom Brady was in Los Angeles to attend the premiere of 80 for Brady, the movie he just produced starring Jane Fonda, Sally Field, Lily Tomlin, and Rita Moreno. Here’s a video of him taking photos on the red carpet:

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Assuming Brady didn’t sit through the film screening, is it possible he hopped on a private jet immediately, caught forty winks on the plane, rushed to Surfside Beach at what would be 5:12 a.m. Los Angeles time, and then made and posted the video? 

Yes, it’s certainly possible. But is it more likely than Brady being asleep in his Los Angeles mansion at 5:12 a.m., and having his handlers post a prerecorded video of his retirement announcement taken days earlier when he was in Florida, and posting it in time to coincide with the release of his movie, meaning the actual sand he sat on was scattered and blown out to sea ages ago? You be the judge.

There are now hundreds of eBay auctions purporting to offer Tom Brady’s butt sand from his retirement video. There are also parody auctions, like the one selling a picture of an exasperated guy reacting to the Tom Brady butt sand eBay listing, and one selling an empty jar with no Brady Sand, with the bidding starting at $25,000. 

If you have all the money in the world, feel free to bid on any or all of these. They’ll get you basically the same thing: nothing. If, however, you need your money for things like food, housing, and even personal enjoyment, we can’t recommend spending it on any eBay auction involving Tom Brady and sand.

Twitter is considering charging businesses and brands $1000 to retain gold verification checkmarks on the platform, a new report from The Information revealed on Friday afternoon. In internal documents obtained by the outlet, Twitter would also charge an additional $50 for every affiliated account as well. For companies seeking to keep their verification, $12,000 a year is a costly change for a feature that has previously been a free tool used to stop bad actors from engaging in impersonation.

Matt Navarra, a social media consultant, was the first to point out this pricing change and his tweets align with the report from The Information. There is no date set for this move as pricing is still being finalized and is subject to change. Before charging users $8/month for Twitter Blue, Musk originally planned for a $19.99/month subscription before decreasing the price after backlash, so there is precedent for a price change.

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The gold checkmark is a recent addition to Twitter, having been rolled out in December as “Verified for Organizations” (formerly Blue for Business). This was a part of a site-wide relaunch of Twitter Blue, after its disastrous initial launch in November alienated and drove many brands away from the platform due to impersonation concerns. The initial Twitter Blue rollout allowed anybody willing to pay $8 to be verified, and required no identity checks whatsoever, opening the door for many users to tweet seemingly on behalf of corporations and government officials.

Twitter has not officially announced the policy, and did not immediately respond to Mashable’s request for comment. If the plan does go forward, it would be an unsurprising move for the platform since Elon Musk took over last year. Musk stated before buying Twitter that he would look for avenues to monetize the app. Taking a concept meant to ensure validity and charging a stack for it fits Musk’s pattern. Musk has attempted to boost revenue in other ways including mass layoffs, banning third-party APIs since they don’t bring in ad revenue, and the possible introduction of a costly ad-free Twitter Blue subscription tier.

Additionally, Musk has stated that Twitter is looking to compensate creators through features like Coins and a creator fund. However, as it stands, Musk might not be in the financial situation just yet to deliver on his promises. Maybe that $1000 per month from businesses will help.

ChatGPT, OpenAI’s advanced chatbot developed from its language model GPT3, can do almost anything. From helping you to find love, draft cover letters and resumes to even writing poems in the voices of dead authors, ChatGPT has your back. The new fresh hell we find ourselves in now is ChatGPT has the ability to nail job interviews.

Artificial intelligence may not be on the verge of replacing most jobs, but it’s fascinating how easy it is for this simple chatbot to win over recruiters for some very high-paying positions. This recent trend of AI job-hunting shouldn’t worry you yet, but we looked at some of the jobs ChatGPT is getting shortlisted for:

Coder at Google (average salary: $187,000)

According to PayScale, the average salary for a software engineer in the United States is around $90,000 a year. That’s a lot of money, which makes the interview process a bit of a challenge for those looking to rake in the dough. However, for ChatGPT, apparently, it’s a breeze.

In an article published by PCMag, the chatbot was able to “amazingly” pass Google’s level 3 engineering coding interview. While an L3 Engineer at Google is an entry-level position, it comes with a $187,000 salary. However, it should be noted that Google’s coding interview relied on technical questions which are easy for a language-learning model to answer. But behavioral questions, such as “tell me a time when,” are a barrier for the AI.

Coder at Amazon (average salary: $135,000)

Google was not the only big tech company where ChatGPT was able to gain a coding position. According to Business Insider, an engineer at Amazon asked the chatbot interview questions used by the company for its coding jobs and got them right. In internal Slack documents acquired by Insider, the employee wrote “I’m both scared and excited to see what impact this will have on the way that we conduct coding interviews.” Entry-level software engineering jobs at Amazon start at $135,000.

More broadly across the tech spectrum though, many across the internet, especially on Reddit, have spoken out about how ChatGPT has helped them to land job interviews and with the job interview process.

Communications Consultant at Schwa (average salary: $56,000 US)

ChatGPT has its fingers in the consultancy game, it seems, according to an article from Sky News. The outlet reported that Schwa, a communications consultancy firm in London, had used AI to help with its hiring process. The chatbot was so good, they mistakenly shortlisted the AI for the job.

“It was more competent than a lot of the bad people who apply to us,” Neil Taylor, the owner, and founder of Schwa told Sky News.

However, despite being shortlisted for the job, Taylor told Sky News that ChatGPT’s initial responses were “competent but a bit dull.” With more specific prompts, the AI sounded more “opinionated” and “punchier.”

Consultancy is a well-paying job, and the average salary in the United Kingdom is around £47,000 (just a bit over $56,000 US) according to Glassdoor.

As for what the job actually is, a communications consultant is “a professional who provides expert advice and support to organizations and individuals in effectively communicating their messages to target audiences,” according to the best expert Mashable could find on short notice: ChatGPT.

Imagine a distant planet where life could potentially thrive — but perhaps only on one particularly bright side.

Astronomers announced the discovery of a world beyond our solar system, an exoplanet dubbed Wolf 1069 b. Their finding, recently published in the science journal Astronomy & Astrophysics, is intriguing exoplanet research for a number of reasons:

• Wolf 1069 b is around the same mass of Earth. That’s rare. Among thousands of confirmed exoplanets, “only about 1.5 percent have masses below two Earth masses,” notes a release from the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, a research institute in Germany. Importantly, we know from experience that rocky, Earth-like worlds can create conditions that might allow life to survive.

• Even rarer, Wolf 1069 b orbits in its solar system’s “habitable zone,” meaning a special region where liquid water can exist on the surface.

• To researchers’ current knowledge (this can change with more observation), the planet isn’t being pummeled with harmful radiation. Wolf 1069 b orbits a star (Wolf 1069) that’s smaller and cooler than the sun, allowing the world to orbit pretty close and still be a potentially habitable world. The planet orbits its small star every 15.6 days!

• A weird quirk: Like the moon, Wolf 1069 b is “tidally locked” in its orbit, meaning the same side is constantly facing the red dwarf star. As a result, the planet’s “dayside” is perpetually day, and the nightside perpetually night.

So, if you stood on the star-facing side of Wolf 1069 b, a year would last about 16 days, the sun wouldn’t set, gravity might be similar to that on Earth, and you might even find water sloshing over the surface.

Crucially, however, there’s still no evidence of life in the universe beyond Earth — though there are exciting contenders for potential habitability in our own solar system. “A habitable planet can be habitable but not inhabited,” Ravi Kumar Kopparapu, an exoplanet researcher at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, told Mashable earlier this year.

Finding an Earth-sized planet

Finding an Earth-sized world is a huge challenge.

Many exoplanets are found by watching to see if a star dims when one of these extremely distant planets passes in front of it. Many of the exoplanets discovered so far, however, are much bigger than Earth, so this slight dimming is “easier” to find. Scientists used a different strategy to sleuth out Wolf 1069 b, which is a small planet. They looked for tiny but periodic changes in light from the star, a technique called the “radial velocity method.” This can provide evidence that a planet is tugging on its star. Then, scientists calculate the world’s mass and other information by measuring how much the star’s light changes.

A graphic showing three different exoplanets (Wolf 1069 b on top) orbiting in their solar systems’ habitable zones (green area).
Credit: MPIA graphics department / J. Neidel

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In the vast universe, Wolf 1069 b is a relatively close Earth-sized discovery at just some 31 light-years away. That makes it a rare finding, and an exciting planet candidate to study for biosignatures, which are evidence of past or current life. “Because of its favourable prospects regarding habitability, it is among a small illustrious group of targets, such as Proxima Centauri b and TRAPPIST-1 e, to search for biosignatures,” the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy noted.

Huge, future telescopes will look for these possible biosignatures. What’s out there?