Category Archives: Blog

Let the lawsuits flow, like a gushing natural spring refusing to be bottled. That’s right, Fiji Water is countersuing the Fiji Water woman. 

The virally famous Fiji Water woman, whose real name is Kelly Steinbach, gushed into the spotlight at the 2019 Golden Globes for her uncanny ability to photobomb celebs. But things took a turn for the weird when we learned she was suing Fiji Water. Well, it turns out the purveyor of overpriced H2O can dish it out, too.

According to the lawsuit, which BuzzFeed News dug up, Fiji Water and its parent, The Wonderful Company, argue that Steinbach “reneged on the valid agreement between herself and FIJI to serve as a Fiji Water Brand Ambassador and permit FIJI to use her likeness in its related advertising campaign, and instead, attempted to extort close to half a million dollars from FIJI because she wanted a better deal than the original $90,000 she had originally accepted in exchange for such rights.”  Read more…

More about Fiji Water, Golden Globes 2019, Culture, and Celebrities

Sad news, Guardians of the Galaxy fans.

A raccoon named Oreo, who served as director James Gunn’s visual model for Rocket Raccoon in Guardians of the Galaxy, has died at the age of 10. Quinta Layla, the Portugal farm where Oreo lived with his raccoon pal Stanley, confirmed it on Thursday.

The post describes how Oreo came to his life at Quinta Layla just a few months shy of a decade ago. His whole litter had just been born, but their mother had no milk. The farm’s proprietor was at a theater in London when they got a call asking them to come pick up a raccoon. Read more…

More about Entertainment, Film, Celebrities, Raccoon, and Entertainment

So it snowed in Seattle. Like, a lot. And wouldn’t you know it, the city’s canine residents can’t get enough. 

An unusually powerful winter storm dropped over six inches on the Pacific Northwest city Feb. 9 — a “new daily record” according to the National Weather Service, which also happens to report that more snow is on the way. That hasn’t stopped Seattle’s dogs from making the most of the surprise snow day. 

And, thankfully for us, their humans decided to capture a bit of the fun for social-media posterity. 

More about Dogs, Snow, Seattle, Culture, and Animals

At a zoo, a dicey attempt at tiger matchmaking went awry. 

The ZSL London Zoo said Friday that a new male Sumatran tiger, Asim, killed the facility’s “beloved” female, Melati. Zookeepers allowed the two wary predators to physically interact for the first time, hoping they would eventually mate as part of a greater European breeding program. 

But after Asim approached Melati, matters “quickly escalated into a more aggressive interaction,” the zoo said. 

More about Science, Animals, Zoo, Tigers, and Science

In a week when Liam Neeson did himself no favors again and again, The Daily Show host Trevor Noah unexpectedly had his back — to a point.

Neeson came up during a “Between the Scenes” segment on The Daily Show, a time when Noah takes questions from the live studio audience while commercials run for TV viewers at home. These snippets often end up on YouTube, and this one — in which Noah addresses the question: “What do you think about Liam Neeson’s recent admission that he tried to kill a black person?” — did.

In an almost four-minute response, Noah breaks down what happened with Neeson, both in the original interview and in the aftermath. It’s an insightful look at the situation, free of anger or judgment, that suggests Neeson’s face-value admission might have landed better in a different interview environment. Read more…

More about Entertainment, Tv, The Daily Show, Trevor Noah, and Liam Neeson

When you’re feeling risky, but not too risky, Coca-Cola’s got you covered. 

The brilliant minds that brought us New Coke are back at it again with a flavor concoction that is sure to win hearts, minds, tastebuds, dollars, and possibly doctor visits. Say hello to Orange Vanilla, which a press release tells us is the first new iteration on that classic Coke flavor in over a decade. 

The flavor blast from your Creamsicle past will be available in the U.S. starting Feb. 25, but that Orange Vanilla is, at this moment, kept out of reach by Time’s evil grasp hasn’t stopped soda fans from speculating on the sheer possibilities offered by the new flavor.  Read more…

More about Coca Cola, Culture, and Food

Here’s a statistic: On Earth, 18 of the last 19 years have been the warmest in recorded history.

And as both NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced on Wednesday, the last five years have been the five hottest in history — since quality record-keeping began in the 1880s. It’s an unmistakable, accelerating warming trend.

The globe’s 21st-century heating, however, becomes all the more stark when compared to the coldest years on record. As climate scientist Simon Donner, who researches human-induced climate change at The University of British Columbia, underscored via a list posted on Twitter, the planet’s 20 coldest years all occurred nearly a century ago, between 1884 and 1929. Read more…

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Astronomers have long suspected that the colossal Andromeda galaxy would, in billions years, collide with our humble Milky Way.

The collision was forecast to happen in some 3.9 billion years. But after astronomers analyzed new data captured by the European Space Agency’s star-surveying satellite Gaia, they now put the imminent date at 4.5 billion years — so 600 million years later than initially expected.

The event, detailed in The Astrophysical Journal, is characterized as a “swipe” rather than a direct collision. The end result would be a merger of the galaxies into one, monstrous galaxy. 

“This finding is crucial to our understanding of how galaxies evolve and interact,”  Timo Prusti, ESA Gaia Project Scientist who had no role in the study, said in a statement.  Read more…

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In our Love App-tually series, Mashable shines a light into the foggy world of online dating. Just in time for cuffing season.

There was a time in my life when I wanted nothing more than to get off dating apps. 

Back when I was in my twenties, I thought that dating apps were the end of our culture and the precipitating factor behind all my pain. Too sad to get up in the morning? It’s probably because XxGothGirlxX never responded to my very funny OkCupid message that referenced Foxfire (seriously, who else could she find who knew that movie?). Too anxious to eat? Well, that’s because I wasn’t getting enough Tinder matches. Everyone on there was clearly threatened by my extraordinarily clever bio. Read more…

More about Nostalgia, Culture, Online Dating, Tinder, and Okcupid

DIY is a concept we totally back, except for when it comes to one thing: Taxes.

And though the people at H&R Block enjoy it, they know that most of us would rather do literally anything else. So they said, “What could be better than doing people’s taxes for them?”

But then they realized today (Feb. 9) is National Pizza Day, and the deal of deals was born: Today only, anyone who has their taxes prepared virtually via H&R Block’s Tax Pro Go will get a free $10 Domino’s gift card — and you don’t even have to leave the house.

Sigh. H&R Block just gets us, ya know?

The debate about the battle of the best trash pizzas will forever rage on, but this deal is just another reason to give Domino’s a shot. Plus: Free pizza. Duh. Read more…

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