The head of the Food and Drug Administration has threatened to pull e-cigarettes out of U.S. markets entirely unless e-cig makers take greater measures to curb the youth’s use of their products. 

Speaking at a public hearing Friday, Scott Gottlieb, the FDA Commissioner, said he was “horrified” at the surge in rates of teen vaping, NBC reported. More than 3 million U.S. teens use e-cigarettes, an increase of 78 percent since 2011, according to recent CDC data.

“I still believe e-cigarettes present an opportunity for adult smokers to transition off cigarettes and onto nicotine delivery products that may not have the same level of risks,” Gottlieb wrote in a tweet ahead of the hearing. “However, if the youth use continues to rise, the entire category will face an existential threat.” Read more…

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If you’ve ever wondered what a full-sized pickup truck would look like in Lego form, Chevrolet and Lego have you covered.

The two companies have teamed up to make a massive, life-sized Lego version of the Silverado pickup truck — and the results are impressive

Despite being a publicity stunt for Chevrolet’s work with Lego on the upcoming The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part, the truck is nonetheless a considerable feat of Lego brick engineering. 

The Lego Silverado, is a near exact replica of Chevy’s full-size pickup. It’s 6 feet high and and 8 feet wide. It has working headlights and reproduces even small details, like the front grill and Chevrolet logos, in Lego form. Read more…

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Snap is facing a fresh round of executive drama after reports have surfaced that two more executives are leaving the company under less than desirable circumstances. 

The company’s head of security, Francis Racioppi, and head of human resources, Jason Halbert, were pushed out after an investigation into Racioppi’s “inappropriate relationship” with an outside contractor, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Racioppi was reportedly fired last year in a previously undisclosed incident after the company discovered he had ended the contract of a woman he had hired following a personal relationship with her. Read more…

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YouTube hasn’t ever been one to skimp on the Easter eggs, but this is a new one for me.

It’s hidden away on the timeline that charts your progress through a video. If you highlight that timeline and hold left — either left on an attached game controller, or the left arrow key — in certain versions of YouTube (I’ll get to that in a minute), you can summon a dog.

It takes a bit, so be patient. If you’ve watched any of the video, it’ll rewind first. Then you want to keep holding left for another 10 or 15 seconds. Eventually, a little, brown dog, possibly a Corgi, will trot across your timeline, from left to right. Read more…

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The Women’s March is back for its third year, and despite several layers of controversy surrounding the march’s leadership, highly attended events were still held across the world.

In Dec. 2018, the march came under fire when Tablet Magazine reported allegations that the organization’s leaders made anti-Semitic remarks.

The fallout was fierce and the allegations were handled in a way that drew added criticism, with Women’s March leader Tamika Mallory refusing to condemn anti-Jewish comments on The View earlier this week and several civil and women’s rights groups declining to participate in the events. Read more…

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A group of young Donald Trump supporters has come under fire after ambushing and taunting a group of Native Americans at the Indigenous Peoples March on Friday.

On Jan. 18, Washington, D.C. hosted both the Indigenous Peoples March and the anti-abortion March For Life. It was apparently a group from the latter gathering that set off the appalling scene, based on evidence in videos captured at the time.

Footage shows dozens of teenage boys — proudly decked out in Make America Great Again apparel — closely surrounding and mocking a Native American protester. The protester, an older man, is singing the “AIM Song,” an intertribal song of honor associated with the American Indian Movement. Read more…

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Facebook could soon set a new record — just not the good kind.

The Federal Trade Commission is reportedly considering a “record-setting” fine for the social network, as the result of its investigation into Facebook’s privacy practices following the Cambridge Analytica scandal, which revealed Facebook had exposed the personal data of millions of users.

The FTC confirmed it had opened an investigation into Facebook in March. 

Now, The Washington Post reports that investigation could result in a massive fine for the company.

“The penalty is expected to be much larger than the $22.5 million fine the agency imposed on Google in 2012,” according to The Post. That fine, while not the largest ever imposed by the FTC, was the body’s largest fine for a privacy violation.  Read more…

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Jasmin Paris, a British ultrarunner, just made history by completely smashing the course record for the Montane Spine Race. And she did it while continuing to express milk for her 14-month-old child.

With a time of 83 hours and 12 minutes, Paris not only became the first woman to ever win the race, but she set a new record, beating Eoin Keith — who previously held the best time if 95 hours and 17 minutes — by more than 12 hours.

The Montane Spine Race spans a grueling 268 miles through Pennine Way, and as inov-8 explained, is extra challenging because of extreme winter weather conditions, sleep deprivation, and gear-carrying the runners must endure. It’s even referred to as “Britain’s Most Brutal” race. Read more…

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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez wants the super-rich to pay a heavier share of taxes.

The newly elected Congresswoman’s proposal that any earnings higher than $10 million carry a 70 percent tax rate has been widely popular. That’s true even among voters who might be more inclined to put on a MAGA hat; a recent Hill-HarrisX poll showed that some 45 percent of GOP voters agree.

On Friday night, Ocasio-Cortez greeted the news of her plan’s popularity with a play on the deepest of deep cut memes.

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Too often, Martin Luther King Jr. Day is seen as a day off — and little else.

Aside from grade school lessons painting a vague picture of King’s life and activism, the majority of us, especially white people, remain detached from his impact. King is a historical name we’ve learned to recognize, coupled with bits and pieces of facts from a whitewashed history. But truly appreciating his work is hardly on the radar — even on a day made to honor him.

It’s an uncomfortable reality of how we’ve been taught to value (or, rather, not value) one of the most influential black leaders in history. It’s all merely surface; a story we don’t see as extending beyond the crisp pages of an elementary textbook. Read more…

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