Recently, celebrities accused of sexual misconduct have started to issue a new kind of defense: at least they didn’t commit sexual assault.

Morgan Freeman adopted that reasoning for his second apology this weekend, after eight women accused him of sexual misconduct and inappropriate behavior, according to a CNN investigation. Freeman has additionally bemoaned the effect the allegations would have on his “80 year career.”

“All victims of assault and harassment deserve to be heard. And we need to listen to them. But it is not right to equate horrific incidents of sexual assault with misplaced compliments or humor,” Freeman wrote in his statement.  Read more…

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Did Elon Musk secretly make this video game?

A simple, new browser game from called MTA Country (from Everyday Arcade) offers a very pro-business solution for fixing New York City’s beleaguered subway system: Hand its management over to private interests.

The game, which plays like a subway-themed, side-scrolling endless runner, quite literally spells that out as you play. As you guide a single subway car along on a length of track, you collect old, now defunct subway tokens as well as a series of letters that, together, spell out “PRIVATIZE.” Read more…

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Another day, another streaming service swooping in to rescue a TV series that couldn’t cut it on cable.

For weeks, fans of Syfy’s The Expanse have been held in suspense over the show’s abrupt cancellation and subsequent hints of a pickup, a la Brooklyn Nine-Nine. That suspense is now at an end, thanks to Jeff Bezos.

The Amazon founder and CEO summed up the situation succinctly during an appearance at the International Space Development Conference: “The Expanse is saved.” The watching crowd, which included multiple members of the show’s cast, erupted with cheers immediately. Read more…

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As far as most of us are concerned, Sesame Street puppets don’t have bodily fluids like blood and semen. They are made of felt and giant hugs. And the show’s producers are willing to take legal action to defend that position.

The Happytime Murders, which carries the tagline “NO SESAME, ALL STREET,” believes quite the opposite, however. The “puppet crime comedy” about a private detective puppet and a Detective (Melissa McCarthy) who team up together to track down a serial killer features violent Sesame-esque puppets that allegedly aren’t afraid to ejaculate. 

SEE ALSO: Sesame Place is world’s first theme park designated as a Certified Autism Center Read more…

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Ireland, once seen as one of the most socially conservative countries in Western Europe, is poised to end its highly restrictive abortion ban.

The decision came after a historic vote, in which a landslide majority of the country voted to repeal the country’s Eighth amendment, which established an “equal right to life” for mothers and the “unborn,” and banned abortion even in cases of rape and incest, or where the pregnancy was a risk to the mother.

Emotions ran high — and so, too, did celebrations.

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There are light spoilers ahead for both Star Wars: The Last Jedi and Solo: A Star Wars Story. Proceed with caution if you haven’t seen them yet.

Disney, please stop trying to make Han Solo’s lucky gold dice a thing.

One of the first conversations that sprung up in Mashable chat after we all saw Star Wars: The Last Jedi was: What’s the deal with Han’s dice? The bauble made its apparent big screen debut in the 2017 film, and every lingering shot of the chained-together chance cubes suggested they held a deeper meaning.

We agreed as a group that they were probably included as a forward-looking tease of Solo: A Star Wars Story, which hit theaters just over five months after The Last Jedi, on May 25. An explanation would surely be coming in Han’s new origin story, right? Read more…

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The family drama around the Arrested Development cast continues to unfold. And like kids caught in the crossfire of feuding parents, it hurts to watch. 

We’ve heard countless bad takes on #MeToo from Hollywood men. But this one feels personal. And it’s because it comes across as definitive proof that the house is still in burning, despite promising signs that things might be getting better.

To recap the situation at hand: It all started with a New York Times article that might as well be renamed “Well Actually: An Arrested Development Interview.” 

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The motorized scooters arrived with a vengeance—but cities including San Francisco are putting up a fight. The city is forcing all scooters off the road as it implements a new permit program for the vehicles. 

Beyond the Bay Area, other large cities such as Washington, D.C., and Austin saw flocks of e-scooters — electronic, GPS-tracked transports that accelerate up to about 15 mph — come in the past few months. Now, they’re realizing something has to be done before their communities are covered in e-scooters or before someone gets seriously hurt.

The scooters have been an especially popular option for short trips. A network of contract workers are paid to scoop up scooters, charge them at home, and return the juiced-up devices to the streets in the morning. Read more…

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When Snap Maps launched last June, some privacy concerns were raised. But the company had the right idea, turning off sharing with all for everyone by default.

Today, Snapchat is providing an update to Snap Maps that I wish had been included earlier. You can now request a location or share yours on an individual basis through Chat. Simply hold down on a friend’s name, and you’ll be given the option to “Request Location” or “Send My Location.” 

This update will clearly make it easier to share location quickly. You’ll appear on the user’s Snap Maps, and they in return will appear on yours. Read more…

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With the release of Solo, Lucasfilm marks another milestone: this is the 11th Star Wars movie to land in theaters. 

Yeah, that’s right — 11 movies, not 10. The eight Skywalker saga episodes and the two spin-off films were not the only one to get an official release. There’s one cinematic stepchild that Lucasfilm would rather forget.  

SEE ALSO: ‘Solo’ is something new in Star Wars. Old-school fans will love it.

And don’t worry, we don’t spoil anything about Solo other than its ranking. In reverse order, then, starting with that unwanted stepchild: 

11. The Clone Wars (2008)

This mess was initially created as the opening batch of episodes for the Cartoon Network series Clone Wars. Then George Lucas made the baffling last-minute decision to release this barely-hung-together content as a movie. Lucasfilm’s key merchandising licensees weren’t even notified in advance, so it’s possible Lucas himself wasn’t exactly proud of the effort.  Read more…

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