Amazon’s new Nazi-hunting series is slammed for fictitious Holocaust scenes
Auschwitz Memorial blasts ‘Hunters,’ which stars Al Pacino, saying: “Inventing a fake game of human chess for [“Hunters] @huntersonprime is not only dangerous foolishness & caricature. It also welcomes future deniers.” Subscribe: http://smarturl.it/reuterssubscribe Reuters brings you the latest business, finance and breaking news video from around the globe. Our reputation for accuracy and impartiality is unparalleled.
Katherine Johnson, ‘hidden figure’ at NASA during 1960s space race, dies at 101
When Katherine Johnson began working at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics in 1953, she was classified as “subprofessional,” not far outranking a secretary or janitor.
Hers was a labor not of scheduling or cleaning but rather of mathematics: using a slide rule or mechanical calculator in complex calculations to check the work of her superiors — engineers who, unlike her, were white and male.
Her title, poached by the technology that would soon make the services of many of her colleagues obsolete, was “computer.”
Mrs. Johnson, who died Feb. 24 at 101, went on to develop equations that helped the NACA and its successor, NASA, send astronauts into orbit and, later, to the moon. In 26 signed reports for the space agency, and in many more papers that bore others’ signatures on her work, she codified mathematical principles that remain at the core of human space travel.
She was not the first black woman to work as a NASA mathematician, nor the first to write a research report for the agency, but Mrs. Johnson was eventually recognized as a pathbreaker for women and African Americans in the newly created field of spaceflight.
Like most backstage members of the space program, Mrs. Johnson was overshadowed in the popular imagination by the life-risking astronauts whose flights she calculated, and to a lesser extent by the department heads under whom she served.
She did not command mainstream attention until President Barack Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom — the country’s highest civilian honor — in 2015. The next year, her research was celebrated in the best-selling book “Hidden Figures” by Margot Lee Shetterly and the Oscar-nominated film adaptation starring Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer and Janelle Monáe.
Mrs. Johnson was “critical to the success of the early U.S. space programs,” Bill Barry, NASA’s chief historian, said in a 2017 interview for this obituary. “She had a singular intellect, curiosity and skill set in mathematics that allowed her to make many contributions, each of which might be considered worthy of a single lifetime.”
A math prodigy from West Virginia who said she “counted everything” as a child — “the steps to the road, the steps up to church, the number of dishes and silverware I washed” — Mrs. Johnson worked as a schoolteacher before being hired as a computer at the NACA’s flight research division, based at Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va.
The agency was established in 1915 and began enlisting white women to work as computers 20 years later. Black computers, assigned mainly to segregated facilities, were first hired during the labor shortage of World War II. Mrs. Johnson was one of about 100 computers, roughly one-third of whom were black, when she joined the NACA.
The movie “Hidden Figures” took occasional liberties with fact to emphasize the indignities of segregation. Mrs. Johnson, played by Henson, is forced to run half a mile to reach the “colored” bathroom. In reality, Mrs. Johnson said, she used the bathroom closest to her desk.
Mrs. Johnson had a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and spent her early career studying data from plane crashes, helping devise air safety standards at a time when the agency’s central concern was aviation. Then, in October 1957, the launch of the Soviet satellite Sputnik thrust the space race into full tilt.
Mrs. Johnson and dozens of colleagues wrote a 600-page technical report titled “Notes on Space Technology” outlining the mathematical underpinnings of spaceflight, from rocket propulsion to orbital mechanics and heat protection.
One of rocket science’s most vexing challenges, they soon realized, was calculating flight trajectories to ensure that astronauts returned safely to Earth, splashing down in the ocean reasonably close to a Navy vessel waiting to pluck them from the water.
For astronauts such as Alan B. Shepard Jr., who became the first American in space when Freedom 7 launched on May 5, 1961, the math was relatively straightforward. Shepard’s craft rose and fell, like a champagne cork, without entering orbit.
Calculating the trajectory for an orbital flight, such as the one to be undertaken by Marine pilot John Glenn in 1962, was “orders of magnitude more complicated,” said Shetterly, the “Hidden Figures” author.
“I said, ‘Let me do it,’ ” Mrs. Johnson recalled in a 2008 NASA interview. “You tell me when you want it and where you want it to land, and I’ll do it backwards and tell you when to take off.”
Mrs. Johnson’s findings, outlined in a 1960 paper she wrote with engineer Ted Skopinski, enabled engineers to determine exactly when to launch a spacecraft and when to begin its reentry. The paper, “Determination of Azimuth Angle at Burnout for Placing a Satellite Over a Selected Earth Position,” marked the first time a woman wrote a technical report in NASA’s elite flight research division.
“You could work your teeth out, but you didn’t get your name on the report,” she said in the 1992 oral history, crediting her breakthrough to what she described as an assertive personality. When a superior said that she could not accompany male colleagues to a briefing related to her work, Mrs. Johnson asked, “Is there a law that says I can’t go?” Her boss relented.
Mrs. Johnson’s handwritten calculations were said to have been more trusted than those performed by mainframe computers. A short time before Glenn launched into space, he asked engineers to “get the girl to check the numbers.”
“All the women were called ‘the girls,’ ” said Barry, “and everyone knew exactly which girl he was talking about.” Mrs. Johnson, who was then 43, spent a day and a half checking the trajectory calculations made by the IBM computer before giving the go-ahead to Glenn, who became the first American astronaut to orbit the Earth.
Modest beginnings
Katherine Coleman was born in White Sulphur Springs, W.Va., then a town of about 800, on Aug. 26, 1918. Her mother was a former teacher. She credited her proclivity for mathematics to her father, a farmer who had worked in the lumber industry and could quickly calculate the number of boards a tree could produce.
By 10, Katherine had finished all the coursework offered at her town’s two-room schoolhouse. Joined by her mother and her three older siblings, she moved to Institute, a suburb of the state capital, to attend the laboratory school of West Virginia State College while her father remained at home to support the family.
Mrs. Johnson went on to study at West Virginia State, a historically black college, with plans to major in French and English and become a teacher. A mathematics professor — W.W. Schiefflin Claytor, widely reported to be the third African American to receive a doctorate in math — persuaded her to change fields.
Mrs. Johnson later recalled his saying: “You’d make a good research mathematician, and I’m going to see that you’re prepared.” She had never heard of the position before. “I said, ‘Where will I get a job?’ And he said, ‘That will be your problem.’ ”
After graduating in 1937, at 18, she taught at a segregated elementary school in Marion, Va., a town near the North Carolina border.
Three years later, she was one of three black students selected to integrate West Virginia University’s graduate programs. She dropped out of her master’s in mathematics program after one semester to start a family with her husband, James Goble, a chemistry teacher. She later returned to teaching, in West Virginia, before a brother-in-law suggested she apply for a computer position at Langley.
Goble died of cancer in 1956, and three years later Mrs. Johnson married James Johnson, an Army artillery officer. He died in 2019.
Mrs. Johnson’s death was confirmed by lawyer and family representative Donyale Y.H. Reavis, who said she died at home in Newport News, Va., but did not cite a specific cause.
Survivors include two daughters from her first marriage, Joylette Hylick of Mount Laurel, N.J., and Katherine Moore of Greensboro, N.C.; six grandchildren; and 11 great-grandchildren. Her daughter Constance Garcia died in 2010.
Mrs. Johnson was invited to move to Houston in the mid-1960s to help establish what is now the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, but she declined the offer to maintain her family’s ties to the Hampton community, Shetterly said.
At Langley, where she retired in 1986, she performed calculations that determined the precise moment at which the Apollo lunar lander could leave the moon’s surface to return to the command module, which remained in orbit high above. She also contributed to NASA’s space shuttle and Earth satellite programs.
After the release of “Hidden Figures,” Mrs. Johnson played down the importance of her role in the early years of the space program. “There’s nothing to it — I was just doing my job,” she told The Washington Post in 2017.
“They needed information, and I had it, and it didn’t matter that I found it,” she added. “At the time, it was just a question and an answer.”
Article via MSN
Man dies while ice fishing after jumping into water to retrieve his cell phone
MACOMB COUNTY (WXYZ) —
The body of a 27-year-old man who was ice fishing in Harrison Township Sunday has been located, according to the Macomb County Sheriff’s Office.
The man was ice fishing with a friend early Sunday near San Jaun and North River Road when his cell phone fell into the water. The 27-year-old went into the water after his phone and did not resurface for several hours, investigators said.
A search by rescue teams located the body.
This is an ongoing investigation.
Photo Credit: pix11.com
Barneys New York closes its doors months after declaring bankruptcy
MANHATTAN — Barneys New York, the iconic retailer, has finally closed its doors.
The company filed for bankruptcy in August and spent months shutting down. On Sunday, workers could be seen carrying out fixtures.
Barneys was started Barney Pressman back in 1923 as a small, discount menswear store on 17th Street. Over the next 97 years, the company rocketed to the fashion stratosphere at Madison Avenue and 61st Street where the rent was said to be $30 million a year.
The company was the first to carry Armani, Versace and Comme de Garçons.
Online shopping sounded the death knell for the brick-and-mortar giant.
Fashion licensing company Authentic Brands Group and and financial firm B. Riley bought Barneys for $271.4 million and plan to turn the Madison Avenue flagship into a pop-up experiential site. Fred’s, the iconic restaurant on the 9th floor, will live on
Photo Credit: pix11.com
Lizzo Says She’s Down for a Thong Line with Tommy Hilfiger
Lizzo says Tommy Hilfiger has connected with her on a future collab, and the article of clothing she thinks they can peddle best … butt cheek dental floss.
We got the pop superstar Sunday outside of the Sweet Chick waffle house in L.A., where our guy asked what’s on the horizon for after a mega-year of praise and accolades. Before she can even answer, Lizzo tells us straight-up … she’s pretty hungover. So, we helped her out.
Our photog suggests politics as a new lane she could pursue, but Lizzo literally laughs in his face. Hm, okay … maybe not. On the fashion front, however, she’s apparently making moves.
You’ll recall … we ran into Tommy in December when he told us he wanted to work with Lizzo in some capacity for a potential new line … telling us he thought she was a star.
Welp, it seems TH may have gotten in touch … and Lizzo says she’s landed on good old-fashioned thongs as what they might be working on. Makes sense, that’s kinda her thing.
Lizzo’s certainly not afraid to show (and shake) what her momma gave her, as we’ve seen in the recent past. She actually showed off her thong at a Lakers game in December, and now … it looks like a Tommy Hilfiger partnership could follow. Assuming either of ’em is serious.
In any case … Lizzo’s upgraded from “kiss my ass” to something a bit more graphic. We’ll let her explain for herself.
Watch the video interview on GoQuizy
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Lizzo gets emotional while Responding to “THE HATERS” of Her Thong Dress #fullbreakdown
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Nicki Minaj Retires from hiphop+Azealia Banks comes for Lizzo~”She’s Whyte America’s F@t Black Mammy
The Seat Filler
Romance and drama occur after a pop superstar falls for an audience member — a seat filler posing as an industry executive — at a music awards show. Featuring Kelly Rowland, Shemar Moore, Mel B and Duane Martin.
Prius crushes, kill Missouri man who was under it trying to steal catalytic converter
KANSAS CITY, MO (KCTV) — A man was killed Friday morning when the car he was trying to steal from fell on him, police say.
Police and an ambulance responded to a parking lot along Baltimore Avenue near Seventh Street in reference to a stealing and someone who needed medical attention.
Police at the scene and the car’s owner told KCTV5 News that a man was trying to steal a catalytic converter off of a Toyota Prius, when it fell on him and crushed him.
The man was briefly able to call for help, and a passerby tried to use a jack to lift the car up and get the man out from under it. By that time, though, the man had died, police and the car’s owner said.
Police are continuing to investigate the situation.
Photo Credit: kmov.com
Indiana couple forced boys off road, angered by Trump flags
HOBART, Ind. (AP) — A northwestern Indiana couple allegedly used a car to force two teenage boys off a road, angered that the twin brothers were riding bicycles adorned with flags supporting President Donald Trump, before ripping one of the sibling’s flag from his bike, police said Friday.
Hobart police said Snapchat videos helped officers secure charges against Kyren Gregory Perry-Jones, 23, and Cailyn Marie Smith, 18, in connection with a July 22 incident.
Police Capt. James Gonzales said the Hobart couple are accused of driving in their car, running the 14-year-old boys off of the road, and making threats toward them.
According to a probable cause affidavit, the boys told officers that a vehicle with a man driving and woman passenger followed them before the male driver pulled up nearby and asked one of the boys “if they were Trump supporters” — to which the boy replied that they were.
The driver then swerved at the boys, forcing them onto roadside grass to avoid being struck, according to the affidavit. The driver followed the boys before exiting the car and tearing off the flag from one of the brother’s bikes, the affidavit states.
The driver dropped the flag, which was affixed to the bike with fishing pole, ran back to his car and drove off, “but not before running the flag over,” it states.Choices for your old 401(k)We can help you understand choices for your retirement needs. Get up to $600 when you roll over your 401(k) to Merrill Edge® Self-Directed.Ad By Merrill EdgeSee More
Both Perry-Jones and Smith have been charged with two felony counts of intimidation and criminal recklessnes. They were also charged with one count each of theft and criminal mischief, both of which are misdemeanors.
Smith was in custody but Perry-Jones remained at large Friday evening, police said. Online court records do not list attorneys who could speak on behalf of either of them.
Gonzales said the charges weren’t filed until Thursday because there was a delay in detectives getting information from Snapchat, The (Northwest Indiana) Times reported.
In a video posted to Snapchat, allegedly by the couple of their encounter with the boy, shows “the driver turns the wheel sharply as if he saw the boys and wanted to hit them with the vehicle while yelling `ya’ll better get home,'” according to the affidavit. A male’s voice is then heard telling the female passenger “pull that flag down” in the video which shows the female trying to reach it through her window and her saying, “get closer.”
“The female is then heard saying `ya’ll scared, just like your president” and `America is not great'” followed by an expletive, according to the affidavit.
In a second Snapchat video, Perry-Jones alleged says, “Don’t let me see you downtown” to one of the boys and threatens to beat him up.
Photo Credit: Hobart Police Department
Family thought they bought insurance to cover their son’s birth. Then they got a bill for more than $150,000
ST. LOUIS (KMOV.com) — A local family just welcomed a baby boy into their family. But the birth came with a hefty price tag, one that they thought their health plan would at least partially cover.
Now Ali and Elijah Middlesworth are sharing their story because they don’t want anyone else to fall victim to the company that has them facing $150,000 debt.
Ali Middlesworth said her son Declan’s birth in October wasn’t easy.
“Went to the hospital with severe pre-eclampsia,” Ali said.
For her safety and the baby’s, days later doctors at Mercy Hospital decided to induce labor five weeks before her due date.
“He came out and he was unresponsive, 10 minutes go by [and] they call in a crash cart, and they finally revive him and take him straight down to the NICU,” Ali said.
It was days before Ali and Elijah could hold Declan for the first time, and two weeks before they could bring him home.
“He’s perfectly healthy, he’s three months old now,” Ali said.
The joys of having a healthy baby have been watered down by mounting medical bills
“My responsibility is $47,481.61,” Ali said. But that’s just from one medical statement. “It’s close to totaling $150,000.”
Ali said her health plan company has refused to pay a dime.
“I feel scammed.”
Her job doesn’t supply her with insurance coverage. So, she signed up for Aliera Health.
“The plan in the book shows it’s a really good plan, you know 80/20 co insurance, $1000 deductible, $500 for maternity coverage isn’t bad. Throughout the entire pregnancy, they covered everything, doctors’ visits; just like regular insurance,” she explained.
It wasn’t until later they realized the coverage isn’t what they thought they were paying for.
“They even sold it to us as insurance on the phone. Then when labor and delivery hit, they covered nothing.”
Aliera is part of what’s called a health care sharing ministry. They aren’t required to follow the same rules as traditional insurers, including paying claims.
“It’s not even insurance, but they don’t tell you that before you sign up and make your first payment,” Middlesworth said.
Aliera says “member contributions are received by the health care sharing ministry and are then used to pay eligible share requests to the ministry’s members.”
So what Ali thought was a monthly-premium is actually called a “contribution” or “gift” which ends up in a money pot and is shared amongst Aliera’s members.
She learned that even has a limit.
“Medical expenses for newborn arising from complications at the time, including but not limited to premature birth, are treated as a separate incident and limited to $50,000 of eligible share.”
A quick Google search of Aliera Healthcare shows how confusing it can be.
Once you get past the ads, the first website is called Aliera Companies, which doesn’t even look like a healthcare webpage.Find fresh baked taste from DIGIORNO that you can’t get from deliveryDIGIORNO Original Rising Crust bakes up crispy on the outside and soft and tender on the insideAd By DiGiornoSee More
And on Ali’s paperwork it calls her “the insured.” But Aliera says “health care sharing ministries, by law, are not a contract and are not insurance.”
“It’s partially probably our fault for not reading the fine print, but it’s very deceiving,” Ali said.
When she added Declan to their plan she was sent new cards with a new company name.
“It was a different company. It went from Aliera to Trinity. And at the bottom, in all caps it said ‘This is not insurance’ and it didn’t say that before,” Ali said.
Trinity Healthshare is an Aliera client.
Ali said when they started taking Declan to the doctor staff wouldn’t take the cards because they say “this is not insurance.”
Then the bills started coming in and that’s when she started reading.
“Monthly contributions are voluntary contributions or gifts that are non-refundable. As a non-insurance membership neither Trinity share, nor the membership are liable for any part of an individual’s medical need all contributors are responsible for their medical need. That just makes my heart drop, it says basically they’re not responsible for any bills, but we pay almost $500 a month,” Middlesworth said.
Aliera sent News 4 a statement, it reads in part:
“We are proud of the work we do to help ministries provide a more flexible method for securing affordable high-quality health care, and we will continue to vigorously defend against false claims about our company.”
As it stands, Ali and Elijah are $150,000 in medical debt.
“We’re gonna be paying it the rest of our lives,” Ali said.
Ali said their case is hanging between Mercy hospital and Aliera/Trinity Healthcare.
“[Mercy] keeps telling me the insurance company has declined the bills and so I call Aliera and they say they haven’t declined them, they’re just waiting on medical records, and Mercy says they’ve sent the medical records and have proof that Aliera has declined them,” Ali said.
Mercy hospital sent News 4 this in response to the family’s medical bills:
“In instances where a family does not have insurance, Mercy works with families to see if they would qualify for Medicaid and then otherwise work to provide financial assistance, if they can’t.”
“Mercy has been nothing but the best to us, and they’ve worked with us so much,” Ali said.
While they’re stuck in the middle, Ali and Elijah say Declan is worth every cent.
“We got him out of it and he’s all that matters to us, as long as we have him that’s all that matters,” Mom said.
Aliera told News 4 families can file an appeal.
The Middlesworths said Aliera told them it’s reviewing $41,000 of their debt but no money has been paid.
According to the Better Business Bureau, the company is facing more than 100 complaints and a suspended accreditation. Colorado, Texas, and Washington have sent cease and desists letters to stop Aliera from operating.
We reached out to the Missouri Department of Commerce and Insurance. They told us they couldn’t speak on any possible open investigations, because their files are closed.
Photo Credit: kmov.com
Burger King debuts a french fry sandwich and Wendy’s isn’t impressed
(CNN) — Burger chains have come a long way, now offering a wide array of options for all, no matter your dietary preference.
Take the meatless Whopper. It turned heads and left taste buds curious.
Now Burger King has introduced the Chip Butty, a patty-less sandwich with french fries, mayo and ketchup wedged in between two buns.
The inspiration behind the new sandwich came from a happy “culinary accident” with one of the chain’s chefs, according to a message Burger King New Zealand posted to its Facebook page earlier this month. With that accident, in came the idea for the Chip Butty and Chip Butty with bacon.
It’s only available to New Zealand customers right now for $2 ($1.27 USD), and it’s unclear if it will make its way to other markets in the future.
While this concept is new to Burger King, the patty-less sandwich isn’t a new one. Chip Buttys have been around for years and are commonly found at fish and chip shops across the United Kingdom and Ireland. Ingredients include mayonnaise, ketchup, cheese, hot sauce and malt vinegar, depending on your preference.
The good people of social media ate up Burger King’s concept, flooding Twitter with opinions and comments. Some skeptical, others intrigued. But perhaps the most notable reaction came from none other than one of Burger King’s rivals.
Wendy’s wasted little time throwing shade, tweeting, “When literally anything would be better on a bun than their beef.”
And the insults didn’t stop there. As more people replied to the Twitter thread, Wendy’s popped back in the conversation to deliver some more jabs.
Burger King hasn’t responded yet to all the commentary.
Photo Credit: Burger King New Zealand