Erykah Badu is understandably confused after somehow testing both positive and negative for COVID-19 this week.

The Grammy-winning artist shared the news Friday, telling fans that while she was asymptomatic, she tested positive in only her left nostril, leaving the “Afro Blue” songstress slightly befuddled.

“No symptoms. Was tested for COVID. Same machine. Left nostril positive. Right nostril negative,” she tweeted. “Maybe they need to call Swiss Beats so they can do a versus between them. Funny thing is, Dr. ONLY reported the positive result. What the fack is goin on here. Rapid Test. $$$$ smh.”

Badu also attached a screenshot of the unusual result. She added that she and her crew are required to take a COVID-19 test prior to any livestream broadcasts for the safety of the band and staff members.

“Something extremely bogus is going on,” he wrote. “Was tested for covid four times today. Two tests came back negative, two came back positive. Same machine, same test, same nurse. Rapid antigen test from BD.”

via: https://pagesix.com/2020/11/14/erykah-badu-tests-positive-for-covid-19-in-left-nostril-negative-in-right/?_ga=2.213279639.2026506654.1604801803-1483909753.1590005431

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A Minnesota teacher has dodged prison time for having sex with a 16-year-old student after telling the court that “personal” trauma impacted her judgement.

According to The Sun, former Hermantown, Minnesota teacher Madeleine Schmaltz, 30 and of Saginaw, had already pleaded guilty to a count of fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct and was sentenced to probation on Monday.

The Duluth News Tribune reported that Schmaltz must serve three years of probation and is required to register as a predatory offender.

She is also required to refrain from contact with her victim or any other minors to avoid time in prison.

In court, the Minnesota teacher asked for mercy for having sex with the student, saying inner troubles had caused “clouded judgement.”

“During the spring of 2019, I was going through personal traumatic experiences that did cloud my judgment,” Schmaltz said at the virtual hearing Monday.

“Since then, I’ve been working through those experiences, along with just trying to better myself, and I will continue to do so. I know that my clouded judgment has harmed the victim and the victim’s family, and for that I am truly sorry.”

In 2019, Schmaltz struck up an illicit relationship with the 16-year-old, who she had taught at Hermantown Middle School a few years before.

According to a criminal complaint, the student’s mother found out about the illicit relationship and sex in June 2019 after overhearing a phone call between the boy and the Minnesota teacher.

The conversation was “sexual in nature,” the complaint stated. The student later confirmed the relationship and said he had been going over to Schmaltz’s house in Saginaw for homework and mentoring. Authorities later confirmed they were having sex during the “mentorship” sessions.

The complaint stated that Schmaltz “admitted to sexual touching of the victim on the victim’s intimate parts and to having the victim touch her on her intimate parts.”‘

According to previous reporting from the Minneapolis Star Tribune, the teacher admitted to having sex with the student on multiple occasions.

The Minnesota teacher resigned from the middle school soon after the student sex relationship was uncovered.

According to The Daily Mail, Schmaltz will have to register as an offender and remain on probation for three years, but will have her felony conviction reduced to a misdemeanor if she does not re-offend.

Her defense attorney said she now works in online sales and is attending therapy.

“She’s sincerely apologetic for her behavior, she recognizes the pain that she caused and she’s doing what she can to put not only herself in a better place, but eventually be able to move forward with her experience and help others,” he said, according to the Duluth News Tribune.

Authorities determined that the sexual acts had been occurring at Schmaltz’s house in Saginaw under the guise that he was there for help with homework and mentoring.

via: https://knewz.com/minnesota-teacher-student-sex/?utm_source=nypost

Photo Credit: knewz.com

LONDON (AP) — Imagine a world where you move around in your own personal sound bubble. You listen to your favorite tunes, play loud computer games, watch a movie or get navigation directions in your car — all without disturbing those around you.

That’s the possibility presented by “sound beaming,” a new futuristic audio technology from Noveto Systems, an Israeli company. On Friday it will debut a desktop device that beams sound directly to a listener without the need for headphones.

The company provided The Associated Press with an exclusive demo of the desktop prototype of its SoundBeamer 1.0 before its launch Friday.

The listening sensation is straight out of a sci-fi movie. The 3-D sound is so close it feels like it’s inside your ears while also in front, above and behind them.

Noveto expects the device will have plenty of practical uses, from allowing office workers to listen to music or conference calls without interrupting colleagues to letting someone play a game, movie or music without disturbing their significant others.

The lack of headphones means it’s possible to hear other sounds in the room clearly.

The technology uses a 3-D sensing module and locates and tracks the ear position sending audio via ultrasonic waves to create sound pockets by the user’s ears. Sound can be heard in stereo or a spatial 3-D mode that creates 360 degree sound around the listener, the company said.

The demo includes nature video clips of swans on a lake, bees buzzing and a babbling brook, where the listener feels completely transported into the scene.

But even CEO Christophe Ramstein finds it hard to put the concept into words. “The brain doesn’t understand what it doesn’t know,” he said.

In a Noveto demonstration conducted via Zoom from Tel Aviv, SoundBeamer Product Manager Ayana Wallwater was unable to hear the sound of gunshots on a gaming demo.

That’s the point. But she does get to enjoy the reactions of people trying the software for the first time.

“Most people just say, ‘Wow, I really don’t believe it,’” she said.

“You don’t believe it because it sounds like a speaker, but no one else can hear it…it’s supporting you and you’re in the middle of everything. It’s happening around you.”

By changing a setting, the sound can follow a listener around when they move their head. It’s also possible to move out of the beam’s path and hear nothing at all, which creates a surreal experience.

“You don’t need to tell the device where you are. It’s not streaming to one exact place,” Wallwater said.

“It follows you wherever you go. So it’s personally for you — follows you, plays what you want inside your head.”

“This is what we dream of,” she adds. “A world where we get the sound you want. You don’t need to disturb others and others don’t get disturbed by your sound. But you can still interact with them.”

After his first listening experience Ramstein asked himself how it was different from other audio devices.

“I was thinking, ‘Yeah, but is it the same with headphones?’ No, because I have the freedom and it’s like I have the freedom of doing what I want to do. And I have these sounds playing in my head as there would be something happening here, which is difficult to explain because we have no reference for that.”

While the concept of sound beaming is not new, Noveto was the first to launch the technology and their SoundBeamer 1.0 desktop device will be the first branded consumer product.

Ramstein said a “smaller, sexier” version of the prototype will be ready for consumer release in time for Christmas 2021.

“You know, I was trying to think how we compare sound beaming with any other inventions in history. And I think the only one that came to mind is… the first time I tried the iPod I was like, ‘Oh, my God. What’s that?’ I think sound beaming is something that is as disruptive as that. There’s something to be said about it doesn’t exist before. There’s the freedom of using it. And it’s really amazing.”

via: https://fox2now.com/news/national/new-device-beams-music-to-your-head-no-headphones-required/

Photo Credit: Noveto Systems via AP

(CNN) — Thanksgiving typically means two things: lots of food and lots of family time. But this year, with Covid-19 numbers soaring, the city of Chicago would prefer if its residents nixed the latter.

As cases of Covid-19 continue to rise in the city, Chicago has issued a stay-at-home advisory — encouraging residents to stay home and only leave for school, work or other essential needs, according to a news release issued Thursday. That includes seeking medical care, grocery shopping and picking up food.

The order, which begins Monday, extends through Thanksgiving festivities. Residents are “strongly advised” to not have guests in their homes outside of essential workers — even family and close friends.

“Chicago has reached a critical point in the second surge of COVID-19, demanding that we undertake this multi-faceted and comprehensive effort to stop the virus in its tracks,” said Mayor Lori Lightfoot in the release.

“The gains we have made this past year have been the result of our willingness to work together. Even in this difficult moment, we will continue to unite as we always have for our city in order to halt the rise we’re seeing, shake out of the fatigue we’ve been experiencing, and make the crucial difference in what our future is going to look like.”

The advisory, which will remain in place for 30 days, also imposes a limit on in-person meetings and social events, restricting them to just 10 people both inside and outside.

Chicago has 122,712 total cases since the start of the pandemic, according to the city’s Covid dashboard. The most recent 7-day positivity rate is now at 14.1%, up from 10.9% the previous week.

And Chicago isn’t alone. Across the country, Covid-19 numbers are continuing to reach record highs, as hospitalizations and deaths accelerate and alarming rates. With the holiday season approaching, providing incentive for folks to gather, these numbers are only expected to continue to rise, health experts have said.

More than 110,000 additional people in the US are projected to die from Covid-19 in just the next two months, according to the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation.

CNN’s Christina Maxouris and Holly Yan contributed to this report.

As cases of Covid-19 continue to rise in the city, Chicago has issued a stay-at-home advisory — encouraging residents to stay home and only leave for school, work or other essential needs, according to a news release issued Thursday. That includes seeking medical care, grocery shopping and picking up food.

The order, which begins Monday, extends through Thanksgiving festivities. Residents are “strongly advised” to not have guests in their homes outside of essential workers — even family and close friends.

“Chicago has reached a critical point in the second surge of COVID-19, demanding that we undertake this multi-faceted and comprehensive effort to stop the virus in its tracks,” said Mayor Lori Lightfoot in the release.

“The gains we have made this past year have been the result of our willingness to work together. Even in this difficult moment, we will continue to unite as we always have for our city in order to halt the rise we’re seeing, shake out of the fatigue we’ve been experiencing, and make the crucial difference in what our future is going to look like.”

The advisory, which will remain in place for 30 days, also imposes a limit on in-person meetings and social events, restricting them to just 10 people both inside and outside.

Chicago has 122,712 total cases since the start of the pandemic, according to the city’s Covid dashboard. The most recent 7-day positivity rate is now at 14.1%, up from 10.9% the previous week.

And Chicago isn’t alone. Across the country, Covid-19 numbers are continuing to reach record highs, as hospitalizations and deaths accelerate and alarming rates. With the holiday season approaching, providing incentive for folks to gather, these numbers are only expected to continue to rise, health experts have said.

More than 110,000 additional people in the US are projected to die from Covid-19 in just the next two months, according to the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation.

CNN’s Christina Maxouris and Holly Yan contributed to this report.

via: https://www.kmov.com/news/chicago-issues-stay-at-home-advisory-and-tells-residents-to-cancel-traditional-thanksgiving-celebrations/article_d92d8c9f-a36b-57c5-a3fc-cc98a997a549.html

Photo Credit: chicagotribune

(CNN) — UPS is lifting several of its longstanding strict rules on the personal appearance of its employees who interact with the public — mostly its army of delivery drivers.

The changes loosen the previous strict limits on facial hair (no beards for most employees, and mustaches limited to above the crease of the lip), how long men could wear their hair (nothing longer than collar length) and hairstyles (no Afros or braids). While styles still must be business-appropriate and not pose a safety concern, those specific limits have been eliminated.

Wednesday’s announcement also includes the lifting of gender-specific regulations, including rules like the length of the uniform’s shorts. The new rules, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, were posted on an internal company web site for employees.

“These changes reflect our values and desire to have all UPS employees feel comfortable, genuine and authentic while providing service to our customers and interacting with the general public,” UPS said in a a statement, adding that the company is “determined to continue to make UPS a great place to work for all of our more than 500,000 employees around the world.”

UPS is also surely motivated by its scrambling to add the staff needed to handle the increase crush of packages associated with the surge in online shopping brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Our CEO, Carol Tomé, listened to feedback from employees and heard that changes in this area would make them more likely to recommend UPS as an employer,” said UPS in its statement.

Tomé, the first woman to lead UPS, told investors on a recent conference call that the company had increased its employee training, including to combat unconscious bias and promote diversity and inclusion, “to ensure our actions match our values.”

UPS had faced criticism that its appearance rules, particularly the hair guidelines, amounted to a form of discrimination. In 2018 it agreed to pay a $4.9 million fine and enter into a consent decree with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to allow greater freedom to wear beards and long hair by those who filed for a religious exemption.Shop Macy’s Lowest Prices of the SeasonSave on select furniture, rugs and mattresses now through November 15th!Ad By Macy’s See More

“The EEOC alleged … UPS failed to hire or promote individuals whose religious practices conflict with its appearance policy and failed to provide religious accommodations,” said the EEOC at the time, which also alleged that “UPS segregated employees who maintained beards or long hair in accordance with their religious beliefs into non-supervisory, back-of-the-facility positions without customer contact.”

The company then moved to allow religious and medical exemptions for facial hair.

But Wednesday’s announcement addresses a broader problem of unconscious bias that the rules reflected, according to Lucinda Duncalfe, founder and CEO of AboveBoard.com, an executive hiring firm that promotes diversity.

“These policies are hold-overs from a different era and reflect the biases that hold back progress, and performance,” said Duncalfe, who praised the change as “great news.”

“It never made sense that “natural’ hair was impermissible,” she added.

Nearly 300,000 UPS employees are represented by the Teamsters union, and the former rules applied to many of them. The union praised the change.

“We are very pleased about it,” said Teamsters’ statement. “The union contested the previous guidelines as too strict numerous times over the years through the grievance/arbitration process and contract negotiations. We have proposed neatly trimmed beards during several previous national negotiations.”

It’s been a busy year for UPS. The volume of packages UPS handled increased 13.5% in the third quarter compared to a year earlier, and the company hired 39,000 permanent new employees in the second quarter of 2020, and it intends to hire more than 100,000 additional seasonal employees for the peak holiday season.

via: https://www.kmov.com/news/ups-ends-ban-on-beards-and-natural-black-hairstyles/article_db7de8b5-77de-5437-bf95-c98212cc9bb8.html

Photo Credit: Photo by Noam Galai