Willie Nelson Said Weed ‘Saved My Life,’ Kept Him From Killing People

The Red Headed Stranger recently told ‘Rolling Stone’ that weed saved his life by helping him kick a booze habit. Willie Nelson is no stranger to weed, and in a recent interview with Rolling Stone, it may have kept him out of an early grave, too. The interview covered several aspects of Nelson’s life, including his celebrity-branded weed company and his ongoing musical pursuits. But the most shocking highlight came when he discussed how cannabis rescued him from his previous life as an alcoholic.
Read more: https://merryjane.com/culture/willie-nelson-said-weed-saved-my-life-kept-him-from-killing-people?source=Snapzu

Every Burger King in the country will have meatless Whoppers by the end of the year

If you’ve been hankering to try one of the cutting-edge meatless burgers people are talking about but haven’t been able to get your hands on one yet, you’re in luck: Burger King’s Impossible Whopper — a patty made with 0 percent meat — will soon be available nationwide. It’s been barely a month since the fast-food chain announced it was giving the new Impossible Whopper a trial run in 59 restaurants in the St. Louis area. Already, the results are so promising that Burger King now plans to make the product available in all its 7,200 branches across the US by the end of this year.
Read more: https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2019/4/29/18522640/burger-king-impossible-whopper-vegan-meat?source=Snapzu

SpaceX Gets FCC Approval to Sell Wireless High-Speed Home Internet from Space

SpaceX just received approval from the FCC to launch 4,425 satellites into space to build a low earth orbit network of satellites to sell home Internet. Unlike current satellite Internet, these devices will be in a far lower orbit and offer far faster speeds without the data caps current satellite systems use.
Read more: https://www.cordcuttersnews.com/spacex-gets-fcc-approval-to-sell-wireless-high-speed-home-internet-from-space/?source=Snapzu

Inpatient Care for Young People With Mental Health Issues Varies Significantly By Country

Access to inpatient care for young people with mental health issues varies significantly across Europe, with mental health services providing up to 50 times more beds depending upon the country you live in. The UK is 18th out of 28 countries in Europe for the number of inpatient beds available per 100,000 young people, despite having the largest number of services dedicated to child and adolescent mental health.
Read more: https://www.psychreg.org/mental-health-by-country/?source=Snapzu

Japan's emperor declares his abdication

Akihito, who said he was too old for the role, is the first Japanese emperor to stand down in 200 years.
Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-48020703?source=Snapzu

Venezuela's opposition leader calls for military uprising to oust president

Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido has taken to the streets with detained activist Leopoldo Lopez and a small contingent of heavily armed soldiers in a military uprising but the country's president was defiant, saying top military leaders have assured him of their loyalty.
Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/venezuela-guaido-final-phase-maduro-1.5116327?source=Snapzu

Australia can be powered 100% by renewables by early 2030s, says Garnaut

Leading economist and climate change policy expert Professor Ross Garnaut says that Australia could be powered 100 per cent by “intermittent” renewables by the early 2030s, and have a grid that is both reliable and secure and cheaper than it is now.
Read more: https://reneweconomy.com.au/australia-can-be-powered-100-by-renewables-by-early-2030s-says-garnaut-16846/?source=Snapzu

How robots became a scapegoat for the destruction of the working class

Should workers fear the robots? You don't have to look far to find lots of people shouting "yes." Magazines and newspapers blare headlines like "Welcoming our new robot overlords," "When your new co-worker is a robot," and "You will lose your job to a robot — and sooner than you think." Studies suggest anywhere from 9 percent to 47 percent of American jobs could be automated in the next few decades. In 2017, Bill Gates proposed a "robot tax" to address the problem.
Read more: https://theweek.com/articles/837759/how-robots-became-scapegoat-destruction-working-class?source=Snapzu

Google admits trouble selling expensive Pixels, but it’s got a cheaper one coming soon

Google has a simple, yet subtle, reason for its anticipated push into the midrange smartphone market: there’s too much competition in the high-end one. Next month, on the first day of its I/O developer conference, Google is expected to show off its new, cheaper Pixel 3a and 3a XL. And on an earnings call with reporters today, Ruth Porat, the chief financial officer of Google parent company Alphabet, said that industry-wide pressure on high-end phones led to fewer Pixel sales last quarter compared to this time a year ago.
Read more: https://www.theverge.com/2019/4/29/18523162/google-pixel-3a-sales-lead-up-announcement-smartphone-competition?source=Snapzu

Beats Powerbeats Pro pre-order May 3 and launch May 10, totally wireless with ‘Hey Siri’ and H1 chip

Looking for a sporty alternative to AirPods? Beats Powerbeats Pro totally wireless earphones will be available to pre-order from Apple.com for $249.95 this Friday, May 3rd at 7 am PT in the United States and Canada. Powerbeats Pro will hit stores one week later on Friday, May 10th. The all-new Beats earphones are powered by the same Apple H1 chip as AirPods 2, work with ‘Hey Siri’, and have sporty features including longer battery life and physical playback controls.
Read more: https://9to5mac.com/2019/04/28/powerbeats-pro-pre-order/?source=Snapzu

There's a 1 percent chance Valve announces a Half-Life VR game this week

Predicting what Valve is and isn't going to do is a losing game, even with reliable information, so I'm giving myself a 1 percent chance of getting this completely right. Valve is going to reveal the specs of its VR headset, the Valve Index, very soon, and we have good reason to believe it'll reveal some VR games along with it—one of which is rumored to be a Half-Life game.
Read more: https://www.pcgamer.com/half-life-VR-rumor-index/?source=Snapzu

SpaceX cuts broadband-satellite altitude in half to prevent space debris

SpaceX has received Federal Communications Commission approval to halve the orbital altitude of more than 1,500 planned broadband satellites in order to lower the risk of space debris and improve latency. SpaceX's satellite project, named Starlink, aims to provide high-speed, low-latency broadband around the world. In a statement on the new FCC approval, SpaceX said that "Starlink production is well underway, and the first group of satellites have already arrived at the launch site for processing."
Read more: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2019/04/spacex-changes-broadband-satellite-plan-to-limit-debris-and-lower-latency/?source=Snapzu

People Are Clamoring to Buy Old Insulin Pumps

One day last June, Doug Boss pulled into a police-station parking lot to meet a stranger from Craigslist. His purpose: to buy used insulin pumps. Boss has type 1 diabetes, and he relies on a small pump attached to his body to deliver continuous doses of insulin that keep him alive. To be clear, he didn’t need to buy used medical equipment on Craigslist. Boss, who is 55 and works in IT in Texas, has health insurance. He even has a new, in-warranty pump sitting at home.
Read more: https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2019/04/looping-created-insulin-pump-underground-market/588091/?source=Snapzu

Nora Roberts files ‘multi-plagiarism’ lawsuit alleging writer copied more than 40 authors

After weeks of anger, bestselling novelist is suing Brazilian author Cristiane Serruya for ‘rare and scandalous’ level of plagiarism
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/apr/25/nora-roberts-files-multi-plagiarism-lawsuit-alleging-writer-copied-more-than-40-authors?source=Snapzu

Woodstock Organizers Cancel 50th Anniversary Festival

“It’s a dream for agencies to work with iconic brands and to be associated with meaningful movements. We have a strong history of producing experiences that bring people together around common interests and causes which is why we chose to be a part of the Woodstock 50th Anniversary Festival. But despite our tremendous investment of time, effort and commitment, we don’t believe the production of the festival can be executed as an event worthy of the Woodstock Brand name while also ensuring the health and safety of the artists, partners and attendees."
Read more: https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/festivals/8509091/woodstock-50-festival-cancelled?source=Snapzu

To prevent the apocalypse, MIT says to study "machine behaviour"

Computer scientists and engineers shouldn’t be the only people shaping the future of artificial intelligence, according to a group led by researchers from MIT’s Media Lab. “We’re seeing the rise of machines with agency, machines that are actors making decisions and taking actions autonomously,” MIT’s Iyad Rahwan said in a blog post. “This calls for a new field of scientific study that looks at them not solely as products of engineering and computer science, but additionally as a new class of actors with their own behavioral patterns and ecology.”
Read more: https://futurism.com/the-byte/mit-apocalypse-study-machine-behaviour?source=Snapzu

Winner Of French Scrabble Title Does Not Speak French

The Scrabble career of Nigel Richards went from great to astounding this week, after he won the French-language Scrabble World Championships. A New Zealand native, Richards has won several English-language titles; his new victory follows weeks of studying a French dictionary.
Read more: https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/07/21/424980378/winner-of-french-scrabble-title-does-not-speak-french?source=Snapzu

Biodegradable plastic bags could be just as bad for the environment, research finds

Supposedly ‘eco-friendly’ biodegradable and compostable plastic bags exist in the environment for three years, littering scenery and potentially trapping animals, new research has found. Single-use plastic bag use in the UK has been cut from 8 billion a year in 2014 to just over a billion in 2018, but the research from the University of Plymouth has raised serious questions over the sustainability of alternatives which claim to be better for the environment.
Read more: https://environmentjournal.online/articles/biodegradable-plastic-bags-could-be-just-as-bad-for-the-environment-research-finds/?source=Snapzu

Days Gone is the biggest physical sales launch of the year so far in the UK

PlayStation 4-exclusive Days Gone has secured the biggest physical sales launch of the year so far in the UK. Impressively for a new intellectual property, Days Gone beat the sales of Capcom's Resident Evil 2 and Ubisoft's Far Cry: New Dawn and The Division 2. However, Days Gone's launch sales come in under those of fellow PS4-exclusives God of War and Spider-Man.
Read more: https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2019-04-29-days-gone-is-the-biggest-physical-launch-of-the-year-so-far-in-the-uk?source=Snapzu

Cord Cutting is Starting to Become Popular in Europe As Cable TV's Growth is Significantly Down - Cord Cutters News

While cord cutting is still finding the most popularity in the US, countries around the world are starting to trend toward streaming and away from pay TV. A Strategy Analytics report is offering some insight about how cord cutting is growing in Europe.
Read more: https://www.cordcuttersnews.com/cord-cutting-is-starting-to-become-popular-in-europe-as-cable-tv-growth-is-significantly-down?source=Snapzu

'You did not act in time': Greta Thunberg's full speech to MPs

My name is Greta Thunberg. I am 16 years old. I come from Sweden. And I speak on behalf of future generations. I know many of you don’t want to listen to us – you say we are just children. But we’re only repeating the message of the united climate science. Many of you appear concerned that we are wasting valuable lesson time, but I assure you we will go back to school the moment you start listening to science and give us a future. Is that really too much to ask?
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/apr/23/greta-thunberg-full-speech-to-mps-you-did-not-act-in-time?source=Snapzu

Anno 1800 is the fastest selling game in the 20-year-old series

Anno 1800 has become the city-building series' fastest-selling game, Ubisoft has announced. In its first week, it's sold more than four times the number of copies than its predecessor, Anno 2205. It's also quite a bit better. Ubisoft hasn't shared player numbers, but we do know that they've brought almost seven billion citizens to their islands. In 1800, the world's actual population has been estimated to be fewer than a billion, rising past it by 1900. It's certainly a lot fewer settlers than are living on Anno's islands. We're changing history, people.
Read more: https://www.pcgamer.com/anno-1800-is-the-fastest-selling-game-in-the-20-year-old-series/?source=Snapzu

New Harvard Findings Suggest That Seafood lovers Have More Sex and Make More Babies

Are you a lover of sushi, shrimp cocktail and other sea-related foods? Then you’ll love to hear that in a recent study conducted by researchers from Harvard University, they found that eating seafood does not only improve sexual life but also go a long way to improve fertility.
Read more: https://wellnessbased.com/seafood-lovers-have-more-sex-and-make-more-babies/?source=Snapzu

'Service with a smile'? Faking emotions at work makes you drink more, study suggests

A recent study is suggesting employers should rethink policies encouraging workers to offer "service with a smile." The study published earlier this month in the peer-reviewed Journal of Occupational Health Psychology found employees who force themselves to smile or evoke or positive emotions in front of customers are more likely to drink heavily after they clock out.
Read more: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2019/04/26/customer-service-workers-forced-smile-may-turn-drinking-alcohol/3588408002/?source=Snapzu

Spotify now has 100M paid subscribers, double Apple Music’s last reported number

Spotify paid subscribers have now reached 100M, double the last number Apple Music reported back in January. Spotify announced the number in its latest earnings report, for the first quarter of the year … Almost half of the company’s users are now paid subscribers.
Read more: https://9to5mac.com/2019/04/29/spotify-paid-subscribers-2/?source=Snapzu

Loyal dog watches over owner for two days after he dies by river

A loyal dog stayed with her owner for almost two days after he fell to his death while hiking. Daisy was found with the 64-year-old man's body in bush near the town of Eatonville, about 60 miles south of Seattle in Washington. The pair went hiking on Wednesday but had not returned by dark, prompting the man's worried wife to call for help.
Read more: https://news.sky.com/story/loyal-dog-watches-over-owner-for-two-days-after-he-dies-by-river-11706301?source=Snapzu

Microsoft is now a $1 trillion company

Strong earnings push Microsoft toward a new milestone.
Read more: https://www.theverge.com/2019/4/25/18515623/microsoft-worth-1-trillion-dollars-stock-price-value?source=Snapzu

Indonesia Plans To Move Its Capital Out Of Jakarta, A City That's Sinking

It's not clear when this will happen, or where the new capital will be located. The idea has been out there for decades, though previous leaders have been unable to accomplish the ambitious plan.
Read more: https://www.npr.org/2019/04/29/718234878/indonesia-plans-to-move-its-capital-out-of-jakarta-a-city-thats-sinking?source=Snapzu

Ban on banana-eating artwork draws ridicule in Poland

Poland's artists and opposition politicians are posting photos of themselves eating bananas in protest after the country's authorities called an artwork featuring the fruit...
Read more: https://www.apnews.com/c3c3e24a86bf4b9785da9e05dddd047a?source=Snapzu

Artificial Intelligence Will Help Us Communicate With Animals

Many pet owners consider their animals to be a member of the family much like a son or daughter. But what if we could take our relationships a step further by using technology to communicate with animals? This may soon become a reality as scientists implement artificial intelligence to decode the disparate dialects of our zoological friends.
Read more: https://www.gaia.com/article/communicating-with-animals?source=Snapzu

Beto O’Rourke proposes $5-trillion climate plan for net-zero emissions by 2050

Beto O’Rourke, who has described climate change as the top issue of his presidential campaign, released a proposal Monday that would spend trillions of dollars to wean the country off fossil fuels with a goal to reduce net greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2050.
Read more: https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-beto-orourke-climate-change-plan-20190429-story.html?source=Snapzu

An algorithm wipes clean the criminal pasts of thousands

A ground-breaking project in California could see 250,000 people freed from their criminal record this year.
Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-48072164?source=Snapzu

'Overwork' kills 270 Indonesia poll staff

Scores of election workers have died, mostly of fatigue-related illnesses, an official says.
Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-48083051?source=Snapzu

Ottawa River flood levels smash records | CBC News

According to the Ottawa River Regulation Planning Board, the river is at record-breaking levels in Lac Coulonge, east of Pembroke, Ont., Arnprior, Ont., and Ottawa. Records for those areas date back to 1985 and 1950.
Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/ottawa-gatineau-floods-latest-news-1.5113912?source=Snapzu

‘Mr. Robot’ Creator Sam Esmail Says Series Will End In Season-Long “Christmas Special’

Mr. Robot creator Sam Esmail unwrapped only one big reveal about the coming final season of his series, which is known for tense action and psychological twists and turns. “Is anybody here a fan of British television?” he asked a packed Tribeca Talks crowd at the Tribeca Film Festival. He then offered a gift he hopes will keep on giving. “Typically how [British shows] wrap up series, like the British [version of The] Office, you tend to do a Christmas special. So the final season of Mr. Robot is one very long Christmas special that will last about a week over Christmas of 2015,” Esmail said.
Read more: https://deadline.com/2019/04/mr-robot-sam-esmail-rami-malek-christian-slater-carly-chaikin-scott-feinberg-tribeca-talks-1202603591/?source=Snapzu

McDonald’s Keeps Touting Security of Mobile App After Credit, Debit Cards Hacked

The MyMcD’s mobile app continues to plague some users who have had their payment methods compromised.
Read more: https://www.iphoneincanada.ca/news/mcdonalds-security-mobile-app-hacked/?source=Snapzu

A retired San Francisco chef builds community through his cooking

In his small kitchen, Emam Saber, 77, picks up a raw New York Strip steak with a fork and gently lays it in a pan of steaming hot oil. The meat sizzles loudly, the first of 30 steaks he will be cooking that afternoon for a charity event.“I always cook for charity. I don’t charge anything,” said Saber, a former chef who worked at iconic hotels and a French restaurant in San Francisco.
Read more: https://grayingcalifornia.org/stories/volunteer/?source=Snapzu

If we care about plastic waste, why won’t we stop drinking bottled water?

or all the innovation and choice that define the food and drink industries, if you want to make money, you could do a lot worse than bung some water in a bottle and flog it. A litre of tap water, the stuff we have ingeniously piped into our homes, costs less than half a penny. A litre of bottled water can cost well over a pound, especially for something fancy that has been sucked through a mountain.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/apr/28/if-we-care-about-plastic-waste-why-wont-we-stop-drinking-bottled-water?source=Snapzu

'A Clockwork Orange' Follow-Up Found in Burgess Archives

A literature professor at Manchester Metropolitan University recently unearthed a legendary manuscript: a 200-page work titled The Clockwork Condition by A Clockwork Orange’s Anthony Burgess. Don’t get too excited, Droog lovers. Colin Dwyer at NPR reports that Condition is not a sequel to the cult novel, but rather a meditation on the “condition of modern man” that was to be structured similarly to Dante’s Inferno. The manuscript was also something of a cash grab. After the release and success of Stanley Kubrick’s film version of book in 1971, a publisher reached out to Burgess...
Read more: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/clockwork-orange-follow-found-burgess-archives-180972050/?source=Snapzu

Pastor accused of running his multimillion-dollar Taylor church as a ‘cult’

To current members of Joshua Media Ministries International, the Taylor-based organization represents a path to the kingdom of God; a journey shepherded by a full-fledged prophet. To former members, though, the multimillion-dollar church at 20320 Superior Road that police monitor daily is “a slave labor cult” operating on an unholy trinity of intimidation, manipulation and greed. In February 2017, former JMMI member Chris Sorensen “was on fire for God.”
Read more: http://www.thenewsherald.com/news/pastor-accused-of-running-his-multimillion-dollar-taylor-church-as/article_c6fbaad0-4b68-11e9-ad86-df5f32aa1199.html?source=Snapzu

Sigourney Weaver surprises students after performance of 'Alien' play

'Alien: The Play' returned to the stage at North Bergen High School one month after it took the internet by storm -- thanks to its elaborate costumes, stage design and nostalgia for the original film, released in 1979. The drama club only had enough money to put the production on for two nights in March, but the director of the film, Ridley Scott, ponied up $5,000 after the performance went viral.
Read more: https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/sigourney-weaver-surprises-students-encore-performance-viral-alien/story?id=62670197?source=Snapzu

Duterte calls for ‘collective action’ on climate change

President Rodrigo Duterte has called on different countries to have a “collective action” on climate change amid the concerning impacts of weather disturbances on developing countries. During the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in China, Duterte thanked countries that helped the Philippines in times of calamities and called for a more “proactive measures” on climate change.
Read more: https://globalnation.inquirer.net/174946/duterte-calls-for-collective-action-on-climate-change?source=Snapzu

Ford Is Under Criminal Investigation for Emissions-Testing Program

The U.S. Department of Justice has opened a criminal investigation into concerns about Ford’s emissions certification process. The automaker announced that the investigation involves anomalies in Ford’s emissions testing process that the company disclosed earlier this year. “Our investigation continues into how Ford estimates road load as part of the U.S. fuel economy and emissions certification process,” Kim Pittel, Ford group vice president for sustainability, environment, and safety engineering, said in a statement in response to written questions from CR submitted by email Friday morning.
Read more: https://www.consumerreports.org/fuel-economy-efficiency/ford-emissions-under-criminal-investigation/?EXTKEY=AFLIP?source=Snapzu

Here are the 15 jobs disappearing the fastest in the US

The average job in the U.S. will expand its workforce by 7% through 2026, but not all industries will be lucky enough to be adding staff in the future. About 17% of the 818 occupations the Bureau of Labor Statistics tracks will actually lose more workers than they add between 2016 and 2026. The number of metal and plastic machines workers is expected to drop 9% in that decade. While other careers, such as locomotive firers, typists and postmasters will suffer a worse fate.
Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2019/04/26/the-15-us-jobs-disappearing-the-fastest.html?source=Snapzu

Four killed when a crane being used for Google’s new Seattle campus fell

The deadly collapse is expected to bring scrutiny about the safety of the cranes in the city, where tech companies are expanding
Read more: https://nationalpost.com/news/world/crane-collapses-in-downtown-seattle-on-saturday#Echobox=1556486659?source=Snapzu

We All Work for Facebook

When I was a kid, in the pre-internet days of the 1980s, my screen time was all about Nickelodeon. My favorite show was “You Can’t Do That on Television.” It was a kind of sketch show; the most common punchline was a bucket of green slime being dropped on characters’ heads. It was pretty dumb. It was also created by professional writers, actors, and crew, who were decently paid; many of them belonged to unions.
Read more: https://longreads.com/2019/04/26/we-all-work-for-facebook/?source=Snapzu

Activists enter Abbotsford pig farm after 'troubling' footage emerges

Dozens of activists have entered a pig farm in Abbotsford, B.C., on Sunday morning, days after "troubling" footage showing conditions inside the farm sparked an SPCA investigation. The video in question, released by PETA, appears to show female pigs and their piglets living in confined gestation crates, along with the bodies of some deceased pigs in varying degrees of decomposition at the Excelsior Hog Farm.
Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/activists-enter-abbotsford-pig-farm-after-troubling-footage-emerges-1.5114497?source=Snapzu

The OnePlus 7 Pro Makes Sense, But Will Anyone Buy It?

"Never Settle" has been the mantra at OnePlus since the very beginning, when the company introduced its OnePlus One smartphone to the world in 2014. Priced at $299 yet powered by a then-top-of-the-line Snapdragon 801 chipset and 3GB of RAM, this OnePlus handset was the flagship killer at a time when flagship killers were few and far between.
Read more: https://www.tomsguide.com/us/oneplus-7-pro-preview,news-29938.html?source=Snapzu

Federal Judge Damon Keith, who authored landmark rulings on civil liberties, dies at 96

Keith decided cases on some of America's most controversial issues, from school desegregation to government surveillance of citizens
Read more: https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2019/04/28/federal-judge-damon-keith-who-authored-landmark-rulings-civil-liberties-dies-96/1848658002/?source=Snapzu

China targets nuclear fusion power generation by 2040

China aims to complete and start generating power from an experimental nuclear fusion reactor by around 2040, a senior scientist involved in the project said, as it works to develop and commercialize a game-changing source of clean energy.
Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-nuclearpower-fusion/china-targets-nuclear-fusion-power-generation-by-2040-idUSKCN1RO0NB?source=Snapzu