Have you lost your faith humanity? Take a moment to look at these candid photos *

  

     Rugby star Brian O'Driscoll  visits his biggest/smallest fan in hospital

  

A man rescues a beached baby dolphin, carrying it back into the ocean.

 A world-class marathon runner slows down to help a disabled man open his bottle of water.

Pedestrians stop to help a dog tear-gassed during a demonstration.

A donation to an expecting couple whose home was damaged by Hurricane Sandy.

A college student gets on his hands and knees to serve as a human bench for an elderly woman who felt weak

A crowd pushes against a train to rescue a stranger caught in the gap between the train and the platform.

A young man on his way to distribute bagels to the homeless.

This 82-year-old man charges one hug for a haircut and a shave.

Gilligan prevented a stranger's car from getting soaked during a storm.

A police officer handcuffs himself to a woman threatening to jump and saves her life

A dry cleaner offers assistance to the unemployed.

This fireman literally risked his life to save an old lady's cat.

A store owner invites New Yorkers who lost power during Hurricane Sandy
 

When this police officer learned the Day Center was closed, he bought food for 20 people who had come there to eat.

A note from a Samaritan who bought new tires for a driver in need.

A man made this offering of free tennis balls to dog owners  in memory of his dog Phoebe.

A motorcyclist pulls over to help an elderly lady cross the street on a rainy day

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An anonymous donor set out bunches of free flowers to share the love on Valentine's. Only one left in this photo 

“I saw this woman buy two meals at a street vendor and give this man one of the meals. She introduced herself and talked to him about his life. She was his equal and just wanted to express inclusion to a fellow human being.” —Anonymous Observer

 

A parking officer takes pity.



Trump wanted less-attractive women fired, employees say

Donald Trump poses next to the 11th hole at Trump National Golf Club in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., in 2005. ((Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

Trump wanted to fire women who weren't pretty enough, say employees at his California golf club
Donald Trump wanted only pretty ones, his director of catering claims. After the Trump National Golf Club in Rancho Palos Verdes opened for play in 2005, its world-famous owner didn’t stop by more than a few times a year to visit the course hugging the coast of the Pacific.
When Trump did visit, the club’s managers went on alert. They scheduled the young, thin, pretty women on staff to work the clubhouse restaurant  — because when Trump saw less-attractive women working at his club, according to court records, he wanted them fired.
"I had witnessed Donald Trump tell managers many times while he was visiting the club that restaurant hostesses were 'not pretty enough' and that they should be fired and replaced with more attractive women,” Hayley Strozier, who was director of catering at the club until 2008, said in a sworn declaration.

Initially, Trump gave this command "almost every time" he visited, Strozier said. Managers eventually changed employee schedules "so that the most attractive women were scheduled to work when Mr. Trump was scheduled to be at the club," she said.
A similar story is told by former Trump employees in court documents filed in 2012 in a broad labor relations lawsuit brought against one of Trump's development companies in Los Angeles County Superior Court.
The employees' declarations in support of the lawsuit, which have not been reported in detail until now, show the extent to which they believed Trump, now the Republican presidential nominee, pressured subordinates at one of his businesses to create and enforce a culture of beauty, where female employees' appearances were prized over their skills.

In a 2009 court filing, the company said that any “allegedly wrongful or discriminatory acts” by its employees, if any occurred, would be in violation of company policy and were not authorized.
Employees said in their declarations that the apparent preference for attractive women came from the top.
“Donald Trump always wanted good looking women working at the club,” said Sue Kwiatkowski, a restaurant manager at the club until 2009, in a declaration. "I know this because one time he took me aside and said, ‘I want you to get some good looking hostesses here. People like to see good looking people when they come in.’ ”
As a result, Kwiatkowski said, "I and the other managers always tried to have our most attractive hostesses working when Mr. Trump was in town and going to be on the premises."
Trump has struggled to win female voters' support as he seeks the nation's highest office. In the past, he has insulted women's appearances, sometimes calling them "pigs" or "dogs."
Trump's record with women got renewed attention after this week's presidential debate, when Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton told the story of a former beauty pageant winner who said Trump called her "Miss Piggy" when she gained weight.
I do not understand how America can still wear blinders when it comes to this man's attitude toward human rights and only see his pot of gold. God help you all.

Will and Kate's tour of Canada with kids in tow

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are on an eight-day visit to B.C. and Yukon that will take them from Victoria to Vancouver, Bella Bella, Kelowna, Whitehorse, Haida Gwaii and back to Victoria, where their children, Prince George and Princess Charlotte, are staying.  Here, the royal couple wave as they arrive at the airport in Whitehorse, on Sept. 27, 2016.

(Chris Wattie/Reuters)

Whirlwind tour of Yukon

Prince William and Kate's 24-hour visit to Yukon included community festivals in Whitehorse and Carcross, a drop-in at a carving shed in Carcross and a visit to the MacBride Museum, complete with an RCMP greeting.

(Chris Jackson/Getty Images)

William and Kate's arrival in Whitehorse began with the inspection of a guard composed of members of the Canadian Rangers and Junior Rangers at the airport, late Tuesday.

(Chris Wattie/Reuters)

Taste of British Columbia

Tuesday's itinerary, which began in B.C., also included greeting young chefs during the Taste of British Columbia event at Mission Hill Winery in Kelowna.

(Jonathan Hayward/Canadian Press)

(Chris Wattie/Reuters)

Okanagan volleyball

A volleyball game at UBC's Okanagan campus was also on their agenda.

(EPA)

Cultural sharing

Monday, the third day of their official visit, included a stop in Bella Bella, on the central coast of B.C., where the royal couple attended a cultural sharing ceremony.

(Kevin Light/Reuters)

Great Bear Rainforest

William and Kate were scheduled for an aerial tour of the Great Bear Rainforest, but rough weather prevented the flyover. Despite the rain, William went ahead with a ceremony to dedicate the Great Bear Rainforest to the Queen's Commonwealth Canopy trust. The B.C. government earlier this year agreed to protect the majority of the area from logging.

(Jonathan Hayward/Canadian Press)

Kate's brooch

The Duchess of Cambridge's go-to accessory throughout her Western Canadian tour is a maple leaf brooch adorning her colourful dresses, seen here at a Victoria ceremony. The brooch was given to the late Queen Mother, Elizabeth, from her husband King George VI, to commemorate her state visit to Canada in 1939.

(Jonathan Hayward/Canadian Press)

Vancouver crowds

Crowds were on hand Sunday when the royal couple travelled to Vancouver to tour an addiction centre for mothers and meet newly arrived Syrian refugees.

(Jonathan Hayward/Canadian Press)

Justin and Sophie with William and Kate

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and wife Sophie Grégoire Trudeau joined William and Kate in Vancouver.

(Jonathan Hayward/Canadian Press)

William toured the Kitsilano coast guard station with Grégoire Trudeau.

(Darryl Dyck/Canadian Press)

First Nations elders

William and Kate started their visit in Victoria on Saturday when they visited the B.C. Legislature, where they were met by First Nations elders.

(Jonathan Hayward/Canadian Press)

Royal kids

William and Kate brought Charlotte and George with them to Canada, but the children did not join their parents on their travels around B.C. The royal children will remain at Government House with their nanny while their parents carry out more than 30 engagements during the tour, which concludes Saturday.

(Darryl Dyck/Canadian Press)

(Darryl Dyck/Canadian Press)

Police capture UFO on video

Police helicopter captures UFO

The spherical object was filmed by the South Wales police helicopter while officers were flying 1,000ft over the Bristol Channel. Confused police said the mystery craft was flying against the wind and was undetected by air traffic control at around 9.30pm on Saturday (24). The object - which could not be seen with the normal eye - was captured by thermal cameras. None of the crew could come up with an explanation of what it was and the team tweeted it with an alien emoji and the question: “Any suggestion??” Some people have suggested it could be a balloon or a Chinese lantern, but police have ruled out both ideas because of the heat and movement. The force added: “It’s difficult to judge the size but we filmed it for just over seven minutes.”

Hillary laid a trap and Trump blundered right into it

Donald Trump wants America to know that he’s smart. When pressed, he’ll cop to being greedy and even a bit dishonest in his past dealings. He’ll admit he’s said inflammatory things over the course of his campaign and even kinda sorta maybe apologize for some of them. But he’s a smart guy. A rich guy. A savvy operator who wants America — or at least a certain slice of America — to believe he’s now going to be on their side.

But in Monday night’s debate he not only revealed himself to be a bit of an ignorant, blustering fool. He also showed that he’s not nearly as shrewd as he likes to think he is by stumbling into an elaborate trap:

It started near the end of the debate, when Hillary Clinton took a hard — indeed, awkward  pivot to bring her about:

HOLT: We are at the final question.
CLINTON: One thing, Lester. He tried to switch from looks to stamina. But this is a man who has called women pigs, slobs, and dogs. And someone who has said pregnancy is an inconvenience to employers, who has said—
TRUMP: I never said that.
CLINTON: Women don't deserve equal pay unless they do as good a job as men. And one of the worst things he said was about a woman in a beauty contest. He loves beauty contests, supporting them and hanging around them. And he called they woman “Ms. Piggy.” Then he called her “Ms. Housekeeping,” because she was Latina. Donald, she has a name.
TRUMP: Where did you find this?
CLINTON: She has become a US citizen, and you can bet she's going to vote this November.

It’s the perfect Trump anecdote. It shows Trump being misogynistic and racist. But it also shows him being disparaging to low-wage workers. The story also has a perfect punchline about becoming a citizen and registering to vote — a key issue for Clinton, whose demographic base includes a relatively large share of “unlikely voters,” especially Hispanics, who have traditionally turned out at a lower level.

Clinton’s campaign was ready with a bilingual video to drive home the importance of the moment:

Trump blundered right into it

One of Clinton’s key campaign themes since the convention has been that it’s too easy to get under Donald Trump’s skin. In her nomination acceptance speech, Clinton said “a man you can bait with a tweet” lacks the composure necessary to be an effective president.

Much of the debate was dedicated to proving that point, with Clinton gently needling Trump by calling him “Donald” and mentioning the $14 million he borrowed from his father.

The Machado gambit fit the same mold. Trump’s initial response to was dig back deeper into his years-old and completely irrelevant feud with comedian Rosie O’Donnell. Then this morning, still smarting over the attack, he raised the stakes by launching new attacks on Machado’s character and weight.
What’s remarkable about the Fox and Friends exchange, other than its cruelty, is that Trump brought up the Miss Universe moment unprompted. It was a moment during the debate that looked bad for Trump, and he had to have known that.
But Trump couldn’t help himself. Much like when he kept attacking the family of a fallen Muslim American soldier who criticized him at the Democratic National Convention, Trump couldn’t help trying to reassert his dominance after being publicly called out for saying something shameful. And he just didn’t seem to understand how cruel and offensive his comments would sound to most people.

Trump also didn’t deny, either on Fox and Friends or during the debate, that he called Machado “Miss Piggy” or “Miss Housekeeping.” Machado says Trump called her those names to her face. This is, simply, a blunder.

Whether or not Trump was mean to a beauty pageant contestant years ago is not an obvious focal point for a national political campaign. If Trump were to refuse to engage and maybe vaguely apologize, it would be easy for him to switch the conversation to something else. But by bringing it up on his own, he gave the story new legs.

Clinton laid an elaborate trap

And it now turns out there was nothing remotely spontaneous about any of this.

Cosmopolitan is out today with a long feature story on Machado headlined “Former Miss Universe Alicia Machado Won't Be Defined by Donald Trump's Fat-Shaming.”

The author of the story, Prachi Gupta, is the person who conducted a devastating interview with Ivanka Trump earlier in September. The Machado article includes photographs that were taken a week ago, making it clear that the groundwork for the debate moment was laid some time ago. And the story advances the anti-Trump narrative with new anecdotes about his crass behavior:

As she prepped for her portrait session, Machado recalled another incident of Trump’s fat-shaming. Toward the end of her reign of Miss Universe, she was writing thank-you cards in the Los Angeles Miss Universe office when he asked her what she wanted to do next. “You'll never be an actress,” he told her, “because you are too fat to be an actress, and nobody wants fat girls on TV shows.”

Now, maybe, you should rethink your vote.

On sale now ... Trump Tissue ... Stock up while you can

Highlights from the debate - & info on Trump charity and tax dodging

Here are the key moments from the first 2016 presidential debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump on Sept. 26. NBC Nightly News anchor Lester Holt moderated the debate at Hofstra University in New York. Here are the key moments from the first 2016 presidential debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. (Sarah Parnass/The Washington Post)

Save the Day - register to vote now

The world's biggest celebrities explain why it's Important that you vote on November 8

Go to http://savetheday.vote/ to register

Obama's last address to the UN as US President

Barack Obama has given his final speech to the UN General Assembly this Tuesday. He warned that the forces of globalization have exposed "deep fault lines" across the globe and he made a passionate appeal for greater integration between nations. I was impressed by this remark: "Today, a nation ringed by walls would only imprison itself."

Jim Carrey responds to wrongful death lawsuit: 'What a terrible shame'

ET Online     MEREDITH B. KILE      September 20th 2016 
Jim Carrey has responded to a lawsuit filed on Monday, accusing him of wrongfully providing the drugs that led to the Sept. 2015 death of his girlfriend, Cathriona White.

"What a terrible shame," Carrey said in a statement to ET. "It would be easy for me to get in a back room with this man's lawyer and make this go away, but there are some moments in life when you have to stand up and defend your honor against the evil in this world."

White, 30, was found dead in her home on Sept. 28, 2015, following a drug overdose. A toxicology report found four prescription drugs in her system: a mix of painkillers, beta blockers and a sleep aid. Her death was officially ruled a suicide by the Los Angeles County Coroner's office in July of this year.

WATCH: Carrey Jim Sued for Wrongful Death by Late Girlfriend Cathriona White's Estranged Husband

"I will not tolerate this heartless attempt to exploit me or the woman I loved," Carrey's statement concluded. "Cat's troubles were born long before I met her and sadly her tragic end was beyond anyone's control. I really hope that some day soon people will stop trying to profit from this and let her rest in peace."

The lawsuit, filed by White's estranged husband, Mark Burton, alleges that Carrey obtained drugs illegally under the false name of "Arthur King" and provided them to White.
the name "Arthur King." The coroner also reported finding a text on White's phone from Carrey the night before she died, asking if she knew where certain painkillers prescribed to him went.

According to the autopsy report obtained by ET, three of the prescriptions found at White's residence were prescribed under the name Arthur King.

In addition to seeking recovery for economic and emotional damages, Burton's attorney, Michael Avenatti, tells ET they are also looking for criminal action to be taken.
"We will be calling for the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office to investigate Mr. Carrey's role in connection with the death of Cathriona White," Avenatti said.

Carrey spoke to ET in a statement shortly after White's death, saying, "She was a truly kind and delicate Irish flower, too sensitive for this soil, to whom loving and being loved was all that sparkled. My heart goes out to her family and friends and to everyone who loved and cared about her."

LIAR LIAR? Jim Carrey accused in wrongful death suit

Mark Burton wants Jim Carrey to surrender his private jet.

The reason why is contained in a nine-page wrongful death lawsuit that Burton, the estranged husband of Carrey’s late ex-girlfriend Cathriona White, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Monday.

The suit alleges that the Dumb & Dumber star used “his immense wealth and celebrity status” to obtain the prescription painkillers that White used to commit suicide by overdose last September and then tried to cover up “his complicity in her death” by sending a “bogus text message” to his already-deceased ex-girlfriend “pretending as though he had misplaced the drugs.”

Burton further accuses the Hollywood actor of backing out on a promise to pay for White’s funeral expenses after collecting positive media coverage of himself as a “grieving, good guy.”

Where does Carrey’s Gulfstream V aircraft come into play? Not only is Burton seeking damages, his complaint states that he “intends to proceed” with a request for the court to take the plane as part of a “prejudgment attachment of Carrey’s assets…in order to provide for satisfaction of the likely significant award.”

The office of Jim Carrey’s publicist, Marleah Leslie, promised that a statement would be forthcoming shortly. Mark Burton’s attorney, Michael Avenatti, told The Daily Beast that Burton would not be speaking to press at this time but hinted at further action against Carrey.

“We will also be calling on the district attorney’s office of Los Angeles to launch an investigation into Mr. Carrey’s role in connection with the death of Ms. White.”

After White’s death, Carrey released a statement calling her “a truly kind and delicate Irish flower, too sensitive for this soil, to whom loving and being loved was all that sparkled.” He served as a pallbearer for her October 2015 funeral in Ireland, and it was widely reported that he had offered to help cover the costs.

Burton’s lawsuit, however, presents a radically different narrative for the events of last September.

His complaint alleges that Jim Carrey is indeed the “Arthur King” listed on the pill bottles and that he gave White illegally obtained prescriptions despite knowing that she “was prone to depression” and “had previously attempted to take her own life.”

The complaint also alleges that Carrey had an “obsession with controlling and manipulating White,” and that he had an assistant track her movements with surveillance cameras that were installed “in a home [she] often stayed at.” Burton accuses Carrey’s assistant of knowing that White had not left the house “for well over a day” sometime after entering it Sept. 24, and of not immediately notifying the authorities despite a conspicuous lack of movement.

Then came the text message, which Burton claims was “an effort to cover-up his conduct.”

If Carrey legitimately believed White had taken the drugs from him and she had subsequently gone missing for days with no contact, then why would Carrey not immediately request law enforcement to check on her well-being after she did not return his text?” the complaint asks.

The complaint concludes by accusing Carrey “and his handlers” of going out of their way to “publicize his supposed generosity” around paying for the funeral even though he allegedly “never paid a dime of funeral expenses.”

Burton is asking for damages under the Drug Dealer Liability Act and damages for wrongful death, alleging that Carrey “directly and proximately” caused White “mental and physical distress, which resulted in her untimely death.”

Hawking warns us again

 

Stephen Hawking has tackled the mysteries of the universe his entire life. Now the world-renowned scientist has some new things to say about a potential alien invasion . If you recall, he warned us a couple of years ago, "If aliens visit us, the outcome could be much like when Columbus landed in America, which didn’t turn out well for the Native Americans."
"Such advanced aliens would perhaps become nomads, looking to conquer and colonize whatever planets they can reach," he said.

The physicist, who has suffered from motor neurone disease since his twenties, explained that the existence of aliens is beyond doubt. They have to exist; there is no other conclusion.

"To my mathematical brain, the numbers alone make thinking about aliens perfectly rational. The real challenge is to work out what aliens might actually be like."

He also explained that the best chances for the survival of the human race is to find a new home on another planet.

"There's an increasing risk that a disaster will destroy Earth," Prof Hawking explains.

"I therefore want to raise public awareness about the importance of space flight. I have learned not to look too far ahead, but to concentrate on the present. I have so much more I want to do."

In July, Britain's most famous scientist helped to launch Breakthrough Listen , a 10-year, £64million project funded by US-based Russian billionaire Yuri Milner.

Mr Milner’s team will scan the skies for alien broadcast signals, searching the entire Milky Way and 100 nearby galaxies.

Professor Hawking, 73, said at the Royal Society in London: “Somewhere in the cosmos, intelligent life may be watching these lights of ours, aware of what they mean.”

When you think about it, portions of the earth light up like a homing beacon at night. Eventually some space wanderer will be drawn to it.

Stephen Hawking Quotes

"If you are lucky enough to find love, remember it's there and don't throw it away."

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Be curious

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"The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge."

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"Quiet people have the loudest minds."

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"We are just an advanced breed of monkeys on a minor planet of a very average star. But we can understand the Universe. That makes us very special." 

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"Women. They are a complete mystery."

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"Without imperfection, neither you or I would exist."

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Look up at the stars, not down at your feet

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"The past, like the future, is indefinite and exists only as a spectrum of possibilities."

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"I believe things cannot make themselves impossible."

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"The Simpsons' is the best thing on American TV."



Gaia Telescope maps the Milky Way's billion and more stars

The European Space Agency (ESA) through its Gaia satellite released the first data that will be used to create the largest and most precise three-dimensional map of our galaxy on Sept. 14. The catalogue pins down the accurate distances and motions of about two million stars in the sky.

Launched in December 2013, Gaia's latest data shows an all-sky view of stars in our galaxy and neighbouring galaxies, based on the first year of observations from the satellite from July 2014 to September 2015.

"Gaia is at the forefront of astrometry, charting the sky at precisions that have never been achieved before," says Alvaro Giménez, ESA's Director of Science.

New Zealand Kids repeating some of Trump's most famous (infamous?) comments



What about the child rape lawsuit filed against Donald Trump ?????

You’d think an accusation of child rape levelled at one of the most powerful men in the Western world would be front page news, and yet reports of a federal lawsuit filed against Donald Trump, which claims he and another man sexually assaulted a 13-year-old girl, have hardly made a sound.

While the billionaire US presidential hopeful has denied any wrongdoing — his lawyers have described the reports as “categorically untrue, completely fabricated and politically motivated” — that doesn’t mean they aren’t potentially credible and it certainly doesn’t render them not newsworthy.
An anonymous “Jane Doe” alleges that Trump raped her in 1994 while she was being held as a sex slave in an apartment belonging to Jeffrey Epstein, a well-known American financier and convicted sex offender.
He is a man who Trump is known to have a relationship with and whom he once described as a “terrific guy” who “likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.”The woman claims Trump "initiated sexual contact" with her on four occasions while she was 13, according to her victim statement.
She described the fourth as a "savage sexual attack" after which he threatened that she and her family would be "physically harmed if not killed."
There is also a witness to the assault — which is extremely rare — who corroborates the story.
A "Tiffany Doe" who worked as Epstein's "party planner" from 1991-2000 and says part of her job was "to get attractive adolescent women to attend these parties."
"I personally witnessed the Plaintiff being forced to perform various sexual acts with Donald J. Trump and Mr. Epstein. Both Mr. Trump and Mr. Epstein were advised that she was 13 years old.
"I personally witnessed four sexual encounters that the Plaintiff was forced to have with Mr. Trump during this period, including the fourth of these encounters where Mr. Trump forcibly raped her despite her pleas to stop."
Arguably, it is very much in the public interest for news organisations to report that the man seeking to lead the free world is accused of having sex with an underage girl multiple times and, on one occasion, allegedly doing so violently and without her consent — even if the allegations are later proven not to be true.
The Huffington Post is one of the few places a balanced analysis of the case's viability can be found.
As legal analyst for NBC News Lisa Bloom writes: "If the Bill Cosby case has taught us anything, it is to not disregard rape cases against famous men."
"In covering a story, a media outlet is not finding guilt. It is simply reporting the news that a lawsuit has been filed against Mr. Trump, and ideally putting the complaint in context."
The context she provides is one of Trump's overt misogyny and sexualisation of women.
She points to his sexist commentary about journalist Megyn Kelly, his decades of unapologetic objectification of women and two previous sexual assault claims made against him (though later dismissed), including an accusation of rape by his first wife Ivana Trump.
Being a misogynist does not automatically make someone a rapist. But when a known misogynist who is running to be President of the United States is accused of raping an underage girl, it certainly warrants investigation.
"We live in a world where wealthy, powerful men often use and abuse women and girls," Bloom says.
"While these allegations may shock some, as a lawyer who represents women in sexual abuse cases every day, I can tell you that sadly, they are common, as is an accuser’s desire to remain anonymous, and her terror in coming forward."
If there was a death threat against her family, the child would certainly be terrified to come forward. She would be up against a dangerous and powerful man and be afraid no one would believe her and then her own life would be forfeit too.
I believe Donald Trump could make someone disappear  if he wanted to, without getting his lily white (stubby) hands dirty. And I predict that even if there is truth to theses allegations, the whole affair will be neatly swept under the rug and forgotten and so will this alleged victim. This guy has way too much power already and he is a malignant, narcissistic egomaniac. He doesn't need the power to influence the lives of approximately 325,000,000 people.

First driverless cars hit the streets in Pittsburgh

The first Uber car that doesn't need a driver has hit the streets. The ride-hailing behemoth announced in a blog post Thursday that it has begun testing a self-driving car in Pittsburgh, home of the company's nascent Advanced Technologies Center.

The car, a Ford Fusion Hybrid with a roof-full of radar, lasers and cameras, will be collecting road-mapping data as well as testing its real-world traffic reactions. Uber's interest in autonomous car technology dates to a year ago, when the $60 billion start-up began hiring Carnegie Mellon University robotics experts to staff its new center not far from the Pittsburgh-based school.

As with all self-driving cars that are approved for testing on public roads, Uber's vehicle will have a safety driver who can take over the controls should the situation demand it.

"If you’re driving around Pittsburgh in the coming weeks you might see a strange sight: a car that looks like it should be driven by a superhero. But this is no movie prop," says the blog post. "While Uber is still in the early days of our self-driving efforts, every day of testing leads to improvements. Right now we’re focused on getting the technology right and ensuring it’s safe for everyone on the road — pedestrians, cyclists and other drivers."

The post also notes that Uber's self-driving mission echoes that of Google, which is to reduce the number of traffic fatalities that are largely caused by human error. Last year, 33,000 people died in the U.S. in car accidents and 4.4 million were injured, an 8% jump over 2014, according to the National Safety Council.
But self-driving tech has a financial appeal for Uber as well. CEO Travis Kalanick has made reference on a number of occasions to the fact that the driver is the most expensive part of its financial model, not to mention being the source of an ongoing fight over whether such drivers should be employees or contractors. Uber recently agreed to pay $100 million to settle a lawsuit over driver status.
"When there's no other dude in the car, the cost of taking an Uber anywhere becomes cheaper than owning a vehicle.

Google has been testing self-driving car technology for the past seven years, using primarily Lexus SUV's strapped with technology. The search company plans to accelerate its testing through a recent partnership with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, which will build 100 Pacifica minivans that can accommodate Google's technology.
Ford is testing its own self-driving tech lashed to a Fusion Hybrid and has gotten approval from the California Department of Motor Vehicles to begin deploying the cars on the roads.
A growing number of automakers — from Audi to Kia — have begun adding sophisticated driver-assist technology to their vehicles, features that are heading in the direction of full autonomy. Tesla recently introduced an Autopilot function to its electric sedans, which keeps the car within its lane by itself.

Given the pace of autonomous car research, many believe driverless cars will be ready for consumers within the next three to four years.
But the bigger hurdles remain both regulatory and psychological. Many consumers still express fear of self-driving technology, while government officials continue to grapple with establishing a series of overarching national regulations to govern everything from how the cars should interact with each other to what happens if there's an accident.
A broad concensus concludes that the federal government should come up with the regulations and laws that govern theses vehicles. A  homologous, country-wide legislation would keep brangles and lawsuits from cluttering up the courts.
So would you feel safe and comfortable in a driverless car ? Do you think they have taken every possible, fender bender, ten car pile-up, crazy pedestrian and freak accident into consideration...and taken the appropriate precautions? Is it time for these cars or do we need a very long period of adjustment?



New evidence suggests a harrowing conclusion to the Amelia Earhart mystery

Trailblazing pilot Amelia Earhart died a castaway on a remote South Pacific island, pleading to be saved.
That’s the opinion of researchers who have been probing her mysterious disappearance for 22 years.
The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR) has long believed Earhart and her navigator Fred Noonan landed on or close to Nikumaroro Island in the southwestern Pacific republic of Kiribati.
They were routed to touch down on Howland Island some 350 miles away, but landed as they were running low on fuel, according to TIGHAR’s theory.
Nikumaroro, also known as Gardner Island, is an uninhabited atoll in the Pacific Ocean about 2,000 miles southwest of Hawaii.

During a presentation in the United States last month, TIGHAR’s Ric Gillespie claimed to have evidence that Earhart made more than 100 radio distress calls from the island between 2-6 July 1937 – some of which were picked up as far away as Texas and Melbourne.

Earhart and Noonan left Papua New Guinea on July 2, 1937, during a quest to circumnavigate the world along an equatorial route. Four months into their journey, they were never seen again.
Gillespie believes Earhart landed her Lockheed Electra on Nikumaroro with some fuel in the tank, thus allowing her to make the radio transmissions.
“People started hearing radio distress calls from the airplane and they were verified,” he said.
One person who claims to have heard one of Earhart’s calls was a then 16-year-old girl listening to the radio at her home in Florida.
The teenager transcribed Earhart’s at times confusing call for help, which included the words New York repeated several times.
One of the last calls, the radio bearings of which crossed to Nikumaroro Island, mentioned rising waters, Gillespie said, leading him to believe the plane had crash-landed partially in the sea.

Tighar believes an injured Earhart and possibly Noonan lived for some time on the island – which was last inhabited in 1892 – drinking rainwater and eating clams, turtles, fish and birds.

The group believes Earhart died at a makeshift campsite at the island’s southeast end and that her plane was swept over the edge of the reef, which surrounds it.
Tighar has visited the island a number of times but as yet have found no debris from Earhart’s plane. On its next expedition it will return with submarines to scour the ocean bed with, Gillespie said.
Earhart was legally declared dead on 5 January 1939, with the US government concluding she had run out of fuel and crashed at sea.

Amelia said some profound things in her short life.  She meant them and lived by them.
" Everyone has oceans to fly if they have the heart to do it. Is it reckless? Maybe.
But what do dreams know of boundaries."