Here are a bunch of little bites to satisfy your hunger for movie culture:
Musical Mashup of the Day:
Characters from 49 movies sing the theme song to Friends in this musical montage from The Unusual Suspect:
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Bad Movie Analysis of the Day:
Watch an alien from the future describing the plot of Batman Begins in the latest episode of Earthling Cinema:
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Adorable Cosplay of the day:
Kids are doing a great job representing Ghostbusters costumes this Halloween, as seen in the below Ghostbuster and Ecto-1 getup for a boy and his wheelchair (see a full video at io9) plus a little girl inspired by Leslie Jones in the new movie:
Now that Nike has put out real self-lacing shoes, Candice Drouet spotlights sneakers in movies, including Back to the Future Part II and Aliens (via One Perfect Shot):
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Political Campaign Video of the Day:
Even the presidential candidates are getting into supercuts now, with this pro-Clinton ad featuring a number of movie bullies, including those from Back to the Future and The Karate Kid (via A.V. Club):
There are a lot of bullies in this world. The last thing we need is one in the White House. pic.twitter.com/M0owOglPjy
Howard Schneider was a doctor treating psychiatric patients in the ER when he decided to transform the grocery store experience. He set out to invent the self checkout machine.
Some parts of the design were pretty straightforward, like reading barcodes and taking payments. Other things, it turned out, were not so easy. Like figuring out when people are stealing. Schneider solves these problems. Or at least makes a machine that’s good enough to use. In 1992, he eventually convinces a grocery store to install the machines. The result? Angry shoppers.
Now, hundreds of thousands of grocery stores all around the world use self-checkout machines. But customers are still frustrated.
Today on the show, how a doctor created the first self-checkout machine in his spare time. Also: why does grocery store checkout still suck?
Secretary of Health and Human Services Sylvia Burwell at a Senate hearing in 2014. “We expect this to be a transition period for the marketplace,” she told reporters Wednesday. “Issuers are adjusting their prices, bringing them in line with actual data on costs.” Alex Wong/Getty Imageshide caption
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Alex Wong/Getty Images
Rate hikes are likely on the way for insurance plans issued under the Affordable Care Act, health policy analysts say. Consumers’ out-of-pocket costs are expected to climb in 2017 and some major insurers have signaled they are pulling out of the health insurance exchanges in a number of states.
In a meeting Wednesday with reporters and representatives of groups working to increase enrollment in the health plans, Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell acknowledged that the Affordable Care Act’s fourth enrollment season — scheduled to begin Nov. 1 and run until Jan. 31 — is a pivotal time for the federal health law.
“Building a new market is never easy,” she told the group at HHS headquarters. “We expect this to be a transition period for the marketplace. Issuers are adjusting their prices, bringing them in line with actual data on costs.”
Burwell’s comments foreshadow the higher premiums expected when federal officials release details on the health plans to be offered on HealthCare.gov for 2017. Those details are likely to come just days before a presidential election that could determine whether the ACA is repealed or revamped.
While the health law hasn’t been a central issue in the current election season, it has been at the center of a bitter battle between political parties since it was passed in 2010. The House of Representatives has voted more than 60 times to repeal all or part of the measure. The law has survived some court challenges and faces others.
Burwell noted those fights Wednesday when talking about issues that arose in the law’s implementation. “It also hasn’t helped,” she said, “that at nearly every turn, we’ve had to overcome partisan attempts to repeal and undermine the law through legislation and litigation.”
Enrollment in the state and federal marketplaces is expected to grow by about a million people next year — from about 12.7 million to 13.8 million, according to federal estimates released Wednesday. The number of consumers who actually pay premiums and stay in the market is expected to average about 10.5 million per month in 2016 and about 11.4 million per month in 2017.
Consumers flow in and out of ACA plans because they change jobs, get coverage from other sources and face other factors that affect where and how they enroll in health insurance, including affordability. About 9.2 million of the 13.8 million people who now have ACA coverage are expected to reenroll, according to HHS.
This year, Burwell said, health officials working to increase insurance coverage among the uninsured are intent on making the enrollment process faster and simpler, and will particularly focus on signing up healthier consumers – including people between the ages of 18 and 34, who tend to have fewer ailments. They will also remind consumers of the penalty for not having coverage, which for adults in 2016 is $695 or 2.5 percent of income, whichever is higher. The flat penalty will be adjusted for inflation in 2017.
Federal officials are also focusing enrollment efforts on the 5.1 million Americans who are eligible to purchase health care coverage on the exchanges but buy it elsewhere, according to HHS figures. Of that group, 2.5 million people could be eligible for the law’s financial assistance if they sign up for coverage during open enrollment, which ends Jan. 31.
The outcome of the November elections may well determine the future of the ACA. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has promised to repeal and replace the law, while Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton has said she wants to fix the law, making it more affordable for consumers who don’t qualify for subsidies, yet struggle to afford coverage.
Burwell called on Congress to work with her and the Obama administration to make needed changes to the law. “To make more substantial changes — like a public option to encourage competition — we’ll need cooperation from Congress,” she said. “And we are hopeful that soon, we’ll see more bipartisan efforts to make improvement.”
Bipartisan cooperation isn’t likely to happen until the next Congress meets, if then. Much will depend on the outcome of the presidential and congressional elections – on who is in power and whether GOP leaders think the ACA is still a potent political issue, as well as on how willing Democrats are to make changes that appeal to Republicans.
Mary Agnes Carey reports for Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service that is part of the nonpartisan Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.
NBA star Derrick Rose leaves federal court in Los Angeles. Jurors cleared Rose and two friends in a lawsuit that accused them of gang raping his ex-girlfriend when she was incapacitated. Nick Ut/APhide caption
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Nick Ut/AP
A federal jury in Los Angeles found New York Knicks guard Derrick Rose not liable Wednesday in a civil suit that accused him and two friends of rape. Ryan Allen and Randall Hampton, the two friends, were also cleared.
The suit accused Rose, Allen and Hampton of breaking into the home of a Los Angeles woman. The alleged victim, a former girlfriend of Rose, had sued for $21 million, according to the Los Angeles Times. Rose, a former NBA MVP and Rookie of the year, testified during the trial as reported in the Times.
“Contradicting the woman’s claim that she became severely intoxicated and ‘blacked out’ while drinking with the three men the evening before the alleged rape, Rose said the woman appeared lucid at the Beverly Hills house he was renting. He described how the woman, whom he had dated casually for two years, made repeated sexual advances toward him and eventually initiated sex with Hampton and him.
“Several hours later, when the woman had gone home, Rose claimed she agreed to have the three men come to her apartment, let them in and willingly had sex with each of them in turn.
“The woman testified that she believes the men slipped an unnamed drug into one of her drinks and that she has only ‘flashes’ of memory of what occurred at Rose’s house and in her apartment. She told jurors that she passed out in her bed and awoke to find the men in her room having sex with her.”
Neither side denied Rose, Allen and Hampton had sex with the woman. At issue was whether she was too intoxicated to consent.
The three men have been friends since childhood in Chicago. Both Allen and Hampton work for Rose.
Criminal charges have not been filed but a Los Angeles Police investigation is still pending. In a strange twist, LA police detective Nadine Hernandez, one of the officers investigating the potential criminal case against Rose, Allen, and Hampton, was killed last week, as reported by member station KPCC.
Rose, once a top draft pick, was traded by his hometown Chicago Bulls earlier this year to the New York Knicks. Rose has been plagued my knee problems for years, though last year he was free of injuries. In 2016-2017 season, Rose is expected to make $21 million.
“I am thankful that the jury understood and agreed with me.” Rose said in a statement to the Associated Press, “This experience and my sensitivity to it was deep. I am ready to put this behind me and focus on my family and career.”
