May 10, 2017

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Business May 10, 2017

Ex-Massey Energy CEO Completes 1-Year Federal Criminal Sentence

Former Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship, left, walks out of the Robert C. Byrd U.S. Courthouse on Nov. 24, 2015, after the jury deliberated for a fifth full day in his trial in Charleston, W.Va.

Chris Tilley/AP

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Chris Tilley/AP

Former Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship, 67, was convicted in 2015 on a misdemeanor count of conspiring to violate federal mine-safety laws at Massey’s Upper Big Branch Mine in southern West Virginia.

In 2010, 29 workers died there in the deadliest U.S. mine explosion in decades.

NPR’s Howard Berkes reports for our Newscast unit that Blankenship has resumed criticizing his prosecution.

“After a year in federal prison and a halfway house, former Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship immediately let loose on Twitter, condemning federal mine safety regulators, members of Congress and federal prosecutors.

“He raised again his own theories about the Upper Big Branch mine explosion, blaming federal regulators and nature. Those theories were discredited by four investigations.

“Blankenship was convicted of conspiring to violate mine safety laws.

“His release prompted Democrat Bobby Scott, the ranking member of the House Workforce Committee, to again urge passage of a languishing mine safety bill, which would make violations felonies with more serious jail time.”

Blankenship was acquitted of securities-related felony charges which would have carried a longer sentence.

Blankenship must still serve one year of supervised release.

The Wall Street Journal reports:

“Mr. Blankenship provided a window into his incarceration, saying it was tough but in many ways easier to endure than his impoverished upbringing in West Virginia, where he didn’t have indoor plumbing. He said he spent 10 months at the Taft Correctional Institution outside Bakersfield, Calif., followed by a month at a halfway house in Las Vegas and then one month of home confinement.

“At Taft, he said he had to return to his room several times a day to be counted and couldn’t choose what to watch on TV, and the lights went out at 10 p.m. He could have visitors four days a month.

” ‘Not being able to go anywhere off a 4-acre site is not pleasant, no matter what the conditions,’ he said. ‘It was not horrible.’ “

Former Upper Big Branch miner Tommy Davis, who lost a son, brother and a nephew in the explosion, told The Associated Press that Blankenship should still be in prison.

“He didn’t get what he deserved,” Davis said.

The company that now owns Massey Energy announced in 2012 that the mine would be permanently sealed.

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Entertainment May 10, 2017

Today in Movie Culture: 1980s 'The Last Jedi' Trailer, David Harbour as Hellboy and More

Here are a bunch of little bites to satisfy your hunger for movie culture:

Alternate Universe Movie of the Day:

ScreenCrush made a retro trailer for Star Wars: The Last Jedi as if it were released in 1983 instead of this year:

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Casting Rendering of the Day:

David Harbour is playing Hellboy in a reboot of the comic book movie franchise, so BossLogic shows us what he could look like for ComicBook.com:

Worked with @ComicBook on @DavidKHarbour as HellBoy pic.twitter.com/i365qdtyOe

— BossLogic (@Bosslogic) May 10, 2017

Custom Build of the Day:

DIY Prop Shop shows you how to make your own replica Alien facehugger statis tank prop in this instructional video:

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Cosplay of the Day:

Be our guest and feast your eyes on this bearded Belle from Beauty and the Beast who just needs a clean shaven Beast as his date (via Fashionably Geek):

??????????????

Well that‘s twice now that Emma Watson has beat me to a role…#ladybeardshouldhavebeenhermionepic.twitter.com/bgh4IA0N78

— Ladybeard?? (@Ladybeard_Japan) May 4, 2017

Soundtrack Star of the Day:

Fandor spotlights David Bowie and how his music has been used in such movies as The Life Aquatic and Inglourious Basterds:

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Video Essay of the Day:

Patrick (H) Willems holds The Matrix up as a movie with a perfect beginning in his latest video essay:

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Vintage Image of the Day:

Joan Crawford, who died 30 years ago today, with a costumed Joe Cornelius on the set of her final movie, Trog, in 1969:

Filmmaker in Focus:

Clint Eastwood and his back story are animated in this adaptation of a 2009 Esquire interview:

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Franchise Parody of the Day:

A trio of Harry Potter fans made a parody song inspired by the franchise set to the tune of Sam Cooke’s “Wonderful World” (via Fashionably Geek):

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Classic Trailer of the Day:

Today is the 25th anniversary of the Cannes premiere of Baz Luhrman’s Strictly Ballroom. Watch the original trailer for the classic musical below.

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and

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Health May 10, 2017

How To Do A Really Good Job Washing Your Hands

Yes, soap is good. It helps dislodge those microbes. But some experts say: Wet your hands first, then add soap.

Ulrich Baumgarten/Getty Images

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Ulrich Baumgarten/Getty Images

If, like many of us, you are reading this article on the toilet — then we’ve caught you at the perfect time.

When you’re done with your business, perhaps you’ll do a thorough hand washing. Or maybe just a quick rinse. Or maybe you’ll skip it altogether.

Failure to wash is a problem for ordinary folks. Germs on your unwashed hands can get into your body when you touch, say, your eyes or mouth. And into your food, too.

It’s a problem for health workers as well. The Centers for Disease Control estimates that medical staffonly remember to do so about half the times they’re supposed to. The CDC states: “This contributes to the spread of healthcare-associated infections that affect 1 in 25 hospital patients on any given day.” Worldwide, one in 10 patients acquires an infection while receiving health care.

So this month, the Centers for Disease Control is ramping up its campaign to get doctors, nurses and other medical staff to wash up.

But the question for medical workers (and really, for everyone) is: Do you do a good job?

CDC offers straightforward instructions: soap up, scrub and rinse. The process should take 35 seconds — about the time it takes to sing the alphabet song twice.

The World Health Organization has its own instructions. The process takes a tiny bit longer – 42.5 seconds. And there are six very specific steps.

WHO’s technique is a deliberate process to get rid of germs in all the nooks and crannies of the hands. First, rub your palms against each other, then rub the back of each hand against your palms. Rub your palms together with your fingers interlaced, rub your palms against each other while your fingers are interlocked, rub your fingers around each of your thumbs, and finally, rub each palm with the tips your fingers.

The six steps of proper hand-washing, according to the World Health Organization.

WHO

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WHO

Both the CDC and WHO methods, which have been around for decades, are also taught at elementary schools (to germy kiddos) and restaurants (to staff who handle your food).

Recently, researchers wanted to compare them to see which was the best way to minimize bacteria.

In a small study recently published in the journal Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology, researchers at the Glasgow Caledonian University in Scotland watched carefully as 42 doctors and 78 nurses cleaned their hands using either the CDC or WHO routine. They found that the WHO technique reduced the average bacterial count on the medical workers’ hands slightly more than the CDC’s method.

In any case, both organizations’ work really, really well, says study author says Jacqui Reilly, a professor of infection prevention and control at Scotland’s Glasgow Caledonian University who led the study.

The real issue is that health care workers aren’t cleaning their hands as often and as thoroughly as they should — basically every time they touch their faces or touch anything that isn’t sterile.

And when it comes to doing a good job, even having a set of directions doesn’t guarantee good results. In Reilly’s study, only 65 percent of the 120 participants completed the two techniques properly, despite having instructions right in front of them.

Reilly herself says she’s been using the six-step method since she was first taught it at medical school. “I don’t think about it consciously anymore,” she says.

She highly recommends you try it out after using the toilet. And if you don’t, at the very least, she says, remember that “any time you wash your hands, it should take at least 15 seconds.”

And avoid the making the rookie mistake of rubbing soap onto dry hands and then rinsing it off. If you wet your hands, first, Reilly says, the water works to dislodge any microorganisms clinging onto your skin, so that the soap can scrub them off:“So always wet your hands first.”

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Sports May 10, 2017

I'll Pass On The $495 Sneakers, Pablo Torre Says

Did you pay a little extra for a sports star’s name on your latest pair of sneakers? Well, a budding NBA player’s dad is relentlessly promoting the chance to pay even more for potential star power.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Did you pay a little bit extra for that last pair of sneakers – maybe even a lot more so that some sports star’s name could grace your ankles? Well, sports commentator Pablo Torre says you can now pay an even bigger premium for the mere potential of star power cache.

PABLO TORRE: If you haven’t heard of a man named LaVar Ball, consider yourself an endangered species. LaVar’s son, Lonzo Ball, is a relatively quiet kid, a point guard out of UCLA and a surefire top pick in June’s NBA draft.

But Lonzo has very little to do with why his dad is dominating the sports news cycle or why LaVar was called the worst thing to happen to basketball in the last hundred years by an executive at Nike, which passed on signing his son to a shoe contract, as did Adidas and Under Armour. All of that is happening because LaVar says stuff like this, from an ESPN segment.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

LAVAR BALL: We going to get a billion dollars. Trust and believe that. I’ve told my boys this. Somebody got to be better than Michael Jordan. Why not you?

TORRE: He also says stuff like this.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

BALL: I have the utmost confidence in what my boy’s doing. I’m going to tell you right now, he better than Steph Curry to me. Here, put Steph Curry on UCLA’s team right now. And put my boy on Golden State, and watch what happens.

TORRE: …And also stuff like this.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

BALL: I don’t care if I’m viewed off the rails ’cause guess what? I am off the rails. So it don’t matter what y’all say.

TORRE: In that aforementioned quest for a billion dollars, notably, the Ball family had been seeking a business partner for Big Baller Brand, the family’s apparel company, instead of the typical endorsements for Lonzo. But with none of those giant corporations interested, Big Baller Brand was left to set its own retail price, which is why Lonzo’s custom-designed sneaker can now be had for a mere $495, which is more than twice as expensive as any Nikes endorsed by LeBron James. When this was announced last week, NBA coaches like Golden State’s Mike Brown had roughly the reaction you’d expect in response to a reporter’s question.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Would you buy your kids a pair of shoes for $500…

MIKE BROWN: (Laughter).

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: From an unproven NBA player?

BROWN: No.

TORRE: But while LaVar may be a delusional huckster, we should also be clear about something. He isn’t the downfall of basketball culture. In fact, the guy is just playing by the rules of the game. Yes, demanding a business partnership sounds ludicrous, until you realize that LeBron, who preaches seeking equity over endorsements, is pioneering that very model himself. And yes, $495 sounds like an arbitrarily exorbitant price point for a basketball sneaker, until you realize that $200, objectively, is too.

And yes, unabashed self-promotion sounds like a self-defeating tactic, until you realize that the most precious resource in the Internet age is attention, which LaVar generates nearly as easily as the president of the United States. So no, you don’t have to buy his son’s sneakers. But in sports, as in politics, you should never underestimate the upside of going off the rails.

INSKEEP: Commentator Pablo Torre is a senior writer for ESPN The Magazine.

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