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Overnight Briefing & General Reality Check - Jul 16, 2015
July 16, 2015
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Watercooler:
FAO Schwarz, where TOM HANKS danced on a large floor piano in the movie, "Big," closed its doors for good last night, citing the high and rising costs of running the 45-thousand square-foot store on pricey Fifth Avenue.
A spokesman for the store says it may reopen elsewhere in midtown Manhattan. It's reportedly the oldest toy store in the US, and in New York since 1870. KIM KARDASHIAN and KANYE WEST stopped in before they were parents; celebrity moms ANGELINA JOLIE, BRITNEY SPEARS and VICTORIA BECKHAM dropped in to buy toys for their kids and even NICK JONAS hopped around that "Big" piano in December while singing "Jealous."Drug Bust of the Day:
Calling 9-1-1 while you're high, not good. Calling 9-1-1 while you're high and driving around with 16 pounds of meth, even worse. Colorado police say the haul was the largest drug bust they've ever had, with a street value of $700-thousand dollars.
JONATHAN POTZLER called the cops from the Walmart parking lot saying a woman he didn't know wouldn't get out of his car. He also told Colorado police he was in Arizona. When cops got there, they found JAZMIN ELGUEZABAL, who's 21, in the car. She told the cops that she was Potzler's cousin. They also found huge, foil-wrapped breakfast burrito looking things that turned out to be crystal meth.
They were both charged with multiple felonies, including unlawful possession of a controlled substance, unlawful distribution, manufacture and dispensing or sale of a controlled substance and are being held without bond. (Myers)TV Briefs:
Netflix now has more than 60 million subscribers.
The news, announced yesterday, gave its stock a pop of around 11 percent after the market closed. And Netflix says it's ready to spend nearly $5 billion dollars on content next year as it invests further in its original programming --including series, documentaries, stand-up specials and films.Grace notes:
NEIL YOUNG is done with streaming. He posted on Facebook yesterday morning (quote), "Streaming sucks. Streaming is the worst audio in history. If you want it, you got it. It's here to stay. Your choice. Copy my songs if you want to. That's free. Your choice. All my music, my life's work, is what I am preserving the way I want it to be. It's already started. My music is being removed from all streaming services. It's not good enough to sell or rent. Make streaming sound good and I will be back."
Neil isn't concerned about the money, which isn't that much, but the awful sound quality you get from streaming is an insult to the time and effort he takes to make his music sound good. But, as of last night, all of Neil's music is still on Apple Music and Spotify.
FYI: Neil got fined $10-thousand dollars Tuesday night. Billboard.com says he did a concert at the DTE Energy Music Theater in Clarkston, Michigan, and went over the 11 pm curfew by 10 minutes. The fine calls for $1,000 for every minute over the curfew since the venue is in a residential area. Neil walked off stage at 11:10 pm and the two songs that put him over the limit were "Don't Be Denied" and "Roll Another Number." (Marino)Human Nature:
Your smartphone is so smart, it may know when you're depressed before you do. In a new study, researchers at Northwestern Medicine analyzed phone data for volunteers over a two week period. Based on GPS data and their daily phone usage, they predicted depression with 87 percent accuracy. Discovery News says the smartphone data was more reliable in detecting depression than daily questions volunteers answered about how sad they were feeling on a scale of 1 to 10.
According to the study, the more time a person spent using a smart phone, the more likely that person was to be depressed. The average daily usage for depressed patients was about 68 minutes, compared to 17 minutes for non-depressed patients. The GPS tracking revealed that the patients who spent most of their time at home, or in fewer locations, were more likely to have depressive symptoms. (Bartha) -
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