Miley Cyrus On Justin Bieber: ‘People Don’t Take Him Seriously. They Think He’s Vanilla Ice.’

Miley Cyrus is weighing on Justin Bieber, and is holding nothing back.

That’s right, in an interview given to Jann Wenner‘s ‘Rolling Stone’ magazine, the ‘Wrecking Ball’ firework took the time to air out her feelings towards the ‘I Would’ singer, whose recent antics have seen him score more press time for his moves off stage than his time on it.

What she had to say on the matter?

Find out below…

She shared:

“People don’t take him seriously, but he really can play the drums, he really can play guitar, he really can sing. I just don’t want to see him fuck that up, to where people think he’s Vanilla Ice. I tell him that. Like, ‘You don’t want to become a joke. When you go out, don’t start shit. Don’t come in shirtless.’ But the thing is, I think boys are, like, seven years behind. So in his head, he’s really, like, 12.” 

Source.

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Pine Tree Coach: 'Love people, work hard, the rest doesn't matter'

LONGVIEW, TX (KLTV) -

The head football coach at Pine Tree ISD says he is back in the game, five days after being put on administrative leave. 

The Pine Tree ISD board of trustees met in regular session on Monday night. After deliberating for three hours, trustees supported action for the superintendent to carry out a conditional reinstatement of the coach. 

Fitzhenry, who also serves as the school's athletic director, went to his first football practice on Tuesday, since the team's game on August 30th. 

"I love these kids and the Pine Tree community and I'm excited about getting back to work," Fitzhenry said.

The coach was accused of having a physical altercation with a student during the team's August 30th game. The district put the coach on administrative leave and would not discuss their investigation. 

"Any statements made regarding the issue from unofficial sources are merely speculation," said Vickie Echols, Pine Tree ISD's public information officer. 

After their investigation, the district decided to reinstate Fitzhenry as head coach on certain conditions, which they won't reveal. 

"We regret that we can't explain more. I understand there are frustrations when you can't understand what's going on. However, we are legally and ethically bound to protect the rights of our employees and our students," Echols said. 

Fitzhenry also would not comment on the investigation.

"I mean, it's done. Like I said, why complicate it?"

He says his focus now is to help his players achieve their goals, "You know, love people, work hard, and the rest of it doesn't matter. So, that's what I am going to do. I am not going to worry about all that. I am just going to love these kids, work hard and it will all turn out what's right. God has a plan."

And just because he was off the field doesn't mean he isn't ready for Friday's game. 

"I've been watching film and studying things and there have been different people communicating with me," Fitzhenry said at Tuesday night's practice. 

He says the pirates are ready to take on Kilgore and he is ready to turn the focus back on his team. 

Monday's school board meeting was standing room only as football players, students and parents came in with signs in support of the coach.

The last item on the agenda was to discuss possible disciplinary action for Fitzhenry.

"I feel like everything was just blown out of proportion. What they say happened didn't happen, and I feel like it's just dirty politics trying to get him out of his position," said senior football player, Bryndin Hartman who also spoke at Monday's school board meeting.

"As humans we make mistakes, but the overall good of the school, I do believe he has it at heart," said Cindy Russell, who has a son who plays football for Pine Tree High School. 

However, not everyone at Monday night's meeting agreed that Fitzhenry should be reinstated.

"I am also coming tonight to speak on behalf of others who have expressed a reluctance to come or even be seen because they are concerned that their children will be retaliated against should the board decide to stay with the status quo," said a Debbie Garrett, a concerned mother and alumni during the public comment portion of Monday's school board meeting.

"I know that each of you takes your responsibility very seriously. I want to remind you that you ran and were elected to make these difficult decisions even when those decisions may not be perceived with what is popular," she added.

With the majority of those in attendance in support of Fitzhenry, it seems reinstating him was the most popular thing to do and football players said it is for good reason.

"Coach Fitz has been more than just a coach to us. He's brought everybody to game changers, brought us together as a family," Hartman said.

Fitzhenry says he will discuss the situation with his players on Wednesday. 

Copyright 2013 KLTV. All rights reserved.

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5 Unconventional Ways to Get People Hooked on Nature

Nalini Nadkarni descends from a tree. Photograph by William Thompson, National Geographic

As a young biologist in the 1980s, hopping through the gorgeous rain forest canopies of Central America, Nalini Nadkarni still "felt there was something missing."

On a path of rigorous academia, she eventually realized she wanted to share her love of trees with the wider public. But at the time, there were no outlets for scientific outreach, so "I suppressed that part of me."

Yet as Nadkarni saw the growing toll of deforestation, invasive species, and other forest threats, she knew she had to act. So she started reaching out to the public by giving talks at schools and writing magazine articles. In 2002, she finally got the boost she needed: a year-long fellowship from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, which allowed her to combine academics with creative work—in her case, communicating about nature.

Since then, Nadkarni—now at the University of Utah—has been doing just that, including as a grantee for National Geographic. We caught up with the scientist between tree-climbing expeditions to talk about some of her most interesting strategies to get people hooked on nature. (Test your environmental IQ with our quiz.)

Rapping Science

For many urban kids, exposure to nature is limited to a tiny city park or water from the tap. Nadkarni realized if she were to talk to them as a professor, she'd get nowhere: "I needed an ambassador, someone of that culture who understands their values."

So in 2009, Nadkarni reached out to California rap singer George "Duke" Brady to sing about science. She invited the singer-who'd previously taken one of her college courses-and a group of urban kids into the treetops of the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State.

After climbing down from a tree, Brady improvised this rap song:

Wet and green moss,

I'm at a loss

To describe the beauty.

Falling on my booty,

But held up by strings.

Came up here

To do some things.

The kids enjoyed the song, and Nadkarni felt they'd developed a kinship with the forest. "Because they valued him, they valued the message," she said.

Too often, she added, scientists try to talk to the public by writing an article in a scientific magazine or giving a lecture at a local museum. But the people in those audiences "already get it."

"If you want to go beyond that small percentage of people who are already environmentally and scientifically aware, you have to make your work somehow link with a passion, interest, or profession of someone who isn't interested in science or nature."

Tree-Inspired Fashion

Take fashionistas, for instance.

Nadkarni was climbing in the canopy about a decade ago when she "saw the light just playing on leaves [and thought], 'Gosh, that's beautiful. I would like to wear that.'" (See beautiful pictures of tree patterns.)

That germinated into her "botanically correct" camouflage clothing line, for which she takes pictures of trees and prints them onto cloth that's later made into clothes.

Nadkarni shopped the idea around to stores like Eddie Bauer and REI, but to no avail. Then in 2012, Nadkarni met New York City fashion designer Tara Mei Smith, who suggested the canopy clothing be marketed to urban millennials who may not yet have a conduit for appreciating nature.

"Tara has taught me that fashion is not just about spending money; it's about one of the [most] basic human things there is—finding one's own identity," said Nadkarni.

So if a young person buys a treetop blazer that they feel good wearing, it may also make them feel closer to nature. (See National Geographic's pictures of global fashion.)

To date Nadkarni and Smith are still finding ways to fund the clothing line—"we haven't hit the big time yet," Nadkarni said.

But she said the project is an example of "remaining open to values of other audiences."

"If you can understand their values and be open to them, then you have a chance of entering that world and placing your message in a way that's compatible to those values."

The Science Behind Sports

Nadkarni has also applied this principle to sports, since "a lot of people value sports over science."

At the University of Utah, Nadkarni went to the athletics department and said to director Chris Hill, "You've got the glory of sports, but I've got the power of science. Why don't we get together to link these two?"

Hill thought it was a great idea, especially as a way to dispel the stereotype of athletes being "dumb jocks," she said. (Read "NFL Looks to Helmet Technology to Combat Concussions.")

So the team put together an initiative to show the public the science behind sports. They created short videos about sports physics that played on stadium Jumbotrons, invited mathematicians to talk at sports camps, and put up posters around campus showing how football relates to mathematics.

And this year, they're working with the Utah State Office of Education to bring scientists into schools to talk to physical education classes.

"These connections can seem like odd bedfellows," but they often help make people think about science in surprising ways, Nadkarni said.

Engaging Prisoners

One of Nadkarni's biggest undertakings is the Sustainability in Prisons Project, a partnership of the Washington State Department of Corrections and Evergreen State College, which helps incarcerated men and women in the U.S. Pacific Northwest get involved in conservation projects and ecological research.

It's a win-win, says Nadkarni: The prisoners, many of whom have been long deprived of intellectual stimulation and exposure to nature, get to contribute to science, which in turn benefits from their work.

Since 2009, inmates have participated in rearing endangered frogs and butterflies, restoring native prairies, cataloging moss species, and beekeeping. Some of the skills may help them get jobs when they're released.

Nadkarni said that many inmates have volunteered to participate because it appeals to their desire to feel like they are contributing members of society.

"When a biology professor walks in with bags of moss and says, 'I want you to solve an ecological problem,' of course they're going to value that. I wasn't sending them a dry piece of literature."

Scientists also inspire and educate inmates with guest lectures and hands-on workshops—activities geared toward making inmates more aware of the outside world.

The project has encouraged more sustainable practices within the prisons, including recycling, composting, and organic gardening. (Get tips on how to live with nature in mind.)

That also means making the prison environment more pleasant. For instance, inmates in so-called supermax facilities get only one hour a day to exercise, often in a dingy concrete room. When Nadkarni wrapped one of these rooms at the Snake River Correctional Institution in Oregon with a picture of trees, violence in that particular unit decreased.

"There isn't a person on Earth who couldn't use a connection with nature," she said.

"Treetop Barbie"

That includes kids. For instance, when Nadkarni's daughter began asking for a Barbie doll, Nadkarni and her students dreamed up "Treetop Barbie"—a Mattel Barbie doll that they dressed themselves in hand-tailored clothes, modeled after a treetop ecologist's outfit and climbing gear.

The doll comes with a field guide to canopy plants and animals—both Barbie- and person-size—and a personal letter from Barbie about forests and their role in our lives.

"Treetop Barbies" are available through the International Canopy Network, which promotes forest-canopy conservation.

In 2010, Nadkarni was presented with another challenge to reach youth: Environmental scientist Denise Bruesewitz, who studies denitrification—the process in which nitrogen escapes the soil—wanted to communicate the concept to her three-year-old daughter and her day-care classmates.

The two scientists came up with a common denominator that any kid would get: mud. Wet soil is mud, and mud is crucial to denitrification. So they planned a half-day workshop with kids who made mud, learned about mud, and even "sang a mud song."

"It was a wonderful connection between this advanced science and little kids," Nadkarni said. (Also see National Geographic's nature activities for kids.)

A Win for Nature

It can be tough to gauge if and how these projects have affected people's attitudes about science and nature, Nadkarni noted. (See: "Connecting With Nature Boosts Creativity and Health.")

Inmates involved in her program did learn more about biology, according to the results of surveys taken by participants before and after the program. But such hard measures of success are few and far between.

Even so, Nadkarni believes that getting anyone to at least think about the world around them is a win.

"I think a 95-year-old is worth the time," she said, "even if it's just for that moment."

Follow Christine Dell'Amore on Twitter and Google+.

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Why Do People Unsubscribe?

Whether you do email marketing, publish an RSS feed, or both, you will inevitably have customers that choose to unsubscribe from your communications. However, you may be able to limit the number of customers who do so. According to a recent report by ExactTarget, there are a variety of reasons why a person may unsubscribe. By understanding why customers unsubscribe from various communications, marketers can learn which marketing mistakes to avoid and keep their subscribers.

Why Do People Unsubscribe?

How to Use Pinterest for BeginnersYou have likely heard people obsess about Pinterest so you are curious about what it is and how to use it.

Pinterest is a highly visual virtual pinboard site that lets you pin or collect images from the Web. You create boards to help you categorize your images and add descriptions to remind you why you bookmarked them in the first place.

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Technical Diagnosis Cartoon

RSS, or Really Simple Syndication, is a new way to broadcast corporate news and structured information. RSS offers a quick, easy corporate communication channel. The RSS contents are published as a feed and the feed's content keep customers, partners and journalists abreast of corporate news and information. The RSS feeds are read using a tool referred to as a news aggregator, or an RSS reader. The aggregator periodically checks to see if the RSS feed has been updated. As the feed is updated, new information will automatically appear in the RSS reader.

While RSS was at one point only considered to be a means to deliver news headlines, RSS has quickly become a powerful medium to disseminate all kinds of information. As traditional marketers are attempting to rein in content delivery, measuring e-mail open rates, click-throughs and conversions, Internet users are fighting to gain control over the content they receive. Savvy marketers and business owners are using RSS as a way to improve corporate communication and increase their external exposure and brand appeal.

RSS For Business

Academia has embraced RSS as a means to educate, but scrutinizing how educational institutions are using RSS feeds in their daily routines show RSS is utilized can vary across different industries.

RSS and Education

How Terror Can Breed Through Social MediaThe days of would-be terrorists needing to travel to far-off camps to make contacts and learn how to build bombs is rapidly receding. Social media forums like Twitter and Facebook provide a ready made Rolodex of sources -- dig further online, mine those contacts further, gain admission to private chat forums and eventually you will find instructions for bomb making.

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Turn an Ebay Search into an RSS FeedHave you ever been watching ebay to find that rare item, or just trying to keep an eye out for a good deal?   You can save a search in ebay and it will email you daily, but I found that it leaves a lot to be desired.   It always gives me notification about suggested items that do not match my search.

I looked for a better way to keep on top of searching for what I was looking for and found that you can turn an ebay search into an RSS feed.   Load it into your favorite RSS reader or website and it will give you all the recent hits on your search.

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Reddit and Criminal Crowd SourcingShould the Internet hive-mind really be getting into the crime investigation business?

Reddits crowdsourcing power often comes into conflict with its stated commitment to protecting online privacy.

Whereas Twitter and other kinds of social media are open firehoses of information, massive Internet forums like Reddit provide a community platform for dissecting information. At first blush, that might seem like a great idea.

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Google Readers split from its loyal user base has been a tad messy. It is not you, it is us, Google implored. We are living in a new kind of computing environment, was their attempt at letting users down gently.
However, for some die-hard fans it was all too much and they answered the only way they knew how – a selection of moderately funny internet memes and online petitions.

For the uninitiated, the search giant is set to shut down its RSS tool on July 1st; a service used daily by millions to gather together content from blogs, newswires and almost countless sites around the web.

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Where to Submit MediaRSS Feeds

You can choose from several Department of State RSS feeds to get the latest news from the Department delivered directly to your desktop via an RSS reader or news aggregator

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What is Pinging?

Marketing your blog requires more than simply publishing new content -- you need to tell the world to update the content in your RSS feed by sending a ping message to subscribers, search engines, blog aggregators and update services. Configure your blog or podcast with an RSS feed channel and tell ping services to update your content.

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Computer Scolding Cartoon

Just as with any major tech event, it spurred a raft of reactions on what is currently our best real-time conversation broadcasting network, Twitter. Reactions ranged from outrage to sadness to smugness — the latter epitomized by the camp who say that RSS was already a confusing mess that needed to be shot down completely and besides, it had been replaced by Twitter itself anyway.

Well, no. RSS matters.

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Here is what is new in the latest version of Feedly:

The developers have fixed a login bug that forced users to login to the service regularly. According to Feedly, this should not happen anymore even if the servers are taxed to the limit.
The title only view mode - my preferred mode of viewing RSS updates - has been improved. It now stretches across the whole width of the browser window automatically. While that is not entirely true, as you can see from the screenshot above, it is still an improvement. The title only view has also received more sharing options (while hovering over an article).
Faster load times for the service. The developers have optimized the client code so that you should experience better performance while using the service.
Support for folders that include  [] brackets.
Support for Hebrew and Farsi.
Improved feed search to find feeds by URL and add them to your list of subscribed feeds.
Feedly seems dedicated to improve the service and while many users are waiting for a web-based version of it, the improvements certainly are welcome additions to the service as well.

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Truncated feeds can be a bummer, especially if you really enjoy reading your favorite blogs via RSS. FeedsAPI is a service that will take any truncated RSS feed, expand it to a full-text feed, and then deliver the resulting stories directly to your inbox, or to your preferred news reader. Best of all, it does this in real-time, so you don't have to wait hours for stories to process.

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Why Reading is Important Cartoon
Why Reading is Important Cartoon!

When Google announced Reader, their RSS service, was being shuttered… news junkies everywhere revolted. Reader was the easiest, simplest, cleanest RSS feed available. Everyone wondered why it was being shut down, and a groundswell of support was initiated to bring it back.

There has been no sign of Google reversing their spring cleaning initiative, but it is really hard to believe they would simply abandon RSS altogether.

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6 of the Best FREE RSS ReadersYou have probably been searching for the best free RSS readers ever since Mountain View struck down with the news about not supporting the Google-branded one starting from July 2013. The company may have cited declining usage as one of the reasons for shutting shop on this front, but that was no consolation for people like us who were thrown into panic on hearing about the imminent demise of the service. So if you’re switching from Google’s syndication service or any other similar tool, here are some good options in no particular order -

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Googles spring cleaning has begun, and the company has already axed one of the most loved services, even though the user rate has been declining over the years. Google Reader, one of the biggest RSS feeds, has got its death date, even with people making petitions for Google Reader to stay.

However, times may not be terrible for the people that still regularly use RSS readers, as Digg has said they are building a Google Reader replacement and they believe it will be ready before Google axe Reader on July 1 2013.

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Google Removes RSS Support From ChromeGoogle Reader is not the only RSS product to be getting the ax at Google. The RSS extension for Googles Chrome Web browser has also been cut, which means that Chrome users can no longer use it to quickly subscribe to RSS feeds as they browse the Web.

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With Google Reader being abandoned millions of bloggers are left to figure out a way to keep their content in front of their readers, hoping they are tech-savvy and interested enough to transfer their feeds to another service.

However, email marketing service Mad Mimi offers an effective alternative. An RSS to Email feature allows businesses and bloggers to share their content with subscribers and maintain control of their distributions.

RSS to Email automatically converts blog posts into the form of an email for subscribers. The blogger uses a webform to collect email addresses.

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Feedly has been around for a while and offers a similar interface, akin to Google Reader. With 500,000 new users, the company has said that they will continue to work to keep the servers running, while making subtle changes to the interface. The RSS reader will also be offering seamless integration with your Google account, to move all your Reader settings.

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Todays world is filled with massive amounts of information. According to IBM, 90% of todays existing data has been created in just the past two years. People no longer sit down at their desktop and surf the web for an hour a day. Instead, they are constantly creating, searching for information, and retrieving content from all types of devices – smartphones, tablets, e-readers, and laptops. As these digital technologies continue to evolve and move in a more mobile direction, new opportunities arise for technologies like RSS.

Hot new mobile applications like Flipboard provide a great example of how RSS feeds can be leveraged to bring updated digital content to customers. Flipboard

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Create an RSS Feed for Google+ FeedCreate an RSS Feed for Your Google+ Feed using GPlusRSS

The asking price? $200,000......

The domain was initially aquired for $125,000.

The RSS Feed Reader is just one example of many tools that will help you do exactly that – improve productivity in your business so you can do everything you have to and still have some time left for your family at the end of the day!

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Google Reader is on its deathbed, slated to meet its end on July 1st. Its demise has been looming in the distance for a while, so this should come as no surprise. And while this is certainly a time of mourning, there's the unseemly business of finding a replacement. Here is a list of platform agnostic alternatives that should help make the transition as painless as possible.

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How to Export Your RSS Feeds from Google ReaderBy now, the shock that Google Reader is shutting down this summer has probably sunk in. Once you get past the outrage, it's time to figure out how to export your RSS feeds from your beloved reader before it goes dark.

For the fastest, most reliable way to save your RSS feeds from the cemetery of cyberspace, use Googles Takeout service.

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The scramble is on. With news today that Google Reader is shutting down on July 1st, its users are on the hunt for a solid RSS reader alternatives.

Here are some options you might want to consider if you are a Google Reader user:

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Google Reader is closing in July, IMO this is not a good move for Google.

Blogs are now a dime a dozen, and bloggers need to make their blog posts stand out. Developing a blog following is not as easy as it once was. Learn how to write blog posts that attract readers and retain their attention. Follow these guidelines to cultivate readers...

Blog Posts that Get Attention

10 Social Media Fears to OvercomeAre any of these reasons stopping you from using social media for your business?

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4 RSS News Aggregators for AndroidThe beauty of smartphones and tablets running Android today can only be appreciated by looking at the apps it offers.  While offering many other features, one group of apps  available for tablets and smartphones are the so-called news aggregator apps that gives almost instant around the clock news access. If you are the type who wants to know whats happening around the world in an instant, news sources will be at your fingertips by getting any of the news aggregator apps that we will be discussing below.

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On Monday, Facebook put up a blog post saying engagement has gone up 34 percent on posts from people who have more than 10,000 followers. But Facebook did not share real numbers or metrics, leaving people guessing what 34 percent actually equals.

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I Work on the Internet Cartoon
I Work on the Internet Cartoon!

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