Hear about a road trip in Central Mexico as the Amateur Traveler talks to Amie from thetravelingtogetherjournal.com about a trip they took near Mexico City.

Hear about travel to Madrid, Spain as the Amateur Traveler talks to James Blick from DevourTours.com and Yolanda Martin from TheFlamencoGuide.com about their city.

Hear about travel to Barbados as the Amateur Traveler talks to Jane and Duncan from totraveltoo.com about the time they spent on the island recently.

Hear about travel to Southern New Brunswick as the Amateur Traveler talks to Kirsten Maxwell from kidsareatrip.com about her recent travel to the Province with her family.

Hear about travel to Madagascar as the Amateur Traveler talks to Corinne Vale from reflectionsenroute.com about her travel to this island nation off southern Africa.

Hear about travel to South Florida (Miami, Everglades National Park, and the Florida Keys) as the Amateur Traveler talks to Erik Smith from onmyfeetorinmymind.com about this diverse region.

Hear about travel to Chad as the Amateur Traveler talks to Francis Tapon about his travel to Chad as part of a 5 and a half year journey to all 54 countries in Africa.

Hear about a Route 66 road trip as the Amateur Traveler talks to Austin Coop from 2laneamerica.com and guidedroute66tours.com about the Mother Road.

Hear about travel to Southwest Colorado as the Amateur Traveler talks to Kelly Beasley and Marshall Wendler about road trips they have made to Durango and Silverton.

Hear about a road trip in Kansas as the Amateur Traveler talks to John McKenzie of johnthetraveler.com about the state of his birth. 

Hear about traveling the Dempster Highway as the Amateur Traveler talks to Lisa from TheHotFlashPacker.com about this iconic drive into the Arctic Circle in Canada. 

Hear about an Oregon Coast road trip as the Amateur Traveler talks to Jessica Baker from BoundlessBakers.com about a portion of their year and a half long road trip.

Hear about places to visit in Ecuador on your Ecuador vacation as the Amateur Traveler talks to Keenan Ennis about this country that he now calls home.

A newly released Reuters/Ipsos poll evaluating President Donald Trump and presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden in a head-to-head matchup shows troubling news for Biden. According to the poll, a lead once enjoyed by Biden has completely “evaporated,” while Trump’s numbers continue to ascend. Reuters/Ipsos said that “Joe Biden’s advantage over President Donald Trump in…

The post Biden’s Lead in Poll Tumbles as Trump Gains Support for Pandemic Response appeared first on The Western Journal.

After three decades of mystery, the cold case murder of a 17-year-old Ohio teen named Barbara Blatnik has been solved thanks in part to DNA genealogical research. The last time anyone saw Blatnik alive was around midnight on Dec. 19, 1987, when a friend dropped her off in Garfield Heights, Ohio. The following day, Blatnik,…

The post 32 Years After Teen’s Body Found Strangled on Side of Road, Suspect Finally Arrested appeared first on The Western Journal.

A powerful player on Facebook’s new content oversight board infamously mocked Barron Trump during last year’s impeachment hearings, sowing doubt in the social media platform’s promises of unbiased moderation. The selection of Pamela Karlan, a professor at Stanford Law School, was announced Wednesday by Facebook, according to CNBC. Karlan will sit alongside 19 other experts…

The post Academic Who Infamously Mocked Barron Trump Gets Censorship Gig from Facebook appeared first on The Western Journal.

A stray cat from Las Vegas has lived to see another day thanks to kindhearted police officers who paused to remove a soup can wedged firmly onto the cat’s head. The lure of a salty, potent-smelling soup can was likely too tempting to resist for the cat who was hooked at the first taste. As…

The post Watch: Cops Save Helpless Stray Cat Found with Head Stuck in Soup Can appeared first on The Western Journal.

Conservatives had this Common Core thing all wrong, it was said. We’d be proven wrong by history. Common Core, pushed by President Barack Obama, was going to work. It wasn’t like all the other liberal education plans. A new study by the Pioneer Institute reveals that, no, we were right all along. The study, released…

The post New Study Confirms We Were Right: Reading, Math Scores Have Collapsed Thanks to Obama, Common Core appeared first on The Western Journal.

A 5-year-old Utah boy shocked family and law enforcement when he grabbed the keys to his parents’ car and drove himself through the neighborhood and onto a freeway. Utah Highway Patrol Trooper Rick Morgan spotted the vehicle swerving dangerously on the freeway and initiated a stop, fully expecting to find a driver under the influence…

The post Cop Gets Shocking Surprise When He Finds Age 5 Boy Behind Wheel of Car Who Had Plans To Go Buy Lamborghini appeared first on The Western Journal.

Little Richard, the self-proclaimed “architect of rock ‘n’ roll” whose piercing wail, pounding piano and towering pompadour irrevocably altered popular music while introducing black R&B to white America, died Saturday. He was 87. Pastor Bill Minson, a close friend of Little Richard’s, told The Associated Press that Little Richard died Saturday morning. His son, Danny…

The post Little Richard, Flamboyant Rock ‘N’ Roll Pioneer, Dead at 87 appeared first on The Western Journal.

In just under five months, both President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden will, one assumes, step onto a debate stage at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana. It’s one heck of an assumption, and for more reasons than one. We don’t know if there are going to be debates…

The post With Debate Months Away, It’s Clear Biden Isn’t Ready for a 1-on-1 with Trump appeared first on The Western Journal.

When jokes are so horrible, so obvious, so corny that they make your eyes roll, it’s a good chance that they’re what many call “dad jokes.” Bordering on lame, and all the more hilarious because of it, these jokes are so bad and yet fathers seem to get such joy from trotting out the perfect…

The post Man Posts Hilarious ‘Bad Dad Jokes’ Daily on Sign in Front Lawn To Spread Cheer to Neighbors appeared first on The Western Journal.

If you’re a big business and you abused the Small Business Association’s new Paycheck Protection Program, you’re getting very close to the deadline for you to pay the government back. If you don’t, that means the government is going to be coming after you — and you can definitely be ready for an audit. That’s…

The post Big Businesses That Abused Paycheck Protection Program Should Get Ready for an Audit appeared first on The Western Journal.

Some House Democrats have decided that the COVID-19 pandemic is an appropriate time to implement a key plank of the campaign of former Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont. Reps. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts — who make up the…

The post ‘The Squad’ Pushes for Huge Student Loan Cancellation in Next Relief Bill appeared first on The Western Journal.

As the coronavirus crisis built to pandemic levels in early March, a relatively unknown tech company confronted a defining opportunity. Zoom Video Communications, a fast-growing enterprise videoconferencing platform with roots in both Silicon Valley and China, had already seen its market cap grow from under $10 billion to nearly double that. As the coronavirus began … Continue reading "New Research Shows Why and How Zoom Could Become an Advertising Driven Business"

CTVNews.ca asked Canadians to share how they were using their CERB payments and got a flood of responses. Most said they were covering the basics -- housing, groceries, transportation and medicine.

The Assad government sought to promote regime-sponsored cultural events through a marketing campaign called "Summer in Syria," but the effort didn't exactly go as planned.

By the time Martin Smith reached Syria this past summer, the war was already in its fifth year, but life in regime-controlled areas was still largely a mystery.

The emergence of ISIS in Afghanistan has introduced a new level of brutality to the conflict, beyond what has been practiced by the Taliban.

Ahmad Chalabi helped lead the U.S. into war in Iraq, but if he ever had regrets about his role in the invasion, and the years of violence it unleashed, "he never voiced them to me," writes FRONTLINE correspondent Martin Smith.

Just days after the attack in Paris, America’s top intelligence official suggested that recent leaks about classified surveillance programs were partially responsible.

BEST DEALS ON HEADPHONES:

• Jaybird - RUN XT Sport True Wireless In-Ear Headphones — $179.99

• Plantronics - Backbeat FIT 3150 True Wireless Sport Headphones — $99.99 (save $50)

• Bose - SoundSport Free True Wireless Headphones — $149.99 (save $50)

The only thing more important to runners than their sneakers is a quality pair of headphones and a killer playlist. Running without music is like some form of medieval torture: it sucks. And cheap, crappy headphones just aren't going to cut it.

When shopping for a quality pair of headphones to wear while running, you'll want to look at a few key factors: Are they sweatproof/waterproof? Will they stay in your ears? Are the volume controls easily accessible? If you answer no to any of these questions, then you know the headphones aren't going to work. Read more...

Between the infamous Peloton commercial, the wild Boyhood wannabe that ended up being a Subway ad, and the endless #girlboss marketing reminding you that even women can be part of the capitalist machine, 2019 was a year for advertising. 

But nothing quite tops this one, which was released in September but resurfaced in a viral tweet on Friday.  

The ad starts off with a bleak statistic: women hold just 10 percent of all patented inventions. Then, it pans over to a delightful montage of ambitious young women. Each one is filmed preparing for their career goals, from mixing delicate chemicals in a laboratory to carefully testing the consistency of soil.  Read more...

AI in practice In his book TinyML, Pete Warden talks about smart stickers that can do limited AI, communicate via radio, and contain sensors so they can easily be put onto machinery or other objects. That technology is here, with disposable bluetooth stickers powered by ambient RF. A year ago, Foster Provost said that causality […]

Last year, when we felt interest in artificial intelligence (AI) was approaching a fever pitch, we created a survey to ask about AI adoption. When we analyzed the results, we determined the AI space was in a state of rapid change, so we eagerly commissioned a follow-up survey to help find out where AI stands […]

Rita J. King, co-director and EVP for business development at Science House, recently conducted a series of interviews with business leaders, exploring the challenges and hurdles companies face in evolving business landscapes. In this interview, King chats with Craig Lemasters, CEO of Global Executive Group, about what companies face when navigating the digital transformation. They […]

Rita J. King, co-director and EVP for business development at Science House, recently conducted a series of interviews with business leaders, exploring the challenges and hurdles companies face in evolving business landscapes. In this interview, King chats with James Jorasch, founding CEO of Science House, about the importance of innovation and how to inspire and […]

Rita J. King, co-director and EVP for business development at Science House, recently conducted a series of interviews with business leaders, exploring the challenges and hurdles companies face in evolving business landscapes. In this interview, King chats with Jen Bruno, SVP of culture and human capital at LPL Financial, about mobilizing a change-ready workforce, leadership […]

Since early in March, technology news has been all Coronavirus, all the time. That’s a trend we expect to continue through April and probably beyond. So let’s start with Coronavirus news, and hope that we have something different for next month. Coronavirus The Coronavirus pandemic is forcing reconsideration of how private data is used.  Maciej […]

Three months ago, Apple released a new credit card in partnership with Goldman Sachs that aimed to disrupt the highly regulated world of consumer finance. However, a well-known software developer tweeted that he was given 20x the credit line offered to his wife, despite the fact that they have been filing joint tax returns and […]

After last month’s “all coronavirus, all the time” report, I was concerned that this month would be more of the same.  And there is, indeed, a lot of coronavirus. But there are many other trends and interesting items to look at–possibly a sign that people are working effectively from home. Coronavirus Coronavirus prompts serious discussion […]

Yesterday saw the online premier of a mini-episode of a new animated comic series based on the classic Gilbert Shelton underground comic, the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers. As a hippie wannabe teen in the 70s, this (and Zap! Comics) was everything to me.

In 1969, life in San Francisco consists of free love, communal living, and political protest. Freewheelin’ Franklin Freek (Harrelson), Fat Freddy Freekowtski (Goodman), Phineas T. Phreakers (Davidson) and their mischievous, foul-mouthed cat, Kitty (Haddish) spend their days dodging many things —- the draft, the narcs, and steady employment -– all while searching for an altered state of bliss.

But after partaking of a genetically-mutated strain of marijuana, the Freaks wake up 50 years later to discover a much different society. Quickly feeling like fish out of water in a high-tech world of fourth-wave feminism, extreme gentrification and intense political correctness, the Freaks learn how to navigate life in 2020 -— where, surprisingly, their precious cannabis is now legal.

OK, sounds good. But is it? If the reaction to the first mini-episode is any indication, maybe the Freaks should have remained in their drug-induced coma. As one Facbooker commented: "Get yourself a collected set of the original comic and skip this drivel!"

Read the rest

A couple of days ago, Thomas Dolby posted this video to Twitter and YouTube of a track called "Corona and the Pirate Twins," a spoof of his 1982 hit, "Europa and the Pirate Twins." The song is credited to Dolby Kids. Thomas included the following note:

"This is what my mischievous offspring have been getting up to during the Lockdown."

Here is the original video for "Europa..."

Bonus track:

And here is Thomas Dolby doing a touching home solo version of his achingly beautiful "Screen Kiss" from 1984's Flat Earth. He did it as a tribute to Matthew Seligman, the celebrated bassist who recently died of COVID-19. Seligman played bass on Dolby's recordings, including Flat Earth, and also played for Bowie, Robyn Hitchcock, Peter Murphy, and countless others. He was also a member of the Soft Boys.

Image: YouTube Read the rest

This Sunday, Weezer will cameo on The Simpsons and as a teaser, the band released their cover of "The Simpsons Theme" by Danny Elfman. From Rolling Stone:

In the new episode of The Simpsons, Weezer will play a cover band called Sailor’s Delight, which serves as the house act on a romantic cruise Homer and Marge are taking. Sailor’s Delight will “perform” a handful of tracks from Weezer’s 2019 self-titled record (also known as The Black Album) and their 2017 effort Pacific Daydream, while the episode will also boast the premiere of the band’s new song, “Blue Dream,” from their upcoming LP, Van Weezer.

Game designer and publisher Dave Gilbert founded Wadjet Eye Games in 2006.  This interview features conversation about point and click adventure games; digital game development, marketing and publishing; and the relationship between art, passion and real world commerce.

Jeffery Klaehn: How did you first become interested in point and click adventure games?

Dave Gilbert: I played King’s Quest at a very impressionable age! I typed the word “jump” and I saw Graham actually jump, and I was so blown away that I’ve been playing them ever since.

JK: You founded Wadjet Eye Games in 2006 to sell your game, The Shivah, commercially, then moved to pursue game design on a full-time basis and released The Blackwell Legacy, the first in what would become a series of five games.  What are your thoughts on these games and on the market then compared to now?

Dave Gilbert: I am Blackwell Legacy’s biggest critic. It was the first game I wrote with the intention of selling commercially – The Shivah was originally freeware, so I don’t count it – and it shows every inch of my inexperience. The gameplay is clunky, the story is told in three giant infodumps, and the main characters weren’t very likable. But that said, I know with absolute certainty that it was the very best game I could have made with the experience, resources and time I had available. So I stand by it.

As for the market, everything is different. Back in 2006, indie games in general were a very new thing. Read the rest

"Little" Richard Penniman, singer of Tutti Frutti and countless other hits, died Saturday morning. He was 87 years old. Rolling Stone reports that he died of cancer.

Starting with “Tutti Frutti” in 1956, Little Richard cut a series of unstoppable hits – “Long Tall Sally” and “Rip It Up” that same year, “Lucille” in 1957, and “Good Golly Miss Molly” in 1958 – driven by his simple, pumping piano, gospel-influenced vocal exclamations and sexually charged (often gibberish) lyrics. “I heard Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis, and that was it,” Elton John told Rolling Stone in 1973. “I didn’t ever want to be anything else. I’m more of a Little Richard stylist than a Jerry Lee Lewis, I think. Jerry Lee is a very intricate piano player and very skillful, but Little Richard is more of a pounder.”

Photo: Anna Bleker (Public Domain) Read the rest

Canada Post's main plant in Calgary has six confirmed cases of COVID-19. That news was confirmed Friday by Dr. Deena Hinshaw at her daily update.

RCMP say a 50-year-old man died and a 60-year-old man is in hospital following a crash involving a CP Rail train Friday morning.

The flood stricken Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo says it is on track to lift its boil water advisory sooner than it was originally projected.