Bol News

Marvel’s vice president of sales has blamed declining comic-book sales on the studio’s efforts to increase diversity and female characters, saying that readers “were turning their noses up” at diversity and “didn’t want female characters out there”. Over recent years, Marvel has made efforts to include more diverse and more female characters, introducing new iterations of fan favourites including a female Thor; Riri Williams, a black teenager who took over the Iron Man storyline as Ironheart; Miles Morales, a biracial Spider-Man and Kamala Khan, a Muslim teenage girl who is the current Ms Marvel. But speaking at the Marvel retailer summit about the studio’s falling comic sales since October, David Gabriel told ICv2 that retailers had told him that fans were sticking to old favourites. “What we heard was that people didn’t want any more diversity,” he said. “They didn’t want female characters out there. That’s what we heard, whether we believe that or not.” Published by : theguardian....

Retired Master Cpl. Paul Franklin lost both of his legs from just above knee when a bomb hit the vehicle he was driving during a Canadian Forces tour in Afghanistan in January 2006. Ten years later, he is getting ready to fill out yet another set of forms to tell the Canadian government that, in fact, his legs are still missing. “It’s insane,” Franklin said. “My problem with all this is if you have someone who has post-traumatic stress disorder or some sort of brain injury, or you have a combination of the two and they’re on street drugs or alcohol or whatever, the chance of them filling out the forms correctly is minimal at best.” When a veteran wants to fill out disability and pension forms, it can sometimes involve multiple applications to several bodies, including insurance companies, even for permanent injuries like Franklin’s. He said veterans should deal only with Veterans Affairs and the process should be far more simple. If medical status has changed, he said, a doctor’s note...

In a victory for ISPs, advertisers and tech companies that had opposed the new FCC's broadband privacy rules, the House has voted along purely party lines to repeal those rules, with only the President's signature needed to make it official. The vote on the Congressional Review Act resolution Tuesday (March 28) came after heated and sometimes loud debate, mostly on the Democratic side, over the issue and even extended to talk about underwear size after Rep. Michael Capuano (D-Mass.) said that ISPs should not be able to sell information on what size of underwear he buys to garment companies. The Senate approved the CRA resolution March 23 by a party line vote of 50 to 48. The resolution removes the rules, approved on a party line vote Oct. 27, from the congressional record and prevents the FCC from adopting substantially similar rules in the future. Published by : multichannel.com

As part of its annual US graduate school rankings, US News has released data that tracks enrollment and tuition growth for the schools it ranks. Despite substantially higher costs across the board, most disciplines have seen rising (rapidly, in the case of engineering) or steady enrollment. A notable exception is law school, for which enrollment is declining. Despite the tough climate for American law school graduates, tuition has continued to increase for the past decade. At private schools, tuition has risen by 66% since 2005. For public schools, it has more than doubled: Read Full Content : qz.com

Report: Only 18 Percent Of Americans Can Drive Manual MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — A new report shows fewer Americans own a car with manual transmission let alone know how to operate one. And there appear to be a number of reasons for it. The report from U.S. News and World Report show only 18 percent of U.S. drivers know how to operate a stick shift. It says that because of advancements in automatic transmissions and fuel economy, only about 5 percent of vehicles sold in the U.S. today come with a stick shift. That’s down from 25 percent of cars in 1987. The third pedal is also bad for re-sale value, on average selling for $2,000 less than cars with automatic transmissions. Read Full Content : minnesota.cbslocal.com

Donald Trump is setting America up for failure with his newly proposed budget plan. As Trump has previously shared his naive disbelief in climate change, it should come as no surprise that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is the largest government agency to be cut. Trump's negligence to believe in proven science is deplorable and unacceptable behavior from a leader. Statements from the White House argue the EPA's impending budget cut is due to it being a "waste of money," reflecting the popular Republican belief that global warming isn't an issue. The 31 percent budget cut to the EPA will mean more than 3,000 people will lose their jobs. Therefore, this is not simply a loss for the environment but a loss for job production as well. The area that will be most drastically impacted by the EPA's budget cuts will come to the environment, and the research and promotion of cleaner air, water and power initiatives. Read Full Content : iowastatedaily.com ...

The Irish people (Irish: Muintir na hÉireann or Na hÉireannaigh) are a nation and ethnic group native to the island of Ireland, who share a common Irish ancestry, identity and culture. Ireland has been inhabited for about 9,000 years according to archaeological studies (see Prehistoric Ireland). For most of Ireland's recorded history, the Irish have been primarily a Gaelic people (see Gaelic Ireland). Anglo-Normans conquered parts of Ireland in the 12th century, while England's 16th/17th century (re)conquest and colonization of Ireland brought a large number of English and Lowland Scots to parts of the island, especially the north. Today, Ireland is made up of the Republic of Ireland (an independent state), and the smaller Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kingdom). The people of Northern Ireland hold various national identities; including Irish, Northern Irish, British, or some combination thereof. The Irish have their own customs, language, music, dance, sports, cuisine,...

Now the remaining cast of a TV show have finally left their remote home – to virtual anonymity. Instead of being crowned reality TV celebrities and fought over by agents, the 10 who made it through the 12 months have learned that only four episodes have been shown – the last seven months ago. The remaining 13 contestants quit earlier in the show – with many saying they couldn’t handle the relentless Scottish midges. Eden, the ground-breaking Channel 4 project, saw 23 strangers cut off from the rest of the world and left to fend for themselves in a corner of the West Highlands. Intended as a combination of reality TV and sociology experiment, the participants were challenged to create a new model of society. But just as in the Biblical Eden, temptation proved too strong on the Ardnamurchan Peninsula. Read Full Content : pressandjournal.co.uk

FBI Director James Comey on Monday confirmed that the bureau is investigating Russian attempts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election — including any links or coordination between members of Donald Trump's campaign and Moscow. The bombshell revelation puts an end to months of roiling speculation and frustration on the part of Democrats, who saw the director’s silence as a double-standard after Comey’s repeated disclosures in the FBI's investigation into Hillary Clinton’s private email server. In a dramatic moment at the beginning of a hotly anticipated House Intelligence Committee hearing on Russian interference in the U.S. election, Comey announced that he had been authorized by the Department of Justice (DOJ) to break bureau policy and publicly disclose the probe. “As you know our practice is not to confirm the existence of an ongoing investigation,” he said. “But in usual circumstances where it is in the public interest, it may be appropriate to do so.” A palpab...

Although many are confident that, in the aftermath of the life time bans issued to the former iBUYPOWER Counter-Strike players, match-fixing has been stamped out at the highest level of professional play, it is suspected that it continues in semi-professional matches. While we continue to be vigilant about this, with the advent of esports cash betting and so many small tournaments finding their way on to the sites that provide it, match fixing seems to be flourishing again. A little over two weeks ago we were provided with information that pointed to match fixing across several small tournaments and we interviewed a match-fixer who claimed to have earned $20,000 in two months from arranging fixed matches for a betting ring. The matter was first brought to our attention when Stefan “ioswitch” Heesters, the owner of the small esports organisation Team Paria, contacted us. His team was due to play in the sixth season of the King of Nordic online cup where they would be representing Icela...

Are all millionaires wealthy? Not if you ask them. A whopping 70% of those with at least $1 million in assets that are invested or available to invest, excluding home values, don't consider themselves to be wealthy, according to a survey of 4,500 affluent investors by UBS. Rather, it's only when they hit the $5 million mark that millionaires begin to feel "wealthy." Why $5 million? Apparently, that's the level at which most rich people feel they have "no constraints on activities," according to the survey. In addition to feeling like money is no object, most wealthy people also find it important to hold a substantial amount of their fortune in cash because it helps them feel more secure. "Holding a significant amount of cash is is a critical component of investor confidence, as investors believe these are assets they won't lose," the survey said. "Investors aren't quick to forget the significant losses they endured in 2008." ...

Many people don't know about the enormous progress most countries have made in recent decades - or maybe the media hasn't told them. But with the following five facts everyone can upgrade their world view. 1. Fast population growth is coming to an end It's a largely untold story - gradually, steadily the demographic forces that drove the global population growth in the 20th Century have shifted. Fifty years ago the world average fertility rate - the number of babies born per woman - was five. Since then, this most important number in demography has dropped to 2.5 - something unprecedented in human history - and fertility is still trending downwards. It's all thanks to a powerful combination of female education, access to contraceptives and abortion, and increased child survival. The demographic consequences are amazing. In the last decade the global total number of children aged 0-14 has levelled off at around two billion, and UN population experts predict that it is go...

There were three kingdoms , each bordering on the same lake. For centuries, these kingdoms had fought over an island in the middle of that lake. One day, they decided to have it out, once and for all. The first kingdom was quite rich, and sent an army of 25 knights, each with three squires. The night before the battle, the knights jousted and cavorted as their squires polished armor, cooked food, and sharpened weapons. The second kingdom was not so wealthy, and sent only 10 knights, each with 2 squires. The night before the battle, the knights cavorted and sharpened their weapons as the squires polished armor and prepared dinner. The third kingdom was very poor, and only sent one elderly knight with his sole squire. The night before the battle, the knight sharpened his weapon, while the squire, using a noosed rope, slung a pot high over the fire to cook while he prepared the knight's armor. The next day, the battle began. All the knights of the first two kingdoms had cavorted a ...