Watch People Freak Out When They See Ghosts Inside an iPhone Camera

This prank is such pure evil genius that you can't help but laugh. And feel bad because you'd get freaked out too. Funny man Jack Vale scared the creepy crawly goosebumps out of people by asking strangers to take his picture with his iPhone. Why's that scary? Because Vale had pre-recorded a fake 'ghost' (or zombie) walking through the frame of the camera so people would think they just saw a dead person that wasn't there in real life move across the screen. What the people thought they were seeing in real time was actually a horrifying recording.

Creepy! But totally genius, right? And totally not expected when a stranger asks you to take their picture. Some people's reactions are priceless, though I would have expected more people to shriek and drop the phone as opposed to being deeply unsettled by their sixth sense. [Jack Vale]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/watch-people-freak-out-when-they-see-ghosts-inside-an-i-1447482764
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Junior Dos Santos was failed by those who were supposed to protect him at UFC 166

On Saturday night, Junior Dos Santos demonstrated incredible gameness, conditioning and strength of will in a fight while also being beaten to a pulp. That was the second time it’s happened to Dos Santos in the last year.

Cain Velasquez battered Dos Santos for five straight rounds last December, taking his UFC heavyweight title in the process.

At UFC 166 on Saturday, Cain did it again. The champion blasted dos Santos for nearly five full rounds but the bout should have been stopped in the third.

Cain dropped Dos Santos in the third round and continued the onslaught as referee Herb Dean watched on closely. Dos Santos lay prone on the mat and the fight appeared to be over.

Moments later, the tough Braziian got back up. Even then, however, Dos Santos appeared to be “out on his feet.” His brain had rattled around in his skull but he was too tough and well-conditioned to actually go unconscious.

"I wanted to throw in the towel," UFC president Dana White told reporters after the event, remembering how he felt watching Velasquez bludgeon Dos Santos.

"I don't want this to come out the wrong way, but I'm a believer. I always like to say that if anybody in his [expletive] corner cares about him, please, throw in that towel. I thought the fight was done in the third round. Is Junior dos Santos tough enough and does he have the heart to go through it? Yeah, but does that mean he should?” White went on.

“If you look at the fight, it ended in the fifth. That guy took seven, eight minutes more punishment that he didn't need to take until it ended. That seven or eight minutes, I don't know man. I just, I don't like it.

"There's no need for a young, talented guy to take that kind of punishment when he's out on his feet," White said. "I was kinda hoping somebody was going to throw the towel in or the ref would come stop it, or the doctor was going to stop it…If you watch that third round again when he's getting hit, his arms are [out]. He's not defending himself, he doesn't have his hands up. He's out."

White can be called a lot of things but squeamish isn’t one of them. He’s also dead-on about Velasquez vs. Dos Santos III being allowed to go on too long.

Herb Dean did not stop the fight in the third. At one point, Dean looked like he wanted to.

In a bizarre moment, Dean appeared to tap Velasquez on his right shoulder as the champ pressed Dos Santos against the cage and hit him. There’s no telling what the shoulder tap was supposed to communicate to Velasquez and no reason to believe he even felt it while fighting.

When it is time to stop a fight, like it was in the third round of the UFC 166 main event, referees throw their whole body into the fray in order to let the fighters know it is over. Herb Dean has done that countless times before.

Dean has, in fact, likely saved the careers of a number of fighters with his excellent refereeing. On Saturday night, however, he made two big mistakes.

The first was not stopping the fight in the third round and letting Dos Santos take un-needed damage. The second mistake was in being indecisive when he apparently was considering stopping it.

Dos Santos, with his punching power and conditioning is always a threat as long as he’s breathing in a fight. But that doesn’t mean that his corner, the ring side doctors and the referee should allow him to take damage that will undoubtedly color his health in the years to come.

Prodding Dos Santos on when they should be protecting him by refusing to let him out of his corner was not good enough from the former champ’s coaches. Asking Dos Santos to perform an instant self-health evaluation with a simple “are you ok?” was not good enough from the attending physician. And, letting Velasquez pound on Dos Santos for extra rounds as “Cigano” mounted no defense or offense just because he’s tough enough to take it was not good enough from the referee last night.

Of course, Dean did ultimately stop Velasquez and Dos Santos. With Dos Santos once again prone on the mat, face down, and having just eaten another punch to his ear from Velasquez, Dean stepped in with certainty in the fifth round.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/junior-dos-santos-failed-those-place-protect-him-225225960--mma.html
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Keep Google From Using Your Face in Advertisements

Here's how to keep your face out of Google ads.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GearFactor/~3/tb_Zr2XOyPs/
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Keeping The Faith, And Loving Your Gay Son

Wendy Montgomery and two of her children, including Jordan.

Courtesy Family Acceptance Project

Wendy Montgomery and two of her children, including Jordan.

Courtesy Family Acceptance Project

Wendy Montgomery was raised, and raised her children, in the Mormon church. She was part of the church's campaign to aid a ballot initiative banning same-sex marriage in California. But her faith was shaken when she found out her teenage son is gay. She talks to Tell Me More host Michel Martin about how she came to accept her son and her faith, and is now trying to change the Mormon Church from the inside.

Interview Highlights

"Everything I thought a gay person was..."

My husband and I both grew up in very devout, conservative Mormon households and communities. And I remember hearing things growing up like 'AIDS is God's punishment for homosexuality' and that being gay was a choice. It was wrong, it was a deviant lifestyle. So I had a lot of judgments and stereotypes and preconceived ideas coming into this. One of the first thoughts I had when I learned Jordan was gay was that everything I thought a gay person was, he was none of those things.

On watching her son's internal struggles

I had to take a lot of ownership knowing that those thoughts were there because of the way we had raised him, the way I was raised, the church we belonged to. He didn't think he fit into our family. He didn't think he fit into the church that we had raised him into, and he didn't know where he belonged. And he couldn't find a way to make it work and thought because he didn't have a purpose in life that he just didn't want to be here. There's just something not right with a 13 year old having to think that. I found myself being angry that he even had those thoughts in his head and how unfair those emotions were to him.

Keeping the faith

There was no question in my mind, 100%, we would accept him, we would love him, none of that change. If I had to make a choice between my son and my church, it would be my son. There was no question. The part I struggled was, I didn't want to have to chose between my church, I didn't want to have to give my church up. I wanted to make it work in the context of my faith, and that was where it became hard.

No apologies, please

Having a gay son, some people come up and they apologize, they're like "oh, I'm so sorry, that must be awful." And I think, are you kidding? What you look at as a burden has become one of my biggest blessings. I am a better person for having a gay son. Blinders that I didn't even know I was wearing have been taken off. I love people more, I judge people less. My religion didn't teach me how to love, my son did. And I am so grateful for that. ... So when people apologize to me for having a gay son, I say "please don't." My life isn't hard and hard things don't happen because I have a gay son. It's how people treat me because I have a gay son.

Source: http://www.npr.org/2013/10/18/236946537/keeping-the-faith-and-loving-your-gay-son?ft=1&f=46
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Obama presenting Medal of Honor to Afghan war vet

WASHINGTON (AP) — A former Army captain is receiving the nation's highest military honor from President Barack Obama for his bravery in one of the most deadly firefights in Afghanistan.

William D. Swenson is being awarded the Medal of Honor Tuesday for his actions in a lengthy battle against the Taliban in the Ganjgal valley near the Pakistan border on Sept. 8, 2009, which claimed the lives of five Americans, 10 Afghan army troops and an interpreter.

At the time, Swenson was an embedded trainer and mentor with the Afghan National Security Forces in Kunar Province in eastern Afghanistan. He risked his life to recover bodies and help save fellow troops.

Swenson complained to military leaders after the fight that many of his calls for help were rejected by superior officers. Two Army officers were reprimanded for being "inadequate and ineffective" and for "contributing directly to the loss of life" following an investigation into the day's events.

Four Americans died in the ambush: 1st Lt. Michael Johnson, a 25-year-old from Virginia Beach; Staff Sgt. Aaron Kenefick, 30, of Roswell, Ga.; Corpsman James Layton, 22, of Riverbank, Calif.; and Edwin Wayne Johnson Jr., a 31-year-old gunnery sergeant from Columbus, Ga. A fifth man, Army Sgt. Kenneth W. Westbrook, 41, of Shiprock, N.M., later died from his wounds.

The military says Swenson's initial medal nomination was lost. Another man who fought in the battle, Marine Cpl. Dakota Meyer, was awarded the Medal of Honor in 2011.

Swenson, 34, retired from the military in February 2011. He has a Purple Heart and Bronze Star Medal and lives in Seattle.

Swenson will be the sixth living recipient to be awarded the Medal of Honor for actions in Iraq or Afghanistan. Vice President Joe Biden and first lady Michelle Obama also will attend Tuesday's medal ceremony in the East Room of the White House.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-presenting-medal-honor-afghan-war-vet-061241042--politics.html
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American Airlines' Parent Earns $289 Million In 3Q

DALLAS (AP) — After years of losses, American Airlines is making money by boosting revenue and cutting labor costs.

The nation's third-largest airline is doing well enough to add dozens of new planes to its fleet, announce new flights to China, and set aside money for profit-sharing with employees.

The results, plus an upgrade from J.P. Morgan, fueled a rally in shares of parent AMR Corp.

AMR said Thursday that it earned $289 million, or 76 cents per share, in the third quarter. That's a turnaround from a loss of $238 million, or 71 cents per share, a year earlier. AMR's adjusted profit was a record $530 million. That figure doesn't include bankruptcy-reorganization costs and other special items.

Revenue rose 6 percent, as passengers paid more per mile to fly. Labor costs fell 13 percent from a year ago, as the company cut jobs during its makeover under bankruptcy protection.

American expects to add about 60 new planes this year to its fleet of more than 600 aircraft. It just announced plans to start flying from Dallas to Hong Kong and Shanghai next year, and it is expanding ties with partner airlines in Latin America. All of those things are either helping to improve the company's financial performance now, or will in the future, Chairman and CEO Tom Horton said in an interview.

"But the most important thing is day-to-day execution," Horton said. American has long struggled with high rates of delays and cancelations, but so far in October there have been eight days with no canceled flights, he said.

Airline officials feel confident enough that they plan to boost passenger-carrying capacity by 3.5 percent in the fourth quarter, compared with the same period last year.

Horton said the airline's improved performance creates momentum for its planned merger with US Airways.

The airlines had expected to close the merger this summer but were delayed when the U.S. Justice Department and several states filed an antitrust lawsuit to block the deal. A trial on the lawsuit is scheduled to start Nov. 25, and Horton said, "We remain open to a reasonable, common-sense settlement" that would allow the airlines to combine.

The Justice Department has pointed to American's improving fortunes as evidence that it doesn't need a merger to succeed. However, the attorney general of Texas pulled out of the lawsuit two weeks ago, and more than 60 House Democrats wrote to President Barack Obama this week to urge the administration to allow the merger.

AMR filed for bankruptcy protection in 2011 after losing more than $10 billion over the previous decade. It has used bankruptcy to renegotiate deals with labor unions and suppliers, which showed up in a reduction of $248 million, or 4 percent, in third-quarter operating costs. Labor, the airline's second-biggest cost after fuel, fell $237 million.

AMR ended the quarter with $7.7 billion in cash and short-term investments, compared with $5.1 billion a year earlier.

The Fort Worth, Texas-based company set aside $59 million for expected profit sharing next spring. American Airlines employees haven't received such payouts since 2001.

Before the earnings report, J.P. Morgan upgraded AMR shares to "Overweight" from "Neutral." Analyst Jamie Baker said he saw a 60-percent likelihood of a merger, up from 50-50. Even without a deal, the downside for AMR shares might not be as bad as feared because of improvement in the airline industry, he said.

The shares, which have traded over the counter since being removed from the New York Stock Exchange in January 2012, jumped 48 cents, or 9.3 percent, to close at $5.62.

AMR was the first big U.S. airline company to report third-quarter numbers. Analysts expect that United, Delta, Southwest and US Airways will all report larger profits than a year ago.

___

Follow David Koenig at http://www.twitter.com/airlinewriter

Source: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=236188290&ft=1&f=
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Sweet and sour earnings back on the menu for U.S. investors

By Rodrigo Campos and Julia Edwards

NEW YORK (Reuters) - It is back to basics on Wall Street after several weeks of market obsession with political manoeuvring over a government shutdown and threatened debt default. But some of corporate America's numbers have been found wanting.

The U.S. stock market broadly celebrated an agreement in the U.S. Congress that ended a 16-day partial closure of federal agencies and budget impasse but was then socked by earnings from market bellwether IBM .

Big Blue, as it is commonly known, was joined by a pair of underwhelming results from fellow Dow members Goldman Sachs Group and UnitedHealth Group - and all three stocks dropped Thursday. That was balanced, however, by gains in other components such as American Express , Verizon and Coca-Cola , which have all reported better-than-expected results.

The mixed nature of the picture was underlined by disappointing results in the technology sector from eBay on Wednesday, which was more than offset late on Thursday when Google reported revenue and profit that exceeded Wall Street's expectations.

With the S&P 500 touching an all-time record Thursday after the congressional deal, some of the earnings reports send a cautionary message. Profit margins are declining, and part of the market's rally earlier in the year was based on expectations for strong second half results. That has not happened, making current valuations - at about four-year highs - questionable.

The market "is not at an expensive valuation compared to historic levels, but it's expensive relative to recent history," said Michael O'Rourke, chief market strategist at JonesTrading in Greenwich, Connecticut.

Overall earnings growth is expected to come in at just 1.9 percent for the third quarter, down from an estimated 4.5 percent at the beginning of October. Any impact from the government shutdown and related political uncertainty will likely only be felt in the fourth quarter.

The disarray in Washington has had a silver lining for investors as it has ensured the Federal Reserve's massive bond-buying program to stimulate the economy is unlikely to be reduced until next year. Money coursing through the financial system should remain plentiful and cheap for at least the next few months.

For the market to sustain its rally, however, investors will need to believe that stocks are still undervalued based on hopes for future earnings growth - whether that growth is due to Fed stimulus or more fundamental growth in the global economy.

The S&P's forward price-to-earnings ratio is around 14.5, about the highest in four years, and a shade under the long-term mean of 14.85. The P/E multiple has risen throughout the year as earnings growth has remained stagnant, and forecasts are likely to fall in coming months. Without improved growth, that P/E will start to look expensive.

"The stock market's expansion this year has been driven by multiple expansion rather than material improvement in underlying fundamentals. That's why people do take a lot from IBM," said Adrian Cronje, chief investment officer at Balentine in Atlanta.

IBM said profitability in its hardware business declined by $1 billion year-to-date, and it missed revenue expectations by about $1 billion as well. The company's margin on earnings excluding interest and taxes fell to 17.8 percent for the first nine months of 2013, compared with 19.2 percent for the first nine months of 2012.

That's emblematic of a continuing trend, Goldman Sachs highlighted in a research note Wednesday. Excluding financial stocks, the S&P's earnings margin before interest and taxes - an important way of measuring profitability - had dropped for seven consecutive quarters through the second quarter, with the tech sector's margins hitting a three-year low.

This underscores the continued squeeze as a result of weakening demand and cost-cutting.

"The question is, how many levers do these companies have left to pull to keep that earnings growth going?" asked JonesTrading's O'Rourke.

LOFTY FORECASTS

Part of what fuelled the rally this year - other than Fed policy - was expectations for a strong second half of the year.

In July, Credit Suisse noted that six of the 10 sectors in the Russell 2000 were forecast to earn more than their usual percentage of earnings in the second half, with technology garnering 55 percent of its 2013 earnings from the latter half of the year.

"Earnings estimates for this year were very back-end loaded and if Q3 earnings are missing, it should lead to a healthy reduction of Q4 estimates," O'Rourke said. "That's the point (at which) the market starts to reconnect with the economic data, earnings and the real economy."

Those estimates have been driven sharply lower. The 1.9 percent expected growth in the third quarter compares with an estimate of 8.5 percent at the beginning of July. But forecasts for the fourth quarter have not fallen as much, and 2014's estimates have stayed pretty steady in the 11 percent range for months.

Tobias Levkovich, chief U.S. equity strategist at Citigroup Global Markets, believes these lofty forecasts are going to decline in the next couple of months, and "hence, buying into the risk-on trade has its detriments."

Levkovich specifically sees cyclical sectors, including consumer discretionary, materials, and industrials as having already priced in the good news. Current 2014 growth estimates for discretionary and materials shares sit at 18.9 percent and 17.4 percent respectively, according to Thomson Reuters data.

For their part, Wall Street analysts do not expect many gains next year, seeing the S&P 500 ending 2014 at 1,845, which would represent a 6.7 percent increase from current levels.

Still, the fourth quarter did not start well with the shutdown and threat of debt default expected to cut about 0.6 percent from gross domestic product growth, further hurting corporate earnings.

The struggles in Congress and the Fed's easy money have kept investors focus away from earnings in recent weeks.

"Right now the market is not looking at the economic data and earnings," O'Rourke said. "But several disappointing numbers and I would expect lower revisions for the fourth quarter will eventually weigh on equity prices."

(Editing by David Gaffen, Martin Howell and Grant McCool)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/sweet-sour-earnings-back-menu-u-investors-225751106--sector.html
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