domenica 19 aprile 2015

16 Awesome New Books To Read This Spring

Spring into reading a new book.

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God Help the Child by Toni Morrison

Knopf

Toni Morrison

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This Is How Australia's Immigration Policies Are Being Praised Overseas

“Australians are like British people but with balls of steel, can-do brains, tiny hearts and whacking great gunships.”

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Farage, whose right-wing UKIP party is hoping to substantially increase its vote in next month's UK election, has put Australia's migration model at the centre of his plans to control who comes to the UK from around the European Union.

On Sunday he blamed EU leaders for the current situation, which has seen hundreds of people die in the Mediterranean this year trying to flee war-torn Libya.

The latest disaster saw 650 people drown off the Libyan coast yesterday.

At the UKIP party launch on the outskirts of London last week, Farage laid out plans for an "Australian-style points based immigration system", which he argues would crackdown on low-skilled migrants coming to the UK.

The Australian system would grant visas to skilled migrants and takes into account their age, work experience and health.

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If The Students At Hogwarts Had Superlatives

Who do you think kisses like a dementor at Hogwarts?

Candace Lowry / BuzzFeed, Thinkstock, Warner Bros.

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19 Disney Characters Spotted At Sydney Fashion Week

“Who is that girl I see staring straight back at me?”

Aladdin walking the runway for Ashkar Line.

Getty Images / Disney

Mulan walking the runway for Tome.

Getty Images / Disney

Flora, the Sleeping Beauty fairy, walking the runway for Bondi Bather.

Getty Images / Disney

Minnie Mouse, spotted on Street Style wearing a Chanel brooch and a Louis Vuitton purse.

Getty Images / Disney

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The Net Neutrality Debate Is Coming To Australia

Optus CEO opens a can of worms.

Optus CEO Allan Lew has hinted that he'd like to charge streaming services such as Netflix, Presto and Stan extra to ensure a quality service.

Lew made the comments at the Commsday summit in Sydney on Monday morning, where he said Optus would consider charging services a premium fee "to ensure that the optimised, or the best customer experience is achieved by the end user.

"We need to make sure that the [over-the-top providers] — whether they're Netflix or others — understand that to preserve the network quality and give you an HD video in the homes, they need to work collaboratively with us," Fairfax reports.

At the same time, Lew, the CEO of one of Australia's biggest ISPs, said Optus would "continue to preserve Net Neutrality."

Roslan Rahman / Getty Images

Just last week Netflix re-affirmed its commitment to Net Neutrality.

In an investor note during its quarterly earnings report last week, Netflix said it regretted a deal it gave to Optus and iiNet customers which allowed them to stream as many shows as they wanted without it counting towards their monthly data limit.

Netflix said this was a violation of its belief in Net Neutrality.

Getty Images Latam / Getty Images

What is Net Neutrality?

Net neutrality, or the Open Internet, is the concept that all traffic and data online should be treated equally, regardless of which ISP a user is signed up to. Without it, ISPs would be able to charge users more for better internet speeds, essentially dividing the internet into fast and slow lanes.

It may also let ISPs give preference to certain websites, such as a site that the ISP itself owns or makes money from.

It’s a big deal in the US where some lawmakers have been trying to allow internet providers to do just that.

BuzzFeed News has contacted Optus and Netflix for comment.

House of Cards / Netflix

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World Shames Australia For "Unfair" Emissions Target

China, US challenge Australian government’s commitment to climate action.

Some of the world's biggest emitters are openly criticising Australia's 5% emissions reduction target, accusing the Abbott government of having a "low level of ambition".

China, the European Union, the United States, Switzerland, Brazil and Saudi Arabia lodged 36 questions to the UN for Australia to answer, ahead of the December global climate summit in Paris.

23 countries received queries under the UN's Multilateral Assessment Process, but the ABC reports Australia faces more questions than any other country.

Hamish Blair / Getty Images

CBS / mygifdump.tumblr.com

Australia has committed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 5% below 2000 levels by 2020, and has not yet set any targets beyond 2020.

This compares to a U.S. emissions target of 26-28% below 2000 levels by 2025. China's target is 40-45% below 2005 levels by 2020 and Brazil has committed to 36-39% below business-as-usual levels by 2020.

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Dreamworks

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12 Reasons Australia Is Actually Better When It Rains

Straight up take your sun and sand away from me.

OK - So we all know that Australia is all about the beach and having a laugh and straight up drinking in the sun but lemme just quote Shirley Manson right now:

And I'm pretty sure I'm not alone here.

Garbage VEVO / Via youtube.com

The rain gives you an excuse not to have to deal with other people. Legit just don't go outside. Try it, it's awesome. I do it literally every day.

Revolution Studios

So there's even less chance of running into someone you don't like.

NBC

Also, like, there is ~literally~ nothing better than sitting inside in the warmth all cuddled up while it rains outside.

NBC

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These Baby White Tigers Are Adorably Majestic

Four white tiger cubs have been born at the Tobu Zoo in Japan, and they’ll make their public debut this week.

Four white tigers will soon make their debut at a Japanese zoo and — spoiler alert — they're adorable.

Yoshikazu Tsuno / Getty Images

The male cubs were born Jan. 25 at the Tobu Zoo in Miyashiro, which is north of Tokyo.

Yoshikazu Tsuno / Getty Images

The playful li'l guys will make their public debut on Wednesday.

Yoshikazu Tsuno / Getty Images

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Meet The Man Who Is Helping Redefine Modern Horror

Jason Blum, the producer behind Paranormal Activity, Insidious, and The Purge, has found a way to turn low-budget horror into mainstream success.

Shelley Hennig in Unfriended.

Universal Pictures

Jason Blum.

Rich Polk / Getty

Jason Blum is producing some of Hollywood's riskiest films, even though he doesn't see it that way. As the founder and CEO of Blumhouse Productions, he's found a unique niche by producing low-budget horror that often has mainstream appeal.

"I think the lower the budget is, the more you charge forward with new ideas, as opposed to modeling movies on prior successes," Blum told BuzzFeed News in an interview at The Redbury, a boutique hotel in the heart of Hollywood.

Several of his films — including Paranormal Activity, The Purge, and Insidious — have launched successful multimillion-dollar franchises, and his latest production could do the same. Unfriended, which is now in theaters, is a found footage ghost story set entirely inside a computer. The film follows a group of high school friends being terrorized on Skype and Facebook by their dead friend, Laura (Heather Sossaman), who killed herself after an embarrassing video of her drunken escapades went viral.

"The low budget is a crucial part of our business," Blum said. "If Unfriended were a $20 million movie it never would get made."

Blumhouse caps films at around $4 million. (Sequels tend to be higher budget, given the proven success of the first and the need to draw back the original talent.) Even if a film only gets a limited release, Blumhouse will almost always at least make back their investment. It's a tactic that allows Blum and his colleagues to bet on more innovative projects.

"Hollywood has a real tendency of, Oh, this movie worked. Let's make a movie like it. And I like to push our company to do the opposite, which is, You know what? Let's try new stuff," Blum said. "I'm able to give filmmakers final cut and say, 'Do what you wanna do,' because we don't actually have that much risk. I couldn't be as loose if we were making movies for $10 million."

The fact that Blumhouse films embrace high-concept ideas has given them an edge with horror fans and, to some extent, critics: The original Paranormal Activity earned an 83% on Rotten Tomatoes, while Insidious has a respectable 66%. And Unfriended looks to be on a similar track.

"The two things that draw me to movies, these days anyway, are: Is it unique and is it scary? I think those things are linked," he said. "Does it feel like something we haven't seen before, or are there aspects that feel like aspects we haven't seen before? Does it really get under your skin? And I feel like those boxes were very checked with Unfriended."

To better understand the Blumhouse strategy, BuzzFeed News asked Blum for insight into some of his biggest successes and failures, and what he's learned from each.

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After Finding Out Her Fiancé Had Weeks To Live, This Woman Planned Their Perfect Wedding In Just Six Days

The wedding took place in the hospital’s chapel, complete with a personal message from Ed Sheeran to “drink a lot, dance a lot, and have a lot of sex.”

When Laura Jordan found out her fiancé Jack had only weeks to live, she planned the perfect wedding in just six days.

Jack, 23, had battled leukaemia since 2013 and undergone multiple rounds of intensive chemotherapy.

Caters News Agency

Jack had proposed to Laura, 24, three months ago – and the pair had expected to marry after Jack's recovery.

Caters News Agency

The couple, from Brixham, Devon, first met at school as teenagers, and began a relationship in 2012 when Laura would frequently visit the corner shop where Jack worked.

"I knew the minimum spend on a debit card was five pounds," Laura told Caters News. "So I purposely never took cash so I could take longer choosing things in the shop that would equal over that amount."

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Rick Perry Invites Conservative Journalists To Off-The-Record Happy Hour

The former Texas governor summons Washington’s right-leaning opinion-makers ahead of a likely 2016 campaign announcement.

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Rick Perry's aides are quietly inviting conservative journalists to an off-the-record happy hour in Washington next week — an event that some invitees believe will serve as prelude to the former Texas governor's presidential campaign announcement.

Emails from the Perry camp — one of which was passed along to BuzzFeed News — instruct recipients that they must RSVP to learn the exact location of the April 21 gathering, and include a note that the invitation is "not transferable."

Writers at the Washington Examiner, TheBlaze, Breitbart News, Townhall, and RedState, among others, have received invites.

At least some of the invitations were sent by Erin DeLullo, a Republican fundraiser and operative who recently joined Perry's political action committee as "national coalitions director." DeLullo — who has worked for conservative insurgents like Sen. Ted Cruz and former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli — specializes in connecting Tea Party-aligned candidates with well-funded, influential institutions on the right, like Club for Growth. Her portfolio will also apparently include working to generate buzz for Perry in Washington's conservative press, where many harbor doubts about his 2016 prospects.

Perry entered the last presidential race to much fanfare in late 2011, but his repeated viral gaffes and painfully clumsy debate performances — combined with an immigration position that some conservatives found heretical — led to one of the more spectacular meltdowns of the 2012 Republican primaries. And while his record of job-creation in Texas and deep ties to the Religious Right make him a well-regarded figure to many in his party, Perry's flame-out continues to loom large.

"There's huge skepticism," said one of the conservative journalists invited to the happy hour, adding, "Everyone likes him, but they don't think he has a shot."

The invitee said Perry's happy hour will likely be aimed at persuading conservative opinion-makers that his imminent presidential bid is a credible one. But he believes Cruz's entry into the race gives Perry little room to maneuver. "Most have already cast their lot with a tough-talking conservative from Texas. And it's not Perry," he said.

DeLullo did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Good evening,

I wanted to invite you to an off the record happy hour with Governor Perry on April 21st from 4:00-5:00pm.

Please rsvp by April 19th and I'll send you the location.

This invitation is not transferable

Feel free to contact me with any questions.

Best,

Erin DeLullo

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How A Philly Mom’s Legal Battle Rallied Pro-Gun Advocates

Shaneen Allen and her family were only a few minutes away from the hotel when they were pulled over by a New Jersey state police officer. “What are you doing out here?” Allen said the officer asked. “Where are you coming from?”

As Allen dug through her purse for her drivers license and vehicle registration, she realized that in it was the new handgun she had just purchased — and applied for a license to carry — in her home state of Pennsylvania. She told the officer about the weapon, she said, and the officer snatched the purse away from her. The officer called for backup, setting into motion Allen’s months-long battle to avoid being locked up for years under New Jersey’s strict gun laws.

“I was shaking and crying and asking him, ‘What did I do?’” Allen said. “And he wouldn’t answer me.”

The case made a minor celebrity of Allen, a 28-year-old black single mother who legally bought a handgun in Philadelphia but was arrested after unwittingly violating New Jersey’s strict gun laws. Similar to how tough drug laws designed for taking down kingpins ended up being used against low-level offenders, harsh gun laws can ensnare people like Allen, who are merely trying to protect themselves.

Allen’s case was left largely untouched by liberals, who strongly support strict gun laws, as do most blacks. Indeed, some pro-gun rhetoric contains naked appeals to white fears of rampaging nonwhites. Yet it's blacks who make up almost half — 47% — of all people convicted on federal firearms offenses, according to data from the U.S. Sentencing Commission. And that figure doesn't include black Latinos.

"Gun laws, by and large, are supported on the left and opposed on the right, but those left-based laws have a disparate impact on the black community,” said Adam Bates, a policy analyst with Cato Institute’s Project on Criminal Justice.

Allen’s biggest champions came from the political right: gun rights advocates, conservative lawmakers, and ultimately, Republican New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who pardoned her two weeks ago.

Second Amendment enthusiasts are hoping to use her case to relax gun laws in New Jersey. “Unlike many others who are understandably scared about this draconian sentence and plead guilty, she stood her ground and fought it,” said Evan Nappen, the New Jersey-based attorney who represented Allen after she was given his name by a cellmate. Nappen describes himself on his website as someone who “has dedicated his life to fighting for gun rights and honest sportsmen.”

Though most gun control advocates agree with Christie’s decision to pardon Allen, they’re wary of efforts to position her case as the fulcrum of a broader attempt to roll back New Jersey’s gun laws.

“I think they had an agenda and the agenda was to force New Jersey to rescind its laws about conceal and carry and I don’t think it’s appropriate,” said Rev. Bob Moore, executive of the Coalition for Peace Action, a New Jersey-based gun control advocacy organization. “I’m in favor of discretion in the enforcement.”

Allen wasn’t — and isn’t — looking to become the face of gun rights advocacy in New Jersey. “I don’t really pay that any mind. I’m not really into politics and that kind of stuff,” she told BuzzFeed News. She just wanted protection after being robbed twice in a month while getting off work late at night.

Courtesy of Shaneen Allen / Via Facebook: lilbitz24

It was the second robbery, in September 2013, that convinced her to buy a handgun. While at work, she was emptying trash into one of the dumpsters behind a Wawa convenience store near the South Street District in Philadelphia when an unidentified man approached her, she said, put a knife to her neck, and told her to give him everything she had in her purse and pockets. Just then a car came down the street, and the man ran away into the night.

“From there, I was spooked,” Allen said.

A friend who had a license to carry a firearm told Allen she needed to protect herself, so she applied for a carry permit. She settled on the Bersa Thunder .380 because it was small enough to fit in her purse, she said. The gun and the expensive hollow-point bullets cost her about $600, not an insignificant sum for a woman who cared for her two boys — Niaire, 11, and Sincere, 4 — by shuffling between three jobs.

But the diminutive Allen — she’s not much taller than 5’2” and weighs around 120 pounds — needed something. She worked as a phlebotomist, bartender, and Wawa’s clerk, often getting off of work at 4 a.m. before picking up her kids at a 24-hour day care center. Those hours often put her in harm’s way, especially in the busy club districts where she often worked late into the night.

“It was hectic,” Allen said. “I barely had time for my kids. The only time I had them was at night, picking them up.”

Hoping to finally spend some quality time with them, she made plans to celebrate Sincere’s birthday over the weekend in a hotel room in Atlantic City. A few days later, on Oct. 1, 2013, Allen decided to go to New Jersey to decorate the room, and Sincere’s father, Desmond Boyd, came along for the ride. That’s when they were stopped by the New Jersey police and arrested after Allen revealed that she was armed.

Allen and Boyd were taken in cuffs — Allen said she had them on her wrists and ankles — to a nearby jail, where they were released after six hours. Allen was charged with unlawful possession of a firearm and possession of hollow-point bullets, while Boyd was let go without any charges. The possession of hollow-point bullets in New Jersey is restricted to the home or the target range because the bullets expand when they enter the body, causing extensive damage.

A week later, Allen returned to Atlantic County to apply for a pretrial intervention program that would spare her the mandatory three-year prison sentence which is automatic under New Jersey law. The decision would be made by Atlantic County Prosecutor James McClain.

While Allen waited to hear back from McClain on the status of her application, she returned to her grueling three-job schedule.

That routine was interrupted in April 2014 when Allen went to interview for another bartending job, just northwest of Philadelphia in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. As Allen tried to pull out of the parking lot, a police vehicle blocked her into her spot and three officers approached her. They told Allen that Atlantic County had issued a fugitive warrant for her arrest; prosecutors declined to explain to BuzzFeed News why they filed a warrant against Allen.

Again, she would have to go to jail. They cuffed her and transported her to the Montgomery County jail.

“Jersey wants you and they want you bad,” Allen said one of the officers told her. “It’s not a pretty sight, where you’re going. Get ready.”

She would spend three weeks there, placed in a cell with 65 women. There were 3:30 a.m. bunk checks. A half hour outside per day. Uniforms that constantly smelled of mildew, she said. And the food was so bad that Allen claims she refused the meals, giving her trays to the pregnant inmates and eating only apples and oranges. She said she ended up losing 15 pounds.

Eventually, at the end of a nearly monthlong stay, Atlantic County officers came to transport her to their jail. On the two-hour drive into New Jersey, Allen saw her neighborhood through the backseat window and hopelessness started to well up inside of her.

“It made me want to jump out of that window,” Allen said. “It was too much. I was just wondering if this was ever going to be over.”

Her stint in the Atlantic County jail wasn’t much easier. The phone calls to her boys, who stayed with Boyd, almost always ended the same: Sincere asking when she was coming home.

“I started crying and his dad took the phone,” Allen said. “That happened every time. I didn’t want to tell him a lie.”

Things seemed most bleak for Allen when the public defender told her at the courthouse that the case didn’t seem winnable. The best-case scenario might be three to five years in prison, she said. She should tell her two young sons good-bye.

“That made me go crazy,” Allen said. “I had never snapped like that — I went to the bathroom and kicked the door and everything. For her to tell me that, I was like, what?”

Courtesy of Shaneen Allen / Via Facebook: lilbitz24

Days later, Allen finally caught a break when her bunkmate recommended calling Nappen.

“He just knew it was going to turn out big,” Allen said of Nappen. His hunch was correct.

Allen was released from the Atlantic County jail after two and a half weeks, and within a couple of months, a few media outlets — many of them who cater to gun rights advocates — began publicizing her case. Donors started coming forth.

Allen and her supporters set up a Facebook page and plastered it with posts ranging from words of encouragement to links to news stories about the case to advertisements to join the NRA. Support poured in: There was a fish fry in Philadelphia, “Set Shaneen Free” T-shirts for sale online, and even billboards that read “Free Shaneen From Unfair Prosecution.”

That was around that time that many critics of New Jersey’s gun laws noticed McClain, the prosecutor, had been much more lenient in the handling of then-Baltimore Ravens star Ray Rice’s case.

While Allen waited for her next court appearance, McClain allowed Rice to enter the pretrial program after surveillance cameras in an Atlantic City hotel revealed the NFL player had punched his then-fiancee in an elevator, knocking her unconscious.

By contrast, McClain had previously denied Allen a chance to enter the same program despite receiving a recommendation for the program by its director. In a rare interview with the Press of Atlantic City, McClain denied that he’d granted any special courtesy for Rice and said his options were limited because of the differences in the respective charges for Rice and Allen.

It was then that New Jersey lawmakers on both sides of the aisle started looking into Allen’s case. Remarkably, they all seemed to agree: Allen caught a raw deal.

“Carrying a gun is worse than beating your wife? Give me a break,”said Assemblyman Ronald Dancer, a Republican from Cream Ridge.

In August, Dancer responded by introducing “Shaneen’s Law,” a proposal that would give judges discretion when dealing with out-of-state gun owners as long as they don't have a criminal record and aren't associated with street gangs. The bill will be considered in the state Legislature this spring and is expected to pass.

In September, at the behest of the state’s Democratic Senate president, the attorney general’s office investigated Allen’s case. They later issued to McClain a clarification of the law, noting that “imprisonment is neither necessary nor appropropriate to serve the interests of justice and protect public safety.”

Citing that clarification, McClain allowed Allen to enter into the pretrial program on Sept. 24. McClain’s office declined comment to BuzzFeed News, instead referring to a press release from that day. “In the next few weeks, I will review similar cases that are pending within our jurisdiction and make appropriate decisions following the application of the factors set out in the clarification,” McClain said in the release.

“Shaneen had nothing to hide — she said what the facts were,” Nappen said. Through this entire ordeal, the only one who took the Fifth [Amendment] was the prosecutor.”

New Jersey’s NAACP leadership expressed concern about how Allen’s case was being handled but didn’t take an active role in promoting her case or providing legal support. Allen would have had to fill out an authorization form with the civil rights organization, leaders say, for them to get involved in her defense. “You have to go through the proper protocol,” said Melvin Warren, the criminal justice chair for the New Jersey NAACP.

But, as Bates mentioned, the NAACP would make an awkward ally for Allen given its history of support for gun control, including its federal lawsuit against more than 100 handgun manufacturers, distributors, and importers more than 15 years ago for knowingly allowing its products to fall into the hands of criminals. That suit was dismissed in 2003.

“It’s good for the governor to give her a pardon,” said Warren, a former police detective and prosecutor in Newark. “But New Jersey has some really good gun laws.”

Photograph by Charles Mostoller for BuzzFeed News

Beyond New Jersey, Allen’s case could have broader implications for Christie as he considers running for president.

Christie’s wavering views on gun possession laws will come under increased scrutiny if and when he seeks the GOP nomination. In 2009, Christie said on Fox News that New Jersey had “a handgun problem.” But he’s softened publicly in recent years, vetoing a gun control bill in 2012 that would have banned gun magazines with more than 10 rounds of ammunition, and saying in December that the state’s gun control laws might be “a little too strict.”

He declined an opportunity to clarify his position on gun control to BuzzFeed News through a spokesperson. “If something develops on that, we’ll move it your way,” his spokesperson Brian Murray said in an email.

Christie didn’t waste an opportunity to turn Allen’s pardon into a photo opportunity — he posed for two pictures while signing the document at his desk. Earlier that day, Allen said, she also had a brief phone call with the governor.

“It wasn’t a hard decision,” she recalled Christie telling her. “Hopefully now you can move on with your life and go back to work. I didn’t like the fact that this was holding you back.”

Now back in her native Philadelphia and caring for her two sons, Allen doesn’t have much interest in politics or whether Christie is positioning himself for another job.

She’s now looking for one of her own.

Most of her jobs dried up as she endured legal limbo, and she said one regular employer — Atlantic Diagnostic Laboratories — fired her in July after her case went public. Atlantic Diagnostics confirmed that Allen worked there but declined to comment further.

Allen said recent efforts to return to work there were rebuffed. “I called them recently and they were like, ‘You can get unemployment,’” Allen said. “I don’t want unemployment. I want to work.”

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Slack Is Swept Up In Silicon Valley's Gold Rush

Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield says he didn’t need to raise an extra $160 million. But he did it anyway.

Michal Cizek / Getty Images

To understand the frothiness of Silicon Valley, just ask Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield why he raised $160 million in additional capital for his workplace messaging startup.

It's not that he needed the money. Butterfield said Slack hadn't even touched the $120 million it raised in October.

But he felt he needed to tap investors anyway.

"It would almost be a bad sign if a company isn't raising money now, because the conditions are so good," Butterfield, 42, told BuzzFeed News. "It's getting to the point now where every company that can raise money is doing it just because the market is so good."

Slack's new funding round, which it officially announced on Thursday, and which gives it a $2.8 billion valuation, vividly shows how the venture capital market is feeding on its own inertia. The hottest startups are raising money largely to keep up with each other and not be seen as falling behind.

Of course, raising more money at a higher valuation creates a greater risk that a company could fall short of its investors' expectations. But in a sense, this risk is itself contributing to the funding boom.

Butterfield said Slack's new capital was "a decent hedge against a change in the macro environment," meaning it insulates the company against the possibility of a slowdown in the financing market. If investors stop being so generous in the future, Slack will be able to sit on the sidelines with its cash pile until things get better.

Butterfield added that Slack's particular business model could probably weather a downturn. The startup gets a predictable stream of revenue from companies that subscribe to its group chat service for their employees. A weak economy, Butterfield said, wouldn't hurt that setup too much.

"I don't wish that the economy turns to shit," he said, "but we would be in a great position if that were to happen."

For now, Slack and other startups are riding a wave of investor enthusiasm. Raising money at a higher valuation — Slack's latest round more than doubles the $1.1 billion valuation it achieved last fall — is almost as much a marketing decision as a financial one, helping a young company attract customers and employees.

"It increases the perception of the validity of the business," Butterfield said, creating a "positive feedback loop." A higher valuation helps especially when courting big corporations that are less familiar with the latest tech trends, he said.

Fundamentally, a big valuation is just a big bet by investors that a company will produce a large return. Asked whether Slack would pursue an initial public offering or a sale to a larger company, Butterfield said it was too early to make that call, since the company's product debuted only last year.

But he said he and other insiders were doing fine.

"I'm going to make more money than I'll ever need," Butterfield said, "no matter what the outcome is at this point."

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Is This Doctors App A Digital Classroom — Or Medical Porn?

The Figure 1 app allows doctors to share and discuss graphic photos of their patients — and allows the public to gawk at them. Doctors and hospitals should be worried about the app’s legal and ethical risks, experts say. Warning: Graphic images.

Figure 1

A few years ago, when Joshua Landy and two colleagues wanted to create an app for doctors to share photos of their patients, their first step was hiring a lawyer.

They were right to be concerned. In the United States, strict so-called HIPAA laws make it illegal for doctors, hospitals, or insurance companies to divulge anyone's personal medical information without consent. Similar laws exist in Canada and other countries.

But these privacy rules do not extend to photos of unidentifiable people. So Landy's team created tools within their app to help doctors remove any personal details, such as faces or tattoos.

Today the app, called Figure 1, is perhaps better known as the "Instagram for doctors." It has hundreds of thousands of users in nearly 100 countries. Doctors post photos — such as graphic shots of rashes, gallstones, oozing infections, and an arm that had been caught in a tortilla slicer, just to name a few — with short captions sometimes noting the patient's age and sex. And they make comments on others' photos, ranging from quick-and-dirty diagnoses to off-color jokes. The images are viewed more than 3 million times a day.

More than 40% of all U.S. medical students use the app, according to Landy, a testament to its power as a teaching tool. But he says it's useful in the clinic too. On Thursday, Figure 1 announced a new feature, called "Paging," that allows doctors to instantly request specialists to comment on specific photos.

"It creates what we're hoping will be a network of hundreds of thousands of health care professionals who can gain access to the knowledge and experience of specialists at any time, anywhere in the world," Landy, an intensive care doctor in Toronto, told BuzzFeed News.

But many experts in health law and ethics, as well as many doctors, feel uneasy about Figure 1 — especially as its network grows. Anyone can download the app and view the photos, and Landy said non–health care professionals make up about 10% of users. Critics say that doctors who post photos may open themselves (and their hospitals) up to legal liability, whether for violating patient privacy or for suggesting an inappropriate diagnosis.

The biggest issue is that doctors don't necessarily ask their patients' permission before snapping their photos and posting them to the app. When doctors upload a photo, a button pops up that will lead them to consent forms. But the app does not store them or collect any data on how often they are used.

And even when patients officially consent, it's not clear whether they truly understand how widely their photos will be shared.

"I'm not sure why this is open to the public," Nicolas Terry, a law professor at Indiana University who specializes in health, told BuzzFeed News. "Because I think that does pose the question: Is this a professional site, or is this thinly disguised medical porn?"

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9 Photos Of Jeb Bush In The 1970s

The prospective presidential candidate had long, wavy hair and a mustache.

Optional soundtrack…

w.soundcloud.com

George Bush Presidential Library and Museum

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Senator Backs Placing A Woman's Image On The $20 Bill

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen introduced the bill Tuesday. She wants to a panel of citizens to suggest a woman in history for the honor.

The nonprofit Women On 20s has been campaigning to replace Andrew Jackson with a woman on the $20 bill by 2020. Now Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat from New Hampshire, has also introduced legislation with the same goal.

The nonprofit Women On 20s has been campaigning to replace Andrew Jackson with a woman on the $20 bill by 2020. Now Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat from New Hampshire, has also introduced legislation with the same goal.

The measure introduced Tuesday, which will first go to the Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, calls for the Secretary of the Treasury to convene a panel of citizens.

They would make recommendations to the Treasury about featuring a woman on the $20 bill.

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So far, nearly a quarter million people have cast votes on the nonprofit's website in the final round for who they will nominate for the bill: Harriet Tubman, Eleanor Roosevelt, Rosa Parks, or Wilma Mankiller.

So far, nearly a quarter million people have cast votes on the nonprofit's website in the final round for who they will nominate for the bill: Harriet Tubman, Eleanor Roosevelt, Rosa Parks, or Wilma Mankiller.

Shaheen doesn't have a particular woman in mind, Nickel said. Asking a panel to decide is a method that has precedent in the 1920s, the last time the Treasury chose new portraits for U.S. currency.

Women On 20s

Women On 20s will still accept votes as a separate initiative from Shaheen's and keep working toward their ultimate goal of sending a petition to the White House for consideration.

Changing currency does not require congressional approval, but Women On 20s is still glad to hear their mission keeps spreading.

"We were very pleased to have Sen. Shaheen's support because we know the White House would probably like to know that Congress is behind this," Women On 20s executive director Susan Ades Stone told BuzzFeed News.

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At Least 60 People Were Cited At 4/20 Celebrations In Denver

Pot may be legal in Denver, but you still can’t smoke it in public.

As people in Denver toked up in anticipation of 4/20, police sent out reminders that smoking in public or selling it outside of retail pot shops is still illegal.

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On Saturday, about 60 people were cited for violating Colorado's marijuana law, the Denver Police Department said.

Celebrations took place around the area over the weekend as April 20 approached. It was the second unofficial pot holiday since Colorado approved recreation use of marijuana.

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27 Things People Who Went To High School In Texas Will Understand

No, you didn’t ride a horse to school.

Regardless of where you went to school, football fever was a very real thing.

Remember in Texas it's not a sport, it's a religion.

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Which was great, because pep rallies were an excuse to get out early and show some school spirit.

Whether you had school spirit or not.

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And homecoming week meant mums GALORE, along with the nonstop sound of cowbells in the hall.

One mum to rule them all.

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Whataburger was your go-to spot to eat after school...

"Just how you like it."

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Bruce Jenner To Talk About Personal Journey, Family In Diane Sawyer Interview

Jenner says family members are “the only ones I’m concerned with” in a new promo clip for the interview, which is set to air Friday on ABC.

Family members are the only concern of Bruce Jenner, the Olympian and reality star told ABC's Diane Sawyer in an interview set to air Friday.

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The network has been slowly teasing the topics of the exclusive two-hour interview, in which BuzzFeed News has reported Jenner will discuss being transgender for the first time. In the most recent promo, which aired Sunday, Jenner says family members are the only concern.

"I can't let myself hurt them," Jenner says.

Jenner also appears to reflect on years in the public eye, first as an athlete, then in Keeping Up With The Kardashians.

"It made me who I am,"Jenner says.

ABC is promising a "far-reaching" interview, though the network has not said anything about Jenner's gender identity. Rather, the promo material touts Jenner's decisions, future, and journey.

"My whole life has been getting me ready for this," Jenner says.

"Bruce Jenner — The Interview" airs 9 p.m. ET Friday on ABC.

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LINK: The Importance Of Bruce Jenner’s Very Public Transition

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How Severe Is California's Drought Really?

The drought is breaking records and forcing Californians to make hard decisions. But understanding its severity is a complicated process that yields gloomy results.

A visitor walks near the receding waters at Folsom Lake in January.

Robert Galbraith / Reuters

In California, April really is the cruelest month.

At a time when the Golden State's reservoirs should be brimming and the snowpack deep, much of California is instead parched and dry. Gov. Jerry Brown has announced historic mandatory water restrictions on urban areas, and some are wondering if people and business are about to start fleeing.

But understanding the true severity of California's drought is harder to pin down and depends a lot on how it's defined, according to scientists who spoke with BuzzFeed News. To understand what's going on it's easiest to break the drought down into two very general categories: First, how much water California has in an absolute sense, and second, how much California needs for all of its people.

You may have heard that the current drought is California's worst in 1,200 years. That oft-cited figure comes from a paper by Daniel Griffin, of the University of Minnesota, and Kevin Anchukaitis, of the Woods Hole Oceanic Institution.

In conversations with BuzzFeed News, both researchers explained that they came to that conclusion after studying tree ring samples, as well as using what's known as the Palmer Drought Severity Index, or PDSI. Basically the PDSI measures soil moisture as it compares to what is "normal" for a particular place.