Watch this joyous pup jump into a gigantic leaf pile

Stella the bouncy, joyful Labrador from Maine is known for her love of fall foliage — more specifically, jumping into big ol’ piles of leaves.

Since 2014, Stella’s owners have been uploading videos of her gleefully jumping into enormous leaf piles, and this year is no different.

In the video shared on Stella’s Instagram she can be seen being let out of a car and shooting straight into her autumnal, leafy abyss. It is lovely and it will make you forget your woes.

And, if you’re interested in seeing more of Stella’s interactions with leaves, just take a look at her Instagram — it’s chock full of them!

Here she is in November of last year, soaking up all the good leaf action:

And here she is more recently, presiding over her massive piles of leaves.

Here’s to another year of Stella’s leaf diving!

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Jimmy Butler Trade Rumors: ‘No Inclination’ by T-Wolves to Accept Rockets’ Offer

MINNEAPOLIS, MN - OCTOBER 19: Jimmy Butler #23 of the Minnesota Timberwolves dribbles the ball against the Cleveland Cavaliers during the game on October 19, 2018 at the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Timberwolves defeated the Cavaliers 131-123. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images)

Hannah Foslien/Getty Images

ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported Thursday the Houston Rockets were making another run at four-time All-Star Jimmy Butler by offering the Minnesota Timberwolves a package that included four first-round picks, but it doesn’t appear that proposal is going to get a deal done.

Per Stadium’s Shams Charania, Minnesota has shown “no inclination” to jump at Houston’s latest offer:

Shams Charania @ShamsCharania

Minnesota is showing no inclination to move on Houston offer of two injured players and four first-rounders for Jimmy Butler, per sources. On @WatchStadium: https://t.co/NnXkMwXd9N

Charania noted Marquese Chriss and Brandon Knight would also go to the Timberwolves in the proposed trade. Both Chriss (ankle) and Knight (knee) are currently injured.

Per 5 Eyewitness News’ Darren Wolfson, Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor revealed during the offseason that Butler turned down a four-year extension in the $110 million range. Taylor added in an interview with ESPN 1500 that Butler was “really appreciative” but believed it made more financial sense to wait until next summer to sign a long-term deal.

However, Butler requested a trade during the offseason. And that went public a week before training camp opened in September, costing Minnesota leverage in a potential trade since it seems highly unlikely he will re-sign after the season.

Wojnarowski reported earlier this month the T-Wolves and Miami Heat were closing in on a trade, even exchanging medical information. Talks fell apart, though, as the Timberwolves pushed for more in a return package.

Now, the Rockets are reportedly the most aggressive team in trade talks. Houston’s latest proposal includes the maximum number of first-round picks permitted by league rules, as teams can only trade future picks up to seven years in advance and not deal away first-round picks in back-to-back years.

Houston was knocking on the doorstep of the NBA Finals a season ago, losing to the Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference Finals in seven games after Chris Paul suffered a hamstring injury late in Game 5 with his team up 3-2. The Rockets lost Trevor Ariza and Luc Mbah a Moute in free agency this past offseason but did acquire 10-time All-Star Carmelo Anthony.

With Paul, Clint Capela, Eric Gordon and reigning MVP James Harden, the Rockets believe Butler could be the missing piece.

Earlier this month, Butler was involved in a heated practice that saw him confront Timberwolves players and general manager Scott Layden. He has been all business since, averaging 24.8 points on 53.3 percent shooting, 5.3 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 3.8 steals for the 2-3 Wolves.

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Tajik dissidents attempt to challenge ruling class from Poland

Warsaw, Poland – To human rights campaigners, Alim Sherzamonov is a civil society activist.

But in his native Tajikistan, he is considered an extremist.

Sherzamonov is from Khorog, in eastern Tajikistan’s Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region, which borders Afghanistan, and is a local opposition leader.

Tensions between the Tajik government in Dushanbe and the people of Gorno-Badakhshan run high. Demonstrations six years ago turned deadly as the army and local armed forces clashed.

Like other Tajik opposition dissidents, Sherzamonov fled Tajikistan for Poland.

“We hope that Polish authorities will help us endorse our plight,” said Sherzamonov, who reached the Eastern European country last year.

In early September, he was appointed as a deputy leader of Tajik Opposition Alliance – a coalition of four Tajik dissident parties and organisations: the Forum of Tajik Freethinkers; The Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan (IRPT); the Association of Central Asian Migrants, and the Reforms and Development in Tajikistan.

They represent a broad section of Tajik society, including secular and traditional figures, and are based in Poland.

Jamshed Yorov, a lawyer from Dushanbe, is also among the Tajiks living in Poland. He was detained several times in his homeland on various charges before he escaped to Poland. His brother meanwhile, Buzurgmehr Yorov, a human rights lawyer, was sentenced to 28 years in prison for defending political dissidents from the banned Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan (IRPT).

Shabnam Hudoidodova is an independent human rights activist. Hudoidova was one of hundreds of thousands of Tajik citizens who left for Russia seeking more economic freedom.

In Saint Petersburg, she joined Group 24, a dissident movement, and became active on social media. Group 24 was founded in Moscow in 2012, but banned in Tajikistan – which considered it an “extremist” organisation – two years later.

Hudoidodova told Al Jazeera that Tajikistan had filed an international warrant for her arrest through Interpol because of her social media posts about women’s rights.

In 2015, she was detained by Belarusian authorities and imprisoned in Belarus after she tried to escape to Poland.

“I was imprisoned for eight months, uncertain of my fate,” she said. Human Rights Watch and Belarusian NGO Vyasna worked on her case and she was later released and granted asylum in Poland.

‘Banned’ at home

Tajik President Emomali Rahmon has run the country for ore than 25 years.

Today, there are around 500 Tajiks in Poland.

“This number includes Tajik citizens who are in possession of a valid temporary residence permit,” Jakub Dudziak, a spokesman of Polish Office for Foreigners, told Al Jazeera.

The figure doesn’t include Tajiks in Poland on a tourist visa.

Many apply for refuge in Poland because EU law requires migrants to claim asylum in the first port of entry.

But there are also other reasons.

Some Tajik refugees speak Russian – a Slavic language like Polish – because of their country’s Soviet heritage.

“Some of them stay in Poland because it is easier to overcome the language barrier,” said Muhammadjon Kabirov, a Poland-based Tajik who runs Eurasian Dialogue, an NGO helping newcomers adjust and integrate into Polish society.

Before moving to Warsaw, Kabirov managed an independent TV channel in Russia.

In 2016, upon the request of Tajik security services, it was closed and Kabirov and his wife sought refuge outside of Russia.

Muhiddin Kabiri, leader of the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan – which is also banned for “extremism”, told Al Jazeera via Skype that the National Alliance of Tajikistan plans to nurture a new political landscape and offer an alternative to out-of-touch autocrats by a mixture of pressure and dialogue.

“We want to become the political force that will represent and endorse interests of Tajik diaspora abroad,” said Kabiri, who lives in Western Europe.

Muhamadjon Kabirov said some Tajiks stay in Poland because they are able to speak Russian, a Slavic language that has some overlap with Polish [Courtesy: Muhamadjon Kabirov]

The IRPT is one of the leading political movements behind the new opposition coalition and the most controversial.

The Tajik Supreme Court outlawed its activity in September 2015.

Almost all of its members, including Kabiri, were placed on Interpol’s wanted list.

In November 2017, Russia’s Interfax agency reported that around 2,000 people were on the Interpol list.

Eugene Chausovsky, senior Eurasia analyst at consulting firm Stratfor, said while Tajikistan does face some security issues sharing a border with Afghanistan, and after the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant recently claimed an attack on foreign cyclists, the threat is often exaggerated for political purposes. The government in Dushanbe, he noted, blamed the IRPT for the attack on the foreign cyclists.

In a telephone conversation with Al Jazeera, a senior Tajik diplomat denounced the new alliance as an “extremist” and “terrorist” organisation.

“The Tajik government will never go into negotiations with them. This is an illegal movement,” said the diplomat, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Relations between the opposition and government remain incredibly strained.

An anticipated OSCE conference in Warsaw last month, during which representatives of the official Tajik delegation were expected to enter talks with opposition, ended in scuffle between the two sides with punches and kicks thrown. Both accused one another for the hostilities.

“It certainly polluted the political atmosphere,” an anonymous OSCE delegate told Al Jazeera.

Eurasian Dialogue’s Kabirov claimed: “The envoy who attacked us was the economic adviser to Tajik ambassador in Germany.”

According to the official Facebook page of Tajik Embassy in Germany, the envoy was appointed charge d’affaires shortly after the incident.

Rising Islamophobia in Poland

The Tajik dissident diaspora is growing at a time of rising Islamophobia and anti-refugee sentiment across Europe, especially in Poland.

Kabirov and Hudoidodova denied any presence of xenophobia or racism.

But just a few days after the National Alliance of Tajikistan was formed, far-right website Ndie.pl published stories about the organisation and activists, labelling them as “Islamists” and suggesting radicalism or militancy.

An admin for the site declined to comment to Al Jazeera, but publishing appeared to have stopped in early October.

The Polish government itself touts an anti-Muslim narrative.

On October 17, the ruling Law and Justice party released a campaign in which it threatened voters with waves of Muslim refugees if they choose to side with opposition candidates in upcoming local elections.

Since 2017, the Center for Research against Prejudice recorded a sharp rise in Islamophobia.

Muslims in Poland comprise less than 0.1 percent of the total population, but according to an IPSOS poll, ethnic Poles believe that 7 percent is Muslim.

“The [IRPT] is not a radical movement. It is a cultural mirror of Christian democratic parties in Europe,” Jamestown Foundation analyst Nurlan Aliyev told Al Jazeera.

An adviser to the Polish government, who wished to remain anonymous, told Al Jazeera: “These stereotypes that appeared in the [Ndie.pl] article were aimed at reducing the image of Tajik dissidents to that of religious fanatics. This rhetoric mimics the regime’s stance, and this is dangerous for the dissidents.”

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New suspicious packages found addressed to Cory Booker, James Clapper

Police officers respond to a suspicious package — Police are seen on the scene where a suspicious package was found in Midtown Manhattan on Friday. The package addressed to former director of National Intelligence James Clapper was found at a post office. | Kena Betancur/AFP/Getty Images

Bomb Threat

The president’s tweet came shortly before the DOJ said they have a suspect in custody, without revealing more details.

President Donald Trump suggested Friday that a wave of suspicious packages sent to his most prominent critics are an attempt to slow Republican early voting, floating the theory shortly before the Justice Department announced that one person is in custody related to the investigation.

“Republicans are doing so well in early voting, and at the polls, and now this ‘Bomb’ stuff happens and the momentum greatly slows – news not talking politics,” the president tweeted. “Very unfortunate, what is going on. Republicans, go out and vote!”

Story Continued Below

Trump’s tweet — his latest complaint about how he’s been treated unfairly during the furor over the potential explosives — came about an hour before DOJ spokeswoman Sarah Isgur Flores tweeted, “We can confirm one person is in custody. We will hold a press conference at the Department of Justice at 2:30pm ET.”

She did not provide any more information about the suspect or a motive.

Earlier on Friday morning, authorities said they had discovered two more packages sent to Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper.

Suspicious packages containing what appear to be explosive materials were sent this week to prominent critics of the president throughout the country. Friday’s discoveries marked the 11th and 12th such packages recovered.

The package to Booker was headed to the Democratic senator’s office in Camden, New Jersey, according to a person familiar with the discovery who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the information.

The FBI, in a tweet, confirmed they recovered the suspicious package to Booker in Florida.

The package addressed to Clapper was found at a post office in New York City, according to the Associated Press. It was addressed to him at CNN’s New York headquarters, where Clapper is a paid contributor.

The bureau is currently investigating at least 10 other suspicious packages, sent to several individuals who have been the target of frequent criticism from President Donald Trump, including former President Barack Obama, former Vice President Joe Biden, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) and former CIA Director John Brennan.

Brennan’s package was also addressed to him at the New York headquarters of CNN, where he does not work. The network’s New York offices were evacuated on Wednesday following the suspicious package’s discovery.

During a phone interview on CNN on Friday morning, Clapper said that “it’s not a surprise” that a suspicious package was addressed to him. He added that those who have been critical of Trump should be on “extra alert and take some precautions.”

“Whether or not this is just only intended to sow fear, intimidate, that sort of thing or they are for real,” Clapper said, “I do want to just echo one thing that John Brennan said, and that is this is not going to silence the administration’s critics.”

Critics of the president have cast blame for the flurry of suspected pipe bombs on Trump’s incendiary rhetoric directed against the media and his political opponents, suggesting that it could have encouraged someone to target the president’s opponents. The White House and Trump’s allies have dismissed such theories and some have suggested that the packages were sent by someone intending to make the president look bad in the weeks leading up to next month’s midterm elections.

In a tweet posted just after 3 a.m. Friday morning, Trump bashed CNN’s coverage of the suspicious packages and complained that he is held to an unfair standard as president that his critics are not subject to.

“Funny how lowly rated CNN, and others, can criticize me at will, even blaming me for the current spate of Bombs and ridiculously comparing this to September 11th and the Oklahoma City bombing,” Trump said in a tweet posted just after 3 a.m. “Yet when I criticize them they go wild and scream, ‘it’s just not Presidential!’”

Ryan Hutchins contributed to this report.

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5 Seconds Of Summer Do Their Best Freddie Mercury On ‘Killer Queen’ Cover

CHRIS DELMAS/AFP/Getty Images

Earlier this year, 5 Seconds of Summer reappeared on the music scene with expensive haircuts, even more expensive leather jackets, and a sleeker sound that pivoted sharply away from their pop-punk roots. The guitars were still there, but instead of heaping on the power chords, they’d amble into vibey new-wave territory or support fragile heartbreak worries.

Their Youngblood album dropped over the summer, and now, just a few months later, 5SOS have taken their decided more polished sound into the hallowed halls of operatic classic rock, covering the theatrical “Killer Queen” for the upcoming Freddie Mercury biopic Bohemian Rhapsody. It’s the second cover we’ve heard from the film after Shawn Mendes and teddy<3’s acoustic take on “Under Pressure.”

Here, Luke, Michael, Calum, and Ashton wrap their voices around each other (as they often do) to recreate the lightheaded heights Mercury achieves on the Queen classic’s chorus. It’s so faithful — both in the vocal tightness and the guitar tone — that you might briefly pretend it’s the real thing. But once the verses begin, the lonely instrumentation feels very much like Youngblood.

This particular song choice could’ve put 5SOS in a tricky spot, given its dynamic complexities. But the production here sounds very expensive, too, (and good), and it should! It’s a Queen song. As a result, it’s an excuse to throw in everything but the proverbial sink to aim for the theater rafters.

“We chose to cover, ‘Killer Queen’ because we kept hearing it while writing our third album, Youngblood, and were so enamored by the production and their early realization of the minimalist approach to the track,” the band said in an accompanying statement. “For us, the exploration of individual vocalists in a band is incredibly important and Queen helped us to see the future of how we want to sing, in addition to how we play our instruments. As a pioneer of individuality, Freddie taught us what it means to embrace the idea of truly being yourself and that’s a part of Queen that lives on in their music now, more than ever.”

Like with “Under Pressure,” proceeds from the sale of the song benefit the Mercury Phoenix Trust, which some surviving members of Queen set up after Mercury’s death to help fight HIV/AIDS. Stream 5SOS’s faithful “Killer Queen” cover above before Bohemian Rhapsody hits theaters November 2.

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‘The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina’ Review: A slow build, but worth it

'Sabrina' has arrived, just in time for the spookiest season. — ‘Sabrina’ has arrived, just in time for the spookiest season.

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By Alexis Nedd2018-10-26 13:09:05 UTC

Teen dramas often revolve around the universal experience of growing up and being forced, for the first time, to make choices that have an impact on the rest of one’s life. Whereas children don’t often have control over their futures, teens face choosing the right classes, picking the right friends, and the looming threat of college applications coming for their necks. It’s a scary and essential part of life.

In a lot of ways, The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina explores this theme to its limit and winds up being a spooky and thoughtful exploration of a young woman’s discovering her agency while also fulfilling her cosmic destiny. It just…takes a while to get there.

Far from the family friendly adventures of Sabrina The Teenage Witch, The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina sets its coming-of-age tale against the backdrop of witches living the kind of violent, debauched lives that most humans would run from screaming, which makes Sabrina (Mad Men‘s Kiernan Shipka) — the daughter of a warlock father and a human mother — an anomaly in both worlds. Sabrina’s choice of whether to live her life as a witch or as a mortal is the central conflict of the first season, and that particular conflict falls flat from the beginning.

The problem with this setup is that the show makes a rather poor case for Sabrina’s choice feeling like much of a choice at all. On one hand there is her witch life, which promises a delicious, sexy alternative to reality. The scattered glimpses of Sabrina’s coven in the first half of the show are by far its most interesting parts, so there’s little in her human life that can compare to the audience’s desire to see more of that black magic.

The scattered glimpses of Sabrina’s coven in the first half of the show are by far its most interesting parts, so there’s little in her human life that can compare to the audience’s desire to see more of that black magic.

However, somewhere in the middle of the season, just as Sabrina’s waffling over whether to go bowling with her boyfriend Harvey or acquire outstanding magical powers for free beings to grate, something clicks. Sabrina’s worlds collide and the show begins to ask more interesting questions about its own conflict. What if magic wasn’t contained to the witches of Greendale? What if the witches’ satanic church could be corrupted by human influence? What if Sabrina’s choice wasn’t ever hers to make?

And that’s when things start to really get spooky.

To say more about what happens would of course be spoiling the show’s twists and turns, but it’s worth it to say that the conflict makes the characters on both sides of the witch/human divide significantly more interesting. Only one — Sabrina’s housebound cousin Ambrose played by the luminous Chance Perdomo — has the luck and writing to be captivating from his first appearance to his last, but others like the nasty teen witch Prudence, Aunt Hilda, and Sabrina’s friends Ros and Susie grow marvelously over the course of the season.

The drama of the season’s second half is reflected in the town of Greendale itself, a place that is just across the river from the CW’s Riverdale but, if possible, even more messed up. The Chilling Adventures does a good job in making the town feel and look like a place where darkness takes permanent residence, with its incongruous reliance on coal mining (in this economy?) to the generations-long conflicts between its families. As the season goes on, Greendale reveals its secrets to the viewer in surprising and horrible ways, and it makes for some of the series’ best twists.

Readers of this review are now presented with a choice. Do you continue with your mortal life, ignorant of the witchy world awaiting you in Greendale?? Or do you choose to live deliciously and sign your soul over to The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. That choice, at least, is yours.

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Red Sox Say They Caught Dodgers Star Manny Machado Sign-Stealing in World Series

BOSTON, MA - OCTOBER 24: Manny Machado #8 of the Los Angeles Dodgers reacts after scoring a run during the fourth inning against the Boston Red Sox in Game Two of the 2018 World Series at Fenway Park on October 24, 2018 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)

Elsa/Getty Images

LOS ANGELES — Already in the spotlight in October for an assortment of reasons, Manny Machado undoubtedly will receive extra attention from the Boston Red Sox on Friday night if he reaches second base in Game 3 of the World Series.

That’s because the Sox say they caught him stealing and relaying signs from second base to hitters in the fourth inning of Game 2 Wednesday night in Boston, a 4-2 Red Sox victory.

“I wish I would have gone out there before the [Yasiel] Puig at-bat, before he came up in that situation, because I saw the whole thing,” Dana LeVangie, Boston’s pitching coach, told B/R late Wednesday night, referring to Puig’s RBI single in the fourth that lifted Los Angeles to a brief 2-1 lead.

David Freese and Machado led off the fourth with singles against Boston starter David Price, and then Chris Taylor walked, moving the runners up. That’s when Machado reached second.

From there, after Kemp drove in Freese from third with a sacrifice fly by swinging at the first pitch he saw from Price, things really got entertaining.

Steve Nesius/Associated Press

Throughout Enrique Hernandez’s nine-pitch battle with Price, Machado appeared to be relaying signs and/or location to Hernandez through an exaggerated series of motions.

As Price was coming set, Machado, leading off from second, would place his hands on his hips. Then, just before each pitch, Machado would begin a series of motions: touching his helmet with either his right or left hand, sometimes then touching or pulling the script on his jersey afterward and other times grabbing or touching the thigh/groin area of his pants.

As the at-bat unfolded, LeVangie remained in the dugout while Price fell behind Hernandez 2-1 and then 3-2 before—following three foul balls—throwing a 93 mph fastball that Hernandez swung through for strike three.

“Was it a little exaggerated? Yeah, maybe, but I saw the whole thing,” LeVangie said of Machado’s gyrations. “I had told [Boston manager] Alex [Cora] I wanted to go [to the mound] before the Puig at-bat because I wanted to talk about some things.

“But when a guy gets a big punchout in that situation and a coach comes out to take a visit…I didn’t want to f–k with the momentum there because David got a huge strikeout.”

Plus, catcher Christian Vazquez had taken a mound visit already in the inning, trotting out for a chat with Price after Machado’s base hit to put two runners aboard with none out. LeVangie was worried about slowing Price after the lefty’s good start to the game, so he stayed put.

Then, there were two out and runners on first and second, and the score was 1-1.

From second, Machado gestured again. Puig swung at the first pitch he saw, a 93 mph fastball, knocking an RBI single into center to give the Dodgers their first—and only—lead of the series. It was Machado who scored.

“David makes a good pitch on Puig,” LeVangie said. “He jams him. [Puig] gets a flair. Then I gotta go out. But I talked to him with some small things after that, and he got out of that inning.

“I had a clear point I wanted to [make] after that at-bat because I saw Manny the entire time. I knew what he was doing.”

Charles Krupa/Associated Press

Angry with himself because he felt his decision to delay the visit cost the Red Sox, LeVangie went out after Puig’s RBI single to talk with Price and Vazquez, clearly to discuss what was occurring behind Price at second base and to change signs.

“We had a conversation,” LeVangie said. “I don’t want to get into the depths of it, but I brought up exactly what you’re talking about.

“I let it get in my way—because of the strikeout, I didn’t go out there [earlier]. I was so pissed that I didn’t.”

Price had not allowed a hit in the first three innings of Game 2, and after he escaped the fourth, he threw two more hitless frames. While it is unclear whether Price knew what was occurring behind him during the Hernandez and Puig at-bats in the fourth, LeVangie was doing his best to properly time his interruption.

“I just told him, ‘Hear me out. I know this is not the right time, but hear me out,’” LeVangie said.

Cora declined comment to B/R on Thursday at Dodger Stadium when asked about the dugout conversation with LeVangie in the moment and for his take on the episode overall.

“I don’t have a take,” Cora said following an off-day media briefing.

Vazquez, Price and Machado were not available for comment because neither team worked out at Dodger Stadium following all-day travel.

Elise Amendola/Associated Press

Stealing signs has been around practically since baseball was invented—or, as MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said Wednesday in Boston, “It’s been a part of our game since Lassie was a puppy.”

It’s become a hot topic this October because of various accusations of video shenanigans in the digital age that would violate baseball rules if true and because so much video scouting leaves pitchers vulnerable to tipping their pitches and offering hitters strong clues as to what is coming. Boston closer Craig Kimbrel has had a rough October stretch because of the latter.

Machado, meanwhile, has been in the headlines after being called a “dirty player” by Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Christian Yelich during the NLCS and after he told Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal that hustling isn’t “my cup of tea” and that he is not “Johnny Hustle” after being called out for not running hard on various plays this season.

Being caught apparently relaying signs to Dodgers hitters from second base is nowhere close to the dirty-player charges, LeVangie emphasized.

“Oh, it’s clean,” the pitching coach said. “It’s baseball. If you’re not hiding your stuff with a runner on second base and you’re giving them a free view, that’s on you, the pitcher and the catcher. It’s up to the pitcher and catcher to manage that and to us to oversee it and make sure we’re going about it the right way.

“We see this all the time. Not just him, with everyone. We are very respectful of all this, and it’s a big part of who we are and what we try to manage. As far as our pitching staff, we want to make sure we control those guys at second base and [that] they’re not stealing our signs. We’re changing our signs constantly, every pitch. Typically, every one of our pitchers will change every pitch.”

If you’re wondering why the average time of a postseason game is stretching to nearly four hours, this is one small example. You can never be too careful.

From second base the other night, though, because Machado was almost flamboyant in what he appeared to be doing, it didn’t take a professional detective to sniff out that one.

Asked whether he had seen anything as obvious recently, LeVangie chuckled and said “yes.”

“I’ve seen worse in a Little League a few years ago,” he said. “It was a Little League World Series game I saw on television. It was extremely obvious.”

Scott Miller covers Major League Baseball as a national columnist for Bleacher Report. Follow Scott on Twitter and talk baseball.

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This upcoming Liam Neeson film is pretty much a movie version of a ‘Simpsons’ episode

By Laura Byager2018-10-26 11:30:21 UTC

In his upcoming movie Cold Pursuit, Liam Neeson plays a Snowplow driver on a violent quest for revenge. Sound familiar?

That may be because the plot of Cold Pursuit is kind of similar to the plot of the “Mr. Plow,” episode on Season 4 of The Simpsons.

In “Mr. Plow,” Homer opens a Snowplow business named Mr. Plow when a blizzard hits Springfield, only to be run out of business by the local barfly Barney Grumble and his slightly bigger Snowplow, The Plow King.

Journalist David Itzkoff posted a thread of tweets pointing out some pretty glaring similarities between Cold Pursuit and “Mr. Plow.”

“I know we all joked that Cold Pursuit was just Mr. Plow The Movie, but…come on,” Itzkoff wrote.

Barney and Neeson are both pretty trigger happy Snowplow drivers.

In “Mr. Plow,” Homer was given the key to the city by Mayor Quimby. In Cold Pursuit, Neeson’s character wins an award for “Citizen of the year.”

Both Cold Pursuit and The Simpsons involve violence and driving across beautiful snowy landscapes.

Other Twitter users chipped in with their take on this unexpected Cold Pursuit/Simpsons crossover.

A lot of them are in reference to Homer’s famously terrible tv commercial jingle.

THEY’RE MAKING A MR. PLOW MOVIE???? What’s that name again?

— Daniel E. Slotnik (@DSlotnik) October 25, 2018

If that new Liam Neeson movie doesn’t have him intensely delivering the Mr Plow jingle to his mortal enemy, what is even the point?

— Paul Costello (@PaulCinephile) October 25, 2018

I seriously hope that we get a scene where Liam Neeson sings the Mr. Plow theme while killing bad guys.

— SomeMediaGeek (@SomeMediaGeek) October 25, 2018

Cold Pursuit, that’s it’s name

That name again is Cold Pursuit

— ALL HAIL TO OUR OLD GOLD AND BRAK (@YinkaDoubleDare) October 25, 2018

If turning a Simpsons episode into a movie works out well, Neeson may just have discovered a goldmine.

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10 kids podcasts for bedtime, road trips, and non-screen time

Welcome to Small Humans, an ongoing series at Mashable that looks at how to take care of – and deal with – the kids in your life. Because Dr. Spock is nice and all, but it’s 2018 and we have the entire internet to contend with.

Podcasts have been ascendant lately, but you may not want to stream Serial or Dear John during family dinner prep. For Friends of the Pod who are also parents, we’ve got some good news: Your kids haven’t been left out.

Whether you’re looking to reduce the insatiable desire for screen time, get a quiet car on long journeys, or simply want to introduce a different kind of media, podcasts are a great tool to have in your parenting bag of tricks.

We’ve drawn up a hand-picked list of what we consider to be 10 great podcasts that will help entertain and – maybe – educate kids of all ages. And there may be other benefits to listening to podcasts too. A recent survey published by Kids Listen, a non-profit that champions “high-quality audio content for children” suggested that nearly three quarters of children initiate discussions based on a podcast after listening.

Our selection covers science, music and stories and comes with a guarantee from us that listening along as a parent won’t drive you bat-shit crazy. These options are all so great, to be honest, that we wouldn’t be surprised if find yourself being edutained in the process…

1. But Why: A Podcast for Curious Kids

The But Why? podcast has a fun premise – children record questions they’d like answers to, parents send the audio file to the show, and the team behind it group questions into topics and answer them with the help of experts.

A recent episode looked at the topic of fire and covered a variety of flame-themed queries from kids, such as why firehouses are linked to Dalmatians, why fire is orange, and how smoke alarms work.

Other topics explained by host Jane Lindholm of late include how the universe was created and why tape is sticky.

While But Why? can be a little dry at times, it’s a great option for older kids that are curious about the world around them – especially if they get involved and send their own questions in.

Best for: Ages 6 and up

Schedule: New episodes every other Friday

2. Dream Big

The charming Dream Big podcast is described as a family-friendly podcast inspiring kids (and grown-ups) to “pursue their passions in life and take action to make their dreams a reality.”

With the help of mom Olga, 7-year-old Eva Karpman chats with inspirational figures and offers life advice tailored to children.

As far as the interviewees go, the Karpmans manage to create an absolutely fascinating mix that has so far ranged from paleontologists, comic book writers, entrepreneurs and astronauts to ultra marathoners, a one-handed concert pianist and a host of impressively big name celebrities.

Each episode is accompanied by relevant downloads, such as personalizable inspirational quote posters and discussion sheets so you can talk over points raised with your child after listening to the show.

The format is very easy to listen to, and usually around the 15 to 20 minute mark. We think all kids will get something out of this brilliant podcast, and we’d be very surprised if you as a parent didn’t get something out of it too.

Best for: Ages 6 and up

Schedule: New episodes every Monday

3. Book Club for Kids

As the name would suggest, listening to this podcast is just like being in a really friendly book club for kids. This 20-minute podcast is hosted by Kitty Felde, an award-winning public radio journalist who also writes kids books herself.

Typically, in each episode one book is discussed by different middle schoolers while Felde is joined by the book’s author and a celebrity guest reads excerpts from the book.

The format is simple and engaging. Parents will love hearing these young readers eloquently, and quite often passionately, discussing literature.

You can obviously tune in on a weekly basis, or alternatively, as the books covered are available in alphabetical order on the Book Club for Kids website, listen to a corresponding episode as and when your child finishes a title that’s been discussed.

Best for: Ages 8-12

Schedule: New episodes every other Wednesday, bonus content in between

4. Little Stories for Tiny People

Perfect for younger listeners aged three and up, Little Stories for Tiny People offers quality audio stories for children.

Remarkably, all the content is completely original from the whimsical mind of the podcast’s creator Rhea Pechter, a passionate advocate of podcasts for kids.

The stories introduce cute characters like mice, robots, little hedgehogs and baby bears and are written to incorporate themes important to early childhood such as developing empathy, managing friendships and respecting differences.

As well as creating the charming stories, Pechter performs them brilliantly against a background of enchanting music and fun sound effects.

Best for: Ages 3 and up

Schedule: New episodes every other week

5. Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child

Technically, this podcast is actually a stream of a popular radio show broadcast on KUTX 98.9 (and syndicated elsewhere), but it works as an hour-long listen for older children.

Created and hosted by self-confessed “radio nerd” Bill Childs (assisted by his cool kids Ella and Liam) the show plays “indie music for indie kids” with the hope of creating the next generation of radio nerds.

It’s music-heavy with a rich and varied playlist of amazing tunes all guaranteed to be kid-friendly. You’ll hear a variety of genres from artists as diverse as Brian Eno, Caspar Babypants, The Ramones, Aretha Franklin and the band behind the show’s theme tune, They Might Be Giants.

If your child loves music, or you want to encourage them to develop a more diverse taste in all things audio, Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child is a musical education you’ll get something out of too.

Best for: Ages 6 and up

Schedule: New episodes every Saturday

6. Brains On!

Free, new episodes every Tuesday

Brains On! uses the same cool formula as But Why? – curious kids send in their questions, primarily science- and natural-history-based, and the show gives a light-hearted explainer.

With fun sound effects that increases engagement levels, friendly host Molly Bloom is joined each week by a co-host and sometimes young listeners to provide the answer behind an everyday mystery.

Some representative topics: Where farts come from, whether fire or lasers are cooler, the science of slime, and why carnivores don’t have to eat their vegetables.

At minimum, we recommend checking out the “Mystery Sound Extravaganza” episodes. These are fun shows in which kids have to try and guess what user-submitted mystery sounds are. They’re a total blast for kids, and perfect for the podcast format.

Best for: Ages 6 and up

Schedule: New episodes every Tuesday

7. By Kids, For Kids Story Time

This South African podcast will give you classic children’s stories with a twist: The tales are all told by children. The lineup includes fairy tales from Hans Christian Anderson and the Grimm Brothers, Greek myths like The Fox and the Rooster and The Boy Who Cried Wolf, and African folk tales.

Each episode is typically under ten minutes, so perfect for short car journeys.

Best for: Ages 6 and up

Schedule: New episodes every week

8. Ear Snacks

Hosted by award-winning musicians Andrew and Polly, who have composed tunes for the likes of Wallykazam! and Sesame Studios, Ear Snacks is a kids’ podcast that is fizzing with fun and energy.

Genuinely great, catchy music is mixed with funny kids’ comments and entertaining guests. Each episode is centered around one topic, such as “hats,” “critters,” or “rain.” Typically, there’s a chat with the children about that topic, which leads into a musical interlude.

Best for: Ages 2-5

Schedule: New episodes twice a month

9. NPR Wow in the World

Free, new episodes every Monday

Described as the podcast “for curious kids and their grown-ups” Tinkercast’s weekly episodes will inform and delight inquisitive kids.

Created and hosted by media veterans (and parents) Guy Raz and Mindy Thomas in order to help “families to put down their screens and look up at the world together,” each roughly 25-minute installment covers one fascinating topic with an emphasis on recent scientific discoveries.

Good quality, fun sound effects, corny jokes, an informal tone and playful banter between the two hosts will keep your kids listening week after week.

Recent episodes have included exploring a variety of interesting subjects including exploding ants, the science of sleep, chili peppers and why they are hot, eyebrows in relation to communication and even how to make ice cream that melts more slowly.

Best for: Ages 6 and up

Schedule: New episodes every Monday

10. Story Time by Bedtime.fm

Free, new episodes every two weeks

Aimed at children aged from two to 13, this podcast is a great option to dip in and out of as you need a bedtime story.

The modern and fresh stories are age-rated, so not all the content will be suitable for your child, but with a rich archive, and a new story every fortnight, you shouldn’t struggle to find a tale to tempt you.

Read by various podcasters, all of whom are parents from around the globe, each story is less than 20 minutes long, so perfect for calming little ones down before bed. In fact, with no novelty sound effects, just an emphasis on solid storytelling, this is an ideal podcast to turn to at the end of the day.

Best for: Ages 2 and up. Each story has its own suggested ages.

Schedule: New episodes every two weeks

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Samsung’s foldable phone isn’t coming very soon, new report claims

A new report from Bloomberg, published Thursday, brings a ton of details about Samsung’s smartphone plans, including some new info about the upcoming Galaxy S10 flagship.

But before we go into that, let’s talk a bit about Samsung’s foldable phone, which has been in development for years and might finally be announced during the Samsung Developer Conference in November.

According to Bloomberg’s report, Samsung still isn’t sure the foldable phone — codenamed “Winner,” of all things — should fold horizontally or vertically.

Obviously, this is a third-party report, and there’s no way Samsung will comment on this, so we have no way of knowing to what degree the report is accurate. But if the above tidbit is correct, it means Samsung hasn’t decided on the most basic and fundamental design trait of the foldable phone.

“Samsung is debating between two prototypes in the final stretch: one longer horizontally and the other vertically when unfolded, while both open from side and side,” the report says, noting that the landscape-oriented model has recently “fallen out of favor” with Samsung’s designers. For this reason, Samsung probably won’t be able to show a physical model of the foldable phone in November; instead, a “conceptual” image will be presented.

Samsung and Google have been working together on creating a special version of Android that will work well with this phone, though the final UI depends on whether the portrait or landscape variant were ultimately chosen.

If I were eagerly waiting for a Samsung foldable phone, I’d find all of this worrying, but hey — let’s wait for November and see whether there will be any official news on this device. Bloomberg’s report says Samsung “may not be able” to launch the foldable phone commercially until the second quarter of 2019; if the report is accurate, that date sounds optimistic to me.

Far less uncertain are Samsung’s plans about the S10, which the report claims will have a 5.8-inch OLED screen curved on both sides — just like all recent Galaxy S phones — nearly no bezel on top and bottom, and round-shaped corners. The phone will also have an under-the-display fingerprint sensor, and three cameras on the rear. The front camera will be “visible and tucked under the screen,” the report says, but it’s unclear whether this means the camera will be behind some sort of notch or a hole in the screen, or simply below it.

The company also plans to launch a bigger, “Plus” variant of the phone, as well as a cheaper version whose screen won’t have those curvy edges.

Some worrying news for fans of the headphone jack: Samsung is reportedly “toying” with the idea of an S10 without the 3.5mm audio input connector. Apple and numerous other manufacturers have dropped the headphone jack from their phones, but Samsung has been proud about including the feature in all of its recent flagship.

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