Earl Lloyd, the first black player in NBA history, died Thursday. He was 86.
Lloyd's alma mater, West Virginia State, confirmed the death. It did not provide details.
Lloyd made his NBA debut in 1950 for the Washington Capitals, just
before fellow black players Sweetwater Clifton and Chuck Cooper played
their first games.
"The State family mourns the loss of a fellow Yellow Jacket and
trailblazer who was a true champion both on and off of the basketball
court," West Virginia State President Brian Hemphill said in a
statement. "When Earl stepped out on the court on that fateful date in
1950, this remarkable man rightfully earned his place in the historic
civil rights movement and, more important, he opened the door to
equality in America."
Lloyd helped the Syracuse Nationals win the 1955 NBA title, joining
teammate Jim Tucker as the first black players to play on a championship
team.
The 6-foot-5 forward averaged 8.4 points and 6.4 rebounds in 560
regular-season games in nine seasons with Washington, Syracuse and
Detroit. He missed the 1951-52 season while serving in the U.S. Army.
Inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2003 as a contributor,
Lloyd was 22-55 as Detroit's coach in 1971-72 and the first nine games
in the 1972-73 season.
Google has reversed its decision to ban sexually explicit content on Blogger, according to a post on the company's product forums by Social Product Support Manager Jessica Pelegio. Users of the blogging platform were told earlier this week that Google would no longer allow "graphic nude images or video" on the site from March 23rd. However, Pelegio's post states that this is no longer the case, with Google deciding the ban would've had a "negative impact on individuals who post sexually explicit content to express their identities."
THE BAN WOULD HAVE AFFECTED ACCOUNTS THAT HAVE BEEN RUNNING FOR "10+ YEARS."
"Rather than implement this change, we’ve decided to step up enforcement around our existing policy prohibiting commercial porn," writes Pelegio. She says the users submitted a "ton of feedback" after the announcement, particularly regarding the retroactive enforcement of the new policy, which would have affected accounts that have been running for "10+ years." Pelegio adds that as before, "blog owners should continue to mark any blogs containing sexually explicit content as 'adult' so that they can be placed behind an 'adult content' warning page."
Protests in Dhaka after Avijit Roy, whose blog championed liberal
secular writing in the Muslim-majority nation, attacked along with his
wife
Agence France-Presse
So much for the " religion of peace " bullshit. -TGFP.
Bangladeshi secular activists take part in a torch-lit protest against the killing of Avijit Roy.
A prominent American blogger of Bangladeshi origin has been hacked to
death with machetes by unidentified assailants in Dhaka, after he
allegedly received threats from Islamists.
The body of Avijit Roy, founder of Mukto-Mona (Free-mind) blog site –
which champions liberal secular writing in the Muslim-majority nation –
was found covered in blood after an attack that also left his wife
critically wounded.
“He died as he was brought to the hospital. His wife was also
seriously wounded. She has lost a finger,” local police chief Sirajul
Islam said.
The couple were on a bicycle rickshaw, returning from a book fair,
when two assailants stopped and dragged them onto a sidewalk before
striking them with machetes, local media reported citing witnesses.
Hundreds of protesters rallied in Dhaka to denounce the murder,
chanting slogans including “we want justice” and “raise your voice
against militants”.
Imran Sarker, the head of the Bangladesh
bloggers’ association, said the protests would continue until those
responsible were apprehended. “Avijit’s killing once again proved that
there is a culture of impunity in the country,” Sarker told AFP.
“The government must arrest the killers in 24 hours or face non-stop protests.”
Roy, who was 42, is the second Bangladeshi blogger to have been
murdered in two years and the fourth writer to have been attacked since
2004.
Hardline Islamist groups have long demanded the public execution of
atheist bloggers and sought new laws to combat writing critical of
Islam.
“Roy suffered fatal wounds in the head and died from bleeding ...
after being brought to the hospital,” doctor Sohel Ahmed told reporters
Police have launched a probe and recovered the machetes used in the
attack but could not confirm whether Islamists were behind the incident.
But Roy’s father said the writer, a US citizen, had received a number
of “threatening” emails and messages on social media from hardliners
unhappy with his writing.
“He was a secular humanist and has written about ten books” including
his most famous “Biswasher Virus” (Virus of Faith), his father Ajoy Roy
told AFP.
The Center for Inquiry, a US-based charity promoting free thought,
said it was “shocked and heartbroken” by the brutal murder of Roy.
“Dr Roy was a true ally, a courageous and eloquent defender of
reason, science, and free expression, in a country where those values
have been under heavy attack,” it said in a statement.
Roy’s killing also triggered strong condemnation from his fellow
writers and publishers, who lamented the growing religious conservatism
and intolerance in Bangladesh.
“The attack on Roy and his wife Rafida Ahmed is outrageous. We
strongly protest this attack and are deeply concerned about the safety
of writers,” said Sarker.
Pinaki Bhattacharya, a fellow blogger and friend of Roy, claimed one
of the country’s largest online book retailers was being openly
threatened for selling Roy’s books.
“In Bangladesh the easiest target is an atheist. An atheist can be attacked and murdered,” he wrote on Facebook.
Atheist blogger Ahmed Rajib Haider was hacked to death in 2013 by
members of a little known Islamist militant group, triggering nationwide
protests by tens of thousands of secular activists.
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“The
pattern of the killing appeared to be the same as that of previous
attack on a celebrated writer,” said Shiblee Noman, assistant
commissioner of Dhaka police.
“It seems it was carried out by a reactionary fundamentalist group.”
After Haider’s death, Bangladesh’s hardline Islamist groups started
to protest against other campaigning bloggers, calling a series of
nationwide strikes to demand their execution, accusing them of
blasphemy.
The secular government of Bangladeshi prime minister Sheikh Hasina reacted by arresting some atheist bloggers.
The government also blocked about a dozen websites and blogs to stem
the furore over blasphemy, as well as stepping up security for the
bloggers.
On Friday Sarker said: “Communal and militant groups have threatened
the very spirit of our nation. Yet instead of crushing them, the
government was keen on appeasing them by arresting secular bloggers.”
Noman said police were investigating a tweet by the pro-Islamist
group Ansar Bangla Seven that appeared to celebrate Roy’s murder.
“Target Down here in Bangladesh,” the group tweeted from the @AnsarBn7 handle.
The US embassy to Bangladesh offered its condolences to Roy’s family and said it was providing consular assistance.
Roy’s wife, who is also a blogger, was moved to a clinic for further treatment on Friday.
Bangladesh is the world’s fourth-largest Muslim majority nation with
Muslims making up some 90 per cent of the country’s 160 million people.
A tribunal has recently handed down a series of verdicts against
leading Islamists and others for crimes committed during the war of
independence from Pakistan in 1971.
Nine people are dead in an apparent mass-murder suicide at separate
locations around the southern Missouri town of Tyrone, police said early
Friday.
The Texas County Sheriff's Department said in a statement that
officers were called to a home Thursday at 10:15 by a "juvenile female"
who reported hearing gunshots inside a Tyrone home. The girl fled to a
neighbor's house to call authorities, and police responding to the scene
found two people dead, according to officials.
Further investigation revealed five additional victims who were dead
and one additional victim who was wounded in three additional
residences, according to Sgt. Jeff Kinder of the Missouri Highway
Patrol. All the residences involved are in Tyrone.
A search of another residence revealed the body of a deceased elderly
female who appeared to have died from natural causes, officials said.
Kinder told reporters at a press conference Friday morning that
investigators could not yet confirm if the woman was related to the
other victims.
"I'm sure there's some type of relationship there but we don't know
what it is," Kinder said. "We're not calling her a victim at this time."
The suspected gunman, a 36-year-old man from Tyrone, was found dead
of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound in a parked vehicle in
Shannon County, authorities said.
Kinder said authorities were investigating six scenes in total Friday
morning -- including the spot where the suspected gunman shot
himself. He said police will not release the names of the victims and
the suspect until next of kin are notified.
A neighbor of one of the crime scenes told the Houston Herald newspaper
that police came to the door at 3:45 a.m. Friday to check for victims.
Authorities told residents in the area to stay in their homes and not to
open their door to strangers. The paper said the Houston School
District has informed staff to arrive early work for counseling
sessions.
"In our job we see a lot of bad stuff and this is bad," Kinder said.
Few places can compete with the United States when it comes to coffee consumption. After the European Union, Americans are the world’s greatest coffee lovers, with the average person drinking 23 gallons of it in 2013. However, research conducted by YouGovsuggests coffee is starting to lose its traditional dominance.
Tea consumption has grown 20 percent since the turn of the millenium and it’s becoming the beverage of choice for a whole generation of young Americans. When people under 30 were asked if they preferred coffee or tea, both proved equally popular, garnering 42 percent of the vote each. The most likely explanation for tea’s rise is its perceived health benefits, with green tea in particular proving a hit.
Coffee still finds favor among older Americans, especially those aged 65 and over. 70 percent of people aged 65+ said they preferred coffee compared to just 21 percent who preferred tea. However, with tea’s momentum and popularity among young millenials showing little signs of waning, coffee’s dominance is set to erode over time.
