Category Archives: Mind Uploading

Image: Metallica / Facebook

James Hetfield and Metallica. The two go hand-in-hand, and it almost feels wrong to imagine the iconic metal act performing without its co-founder and vocalist strumming along.

But at A Day On The Green festival in Oakland in 1992, Hetfield took to the stage with the band and decided to go completely without a guitar. In the clip, he can be seen bouncing around the stage but not holding on to anything.

This was a very special show with James channeling his inner Danzig as a front man vocalist with no guitar, said YouTuber fromthenosebleeds upon the uploading the video.

There was a pretty good reason for the lack of guitar as well. As Metal Injection points out, Hetfield was burnt on stage by pyrotechnics that went wrong, while Metallica was touring with Guns N Roses.

As a result, former Metal Church guitarist John Marshall fills in with his axe during a period of four weeks while Hetfield recovered from his burns.

Marshall was no stranger to the band by this point, having previously jumped in for Hetfield in 1986 when the bands frontman broke his wrist in a skateboarding accident.

Ive got it amid, its pretty weird just watching Hetfield standing behind the mic stand and without his guitar in front of him.

Its coming up to the 40th anniversary of Metallicas founding in 1981, and speaking ahead of the milestone, Lars Ulrich recently said the band are keen to keep going.

All those clichs about age is just a state of mind, but there is definitely a part of me that still feels like all the best years are ahead of us. I guess thats kind of how I have always thought, he said.

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Heres a Metallica show from 1992 without James Hetfield on guitar - Tone Deaf

In these strange days technologies for virtual meetings and gatherings that have been developing steadily and quietly are now finding themselves suddenly ushered to the front of the class as we ask what might change in the workplace post-Covid-19.

These questions were posed in a conference recently and explored through the very medium being asked to step up to plug the gap; namely VR. Theeventwas jointly organised by Immerse UK and Vive and hosted onEngage VRs learning and conference platform.

As a paid-up evangelist for VR as a transformative technology Im often a little bemused by the still commonly held reservations about the tech which often seem to be based on discomfort during fleeting experiences with the first generations of hardware. The state of the art has been moving at breakneck speeds and many of the old quibbles about low resolution, motion sickness and underwhelming experiences no longer apply. Furthermore, the refinements needed for these platforms to become good proxies forin-the-fleshmeetings require a certain amount of constructive engagement to help turn them into the generation of VR tools we now need to protect both our environment and our health.

I attended a conference in VR for the first time, very much in the spirit of exploration, accepting that there would be limitations, inconveniences and glitches, but open to seeing the more subtle merits of meeting in VR.

Being the first conference that I have attended on such a platform I dont mind admitting that I was as excited by the format as much as I was by the content and the speakers. A train of thought recap seems as appropriate a way as any to describe the experience!

Inevitably I spent slightlytoolong before the event perfecting my avatar with the well-intentioned advice of my partner who suggested that my hair should begreyer than that and that my faceshould be chunkier. I made a reasonable effort to faithfully reproduce my earthly appearance by uploading my mugshot which was then draped over a generic 3D male head shape. Something was inevitably lost from my roguish good looks but I reasoned that this was only of marginal importance. I also made sure that in VR I was wearing my trademark jeans and T-shirt ensemble. Then I was ready, with a degree of trepidation, to enter the conference lobby space.

Much like a real-space event, I experienced the visceral anticipation of meeting strangers, accompanied by a slight sense of uncertainty regarding the proper form and mechanics of interaction with other avatars. With my microphone off, I lurked around the edges of the room looking at displays and eyeing the crowd from a safe distance (so far so normal). The hum of conversations, spatially rendered, is a compelling aspect of the immersion. This lobby areas was the holding-pen, and the conference proper would actually take place in three identical virtual venues (each space hosting fifty attendees). While we waited for the main event, I played with a glockenspiel and sank a few baskets.

Once in the Engage VR environment I am equipped (virtually) with a better tablet than I actually own in the real world on which I can make notes, look at presentation slides close-up and best of all, take ill-judged selfies:

The conferences chosen environment was pleasing enough; an open-air amphitheatre under a blue sky, by the sea, but the trouble Id taken over my virtual appearance seemed poorly spent as I looked around at my co-attendees. I realised that as Id joined the event using theOculus Questversion of the Engage app, I was provided with a slightly less rich version of the environment; participants were represented by only torsos and hands and the photorealistic avatars were absent. This wasnt necessarily an issue. but once I realised I opted instead to dive headlong into theuncanny valleyand I rejoined the event using theSteamVRimplementation which provides a much more detailed rendering.

An initial problem, (with the medium rather than the platform) is that the novelty of the environment overshadowed the event itself. I found I was preoccupied looking around at other participants, trying to recognise names and observing their behaviour. Many of the attendees had adopted bizarre and athletically challenging postures. It took me a few moments to realise why: if you put down your VR hand controls your virtual hands might suddenly manifest by your feet. If you take off your headset to rub your eyes or visit the loo, your avatar might be left in the virtual world with your neck angled up at the sky as if expecting an alien invasion. If you have been automatically seated and muted by the event administrator in VR and then actually sit down in the physical world, you may find that your virtual head is resting disembodied on your virtual chair. I ended up taking a lot of photos of these odd VR yoga poses:

To the substance of the event then. The presenters introduced their product solutions for meeting, learning and collaborating (https://sync.vive.com,https://dimension10.com, andhttps://www.imagedreality.com) and each was able to perambulate convincingly around a stage referencing a large projected presentation (impressive projects all though Ill leave you to follow the links). This was followed by a panel session.

All the while I was comparing this experience to how I might be acting in a real conference. Firstly, I would be Tweeting and I couldnt find a way to do this from within the virtual. I would also be note taking, though the act of typing in VR is currently slightly cumbersome. I found that I would have liked to have been able to scrawl on my virtual tablet instead. I would of course be taking pictures of slides, and it was a nice touch to be able to see the live presentations on my virtual tablet. There were a couple of technical glitches which might have been my end so I wont dwell on them.

As the panel session drew to a close I was looking forward to networking, though with a childlike curiosity rather than any expectation of making meaningful exchanges. This was definitely the most intriguing aspect of the medium for me.

I remember my first video conference experiences and how confrontational it had seemed to be looking directly at someone as they spoke. In real-life conversations we rarely stare so intently at the other party, but the medium seemed to require it. Of course we all got over whatever our personal reservations were and now generally find video conferencing to be a valuable tool. We can see a persons expression and get a sense of their feelings and body language. In VR the body language is there to see, it can be emphatic and exaggerated, but the expression of the avatar never changes. I felt there was almost a need for an intuitive emoji-type interface to quickly and naturally see the mood of your conversational partners.

The spatial audio came into its own at this point too. It was simple enough to move to a quiet corner to concentrate fully on a conversation, but I wondered how one might have a truly private conversation without leaving the VR environment. If someone were so motivated, they could quite easily sneak their avatar behind a digital palm tree to eavesdrop! However, I made a couple of connections that Ive followed up on LinkedIn or social media, but there was no obvious way to swap business cards.

Much of this reflection might sound overly negative though Im simply making observations about a new paradigm of interaction. Overall I was impressed to the extent that Id very much like to see how Kings Digital Lab could use the same tech to augment our virtual and dispersed Lab whilst under lockdown. However, a key obstacle is the availability of the equipment needed. Id love to try this medium with friends and family too, but I feel like the first man on Earth with a phone; who can I call? The irony is that the equipment will be far more available when lockdown finishes.

The annual DH event (now cancelled) brings together thousands of practitioners from across the globe and sustainability is an increasingly hot topic, not just around research and software but from the more traditional environmental perspective. With careful planning I can see how portions of this event could be moved into this sort of communal VR space. For every limitation there are amazing potential affordances; share a 3D model with your audience? No problem. Cant get a wheelchair up the stairs? No worries.

This was a toe dipped into a new world for me. There are other VR meeting platforms; some of them business-focused, some educational and some purely social. Facebook Horizon is due to be released this year and I imagine that the social network giant will take quite a swipe at the B2B market. I do hope that the pioneers dont get swept aside when this happens

I could ramble on as there is a lot to think about, but instead Ill leave you with a group selfie complete with photobombing by the Vive and Engage team!

This article was first published on 24 April 2020 on the Kings Digital Lab bloghere.

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'I attended a conference in VR for the first time' - AV Magazine

captionImogen Horton hopes people watch her video and know they are not alone.sourceImogenation / YouTube

Imogen Horton, better known as Imogenation on YouTube where she has 386,000 subscribers, gave her followers a look behind the scenes at why she hasnt been uploading lately.

In a video called The effect of hate, Horton posted 30 minutes of raw footage she hadnt used. She showed how shed been struggling to even get out the greeting at the start of her vlogs, and how attempting to film was triggering panic attacks where she could barely breathe and felt like the walls were closing in.

Ive always been quite a positive person and Ive been able to fight against any worries but this last month just became increasingly more difficult, Horton told Insider. I think its such a hard time for everyone at the moment that the online hate and abuse went from being manageable to completely unbearable, and that is when I really began to struggle.

She said YouTube went from being something she loved to something that was completely overwhelming.

I was just looking at the viewfinder and picking out a hundred different insecurities, I was second guessing everything about myself, and I felt like Id lost myself, she said. Id sit down to film and automatically these horrible thoughts would come into my head.

In the video, Horton tries to start a get ready with me vlog, but is clearly incredibly insecure and stops recording when she cant find the right color foundation. In another clip, she cant get further than saying hi before fiddling with her hair or worrying about her voice.

Horton told Insider shes always been an anxious person, but had worked hard to control it throughout her 20s. The constant mean comments she receives meant some of that control started to fade away.

There are only so many times you can keep getting put down until you start to believe it, she said. I guess I reached my breaking point and the panic attacks seemed to come thick and fast when one finished I had a couple of minutes until another one would begin at one point.

She lost sleep because she constantly worried about what would happen and what people would be saying about her during the night.

I felt suffocated, she said.

Horton included some commentary in her video, where she explained how shed become so obsessed with finding and deleting hate comments that it was consuming her life. She said her husband was considering taking away her phone so she couldnt spend so much time looking at the negativity.

I hated the thought anyone that watched my channel who actually liked me would see all these horrendous lies being told about me, she said. I would actively look for hate comments over nice comments because it was almost like self-harm, torturing myself to go back and hurt myself because I felt like that is what I deserved.

She could feel the anxiety and panic grow inside her, but she couldnt stop.

I just felt so lost and heartbroken that anyone could try to hurt me like that, she said. I felt like they were taking every single good thing from me away, anything I used to like about myself was being destroyed in front of my eyes.

Horton said she wanted to show the reality of what she was dealing with, and how nobody lives a perfect Instagram life. She thinks mental health needs to be taken more seriously, and those in the public eye should be judged less harshly.

One comment that always sticks in my mind, which I hear very often, is you put yourself on the internet, you have to deal with it and I really dont agree with that at all, she said. Just because someone chooses to upload YouTube videos does not mean they should be told 100 times a day to take their own life.

At her lowest point, Horton said she felt so incredibly alone. She said if she can help just one person feel like they are not alone, shell be content.

Im not perfect, Ive made mistakes and that is all part of being human, she said. Everyone makes mistakes but I know along the way Ive needed guidance and someone to reach out and help me find my path. I wanted to be that person for some people.

Being in a dark place doesnt have to lead to lashing out, she said, because tearing someone else down with trolling and hate comments will never make you happy in the long run.

Surely nobody who has ever sent me hate could watch that video back and feel proud of how theyve made me feel, she said. Even watching the video back myself I found it uncomfortable to watch because it was very raw and painful, and that is what I wanted people to see to hopefully show the direct effects that words have on someone.

She said people dont often realize the true impact of their words on someone, particularly someone who is already battling their own mental health struggles.

I am a smaller YouTuber than many, Im very small in the grand scheme of things, so I can really see how someone in the public eye who has it on a much larger scale could be tipped over the edge, she said. I wish the world was kinder to each other because, especially in todays climate, we need each other more than ever.

Horton is now seeing a therapist and life coach to help her get back on track, to talk more about how shes feeling instead of pushing them down until she reaches a breaking point. She said she knows it will be a long, slow process, but hopefully her journey will inspire others to reach out for help too.

Improving my mental health is definitely at the top of my priority list now, she said. I am actually grateful that all this has happened because it has made me put myself first, and hopefully I can come out of this stronger, happier, healthier, and the best version of myself.

Watch Hortons full video below.

Warning: Some readers may find the footage distressing.

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The struggle YouTubers are facing with their body image isnt just a result of vanity. Its a long-standing battle between hate comments, constant comparisons, and self-compassion.

The worlds biggest YouTube stars told us theyre burning out because of the unrelenting pressure to post new videos

Why the beauty community on YouTube is one of the most turbulent and drama-filled places on the internet

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A YouTuber showed the devastating mental health impact of constant online hate with a raw video documenting her anxiety and panic attacks - Business...

As part of our new series, Marketers Playbook for 2020 Post Covid-19,Satish NS, Senior Vice President, Marketing and Sales, Haier India says that while consumers for remain the same, the patterns of consumption will change and thats where the marketers need to evolve.

As India grapples with a new way of life and the crisis of Covid-19 peaks, most industries are suffering leading to brands bearing the brunt of this pandemic. Lockdown restrictions have kept customers away from brick and mortar retail stores, logistical issues have severely affected the supply chain and businesses have come to a stand-still.

And in between all of this, the current crisis is intensifying pressure on marketers who are expected to ride this wave of public health crisis. The most critical question one should be asking as a marketer right now is not How can I sell more?. Rather, its How do we help customers in this time?. Marketers across industries are trying to redesign their business models and the white goods industry is no exception.

The Covid-19 has led to a paradigm shift in the consumer behaviour, in a sense that the pandemic has changed the way we work, shop and communicate with people more than any other disruption in the recent past. Post the pandemic, the inflection point will be primarily shaped by two major shifts in consumer behaviour the reluctance to mingle in crowded public places and higher propensity for digital adoption. In the times to come, we will be seeing a sudden change in consumers behavior where we will notice that even traditional buyers who were apprehensive of shopping online, will start turning to that.

While most of the industries will be leveraging the e-commerce platforms heavily, however for large appliances industry, the shop floor will remain to play a pivotal role. For consumers, touch and feel factor will continue to remain a crucial part of shopping. The change that we will notice more evidently is that consumers will now opt to do the product research online and spend minimal time in the store to choose the appliance of their choice.

Another alteration that is going to change the game for the consumer appliances industry is that in the post-Covid world, consumers will be spending a majority of their time being confined to their homes. This means that consumers will constantly be on the look out to enhance their living style with smarter and larger appliances.

The availability and rising affordability of a wide range of high technology products have given rise to a new sort of consumer, a more tech-savvy prospective buyer, who wants to communicate with their smart home, languish in the comfort, luxury and security that it offers. We will see consumers opting for larger refrigerators, fully automatic washing machines, air-purifiers, smart ACS, dishwashers, Vacuum Cleaners, etc. With these new inventions focused upon uplifting the standards of living, consumers now have an access to a new world with tailor-made customized smart products according to their lifestyle and preferences.

Keeping in mind the economic slowdown and the recession accelerating at its peak due to unprecedented times. Also, on the rise will be easy consumer financing schemes, companies will be leveraging flexi EMIs with zero down-payments, cashback offers, lucky draws, extended warranties, attractive offers, etc to lure customers.

Considering these changing trends, at Haier, were strategically creating our in-store virtual meets real world customer experience for our users to make their buying decision easier and wholesome. With rising numbers of customers on the digital bandwagon, were revisiting our approaches and making them more tech-savvy. To provide a 360-degree experience, were uploading product manuals, price comparisons, enabling use of Haiers revolutionary self-cleaning technologies, demo videos of our appliances and detailing the features of our innovative appliances onto the digital world.

At Haier India, we are modifying our offerings to the current times while identifying future sales and consumption patterns. In conclusion, the consumers for every sector will remain the same, but the patterns of consumption, for the product and marketing effort, will change. And thats where the marketers also need to evolve. Its time to re-think, reboot and revive in order to create a more engaging shopping experience for our consumers.

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MARKETING FOR THE 'NEW NORMAL': IN-STORE CONVERSATIONS GOING ONLINE - Pitch

In the immediate, live action world of a sports photographer, being there is the thing. Bearing witness. Sending back the shot of the spot where the thing happened that everyone wanted to see. But what happens when theres no there to be? When theres nothing to witness, no happening to shoot? What then?

For the snappers at the Inpho sports photography agency, the turning off of the sports tap was an unimaginable turn of events. You can plan for just about everything and make contingencies for all sorts of hellish scenarios. But nobody in their maddest notions ever conceived of sport simply not existing for a while.

The pipe just stopped, says Morgan Treacy. I had jobs lined up after that Friday that everything went into locked down and they literally just stopped that day. And sport stopped. It took a while to adjust to it, even in my head. Ive been with Inpho 20 years and Ive never had a quiet week. It definitely took a couple of weeks to get my head around it. I was floundering really, not knowing what to do.

Everywhere you look in sports media, the problem has been the same but the solutions have had to differ depending on circumstance. A bit of nostalgia here and there is fine for newspapers and will fill out hours of TV schedules. But sports photography is about the here and now. You turn up, you click, you file, you move on. Next day, next game, next sport.

I was at Clonmel races on the day lockdown was announced, says Bryan Keane. We were there covering the last race as the announcement was being made I was sitting in the stand with my laptop uploading photos. One of the TV guys went, Thats it now, nothing to do for a couple of months. And you know hes right but youre going, Really? What do we do? Its just such a bizarre landscape.

Imagination was the only club in the bag they could use. They started ringing around sportspeople and asking them how they were getting through it all and could they come and take some socially distant photos. In the early days, most the majority, in fact said no. It was hard to blame them, given the fear of the times.

I would say that in those first weeks, 90 per cent of people we rang said no, says Treacy. Understandably nobody knew what they could do and what they couldnt. Everybody was afraid. There was paranoia and fear about even meeting anyone.

As the weeks have passed and everyone has become more comfortable with life in general, the scene has loosened out. Last Monday, the people got back to doing their thing in small doses playing golf and tennis, sailing, rowing, swimming in the sea. The return of some sort of sport meant the snappers were out and about again. Keane got into the sea down at the Forty Foot and his underwater picture of two swimmers giving him the thumbs-up made the front of The Irish Times the next day.

Those are gigs I just wouldnt have been doing before, Keane says. It was cool, I was able to get into the water and just try something. Youre just trying to keep yourself relevant. Being able to leave the house and actually be on a job rather than going looking for a job was a really nice feeling. There was a sense of normality there.

Big time sport isnt back yet but theres a growing sense that were over the worst of it. Inpho will be at the first Irish race meeting in a few weeks. Theyll be wherever teams are starting to train in small groups on June 8th. The world is different now but the job is the same. Just with one or two new things to keep in mind.

I went to do a picture with a local GAA club in Offaly, says James Crombie. Down on the bog where they were footing turf. And even something like that, youre going, Oh God, I hope theyre social distancing properly. I dont want to get them in trouble or anything. They were but you want to be sure. Because not everyone is one place I went to take a photo, they said, Ah sure come on in, youll stay for dinner!

True to tradition, Crombie made his excuses and left.

Photo: The man on the moon

Venue: Croghan Hill, Co Offaly, April 7th

Camera: Canon 1Dx Mk2; 400mm lens with a 1.4 times converter

It was actually my twin brother David in the photo. I had been thinking about the possibility of doing a picture like that for 10 years. I needed to be roughly a kilometre away with a 600mm lens. If you can get somebody at that distance with a clear sky and if you can predict where the sun will come up, hey presto.

Its Croghan Hill, which is actually an old volcano. I had been telling a friend of mine about it and lucky enough hes geophysicist and he basically said its Leaving Cert maths. He calculated to within three or four feet the best spot to stand a kilometre away.

I gave my brother a hurl and sliotar but also a football so I could do both. Unfortunately, he let the football roll down the hill just before we started shooting. And the thing was, there was only going to be about a 90-second window before the moon disappeared below the horizon. So we had to leave the football where it was.

I ran into somebody locally here and they were going, We were on the hill that night looking at the moon. We saw this fella running and jumping and waving his hurley and we couldnt work out what he was at at all. Now it makes sense.

Photo: Andrew Coscoran, 1,500m runner

Venue: Balbriggan Harbour, March 24th

Camera: Canon Eos 1Dx Mk2, 16-25mm lens

Andrew Coscoran, was training in Balbriggan. He was doing a 2km loop along the train track there, down by the beach at the harbour. This was at a time when you could only go two kilometres from your house. So basically this was a guy who was running 100 miles a week and he had a two-kilometre loop near his house to do it in. Thankfully for me, it was a really scenic 2km loop.

It made for some nice images because there was a great contrast between him and the bridge that the train runs along. He was dwarfed by these arches and the light was lovely at that time of the evening. He was a really nice guy and I was actually really grateful at the time that he did it. This was quite early on and Id had so many knockbacks and was casting around a bit.

Photo: Brian Moore, MMA fighter

Venue: Carrig-on-Bannow, Co Wexford, May 14th

Camera: Canon 1Dx Mk2, 24-70mm lens

Brian Moore is an MMA fighter in Wexford. I had never met him before, a very interesting guy. I went down to see him and he was telling me how he is going about his fighting, his mental changes, his goals.

I shot him in a lovely graveyard. He goes there to do some shadow boxing sometimes and to get himself a bit of solitude. Theres a beautiful view over the coast there at Carrig-on-Bannow and its good for the head. I was able to shoot him through an archway in the graveyard, which was a kind of a unique view.

Photo: Annalise Murphy, Sailor

Venue: Dun Laoghaire Harbour, March 23rd

Camera: Canon 1Dx Mk2, 16-35mm lens

I was able to go down to Dn Laoghaire to take photos of Annalise Murphy on the last day before the full lockdown restrictions kicked in. It was right towards the last week of March. The sailors were allowed out on the water but they werent allowed to be coached or have their coach out on the water with them.

That was nice to get to do that. I was able to get in the water and get her as she came back into the harbour. It was a very nice shot you can see the harbour wall in the background as shes coming in. It was cool to get it before everything shut down completely for a while.

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When the action stops, sports photographers think outside the box - The Irish Times

Remember when super-rich Kim Kardashian featured on the cover of PAPER magazine with the sole intention of breaking the internet with her butt? Everyone went crazy, she went viral and the internet exploded out of shock, awe, and amazement. She was not the last celebrity to push the internet's limits, however, as more and more people make the same type of claim to fame, either by complete accident or on purpose.

It takes a stylish trendsetter, a mind-blowingly sexy individual flaunting their stuff, or a level of drama found nowhere else in order to go viral to the point of crashing sites or sparking global debates. Here is the list of unique trendsetters who were able to do it better than the powerful Kim K could, so keep reading to learn more.

Also knownby his stage name, Childish Gambino, this multi-talented singer/actor/producer/comedian shot to viral success with the release of his 'This Is America' music video. Known for his comedy and his role on the TV show,Community, his notoriety soared when his music video challenged American society about important issues, including racial identity, gun violence, and spirituality.

His exposition of serious issues was juxtaposed with uplifting, energetic dancing. Glover hasnt given an explanation for the videos meaning, leaving everyone to find their own.

RELATED:Childish Gambino Dropped His New Album The Exact Way Wed Expect

The film,A Star Is Born (2018), was enough to bring tears to the eyes of even the most stoic movie-goers. Followed by the live performance these two songbirds gave at the 2019 Oscars, performing the song 'Shallow' from their movie, we can see how the internet broke.

The performance made hardcore and brand-new fans go crazy, and the best part is that it's Bradley Cooper's actual voice in the movie and on the stage. He went through intensive vocal training for the role.

The way our favorite friend from the FriendsTV show, Jennifer Aniston, broke the internet came as a bit of a surprise. Our previous two internet breakers pulled it off with stand-out performances, but Aniston had a different card up her sleeve.

In 2019, Aniston opened her own Instagram account, uploading a selfie featuring herself and her co-stars fromFriends. This simple act caused a stampede. Everyone rushed to follow her account, momentarily crashing Instagram.

At the XBOX E3 2019 showcase, Reeves presented his cameo role in the 'Cyberpunk 2077' video game. During his presentation, Keanu Reeves heard a fan in the crowd shout out to him, "You're breathtaking". This caused the actor to reply back to the fan, "You're breathtaking!" He then pointed to the whole audience and yelled, "You're all breathtaking!"

The wholesome moment went viral, turned into a meme, and made us fall in deeper in love with Keanu Reeves.

Generating 2 million likes on Instagram in an hour, the picture you see here was the first image released by Beyonc of her twins, Rumi and Sir Carter, when they were 1 month of age. The rest of the world was guessing at the names of the second and third children of Beyonc and Jay-Z. These ultra-famous parents have sincetrademarked the twins' names.

The floral background and color palette in this image is reminiscent of the image Beyonc used to announce her pregnancy with her twins.

RELATED:Beyonce And Michelle Obama: Everything We Know About Their Friendship

Miley Cyrus has broken the internet more than once. Many of her viral performances turned into memes that continued circulating online - they just kept gaining momentum. The most notable of these moments was her Wrecking Ball music video. That video took the song from number 50 on the US Billboard Hot 100 to number 1.

Then, there was her pole dancing at the 2009 Teen Choice Awards, twerking on Robin Thicke at the 2013 VMAs, and her relationship with Liam Hemsworth.

Although the First Lady of the United States has had many memorable moments, there are two, in particular, which really stand out.

The first comes from Mrs. Trump's "Be Best" anti-cyber-bullying campaign, which experienced surges in popularity as President Trump attacked his political opponents online, and later started bullying environmental activist, Greta Thunberg.

Her other viral moment came from a perfect photo where Melania appeared to be diving in for a public kiss with Canada's Prime Minister, Justin, Trudeau - this generated endlessinternet memes.

Barrack Obama combined this picture of himself with the Nelson Mandela quote "No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin or his background or his religion..." after the racially charged violence in Charlottesville, 2017. Twitter later stated that this image has received the most likes of any post on the social media app (3.3 million in August 2017).

In 2015, it was Caitlyn Jenner's first tweet that drew everybody's attention. Within 4 hours and 3 minutes, she had already set a new record (that's a Guinness World Record by the way) for the fastest post to reach 1 million likes, beating one of Barack Obama's posts for the spot. The image that she chose to tweet for her grand public reveal was a portrait of her, which was taken forVanity Fair magazine.

Another multi-viral hit, it seems like Kylie Jenner's daughter, Stormi Webster, just keeps getting cuter. The first picture posted of young Stormi appeared on February 18, 2018, when she was just 17 days old and clutching mom's thumb.

More recently, the little star has gone viral again, for successfully getting through the fruit snack challenge. Instead of fruit, the temptation was chocolate. The excitement and giggles resulted in cuteness overload.

RELATED:Kylie Jenners Bare Face Breaks the Internet Again, As Many Celebrities Embrace Natural Beauty

The royal couple has spent a lot of time in the headlines; however, certain times that they broke the internet do stand out. The first was the announcement of their engagement in 2017. This caused a frenzy because it meant an American was one step closer to marrying into this prestigious family.

The next was their glamorous wedding, followed by the birth of their son, Archie. Finally, the announcement that they were stepping down from their Royal Family positions blew everybody's minds.

Jeremy Meeks, the 'hot felon', is the only person on this list who didn't already have celebrity status. In 2014, an American police department posted his mugshot on Facebook, regarding spates of shootings and gang violence.

Meeks, who was in prison at the time, became a social media god, but it wasn't for his criminal history. Worshipers commented on his chiseled jawline, tattoos, and abs, and shortly after his release, Meeks was modeling high fashion and living the good life,. He became a legitimate celeb.

The Congressional Testimony from Mark Zuckerberg over Facebook's privacy breaches alone was a popular topic. However, what went viral was the memes that were generated from the hearing. In reference to the number of cameras and people in the above image, one meme said "gonna have to untag a lot of photos", poking fun at Facebook's facial recognition algorithms and privacy settings.

Both of these actors had superhero roles in the DC movie,Justice League, as well as their character's standalone movies. Their time together on-set must have led to an enduring bromance - just look at this shot of Momoa sneaking up on Cavill with a childish grin! The pic went viral (along with the rest of their antics). This photo was taken on the London red carpet, for theSuicide Squad movie premiere.

Madonna's return to the spotlight left a lot of people confused and/or unhappy. The 2018 MTV Video Music Awards were jamming, and it was soon time for Madonna to get onstage to pay tribute to Aretha Franklin, who had passed away just four days prior. Her speech enraged fans and critics, as Madonna quickly shifted the focus onto herself and her career, barely keeping Aretha Franklin in mind. The event went viral, and it wasn't Madonna's proudest moment.

Sources: bbc.com, usatoday.com, npr.org, washingtonpost.com, eonline.com, telegraph.co.uk.

NEXT:16 Women Who Probably Regret They Ever Went Viral

Next These Are The Most Beautiful Women Keanu Reeves Has Been Linked To

Matt has a passion for writing about everything trending in modern pop-culture, constantly anticipating the next viral hit that will drive everyone crazy. Being a qualified linguist and English teacher, his previous work experience includes writing and editing for sites such as The Richest, Wanderside, and his own Grow The Thought as well as language tutoring and working on language analysis projects through his university.His hobbies include but aren't limited to creative writing, language learning, cooking, woodworking and travel.

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These Celebs Broke The Internet, And Here's How They Did It - TheThings

The family immigration process often takes many years waiting in line and then finally, once an immigrantvisa becomes available, the National Visa Center (NVC) and U.S. Consulate begin final processing for your relative, ending in the immigrant visa consular interview appointment and thereafter immigrating to the U.S.

However, even after waiting all those years, the final processing steps themselves can be very intimidating and stressful.

This quickoverview of the process, along with a few tips to keep in mind, should help youproperly provide the required documentation so as not to delay your relatives consular interview.

To initiate final consular processing, most sponsors receive a notification email from the NVC called a Notice of Immigrant Visa Case Creation which gives the case number, ID and link to login to the Consular Electronic Application Center (CEAC) to initiate the process.

Here are the basic steps in the process:

1) Pay NVC Bills: The first step is to pay the consular fees to begin the process. Fees are currently $445 per person or $325 per person and $120 for family.

2) Submit Affidavit of Support and supporting documents: Once the fees are paid, the next step is for the sponsor to immediately submit the completed, signed form I-864 Affidavit of Support, current tax return. W-2, pay stubsand proof of residency or citizenship through the CEAC system. Failure to quickly provide the required financial documents will result in delay of the case.

3) Complete the DS260 Immigrant Visa Application: At this stage, the immigrating family members must complete the DS260 form for each person and submit.

4) Civil Documents: All immigrants are required to submit certain civil documents, including birth and marriage certificates, divorce decrees, passport biographic page, police certificate, passport photos, criminal records, etc. These documents must be carefully scanned and uploaded through the CEAC system for each immigrating family member.

5) NVC Review: Once the documents are submitted, it can take up to 60 days for the NVC to review the documents. If documents submitted are not clear or scanned improperly, they are rejected, and the sponsor/immigrant will receive an email notification to log in and replace such documents with properly scanned versions.

6) Consular Interview: Once the NVC finds all the documentation is acceptable, the NVC will email notification that the case is complete. The next step is to wait for notification from the consulate. Within about 30 days the U.S. Consulate will send a notification email with date and time of the interview, along with instructions on scheduling the required medical examination and listing documentation to bring to the medical exam and consular interview.

Its important to understand the NVC process can be completed in as little as 60 days if the case is properly prepared and submitted. If not, the process can be delayed for many months causing immigrating family members to remain in limbo for no good reason. In some cases, I have had new clients come to me over six months into the process exasperated and ready to give up after having previously repeatedly tried to do the case themselves. In addition to sponsors being unsure of which documents are required and unfamiliar with the CEAC system, the main delays are usually caused by documents being uploaded which do not meet the requirements.

Heres a few document tips:

Rule #1, never use your cell phone to take a picture of a document, all documents must be scanned at a clear resolution using a scanner and saved as a pdf. Pics taken with cell phones will be rejected.

Rule #2, always make sure the document you are scanning is upright on the page, since documents scanned sideways or upside-down will be rejected.

Rule #3, make sure to scan the entire document so that all sides are fully showing. Scans of documents which are cut off will be rejected. For instance, if a birth certificate has stamps, but the scanned page cuts a portion of the stamp off, the document will be rejected. Similarly, if a document is on oversized paper and the scan cuts off the bottom of the document, it will be rejected. The best approach is to take oversized documents to Office Depot or asimilar store and have them reduced to letter size.

Rule #4, reduce the size of the PDF before uploading. The maximum size is 2 mb. Many documents with multiple pages scanned on copiers and printers will easily go over 2 mb, so youll need to use a PDF program which allows you to reduce the PDF size.

Rule #5, documents which are in the same language as the country from which the family members are immigrating do not need English translations. For instance, if an immigrant is from Colombia and all his/her documents are in Spanish, no English translations are required to be submitted.

Finally, remember every time you submit or resubmit documents, it can take the NVC up to 30-60 days to review them. This can cause frequent delays. The best approach is to carefully prepare the documents, review the scans to make sure they meet each and every specification before uploading and submitting, then check your emails frequently in case the NVC issues a request for resubmission on one or more documents, so that you can take care of it immediately.

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Tips On Successfully Surviving The National Visa Center Process - caribbeannationalweekly.com

The Chief Executive of the Health Service Executive has said onemetresocial distancing would give the health service greater capacity, but it will be guided by the National Public Health Emergency Team's advice.

Paul Reid said NPHET guidance is for two-metresocial distancing and that is what the HSE is planning in terms of framework for new services to work through.

He said thisdoes have implicationsin terms of capacity in emergency departments, outpatient clinics and waiting rooms for example.

At a briefing this morning, he said there is "no doubt" one-metre distancing would give significant extra capacity in managing services, but the executive will be guided by the current NPHET guidance.

Chief Clinical Officer for the HSEDr Colm Henrysaidon 27 March we were facing the "spectreof uncontrolled communitytransmission" of the virus, but the stringent measures introduced, including the two-metresocial distance rule, have allowed us to bring the 'R'figure (effective reproduction)down to 0.5.

He said that bearing in mind this is a droplet spread illness, the guidance was based on theprojected length a droplet can spread.

He saidinitiallywe thought the virus was spread primarily through coughing and sneezing,but as we learn moreabout it,we are more aware of how less obviously it can spread from people who are asymptomatic or pre-symptomatic.

Dr Henry said the two-metrerule is governed by the decisions of NPHET "and how they're advised based on best international advice" and alsofrom those countries who are emergingout of the initialstage of thepandemic

Read more:Latest coronavirus stories

Meanwhile, LabourleaderAlan Kelly has called onMinister for Health Simon Harris to carry out an audit on the impact of changing the social distancing rules to one metre would have on the health service.

In a statement, hesaid there was now a clear divergence between the World Health Organization and the Government.

An expert in infectious disease at the Royal College of Surgeons Ireland said the two-metresocial distancing rule is likely to remain in place, as it is the best advice from the European Centre for Disease Control.

Speaking on RT's This Week, Professor Sam McConkey said the distance between people is one of a number of key measures taken to reduce the spread of the virus.

He said that the Irish authorities are following the ECDC advice, which is specific to European countries and that there is "a lot of wisdom in pooling our knowledge across countries".

He said World Health Organization advice, which calls for a one-metre minimum, is based on a global picture.

Prof McConkey said that until there is zero emergence of cases that are unexplained in the community, restrictions, including social distancing, would continue.

He said we have fewer and fewer deaths and cases each day and most of these are in "known chains of transmissions" such as in meat factories or households.

He said there are a range of other measures that could be changed to make the restrictions easier on people, such as re-opening schools and creches.

He also said a scheme in New Zealand whereby a number of groups or families can form a mini-bubble or cocoon and socialise together, while remaining apart from others could be considered.

He said this would allow both children and parents in those groups to interact and allow a merging of family groups.

Govt asked to explain social distance stance

On the same programme, the Restaurants Association of Ireland called for the Government to explain why it has "changed" in moving away from WHO advice on social distancing guidelines.

RAI CEO Adrian Cummins said with 34 days to go until they re-open, restaurant owners want guidelines on social distancing to be reissued.

He said the difference between one and two metres of social distance would see many restaurants unable to reopen as they could only operate at 20-25% per cent capacity and would be loss making.

Mr Cummins said "we went into the crisis along WHO guidelines and somewhere along the journey we have changed to Irish guidelines".

He said countries including Austria, Finland and Norway have moved to a one-metre rule and "if we don't have this conversation" there will be thousands of jobs at risk.

David Fitzsimons from Retail Excellence Ireland said the social distancing guidelines are "inferior to every other country" and his sector is concerned that it will make retail operations difficult once "pent-up demand" is seen on shop floors.

HSE to complete non-Covid treatment framework

The Health Service Executive has said a framework will befinalisedin the coming weeks to see how to safely resume non-Covidhealthcare services in the current environment.

Mr Reid said there are more than900 vacant beds in hospitals, down from 2,500, which shows an increase in non-Covid activity.

There are 51 people in ICU being treated for Covid-19, which is down 68% from the peak in early April.

He said the speed of testing has increased with 98% of tests returning with a negative result and results are returning in less than two days.

310,000 tests have been completed and 35,000 swab tests were completed.

MrReid said mass testing of nursing homes in now complete and is nearing completion in mental disability settings and the automatic testing of close contacts of confirmed cases is also under way.

The briefing was told that the HSE planned to carry out antibody testing in June to try to measure the level of the disease in the population.

It was expected most people who had the disease would develop an antibody response, which would provide some level of protection but results in other countries had shown low levels in communities.

He said a report into the Mater Hospital has concluded and found it did meet all its obligations on reporting of cases and all testing and tracing was completed properly.

The report makes recommendations about the validation of data and assurances have been given by all hospitals about correct uploading of data.

Increase in emergency department activity

Anne O'Connor, the chief operations officer of the HSE, said activity at emergency departments has risen, with more over 75s being admitted through emergency departments in the last week.

She said a total of 20,177 people attended emergency departments last week, up 2% attendance on last week but still lower than this time last year.

MsO'Connor said an "attend anywhere" teleservice is being looked at, continuing virtual consultations as these clinics are being used more andvirtual consultations for outpatients will be built on over the coming months as people are very keen to engage in this way.

She said there is now 90% occupancy in acute hospitals and there were409 delayed discharges of patients to nursing homes.

MsOConnor said there is a significant numberof daycarecases in private hospitals, which are getting busier andmore use of in-patient beds in private hospitals, which are now at 50% occupancy - and at 80% occupancy for day cases.

She said Covid-19 is not going to disappear so we need to ensure we have capacity at our hospitals.

Sheadded thatthe community assessment hubs are being looked at to see how quieter hubs can best be used to support services.

Around 80% of cases of Covid-19 will be a mild to moderate illness, close to 14% have severe disease and around 6% are critical.

Generally, you need to be 15 minutes or more in the vicinity of an infected person and within 2 metres of them, to be considered at-risk, or a close contact.

People feeling vulnerable urged to seek help

The HSE's clinical advisor to the National Office for Suicide Prevention said the Covid-19 pandemic will see new groups of people having mental health challenges for the first time and he urged anyone feeling vulnerable to seek help.

Dr Philip Dodd, a consultant psychiatrist and clinical professor at UCD, said that people who are cocooning or those who are worried about their jobs or health may need some extra psychological supports.

He said the majority of thepopulation can and will adjust to the new Covid-19 environment andclinical research shows that people are becoming less worried and settling after the initial arrival of the virus in Ireland.

He said mental health services are still accessible despite being interrupted by Covid-19 demands and there are new tele-health options such as online, text and phone supports that have been used by many people for the first time.

Anyone with new concerns about their mental health is urged to contact their GP or in an emergency to attend their lcoal emergency departments.

There are details of mental health services on yourmentalhealth.ie or freephone 180111888.

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HSE will be guided by NPHET advice on 2m rule - Reid - RTE.ie

This Thursday marks the 25th anniversary of the late, great Seve Ballesteros final professional victory.

On May 21, 1995,the mercurial Spaniard won his national title, the Spanish Open, for the third time his 50th European Tour title.

Nobody knew it at the time, of course, but it would prove to be the final trophy the then 38-year-old would ever lift.

Here atbunkered, we have decided to mark the occasion by hosting Seve Week across all of our digital platforms.

Every day this week, we will be uploading brand new content to our website and social media platforms - all of it honouring the bold, brilliant Ballesteros.

Well be giving you a bit of everything: essays, interviews, video tributes from some of his contemporaries, fun stats, facts, quizzes and so much more.

Were encouraging you to get involved, too.

We want you to share your favourite Seve memories and pictures on social media using the hashtag #SeveWeek.

bunkered editor Bryce Ritchie explained: Somebody once said that you didnt need to love golf to love Seve. Thats absolutely true. The great man occupies a special place in the hearts, mind and memories of most golf fans.

"Even Americans, upon whom he inflicted so much misery in the Ryder Cup, admired him for the style and passion that he brought to the game.

He was a complete one-off. Thats why we decided to celebrate him with a one-off week full of celebrations.

"We wouldn't do this for just anybody - but Seve wasn't 'just anybody'. He was a maverick, a revolutionary, an incredible talent and, above all else, a hero."

To make sure you dont miss anything on the site this week, stick this page in your bookmarks and get involved on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram using the hashtag #SeveWeek.

More here:

Introducing 'Seve Week' - A celebration of Seor - bunkered

After picking Joakim Soria out of the Padres ranch system in the 2006 Rule 5 Draft, maybe suggested that the Royals are still in the playing with house money honeymoon stage of the Rule 5 procedure. After all, also landing a Rule 5 gamer that can stick on a Major League lineup for a whole period is a success, dont bother touchdown a two-time All-Star like Soria via his 2007-11 prime time as Kansas Citys closer.

Eleven years after composing Soria, it looks like the Royals once more advanced using the Rule 5 procedure. While Brad Keller has yet to get to All-Star degrees, the right-hander has actually currently delighted in sufficient success over his very first 2 MLB periods that he appears like a strong foundation for a young K.C. group.

Keller was an eighth-round choice for the Diamondbacks in the 2013 draft, as well as via 5 professional periods had actually assembled some suitable yet unimpressive numbers in the Arizona ranch system. Over 130 1/3 innings for Double- A Jackson in 2017, Keller published a 4.68 PERIOD, 7.6 K/9, as well as 1.95 K/BB price, which had not been fairly adequate for him to qualify among something of a 40- guy lineup problem for the DBacks

Coming off a 93- win period as well as a NLDS look in 2017, the Diamondbacks were concentrated on making use of much of their offered 40- guy rooms on gamers that can possibly offer prompt aid in 2018, as GM Mike Hazen discussed to the Arizona Republics Nick Piecoro 2 years earlier. Our precursors suched as[Keller] We liked him, Hazen stated. We made the aware choice not to include him as a result of where he remained in distance to the Major League group, where we remained in the cycle, what we wished to utilize our 40- guy areas for, we wished to be hostile in the offseason in declaring men that were closer to the major leagues in our mind.

So, the DBacks left Keller unguarded in December 2017 draft, as well as it really did not take wish for another group to catch the right-hander. However, that group had not been really the Royals, whose place in the Rule 5 draft order really did not drop up until the #18 place that year. Instead it was the Reds that took Keller with the 5th choice, and after that without delay dealt him to Kansas City for money factors to consider. (The Royals turned a comparable relocation simply one choice later on, getting 6th choice Burch Smith for money from the Mets after New York picked Smith out of Tampa Bays ranch system.)

Smith additionally wound up investing the whole 2018 period on the K.C. lineup, though he was let go after uploading a 6.92 PERIOD over 78 innings. Keller, on the various other hand, was a lot more of a prompt success. After uploading a 2.01 PERIOD over his very first 22 1/3 structures of job out of Kansas Citys bullpen in 2018, Keller was advertised to the turning as well as remained to prosper. The righty had a 3.28 PERIOD over his 20 begins, starting out 83 batters (versus 43 strolls) over 118 innings.

Kellers student year had not been fairly as remarkable, though he still handled a rather decent 4.19 PERIOD, 1.74 K/BB, as well as 6.6 K/9 over 165 1/3 structures, all as a participant of the Royals turning. It can be suggested that Keller was possibly privileged to take care of that 4.19 mark, as some PERIOD forecasters (4.94 xFIP, 5.23 SIERA) were substantially greater, as well as batters made a lot more strong agreement off him in 2019 than in2018 The Statcast metrics additionally took a dark sight of Kellers 2019 efficiency, with a lot of blue as in, below-average numbers for Keller in contrast to various other bottles in leave speed, xwOBA, strikeout percent, as well as a number of various other classifications.

That stated, progressed metrics do not often tend to prefer low-strikeout hurlers like Keller that concentrate on maintaining the sphere on the ground. Among bottles with a minimum of 300 innings threw over the last 2 periods, Keller has the most affordable (8.4%) crowning achievement price in baseball, as well as the second-highest (52%) ground ball price. These impressive numbers are especially beneficial in this age of the vibrant sphere, as well as Keller can better gain from some boosted protection behind him, need to Maikel Franco offer any type of kind of upgrade at 3rd base.

All informed, 4.8 fWAR over 2 periods currently stands for a really wonderful return on the Royals first small money investment toCincinnati Keller does not transform 25 up until July, as well as he does not get to adjudication qualification up until this coming offseason, placing him under the Royals control via the 2023 project. Under regular conditions, Keller can be a gamer the Royals may have currently secured to an agreement expansion, as well as while all expansion talks are stopped under the present deals ice up, it would not be a shock if K.C. started some talks with Kellers reps when routine company comes back underway.

While really significant Rule 5 Draft success tales are reasonably rare nowadays, a group just requires to appeal one choice to make the business beneficial. Finding a major league ability for practically absolutely nothing is a win for any type of group, as well as if that ability is a mid-20s beginning bottle that appears like he can await a minimum of the center of a major league turning, the Royals obtained an useful increase to their newest restoring initiative.

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Have The Royals Found Another Rule 5 Gem? - The Union Journal