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Meghan Markle is set to take up British citizenship after she marries the U.K.’s Prince Harry. But it turns out the actor already has some impressive roots in Britain—she is related to both William Shakespeare and Winston Churchill. Prince Harry’s American bride-to-be is Shakespeare’s fifth cousin 13 times removed, according to genealogy service MyHeritage.com, which looked into Markle’s family tree following news of her engagement to Harry, 33, Monday. Shakespeare is, of course, the world’s most famous playwright best known for his great romantic works, like Romeo and Juliet, so it’s befitting the Bard’s descendant is swept up in a modern day love story (hopefully, minus the tragedy). Keep up with this story and more by subscribing now Markle, 36, is related to Shakespeare on her father’s side and Shakespeare’s mother’s side. They share ancestors John Whalesborough, born in 1369, and his wife Joan Whalesborough. Meghan Markle and Shakespeare family tree MyHeritage The familial ties between Markle and Churchill, Britain’s wartime prime minister during World War II, are even closer. They are sixth cousins five times removed and related via Zachariah Howe, born in Essex County, Massachusetts, in 1640. Howe was a descendant of British settlers who originated from the U.K. county of Essex. The connection is through Markle’s paternal family. "When we heard the wonderful news about Harry and Meghan's engagement, we wanted to help Meghan discover some English roots of her own. I'm sure she will be delighted to know that she comes from such prestigious British stock," a spokesperson for MyHeritage.com tells Newsweek. "We are not sure if Ms Markle is aware of her connection to such eminent Britons, however, it seems that she was always destined to be a Brit.” Making matters all the more complicated, Markle and Harry may also have shared ancestry The U.K.’s Metro reported in October the engaged couple are descendants of Ralph Bowes, a 15th century British high sheriff whose bloodline traces through to the Queen Mother, Harry’s great-grandmother. Meghan Markle and Churchill family tree MyHeritage |
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Filmmaker Peter Jackson is moving on from epic fantasy franchises to something completely different: A feature documentary about World War I. Jackson announced the project via video on Monday, as a part of "14-18 NOW," an arts program commissioned by the British government to commemorate the centennial of the war. The project is currently untitled, but it's expected to get a wide release in the United Kingdom to mark the 100th anniversary of the end of the Great War. A likely premiere would occur at the BFI London Film Festival, which begins October 4. Jackson said the documentary will feature never-before-seen archival war footage from the BBC and London’s Imperial War Museum's collection, which he restored to allow his film to go were no WWI documentary has gone before. Keep up with this story and more by subscribing now "We’re making a film [that is] not the usual film you would expect on the first World War. We’re making a film that shows this incredible footage in which the faces of the men just jump out at you,” Jackson said. “It’s the people that come to life in this film.” In other words, there will still be some of those signature Jackson frills, even in a historical non-fiction film. The documentary is certainly a departure from the fantasy-horror genre work that made Jackson a household name. But if anyone can afford to branch out it's the guy who brough Middle-earth to life. In fact, after three Lord of the Rings films and three Hobbit adventures—which made a combined lifetime gross of nearly $2 billion—Jackson can afford to do pretty much anything he wants. In 2014, Forbes placed the New Zealand director 48th on its Celebrity 100 list, which ranks top stars based on both money and fame. In 2009, the National Business Review, a national weekly paper in New Zealand, estimated Jackson's net worth at $450 million. Jackson hasn't been conservative with his fortune—his purchase of two lavish private jets, one in 2009 and the other in 2013, caught the public's eye. The director also recently sold more than 220 hectares of his private property around Queenstown, New Zealand, which was valued at around $3.9 million. Peter Jackson attends the premiere of New Line Cinema, MGM Pictures And Warner Bros. Pictures' 'The Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies' at Dolby Theatre on December 9, 2014. Frazer Harrison/Getty Images This new war documentary probably won't make the same box office splash as The Return of the King. (Nor is it likely to garner that film's 11 Academy Award nominations.) But the goal is not money or awards this time around—it's education. A copy of the documentary will be given out to every secondary school in Britain, according to Variety. "We've made a movie to show the experience of what it was like to fight in this war," Jackson said in the announcement video. "We don't talk about any historical aspects of the war. We just talk about the social and human experience of being in the war." Tags: 4g router, LTE router, 3g router, cashless vending, 3g modem, Wireless ATM,VPN router |
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Over the years, footballers’ celebrations have become as choreographed as the plays that produce touchdowns. From the Redskins’ fun bunch celebration to the Falcons’ dirty bird, players have continually reacted to TDs in entertaining ways. But Odell Beckham Jr. produced one of the more bizarre celebrations after his first score on Sunday, in the Giants 24-27 defeat to the Eagles in Philadelphia. The 24-year-old wide-receiver fell to all fours and crawled along the floor before simulating the act of peeing like a dog. Inevitably, Beckham was asked after the game for the meaning behind his celebration, but gave little explanation. “I don’t know,” he said. “I’m in the end zone, I’m a dog, so I acted like a dog.” Keep up with this story and more by subscribing now Take a look at the celebration:
When Beckham hit the end zone for a second time, he raised his first to the sky. This act seemed more in tune with a theme running throughout the NFL this weekend, with teams defying the words of President Trump. On Friday, Trump said NFL owners should fire players who took a knee during the national anthem. "Wouldn't you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, 'Get that son of a bitch off the field right now, out, he's fired. He's fired,'" Trump said. “You know, some owner is going to do that. And that owner, they'll be the most popular person in this country.” On Sunday, before the Baltimore Ravens and Jacksonville Jaguars met at Wembley Stadium in London, the players defied the words of Trump and took a knee during the national anthem. But Beckham wouldn’t reveal whether his fist to the sky was a message to Trump. “Did it look like it [meant something]?” he said. “Then it might have meant something.” |
'A Wrinkle in Time' Gets Barbie Treatment—Oprah Winfrey Will Be A Doll Before Becoming President |
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Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon and Mindy Kaling are getting the Barbie treatment. The trio’s “Mrs. W” characters, in the Ava DuVernay-directed A Wrinkle in Time, have been turned into a set of collectible dolls in honor of the book adaptation, premiering in theaters in March. The dolls are “for the adult collector,” according to Barbie’s website. They have yet to hit toy store shelves, and no debut date has been listed. However, Winfrey’s Mrs. Which, Witherspoon’s Mrs. Whasit and Kaling’s Mrs. Who are expected to retail for $50. Actors Reese Witherspoon, Oprah Winfrey and Mindy Kaling of A WRINKLE IN TIME took part today in the Walt Disney Studios live action presentation at Disney's D23 EXPO 2017 in Anaheim, Calif. Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Keep up with this story and more by subscribing now DuVernay gushed over the collectible dolls on Twitter on Wednesday, writing: “When Disney makes Barbies of your movie’s characters and you just want to stare at them all day in disbelief because you loved Barbies as a girl but never had any like these.” DuVernay, 45, has already been immortalized with her own Barbie. Back in 2015, the award-winning director announced she would get her own doll as part of Mattel’s “Shero” campaign, which paid homage to the accomplishments of six women in the entertainment industry. Emmy Rossum, Kristen Chenoweth, Eva Chen, Trisha Yearwood and Sydney Kaiser were also miniaturized for the collection. Proceeds were donated to Color of Change, a civil rights advocacy group, and Witness.org, a human rights nonprofit aimed at teaching people in impoverished areas how to use video and technology. The Wrinkle in Time Barbie doll is a first for Kaling. A Barbie doll made after Witherspoon's Legally Blonde character, Elle Woods, was released in 2003. As for Winfrey, the Mrs. Which doll will be the second Barbie modeled after the media mogul. She revealed her first doll, which sported her famous curled hairstyle and a red gown, in a Twitter post in 2016. Winfrey had paired her Barbie with DuVernay's. Winfrey has been in the news of late, for widespread speculation that she might run for president in 2020. This was following her impactful speech as she accepted her Cecil B. DeMille award at the 2018 Golden Globe Awards on January 7. Three weeks before she gave that speech, Winfrey told In-Style magazine that she wasn’t interested in becoming president. “I actually saw a [#Oprah2020] mug the other day. I thought it was a cute mug. All you need is a mug and some campaign literature and a T-shirt,” she said. "I've always felt very secure and confident with myself in knowing what I could do and what I could not,” Winfrey continued. "And so it's not something that interests me. I don't have the DNA for it." Again, Winfrey said this before the her speech and the subsequent groundswell of support for her candidacy. Also bear in mind that many a presidential candidate has denied that they are running before they actually do. So maybe take Winfrey's denial with a grain or two of salt, and invest in a potential collecto Tags: Industrial IoT Products, Industrial IoT Solutions, Industrial IoT Products, industrial IoT Gateway, industrial IoT router, M2M IoT gateway, M2M IoT router, industrial router |
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Ever noticed that when you type the word shoe in your smartphone, the only traditionally “female” emojis are high heels? You can choose between a red stiletto, a white mule and a tan boot. Florie Hutchinson made this discovery last spring, while nursing her 6-month-old daughter. She was texting her sister-in-law, and when she typed shoe, the default emoji was the stiletto. Hutchinson, an independent arts publicist in Palo Alto and a mother of three daughters, thought, This is absurd! Who decided that the female shoe must have a heel? I wanted to throw my phone against the wall." This was the last straw on the sort of day that reminds women of how overtly sexist and gendered mass culture remains. First, one of Hutchinson’s daughters picked up a book at a local supermarket titled Polite as a Princess, with Snow White, Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella smiling like good little Stepford beauties on the cover. Her next stop was a children’s store—she needed a new baby carrier. “While the girls are looking at overpriced $100 bamboo cotton onesies, I realize that out of the 30 boxes of baby carriers, all but one has a picture of the mother carrying the baby. I’m like, where are the men?” Keep up with this story and more by subscribing now The only three traditionally female shoe emoji are a red stiletto, a white mule and a tan boot. That could be changing, thanks to a new petition for a ballet flat. Newsweek She calls the red stiletto her “sleep-deprived aha moment,” and a month later she submitted a proposal for a ballet flat to the Unicode Consortium, the nonprofit that oversees and standardizes emoji across platforms. A dozen elite companies (mostly U.S. tech giants, including Apple, Google and Facebook) pay $18,000 a year for the right to vote on new emojis, and if Hutchinson’s flat is approved at the group’s meeting this week, it could appear on billions of devices next year. “When Melania Trump and Stilettogate happened, I was like, where is my flat emoji when I need one?!” she says, referring to the fuss made over the first lady wearing stilettos to visit hurricane-ravaged Houston. Hutchinson isn’t alone. Last week, Katrina Lake, founder and CEO of the online clothing company Stitch Fix, pointed out that when she typed the word CEO into her iPhone, she got an emoji of a man in shirt and tie. “Hi! I actually look more like this,” she tweeted, along with an emoji of a woman in a purple shirt. If you’re rolling your eyes, thinking emojis are nothing more than a playful visual shorthand for poop and sex, think again. They have inspired everything from Halloween costumes to Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign to President George W. Bush’s interactions with his daughters. The Leslie Mann comedy, Blockers, due April 2018, is premised on an emoji-only text conversation between three teenage girls on prom night. Makes sense when you consider that 90 percent of the world’s online population use emoji—on Facebook Messenger alone, and 5 billion emoji are sent every day. Consider that we live in a world where children are given smartphones and tablets as pacifiers—where they learn how “to emoji” before they can read and write. Today, 98 percent of children age 8 and under live in a home with a mobile device, according to a new report from Common Sense Media. And the average amount of time kids spend on those devices has skyrocketed from five to 48 minutes a day over the last six years. This is why emojis matter. “There’s this false perception that things served up to us by machines are unbiased,” says Jane Solomon, a lexicographer at Dictionary.com who sits on the Unicode Emoji Subcommittee, which considers proposals. “You have to ask, ‘Who programmed that machine? Who made the decision that brought you a stiletto heel as the representation for a woman’s shoe?’… I think a lot of people write off emojis as being superficial, but it’s a very real way people communicate.” These days, there is heightened focus on ensuring that gender, race and sexual orientation are represented in Hollywood, awards shows, corporate boards, magazine covers—pretty much everywhere. And it’s fair to expect further progress in a post–Harvey Weinstein world. But what’s at stake if we don’t fully democratize emoji, fast becoming the first language of children? The Birth of Emojis In 1999, a young Japanese engineer at a phone company created a set of 176 simplistic images—smiley faces, musical notes, trains—to appeal to teenagers. It wasn’t until 2011 that Apple brought them to America. This first generation was rife with blind spots, especially around gender and diversity, but that’s because “they were descended from the Japanese emoji, which were never meant to be universal,” says Jennifer 8. Lee, a former New York Times journalist and co-founder of Emojination, an organization dedicated to making emoji more inclusive (tagline: Emoji by the people, for the people). Shigetaka Kurita sketched out the first emoji characters in 1999, while working at major telecom company NTT Docomo. BEHROUZ MEHRI/AFP/Getty Images Until recently, the official emoji keyboard offered women four career tracks: bride, princess, flamenco dancer and Playboy Bunny. The only skin color was yellow, which of course read as white, and there was no such thing as an interracial couple or family. These glaring missteps are slowly being corrected. Starting in 2015, Unicode introduced racially diverse emojis, female kissing female, male kissing male, and LGBT couples (both with and without kids). Last year, Unicode approved 11 new professions for men and women (including judge, pilot, teacher and artist), and made existing emojis both male and female (yes, that’s two guys dressed as Playboy Bunnies). A Muslim teenager in Germany successfully petitioned Unicode to add a hijab-wearing woman emoji. Of the last 67 emojis Unicode approved, Emojination helped pass at least 40, including the hijab, llama, lobster and bagel. But not everything merits attention, at least according to Emojination. “We keep getting proposals around menstruation, like bloody underwear, that just aren’t going to pass! And there is trouble with the condom emoji,” says Lee. “Here's the thing: It’s a global visual language, which means you have all the cultural constraints. For example, it’s not technically a wine or beer emoji, because some Muslim countries didn’t like that. It’s a wine glass and beer mug. That’s OK.” Pleasing everyone is impossible. This summer, Facebook unveiled 125 diverse family emojis, including light, medium and dark skin tones, only it was impossible to create interracial families. “And when they introduced female professions,” says Lee, “you ended up with male and female versions of everything—police officer, medic—and that made all the non-gender-binary people agitated, because they felt they were being forced into gender binary.” Earlier this year, Unicode approved the first gender-neutral emojis, with child, adult and older person. The official emoji keyboard is still rife with familiar and frustrating stereotypes. Punch in dress and you get a low-cut turquoise number with a tiny waist. Bathing suit brings up a pink polkadot bikini. More than simple ciphers, these simplistic symbols have come to express something much more complex, a way to reveal who we are and how we want to be viewed. Sometimes a shoe is just a shoe, and sometimes it’s an affront—or a revolution. Very few women walk around all day in high heels, so why are they the only traditionally "female" options for shoes on the emoji keyboard? CRISTINA QUICLER/AFP/Getty Images “If I can make sure at least one word has options for my daughters, of course I’m going to do it,” says Hutchinson. “Children consume digital books and language, and they’re literate in it, so why smack them with a sexualized stereotype like a stiletto from early childhood?” By age 5 or 6, children can understand up to 14,000 words, says Eve Clark, a linguistics professor at Stanford University. But when I asked a handful of psychologists and child development experts what’s at stake for kids who learn how “to emoji” before they can read and write, most replied with some version of, Great question! There’s a reason for that: Technology changes so quickly that academic researchers—who often spend years getting from concept to publication—simply can’t keep up. “It’s like saying, ‘Is there any complete research on the effects of Pokémon Go?’” says Michael Rich, director of the Center on Media and Child Health at Boston Children’s Hospital. “We do know that looking at a woman as a Playboy Bunny, and not much else, has an effect on children long-term, whether as an emoji or in Playboy magazine. We can extrapolate from research we do have about the formation of gender and stereotypes and apply it to emoji, and feel reasonably sure that this is a valid concern.” If anything, it’s a representation, says David Anderson, senior director of the ADHD and Behavior Disorders Center at the Child Mind Institute, “of just how vigilant we have to be to each new form of communication for kids.” |