American Idol season finale recap: We Just Rocked You

Say what you want about it now, but American Idol is still the only singing competition on TV to produce legitimate music stars from its winners like Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood and Phillip Phillips. True, the ratings have been down this season and not every season has produced a real champ, but most people on the street wouldn't even be able to name one winner of The Voice so let's give some respect for the show that started it all.
It's still unclear as to what side of history season 13 will be remembered for but tonight a new winner was added to that list. Caleb and Jena proved they deserved to make it to the finale weeks ago with consistently strong performances each week compared to an overall very young and lackluster group of finalists. But the competition is done, the votes have been counted and all we can do is wait. And wait. And...wait.

Idol finales have been known now for the guest musical performances on the last night, usually giving the finalists the opportunity to perform with some of their real life idols and tonight was full of those moments. Caleb, Jena, Alex, Malaya, CJ, Dexter and even Ryan got a chance to sing with their musical influences. Yes you read that right, for the first time in 13 years Ryan Seacrest actually sang on the American Idol stage. It was one of those situations where I wasn't really sure what was going on at first or if it was real or not, but Ryan did in fact sing "Right Here Waiting With You" with Richard Marx on the piano. Let's just say there's a reason why he's the host and not a judge.

Other highlights included Caleb rocking out to the KISS hits "Love Gun" and "Shout it Out Loud" with the hall of fame rockers themselves, though he wasn't given the same platform boots to perform in and looked pretty petit comparatively. Demi Lovato performed with all the female finalists (minus MK who had tweeted that she was sick and missing the finale but will still be on tour) while all the men performed "The Man" with Aloe Blacc. Jason Mraz returned from being a mentor earlier this season and premiered his new song "Love Someone" from his upcoming album "Yes" with Alex Preston while season 11 winner Phillip Phillips reprised his performance of "Raging Fire" again from earlier this season, but this time with Sam Woolf. And Malaya looked absolutely gorgeous and like she had aged a few years since she was voted out with an extremely mature performance with John Legend, sans glasses and braces.

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The biggest "Um...what?" moment for me was Jena's performance with her favorite band Paramore. There was absolutely nothing wrong with the vocals or anything, just the hundred yellow floating balls being tossed around the audiences and pretty much into every single camera shot available. Seriously, with all the changes that have happened this season on the show, did they fire every TV director they have too? From the excess of J. Lo closeups to shots of the audience's hands flaring around, I've been more distracted by the apparent lack of focus in the control room more times than I should this season. I guess it was a little of karma when the balls struck down all of the judges Coke cups and spilled on the stage. Of course the judges collaboration later in the night of "True Colors" and "Go Your Own Way" was kind of incredible in my opinion. It was also the first time all judges had performed together on an Idol stage, which is surprising I guess when you think how often they do it on The Voice, but then again not at all when you imagine seeing Simon Cowell with a tambourine.

After Jena and Caleb were given their own 2015 Ford Mustangs, it was finally time for the moment we've been waiting for all season. Without too much tension and anticipation, Ryan announced that Caleb Johnson was the next American Idol. Johnson is the eighth man to win the title and really the first true rock and roller to go all the way. Though some may argue David Cook and Lee DeWyze have rocker qualities, Caleb is a throw back to classic rock, something not seen much on the pop-oriented. I'm not sure who was more surprised by the win, me or Caleb. He seemed pretty surprised as many seemed to think Jena was going to win after Tuesday's show. He was so surprised in fact that he wasn't even able to reprise his coronation song "As Long As You Love Me", mostly because he was overwhelmed by the other finalists congratulating and surrounding him in one giant group hug. But does he realize how much money was probably lost in that empty 60 seconds of time? It's pretty standard that after you win, you sing right away so I was a little annoyed by that, but probably just because I wanted to be hearing Jena's song instead.

Well there you have it music lovers! All things considered, Caleb and Jena both have incredible potential in the music industry, winner or loser. And if all else fails, they really should just tour together. Seriously though, when was the last time a final two sounded so good together? I hope they sing together at prom. Too bad Duets was cancelled already.

 American Idol season finale recap: We Just Rocked You
Who Won American Idol 2014
Source:http://tvrecaps.ew.com/recap/american-idol-2014-finale-part-two/

Scientists announce new dinosaur discovery

The Anzu bones are the first detailed evidence that oviraptorosaurs also lived in North America.

The Anzu fossils were found in a geological formation known as Hell Creek which has been extensively explored and is the source of many dinosaur fossils discovered in North America.
Scientists have nicknamed it 'the chicken from Hell' because of its appearance and where it was found. 

The site is important because it was formed in the last two million years of the Cretaceous period, just before dinosaurs were wiped out by an asteroid strike.
Many researchers have argued that dinosaurs were already dying out because of climate change. But according to Dr Sues and his team, the discovery of Anzu offers further proof that many species were still evolving and dinosaur communities were diverse and flourishing.


"This is consistent with the idea that a mass extinction was caused by the great asteroid impact 66 million years ago. It's clear that dinosaurs were still quite diverse until the very end," says Dr Sues.
A thousand species of dinosaurs have been discovered so far. Scientists believe there are many thousands more waiting to be identified, even in heavily excavated formations such as Hell Creek.
The discovery of another species from the site was announced in December last year - a small raptor called Acheroraptor temertyorum. And scientists have only begun to explore potential dinosaur graves in Central Asia.

Bones in ground But there's no magic formula for discovery according to Tyler Lyson, who found one of the Anzu skeletons in 2009 on his uncle's ranch in North Dakota.

"We were just walking along when we saw some dinosaur bones poking out of the ground," he says. "I knew right away that they belonged to a meat-eating dinosaur because meat-eating dinosaurs have hollow bones, and these bones were hollow. We carefully made a plaster jacket to wrap the specimen and get it back to the lab. After several hours cleaning it, we knew we had found something new. It was unlike anything else we had ever seen before."
Dr Lyson is part of the Smithsonian team and the founder of the Marmarth Research Foundation, which promotes the study of fossils. He discovered his first dinosaur bone when he was just six years old. The other two Anzu skeletons, which include a skull, were discovered by private collectors.
"You just have to spend time out there," he says. "The bones come to the surface and then break up into little pieces. You get a trail of broken bits of bone which you follow, and if you're lucky you'll see bones sticking out of the side of the hill - and that's exactly what we found here."
Although the Anzu skeletons were discovered several years ago, scientists work in "deep time", says Dr Lyson. Bones have to be catalogued and compared with other specimens while scientific evidence has to be peer-reviewed. It can take a decade before any official announcement is made.


Scientists announce new dinosaur discovery  
Scientists announce new dinosaur discovery 
dinosaur 

Royal Rumble Winner

 

Vote below and tell us who you think the 2014 WWE Royal Rumble winner will be:

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The absence of Brazilian striker Neymar due to injury

The Barcelona Club said, the hero of Spanish League Soccer Friday, Brazilian international striker neymar will miss out for three to four weeks because of a right ankle ligament injury.

Neymar was forced out of the second half of the game, which his team won 2-0 at Getafe in the last 16 second leg of the King's Cup on Thursday, and Spain showed the effects of the injury when he returned to Barcelona from Madrid on Friday morning.

The injury setback, lnimar, 21, who is not involved since the beginning of the year because of a lack of fitness and a stomach problem.

Barcelona said in a statement: "the player had tests Friday showed his sprained right ankle.

He added: "the player will miss because of injury for three to four weeks roughly."

Barcelona shared top League Spain with Atletico Madrid with 50 points each of 19 games.

The thinnest Americans are Asian Americans by landslide CDC data show

 

The thinnest Americans are Asian Americans by landslide CDC data show 

The thinnest Americans are Asian Americans by landslide CDC data show

Lionel Messi and the hazards of a red suit

Lionel Messi and the hazards of a red suit

New Mexico doctors can help terminal patients die, judge says

Florida Man Is Shot to Death for Texting During Movie Previews

Florida Man Is Shot to Death for Texting During Movie Previews

With its purchase of the maker of the Jim Beam brand, Japan's Suntory Holdings has its eyes on both American culture — and global sales.

Torturing Four-Year-Olds And Shooting Children With Sniper Rifles

Unless you've been living under a rock and avoiding all news, chances are you're aware that Syria is a mess right now. And what a house of horrors it is: A recent report produced by a human right group found that since the start of the Syrian war, at least 11,000 children have been deliberately targeted and killed in the conflict.
This number includes over 100 who were killed by snipers, and at least 112 who were deliberately tortured to death by government officials. Some of these torture victims were less than 5-years-old. It's hard to imagine what crucial information these youngsters possessed that would warrant such actions. What were officials looking for, a hidden stash of juice boxes?
Thousands more have died in agonizing pain from chemical weapon attacks, a number of which deliberately targeted elementary schools and other places where children gather.

Meanwhile, another conflict is brewing up atrocities of its own. In the Central African Republic, peacekeepers say that the country is on the verge of its own civil war. Human rights workers report that some people are going through towns slitting the throats of children, while others are shooting babies with military rifles. Different continent, eerily similar horrors.

Most people try their best to turn away from stories such as this, especially when it seems they can do nothing about it. But we bring news like this to your attention for two reasons: First, organizations such as Save the Children are working in the refugee camps along the Syrian border and in Africa, doing their best to help all the families fleeing this slaughter. They could certainly use our help, and so there is something you could do.

Second, but perhaps more importantly, turning away from discomforting truths about our world leaves us in the dark about how these atrocities arise. In the same way that those who forget history are doomed to repeat it, when societies choose not to confront such disturbing scenarios, they remain ignorant and naive about the causes. They may fail to recognize just how precariously their own culture balances compassion and cooperation against the darker side of human nature, and how quickly things can go wrong and spiral out of control.

If you're like most people, upon hearing of such horrors, your gut reaction is to curse the "evil monsters" perpetrating such acts. While this is understandable, simply labeling the perpetrators as "evil" is another way of avoiding the issue. The sad fact is that such atrocious violence happens with regular occurrence - way to often to dismiss it as the deeds of a few evil, less-than-human sociopaths. Medieval Europe, Germany, our ancestors in the United States, South America, Turkey, Ecuador, Iraq, Rwanda, Congo... time and time again we see examples where otherwise ordinary people seem to lose their marbles and revert to the cruelest of actions with apparent ease. Why does this happen?
The Psychology of Genocide
Dispassionate cruelty is not about "pure evil," but rather a destructive state of psychology that is far too easy to come by.

1.) The Division Phase
Rifts and divisions that exist between people are widened. These imagined differences are always psychological - a way of inventing separations which ignore the fact that underneath we're all the same human creatures with identical needs and desires that are merely expressed in slightly different ways. This can be a difference in race, religion, class, ethnic categories, tribe, sexual or cultural practices - anything that allows for a certain group of people to be labeled and categorized as "others." Once placed in this mental category of the "other," someone or something different and apart from ourselves, the normal rules of empathy no longer apply and compassion starts to break down.

2.) The Elevation Phase
These distinctions are then hyped up and exaggerated. Their importance is elevated. Messages are spread about how horrible these evil "others" are. They are assumed to have sinister motives and malicious intentions are ascribed to their deeds. Energy starts to build behind a destructive idea. The more the idea is repeated, the more real it seems. The more real it seems, the more harsh actions seem justifiable in defense of the "greater good."

3.) The Tension Phase
Something happens to escalate tensions: A perceived insult, an accident, and isolated case of maliciousness. This fuels the flame and sparks retaliation. That new deed stokes the other side, who then feels a need for their own counteroffensive. (You killed my child, now I'll kill yours.) Each new aggression becomes proof of the other side's maliciousness and evil nature. Rumor and gossip take hold, spreading like wildfire with tales of devilish acts both real and imagined. Anger and rage take hold, further limiting people's ability to think rationally.

4. The Justification Phase
Once we make the distinction between "Us" and "Them," separating ourselves into imaginary categories of good and evil while labeling those outside our group as "evil others," the path toward monstrous actions is complete. The despised are no longer people, but rather animals to be slaughtered at will. Now no atrocity is beyond the scope of human cruelty (even slitting the throats of defenseless children), since attacking these evil "others" becomes an act in defense of the greater "good." Cruelty is relabeled "justice" and considered reasonable punishment against those who deserve it. Strong emotions associated with group loyalty further enable the aggressors.

Avoiding This Pattern of Cruelty In Our Own Lives
So why this lesson in the social dynamics of genocide? Because it's a formula inherent to human nature that exists within us all, and awareness of this tendency is the first step in guarding against such evil deeds. Even today in times of peace, look around. You can probably find hundreds of different variations in this same formula, all producing hurtful actions and lesser degrees of cruelty in everyday life.

You can see people labeling and compartmentalizing those they don't understand, relegating them to something "less than human." On an everyday basis people will ascribe malicious motives to the deeds of others while simultaneously dismissing their own hurtful actions as something perfectly understandable or justified (one of the most destructive double standards of all time). You'll find all sorts of cruelty celebrated and justified... so long as it's directed at those "evil others" who "deserve it." You can come across all sorts of examples of people scapegoating other groups and blaming them for their problems.

Quiet obviously, the same psychology that enables the horrors of genocide exists within our own culture and resides right underneath the surface. We need to be aware of these tendencies and keep them in check. Not only so we don't wake up one day and find ourselves in a similar mess, but to guard against all the lesser atrocities that are an everyday occurrence in the here and now.

Let us hope that the children in Syria and the Central African Republic soon find some relief from these horrors. In the meantime, it's our duty to NOT TURN AWAY. Maybe we can't sop the slaughter presently going on, but as individuals we can certainly do our best to combat the psychology that enables such destructive deeds.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/8245772