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'We're the anchor': Why Franklin's Historic Artcraft Theater must survive the pandemic

The Historic Artcraft Theater in Franklin has to survive the pandemic shutdown. The downtown economy depends on it.

       




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Hayley Williams leads Paramore's electric performance at White River

       




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Why the Pacers traded the chance to draft Michael Jordan for Tom Owens

The Pacers dealt the No. 2 pick in the 1984 draft for one season of Tom Owens

       




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'Last Dance' brings back memories of tough '90s NBA for Pacers coach Nate McMillan

'Last Dance' brings back memories of tough 90's NBA for Pacers coach Nate McMillan

       




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'She lit up a room': Kim Blanchar, a retired Brebeuf teacher, died of COVID-19

"A little bit of all of us died when Kim died. If we could treat others like Kim treated us, the world would be a better place."

       




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Coronavirus: Social distancing cuts public transport passenger capacity by 90%

The transport secretary warns social distancing will mean severely-reduced passenger capacity.




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Paul Pogba: Manchester United midfielder likes his steak well done, says his chef

Pro chef and friend to footballers Jonny Marsh shares the secrets to one of Paul Pogba’s favourite dishes - steak with polenta fries and a chimichurri sauce.




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Manchester City to continue NHS support after Premier League games resume

Manchester City will continue to make part of their Etihad Campus available to the NHS, even after the Premier League returns.




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'Don't go visit your mom' on Mother's Day, San Francisco health director advises

The director of the San Francisco Department of Public Health told residents Wednesday not to visit their mothers on Mother's Day, even if wearing masks and keeping six feet apart.




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Brush fire erupts in exclusive Hollister Ranch amid strong winds and sweltering temperatures

The fire broke out shortly after 2 a.m. in medium brush between Gaviota State Beach and the Hollister Ranch guard gate.




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NFL provides ticket-refund assurances amid coronavirus concerns, but teams vary on flexibility for season packages

The NFL has instituted a league-wide policy in which fans who buy tickets directly from teams can receive refunds for games that are canceled.

       




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'Last Dance' brings back memories of tough '90s NBA for Pacers coach Nate McMillan

'Last Dance' brings back memories of tough 90's NBA for Pacers coach Nate McMillan

       




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Does pandemic offer US and Iran chance for partial reset?

Jonathan Marcus looks at whether the crisis might lead to some rapprochement between the arch-foes.




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Coronavirus: Iran and the US trade blame over sanctions

Iran has blamed US sanctions for impeding its fight against Covid-19 - but the US says that's not true.




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New guidance - what must I do?

Step-by-step, what to do to help prevent the spread of the virus.




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Coronavirus: Lockdown bites poor as France eases grip

France is eyeing a lifting of strict coronavirus measures on Monday but for many the damage is done.




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Coronavirus: Paris restrictions to stay as France reopens

Measures will be relaxed from Monday, but the densely populated capital faces continuing curbs.





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France country profile

Key facts, figures and dates




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France timeline

A chronology of key events




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Coronavirus death rate: What are the chances of dying?

The current best guess of a 1% death rate does not apply to everyone.




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Coronavirus: France's first known case 'was in December'

The case means Covid-19 may have arrived in Europe almost a month earlier than previously thought.




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Coronavirus: Prostate-cancer men swap chemo for precision drugs

Men with advanced prostate cancer can now take highly targeted hormone therapies at home.




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Dancing gargantuan black holes perform on cue

Scientists predict the explosive behaviour of two supermassive black holes almost to the hour.




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Social distancing and coronavirus: The science behind the two-metre rule

Ministers are reportedly considering relaxing the two-metre rule for social distancing in workplaces.




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Some landscapes show resistance to ash dieback

Certain habitats can help dampen the spread of ash dieback, which threatens ash trees.




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Blyth festival 2020 season cancelled

The Blyth Festival will not be staging any plays this year.




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Confederation Line out of service for maintenance work

The City of Ottawa says the Confederation Line will be shutdown from Saturday, May 9 to Wednesday, May 13 so Rideau Transit Group can conduct maintenance work.




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Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola bashed superhero movies, but why should we care what they say anyway?

Even two filmmaking legends can cast the wrong villains amid massive industry change.




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Why Keri Russell leaped at the chance to join J.J. Abrams’s ‘Rise of Skywalker’

The "Americans" actress dived into the change of place to play "hidden" spice smuggler Zorii Bliss.




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San Diego Comic-Con canceled because of coronavirus pandemic

For the first time in 50 years there won't be a San Diego Comic Con.




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Children battling cancer can’t always express their feelings. Now a robotic duck is doing it for them.

Known as “My Special Aflac Duck,” the robot is merging play with tools that help doctors do their jobs.




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Wearable technology started by tracking steps. Soon, it may allow your boss to track your performance.

A team of researchers from Dartmouth say they’ve created a mobile sensing system — consisting of fitness bracelets, sensors and a custom app — that can measure employee performance with about 80 percent accuracy.




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It’s time to stop sleeping on the Chargers’ Super Bowl chances

Since 2002, the first year the league expanded to 32 teams, the Chargers have made the playoffs six times, just one of which saw them advance further than the divisional round. That could change this season.




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As dating apps try to pivot to virtual events, some users are trying to get people to violate social distancing rules

  • Dating apps like Tinder, Bumble, and Hinge have reported increased use amid the coronavirus pandemic, while touting virtual dating alternatives for users instead of meeting up in person.
  • Swaths of users are still encouraging matches to break quarantine to have sex and go on dates, despite social distancing guidelines and fines to comply with them.
  • An illustrator on Instagram has been collecting screenshots of these situations, and told Business Insider that users will brand themselves as "badasses," dispute the effectiveness of isolating, and lash out in anger and hurl abusive language when they're rejected.
  • Spokespeople for Grindr, Tinder and Bumble told Business Insider they've informed users to adhere to social-distancing guidelines, but did not respond to inquiries about actions they're taking against users in places where violating lockdown orders can be against the law.
  • Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

As millions remain confined to their homes to prevent the spread of coronavirus, the desire for human contact and connection has risen dramatically and led some to search for ways to break those social distancing rules.

Popular dating apps — including Tinder, Bumble, and Hinge — have reported significant increases during the outbreak of swiping activity, matches between users, and messages exchanged. It's also led to the introduction of a breed of users who are interested in shirking lockdown orders, and are encouraging their matches to join them in doing the same.

Dating app users have shared stories across social media, and recently with Mashable, about messages they've received from matches who ask them to come over or want to hook up. Artist Samantha Rothenberg, who uses the handle @violetclair on Instagram, has been collecting these screenshots from followers, and told Business Insider she's received close to a thousand of such stories.

"Because of how common it is, I can honestly say that anyone who is on a dating app right now has dealt with this," Rothenberg told Business Insider. "People are horny, and a lot of people are putting that ahead of the risk and the danger."

For dating platforms whose end goal is inherently to bring its millions of users together in real life, the coronavirus outbreak has put them in a curious predicament. Dating apps are forced to balance a desire to keep people on their platform for the sake of business, with a moral responsibility to discourage users to engage in behavior with potential life-or-death implications.

Since the start of the outbreak, apps have rolled out in-app virtual dating options and touted ways users can go on virtual dates. However, the prevalence of users who are trying to meet up in person, as documented by Rothenberg and screenshots across social media, raise questions about whether these dating platforms are doing enough to stymie such behavior in the time of coronavirus.

Rothenberg has long collected screenshots of users' horror stories from dating app interactions, which she often will depict in illustrations she posts to her Instagram account. But ever since the pandemic led states to instill lockdown orders starting in March, nearly all of the screenshots she's received have had to do with coronavirus.

These lockdown-violating users fall into a few general categories, according to Rothenberg. There's the users who try to paint themselves as "badasses" for breaking the rules, though Rothenberg says they're more like "a--holes." There are the matches who propose meeting up and, after getting rejected, reverse course to say they're were joking or "testing" you, she says. You'll also encounter the anti-quarantine user, whose reasoning is based on claims about herd immunity and the ineffectiveness of social distancing measures.

The last group is made up of users who react to "no" with anger and verbal abuse, Rothenberg told Business Insider. Women told Mashable recently about encounters with men on dating apps who badgered and harassed them after they turned down in-person meetings, going to the point of gaslighting.

These types of users are what led Rothenberg to launch a petition on Change.org to hold dating apps responsible for enforcing social distancing guidelines during the pandemic. She's also been active about calling out dating apps in her Instagram Stories she posts with screenshots she receives.

"People are angry, they tell me, 'can you believe this, this is disgusting, this is wrong,'" Rothenberg said. "Because I have this platform, I feel I have a bit of a responsibility to put these [stories] out in the open and share, and bring some light into what's going on out there to people who may not know."

In late March, platforms sent out various messages and alerts to their users that Rothenberg documented on Instagram. A message to Bumble users from CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd said: "Please don't meet your Bumble matches IRL for now." Hinge users were told to "stay safe and keep connected."

Tinder, arguably the most well-know dating app, also discouraged users to meet up in a platform-wide message sent March 26.

"We know there's a lot to stay to each other as we all do our best to stay healthy and prevent the spread of the coronavirus," the message from Tinder said. "We hope to be a place for connecting during this challenging time, but it's important to stress that now is not the time to meet IRL with your match."

Dating apps' responsibilities to pivot from IRL to TXT

As companies across industries adjust business to stay afloat, dating apps have transitioned to emphasize alternatives to in-person meetups. Although online dating success has long been measured by the amount of conversations that turn to real-life connections, platforms are forced to rethink their strategy as users continue turning to them en masse. A poll conducted by Hinge found that 70% of its users said they were open to going on dates on Zoom, FaceTime, and other video platforms.

Some dating brands have introduced new features amid the pandemic. Hinge launched "Date from Home" in April, where users can indicate to a match they're ready to move their conversation off-app. Plenty of Fish started rolling out a livestreaming feature in March to users in the U.S. to allow matches to go on short virtual dates. Tinder, relatively late to the game, announced this week it was launching a video chat feature by the end of June.

A spokesperson for Match Group — the parent company on Tinder, Hinge, Plenty of Fish, and other dating platforms — told Business Insider that it made updates to its products "to help users better navigate stay-from-home policies and date digitally via phone or video."

Other apps that already enabled video chat and voice call, like The League and Bumble, are pushing these features to their users more than ever. 

But while users on these dating apps are swiping and messaging at new highs, the transition to virtual-only hasn't been as seamless for those on Grindr, the most popular dating app for gay men. Steve, a 26-year-old living in Washington, D.C., told Business Insider that activity on Grindr is "completely dead." He said he doesn't check the app nearly as often any more, but messages he does get on the app are largely from people who say they want to meet up despite the quarantine.

Grindr, like other apps, has attempted to pivot to virtual dating: The platform recently introduced Circles, where groups of up to 20 users can join chats centered around certain topics and interests. However, Steve said he's seen these groups largely dissolve into "all d--k pics."

"I dont think Grindr has the ability to rebrand itself honestly at this point for something other than hookups," Steve said. "They tried to take the opportunity to rebrand itself as something else, and it just right away became sexual."

A Grindr spokesperson told Business Insider it had sent in-app notifications to all users asking them to "refrain from in-person meetings right now."Nonetheless, an app-wide message sent to users — and shared by users on Twitter — made no mention of asking users to social distance. 

For users across these dating apps who encourage the violating of social distancing guidelines, it's unclear how much responsibility platforms have to keep their users' indoors. In some states under lockdown, authorities have doled out fines and even arrested residents found failing to follow at-home guidelines.

Grindr, Bumble and Match Group — the parent company of Tinder, Hinge, Plenty of Fish and others — told Business Insider in statements they have encouraged users to adhere to coronavirus guidelines from the World Health Organization and the Center for Disease Control.

None of the companies responded to Business Insider's requests for comment about whether asking to violate social-distancing guidelines on the platforms is a breach of policy or would garner any ban or suspension on a user.

SEE ALSO: What you need to know about Grimes, the Canadian musician who just had a baby with tech billionaire Elon Musk

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Why electric planes haven't taken off yet




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Dock workers in Belgium are wearing monitoring bracelets that enforce social distancing — here's how they work

  • Dockworkers in Belgium are wearing bracelets to enforce social distancing.
  • The bracelets were already used to detect if someone fell into the water, but now they will sound an alarm if workers get to close to each other.
  • Manufacturers say there is no privacy issue and the bracelets don't track workers' locations, despite concerns.
  • Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Quarantine and social distancing are going high-tech as countries and companies embrace wearables. In Antwerp, Belgium, dockworkers are instructed to wear bracelets that enforce social distancing rules while they work.

Europe, where more than 100,000 people have died from COVID-19, is slowly starting to reopen in some places. Stay at home orders are expiring in many countries, while nonessential travel has stopped across the EU, and countries look towards the summer to anticipate what kind of travel might be possible. 

People are beginning to go back to work, which in some sectors means inevitable close contact, especially in many essential jobs. Social distancing bracelets in Belgium are one idea bing tested to see what the future of work might look like after coronavirus.

Here's how it works. 

SEE ALSO: People arriving in Hong Kong must wear tracking bracelets for 2 weeks or face jail time. Here's how they work.

The black, plastic bracelets are worn on the wrist like a watch.



They're made by Belgian company Rombit, which says that they are "a fully integrated personal safety and security device, specifically designed for highly industrial environments."

Source: Romware



Rombit already made bracelets useful in the port setting, which could be used to call for help if a worker fell into the water or another accident occurred.



Europe is slowly starting to go back to work, but fears of a second wave are making officials cautious.



Contact tracing is one solution being explored around the world, and the manufacturers of the bracelet believe it could also be used for contact tracing.

Source: The Associated Press



European health guidances say to wash hands, wear masks, and keep at least 1.5 meters, or about five feet, apart.



When two workers are less than five feet apart, the bracelets will sound warnings.



Rombit CEO John Baekelmans told Reuters that the bracelets won't allow companies to track employees' locations, because the devices are only connected to each other. He says there is no central server.

Source: Reuters



Workers in the control tower will be the first to test the bracelets early this month.



Then, the Port of Antwerp will likely expand the devices to tug boat workers.



Baekelmans told Reuters that Rombit already had hundreds of requests in 99 countries, and is hoping to ramp up production to 25,000 in a few weeks.






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Tiffany Haddish compares Georgia’s abortion law to slavery, says decision to cancel show ‘wasn’t tough at all’

In an emotional interview with TMZ, the comedian said she canceled her show there because of the state's attempt to, in effect, ban abortion.




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John Lithgow, Annette Bening, Alfre Woodard and more come together for live performance of the Mueller report

Several Hollywood A-listers gave a reading of select parts of the report in New York.




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Harry and Meghan make surprise appearance at major league baseball game in London

The new parents showed up at the first official MLB game in Europe on Saturday.




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Human rights group asks Nicki Minaj to cancel performance in Saudi Arabia

The "Megatron" rapper is set to perform in the country next week despite calls to quit the gig over the government's alleged human rights violations.




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Miss the Biden and Obama bromance? There’s — another — book for that.

Parodist Andrew Shaffer's new mystery "Hope Rides Again" (a sequel to 2018's "Hope Never Dies"), reunites the literary and real-life duo.




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Sean Spicer’s casting on ‘Dancing With the Stars’ draws backlash — including from the show’s host

Tom Bergeron tweeted that he thought the producers had agreed the show should be “free of inevitably divisive bookings from ANY party affiliations.”




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Drag queen Pissi Myles causes a stir with unexpected appearance at the impeachment hearings

Myles stole the show with a towering blonde wig and shiny red mini-dress.




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Stephen Miller marries Katie Waldman at the Trump International Hotel — with president in attendance

The president stopped by the event for Miller, a senior adviser, and Waldman, press secretary to Vice President Pence, after attending the Daytona 500.




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Sure Chooses Netgem for its Advanced Hybrid TV Services

Netgem announced that Sure has partnered with Netgem to launch a new hybrid IPTV service for its customers in the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man.

By working with Netgem, Sure has been able to make use of its broadband network to deliver Over the Top live and non-linear content to a hybrid STB. This means the operator can now add premium TV to its bouquet of services and offer its customers triple and quad play packages.

The new service is powered by Netgem's N8200 hybrid PVR integrating its nCloud middleware; subscribers will benefit from a brand-new TV experience that supplements UK DVB-T2 free-to-air channels for popular non-linear entertainment content and a fluid and consistent user interface.



  • IPTV Middleware;Service Providers/Europe IPTV

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Dune HD Enhances Quality of IPTV Experience with Qarva FastSwitch

Dune HD announces a new partnership with Qarva designed to enhance the IPTV experience. The integration of Qarva’s FastSwitch technology into Dune HD’s digital media players and set-top boxes will give IPTV subscribers improved interaction and higher quality through faster channel changing and the elimination of packet loss. The joint solution will be demonstrated by Dune HD on stand 17 at TV Connect MENA 2012.

An enhanced, high quality experience is proven to increase subscriber loyalty and is central to operators reducing churn and growing revenues. FastSwitch improves the viewing experience by dramatically reducing the lag associated with controlling IPTV services, bringing response times down from 5 seconds to less than half a second - in line with the speeds achieved through traditional TV broadcast channels. Through its integral Packet Loss Recovery technology, FastSwitch also eliminates IPTV issues such as picture freezing and blocking, delivering an improved viewing performance.



  • IPTV Set-Top Boxes

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Qtel Selects Mariner xVu for End-to-End Mozaic TV Quality Assurance

Qatar Telecom has selected Mariner's IP video service oriented monitoring solution, Mariner xVu. The latest version of Mariner xVu is specifically designed for integration with IPTV probes. Qtel will use Mariner xVu for the Mozaic TV service, making this the first Mariner xVu deployment in the Middle East.

Alfalak Electronic Equipment & Supplies Co., partnered with Mariner to deploy xVu. Through easy integration with network probes — at the head-end and/or individual network element — Mariner xVu offers Qtel additional insights into the IPTV network by extending video service monitoring reach to each subscriber, allowing the operator to maintain the highest possible video quality while simultaneously reducing operating expenses. Statistics collected by external data sources such as probes are compiled and configured as status indicators on Mariner NetworkVu to enable a deeper understanding of IPTV traffic and customer experience issues. The probe enhancement is now a configurable option of NetworkVu, rather than a custom development, and was created based on service provider requests for integration with external data sources.



  • End-to-End IPTV Solutions;Service Providers/Middle East IPTV

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Netgem Join the Wireless Broadband Alliance

Netgem has joined the Wireless Broadband Alliance in October 2012. Founded in 2003, one of the aims of the WBA is to enable seamless data Offload for operators. The WBA and its industry leading members are dedicated to delivering high quality user experiences through technology innovation, interoperability and robust security.

Netgem strengthens its commitment to the WBA by announcing the launch of QUATTUOR, the first LTE mobile router with embedded Wi-Fi Offload. Netgem's next generation mobile router will be available in 2013 and has been developed for mobile operators that wish to differentiate their service offering and to maintain full control over their wireless connectivity manager. QUATTUOR will automatically choose the best available connection from 3G, 4G and Wi-Fi networks, placing the device firmly in line with the WBA's objectives. Based on a fully customised platform, QUATTUOR is designed to improve operators' data service profitability.




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If even France can’t figure out a climate policy, what hope is there for the U.S.?

There are ways to curb the pain of economic and political changes.




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With coronavirus, Trump’s lies and his reassurances backfire

Americans have not only health risks but also economic fears.