Tag Archives: Clara

Hotels are pretty much booked up for upcoming Taylor Swift concerts in Santa Clara following record-breaking ticket sales – KGO-TV

  1. Hotels are pretty much booked up for upcoming Taylor Swift concerts in Santa Clara following record-breaking ticket sales KGO-TV
  2. Levi’s Stadium backs off ban on friendship bracelets at Taylor Swift concert KPIX | CBS NEWS BAY AREA
  3. Hotels are pretty much booked up for upcoming Taylor Swift concerts in Santa Clara ABC7 News Bay Area
  4. Calling all Taylor Swift fans: Are you taking the train from Sacramento to Santa Clara shows? Sacramento Bee
  5. BART to run late-night special service trains for Taylor Swift concert at Levi’s Stadium CBS San Francisco
  6. View Full Coverage on Google News

Read original article here

Ewan McGregor Pays Tribute To Daughter Clara As He Accepts Karlovy Vary President’s Award: “The Highlight Of What I’ve Done Is To Act With My Daughter” – Deadline

  1. Ewan McGregor Pays Tribute To Daughter Clara As He Accepts Karlovy Vary President’s Award: “The Highlight Of What I’ve Done Is To Act With My Daughter” Deadline
  2. Russell Crowe honoured at Czech international film festival euronews
  3. Ewan McGregor Feted at Karlovy Vary (Love)Fest: “I’m So Fortunate to Do What I Love and Love What I Do” Hollywood Reporter
  4. Alicia Vikander Wore Louis Vuitton To The ‘Firebrand’ Karlovy Vary Film Festival Premiere & Opening Ceremony Red Carpet Fashion Awards
  5. Karlovy Vary Film Festival Opens With Honorees Russell Crowe Rocking, Alicia Vikander Reminiscing TheWrap
  6. View Full Coverage on Google News

Read original article here

Shakira hits out at ex Gerard Pique’s new girlfriend Clara Chia in searingly honest interview – Daily Mail

  1. Shakira hits out at ex Gerard Pique’s new girlfriend Clara Chia in searingly honest interview Daily Mail
  2. Shakira’s new dig at Pique: There’s a place in hell… Marca English
  3. Shakira breaks silence on painful split with Gerard Pique after he moves on with 23-year-old The Mirror
  4. Shakira says ‘I survived a duel’ and admits she’s been ’emotionally dependent on men’ in tell-all chat afte… The Sun
  5. Shakira bares all on rupture with Pique: “I believed a woman needs a man to complete her.” Marca English
  6. View Full Coverage on Google News

Read original article here

Shakira’s 8 most cutting lyrics about Pique and Clara Chia in record-breaking ‘diss track’

Shakira has caused a stir with her latest song, featuring lyrics that appear to target her ex, Gerard Piqué.

The Colombian musican split from the former Barcelona footballer in June 2022, amid rumours that Piqué had been unfaithful.

In a new track produced with Argentinian DJ Bizarrap, entitled “BZRP Music Sessions #53”, Shakira seemed to take aim at her former partner of 11 years.

The song’s lyrics make thinly veiled references to Piqué, as well as his new girlfriend Clara Chia Marti.

Here are eight of the most savage barbs in the track…

1. “So much talk of being a champion / And when I needed you, you gave me the worst version of you”

2. “Sorry baby, I should have thrown you out a while ago / A she-wolf like me is not for rookies”

3. “This is for you to be mortified / Chew and swallow, swallow and chew”

4. “I only make music, sorry that it splashed you”

As sung in Spanish, this line goes, “Yo solo hago música, perdón que te salpique,” making the last word (salpique) a pun on Piqué’s name.

5. “You left me my mother in law as my neighbor / Media outlets at my door and in debt with the government”

This line is a clear reference to Shakira’s legal battle over alleged tax fraud (which she has denied).

6. “She has the name of a good person / It’s clearly not what it sounds like.”

The Spanish word for “clearly”, “claramente”, is used here as an apparent pun on Clara Chia Marti, with Shakira articulating the word to emphasise this.

7. “I’m worth two of 22 / You traded a Ferrari for a Twingo / You traded a Rolex for a Casio”

Piqué’s new girlfriend, currently 23, is rumoured to have begun seeing the footballer back when she would have been 22. The lyric also alludes to Piqué’s goal celebration, in which he forms a two with both his hands, in tribute to his and Shakira’s shared birthday on 2 February.

8. “Lots of time at the gym, but your brain needs a little work too”

Piqué has not yet responded to the new song. The Independent has contacted a representative for comment.

Read original article here

Santa Clara County resident dies from West Nile virus


A Santa Clara County resident died from a rare case of West Nile virus, a mosquito-borne illness, public health officials said.

David Pu’u/Getty Images

A Santa Clara County resident died after a long battle with West Nile virus, officials said. The individual contracted the virus in the greater Bay Area, the county’s Public Health Department said in a news release Wednesday. 

Earlier in October, officials reported that two invasive, aggressive Aedes aegypti mosquitoes were trapped in San Jose for the first time ever. After discovering them near an intersection, the district took an “all-hands-on-deck approach” to eradicating the blood-sucking insects, as they can transmit diseases such as dengue, chikungunya, Zika and yellow fever. Studies suggest that A. aegypti can also transmit West Nile virus, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, but it’s still unclear how the virus was transmitted and specifically where the Santa Clara County resident contracted it. 



Even though the disease likely originated in Uganda, West Nile virus is surprisingly common in the U.S., particularly in California, government data shows. As of Oct. 28, there have been 106 human cases of West Nile virus in the state this year. Most people who contract the virus, however, do not have symptoms, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said, and fatal cases are even rarer. Only 1 in 5 people who contract West Nile virus develop symptoms like fever, body aches and vomiting, while 1 in 150 experience severe illness. 

Seven people have died from West Nile virus in California this year as of Oct. 27, government data shows, while more than 300 people have died from the virus since 2003. 

While the state Department of Public Health says West Nile virus is “a problem that is here to stay,” residents can help reduce the spread of mosquitoes by removing stagnant water from their properties, the Santa Clara County Vector Control District said. 

Santa Clara County spokespeople did not immediately respond to SFGATE’s request for comment. 

Read original article here

Steam Pulls Game After Dev’s Transphobic Rant Against Keffals

Screenshot: Dolphin Barn Incorporated

Well, well, well. If it isn’t the consequences of an asshole’s own actions. On August 31, the developer behind the gladiator game Domina posted patch notes that included a transphobic screed attacking trans streamer Clara “Keffals” Sorrenti. Yesterday evening, some Twitter users discovered that Domina had been removed from Steam, with a notice indicating this action had been taken “at the request of the publisher.” However, the developer confirmed that Valve chose to delist the developer from its platform.

Keffals is a popular trans streamer who was swatted on August 5 by members of Kiwi Farms, an alt-right forum that cultivates hate speech and brutal attacks on trans people (some victims of Kiwi Farms’ harassment campaigns have committed suicide). She was forced to flee Canada for her own safety, and started campaigning for the website security company Cloudflare to stop providing services to Kiwi Farms. #DropKiwifarms started trending on Twitter as trans community members shared their experiences of being harassed, doxxed, and swatted by the site’s users.

In the last patch notes for Domina, the developer posted a rant against Keffals and the trans community. Most of the message had nothing to do with game patches, and features transphobic slurs. While the overall reviews for the game are “mostly positive,” the most recent reviews trend “mostly negative.” Many of the reviews specifically call out the developer for his transphobic beliefs.

Screenshot: Kotaku

Domina’s Steam page is still accessible if you go to the direct link, but users can no longer purchase the game or find it via the search bar function. The studio Dolphin Barn Incorporated also no longer has a developer profile. On the right-wing social media platform Gab (content warning for transphobic and homophobic slurs), Domina developer Nicholas J. Leonhard Gorissen clarified that Steam had “canceled” Dolphin Barn Incorporated. “Gabe Newell doesn’t seem to care that I brought millions of revenue to the table while his moderation team and VP’s will end up costing him millions in payroll.” he posted. Kotaku reached out to Dolphin Barn Incorporated, but did not receive a response by the time of publication.

Gorissen also included a screenshot of his developer account. At the top of Domina’s discussion page, there was an official message from Steam Support. “A recent announcement posted to the Domina community hub includes insults targeting another person,” Valve said in the ban note, while noting that the developer was warned in the past for rule infractions. “We are ending our business relationship with ‘Dolphin Barn Incorporated’ and removing all associated products from sale.” Kotaku reached out to Valve, but did not receive a response by the time of publication.

Previous to this all-out ban, Gorissen was banned by Valve from Domina’s own Steam forums over “abusive” comments.

Anyway, big W for Steam today.

Read original article here

Dev Yells On Steam About Keffals, Transphobia For Some Reason

Screenshot: Dolphin Barn Incorporated / Steam

Domina, a small indie game on Steam about managing gladiators has recently begun trending online, but not because it’s a really good game or it just got a cool update or anything like that. No, instead, the developer behind the game has included a wild and shitty rant about trans political commentator and streamer Clara “Keffals” Sorrenti inside the patch notes for Domina’s latest update. And weirdly, this isn’t the first time this developer has shoved bizarre and awful political rants into the patch notes for Domina.

To recap: On August 5, Sorrenti was the target of a swatting attack that led to London, Ontario police wrongfully arresting her, and repeatedly using her deadname while sticking a rifle in her face. After describing the attack in a YouTube video a few days later, Sorrenti and her fiancé relocated to a hotel that was thought to be safe. But members of the violently transphobic hate-speech forum Kiwi Farms have continued stalking and harassing Sorrenti as she fought back and tried to force server hosting and security company Cloudflare to stop supporting the site and its dangerous users.

The pressure to drop the forum continues as of this writing, with Cloudflare recently stating that it had no plans to drop KiwiFarms, with the company’s CEO stating in an August 31 blog that “Just as the telephone company doesn’t terminate your line if you say awful, racist, bigoted things, we have concluded in consultation with politicians, policy makers, and experts that turning off security services because we think what you publish is despicable is the wrong policy.”

For some reason, the dev behind the unrelated Steam game Domina decided to share their thoughts and shitty opinions on Sorrenti, trans people, and more in a totally unrelated video game. In the patch notes for the August 31 update to the game, the developer included an unhinged and barely cohesive rant claiming that the name of the game was being changed and referring to the old name as its deadname over and over. We are pointing it out here less because it deserves any attention at all, and more because it is absurd that such a thing can be uploaded to an official, professional storefront.

Here’s the full rant as shared in Domina’s patch notes for its 1.3.25 update, but a heads up that the text below includes some nasty, anti-trans bullshit:

deadname: domina. Please don’t mention it any more. We only mention it here to say: don’t mention it any more. It’s totally normal to change the sex of a video game and NOT CONFUSING TO ANYBODY. Please do not be a bigot. If you are confused, please simply stop being confused and remember that DOMINA doesn’t exist and never did, but DOMINUS does exist, and always has, you just didn’t know you were playing a man, who was dressed as a woman, but now that we reveal it to you, you have NO RIGHT to feel deceived, the same way the poor drunk dudes who transvestites like Keffals had sexual intercourse with, without disclosing that they were a man, have no right to feel wronged and you’re a bigot for being confused or even mentioning something like that happening, let alone having an opinion about it.

This alone is bad, but what’s wild here is that this isn’t the first or even the second time that this developer has used Steam patch notes to share out-of-control rants about various political topics.

Earlier this year, the developer got angry at people wearing masks to avoid covid-19, writing in a previous update’s patch notes that people who wear masks won’t get girlfriends and that women prefer men who are confident. The dev also asked what people wearing masks were “afraid of” and ended by suggesting they are actually afraid of “getting laid.” Before this, the dev also complained in patch notes for Domina that people watch too much porn.

It’s odd that after all these examples of the developer using the patch notes for disgusting and bizarre rants that Valve has seemingly done… nothing at all, at least on the most public front. In a way, it makes sense, as the company has historically avoided having to actually do anything when it comes to running its megapopular Steam PC game service. Most of the features built into the service are run and managed by the community, with Valve taking a mostly hands-off approach.

Domina – Release Trailer

But it seems like this is a clear example of someone abusing Steam’s patch notes to harass and attack another person by name and seems like a thing Valve might want to stop. Valve did however recently ban developer Dolphin Barn Incorporated from its own Steam forums following abusive and toxic posts. (This of course led to another shitty rant using Domina’s Steam page.)

Kotaku has reached out to Valve about the rants but didn’t hear back from the company before publication. When contacted about the rant and asked why they decided to use their game’s patch notes on Steam to comment about Keffals, the developer instead complained about Twitter suspending their account and continued to attack Sorrenti.

“I lost my verified Twitter account on which I used my real name,” explained the dev, “While ‘Keffals’ is now verified, using a fake name, while ‘in hiding’ after having faked crying [sic] on national TV and admitting they had sexual relations with men, without telling them they were also born a man.”

As for Sorrenti, she seems mostly confused and exhausted by the patch notes. Earlier today, she shared them on Twitter and asked the developer to keep her out of his “midlife crisis.”

“Can I please go one day without the weirdest fucking creeps on the internet projecting their insecurities into me?” asked Sorrenti on Twitter in a follow-up tweet. “Bro, I’m just vibing over here.”



Read original article here

Kobo’s Clara 2E E-Reader Aims to Beat Amazon Kindle Paperwhite 5

The $100 Kobo Nia is one of the cheapest ad-free e-readers for digitizing your reading library, but it lacks many features that can greatly improve your reading experience. For just $30 more, the new Kobo Clara 2E brings better screen lighting that’s easier on the eyes, plus two important upgrades that should put a dent in the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite 5‘s dominance.

Although the $120 Kobo Clara HD offers more screen resolution with crisper text than the $100 Kobo Nia, as well as the ability to shift its screen lighting to warmer tones that’s easier on the eyes and supposedly more conducive to falling asleep at night, the Clara HD was released back in 2018 and is four years old at this point. Feature for feature, it’s now well behind the Kindle Paperwhite 5 that Amazon released last October. With the new Clara 2E, Kobo is finally playing catchup, and more or less matching the Kindle Paperwhite 5’s best features, especially now that Amazon has restricted ebook downloads to a wifi connection only.

The Clara 2E is Kobo’s first six-inch e-reader to be completely waterproof, allowing it to be used at the beach, next to the pool, or in the bathtub without the risk of a tumble into the water causing any serious damage. Kobo claims the Clara 2E can survive up to 60 minutes submerged to a depth of up to two meters, so while reading underwater in the pool is totally plausible (if you get bored while practicing your snorkeling, I guess), you still won’t want to bring it along on a deep sea dive.

The other major upgrade for the Kobo Clara 2E is the addition of Bluetooth, allowing wireless headphones, a wireless speaker, or a wireless connection to a car’s stereo to be used for enjoying audiobook content, which can be downloaded right to the e-reader itself from Kobo’s online store.

One reason to still opt for the Kindle Paperwhite 5 is that Amazon’s squeezed a larger 6.8-inch 300 PPI display into it by shrinking the e-reader’s bezels, whereas the new Kobo Clara 2E sticks with a 6-inch HD E Ink Carta 1200 display instead. It’s not a huge difference, and the Kobo arguably makes up for it by including 16GB of onboard storage instead of the Kindle’s 8GB. That’s more than enough storage for a lifetime of e-books, but for those using audiobooks, that storage bump will be welcome.

Kobo also points out that the new Clara 2E’s housing is made from more than 85 percent recycled plastic; 10% of which is (was?) ocean-bound plastic. Devices like this still don’t have user-serviceable rechargeable batteries, though, which limits their lifespans and means they might just find themselves getting tossed back into the used plastic pile again later. If companies like Kobo really wanted to do something useful to help the environment, they’d start designing products that can take advantage of new features and functionality through upgraded components, instead of encouraging us to completely replace devices that already work just fine but are a little outdated.

The Kobo Clara 2E is available for pre-order now for $130, with official availability starting on September 22. Also available is a $30 SleepCover made from 97% recycled plastic. That one can transform into a stand, but there’s also a $20 Basic SleepCover if you just want to hold your book while you read it.

Read original article here

Santa Clara County’s Health Officer

Santa Clara County’s top health official warned on Tuesday that COVID case counts and hospitalizations are on the upswing and urged everyone to consider wearing masks in high-risk settings, keep a stockpile of tests and exercise caution when socializing indoors.

“The pandemic is still here,” said Health Officer Dr. Sara Cody. ” It is time to break out your mask and break out your tests and just be a bit more cautious than you were a month ago.”

Santa Clara County is currently experiencing a weekly average of 552 cases — just slightly higher than the number of cases during the peak of the Delta wave that hit in summer 2021. The cases are being driven by two cousins of the BA.1 omicron strain that caused a major surge during winter, which are currently dominant across the rest of the country.

Cody’s announcement did not include any public health mandates — and she did not offer any benchmarks as to when and if the county would impose any. But Cody did leave open the door for some tightening of rules.

“I would say that at this point in the pandemic, no one wants to issue restrictions,” she said. “At the same time, we also know that we have to think about the whole community and particularly people who are more vulnerable and need restrictions to protect them. What I want to happen is for everyone to just understand where we are. And to understand that they are at risk because we’ve got a lot of virus circulating now. And it’s on its way up.”

The county is also hovering between 80 to 100 people currently hospitalized with COVID — an increase from mid-to-late April when there were between 65 and 75 people hospitalized. Cody said Tuesday that she expects these numbers to increase. Deaths from COVID in the county are on a downward trend, however, that metric tends to rise after cases peak.

During Tuesday’s press conference, Cody also encouraged unvaccinated people to get a shot and urged those who are eligible for their second booster shot to get one, which includes older and immunocompromised individuals. The health officer noted that there hasn’t been a ton of demand for the second booster. Within the county, 29 percent of those 65 and up have received a second booster, while just 15 percent of those between 50 to 64 have received one.

Other counties in the Bay Area on Tuesday were also keeping an eye on the steady rise in COVID cases.

At the Alameda County Board of Supervisors meeting, Health Officer Dr. Nicholas Moss said that his department has no plans for upcoming public health mandates. However, if hospitalizations keep rising and widespread “long” COVID symptoms reappear, Moss said a mask mandate would likely come back.

San Mateo, Contra Costa, Marin and San Francisco counties have no current plans for a mask requirement, according to their health departments.

In response to the increased case counts, San Jose has chosen to reinstate a mask mandate for its employees through May 20,  “out of an abundance of caution,” according to a city spokesperson. BART is also requiring masks for passengers through mid-July.

Local outbreaks are also starting to crop up in the region. Last week, at least 60 Los Gatos High School students tested positive for COVID over a 14-day period. Days before, the San Francisco Giants announced it would be limiting access to its clubhouse after several players tested positive for the virus.

Read original article here

Santa Clara County offers COVID booster to all adults

When federal health authorities authorized COVID-19 vaccine boosters in September, they said the extra shots should be given to older adults or people at high risk. But Santa Clara County health officials took that a step further Wednesday, saying they will give any adult vaccinated six or more months ago another dose.

It was a bold pronouncement that once again puts Santa Clara County at the forefront of battling the virus, with a more generous interpretation of the federal and state booster eligibility guidelines than is being used elsewhere.

“No one will be turned away who wants a booster,” said Dr. Marty Fenstersheib, the county’s COVID-19 vaccine officer, setting new rules for county vaccination clinics.

With the late summer decline in COVID-19 cases leveling off at an uncomfortably high level and showing signs of rising again, county health officials urged vaccinated adults to get a booster shot ahead of the winter holidays — fearing another eruption of outbreaks as families and friends gather.

“We want to safeguard the public and prevent a COVID-19 surge as the holiday season approaches,” said county Health Officer Dr. Sara Cody. “Get your booster now and make your Thanksgiving gathering safer.”

So far, Santa Clara County stands alone in the Bay Area and perhaps in the state, as well. Though other county health officials voiced similar concerns about another winter COVID-19 surge, they weren’t jumping aboard their neighbor’s bandwagon Wednesday. And it was not clear whether drug stores and private health providers in the region would follow Santa Clara County’s lead, either.

Contra Costa County “continues to follow the eligibility guidelines” from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and California Department of Public Health, said spokesman Will Harper, though “we are indeed concerned about what impact the holidays will have as families gather indoors to celebrate.”

Alameda County health spokeswoman Neetu Balram said “we strongly encourage everyone 5 and older to get fully vaccinated as soon as possible,” citing concerns that “forecasts predict another wave of increasing cases starting in late November.”

But Balram added that Alameda County supports the federal and state recommendations “for who should receive boosters, including any updates they may make.”

San Mateo County is following the CDC eligibility guidelines.

Those guidelines say adults vaccinated with Pfizer’s or Moderna’s shots six or more months ago should get a booster if they are 65 or older, 50 or older with other health problems, or at least 18 and living in a long-term care facility. People who are 18 or older with other health problems or who live or work in a setting that puts them at high risk of exposure to the virus may consider a booster shot as well. And all adults who received Johnson & Johnson’s one-shot vaccine at least two months ago also should get a booster.

The state defines high-risk jobs to include health care workers, firefighters, police, congregate care staff, teachers, school support staff, daycare workers, food and agriculture workers, manufacturing workers, correctional officers, public transit workers, postal workers and grocery workers.

Gov. Gavin Newsom, 54, who got his booster at a public event last month, qualified because he originally had the Johnson & Johnson shot. Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf, a healthy 55-year-old who’d had the Pfizer shots, got her booster at the same event and explained her job includes being an “emergency responder.”

Despite the restrictions, it’s unclear whether people seeking a booster have been turned away for not meeting the recommended criteria. Many online registration forms do not ask how an individual qualifies for a booster.

But Cody said only 20% of vaccinated adults in Santa Clara County who had the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines at least six months ago or the Johnson & Johnson shot at least two months ago have gotten boosters and blamed the eligibility guidelines, which she insists were not intended to be restrictive.

“The message was quite complicated and difficult for the public to understand,” Cody said. “When you drill down and see all the different medical conditions that make you eligible, you’re kind of talking about the whole population.”

President Biden in August announced plans for all vaccinated Americans to get boosters starting in September once they are eight months past their initial doses. But expert advisors to the CDC and the Food and Drug Administration were skeptical. For the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, they recommended the shots only for older, chronically ill or otherwise high-risk people, positions the agencies for the most part adopted. The advisors agreed that Johnson & Johnson vaccine recipients should get a second shot after two months because of evidence of waning immunity.

Pfizer this week asked the FDA to amend its booster authorization to include all adults, citing results of a new clinical trial that shows it’s safe and effective. Those results have yet to be peer reviewed or published.

CDC data show only about one in three Californians 65 or older have gotten a booster vaccine, similar to figures in Texas, Florida and many other states. Among all adults 18 and older, the figures drop to 14%.

The booster campaign has been controversial from the start, with many health experts across the country arguing that shifting focus to boosters would distract from the far more important goal of getting shots into the unvaccinated and fueling skepticism about the vaccines’ effectiveness.

Cody said Wednesday that “we’ve always followed the science” in combating the virus and that knowledge has changed over the course of the pandemic. The vaccines, she said, offered amazing levels of protection.

“Now we’re seeing,” Cody said, “that protection does fade.”

Read original article here