1. Garth Brooks’ Second Act

    14 years after he walked away from his wildly successful music career, Garth Brooks is back for more. Only the Beatles and Elvis have sold more records in the United States than Brooks. The Tennessean says Brooks admits he’s scared - and old - but he wants to get back to making music.  He has plans for a new album to debut around Black Friday and a worldwide tour.

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  2. Despite Its Success, Netflix Faces Uncertain Future

    With 31 Emmy nominations for its shows, Netflix has clearly found success as a television content provider. After changing the way we watch movies, Netflix has its sights set on changing the way we watch television. But the Washington Post points out, the future is uncertain for Netflix, as its very existence relies on the internet pipes provided by cable companies like Comcast and Verizon.

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  3. Retro Swimsuits a Good Choice for Most Body Types

    For women looking for a little more coverage from their bathing suits, retro-style swimwear is a great choice. The Houston Chronicle says many designers are taking their cues from the old pinup models. The result is swimwear that helps conceal and flatter many body types.

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  4. Detroit’s Art Worth Up To $4.6 Billion

    The art from the city-owned collection at the Detroit Institute of Arts is worth as much as $4.6 billion, according to a new audit. But as any viewer of Pawn Stars can tell you, it’s not what the art is worth, it’s how much you can sell it for. The audit says if the art was actually liquidated to help solve Detroit’s bankruptcy crisis, it would likely bring in somewhere between $1.1 billion and $1.8 billion. The Detroit Free Press says the fate of the museum’s collection will be decided in a bankruptcy trial next month.

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  5. How Airlines Say They’re Sorry

    Airlines apologize a lot. So it’s no surprise that many carriers have pretty sophisticated ways of streamlining the apology process. The Wall Street Journal says Southwest uses software that scans complaint letters for keywords so the apology can be tailored to the customer’s personality. Complaints are sorted by their complexity and frequent fliers and big spenders will get priority.

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  6. Hiring a Professional for Your Profile Photo

    For some people, selfies and snapshots just won’t do. The New York Times says more and more people are hiring professional photographers to shoot glamorous portraits of them for their Facebook and Twitter profiles. Some spend thousands to get magazine-worthy portraits. Many clients are entrepreneurs looking for a more sophisticated headshot.

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  7. Sipping Lattes as Air Raid Sirens Wail in Tel Aviv

    It’s business as usual for many in Tel Aviv, despite the latest onslaught of rockets aimed at the city by Palestinian militants in Gaza. The Washington Post describes the “surreal atmosphere of normalcy” that has persisted in Tel Aviv even as rockets reached farther into Israel than ever before. Part of the sense of calm is due to Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system -which has successfully intercepted all five rockets fired at Tel Aviv.

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  8. J. Crew’s Size 000: Legitimate or Vanity Sizing?

    The New York Daily News says J. Crew is getting some backlash for introducing its size 000. The XXXS size is designed for customers with a 23 inch waist. Critics say it’s a case of “vanity-sizing” or intentionally labeling the clothing smaller than it actually is to appeal to customers’ egos. The company says the line was designed to sell in Asia and items are only available online and in J. Crew’s Hong Kong store.

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  9. Robots to Write Earnings Stories for AP

    The Associated Press says it plans to start using software to automate the production of U.S. corporate earnings stories. USA Today says the AP typically produces about 300 earnings stories per quarter. By the end of the year, the AP plans to produce 4,400 earnings stories per quarter. The automation will free up human reporters for more in-depth stories.

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  10. Awkward Hiring of Jason Kidd a Troubling Sign for Bucks

    Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel columnist Michael Hunt says the awkward way the Bucks went about hiring Jason Kidd away from the Brooklyn Nets undermines a sense of trust and credibility that the team’s new ownership group has been trying to build in Milwaukee. The owners went behind the general manager’s back to court Kidd, then put the GM in the awkward position of having to negotiate the terms of the deal with Nets’ GM Billy King, whom Kidd had tried to undermine in a power play in Brooklyn.

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  11. Top 10 Songs of Summer (VIDEO)

    The New York Post has compiled its list of the Top 10 Songs of the Summer. Iggy Azalea sits atop the list with “Fancy” and she appears on the number two choice, the Ariana Grande single “Problem.” The Post says these two tracks tick the three crucial summer hit boxes: They sound great in the car, you can listen to them at the beach and you can dance to them. VIDEO

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  12. Most Women Can Skip Pelvic Exams

    The pelvic exam is a common yet uncomfortable ritual for millions of American women. New research finds the exam unnecessary for most women unless there are symptoms of a gynecological problem. The Minneapolis Star Tribune says research led by the Minneapolis Veterans Medical Center found no evidence the exam benefits women without symptoms and causes discomfort, pain and anxiety in many patients.

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  13. World Cup Penalty Shootouts Disliked, Yet Decisive

    Once the World Cup reaches the knockout stage, if no one wins after 90 minutes of regulation and 30 minutes of overtime, the game goes to a shootout. So far two of the six games played in this round has been decided by a shootout. The Chicago Tribune says few fans actually like the shootout, but no one has come up with a better way to determine a winner.

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  14. How to Deal With People’s Annoying Habits

    Experts call them “social allergens,” the annoying habits that drive other people away. The Wall Street Journal says that as with regular allergies, it’s the repetition that eventually gets on our nerves. To help you deal with them, experts say try to figure out if the habits are intentional and if they’re directed at you. One key to remember is that we all have annoying habits, so you want to cut a person some slack.

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  15. Review: Robin Thicke’s ‘Paula’ an “Incoherent Mea Culpa”

    Washington Post music critic Chris Richards offers his take on Robin Thicke’s new album “Paula” - the singer’s attempt to win back his wife of nine years. Richards says as a mea culpa, this album is “inexplicably smug, bawdy and incoherent.” He says Thicke’s lyrics are as “lazy and careless as ever.” Richards says that while Thicke is inviting us into the world of his celebrity break-up - he doesn’t have a “Blurred Lines 2” to make us want to stick around.

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  16. Facebook Playing With Users’ Emotions

    Facebook’s revelation that it secretly manipulated the news feeds of more than half a million randomly selected users is rubbing some users the wrong way. Facebook changed the number of positive and negative posts those users saw as part of a psychological experiment on how emotions can be spread on social media. The New York Times says many feel Facebook crossed a line by conducting tests on users without their knowledge.

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  17. Anti-Social Nuptials

    More and more brides and grooms are telling their guests to check their phones at the church door to prevent them from posting to Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. The New York Daily News says while many celebrities have these rules so they can sell the rights to photos later, unplugged weddings are becoming popular among regular couples want to keep their events as a private celebration between them and their guests.

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  18. How to Make Sure Your Doctor is Listening

    The Denver Post has some advice on how to avoid a misdiagnosis by making sure your doctor is listening to you at your next appointment. The average doctor listens to a patient for just ten seconds during a typical outpatient visit. It’s important to make that time count. Your best bet is to think through in advance what you want to tell the doctor, including when you first noticed the problem you’re having, what you were doing before it happened, have you been using pain relievers, etc.

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  19. Meet the Boxing Priest

    64-year-old Rev. Jose Antonio Rubio, a Roman Catholic priest in Northern California, is an art collector and opera lover. He’s also a boxer. He took up the sport after undergoing prostate cancer surgery six years ago. The San Jose Mercury News says his diocese and the pastor of his church are o.k. with his boxing, but they’re not about to start a priestly boxing team any time soon.

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  20. Cellphone Privacy a Concern for Supreme Court Justices Too

    In a New York Times Op-Ed piece, Linda Greenhouse writes of the Supreme Court’s 9-0 decision in favor of cellphone privacy. She says in cases involving technology, “the court seems free of ideological baggage and is trying hard, collectively, to get it right.” She says the big difference in this case as opposed to other search and seizure cases is that Supreme Court Justices have cellphones too, and they could just as easily be searched by law enforcement.

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  21. Brazilian Spirit Makers Hope World Cup Leads to Global Exports

    Those who make Brazil’s most famous liquor cachaça (kah-SHAH-sah) are hoping the World Cup is the tipping point that finally popularizes the spirit around the world. The sugar cane-based liquor is the main ingredient in the country’s national cocktail, the caipirinha (kigh-puh-REEN-ya). The Wall Street Journal says cachaça makers are hoping that tourists and fans who sample the drink ask for it when they get back home, that is, if they can pronounce it.

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  22. Supreme Court Decision Leaves Loophole for Aereo 2.0

    Is Aereo dead? Not necessarily. The New York Post says the decision by the Supreme Court that the digital antenna and cloud-based DVR violated broadcast networks copyrights left open the possibility of a tweak that could keep the service going. If the service were to shift from offering live viewing to “time shifted” viewing, it would seemingly be protected by a 1984 decision in the Betamax case that found such time shifting to be legal.

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  23. ABC News Moves Mark a Turning Point

    ABC made big news when it announced David Muir would replace Diane Sawyer as host of World News. But perhaps more important, was the announcement that George Stephanopoulos, not Muir, would be the network’s “chief anchor” to be relied upon in the event of breaking news and major political coverage. USA Today’s Gary Levin says it marks the first time that someone other than the evening news anchor will be the main face of a network news team. Levin says it’s the strongest signal yet that the flagship evening newscast is no longer the most important.

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  24. Amelia Earhart Gearing Up for Around-the-World Flight

    Call it destiny. A 31-year-old Denver woman named Amelia Earhart is preparing to recreate the around-the-world flight attempted by the famous, yet unrelated, female pilot in 1937. She’ll be bringing along photos of the parents who named her Amelia, hoping to give her a name no one would forget. The Kansas City Star says Earhart quit her job as a traffic reporter in March to prepare for the flight which she will make with her co-pilot Shane Jordan.

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  25. 984 Ways the US Can Advance in the World Cup

    If you’re watching today’s USA/Germany World Cup match, you don’t want to be doing math to figure out whether the US will advance depending on what happens in their game and the simultaneous Portugal/Ghana game. So the New York Times’ Upshot column broke down 984 scenarios in which the US could advance to the round of 16 and put them into a handy interactive table.

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  26. Singing Chinese Tycoon to Treat 1000 Homeless to Lunch

    Chinese recycling tycoon Chen Guangbiao is planning to treat 1000 homeless New Yorkers to lunch in the swanky Central Park Boathouse restaurant. After lunch, he’ll hand each attendee $300 in cash. He says he wants to inspire others and prove that Chinese people are generous. But not everyone wants his money. The New York Post caught Guangbiao trying to hand a $100 bill to a homeless man who brushed him off. The South China Morning Post says Guangbiao is also known for his habit of singing “We Are the World” which he plans to do at his series of free lunches. VIDEO

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  27. In Bitter Feud, Tiny Nebraska Town Votes Itself Out of Existence

    A bitter battle over a law banning livestock from a tiny Nebraska town has threatened to wipe the town off the map. Residents there, so upset over the law, voted by one vote to dissolve the town altogether. On the surface, the story of Seneca, Nebraska is very much a local interest piece. But if you dig a little deeper, Matthew Hansen of the Omaha World-Herald says the story of Seneca really is a microcosm of the worst of modern-day America. Hansen says we live in a world where “winning an empty argument always trumps the harder labor of searching for common ground.”

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  28. Despite Debts, College Degrees Still Worth the Investment

    Even with rising tuition costs and falling wages, data suggest college graduates will go on to earn far more over their lifetime than a worker with only a high school diploma. USA Today says the main reason is that average wages for those without college degrees have fallen as well. Over the past 40 years, those with a bachelor’s degree generally earned 56% more than high school graduates.

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  29. Experts Say Chronic Pain Statistic Exaggerated

    There’s an oft-cited statistic that 100 million Americans (or about 40% of the adult population) suffer from severe chronic pain. But according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, experts say that figure is exaggerated and misleading. The paper found that of the 19 members of the Congressional panel that came up with the statistic, 9 had close ties to the narcotic drug industry. Experts say in reality, only about 20% to 25% of adults are substantially impaired by chronic pain and only half of them can’t work because of it.

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  30. Microsoft Outage Forces Workers to Interact in Person

    It was just like the old days for a few hours yesterday. If you wanted to talk to a colleague, you had to pick up the phone - or actually get up and walk over to them. The Washington Post says a widespread outage of Microsoft’s email service meant workers throughout North America who rely on Outlook had no access to their email.

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