Paul Walker has died at the age of 40 after he was involved in a single-car accident and explosion in Santa Clarita, Calif., Saturday afternoon, the actor's rep confirmed to TMZ.

The actor, best known for his leading role in "The Fast and the Furious" and its sequels, was reportedly in a Porsche with another person when the unidentified driver lost control and slammed the vehicle into a tree. The car burst into flames at the scene. Both were killed at the time.

"Sources close to Paul tell us he was in Santa Clarita for a car show to support the Philippines typhoon relief effort, and had been taking friends out for rides in his new Porsche GT," reports TMZ. "The accident happened during one of those test spins."

“At the conclusion of the accident the vehicle struck a light standard and the whole car was burned,” a Los Angeles County Fire Department spokesman told the Santa Clarita Valley Signal.

The Santa Clarita Valley Signal was also reporting on the incident:

Spectators gathered at the scene, and several said the driver was the star of “The Fast and the Furious” series of films. One witness at the scene said he tried to put the fire out and recognized Walker inside the vehicle.

Walker is said to have business ties to Always Evolving Performance Motors, located down Constellation from the scene of the crash. Always Evolving hosted an open house and car meet on Saturday.

The driver of the car has since been identified as Roger Rodas, former racer and CEO of Always Evolving, the actor's performance and racing company.

Walker's official Twitter account confirmed the news:

It's with a heavy heart that we must confirm Paul Walker passed away today in a tragic car accident...MORE: http://t.co/9hDuJMH99M - #TeamPW

— Paul Walker (@RealPaulWalker) December 1, 2013

From the full Facebook post:

It is with a truly heavy heart that we must confirm that Paul Walker passed away today in a tragic car accident while attending a charity event for his organization Reach Out Worldwide. He was a passenger in a friend's car, in which both lost their lives. We appreciate your patience as we too are stunned and saddened beyond belief by this news. Thank you for keeping his family and friends in your prayers during this very difficult time. We will do our best to keep you apprised on where to send condolences. - #TeamPW

Universal Studios soon after released the following statement.

“All of us at Universal are heartbroken. Paul was truly one of the most beloved and respected members of our studio family for 14 years, and this loss is devastating to us, to everyone involved with the FAST AND FURIOUS films, and to countless fans. We send our deepest and most sincere condolences to Paul’s family.”

Walker and the cast of "The Fast and Furious" were in the middle of filming the seventh movie of the series.

Filming began in late September and was scheduled for a July 2014 release.

While promoting his latest film, "Hours," earlier this month, Walker revealed that his 15-year-old daughter, Meadow, moved to live with him last year after living with her mother in Hawaii.

Here's a photo taken of Walker before getting into the vehicle.

Last photo of Paul Walker pic.twitter.com/830aUZBfAe

— Sampah Remaja (@SampahRemajaKL) December 1, 2013

SEE ALSO: Hollywood mourns the loss of Paul Walker

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We recently brought you a fraternity fashion email from the self-proclaimed "Fratshionistau" that was making the rounds at Emory University.

We spoke with the author — Emory sophomore Jonathan Weiss— and put together our own Fraternity Fashion Guide. Weiss helped us determine some do's and don'ts for the well-dressed frat boy.

Inside, you'll find tips on how to dress for any occasion — formals, date nights, class, or parties.

You'll also find some advice directly from the Fratshionistau, such as this gem about how to best pull off a semi-formal look: "Simplicity stands out! Busy designs on shirts or ties are distracting. A solid white shirt with a solid colored tie, or a basic pattern, is always the easiest way to go."

Formal Wear

Formal wear is a look you'll only need to pull off once or twice a year, so why not make sure you're doing it right? When in doubt, opt for a dark ensemble — slacks, jacket, dress shoes, tie  — but please, we're begging you, get your pants hemmed. No one likes a guy in an ill-fitting suit. 

Sure you can rent a tux or suit, but if you invest now (assuming you've stopped growing), that $1,000 tuxedo will last you a long, long time. 

Occasions: Formal fraternity events in college and your friends' weddings after college.

Avoid: Tacky patent shoes, ill-fitting pants, and the cummerbund. As Weiss says, "It didn’t get you lucky at senior prom, and it won’t do the trick now."

Formal Look #1: The Tux

Our recommendations:

Tux:  Boss Hugo Boss 'The Stars Glamour' Trim Fit Wool Tuxedo ($895)

Cuff Links: J. Crew Fabric Knot Cuff Links ($12.50)

Bow Tie: J.Crew Italian Satin Point Bow Tie ($55)

Shoes: To Boot New York Ballard ($375)

Formal Look #2: Suit & Tie

Our recommendations: 

Jacket: Theory Eclipse Multi Wellar Suit Jacket ($645) 

Pants: Theory Marlo U Suit Pant ($235)

Bow Tie: Lauren Ralph Lauren Bow Tie ($50)

Tie: Theory Roadster Tie ($98)

Shoes: ALDO 'Brownlie' Wingtip Oxford ($100)

If there is a theme that ties together the best ads of 2013, it would be: "tearjerker."

Skip straight to the 10 best ads of 2013 >

There was something in the air among marketers these last 12 months, and it seems to have produced a bumper crop of dramatic, emotionally moving ads designed to stir your soul.

Just like last year, some of the winners will be familiar. But many are more obscure, and you'll see them for the first time here. Some of the world's best advertising, as usual, does not come from the U.S.

Our surprise No.1 is from a huge American fast-food chain — but the ad probably never ran on TV.

Our ranking is entirely subjective: we looked at originality, entertainment value, and success stories. These were the brands and the campaigns that stood out. Congratulations to everyone who made the list.

(Following the Top 10 list is a compilation of runners up that nearly made the cut but were ultimately rejected.)

10. Cherkashin Meat Factory: "Thanks advertising"

It's easy to make creative ads for fashion and technology brands. Doing the same for a product like processed sandwich meat is a lot harder. That's why we like this melodramatic take on the role of the mid-show snack from Russia. It feels as if something incredibly dramatic is going to happen, and then ...

Agency: Voskhod, Yekaterinburg, Russia.

9. Tullamore Dew: "The Parting Glass"

We said "this ad exploits every Irish cliche and stereotype imaginable— and is still astonishingly beautiful." But there is more, even, than that going on in this spot. It was made by RSA Films, the production company of Ridley Scott — the director behind "Alien,""Prometheus," and dozens of other lushly imagined fictional universes. And it shows.

Agency: Opperman Weiss, New York.

8. Dove: "Real Beauty Sketches"

This was the viral video hit of the year, and it won a Titanium Grand Prix at the Cannes Lions festival. In it, women describe themselves to an unseen FBI sketch artist. Then the women describe each other to the same artist. Guess what? Women describe themselves in ways that are a lot less attractive than how others see them. It's wonderfully manipulative stuff.

Agency: Ogilvy Brazil.

We've all seen horror stories about athletes letting themselves go once they retire.

But there are plenty of examples of the opposite — big-bone athletes who manage to get into tremendous shape.

Over the next few slides we'll look at retired athletes who slimmed down once their playing days ended and active athletes who prolonged their careers by dropping a bunch of pounds.

Alan Faneca, former Pittsburgh Steelers lineman

Alan Faneca after losing 100 pounds

Source: PFT

Ronaldo, former Brazil striker

The arrival of the Internet of Things marks a major watershed in the global consumer economy. Internet connections will be built in to a massive quantity of new products, from air conditioners to light bulbs and security alarms. These will all be controlled through apps and websites, and feed data into the cloud. 

Startups specialized in home automation, established consumer electronics giants, and large Silicon Valley-based tech companies are all poised for a huge battle over this new consumer space, sometimes also referred to as the "Connected Life" market.

In a new report from BI Intelligence, we examine the forces and numbers driving growth in the consumer Internet of Things or IoT, including the mind-boggling numbers for total market size. It's difficult to overestimate the importance of the Internet of Things because it will come to encompass all manner of products we don't normally think of as high-tech, such as UV-filtering window shades and door locks. We also look at the enterprise market for the Internet of Things. 

Here are some of our top findings: 

• Defining the Internet of Things: It’s helpful to think about IoT devices as a new device category layer that exists as the connective tissue between the formerly static non-connected world, and the world of PCs, tablets, and smartphones. For example, a connected washer and dryer unit can report energy usage and cycle settings to a smartphone app. 
• It's a huge opportunity: Machina defines “Connected Life Market Revenue” as the sum of all of the revenue accruing from the sale of connected devices and all related services. They see revenue ballooning to $2.5 trillion by 2020.
• How can it be so large? Many consumer categories are crossing into the IoT: These include kitchen and home appliances, lighting and heating products, and insurance company-issued car monitoring devices that allow motorists to pay insurance only for the amount of driving they do.  
• Large manufacturers are already making big plays: These include LG, the Korean manufacturer of home entertainment systems and appliances and Friedrich, maker of AC units. 
• But startups are making a grab for this market too: SmartThings has built its entire business model around easily deployable sensors, monitors, and apps that allow consumers to run everything in their home through their smartphone. It raised a $3 million seed round late last year. We also expect companies such as Apple, Google, and others to get more involved. 
• The Internet of Things seems esoteric, but it's relatively simple: IoT devices will contain three ingredients: An Internet connection, either in the device itself or a base station; a sensor, to collect incoming data; and a processor, because just like any computing device, an IoT gadget will have a chip that parses information. 
• These are the qualities that all IoT devices need to have: They need to be energy efficient, reliable over long time periods, work well in varied environments even outdoors, and be secure to avoid data breaches and hacking. 

The report is full of charts and data that can be downloaded and put to use. 

• Breaks down which products and industries may gain the most traction as IoT devices
• Considers where growth will come from in the future
• Analyzes different communication standards and opportunities for IoT infrastructure
• Sizes the market for the whole IoT in terms of total devices, revenue, and economic value
• Explores what the building blocks of IoT devices are, how these devices will be linked with consumers, and what solutions the smart objects will be designed to address
• Considers the obstacles that could hinder the IoT from realizing its full potential, including differing standards and uncertain ROI
• Discusses tags and stickers such as RFID tags and even bar codes and whether they are components of the IoT

To access BI Intelligence's full report, Here Comes The Internet Of Things, sign up for a free trial subscription here. Subscribers also gain access to over 100 in-depth reports on social and mobile, and hundreds of charts and datasets. 

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You don't need the most expensive photography equipment to take awesome photos.

Photographer Alexey Kljatov took an old lens from a Russian Zenit camera, flipped it around backwards, and attached it to a run of the mill point-and-shoot camera.

Then he took macro shots of snowflakes, and the images are absolutely enchanting! Kljatov allowed us to share some of them here.

This is how Kljatov created the camera he used.

A Metro-North trail derailed Sunday morning in the Bronx. 

At least four people were killed and 63 people injured, 11 of them critically, according to NBC News, citing authorities.

The accident happened around 7:20 a.m. ET as the train was rounding a curve around 100 feet from its next stop at Spuyten Duyvil station, when five of seven cars came off the tracks, an MTA spokesman said.

The cause of the accident is not known. The National Transportation Safety Board is expected to make a statement shortly.  

According to CNN: "A law enforcement official on the scene and familiar with the investigation said the train operator told investigators he applied brakes to the train, but it didn't slow down."

In a news conference, MTA Chairman Thomas F. Prendergast said that speed is one of the factors authorities plan to look at during the investigation. 

Hudson Line Service has been suspended between Croton Harmon station and Grand Central, Metro-North said on its website.

Amtrak service has also been disrupted between New York City and Albany. 

There was an initial report from the AP that "some cars" had gone into the water. However images from news organizations, as well as social media show multiple derailments with cars near, but not in, the water.

The train left Poughkeepsie at 5:54 a.m. and was scheduled to arrived at Grand Central at 7:43 a.m.

The accident is not related to a freight train that derailed near the same station in July, NBC News reported. 

Here are some pictures of the scene and screenshots from social media.

Out for morning walk; wondering about sirens. Metro-North derailed at Sputen Duyvil. pic.twitter.com/7EyOu6x02J

— R. P. Schwartz (@Doc_RPS) December 1, 2013

Another picture on Twitter shows a car near, but not in the water.

Photo of Metro North passenger train that derailed in the Bronx. Some cars are in the river #NBC4NYpic.twitter.com/WmK9HcKrB4

— Sheldon Dutes (@SheldonDutes4NY) December 1, 2013

Bronx 2nd Alarm Derailment Photo By: @danielcohenpic.twitter.com/ckFARvaW2r

— NYC Fire Wire (@NYCFireWire) December 1, 2013

Bronx 2nd Alarm Derailment Photo By: @danielcohenpic.twitter.com/ckFARvaW2r

— NYC Fire Wire (@NYCFireWire) December 1, 2013

Many people injured. Rescue still happening. #MTApic.twitter.com/OzH2aPCnsu

— Daniel Cohen (@danielcohen) December 1, 2013

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There are MASSIVE protests ongoing in Ukraine after President Viktor Yanukovych's refused to sign a trade agreement with the EU, essentially tying the country's fate with Russia.

The crowds have been massive, and unending since the decision several days ago.

Via Mark Mackinnon, here's wild video of protesters attempting to bulldoze the police, only to be stopped in the end by other protesters.

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The Obama administration is out with a progress report on HealthCare.gov, the federal health care website that it pledged in late October would be fixed for the "vast majority" of users by Nov. 30. 

The report declares that it has "met" that goal, two months after the disastrous launch of the website.

"While we strive to innovate and improve our outreach and systems for reaching consumers, we believe we have met the goal of having a system that will work smoothly for the vast majority of users," the progress report says.

Some key points from the report:

• The site will now be able to support a maximum of 800,000 visitors per day, including a target of 50,000 concurrent visits.
• The site is now online 90% of the time, according to the The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
• The "tech surge" that came to the site in late October has helped to fix 400-plus bugs and glitches on a "punch list."
• The average response time of the site is now less than one second, an improvement from about 8 seconds in late October.

Here are the charts showing the progress:

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An in-depth New York Times piece today reveals the behind-the-scene details of Healthcare.gov's disastrous the launch and the rescue effort that ensued to try to save President Obama's signature legislative achievement.

Communication between the White House, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the lead contractors assigned to build the site was so bad that when it went live on October 1st, administration officials were thrilled to learn of the high traffic while panic was setting in amongst technicians of CGI Federal, the IT firm responsible for the site. The opposing reactions show just how little oversight the White House had over the site.

It did not take long for that panic to spread to Pennsylvania Avenue. It was quickly clear that the problems with the exchange website were far worst than anyone imagined. It had barely been tested and could handle only 500 concurrent users. 

White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough debated with his aides what to do. One idea was to take the entire site down. The administration's biggest fear was not that it would take too long to fix the site. It was that the site wasn't fixable at all.

From the Times report:

[I]n a meeting in Mr. McDonough’s office that first weekend after the start, someone asked the question on everyone’s mind: Should we just take the website down altogether for a time so it can be fixed?

No, Mr. Park said, after consulting with the engineers in Herndon — the website needs to be up to see where the problems are. One senior White House official said they briefly considered scrapping the system altogether. They decided it was fixable.

That's how bad the launch was. More than three years and hundreds of millions of dollars after the law passed, the White House considered getting rid of Healthcare.gov altogether on the day it launched.

Once they decided to keep the site, attention turned to how to fix it. Jeffrey Zients was put in charge of coordinating the recovery effort. He then tapped Quality Software Services Inc. (QSSI) as a "systems integrator."

Technicians set up a "war room" in QSSI's offices in Columbia, Maryland and worked around the clock. Private IT specialists were brought in and the race began to fix the site before Zient's self-imposed December 1st deadline when it was supposed to work for "vast majority" of users.

Today, that deadline arrived and the White House has declared victory. They say that 50,000 people can use the site at once and errors have been reduced dramatically.

Despite these front-end fixes, the status of the back-end remains unknown. While consumers saw a number of problems when they first attempted to purchase health insurance on October 1st, insurers saw an equal number of errors on the other side. 834 forms, which tell insurers information about their beneficiaries and the plans they selected, had numerous errors, including inaccurate data and duplicate signups.

Whether those problems have been cleared up is unclear. The administration has been reluctant to release any information on those, knowing that the media is largely focused on the front-end errors. If consumers can now purchase plans, but insurers are still getting inaccurate information, then the rescue effort is only halfway done.

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Happy December! 

We hope you're well rested and no longer in a Thanksgiving food coma. You're going to need all the energy you can muster for the week ahead, as it's jam-packed with economic data. And actually that starts tonight!

As it's the first day of the month, today is PMI Day, when manufacturing data from all around the world starts coming out, starting first with Asia. Early tomorrow morning we get European manufacturing data, followed by the US ISM at 10:00 AM ET on Monday.

Also tomorrow we get construction spending.

On Tuesday we get light vehicle sales for November, which tend to be a good indicator of how the job market performed for the month.

Wednesday we get the ADP Jobs report (a preview to Friday's jobs report), as well as ISM Non-Manufacturing and New Home Sales.

Thursday, as always, brings initial jobless claims. Also the 2nd revision of Q3 GDP comes out.

And then Friday, of course, is the big Non-Farm Payrolls report for November. Per Calculated Risk, analyst expect 180,000 new jobs, and the unemployment rate to fall to 7.2%.

For more details on all this data, check out Calculated Risk.

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This morning, a Metro North train derailed in the Bronx, and initial reports indicated that one or more of the cars had gone into the water. Fortunately those reports were untrue.

However, one car did come extremely close.

Shimon Prokupecz, a producer at CNN, tweeted this image, noting that there were divers in the water, searching to see if any passengers had been ejected into the water. It was that close.

For more on the train derailment: See our full report here

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With a market capitalization of $107 billion, Chinese Internet company Tencent is bigger than Yahoo, Twitter, and LinkedIn combined.

And yet, you probably know very little about it.

It was the same with me until a week or so ago.

That's when I flew from Beijing to Shenzhen in the southeast of China, and paid Tencent a visit.

Disclaimer: I was only in Beijing because Tencent paid for me to fly to China to be on a panel. I paid for my airplane ticket to Shenzhen, however.

After a 3 hour, 1215 mile flight from Beijing, I landed in Shenzhen

I could tell right away that the place had a hazy, polluted look

The airport could have been any major market airport in the US

A college student quickly made over $24,000 just by waving this sign on TV.

Here's the deal. Yesterday on ESPN's College Gameday show (an ESPN college football show that's filmed at a different college campus each week) some student held the above sign that has both the Bitcoin logo and a QR code

A QR code is a visual representation of any kind of information (frequently a URL for a website). In this case, the code represented a Bitcoin wallet.

On Reddit, Bitcoin fans managed to enhance the QR code from the screen in order to identify his wallet, so that people could donate money to him.

Here's one enhancement from Redditor DanielTaylor:

That allowed people to figure out his wallet address, which is: 1HiMoMgBaAikFHgAt3M4YJtetp4HrnsiXu.

The image made it onto the front page of Reddit, and quickly spread across the Bitcoin community. And perhaps sensing an opportunity to turn this into a huge publicity stunt and free ad for Bitcoin (with articles like this one!) the community sent him donations.

The guy received 100 transactions totalling over 22 bitcoins. At current prices above $1,100 per bitcoin, the kid has made over $24000.

A crucial thing about how Bitcoin works is that all transactions are made public, and you can see the number of bitcoins associated with each wallet. What you can't see, however, is the actual person associated with the wallet.

Needless to say, the Bitcoin community was floored.

Here are some folks on Reddit watching, stunned, as the kid's wallet swelled with bitcoins:

(Via CryptoJunky.com)

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Hollywood and fans alike are stunned by the shocking death of Paul Walker.

The "Fast and Furious" actor passed away after a single-car accident in Santa Clarita, California. Walker was the passenger in a Porsche GT during a test spin at a charity car show for his organization Reach Out Worldwide.

He was 40.

Walker's death was first reported by TMZ before being confirmed on the actor's verified Facebook and Twitter accounts.

Many Hollywood friends and actors took to Twitter and social media to express their shock and send their condolences along with the cast and crew of his "Fast and Furious" franchise which is currently filming the seventh installment of the series.

From the "Fast and Furious" cast and crew

Director James Wan:

I am so beyond heartbroken right now. I can't process anything.

— James Wan (@creepypuppet) December 1, 2013

Co-stars Ludacris and Tyrese were among the first to respond to the news on Instagram.

It's no secret the entire cast was incredibly close — with all of them sharing behind-the-scenes videos and photos on set of the films.

All my strength, love & faith to the Walker family during this heartbreaking time. We find our strength.. in his light. Love you brother.

— Dwayne Johnson (@TheRock) December 1, 2013

Here are messages from the rest of Hollywood.

"Time is long but life is short"#rippaulwalker

— Ryan Seacrest (@RyanSeacrest) December 1, 2013

Going to bed with a heavy heart about Paul Walker. May his friends and family find peace and grace. A reminder of life's frangibleness.

— Elizabeth Banks (@ElizabethBanks) December 1, 2013

Such sad news about Paul Walker! It’s so tragic and crazy how things can just end so suddenly. My condolences to his family.

— Neil Patrick Harris (@ActuallyNPH) December 1, 2013

Rest in peace Paul Walker. A true talent gone way too soon. #rippic.twitter.com/SsKFmcJQul

— Kris Jenner (@KrisJenner) December 1, 2013

Shocked and saddened by the tragic death of #PaulWalker It's really hard to believe. My thoughts are with his friends and family. RIP

— Sarah Hyland (@Sarah_Hyland) December 1, 2013

This is sad. RT @washingtonpost"Fast & Furious" actor Paul Walker dies in fiery car crash near Los Angeles http://t.co/Auskxdermb

— yvette nicole brown (@yvettenbrown) December 1, 2013

#paulwalker - much love to paul walker. So sad. He gave a lot of joy. http://t.co/MVsZUMvx9T

— James Franco (@JamesFrancoTV) December 1, 2013

No, @RealPaulWalker. No. No. No. Rest with the angels. You. Sweet boy. #beauty#love#RIP

— Alyssa Milano (@Alyssa_Milano) December 1, 2013

Man life is so short. People you care about can be here one min and gone the next Don't take life for granted RIP Paul Walker 😔

— Michael B Jordan (@michaelb4jordan) December 1, 2013

So sad to hear about Paul Walker. He was my hero when I was in my teens. Super nice guy... crazy.

— Frankie Muniz (@frankiemuniz) December 1, 2013

Truly shocked and upset by the news. Can't believe Paul is gone. Sending every ounce of love and energy to his loved ones. @RealPaulWalker

— Nina Dobrev (@ninadobrev) December 1, 2013

I'm a devastated right now. My prayers & condolences go out to Paul Walkers family & friends. He was a amazing talent & will truly b missed

— Kevin Hart (@KevinHart4real) December 1, 2013

#RipPaulWalker#BeyondSadAboutThis#LifeIsToShort#DontTakeAnyMomentOfYourLifeForGranted#MyPrayersGoOutToHis... http://t.co/3tKNnAezi8

— Kevin Hart (@KevinHart4real) December 1, 2013

.@RealPaulWalker May he be in peace. To his family you are in our thoughts and prayers.

— Sarah Michelle (@RealSMG) December 1, 2013

Rest in Peace Paul Walker!!!! You be missed my brother!!!! http://t.co/PkJZ0nCmHT

— AKON (@Akon) December 1, 2013

SEE ALSO: Paul Walker is dead at age 40

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Some jobs intrinsically have more health risks than others. A nurse working in a hospital is far more likely to catch an infectious disease than a lawyer working in an office.

To rank the most unhealthy jobs in America, we used data from the Occupational Information Network (O*NET), a U.S. Department of Labor database full of detailed information on occupations.

In order to analyze jobs by their impact on workers' health, we took O*NET measures of six health risks in each of the 974 occupations in the database: exposure to contaminants; exposure to disease and infection; exposure to hazardous conditions; exposure to radiation; risk of minor burns, cuts, bites, and stings; and time spent sitting, since studies show that frequent inactivity shortens your lifespan. O*NET scores these factors on a scale from 0 to 100, with a higher score indicating an increased health risk. 

Refuse and Recyclable Material Collectors

Overall unhealthiness score: 55.0

What they do: Collect and dump refuse and recyclable materials into trucks.

Top three health risks:

Exposure to contaminants: 97

Time spent sitting: 69

Exposure to disease and infections: 63

Nuclear Equipment Operation Technicians

Overall unhealthiness score: 55.2

What they do: Operate equipment used for the release, control, or utilization of nuclear energy to assist scientists in laboratory or production activities.

Top three health risks:

Exposure to radiation: 89

Exposure to hazardous conditions: 77

Exposure to contaminants: 65

Medical, Clinical, and Cardiovascular Technologists and Technicians

Overall unhealthiness score: 55.3

What they do: Perform complex medical laboratory tests for diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease.

Top three health risks:

Exposure to disease and infections: 96

Exposure to hazardous conditions: 69

Exposure to contaminants: 68

The chairs of the congressional intelligence committees surprised CNN anchor Candy Crowley on Sunday by saying that the U.S. is "not safer" today from terror threats than it was in recent years.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.), chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, made that claim in a joint interview on CNN's "State of the Union" on Sunday.

Crowley began the interview by asking a familiar question to Feinstein. 

"Are we safer now than we were a year ago, two years ago?" she said. 

"I don't think so," Feinstein said. "I think terror is up worldwide — the statistics indicate that. The fatalities are way up. The numbers are way up. There are new bombs — very big bombs. There are trucks being reinforced for those bombs. There are bombs that go through magnetometers. The bomb-maker is still alive. There are more groups than ever. And there is huge malevolence out there."

Surprised, Crowley turned to Rogers.

"So, congressman, I have to say, that was not the answer I expected," she said. "I expected to hear, 'Oh, we're safer.' Do you agree?"

"I absolutely agree that we're not safer today for the same very reasons," he said. "So the pressure on our intelligence services to get it right to prevent an attack are enormous. And it's getting more difficult."

Rogers said that the U.S. is dealing with a new, "metastasized" version of al-Qaida — one that has many new affiliates around the world with different, smaller objectives. 

Here's the clip of their appearance:

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Level I of the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) exam will be administered next weekend. Test-takers were probably spent their Thanksgiving holiday studying.

The CFA curriculum, which consists of three levels, is considered to be the most difficult tests on Wall Street with fewer than 20 percent of candidates passing all three on the first try.

The average test-taker also spends a solid five to six months preparing for the CFA.

And every test-taker hopes things go smoothly and according to plan on exam day. But we've heard some crazy horror stories ranging from bathroom disasters to concentration-breaking distractions.

We've included them here.  Make sure this doesn't happen to you. 

CFA test-takers witnessed a girl get locked out of the exam room after the lunch break.

"Between the morning and afternoon sections of the CFA exam, there's a two hour break.  The proctors always warn you to get back to the exam room like 10-15 minutes before the break ends because they start reading instructions for the next part of the exam right when the 2 hours is up.

In the room where I was writing Level 2, the entrance into the test center was in the front of the room, and all the test takers sit facing the entrance. There were about 300 of us.

Just before the 2 hour mark (or maybe it was right at the 2-hour mark), the proctor started reading the instructions over the loudspeakers, but the doors to the entrance were still open.

Then, one girl walks through the door in mid-instruction. She was probably right on time, but late by CFA test standards.

The proctor stops reading, and tells the girl over the loud speaker: "I'm sorry, you have to go back through the doors." The girl stepped back, then the proctor said on the loud speaker "Can someone close that door?"

Everyone watched as the door closed on the girl, who just had this blank stare on her face. You could feel the collective gasp in the room as what just happened weighed down on everyone.

That girl never came back into the room, and wasn't able to take the second part of the exam. Six months of studying and preparation for nothing.

I feel bad for saying this, but it was a distraction feeling pity for the poor girl."

Source: Business Insider

A test-taker couldn't take the exam because his driver's license just expired.

From Analyst Forum: 

I saw him in the distance sitting on one of those portable heaters with his hands in his face, he was clearly upset. I called out to him, and when he moved his hands away from his face, i saw his red and puffy eyes, like he was crying. I thought to myself “alright, he thought it was hard too, so i must have did alight”. I said “don't worry man, I talked to like 6 people in the room after the exam and they all said they did horrible, don't be so upset man, the afternoon wont be as bad”.

I said: "Don't worry man, I talked to like 6 people in the room after the exam and they all said they did horrible, don't be so upset man, the afternoon won't be as bad". 

He said: "I didn't write it, bro."

I said: "What the f*** are you talking about??" 

He said: "My license expired on May 30th!"

They wouldn't let him write because his license was expired. Can you FREAKIN' believe that?! One week expired, and it wasted about a year of his life and 1 month vacation time."

Source: Analyst Forum

A test-taker sat by another guy with a penchant for drumming.

From Analyst Forum: 

"This year I sat next to a very talented percussionist. Every 90 seconds, his layered nervous tapping would crescendo as he ruthlessly beat the answer out of his calculator in a solo that would make a metal drummer proud. With the invigilators roaming, I couldn’t express my appreciation with a look or a hushed whisper. So I grabbed the right half of the two person folding table we were sitting at, pushed the middle with my left arm, pulled with the end with my right jerking the table right out from under little drummer boy. I didn’t change my expression or even stop answering questions. He jerked the table back, clearly eager to resume his interrupted concert. A half-measure in, I threw his end of the table out from under him again. After 3 encores, he got the hint."

Bob Dylan has been formally charged with "inciting hate," AFP reports.

On Friday, we reported Dylan had been sued by a Croatian community association in France over comments he made in his September cover interview with Rolling Stone and which subsequently appeared in the magazine's French edition. Speaking about race relations in the U.S., he said:

"This country is just too f***** up about color. It's a distraction. People at each other's throats just because they are of a different color. It's the height of insanity, and it will hold any nation back – or any neighborhood back. Or any anything back. Blacks know that some whites didn't want to give up slavery – that if they had their way, they would still be under the yoke, and they can't pretend they don't know that. If you got a slave master or Klan in your blood, blacks can sense that. That stuff lingers to this day. Just like Jews can sense Nazi blood and the Serbs can sense Croatian blood."

Now, AFP says he was actually questioned a few weeks ago in the case by a French prosecutor, around the same he was receiving a French Legion of Honor medal for serving as a symbol of justice for young people. 

Dylan was charged under France's statutes regarding "injury" and "inciting hate." 

If found guilty, he would face a fine and probation.

In other news, Croatians have just voted to ban gay marriage.

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