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Tag: anaconda

  • IBM Brings Anaconda to Linux on IBM Z & LinuxONE

    IBM Brings Anaconda to Linux on IBM Z & LinuxONE

    IBM has announced it is bringing Python data science platform Anaconda to Linux on IBM Z & LinuxONE.

    Anaconda is the leading Python data science platform, with some 25 million users relying on the platform for machine learning, data science, predictive analytics and more.

    IBM is bringing Anaconda to IBM Z and LinuxONE, making it easy for programmers and data scientist to build and run their AI and analytics apps where their data already resides. According to research commissioned by IBM, 90% of respondents cited this as an important factor.

    Barry Baker, VP of Product Management for IBM Z & LinuxONE, made the announcement in a blog post.

    Data scientists who already know and love Anaconda can now expand their open-source data science experience to include IBM Z & LinuxONE, while continuing to work with their favorite tools and frameworks like conda, XGBoost and SciKit-Learn. This expands and enables choice in AI frameworks and tooling for end-to-end data science directly on the platform, including development, training, testing and production. Data scientists can benefit from the security capabilities, high availability and scalability of the IBM Z & LinuxONE platforms when implementing AI deployments targeting time-sensitive workloads or transactions when they are taking place. Anaconda runs natively on Linux on IBM Z, and through z/OS Container Extensions (zCX) on z/OS, the solution brings open-source data science tools close to key workloads, leveraging the data gravity of the Z and LinuxONE platforms.

  • Nicki Minaj: Are She and Meek Mill A Couple?

    Nicki Minaj and Philadelphia-born rapper Meek Mill were caught on camera kissing this weekend, and the “Anaconda” singer even posted it to her Instagram account. Does this mean the two are a couple? The two have been rumored to be dating for a while now, but this is the first official indication on behalf of Nicki Minaj that those rumors might be true.

    During a recent conversation with Ryan Seacrest, however, Nicki Minaj denied the rumors.

    “Let me clear this up: I am SINGLE,” she said.

    “People are just assuming these things and I don’t know why. This is my friend. I’m just hanging out. We don’t look at each other like that at all!” Minaj added.

    A photo posted by Nicki Minaj (@nickiminaj) on

    Nicki Minaj reportedly dated Safaree Samuels for twelve years. He is said to be quite upset over the notion of her dating Meek Mill. Just over a month ago, TMZ described him as ‘suicidal’ over the split.

    “[Safaree has been] confiding in friends that he’s an emotional wreck over his breakup with Nicki after a 12-year relationship,” the publication reported. “He’s become a shut-in, spends days and nights smoking weed, and has talked openly about suicide.”

    Hollywood Life reports that Nicki Minaj and Meek Mill spent her birthday together back on December 8th. And while that certainly doesn’t mean they’re more than just friends, there definitely were lots of friends Nicki could have chosen to spend her birthday with and she chose him.

    Do you think Nicki Minaj and Meek Mill are a couple? It will be interesting to see if more photos go public now that the ‘kissing’ shot is front and center on Nicki Minaj’s Instagram account.

  • Wasn’t A Man Supposed To Be Eaten Alive By A Snake?

    Back on November 5th, Discovery Channel uploaded a video titled “Eaten Alive Sneak Peek”, which glimpsed at the promising voyage of a man seeking to be eaten alive by an anaconda.

    “We’re gonna get me inside of a snake,” said Paul Rosolie, a naturalist and wild life filmmaker dressed in some type of Tron-like jungle bomb-suit  (it’s a custom-built snake-proof suit) that looks strikingly similar to the protagonist’s outfit in Dead Space.

    The modern day “Jonah & The Whale” experiment premiered Sunday, December 7th at 9/8 central, but before viewers got to see the spectacle, voices and concerns questioned Rosolie and the Discovery Channel:

    • A Change.org petition titled “STOP THE AIRING OF “EATEN ALIVE” – BOYCOTT DISCOVERY CHANNEL” launched the same day the sneak peek video did. It wound up with 38,364 signatures out of 50,000.

    So what happened?

    In the first 70 minutes of the two-hour program, we see Rosolie and his crew venturing in Peru’s Amazon jungle, searching for a 25-foot-long anaconda. This was no ordinary anaconda, as Rosolie said he once saw it before.

    Finally, the team found a 20-foot 250 lb. green anaconda, which, debatably, might have been a captive snake planted in the jungle by Discovery’s stunt team, according to PEOPLE magazine.

    With only 20 minutes left of the show, Rosolie slipped into his crush-resistant, pig-blood covered suit and offered his body to the snake.

    The anaconda took some time to warm up before it coiled around and constricted Rosolie.

    The moment we’d all been waiting for began with the anaconda opening its jaws widely enough to pierce a few of its fangs on Rosolie’s helmet, then the stunt stopped.

    “My arms torqueing, this thing is gonna break! I’m calling it, I need help!” Rosolie told his crew through a microphone in his suit.

    The two-hour long program promising a man being eaten by an anaconda turned out to be about eight minutes of Rosolie struggling to unwind with his team rushing to save him.

    According to ABC News, the show garnered 4.1 million views.

    Viewers were disappointed.

    The #EatenAlive hash tag exploded on Twitter, with many accusing Discovery of misleading audiences with it’s promise of a man being eaten alive by a snake.

    Paul Rosolie? More like Paul Rosolie.

     

     

  • Nicki Minaj Apologizes For Nazi Video

    Nicki Minaj has issued an apology for her most recent music video that uses Nazi imagery.

    The video debuted on Friday, November 7, and shows an animated group of soldiers with red arm bands and symbols that resemble swastikas. The same symbol is visible on Minaj’s chest in the video.

    The Anti-Defamation League quickly criticized the video. “Nicki Minaj’s new video disturbingly evokes Third Reich propaganda and constitutes a new low for pop culture’s exploitation of Nazi symbolism,” the national director of the Anti-Defamation League and a Holocaust survivor Abraham H. Foxman told FOX411 in a statement.

    “The irony should be lost on no one that this video debuted on the 76th anniversary of Kristallnacht, the ‘night of broken glass’ pogrom that signaled the beginning of the Final Solution and the Holocaust,” he added.

    After the backlash, Minaj took to Twitter to offer her sincerest apologies, claiming that she would never condone Nazism in her videos.

    “The artist who made the lyric video for “Only” was influenced by a cartoon on Cartoon Network called “Metalocalypse” & Sin City,” Minaj tweeted. “Both the producer, & person in charge of over seeing the lyric video (one of my best friends & videographer: A. Loucas), happen to be Jewish. I didn’t come up w/the concept, but I’m very sorry & take full responsibility if it has offended anyone. I’d never condone Nazism in my art.”

    What do you think about the video? Leave your comments below.

  • Nicki Minaj: Jessie J’s ‘Bang Bang’ Lands Her on UK Charts

    Nicki Minaj has landed on the singles chart in the U.K. for the first time ever. Jessie J’s new hit song, ‘Bang Bang‘ features both Minaj and Ariana Grande. It has hit the number one spot in the U.K. for singles–landing Nicki Minaj in a place she’s never been before.

    In an ironic twist, ‘Bang Bang’ isn’t doing nearly as much for Jessie J or Ariana Grande, since both have topped the U.K. charts before. Ariana Grande hit their number one spot with her hit song ‘Problem,’ and Jessie J has had two prior number one hits in the U.K. Nicki Minaj stands to gain a lot by topping the charts there. Her U.S. hit ‘Anaconda‘ is set for its British release in October.

    Check out a trailer for the ‘Bang Bang’ music video and see what all the hype is about.

    Nicki Minaj, Jessie J, and Ariana Grande are in excellent company on the U.K. singles chart this week. Sigma, featuring Paloma Faith is at the number two spot with ‘Changing.’ The number three spot is filled with Taylor Swift and ‘Shake It Off.’ Calvin Harris, featuring John Newman have the number four spot with their hit single ‘Blame.’ And the number five slot is filled by Lilly Wood and Robin Schulz with ‘Prayer in C.’

    Does landing at the number one spot on the British singles charts with Jessie J and Ariana Grande mean Nicki Minaj is a shoe-in for a huge hit when ‘Anaconda’ releases in the U.K. next month? How do you suppose people in those parts of the world will react to the music video if that, too, makes its way across the Atlantic?

    Haven’t seen it? Oh, go ahead and check that out, too. A warning, however. As with most things related to Nicki Minaj, viewing by young children (and some adults, too) isn’t recommended.

  • Nicki Minaj: Booty Picture Sparks Debate

    Nicki Minaj: Booty Picture Sparks Debate

    What seemed like an unnatural fold in her butt seen during her performance at Fashion Rocks 2014 has sparked booty implant rumors for Nicki Minaj. Aptly so, the rapper had been performing her single “Anaconda,” which is an ode to big butts.

    A Beverly Hills plastic surgeon has offered the opinion that Minaj has gotten some enhancement in that area of her body. “It does appear that she’s had some sort of augmentation in the gluteal area. It looks like she had gluteal implants placed, or perhaps got fat injections,” said Dr. David Feldmar to RadarOnline.com.

    Dr. Feldmar has not treated the sexy rapper, but he does specialize in body contouring and gluteal augmentation. He said that patients usually ask to get liposuction on their back and waist, and the fat from those areas are injected into the buttocks. The injections help give “that lift and pop,” according to the doctor.

    Although touch-ups can be made every six months, said Dr. Feldmar, there may be future complications to butt implants. “For people who move around a lot or dance like Nicki, you feel the implants. They’re not as comfortable. And after 10 years, they can begin stretching the skin and sagging,” he said.

    Minaj’s song praising big butts recently garnered almost 170 million views on YouTube, and has snatched the Vevo record for most views in a single day at 19.6 million from Miley Cyrus’ “Wrecking Ball”. The music scene is currently seeing a surge of songs about butts, with Meghan Trainor’s “All About That Bass” hitting No. 1 on the Billboard music chart last week and a teaser performance for Jennifer Lopez’s “Booty” at Fashion Rocks 2014. Erika Ramirez, associate editor of Billboard.com, said that “it’s more about acceptance and appreciation than exploitation. It says something when it’s women talking about and standing up for their own bodies.”

    Meanwhile, fellow popstar Cyrus poked fun at Minaj recently by jumping on the butt bandwagon. She donned a prosthetic butt during a performance on Thursday, September 11. While singing her “23” song, Cyrus twerked while wearing the Minaj-inspired prosthetic.

  • Jennifer Lopez Gives Nicki Minaj Performance The Cold Shoulder At Fashion Rocks 2014

    Singer Jennifer Lopez was noticeably indifferent to Nicki Minaj’s performance of her single “Anaconda” at Fashion Rocks 2014 on Tuesday. Her reaction has reportedly caused speculation on whether a feud exists between the two bootylicious performers. Lopez and Minaj both performed at the event in Barclays Center in Brooklyn, and both their songs were about butts.

    One theory discussed by HollywoodLife.com is that Lopez was not pleased because her ex-boyfriend Casper Smart was the choreographer for Nicki Minaj’s “Anaconda” video and her Fashion Rocks performance. However, a source told the site that Lopez’s beef with Minaj stems from issues concerning the top reality TV series American Idol.

    “Nobody at American Idol likes Nicki Minaj, there is story after story on how difficult she was during her tenure and JLo has heard it all. And JLo is mad at Nicki for it and her role in bringing down the show when she was on it, especially since it was JLo’s show beforehand,” said the source.

    The source added that Lopez knew that audiences were turned off by American Idol when Minaj was on the show and that the Latina singer has made it her mission to bring the fun back to it. “So the beef people caught onto is based on all things Idol and not Casper,” said the source.

    Lopez also performed her new single “Booty” at Fashion Rocks, bringing with her an entourage of wiggling derrieres onstage. She wore a very short sparkly dress, which she raised during the performance to show a high-cut silver-sequined bikini that revealed her almost-nude butt.

    Earlier that evening on the red carpet, she wore a dress that had slightly more coverage but was no less sexy than the one she wore for her performance. Her elegant dress was a slinky black number made by Atelier Versace with gold-plated detail, cut-outs and a thigh-high split.

  • Nicki Minaj Dethrones Miley Cyrus With an ‘A$$mazing’ ‘Anaconda’ Vevo Video

    Nicki Minaj Dethrones Miley Cyrus With an ‘A$$mazing’ ‘Anaconda’ Vevo Video

    Nicki Minaj has dethroned the reigning queen of the Vevo viewer 24-hour record with her booty-filled Anaconda music video.

    Vevo announced the new record Friday after the video topped Miley Cyrus‘ Wrecking Ball music video, which set the previous Vevo 24-hour record of 19.3 million views in September 2013. Seems like lewd videos are a must-see because Minaj had 19.6 million views in the 24 hours following its midnight Aug. 19 Vevo premiere, making it the best-ever for the music video site.

    Like Wrecking Ball before it, chatter about Anaconda has blown up social media sites. Since its debut, the song has been among the top trending topics. Within 24 hours of its release, “#AnacondaVideoOnVevo” had an estimated 854 million impressions from 145,267 Twitter mentions by 95,412 users.

    The rapper is merely reclaiming a throne she has held twice before. She previously held the record with her collaboration with Justin Bieber for Beauty and a Beat with 10.6 million views in October 2012, and again with Stupid Hoe, which received 4.8 million viewers in January 2012.

    Minaj has had more than 100 million views with six videos that have been “Certified” by Vevo.

    The bootylicious rapper grabbed a screen shot of Vevo’s Twitter post and added, “WE BROKE THE RECORD BABY!!!!! Anaconda Video 19.6 million views in 24 hrs!!!! :)”

    The racy video certainly has people talking, and Minaj told ABC News the video displaying a slew of women baring their ass-ets was exactly how she envisioned the video before it was ever made.

    “I wanted to reinstate something,” Minaj said. “Because of the shift in pop culture, even hip-hop men are really glorifying the less curvy body.

    “I wanted to say, ‘Hey ladies, you’re beautiful,’” Minaj said. “Hopefully, this changes things and maybe it won’t change things, but I love it.”

  • Nicki Minaj: Did She Blow Off the NBA?

    Nicki Minaj: Did She Blow Off the NBA?

    Nicki Minaj is being sued for allegedly blowing off an NBA All-Star party back in 2011. It doesn’t sound like the ‘Anaconda’ rapper to blow off anything party-related. Do you think there’s any basis to this lawsuit?

    Cahuenga, Inc. has filed a lawsuit against Nicki Minaj, alleging that she breached her contract to serve as host for that party back in February of 2011. The suit claims she was paid a generous sum to appear at the event, to which she was late. She allegedly only stayed half as long as she was contracted to stay.

    The lawsuit claims that Nicki Minaj was paid $53,050 to appear at the NBA All-Star Weekend event at Hollywood’s Siren Studios. It goes on to say that she was supposed to host the party from 1:00 A.M., but showed up at 1:30 and was gone by 2:00. The suit is alleging breach of contact, unjust enrichment and other counts–meaning Cahuenga wants its $53,050 back, “plus lost revenues, including but not limited to, refund claims and lost sales.”

    Nicki Minaj’s reps have yet to publicly acknowledge the lawsuit. One source believes the whole situation was simply a matter of Minaj being a diva. She certainly exhibited highly skilled diva traits when serving as a judge on American Idol. In fact, she closely rivaled fellow judge Mariah Carey in the diva category–don’t you think?

    Diva or no diva, when you sign your name on the dotted line, you are expected to honor that contract–even if your name is Nicki Minaj.

    Do you think Nicki Minaj blew off the NBA? Do you expect she will have to repay the $50,000? Or will her lawyers find a loophole and get her out of this legal mess?

    Fans can check out Nicki Minaj–likely in her true diva form–at the VMAs this coming weekend. Airing on August 24th, the ‘Pills N Potions’ singer is on tap to perform.

    Image via Instagram

  • Lake Hopatcong Snake: What Is It Really?

    There have been recent reports that a giant snake is living in Lake Hopatcong in New Jersey. According to several witnesses who say they have seen the snake, it is between 15 and 20 feet long.

    Animal control services have been called to locate and remove the snake from the lake, but many of them are not sure what kind of snake they are looking for. Some people claim the snake is a boa constrictor and others say it is an anaconda.

    How the snake got into the lake is a mystery as well, but it is not uncommon for pet owners to release unwanted animals into the wild or for them to escape on their own.

    One animal control expert who is searching for the snake says that the snake is a gigantic green anaconda. He also says he was told not to reveal the type of snake it was because officials were afraid it would cause a panic.

    “It’s a green anaconda,” Reptile specialist Gerald Andrejcak said. “I’ve known its species (since last week), but I was sworn to keep my mouth shut by local officials to avoid causing a panic. Now that there’s a panic, I’m going on the record.”

    Many people have spotted the snake over the last few weeks. Several boaters, fishermen and people who live near the lake have called animal control to report a large snake swimming in the lake.

    Andrejcak said that the snake is not likely to attack people unless they threaten it. Anacondas are members of the boa constrictor family and squeeze their pray to kill it before they eat it. He suggests that anyone who sees the snake should avoid getting too close to it or trying to capture it themselves. Instead, they should call the police or animal control.

    Do you think there is really an anaconda swimming in the New Jersey lake?

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Anaconda Loose in New Jersey Lake

    A green anaconda is loose in Lake Hopatcong in Jefferson Township, situated in northern New Jersey, and reptile expert Gerald Andrejcak revealed that state wildlife authorities told him to “keep his mouth shut” regarding the actual species of the snake.

    The snake was initially described as a boa, which a green anaconda technically is, but state officials wanted to avoid causing a panic in the area. “I was sworn to keep my mouth shut by local officials to avoid causing a panic,” Andrejcak commented, adding, “Now that there’s a panic, I’m going on the record.”

    Andrejack positively identified the snake on Thursday as a 16-foot-long green anaconda, after spotting it by the lake. The snake had vanished by the time animal care workers arrived to attempt to wrangle it.

    The green anaconda, or Eunectes murinus, is native to South America, and has been confirmed to grow to more than 22 feet long, and can weigh over 215 pounds. Though, a $50,000 reward stands for anyone who can capture a green anaconda measuring 30 feet long, and historical records indicate that the snake, which lives in remote areas of rain forests, can grow to 40 feet long, and weigh over 550 pounds.

    The green anaconda’s only known predator is man, and can take down large prey including deer and cattle.

    As a side note, behold Jon Voight’s continuous mean-mugging from the 1997 J.Lo thriller Anaconda:

    Andrejack, an employee of Common Sense for Animals, remarked that he is frustrated by the lack of response from wildlife officials, and hopes to find the snake before someone kills it.

    Tony Colantonio, who lives by the lake, commented, “If someone can kill it and get out of here, that’s fine. I want proof that it’s gone.”

    Here is a video Colantonio captured of the snake:

    Colantonio added, “There’s kids swimming in the lake, there’s going to be people in the water this weekend, and my kids can’t go in their backyard. It’s a green anaconda, a predator, hunting all day every day. It’s not a python that lives 80 percent of its life on land and only needs to eat once a month. It’s one of the most aggressive snakes out there. It’s been two weeks and (the township and state) have done nothing. Everybody I call just blows me off.”

    Image via Wikimedia Commons