Latest news with #Karber
Yahoo
03-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Lincoln High School responds to Arkansas House bill that doesn't allow for four-day weeks
LINCOLN, Ark. (KNWA/FOX24) — Lincoln Consolidated School District was one of the districts to adopt the four-day school week in 2023, and Lincoln High School disapproves of Arkansas House Bill 1864, which attempts to revert schedules back to a traditional five-day week. The bill claims to be an attempt to 'improve efficiency in student instruction,' but Lincoln principal Stan Karber says since switching to the four-day week, their student and faculty has been more efficient than before. 'Our attendance is through the roof. Our student discipline is through the roof. We don't have to deal with a lot of the things. Again, our kids are here four days a week. I feel like that extra day has mentally prepared them for a lot of the stuff,' Karber said. 'It's created a culture that you cannot put a cap on, you can't really put a price tag on. What we see, the teachers that are wanting to stay here are healthy and happy because of that extra day off.' New bill could alter four-day school weeks for Arkansas schools Karber also added that he feels personally attacked by the bill, claiming that the bill was created to aid big school districts while leaving small, rural ones like Lincoln forgotten about. 'I just find it incredibly disheartening and discouraging that a group of people in Little Rock and Jake Oliva and the Arkansas Department of Education seem to be fighting harder against small schools than they are fighting for small schools and the teachers that we represent and the students that we represent,' Karber said. KNWA/FOX24 reached out to the Arkansas Department of Education but has not received a response. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
See - Sada Elbalad
27-03-2025
- Entertainment
- See - Sada Elbalad
"Murdle" TV Series Based on Murder Mystery Puzzles in Works
Yara Sameh In a competitive situation, Amazon MGM Studios has landed for development Murdle, a scripted adaptation of G. T. Karber's multi-volume collection of murder mystery puzzles, from Legendary Television. Written by Jon Croker (Paddington) based on a story by Karber, Murdle is a quirky, voice-driven series in the vein of Knives Out and The Gentlemen about two rival members of a London-based detective club, who are forced to work together despite their very different approaches to solving murders. The project originated with Jessica Rhoades' Pacesetter which took the pitch to Legendary Television last fall. Amazon MGM Studios will now co-develop and co-produce the series with Legendary and Pacesetter for Prime Video. Executive producing Murdle are Croker, Karber as well as Rhoades and Alison Mo Massey for Pacesetter. This marks the latest high-profile murder mystery series project with a comedic bent as the genre has been on the upswing since the 2019 release of Rian Johnson's Knives Out. Murdle is looking to join Hulu's Only Murders In The Building, Johnson's Poker Face for Peacock, CBS' Elsbeth, HBO's The White Lotus and Netflix's The Residence, among others. To date, there have been five volumes in G. T. Karber's collection of murder mystery puzzles. The first Murdle tome was a Sunday Times #1 bestseller and won both Overall Book of the Year and Best Nonfiction Book at the 2024 British Book Awards. In addition to his work on Paddington 2, Croker co-wrote the Academy Award-winning short film "The Boy, The Mole, The Fox And The Horse" based on Charlie Mackesy's bestseller. His projects in the works include limited series "Hot Air," starring Andrew Garfield; Paul McCartney's animated film "High In The Clouds"; Disney film "Prince Charming", directed by Paul King; and "Skandar & The Unicorn Thief," a film adaptation of the bestseller, for Sony. read more New Tourism Route To Launch in Old Cairo Ahmed El Sakka-Led Play 'Sayidati Al Jamila' to Be Staged in KSA on Dec. 6 Mandy Moore Joins Season 2 of "Dr. Death" Anthology Series Don't Miss These Movies at 44th Cairo Int'l Film Festival Today Amr Diab to Headline KSA's MDLBEAST Soundstorm 2022 Festival Arts & Culture Mai Omar Stuns in Latest Instagram Photos Arts & Culture "The Flash" to End with Season 9 Arts & Culture Ministry of Culture Organizes four day Children's Film Festival Arts & Culture Canadian PM wishes Muslims Eid-al-Adha News Egypt confirms denial of airspace access to US B-52 bombers News Ayat Khaddoura's Final Video Captures Bombardment of Beit Lahia News Australia Fines Telegram $600,000 Over Terrorism, Child Abuse Content Lifestyle Pistachio and Raspberry Cheesecake Domes Recipe Videos & Features Bouchra Dahlab Crowned Miss Arab World 2025 .. Reem Ganzoury Wins Miss Arab Africa Title (VIDEO) News Ireland Replaces Former Israeli Embassy with Palestinian Museum News Israeli PM Diagnosed with Stage 3 Prostate Cancer Lifestyle Maguy Farah Reveals 2025 Expectations for Pisces News Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly Inaugurates Two Indian Companies Sports Neymar Announced for Brazil's Preliminary List for 2026 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers
WIRED
28-02-2025
- Business
- WIRED
Amazon Restricted Vaginal Health Products for Being ‘Potentially Embarrassing'
Feb 28, 2025 5:00 AM Big Tech's restrictions on adult content are crippling businesses and organizations focused on sexual health, according to a new report shared exclusively with WIRED. Photo-illustration: Jacqui VanLiew; Getty Images Startup founder Tara Langdale-Schmidt says her company's devices, known as VuVa, are designed to soothe the pelvic and vaginal pain and discomfort that she and millions of other women have experienced. But over the past decade, Langdale-Schmidt alleges Amazon has repeatedly shut down VuVatech's product listings—sometimes she says for violating what she views as prudish 'adult' content rules. Last year, Amazon blocked VuVatech from adding a discount coupon to one product because its automated systems identified the item as 'potentially embarrassing or offensive,' according to a screenshot seen by WIRED. 'We just have to stop this insanity with being embarrassed about things,' Langdale-Schmidt says. 'There's no difference from your vagina than your ear, your nose, your mouth. It is another place on your body, and I don't know how we got to this point where it's not okay to talk about it. I just don't get it.' Amazon spokesperson Juliana Karber tells WIRED that no VuVatech products have been blocked for adult policy violations over the past year, though Langdale-Schmidt says that's because she's given up trying to list new items. Karber adds that Amazon understands the importance of sexual health and wellness products to its customers and has thousands of merchants offering them. The small fraction of those products categorized as 'adult' are subject to additional policies 'to best ensure we serve them to intending customers and not surprise customers who are not looking for them,' Karber says. Companies and organizations working in sexual health and wellness have for years railed against what they view as excessive restrictions on their content by shopping, advertising, and social platforms. A new survey and an accompanying report shared exclusively with WIRED by the Center for Intimacy Justice, an industry advocacy group, underscore just how widespread these concerns are. In the survey, which was completed in March 2024, VuVatech and more than 150 other businesses, nonprofit groups, and content creators spanning six continents reported challenging experiences sharing content about their work, promoting products, and using other services from Amazon, Meta, Google, and TikTok. Those surveyed included organizations offering tools and support for pregnancy, menopause, and other health topics. Jackie Rotman, founder and CEO of the Center for Intimacy Justice, says ending what she describes as biased censorship against women's health would unlock valuable commercial opportunities for tech platforms, and is also simply the right thing to do. 'Bots, algorithms, and employees who are not knowledgeable in this topic should not be prohibiting women's access to important and valuable health products,' she says. Google, Meta, TikTok, and Amazon say they stand by their policies, some of which are aimed at protecting minors from encountering potentially sensitive content. The companies also all note that they offer ways for users and advertisers to appeal enforcement actions. Some of the offerings cited in the Center for Intimacy Justice's survey include unregulated products that have limited or mixed evidence supporting their effectiveness. Complaints about content moderation on tech platforms also extend well beyond sexual health issues. But Rotman, the industry group leader, says its survey findings show how widely sexual health tools and information are suppressed across the internet. Sixty-four percent of the 28 survey respondents who sold goods on Amazon reported the ecommerce giant had removed their offerings at some point, and about a third of the merchants claimed Amazon had suspended their selling accounts altogether. Karber, the Amazon spokesperson, says that the survey reflects experiences of 'a very small number of selling partners.' Langdale-Schdmit alleges some versions of the VuVa remain blocked on Amazon today and none are eligible to be featured in paid advertisements. (Amazon bars ads for 'adult products' including toys and products promoted for 'sexual purposes.') Despite earning about $6.5 million in lifetime sales, Langdale-Schmidt says VuVatech is losing money, a problem she attributes in part to the volatility of selling on Amazon, which is responsible for half of the company's revenue. Around 2022, Langdale-Schmidt noticed something else frustrating about Amazon: When she typed 'vaginal' into Amazon's search bar, it barely triggered any suggested search queries, while 'erectile' resulted in a plethora of suggestions, like pills and supplements. 'They took away all the sexual wellness prompts for the word 'vaginal,'' Langdale-Schmidt alleges. For broad search queries, Amazon excludes from the results any product flagged as 'adult,' including the VuVa, according to Langdale-Schmidt. This, for instance, prevents someone searching for 'toy' from encountering a listing for a dildo. The company's adult products policy mentions a variety of sex toys and objects such as dildos and wand massagers, but doesn't specifically list dilators or similar pelvic health devices, such as the VuVa. Amazon's Karber says that customers looking for adult products are able to search directly for them using specific search terms or browsing product catalogs. A former engineering leader at Amazon theorizes the search bar suggestions for 'vaginal,' may be aggressively filtered because algorithms trained on internet content tend to associate women's genitalia with porn-related terms. (Oddly, many of the search suggestions for 'penis' include misspellings such as 'penisen largement tool.') 'That doesn't mean Amazon shouldn't be pressured to implement smarter search [technology] that can tell the difference between health products and porn,' says the ex-employee, who was granted anonymity to maintain their professional relationships. In another case from 2023 cited in the Center for Intimacy Justice report, Google limited who was shown some ads from Aquafit Intimate, a small Israeli startup that develops pelvic and vaginal care products. In an email to Aquafit seen by WIRED, a Google representative explained the decision by citing references on Aquafit's website to 'bodily fluids such as vaginal dryness,' the display of body parts 'unnecessarily,' and content about 'itching' and 'burning' that was likely to trigger a negative reaction among viewers. Rebecca Sternberg, Aquafit's cofounder and CEO, says she and her team tried appealing Google's decision twice to no avail. 'I said, well, you know vaginal dryness is not a secretion. Quite the opposite,' she says. Aquafit ultimately gave up on that form of Google advertising. Google spokesperson Nate Funkhouser says the 'moderately restricted' designation it applied to Aquafit's ads under the ad giant's sexual content policy was appropriate. Aquafit continues to buy keyword-based Google search ads without issue, including for the term 'vaginal dryness.' Sternberg says the paid promotions are crucial because every dollar spent on them has generally returned $3 or $4 in sales for the Aquafit. But Sternberg remains cautious. 'If Google says you cannot say, you cannot buy the words 'vaginal,' 'itching,' 'burning,' 'discharge,' we're up shit creek,' she says. 'If we didn't have Google ads, we'd be dead.' Overall, about two-thirds of the 74 businesses and individuals the Center for Intimacy Justice surveyed that advertise on Google reported the tech giant blocked some of their ads, largely citing rules around sexual or inappropriate content. Funkhouser says that Google has long allowed ads for a variety of sexual health products and services, and that last year, it loosened its rules to allow for promoting additional products, including pubic grooming tools. The report alleged that Google's biggest online advertising competitor, Meta, unfairly rejected ads for an urinary tract infection treatment and a guide to recognizing sexual coercion, which showed a hand touching a body. Meta spokesperson Daniel Roberts says the UTI ad had violated policies limiting prescription drug ads; the other ad had been incorrectly blocked under a ban on nudity. Roberts says Meta generally allows ads that promote sexual health, wellness, and reproductive products and services. Among the 97 organizations and individuals surveyed who use TikTok, about half reporting facing instances of their posts or ads being removed, often without explanation. Some organizations responded that they haven't bothered with advertising on TikTok because they feared the company would block their ads. TikTok declined to comment. The video app's policies prohibit nudity, restrict content with semi-nudity, and don't allow advertising for what it calls sexual "enhancement" products. Some organizations reported that they have tried to avert potential restrictions on TikTok and other platforms by writing in what is called 'algospeak,' intentionally including misspellings of words or representing them with emojis so that they aren't detected by automated filtering systems. For example, sex can become 'seggs,' lube turn into 'loob,' or the word 'butt' could be represented by the peach emoji. Avoiding proper language can lead to confusion and exacerbate stigmas, some businesses said. But they also felt like they had no choice but to self-censor to get their message out.
