It’s Amazing How Cats Find a Cuddling Object in Everything And Everyone

Cats Cuddles And purfect they are! It’s amazing how cats find a cuddling object in everything and everyone. No other animals seems to be needed more affection, regardless of their independent character.

YouTube Says More Than 1 Billion People Are Now Visiting its Online Video Site Each Month

YouTube

 YouTube monthly hits touch 1 billion mark: YouTube says more than 1 billion people are now visiting its online video site each month to watch everything from clips of cute kittens to scenes of social unrest around the world, news agency AP reported on Thursday.

The milestone announced on Wednesday marks another step in YouTube’s evolution from a quirky startup launched in 2005 to one of the most influential forces in today’s media landscape.

YouTube crossed the 1 billion threshold five months after Facebook Inc. said its online social network had reached that figure.

The vast audience has given YouTube’s owner, Google Inc., another lucrative channel for selling online ads beyond its dominant Internet search engine.

Google bought YouTube for $1.76 billion in 2006 when the video site had an estimated 50 million users worldwide.

Since late 2011, YouTube has refocused its site to prioritize watching along distinct channels of its creators.

Such channels were seen as better allowing advertisers to focus on certain genres of content like beauty or music.

In 2012, it seeded 96 channels with around $100 million in funding to help them accelerate that growth, often partnering with big-name Hollywood producers and directors that had made it big in movies or TV but not on the Internet, including “CSI” creator Anthony Zuiker. Later, YouTube vowed to spend another $200 million marketing the channels to boost viewers.

But Wednesday’s event focused largely on those who had succeeded on YouTube before the channel-funding strategy was in place.

Robert Kyncl, vice president and global head of content partnerships, acknowledged to reporters that the strategy had not worked as well as hoped.

When asked if the investment had paid off, Kyncl said, “Every year, we reserve the right to get smarter.”

He said more of such investment in the future would go to channels that had proven they can build an audience on their own.

“What we’re looking for is the acceleration of those who are figuring out how to retail their content,” he said.

Is Senator Mark Warner Pledging to Refuse Out of State Donations?

Saturday night, former Virginia governor and current U.S. Sen. Mark Warner, was at a fundraiser in Abingdon, Virginia with Congressman Rick “Cap & Trade” Boucher when he made a stunning remark. He was complaining about money from outside of southwest Virginia influencing the race in the 9th District.  Warner said, “We need to send a message to outside money, that we don’t even know where it came from, that that’s not the type of politics we play in Southwest Virginia.”

This from a sitting Senator who has benefitted from over a million dollars from a PAC called ActBlue, which solicits money from all across the nation that we don’t even know where it came from. He has also accepted contributions from other donors outside of Virginia. According to Open Secrets;

The American Fast Food the World Loves: Top Global Brands

With the American economy still sluggish, many fast-food chains have focused recent expansion overseas.

After a growth spurt last year, there are more than 66,000 units of U.S.-based fast-food restaurants abroad just among the 10 largest chains, data from trade publication QSR magazine shows.

The fastest-growing major U.S. chain abroad is Subway, which added over 1,000 international units last year. Growth markets include Russia, Brazil, China, and United Arab Emirates.

Subway operates in 100 countries now, adding Suriname and Romania last year. The chain does substantial menu changes for individual markets, including going vegetarian in its India restaurants.

Hot on Subway's heels is Dunkin' Donuts, which opened more than 900 donut shops overseas in 2012.

Last year saw Dunkin's first shops open in India and Guatemala, and Vietnam is coming this year. Chile, Colombia, and Peru were growth markets last year.

In third place in the international-growth derby is KFC, which added nearly 700 restaurants abroad. Sales at its more than 4,200 restaurants in China floundered, in part thanks to a poultry-supply scandal, but the Yum! Brands division kept on growing overseas.

Leading the pack in international presence is -- no surprise -- McDonald's, which now has more than 18,700 international units.

McDonald's had a slow year in 2012 for international growth, though, growing by only 212 units, QSR reports. The UK and Russia were standout international performers last year for the Golden Arches.

As McDonald's story shows, if you've got a big enough lead on the competition, you don't necessarily need big growth to be the biggest global player.

Some of the biggest chains internationally didn't grow a lot in the past year, but still have the largest overseas store counts.

Here are the top 10 fast-food chains with the most restaurants overseas:

1. McDonald's

Number of international restaurants: 18,710

McDonald's added just 212 eateries overseas last year, but its commanding lead left it still tops in international presence amongst American-based fast-food-chains. Pictured here is a McDonald's meal in Yichang, China.

2. KFC

Number of international restaurants: 11,798

The Yum! Brands division has more than 4,200 restaurants in China, where a poultry-feed scandal caused sales to decline last year. Shown here: A meal at a Shanghai KFC.

3. Subway

Number of international restaurants: 10,109

Subway operates in more than 100 countries now, having added Suriname and Russia last year. Above is a Subway sign at a restaurant in Paris.

4. Pizza Hut

Number of international restaurants: 5,890

Pizza Hut -- a sister company to Yum! Brands' KFC -- build 367 new international stores in 2012. The pizza chain also sold all its corporate-owned foreign restaurants to independent franchise owners last year.

5. Starbucks

Number of international restaurants: 5,727

  The java giant now has coffee shops in over 50 countries, and added 220 international shops last year. Shown here: A Starbucks in Japan.

The American Fast Food the World Loves: Top Global Brands ( MORE....)

Lucky Corvette driver survives trailer crash that experts call too common

A fortunate Chevy Corvette Z06 driver in California last week came away from a horrifying crash with only a few scrapes and a story he'll never forget after smashing into the rear of a semi trailer. READ MORE...

GOP Senator Reverses Gay-Marriage Stance After Son Comes Out

 A prominent conservative senator said on Thursday that he now supports gay marriage.

Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, told reporters from the Columbus Dispatch and other Ohio newspapers that his change of heart on the hot-button issue came two years after his son, Will, told him and his wife that he is gay.

"It allowed me to think of this issue from a new perspective, and that's of a Dad who loves his son a lot and wants him to have the same opportunities that his brother and sister would have—to have a relationship like Jane and I have had for over 26 years," Portman said.

In an interview with CNN, Portman said his son, then a freshman at Yale University, told him "that he was gay, and that it was not a choice, and that it's just part of who he is, and that he'd been that way for as long as he could remember."

The dramatic announcement comes just a week before the U.S. Supreme Court is to hear oral arguments on the Defense of Marriage Act, which bars federal recognition of same-sex marriage, a measure Portman co-sponsored as a member of the House in 1996.

Portman was on the short list to be Mitt Romney's running mate last year. He said he informed Romney during the vetting process that he had a gay son, but that the issue was not a deal breaker for Romney.

He also told CNN that he sought guidance from former Vice President Dick Cheney, whose daughter Mary is gay.

Portman said Cheney's advice to him was simple: "Follow your heart."

Fashion Frock-Off: Selena Gomez, Nina Dobrev Vie for Best Spring Dress (Poll)

"The Vampire Diaries" actress and "Spring Breakers" star chose totally different silhouettes and colors for their Spring 2013 style statements.


Selena Gomez and Nina Dobrev are two of the most stylish young actresses in Hollywood. But they took two different approaches to Spring 2013 fashion at appearances this weekend.

Gomez, 20, looked very tropical in a Dolce & Gabbana dress with vibrant floral bustier, a bare midriff and a sophisticated slim midcalf orange skirt. She also wore Giuseppe Zanotti heels, Iwona Ludyga jewelry and Melinda Maria bracelets.

Gomez was spotted at the SXSW film festival in Austin for the March 10 premiere of her new very un-Disney film Spring Breakers. Yes, it’s everything the title promises: skimpy outfits, lots of dancing, bikinis, some naughty behavior (including holding up a restaurant for quick cash) and being bailed out by an arms dealer/ drug pusher (James Franco) who lures them into a lurid life in underworld. Like, such a total bummer, right?

The Vampire Diaries actress chose a fit n' flare pink/metallic flouncy frock with horizontal stripes by Elie Saab, Pollini shoes and a Jimmy Choo bag for her red-carpet walk at designer John Varvatos’ annual Stuart House Benefit on March 10, held at his menswear boutique on Melrose Avenue in West Hollywood.