which online slot game is easy to win Originally appeared on E! Online Hollywood is mourning one of their own. Michael Cole , who became a household name when he starred on the TV classic " The Mod Squad ," died on Dec. 10. He was 84. No cause of death has been shared at this time, however his rep confirmed in a statement to People on Dec. 11 that he was "surrounded by his loved ones after living a full and vibrant life." "Cole's talent, combined with his magnetic presence, made him a defining figure of the era," the statement continued. " The Mod Squad not only made him a household name but also broke barriers by addressing themes of racial and social justice, with Cole's performance helping to bring authenticity and heart to the series." The message also noted that Cole would always be remembered for "his warm and generous spirit." "A storyteller at heart, he had a way of making those around him feel special," his rep said, "often regaling them with anecdotes from his Hollywood." PHOTOS Celebrity Deaths: 2024's Fallen Stars His rep added, "While his loss is deeply felt, his contributions to the arts and his enduring kindness ensure his memory will live on." Cole was born in Madison, Wis., on July 3, 1940. After breaking through in Hollywood, he appeared in several films and TV shows—including Gunsmoke , The Bubble and Chuka —before his role on "The Mod Squad" from 1968 to 1973 alongside Clarence Williams III and Peggy Lipton . In the five-season drama, the three starred as a group of rebellious, social outcasts who agree to work as undercover cops to avoid jail time. The tagline of the show was, "One White, One Black, One Blonde," which Cole poked fun at with his 2009 memoir, " I Played the White Guy . " Cole was the last surviving member of the trio. Lipton — mother of Rashida Jones with ex-husband Quincy Jones — died of colon cancer at the age of 72 in 2004, while Williams passed away in 2021 at 81, also from colon cancer. After his success with " The Mod Squad ," Cole was a fixture on the small screen, guest starring on hits like " Wonder Woman ," " The Love Boat ," " General Hospital" and " ER ." Cole is survived by his wife of 28 years, Shelley , as well as his children.Path of Exile 2 players frustrated as Titan’s Treasure bug blocks progression

Juan Soto introduced by Mets at Citi Field after striking record $765 million, 15-year deal NEW YORK (AP) — Juan Soto put on a New York Mets jersey and cap for the first time after his record $765 million, 15-year contract was finalized and talked about what made the difference in his decision. He said at his introductory news conference on Thursday that the Mets “showed me a lot of love." Soto was introduced at Citi Field a day after his deal was finalized. Speaking in the Piazza 31 Club, Soto was flanked by Mets owner Steve Cohen, president of baseball operations David Stearns and his agent, Scott Boras. Bill Belichick 'always wanted' to give college coaching a try. Now he will at North Carolina New North Carolina football coach Bill Belichick said he had long been interested in coaching in the college ranks. But it had never worked out until now, as he takes over the Tar Heels program. Belichick led the New England Patriots to six Super Bowl titles during a 24-year run there that ended last year. Belichick's five-year deal pays him $10 million in base and supplemental salary per year. It is guaranteed only for the first three years, including for buyout purposes. There is also up to $3.5 million in annual bonuses. Wander Franco's sex abuse trial has been postponed 5 months PUERTO PLATA, Dominican Republic (AP) — The trial against Tampa Bay Rays shortstop Wander Franco, who has been charged with sexually abusing a minor, sexual and commercial exploitation against a minor, and human trafficking, has been postponed until June 2, 2025. Dominican judge Yacaira Veras postponed the hearing Thursday at the request of prosecutors because of the absence of several key witnesses in the case. Franco’s lawyers asked the court to reconsider the postponement, arguing Franco must report to spring training in mid-February. The judge replied that Franco is obligated to continue with the trial schedule and his conditional release from detainment. Rape investigation that Swedish media say focused on Kylian Mbappé has been closed STOCKHOLM (AP) — Swedish prosecutors say they have dropped a rape investigation that was launched in connection with soccer star Kylian Mbappé’s visit to Stockholm in October. In a statement, lead investigator Marina Chirakova says there is not enough evidence to continue the investigation into the allegation at a hotel. Prosecutors never publicly named the suspect in the investigation but some Swedish media reported it was Mbappé. The Real Madrid striker visited Stockholm in October during a break in the Spanish league. At the time, Mbappé’s legal team dismissed those reports as false. Travis Hunter, the 2-way standout for Colorado, is the AP college football player of the year BOULDER, Colo. (AP) — Colorado two-way standout Travis Hunter is The Associated Press college football player of the year. Hunter received 26 of the 43 votes from a panel of AP Top 25 voters. Boise State tailback Ashton Jeanty finished second with 16 votes, and Arizona State running back Cameron Skattebo received one vote. A throwback player who rarely left the field, Hunter had 92 catches for 1,152 yards and 14 touchdowns as a receiver. He had four interceptions and 11 passes defensed as a shutdown corner. Hunter helped the the 20th-ranked Buffaloes to a 9-3 record and an appearance in the Alamo Bowl against BYU. 2034 World Cup visitors will live in 'a bubble' and not see real life, Saudi rights activist says LONDON (AP) — A Saudi human rights activist says soccer fans visiting Saudi Arabia for the 2034 World Cup will live in a “bubble” that doesn't reflect real life there. Lina al-Hathloul is a London-based activist whose sister was jailed in Saudi Arabia then banned from travel after campaigning to end a ban on women driving. When FIFA confirmed the kingdom as the 2034 tournament host on Wednesday its president Gianni Infantino acknowledged “the world will be watching” for positive social change. Al-Hathloul says western people “will be very safe” at the World Cup but "will see a bubble of what Saudi Arabia is.” Team claims NASCAR rescinded approval to buy new charter unless federal antitrust suit is dropped CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — A new court filing says NASCAR rejected Front Row Motorsports’ agreement to purchase a charter from Stewart-Haas Racing unless the team and 23XI Racing dropped their federal antitrust lawsuit against the stock car series. Front Row and 23XI rejected NASCAR's new revenue sharing agreement and have gone to court. NASCAR now says it will move forward in 2025 with 32 chartered teams and eight open spots, with offers on charters for Front Row and 23XI rescinded and the SHR charters in limbo. Indian teen Gukesh Dommaraju becomes the youngest chess world champion after beating Chinese rival NEW DELHI (AP) — Indian teenager Gukesh Dommaraju has become the youngest chess world champion after beating the defending champion Ding Liren of China. Dommaraju, 18, secured 7.5 points against 6.5 of his Chinese rival in Thursday's game which was played in Singapore. He has surpassed the achievement of Russia’s Garry Kasparov who won the title at the age of 22. Dommaraju is now also the second Indian to win the title after five-time world chess champion Viswanathan Anand. The Indian teen prodigy has long been considered a rising star in the chess world after he became a chess grandmaster at 12. He had entered the match as the youngest-ever challenger to the world crown after winning the Candidates tournament earlier this year. Hojlund scores twice for Manchester United to beat Viktoria Plzen 2-1 in Europa League Rasmus Hojlund scored twice after coming off the bench and Manchester United rallied to beat Viktoria Plzen 2-1 in the Europa League. The Denmark striker netted in the 88th minute after collecting Bruno Fernandes’ pass off a free kick to seal the victory. Ahead of the late games, United moved to fifth place with 12 points from six games. Hojlund came on in the 56th to replace Marcus Rashford and scored an equalizer six minutes later. In the Conference League a youthful Chelsea lineup made the most of a long trip to Kazakhstan by beating Astana 3-1 to stay perfect in the third-tier competition. NFL world reacts with excitement, surprise, questions after Bill Belichick is hired to coach UNC Bill Belichick is already the most decorated coach in NFL history. His next challenge is college football after he agreed to a five-year deal to coach at North Carolina. The reaction around the NFL ranged from excitement at seeing him back on the sideline to disbelief. Some of his former players believe his skill set will work at any level. Others caution that the players he brings into UNC should prepare to have their limits tested.None

In special gesture, Kuwait's Prime Minister sees-off PM Modi at airportThere are no photos or videos of LocalThunk, an anonymous computer programmer who lives in the vast and desolate prairies of Canada’s Saskatchewan province, far from Silicon Valley. His poker-inspired video game “Balatro,” however, has proved wildly popular, winning three prizes at the prestigious 2024 Game Awards, taking both the industry and the creator himself by surprise. “When I started making the game I wasn’t even thinking of publishing it,” he said in an email to AFP. The game went on to sell more than 3.5 million copies, and was named in several rankings as one of the best games of the year. “Balatro” is a deck-building game that allows players to improve their hand of cards using various strategies, including “cheating.” Similar to poker, players can use a variety of “jokers” to rack up points. A community of enthusiasts has quickly turned “Balatro” into a cult hit. It has rave reviews on gaming platforms, and the chat group r/balatro on social media platform Reddit has more than 158,000 members. “The polish in this game is just incredible. I cannot emphasize enough how tactile the game is and how good it ‘feels’ while playing. I can almost smell the chips and feel the cards in my hands,” user juhiscid enthused. On social media platform X, user @thechowderhead raved: “Balatro is quite possibly one of the greatest roguelikes ever made,” referring to a type of video game. Despite all the success, the identity of the game’s creator, however, remains a closely guarded secret. ‘Extra stress’ The Canadian developer, who only responds to media requests by email or on the phone, said he wants to stay in the shadows because “things are simpler that way.” While the game’s success has led to “extra stress,” he said he does not regret making it, as it has allowed him to pursue video game development as a career. In a world dominated by large studios made up of hundreds of staff, “Balatro” was part of a growing wave of hits developed by independent game developers. Other examples of such small-budget big-hitters include “Papers, Please” (2013) and “Stardew Valley” (2016). It is, however, the exception, more than a trend, according to Emilien Roscanu, spokesperson for the Quebec video game guild. “For every game that’s a huge success like this, there are several that are just as good and won’t necessarily get the public eye,” he said. The industry is difficult to break into as an independent developer, due in part to the volume of games released every day, and the difficulty of competing with the marketing budgets of larger game studios. Solo developers have to wear “multiple hats at once,” and therefore “the time dedicated to marketing is especially low,” he said. ‘For fun’ LocalThunk spent three years working solo to develop “Balatro,” his first public game. He said he was inspired by a card game from his youth that he wanted to put online so he could continue to play it during the pandemic. Solo development allows him, he said, to “pursue my creative vision without compromise.” “I love making games for fun, and working alone is just part of that for me,” he added. Despite being nominated for a BAFTA for Best Game 2025, LocalThunk still struggled to explain the success of what he calls his “weird game.” “There are so many incredible games launched all the time, I don’t know how this happened to me.” — AFP

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A man is sharing his frustrations with his roommate's technological inabilities after repeatedly helping him with basic computer issues that the roommate refuses to learn to fix on his own. In a post to , the man, 27, writes that he and his roommate, 31, are "good friends," attending college together and playing card games in their spare time. The man writes that he considers himself to be "pretty good with technology" — "nothing crazy but comfortable enough to do some pretty neat stuff with it." His boyfriend, 33, is also pretty "sharp" with computers and has an IT job. The couple loves playing video games together, especially "massively multiplayer online role-playing games" where thousands of people can join and play together online. The man ran into trouble recently when his roommate wanted to be included in the video game fun. The poster writes that his roommate is "terrible with technology to an inexcusable level. And to make matters worse, despite knowing how to google things or use trial and error, every time he runs into something challenging with technology, he’ll just say he doesn’t know what to do and sit there waiting for someone to fix it for him." Shutterstock/Shakirov Albert The man writes that his roommate's actions make him feel like a nanny, "constantly running into his room to help do the most basic stuff as if he were a baby. I’ve tried telling him to just follow a tutorial, or google it but even then he’ll whine that he doesn’t get it. I’ve gotten fed up because no matter how many times I show him how to do something, the minute he comes across it again he again just sits there and waits for someone else to fix it." Related: The man writes that his frustrations with his roommate have reached a tipping point, and that he's started to "get harsher in telling him he can either google it or log off because I’m not helping, I am so tired of this." His roommate's excuse for not figuring out his tech issues? "He tells me he never had a computer growing up and simply never got good at using them. But I think that’s ridiculous as I didn’t have a lot of things growing up that I know how to use now," the poster adds. The man gave his roommate an ultimatum of three options for when he and his boyfriend are playing video games: "1. Don’t join. 2. Join and google stuff and stop being a chore for others to deal with because he’s too lazy to figure it out on his own. 3. Pay $10 per occupancy of incompetence and asking for help until he gets tired of wasting money and figured it out himself." Related: People in the comments were quick to defend the original poster, with one user commenting: "I think you’re in the right here. It’s frustrating to constantly help someone who doesn’t make an effort to learn or solve problems on their own...Charging him a small fee might be a wake-up call that he needs to put in some effort instead of relying on others." The original poster replied with some context, saying he only came up with the idea of charging money because his boyfriend mentioned that that thanks to his own IT job, he doesn't have a problem helping people with their tech issues. This prompted the poster to realize that his boyfriend "makes a living wage doing it" and "that it was work and a job that I was essentially providing for free, so he suggested I should probably just start charging for it." Read the original article onNovo Nordisk, Super Micro Computer And Arm Are Among Top Large Cap Losers Last Week (December 16-20): Are The Others In Your Portfolio?

Coote was sacked earlier this month after the emergence of a video in which he made derogatory remarks about Liverpool and their former manager Jurgen Klopp. Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) said that a thorough investigation had concluded he was “in serious breach of the provisions of his employment contract, with his position deemed untenable”. “Supporting David Coote continues to be important to us and we remain committed to his welfare,” PGMOL’s statement on December 9 added. Coote had the right to appeal against the decision but PA understands the Nottinghamshire referee has decided not to. The video which triggered PGMOL’s investigation into Coote’s conduct first came to public attention on November 11. In it, Coote is asked for his views on a Liverpool match where he has just been fourth official, and describes them as “s***”. He then describes Klopp as a “c***”, and, asked why he felt that way, Coote says the German had “a right pop at me when I reffed them against Burnley in lockdown” and had accused him of lying. “I have got no interest in speaking to someone who’s f****** arrogant, so I do my best not to speak to him,” Coote said. Later in the video, Coote again refers to Klopp, this time as a “German c***”. The Football Association opened its own investigation into that video, understood to be centred on that last comment and whether Coote’s reference to Klopp’s nationality constituted an aggravated breach of its misconduct rules. The investigation by PGMOL which led to Coote’s contract being terminated is also understood to have looked at another video which appeared to show Coote snorting a white powder, purportedly during Euro 2024 where he was one of the assistant VARs for the tournament. European football’s governing body UEFA also appointed an ethics investigator to look into the matter.

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PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The guy on the Philly sports talk radio station had something to say, and he started to vent about the perceived strained relationship between star quarterback Jalen Hurts and standout wide receiver A.J. Brown. Why weren’t these two Pro Bowl Eagles on the same page? Why had their personal and professional relationship changed even with Philadelphia enjoying tremendous success? It was football gossip usually ripe for a hot-take host or fed-up fan to stir up on the air — only in this instance, the temperature check came from inside the locker room. Normally respected team leader Brandon Graham, who is sidelined with a triceps injury, noted in a radio appearance that “ things have changed ” between Hurts and Brown in the wake of a stale passing game in last week’s win over Carolina. An apologetic Graham walked back his comments. Hurts and Brown both insisted their relationship was cool in front of media hordes more appropriate for the Super Bowl. As for the rest of the Eagles, they were ready to squash the so-called controversy. “We are moving on,” offensive lineman and Christmas song crooner Jordan Mailata said. “It is the Pittsburgh Steelers this week. Not the A.J. Brown and Jalen Show. It is the Pittsburgh Steelers. That’s it.” Oh yeah, the Steelers! Lost in the brouhaha ignited in a Philly sports bar is the fact that sitting — and winning — on the western side of Pennsylvania are the Steelers (10-3). Unlike most matchups in series history, this one Sunday at the Linc comes with the tantalizing appeal of a potential Super Bowl preview. The Steelers have won seven of eight, and the Eagles (11-2) have won nine straight and could clinch the NFC East with a win and a Washington loss or tie. It's the first time the teams — among the original eight NFL teams — will play each other when they both have a double-digit win total. Both teams are in strong position for a playoff run — the Eagles led by Saquon Barkley and his pursuit of Eric Dickerson's NFL season rushing record; Russell Wilson and the soft-schedule Steelers atop the AFC North in large part thanks to six wins against teams that currently have losing records. “I do like playing really good people, I think there's growth in it,” Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said. “You've got to get the job done. But man, I think there's significant growth in pitting your collective talents and skills versus big-time opponents and they're certainly that.” Will the drama out of Philly this week affect the Eagles? They certainly don't think so and neither do the oddsmakers — the Eagles are 5 1/2-point favorites, per BetMGM. “What I’ve noticed about this football team is they’re so locked in and determined to get better each day,” Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said. “We don’t really want anyone else talking to us about anything other than the Pittsburgh Steelers.” Good luck with that, Coach. Maybe playing the Steelers on Sunday at home can snap the Eagles out of their offensive malaise. Hurts threw three TD passes to Brown in a 35-13 win in 2022. Barkley watch Barkley leads the NFL in rushing with 1,623 yards, 216 yards ahead of Baltimore’s Derrick Henry. He is averaging 124.8 yards per game. At that pace, and with one more game to play than Dickerson had, he would become the top single-season rusher in NFL history. He needs 483 yards over the final four games to top Dickerson’s 40-year-old record. Barkley is on pace for 2,122 yards, which would put him just 17 yards beyond Dickerson’s 2,105 in 1984. Barkley doesn’t need much of a reminder from his 2020 performance when, while playing for the New York Giants, he ran into a Pittsburgh defense that seemed reminiscent of its famed Steel Curtain. The Steelers held Barkley to 6 yards on 15 carries. Bye, George The Steelers will have to find a way forward against the NFL’s toughest defense without wide receiver George Pickens, who will miss his second straight game with a hamstring injury. Pittsburgh survived last week against Cleveland, with Mike Williams and Scotty Miller — afterthoughts of late — coming off the bench to make an impact. While Tomlin believes “the strength of the pack is the pack,” the reality is the Steelers don’t have anyone who can stretch the field like Pickens, who leads the team in receptions (55) and yards (850) by a wide margin. It’s a challenge, but considering the way Wilson has spread the ball around — eight players caught passes against the Browns — he won’t lack for options. “Everybody in the receiver room has a different skill set, different strengths,” Calvin Austin III said. “The coaching staff knows that and they know how to put us in position to be able to show that.” Playoff preview The cross-state trip to Philadelphia, where the Steelers haven’t won in nearly 60 years, is the start of an 11-day stretch in which Pittsburgh faces three teams likely bound for the playoffs. While Tomlin is leaning into the “nameless, gray faces” mantra he uses for every opponent, his players know facing the Eagles, Ravens and Chiefs in such a short period is a litmus test for what’s to come in January. “That’s why I’m in the league, period,” linebacker Patrick Queen said. “When you sign up to play football, you want to play at the highest level. ... I love to play the game the right way. I think these next few games is going to show that and it starts with the Eagles.” ___ AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl Dan Gelston, The Associated Press