Amazon is raising wages.

The company announced on Tuesday it would raise wages for all employees to $15 an hour, including in its fulfillment centers. Some employees that are already making $15 or more will also see a pay increase.

Amazon raised some wages for warehouse workers in September as part of an annual evaluation, but the new announcement reaches throughout the company nationally and includes all subsidiaries.

The company’s leadership hailed the move as a moral win.

“We listened to our critics, thought hard about what we wanted to do, and decided we want to lead,” CEO Jeff Bezos said in a prepared statement.”We’re excited about this change and encourage our competitors and other large employers to join us.”

Amazon said it will also start lobbying for a federal minimum wage increase to $15 an hour from the current $7.25 an hour.

The e-commerce giant has long described its pay as competitive with other retailers. It often touts its stock options and other benefits as part of its pay practices.

But Amazon has taken numerous hits on its reputation over the past several months.

For example, Sen. Bernie Sanders frequently makes an example of Amazon, pointing to high-profile news stories describing strenuous working conditions and low pay. Tweets from Sanders’ account frequently portray Amazon as the biggest villain of capitalism, and they often mention Bezos, who is the richest man in the world. A theme of Sanders’ tweets is Bezos’ extreme wealth compared with what Amazon’s lowest-paid workers make.

On September 5, Sanders even introduced legislation to the US Senate that would impose a 100% tax on government assistance received by workers at companies with more than 500 employees. For example, if an employee draws $100 from food stamps, that person’s employer would be taxed the same amount.

Amazon fought back against Sanders’ claims, calling them “inaccurate and misleading” in a rare blog post response.

“Amazon is proud to have created over 130,000 new jobs last year alone. In the U.S., the average hourly wage for a full-time associate in our fulfillment centers, including cash, stock, and incentive bonuses, is over $15/hour before overtime,” an Amazon blog post from August reads. “We encourage anyone to compare our pay and benefits to other retailers.”

But now Amazon is trying a different approach: change. Bezos’ admission that Amazon took a look at itself and decided it would change is a major win for Amazon’s critics and employees, but it’s also a win for Amazon itself.

It’s hard to see the wage increase as anything else than a response to critics. Amazon likely already anticipates a federal minimum wage increase to coincide with the minimum wage increases already happening in some blue states. The labor market is also tightening as the US heads into the holiday season, which could naturally inflate wages.

But to make a splashy announcement at all means that Amazon wants customers to know about it, and maybe even feel a bit better about shopping at the retailer instead of at its competitors.

Tenacious D, the self-proclaimed greatest band in the world, are on a mission. The duo of Jack Black and Kyle Gass no longer abides our current political client, and is going to make things right with a new concept album and animated YouTube series — both titled Post-Apocalypto — about a battle to prevent Earth’s destruction. Like previous D efforts, it features Dave Grohl on drums and a lot of penis jokes. Unlike those, it takes on serious topics: Trump’s America, the #MeToo movement, feminism, and racism — all with whimsical puerile humor and kickass rock tunes.

Here’s what Black and Gass had to say about creating their most socially conscious and filthiest opus yet.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: I watched the first three minutes of this cartoon in public and had to turn it off because of the adult illustrations.
JACK BLACK: Yeah, you’ve got to be ready for it. It’s not for kids. It’s spicy. There’s gonna be some nutsacks and different things flying at you. This is for the grownups.

When did the project — the album, the cartoon — come about?
JB: When Trump came down the escalator [to announce his run for presidency]. That’s when we realized we had to abandon the concept that we were working on for our new album. I said, “No, we’re going full-on post-apocalyptic musical comedy, animated.” It was definitely a thing we needed to do right now at this time in, not just American history, the world’s history. We feel like the world needed saving, and that’s what this is, our bid to save the world. We’re just doing our part, man, trying to do what’s right.

You have Elon Musk, Johnny Depp, and Donald Trump Jr. as characters, all individuals that have been in the news within the past few months. How much did you have to change to keep up with what’s going on?
KYLE GASS: Nothing. This is a great example of life imitating art. We did the stuff a year ago, and now it’s coming true.

How did you get Dave Grohl on this project?
JB: We just called him and he said, “Yeah.” We knocked it out in one day.

KG: I always say, “Dave, if you want to kick it around and write some songs, dog, let’s do this. Let’s write some hits.” But so far, he’s never been receptive to it. Maybe it’s the way I’m asking…

JB: Dave’s been a blessing to the D. He’s been on all our records. We just can’t believe he does it. He’s like our guardian angel, but he brings the demonic thunder. He’s our guardian demon.

Were there any musical influences that you guys explored in this?
KG: Nope. None. Next.

JB: The obvious is the great rock operas of old: Tommy by The Who, and Pink Floyd’sThe Wall. We wanted to be mentioned in the same breath as those. There’s others that I’m not gonna mention, ’cause I don’t want to be in the same breath as them.

KG: You forgot to mention Sgt. Pepper’s with the Bee Gees.

JB: No, no, no. See, you’re ruining it, Kyle. My OCD only allows three. The Wall, Tommy and Post-Apocalypto. I think our movie kicks ass on The Wall and Tommy, by the way. The albums are f—ing great, but let’s be honest: both of those movies are pretty s—ty. That’s where we win.

This could be your path to an EGOT.
KG: And we have a Grammy. So, all we need is an EOT.

At what point did you guys decide that this had to be probably the dirtiest thing you’ve done so far, at least on film?
KG: Well, your supposition is that we were attempting to make something really dirty.

JB: Yeah, that’s not the case. We spoke from the heart, but the cocks snuck in.

Do you think the penis jokes will take away from the seriousness of the message?
KG: It separates the critics from the fans.

JB: Also, there’s not really any jokes. There are a lot of dicks, but that’s the weird nightmarish world we live in, where at any moment the real apocalypse could take place, and it would be because our president is so insecure.

In episode two, you meet the powerful, dominant cavewomen. It seems timely.
JB: Well, look. It’s the year of the woman. It may be the decade. It may be the century. It could be the millennium of the woman. That was the inspiration behind that particular episode and that big scene that runs throughout.

In a way, is writing an album like this therapeutic for you as well as a drive to make others happy?
KG: There’s just times in history when the bulls— starts piling so high that if you’re not doing something, to use the cliché, you’re part of the problem. If you’re just standing by watching it burn down…. It’s not patriotic. We’re just doing what we do, and then applying it towards what we believe. That’s America.

And it’s so much more pointed than anything else you’ve done.
KG: Oh, God, yeah. For sure. This definitely felt different.

JB: It’s funny, because this thing that we’re doing is our most mature in that we’ve evolved to this point where we can talk about political things, but it’s also our most immature in that it’s so f—ing adolescent. The sense of humor and the drawings are straight from a 13-year-old’s f—ing penis sketchbook.

The Post-Apocalypto Cartoon Is Available on YouTube, the Album Is Out November 2.

 

Here’s a clip that will instill immense, inexplicable joy within you.

In the short, 18-second clip uploaded by Josh Ballico on Monday, a deer walks out from the woods and climbs through a child’s play-set, and a few seconds of Collins’ original “In the Air Tonight” music video plays at the end. That’s pretty much it — and yet, for some reason this video is so outrageously funny.

The moment the deer tumbles through the play-set is timed perfectly with the song’s dramatic drum fill. And the fact that the deer’s tongue is perpetually stuck out is a gift to us all.

I have literally watched this video four times since my first initial watch, and I’m fairly certain I will be returning to this video throughout the day. It is art. I beckon you all to watch it with me in perpetuity.

Over Akere Muna’s five-decade-long career, he has headed various missions of the African Union and worked as vice president of Transparency International, a civil society organisation against corruption.

Now, he has turned his eye to his homeland, Cameroon, where he hopes to be elected president on October 7.

Eight people are challenging Paul Biya, the current president, so voters will be choosing between nine main parties. A number of small parties and political movements are backing each of the candidates.

Muna is running with the Popular Front for Development party.

The solution is dialogue. And I think that after 60 years of having only Francophones as president, now is time to have an Anglophone president.

Akere Muna on the Anglophone crisis

The bilingual Central African country faces an Anglophone separatist crisis and ongoing fighting.

Octogenarian Biya, who has led the country since 1982, is seeking re-election for a seventh term in office.

Muna’s father, the late Solomon Tandeng Muna, was a former vice president of Cameroon and before that, first prime minister of Western Cameroons.

Akere Muna says he can usher in a brand new Cameroon – “La Nouvelle Republic”.

In an interview with Al Jazeera, he discusses unseating Biya at the October 7 polls and reuniting a nation at war with itself.

Al Jazeera: As Cameroon heads to the polls, it seems deeply fractured.

Akere Muna: It is fractured but I think it is important to identify the cause. How do you make sure the people are the centre of governance? Ours is a country that has not really evolved from the colonial days; we have a regime in which Africans replace colonialists and behave like masters. 

I am tempted to say the problems of most African countries has to do with social justice and the sharing of wealth. For as long as you have a political process in which some of the citizens feel that they are marginalised, you will then have the propensity to divide and that is the feeding ground of politicians: division. Over here, the government has tried to weaponise the Anglophone-Francophone crisis. It is absurd. Basically, a fractured society has to do with uneven distribution of wealth.

Al Jazeera: What will be the most significant thing you would do in your first 100 days in office?

Muna: That’s easy – solving the Anglophone crisis. First, making conditions ideal for the refugees to return [and] getting to rebuilding and reorientation so the displaced can go back home. Then, adding a system that brings back all these fighters by giving them a period to hand in the guns, and integrating them into the army for training. 

It might be necessary to negotiate with a third country for a force to come into those areas for a short while – a force from an Anglophone country or even Asia. They come there, maintain peace and get the locals involved in the process.

Al Jazeera: Would you say there is also be an uneven distribution of power in the Constitution? 

Muna: This is why I think the South African constitution is an amazing constitution because they were writing it to fight against injustice. A constitution which is written by people who are striving to preserve power is written differently. 

The South African constitution was written to reassure the blacks that they are now emancipated. That was the psychology of it. Where I think they got it wrong in trying to maintain this balance of power is their absurd process of electing the president. 

I will scrap the Senate, reformulate and infuse it maybe with an economic and social council that brings the expertise – the architects, and lawyers and engineers.

 

That being said, I think the Cameroonian constitution evolved after colonial days and it was made to accommodate the federal system, which was truncated from the beginning.

Currently, we have a monarchy system that does not call itself that. Everybody in the judicial system is appointed by the president. He can appoint and dismiss when he wants. The national assembly is selected through a process of a list system where parties have lists and the electoral process is controlled by the government.

Then, you have the Senate; the president appoints 30 percent and then, of course, the other 70 percent are elected by electoral college.

I will scrap the Senate, reformulate and infuse it, maybe, with an economic and social council that brings the expertise – the architects, and lawyers and engineers. So, when a law comes to Parliament and you send it to them for their opinion, the drivers of that law in that council will be those who have the expertise to deal with it.

Al Jazeera: You’ve worked at Transparency International. How are you going to tackle corruption in Cameroon?

Muna: Corruption is systemic and distorts governance. Example: South Korea was instructed to install e-procurement systems with the ministry of public tenders, so we have e-procurement systems installed ready to go. For about two to three years now, we haven’t had a single electronic tender. Why? Because people have to steal. In Nigeria, there was a case of a government minister trying to bribe parliament to pass his budget.

Eight years ago, I was talking to an ambassador from a country that sends people to come and vaccinate. They supplemented their number with local nurses and the campaign was for a month, with weekly pay. They discovered that Cameroonian nurses were superbly fast and started tracking. So, they discovered some were breaking and throwing the vaccines away to get more money. They didn’t think about the fact that for every one you throw away, one child is not vaccinated. 

You have to build structures to fight this corruption. You don’t build a structure fighting corruption and turn it to a political tool against your enemies. Zero tolerance is the way to go. If you are in court: my brother, cousin, friend whatever, you will go down.

Al Jazeera: Will you prosecute Paul Biya if you win?

Muna: That is a loaded question. I don’t think that as a believer in separation of powers, it should be up to me to decide whether somebody is prosecuted or not. On the basis of principle, if there were assets identified to be stolen, there are laws for fraud, corruption, everything … but what do we gain from putting an 85-year-old behind bars? It is just spectacle. The future is what is important. 

Al Jazeera: On the Anglophone crisis, what are your thoughts and what is a lasting solution?

Muna: The Anglophones came to this arrangement in good faith and they were all fired up by the spirit of pan-Africanism. 

People like Kwame Nkrumah could not really see how Cameroon should not unite when he was striving towards having a pan-African process.

[Dawda] Jawara of Gambia tried to do a Senegambia, which later on which didn’t work, of course. [Muammar] Gadaffi up north with the Arab Islamic Republic, too. 

So Anglophone Cameroon, in good faith, two territories got together. It slowly eroded into a partnership of a horse and the rider. 

As it stands, 40 percent of the GDP is because of the oil. All the oil facilities are in the Anglophone parts – it cannot be said that that part of the country benefited from the oil and that is something that was grossly mismanaged. 

As we speak, the governors of the North-West and South-West are Francophones, which, in this atmosphere, is crazy. You arrest Anglophones and try them in the military court in Yaounde where they are sentenced in French. It doesn’t make sense. Those who use oppression are under the misconception that might is right. 

The solution is dialogue. And I think that after 60 years of having only Francophones as president, now is time to have an Anglophone president. 

Al Jazeera: So, what are the hopes for a coalition? Will there be one?

Muna: If you want a fight between Africans, just put a title in play. I think a coalition is likely to happen. 

The first one might be me and [other contestants such as] Maurice Kamto or between myself, Serge Matomba and Cabral Libii. 

If I could succeed with Kamto myself, I will be able to work on the other two to join. But if I am able to work on the other track, Kamto would have to succumb to popular pressure. 

The country wants a coalition.

[SDF’s] Joshua Osi’s argument is that he has a mandate to run and not for a coalition. 

Al Jazeera: Concerning the vote itself, there’s questions about the independence of the Directorate General of Elections, which is responsible for organising the election and supervising the electoral board.

Muna: The system is made to favour the president and is tailored to be tweaked to make sure he wins, and the only chance we have to fight against this is the population. 

People assume that those in [the Directorate General of Elections] or other government civil servants are not Cameroonians and that they are absolutely part of government. In the ’92 elections, most of the military camps in Yaounde here voted against Biya. 

Al Jazeera: Will you protest the results if you lose?

Muna: I think we have to make sure we win. If they try to steal this victory, we will protest it. But I think the people will be in the streets before us. In this country, there is war everywhere. Extreme north, there is Boko Haram. In the east, insecurity because of Central African Republic. So, many people are out of work. It is an insult to think people love a system where they are in sheer misery, have no job, and where people are dying. 

President Donald Trump personally directed his attorney and one of his sons to prevent porn star Stormy Daniels from going public with her claim that she’d had a sexual affair with him before he won the presidency, according to a media report Tuesday.

Trump issued the directive to get a legal restraining order via a secret arbitration proceeding against Daniels during a February telephone call with his then-attorney Michael Cohen, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing unidentified people familiar with the events.

The president indicated he would pay for the legal costs involved, saying “I’ll take care of everything,” the report said.

The call allegedly occurred after Trump and Cohen learned that Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, planned to disregard an October 2016 non-disclosure agreement about the reported affair and agree to a media interview about it. Trump has denied having the affair.

Trump also told Cohen to coordinate the legal silencing effort with Eric Trump, one of the president’s sons, as well as an outside lawyer who had represented Trump and his Trump Organization business, the Journal reported.

Eric Trump, who is running the family business with his brother, Donald Trump Jr., then asked a Trump Organization attorney to approve the arbitration paperwork, the report said.

Undercutting earlier denials, the reported episode signals direct involvement by President Donald Trump and Eric Trump in the silencing attempt, as well as the president’s continued involvement in his business during his White House term.

The White House and a spokesperson for Cohen attorney Lanny Davis did not immediately respond to USA TODAY messages seeking comment on the report Tuesday.

However, the Journal reported that Jay Sekulow, a lawyer for President Trump, declined to comment, as did theTrump Organization. Eric Trump acted as the president’s son, not as a company executive, the report said, citing an unidentified person close to the situation.

Michael Avenatti, an attorney representing Daniels, said in a Twitter post that the report  “describes what we have been saying for months, and what Trump and Cohen denied repeatedly.”

Trump has acknowledged reimbursing Cohen for $130,000 in hush money paid to Daniels.

Daniels has filed a lawsuit in California federal court that alleges the non-disclosure effort she agreed to is invalid because Trump never signed it. The case is pending.

Cohen pleaded guilty to federal crimes in August during a court proceeding in which he said he paid hush money to Daniels and another woman  “at the direction of” a candidate running for federal office, a direct reference to Trump. 

Contributing: David Jackson

Follow USA TODAY reporter Kevin McCoy on Twitter: @kmccoynyc

  
 

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At the very edge of our solar system, scientists have discovered a new, extremely distant object billions of miles beyond Pluto.

Even more interesting: The object has an orbit that hints of an even-farther-out “Super-Earth” or larger “Planet X” which could be lurking out there.

The findings were announced Tuesday by the International Astronomical Union’s Minor Planet Center. 

The object was discovered as part of astronomy’s ongoing hunt for unknown dwarf planets and Planet X, aka “Planet Nine,” an as yet undiscovered world that could have a mass about 10 times that of Earth.

According to NASA, “the existence of this distant world is only theoretical at this point and no direct observation of the object nicknamed have been made.”

The new research, led by the Carnegie Institution for Science, is the largest and deepest survey ever conducted for distant solar system objects. “These distant objects are like breadcrumbs leading us to Planet X,” said astronomer Scott Sheppard of the Carnegie Institution, in a statement. 

The object, a 200-mile-wide rock with the rather inelegant name of 2015 TG387, is some 7.9 billion miles from the sun. That’s about two and half times as far away from the sun as Pluto. 

“We think there could be thousands of small bodies like 2015 TG387 out on the solar system’s fringes, but their distance makes finding them very difficult,” said the University of Hawaii’s David Tholen, a member of the research team.

Telescopes in Chile, Hawaii and Arizona were used to discover and confirm the existence of the distant object. 

This isn’t the first discovery this group of researchers has made. Earlier this year, again while searching for Planet X, the team found 12 additional moons of Jupiter. 

More: Astronomers discover 12 more moons orbiting Jupiter, including an ‘oddball’

“What makes this result really interesting is that Planet X seems to affect 2015 TG387 the same way as all the other extremely distant solar system objects,” said researcher Chad Trujillo of Northern Arizona University. “These simulations do not prove that there’s another massive planet in our solar system, but they are further evidence that something big could be out there,” he said.

The findings have been submitted for publication to the Astronomical Journal.

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While Sunday night’s agreement between the US and Canada marked an important step forward for North American trade relations, the newly minted US-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA, also contains a potential shot at China.

President Donald Trump’s obsession with the US-China trade relationship has launched a trade war, with roughly $360 billion worth of goods going between the two countries now subject to tariffs.

Chapter 32 of the new deal addresses the ability of members to enter into a free-trade agreement with a country that has a “non-market economy.” While there are many countries considered “non-market economies,” the most notable member of the list is China.

The USMCA text stipulates that three months before the US, Canada, or Mexico begin trade negotiations with a non-market economy, the other two countries must be notified. Additionally, any formal text of a deal with a non-market economy must be provided to the other members at least 30 days before signed.

The USMCA also contains a poison pill that could stop Canada or Mexico from entering into a deal with China.

“Entry by any Party into a free trade agreement with a non-market country, shall allow the other Parties to terminate this Agreement on six-month notice and replace this Agreement with an agreement as between them (bilateral agreement),” the text reads.

In practice, this could mean that the US could tear up the USMCA if Canada or Mexico makes a deal with China that it does not like. Given the tight links between the three North American economies, maintaining the USMCA would likely take priority over a deal with China.

The Trump administration reaffirmed that the US considers China a “non-market economy” in late 2017.

Late last year, Canada and China publicly flirted with the possibility of launching formal talks to create a bilateral trade deal.

The USMCA could also embolden Trump to take a harder line against the Chinese. Reports indicated that the Trump trade team was spread thin — negotiating NAFTA, a potential agreement with the European Union, and taking on China. By closing a major front in the trade battles, said Ed Mills, a public policy analyst at Raymond James, Trump can hammer China harder.

“President Trump is racking up trade victories, which will embolden him to double down in his trade fight with China,” Mills wrote in a note to clients Monday. “He could use these victories to start building a coalition to join allies in the China trade dispute. We continue to believe the trade fight with China has more risks than the market is anticipating.”

Leslie Knope has many talents, but one of her best is the ability to give the perfect gift.

There’s an innate goodness embedded into the DNA of Parks and Recreation. Maybe that’s why it’s still so hard to let go of our beloved Pawnee, Indiana squad almost four years after the series said goodbye.

Now, with the holiday season officially here, many of us are taking a page from Leslie’s playbook as we ponder how we’ll surprise and delight our loved ones with thoughtful gifts in the coming months. For the Parks and Rec superfan in your life, here’s an idea: Stay on brand.

If you have a loved one who still watches Leslie Knope’s adventures on a regular basis, make their holidays special with one of these Parks and Rec-adjacent gifts.

OK fine, this one’s kind of obvious. Michael Schur is the co-creator of Parks and Rec, but he’s got a lot of other major credits connected to his name, including The Office (U.S. version), Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and The Good Place.

There’s no wrong choice here. All of these shows are better than most of the other things on TV.

Price: Under $20 per season on Amazon

My Parks and Rec-loving wife absolutely adores her City of Pawnee Parks Department tote bag and coffee mug.

The series may have ended years ago, but NBC still sells an impressively large catalog of Parks and Rec merchandise on its website. Hoodies, t-shirts, mugs, glasses, beach towels, smartphone cases… you name it. Not seeing anything on NBC’s website? Try Etsy or Redbubble for fan-created merch.

It may be a little on the nose as a gift, but what fan doesn’t like repping their fandom?

Price: Varies by item in the NBC store

You might not know this, but Ron Swanson’s love for wood and woodworking isn’t just a fictional hobby. It’s also a real-life interest for the actor who plays him, Nick Offerman.

Offerman Woodshop offers a range of products for different levels of interest and price points. There are books and branded souvenir-type items, as well as much more expensive works of wooden art. You can even purchase slabs of different types of wood, to fuel your gift recipient’s burgeoning interest in woodworking.

Price: Varies by item in the Offerman Workshop

While we’re on the subject of Ron Swanson, let’s talk about whiskey. Ron’s a big fan of the stuff. And Lagavulin, a single malt scotch brewed on the island of Islay in Scotland, is his brand of choice.

It’s potent stuff, and definitely not for everyone. Even if you’re getting the gift for an over-21 recipient, make sure they like scotch before picking up a bottle. You can spend hundreds, even thousands, on a good bottle of Lagavulin. But even on the low end (which is still plenty good), you should expect to spend no less than $60.

Price: Varies by vintage on MasterOfMalt.com

Leslie Knope’s love for waffles is legendary. And while we don’t have access to J.J.’s Diner, we can brighten a Parks and Rec fan’s day with a strategically gifted waffle maker.

That’s exactly what Ben and Anne did in a Season 5 episode when they both decided it was time to out-gift Leslie. Follow their example. There are plenty of options to choose from.

Price: Varies on Amazon

Ben Wyatt’s fictional Cones of Dunshire never made the leap into real life, but there are other ways to celebrate the beloved Ice Clown’s nerdy appreciation for tabletop games. Did you know, for example, that Ben is a nationally ranked Settlers of Catan pro?

The game of settling a new land and building up a stockpile of resources isn’t difficult to find, nor is it hard to learn. But anyone hoping to achieve Ben Wyatt levels of Catan mastery needs to have a copy of the game for themselves.

Price: $44.99 on Amazon

Leslie Knope loves her parks. She’s the most devoted to Anne, Ben, and Pawnee (in that order), but her job running Pawnee’s parks department is much more than just a 9-to-5. She cares about creating happy public spaces for the people in her community.

You can help your Parks and Rec-loving friends and family celebrate that love with an America the Beautiful annual pass. The $80 pass gives its owner and up to three guests (16 or older) free access to more than 2,000 federally operated recreation sites (details here), located all across the country.

Price: $80 on the USGS website

Image: Shutterstock / sevenMaps7

This is more of a DIY gift. Jerry Gergich’s love for the small, real-life city of Muncie, Indiana is well known on the show. As he mentions on more than one occasion, it’s his family’s preferred vacation destination.

Since you can’t gift anyone a trip to Pawnee — the city only exists in our hearts, sadly — do the next best thing and gift a trip to Muncie instead. There’s a whole website devoted to Muncie tourism, in fact, with suggestions on where to stay, what to eat, and how to fill your time there.

Price: Varies depending on how you spend your trip

Leslie Knope is an expert quilter and a god-tier scrapbooker. 

Those are skills that can’t be gifted. But you can give your loved one a hearty push in the right direction by funding their shopping spree at any local crafts store. They don’t even have to buy yarn/knitting needles or scrapbooking supplies (though Leslie would probably feel betrayed by that decision). 

Price: Pick your own price via Michael’s

Lil’ Sebastian is adorable and all, but this is no impulse gift. The up front cost of buying a miniature horse is multiple thousands of dollars on the low end. Then, it’s hundreds more each month — for 20 to 30 years, most likely — to keep the animal stabled, fed, and trained. (Start looking here.)

On the flip side, all that money does pay for a miniature horse. Which is like a normal-ass large horse, but tiny. That said, you’ll still probably want to confer with your friend or loved one — spoil the surprise, as it were — before you consider such an expensive and commitment-heavy gift.

Price: A lot

The toll from an earthquake and tsunami in Indonesia has soared to more than 1,234 with authorities fearing it will only climb as rescuers struggle to reach outlying communities cut off from communications and help.

Dozens of people were reported to be trapped in the rubble of two hotels and a mall in the city of Palu, which was hit by waves as high as six meters (20 feet) following the magnitude 7.5 earthquake on Friday.

A young woman was pulled alive from the rubble of the city’s Roa Roa Hotel, where up to 60 people were believed trapped. Hundreds of people gathered at the wrecked mall searching for loved ones.

With most of the confirmed deaths from Palu, authorities are bracing for much worse as reports filter in from outlying areas, in particular, Donggala, a region of 300,000 people north of Palu and closer to the epicentre of the quake, and two other districts.

Vice President Jusuf Kalla said the toll could rise into the thousands.