links.lmorchard.com

February 2012

555 bookmarks saved in February 2012

Home-Brew and the DIY innovation movement. - Slate Magazine

http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2012/02/home_brew_and_the_diy_innovation_movement_.single.html
We can learn several crucial lessons from this diverse, creative group, and that understanding will allow us to encourage innovation. For some, the main impetus for DIY is that it provides an outlet from their daily grind: Many employees suffer the life of the cubicle-bound "knowledge worker." In his best-selling Shop Class As Soulcraft, Matthew Crawford argues that the elimination of industrial arts and home economics classes from public school curricula has left us dependent on machines that we don’t understand and frustrated by the outsourcing and off-shoring of production. We also derive little satisfaction from what we “produce” at work. We’ve become a nation of shoppers and consumers. DIY is a way to engage the physical things around us and create durable (and drinkable) objects. Based on informal conversations with other DIYers, some of these motivations include self-reliance, community-building, autonomy, independence from monopolies, an alternative to rampant consumerism, innate curiosity, and the desire to make something cool.
#beer #diy #homebrewing #imported:pinboard #makers #to:fb
archive.org #21009

Sinéad O'Connor: A Mea Culpa < PopMatters

http://www.popmatters.com/pm/column/154983-sinead-oconnor
It’s time to apologize to Sinéad O’Connor. Remember her? Ripped up a picture of the Pope on Saturday Night Live before adding, “Fight the real enemy” to protest child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church and the complicity of the church hierarchy? Already a platinum record and a number one single to her name, Sinéad’s career was never the same again.
#abuse #imported:pinboard #music #religion #sineadoconnor #to:fb
archive.org #20991

The fake chemical compound Isaac Asimov invented to punk science writers

http://io9.com/5887014/the-fake-chemical-compound-isaac-asimov-invented-to-punk-science-writers
the only way for the compound to be more soluble than it already was would be if it dissolved before it came in contact with the water. He decided this would be a good basis for another short story, and then realized this represented the perfect way to deal with his concerns about scientific writing
#azimov #chemistry #imported:pinboard #science #scifi #thiotimoline #writing
archive.org #20981

Thorium reactors a silver bullet for our looming energy crisis? | Geek.com

http://www.geek.com/articles/geek-cetera/thorium-reactors-a-silver-bullet-for-our-looming-energy-crisis-20120226/
Is thorium the silver-bullet that we have been looking for to solve the energy crisis? We don’t know yet, but the research has certainly been promising. Scientists have shown how a small amount of thorium could power an automobile for its entire lifespan, hopefully it can be scaled for the world’s power grids.
#energy #imported:pinboard #nuclear #thorium
archive.org #33160

Thorium reactors a silver bullet for our looming energy crisis? | Geek.com

http://www.geek.com/articles/geek-cetera/thorium-reactors-a-silver-bullet-for-our-looming-energy-crisis-20120226
Is thorium the silver-bullet that we have been looking for to solve the energy crisis? We don’t know yet, but the research has certainly been promising. Scientists have shown how a small amount of thorium could power an automobile for its entire lifespan, hopefully it can be scaled for the world’s power grids.
#energy #nuclear #thorium
archive.org #20978

memeorandum: TPM2012  —  Flashback: In 2006, Rick Santorum Wanted To Send All Pennsylvanians To College (Evan McMorris-Santoro/2012.talkingp …)

http://www.memeorandum.com/120226/p3#a120226p3
Evan McMorris-Santoro / 2012.talkingpointsmemo.com:TPM2012  —  Flashback: In 2006, Rick Santorum Wanted To Send All Pennsylvanians To College  —  TROY, MICHIGAN — At an Americans For Prosperity-sponsored tea party rally here Saturday, Rick Santorum trumpeted his connections to the working class by attacking President Obama's plan to make college more accessible to Americans.
#imported:pinboard #needs-tags #shared #ttrss
archive.org #20971

Haters gonna HATEOAS — Timeless

http://timelessrepo.com/haters-gonna-hateoas
Now, when I said ‘nobody’ does this, what I meant was ‘for APIs.’ This is exactly how the Web works. Think about it. You start off on the homepage. That’s the only URL you have to know. From there, a bunch of links point you towards each state that you can reach from there. People would consider it ludicrous if they had to remember a dozen URLs to navigate a website, so why do we expect the consumers of our APIs to do so as well?
#hateos #http #imported:pinboard #rest #webdev
archive.org #20970

Flashback: In 2006, Rick Santorum Wanted To Send All Pennsylvanians To College | TPM2012

http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/02/flashback-in-2006-rick-santorum-wanted-to-send-all-paians-to-college.php
But the last time Santorum ran for public office — his ill-fated 2006 Senate reelection campaign — he was right there with Obama, running on his promise to make college more accessible to all Pennsylvanians.
#college #education #imported:pinboard #santorum #to:fb
archive.org #20969

LOLDWELL.com - I Scream, You Drink

http://loldwell.com/?p=2011
One time I went to a burger place that served something called a “beer float.” You got two scoops of ice cream in a big frosty mug of beer. It is the best thing I have ever put in my mouth. In hairier news, I put together a list of the different types of stubble. Which one are you? I’m gonna pour beer in an ice cream cone, Caldy
#imported:pinboard #needs-tags #shared #ttrss
archive.org #20968

Concept Art Writing Prompt: Creepy little girl goes fishing for monsters

http://io9.com/5888243/concept-art-writing-prompt-creepy-little-girl-goes-fishing-for-monsters
Mysterious creatures lurk beneath the waters of this week's concept art writing prompt. As always, we ask that you come up with a flash fiction story inspired by this painting and post it in the comments. So is this girl about to get eaten? Or is she doing the eating?
#imported:pinboard #needs-tags #shared #ttrss
archive.org #20960

5 Life Lessons You Only Learn Through Quitting Smoking | Cracked.com

http://www.cracked.com/blog/5-life-lessons-you-only-learn-through-quitting-smoking
One year ago, almost to the day, I quit smoking. Three months after that, I started back up. As I type these words, nine months after that, I'm trying again, wrapping up my first full day of quitting. And, like last time, it is all I can do to stop myself from punching everyone in their softest body parts.
#googlereader #ifttt #imported:raindrop
archive.org #20957

Nothing To Do With Arbroath: Cat saved new owner's life hours after being adopted

http://arbroath.blogspot.com/2012/02/cat-saved-new-owners-life-hours-after.html
A Sturgeon Bay woman has a lot to be thankful for after her newly adopted cat woke her from an insulin reaction just hours after bringing him home. Amy Jung and her son, Ethan Jung, originally went to the Door County Humane Society on Feb. 8 to play with the cats, not to bring one home. Then Jung, 36, saw Pudding lying on a counter. She made a quick decision to adopt Pudding and his pal Wimsy. When the Jungs arrived home, the 21-pound, orange-and-white Pudding made himself right at home, acting as if he had always been there. "He just really took right over. Really second nature," she said. At around 9:30 p.m., she went to bed and about 1½ hours later, the prodigious kitty came to her rescue. Jung, who was diagnosed with diabetes at the age of 4, started to have a seizure. According to Jung, Pudding planted his weight on her chest and, when he could not wake her, began swatting her face and biting her nose. "Anything he could to pull me out of it (the seizure)," she said. It worked. She woke up and the convulsions stopped long enough for her to call to her son for help. When Ethan did not respond to the calls, the cat ran to his room and jumped on his bed. Ethan later told her that he didn't know anything was wrong until the giant cat landing on the bed woke him up. Jung is convinced that she would not have survived the night if Pudding had not intervened. "If something or someone hadn't pulled me out of that, I wouldn't be here," she said. The next day she spoke with her doctor about her seizure and her cat's unusual actions. The doctor told her he had heard of animals alerting their owners to a health crisis but had never known anyone who had experienced it. "Realistically you can't be without him," he told her. Jung is registering Pudding as a therapy animal. Pudding will also sit at her feet and meow when her blood sugar is low, she said.
#imported:pinboard #needs-tags #shared #ttrss
archive.org #20953

Forking the code: how GitHub is changing software development | The Verge

http://www.theverge.com/2012/2/24/2820869/forking-the-code-how-github-is-changing-software-development
The web-based software hosting service GitHub is everywhere lately, hosting over 2 million source code repositories being visited by 1.3 million users. Wired has a great look at the origins of the company — and the service itself — starting with the very beginnings of the Linus Torvalds-created Git version control software in 2005. What GitHub has excelled in doing is providing access and opportunity to programmers from around the world, giving them the chance to tinker with code that they may not have otherwise had the chance to touch, and then share their changes with a broad community of participants. It's a marked shift from the way software development had often been approached, with only a select few given permission to commit... Continue reading…
#imported:pinboard #needs-tags #shared #ttrss
archive.org #20948

Maru, internet-famous cat, goes to the 2012 Oscars - Boing Boing

http://boingboing.net/2012/02/24/maru-internet-famous-cat-goe.html
Everyone's favorite internet cat goes to the Academy Awards. Well, in poster form. You can't buy the posters, or the cat, but you can buy the book. More about the legend in this previous Boing Boing post. (Cheezburger via Swintons via Bricorama via @antderosa) Everyone's favorite internet cat goes to the Academy Awards. Well, in poster form. You can't buy the posters, or the cat, but you can buy the book. More about the…
#imported:raindrop #needs-tags #shared #ttrss
archive.org #20947

The Miura-ori and how to fold it

http://wheatpond.com/2012/02/22/miuraori.html
The Miura-ori is a method for folding up a sheet such that it can be opened or closed in one smooth motion. A Miura sheet has only one degree of freedom, and can be thought of as having only two states: fully open, or fully closed. Since reversing one fold in the sheet (that is, making a “mountain” into a “valley”) requires reversing all of the adjacent folds as well, the Miura sheet feels as though it has a memory, and is very resistant to deformation.
#folding #imported:pinboard #maps #nifty #origami #paper
archive.org #20946

Someone Made a Lame Dick Joke on Paul Rudd's Wikipedia Page

http://gawker.com/5888165/someone-made-a-lame-dick-joke-on-paul-rudds-wikipedia-page
The photo agency Pacific Coast News just breathlessly emailed us to say they had exclusive screenshots of Paul Rudd's "hacked" Wikipedia page, above. First of all, vandalizing someone's Wikipedia page is not hacking. Just because it happened on the internet doesn't make it hacking. Second of all: "Enjoys sucking penis?" It's "sucking dick," you miserable non-hacking, uncreative 14-year-old. More »
#imported:pinboard #needs-tags #shared #ttrss
archive.org #20945

Free Geek Vancouver Volunteer Blog: Dymaxion Auto-Matic Buckminster Fuller

http://freegeekvancouver.blogspot.com/2012/02/dymaxion-auto-matic-buckminster-fuller.html
Presenting the Dymaxion Auto-Matic Buckminster Fuller. It's a retro-futuristic black and white screen mounted into a 1950s (or so) radio chassis, which generates and displays text that American luminary R. Buckminster Fuller might have said if he were a piece of software.
#arduino #diy #dymaxion #hacks #imported:pinboard #nifty
archive.org #20937

Rough Type: Nicholas Carr's Blog: Why publishers should give away ebooks

http://www.roughtype.com/archives/2012/01/why_publishers.php
So why give away the bits? Well, traditional book publishers have three big imperatives today: (1) protect print sales for as long as possible (in order to fund a longer-term transition to a workable new business model); (2) help keep physical bookstores in business (for the reasons set out in this article by Julie Bosman); and (3) do anything possible to curb the power of Amazon.com, the publishers' arch-frenemy.
#copyfight #ebooks #imported:pinboard #publishers
archive.org #20928

Lisp REPL in Vendetta Online

http://www.a1k0n.net/2005/11/04/lisp-repl-vendetta-online.html
Vendetta Online has a Lisp environment (using SBCL) which controls much of its NPC behavior and will soon be in charge of generating player and NPC missions. Partly in order to get around some thread-safety issues, and partly for convenience we built an REPL into a secret chat channel. (it only responds to developer accounts)
#imported:pinboard #lisp #programming #repl #vendettaonline
archive.org #20927

Nothing To Do With Arbroath: Teenager admits punching chicken

http://arbroath.blogspot.com/2012/02/teenager-admits-punching-chicken.html
A Portishead teenager punched a chicken after stealing it from a family home, a court was told. He appeared before magistrates at North Somerset Courthouse after leaving a family devastated by the ‘sorry tale’ of abuse. The youth admitted one charge of theft and two animal cruelty charges relating to not ensuring Crombie the chicken was properly looked after and for hurting the animal when he appeared. Two other teenagers also admitted failing to look after the animal’s welfare and playing their part in the theft.
#imported:pinboard #needs-tags #shared #ttrss
archive.org #20913

Why Comcast's New Streaming Service Won't Deter Cord Cutters

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/why_comcasts_new_streaming_service_wont_deter_cord.php
Cable companies know the threat that lies ahead of them. The percentage of consumers who "cut the cord" and cancel their cable subscriptions isn't a huge one, but it's growing. Meanwhile, a new generation of TV watchers is growing accustomed to watching shows online, even if it's the next day or they're catching up on a series months after the fact on Netflix. That contingent of "cord never getters" is what's really going to eat away at big cable's business model over time. To preempt the threat, companies like Comcast have been moving aggressively in the digital space. From testing out streaming live TV on the Web to developing tablet apps that make a subscription more compelling, big cable is wasting no time repositioning itself for the future. Sponsor The latest weapon in Comcast's arsenal is Streampix, a streaming service that digs deep into the archives of popular television shows and makes episodes available across multiple devices. It's being framed as the company's answer to Netflix and Hulu. At $4.99 a month, Streampix is priced competitively against Netflix and Hulu and it even narrowly beats the monthly cost of an Amazon Prime membership, which comes with a growing library of streaming video content. The thing about Streampix, however, is that it's being bundled with Comcast's traditional cable subscription packages. So it's cheaper than the online-only streaming services only if one overlooks the ever-rising cost of a proper cable subscription, something consumers often cite as a reason they cut the cord. Initiatives like StreamPix and Xfinity TV Everywhere may make cable packages more convenient and appealing to consumers, but they don't make them cheaper or eliminate the customer service gripes or all-or-nothing content selection that annoys some consumers. Cable's disruption at the hands of Web-only streaming services is real, but it's moving very slowly. Not only are viewers turning more to the Web, but statistics show that they're going back to broadcast as well, buying up antennas to pull in HD terrestrial broadcast signals to supplement Web-based content. At the end of the day, cable companies are trying to preserve their traditional business model while building up a new one. It's a cautious, sensible move for a company that makes so much money through a legacy model, but it's not always an approach that works flawlessly. Just ask newspapers. That isn't to say that the Web and mobile streaming offerings offered by Comcast and their competitors couldn't one day be spun off into stand alone services and offered to consumers at a cheaper rate. But in the meantime, the risk of cannibalizing what brings in most of their revenue isn't one they're willing to take. Discuss Cable companies know the threat that lies ahead of them. The percentage of consumers who "cut the cord" and cancel their cable subscriptions isn't a huge one, but it's growing. Meanwhile, a new generation of TV watchers is growing accustomed to watching shows online, even if it's the next day or they're catching up on a series months after the fact…
#imported:raindrop #needs-tags #shared #ttrss
archive.org #20906

Mozilla is Placing Itself in Position to be the King of the Mobile Web

http://www.readwriteweb.com/mobile/2012/02/mozilla-is-placing-itself-in-p.php
HTML5 Web apps are going to become a definitive section of the mobile ecosystem in 2012. The difference between the mobile Web and its native counterparts is that there is no one company seen as the de facto leader of the movement. Apple leads iOS, Google touts Android, Microsoft and Nokia push Windows Phone. The mobile Web? Lots of players, no clear leader.
#imported:pinboard #needs-tags #shared #ttrss
archive.org #20903

You can put a gun rack in a Volt | MetaFilter

http://www.metafilter.com/113062/You-can-put-a-gun-rack-in-a-Volt
Newt Gingrich said in a political campaign speech that one could not put a gun rack in a Chevy Volt, speaking against President Obama's to raise subsidies for electric cars. One Georgia engineer took that challenge to heart and showed that you can put a gunrack in a Volt, showing that even in the Deep South, there are innovative, forward thinking people (who like to hunt).
#imported:pinboard #needs-tags #shared #ttrss
archive.org #20902

Fuzzy bunnies, big-eyed girls, meat, magic, and mystery - Boing Boing

http://boingboing.net/2012/02/22/fuzzy-bunnies-big-eyed-girls.html
If you couldn't afford to pay $6000 for the "art edition" of Mark Ryden's book Pinxit (it's sold out anyway), Taschen has thoughtfully introduced a popular-priced edition of the 366-page book, for $1000. Many books have been published on Mark Ryden before, but none like this large-format monograph, released in a boxed Collector’s Edition of 1,000 numbered copies, each signed by the artist; and also available in an Art Edition of only 50 copies, which come with an artwork. This sweeping retrospective brings together nearly two decade’s worth of Mark Ryden’s paintings and works on paper, broadening the horizons of his uncanny universe and bringing it to the world, one big page at a time. Collector's Edition – No. 51–1,050 Limited to 1,000 individually numbered copies, each signed by Mark Ryden Printed on archival-quality paper Quarter-bound book with leather spine Front cover features gold-relief embossing crafted by the master printers at Pressure Printing Comes in a clamshell box covered in cloth fabric Also available in an Art Edition of 50 copies with a silk screen print Pinxit If you couldn't afford to pay $(removed) for the "art edition" of Mark Ryden's book Pinxit (it's sold out anyway), Taschen has thoughtfully introduced a popular-priced edition of the 366-page…
#imported:raindrop #needs-tags #shared #ttrss
archive.org #20898

DIY "Internet of Things" printer - Boing Boing

http://boingboing.net/2012/02/22/diy-internet-of-things-pri.html
AdaFruit has released a set of plans for building your own Internet of Things Printer. It's a weekend project that ends up with a homebrew analog of BERG's Little Printer. They also have a kit for sale. Build an "Internet of Things" connected mini printer that will do your bidding! This is a fun weekend project that comes with a beautiful laser cut case. Once assembled, the little printer connects to Ethernet to get Internet data for printing onto 2 1/4" wide receipt paper. The example sketch we've written will connect to Twitter's search API and retrieve and print tweets according to your requests: you can have it print out tweets from a person, a hashtag, mentioning a word, etc! Once you've gotten that working, you can of course easily adapt our sketch to customize the printer. AdaFruit has released a set of plans for building your own Internet of Things Printer. It's a weekend project that ends up with a homebrew analog of BERG's Little Printer.…
#imported:raindrop #needs-tags #shared #ttrss
archive.org #20897

Accordion-patterned accordion file from GAMAGO - Boing Boing

http://boingboing.net/2012/02/15/accordion-patterned-accordion.html
Just this morning, I was thinking that I needed an accordion file to slip into my laptop bag. The GAMAGO gods heard my prayers and responded this afternoon with a handsome Accordion File that certainly beats manila. It is $10. GAMAGO's Accordion File Just this morning, I was thinking that I needed an accordion file to slip into my laptop bag. The GAMAGO gods heard my prayers and responded this afternoon with a…
#imported:raindrop #needs-tags #shared #ttrss
archive.org #20896

Mike D for Net Neutrality - Boing Boing

http://boingboing.net/2012/02/15/mike-d-for-net-neutrality.html
The Beastie Boys' Michael "Mike D" Diamond is part of an AT&T investor group seeking to put a net neutrality question on the shareholder ballot: "The shareholder resolution would recommend each company 'publicly commit to operate its wireless broadband network consistent with network neutrality principles,' the letter said. The companies should not discriminate based on the “source, ownership or destination” of data sent over their wireless infrastructure." (via Consumerist) The Beastie Boys' Michael "Mike D" Diamond is part of an AT&T investor group seeking to put a net neutrality question on the shareholder ballot: "The shareholder resolution would recommend…
#imported:raindrop #needs-tags #shared #ttrss
archive.org #20895

EFF Wins Protection for Time Zone Database | Electronic Frontier Foundation

https://www.eff.org/press/releases/eff-wins-protection-time-zone-database
In a statement, Astrolabe said, "Astrolabe's lawsuit against Mr. Olson and Mr. Eggert was based on a flawed understanding of the law. We now recognize that historical facts are no one's property and, accordingly, are withdrawing our Complaint. We deeply regret the disruption that our lawsuit caused for the volunteers who maintain the TZ database, and for Internet users."
#astrolabe #copyfight #eff #imported:pinboard #tzinfo
archive.org #20893

Rush is a Band Blog: Author Kevin J. Anderson to write novelization of Rush's upcoming Clockwork Angels album

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/rushisaband/blog/~3/lDoq62UeR8w/Author-Kevin-J.-Anderson-to-write-novelization-of-Rushs-upcoming-Clockwork-Angels-album
Sci-fi author Kevin J. Anderson is a huge Rush fan and has drawn inspiration from Rush for a number of his writings. His 1988 Rush-inspired novel Ressurection, Inc. drew the attention of Neil Peart and the 2 have been friends ever since, even collaborating on the 1994 short story Drumbeats. Neil also wrote the introduction to Anderson's 2006 short story compilation Landscapes. Anderson just announced via his Facebook page the incredibly awesome news that he will be writing a novelization of Rush's upcoming Clockwork Angels album! ...
#imported:pinboard #needs-tags #shared #ttrss
archive.org #20890

Cosmic Log - How monkeys handle moral outrage

http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/02/20/10459741-how-monkeys-handle-moral-outrage
When Occupy Wall Street and similar protests played out over the past year, the phenomenon looked familiar to Emory University primatologist Frans de Waal: He's seen similar moral outrage over economic inequity expressed by monkeys and chimps. And he thinks we could learn a lesson or two from our fellow primates.
#evolution #imported:pinboard #morality #philosophy #primates #religion #science
archive.org #20889

The “Official” Ready Player One Soundtrack Mix Tape | Ernie's Blog

http://www.ernestcline.com/blog/2011/09/21/the-official-ready-player-one-soundtrack/
Many people have been clamoring for me to post an “official” Ready Player One soundtrack. I hate to be the cause of any sort of clamoring, so I compiled this list of nearly every song mentioned or referenced in the book, in roughly the order they appear. If you haven’t finished reading the book yet, here there be spoilers.
#imported:pinboard #music #nifty #playlist #readyplayerone #scifi
archive.org #33179

The “Official” Ready Player One Soundtrack Mix Tape | Ernie's Blog

http://www.ernestcline.com/blog/2011/09/21/the-official-ready-player-one-soundtrack
Many people have been clamoring for me to post an “official” Ready Player One soundtrack. I hate to be the cause of any sort of clamoring, so I compiled this list of nearly every song mentioned or referenced in the book, in roughly the order they appear. If you haven’t finished reading the book yet, here there be spoilers.
#music #nifty #playlist #readyplayerone #scifi
archive.org #20888

I'm on a boat: This isn't a book; it's a time machine - WWdN: In Exile

http://wilwheaton.typepad.com/wwdnbackup/2012/02/im-on-a-boat-this-isnt-a-book-its-a-time-machine.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wwdn+%28WIL+WHEATON+dot+NET%3A+in+Exile%29
I’m on JoCoCruiseCrazy 2, and I’m taking an Internet vacation until I get home. So every day while I’m gone, something from my archives will post here automatically, for your entertainment. I had a lot of fun picking these different things out, and I hope you enjoy them again, or for the first time. This isn't a book; it's a time machine. Originally published March 2009. This is where it all began for me: the D&D Basic Rules Set. When I opened this book in 1983, I had no idea that it would change my life. Back then, if you told 11 year-old me that I'd be 36 and wiping tears from my face because reading it brought back so many joyful memories, he would have called you one of the names the cool kids called him for playing it. (Don't judge him too harshly; he's only 11.) My original D&D Basic set was a garage sale casualty, but the book in this picture is a first printing that I bought at a game store about ten years ago. It's perfect in every way, except for a missing character sheet in the middle, which I printed from the PDF copy I bought from Paizo last year. The Keep on the Borderlands module beneath it belonged to someone named Randy Richards, who wrote his name and phone number (as we so often did in those days) on the cover. I don't know who Randy Richards is, if he cares, or if he'll even read this, but if he does, I want him to know: your book is in very good hands, Randy, and its current owner loves it as much as anyone could. I've been on a real D&D kick lately (blame the Penny Arcade podcast, and how much I love 4e) but I hadn't actually gone back to the beginning and read the Basic Rules for a very, very long time. So late last night, after my family went to sleep, instead of watching TV or reading blogs, I went to my bookshelf and grabbed the Player's Manual you see in this picture. I read it cover-to-cover for the first time in over 20 years, and played the solo adventure, which was the very first dungeon I ever visited. I named my fighter Thorin, just like I did when I was a kid. I made a map on graph paper, rolled dice on the floor, and felt pure joy wash over me. I scared off a Giant Rat and killed the remaining two before I failed – like I did when I was 11 – to solve the riddle of O-T-T-F-F-S-S, losing all my treasure. I tried to talk to the Goblins ... before I killed them and took their treasure: 100 sp and 50 gp. I battled the Rust Monster, who was just as tough and unreasonable an opponent for a first level fighter as I remember. Thorin eventually managed to defeat it with some ... creative ... trips back to town to replace his armor and weapons, just like he did a quarter century ago. Luckily for him, the Rust Monster didn't heal between battles ... just like the last time he faced it. I decided to leave the skeletons for another time, and walked back to town with my 650 gp and 100 sp. When I calculated my XP, I had earned 1084 ... not too shabby. I closed up my book, and went to sleep happy. When I was a kid, the D&D Basic Rules Set was never just a game to me; it was my portal into a magical, wonderful world that I still love. Now that I'm an adult, it isn't just a couple of books to me; it's a time machine. The world I live in is filled with uncertainty and occasionally-overwhelming responsibility, but for an hour or so last night, I was 11 years-old again, and I went back to a world where the biggest problem I faced was trying to save up for a Millennium Falcon. When I read "You decide to attack the goblins before they can get help..." I could hear my Aunt Val tell me “That’s a game that I hear lots of kids like to play, Willow. It’s dragons and wizards and those things you liked from The Hobbit. The back says you use your imagination, and I know what a great imagination you have.” I could feel the weight of my Red Box, which I carried with me pretty much everywhere I went, and how huge the thing felt in my tiny arms. I could feel it get heavier as I added modules and characters, and my own dungeons, drawn on graph paper. I could hear the snap of the thick green rubber band I eventually had to wrap around it, and I could see the yellowing scotch tape I added to the corners. I enjoyed it so much, I'm going to reread the Dungeon Master's Rulebook next, and run the Group Game adventure it contains, "for use by a beginning Dungeon Master." Then, it's time to go back to the Keep on the Borderlands, using just the Basic Rules, where Magic-users can't wear armor, Fighters have 8 HP, Dwarf and Elf are classes, and everyone dies at least once before finally taking a character to second level, because that's where it all started for me, and sometimes you just have to go back to your roots.
#imported:pinboard #needs-tags #shared #ttrss
archive.org #33187

What have you tried? - Matt Gemmell

http://mattgemmell.com/2008/12/08/what-have-you-tried/
The problem is that this person’s problem-solving technique is to ask for the solution. Not to seek advice on how to approach the task, or ask for the names of likely classes to look into, or a link to an example - but to just ask for the code, fully formed and ready to go. This is not problem solving, and software engineering is entirely about problem solving.
#development #imported:pinboard #problems #programming #software
archive.org #33188

What have you tried? - Matt Gemmell

http://mattgemmell.com/2008/12/08/what-have-you-tried
The problem is that this person’s problem-solving technique is to ask for the solution. Not to seek advice on how to approach the task, or ask for the names of likely classes to look into, or a link to an example - but to just ask for the code, fully formed and ready to go. This is not problem solving, and software engineering is entirely about problem solving.
#development #problems #programming #software
archive.org #20869

Google rolling out the AR glasses from Vernor Vinge's novel Rainbows End

http://io9.com/5887132/google-rolling-out-the-ar-glasses-from-vernor-vinges-novel-rainbows-end
In Vernor Vinge's novel Rainbows End, the author imagines a near future where everybody wears computers knitted into their clothing, which are connected to augmented reality contact lenses or glasses. Everybody looks at the world through a layer of data, whether that's just social information about the people they're talking to, or a full-blown MMO overlay that turns their college campus into a medieval village. People use these AR goggles to do everything from research to gaming; Vinge imagines AR as a technology that can pull the web into the real world. Now, Google is going to do exactly what Vinge predicted. Over at the New York Times, Nick Bilton reports on a Google X project that could put AR glasses on your face in less than a year, for roughly the cost of a smart phone. Bilton writes: The glasses will have a low-resolution built-in camera that will be able to monitor the world in real time and overlay information about locations, surrounding buildings and friends who might be nearby, according to the Google employees. The glasses are not designed to be worn constantly - although Google expects some of the nerdiest users will wear them a lot - but will be more like smartphones, used when needed. Internally, the Google X team has been actively discussing the privacy implications of the glasses and the company wants to ensure that people know if they are being recorded by someone wearing a pair of glasses with a built-in camera. The project is currently being built in the Google X offices, a secretive laboratory near Google's main campus that is charged with working on robots, space elevators and dozens of other futuristic projects. Wait — Google is building a space elevator too? I hope it's going to be something I can see even when I take my AR goggles off. Read more at the New York Times. Image via Bruce Branit's fascinating short film about a guy using AR contacts to build a holographic world.
#imported:pinboard #needs-tags #shared #ttrss
archive.org #20865

Escapes.js

http://256.io/escapes.js/
escapes.js is a small JavaScript library for rendering ANSI art, a form of computer art that flourished in the mid 90s. ANSI art was composed by colorizing sequences of characters and blocks drawn in the built-in system font, which made it easy to transmit across telephone wires. As a result, ANSI art was especially popular on Bulletin Board Systems (BBSes).
#ansi #art #imported:pinboard #javascript #oldschool #to:fb #webdev
archive.org #33191

Escapes.js

http://256.io/escapes.js
escapes.js is a small JavaScript library for rendering ANSI art, a form of computer art that flourished in the mid 90s. ANSI art was composed by colorizing sequences of characters and blocks drawn in the built-in system font, which made it easy to transmit across telephone wires. As a result, ANSI art was especially popular on Bulletin Board Systems (BBSes).
#ansi #art #javascript #oldschool #to:fb #webdev
archive.org #20864

It’s About Time: “Community” Returns To NBC March 15th « Nerdist

http://www.nerdist.com/2012/02/its-about-time-community-returns-to-nbc-march-15th/
Troy’s tears are for joy this time. Yes, Community will be coming back on March 15th at 8/7c on NBC. That’s good news. Parks and Recreation will take five weeks off to allow the network to shuffle the lineup and make room. That’s… less good. But at least we’ll get the rest of Season 3 of Community. #threemoreseasonsandamovie?
#imported:pinboard #needs-tags #shared #ttrss
archive.org #33195

It’s About Time: “Community” Returns To NBC March 15th « Nerdist

http://www.nerdist.com/2012/02/its-about-time-community-returns-to-nbc-march-15th
Troy’s tears are for joy this time. Yes, Community will be coming back on March 15th at 8/7c on NBC. That’s good news. Parks and Recreation will take five weeks off to allow the network to shuffle the lineup and make room. That’s… less good. But at least we’ll get the rest of Season 3 of Community. #threemoreseasonsandamovie?
#needs-tags #shared #ttrss
archive.org #20859

Cuttlefish have a visual superpower - they see the world in polarized light

http://io9.com/5886954/cuttlefish-are-the-first-known-species-to-see-the-world-in-polarized-light
Cuttlefish are among the most remarkable of cephalopods, but nobody expected the creatures to have this particular trick up their sleeve. Cuttlefish can actually see information in the angle of intense polarized light that we can barely comprehend. We're generally most familiar with this particular concept from polarized sunglasses. The idea is that light that was otherwise scattered in all directions is reflected off a surface so that the light is oriented in one direction, creating a massive, intense glare. Polarized sunglasses are used to counter this effect and block out most of the reflected light. And, as far as we humans are concerned, that's pretty much the end of it. Polarized light creates glare when we're dealing with large, flat surfaces - anything from a body of water to a long stretch of highway - and we can use special sunglasses to block out the worst of this intense light. But cuttlefish, those marvelous mollusks, can do something far more remarkable. They can actually see the angle at which the light is reflected and polarized, and even the subtlest change will activate their color-changing defense mechanism, as researchers at the University of Bristol and University of Queensland recently discovered. Bristol lead researcher Dr. Shelby Temple explains how they made the discovery: "We modified LCD computer monitors to show changes in polarization instead of changes in colour, and then played videos of approaching objects and watched for changes in skin colour patterns to determine if the cuttlefish could see small changes in polarization contrast. Cuttlefish change colour all the time and respond to the slightest movement so they are an excellent model. Cuttlefish were much more sensitive than we expected. It was previously thought that polarization sensitivity was limited to about 10-20 degree differences, but we found that cuttlefish could respond to differences as small as one degree." We knew that cuttlefish, along with their cephalopod cousins the octopus and squid, could see polarized light in this way, but we had no idea they could see this well. Of course, when you've got an eye as weird as the one up top, maybe it isn't so hard to believe that they see the world like no other species. Because the idea of seeing the angle of polarization is so alien to us, the researchers are still grappling with all the hidden visual information cuttlefish are able to see. To that end, they are replacing the polarization angles in underwater scenes with different colors to get a better sense of just what is really in the cuttlefish field of vision. Brisbane researcher Justin Marshall adds: "These extraordinary findings suggest that we need to reexamine how we have been measuring the visual world underwater. Cuttlefish may be using the polarization of light much like we use colour, which means we may need to look at camouflage and communication underwater in a whole new way." Via Current Biology. Image by FireFly5 on Wikimedia.
#imported:pinboard #needs-tags #shared #ttrss
archive.org #20858

Spent Grain Beer Bread

http://www.beeratjoes.com/index.php/beer-dinners/spent-grain-beer-bread/
Whenever Joe makes homebrew, I whip up some spent grain bread. All the recipes I found on the internet treated the spent grain as a sort of add-on ingredient, the way you would treat cheese or raisins. I wanted it to be the main part–it is grain, after all. That’s what bread is. So after some tweaking (there will be endless tweaking, of course), I have come up with my own version:
#baking #beer #bread #homebrew #imported:pinboard #recipes #to:fb
archive.org #33197

Spent Grain Beer Bread

http://www.beeratjoes.com/index.php/beer-dinners/spent-grain-beer-bread
Whenever Joe makes homebrew, I whip up some spent grain bread. All the recipes I found on the internet treated the spent grain as a sort of add-on ingredient, the way you would treat cheese or raisins. I wanted it to be the main part–it is grain, after all. That’s what bread is. So after some tweaking (there will be endless tweaking, of course), I have come up with my own version:
#baking #beer #bread #homebrew #recipes #to:fb
archive.org #20854

BSAG » Some thoughts about coffee

http://www.rousette.org.uk/blog/archives/some-thoughts-about-coffee/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+butshesagirl+%28but+she%27s+a+girl...%29
Coffee is an amazing drink, isn’t it? I can think of few other drinks that can take on such a spectacular range of flavours and change so dramatically in character with tiny changes in preparation method. And that’s before you think about changing the way in which the beans are roasted. I have been steadily learning how to get good espresso from my Rancilio Silvia, but while the coffee has become much more consistent and pretty good, I knew it could be better. The fruity, acidic, winey flavours of the beans were too dominating, so that the coffee tasted a bit unbalanced. It wasn’t unpleasant at all, but I personally like the more earthy, chocolate, caramel and spicy kinds of flavours to be a bit more prominent. I had got to the point where I could produce the same quality of coffee pretty consistently, which when you consider all the variables involved (grind, dose, distribution of grounds in the basket, tamping pressure, water temperature, extraction time and so on), is something I view as quite an achievement in itself. How could I get more of the rich and sweet flavours in the coffee? After reading what felt like every article ever written on the internet about coffee1, I stumbled on a suggestion that higher brewing temperatures can bring out the ‘darker’ flavours, while lower temperatures emphasise the more delicate, fruity ones. I had to try it out. Keeping all the other variables as constant as I possibly could, I changed the set point of my PID to 3°C higher than its previous setting. I did this in the evening before going to bed, so that I wouldn’t forget to make the change in the morning. It’s an indication of how sadly nerdy, I mean, deeply fascinated I have become with the whole process that I fell asleep thinking about what the coffee was going to be like, and bounded downstairs the next day like a child on Christmas morning. Well. It was like night and day. I could tell it was going to be good from the way it was rolling languidly from the spouts of the portafilter and by the heavenly smell, but the first sip confirmed it. It was rich and spicy with lovely bitter chocolate notes, but that was balanced by the fruity tang I had before. It was even a different texture, with much more body and viscosity. All that transformation from a change of 3°C. This morning I even managed to produce the kind of crema on the top that you see in all the coffee pr0n photos and videos: a deep, caramel or hazelnut coloured gloopy liquid, spotted with paler colours. I was so excited that I yelled at Mr. Bsag, “COME AND LOOK AT MY CREMA! LOOK AT IT!”. He humoured me with a ‘yes it’s a lovely crema darling’ look, but I could tell that he just wanted to drink some coffee. He does agree that it’s dramatically better than before though, so I know that it’s not just my wishful thinking. Next, I will conquer microfoam! Oh dear. I think I may be hooked. On the positive side, it does make getting up at a stupidly early hour much more interesting. Edited to correct the temperature difference, because apparently I can’t do arithmetic when highly-caffeinated. A number that seems to tend towards infinity.↩
#imported:pinboard #needs-tags #shared #ttrss
archive.org #33199

There's going to be an Inspector Spacetime web series!

http://io9.com/5886382/theres-going-to-be-an-inspector-spacetime-web-series
Word out of the Gallifrey One Doctor Who convention is that there is going to be a web series of Community's Who-parody show Inspector Spacetime. It sounds like it won't be Donald Glover and Danny Pudi in the starring roles, however. Travis Richey, who plays the Inspector on the show within a show will be producing six episodes. [bessyboo via Charlie Jane]
#community #drwho #imported:pinboard #odd #to:fb #tv
archive.org #20850

Eternal Copyright: a modest proposal – Telegraph Blogs

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/technology/adrianhon/100007156/infinite-copyright-a-modest-proposal/
Certainly we wouldn't want to listen to their other suggestions, which would see us broaden the definition of "fair use" and, horrifically, reduce copyright terms back to merely a lifetime or even less. Not only would such an act deprive our great-great-grandchildren of their birthright, but it would surely choke off creativity to the dark ages of the 18th and 19th centuries, a desperately lean time for art in which we had to make do with mere scribblers such as Wordsworth, Swift, Richardson, Defoe, Austen, Bronte, Hardy, Dickens, and Keats.
#copyfight #copyright #imported:pinboard #ip #writing
archive.org #33201

Eternal Copyright: a modest proposal – Telegraph Blogs

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/technology/adrianhon/100007156/infinite-copyright-a-modest-proposal
Certainly we wouldn't want to listen to their other suggestions, which would see us broaden the definition of "fair use" and, horrifically, reduce copyright terms back to merely a lifetime or even less. Not only would such an act deprive our great-great-grandchildren of their birthright, but it would surely choke off creativity to the dark ages of the 18th and 19th centuries, a desperately lean time for art in which we had to make do with mere scribblers such as Wordsworth, Swift, Richardson, Defoe, Austen, Bronte, Hardy, Dickens, and Keats.
#copyfight #copyright #ip #writing
archive.org #20834

A Look at DeltaCloud: The Multi-Cloud API

http://www.readwriteweb.com/cloud/2012/02/a-look-at-deltacloud-the-multi.php
Amazon Web Services, OpenStack, CloudStack, VMware... Developers have no shortage of IaaS offerings to support. And, lucky them, no shortage of different APIs to deal with, either. DeltaCloud, a top-level Apache project, is designed to help developers cut through the complexity and work with everything from EC2 to Red Hat Enterprise…
#googlereader #ifttt #imported:raindrop
archive.org #20830

How You Could Get Sued For Using Pinterest

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/how_you_could_get_sued_for_using_pinterest.php
The Boston Business Journal stopped using Pinterest one day after setting up its account after realizing it could be sued for images it uploaded to the site. Web editor Galen Moore started playing around with the rapidly-growing social network on Thursday as a possible way to share the visual images that the Boston Business Journal uses in its…
#googlereader #ifttt #imported:raindrop
archive.org #20829

5 Forgotten Atrocities from '80s Pop Culture | Cracked.com

http://www.cracked.com/blog/5-forgotten-atrocities-from-80s-pop-culture
Although I consider myself a child of the 90s because that's when I went to college and ultimately became an adult, I still lived through the 80s. I remember Michael Jackson on the radio, Dynasty on TV, and Schwartzenegger in the theaters. Everyone had shoulder pads and neon purses. And questionable mothers let their sons go to elementary school gr
#googlereader #ifttt #imported:raindrop
archive.org #20824

Congrats, US Government: You're Scaring Web Businesses Into Moving Out Of The US | Techdirt

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120216/17154217785/congrats-us-government-youre-scaring-web-businesses-into-moving-out-us.shtml
The federal government has been paying lip service to the idea that it wants to encourage new businesses and startups in the US. And this is truly important to the economy, as studies have shown that almost all of the net job growth in this country is coming from internet startups. Thankfully some politicians recognize this, but the federal government seems to be going in the other direction. With the JotForm situation unfolding, where the US government shut down an entire website with no notice or explanation, people are beginning to recognize that the US is not safe for internet startups.
#business #censorship #copyfight #imported:pinboard #internet #politics
archive.org #20806

US Returns JotForm.com Domain; Still Refuses To Say What Happened | Techdirt

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120216/17043717784/us-returns-jotformcom-domain-still-refuses-to-say-what-happened.shtml
There's been a lot of interest in the story of the Secret Service completely shutting down JotForm.com through a request to GoDaddy. It appears that the suspension is now ending, though it hasn't fully propagated. What's amazing is that no one in the US government (or at GoDaddy) seems to be willing to explain what happened. When GoDaddy completely shut down JotForm.com with no notice, the folks at JotForm had to inquire as to what the hell happened to their entire website. They were merely told to contact a Secret Service agent. That agent then told JotForm she was too busy to respond to them and would get back to them within a week. Think about that for a second. The US government completely takes down a small business' website and then is too busy to explain why.
#censorship #copyfight #imported:pinboard #internet #us
archive.org #20805

US Government 'Suspends' JotForm.com Over User Generated Forms; Censorship Regime Expands | Techdirt

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120215/18044017773/us-government-suspends-jotformcom-over-user-generated-forms-censorship-regime-expands.shtml
Activities like this will chill innovation and entrepreneurship in the US. Why locate here or even setup under a .com if the US government might kill your business with no explanation at any moment?
#censorship #copyfight #imported:pinboard #internet #us
archive.org #20804

an American nightmare — Tremble the Devil

http://tremblethedevil.com/?p=1693
If the War on Drugs didn’t directly precipitate the Welfare State and the destruction of the American black family, why did welfare aid to families spike in lockstep with our prison population right as that War started? Well, if you’re familiar American drug laws, it shouldn’t surprise you that some 90% of those arrested under the Rockefeller Drug Laws in the years after its passage were minorities.
#drugs #imported:pinboard #prison #race #racism #warondrugs #welfare
archive.org #20803

Obama May Ditch Most US Nukes | Mother Jones

http://motherjones.com/politics/2012/02/nuclear-weapons-reduction-obama
Will Republicans accede to a sweeping drawdown of US nuclear might? Beyond the knee-jerk emotions on top national security issues, there's an awful lot of defense pork—not just missiles, but also bombers, submarines, and scientific research—bound up in our nuclear program. That makes the most dramatic reduction scenarios highly unlikely to pass muster in Congress. But if the White House and Pentagon push one of their more modest proposals—cutting the number of bombs to, say, 700 or 1,000—that could represent a reasonable compromise that still offers compelling financial savings and progress toward greater global stability. Faced with a plan like that, resistant congressmen might end up looking like just a bunch of Dr. Strangeloves.
#imported:pinboard #military #nukes #politics #us
archive.org #20802

Abortion saved my life - Abortion - Salon.com

http://www.salon.com/2011/05/26/abortion_saved_my_life/
My two kids at home almost lost their mother because someone decided that my life was worth less than that of a fetus that was going to die anyway. My husband had told them exactly what my regular doctor said, and the ER doctor had already warned us what would have to happen. Yet none of this mattered when confronted by the idea that no one needs an abortion. You shouldn’t need to know the details of why a woman aborts to trust her to make the best decision for herself. I don’t regret my abortion, but I would also never use my situation to suggest that the only time another woman should have the procedure is when her life is at stake. After my family found out I’d had an abortion, I got a phone call from a cousin who felt the need to tell me I was wrong to have interfered with God’s plan. And in that moment I understood exactly what kind of people judge a woman’s reproductive choices.
#abortion #health #imported:pinboard #medicine #religion
archive.org #33219

Abortion saved my life - Abortion - Salon.com

http://www.salon.com/2011/05/26/abortion_saved_my_life
My two kids at home almost lost their mother because someone decided that my life was worth less than that of a fetus that was going to die anyway. My husband had told them exactly what my regular doctor said, and the ER doctor had already warned us what would have to happen. Yet none of this mattered when confronted by the idea that no one needs an abortion. You shouldn’t need to know the details of why a woman aborts to trust her to make the best decision for herself. I don’t regret my abortion, but I would also never use my situation to suggest that the only time another woman should have the procedure is when her life is at stake. After my family found out I’d had an abortion, I got a phone call from a cousin who felt the need to tell me I was wrong to have interfered with God’s plan. And in that moment I understood exactly what kind of people judge a woman’s reproductive choices.
#abortion #health #medicine #religion
archive.org #20793

The Pirate Bay's Peter Sunde Questions Why We Let Dying Industries Dictate Terms Of Democracy | Techdirt

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120214/01404517751/pirate-bays-peter-sunde-questions-why-we-let-dying-industries-dictate-terms-democracy.shtml
It's stories like this that raise significant questions about the prosecution. Even if you believe that Sunde was guilty of what he was charged with, I would think you should be able to admit that the list of things above should not have happened under any circumstance. When you read that... and then realize that the guy leading the prosecution against Megaupload for the US DOJ used to work for the industry as an "anti-piracy" exec -- you see the same pattern happening again and again. People who have too close connections to industry are making decisions on these issues designed to protect their industries, rather than looking at the actual impact on society and the economy. That's a pretty big problem, and shows how "regulatory capture" can sometimes become "judicial capture" as well.
#copyfight #corruption #imported:pinboard #piratebay
archive.org #20792

A tweet filtering proxy with Node.JS: Part 1 | Guillermo Rauch's Devthought

http://www.devthought.com/2012/01/24/filtering-tweets-for-your-favorite-client-with-node-js/
The technique I’m going to describe consists in setting up a proxy to the Twitter API that lives in our computer, powered by Node.JS, that filters back responses based on arbitrary rules we setup. Not only does this give us the flexibility of using JavaScript, but it also means it will work with any Twitter client that leverages the API transparently. Yes, this includes the Twitter website!
#apis #imported:pinboard #nodejs #twitter
archive.org #33224

A tweet filtering proxy with Node.JS: Part 1 | Guillermo Rauch's Devthought

http://www.devthought.com/2012/01/24/filtering-tweets-for-your-favorite-client-with-node-js
The technique I’m going to describe consists in setting up a proxy to the Twitter API that lives in our computer, powered by Node.JS, that filters back responses based on arbitrary rules we setup. Not only does this give us the flexibility of using JavaScript, but it also means it will work with any Twitter client that leverages the API transparently. Yes, this includes the Twitter website!
#apis #nodejs #twitter
archive.org #20783

Arzea Walkthrough Guide, Review, Discussion, Hints and Tips at Jay is Games

http://jayisgames.com/archives/2012/02/arzea.php
When I'm not writing reviews for JayIsGames, I work full-time as a wizard. It's not easy work, believe me, nor is it nearly as glamorous as the movies make it out to be. One wrong incantation and you've blown yourself up or summoned an uncontrollable horde of demons. Arzea, a Metroidvania-style adventure game created by Arkeus originally for a Ludum Dare 24-hour game development competition and then expanded upon, demonstrates the kind of danger that magic can lead to. You're a wizard stranded in a strange world with only your wits and a variety of spells and upgrades to help you get home.
#gaming #imported:pinboard #metroidvania #nifty
archive.org #20781

GeekMom » Blog Archive » How to Share Your Homebrew with Your Kids: Spent Grain Recipes

http://www.geekmom.com/2012/02/how-to-share-your-homebrew-with-your-kids-spent-grain-recipes/
It’s a shame to toss all those delicious-smelling grains that you carefully chose to make a delicious brew. Some people compost them, although some people have had bad experiences with how that turns out in the compost pile. Clearly the only sensible thing to do is eat them and all the protein and fiber goodness they have to offer. If you’re not ready to use them all (and how could you?!) as soon as the brew leaves the stove, you can refrigerate them for a day or two or freeze them for longer. And if you haven’t tried homebrewing yet, this is just a bonus reason. It also means you can share your brew with your kids, since this is before the alcohol enters the picture. If you’re feeling really industrious, you can work in a science lesson about yeast and fermentation!
#beer #bread #imported:pinboard #recipe
archive.org #33226

GeekMom » Blog Archive » How to Share Your Homebrew with Your Kids: Spent Grain Recipes

http://www.geekmom.com/2012/02/how-to-share-your-homebrew-with-your-kids-spent-grain-recipes
It’s a shame to toss all those delicious-smelling grains that you carefully chose to make a delicious brew. Some people compost them, although some people have had bad experiences with how that turns out in the compost pile. Clearly the only sensible thing to do is eat them and all the protein and fiber goodness they have to offer. If you’re not ready to use them all (and how could you?!) as soon as the brew leaves the stove, you can refrigerate them for a day or two or freeze them for longer. And if you haven’t tried homebrewing yet, this is just a bonus reason. It also means you can share your brew with your kids, since this is before the alcohol enters the picture. If you’re feeling really industrious, you can work in a science lesson about yeast and fermentation!
#beer #bread #recipe
archive.org #20780

Atari 2600 Wireless Joysticks | The Retroist

http://www.retroist.com/2012/02/09/atari-2600-wireless-joysticks/
These early generation wireless joysticks were a far cry from the wireless pads we’ve come to enjoy (and expect) today. For starters, each joystick contained a 9-volt battery, an on/off switch, and a non-retractable 6″ antenna poking out the front of each one. I guess after the batteries died, you could still sword fight with them.
#atari #gaming #imported:pinboard #wireless
archive.org #33231

Atari 2600 Wireless Joysticks | The Retroist

http://www.retroist.com/2012/02/09/atari-2600-wireless-joysticks
These early generation wireless joysticks were a far cry from the wireless pads we’ve come to enjoy (and expect) today. For starters, each joystick contained a 9-volt battery, an on/off switch, and a non-retractable 6″ antenna poking out the front of each one. I guess after the batteries died, you could still sword fight with them.
#atari #gaming #wireless
archive.org #20772

Rush is a Band Blog: Author Kevin J. Anderson to write novelization of Rush's upcoming Clockwork Angels album

http://www.rushisaband.com/blog/2012/02/09/2990/Author-Kevin-J.-Anderson-to-write-novelization-of-Rushs-upcoming-Clockwork-Angels-album
Sci-fi author Kevin J. Anderson is a huge Rush fan and has drawn inspiration from Rush for a number of his writings. His 1988 Rush-inspired novel Ressurection, Inc. drew the attention of Neil Peart and the 2 have been friends ever since, even collaborating on the 1994 short story Drumbeats. Neil also wrote the introduction to Anderson's 2006 short story compilation Landscapes. Anderson just announced via his Facebook page the incredibly awesome news that he will be writing a novelization of Rush's upcoming Clockwork Angels album! ... Author Kevin J. Anderson to write novelization of Rush's upcoming Clockwork Angels album
#imported:raindrop #needs-tags #shared #ttrss
archive.org #20726

Kevin J. Anderson will novelize Rush's new album

http://io9.com/5884531/kevin-j-anderson-will-novelize-rushs-new-album
Prolific novelist Kevin J. Anderson has made no secret of his love for prog rock — and now he's taking his prog-rock fixation to the next level. He announced on his Facebook page that he's writing the novel version of Rush's new album, Clockwork Angels. Writes Anderson: After dropping hints for a while, finally the big announcement, a new project unlike any other I've ever done...and something that I consider very cool. Most of you are aware of my long-standing friendship with Neil Peart, the drummer and lyricist from the legendary rock band Rush, as well as how much Rush has influenced my work. My first novel Resurrection, Inc. was closely inspired by the Rush album Grace Under Pressure, and I can point to dozens of other novels and stories that bear a clear Rush influence. For more than twenty years, Neil and I have wanted to collaborate on something MAJOR, a way we could tie together our imaginations, and at last that's happening. I'm writing the novelization of Rush's forthcoming album Clockwork Angels, their first new CD in five years. Imagine if someone had written the novel of The Wall, Tommy, or Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band when those classic albums were released. For Rush fans, CLOCKWORK ANGELS is that project. I worked together with Neil to flesh out the epic story told over the course of the music, as well as the artist Hugh Syme whose paintings fill the CD booklet. In a young man's quest to follow his dreams, he is caught between the grandiose forces of order and chaos. He travels across a lavish and colorful world of steampunk and alchemy, with lost cities, pirates, anarchists, exotic carnivals, and a rigid Watchmaker who imposes precision on every aspect of daily life. To whet your appetite, Rush released the first two tracks, Caravan and BU2B - listen to those songs to get an idea of the story's beginning. I'm writing the chapters now, incorporating the lyrics into the narrative, and having a fantastic time. More details to come, but for now-to quote a line from Caravan: "I can't stop thinking big." [via Vintage Vinyl News]
#fiction #imported:pinboard #music #rush #scifi
archive.org #20722

Space: 1999 remake will be called Space: 2099

http://io9.com/5883885/space-1999-remake-will-be-called-space-2099
We've often wondered what you would call a remake of Space: 1999, the 1970s series about a Moonbase on the loose, and now we know. The show is being remade by a team that includes the same studio that brought you the V remake, and they're calling it Space: 2099. The real question is: How are they going to make the premise seem less scientifically ludicrous? How does the Moon travel to a new planet every week? Two possibilities suggest themselves: 1) It's a slow burn, in which most weeks the Moon is in interstellar space, and we focus on the romantic troubles and sexual escapades of the people in Moonbase Alpha. Not to mention their political disputes over who should be Commander. 2) There will be handwaving involving wormholes. Probably, it'll be some combination of the two. In any case, it sounds like Space: 2099 is in the early stages — there's no script, and nothing's been shopped to any networks yet. Insert stock comment here about how depressing it is that people in the 1970s thought we'd have a Moonbase within 25 years, and now we're expecting it to be nearly 90 years away. [Hollywood Reporter, thanks Kevin!]
#needs-tags #shared #ttrss
archive.org #20705

Why your pancreas has tastebuds

http://io9.com/5883119/why-does-your-pancreas-have-tastebuds-exactly
In what can only be described as the most shocking revelation since I learned that tumors can grow teeth, it turns out your pancreas has taste receptors. New research published in the PNAS indicates that there are sweet taste receptors in that organ — and their reaction to fructose may be a cause of diabetes. Top image: Stuffed Pancreas by Kirin Queen It turns out that we've known about sweet taste receptors in the pancreas for at least a few years, but what this new research shows is that they interact with fructose in previously undiscovered ways. What's meant to happen is that the glucose in our food triggers the pancreas to release insulin, which allows us to use this sugar for energy. However, what this research has shown is that fructose, usually brought in by sucrose or high-fructose corn syrup, can trigger insulan secretion too. When both types of sugar are present in our foods, it amps up the release of insulin, pushing too much into the body. Too much insulin is associated with the ever popular type 2 diabetes, and this may explain why high fructose diets have been so closely linked with the disease. I'm just still weirded out that my internal organs have taste receptors — what other senses are they hiding from me?
#needs-tags #shared #ttrss
archive.org #20704

Nothing To Do With Arbroath: Mother 'punched her 10-year-old son during anger management class'

http://arbroath.blogspot.com/2012/02/mother-punched-her-10-year-old-son.html
While meeting with an anger management counsellor, a Kentucky woman was seen punching her 10-year-old son in the face, according to police who later arrested her on an assault charge. A counsellor spotted Misty Lawson, 30, striking the child last Saturday and contacted child welfare officials. Lawson was arrested by Louisville Metropolitan Police Department officers on a misdemeanor count. The boy, police noted, had a bruise on his cheek and “redness to eye.” As a result of her arrest, Lawson’s children have been removed from her custody and placed in foster care. An arrest warrant alleges that Lawson hit the child “several times in the face and body area. This incident occurred during [Lawson’s] anger management session and was witnessed by counsellor.” The counsellor took the boy to a police station and reported the incident to Child Protective Services officials. Lawson, who has been released from custody on her own recognizance, is scheduled to appear for arraignment on Tuesday in Jefferson County District Court. Lawson acknowledges that she “smacked” her son twice in the face after he called her a “bitch.” The boy, she added, has significant behavioural problems and was trying to attack her when she hit him. “They make it sound like I beat my child like an adult,” said Lawson. The incident, Lawson said, occurred in her Louisville home while she was meeting with a counsellor employed by a Kentucky state child services agency.
#needs-tags #shared #ttrss
archive.org #20703

#shitsiskosays - Charlie's Diary

http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2012/02/shitsiskosays.html
I've been struck particularly by two things missing from the DS9 universe--one unpredictable in the 1993-99 span of the series, and one predictable but unattractive from the creators' standpoint. Nobody uses social media, and nobody wastes time.
#culture #ds9 #future #scifi #startrek
archive.org #20693

Practical Arduino: Virtual USB Keyboard

http://www.practicalarduino.com/projects/virtual-usb-keyboard
Communicating with a host computer can allow a simple Arduino-based system to gain access to a wide variety of devices and information. Most people link an Arduino to a host using serial communications across a USB connection with custom code running on the host to send information to the Arduino or receive it in return, but giving your Arduino the ability to pretend to be a keyboard or mouse opens up a whole world of possibilities because it means your Arduino can interact with software that was never intended for external control. That could be desktop software such as a game or a web browser: your Arduino could "type" into a web form and submit it on your behalf, or act as a custom controller for a game!
#arduino #diy #hacks #hardware #howto #usb
archive.org #20664

pib/gkos - GitHub

https://github.com/pib/gkos
The basic idea of GKOS is that you've got six buttons on the back of a device (either a dedicated input device, or on the back of a handheld computing device, phone, etc), one for the index through ring fingers of each hand (or two for each finger if you have a device made for one-handed use). You press the keys in various chords to type, switch between modes, and operate a pointer (when in pointer mode).
#gkos #hardware #keyboards
archive.org #20660

The NFL Issues Takedown For Chrysler Super Bowl Commercial | Techdirt

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120206/10505917670/nfl-issues-takedown-chrysler-super-bowl-commercial.shtml
Ah, the bogus takedown. The latest is that apparently the NFL somehow and for some reason took down Chrysler's Clint Eastwood Super Bowl commercial from YouTube. Pretty much every advertiser put up their commercials on YouTube, and it's unclear why or how the NFL might claim any sort of copyright on any of those ads. But, for some time that's exactly what happened, making Chrysler's own website promoting the ad look pretty silly:
#chrysler #commercials #copyfight #nfl #superbowl
archive.org #20637

Dear Hollywood: An Open Letter to the Hardworking Men and Women in the Entertainment Industries | Electronic Frontier Foundation

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/02/dear-hollywood-open-letter-hardworking-men-and-women-entertainment-industries
We humbly suggest that you stand up and tell them to either embrace the age of the Internet or get out of the way so that new, forward-thinking industry leaders can take their place.
#creative #entertainment #mpaa #riaa #sopa
archive.org #20636

Improving on the knit Dalek - Boing Boing

http://boingboing.net/2012/02/04/improving-on-the-knit-dalek.html
I blogged "Extermiknit!", a knittable Dalek, back in 2007, but it turns out that an even cooler knittable Dalek of the same name was created on Feather and Fan in 2010, with an opening hatch containing a Kaled mutant, and here it is. After completing the top of the Dalek as specified, I created an opening in the front by steeking carefully along the vertical line between the knit “instrument panel” and the purled rest of the midsection–just used some sewing shears and cut straight through the middle of the rightmost line of knit stitches, along the entire height of the midsection. I then carefully unraveled the stitches from right to left on the rows above and below the desired door area, to the left end of the “instrument panel”, and placed these two horizontal pairs of exposed stitches on DPNs. This creates a kind of door flap, hinged vertically along the left-hand side. I sewed down the outer edge of the door with one yarn tail, and used a sewn bindoff and the other two yarn tails to fasten the top and bottom of the door flap. The door flap was now bound off and would not unravel. FO: EXTERMIKNIT! EXTERMIKNIT! « Feather and Fan (via Making Light)
#needs-tags #shared #ttrss
archive.org #20634

Could the wars of the future be fought with mind control?

http://io9.com/5883210/could-the-wars-of-the-future-be-fought-with-mind-control
Neuroscientists have made huge breakthroughs in our understanding of the inner workings of the mind, particularly how various regions of the brain are linked to specific cognitive processes. This is powerful knowledge... and it could be headed to the battlefield. That's the finding of a new report by the UK's Royal Society, that warns these advances in neuroscience could lead to the creation of new weapons that attack enemy forces by disabling parts of their minds. Gases or even electronic devices could be specifically targeted to take down vital regions of the brain. There's also some real danger in the flip side of this, in which the military attempts to improve the battle-readiness of its soldiers through these types of brain hacks. They might make for better soldiers, but that could well come at the expense of the soldiers' overall health, and the panel argues there are serious ethical questions about whether such neural weaponry violates human rights. In the video up top, panel chairperson Professor Rod Flower of Queen Mary, University of London explains the findings of the report. For a more complete picture of the future of neuroscience on the battlefield, you can check out the complete report here. Via the Royal Society.
#needs-tags #shared #ttrss
archive.org #20630

google-authenticator - Two-step verification - Google Project Hosting

http://code.google.com/p/google-authenticator
The Google Authenticator project includes implementations of one-time passcode generators for several mobile platforms, as well as a pluggable authentication module (PAM). One-time passcodes are generated using open standards developed by the Initiative for Open Authentication (OATH) (which is unrelated to OAuth).
#authentication #crypto #google #security
archive.org #20621

Nick Bradbury: The Friction in Frictionless Sharing

http://nick.typepad.com/blog/2012/01/the-friction-in-frictionless-sharing.html
Well, no, not really. Because in the past the user only had to decide whether to share something they just read, but now they have to think about every single article before they even read it. If I read this article, then everyone will know I read it, and do I really want people to know I read it?
#facebook #feeds #news #privacy #reading #social
archive.org #20620

Untitled

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/02/why-margarita-can-purr-but-cant-roar#38;utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wired%2Findex+%28Wired%3A+Index+3+%28Top+Stories+2%29%29
#needs-tags #shared #ttrss
archive.org #20617

Mozilla developing Web push notification system for Firefox

http://arstechnica.com/business/news/2012/02/mozilla-developing-web-push-notification-system-for-firefox.ars
Mozilla is developing a push notification system for the Firefox Web browser. It will allow users to receive notifications from websites without having to keep those sites open in their browser. The system will also be able to relay push notifications to mobile devices.
#firefox #javascript #mobile #mozilla #notifications #webdev
archive.org #20584

Introducing Push Notifications

http://jbalogh.me/2012/01/30/push-notifications
Push notifications are a way for websites to send small messages to users when the user is not on the site. iOS and Android devices already support their own push notification services, but we want to make notifications available to the whole web. We’re making prototypes and designing the API right now and want to share our progress.
#development #firefox #javascript #mozilla #notifications #webdev
archive.org #20583

2012 The Musical HD - YouTube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFuTMv9UtD8
Favorite: 2012 The Musical HD, by awesomedottv Never before has a date in history been so significant to so many cultures, so many religions, scientists, and governments. Join us through the adventures of the most terrifying prediction of today.
#videos #youtube
archive.org #20569

Komen's Excuse for Defunding Planned Parenthood Applies to Bank of America Too -- So When Will it Sever Ties With BofA? | AlterNet

http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/769680/komen's_excuse_for_defunding_planned_parenthood_applies_to_bank_of_america_too_--_so_when_will_it_sever_ties_with_bofa
To sum up, Komen is perfectly content with accepting millions from an entity under investigation for fraud across the country but when it comes to dispensing a portion of those and other funds to an entity that saves lives but that's facing a sham of an investigation, Komen draws the line.
#abortion #cancer #komen #politics
archive.org #20567

Existential Blues - YouTube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6cGTq3nOwI
Favorite: Existential Blues, by wabbitt86 In the Heyday of the Dr. Demento Show, an unknown to us artist (Tom T-bone Stankus) released a song called Existential Blues. It went straight to number one on the weekly Dr. D top ten. It then got pulled and they (KMET) were no longer allowed to play it until certain parts of the song were edited due to a copywrite issue - A big movie lawyer wanted money from a guy that recorded a song in his garage. So they chopped up the song and put it back on the air....and every week, my ten year old ears would yearn for the missing lines to the song....not because I thought they were great lines or from a great movie or because the line had already been pimped out in auto commercials, but rather, because to me, it was part of the song. It was the way it was supposed to be. I had not ever seen the movie, I was not going to be buying one of those cars...To me, It was a violation of our sunday evening right to enjoy a Great song. Well Here is my Tribute to Tbone and all the listeners that were ripped off weekly by the censorship of this song. The original Version of the song in its entirety - And also Giving credit to the film "Man From La Mancha" - I give you; The Existential Bluesman From La Mancha
#videos #youtube
archive.org #20566

Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2012-01-30/Technology report - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2012-01-30/Technology_report
Of course, the introduction of a programming language would bring with it a number of other problems, particularly with regards to privacy, security and memory footprint. As a result, the long term consensus was that the introduction of a programming language would be a major undertaking, including time for discussing which languages would work best in a heavily sanitised environment. The project as a whole has been discussed at regular intervals, but it was only this week that a consensus seemed to emerge in favour of Lua, a lightweight but relatively unheard-of language generally regarded as being "easy to learn" (wikitech-l mailing list).
#lua #wikimedia #wikipedia
archive.org #20564