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Seal Slaps Man With Octopus but Is Probably Just Hungry in Viral Video | Inverse

https://www.inverse.com/article/49351-seal-slaps-man-with-octopus-and-it-s-hilarious
Getting slapped in the face is uniquely embarrassing among the various ways a person can be humiliated. But getting slapped in the face by a seal wielding an octopus, as one kayaker in New Zealand recently experienced, is an exercise in utter submission. A now-viral video of the kayaker getting completely owned shows the unlikely event in all its unbridled, bizarre glory. The video, uploaded to Instagram by filmmaker/surfer/skydiver and GoPro family member Taiyo Masuda, shows another kayaker, Kyle Mullinder, receiving the wet, eight-armed slap as they explore the waters around Kaikoura, New Zealand. “My face happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Mullinder told Yahoo7 News. Read More... Seal Slaps Man's Face With Octopus, but It's Probably Just Trying to Eat Lunch
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archive.org #27881

Special counsel Robert Mueller is now investigating his MacBook - The Verge

https://www.theverge.com/tldr/2018/9/26/17907408/robert-mueller-apple-store-tech-support-genius-bar
Robert Mueller surfaced from the Russia investigation this afternoon to ask for help — tech support, specifically. The special counsel and former FBI director was spotted in the Georgetown Apple store today, working with a Genius bar employee to get help with a MacBook Pro. The photo was taken by Meghan Pianta, who works in communications in DC; we initially caught it via Washington Examiner reporter Kelly Cohen. In the photo, you can see a pained, confused look on the special counsel’s face. What is he looking at? We tried calling the Apple store to find out, but were stymied by endless phone trees. An investigator who went on location on behalf of The Verge said there was no sighting of either Mueller or the employee seen helping him. ... Continue reading…
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archive.org #27880

Join in the chant! Massive new Nitzer Ebb box set on the way / Boing Boing

https://boingboing.net/2018/09/25/join-in-the-chant-massive-new.html
Electronic body music pioneers Nitzer Ebb are releasing a career-spanning retrospective box set. From Pylon Records, "Nitzer Ebb: 1982-2010" features 10 LPs with all five of the band's Geffen/Mute albums along with bonus tracks and 12" club mixes. Below, the "Join in the Chant (Burn!)" 12" mix. Lies, lies, lies, lies. Gold, gold, gold, gold. Guns, guns, guns, guns. Fire, fire, fire, UH!
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archive.org #27868

TIL the reason why clocks run clockwise. They do because in the Northern hemisphere that's how sundials cast shadow : todayilearned

https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/9igxcd/til_the_reason_why_clocks_run_clockwise_they_do/
It’s a total cop-out to say that clocks run clockwise because that’s how clocks run...but it’s also kind of true. The modern convention is no arbitrary design choice, but rather a direct adaptation of the original timepiece: the sundial. Way back when, a sundial told time by casting a shadow with its gnomon around a circular platform. In the northern hemisphere, that meant the shadow moved (to use a compass analogy) from north to east to south to west as the sun traveled, and when mechanical clocks started appearing, they were designed to operate in a similar fashion. Which begs the question, would clocks run the opposite direction if we’d based them on sundials in the Southern Hemisphere? Yes! Sundials work counterclockwise below the equator, and we’d be reading our watches totally differently if modern clock-makers had used them as an example. If you’re already into the old-school style of an analog display, the fact that it's a throw-back to even older time-telling devices makes the design that much cooler. submitted by /u/Mass1m01973 to r/todayilearned [link] [comments]
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archive.org #31275

TIL the reason why clocks run clockwise. They do because in the Northern hemisphere that's how sundials cast shadow : todayilearned

https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/9igxcd/til_the_reason_why_clocks_run_clockwise_they_do
It’s a total cop-out to say that clocks run clockwise because that’s how clocks run...but it’s also kind of true. The modern convention is no arbitrary design choice, but rather a direct adaptation of the original timepiece: the sundial. Way back when, a sundial told time by casting a shadow with its gnomon around a circular platform. In the northern hemisphere, that meant the shadow moved (to use a compass analogy) from north to east to south to west as the sun traveled, and when mechanical clocks started appearing, they were designed to operate in a similar fashion. Which begs the question, would clocks run the opposite direction if we’d based them on sundials in the Southern Hemisphere? Yes! Sundials work counterclockwise below the equator, and we’d be reading our watches totally differently if modern clock-makers had used them as an example. If you’re already into the old-school style of an analog display, the fact that it's a throw-back to even older time-telling devices makes the design that much cooler. submitted by /u/Mass1m01973 to r/todayilearned [link] [comments]
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archive.org #27856

These $530 pre-distressed sneakers are pissing people off / Boing Boing

https://boingboing.net/2018/09/22/these-530-pre-distressed-snea.html
Would you spend $530 on a pair of sneakers that were described like this? Crumply, hold-it-all-together tape details a distressed leather sneaker in a retro low profile with a signature sidewall star and a grungy rubber cupsole. Yeah, neither would I, and neither would these folks (aka "the internet"): Golden Goose comes out with a pair of sneakers listed at $530 that are worn down and kept together by tape. Since when is it a trend to glorify the appearance of used sneakers and poverty? pic.twitter.com/1yLTuitIBX — Bryan Heckman (@b_hecky) September 20, 2018 Poverty is real, I’ve been bullied for wearing thrifted clothes before thrifting was “cool”, and now we have high end brands capitalizing upon many people’s past and current poverty related suffering. Thank you Golden Goose. I hope the designer that came up with this is happy. https://t.co/iixNhxip7T — 1-800-ARE-YOU-DYIN (@evelyn_art_) September 20, 2018 The new fashion is wearing worn out looking shoes that include taped one that costs a bomb from $530 to $1340. Glorifying poverty or making a mockery of poverty, can't decide. #fashionstyle #GoldenGoose pic.twitter.com/k8mxvchw4n — Kumar Manish (@kumarmanish9) September 20, 2018 There's a quote from something, wish I could remember what, but it goes something like "the rich kids all want to be poor and the poor kids all want to be dead". Seems relevant — steph (@Thespookysteph) September 20, 2018 Once available at Nordstrom online, these held-together-with-tape sneakers by Italian luxury brand Golden Goose are currently sold out (or removed??). Not to worry, they have plenty of other filthy, overpriced shoes to choose from.
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archive.org #27837

Create Your Own ESP8266 Shields | Hackaday

https://hackaday.com/2018/09/07/create-your-own-esp8266-shields/
The ESP8266 has become incredibly popular in a relatively short time, and it’s no wonder. Cheap as dirt, impressively powerful, Arduino-compatible, and best of all, includes Wi-Fi right out of the box. But for all its capability and popularity, it’s still lagging behind the Arduino in at least one respect. Namely, the vast collection of add-on “Shields” which plug into the Arduino to add everything from breadboards to GPS receivers. Until such time as the free market decides to pick up the pace and start making standardized shields for the various ESP8266 development boards, it looks as if hackers are going to have to pick up the slack. [Rui Santos] has put together a very detailed step-by-step guide on the creation of a simple shield for the popular Wemos D1 Mini board, which should give you plenty of inspiration for spinning up your own custom add-on modules. Presented as a written tutorial as well as a two part video, this guide covers everything from developing and testing your circuit on a breadboard to designing your PCB in KiCad and sending it off for fabrication. The end result is a professional looking PCB that matches the footprint of the stock D1 Mini and adds a DS18B20 temperature sensor, PIR motion detector, photoresistor, and some screw down terminals. [Rui] goes on to show how you can utilize the new sensors shield via a web interface hosted on the ESP8266, and even wraps the whole thing up in a 3D printed enclosure. All worthwhile skills to check out if you’re looking to produce more cohesive finished products. If you’re looking for a similar project for the ESP32, [Rui] has you covered there as well. You may also be interested in the series of ESP8266 tutorials we recently highlighted.
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archive.org #31279

Create Your Own ESP8266 Shields | Hackaday

https://hackaday.com/2018/09/07/create-your-own-esp8266-shields
The ESP8266 has become incredibly popular in a relatively short time, and it’s no wonder. Cheap as dirt, impressively powerful, Arduino-compatible, and best of all, includes Wi-Fi right out of the box. But for all its capability and popularity, it’s still lagging behind the Arduino in at least one respect. Namely, the vast collection of add-on “Shields” which plug into the Arduino to add everything from breadboards to GPS receivers. Until such time as the free market decides to pick up the pace and start making standardized shields for the various ESP8266 development boards, it looks as if hackers are going to have to pick up the slack. [Rui Santos] has put together a very detailed step-by-step guide on the creation of a simple shield for the popular Wemos D1 Mini board, which should give you plenty of inspiration for spinning up your own custom add-on modules. Presented as a written tutorial as well as a two part video, this guide covers everything from developing and testing your circuit on a breadboard to designing your PCB in KiCad and sending it off for fabrication. The end result is a professional looking PCB that matches the footprint of the stock D1 Mini and adds a DS18B20 temperature sensor, PIR motion detector, photoresistor, and some screw down terminals. [Rui] goes on to show how you can utilize the new sensors shield via a web interface hosted on the ESP8266, and even wraps the whole thing up in a 3D printed enclosure. All worthwhile skills to check out if you’re looking to produce more cohesive finished products. If you’re looking for a similar project for the ESP32, [Rui] has you covered there as well. You may also be interested in the series of ESP8266 tutorials we recently highlighted.
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archive.org #27827

Sad Without a SID? This Comes Pretty Close | Hackaday

https://hackaday.com/2018/07/24/sad-without-a-sid-this-comes-pretty-close/
The MOS Technologies 6851, popularly known as the SID, is a legendary sound synthesiser integrated circuit from the early 1980s that is most famous for providing the Commodore 54 home computer with its ability to make noise. At the time it was significantly better than what could be found in competitor machines, making it a popular choice for today’s chiptune and demo scene artists. There’s a snag for a modern-day SID-jockey though, the chip has been out of production for a quarter century and is thus in short supply. Emulation is a choice, but of little use for owners of original hardware so it’s fortunate that [Petros Kokotis] has produced a SID replacement using a Teensy 3.6. The operation is simple enough, the Teensy provides all the requisite SID data lines via some level shifters for the host microcomputer, and uses [Frank Boesing]’s ReSID library to do the heavy lifting part of being a SID. You can download the code from a GitHub repository, and he’s posted a video we’ve put below the break showing a prototype in action with a real Commodore 64. The audio quality isn’t brilliant due to a phone camera recording from a very tinny speaker, but notwithstanding that it has the air of the real thing. This isn’t the first SID we’ve seen here. How about a MIDI synth using one?
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archive.org #31284

Sad Without a SID? This Comes Pretty Close | Hackaday

https://hackaday.com/2018/07/24/sad-without-a-sid-this-comes-pretty-close
The MOS Technologies 6851, popularly known as the SID, is a legendary sound synthesiser integrated circuit from the early 1980s that is most famous for providing the Commodore 54 home computer with its ability to make noise. At the time it was significantly better than what could be found in competitor machines, making it a popular choice for today’s chiptune and demo scene artists. There’s a snag for a modern-day SID-jockey though, the chip has been out of production for a quarter century and is thus in short supply. Emulation is a choice, but of little use for owners of original hardware so it’s fortunate that [Petros Kokotis] has produced a SID replacement using a Teensy 3.6. The operation is simple enough, the Teensy provides all the requisite SID data lines via some level shifters for the host microcomputer, and uses [Frank Boesing]’s ReSID library to do the heavy lifting part of being a SID. You can download the code from a GitHub repository, and he’s posted a video we’ve put below the break showing a prototype in action with a real Commodore 64. The audio quality isn’t brilliant due to a phone camera recording from a very tinny speaker, but notwithstanding that it has the air of the real thing. This isn’t the first SID we’ve seen here. How about a MIDI synth using one?
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archive.org #27789

Retroist Thriller Podcast - The Retroist

http://www.retroist.com/2017/10/31/retroist-thriller-podcast/
Welcome to the Retroist Thriller Podcast. On today’s show I talk all about the music video masterpiece, Thriller. I start off talking about how I was terrified by the monologue from this song while visiting a Ground Round. Then I move onto Michael Jackson and the song, album and video he brought to the world. […] The post Retroist Thriller Podcast appeared first on The Retroist.
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archive.org #31327

Retroist Thriller Podcast - The Retroist

http://www.retroist.com/2017/10/31/retroist-thriller-podcast
Welcome to the Retroist Thriller Podcast. On today’s show I talk all about the music video masterpiece, Thriller. I start off talking about how I was terrified by the monologue from this song while visiting a Ground Round. Then I move onto Michael Jackson and the song, album and video he brought to the world. […] The post Retroist Thriller Podcast appeared first on The Retroist.
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archive.org #27482

www.geek.com

https://www.geek.com/culture/this-kfc-bath-bomb-will-have-you-smelling-like-fried-chicken-1721445/?source
KFC Japan has some very, shall we say, unique approaches to promoting its food in Japan, with some pretty strange things on offer to get people to eat there. We’re talking entire bento […] The post This KFC Bath Bomb Will Have You Smelling Like Fried Chicken appeared first on Geek.com.
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archive.org #31329

www.geek.com

https://www.geek.com/culture/this-kfc-bath-bomb-will-have-you-smelling-like-fried-chicken-1721445?source=
KFC Japan has some very, shall we say, unique approaches to promoting its food in Japan, with some pretty strange things on offer to get people to eat there. We’re talking entire bento […] The post This KFC Bath Bomb Will Have You Smelling Like Fried Chicken appeared first on Geek.com.
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archive.org #27478

Funko Isn’t Lying About These SAGA Funko Pop Figures | Nerdist

https://nerdist.com/funko-pop-saga-image-comics-lying-cat/
Aside from The Walking Dead, one of the biggest hits to ever come out of Image Comics is Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples‘ fan favorite series Saga. First published by Skybound Entertainment back in 2012, and still going strong today, Saga is the epic sci-fi/fantasy story of Alana and Marko, two lovers from long-warring alien races, as they flee authorities from both sides of a massive galactic war. Traveling with their newborn daughter, Hazel, the pair encounter astonishing aliens, fearsome bounty hunters and a host of allies and enemies alike as they try and keep their new family safe. Now the characters from Saga are the latest comic book icons to join the Funko family. Starting in February 2018, Saga fans will be be able to pick up Pop! vinyl figures of characters such as Lying Cat, Alana, Marko, Prince Robot IV, and The Will. Fans will be able to purchase a bloody version of The Will as a chase variant, a rarity of 1-in-6. Also, Izabel the ghostly babysitter will be available as a Hot Topic exclusive, and Lying Cat will have two different variants — a bloody version, available at your local comic book shop and a pink version, available only at Barnes & Noble stores. Saga is one of the wildest and most inventive comic book series of the 21st century, proving that Runaways and Y: The Last Man’s Brian K. Vaughan was anything but two-hit wonder. With the series quickly approaching its 50th issue, Saga fans will want to celebrate their love for all things Alana and Marko with these adorable Pop! figures. You can check out the entire Saga wave one below in our gallery. Are you as stoked as we are to see the characters of Saga get their own adorable Pop! figures? Be sure to let us know in the comments. Images: Funko See more Funko toys! Horror icons as 8-bit Funko Pop toys. Disney Afternoon action figures. Masters of the Universe Pop vinyls.
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archive.org #31336

Funko Isn’t Lying About These SAGA Funko Pop Figures | Nerdist

https://nerdist.com/funko-pop-saga-image-comics-lying-cat
Aside from The Walking Dead, one of the biggest hits to ever come out of Image Comics is Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples‘ fan favorite series Saga. First published by Skybound Entertainment back in 2012, and still going strong today, Saga is the epic sci-fi/fantasy story of Alana and Marko, two lovers from long-warring alien races, as they flee authorities from both sides of a massive galactic war. Traveling with their newborn daughter, Hazel, the pair encounter astonishing aliens, fearsome bounty hunters and a host of allies and enemies alike as they try and keep their new family safe. Now the characters from Saga are the latest comic book icons to join the Funko family. Starting in February 2018, Saga fans will be be able to pick up Pop! vinyl figures of characters such as Lying Cat, Alana, Marko, Prince Robot IV, and The Will. Fans will be able to purchase a bloody version of The Will as a chase variant, a rarity of 1-in-6. Also, Izabel the ghostly babysitter will be available as a Hot Topic exclusive, and Lying Cat will have two different variants — a bloody version, available at your local comic book shop and a pink version, available only at Barnes & Noble stores. Saga is one of the wildest and most inventive comic book series of the 21st century, proving that Runaways and Y: The Last Man’s Brian K. Vaughan was anything but two-hit wonder. With the series quickly approaching its 50th issue, Saga fans will want to celebrate their love for all things Alana and Marko with these adorable Pop! figures. You can check out the entire Saga wave one below in our gallery. Are you as stoked as we are to see the characters of Saga get their own adorable Pop! figures? Be sure to let us know in the comments. Images: Funko See more Funko toys! Horror icons as 8-bit Funko Pop toys. Disney Afternoon action figures. Masters of the Universe Pop vinyls.
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archive.org #27463

Wolfenstein 2 isn't getting multiplayer | Rock, Paper, Shotgun

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2017/10/25/wolfenstein-2-isnt-getting-multiplayer-because-it-would-dilute-the-storytelling-says-machine-games/
With us living in the age of ‘games as service’, there’s been a bit of hand-wringing about the death of single-player games. Of course, there are still plenty of single-player games in development, and in the case of Machine Games’ Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus, the studio say they’ve made a concerted effort to not let anything detract from that solo experience. (more…)
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archive.org #31337

Wolfenstein 2 isn't getting multiplayer | Rock, Paper, Shotgun

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2017/10/25/wolfenstein-2-isnt-getting-multiplayer-because-it-would-dilute-the-storytelling-says-machine-games
With us living in the age of ‘games as service’, there’s been a bit of hand-wringing about the death of single-player games. Of course, there are still plenty of single-player games in development, and in the case of Machine Games’ Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus, the studio say they’ve made a concerted effort to not let anything detract from that solo experience. (more…)
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archive.org #27452

A 976 Number to talk to Kitt from Knight Rider! - The Retroist

http://www.retroist.com/2017/10/25/976-number-talk-kitt-knight-rider/
As a kid I was a sucker for a good 976 number. I called the Chipmunks, Howard the Duck, Santa and many more. All of this without my Mom’s permission. Which caused some issues. So it was probably a good thing that I did not live in California, where I could have called Kitt from […] The post A 976 Number to talk to Kitt from Knight Rider! appeared first on The Retroist.
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archive.org #31338

A 976 Number to talk to Kitt from Knight Rider! - The Retroist

http://www.retroist.com/2017/10/25/976-number-talk-kitt-knight-rider
As a kid I was a sucker for a good 976 number. I called the Chipmunks, Howard the Duck, Santa and many more. All of this without my Mom’s permission. Which caused some issues. So it was probably a good thing that I did not live in California, where I could have called Kitt from […] The post A 976 Number to talk to Kitt from Knight Rider! appeared first on The Retroist.
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archive.org #27451

1600 sprites for your starkly old-school 1-bit games / Boing Boing

https://boingboing.net/2017/10/19/1600-sprites-for-your-starkly.html
For twenty dollars, you can download 1600 1-bit sprites for use in artwork, games, icons or whatever other project you desire. [via] You can use this game assets for personal/commercial projects, no credit needed. If you do, please let me know to promote it on my twitter! ;) Made by Davit Masia, it's such an incredibly vast and deep set of work. Expect to see its DNA in pixel-art inventories and villages for years to come.
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archive.org #27440

A curiously incomplete history of the early years of DRM / Boing Boing

https://boingboing.net/2017/10/19/no-dmca.html
Ernie Smith's Motherboard article on the early years of DRM gets into some fascinating stories about things like IBM's Cryptolope and Xerox PARC's Contentguard (which became a patent troll), Intertrust's belief that it is "developing the basis for a civil society in cyberspace" and the DeCSS fight. (more…)
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archive.org #27439

Netflix's 'Voltron' Brings Heart to Giant Fighting Robots | Inverse

https://www.inverse.com/article/37528-voltron-legendary-defender-netflix-season-4-review
There’s one episode of Voltron Legendary Defender on Netflix that sums up the series as a transcendent piece of science-fiction: In Season 2, the heroes of Voltron need a crucial “Teludav” — a device that creates wormholes — to stand a chance against King Zarkon of the Galra Empire. Princess Allura’s advisor Coran knows the only place to get it: a dangerous trading outpost, home to a wretched hive of scum in a corner of the galaxy where baddies do business. Dressed in apocalyptic disguises to assimilate among the shady pirates, the heroes arrive at the outpost… and it’s a mall. As in, a space mall, with a food court and bored teenaged employees. You wouldn’t think a marketplace on a distant intergalactic planet would look like New Jersey. And it’s inside this surprisingly suburban space mall where the Paladins of Voltron, who survive danger and emerge victorious almost every episode, escape the clutches of a rent-a-cop, Varkon, a schlub who fancies himself as King Zarkon’s “Number Two.” Read More... Netflix's 'Voltron' Gives a Beating Heart to Giant Robots
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archive.org #27438

Every Episode Of Rick And Morty Is The Same (And We Like It That Way) | Inverse

https://www.inverse.com/article/37544-every-episode-of-rick-and-morty-is-the-same-and-we-like-it-that-way
For a show that has multiple dimensions and purge planets, Rick and Morty seems like the last show to follow a structure. Co-Creator Dan Harmon, however, has been a staunch Joseph Campbell fan since his 20’s, and that strict adherence to structure has help make Rick and Morty the show it is today. Read More... Every Episode Of Rick And Morty Is The Same (And We Like It That Way)
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archive.org #27437

A Web-Based Modem | Hackaday

https://hackaday.com/2017/10/18/a-web-based-modem/
If you are beyond a certain age, you will recall when getting on the Internet was preceded by strange buzzing and squawking noises. Modems used tones to transmit and receive data across ordinary telephone lines. There were lots of tricks used to keep edging the speed of modem up until — at the end — you could download (but not upload) at a blazing 56,000 bits per second. [Martin Kirkholt Melhus] decided to recreate a modem. In a Web browser. No kidding.
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archive.org #31342

A Web-Based Modem | Hackaday

https://hackaday.com/2017/10/18/a-web-based-modem
If you are beyond a certain age, you will recall when getting on the Internet was preceded by strange buzzing and squawking noises. Modems used tones to transmit and receive data across ordinary telephone lines. There were lots of tricks used to keep edging the speed of modem up until — at the end — you could download (but not upload) at a blazing 56,000 bits per second. [Martin Kirkholt Melhus] decided to recreate a modem. In a Web browser. No kidding.
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archive.org #27424

No, the FCC can't shut down TV stations just because Donald Trump is mad at the news • The Register

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/10/17/fcc_trump_tv_licenses_fake_news/
America hasn't gone full-blown crazy, yet The head of America's telly watchdog, the FCC, said he cannot follow up on Donald Trump's threat to revoke the broadcast licenses of TV networks that run unflattering news coverage of the US president.…
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archive.org #31343

My adult novels are being reissued with covers to match Walkaway! / Boing Boing

https://boingboing.net/2017/10/18/walkaway-loves-company.html
When I first saw Will Stahle's cover art for my novel Walkaway, I was pleased beyond all reason (and not least because I am an unabashed Stahle fanboy, as he is behind some of the greatest covers of our era, from Yiddish Policeman's Union to Autonomous to A Darker Shade of Magic to All the Birds in the Sky). (more…)
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archive.org #27419

The movement of David Fincher’s camera is a surrogate for your eyes

https://kottke.org/17/10/the-movement-of-david-finchers-camera-is-a-surrogate-for-your-eyes
This is a really keen observation by Evan Puschak about the camera movement in David Fincher’s films: it mimics your eyes in paying attention to the behavior in a scene. The effect is sometimes subtle. When a character shifts even slightly, the camera keeps that person’s eyes and face in the same place in the frame, just as you would if you were in the room with them. Tags: David Fincher   Evan Puschak   film school   movies   video
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archive.org #27418

A Little Beagle Puppy Groans, Whimpers and Rubs His Eyes In an Adorable Effort to Wake Himself Up

https://laughingsquid.com/beagle-puppy-attempts-to-wake-up/
A really cute beagle puppy named Oliver pulled every trick in his arsenal to wake himself up when he felt his beloved human nearby. The little dog stretched, groaned, whimpered, barked and repeatedly rubbed his eyes until he felt ready to face the day. Enormous adorableness ensues as Oliver wakes up from a long nap. Be sure to turn the sound up on this one. Oliver is also very good at not waking himself up, particularly when it comes to going for an unwanted walk. via reddit Maymo the Lemon Beagle Systematically Pops a Bunch of Balloons and Scares Away His Little Sister Australian Shepherd Puppy Wakes Up to Sing Along to ‘Let It Go’ and Goes Back to Sleep Once the Song Ends Maymo the Lemon Beagle Pushes His Sister Penny in a Shopping Cart in an All Around Town Adventure
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archive.org #31344

A Little Beagle Puppy Groans, Whimpers and Rubs His Eyes In an Adorable Effort to Wake Himself Up

https://laughingsquid.com/beagle-puppy-attempts-to-wake-up
A really cute beagle puppy named Oliver pulled every trick in his arsenal to wake himself up when he felt his beloved human nearby. The little dog stretched, groaned, whimpered, barked and repeatedly rubbed his eyes until he felt ready to face the day. Enormous adorableness ensues as Oliver wakes up from a long nap. Be sure to turn the sound up on this one. Oliver is also very good at not waking himself up, particularly when it comes to going for an unwanted walk. via reddit Maymo the Lemon Beagle Systematically Pops a Bunch of Balloons and Scares Away His Little Sister Australian Shepherd Puppy Wakes Up to Sing Along to ‘Let It Go’ and Goes Back to Sleep Once the Song Ends Maymo the Lemon Beagle Pushes His Sister Penny in a Shopping Cart in an All Around Town Adventure
#needs-tags #shared #ttrss
archive.org #27409

jwz: Facebook bans Ladyada

https://www.jwz.org/blog/2017/10/facebook-bans-ladyada/
Hey look! Facebook banned another of my friends! It must be a day ending in "y". Of course, Limor has no idea why this happened. Because commenting on specific accounts, even to the owners of those accounts, is "against policy". If you work for Facebook, quit: There are more Russian bots or whatever they are on Facebook than USA female EEs & CEOs from MIT on Facebook that have USA manufacturing companies in the USA, way to set the world on fire Mark. Zuckerberg, 2010: Zuck: Yeah so if you ever need info about anyone at Harvard Zuck: Just ask Zuck: I have over 4,000 emails, pictures, addresses, SNS [Bro McBro]: What? How'd you manage that one? Zuck: People just submitted it. Zuck: I don't know why. Zuck: They "trust me" Zuck: Dumb fucks It of course goes without saying that, having banned someone with connections and influence, there may shortly be a fauxpology saying that "upon review", whatever triggered this ban did not actually violate their terms of service. (Implied: "this time"). Maybe they will even, in passive voice, throw an anonymous sweatshop contractor under the bus and abstractly "regret" any "inconvenience". People without such influence don't get even that level of royal treatment. This is your irregularly-scheduled reminder: If you work for Facebook, quit. It is morally indefensible for you to use your skills to make that company more powerful. By working there, you are making the world an objectively worse place. I'm sure you can find a job working for a company that you don't have to apologize for all the time. You can do it. I believe in you. Previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously.
#imported:pinboard #needs-tags #shared #ttrss
archive.org #31347

jwz: Facebook bans Ladyada

https://www.jwz.org/blog/2017/10/facebook-bans-ladyada
Hey look! Facebook banned another of my friends! It must be a day ending in "y". Of course, Limor has no idea why this happened. Because commenting on specific accounts, even to the owners of those accounts, is "against policy". If you work for Facebook, quit: There are more Russian bots or whatever they are on Facebook than USA female EEs & CEOs from MIT on Facebook that have USA manufacturing companies in the USA, way to set the world on fire Mark. Zuckerberg, 2010: Zuck: Yeah so if you ever need info about anyone at Harvard Zuck: Just ask Zuck: I have over 4,000 emails, pictures, addresses, SNS [Bro McBro]: What? How'd you manage that one? Zuck: People just submitted it. Zuck: I don't know why. Zuck: They "trust me" Zuck: Dumb fucks It of course goes without saying that, having banned someone with connections and influence, there may shortly be a fauxpology saying that "upon review", whatever triggered this ban did not actually violate their terms of service. (Implied: "this time"). Maybe they will even, in passive voice, throw an anonymous sweatshop contractor under the bus and abstractly "regret" any "inconvenience". People without such influence don't get even that level of royal treatment. This is your irregularly-scheduled reminder: If you work for Facebook, quit. It is morally indefensible for you to use your skills to make that company more powerful. By working there, you are making the world an objectively worse place. I'm sure you can find a job working for a company that you don't have to apologize for all the time. You can do it. I believe in you. Previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously.
#needs-tags #shared #ttrss
archive.org #27405

Retro Arcade Art By CTupa: Dig Dug (1982) - The Retroist

http://www.retroist.com/2017/10/16/retro-arcade-art-ctupa-dig-dug-1982/
Friends, feast your eyes on Christopher Tupa‘s Dig Dug illustration! Not only is it CTupa’s pick for this weeks Retro Arcade Art. Obviously. But it also happens to be one of my favorite video games as well. Much like Pac-Man, there are elements of Dig Dug that match maze games. However in this case you […] The post Retro Arcade Art By CTupa: Dig Dug (1982) appeared first on The Retroist.
#imported:pinboard #needs-tags #shared #ttrss
archive.org #31348

Retro Arcade Art By CTupa: Dig Dug (1982) - The Retroist

http://www.retroist.com/2017/10/16/retro-arcade-art-ctupa-dig-dug-1982
Friends, feast your eyes on Christopher Tupa‘s Dig Dug illustration! Not only is it CTupa’s pick for this weeks Retro Arcade Art. Obviously. But it also happens to be one of my favorite video games as well. Much like Pac-Man, there are elements of Dig Dug that match maze games. However in this case you […] The post Retro Arcade Art By CTupa: Dig Dug (1982) appeared first on The Retroist.
#needs-tags #shared #ttrss
archive.org #27404

Scandroid Cover of Michael Jackson's "Thriller" : outrun

https://www.reddit.com/r/outrun/comments/75xid1/scandroid_cover_of_michael_jacksons_thriller/
Scandroid, the synthwave project of Detroit producer Klayton, is quickly becoming a go-to resource for synth-driven and seasonally appropriate covers: His rendition of Star Wars‘ “The Force Theme” was perfect for May The Fourth, and now he’s getting ready for Halloween with an electric cover of Michael Jackson’s spooky classic “Thriller.” The track premieres today exclusively on Nerdist, and while Jackson’s original doesn’t need any improving, the bombastic synths and punchy percussion make it feel like you’re driving through the set of Miami Vice at 200 miles per hour. The song comes from Scandroid’s upcoming album Monochrome, which also includes the aforementioned Star Wars cover and a bonus remix of “Thriller” by synthwave producer PYLOT. Klayton says that once he decided to put a Halloween-themed track on the album, he knew instantly that “Thriller” was the one: “I knew when I started the album (Monochrome) that I wanted to do a Halloween-related track. It only took me 1/4 of a second to conclude this would be my perfect chance to cover a track I loved during the 80s. I probably watched the ‘Thriller’ music video 100+ times on my parents VCR after I recorded it from MTV.” Monochrome comes out on October 27 and is available for pre-order now. Watch the video for “Thriller” above, listen to the track on Spotify, and check out the album tracklist below.   1. “2518” 2. “Afterglow” 3. “Rendezvous” 4. “Thriller” 5. “Oblivia” 6. “Monochrome” 7. “The Force Theme” 8. “Future Bloodline” 9. “A Thousand Years” 10. “On The Face of The Deep” 11. “The Veil” 12. “Searching For a Lost Horizon” 13. “Thriller (PYLOT Remix)” Featured image: Scandroid submitted by /u/jimmy_rhodes to r/outrun[link] [comments]
#imported:pinboard #needs-tags #shared #ttrss
archive.org #31353

Scandroid Cover of Michael Jackson's "Thriller" : outrun

https://www.reddit.com/r/outrun/comments/75xid1/scandroid_cover_of_michael_jacksons_thriller
Scandroid, the synthwave project of Detroit producer Klayton, is quickly becoming a go-to resource for synth-driven and seasonally appropriate covers: His rendition of Star Wars‘ “The Force Theme” was perfect for May The Fourth, and now he’s getting ready for Halloween with an electric cover of Michael Jackson’s spooky classic “Thriller.” The track premieres today exclusively on Nerdist, and while Jackson’s original doesn’t need any improving, the bombastic synths and punchy percussion make it feel like you’re driving through the set of Miami Vice at 200 miles per hour. The song comes from Scandroid’s upcoming album Monochrome, which also includes the aforementioned Star Wars cover and a bonus remix of “Thriller” by synthwave producer PYLOT. Klayton says that once he decided to put a Halloween-themed track on the album, he knew instantly that “Thriller” was the one: “I knew when I started the album (Monochrome) that I wanted to do a Halloween-related track. It only took me 1/4 of a second to conclude this would be my perfect chance to cover a track I loved during the 80s. I probably watched the ‘Thriller’ music video 100+ times on my parents VCR after I recorded it from MTV.” Monochrome comes out on October 27 and is available for pre-order now. Watch the video for “Thriller” above, listen to the track on Spotify, and check out the album tracklist below.   1. “2518” 2. “Afterglow” 3. “Rendezvous” 4. “Thriller” 5. “Oblivia” 6. “Monochrome” 7. “The Force Theme” 8. “Future Bloodline” 9. “A Thousand Years” 10. “On The Face of The Deep” 11. “The Veil” 12. “Searching For a Lost Horizon” 13. “Thriller (PYLOT Remix)” Featured image: Scandroid submitted by /u/jimmy_rhodes to r/outrun[link] [comments]
#needs-tags #shared #ttrss
archive.org #27386

Simon's Cat Unintentionally Spooks His Skittish Human in a Series of Amusing Halloween Vignettes

https://laughingsquid.com/simons-cat-halloween-special/
In a really amusing series of vignettes for Halloween 2017, a very curious Simon’s Cat unintentionally scares his rather skittish human who’s deeply afraid of both spiders and things that go bump in the night. On a rare trip to the attic, a bored Simon’s Cat happily played with the light switch, which unfortunately brought out the resident spiders and left Simon fearfully clutching his childhood teddy bear. A curious cat uncovers a coven of creepy crawlies. Simon’s Cat FINALLY gets into the attic and gives Simon a spooky surprise! Later on, while Simon was watching a scary movie, Simon’s cat got stuck inside the new retractable sofa and tried to escape in the most convenient of ways. Simon’s Cat Tries to Get His Human’s Attention While Playing With a Spider in ‘Scary Legs’ Simon’s Cat Encounters a Scary Cucumber While Exploring Groceries Bought For a Romantic Dinner Simon’s Cat Tries to Gain Entry Into the Trash Bin Where Yummy Dinner Scraps Waited For Him
#imported:pinboard #needs-tags #shared #ttrss
archive.org #31354

Simon's Cat Unintentionally Spooks His Skittish Human in a Series of Amusing Halloween Vignettes

https://laughingsquid.com/simons-cat-halloween-special
In a really amusing series of vignettes for Halloween 2017, a very curious Simon’s Cat unintentionally scares his rather skittish human who’s deeply afraid of both spiders and things that go bump in the night. On a rare trip to the attic, a bored Simon’s Cat happily played with the light switch, which unfortunately brought out the resident spiders and left Simon fearfully clutching his childhood teddy bear. A curious cat uncovers a coven of creepy crawlies. Simon’s Cat FINALLY gets into the attic and gives Simon a spooky surprise! Later on, while Simon was watching a scary movie, Simon’s cat got stuck inside the new retractable sofa and tried to escape in the most convenient of ways. Simon’s Cat Tries to Get His Human’s Attention While Playing With a Spider in ‘Scary Legs’ Simon’s Cat Encounters a Scary Cucumber While Exploring Groceries Bought For a Romantic Dinner Simon’s Cat Tries to Gain Entry Into the Trash Bin Where Yummy Dinner Scraps Waited For Him
#needs-tags #shared #ttrss
archive.org #27384

A Church of the SubGenius documentary is in the works / Boing Boing

https://boingboing.net/2017/10/12/a-church-of-the-subgenius-docu.html
Folks, there's going to be a documentary about that crazy cult/religion known as the Church of the SubGenius. But only if you send J.R. "Bob" Dobbs boat loads of cash! Now more than ever we feel that the story of the Church of the SubGenius needs to be told. There's a core of ideas within the SubGenius ethos – of fighting oppression with humor, community and creativity, of using absurdity as a nonviolent weapon, giving time, permission and priority to expression, creation, and zaniness with friends – that we think has great value we believe these ideas are necessary in today's world and that our film about the SubGenius is the perfect way to invoke them. Amongst all the spaceships, frop, pipes, eye-bludgeoning graphics, bulldada, yeti ancestors, (and yes, ‘macho spoutings’), we hope you will fund this film so you can join our merry band of pranksters on the culture-jam of the century! It’s going to be a lot of fun!!! Previously: Crowdfunding a Church of the Subgenius alien contact beam (RED)
#imported:pinboard #needs-tags #shared #ttrss
archive.org #27383

Nothing To Do With Arbroath: Man arrested for allegedly running around naked with bells hanging from his genitals

http://arbroath.blogspot.com/2016/05/man-arrested-for-allegedly-running.html
A man from Riverton, Utah, was arrested on Thursday for what police are describing as a “rather unique” way of exposing himself. At about 4:50pm, police responded to a report of a man “running around naked with bells hanging from his genitals” near the Diamond Fork hot pots in the Spanish Fork Canyon, according to Sgt. Spencer Cannon of the Utah County Sheriff’s Office. Cannon said multiple girls at the hot pots, ranging from 8 to 16 years old, witnessed the man running around naked and called police. When officers arrived they found the man, identified as 64-year-old Kenneth Allen Beck, fully clothed by a trailhead parking lot, Cannon said. Cannon added Beck told deputies he did it to “see their reaction” and that Beck was cited by police on suspicion of lewdness involving a child, a Class A misdemeanor. According to Cannon, Beck was convicted of a Class B misdemeanor for indecent exposure stemming from a lewdness case in 2005.
#imported:pinboard #needs-tags #shared #ttrss
archive.org #26481

Tesla’s Solid Metal Snake Will Have Sex with Your Car to Charge It | Nerdist

http://nerdist.com/teslas-solid-metal-snake-will-have-sex-with-your-car-to-charge-it/
On the last day of last year, Elon Musk tweeted this: Btw, we are actually working on a charger that automatically moves out from the wall & connects like a solid metal snake. For realz. — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 31, 2014 For realz y’all. Now, just 8 months later, Tesla Motors tweets this: Charger prototype finding its way to Model S. https://t.co/L9E4MR642G — Tesla Motors (@TeslaMotors) August 6, 2015 Totes realz. Tesla looks like it will indeed deliver an automated snake charger that Teslas will charge with once you park your car in the garage. It’s a fascinating and undeniably cool concept that just also happens to look totally like robot sex in real life. So, watch it plug in over and over again? Awww yeah. I feel like this is NSFWIYAAR (not suitable for work if you are a robot), but I can’t look away. Creepiness aside, the tech on display here is impressive. Both the snake and the car have to first know that they are in range of each other, the car has to open its charging port, and then the snake has to utilize some kind of three dimensional data and dozens of motors to carefully articulate itself into the port. See? That doesn’t sound so NSFWIYAAR…right?
#imported:pinboard #needs-tags #shared #ttrss
archive.org #31565

Tesla’s Solid Metal Snake Will Have Sex with Your Car to Charge It | Nerdist

http://nerdist.com/teslas-solid-metal-snake-will-have-sex-with-your-car-to-charge-it
On the last day of last year, Elon Musk tweeted this: Btw, we are actually working on a charger that automatically moves out from the wall & connects like a solid metal snake. For realz. — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 31, 2014 For realz y’all. Now, just 8 months later, Tesla Motors tweets this: Charger prototype finding its way to Model S. https://t.co/L9E4MR642G — Tesla Motors (@TeslaMotors) August 6, 2015 Totes realz. Tesla looks like it will indeed deliver an automated snake charger that Teslas will charge with once you park your car in the garage. It’s a fascinating and undeniably cool concept that just also happens to look totally like robot sex in real life. So, watch it plug in over and over again? Awww yeah. I feel like this is NSFWIYAAR (not suitable for work if you are a robot), but I can’t look away. Creepiness aside, the tech on display here is impressive. Both the snake and the car have to first know that they are in range of each other, the car has to open its charging port, and then the snake has to utilize some kind of three dimensional data and dozens of motors to carefully articulate itself into the port. See? That doesn’t sound so NSFWIYAAR…right?
#needs-tags #shared #ttrss
archive.org #25875

The Moon crossing the sunlit face of the Earth

http://kottke.org/15/08/the-moon-crossing-the-sunlit-face-of-the-earth
This is just flat-out incredible... NASA's Deep Space Climate Observatory satellite captured a series of photos of the Moon as it moved between it and the Earth. The image shows the "dark side" of the Moon, which we can't see from Earth because it's always pointed away from us. The lunar far side lacks the large, dark, basaltic plains, or maria, that are so prominent on the Earth-facing side. The largest far side features are Mare Moscoviense in the upper left and Tsiolkovskiy crater in the lower left. A thin sliver of shadowed area of moon is visible on its right side. "It is surprising how much brighter Earth is than the moon," said Adam Szabo, DSCOVR project scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. "Our planet is a truly brilliant object in dark space compared to the lunar surface." I don't know why, but this image gives me chills up my spine! Is anyone else freaking out about this? Tags: Earth   Moon   NASA   space
#imported:pinboard #needs-tags #shared #ttrss
archive.org #25872

Behold the $15,000 Ultra-Limited Edition PAC-MAN Watch | Nerdist

http://nerdist.com/behold-the-15000-ultra-limited-edition-pac-man-watch/
You’re going to need an awful lot of quarters if you want to literally wear your Pac-Man love on your sleeve. For a cool 1,900,000 yen (approximately $15,480.46 USD), you can waka waka walk away with an officially licensed “Pacman Level II 40 Colours” watch from Romain Jerome. The Swiss company is a purveyor of fine luxury watches, but they’re really focusing on exclusivity this time around; in fact, only 20 of the video game-inspired time pieces will be available worldwide. To make it even more challenging for potential customers, the watch can’t be ordered online. Rather, you must buy it in person from a list of pre-approved retailers. Hint: that weird guy Derek who always has watches taped to the inside of his trenchcoat isn’t one of them. In case you’re a gearhead or Sylar from Heroes, here’s the official description from Romain Jerome’s site: “46mm. Black PVD-coated titanium case. Grainy-textured stellar-patterned back with Pac-Man medallion. Black 3D dial. Pixelated PAC-MAN characters and strawberries lacquered with different colours. Black rubber with grainy-textured interior of stellar-patterned strap.” Ooh la la, right? In addition to Pac-Man, Romain Jerome also has a collection of watches inspired by Batman, Space Invaders, and Back to the Future. And yes, you’d likely have to be as rich as Bruce Wayne if you wanted to buy them all. What other classic video game franchises deserved to be turned into absurdly overpriced luxury watches? Let us know in the comments below. Dan Casey is the senior editor of Nerdist. You can follow him on Twitter (@Osteoferocious). HT: Crunchyroll
#imported:pinboard #needs-tags #shared #ttrss
archive.org #31593

Behold the $15,000 Ultra-Limited Edition PAC-MAN Watch | Nerdist

http://nerdist.com/behold-the-15000-ultra-limited-edition-pac-man-watch
You’re going to need an awful lot of quarters if you want to literally wear your Pac-Man love on your sleeve. For a cool 1,900,000 yen (approximately $15,480.46 USD), you can waka waka walk away with an officially licensed “Pacman Level II 40 Colours” watch from Romain Jerome. The Swiss company is a purveyor of fine luxury watches, but they’re really focusing on exclusivity this time around; in fact, only 20 of the video game-inspired time pieces will be available worldwide. To make it even more challenging for potential customers, the watch can’t be ordered online. Rather, you must buy it in person from a list of pre-approved retailers. Hint: that weird guy Derek who always has watches taped to the inside of his trenchcoat isn’t one of them. In case you’re a gearhead or Sylar from Heroes, here’s the official description from Romain Jerome’s site: “46mm. Black PVD-coated titanium case. Grainy-textured stellar-patterned back with Pac-Man medallion. Black 3D dial. Pixelated PAC-MAN characters and strawberries lacquered with different colours. Black rubber with grainy-textured interior of stellar-patterned strap.” Ooh la la, right? In addition to Pac-Man, Romain Jerome also has a collection of watches inspired by Batman, Space Invaders, and Back to the Future. And yes, you’d likely have to be as rich as Bruce Wayne if you wanted to buy them all. What other classic video game franchises deserved to be turned into absurdly overpriced luxury watches? Let us know in the comments below. Dan Casey is the senior editor of Nerdist. You can follow him on Twitter (@Osteoferocious). HT: Crunchyroll
#needs-tags #shared #ttrss
archive.org #25715

You Won’t Be Able to Ride This Bike | Nerdist

http://nerdist.com/you-wont-be-able-to-ride-this-bike/
Riding a bike is just like…riding a bike, right? Once you learn how to propel yourself along on two wheels, you’ll never forget how to do so, and it’s always easy to jump back in the seat. But change just one skill that riding a bike involves — the way the handlebars turn — and everything falls apart. Below, Destin from Smarter Everyday shows that the bike riding “algorithm” our brains develop is actually quite fragile. You can’t change any aspect of riding a bike without unlearning how to ride a bike in the first place: I had the same thought Destin had: I would be able to figure it out pretty quick even with the steering reversed. But only after months and months of practice could he master the new locomotion. When he finally was able to move more than a few feet, he couldn’t ride a normal bike anymore. Destin may be making a lot of claims based on a few people’s experiences, like that his son could master the bike more quickly because of brain plasticity, for example, but I think he has a point. The brain comes up with models of the world that work most of the time, and burns them into neural pathways that are harder to change the more they are used. The eureka moment was when Destin could suddenly ride the normal bike again, after eight months of trying to unlearn it. His brain apparently switched back to a model it was more familiar with. The video is a great example of how we learn, and how knowledge and understanding are not the same thing. And it’s a great idea for an unwinnable bet…
#imported:pinboard #needs-tags #shared #ttrss
archive.org #31608

You Won’t Be Able to Ride This Bike | Nerdist

http://nerdist.com/you-wont-be-able-to-ride-this-bike
Riding a bike is just like…riding a bike, right? Once you learn how to propel yourself along on two wheels, you’ll never forget how to do so, and it’s always easy to jump back in the seat. But change just one skill that riding a bike involves — the way the handlebars turn — and everything falls apart. Below, Destin from Smarter Everyday shows that the bike riding “algorithm” our brains develop is actually quite fragile. You can’t change any aspect of riding a bike without unlearning how to ride a bike in the first place: I had the same thought Destin had: I would be able to figure it out pretty quick even with the steering reversed. But only after months and months of practice could he master the new locomotion. When he finally was able to move more than a few feet, he couldn’t ride a normal bike anymore. Destin may be making a lot of claims based on a few people’s experiences, like that his son could master the bike more quickly because of brain plasticity, for example, but I think he has a point. The brain comes up with models of the world that work most of the time, and burns them into neural pathways that are harder to change the more they are used. The eureka moment was when Destin could suddenly ride the normal bike again, after eight months of trying to unlearn it. His brain apparently switched back to a model it was more familiar with. The video is a great example of how we learn, and how knowledge and understanding are not the same thing. And it’s a great idea for an unwinnable bet…
#needs-tags #shared #ttrss
archive.org #25646

Erector Sets are more fun than the Sum of their Parts | The Retroist

http://www.retroist.com/2015/04/23/erector-sets-are-more-fun-than-the-sum-of-their-parts/
Here is a great ad for Erector from the early eighties that features a kid floating in a field of Erector parts and sets. I always thought that, like Lego, Erector would only grow in popularity. Sadly, while Erector is still going strong, it is nothing like the success of those toy bricks.
#imported:pinboard #needs-tags #shared #ttrss
archive.org #31617

Erector Sets are more fun than the Sum of their Parts | The Retroist

http://www.retroist.com/2015/04/23/erector-sets-are-more-fun-than-the-sum-of-their-parts
Here is a great ad for Erector from the early eighties that features a kid floating in a field of Erector parts and sets. I always thought that, like Lego, Erector would only grow in popularity. Sadly, while Erector is still going strong, it is nothing like the success of those toy bricks.
#needs-tags #shared #ttrss
archive.org #25635

Capt. Janeway cosplayer anticipating real coffee aboard International Space Station | Polygon

http://www.polygon.com/2015/4/17/8444831/star-trek-janeway-coffee-international-space-station
On Tuesday Space X launched another shipment of supplies off to the International Space Station, and there to receive it today is none other than Captain Janeway. Sam Cristoforetti is an Italian astronaut currently aboard the International Space Station. She's been in orbit since November of last year, and from the looks of it she did a little extra packing for the trip. She's clearly wearing a Starfleet uniform and a tiny ISS pin in place of the traditional chevron. "There's coffee in that nebula"... ehm, I mean... in that #Dragon. pic.twitter.com/9MYrqIOXnI — Sam Cristoforetti (@AstroSamantha) April 17, 2015 The text of her tweet is an in-joke that fans of the Star Trek: Voyager series will recognize. In Voyager's fifth... Continue reading…
#imported:pinboard #needs-tags #shared #ttrss
archive.org #25614

Moved Permanently

http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/io9/vip/~3/RKrTUzICrjs/the-nopest-cat-is-here-for-all-your-gif-needs-1648320558
This is Momotaro, a cat whose documented response to unwanted food is a universal expression of "No. No. No. No. No." This cat has ruined my allegiance to the Nope Octopus. Read more...
#imported:pinboard #needs-tags #shared #ttrss
archive.org #25243

Using the Wrong Screw: A Painful Lesson in iPhone Repair

http://hackaday.com/2014/10/19/using-the-wrong-screw-a-painful-lesson-in-iphone-repair/
If you’ve ever had to repair an iPhone for a friend, you’ll know they have a ridiculous number of screws. Most companies standardize screws in their products, but since Apple doesn’t expect you to fix a phone yourself… they may have let this one slide. You see, each of these screws is different. The red ones are 1.7mm long, the yellow one, 1.3mm, and the orange one, 1.2mm. Guess what happens if you install either red or yellow screws into the orange spot, since your eyesight isn’t good enough to notice a 0.1mm difference? The screw will cut into the PCB and break several 50 micron traces, as shown in the picture above, causing a blue screen error on the phone. Fun stuff. [Sam Schmidt] is the owner of a repair outfit called iRepairNational, and he and his team spent a day trying to figure out the problem – it’s not exactly easy to spot. They’ve managed to repair it by cutting thin strips  of copper foil (the width of a human hair) and floating it into place using the surface tension of the flux they were using for soldering. On average it takes them around 2 hours to do the repair, though they’ve done a few in just under an hour. Since discovering and sharing the problem, they’ve had customers around the world sending in phones for repair – often at the fault of someone else trying to repair something completely different in the phone, and then using the wrong screw as they put it all back together. Filed under: Cellphone Hacks, iphone hacks
#imported:pinboard #needs-tags #shared #ttrss
archive.org #31752

Using the Wrong Screw: A Painful Lesson in iPhone Repair

http://hackaday.com/2014/10/19/using-the-wrong-screw-a-painful-lesson-in-iphone-repair
If you’ve ever had to repair an iPhone for a friend, you’ll know they have a ridiculous number of screws. Most companies standardize screws in their products, but since Apple doesn’t expect you to fix a phone yourself… they may have let this one slide. You see, each of these screws is different. The red ones are 1.7mm long, the yellow one, 1.3mm, and the orange one, 1.2mm. Guess what happens if you install either red or yellow screws into the orange spot, since your eyesight isn’t good enough to notice a 0.1mm difference? The screw will cut into the PCB and break several 50 micron traces, as shown in the picture above, causing a blue screen error on the phone. Fun stuff. [Sam Schmidt] is the owner of a repair outfit called iRepairNational, and he and his team spent a day trying to figure out the problem – it’s not exactly easy to spot. They’ve managed to repair it by cutting thin strips  of copper foil (the width of a human hair) and floating it into place using the surface tension of the flux they were using for soldering. On average it takes them around 2 hours to do the repair, though they’ve done a few in just under an hour. Since discovering and sharing the problem, they’ve had customers around the world sending in phones for repair – often at the fault of someone else trying to repair something completely different in the phone, and then using the wrong screw as they put it all back together. Filed under: Cellphone Hacks, iphone hacks
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archive.org #25241

Nothing To Do With Arbroath: Woman who hit own car while driving employer's van seeks payment from them for damage done

http://arbroath.blogspot.com/2014/10/woman-who-hit-own-car-while-driving.html
By her own recollection, Megan Campbell, an employee of St. Paul Parks and Recreation in Minnesota was driving a supply van back from a city storage building when she turned a corner, causing serious front-bumper damage to a parked car. The damaged 2001 Nissan Pathfinder in question wasn't just anybody's vehicle. It was her own. Now, Campbell has filed a claim against the city seeking $1,600 to $1,900 from public coffers for damage caused to her personal vehicle by a city worker - herself. "Because I was working for the city and driving the city vehicle, I feel they are responsible for paying for the damage done to my car," Campbell wrote in a "notice of claim" form received this week by the city clerk's office. Campbell, a 2014 college grad, has worked for the Parks and Recreation Department since May. "I think I can safely say this is a very unusual claim," said City Clerk Shari Moore. Parks department spokesman Brad Meyer said the incident will be reviewed by the city's accident review board, as is customary for any accident involving city employees driving city vehicles. "The outcome of that will determine next steps with the employee ... and help inform the claim proceedings," he said.
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archive.org #25211

The Legalization of Marijuana Could Reduce Alcoholism

http://io9.com/the-legalization-of-marijuana-could-reduce-alcoholism-1644742208
Across the U.S., people are indulging in a drug that is imposing huge costs on themselves and society. It's called alcohol, and its excessive use has led to approximately 88,000 deaths per year. A growing body of research suggests marijuana could lower that number, since people who smoke pot tend to drink less. Read more...
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archive.org #25206

This Dungeons and Dragons Animated Series Illustration is ALL Action | The Retroist

http://www.retroist.com/2014/10/09/this-dungeons-and-dragons-animated-series-illustration-is-all-action/
I would love to say “when”, but sadly I still must say “if” they ever reboot the Dungeons and Dragons Animated Series, they should take a look at this illustration by Alan Patrick. Every bit of the paper is filled … Continue reading →
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archive.org #31769

240 Killed In Stampede After Bucketful Of Oscars Just Dumped On Stage | The Onion - America's Finest News Source

http://www.theonion.com/articles/240-killed-in-stampede-after-bucketful-of-oscars-j,31429/
LOS ANGELES—In one of the most devastating tragedies in the history of the Academy Awards, 240 attendees were killed in a deadly stampede at Hollywood’s Dolby Theater Sunday after a bucketful of Oscars was just dumped onto the stage, triggerin...
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archive.org #32431

240 Killed In Stampede After Bucketful Of Oscars Just Dumped On Stage | The Onion - America's Finest News Source

http://www.theonion.com/articles/240-killed-in-stampede-after-bucketful-of-oscars-j,31429
LOS ANGELES—In one of the most devastating tragedies in the history of the Academy Awards, 240 attendees were killed in a deadly stampede at Hollywood’s Dolby Theater Sunday after a bucketful of Oscars was just dumped onto the stage, triggerin...
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archive.org #23444

Unsuspecting Movie Stars Follow Fake Red Carpet Into Back Of Kidnappers’ Van | The Onion - America's Finest News Source

http://www.theonion.com/articles/unsuspecting-movie-stars-follow-fake-red-carpet-in,31427/
HOLLYWOOD, CA—Los Angeles police confirmed that Denzel Washington, Naomi Watts, Joaquin Phoenix, and nearly a dozen other top-name actors had gone missing ahead of Sunday’s Academy Awards after following a fake red carpet laid outside the Dolb...
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archive.org #32432

Unsuspecting Movie Stars Follow Fake Red Carpet Into Back Of Kidnappers’ Van | The Onion - America's Finest News Source

http://www.theonion.com/articles/unsuspecting-movie-stars-follow-fake-red-carpet-in,31427
HOLLYWOOD, CA—Los Angeles police confirmed that Denzel Washington, Naomi Watts, Joaquin Phoenix, and nearly a dozen other top-name actors had gone missing ahead of Sunday’s Academy Awards after following a fake red carpet laid outside the Dolb...
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archive.org #23443

Nothing To Do With Arbroath: Man faces jail for romantic releasing of heart-shaped helium-filled balloons

http://arbroath.blogspot.com/2013/02/man-faces-jail-for-romantic-releasing.html
Love was in the air for Anthony Brasfield when he released a dozen heart-shaped balloons into the sky over Dania Beach, Florida, with his sweetheart. Brasfield, 40, and his girlfriend, Shaquina Baxter, were in the parking lot of the Motel 6 on Dania Beach Boulevard when he released the shiny red and silver balloons and watched them float away on Sunday morning. Also watching the romantic gesture was a Florida Highway Patrol trooper, who instead noted probable cause for an environmental crime. Endangered marine turtle species and birds, such as wood storks and brown pelicans, seek refuge in John U. Lloyd State Park, about 1.5 miles east of the motel. Brasfield was charged with polluting to harm humans, animals, plants, etc. under the Florida Air and Water Pollution Control Act. The third-degree felony is punishable by up to five years in prison.
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archive.org #23442

It's Okay To Be Smart • “Hi, I’m a giraffe. When I’m not munching on the...

http://www.itsokaytobesmart.com/post/43598537346/hi-im-a-giraffe-when-im-not-munching-on-the
“Hi, I’m a giraffe. When I’m not munching on the finest arboreal snackitude and generally looking like a tall drink of awesome, I’m checking out the internet’s finest nature GIFs on Head Like An Orange.” Seriously. You guys are following Head Like An Orange, right? Glorious stuff.
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archive.org #23364

Deadpool and Harley Quinn both lose their minds in their own version of The Notebook

http://io9.com/5984822/deadpool-and-harley-quinn-both-lose-their-minds-in-their-own-version-of-the-notebook
Some people like their romantic comedies with a heaping scoop of blood. This past week, CBR's The Line it is Drawn paid dubious tribute to the wonders of love by asking their guest artists to draw comic book characters coupled up. Some of the fictional pairings enjoyed romantic rooftop dates while others painted the town red with the blood of their enemies. (Let's just say that you don't want to get between Damien Wayne, Hit Girl, and their root beer float.) This nutty take on The Notebook comes from Marco D'Alfonso, who is no stranger to putting Deadpool in unexpected places. Check out the rest of the entries at The Line it is Drawn, via Xombie DIRGE.
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archive.org #23328

why you need to host your own stuff | D’Arcy Norman dot net

http://darcynorman.net/2013/02/15/why-you-need-to-host-your-own-stuff/
“Use Posterous,” they said. “It’s easy. Just write your posts there. No need to run your own blog.” Today, Posterous announced they’ll shut down in 3 months. On April 30th, we will turn off posterous.com and our mobile apps in order to focus 100% of our efforts on Twitter. This means that as of April 30, Posterous Spaces will no longer be available either to view or to edit. Posterous will no longer be available to either view or edit. Boom. Gone. Yet another hosted service that made it so super-easy to do stuff that you’d never ever have to waste time running your own stuff, because only stupid luddites that don’t get how awesome hosted services are would bother to waste their time doing that. If you don’t manage your own online stuff, it will eventually disappear. If you do manage your own stuff, you need to have backups so that you can spin your stuff up on a different hosting provider when your current provider disappears. Reclaim. Own your stuff. Step up. Pick up your game, people.
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archive.org #32474

why you need to host your own stuff | D’Arcy Norman dot net

http://darcynorman.net/2013/02/15/why-you-need-to-host-your-own-stuff
“Use Posterous,” they said. “It’s easy. Just write your posts there. No need to run your own blog.” Today, Posterous announced they’ll shut down in 3 months. On April 30th, we will turn off posterous.com and our mobile apps in order to focus 100% of our efforts on Twitter. This means that as of April 30, Posterous Spaces will no longer be available either to view or to edit. Posterous will no longer be available to either view or edit. Boom. Gone. Yet another hosted service that made it so super-easy to do stuff that you’d never ever have to waste time running your own stuff, because only stupid luddites that don’t get how awesome hosted services are would bother to waste their time doing that. If you don’t manage your own online stuff, it will eventually disappear. If you do manage your own stuff, you need to have backups so that you can spin your stuff up on a different hosting provider when your current provider disappears. Reclaim. Own your stuff. Step up. Pick up your game, people.
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archive.org #23295

Nothing To Do With Arbroath: Giant stomping rabbit scared burglar out of family home

http://arbroath.blogspot.com/2013/02/giant-stomping-rabbit-scared-burglar.html
A petrified burglar fled a family home in the middle of the night after coming face to face with their giant pet rabbit. Kimberley May, her fiance Martin, and their three-year-old daughter Olivia were all sound asleep when the thief broke into their house. But as the raider rifled through cupboards the noise woke up Toby the family’s British Giant bunny in his kitchen cage. The 4.5kg, two-feet long pet began stomping so loudly on the floor that the intruder was caught on the hop and left. Kimberley, 30, said: “We went to bed on Wednesday at about 10pm. In the early hours of the morning Toby our rabbit did five loud thumps. I sort of half woke up then realised he’d stopped and went back to sleep. When I went downstairs every single cupboard and drawer were open, there were bits out everywhere, then we started noticing things were missing and we phoned the police.” Kimberley is convinced that two year-old Toby’s thumping scared the thief off from their house in Plymouth, Devon. She found a hoard of items left piled up on the sofa which she thinks the burglar was preparing to take but left behind. She added: “We think that when the rabbit thumped it scared the burglar off and they left all the stuff they were going to take. He’s like a little dog, if you whistle him he comes. “The rabbit was just traumatised in his cage, shaking. He’s usually really friendly but he tried to go for the policeman.” Although the thief managed to take some valuables Kimberley fears the break-in could have been even worse had it not been for Toby. She added: “If he hadn’t been scared off he could have come upstairs looking for things. My daughter was asleep up there – it could have been really dangerous. Toby has done the job of a guard dog. We’re so proud of him.”
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archive.org #23286

We can't stop watching Kyle MachLachlan dance the Twin Peaks Harlem Shake

http://io9.com/5984325/we-cant-stop-watching-kyle-machlachlan-dance-the-twin-peaks-harlem-shake
Holy crap someone got Kyle MachLachlan to do a Twin Peaks style Harlem Shake. It's.. hurting... our brains. So much amazing and so much terrible wrapped into one tiny video. Hate it or love it, you won't be able to stop watching it. For those unaware, the Harlem Shake is a dance. For more information see here, here and here. H/T to Russ Fischer
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archive.org #23283

Nothing To Do With Arbroath: Man set fire to packet of peanuts before trying to make love to ambulance at bus station

http://arbroath.blogspot.com/2013/02/man-set-fire-to-packet-of-peanuts.html
A man set fire to a packet of peanuts and tried making love to an ambulance, North Devon Magistrates' Court has heard. Calum Ward, 25, of Barnstaple, was spotted by police at  Barnstaple bus station on November 12. Ward was spotted on CCTV in a phone box setting light to a packet of peanuts while also punching them. He then approached a nearby ambulance and spread himself in front of it. Mark Haddow, for the defence, said the attending police officer commented: "It looks as though he is attempting to make love to the front of the ambulance." After being searched Ward was found to be in possession of cannabis and amphetamine. Ward was sentenced to a community order with a supervision requirement for six months and ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £60.
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archive.org #23282

memeorandum: New Study Finds Koch Bros. Tried to Start Tea Party Movement in 2002 (Kevin Grandia/Firedoglake)

http://www.memeorandum.com/130211/p95#a130211p95
Kevin Grandia / Firedoglake:New Study Finds Koch Bros. Tried to Start Tea Party Movement in 2002  —  Were David Koch (and his brother Charles) planning to astroturf the Tea Party even earlier than formerly suspected?  —  Shattering the public perception that the Tea Party is a spontaneous popular citizens movement …
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archive.org #23252

Soon, 3D printers could be building houses on the Moon out of lunar dust

http://io9.com/5980863/new-proposal-for-3d-printed-houses-on-the-moon-made-from-lunar-dust
London-based design firm Foster+Partners aims to partner-up with the European Space Agency, and build structures on the Moon from the regolith found on the surface. The inflatable scaffolding would be manufactured on Earth, then transported to the Moon and covered with a durable shell constructed by robotically-driven 3D printers. All images courtesy Foster+Partners. This is such a brilliant idea. The scheme would take advantage of the raw materials already found on the lunar surface, while at the same time offering a highly scalable and efficient model for construction. Indeed, the idea of using the lunar dust — known as regolith — has been considered for many years. And in fact, back in 2010, researchers from Washington State University discovered that artificial regolith — a compound consisting of silicon, aluminium, calcium, iron, and magnesium — could be used by 3D printers to create solid objects, including tools. Should the plan be put into action, a research expedition or colony would set up base in the southern polar regions of the Moon where sunlight is constant. During construction, the base would be inflated to become a dome to provide the initial scaffolding. Layers of 3D printed material would be iteratively layered over the dome to create a strong, protective shell. To ensure strength, the structure would be made of hollow closed-cellular structures. Each house would be able to accommodate four people, and could be extended should the need arise. For now, Foster+Partners is still in the design and proof-of-concept phase. So to that end, they're looking to create a smaller version using artificial regolith in a vacuum chamber. Sources: Foster+Partners | DesignTaxi | BBC
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archive.org #23205

Gender-flipped fairy tale princes ditch their glass shoes and let down their beard hair

http://io9.com/5981164/genderflipped-fairy-tale-princes-ditch-their-glass-shoes-and-let-down-their-beard-hair
Yudi Chen has a series of wonderfully stylized fairy tale illustrations with one important difference: the genders of all of the characters have been reversed. That means that the Beast must win the heart of Beau, the evil king demands the heart of his stepson Snow White, and Rapunzel has the most amazing beard you've ever seen. We're suckers for genderflipped art in our pop culture, but it's especially interesting to reconsider these classic stories with the gender roles reversed. You can see the rest of the series and purchase prints from Chen's Society6 store. Gender Reversed Fairy Tales [Yudi Chen via The Mary Sue]
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archive.org #23204

fuck yeah dementia!!1!

http://fuckyeahdementia.com/post/41372683383/off-the-wall-geek-so-i-went-on-omegle-today-out
off-the-wall-geek: So I went on Omegle today out of boredom and I meet up with three police officers from Iraq. We all became best friends and had a competition of “who can balance an object on their head the longest.” I chose a shoe and they chose a gun. I ended up winning with the shoe. I think this screenshot really captures the spirit.
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archive.org #23132

Google Chrome Is My Browser Of Choice, Even On The Famicom - Attract Mode

http://attractmo.de/google-chrome-is-my-browser-of-choice-even-on-the-famicom/
Courtesy of Morgan Conley comes the Famicom Software Project, which emphasizes the latter half of the console’s full name, that being the Family Computer. To be honest, it’s not the wackiest ideas in the world. After all, Nintendo did release Family BASIC in Japan, which allowed one to create their own games for the platform. The above reminds of the time someone created a special cart that allows the Sega Genesis to run Mac OS, which again is not too far-fetched, given how that system’s main processor is the Motorola 68000, which was the heart of Macintosh during its earliest days. Unfortunately, I’m unable to find any images online, circa 2013 (happy new year, by the way). Though this old Sega-16 forum thread has some details. Anyhow, Conley also created the following to show what the Famicom version of Photoshop would be like… Thanks to Albotas for the head’s up! The post Google Chrome Is My Browser Of Choice, Even On The Famicom appeared first on Attract Mode.
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archive.org #32579

Google Chrome Is My Browser Of Choice, Even On The Famicom - Attract Mode

http://attractmo.de/google-chrome-is-my-browser-of-choice-even-on-the-famicom
Courtesy of Morgan Conley comes the Famicom Software Project, which emphasizes the latter half of the console’s full name, that being the Family Computer. To be honest, it’s not the wackiest ideas in the world. After all, Nintendo did release Family BASIC in Japan, which allowed one to create their own games for the platform. The above reminds of the time someone created a special cart that allows the Sega Genesis to run Mac OS, which again is not too far-fetched, given how that system’s main processor is the Motorola 68000, which was the heart of Macintosh during its earliest days. Unfortunately, I’m unable to find any images online, circa 2013 (happy new year, by the way). Though this old Sega-16 forum thread has some details. Anyhow, Conley also created the following to show what the Famicom version of Photoshop would be like… Thanks to Albotas for the head’s up! The post Google Chrome Is My Browser Of Choice, Even On The Famicom appeared first on Attract Mode.
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archive.org #22992

Supreme Court Justices Drowsily Bid One Another Good Night While Drifting Off To Sleep In Giant Shared Bed | The Onion - America's Finest News Source

http://www.theonion.com/articles/supreme-court-justices-drowsily-bid-one-another-go,27624/
WASHINGTON—As night settled over the nation’s capital Wednesday and a bright, full moon hung amid the twinkling stars and cast long shadows over the National Mall, all nine Supreme Court justices could be overheard drowsily bidding one another...
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archive.org #32580

Supreme Court Justices Drowsily Bid One Another Good Night While Drifting Off To Sleep In Giant Shared Bed | The Onion - America's Finest News Source

http://www.theonion.com/articles/supreme-court-justices-drowsily-bid-one-another-go,27624
WASHINGTON—As night settled over the nation’s capital Wednesday and a bright, full moon hung amid the twinkling stars and cast long shadows over the National Mall, all nine Supreme Court justices could be overheard drowsily bidding one another...
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archive.org #22991

Of Course House Republicans are Trying to Stop Hurricane Sandy Relief Funds

http://gawker.com/5971985/of-course-house-republicans-are-trying-to-stop-hurricane-sandy-relief-funds
Hurricane Sandy relief efforts continued over the holidays with volunteers dropping off meals on Christmas eve and confidential documents being returned from the wreckage to their rightful owners. But good will can only go so far and victims in the north east are still waiting for federal aid to trickle in. More »
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archive.org #22975

A virus that reprograms your pacemaker to deliver an electric shock

http://io9.com/5969986/a-virus-that-reprograms-your-pacemaker-to-deliver-an-electric-shock
What's likely to become a health threat you never expected next year? 4Chan griefers could actually deliver death or injury from the safety of their forums with a virus designed to infect medical devices. Many of these devices, such as pacemakers, can be reprogrammed wirelessly. And that means bad guys could reprogram your pacemaker (or insulin delivery system) with some bad code. No, it's not science fiction. The John J. Reilly Center at University of Notre Dame has released its first annual "List of Emerging Ethical Dilemmas and Policy Issues in Science and Technology" for 2013, and near the top of the list is "hacking into medical devices." They write: Barnaby Jack, a hacker and director of embedded device security at IOActive Inc., recently demonstrated the vulnerability of a pacemaker by breaching the security of the wireless device from his laptop and reprogramming it to deliver an 830-volt shock. Because many devices are programmed to allow doctors easy access in case reprogramming is necessary in an emergency, the design of many of these devices is not geared toward security. We don't yet have evidence of a hacker breaching the security of a medical device with malicious intent, although we now know that it's possible, and over the last few months, government and health care agencies have been discussing the best ways to protect patients. This fall, the US Government Accountability Office released a report detailing their concerns about how hostile actors could attack people with remotely-programmable medical devices in their bodies. The GAO notes reassuringly: Although researchers have recently demonstrated the potential for incidents resulting from intentional threats in two devices-an implantable cardioverter defibrillator and an insulin pump-no such actual incidents are known to have occurred, according to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). So nobody has been hurt yet, thankfully. But if we take no steps to secure these medical devices, next year could mark the first assassination by computer virus. Read more of the Reilly Center's report on emerging ethical dilemmas and policy issues on their website.
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archive.org #22931

As Commander Riker ponders, the Enterprise loses another member of her crew

http://io9.com/5970847/as-commander-riker-ponders-the-enterprise-loses-another-member-of-her-crew
As if traveling into deadly anomalies and encountering hostile aliens wasn't bad enough, occasionally the Enterprise loses a (figurative) redshirt just because Riker is lost in thought. Inspired by scifi pulp covers, artist Melanie Schultz created this squidy portrait of our beard-stroking Number One. William T. Riker [Melanie Schultz via Ian Brooks]
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archive.org #22924

Cory Booker Once Fisted a Man's Gunshot Wound

http://gawker.com/5970894/cory-booker-once-saw-a-guy-get-shot-and-then-stuck-his-hand-an-open-chest-cavity
Here's a picture of Cory Booker reacting to Peggy Noonan on ABC's This Week with George Stephanopoulos. This was his expression when he heard her say that video games were to blame for gun violence in America. It's the same look that TV viewers at home have been giving to Peggy Noonan for years. Major props to Cory Booker for putting it out there on national TV. More »
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archive.org #22922

Where we're going, we don't need roads, but we do need this official Back to the Future Lego set

http://io9.com/5970475/where-were-going-we-dont-need-roads-but-we-do-need-this-official-back-to-the-future-lego-set/gallery/1
We're probably not getting hoverboards in 2015, bt at least we have the consolation of knowing that Lego approved an actual, licensed Back to the Future DeLorean set for release in the middle of next year. The set - which should include the necessarily Legos to modify the DeLorean for all three movies, as well as various figures of Marty McFly and Doc Brown - was submitted to Lego's Cuusoo site, where it reached the necessary 10,000 votes to be considered and was chosen by Lego for actual production. What's super-cool is that Masashi and Team BTTF, the people who designed and submitted the set, are donating all of the royalties they'd receive from the set's sales directly to the Michael J. Fox Foundation to help fight Parkinson's disease. Apparently the next judging period includes a Portal 2 set. Cross your fingers. Back to the Future II Version Back to the Future III Version Marty and Doc minifigures DeLorean close-ups
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archive.org #22912

The Website Counting Down to Gangnam Style's Billionth Hit Turned to Porn Ads When It Happened

http://gawker.com/5970468/the-website-counting-down-to-gangnam-styles-billionth-hit-turned-to-porn-ads-when-it-happened
If you were counting down to "Gangnam Style"'s one billionth YouTube view on the site BillionCount.com, you might have been a little confused at what happened when the counter hit 1,000,000,000: it turned into a porn site: the "Xpress Cougar Dating Club." "When it was getting closer to 1 billion views I figured I had to do something with it," the site's creator told us. More »
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archive.org #22911

They're really making a live-action movie about Wile E. Coyote's favorite supplier, the Acme Company

http://io9.com/5970659/theyre-really-making-a-live+action-movie-about-wile-e-coyotes-favorite-supplier-the-acme-company
We'd heard reports about an Acme Company movie ages ago, but now it's apparently really happening. And producer Dan Lin explained to Collider that it's not an animated film, it's a live-action comedy — and Acme's most famous customer, Wile E. Coyote, won't be in it. Said Lin: We're not going to use Looney Tunes in the ACME movie, it's a live action movie. What were so excited about is the lead character is a Steve Jobs meets Dean Cameron kind of character and because it's ACME you can create some incredibly funny, wacky inventions that you can't do on any other movie. So naturally it's just a super imaginative movie. Meanwhile, Lin said there's actually a screenplay for the long-delayed movie of DC's Suicide Squad comic, written by Justin Marks — but it's not actually happening any time soon. Said Lin, "I think Warner Brothers wants to finish their A-list stories first and then we'll talk about stories like Suicide Squad." In the right hands, a Suicide Squad film could obviously be amazing — but only if they're able to nail the bleak, character-oriented tone of the 1980s Ostrander comics. Tons more details at the link. [Collider]
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archive.org #22908

Nothing To Do With Arbroath: Tiny puppeteer spider observed building bigger spiders as decoys

http://arbroath.blogspot.com/2012/12/tiny-puppeteer-spider-observed-building.html
An Amazon spider has been caught pulling the strings behind intricately built arachnid decoys. Biologist and science educator Phil Torres says the artful arachnid is the first discovered that builds "replica" spiders with eight legs. Mr Torres has recorded the spiders amazing work in a blog for ecological tourism firm Rainforest Expeditions which operates a combined lodge and research centre in the Tambopata national park in Peru. "It (first appeared) to be a medium sized spider about an inch across, possibly dead and dried out, hanging in the centre of a spider web along the side of the trail. Nothing too out of the ordinary for the Amazon," he said. "As you approach, the spider starts to wobble quickly forward and back, letting you know this spider is, in fact, alive. "That spider form you were looking at is actually made up of tiny bits of leaf, debris, and dead insects," he said. The culprit was spotted hiding behind its articulated arachnid-shaped shield: a tiny spider about 5mm wide. Mr Torres said he believes the fake spider is positioned as a decoy to distract and confuse predators and prey.The puppeteer spider sitting above one of its constructions. About 25 of the spiders - believed to be a member of the Cyclosa family - have been spotted in the floodplain surrounding the research centre since first spotted in September. However, none have yet been found further afield. Mr Torres said specimens would now have to be collected and carefully recorded before an article could be submitted to a scientific journal before it could officially be named a new species.
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archive.org #22890

George Lucas cut female X-wing pilots out of Return of the Jedi at the last minute

http://io9.com/5968305/george-lucas-cut-female-x+wing-pilots-out-of-return-of-the-jedi-at-the-last-minute
The original Star Wars trilogy isn't really known for having a lot of roles for women — but it turns out that the third film, Return of the Jedi, featured some female pilots in the Battle of Endor. Two of these fighter pilots are featured among the deleted scenes and extras on the recent Blu-ray release, but not the two female X-Wing pilots. And curiously, we still haven't seen the deleted scene featuring Vivienne Chandler (left) as a X-Wing pilot, who had a full page and a half of dialogue in a cockpit set. Apparently, Chandler actually went to a screening of the film that included her scenes, and then when it was actually released, they were gone. You can glimpse the female pilots in the briefing scene before the battle. One of them was actually included for a split second, but her one line of dialogue, "Got it," was replaced by a male voice in post-production. Did George Lucas decide that showing female pilots getting blown up was too intense? Or was there some other reason why he wanted an all-male fighter squad? We'll probably never know — but it's weird that Chandler's footage has never turned up, in any form, after being in an early cut of the film. More details at the link. [Star Wars Afficionado and Star Wars Afficionado via BuzzFeed]
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archive.org #22861

Here is the biggest goddamn snow blower you've ever seen

http://io9.com/5968510/here-is-the-biggest-goddamn-snow-blower-youve-ever-seen
Add this to your ever-growing list of things you never knew existed but now desperately need: a BNSF rotary snow blower. The video up top is of a model currently in operation clearing railroad tracks in Aurora, NE, but you'll find them all over the country, churning through formidable heaps of tightly packed snow like so many styrofoam packing peanuts. Like pretty much all snow blowers, the various models of BNSF rotaries work by virtue of an engine-powered blade that pulls powder into the apparatus before jettisoning it far away from the area being cleared. The only difference is that BNSF's blowers look like someone spliced genes from the Death Star's Concave Dish Superlaser with a Langolier and mated the outcome with a locomotive. Can you think of anything scarier than finding yourself on the business end of one of these monsters? I mean just look at these things: Terrifying and awesome and terrifying. All at the same time. [Spotted on boingboing]
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archive.org #22860

Client: We would like to have a shot of the sun...

http://clientsfromhell.net/post/37570454079/client-we-would-like-to-have-a-shot-of-the-sun
Client: We would like to have a shot of the sun rising and setting over the ocean. Me: We can shoot the sunset, but it’s impossible to get the sunrise right. Client: Why? Me: Well, the sun rises from the East. The coast we are shooting from is on the western part of the country. Client: So what?
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archive.org #22843

Our first peek inside the new TARDIS interior is inscribed with Gallifreyan

http://io9.com/5966821/our-first-peek-inside-the-new-tardis-interior-is-inscribed-with-gallifreyan
Along with his new companion, the Doctor is getting a new TARDIS interior. BBC America released this small hint to the new design—cold metallics with Circular Gallifreyan inscriptions. Anyone want to take a crack at translating it? (Or, rather, hazard a guess as to what it's about?) [BBC America via Nerd Approved]
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archive.org #22838

In Obama campaign, tech industry donors could be outspending their Hollywood counterparts | The Verge

http://www.theverge.com/2012/9/16/3341412/obama-tech-industry-fundraisers
A set of internal documents published by the New York Times has shed light on the "bundlers" who help raise money for Obama's campaign, and many of them are from the world of technology. After analyzing the data, BuzzFeed found that through 2011 and 2012, $27 million of the $180 million raised came from people in the tech industry, including Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer. What's more, tech industry donors could be outspending their counterparts in the entertainment industry, long a powerhouse in Democratic fundraising. BuzzFeed counted only $9.5 million from the entertainment sector over the same period of time, although Los Angeles donors still outspent those in Silicon Valley. Since the data only covers the Obama or general Democratic... Continue reading…
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archive.org #22590

This Sun-like star is surrounded by sugar

http://io9.com/5938970/this-sun+like-star-is-surrounded-by-sugar
A team of European and American astronomers have found signs of a simple sugar molecule, glycolaldehyde, in a gas cloud surrounding a young sun-like star. Located 400 light-years away, it's the first time that sugar has been located around such a celestial object — and this indicates that the early building blocks of life are present when planets start to form around stars. To make their finding, lead researcher Jes Jørgensen of the Niels Bohr Institute in Denmark used the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). It's an extremely sensitive radio wave receiving device that's capable of capturing exceptionally short wavelengths, and without this feature the discovery would have been impossible. By using ALMA, the researchers were able to pick up on the characteristic radiation signatures emitted by the sugar molecules. ALMA was able to capture these signatures from radio waves, which the researchers were then able to map and identify. This is not the first time that glycolaldehyde has been found floating in the depths of interstellar space — but it is the first time that it has been spotted near a sun-like star at distances comparable to the distance of Uranus from the Sun in our solar system. As a result, the discovery is a strong indication that the chemical compounds required to sustain life are already in existence at the time of planet formation. Specifically, glycolaldehyde is a key component to RNA, which like DNA, is an integral precursor to life. Moreover, the gas containing the sugar molecules is falling in towards one of the stars in the system. "The sugar molecules are not only in the right place to find their way onto a planet, but they are also going in the right direction," Jørgensen noted through a release. Moving forward, the astronomers are hoping to gain an understanding of just how complex these molecules can get before they're incorporated into new planets — an important clue about the early composition of new planets, and the chemical compounds they carry that could eventually ignite the processes of life. The entire study will be published in an upcoming issue of the journal Astrophysical Journal Letters. I'll update the link once the paper has been published online. Image: ESO/L. Calçada & NASA/JPL-Caltech/WISE Team.
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archive.org #22523

Captain Picard Hunts Robot Fox in Futurama's Double-Shot Season Finale | Underwire | Wired.com

http://www.wired.com/underwire/2012/08/futurama-patrick-stewart/
Futurama powers down Wednesday night until next summer. Patrick Stewart is probably going to need the breather.Image courtesy Comedy Central The thespian who played Star Trek: The Next Generation’s Captain Jean-Luc Picard joins Bender in a not-so-jolly robot fox hunt in “31st Century Fox,” the first of Futurama‘s back-to-back midseason finale episodes Wednesday. And let’s just say that the real thing is not really his thing. “In real life, Patrick Stewart is actually an anti-fox hunt crusader,” Futurama executive producer David X. Cohen told Wired earlier this summer as the seventh season of The Sci-Fi Toon That Wouldn’t Die booted up. “31st Century Fox” airs Wednesday night alongside “Naturama,” which transforms Futurama‘s snarktastic space messengers into animals locked in sexual struggle (see a clip below). In “Naturama,” Fry, Leela and Zap navigate a salmon love triangle, Bender battles back hordes of haters encroaching on his elephant seal harem and Professor Farnsworth faces down extinction and solitude as a Galapagos tortoise. Cohen told Wired that Futurama‘s artists nearly went metaphorically extinct after first seeing how far they were being asked to push their impressive skill sets. It’s one of those episodes where “our animators have heart attacks and collapse in front of us after we hand them the script,” he said. “Because they have to redesign the entire universe and all of the characters three times instead of once. These episodes are always our favorites, but they’re difficult.” Futurama‘s back-to-back midseason finale airs Wednesday night at 10 p.m./9 p.m. Central on Comedy Central. (The remaining episodes of Futurama arrive next summer.) runMobileCompatibilityScript('myExperience1811364368001', 'anId'); brightcove.createExperiences();
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archive.org #32690

Captain Picard Hunts Robot Fox in Futurama's Double-Shot Season Finale | Underwire | Wired.com

http://www.wired.com/underwire/2012/08/futurama-patrick-stewart
Futurama powers down Wednesday night until next summer. Patrick Stewart is probably going to need the breather.Image courtesy Comedy Central The thespian who played Star Trek: The Next Generation’s Captain Jean-Luc Picard joins Bender in a not-so-jolly robot fox hunt in “31st Century Fox,” the first of Futurama‘s back-to-back midseason finale episodes Wednesday. And let’s just say that the real thing is not really his thing. “In real life, Patrick Stewart is actually an anti-fox hunt crusader,” Futurama executive producer David X. Cohen told Wired earlier this summer as the seventh season of The Sci-Fi Toon That Wouldn’t Die booted up. “31st Century Fox” airs Wednesday night alongside “Naturama,” which transforms Futurama‘s snarktastic space messengers into animals locked in sexual struggle (see a clip below). In “Naturama,” Fry, Leela and Zap navigate a salmon love triangle, Bender battles back hordes of haters encroaching on his elephant seal harem and Professor Farnsworth faces down extinction and solitude as a Galapagos tortoise. Cohen told Wired that Futurama‘s artists nearly went metaphorically extinct after first seeing how far they were being asked to push their impressive skill sets. It’s one of those episodes where “our animators have heart attacks and collapse in front of us after we hand them the script,” he said. “Because they have to redesign the entire universe and all of the characters three times instead of once. These episodes are always our favorites, but they’re difficult.” Futurama‘s back-to-back midseason finale airs Wednesday night at 10 p.m./9 p.m. Central on Comedy Central. (The remaining episodes of Futurama arrive next summer.) runMobileCompatibilityScript('myExperience1811364368001', 'anId'); brightcove.createExperiences();
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archive.org #22521

The GoPlate, A Snack Plate That Wraps Around Your Beer

http://laughingsquid.com/the-goplate-a-snack-plate-that-wraps-around-your-beer/
The GoPlate is described as the “answer to mobile socializing” and is seems to be one of those things you didn’t know you needed until you saw it existed. It’s a reusable snack plate made of BPA free plastic designed to wrap around a beer bottle (or really any kind of beverage vessel, like a wine glass or soda can), so you can hold your food and drink in one hand. It does come with a warning though, which should be heeded: “Always remove beverage before drinking.” The GoPlate is available in several colors and available to purchase online. Hold your plate and drink in one hand easily, then eat, greet, and cheer with the other hand. They’re perfect for tailgating, picnics, outdoor concerts, street fairs and more. The Go Plate has a specially engineered center cone that accommodates glass bottles and aluminum cans, resting comfortably and snugly around them, and it has a specially designed ridge that can also accommodate standard 16/18-ounce plastic cups. To enjoy your beverage, you just lift The Go Plate off. via Incredible Things
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archive.org #32709

The GoPlate, A Snack Plate That Wraps Around Your Beer

http://laughingsquid.com/the-goplate-a-snack-plate-that-wraps-around-your-beer
The GoPlate is described as the “answer to mobile socializing” and is seems to be one of those things you didn’t know you needed until you saw it existed. It’s a reusable snack plate made of BPA free plastic designed to wrap around a beer bottle (or really any kind of beverage vessel, like a wine glass or soda can), so you can hold your food and drink in one hand. It does come with a warning though, which should be heeded: “Always remove beverage before drinking.” The GoPlate is available in several colors and available to purchase online. Hold your plate and drink in one hand easily, then eat, greet, and cheer with the other hand. They’re perfect for tailgating, picnics, outdoor concerts, street fairs and more. The Go Plate has a specially engineered center cone that accommodates glass bottles and aluminum cans, resting comfortably and snugly around them, and it has a specially designed ridge that can also accommodate standard 16/18-ounce plastic cups. To enjoy your beverage, you just lift The Go Plate off. via Incredible Things
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archive.org #22416

arxiv.org

http://arxiv.org/abs/1205.3982
"We consider a setting in which a single divisible good ("cake") needs to be divided between n players, each with a possibly di?fferent valuation function over pieces of the cake. For this setting, we address the problem of ?finding divisions that maximize the social welfare, focusing on divisions where each player needs to get one contiguous piece of the cake. We show that for both the utilitarian and the egalitarian social welfare functions it is NP-hard to find the optimal division. For the utilitarian welfare, we provide a constant factor approximation algorithm, and prove that no FPTAS is possible unless P=NP. For egalitarian welfare, we prove that it is NP-hard to approximate the optimum to any factor smaller than 2. For the case where the number of players is small, we provide an FPT (fixed parameter tractable) FPTAS for both the utilitarian and the egalitarian welfare objectives."
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archive.org #22414

Nothing To Do With Arbroath: Food fetish lecturer who asked female student to stuff a pie down his pants struck off

http://arbroath.blogspot.com/2012/07/food-fetish-lecturer-who-asked-female.html
A lecturer who asked a female student to stuff a pie down his pants has been struck off by Scotland's teaching watchdog. Gavin Bradford, 37, asked other girls to smear themselves in ketchup and eggs and pour sour milk into their underwear. In the bizarre exchanges, which happened online late at night when Bradford was teaching in Canada, he asked more than 20 girls — some as young as 12 — to switch on their webcams so he could watch them. The General Teaching Council (GTC) panel heard that Bradford told one girl he would "take delight in slowly pushing a gooey pie in her face" and asked two others to make a video of them urinating. He also told students his favourite swear words and demonstrated using them in a sentence. The Ontario Discipline Committee panel, which revoked Bradford’s teaching certificate in November 2011, said: "The behaviour may have started out innocently but escalated to the point of using vulgar language and making improper suggestions of an explicit sexual nature."Photo from here. On Tuesday, the Fitness to Teach panel of the GTC ruled that Bradford was not fit to teach in Scotland. Bradford, from Glasgow, fled home after the Canadian scandal and got a job as a performing arts lecturer at Coatbridge College in Lanarkshire in January 2010, where he took charge of a production of the musical Chess — telling staff there he had left Canada because his marriage had broken up. However, the Ontario authorities tipped off their Scottish counterparts. Bradford did not turn up at the hearing in Edinburgh, where GTC presenting officer Paul Reid said his conduct fell significantly short of the standards expected of a registered teacher. He highlighted the nature of the correspondence between Bradford and his pupils in Canada, in particular the fact the "inappropriate and vulgar communications" had taken place outside of school hours. He said there was a need to protect children and maintain the confidence of the public in the teaching profession.
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archive.org #22376

Pee-Wee Herman dubs the Dark Knight Rises trailer, should dub the whole movie - Boing Boing

http://boingboing.net/2012/07/12/pee-wee-dubs-dark-knight-rises.html
Pee-Wee Herman took part in a bit on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon in which he narrated the trailer for The Dark Knight Rises. Great, now this movie is going to be hilarious when it's definitely not supposed to be, and I'm just going to have to see it twice so I don't hear Pee-Wee Herman the second time. Also: John Cleese should also dub this trailer. (via Gawker)
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archive.org #22315

Inflatable Cthulhu Arm, A Giant Wearable Tentacle

http://laughingsquid.com/inflatable-cthulhu-arm-a-giant-wearable-tentacle/
Archie McPhee’s Inflatable Cthulhu Arm is a giant wearable tentacle that fits over your hand so you can pretend that you’re turning into Cthulhu, the “unspeakable horror from beyond space.” It would also be great if you want to costume up as the Laughing Squid logo, kind of like Dan’l did with their Cthulhu tentacles (but, of course, on a much larger scale). The also carry a less menacing version, the Inflatable Tentacle Arm. Cthulhu is a mythical dark god from another dimension that every nerd knows about…good for squid costumes and having tentacle fights with your pals.
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archive.org #32733

Inflatable Cthulhu Arm, A Giant Wearable Tentacle

http://laughingsquid.com/inflatable-cthulhu-arm-a-giant-wearable-tentacle
Archie McPhee’s Inflatable Cthulhu Arm is a giant wearable tentacle that fits over your hand so you can pretend that you’re turning into Cthulhu, the “unspeakable horror from beyond space.” It would also be great if you want to costume up as the Laughing Squid logo, kind of like Dan’l did with their Cthulhu tentacles (but, of course, on a much larger scale). The also carry a less menacing version, the Inflatable Tentacle Arm. Cthulhu is a mythical dark god from another dimension that every nerd knows about…good for squid costumes and having tentacle fights with your pals.
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archive.org #22314

Twitter follows Facebook down the walled garden path | The Verge

http://www.theverge.com/2012/7/9/3135406/twitter-api-open-closed-facebook-walled-garden
Ben Popper, writing for The Verge: Twitter set off alarm bells across the web in recent weeks when it ended its partnership with LinkedIn and reiterated its warning that it would be cracking down on the terms of its API. The company didn’t offer any explanation for why it removed tweets from LinkedIn, but speaking with sources familiar with the company’s plans, The Verge has learned that major changes are coming in the next few months which will move Twitter from an open platform popular among independent developers towards a walled garden more akin to Facebook. I can’t think of a more ominous four-word description of Twitter’s future than “More akin to Facebook”. For me, Twitter isn’t just a little bit better because of third-party clients — it’s vastly better because of third-party clients. Whatever it is Twitter is planning, I sure hope it isn’t going to cut third-party clients loose.  ★
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archive.org #22309

Romney Receives 20-Minute Standing Ovation At NAAWP Event | The Onion - America's Finest News Source

http://da.feedsportal.com/c/34529/f/632231/s/21419994/l/0L0Stheonion0N0Carticles0Cromney0Ereceives0E20Aminute0Estanding0Eovation0Eat0Enaawp0H28750A0C/ia1.htm
HOUSTON—During an address Wednesday to the National Association for the Advancement of White People, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney received a lengthy standing ovation from the group of 2,000 Caucasians who had gathered to hear him sp...
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archive.org #22307

Map pinpoints the 2,284 US temperature records broken in June

http://io9.com/5924257/map-pinpoints-the-2284-us-temperature-records-broken-in-june
Yes, June was a hot a month for folks in the US, but just how hot? According to the National Climactic Data Center, US states and territories saw 2,284 temperature records broken in June and 998 records tied. The center has conveniently mapped out all 3,282 of those record temperatures. The National Climatic Data Center contains the world's largest active archive of weather data, and has a handy interactive map that lets you see the record highs, lows, precipitation, and snowfall for various parts of the United States. In playing around with this application, NPR noted that so far this year has been heavier on the record highs than last year; 2012 so far has seen 23,283 record highs set while by this time in 2011, 13,582 records had been set. Head over the NPR for more weather record insights. The map above doesn't show all 3,282 temperature records met or broken in the US, as some were set in Alaska, Hawaii, and US territories. Visit the National Climatic Data Center website to see the sites of all the US's new temperature records. [National Climatic Data Center via NPR via Geekosystem]
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archive.org #22294

Spelunky review: Obtainer of rare antiquities, giver of aneurysms | Joystiq

http://www.joystiq.com/2012/07/04/spelunky-review/
Spelunky, an Xbox Live Arcade revamp of a free PC indie game, straddles the line between insurmountable addiction and a precise extractor of self-hatred. Like other rare indie gems, such as Metanet's N series, Spelunky is equal parts diabolical and ingenious. The concept is simple: explore worlds filled with treacherous obstacles while collecting treasures and attempting to survive. You start the game with a standard whip along with a few climbing ropes and bombs, which are used to carve out a path to the level's exit. Each randomly generated level is filled with traps, enemies, and environmental disasters awaiting your unnamed adventurer. Survival may be the primary goal, but Spelunky's secondary objective is to make players regret the follies of poor split-second decisions. It's the kind of experience you hate yourself for loving, but love it you shall. Gallery: Spelunky (XBLA) Continue reading Spelunky review: Obtainer of rare antiquities, giver of aneurysms Spelunky review: Obtainer of rare antiquities, giver of aneurysms originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 04 Jul 2012 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments
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archive.org #32737

Spelunky review: Obtainer of rare antiquities, giver of aneurysms | Joystiq

http://www.joystiq.com/2012/07/04/spelunky-review
Spelunky, an Xbox Live Arcade revamp of a free PC indie game, straddles the line between insurmountable addiction and a precise extractor of self-hatred. Like other rare indie gems, such as Metanet's N series, Spelunky is equal parts diabolical and ingenious. The concept is simple: explore worlds filled with treacherous obstacles while collecting treasures and attempting to survive. You start the game with a standard whip along with a few climbing ropes and bombs, which are used to carve out a path to the level's exit. Each randomly generated level is filled with traps, enemies, and environmental disasters awaiting your unnamed adventurer. Survival may be the primary goal, but Spelunky's secondary objective is to make players regret the follies of poor split-second decisions. It's the kind of experience you hate yourself for loving, but love it you shall. Gallery: Spelunky (XBLA) Continue reading Spelunky review: Obtainer of rare antiquities, giver of aneurysms Spelunky review: Obtainer of rare antiquities, giver of aneurysms originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 04 Jul 2012 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments
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archive.org #22289

Good guy Ron Perlman reprises his Hellboy role for a very special audience of one

http://io9.com/5924190/good-guy-ron-perlman-reprises-his-hellboy-role-for-a-very-special-audience-of-one
It's not Hellboy 3 but it's a scene that warms our Hellboy-loving hearts. Ron Perlman donned the red makeup again not for a movie or a promotional event, but to fulfill a young boy's Make-a-Wish dreams. Young Zachary's heart's desire was to meet Hellboy and become Hellboy himself. The Make-a-Wish foundation made it happen, having Zachary and his family meet a made-up Perlman down at the makeup effects studio Spectral Motion. Perlman, ever the good sport, ordered up a "Hellboy sized" sampler of burgers, shakes, and fries for everyone involved and Zachary even got to play Hellboy himself, sitting in the Spectral Motion makeup chair and putting on the big red horn stumps. Forget another Hellboy movie. We'll happily watch 90 minutes of Ron Perlman cheering up sick kids — maybe with a cat or two for good measure. Make a Wish day with Zachary [Spectral Motion Facebook via Geekologie]
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archive.org #22278

Golgo 13 watches, guys. You can live your life... - Tiny Cartridge - Nintendo DS, DSi, & 3DS News, Media, Videos, Imports, Homebrew, & Retro Junk

http://tinycartridge.com/post/26705988002/golgo-13-watches-guys-you-can-live-your-life
Golgo 13 watches, guys. You can live your life always asking “What Would Duke Togo do?” during those times (hur hur) when you have to make hard decisions, without having to actually wear one of those corny bracelets. Seiko is releasing these two limited edition models (total of 1,500 units produced) in Japan today for around $725 and $800, and they’re going for around that much on eBay right now. My birthday is in seven days, y’all, and if you’re wondering what Duke Togo would get me for a present, this is what he’d buy — a watch with his own face on it. Buy: Golgo 13 stuff See also: Lots of Golgo 13 posts [Via @feitclub]
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archive.org #22276

Super Metroid poster by Ian Wilding. It’s a little... - Tiny Cartridge - Nintendo DS, DSi, & 3DS News, Media, Videos, Imports, Homebrew, & Retro Junk

http://tinycartridge.com/post/26666645165/super-metroid-poster-by-ian-wilding-its-a-little
Super Metroid poster by Ian Wilding. It’s a little different from the “minimalist” thing that’s happening with a lot of posters/fanart, but it’s still simple, and just really nice to look at. Plus, it serves as a reminder that Super Metroid exists, which is an important public service. The print is available in a variety of sizes from Wilding’s Society6 shop. Buy: Metroid: Other M Find: Nintendo DS/3DS release dates, discounts, & more See also: Lots more Metroid posts
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archive.org #22275

Amazon's helpful algorithm reveals that customers like to make explosives

http://io9.com/5923485/amazons-helpful-algorithm-reveals-that-customers-like-to-make-explosives
This is definitely the perfect screenshot for today, as Canadians recover from the weekend's fiery festivities and people in the US celebrate Independence Day by going online and ordering the ingredients for explosives. In this screenshot, you can take joy in the friendly way Amazon informs us that people who buy one ingredient for thermite often buy all of them together (thermite contains aluminum powder and iron oxide powder, and is usually lit with magnesium ribbon). Now these are the kinds of product recommendations we need. What could go wrong? Over at the fine site "How to Make Stuff," we learn the hard way to make thermite by scrounging the ingredients at local machine shops and paint stores. But why dig around and deal with finding stores in the real world when Amazon makes it so easy for you? To see this for yourself, just search Amazon for aluminum powder. Also, PLEASE DO NOT MAKE THERMITE AT HOME.
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archive.org #22266

Nothing To Do With Arbroath: Woman trying to kill bedbugs burns down apartment block making 30 people homeless

http://arbroath.blogspot.com/2012/07/woman-trying-to-kill-bedbugs-burns-down.html
Authorities say a Kentucky woman trying to kill bedbugs accidentally started a fire that destroyed several apartments in downtown Carlisle in Nicholas County. It took firefighters from several counties to put it out. Not only had to battle the flames, but the extreme heat as well. You could see the flames shooting out from the apartment's roof from several blocks away. "I was scared to death for my husband because he was in the apartment," says Vicky Bussell, who lived there. Firefighters disappeared into the smoke as they climbed the ladder to make sure everyone was out the building. It took hours to get a handle on the out of control fire. "I've never really seen anything like this before," says Brianna Ross. About 30 people lost their homes. Six families in the apartment building where the fire started, and ten families next door. "It damages you. It's hard when you lose everything," Bussell says. The Carlisle Fire Chief says a woman doused her couch in alcohol to try to get rid of bed bugs, and when she dropped her cigarette, the fire started. "They're just belongings, you can replace them anytime. Main thing is, nobody got hurt," says Randal Lutes, who lost everything. While everyone did make it out, four people were taken to the hospital for smoke inhalation. Jackie Bond's mother was one of them: "My mom's bed ridden. I take care of her everyday. I don't know where I'm going to take her, I don't know what to do." Red Cross will be helping some of these people with a place to stay Friday night, but after that, many of these fire victims say they don't know where they'll go. "I guess i just work until we build everything back up," Bond says. "Everybody's alive. As long as everybody's alive, I'll find a way. I'll have to."
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archive.org #22242

Nelson's Weblog: culture / games / diablo-hardcore-monk

http://www.somebits.com/weblog/culture/games/diablo-hardcore-monk.html
Contemporary games are designed so the player can never lose. No matter how badly you play you can always recover or reload and keep going. It’s good design, it encourages players to explore, it avoids frustration. But not being able to fail removes some challenge. If you can’t lose, then is winning really that interesting? I’m proud because this weekend I got my Hardcore Monk to level 60. Hardcore mode in Diablo 3 is a game you can lose. It’s permadeath; if you screw up your game is done, your character is gone, you have to start over. Most players of Diablo don’t play hardcore; in a normal game if you die you just reload. I played through the game in normal mode first myself. But hardcore is more exciting. And while I didn’t beat the hardest challenge in the game yet, I have played the guy for 45 hours without ever screwing up too badly. The tension is amazing. For example the boss fights; once you jump into the arena with Diablo you can’t leave. One of you is going to die. But the bosses aren’t the hardest part of the game, the optional champion packs are. And there the anxiety is incredible. I see a group with something hard like molten + frozen + vortex and have to make an instant choice. Do I risk fighting them? Do I avoid them and look for easier targets? Most of the time I engage because I’m playing for the challenge. And then sometimes things go badly and I’m running for my life, for my 45 hours invested, and those moments of fear and excitement are some of the most visceral experiences I’ve had playing a game in years. Since playing Eve Online, really. So I’m loving hardcore Diablo. It helps that I’m winning, I imagine I’m going to be pretty angry when I finally screw up. I’m not a very good loser.
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archive.org #22219

It's Okay To Be Smart • An Alzheimer’s Researcher Ends Up on the Drug She...

http://www.itsokaytobesmart.com/post/25949745551/an-alzheimers-researcher-ends-up-on-the-drug-she
An Alzheimer’s Researcher Ends Up on the Drug She Helped Invent Dr. Rae Lyn Burke was working on a vaccine to help reverse Alzheimer’s dementia symptoms, when she began to succumb to the very disease she was researching. Through her ongoing work in the lab, and now as a patient advocate, she’s calling for more research and especially more understanding of what Alzheimer’s really means: “It would be good to overcome this stigma, particularly for younger-onset individuals. We educate the public about handling physical disabilities but not so well for people with mental disabilities. We can walk fast, but we think slow. People should know more about the nature of the mental disability. Also, we need to educate the public that this is not just a disease of the elderly. Younger people too can be cut off in their prime.” More at The Atlantic, a great read. (via The Atlantic)
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archive.org #22200

OK Go…Be a Webmaker! | Zythepsary

http://www.zythepsary.com/techie/ok-go-be-a-webmaker/
On Thursday Mozilla Popcorn ran it’s first Storycamp Livecast with Damain Kulash from the wildly successful band OK Go! For an entire hour Damian talked about his band’s web videos, their success, inspiration, where ideas take hold. Damian talked about the web as a canvas and overcoming adversity, sticking to your guns and how failure is part of the process. He talked about coming up with ideas and iterating on them. He talked about creativity, fear, and what the secret of going viral is. While it was fascinating for those of us that have seen the famous treadmill video, I feel like there was a little (and I mean very small) cultural gap between us OK Go fans and the youth participating in Storycamp. (Some of the feedback we received said as much, am I really so old?) Part of the problem is that Damian’s fame likely dictates his schedule, meaning that although he took the hour to speak to all of us, he likely didn’t have time to read into what Storycamp is about. But that’s ok, he was totally on the ball. Damian said a few things that would inspire anyone: And he’s proven with his testimony on Net Neutrality to be a friend of the Open Web. We definitely got some great feedback from all of the instructors running Storycamp in their organizations, and a huge win in week one (and mirrored ever so spectacularly by the weekend launch of the Mozilla Summer Code Party) was our learn by making philosophy. Jacob Caggiano is going to be blogging about the Robots template (will link as soon as it’s written), a project that uses Popcorn to create a procedural story. Everyone is diggin’ the Robots template, so go try it out! Part of what’s awesome about releasing early and releasing often is that the feedback you receive will take your work in directions you didn’t think possible or necessary. I’ve already got initial ideas on how we can improve Storycamp’s content and resources, what new stuff we should create, and how we can better support those brave people that take our Alpha work and run with it. I can’t wait to see what this week’s speaker, Cory Doctorow, has for us, but even more than that, I can’t wait to hear the feedback from the instructors and participants on the ground. We can’t wait to hear what you dislike, what you love, what you wish were different about everything we’re doing. Tell us everything, and share your webmaking experiences! Related articles The weekend the world learned the web (openmatt.org) And we have #StoryCamp liftoff! (zythepsary.com)
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archive.org #32746

OK Go…Be a Webmaker! | Zythepsary

http://www.zythepsary.com/techie/ok-go-be-a-webmaker
On Thursday Mozilla Popcorn ran it’s first Storycamp Livecast with Damain Kulash from the wildly successful band OK Go! For an entire hour Damian talked about his band’s web videos, their success, inspiration, where ideas take hold. Damian talked about the web as a canvas and overcoming adversity, sticking to your guns and how failure is part of the process. He talked about coming up with ideas and iterating on them. He talked about creativity, fear, and what the secret of going viral is. While it was fascinating for those of us that have seen the famous treadmill video, I feel like there was a little (and I mean very small) cultural gap between us OK Go fans and the youth participating in Storycamp. (Some of the feedback we received said as much, am I really so old?) Part of the problem is that Damian’s fame likely dictates his schedule, meaning that although he took the hour to speak to all of us, he likely didn’t have time to read into what Storycamp is about. But that’s ok, he was totally on the ball. Damian said a few things that would inspire anyone: And he’s proven with his testimony on Net Neutrality to be a friend of the Open Web. We definitely got some great feedback from all of the instructors running Storycamp in their organizations, and a huge win in week one (and mirrored ever so spectacularly by the weekend launch of the Mozilla Summer Code Party) was our learn by making philosophy. Jacob Caggiano is going to be blogging about the Robots template (will link as soon as it’s written), a project that uses Popcorn to create a procedural story. Everyone is diggin’ the Robots template, so go try it out! Part of what’s awesome about releasing early and releasing often is that the feedback you receive will take your work in directions you didn’t think possible or necessary. I’ve already got initial ideas on how we can improve Storycamp’s content and resources, what new stuff we should create, and how we can better support those brave people that take our Alpha work and run with it. I can’t wait to see what this week’s speaker, Cory Doctorow, has for us, but even more than that, I can’t wait to hear the feedback from the instructors and participants on the ground. We can’t wait to hear what you dislike, what you love, what you wish were different about everything we’re doing. Tell us everything, and share your webmaking experiences! Related articles The weekend the world learned the web (openmatt.org) And we have #StoryCamp liftoff! (zythepsary.com)
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archive.org #22198

The earliest known panda-like fossils have been found - in Spain!?

http://io9.com/5913676/the-earliest-known-panda+like-fossils-have-been-found-+-in-spain
This little feller is Agriarctos beatrix, which roamed the forests of Spain some eleven million years ago. It represents the earliest known member of the giant panda's evolutionary subfamily, and it was pretty much just ridiculously adorable. Agriarctos beatrix is a member of the Ailuropodinae subfamily, which is one taxonomic level below the Ursid family in which all bears are a member. The Ailuropodinae subfamily is a lonely bunch, with the giant panda the only living member. This particular species, found near Nombrevilla in Zaragoza, Spain, is one of the most distant relatives of the panda that we've discovered, and we only know it from a pair of fossilized teeth. Still, even with so little to go on, the team from Spain's National Museum of Natural Sciences and the University Valencia have been able to make some intriguing guesses about just what the bear was like, as you can see in the reconstruction above. Researcher Juan Abella explains: "This bear species was small, even smaller than the Sun bear — currently the smallest bear species. It would not have weighed more than 60 kilos. This fur pattern is considered primitive for bears, such as that of the giant panda whose white spots are so big that it actually seems to be white with black spots. Its diet would have been similar to that of the sun bear or the spectacled bear that only eat vegetables and fruit and sometimes vertebrates, insects, honey and dead animals." My favorite detail though has to be this one from the press release, which sounds wonderfully unlike typical bear behavior: Agriarctos beatrix, from the Ursidae family and related to giant pandas, would have lived in the forest and could have been more sessile that those bears that tend to hunt more, such as the brown or polar bears. According to researchers, the extinct bear would have escaped from other larger carnivores by climbing up trees. Via Estudios Geológicos. Image by SNIC.
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archive.org #22191

The Nerf Jolt EX-1 is small, concealable, accurate, and it stings a little | Ars Technica

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2011/12/the-nerf-jolt-ex-1-is-small-concealable-accurate-and-it-stings-a-little/
I included the image of the Nerf dart next to the Jolt EX-1 in the above picture so you can see the size of this new gun. It's tiny. It fits in your hand, it's easy to conceal, and you can whip it out quickly and shoot someone in the face with it. I would not suggest doing so in a social situation unless you are much larger than the victim. This is why I chose, once again, to test the gun on my children. The surprising thing about the gun, which sells for around under $10, is that it's powerful. Read the comments on this post
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archive.org #32784

The Nerf Jolt EX-1 is small, concealable, accurate, and it stings a little | Ars Technica

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2011/12/the-nerf-jolt-ex-1-is-small-concealable-accurate-and-it-stings-a-little
I included the image of the Nerf dart next to the Jolt EX-1 in the above picture so you can see the size of this new gun. It's tiny. It fits in your hand, it's easy to conceal, and you can whip it out quickly and shoot someone in the face with it. I would not suggest doing so in a social situation unless you are much larger than the victim. This is why I chose, once again, to test the gun on my children. The surprising thing about the gun, which sells for around under $10, is that it's powerful. Read the comments on this post
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archive.org #21910

Coffee Drinkers Live Longer. Who Cares, Really?

http://gawker.com/5911093/coffee-drinkers-live-longer-who-cares-really
A new study in the New England Journal of Medicine found that over a 13-year period studied, there "was a significant inverse association between coffee consumption and mortality," meaning that people who drank coffee had a lower risk of death, particularly from "heart disease, respiratory problems, strokes, injuries and accidents, diabetes and infections." More »
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archive.org #21822

Nine-Year-Old Stands Up to Westboro Baptist Church with One-Boy Counter-Protest

http://gawker.com/5911068/nine+year+old-stands-up-to-westboro-baptist-church-with-one+boy-counter+protest
When nine-year-old Josef Miles spotted members of Fred Phelps' Westboro Baptist Church doing their hate-mongering thing on the Washburn University campus in Topeka, he asked his mother, Patty Akrouche, if he could stage a small counter-protest to their message of intolerance. More »
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archive.org #21821

Do we worry too much about keeping astronauts safe?

http://io9.com/5911743/do-we-worry-too-much-about-keeping-astronauts-safe
Sixteen years ago, aerospace engineer Robert Zubrin wrote The Case for Mars, outlining his plan for a manned mission to Mars. Since then, we haven't put a human on the Red Planet or returned to the moon, and Zubrin argues that one reason is that we are too obsessed with the safety of astronauts. Zubrin's article "How Much Is an Astronaut's Life Worth?" appeared in the February issue of the magazine Reason. The gist of his argument is laid out in the video above: that NASA fails to perform an appropriate cost-benefit analysis when deciding whether to send astronauts on missions, instead valuing the life of the astronaut above all. Zubrin notes that other government agencies do these analyses all the time; for example, the Department of Transportation will reject a safety improvement proposal if the proposed expenditure will cost more than $3 million per life saved. Even if we valued an astronaut's training and skills at $50 million per astronaut, Zubrin argues that doesn't justify, for example, the cancellation of the mission to save, repair, and upgrade the Hubble Space Telescope in 2004 due to risk of astronaut death. Zubrin is arguing in part for allowing astronauts to decide for themselves whether to accept the risk of manned missions to Mars and the moon, but also for risking human life to maintain and improve pieces of our space research infrastructure. I suspect, though, that NASA is considering not only the individual worth of an astronaut, but also how the death of an astronaut affects the public's view of the space program. It will be interesting to see if, with the advent of commercial space ventures, astronaut death will become a more routine aspect of space exploration, and whether the public at large will accept those deaths as a cost of human expansion into space. What is an Astronaut's Life Worth?: An Interview with Robert Zubrin [via reddit]
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archive.org #21814

Client: We won’t be paying. We didn’t use your...

http://clientsfromhell.net/post/23045751725/client-we-wont-be-paying-we-didnt-use-your
Client: We won’t be paying. We didn’t use your material. Me: You didn’t? I saw the brochure today, it is exactly what I designed for you. Client: No, it isn’t. You sent us a PDF of the document. We did not print the PDF, we took a screen capture of it and pasted it into Word. That’s what we printed. Me: Regardless of format, I designed it. I delivered what we agreed upon in the contract you signed. Client: Well, we didn’t print from your file, we used it in a different format.  Me: Okay, I think you’re misunderstanding something. I’ll have my lawyer explain it to you on Monday.
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archive.org #21810

Tardy the Man Pony, and other crappy vintage toys that never existed

http://io9.com/5909790/tardy-the-man-pony-and-other-crappy-vintage-toys-that-never-existed
The artwork of Randy Regier channels the dime store toy aisles and the flashy comic book advertisements of the 1950s and 1960s. His toys promise rip-roaring thrills on their colorful packages...and deliver confusion, horror, and crushing disappointment once de-boxed. Let's take a look at some of Randy's unabashedly rip-off playthings like John Manshaft the misleading action figure — he comes with hand-painted socks! — and the gasoline-fueled "electric Sun." Regier's toys are filled with various forms of snake oil sleight of hand. A box that screams ELECTRIC TRAIN SET contains small print denoting it's actually an ELECTRIC man waiting for a TRAIN SET — the locomotive is nowhere to be found. His John Manshaft line boasts exciting box art of the hero in space and medieval times, but most boxes only contain a single forlorn, bug-eyed action figure in his underwear (Manufacturer Gypco Toys covertly informs the consumer to "cut out box lid for clothes and accessories.") Still other doodads are plain unsettling — look no further than the prancing abomination Tardy the Man Pony. Here's a sampling of Regier's many demented playthings. "Ric was apparently a regional politician who had these sets made to give the children of potential supporters. Set is filled with miniature campaign signs bearing Ric's name, but no cars are in evidence." "Note fine print on box front, 'not actual size.' Actual toy in box is red tin sedan scarcely four inches in length." "American Battery Using Astronaut — requires seven batteries but has no apparent functions." "Fine print on box says, 'See end panel for model this kit builds.' End panel says, 'Pot with lid and spatula.'" "Made of cast iron, weighs over 100 pounds." "Block of wood comes with carving knife attached. Knife in this kit has been broken." You can see many more of Regier's Americana hellhole artifacts at his Flickr account and website. And if you're especially lucky, he must just have a spare Tardy action figure on the market, looking for a loving home. [Spotted on I♥C]
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archive.org #21752

Compromising with Lawyers

http://everwas.com/2012/05/compromising-with-lawyers.html
True Story. A large consumer internet company where I worked sent in a team of lawyers to check over the fledgling social network I was building. The registration flow concerned them. There needed to be a check where the person registering was required to submit their date of birth so that we could ensure they were over 13. The advice of the lawyers was to throw an error if someone underage tried to register. “What kind of error?” I asked. “A generic error, something like, Your registration has failed or The system is down for maintenance.“ As a product guy, if there is one thing I hate more than a generic error message it’s a deceptive one. I want to give the user a specific error message that tells them what went wrong. “Can I just tell them that they are too young to use the service?” “No, then they would just adjust their date of birth and re-register,” said the legal department. We all know this is what happens anyway, it’s one of the great collective nod and winks of the internet along with checking the [I understand and grok completely] boxes on the End User License Agreements we find across the web. I argued that we must give them a more specific error so it doesn’t look like our service is broken. Legal didn’t want me to tip our had too much. What to do? We compromised. The new error message? The agreed upon language? You cannot use this service . . . at this time.
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archive.org #21749

Nothing To Do With Arbroath: Man stole horse-drawn carriage before punching horse

http://arbroath.blogspot.com/2012/05/man-stole-horse-drawn-carriage-before.html
Police have arrested a man they say attacked the driver of a horse-drawn carriage then took the reins in downtown St. Louis on Tuesday night. Police said the victim was steering a horse-drawn carriage southbound on 8th Street between Chestnut and Market around 8:25 p.m. when he saw the suspect running toward him. Authorities said Johnny Medina, 40, jumped into the side of the carriage and hit the victim in the head with a cane. Medina then took control of the reins and the victim jumped out of the carriage, according to police. A witness in the area called police, who responded to the scene and followed the carriage. Police said the horse, whose name is Harry, continued pulling the carriage and ran back to his barn at the St. Louis Carriage Company stables, located at 1000 Cerre Street. The carriage then crashed into and damaged a trolley bus on the parking lot. Police said another employee of the carriage company ran out and started to remove the horse from the carriage to get it back inside the stable. Medina then jumped down from the carriage and started punching and kicking the horse. Police said the employee and witnesses pushed Medina to the ground and detained him until police arrived. Carriage company employees told police the horse did not have any visible injuries, but would be checked by a veterinarian. The victim refused medical treatment at the scene. The suspect was taken to the hospital and remains in custody. Medina has been charged with second degree robbery and third degree assault. With news video.
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archive.org #21744

Biff's business card answers all of your burning Back To the Future questions

http://io9.com/5909718/biffs-business-card-answers-all-of-your-burning-back-to-the-future-questions
Tom Wilson, better known as the bully Biff from Back To the Future, gets asked a lot of questions about his legendary role. Instead of being uptight and refusing to talk about one of the greatest movie franchises of all time, he created this business card. Behold. And if you still have even more BTTF questions, Wilson has a song for you. Sadly he doesn't answer if he ever received my fanfic, titled Biff's Revenge. [via Shaun Usher at @LettersOfNote]
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archive.org #21743

Nothing To Do With Arbroath: Pier collapses during prom photo shoot

http://arbroath.blogspot.com/2012/05/pier-collapses-during-prom-photo-shoot.html
Teenagers can spend weeks thinking about their prom outfits and the whole day getting ready. A group of them in Wisconsin expected their perfect looks to last all night. Instead, they were soaking wet in a matter of minutes. "It's completely unexpected. It doesn't even happen on TV, and all of a sudden here it is happening to us," said Matt Timm. A group of friends went to waters off of Lac La Belle in Oconomowoc on Saturday to take a group photo before prom. Little did they know as they stood on a wooden pier that they were about to make a life-long memory when the pier suddenly collapsed. Soaking wet, the girls and guys were pulled from the water. Trying to dry off before prom, they ran so many hair dryers they blew a breaker inside a home. But with some borrowed shirts for the guys and some touch-up makeup for the girls, the group finally made it to the big event. "We're laughing about it now and it's hilarious, and I'm sure my kids will laugh at it. It'll be remembered a long time," said one of the teens. There's a news video here.
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archive.org #21727

Nothing To Do With Arbroath: Scottish woman gave up alcohol for a month

http://arbroath.blogspot.com/2012/05/scottish-woman-gave-up-alcohol-for.html
Aberdeen woman, Stacey Summers, 25, who gave up alcohol for a month and persuaded her friends to join her, has spoken of the experience. Stacey, whose dad Gavin passed away after battling an alcohol-related illness, said: “I struggled. I really, really did. It wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be.”
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archive.org #21726

U.S. Still Not the Best Place to Be a Mom, Despite Unparalleled Access to the Doritos Locos Taco

http://gawker.com/5909133/us-still-not-the-best-place-to-be-a-mom-despite-unparalleled-access-to-the-doritos-locos-taco
The United States is a slightly better place to be a mom this year than it was last year, according to the annual State of the World's Mothers report released by the Save the Children international aid organization earlier this week. More »
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archive.org #21725

Microsoft to block browser choice in Windows RT, says Mozilla | The Verge

http://www.theverge.com/2012/5/9/3010982/microsoft-block-browser-choice-windows-rt-mozilla
Mozilla has already announced that it's working on a Metro-style version of the Firefox browser for Windows 8, but the company is now crying foul over what is says are Microsoft's intentions to limit user choice for browsers on ARM-based devices. At issue is Windows RT, which as Mozilla states in a blog post will feature two environments: Metro, and the more-traditional Windows Classic. According to the company, however, the only browser that will be allowed to run in Windows Classic mode will be Microsoft's own Internet Explorer, locking out any third-party options. Given that other browsers can run in the Metro environment, Mozilla points out that there should be no technical limitation preventing apps from being able to run in Classic... Continue reading…
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archive.org #21718

grinding.be » Blog Archive » TSA break 16y.o.’s insulin pump with scanner

http://grinding.be/2012/05/09/tsa-break-16y-o-s-insulin-pump-with-scanner/
From ABC4: After participating in a DECA conference in Salt Lake City with several classmates last week, Savannah, who is a type one diabetic and wears an insulin pump 24 hours a day, says she ran into TSA agents who were not prepared to deal with her medical situation. “I went up to the lady and I said, I am a type one diabetic. I wear an insulin pump. I showed her the pump. I said, what do you want me to do? I usually do a pat down – what would you recommend?” Savannah then showed agents a doctor’s note explaining that the sensitive insulin pump should not go through the body scanner. She says she was told to go through it anyway. “When someone in a position of authority tells you it is – you think that its right. So, I said, Are you sure I can go through with the pump? It’s not going to hurt the pump? And she said no, no you’re fine.” The 16-year-old walked into the scanner with some serious reservations “My life is pretty much in their hands when I go through a body scan with my insulin pump on.” She was right to be worried. She says the pump stopped working correctly. “Coming off an insulin pump is rough. You never know what is going to happen when you are not on the insulin pump.” via Cat Vincent | /.
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archive.org #32869

grinding.be » Blog Archive » TSA break 16y.o.’s insulin pump with scanner

http://grinding.be/2012/05/09/tsa-break-16y-o-s-insulin-pump-with-scanner
From ABC4: After participating in a DECA conference in Salt Lake City with several classmates last week, Savannah, who is a type one diabetic and wears an insulin pump 24 hours a day, says she ran into TSA agents who were not prepared to deal with her medical situation. “I went up to the lady and I said, I am a type one diabetic. I wear an insulin pump. I showed her the pump. I said, what do you want me to do? I usually do a pat down – what would you recommend?” Savannah then showed agents a doctor’s note explaining that the sensitive insulin pump should not go through the body scanner. She says she was told to go through it anyway. “When someone in a position of authority tells you it is – you think that its right. So, I said, Are you sure I can go through with the pump? It’s not going to hurt the pump? And she said no, no you’re fine.” The 16-year-old walked into the scanner with some serious reservations “My life is pretty much in their hands when I go through a body scan with my insulin pump on.” She was right to be worried. She says the pump stopped working correctly. “Coming off an insulin pump is rough. You never know what is going to happen when you are not on the insulin pump.” via Cat Vincent | /.
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archive.org #21711

memeorandum: Bank of America Starts Mortgage Reduction Effort (Natasha Singer/New York Times)

http://www.memeorandum.com/120508/p43#a120508p43
Natasha Singer / New York Times:Bank of America Starts Mortgage Reduction Effort  —  Bank of America has started sending letters to thousands of homeowners in the United States, offering to forgive a portion of the principal balance on their mortgages by an average of $150,000 each.  —  The reduction for qualifying homeowners …
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archive.org #21697

Paul's Boutique would be impossible today

http://kottke.org/12/05/pauls-boutique-would-be-impossible-today
Matt Yglesias argues that because of the way copyright is viewed by the public and interpreted by lawmakers and the courts, making an album like The Beastie Boys' Paul's Boutique would be nearly impossible today. The death on Friday of Adam Yauch, best known as the Beastie Boys' MCA, surely sent many of us back to old albums we may not have heard for a while. And anyone who threw on Paul's Boutique, the Boys' best album, was surely struck by the sense that they don't make records like that anymore. That's not just because tastes and styles have changed. The entire album is based on lavish sampling of other recordings. "Shake Your Rump," which leads Slate's #MCATracks playlist, features samples of 14 songs by 12 separate artists. In all, the album is thought to have as many as 300 total samples. The sampling gave Paul's Boutique a sound that remains almost as distinctive today as it was when it was released in 1989. Perhaps the main reason-and certainly the saddest reason-that it still sounds distinctive is that a rapidly shifting legal and economic landscape made it essentially impossible to repeat. Tags: Beastie Boys   copyright   legal   Matt Yglesias   music
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archive.org #21696

Photos Allegedly Show High School Seniors Mainlining Amino Acids while Cramming for Chinese College Entrance Exams

http://gawker.com/5908167/photos-allegedly-show-high-school-seniors-mainlining-amino-acids-while-cramming-for-chinese-college-entrance-exams
Photos of questionable veracity posted on Chinese microblogging site Sina Weibo by a person alleging to be a high school senior from the city of Xiaogan claim to show students studying for their National College Entrance Exams while hooked up to IV drips containing an unknown substance. More »
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archive.org #21684

'Bespoke' Is the Latest Word to Be Ruined by Advertising

http://gawker.com/5907721/bespoke-is-the-latest-word-to-be-ruined-by-advertising
"Artisan." Remember the word "artisan?" Perfectly valid word. Described an actual type of thing. Until the ad world got ahold of it, put it on the street, and pimped it out until every last chemical food concoction assembled by robots out of petroleum byproducts was marketed as "artisan." Totally killed the word. "Bespoke?" You're next. More »
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archive.org #21682

1920s engineers believed the Electric Age would die a quick death

http://io9.com/5906821/1920s-engineers-believed-the-electric-age-would-die-a-quick-death
Our electrical infrastructure spans the globe, lighting up every place on Earth. But it all relies on one singular metal: copper. And back in the early years of the 20th Century, many economists and engineers worried that we would run out of copper in no time. They looked at the fast pace of our copper usage, and fretted that the world's copper reserves would quickly be outpaced by humanity's desire for an electric world. Top image: Douglas Wheelock/International Space Station Peak Copper Theory80% of copper mined over the course of human history is in use right now — the copper streets lining the circuit board of your computer may be the same pieces of copper that once constructed a medieval chalice. The rate at which humanity used copper to install electric lights and form the foundation of our current infrastructure alarmed a number of miners, engineers, and economists in the early 20th Century. In the 1924 article Copper and electricity to vanish in twenty years?, copper mining engineer Ira Joralemon said: [T]he age of electricity and of copper will be short. At the intense rate of production that must come, the copper supply of the world will last hardly a score of years. [...] Our civilization based on electrical power will dwindle and die. This belief is yet to die — copper is necessary to build the infrastructure of any country, and as we continue through the Electronic Age, developing powers like Indian and China continue to devour copper. Should the world's copper supply run dry, electronics makers would turn to more expensive metals with similar properties, like silver (copper currently costs 24 cents per ounce, while silver hovers around $31 an ounce). Aluminum is another possible replacement for copper, but use of aluminum for electrical wiring brings about an increased chance of combustion and burning a building down. So copper is at least somewhat irreplaceable. In that case, why is it still so cheap? The copper economy is fragile Yasuo Hamanaka, a Japanese businessman, sought to artificially increase the value of copper by hoarding massive quantities of the metal, and in doing so, taught the world about the delicate nuances of the world's copper supply. By the mid-1990s, Hamanaka controlled 5% of the world's copper reserves. 5% does not sound like a lot, but copper is a not a commodity that can be moved around easily due to its mass, leaving Hamanaka's control of a small percentage to send waves through the world economy. Renewed mining efforts in China along with several financial probes intp Hamanaka's actions unraveled his scheme, with Hamanaka eventually serving seven years in prison for trading violations. Improved recovery methods 40% of the world's copper is mined in Chile, with mines holding a steady output, after a brief drop-off during 2008. Copper is durable and lasts an extremely long time — copper plumbing can last three centuries before substantial pitting occurs from water moving through the tubes. Copper is also extremely robust — the quality of recycled copper is extremely high, and very little mass is lost during the recycling process, allowing re-purposed copper to demand a price only a few percentage points below newly mined copper. This property of copper is essential, as it moves copper away from the category of expendable resources like petroleum and closer to the terrain of renewable resources. A combination of an increase in known reserves since the early 1900s and the current ability to turn a profit on ore containing less than 1% copper suggest a supple future for the world's copper reserves. Extreme recycling The ability to easily recycle copper may one day lead to a cottage industry of industrial-scale electronics recycling, with the process turning discarded laptops, televisions, and smartphones into scraps of useful copper, much like small scale recycling schemes currently recover gold and platinum from deceased electronics. Image by jakedolan/Flickr. In a dire situation, existing copper parts of our infrastructure could be removed and outfitted with plastic or other alternatives. Copper pipes buried underground could be replaced with PVC, while slowly oxidized, green copper roofs become black sheets of asphalt. No doubt an extreme and labor intensive undertaking, but a believable one if a profit motive exists. Wars fought over natural resources are not unheard of — could we see the day when countries go to war over copper mines? Not a likely scenario in our lifetimes, due to increased mining and recycling possibilities, but one that makes for interesting science fiction fodder. At the very least, our ancestors' fears of a small and finite copper supply appear to have been overcome, allowing us to sleep with the lights on. Images courtesy of Great Mining and Berry Mill Scrap. Sources linked within the article.
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archive.org #21679

"Dark Warrior epilepsy," a ridiculously rare medical condition named after an arcade game

http://io9.com/5907488/dark-warrior-epilepsy-a-ridiculously-rare-medical-condition-named-after-an-arcade-game
Back when Pokémon were just a seizure-inducing flicker in Nintendo's eye, there was "Dark Warrior epilepsy," a form of epilepsy that was only reported once in the history of medicine. Nonetheless, this malady is responsible for one of the strangest paragraphs ever to grace a medical journal. In 1982, the British Medical Journal published a report from the Department of Neurology at Bristol's Frenchay Hospital. This article — simply and sinisterly titled "Dark Warrior epilepsy" — recounted how a 17-year-old girl with probable photosensitive epilepsy lost consciousness after playing the arcade game Dark Warrior (see gameplay below). As the researchers noted: She had played Space Invader, Asteroids, and Lunar Rescue and not suffered any known adverse effects. The patient subsequently avoided playing Dark Warrior, and her fits ceased. But that wasn't enough for our enterprising doctors. No, after witnessing terms like "Space Invader wrist tendonitis" and "Space Invader epilepsy" (which was erroneously coined during a case study of the game Astro Fighter) gain cachet in medical circles, these doctors were gung-ho to leave on a mark on the neuroscientific lexicon. Behold this magical paragraph: The term Space Invader epilepsy is, in fact, a misnomer, since no cases have been reported with the Space Invader video game itself. We suggest, therefore, that Astro Fighter and Dark Warrior epilepsy be classified under "electronic space war video game epilepsy" and this as a special category of photoconvulsive epilepsy. Video games other than space war games-for example, Super Bug and Munch Man-appear to be less epileptogenic. Electronic space war video game epilepsy has yet to be reported with Defender, Space Fury, Lunar Rescue, or Asteroids war games. I hope Munch Man's PR team exploited the hell out of that pull quote. And the next time I end up in the emergency room, I will slip "electronic space war video game epilepsy" among my list of complaints. (This is how to determine who was awake during med school.) Also, is Dark Warrior epilepsy is any way linked to outbreaks of Pac-Man Fever? This requires further inquiry. Semi-related: Another journal paragraph somehow penned with a straight face. [Via Mind Hacks]
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archive.org #21670

What if Edward Gorey drew Lovecraft's unspeakable horrors?

http://io9.com/5907828/what-if-edward-gorey-drew-lovecrafts-unspeakable-horrors
Edward Gorey was the master of understated terrors, and if he'd ever illustrated the madness-inducing monsters of HP Lovecraft, they might look like John Kenn Mortensen's Post-It Monstres, in which horrific beasts loom over remarkably unperturbed kiddies. What's especially lovely about Mortensen's monster doodles is that, while Gorey is clearly an influence, it doesn't appear that he's fully aping Gorey's character design. And his empty-eyed monsters, occasionally tentacled and occasionally all teeth and hair, lend the scenes a sense of unavoidable doom. I wonder if the children will be the victims or instigators of that doom. Perhaps they will be both. You can see more of Mortensen's illustrations on his blog or in his Post-It Monstre art book. [via Lovecraftzine via MetaFilter]
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archive.org #21669

Client: We need this done right now. Me: So does...

http://clientsfromhell.net/post/22261226131/client-we-need-this-done-right-now-me-so-does
Client: We need this done right now. Me: So does that mean you’re sending the assets and copy changes I need to make the changes right now? Client: No! Me: So should I wait until you do? Client: No, I need this pamphlet finished right now. Me: So there aren’t copy changes and new images to include? Client: There are… Me: But you’re not sending those right now? Client: No, we’re not. Me: So you want me to send the previous version? Client: No, we want the new version with the copy changes and new images. Me: I think you and I aren’t understanding each other. Client: What do you mean?
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archive.org #21660

A chubby cat and a bunch of video game consoles,... - Tiny Cartridge - Nintendo 3DS, DS, Wii U, and PS Vita News, Media, Comics, & Retro Junk

http://tinycartridge.com/post/22233478573/a-chubby-cat-and-a-bunch-of-video-game-consoles
A chubby cat and a bunch of video game consoles, drawn by Kyle Fewell for Matt Hawkins’ long delayed but still anticipated FORT90ZINE4ANSWER. Fewell posted a similar awesome piece last week, but I didn’t get a chance to share it here before it blew up on Tumblr like whoa. Look at this cat. Find: Nintendo DS/3DS release dates, discounts, & more See also: More fanart [VIa Kyle Fewell]
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archive.org #21649

Nothing To Do With Arbroath: Drunk grandparents towed child in toy car

http://arbroath.blogspot.com/2012/05/drunk-grandparents-towed-child-in-toy.html
A grandmother and grandfather from Sarasota, Florida, are facing numerous charges for towing a toy plastic car from behind their SUV with their grandchild seated inside. According to the arrest report, a Sarasota deputy on patrol spotted the SUV on Sunday, pulling a small plastic Hot Wheels car with the 7-year-old girl inside. The toy car was connected to the SUV with dog leads tied to the trailer hitch. The vehicle was travelling about five to 10 miles per hour, and a woman was riding in the rear with the hatch open, cheering the child on. The little girl had on a bathing suit, and no protective gear. The deputy immediately pulled the vehicle over, and in the arrest report states the driver of the SUV, 49-year-old Paul Berloni, had a strong smell of alcohol on him. Berloni told the deputy his drivers licence had been suspended for 10 years for DUI and at first said he had only two or three drinks. He later allegedly told the deputy he drank more, but wouldn't say how much. Berloni refused to take a field sobriety test and was placed into custody. The woman riding in back, 47-year-old Belinda Berloni, was also reportedly intoxicated and told the deputy that while she knew it was dangerous to drag the toy car, they were "just having fun and had been doing this all day."YouTube link. The child's father was called to the scene and was reportedly became very upset when he learned what happened. He reportedly said to his mother, Belinda, "Are you f---ing stupid? You should know better!" The father told investigators he believed both grandparents have a drinking problem. Paul Berloni was charged with DUI, driving while licence suspended and child neglect/endangerment. His Belinda Berloni was charged with child neglect/endangerment. Investigators say the child was unharmed in the incident.
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archive.org #21648

Grant Morrison says Batman is gay, internet basically shrugs

http://io9.com/5906112/grant-morrison-says-batman-is-gay-internet-basically-shrugs
Ever since the days of Fredric Wertham, people have been pointing out the homoerotic elements in Batman. There are hundreds of GIFs of Batman in his pink costume, or that famous scene where all the other DC heroes worry about their girlfriends, and Batman worries about Robin. There's even a Wikipedia entry on "Homosexuality in the Batman Franchise," complete with an image from a 1954 comic showing Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson apparently sleeping in the same bed. Top image: Frank Quitely/Playboy. So when Batman, Inc. writer Grant Morrison said in a Playboy Magazine interview that he thought the concept of Batman (not Batman himself) was gay, the fan reaction was muted. Here's what Morrison says: He's very plutonian in the sense that he's wealthy and also in the sense that he's sexually deviant. Gayness is built into Batman. I'm not using gay in the pejorative sense, but Batman is very, very gay. There's just no denying it. Obviously as a fictional character he's intended to be heterosexual, but the basis of the whole concept is utterly gay. I think that's why people like it. All these women fancy him and they all wear fetish clothes and jump around rooftops to get to him. He doesn't care-he's more interested in hanging out with the old guy and the kid. He also points out that Wonder Woman was only really popular when she was having lots of bondage and strange lesbian stag-hunts. In any case, I've seen articles claiming that Morrison's comments caused a huge internet hub-bub... but I haven't quite been able to locate the hub-bub yet. There have been a few grouchy comments here and there, and a number of people pointing out that Batman is currently boinking Catwoman thus proving that indeed, "as a fictional character he's intended to be heterosexual." And a few other people have wondered what, exactly, the "pejorative sense" of gay is. The main critical comment I've come across thus far? Over at the Bleeding Cool forums, Phantom309 asks, "Why is Captain Picard about to crush all those characters?"
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archive.org #21594

NES, the shoulder bag. Have you ever wanted to be... - Tiny Cartridge - Nintendo DS, DSi, & 3DS News, Media, Videos, Imports, Homebrew, & Retro Junk

http://tinycartridge.com/post/22047104645/nes-the-shoulder-bag-have-you-ever-wanted-to-be
NES, the shoulder bag. Have you ever wanted to be the guy carrying a notebook around in a hollowed out NES, with velvet glued to the inside and big lunch box clasps? And a little NES controller card case to go with it? I’d kinda want to get one of these to carry a third-party Famiclone in. Just because. Find: Nintendo DS/3DS release dates, discounts, & more See also: More Famicom junk
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archive.org #21585

Olympics 2012: A Bruce Schneier Moment - Charlie's Diary

http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2012/04/olympics-2012-a-bruce-schneier.html
The security theatre is getting surreal: The Ministry of Defence is considering placing surface-to-air missiles on residential flats during the Olympics. An east London estate, where 700 people live, has received leaflets saying a "Higher Velocity Missile system" could be placed on a water tower. ... But estate resident Brian Whelan said firing the missiles "would shower debris across the east end of London". ... "It [the leaflet] says there will be 10 officers plus police present 24/7." Lunacy on stilts. (Oh, and let me add, the residents don't get any choice over having missiles billeted on top of their homes.) If one of those things is ever fired, either in anger or by accident, it'll shower white-hot supersonic shrapnel across the extremely crowded residential heart of a city. Hmm. It's a good thing I'm a novelist who dabbles in technothrillers, not a terrorist. If I was a terrorist I'd be licking my lips, trying to work out how to trigger a missile launch. Using a motor-powered model aircraft, free flight design (no radio controls to jam) aimed vaguely towards the Olympic stadium, with a nice radio beacon or some sort of infra-red source (a flare, perhaps) on its tail to make it easy to track? These missiles will be the close-in option, because we know the RAF will already be flying combat air patrols over London; they won't have much time to evaluate threats or respond intelligently. So launch from the back of a panel van, like the IRA mortar attacks on places like Heathrow or 10 Downing Street. The twist in the scheme would be to aim past the missile launchers along a vector that would attract a hail of hypervelocity missile launches in the direction of, say, a DLR station at rush hour. Olympic security is out of control and irrational; the best solution would be to designate a permanent Olympic venue somewhere isolated — Diego Garcia would be a prime candidate — and hold the games there permanently so that they don't endanger life, limb and civil liberties. Alas, that would reduce the corruption corporate sponsorship opportunities, and the games are entirely about milking the host nation for money these days. Fuck the Olympics in 2012. (Oh, and incidentally it would be illegal for me to say this if I happened to live in London or my blog was hosted in England—the enabling laws for the Olympics override our basic civil rights, including free speech. Luckily I'm north of the border in a country that remains semi-free. But if a future independent Scotland even thinks about bidding to host the Olympics, you bet I'll be organizing street marches in opposition ...)
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archive.org #21577

Protocols vs Styles

http://www.subbu.org/blog/2012/04/protocols-vs-styles
My RESTful Web Services Cookbook has been out for nearly 26 months. From Feb 2010 till the end of 2011, O’Reilly sold 13,052 copies (both print and eBook format combined, per the royalty statements received to date) of this book. Given that O’Reilly’s eBooks are DRM free, I would like to think that several thousands more copies were downloaded for free on torrent sites, but there is no way to know. Writing this book was a painful exercise. I spent most of 2009 writing the drafts – at that time Yahoo allowed me to spend about 20% of my time for nearly 4 months to write the first draft (for which they own the copyright of the book). It was painful because REST was about style. Not having seen all aspects of the style work in reality, I was not fully convinced about parts of the style. Separating style from protocols was a time consuming yet learning exercise. How could I say that following such and such Roy Fielding’s constraint leads to evolvability without dissecting evolvability into concrete details? The last thing I wanted was to write a book that paints a nice picture with the benefits one would get out of REST without discussing the specifics. I wanted to avoid handwaving at all cost. In these two years, I changed quite a bit. I no longer actively engage myself in discussions about REST. I unsubscribed out of rest-discuss in 2011. I don’t even subscribe to Roy’s idea that REST APIs must be hypertext-driven or that “A REST API should spend almost all of its descriptive effort in defining the media types”. What I learned in these two years were the following: Don’t confuse styles with protocols. Understand what you are going to interoperate with and make tradeoffs as necessary. Interoperating between style deviations is more important than arguing for style adherence. Interoperability is partly a protocol problem and partly a software problem. Architecture styles are guides, but protocols specify rules. Roy’s REST codifies (to some extent reverse-engineeres) the Web into a set of constraints. Constaints are what they are – guides sans context. They are subject to tradeoffs. They postulate benefits when applied. But protocols are different. They set ground rules for different systems to work together. Just like you don’t start driving on the left side of the road (in the US), you don’t break TCP or HTTP’s messaging formats. When you break such protocols, you prevent networked systems from working together. But we tend to mistake the style (i.e, REST) for the protocols. I made that mistake several times (shame on me!) in the past, and I still see it being made. I took care to avoid this while writing the book, but I may not have succeeded fully. Strong belief in a style often leads to zealotry. This is no different from the zealotry we see in socio-political debates. Yet not all Protocols are the same. I tend to view protocols making up a pyramid. Where a protocol stays in this pyramid shows how widely it helps interoperability. / / / /______ Towards the bottom are protocols that strive for the widest range of interoperability possible. TCP is an example. HTTP is another example. As you go up the pyramid, the amount of relevance and influence a protocol carries becomes narower. For instance, I would keep RFC 2616 towards the bottom of the pyramid, but an RFC like 5023 (AtomPub) towards the top. AtomPub’s reign of influence was limited then and is even now. I would similarly place a media type like application/json towards the bottom, and a type like application/my-grand-fathers-facebook-profile+json at the top. A perspective of where a protocol belongs in this pyramid certainly helps ration energy. So, would I write this book differently now? I certainly would. I would change the title to something along the lines of “Recipes to Build Client Server Apps Using Web Protocols”, though the editor might ask me to change to include some current trending words. I would emphasize even more on protocols. I would cut down or clearly demarcate the parts of the book that suggested design styles (such as designing formats). I would spend a big chunk on how to interopere without necessarily agreeing on the style. If you’ve read my book, and built some interoperable Web based systems, you might come to the same conclusion as I did. If that happens, I count my book as a success.
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archive.org #21576

All Night Diner : How to get a development instance of AMO set up in about 10 minutes

http://micropipes.com/blog/2012/04/10/how-to-get-a-development-instance-of-amo-set-up-in-about-10-minutes/
Last year we set up landfill.amo to give contributors an easy base to set up the addons.mozilla.org site. Easy is relative here, of course, but it was a big leap over what we had at the time. Kumar leapfrogged that milestone by adding Vagrant configuration scripts to our repository. Now you can have a running version of AMO on your local system in about 3-5 commands[1]. Check out the steps to install AMO with Vagrant to see how. I set it up on OS X last week and aside from waiting for the download it only took a few minutes. Drop by #amo on IRC if you run into any troubles. [1] Setting this up on Windows is apparently more difficult although one contributor did find success after fighting with it for some time. Edit: Updated the installation instructions URL
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archive.org #32922

All Night Diner : How to get a development instance of AMO set up in about 10 minutes

http://micropipes.com/blog/2012/04/10/how-to-get-a-development-instance-of-amo-set-up-in-about-10-minutes
Last year we set up landfill.amo to give contributors an easy base to set up the addons.mozilla.org site. Easy is relative here, of course, but it was a big leap over what we had at the time. Kumar leapfrogged that milestone by adding Vagrant configuration scripts to our repository. Now you can have a running version of AMO on your local system in about 3-5 commands[1]. Check out the steps to install AMO with Vagrant to see how. I set it up on OS X last week and aside from waiting for the download it only took a few minutes. Drop by #amo on IRC if you run into any troubles. [1] Setting this up on Windows is apparently more difficult although one contributor did find success after fighting with it for some time. Edit: Updated the installation instructions URL
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archive.org #21571

Paintball with human "fox" as target - Boing Boing

http://boingboing.net/2012/04/27/paintball-with-human-fox-a.html
In an attempt to satisfy hunters left wanting due to hunting bans in parts of England, UK Paintball is now offering a "fox hunt" where participants target a human dressed in a fox suit. (I just hope this doesn't turn into open season on furries.) Does the idea remind you of Richard Connell's 1924 short story "The Most Dangerous Game," about a rich man who hunts human prey on his private island? Turns out, the two gents who invented paintball in 1976 were inspired by Connell's story! UK Paintball's "Fox Hunt" (via Metro.co.uk)
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archive.org #21569

2,000 patents have been granted for shaped pasta - Boing Boing

http://boingboing.net/2012/04/26/2000-patents-have-been-grante.html
Dan sez, "Macaroni and cheese seems like a pretty docile product -- I mean, it's just pasta and orange powder in a box. But Kraft and others use the fun macaroni shapes to help market the products, and to protect their marketing tool, they often seek patents for their shapes. Yes, patents. And... they get them. A Google Patent Search shows about 2,000 patents for shaped pasta." Cooked to Perfection (Thanks, Dan!)
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archive.org #21568

Nothing To Do With Arbroath: Corky the cat born with back-to-front rear legs given life-changing surgery

http://arbroath.blogspot.com/2012/04/corky-cat-born-with-back-to-front-rear.html
A cat born with his back legs back to front has been given a new lease of life after pioneering surgery. Corky was found by little boy dragging himself along a pavement in Fargo, North Dakota, and was taken into a shelter, where he was due to be put down. Corky the night before he had surgery.YouTube link. But Gail Ventzke and Carol Stefonek, co-founders and directors of CATS Cradle Shelter, heard about the brave moggy and were intent on saving his life. The seven-month-old kitten suffers from a congential deformity known as ‘Bilateral Arthrogryposis', which causes his legs to be the wrong way round. His limbs were also criss-crossed like a corkscrew, leading staff at the shelter to name him Corky. The courageous kitty learned to drag himself around on his two front paws at the CATS Cradle shelter, until Gail and Carol asked for the help of a local vet. Corky after surgery.YouTube link. Dr. Dan Burchill of Castleton Veterinary Services invented a surgery to bring Corky's back legs the right way round. Corky is still in bandages but thanks to intensive physical therapy sessions he's doing well.
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archive.org #21553

RasterWeb! DIY Cell Phone

http://rasterweb.net/raster/2012/04/27/diy-cell-phone/
How much do I love this DIY cell phone? Quite a bit! I’m not trading in my iPhone for this (yet) but I love the idea of being able to order parts from SparkFun and Adafruit and dropping in a SIM card and having a mobile phone for under $200. I can also imagine that such hardware could be incorporated into various projects where voice or text communication could come in handy. I know that some folks attach phones to balloons or incorporate them into other remote monitoring systems… so what if you could extend this simple DIY phone hardware to be exactly what you want to fit your project? I also love many of the other projects I’ve seen from the High-Low Tech group at MIT. (If only I could have met some of the people involved with the group while I was at MIT last month!)
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archive.org #32925

RasterWeb! DIY Cell Phone

http://rasterweb.net/raster/2012/04/27/diy-cell-phone
How much do I love this DIY cell phone? Quite a bit! I’m not trading in my iPhone for this (yet) but I love the idea of being able to order parts from SparkFun and Adafruit and dropping in a SIM card and having a mobile phone for under $200. I can also imagine that such hardware could be incorporated into various projects where voice or text communication could come in handy. I know that some folks attach phones to balloons or incorporate them into other remote monitoring systems… so what if you could extend this simple DIY phone hardware to be exactly what you want to fit your project? I also love many of the other projects I’ve seen from the High-Low Tech group at MIT. (If only I could have met some of the people involved with the group while I was at MIT last month!)
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archive.org #21550

Untitled

http://jwz.livejournal.com/1661983.html
The only thing that could make this better would be if you could actually watch your poop plummet. (Please do not click through; this web site does one of those horrible pop-up "CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE!!eleven" things and do not deserve your ad impressions. Also there's no additional info. Designer's web site is even more worthless.) This penthouse in Guadalajara, Mexico, designed by Hernandez Silva, features a dizzying bathroom with a glass floor over an abandoned elevator shaft with a 15-floor drop. Mirrored from jwz.org.
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archive.org #21549

Scripting News: In defense of the open web

http://scripting.com/stories/2012/04/16/inDefenseOfTheOpenWeb.html
Over the weekend an interview with Google founder Sergey Brin was published in the Guardian. In it he says some things, about the open web, that are very true. He says that Google was built out of the open web. And this part he doesn't say, but is also true. If Google is going to continue to thrive, so must the open web. However, Google is moving away from the open web. Most of its investments are going to create a competitor to Facebook, although they deny it's just a competitor. From the point of view of the open web their system is just as opaque as Facebook is. Just as problematic. I'm not suggesting that Google shouldn't compete directly with Facebook. They can do what they want. But they're big enough and rich enough that they could make investments in the open web at the same time as they invest in their fortress. If they really put their hearts in it, and their checkbook, and make a commitment to support open formats and protocols that gain traction, no matter where they come from, I have no doubt that the open web will flourish, and perhaps that will mean their silo will founder. I suspect that this is why, as an organization, they don't want to make these investments. But Brin is independent, powerful, an imaginative and a skilled techologist, and frankly rich enough, to do what he wants no matter what his organization dictates. Maybe he'll read this. If so, since he is a computer scientist, as I am, let me put my advice in technical terms. If I need an API to access my data it's not good. If I hold my data in my own space, where I can do with it as I please, and at the same time it can be part of the structures Google builds, whether it is a search engine or a discussion board, then it works. Then we can try out a million ideas, and they can build off each others' momentum, and they all have a chance to be the next collaborative phenomenon. If APIs control access to the data, if my program logic has to flow through someone else's pipes, then there will be monoculture, and that never thrives. There are countless examples in the history of computers that illustrate this principle. If you want to know why it doesn't work, just observe how decisions are made inside Google. Brin is one of the few people who really could make a difference in the battle for online freedom. I hope he takes the next step and in addition to noticing there's a problem, does something to solve it.
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archive.org #21508

Craig Maloney » Post Topic » The Agony and Ecstasy of Radio Shack

http://decafbad.net/2012/04/03/the-agony-and-ecstasy-of-radio-shack/
If there is one place that should be an enjoyable experience to shop, it’s Radio Shack. Where else can you go and find Arduino boards, wire, solder, and light bulbs (and sockets) for every occasion? Damn few, places, that’s for sure. Unfortunately heading into a Radio Shack is always more painful than it should be. Yesterday JoDee and I braved the local Radio Shack to find some flashlight bulbs. We tried Home Depot, but they didn’t have exactly what we wanted. But, nearby was a Radio Shack. JoDee gruntled “they look like they have more phones than bulbs”, but we persisted. We walked in, past the advertising for new phones, phone service, and iPads, over to the parts area to look for the bulbs. We were surrounded by wire, solder, and parts, and intently looking at things not-phone related, when suddenly one of the associates popped into the hallway. “Let me ask you about your phone service”. “And this is why we hate coming to Radio Shack” is what went through my mind, but JoDee quickly retorted “We’d rather you didn’t”. He persisted, but JoDee deftly let him know that this line of questioning would prove futile. One of my big pet peeves with shopping at Radio Shack is that I can’t get in and or out of the store without being pestered about a phone, or some stupid battery bullshit. It’s like going to Game Stop and being asked if I want a warranty on a Nintendo DS cartridge. I get really tired of the up-sell bullshit in these stores. And inevitably, Radio Shack always has some stupid battery club, or other battery-related nonsense going on that they try really, really hard to sucker you into. It’s like the ebb and flow of the tides. And lo, when we proceeded to the check-out: “We’ve got some batteries here that…” God Dammit, NO! No, I don’t want your batteries. No, I don’t need a fucking phone. NO, I don’t need a warranty, NO, I DON’T WANT TO SAVE 10 FUCKING PERCENT BY OPENING A GOD DAMN CREDIT CARD! I just want the items that I came into your store to purchase. I’m perfectly capable of looking at your counter and seeing the packs of AA batteries carefully laid out, looking for a home. I can see quite clearly that you sell cell phones. Every time I go to Radio Shack, I hope that things change, and they don’t try to sell me a phone, or batteries, and every single time I leave Radio Shack, I vow that until they cut out this bullshit, I’ll never go back. I want to love Radio Shack. I want to learn to solder, and wire up all sorts of bizarre little contraptions, and put them in blue boxes to show off to my friends. Maybe it shouldn’t bother me as much as it does, and maybe I should just “get over it”. But, as the adage goes: “the customer is always right”. And right now, I’m dreading the next time I go to Radio Shack. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported.
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archive.org #33014

Craig Maloney » Post Topic » The Agony and Ecstasy of Radio Shack

http://decafbad.net/2012/04/03/the-agony-and-ecstasy-of-radio-shack
If there is one place that should be an enjoyable experience to shop, it’s Radio Shack. Where else can you go and find Arduino boards, wire, solder, and light bulbs (and sockets) for every occasion? Damn few, places, that’s for sure. Unfortunately heading into a Radio Shack is always more painful than it should be. Yesterday JoDee and I braved the local Radio Shack to find some flashlight bulbs. We tried Home Depot, but they didn’t have exactly what we wanted. But, nearby was a Radio Shack. JoDee gruntled “they look like they have more phones than bulbs”, but we persisted. We walked in, past the advertising for new phones, phone service, and iPads, over to the parts area to look for the bulbs. We were surrounded by wire, solder, and parts, and intently looking at things not-phone related, when suddenly one of the associates popped into the hallway. “Let me ask you about your phone service”. “And this is why we hate coming to Radio Shack” is what went through my mind, but JoDee quickly retorted “We’d rather you didn’t”. He persisted, but JoDee deftly let him know that this line of questioning would prove futile. One of my big pet peeves with shopping at Radio Shack is that I can’t get in and or out of the store without being pestered about a phone, or some stupid battery bullshit. It’s like going to Game Stop and being asked if I want a warranty on a Nintendo DS cartridge. I get really tired of the up-sell bullshit in these stores. And inevitably, Radio Shack always has some stupid battery club, or other battery-related nonsense going on that they try really, really hard to sucker you into. It’s like the ebb and flow of the tides. And lo, when we proceeded to the check-out: “We’ve got some batteries here that…” God Dammit, NO! No, I don’t want your batteries. No, I don’t need a fucking phone. NO, I don’t need a warranty, NO, I DON’T WANT TO SAVE 10 FUCKING PERCENT BY OPENING A GOD DAMN CREDIT CARD! I just want the items that I came into your store to purchase. I’m perfectly capable of looking at your counter and seeing the packs of AA batteries carefully laid out, looking for a home. I can see quite clearly that you sell cell phones. Every time I go to Radio Shack, I hope that things change, and they don’t try to sell me a phone, or batteries, and every single time I leave Radio Shack, I vow that until they cut out this bullshit, I’ll never go back. I want to love Radio Shack. I want to learn to solder, and wire up all sorts of bizarre little contraptions, and put them in blue boxes to show off to my friends. Maybe it shouldn’t bother me as much as it does, and maybe I should just “get over it”. But, as the adage goes: “the customer is always right”. And right now, I’m dreading the next time I go to Radio Shack. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported.
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archive.org #21374

MAKE | Using Quadrotors to Assemble a Building

http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2011/11/using-quadrotors-to-assemble-a-building.html
A clever idea, first reported by Gareth a couple years ago: Architects are trying to figure out how to use quadrotors to haul and place individual bricks. The above link is in French; here’s a Google translation. In 2011, Gramazio & Kohler and Raffaello D’Andrea launched a pioneering project around training dynamic and robotic procedures applied to architecture. Belonging to the younger generation of architects exploiting the digital tools in the architectural design and construction, Gramazio & Kohler join the engineer Raffaello D’Andrea, whose work concerns the study of algorithms and development of systems autonomous innovation. Together, they hired Flight Assembled Architecture, an architectural research on the potential of a revolutionary assembly tool, revealing joint spatial and material previously unpublished. Flight Assembled Architecture is the first installation entirely by flying robots. Designed as an architectural structure on the scale of a “vertical village” of 600 meters, Assembled Architecture Flight testing a new paradigm of design and manufacturing, through a physical process of automated dynamic training. This project builds on the simultaneous use of multiple mobile agents. Considered as tools for adaptive production, these flying robots are programmed to interact and to capture, transport and assemble the modules to build architectural structures. They synthesize and the pragmatism of Gramazio & Kohler Architecture and visionary approach to Raffaello D’Andrea in engineering dynamics. The FRAC Centre supports this new project, which will then in its collections devoted to experimental architecture. This collaborative project will be exposed only to the FRAC Centre in Orléans. After an initial phase of several days devoted to assembly and assembly by robots flying a model of 6 m high and 3.5 m in diameter – made of polystyrene foam modules 1500 prefabricated – the exhibition will the “megastructure” in its final form, and a film performance and restoring the entire design process. [Via BLDBLOG]
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archive.org #21359

A Stairlift Designed for Obese Pets

http://laughingsquid.com/a-stairlift-designed-for-obese-pets/
The Stair of the Dog 2022 is a prototype stairlift created by pet and home insurance company More Th>n to highlight the issue of pet obesity. According to Daily Mail, More Th>n predicts “that over half of the nations dogs will be overweight by 2022.” via Archie McPhee’s Endless Geyser of Awesome images via Daily Mail
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archive.org #33044

A Stairlift Designed for Obese Pets

http://laughingsquid.com/a-stairlift-designed-for-obese-pets
The Stair of the Dog 2022 is a prototype stairlift created by pet and home insurance company More Th>n to highlight the issue of pet obesity. According to Daily Mail, More Th>n predicts “that over half of the nations dogs will be overweight by 2022.” via Archie McPhee’s Endless Geyser of Awesome images via Daily Mail
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archive.org #21315

Turkish bootleg Star Wars figures of the 1980s - Boing Boing

http://boingboing.net/2012/03/24/turkish-bootleg-star-wars-figu.html
Here's a rare complete photographic catalog of Uzay, the Turkish bootleg Star Wars figurines, which are delightfully shonky and off-model. No line of unlicensed Star Wars figures is as sought after as the Turkish line known as Uzay. Produced sometime in the latter part of the 1980s, the primary charm of the Uzay figures lies in their blister card art; not only are the card images incredibly cheesy, at their best they border on the psychadelic. To some collectors, a figure like the Imperial Gunner, the blister card of which shows the figure standing beside a cleverly-photographed calculator, is just too goofy to resist. And don't get me started on the Chewbacca blister. Do you think they really have gourds on Kashyyyk? Trying to complete a set of Uzay carded figures is a daunting task; it might even be impossible. For one thing, the figures are exceedingly rare. Although certain figures, such as the AT-AT Driver and Stormtrooper, have turned up on the collector's market with some degree of frequency, others, among them the mysterious Head Man figure, are thought to be one-of-a-kind pieces....and their owners are often not easily persuaded to sell. Additionally, the packages of these figures are quite fragile; their bubbles, for instance, are made from a very weak and brittle plastic, which often breaks given the slightest abuse. In short, if you're a collector who wants to start collecting Uzay figures, you'd better be prepared to 1) spend a lot of money, and 2) accept lesser-condition pieces when the situation necessitates it. But don't worry, such concessions are made in the interest of collecting high quality, beautiful merchandise, right? Um...right? The Comprehensive Guide to Uzay Carded Figures (via IZ Reloaded)
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archive.org #21314

Theaters will charge premium on 2D movies in order to lower the cost of 3D movie tickets - Boing Boing

http://boingboing.net/2012/03/24/theaters-will-charge-premium-o.html
Writing for Screen Trade Magazine Joe Paletta, CEO of Spotlight Theaters, announces that cinemas will begin to eliminate the premium charges on 3D movies and raise the prices of 2D movies to make up the difference. This gives me the rage. 3D movies give me a headache and eye-strain, and I actively avoid them. I hate the idea that I'd be charged a premium on the few 2D movies I can find in order to subsidize 3D screenings. As Roger Ebert put it, "Oh, no! In a move to recoup their unwise investment in 3D, theaters discuss, and I quote, 'patrons will have a single price for both 2D and 3D films. 2D prices will increase and 3D prices will decrease.' In other words, punishing those who dislike 3D." Among the bigger changes will probably see the 3D-upcharge disappear. 3D charges will help increase the overall ticket-price but, as an industry, I think we’ll see a blend begin to emerge in 2012, where patrons will have a single price for both 2D and 3D films. 2D prices will increase and 3D prices will decrease. Joe Paletta - screentrade (Image: 3D glasses, a Creative Commons Attribution (2.0) image from mattneale's photostream)
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archive.org #21313

Virgin boy piss eggs a treat in China - Boing Boing

http://boingboing.net/2012/03/29/virgin-boy-piss-eggs-a-treat-i.html
"[It's] the start of busy times for dozens of egg vendors across the city, deep in coastal Zhejiang province, who ready themselves to cook up a unique springtime snack favored by local residents. Basins and buckets of boys' urine are collected from primary school toilets. It is the key ingredient in "virgin boy eggs", a local tradition of soaking and cooking eggs in the urine of young boys, preferably below the age of 10." [Reuters]
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archive.org #21312

robohara.com » Arcade Games and Saber Tooth Tigers

http://www.robohara.com/?p=4358
This is going to sound stupid, but nothing makes me feel cooler than hauling arcade games around on the back of my truck. So many collectors never get to show off their collections to outsiders — and when they do, typically it’s done online. Seeing pictures of someone’s collection can be kind of neat, seeing an item in real life is much cooler, in my opinion. I’ve never been hunting so I don’t really know what it’s like to take down a big animal or anything, but … I don’t know, I have this visual image of a caveman returning from the hunt with a saber tooth tiger hoisted up on top his shoulders or something. And the caveman enters his cave where all the other cavemen are hanging out, and throws down the carcass on the floor and it goes BAM and … in that one little moment, he’s the MAN. And that moment, that feeling … that’s how I feel when I’m driving slowly through the neighborhood with an arcade game on the back of my truck. It’s like I’m the caveman. And the arcade game is the saber tooth tiger. And my club is … well, a credit card. And I know deep down that 99% of the people I pass could not care less about the fact that some random stranger is driving around with an arcade game in the back of his truck. When I think back to when I was a kid … there was this family that lived in our neighborhood, the Sloans, and one time we went over to their house and they had an arcade game in their house and I remember thinking that they must be rich. And maybe they were, I don’t really know, but … the point is, especially as a kid who hung out in arcades and liked playing arcade games, the thought of actually ever owning a real, full size arcade cabinet was like … indescribable. It would have been the ultimate toy and the ultimate status symbol all wrapped up into one 300 pound chunk of wood and electronics. It’s not that way any more, of course. I mean, the people I’m impressing, or at least the people I think I’m impressing, it’s not the 10-year-old kids out playing in their front yard. To those kids, I might as well be hauling antique junk off to to the dump. Those aren’t the kids that grew up feeling like a rock star because they got to enter their initials into a Centipede cabinet for achieving the high score. It’s the people my age I get the looks from, the people like me who saved a little bit of their lunch money so they would have an extra quarter or two in their pocket the next time they ran across an arcade game in the grocery store, or the convenient store, or the laundromat. The other day I was delivering a couple of machines over to a friend’s house. Facing to one side of my trailer were two machines, Speed Buggy and Karate Champ. I pull up to a stop light and can feel the guy next to me at the light waving, so I look over and this guy is at first waving, then he points to the arcade games, and then he gives me two thumbs up while he’s grinning from ear to ear. He was obviously pretty excited to see them (I’m guessing he was excited over Karate Champ; nobody gets that excited about Speed Buggy). And then I gave him a nod back and a smile, acknowledging that, at least in that moment, I’m the caveman with a couple of saber tooth tigers on the back of my trailer. And then the light turned green and I turned left and I never saw him again. The funny thing about this encounter was, I think I paid a hundred bucks for that Karate Champ machine. The last time I filled up my truck, the day I was moving those games, it cost me $112. I was literally carrying more money in gasoline in my truck right then than I had invested in that machine. Of course, nobody has good memories of spending their formidable years playing with gasoline … unless they were a pyromaniac or something. Or maybe they sniffed a lot of gas as a kid, and even then, they may no longer have any memories of those years. Over the past decade and a half I bought somewhere around 60 machines, give or take. Of those, 2 I had delivered; the rest I moved myself. Many of those games were located out of state and purchased through eBay. I’ve hauled games from Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, and Texas. When we sold our old house, I had to move the 30 machines I currently owned to storage. Of those 30, I ended up moving 15 or so to my new house. Of the ones I’ve sold, I’ve delivered many of them. During my time in this hobby I’ll bet I’ve moved 200 machines, maybe more, and every time I drive through my neighborhood or down Main Street with a machine or two in tow behind me, I get that same feeling. And part of it, I won’t lie, is wanting to be seen with those machines, but another part of it, the bigger part of it, is wanting those machines to be seen. Similar Posts: Sayonara, Shinobi. Weekend Summary Cactus Jack’s Arcade Visit Share on Facebook
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archive.org #21308

Good Afternoon, Lana Del Rey and Marilyn Manson Are Dating?

http://gawker.com/5895889/good-afternoon-lana-del-rey-and-marilyn-manson-are-dating
German publication B.Z. has shed some light on the apocalyptic coming together of the Manilow*, Manson, Del Rey trio, pictured together at the Echo Music Awards in Germany: Marilyn Manson and Lana Del Rey are dating. B.Z. is supposedly in possession of photographic evidence that the once-rumored Wonder Years star and forever-rumored self-fellating rocker is having hotel sleepovers with Lana Del Rey. More »
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archive.org #21307

Computer Lab Yearbook Photo (1982-1983) | The Retroist

http://www.retroist.com/2012/03/07/computer-lab-yearbook-photo-1982-1983
Today’s Photo of the Day was posted by xnedski and shows a very young programmer learning basic on the Apple ][. I love the ghostly bit of code overlay and of course the all denim outfit. If you take away the computers, this could have been my hometown high school around that same time.
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archive.org #21306

Rush is a Band Blog: Rush reference on season 3 finale of FX's Archer

http://www.rushisaband.com/blog/2012/03/23/3038/Rush-reference-on-season-3-finale-of-FXs-Archer
There was yet another Rush reference on FX's Archer during last night's Season 3 finale Space Race: Part 2 (thanks to Eric at Power Windows for the heads up). In this episode the mural on Krieger's van gets updated with a Caress of Steel-themed mural with the lettering reading Caress of Krieger (screenshot here). This makes the 3rd such Rush-themed mural that has appeared on his van; on the finale of season 2 the van had an Exit ... Stage Left-inspired mural which read Exit ... Van Left (screenshot here), and earlier in season 3 the mural had been updated to a Rush Hemispheres theme (screenshot here). There was also a major Rush reference on episode 8 of season 3 just a few weeks ago. In that episode Kreiger is trying to learn YYZ on his Neil Peart-inspired drumkit. ...
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archive.org #21264

Rush is a Band Blog: Yet another Rush reference on latest episode of FX's Archer

http://www.rushisaband.com/blog/2012/03/09/3022/Yet-another-Rush-reference-on-latest-episode-of-FXs-Archer
There was another Rush reference on FX's Archer during the latest episode Skin Game (Season 3, Episode 8) which aired last night (thanks to Eric at Power Windows for the heads up). Towards the beginning of the episode, Archer is accompanying Krieger to his lab to see a surprise. When they enter the room there's a large Neil Peart style drumkit in the middle of the room. The conversation proceeds as follows: ...
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archive.org #21263

Nothing To Do With Arbroath: Man sues shops for refusing to serve him and his mini horse

http://arbroath.blogspot.com/2012/03/man-sues-shops-for-refusing-to-serve.html
A paraplegic man claims in court that GameStop and Marshalls violated his civil rights by refusing to let him enter their stores with his assistance animal: a miniature horse named Princess who pulls his wheelchair. Jose Estrada sued GameStop and Marshalls in separate complaints in Superior Court, claiming they denied him and Princess access to their stores in Downey last month. Estrada, who says he "has been a paraplegic, confined to a wheelchair, and suffering from overuse syndrome of the elbows, shoulders, and wrists," seeks injunctions and damages of $4,000 from each store. "Plaintiff's miniature horse, Princess, has been individually trained and certified by a professional trainer to assist him by pulling him in his wheelchair," the complaint against GameStop states. "The training further consisted of behavior modification, leading and heeling, turning on forehand and haunches, sidepassing, laying down on command, standing still, entering a handicapped-accessible van and confined spaces, and desensitization." Estrada says that both stores "refused to permit said animal to accompany plaintiff therein, even though they were told that the animal in question was a service animal." The complaint adds: "Princess' height is 29 inches. Her width is 12 inches. Her length is 31 inches. Her weight is 115 pounds. Plaintiff has been professionally trained to control Princess and can do so without difficulty. Defendants' facility is large enough to accommodate Princess. Princess is housebroken. Princess' presence in defendants' facility does not compromise the legitimate safety requirements that are necessary for its safe operation." Estrada seeks damages for violation of the Unruh Civil Rights Act. Estrada's attorney Morse Mehrban of Sherman Oaks said that neither business was in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). "They haven't been training their employees efficiently to be knowledgeable about people with service animals," Mehrban said in an interview. "But the ADA requires that you implement a policy and train your staff regarding admission of service animals into your place of business. Including miniature horses. Miniature horses are not pets. They're specifically trained to assist a disabled person."
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archive.org #21258

Nothing To Do With Arbroath: German pensioner accused of poisoning chocolate bunny thief

http://arbroath.blogspot.com/2012/03/german-pensioner-accused-of-poisoning.html
An elderly German man fed up with local children pilfering his Easter decorations has been accused of poisoning a 10-year-old boy with a spiked chocolate bunny. Each year 68-year-old Joerg-Werner Lubbe from the town of Markneukirchen, in southeastern Germany, decks out his yard with tasty Easter treats. And every time, the decorations prove irresistible to children in the neighbourhood, who help themselves. Determined that this year would be different, the Easter scrooge allegedly laced a batch of chocolate bunnies with ammonium hydroxide and hung them from a tree in his front yard. A sweet-toothed 10-year-old fell for the trap and gobbled down a baited bunny. He was violently ill and had to be rushed to the hospital. Police said they were investigating Lubbe for grievous bodily harm and said they found six more poisoned bunnies in the yard. They said adults would have immediately noticed the smell of the chemical, but a hungry child may have been unable to resist the lure of chocolate.
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archive.org #21257

Hipster He-Man and Other High-Fashion Cartoon Heroes

http://io9.com/5896179/hipster-he+man-and-other-high+fashion-cartoon-heroes
He-Man has been around since 1980, and it's high time he got a wardrobe update. Illustrator Fabian Ciraolo is happy to oblige, designing new looks for the prince of Eternia and other cartoon favorites: the Thundercats, Jem, Captain Planet, and She-Ra all earn themselves a fashion makeover. Ciraolo's Oldschool Heroes series does look like it came from the Instagrammed pages of an Urban Outfitters catalogue, but he's come up with some fun color schemes for his cartoon fashion play. I can't help but wonder, were spots for Cheetara just too much on the nose? [Fabian Ciraolo via Geek-Art] Some images at both links are NSFW
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archive.org #21237

The Nerf Jolt EX-1 is small, concealable, accurate, and it stings a little

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2011/12/the-nerf-jolt-ex-1-is-small-concealable-accurate-and-it-stings-a-little.ars
I included the image of the Nerf dart next to the Jolt EX-1 in the above picture so you can see the size of this new gun. It's tiny. It fits in your hand, it's easy to conceal, and you can whip it out quickly and shoot someone in the face with it. I would not suggest doing so in a social situation unless you are much larger than the victim. This is why I chose, once again, to test the gun on my children. The surprising thing about the gun, which sells for around under $10, is that it's powerful. Read the comments on this post
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archive.org #21171

BSAG » Some thoughts about coffee

http://www.rousette.org.uk/blog/archives/some-thoughts-about-coffee
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.↩
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archive.org #21166

The Juggalos Now Have Their Very Own Facebook, JuggaloBook

http://gawker.com/5890596/the-juggalos-now-have-their-very-own-facebook-juggalobook
The majority of the American Juggalo population only gets together once a year, at the annual Gathering of the Juggalos in Cave-in-Rock, Ill., and so it makes perfect sense that the community has now established its very own online base: JuggaloBook is the Juggalos' very own Facebook. More »
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archive.org #21127

Dear Prudence dissects Limbaugh's horrible apology - Boing Boing

http://boingboing.net/2012/03/05/dear-prudence-dissects-limbaug.html
"I sincerely apologize to Ms. Fluke. My remarks about her were false, cruel, and repulsive. There’s no excuse and I offer none. I seriously crossed the line and I am sorry." That's how Limbaugh ought to have apologized, says Emily Yoffe, who writes Slate's "Dear Prudence" column. I agree. A real apology will win you points on both sides. I wonder what prevented Limbaugh from doing this? How Not To Apologize: Rush Limbaugh’s statement on Sandra Fluke was a textbook example of what not to say.
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archive.org #21126

AOL quits Rush, "working on" removing ads - Boing Boing

http://boingboing.net/2012/03/05/aol-quite-rush-working-on.html
AOL is the latest advertiser to bail on radio host Rush Limbaugh following his description of activist Sandra Fluke as as a "slut" and "prostitute". Reuters' Anthony De Rosa cites an AOL source as saying it's "working on" removing Rush-linked promotions from the site. It's strange to think of website so vast and operationally complicated that one is literally incapable of changing what's on it in a hurry. Perhaps the servers are ringed by moats of lava and defended by crocodiles. Don't you just hate it when that happens? UPDATE. Say hello to bg_hero-NoRush.jpg, who lacks Rush's weirdly coquettish stance, but hints at a greater majesty with his purple attire and Mediterranean countenance.
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archive.org #21125

Yahoo's New CEO Preps Major Restructuring, Including Significant Layoffs - Blogrunner

http://www.blogrunner.com/snapshot/D/2/0/yahoos_new_ceo_preps_major_restructuring_including_significant_layoffs/
According to multiple sources both inside and outside the Silicon Valley Internet giant, Yahoo's CEO Scott Thompson is preparing a massive restructuring of the company, including layoffs that are likely to number in the thousands. Go to Blog Post
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archive.org #33101

Yahoo's New CEO Preps Major Restructuring, Including Significant Layoffs - Blogrunner

http://www.blogrunner.com/snapshot/D/2/0/yahoos_new_ceo_preps_major_restructuring_including_significant_layoffs
According to multiple sources both inside and outside the Silicon Valley Internet giant, Yahoo's CEO Scott Thompson is preparing a massive restructuring of the company, including layoffs that are likely to number in the thousands. Go to Blog Post
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archive.org #21124

Build PHP 5.4 on CentOS 6.2 - Ben Ramsey

http://benramsey.com/blog/2012/03/build-php-54-on-centos-62/
In case you haven’t heard the news, the PHP project released version 5.4.0 last Thursday. Naturally, I decided it was time to install and give it a try. I chose to install to a clean and bare-bones CentOS 6.2 virtual machine using VirtualBox. I did this for two reasons: 1) I wanted a clean environment for the build, and 2) I wanted to play with CentOS. At the time of this writing, there are not yet any official CentOS RPMs for PHP 5.4, so I had to build PHP from source. What follows are the notes I took during the installation and build process. I hope you find them helpful. Set up a CentOS virtual machine First of all, go grab the CentOS 6.2 netinstall ISO. Depending on the mirror, it will likely be located somewhere like centos/6.2/isos/x86_64/CentOS-6.2-x86_64-netinstall.iso (note that I’m using the 64-bit version). Following that, create a new basic VirtualBox VM (512 MB RAM, 8 GB HDD, 12 MB video RAM) for your CentOS installation (use “Red Hat (64 bit)” as the Version) and follow these instructions for a CentOS 6.2 netinstall. I chose the 64-bit version, using the netinstall URL of http://mirror.centos.org/centos/6.2/os/x86_64/. Since the VirtualBox video RAM selected is only 12 MB, it won’t boot into the graphical mode shown in the netinstall installation guide. Don’t worry about this. Also, it will make some assumptions (e.g. it won’t install Gnome or KDE), since you aren’t in graphical mode. What you’ll have at the end is a very bare-bones server installation. After installation, I like to power down the VM and adjust my settings to set up port forwarding so that I can shell into my VM from my Mac terminal. Feel free to configure things as you like. See the screenshot for an example of forwarding ports in Virtual Box. Once set up, you can boot the VM and then use your favorite local terminal to SSH to the instance: 1 ssh -p 2222 root@localhost You’ll probably want to create a user for yourself, so that you’re not using root all the time, but since this is a VM on your local machine, it’s not a huge deal. If this was a box out in the open, I’d recommend locking it down and creating a user with much more restricted permissions. Install packages needed for PHP Once logged in to the VM, you’ll need to install some basic build stuff, like gcc, etc. 1 2 yum install man wget yum groupinstall "Development Tools" Next, update iptables to allow connections to the VM over ports 80 and 8000. 1 2 3 sed -i '/22/ i -A INPUT -m state --state NEW -m tcp -p tcp --dport 80 -j ACCEPT' /etc/sysconfig/iptables sed -i '/22/ i -A INPUT -m state --state NEW -m tcp -p tcp --dport 8000 -j ACCEPT' /etc/sysconfig/iptables /etc/init.d/iptables restart For the PHP configuration that I’m using, install the following packages. There will be a bunch of dependencies it will ask you to install. Just say yes to them all. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 yum install libxml2-devel httpd-devel libXpm-devel gmp-devel libicu-devel t1lib-devel aspell-devel openssl-devel bzip2-devel libcurl-devel libjpeg-devel libvpx-devel libpng-devel freetype-devel readline-devel libtidy-devel libxslt-devel For some reason, libmcrypt isn’t available in the main CentOS repositories, so add the RPMForge repo to install it. 1 2 3 4 5 wget http://packages.sw.be/rpmforge-release/rpmforge-release-0.5.2-2.el6.rf.x86_64.rpm rpm --import http://apt.sw.be/RPM-GPG-KEY.dag.txt rpm -K rpmforge-release-0.5.2-2.el6.rf.*.rpm # Verifies the package rpm -i rpmforge-release-0.5.2-2.el6.rf.*.rpm yum install libmcrypt-devel Now, the environment is all ready for building PHP 5.4! Build PHP 5.4.0 All that’s left is to get the PHP 5.4.0 release package and build it. Choose a mirror closest to you and run the following commands to configure, make, and install PHP. 1 2 3 wget http://www.php.net/get/php-5.4.0.tar.bz2/from/this/mirror tar jxf php-5.4.0.tar.bz2 cd php-5.4.0/ What you want to enable and build into your PHP installation will vary, but here’s the configure line that I used for this build: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 ./configure --with-libdir=lib64 --prefix=/usr/local --with-layout=PHP --with-pear --with-apxs2 --enable-calendar --enable-bcmath --with-gmp --enable-exif --with-mcrypt --with-mhash --with-zlib --with-bz2 --enable-zip --enable-ftp --enable-mbstring --with-iconv --enable-intl --with-icu-dir=/usr --with-gettext --with-pspell --enable-sockets --with-openssl --with-curl --with-curlwrappers --with-gd --enable-gd-native-ttf --with-jpeg-dir=/usr --with-png-dir=/usr --with-zlib-dir=/usr --with-xpm-dir=/usr --with-vpx-dir=/usr --with-freetype-dir=/usr --with-t1lib=/usr --with-libxml-dir=/usr --with-mysql=mysqlnd --with-mysqli=mysqlnd --with-pdo-mysql=mysqlnd --enable-soap --with-xmlrpc --with-xsl --with-tidy=/usr --with-readline --enable-pcntl --enable-sysvshm --enable-sysvmsg --enable-shmop Assuming the configure script ran perfectly, you’re ready to make and install PHP. 1 make && make install Now, you’ve got a fully-functioning build of PHP 5.4.0 on CentOS 6.2! Trying out the build Now, that PHP is installed, it’s time to try out a few things. Create a simple phpinfo() script, make sure Apache knows to parse .php files as PHP, and start Apache. 1 2 3 echo "
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archive.org #33104

Build PHP 5.4 on CentOS 6.2 - Ben Ramsey

http://benramsey.com/blog/2012/03/build-php-54-on-centos-62
In case you haven’t heard the news, the PHP project released version 5.4.0 last Thursday. Naturally, I decided it was time to install and give it a try. I chose to install to a clean and bare-bones CentOS 6.2 virtual machine using VirtualBox. I did this for two reasons: 1) I wanted a clean environment for the build, and 2) I wanted to play with CentOS. At the time of this writing, there are not yet any official CentOS RPMs for PHP 5.4, so I had to build PHP from source. What follows are the notes I took during the installation and build process. I hope you find them helpful. Set up a CentOS virtual machine First of all, go grab the CentOS 6.2 netinstall ISO. Depending on the mirror, it will likely be located somewhere like centos/6.2/isos/x86_64/CentOS-6.2-x86_64-netinstall.iso (note that I’m using the 64-bit version). Following that, create a new basic VirtualBox VM (512 MB RAM, 8 GB HDD, 12 MB video RAM) for your CentOS installation (use “Red Hat (64 bit)” as the Version) and follow these instructions for a CentOS 6.2 netinstall. I chose the 64-bit version, using the netinstall URL of http://mirror.centos.org/centos/6.2/os/x86_64/. Since the VirtualBox video RAM selected is only 12 MB, it won’t boot into the graphical mode shown in the netinstall installation guide. Don’t worry about this. Also, it will make some assumptions (e.g. it won’t install Gnome or KDE), since you aren’t in graphical mode. What you’ll have at the end is a very bare-bones server installation. After installation, I like to power down the VM and adjust my settings to set up port forwarding so that I can shell into my VM from my Mac terminal. Feel free to configure things as you like. See the screenshot for an example of forwarding ports in Virtual Box. Once set up, you can boot the VM and then use your favorite local terminal to SSH to the instance: 1 ssh -p 2222 root@localhost You’ll probably want to create a user for yourself, so that you’re not using root all the time, but since this is a VM on your local machine, it’s not a huge deal. If this was a box out in the open, I’d recommend locking it down and creating a user with much more restricted permissions. Install packages needed for PHP Once logged in to the VM, you’ll need to install some basic build stuff, like gcc, etc. 1 2 yum install man wget yum groupinstall "Development Tools" Next, update iptables to allow connections to the VM over ports 80 and 8000. 1 2 3 sed -i '/22/ i -A INPUT -m state --state NEW -m tcp -p tcp --dport 80 -j ACCEPT' /etc/sysconfig/iptables sed -i '/22/ i -A INPUT -m state --state NEW -m tcp -p tcp --dport 8000 -j ACCEPT' /etc/sysconfig/iptables /etc/init.d/iptables restart For the PHP configuration that I’m using, install the following packages. There will be a bunch of dependencies it will ask you to install. Just say yes to them all. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 yum install libxml2-devel httpd-devel libXpm-devel gmp-devel libicu-devel t1lib-devel aspell-devel openssl-devel bzip2-devel libcurl-devel libjpeg-devel libvpx-devel libpng-devel freetype-devel readline-devel libtidy-devel libxslt-devel For some reason, libmcrypt isn’t available in the main CentOS repositories, so add the RPMForge repo to install it. 1 2 3 4 5 wget http://packages.sw.be/rpmforge-release/rpmforge-release-0.5.2-2.el6.rf.x86_64.rpm rpm --import http://apt.sw.be/RPM-GPG-KEY.dag.txt rpm -K rpmforge-release-0.5.2-2.el6.rf.*.rpm # Verifies the package rpm -i rpmforge-release-0.5.2-2.el6.rf.*.rpm yum install libmcrypt-devel Now, the environment is all ready for building PHP 5.4! Build PHP 5.4.0 All that’s left is to get the PHP 5.4.0 release package and build it. Choose a mirror closest to you and run the following commands to configure, make, and install PHP. 1 2 3 wget http://www.php.net/get/php-5.4.0.tar.bz2/from/this/mirror tar jxf php-5.4.0.tar.bz2 cd php-5.4.0/ What you want to enable and build into your PHP installation will vary, but here’s the configure line that I used for this build: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 ./configure --with-libdir=lib64 --prefix=/usr/local --with-layout=PHP --with-pear --with-apxs2 --enable-calendar --enable-bcmath --with-gmp --enable-exif --with-mcrypt --with-mhash --with-zlib --with-bz2 --enable-zip --enable-ftp --enable-mbstring --with-iconv --enable-intl --with-icu-dir=/usr --with-gettext --with-pspell --enable-sockets --with-openssl --with-curl --with-curlwrappers --with-gd --enable-gd-native-ttf --with-jpeg-dir=/usr --with-png-dir=/usr --with-zlib-dir=/usr --with-xpm-dir=/usr --with-vpx-dir=/usr --with-freetype-dir=/usr --with-t1lib=/usr --with-libxml-dir=/usr --with-mysql=mysqlnd --with-mysqli=mysqlnd --with-pdo-mysql=mysqlnd --enable-soap --with-xmlrpc --with-xsl --with-tidy=/usr --with-readline --enable-pcntl --enable-sysvshm --enable-sysvmsg --enable-shmop Assuming the configure script ran perfectly, you’re ready to make and install PHP. 1 make && make install Now, you’ve got a fully-functioning build of PHP 5.4.0 on CentOS 6.2! Trying out the build Now, that PHP is installed, it’s time to try out a few things. Create a simple phpinfo() script, make sure Apache knows to parse .php files as PHP, and start Apache. 1 2 3 echo "
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archive.org #21121

Memetic prophylactic recommended - Charlie's Diary

http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2012/03/memetic-prophylactic-recommend.html
Op-ed found on internet: "Who is speaking up for the mothers who, under HHS mandate, have been falsely coerced into feeling that to be a woman means to have 'control' of their own bodies?" Okay, so the author of that op-ed is a fringe Lutheran. Doesn't make it all right, though. Once again, I feel the need to shout: The Handmaid's Tale was written as a warning, not a road map! He goes on to define contraceptives as "death-dealing prescriptions". It would appear that the junior anti-sex league has a posse. (Moderation note: refer to this blog's moderation policy before commenting. Also note that yr. hmbl. blggr. is of the opinion that any quibbling over the absolute right of a pregnant woman to demand an abortion, for any reason, at any point during pregnancy, is symptomatic of misogyny: it implies at a minimum that the quibbler doesn't credit pregnant women with being able to make an informed decision about a matter of pressing personal importance, which is pretty much the bedrock of civil rights.) PS: Don't mind me, I'm just having a bad news week. This nonsense follows hot on the heels of the government deciding that the Way Forward requires them to privatise the Police. Science-fictional dystopias? Take your pick!
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archive.org #21120

Mattel now selling Back to the Future Hoverboards | The Retroist

http://www.retroist.com/2012/03/05/mattel-now-selling-back-to-the-future-hoverboards/
If you are a fan of Back to the Future, you may have already heard that last week Mattel began accepting pre-orders for Hoverboards! Other than the fact that they don’t actually hover, these new replica boards from Mattel reportedly look indistinguishable from the ones appearing in the films Back to the Future 2 and 3. Prior to last week, the only way to get one of these was to either order a non-authorized unofficial replica prop or build one yourself. The official boards from Mattel are currently available for pre-order from now through March 20th for $120 (plus tax and shipping). Anyone pre-ordering one of the boards will also receive a scaled-down version of the board, suited for 6″ action figures. As a guy who just dropped $100 on a Wampa rug for his den, I’m still on the fence in regards to this one. While it’s a good looking replica, I’m thinking about waiting until 2015 for the ones that hover to arrive. ;)
#imported:pinboard #needs-tags #shared #ttrss
archive.org #33106

Mattel now selling Back to the Future Hoverboards | The Retroist

http://www.retroist.com/2012/03/05/mattel-now-selling-back-to-the-future-hoverboards
If you are a fan of Back to the Future, you may have already heard that last week Mattel began accepting pre-orders for Hoverboards! Other than the fact that they don’t actually hover, these new replica boards from Mattel reportedly look indistinguishable from the ones appearing in the films Back to the Future 2 and 3. Prior to last week, the only way to get one of these was to either order a non-authorized unofficial replica prop or build one yourself. The official boards from Mattel are currently available for pre-order from now through March 20th for $120 (plus tax and shipping). Anyone pre-ordering one of the boards will also receive a scaled-down version of the board, suited for 6″ action figures. As a guy who just dropped $100 on a Wampa rug for his den, I’m still on the fence in regards to this one. While it’s a good looking replica, I’m thinking about waiting until 2015 for the ones that hover to arrive. ;)
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archive.org #21117

Disney's Only Black Princess Hawks Watermelon Candy

http://gawker.com/5890481/disneys-only-black-princess-hawks-watermelon-candy
Surely it's just a coincidence that Tiana, the only black princess in the storied history of Disney animated films, is the face of Dig 'n Dips watermelon-flavored candy? And that Cinderella Aurora of Sleeping Beauty is the vanilla-flavored dipping stick? Yeah, that's totally a coincidence. Right, guys? Guys? [via Sociological Images] More »
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archive.org #21116

I received an email from a potential client. My...

http://clientsfromhell.net/post/18749042254/i-received-an-email-from-a-potential-client-my
I received an email from a potential client. My name is Jose. I live in California.  Client: I am interested in one of your illustrations. I have a budget of $30 U.S.D. Me: I am truly sorry sir, but that budget isn’t adequate for my illustration services. Client: I don’t think you understood, thats $30 dollars American, not pesos, amigo. I need that illustration done by tomorrow, in other words…pronto. can you do it? Me: Wow. Client: Yeah, now you get it. That should pay for a whole month of cerveza and tacos.
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archive.org #21109

Post Position » Computational Narrative and Games T-CIAIG Issue

http://nickm.com/post/2012/02/computational-narrative-and-games-t-ciaig-issue/
IEEE Transactions on Computational Intelligence and AI in Games (T-CIAIG) Call for papers: Special Issue on Computational Narrative and Games Special issue editors: Ian Horswill, Nick Montfort and R. Michael Young Stories in both their telling and their hearing are central to human experience, playing an important role in how humans understand the world around them. Entertainment media and other cultural artifacts are often designed around the presentation and experience of narrative. Even in video games, which need not be narrative, the vast majority of blockbuster titles are organized around some kind of quest narrative and many have elaborate stories with significant character development. Games, interactive fiction, and other computational media allow the dynamic generation of stories through the use of planning techniques, simulation (emergent narrative), or repair techniques. These provide new opportunities, both to make the artist’s hand less evident through the use of aleatory and/or automated methods and for the audience/player to more actively participate in the creation of the narrative. Stories have also been deeply involved in the history of artificial intelligence, with story understanding and generation being important early tasks for natural language and knowledge representation systems. And many researchers, particularly Roger Schank, have argued that stories play a central organizing role in human intelligence. This viewpoint has also seen a significant resurgence in recent years. The T-CIAIG Special Issue on Computational Narrative and Games solicits papers on all topics related to narrative in computational media and of relevance to games, including but not limited to: Storytelling systems Story generation Drama management Interactive fiction Story presentation, including performance, lighting, staging, music and camera control Dialog generation Authoring tools Human-subject evaluations of systems Papers should be written to address the broader T-CIAIG readership, with clear and substantial technical discussion and relevance to those working on AI techniques for games. Papers must make sufficient contact with the AI for narrative literature to provide useful insights or directions for future work in AI, but they need not be limited to the documentation and analysis of algorithmic techniques. Other genres of papers that could be submitted include: Documentation of complete implemented systems Aesthetic critique of existing technologies Interdisciplinary studies linking computational models or approaches to relevant fields such as narratology, cognitive science, literary theory, art theory, creative writing, theater, etc. Reports from artists and game designers on successes and challenges of authoring using existing technologies Authors should follow normal T-CIAIG guidelines for their submissions, but clearly identify their papers for this special issue during the submission process. T-CIAIG accepts letters, short papers and full papers. See http://www.ieee-cis.org/pubs/tciaig/ for author information. Extended versions of previously published conference/workshop papers are welcome, but must be accompanied by a covering letter that explains the novel and significant contribution of the extended work. Deadline for submissions: September 21, 2012 Notification of Acceptance: December 21, 2012 Final copy due: April 19, 2013 Expected publication date: June or September 2013
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archive.org #33116

Post Position » Computational Narrative and Games T-CIAIG Issue

http://nickm.com/post/2012/02/computational-narrative-and-games-t-ciaig-issue
IEEE Transactions on Computational Intelligence and AI in Games (T-CIAIG) Call for papers: Special Issue on Computational Narrative and Games Special issue editors: Ian Horswill, Nick Montfort and R. Michael Young Stories in both their telling and their hearing are central to human experience, playing an important role in how humans understand the world around them. Entertainment media and other cultural artifacts are often designed around the presentation and experience of narrative. Even in video games, which need not be narrative, the vast majority of blockbuster titles are organized around some kind of quest narrative and many have elaborate stories with significant character development. Games, interactive fiction, and other computational media allow the dynamic generation of stories through the use of planning techniques, simulation (emergent narrative), or repair techniques. These provide new opportunities, both to make the artist’s hand less evident through the use of aleatory and/or automated methods and for the audience/player to more actively participate in the creation of the narrative. Stories have also been deeply involved in the history of artificial intelligence, with story understanding and generation being important early tasks for natural language and knowledge representation systems. And many researchers, particularly Roger Schank, have argued that stories play a central organizing role in human intelligence. This viewpoint has also seen a significant resurgence in recent years. The T-CIAIG Special Issue on Computational Narrative and Games solicits papers on all topics related to narrative in computational media and of relevance to games, including but not limited to: Storytelling systems Story generation Drama management Interactive fiction Story presentation, including performance, lighting, staging, music and camera control Dialog generation Authoring tools Human-subject evaluations of systems Papers should be written to address the broader T-CIAIG readership, with clear and substantial technical discussion and relevance to those working on AI techniques for games. Papers must make sufficient contact with the AI for narrative literature to provide useful insights or directions for future work in AI, but they need not be limited to the documentation and analysis of algorithmic techniques. Other genres of papers that could be submitted include: Documentation of complete implemented systems Aesthetic critique of existing technologies Interdisciplinary studies linking computational models or approaches to relevant fields such as narratology, cognitive science, literary theory, art theory, creative writing, theater, etc. Reports from artists and game designers on successes and challenges of authoring using existing technologies Authors should follow normal T-CIAIG guidelines for their submissions, but clearly identify their papers for this special issue during the submission process. T-CIAIG accepts letters, short papers and full papers. See http://www.ieee-cis.org/pubs/tciaig/ for author information. Extended versions of previously published conference/workshop papers are welcome, but must be accompanied by a covering letter that explains the novel and significant contribution of the extended work. Deadline for submissions: September 21, 2012 Notification of Acceptance: December 21, 2012 Final copy due: April 19, 2013 Expected publication date: June or September 2013
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archive.org #21096

Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. Cascade Hops-N-Mint Lip Balm

http://laughingsquid.com/sierra-nevada-brewing-co-cascade-hops-n-mint-lip-balm/
California-based Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. makes its own (alcohol free) Cascade Hops-N-Mint lip balm and they sell it at their online store. Made using Cascade hop oils and all natural ingredients, this mousturizing balm is a lip saver for all seasons. via Emily Winston photo 1 by boogi & photo 2 by James Peterson
#imported:pinboard #needs-tags #shared #ttrss
archive.org #33117

Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. Cascade Hops-N-Mint Lip Balm

http://laughingsquid.com/sierra-nevada-brewing-co-cascade-hops-n-mint-lip-balm
California-based Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. makes its own (alcohol free) Cascade Hops-N-Mint lip balm and they sell it at their online store. Made using Cascade hop oils and all natural ingredients, this mousturizing balm is a lip saver for all seasons. via Emily Winston photo 1 by boogi & photo 2 by James Peterson
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archive.org #21095

Ralph Wiggum Comics

http://laughingsquid.com/ralph-wiggum-comics/
Bongo Comics has just released Ralph Wiggum Comics #1, a comic book that features The Simpsons nose-picking character Ralph Wiggums. It is part of Simpsons One-Shot Wonders from Bongo that will also include Milhouse #1 due out in April 2012. In the first of Bongo Comics’ soon to be legendary Simpsons One-Shot Wonders, Ralph Wiggum takes center stage. In his first solo outing, Ralph has a day off of school, is left home alone, and becomes a role model to a new kid in town. Add in some short features by Sergio Aragonés and watch the chaos ensue. via MTV Geek!
#imported:pinboard #needs-tags #shared #ttrss
archive.org #33118

Ralph Wiggum Comics

http://laughingsquid.com/ralph-wiggum-comics
Bongo Comics has just released Ralph Wiggum Comics #1, a comic book that features The Simpsons nose-picking character Ralph Wiggums. It is part of Simpsons One-Shot Wonders from Bongo that will also include Milhouse #1 due out in April 2012. In the first of Bongo Comics’ soon to be legendary Simpsons One-Shot Wonders, Ralph Wiggum takes center stage. In his first solo outing, Ralph has a day off of school, is left home alone, and becomes a role model to a new kid in town. Add in some short features by Sergio Aragonés and watch the chaos ensue. via MTV Geek!
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archive.org #21094

The Art of Video Games, An Upcoming Smithsonian Exhibit

http://laughingsquid.com/the-art-of-video-games-an-upcoming-smithsonian-exhibit/
The Art of Video Games is an upcoming Smithsonian exhibit on the evolution of video game art over the past 40 years (video). The exhibit will be on display at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington DC, March 16 to September 30. For more info on the exhibition see this preview article by Smithsonian Magazine. The Art of Video Games is one of the first exhibitions to explore the forty-year evolution of video games as an artistic medium, with a focus on striking visual effects and the creative use of new technologies. It features some of the most influential artists and designers during five eras of game technology, from early pioneers to contemporary designers. image via Smithsonian American Art Museum, video via Smithsonian Magazine
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archive.org #33121

The Art of Video Games, An Upcoming Smithsonian Exhibit

http://laughingsquid.com/the-art-of-video-games-an-upcoming-smithsonian-exhibit
The Art of Video Games is an upcoming Smithsonian exhibit on the evolution of video game art over the past 40 years (video). The exhibit will be on display at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington DC, March 16 to September 30. For more info on the exhibition see this preview article by Smithsonian Magazine. The Art of Video Games is one of the first exhibitions to explore the forty-year evolution of video games as an artistic medium, with a focus on striking visual effects and the creative use of new technologies. It features some of the most influential artists and designers during five eras of game technology, from early pioneers to contemporary designers. image via Smithsonian American Art Museum, video via Smithsonian Magazine
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archive.org #21091

SOPA's author wants everything you do online logged and made available without a warrant - Boing Boing

http://boingboing.net/2012/02/29/sopas-author-wants-everythin.html
Lamar Smith (R-TX), author of the ill-starred SOPA Internet regulation, has an even dumber idea for the Internet. In the name of fighting child pornography, he wants to force ISPs to log everything you do online, then make it available to police and government agents without a warrant. Leslie Meredith has a writeup on the mounting opposition to Smith's latest act of unconstitutional lunacy: However, under Smith’s bill, records of both suspects and ordinary citizens would all be available to any government agency at any time, no warrant required. "This type of legislation goes against the fundamental values of our country where individuals are treated as innocent until proven guilty," Reitman said. "H.R. 1981 would uproot this core American principle, forcing ISPs to treat everyone like a potential criminal." The bill has been forwarded from committee to the full House of Representatives for consideration, which is expected later this year. There is no sign of a Senate version at this time. If the past is any indicator, Smith may be in for a hard fight with activists. He was also sponsor of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) bill that would have shut off access to foreign websites accused of hosting pirated content. But he was forced to withdraw the legislation after massive protests by many of the same opponents who likewise thought the remedy was too harsh for the problem. Child porn law could affect everyone's privacy
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archive.org #21090

Untitled

http://jwz.livejournal.com/1613216.html
'Brogrammers' challenge coders' nerdy image Danilo Stern-Sapad writes code for a living, but don't call him a geek. He wears sunglasses and blasts 2Pac while programming. He enjoys playing Battle Shots - like the board game Battleship with liquor - at the office. He and his fellow coders at Los Angeles startup BetterWorks are lavished with attention by technology-industry recruiters desperate for engineering talent. "We got invited to a party in Malibu where there were naked women in the hot tub," said Stern-Sapad, 25. "We're the cool programmers." A poster recently displayed at a Stanford University career fair by San Francisco social-media analytics company Klout tried to woo computer-science graduates by asking: "Want to bro down and crush code? Klout is hiring." Mirrored from jwz.org.
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archive.org #21088

Alamo Drafthouse's Summer of 82 Screens Vintage Sci-Fi, Action | Underwire | Wired.com

http://www.wired.com/underwire/2012/03/summer-of-82-movies/
Sci-fi and action movie fans fixated on the ’80s might want to relocate for the summer to Austin, Texas, where the Alamo Drafthouse will revive Blade Runner, E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial and other blockbusters from 1982 on the same day as their original releases 30 years ago. The nostalgia-inducing montage video above — made by Tommy Swenson and set to the tune of “Eye of the Tiger” (what else?) — powers through a formidable stream of big-budget gore, sci-fi and action spatter from that epic year. “A generation of imaginations were set aflame, and there has never been another stretch of cinematic dynamite to match it,” said Alamo Drafthouse programmer Zack Carlson in a statement. “These movies endured beyond their opening weekend and decades later they’re forever tattooed on the hearts of movie fans across the globe.” The Summer of 1982 slate, which begins May 18, will also include Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Conan the Barbarian, The Road Warrior, Poltergeist, The Thing, Rocky III and Tron.
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archive.org #33122

Alamo Drafthouse's Summer of 82 Screens Vintage Sci-Fi, Action | Underwire | Wired.com

http://www.wired.com/underwire/2012/03/summer-of-82-movies
Sci-fi and action movie fans fixated on the ’80s might want to relocate for the summer to Austin, Texas, where the Alamo Drafthouse will revive Blade Runner, E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial and other blockbusters from 1982 on the same day as their original releases 30 years ago. The nostalgia-inducing montage video above — made by Tommy Swenson and set to the tune of “Eye of the Tiger” (what else?) — powers through a formidable stream of big-budget gore, sci-fi and action spatter from that epic year. “A generation of imaginations were set aflame, and there has never been another stretch of cinematic dynamite to match it,” said Alamo Drafthouse programmer Zack Carlson in a statement. “These movies endured beyond their opening weekend and decades later they’re forever tattooed on the hearts of movie fans across the globe.” The Summer of 1982 slate, which begins May 18, will also include Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Conan the Barbarian, The Road Warrior, Poltergeist, The Thing, Rocky III and Tron.
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archive.org #21083

Untitled

http://jwz.livejournal.com/1612164.html
SpeechJammer: A System Utilizing Artificial Speech Disturbance with Delayed Auditory Feedback Abstract: In this paper we report on a system, "SpeechJammer", which can be used to disturb people's speech. In general, human speech is jammed by giving back to the speakers their own utterances at a delay of a few hundred milliseconds. This effect can disturb people without any physical discomfort, and disappears immediately by stop speaking. Furthermore, this effect does not involve anyone but the speaker. We utilize this phenomenon and implemented two prototype versions by combining a direction-sensitive microphone and a direction-sensitive speaker, enabling the speech of a specific person to be disturbed. We discuss practical application scenarios of the system, such as facilitating and controlling discussions. Finally, we argue what system parameters should be examined in detail in future formal studies based on the lessons learned from our preliminary study. Mirrored from jwz.org.
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archive.org #21053

The Best First Pet for a Kid? A Commodore PET! | The Retroist

http://www.retroist.com/2012/03/01/the-best-first-pet-for-a-kid-a-commodore-pet/
Today’s Photo of the Day was posted by Alice Tiara and shows who I think is a young child (maybe Alice?) playing on the greatest gift a young kid could get in the 1970s and 1980s, a Commodore PET. Since this is how many kids from that generation were introduced to computers, this should be have been the photo they used in the ad for the PET.
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archive.org #33135

The Best First Pet for a Kid? A Commodore PET! | The Retroist

http://www.retroist.com/2012/03/01/the-best-first-pet-for-a-kid-a-commodore-pet
Today’s Photo of the Day was posted by Alice Tiara and shows who I think is a young child (maybe Alice?) playing on the greatest gift a young kid could get in the 1970s and 1980s, a Commodore PET. Since this is how many kids from that generation were introduced to computers, this should be have been the photo they used in the ad for the PET.
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archive.org #21050

This R2-D2 Cake – Is the Cake You’ve Been Looking For… | The Retroist

http://www.retroist.com/2012/03/01/this-r2-d2-cake-is-the-cake-youve-been-looking-for/
I have never received what I liked to call a “fancy cake” for my birthday or any other special event. Every week I spot one online and think, “that’s the one I want!” This week, it is this delicious and well made cake that was posted by Mazola1980 of everyone’s favorite robotic hero, R2-D2.
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archive.org #33136

This R2-D2 Cake – Is the Cake You’ve Been Looking For… | The Retroist

http://www.retroist.com/2012/03/01/this-r2-d2-cake-is-the-cake-youve-been-looking-for
I have never received what I liked to call a “fancy cake” for my birthday or any other special event. Every week I spot one online and think, “that’s the one I want!” This week, it is this delicious and well made cake that was posted by Mazola1980 of everyone’s favorite robotic hero, R2-D2.
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archive.org #21049

Binding of Isaac Denied 3DS Release Over Religious Concerns - Giant Bomb

http://www.giantbomb.com/news/binding-of-isaac-denied-3ds-release-over-religious-concerns/4011/
The Binding of Isaac is only $4.99 on Steam, and it's available for both the PC and Mac. We won’t be seeing Edmund McMillen’s The Binding of Isaac on 3DS, unfortunately. McMillen revealed over Twitter that Nintendo has denied the game’s possible port over religious concerns. “Attention: After a long internal debate Nintendo has decided NOT to allow the Binding of Isaac on the 3ds. :(“ said the designer. “As many assumed the reasons were due to the games "questionable religious content". Thank GOD Steam exists!” The Binding of Isaac is not the next game from Team Meat, McMillen’s other outfit that produced 2010’s Super Meat Boy. Team Meat is working on another project, and McMillen made The Binding of Isaac as a post-release breather. The game’s best described as, well, a Zelda-inspired roguelike. You should really play it.
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archive.org #33139

Binding of Isaac Denied 3DS Release Over Religious Concerns - Giant Bomb

http://www.giantbomb.com/news/binding-of-isaac-denied-3ds-release-over-religious-concerns/4011
The Binding of Isaac is only $4.99 on Steam, and it's available for both the PC and Mac. We won’t be seeing Edmund McMillen’s The Binding of Isaac on 3DS, unfortunately. McMillen revealed over Twitter that Nintendo has denied the game’s possible port over religious concerns. “Attention: After a long internal debate Nintendo has decided NOT to allow the Binding of Isaac on the 3ds. :(“ said the designer. “As many assumed the reasons were due to the games "questionable religious content". Thank GOD Steam exists!” The Binding of Isaac is not the next game from Team Meat, McMillen’s other outfit that produced 2010’s Super Meat Boy. Team Meat is working on another project, and McMillen made The Binding of Isaac as a post-release breather. The game’s best described as, well, a Zelda-inspired roguelike. You should really play it.
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archive.org #21035

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
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.
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archive.org #21022

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.
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archive.org #20971

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
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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?
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archive.org #20960

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.
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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…
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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…
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archive.org #20947

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 »
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archive.org #20945

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.
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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…
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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.
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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).
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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…
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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.…
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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…
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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…
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archive.org #20895

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! ...
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archive.org #20890

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.
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archive.org #33187

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.
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archive.org #20865

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?
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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?
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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.
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archive.org #20858

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.↩
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archive.org #33199

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
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archive.org #20726

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!]
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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?
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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.
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archive.org #20703

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)
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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.
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archive.org #20630

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
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archive.org #20617

Reminder: Last chance to buy Xbox Avatar 'firearm' props | Joystiq

http://www.joystiq.com/2011/12/30/reminder-last-chance-to-buy-xbox-avatar-firearm-props
On January 1, 2012, Microsoft will remove firearm props it deems unsuitable for Xbox Avatars. What does that entail? Your guess as good as ours, since our request for a comprehensive list is still working its way through the machine. What we do know is that Gears of War weapon props are out. "Xbox Live Marketplace has updated its policies to provide further clarity for third-party publishers submitting content for approval. This includes details about weapons such as firearms. Xbox Live has always reserved the right to reject or expire from the marketplace any type of weapon prop content that is deemed unsuitable for its general audience," Microsoft informed us in a statement. "Because the Xbox Live Marketplace is accessible to members of all ages, it is important our policies clearly address what content is available to all. This policy provides additional clarity to publishers in advance of the content review process." Since items purchased in these final moments of 2011 will still be accessible to your Avatar after the content is yanked, take this as the final reminder to grab any Avatar prop "weapons," "firearms" and "gun-like" content before it's pulled. Reminder: Last chance to buy Xbox Avatar 'firearm' props originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 30 Dec 2011 16:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments
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archive.org #20360

Another Reason Why the Gradual De-White-Breadination of the US is Perfectly Okay With Me – Whatever

http://whatever.scalzi.com/2011/12/29/another-reason-why-the-gradual-de-white-breadination-of-the-us-is-perfectly-okay-with-me
Because it means I get churro-derived breakfast cereal. Athena and I both spotted this box in the store, said “Dude! Churro cereal!” almost simultaneously, and lunged for the box. I got it first because I still have the slightly longer reach. But I will share it with her, I promise. Regardless, it is truly an age of miracles and wonders. And for those of you asking whether it’s actually possible to get the sheer, unalloyed awesomeness of a churro into a breakfast cereal form, the answer is, of course not. Churros are perhaps nature’s most perfect hot fried pastry; Post Mini Cinnamon Churros™ can’t hope to replicate their native awesomeness. And as a breakfast cereal, the individual churro nuggets seem little unwieldy to me (I’m eating it as a snack, picking up each piece with my fingers, rather than trying to navigate the things unto a spoon through a bowl of milk). But this breakfast cereal version seems more like a churro than, say, a breakfast cereal version of a doughnut is like an actual donut, or a breakfast cereal version of a cookie is like one of them. The breakfast cereal churro is at least in the same actual family as the real thing, rather than being merely a sugared corn product extruded in the shape of something you’d rather be eating. So it gets a pass from me. I could go on about how a churroesque breakfast cereal is a testimony to the growing cultural and financial power of the burgeoning Hispanic market in the US. But then I would need graphs and charts and an easel. What I can tell you is that churros are fantastic and that having them even in denatured breakfast cereal form makes me happy. So thank you, Hispanic America, for being enough of a purchasing force in the US that I got to eat these this morning. You rock.
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archive.org #20354

Epeus' epigone: Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus shun HTML, causing the infographic plague.

http://epeus.blogspot.com/2011/12/facebook-twitter-and-google-plus-shun.html
By choosing images over links, and by restricting markup, Facebook, Twitter and Google+ are hostile to HTML. This is leading to the plague of infographics crowding out text, and of video used to convey minimal information. The rise of so-called infographics has been out of control this year, though the term was unknown a couple of years ago. I attribute this to the favourable presentation that image links get within Facebook, followed by Twitter and Google plus, and of course though other referral sites like Reddit. By showing a preview of the image, the item is given extra weight over a textual link; indeed even for a url link, Facebook and G+ will show an image preview by default. Consequently, the dominant form of expression has become the image. This was already happening with LOLcats and other meme generators like Rage Comics, where a trite observation can be dressed up with an image or series of images. Before this, in the blogging age, there was a weight given to prose pieces, and Facebook and Google preserve some of this, but the expressiveness of HTML through linking, quoting, using images inline, changing font weight and so on, is filtered out by the crude editing tools they make available. Feeds and feed readers started out this way too, but rapidly gained the ability to include HTML markup. Twitter went back to the beginning, and added the extra constrain of 140 characters because of it's initial SMS focus. Now it is painfully reinventing markup, though the gigantic envelope and wrapper of metadata that accompanies every tweet. This now has an edit list for entities pointing into it, and instructions for how to parse this to regain the author's intent is part of the overhead of working with their API. Image links, however — at least those from recognised partners — are given privileged treatment. Facebook and Google have emulated this too, leading to the 'trite quote as image' trope. The spillover of this to news organisations became complete this year, with blogs and newspapers falling over themselves to link to often-tendentious information presented in all-caps and crude histogram form. So here's my plea for 2012: Twitter, Facebook, Google+: please provide equal space for HTML. And for authors and designers everywhere, stop making giant bitmaps when well-written text with charts that are worth the bytes spent on them could convey your message better. Update: My son made a Rage Comic version of this post (with an explanation) why.
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archive.org #20353

UMG v. Veoh: victory has never been so pyrrhic -- Engadget

http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/22/umg-v-veoh-victory-has-never-been-so-pyrrhic
The US appeal court has ruled that "YouTube on steroids" site Veoh can't be sued for copyright infringement under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Judge Raymond Fisher said that rights holders (like UMG) were in a better place to identify infringing content than the video sharing site, putting the burden of finding and reporting dodgy vids on the record company's shoulders. The old-slugger's victory means that Viacom has less of a leg to stand on in its upcoming appeal against YouTube, since Judges can use the case as precedent to make their decisions. Sadly, victory will ring hollow for Veoh since the onslaught of litigation caused it to file for chapter seven bankruptcy before getting flogged on the cheap to Qlipso last year. UMG v. Veoh: victory has never been so pyrrhic originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 22 Dec 2011 13:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink   |  Reuters, Judgment (PDF)  | Email this | Comments
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archive.org #20306

memeorandum: Gay community apologizes to Amy Koch for ruining her marriage (Kevin Hoffman/The Blotter)

http://www.memeorandum.com/111222/p60#a111222p60
Kevin Hoffman / The Blotter:Gay community apologizes to Amy Koch for ruining her marriage  —  The gay and lesbian community of Minnesota has issued a letter of apology to recently resigned Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch for ruining the institution of marriage and causing her to stray from her husband and engage in an “inappropriate relationship.”
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archive.org #20303

RasterWeb! No Mozilla, No!!!

http://rasterweb.net/raster/2011/12/22/no-mozilla-no
Remember when I said Chrome was annoying (and probably hinted they were evil) because they hid the ‘view source’ command? Welcome to evil Firefox! And yeah, Firefox also hides the protocol in the latest versions. Luckily it’s fairly easy to unhide it. Still, I’m not a fan of the layer of chrome being applied to Firefox.
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archive.org #20298

memeorandum: Auto Industry Success Continues, Further Vindicating Obama Rescue (Pat Garofalo/ThinkProgress)

http://www.memeorandum.com/111222/p32#a111222p32
Pat Garofalo / ThinkProgress:Auto Industry Success Continues, Further Vindicating Obama Rescue  —  Though the economy has struggled throughout 2011, one sector that saw some significant improvement was the American auto industry.  In fact, about one million more cars are expected to be sold this year than last year …
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archive.org #20297

MDN 1.8 | groovecoder

http://groovecoder.com/2011/12/21/mdn-1-8
Bug fixes for the new django authentication. (bugs 703364 and 706530 and 708826) James built a new message broadcast app we will add to the site in 1.9 (bugs 705675 and 711728) Les merged our 'mdn' and 'master' branches and put the new wiki pages behind waffle so we can use more sane branches (bugs 702988 and 702989 and 702990 and 705849) Added attribution for our tumbeasts images (bug 704085) Tweaks and fixes to the now-released Apps page Various other bugs and fixes MDN 1.9 Les and Craig have done some good work to set us up to transition to BrowserID! At first we'll cover the "golden paths" of BrowserID - i.e., log in existing users with a single account, register new users. Aside from BrowserID, we're just working on a bunch of smaller bug fixes around the holidays. In Q1 2012 we are planning to sprint thru our wiki migration from MindTouch to django. Les has already started a migration script we will work on to import all the MindTouch wiki pages into django. That will be a big focus of 2.0. After that, the only big unknown is how to replace DekiScript with JavaScript. Since Jay will be gone, John is re-joining us part-time to do some product management along with folks from the Developer Engagement team until we hire a dedicated PM. Until that happens, we're going to work hard on the wiki migration and we'll only add features if they are high priority - like Apps, BrowserID, mobile, etc.
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archive.org #20290

Ben Heck delivers holiday cheer to gamer with modded macro controller -- Engadget

http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/21/ben-heck-delivers-holiday-cheer-to-gamer-with-modded-macro-contr
Benjamin J. Heckendorn is no stranger to game pads designed for people with disabilities, but the macro controller he just whipped up for Patrick Crowley (pictured above) might be his most impressive accessibility hack yet. On the latest episode of his show the modding extraordinaire crafts a breakout box that allows a complex set of commands to be triggered with just the touch of a button or foot switch. The box at the heart of the project is powered by a PIC microcontroller that takes inputs from a series of modular switches (up to eight) and turns them into virtual button presses that are fed to an Xbox 360 through a standard controller. In addition to being able to swap in eight different inputs, each one can be programmed to perform a different macro. We won't ruin all of the fun -- check out the PR and full episode after the break to watch everything from Ben Heck's holiday epiphany through the final testing. Continue reading Ben Heck delivers holiday cheer to gamer with modded macro controller Ben Heck delivers holiday cheer to gamer with modded macro controller originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 21 Dec 2011 18:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments
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archive.org #20289

Firefox 9 slinks onto the scene with fancy JavaScript optimizations

http://arstechnica.com/open-source/news/2011/12/firefox-9-slinks-onto-the-scene-with-fancy-javascript-optimizations.ars
Another six weeks have gone by, and another version of Firefox has been released. Still not officially "live," Firefox 9 improves on Firefox 8 with a JavaScript engine that's up to 30 percent faster and, well, not a whole lot else. Mac OS X users will have a little more to gain, as Firefox 9 also includes two-finger gestures for backward and forward navigation on that platform. The new version includes a number of bug fixes to improve stability and security, better support for HTML5, CSS, and MathML, and some improvements to its Do Not Track feature to allow scripts to know if tracking is enabled or not. All told, the new release includes more than one thousand bug fixes and improvements. But if Firefox users will notice anything new in Firefox 9, it's the JavaScript engine. The updated engine is potentially a big win for Firefox. Common JavaScript benchmarks have shown performance improvements of around 30 percent, and a paper about the new technology claims that real Web sites can see performance gains of 50 percent. The new JavaScript technology in question is called type inference. JavaScript is a dynamic language—a variable in JavaScript could be a number, or a string, or an array, or a function, or even change from one thing to another. This makes writing scripts forgiving, but makes it much harder for JavaScript engines to generate high-performance x86 code. When adding two variables, the engine has to consider all the different possibilities. With type inference, Firefox's JavaScript engine can, in many situations, figure out what type a variable is. In turn, this allows the generated code to be faster and more specific; it no longer has to consider all the different possibilities.Google's Dart tries to tackle the same problem, but requires a whole new language to do so. Read the comments on this post
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archive.org #20288

Ford USB Music Box adds mass storage playback, smartphone charging to AUX-enabled receivers -- Engadget

http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/20/ford-usb-music-box-adds-mass-storage-playback-smartphone-chargi
Sure, you've probably been leading a compact disc-less life in the living room and on the go for quite a few years now, but there's one place where optical media often remains the only option for on-demand tunes: your car. Now select Ford owners in Europe have an option accessing and controlling their smartphones, flash drives or other USB mass storage devices from an in-dash audio system. The USB Music Box connects to compatible audio and nav systems with an AUX input, and lives in the glovebox, center console or armrest, pumping tunes through your car's speakers with "great sound quality very similar to that of the radio." Last time we checked, FM radio has an equivalent bitrate quite a bit lower than your typical digital music file, so that's not exactly a glowing testimonial. Still, if you're desperate for a way to carry thousands of tracks in your car without filling the trunk with an array of sizable silver saucers, it might be time to toss aside the gloves and open up the Music Box -- assuming, of course, that you own one of ten recent models outlined in the PR just past the break. Continue reading Ford USB Music Box adds mass storage playback, smartphone charging to AUX-enabled receivers Ford USB Music Box adds mass storage playback, smartphone charging to AUX-enabled receivers originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 20 Dec 2011 10:13:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink   |  Ford  | Email this | Comments
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archive.org #20253

Beer Brussels Sprouts – Only Stone

http://billybrew.com/beer-brussels-sprouts-only-stone
Brussels sprouts aren’t exactly “mouth watering.” In fact, I’d be surprised if they’ve ever caused a mouth to water in their entire history. If they have, it’s probably because they were made with beer. Stone Brewing has turned boring Brussels sprouts into something you actually want to eat by what else – infusing them with beer. Stone Pale Ale to be exact. They serve this dish at their restuarant, Stone World Bistro and Gardens, which I had the pleasuring of visiting on my trip to San Diego last summer. The recipe is given in the new book The Craft of Stone Brewing by Greg Koch, Steve Wagner, and Randy Clemens. It’s a great book, and if you order it I recommend also getting The Brewer’s Apprentice which was also recently released by Stone. I’ve been given permission to reprint the Brussels sprouts recipe, so here you go: Stone Pale Ale & Garlic Stir-Fried Brussels Sprouts Recipe 1 pound brussels sprouts (about 4 cups) 1/4 cup canola or vegetable oil 1/4 pound pancetta, diced 6 cloves garlic, minced 1 1/2 cups (12 fluid ounces) Stone Pale Ale 1/4 cup vegetable stock Salt Freshly ground black pepper Finely diced tomato, for garnish Shaved or grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, for garnish Set up a steamer with 1 to 2 inches of salted water and bring the water to a rolling boil. Put the brussels sprouts in the steamer, cover, and cook until slightly tender, about 4 minutes. Drain and immediately transfer the brussels sprouts to a large bowl of ice water to halt the cooking and preserve their bright green color. Let them cool in the ice water for about 1 minute, then drain. Lay them on a clean dish towel and pat dry. Cut them in half vertically, right through the core. In a large wok or cast-iron skillet, heat the oil over high heat until it begins to shimmer. Turn the heat down to medium. Add the pancetta and cook, stirring occasionally, until it begins to brown. Stir in the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Turn the heat up to high, add the brussels sprouts, and cook, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned, 4 to 5 minutes. Add the beer and continue to cook over high heat until the liquid is mostly evaporated. Deglaze the pan by adding the vegetable stock, stirring and scraping up any browned bits that may be affixed to the pan. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Garnish with the tomato and Parmigiano-Reggiano. Serve immediately. So how did mine turn out? I had these beautiful pictures of bright green Brussels sprouts shimmering in their beer coating, but of course I accidentally deleted them from my camera. You probably don’t believe me and think I burnt them to a crisp. Hey, I’m not a great cook, but when it comes to cooking with beer I step up my game. Anyways, they came out great. Unlike some recipes, you use a lot of beer in this one (a whole bottle) so the pale ale definitely comes through. It does add some bitterness, so I don’t recommend substituting with Ruination. This recipe certainly made me enjoy Brussels sprouts more. I can’t eat them as a main course (as they suggest), but they’re perfect as a side dish. Give them a shot. I bet you can get the kids to eat them now. Reprinted with permission from The Craft of Stone Brewing Co.: Liquid Lore, Epic Recipes, and Unabashed Arrogance. Copyright © 2011 by Stone Brewing Co. and Randy Clemens. Published by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, Berkeley, CA. Photo credit: John Schulz Photography.
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archive.org #20246

Scientists shrink a Stirling heat engine to single microscopic particle

http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2011/12/scientists-shrink-a-stirling-heat-engine-to-single-microscopic-particle.ars
Just how small can you make an engine? Two researchers from the University of Stuttgart and the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, Valentin Blickle and Clemens Bechinger, successfully shrank the Stirling heat engine down to a single, microscopic particle. The engine is so small, in fact, that the random fluctuations in position due to Brownian motion cause variations in its work output. This microscopic Stirling engine is controlled using a pair of highly focused lasers. Stirling engines, named after the Scottish inventor who created them in 1816, offer the highest theoretical efficiency of any heat engine—the same as the Carnot efficiency. Due to pesky entropy and the second law of thermodynamics, you can’t get all the heat you put in back out as work. The efficiency of any heat engine, then, is just the ratio of output work to input heat. The Carnot efficiency, conceived by Nicolas Léonard Sadi Carnot (the father of thermodynamics), gives the maximum theoretical efficiency of the engine and depends only on the temperature range within which the engine operates. Read the comments on this post
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archive.org #20244

memeorandum: Howell mom sues over son getting suspended after debate about gays in school (Detroit Free Press)

http://www.memeorandum.com/111216/p80#a111216p80
Detroit Free Press:Howell mom sues over son getting suspended after debate about gays in school  —  A Howell mother has sued her school district and a teacher for booting her son out of class last year because her son's religious beliefs prevented him from accepting homosexuality.
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archive.org #20236

memeorandum: Scott Walker Shuts Down Cancer Screenings Through Planned Parenthood (Susie Madrak/Crooks and Liars)

http://www.memeorandum.com/111217/p21#a111217p21
Susie Madrak / Crooks and Liars:Scott Walker Shuts Down Cancer Screenings Through Planned Parenthood  —  Gov. Scott Walker is a ruthless extremist, and more women in Wisconsin will die of cancer, thanks to his right-wing vendetta against Planned Parenthood.  At least we have the satisfaction of knowing that every time he pulls …
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archive.org #20235

Movie monster matrioshkas - Boing Boing

http://boingboing.net/2011/12/14/movie-monster-matrioshkas.html
Kevin makes beautiful hand-painted matrioshkas illustrated with whimsical, pop-culture figures. I really like this movie monster set, which features Godzilla, King Kong, Frankenstein's Monster, Dracula, Wolfman, Zombie and Mummy. Movie Monsters Russian Dolls (Set of 6) (Thanks, Kevin!)
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archive.org #20234

NYPD shred kids' paper hearts commemorating Occupy arrestees before their very eyes - Boing Boing

http://boingboing.net/2011/12/12/nypd-shred-kids-paper-hearts.html
Occupy protesters and their kids made 5,000 paper hearts, one for each of the arrests at the Occupy Wall Street protests. They made a mosaic of these at the gates of New York's City Hall, only to have the police literally rip down and shred them. Parents for Occupy Wall St. March against police brutality. Children created 5,000 paper hearts one for every peaceful protestor arrested on behalf of the Occupy Wall Street movement in the three month period leading up to the march. The children delivered them to New York City Hall for Mayor Bloomberg only for the NYPD to aggressively tear them down and apart in front of the children. Children cried and the NYPD did yet another action against peaceful protestors. We as a country should not stand for this, get involved, speak up, do something for our children's futures. It's predictable but weird how many of the YouTube commenters criticize the parents for involving their kids with a protest. I grew up on protest marches and demonstrations with my parents, and I take my daughter to them, because I think that parenting is (partly) about imparting values to your children. Growing up amid a critical discourse about issues of social justice and freedom helped make me who I was, and my parents were always available to debate these subjects with me, encouraging me to listen to arguments on either side without hiding which side they were on. NYPD and NYC City Hall Break Kids Hearts (via Beth Pratt)
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archive.org #20232

Spacemen magazine of the 1960s - Boing Boing

http://boingboing.net/2011/12/12/spacemen-magazine-of-the-1960s.html
Spacemen was a short-lived early-1960s magazine specifically about space-themed science fiction movies. Warren Publishing -- creators of the classic magazines Famous Monster of Filmland, Monster World, Creepy, and Eerie -- produced only 8 issues of the magazine, helmed by Forrest J. Ackerman. The cover art is glorious (cover above by Wally Wood!) and you can find torrents of the whole scanned run of the magazine. Swapsale has a gallery of the covers. Here's an article that Ray Bradbury contributed. And dig this terrific submission letter sent to Spacemen by Stephen King, age 14.
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archive.org #20231

Composing: What Peak Oil Looks Like

http://blahsploitation.blogspot.com/2011/12/what-peak-oil-looks-like.html
Arch Druid : Thus our civilization has entered what John Kenneth Galbraith called “the twilight of illusion,” the point at which the end of a historical process would be clearly visible if everybody wasn’t so busy finding reasons to look somewhere else. A decade ago, those few of us who were paying attention to peak oil were pointing out that if the peak of global conventional petroleum production arrived before any meaningful steps were taken, the price of oil would rise to previously unimagined heights, crippling the global economy and pushing political systems across the industrial world into a rising spiral of dysfunction and internal conflict. With most grades of oil above $100 a barrel, economies around the world mired in a paper “recovery” worse than most recessions, and the United States and European Union both frozen in political stalemates between regional and cultural blocs with radically irreconcilable agendas, that prophecy has turned out to be pretty much square on the money, but you won’t hear many people mention that these days.  The point that has to be grasped just now, it seems to me, is that this is what peak oil looks like. Get past the fantasies of sudden collapse on the one hand, and the fantasies of limitless progress on the other, and what you get is what we’re getting—a long ragged slope of rising energy prices, economic contraction, and political failure, punctuated with a crisis here, a local or regional catastrophe there, a war somewhere else—all against a backdrop of disintegrating infrastructure, declining living standards, decreasing access to health care and similar services, and the like, which of course has been happening here in the United States for some years already.
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archive.org #20230

Steve Martin has to explain to Fox News the difference between a solar system and a galaxy

http://io9.com/5863871/steve-martin-has-to-explain-to-fox-news-the-difference-between-a-solar-system-and-a-galaxy
Poor Fox News. They posted an article with a headline saying that a New Zealand man was the first amateur astronomer to capture a photograph of another galaxy — when in fact, Rolf Olsen had just captured an image of another solar system, Beta Pictoris. It's an easy mistake to make — galaxies and solar systems both have stars and planets in them, after all. Enter Steve Martin, who tweeted: "A galaxy IS a solar system. According to Fox fact checking." Responded Fox: "The error was brought to the attention of FoxNews.com by famed comedian, actor and author Steve Martin — who obviously recognizes a good story when he reads it — and we have corrected the headline."
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archive.org #20180

Nothing To Do With Arbroath: Man tries to kill squirrel scampering up his leg but shoots himself in the foot

http://arbroath.blogspot.com/2011/12/man-tries-to-kill-squirrel-scampering.html
A Monroe man trying to shoot a squirrel wound up shooting himself. Ethan Bennett, 36, told Benton County sheriff’s deputies he was at his residence at about 4:15 p.m. on Wednesday when he tried to shoot the rodent with a .22-calibre rifle. The squirrel reportedly ran up his leg, and he pulled the trigger, hitting himself in the foot. Deputies contacted Bennett at Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center, where he drove himself after the accident. Law enforcement agencies investigate all gunshot wounds admitted to the hospital. Hospital personnel said Bennett was treated and released. Capt. Greg Ridler said Bennett did not kill the squirrel. “The squirrel scared him,” Ridler said.
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archive.org #20124

The Earth has a heartbeat we can see from space

http://io9.com/5863588/the-earth-has-a-heartbeat-we-can-see-from-space
The Earth pulses with a special kind of resonant wave. The Schumann Resonance has long been dubbed 'the Earth's heartbeat,' and it has only been spotted from below. Recently, though, satellites have found signs of this electromagnetic heartbeat leaking up into space. The heartbeat of the earth goes at about eight cycles per second. Like many other heartbeats, it's regulated by electricity. When lightning strikes the earth, it creates electromagnetic waves in the atmosphere. These waves are caught between the ground and the upper atmosphere, sixty miles up. Most of these waves are dampened and shake themselves to nothing. Others, with just the right wavelength and frequency, just keep going. The wavelength is the circumference of the earth (or twice the circumference, or three times, or four, and so on). This means that the troughs of these waves will always line up, as will the crests. When crests combine, they get bigger. And with lightning hitting the earth over four million times a day, these waves keep getting the boosts they need. The waves don't sweep across the surface of the earth. Instead they're like standing waves, that just pulse at their troughs and crests - a resonant heartbeat. Scientists call this heartbeat The Schumann Resonance, and always thought it was confined to the earth. It had to be trapped under the blanket of the ionosphere. In a paper in the online journal Geophysical Research Letters, NASA scientists working on the Goddard Space Flight Center have revealed that they have detected these waves five hundred miles up. It seems these waves are skipping, or leaking, through the boundaries of earth and out into space. Image of Vector Electric Field Instrument: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Via Geophysical Research Letters
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archive.org #20123

Daria Cosplay

http://laughingsquid.com/daria-cosplay
Russian cosplayer SoDespair has brought back Daria Morgendorffer, the bitingly sarcastic lead from MTV’s 1990s animated series, Daria, in a series of great cosplay images. The photo gallery highlights not only Daria but her friends Jane and Trent Lane. via deviantART photos by Sery image via...
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archive.org #20108

Sixfinger, An Awesome 1960s Toy That Gave Kids an Extra Fun Finger

http://laughingsquid.com/sixfinger-awesome-1960s-toy-that-gave-kids-an-extra-fun-finger
The 1960s Sixfinger from Topper Toys was a clever toy for kids (marketed to boys) that provided an extra finger for fun. The commercial for it is a hoot and shows off its many features, such as writing with its hidden ballpoint pen, shooting off cap bombs at your pals and more. Ignore the obvio...
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archive.org #20107

Gay Community Center Moves to Building Named for Anti-Gay Senator

http://gawker.com/5864150/gay-community-center-moves-to-building-named-for-anti+gay-senator
The Bronx's anti-gay New York state Senator Ruben Diaz Sr (center in the photo) nearly single-handedly held up gay marriage legislation in the state for years because he does not like gay people. Now, in an irony of ironies, a building in the Bronx named after him will now the the home of the Br...
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archive.org #20106

Kris Humphries: 'Kim Needed a Groom to Fuel Ratings'

http://gawker.com/5864093/kris-humphries-kim-needed-a-groom-to-fuel-ratings
Fartastical fraud victim Kris Humphries has pressed on with his belief that he was merely a plot device used by his temporary wife Kim Kardashian to boost ratings. "I felt like I was on a fast roller coaster and couldn't get off when now I know I probably should have," TMZ quotes the genteel gia...
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archive.org #20101

du with colored bar graph | commandlinefu.com

http://www.commandlinefu.com/commands/view/9797/du-with-colored-bar-graph
$ t=$(df --total|awk '$1~/total/ {print $2}');sudo du / --max-depth=1|sort -rn -k1 | awk -v t=$t 'OFMT="%d" {M=64; for (a=0;ac){c=a}}br=a/c;b=M*br;for(x=0;x i'm using gawk, you may get varying mileage with other varieties. You might want to change the / after du to say, /home/ or ...
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archive.org #20091

Citadel sequence cut from Mass Effect 2 returns in Mass Effect 3 | Joystiq

http://www.joystiq.com/2011/11/30/citadel-sequence-cut-from-mass-effect-2-returns-in-mass-effect-3
A segment of the Mass Effect story set in the Citadel, originally planned for Mass Effect 2, is finally being made for inclusion in Mass Effect 3, lead writer Mac Walters told OXM. "There was a Mass Effect 2 plot that was a kind of callback to the first Mass Effect that was going to be on the Citadel, and we cut it," he said. "But now it's made a resurrection in Mass Effect 3, so I'm happy, but I can't say what it is." That's right. Content that was conceived for the second game, and refers to the first game, is now in the third. And speaking of things that have been around since the first game, Walters acknowledged the difficulty of continuing the Mass Effect story after the second game's ending, which can kill off important characters. "The classic example [of a hurdle faced in writing ME3] is 'Hey, let's make the ending of Mass Effect 2 a suicide mission where all your henchmen can possibly die, and Shepard can even die!'" Walters said. "Oh right... and then we're gonna do another game after that. What the hell are we gonna do with all those guys?" Unfortunately, Walters didn't go on from there. We're going to have to wait until March to find out just what the hell does happen to all those guys. Citadel sequence cut from Mass Effect 2 returns in Mass Effect 3 originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 30 Nov 2011 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments
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archive.org #20067

Will nematodes conquer space before humans?

http://io9.com/5863124/will-nematodes-conquer-space-before-humans
Caenorhabditis elegans is a a less-than-one-millimeter-long nematode that matures and dutifully produces its next generation in space the same way it does on earth. C. elegans' biology shares certain important commonalities with that of humans. Therefore, University of Nottingham researchers are arguing that these roundworms should be used to model the effects of long stays in space on humans. In repeated experiments, Nottingham researchers found that C. elegans manages to execute all its basic life functions in space. The roundworms, which are small enough to comfortably establish a thriving community in a petri dish, managed to produce twelve generations, all while sitting in low orbit on the International Space Station. This is significant because C. elegans has long been a model for human biology. True, they were never a good model for spinal cord experiments, but certain biological functions mirror those in humans. These nematodes show signs of aging, which allows us to understand how certain conditions affect humans as they age. About 35% of their genes are similar to human genes. They're no chimpanzees, but it's a lot for a nematode. Additionally, C. elegans are hermaphroditic and often fertilize themselves. This process allows recessive genes to come to the fore, which helps scientists study their effects quickly and without genetic engineering. In an upcoming paper in Interface, the researchers argue that C. Elegans are the most viable way to test the effects of long space travel or off-earth colonization. Twelve generations in worm-years indicates that people may be able — with the right support and equipment — get by for hundreds of years in space, giving us plenty of time to get to another planet in the solar system or even travel to an exoplanet. The fact that the worms kept living means that wherever we go, they'll probably already be there. We can send them to various planets and orbital habitats to see if they survive for generations. They're the canary in the coal mine...and that coal mine is in space. Via Rutgers and to be published in Interface of the Royal Society.
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archive.org #20066

Techmeme: Stross: publishers' insistence on DRM “hands Amazon a stick with which to beat them” (Cory Doctorow/Boing Boing)

http://www.techmeme.com/111130/p11#a111130p11
Cory Doctorow / Boing Boing:Stross: publishers' insistence on DRM “hands Amazon a stick with which to beat them”  —  Charlie Stross unloads both barrels on the big six publishers and their insistence on using DRM in connection with their ebooks, arguing that their demands for DRM lock their cu...
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archive.org #20061

Berg's Little Printer churns out RSS feeds with a receipt and a smile -- Engadget

http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/30/bergs-little-printer-churns-out-rss-feeds-with-a-receipt-and-a
It's hard to think of a device more aptly named than BergCloud's Little Printer. It's little. It prints. It even smiles at you. And why wouldn't it? It's adorable. Equally notable is what it produces -- RSS feeds printed out on grocery store-style receipts. All you have to do is hook it up to yo...
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archive.org #20052

HandyNES mod shrinks console, makes light gun look like light cannon -- Engadget

http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/29/handynes-mod-shrinks-console-makes-light-gun-look-like-light-ca
Vita schmita. This red mushroom-themed portable NES is the latest gaming tribute from modder LovableChevy, combining the original Entertainment System's innards with a 3.5-inch LCD screen, built-in controls and a rechargeable battery. The tinkerer has taken the time to include an AV out, headph...
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archive.org #20044

Internet Explorer 10 Platform Preview 4: Windows 7 users need not apply

http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2011/11/internet-explorer-10-platform-preview-4-windows-7-users-need-not-apply.ars
Microsoft has released the fourth preview of Internet Explorer 10. As is the case with previous Platform Previews, the release is aimed at developers: the new features are important to those creating rich, complex Web applications, but will have less impact on Web users. However, even Web deve...
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archive.org #20042

Daily Kos: White House says Obama considering rolling back mandatory insurance coverage of contraception

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/11/29/1040891/-White-House-says-Obama-considering-rolling-back-mandatory-insurance-coverage-of-contraception
(Ceridwen/Wikimedia Commons) This, from Tuesday's press briefing, is infuriating: JAKE TAPPER (ABC):    I’ve heard from a lot of Democrats in the last few weeks who are concerned about President Obama possibly granting an exemption to Catholic churches, hospitals and universities from the requi...
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archive.org #20041

Freak Tofu Explosion Terrorizes Portland

http://gawker.com/5863550/freak-tofu-explosion-terrorizes-portland
A female resident of Portland, Oregon was at home cooking tofu when, suddenly and without warning, her kitchen exploded. The woman said she was rinsing her tofu pan in the sink when a mysterious force—she isn't sure what—burned her hand and knocked a six-foot window out of her home and onto the ...
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archive.org #20035

memeorandum: Perry blames editing for viral ‘drunk’ video, said it was a ‘good speech’ (Geneva Sands-Sadowitz/The Hill)

http://www.memeorandum.com/111102/p106#a111102p106
Article note: Testing article note. Geneva Sands-Sadowitz / The Hill:Perry blames editing for viral ‘drunk’ video, said it was a ‘good speech’  —  Texas Gov. Rick Perry said he “felt great” during the speech he gave Friday that turned into a viral video online and brought negative attention to...
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archive.org #20028

Sphero goes up for pre-order, ready to roll its way into your heart -- Engadget

http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/02/sphero-goes-up-for-pre-order-ready-to-roll-its-way-into-your-he
Our favorite iOS / Android-controlled toy ball is coming soon to an annoyed cat near you. You can pre-order Sphero now for $130 through Amazon, and it'll start shipping in December, just in time to remotely find its way into a stocking or two. Sphero goes up for pre-order, ready to roll its way...
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archive.org #20027

memeorandum: Michigan City Removes Streetlights In Desperate Budget Cut (ThinkProgress)

http://www.memeorandum.com/111104/p98#a111104p98
ThinkProgress:Michigan City Removes Streetlights In Desperate Budget Cut  —  States and cities around the country have desperately slashed spending in the face of record budget deficits, including unpaving roads, shrinking schools, closing libraries, and even a failed attempt to decriminalize ...
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archive.org #19460

Jub Jub, A St. Bernard That Balances Everything on His Nose

http://laughingsquid.com/jub-jub-a-st-bernard-that-balances-everything-on-his-nose
Watch as Jub Jub the St. Bernard dog balances everything from a laptop to a lacrosse stick to a handgun to a slice of pizza, and nearly everything in between, in the video, Jub Jub Nose How To Balance. Jub Jub’s human companion, Stew McFadden, has created a Facebook profile for this talented po...
#animals #cute #dogs #pets #shared #ttrss
archive.org #19457

memeorandum: Dippin' Dots Files for Bankruptcy (Katy Stech/Wall Street Journal)

http://www.memeorandum.com/111104/p65#a111104p65
Katy Stech / Wall Street Journal:Dippin' Dots Files for Bankruptcy  —  The future of ice cream is having trouble surviving today.  —  Dippin' Dots Inc., the self-described “ice cream of the future,” filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Thursday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Paducah, Ky., ne...
#desserts #dippindots #sad #shared #ttrss
archive.org #19456

memeorandum: Senate blocks $60 billion infrastructure plan, another part of Obama jobs bill (Rosalind S. Helderman/Washington Post)

http://www.memeorandum.com/111104/p62#a111104p62
Rosalind S. Helderman / Washington Post:Senate blocks $60 billion infrastructure plan, another part of Obama jobs bill  —  The Senate shot down another piece of President Obama's $447 billion jobs bill Thursday, as a stalemated Congress goes through the motions of attempting legislation to spur...
#economy #jobs #politics #shared #taxes #ttrss
archive.org #19455

Retro Thing: Build An Insanely Complicated Transistor Clock

http://www.retrothing.com/2011/11/build-an-insanely-complicated-transistor-clock.html
Brandon Schader writes, "As an electronics hobbyist, I gravitate toward endlessly cool yet hopelessly commercially impractical projects. This company's offerings definitely qualify.Stumbled upon this site about a year ago based upon a 'Nuts and Volts' write-up. The coolest project at that time was the Transistor Clock. This is simply a digital clock built entirely with discrete transistors and diodes-no ICs anywhere! Display consists of six 7-segment LED displays. I've built one, and although it's not cheap, it's simply transcendentally awesome.Now I see he has outdone himself. He now features a "Transistor Clock" kit as described above which uses Nixies rather than LEDs as the displays. This meets the definition of retro in every possible way because it genuinely could have been built as is with no mods in the 60s." I like soldering electronics, sometimes for an hour or two at a stretch. It's a great way to clear the mind and focus on creating a physical thing. However, the $239 KABtronics Nixie Transistor Clock Kit might be taking things a bit too far. Instead of using logic ICs or microcontrollers, it features 215 discrete transistors, 518 diodes, 472 resistors and 101 capacitors on a massive 10" x 14" printed circuit board.  KABtronics also offers a $199 version with a 7-segment LED display, along with smaller and less expensive models that incorporate newfangled integrated circuits. And if the idea of solid state electronics is too much for you, there's apparently a mechanical relay clock in the works, too. KABtronics Timepiece Kits
#needs-tags #shared #ttrss
archive.org #19454

Conan O'Brien officiates first same-sex marriage on a late night TV show - Boing Boing

http://boingboing.net/2011/11/04/conan-obrien-officiates-first-same-sex-marriage-on-a-late-night-tv-show.html
Conan O'Brien officiated the first same-sex marriage on a late-night TV show last night. It was the wedding of "CONAN" costume designer Scott Cronick and his partner David Gorshein. Bravo's Andy Cohen walked Scott down the aisle on stage at the Beacon Theater. "The wedding was performed while...
#conan #entertainment #gay #marriage #shared #ttrss #tv
archive.org #19453

I Met Air Supply!!! « Nerdist

http://www.nerdist.com/2011/11/me-n-air-supply
I’m on Late Night w/ Fallon tonight along w/ Kirsten Dunst and AIR SUPPLY! I love those guys. Unironically. This is my front facing camera from Jimmy’s couch while A.S. rocked the SHIT out of that studio with a The Roots-backed rendition of “Here I Am.” I sang along and air-drummed through the ...
#airsupply #nerdist #nifty #shared #ttrss
archive.org #19452

Commodore USA goes Extreme, stuffs a 2.2GHz quad-core i7 into its C64x -- Engadget

http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/03/commodore-usa-goes-extreme-stuffs-a-2-2ghz-quad-core-i7-into-it
We've loved Commodore USA's C64 computer recreations ever since it began producing them back in 2010. Much to our delight, the company recently outed its third variant, the C64x Extreme. This unit features the '80s flair we've come to appreciate, but supercharged to 2011 spec. Crammed inside its...
#shared #ttrss
archive.org #19391

Do a barrel roll

http://kottke.org/11/11/do-a-barrel-roll
The most fun on the internet right now: go to Google and search for "do a barrel roll" (no quotes). Whee! Tags: Google   search   web development
#shared #ttrss
archive.org #19382

Entertainment industry incredibly profitable, healthy: but demands special pirate-hunting laws anyway - Boing Boing

http://boingboing.net/2011/11/03/entertainment-industry-incredibly-profitable-healthy-but-demands-special-pirate-hunting-laws-anyway.html
You know how we hear so much about piracy destroying the entertainment industry? Well, not according to the industry itself. The Intellectual Property Alliance's report on the health of the industry paints a rosy picture, which begs the question: why are we prepared to sacrifice free speech, fr...
#shared #ttrss
archive.org #19379

memeorandum: Obama: God backs jobs plan (Agence France Presse)

http://www.memeorandum.com/111102/p155#a111102p155
Agence France Presse:Obama: God backs jobs plan  —  President Barack Obama Wednesday said even God wanted to put Americans back to work, invoking divine blessing for his joust with Republicans over measures designed to slice into high unemployment.  —  Obama also taunted his foes with historic ...
#shared #ttrss
archive.org #19365

Joining the board of Code for America « John’s Blog

http://john.jubjubs.net/2011/11/02/joining-the-board-of-code-for-america
I’m super, super excited to announce that I’ve joined the board of directors of Code for America, an organization started by Jen Pahlka two years ago aimed at getting some of the smartest and most motivated techies & designers among us working on solving some of the core problems facing our comm...
#shared #ttrss
archive.org #19353

In praise of "crap" technology - Boing Boing

http://boingboing.net/2011/11/02/in-praise-of-crap-technology.html
I visited my little brother, a dedicated minimalist, last month. In general, I think of myself as not particularly consumerist-y. But hanging out with somebody who is sooo much better at not consuming pointlessly has left me with a lot to think about. Gadgets are one of the biggest things I've...
#shared #ttrss
archive.org #19348