Jmical

Gabriel Garcia Marquez, who died today aged 87, did not invent the genre of magical realism — but he helped to popularize it and advance it with novels like One Hundred Years of Solitude and Autumn of the Patriarch. Speculative fiction still hasn't risen fully to the challenge of Marquez's work.

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Scientists today announced the discovery of Kepler-186f, a faraway planet that's perhaps the most Earth-like yet discovered. It's the same size as our home world, and at the right distance from its parent star to have liquid water. So, have we at last discovered Earth 2?

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It’s been satisfying to watch the resurgence of gin as a classy, sophisticated spirit, and more so given that this resurgence hasn’t been limited to one particular style or brand – it’s been across the board.

At one end, we have the big players – Gordon’s, Tanqueray, Beefeater, and so on – all much-loved brands dealing in huge volumes. Delve a little deeper, and you’ll find the new era of gin brands, with innovative, bespoke recipes, often made and bottled at a contract distiller – ones to try include Portobello Road , the spicy Opihr, and sweeter-style Hammer & Son.

But go a step further, and you’ll discover the micro-distilleries: boutique, artisan gins usually crafted in small batches. One such gin has its roots in London’s financial district, and was the first new distillery to open there for 200 years. The City of London Distillery (COLD) was set up by Jonathan Clark, who took the novel approach of calling the Lord Mayor personally for some advice. His bold move paid dividends: ‘I Googled him, and his mobile number appeared,’ he said. ‘I couldn’t believe it was him, but it was. He asked me how I got hold of his number, but in the end, he opened a lot of doors for me.’

A charming aspect to the COLD story is its location, on Bride Lane just off Fleet Street. Clark’s first job was as a kitchen porter in the mid-1970s when there was a restaurant on the very same spot. He worked his way up, eventually owning the lease of the building two decades later, but when the venture – then a comedy club – started to struggle a few years ago, the City of London Corporation gave Clark 30 days to turn things round.

Thirty days isn’t long to turn a struggling business into a successful one, but Clark had a brainwave. While in New York, he visited a bar that had a working distillery inside, and decided that the concept would work back in Blighty, too. And in November 2012, with the help of his two German copper stills, Clarissa (pot) and Jennifer (column), named after the late Two Fat Ladies, Clark made the first City gin for two centuries. The stills were custom-made to the exact width of the distillery entrance, and getting them into position took four hours, six men, and a lot of rope.

Clark didn’t drink the stuff in his younger days (‘I thought that gin and tonic was for old people’) but he now appreciates its appeal, not to mention its versatility as a cocktail ingredient. But for his first effort, Clark went for a classic London dry gin brimming with fresh, punchy juniper and earthy coriander (‘although we’re tinkering with it all the time’).

Clark won’t reveal the identity of one of his botanicals, although the usual suspects of juniper, coriander seed, citrus peel, liquorice and angelica root are all in there. But he is keen to stress that his is a ‘one-shot’ gin, where each batch is made with standard quantities of botanicals and base alcohol – the alternative involves bumping up the botanicals, making a super-concentrated spirit, then diluting it back down with more base alcohol. Clark says his one-shot method results in a ‘smoother’ gin.

Ever the entrepreneur, Clark is already experimenting on new styles – watch this space – and already runs the Gin Lab Experience, where punters can choose their own botanicals, distil their own gin from seven mini-stills all named after The Seven Dwarfs (Grumpy gin, anyone?), and dip their bottle in hot red wax to seal it.

In a nod to his early days, Clark set the RRP of his gin at £32.50 – his first weekly wage as a kitchen porter (although we sell it at £30.95, bargain hunters) – and says that he was never tempted to go down the easier, contract-distiller option: ‘I want to do everything myself; I wanted to do the whole thing. I’m trying to build something here which is unique.’

To drive home the distillery’s City provenance yet further, Clark is planning to set up Jonathan’s Coffee Bar, with beans roasted on site – a near-identical name to the 17^th-century trader hangout near the Bank of England that was a precursor to the Stock Exchange.

So, next time you’re in a fix, just get the Lord Mayor on the phone…

City of London Dry Gin, 40%. £30.95

Stuart:

Nose: Very fresh, with full-on citrus notes coming through, and a hint of creaminess.

Palate: Punchy (but clean) juniper and earthy coriander, enlivened with lemon.

Finish: The juniper persists, but the finish is clean and fresh.

Billy:

Nose: Lots of citrus – grapefruit, sharp orange and lemon flesh especially. Add to that some creaminess and there’s a lemonade and cheese cake feel.

Palate: Piney juniper, big spice and lots of lemon again. More juniper develops with liquorice and cinnamon spice appearing, along with citrus oils at the end.

Finish: Lingering bitter citrus peel and oil, with a touch of coriander.

Originally published on The Whisky Exchange Blog - City of London Distillery – capital venture

Civilization is going to space. The next game in Sid Meier's iconic turn-based strategy series will take place on an alien planet, where you'll explore, colonize, and fight other factions as you attempt to navigate uncharted sci-fi territory.

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Are you in New York? Do you like Civilization V, and art? Stop by the Whitney museum to see Me Playing Civilization, a performance art piece that consists of... a guy playing Civilization V, seven hours a day, five days a week, until May 25th.

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How can a goat play video games? Listen, I don't know. It's better if we don't dwell on things like that, because the point is, you can play a bunch of mini games in Goat Simulator if you know where to look.

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For over two centuries, Australians have referred to the dingo as their continent's native dog. But as a new study shows, it's not really a dog at all, but rather a species in its own right.

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I'm doing some house cleaning and I came across my Monkey Island 1 and 2 design notebooks.  It's interesting to see what changed and what remained the same.

I'll post more... If I don't throw them out. They are smelling kind of musty and I'm running out of space.

My first sketch of Monkey Island

Early puzzle diagram for Largo (before he was named Largo LaGrande)

Very early brainstorming about ideas and story.

First pass at some puzzles on Monkey Island

Just writing ideas down. I'm surprised "get milk and bread" doesn't appear on this.

Map when ship sailing was more top-down and direct controlled.

A map of Krubera Cave: the deepest cave on earth, going down more than 2000 meters under the earth with air and waterfalls all the way down. It takes more than a month to reach the bottom.

One of the major influences on The Hobbit was the Anglo-Saxon epic poem Beowulf, which was the subject of many of J.R.R. Tolkien's lectures. Now, 90 years after Tolkien translated the poem, his version of Beowulf is finally coming to print.

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Venus with as much water as on the Earth

Source: ahstat (flickr)

Ever wanted to explore the ship where Spike, Faye, Jet, Ed, and Ein spend their downtime?

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We live in an era of accelerating change, when scientific and technological advancements are arriving rapidly. As a result, we are developing a new language to describe our civilization as it evolves. Here are 20 terms and concepts that you’ll need to navigate our future.

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March has been a good month for pen-and-paper RPG Kickstarter campaigns. Earlier this week, Matt Forbeck wrote about Dwarven Forge’s Caverns, and just yesterday a friend of mine tipped me off to the cool Blue Dungeon Tiles from Red Kobold Games.

A full dungeon built from one Blue Dungeon Tiles Basic Set.

Blue Dungeon Tiles are a collection double-sided, 4″ x 4″ map tiles printed with 1″ grid lines. One side features with some of the more common dungeon landmarks like narrow corridors, sharp corners, and T-shaped intersections. The other side is printed with a standard 16-square grid. As the name suggests, all of the tiles are printed in classic grid-paper blue for both nostalgia and high-visibility during dungeon encounters.

The tiles are covered with a laminated coating so they can be used with dry-erase, wet-erase, and even permanent markers.

A map built from a Blue Dungeon Tiles Basic Set can be larger than a standard 24″ x 36″ battle mat.

Blue Dungeon Tiles are not just for fantasy-setting games; they can be used for any game system that has adventurers running down corridors. You can literally build the map as your party journeys deeper into the adventure (making the tiles perfect for use in conjunction with Chessex Dungeoneering Dice).

Like any Kickstarter, this one has a number of backer levels from the Sampler Set (which will get you 8 tiles), to the Basic Set (48 tiles with 8 different front-side designs in a white plastic clamshell case), to the Basic Hardcore Gamer which comes with 120 tiles. There are retailer and even higher backer levels available as well.

In addition, a Dungeon Master Add-On is available for $5 that gives backers access to a layered PDF file that can be used in numerous configurations to build custom tiles (check out a non-printing demo of this PDF at the Red Kobold site), and any backer at the Sampler level and above will receive a sheet of Fantasy and Tech decor items printed on sturdy card stock to dress up your dungeons, spaceships, or abandoned industrial waste facilities.

As of this writing, Blue Dungeon Tiles has already exceeded its campaign goal, but there are still a few stretch goals to hit that will open up additional tiles in the Expert and Advanced Tile Sets.

You can read more about the Blue Dungeon Tiles project at the Red Kobold Games site.

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There's not been a lot of discussion of evolution in Neil deGrasse Tyson's Cosmos so far, and yet a very slight reference to it was so upsetting to Fox's Oklahoma City affiliate that they just "happened" to run a promo for the nightly news over the show's sole mention it, as you can see in the above video.

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Stephen Baxter's new novel Proxima includes a sentient solar sail, but this unique type of spacecraft has a long history in science fiction — and an even longer one in science. Though the idea is 400 years old, it might still become the kind of vessel that we eventually ride to the stars.

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Amazon Prime will go up from $79 to $99/yr in the US, effective April 17th. Prime's student rate will increase from $39 to $49/yr. New subscriptions and renewals prior to the 17th will still get the lower price. Now's a good time to decide if Prime is really worth it for you. Read more here. [via The Verge]

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Behold HR5171A, a massive yellow star that's an unfathomable 1,300 times the diameter of our sun. It's part of an exotic binary system that was spotted by an international team of astronomers who say it's now among the ten largest stars ever found.

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Expecting dad Robert Graves wonders if being a longtime dog owner has made him more prepared to become a parent than non-dog owners

—

We can all agree that dogs are family. Dogs bring happiness and joy. Dogs need to be taken care of and trained. Dogs need to be loved and, in turn, love you back. And, when dogs pass on to doggy heaven, we lose a large part of ourselves. The whole family does.

Dogs need tons of attention if you want to be known as a responsible dog owner. When I take my little man, Sherman (the German), to the dog park, I teach him park etiquette. When we go on walks, I teach him leash manners. He isn’t allowed to beg, he’s not allowed to jump, and, when I mean business, he knows to stop what he’s doing.

But doesn’t everyone’s dogs?

Hell no! There are tons of houses you walk in, and you’re like… Does it smell like piss in here? Where’d my food go? The dog just chewed up my shoes… I mean, seriously?

That’s because not everyone puts complete energy into training or “etiquette.” That is a serious statement. Please understand when I say this—Not everyone puts the same energy in training their dogs to be “Canine Good Citizens.”

That’s a real thing in case you were wondering.

It takes a special type of pride or determination (or getting lucky with a naturally well behaved dog) that gets you to a point where people go out of their way to let you know they recognize that your dog is well-behaved. And don’t get me wrong, I’m no dog-whisperer.

So my ultimate question is—Does owning dogs prepare you for raising kids?

How preposterous! How dare I ask such a thing? I mean, only an asshole would compare raising his stupid dogs to raising a kid, right?

See, those were the things I had to hear when I used to compare raising my dogs to raising kids. When I was in the Marine Corps, I used to get scolded by parents when I would compare how well behaved my dogs were to people’s kids. Scolded. I would say things like “My dogs know not to run in the street,” ”Bosco (my pit) knows better than to leave my sight,” and it wouldn’t be far from the truth.

But, when you really look at it, there are many, many places where the responsibilities of dog owners and parents overlap. For example…

Dogs need to be fed. And, I mean, good healthy food if you’re looking for your kids—I mean, pups—to have the best health and life longevity possible.

Dogs need shots. And, even after the shots, you need to be careful to follow your doctor’s advice in order to keep your dog from dying from parvo at an early age or rabies from a dog from another parent owner who doesn’t necessarily take care of their dogs (or follow the rules) as well as you do. (Chicken pox or lice, anyone?)

Dogs need attention. Like all the time. If you don’t pay attention to your dog, they will find a way for you to pay attention—by ripping up your shoes, clothes, furniture, photos, DVDs, trash, homework… coloring on your walls, carpet, wrecking your yard… are you catching my drift?

Dogs need love. You need to love your dog, because if you raise your hand to your dog (and I’m guilty), your dog will develop a certain fear that you can never take back. They also need to be coddled and hugged and allowed to fall asleep in your lap every so often.

Dogs need potty training. Unless you own a candle company (you know… to mask the smell). Kids need potty training, unless you own a cotton field, cotton gin, and a few dozen sweat-shop workers to make you an endless supply of clothes and bed sheets.

Dogs need guidance. You need to teach your kids dogs what’s right and what’s wrong. You need to teach your dog how to act around strangers and make sure they act right when you’re not around.

Dogs need socialization. They need to learn how to play well with others. They need to learn how to share. Kinda like play dates at Gymboree.

Dogs need toys.

Dogs need babysitters. Even when you leave for vacation, you need to find a puppy-sitter you can trust, or enroll in a doggy day care.

Dogs need bed times. And dog owners need doggies to have bed times too.

Dog owners need patience.

I mean, how can you not see the similarities between kids and dogs?

Does this sound familiar?

“COME HERE! COME H… I SAID… Come…HEY… ungh…” “Get off the couch!” “No.” “DOWN!” No.” NO!” “PUT THAT DOWN.” “Leave it. LEAVE IT ALONE!”

Or what about the quiet? That’s right—the “it’s-way-too-quiet-in-here” quiet. The quiet when you know you’re about to turn the corner and see the murdered twins from the Overlook Hotel standing in the kitchen with your dog on a leash, feeding all of your cookbooks to him… and you can’t do anything but blame yourself, because you should know better than to keep stuff you cherish within the dog’s reach.

These are the same troubles parents have with their kids.

Now I’m writing this as an expectant father. I am about to experience firsthand what really having a kid is like, so, what do I know, right? But I’ve been around dozens of parents raising kids—from birth to college, even marriage. I’ve had secondhand experience and, while I fully understand it’s not the same thing as having your own, I am no dummy. I’m a pretty keen observer, apt to soak in the lessons I’ve learned and also learn from other’s trials and tribulations.

At the time I had my first two dogs, I didn’t have children. I wasn’t expecting children. I wasn’t trying to have children. So, in essence, those dogs were MY children. They filled the role of direct genetic offspring for me, and I looked forward to spending time with them, as parents do with their children. I hated leaving the house for too long, and if I could, I would have them tag along whenever possible. They were my (pseudo) children. They were my family.

I understand that dogs and children are different. I do. Fully. However, I am just asking, am I really that crazy for thinking that maybe… just maybe, if you understand the necessity of raising a “Canine GOOD citizen,” that, while I may not be totally prepared, that perhaps I’m more prepared to be parent than the average guy who is a non-dog owner?

♦◊♦

Article originally appeared on TheScaredDad.com; Credit—Photo: Eelco Cramer/Flickr

The post Does Owning Dogs Prepare You For Raising Kids? appeared first on The Good Men Project.

A piece of old Soviet propaganda showing the reach of Communism at the height of the Cold War, with a recently added slogan in English

NorthernNut:

It’s a still from this source (at the end).

This warning says it all: "The game will kill you frequently. It's a bit mean like that."

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In 1980, Carl Sagan opened his series Cosmos with these words, capturing both the immensity and intimacy of the universe. Now, thirty four years later, Neil DeGrasse Tyson stands on the same seaside promontory Sagan used to open his program to introduce Cosmos to a new generation.

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THE MOST TALKED ABOUT MOMENT of the 2014 Academy Awards, other than John Travolta’s mangling of a singer’s name, was the all-star “selfie orchestrated by host Ellen DeGeneres. 

It was a great moment. It was fun, it was entertaining — but it wasn’t real.

Spontaneous moments do happen at the Oscars, such as Jennifer Lawrence tripping on her way to the stage or a host making a quip about a presenter or a winner’s speech. But this was a comedy “bit” — a slice of pseudo reality planned in advance (but not by Samsung, who said its Oscar sponsorship did not include Ellen’s Selfie act.)

This is what Selfie culture has created: The illusion of the Real. It’s not candid camera; it’s a reality show of the self.

A celebrity gets other celebrities to take a picture of themselves, and instructs the public to share that photo with their friends. And we did, breaking a Twitter “record” that only matters to people who care about records that don’t matter.

But that’s not all — we then digitized other celebrity faces on the photo, and even inserted our own faces, creating the ultimate self portrait with the stars.

I get the fun and I personally enjoyed the photo — and I was glad to see that Samsung decided to donate $3 million to charity, or $1 dollar for every retweet of of the photo taken with Ellen’s loaned device.

I even liked the pizza delivery, if only to see the look on Harvey Weinstein’s face when asked for money.

But at what point do we stop pointing cameras at ourselves and look around again? And when we stop looking into the camera and start looking into the mirror, will we like what we see?

Selfies can be extremely powerful storytelling tools. They can reveal truths before unseen, emotions that belie the trope of words.

But selfies can also be masks. They can obscure and mislead. And at their worst, they can trick us into using social media without being social at all.

It's 50 years since Lloyd Alexander published the first book in his amazing Prydain Chronicles series — and to celebrate, the first book is getting an utterly beautiful new cover. We've got the exclusive reveal of this lovely artwork, plus an exclusive essay by the book's new editor, Noa Wheeler.

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This Sunday, March 9th, what is arguably the most important science show of all time returns to TV as Neil deGrasse Tyson hosts an all-new, updated version of Carl Sagan's Cosmos. We caught up with Neil DeGrasse Tyson on his whirlwind tour of the universe to discuss the what the show is and isn't, explaining why science matters to modern audiences, and his personal asteroid.

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The teenage years don’t need to be a time of isolation and turmoil. It just takes adjusting to a different needs.

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According to Dr Meg Meeker in her book, Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters, fathers play a significant role in child rearing from the time a child is a toddler. For examples, daughters learn faster, better, and cope with less stress if their fathers are directly involved in their lives. Now, that your daughter has turned into a teenager, you can’t give up and stop being a father – just because she wants to test her wings. There are several ways you can keep her coming to you for advice and companionship.

Be A Positive Influence
Your role as the male parent is crucial because her future relationships will be affected by your past and current relationship with her. You are the basis for her choices for boyfriends, friends, and husband. If you want to see her happy as a  single adult female, wife or mother, you should try to be more positive about her by guiding her with the right moral choices without putting down her opinions.

One word of advice: your positivity should be reasonable and logical otherwise, it’s called spoiling your daughter which isn’t a good idea. Why? One good reason is that she won’t mature thinking you will always be around to support her ideas, good or bad.

Stay Involved in Her Life
Staying involved does not mean making the decisions for her or prying into her personal and private life. It means knowing what’s happening on a daily basis and being available when she needs an adult. For example, there will be many instances when she will not understand why things have to be done in a certain way and why she can’t be impulsive in making choices. If you are the voice of reason in her life, she won’t be going to her peers or even to strangers online to get advice. The fact that you know her friends and teachers will make it easier for you to help her adjust to the bumps in life.
It is also important for you to avoid being judgmental about her decisions, friends, clothing, hair color, mannerisms, and other aspects that are mostly temporary stages. She will outgrow these choices and it will happen sooner if you avoid passing judgment.

Staying connected has been proven to prevent premarital sex, suicide, depression, and substance abuse. If your teenage daughter knows how important she is to you and that you find her perfect in many ways, this confidence boost she gets can sustain her through many difficult situations. For instance, a recent study reveals that 76% of young girls base their decision to be sexually active on the opinions and stance their fathers have made about this particular situation.  There is also a direct correlation between a young girl’s lack of male attention from her father and her decision to be sexually active at a young age. Many times, the choice is based on compensation for the lack of attention. As you see, you still have tremendous influence on your teenage daughter at this point! You just need to change your approach and the way you treat her. Play sports together or go out for snacks are just 2 of the things you can do together.

Provide A Stable Environment
It is very important to create a stable home whether you are a single father or not. A daughter needs a place she can call home where she doesn’t have put on any masks.  A stable environment does not equal a home that has no financial problems or any other kind of problem. Rather, it refers to a place where problems can be solved as a family; where one can relax; where one is accepted unconditionally; and where support for each other is in abundance.

Know Her Friends and Accept Them
There is nothing that can turn her away from you more than if you were to reject her choice of friends. Give them a chance to prove that they are worthy of her friendship or try to understand what she sees in them.  However, try not to make too much of an effort to be “a friend.”

Start Treating Her Like The Maturing Adult That She Is
It’s time to stop babying your girl. Definitely a difficult idea to swallow but your little girl is a young lady now and she needs to know that you are willing to give her a chance to prove herself. If she thinks you think of her as a perfect princess who can do no wrong, she won’t come to you with her problems for fear of disappointing you. You need to let go of the little girl. If you taught her right from wrong, then believe in her and be there when she comes to you.

Finally, when she comes to you, stop whatever you’re doing and listen. Just listen. Sometimes, that’s all she needs. Also, the first few times will be short and sweet but don’t worry. Once she becomes comfortable with you, she’ll start approaching you for advice about boys, dating, marriage and career.

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Originally published at themankipedia.com

Photo: emeryjl / flickr

The post A Dad’s Guide: How To Keep Your Teenaged Daughter Coming To You For Advice appeared first on The Good Men Project.

If there's one thing we can take away from this photo, it's that President Obama's tie game is seriously lacking.

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