Grimbil

A huge Banksy in New York!

Would you wear this pair of stockings? This picture has gone viral on China's Sina Weibo social networking site as an answer to sexual harassment, although the reaction is laughter and quips that they may attract more attention than they repel. Link

Link:

Edward Snowden, the 29-year-old former National Security Agency contractor who leaked highly sensitive information about the super-secret agency, will answer questions online this morning through the website of The Guardian, which broke Snowden's initial story.

Snowden, who fled the U.S. after revealing top-secret details on the government's collection of Americans' phone and Internet records, has said he "does not expect to see home again." He claims that he took refuge in Hong Kong.

The British newspaper asked readers to post their questions to Snowden and recommend their favorites. He planned to go through the thread and embed his replies as posts in a live blog beginning at 11 a.m. ET

Underscoring Snowden's delicate situation in taking on the NSA, the newspapeh included what it called "an important caveat":

"(The) live chat is subject to Snowden's security concerns and also his access to a secure internet connection. It is possible that he will appear and disappear intermittently, so if it takes him a while to get through the questions, please be patient."

Harness the power of kinetic energy and light the room. This Hourglass Floor Lamp design by Danielle Trofe is a four foot tall LED lamp atop a rotating hourglass. Flip the lamp over and as the sands drop down, it powers the light. That makes it essentially a human powered lamp- which is part of the design- to put you more in touch with your energy usage. There’s no details yet on availability, or how the power mechanism works, or how long the lamp lasts per flip. We do like the great modern design combined with eco-awareness. (via inhabitat)

Sand Powered LED Hourglass Lamps

For the most part, we humans are better at things than we were thousands of years ago. But there are some things the ancients had down pat. Roman concrete, for instance, is just way better than anything we can whip up today. Finally, after some 2,000 years, modern-day scientists have figured it out. And it's a secret worth knowing.

Concrete, while often not exactly pretty, is a super important tool of city-building today. We've been using Portland cement (an ingredient in concrete) as a binder for nearly 200 years as a building block of modern architecture, but it just can't hold a candle to that old Roman stuff. There are concrete harbors in Italy that are still doing pretty damn well after thousands of years. Meanwhile, a modern-day Portland cement structure is lucky to last 50 years when exposed to saltwater.

Now, after years of research in labs across the US and Europe, scientists have figured out that the most robust Roman concrete is a specific mixture of lime and volcanic rock, the details of which have been published in this month's issues of the Journal of the American Ceramic Society and American Mineralogist.

The researchers described it this way in a press release on the subject:

The Romans made concrete by mixing lime and volcanic rock. For underwater structures, lime and volcanic ash were mixed to form mortar, and this mortar and volcanic tuff were packed into wooden forms. The seawater instantly triggered a hot chemical reaction. The lime was hydrated – incorporating water molecules into its structure – and reacted with the ash to cement the whole mixture together.

And it gets even better. Portland cement is environmentally messy to produce, accounting for some seven percent of the C02 modern industry produces. Roman concrete? Much, much greener. There's still a lot of work to be done in adapting traditional Roman construction techniques to today's needs. But the recipe is as good as ever. We just have to get cookin'. [Bloomberg Businessweek]

Image by Diliff/Creative Commons

New York City is doing some serious work on the Second Avenue Subway, the first new line built under the city since 1932. The $4.5 billion project aims to decrease commuter congestion for east Manhattan. Check out these pictures. They are incredible.

For more pics, see MTA of New York's Flickr page.

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Comedy Central's Stephen Colbert had a field day this Wednesday evening with The Wall Street Journal's Dorothy Rabinowitz and her op-ed ranting against NYC's Citi-Bike program.

For anyone who would like to see how this was handled over in wingnut world at Fox, here's the final segment from this Saturday's Journal Editorial Report, where the her cohort Joseph Rago called her op-ed "a hit" and wrote off the criticism from "the left" as being from people who don't have a sense of humor. So I guess they're trying to pretend it was satire now rather than defend it.

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I created some new greeting cards.

Researchers from the University of Minnesota seem hellbent on turning us all into Professor X -- minus the hoverchair and Patrick Stewart-ly good looks, obviously. Why's that, you ask? Well, back in 2011, the team devised a method, using non-invasive electroencephalogram (EEG), to allow test subjects to steer computer generated aircraft. Fast forward to today and that very same team has managed to translate their virtual work into real-world mind control over a quadrocopter. Using the same brain-computer interface technique, the team was able to successfully demonstrate full 3D control over an AR.Drone 1.0, using a video feed from its front-facing camera as a guide.

But it's not quite as simple as it sounds. Before mind-handling the drone, subjects underwent a training period that lasted about three months on average and utilized a bevy of virtual simulators to let them get acquainted with the nuances of mental navigation. If you're wondering just how exactly these human guinea pigs were able to fly a drone using thought alone, just imagine clenching your fists. That particular mental image was responsible for upward acceleration. Now imagine your left hand clenched alone... that'd cause it to move to the left; the same goes for using only the right. Get it? Good. Now, while we wait for this U. of Minnesota team to perfect its project (and make it more commercial), perhaps this faux-telekinetic toy can occupy your fancy.

Filed under: Robots

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Via: SlashGear

Source: Journal of Neural Engineering

A short comic about pigs and bacon.

Plex client has been available for Apple TV for a few years now, but it only worked on jailbroken Apple TV 2. What’s more, it wasn’t compatible with the latest Apple TV software versions. Well, that has just changed as a group of devs (Baa, roidy and f00b4r) has released a PlexConnect, a “super clever little hack which allows a rich, fully-functional Plex client on un-jailbroken ATV2 and ATV3 (1080p!) devices.” Here is how it works:

Essentially, you run a program on your computer which masquerades as the Trailer app. Next, change one setting on the ATV, and you’re up and running.

The developers claim it takes only a few minutes to install and get it running.

PlexConnect already uses the new transcoder (which means great support for subtitles), and it is supposed to support myPlex soon as well.

In the PlexPass preview release of the media server, it also supports AC3 5.1 (remuxing and transcoding from DTS), as well as iTunes DRM’ed video files.

Unlike the other Plex client for ATV2, this one uses XML and Javascript, which means it’s super easy to develop for.

You can install the official version from here, or if you’re running v5.2 of the firmware or later, you can try this version, which has a few tweaks featured in the photos below.

Supported devices and firmwares:

• Apple TV 2: firmwares 5.0 – 5.2.1
• Apple TV 3: firmwares 5.0 – 5.2.1

The original, silver Apple TV  will not work with PlexConnect.

The developers warn that these are early days still, so “you’ll need to know your way around a Terminal”, but they expect a “more polished” installer isn’t far off.

Check out PlexConnect wiki for more information.

Note: the current release does not yet run on Synology boxes, which is apparently a limitation of the bundled Python.

Stay tuned – we will have a install guides for Mac and Windows soon.

Here is a tutorial on How to install Plex on non-jailbroken Apple TV 2 and Apple TV 3 [Mac tutorial]

Here are a few screenshots:

Visit What's on iPhone for the best iPad and iPhone app reviews!
Do you want to feel like a wizard? Check the Kymera wand in Amazon: You can control your Apple TV waving a wand!

When a team wins a league or cup competition, it is customary for them to parade their wares on an open top bus. It gives fans a chance to catch a glimpse of their heros away from the field of play, and if they are lucky, they might see teammates fight or Sergio Ramos drop the silverware under the wheels.

Brilliantly named amatuer side Duckpond FC are a group of friends from Harwich, Essex, who started competing in the very lowly Colchester Sunday League in 2011. They won division three of the league last season and recently clinched the division two title, after winning 12 of their 16 matches.

The team includes a butcher, a welder, a barman, a railway worker and absolutely no one for whom the people of Essex would line the streets to cheer, but that didn't stop them hiring a bus to celebrate their success. The BBC reports:

Duckpond FC, who won the Colchester and District Sunday League Division Two by two points, toured Harwich.

The club, formed in 2011 and named after Cox's Pond in the town, spent £300 [$460] on hiring a red London bus for the day on Saturday.

Captain Kris Muir, 25, said: "We wanted to have a proper celebration."

According to one team member, the parade was actually surprisingly popular after word spread on Facebook, with many folks in Harwich waiting outside their houses for the victory bus to roll past. Which is more than can be said for Conference Champions Mansfield Town on their recent excursion...

Just one day after France's Constitutional Council approved the country's gay-marriage and adoption bill, French President François Hollande signed the bill into law. Although it was adopted by both the Senate and the National Assembly last month, right-wing opponents had taken one last stab at blocking the bill's passage by contesting it to the Council. France is now the ninth country in Europe, and fourteenth in the world, to recognize gay marriage. The first same-sex weddings can take place as soon as ten days after the bill's signing.

BBC:

After a tortured debate, the same-sex marriage and adoption bill was adopted by France's Senate and National Assembly last month.

The bill was quickly challenged on constitutional grounds by the main right-wing opposition UMP party of former president Nicolas Sarkozy.

But the Constitutional Council ruled on Friday that same-sex marriage "did not run contrary to any constitutional principles," and that it did not infringe on "basic rights or liberties or national sovereignty".

It said the interest of the child would be paramount in adoption cases, cautioning that legalising same-sex adoption would not automatically mean the "right to a child".

Opinion polls have suggested that approximately 55-60% of French people support same-sex marriage, and about 50% approve of gay adoption.

France is now the 14th country to legalize same-sex marriage after New Zealand in April.

It is also the ninth country in Europe to allow same-sex marriage after legalisation in the traditionally liberal Netherlands and Scandinavia, but also in the strongly Catholic nations of Portugal and Spain. Legislation is also moving through the UK Parliament.

MacRumors reports that the CW network has struck a deal with Apple to bring its TV Now application to the Apple TV. Speaking from New York at the company’s annual Upfront Presentation yesterday, CW president Mark Pedowitz said the network’s content, which is currently accessible on Microsoft’s Windows 8 and Xbox 360, will also become available on Apple TV.

According to the CW, the app will function the same way the company’s mobile and Xbox apps function. The Xbox app offers free full streaming of episodes on the CW network but with limited advertising. It also comes with extra content like cast extras and previews. The company confirmed to MacRumors that Apple TV’s app will certainly be located on the home screen of Apple TV and offer full episodes of primetime shows like “The Vampire Diaries”, “Arrow”, and “The Carrie Diaries”.

“It’s a dedicated CW app that will work like our Xbox and mobile and tablet apps – no cable authentication required, full episodes of our shows available next day after air, ad-supported.”

This deal seals the first of Apple’s app partnerships with television networks. Apple TV has been offering apps and digital content from Hulu and Netflix, but not from television networks. Even before this, though, CW content has been available for sale at the iTunes store.

The CW network is a joint venture between Warner Brothers Entertainment and CBS, one of the largest broadcast networks in the U.S. The partnership does not shed light on Apple’s intentions, though there are speculations it could be part of a larger initiative to have more apps on Apple TV.

The exact date for the release was not given but according to the CW, it will be launched in the coming weeks.

Visit What's on iPhone for the best iPad and iPhone app reviews!
Do you want to feel like a wizard? Check the Kymera wand in Amazon: You can control your Apple TV waving a wand!

To coincide with his retirement announcement, David Beckham conducted an interview with his former Manchester United teammate Gary Neville. In the interview, Beckham discussed everything from why he felt it was time to end his long and distinguished career at 38 years old to the hurt caused by his celebrity overshadowing his playing career. And how Lionel Messi is ultimately to blame for him hanging up his boots.

When asked "Why now?" Beckham replied:

"I think over the years, when I've seen players retire — when you ask them about it, they always say 'You know when you're ready.' And I think I know when I'm ready. I think I'm ready. Obviously it's a difficult decision because I still feel I can play at the top level — and still have done for the last six months. But I always secretly said to myself that I want to go out at the top."

Beckham has played these last few months at PSG, donating his wages to charity (though, as of April, that charity still hadn't been chosen yet) after his five years in MLS with the LA Galaxy. Though Beckham has only made 13 appearances with the Paris club, he still goes out as a Ligue 1 champion, adding the French title to those he won with Man United, Real Madrid and LA. And at each stop, he won a domestic title in his final season with the club.

"When did that moment come, when did it hit ya?" Neville then asked.

"Probably when Messi was running past me," Beckham joked, referring to PSG's Champions League quarterfinal elimination to Barcelona. "Playing in the MLS last year and winning the championship there and then coming to PSG and winning the French league here, it's a good way to go out."

Despite all of his achievements on the pitch — all the titles and all the caps for England (a record 115), Beckham is keenly aware that his celebrity off the pitch has cast a shadow and one that he doesn't particularly appreciate.

"I just want people to see me as a hard-working footballer," Beckham said. "Someone's that's passionate about the game and someone that everytime I stepped on the pitch, I gave everything I had."

He added:

"I think over the years, my life and my career, people have obviously looked at some other things that have gone on throughout my career and sometimes that's overshadowed what I've done on the pitch and what I've achieved on the pitch. And that's — as much as I say that that doesn't hurt me, of course it does."

"At the end of the day, I'm a footballer that has played for some of the biggest clubs in the world, played with some of the best players in the world, played under some of the biggest and best managers and achieved almost everything in football and I think of course it hurts when people, not question it, but think about other things. And to come to the end of my career now and to look back and to say I've achieved everything with every club that I've played for — played for my country 115 times, been runner-up twice for World Player of the Year to amazing footballers — I'm very proud of that."

Of course, Beckham has no one to blame but himself and the unrivaled genius of his management team for the explosion of Brand Beckham. He married a Spice Girl, endorsed products around the world, posed in his underpants and went through a myriad of highly publicized "look at me" hairstyles. His wife publicly calling him "Golden Balls" probably didn't help, either.

If he just wanted to be known for his football above all else, he could have kept his head (and his hair) down, limited his engagement with the press and just played — like former teammate Paul Scholes, who is also retiring at the end of this season. But, he didn't. And now David Beckham — a name 1,000-feet tall in glittering lights — will remain one of the biggest in the world both to fans of the game and to people who think a penalty shot involves kicking someone in the crotch, long after his playing career ends in a few weeks time. David Beckham outgrew the game. His notoriety became independent of it. For that reason, with his time now freed up from all that training and medal winning, he might now reach even greater heights of world domination.

For more, here's a documentary on Beckham from 2006...

Before he scored that iconic goal against Greece, married a Spice Girl, won the treble, became the Pied Piper for MLS and got into the underpants racket, David Beckham was just a spiky-haired 14-year-old signing a schoolboy contract in a wood-paneled room with a man who had never won anything for Manchester United. Now, almost exactly 24 years and 4,872 Beckham hairstyles later, David Beckham is one of the most recognizable humans on the planet with a 14-year-old son of his own (who had a trial with Chelsea) and Sir Alex Ferguson is one of the most accomplished managers in the history of sports.

They're both retiring at the end of the season and they're both doing it as champions – Beckham in France, age 38, and Ferguson still in the Premier League, age 71. Though their relationship was marred by Ferguson kicking a boot at Beckham and opening up a cut above his eye before the midfielder left Man United for Real Madrid in 2003, there was nothing but hopes and dreams in that antiquated room with too many phones on the table in 1989.

But well before that momentous day, David Beckham had already made his television debut. Here he is at the age of 12 on Thames Television's daytime show, quietly talking about his participation in the Bobby Charlton Soccer School...

A lot has changed for Beckham over all these years, but his voice is still the same.

Photo: The Times via KickTV

With just days before they face Bayern Munich in the Champions League Final at Wembley, Borussia Dortmund have officially kicked off the mind games by invoking one of the Bavarian side's most painful memories in their museum.

BVB have put a Manchester Utd jersey belonging Ole Gunnar Solskjaer on display. Bayern fans will need little reminding that the plucky Norwegian scored the winning goal in the 93rd minute of the 1999 Champions League Final, in one of the biggest upsets in football history.

It is not actually the garment the Baby-Faced Assassin wore in the '99 final, but one he swapped with Dortmund's Knut Reinhardt after Utd's European Cup semi-final defeat of 1997.

So technically, this is an authentic piece of memorabilia to place in their museum. But they don't exactly have to rename this part of the building "The Didier Drogba Memorial Wing presented by Porto" to make it clear they are trolling their Bundesliga rivals for their predilection for losing European Cup finals in the dying moments.

Miss Trouble Blaney, C.G.C.

I think it’s about time for another update on what Miss Trouble has been up to lately. As usual, she goes to doggie day care twice a week and has fun with her dog walker around mid-day the other three days of the week. Outside of that weekly routine, she has also been photo modeling a fair amount for me lately as I am currently taking another photography class (pic above is from one of the modeling sessions) and she makes such a great subject to shoot.

PAL Reading Program at Beatley Library, Alexandria

Trouble continues with her therapy work at the Beatley Library in Alexandria, which is a volunteer program we both seems to enjoy tremendously. She is so amazing with the kids (she even lets them use her as a pillow as seen above), and the kids love her.

PAL Reading Program at Beatley Library, Alexandria

Sometimes even the parents want to join the reading session so they can play with Miss T. She has now gotten her own book mark from the PAL volunteer program that kids get to take home after they read to her:

Outside of her therapy work Trouble has been spending a lot of time with kids (of friends) as well, mostly ages newborn to four, and as always, she is patient and kind with the youngsters and always is a big hit with them. I am happy to say that at this point I completely trust my dog around children, and even though I always supervise the encounters, I don’t actually think it is necessary. Besides, Bernese Mountain Dogs were bread to help with work on the farm, which often included babysitting the farmers’ kids, so it’s in her genes

Three Cutie Pies: Trouble with Catherine and Rylan

Another notable and somewhat recent development is Trouble getting more and more comfortable in the water. She only has access to rivers in our area, but nonetheless she keeps going deeper into the water and really enjoys playing in it. We are hoping she may give the ocean a try this summer when we are in Maine, and who knows, maybe she will discover a love for swimming.

It’s official: Rhode Island became the 10th state to legalize same-sex marriage Thursday evening. The legislation passed the Rhode Island House of Representatives, with 56 votes in favor, to applause from the galleries and House floor. Legislators even broke into a rendition of “My Country ’Tis of Thee.” The bill, which was later signed by Gov. Lincoln Chafee, allows same-sex weddings beginning August 1, and gives couples already in civil unions the right to change their status to married. “At long last, you are free to marry the person you love,” Chafee said.

Submitted by: Unknown

Submitted by: Matt

Attention, amateur space cadets! If you've ever wanted to swing on a star or see one up close, consider this proof positive Virgin Galactic's that much closer to making your dreams come true. SpaceShipTwo, its inventively named commercial vehicle designed to take well-moneyed civilians into outerspace, has just completed its first rocket-powered test flight. The craft, partially owned by Virgin group overlord Sir Richard Branson and the Abu Dhabi-based investment group PJC, took off earlier today from its berth at Mojave Air and Space Port in California, where carrier-craft WhiteKnightTwo ferried it to a 47,000 ft altitude after which its own rockets kicked in for a supersonic flight. In all, the solo run lasted just slightly over ten minutes, during which the SS2 notched an altitude of 55,000 feet before returning safely back to its desert port.

For its first outing, the SS2 scored high marks by Virgin Galactic chief George Whitesides' estimation, performing just as expected with "expected burn duration, good engine performance and solid... handling qualities throughout." It's encouraging news for the nascent commercial space industry, although it's worth noting this flight carried reduced risk considering it was bound to our own atmosphere. The team anticipates that "full space flight" testing will begin sometime before year's end. As for when you'll be able to actually book a real deal luxury space flight? Virgin Galactic's set a tentative 2015 date for that, giving you, the every(wo)man, plenty of time to save up or mortgage your life for the opportunity to tour the cosmos.

Filed under: Science

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Source: Virgin Galactic

Despite having recently introduced the likes of Hemlock Grove and House of Cards, Netflix isn't standing still: it's boosting its original content with yet another production, Orange is the New Black. The new comedic drama series, created by Weeds' own Jenji Kohan, is set to start streaming to Netflix subscribers worldwide beginning July 11th. Similar to Netflix's House of Cards, Orange is the New Black consists of 13 episodes running at around 60 minutes -- however, the main story here won't be based on drama coming out of D.C., but rather a "world populated with unforgettable characters and no-holds-barred humor set against the backdrop of a women's prison." Be sure to peruse the PR after the break, where you'll find more particulars about the plot, as well as the full cast list.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Internet, HD

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Source: Netflix