Supersymmetry is a short film made by Trent Jaklitsch as an ode to his father. But really, it's an inspirational tale for all of us. Using personal footage from his childhood along with NASA archival footage and other publicly available clips, he stitches together a story about how the universe created us and how we create the universe.
Eugenics is the now-defunct (and creepy!) practice of breeding supposedly superior humans to achieve genetic improvements while sterilizing undesirables. Sound familiar? It's the exact same thing we now do to dogs and it's responsible for a range of health and behavioral issues in them. — Ed.
Premera Blue Cross, a health-insurance company with millions of patients in the US, has just admitted that 11 million of its customers have been victims of a wide-ranging data breach. Stolen data includes Social Security numbers, bank account information, and clinical records. Oh crap.
The more you learn about fad diets, the more you realize they're complete bullshit. The highly restrictive, almost impossible-to-maintain modes of eating essentially set dieters up to fail — while earning their creators a handsome profit.
In a hilarious must-read in the Guardian, Dean Burnett illustrates this truth by offering up alternatives to the latest fad, the Paleo diet.
Burnett's "primordio diet," for example, reaches past Paleo to a much purer (primordial) time: "As part of the primordio diet, you cut out all processed foods, meat, plant material and basically anything that has in any way been derived from a living organism at some point. Or from rocks. Anything with molecules in it is right out."
Then there's the "Jurassic diet," for which Burnett suggests humans eat more like dinosaurs, following the logic that dinosaurs lasted "about 1,000 times longer than man has currently been around." To diet like a dinosaur, he writes, you simply, "Eat as many leaves as you want, but you have to rip them from the trees with your powerful teeth and extremely long neck, before swallowing them and deriving energy from them via your cavernous and complex digestive system."
My favorite Burnett invention is the "childhood diet," for its deceptive simplicity:
When were you at your healthiest? When you were a child! You weighed much less than you do now, and you had boundless energy, and you weren’t worried about job loss or mortgages or your star sign or anything. Children are clearly much healthier overall, and it’s only the onset of adulthood where we can buy fatty foods and alcohol that our health starts to decline and we get out of shape.
If people could just unleash their "inner child," they'd be on the road to a thinner future. "You should still give me money if you do this though," he writes, "because it was my idea." It's incredible no one has thought of this before.
There are about three things we know from science about healthy eating:
1) We can all stand to eat more fruits and vegetables, and less processed food and sugar.
2) People can survive healthfully by following a mind-boggling variety of eating patterns.
3) All diets — low-fat, low-carb, Weight Watchers, Atkins, etc. — have about the same modest results in the long run, no matter their macronutrient composition, and it's incredibly difficult for people to keep weight off when following extreme diets that don't mesh with their habits and lifestyle patterns.
As I have written previously, these truths should actually be liberating. We’ve been sold this idea that if we just buy into one particular diet — and purchase all its associated books and energy bars and health shakes — we will walk the golden path to thinness. But science (and experience) has shown us that's not true. Researchers who work on weight loss and obesity (and who don't have conflicts of interest from peddling books or other products) almost universally recommended simply cutting calories in a way you like and can sustain, and trying to be more active. If you can do that by following Burnett's primordio or childhood diet, go for it.
On May 15, Mitt Romney appeared in a charity boxing match with former heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield. The 68-year-old former presidential candidate fought the 52-year-old former boxer to raise money for Charity Vision in Salt Lake City.
It was mostly a lark — Holyfield faked a fall, Romney ran around the ring, and a charity ended up raising a lot of cash.
Mitt got lucky. Boxing caused Theodore Roosevelt to lose sight in one eye — and the fight happened while he was in the White House.
A young Theodore Roosevelt. (Library of Congress)
Since his youth, Roosevelt had a strong interest in boxing. He was trained by an ex-prizefighter and was a member of the Harvard Boxing Club. As police commissioner of New York City, he channeled his passion into building boxing clubs for underprivileged youth. When he became governor of New York, he continued to box and regularly challenged visitors to matches.
(Roosevelt's interest in boxing wasn't confined to the ring — according to the biography Theodore Roosevelt: Champion of the American Spirit, he also occasionally knocked people down if they made fun of his clothes.)
Teddy's fascination with boxing continued once he reached the White House. During the 1904 campaign, he invited a local boxer to his office and quickly challenged him to a fight: "Show it to me! Show it to me! Hit me on the chin as you hit him!" The fighter hit Roosevelt, who thought it was a good opportunity to hit back —and knocked the fighter to the floor.
Eventually, however, Roosevelt's boxing caught up with him. In a fight with Colonel Dan T. Meade, the president's eye was permanently damaged. Meade, a military aide at the White House in 1905, told the New York Times the full story. Roosevelt demanded a tough fight, and he got it:
He had no use for a quitter or one who gave ground, and nobody but a man willing to fight all the time and all the way had a chance with him. That's my only excuse for the fact that I seriously injured him. There was no chance to be careful of the blows. He simply wouldn't have stood for it.
As Roosevelt wrote in his autobiography, Meade smashed the blood vessels in his left eye, and "the sight has been dim ever since. ... Accordingly I thought it better to acknowledge that I had become an elderly man and would have to stop boxing." That was the end of boxing for the president.
Of course, he simply traded in boxing for jiu-jitsu.
Still, the moral stands: be grateful, Mitt. It could have been a lot worse.
How long have you had the computer or phone you're reading this on? How about the others that proceeded it? Inside all of these electronics are precious metals that are usually trashed—even though they are still usable, as this Cape Town jeweler proves.
Bridgetgrim
Will it make you feel bad about flinging/toppling/portaling all those turrets to their deaths? Probably not, 'cause that shit's fun. Still, it'll make you feel sorry for them. Probably.
Bridgetmotherfucker
If you see Abbi Abrams crying on the streets of Broad City, you now know why: Bed Bath & Beyond—Abbi's heaven on earth—has announced they're changing the store's famously generous return policy. NOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Finally! Some books that cater to MY needs.
The above cover is NOT the cover in question. If you’d like to see that please click on the link in our intro paragraph.
In a cryptic official statement referencing “threats of violence and harassment,” DC Entertainment announced last night that it would no longer be publishing that controversial Batgirl variant cover:
We publish comic books about the greatest heroes in the world, and the most evil villains imaginable. The Joker variant covers for June are in recognition of the 75th anniversary of the Joker.
Regardless if fans like Rafael Albuquerque’s homage to Alan Moore’s THE KILLING JOKE graphic novel from 25 years ago, or find it inconsistent with the current tonality of the Batgirl books – threats of violence and harassment are wrong and have no place in comics or society.
We stand by our creative talent, and per Rafael’s request, DC Comics will not publish the Batgirl variant.
Many followers of #CHANGETHECOVER took DC’s statement to mean that Albuquerque himself was the target of harassment, with some fans even showing their support for the artist with “Je Suis Rafael Albuquerque.” But as Albuquerque explains:
Ill talk more about it tomorrow but I was never threatened. just to make it clear.
— Rafael Abuquerque (@rafaalbuquerque) March 17, 2015
Batgirl co-writer Cameron Stewart was able to offer a little more clarity:
Something to clarify, because DCs statement was a little unclear. @rafaalbuquerque did not get threats. People OBJECTING to the cover did.
— Cameron Stewart (@cameronMstewart) March 17, 2015
I stand behind Rafael as an artist and a friend, and think he made the right decision.
— Cameron Stewart (@cameronMstewart) March 17, 2015
In his full statement, Albuquerque wrote:
My Batgirl variant cover artwork was designed to pay homage to a comic that I really admire, and I know is a favorite of many readers. ‘The Killing Joke’ is part of Batgirl’s canon and artistically, I couldn’t avoid portraying the traumatic relationship between Barbara Gordon and the Joker.
For me, it was just a creepy cover that brought up something from the character’s past that I was able to interpret artistically. But it has become clear, that for others, it touched a very important nerve. I respect these opinions and, despite whether the discussion is right or wrong, no opinion should be discredited.
My intention was never to hurt or upset anyone through my art. For that reason, I have recommended to DC that the variant cover be pulled. I’m incredibly pleased that DC Comics is listening to my concerns and will not be publishing the cover art in June as previously announced.
With all due respect,
Rafa
Not surprisingly, DC and Albuquerque’s decision was met with typical dude-bro whining and a ComicGate hashtag protesting “censorship” (in quotation marks because that’s not how censorship works) and “reverse sexism” (in quotation marks because that’s not actually a thing), with the cover cancellation being compared to the presumed lack of ethics in video game journalism, concerns over sexism in STEM fields, and the recent deadly terror attacks on Charlie Hebdo. Thankfully, common sense prevailed elsewhere:
Oh COME ON guys. The Batgirl cover was a misfire for the people who read that book. Wrong tone. Pulling it was a very reasonable decision.
— Joe Hill (@joe_hill) March 17, 2015
It ain’t censorship, it’s not an outrage, it’s the right choice – every aspect of a book should be working for the story and the audience.
— Joe Hill (@joe_hill) March 17, 2015
Variant covers don’t necessarily show a story moment from inside. Nor do regular covers, these days. But all covers are still about…
— Kurt Busiek (@KurtBusiek) March 17, 2015
…reaching out to the audience you want to attract to a book. Welcoming an appropriate audience and making them want to sample the book.
— Kurt Busiek (@KurtBusiek) March 17, 2015
Props to DC (and Albuquerque!) for considering the cover’s problematic implications and dissonance with the new Batgirl, taking online threats seriously, and for making this variant cover their Twitter header photo:
(via Comic Book Resources)
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This new 3D printing technology looks like science fiction. But it's entirely real — the scientists who created it took inspiration from the futuristic liquid metal in the movie Terminator 2.
Joseph DeSimone and the other University of North Carolina scientists who describe the technology in a new paper published today in Science call it "continuous liquid interface production." (They've also founded a new company called Carbon3D to sell the printer.)
Unlike conventional 3D printing, which prints in layers, their printer continuously forms a new object. As a result, they say, it's much faster than conventional 3D printing, taking minutes instead of hours.
This could finally bring the big advantage of 3D printing — that it lets you easily customize or tweak designs by making changes to software, rather than building new manufacturing machines — to mass consumer products.
There are a few different types of existing 3D printers, but they mostly work via the same principle: a printing head passes over a platform over and over, depositing layer after layer of a material like plastic in a precise pattern. Over time, these layers combine to form the desired object — much like a paper printer forms text on a page by putting down row after row of ink.
By contrast, this new continuous 3D printer would do away with the layers entirely. Instead, a platform draws the object continuously out of a bath of liquid resin.
(Carbon3D)
The resin solidifies when ultraviolet light hits it (a process called photopolymerization). So to create the desired item, a projector underneath the resin pool shoots UV light, in the form of a series of cross-sectional images of the object. Light, in a sense, is the blade the printer uses to sculpt its products.
Meanwhile, oxygen prevents this reaction from occurring — so to stop the object from simply hardening and sticking to the floor of the pool, there's a layer of dissolved oxygen there, creating an ultra-thin "dead zone" at the very bottom.
(Carbon3D)
With the projector and platform in sync, the object forms as it moves upward, with new resin continuously solidifying just above the dead zone.
Right now, the printer is still a prototype, used by Carbon3D to print mainly demonstration objects. Carbon3D hasn't said how much it'll cost, but it does plan to begin selling the printers to companies in about a year.
Prototype coronary stents, printed by Carbon3D's printer. (Carbon3D)
3D printing in general is exciting for one big reason: it lets you customize objects or introduce new product designs simply by altering software (that is, the data the printer uses to make the object), rather than having to retrofit the molds or other hardware used to make the actual object.
For this reason, lots of people have speculated that 3D printing could revolutionize manufacturing, or lead to people printing their own goods at home instead of buying them at stores. But so far, it's mostly been a niche process, used for prototypes, models, and other individually crafted items.
One of the reasons is that it's pretty slow. Conventional 3D printers usually take several hours to print an object — because with most printing methods, they need to individually treat each new layer of material after it's put down so that the next layer can be put down on top of it.
The new method is much faster because it works continuously, instead of in layers, eliminating this step. As a result, it works in minutes rather than hours — 25 to 100 times faster, its creators say, than conventional 3D printing.
The lack of layers also makes the products of this new method stronger. That's because they're solid objects, rather than layers of material stacked together.
These two factors, Carbon3D says, could make its technology practical for mass-producing common products — like, say, a toothbrush you buy in a store. In theory, it could combine the flexibility of 3D printing with the speed and strength of old-school injection molding — the current standard for mass-producing many types of products and parts, especially plastic ones.
However, people have said similar things about conventional 3D printing, but that still hasn't happened. And that's not just because of time. Conventional 3D printing falls into a bit of a gap between potential uses — it's still far more expensive than manufacturing goods the old-fashioned way, but the printers are still mostly too complex for the average person to use at home.
For it to succeed where conventional 3D printing hasn't, Carbon3D's technology will have to solve one of these problems. Its creators are betting it'll end up being cheap and reliable enough to use in mass production of goods, but right now, it's still a prototype — so we'll have to wait and see.
Bridgetthere is something so amazing and creepy about these videos, i completely love it.
The last time I tried to make a multi-layer cake, I failed miserably. You can imagine my shock and dismay to then do a little wandering around the internet and find that not only are there bakers out there who can make it perfectly every single time, but there are people out there basically stunt cake-making with teeny tiny utensils and teeny tiny cakes. Just this week, Miniature Space released a new video, and while the cake featured is simply white bread (mine was homemade sponge cake, thank you very much), the ability of this person to actually make things decorated and cut-able and beautiful boggles the mind.
Have you ever had really delicious cassata cake? There are a lot of different versions – some with buttercream, some with whipped cream, but all have strawberries. The unifying feature is that they are all absolutely and completely delicious. I can’t lie and say that this tiny little cake of white bread, strawberries and what I can only assume is some kind of very liquidy vanilla icing immediately made me think of all the amazing cassata cakes I had as a kid. A part of me wanted to reach through the screen and snatch that cake up and eat it – even though I know, logically, that white bread, strawberries and icing are not going to live up to the masterpiece that is a real cassata cake.
I also sat here trying to imagine exactly how I would manage to cut up a strawberry and arrange the pieces of it using a teeny tiny knife and a teeny tiny set of tongs. I am just not dexterous enough to manage it. I drop things with full sized tongs and manage to mangle even the most sliceable loaf of bread with a full-sized knife.
So from one chef to another, I salute the normal sized human making tiny sized food. Somewhere out there is a hamster who is very much wishing their human could make them such confectionery marvels.
What’s the most impressive cooking feat you have managed – bite sized or full sized? Tell us in the comments below!
BridgetHE MUST BE STOPPED
This weekend on local Tucson morning show Rock102 Mornings with Shmonty & Carolina, director Kevin Smith let the audience know exactly what's going on with the long awaited sequel.
BCS 1x07 – Easter egg: That 3rd wanted poster in the opening shot features the bearded dude that bumps Jimmy in the restroom. Observed by vince-thrilligan
Bridgeti don't know if this answers anyone's questions
Some smart guys over at Netflix hacked an NES cartridge, not the system, to stream a crude version of the streaming service.
Laughing Squid writes:
Netflix employees Guy Cirino, Alex Wolfe, and Carenina Motion participated in the company’s latest developer Hack Day by bringing an extremely low-resolution version of the popular video-streaming service to an original Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). The trio was able to accomplish the feat without actually modifying the console itself, instead tweaking a cartridge to deliver video that included an 8-bit version of the House of Cards intro.
Here are 16 Werner Herzog films you can watch for free online. [ 
