Russian Sledges

sharpshooterjan has added a photo to the pool:

young barn owls

milkti:

why are a bunch of cabbages singing

“It’s hard for me to even remember the last time I was in a library.
…
[I]t’s impossible to see a world where we keep libraries open simply to pretend they still serve a purpose for which they no longer serve.”

-

The End Of The Library | TechCrunch

Well, white dude with I’m guessing considerable stock in Google, is the library just there for your needs or purposes?

Maybe you enjoyed your exercise in wordplay and making points already made. But what was your point again? Books make libraries so without books libraries aren’t libraries? Books look different so libraries can’t be libraries? Libraries look different so libraries can’t be libraries? You don’t need libraries for books so we don’t need libraries? I’m sorry, what?

Oh but wait, we’re pretending? Pretending what? Pretending there’s an access divide? Pretending there’s a digital divide? Pretending information illiteracy? Pretending folks lack job skills? Pretending college students need help with citation (BAHA HAHAHAHAHHA)? Did I get a Masters in Pretending? I MEAN I DO HAVE A GREAT IMAGINATION SO I PROBS GOT STRAIGHT A’S. OR P’S FOR PRETENDING. I’m sorry, what?

(via yellowdecorations)

Also read this from BeerBrarian - The End of “The End of Libraries”

On Sunday, October 14th, yet another “End of Libraries” piece appeared. Per usual, it was written by a white male with no use for libraries, because every single time this trope appears, that’s part of the author’s demographic background. Beyond that, it’s a crucial part of the author’s background. It is overwhelmingly affluent white men who argue that because they do not use something, it has no value for anyone. Libraries. The Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program. Affordable health care. It’s the same argument.

(via thedanaash)

"The internet has replaced the importance of libraries as a repository for knowledge." Ah, yes, because you can trust everything you read on the internet.

Republicans play this game all the time. “I don’t need it, therefore it’s not important and we should get rid of it.” I can vividly remember the last time I was in a library. It was three weeks ago. I needed to do research and the material I needed was not online. Not every book is completely indexed in Google Books. And yes, an ebook is cheaper and faster than buying a physical copy of a book - but it’s harder to skim through an ebook quickly, and the physical copy at the library costs you nothing (up front; tax dollars etc etc).

Like I said, I was at the library three weeks ago. It was around 4 pm on a Tuesday. And you know what? It was CROWDED. There was a packed sign-up sheet for the computers. Kids and parents abounded in the children’s section. Older people and teenagers read at the tables in the main area. I had to wait in line to check out my book.

Before that, I had spent a lot of quality time on my library’s website. I like to read both physical books and ebooks. My library does Kindle loans. OK, their website is a crappy government website, and it can be a little difficult to navigate, but it’s doable. I read books I probably couldn’t or wouldn’t pay full price for, AKA a big part of the purpose of a library.

Libraries are not useless in the digital age, and even more importantly, they aren’t all empty. Just because YOU, PERSONALLY do not need or use something doesn’t make it a charming  but impractical relic of a long-forgotten age.

(via thebicker)

I work in a library. Here are some of the reasons people come to the library: 

• They want directions. 
  
  

• They want to collect food/garden/dog waste bags, all handed out free at libraries. 
  
  

• They want to print/photocopy/scan. 
  
  

• They want to access the internet, either on our computers or on their own, via the free wi-fi. 
  
  

• Often this is because they have to apply for benefits, housing or jobs through the official system which is only available online. If they haven’t internet at home, the library offers free internet access. Where else does that? Sometimes they aren’t computer literate, so they appreciate an environment where they can ask for help. 
  
  

• Maybe they’ll attend one of our free IT classes, ranging from the absolute basics to subjects such as Facebook, Office software, job hunting and how to use the Council’s Homesearch website. If they want something specific, such as how to use their own laptop or how to shop online, we can set up a one-to-one appointment, also for free. 
  
  

• Our study spaces are very popular. Often they are all taken by ten past nine, after we open at nine. The number of people who have asked me how much it costs and looked surprised when I explained that using the library space is free and doesn’t require you to be a member surprises me. 
  
  

• They want to read the newspapers or magazines the library buys (recently expanded with the launch of an emagazine service—I get to read SFX for free now, which is cool). 
  
  

• They’re researching their family tree and want to take advantage of the library’s subscription to Ancestry. 
  
  

• They want to consult the planning documents for a local development or the register of local voters. 
  
  

• They want to participate in a council  consultation. 
  
  

• They may have come to seek advice from an agency that operates a drop-in session at the library, such as the Citizens’ Advice Bureau or the police. 
  
  

• They may be attending an event, either run by the library (an author talk, a book group, baby Rhymetime) or by an outside company who have rented the meeting rooms (theatre productions, ESOL classes, yoga). The library itself has regular events for babies, children, teenagers, adults, adults with mental health difficulties, adults learning English… 
  
  

• We have regular class visits from the local schools. We read them a story and they all choose a book. Sometimes we go to them. It was actually really lovely to see how many children came into the library, talking excitedly about the Summer Reading Challenge we came and told them in Assembly. 
  
  

• Children still look for books when they’re doing their homework, you know. Children who weren’t born at the time of the Millennium and have grown up with the internet. 
  
  

• People actually still read books. Over thirty thousand items were issued in my library last month, and while we certainly have DVDs, Blu-Rays, CDs, Talking Books, Language  Courses, all those added together can’t be more than a couple of thousand.  
  
  

• Free books. I’m sorry, I am never over how wondrous that is. Thousands of books, free to borrow and read. (And for those incapable of making the journey to the library, we have a Housebound service.) 
  
  

• For all these reasons, we are really busy. Dozens of people join every day. Hundreds of people walk through the doors every day. Of course, there are people who don’t make use of libraries, who don’t need them. But really, someone who can’t remember the last time they went to the library can have no idea of the role they play. 
  
  

• Libraries are not irrelevant. Libraries are not cultural artifacts. Libraries are living and changing, a resource and a social space, free at the point of access, engaging the community, offering a wide range of services, accessible to all. And what other institution can you say that about? Libraries are important. 

(via laurel-sea)

People go to the library for books. People go to the library for e-books. People go to the library for technology. People go to the library for human contact. People go to the library for educational and free programming for their children. People go to the library for fun. So learn your shit before opening your mouth. Maybe a librarian can point you in the way of the basics. (via inautumn-inkashmir)

Libraries for me mean a free climate controlled space, knitting patterns, and recipes. Also mine rents out DVDs and has a good sized selection of graphic novels, which really helps us keep our entertainment budget manageable. I only wish I lived within walking distance of mine, the library may be free but the bus sure isn’t.

(via fimbulvetr-is-coming)

Yeeeep. Libraries are still needed. I’m fortunate to live within walking distance of mine. I utilize it weekly. Last time I was there was Friday. I’d go there more often if the librarians weren’t horrible people. As it is, I do use the hold service on books I want and they travel from the one in Roseburg to my local one and I pick up the books and am gone. I think the library is the one place I go to the most out of everywhere.

(via herwitchiness)

And like, what about the fucking reference section? A library is basically the ONLY place you will find some of those books, unless you’re asble to afford to shell out 1000 dollars for a text. And a lot of information is ONLY in those books, or ONLY in books that exist only in physcal format, and are expensive/out of print. But there’s no way anybody could possibly want that information. RIght?

Like, the Dewey Decimal system books are still in copyright, so you only get the base information for it online, and thew books themselves are expensive as FUCK. The library was the only place I could ever find them.

(via heatherbat)

giddygirlgumption and I took our kids to the library literally 3 hours ago. And it was the second time we’d been in three days. My daughters have been going to this library since they were 9 months old and newborn respectively. They attended storytime, they’ve poured through the children’s section. In fact, there’s a little teddy bear that stands about 2 1/2 feet tall that is post upright with welcoming arms when you get to the children’s floor (the entire basement). My daughters have been attending this library since they were shorter than this bear and they now tower over it. In fact, the older girl volunteered there this summer. 

We’ve checked out music, dvds, books galore, done research and they’ve both learned the Scratch programming language in classes there. The library is part of our life, part of our normal. And we’re not alone when we go there.

(via brinconvenient)

Even if you think you can replace every single function of a library with something else, you shouldn’t. Why? Because a library is a place you can go, as an individual human being, and interact with other individual human beings, without feeling pressured to buy one single thing or spend one single cent (unless you have an overdue fine. Then you should really pay your fine). We have a rapidly dwindling number of those around.

(via widdershinsgirl)

cleowho:

"…every six months."

(grin)

Tightly pulled vertical smocking. Image via Trans.lu.cent»

Smocking is a fabric manipulation technique that is generally created by using hand stitching to create areas of tension and release in the fabric. This results in very sculptural effects that can sometimes appear far more complex then they actually are.

There are some smocking / pleating machines that will speed up the process, but many eye catching effects are created by marking out the fabric using dots or a grid. Manoeuvring between the dots or corners of the grid with thread and holding stitches can then create different effects depending on the path that you take. 

Image of a smocking pleating machine at work via Pinterest»

This image gives a better idea of how a smocking pattern would look, with a grid of squares to create the pattern, and arrows or lines describing where you sew a stitch to draw the fabric together (indicated with an arrow) or where you would leave the thread slack (indicated with a red line).

By clicking on the image you can see the full tutorial for this style of Lozenge Smocking on the Threads website»

The following image shows an example where a grid has been marked out on fusing that has been joined to the back of the fabric. This also shows how you are really working on the reverse of the fabric when you create smocking, and the fabric volume forms on the right side of the fabric.

Image of the reverse side of smocking via The Sewing Directory»

Once the manipulations are formed you can then turn them right way up and pin them out into position on a padded table or on an ironing board. You will then need to gently steam the fabric and let in dry out in position to help to set the shape of the fabric.

Mixed swatches of smocking via Pinterest»

To help you to experiment with these techniques in your own designs, there are a range of different effects below, and these are followed by a list of free tutorials that are available online.

A collection of free smocking tutorials that are available online where you can learn different techniques:

• Simple fabric manipulation via Sew Over It»
• Lozenge or Tubular smocking tutorial via Threads»
  
• Trellis or Lattice smocking tutorial via Montreat Designs»
• Flower shaped and Box smocking tutorials via Muslma1»
• Shell shaped smocking tutorial via Teresa Down Under
• A couple of different smocking tutorials viaThe Sewing Directory»
• Diamond shaped smocking tutorial with beads via TutuJoli»

There is no need to stick to existing shapes though, feel free to try just drawing a grid onto calico and trying out your own patterns, or creating random winding paths with your thread between a dotted grid to create your own effects.

There is also no reason why you would have to stick to a grid, and you could probably get interesting effects by using concentric circles, lines that cross to create diamonds or triangles, or using organic lines with randomly placed dots.

To see more traditional smocking techniques at work you can also view the previous post on Smocking Techniques at Miu Miu» where smocking is used well to draw the fabric into the body instead of using darts or panel lines.

pity-sex:

We watched some episodes of sailor moon and i went to go pee, found her in my bag

She’s been in it for hours

Raw Story's Travis Gettys says that prominent Virginia teabagger Jonathon Moseley took issue with Pope Francis's claims that unfettered capitalism is hurting the world. Moseley wrote an essay titled "Jesus Christ is a capitalist" that tries to take the Pope on using scripture.

Moseley, a Virginia business and criminal defense attorney, supports his claim with a verse from the Book of Luke in which Jesus declines to act as arbitrator when someone asks him to compel a brother to divide their family inheritance.

“In just one verse, we see that God rejects the left-wing ‘Jesus Christ supported socialism’ heresy,” Moseley writes. “When Jesus was asked to support redistribution of wealth — to tell one brother to share the family inheritance with the other — Jesus refused...Jesus Christ is weeping in heaven hearing Christians espouse a socialist philosophy that has created suffering and poverty around the world,” Moseley writes. “It is impossible to love one’s neighbor as yourself without fighting against socialism, meaning government meddling in private lives.”

As an atheist, I don't usually play this scripture game. But this is too easy:

Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's.

And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.

You cannot serve God and money.

...we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.

But as for you, O man of God, flee these things.

I could go on. Meanwhile, other Republicans are arguing against Francis's comments by saying that unfettered capitalism doesn't exist. I don't know which argument is more divorced from reality.

[ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

This post is part of an ongoing series featuring items from the newly acquired Santo Domingo collection.

Médecine et pharmacopée en Chine is comprised of three volumes that are each bound with colored cord inside an illustrated paper cover.  Published in early 20th-century France the volumes appear to explore medicine and pharmacology in China.  Each individual volume begins with a beautiful color illustration depicting a topic related to Medicine, Pharmacy and Therapeutics, or Medical Superstitions.

One of the illustrations depicts the practice of acupuncture.  It is interesting that the scientific benefits of acupuncture are still debated in present day.  Though the exact origins of acupuncture are disputed most typically agree that it was being practiced during the Han Dynasty in China during the 2nd century.

One of the difficulties in proving the effectiveness of acupuncture is that it is difficult to run a placebo control group since the very action involves piercing the skin with a needle.  More traditional Western medicine has cautiously agreed that acupuncture can be effective for certain conditions though they admit they cannot exactly explain why it works.  Regardless of proven scientific fact many people believe in acupuncture’s ability to relieve nausea and chronic pain and popularity of the practice has greatly increased in the past 20 years.

The third volume explores various medical superstitions that were commonly used in China.  This illustration depicts a man using a rooster to help set a woman’s fracture.  I think the idea is that using the rooster blood will assist in the healing process.

To learn more the Médecine et pharmacopée en Chine. [France] : Editions des Laboratoires du Mictasol, [192-?].  R601 .M48 can be found at the Countway Library at the Harvard Medical School in Longwood.

Thanks to Alison Harris, Santo Domingo Project Manager and Joan Thomas, Rare Book Cataloger at Countway for contributing this post.

Charliemopps writes "For 20 years the password for the U.S. nuclear arsenal was '00000000.' Kennedy instituted a security system on all nuclear warheads to prevent them from being armed by someone unauthorized. It was called PAL, and promised to secure the entire US arsenal around the world. Unfortunately for Kennedy (and I guess, the whole world) U.S. military leadership was more concerned about delaying a launch than securing Armageddon. They technically obeyed the order but then set the password to 8 Zeros, or '00000000'."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Eight years after Hurricane Katrina, the restaurant industry has become the backbone of the city, and the boom is a barometer of a more affluent and more educated New Orleans.

The Native American Hopi tribe took a Parisian auction house to court Tuesday to try to block the sale of 32 sacred tribal masks.

South Africa's Mponeng gold mine is a 2.5-mile-deep network of chutes and tunnels that employs about 4,000 miners. Of course, that number doesn't include the miners who wander its tunnels clandestinely, stealing and refining ore. In a new book, journalist Matthew Hart investigates why gold and crime sometimes go hand in hand.

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The ice sheet that covers Antarctica is almost two miles thick in some places. But the British Antarctic Survey is able to peek beneath the frozen surface with the help of satellites, lasers, and radar.

maxistentialist:

Cards Against Humanity’s “$5 More” Black Friday Sale

A lot of people have been curious about how our “everything costs $5 more" Black Friday sale worked, and if it was successful for us.

The Idea

This is a difficult time of year for us because we spend almost no money on marketing, and it’s easy for us to get lost in the noise and money of the holiday season.

We initially started talking about doing a Black Friday sale over the summer, and came up with the idea of a “$0.01 off” coupon. I liked the idea, but have always maintained a policy of no deals, no discounts, and no sales  for Cards Against Humanity, even during our Kickstarter. To me the game is always $25, it’s never another price, and doing any kind of deal or discount undermines the simplicity and honesty of the game.

After some discussion, Ben came up with the idea of raising the price for Black Friday and that was so outrageous that I fell in love with it instantly. Two books I read recently that informed my decision were Malcom Gladwell’s David and Goliath and Marty Neumeier’s Zag, which are both kind of shitty business/science books that make the somewhat-obvious point that being small and nimble can give you advantages that huge lumbering opponents don’t have. Anyone can do a sale for Black Friday, but nobody but us could get away with raising their prices and risking a ton of sales just to make a joke.

The other guys were pretty skeptical, but Ben and I convinced them one by one, 12 Angry Men style, until they agreed to let us try a truly insane pricing experiment. The final piece needed to convince everyone was the mockup of the landing page that I designed, with the glowing “consume!” button. Once everyone saw how funny that looked, they knew we had to go through with it.

Execution

Nothing crazy here. I put together a landing page and we replaced all the “buy” buttons on our site with the new pricing. I edited the FAQ to include:

Why do all of your products cost more today?

We’re participating in the tradition of “Black Friday,” an American holiday celebrating a time when the Wampanoag tribe saved the settlers of Plymouth Colony with incredible deals. All of our products are $5 more today only, so you can enjoy buying them that much more.

I’m mad that you’re making a joke about Black Friday.

You’re probably a bad person.

We called our contact at Amazon and explained the idea for the sale to them. They thought it was funny but were also pretty annoyed - apparently monkeying with pricing on the biggest sales day of the year isn’t as funny to Amazon as it is to us.

Reception

The sale made people laugh, it was widely shared on Twitter and Tumblr, and it was the top post on Reddit. The press picked it up, and it was reported in The Guardian, USA Today, Polygon, BuzzFeed, All Things D, Chicagoist, and AdWeek. It was even the top comment on The Wirecutter’s front page AMA, which had nothing to do with us.

I was pretty sure that our fans would be into the “$5 more” sale, but I had no idea that it would turn a day where we’d normally be totally overlooked into a huge press hit for the game.

Sales

So how did we do? A little better than last year. We kept our position as the best-selling toy or game on Amazon. My guess is that peoples’ buying decisions just weren’t that affected by $5.

The interesting thing to note is that we got a nice lift in our sales the day after Black Friday (“Regret Saturday”). That might be from people who were waiting to buy the game until it came back down in price, or, more likely, those are sales from people who heard about the game after our Black Friday press. Not bad for an ad that paid us to run it.

Starting next year, the T will run all subway trains and the 15 most popular bus routes until 3 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Yes, the T is still cash-strapped, and the state budget remains tight, but Governor Deval Patrick has found about $20 million, along with pledges from corporate sponsors, to launch a one-year pilot program to begin in March or April. College students and, more recently, techies in the growing innovation economy have complained about how Boston shuts down too early. T service ends at 1 a.m., and bars and restaurants close at 2 a.m. Those early hours also became an issue in the Boston mayoral race, as workers in the technology sector told the candidates the T’s schedule did not match their late-night work ethic.

We’re excited to announce that starred items are now live in The Old Reader.  This has been one of the most requested features and something we’ve felt belongs in the application for a long time.  Hotkey (f) and API support are also available.  Starred items will automatically be sent to pocket for users that have it activated.

As most of you know, our focus over the past few months was to increase performance and stability of The Old Reader.  We’ve made tremendous strides and can now focus on adding functionality and making this tool a long-term sustainable platform built for the Open Web.  The best is yet to come.

Thanks for using The Old Reader!

(www.catgifs.org/2013/09/07/cat-surprised-cat-animated-gif/)

OnlyMrGodKnowsWhy

Whoops, #everythingisterrible again

• 9879

   
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•  9879

Three African-American students who were waiting for a school bus in Rochester, New York were arrested on Wednesday morning when police officer told them to “disperse,” even though witnesses said they did nothing wrong.

According to WROC, basketball coach Jacob Scott had arranged for a school bus to pick up the boys to take them to a scrimmage on a day when school was closed.

A police report claimed that the boys were blocking “pedestrian traffic while standing on a public sidewalk…preventing free passage of citizens walking by and attempting to enter and exit a store…Your complainant gave several lawful clear and concise orders for the group to disperse and leave the area without complaince [sic].”

But the students and the coach dispute the police version of events.

“We didn’t do nothing,” student Raliek Redd explained. “We was just trying to go to our scrimmage.”

“We was just waiting for our bus and he started arrested us,” student Wan’Tauhjs Weathers added.

Daequon Carelock, who was also arrested, lamented that anyone could be “just downtown, minding your own business, and next thing you know, anything can happen.”

Coach Scott arrived just as the boys were being handcuffed and was also threatened with arrest.

“He goes on to say, ‘If you don’t disperse, you’re going to get booked as well,’” Scott recalled. “I said, ‘Sir, I’m the adult. I’m their varsity basketball coach. How can you book me? What am I doing wrong? Matter of fact, what are these guys doing wrong?’”

“One of the police officers actually told me, if he had a big enough caravan, he would take all of us downtown,” he noted.

Scott called the incident a “catastrophe” for the boys and witnesses who were traumatized by the arrest.

“These young men were doing nothing wrong, nothing wrong. They did exactly what they were supposed to do and still they get arrested,” Scott remarked. “I’m speaking to the officers with dignity…and still and yet – they see me get treated like nothing.”

Rochester school board member Mary Adams expressed her outrage at the arraignment last week.

“I think the charges should be immediately dropped and I think the district attorney’s office should be stepping in and looking at these kinds of matters,” she said.

“I’m very concerned about a pattern of young people being abused by police authority,” Adams told WHEC. “To me, this seems like a really clear case, part of a pattern.”

A trial for the three students is scheduled for December 11.

Watch this video from WROC, broadcast Nov. 29, 2013.

Watch this video from WHEC, broadcast Nov. 29, 2013.

(h/t: Gawker)

Original Source

Andrew Lloyd Webber Says A Cats Movie Is Coming, And We Have A Cast In Mind

While we're not familiar with the protocol for getting rid of an unwanted taxidermied deer, it seems that dropping the thing in a garbage can is not the most considerate method, if only because it won't really fit. This means that pedestrians who are just trying to have a normal day will be confronted with the creepy sight of a motionless ruminant mammal that appears to be sitting upright and staring at them as they make their way down the sidewalk. The ditched deer spotted by DNAinfo this morning in Washington Heights was especially terrifying, as it had "visible stitches down the front of its torso and screws where the antlers used to be." The police were called to monitor the situation until the Department of Sanitation arrived to haul the formerly living creature away in a truck. We assume observers were almost as traumatized as they were when Bambi's mom was shot.

Read more posts by Caroline Bankoff

Filed Under: neighborhood news ,creepy things ,animals ,washington heights

How the Thanksgiving Day plate varies across America

TODAY Americans will gorge themselves silly in celebration of Thanksgiving. Though each on average will ingest some 3,000 calories at dinner, the plates around the country—brimming with turkey, potatoes, stuffing, gravy, cranberry sauce and pies—will actually look quite different. Based on over 200m page views from last November on Allrecipes.com, a website that crowdsources and rates recipes, different regions have diverse tastes. The country is split between roasting and brining turkeys. Potatoes are less controversial: most prefer mashed (though Louisiana favours au gratin, perhaps a vestige of its French roots). Pies in the south are made with sweet potatoes, a soul food staple, while blue states seem to have a taste for apple pie. At a time when America is bedevilled by divides and political polarisation, the Thanksgiving Day preferences follow no discernible pattern. And if there is one thing that all Americas can agree on, it is cranberry sauce.

(This chart was inspired by an...Continue reading

Unofficial Map: Suburban Rail Network of Mumbai, India

Designed by two students — Jaikishan and Snehal — at Mumbai’s Industrial Design Centre under the supervision of Associate Professor Mandar Rane. While it looks like quite a traditional transit map, there’s a few innovations and design choices (of which some work, and some don’t) that make it interesting to study.

First off, this map is infinitely better than the official one, which is a bit of a mess however you look at it.

Normally, I’m not a huge fan of pseudo-geography behind a diagrammatic map, but I think this actually works rather nicely. The interesting textural treatment of the water is particularly nice.

I also think that the explicit labelling of slow and express (fast) routes is surprisingly effective and definitely leaves no confusion as to which is which. The “play” and “fast-forward” arrows for each service type are a cute touch, but also act as good visual contextual cues.

While naming the lines on the map is a good practice to assist colour-blind users, I think there’s a bit of overkill here for a map this simple. The Central and Western Lines are labelled no fewer than four times each — the one for the Western Line at the bottom left of the map is particularly egregious as the route lines have to take a little jog to the left to accommodate it!

The only part of the map that I would change completely if I had a chance is the grid system. While it’s laudable that the designers have attempted to come up with an new, easier way to locate stations on the map (and it’s very clearly explained in the legend of the map), I feel that the end result has way too much visual importance. The numbers that denote each square are large and visually distracting, and can’t be placed in a consistent location because the actual map (the important stuff!) gets in the way. The haphazard placement of these numbers combined with the checkerboard pattern also makes the map look more than a little like a board game, which probably wasn’t the intended result.

In my opinion, the traditional letter-number grid system — a system that almost all map users around the world are familiar with through years of exposure to it — would work much better here. The letters for the columns (A-D) and numbers for the rows (1-6) could be placed discreetly in the orange border around the map and the distracting numbers removed completely from the main map. If required, the smaller “Find Your Station” grid in the legend could spell out the full grid location within each square (In the example they use, Wadala Rd. station would be at B-4).

Apart from that, there’s just a few missing spaces between words to be fixed and consistency checks to be done — the map needs to use either “Rd.” or “Road” in station names, not both. Space limitations would seem to suggest that the former would be more appropriate here.

Our rating: A considered and well-measured approach to developing something beautiful, modern and usable, although some of the map’s innovations don’t quite work. Three stars.

Source: Professor Rane’s website. I definitely recommend clicking through, as there’s a lot of interesting background on the development of the map, including a Q&A with Jaikishan and Snehal, and images of concept maps that they worked on independently before combining their ideas into the final map. I’m quite partial to a couple of the maps that use 60/30-degree angles myself!

 

San Francisco is reaching out to gays who are homeless, after a survey found nearly 30 percent of the city’s homeless population identified as gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender.

In Jon Cohen’s 2001 book, Shots in the Dark: The Wayward Search for an AIDS Vaccine , he detailed the Reagan administration’s early indifference to the growing epidemic. White House acting press secretary Larry Speakes, and some of the reporters at press briefings, found the crisis to be quite the joking matter.

White House acting press secretary Larry Speakes, in the foreground, as President Reagan consults with advisers.

Pete Souza / Time Life Pictures / Getty Images

Q: Larry, does the President have any reaction to the announcement—the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, that AIDS is now an epidemic and have over 600 cases?
MR. SPEAKES: What's AIDS?
Q: Over a third of them have died. It's known as "gay plague." (Laughter.) No, it is. I mean it's a pretty serious thing that one in every three people that get this have died. And I wondered if the President is aware of it?
MR. SPEAKES: I don't have it. Do you? (Laughter.)
Q: No, I don't.
MR. SPEAKES: You didn't answer my question.
Q: Well, I just wondered, does the President—
MR. SPEAKES: How do you know? (Laughter.)
Q: In other words, the White House looks on this as a great joke?
MR. SPEAKES: No, I don't know anything about it, Lester.
Q: Does the President, does anybody in the White House know about this epidemic, Larry?
MR. SPEAKES: I don't think so. I don't think there's been any—
Q: Nobody knows?
MR. SPEAKES: There has been no personal experience here, Lester.
Q: No, I mean, I thought you were keeping—
MR. SPEAKES: I checked thoroughly with Dr. Ruge this morning and he's had no—(laughter)—no patients suffering from AIDS or whatever it is.
Q: The President doesn't have gay plague, is that what you're saying or what?
MR. SPEAKES: No, I didn't say that.
Q: Didn't say that?
MR. SPEAKES: I thought I heard you on the State Department over there. Why didn't you stay there? (Laughter.)
Q: Because I love you, Larry, that's why. (Laughter.)
MR. SPEAKES: Oh, I see. Just don't put it in those terms, Lester. (Laughter.)
Q: Oh, I retract that.
MR. SPEAKES: I hope so.
Q: It's too late.

Q: Larry, does the President think that it might help if he suggested that the gays cut down on their "cruising"? (Laughter.) What? I didn't hear your answer, Larry.
MR. SPEAKES: I just was acknowledging your interest—
Q: You were acknowledging but—
MR. SPEAKES: —interest in this subject.
Q: —you don't think that it would help if the gays cut down on their cruising—it would help AIDS?
MR. SPEAKES: We are researching it. If we come up with any research that sheds some light on whether gays should cruise or not cruise, we'll make it available to you. (Laughter.)
Q: Back to fairy tales.

Acting press secretary Larry Speakes at the podium as President Reagan makes an appearance in the White House Press Briefing Room.

reagan.utexas.edu

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1926.

Fritz Lang.

100,000 Stars:

An interactive 3D visualization of the stellar neighborhood, including over 100,000 nearby stars. Created for the Google Chrome web browser.

This can never be reblogged enough.

For the first time since the terrible incident in which Oakland teenager Sasha Fleishman had his clothing burned at the hands of another teenager — in what appears, by all accounts, to be a homophobic hate crime — Sasha spoke publicly to CBS 5 over the holiday weekend. [ more › ]