The 8 Worst-Dressed At The Papal Conclave

magnificentruin:

via

son I’ll be playing you very special lullaby tonight so listen up

brock-obama:

Owls confirmed to be the creepiest birds ever. LOOK AT THE FUCKING THINGS. If you fail to notice the one on the left fucking SWALLOWING a rat, then you have the dude singing some satanic chant or something next to him, and then you have those two other fucking psychos synchronized to make you feel creeped the fuck out with their soulless dance of FUCKING DOOM.

I have been meaning to reblog this FOREVER. One, I love that .gif, because it is somewhat hypnotic and unsettling. Two, the commentary is GOLDEN. 

I want this as my screensaver for work. I wonder if that can be done. 

a longing for old friends.

(more Magic Rum Fairy)

“

Let’s be clear that this has nothing to do with revenue vs operating costs. Reader never made money directly (though you could maybe attribute some of Feedburner and AdSense for Feeds usage to it), and it wasn’t the goal of the product.

Reader has been fighting for approval/survival at Google since long before I was a PM for the product. I’m pretty sure Reader was threatened with de-staffing at least three times before it actually happened. It was often for some reason related to social:

2008 - let’s pull the team off to build OpenSocial
2009 - let’s pull the team off to build Buzz
2010 - let’s pull the team off to build Google+

It turns out they decided to kill it anyway in 2010, even though most of the engineers opted against joining G+. Ironically, I think the reason Google always wanted to pull the Reader team off to build these other social products was that the Reader team actually understood social (and tried a lot of experiments over the years that informed the larger social features at the company)[1]. Reader’s social features also evolved very organically in response to users, instead of being designed top-down like some of Google’s other efforts[2].

I suspect that it survived for some time after being put into maintenance because they believed it could still be a useful source of content into G+. Reader users were always voracious consumers of content, and many of them filtered and shared a great deal of it.

But after switching the sharing features over to G+ (the so called “share-pocalypse”) along with the redesigned UI, my guess is that usage just started to fall - particularly around sharing. I know that my sharing basically stopped completely once the redesign happened [3]. Though Google did ultimately fix a lot of the UI issues, the sharing (and therefore content going into G+) would never recover.

So with dwindling usefulness to G+, (likely) dwindling or flattening usage due to being in maintenance, and Google’s big drive to focus in the last couple of years, what choice was there but to kill the product?

Personally, I think that there is still a lot of value a service like Reader could provide — particularly in a world with increasing information overload coming us from many different sources. But Reader at Google was pigeonholed as an RSS-reader explicitly, and didn’t have a chance to grow beyond that to explore that space. But that’s neither here nor there.

[1] See Reader’s friends implementations v1, v2, and v3, comments, privacy controls, and sharing features. Actually wait, you can’t see those anymore, since they were all ripped out.

[2] Rob Fishman’s Buzzfeed article has good coverage of this: Google’s Lost Social Network

[3] Reader redesign: Terrible decision, or worst decision? I was a lot angrier then than I am now — now I’m just sad.

”

- Brian Shih - Quora

Posted by Alan Green, Software Engineer We have just announced on the Official Google Blog that we will soon retire Google Reader (the actual date is July 1, 2013). We know Reader has a devoted following who will be very sad to see it go. We’re sad too. There are two simple reasons for this: usage of Google Reader has declined, and as a company we’re pouring all of our energy into fewer products. We think that kind of focus will make for a better user experience. To ensure a smooth transition, we’re providing a three-month sunset period so you have sufficient time to find an alternative feed-reading solution. If you want to retain your Reader data, including subscriptions, you can do so through Google Takeout. Thank you again for using Reader as your RSS platform.
Labels: reader, sunset

““It was like waiting for the birth of a baby, only better, ” said a Roman man. A child sitting atop his father’s shoulders waved a crucifix.”

- Cardinals Elect Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina as New Pope - NYTimes.com

"Boil the Frog lets you create a playlist of songs that gradually takes you from one music style to another. It's like the proverbial frog in the pot of water. If you heat up the pot slowly enough, the frog will never notice that he's being made into a stew and jump out of the pot. With a Boil the Frog playlist you can do the same, but with music." Here's more about Paul Lamere's new project, where he suggests some fun & incongruent playlists to try. Lamere's music projects previously on MeFi: infinite jukebox - infinite gangnam style - road trip mixtape - the labyrinth of genre - slow build - six degrees of black sabbath

What’s the big deal about large, spherical ice molds? Well, besides them looking cooler than a bunch of small cubes, they melt slower, meaning they’ll cool your drink without watering it down (as much as a bunch of small cubes). And, if you’re a little skeptical about how well the sphere holds up, I can personally attest after 2 weeks of festive imbibing (hic!) these Tovolo ice spheres have kept their shape well past the last drop of each and every drink I’ve had. They’re also stackable, leak-free, and won’t tip in the freezer.

2.5” ice sphere, perfect to accompany your whiskey, bourbon, or scotch.

-Silicone cap
-BPA free ice molds
-Dishwasher safe

Also available from Amazon.

You may now consume your stockpiles. The Twinkie will return this summer, thanks to two private-equity firms that bought Hostess Brands. Daren Metropoulos, a principal at one of the firms, announced the Twinkie’s comeback this afternoon: “Our family is thrilled to have the opportunity to reestablish these iconic brands with new creative marketing ideas and renewed sales efforts and investment. We look forward to having America’s favorite snacks back on the shelf by this summer.”

The Metropouloses have a history of resurrecting iconic American brands — in 2010 they took over Pabst Blue Ribbon and have stewarded it through difficult times. The free market to the rescue once again.

Keep reading this post . . .

VATICAN CITY — The archbishop of Boston, dressed more often in the humble brown robe of his religious order than a cardinal’s regalia, has emerged as an unlikely star amid the drama unfolding in Rome.

Vatican analysts for the leading Italian newspapers have repeatedly listed Cardinal Sean O’Malley as one of the favorite contenders for the papacy.

As recently as two weeks ago, O’Malley hadn’t appeared on the lists of papabili, or cardinals with papal potential, that church watchers pore over each morning like sports scores, even though only the cardinal-electors know how they will vote. Vatican observers said no American cardinal could win: A superpower pope risked mixing church and U.S. interests. O’Malley is also a Capuchin Franciscan, and few members of religious orders have led the church.

But O’Malley arrived to a country in an anti-establishment mood. A comedian, Beppe Grillo, had grabbed a quarter of the parliamentary vote, leaving the political leadership of Italy in limbo.

The Vatican central administration, or Curia, had been weathering a string of scandals. Benedict XVI’s own butler had leaked the former pontiff’s private papers, revealing feuding, corruption and cronyism at the highest levels of the bureaucracy. The secretive Vatican bank had recently ousted a president for incompetence and is under pressure for greater financial transparency.

In the cardinal, Italians saw a white knight. The 68-year-old O’Malley has spent his career as a bishop cleaning up dioceses shattered by child sex abuse. From O’Malley’s lengthy track record, one story seems to have captured the most attention: after he arrived in Boston in 2003, then the epicenter of the church scandal, O’Malley decided to sell the Italian Renaissance mansion that had been home to the previous four Boston archbishops. The millions of dollars from the sale would help pay settlements to victims.

The bearded, soft-spoken cardinal has even earned a nickname — the cappuccino priest — a play on the Italian name for his order, the same word for the coffee drink.

“Give me the cappuccino priest, not the Italians,” said Giuliana Piaella, 57, a waitress serving lunch at a Rome restaurant. “He’s a clean-looking guy, perfect age, and has a serious face. He has a calm face, full of self-confidence. He wears open sandals, which show his humility. Catholics don’t do that anymore. We need someone who’s close to the people.”

It took O’Malley just six weeks from the time he was installed in Boston to settle hundreds of sex abuse claims that had kept the archdiocese in crisis. His predecessor, Cardinal Bernard Law, had resigned as archbishop in December 2002, after a Massachusetts judge unsealed the files of one predator priest kept in parish assignments by church officials without warning parents or police. The revelations sparked a crisis that spread through every American diocese and beyond.

The day after he took over in Boston, he revamped the legal team representing the archdiocese, hiring an attorney who had helped him settle abuse claims when he led the Diocese of Fall River, Mass., a decade ago. O’Malley was personally involved in the Boston negotiations, spending hours with victims’ attorneys to reach the $85 million deal for 552 plaintiffs. Attorneys for victims credited him with showing compassion that other church officials had not.

In the Diocese of Fall River, a southern New England city of fishermen and shuttered textile mills, O’Malley had inherited the damage from one of the most notorious pedophiles in the American clergy crisis. Former priest James Porter was accused of raping children in five states in the 1960s and 1970s. He pleaded guilty in 1993 to 41 counts of molestation.

It was a time when the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops was only starting to confront the national scope of the abuse crisis. O’Malley is credited with instituting a policy that almost no other diocese at the time had. Abuse allegations would be referred to a social worker outside the church. A board of mental health and legal professionals reviewed how each case was handled and church workers were required to alert civil authorities about any allegation that a child had been abused.

In 2002, Pope John Paul II sent O’Malley to Palm Beach, Fla., where two previous bishops had resigned after admitting they had molested young people. Then he sent him to Boston.

O’Malley has his critics in Boston and elsewhere.

A series of church closings he announced in the archdiocese brought angry protests by parishioners and around-the-clock sit-ins. Some parishioners hired canon lawyers and brought their complaints to the Vatican. And in 2002, a Massachusetts prosecutor, Paul Walsh of Bristol County, publicly released the names of about 20 Fall River priests accused of molesting children in the 1960s and 1970s, who had never been criminally charged.

Walsh said he did so out of frustration with recalcitrant church officials. O’Malley said in a statement at the time that when he arrived in Fall River, he had been focused on the Porter case and had no indication that prosecutors were interested in investigating old allegations.

Marco Politi, a papal biographer, said O’Malley is benefiting from the Italian love for Franciscans and from the desire for a pope from another country, who Italians believe will not get involved in Italian politics. At least one profile of O’Malley in Italian media noted that in 2010, he criticized Italian Cardinal Angelo Sodano, who had dismissed victims’ criticism of the church as “petty gossip” just as the crisis was erupting in Europe.

“O’Malley comes across as a humble man in robes who communicates well,” Politi said. “They admire him for selling off the expensive archbishop’s palace to pay debts, and that he lives in a simple home.”

O’Malley, a native of Lakewood, Ohio, studied at a Franciscan seminary, then joined the religious order and was ordained at 26. A graduate student at the Catholic University of America, he earned a master’s degree in religious education and a doctorate in Spanish and Portuguese literature.

O’Malley now speaks eight languages, including Italian, Portuguese and Haitian Creole, according to his spokesman Terrence Donilon. He asks parishioners to address him informally as “Cardinal Sean.”

Despite all the attention, Donilon said Tuesday the cardinal “expects to be going home.”

Speaking last week at the North American College, the prominent seminary for American priests in Rome, O’Malley played down his prospects, pointing to his brown robe.

“I’ve worn this uniform for over 40 years and I presume I will wear it until I die,” he said. “Because I don’t expect to be elected pope, so I don’t expect to have a change of wardrobe.”

• O’Malley Downplays Talk He’s A Papal Front-Runner
• Vatican Observer: O’Malley The Next Pope? Possible, But Unlikely

The Yitzhak Rabin High School in Kfar Saba, Israel, collected information from teachers on junior class students, supposedly to identify troublemakers ahead of a field trip to Poland. The teacher collating the information on a spreadsheet accidentally emailed the internal document to the students who signed up for the trip.

Though some students were described as "pleasant" and "quiet," many others were given insulting labels such as "big baby," "sicko," and "not too bright."

One student was said to "have a voice like a 4-year-old girl," while another was flagged for having "a thing" for boys.

Students showed up at the school this morning with their individual put-downs taped to their shirts.

One of the students who found themselves on the infamous spreadsheet said she would have a hard time looking her teachers in the eye after this. "We are very angry," she told YNet.  

Israel's Ministry of Education is launching an investigation into the incident. Link  -via Daily of the Day

Cardinals at the Vatican pray for divine guidance

L.A. Archdiocese Agrees To $10 Million Settlement Over Abuse Claims

by Eyder Peralta

March 12, 2013 6:41 PMEnlarge image i

Cardinal Roger Michael Mahony arrives to attend a mass at St Peter's basilica on March 12, 2013 at the Vatican.

Gabriel Bouys/AFP/Getty Images

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles has agreed to pay $9.9 million to four men who allege they were abused by former priest Michael Baker, the men's attorney tells the AP.

The Los Angeles Times reports the settlement stems from what Cardinal Roger Mahony, who is in Rome helping elect the next pope, called "the most troubling case of his tenure."

The paper adds:

"The settlement is the first since the church released 12,000 pages of internal personnel files about its handling of abuse allegations, including scores of documents detailing how Mahony and a top aide dealt with Baker.

"The priest admitted his abuse of two boys directly to Mahony during a 1986 retreat. Mahony sent him to New Mexico for treatment, but later returned him to ministry where he molested again. He was convicted in 2007."

The Archdiocese of Los Angeles did not immediately respond to our request for comment.

Update at 6:44 p.m. ET. Begin To Heal:

NPR's Kirk Siegler spoke to Vince Finaldi, the attorney for the plaintiffs. He said that Mahoney and the archdiocese should have called police.

"They chose to send him to a religious treatment center for a number of months, and then they put him back in the ministry and that's where he came into contact with our clients," Finaldi said.

He added that the settlement will help his four clients pay for counseling and begin to heal.

Copyright 2013 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/. Copyright 2013 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.

NEW YORK (AP) — Police Officer Gilberto Valle's lawyers said he was just spinning sick and twisted fantasies for his own pleasure when he chatted online about abducting, roasting and eating women. A jury, though, decided he was deadly serious.

"Pumpkin Face Rum, a line of ultra premium rum imported from Dominican Republic, was introduced last year to rave reviews. As a result of a successful launch and high demand worldwide, Itsko Imports of Beverly Hills, California has expanded its Pumpkin Face line to include an ultra premium Cream liqueur..."

[Editor's note: Umm.. Pumpkin Face Cream Liqueur? Sorry. I only drink Neutrogena Visibly Firm Night Cream Liqueur.]

Massimo Gatto

Romans knew that the timetable for the papal conclave would be a quick one when the three sets of vestments prepared for the new pontiff—in small, medium, and large sizes—had already disappeared from the display window of Gammarelli, the ecclesiastical tailors, on Friday, March 8. The three white wool satin cassocks had appeared on March 4, along with one scarlet capelet, the mozzetta, trimmed in white ermine, versatile enough for one size to fit any aspiring pontiff, a single pair of red kangaroo-leather shoes in a medium size, and a white moiré silk zucchetto, the pontifical skullcap. Though they are loaded with Christian significance, many of these articles of clothing actually have a far more ancient pedigree.

via http://thisisnthappiness.com/post/12886188731/call-me-ishmael

Both Holmes and I had a weakness for the
Turkish bath. It was over a smoke in the pleasant
lassitude of the drying-room that I have found
him less reticent and more human than anywhere
else. (The Illustrious Client, A. C. Doyle)

…Uh huh.  :)

(Here’s a double cubicle in one of the drying / cooling areas. This could have been where they were relaxing. Click through for more info.)

…Joking aside, though, this can’t be viewed through our own cultural/period goggles: this was a thing that both men and women did, and tremendously popular. You want to look at the images of the interiors of some of these places. And the ads.

(more under the cut)

(Here’s one from a big London bath that due to popular demand had opened up a separate women’s bath facility so it wouldn’t have to do staggered hours at the main one.)

(For those interested in background:)

• Victorian Turkish Baths (the Places index: check the rest of the site, there’s fabulous stuff there)
• (UK) Baths and Washhouses (Historical Archive)
• What a Turkish bath is like
• Where to go for the best (contemporary) Turkish bath in London

…This is just a hint of the resources out there. A fascinating subject…

YouTube Bonus: Michael Palin has a Turkish Bath.

lordlamebrain:

bakerstreetbabes:

boyinthemachine:

Okay, by just looking at the artwork I deduce that all Holmes and Watson are doing 24/7 is basically sitting around in chairs while judging everything (unless they get up to judge more ppl).

I mean, seriously:

even each other

DYING.

Oh my gawd XD HAH!

Chuckling hard.

Black smoke emerges from the Vatican's Sistine Chapel chimney, indicating that cardinals have failed to elect a new pope on their first day of voting.

Let’s dance

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad comforts the mother of Hugo Chavez. (Miraflores Press Office/AP)

Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is under fire from the country’s clerics over a photo of him consoling the mother of Hugo Chavez at the late Venezuelan leader’s funeral—physical contact that’s considered a sin under Iran’s strict Islamic codes.

The photo, released by Venezuela’s Miraflores Press Office, shows Elena Frías’ right hand clutching Ahmadinejad’s left, her head against his, as they stand near the flag-draped coffin of her son at a military academy in Caracas, Venezuela, on Friday.

The image drew the immediate fury of Tehran’s religious conservatives. “No unrelated women can be touched unless she is drowning at sea or needs medical treatment,” Hojat al-Islam Hossein Ibrahimi, a cleric at the Society of Militant Clergy, said, according to Iran’s Al-Monitor.

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces 1/3 cup honey 4 large egg yolks 2 large eggs 2/3 cup fresh blood orange or lemon juice (about 4-6 blood oranges or 6-8 lemons). Be sure to zest the citrus before juicing it! 1 tablespoon finely grated blood orange or lemon zest

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