Russian Sledges

Nobody left

Binary! I’m sure you all know that 11001001 in binary translates to 201 in our own decimal system, which means…approximately nothing significant. Anyway, in this season one episode, which both Shalon (via email) and wonderlandjunkets (via tumblr) suggested to us, we have a really nice variety of fashions from all over the map. The episode starts with the Enterprise docking at a starbase and being boarded by some maintenance people in Jeffries tube suits:

Butts lol

I suppose we’ve seen them outside a Jeffries tube situation enough to know that they’re just “maintenance/janitorial” suits but I’ll always think of them that way.

Some guy who is trying SO HARD to be Evil Picard comes in, looking goateeish:

His brow game is tight though

I guess I have to give the man a little credit for trying to distinguish himself from JLP with the goatee. But for real! He looks more like JLP than the guy in the porn parody!

He brings with him two little aliens named One Zero and Zero One, who are Bynars, and will be fixing the ship’s computer. 

My Buddy and Kid Sister have really evolved

This alien race works in pairs, like raptors or turtledoves or terrifying children in the Hotel Overlook. They literally finish each others’ sentences. It’s cute for, like, a second, and then it’s creepy. However: they are wearing some darling disco jumpsuits that are asymmetric when viewed singly and symmetric when viewed as a pair. Adorbs. 

Also there is maybe a little person working in Engineering?

Unaddressed Dwarf is my Spinal Tap cover band

She might not be a little person that would have her own reality show on TLC, but she is getting it done over there with a sweet AC Slater mullet that somehow works on her.

The Bynars go to check out the bridge, and for some reason Riker asks Wesley “Cool Story, Jeopardy Teen” Crusher to keep an eye on them, because he doesn’t trust them. Now, of course Riker’s gut feeling turns out to be true, but there’s really no reason for him not to trust them now. They just fixed another ship with apparently no problem, and were specifically sent BY STARFLEET to fix the ship. Simmer down, Will, not everything is a crisis. And even if it was, you don’t leave Wesley in charge.

Just gonna stare creepily at you guys while you work, hope that’s cool

Riker starts wandering around the ship looking for stuff to do since he’s “not great at organizing his leave.” Girl, please. You’re on a starbase. Go find literally any woman, throw her a lustful glance and take care of business. But instead, he runs into all his colleagues going off to do various things. Worf, Tasha, and some randos, the lady one of whom is rocking a cute Harlem Renaissance-style coif, are going to go play Parrises Squares:

House of Spandex was having a sale on cerulean

Shalon, one of our tipsters, described these as “Skintight blue spandex with pants-crappingly-insane sleeve and collar armor(?) made from some kind of nubbly black rubber.” First of all, Shalon, if you crapped your pants after seeing these outfits, I’m not sure how you’ve handled a lot of other looks on this show. Frankly, I’m not sure you’re even still alive. We’ll address the sleeves in a second. But look at those gym bags! They are almost certainly the same one Charlie noticed in a Season 7 episode, Liaisons. Way to keep it consistent, art department.

But back to those sleeves that made Shalon need a diaper so bad.

Okay, YES, they are pretty nuts. 

I would bet $1000 right now that that sleeve is made from one of those nubbly floor mats you see in the airlock of a store. The costume people just got one and cut it up. As someone who has a coat made out of a shower curtain, and once considered sewing a dress out of astroturf, this is the kind of innovation I like to see. 

Elsewhere, Geordi and Data are painting:

OMG boring

Or rather, Data is painting, while Geordi is watching Data paint. How exciting could that possibly be, Geordi?! Go read a book about how to get laid.

Bev is supes excited because she’s going to hear a talk by a scientist. This actually sounds dope and would totally be a thing I would do on my leave time. I’m including this both because to leave her out seems rude, and because look at her hair in this screenshot!

Pantene Pro-V technology continues well into the future

It just looks RULL good, unlike many Season 1 hair moments.

Riker eventually wanders down to the holodeck, where the Bynars are doing some maintenance work. They’re like, “oh hey, we made some adjustments to the holodeck, maybe you should check it out,” and then they share this look:

Disco party later? Disco party later

Oooh gurl I love those little jumpsuits they’re wearing. They could be members of an elite jazz dance squad. But like: Riker. You are already suspicious of them. This extremely suspicious shared glance didn’t set off any alarms in your head? 

Riker wants to play his trombone - excuse me, ‘BONE - he literally calls it a BONE - with a jazz trio in a Bourbon Street Bar, 1958. The holodeck is like, I got you:

That neon sign might be in all-caps Lucida Handwriting, sick

Then he asks for an audience:

This audience looks busted

What the hell are those waitresses wearing? Dirndls? Pirate wench outfits? And that guy in the red sweater sure looks pissed to be there. No wonder Riker asks for this audience to be removed and for something more intimate:

Hiiiiiiiiieeeeee

According to Riker, blondes and jazz don’t mix well, so he asks for something different:

Tawny Kitaen!?

jk, that’s not Tawny Kitaen. Her hair would indicate that she wishes she was, though. And holy shit, does this lady have a good grasp on sensually aggressive staring. Finally, we get what Riker likes: a pretty brunette woman:

Will Riker and Ron Swanson: Men of Taste

First off, girl looks good. But second off: THIS LOOK IS NOT 1958. That dress and that hair (or any of these holodeck beauties’ hair) are decidedly 1988. This is like if Marty McFly went back to the high school dance and Biff was wearing Air Jordans. To specify a year and then not tailor the clothing to that year is confusing. You can’t just go out to JC Penney and buy a prom dress, guys. However. She is working it out anyway. Rikes is astounded:

So confused with dem baby blues

He gives her the ol’ elevator eyes, starting at every straight man’s favorite thing, her shoes:

I was a Rockette once

The shoes are okay, but VERY matchy, and a little too “Mrs. Claus goes to Rio.” Also, check out those dance tights.

Ruche chill

Here’s where you can start to see WHY this dress does not belong in 1958. In 1958, you had two main skirt silhouettes: super-full, and super-narrow. This is sort of an in-betweenie. Both the full skirts, which would have been poufed up with crinolines underneath, and the narrow ones, which I think Minuet here would probably have been rocking for sex appeal reasons, would not have been made of whatever this gross synthetic fabric is. It’s too swishy and thin, and the skirt style doesn’t make sense. Not to mention that her boobs are all wrong. I mean, they’re great and nice - for 1988. In 1958 she would have been wearing some crazy underwear that made them less round and more pointy. 

Yes, you have seen me on Law and Order

And finally, her pretty face. I can’t quite put my finger on what it is here that’s serving me 1988 Dallas Realness instead of 1958 Liz Taylor Realness, but I think it’s the blush. That very severe line of blush is super-80s. And maybe the bangs, a little bit? Her jewelry is pretty great. And yes, I recognized her from Law and Order.

Her name is Minuet and she is here to show Riker a good time.

Buhhhhhhhhh

It seems like one of the nice things about the holodeck is that you don’t really need to work that hard to get what you want. Do you want to make out with this beautiful woman? Great, then just do that. But Will Riker likes a challenge. So he decides to seduce her anyway…through the magic of THE BONE.

THAT kind of bone

At least we know he’s got a good embouchure.

Also appearing with Riker are Combover Piano Guy:

Maybe I’m bald, maybe I’m not…WHO KNOWS

His tie looks like it could be really interesting, but all I can see are fuchsia moons and stars, like some sort of monochromatic Lucky Charms.

I am bald, but I am owning it

This guy, the drummer, is wearing what appears to be a silk and velour shirt. Dude knows how to get tactile.

I am not bald but hoo boy that would have been a better choice

The bass player, who appears to be taking style tips from one or more Little Rascals, appears to be married. Mrs. Bass Player, please tell your husband that his hair could be so much better. Such a waste of a bass player. Man, do I love bass players.

Will dazzles Minuet with his stunning boning technique and she asks him to dance. He seems really into it, which is weird, because we know Riker prefers equals, especially in matters of love, and a computer program can never be your equal. But still:

Bass Player, you perv

But just as things are starting to heat up - though the band is still in the room - they get BUSTED by Picard. Of course, he’s the cool cap, so he’s like “keep it up, kids, don’t let me bother you, if you’re going to drink I’d rather you do it here than drive home”:

Carry on boning, number one

But Minuet asks him to join them, which I will warn you right now will NOT lead to a threeway no matter how hard you wish it to. She speaks to JLP in French and is generally charming and they kick it for a bit. 

Not a threeway :( :( :(

But outside the holodeck, there is an antimatter containment breach. Data tries to reach Picard, can’t, and orders everyone off the ship. This means we get a lot of sweet background artist shots:

I SEE A SKANT BACK THERE

All three of these people, in these costumes, appeared in Episode 1.6, making me wonder whether they didn’t just reuse a shot from that episode. I remember that forest green thing, I remember that casual colorblock sweater, and I sure as heck remember that skant man. Efficiency!!

One Grecian Urn

What was Lavender Dress doing before this red alert got called? And what is her job on the Enterprise? There is no place for Grecian sandals here, young lady.

NO RUNNING

Here we have a nice robin’s-egg blue flowing top on a man, and some trompe l’oeil suspenders on a lady. Fuck you, gendered clothing!!!

I said no Grecian sandals!!

This is the reason they tell you not to wear heels on an airplane. What if you have to make a water landing and go down that slide and your stiletto punctures it and everyone dies because of your shoe choices? Grecian sandals are terrible for running during red alerts. I do like this tween’s color scheme, though, and her little brother’s tie-dye poncho is strangely inoffensive to me.

That’s barely a skant. More like a ska

Young lady, are you wearing that out of the house? That’s not a dress, that’s a shirt, and if you bend over, everyone will see your business!! Is that what you want? Oh, it is? Okay, carry on then. 

Also that little boy is wearing marbled leggings #notmadatit

BRAIDS

Are those UGGS, young man?!?!?!

The lady in the fuchsia with the grey over-tunic could learn some things about the following subjects: 

- silhouettes
- necklines
- hem lengths
- drapery
- overtunics having only one hem length at a time

The colors look nice on her though.

That’s just a blanket you put a belt around, friend

Bring me this space muumuu IMMEDIATELY

Oh, how I love this thing. I bet she and Grecian Sandal lady were having a pillow fight when the alarm sounded.

So everyone is off the ship - OR SO THE COMPUTER SAYS. It lies about Picard and Riker still being in the holodeck so just as Data is programming the ship to get far away from the starbase in case it explodes, everyone is like “OH SHIT THE CAPTAIN AND RIKER ARE STILL ON THERE” and reacts sort of like this:

This is where the pants-shitting REALLY starts

But then! The issue with the ship FIXES ITSELF and it WARPS AWAY and everyone is like WHAT THE FUCK.

Turns out that the Bynars fucked around with the ship and now it’s circling their planet, Bynaus. There’s a bunch of confusing pseudoscience that of course Picard and Riker figure out how to fix, but they have to tell the ship to self-destruct in order to make it work? Sure. They go pose in Engineering to do so:

Riker Lean

There’s a shot of the self-destruct countdown at 2:01, which is the title of the episode, but in decimal, not binary:

MEANINGFUL

And finally Picard and Riker are back on the bridge, where the little aliens are collapsed:

r u ded

They’re not dead, but the computer that keeps their species alive (?!?!?!) got knocked out by a supernova (?!?!?!?!) and all the code is now in the Enterprise’s computer (?!?!?!??!?!?!??!?!?!?!) 

So in order to save them, and the rest of their planet, Picard and Riker just have to find the file and put it back in their computer. Basically, their whole civilization was almost killed because they didn’t back up their data. GIRL, GET AN EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE.

But don’t worry, Picard and Riker figure it out and it’s fine.

Sorry we sort of kidnapped you

I like that they have almost the same outfit, but not exactly, like backup singers in a Jefferson Starship show choir routine.

Riker and Picard aren’t mad, just disappointed:

Really, guys?

Picard uses this opportunity to test his skills at the comm, and finds it’s just like riding a bike:

And all of her clothes come off!

This is my Facebook cover photo right now. You can call me peanut butter because I KNOW UR JELLY

There’s only one last loose end to wrap up, and that’s Riker and Minuet. She was really starting to intrigue him, and he never sealed the deal. So he heads back to the holodeck (it’s holodeck four, by the by) to find her:

Girl that is a WIG

But she’s gone forever, since she was programmed by the Bynars to distract him. She’s not real, Will! focus on someone who is! Like Deanna, who does not appear at all in this episode. COINCIDENCE???? YOU TELL ME.

p.s. trekcore.com, we love your screenshots, girl

BOSTON (AP) — The University of Massachusetts-Boston has announced plans to open an on-campus food pantry, not as part of a student service project, but to feed hungry students having trouble making ends meets.

Vice President Biden sounded skeptical Tuesday after he got a question at an online town hall hosted by Parents Magazine that once again led him to opine about the best gun to own in case of home invasion or social meltdown.

"Is this Parents Magazine?" Biden said. "I have Parents Magazine in my home. I've never heard anybody in Parents Magazine ask these kinds of questions."

The question that Biden was attributed by the moderator of the online town hall to someone named Kate Earnest:

"Do you believe that banning certain weapons and high capacity magazines will mean that law-abiding citizens will then become more of a target to criminals as we will have no way to sufficiently protect ourselves?"

Biden chuckled, expressed his doubts and urged as he has in the past for home defenders to arm themselves with shotguns. Biden said he's told his wife, Jill, to "fire two blasts outside" from one of the family's double-barrel shotguns should there be any signs of trouble. (As a practical matter, Biden's Secret Service detail would likely be on top of the situation.) Overall, the moment was indicative of the role Biden has been playing since he White House began selling its gun violence reduction package to the public. Biden can often be found talking up the guns he owns and his personal ties to the Second Amendment.

The question closely echoed a recent web video from the NRA that questioned the call for a limit on the capacity of magazines. It's a policy Biden and the White House supports. According to Parents Magazine, Biden's doubtful tone may be right. The person who asked it may not actually read Parents Magazine.

"We had multiple posts on our Facebook page calling for questions to be submitted," said Colleen Schwartz, spokesperson for Parents. "So every single question came from our Facebook page. And if you go back in the video, they were all attributed to whomever asked them."

Anyone who visited Parents Magazine's public Facebook page could post a question that might be read on the town hall. Schwartz said the question from Earnest was not a rare one.

"Having looked at our Facebook page, there are multiple questions about that," she said. Asked if she thought gun rights groups had made a concerted effort to takeover the forum, Schwartz said "not that I know of at all."

Biden may have been skeptical of the question, but Schwartz said the magazine was thrilled with the online town hall.

"I think everybody was thrilled," she said. "It's a huge opportunity to sit down with the Vice President and ask him basically any question that you want."

Hackney-based Studio Weave has constructed a network of listening pipes in a back courtyard of London's Great Ormond Street Hospital to create a secret factory of lullabies for children (+ slideshow).

The enclosed space was created by the construction of a new building at the historic children's hospital and will remain until its neighbour is eventually demolished. Studio Weave designed the installation to occupy the space in the interim and has named it the Lullaby Factory.

The architects were inspired by the messy pipes and drainage systems that already cover the surface of the brick walls. Instead of covering them up, they chose to add to them with a wide-spanning framework of pipes and horns.

"We have designed a fantasy landscape reaching 10 storeys in height and 32 metres in length, which can engage the imagination of everyone, from patients and parents to hospital staff, by providing an interesting and curious world to peer out onto," explain architects Je Ahn and Maria Smith.

Different types of metal create pipes of silver, gold and bronze, and some of the taps and gauges were recycled from a decommissioned hospital boilerhouse.

Sound artist Jessica Curry composed the soundtrack of lullabies, which are played out through each of the pipes. To listen in, patients and staff can place an ear over one of the listening pipes beside the canteen.

The music is also transmitted via a radio frequency, so patients on the wards can tune in too.

Studio Weave previously designed a set of pipes to amplify the sounds of the countryside. Other projects by the architects include a latticed timber hut on stilts and a 324-metre-long bench.

See more architecture by Studio Weave, including an interview we filmed with the architects at our Designed in Hackney day.

Here's a project description from Studio Weave:

Lullaby Factory, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children
Studio Weave with Structure Workshop, AB3 Workshops and Jessica Curry

Studio Weave has transformed an awkward exterior space landlocked by buildings into the Lullaby Factory – a secret world that cannot be seen except from inside the hospital and cannot be heard by the naked ear, only by tuning in to its radio frequency or from a few special listening pipes.

The multi-phased redevelopment of Great Ormond Street Hospital, in London's Bloomsbury area, means that the recently completed Morgan Stanley Clinical Building and the 1930s Southwood Building currently sit very close together. The latter is due to be demolished in 15 years, but in the intervening period large windows in the west elevation of the MSCB look directly onto a pipe-ridden brickwork facade, with the gap between the two less than one metre in places.

In our competition entry we proposed that the Southwood Building, with its oodles of mysterious pipes and plant is not really the Southwood Building, but the Lullaby Factory, manufacturing and releasing gentle, beautiful lullabies to create a calming and uplifting environment for the young patients to recover in.

Our aim for this project was to re-imagine the Southwood façade as the best version of itself, accepting and celebrating its qualities and oddities; and rather than hiding what is difficult, creating something unique and site specific.

We have designed a fantasy landscape reaching 10 storeys in height and 32 metres in length, which can engage the imagination of everyone, from patients and parents to hospital staff, by providing an interesting and curious world to peer out onto. Aesthetically the Lullaby Factory is a mix of an exciting and romantic vision of industry, and the highly crafted beauty and complexity of musical instruments.

The Lullaby Factory consists of two complimentary elements: the physical factory that appears to carry out the processes of making lullabies and the soundscape. Composer and sound artist Jessica Curry has composed a brand new lullaby especially for the project, which children can engage with through listening pipes next to the canteen or from the wards by tuning into a special radio station.

Our design is mindful of the fact that the space between the two buildings is very tight and any attempt to tidy it up too much would have resulted in significantly reducing the sense of space and the amount of daylight reaching inside the surrounding buildings.

Above: concept sketch

We hope the project will inspire engagement in a variety of ways from children's paintings to a resource for play specialists to a generator for future commissions.

Our design incorporates old tap and gauges reclaimed from a hospital boilerhouse that was in the process of being decommissioned.

The post Lullaby Factory by
Studio Weave appeared first on Dezeen.

via http://butdoesitfloat.com/

yohjihatesfashion:

word

Kirschwasser, vermouth and raspberry make a romantic combination.

(Still thirsty? See Liqurious)

Chuck is an awesome shelving concept by German designer Natascha Harra-Frischkorn. The flexible shelving unit is made from six 4mm thick planks of wood that can be adjusted to hold small collections of books and other objects in a beautiful organic shape. Really wish this was actually a thing. (via soft shock)

A Night’s Work (Shadowrun promo, 1990) (by Michael Ostrokol)

In a Facebook town hall hosted by Parents magazine, vice president Joe Biden responded to a woman concerned that bans on various weapons may make law-abiding citizens more susceptible to criminals with the following advice: “If you want to protect yourself, get a double-barreled shotgun.” “You don’t need an AR-15, it’s harder to aim, it’s harder to use,” he stressed.

Keep reading this post . . .

Photo courtesy of Algonquin Press

Wicked Plants and Wicked Bugs author Amy Stewart has crafted an artful and informative new book: The Drunken Botanist: The Plants That Create The World's Great Drinks. Due for release March 19, 2013 (but available in bookstores any day now), this personable volume offers history, anecdotes, advice and cocktail recipes, all revolving around plants used either to make booze or to flavor your favorite tipple.

Want to know more about the plants that go into tequila, sake, vermouth, beer or authentic tonic water? Or, if you're more plant-oriented: what drinks are composed with sugar cane, oak, rice, agave, barley, strawberry tree, sundew, monkey puzzle tree, violet, birch, cinnamon, grapefruit or hazelnut?

The Drunken Botanist addresses these plants, drinks and more in 160 jaunty yet meticulously-researched mini-essays on the plants that comprise your favorite boozy beverages.

A neat (no pun intended) part of the story of this book is that the idea was conceived in Portland, Oregon, when Stewart was visiting here a few years back. Gazing around a liquor store, she and a friend realized "there wasn't a bottle in the store that we couldn't assign a genus and species to." A few cocktails later, the outlines of the book took shape. A few years of painstaking research (and no doubt giddy drinking sprees) later, a book was born.

Photo courtesy of Amy Stewart

After her recent media book launch in Portland, I had a chance to quiz Amy about the fascinating process of researching her latest book...

KB: This sounds like a pretty fabulous job, traveling to distilleries, wineries, breweries, and cocktail bars with nothing to do but travel, drink, talk with interesting people, and then write about it. Artisinal distillers mail you bottles of their best booze, hoping you'll take a shine to it. So what's the downside to all this?

There is absolutely no downside to writing a book about booze and plants... It gave me access to a little bit of everything I love — amazing travel, interesting people, weird science, botanical history, and great bars and distilleries that I was obligated to visit for professional reasons.  The irony is that nobody mailed me free bottles of their best booze!  That only started after word about the book got out.

It's not a downside, exactly, but one thing about this book that might not be immediately obvious is the insane amount of research that went into it. It's meant to be sort of a lighthearted, gifty book — it has a beautiful design and really fun art and it's the kind of book that you can just pick up and put down... But in fact, I am a freak about research. If I read in someone else's book that a German chemist said something 150 years ago, I don't take their word for it — I track down the original source, in the original German, and hire a translator to give me a new translation of it. I tracked down the botanists who knew more about a plant than anyone else in the world, so I was on the phone with the world's leading experts in barley, grapes, apples, gentian root, whatever.

And the booze world is full of all kinds of crazy mythology about the origins of certain spirits. I fact-checked all of that stuff.  Sometimes I would spend days trying to prove or disprove some odd fact, only to find out that it wasn't true, which meant that I either wasn't going to include it in the book at all, or I would just have a line that said, "this is a popular myth about that plant, but in fact that's not true and this is what's true instead."  I spent six weeks on my chapter on agave, which is the first plant in the book, and I realized that if I kept going at that rate it would take me ten years to write this thing. So there were times when I had to cut my losses and move on.

Because we were trying to keep the book to 400 pages, I was unable to include an extensive bibliography and chapter notes. So I promised in the book that I would post that online.  I have a little over 300 sources here, which people can also find by going to DrunkenBotanist.com and doing a search for the word bibliography. [Ed. note: serious cocktail nerds should know there will likely be more research notes, organized by chapter, available on The Drunken Botanist website. Check back.]

KB: Any great or funny stories connected with the writing of the book?

All the best stories come from traveling around Europe and going to these distilleries that have been in operation for hundreds of years. I was so excited about going to the Chartreuse monastery to see them make Chartreuse. I knew it was a highly secretive recipe and that I wouldn't get to see much. I was used to that – a lot of distilleries operate that way. They let you see certain parts of the process, but not everything. The people who make Chartreuse brags that it contains 130 ingredients known only to a few monks.

But still, I was expecting to learn something. We got there and it turned out to be a very Disneyfied experience — a little movie to watch, exhibits to walk through, a huge (and wonderful) gift shop, and a tour through the distillery that was visually wonderful but didn't tell me much I couldn't have already guessed.

I had made an appointment to visit another distillery later that day a few hours away. This distillery also made a similar green and yellow herbal liqueur. It turns out that these liqueurs are very common across northern Spain, southern France, and Italy. Chartreuse is just one of many distilleries making liqueurs in that style. So we get to this other distillery, and because they are so much smaller and more off-the-beaten-path, they weren't nearly as concerned with keeping their secrets. We walked past a bin full of a mixture of dried herbs and spices, and the guy said, "those are our ingredients" and kind of laughed about it. I don't know if he thought I wouldn't be able to figure out what they were, but being a plant person, it was pretty easy to look into the bin and pick out lemon verbena, chamomile, etc. I snapped a picture and got a pretty good sense of what the ingredients were.

Among distillers, legends and secrecy are such a big part of their marketing strategy. It's kind of laughable in a way. I mean, it's obviously mostly bull----, but everyone plays along.

KB: Who were some of the most interesting characters you met while researching the book?

I have to say that the botanists were more interesting to me than the distillers. The distillers were all great, but they're kind of used to being public figures. They have a story to tell, and they get asked to tell it pretty often. But you strike up a conversation with the botanist who has devoted her life to studying the medical properties of gentian, or the guy in Scotland who is trying to breed a better strain of barley for whiskey, or the scientist at Cornell who is going around state-by-state to try to get the ban on black currant lifted (it was banned because it is a vector for white pine blister rust... but we have better science that argues in favor of lifting the ban) and persuade farmers to plant it and make cassis, or the woman at the University of Michigan who is an authority on cherry trees, or the people at the University of Minnesota who are figuring out how to make wine from native American grapevines and were finally able to explain to me why native grapevines make such poor wine – these are the people who were really interesting. They don't have a product to sell, so they're not out in front of the public as much as a distiller might be.  And they're really eager to talk about their work and get the word out, because they know it's important.

KB: Thanks, Amy! See you back in Portland at your reading at Powell's (Burnside location) on March 27, 2013 at 7:30 pm. (That reading includes a special appearance by House Spirits Distillery's Christian Krogstad, who will talk about the botanical nature of Aviation Gin.

* Post a comment in the comments field briefly describing the most memorable fermented drink you ever drank. Good, bad, foreign, local or just downright bizarre! Contest ends at midnight on Saturday February 23rd. I'll randomly pick one of the comments and our friends at Algonquin Press will send a copy of The Drunken Botanist to the winner! *

NOTE: Congratulations, Laura Lea - your name was randomly selected by a blindfolded person picking a random name out of hat (although, what a fabulous story - among many great stories!) Thanks to all for your contributions and Laura, please drop me a note asap so Algonquin can mail you a copy of your book!

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dsjodin writes "Last year, LotrProject brought us extraordinary statistics on the population of Middle-Earth. Now, they have released an interactive tool for analysis of the Silmarillion, the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings. With keyword frequency search, character mentions, sentiment analysis and network diagrams of character interactions it is a beautiful set of data visualizations and fascinating for fans and non-fans alike. The site can for example be used to find out that bacon is mentioned seven times in the Hobbit while only two times throughout the entire the Lord of the Rings."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

hadeniikuze:

fairy-wren:

Red Kite misjudges dive on a scrap of fallen meat only to be ambushed by a Canada Goose. 

(photos by Craig Sluman)

Oh my gods.

Just.

That FACE. XD

Reader was my favorite social network, hands down. I was incredibly sad to see it go. When I found out theoldreader.com existed, I was giddy all day.

I wrote the team to thank them (hello at theoldreader dot com) and to also trouble shoot a bug. They were incredibly kind and prompt in response. After they fixed the glitch my massive address book was causing, I asked the following:

Next dreams:
What are privacy settings? Can only people I follow see my posts, only the friends of people I post comments to see those comments?
Multi-shares in same social network list people who shared rather than showing the post repeatedly.
But these are again, dreams, not issues.
Are we going to be able to pay the team a nominal amount to keep the project going? I would like to be able to support a group to do continued support rather than having this thing we all love die again.

Their response:

As per our privacy policy, all shared posts are currently public. We do have ‘private accounts’ feature in our roadmap that will allow users to expose their shared items only to a limited number of accounts they choose. However, this has very low priority for us; most users only read public RSS feeds that are available to everyone in the first place, so hiding them makes little sense. We have discussed the mechanics of multi-sharing before and decided to stick to the current implementation to avoid mixing comments to two different shares into a single thread. Sometimes people discuss not the shared article itself, but rather the sharer’s comment to it – so, each shared post becomes unique in a way and deserves a separate comment thread. At the moment The Old Reader is not backed up by any company, and we are still looking for the best way to allow our users to support the project. We will definitely update our blog when we decide on something, so make sure you are subscribed to it

Here is what I have sent them. I hope you’ll join me in politely, lovingly, requesting the same. I would also like you to be willing to throw in to support the team if that is the route they go.

I’d like to lobby that privacy get moved up the list. A few reasons, personal, individual, and communal. First, I work in humanitarian and disaster response, with volunteer technical communities and military alike. I also have an incredibly dark sense of humor. The people I work with tend to check out who I am and what I like – having another public space on which to express myself doesn’t really allow me to express myself. Those same working conditions also make it incredibly important that I be able to have a safe space to talk and connect.
On an individual level, I saw friends discover themselves because Reader was a safe space. Things like gender, sexuality, and approach in life are not things which can be held without care. People with very public lives have been able to go through self-discovery with a small group of trusted friends.
And finally, communal – while with privacy my own shares are only to those who I have approved, my comments on a friend’s share are visible to their friends. *This is essential* – there is at least one pairing from our previous ShareBro network which happened because of this serendipity in safe space. They are now married.

As it is now, it’s more like a Tumblr than it is like Reader. I hope you’ll institute the privacy and sharing layers sooner rather than later. Again, I’m happy to contribute what I can towards this being a sustainable effort.

All my best, and thanks again,

Willow

In a deal last year, Criterion movies went from one paid online service to another (Netflix to Hulu Plus).

However from now through Monday February 18th, all Criterion movies are free on Hulu for anyone in the US. No sign-up or log-in required.

Some recommendations: Yojimbo, Schizopolis, Hoop Dreams, and Zazie dans le métro.

Update: The free weekend has ended and most Criterion movies are back behind the Hulu Plus paywall but there are still a handful of Criterion movies available to watch for free on regular-Hulu including Hoop Dreams as well as Zatoichi, Quadrophenia, and The Long Voyage Home

Tags: Criterion Collection   Hulu   movies

Artist and urban planner Neil Freeman created this imaginary map of the United States which is divided into 50 states of equal populations (roughly 6 million people per state). In this scheme, California is divided amongst 9 states, while New York City becomes its own state. The map is Freeman’s commentary on the Electoral College system:

The fundamental problem of the electoral college is that the states of the United States are too disparate in size and influence. The largest state is 66 times as populous as the smallest and has 18 times as many electoral votes. This allows for Electoral College results that don’t match the popular vote. To remedy this issue, the Electoral Reform Map redivides the fifty United States into 50 states of equal population.

via Talking Points Memo

“To the victor goes the pour.”

“The Last Barfighter” is a “beercade” arcade video game machine developed by employees of Durham-based ad agency McKinney for Ten Percent, a program where they can “spend 10 percent of their time to come up with innovative projects of their own.” The game itself is a take on the fighting game, Street Fighter, but is notably different because when you beat your opponent, you receive a beer that is poured from the machine itself. It was commissioned by Raleigh beer company Big Boss Brewery.

What’s more memorable: sampling a beer poured by a bartender, beer rep or festival worker, or sampling a beer poured from a video arcade machine after you defeat your pathetic opponent in a game called “The Last Barfighter”? Everything about the Big Boss Brewery Beercade was handcrafted in-house at McKinney — from the classic arcade-inspired frame construction to the typographical styling and illustrations to the video game itself. It takes beer trial from forgettable smell-and-sip to memorable gloat-and-guzzle.

via Digiday, CNET, OhGizmo!, Incredible Things

Down for the Count is an informative chart illustrated by Los Angeles-based designer Philip Rhie for Vanity Fair. It shows the approximate amount of deaths that occur in films directed by Quentin Tarantino.

From Reservoir Dogs all the way to Django Unchained, the ratio of director Quentin Tarantino’s body count to body of work.

*A few numbers are approximated due to the impossibility of counting precisely how many ninjas are decapitated in Kill Bill Vol. 1, how many Nazis are in the theater when it gets set afire in Inglorious Basterds, and how many people fall in the never-ending shoot-out scene at the end of Django Unchained.

image via Vanity Fair

via I Love Charts

The Lure of the Underground

Hugh Pickens writes "Ariel Schwartz reports that researchers are working on an alcoholism vaccine that makes alcohol intolerable to anyone who drinks it. The vaccine builds on what happens naturally in certain people — about 20% of the Japanese, Chinese, and Korean population — with an alcohol intolerance mutation. Normally, the liver breaks down alcohol into an enzyme that's transformed into the compound acetaldehyde (responsible for that nasty hangover feeling), which in turn is degraded into another enzyme. The acetaldehyde doesn't usually have time to build up before it's broken down. But people with the alcohol intolerance mutation lack the ability to produce that second enzyme; acetaldehyde accumulates, and they feel terrible. Dr. Juan Asenjo and his colleagues have come up with a way to stop the synthesis of that second enzyme via a vaccine, mimicking the mutation that sometimes happens naturally. 'People have this mutation all over the world. It's like how some people can't drink milk,' says Asenjo. Addressing the physiological part of alcohol addiction is just one piece of the battle. Addictive tendencies could very well manifest in other ways; instead of alcohol, perhaps former addicts will move on to cigarettes. Asenjo admits as much: 'Addiction is a psychological disease, a social disease. Obviously this is only the biological part of it.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

The day after President Barack Obama gave the State of the Union, ComScore, a digital analytics firm, released what might be called a “State of the American Internet” report. Here are some of its more surprising findings:

• The search market is showing signs of maturity, as core content searches declined for the first time in history, falling 3% last year. Even though more people are using search functions—4% more than in 2011—they are making 7% fewer searches per person. One reason for this, says ComScore, is that people are increasingly heading to specific locations to conduct searches—sites like Amazon, eBay or Facebook, or Whitepages.com. Of all leading search engines, Microsoft’s Bing was the only whose per-person search volume actually increased. But Google still dominates: It’s responsible for two-thirds of all web searches.

The number of core searches declined on the whole, even as more people searched the web. ComScore

• Only three social networks gained more unique visitors in 2012 than Twitter or LinkedIn. And they all focused on visual content:

Net user growth ComScore Net user growth ComScore

• While e-commerce spending rose 13%, digital content and subscriptions grew the most. Purchases of things like Amazon movie downloads and Netflix or Spotify subscriptions were the fastest-growing e-commerce product category, at 26%.

• But mobile-based e-commerce—”m-commerce”?—is stealing increasingly bigger slices of the pie. Mobile e-commerce now accounts for 11% of all online commerce. A chunk of that is due to the increase of “showrooming,” where in-store shoppers use mobile devices to compare brick-and-mortar prices with online options, often purchasing the product online.

Mobile commerce growth rates (as a portion of total e-commerce activity) ComScore

• Traffic to the top 25 digital media properties grew by an average of 29%—and that was largely thanks to users on mobile channels:

The top 25 US digital properties, and their mobile-accelerated growth rates. ComScore

In 2010, for an installation in a forested area at the Jardin de la Connaissance in Quebec, artist Rodney LaTourelle and landscape architect Thilo Folkerts of 100 Landschaftsarchitektur collaborated to create Garden of Cognition, a temporary garden space using … Read More...

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Santo Twitter! Santa época para se viver! Abaixo, os melhores tweets de uma semana que começou com bundas deformadas na avenida, um Jack White de Halloween, um Justin Bieber brigando com o Black Keys, um Papa renunciando no meio do Carnaval e terminou com – apenas – um meteoro caindo na Rússia. Nada mais importa. ~Daora~ a vida.

@ambaggio No episódio de hoje no twitter: meteoros

@_kaliep ACORDEI MINHA MAE GRITANDO E DANDO TAPA NELA ”’METEOROS CAINDO NA TERRA E VC AI DORMINDO MULHER ONDE VC ESTA COM A A CABEÇAAAA”

@raulramone O primeiro tuíte do dia é um GIF que mostra a queda do meteorito na Rússia http://tinyurl.com/adavubz

@bomsenhor Alguém por favor acorde o Bruce Willis e peça pra ele ficar de prontidão

@revistaclaudio Imagens exclusivas rs http://tinyurl.com/bcof63k

@tatato Imagina as possibilidades desse meteorito: adamantium, vibranium, kryptonita, um simbionte ou até um bebê.

@donafernanda Como caiu depois do valentine’s day, cientistas descartaram a hipótese de este ser o meteoro da paixão

@elgroucho Se isso fosse nos anos 90 rolaria um axé chamado dança do meteoro

@marcusdejean Ai quando eles vai ver nos destroço encontra um corpo de batina e uns balaozinho do lado

@chicobarney Qualquer avião aqui em Moema eu já acho que é meteorito russo

@oraporra Quando tem trovao aqui no bairro eu faço um falsete subindo 3 oitavas de tanto susto!!!!

@peppygingerale O temporal em SP causou mais estragos do que esse meteorito na Rússia.

@Eddiemasses O meteoro se tornará um assunto tão predominante em redes sociais que astrônomos o batizarão de memeteoro.

@elgroucho E esse foi mais um giro meteorológico

@tiposdepedante Pedante brasileiro que comemorou o ano novo chinês

@marcusdejean To fera na aula de chines autodidata 1 semana de estudo e ja sei ate falar eu água mulher tenho 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 você dragão amor

@eaimauricio Comecei dieta há 2h e já tô morrendo

@andrebrandt Desliguei o video-game pra assistir Girls. Sorte que acordei cedo hoje e matei um alce com meu rifle senão já ia ficar preocupado.

@sylcs_ Radiohead em São Luiz do Paraitinga, a prova: pic.twitter.com/c7QahkCI

@nananeri Após 3 meses em clínica, ‘mendigo gato’ coleciona presentes de fãs – http://goo.gl/cdmXL

@davidbutter “Hoje fui ao Habibs tomar sorvete!”: assim começa uma queixa de um consumidor no Facebook. Bem, amigo, bem feito

@oimperador Ganso ta jogando com a vontade de um namorado em uma loja de sapatos.

@rilaws Jack White liked his Clea DuVall costume so much he’s been wearing it since Halloween.

@djmulher Jack white, uma mistura de michael jackson com fernanda young

@greggutfeld You’d think Jack White, at this point, could afford a simple comb.

@flaviadurante Beth Guzzo no Grammy!!! pic.twitter.com/03AIpvir

@themodernageorg Johnny Depp and Jack White are both at the Grammys. Wanna bet they get mistaken for one another at least a billion times tonight?

@quartopiso O mestre-sala da Salgueiro tá com um paletó mais legal que 90% dos boys do Grammy.

@justinbieber The black keys drummer should be slapped around haha

@jose_simao Puxador de escola de samba pensa q a gente é surdo:”Portela, o dia clareou. CLA-RE-OU!”. Lá vou eu! E LÁ VO-U EU!

@Serjones Daniela Mercury flagrada aos beijos com assessora. Essa mulher é capaz de tudo para ser reconhecida como cantora de MPB e não de axé music

@OGlobo_Rio 50 amigos se reúnem e saem de “50 tons de cinza” no carnaval! http://migre.me/ddZ0t

@fransuel NO CARNAVAL ESCUTEI TANTA MUSICA RUIM QUE MINHA MENTE TA QUASE FAZENDO SEGUNDA VOZ DE DUPLA SERTANEJA

@alechandracomix Voltei do trabalho 23h fui presentiada por meio quarteirao de um bloco de homens de piru arriado mijando em arvores casas portoes carros etc

@marvio Saudades da genitália desnuda. Olha o que somos obrigados a ver no Carnaval de hoje em dia… http://tinyurl.com/cgsakbq

RealMorte Já estou com a lista de nomes dos juízes da apuração de São Paulo aqui. Só depende de vocês…

@marcusdejean Mancha verde caiu e olha que carnaval de sp já é mei segunda divisão né kkkk

@yadayadayada a Mancha Verde caiu? caralho, que fase. agora vão trocar a rainha da bateria por cinco baianas. e uma delas vai recusar.

@flaviogomes69 Caraca, a Mancha caiu. Isso sim é solidariedade de uma torcida a um time.

@gloriafperez Sósia do Papa Bento XVI faz sucesso no carnaval de rua do Rio de Janeiro http://tinyurl.com/d2c6e57

@JornalOGlobo Fantasias de Bento XVI tomam conta do carnaval de rua do Rio. http://glo.bo/VQ3UY0

@izadorapimenta Melhor história do carnaval: a saga de naldo para encontrar will smith http://tinyurl.com/c8y4a7h …

@screamyell 30 imagens que você não precisava ter visto do carnaval… http://tinyurl.com/a2a3krj

@cvazmarques Está explicado, finalmente, o que levou o Papa a abdicar pic.twitter.com/wGyOLko8

@djmulher Vatileaks: agora até o papa vazou

@Xauvinista Notaram que o Papa Bento XVI renunciou pouco tempo depois que entrou no Twitter? Isso aqui faz qualquer um perder a esperança na humanidade

@lucaspfvr Fazendo curso no senai para ser papa

@nestux Vaticano’s Next top Papa.

@StevenErtelt Seeing some funny tweets. So you know, “Viva La Papa” means long live the potato. “Viva El Papa” means long live the Pope.

@relaxei Tomara que o próximo papa seja contra quem curte o próprio status no Facebook

@caiobudell Tomara que o próximo papa seja a favor do casamento entre o homem e a comida

@GuyFranco Baixando toda a discografia do papa.

@cajademonstruos PAPA DONT QUIT!

@discolataerkegi Losing my religion – Papa

@camilorocha O Papa é flop…

@KinKa1111 DARTH PAPA pic.twitter.com/7xhlgt8I

@SoyTuCharlie Error 404: Papa not found.

@estrupixel PRIMEIRAS IMGS DA DEMISSÃO DO PAPA!! pic.twitter.com/frkjUPj2

@viniciusduarte AHA UHU O VATICANO É NOSSO! –> RT @Estadao: Próximo papa pode ser brasileiro, afirma secretário da CNBB: ‘Brasil tem chances’

@leogodoy Com qual outro evento histórico que não acontece há seis séculos nossa geração será agraciada agora?

@marcioguilherme Ontem ouvi o argumento definitivo sobre a superioridade de João Paulo II em relação a Bento XVI: JPII imitava melhor o sotaque gaúcho.

@iavelar Zero Hora consegue fazer uma matéria sobre a renúncia do Pontifex em q a primeira palavra é… GAÚCHO! http://bit.ly/UYxAay

@riqfreire De agora em diante: “é como ir a Roma e não ver o Papa renunciar”

@leoeoleo “Bento xvi faz primeira aparição após renuncia” e já imagino ele de berma, camiseta da abercrombie, boné da fubu

@AndreFerrazBR Eu imagino ele aparecendo em uma torrada como Jesus costuma fazer.

@RealMorte Papa bom é Papa que morre no cargo. Bento 16 é um amarelão! #prontofalei

@MeredithBlake “Popes don’t quit! God has a way of telling popes when to retire. It’s called death.” –Stephen Colbert

@_INRICRISTO Meus filhos, muitos estão dizendo na mídia que eu deveria assumir o lugar de outrem, mas eu já vim do Pai com um mandato irreversível.

@sergueirock Não me interessa o cargo de papa. Mas papar vcs sim, numa boa, sem grilos.

@dexter_ Ouvi dizer que o ronaldo está trazendo o papa para o corinthians

@brunafeia Se o papa que passa o dia de boua de vestido e tomando vinho tá desempregado, imagina a gente

@GTMacalossi Querem um Papa liberal que seja a favor do uso de camisinha, faça uma crítica histórica a Cristo e passe a fazer a hóstia em pão integral.

@Lucasof Marca-papasso

@marvio Quando sai o Guia Placar do conclave?

@sorryperiferia PETIÇÃO DO FACEBOOK PRA TIRAR O RENAN CALHEIROS DO CONCLAVE DO PAPA REPASSEM

@revistapiaui Renúncia do Papa provoca ressurreição de Humberto Gessinger http://goo.gl/ej8nw

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Paperman Cosplay