Russian Sledges

Each year, executives at every television network except one face the same dilemma: what to air during the Super Bowl? Before 2005, Animal Planet usually punted, airing nature documentaries that no one was expected to watch. But Melinda Toporoff, an executive producer, wanted to compete. “I was inspired by . . .

A history of the Hollywood publicity racket.

Anne Helen Petersen | VQR | Jan 2013 [Full Story]

During the time of his ‘spiritual awakening’ in 1744 the scientist and philosopher Emanuel Swedenborg kept a dream diary. Richard Lines looks at how, among the heavenly visions, there were also erotic dreams, the significance of which has been long overlooked. Among the many works of the eighteenth-century Swedish scientist, philosopher, religious teacher and visionary Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772) his private Drömbok (variously translated into English as Journal of Dreams or Dream Diary) has attracted and continues to attract special attention. Unlike the works he published in his lifetime, or intended to publish, which were all written in Latin, the Journal of Dreams was, in the words of a present-day Swedish Swedenborg scholar, written in ‘rather crude but expressive Swedish’ (Jonsson, 16). It has been described as a ‘difficult and obscure notebook’ (Jonsson, 130) which ‘reflects a profound psychical crisis’ (Jonsson, 150). The Journal covers a period from July 1743 until October 1744, a time when Swedenborg was going through a transition from life as a scientist and mining engineer to one as a ‘revelator’ and seer. As he was to put it himself: I for my part… had never expected to come into that state in which I am now; [...]

Digital artist Paolo Čerić is currently studying information processing at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing in Croatia where his experiments with processing and digital art have resulted in a steady stream of fascinating animations which he publishes on his blog Patakk. Čerić tells me that he began about two years ago knowing very little about digital art or animation, but was fascinated watching other coders create art with code. For a while he simply tried to mimic other animations he’d seen, but lately has truly developed his own personal style that varies from pulsating geometric patterns to glitch art and everything in between.

Sir Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the web, is credited with making hyperlinks blue, a decision he appears to have reached at random. But although accessibility may not have been on Sir Tim’s mind at the time, the color choice was a happy one, according to Joe Clark:

Red and green are the colours most affected by colour-vision deficiency.  Almost no one has a blue deficiency. Accordingly, nearly everyone can see blue, or, more accurately, almost everyone can distinguish blue as a colour different from others. It was pure good luck that the default colour of hyperlinks is blue with underlining.

These little fellows are called Saw-Whet Owls, at the University of Minnesota Raptor Center’s clinic. The clinic nurses ‘em back to health when they have medical needs.

Rachel G. spotted this on The Animal Blog.

Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: owls

bohemea:

Tilda Swinton - Vogue UK by Corinne Day, December 2005

Me on the phone: Yeah I’m going to be late to work today.

Supervisor: Why?

Me: There’s a cat gang bang happening on top of my car.

Supervisor: (silence)

Supervisor: Well can’t you break it up?

Me: Who am I to break up a cat gang bang? They’ve probably been organizing it for days on Craigslist.

Supervisor: Good point. See you when you get here.

Melissa Gira Grant tears into it:

In Louisiana some women arrested for prostitution have been charged under a 200-year-old statute prohibiting "crimes against nature." Those charged—disproportionately black women and transgender women—end up on the state sex-offender registry. In Texas a third prostitution arrest counts as an automatic felony. Women’s prisons are so overloaded that the state is rethinking the law to cut costs. In Chicago police post mug shots of all those arrested for solicitation online, a shaming campaign intended to target men who buy sex. But researchers at DePaul University found that 10 percent of the photos are of trans women who were wrongly gendered as men by cops and arrested as "johns." A prostitution charge will haunt these women throughout the interlocking bureaucracies of their lives: filling out job applications, signing kids up for day care, renting apartments, qualifying for loans, requesting passports or visas.

She explains how "demanding cops protect women by 'going after the johns'" also doesn’t seem to have worked:

A 2012 examination of prostitution-related felonies in Chicago conducted by the Chicago Reporter revealed that of 1,266 convictions during the past four years, 97 percent of the charges were made against sex workers, with a 68 percent increase between 2008 and 2011. This is during the same years that CAASE lobbied for the Illinois Safe Children Act, meant to end the arrest of who the bill describes as "prostituted persons" and to instead target "traffickers" and buyers through wiretaps and stings. Since the Act’s passage in 2010, only three buyers have been charged with a felony.

(Photo: A man stops to talk to a female police officer posing as a prostitute on Holt Boulevard - known to sex workers throughout southern California as 'the track' - during a major prostitution sting operation on November 12, 2004 in Pomona. Approximately 60 to 80 men are arrested each night during the sting operations. Cars driven by the arrested men are seized and become city property until a $1000 fine is paid. Each vehicle is then labeled with a large window sticker stating that the car was "seized for solicitation of prostitution" and the photos of the men appear in a full-page ad in the local newspaper. By David McNew/Getty Images)

James Hamblin summarizes forthcoming research from the London Sleep Centre and the University of Toronto:

They describe, among other effects of alcohol on sleep, that as we drink more, we get less REM sleep early in the night. That means less dreaming. You're just sort of hurtled into this conscious-less void.  Instead of REM, that time is spent in deeper sleep phases -- which they say, interestingly, increases our likelihood of snoring. (Snoring can of course destroy relationships between entirely reasonable people.) And we don't even get the benefit from that extra deep sleep, because once the alcohol wears off, those deep sleep phases are so disrupted that the net overall effect is a less restorative night. 

Then, alone and tired and dream-deprived, we take solace in ... more cognac?

I was wondering if I could take you out to dinner in the North End sometime soon??...

In a few short months, the vice president has somehow achieved cult status.

Here's a fascinating look at the history of sex and computer graphics: a massive, critical Air Force military system was retasked (often) to render a pinup girl cribbed from a 1956 calendar. This was allegedly a "diagnostic" program, but it was often run to alleviate the boredom of waiting for nuclear annihilation:

Among this very serious business of detecting incoming nuclear threats, someone decided to commandeer the AN/FSQ-7's computing power and graphical display for something a little more fun. Using a console and one of the two SAGE computers, an enterprising programmer created a graphical interpretation of a pin-up style woman that rendered as line segments on the SD's 19-inch screen. In doing so, the pin-up's programmer created the world's earliest known figurative computer art, and quite possibly the first image of a human being on a computer screen.

In early 1959, 21-year-old Airman First Class Lawrence A. Tipton snapped the only known photo of this pin-up program in action at Ft. Lee. The photo shows the tube of an SD console displaying the outline of woman with her arms held high, cradling her head while emphasizing her bosom. She reclines awkwardly, her legs splayed apart in an uncomfortable but provocative pose that smacks of mid-century pin-up art.

"One day I decided to take pictures for posterity's sake," recalls Tipton, "And those two Polaroids are the only ones that made it out of the building." The other Polaroid is a self-portrait of Tipton himself sitting in front of the AN/FSQ-7's Duplex Maintenance Console. "We used the Polaroid cameras to take pictures of anomaly conditions. When the computers would malfunction, you'd take pictures of those main consoles to diagnose the conditions."

The Never-Before-Told Story of the World's First Computer Art (It's a Sexy Dame) [Benj Edwards/The Atlantic]

(via Beyond the Beyond)

catchesthelight posted a photo:

I have some photos to share of old arcade games from Fun Spot in NH, so I thought since I just shared my daughter's photos (taken for me) of Delaware, OH, she also had these old arcade game photos she took when in San Francisco recently, so .... (I worked on each image for contrast, re-sizing, etc. whatever needed at Photoshop 6.0)

To the BBW on the C-line. The nice quiet little man that enjoyed gazing into your eyes will be looking for you tomorrow.

On Monday of last week we began to tell the world about Oxo’s replication of our community’s ‘Broom Groomer’ Concept. Coverage can be found here.

On Friday, Oxo Responded. That can be found here.

——-

On Oxo’s Response:

Every day, thousands of legal notices are batted back and forth between companies around the world. Never do consumers (nor creatives) get to understand the full story behind what goes on.

We believe Quirky’s place in the universe is not just to deliver product, but to educate the world on what it takes to do so, and be successful in the long-term. This includes being very transparent about what goes on behind the four walls of our office.

Last week we took deliberate steps to change the way these types of squabbles are handled. A simple, low-trafficked blog post prompted a publicly traded company to respond quite loudly to our claims.

We can’t think of a time in recent history that a group so small has been taken so seriously by a company so big.

We view this as a huge step. It shows how carefully traditional consumer product brands are tracking the Quirky movement and our progress in disrupting the way the world of product design and development operates.

We are very proud of the public way we initiated this conversation, and remain very confident in the plans we have to provide justice to Bill Ward and our community of inventors.

On Our First Step:

Immediately upon learning of their upright sweep set, on November 26th of last year, Quirky’s CEO sent an email to  Alex Lee (Oxo’s CEO) inquiring about the item.

Alex did not respond, but curiously Quirky HQ’s IP was soon blocked from accessing the oxo.com website the very next day.

We viewed their actions as self-explanatory, and only after this point did we begin to make plans to act publicly.

On Intellectual Property:

Oxo’s colorful observations about Quirky’s approach to traditional intellectual property, including patents, are filled with misunderstandings about our process and intellectual property law.

Our true beliefs (and policies) are well depicted here: http://www.quirky.com/about/ip

On the 1919 Patent:

We didn’t bring patents into this conversation, Oxo did. We don’t feel a need to discuss whether Broom Groomer is patentable, because that distracts from what Oxo has actually done.

Oxo did not copy a 1919 patent when designing their dustpan… They cavalierly copied our product and are using an old patent (and the world’s general lack of understanding of intellectual property laws) to distract from the true conversation.

Oxo is best known for bringing ergonomics to peelers and other kitchen gadgets. This is a concept they pioneered in the same way Bill Ward and Quirky pioneered a dustpan that cleans your broom.

The concept of ergonomic peelers was not at all new when Oxo began doing business. Not surprisingly, a perusal of issued patents pre-dating Oxo’s existence turns up several patents resembling the form and function of Oxo’s widely recognized peeler.

Yet, if you walked into a store and saw a potato peeler with a giant black rubber grip – you’d probably say “that’s an Oxo ripoff.” This is basic consumer behavior. They get credit for pioneering a concept and making it viable in mass -  not for being the first to patent. We think this is fair.

Therefore, we believe it’s very important for the market to know who brought the concept of a commercially viable grooming dustpan to market.

We will not stand by quietly as Oxo attempts to use its larger size and resources to crowd out Quirky from building upon the intellectual capital it has worked so hard to establish.

It’s widely known that Oxo’s product development process (which leverages Smart Design, and other 3rd party design firms) takes about two years (almost exactly as long as our product has been available). Not 3/4 of a century. We don’t chalk this timing up to coincidence.

On The Path Forward:

Our objective here is to protect the interests of our creative community who entrust us with their intellectual capital.

Oxo’s objective is protecting their reputation by discrediting us and distracting from the true conversation around their actions.

We do not plan on further engaging in a tit for tat open letter writing campaign. We will continue to let our unique business model, innovative products, and the inventive way we go about protecting both of those things do the talking.

buzzfeed:

The art of the perfect restaurant sign.

Check out this weird timeline of book covers, showing which colors dominated on their Penguin book covers over the years. It looks like War of the Worlds had a long yellow period, while Journey to the Center of the Earth was cream-colored for decades. Penguin had artist Arthur Buxton create this graphic to honor Jules Verne's 185th birthday on Feb. 8. Click to make much bigger. [via PopSci] More »

Contrary to popular belief, science denialism is not confined to the political right. Over at Scientific American, Michael Shermer expounds on the harsh reality of the "Liberal War on Science": More »

theparisreview:

“Ryūkō eigo zukushi,” (translation, “A fashionable melange of English words”) a Japanese woodcut by Kamekichi Tsunajima to illustrate images of animals, activities, and objects each with their Japanese and English names. Via the Public Domain Review.

NEW YORK—For the first time in its nine-year history, Animal Planet’s annual Puppy Bowl will feature a coaching matchup between puppies from the same litter, with two 14-week-old Bernese Mountain Dog brothers calling the plays for Puppy Bowl I...

Two films that premiered in Park City, Utah, this week take a critical look at an emerging villain of our time: Google and its insatiable hunger for our data.

Judging by its trailer, Sundance’s “Google and the World Brain” is a documentary with thriller music that depicts the vast and sinister ambitions of Google’s book-scanning efforts.

As one professor/librarian/expert dude puts it in the trailer, “The Google book-scanning project is clearly the most ambitious, swell-brained scheme that has ever been invented.”

Here’s the Hollywood Reporter’s review from Sundance.

Meanwhile, a film about the perils of online data collection called “Terms and Conditions May Apply” premiered at Slamdance, an independent film festival adjacent to Sundance, this week.

As Casey Newton’s CNET piece puts it, “The film provides special scrutiny of Google, and argues that the company bowed to advertiser pressure by removing language from its privacy policy promising users anonymity unless they willingly gave it up.”

You can view the TACMA Preview from Hyrax Films Private on Vimeo.

At a surface glance, at least, the films have a lot in common: They take a possibly valid but very negative slant on interesting issues; Google didn’t agree to participate in either movie, and they both feature shots of the company’s employees milling about its central courtyard in Mountain View.

I’ll leave you with the words of international privacy expert Moby (the same guy who wants to take you to the south side), via the TACMA trailer:

“Anything that’s been digitized is not private, and that is terrifying.”

Please raise a glass this evening when you bring your textbooks to the bar.

I love me some aristocratic drama. The wildly popular Downton Abbey, which airs Sunday nights on PBS here in the States, follows a rich family and the many servants who live in the titular mansion.

The show overflows with romance, backstabbing, and intrigue, so it’s the perfect material for an SNES game … right?

As first reported by Tiny Cartridge, chiptune musical artist Bill Kiley went ahead and showed the world what Downton Abbey on the SNES would look like:

Kiley re-created the beloved Downton Abbey theme music in the style of SNES 16-bit music. He released the video to help promote his new musical arrangement, which he is selling on Bandcamp.com under a name-your-own-price model.

I have to say that Kiley did an excellent job capturing what the essence of Downton Abbey as a Super Nintendo game.

My favorite part? Matthew Crawley’s unreliable bowels, of course.

Filed under: Games

TouchArcade notes the appearance of an arcade game called Gridlee in the App Store.

Gridlee is a 1983 arcade game that was never officially released, but the code was later released for free for non-commercial usage in 2001. The App Store app uses MAME 0.139u1 (MAME4iOS) to provide the emulation engine for the game. MAME is a popular arcade machine emulator that will run thousands of arcade games if you have the original ROMs.

When launching the free app, users are greeted with the Gridlee game. TouchArcade readers, however, quickly noticed that additional ROMs could be copied into the App's ROM directory (without jailbreaking), revealing the fully functional MAME emulator.

When word of this hit our forums, readers were quick to pull out iExplore and begin digging about the app's directory structure looking for a ROM folder. Well, it's in there, and sure enough, if one copies other MAME ROMs into that folder, the Gridlee app starts up with the standard MAME4iOS ROM listing, allowing for a great many games beyond just Gridlee to be played on the iPhone or iPad in this Universal app.

The story is similar to the iMAME Emulator that was released into the App Store in December, 2011. Apple quickly pulled that app a few days after its release. While a number of individual emulators do exist on the App Store, Apple has been more restrictive about these open emulators, presumably due to potential legal issues.

Gridlee is a free download on the App Store. [Direct Link]

We're upgrading! We need to add digital projection and a new HVAC system—to keep it cool and to bring you the best films around!

In light of the recent news reports which appear to be evolving from an original report from the Birmingham Mail story, DWO decided to put together a definitive guide to the 50th Anniversary Doctor Who special, separating fact from fiction, and getting down to the original sources of some of the recent rumours.

What are the rumours?

According to the Birmingham Mail report, all 11 Doctors are set to feature in the 50th Anniversary special. Christopher Eccleston is said to be reconsidering his earlier decision not to take part.

David Tennant, interviewed on a radio show, claimed that he had yet to be invited – but gave the presenter a knowing wink, thus hinting at his possible involvement in the special.

DWO contacted Paul Cole; the writer of the article in question who had the following to say:

"The article in question was a speculative piece based on all the available information, recent interviews with the five Doctors taking part in the 50th anniversary audiobook, comments made by Eccleston. I would be amazed if the 11 doctors are not featured in some form, be it surviving actors, film footage, storyline, plot device or online."

What is the likelihood of past Doctor's returning for the Anniversary special?

This is a difficult question to answer without adding our own flame to the fire surrounding the rumours, but going on what the BBC have done for previous anniversary specials, it would be odd if at least one past Doctor didn't turn up.

- 10th anniversary special was titled 'The Three Doctors' and featured all 3 incarnations of The Doctor.
- 20th anniversary special was titled 'The Five Doctors' and featured all 5 incarnations of The Doctor.
- 30th anniversary featured a short two-part adventure titled 'Dimensions in Time' as part of Children in Need and included performances from 5 of the surviving Doctors (3-7).

All of the surviving actors who have played The Doctor have been asked questions from press and fans regarding their involvement in the 2013 Doctor Who Anniversary special. Here are some of their responses and the original sources:

Tom Baker (The 4th Doctor) - speaking at Collectormania 18 - (June 2012)

"I think if they ask me nicely or I can see what they want me to do, I'd consider it. I think the fans have been so good to me, they'd expect me to at least make an appearance."

Peter Davison (The 5th Doctor) - speaking at New York Comic Con - (October 2012)

“Every day I check the phone to see if Steven Moffat has called me. I don’t know what’s happening next year, I have nothing to report. I’m sure it will be something fantastic! But I don’t know what. I think if [the classic Doctors] aren’t invited, I’m going to make my own rival video. I’ll do my own 50th anniversary special. Colin Baker’s prepared to work for nothing!”

Colin Baker (The 6th Doctor) - speaking via Twitter - (22nd January 2013)

“Alas apart from The Big Finish plans I am not aware of any 50th stories nor have I been approached." When probed further by fans on whether he was double bluffing, Colin then tweeted: "There's no point in me tweeting if you don't believe me".

Sylvester McCoy (The 7th Doctor) - speaking at DragonCon - (2012)

"No. Nothing whatsoever. The only thing I've heard about, and I'm sure you've all heard about is that Mr Moffat and Mr Gatiss are going to write a play about the beginning of Doctor Who. But I haven't heard anything about us, no nothing. Nothing whatsoever."

Paul McGann (The 8th Doctor) - speaking to The Independent - (July 2012)

"I mean, I know it's imminent but no, there's been no invites to or sounding out taking place but maybe it will happen, we don't know."

Christopher Eccleston (The 9th Doctor) - several sources mentioned below - (2011-2012)

In April 2011, Eccleston was famously quoted on Graham Norton's BBC Radio 2 show as saying “No, I never bathe in the same river twice.” when asked if he would ever return to Doctor Who.

In July 2012, Eccleston attended a Q&A at National Theatre. A fan in the audience noted his Doctor Who related comments:

"[He] felt that one series isn’t enough to get under the skin of the character and that if he’d had two or three series he’d have developed the role considerably. He said that if you looked at the other Doctors (with the exception of Tom Baker) you can see them working out how to play the character through their first series because it’s such a complex and challenging role. He said several times that there was more for him to do with the character... "

In November 2012, RedCarpetNewsTV grabbed a very brief interview with Eccleston asking about his involvement in the 50th Anniversary, to which he replied: "Would I like to be involved? If I told you that, I’d have to shoot you”.

David Tennant (The 10th Doctor) - several sources mentioned below - (2012-2013)

In July 2012, Tennant was interviewed on Attack Of The Show. When asked about his 50th anniversary plans, Tennant stated:

"I cannot be drawn on anything. Who knows what will happen next year. I'm sure there are lots of plans being discussed in quiet rooms by men with long beards and great power. I am confirming nor denying anything." When asked if he still has his suit on standby, Tennant added: "I do have it in a very secure location. Yes!"

In November 2012, RedCarpetNewsTV interviewed Tennant at the world premiere for Nativity 2. When asked if he would like to be involved in the 50th anniversary celebrations, Tennant said:

"I can't imagine there even are going to be any anniversary celebrations are there? Look at my agent getting twitchy!"

In January 2013, Tennant was interviewed on The Jonathan Ross Show, and when asked by Ross if he would be returning, Tennant simply stated: "No-one has spoken to me. I know nothing." 

What are the facts for the 50th Anniversary Doctor Who Special?

- The story will be written by Steven Moffat.
- The duration will be 60 x Minutes to be broadcast in Autumn of 2013 (most likely the actual anniversary).
- Matt Smith will be The Doctor in the adventure (but hopefully not the only one). 

[Sources: DWO; Birmingham Mail; New York Comic Con; The Independant; Collectormania 18; Twitter; RedCarpetNews TV; BBC Radio 2; Attack Of The Show; The Jonathan Ross Show]

carlyissocool:

I just really like Three’s outfit in Planet of the Daleks.

It makes sense to dip your gnocchi in ketchup since gnocchi is made of mostly potato. But these weren't just any gnocchi, they were marbled with a sharp cheddar, and perfumed with a splash of truffle oil. And it wasn't just your ordinary ketchup either, it was fortified with some garlic and olive oil, and spiked with a nice hit of sriracha. These cheese gnocchi were nice and crispy on the outside, but extremely delicate and soft on the inside and exploding with flavor on every bite.

Cooked potatoes and jsut enough flour to bring them together.

Cheese gets folded in the mix.

The more tedious part of the recipe.

All ready to go!

Fry the gnocchi to add a nice crispy element and make them more snack like.

Tasty!

These are such a fun and different little snack.

Classic flavor combinations with a new twist. That's my kind of food!

Bake 3 potatoes until tender, allow to cool and run through a ricer. Add between a half cup and a whole cup of flour and mix together to form a dough. Add 4 oz sharp cheddar and a tablespoon of truffle oil and mix to combine. Form the gnocchi and boil for only a few minutes until floating. Be careful not to over boil or the cheese will fully melt and cause them to fall apart! Drain gently. Allow to cool and dry. Pan fry in olive oil and butter until browned.

The sauce was a clove of garlic sauteed in a few tablespoon of oil. Remove from heat, add a splash of cream followed by 1/4 cup sriracha and 3/4 cup ketchup. Mix well and serve.