Luke.stirling

I have only two major urban regrets: that I'll never get to see Portsmouth's Tricorn Centre, and that I'll never get to see Hong Kong's Kowloon Walled City.

VPNs are great for security, but one of the big reasons many people use one is to mask or change their IP address. This lets you get around location-based restrictions on content, or check if your provider is throttling your connection. Unfortunately, a new security flaw can reveal your real IP address to prying eyes, even if you're using a VPN, and it's easy to exploit. Here's how it works, and what you can do about it.

Read more...

Warehouse Loft in NYC by Andrew Franz Architects. (Photography: Albert Vecerka)

A Valentine’s meal is not complete without a bit of chocolate. Here we end with chocolate in the form of a rich, fudgy brownie topped with a whipped peanut butter frosting and finished with flaked salt to tame the sweetness and round out all the flavors.

By the time we get to these brownies, we usually skip the plates and just grab a couple forks. The best way to end a special meal.

READ MORE »

never give up

Breakfast has arrived!   [source with more vids/pics]

Well, this is horrifically sad: Craig Stephen Hicks, a white 46-year old outspoken atheist, gunned down three young Muslims in Chapel Hill, North Caroling yesterday. Their names were Deah Shaddy Barakat, Yusor Mohammad, and Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha.

Police are investigating the motive (Hicks turned himself in, so that should be fairly easy), but have said that Hicks appears to have been driven to murder over a parking spot.

On the one hand, it is easy to say that this appears to be about a parking spot only, with nothing to do with religion or race. But on the other hand, it’s difficult to imagine what would drive someone to murder three people over something so stupid, unless the murderer for some reason did not see his victims as full humans deserving of the right to life. And if you have paid any attention to the current state of capital-A-Atheism, you would have to see the growing problem with the continued dehumanization of Muslims, women, and other marginalized groups by community leaders like Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, and Lawrence Krauss, the organizations that support them with awards and speaking engagements, and the mass of young and angry atheists on sites like Reddit.

When you combine that dehumanization with violent rhetoric, it’s inevitable that someone will commit an act like Hicks. That’s how the “men’s rights movement” led to people like Elliot Rodger, and how the “pro-life movement” led to people like Scott Roeder.

Knowing what we know about the end result of dehumanization combined with violent rhetoric, maybe it’s time that atheists as a group decide to retire this cartoon, which may have been true once but hasn’t been relevant at least since Dawkins started Tweeting about why women who don’t abort fetuses with Downs Syndrome are immoral:

Why is the Muslim world in thrall to conspiracy theories?

Why not become a Patron of the Blasphemous Arts? Book shop here

A letterpress Valentine from Paperwheel ($6.75). (via Dan Hon)

"The nigiri and tuna rolls we eat today are a far cry from the pungent, rice-less, barrel-fermented stuff that originated during the 3rd century B.C." Read the rest

The holy grail of collectible guitars -- the 1953 prototype Les Paul Gibson guitar, known as the "Black Beauty" -- will go up for auction next week.

Dans ce court film d’animation réalisé par Florian Renner, on découvre une Delorean parcourir à toute allure une ville futuriste illuminée de toutes parts. Sans révéler l’identité du conducteur, la caméra se concentre sur le compteur de la voiture, puis sur la magnificence des buildings environnants dans une ambiance 80′s que l’artiste a réussi à retranscrire avec brio. À découvrir en vidéo.

The interior of an abandoned mall is covered in a blanket of snow in these eerie photos by Cleveland-based photographer Seph Lawless. Lawless took the photos recently at the Rolling Acres Mall, a sprawling shopping center in Akron, Ohio that was shuttered in 2008. In 2014 we posted about Black Friday, Lawless’ photo book on abandoned shopping malls, in which the Rolling Acres Mall is featured.

photos by Seph Lawless

via PetaPixel

Not again!

I'm a fan of the chia. I've made chia pull apart bread, chia pudding, chia breakfast smoothies, and of course chia pets. (Ha ha—I had to!) Recently I noticed on the back of my chia seed package a recipe for chia jam. What?! Hold the phone! That makes total sense since chia has this magic ability to make things, well, jelly-like. So I tried it. (The same recipe is online too, check it.)

And guess what? Chia jam is incredible!!! Like, seriously, it's now my favorite way to enjoy chia seeds. And it only takes about 20 minutes to make a batch. I've been making a few different variations that I thought I'd share with you. 

Strawberry Vanilla Bean Chia Jam, makes about 1 1/2 cups of jam.

1 1/2 cups strawberries (tops removed and cut into fourths)
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons chia seeds
seeds from half a vanilla bean

In a small pot cook the strawberries and sugar over low/medium heat for 5 minutes. The berries will release moisture and soften. Be sure to stir as this cooks so the sugar doesn't heat too much in one spot and burn. If you like your jam more smooth than chunky (like I do), use a blender or immersion blender to puree it at this point. Then add the chia seeds and cook another 10 minutes, as it thickens. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla seeds while still hot. Allow to cool before using or storing.

Peaches + Cinnamon Chia Jam, makes about 1 1/2 cups of jam.

1 1/2 cups peaches, if frozen thaw first
2-3 tablespoons honey (or maple syrup)
2 tablespoons chia seeds
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

In a small pot cook the peaches and honey over low/medium heat for 5 minutes. The fruit will release moisture and soften. Be sure to stir as this cooks so the sugar doesn't heat too much in one spot and burn. If you like your jam more smooth than chunky (like I do), use a blender or immersion blender to puree it at this point. Then add the chia seeds and cook another 10 minutes, as it thickens. Remove from heat and stir in the cinnamon while still hot. Allow to cool before using or storing. One note about this variation is that the chia seeds will overpower the coloring of this jam, so be prepared for a more brown looking jam than a peachy colored one. Just FYI. I know that probably sounds trivial, but sometimes I think the coloring of food or the presentation in general can really affect the way we enjoy it. Just my two cents.

Blueberry + Lemon Chia Jam, makes about 1 1/2 cups of jam.

1 1/2 cups blueberries, if frozen thaw first
3 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons chia seeds
peel and juice from half a lemon

In a small pot cook the blueberries, sugar, lemon juice and peel over low/medium heat for 5 minutes. The fruit will release moisture and soften. Be sure to stir as this cooks so the sugar doesn't heat too much in one spot and burn. After five minutes of cooking, remove the lemon peels. If you like your jam more smooth than chunky (like I do), use a blender or immersion blender to puree it at this point. Then add the chia seeds and cook another 10 minutes, as it thickens. Remove from heat and allow to cool before using or storing.

Any jam you don't consume within the day you can store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 7 days (although this amount usually only lasts me 4-5 days). 

So, yeah... that's my jam. ;)

Enjoy on toast with a little butter or cream cheese and copious amounts of chia jam—yum! xo. Emma

Credits // Author and Photography: Emma Chapman. Photos edited with A Beautiful Mess actions.

strangebiology:

An early morning palm tree fire on Christmas day in Los Angeles.

In what may be one of the most ground-breaking developments in creating artificial sunlight, a group of Italian scientists recently announced CoeLux, a new kind of skylight that perfectly mimics the feel of daylight. The creator’s claim the system is so effective that it tricks unknowing individuals into thinking they are looking up at the actual sun.

The inventors are somewhat tight-lipped about how CoeLux works, but it involves filtering a light source through a layer of nanoparticles that mimic Earth’s atmosphere. Because of this, not only does the color match sunshine but the quality does as well. In the photos above—which CoeLux insists aren’t digitally altered—you can get an idea of how realistic the light is, and see it in action in the video.

The light is currently available in three different configurations that mimic sunlight at different points on the globe including tropical, mediterranean, and nordic environments. Applications for CoeLux might involve anywhere light is scarce, from extreme environments like scientific outposts to underground parking garages or even in hospitals. You can see more on their website. (via PetaPixel)

Look, I get it, let’s all share cultures and whatever, blah blah etc. The phenomenon of cultural appropriation, however, is not that simple.

Imagine that you have been born into a culture whose people have historically been oppressed and discouraged from expressing themselves and practicing their traditions. Example: I’m Indian; When my parents were kids in India, they started learning English from primary school onwards, which is great, but they were not allowed to speak their own language at school (in our case, Bangla). They were not allowed to wear clothes from their own culture, but had to dress up in ridiculous starched up British school kid uniforms; they didn’t learn any of their own history in school but had to learn about the ‘accomplishments’ of the British Empire; they were forced to study the Bible but received no education on the religions native to their own country. They were made fun of by the white and Anglo-Indian kids if they brought Bengali food for lunch. Basically, they were forced to conform to British standards and were discouraged from expressing and celebrating their own culture and heritage. They were taught that Indians were inferior and primitive compared to the Brits.

Now, imagine that after growing up like this, pieces of the culture you were once shamed for started showing up among those who had once oppressed you (and in many ways still do). Imagine that all those things you held dear while the outside world tried to make you believe they were stupid, embarrassing, unsophisticated—imagine that all of a sudden these things were taken up by your tormentors (read: white people). Think of my parents, who left everything in India and came to the US when they were just 22; think of my parents packing away all their old clothes and buying these ugly American clothes with the small amount of money they had. Imagine them, so far from home, and still packing white bread sandwiches to bring to work. Imagine them giving up everything they loved, everything that was life to them, and having to wear and eat and read bland American culture. Imagine my poor mom seeing Madonna wear a bindi, but still knowing she can’t wear one at work because she’s disrespected enough there anyway.

Imagine shutting away your own vibrant culture and then seeing it paraded about by those that taught you to let go of it in the first place.

But don’t be fooled into thinking your culture is finally being celebrated. It’s not. It’s been taken out of any context and stripped of any real meaning. The trappings of your culture and your people and your rich history are now just a trend. Imagine that it’s now “cool” for those who oppressed you (white people) to take part in parts of your culture you were once condemned for. That’s a slap in the fucking face. And you will still be condemned for your culture. It’s not cool if you do it. To them, your culture is just something to be tried on and worn for a day, without the burden of the heavy history behind it. And it’s not cool to wear it every day, so we still have to conform to white society. Imagine how much that hurts. Imagine seeing parts of the heritage you love and respect being thrown around flippantly, and imagine still not being able to express your own culture. That’s cultural appropriation and it fucking hurts.

The end of an era, for sure.

avianawareness:

[x]

kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss