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Hybrid devices are usually a recipe for disappointment. Like the spork, they try to combine the usefulness of two things into one, and, like the spork, they tend to compromise too much. The YotaPhone 2 is a happy exception to that rule. This 5-inch Android smartphone comes with a 4.7-inch e-paper display on its back, which seems like an obvious gimmick until you start using it. I approached the YotaPhone 2 from a position of skepticism, but have been quickly converted: the rear screen can be...

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This is how many children that died in their Hunger Games, without even being mentioned throughout the three books. All these children were under 18. All these children had parents. All these parents’ hearts sank to their knees during their child’s reaping. All these parents saw their terrified child off at the train station. All these parents heard the sound that signified their child’s death. All these parents received their cold, dead child in a wooden box. All these parents’ lives ended there. All these parents could say or do nothing. All these parents were merely thanked that they gave up their child. Thanked.

And the media focuses on the love triangle.

All these children and all these parents aren’t real

Yeah, sure, I guess that’s true. None of these people were real.

But let’s focus on what this series, and this fact, say about our society.

In the series, the Capitol’s media focuses entirely on the ‘fun’ of the Games- the fashion, the plot twists, the favorites, the strategies, the romance. And the entire time, they completely overlook the fact that 1,678 children between the ages of 12 and 18 have died. Usually brutally murdered by other 12 to 18 year old children.

And how does our real-life media react to this story when news of a movie adaptation reaches them? They talk about the romance. This tragic story of a girl who must choose between her long-time best friend and her new love. Even if she chooses Peeta, they still must fight to the death. The star-crossed lovers of District 12. And many readers of the original novels saw the books through the same lens. You would tell them that you read/ were reading the books and their first reaction was, “Are you Team Gale or Team Peeta?”

Meanwhile, children are fighting to the death.

The fact that our media, and many every-day people reacted to the Hunger Games the same as the Capitol media scares me.

I don’t want this world to be anything like the Capitol. I don’t think any of us do.

And the fact that most of us (including myself) never really considered how many children had died in the games also scares me. But, hey, it didn’t happen now/ in the current story, so it doesn’t matter, right?

I’m not sure about that math though. I think it’s MORE.

Let’s talk about just the first 73 games, ok? Every year before Katniss and Peta. 

24 Tributes (1 girl + 1 boy x 12 districts)= 1 Victor + 23 Dead Every year

23 x 73 = 1,697

EXCEPT, the 50th games (The games Haymitch competed in) had DOUBLE the number of tributes. An extra 24 kids died that year.

1,703. 

Now, 22 kids died in Katniss and Peeta’s first game, because they both live.

1,725. 

In 74 years, the brutal, violent murders of 1,725 children aired on TV in Panem, and in both the Capitol, and on the red carpet in our world, the first question people want to ask it “Team Peeta?” Damn.

i’m not even in this fandom, but damn, that’s scary

And here we have people who GET the hunger games.

#until this moment#i didn’t realize there were still people who haven’t figured out that our reactions to media are an important indicator of our values#it doesn’t matter that they aren’t real#our reaction on a story primarily about children killing each other#was to focus on the romance#it wasn’t a romance#it’s a story about a tyrannical governemt sentencing children to death as a means of intimidating the sectors into submission#and we reacted to the games exactly the same way the capitol did

you can be as meta as you can but you can never be this meta

this is why not the media’s focus on JUST the love triangle is important—because it goes beyond that. Maybelline released a “Hunger Games” themed make up campaign. Barbie dolls were made of Katniss. T shirts. Plastic jewelry.

This is the real lesson.

The movie does a good job of using the capitol as a stand-in for the empty stupidity of some of our own current culture. That’s on purpose. The fact that someone decided to sell merchandising rights that completely subverted the message is just typical movie studio greed, and I’m sure nobody in the business of making these toys a reality cared one whit for the message of the film.

(Medical Office | Sarasota, FL, USA)

(We have a patient known for saying random, off the wall things. I had just scheduled a follow up appointment for him.)

Me: “Okay, sir, the doctor would like you to have some bloodwork done two weeks prior to your next appointment.”

(I hand him the lab slip and the patient stares blankly at me for a moment.)

Patient: “What do they do with the leftover blood?”

Me: “Sorry?”

Patient: “What do they do with the blood that they don’t use?”

Me: “Um, I believe it’s discarded as they have no use for it…”

Patient: “Do you think they would give it to me?”

Me: “You want the leftover blood sample?”

Patient: “Yes. It’s MY blood.”

Me: “What would you do with it?”

Patient: “I don’t know, but I want it!”

Me: “Have a nice day, sir.”

The Smithsonian Castle and its surrounding museums are skipped altogether by many tourists visiting Washington, DC. But a reimagined layout for the Smithsonian Castle campus — said to be the most significant change to the National Mall in a century — seeks to change that. The new design, unveiled this week, plans to open up the campus around the Smithsonian's adminstrative building, which includes the Freer Gallery, the Hishhorn Museum, the (currently empty) Arts and Industries building, and the underground Sackler Gallery and African Art Museum.

The Smithsonian's cultural hub is located in the middle of the National Mall, between heavyweights like the US Capitol, the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, and the White House, which...

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Dubbed ‘Impossible’ for its ability to pull off the seemingly unreachable goal of folding down so tiny it can fit inside a backpack, this electric bicycle can be carried virtually anywhere. The design is based around circles instead of a single horizontal girder to spread weight equally across the frame. While there are plenty of folding bike designs, few of them are quite as small and lightweight as the Impossible, which weighs in at less than 11 pounds.

The seat and handlebars are set at similar heights so the front and rear wheels do equal work to bear the weight of the rider. Nearly the entire bike is made of carbon fiber to keep the weight as low as it can be, with a steel connecting box in the center of the frame ensuring that it’s strong enough to withstand everyday use and carry a rider weighing up to 180 pounds.

The riding saddle doubles as the carrying case, keeping the electric charger clean, dry and ready for use. The bike will ultimately be up to 60% customizable with options like colored removable covers. Folding and unfolding the Impossible is achieved in four simple steps. The bike features ten 3.6V batteries and a DC motor enabling it to travel up to 12.4 mph for 45 minutes, or at normal speed for up to 15.6 miles per charge. No pedaling necessary – the bike does all the work.

Beijing-based Impossible Technology is currently raising funds for the project on Kickstarter, with backers pledging $430 CAD or more receiving an all-white Impossible bike from the first production run. Additional designs and accessories will be available in the future.

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Hanging On

Photograph by Valtteri Murto, National Geographic Your Shot

Im an airline pilot interested in both urban decay and aviation history, writes Your Shot member Valtteri Murto, who captured this picture during a day off spent photographing parts of Brooklyn. I came to Floyd Bennett Field out of pure curiosity, and after noticing these hangars, I just couldnt keep myself away, he writes. Though it was a sunny day in March, recent rains had left large puddles that caught reflections like this one. I had to dodge falling pieces of aluminium plating, Murto adds. The hangars are in a state of serious decay, and roof panels and debris were blown across by gusty wind.

Read the rest of Crumbling Farm House Revived as a Stunning Modern Home in Rural Spain

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Post tags: adapted reuse, Architecture, Dom Architectura, farm house renovation, farmhouse rehabilitation, home design, la Cerdanya Rehabilitation, rural home design, rural renovation, spanish architecture

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(Shipping Company, Print Shop | OH, USA)

(A customer walks in with a black & white document.)

Me: “Do you need some copies made today?”

Customer: “Yes, please. I need 20 of these, black & white.”

(I make her copies and walk back to the counter.)

Customer: “Can you make 10 in color, too, please?”

Me: “Sure, you just need them on the brighter, heavier paper that we use in the color machine?”

Customer: *stares at me like I have two heads* “NO, so that they’re in COLOR.”

Me: “You mean you want it to look like it did on the computer screen before you printed these in black?”

Customer: *frustrated* “YES!”

Me: “No color machine in the world is capable of restoring color from a black and white copy.”

Customer: “Whatever.”

(Thank goodness the customer behind her was laughing at her because I was certainly about to!)

Yesterday the European Space Agency landed the Philae spacecraft on a comet, a powerful step forward for humanity and science alike. However, slightly before the big moment, coverage of the event reminded us how much progress remains to be accomplished back on Earth.

A number of the scientists involved on this incredible project were interviewed in the hours leading to contact by Nature Newsteam. One of those Rosetta scientists was Matt Taylor, who chose to dress, for this special occasion, in a bowling shirt covered in scantly clad caricatures of sexy women in provocative poses.

"This is going to be a very long day but a very exciting day," said Taylor. "I think everyone should enjoy it because we're making history."

No no women...

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Back in June, you may remember Last Week Tonight With John Oliver had a great bit on net neutrality. Oliver poked fun at the FCC commissioners; he called Chairman Tom Wheeler, a former telecom lobbyist, a dingo. The internet had a laugh and, the day after, FCC employees went back to work.

As part of a Freedom of Information Act request sent by The Verge, the FCC sent email exchanges between employees that show how the FCC responded. The reviews: mostly positive, with some reservations.

Deborah Taylor Tate, a former commissioner who's now a "special envoy" at the International Telecommunication Union, saw the video and sent a free-verse email alert to her old colleagues.

Comm O was on a comic show

Last week tonight

HBo show

George...

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Lorde personally curated the tracklist for the The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 soundtrack, where she makes multiple appearances alongside such names as Charli XCX, CHVRCHES, and the Chemical Brothers. But at some point, she just needed Kanye to give her a beat. On the "reworked" version of Lorde's first single "Yellow Flicker Beat," Ye turns what was originally a fiery, warlike anthem into a brooding, dirge-like piece that effectively flips the emotional core of the song on its head. It works, especially when we were expecting screaming and an Otis Redding sample. After all, in the war against the Capitol, there are going to be heavy casualties.

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I'm playing an interactive music video for Taylor Swift's "Blank Space" and I'm doing everything I can to avoid Taylor Swift. I already have a pretty good idea what she's going to do — I saw the linear video already — so what I really care about is following around the artist whose painting gets ruined as the song progresses. Or maybe the snoopy butler. Or the clumsy gardener. Or maybe I just want to hang out in the big dining room and just see who waltzes in and out. Something feels very off about the layout of this house and it's starting to mess with my mind. I should probably just stay in the dining room and let people come to me.

This is the Taylor Swift Experience, available starting today as a free app for iPhone / iPad and...

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Yesterday, President Obama took a strong position on net neutrality by supporting calls to regulate the internet more like a utility. Less than 24 hours later, FCC head Tom Wheeler indicated that he would break from the president's proposed plan, moving in a new direction intended to pacify huge internet providers such as Comcast, AT&T, and Verizon.

The Washington Post reports that Wheeler told a group of internet companies — including Google, Yahoo, and Etsy — that he favored a more "nuanced" solution than that laid out by Obama. Wheeler's plan would acquiesce to some of the president's demands, but would also kowtow to the demands of huge internet providers.

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