Andrew

Nicolas Cage has a new movie out — Joe, directed by Southern gothic art film/stoner comedy auteur David Gordon Green — and it's kind of…good? Metacritic gives it an average rating of 72 by critics so far, and Rotten Tomatoes found 83 percent of critics gave it a positive review. It's enough for some observers to be debating if it's the start of a new, more artistically fruitful period in Cage's career, like the one Matthew McConaughey has been experiencing in recent years.

But are the reviews Cage usually gets really that bad? Just how far does he have to go to get to where, say, McConaughey is (average Rotten Tomatoes score, last five movies: 76.8)?

Pretty far, actually. I pulled reviews for every movie Cage has starred in from Metacritic and Rotten Tomatoes, running from Valley Girl in 1983 to Joe. The data's noisy; December 2002 saw the release of both Adaptation (Metacritic score: 83) and Sonny (31), so just plotting every review doesn't get you anywhere. To smooth things out, I calculated an average score for his five most recent movies throughout his career. For example, his current average scores (51 on Rotten Tomatoes, 49 on Metacritic) come from Joe, The Frozen Ground, The Croods, Stolen, and Seeking Justice. Here's what that looks like over the three decades he's been active:

While there are periodic upswings and downswings, overall Cage has been on a steady downward trajectory since the start of his career. It's true that — both due to Joe and to his voiceover work in The Croods — Cage is currently on an upward run. Both of his score averages are at their highest point since the release of Drive Angry 3D three years ago. But "best reviews in three years" doesn't exactly constitute a professional rebirth.

It's worth noting, also, just how sensitive these numbers are to big critical hits. The drop-off after Drive Angry happened not just because his next movie, Trespass, was terribly reviewed, but because his last critically acclaimed movie, Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, fell out of the averaging window. And he doesn't get critical hits like that very often. In the '00s, he only had three movies (Bad Lieutenant, Adaptation, Matchstick Men) top 80 on Rotten Tomatoes, and only one of those (Adaptation) topped 90. By contrast, seven movies of his movies that decade fell below 30, a really impressive level of critical loathing.

In any case, his track record doesn't look like McConaughey's at all:

McConaughey had a smooth rise in the late '90s and early '00s, fueled by solidly reviewed movies like U-571, Frailty, and Thirteen Conversations About One Thing, and then a smooth decline due to the likes of Fool's Gold and Sahara, and then a dramatic upswing with The Lincoln Lawyer, Bernie, Magic Mike, Killer Joe, Mud, and Dallas Buyers Club. The horribly reviewed The Paperboy, best known as the movie where Nicole Kidman pees on Zac Efron, snuck in between Killer Joe and Mud, but even that couldn't reverse the trend.

Cage's career, by contrast, is a flat circle. Upswings give rise to declines give rise to upswings, all in a repeating, cyclical pattern.

As mutual funds always tell you, past performance is no guarantee of future results. For all we know, Cage is only doing movies with Kathryn Bigelow, PT Anderson, and Steve McQueen from hereon out, they're all going to be great, and he'll average a perfect 100 on Rotten Tomatoes forevermore. But one good movie every five years or so is totally normal for him, and predicting a turnaround based on Joe is just silly.

jfruh writes: "Being a Unix or Linux admin tends to be an odd kind of job: you often spend much of your workday on your own, with lots of time when you don't have a specific pressing task, punctuated by moments of panic where you need to do something very important right away. Sandra Henry-Stocker, a veteran sysadmin, offers suggestions on how to structure your professional life if you're in this job. Her advice includes setting priorities, knowing your tools, and providing explanations to the co-workers whom you help." What habits have you found effective for system administration?

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

The Heartbleed bug is making some Americans question whether the US government would publicly disclose such a flaw or keep it secret in the name of national security purposes. Now it seems the authority is coming directly from the top to do the latter. President Obama has given permission — in the event of "a clear national security or law enforcement need" — for the National Security Agency to exploit security flaws that it discovers without alerting companies or the public of the bugs.

The decision, reported by The New York Times, was made this past January as part of a review of recommendations for reforming the NSA. Officials in the administration tell the Times that Obama decided that the NSA should disclose flaws to the...

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Earlier this week, I wrote a piece noting that the Obama administration has deported 2 million people — the most of any president in history.

Some critics took issue with that characterization — and the dispute here hinges on the fact that there's no longer any official definition of "deportation." The terminology has changed as policy has changed, and that's creating some confusion today as to what should count as a deportation.

THERE'S NO LONGER AN OFFICIAL DEFINITION OF 'DEPORTATION'

Currently, the federal government uses two different terms for when it apprehends an unauthorized immigrant and expels him or her from the country. There are "removals," which involve a formal court order. And then there are "returns," which do not. In my article, I used "deportations" to refer to removals only — for reasons explained below.

This distinction matters a fair bit. The Obama administration is on pace for more removals than any president in history. But there have been far fewer returns under Obama than under George W. Bush:

So if you think that measuring returns plus removals is the best way to judge enforcement, then it looks like Obama is less tough than Bush. But there's a strong argument that removals are the appropriate metric to use in this debate. Here's why.

1) 'Deportation' is no longer an official legal term

"Deportation" was an official term before 1996 — any time the government removed someone from inside the country who was in the US unlawfully, that was a deportation.

IN 1996, AN 'ORDER OF DEPORTATION' BECAME AN 'ORDER OF REMOVAL'

There was also "exclusion," which was the term for denying entrance to someone who was trying to get in.

In 1996, both of these processes got rolled into a single process called "removals." Likewise, a formal "order of deportation" became an "order of removal."

But in the immigration debate, people kept talking about "deportations" — a term that didn't have an official legal meaning anymore, and so could be used to refer to different things.

2) 'Removal' and 'return' have become the main terms in immigration enforcement over the last decade

These days, the term "removal" includes everything that used to be considered a deportation or exclusion.

"Returns," meanwhile, are a very specific immigration enforcement action. According to Theresa Brown of the Bipartisan Policy Center, returns refer to Canadians or Mexicans who were trying to enter illegally and were apprehended at their own border. These people, instead of being formally placed into proceedings, are simply turned around and prevented from entering the United States. (Before 2006, this was known as a "voluntary departure.")

Changing the terms has made it difficult to track immigration statistics over time. So, in recent years, the government's Office of Immigration Statistics has put out tables showing the number of "returns" and "removals" going back to 1927 — reinterpreting old historical data with the new terminology.

3) Removals have much harsher consequences than returns

PEOPLE WHO ARE RETURNED ARE NOT SUBJECT TO FORMAL CONSEQUENCES

Unauthorized immigrants who are removed from the country are ineligible to apply to re-enter legally for a period of years. If they try to come back to the US illegally and succeed (as of 1996) their removal order is "reinstated" and they can be deported again without another trial.

People who are returned, by contrast, are not subject to formal consequences — they can turn back around and try again, or they can apply to re-enter the country legally.

4) Bush had more returns than Obama, Obama had more removals

Over the course of eight years, the George W. Bush administration oversaw 8.3 million returns and 2 million removals.

In the three years between fiscal year 2009 and 2012, most of which was under Obama, there were 1.6 million returns and 1.6 million removals. The Obama administration, from February 2009 to the present, has removed more than 2 million people.

WHEN DISCUSSING THEIR RECORDS, BUSH and OBAMA USE DIFFERENT STATS

So the combined removals and returns under Bush are much higher than under Obama. But Obama will pass Bush's removals by the end of this year.

The administrations have added to the confusion by emphasizing different statistics. The Bush administration appears to have counted both removals and returns when discussing its immigration enforcement (but doesn't appear to have called them both "deportations"). The Obama administration, by contrast, has counted only removals.

5) The Bush administration started the trend of putting a heavier emphasis on removals

During the Bush administration, the thriving economy drew a lot of unauthorized migration. Many of these people were apprehended at the border. Still, many slipped through and the unauthorized population grew significantly.

CRITICS CALLED RETURNS "CATCH-AND-RELEASE" — SO BUSH RAMPED UP REMOVALS

At the time, many critics derided the Bush administration's returns as a "catch-and-release" system — the administration was turning away people at the border who would then come back and try again.

So, in response, the Bush administration decided to ramp up the number of formal orders of removal (and criminal charges) for people who would previously have been returned, says Theresa Brown of the Bipartisan Policy Center, who was a Customs and Border Protection and Department of Homeland Security official at the time.

Bush officials figured that relying more heavily on removals would deter people from repeatedly trying to cross the border. This system has persisted under Obama, and is now part of what's called the Consequence Delivery System.

5) Obama has continued to prioritize removals, while having fewer people to return

The Obama administration continued the strategic shift toward removals that began under Bush. That's why Obama is on pace to eclipse Bush's removal totals.

UNDER OBAMA, FEWER PEOPLE ARE TRYING TO enter IN THE FIRST PLACE

At the same time, returns have dropped under Obama. One reason: fewer people were trying to get into the country in the first place. Due to the recession, the number of immigrants trying to cross illegally dropped substantially. As a result, Border Patrol agents were apprehending many fewer people, meaning there were fewer people they could return.

Furthermore, more and more of the people the Obama administration was apprehending, says Brown, were people crossing from Mexico who weren't from Mexico. Those people couldn't be returned either — "returns" can only be used for Mexicans on the southern border (and Canadians on the northern one). And due to the Consequence Delivery System, the administration preferred to remove people rather than return them. "That combination of factors," says Brown, "meant that the number of returns has gone down at the same time the number of removals has gone up."

6) Both the Obama administration and its critics are now trying to downplay Obama's record

Many critics of the Obama administration who want more immigrants expelled from the country point to the removals/returns distinction in order to argue that Obama is inflating his record on enforcement. After all, the total of removals plus returns is lower under Obama than it was under Bush. (See the Center for Immigration Studies on this.)

MORE PEOPLE THAN EVER ARE EXPELLED FROM THE US AND PREVENTED FROM RETURNING — LEGALLY OR ILLEGALLY

Ironically, the administration is now making this exact same argument — possibly because it's trying to fend off heavy criticism from Latinos and immigrant-rights groups.

But this argument is both overly simplistic and needlessly confusing. The story of the Obama administration on immigration enforcement is that more people than ever are being expelled from the country in a way that prevents them from returning to the US legally or illegally — even though net unauthorized migration has been low and the unauthorized population of the country is down from its 2006 peak.

That's a perfectly suitable definition of "deportation." The government simply can't return more people than are trying to come in to begin with — so returns are partly dependent on the state of the economy. Removals, on the other hand, tell the story of the deliberate policy choices made over the last decade that are having lasting consequences for the people being expelled.

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After this week's massive Heartbleed bug, one of the biggest concerns was that the bug might leak a website's private SSL keys, the key to the green lock that secures data sent to users. It's especially dangerous because, if an attacker did access the keys, they could be used even after the server was patched, allowing attacks months or even years in the future.

"If it is possible, it is at a minimum very hard."

But today, the content distribution network CloudFlare has announced Heartbleed may not allow access to those private keys after all. In two weeks of testing, the company has been unable to successfully access private keys with Heartbleed, suggesting the attack may not be possible at all. "If it is possible, it is at a minimum...

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In a 2014 product roadmap that outlines all of Apple's plans for the year, KGI Securities analyst Ming Chi Kuo revealed his predictions for Apple’s much-rumored iWatch, which may ship as soon as the third quarter of 2014.

According to Kuo, the iWatch will come in two separate sizes to accommodate different sized wrists: 1.3 inches and 1.5 inches. Multiple sizes for the device were first predicted in late 2013, though the original rumor pointed towards displays of 1.3 and 1.7 inches. Both watches will include flexible AMOLED displays with sapphire covers to protect the device from scratches.

Along with a multitude of biometric sensors, coupled in a system-in-a-package design, Kuo predicts the iWatch will include integration with the iPhone, iPad, and Mac, along with a "fashionable appearance," an NFC chip, and a slim and light design.

Traditional watch-style iWatch concept by Gábor Balogh

We are confident on Apple's ability to make wearable devices with good fashion sense, which sets Apple apart from rivals.

Kuo believes many of the iWatch's mechanical parts may be constructed using liquid metal and that it may include an "innovative" antenna design that allows for wireless charging functionality.

Battery life has been a major challenge for Apple when it comes to iWatch development and Kuo forecasts a 200 to 250mAh battery for the device that will provide at least a one day of operating power. Earlier reports have suggested the company is aiming for three to four days of battery life, however, and Kuo does note that the battery will be longer than "most wearable devices" due to the company's "vertically integrated operating system and key components."

Kuo suggests Apple will release the iWatch at multiple price points and in a variety of materials, competing with low and high-end watches alike. At the high end, Kuo suggests Apple's iWatch could sell for thousands of dollars.

Fashion is the name of the game; most expensive model likely priced at several thousand US dollars. Referring to the rules of the fashion market, we predict the iWatch casing and band will come in various materials. The most expensive model of the iWatch line will carry a price tag of several thousand US dollars.

Apple's iWatch is not expected until the end of the year, but Kuo believes it will be the most important product of 2014, outshining even the iPhone 6. He is estimating shipments of 5.5 million units in 2014, which will rise to 30 to 50 million units in 2015.

Stephen Colbert will take over CBS's Late Show when David Letterman retires next year after more than two decades as host. "Simply being a guest on David Letterman’s show has been a highlight of my career," Colbert says in a statement. "I never dreamed that I would follow in his footsteps, though everyone in late night follows Dave’s lead." Colbert's premiere date will be announced after a timeline is set for Letterman to go off the air. CBS has a five-year contract for Colbert to host.

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Teenage women start using contraceptives at the same time they first have sex, according to new research from the Guttmacher Institute.

The gap between when teenagers start having sex and when they begin using contraceptives has shrunk dramatically over the past six decades.

For women born in 1945, there was a one-year gap between the median age for first having sex (19.2-years-old) and starting to use contraceptives (20.2-years-old).

But over the past six decades, those two events have inched much closer together. And now, for women born in 1991, the median age for the first time having sex and first use of contraceptives are exactly the same: 17.8 years old.

Women also wait longer to have their first child than they did a few decades ago

Right now, there's a nearly 10-year gap (9.7 years, to be exact) between when women first have sex and when they have their first child. For women born in the 1940s, that space was much shorter, just 3.7 years.

This creates a longer time span when women could have an unintended pregnancy. "The growing length of this period makes it vital that women have access to a wide range of effective methods of contraception" including long-acting, reversible contraceptives like IUDs, says study author Lawrence Finer.

Birth control pills and condoms are the most popular contraceptives

Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that teens are most likely to use birth control pills and condoms as contraceptives. New guidelines from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists say teens should be offered IUDs as a first-line contraceptive because the implantable device tends to be most effective at preventing pregnancy.

IUDs have typically been more expensive for patients than birth control (and especially more expensive than condoms). The health care law might change that: it requires all insurers to offer any contraceptives at no cost for patients. With some financial barriers removed, that could lead to increased use of IUDs in coming years.

In crazy-bordering-on-creepy-but-also-super-fascinating news, researchers at the University of Washington have found a new technique to simulate the aging process of human faces over the course of almost eight decades … using nothing more than a single photo.

Called “illumination–aware age progression,” this particular method uses a single image to “automatically produce a series of age-progressed outputs between 1 and 80 years of age, accounting for pose, expression and illumination.” As seen in the GIF below, the results are interesting to say the least.

To see just how eerily accurate the results can be, the below image compares the results of the new–found method with a progression of photographs. Note that the images created with this new technique have been “composited into the ground truth photo to match the hairstyle and background,” but as far as facial construction goes, the progression is almost spot-on.

The compositing of the morphed photo onto the actual photo does show that the method isn’t completely fool-proof, nor will it guarantee spot-on results, but for using a single image, the resemblances seem beyond uncanny in some instances.

University of Washington researchers Ira Kemelmacher-Shlizerman, Supasorn Suwajanakorn, and Steven M. Seitz explain:

These averages depict a prototype man and woman aging from 0 to 80, under any desired illumination, and capture the differences in shape and texture between ages. Applying these differences to a new photo yields an age progressed result.

No word on when or even if this type of thing will make it into consumer technology in the form of a strange selfie app, but we have a feeling there would be buyers if it ever was. We can imagine the hashtag now: #mein60years, followed closely by #nowimdepressed and (if you’ll allow us to be optimistic) #nevertakingaselfieagain.

(via University of Washington via Gizmodo)

An anonymous reader writes "If Windows XP were a photocopier, Microsoft would have a duty to deal with competitors who sought to provide aftermarket support. A new article in the Michigan Law Review argues that Microsoft should be held to the same duty, and should be legally obligated to help competitors who wish to continue to provide security updates for the aging operating system, even if that means allowing them to access and use Windows XP's sourcecode."

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Universal is preparing to start work on a Battlestar Galactica movie. Variety says the studio is planning to completely reimagine the sci-fi story — in which space-bound humans fend off the attacks of nefarious cybernetic Cylons as they try to find a new home — just five years after the four-season Syfy TV show drew to a close. The planned film would mark the second time Battlestar Galactica has been rebooted after the original show aired in 1978.

Jack Paglen, the writer of the upcoming Transcendence, has agreed to pen the reboot's screenplay. Paglen is a hot property for studios wanting to create sci-fi at the moment: he's also slated to write Ridley Scott's Prometheus sequel. Glen Larson, who worked on the 1970s TV series, will...

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An screenshot that supposedly shows iOS 8 running on an iPhone 6 has been posted on Weibo, seemingly revealing what Apple’s upcoming new iOS build will look like on a bigger display. While the image is yet to be confirmed, it suggests the home screen will have a five by seven icon arrangement, including the five-app dock row, compared to the four by six grid on current 4-inch iPhones. Furthermore, the image has a rather strange resolution of 1,600 x 966 pixels that doesn’t really resonate with other screen resolutions Apple uses on existing iPhone and iPad models.

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Apple is set to release a slew of new products during the third quarter of 2014 according to KGI securities analyst Ming Chi Kuo, who often provides reliable information on Apple’s product lineup.

In a 2014 product roadmap, Kuo suggests Apple will introduce its first new product of the year, a lower-cost iMac, during the second quarter. Soon after, during the third quarter, Kuo predicts Apple will introduce an upgraded iPad Air and iPad mini, followed by an iWatch in two separate sizes, and a 4.7-inch iPhone.


An upgraded Apple TV set-top box will come somewhat later, as will the rumored 12-inch ultra slim MacBook and upgraded Retina MacBook Pros. Later, in the fourth quarter, Apple will introduce the 5.5-inch iPhone, which is said to be delayed due to issues with in-cell display technology. Along with his roadmap, Kuo also gives specific information on each of Apple’s upcoming products.

- iWatch: Kuo believes the iWatch will ship during the end of the third quarter, offering biometric functionality, integration with the iPhone, iPad, and Mac, and a "fashionable appearance." As has been previously suggested, he predicts the device will come in two sizes, with a 1.3-inch and 1.5-inch flexible AMOLED display. It will also include a sapphire cover lens, biometric recognition, an NFC chip, wireless charging, a 200 to 250 mAh battery, and a slim and light design. Kuo also believes that Apple will offer the iWatch at multiple price points, with the most expensive version costing upwards of $1,000.

- iPhone 6: Supporting previous iPhone 6 rumors, Kuo believes the device will come in two sizes: 4.7 and 5.5-inches, with resolutions of 1334x750 (326ppi) and 1920 x 1080 (401 ppi), respectively. Both models will come with an A8 processor, 1GB of RAM, LTPS display panels, optical image stabilization, and Touch ID. Kuo points to a 10 to 20 percent narrower bezel, a 6.5–7.0mm thickness, metal casings, and NFC integration. Mass shipments of the 4.7-inch version are expected in September, with the 5.5-inch version shipping later. Kuo suggests that only the 64GB 5.5-inch version will use sapphire displays.

- iPad Air 2: The second-generation iPad Air is expected to adopt Touch ID, an A8 processor, and an improved camera with a resolution of eight megapixels. Kuo believes the second iPad Air could come earlier in the year than the previous iPad Air, which was released in October.

- iPad mini with Retina Display: Like the iPad Air, a new Retina mini could gain an A8 processor and Touch ID, but Kuo believes it will retain the same form factor. He also suggests that the older iPad mini with Retina display could be sold at a lower cost.

- 12.9-inch iPad Pro: Kuo believes that Apple is indeed working on a 12.9-inch iPad, but he does not expect it to be launched in 2014.

- 12-inch MacBook Air: As rumored, Apple is believed to be preparing an ultrathin MacBook Air that incorporates a touchpad without buttons and functions without a fan. It is also expected to include a higher-resolution display.

- iMac: A lower-priced iMac is believed to be on the horizon, which Kuo says could help boost iMac shipments by up to 23 percent. It could be Apple’s first product launch of the year.

- Apple TV: Apple is not expected to launch a full television set this year, but an upgraded set top box with an App Store and motion control technology is expected.

While Kuo’s predictions do include many rumors that have previously surfaced over the past several months from a variety of sources, his roadmap gives a solid overview of what we might expect from Apple in 2014. We've also broken out several of his predictions into individual posts that can be found here: iWatch, iPad, iPhone 6, MacBook Air.

How Khaleesi, Katniss, Hermione, and other names from novels, movies, and TV shows have caught on.

Perhaps no Game of Thrones character is as beloved as Daenerys Targaryen (played by Emilia Clarke), the daughter of a slain king who has spent most of the series to date amassing forces to reclaim the lands that were once her father's. Also she has dragons, which people seem to like.

So it's not too surprising that fans of the show would name their kids after her. According to data from the Social Security Administration, were 21 newborns in 2012 named "Daenerys," which was never used enough in previous years to show up in official counts (for privacy reasons, the SSA only releases numbers for names used five or more times in a given year).

But wee baby Daeneryses were dramatically outnumbered by newborns named "Khaleesi" — the title Targaryen earned when she married Dothraki leader (or "Khal") Drogo. 146 "Khaleesi"s were born in 2012, making it more popular as a full name than "Betsy" or "Nadine":

In 2010, less than five newborns were named Khaleesi. That rose to 28 in 2011 and then more than quintupled to 146 in 2012.

Another fan favorite character, the itinerant orphan Arya Stark, also seems to have inspired a few hundred baby names. Causality is harder to determine here than with "Khaleesi," as "Arya" is a real name (mostly for boys) whereas "Khaleesi" is a made-up term invented by George R.R. Martin (who wrote the books on which the show is based). Soit's possible that "Arya"'s fluctuations in popularity can be attributed to non-Game of Thrones factors.

But the name surged in popularity with girls in 2011 and 2012, after the show premiered. Also suggestive is the fact that it was barely used as a girl's name before Martin's first book came out in 1996 (it was used less than five times and thus not in the SSA's data in 1995, and in the two years previous), and has since steadily risen in popularity:

Indeed, since the book came out the gendering of "Arya" as a name has completely flipped:

Of course, Game of Thrones is hardly alone among sci-fi and fantasy literature in changing parental naming practices. "Hermione," "Draco," and "Sirius" all gained popularity after being featured in the Harry Potter books; the characters Hermione and Draco were present from the first book (out in 1997, movie in 2001), while Sirius was introduced with the third (out in 1999, movie in 2004):

The Hunger Games managed to make the name "Katniss" a thing. It doesn't show up in SSA data until 2012, when it overtook "Maude" and "Lucianne." That was the same year the movie version — in which Jennifer Lawrence played Katniss Everdeen, who must fight for her region in the titular tourney — came out:

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Comcast wants to own the internet — or, at least, the cables that carry it to most Americans’ homes. Yesterday, the company laid out its arguments for acquiring Time Warner Cable in a filing with the Federal Communications Commission. The merger, announced in February, would let Comcast take over markets that include, among other places, parts of New York, Texas, and Southern California. This would give Comcast a stranglehold on the US broadband market, but it’s not a sure thing yet. The Department of Justice and FCC must decide whether the merger poses a threat to competition for internet and cable services, and the Senate Judiciary Committee is questioning executives in a hearing today.

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While out shooting meerkats in Botswana, photographer Will Burrard-Lucas transformed into the most adorable look-out post in the history of human-animal interactions, and if you don’t believe us, just take a look at the pictures and his behind the scenes video we’ve included below.

According to Burrard-Lucas, the wild meerkats he was out shooting (with a camera) are in fact wild, but having been around humans so much, they realize that our species isn’t a threat — well, at least most of the ones they’ve met.

Here’s Burrard-Lucas’ BTS video in which he explains all this while the resourceful creatures climb all over his gear… and himself:

To make these cute circumstances even cuter, Burrard-Lucas wasn’t just dealing with regular meerkats, but also a litter of three-week-old babies that he had known pretty much since the day they were born.

So while the adults were taking advantage of his height to use him as a lookout post to spot any predators that might be out to lunch, the babies were simply exuding childlike curiosity and climbing all over the camera that was set on the ground.

Here are some more pictures from the experience that Mr. Burrard-Lucas was kind enough to share with us:

While the experience made for some awesome behind the scenes photos, Burrard-Lucas does admit that it made the job of actually photographing the meerkats a bit harder:

Trying to photograph animals that jumped on me whenever I got too close was certainly a challenge that I wasn’t used to facing… not that I was complaining!

To see some of the pictures he captured during his time with the Meerkats and hear more about the experience from the man behind the camera, head over to Burrard-Lucas’ blog by clicking here. You can also browse through his entire portfolio by visiting his main website or following him on Facebook, Twitter and/or Instagram.

(via Laughing Squid)

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Image credits: Photographs by Will Burrard-Lucas and used with permission

I work at a design firm with a couple of other people. I was closing up shop the after a long day on the job and I was very keen to get home. Just as I shut the door, a client from over a year ago ran up.

Client: I need you to edit this logo for a product unveiling tomorrow at noon! Turns out the boss isn’t happy with this one.

Me: Sorry, I’m closing up.

Client: But I’m here!

Me: … and?

Client: You have to help me if I’m here.

As I’m about to compare this situation to a train leaving the station, he interrupts.

Client: I’ll pay you double!

I reluctantly accept. After three hours of work and five revisions of the logo (including what was nearly a complete re-design), I had enough. I told him to go make a coffee, come back, and tell me which version he liked the most.

Client: Yes! That’s it! That’s the one! The boss will love it!

He picked the original logo. But I actually got paid at the promised rate. 

Monday afternoon, the IT world got a very nasty wakeup call, an emergency security advisory from the OpenSSL project warning about an open bug called "Heartbleed." The bug could be used to pull a chunk of working memory from any server running their current software. There was an emergency patch, but until it was installed, tens of millions of servers were exposed. Anyone running a server was suddenly in crisis mode.

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theodp (442580) writes "While the rise and fall of Brendan Eich at Mozilla sparked a debate over how to properly strike a balance between an employee's political free speech and his employer's desire to communicate a particular corporate 'culture,' notes Brian Van Vleck at the California Workforce Resource Blog, the California Labor Code has already resolved this debate. 'Under California law,' Van Vleck explains, 'it is blatantly illegal to fire an employee because he has donated money to a political campaign. This rule is clearly set forth in Labor Code sections 1101-1102.' Section 1102 begins, 'No employer shall coerce or influence or attempt to coerce or influence his employees through or by means of threat of discharge or loss of employment to adopt or follow or refrain from adopting or following any particular course or line of political action or political activity.' Corporate Counsel's Marlisse Silver Sweeney adds, 'Mozilla is adamant that the board did not force Eich to resign, and asked him to stay on in another role. It also says that although some employees tweeted for his resignation, support for his leadership was expressed by a larger group of employees. And this is all a good thing for the company from a legal standpoint.' As Eich stepped down, Re/code reported that Mozilla Executive Chairwoman Mitchell Baker said Eich's ability to lead the company had been badly damaged by the continued scrutiny over the hot-button issue. 'It's clear that Brendan cannot lead Mozilla in this setting,' Baker was quoted as saying. 'I think there has been pressure from all sides, of course, but this is Brendan's decision. Given the circumstances, this is not surprising.' Van Vleck offers these closing words of advice, 'To the extent employers want to follow in Mozilla's footsteps by policing their employees' politics in the interests of 'culture,' 'inclusiveness,' or corporate branding, they should be aware that their efforts will violate California law.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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On April 15th, a rather rare astronomical event is taking place: the “blood moon.” While technically nothing more than a lunar eclipse, this particular event will the first of four lunar eclipses to happen over the course of the next two years.

According to Sky and Telescope magazine, this particular eclipse will begin at 1:20 a.m. on the East Coast of the United States. For those of you who don’t care to calculate when it will be visible from where you live, Reddit user brezzz shared this helpful infographic that will help you with precision timing.

The lunar eclipse can be seen without any additional optics, but when a pair of binoculars — or even better, a telescope — are used the event is made that much more grandiose.

The NASA video above from USA Today details exactly what happens during a blood moon, so if you’re wanting to know what exactly it is before you consider photographing the event, give it a quick watch.

We’ve also shared plenty of lunar eclipse articles that you can reference, from an incredible time-lapse of the event to a composition of it taking place over the historic Acropolis in Athens, Greece.

So read up on when you’ll be able to see the event take place, get your gear ready, and get shooting. And if you don’t end up with something you like this time, don’t worry… Mother Nature is giving you three more chances over the next two years.

(via USA Today via Reddit)

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Image credits: Blood Moon 28th Aug 2007 by Peter Gaylard

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sciencehabit (1205606) writes "If you know only one thing about violins, it is probably this: A 300-year-old Stradivarius supposedly possesses mysterious tonal qualities unmatched by modern instruments. However, even elite violinists cannot tell a Stradivarius from a top-quality modern violin, a new double-blind study suggests. Like the sound of coughing during the delicate second movement of Beethoven's violin concerto, the finding seems sure to annoy some people, especially dealers who broker the million-dollar sales of rare old Italian fiddles. But it may come as a relief to the many violinists who cannot afford such prices."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Palm's innovative mobile operating system, webOS, was never a commercial success, but the team behind it certainly had some great ideas. Now, long after HP largely abandoned the operating system, the team is releasing one of its most intriguing user interface ideas to the community for further work. The project is known as Mochi, and we first revealed it earlier this year alongside some of very last ideas that the webOS team was working on before HP scuttled its plans. The user interface overhaul introduced a cleaner, "flat" design long before Apple and Google made similar moves, and it included a feature that expanded "cards" so that you could swap in multiple panes at once for multitasking, á la Snap in Windows 8.

The code and...

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It's long been prescribed that when your iPhone's battery is running poorly that you close out all the running apps to help preserve battery life (we've mentioned it before). That makes sense if you're using a computer, but as writer (and former Genius Bar technician) Scotty Loveless points out, that's simply not the case in iOS.

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How do you get into space without a rocket? Just use a very, very big gun.

It's an idea with a surprisingly long history, laid out in detail by Duncan Geere on Medium. It starts with a thought experiment by Isaac Newton in 1728, imagining a cannon so powerful that its payload escaped the Earth's gravitational pull. For centuries afterwards, there have been aerospace engineers obsessed with making it work. In practice, that meant building enormous cannons — sometimes more than 100 meters long — which often occupied an uneasy place in international diplomacy. The full story weaves through World War II, Saddam Hussein and contemporary plans for a methane-powered cannon submerged under the ocean.

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If you don’t remember the photo series Pucker, then you might have been hiding under a rock last August because it exploded. An adorable series by photographers April Maciborka and David Wile, the photos featured babies trying lemons for the first time and reacting with everything from glee, to horror, to cute versions of the scrunched up faces most of us would make.

The series went viral — even just on PetaPixel it attracted some 6.2 thousand shares — but Maciborka and Wile weren’t done yet. Today, they took Pucker into the realm of slow-motion video.

There’s no need to describe what you’re about to see, given that you could just click play, so instead we’re going to re-share a few of the images from the stills series so that those of you who missed it the first time around can enjoy it again:

When Maciborka got in touch with us to share the video earlier today, we shot a few questions her way about what inspired her to go slow motion and asked her to share any challenges she encountered along the way. Here’s what she had to say:

After the craze online and in publications worldwide with the still series of “Pucker” we decided that we should make a follow-up video. Slow motion made sense as it would be even funnier to see morphed baby faces reacting to a sour taste… at 300 frames per second with the Scarlett camera you could catch moments that you would never even see with the naked eye — like the snot coming out of one babies nose, or the lip quiver on the other baby.

Brought to You By Inc. helped us with the post-production, which was something Dave and I do not usually do. Sasha, the cinematographer, collaborated with his excellent expertise in shooting with the Scarlett Camera. Together, we shot about 15 babies per day on a weekend. We sat down with Brought to You by Inc. and selected our favorite reactions and shared our visions. All in all, we were very pleased with how they saw our vision and made it a reality.

We haven’t faced many challenges on this job. In fact, the more heads, the better. We were able to shoot straight through babies reactions which is easier than getting that perfect still shot. We never thought we would share the moments with parents in the frame or arms or tears, but once we found a song, it all made sense to make it dramatic and have a somewhat explosive ending. Showing the decline of the lemon just seemed to make sense. The innocent baby accepting of all things and then deciding after its sour taste that it is worthless and terrible! How cute, how dramatic, how awesome!

Awesome indeed. If you’d like to see more photos from the Pucker series, be sure to check out our previous coverage. And for more from Maciborka or Wile, you can visit their websites by clicking here or here, respectively.

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Video credits: Directors — April Maciborka and David Wile; Cinematographer — Sasha Moric; Production Management — Foad Almassi; Post Production — Brought to You By Inc. in association with Clearhead Media

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Image credits: Photographs by April Maciborka and David Wile and used with permission

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