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"…Rialto’s randomised controlled study has seized attention because it offers scientific – and encouraging – findings: after cameras were introduced in February 2012, public complaints against officers plunged 88% compared with the previous 12 months. Officers’ use of force fell by 60%.”

— California Police Use of Body Cameras Cuts Violence and Complaints | The Guardian

What do you know, the swine aren’t as horrible when they’re being watched.

Growing up, I never wanted Cyclops' optic blast or Wolverine's adamantium claws or Magneto's power over magnetic fields, I wanted to throw cards like Gambit. I don't know if that makes me an unimaginative little kid who only dreamt about realistic powers but I do know I spent many summer days throwing cards at everything. Sadly, I never grew up to be like Gambit. This guy, comedian Javier Jarquin, did though. Watch him throw playing cards with incredible accuracy and enough strength to break glass.

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Here’s a huge and very pleasant surprise: Bill Watterson, the creator of Calvin & Hobbes, who retired that strip in 1995 and has not published a cartoon in the years since, has drawn a movie poster.

The image is for the documentary Stripped, which is about the art and business of newspaper comic strips. Dozens of people were interviewed for the film by directors Dave Kellett and Frederick Schroeder, including Scott McCloud (Understanding Comics, Zot!), Cathy Guisewite (Cathy), Zach Weiner (SMBC), Bill Amend (Foxtrot), Jim Davis (Garfield), and Kate Beaton (Hark! A Vagrant).

Bill Watterson agreed to be interviewed for the film, and is heard but not seen. He liked the film and filmmakers enough to draw the movie poster, which you can see in full below.

 

Watterson talked to the Washington Post about doing the art:

Aside from supplying a few sentences to the documentary, I’m not involved with the film, so Dave’s request to draw the poster came completely out of the blue. It sounded like fun, and maybe something people wouldn’t expect, so I decided to give it a try. Dave sent me a rough cut of the film and I dusted the cobwebs off my ink bottle.

Given the movie’s title and the fact that there are few things funnier than human nudity, the idea popped into my head largely intact. The film is a big valentine to comics, so I tried to do something really cartoon-y. I had thought of having it colored with off-registered printing dots like newspaper comics, but Dave asked if I’d paint it instead, and I think he made the right call.

Here’s the trailer for the film — the full version is available now for preorder on iTunes. More info can be found at the film’s website, www.strippedfilm.com.

• ‘Calvin & Hobbes’ Creator Bill Watterson Explains Why We’ll Never See a Movie Adaptation

The post ‘Calvin and Hobbes’ Creator Bill Watterson Draws Poster for Cartooning Doc ‘Stripped’ appeared first on /Film.

Still unsure where unlocking your mobile device falls under the eyes of the law? Legislation just passed through the US House of Representatives that might clear things up, but there's a catch. The Unlocking Consumer Choice and Wireless Competition...

This backpack may not look much, but it has impressive hidden depths: it contains all the kit you need to establish an ad hoc mobile network in just ten minutes—perfect for those working in disaster areas.

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The Food and Drug Administration has this week embarked on discussions on a topic sure to prove controversial: the idea of creating embryos from the DNA of three people.

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One of the best things about Gmail is its robust filtering system. It's easy to route very specific types of messages to different folders or relegate them to the trash or archive easily. Gmail's default options are okay, but use these system labels and you can search unsearchable folders or root out specific types of messages.

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Are you thinking about going to QuakeCon? If so, we have the first details on registration for the July 17-20 event, set to take place in Dallas, TX.

There are a few packages that will become available at the registration site,  registration.quakecon.org, by March 5, staring with the initial BYOC Select-a-Seat package, with others rolling out in the following days. 

As you likely know, while attendance is free, bringing your own computer requires a seat. This year, there will not be a first-come, first-serve seating opportunity.

Now, if you can't swing one of the packages, there will be opportunities to win seats in contests and giveaways on Facebook and Twitter. 

The packages and dates are as follows.

See you there?

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The use of 3D printers has allowed Nike's designers to prototype and test new footwear designs with a remarkably quick turnaround. And the latest shoe born from that new process is the Vapor HyperAgility cleat featuring re-engineered studs that Nike claims will give football players the necessary grip to explode off the line, but also stop and turn on a dime to evade an opponent.

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From A Hamburger Today

If you think the modern-day Ronald McDonald is creepy, feast your eyes on the circa-1963 Ronald, portrayed by Willard Scott, who later became the weatherman for The Today Show. The image, which re-surfaced on Reddit (inspiring some hilarious commentary) was quickly re-blogged by The Huffington Post. Rightfully so, HuffPo said the photo "will give you nightmares."

Apparently, McD's wasn't too pleased with that summation. A day after the piece was published, McDonald's responded with the following statement:

To label a 50 year old picture as a "nightmare" is a clear overstatement. Ronald McDonald has been and is a much loved figure to families for more than 50 years. That picture represents the simple era of the times. A provocatively labeled headline won't change that, nor impact all of the good Ronald McDonald will continue to do for years to come.

Provocative headline or not, clowns don't exactly have widespread appeal, judging by sites like ihateclowns.com (run by Rodney Blackwell, friend of AHT and creator of the Sacramento Burger Battle), the I'm scared of Ronald McDonald Facebook page, and a University of Sheffield study that revealed clowns are "universally disliked" by children.

Seriously, WTF is up with the double eyebrows and that freaky crocheted doll behind his left shoulder? *shudder*

AHT Editor Robyn thinks the modern-day Ronald is just as creepy as the original version, but these commercials might give Retro Ronald the edge. Kids: don't talk to strangers, even if they're clowns you recognize from TV.

[Video: 1963 Ronald McDonald commercial on YouTube]

[Video: 1963 Early Ronald McDonald's Commercial on YouTube]

About the author: Erin Jackson is a food writer and photographer who is obsessed with discovering the best eats in San Diego. You can find all of her discoveries on her San Diego food blog EJeats.com. On Twitter, she's @ErinJax

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Even if you have a general idea of what Bitcoin is, you may not understand what the fuss is about, how old it is, or why people are talking about it. This interactive history will show you, starting back in 2007.

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3D animator Esquirebob creates a short episode from Seinfeld, starring the main characters from the Super Mario world.

What's the deal with goombas?

EsquirebobAnimations

Chris Carter's Cloudbuilt preview rocketed it onto my radar. Thankfully, the gorgeous, parkour-filled action platformer won't keep us waiting long. It's coming to Steam next month, March 20, as this unnecessarily short video shows.

It looks a bit like sci-fi Gravity Rush done up in color pencils. I can't wait. I also can't wait for Gravity Rush 2.

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Earlier this week in Barcelona, SanDisk unveiled the world's first 128GB MicroSD card, and you can already get it at a great price from Amazon.

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An app that turns your phone into an SOS beacon will tell rescuers where to find you if you are trapped, even when the internet is down

The Bernoulli effect, as explained by Cerulean Lunacy from the science side of Tumblr.

Nerval's Lobster writes "Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg decided to drop a cool $16 billion on WhatsApp, a messaging service with 450 million users. It was a mind-boggling sum, even if you buy into Facebook's argument that WhatsApp (which will continue to operate as an independent subsidiary, at least for the moment) will soon connect a billion people around the world. But it wasn't the biggest tech acquisition of all time: that honor belongs to Hewlett-Packard, which bought Compaq for a (inflation-adjusted) $33.4 billion in 2001. Facebook's purchase of WhatsApp comes in second on the list, followed by Hewlett-Packard's purchase of Electronic Data Systems for $15.4 billion; Google's acquisition of Motorola Mobility for $13 billion, and Oracle snatching up Peoplesoft for $12.7 billion. In sixth comes Hewlett-Packard again, with its Autonomy buy in 2011 (for $11.7 billion), followed by Oracle's BEA Systems acquisition ($9.4 billion) and Microsoft seizing Skype ($9.0 billion). What do many of these highest-cost purchases have in common? Many of them didn't pan out. Hewlett-Packard's Compaq, Autonomy, and EDS acquisitions, for example, made all the sense in the world on paper, the tech giant eventually took significant write-downs on all three (Autonomy in particular was an outright disaster, resulting in a $8.8 billion write-off and widespread allegations of financial and management impropriety)." Update: 02/20 19:32 GMT by T : Of interest: Mother Jones has an interesting take on the seeming mismatch between Facebook's business model and the way the WhatsApp founders think about advertising. Hint: they hate it.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Thanks DJ

 

Such a pragmatist, was Owen Lars. Always telling his nephew to worry about a practical career rather than damn fool idealistic crusades, or academy pipedreams. But, er.. mightn't there have been an earlier time to raise such objections? Dorkly.com thinks so, and has imagined exactly how it played out... Continue reading "Uncle Owen's Reasonable Objections to Adopting Luke Skywalker" >