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18 Aug 13:44

Thanks Vancouver For Banning Uber So I Could Wait In 30-Minute Taxi Lines

by admin

no-uber-in-vancouver

This picture was taken at my hotel in Vancouver, BC on Saturday.  This is only about a third of the mob trying to get a taxi, a process that took me over 30 minutes.  The whole thing was made doubly frustrating by another bit of government interference -- about half the taxis that showed up dropping folks off left the hotel empty despite the huge mass of people waiting.  Why?  Apparently certain airport taxis are not allowed to pick up people in certain areas.  So the taxis had to go all the way back to the airport empty, despite the fact that people there were waiting to go to the airport.  Absolute madness of crony government intervention.

Yes, I understand that Saturday is "cruise day" and there is a huge spike in demand as these boats load and unload.  But this is exactly why Uber would make so much sense.  Think about all the folks that have weekday jobs that would love to earn some extra money driving on a Saturday.  Uber allows for just this sort of flexibility.

07 Aug 21:17

A School Cop Handcuffed an 8-Year-Old Boy’s Arms Behind His Back. That’s Not Okay.

by Robby Soave

ShackleOne of the worst examples of a school treating mild misbehavior as dangerous criminal conduct comes to us from the American Civil Liberties Union, which has filed suit against a Kentucky school that allowed an officer to handcuff an 8-year-old boy and 9-year-old girl.

I use the word handcuff, but the better description would be shackle. The boy, at least, had his biceps restrained, rather than his hands, as is evident in this video. The cop—a school resources officer for Covington Independent Public Schools—can be seen telling the kid “you don’t get to swing at me like that.” Once shackled, the boy cries and complains that the restraints are hurting him.

Both children suffer from learning disabilities, according to The Huffington Post. In the ACLU’s view, that makes this an affront to the Americans with Disabilities Act:

"As a result of being subjected to unnecessary and excessive handcuffing, Plaintiffs experienced pain, fear, and emotional trauma, and an exacerbation of their disabilities," the lawsuit reads. The complaint alleges violations of the U.S. Constitution and Americans with Disabilities Act.

Colonel Pat Morgan, a spokesman for the Kenton County Sheriff's Office, told The Huffington Post that he was waiting for their attorneys to review the lawsuit before providing comment.

I don’t know whether the officer’s conduct violates the Americans with Disabilities Act. It does appear to violate Kentucky law, which specifies that restraints shouldn’t be used on children, according to CNN.

But such treatment of a child is cruel, and wrong, regardless of whether the child has a learning disability, and regardless of what the law actually states. No 50-pound boy is enough of a physical threat to a police officer that shackling his biceps behind his back is justified. School isn’t prison, and children aren’t inmates.

07 Aug 21:16

Mother Shamed for Leaving Kid in Car, 10 Feet Away, in Front of Store Window

by Lenore Skenazy

KidsThis video was shot by a young man named Carl Paz who went into a Sprint store in Torrance, California, to confront the woman who let a baby wait in a car parked right outside the store's plate glass window.

As Paz wrote on his Facebook page:

Walk by a Sprint Retail store and spot a baby, alone in a car, while its 82 degrees outside. No shade, no A/C...nothing. And the mother has the nerve to have this attitude. No concern for her child's well being until attention is called towards it. I wanna make this somewhat viral, to spread awareness. If you see something, say something. This ISNT right. Share this if youd like. P.S. sorry for the shitty angle, im six foot five lol#badparenting #stupid

Paz barged into the store and demanded to know which customer had left a baby in the car. A mom admitted right away that the baby was hers. In response, Paz told her, "As a good parent, I would go out and look on my baby."

The mother replied that this was precisely why she had parked right outside the front window, where she could see the baby. "There's nothing wrong with my kid being right there,” she said.

"In your sense, maybe there's nothing wrong," Paz responded.

We’ve all been trained to judge parents mercilessly and assume the worst. But the mom is right. There is nothing wrong with a child waiting a few minutes in a car.

Yes, I know we have been exhorted to believe every child in every parked car, even 10 feet from a parent, is in immediate danger of heat stroke or kidnapping. But in fact, the most dangerous thing the mom did that day was drive her child at all. Kids are in more danger in moving cars than parked ones, and yet we don't make viral videos every time a mom takes her kid to the mall.

We go crazy when we've been told to go crazy, and lately we've been told to go crazy when a kid is waiting in a car, no matter what the circumstances are. Paz even parrots the line, "If you see something, say something"—a mantra that implies we are in such constant danger, we must be on the lookout at all times.

Fact: Of the 30-40 children who die in parked cars each year, 80 percent were either forgotten and left by mistake or got in without anyone knowing and could not get out. They are found too late. That leaves about 10 children a year who die in cars under circumstances we can’t quite explain.

As for the odds of this child being in true danger, here's the math I did for an essay at Cato Unbound, discussing a year in which 31 children died in cars (and for this I included all 31):

So, if there are 40,000,000 children under age 10 in America (and there are), and if they take an average of, let’s say, 10 car rides a week, we are talking about 20,800,000,000—that’s more than 20 trillion billion—kid car rides a year. And 1 in every 670,967,742 of those errands could prove fatal—that’s 0.000000149% of them. Should we really be regulating parental choice based on percentages like these?

No. And by the way: more kids die in parking lots than in parked cars. (See this piece.)

What I appreciate about Paz is that he did not call the cops, because he knew that this could easily bring on a Child Protective Services investigation, and the family could be traumatized.

On the other hand, he posted the video and included the licence plate. Now the police are indeed looking into the matter. Meanwhile, on Facebook, strangers are calling the mom a "bitch" and "crackhead"—which would make most of our own moms bitches and crackheads, too, because most of us waited out some errands in the car.

Here are two things that would actually make all kids safer:

  • When you put your child in the backseat, put your phone there, too. That way you won't forget your child—you will notice that you don't have your phone with you. You may not notice you don't have your child with you if you get to work, the child has fallen asleep in the back, and you go about your day. Especially if normally you are not in charge of dropping off the child. The missing phone helps avoid this mistake.
  • When you're running an errand and it's hot, roll down the windows. Our parents did that back when the crime rate was higher than it is today.

Unfortunately, the law in California is draconian. (As many laws are, when they are named after a child who died.) Larry Altman at The Daily Breeze reports:

Kaitlyn’s Law, signed by Gov. Gray Davis in 2001, makes it illegal to leave a child unattended in a motor vehicle. The law was named for Kaitlyn Russell, a 6-month-old who died in Riverside County in 2000 after a caregiver left her alone in a car for more than two hours on a 100-degree day.

Two hours in 100 degrees? That’s very different from the situation at a Sprint store on Monday.

I wish the mom well, even as she is raked over the coals for doing something so innocuous. 

07 Aug 21:13

A Grandma Reflects on Sex Offender Laws: “My Husband Would Have Gone to Jail”

by lskenazy

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Following up on the Zach Anderson case — the 19 year old on the Sex Offender Registry for 25 years for having consensual sex with a girl who said she was 17 (but was really 14) — comes this grandma’s letter. The Sex Offender Registry is a Free-Range issue because it grows out of the belief our kids are in constant danger and it perpetuates that belief, by making many non-threatening people like Zach into scary dots on the “maps of local sex offenders.” These are the maps many parents consult when deciding if they can let their kids walk outside or wait at the bus stop, or really have any unsupervised time at all. It is hard to let your kids roam the neighborhood if you are convinced it is an off-site wing of Sing-Sing.

Dear Free-Range Kids: I hope this young man gets a reprieve from this unjust law. Unfortunately, there are hundreds if not thousands in his and his families situation. I live in California, and while there are laws that restrict those whose age difference is only three years apart, the age of consent is 18, So if the girl is 17 (but looks 25, and has a fake ID) , and the male is 20/21, he is considered a sex offender. It doesn’t even have to involve sex, a touch (hug/kiss) is considered lewd conduct. Yes, our friends son spent time in prison for this! His life is over.

Our registry is life time. Forever. Most go to prison, not jail. We have over 100,000 on our registry. So, there is no way to know who is possibly a danger, because it is saturated, and some pictures may look like it was a dirty old man, but the offense may have been committed 30 or 40 years ago when the now old-looking man was 19 or 20.

And our tax dollars are being used to support these laws. No one can even tell us how much this is costing the tax payer, while our education system, infrastructure, water systems, etc. decay.

They can’t find housing (no one will rent to them), they can’t get jobs (no one will hire them), they are shunned by society. And yet it’s become the best way for politicians to get votes, by using them as pawns.

The general public has no idea what is happening, nor do they care if it happens to be someone who committed a sexual offense, but they ought to be concerned because someday it might be their son and their family torn apart over what a few decades ago was considered normal behavior.

I was just 16 when I met my husband of 21. Today, he would be considered a sex offender. I wonder what would have become of us if we had these laws back then. We have been successful, happily married for well over 40 years with children and grand-children. My grandfather is in a Hall of Fame, yet he married my grandmother while she was just 15, he being 20! People say, “Well that was different back then”. Really? I don’t believe that human behavior changes just because we are in a different century.

Yes, we need to protect the innocent, but let’s do that by ensuring only those that truly are a risk to our safety are prosecuted. This has become the biggest cash cow of our century. – Jill

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If only you'd been thrown in jail for courting me, and then placed on the Sex Offender List so you couldn't live near me or get a job.

If only you’d been thrown in jail for courting me, and then placed on the Sex Offender List so you couldn’t live near me or get a job.

.

07 Aug 12:40

BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE's MATT TUCK: 'We Knew We Wanted To Make A Super-Aggressive Record'

In a brand new interview with The Aquarian Weekly, guitarist/vocalist Matt Tuck of Welsh metallers BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE was asked if it was the band's aim to create a darker, more intense record with the upcoming "Venom" or if this was something that just developed on its own. "It was a bit of both, really," he responded. "We knew we wanted to make a super-aggressive record. We thought the time was right to reignite that fire we used to have when we were younger and just take on fans' criticisms on the last record [2013's 'Temper Temper'], really. They just wanted a heavier-sounding band, you know? It's kind of what we used to do, and, for some reason, along the way things just got kind of diluted, for whatever reason. But we just thought the time was right to kind of get that fury and that anger back in our music, and as soon as we started writing songs with that in mind, it was just… all hell broke loose. Obviously, a lot of things got scrapped, a lot of things got rewrote, it took a long time to get where the album is now. But putting more effort in and having to actually think about it for once was actually a really smart move." Tuck, however, stopped short of calling "Venom" a depature from BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE's last couple of efforts. "I don't think it's a different direction," he said. "I just think it's more… I don't know. Just kind of thinking about it, we've always been a metal band, we've always had that influence and we've always had more special influences in our music like with METALLICA and IRON MAIDEN. Ultimately, we've always just done that. We always want to keep our identity but we just thought we wanted to turn things up. We didn't want to make the same album twice ever, and we've kind of done that so far. So this time around, we just wanted to make a heavy record and we knew by doing that, it would really engage the fanbase that we had when we were a lot younger, and it's just more exciting to do something like that. And next album, who knows what that may be, as well, you know? It's just us trying to make things more interesting for us and our fans. Even if this album sells like a billion copies, we would never try to make it again for the sake of that. It was just us doing things because that's what we wanted to do. Just doing it felt good and it felt natural, so we just rolled with it." Tuck also spoke about BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE's split with bassist Jason "Jay" James and addition of Jamie Matthias, Jason's replacement. "Jay never really had a creative influence on anything we ever did, you know what I mean?" Matt said. "He was just in the band, and so we weren't nervous about writing an album without Jay or anything, because like I said, he was never really a creative force in the band. Obviously, trying to replace him while writing and making a record was… not challenging, but it was something you kind of need during the process, you know? But it was just one of those things that had to happen, and me and the boys wrote and recorded the album just the three of us and while we were doing that we were holding auditions and stuff in the studio. Then Jamie's audition tape came in, so we got him up in the studio and we had a couple of live auditions and that was it, really. The job was done! The transition between him and Jay has been pretty seamless. We've done it in a very respectful, very private manner, so there's been no drama. So it wasn't a rough time, but it was a challenging time trying to replace someone that's been in the band since day one. We knew it had to be right, and thankfully Jamie came along, and even because he's Welsh, as well, something we never thought we'd be able to get, but you know, it just worked out perfect. So, it's all good." Read the entire interview at The Aquarian Weekly. BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE's fifth studio album, "Venom", will be released on August 14 via RCA. The CD was produced by Carl Bown and Colin Richardson (SLIPKNOT, MACHINE HEAD, TRIVIUM) at Metropolis Studio in London.
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07 Aug 12:36

MOTÖRHEAD, HAEMIMONT GAMES And GLOBAL MERCHANDISING Team Up To Create Loudest Video Game In World

MOTÖRHEAD are celebrating their 40th anniversary and a new album is on the way — the perfect time for rock and metal fans and gamers alike to experience a video game based on the iconic band and their unique attitude. The collaboration between MOTÖRHEAD, Global Merchandising and Haemimont Games will merge the world of rock and games in ways never seen before. Based on the highly acclaimed "Victor Vran" Action-RPG that is already available on STEAM, this official and exclusive MOTÖRHEAD expansion will feature an entirely new storyline, new enemies, weapons and skills! The expansion, titled "Motörhead Through The Ages", will be entirely MOTÖRHEAD themed and the established "Victor Vran" universe will be extended with new adventures to experience and bosses to fight. The MOTÖRHEAD game will consist of new game environments that have not been seen in the original game. Traverse war-torn landscapes and cities, Wild-West-inspired landscapes and the Dark Ages Castle where the Queen of the Damned resides, all heavily inspired by and based on MOTÖRHEAD's history, lyrics and general attitude. MOTÖRHEAD define the themes of the game as Victor faces evils relevant to our own world — religious fanatics, corrupt politicians and power-hungry oppressive rulers. During these quests he will be supported not only by the newly designed Motör-Weapons, -Powers and -Skills, but also a soundtrack with over a dozen tracks, partly never heard before! motorheadthroughtheages_638
07 Aug 12:35

RUSH's ALEX LIFESON: 'Whatever This Tour Is, It's Not The End Of The Band'

Guitarist Alex Lifeson of Canadian rock legends RUSH was interviewed for the latest episode of VH1 Classic "That Metal Show" co-host Eddie Trunk's podcast, "Eddie Trunk Podcast". You can now listen to it at this location. A couple of excerpts follow (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET). On how his battle with arthritis has affected his playing: "You know, you have to careful what you say these days. I've had arthritis for about twelve years that I've been dealing with — psoriatic arthritis. For me, it's primarily in my feel and a little bit in my hands. And I am a little stiffer at the end of a show, and I feel it the next day, but it's nothing, really, that gets in the way of my playing. It doesn't really hold me back. I'm just more aware of it. But I can't say that it's the reason I make mistakes. [Laughs] "I keep hearing it now, and I almost regret ever mentioning it in the past. 'Cause everyone thinks, 'Oh, his hands are… He's got arthritis, and that's it. He can't play.' I feel it, just like we all do as we get older — aches and all of that stuff — but it doesn't impede my playing. It makes it a little more difficult, a little more challenging to do the fast stuff, and there's a little bit of feedback that I get from it the next day, but it's nothing that really stands in the way." On what he is doing to deal with his psoriatic arthritis: "I've been on a biologic medication, Humira. You've probably seen the ads for Humira. And I've been on it for, I think, about four years now. So it was good. I went through a lot of different medications that were very difficult on my system and they had a lot of side effects. So I switched to Humira and now I'm doing an ad for them. And it's really worked well for me." On whether RUSH's current tour is the band's last-ever full-scale run: "Well, I love what we're doing. I think we're playing really well. The show's working great… all of that stuff. Clearly, Neil [Peart, drums] has not enjoyed touring… the touring aspect for a long time. And he has a young family, and he has all his own reasons. It's become difficult for him to play, and he has health issues as well. I think he mentioned in the Rolling Stone article that playing, for him, is like running a marathon while doing mathematical equations. So it's very challenging, it's very athletic, and at almost 63 years old, it's a lot more difficult. It's a three-hour show. We can't get away from it. We were supposed to cut back on this tour. We can't. Maybe in the future, there's an opportunity to change things up a little bit, the way we do it. I think, in my gut, that this is probably the last major tour that we'll do. I like to think that we'll do specialty gigs — maybe a week in New York, or something like that — but we haven't even discussed that. We just wanna get through this tour and see where we're at. We wanna discuss whether we're gonna make another record anytime soon… a lot of things. "Whatever this tour is, it's not the end of the band. It's just… kind of, reviewing where we're at in terms of major tours. And that's kind of what it is. "We're not waving goodbye. We're waving 'see you later.' "Whatever it is… if it is the end of touring, I feel good that we're at least playing as well as we are, that we've developed a show that's really, you know, quite something in terms of our historical story. And it's nice to go out on a note like that, if you are — at the top of your game, or close to the top of your game. "I would hate to think that we would be one of those bands that would do a couple of weeks in [Las] Vegas — for what reason, I don't know… Ten shows at Madison Square Garden, well, that's a little different. And you bring people in from all over the country. I'm not saying that's something we will do, but that is an option, or it is something that you could put together instead of doing a major tour, and bring people to the venue. Vegas is not the kind of environment, I think, for us. We certainly wouldn't be happy doing something like that." On whether Peart's problem with touring has more to do with his dislike of travelling and being away from home than health issues: "Well, yeah, it's that, and he has other interests. And I think he's happy being at home and doing the stuff that he does." On whether RUSH has written any material for a new studio album: "[We don't do any writing] while we're on the road. I've got a ton of stuff that I've been writing over the last couple of years… well, more than that. And I know if Geddy [Lee, RUSH bassist/vocalist] and I sit down together, we'll start that engine up fairly quickly. And we've talked a little bit about doing that. And I wouldn't doubt that, in the fall, we would get together and maybe start jamming or just playing together. He's really in an interesting space right now. He loves being on the road, he loves working. He's very healthy, feels great. And he's had a bit of a renaissance, I think, with the whole idea of playing in the band and everything that it means. So he's raring to go. It's a little bit of a, you know, tug both ways." RUSH kicked off its "R40 Live" 40th-anniversary tour on May 8 at the BOK Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The concert featured no opening act and contained a number of video vignettes created for the tour, including an animated sequence shown at the start of the show that displayed the progression of the trio throughout the years. The "R40 Live" tour wrapped on August 1 in Los Angeles, California at the Forum.
07 Aug 11:48

Closed Captioning At GOP Debate Actually Cat Walking On Keyboard

by Andy McDonald

The closed captioning was the real frontrunner of the first GOP debate. Participants included the candidates who couldn't make the main debate -- the triple A players, if you will.


It was as if the closed caption technician had used the restroom, and a wayward cat had wandered in and decided to take a nap on the keyboard.





























 


Also on HuffPost:


-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.











07 Aug 11:23

Guy Ritchie's King Arthur Will Be "Huge and Spectacular"

by Chris Tilly

Director Guy Ritchie and producer Lionel Wigram are currently busy working on their big-budget King Arthur movie Knights of the Round Table, so while they were doing the publicity rounds for current feature The Man From U.N.C.L.E., we asked the pair how that next collaboration would look.

“Pretty damn good” Wigram responded with a laugh. “I can give you the producer version. It’s going to be the coolest King Arthur that you’ve ever seen. It is a huge, spectacular, sword and sorcery fantasy. It’s our dream version of what we would have liked to see Excalibur be. What we also did, which I think helps a lot, is that rather than trying to do the whole story in one, we’ve limited ourselves to basically how Arthur becomes King. So that’s allowed us to spend enough time and detail on that. And we can enjoy then hopefully later iterations.”

Continue reading…

07 Aug 09:06

SHIELD: Chloe Bennet on Fully Becoming Daisy Johnson in Season 3

by Eric Goldman

It’s always tricky talking to cast members from Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD, because they have to keep so many secrets. Still, going into Season 3, we know a lot of changes are in store for Skye (Chloe Bennet), on the heels of the huge events that occurred for her in Season 2.

First and foremost, she’s not called Skye anymore – she’s going by her real name, Daisy Johnson (AKA Marvel comics’ Quake). Plus there’s the fact that she knows she's an Inhuman and will be forming a new team of super-powered folks, which will introduce the Secret Warriors into the series.

At the TCA (Television Critics Association) press tour this week, Bennet spoke to myself and other reporters about Skye, ahem, Daisy’s transformation and what to expect from the shifting character dynamics this year.

Continue reading…

07 Aug 07:31

How the TV show in Xbox One exclusive 'Quantum Break' works

by Nick Summers
When Remedy released Alan Wake on Xbox 360, few people questioned the live-action cut scenes sprinkled throughout the campaign. It turns out those moments were the seedlings for a grander vision: to develop a game interwoven with a full TV show.
07 Aug 07:26

Tesla's prehensile car charger plugs itself in automatically

by Andrew Tarantola
Keep your flying cars and robot maids, we are already living in Elon Musk's future. Tesla officially unveiled its automatic charging system today and whaaaaa? When Musk first announced its development last December, he compared it to a "solid metal...
06 Aug 14:45

TorrentFreak: iTunes is Illegal Under UK Copyright Law

uk-flagLate last year the UK Government legalized copying for private use, a practice which many citizens already believed to be legal.

The UK Intellectual Property Office noted that the changes were “in the best interest” of consumers and that they would bring copyright law into the 21st century.

However, the new regulation was short-lived. Fearing a loss of income several music groups objected at the High Court, which subsequently agreed that the new legislation is unlawful.

As a result the changes were overturned last month and the previous limitations were reinstated. To find out what the public can and can’t do under the law, TF reached out to the UK Intellectual Property Office, which provided some very clear answers.

“It is now unlawful to make private copies of copyright works you own, without permission from the copyright holder – this includes format shifting from one medium to another,” a spokesperson informed us.

The IPO specifically notes that copying a CD to an MP3 player is not permitted. This means that iTunes’ popular ripping feature, which Apple actively promotes during the software’s installation, is illegal.

Also, under the current law iTunes is actively facilitating copyright infringement by promoting their CD-ripping functionality. This means that the company could face significant claims for damages.

Apple’s iTunes installer offers ripping advice
iTunespromo

There is more though, as the law affects much more than just ripping CDs. Simply copying a song in an automated computer backup or storing a copy on a private cloud hosting service is also against the law.

“…it includes creating back-ups without permission from the copyright holder as this necessarily involves an act of copying,” we were informed by the Government spokesperson.

Strictly speaking this means that UK citizens are not allowed to make a backup of their computer. After all, pretty much every computer contains copyrighted media. Needless to say, this turns almost the entire country into ‘outlaws’.

The Government is not happy with the High Court decision but it hasn’t decided whether it will propose revised private copying exceptions in the future. Copyright holders previously suggested allowing private copying in exchange for a tax on blank CDs and hard drives.

“As this is a complex area of law, the Government is carefully considering the implications of the ruling and the available options, before deciding any future course of action.”

As reassurance, the Government notes that that people shouldn’t be too concerned because copyright holders are not known to come after people who make a backup of their computers.

“The Government is not aware of any cases of copyright holders having prosecuted individuals for format shifting music solely for their own personal use,” the IPO spokesperson says.

However, copyright holders can take people to court over both CD-ripping and computer backups, if they want to.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and the best VPN services.

06 Aug 14:31

Intel Skylake Z170 Motherboards: A Quick Look at 55+ New Products

by Ian Cutress

Along with the launch of the two Skylake-K processors today, we also have a raft of new motherboards to go with them. The Skylake processors use the LGA 1151 socket (which is new) combined with the Z170 chipset, meaning every motherboard manufacturer has been developing and putting together a whole stack of products to meet different price points and demand. The Z170 chipset itself represents a large jump in terms of IO design, driven by the growing need for diversification and utility on modern platforms.

06 Aug 11:29

5 Things You Didn't Know About 'Fringe,' According To Dr. Bishop

by Todd Van Luling

TK TK gifs

Although the show ended in 2013, "Fringe" has achieved a revived popularity from online streaming over the last couple of years.


Regardless of whether you've been a fan since Olivia's first visit to Dr. Walter Bishop aired on Fox back in 2008, or if you're just picking up with the show now, here are five facts that are no longer unexplained phenomena and will help you appreciate "Fringe" even more.


The Huffington Post spoke with John Noble -- who played Walter -- over the phone about what he appreciated most from his time exploring the edges of science.


 


1. "Twin Peaks" and "Fringe" might be in the same universe.



Walter makes a comment in Season 3 about having an old friend named Dr. Jacoby who used to wear 3D glasses. Although there's probably quite a bit of crossover between "Twin Peaks" and "Fringe" fans, for those unaware, Dr. Jacoby was a 3D glasses wearing character on the '90s mystery show, and approached science in a similar way to Walter.

 

HuffPost asked Noble whether he felt that the two series were in the same universe, which caused him to crack up laughing and claim, "No, no no, it was like an in joke."

 

However he then continued by saying he wasn't fully sure if the connection was "total lore," especially because the inclusion of oddball things like the Jacoby reference fit the tone of the show regardless. In any case, Noble loved when the writers would throw in something like that.

 

He'd also be excited if the new revival of "Twin Peaks" threw a shoutout to Dr. Bishop.

 


2. Noble was originally told he was too young for the role of Dr. Bishop, but after the creators saw his tape, they didn't even make him audition.



Noble's daughter first noticed that the role of Walter was available while she was perusing open auditions herself. Convinced that her father would be perfect for the part, she went about trying to convince him to audition. After hearing word from his daughter, Noble had his manager inquire, which initially just resulted in the show saying that he was actually too young for the role.


Being already passionate about fringe science, Noble badly wanted the part and therefore was excited when, about a month later, his manager said the creators would actually consider looking at an audition tape if he made one.


Noble was at home in Australia at the time when he ended up filming the scene where Walter first meets Olivia in the mental hospital's cafeteria, with his daughter playing Olivia. According to him, Noble immediately felt as if it was going to work out.


"I was so pleased with it," Noble recalled fondly, mentioning that he rushed home to show it to his wife.


After the tape was submitted, he learned that they were going to offer him the gig just from that, without even making him audition back in the States. 


 


3. Initially, Noble worried that the Twin Towers existing in the alternate universe would offend people, but felt the show's presentation was "brilliant" in the end.



The alternate universe in "Fringe" was made to closely, but not exactly, mimic the main universe -- with the Twin Towers still standing after 9/11 and President Kennedy not being assassinated. There's also one theory that Humphrey Bogart doesn't exist because Ronald Reagan and Cary Grant are named as the actors in his roles. 


Noble was particularly fond of these quirks, but remembered being initially worried when he heard that they were going to make the Twin Towers reference.


"I thought it may upset people a lot," Noble said, who felt as if the inclusion was "dangerous."


When he saw how the show actually approached it though, he was proud with how it was handled. "Everything was done with the utmost of respect," Noble told HuffPost. "At no stage did we go out to sensationalize anything. I felt it was particularly courageous to do that. Because there was a certain elegance and beauty."


 


4. Since he felt it didn't affect his character, Noble didn't concern himself with the various "Easter eggs" that were hidden for fans.



"Fringe" was known to hide quite a few "Easter eggs" throughout the series and also notably tried to create mysteries for fans to solve, such as using various white-and-blue symbols to open and close scenes.


Although some of "Fringe" fandom was based off these sorts of side things, since they didn't concern the main plot, Noble didn't focus on them all too much. "There were always Easter eggs all over the place, but I never saw them," explained Noble, who then said why they were nothing more than a peripheral interest to him, "Look, it's funny, they had nothing to do with my character."


The actor certainly liked their inclusion, but they didn't help him play Walter, so it wasn't his concentration while filming.


 


5. Leonard Nimoy continued to act on the show even after he officially retired. One of his last acting scenes before he died was with Noble.



Although it's unclear if this was Nimoy's very last acting role due to his 2013 cameo in "Star Trek Into Darkness," his role as Dr. William Bell on "Fringe" certainly featured some of the last scenes the legendary actor tackled. 


Despite officially retiring in 2010, Nimoy continued coming back to the show when he had availability. As Noble explained, "He was a sick man at that stage." But the actor apparently respected the show so much that he wanted to keep up with the role.


"The man was a living legend, totally, a true living legend," said Noble, who later continued, "Apart from feeling incredibly honored, really honored -- privileged -- to be sharing a soundstage with him, it was more than that, I also found him to be a superb actor to work with."


The two remained close and as Noble said, "I was deeply saddened by his death, I have to tell you."


 


Bonus: Noble fondly remembered his times on set with Nimoy, where they'd just sit and talk for hours "about a wide range of topics, nothing to do with science fiction necessarily at all."



As Noble told HuffPost, "We would be inclined to sit outside the soundstage on a couple chairs that were set up for us, and we'd talk about a wide range of topics, nothing to do with science fiction necessarily at all -- or nothing to do with 'Fringe.'" Noble continued, "We'd talk as two men do with common ground and have so much to talk about, and we'd spend as much time as possible just sitting there doing that."


He recalled the conversations and moments with Nimoy as "special for me," particularly when the ailing actor "very gently" gave him "a lecture about smoking."


"It did take a great toll on him so he would beg me, 'Please, please,'" to stop smoking. Noble remembers with affection that this new friend of his was so concerned.


"You know how you sit down with someone and the conversation flows so easily, you're not struggling at all," Noble recalled. "And it doesn't happen with all people, but sometimes it does, and that's what it was between him. I think there was mutual respect, which helps things along a bit," said Noble.


"I still have to pinch myself sometimes that I worked with Leonard Nimoy." 


 


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06 Aug 10:38

The Flash: Wally West Cast for Season 2

by Eric Goldman

A big part of The Flash’s comic book mythology is coming to the CW series in Season 2, as Keiynan Lonsdale has been cast as Wally West. Lonsdale will be a series regular.

In the comics, Wally West not only was The Flash’s sidekick, Kid Flash, but then went on to become The Flash himself for many years. Wally has recently been re-introduced in the New 52 DC Comics. Wally has traditionally been the nephew of Iris West, played by Candice Patton on the series.

Keiynan Lonsdale will play Wally West in The Flash. Keiynan Lonsdale will play Wally West in The Flash.

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06 Aug 09:51

Google and MIT can take reflection-free photos through windows

by Jon Fingas
Who knew that reflection-free window photos were suddenly in vogue? Google and MIT do, apparently. Some of their researchers have developed an algorithm that eliminates unwanted visuals by using frames from a short video to separate the foregroun...
06 Aug 09:48

Producer Says He's Working on Sherlock Holmes 3 Script

by Chris Tilly

Lionel Wigram – producer of Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes movies – has been talking about the potential for a third film in the series.

Wigram and Ritchie have been busy promoting their new collaboration – a film version of 1960s spy series The Man From U.N.C.L.E. – and while IGN was quizzing them on that subject, we asked about the super-sleuth series.

“We’re working on a Sherlock Holmes 3 script” Wigram explained. “I think we would all love to do one if we could come up with something that really was really going to knock it out of the park and was going to be the best of the three. So we’re working on that – it’s quite hard to do.”

As for whether Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law would be game for reprising their roles as Holmes and Watson, Wigram simply said “Very. Very.”

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05 Aug 09:04

Stan Lee's Advice on How to Create a Good Superhero

by Joshua Yehl

When he's not making cameos, Marvel Comics legend Stan Lee keeps busy. We sat down to talk to him about YouTube's World of Superheroes where different YouTubers were tasked with creating their own superhero using the company's YouTube Space -- a large studio with all sorts of cameras and equipment for making videos with high production value. Lee's own POW! Entertainment is partnering with YouTube, so being the co-creator of the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, Spider-Man, and countless more, we asked Lee to give some advice to the YouTubers on how to make a good superhero.

2479238-slmsm_01_oroboros__001First up, what makes a good superpower?

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05 Aug 09:00

Man in the High Castle: Imagining a Nazi-Led America

by Eric Goldman

At the TCA (Television Critics Association) press tour this week, the cast and producers of The Man in the High Castle spoke about the new Amazon series. Based on the novel by Philip K. Dick (whose stories inspired Blade Runner, Total Recall and Minority Report), the story imagines an alternate history where the Nazis and their allies won World War II, picking up in the former United States in 1962.

Executive Producer/showrunner Frank Spotnitz (The X-Files) spoke about how much discussion they had about how society would have developed differently if we’d lost World War II, saying, “Obviously, we started with an alternative history that is in the novel. And, then, honestly, the biggest challenge was finding the visual alternative history, and that was something the pilot director, David Semel, confronted, because we knew from the pilot on we were establishing the rules of this world and we needed to honor them however many years this show went forward. So that does come down to hairstyles, wardrobe, types of vehicles. You know, there's a very big shot of Time Square very early in the pilot episode. Well, what would Time Square look like if we didn't live in a corporate capitalist society? What would it look like if the Nazis had proceeded for another 17 years ruling the world? What would their values be? What would their commercial values be? Would there be cars with fins? Would you have a kind of space age optimism in the design of home appliances? So there's literally thousands of props and set design and costume and hair design issues that David Semel and, then, our series director, Dan Percival, have been on the front lines of deciding.”

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05 Aug 08:58

How Much $$$ Downey Jr. Has Made this Year

by Scott Collura

For the third year running, Robert Downey, Jr. is the best-paid actor in the world. In 2015, he took in $80 million, most of it in that crazy Marvel money, of course.

Forbes has broken down the full list of the highest-paid stars, which also includes fellow Marvel thesps Bradley Cooper (number four with $41.5 million), Chris Hemsworth (number 15 with $27 million), Chris Evans (number 32 with $13.5 million) and Chris Pratt (number 33 with $13 million). Simple addition tells us that Marvel’s Chris triumvirate made $53.5 million combined this year!

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05 Aug 08:58

The Deadpool Trailer is Here

by Lucy O'Brien

The full red band trailer for Tim Miller's 2016 Deadpool movie has landed - check it out below! If you're, er, of an "appropriate age".

And, as a bonus, here's the green band trailer, too:

Leave your thoughts on both trailers in the comments below.

Deadpool will be directed by Tim Miller and stars Ryan Reynolds, Morena Baccarin, Ed Skrein and Gina Carano. The film is scheduled for a February 12, 2016, release.

Lucy O'Brien is Entertainment Editor at IGN’s AU office. Follow her ramblings on Twitter.

 

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04 Aug 14:23

YouTube makes new desktop player available to everyone

by Mariella Moon
YouTube just got a facelift -- it's not a complete reconstruction, but it's definitely more than just fillers to smooth out wrinkles. The Google-owned video sharing service has rolled out its new HTML5 desktop player to everyone after a few months...
04 Aug 14:22

Here's a Teaser for Deadpool's Red Band Trailer

by Alex Osborn

20th Century Fox has released a teaser for its upcoming red band trailer for Deadpool.

The trailer, which premieres tomorrow on Conan, will provide us with an early look at Ryan Reynolds as the Marvel Comics superhero in a very R-rated fashion. To whet your appetite for its debut, check out the teaser below.

We got a chance to see the very same teaser last month at SDCC, where we learned a whole lot about the upcoming film. Meanwhile, a more more family-friendly trailer will debut alongside the theatrical release of Fantastic Four on August 7.

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04 Aug 11:59

Hawkman Cast for Arrow, Flash and Legends of Tomorrow

by Matt Fowler

German actor Falk Hentschel (Transcendence, White House Down) has been cast for the role of “Carter Hall" - aka Hawkman in DC's Legends of Tomorrow.

Hentschel will first appear in crossover episodes of both Arrow and The Flash, then continue in the role on Legends of Tomorrow - which will debut on The CW in early 2016.

DC's Legends of Tomorrow: A Visual Guide to All the Characters

Falk's Carter Hall is the latest reincarnation of an Egyptian Prince who is fated to reincarnate throughout time along with his soulmate, Kendra Saunders/Hawkgirl (played by Ciara Renée). Like Kendra, Carter can access the powers of the Hawk God, Horus, transforming him into the winged warrior known as Hawkman.

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04 Aug 08:10

Behold a Giant Minion on the Loose

by Cassidee Moser

A large inflatable Minion recently caused trouble for Irish motorists when it broke free of its restraints and completely blocked off a road.

Authorities were called, and the Minion was deflated and removed. An onlooker estimates the inflatable to be 30 to 40 feet high.

One car's mirror was damaged, but no other injuries were reported.

The Journal reports a local councilor is calling for an investigation into the incident to see if proper safety protocols were observed when the inflatable went up.

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04 Aug 07:44

The Stratolaunch Will Soon Be the Largest Plane in the World

The Stratolaunch Will Soon Be the Largest Plane in the World

Over the years, man has built some truly colossal airplanes. But in 2016, an even larger aircraft is expected to take flight, and when completed, it will officially be the largest plane in the world. That massive aircraft is known as the Stratolaunch. 

The Stratolaunch is currently in production at California’s Mojave Air and Space Port. Aerospace firm Scaled Composites has headed-up development of the mammoth aircraft, and befitting such a sizable plane, the technical details are jaw-dropping. Stratolaunch, nicknamed “Roc” after the mythical bird of prey, features two fuselages, six Pratt & Whitney jet engines, 28 landing gear wheels, and a whopping 385 foot wingspan.

“If you were to put the center of this airplane on a football field,” mentions Scaled Composites president Kevin Mickey in a KGET interview, “its wingtips would extend beyond the goalposts by about 15 feet on each side.”

RELATED: This 1990 Concept Car was Supposedly the Flying Car of the Future

stratolaunch-largest-plane-2

Those dimensions make it 65 feet wider than the legendary “Spruce Goose” H-4 Hercules, 95 feet wider than the spaceship-carrying Soviet Antonov An-225, and 123 feet wider than the modern Airbus A380. In fact, it is being constructed using pieces of two already quite large planes–a pair of disused Boeing 747s. This then, is no small endeavor, and it almost comes as no surprise to know the brain behind it is none other than Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen.

But its creation isn’t a means of staking a claim as the largest plane in the world, that’s merely a side effect. “Roc” is aiming to change the way satellites are launched into space.

The Stratolaunch is designed to carry a three-stage rocket (equipped with a satellite) between its two fuselages. Upon reaching the correct altitude, the rocket will detach, blast off into space, and later release the satellite. The combined weight of “Roc” plus the rocket is estimated to be 1.3 million pounds. Take a look at the animated video of the Stratolaunch in action, below.

RELATED: Check Out the Strange Boat Used to Save Russian Astronauts in Siberia

Why build the largest plane in the world to put a satellite into space? A setup like the Stratolaunch can allow flexible satellite launches during a range of weather conditions and from anywhere in the world…with a runway big enough, that is. Those are two things a stationary launch pad can’t do. Initial flight testing is anticipated to begin in 2016, with missions expected to go underway in 2018.

04 Aug 07:42

Researchers create a worm that infects Macs silently and permanently

by Roberto Baldwin
Macs have typically been heralded as the more secure of the two main operating systems. But according to researchers, at the firmware level, that's not necessarily true. Ahead of their 'Thunderstrike 2: Sith Strike' Black Hat presentation, Xeno Kov...
03 Aug 11:35

World's First Smartwatch for the Blind Unveiled

by Matt Porter

Dot, a start-up South Korean tech company, has announced a smartwatch for the blind.

Dot's CEO, Eric Ju Yoon Kim, said "until now, if you got a message on iOS from your girlfriend, for example, you had to listen to Siri read it to you in that voice, which is impersonal," to Tech in Asia.

Kim wants to make braille smart technology more affordable, aiming to release the Dot Braille Smartwatch for less than $300.

The braille display works using four depressed cells which rise and refresh to reveal new characters. The speed can be altered based on how fast the user can read.

Dot1-720x509

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03 Aug 11:19

Humans Renewed for Season 2

by Matt Fowler

AMC, Channel 4, and Kudos have announced that their co-produced drama series Humans has been renewed for a second season.

The series will return for eight new episodes, with production starting next year.

Written by British writing partners Sam Vincent and Jonathan Brackley (Spooks, Spooks: The Greater Good) and based on the award-winning Swedish sci-fi drama Real Humans, the series stands as a top five cable drama launch among adults 25-54 in the U.S. this season and has averaged 2.0 million viewers and 1.0 million adults 25-54 through its first four episodes in live+3 ratings.

Overseas, the first episode was Channel 4’s highest rated originated drama in 20 years.

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