D G

Thanks Mike (from Spain)

The post Where not to put a cactus appeared first on Bits and Pieces.

via

The post That’s not a shadow… appeared first on Bits and Pieces.

via

The post A&W AWWW appeared first on Bits and Pieces.

via

The post I like the sound you make… appeared first on Bits and Pieces.

Natural Born Killers (dir. Oliver Stone) 

Colin Woodard’s new book American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures in North America divides North America into districts that have no bearing on state borders, but are identified as unique cultures. Who knew that you could draw a map that puts John Farrier and me into the same category?  

Woodard says that among these 11 nations, Yankeedom and the Deep South exert the most influence and are constantly competing with each other for the hearts and minds of the other nations.

"We are trapped in brinkmanship because there is not a lot of wiggle room between Yankee and Southern Culture," Woodard says. "Those two nations would never see eye to eye on anything besides an external threat."

Woodward also says the regions are becoming more polarized, because humans are mobile and “self-sorting.” That’s not universal. I am still in Kentucky because of relatives and the property I own, not the politics. Read a short history and description of each of these cultures at Business Insider. -via mental_floss

(Image credit: Colin Woodward and Tufts/Brian Stauffer)

“I hate traffic lights,” said Matt Ginsberg, CEO and founder of Connected Signals. So do the rest of us. Which is why Connected Signals created EnLighten, an app for iOS and Android that communicates with a city’s traffic lights to let you know when a stale green light is about to turn yellow, or a red light two blocks ahead will turn green.

The app’s interface is as simple -- and deliberately as boring and non-distracting -- as it can be. A red, yellow, or green circle indicates the current state of the signal. A countdown pops up at the bottom of the circle, letting the driver know how long before the green light goes red and then how you'll have to wait at the red light. “Knowing how long the light will be red makes it seems shorter,” Ginsberg said. “You feel like you are controlling it. You aren’t.” A chime sounds five seconds before the light turns green again, alerting the driver that whatever song he’s cued up on Spotify will have to do at least until the next red light.

EnLighten requires the cooperation of cities to make it work. Right now, Portland and Eugene (Connected Signals’ headquarters) in Oregon are fully covered, as well as Salt Lake City. The app will roll out in other cities as the company gains access to its traffic signals. The app has to talk to the central system, which talks to the traffic lights and communicates that information with EnLighten. That relay takes about 1 second; the negotiation process to make it happen in each city takes significantly longer.

BMW announced on Monday that its iDrive system will integrate with EnLighten for iOS. Any BMW with the iDrive system, even cars already on the road, can install the app and control it using iDrive. The car’s sensors and turning signals also integrate with the app for situations such as left-hand-turn lanes.

SEE ALSO: Laid off American Apparel workers are suing the company

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: This massive wall of fans will suck carbon dioxide straight out of the air