firehose

Read 1 remaining paragraphs | Comments

Read 42 remaining paragraphs | Comments

Mathias Döpfner writes an open letter explaining why he fears Google:

We know of no alternative which could offer even partially comparable technological prerequisites for the automated marketing of advertising. And we cannot afford to give up this source of revenue because we desperately need the money for technological investments in the future. Which is why other publishers are increasingly doing the same. We also know of no alternative search engine which could maintain or increase our online reach. A large proportion of high quality journalistic media receives its traffic primarily via Google. In other areas, especially of a non-journalistic nature, customers find their way to suppliers almost exclusively though Google. This means, in plain language, that we ­ and many others ­ are dependent on Google. At the moment Google has a 91.2 percent search-engine market share in Germany. In this case, the statement "if you don't like Google, you can remove yourself from their listings and go elsewhere" is about as realistic as recommending to an opponent of nuclear power that he just stop using electricity. He simply cannot do this in real life ­ unless he wants to join the Amish.

A reaction. And another.

CBS News Asked Nexis To Delete Transcript Of Discredited Benghazi Report:

Been reading 1984.

Welcome to the Ministry of Truth.

Lexis Nexis deleted the transcript from a 60 Minutes piece on the terror attack in Benghazi, Libya at the request of CBS News.

On October 27, 2013, CBS News correspondent Lara Logan ran a story on the popular television news program in which a former security contractor claimed he was at the U.S. diplomatic outpost when it was attacked, had himself attacked a supposed al-Qaeda operative and saw U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens’ dead body.

chrispiascik.tumblr.com


chrispiascik.tumblr.com


chrispiascik.tumblr.com


chrispiascik.tumblr.com


chrispiascik.tumblr.com


chrispiascik.tumblr.com

Chris Piascik

Marco D’Alfonso

Onetime Misfits frontman Glenn Danzig is suing the band’s bassist, Jerry Only, claiming that Only cut him out of the decisions—and the money—related to the recent slapping of the Misfits logo on merch items like faux-Ugg boots, bikinis, and beach-ready bucket hats. According to Re-Tox, Only, Danzig, and others cut a deal in 1994, “in which Danzig, Jerry, and others agreed to share ownership of the Misfits trademark for merchandising purposes.” Fast forward to 2000, when Only allegedly “registered trademarks for everything Misfits-related… behind Danzig’s back.” Only then entered into deals with various brands and merchandisers, including Hot Topic, that essentially cut Danzig and the others “out of any potential profits in the process.” In the lawsuit, Danzig claims that “Jerry even threatened to withhold licensing rights from merchandisers if they did business with Danzig at all”—though proving that will probably be difficult without a ...

Medieval book historian Erik Kwakkel recently posted about this remarkable Dutch manual on watercolor painting from 1692. Entitled Treatise of Colors Used to Paint Water (a rough translation), the book was handwritten and colored by a fellow named A. Boogert during the tail end of Dutch Golden Age painting. It includes color swatches—rather like modern Pantone color swatches—and instructions on how to mix and dilute paints. The book is in the collection of Bibliothèque Méjanes in Aix-en-Provence, France. It can be viewed online at e-corpus.

images via e-corpus

via Colossal

submitted by drunkengeebee
[link] [37 comments]

submitted by jr98664
[link] [119 comments]

A few weeks back I attended The Speakeasy, a play and a bar and an interactive experience in San Francisco. I recommend it. To get to the play, you meet a man in a public space near Civic Center, who gives you a secret map to the location. The location is a fake clock shop (this isn't spoiling things as that's on the website), through which you enter the theater. Inside there are several rooms, decorated with patterned red wallpaper and everything vintage, sort of like Bourbon & Branch. You're led to your seat, which is in one of several...

[Visit Alcademics.com for the full post.]

Every city finds expression and identity in its lettering. On grand monuments and humble shopfronts, letterforms convey the personality of their home as well their immediate content. With help from many hands, I’ve assembled a list of photostreams and blogs documenting public lettering around the world.

I’m not the first person to assemble such a list, and I sincerely hope I’m not the last. Please send any corrections (and especially additions!) to info@frerejones.com. Thanks to all the contributors, with special gratitude to Florian Hardwig and Pascal Duez, Indra Kupferschmid, Jean François Porchez, Gaelle Jolly, Pooja Saxena and all of the photographers. Happy traveling!

---

EUROPE

 
Flickr photostream by Florian Hardwig
    Lettering in many styles and materials, covered in thousands of photos

Painted Signs and Mosaics by Sebastien Ardouin
    Fading advertisements from Britain, France, Germany and many other locations

Flickr photostream by Fritz Grögel
    Public lettering from across Europe (Don’t miss 11 Didots are better than 1)

À Bonnes Enseignes by Pascal Duez
    Painted, tiled, carved and neon lettering throughout Europe

Flickr photostream by St. Rainer
    Lettering from Kassel and elsewhere in Germany

Urbane Reklame by Isabella Lacourtiade & Florian Hauser
    Postwar shopfronts from Germany, Spain and elsewhere (with map)
    via Pascal Duez and Florian Hardwig

On Aime se Promener
    Commercial signage from France, Spain, Portugal and Poland
    via Pascal Duez and Florian Hardwig

Flickr photostream by cpbischof
    Lettering from Germany, Scandinavia and elsewhere, including many carved and cast examples
    via Pascal Duez and Florian Hardwig

A Pile of Type
    Signboards, awnings, shopfronts and more from Spain and The Netherlands
    via Anton Koovit and Yassin Baggar

Caroline’s Miscellany by Caroline LD
    Fading advertisments in UK and France, sorted by location and subject

Numbers and Type by birx
    Hundreds of examples from Germany, France, Italy
    via Pascal Duez and Florian Hardwig

Typography Collection Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 by Justyna Frąckiewicz
    Shopfronts and neon lettering from Poland, Germany, Austria, Czech Republic & Hungary
    via Jean François Porchez

Outletters
    Latin and Cyrillic lettering from Germany, Bulgaria and Serbia
    via Alexander Nedelev

UNITED KINGDOM

 
Ghostsigns by Sam Roberts
    A extensive resource on “the fading remains of hand-painted wall advertising”, primarily from the UK but many examples from around the world, and links to several books on ghostsigns.

Anomalies of Lost Street Furniture Compliation organized by Susie Clapham
    Milestones, postboxes, and other pieces of overlooked lettering

London Typographica
    Geotagged submissions with interactive map, organized by OPX
    via Indra Kupferschmid, Gaelle Jolly

Faded London by Yelfy
    Ghost signs, mosaics, milestones, coal holes and more

Public Lettering: A Walk in Central London by Phil Baines
    Annotated walking tour from The British Library to Trafalgar Sqaure

Jane’s London
    Over 100 albums of London photos, many on lettering

Urban Typography in Oxford by Gaelle Jolly
    Lettering of shops, signposts, monuments and more

Brighton Typewalking by Ben Mitchell
    Commercial and residential lettering from the nineteenth century to the present

TypeCity UK
    Wide-ranging compilation, including derelict and contemporary advertising, wayfinding, shopfronts and monuments

IRELAND

 
Our Type by Trevor Finnegan
    Shopfronts in the towns and villages of Ireland
    via Michael Duggan

A Gentleman of Letters
    Signpainter Kevin Freeney’s work, shared by his son Paul

Gentlemen of Letters
    Documentary film on Dublin signpainters

FRANCE

 
Instagram feed by Jean François Porchez
    France and many other locations

Gardons le Mural Compilation organized by Christian Berjon
    Fading advertisements from France and elsewhere, sorted by subject

Les Publicités Murales Peintes by Dominique Harster
    Fading advertisements in small towns across France

Les Murs Peints S’Affichent by Philippe Célérier
    Shopfronts and fading advertisements

Jules Vernacular by Jack Usine
    Lettering across France, tagged by material and style
    via Indra Kupferschmid, J. B. Morizot

L’Abri Côtier by canecrabe
    Painted, enameled and carved house names
    via Pascal Duez and Florian Hardwig

Flickr photostream by akalollip
    Antique lettering (mostly painted), in large cities and small towns
    via Pascal Duez and Florian Hardwig

SPAIN

 
TypoBarcelona by Laura Meseguer
    Instagram feed of the city’s endangered public lettering

Stadtalphabet Barcelona
    Previews of the book by Martin Ulrich Kehrer
    via Johannes Lang

PORTUGAL

 
TypoLisbon by Cristiana Couceiro
    Instagram feed showcasing Lisbon’s signage, with several examples of neon     via Sam Potts

SWEDEN

 
Signs of Stockholm by Gustav Mårtensson
    All styles, materials and uses, from the nineteenth century to the present, with commentary (text in English)
    via Pascal Duez and Florian Hardwig

DENMARK

 
Copenhagen Type by Rasmus Lund Mathisen (Instagram feed here)
    Extensive survey of the city’s commercial lettering, with many archival photos
    via Jean François Porchez, Gaelle Jolly

Ghostsigns Denmark by Hanne Andersen
   Inscriptions and mosaics as well as ghostsigns

GERMANY

 
Kolonialwaren by Barbara Bechter
    Over five thousand photos of ghostsigns across Germany, sorted by city (text in German)

Buchstaben Museum
    A museum of original dimensional lettering from around Berlin: cast metal, backlit plastic, neon.
    via Indra Kupferschmid

Alte Aufschriften und Werbung by rauter25
    Derelict and contemporary signage in Hamburg

Hannover Type and Lettering and Signs: not DIN by birx
    Many examples of street signs and other notices, prewar to present
    via Pascal Duez and Florian Hardwig

Hamburg Alphabet by Chris Campe
    Shop Sign Lettering in Hamburg, with accompanying book

AUSTRIA

 
Unter Fenstern Zeichen by Herbe Marker
    Over two thousand photos of shopfronts (text in German)
    via Andrei Robu

Stadtalphabet Wien
    Previews of the book by Martin Ulrich Kehrer
    via Johannes Lang

Type Museum by Jürgen Bauer
    via Pascal Duez and Florian Hardwig

Wiener Schilder by phospho
    via Pascal Duez and Florian Hardwig

Vienna City Typeface by Achim Gauger     Instagram feed     via Johannes Ecker

ITALY

 
Italian Typography 2013 by Doug Bartow

Vernacolo Tipografico Sassolese / Modenese / Fiorentino / Misto
    by Antonio Cavedoni

Lettering from Turin by Silvia Virgillo
    Shopfronts in Torino
    via Catherine Dixon

SLOVAKIA

 
Old-Fashioned Font Hunters
    Forum for lettering photography (in Slovak)

Brusel Expo 58

MALTA

 
MaltaType
    via Benna Cohen

POLAND

 
KRK_TYPE compilation organized by Marcin Bartoszek and Magdalena Kania
    Lettering around Krakow
    via Mariusz Ciesla

ROMANIA

 
Type, Street Art, Signs in Bucharest Romania by Jerry Cotter

CROATIA

 
(dija)kritika by Marko Hrastovec
    The rendition of diacritics (successful and otherwise) in Croatian signage

ARMENIA

 
Flickr set by Armina Ghazaryan
    Inscriptions and signage in Yerevan
    via Hrant Papazian

INDIA

 
Bombay Type by Gopal MS
    via Pooja Saxena

Hand Painted Type compilation organized by Hanif Kureshi
    via Kalapi Gajjar

You Should Like Type Too by Rob Keller
    Several galleries of hand-painted lettering in India
    via Pooja Saxena

Lettering from the Archive and Streets of Delhi by Aakanksha Gaur
    via Pooja Saxena

Lettering from the Streets of Bangalore by Pooja Saxena

Street Signs of Chennai by Nia Murphy and Selvan Thandipani
    via Pooja Saxena

Inscrutable Generalities / The Memories of Shapes / The Minstrels of Letters / by Rarh Design Magazine
    Lettering in Bengali
    via Pooja Saxena

Malayalam Type
    via Pooja Saxena

BANGLADESH

 
Letters from Bangladesh by Rarh Design Magazine
    via Pooja Saxena

An Ahmedabadi Morning by Akash Raj Halankar
    via Pooja Saxena

SRI LANKA

 
Found Type Lanka Compilation organized by La-ulu Collective
    via Pooja Saxena

BURMA

 
Burmese Signage by Ben Mitchell

THAILAND

 
Thai Signage by Ben Mitchell

HONG KONG

 
NeonSigns.hk by M+, Hong Kong’s museum for visual culture
    Catalog of neon signs past and present, with map and documentary video and tips for shooting neon signs
    via Michèle Champagne

PHILIPPINES

 
Urban Type Manila by Carl Graham
    via Arvin Quilao

AUSTRALIA

 
Ghost Signs Melbourne

Box Hill Cemetery / City of Kew WWI Memorial / Carved Letters by Simon Robertson
    Cornerstones, gravestones and monuments in and around Melbourne

NEW ZEALAND

 
Preserve and Hand Painted Signage by Mark Spurgeon
    via Kris Sowersby

CANADA

 
The Montréal Signs Project by Matt Soar and Nancy Marrelli
    via Pascal Duez and Florian Hardwig

UNITED STATES

 
Recapturist
    Roadside signage across the US, with map and (very precise) locations

Signage found across America by Nate Burgos

Motels in Texas, Las Vegas, Colorado, New Mexico, Kansas and elsewhere. Drive-In Eats, Movie Houses, Cleaners as well as Signs and Facades generally, by “SKY✡VU”

Instagram feed by colorbyspiegel
    Roadside signage across the US
    via Jean François Porchez

Marc Shur Photography by Marc Shur
    Several galleries of roadside signage, primarily from the West Coast

Instagram feed by ekovax
    Signage across the US
    via Jean François Porchez

Instagram feed by alphabetarm
    via Jean François Porchez

Neon by Thomas Hawk
    Thousands of photos of neon signage, from the West Coast and across the US

Storefront Tile
    Flickr group of shop floor mosaics in the US, and some in the UK

Instagram feed by sunsetmeridian
    via Jean François Porchez

NYC Type by Luke Connolly
    via Gaelle Jolly

Street_Type by Joe Geis
    via Gaelle Jolly

New York City Signs, 14th to 42nd Street by Walter Grutchfield
    Exhaustive survey of ghostsigns in one section of Manhattan, with detailed histories

Dedicated NYC by Jack Curry
    An ongoing record of dedication plaques in New York City

John’s Signs and Pictures by John Greathead

Ampersand Seven by Therese Cox
    One number for each day of the year, from New York and other locations

New York Numbers by Nick DiLallo
    via Gaelle Jolly

Chicago Type by Shawn Hazen
    via Pascal Duez and Florian Hardwig

NYC Type
    Instagram feed with many contributors and sites

New York Storefronts by James and Karla Murray
    Previews of their book of vanishing storefronts
    via Indra Kupferschmid

New York Neon by T.E. Rinaldi
    Neon signage throughout New York City, with accompanying book
    via Indra Kupferschmid

Project Neon by Kirsten Hively
    Over a thousand photos of neon sings in New York
    via Indra Kupferschmid

Neon Boneyard by Josh Smith and Skylar Challand
    Outdoor museum of mid-century casino and hotel singage

MEXICO

 
Palabras Lugar
    via Maira Frappé

BRAZIL

 
Tipos Paulistanos by J. R. D’Elboux
    Architectural lettering in São Paulo
    via Jean-François Porchez

SOUTH AFRICA

 
CT Type organized by Rowan Eva
    Instagram feed of lettering from Cape Town
    via Gaelle Jolly

MADAGASCAR

 
Typography in Tana
    via Sam Potts

RWANDA

 
Langustefonts by Johannes Lang

WORLDWIDE

 
Type Collect Compilation organized by Luke Connolly

Fleurs Coiffeur Liqueur Compilation organized by Stephen Coles
    Signage for florists, hairdressers and liquor stores

Found Typography Flickr group
    via Pascal Duez and Florian Hardwig

Fontspotting Flickr group
    Wide range of styles, materials and periods

TypArchive
    via Pascal Duez and Florian Hardwig

Vernacular Typography by Molly Woodward
    Years-long project to document endangered vernacular lettering around the world, with photos tagged by material, content and location
    via Indra Kupferschmid

House Names Flickr group
    via Pascal Duez and Florian Hardwig

Typeverything

Types of Tings

	Courtney shared this story from A Black Girl's Guide To Weight Loss:
	[gestures] all of that up there is why I read this blog even though it has "weight loss" in the title. So good.

---

So, this was posted, and then my head exploded:

flickr: marcopako

With the help of Jackie Fowler, who has a “supplemental nutrition card” or Oregon Trail Card, Fox 12 visited an in-store Starbucks within a Safeway in the town of Salem. Fowler purchased a tall Frappuccino and a slice of pumpkin bread — and paid for both using her Oregon Trail card.”It’s crazy,” Fowler told Fox 12, showing off the receipt for $5.25.

“They’re overpriced as it is,” said Fowler of the specialty drink. “That’s money that somebody could be eating with — a loaf of bread, a gallon of milk.” Fowler, who made the purchase only for the purpose of Fox 12′s story, says she thinks it’s a huge misuse of the food assistance program.

A spokesman for Safeway told Fox 12 the store recently made the change as an added convenience to customers.

“We think that compliance with state laws is something we can easily do,” Dan Floyd told Fox 12.

According to federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) guidelines, people cannot buy foods that will be eaten in the store or hot foods. However, luxury items that are allowed include soft drinks, candy, cookies, ice cream, even bakery cakes and energy drinks that have a nutrition facts label.

First, let’s be clear, here, on a few things. There are currently around 46 million people on food stamps, at the last numbers I saw from this summer. There are somewhere around 39 million Black people in this country. Even if every single Black person in America – yes, even those lovely 1%ers – were on food stamps, there’d still be 6 million more people for which we’d need to account. I say this for a very specific reason.

With unemployment at 8.6 percent, that means that approximately 13.3 million people who are eligible for employment are, in fact, unemployed. If only 13 million people in this country are unemployed, yet 46 million people are on food stamps, I think it’s safe to say there may be a few income-generating, tax-paying employees of somebody’s company in that 46 mill. The recipients of SNAP benefits are not, in fact, all some form of unemployed leech. There’s a reason why I start off with this, as well.

Let’s talk logistics, briefly. When I lived in Miami Beach, I didn’t see Starbucks in the area where I lived. There was one single Starbucks north of Lincoln Mall (16th; numbers go up the further north you go), and that was on 45th. Beyond that? Nada. (I even checked Google Maps because I genuinely can’t remember any. If you care, you can see for yourself.)  Hell, you look at any area in central Miami-proper – Little Havana, Little Haiti, take your pick – know what you see? You certainly don’t see Starbucks. That’s not coincidence. That’s strategy.

Starbucks, much like Whole Foods, is strategic with where they’re putting their establishments. They’re not going to put a Starbucks in, say, inner inner city Brooklyn, where people can get coffee for $0.75 a pop and couldn’t care less whether or not you get whipped cream or a caramel frappiato (I wouldn’t know what it’s called; I’ve never ordered from one.) Even I could see how that’d be a bad business move. You don’t put businesses who charge luxury prices for every day items in places where people have a difficult time affording the necessities of life. Not because it’s “wrong” morally to charge what you want, but simply because when forced to choose, it’s highly likely that your business is the one that’d lose.

But wait… there’s more.

The people who want to conflate this kind of spending with “buying luxury items like properly raised meats and cheeses,” can stop. Any moment now. I defend the “food stamps at whole foods” crowd because properly raised foods should never be considered a “luxury” in a country proudly billing itself as the richest in the world. Any person who looks at their budget and genuinely finds that they, after having already seen that they qualify for assistance, have a difficult time affording food, should consider applying… and I’m serious. The fact that our fruits and vegetables are grown the way they are – farm labor resembling indentured servitude; meat having to be cleaned with ammonia just to make sure you don’t get too much e.coli in your purchase; pesticides; chemicals, fake flavorings and fillers – is what results in our adulterated food supply. It is not food. It is “food facsimiles” or even “edible foodlike substances,” and a person who wants to eat the way they are supposed to shouldn’t be chastised for such simply because you struggle with justifying spending the money on you and yours. We are in a bad way, as a country, if we can look people in the eye and tell them actual food is a “luxury” and if they don’t like it, they should “have a coke and a smile.” Ridiculous.

Here… is my point, in all its glory. Even though I defend, adamantly, the “food stamps at whole foods” users, this annoys the hell out of me. Not because a mocha choca latta yaya is as “non-essential” or “non-vital” as it gets, but because of the negativity it casts on both food stamp users and Black women. You know what I mean. Because of Reagan, we constantly see food stamp recipients as poor, black, female, unmarried, single parent, whatever. Maybe it’s because I’ve never ordered from a Starbucks, but… this isn’t an inner-inner-city phenom, if you ask me. I’m pretty grossed out by this altogether. However, I feel like this affects college students or “starving artist” types, both of which by and large do not fit the stereotype that President Reagan left us with when he referred to the “welfare queen.” When we think of “food stamps,” we think of “poor people.” When we think of poor people, we think of Black people. And, even though this country (and its wealth) was built on our backs, we’re considered lazy freeloaders by way of our gene pool. Journalistic efforts like this are merely used to further the stereotype. “‘Mack-eye-ah-toes‘ on the taxpayer dime?” Why, how dare you?

I also can’t say that a single person who has read this story, pictured a “starving artist” or a “college student” in line at Starbucks – the ones I suspect would most benefit from this knowledge – holding out their EBT card and asking for pumpkin bread. Instead, they probably saw some Black chick with fresh finger waves and a baby on her hip, holding a EBT card in the hand holding her baby and a brand new iPhone 4s in the other, yelling out “Can I get one of those frah-pah-key-know things?” and telling’ her child, “Shut up, Lil LaNayNay, I’m tryna get my drink on!”

And that, right there, is what annoys me about this the most of all.

Every time I see an “investigative” report about SNAP/food stamps, it’s painted as “look at what these [assumedly Black, always Black] freeloaders [because freeloaders have to be Black, amirite?] are doing? See why we need to change this?” All due respect to those of you who give enough of a damn to do this kind of reporting, but are you bothering to ask why a person can get a coffee for $3, and it’s still cheaper than a full head of fresh broccoli? Are you bothering to ask why our government can subsidize the creation of most of the garbage in this country that’s making us sick, but not subsidize the grocery stores to allow them to sell produce to SNAP recipients at discounted rates? Is that worthy of coverage, or would you rather exploit the weaknesses of the [working] poor, because no one is going to defend them? Would you simply rather highlight “omg, it’s possible to shop at Starbucks with taxpayer money” because it’s not interesting enough to prove that the more egregious fiscal faux-pas are happening far higher up the pay scale? Or maybe because you don’t want to remind the “middle class” just how “lower” they truly are?

Listen. I’m all up for some journalistic muckraking. I’m even up for “picking on” the government. I’m not, however, down with beating up on poor people because there’s a loophole that most of them don’t even have access to in order to take advantage of it. It reeks of “slow news day.” Do your job and cover something more interesting. Start with this. Go.

Max the cattle dog and Ralphee the kitten are the best of friends, so much so that it doesn’t seem to bother either one of them that little Ralphee suffers from a neurological disorder that causes him to walk like a drunken sailor. In fact, Ralphee’s disorder just makes the two of them closer as they grow up together in the same home, as shown in this video posted by Wakaleo Animal Channel.

Ralphee’s condition is a neurological disorder known as feline cerebellar hypoplasia. A kitten is born with “CH” when their cerebellum, the part of the brain that controls fine motor skills and coordination, is underdeveloped at birth. These cats are known for their “drunken sailor” walk, which is why they’re known endearingly as “wobbly cats.”..Ever since Ralphee was brought home, Max is never far away. He appears to be forever curious and watches over Ralphee wherever she goes. Ralphee is growing more mischievous by the day and loves to see what Max is doing as well. She will often get excited when he is nearby and leap in the air before playfully charging in his direction.

Simply lovely.

via Nothing To Do With Arbroath

Just two and a half weeks after news broke that a Connecticut estate traded hands for $120 million–becoming the most expensive home sale ever–an East Hampton property has shattered that record, selling for $147 million.

When Israeli farmer Gilad Wolf broke his pelvis in 2008, he resolved not to lets his crops wither on the vine and became determined to turn his wheelchair into a workhorse.

Here’s a piece of obvious geographical knowledge — Canada is north of the U.S.

Is it, though?

Generally speaking, sure. But if you locate the spot in Canada that is furthest south and look at how many states are above that latitude on a map, you’ll be surprised at how much of the U.S. is not south of Canada.

Over half of all states are at least partially north of some part of Canada. Check it out…

Here’s the point in Canada that strays the closest to the equator — Middle Island in Lake Erie…

And here is a map that shows every state that creeps at least a little bit north of Middle Island…

That’s 27 states. And 13 of them (with asterisks) are entirely further north than parts of Canada…

See the evidence and documentation.

Fanfilm producer Broad Strokes has mashed up the audio track from the latest Godzilla trailer with footage from the original 1954 Godzilla. The result is the lamenting of a very nervous Bryan Cranston laid over some black and white footage of Tokyoites fleeing for their lives and, fittingly, only a brief, largely unidentifiable cameo from the monster itself.

via Mind’s Delight, Nerdcore

“Juana Knits the Planet” is a comic strip by Claudia Puhlfürst for the Exceptional Hardware Software Meeting (EHSM) open source conference. The conference etched the comic into a single human hair using focused ion beam (FIB) etching. Original microscope pictures of the work are available on GitHub.

The Exceptional Hardware Software Meeting is set for June 27th to 29th and will be held in Hamburg, Germany.

image via Claudia Puhlfürst

via Boing Boing

Original Source

Somehow, Rutgers finds a way.

Rutgers University is having a graduation ceremony on May 18. This much we're sure of. What we do not know is how many more public figures connected to college football the school will hire as commencement speakers and then dismiss along the way.

First, the school parted ways with former Secretary of State (and current College Football Playoff selection committee member) Condoleezza Rice after faculty and students protested her record on war and torture:

About 50 Rutgers students staged a sit-in inside the campus administration building to protest the selection of Rice to speak. She was scheduled to receive $35,000 for her speech and an honorary Rutgers doctoral degree.

The students called for Rutgers to disinvite Rice, echoing the sentiments of several campus faculty organizations that said the former U.S. Secretary of State was an inappropriate choice because of her involvement in the Bush administration's support of the Iraq War, waterboarding and other controversies.

No matter how we feel about Rice's history, these sorts of things happen at universities. The school still had a chance to make it right on relatively short notice.

Rutgers had the good fortune to have a talented speaker and beloved soon-to-be alumni on hand: former defensive tackle Eric LeGrand. The indomitable young man was paralyzed during a game in 2011, going on become a glowing motivational speaker and widely beloved inspirational figure. He is set to graduate from Rutgers with a labor relations degree anyway. Surely RU wouldn't find a way to screw up this one. Right?

NJ.com:

A Rutgers official asked Eric LeGrand on Saturday night to deliver the keynote speech at the university's May 18 commencement. Less than 48 hours later, another university official called LeGrand to inform him that the school had "decided to go in another direction for political reasons."

A blindsided LeGrand was left searching for answers on Monday night.

"I just want an explanation," LeGrand told NJ.com in a phone interview. "I wish somebody would have given me a call tonight and explained to me why. Then I can understand, but don't just leave me hanging."

LeGrand has made a number of appearances during Rutgers games over the years, being welcomed back warmly by teammates, coaches, and fans. He's traveled the country to speak and participate in charity events. If he's not the school's most treasured representative, he's up there. And now he's not even sure if he'll go to receive his diploma, according to NJ.com.

To those asking why LeGrand went public: He tried to get a response last night and got nothing. Still hasn't heard from Rutgers.

— Dan Duggan (@DDuggan21) May 6, 2014

The school eventually settled on former New Jersey governor Tom Kean. I can't find much of a record of him having a football career, so at least this part of the story no longer concerns us (but don't be surprised if some of those faculty and students protest this former George W. Bush appointee as well).

While this episode isn't the fault of Rutgers' athletic department, it does tie into that part of the university's recent streak of mishaps and foibles. Since beginning its move to the Big Ten in late 2012, the school has been part of one athletics-related blunder after another. And if it can't even get Eric LeGrand's graduation ceremony right ... I don't even know.

You might want to stick to bats, Ichiro.

I'm just going to pretend that Dustin Pedroia's batting gloves are made with a lightsaber-repelling cortosis weave because otherwise I will not enjoy Felix Hernandez throwing Force Lightning at Ichiro Suzuki as much as I should:

MLB Fan Cave created a whole video of baseball players using lightsabers instead of bats, with Darth Felix the obvious high point. I'm confused about why he's fighting the empire with Sith powers, but I'm behind on my expanded universe canon.

Your browser does not support iframes.

You know you've made the sound effects before while using a bat, there's no shame in this.

"I think they're just disingenuous," Cooper said of the kids protesting their lunches. "Because what I think they would like, instead of having fruits and vegetables... they'd like to have four pieces of pizza."