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14 Mar 11:37

Phantom ExoPlanet in Nearby Star System Found Surrounded by Massive Comet Swarms

Phantom ExoPlanet in Nearby Star System Found Surrounded by Massive Comet Swarms:

Astronomers exploring the disk of debris around the young star Beta Pictoris have discovered a compact cloud of carbon monoxide located about 8 billion miles (13 billion kilometers) from the star. This concentration of poisonous gas – usually destroyed by starlight – is being constantly replenished by ongoing rapid-fire collisions among a swarm of icy, comet-like bodies. To offset the destruction of carbon monoxide (CO) molecules around the star, a large comet must be getting completely destroyed every five minutes, say researchers who suggest the comet swarm is most likely frozen debris trapped and concentrated by the gravity of an as-yet-unseen exoplanet.

This mystery ‘shepherd’ exoplanet – so-called for its capacity to corral the swarms of comets through its gravitational pull, like Jupiter in our own solar system – is likely to be about the size of Saturn.

14 Mar 11:35

Buy This Book: Box Brown's 'Andre The Giant: Life And Legend'

by Chris Sims

Andre the Giant: Life and Legend by Box Brown

If you’d asked me three months ago what my most anticipated graphic novel of 2014 was, I could’ve given you the answer without even having to think about it: Box Brown‘s Andre the Giant: Life and Legend, a comic book biography of one of the most famous professional wrestlers of all time. Admittedly, I’m right smack in the center of the target audience for that book, but there’s so much about the man that’s fascinating, and Brown’s work as a Xeric Grant and Ignatz Award-winning cartoonist is top notch — it’s something I feel like I would’ve been interested in even if I was going into it cold, with no knowledge whatsoever of the world of professional wrestling.

The book isn’t out until May, but the book’s publisher, First Second, sent over a review copy and I couldn’t wait to read it. It’s the sort of book that I knocked out in one sitting, and it lived up to every hope I had for it. It’s not just one of my favorite graphic novels of the year, but it’s also one of my favorite comic biographies of all time.

Andre the Giant: Life and Legend, by Box Brown

I first encountered Brown’s comics about Andre the Giant in the pages of The Atomic Elbow, a pro wrestling fanzine put out by Robert Newsome that I later became a contributor to myself. In a brief comic that ran in the first issue, Brown recounted an incident from a tour of Japan in 1980 where Andre and fellow wrestler (and Olympic medalist in Judo) Bad News Brown almost got into a legitimate fistfight when Andre cracked a racist joke on their tour bus. The same story appears in Life and Legend, but it’s a little different — the general sequence of events is the same, but the specifics don’t quite line up. The interactions between the characters are slightly different. Andre’s more aggressive here, and Bad News demands that they stop the bus so that they could hash things out right on the side of the road. There’s a moment where Bad News reaches into his bag and Andre thinks he’s reaching for a knife — in one version he’s getting out a pack of cigarettes to calm down, but here, he’s putting away his earrings so they won’t get ripped out when the fight starts. It’s the same story, about the same people, being told by the same person, even ostensibly directed at the same audience, but the details are changed.

The reason, of course, is that each story is based on a different recounting of the actual event. The one in Atomic Elbow is based on a retelling from Hulk Hogan, who was also on the tour, while the one that made it into the book comes from Bad News himself, based on an interview before his death in 2007. And that, in short, represents exactly what Brown was faced with when it came to constructing a biography of Andre.

Even though the curtain has been pulled back (and torn down, and dragged out back and burned, and had its ashes scattered in the wilderness), the world of pro wrestling is still one that’s been built on exaggeration. With someone like Andre, who led a life where even the facts have been scaled up over the years to something that’s beyond belief, hammering out the details to provide a definitive, factual take is a tricky proposition. But then, that’s not exactly what Brown does.

Andre the Giant: Life and Legend, by Box Brown

That’s not to say that Life and Legend isn’t well-researched, or that Brown doesn’t paint an accurate portrait of the man’s life and career. Far from it, in fact — there’s an index in the back where he goes through every scene of the book, explaining what it’s based on and citing sources that include WWE’s official DVD realeases, wrestlers’ biographies, and shoot interviews. Everything that’s in this book happened, or at least has people who say it happened, which is about as close as you’re going to get. But at the same time, he leans into the idea of the exaggeration. Not that he had too far to go — That part where doctors had to figure out how much anesthesia to give him by figuring out that it took two liters of vodka to give him a light buzz is actually a fact.

What really sells it, I think, is Brown’s artwork, which has this beautifully simple quality that moves back and forth from the cartoonishly wacky to really evocative and emotional. It’s the sort of book that moves efortlessly from scenes like the one at the hospital, where the doctors react to the news about the vodka with an actual, honest to God feet-flying-out-of-the-panel plotz to quiet moments where we see Andre at the end of a wild night of drinking, carousing and raising hell, as a man alone in a world that’s too small for him, drinking to deal with the constant pain that he was in for his whole life.

Andre the Giant: Life and Legend, by Box Brown

What really sells it is the sense of scale that Brown gives to Andre. He always draws him as big, from the opening sequence where a 12 year-old Andre has to ride to school in the back of a flatbed truck because he’s too big for the bus all the way through his wrestling career where he’s towering over his opponents, but as the book goes on and Andre’s legend increases, as he becomes bigger and bigger in the minds of the public (and in real life, due to the acromegaly that kept him growing until the day he died), he fills up more and more of the page.

It’s the hands that do it. In almost every story recounted in the book, there’s a moment where Brown draws attention to Andre’s hands, whether it’s by showing him handing someone a tiny dollar bill, covering a whole beer bottle in his fist, or shaking hands, like he does here in Brown’s recreation of his appearance on David Letterman:

Andre the Giant: Life and Legend, by Box Brown

It works beautifully, partly because it was Andre’s trademark — one of Andre’s most famous pop culture appearances was on the Tonight Show where he and Joey Bishop compared their hands, and even WWE’s Andre the Giant T-Shirts have a “life sized” handprint on them in lieu of a picture — but also because it’s such an immediately recognizable sense of scale. And again, that’s not too far off from the truth. You can look up that appearance and see how huge Andre was compared to Letterman, and even if it’s not quite the scale that Brown draws, it feels like it is.

And yet, even though he builds Andre as this massive, larger-than-life being on a visual level, it all serves to do what Life and Legend does best: It shows Andre as a person. Not the giant with a dubious fifteen-year undefeated streak, not as the monster who was bodyslammed by Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania III, not as the absent father that was put on blast by A Current Affair shortly before his death, and not even as the drinker and prankster behind the scenes in the world of wrestling. It shows him as all of those, as a person whose life was larger than everyone’s, but whose flaws were no bigger or smaller than anyone else’s. It makes the Giant relatable without ever undermining him. There’s a love in this book, but there’s an honesty, too, and it comes through in every scene, even when the truth, strictly speaking, is exaggerated just a bit.

Andre the Giant: Life and Legend is out this May from First Second, but you can preorder it now, and it’s well worth it.

Read More About Box Brown

14 Mar 11:35

Emerald City Comicon And We Love Fine Team-Up For Exclusive Apparel With Marvel, My Little Pony, Adventure Time And More [Fashion]

by Andy Khouri

Offering a notably comics-specific, distinctly warm and fuzzy vibe that’s not to be found at some of the massive and monstrous, comics-suppressing conventions here in the US, Seattle’s Emerald City Comicon feels a lot more like comics summer camp than it does a media trade show. Comics professionals from all dimensions of the industry — creators, publishers, press and beyond — all look forward to ECCC for the same reasons attendees do; it’s a great weekend to meet your readers, meet your favorite authors, and celebrate the medium we all love.

Also, buying cool stuff.

That same summer camp quality that makes ECCC worth attending may also make it worth commemorating, which is why it makes sense that geek fashion haus We Love Fine has made its first ever partnership with a convention with a limited edition line of t-shirts. Featuring Marvel characters like Captain Marvel, Hawkeye and Deadpool as well as other We Love Fine licenses like My Little Pony, Transformers, ElfQuest, Bravest Warriors, Adventure Time and Bee & Puppycat alongside Seattle iconography (very cute), the ECCCxWLF collection will be available exclusively for $25 each at the Seattle show from March 27-30.

You can inspect the designs below. More info at the show’s merchandise page.

14 Mar 11:23

Special Humble Bundle With 30 Games, For Brandon Boyer

by John Walker

By John Walker on March 13th, 2014 at 4:00 pm.

You may well remember that last week we mentioned Brandon Boyer’s ongoing fundraiser to pay continuing bills for his cancer treatment, after getting horrendously screwed over by his health insurance. The great news is, he’s crossed the baseline to afford the $110,000 of bills he’s already accrued in an effort to not be dead. But the situation is ongoing, and what would be incredible would be to see this champion of indie games, bossman of the Independent Games Festival, and all-round good egg, have enough in the bank that he doesn’t have to worry about vital further treatment. And anything more he makes than he needs will be going to charities that will do the same for others.

Helping with that is a new mega-bundle from Humble, alongside the already-running Devolver bundle, which packs in an incredible 30 indie games (so far) for $25. And they’re good games. In there are the likes of VVVVVV, Thomas Was Alone, Actual Sunlight, Blocks That Matter, McPixel, Waking Mars, Proteus, Sokobond, Stacking, and World Of Goo. Yeah.

Described as “A Very Special Humble Bundle Of Love For Brandon Boyer”, this is a one-off creation by the Humble guys that sees a huge bunch of indie developers offering their games for free, and Humble passing on their cut too, so that all 25 of those dollars goes into the Brandon Boyer Cancer Relief Treatment Relief.

And what are you getting? Here’s the full list, with more likely to get added:

  • Actual Sunlight
  • AirMech
  • Auralux
  • Bagfull of Wrong
  • BitTrip Beat Soundtrack
  • BitTrip Fate Soundtrack
  • BitTrip Runner Soundtrack
  • Blocks That Matter + Soundtrack
  • Castles in the Sky + Soundtrack
  • Dynamite Jack
  • Ensnare Soundtrack
  • Ethan: Meteor Hunter
  • Fancy Skulls
  • God of Blades + Soundtrack
  • Goscurry + Soundtrack
  • Mazing
  • McPixel + Soundtrack
  • Paragon
  • POP: Methodology Experiment One + Soundtrack
  • Proteus
  • QbQbQb
  • Quixotica Soundtrack
  • Sepulchre Special Edition with eBook + Soundtrack
  • Shipwreck
  • Sokobond
  • Stacking + Soundtrack
  • Thomas Was Alone + Soundtrack
  • VVVVVV + Soundtrack
  • Waking Mars + Soundtrack
  • Warp Juggler
  • Wizorb + Soundtrack
  • World of Goo + Soundtrack

That’s quite the thing.

We of course release that Boyer is one of many, many thousands of people in similar situations, unlucky enough to have gotten sick before the changes in US law prevented health insurers from being prejudiced against those with pre-existing conditions. However, Boyer is central to the indie gaming world, and that’s why this particular case crosses RPS’s radar. If you know of others who are raising funds for similar situations, please do link them in the comments below.

14 Mar 11:12

Facebook opens the door wide for video advertisers

by Casey Johnston
If you ever looked at an ad and thought it just wasn't dynamic enough...

After a handful of delays and tentative tests, Facebook is finally offering video ads as an option for advertisers to stick in users' News Feeds as of Thursday. According to Bloomberg, the ads are an attempt to grab attention and dollars from sponsors who would normally spend their money advertising on TV.

Facebook video ads were rumored as early as last May by the Financial Times, though it was unclear at the time whether the videos would auto-play or include audio. Facebook ended up pursuing the launch very cautiously, wary of disrupting the user experience too much.

The ads eventually evolved behind the scenes into a more coherent format: they will be 15 seconds long and auto-play when a user pauses over them. On mobile apps, the ads will be cached so that they can be displayed to users on the fly. The ads will not play audio unless the user interacts with them directly by clicking or tapping.

Read 1 remaining paragraphs | Comments

14 Mar 10:58

Photo



14 Mar 10:57

What time is it?



What time is it?

14 Mar 02:25

Is My Shift Key On or Not?, A Website Designed to Help Confused iOS Users

by Rollin Bishop

Is My Shift Key On or Not?

Is My Shift Key On or Not? is a single-serving website with a pair of images showcasing the on and off position for the shift key from the iOS 7.1 update. A number of complaints have been made about the way the shift key is highlighted since the update.

via Waxy.org Links

14 Mar 02:24

Newswire: Scott Aukerman explains how he got the president to go on Between Two Ferns

by Mike Vago

Funny Or Die’s web series Between Two Ferns made a big splash earlier in the week when the show landed perhaps the biggest guest possible—President Barack Obama, who traded barbs with host Zach Galifianakis about pardoning turkeys and The Hangover Part III. In an interview with Vulture, Ferns producer Scott Aukerman (also the host of Comedy Bang! Bang!) talks in detail about getting the show into the White House, bracing for censorship that never came, and giving direction to the most powerful man in the world.

Aukerman had been in touch with the White House about producing a video to promote the Affordable Care Act (known to your relatives who post things on Facebook you don’t agree with as Obamacare, ObamaScare, O’Bummercare, or that thing that will definitely completely destroy America in very vague, unspecified ways). After several years of back and forth, Aukerman suggested a ...

14 Mar 00:55

Holder: Let's reduce some drug sentences - LocalNews8.com


LocalNews8.com
Holder: Let's reduce some drug sentences
LocalNews8.com
Attorney General Eric Holder is endorsing a plan to reduce sentences for certain drug offenses, which he says could reduce the federal prison population by more than 6,500 inmates in five years.

and more »
14 Mar 00:54

America’s 60-year love affair with frozen TV dinners is over

by Roberto A. Ferdman
Microwaveable meals

It was fun (and affordable) while it lasted.

Frozen meals, long associated with the American affinity for eating dinner in front of the tube, are a nearly $9-billion business in the US, according to data from the market research firm Euromonitor. Through decades of intense growth, frozen foods have found their way into just about every American household—99% of them, according to a 2012 report by AMG Strategic Advisors (pdf).

But TV dinners are losing their ubiquity. Just ask Nestlé, which is struggling with its Lean Cuisine frozen food line. The food giant is even considering unloading its $400-million frozen foods business entirely. And with good reason. After nearly 60 years of sustained growth, frozen ready meal sales have finally started to dip. Since 2008, they have either fallen or come in just about flat.

Look at them taper off:

US-frozen-ready-meal-sales-Billions_chartbuilder

And those numbers might be perked up by price increases. Unit sales have actually fallen a bit more aggressively:

Screen Shot 2014-03-13 at 10.16.37 AM

A number of factors appear to be working against the frozen food aisle—including the rise of dieting, consciousness of better portioning, and Americans’ growing boredom with ready-made frozen meals. But there are four reasons in particular which seem to stand out, according to the research firm Mintel: Americans say they are strapped for cash; they feel frozen food is no longer cost-effective; they prefer to cook for themselves; and they are increasingly skeptical of the health claims of frozen meals—40% of US adults think frozen dinners offer no nutritional value.

Why-Americans-are-buying-less-frozen-food-Too-expensive-Economy-Cooking-more-Health_chartbuilder

Also, and rather importantly, the industry is hemorrhaging younger consumers. While Americans over 45 are actually chomping on more freezer-chilled foods, those under 45 say they are more interested in “freshness.”

Screen Shot 2014-03-13 at 10.34.00 AM

The technology that allowed for flash-freezing and packaging food was developed in the 1920s, but the popularity of full frozen meals dates back to the 1950s, when they were first nationally advertised by the packaged food company Swanson (now owned by Pinnacle foods). Swanson was having trouble unloading its Thanksgiving turkey leftovers, so it packaged them into airplane-like trays and marketed them as “TV dinners.”

Swanson sold some 25 million frozen meals that year, 1953, and it was the start of a nearly 60-year TV dinner boom. The industry added countless varieties, including lighter options such as Lean Cuisine; “hungry man” platters—for, well, hungrier men (and women); and more recently, meals that cater to dietary preferences such as gluten-free or organic. Virtually every year between 1953 and 2008, frozen meal sales grew.

But now, just about every category of frozen ready meals is falling. TV dinners had their moment in the US. Apparently, that moment is over.

14 Mar 00:29

Dad From 2150 Can’t Get Enough Iraq War Documentaries

NEW CHICAGO—Citing his long-held enthusiasm for military history, mid-22nd-century father Myron Orkney confirmed Thursday that he eagerly watches Iraq War documentaries as often as he can.
    






14 Mar 00:27

Report: Most NFL Teams Just 1 Or 2 Overpriced Free Agents Away From Super Bowl Victory

NEW YORK—Several leading football analysts confirmed Wednesday that most NFL teams are just one or two ridiculously overpriced free agent signings away from a Super Bowl victory.
    






14 Mar 00:27

Manual failover

by sharhalakis

by Christopher

14 Mar 00:27

Interviewly, A Project That Cleans Up & Reorganizes Popular Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything) Questions & Answers

by Rollin Bishop

Interviewly

Interviewly is a project by Kickstarter developer Dan Drabik that takes AMA, or Ask Me Anything, posts with well-known people on reddit and cleans up and reorganizes the questions and answers within to present them in something more akin to a traditional interview with pictures throughout. For example, Interviewly has reorganized versions of retired astronaut Chris Hadfield’s AMA, actor Aaron Paul’s AMA, and musician Dave Grohl’s AMA up on the site as well as many more.

via Fred Benenson

14 Mar 00:26

Newswire: Amazon raises price of Prime subscription, possibly signaling the death of online retail

by Sam Barsanti

Since the massive online retailer launched in the mid-’90s, Amazon has crushed countless brick-and-mortar retailers that couldn’t compete with its ability to sell things to people who don’t feel like leaving their homes. However, despite sitting atop a throne of discarded Borders stores and Circuit Cities, Amazon might still be having some minor trouble of its own.

As announced in a brief notice to subscribers, Amazon will be raising the price of its Prime service from $79 a year to $99. In addition to free two-day shipping on most items and access to the Kindle Lending Library, a Prime membership allows subscribers to use Prime Instant Video—which has the exclusive streaming rights to Downton Abbey, The Americans, Veronica Mars, and a batch of new original programming. The price of an Amazon Student membership, which is only available to people with an e-mail address ending in .edu ...

14 Mar 00:25

Photo



13 Mar 23:14

Report: Only 20 Minutes Until Introverted Man Gets To Leave Party

firehose

hi everybody
sorry everybody

SAN MATEO, CA—Having already spent a considerable amount of time quietly examining items around the apartment and standing on the periphery of others’ discussions until walking away under the pretense that he needed to refill his cup of beer, ...
    






13 Mar 22:49

Great Job, Internet!: Ass-crack-gazing, Magic-playing rapper creates perfect storm of nerd humor and Internet outrage

by Katie Rife
firehose

followup

"The criticism focuses on the obvious violation of privacy that is taking a picture of someone’s butt without permission, with an ensuing, passionate “upskirt v. buttcrack” debate. Opinion is evenly divided: The post has received 108,517 upvotes and 104,305 downvotes in two days."
...
"If you think this guy’s being a jerk, then schadenfreude is yours. Rumblings on Twitter indicate that he’s been banned from competing in Wizards Of The Coast-sanctioned tournaments or hosting Magic-related events for six months. That’s going to seriously delay his plans to open his own card shop. On the other hand, if you feel sorry for him, there’s also a change.org petition you can sign to bring him back into the flock."

For all the popular traction “nerd” culture has gained over the last decade, there’s one last stronghold of the un-showered and socially maladapted: the con. Not the San Diego Comic-Con, which has basically become a Hollywood trade show. These are the regional events in suburban hotel ballrooms where the real dorks hang out. You’ll find them at cons celebrating horror, anime, sci-fi, tabletop gaming, PC gaming, or any other outpost of hardcore nerdery. They don’t go out much. And they are easily spooked. 

Reddit user OB1FBM, who apparently is also a rapper, learned this the hard way. Last weekend he attended the Grand Prix Richmond, a Magic: The Gathering tournament in Richmond, Virginia that draws thousands of people. It’s no ESPN2, but the Grand Prix Richmond is one of the biggest events of the year and is probably very exciting if you play Magic, although like ...

13 Mar 22:44

Dark Crystal Wedding Cake! Dark Crystal Wedding Cake!

by Meredith Woerner

Dark Crystal Wedding Cake! Dark Crystal Wedding Cake!

Holy skeksis, this insanely detailed Dark Crystal cake makes me want to throw all other cakes on the ground. Just about every character from the '80s puppet epic is represented in fondant, and the whole thing is balancing on the famous crystal. WONDERFUL!

Read more...


    






13 Mar 17:31

A very #BASED interview with Lil B about his Kevin Durant beef

by Jake Fischer
firehose

Lil B beat

The rapper explains his diss track, his relationship with Kevin Durant and his dreams of making the NBA in an exclusive and very #BASED interview with SBNation.com.

On Saturday, Lil B dropped a record called "F*ck KD," a nearly four-minute track that disses Oklahoma City star Kevin Durant, one of  the leading candidates for the MVP award. The official video has over 280,000 views, but its copies around YouTube have the rapper estimating over 1 million people have already listened to it in its first weekend of release. Lil B's feud with Durant is almost three years old now, making this new rap just the latest of a back-and-forth between the Bay Area rapper and the best scorer in the NBA.

While he says he stands just 5'7, Lil B really believes he can take Durant 1-on-1 and essentially uses the rap to challenge Durant to a game to end the beef for good.

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Ray Tamarra/Getty Images

The last time we talked, you told me Stephen Curry was your favorite player in the NBA. I'm assuming Kevin Durant is not at the top of your list of favorite players?

The true NBA players are some of the best to do it in the world. I want to shout out Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker. I want to shout out [Stephen Curry] and Klay Thompson and [Andre] Iguodala holding it down with the Warriors. I want to shout out the Hawks, the Kings. The Lakers are still giving people fits. I want to shout out everybody, even the Knicks. I'm going to be making appearances at each NBA arena -- courtside seats -- real soon.

Your beef with Durant dates back to 2011. How did it start?

He talked about me. Before everything, I loved Kevin, but he was never a factor to me and then he talked about me. I wasn't thinking about him. I'm still shouting out the old school legends like John Stockton. I'm still in that era.

But I got love for Russell Westbrook. I do appreciate what Durant does and stuff, but really, I've never seen him play a full game. I've seen Russell Westbrook. I've seen James Harden. I'm not paying attention to Kevin Durant. I don't have any recollection of watching him play. I can't remember how he shoots free throws. When I think back to 2011 and Miami, I think of Russell Westbrook and James Harden. Durant didn't leave me with any impression.

"I'm not paying attention to Kevin Durant. I don't have any recollection of watching him play"

When did you decide to write "F*ck KD?" How long did it take to write and produce? Who was a part of it?

The song came naturally. It came easy to me. The song is produced by Cool and Dre. So, shout out to Cash Money and everyone over there- - Lil Wayne, Birdman and everybody. I just heard the beat and it came so natural. It was just something that was very easy for me. It was just so real. It was beautiful.

Yea, everyone on Twitter is saying that the chorus is really catchy.

[Laughs] That's what's up.

How did you decide on using DJ Khaled's ‘Brown Paper Bag?'

It was just something that I just heard the beat and I just said ‘It's time to get after Kevin Durant real fast.' Because that hoop life is coming. Kevin Durant, Kevin Durant was thinking about me. I wasn't thinking about Kevin. That's the whole thing about it. I was minding my business. Everybody else was talking about Kevin.

People love Kevin. I was never watching Kevin. I was always watching Westbrook and Harden, even [Thabo] Sefolosha. Durant? This is before he was even talking about me, calling me wack. I just wasn't paying attention to him.

J.R. Smith makes more noise than Durant, to me. Iman Shumpert makes more noise than Durant. I go crazy with Iman Shumpert in 2K. I know J.R. Smith has been making noise like crazy. Kevin was thinking about me and he said what he felt about Lil B and now I'm just saying what I feel about Kevin. I don't respect Kevin Durant's game. I've really never seen him play on TV. I don't watch him.

"Iman Shumpert makes more noise than Durant"

What's your game like? Did you play ball in high school?

I was always a good athlete. I just gave up on football. When it was hell week, I gave up. I was like ‘I'm not gonna do this.' People were hitting me too hard.

But basketball was always something I was good at, that I was passionate about. I just didn't have the confidence to play in front of people at the time, at that early age. Now, I feel like I'm ready to play in front of people and play on the big stage. When I did the D-League tryout the first time, that was my first time playing at something like that, an event like that on that level, and I wasn't nearly as confident a player as I am now. Even back then, I was still good at defense. I was still holding up my own on defense and I was, offensively, a threat on the court.

Take me back to that D-League workout in Santa Cruz. Why didn't that turn into a spot for you on the Warriors?

I just wasn't ready at that time. Looking back, I made the decision. There wasn't a call, there was nothing said. I've stayed connected with that staff that works with the Warriors. They actually asked me to come to their last tryout. I've gotten better. I definitely did get better. Nobody broke the news to me, but I definitely wasn't ready. I am now, I'm ready more than ever.

You've improved enough since then to the point you're now confident you can take KD on 1-on-1?

I've been teaching myself the fundamentals and being around some good players, but also been learning to play team games, playing 3-on-3s, playing 1-on-1s, playing 5-on-5s, playing 21. There are guys bigger than me on the court, but I've had numerous comparisons to Ty Lawson. How I'm quick, like if I get down there [in the paint] I will make that shot. Now really what I'm working on is my mid-range and being an honest player with myself by saying, ‘Hey, I want to establish the shot first,' because I can drive and get it down there.'

"I want to play 100 games this summer. I'm gonna get millions of views, it's going to be big."

I want to play 100 games this summer. I'm gonna get millions of views, it's going to be big. I'm feeling way more confident in my play. I was just talking about it in my song, the gym that I play at, people talk about me. I'm getting a lot of support. I'm just feeling more confident in my game in general and I really do think that I can beat Kevin Durant.

I'm going to be playing in all of the leagues. I already got love waiting for me at the Drew League [in Los Angeles]. I can talk to various people about playing there. Any leagues, I can go play in. I'm going to be playing with good players. I've been practicing with good players that play at the college level and that are going to be eventually playing in the NBA. I'm around these guys every day. And if they're not going into the NBA, these guys are still extremely young and with it and will have long careers overseas.

Sometimes you don't go straight from high school or college and get to the NBA from there. Sometimes you have to go when you're a little bit older and try that other route like Jeremy Lin. And he made it.

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Roger Kisby/Getty Images

Who's the best player you've beaten 1-on-1 so far?

A bunch of dudes that play D1 at my gym. I don't know anyone's names. People at the gym always talking and gossiping. They say ‘He plays here, he plays here.' It's people playing at different levels.

What's this gym you're working at? Where is it?

It's a low-key private gym that I play at around Walnut Creek. And then I got something in Orinda. But it's all private, man.

You really think at your height, you can take down a listed-at-6'9 Kevin Durant, who's the leading candidate for the MVP this year?

I definitely do, just for the simple fact that I know I can hold him with my defense. I have amazing defense. My defense is better than my offense. I'm quick. I just have to get past him and I've got the shot. I'm confident. I'm confident. I go on the court and I can play against anybody.

"I honestly know I will score on Durant and it'll be a problem."

I honestly know I will score on Durant and it'll be a problem. I know truly in my heart that's why he doesn't want to play me. I'm pretty much more ready for Kevin Durant than I've ever been. If he really loves the game, play me. If you really love basketball, Kevin Durant, play me. Kevin Durant knows I'm an American superstar, that I'm one of the most powerful and respected people in America. He plays American ball, so he knows what I do, he sees me. I more than deserve that game, that's just him being scared.

The real respect though, Kevin Durant should have never opened his mouth about me. If you say something about Lil B, you've got to be able to see me on the court. Kevin Durant isn't a good rapper, you know what I'm saying? So let's do this on the court.

Kevin Durant, play ball and go donate and help people and be a good Samaritan like you've been doing. But once you open your mouth and try to talk about rap, Kevin, stop. All this is for this interview. To make sure he hears this. So it's like Kevin, you can pay your money for good producers and good studios, people don't respect that. Money doesn't matter. The people made me. They're making me to this day.

So like I said, Kevin, see me on that court. I'm better than you. We can go at it. He was blessed with that height. I was blessed with a gift too, so it's like, let's play. I'm not worried about Kevin.

You cursed the Thunder and said they would never win the title in May 2011. With this new song, is the curse back on?

Nah, I took the curse off. I took it off for good. Now it's up to Kevin Durant. This is a test for Kevin. I think that he's a strong guy and he's got a lot of people that are supporting him. He's got a lot of people that love him, so I think that he can do it. It's on Kevin. There are some big steps that he's gotta take and it's gonna be on him. I've got the same type of pressure on me in the rap game. It's all on me, I gotta do it.

You see the day after the song debuted, Jodie Meeks scored 42 points on him the next game? That was right after the diss record and they lost. I'm just saying. Wasn't he doing good before the record came out? [Laughs]. I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but Lil B drops a record, Kevin Durant loses and gets embarrassed by the Lakers. Salute to the Clippers, they beat the Lakers by like 50 and Kevin Durant goes to L.A. and lost to them.

Do you think you can make the NBA?

Hell yea. I've gotta make the NBA. I've got to.

Really? When's that going to happen?

It's all up to God, baby. He'll let the story unfold. I just want to tell people to never quit, and keep fighting for your dreams. If you want to make the NBA, and this is coming from Lil B, keep living your dreams.

13 Mar 14:40

Why Tabasco Is Sold In Those Tiny 2-Ounce Bottles

firehose

“Almost all the business outside the US is 2 ounces,” says Anthony Simmons, chief executive of McIlhenny Co., which has made Tabasco for 146 years. It is exported to 165 countries, and non-US sales projections for the next decade are estimated to grow from 40% of total sales to a full half."

Part of the answer lies with history. The other part is just good business.
13 Mar 14:23

Newswire: Scrabble makers invite players to stick some bullshit word in the dictionary

by John Teti
firehose

what

Fed up with Scrabble players who claim to be 100-percent sure that their dumb bullshit word is an actual word, Hasbro is now inviting the game’s fans to just go ahead and put their word in the freaking dictionary so we can all move on with our lives already. In a promotion on its Facebook page, Hasbro says that it is updating the official online Scrabble Players Dictionary for the first time in nine years, and it wants regular folk to nominate their own word for inclusion. A press release for the contest suggests such neologisms as “hashtag” and “selfie,” plus other crap that you put on the board knowing full well it wasn’t going to be in the book, because you were losing and you felt like starting an argument.

The nomination thread on Hasbro’s Facebook World Wide Web page is already full of suggestions, which ...

13 Mar 14:17

India’s solution to its coming famine: Get people to eat insects

by Commentary
Don't make that face. It's protein.

India’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) warns of a global famine in 50 years, and scientists have begun to experiment with an alternative source of protein: insects.

“We are now doing a lot of work on edible insects,” says Arup Kumar Hazarika, a professor at Cotton College in Guwahati who has just concluded an initial study on the insect diet of the Bodo tribe in Assam. “We are studying aspects like the chemical composition, micro and macronutrients, the kinds of insects eaten. We have also done a comparative analysis of all these species.”

FAO is taking this very seriously. In a 2013 report, FAO presents insects as a viable replacement for meat in the event of a food shortage over the next century because of their high nutritional value that can match that of other, more commonly consumed kinds of meat.

The report identifies parts of India as being among several places where insects are already a part of traditional diets. The practice of eating them seems to be limited to tribal regions in Assam and central India.

Bodos consume insects such as caterpillars, termites, grasshoppers, crickets, and beetles every day, according to Hazarika’s initial report. In fact, these insects can be considered a staple. They supply as much nutritional value in terms of proteins and vitamins even when preserved for later consumption. When Hazarika began his studies, his team identified 10 insect species commonly consumed by the Bodos. That number has now grown to 29.

The FAO report reiterates this and points to other cultures that incorporate insects into their diets. If cultivated on industrial scale, it says, insects could be far cheaper than other meat, and more environment-friendly, as they do not require as much nutritional input themselves.

The solution to this seemingly inevitable famine, the FAO says, is to establish large-scale insect farms and to begin to acclimatize people to the idea of eating insects. Although insects are nutritious enough for a healthy diet, people tend to be repulsed by the idea of eating them.

Insects are already a part of the traditional diets of around 2 billion people, according to the FAO. Most of these people do not live in western countries.

Most insectivores rely on caterpillars and then move on to consuming other less fleshy insects.

insects

Eating insects is no big deal for those already used to it. “Ordinarily insects are not used as emergency food during shortages, but as a planned part of the diet throughout the year or when seasonally available,” according to Hazarika’s report. “The edible insects have been reported to have more nutritional content than the other conventional foods.”

He continued, the “Bodos generally eat insects after drying them in the sun. They do not have much inhibition about insects. It is an age-old tradition for them.”

However, in the rest of the country, those who want to consume insect meat might find it difficult to integrate into their daily diets because it is not easily available.

Efforts are underway to remedy this. The Central Sericultural Research and Training Institute of Mysore has been experimenting with converting leftover silkworm pupae into food. The centre is in the final stages of patenting their processing formulae. The patents should arrive by the end of this month.

“We made salty and sweet preservations and sent a modest amount to the North East to test them,” says Kanika Trivedy, a scientist at the centre who has been working on processing pupae so they do not go to waste. “The salty version was more popular. We even made a spicy pickle out of the pupae, but the Naga people did not like it because they use different spices to pickle it.”

Trivedy, who is herself a vegetarian, says that people on her team report that the pupae recipes taste like prawns.

“Larvae are very nutritious,” she added. “Some of them have 50-60% protein, which is very good for health.”

The Madhya Pradesh Silk Federation has been selling canned silkworm pupae for general consumption since 1946. Right now people don’t buy this because it is not popularised,” says Ravindra Singh, a scientist at the federation. “Once it becomes readily available, people will definitely begin to buy it.”

He added, “Only people from the North East buy our products. Continental hotels might use them for novelty, but regular customers are not interested.”

However, some believe that India’s long-established caste taboos may derail these experiments. Chandra Bhan Prasad, a Dalit economist, said that insect eating was often a matter of necessity for non-tribals. “However nutritious insects might be, the fact is that Dalits ate them out of compulsion,” he said. “If you ask them to go back to eating just that, they will tell you to go to hell.”

Prasad openly doubts whether people of other castes will adopt the practice either. “People of the social and cultural strata of Arundhati Roy might openly eat millets, a food associated with Dalits,” he says. “It becomes a fashion statement for them. But generally, the upper middle-class, or the AAP kind of people, will not want to be associated with any Dalit marker.”

He wasn’t optimistic about insect consumption becoming popular. “When people start dying of starvation, people of any caste will eat whatever is available,” Prasad said. “If there are other options, people will not accept anything that has a low social marker, whether this is in India or anywhere else in the world.”

This post originally appeared in Scroll.

13 Mar 14:12

eschergirls: soursundaes submitted: How to genderbend,...



eschergirls:

soursundaes submitted:

How to genderbend, according to Resident Evil Official Art:

Option A: Remove Shirt
Obtion B: Remove Pants

Done.

The man is the Resident Evil character HUNK, the woman is the female gendered swapped HUNK, so this is the same character but apparently when she becomes a woman, she loses her pants. -_o

So you’re walking into zombie-infested territory where a bite or scratch might doom you to be a zombie, but you don’t wear pants.  That makes sense.  It’s like she was on a beach somewhere when duty called and she hurriedly put on her equipment, jacket, boots, then was like “oh crap!  I forgot to put on my pants!” but it was too late and she had to move out.

I mean, I don’t mind that they added a skirt. But really, it’s a horribly bad idea to leave the legs bare! Not to mention, it looks… well, stupid.

13 Mar 14:10

realgirlsgaming: girlsplayingvideogames: One size fits...



realgirlsgaming:

girlsplayingvideogames:


One size fits all.

Ah yes…we’ve all been there. =/

I tag this as “humor” when in truth, it’s extremely saddening.

13 Mar 14:06

Newswire: Person with accent sought for Fantastic Four's new Doctor Doom

by Sean O'Neal
firehose

'Sam Riley, who played Joy Division’s Ian Curtis in Control'

After rumors that Josh Trank’s Fantastic Four reboot might try gender-flipping its Doctor Doom, producers have decided, on second thought, maybe reading the backlash to Michael B. Jordan playing the Human Torch would suffice as the dismaying glimpse into the heart of the Internet necessary to any movie’s preproduction. Instead, they’ve gone with the classic choice for a villain—a white guy with an accent—narrowing the short-list down to four young actors, three English and one Irish, that hew to the Jaguar-endorsed notion that everyone from the United Kingdom is evil.

They are: Harry Potter’s Domnhall Gleeson; Les Misérables’ Eddie Redmayne; Sam Riley, who played Joy Division’s Ian Curtis in Control; and Toby Kebbell, who played Curtis’ manager Rob Gretton in that very same movie. One of these could be the young, presumably pre-med Dr. Victor von Doom, who terrorizes the fresh-faced Fantastic Four ...

13 Mar 14:03

Not sure if this really counts, but it’s code on screen...

by matthewdgroves
firehose

Look Around You beat



Not sure if this really counts, but it’s code on screen that’s used in the title sequence of the first season of “Look Around You”. BASIC on an Acorn.

It’s valid, but very simple BASIC. It’s been a while since I’ve written BASIC, but I remember PRINT always printing out a line (i.e. it would also print out a carriage return). In this video though, there is no carriage return printed. I wonder if I’m remembering correctly, or if there is variation among different versions of BASIC.

jgc says: “@alby points out that the original submitter’s confusion above about line breaking is because the ; after the PRINT prevents a line break”.

13 Mar 14:02

Bronies Are Redefining Fandom — And American Manhood

firehose

lead image is a group of people playing MLP-setting Pathfinder with a bottle of Crown Royal Black, which is 1,000 more words of this article than anyone needed

tl;dr: entirely and insultingly uncritical

On the Internet, no one knows you’re a pony. At least, they don’t have to.
13 Mar 13:59

LeBron James, Samsung pitchman, told 12 million people his phone crashed

by Seth Rosenthal
firehose

shared to delight Overbey

This will not be in the next commercial.

You know how sometimes you're watching basketball on TV and the network cuts to commercial and a commercial comes on with LeBron James just havin' a good time and it goes on for so long you begin to wonder if you changed the channel by accident and are now watching a TV show about LeBron James? Those long-ass commercials are for Samsung. James has a big ol' endorsement deal with them, which means he has to carry around one of their phones (though look around on the internet enough and you'll find some LOOK HE HAS AN IPHONE stuff. Whatever.)

Anyway, this tweet went up Wednesday afternoon, then got deleted, but not before @jensized screencapped it:

That sound you just heard was everyone at Samsung facepalming simultaneously pic.twitter.com/NfJ2qi8fk0

— Jen Clarke (@jensized) March 12, 2014

I have never been a pitchman for a massive corporation before, but I'm pretty sure people with endorsement deals are advised NOT to tell their followers that the product they endorse failed and made them feel sick. The Samsung people presumably: 1. Exploded 2. Contacted him and asked him to delete the tweet (but how?), but not before almost 12 million had a chance to see that. Whoops. Maybe this is when you play up the "he was actually using an iPhone!!!" angle?