firehose

Don't raise your kids to be New York sports fans.

Thousands of snakes will be killed in the 56th Rattlesnake RoundUp this coming weekend in Sweetwater, Texas. It's a barbaric and environmentally reckless festival that's also startlingly reminiscent of a classic Simpson's episode.

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shutupaubrey:

snoop dogg enjoys a nice refreshing popsicle on a hot summer day

	Courtney shared this story from The ToastThe Toast:
	Perfect

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After Leah McGrath Goodman of Newsweek revealed the true identity of Bitcoin inventor Satoshi Nakamoto this morning, we here at The Toast realized her reporting, while excellent, left out the real story — namely, Nakamoto’s involvement in the international train modelling (or TraiMod) community.

Two weeks before our meeting in Temple City, I struck up an email correspondence with Satoshi Nakamoto, mostly discussing his interest in upgrading and modifying model steam trains with computer-aided design technologies. I obtained Nakamoto’s email through a company he buys model trains from.

He has been buying train parts from Japan and England since he was a teenager, saying, “I do machining myself, manual lathe, mill, surface grinders.”

And yet after this bombshell of an admission – he’s a home-scale lather — Goodman insists on focusing on Nakamoto’s side work developing play money. The Toast could not let this stand, and contacted Nakamoto at his Temple City home, where he graciously agreed to talk to us over the sound of whistles and station announcements.

“Bitcoin actually started as a way for the tiny passengers on my model trains to purchase refreshments from the eensy-weensy snack cart in Car Seven,” Nakamoto explained, chuckling self-deprecatingly. “I had no idea that it would become such a force of its own.”

What sort of refreshments do you make available to your passengers?

“I’m a real train-snack traditionalist,” Nakamoto said. “Meat pies, Cracker Jacks, ginger beer, Hershey bars, deviled eggs, cold fried chicken, ham sandwiches. Some people just go for the vending-machine stuff, but not me. You might as well build a model monorail system, if you’re going to do that.”

So Bitcoin was never intended to be used outside of the modelling community?

“That’s right,” said Nakamoto. “Frankly, I’m still a little bewildered at how quickly it caught on among non-modders. To hear people who wouldn’t know a stud track from an HO-scale dining car talk about bitcoins is…”

Unsettling?

“Let’s stick with unsettling, yeah,” he said with a laugh. “I was going to go with something a little stronger.”

How important is weathering to your models?

“Oh, hugely,” Nakamoto said. “Hugely. A lot of people don’t understand that railway modelling is as much an art as it is a science. You know, the wear and tear that a freight car accumulates depends not just on age but also the region it’s most frequently used in. So you wouldn’t weather an ausTRAK N-scale the same way you would a Finnish freight. Would the car be likely to experience sandstorms, which can strip paint off the undercarriage in a few hours, is it near cities and towns where car exhaust is likely to settle as layers of grime, is graffiti going to be a factor, that sort of thing.”

How has being publicly identified as the founder of Bitcoin affected your work as a railroad model enthusiast?

Nakamoto sighed heavily. “It’s a distraction. A real distraction. I thought Goodman was really interested on my thesis about the structural differences between the Viessmann/Vollmer models, but all anyone wants to talk about are the damn coins.”

There was a pause, then a choked sob came over the line. “Model Railroader won’t deliver to my house anymore. They say the mail carrier can’t get to the front door anymore, because of the libertarian human chain in the front yard, but I know it’s because they think I’ve given the modding community a bad name. That’s what hurts the most of all.”

Thanks so much for speaking with us. Any closing thoughts?

“Attention, HO-scale passengers. The dining car is closed. Root beer is still available, but the cost is now six-fifty. If the passengers will look to their right, you will see a sad man. That is all.”

Read more An Interview With The Recently-Outed Inventor of Bitcoin at The Toast.

Original Source

submitted by BluesforBlackHoodies [link] [1 comment]

sciencehabit writes "Researchers have found that between 1 and 3% of people don't like music of any kind. These people aren't tone deaf or incapable of grasping the emotional meaning of a song—their brains simply didn’t find listening to music rewarding. While some psychiatric disorders are associated with the loss of the ability to feel pleasure, called anhedonia, the music-haters represent the first evidence for not feeling pleasure from only one specific pleasing stimulant, a condition that has been dubbed music-specific anhedonia. Curious where you fall on the music reward spectrum? The researchers have an online quiz." I know I actively prefer silence to most music, but what I like, I like intensely. Update: 03/06 21:48 GMT by T : Sorry for the garbled submission; now fixed.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Deleted scene from the critically acclaimed film, Gravity.

Created by artist Alyson Shotz, this reflective picket fence is made entirely of mirrors and has been installed in several locations since 2003. The iteration shown here was on view through 2012 at the Storm King Art Center in New York. The fence has the uncanny ability to reflect its surroundings resulting in a barrier that is at times almost completely camouflaged, or, depending on your perspective, in stark contrast to the nearby landscape. (via Designboom)

vicenews:

Venezuela Rising: As the crisis continues, it seems that protesters will stop at nothing until they see a change in their government. 

Watch our latest dispatch

Today's item from the NSA's Tailored Access Operations (TAO) group implant catalog:

WATERWITCH

(S//SI) Hand held finishing tool used for geolocating targeted handsets in the field.

(S//SI) Features:

• Split display/controller for flexible deployment capability
• External antenna for DFing target; internal antenna for communication with active interrogator
• Multiple technology capability based on SDR Platform; currently UMTS, with GSM and CDMA2000 under development
• Approximate size 3" x 7.5" x 1.25" (radio), 2.5" x 5" x 0.75" (display); radio shrink in planning stages
• Display uses E-Ink technology for low light emissions

(S//SI) Tactical Operators use WATERWITCH to locate handsets (last mile) where handset is connected to Typhon or similar equipment interrogator. WATERWITCH emits tone and gives signal strength of target handset. Directional antenna on unit allos operator to locate specific handset.

Status: Under Development. Available FY-20008
LRIP Production due August 2008

Unit Cost:

Page, with graphics, is here. General information about TAO and the catalog is here.

In the comments, feel free to discuss how the exploit works, how we might detect it, how it has probably been improved since the catalog entry in 2008, and so on.

NASA announces asteroid will fly by Earth today closer than the Moon Gizmodo Surprise! NASA just issued a last minute asteroid notice: Today, a 100-foot (30 meter) asteroid called 2014 DX110 is going to fly by Earth closer than the Moon. The closest point will be 217,000 miles (about 350,000 kilometers) at around 4PM Eastern ... and more »

Every day brings new reasons to wonder . Today we were absolutely surprised with unique understanding of geography by the “Pervyy kanal” tv channel in Russia.

In the news story “More and more Ukraine citizens arrive to the southern Russian regions” First Channel claims that

more than 140 000 people crossed the Russian border in the last two weeks. Among them are not only the residents of Ukraine’s East and South, but also of central and western regions.

We are ready to believe the fact that inhabitants of western regions cross the border, however it’s claimed that people of Ukraine come to “Kursk, Belgorod , Rostov and Bryansk regions ”.

We’re curious whether Poland is aware that it is the part of Russia. Border crossing point Sheginy (the sign can be seen at 00:14 on the video) is situated in Lviv region and is a checkpoint on the border with Poland.

Webcams also transmit empty roads

The project team hopes that the management of the First Channel will deliver a reprimand to their employees and will force them to love geography – after all, in a ticklish propaganda and fake business such mistakes are a major failure.

“You think that’s all I do, I’m just a ditz with a credit card?” asked Cher Horowitz in Clueless, as she wondered if her hobby of hanging out in a shopping mall might dent her chance of true love.   Well, Karl Lagerfeld seems to approve of ditzes with credit cards, the world over.  In fact, he erected a shopping centre (they called it that, but it was more of a hypermarket) themed around Chanel in their honour, at the Grand Palais, where prices are 20-50% up, not off, and everything came with the perma-cool cachet of Chanel branding and referencing.

The oooh-ing and aaah-ing of this particular Chanel set, topped last season’s faux art gallery.  It took at least forty-five minutes just to get people to sit down at their seats because they couldn’t resist wandering through the shopping aisles, feasting their eyes on product, glorious product.  A leg of Jambon Cambon?  Risotto rice a la Venere Elsa?  Aunt Adrienne’s Configure?  A bottle of cleaning mousse called Boy?  Coco Pops cereal?  The list went on and on.  An Instagram barrage of pics and selfies ensued (woe upon the ppl who only follow fashion peeps and had their feeds bombarded by samey images).  Like kids in a candy store, we indulged. Some people overdid it.

Once we finally did sit down, we got clothes.  Lots of them.  Brilliant clothes at that.  They sparkled, shimmered and were texturally rich, as it always had been at Chanel.  Later in the showroom, you could liken many of the surfaces to hundreds and thousands or elaborate cupcake decorations.  Lagerfeld has been pushing a “sportier” silhouette.  Well, as sporty as a pair of tweed tracksuit bottoms and matching jacket can be.  The trainers, a trickle down from the couture show, helped wave the sporty flag.  In this pick n’ mix, there was something for everyone (I didn’t see them in the show but turns out there was actual dolly bead candy jewellery just to aassert the whole sweet analogy).  Next season’s kitsch-o-rama bag will be the 2.55 encased in a lamb’s leather covered polystyrene-a-like tray and wrapped in cling film (yes it will be produced exactly like this for the customer to do with the cling film as they wish) or the wire basket covered in Chanel chains.  Some Chanel-nuts will be toting them around the Harrods Food Hall for sure.  Models did their very best to do the shopwalk, pushing trolleys, carrying baskets and contemplating whether a bag of Chanel cotton balls was a sound purchase.  They walked repeatedly in front of you so you could look at the clothes.  Yes, this was still about the clothes, despite the setup.

That said, the punchline of this spectacle occurred after the models had done their campy exits with Lagerfeld dragging out a bratty Cara Delevigne, who had overloaded the shopping trolley.  It was announced that the Chanel Shopping Centre would be closing and that we could help ourselves to complimentary fruit and veg.  Instead though, editors pounced on the non-perishable items with the Mademoiselle Prive doormats being the number one prized item to go first (Katie Grand nabbed the first one I think) followed by Chanel gardening gloves and safety tabards.  They were veritable Chanel-branded garments afterall and this audience’s appetite needed to be sated.

I watched in vague fear and slight bemusement.  I was thinking when something is too good to be true, it often is.  I gingerly picked up a Chanel biscuit tin, slightly disappointed that nothing was inside.  I could have done with a biscuit brekkie.  Then news started to filter in that security guards were confiscating everyone’s loot (the lady who filled up two bin bags worth of stuff must have been gutted).   Nothing was to be taken, apart from the fruit and veg and bags of candy (Chanel jacket shaped gummy sweet, anyone?).  That was Lagerfeld getting the last laugh.  You can look and touch, but don’t you take.  That’s pretty much Chanel in a nutshell for most of the population unless you buy into the fruit/veg equivalent in the make-up and perfume.

People have been taking umbrage at the perceived idea that Lagerfeld is making some smirking comment on 21^st century consumerism. PoT, kettle and black, they say. On the contrary, Lagerfeld is celebrating it and exercising his ferocious skill of instilling primal desire, which he has done so well at Chanel over the years.  It’s a deliberately over-the-top showcase of canny dexterity, that’s even a touch arrogant.  Lagerfeld has earned that show-off right.  Those that also criticissed the show for going overboard on the kitsch afnd that Coco Chanel would be rolling in her grave – well, as witnessed here, kitsch sells.  If a group of fashion industry insiders went insane at this Chanel Supermarket Sweep, think what would mainstream consumers do?  Come August/September, they’ll ooh and aah over the shop displays, walk into the stores and touch up the clingfilm bags and a small minority  will buy the lot of it.  The Chanel Shopping Center is open to everyone to engage with, but for the select few, they get to walk out of the door with goods in hand.  Credit card ditzes wait in anticipation.

like-salted-earth:

equivoque:

megustamemes:

Surprise date! [video]

HAHAHAH

omg

Last weekend, for the fifth time in his 25-year career, Leonardo DiCaprio was at the the Oscars as a nominee but failed to take home an Academy Award. This puts him in good company with other superstar actors who, despite having numerous opportunities, never succeeded in winning an Oscar (or haven’t succeeded yet).

Here are 15 celebrities who have had the chance to win but haven’t, ranked by number of nominations…

(via Business Insider)

no-place-like-london:

remember when the rock was on hannah montana

Bipartisan senators block civil rights nominee after charged debate CNN (blog) (CNN) – In a surprisingly strong vote, the Senate on Wednesday blocked President Barack Obama's controversial choice to head the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice. The bipartisan rejection came after the widow of a slain Philadelphia officer ... and more »

mrspoonsi writes "A man whose mother bequeathed her iPad to her family in her will says Apple's security rules are too restrictive. Since her death, they have been unable to unlock the device, despite providing Apple with copies of her will, death certificate and solicitor's letter. After her death, they discovered they did not know her Apple ID and password, but were asked to provide written consent for the device to be unlocked. Mr Grant said: 'We obviously couldn't get written permission because mum had died. So my brother has been back and forth with Apple, they're asking for some kind of proof that he can have the iPad. We've provided the death certificate, will and solicitor's letter but it wasn't enough. They've now asked for a court order to prove that mum was the owner of the iPad and the iTunes account.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

thegunsmoker:

gpoy

animenostalgia:

The creator of Ranma 1/2 (and many other things) herself, Rumiko Takahashi! (Judging from the photos, I’d say sometime in the 80s.)