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18 Feb 16:27

Music Review: Guided By Voices keeps grasping at former glory with a reunited lineup

by Patrick Bowman
firehose shared this story from A.V. Club.

Guided By Voices is currently in the fourth year of its “classic ’93-’96 lineup” reunion. And if there is anything particularly heartening to be gleaned from this new epoch, it’s that GBV seems determined to recreate the prolific creative output of their most vital era, even if that output amounts to photocopied retreads and small stylistic deviations only appreciated by GBV diehards. The group’s latest effort, Motivational Jumpsuit, is its fifth album since January 2012, and, like GBV’s most famous work (Bee Thousand, Alien Lanes), it’s a ramshackle collection of 20 one- to three-minute songs raging with crunchy power chords, fragmented power-pop melodies, and impressionistic lyricism from the group’s ageless anchor, lead singer-songwriter Robert Pollard. Again, this is a great thing for fans who follow GBV’s every move and value Pollard’s every word, but it’s hard to imagine the group gaining ...

18 Feb 16:27

Closed captioning almost never transcribes the word “uh.” This one was relevant:

by bubbaprog
firehose shared this story from 30fps.

EyeTV012
18 Feb 16:27

mudokun: …You realize it soon enough.

firehose shared this story from Diane Duane.



mudokun:

…You realize it soon enough.

18 Feb 16:27

Renee Montoya, a very buff Question, by Philip Tan.

firehose shared this story from Front Toward Enemy.



Renee Montoya, a very buff Question, by Philip Tan.

18 Feb 16:27

archaicwonder: A Coin from the Ancient Olympics A silver stater...

firehose shared this story from Diane Duane.



archaicwonder:

A Coin from the Ancient Olympics

A silver stater minted for the 93rd Olympiad from Elis, Olympia c. 408 BC with and Eagle’s head left, below poplar leaf inscribed [DA]. On the reverse, F - A on either side of winged thunderbolt, all within olive wreath. This coin sold for $19,000.

The first Olympic coins were minted around 471 BC so this coin is a fairly early example. The exact start date of the Olympic games is not known, but written records start at 776 BC. The Olympics continued until 391 AD when the Emperor Theodosius ended the games.

Of the four big sanctuaries - Olympia, Delphi, Isthmia, and Nemea - that hosted crown games during the Classical period, only Olympia had a regular coinage that was associated with its festival. This coinage would serve as the only legal tender during the games. All foreign coins had to be exchanged. This exchange was done for a fee which went to pay for the upkeep of the sanctuary at Olympia. Besides being a source of income for the sanctuary, this exchange to a common currency made commerce easier as the home currencies of the various visitors were sometimes based on different weight standards. A common currency was also needed because one of the great attractions of the Olympic Festival was the vast market or fair that took place there at the same time as the games, drawing an immense audience of buyers and sellers from all over the Greek world.

The fact that there were a wide variety of denominations of Olympic coinage - staters (or didrachms), drachms, hemidrachms and obols - shows that these coins were for commerce and were not just souvenirs as was once thought.

18 Feb 16:27

Photo

firehose shared this story from Apparently Fish Need Bicycles..













18 Feb 16:27

"We have a saying, my people. ”Don’t kill if you can wound, don’t wound if you can subdue, don’t..."

firehose shared this story from APE IN A CAPE.

“We have a saying, my people. ”Don’t kill if you can wound, don’t wound if you can subdue, don’t subdue if you can pacify, and don’t raise your hand at all until you’ve first extended it.”

-

Wonder Woman

(source)

hey, if we boost this enough, any chances the folks at DC will realize this should be embossed in GOLD on the character bible?  It might help them realize that Princess Hack’n’Stab needs to be retired IMMEDIATELY.

(via rebeccamartin2)

Wonder Woman is not from Florida.

(via corporationsarepeople)

My best Wonder Woman bit.

18 Feb 11:53

Photo

firehose

via Kara Jean



18 Feb 08:06

larstheyeti: Heart’s desire.



larstheyeti:

Heart’s desire.

18 Feb 07:55

Lunatics, Lovers, and Metadata

by Mark Liberman
firehose

via Russian Sledges

Some (perhaps algorithmic) drudge on the Google Books assembly line has a (perhaps accidental) sense of humor. Tracking down a surprising apparent antedating of a piece of managerial jargon, I found this:


In the Google Books index, this is Margaret Croyden, Lunatics, Lovers, and Poets: The Contemporary Experimental Theatre, published in 1974. But the content is Shrinivas Pandit, The Alchemy of Leadership, published 2009. The quoted publisher's blurb could almost fit either book:

A distillate of author's interviews of the current crop of successful leaders, this book detects the essence of leadership in the mental make-up, personal traits, beliefs, faith, vision and working style of successful Indian leaders. It enables entrepreneurs to understand their growth trajectories for reaching their goalposts and leaving a lasting legacy.

Amazon seems to have picked up on the same crossed wires:

And likewise AbeBooks:

 

18 Feb 01:54

“Consumers for Paper Options” wants the government to push more paper

by Cyrus Farivar

According to a new profile in the Washington Post, a four-year-old lobbying group calling itself “Consumers for Paper Options” turns out to be an astroturfing group funded by the Envelope Manufacturers Association (EMA) and “the paper industry’s largest trade group, several of North America’s biggest paper manufacturers.”

What do these paper-pushing people want? More paper delivery of government statements in the name of the elderly and those with slow or no Internet access. The Post notes that the group recently managed to add a provision to a bill that would require “the government to plan for resuming paper delivery of annual Social Security earnings statements to some of the nation’s 150 million future retirees.”

Despite the fact that the group claims to represent digitally challenged consumers, its executive director is John Runyon, a veteran DC lobbyist.

Read 2 remaining paragraphs | Comments


    






18 Feb 01:43

Photo









18 Feb 01:42

Photo













18 Feb 01:36

beerinabox: In other news, Bo Burnham is a gift to man kind.



beerinabox:

In other news, Bo Burnham is a gift to man kind.

18 Feb 00:46

Kicktaxing: The Crazy Complexity of Paying Tax Correctly On Crowdfunding

by Unknown Lamer
firehose

"Because the project was designed to break even — and plow any additional revenue above the goal into additional content for the book and into site and app updates for the publication — I thought I wouldn’t show any effective profit on the endeavor. We’d have some extra hardcover books and the ebook left to sell afterwards.
...
But I hadn’t really put a precise number, as I should have, on the tax owed below the federal level. And worse, city, regional, and state revenue and taxation departments aren’t fully aligned on how to account for crowdfunding revenue. Kickstarter suggests that most funds are taxable income; Indiegogo offers no specific advice on its site. Some government entities have made up their minds: Canada said in October 2013 that all crowdfunding revenue counts as business income.

Crowdfund Capital Advisors, a group that consults on investment and other forms of crowdfunding, suggests from expert advice that if no tangible reward is given, then there’s no sale, and thus potentially no tax; the same is true if the reward is tiny compared to the item’s production or market cost.
...
But it depends entirely on how local, state, and federal taxing authorities want to treat that revenue and on whether they pay enough attention or receive enough information from other parties — such as a required form from payment processors discussed below — to track you down if you fail to meet the rules that they intend to enforce."

eggboard writes "I thought I knew what I was doing when I budgeted for a Kickstarter campaign. I spent weeks sorting out details, set a number ($48,000) that included expenses, Kickstarter fees, and a margin of error. In the end, we raised over $56,000. But my tax planning nearly put a crimp in cash flow, and could have been real problem. It all worked out, but I've written a detailed guide for people for before and after a campaign to avoid my mistakes."

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18 Feb 00:43

Bill Clinton's defense secretary is writing an asteroid-mining novel

by Charlie Jane Anders

Bill Clinton's defense secretary is writing an asteroid-mining novel

And William Cohen is writing his book with the help of NASA, as part of NASA's new program of outreach to science fiction authors. The former Republican Senator, who has already written a couple political thrillers, is telling a story about politics, murder — and sweet, sweet asteroid wealth.

Read more...


    






18 Feb 00:42

▶ Janelle Monáe w/ Earth, Wind, & Fire NBA All-Star Halftime Performance | LIVE 2-16-14

firehose

seriously though

"He was like, 'There are no other females performing -- I want it to be you.'"

like I could like Shorty more than I did before I saw this

_and this wasn't the headline performance_

firehose shared this story :
"I'M THE ELECTRIC LADY, AND I'VE COME TO FUCK SHIT UP!" (6:50)

JANELLE MONAE (AGE 28) - ATLANTA, GA - SINGER
Trombone Shorty wants this year's halftime show to be "a big party, the way we do here in the Big Easy."
While Pharrell Williams is headlining the NBA All-Star Game Entertainment Series this year, with a performance during the player introductions on Sunday night (Feb. 16), the halftime show -- featuring Earth, Wind & Fire, Janelle Monae, Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue, Dr. John and Gary Clark Jr. -- is the evening's event that promises to synthesize the vibrant musical culture of this year's All-Star Weekend host city, New Orleans. Earth, Wind & Fire's soul classic "Shining Star" and Monae's "The Electric Lady" title track will be among the songs performed, and everything will be played live at the New Orleans Arena.
"It's been a great process, and... I'm blessed to be a representative for my city," Shorty, the city's most high-profile brass musician, told Billboard on Sunday, hours before the performance is broadcast live on TNT. Shorty has acted as a musical ambassador for the NBA, personally contacting other artists to see if they would be interested in collaborating on the halftime extravaganza.
"I was like, 'This would be great, but I think it should be bigger,'" says Shorty, who recent made his GRAMMYs ceremony debut by performing alongside Macklemore & Ryan Lewis and Madonna last month. "I'm in my city, and I could have done something by myself, but I was like, 'No, we need some other people with us.'"
Monae, who was honored as the Rising Star at last year's Billboard Women in Music event, was one of the first people Shorty contacted. "I'm really great friends with Trombone Shorty, who's like the king of New Orleans in terms of live music," says Monae. "He played on [my song] 'The Electric Lady,' and we just thought it was fitting. He was like, 'There are no other females performing -- I want it to be you.'"
Despite having a gig on Saturday night in Tampa, the guys of Earth, Wind & Fire took an early plane out to New Orleans, after Shorty gave them a ring a few weeks ago. "They were actually going to use 'Shining Star' in the piece that they were doing," says the legendary funk group's Verdine White, "and an idea came to them to reach out to them and see if we could do it live."
Original Airdate: Sunday February 16, 2014 (ICE SPORTS)

18 Feb 00:18

Menswear Dog Capsule Collection Hey guys, We just want to take a...







Menswear Dog Capsule Collection

Hey guys, We just want to take a moment to thank everyone so much for the continued support for this site and our project. We’re now thrilled to announce that we’re launching our first ever menswear-inspired canine fashion collection!

We’re also partnering with the Rescue Paw Foundation so that every little bit helps sponsor a shelter animal in need. Check out the link below to help support our dreams, and this fantastic cause.

The Menswear Dog Collection on Indiegogo

18 Feb 00:17

"Florida Man" (Unintentionally?) Does Something Artistically Interesting

by Alison Hallett
firehose shared this story from Portland Mercury.

• "@FloridaMan" is the best Twitter feed on the internet.

Florida Man Destroys Museum's Ai Weiwei Vase in Protest, Doesn't Realize It's Worth $1 Million | http://t.co/syzHIqPKJL
— Florida Man (@_FloridaMan) February 17, 2014

• According to the Miami New Times, the Florida Man who destroyed an Ai Wei Wei vase at the Pérez Art Museum Miami was protesting the museum's bad track record when it comes to showing the work of local artists: "I did it for all the local artists in Miami that have never been shown in museums here," he's quoted as saying. "They have spent so many millions now on international artists. It's the same political situation over and over again. I've been here for 30 years and it's always the same."

• Ai Wei Wei is one of the most celebrated artists in the world, known for his relentless critiques of China's human rights record. (If you haven't seen the documentary Never Sorry, I recommend it.)

• In 2010, the Museum of Contemporary Craft ran an exhibit of Ai Wei Wei's work called Dropping the Urn, which featured a photograph of Wei Wei deliberately smashing a Han dynasty urn on the ground.

= Clearly, @FloridaMan is a high-concept performance artist and TBA should book him at once.

[ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

17 Feb 22:27

Hunting Trophies Made Out of Salvaged Bike Parts That Double as Wall-Mounted Hangers

by EDW Lynch

Salvaged Bike Part Hunting Trophy Sculptures

Designer Andreas Scheiger combines salvaged bicycle seats, handlebars, and other bike parts into hunting trophy-like sculptures that double as sturdy wall-mounted hangers. They are available for purchase on Andreas Scheiger’s website.

Salvaged Bike Part Hunting Trophy Sculptures

Salvaged Bike Part Hunting Trophy Sculptures

Salvaged Bike Part Hunting Trophy Sculptures

Salvaged Bike Part Hunting Trophy Sculptures

photos via Andreas Scheiger

via Fubiz, Colossal

17 Feb 21:13

Woman chased by hundreds of gently stampeding rabbits for a snack

by Abraham

A woman walking through a park discovers that the area is overrun with, as she described it, “millions” of what at first seem like the most adorable assailants ever. But maybe they’re not assailants at all.

Maybe they’re a crowd of faithful believers following the one true way…

According to Yu Yu Lam Lam, who originally posted the video to Facebook, all these rabbits were worshiping her because she was their prophet…also because of the tasty snack in the bag.

17 Feb 20:44

kateordie: A new comic’s up at ComicsAlliance today! I had to...

firehose

'I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had women come into my shop and ask me why we have no shirts for girls, or even small sizes of men’s shirts. I wish I had a less-than-four-paragraphs explanation to hand out, but I don’t. I think of it every time I hear another idiotic quote about how girls don’t read superhero comics or how a woman was made to feel unwelcome in a comic shop, I think of it when I see a giant rack of basic superhero logo shirts for men but all the slim-fitting ones covered in rhinestones, embarrassing slogans, or inexplicable pink.

Women find a way. We bulk-order from the Internet. We make our own clothes. We knit Carol Corps scarves or spend months cross-stitching Green Lantern oaths onto jackets or sewing oversized Deadpool shirts into dresses. It’s not a blanket statement, and I don’t mean everyone, but it feels like a large portion of women who love superhero comics are constantly fighting to express their rampant enthusiasm for a culture that keeps telling them they don’t really like it.

There’s money on the table. Just reach out and pick it up.'



kateordie:

A new comic’s up at ComicsAlliance today! I had to take an extra week break, but you’ll get a make-up comic next Monday! Two weeks in a row! Not too shabby.

This week I discuss comics merchandise, and why the heck it’s so hard to get women’s sizes in Batman shirts. Read on!

For folks who don’t know, PREVIEWS is the distributor catalog from which comic shop retailers order their stock.  Readers can purchase a copy of the catalog and use it to preorder items through their store — especially handy for items your shop might not ordinarily stock (because they have no idea there’s a market for them unless you tell them… which you can’t do if you have no idea such products exist).  

As previews is primarily aimed at Diamond’s customer — the retailer — the dearth of clothing items in women’s sizes may be attributable to the pervasive notion that women don’t shop in comic shops… which becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy when shops don’t stock merch for them. 

::sad trombone::

17 Feb 20:30

Dear Esther dev ditches Source for Unity after unpleasant surprises

by Jessica Conditt
firehose

tl;dr: Expensive middleware, poor billing, and delays and instability at Valve.

"This was all happening around the time of the departures at Valve, which unfortunately included our main contact for all things Engine related, and subsequently we spent weeks trying to find someone else who could point us in the right direction," he says. "This had a cascade effect on the whole project, leading to months of delays; coupled with the contractor's inexperience with the engine, communication problems, and then finally the PS4 release date announcement, we decided it was time to pull the plug, at significant cost to us."

For the past two months, environment artist Robert Briscoe has been working to make Dear Esther run in Unity, rather than Valve's Source Engine, and he has some pretty gifs to show for it. He's bringing the entire game to Unity, six years after it...
17 Feb 20:28

The Only Presidents Day Songs Humanity Will Ever Require

by David Schmader

Created by Dina Martina, (AKA genius Grady West).

Find the full Dina Martina Holiday Album at iTunes!

[ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

17 Feb 19:42

Mashtags, Potato Shapes Made to Look Like Social Media Symbols by Frozen Food Company Birds Eye

by Rollin Bishop
firehose

we have reached this point/it has been too long since our last Internet party

Mashtags Potato Shapes

Birds Eye, a frozen food brand under the larger Pinnacle Foods company, has announced Mashtags, potato shapes that are, well, shaped like a lot of the symbols often associated with social media use — the number sign, or hash (#), at sign (@), and asterisk (*) all feature heavily on the bag.

Mashtags will be available in the UK for £1.75 (approximately $3) starting in March, though there’s no word on whether they’ll be released elsewhere.

via Pocket-lint

17 Feb 19:41

Fake Movie Trailer ‘One Inch of Snow’ Hilariously Dramatizes Atlanta, Georgia’s Reaction to Snow

by Rollin Bishop
firehose

fuck the falcons

YouTuber user Triloka Love has released “One Inch of Snow”, a short spoof trailer mixing bits of local news coverage from a recent Atlanta, Georgia snowstorm with dramatic music, disaster movie clips, and a few Internet classics.

via reddit, Daily of the Day

17 Feb 19:41

Dartmouth Student Encourages Rape of Classmate on Anonymous Site

by hodad
firehose shared this story from hodad's R2K Feed.

Dartmouth Student Encourages Rape of Classmate on Anonymous SiteSExpand

A Dartmouth College student has been identified and is being disciplined by the school for writing an anonymous post on the campus site Bored at Baker that encouraged the rape of a fellow student.

On Thursday, The Dartmouth published a letter from Women's and Gender Studies Professor Giavanna Munafo. Munafo wrote that she had been sent a link to post that went up on Bored at Baker last month on how students could convince one particular "whore" to have sex with them. It identified the "whore" in question as female student in the class of 2017 who lives in the dorm the Choates, though her name and the name of the author of the post have not been revealed by the college:

Dartmouth Student Encourages Rape of Classmate on Anonymous SiteSExpand

On Friday morning, Dean of the College Charlotte Johnson sent out an email that said college administrators and police had identified the author of the post and "are taking appropriate actions under the College disciplinary system."

Dear Members of the Dartmouth Community,

The recent Bored at Baker posting targeting a member of our community sharply illustrates the damage that disrespectful, irresponsible, and anonymous comments in online forums can have for the person targeted and for our community as a whole. While we defend the right to freedom of expression and vigorous debate on our campus, anonymous online or other personal, harassing and threatening language is not protected or defensible and has no place in any community-let alone the Dartmouth family we all hold so dear.

Once we were notified that the police had completed their investigation, we
acted swiftly to identify the individual that (anonymously) authored the post. We have identified the individual and are taking appropriate actions under the College disciplinary system. We want to assure you that we are doing all that we can to support those impacted by this and any other posting. If you or someone close to you needs support or a space to talk, I encourage you to reach out to the many resources available including Counseling, the Undergraduate Deans Office, the SAAP coordinators, OPAL, and Safety & Security.

At his Inauguration, President Hanlon challenged us to consider, with every action we take on this campus, whether we are strengthening our community or undermining it. Anonymous post targeting individuals, public harassment, threatening behavior and physical and sexual violence corrode the heart of our community and are unacceptable. At its heart, this is a community that cares for one another. Let's rise to President Hanlon's challenge and reflect our highest values in all that we do.

Sincerely,

Charlotte Johnson
Dean of the College

The homepage for Bored at Baker site (the contents of which are only accessible to those who have a dartmouth.edu email address) features a message purportedly from the victim of the threat herself. She says that she was actually raped by the anonymous poster, that it dramatically affected her life and that Dartmouth did little to nothing to help her:

Dartmouth Student Encourages Rape of Classmate on Anonymous SiteSExpand

In her op-ed letter, Professor Munafo said that the work Dartmouth has done recently to prevent sexual assault "is not enough"

No bystander training program, no committee, no first-responder training or added staff positions will stop rape or transform a culture that accepts and even promotes it.

The Dartmouth also reported that the Panhellenic Council's sorority presidents, who recently took a stand against the state of Greek life at the school, sent an email criticizing the unidentified student who wrote the Bored at Baker post. The school is still being investigated by the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights for Title IX violations.

Original Source

17 Feb 19:40

jl8comic: JL8 #154 by Yale Stewart Based on characters in DC...

firehose

nobody likes Booster Gold
tho lol4rill at his stunna shades



jl8comic:

JL8 #154 by Yale Stewart

Based on characters in DC Comics. 

Like the Facebook page here!

Archive

2014 Con Schedule

Twitter

Pick up the first issue of my creator-owned comic here, or merch at the new online store!

17 Feb 19:34

Never-Before-Seen Photos of the New York City Subway System from 1981

by EDW Lynch
firehose

via Jfiorato

Rare photos of the New York City Subway in 1981

Back in 1981, a young photographer named Christopher Morris spent 6 months documenting the plight of New York City’s subway system, which much like the city at the time, was overrun by crime, graffiti, and litter. Morris, now a successful photojournalist, recently rediscovered an unpublished cache of his subway photos. You can view 15 of the photos over at TIME LightBox.

Rare photos of the New York City Subway in 1981

Rare photos of the New York City Subway in 1981

Rare photos of the New York City Subway in 1981

Rare photos of the New York City Subway in 1981

17 Feb 19:33

An Obit In Kansas

by Andrew Sullivan

A reader alerted me to it, in the wake of the Kansas House of Representatives passing a law that would allow widespread discrimination against any gay or straight people who could even faintly be connected to a wedding or even commitment ceremony. The obit is for a pillar of the local community:

Bruce G. “Butch” Neis was born March 15, 1953 in Lawrence, KS the son of Samuel G. Jr. and Elizabeth Kindig Neis. He was a farmer, a welder and owned Bruce Neis Trucking. He was a lifetime member of the Eudora Township Volunteer Fire Department. He also was a member of Eudora Emergency Medical Services for 22 years and a 14-year sponsor of the All-Night After Prom Party at Eudora High School.

Among his survivors are

two sons; Richard B. Neis (spouse Carrie) of Eudora, KS, Aaron M. Neis (partner, Thaddeus Winter) of Honolulu, HI … and two brothers; Samuel D. Neis (spouse Bill Spinney) New Bedford, MA, Russell D. Neis (spouse Tina) …

My italics.

You know why the Christianists will lose? Because they are insisting that a man like Neis disown his partnered gay son and his married gay brother. Happily the far right does not seem to have succeeded in tearing this particular family apart. Update from a reader:

A footnote to your post: The Lawrence Journal-World, on whose website that obit appeared, will not, as a matter of corporate policy mandated by its extremely right-wing ownership, run notices of same-sex marriages. However, their obituaries run exactly as submitted by funeral homes, with no editing, so the mention of the man’s sons’ partnerships slipped through. And in fact, the obit you linked to actually is on a third-party site, Legacy.com, which handles online obituaries for the Journal-World (and many other newspaper websites). So it evaded the newspaper’s own editorial/advertising policies against honoring gay life events. Sadly, there’s still quite a ways to go in acceptance of gays in Kansas – even in Lawrence, by far the most liberal and open community in the state.