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22 Jan 19:08

vintageblackglamour: Willa Brown Chappell (1906-1992) was a...



vintageblackglamour:

Willa Brown Chappell (1906-1992) was a pioneering aviator who co-founded the National Airmen’s Association of America, an organization whose mission was to get African Americans into the United States Air Force. Inspired by Bessie Coleman, Chappell (then known as Willa Beatrice Brown) started taking flying lessons in 1934 at Chicago’s Aeronautical University. She earned her pilot’s license in 1937, making her the first African-American woman to be licensed to fly in the United States. In 1940, she and her first husband, Lieutenant Cornelius R. Coffey started the Coffey School of Aeronautics, where some of the approximately 200 pilots who trained there eventually became “Tuskegee Airmen.” Born in Glasgow, Kentucky on January 22, 1906, she died on July 18, 1992 at the age of 86. Photo: Kentucky.gov

http://www.thehistorymakers.com/special-collections/national-airmens-association-america

22 Jan 19:07

‘Life Itself’: a stirring tribute to Roger Ebert from the director of ‘Hoop Dreams’

by Casey Newton

The movies, Roger Ebert said, “are like a machine that generates empathy… It helps us to identify with the people who are sharing this journey with us.” Life Itself, an engrossing new documentary based on Ebert’s memoir of the same name, inspires more than its share of empathy as it chronicles its subject’s final days. But the film by Hoop Dreams director Steve James also generates a sense of wonder. How did a chubby know-it-all from Urbana, Illinois, come through decades of alcoholism and loneliness to redefine film criticism and become one of the country’s greatest popular writers?

It’s a journey worth taking, even if you know the broad outlines of Ebert’s life: an early love of writing leads him to newspapers, where he becomes a general-assignment reporter at the Chicago Sun-Times. The then-undistinguished job of film critic falls in his lap, and he throws himself into it, winning the Pulitzer Prize in 1975. That same year, Ebert begins his career in television, a move that will ultimately make him the most famous critic in America. At the age of 50, he marries for the first time, and his wife, Chaz, becomes a central figure in his life, managing his affairs and becoming his caregiver after cancer takes his voice.

A journey worth taking

James chronicles these turns with sophistication and wit, drawing on more than two dozen interviews with Ebert’s family, co-workers, and friends in the movie industry. (The best of these is a characteristically ludicrous appearance from director Werner Herzog, whose roughly 90 seconds in the movie alone make Life Itself worth seeking out.)

The tricky thing about Life Itself is taking Ebert’s enormous output of text and turning it into cinema. There’s plenty of Ebert on video, of course, but the film pays great deference to Ebert as a writer, layering text on the screen and including lengthy passages of voiceover from the memoir. “One of the things we wanted to do was to show what a great writer he was,” James told me in an interview this week after the film’s premiere at the Sundance Film Festival. “I wanted Roger to be the narrator of the film.”

Of course, you can’t tell the story of Ebert without including the man most closely associated with him. In 1975, after some early experiments with public television, Ebert hooked up with crosstown rival Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune. Their work together, first at Sneak Previews and later with At the Movies, introduced a generation to films both popular and independent, and to the language of criticism. Without Siskel & Ebert it seems unlikely that I would have spent high school arguing with my friend Michael about the relative merits of Fargo, Pulp Fiction, and (yes) Hoop Dreams, all of which we had gone to see only after they’d received two thumbs up.

"I wanted Roger to be the narrator of the film."

The story of Siskel and Ebert’s complicated partnership has been told before, and the film offers the usual raucous clips of the rivals arguing. But Life Itself enlivens the tale with new details: it reveals that Siskel, who appeared on television as something of a square, was once a member of Hugh Hefner’s coterie and attended topless pool parties at the Playboy Mansion. And it contains the first in-depth interview with Siskel’s widow, Marlene Iglitzen, who recounts Siskel’s mounting fears that Ebert would leave the show to go solo, leaving him without his partner. (Siskel died from a brain tumor in 1999.)

But the film’s greatest drama may lie in its own making. James began interviewing Ebert only in the last several months of the critic’s life. And while Ebert’s memoir gives the film its structure, James sought to go beyond it to show his subject’s life after he published his book in 2011. Cancer of the jaw caused Ebert to lose his voice, along with the ability to eat or drink, and Life Itself offers an unflinching portrait of a dying man. It can be brutal: the first scene in which Ebert appears finds him in the hospital, receiving suction in his airway. “It was a way of saying right up front, here you go: this is the guy you’re going to see in this movie. Get over it,” James told me. “And I hope people do get over it. I hope you get to a place where you see it’s still Roger, and you see past the infirmities.”

It can be hard to watch

In Ebert’s final days, James sends him a nine-page list of questions he hopes to answer. But Ebert, normally generous in his emailed replies, responds only: “I can’t.” He dies soon thereafter, surrounded by Chaz and other friends and family. James is sanguine about the abrupt loss of access to his subject: “Ultimately, part of what filmmaking about is making a film from what you get, not what you wanted to get,” he says.

Life Itself takes what James and his crew captured and turns it into a fitting tribute. And it gives a fair hearing to some of the more pointed criticisms of Ebert’s work: that he was a sharper critic when he was younger; that he became too friendly with the filmmakers he critiqued; and that his thumb-based method of reviewing robbed film criticism of nuance.

But few can deny that Ebert helped introduce millions of people to great films — and smart criticism — that they would never have seen otherwise. Ebert was more than just a famous critic; he elevated the medium through his criticism. Life Itself is the tribute he deserves.

22 Jan 19:07

icatmeme: I shall raise you.



icatmeme:

I shall raise you.

22 Jan 18:00

houghtonlib: Apian, Peter, 1495-1552. Astronomicum Caesareum,...

firehose

Houghton beat



houghtonlib:

Apian, Peter, 1495-1552. Astronomicum Caesareum, 1540.

*GC5.Ap34.540a

Houghton Library, Harvard University

This more complex volvelle has multiple moving parts, including several outer dials, with a smaller, independently rotating disk inside. Click here for a larger version of this image than Tumblr file sizes permit.

22 Jan 17:59

sweaty otaku - Segagaga (Sega - Dreamcast - 2001)



sweaty otaku - Segagaga (Sega - Dreamcast - 2001)

22 Jan 17:46

T-Mobile Jumping Into the Check-Cashing Industry

by Soulskill
firehose

great

An anonymous reader writes "T-Mobile has made headlines recently for trying to change the cellphone industry's reliance on contracts that lock customers into a particular carrier. Perhaps surprisingly, they've been fairly successful. Now, they're jumping into another industry plagued by high, customer-unfriendly fees: check cashing. 'Specifically, T-Mobile is hoping to offer an alternative for the 70 million or so U.S. adults that either have no bank account or have some bank services but still rely somewhat on check-cashing or payday-loan services.' How will they do it? 'Through the combination of a smartphone and a prepaid Visa debit card, T-Mobile (and its banking partner, Bancor) aims to offer many of the services typically offered through a bank, including check cashing, direct deposit and bill pay. The service, dubbed Mobile Money, allows customers to purchase and reload the card at more than 3,000 T-Mobile stores and, eventually, at Safeway and other retail stores. They can use the card anywhere Visa is accepted, and can also withdraw money, without a fee, at 42,000 ATMs across the country. Mobile Money customers can enroll in direct deposit for payroll, and personal checks and other types of checks can also be deposited by taking a picture of the check using the smartphone's camera.'"

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22 Jan 17:38

From classic Doctor Who episode The Twin Dilemma.  The source is...

firehose

'The source is BBC Basic, and it controls what is on the screen later in the scene.'



From classic Doctor Who episode The Twin Dilemma.  The source is BBC Basic, and it controls what is on the screen later in the scene.  Line 420 of the code waits for the spacebar to be pressed and then updates the display (either pressed by the actor or someone off screen).

22 Jan 17:37

Super Bowl 2014: Seattle's wide receivers are average, or are they?

by Mark Sandritter
firehose

'while some have called the Seattle wide receivers a liability and a downfall, they've actually been among the most-efficient in the game and more efficient than a group some regard as the best. If Tate or Baldwin were targeted 150 times this season, they likely would have racked up more than 1,300 yards and been lauded for their "breakout seasons." All of this is without once mentioning Percy Harvin who is expected to play in the Super Bowl.'

Some consider Seattle's wide receivers one of the weakest links on the roster. If that's true, the other units must be really good.

Even before Richard Sherman made himself a household name with a fuming post-game rant following the NFC Championship game, the Seattle Seahawks still had plenty of star power. Their 25-year-old quarterback Russell Wilson has quickly become one of the league's most recognizable faces in his second season. Their veteran running back Marshon Lynch has been among the NFL's most endearing characters ever since the play now known as the Beast Quake. Sherman led a defensive unit that finished No. 1 in the league while hitting hard and playing fast.

With so much glamor on one team, it's easy to see how a specific position group might get lost in the shuffle. Perhaps that's what happened to Seattle's wide receivers.

While Sherman's message to 49ers wide receiver Michael Crabree drew national headlines, Seahawks wide receiver Doug Baldwin was making waves of his own. Baldwin said, emphatically, the Seattle wide corps is not average following the victory over the 49ers. It's not an unexpected defense for a proud athlete, but it may challenge conventional wisdom. It's also not the first time Baldwin has had to defend Seattle's pass catchers.

In December, Tom Pelissero of USA Today wrote the Seattle wide receivers could be the team's downfall in January. Baldwin took note.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion. Doesn’t mean their opinion is an intelligent one. We’ll gladly take the motivation. @USATODAYsports

— Doug Baldwin Jr (@DougBaldwinJr) December 13, 2013

On Sunday, a pair of ESPN NFL analysts compared Seattle's wide receivers to appetizers. Baldwin heard that too.

"I was able to watch a special on ESPN with Keyshawn Johnson and Cris Carter," Baldwin said after the NFC Championship. "They were talking about the wide receivers for the Seattle Seahawks. They said that we're not the main entrees. They said that we're the appetizers. I'll take that. We're the appetizers. But we're one hell of a good appetizer."

There is no question the undrafted free agent plays with a chip on his shoulder. Leading up to the NFC Championship game he said the chip is so large, it's actually a boulder. Baldwin and the other receivers have used the criticism as motivation. The good news for them, they're likely to receive plenty of fuel for the fire leading up to the Super Bowl.

Matched up against Denver, Seattle will face the Broncos' prolific passing attack. That, of course, includes Denver's heralded wide receiver group. The trio of Demaryius Thomas, Wes Welker and Eric Decker is regarded by some as the best in the NFL. Ask 100 NFL fans if they would take the Denver trio or Seattle's so called "average" receivers and the majority, maybe even all of them, would likely to pick the Broncos. But does Denver really have that big of an advantage? Let's take a look.

Team A: 9.3 yards per target, 62.2 percent catch rate, 15.2 percent of targets result in a reception of 20+ yards.

Team B: 8.7 yards per target, 64.3 percent catch rate, 12.1 percent of targets result in a reception of 20+ yards.

Based on the general consensus among NFL fans, Denver has to be Team A in the above scenario, right? Wrong.

At least on a per target basis, Seattle's group of wide receivers were more efficient than Denver's. They also were more efficient at creating plays of 20 or more yards when targeted. Seattle's three most-targeted receivers this season were Baldwin, Golden Tate and Jermaine Kearse. Two undrafted free agents and a second-round pick. All three fared well on a per target basis with Baldwin's 10.7 YPT the second-highest regular season mark among receivers with at least 25 targets, according to Advanced NFL Stats.

Here's a closer look at the data from this season (including playoffs):

Player

Receptions

Targets

Yards

20+ Rec

YPT

Catch %

20+ Rec %

Seatte

Golden Tate

69

109

942

12

8.6

63.3%

11.0%

Doug Baldwin

58

83

914

17

11.0

69.9%

20.5%

Jermaine Kearse

25

44

415

7

9.4

56.8%

15.9%

Sidney Rice

15

35

231

5

6.6

42.9%

14.3%

Ricardo Lockette

5

7

82

2

11.7

71.4%

28.6%

Percy Harvin

4

5

38

0

7.6

80.0%

0.0%

Seattle WRs

176

283

2622

43

9.3

62.2%

15.2%

Denver

Demaryius Thomas

107

163

1618

23

9.9

65.6%

14.1%

Eric Decker

94

150

1393

20

9.3

62.7%

13.3%

Wes Welker

83

124

854

12

6.9

66.9%

9.7%

Andre Caldwell

18

33

226

2

6.8

54.5%

6.1%

Denver WRs

302

470

4091

57

8.7

64.3%

12.1%

Denver holds obvious advantages in the general counting stats. The Bronco receivers have more catches and more yards. Decker and Thomas both have very good numbers, overall and by efficiency standards. You also have to credit their consistency for producing such good numbers over a larger sample size. None of this is to say the Broncos don't have very good receivers. They absolutely do and the matchup between the Denver receivers and the Seattle secondary should be excellent.

Instead, the big takeaway here is while some have called the Seattle wide receivers a liability and a downfall, they've actually been among the most-efficient in the game and more efficient than a group some regard as the best. If Tate or Baldwin were targeted 150 times this season, they likely would have racked up more than 1,300 yards and been lauded for their "breakout seasons."

All of this is without once mentioning Percy Harvin who is expected to play in the Super Bowl. Even with Harvin, Seattle's wide receivers can't match up with Denver's in terms of accolades. None of them have ever topped 1,000 yards in a season or made the Pro Bowl as a receiver.

Because of that, some will likely continue to doubt them and call them average, pedestrian and whatever else. My guess is Baldwin, Tate and company wouldn't want it any other way.

More from SB Nation NFL

• SB Nation's complete coverage of Super Bowl XLVIII

• Sherman's deflection: The Xs and Os behind the big story

• The sordid end of David Meggett: From All-Pro to prison

• Why are you mad at Richard Sherman? | Sherman explains interview

• NFL mock draft: Senior Bowl could shake up 1st round

• Senior Bowl 2014 | Measurements released | Game preview

22 Jan 17:30

Paralympic gold medalist pulls classic prank on Conan

by Michael Katz
firehose

YES
YESSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Alana Nichols, a Paralympic gold medalist in both the Summer and Winter games, brought a highlight reel to CONAN. It was not what anyone expected.

The clip is hilarious in its own right, but it's funnier if you're in on the joke. This is called being RuddRoll'd, a term I learned from the essential Slade Sohmer, which describes the running late-night joke Paul Rudd has with Conan:

Every time Rudd shows up on Conan he comes with "a clip," but that clip isn’t from one of his movies, it’s from Mac and Me, a 1988 science fiction adventure movie where a character races out of control in a wheelchair.

Here's Paul Rudd in action, but I think he's been topped here.

22 Jan 17:30

How Kevin Durant's scoring binge compares to Kobe's and LeBron's best runs

by Jason Patt
firehose

"They way he was playing, he probably could have scored on Jesus."

KD put up 46 points in a victory over the Blazers as his insane scoring run continues.

Kevin Durant is soaring to new heights this season, and his torrid stretch of play continued against the Portland Trail Blazers on Tuesday night in a 105-97 victory for the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Durant scored 46 points on 17-of-25 shooting, nailing 6-of-7 three-pointers and notching 11 points in the final three-plus minutes as the Thunder took control of the game.

Durant was so good that Blazers reserve guard Mo Williams questioned whether the Son of God himself could stop the scoring barrage:

Mo Williams on Kevin Durant's 46-point, 5-rebound, 4-assist performance: "They way he was playing, he probably could have scored on Jesus."

— Joe Freeman (@BlazerFreeman) January 22, 2014

With Russell Westbrook out, Durant has taken it upon himself to carry the Thunder, and his performance in the month of January has been stuff of legend. In 11 games this month, Durant is averaging 37.0 points, 5.9 assists and 5.6 rebounds while shooting 52.2 percent overall and 39.2 percent from three. He has three 40-point games, a 50-point game and has been under 30 points just twice.

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Durant has scored 30 points in eight straight games, averaging 39.3 points over that stretch. It's the second-longest such streak of his career, as he reached 30 points in nine consecutive games in 2010. However, that was spread out over two seasons.

Durant's numbers become historic when you narrow them down to the last three games. With his monster effort against the Blazers, Durant became the first player in NBA history to have three straight games with 30 or more points while shooting at least 66 percent overall and at least 55 percent from three. A handful of players, including Kevin Love, have reached those numbers two games in a row, but Durant is now the only one to do it in three consecutive games.

The run Durant is on brings back some memories of some other great stretches from some of the best scorers in the post-Jordan era. When LeBron James scored 30 points or more in 10 straight games during the 2005-06 season, he averaged 37.9 points. Tracy McGrady scored at least 30 points in 14 straight games in March 2003, averaging 37.4 points during that span.

And then there's Kobe Bean Bryant.

Bryant has had multiple insane stretches over the course of his career. In 2003, Bryant scored 30 points or more in a whopping 16 consecutive games. In the month most of those games occurred, he averaged 40.6 points.

During the 2005-06 season, Bryant had two months in which he scored over 40 points per game. In January 2006, the month he scored 81 against the Toronto Raptors, Bryant averaged 43.4 points. In April of that same year, he averaged 41.6 points while shooting nearly 51 percent overall and 41.3 percent from deep.

In March 2007, Bryant averaged 40.4 points, and this run included a five-game stretch in which he scored 65, 50, 60, 50 and 43 points. After a slight hiccup of a game with 23 points, he notched 53 points in the final game of the month.

While Durant's ongoing stretch may not be quite as gaudy as some of those from Bryant, it's just about as impressive due to the insane efficiency. While it required nearly 30 shots a game for Bryant to average over 40 points in those months, Durant is averaging his 37 points in January on just over 22 shots a game. If Durant was taking 30 shots a game the way he's playing now, it wouldn't be hard to imagine him putting up 45 a night.

Durant will look to continue his hot streak against the San Antonio Spurs on ESPN Wednesday.

Stats via Basketball-Reference.com

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22 Jan 17:29

Falcons hire Scott Pioli as assistant GM

by Jeff Gray
firehose

Fuck the Falcons

Atlanta is hoping for the Pioli that helped build a dynasty in New England, not the one that crashed and burned in Kansas City.

One year after being fired as the general manager of the Kansas City Chiefs, Scott Pioli has landed with the Atlanta Falcons as an assistant general manager, according to the team.

Pioli, who gained prominence helping Bill Belichick build a dynasty in New England in the early 2000s, was fired by the Chiefs in 2012 after four seasons as GM. One of the hottest GM candidates in the league at the time of his hiring in 2009, Pioli failed to transfer his success with the Patriots to Kansas City, which had just one winning season under him. The failures of his coaching hires (Todd Haley and Romeo Crennel) and franchise quarterback (Matt Cassel) ultimately proved to be his demise.

Pioli will work under Falcons GM Thomas Dimitroff, who was an assistant with the Patriots while Pioli was the team's Vice President of Player Personnel. Pioli followed Belichick over from Cleveland and served as his right-hand man for eight seasons before leaving for Kansas City. He and Belichick built three Super Bowl-winning teams between 2001 and 2004. Pioli played a major role in the selection of Tom Brady with the 199th pick in the 2000 NFL Draft.

In Atlanta, Pioli will be responsible for helping rebuild a team that plummeted to a 4-12 finish after beginning the season with Super Bowl aspirations. He inherits a talented offense anchored by Matt Ryan and Julio Jones and will have the No. 6 pick in the upcoming draft.

His first priority will be rebuilding a defense that ranked 27th in the league in 2013, and Falcons' blog The Falcoholic thinks he's up to the challenge.

Pioli's addition to the front office tells you that the Falcons recognize they did a poor job of evaluating the readiness and talent level of the defense, in particular, and that they want to take concrete steps to remedy it. Pioli has been involved in quality defensive drafts at every stop of his career...

The killer Chiefs defense you see today was at least partially built by Pioli's front office, with Justin Houston, Tyson Jackson, Eric Berry, Brandon Flowers and Dontari Poe and other useful pieces added during his tenure. He struggled to find offensive talent at the skill positions, however, and that can be used to build a case against him. The Falcons, of course, have less of a problem finding skill position talent than elsewhere.

More from SB Nation NFL

• SB Nation's complete coverage of Super Bowl XLVIII

• Sherman's deflection: The Xs and Os behind the big story

• The sordid end of David Meggett: From All-Pro to prison

• Why are you mad at Richard Sherman? | Sherman explains interview

• NFL mock draft: Senior Bowl could shake up 1st round

• Senior Bowl 2014 | Measurements released | Game preview

22 Jan 17:28

Train Jam uses a change of scenery to inspire creativity

by Megan Farokhmanesh
firehose

omg a video game jam on Amtrak wifi
THIS IS GONNA BE HILARIOUS

For participants in the Train Jam, the journey really is more important than the destination.

The event takes the cluttered rooms of your everyday game jam and makes them a little more mobile. Participants hop a train in Chicago and spend 52 hours conceptualizing, creating and finishing a game before arriving at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco.

Adriel Wallick — sister of Indie Megabooth's Kelly Wallick and the event's sole organizer — is an indie developer based out of Boston. Her background is a varied one, beginning with a brief stint as a weather satellite programmer. She moved on to work on games such as Rock Band Blitz before settling into to independent projects and game jams. Speaking with Polygon via phone, Wallick explained how she hopes to rally developers through an unorthodox method.

For every jam Wallick has participated in, the developer said, she's found new inspiration or learned something. By pioneering the Train Jam — an event almost as interesting for its methods as its purpose — Wallick hopes to help inspire her colleagues in new ways. The developer pointed to her recent involvement with Molyjam, an event based on longtime designer Peter Molyneux, as a perfect example.

"This time I wanted company."

"That was one of the fun things about Molyjam this last year: this incredibly bizarre concept of doing a game jam based on a parody account of an out-there individual," Wallick said. "I really wanted to foster that environment, where people can be creative, have fun and be able to create product that they're proud of from start to finish in a small amount of time."

In the case of her jam, the creative hook is doing something most people have not: making a game on the road. Train Jam started with a trip of her own. In 2013, Wallick traveled from Boston to Seattle, Seattle to Vancouver. The journey gave her a chance to take in the scenery and spend some much needed time on introspection, but she found herself craving company.

"I wanted to do that train ride again, but this time I wanted company," Wallick wrote on her blog after the jam's inception. "I wanted to get a ton of people together, put them on this train, and head out west."

The idea was to collect developers and return to Seattle again for PAX Prime, but Wallick stalled. PAX is more gamer-centric, she said, and less developer-focused.

"A lot of the developers that are going there are only going to sell their product," Wallick told Polygon. "They don't want to focus on doing a game jam beforehand. They have other stuff to worry about."

"You never really know what's going to inspire you."

Her solution was GDC — an annual gathering of developers and industry types that takes place in San Francisco. The event draws attendees from around the world, and Wallick hopes to get a bigger selection of developers dealing with less stress. Participants will be split into balanced teams with comrades they may not have worked with before.

"I think that doing something different always helps creativity," Wallick said. "Riding on a train is not related to game development, but doing something you don't normally do makes you think about different things ... for example, with Train Jam, how train infrastructure works throughout the United States."

Train Jam will take place from March 13-15, giving developers time to get settled in San Francisco before GDC 2014 kicks off March 17. The event has already drawn in about 54 participants, with tickets ranging from early bird specials ($165 each) to coach class ($180). The game jam will feature developers with all levels of experience.

"I'm hoping Train Jam can ... maybe be the tipping point for someone who's not sure if they want to be a game developer," Wallick said. "You never really know what's going to inspire you in terms of an idea or a game."

22 Jan 17:26

Florida Teen Who Made Gay Porn Goes Back to School - TIME

firehose

meanwhile, in Florida


CNN
Florida Teen Who Made Gay Porn Goes Back to School
TIME
An 18-year old Florida student who was suspended after making gay pornography to help support his family will head back to class Wednesday. Robert Marucci, a senior at Cocoa High School in central Florida, said he made the X-rated videos to help his ...
Florida teen says he was suspended from school for starring in pornNew York's PIX11 / WPIX-TV
Mom supports teen son's porn businessWRTV Indianapolis
Teen porn star can stay in high schoolabc13.com
DigitalJournal.com -Daily Caller -WGCL Atlanta
all 83 news articles »
22 Jan 17:20

A Parody of Vsauce Videos by Jacksfilms

by Kimber Streams
firehose

"Remember, the year is 1953, so you can't exactly upload a video to YouTube. So he uploads a Vine, and within hours it gets to the front page of Reddit."

Jack Douglass of Jacksfilms has created a parody of Vsauce videos. In the funny spoof, “Jsauce” — complete with a drawn-on beard — tells us about music, which apparently stands for “Muscular Unugly Super Impish Creatures.”

via Viral Viral Videos

22 Jan 17:17

​Why reading superhero comics is like making a deal with the devil

by Rob Bricken
firehose

'This is your deal with Mephisto — you're going to get Spider-Man comics for your entire life, but the price is that some of them will be terrible, and some will dramatically change the status quo. The best you can do is not read the comics you don't like, and try out new writers whenever they get assigned to the comic.'

... or you can just wait for the fucking TPBs because it's not like Marvel is ever going to stop making Spider-Man comics

​Why reading superhero comics is like making a deal with the devil

Hello, postal pals! It's another cold, snowy day in the post-apocalypse, and I'm stuck on the road, by which I mean I'm in the middle of some forest somewhere. It's so cold I had to cut open my horse so I could crawl inside to stay warm… except my horse was a pony, and I can really only get my head and shoulders in here. Also, I've been here for days, so even the horse is pretty goddamn cold. What I'm saying is, if you have the chance to stick your head in the stomach cavity of a frozen horse, it's not as great as you might suspect.

Read more...


    






22 Jan 17:16

Press Start, A Three-Hour Collection of Every Single NES Title Screen

by Kimber Streams
firehose

well hello background noise for the next three hours

NicksplosionFX has put together “Press Start,” an amazing three-hour collection of every single title screen for video games on the Nintendo Entertainment System. All of the “Press Start” screens are organized in alphabetical order with snippets of each game’s title screen music.

via Wired

22 Jan 17:14

Another conservative group endorses Matt Bevin over McConnell in US Senate ... - Lexington Herald Leader


Lexington Herald Leader
Another conservative group endorses Matt Bevin over McConnell in US Senate ...
Lexington Herald Leader
Matt Bevin, left, is challenging incumbent Mitch McConnell in the battle to be the GOP's nominee in Kentucky's U.S. Senate race. Recent Headlines. Another conservative group endorses Matt Bevin over McConnell in U.S. Senate race 15 minutes ago ...
Mitch McConnell releases first 2014 bio spotPolitico
New spot from McConnell far from the first in his re-election bidCNN (blog)
Bevin Gets Endorsement and Pledge of Financial Support from FreedomWorksWKU Public Radio
MSNBC -Huffington Post -LEX18 Lexington KY News
all 47 news articles »
22 Jan 17:13

Slashdot founder CmdrTaco is back with a news recommendation startup called Trove

by Adrianne Jeffries
firehose

curation beat

A long list of startups have put forth a Herculean effort to find the best way to suggest new things for people to read, and former Slashdot editor-in-chief Rob Malda, also known as CmdrTaco, just unveiled his: Trove, a people-powered app initially available on the web and for iPhone and iPad.

Trove essentially lets users opt in to feeds of stories that align with their interests. Users are encouraged to curate "troves," collections of stories that relate to a particular theme. You could create a trove for "Ukrainian Politics," "Dog Heroes," or "Best of The Verge," for example, to which other Trove users can subscribe.

"The core of the product is that people have many interests and rather than just giving them information through pure algorithms and picking particular publications, we want to connect them with people who share those interests, who can pick the best content in those topical areas," says Vijay Ravindran, CEO of Trove.

"This is a solution to the signal to noise problem."

Ravindran and Malda used to work in the Washington Post Labs until the paper was bought by Jeff Bezos and the Labs unit was one of the assets retained by the parent company Graham Holdings. The predecessor to Trove was the Washington Post Social Reader, which unveiled at the Facebook conference f8 and showed you which stories your friends were reading. That product was successful at first, but its popularity waned after Facebook made changes to the News Feed and it will now be replaced by Trove.

Trove will launch with a group of curators including tech writer Vivek Wadhwa on "Advancing Technologies," Washington Post correspondent Rajiv Chandrasekaran on "Afghan War," and the Young Turks on "Money in Politics."

"The internet has gone through a number of life cycles," says Malda. "Slashdot rose up in an era prior to the popularization of the term 'blog.' Slashdot predated Google; there wasn't a good search engine back then. A lot of things have changed since then. This is a solution to the signal to noise problem. There's lots of solutions to the signal to noise problem, but this is one that is designed to scale."

22 Jan 17:12

SteamOS beta update lets you dual-boot your Steam Machine

by Andrew Webster

We're still some ways off from Steam Machines getting into the hands of consumers, but if you're one of the brave few to get in on the SteamOS beta, the latest update gives the operating system a bit more flexibility. With the update, the OS now allows for "dual-boot and custom partitioning," so that you can install Windows and SteamOS on your machine. While the beta only impacts a small number of users right now, for those who were turned off by the limited nature of SteamOS it's a good sign. Of course, as with the initial beta release, the update should only be installed by those willing to take a risk. "There has been very little testing on this, especially any kind of dual-boot setup," writes Valve engineer John Vert. "So don't install it on any machine you are not prepared to lose."

22 Jan 17:10

Christopher Nolan’s Gritty ‘Dark Knight’ Trilogy Recut as a Comedy Film

by Justin Page

OneMinuteGalactica has used his video editing skills to recut the gritty Dark Knight trilogy as a comedy film.

Thanks to Nick Douglas, who suggested I recut the DK trilogy as something resembling a Judd Apatow movie.

22 Jan 17:09

Advanced Mood Ring Reading, A Comic Illustrating Funny New Meanings for Mood Ring Colors

by Justin Page

Advanced Mood Ring Reading

For her Four Eyes comic strip, cartoonist and writer Gemma Correll has created “Advanced Mood Ring Reading,” a comic that illustrates funny new meanings for mood ring colors.

image via GoComics

via Gemma Correll

22 Jan 17:09

What Disney Princesses Would Look Like as Men

by Kimber Streams

Disney Princesses as Men

TT of Let There Be Doodles has created a series of photomanipulations that show what Disney princesses would look like as men. She was inspired by a series of “Gay Disney” edits by The Crowned Heart. The rest of the fantastic series can be found at TT’s Tumblr Blog.

Disney Princesses as Men

Disney Princesses as Men

Disney Princesses as Men

images via Let There Be Doodles

22 Jan 17:08

Quirky Bunny on Mandela Statue Causes Stir - ABC News


BBC News
Quirky Bunny on Mandela Statue Causes Stir
ABC News
A new, 9-meter (29.5-foot) sculpture of Nelson Mandela is billed as the biggest statue of the South African leader. It also has a tiny, barely visible quirk: a sculpted rabbit tucked inside one of the bronze ears. South African officials want the miniature bunny ...
A Chance Meeting With Nelson MandelaHuffington Post (blog)
Hopping Mad: Rabbit In Mandela Statue's Ear Is On Burrowed TimeNPR (blog)
Rabbit in Mandela Statue's Ear Draws Apology From SculptorsBusinessweek

all 110 news articles »
22 Jan 17:08

8-year-old saves 6 from fire, dies trying to save seventh - WOKV

firehose

Florida

"Doohan's uncle is disabled and reportedly couldn't make it out of the burning home on his own, so the boy went back inside to get him."

"The police chief told reporters he didn't think the trailer had functional smoke detectors."


8-year-old saves 6 from fire, dies trying to save seventh
WOKV
Investigators said Tyler J. Doohan, 8, was one of three people who died in the fire. Investigators said Tyler woke up six people — including two other children, ages 4 and 6 — who all escaped the burning single-wide trailer.

and more »
22 Jan 16:40

Map of Gold Regions of California (1851)

by the59king

Map of Gold Regions of California (1851)

BCMNbztoEQTFseib_TTCharles Drayton Gibbes' map of the gold regions of California, from 1851. Map of Gold Regions of California. Date: 1851 Author: Charles Drayton Gibbes Dwnld: Full Size (15.5mb) Print Availability: See our Prints Page for more details pff This map isn't part of any series, but we have other California maps that you might want to check out. When James Marshal found gold at Sutter's Mill [google map] on the American...

the BIG Map Blog - Interesting maps, historical maps, BIG maps.

22 Jan 16:39

Logitech Dual Action Pads Supported By Linux 3.14

firehose

well that only took _eleven years_
thanks, Vitaly Katraew

Logitech's Dual Action Gamepad is now supported under the next Linux kernel release...
22 Jan 16:36

A very pretty tiny house

by villeashell
firehose

via otters

A very pretty tiny house:

The tiny house market is crowded these days, but a new design out of Green Mountain College stands out: a sweeping, incandescent module far grander than its 70-square-feet of living space would suggest. The house was built by students in…
22 Jan 16:23

Photo

firehose

via Snorkmaiden



22 Jan 16:22

He never knew it would be so easy to handle such a massive amount of data. It was his first time...

firehose

via Dmitry Krasnoukhov: "Computer science erotica"

image

He never knew it would be so easy to handle such a massive amount of data. It was his first time writing a mapreduce job and things have been going smoothly. So far he’s written unit tests and the map function. All that remained was reduce but he was under a time pressure and had to finish before the others came into the office.

His fingers furiously stroked the keys as he concentrated on the monitor, occasionally glancing out the window to see the progress of the sunrise. His heart was racing and beads of sweat were making their way down his face. He was almost there. 

Finally, as the cars started to make their way into the parking lot, he finished. All unit tests passed. With a sigh of relief he released it to production. As the others walked into the office, he checked his data one last time to make sure everything looked correct. It properly reduced.

22 Jan 16:21

malformalady: Moss coats the tables in a cafeteria at an...

firehose

via Kara Jean



malformalady: Moss coats the tables in a cafeteria at an abandoned ski resort in Japan