firehose

Felix Kjellberg is a 25-year-old Swedish man who made $7 million last year playing video games. Known on YouTube at PewDiePie, Kjellberg records videos of himself playing video games and uploads them to his channel, which has nearly 38 million subscribers. By contrast, Taylor Swift’s YouTube channel has 15 million. Kanye West’s has fewer than 2 million.

Kjellberg is the public face of a vast, yet largely unknown business: video content about video games, which market research firm SuperData estimates is worth $3.8 billion globally today. SuperData reckons that nearly half a billion people are watching gaming content. Some 125 million of those are in the US alone.

“Gaming video content” is a broad church, ranging from official trailers posted by game companies to walkthroughs by the likes of PewDiePie. It also includes reviews, a form of competitive gaming called eSports, and livestreams—where players broadcast the games they’re playing as they’re playing them, as seen on Twitch, bought for almost $1 billion by Amazon last year as the next YouTube.

Watching other people play video games is popular in the same way as watching other people play soccer: for leisure and fun. Though video-game viewers also learn and pick up tips to improve their own performance.

The big chunk of this market is in the United States and Europe, and the vast majority of money lies in advertising and subscriptions around the content. PewDiePie is proof of just how profitable video game content can be.

Perhaps most notable about gaming video content is that while publishers rely on advertising for the bulk of their revenues, they also make substantial amounts from recurring subscriptions and one-off donations. “More than half of viewers donate almost $5 a month to content creators and 44% pay for a subscription,” according to SuperData. “Regular subscribers on average spend $21 each month on paid content.”

And huge donations are not unheard of: last year, a gaming streamer named KittyPlays unexpectedly received a donation of nearly $7,000.

Read 4 remaining paragraphs | Comments

New York Times reporter Hiroko Tabuchi has an important sports update on the Tokyo 2020 Olympics:

Japanese Twitter complaining that Tokyo's planned Olympic stadium looks like a giant toilet https://t.co/GmFzYUqawO pic.twitter.com/DdIx4JKcOg

— Hiroko Tabuchi (@HirokoTabuchi) July 9, 2015

But I mean, how much like a toilet could it possibly loo--

ああ、こう言うことか #新国立競技場 pic.twitter.com/WFwT8y5xvD

— study2007(アベ政治を許さない) (@study2007) July 7, 2015

Oh ... Yeah, that's a toilet.

The thing is, every stadium kinda looks like a toilet, you know?

didn't know Spurs new stadium was a toilet seat tho pic.twitter.com/OObUkuola5

— haya (@Haltunaib) July 8, 2015

This design for the Warriors arena looks like a giant toilet. http://t.co/ERQUR7Gdkt pic.twitter.com/4d80K7BF97

— SB Nation (@SBNation) September 23, 2014

When a stadium is ACTUALLY a toilet, that's the time to complain.

Oakland Coliseum is full of rain and poop http://t.co/aPNdeVnJ0D pic.twitter.com/TZg9VHvJ9E

— Jeff Kleinman (@jeffkleinman) September 22, 2013

okaysizedbangtheory:

i always wanted to find you waldo

but not like this

not like this

Comic Book Resources just shared a preview of Matt Fraction and David Aja’s Hawkeye finale. Their run has been the talk of a lot of fans both old and new, so excuse us if there’s just a bit of sentiment mixed in here. For fans of the incredibly flawed, somehow tragic sharpshooter, this promises to be a fitting goodbye from the two creators who’ve managed to incorporate a great deal of humanity into the Avenger(s).

There’s more over at Comic Book Resources, so definitely head on over there to check out the full preview!

For those of you still looking for your Hawkeye fix, Jeff Lemire and Ramon Perez’s run kicked off a while ago and is really promising. Give it a shot. See what I did there? Ha. Don’t tell me you didn’t see that coming.

Oh. Now we’re sad.

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Redesigns end up being the focus of intense nostalgia and optimism on both sides — a fiery mix that only time and use seem to really dampen. In some cases, it consumes the new product completely.

Inventor Izzy Swan of Think Woodworks has created a whimsical drill-powered walking machine. In a video posted to his YouTube page, he explains the build process and demonstrates how it works as he rides it around his neighborhood. The machine was inspired by the mechanism of the walking sculpture Strandbeest by artist Theo Jansen.

Swan has created a number of machines powered by drills, and earlier this year we wrote about his portable folding picnic table.

GIF via Make

via Make

Candace Hill—who’s just 16—may be on her way to the 2016 U.S. Olympic team. 

submitted by availableoregon [link] [3 comments]

Speaking at the Legendary booth during San Diego Comic-Con this evening, director Duncan Jones revealed Warcraft is about 10 VFX shots from being complete, he’s confident it’s good, and would love to come back to direct a sequel. Maybe even two.

Read more...

Courtney shared this story from Super Opinionated.

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Everyone and their magical cat tells me Sailor Moon S is the best arc of the Sailor Moon Series, so you’ll have to forgive me if I’m just a liiiiittle Sailor Moon Stoked this week. We’ve got new villains, new (anti)heroines(?), new monsters, new limit breaks, and even new Lovely Items! It’s a lot to take in, is what I’m Sailor Moon Sayin’, but we’ll get through this one Sailor Moon Step at a time.

Criminy, there are a lot of words that begin with “S.” In fact, there’s a real good chance all these puns could get…

(•_•)

( •_•)>⌐■-■

(⌐■_■)

…Ex-S-ive.

Aaaaand now that I’ve made everyone throw their computer out a window, on to:

The Recaps

Episode 90 – Ladies, Sailor Moon Start Your Engines

The new season hits the ground running, as Rei finds herself standing in a world bathed in red where everyone has been turned to stone. There’s talk of “the Messiah” and “the Silence” (I’m just never gonna be rid of those Doctor Who jokes, am I?), a tornado of blood, three spinning glowy things, and then all her friends shatter into dust and—

She wakes up to find herself at a study party with the other girls. Dammit, Future King Tuxedo Mask, quit sending people from the past Spooky Prophecy Dreams! Things are actually pretty peaceful right now, so the Moonies are focusing on prepping for high school entrance exams. (Although, let’s be honest: At this point, the apocalypse would be less challenging than a math test for these girls.)

But that peace is destined to be short-lived, because a new challenger has appeared:

I Am Mad Scientist (is so cooool!) and his assistant Kaolinite are out to rule the world (a step up from destroying it, I s’pose), but first they have to plant Daimon Eggs, yank pure hearts out of people, check if the hearts have talismans, find THREE of those talismans, AND summon the freaking Holy Grail. Ruling the world sounds like a lot of work. Maybe you guys should go for just ruling, like, Turkey or something.

But our local princess doesn’t know any of this—no, she’s far too busy dealing with her recent bombed test, where she got a score so low, one suspects she didn’t even spell her name correctly on the top line. She and Rei literally run into each other, and since Rei’s still got the Spooky Prophecy Dream on her mind, she asks Usagi about her wishes for the future. Usa’s not sure, but Rei’s got it all figured out: She’s going to be an awesome all-around performer AND find time to fall in love and get married.

Rei gives Usagi one of her trademark tactless-but-kind pep talks and heads back to the shrine, where—surprise! Kaolinite has planted her first Daimon Egg in a nearby tree. (You know, this shrine kinda sucks at repelling negative energy.) As soon as Rei touches the tree, the Daimon senses her pure heart and hatches into “Mikuuji,” a fortunetelling monster with a black ✩ star tattoo on her chest.

No, different Black ✩ Star.

The monster has detachable stone hands and uses them to pin Rei to a wall (knocking her transformation pen away in the process), then shoots a beam out of the black ✩ star tattoo and straight into Rei’s chest.

This would be a fantastic time for Sailor Moon to show up, and (after getting some serious Judgin’ Eyes from Mamoru about her crappy test score) she does just that, heading to the shrine for a study session. Looks like this monster’s about to get a lesson—IN PAIN!

…Or not? Turns out these Daimon are serious business. She kicks Sailor Moon around, ties the other arriving scouts to trees, and even takes out Tuxedo Mask and the kitties (NOT THE KITTIES!) for good measure. Mikuuji’s “unluckiest day” fortunes are looking more accurate by the minute. But I’m sure Usagi will bust out that Moon Rod and WHOA WAIT WUT the Daimon just deactivated Usagi’s brooch?!

Meanwhile I’m over here patiently waiting for Usagi’s FEELINGS to save the day, but FEELINGS are nowhere to be found, and Mikuuji calmly returns to Rei and WHOA WAIT WUT x2 actually yanks her heart out of her chest?! This is NOT how these stories go! Do it better, Sailor Moon!

“Mwahahaha!” gloats Mikuuji. “Humans are so pathe—” KABOOM SUCKAPUNCH TO THE BACK! Followed by a TSUNAMI BOMB! And Mikuuji is dust. That’s more like it! And even better, it looks like the Moonies got themselves some new allies! ‘Cause allies totally stand ominously in the shadows and speak in vague plot points, right?

…Wrong?

They examine Rei’s heart but can’t find a talisman, so they toss it back to her and she revives. Yay! We’ll chalk this one in the “W” column, then.

Episode 91 – Cat Scratch Fever

I Am Mad Scientist (he doesn’t have a name yet, so I’m going to call him Tom Petty, on account of he’s backed up by a bunch of Heartbreakers) is still using his sweet sciency magic to make Daimon Eggs, and Kaolinite is still letting them loose in the city to hunt down pure hearts.

But we’ll get to this week’s scheme in a second. First, Usagi needs to have a case of the insecurities, because her brooch still isn’t working and she’s worried she’ll have to retire from Mooning. Er, that came out wrong, but you get the idea. This is a great reminder of how far Usa has come since the early episodes, when she would have happily given up her superhero position. Now, she’s desperately trying to find a way to keep it.

Since there’s no easy solution in sight, Mamoru decides to cheer her up by taking her to an abandoned mansion to see the stray kitties who live there. Usa is only a little disappointed that he didn’t bring her here for canoodling.

There, they meet a Future Cat Lady who will never get a name, so I’ll call her Kitty Purride, because of course I will. Come to find out the building is about to be torn down, and Kitty’s worried about where the cats will live. Usagi vows to help her find homes for the little guys. See, Usa, you don’t have to wear a costume to be a hero!

By a stroke of plot luck, Kitty is our next pure-hearted girl, and the new Daimon sets up camp in her cat puzzle. (You know, this series makes a compelling case for being a total asshole, as your chances of being attacked by a monster seem to go down considerably.) It’s only a matter of time before Kitty comes home (her apartment doesn’t allow cats), touches the puzzle, and awakens Nekonnel.

In another stroke of plot luck, Kitty flees her apartment and takes refuge in the abandoned mansion on the same afternoon that Usagi has brought the girls to try and convince them to adopt a kitten of their own.

Her screams alert the cats, which alerts the Moonies, and it’s off to get their asses kicked again!

And boy, do they ever. Nekonnel easily deflects a Mars/Jupiter combo attack, and since Usagi can’t transform, she can’t even dodge properly. Sad trombone. Nekonnel extracts the heart just in time to get hammered by the same surprise attack that killed the last Daimon, and she shatters into a million puzzle pieces.

The Shadowy Strangers can’t find a talisman in THIS heart, either, so they toss it back and prepare to leave. But wait, you guys! Puzzle Cat just put itself back together! Aren’t you gonna stay and help vanquish evil?

And the pretty antiheroes in sailor suits vanish again, leaving the Moonies to deal with the aftermath. The Tux shows up to lend a hand, but not even his EXPANDO!cane can leave a mark, and Usagi is forced to use her Human Shield superpower to throw Mamoru in the path of the monster’s Fury Swipes. Does this count as a Mamoru Stabbing? Can I add it to the tally? Yeah, I’m gonna add it to the tally.

Tux urges Usagi to escape, but she refuses. She WANTS to be here, fighting alongside everyone else. And baby, that’s all the Silver Crystal needed to hear!

The power of HANDHOLDING activates Usagi’s Moon Disco Powers, leveling up her brooch and creating a new Lovely Item: The Legendary Spiral Heart Moon Rod. Man, the Moon Kingdom’s got more legendary items than an Indiana Jones movie.

Usagi transforms and uses her new spell, “Moon Spiral Heart Attack.” Unable to handle the upgraded Moon Disco Powers (now with heart confetti!), Nekonnel gives out an anguished cry of “LOVELY!” as her heart EXPLODES in her chest. I’m assuming. I mean, it DOES have “heart attack” right there in the name and all.

Oh, and Usagi’s figured out what to do with the cats, too! She can give them to the Animal Kingdom, which probably definitely won’t be attacked by monsters this season. Good day of superheroin’, Usa! High-fives and kitten snuggles all around!

This, That, and the Other

• Mamoru imposes a “date break” so Usagi can focus on her studies. Kitten dates don’t count, obviously. (And yes, I actually kinda liked Mamoru this week. I know, it weirded me out, too.)
• Since Ryo appears to have well and truly fallen down the plot hole (sad face), I’ve decided to hop aboard the Ami/Makoto ‘ship. Heaven knows the show has given me plenty of material.
• At this point, I have enough screenshots of Tuxedo Mask Entrance Poses to give them their own Tumblr.

The Sensei Next Door (Moon Cosmic Edition): The slip of paper Rei takes from the shrine and ties to the tree is called an o-mikuji. You draw one at random and it gives you a fortune, telling you first how lucky you’ll be (from “very” to “totally screwed”) and then telling you what you’re going to be lucky/cursed in (school, money, love, etc.). It’s traditional to tie the good ones to a tree so they’ll come true; hence why the tree is already covered in paper when Rei gets to it.

Hark! A plot point! Our new enemies call themselves the “Death Busters,” but given that they kinda tried to kill Rei and Kitty Purride this week, that sounds like some serious false advertising.

Dee (@JoseiNextDoor) is a writer, a translator, a book worm, and a basketball fan. She has bachelor’s degrees in English and East Asian studies and a master’s degree in Creative Writing. To pay the bills, she works as a technical writer. To not pay the bills, she writes young adult novels, watches far too much anime, and cheers very loudly for the Kansas Jayhawks. You can find her at The Josei Next Door, a friendly neighborhood anime blog for long-time fans and newbies alike.

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While the headlines of late have all been about gay marriage, lethal injection, and the Affordable Care Act, a major strike against women’s health care has been quietly mounting in Washington.

In preparing its budget proposal for the upcoming year, the GOP-led Congress has made moves to fully eliminateTitle X, the only federal grant program dedicated solely to providing individuals with comprehensive family planning and related reproductive health services, including contraception.

Ninety percent of the people Title X serves have incomes below 200 percent of the federal poverty level, and 63 percent are uninsured. Six in 10 women who access health care services from a Title X-funded health center consider this their main source of health care.

"Workforce participation has to rise from its all-time modern lows," Bush said, as cited by Reuters. This means "that people need to work longer hours and through their productivity gain more income for their families."

I was about to write a post focusing on how the current spate of tropical cyclones in the Pacific Ocean could kick El Niño into higher gear when I saw the latest climate report for the United States. So I'll put El Niño aside for now to focus on that. The verdict from the National Centers for Environmental Information: the United States just experienced its second warmest June in a record stretching back 121 years. Only June 1933 was warmer. According to the NCEI: Above-average temper

With artwork from Jason Masters, forthcoming series promises to depict famous spy on the tough model of Ian Fleming’s novels

When Vietnamese people open a bottle of liquor or soda, they expect to hear a popping sound—like a slightly muted version of a champagne bottle opening. The noise tells them that the liquid is good, and listening for it is part of Vietnamese drinking culture. “The ‘pop’ is important,” a scientist in a white lab coat explains to me while holding a can of Jim Beam Cola, a product that the bourbon whiskey maker has developed for Asian markets and designed to be extra loud when opened.

The scientist is standing in the “Liquid Arts Studio,” part of Beam’s Global Innovation Center, a fifty-seven-thousand-square-foot complex rising out of the rural countryside around Clermont, Kentucky. Two centuries ago, poor farmers in the area converted their surplus grains into whiskey because it didn’t spoil. Today, the farms have been replaced by cubicles decorated with college pennants boasting some of the nation’s most prestigious food science programs: Purdue, Cornell, the University of Georgia. This is where teams of scientists, marketers, and anthropologists study how to best sell Beam’s liquor brands across the globe.

The studio itself is designed to give the company a sense of how its products are judged in any environment. The far end is a replica of a liquor store you might find in the Florida panhandle: utilitarian metal shelves pelted by harsh lighting. The middle of the studio contains the IKEA chairs and Formica countertops of a suburban kitchen. The other end of the room resembles the kind of club that charges cover: sleek chrome, frosted glass, bottles featured as trophies. A scientist standing near a wall panel that controls different lighting styles—fluorescent, incandescent, halogen, neon—begins twisting knobs as the room bursts into kaleidoscopic fireworks. Her white-lab-coated colleagues instantly appear to be participating in some sort of awkward rave.

This portrait of modernity confuses. Bourbon whiskey has long traded on its blue-collar appeal and status as a humble everyman drink—historically, it’s what you drink while ice fishing or arguing about what kind of pickup truck is best for the job. At the Global Innovation Center, the task of managing various cultural perceptions is juggled by people like Adam Graber, who did graduate academic work in fields as various as South Asian languages, cultural anthropology, and soil science before getting an MBA and joining Beam. When I visited, Graber tells me his job is to “combine science plus consumer needs and trends to create the product story.”

 Colorful tales of heritage and authenticity are rarely accurate, but they tickle the part of the psyche that’s also responsible for making us reach for our wallets. 

This “product story” is arguably the most important part of the bourbon business. Connoisseurs who are proud of their sophisticated palates might have trouble admitting this, but the label on the outside of the bottle is often just as important as the liquid on the inside. Colorful tales of heritage and authenticity are rarely accurate, but they tickle the part of the psyche that’s also responsible for making us reach for our wallets. Bulleit Bourbon first hit store shelves in the 1990s but nevertheless called itself “frontier whiskey” and boasted that the recipe went back to a frontiersman named Augustus Bulleit. The implicit message was that if the brand has been around this long, it has to be good. It was, although the liquid was sourced from an outside supplier (a common industry practice) while former employees of Doyle, Dane, and Bernbach, the ad firm that inspired the TV series Mad Men, helped craft the heritage story. Some whiskey aficionados loathe this sort of historical fudging while others take it in stride. In any case, the romantic mystique helped create the brand’s very real (and modern) success. In 2008, brand founder Tom Bulleit explained the machinations of his business when he told the journalist Fred Minnick, “Bourbon is a lot less about what’s inside the bottle and a lot more about what you tell people.”

Even though the stories rarely match reality, it’s the space in between fact and fiction that’s most interesting. A frontiersman named Jacob Boehm (a name that would later become Americanized into Beam) was making whiskey in Kentucky in 1795, and that date on modern bottles of Jim Beam helps create a valuable sense of heritage, but Jacob certainly wasn’t unique. Thousands of farmers did the exact same thing—distilling allowed them to preserve the value of surplus grain crops, which would have spoiled otherwise, by converting them into whiskey. Besides, most modern drinkers would likely find Jacob’s whiskey unpalatable—back then, most whiskey was little if at all aged in wooden barrels, which greatly improves the flavor. These spirits were also sold as an unbranded bulk commodity, limiting historic producers’ incentive to distinguish their products.

As whiskey evolved into an industry during the nineteenth century, later Beam generations also became distillers, but none of their brands or business fully survived Prohibition (and none were ever particularly well-known, although they were typically respected). The modern company that was formed in 1934 by James “Jim” Beam and a trio of Chicago investors was built entirely anew (although it did try to resurrect one old Beam family label called “Old Tub,” but quit after difficulties regaining trademark rights).

The James B. Beam Distillery started small and didn’t earn its first significant recognition until the Cold War—business journalists were impressed by the company’s smart distribution strategies, including getting bottles onto the US military bases mushrooming across the planet. Meanwhile, Beam survived the intense consolidation rounds that defined the whiskey business during the twentieth century. By the year 2000, just eight companies were responsible for approximately 99% of all the bourbon produced in the US. Beam alone was responsible for nearly half of it.

Cold war military bases might have been the true frontier of Beam’s modern success, but the company knew the other frontier story was more marketable. Except when it wasn’t—as the brand attempted to expand overseas in the 1960s, the folksy appeal that bourbon held stateside became a liability in potential new luxury markets, and the product story was thus adapted. The downhome feel of domestic ads (which made one think of bingo night and overalls) was swapped with images of tuxedoed men in coattails. In 1965, Beam’s ability to alter consumers’ status perceptions about the brand earned special praise from the Wall Street Journal for catering to foreigners’ “snob appeal.”

 The whiskey industry’s public denial of technology, while privately embracing it, is just another part of its heritage. 

Today, the future of Beam’s continued success is glimpsed within the Global Innovation Center, roamed by the scientists in their white lab coats. These technicians don’t necessarily fit bourbon’s stereotypical image, and the labs are off-limits to most visitors. But herein lies another truth of the beguiling gap between image and reality: science and technology often help make the product better, a point regularly forgotten on a modern foodiescape where nostalgic terms like “heritage” and “heirloom” carry a new kind of marketing power. In the world of whiskey, antiquated pot stills are romanticized over industrial column stills, although the latter are better able to strip certain undesirable proteins from the product (both types of still have unique advantages and neither is “better” than the other—more important than what still technology is used is how the still technology is used).

Or, take as another example distillers’ historic struggle to control the amount of diacetyl allowed into whiskey during the distillation process. Trace amounts of the chemical lend a rich buttery flavor but too much will ruin it. Using computer technology, distillers eventually solved the dilemma and gained greater control of their craft. Nevertheless, this success story is downplayed in favor of marketing that boasts of Ye Olde Ways.

In any case, the whiskey industry’s public denial of technology, while privately embracing it, is just another part of its heritage. The famed bourbon marketer Julian “Pappy” Van Winkle declared “No Chemists Allowed” at his distillery—before the outfit went out of business and had its brands acquired by competitors who would produce them according to their own standards. Ironically, Buffalo Trace, the company that now owns many of those brands, embraces science with its Warehouse X program and is a common favorite of geeky connoisseurs.

At Beam’s Global Innovation Center, technology is likewise embraced. The floors are crammed with texture analyzers, spectrophotometers, nanophotometers, and ultrasound equipment. It begs the question: how does a cobalt-60 irradiator help create the “product story” described by Graber? In many ways, the equipment actually helps protect the story. One room contains counterfeit bottles of Jim Beam products that were seized in China, the liquor inside resembling tobacco juice. Technicians test these counterfeits for poisonous adulterants so they can alert foreign public health officials and preserve the brand’s reputation. The technology also helps lower costs. Bottle shapes and packaging materials are studied to minimize breakage, while a “pallet transport simulator” helps determine how much rough handling products can endure. A cork extractor evaluates how much pressure it requires to pull a cork, a task that’s harder in warmer temperatures.

Admittedly, not all of this is strictly related to bourbon, the product most responsible for Beam’s success. When the Global Innovation Center opened in 2012, then-CEO Matt Shattock announced that 25% of the company’s annual sales growth would come from new products, including many tailored for overseas markets (the company was purchased by Japan’s Suntory in 2014). Many of the products, like the can of Jim Beam Cola engineered to pop loudly in South Asian markets, would capitalize on the bourbon maker’s powerful brand name. The company’s vice president of global research and development once worked for a rival company on a campaign to develop a “taco-flavored” sports drink for Latin American markets before she was hired away by Beam. When I visited in 2013, another scientist waved a pom-pom of paper test strips containing aromas of lemongrass and lime under my nose—these were for the development of some bourbony mojito concoction. This array of new products reflects Beam’s growth in the last several decades. Before Suntory acquired it in 2014, Beam had likewise acquired many former competitors: Canadian Club, Laphroaig scotch, Courvoisier, Old Overholt, Old Grand-Dad, Maker’s Mark, and a stable of other brands, including tequilas, rums, vodkas, and even the line of Skinnygirl wines started by a reality TV star.

Regardless of Beam’s other brands, bourbon sits at the core of the company’s mystique. Ninety-five percent of the world’s bourbon is made in Kentucky, and Beam alone is responsible for 50% of it. Today, the company’s public face is Fred Noe, the great-grandson of James “Jim” Beam. His title is “master distiller” and he is in charge of more than a dozen whiskies that the company makes, including all the Jim Beam labels, Knob Creek, Baker’s, Booker’s, Basil Hayden’s, Old Crow, and Old Grand-Dad, among others. Even so, sweating over a mash tub doesn’t usually take precedent over his role as a spokesperson (this is the case for many “master distillers,” a role that often demands comfort with posing for publicity photos: nose buried in a snifter, eyes closed, an expression of serenity across the face). Tellingly, the evening I had dinner with him didn’t happen in the faux-cafeteria of the Liquid Arts Studio. We dined across the company’s complex in the visitor’s center, designed to look like an old barn. Once entered, visitors are encouraged to temporarily adopt the last name “Beam” so they can feel a part of the family. If you walk over to the far wall, you can stand at the roots of a giant family tree. Jacob Boehm is prominent in the top branches, his picture bigger than any of the others even though nobody knows what he actually looked like (the image is a modern rendering).

When Fred talks about the Beam legacy, he strays from the kind of bootstrapping narrative typically heard in American business lore. Modern Beams who inherited their positions deserve credit for the brand’s success. This includes Booker Noe, Fred’s father, who Fred decides to talk about instead of any of the Beam ancients.

Booker died in 2004, and Fred’s voice cracks while remembering a complicated relationship with a father who was stern but caring. Fred’s own story is that of a prodigal son given a second chance—by his own account he was a hellraiser and a late bloomer who chose which college he would attend based on a list of party schools in Playboy. The magazine’s sage advice left him with a GPA of 0.08 before he failed out (“still an NCAA record,” Fred claims). After that, he wandered until Booker finally convinced him to join the company so he could begin the Sisyphean task of breaking in his wayward son.

The story becomes real when Fred admits to the role simple luck played in his good fortune. The sentiments are honest, straying from the approved narrative of American business. But this doesn’t mean they weren’t also part of the sell. On the way back to my hotel, I passed through the gift shop and bought a copy of Beam, Straight Up, an autobiography Fred wrote with the assistance of one of the company’s public relations representatives. Almost verbatim, I read a script of the same details I had just heard in Fred’s cracking voice. Here was a reminder that success in the whiskey industry is the prize for crafting stories of intimacy and authenticity. In the bourbon business, victory goes to whoever tells the story best.

Parts of this article are excerpted from Bourbon Empire: The Past and Future of America’s Whiskey (Viking). Follow Reid on Twitter @ReidMitenbuler. We welcome your comments at ideas@qz.com.

This is an interesting story of a reviewer who had her review deleted because Amazon believed she knew the author personally.

Leaving completely aside the ethics of friends reviewing friends' books, what is Amazon doing conducting this kind of investigative surveillance? Do reviewers know that Amazon is keeping tabs on who their friends are?

Last April DC revealed plans for a “DC Super Hero Girls” line aimed at girls ages 6-12, and now the brand’s official website is finally live!

Part of a partnership between DC Entertainment, Warner Bros. Animation, Warner Bros. Consumer Products, and Mattel, the line focuses on what life is like as a teenaged superhero for some of DC’s most diverse and bad-ass female characters. The interactive site allows visitors to explore Super Hero High and meet the Super Hero Girls (Wonder Woman, Supergirl, Batgirl, Harley Quinn, Bumblebee, Poison Ivy, and Katana).

Although some of DC’s other recent diversity efforts have been criticized for failing to make concrete strides in epresentation, the Super Hero Girls seems to be nailing it so far. (I’m especially impressed that, despite the high school setting, the website focuses on the girls’ strengths and friendships rather than their romantic lives. )

What do you think so far, friends?

(via Comic Book Resources)

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C.J. Wilson joins Jason Pierre-Paul on the list of NFL players who shouldn't play with pyrotechnics.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers cornerback C.J. Wilson is the latest player to suffer a "severe hand injury" in a fireworks accident on July 4, according to Roy Cummings of the Tampa Tribune. The Lincoln Time-News in North Carolina cites sources close to Wilson's family who say that he lost two fingers in the accident.

Wilson, 25, signed with the Chicago Bears as an undrafted free agent in 2013, but played just two games for the team. He played two games for the Buccaneers in 2014 and recorded four tackles. The Bucs released a statement acknowledging the incident:

Statement from Buccaneers regarding CJ Wilson's fireworks accident pic.twitter.com/Kv4rcpJpuu

— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) July 8, 2015

New York Giants defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul also suffered a severe hand injury on Saturday due to a fireworks injury and isn't providing the team with much information about his condition.

The injury reportedly caused the Giants to withdraw a $60 million contract offer, and while the injury for Wilson won't cost him nearly as much, it could prove especially costly to a player who was likely fighting for a roster spot in the fall.

Note to all other NFL players: Fireworks can be bad for hands.

STLtoday.com

2nd man dies after igniting fireworks on his body STLtoday.com A Texas man who set off fireworks on his torso has died of his injuries. Justin Bartek, 30, of Columbus, Texas, was at a fishing spot with friends early Tuesday when he ignited the firework. He died later Tuesday at a hospital. Bartek's death followed ... Texas man dies after shooting firework from chestWashington Times Texas man dies after setting off firework from chestReuters Texas father killed: Chest used as launchpad for fireworks proves fatalExaminer.com all 87 news articles »

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Hannibal Buress has sneaky comic punching power. With his rolling, sleepy cadence, sly grin, and heavy-lidded gaze (“you squinty [expletive blurred]” reads one hate-tweet Buress reveals tonight), Buress’ comic persona looks too loose to the uninitiated, as if he’s just another amiable stoner comic content with lazy, unfocused buffoonery. Anyone lulled into complacency is brought up short before too long, as Buress’ affect hides a sharpness, an observational style that comes at you from unique angles. And when Buress reveals a genuine anger behind a joke, he can draw blood. Just ask Bill Cosby, whose current downfall can be traced without exaggeration back to the comparatively unknown Buress matter-of-factly calling the formerly beloved entertainer out as a rapist onstage. There’s society’s depressing unwillingness to credit the word of scores of women over a famous man in play there, but, while the facts were always available to everyone ...

OED Word of the Day: aggravator, n.2. A greased lock of hair, esp. one worn over the temple or forehead

Western Canada is getting absolutely hammered by wildfires right now. At the moment, there are at least 182 reported wildfires burning in British Columbia, as these shocking satellite images make painfully clear.

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