theclericsdiary:

seanchaithe:

medievalpunks:

Dragonscale Gloves

The noise I just made was inhuman.

I need them…

WOW.

Those are magnificent!

I listened in to a recent conference call with conservative activists. Their latest scheme? Nullify laws they hate.

The 86th Annual Academy Awards Best Picture Nominees

Amazon, based in Seattle, has handily beaten back previous rumblings in favor of unionization in the United States, but last year hundreds of its workers in Germany went on strike as part of a long and continuing dispute over wages.

Once upon a time, innovation was an isolationist sport. In America’s innovative economy 20 years ago, a worker drove to a nondescript office campus along a suburban corridor, worked in isolation, and kept ideas secret.

Today, by contrast and partly a result of the Great Recession, proximity is everything. Talented people want to work and live in urban places that are walkable, bike-able, connected by transit, and hyper-caffeinated. Major companies across multiple sectors are practicing “open innovation” and want to be close to other firms, research labs, and universities. Entrepreneurs want to start their companies in collaborative spaces, where they can share ideas and have efficient access to everything from legal advice to sophisticated lab equipment.

These disruptive forces are coming to ground in small, primarily urban enclaves—what we and others are calling “innovation districts.” By our definition, innovation districts cluster and connect leading-edge institutions with startups and spin-off companies, business incubators, and accelerators in the relentless pursuit of cutting-edge discoveries for the market. Compact, transit-accessible, and highly networked, they grow talent, foster open collaboration, and offer mixed-used housing, office, retail, and 21st century urban amenities. In many respects, the rise of innovation districts embodies the very essence of cities: an aggregation of talented, driven people assembled in close quarters, who exchange ideas and knowledge. It’s in the vein of what urban historian Sir Peter Hall calls “a dynamic process of innovation, imitation and improvement.”

Globally, Montreal, Seoul, Singapore, Medellin, Barcelona, Cambridge, and Berlin offer just a few examples of evolving innovation districts. In the US, the most iconic innovation districts can be found in the downtowns and midtowns of cities like Atlanta, Cambridge, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, San Diego, and St. Louis, where advanced research universities, medical complexes, research institutions, and clusters of tech and creative firms are sparking business expansion, as well as residential and commercial growth. Even a cursory visit to Kendall Square in Cambridge, University City in Philadelphia, or midtown Atlanta shows the explosion of growth and mixed development occurring around institutions like MIT, the University of Pennsylvania, and Georgia Tech.

Other innovation districts can be found in Boston, Brooklyn, San Francisco, and Seattle, where former industrial and warehouse areas are charting a new innovative path, powered by their enviable location along transit lines, their proximity to downtowns and waterfronts, and their recent addition of advanced research institutions (reflected by Carnegie Mellon University’s decision to place its Integrative Media Program at the Brooklyn Navy Yard).

Perhaps the greatest validation of this shift is found in the efforts of traditional exurban science parks (like Research Triangle Park in Raleigh-Durham) to urbanize, in order to keep pace with the preferences of their workers for walkable communities and the preference of their firms to be near other firms and collaborative opportunities.

Innovation districts are already attracting an eclectic mix of firms in a diverse group of sectors, including life sciences, clean energy, design, and tech. We even see a return of small-scale and customized manufacturing, made possible by 3D printing, robotics, and other advanced techniques.

Unlike efforts to grow the “consumer city” via sports stadia, luxury housing, and high-end retail, innovation districts are intent on growing the firms, networks, and sectors that drive real, broad-based prosperity. 

At a time of increasing concerns over inequality and resilience, innovation districts can spur productive, inclusive, and sustainable growth. If properly structured and scaled, they can provide a strong foundation for the commercialization of ideas, the expansion of firms, and the creation of jobs. They also offer the tantalizing prospect of expanding employment and educational opportunities for disadvantaged populations—many innovation districts are close to low- and moderate-income neighborhoods—as well as sparking more sustainable development patterns, given their embrace of transit, historic buildings, traditional street grids, and existing infrastructure.

Innovation districts represent one of the most positive trends that have emerged in the aftermath of the Great Recession. Smart cities, innovative companies, advanced universities, and financial institutions would be wise to embrace them.

You can follow Bruce on Twitter at @Bruce_Katz and Julie at @wagnerjk. We welcome your comments at ideas@qz.com. 

In the launch trailer for Assassin's Creed: Liberation HD, players are invited to get reacquainted with Aveline, the game's powerful hero. Liberation HD is now available on PS3, Xbox 360 and PC. ...

NEW YORK—Drawing on national polling data and extensive personal interviews, social scientists confirmed that the concept of the American Dream, the widely held aspiration among U.S.

The frost-powered train toppled over, killing hundreds of partiers on its way to deliver ice-cold refreshment to a boring, overheated barbeque.

Love infused cocktails, but don’t have the patience to wait for the flavor to take? Anthony Carboni and Tara Long of Hard Science demonstrate how to shortcut the process by using nitrous oxide aka laughing gas via whipped cream dispensers (aka “Whip-Its”).

The pressure inside the whipping syphon is about five times of that of the earth’s atmosphere and that pressure means you can push more of nitrous oxide into the ingredients…when all that pressure is suddenly released, it makes all the nitrous oxide exit the material really quickly and it bubbles around and agitates everything on a microscopic level.

They’ve also provided some useful tips, recipes and information on the Hard Science site should you wish to try this process at home.

video by Hard Science

What happens when a cat sneaks over and pees all over the precious manuscript that you've spent months of your life inscribing? If you're this 15th century monk, you leave a note cursing the cat and move on with your writing.

Read more...

The 21-year-old Owens was attempting to defend his stepfather from a home invasion when he was fatally shot Wednesday evening.

Arkansas State defensive lineman Markel Owens was killed defending his family from a home invasion Wednesday night, Jackson, Tenn. police confirmed.

According to the Jackson Police Department, two masked men had been targeting Owens' stepfather, Johnny Shivers, and followed him home in an attempt to rob him. Minutes after Shivers arrived home on Wednesday evening, a struggle ensued between him and the two armed robbers, with Owens rushing to the defense of his stepfather.

Shivers and Owens were both shot as a result.

The police were then called and arrived at approximately 9:30 p.m. ET at the duplex, where they found Shivers already deceased. Owens was taken to Jackson-Madison County General Hospital and pronounced dead. Chermaine Owens, mother of Markel and Shivers' wife, was also shot in Wednesday night's incident, but was released from Jackson-Madison.

Cash was taken from the apartment and marijuana was also found at Shivers' home. Jackson police said Thursday that they believe the robbers had prior knowledge of this.

Captain Tyreece Miller called Owens a "hero" for his actions:

"We believe Owens attempted to protect his family or defend his mother and stepfather. He could have perhaps saved his mother's life."

Owens spent this season as a backup on the Red Wolves' defensive line, recording four tackles in four games, and would have been a redshirt senior next season. In 2010, which he spent redshirting, he made the ASU Athletic Director's Honor Roll. A two-star recruit at Liberty Technology Magnet in Jackson, Owens also earned all-district honors three times and was named District MVP in 2009, his senior year.

A few tributes on social media from his teammates and coaches have been attached below:

A-State Athletics expresses our deepest sympathies to the family, teammates, & classmates of #AStateFB student-athlete Markel Owens.

— A-State Athletics (@AStateRedWolves) January 16, 2014

Our thoughts & prayers go out to the friends and family of Markel Owens. In my short time here, it is easy to see he will be dearly missed.

— Blake Anderson (@CHbanderson) January 16, 2014

Thoughts and prayers for the family of Markel Owens. His brothers at stAte and those he touched will miss him dearly. God Bless.

— Coach Bryan Harsin (@bryanharsin) January 16, 2014

The good die young. RIP Markel Owens. You will be missed brother.

— Ha'unga (@S_T_HAUNGA) January 16, 2014

More from SB Nation college football:

Follow @SBNationCFBFollow @SBNRecruiting

• Counting down the 100 best CFB games of 2013: The full list

• The Florida State process: How Jimbo Fisher built a new champion

• Ten teams that could break out in 2014

• What to know about James Franklin at Penn State

• College football news | Georgia steals champion FSU’s defensive coordinator

• Long CFB reads | The death of a college football player

Women are more likely to feel shamed or guilted by their physicians than men are, and they’re less likely to make positive changes in response. In a pair of studies published in the journal Basic and Applied Social Psychology, researchers surveyed a wide range of individuals about their experiences with their doctors, asking whether they’d ever been made to feel guilt or shame, as well as how they reacted to those feelings.

Both studies found that women were significantly more likely to experience these incidents than men were: In the first cohort, which was made up of university students, 26% of women reported being “shamed” by a physician, while only 15% of the men surveyed said the same. The most common topics of this shaming were sex, dental hygiene, and weight. The second study, which included a much broader age and demographic range, showed similar results: While only 38% of men reported feeling guilt or shame because of something their physician said, 53% of women could recall such behavior.

Men were also more likely to make positive changes after being shamed, but researchers aren’t sure why: Overall, people are more likely to make changes when they perceive their doctor’s criticism to be focused on the behavior, not the person. In other words, someone who comes out of a doctor’s appointment thinking “I am a fat person” is much less likely to make diet changes than someone who emerges thinking “I eat too much.” Upon seeing that women reacted more negatively to these criticisms, the study authors thought they might be taking the incidents more personally. In fact, women were no more likely to focus on being “bad” (as opposed to having a bad habit) than men were.

As for why women report more shaming incidents in the first place, the researchers say, it could be that women are treated differently by their physicians than men are. It’s just as possible, though, that women are likely to read situations differently than men, or more likely to pick up on a physician’s subtle intent to shame. And as it happens, the intent is very important.

“If you perceive your doctor is intentionally trying to make you feel shame or guilt,” lead author Christine Harris said in a press release, “then the reaction is exclusively negative. We didn’t see any positive reactions at all…Tough love and shaming don’t always work. In fact, they can be counter-productive.” To improve patient outcomes, Harris says, doctors should take more care to criticize behaviors, and not patients. And while more research is needed to determine the cause of the gender discrepancy found, perhaps physicians should stop and ask themselves whether they speak differently to their female patients.

	Courtney shared this story from The ToastThe Toast:
	Too real, The Toast. Too real.

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You’re a UX Designer? No way. The startup I work for is looking for a UX Designer. Or, I should say, a “UX Grenadier.” Someone who can “drop crazy bombs down the hatch of traditional user analytics.” That’s actually a quote from our job ad. Pretty wacky, huh? Well, that’s only the beginning. Let me tell you just how quirky and unique the startup I work for really is.

First of all, there’s the workplace itself. It’s not some drab office with gray carpet and fluorescent lights. It’s a loft with exposed brick everywhere. And I mean everywhere. The walls? Exposed brick. The floors? Exposed brick. The ceiling? Exposed brick. The toilets? The filing cabinets? The windows? It’s all brick, and it’s all totally exposed. Even the dividers between our PODs are exposed brick.

Oh, sorry. I sometimes forget that our unconventional naming conventions don’t always make sense to people on the outside. My bad. PODs are “Productivity-Optimized Desques.” Not desks. Desques. D-e-s-q-u-e-s.

By spelling it differently, we’re able to free ourselves from the negative connotations that the word “desk” carries in today’s corporate culture. Desques aren’t prisons where we’re forced to toil away for eight hours a day. They’re positive places. They’re where we have a couple beers and make crafts on Craft Wednesdays. And where we have a couple beers and sell our crafts on Craft Fair Thursdays. And where we have a couple beers and disassemble the crafts we bought on De-Craft Fridays so that we can put all the pieces back into the craft supply pile for next week, because it was never really about the crafts, you know?

Also, just to be clear, desques aren’t desks. They’re ping-pong tables. Exposed brick ping-pong tables. An artist in Detroit builds each one out of bricks from buildings that’ve been knocked down, so they’re all a little different. Our CEO went out there just recently to visit the guy’s studio and watch him work. He told us all about it last week at Beer Tuesday, which is when we all come together at the end of the day to have a couple beers and just chill.

He’s cool like that, our CEO: always friendly, always down to Earth, not your traditional stuck-up businessman. Which makes sense considering he didn’t even study business in college. He studied horticulture. Until he dropped out, at least. After that he wrote songs and jumped trains for a while before it hit him: he belonged in the technology industry.

But of course, you’d know all about this if you’d read his profile in Tech Weekly’s “30 Under 30” or Startup Magazine’s “40 under 40” or The Journal of Innovation’s “50 under 50” or Digital Online’s “73 under 73” or InfoBlog’s “Several People Who Are Doing Pretty Well When You Consider How Old They Are.” But he doesn’t let all the exposure go to his head. He’s still the first to show up for Beer Tuesday and the last to leave.

Oh, and by the way, Beer Tuesday is actually every Monday. That’s an inside joke. We have a lot of inside jokes.

And you can be in on them too. All you need to do is apply. A word to the wise, though: don’t submit some boring old cover letter and resume. We look for people who really have fun with the application process. Like the woman who applied to join our team of In-Yo-Face Interface Specialist by sending a crossword puzzle where all the answers were different job skills she had. Seriously, we would’ve hired her in a heartbeat if anyone had been able to solve the “contact information” clue.

Or the guy who applied to be a Web Development Soothsayer by uploading a video of his mom talking about his skills and experience. She was so cute and funny, stuttering through all the advanced coding languages he knew and whatnot. In fact, we loved her so much that we decided to hire her instead of her son. And it’s worked out great. She really gives our web development team the outside perspective that they were missing.

So yeah, if you’re interested, let me know. I’ll put in a good word for you with our CEO next time we have a Wiffle Weekend. That’s when we all get together on a Saturday or Sunday, have a couple beers, and play Wiffle ball. Although, honestly, I can’t remember the last time we actually played Wiffle ball.

Read more Let Me Tell You About My Startup at The Toast.

“Whisper of the pines” by Serkan Çetinkol. Turkey. 2013 IAPLC Top 27

The lush underwater gardens in these photos are all competition-grade examples of aquascaping, the craft of artfully arranging aquatic plants, rocks, and other items in an aquarium. Competitive aquascaping enthusiasts compete in a number of international contests including the International Aquatic Plants Layout Contest in Japan and the Planted Aquarium Design Contest in Russia. For more aquascaping photos, see this Colossal post.

“Way to heaven” by Dmitriy Parshin. Russia.

Long Tran Hoang, Vietnam. 2012 IAPLC Third Place.

“Pale Wind” by Takayuki Fukada. Japan. 2013 IAPLC Gold Prize

via Colossal

An anonymous reader writes "Microsoft remotely deleted old versions of Tor anonymizing software from Windows machines to prevent them from being exploited by Sefnit, a botnet that spread through the Tor network. It's unclear how many machines were affected, but the total number of computers on the Tor network ballooned from 1 million to 5.5 million as Sefnit spread. 'By October, the Tor network had dropped two million users thanks to Sefnit clients that had been axed. No one, not even the Tor developers themselves, knew how Microsoft had gone on a silent offensive against such a big opponent and won a decisive battle,' the Daily Dot reported. In a blog post, Microsoft claimed it views Tor as a 'good application,' but leaving it installed presented a severe threat to the infected machines."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Last night Jared Leto won a Best Supporting Actor (the award for ladies is Best Supporting Actress, so this was in the dude category) for playing a trans woman.

I have not seen Dallas Buyers Club, in which Leto plays Rayon, a trans woman with AIDS. I will not see Dallas Buyers Club because I don’t hate myself. Leto’s performance may be a “revelation” as some have called it, though I highly doubt I’d see it that way. It also may be awful, stereotypical, and offensive, which sounds like the way Rayon is portrayed based on the opinions of folks who’ve seen the movie and actually care about trans women. I suspect the latter, since Leto gave an offensive speech about physical transformation when he won the Golden Globe and has described Rayon as an “unbelievably impossible person.”

Hi, I’m over here being a possible trans woman. What’s up?

I have no interest in watching a cis man in drag play a trans woman ever again. No matter what Dallas Buyers Club does as a film, the narrative around this movie, the fact that a man in drag is playing a trans woman, perpetuates the stereotype that we are men in drag.

I hate everything about Felicity Huffman’s weak, female impersonator-y performance in TransAmerica, but at least she’s a woman playing a woman — but that’s not enough. I personally know multiple great trans lady actors. Why not cast a trans woman to play a trans woman? (For that matter, why aren’t trans women being cast to play cis women when we’ve got so many cis people doing trans drag?). I find the feminist conversation around Orange is the New Black pretty bizarre: it’s a fun show, but it’s a trashy, soapy sitcom, not a realistic depiction of the lives of marginalized and incarcerated women. Having said that, at least the show bothered to cast a trans woman to play a trans woman, which shouldn’t be a big deal but is. And of course the indomitable Laverne Cox knocked it out of the park. How does anyone in Hollywood look at that show and not realize it just makes sense to cast great trans women actors to play trans women?

At least the award was just a Golden Globe. All awards shows are ridiculous spectacles, but the Globes take the cake. The Hollywood Foreign Press Association sounds like a group of reviewers or movie-related journalists, but they’re actually a bizarre collection of rich folks who’ve routinely excluded actual critics and journalists. All awards voting is political, but it’s a well-documented fact that Golden Globes are basically bought and sold. Still, awards give some sense of legitimacy, they’re promotion for the movies that win, and they pile up — a Golden Globe could spiral into an Oscar win.

And this isn’t just an isolated incident. Trans women seem to be getting increasing visibility in Hollywood — and not in a good way. Lori, Maya, and I went to the movies together this weekend, and every comedy trailer we saw (and there seem to be at least 2 hours of trailers before a movie these days) was super racist and sexist — the worst “joke” probably being in the trailer for Bad Words in which Jason Bateman told a very young South Asian kid to shut his “curry hole” and our jaws hit the sticky theater floor. And then came the trailer for The Other Woman, which looks like an anti-feminist remake of The First Wive’s Club, a film I absolutely adore. In addition to the racism and sexism, this trailer included basically the same joke about a cis man taking hormones and transitioning that played out in the Netflix season of Arrested Development (a show that’s been super transmisogynist throughout its run #sorryhipsters). At least we weren’t subjected to the trailer for 22 Jump Street which I’d already seen, and which includes a despicable joke about the rape of trans women in men’s prisons. I don’t know what any of these movies will actually be like, but why is Hollywood leaning so heavily on bigotry to sell us films? How is this OK?

Before going to the movies we’d tried to entertain ourselves with an episode of Louie. Unfortunately, we started watching the season 3 premiere, which opens with a horribly transphobic and racist stand up routine about genitalia. I’m a big fan of Louis C.K., who’s humor is often “offensive” and controversial, but in a way that’s aimed at power. Jokes making fun of people who have it worse than you are easy. It’s harder to mock privilege, and that’s been the surprising power of comedy for a long time — just think of royal courts where jesters were able to mock the king. Louie’s humor is usually aimed at white supremacist patriarchy, usually used to show that the emperor has no clothes. It’s a good way for a privileged white dude to use his position. Watching this comedian make an ignorant, hurtful joke about “transvestite” genitalia tells me that in his eyes I’m not human, not worthy of the humanization that comes from mocking the ways trans folks get dehumanized. I’m just a punch line.

We’re hearing a lot right now about what a great year 2013 was for women in film. Movies that pass the Bechdel Test made more money than movies that don’t. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, a movie with a female lead, topped the 2013 box office. Folks say the last time this happened was The Exorcist in 1973, though I always considered Father Karras the lead. So I’d go back to 1965 and The Sound of Music – that’s almost five decades. Of course, Jennifer Lawrence is a white woman playing a character who’s a person of color in the books (which makes the racist anger around casting Amandla Stenberg to play Rue, who’s Black in the books as well, even more offensive). Frozen and Gravity, both female-led movies, also did well. I really enjoyed Catching Fire, and as a woman it was great to be reflected in the lead. It’s been a good year for white cis female characters, yes. But I’m also a trans woman, and Hollywood has been pretty terrible to me on that level — and to people of color in general.

Increased visibility is important for marginalized folks like trans women. But only when that means increased awareness of our humanity. Visibility can be dangerous when it’s based entirely on bigoted stereotypes. As Laverne Cox pointed out in response to Katie Couric’s ignorant bigotry very recently:

The preoccupation with transition and surgery objectifies trans people. And then we don’t get to really deal with the real lived experiences. The reality of trans people’s lives is that so often we are targets of violence. We experience discrimination disproportionately to the rest of the community. Our unemployment rate is twice the national average; if you are a trans person of color, that rate is four times the national average. The homicide rate is highest among trans women. If we focus on transition, we don’t actually get to talk about those things.

We are so much more than our medical histories. Reducing us to jokes about hormones and genitalia dehumanizes us, supporting a culture in which we’re targeted with violence. Rewarding a man for his brave portrayal of an “impossible” trans woman perpetuates stereotypes about us being men in drag, which also supports a culture of dehumanization and violence. Most of the increased visibility trans women are getting in Hollywood right now is not a good thing — it’s cruel and it’s dangerous. We deserve much better from the stories our culture tells itself.

Original Source

Annoying talk show host and wannabe jazz vocalist Regis Philbin has finally made a disc worth buying. Seemingly influenced by Paul Anka's return to the top with Rock Swings, Regis decided to tackle more eclectic and obscure works. After having the gall to release two Rat Pack-influenced vocal records—one in 1968 and another in 2004—and a Christmas disc, My Darker Moods makes up for it again and again.

First, Philbin rids himself of Steve Tyrell's jazz-pop polished sheen. Instead he enlists free big band arranger/composer/conductor Butch Morris and his genius "comprovisation technique. He uses a band of unknowns, but their skill is impressive to say the least. Players on hand to help make up a who's who of avant-garde geniuses from New York's Downtown scene. The disc opens up with Sonic Youth's Charles Manson-inspired "Death Valley 69, featuring Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo twisting in gnarls of feedback while David Murray rips all over the damn place. While intensity builds, Philbin drops in purposely (?) out-of-sync vocals while Morris keeps the band's jarring pulse alive in the back.

Another real stunner is an elaborate arrangement of Naked City's "Perfume of a Critic's Burning Flesh, by composer John Zorn. The piece's original length of mere seconds is fleshed out to over ten minutes, showcasing Philbin's talents as a scat master. If that is not enough of a reason to seek this disc out, the track features none other than Zorn himself, along with fellow Naked City members Bill Frisell and Yamatsuka Eye.

Another Zorn collaborator and resident sound sculptor, Bill Laswell, makes an appearance. Though Laswell only does a dub remix here, it's the disc's grand finale: Lou Reed's "Metal Machine Music Part I. Which version is better is a matter of personal taste, but this take rivals the Reed original. Mountains of feedback, squealing horns and an orchestra of over three hundred participants—not to mention Philbin's stirring vocals—makes this one of the finest avant-garde tracks in the last six months.

In the liner notes Philbin says that while he still considers Dean Martin his idol, his love of noise far surpasses his love of Dino. My Darker Moods is a record of irresponsible ego that only a man of love or ill thought can make. Yet that is sometimes how a true masterpiece is born.

Track Listing: Death Valley '69; Nuclear War; Perfume of a Critic's Burning Flesh; Contort Yourself; Beautiful People; Metal Machine Music Part I; Metal Machine Music Part I (Bill Laswell dub mix).

Personnel: Regis Philbin: vocal; Thurston Moore: guitar; Lee Ranaldo: guitar; David Murray: sax; John Zorn: alto sax; Bill Frisell: guitar; Yamatsuska Eye: vocal; John Lurie: keyboards; James Chance: sax; Dirk Studley: bass; LeRoy Roy: percussion.

Record Label: Reprise

Style: Fringes of Jazz

Original Source

What happens when you are Jack Dorsey, Twitter co-founder and internet poet laureate, high off the fumes of your own sh*t for too long? You take the stage at the National Retail Federation expo in New York, and preach nut job visions about sales receipts.

lostsplendor:

femmedandy:

theblacklacedandy:

Oh I want this outfit!

Life goals.

Ultimate toughness

The Independent

NSA database allegations: Foreign Secretary says 'UK privacy system not ... The Independent Foreign Secretary William Hague has insisted that the privacy of individuals in the UK is not being breached, in the wake of reports that British spies have access to millions of text messages. The allegations come from an investigation by Channel 4 News and ... UK 'complacent' over mass surveillance revelationsBBC News NSA collects hundreds of millions of text messages dailyInquirer NSA reportedly collects millions of global text messages dailyIrish Times Telegraph.co.uk -Sydney Morning Herald all 193 news articles »

Original Source

mama likey - The Outfoxies (Namco - arcade - 1995)

sticky lizard - The Outfoxies (Namco - arcade - 1995)

Jerry Seinfeld and his special guest Jay Leno drive around in a 1949 Porsche 356/2 and pay a visit to Jones Coffee in Pasadena on the latest episode of Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee.