Scarlett Johansson
Russell James Photoshoot
firehose
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10 Dec 01:54
Scarlett Johansson Russell James Photoshoot
Russian Sledges, firehose likes this
10 Dec 01:53
Chicago Public Schools Promoting Computer Science to Core Subject
by Unknown Lamer
dmiller1984 writes "The Chicago Public Schools, the third-largest public school system in the United States, announced a five-year plan today that would add at least one computer science course to every CPS high school, and elevate computer science to a core requirement instead of an elective. CPS announced this through a partnership with code.org, stating that the non-profit would provide free curriculum, professional development, and stipends for teachers." 
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Ronald.phillips likes this
10 Dec 01:53
Year of Luigi tote, book ⊟ Publisher Gakken will release this...
by 20xx
Year of Luigi tote, book ⊟
Publisher Gakken will release this special Year of Luigi book, With Luigi 30th Anniversary Memorial Mook, on December 16 in Japan. The 1,490 yen ($15) book also includes the surprisingly nice Year of Luigi tote bag and a Super Star card/train pass case.
BUY Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon, upcoming games
Russian Sledges, firehose likes this
10 Dec 01:36
'Bob's Burgers'' Moral Alignments
firehosehi otters
Almost every character on "Bob’s Burgers" ranked by D&D’s moral alignment.
10 Dec 01:14
Brandon Marshall arrives for frigid Monday Night Football in mesmerizing outfit
by Brendan Porath
firehosehttp://d3j5vwomefv46c.cloudfront.net/photos/large/826659656.jpg?1386631834
like a gender/race-swapped Carmen Sandiego sans hat
This is about as bold a fashion statement one can make when it feels like zero degrees out.
When it comes to flashy pre/postgame outfits, the NFL is significantly lacking compared to the NBA. But Brandon Marshall did his best to make a statement on a blistering Monday night in Chicago, showing up in this mesmerizing double-breasted number, with similarly-toned gloves and bow tie. While much of the pre game discussion is on the retirement of Mike Ditka's number, this has been the most interesting moment in the lead-up to MNF (via CJZero):
@shegotgame @HeatherZeller Matching gloves too http://t.co/dhwTHDvkUX
— CJ Fogler (@cjzero) December 10, 2013
It's not Russell Westbrook territory, but it's hard to get real eccentric when it's 16 degrees out but feels like -1 thanks to some brutal Chicago wind. The temperature, as you'd expect, is supposed to drop as the night progresses.
More from SB Nation NFL
• Debrief: Seeing clearly through the snow
• Rob Gronkowski reportedly tears ACL, MCL
• Takeaways: Snow, blowouts and surprises dominate Week 14
• Adrian Peterson expects to return this season | Hit by snowballs
10 Dec 01:10
EA scores 100 percent on Human Rights Campaign index
by Dave Tach
Electronic Arts scored a 100 percent on Human Rights Campaign's Corporate Equality, the company announced today on its blog.
Since 2002, HRC's report has examined businesses for "inclusive policies, practices and benefits for LGBT employees." According to HRC president Chad Griffin's executive summary in the Corporate Equality Index 2014 (PDF link), EA was one of "304 major businesses — spanning nearly every industry and geography — [that] earned a top score of 100 percent and the coveted distinction of 'Best Places to Work for LGBT Equality.'"
EA has supported LGBT causes on a corporate level. Earlier this year, it announced its participation in LGBT Pride Month. In March, it held a one-day conference to discuss LGBT issues.
10 Dec 01:09
rae-rose: rad-and-broke: campdracula5eva: youbestnotmiss: smi...
by joanna-molloy
"You’re 6’4", 240-pound Marine, and you’re injured, and you need a Marine next to you to carry you back to safety, and the Marine next to you is a 5’4" woman who weighs 115 pounds,"
No problem.
in before “well most women can’t do that” because NEWS FLASH most men can’t either, that’s why it’s a highly specialized career that requires a lot of devoted training
One of my former coworkers was a very slim girl only a tad taller than me, and she was training to be a fireman, and she could lift the biggest dude on my crew like this who was around 6’5 and super bulky.One time she picked him up and ran around the crew room with him for about 5 minutes before letting him down.
Even though I haven’t exercised in over a year—if you count DDR—and I’m incredibly petite (5’0”, 100 lbs), I can carry most guys. If they’re under 200 lbs, I can run with them on my back for 5 blocks, but I can walk for a mile. Once they’re about 250, I can only walk about a block or two before my spine feels like it’s about to break. If I were in a survival situation and their life depended on it, I could go on much further, until my legs gave out.
It’s why I hate the bullshit that women are inherently weak. Nah, man. Nah.
More power to you all because I can barely lift my five year old nephew without hating myself ten minutes later….
Ok not a lady in dude duds re-enactment type scenario, but very cool besides
firehose likes this
10 Dec 00:53
Once Upon a Time Casts Its Rapunzel, Gets Some Diversity Up In Here
10 Dec 00:46
Nexus 5 review, updated: the best Android phone you can buy
by Joshua Topolsky
firehose"the Nexus 5 feels considerably faster than most devices I’ve used — even the iPhone 5S (pro-tip: turn off all of your animations using developer controls)"
Overbey flips a table in joy
Hardware and design
Design within reach
For all the focus put on a new Google phone, the Nexus 5 doesn't look like much. It's not a giant slab like the Galaxy Note 3, a sculpted piece of art like the Lumia 920, or a precious piece of "jewelry" like the iPhone 5S. It's an unassuming rectangle of a thing, available in black or white. At 5.42 inches tall and 2.7 inches wide, it's a big phone, and feels like a noticeable bump up from the Moto X or the iPhone. In some ways it’s a bit boring — especially next to the customizations offered by Motorola or the neon colors of the iPhone 5C. Plain isn't necessarily a problem — it can even be a strength, and I think it is here given what Google is trying to do. But still, the Nexus 5 is plain.
It's plain, but that doesn't have to be bad
The phone is shaped to feel smaller than it looks, with subtly curved edges and slightly sharpened corners that nestle perfectly into the palm of your hand. It's surprisingly light, at only 130 grams and 8.6 millimeters thick. It's made completely of plastic, and obviously doesn't feel as high-end as metal phones like the HTC One or iPhone 5S — but it’s solid, not slippery. I found myself running my fingers along the carved Nexus logo on the back, and feeling the edges of the ceramic buttons — it’s just nice to hold. Stylistically, it shares much in common with the new Nexus 7 and the original Chromebook, and that’s a good thing.
The phone's a spiritual successor to LG's G2, but it's been improved in almost every way. The buttons are thankfully on the sides of the device, though the power control can sometimes feel like a stretch along the upper right corner of the phone. Two speaker grilles flank the recessed Micro USB port, but only one is an actual speaker; the other hides the Nexus 5's microphone. Left to fend for itself, the speaker is pretty quiet, and sometimes distorts at near-maximum volume.
The Nexus 5 is mostly just supposed to get out of the way
It makes only two bold, eye-catching design statements. One is the large ring around the camera lens, which glints in the light and feels almost jarring next to the subtlety of the rest of the phone; it sort of looks like a spare part, attached at the last minute. Friends I discussed the feature with either hated it or loved it; I kind of like it. On the white version of the phone, the earpiece grille is colored white, which is striking against the black, glass face of the phone — it’s like a beacon. Speaking of beacons, Google has once again produced another device with a multicolored LED light embedded at the bottom of the screen, but I couldn’t tell you why that is. The light only flashes white when you have a notification, meaning it’s always flashing, so it’s always meaningless. I use an app called LightFlow, which allows you to set different colored notifications for specific apps, and it makes the LED about a million times more useful. Unfortunately, I’ve grown to love the Moto X’s Active Notifications, and the LED still makes a poor substitute. But I digress.
Being flashy or ostentatious was never Google's goal with the Nexus phones. The point is to let the hardware get out of the way so the software can do its thing. Android is the statement here, not the Nexus 5. That's why its 4.95-inch, 1080p screen is such a key tenet of the phone's appeal, and it more than gets the job done. It's not oversaturated like the Moto X's AMOLED display, though it can look a bit washed out and desaturated next to a device like the HTC One or the iPhone 5S. But those are relatively minor nitpicks. The screen overall is bright, beautiful, crisp, and accurate. At 445 pixels per inch, it's a fantastic device for reading, working, browsing the web, or watching movies — a perfect window into Android.
Camera
Ready, aim, aim, fire
Before this phone was even announced, leaked photos and information about the Nexus 5 made the camera a point of gossip and controversy. It's no secret that Android phones have a rough record with quality shooters (especially in comparison to the efforts of Apple and Nokia), and Google and LG's previous work on the Nexus 4 didn't leave a great taste in anyone's mouth. Rumors swirled that the Nexus 5 was going to be different.
The truth is, it's a lot more of the same, at least right now. In a word: disappointing.
The 8-megapixel camera on the back of the Nexus 5 is certainly capable of taking rather beautiful photos in the perfect setting. Unfortunately for us, life is not filled with perfect settings — and when you're faced with real-world picture taking, the camera underperforms constantly and consistently. The Nexus 5 takes photos and video with too little contrast, too little saturation, and too little color (or inconsistent color) — when you can get the camera to focus at all. Low light performance isn’t exactly poor, but getting it to snap the picture you want at the moment you want will drive you absolutely nuts. The camera app can be absurdly slow to focus and even slow to launch in the first place, which makes the Nexus 5 as a camera an exercise in frustration. It instills no confidence — and after a while I simply expected the phone to produce bad results. Side by side with almost any other flagship phone, its camera doesn’t hold up.
Let me just reiterate this point: in the right light, with a steady hand and no moving (or slow-moving) subjects, the camera can take excellent photos. It’s actually really upsetting because it suggests the Nexus 5 is capable of so much more — particularly with macro shots. But, in situations where those three factors are not in play, you will struggle to take a good photo. That means that by the time the lazy autofocus captures your scene, your kid will have stopped making that face, your friends will have thrown back their Jäger shots, or your pet will no longer be doing whatever hilarious thing it was doing.
A "good enough" camera isn't good enough
I also don't agree (as some will argue) that a "good enough" camera is acceptable for Google's flagship smartphone, and I don't think the company feels that way either. Yes, the price point is low on this phone, but not low compared with on-contract phones (which the majority of consumers purchase), and nothing else about the Nexus 5 feels cheap. Google intends for this phone to be pitted against the best that Apple has to offer, and I doubt anyone at the company would tell you they’re pleased that the camera doesn’t stand out.
There is a glimmer of hope, however. Representatives from the Android team say that software is to blame for the weak performance, not hardware, and reps tell me that a fix is coming to deal with the issues in the upcoming weeks. I've even seen an early build of the new software, and while it's only a minor improvement — autofocus is a hair faster, but still inconsistent, and picture quality hasn't changed — it's nice to see Google already at work.
Of course, there's no set date for a fix at this point, and I don't know how much the camera can actually be improved through software, but if the Moto X is any kind of example, there might just be a solution to this very disheartening problem.
Update: Google has issued a significant update to the camera software bundle of the Nexus 5 in the form of Android 4.4.1. The update improves upon many of the issues cited in this review, most significantly the camera's ability to focus on subjects consistently and reliably in a variety of lighting and environment settings. To read more about the changes, see our detailed review here.
The design of the hardware is clean if simplistic, but that's probably okay for Google. The main focus of the Nexus devices has never been about hardware prowess — it's about finding the appropriate package for showcasing software innovation. And that's definitely true here, because the Nexus 5 is all about the latest version of Android — KitKat.
It may just be a point update, but Android 4.4 is a significant change from the previous version of the software — with big tweaks both user-facing and under the hood.
Google is moving away from the "holo" or more Tron-like elements we first saw in Honeycomb (3.0), and what's new actually seems to have more in common with recent efforts from HTC on the One than it does with previous versions of stock Android. If the old Android was a "night" theme, this is definitely "daytime." White is everywhere, from the backgrounds of folders to the pattern unlock grid. Things have been lightened, tightened, and flattened in all the right places, making this latest incarnation of the ever-evolving software feel very fresh.
If the old Android was a night theme, KitKat is definitely daytime
Some of the aesthetic changes in KitKat seem to be focused on getting user interface elements out of the way — for instance, the status bar up the top is now translucent, allowing apps or pictures to take up every single one of the Nexus 5’s pixels. Google is also employing a tighter, condensed version of its Roboto font on the home screen and in other areas around the OS, giving KitKat a more modern, sleek feel from a typographic perspective. Icons and other symbols seem starker, cleaner, and larger in the new operating system — but nothing is painfully flat here.
Google search is all over KitKat — and some users may take a moment to adjust to how much that changes the OS. Google Now is a left-swipe away from your main home screen, accessible very much like HTC's BlinkFeed. That means people who've been using that left space for icons and widgets will have to rethink their home screen strategy. Google voice search is also now deeply integrated into KitKat; you need only utter "okay Google" to start searching. This is akin to the Moto X's implementation of an "always listening" mode, but it's only listening while you're in the launcher of the phone, so it's not nearly as useful (or invasive, some might argue). You can also now search keywords from within the phone dialer, which is a bit like having Google Maps business info integrated perfectly into the app. On that note, the dialer has actually been completely redesigned, but Google needs to wrangle the UI in that particular piece of the puzzle as it's now relatively confusing to use.
Elsewhere in KitKat, there’s a new unified file picker, letting you attach files from Dropbox, Drive, Box, and more all in the same place, and (finally) a unified way to print from your phone. The widget drawer has been axed and combined with a contextual menu where you can also select wallpaper and open general Google settings — all of which are improvements. That means your main phone navigation is split between home screen, app drawer, and notifications — which are increasingly robust. In all, Android is tighter, simpler, and more unified everywhere; the general UI hasn’t changed dramatically, but the visual tweaks and functional additions continue Android down a very smart path.
If there's a major shift in the software beyond interface cleanup and additional under-the-hood improvements, it might be the new version of Hangouts. The messaging app now fully integrates SMS and MMS, and replaces the "Messages" app from previous versions of the software. You can now send texts, instant messages, voice calls, and video calls all from the same place, giving it a feel much more akin to iMessage. It's a fantastic idea on paper, but a really clunky execution in KitKat. If you’re talking to someone via Hangouts, and then you text them via SMS, it starts an entirely new, separate conversation. Unlike iMessage, which combines everything into one stream whether you’re using SMS or not, Hangouts bifurcates those conversations, making communication actually more confusing and harder to navigate. Coupled with the fact that Google still doesn’t group separate accounts together in its apps, things are downright puzzling at times when trying to carry on a conversation. How can this be so hard? webOS got account linking and merged conversations right in 2009.
It's odd. The phone knows that the person I'm texting with is the same person I'm chatting with in Hangouts (the user card is the same), but those two conversations sit apart from one another. Why can't those conversations be merged? Even if you had to hand-select what kind of message you wanted to send, it might be easier than switching between two completely different streams. My assumption is that Google knows this isn't a perfect execution — I only hope they deal with it sooner rather than later.
Getting messaging right can't be this hard
Hangout issues aside, KitKat really is a solid improvement over earlier versions of the software, and the Nexus 5 shows it off quite well.
Performance and battery
Short-term power
The key feature of KitKat, its primary raison d'etre, is to make new versions of Android accessible to lower-memory phones. Phones that don't have the latest processor, or gigabytes of RAM, can still get all of Google's latest software. But none of that even comes close to mattering on the Nexus 5, which comes with a spec sheet as impressive as just about any phone on the market.
It's powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor clocked at 2.26GHz, and it's hard to find a better smartphone chip on the market today. It also has 2GB of RAM (four times what KitKat needs), an Adreno 330 GPU, and either 16GB or 32GB of storage. Likely due to some combination of this class-leading hardware and the newly optimized software, the Nexus 5 is just astonishingly fast. Even processor- and graphics-intensive games like Asphalt 8: Airborne play smoothly, though like any device they still drop the occasional frame and stutter every once in a while — we're not entering truly new territory here, just improving on what we have.
Low-memory optimization is not something the Nexus 5 needs
There can be minor scrolling issues when you’re trying to tear through a long page, but that seems more to do with buffering than it does actual graphics performance. In fact, a big deal has been made about the "Android scrolling" problem, but nine times out of ten, the Nexus 5 feels considerably faster than most devices I’ve used — even the iPhone 5S (pro-tip: turn off all of your animations using developer controls). General navigation and performance is buttery, and while Google still can’t match Apple’s best-in-class touch-response times, the difference is negligible as far as I’m concerned. With every device there are tradeoffs, but I don't feel for a moment that the touch performance or scrolling behavior on the Nexus 5 — or most modern Android phones — is a cause for concern.
Perhaps even more important than its new software, or its improved screen over the Nexus 4, the Nexus 5 comes with LTE. It works on carriers and in countries around the world, and in our tests had solid reception and download speeds (though of course your carrier's more responsible for how that works than your phone). One of our review units had a bizarre problem: when the phone went to sleep while connected to Wi-Fi, it seemed to completely shut off its radios, and had trouble connecting when we woke it up. That was just one unit, though, and most seem to work as expected.
There was one other inconsistency, more troubling this time. During our time with the Nexus 5, it's been hard to get a real grip on how its battery truly operates. One day, it lasts less than eight hours of only moderate use. The next, more than 16. It lasted 3 hours, 43 minutes on the Verge Battery Test, which is among the lowest scores we've seen on a high-end phone in some time, but it would occasionally surprise with its longevity. The screen is clearly the catalyst, in most cases responsible for 60 percent or more of the battery's drain — as ever, the more you use your phone the faster it'll die. Depending on how you use it, battery life seems to fall somewhere between "bad" and "okay," and neither of those is something to get excited about.
Wrap-up
LG Nexus 5
Good Stuff
- KitKat is a major and welcome update
- Performance on the phone screams
- Gorgeous display
Bad Stuff
- The camera is frustratingly hit or miss
- Battery life was inconsistent
- Hardware design is unexciting
A killer package... once Google fixes this camera
At the start of this review, I posed a question — can the Nexus 5 be the flagship phone Google wants it to be? The short answer is... maybe. Just not now.
The Nexus 5 is an excellent phone in many ways. It's solidly built and feels great to use. It's got serious processing power which means it can handle pretty much anything you throw at it. The phone has an absolutely gorgeous display. The KitKat update is polished and refined, and cements my belief that not only is Android leading the charge in mobile OSs from a functionality and user interface standpoint, but from a design standpoint as well. The battery life, while not perfect, appears to be good enough to get you through a day of work — which is certainly on par with its competition.
More importantly, Google is blazing a new path in the way we buy our phones. A device of this quality for $349 is something to take notice of. It's impressive, but more than that, it's a crucial step towards offering consumers more control over how and when they buy their phones and phone service. It's also just kind of a cool idea — a great phone, no strings attached.
I would love to be able to recommend this device wholeheartedly, but I can't do that until Google sorts out the issues with the Nexus 5's camera. If the company can make software changes large enough to materially and noticeably improve the performance of its shooter — to make it competitive with other top-tier phones — then this becomes a different story. Even now, Google's working on fixing its issues, and someday we might see the Nexus 5's camera upgraded from problematic to usable, or even good. When that day comes, the Nexus 5 will be a killer package I'll happily recommend. But that's not today.
Update: As stated in the camera section of this review, Google has taken rather immediate action to fix many of the problems I outline here. As a result, the Android 4.4.1 update which is rolling out to Nexus 5 handsets does greatly improve the performance of the camera — enough that I can happily recommend the phone as one of the best Android devices on the market. While the camera still isn't up to the standards of the iPhone 5S or the Lumia 1020 (mostly due to the realities of hardware limitations), the Nexus 5 proves to be a capable and at times excellent camera; one which you can feel a greater degree of confidence about thanks to software changes. There is still work to be done on the Nexus 5's camera, particularly in the user interface, but the device now has a fighting chance amongst its competition.
Photography by Michael Shane
The Breakdown
More times than not, the Verge score is based on the average of the subscores below. However, since this is a non-weighted average, we reserve the right to tweak the overall score if we feel it doesn't reflect our overall assessment and price of the product. Read more about how we test and rate products.
- Design 8
- Display 9
- Camera(s) 5
- Reception / call quality 8
- Performance 10
- Software 9
- Battery life 7
- Ecosystem 8
10 Dec 00:44
These Are New Orleans' 15 Best Hidden Gems - Eater Maps - Eater NOLA
by gguillotte
Kermit Ruffin's place has "fried rabbit , BBQ chicken and red beans and rice!!"
firehose likes this
10 Dec 00:40
The Hipster Fred Phelps
by gguillotte
firehosemeanwhile, in Portland
It’s Cyber Monday and Grant Chisholm is manning his retro-cool vintage furniture store, Grant Michael Industrial Antiques, in Portland, Oregon. “A lot of people send me hate mail,” he says. “I just received some hate mail from someone who said they were going to protest my store.” His store doesn’t offer much to protest, unless you really don’t like a “1930's bowling alley wood top repurposed and refinished on an industrial, cotton mill, roll cart base.” Chisholm’s shop, one of two Portland locations (Grandma’s Funky Furniture is the other), brimming with rusted, upcycled signage and worn leather chairs, isn’t the problem. Most of Chisholm’s customers—whom he describes as “pre-yuppies who voted for Obama, movie stars, and homosexuals”—don’t know much about him, aside from his great taste in estate sale finds. ... Grant Chisholm moonlights as a street preacher. According to his sidewalk rhetoric, God hates strip clubs, “homosex”, Catholics, football, and probably most Portland residents. “The bible says Jacob have I loved, Esau have I hated,” says Chisholm. “Do I believe that God has the capability of hating? Absolutely.”
10 Dec 00:39
Richard Sherman blames officials for Seahawks' loss - NFL.com
by gguillotte
Sherman might point to the penalties as the margin, but the Seahawks' defense had a chance to close out the road win. However, it allowed a 51-yard run by Frank Gore on third-and-1, leading to the game-winning field goal.
There was no penalty on that play.
10 Dec 00:37
Newswire: Adam Sandler finally tops the list of the Most Overpaid Actors, after years of trying
For yet another year, God’s own personal auditors at Forbes have hauled out their red pens to make note of which actors earning millions in order to play dress-up commands more millions than one would reasonably assume that particular job is worth. And, for yet another year, its list of Most Overpaid Actors is heavy on repeat offenders, all of them having been called out in the past for receiving a much larger compensation and production budget than the profit on their resulting movies would logically demand. And, for yet another year, all of them continued to do so, despite Forbes pointing this out time and again, with math. Indeed, it’s beginning to seem as though reason and logic are somehow not a factor in a studio choosing to make an Adam Sandler movie, choosing instead to go with its heart. (“’Heart’ sounds like ‘fart,’” Adam Sandler will ...
10 Dec 00:37
Ron Burgundy Sold The Sh*t Out Of The Dodge Durango
firehoseamercia
"Mr. Ferrell worked with Wieden & Kennedy on the ads."
Chrysler's risky move to turn over creative control of its Dodge Durango campaign to fictional anchorman Ron Burgundy is paying off–in real-world SUV sales.
10 Dec 00:35
Why Won’t Obama Rein In The NSA?
firehoselongread; Ronny Ron Wyden fucking rules
Senator Ron Wyden hoped that President Obama would roll back the surveillance system he inherited. But did he just codify it?
10 Dec 00:31
The Loneliness of the Long-Abandoned Space Observatory
by Vincze Miklós
Space observatories are among some of the most magnificent buildings devoted entirely to science — because their windows look out on the universe. And their distinctive shape makes them into poignant ruins. Here are some observatories whose views onto space have been lost to time.
    
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firehose likes this
10 Dec 00:30
Submission – Unofficial/Future Map: Long Island Rail Road by...
Submission – Unofficial/Future Map: Long Island Rail Road by Anthony Denaro
Submitted by Anthony, who says:
Here’s my map of Off-Peak (weekdays, and nights) and Weekends Long Island Rail Road Service.
This map shows service diagrammatically, de-emphasizing geography for clarity of branch services and transfers, introduces a grouping color coding system for branches, and improves legibility of the system. The LIRR current map lacks both routing and geographic info – there’s no sense of connecting roads and services and no sense of which branch’s trains stop at which station – failing at each of the things that most transit maps try to resolve at least one of.
This map shows the future expansion to Grand Central Terminal which potentially will allow all branches to have direct access to both Penn and GCT – greatly changing the service patterns of the entire system. This could be a tool to better visualize how LIRR service will be affected when that happens. There’s yet been no indication of just what the service patterns will be so I choose just to split Penn Station and GCT-bound lines for now.
Some notes:
- Peak service isn’t shown – it’s just not what this map set out to do. While LIRR peak rush hour services are a sight to behold I’d argue they’re practically impossible to map out diagrammatically.
- Connecting subway routes are shown textually instead of as an icon, breaking with how bus and ferry connections are displayed – this was purposely done to eliminate a clutter of black dots, and the burden of having to show subway lines, which isn’t the purpose of the map. (All but 2 of 22 subway routes directly connect, which would have required almost the entire subway system to be drawn).
- Planned future stations like GCT, Sunnyside and Republic as well as nerdy station fantasy reopenings like Elmhurst and Woodhaven are shown. Future MetroNorth service to Penn Stations via Sunnyside is shown as well.
Love to hear your take on it.
——
Transit Maps says:
While I can’t vouch for the accuracy of the information shown (not being at all familiar with the operations of the LIRR), I can say that this map looks absolutely gorgeous. Certainly better than the official map, which just uses the standard MTA subway map style to lesser effect.
I really like the stylish usage of 30/60-degree angles: it looks great, suits the shape of Long Island itself, and allows all the labels to be set horizontally, even along the long stretches of the Babylon and Montauk branches. Labelling like this would be trickier on a conventional 45-degree diagram, as these branches would run horizontally across the map. Skillfully and elegantly done.
The colour palette is also very nice: a step back from the bright primaries often used on transit maps, giving the map a nicely understated, refined feeling. The zone information is also deftly handled: subsidiary to the main route information, but easily found when needed.
I’m not so thrilled with the treatment of the coastline: it seems overly detailed in some parts, resulting in a distracting “stepped” appearance in some parts, especially along the Atlantic coastline at the bottom of the map. It’s not bad, per se, it just seems to clash a little with the elegant simplicity of the route lines.
The station labels from Carle Place to Bethpage in the middle of the map seem to be a little close to the route lines – perhaps Anthony has moved them inadvertently, as most other labels seem to be fine. As readers of this blog know, I’m a big stickler for accurate and consistent placement of labels!
Finally, I’m not really sure that a guide to service frequency is of much use when the two categories are "one or more trains an hour" and "fewer than one train an hour". How many trains an hour could that be for the former? Two, three… more? And are you waiting an hour and a half between trains in the latter category, or even longer? It seems to me that you’d still have to consult a timetable to ensure that you caught your train in any case. I guess it works to give a general idea that some branches have less frequent service… any LIRR riders want to weigh in on this?
Our rating: Love the layout and design of the route lines, not so keen on the underlying geographical treatment. Still pretty darn good. Three-and-a-half stars.
For more detailed information on this map, please visit Anthony’s Tumblr.
10 Dec 00:29
Pi-powered Ping Pong Pursuit
by Ben Nuttall
Will Jessop is a systems administrator for 37signals and he runs the North West Ruby User Group in Manchester. I bumped in to him recently and discovered he was working on a personal project with a Raspberry Pi. The aim of the project is to solve the problem of ping pong balls on the floor at the 37signals office in Chicago. The solution is a web-enabled robot with mounted camera allowing people to collect balls in to a basket.
The original version of the robot used the Custard Pi breakout, and then I suggested he looked at the MotorPiTX motor controller developed by Jason Barnett. He ordered one and joined Manchester Hackspace and began working on building or otherwise sourcing all the parts needed for the robot.
An early mains powered version using the MotorPiTX
Finding the new motor board much neater sitting on the original chassis, Will proceeded to design and 3D print motor mounts, caterpillar track mounts, a new base, a ball basket, and then added a mounted picamera with fish-eye lens.
3D printed parts
The underside, showing the pi
With a neat little camera robot, Will looked at options for battery powering it so it could roam free. Looking at power requirements and testing its usage while running the motors and streaming video over wireless, Will opted for a 5000mAh 7.4V lithium battery. He also added a lifter arm to the chassis, controlled independently of the robot itself.
Pi camera board with fish-eye lens
Basket case
All the software on the Pi is written in Go, which Will sees as a great language for the Raspberry Pi as it creates small, efficient, statically compiled binaries that easily fit within the resource limits of the Pi. This runs alongside Will’s gamepad library (in C, available as a Ruby gem) on a laptop. Will also wrote a power control script to aid clean Pi shutdown via the MotorPiTX.
With the robot roaming free on its new battery, controlled by an xbox controller, the camera feed streaming over wifi, and the lifter arm functional, it was ready to present at the 16th Manchester Raspberry Jam! On a tour of the Manchester Hackspace during the Jam, Eben, Liz and Pete got to see it in action. Eben got hold of the controller and took it round picking up ping pong balls by watching the video stream on the laptop.
Playing at Madlab
Eben, Pete Will, Liz and Andrew at Manchester Hackspace
Eben – moustache and all – examines the robot
Eben gets a go
Will then took the robot to Miami to show it off at RubyConf, where many Rubyists got to have a play with it.
In action at RubyConf
Robot picking up ping pong balls:
Robot’s eye view:
Check out the series of posts on Will’s blog. Thanks to Manchester Hackspace and Jason Barnett for helping to facilitate the project. The robot’s not been installed in the 37signals office yet, but when web access to it is available, we’ll be sure to post the link so you can all have a go!
Will also wrote a Go library for the Pimoroni Piglow: github.com/wjessop/go-piglow. Go and take a look, have a play, and let us know what you think!
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10 Dec 00:29
The Mythbusters Ask, Is “Throw Like A Girl” An Insult? [VIDEO]
firehosetl;dw: They made men, women, boys, and girls throw with their non-dominant hands, which removed male improvements in form that came from training and cultural impression (ie boys watch more baseball, ergo boys better know what a good throw looks like, ergo they can imitate it better). Males still threw more accurately than females on their off hands, but females threw faster.
Also, they brought in an Olympic women's softball player and demonstrated her overhand form was nearly identical to a male professional baseball player.
"When throwing a ball, women tend to stay more vertical, while men go more horizontal and rotate their bodies more aggressively. ... We did not find in any of our testing that women throw more poorly than men."
Russian Sledges, firehose likes this
10 Dec 00:24
The World’s Oldest Romance Novelist Passes Away At 105
10 Dec 00:23
Fractal Pancakes, Making Fractal Pancakes. Take A Fractal and I’ll Put It In a Pancake.
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10 Dec 00:23
Like NSA, local police sweep up cellphone data of innocents, report says - Christian Science Monitor
Christian Science Monitor |
Like NSA, local police sweep up cellphone data of innocents, report says Christian Science Monitor Local and federal law enforcement officers each year request thousands of “cell tower dumps” that include details about many calls not relevant to the crime being investigated, a congressional inquiry has found. Skip to next paragraph. Related stories ... Cops and Feds Routinely 'Dump' Cell Towers to Track Everyone NearbyWired Should collecting cellphone data require a warrant?USA TODAY Cellphone firms regularly give data to law enforcementBoston Globe MassLive.com -PC Magazine -AFP all 51 news articles » |
10 Dec 00:18
Great Job, Internet!: Watch Key & Peele attempt to break the world record for impressions
firehoseKey and Peele
The Paul F. Tompkins-hosted web series Speakeasy is one of the best interview shows around, landing wonderful guests doing outrageous things. This week Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele joined Tompkins, and in the course of the interview, Tompkins challenged them to beat the Guinness World Record for most impressions performed in one minute. Tompkins then reels off 34 names—Oprah, Barbara Streisand, Cat Stevens, Super Mario, and so on—and Key & Peele attempt to keep up with the first sketch of an impression that comes to mind. Some are great (Gwyneth Paltrow, Bobby McFerrin), while others fall flat (Danny Trejo, Gandhi), and though it might not be good enough for Guinness, we agree with Key’s assessment at the end that surely such a valiant attempt could find a place in the Heineken Book Of World Records.
Watch the two comedians play a round of "Racist Or Really Need To ...
10 Dec 00:15
deducecanoe: alexandramercury: my friend’s tree is literally...
firehoseattn: saucie, re: tree toppers
my friend’s tree is literally the greatest thing i’ve ever seen.
CELEBRATE! CELEBRATE!
I wish I had this tree so bad.
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10 Dec 00:15
PDX antiques dealer by day, street preacher at night. According to his sidewalk rhetoric, God hates strip clubs, “homosex”, Catholics, football, and probably most Portland residents.
firehose'It’s Cyber Monday and Grant Chisholm is manning his retro-cool vintage furniture store, Grant Michael Industrial Antiques, in Portland, Oregon. “A lot of people send me hate mail,” he says. “I just received some hate mail from someone who said they were going to protest my store.” His store doesn’t offer much to protest, unless you really don’t like a “1930's bowling alley wood top repurposed and refinished on an industrial, cotton mill, roll cart base.” Chisholm’s shop, one of two Portland locations (Grandma’s Funky Furniture is the other), brimming with rusted, upcycled signage and worn leather chairs, isn’t the problem. Most of Chisholm’s customers—whom he describes as “pre-yuppies who voted for Obama, movie stars, and homosexuals”—don’t know much about him, aside from his great taste in estate sale finds.
“I know how to turn it on and turn it off,” he says, “I never use my store as a pulpit. That’s just good business. They’re not paying me to tell them about Jesus.”
Grant Chisholm moonlights as a street preacher. According to his sidewalk rhetoric, God hates strip clubs, “homosex”, Catholics, football, and probably most Portland residents. “The bible says Jacob have I loved, Esau have I hated,” says Chisholm. “Do I believe that God has the capability of hating? Absolutely.”'
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submitted by greendigit [link] [74 comments] |
10 Dec 00:12
Mickey wields his lightsaber in the first official Disney-Star Wars promo art
by Rob Bricken
firehosevia Albener Pessoa
"I really like the idea of Chip and Dale as Ewoks, who, as we all know, eat both the living and the dead. It explains a great deal about Rescue Rangers to me, frankly."
I have bad news for the five people who believe that Disney's acquisition of Lucasfilm would lead to the destruction of the perfect and completely unspoiled Star Wars franchise. It's happened!
Yes, Disney has desecrated the integrity of these beloved movies by merging it with its own cartoon characters, in this despicable attempt to advertise May 17th's Star Wars Weekend at Disney World!
I joke, of course. Lucas has already authorized a shit-ton of Disney/Star Wars mash-up merchandise already over the last decade, so this idea is hardly new. Mostly, I thought it would be fun to see Disney's first use of the franchise since they acquired it. Also, I really like the idea of Chip and Dale as Ewoks, who, as we all know, eat both the living and the dead. It explains a great deal about Rescue Rangers to me, frankly.
And to anyone who is actually freaking out over this completely innocent poster, please remember: LucasFilm was paying people in Star Wars costumes to embarrass themselves at Star Wars Weekends long before Disney ever bought Star Wars.
09 Dec 23:52
Snowden leak examines gaming as a terrorist propaganda and training tool
by Kyle Orland
firehosea bit more detail
The latest document dump from former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden is getting a lot of deserved attention for revelations that international security agencies are taking steps to monitor communications inside online games. But those leaked documents also include an in-depth report on the potential for games to be used as recruitment, training, and propaganda tools by extremist organizations.
Security contractor SAIC produced the 66-page report "Games: A look at emerging trends, users, threats and opportunities in influence activities" in early 2007, and the document gives a rare window into how the US intelligence community views interactive games as a potential tool to be used by foreign actors. While parts of the report seem pretty realistic about gaming's potential use as a propaganda and planning tool, other sections provide a more fantastical take on how video games can be used as potential weapons by America's enemies.
Games as propaganda
The strongest parts of the report focus on how games can be used as part of propaganda efforts, presenting a particular political viewpoint or ideology in an engaging and easy-to-digest way. For instance, MTVu's Darfur is Dying is cited for "evok[ing] sympathy for the people of Darfur" by putting players in the shoes of a refugee. Worryingly, neo-Nazi entertainment company Resistance Records used a game called Ethnic Cleansing to reinforce its message that Jews and non-white races are "sub-humans" worth killing.
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