“Being a game designer just means making and playing games; it’s good times. Being a published game designer adds some stuff that’s no fun. It might not be for you.”
Now days after the highly radioactive material cobalt-60 was stolen in a Mexican truck heist that put the UN on alert, six people have been hospitalized for possible radiation exposure. An unnamed Mexican official told the AP that the six were all suspects in Monday's theft. However, despite previous claims that the thieves were doomed, none of those being tested appear to be in grave danger.
"No immediate signs of radiation poisoning"
The six people were reportedly arrested on Thursday and taken to a general hospital in Pachuca. Hidalgo state Health Minister Pedro Luis Noble said members of the group suffered from skin irritation, dizziness, and in one instance vomiting, but none showed immediate signs of radiation poisoning. Officials are now pressed with determining how each member may have been involved in the theft, if at all.
The situation garnered international attention this week after the UN announced on Wednesday that two gunmen had hijacked a truck carrying the "extremely dangerous" cobalt-60, a radioactive material used in industrial applications and potentially in dirty bombs. The truck was recovered 24 miles away from the hijacking site, but the substance had been removed from its casing, exposing the thieves to radiation in the process.
“I had a friend who once squeezed her rabbit too much until it started to squeal and she thought it was kind of going, ‘I love you’, when it was really saying, of course, ‘You are the reason I’m dying’.”
- Benedict Cumberbatch on the obsessive nature of some of his fans (x)
Disney now controls the future of the Indiana Jones franchise. Though Disney has owned the franchise's rights since it purchased Lucasfilm last October, rights to distribute and market any new films remained with Paramount Pictures, which released the series' first four installments. That could have been something of a hiccup when developing new films, but according to Variety, Disney and Paramount have now struck a deal that will give both distribution and marketing rights to Disney, while Paramount will retain rights to the first four pictures. There's no word yet on if a fifth movie is in the works, but Disney has been more than eager to take advantage of Lucasfilm's top property, and it would be no surprise to see it act similarly here.
Nelson Mandela died yesterday, and all around the world, much-deserved hosannas are coming in, praising the life of one of the most important figures in modern Western history. That last bit reflects my own bias. What's become clear in all my studies of our history of World War II, of the Civil War, of Tocqueville, of Rousseau, of Zionism, of black nationalism, is that understanding Enlightenment ideals requires understanding those places where ideals and humanity meet. If you call yourself a lover of democracy, but have not studied the black diaspora, your deeds mock your claims. Understanding requires more than sloganeering, and parroting—it requires confronting our failures.
For many years, a large swath of this country failed Nelson Mandela, failed its own alleged morality, and failed the majority of people living in South Africa. We have some experience with this. Still, it's easy to forget William F. Buckley—intellectual founder of the modern right—effectively worked as a press agent for apartheid:
Buckley was actively courted by Chiang Kai-Shek's Taiwan, Franco's Spain, South Africa, Rhodesia and Portugal's African colonies, and went on expenses-paid trips trips to some of these countries.
When he returned from Mozambique in 1962, Buckley wrote a column describing the backwardness of the African population over which Portugal ruled, "The more serene element in Africa tends to believe that rampant African nationalism is self-discrediting, and that therefore the time is bound to come when America, and the West ... will depart from our dogmatic anti-Colonialism and realize what is the nature of the beast."
In the fall of 1962, during a visit to South Africa, arranged by the Information Ministry, Buckley wrote that South African apartheid "has evolved into a serious program designed to cope with a melodramatic dilemma on whose solution hangs, quite literally, the question of life or death for the white man in South Africa."
Buckley's racket as an American paid propagandist for white supremacy would be repeated over the years in conservative circles. As Sam Kleiner demonstrates in Foreign Policy, apartheid would ultimately draw some of America's most celebrated conservatives into its orbit. The roster includes Grover Norquist, Jack Abramoff, Jesse Helms, and Senator Jeff Flake. Jerry Falwell denounced Desmond Tutu as a "phony" and led a "reinvestment" campaign during the 1980s. At the late hour of 1993, Pat Robertson opined, "I know we don't like apartheid, but the blacks in South Africa, in Soweto, don't have it all that bad."
Not all prominent conservatives were so dishonorable. When Congress overrode President Ronald Reagan's veto of sanctions of South Africa, Mitch McConnell, for instance, was forthright—"I think he is wrong ... We have waited long enough for him to come on board." When Falwell embarrassed himself by condemning Tutu, some Republican senators denounced him.
But the overall failure of American conservatives to forthrightly deal with South Africa's white-supremacist regime, coming so soon after their failure to deal with the white-supremacist regime in their own country, is part of their heritage, and thus part of our heritage. When you see a Tea Party protestor waving the flag of slavery in front of the home of the first black president, understand that this instinct has been cultivated. It is still, at this very hour, being cultivated:
He won the country's first free presidential elections in 1994 and worked to unite a scarred and anxious nation. He opened up the economy to the world, and a black middle class came to life. After a single term, he voluntarily left power at the height of his popularity. Most African rulers didn't do that, but Mandela said, "I don't want a country like ours to be led by an octogenarian. I must step down while there are one or two people who admire me."
That is the Wall Street Journal, offering a shameful, condescending "tribute" to one of the great figures of our time. Understand the racism here. It is certainly true that "most African rulers" do not willingly hand over power. That is because most human leaders do not hand over power. What racism does is take a basic human tendency and make it it the property of ancestry. As though Franco never happened. As though Hitler and Stalin never happened. As though Pinochet never happened. As though we did not prop up Mobutu. As though South Carolina was not, for most of its history, ruled by Big Men as nefarious and vicious as any "African ruler."
To not see this requires a special disposition, a special blindness, a special shamelessness, a special idiocy.
A Montana judge says he doesn't deserve to lose his job for commenting that a 14-year-old rape victim appeared "older than her chronological age" when he sentenced her teacher-rapist to just a month in prison.
Let me restate: District Judge G. Todd Baugh, who is 72, thinks that implying a rape victim deserved to be raped because she looked like a grown woman isn't cause for losing his job. The rape victim wasn't available for comment because she committed suicide before the trial began. Baugh, who whined about his status as "kind of a lightning rod" due to the case, also said in a letter to the Judicial Standards Commission that the rapist has recently demonstrated "morally good conduct."
Vincent Washington, senior business development manager at RIM from 2001-2011, in Businessweek’s “The Rise and Fall of BlackBerry: An Oral History”:
One thing we missed out on was that Justin Bieber wanted to rep
BlackBerry. He said, “Give me $200,000 and 20 devices, and I’m
your brand ambassador,” basically. And we pitched that to
marketing: Here’s a Canadian kid, he grew up here, all the
teeny-boppers will love that. They basically threw us out of the
room. They said, “This kid is a fad. He’s not going to last.” I
said at the meeting: “This kid might outlive RIM.” Everyone
laughed.
' "But I will declare thy name unto the men of his own coast to Bethshemesh, then he hath done in the midst of the burning upon the altar of the burnt offering and his peace offerings, as he did originally. He defines a collection of particular operations but also as a shadow, and there is a problem here" ... If I’m interpreting the wisdom of God correctly, I think he’s in favour of defining lots of small, special-purpose, functions (“I will declare thy name unto the men of his own coast”), but doesn’t like anonymous functions (“He defines … but also as a shadow, and there is a problem here”). Perhaps the answer is functional with lots of named functions?'
Jah-Wren Ryel writes "What do you get when you train a Markov chain on the King James Bible and a copy of Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs? King James Programming — a tumblr of auto-generated pseudo-scripture (or pseudo-compsci lessons). Some examples: -- 'The LORD is the beginning (or prefix) of the code for the body of the procedure.' -- 'More precisely, if P and Q are polynomials, let O1 be the order of blessed.' -- ''In APL all data are represented as arrays, and there shall they see the Son of man, in whose sight I brought them out.'"
The figures were made to scale as three-dimensional images of Miss Handicap 2010 Jasmine Rechsteiner, radio host and film critic Alex Oberholzer, Athlete Urs Kolly, blogger Nadja Schmid and actor Erwin Aljuki. “We often chase after ideals, instead of life in all its diversity to accept. Infirmis Pro is particularly committed to the acceptance of disability and the inclusion of people with disabilities.
As reported in September, Disney and Jerry Bruckheimer decided to end their once-perfect marriage, following years of increased tension at home and Bruckheimer just leaving his expensive trains everywhere. And now, as in so many break-ups, Bruckheimer is rebounding with an ex and slipping back into old habits: Deadline reports that Bruckheimer has signed a three-year first-look deal with his old paramour Paramount, and the first things they plan to do now that they’re back together will be those long-rumored sequels to Beverly Hills Cop and Top Gun 2. Trying to recapture the magic is never easy, but Bruckheimer and Paramount have already entrusted Beverly Hills Cop 4 to Brett Ratner, the director who recognizes that sometimes, those first relationships are just rehearsals, meant to be ignored by all who aren’t words that Brett Ratner doesn’t say publicly anymore.
Google isn't giving up its living room ambitions. The company is said to be working on a "Nexus TV" device that will run Android, stream video from services like Netflix, Hulu, and YouTube, and play a selection of video games. The rumor comes from The Information's Amir Efrati, who cites an anonymous Google employee. The device is said to be ready for launch as soon as the first half of next year, according to the report.
Rumors of a Google-made Android set top box go back to July of this year, when The Wall Street Journal reported that such a device was demoed by Andy Rubin behind closed doors at the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Sources told the paper at the time that the box included a Kinect-like motion sensor and could be controlled with an Android smartphone. Today's report from The Information corroborates these details (though a motion sensor is not mentioned), and adds that a purpose-built touchpad remote could be included with the set-top box. Google reportedly showed off a version of the box to developers as recently as this fall, and it's said that the device would not support live broadcast.
Google has launched a number of products to attempt to gain a foothold in the living room, starting with the ill-fated (but still living) Google TV operating system that manufacturers built into smart TVs and other devices. It later announced the expensive Nexus Q, which never received a full launch, and this year it began selling a small HDMI dongle called the Chromecast, which streams from just a few services and costs $36. The latter has seen some success, but a fully-fledged Nexus TV set-top box would be in a different category — though today's report suggests it will be "aggressively priced."
'$45 billion of TV advertising would be at risk under such a change, along with 1.4 million jobs, $20 billion in taxes paid by such cable operators as Comcast (CMCSA) and Time Warner Cable (TWC), and $117 billion in market capitalization. And maybe you wouldn’t miss the Christian-themed Smile of a Child channel or Jewelry Television, but if you love any of those niche networks you could almost certainly kiss them goodbye for lack of financial support.'
I read that and yeah OK but all I see is bloat if niche channels can't move their audiences to less expensive, more accessible media, they can also please go die
If you’re a cable TV subscriber who grumbles about paying for dozens of channels your family never watches, a media analyst has a message: That cable bundle carries all sorts of unseen benefits.
Now that he’s dead, and can cause no more trouble, Nelson Mandela is being mourned across the ideological spectrum as a saint. But not long ago, in Washington’s highest circles, he was considered an enemy of the United States. Unless we remember why, we won’t truly honor his legacy.
The agency that oversees development in the San Francisco Bay in California has begun a formal investigation into the construction of a secretive Google Inc barge on an island in the bay.
Top row shows Shire-like conditions, bottom row is Mordor-like conditions. Red areas are regions that fit both rainfall (green) and temperature (blue) criteria.
A climate study of Tolkien’s Middle Earth of the Lord of the Rings trilogy reveals some interesting intersections with “Modern Earth.” The places on Earth most similar in climate to the Shire include a small region in New Zealand as well as a part of Britain, while locations that are similar to Mordor fall in the southwest US and a central part of Australia.
The climatology of Middle Earth is examined in a paper released Friday by noted Middle Earth wizard and nature enthusiast Radagast the Brown (also the alias of the Cabot Institute of the University of Bristol), which draws conclusions about the various regions of Middle Earth based on descriptions in the books. For instance, Mordor and Haradwaith are very dry, while the highest precipitation occurs to the west of the Misty Mountains, where the Shire is located.
Based on a climate analysis of Middle Earth’s temperature and rainfall, Radagast maps the regions of the world with similar conditions to different parts of Middle Earth and sees where they overlap. Both New Zealand and England contain large regions with adequate rainfall and enough scattered instances of the right temperature to indicate that Lincolnshire and Leicestershire in the UK are Shire-like, as are (roughly) Gore and Alexandra in NZ.
When I was first introduced to Caitlin McCall's road-tested collection of bicycle clothing that doesn't look like bicycle clothing, Quick Study, I was so impressed that I devoted an entire page to it in the last Mercury Bike Issue.
Now, she's working on a project called "Dress to Ride," documenting the bike style of Portland women. She's just put out a call for entries for those who wished to be considered for an interview and portrait that will become part of a permanent gallery beginning in early January to coincide with the launch of QS' new web site. (Smart to do this when there's snow on the ground; fair-weather poseurs like me will have a harder time self-identifying as a cyclist this time of year.)
Full details for those who are interested are after the cut.
Project Description
To celebrate the online shop’s grand opening, Quick Study is proud to introduce “Dress to Ride,” an intimate portrait of Portland bike style and the women who shape it. Led by local photographer Shola Lawson, “Dress to Ride” profiles sixteen women who fearlessly adapt their wardrobes to the demands of going by bike. Some are persistent daily commuters, others mount their trusty steeds in fair weather only, a few just lug their ride out of the basement for occasional bar trips. Regardless of where they fall on the frequency continuum, these ladies have the chops to ride in style. Starting in 2014, they’ll open the door to their living spaces and show the rest of us how we can too. ____________________________________________________________________ Call for Entries
QUICK STUDY SEEKS STYLISH BIKE LADIES FOR "DRESS TO RIDE!"
Do you know someone with awesome bike style? Tell us about them! Or maybe it’s you?
Quick Study is currently looking for 10 more ladies who ride in style to round out a photo interview series showcasing Portland’s fashion on two wheels.
Requirements:
1.Female or female identified
2.Own a bike and use it *somewhat* regularly
3.Currently live in Portland
4.Creative approach to bike-friendly dressing
To enter, send a pic and 3-5 sentences to bike@quickstudyclothing.com about why you or your pal should be featured in “Dress to Ride” this winter! Deadline for submissions is Friday 12/13/13 at 5pm.
If chosen, we will contact them/you to schedule an interview date and time with the photographer. They/you must agree to be photographed in their/your living space and with their/your bike in an outfit or their/your choosing as well as one Quick Study piece. Participant will also agree to a short interview that will later be posted on Quick Study’s website along with selected photos.
Wind farms that inadvertently kill federally protected bird species, including bald and golden eagles, are getting a reprieve as part of a new permit policy laid out by the Obama administration today. Under the new system, companies with wind farms can kill or injure a number of these birds as long as they report those incidents, something the Associated Press says has long gone unreported, and without prosecution. Those permits will also be tougher to get revoked, something designed to encourage energy companies to more accurately report deaths.
Birds get distracted, then it's too late
Eagles and other birds will stop paying attention to where they're flying while looking for food, and can accidentally get sucked into the fast spinning turbine blades, the AP says. A three-month-old scientific study suggested some 67 bald and golden eagles have been killed like this by wind farms since 2008, which is a small portion of the some 70,000 birds believed to live worldwide. Though according to the AP, the frequency of the deaths could increase given the push for more wind energy within the US.
The new permit system is slated to run for the next 30 years. Companies must also renew existing permits every five years, and face limits on how many birds are killed.
NEW YORK—Admitting that he was thankful to have such a valuable resource at his disposal, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell revealed Thursday that he continues to carefully consider every single comment posted on the NFL.com message boards. Goodell tol...
Right now, on eBay, you can buy Barbara Remington's original artworks that inspired the covers of the 1965 editions of The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. Tolkien loathed this artwork, with its surreal touches and loose connection to his story — but over at BoingBoing, Mark Dery explains why fans loved it.
Marbles - Per Bag $4.00 free with your own marbles
Socks-$3.00 for purchase only
It's always a tiny bit awkward when the city tries to be your friend, like a vaguely familiar and ordinarily stern uncle, except with more bureaucracy. But in addition to festooning every tree in downtown with ropes of lights, they've gone and done the zany thing, tapping knitters to make outfits for the city's statues:
Maybe you've noticed them (or maybe you haven't, since they're routinely stolen), but they are part of the #uglysweaterpdx campaign, which has been concocted as the Downtown Marketing Initiative's answer to this year's sudden lack of sponsored pop-up shops, involving a photo contest and an event happening tomorrow at Punch Bowl Social, the newish entertainment complex in Pioneer Place mall that houses a restaurant, bar, bowling alley, karaoke, ping pong, shuffleboard, marbles, etc.
It's mainly worth mentioning because the event is a warm clothing drive for Transition Projects, but from 11 am-2 pm tomorrow you can enjoy free games and karaoke, sweater decorating, holiday treats, and a photo booth for free when you drop off your donation, should you be out and about doing your shopping in the area. (Oh, he's an awkward uncle, but he's trying.)
David Gerard writes "Elsevier, in final desperation mode, is going after authors sharing their own papers online. Academia.edu has told several researchers that Elsevier 'is currently upping the ante in its opposition to academics sharing their own papers online.' This is the sounds of a boycott biting."
"Emerging errors include duplicate enrollments, spouses reported as children, missing data fields and suspect eligibility determinations, say executives at more than a dozen health plans."
aka validation is missing or broken
The administration has finally announced the error rate for 834 transmissions, the data sent to insurance companies after applicants fill out their information on the Healthcare.gov marketplace. It's not good: one in ten forms contain errors, a spokesperson told reporters during a press call today.
834 is short for "834 Electronic Data Interchange Transmissions" or "834 EDI Transactions," the files that get passed to insurance companies so new enrollees can be added to their systems. This is a critical function of the federal marketplace: if it doesn't correctly communicate with insurers, people won't get the coverage they think they've signed up for.
Insurance companies have reported errors since the site launched
The administration says the error rate has improved since October and November, when one in four 834s had errors. Insurance companies have reported 834 errors since the site launched, saying they had to call applicants to manually verify information. There are also reports of 834 errors coming in from states that built heir own exchanges.
Healthcare.gov launched with hundreds of bugs, but fixing the site has been a top priority for the administration. Overall, the site has vastly improved and received 3.7 million visitors this week. Unfortunately today's news shows major problems persist.
The ToastThe Toast.
Previously: The Early Signs of Pregnancy.
Ta-Nehisi Coates : The Atlantic.
