firehose

Thursday Night Football. It's the magical time of the week where a 3-5 team travels to meet a 1-7 team in a nationally televised football game that leaves its viewers wondering "where did the last three hours go?"

When the NFL Network began its coverage of Thursday's game between the Washington Redskins and Minnesota Vikings there was a noticeable absence from the announcers table, Steve Mariucci. He prepared a special treat for us.

This is live folks! The graphic even tells you so. Don't believe for a second this is some sort of pre-recorded Viking motorcycle ride, that's bush league.

Make direct eye contact with Mooch, we dare you.

So began his ride across the country, just a former coach and viking enjoying the open road.

Rejected again! "Specifically, we noticed your app displays a barely dressed couple kissing." Well, HOT MESS might be more like WARM MESS. The plan now, says designer Nick Ralabate, is to slowly and painstakingly add clothing and pixels until the game clears the submission process. It's a kind of a reverse strip-poker— or "some digital re-enactment of the 'walk of shame," Ralabate said. //// Update 11/7: Secret Library said this morning, less than a day after the story was published here and elsewhere, that Hot Mess' status had changed to "approved" without further revision.

"If you already have health care, you don’t have to do anything,” Obama said in a speech on September 25th speech in Prince George’s County, Maryland. But already 3.5 million Americans have had their healthcare plans cancelled, according to the Associated Press. Most of these are individuals who purchased plans directly from insurers, rather than through a workplace. The reason for the cancellations: their plans don't meet the standards mandated by the new healthcare law. While Obama was promising that you could keep your plan if you purchased it prior to the signing of the law on March 23, what he didn't say was that if that if a provider changed the plan its grandfather status would become null and void.

Apple's iPhone 5 rollout was likely the most ambitious and aggressive supply chain operation in corporate history. This is what happened to one man who helped make the phone's camera.

Hottest September On Record, Fastest Pacific Warming In 10,000 Years, Warmest Arctic In 120,000 Years:

New data and analysis makes clear that greenhouse gases keep warming the planet to unprecedented levels with unprecedented speed. It is time we stopped.

Past time we stopped.

Sigh.

French artist Anthony Beyer launched an Indiegogo project for Interference, a stealthy puzzle-platformer for PC, Mac and Linux. The game has players joining a cyberterrorist organization called The Interferers, an underground group that are opposed to a totalitarian government. The group grants players access to a device known as The Glitcher, which allows players to slide pieces of the city Arachnopolis around to create paths and avoid enemies.

Interference relies heavily on stealth mechanics similar to that of Klei's Mark of the Ninja, though Beyer said he wants to create his own game "with a fully-realized and immersive universe that isn't disjointed by levels." Players will unlock districts of the city similar to the Metroid and Castlevania series, but can freely traverse the open parts of Arachnopolis at will.

Beyer is seeking €25,000 ($33,475) by December 11 to fund the game's development, and plans to deliver it by June 2014. He also made a pre-alpha demo available to download for both PC and Mac owners, found on the game's website.

[Thanks, Andrew!]

Shift the city's architecture in cyberpunk stealth platformer Interference originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 07 Nov 2013 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes "Calum Marsh writes in The Atlantic that when Paul Verhoeven's Starship Troopers hit theaters 16 years ago today, American critics slammed it as a 'crazed, lurid spectacle' featuring 'raunchiness tailor-made for teen-age boys' and 'a nonstop splatterfest so devoid of taste and logic that it makes even the most brainless summer blockbuster look intelligent.' But now the reputation of the movie based on Robert Heinlein's Hugo award winning novel is beginning to improve as critics begin to recognize the film as a critique of the military-industrial complex, the jingoism of American foreign policy, and a culture that privileges reactionary violence over sensitivity and reason. 'Starship Troopers is satire, a ruthlessly funny and keenly self-aware sendup of right-wing militarism,' writes Marsh. 'The fact that it was and continues to be taken at face value speaks to the very vapidity the movie skewers.' The movie has rightfully come to be appreciated by some as an unsung masterpiece. Coming in at number 20 on Slant Magazine's list of the 100 best films of the 1990s last year, the site's Phil Coldiron described it as 'one of the greatest of all anti-imperialist films,' a parody of Hollywood form whose superficial 'badness' is central to its critique. 'That concept is stiob, which I'll crudely define as a form of parody requiring such a degree of over-identification with the subject being parodied that it becomes impossible to tell where the love for that subject ends and the parody begins,' writes Coldiron. 'If you're prepared for the rigor and intensity of Verhoeven's approach—you'll get the joke Starship Troopers is telling,' says Marsh. 'And you'll laugh.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

chrissieloveskittens:

gifak-net:

Grumpy Cat Meets Grumpy the Dwarf at Disneyland [video]

MY LIFE IS OVER EVERYONE

What a time to be alive.

popular shared this story from Marginal Revolution.

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Did Obama spy on Mitt Romney? As recently as a few weeks ago if anyone had asked me that question I would have consigned them to a right (or left) wing loony bin. Today, the only loonies are those who think the question unreasonable. Indeed, in one sense the answer is clearly yes. Do I think Obama ordered the NSA to spy on Romney for political gain? No. Some people claim that President Obama didn’t even know about the full extent of NSA spying. Indeed, I imagine that President Obama was almost as surprised as the rest of us when he first discovered that we live in a mass surveillance state in which billions of emails, phone calls, facebook metadataand other data are being collected.

The answer is yes, however, if we mean did the NSA spy on political candidates like Mitt Romney. Did Mitt Romney ever speak with Angela Merkel, whose phone the NSA bugged, or any one of the dozens of her advisers that the NSA was also bugging? Did Romney exchange emails with Mexican President Felipe Calderon? Were any of Romney’s emails, photos, texts or other metadata hoovered hovered up by the NSA’s break-in to the Google and Yahoo communications links? Almost certainly the answer is yes.

Did the NSA use the information they gathered on Mitt Romney and other political candidates for political purposes? Probably not. Will the next president or the one after that be so virtuous so as to not use this kind of power? I have grave doubts. Men are not angels.

The Nixon administration plumbers broke into the offices of Daniel Ellsberg’s psychiatrist in order to gather information to discredit him. They busted into a single file cabinet (pictured). What a bunch of amateurs.

The NSA has broken into millions of file cabinets around the world.

Nixon resigned in disgrace. Who will pay for the NSA break-ins?

Toronto Star

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford's lawyer says mayor is 'considering' entering rehab Fox News TORONTO – Toronto Mayor Rob Ford is considering entering a rehab program, his lawyer said Friday, in the first indication that the mayor might bow to heavy pressure to seek help -- if not take a leave of absence -- after he admitted to smoking crack and a ... Rob Ford's former budget chief not buying apologies: 'He just doesn't get it'National Post all 850 news articles »

The 10th annual Another Hole in the Head film festival, a celebration of international indie horror, sci-fi, and fantasy films, takes place November 29 to December 19, 2013 in San Francisco. The festival is presented by SF Indiefest. Tickets are available online.

Our annual festival of horror, sci-fi, dark fantasy and exploitation cinema defies convention to bring you the most outrageous genre films from both emerging and established filmmakers. Three weeks of celluloid mayhem not usually found in your local cineplex!

submitted via Laughing Squid Tips

image via SF Indiefest

The Green Bay Packers are planning to work out free agent quarterback Matt Flynn, according to a report from Ian Rapoport.

Flynn cleared waivers earlier this week after he was released by the Buffalo Bills. He was signed to fill in for injured quarterback E.J. Manuel, but did not play as the team elected to turn to Thad Lewis and Jeff Tuel. Flynn would fill a similar role in Green Bay, returning to the Packers to slot in as the team's third quarterback while the team tries to stay on pace in the NFC North without Aaron Rodgers.

The Packers have been forced to turn to veteran quarterback Seneca Wallace in Rodgers' absence. Flynn could find himself in a similar situation as 2011, where he was asked to start the final game of the season due to injury. It's here his relative legend grew, as Flynn threw for 480 yards and six touchdowns against the Detroit Lions.

This stellar start prompted teams to believe he was a potential franchise quarterback lost on the Packers' depth chart. The Seattle Seahawks signed him to a long-term deal before trading him to Oakland, where both teams quickly learned he wasn't the player they believed him to be.

Flynn may not be a franchise quarterback, but he knows Green Bay's offense, which is more than most free agents can offer. If nothing else, he's a second option if Wallace proves incapable of keeping the ship afloat while Rodgers is away.

More from SB Nation NFL

• Keepers: How to replace Aaron Rodgers, Jamaal Charles and more

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• Celebrity Hot Tub: The road to 0-16 | Uffsides: Week 10 previews

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The trash is a mundane place to find the magical work presented anonymously as "The Box of Crazy". This could be the next Codex Seraphinus! Or, perhaps, it's marketing for something or other. In any case, the William Blake-esque paintings are a particularly fine touch. Business Insider, collating the work of Redditors, runs through components of its rather too-neat origin story. Sometimes, I wish people could just enjoy a good yarn rather than focusing entirely on finding details that permit the shouting of "Hoax! Hoax!"—but such are our times.

Designed by Austrian architect Lukas Galehr for the recently-opened ‘Disco Volante’ pizzeria in Vienna, this fully-functional pizza oven has been designed to look like a gigantic reflective disco ball. And yes, it even rotates. Via Madame Mohr:

According to the clients wish the restaurant should not only carry the atmosphere of a southern Italian pizzeria but also transport the lightness of the “Italo-Disco” era of the 1970s and 80s.

The heart of every pizzeria is the wood fired oven which in this case is a giant disco ball with a rotating mechanism. After the dough is run out the Pizzaioli start the engine and the oven begins to slowly turn with about 1 revolution per minute.

You can see many more photos here and over on iGnant. (via Dezeen)

via http://bryanmk4.tumblr.com/post/65364932477?scmmusicplayer=adrianshum

Moscow-based artist Nataliya Platonova filled a notebook with delightful yet rather grim characters, each sitting down for a meal, in her illustration series “The Last Supper.” Platonova says her series describes “a bent to self destruction in the world of amateurs and fake idols.” Sharp-eyed viewers may note that many of the seemingly innocent characters are actually enjoying cannibalistic meals.

via So Super Awesome, tumbl-rub, Visual News

Dangerous_Minds writes "GIMP, a free and open source alternative to image manipulation software like Photoshop, recently announced that it will no longer be distributing their program through SourceForge. Citing some of the ads as reasons, they say that the tipping point was 'the introduction of their own SourceForge Installer software, which bundles third-party offers with Free Software packages. We do not want to support this kind of behavior, and have thus decided to abandon SourceForge.' The policy changes were reported back in August by Gluster. GIMP is now distributing their software via their own FTP page instead." Note: SourceForge and Slashdot share a corporate parent.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

The Pearl District's Italian restaurant Fratelli officially closed its doors after dinner service Tuesday night, after a 15-year run on NW Hoyt Street. The closure comes just two weeks after chef/owner Paul Klitsie opened his second area restaurant, Willem's on Main, in Vancouver, WA — and despite Klitsie's original plan to keep Fratelli open. In a statement, Klitsie says:

Closing Fratelli is truly an end of an era. And, I am deeply grateful to all of my staff, customers, neighbors, family and friends who have supported the restaurant for almost two decades. Thank you to each and every one of you. But, as one door closes, a new door has opened with Willem's on Main and I'm honored to have the opportunity to launch a new restaurant in Vancouver as I did with Fratelli in Portland 15 years ago.

According to a restaurant representative, the possible sale of the building by Fratelli's landlord spurred the closure.
· All Previous Fratelli Coverage [Eater PDX]

Photo of Fratelli courtesy Foursquare

Fresh from directing Cameron Diaz to fuck a Ferrari, casting Christian Bale as Moses, and prepping sequels to both Blade Runner and Prometheus, Ridley Scott is moving on to the story of a life beset by confusion and questionable decision-making, with football this time. Deadline reports that Scott hopes to make a movie, akin to Michael Mann’s The Insider, that looks at the hot-button issue of the NFL’s complicity in allowing its players to sustain the debilitating concussions that make their retirement years a waking hell, and football games so damn exciting for everybody. It’s unclear where this as-yet-untitled film will fit in on Scott’s always-crowded schedule, though Deadline suggests he’s already looking for it to be his next—at least, until he becomes distracted by something else.  

Read more

Childish Gambino (a.k.a. Donald Glover) has released the album art for his forthcoming record, Because The Internet—and it’s a GIF, because the Internet. The record’s out Dec. 10, and while it’s not entirely clear how a GIF cover could translate to a physical product—unless his label’s springing for some fancy lenticular printing—it’s kind of neat to stare at online. The cover features a Hawaiian-shirted Glover against a rose-colored backdrop, staring blankly into a camera. Seconds later, the image fuzzes out and Glover’s features become less defined as they zoom toward the viewer. 

Read more

The Danbochhi is a soundproof cardboard studio being pre-sold in Japan. According to the official site, the studio is portable, easy to assemble and relatively soundproof, reducing noise by 30 decibels while inside the studio. All of this is very good for those who have a love for karaoke and very thin walls, or for those who really just want to be alone.

images via Danbochhi

via The Japanalyst, Oddity Central

Popular Twitter users Sir Patrick Stewart, Vivienne Harr, and the Boston Police Department rang the opening bell of the New York Stock Exchange this morning to commemorate Twitter’s initial public offering. The company initially priced 70 million shares at $26 each, and began trading shortly before 11AM EST at $45.10 per share on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol TWTR. Last year, we covered Facebook’s IPO.

Woke up to this… @jack pic.twitter.com/lm4pujNavA

— Andrew Borovsky (@borovsky) November 7, 2013

#Ring!

— Twitter (@twitter) November 7, 2013

.@Twitter owes success to its users, so gives #NYSEBell to @SirPatrickStew, @VivienneHarr & @Bostonpolice #TwitterIPO pic.twitter.com/fAprlGV8Vs

— (NYX) NYSE Euronext (@NYSEEuronext) November 7, 2013

photo via NYSE Euronext