firehose

"[Evolution by natural selection] was a theory that was discovered by two people, and we've blithely forgotten one of them." This fantastic paper-puppet animation celebrates the life of Alfred Russel Wallace, the massively overlooked (and massively modest) scientist co-credited with Darwin for the theory of natural selection. [NYT Op-Docs]

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Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles.

Diliff

Los Angeles is about to unleash one of the most ambitious city-led broadband projects to date, with the goal of bringing fiber to all of its 3.5 million residents and all businesses.

Next month, the city plans to issue an RFP (request for proposals) "that would require fiber to be run to every residence, every business, and every government entity within the city limits of Los Angeles," Los Angeles Information Technology Agency GM Steve Reneker told Ars today. The City Council this morning unanimously voted to move forward with drafting the RFP and will vote again in a few weeks to determine whether it's ready for release, he said.

LA expects the fiber buildout to cost $3 billion to $5 billion, but the cost would be borne by the vendor. "The city is going into it and writing the agreement, basically saying, 'we have no additional funding for this effort.' We're requiring the vendors that respond to pay for the city resources needed to expedite any permitting and inspection associated with laying their fiber," Reneker said. "If they're not willing to do that, our City Council may consider a general fund transfer to reimburse those departments, but we're going in with the assumption that the vendor is going to absorb those up-front costs to make sure they can do their buildout in a timely fashion."

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Who the hell are you (plural)?

What sort of rulebook do you follow that says

13e. In the event of your dog shatting on a forest trail go ahead and put the poop in a plastic bag, tie the bag and leave the bag in the woods.

I can't even count how many of these little gift bags i have seen all throughout forest park and other nature areas. So i know there is a cult of you out there.

Who will pick your bag up? Will it be a permanent part of the forest for many years? Or do you believe in the Dog poop fairy?

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Denialist movements in the United States and a few other countries have gotten so powerful that they've managed to turn climate change into a "debate," vaccination into a "danger," and evolution into a theory that's "equivalent" to creationism. Which of these movements is doing the most damage to science?

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Scientists recently made the somewhat embarrassing discovery that one of the oldest, most widely referenced Asian elephant specimens on Earth is, in fact, an African elephant. But embarrassment gave way to intrigue when the researchers, in searching for a replacement specimen, encountered one whose likeness had been captured by Rembrandt.

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Hey there, buddy. What'cha thinkin' 'bout wearin' for your press conference where you finally admit to the assembled media that you smoked crack?

Oh, the vintage NFL logos tie, huh? Yeah, that's a great choice. The NFL being synonymous with Toronto and all. No, make sure that Redskins logo is the first thing that people notice.

You're doin' great, champ.

Didn't want any makeup? Lookin' a little shiny there, tough guy. No? Well, you're the boss. I'm sure that -- just like you've demonstrated the entire time you've been in office -- you know exactly what you're doing. Great stuff, buddy. Lookin' sharp.

Remember, Ford is an expert football player:

Broncos offensive lineman John Moffitt is retiring from the NFL. The former Wisconsin Badger told Dave Softy Mahler of Sportsradio 950 KJR in Seattle, that he is planning to walk away from the game at the age of 27. The one-time Seattle Seahawk also told Mahler that "I'm ready to live a different kind of life."

Moffitt was absent from Monday's practice with the Broncos, according to the Denver Post's Mike Klis. With Moffitt out, the Broncos activated center J.D. Walton from physically unable to perform list, per Klis. Moffitt told the Broncos that he was leaving the team on Sunday, according to Mahler.

Moffitt has appeared in 19 games over three seasons with the Seahawks and Broncos. Seattle initially tried to deal Moffitt to the Browns but he failed a physical and the deal was canceled. The Seahawks later dealt him to Broncos in August. He appeared in just two games with Denver.

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The Bears beat the Packers on Monday. It was a most unlikely event. So unlikely, in fact, that a Packers fan in Wisconsin told her Bears fan husband before the game that he could shock her with a stun gun in the event of an upset. Aaron Rodgers went down, the Bears won, and the husband actually followed through:

A 12:39 a.m. a Mayville Police officer responded to Dan’s King Pin, 31 N. Main St., to speak to a woman who reported that her husband had used a stun gun on her three times while at Sidelines Tap, 111 S. Main St.

The wife said that while the two were smoking cigarettes outside of Sidelines, Grant had used the stun gun twice on her butt and once on her thigh. Grant said that the two had made a bet on the game as she is a Packers fan and he a Bears fan that if the Packers lost, she would be shocked with the stun gun.

THRICE. And he may go to jail for that, because use of an electric weapon is a crime, even, it seems, if consensual. You don't HAVE to follow through on bets, everyone.

More bad reporting on “canceled” insurance policies.

And following upon the previous post, an analysis of exactly how the news media is failing us spectacularly at every possible turn.

Media mogul Jay-Z is under investigation by the MLB Players' Association for possibly violating agent rules against "improper inducement" by giving Robinson Cano, his client, a $33,900 watch for his birthday, reports Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.

Jay-Z is alleged to have given Cano the very expensive watch during his birthday party in Belguim on Oct. 22.

Per Section 5(B)(5)(a) of the Agent Regulations, it is prohibited for agents to give:

"any gifts or loans, or promise of gifts or loans, of money or any other thing of value with an aggregate value exceeding $500 U.S. in any calendar year... to any single player, or any person related to or associated with such player."

There is a big exception here. If the player in question is already represented by the agent, then the agent is allowed to give gifts that exceed $500, so long as it is disclosed to the union in writing. As the MLBPA has opened an investigation into the matter, it can be inferred that Jay-Z did not tell them about the timepiece.

The watch, which Jay-Z helped design, is a limited-edition Shawn Carter Classic Fusion watch by Hublot, as seen here on Cano's Instagram account:

If Jay-Z is found to be in violation of the union's rules, he will be subject to an unspecified discipline.

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Microsoft's Enhanced Mitigation Experience Tool can guard against the kinds of attacks now observed in the wild.

Microsoft

Hackers are exploiting a previously unknown vulnerability in Microsoft Windows and Office software that allows computers to be infected with malware, the company warned in advisories published Tuesday.

The advanced exploit arrives in a booby-trapped Word document attached to e-mails, Elia Florio of the Microsoft Security Response Center wrote on Tuesday. The attacks are narrowly targeted at certain individuals or companies and are mostly found in the Middle East and South Asia. The malicious document exploits a vulnerability in Microsoft's graphics device interface that makes it possible for attackers to remotely execute any code of their choice.

"If the attachment is opened or previewed, it attempts to exploit the vulnerability using a malformed graphics image embedded in the document," Dustin Childs, group manager in the Microsoft Trustworthy Computing group wrote in a separate advisory. "An attacker who successfully exploited the vulnerability could gain the same user rights as the logged on user." A third advisory is here.

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indiestatik:

10 Free Game Development Tools And Other Resources

As we mentioned previously, Geeks Without Bounds is hosting the Boston Aaron Swartz Memorial Hackathon at MIT’s Media Lab on Nov 8th and 9th.

This is a controversial location to hold the hackathon. We know. We’ve chosen to use this site both as a reclamation and as a conversation on the nature of activism, its intersections with civic discourse and disobedience, hacking, and Doing The Right Thing™.

Aaron’s death served both as a reminder that we need to provide emotional support, and a chilling warning of what happens when oversight and common sense are discarded for the sake of the status quo. We share activism as a professional community of technologists, but also as friends. We must care for each other as such, and assist those endeavors that seek to better the systems we find ourselves in.

This hackathon focuses on the following projects, with plenty of room for more:

• tor2web and jot2tor : Tor2web makes it possible for internet users to view content from Tor hidden services.
• Hal Report TL; DR : The report around MIT’s involvement with Aaron’s case is convoluted and needs to be parsed so people associated with MIT can take action.

Colorado Avalanche goaltender Semyon Varlamov was arrested last week and charged with assault and kidnapping relating to a situation with his girlfriend, Evgenia Vavrinyuk.

His friend, Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Fedor Tyutin, believes that Varlamov is innocent of all charges. In addition, he reportedly believes that the situation has been blown out of proportion because American laws cater to women, according to a quote attributed to him on the Russian language website R-Sport on Tuesday morning.

Translated by Yahoo! contributor Dmitry Chesnokov and posted to Twitter, the quote details that Varalmov's only mistake was getting together with the woman, via Chesnokov:

#CBJ Fedor Tyutin's strong worded support for #Avs Varlamov: "I personally know Semyon very well. He is quite a true, considerate guy. As soon as I heard it all, I realized that it is all blown [out of proportion]. It's just American laws are on the women's side, that's why they can go to the police for any little thing, complain and bring a lot of problems to men. That's why the only mistake of Semyon is that he got together with this girl." (R-Sport)

This isn't the first instance of "cultural differences" being referenced in this situation, as Varlamov allegedly told Vavrinyuk that he would have beaten her more severely had they been in Russia. According to Vavrinyuk, Varlamov has assaulted her on four or five different occasions with the most extreme incident resulting in her losing consciousness. In this instance, bruising and injuries were identified that were consistent with a physical encounter.

Apparently, this was the first instance of abuse that occurred on United States soil and Vavrinyuk is seeking protection, via USA Today:

"I want the American government to defend me," she said. "I want everyone to know, all the fans to know, that he's not the great Semyon Varlamov. Great people don't beat up their women. They don't give them concussions. They don't belittle them, throw out like dogs. I want people to know this, that this man can be an animal."

In addition, reports have identified that Varlamov kicked Vavrinyuk out of their apartment, which also played a factor in her decision to go to the authorities.

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gacougnol:

Hannes Kilian
Cat Nero in the Snow
1953

"crass" - Rolling Thunder 3 (Now Production/Namco - Genesis - 1993)

A handful of highlighted Helpouts.

“How to” searches that end with a click on a video tutorial must be booming in Google’s books. At a press event Monday, the company announced a new branch of video Hangouts, entitled “Helpouts,” which amount to live video tutorials with approved experts who can provide assistance on whatever problem you’re trying to solve with the Internet. The only catch: Helpouts will cost you.

YouTube tutorials are not the flashy success that vloggers or televised nip slips are. But in this reporter’s experience, there’s hardly a question you can ask the eight ball of Google’s search field that doesn’t result in a YouTube answer—if not a tight and well-produced two-minute clip, at least a meandering 10 minutes of a random person talking at the camera with a few glimmering seconds of actual helpful data sprinkled in.

By contrast, Google Helpouts will connect you with an approved expert who specifically addresses your problem via video chat. Each helper has a fixed or per-minute rate that you pay via Google Wallet, of which Google gets a 20 percent cut, and users will be able to rate and review helpers.

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WORLDWIN12 posted a compilation of insults by the villainous Skeletor from the He-Man and the Masters of the Universe animated series.

via Boing Boing

The priceless moments take a chunk out of GDP. AP Photo/Jack Dempsey

That characterization could be controversial. The US is the only one of the OECD countries not to offer paid parental leave, and parenting advocates have long cited the policy as antiquated and responsible for keeping women out of the workplace.

The first countries to introduce paid maternity leave, in the 1960s or earlier, were Austria, the Czech Republic, Italy and Poland, and it has spread to more than 120 countries. Still, a few—Austria, the Czech Republic and Germany—have scaled back (pdf), partly by offering an option with a higher payment for a shorter leave.

Others say the findings are true but cannot be taken as an absolute. The economists may have “oversimplified it a bit,” says Ann O’Leary, director of the Children and Families Program at the Center for the Next Generation in California. But she largely agrees: There’s not a lot to be gained from a much longer leave. An optimal time off with baby might be three to six months, she said, in part because of the health benefits of breast feeding full time, well baby visits, maternal health and more.

Paid leaves increase family financial stability, and moms who receive them are much more likely to be working—and less likely to need food stamps when their child turns 1, according to Rutgers University/National Partnership for Women & Families research.

The new research shows, though, that paid leaves in Norway go to women of higher education and wealth. Lower-income women often aren’t eligible—so the debate over long or short paid maternity leaves leaves them out entirely.

Vickie Elmer is on Twitter @WorkingKind. We welcome your comments at ideas@qz.com.