firehose

mimbeau:

Women chimney sweeps

Paris 1917

Collection Roger-Viollet

Some people can "see" their own hands waving in front of their faces while in total darkness. It shouldn't be possible, but a quirk of their senses allows these people to perceive movement without using their eyes.

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The March 2011 earthquake/tsunami that ravaged the coast of central Japan is most notorious for killing 19,000 people and triggering a radioactive meltdown. Surging as far as 6 miles (10 kilometers) inland and flooding around 217 square miles (561 square kilometers), the tsunami also splintered thousands of fishing boats, knocked out houses and sucked away anything that wasn’t bolted to the ground.

Where did that 5 million tons (4.5 tonnes) of debris go? Some of it formed a pile of debris the size of Texas. Just as that state once annexed itself to the US, this floating Texas-sized trash heap is about to join borders with the American West Coast. Nearly 32 months after the tsunami hit, it’s now around 1,700 miles off the Pacific coast, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA):

There have already been signs of the trash island’s approach. So far, a 185-ton dock washed up in Washington, and a rust-caked “ghost ship” (meaning a derelict fishing boat) met the coast of British Columbia. There have been reports of even the smallest found items that trace back to Japan, such as a Japanese boy’s soccer ball and then a volleyball found by a beachcomber in Alaska. Here’s where debris has shown up so far:

Tests performed on those early arrivals have helped assuage what’s probably the most obvious fear—that the debris will be contaminated:

@saunieindiego Some debris has been checked and all levels are normal. Experts think its highly unlikely debris is contaminated.—
NOAA Marine Debris (@NOAADebris) March 07, 2013

A subtler but more menacing threat is the arrival of Japanese invasive species, which could skew ecological balance on the West Coast. John Chapman, an Oregon State University marine biologist, told Fox.com that his center has already found 165 alien species on floating debris so far on the West Coast. Creatures like the European blue mussel—itself introduce to Asia long ago from Europe—could imperil native species. Chapman and other scientists had doubted that the creatures could travel the long distance across the Pacific. Here are a few that made the trip on that floating dock that washed up in Washington, via OSU’s marine debris blog:

neo12 writes "India has successfully launched a spacecraft to the Red Planet — with the aim of becoming the fourth space agency to reach Mars." As our previous mention of the launch notes, getting to Mars by rocket is a long haul: if all goes well, it will be about 10 months until Mangalyaan reaches orbit.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Washington DC-based entrepreneurs Sarah and Joe Maiellano, along with friend Jack Hubbard, developed the HomeMade Gin Kit that helps you make small batch gin at home without using a for bathtub. Sarah explains:

Most people don’t realize that it is possible to make a small batch of gin at home without costly (and illegal) distilling equipment. Our kit comes with a special blend of spices, botanicals, and flowers, a tin full of juniper berries, two Italian glass bottles, a double mesh fine strainer, and a funnel so that people can make gin at home.

Thanks Sarah!

On a recent episode of Man at Arms by Break Media, master blacksmith and prop builder Tony Swatton forged an amazing replica of Thor’s hammer Mjolnir as featured in the upcoming Marvel film Thor: The Dark World. He made the sword from steel alloyed with chromium and molybdenum at his Sword and Stone shop in Burbank, California. Previously, we’ve written about Tony’s ongoing collection of custom-built weapons from pop culture.

video via AWE me

Japanese hamburger joint Freshness Burger realized that women weren’t ordering its largest burger because in Japan its seen as rude and unattractive for women to open their mouth wide without covering it. To solve this problem, Dentsu, Inc. designed the “Liberation Wrapper,” a hamburger wrapper that covers the lower half of peoples’ faces with an image of a dainty, closed mouth.

image via Spikes Asia

via Lost at E Minor

A persistent little dog has a tough time pushing his stuffed animal through a doggie door in this cute video by Petsami. After all of his struggle and determination, the pup manages to come out victorious in the end.

via Amazing Creatures, Tastefully Offensive

Fuck P

Doctor Who's 50th anniversary is a big event, and it extends to more than just the TV end of the Doctor Who universe. Earlier this year, the BBC announced it was enlisting children's authors to produce eleven short stories - one for each of the eleven Doctors - that would be released in ebook form as another way to mark the big 5-0. So far, the authors have included Eoin Colfer, Marcus Sedgwick, and Malorie Blackman, among others. The BBC has revealed that Neil Gaiman will be the icing on the cake with his Eleventh Doctor story, Nothing O'Clock.

The University of Texas is hiring Steve Patterson as its new athletic director, according to Sports Illustrated's Pete Thamel and others, prying the surprise name away from the same position at Arizona State. According to Thamel, a Texas official says the deal is "done."

West Virginia's Oliver Luck had long been considered the top candidate for the position after DeLoss Dodds announced his retirement. Ohio State's Gene Smith and Arkansas' Jeff Long were also mentioned as candidates, but publicly took their names out of the running.

Patterson has ties to the state of Texas, from both his education to his previous experience as an executive for three different Houston pro sports franchises.

His most important move will soon be the decision of what to do about longtime head football coach Mack Brown, who's both embattled and the leader of a team that's 5-0 in Big 12 play.

From his Arizona State bio:

Patterson spent nearly a quarter of a century as an innovative and successful executive in the NFL with the Houston Texans, in the NBA with the Houston Rockets and Portland Trail Blazers, and in professional hockey with the Houston Aeros. He has built championship teams and designed, financed, built and run stadiums and arenas.

As President of the Portland Trail Blazers, The Rose Garden and Rose City Radio from 2003-07, Patterson was responsible for all business and basketball operations for the team and arena, as well as local media outlets. He refined his skills as a turnaround specialist, while garnering national recognition for his player acquisition skills when he took over the team's General Manager duties. Patterson engineered a record six draft day trades that resulted in the selection of NBA Rookie of the Year and three time NBA All Star Brandon Roy and fellow All Rookie 1st team, NBA All Star and All NBA member LaMarcus Aldridge.

From 1997-2003, Patterson served as the Senior Vice President and Chief Development Officer of the Houston Texans NFL franchise where he led Bob McNair's successful effort to acquire a National Football League franchise and Super Bowl XXXVIII for Houston, Texas. Patterson was responsible for the establishment of the team's business, legal, media and political operations, as well as the development, design, finance and construction of Reliant Stadium.

Prior to joining the Texans, Patterson was the President, General Manager and Governor of the Houston Aeros hockey team. For his efforts there, he was named the 1995 winner of the Andy Mulligan Trophy as the IHL's Executive of the Year. In addition to his roles with the Aeros, Patterson also acquired and served as President and Partner in Arena Operating Company, which managed and operated Compaq Center, Houston's home of the Rockets, Aeros and Comets. He coordinated the six-year, $7.5 million naming rights and sponsorship deal with the Compaq Computer Corporation and the $5 million renovation of the arena.

As General Manager of the Houston Rockets from 1989-93, he was the primary architect of the 1993-1994 Houston Rockets squad that captured the first NBA World Championship in franchise history, signing or trading for all the team's players and coaches. Patterson also led the club's successful bid to host the 1989 NBA All-Star Game, which held the all-time attendance record of 44,735 for 21 years.

Born and raised in Beaver Dam, WI. Patterson attended the University of Texas, graduating with honors earning a Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration in 1980. He graduated from UT's Law School in 1984.

More from SB Nation college football:

Follow @SBNationCFBFollow @SBNRecruiting

• TV schedule guide: The season’s biggest weekend yet

• New BCS rankings: Noles reclaim No. 2 from Oregon

• At the scene of the SEC’s newest bitter rivalry

• Ohio State finally looks the part, and five other big stories

• New bowl projections: Alabama-Oregon and all 34 others

• Long read: Inside Chip Kelly’s New Hampshire laboratory

Oh, this gauntlet here? This old thing? Yeah; it's been thrown.

Taking a cue from the @NHL, I'm planning to jump Trebek and pummel him in an effort to fire up my staff and prove my manhood.

— Pat Sajak (@patsajak) November 5, 2013

This clearly needs to happen. Clearly. So we thought we would help any potential handicappers (looking at you, Bovada) by going through the tale of the tape.

WHEEL. OF. BEATDOWNNNNNN.

Height: Trebek is listed at 5'7 and Sajak is listed at 5'10, but those are TV heights. (Plus, the contestants on Wheel of Fortune are on individual lifts to make them all the same height -- and the same height relative to Pat.) So we'll say the 4'6 Sajak has a slight reach advantage over the 3'2 Trebek. TINY FIGHTIN'

Weight: They appear to be in the same weight class (suits), but don't be fooled by fine tailoring. Trebek will be punching above his weight here. Sajak is beefier than you'd think and loves him some hockey, so he'll be a tough takedown. Trebek is wiry and spry, though. He'll be slippery. Can he force the pace of the plodding Sajak?

Record: Trebek has apprehended a burglar as recently as 2011. It is worth mentioning that the burglar was 56 years old.

Age: Pat Sajak is 67. Alex Trebek is 73 years old. ALEX TREBEK IS 73 YEARS OLD. HE IS FIVE YEARS OLDER THAN JIM LEYLAND. He has had two heart attacks. My god, what have we done? Sajak, you monster.

Intangibles: Sajak is great at spelling and has a trustworthy corner in Vanna White. Trebek knows everything there is to be known. If Trebek grows back the mustache for the fight, it may give him Don Frye-like abilities. (NOTE: That may be a terrible thing.) Also worth noting: Sajak has raised the ire of Flyers fans, so expect full whiskey bottles and innumerable cheesesteaks to be thrown into the octagon during the brawl.

Of course, this fight was already envisioned on Celebrity Deathmatch, where both participants died, but Sajak got the win. If we're handicapping this, we're saying Sajak is the favorite at -160 and Trebek the plucky underdog is at +120. But maybe we'll get lucky and Sajak will forget to phrase his assault in the form of a question.

Since we were discussing tea… (via Starbucks must take us for mugs. Teavana can’t brew a proper cuppa tea | theguardian.com)

hodad

#ggooddmoorning

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5iKQMab13Q

Original Source

Actress Jaimie Alexander, best known for her role as the warrior goddess Sif in Marvel's Thor movies (the second of which opens this weekend), has confirmed she's in talks with DC and Warner Bros. about a possible role in Batman/Superman— but which one?

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cregga-rose-eyes:

From this thread: http://flatbear.tumblr.com/post/64258108942/the-kick-ass-women-of-marvel-are-changing-comics-for

I changed the colors and, now that I’m looking at it, I’m realizing the cross patee is off center. Also, I added punctuation. But I like it. And it’s done, which is good and beautiful.

On to the next project. Hurrah!

Yeah, that cross patee’s coming off and getting fixed.

This is a thing of truth and beauty. 

Chuck Norris is a Color [Link] I don't know what is more fascinating, the fact that Chuck Norris is a valid HTML color or the explanation as to why it is.

The CalDigit Thunderbolt T2 Drive [Link] The T2 by CalDigit looks like a great Thunderbolt drive. It supports 2 disks as well as SSDs. It's called a "native" Mac drive which means no special drivers and it's bootable. As is popular now, you can sign up for a spot on their waiting list. No price given. As for Thunderbolt, the speed is nice but it feels like another Apple boondoggle similar to Firewire. February will mark 3 years since it was released and we still have waiting lists for basic Thunderbolt drives.

A nursing student named Janelle asked Adventure Time character designer Matt Forsythe to revamp the Wong-Baker FACES Pain Rating Scale by switching it out with the face of Finn the Human.

Matt Forsythe drew up these Finns, from “no pain” to “worst pain possible,” for her. We hope these Finn faces make kids’ illnesses even a tiny bit more bearable.

Here is the original Wong-Baker FACES Pain Rating Scale:

images via Pendleton Ward’s Cartoon Tumblr and Wong-Baker FACES Foundation

A New York judge has ruled that Monster Energy was "reckless" and their claims "risible" in a copyright case involving several Beastie Boys classics and pioneering mash-up DJ Z-Trip. If all of that doesn't seem odd enough, consider this: the entire tossed-out complaint revolved around whether or not the word "Dope!" — in an email from Z-Trip to Monster — could function as some sort of license-giving, legally binding term. Really.

The background: Z-Trip, a.k.a. Zach Sciacca, was paid $15,000 to perform at an after-party for the energy drink empire's annual "Ruckus in the Rockies" Canadian snowboarding competition. Later on, Monster put together a recap clip and soundtracked it with a free-to-download megamix the DJ had made of Beasties songs to promote the group's 2011 album, Hot Sauce Committee Part Two. Monster's Nelson Phillips then emailed Z-Trip:

"Please have a look at the video from this past weekend and let me know if you approve."

To which, according to legal documents, Z-Trip responded, "Dope!"

Then the video went up on YouTube not only including the mixed-in snippets of "So What'cha Want," "Sabotage," "Looking Down the Barrel of a Gun," and "Make Some Noise," but also the words "RIP MCA" at the end of the credits. The Beastie Boys' people jumped on this, had the video removed, and subsequently sued Monster (in August of 2012) for multiple counts of copyright infringement and unauthorized use of their name(s).

In October of last year, Monster responded by passing the buck to Z-Trip, not only alleging that "the disc jockey" authorized the use of the megamix but that Z-Trip had committed both breach of contract (via the presumably contractually binding word "Dope!") and fraud, by supposedly posing as someone who could issue a copyright license on behalf of the Beastie Boys using, again, the word "Dope!"

U.S. District Judge Paul A. Engelmayer wasn't having any of that. Like, really. This past August, Z-Trip moved to get the third-party complaint tossed out and as of Monday, November 4, it most definitely has been. The following is a pretty brutal smack-down. It's rare that we, at SPIN, would share this much un-edited legal writing, but this case warrants it. The Beasties' suit against Monster is ongoing, but Z-Trip is off the hook:

Even if an offer and acceptance of an exchange of promises constituting consideration could be found in Phillips’ sparse communications with Z-Trip, no reasonable person could understand Z-Trip to have granted Monster the rights necessary here—to wit, a license on behalf of the Beastie Boys to use the underlying copyrighted material owned by the Beastie Boys, or, as Monster alternatively appears to posit, indemnification against a future suit by the Beastie Boys for violating such copyrights. The two men’s communications could not remotely support such a conclusion.

It would take an heroic effort of explication to derive such a conclusion from their words and informal email exchanges. And to read Phillips’s or Z-Trip’s words to convey a contract to cede Monster such rights would flout common sense. Phillips, a former forestry and ski-industry worker with no evident legal expertise, never raised any such questions with Z-Trip, or reflected any awareness of the copyright interests that Monster would need to acquire or license to bring the promotional Video it contemplated into compliance with copyright law ...

Monster’s claim of fraud is risible ...

Alternatively viewed, Monster’s decision to delegate to Phillips alone the responsibility by which Monster was to acquire, for commercial exploitation, various intellectual rights presumptively belonging to an iconic band was reckless. On the record before the Court, Monster had no business entrusting such matters to Phillips. It is, in fact, quite unseemly for Monster, rather than taking responsibility for its own lack of care, to argue now that any liability it may have to the Beastie Boys in copyright was somehow a product of a fraud perpetrated by a disk jockey, Z-Trip.

Can we get an "oof" and "amen"? Yeah, I think we can.

Original Source

Greg Rucka teases CBR TV with what his new series "Veil" is about, explains his thoughts on L.A. and the lengthy future planned for "Lazarus."

In the Marine Corps, hazing is a crime punishable by at least seven different articles of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, according to Marine Corps Order 1700.28, first issued in 1997 and regularly updated since then. The Marines define hazing as "any conduct whereby one military member ... causes another military member ... to suffer or be exposed to an activity which is cruel, abusive, humiliating, or oppressive."

At the time that was written, the Marine Corps was still reeling from a 1997 Dateline NBC report that unveiled video footage of a "blood wing" pinning ceremony filmed in 1991. The images are as graphic and terrible today as they were then:

The Commandant of the Marine Corps who issued the order, General Charles Krulak, set about changing the culture of a 170,000-person organization where pinning and "blood striping" (kneeing a newly promoted corporal in the thigh until he couldn't walk) were common at promotion ceremonies. His order, in part, reads:

This is a leadership issue. This is a warfighting issue. Marines do not go into harm’s way, make the sacrifices they always have, or give up their precious lives because they have been hazed or initiated into some self-defined, "elite" sub-culture. They perform these heroic acts of selflessness because they are United States Marines and because they refuse to let their fellow Marines down.

Marines are also our most precious asset. We will protect them through fair, scrupulous, and unbiased treatment as individuals -- caring for them, teaching them, leading them. It is the obligation of each member of the chain of command, from top to bottom, to ensure that this sense of fairness is constant and genuine. Every Marine will treat every other Marine with dignity and respect.

This was written sixteen years ago, and the Marine Corps still struggles with occasional hazing incidents; there are still echoes from older Marines about how the Corps has gotten "soft," how it "babies" young Marines by not allowing NCOs the freedom to abuse and debase their brothers and sisters in arms. People who went through the hazing rituals prop them up as traditions worth keeping for the sole reason that they're tradition.

* * *

If that sounds familiar, you probably follow mainstream discourse on the NFL, where changes in the game to improve player safety are met with disapproval by the very players who will later succumb to chronic traumatic encephalopathy. That same desperate, misguided loyalty to the tradition of rookie hazing is what will make the Dolphins' problem in Miami a league-wide headache.

A sea change in culture, even with strong leadership, can take a generation. That's what worries me about the NFL machine that's so permissive of hazing: Roger Goodell is a disciplinarian only if it suits the league's owners, the players are hardwired to defend the system they know, and the entrenched media skews sternly paternalistic. Jonathan Martin is the face of this cause only because Goodell is the better part of two decades behind the curve set by warriors who provide football with its preferred martial metaphor. And this is Martin's reward:

"I think Jonathan Martin is a weak person," said one personnel man, speaking on the condition of anonymity. "If Incognito did offend him racially, that's something you have to handle as a man! Mike Pouncey was a rookie at one point while Incognito was there and you never heard any complaints from him. There's no other way to put it, other than him being sofTTT!"

Do not adjust your screen settings; that really is a grown man declaring Jonathan Martin weak -- just, you know, as long as he can do so secretly.

Supporters of the NFL's present rookie hazing structure will no doubt point out that pro football's hazing hardly deserves to be compared to the more violent practices banned by the military (or the more humiliating ones banned by college fraternities). Those arguments ignore the persistence of "hazing creep," a phenomenon where hazing "gets progressively worse as each year's group attempts outdo the former," according to a 1997 paper published by the U.S. Naval Institute. Anecdotal evidence from players seems to support this; former NFL tight end Jeremy Shockey recounted his hazing experience to FoxSports' Peter Schrager:

"I’ve been to dinners where I’ve seen rookies spend $30,000. $30,000! When I was a rookie, I had to buy donuts every morning from Krispy Kreme. Every Saturday and every Friday, I bought coffee. No problem."

Former quarterback Boomer Esiason admirably spoke out against hazing in a video for SI.com, calling it "a ridiculous tradition."

"If you wanna have the rookies take you out to dinner and you want to give them a check, that's one thing -- but only one time. After that, they become part of your family. And the fact that Jonathan Martin has had to deal with this for two years is absolutely ridiculous."

As former players look back on their experience, you can see the sum of hazing creep's increments. Esiason, who played in the NFL from 1984 to 1996, approves of rookies getting stuck with a single large dinner bill. Shockey, a rookie in 2002, bought donuts and coffee weekly. In 2013, it's common practice to stick rookies with five-figure checks every week -- and this is after the NFL's 2011 collective bargaining agreement reduced the size of rookie contracts.

They've gotten sucked into the Miami lifestyle, and the veterans are using the younger players as an ATM, I'm told.

— Adam Beasley (@AdamHBeasley) November 3, 2013

One young defensive player, whose privacy I'm protecting, has literally gone broke because he's been pressured to pay for older players.

— Adam Beasley (@AdamHBeasley) November 3, 2013

* * *

Until Martin left the Dolphins, the most common story regarding hazing in the NFL was one typically written by beat writers: the rookies were given silly haircuts or tossed in ice baths or taped to the field goal, and it was a great way to blow off steam at the end of training camp. These anecdotes will be trotted out by hazing apologists as team-building exercises, and they'll all be full of shit. The hazing doesn't make them a part of a team; the training does.

I deployed to Iraq with a Marine company that was confident and capable in its abilities, and we were fortunate to return home with no serious casualties. We attained that confidence and ésprit de corps thanks to strong leadership and months of challenging training that prepared us for our task. The brotherhood wasn't a product of hazing; it was a product of shared hardship. If NFL teams need to haze rookies at the end of training camp to make them a part of the team, they're missing out on the point of training camp.

The NFL collects more than $9 billion in revenue -- yes, $9,000,000,000, more than any sports league in the world -- and Goodell has stated that he wants that number to be $25 billion by 2027. The year is 2013, the NFL is closing in on 11-figure profits, and it has no official policy on hazing, a problem that the military has banned and worked to snuff out for most of the last two decades.

It can't go on this way. You can't have a lucrative 21st-century business paired with 20th-century ideals of masculinity that violate every H.R. department's litmus test for What Can Get Us Sued. You don't get to demand that all players act like an adult and a professional, and then treat them like lesser employees every week. You don't get to call people weak on the condition of anonymity. You don't run a multi-billion-dollar business while selectively choosing which employees get treated with dignity.

It's not being soft; it's being smart, and the Marine Corps has been doing it for almost twenty years. It's time the NFL followed suit.

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Two planes full of skydivers collided in midair above Wisconsin on Saturday evening, and NBC News has released harrowing footage captured by the skydivers with their helmet cams during the event. All nine skydivers and the pilots of both planes survived.

video via NBC News, images via NBC News

Brothers Antonius Nazareth and Vijay Nazareth of the YouTube musical group AVbyte have created “Procrastination The Musical,” a video in which famous YouTubers explain the amazing art of being lazy with a song. It features Freddiew, Hannah Hart, Vsauce3, iJustine, and many other well-known YouTube personalities.

Procrastination, the greatest art ever!

You Grow Girl - Gardening for the People.

It may come as no surprise that in addition to plants, I also collect things that are connected to the world of plants and horticulture in some way: old books in the categories of gardening, botany, or nature; prints that feature images of plants, birds, insects, and other things of a scientific nature; old gardening […]

Read Vintage Finds: Old Seed Catalogues and the Blocks That Were Used to Print Them on You Grow Girl.

thecatscan:

This cat scan was submitted by a user named brielle, with no further description, and it’s easily, out of all the submissions I’ve seen, my favorite. 

(Bear in mind there are enough submissions to this that I haven’t even seen all of them yet.)

tastefullyoffensive:

Barbie without makeup. [via]

bad-ass-fat-ass:

geekylittlecephalopod:

geebabybaby:

the-absolute-best-posts:

tinerbeans:

omfg the dragon eats all yer stuff thats just awesome!

want

Holy mother

Holy mother of WANT

I need this in my life!!!!!

skinks:

saudadedecay:

look at this gigantic goat. 

ARE YOU FUCKING SHITTING ME ARE YOU TELLING ME I COULD RIDE AROUND ON A GOAT