firehose

"For the last 13 years Japanese photographer Miyoko Ihara has been taking pictures of her grandma, Misao, to commemorate her life. 9 years ago, 88-year-old Misao found a stray odd-eyed cat in her shed: she called it Fukumaru, hoping that “the god of fuku (good fortune) would come and everything will be smoothed over like maru (circle).” Miyoko has been photographing their beautiful friendship and the way they go about their daily routine ever since.”

thepickledliver:

Asta and Myrna Loy

Awesome.

Rebelling against the powerful skeptic’s empire that sought to quell the uprising of any more Star Wars, a new hope emerged in the form of hiring writer Michael Arndt, whose experience with crafting satisfying, award-winning screenplays like Little Miss Sunshine and Toy Story 3 is regarded as so masterful, writers far and wide seek him out to complete their own training. But it seemed twilight was quickly upon him, and now, night has fallen: Arndt has left Star Wars: Episode VII according to an official statement from Lucasfilm, departing the project after months of rumors of behind-the-scenes tensions surrounding his script. In his place, director J.J. Abrams and Lawrence Kasdan will step in to either rewrite Arndt’s initial draft or, if Badass Digest’s Devin Faraci is to be believed, completely start over from scratch, on a project that now has a production date of “Spring 2014 ...

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Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong has recorded a new album of Everly Brothers covers with Norah Jones. Foreverly is due out on Reprise Records Nov. 25 and was inspired by The Brothers’ classic Songs Our Daddy Taught Us. “Long Time Gone,” one of the tracks from the album, is already out and streaming below.

Recorded in just nine days, Foreverly attempts to fuse Armstrong and Jones’ voices into something resembling The Everly Brothers’ harmonies. On the record, the duo reinterpret a number of Everly songs, including “Roving Gambler, “Down In The Willow Garden,” “Long Time Gone,” “Who’s Gonna Shoe Your Pretty Little Feet,” and “Barbara Allen,” as well as a number of country classics like Gene Autry’s “That Silver Haired Daddy Of Mine” and Karl Davis’ “Kentucky.”

Armstrong and Jones play guitar and piano on the record, respectively, accompanied by Charlie Burnham on fiddle and Johnny Lam ...

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In her second year of high school in bucolic Woodbury, Connecticut, 15-year-old Hannah O’Brien was thinking about picking up an extracurricular hobby. She had her pick of the standard options — sports teams, drama, band — but instead she picked one that would take her to the highest echelon of competition in the nation: dairy tasting.

By being open to the vast range of human emotion, the clowns of Clarmy are able to go beyond simple entertainment to relate, in a very deep way, with their audience, Mooney said. About 2 years old, the group has been to a few protests, including some of last year's Occupy rallies. Unlike most rally-goers, however, their tactic is not to voice an opinion but to outline the absurdity of it all, especially in polarizing situations.

mattfractionblog:

we’re still working on it

Dude, it’s okay to ask for directions.

Designer Joaquin Baldwin has created coffee mugs and espresso cups designed after the atomic structure of the caffeine molecule. The glazed ceramic mug and espresso cup are both available to purchase online at Shapeways.

images via Joaquin Baldwin

via The Awesomer

Three-day passes for PAX East 2014 went on sale yesterday, and if you haven't secured one yet, it's already too late. Less than an hour after registration opened for the upcoming Penny Arcade-sponsored event, the group's initial allocation of three-day passes sold out completely.

The Penny Arcade Expo and its spinoff events have grown in popularity over the last several years, leading to near-instant registration sell-outs. Three-day passes for this year's PAX Prime also sold out less than an hour after becoming available in April.

As of this writing, passes for PAX East's Friday and Sunday showings are still available for purchase. Hotel reservations are available here. PAX East will take place in Boston from April 11 through 13, 2014.

Three-day passes to PAX East 2014 sell out in minutes originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 24 Oct 2013 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Atlanta Falcons' Week 7 game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers was the first wide receiver Roddy White has ever missed, as he sat out the game with ankle and hamstring injuries. After having not practiced all week, including Thursday, according to ESPN.com writer Vaughn McClure, it looks like White is on track to miss another this week.

White started the year injured, but played through his woes mostly as a decoy, to the tune of 14 receptions for 129 yards in five games. It was a miserable performance for the nine-year veteran, who had played every game of his career leading to Week 7.

Fantasy impact: Amid a horrible season for Atlanta, the Falcons appear to have decided to let White sit until he gets right, with little reason to think the team will be able to contend for the playoffs. White is likely to miss Sunday, and seeing him miss Week 9, as well, is a possibility.

Without White, Harry Douglas had the best game of his five-year career Sunday, compiling seven catches for 149 yards and a touchdown. While that sort of performance isn't likely to repeat, Douglas should still be a viable performer in fantasy, a reasonable flex start with White out. Other Falcons, like Tony Gonzalez, Jacquizz Rodgers and likely back-from-injury Steven Jackson, also could benefit from White's absence.

More fantasy football news from SB Nation:

• Get live advice daily in the Fantasy War Room

• Today's fantasy football player updates

• Week 8 fantasy football rankings: QB | RB | WR | TE | D/ST

• Week 8 fantasy football waiver wire: QB | RB | WR | TE | D/ST

The thing about Buncombe County Republican precinct chair Don Yelton, a conservative activist described as "the Rush Limbaugh of Western North Carolina," is that he's not hiding.

Up early GRINDIN! #PokemonXY

Thrilled by the rave reviews for its reboot of Ironside it hears inside its head, where everything is much nicer, NBC has ordered another revival of a classic show about a detective whose talents go unappreciated—much like a certain network, who similarly always enjoys imaginary victory. Now joining that Remington Steele sequel is Murder, She Wrote, a remake of the Angela Lansbury-starring CBS series about a detective whose chief disability was being a very nice old lady, which caused her to be repeatedly underestimated by all the thousands of murderers who were drawn to Maine’s beautiful harbors, which are ideal for stuffing dead bodies into. The Help’s Octavia Spencer is attached to star in this reimagining, which concerns “a hospital administrator and amateur sleuth who self-publishes her first mystery novel,” updating the story to the modern era by acknowledging that no one can be a successful author ...

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Qylur Security Systems recently launched Qylatron, an automated self-service security-screening kiosk that can scan up to five bags simultaneously while requiring half the staff of a typical security checkpoint. The system uses multiple sensors to detect a variety of threats, and a learning computer that can adapt to new and evolving threats. The system is designed for large venues like stadiums, train stations, and airports. Silicon Valley-based Qylur Security Systems expects the first Qylatrons to be in place by 2014. For more on the system see this Businessweek article.

via Businessweek

photo via Qylur Security Systems, video via The Wall Street Journal

It really doesn't need much more clever of a headline than that, does it?

Ultra-rare footage of David Lynch cooking quinoa has been unearthed, so if you have thirteen spare minutes today, and you absolutely must watch every grainy frame of footage this man is involved with, it's de rigeur viewing. I am absolutely not going to spoil this, but he does actually get around to making a quinoa recipe. That's all I feel like I can say. Yes, watch both videos, and yes, the second one is important to watch all the way. If you want to make quinoa the David Lynch way.

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Way back when it was announced that Doctor Who's 50th Anniversary special, "The Day of the Doctor," would run in 3D where available, lost of folks were understandably confused as to how this would work. Then the theater screenings were announced, and whole different kind of excitement began. Screenings for UK fans of the show were announced first, as is right, but can you blame us for waiting until the American screenings were announced to talk about it? Yes, the American screening locations have been announced.

Differences between generations at work show up in conference rooms, communications styles and job satisfaction levels, as well as the most valued perks.

A new report from PayScale and Millennial Branding turned up many distinctions from levels of stress reported (millennials have the least) to amount of meaning found in their jobs (two-thirds of Boomers report a lot, much more than Gen X or Y). The preferred perks—those most commonly used—also diverged widely:

• Millennials: bus passes, paid overtime, and pet healthcare plans
• Generation X: 100% work from home, paid internet access at home, and paid sabbaticals
• Boomers: defined benefit retirement plans, private medical insurance, and a company car

Millennials must really love their pets because they also listed dogs at work right ahead of a company profit-sharing plan. “Their expectations of jobs are much higher—and they’re not being met,” said Dan Schawbel, founder of Millennial Branding, author of Promote Yourself and co-sponsor of the research.

One area where they all three generations agree:  The top thing they’d like to change about their job is the pay.

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

An anonymous reader writes "The open source PHP project site was compromised earlier today. The site appears to have been compromised and had some of its Javascript altered to exploit vulnerable systems visiting the website. Google's stop-badware system caught this as well and flagged php.net as distributing malware, warning users whose browsers support it not to visit the site. The comment by a Google employee over the hacker news thread (official Google webmaster forum thread) seems to suggest that php.net wasn't incorrectly flagged."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Nerval's Lobster writes "Google is still the tech company that spends most lavishly to make its influence known in Washington, D.C., according to a report analyzing the lobbying activity of technology firms. Using data from disclosure forms filed with the Clerk of the House of Representatives, the oversight group Consumer Watchdog added up the efforts of tech-company representatives to get in front of lawmakers and state their employers' case. Facebook's spending on lobbying rose 47 percent between 2012 and 2013, from $980,000 during the third quarter of 2012 to 1.4 million during 2013. Microsoft also boosted its spending by 20 percent, from $1.9 million in 2012 to $2.2 million during the third quarter of this year. Google cut its spending on lobbyists, but still spent $3.4 million during the third quarter – three times what Facebook spent during the same quarter. Apple's lobbying efforts shot up 111 percent between the third quarter of 2012 and 2013, but still amounted to only $970,000 this year. Cisco Systems spent $890,000; IBM spent $1.18 million; Intel spent $980,000 and Oracle spent $1.36 million. Though telecommunications firms are in a separate category, Google still outspent Verizon (down 2 percent, to $3.04 million) and Verizon Wireless (up 19 percent, to $1.2 million). It was trumped by AT&T (up 23 percent, to $4.3 million)."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

The joke about Arrow as the place every science fiction television actor is going to finance their kitchen remodeling only gets funnier as the correlation grows.