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Gymnast’s father says racial comment at World Championships was ‘out of line’ | Fourth-Place Medal
Some Bing Ads Redirecting To Malware
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Tonight in Music: Plankton Wat, Nik Turner's Hawkwind, the Waterboys & More
firehoseGuitar Wolf!!!!!
PLANKTON WAT, PLANETS AROUND THE SUN, GRAPEFRUIT
(Valentine's, 232 SW Ankeny) Read our article on Plankton Wat.
FALL INTO DARKNESS: NIK TURNER'S HAWKWIND, WHITE MANNA, BILLIONS AND BILLIONS, HEDERSLEBEN
(Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi) As one of the original passengers on the otherworldly space-rock unit Hawkwind, Nik Turner has every right to use the band's name. So does guitarist Dave Brock. It's a classic case of two versions of the band floating around the stratosphere. But with Hawkwind—a band that has mutated its skronky, hippie, acid-bath space blues over the past 45 years—this isn't a bad thing. Turner, who's toured and recorded mostly under the Space Ritual moniker—headlines the opening night of this year's Fall Into Darkness, which has become one of the best heavy-rock fests in the Pacific Northwest. (Brock's version of Hawkwind, meanwhile, just postponed their US tour, citing Brock's health issues—get well, Dave!) Turner's Hawkwind will perform some choice cuts from the past, as well as selections from Turner's 2013 rock odyssey Space Gypsy. Mississippi Studios transforms into the mothership tonight. You don't want to get left behind. MARK LORE Also see My, What a Busy Week!
THE WATERBOYS, FREDDIE STEVENSON
(Aladdin Theater, 3017 SE Milwaukie) Formed three decades ago in Edinburgh, Scotland, the Waterboys were as much a product of punk rock as they were folk music and Springsteen. Over the course of their first three records, frontman Mike Scott perfected what would become known as "The Big Music"—full of big sound and big ideas. Since then, Scott has dabbled in stripped-down Celtic folk, dropped the Waterboys name, picked it back up, and released heaps of records that continue to embrace his vision. The band's latest, 2011's An Appointment with Mr. Yeats, marries the big music with the big words of Irish poet William Butler Yeats—a bold move, but no less bold than the sounds the Waterboys were making in 1983 that went on to influence the likes of The Joshua Tree-era U2 and Arcade Fire. ML
TIM KASHER, LAURA STEVENSON, YOU ARE PLURAL
(Doug Fir, 830 E Burnside) Tim Kasher, in his prime, at least, was a more honest and captivating songwriter than his friend, collaborator, and label-mate Conor Oberst has ever been. Even Oberst's best songs are emotionally intricate plaints masquerading as cold-blooded pop ditties—and sometimes the hooks are great, but man is he full of shit (he's sort of like an indie Billy Joel). Tim Kasher, on the other hand, actually sounds like he means it: His masterpiece is Cursive's 2000 record Domestica, a chilling concept album that ambiguously correlates to his own divorce—it's a raw and unflinchingly personal statement, and an all-time high watermark of the emo genre. Kasher's output since has been largely spotty; subsequent Cursive albums range from passable to abhorrent, although all four Good Life (Kasher's other project) albums—in addition to his solo effort from 2010, The Game of Monogamy—are well worth your time and, potentially, money. MORGAN TROPER
LUMERIANS, TJUTJUNA, SWAHILI
(Bunk Bar, 1028 SE Water) The Oakland, California, space-rock quartet Lumerians has cut to the chase with the title of its new album, The High Frontier. You can talk about the group's lysergic lope, perfect for putting your hands in your pockets and head-nodding the night away. You can point out its post-punk predilections or its steady krautrock wanderings or its occasional stoney drones. But The High Frontier is also the title coined by physicist and writer Gerard K. O'Neill for his illustrated 1976 book about human colonization of space, and Lumerians essentially aim to create a soundtrack for travels to and life on such a colony. This is space rock, and the six songs on The High Frontier are interstellar jams of the highest order, only 33 minutes long but seemingly stretching into eternity. Turn on, tune in, blast off. BEN SALMON
GUITAR WOLF, THE COATHANGERS, COWARD, NO TOMORROW BOYS
(Dante's, 350 W Burnside) Over the years, Japanese garage-rock legends Guitar Wolf have built a reputation for their frantic and relentless live show. The band has even starred as heroes in the sci-fi zombie flick Wild Zero. And with the four women that make up the Coathangers having already taken on Ramones-style surnames in the same vein as Guitar Wolf, could a movie featuring the Atlanta punk-rock band be far off? Even without any extra frills tacked on, the tale of the Coathangers works great in an Our Band Could Be Your Life sort of way. Started as a half joke at a party back in 2006, the group has since toured high and low and released some excellent music along the way. It might not be saving the world from zombies, but it's just as inspiring to see a band develop their talent and become this great out of next to nothing. CHIPP TERWILLIGER
‘Calvin and Hobbes’ collections to make e-book debut
CPJ issues first-ever report on press freedom in the United States
firehosevia multitasksuicide
Barack Obama leaves a press conference in the East Room of the White House August 9. (AFP/Saul Loeb)
Josh Stearns says,
The Committee to Protect Journalists just released their first ever report on press freedom in the US. For those who have followed the administration’s policies, court cases and actions related to leaks and the press, the report doesn’t contain a lot of new information. What it does is weave together each of the cases and strategies the administration has pursued, surfacing key themes and illustrating that these examples are not aberrations, but part of a coordinated strategy. Presenting this bigger picture reframes the debate over press freedom in America and reminds us that we need to demand a major course correction. Here is my take on the report and what is missing.
    
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XCOM for iOS updated with multiplayer, on sale for $10
By Griffin McElroy on Oct 10, 2013 at 4:00p
XCOM: Enemy Unknown's iOS port has been updated to include asynchronous multiplayer battles, and has had its price slashed in half through the rest of the week, publisher 2K announced today.
The game's multiplayer component lets players build a squad of soldiers and aliens to face off against friends and combatants around the world in turn-based, asynchronous bouts. Players can manage their match-ups using Game Center, where they can also view their position in a slew of new online leaderboards also added to the game in today's update.
Folks who have been hesitant to pick up the game, which carries a fairly sizable $19.99 price tag, may want to consider picking it up this week — it's on sale for $9.99 until Sunday, Oct. 13. Make sure you've got a device that can run it before you make the plunge: that includes the iPad 2, 3, 4 and mini, the iPhone 4S and iPhone 5, as well as any 5th generation iPod Touch.
Tap for more stories
Blocktronics ACiD Trip, A Super Long Piece of Collaborative ANSI Art
“Blocktronics ACiD Trip” is an extremely long work of ANSI art, an early computer art form similar to ASCII art. The work was created collaboratively by 22 artists for Demosplash 2013, a demo art event held recently in Pittsburgh. If you don’t want to scroll down all 3,266 lines of ANSI, watch this video version. A small portion of the work is below:
via Waxy.org
video via RaD Man
Obamacare Helps Uninsured Americans Become Blindingly Enraged At Insurance Companies
firehose“I’ve been working two to three jobs without once qualifying for health insurance for as long as I can remember, and now for the first time ever, I’ll be able to fill out reams and reams of indecipherable forms and paperwork that will frustrate and anger me in ways I could never possibly imagine,” said Oregon man David Haddock, adding that he now has access to nearly 10 insurance companies that have staffs that will try to deny him benefits at every turn and make his life a living hell. “Come January 1, my wife and I will finally be unable to find a good doctor that’s in network, I’ll try to call our insurance provider to get an explanation, and then I’ll be on hold for an hour before I slam the phone down on the ground. It’ll be one of the happiest days of our lives.”
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As deadline nears, many New Yorkers still can't get Verizon's fiber internet
firehoseall carriers suck forever
Brooklyn coder and entrepreneur Mike Caprio has been trying to get Verizon’s high-speed FiOS fiber internet service since 2009, but the company repeatedly told him it wasn’t available in his Williamsburg apartment. He finally got hooked up this week — but only because a Verizon press rep heard him complaining on the radio.
"Apparently the best thing to do was to make a stink on public media," says Caprio, who was amazed to see four crews show up Monday to run the long-awaited fiber from the first floor of his building to his apartment. "It just seems to underscore the fact that no one is getting service. It’s extremely arbitrary if the actions of just one guy made all this happen for me."
Three weeks ago, Caprio was on the radio talking about the New York City tech scene and the need for faster internet. He mentioned that he couldn’t get FiOS in his building. The next day, a Verizon press rep emailed him. After struggling with Time Warner Cable’s slow speeds, which had crept to 700k, and then trying a succession of 4G devices, Caprio is finally happily surfing at Verizon’s blazing fast 66-megabit download speeds.
FiOS availability has been frustratingly spotty
Verizon has a contract with the city that promises fiber access in every neighborhood. However, the availability of the service has been frustratingly spotty, skipping buildings, floors, and blocks without clear explanation. Verizon says that’s because landlords aren’t letting them install fiber, but Caprio’s experience suggests that’s not always the case. Since he started telling the story, at least a dozen people have asked him for help getting fiber — including his landlord.
Verizon signed a franchise agreement with New York City’s Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications (DOITT) in 2008 in which it promised to get fiber access to all New York City residents by the summer of 2014. Most people read the news and figured that meant FiOS would be available to most, if not all, city residents. (And that there would finally be a competitor to Time Warner, the infamously inefficient internet provider that serves much of New York.)
There were a lot of caveats in the contract, however. Verizon is only required to "pass all households," a vague term that means the fiber need to extend "to a point from which the building can be connected to the network." Verizon is not obligated to make that connection, however. As a result, the company is now claiming around 75 percent accessibility, even though the number of New Yorkers who can actually sign up for FiOS is probably much lower. A study by public advocate Bill de Blasio concluded that just 51 percent of households in New York have fiber access. The city and Verizon dispute these figures.
"I have a friend in Washington Heights who has been waiting for a long, long time," says Karl Bode, a broadband expert and editor of the blog Broadband Reports. "I don’t think they’ll ever get to some of these neighborhoods. They just don’t see it as worthwhile."
"I don’t think they’ll ever get to some of these neighborhoods. They just don’t see it as worthwhile."
Verizon has said publicly that once its current obligations are met, it has no plans to keep building out the FiOS network nationally. The company has used this line to justify its partnership with Comcast, which has been criticized as collusion. Analysts say the company is reorienting toward its more profitable wireless business, offering 4G service billed as broadband while selling off its copper wire network. Wall Street has even encouraged the company to divest itself of landlines and FiOS entirely in the light of booming quarterly returns for the wireless business.
If that happens, internet speeds in New York City and the rest of the country could suffer in the long term, says Susan Crawford, who works on internet advocacy issues at the Roosevelt Institute. "What Americans don’t seem to recognize is that we’re slipping into third world status when it comes to this basic infrastructure," she says.
The situation in New York is reflective of the country’s greater problem of staying up to speed on internet connections. In Seoul, South Korea, city residents have a choice of three or four high-speed broadband providers for about $30 a month. That’s because the city is building its own infrastructure that private providers then built on top of, she says. About 150 cities in the US have gone a similar route, including Chattanooga, Tennessee, which recently flipped the switch on its gigabit-per-second connection.
Google has also posed what some see as a call to action for the nation’s broadband providers with its superfast Fiber initiative. Google Fiber is only available in three cities right now, however, and access isn’t uniform.
Crawford is also concerned that FiOS has not reached the outer boroughs. "Poorer people are often not served, or are served inadequately," she says. "‘Passing’ does not equal actually getting a connection into your home… where in form they may have met the requirements of the agreement, they absolutely have not met the spirit of the agreement."
There is a greater problem
John Bonomo, the spokesperson for Verizon who arranged for Caprio’s connection, says Verizon is still committed to providing fiber and other wired service to customers.
"When we began the FiOS project in 2005 or so, we said that we would pass about 18M households," he writes in an email. "We are virtually there; so we have made good on what we said we would do."
The company is "in discussions every single day with landlords" to get more FiOS availability in New York, he says. Some landlords don’t see the benefit in allowing Verizon to tear up the yard to install FiOS, and some buildings may already have agreements with one provider.
The irony in all this is that the frustration with Verizon wouldn’t exist if it didn’t offer such an excellent product. Boston's mayor, Thomas Menino, has been trying for years to get Verizon to build in the city to no avail, so he was aggravated when the company aired a FiOS commercial using Boston as the backdrop. Verizon says it’s too expensive to install fiber in Boston, which means Comcast and RCN are the only two cable providers for its 650,000 residents. That sort of duopoly is typical, and it’s what’s keeping prices high and speeds low in New York and across the country. Unfortunately, being passed by fiber doesn’t help.
Frustration with Verizon wouldn't exist if FiOS weren't such a desirable product
The city seems satisfied with how Verizon has held up its end of the bargain. When asked whether Verizon had met its contract obligations, the mayor’s office first asked The Verge what Verizon had said, then referred us to DOITT, which actually has the contract. DOITT referred us to the mayor’s office. When told that the mayor wasn’t commenting, DOITT suggested we speak with Verizon. When pressed, a spokesperson said, "We just don’t have anything to add here."
- Image Credit Mike Caprio
- Related Items cable nyc new york city verizon verizon wireless verizon fios broadband fios fiber mayor michael bloomberg high speed internet
ComiXology is connecting with female audience
firehose'six years ago, women represented less than 5 percent of comiXology users; now that figure has rocketed to 20 percent. What’s more, the company knows exactly who this reader is: “She’s 17-26 years old, college-educated, lives in the suburbs, and is new to comics. She prefers Tumblr to Reddit. She may have never even picked up a print comic.” '
Comp Me!
firehoseomg lol
Dear bartender. You know me I'm that guy who always tips at least somewhat over the mendoza line and never causes trouble. I just ask that my budwieser gets refilled regularly. I'm easy. I drink pay say thanks and leave.
So why do some of you get it and some of you don't?
Comp me that 4 th or fifth beer and I will tip you more even though my tab is actually less. I walk away happy and more willing to come back. You get paid little more and hopefully the owner cares more about that and me coming back then he does about the beer.
Can we agree on this?
Today in Design Week
firehose"the Stumpquest Games Fest kicks off today with indie video and board game designs, tournaments, and a full-on Twine primer."
from the roundup:
"A Twine Workshop (Thurs Oct 10, Art Institute) will walk participants through the basics of turning their stories into interactive experiences—and once they've figured that out, a Twine Jam (Sat Oct 12, Art Institute) will give Twine makers a prompt, then challenge them to create their own unique Twine stories from it. And then the whole Stumpquest thing wraps up with a screening of the low-fi, Kickstarter-funded Going Cardboard: A Board Game Documentary (Sun Oct 13, 5th Avenue Cinema)."
We're over the Design Week Portland hump, but half the fun still lies ahead: Here's what's on our radar for tonight:
—As if you needed more convincing that design isn't just something one talks about in the board rooms of branding firms, the Stumpquest Games Fest kicks off today with indie video and board game designs, tournaments, and a full-on Twin primer. If you want to know WTF "Twine" is, and more, check out Erik's writeup of the 'quest, which runs through Sunday at various locations.
—If you're not headed out to FashioNXT, you can your fashion on in a more locally focused, serious business sort of way with Fashion Speaks, a panel addressing the challenges and future of fashion design in Portland. If you haven't already read it, my interview with organizers and panelists Crispin Argento and Cassie Ridgway gets to the heart of the issues at hand. That's at 7 pm tonight at Spooltown, open to all, and free.
—The Portland Design Auction features over 40 local artists and designers who've made astonishing things that could belong in your closet or your home depending on how the numbers shake out. Even if it gets too rich for your blood, this is a fantastic testament to the breadth of awesome manufacturing happening all around you. It's being hosted at The Good Mod starting at 7 pm.
—On the scientific tip, if you wind up getting to bed early enough to attend tomorrow's 8:30 am Creative Mornings, you'll be treated to "Drew Endy, Designing with Biology," a Stanford professor discussing such future possibilites as "teaching wood to grow into the shape of a chair; making cheese from cultures collected from human skin; and a future in which living organisms can be programmed as easily as computers are now." Not a bad start to a productive day, eh? Alison has more to say about Creative Mornings in general, too. That'll be bright and early at the Hollywood.
lilfaux: that-darn-hyena: skully-pens: cosmicremix: tordles: ...
firehosevia Osiasjota
ah yes. my gender is blue with pink leg
so this is killing me cause my mind immediately thought.
and this is why im not allowed to be part of actual serious discussions.
i DONT UNDERSTAND THIS AT ALL I KEEP IMAGINING
I feel particularly close to this one:
THIS POST GET’S MORE FUCKIN HILARIOUS EVERY TIME I SEE IT!
I made a thing aswell.
So scandalous~
I’m so done right now
Heavy Metal em números
Sempre me perguntam por que eu falo que Noruega é sinônimo de Heavy Metal. Vejam o gráfico:
Acho que agora está tudo esclarecido.
Double Fine hosting indie event with Broken Age demo, unannounced games
firehose"Fez creator Phil Fish will be on hand as the event's DJ" unless someone complains about it, and he flips the booth and leaves
Local San Francisco gamers will have the chance to play unannounced titles from Double Fine and Gaijin Games, as well as the first playable demo of Broken Age, during indie collaboration Day of the Devs, Double Fine producer Greg Rice recently told Polygon.
The free event, which will host Capy Games, Supergiant Games, Honeyslug, Tribute Games, the creator of SpyParty and more, opens its doors Nov. 2 from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. PT at the Public Works in San Francisco. Attendees must be 21 and older and will have the chance to mingle with representatives from each studio. Fez creator Phil Fish will be on hand as the event's DJ.
Demos from each developer will be ready to play, including Supergiant's Transistor and Capy's Super Time Force. Broken Age, Double Fine's Kickstarter-funded point-and-click adventure, will also be available in "an open demo where [players] are free to roam wherever they may," Rice told us. Broken Age stars Vella and Shay, two teens stuck in different worlds. At Day of the Devs, attendees will be able to play a section featuring Vella, the female character.
Rice told Polygon inspiration for Day of the Devs sparked from Double Fine's desire to present the game's first playable demo to the public. From there, it "organically took shape" as a showcase festival for indie games.
"A lot of [the studios at the event] are full of really genuine and creative people who are all really passionate about the games that they're making," Rice said. "It's a list of games curated by us at Double Fine and iam8bit, and I think that it just happens to be games we're excited about from people we admire."
Events like Day of the Devs are also a way to keep the barrier of entry between developer and fans to a minimum, Rice added.
"[Day of the Devs is about] sharing that experience that we've had such a good time with — which is really allowing developers to directly interact with their fans on a human level," Rice said.
Gum's The Word In 'Adventure Time' #21 [Preview]
firehoseBraden & Shelli beat
Boom! Studios
On Cartoon Network’s Adventure Time TV series, Princess Bubblegum has a pretty mysterious (and lengthy) past, which has slowly been revealing itself over the past several seasons. In next Wednesday’s Adventure Time #21, yet another layer to her bubblegum-y nature may be revealed comic book style… or, if the solicitation info is any indication, perhaps there’s some gaseous misdirection at hand? Writer Ryan North and artists Shelli Paroline and Braden Lamb will give fans something to chew on, along with Steve Wands in his “Beach Bum Boogie” backup story. You can check out a preview of the issue from Boom! Studios, after the jump.
From Boom Studios’ official solicitation info:
It doesn’t matter how many episodes or issues you get your hands on for ADVENTURE TIME, there will always be something new and amazing waiting for you behind every corner. The comic is a great read for allages and it’s not just for the fans of the shows (but seriously, who isn’t a fan?). It’s a great comic about fans in a fantastical world, with adventures, lessons, and sometimes princess farts.
You can check out five pages from Adventure Time #21 below.
Catherine Of Aragon - Who's Dated Who?
firehosefyi
Azerbaijan Election Results Released Before Voting Had Even Started
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Two Dogs Imitate a Baby’s Movements While He Learns How to Crawl
firehosesuch doge!
In this cute video, two Alaskan Malamutes imitate a little baby’s movements while he learns how to crawl.
video via Kenji Chen
Why Does the Oregonian's Digital-First Strategy Suck So Much?
firehose"Advance Media owns Reddit, Ars Technica, and Wired, among other impressive digital properties. They know how to own websites. So why does OregonLive.com look like it's aimed for toddlers?"
Hmm. I have an idea.
"Advance Media owns Reddit"
It's important for you to know that none of this is out of malice. My parents met in J school. My dad's worked for newspapers longer than I've been alive. It's not out of snarkiness that I say any of these things, it's because I genuinely want the Oregonian to be better, and I'm sad it's not.
This week was the official start of the Oregonian's digital-first strategy announced by they parent company Advance Media back in June. It was such a strange move, since the Oregonian has proven to be good at many things, but digital wasn't one of them. It was like Trader Joe's announcing it was going to be an all-produce store.
As expected, it's not an impressive start. The worst part is, they shouldn't be bad at digital! Advance Media owns Reddit, Ars Technica, and Wired, among other impressive digital properties. They know how to own websites. So why does OregonLive.com look like it's aimed for toddlers? Beige with rounded corners as if meant to be the home of generic, inoffensive cartoons. What it lacks in design, it makes up for with horrible pop-ups and a very long treasure hunt called "Find The News." I want to use it. I want to read the news. It's just so difficult.
If you go beyond OregonLive, things only get worse. I subscribed to weather e-mail updates for most of the last year and got day-old weather reports more often than not. Tech support told me three different times it was fixed without anything changing, proving that they also couldn't predict the past.
While they're cutting back on the thing they do well (printing newspapers and bringing them to people) they're adding more inept digital features. You can now get a look-alike edition of the paper at MyDigitalO.com. My. Digital. O. Have you guys never seen the Internet? The absolutely first test any product needs to pass is "does it sound like a porn site?" This sounds more like a porn site than Bang Bus, which one could possibly think was about driving to Hammer School.
But even if you can convince yourself it's okay to click on, you're rewarded with the paper in the least convenient format I've seen for anything on the web. It takes several minutes to load and then appears as if like they e-mailed you a .pdf of the paper but they thought Acrobat looked too nice and was too easy to navigate.
Again, this isn't malice. I'm just venting frustration because I want so badly for them to do this right. I want them to succeed. Because if they don't, I'll have to read Portland Tribune for my hard news.
Music Celebrity Mean Tweets!
firehoseWayne don't even know what a fucking crabapple is
fuck you too Wayne
As you've undoubtedly heard, Kanye West sat down with Jimmy Kimmel last night for 25 minute interview in which they kissed and made up after their well-publicized Twitter battle. (TLDW—too long, didn't watch... but in case you have all the time in the world, by all means watch it here.) However, it gave Jimmy another opportunity to ask celebrities to read the most awful, terrible, and downright mean tweets directed toward them. Check out the hilarious sad boo-boo faces of Katy Perry, Adam Levine, Pharrell and more! (And I'm sorry, but those tweets about Darius Rucker and John Mayer are FUNNY.)
TV: Newswire: John Munch is leaving Law & Order: SVU, throwing the Munchiverse into chaos
firehoseoh no not the Munchiverse
The television universe just became dangerously unstable with the news that the man at the center of it, Richard Belzer’s Detective John Munch, is retiring. Munch turned in his retirement papers on last night’s episode of Law & Order: SVU, with selfish disregard for both Mariska Hargitay—who’s already suffered the loss of Christopher Meloni, leaving her pretty much down to Ice-T—and the fabrics of the various intertwined TV realities he’s connected ever since his 1993 introduction on Homicide: Life On The Street, everything from The Wire to Arrested Development to The X-Files.
Next week’s episode will see Munch get an official send-off with a retirement party that, according to the episode description, also features a rape victim, because everything in Law & Order: SVU does. On that show you can’t even go out for coffee without tripping over a rape victim, which may explain ...
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TV: Newswire: Cinemax trying to click away from softcore porn real quick
firehose"it’s actively trying to move the network away from gratuitous nudity to gratuitous nudity that’s occasionally interrupted by a gunfight, like in its original programming"
In news that is sure to produce a lot of balled-up tissues that are actually filled with tears for once, Cinemax is actively working to change its image as “Skinemax,” the unofficial sobriquet it’s held since it first began filling its late-night hours with softcore porn, and the heads of teens who didn’t have premium cable with fetishes for breasts that are purple and squiggly. Variety spoke to Chris Lombardo, president of Cinemax’s parent network HBO, who—like all parents—would prefer it if that sort of filth wasn’t in their house, so it’s actively trying to move the network away from gratuitous nudity to gratuitous nudity that’s occasionally interrupted by a gunfight, like in its original programming.
Indeed, much as a struggling young woman earns respectability by launching her own, bikini-oriented small business, recent years have seen Cinemax shift its focus to shows ...
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Linked: Monopoly Empire: Own the World's Top Brands
firehose"aimed at younger players as a smaller, less time-consuming version of the original. Players buy brands"
fuck's sake
Link
Hasbro has released this edition aimed at younger players as a smaller, less time-consuming version of the original. Players buy brands and build billboards.
It's Happening Tonight!
SCIENCE!—OMSI hosts the world premiere of the guaranteed-to-be-awesome The International Exhibition of Sherlock Holmes, which explores how Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's famous detective used forensics to solve mysteries. Science! Plus, manuscripts, artifacts, and a chance to do some detectiving of your own. AH
OMSI, 1925 SE Water, Tues-Sun 9:30 am-5:30 pm, through Jan 5, $18
BOOKS—From his groundbreaking look at evolution and genetics (1976's The Selfish Gene) to his brilliant treatise on atheism (2006's The God Delusion), Richard Dawkins is one of our smartest and most gleefully provocative thinkers. He's making a rare stop in Portland to discuss his new autobiography, An Appetite for Wonder: The Making of a Scientist. EH
Powell's Books at Cedar Hills Crossing, 3415 SW Cedar Hills, Beaverton, Thurs Oct 10, 7 pm, FREE; PSU's Smith Ballroom, 1825 SW Broadway, Fri Oct 11, 7 pm, $15-20
Reports of flesh-rotting drug krokodil popping up in Midwestern suburbs and NYC clubs
firehosefollowup
There have now been at least eight cases of the skin-rotting Russian drug krokodil reported in the US, according to medical professionals who spoke with The Verge, and at least three resulted in death.
Krokodil is the street name for the nasty, cheap concoction that is derived from cooking codeine with chemicals such as lighter fluid or gasoline, then injected into the skin. It’s up to 10 times as potent as morphine and lasts half as long, which makes it extremely addictive.
It was thought to be confined to Eastern Europe and Russia, where it has had devastating effects. However, it has shown up in the last year in two patients in Arizona, three deaths in Oklahoma, and three patients in Illinois, one of whom is in critical condition.
Two krokodil users in Oklahoma were treated in the burn unit
It’s also made its way across the pond to the UK, where a homeless krokodil addict recently died after prolonged use. One source even told The Verge that it is being sold in at least two nightclubs in New York City’s trendy Meatpacking District.
The drug is called krokodil because impurities cause the skin to yellow, harden, rot, and fall off. Two krokodil users in Oklahoma last year had such devastating skin damage that they were treated in the hospital burn unit until they died, says Dr. William Banner, director of the Oklahoma Poison Control Center.
"We were reluctant to publish it," Dr. Banner tells The Verge. "But now that it’s out there, we really want the message to be, ‘This is an end game move. This is going to kill you.’"
Another Oklahoma resident, Justin McGee, 33, died in the hospital in November. He technically died of a heart attack, but he showed symptoms of krokodil use, including missing skin. "It did his body so bad, he would lie in the bed with his head covered, because he didn’t want them to see," his sister-in-law Lesia McGee tells The Verge.
Justin’s symptoms were stumping doctors, who eventually had him airlifted from the small town of Duncan to Oklahoma City. "They were calling us because I'm a nurse," Lesia recalls. "They said, ‘Chunks of his skin are falling off and they can’t get an IV in.’"
Justin’s symptoms were stumping doctors
An autopsy report showed Justin tested negative for desomorphine, the active ingredient in krokodil. But desomorphine leaves the body quickly and doctors often aren’t able to confirm it in time with blood or urine tests. Justin also tested positive for morphine, methamphetamine, and amphetamine. At his funeral, friends told Lesia that they had been using the drug after finding the recipe for krokodil on the internet.
The spread of the drug does not necessarily indicate a coming krokodil epidemic. News headlines report that the drug has or ," but it’s not like dealers are shipping en masse. (It is not available on any of the virtual black markets, for example.) The recipe for krokodil is available online, and it’s not surprising that desperate addicts are discovering it in tiny clusters in isolated cities.
The spread is also what Dr. Banner calls "self-limiting" -- addicts are more likely to die than spread the drug around.
"This is a poor man's drug," says Dr. Banner. "It is kind of the end of the road. They run out of money, they’re horribly addicted. They cook it, inject it, get high, wake up and want more."
The Drug Enforcement Administration has not seen any confirmed cases or any indication that the drug is taking off. "As far as the DEA is concerned, we are not seeing it, widespread or any cases," spokesperson Dawn Dearden tells The Verge. "It’s something that we’ll keep an eye on if there’s some sort of trend."
"This is a poor man's drug. It is kind of the end of the road."
Perhaps most concerning is the notion that the moonshine-style drug may be finding new users in New York City’s nightlife scene. Sal Ramirez, who witnessed krokodil being used while serving in the Peace Corps in Kazakhstan, says he saw a man being thrown out of Le Bain, one of New York’s hottest clubs, after attempting to peddle krokodil. Ramirez was also directly approached by a dealer at another club, Westway, who tried to sell him krokodil and "clean syringes" in the bathroom.
"I think it definitely is the novelty" that might persuade clubgoers to try krokodil, Ramirez tells The Verge. "But what people aren’t really that aware of is the fact that it’s super addictive. If more people knew that the reason it’s called krokodil is because of the effect it has on you, I think they wouldn’t be using it."
- Image Credit Fox 32 News
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