firehose

dryriver sends this news from the BBC: "Boeing has revealed that it has retrofitted retired fighter jets to turn them into drones. It said that one of the Lockheed Martin F-16s made a first flight with an empty cockpit last week. Two U.S. Air Force pilots controlled the plane from the ground as it flew from a Florida base to the Gulf of Mexico (video). Boeing suggested that the innovation could ultimately be used to help train pilots, providing an adversary they could practise firing on. The jet — which had previously sat mothballed at an Arizona site for 15 years — flew at an altitude of 40,000ft (12.2km) and a speed of Mach 1.47 (1,119mph/1,800km/h). It carried out a series of maneuvers including a barrel roll and a 'split S' — a move in which the aircraft turns upside down before making a half loop so that it flies the right-way-up in the opposite direction. This can be used in combat to evade missile lock-ons. Boeing said the unmanned F-16 was followed by two chase planes to ensure it stayed in sight, and also contained equipment that would have allowed it to self-destruct if necessary. The firm added that the flight attained 7Gs of acceleration but was capable of carrying out maneuvers at 9Gs — something that might cause physical problems for a pilot. 'It flew great, everything worked great, [it] made a beautiful landing — probably one of the best landings I've ever seen,' said Paul Cejas, the project's chief engineer."

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http://imgur.com/DLLIS7h

Original Source

Yep. Self-appointed guardians of morality aren't trying to protect our kids from To Kill a Mockingbird nearly as often as the Captain Underpants books, which to be fair have "underpants" in their title. That's the shocking revelation from this year's Banned Books Week.

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cartechboy writes "State and national car dealer groups have been battling Tesla Motors for years, trying to stop them from selling its electric cars directly to buyers. Most of the time, the dealers work behind the scenes to change state laws and and force Tesla to conduct its sales through 'independently-owned third parties' which are... well, car dealers. But in California, Tesla's operations are legal, so that tactic won't work. So dealers there are taking an interesting new tack — complaining to the DMV about Tesla's website."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

- See more at: http://bostonherald.com/business/business_markets/2013/09/judge_refuses_to_stop_payout_to_market_basket_shareholders#sthash.4B894JP7.dpuf

“I hang around architects mostly”

- Kanye West

The amount of sexism, gender essentialism, and caveman logic within its pages is so appalling that it's difficult to believe that her book is anything but a cry for help.

Daniel_Stuckey writes "From an article announcing the sites' decision to do away with comments: 'It wasn't a decision we made lightly. As the news arm of a 141-year-old science and technology magazine, we are as committed to fostering lively, intellectual debate as we are to spreading the word of science far and wide. The problem is when trolls and spambots overwhelm the former, diminishing our ability to do the latter. ... even a fractious minority wields enough power to skew a reader's perception of a story, recent research suggests. ... A politically motivated, decades-long war on expertise has eroded the popular consensus on a wide variety of scientifically validated topics. Everything, from evolution to the origins of climate change, is mistakenly up for grabs again. Scientific certainty is just another thing for two people to "debate" on television. And because comments sections tend to be a grotesque reflection of the media culture surrounding them, the cynical work of undermining bedrock scientific doctrine is now being done beneath our own stories, within a website devoted to championing science.'" This comes alongside news that Google is trying to clean up YouTube comments by adding integration with Google+. "You’ll see posts at the top of the list from the video’s creator, popular personalities, engaged discussions about the video, and people in your Google+ Circles."

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Watching the Siegfried from the wonderful Lepage production of the Ring Cycle for the Metropolitan Opera. Spectacular, wonderful effects, and possibly the cleverest and most flexible set ever seen.

Only one question so far. Why is Wotan (granted, in disguise as the Wanderer) wearing a Stetson?

Apolonis Aphrodisia


Apolonis Aphrodisia


Apolonis Aphrodisia


Apolonis Aphrodisia

mscrosswords:

akacosmic:

apolonisaphrodisia:

Mansons Creations

Whoa *_*

I want this in my house.

Back in 2011 we wrote about Alternate Histories, a humorous illustration series by Matthew Buchholz in which historical art prints were improved with the addition of monsters. Buchholz’s illustrations will be featured in his upcoming book, Alternate Histories of the World. The book is available for pre-order on Amazon.

submitted via Laughing Squid Tips

1. As a rebuttal to all the hoopla over Pope Francis's suggestion that the Catholic Church should spend a little less time obsessing over gays and abortion last week, Tim Stanley at the Telegraph points out the case of a former priest from Melbourne named Greg Reynolds who "appears to have been both defrocked and excommunicated because of his radical views on women clergy and gay marriage." I'm not denying the fact that Francis is better than Pope Benedict, but it's also important to always remember that the Pope still represents a ridiculously regressive system. We should praise his steps to the good, but we should also continually remind him how far he has to go.

2. But if anyone wanted a reminder of how awful Pope Francis's predecessor was, this account of a new letter from Joseph Ratzinger just popped up on TIME's website:

Benedict directly addressed the sexual abuse crisis that has plagued the Catholic church for much of the last decade. It is believed to be the first time he addressed the crisis in the first person. “As far as you mentioning the moral abuse of minors by priests, I can only, as you know, acknowledge it with profound consternation. But I never tried to cover up these things,” he wrote. ”It’s also not a motive for comfort to know that, according to sociological research, the percentage of priests guilty of these crimes is no higher than in other comparable professional categories…In any event, one must not stubbornly present this deviance as if it were a nastiness specific to Catholicism.”

This is a man who has learned absolutely no lessons.

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At least you won't be able to say I didn't warn you. LA stylist Lisa Katnic is behind recent infamy in the form of the Miley Cyrus/Robin Thicke VMA performance, as well as Thicke's "Blurred Lines" video, and she has an interview in New York Magazine's "The Cut" today, in which she defends the VMA thing, talks about the relevance of "ratchet" style, and makes a shockingly horrific pronouncement:

Thinking back to the VFILES showcase of four young designers that she styled for Fashion Week, she noticed that the activewear trend is taking an “earthy” turn. “I think that ‘stoner’ is going to be the new look,” she says, citing hemp necklaces, saggy shorts, and dreadlocks seen in looks she styled for the Harlem-based label Gypsy Sport.

It gets worse:

“I put athletic socks under rope sandals, and now I’m obsessed with that.”

:(

We're doomed.

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Scoff as we may, we've all been there before. One of your gadgets starts acting up and, even though you know it's wrong, banging on it with your fists just feels so right. Why, even TV and movie people do it—a lot, actually. Vimeo user Duncan Robson was kind enough to round up the best belligerent-tech-smashing-clips that TV and movies have to offer, and the result is absolutely delightful.

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Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes "Danny Sullivan reports that in the past month, Google has quietly made a change aimed at encrypting all search activity to provide 'extra protection' for searchers, and possibly to block NSA spying activity. In October 2011, Google began encrypting searches for anyone who was logged into Google. The reason given was privacy. Now, Google has flipped on encryption for people who aren't even signed-in. In June, Google was accused of cooperating with the NSA to give the agency instant and direct access to its search data through the PRISM spying program, something the company has strongly denied. 'I suspect the increased encryption is related to Google's NSA-pushback,' writes Sullivan. 'It may also help ease pressure Google's feeling from tiny players like Duck Duck Go making a "secure search" growth pitch to the media.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Speaking of The Greatest Out-of-Print Tabletop RPGs That We Still Love! Wizards of the Coast is re-releasing the legendary "White Box" in a deluxe edition — the very first Dungeons & Dragons set ever, back in 1974 — including the three original rulebooks, along with four classic supplements all in special packaging.

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Archie McPhee recently released a Pug Mask, a latex mask designed so you can look like a cute dog. It is similar to the other humorous animal masks they offer, like the Creepy Pig, the Pigeon, and the Magical Unicorn.

This mask smells better than actual pug wrinkles
No one can be angry at you while you’re wearing this latex Pug Mask. Just point your giant, sorrowful eyes and tilt your oddly-shaped head, and all the adults within range will be trying to feed you snacks and rub behind your ears. This is a full-sized adult mask that is sure to be a hit at the dog park. It is so realistic that as soon as you put it on, you’ll feel the urge to snort, beg for food and dress up as a portly, sad bumblebee.

http://i.imgur.com/jta9A8X.gif

Original Source

Today is Jim Henson's birthday, and in honor of that date, nearly two dozen of his puppets will now join the original Kermit the Frog in the Smithsonian's collection. So yes. This is Miss Piggy wearing the actual Hope Diamond. Piggy herself will go on permanent display, presumably along with Kermit, and presumably with the diamond back at the National History Museum. (Smithsonian)

Joseph Staten, Destiny's writer and design director, is leaving Bungie. According to an announcement posted to Bungie's official site, Staten is "leaving to tackle new creative challenges." For his sake, we hope those challenges don't include real-life hostile aliens.

During Staten's 15-year stay at Bungie, he was both creative lead and writer for the Halo series, and he spent the last four years on Destiny. Destiny, published by Activision, is slated to launch in 2014, and while Staten won't be around to see it ship he noted that he will be cheering on the rest of the development team when it does.

Read Staten's full goodbye note below.

Continue reading Destiny Design Director Joseph Staten leaves Bungie after 15 years

Destiny Design Director Joseph Staten leaves Bungie after 15 years originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 24 Sep 2013 18:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Tucked away inside of the densely-packed Tokyo Game Show Indie Game Area was Project EF-12, which at first glance appeared to be a prototype 3D fighter along the lines of SoulCalibur or Tekken. After being introduced to designer/Quad Arrow CEO Masahiro Onoguchi, however, I learned that the game is in fact a free, totally customizable 3D fighting game engine.

Through modifying what essentially amounts to a collection of spreadsheets, users can change virtually everything about Project EF-12, from its characters, to their abilities and stages, all the way down to the appearance of the UI. The version I played had a selection of characters that had been modified into familiar archetypes: Virtua Fighter-esque, Tekken-like - there was even a character that played with 2D-style controls, despite this being a 3D engine.

Players can also insert new character models they've built from scratch, assuming the models were constructed in either Soft Image or Maya. Trading/sharing new characters is as simple as downloading a zip and extracting the spreadsheet and models into the correct folder.

Project EF-12 is currently available with a mountain of Japanese-language tutorial material through Playism's Japanese website, with an English release expected on Playism's English site before the end of the year. In related news, expect Style Guide: Journalism Hyper Fighting from Joystiq Publishing almost immediately afterwards.

Project EF-12 is a free, fully customizable 3D fighting game engine originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 24 Sep 2013 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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In their new web series Grand Theft Auto V Mythbusters, a team of video game truth seekers at DefendTheHouse test out numerous tips and rumors found online for Rocksar Games’ popular new title Grand Theft Auto V. In episode 1, they confirm that you can survive a fall from a helicopter by using a special ability and hide from cops in bushes, and that backfire from cars can light gasoline trails.

music by Big Z Remixes – “April Showers (The Roots vs. ProleteR)”

via UPROXX

askkorbinsilas:

dendrophilic:

Did that cat just do a fucking flying kick on that guy

I fucking love how the guy at the counter just loses his shit, this probably made his day.

THE GUY AT THE COUNTER!