firehose

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Butch the energetic Siberian Husky runs around like crazy and jumps in a huge pile of leaves in this fun 2012 video by Kent Petersen.

via Daily Picks and Flicks

popular shared this story from xkcd.com.

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beltsbear writes "Your formerly working clone Lightning cable could stop working with the latest iOS update. Previously the beta version allowed these cables to charge with a warning message but the final release actually stops many cables from working. Apples Lightning connector system is locked with authentication chips that can verify if a cable is authorized by Apple. Many users with clone cables are now without the ability to charge their iPhones."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Comfortably seating 8-12 people at a picnic table generally means combining two long tables leaving guests confined to chatting with whomever is to either side of them, and passing food and libations down from one end to the other.

So … Read More...

In celebration of International Talk Like a Pirate Day, The Unipiper rides a unicycle while wearing a Jack Sparrow costume and playing “Yo Ho (A Pirate’s Life for Me)” and the Pirates of the Caribbean theme song on flaming bagpipes in this great video.

via Neatorama

With all the talk about "open world," "mayhem," and "power fantasy," it's easy to forget how confining the Grand Theft Auto series now feels, writes Gamasutra's Leigh Alexander.

When the world ties one on, it doesn’t get drunk on whiskey. Or rum. Or vodka. Nope—year after year, Jinro soju, a South Korean rice liquor, tops the Drinks International list of top-selling spirits, as National Public Radio flags. The liquor, which is owned by Hite-Jinro, sold 65.4 million 9-liter cases in 2012 (pdf), an increase of 6%. Sales are more than twice those of the runner up, a brandy called Emperador, which is owned by Alliance Global Group, and more than 2.5 times last year’s sales of Smirnoff, a Diageo vodka.

What’s so great about soju? It’s cheap and low-alcohol. A 25-ounce (750 milliliter) bottle of Jinro costs around $10 in the US.

It’s also the favorite liquor of South Korea, the country with the world’s biggest per capita alcohol consumption, according to the World Health Organization. The country put back some 3 billion bottles of soju in 2012. That explains a good bit of Jinro’s global dominance (it’s been #1 for at least the last five years). Even after the South Korean government dropped import tariffs on foreign liquor in 2011, soju still occupied 97% of the market, and Jinro claimed almost half that.

But as you can see in the chart above, Jinro is still down from its pre-global financial crisis high of 76 million cases sold. It’s also been giving up market share to Lotta Liquor, its rival in South Korea’s soju market, says Drinks International.

That may be part of why Jinro is now intent on breaking into the US, as NPR reports. The company has made it known that it’s open to a joint venture with Diageo. But until that happens, its biggest assets is Korean pop star Psy, singer of “Gangnam Style” and avowed soju-lover, whom the company signed as its spokesperson in late 2012. That’s led to marketing efforts like this:

Los Angeles looks to be the trial market. Starting in late April, billboards featuring Psy hawking Jinro sprouted up around LA:

Jinro has also linked up with the Los Angeles Dodgers, a baseball team, which may or may not have anything to do with the Dodgers signing Hyun-jin Ryu, the first-ever player from the Korean Baseball Organization to play in the Major Leagues. Regardless, fans sipped Jinro cocktails at home games throughout the season—and they’re proving to be popular fare, considering that the Jinro booth sold out of its original supply within three games of its April debut. (Hite also covered its bases, so to speak,  with a crowd that’s more traditionally into beer by rolling out Hite Dodger Beer.)

And that touches on one of its big strengths. Soju’s 20% or so alcohol content means restaurants don’t need liquor licenses to sell it, even though they can satisfy buzz-hungry customers by simply pouring more of it into a cocktail. But as one bartender on Lost Angeles’ Venice Beach, a popular drinking destination, told NPR, it still has to overcome the lack of “soju” recognition.

“Because of our location, you are getting the people that just want to get wasted, that just want a shot of Jameson. And it’s hard to say, ‘I’m not full liquor [licensed], but I have soju,’” the bartender said. “And it’s like, ‘What language are you speaking?’”

"Orange Is the New Black" fans, remember that fantastic backstory episode for Sophia Burset, the transgender inmate played by Laverne Cox?

In the ep ("Lesbian Request Denied," the one directed by Jodie Foster), we learn that Sophia is married, that she has a son, and that her wife stuck by her through her gender-reassignment process. We also see Sophia before her surgery, when she was New York City fireman Marcus Burset, who boosted credit card numbers to finance the surgery.

[Related: 'Orange Is the New Black' Star Pablo Schreiber: My Character Is a Despicable Man, and I Love Him]

And the guy playing the presurgery Mr. Burset: Laverne Cox's twin brother, musician M. Lamar.

"Initially, [series creator Jenji Kohan] approached me and said that they would hire someone [to play Marcus]," Cox said. "She didn't — this is [the] amazing support I got on set — she's like, 'I don't want to traumatize you, by having you play a man again.' You know, because I tried to play one for many years in my real life, and unsuccessfully. But, I'm an actor. I can play this … I got this. I can do it.

"So … we talked about it, we did a hair and makeup test to get Sophia's looks throughout her transition together. One of those looks was her as [Marcus], as the firefighter, but Jodie didn't think I looked masculine enough to play [him]," Cox continued. "And so it was decided that someone would be hired. I did my best to butch it up, and it wasn't butch enough, apparently."

[Video: Watch 'Orange Is the New Black's' Crazy Eyes Twerk It]

The actress said that she and her brother, who isn't an actor, didn't actually get to work together on the show — they shot their scenes on different days — but sharing a role did make her "OITNB" experience more special.

"I love my brother so much … in so many ways, he's been my moral compass over the years. Like, I run things by him and he's … we're twins, so we've literally known each other our entire lives," she said, laughing. "And there's a wonderful bond that we share, and there's a tremendous amount of respect that we have for each other as artists and as human beings. So I'm really grateful that I got to share a little bit of this show and this moment with him."

My sister @Lavernecox and I photographed together for the first time in over a decade.I am the evil twin. pic.twitter.com/pIotPNyVuo

— M Lamar (@M_Lamar) July 19, 2013

Cox, who created "TRANSform Me" and was the first African American transgender woman to appear in a reality show, with VH1's "I Want to Work for Diddy," has also guest-starred on "Law and Order," "Law and Order: SVU," and "Bored to Death," and she is a regular contributor to the Huffington Post, where she writes about transgender issues.

In a recent conference call, the actress said that she was inspired in 2007 by the performance of transgender actress Candis Cayne on the ABC drama "Dirty Sexy Money" and hopes that she and "OITNB" can serve as inspirations to everyone who isn't used to seeing such a diverse collection of female characters in a TV series.

[Related: From 'Star Trek' Captain to Prison Chef: You Won't Recognize Kate Mulgrew in 'Orange Is the New Black']

"Candis Cayne had, for me, what was a watershed moment on 'Dirty Sexy Money,' when she became the first trans woman to have a recurring role in a primetime series," Cox said. "That moment was such a huge inspiration for me, [and] I really believe I wouldn't be here if it weren't for her and for that show just deciding to cast a trans woman to play that part. That inspired me to get an agent. … I had been trying to have a substantial career as an actor for a long time, and I began to believe it was possible six years ago because of Candis Cayne.

"I just want to work, and do quality work, and 'Orange Is the New Black' has set the bar really high for that," she continued. "Wonderful scripts, wonderful directors… I think it's important for trans folks specifically, but for anyone, really, who's not seeing their stories told on television to see their stories told up there and see people like them on TV. The wonderful thing about our show is that it provides a platform for a lot of different women who we don't get to see and hear from a lot, to be able to tell their stories through these characters. As a trans actor, I know that's important. I know that visibility matters, and I'm super grateful for the opportunity. I take it all very seriously."

[Related: From 'Star Trek' Captain to Prison Chef: You Won't Recognize Kate Mulgrew in 'Orange Is the New Black']

As for what Cox wants to see happen for Sophia in Season 2 — currently in production in New York City for a likely 2014 release — she's mostly mum but said she's hoping for more family time.

"Her relationship with her son — I'm curious about that, what happens with that — and her relationship with the other inmates," Cox said. "There's so many different ways we [can go with these characters]. I really do trust and believe in our brilliant writing team."

All 13 Season 1 episodes of "Orange Is the New Black" are streaming now on Netflix.

Original Source

Sexiest States

Small Plane Crashes in Vt. After Detour; 2 Hurt ABC News A small plane that couldn't land at its intended destination because of a hot air balloon festival ran out of fuel and crashed in Vermont on Saturday, injuring both men on board, police said. Vermont State Police said neither man was seriously hurt when the ... and more »

what was your favorite episode?

What’s more important: an extra hour of sleep or getting up early to exercise?

Everyone has an uncle they’d rather you not meet.

brudesworld:

"Murder, my dear Watson.  Refined, cold-blooded murder."

popular shared this story from Neven Mrgan's tumbl.

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I’m testing a new all-purpose New Yorker cartoon caption.

Rashad Johnson experienced the most graphic injury of Week 3.

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How did this Pepsi/AAPE collaboration make it past the proofreaders?

(I'm categorizing an antiques-related post as "history." That works, right?)

I go antiquing and thrifting kind of a lot. I'm late to it, but I married into a family of semi-professional design gleaners, and have spent the last 8+ years learning the ropes—what's good, what's fake, when a seller doesn't know what they have (that's when you pounce), and maybe most importantly, getting a sense of the value of things. You can tell right away when you're in a tourist trap—they'll have only beautiful things, and everything will be so unattainably expensive that you'll wonder how they sell anything at all. Meanwhile some of the best deals require looking past a bunch of chintzy garbage—it's a slow pastime, a lifelong pursuit, and half the reason I visit the Oregon coast. Maybe it's not everyone's jam (hi Dad), but if it is:

Grand Marketplace just opened smack dab in the middle of town at SE Grand and Yamhill. I caught wind that the curio geniuses behind Paxton Gate, along with partner and general manager Andrea Jones, were behind it, and knew it called for a look-see.

It's pretty amazing. It has 22 different vendors, some of whom you might recognize (Animal Traffic, DIGS, Aurora Mills Architectural Salvage), very little filler, and the prices are mostly fair. (If you live in a world where a hand-painted gypsy carriage for just under two Gs seems like a bargain, as I apparently do.) If you've got a little dough to throw around you can find some really astonishing pieces—there's a Victorian-era bathtub/shower thing that is utterly amazing, and a steam-punk's wet dream (pun intended). If you're shrewd, you'll find some square deals. (Keep your head. That giant old wood dining table going for 10k may make you want to faint, but in New York it'd be going for twice that.)

They're also throwing what are planned to be monthly-ish flea markets in the back parking lot, with both their permanent vendors and then some, and on October 12 they're unloading what is tantalizingly described as "freight containers full of treasures straight from Europa." Also, on October 26 they're having a grand opening with live music that'll get going around 3 pm. But enough chitchat—here are some pics I snapped when I visited a few days ago:

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lifeinflames:

kinokorin:

「butt pudding」

I can’t