Whereas Chamillionaire’s video ends with the artist throwing up a gang hand sign to the camera, “White & Nerdy" ends with Yankovic giving a mistaken version of the Vulcan salute (his thumb is against the side of his hand instead of perpendicular).

Link (thanks, harmoniousfusion!)

ABC News

Rand Paul top pick for Republicans in 2016 Daily Caller Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul is Republicans' top choice to be their next presidential nominee, a poll released Thursday found. The Public Policy Polling poll found Paul leading with 16 percent of Republican primary voters saying they would vote for him if the ... Christie, Paul highlight GOP debate over securityNBC40 all 176 news articles »

This is an interesting, if slightly disturbing, result:

In one experiment, we had subjects read two government policy papers from 1995, one from the State Department and the other from the National Security Council, concerning United States intervention to stop the sale of fighter jets between foreign countries.

The documents, both of which were real papers released through the Freedom of Information Act, argued different sides of the issue. Depending on random assignment, one was described as having been previously classified, the other as being always public. Most people in the study thought that whichever document had been "classified" contained more accurate and well-reasoned information than the public document.

In another experiment, people read a real government memo from 1978 written by members of the National Security Council about the sale of fighter jets to Taiwan; we then explained that the council used the information to make decisions. Again, depending on random assignment, some people were told that the document had been secret and for exclusive use by the council, and that it had been recently declassified under the Freedom of Information Act. Others were told that the document had always been public.

As we expected, people who thought the information was secret deemed it more useful, important and accurate than did those who thought it was public. And people judged the National Security Council's actions based on the information as more prudent and wise when they believed the document had been secret.

[...]

Our study helps explain the public's support for government intelligence gathering. A recent poll by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press reported that a majority of Americans thought it was acceptable for the N.S.A. to track Americans' phone activity to investigate terrorism. Some frustrated commentators have concluded that Americans have much less respect for their own privacy than they should.

But our research suggests another conclusion: the secret nature of the program itself may lead the public to assume that the information it gathers is valuable, without even examining what that information is or how it might be used.

Original paper abstract; the full paper is behind a paywall.

Telegraph.co.uk

Ex-IMF chief Strauss-Kahn to be tried for pimping Reuters PARIS | Fri Jul 26, 2013 9:59am EDT. PARIS (Reuters) - Former IMF head Dominique Strauss-Kahn will be tried on charges of pimping, prosecutors said on Friday, capping an inquiry into sex parties attended by a man whose French presidential hopes were ... Former IMF chief Strauss-Kahn charged with 'aggravated pimping'Fox News Dominque Strauss Kahn to face trial for pimpingTelegraph.co.uk Lawyer: ex-IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn to be tried on aggravated ...Washington Post MyFox Los Angeles -Aljazeera.com -euronews all 37 news articles »

NTSF:SD:SUV:: is at its best when it’s overloading every episode with action clichés in different scenarios. Kicking off its third season with a Con Air parody packed with standout guest stars—Summer Glau, Joe Lo Truglio, Matt Jones— is just the way to start the season on a high note. Guest casting on quarter-hour shows is a huge boon to Childrens Hospital and NTSF. They only need the actors for about a day, so it doesn’t take much to fit it into a schedule. That’s how shows like this can get such amazing people to show up in bit parts with only a couple lines.

When I read the title, I was skeptical that “Comic-Con Air” would be a retread of the convention-themed “Comic-Con-Flict” from last season, but this is a more direct parody of Con Air, overlapping with nerd culture humor to form ...

Read more

In HateSong, we ask our favorite musicians, writers, comedians, actors, and so forth to expound on the one song they hate most in the world. 

The hater: Famously a fan of weed, boobs, metal, comic books, and fart jokes, Brian Posehn has grumbled his way to the top of the comedy world with countless road appearances, as well as roles on The Sarah Silverman Program, Mission Hill, Just Shoot Me, and Mr. Show. Posehn just released his third stand-up album, The Fartist, and he also collaborated on the upcoming book Hollywood Said No! with David Cross and Bob Odenkirk. He does plenty of complaining in his act, but we asked him to elaborate on just one song that he truly abhors.

The hated: Katy Perry, “Firework” (2010)

Brian Posehn: When I got asked to do this, I looked at what other people had picked and I felt like it would ...

Read more

Bees Wax Sculpture by Tomas Libertiny

Tomáš Libertíny from Slovakia lets bees make honeycomb sculptures. He makes a shape and coats it with wax. The whole structure is covered by a transparent case and thousands of bees are pumped in, who over time make a honeycomb structures out of it.

The Oregon Supreme Court has upheld the state’s rape shield law. A West Linn man accused of sexual assault tried to argue a victim’s sexual history should be vetted in open court. Dean MacBale is the co-owner of several strip clubs in the Portland metro area. He was accused of an attack on a former club employee.

Read 1 remaining paragraphs | Comments

If you’re fed up with long lines, full-body scanners, and the occasional cavity search, the TSA will give you a pass for $85 and a background check.

A few days ago, the CyanogenMod teamed teased a new project named Nemesis, a series of planned improvements to the user interface. An anonymous reader writes with news of the first part: a new camera application designed to replace the neglected stock Android camera app. From the article: "As cameras and camera software becomes an increasingly important part of our mobile experience, a great photography experience on your smartphone can make all the difference. The CyanogenMod project has decided to take smartphone photography a lot more seriously with the release of Focal, and all new camera app for CM users everywhere." Android Police also has an early look with screenshots. The menu system in particular looks a lot nicer to use than the current cumbersome interface to white balance/exposure/scene settings. Focal should be merged into nightly releases soon.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Union Rose, the local retail darling of the Montavilla District, is turning six years old today. To celebrate they will be marking down the entire shop by 25% percent on Saturday only. That is one hell of a deal. Make sure to stop in and wish them a happy birthday while snagging adorable dresses for a steal.

[ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

EA Tiburon introduced its "clutch trait" for in-game athletes in Madden 12 as a means of providing a boost in players' ratings when the right circumstances were in place, namely when the game is on the line in the 4th quarter or overtime. That trait will carry over to Madden 25, and oddly enough, the list of players that will start the game out with the clutch trait is nearly identical to the one announced for Madden 13 last year.

One name is new to the list: Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco. Flacco certainly earned the trait, given his stellar playoff performance and Super Bowl win. Only two other names are missing from last year's list, Ray Lewis and Brian Urlacher, and that's because those linebackers retired during the offseason.

EA Tiburon's Donny Moore, the "Ratings Czar" for the Madden series, tells Joystiq the team "decided when we added these traits that we wanted it to be a special thing, very unique, there wouldn't be a clutch player on every team necessarily, so we sort of stuck to that mantra when we assigned the traits."

Continue reading Joe Flacco is the only new clutch player in Madden 25

Joe Flacco is the only new clutch player in Madden 25 originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 25 Jul 2013 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

GWOB’s IndieGoGo

Geeks Without Bounds, the thing I’ve given my life to over the past 3 years, has launched a fundraiser to hire a fundraiser. It’s all in the video, but it basically boils down to this: the internet was supposed to be the great equalizer, but it isn’t. People with technical skillsets need a way to help other people. We bridge that gap. Go help us grow. There are only a couple days left to contribute in this way.

Moonlet

All over the place, the internet is showing itself as what it is – not only owned by private interests, but also tracked. We’re building a prototype template of group-held servers for people who don’t know how to run their own servers. Email, Calendar to start, all sorts of other goodies as it builds. Join in the first round to help us build the future we were supposed to have, and to keep your data.. yours.

Moonlet will be a small scale personal cloud services collective. Our goal is to pool together about 20-40 peoples’ resources to pay for the hosting and sysadmin time necessary to replace most or all of the cloud services we use with ones we can trust.

Our goals are:

• To offer cloud-replacement services at a reasonable price to members
• Security and privacy are primary priorities
• Ensure a useable and well-integrated solution that replicates the hassle-free convenience of the better existing cloud services
• Document the process clearly so other people can replicate the experience

NASA’s Asteroid Grand Challenge

Some mornings, I wake up and watch the NASA/Sagan YouTube series. It gives me hope and peace to remember what humanity is capable of. All the shit we do to each other, rather than focusing our efforts of banding together to overcome the natural obstacles around us, is trumped when Us/Them mentality replaces the “Them” of other people with the “Them” of the unknown. NASA represents that. They’re also a manifestation of a gov org trying to do it right – massively pooled resources to conduct collaborative exploration turned atrociously bureaucratic. They’ve started releasing datasets, opening up their processes, engaging the public, etc. And now they have a grand challenge around finding asteroids. I’ll probably post more on this one later, but check it out now.

Rare's Kinect sensor showpiece, Kinect Sports Rivals, will miss the Xbox One's launch window, Microsoft confirmed today.

Kinect Sports Rivals was originally slated for release in November, offering up a collection of minigames that require the Xbox One's bundled Kinect peripheral. A representative from Microsoft told Polygon that the delay was necessary in order to give developer Rare enough time to polish up its work before launch.

Kinect Sports Rivals is now set for release during spring of next year.

Kinect Sports Rivals delayed past launch on Xbox One originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 25 Jul 2013 19:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Wayward Manor is the first game from acclaimed author Neil Gaiman, whose resume includes classics such as American Gods, The Sandman and Coraline, in addition to a myriad of other dark, whimsical sundries. Expected in the fall of this year on PC, Mac and "tablets," the game is being produced in conjunction with The Odd Gentlemen, a developer Gaiman chose for its ability to balance the cartoonish and the macabre.

While no gameplay footage is shown in the introduction trailer, Gaiman does lay down Wayward Manor's premise: There is a house in 1920's New England, and it is the player's responsibility as its deceased occupant to frighten the Manor's new, still living tenants away.

Pre-orders both physical and digital are available on the game's official site, in addition to various merchandise, tickets to Wayward Manor's launch party and a $10,000 dinner with Gaiman, which he describes as "the single spookiest dinner anybody has ever had ... in Los Angeles."

We're keeping our fingers crossed for some heavy Amanda Palmer involvement in the game's soundtrack.

Neil Gaiman enters gaming space with 'Wayward Manor' originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 25 Jul 2013 21:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Activision Blizzard has reached a deal to buy itself back from Vivendi for over $8 billion. After the split, Activision Blizzard will be an independent company again, with a majority of its shares owned by the public. Bobby Kotick will remain CEO, with Brian Kelly as Chairman. Financially troubled French conglomerate Vivendi is out...well, not totally out, it still retains 83 million shares or about 12 percent of the company.

The price for Activision Blizzard's departure from Vivendi is roughly $5.83 billion in cash for 429 million shares. On top of that, Kotick, Kelly and others are purchasing 172 million shares from Vivendi for $2.34 billion. The math in both sums is some heavy multiplication of $13.60 per share.

"These transactions together represent a tremendous opportunity for Activision Blizzard and all its shareholders, including Vivendi," said Kotick. "We should emerge even stronger - an independent company with a best-in-class franchise portfolio and the focus and flexibility to drive long-term shareholder value and expand our leadership position as one of the world's most important entertainment companies."

He continued, "The transactions announced today will allow us to take advantage of attractive financing markets while still retaining more than $3 billion cash on hand to preserve financial stability."

Vivendi had been trying to sell its stake in Activision Blizzard for over a year now with no luck. A rather understandable predicament when Vivendi owned 702 million shares (61 percent) of Activision's 1.15 billion outstanding shares. At today's closing price, those shares were worth about $10.7 billion. We're not sure pooling all the change found between all the couch cushions in all the world would get us that type of dough.

Continue reading Activision buys itself back from Vivendi for $8 billion

Activision buys itself back from Vivendi for $8 billion originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 26 Jul 2013 00:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

BBC News

Tunisia braces for nationwide strikes, protests, after killing of opposition leader Fox News TUNIS, Tunisia – Tunisia's largest unions are aiming to shutter the government, public transport and commerce with a general strike, and large protests are expected after the killing of an opposition leader. The attack Thursday on Mohammed Brahmi of the ... Turmoil hits Tunisia after secular politician assassinatedIrish Times Tunisian politician Mohamed Brahmi assassinatedBBC News Protests after Tunisian opposition leader killedUSA TODAY Voice of America -Los Angeles Times -The Independent all 167 news articles »

U.S. News & World Report

San Diego Democrats urge Filner to resign as mayor after 4 more women ... Washington Post SAN DIEGO — San Diego Mayor Bob Filner's own political party called for the leader of the nation's eighth-largest city to resign as four more women identified themselves as targets of his sexual advances, bringing to seven the number of women who have ... San Diego Democrats urge Filner to resign as mayorFresno Bee 4 more women accuse San Diego mayor of unwanted sexual advancesFox News San Diego mayor faces recall, sex harassment suitUSA TODAY Politico -Chicago Tribune all 331 news articles »

From Roots, Studio Otwarte, and Thomas Lichtblau

Simple yet bold color palettes and identity systems make up this week's Friday Links with work from Singapore, Cracow, and Vienna.

<craig>

I know, I know. This is like one hundred percent the obvious solution when designing for a web developer, but <craig>'s stationery by Singapore-based Roots is by far the best execution I've seen of the HTML code approach. A single monospaced font in one size, style, and color perfectly tabbed. The letterhead is particularly good. See full project.

23rd Krakow Jewish Culture Festival

In recent years efforts have been made to make Jewish culture hip and contemporary — see Heeb — and free of clichéd symbols like the Star of David that Cracow, Poland-based Studio Otwarte call the "Jewish compulsory kit". Instead they chose the Lion of Judah, the symbol for one of the original Israel tribes, to create the identity for the 23rd Krakow Jewish Culture Festival, that sits on top of nonchalant sans serif typography and glimmers in a simple color palette of black, white, and gold. The applications are extensive and hip as a mitzvah. See full project.

Mein Honig

Two copywriters, one developer, one sales manager, one designer, and one beekeeper walk into a bar… Actually, I don't know if they walk into a bar or not but they do make one mean honey packaging system under the moniker of Mein Honig (My Honey) in Vienna. Their designer, Thomas Lichtblau, has devised a deceivingly simple design system for packaging the honey by only covering each jar's lid. Their welcoming box set is branded and follows the same simple economy of textures and design. What impressed me the most, despite my browser's scrolling struggles as it loaded long-ass image after long-ass image, was the presentation of the whole project — smart, compelling, and visually entertaining. See full project.

Até amanhã!

Ukrainian design company CYAN has created the Baguette Bag, a baguette-shaped adjustable shoulder bag that’s designed to carry and protect your fresh baguette while you travel home from the bakery. The project is currently available for pre-order in yellow, brown, green, and grey on Wowcracy.

There’s something special about purchasing a fresh baguette while it’s still crispy and warm. The CYAN’s Baguette Bag guarantees your trip home from the bakery will never be the same. Made especially for the baguette fans, the Baguette Bag protects the fluffy loaf while keeping your hands free. Place your just purchased bread into this stylish accessory and sling it over your shoulder – now you can bike or walk and carry other groceries in your hands without damaging the baguette. And if you’re empty-handed, you can always keep your hands free while walking instead of worrying about protecting the loaf.

images via CYAN

via The Daily Mail

Los Angeles Daily News is reporting that Van Nuys-Sherman Oaks Park has dedicated a new outdoor fitness equipment area. Described as an “adult fitness playground,” the new equipment was added to make exercising outdoors more fun for grown-ups.

“Councilmember Tom LaBonge cuts a ribbon from atop a piece of exercise equipment in the new Fitness Equipment Area at Van Nuys-Sherman Oaks Park Thursday July 18, 2013.”

photos by Andy Holzman for Los Angeles Daily News

Thanks Paul!

It seems like an unlikely pairing, but quirky singer-songwriter Björk is teaming up with David Attenborough, the famous English broadcaster and naturalist. Together, the two are working on a documentary about the intersection of art, music, the environment, and technology.

Read more...

popular shared this story from jwz.

---

"Turn off "Turn of the lights. And drink a cold glass of water. Something is going to happen. In sixty-five days."

Since 2010, a YouTube channel called Pronunciation Book has regularly posted videos with a simple white background and a word in black font. Over it, a voice teaches non-English speakers how to say certain words and phrases in English -- "Sausage McMuffin" or "yield." The young male voice also teaches viewers how to have simple English interactions like "How to State an Unpleasant Fact" and "How to Politely End a Business Meeting."

In the past three years, this channel has posted more than 700 videos, gained 27,000 subscribers, and even inspired a parody account. But a week ago Pronunciation Book abruptly stopped what it'd been doing and started posting one creepy, cryptic video a day, counting down from "77" until Sept. 24, 2013. The videos show the number and then the same voice delivers a couple of seemingly random sentences and then ominously concludes, "Something is going to happen in X days."

It's an unexpected and bizarre about-face that makes little sense and is a little bit scary.

The only people that seem to be dissecting this weirdness is 4chan's /x/ board, devoted to conspiracy theories and the paranormal. /x/ has compiled the "77 Days Research Document," a 36-page Google Doc where the members of the board have pooled their information about Pronunciation Book. They're trying to uncover who is behind the channel, what the cryptic messages mean, and anything else they can find to make sense of the channel's abrupt change.

The messages in the countdown videos thus far have been:

77: "Something is going to happen in 77 days."
76: "I've been trying to tell you something for 1,183 days."
75: "I'm awake now. Things are clearing up. I'm not saying the words anymore."
74: "I've got a minute, let me tell you what I think is going on."
73: "Tension between the districts has spiked in the last few months."
72: "You can see it in the markets. Everyone's ready for a storm."
69: "No one is ready. He watches the market."
68: "I'm not talking about a disaster, I'm talking about a love triangle."
67: "We fell into the jungle for a summer of dollar crime."
66: "We were young heroes, gorgeous liars."
65: "Turn off the lights, and drink a cold glass of water."
64: "No one is singing. Every day is the same."

I recently went to a prerelease tournament for Magic: The Gathering. This was an actual tournament in a local comic store. They made me sign up for a DCI membership and I paid $30 for 6 packs for cards that I then had to build a 40 card deck from. I’m not wholly certain why the membership was required, but I’ll live.

As I arrived, there was nothing but men. Two store clerks and about 8 guys milling about, either paying for registration or sitting about entertaining themselves. I had gone with several friends, all guys, because those were the only people I know who were interested in Magic, specifically going to a tournament.

So I signed up, no one seemed to notice or care much. It was my first official tournament. I expected more people to be helpful and explain. But no one did. So I took a seat with my friends, befriended another brand-new tournament attender, and chatted. Now, the odd thing was that this new guy had more support than I did. It was assumed that my friends would take care of me and explain things (they did not, being fairly new themselves), whereas this other new guy had someone checking in with him every now and again.

Then the appointed time rolled around and our packs were handed out. Rules were very briefly explained (no name-calling/harassing, time limits etc.) and then everyone opened their cards. I started sorting, building my deck, and noticed that another woman had arrived. There were two of us out of twenty. Ten percent. Not so bad.

The rounds were assigned and I was paired against the husband of the other woman. He was helpful. Patiently explaining to me tournament etiquette. She made a joke about there finally being another woman but otherwise didn’t talk to me much. Thinking back on it, I think we exchanged fewer than ten words. Rounds ended, people shuffled about to new seats, I played against different people.

The night ended and I hadn’t placed highly enough to receive a prize. One of the store clerks (who was Asian), loudly pointed out that all the top tier players were Asians. As though this was deeply meaningful. Someone called him on it, in a joking fashion, and it slid to the side.

 

Overall Impressions

First, no one really seemed to call attention to me being a woman except the other woman. Though there were a few odd moments where it was obvious that everyone else was used to just calling her “That woman” and then having people look at me because I was standing closer. This led to an amusing statement of “No, not that one, the other one!” because clearly they weren’t used to having more than one around and this caused issues.

Second, despite this being my very first official tournament and me being unafraid to mention that I was new, I got very little help. The new guy, with whom I’d been chatting with on and off all night, had actually had someone pull apart his deck and rebuild it for him to give him an edge.

(Impressions of a Magic tournament originally posted on Gaming As Women.)

In this video, Intuitive Aerial flies a drone in first person using the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset. Using its two cameras, the drone records video and sends it to the laptop where it’s compressed and formatted for the Oculus Rift in real time with a latency of about 120 ms. You can read more about the project at the Intuitive Aerial blog.

videos via Intuitive Aerial

via Walyou, Technabob