Valve has added support for Steam to support 64-bit Linux game titles...

From 1919 to 1933, the United States was a dry nation. It was illegal to make, sell, or consume alcohol. In this collection of images, you'll see what daily life was like in a country where police poured millions of gallons of booze into the gutters — and everyone else surreptitiously drank it in bizarre, hidden places.

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He fires more than once and then, suddenly, turns the rifle and points toward the camera lens. The film ends – and so too ended the life of Ahmed Samir Assem.

Anonymoose

Hey poli sci geeks - my brother, Greg Weiner (yes there are more Weiners), is writing some articles here. Fair warning: They involve nuance and politics, so you will probably be angry at some of them. Enjoy!

On his way to announcing his big thing at the first Dropbox devcon today in San Francisco, Drew Houston dropped what I was hoping would be a hint. He said there were already more files in Dropbox than tweets in Twitter. From that I hoped he was about to announce a developer service for notifications, the message bus of Twitter, accessible to developers. You know, the people that Twitter jettisoned last year, or the year before, depending on how you look at it.

Instead they offered a centralized database for status data. Which is very much an evolutionary step, and something that's already offered by Amazon, and presumably will be offered by Dropbox's main competitors, Box, Google, Microsoft, and someday perhaps Apple.

No one in tech seems to want to challenge Twitter, which is a shame, because there has to be a way to zig to their zag. There are so many valid ways of looking at Internet-scale notification. It clearly should be something Amazon offers, it's puzzling that they don't.

Dropbox defined a new type of software platform, one so simple, yet so deep, and totally in tune with the times as the number of computers people try to use explodes. Dropbox is the perfect way to let us mix it up however we want. Use an Android phone and an Apple tablet. It disrupts the major platform vendors' attempts at hegemony. Houston shows a picture of the major platforms and explains that the vendors don't want their users' data intermingled. But Dropbox tries to undo that, successfully. And they will keep pushing. But imho I wish there were more.

I wish Dropbox would broaden their view of themselves. Data is great, but publishing is vitally connected to data. And publishing comes in several forms. Realtime like Twitter, and more persistent like WordPress and Tumblr.

I can't say what Dropbox should do. I am not in their shoes, and I am a developer who has built on their platform. As a developer I am happy with what they did. But I would be ecstatic if they would broaden the scope of competition and be the ones to challenge Twitter.

It still amazes me that no one wants to do that.

United States Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey urged the review after the station dropped its nightly newscast and replaced it with a tabloid-style magazine show.

Targeting of conservatives by tax-exempt unit cited in 24 percent cut.

TRENTON, N.J. — He doggedly did his work, this pinstriped pooch who faithfully served minor leaguers of the New York Yankees while providing big league entertainment.

Chase, the bat-retrieving golden retriever for the Double-A Trenton Thunder who made highlight reels all across baseball for a decade, has died at 13.

"Chase was there a long time. He put a lot of smiles on people's faces," Yankees pitcher Joba Chamberlain, who played in Trenton, said Tuesday night.

(via Captain Harlock Shirt Misfits by CoastCityShirts on Etsy)

Most people call them COLAs or FLAs (federal label approvals) or “label approvals.” But those terms leave out the not so minor B — as it appears in the word “bottle,” highlighted above. TTB’s pre-market approval system extends to bottles, and it is starting to seem like many people forgot about this or never knew.

TTB’s bottle review probably does not cover run of the mill bottles. It is meant to cover “distinctive bottles.” The COLA form mentions that you must complete item 18.c. “if you intend to bottle distilled spirits in a distinctive container.” It’s not so easy to know what is and isn’t distinctive. The regulations use the term “distinctive” many times, and even explain the requirements for distinctive bottles, but they don’t explain when bottles are and aren’t.

It is good to know that Jim Beam Brands, at least, still knows how to do this right, and can serve as a good reminder to others. The above Stillhouse Decanter certainly appears to be — on the distinctive side — for a bottle. And alas, the corresponding approval is here; item 18.c. seems to be duly completed to verify that the bottle is both distinctive and approved.

Beam’s press release puts things in perspective and explains that even Jim Beam does not use distinctive containers especially often anymore:

Mirroring the Jim Beam American Stillhouse in design, the new figural bottle revives a storied piece of Beam history, while offering whiskey enthusiasts and collectors the opportunity to add to their collection for the first time in more than a decade. … “Since the early 1950s, hundreds of Beam decanters have celebrated politics, sports, history and more.” … “Beam decanters have come in all shapes and sizes,” said Fredrick “Fred” Booker Noe III, seventh generation Jim Beam master distiller.

Individually hand-crafted by Louisville Stoneware, the Jim Beam American Stillhouse decanter joins hundreds of artfully designed, limited-edition decanters on display in the new Jim Beam American Stillhouse production tour. … Only 1,000 of the limited-edition Stillhouse decanters are available for sale (SRP: $199.99) … .

Originally created to help drive sales and offer bourbon fans more eye-catching packaging suitable for gifting, the specialty bottles and decanters were designed by the Regal China Company and introduced by Jim Beam to the public in 1955. For more than 40 years, the Regal China bottles celebrated many subject areas and reflected the rich traditions of Jim Beam Bourbon. Custom bottles were produced for the Jim Beam collectors’ club chapters, which were formed in 1966 and are collectively known around the globe today as the International Association of Jim Beam Bottle and Specialty Club. Bottle production ceased in the early 1990s only to be brought back by Jim Beam in 2012.

The COLA Registry search does not make it easy to find distinctive container approvals, so here is one more example of such a decanter (from a shelf at TTB). And here are some other examples from this blog.

Related Posts:

• Twistee Rules: Aggregate Packaging (0)
• Nude Beer (4)
• Liquor Sicle (3)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAbNgO3Gddg&feature=youtu.be

Original Source

turbosaab writes "The Obama administration has quietly notified insurers that a computer system glitch will limit penalties that companies may charge smokers under the new healthcare law. The underlying reason for the limitation is another provision in the health care law that says insurers can't charge older customers more than three times what they charge the youngest adults in the pool. The government's computer system has been unable to accommodate the two. So younger smokers and older smokers must be charged the same penalty, or the system will kick it out. A fix will take at least a year to put in place."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Read 6 remaining paragraphs | Comments

Frederick Kaufman has penned a provocative article for Slate's Future Tense column in which he makes the case for open-source genetically modified foods. "It will help fight climate change," he says, "and stick one in Monsanto's eye." What's more, it's an approach that still favors scientific advancement.

Read more...

Fox has committed to a pilot for a television adaption of Alan Moore's "League of Extraordinary Gentlemen," which will feature Captain Nemo, the Invisible Man and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

An anonymous reader writes "Seth Vidal, a lead developer of Yum, was killed in a hit-and-run accident while riding his bicycle in Durham, NC last night." The Fedora Project posted a statement. Quoting: "Seth was a lead developer of yum and the update repository system, and a contributor to the CentOS project as well as the original Fedora Extras system. He worked tirelessly on the infrastructure for the Fedora Project to make all systems work well and consistently for our contributors around the world. He was a gifted speaker, a brilliant thinker, a clever wit, a humble and genuinely funny person, and a good friend. The Fedora community owes an enormous debt of gratitude to Seth's dedication to Fedora and other free software projects, his commitment to community values, and his passion for excellence in his work. To say he will be missed is an understatement." Update: 07/10 00:24 GMT by U L : Local news reports that the driver turned himself in.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

eddplant:

jamestheghostdad:

wizard-syphilis:

kqedscience:

Crazy living rock is one of the weirdest creatures we’ve ever seen

“The fact that this sea creature looks exactly like a rock with guts is not even the weirdest thing about it. It’s also completely immobile like a rock — it eats by sucking in water and filtering out microorganisms — and its clear blood mysteriously secretes a rare mineral called vanadium."

daily reminder that the ocean contains more weirdshit than you could ever imagine. And this isn’t even a ~~new discovery~~ - people have been eating them in Chile and Peru for…well, neither linked article says, but I assume rather awhile.

I hate the ocean.

whaaaat

Guess who's coming to Rose City Comic Con in September?! Wait. Shit. Okay. Pretend you didn't read my headline. Or see the image above. And then guess who's coming to Rose City Comic Con in September?! To the press release! You're going to be so surprised!

Actor and star of the hit sci-fi television show, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Avery Brooks, is the sixth celebrity guest announced for the upcoming Rose City Comic Con taking place on September 21st and 22nd, 2013 at the Oregon Convention Center.

Avery Brooks is best known for his role as Commander/Captain/Admiral Benjamin Sisko in the sci-fi series, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Hawk in the mystery series, Spenser: For Hire, the spinoff series, A Man Called Hawk, and as Dr. Robert Sweeney in American History X.

Avery was the first African American in US history to receive an MFA in acting and directing in 1976. Since then he’s appeared in numerous television shows, commercials, video games, and films including American Playhouse, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Roots: The Gift, Gargoyles, The Big Hit, and 15 Minutes. Avery has also taught acting at many universities.

Oh man oh man oh man oh man oh man. I AM VERY EXCITED.

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nonmuslimterrorists:

These men are all terrorists. None of them are Muslim. None of them were labelled ‘terrorists’ by the mainstream media, who instead chose to use the terms ‘mentally ill’, ‘shooter’, ‘killer’ and other names much tamer than that normally reserved for Muslim perpetrators.

1. James Holmes: Aurora cinema shooting, 2012.
Death count: 24

• Ex-roommate publishes a study of why Holmes may have turned out so wrong 
• CBS News further highlight the fact that he was ‘mentally ill’

2. Adam Lanza: Sandy Hook kindergarten shooting, 2012.
Death count: 27 (excluding himself)

• Huffington Post insist that he was not, unbelievably, under the influence and was, amazingly, acting of his own accord
• An in-depth analysis of the personality and psyche of Adam Lanza

3. Anders Breivik: Oslo shooting, 2011.
Death count: 77

• NPR try to wrap their heads around why he might have done it 
• New York Times consistently refers to him as ‘Mr. Breivik’

4. James von Brunn: Holocaust Memorial shooting, 2009.
Death count: 1

• Guardian provides evidence that he is an anti-Semite, a white supremacist and affiliated with a racist organisation, yet never once refers to him as a terrorist
• Washington Post emphasises his old age and offers insight from his relatives

The final one shares the same death toll as the recent Woolwich murder. Yet why, in both articles (and in all articles listed in this post regarding all of these perpetrators) is the word ‘terrorist’ never once mentioned? Whereas the Woolwich murderer, who is Muslim but linked with no violent organisation, was instantly labelled a terrorist and sparked strong anti-immigration protests in the UK.

I smell an absurd double standard.

	Courtney shared this story from Cracked: All Posts:
	I'm just as shocked as you are that today's Required Reading comes from Cracked, but there it is.

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Original Source

ST. LOUIS—Describing the behavior as bizarre yet captivating, dozens of visitors to the Saint Louis Zoo reportedly looked on in fascination Saturday as the ice cream shop’s staff engaged in their unique mating rituals. According to eyewitnesse...

Grover and other Sesame Street characters appear to sing along with and play Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky” in this video by Mylo the Cat.

video via Mylo the Cat

submitted via Laughing Squid Tips

With this Instructables from 2011 by Randy Sarafan, you can learn how to make a Clap-Off Bra, one that falls off simply by clapping your hands. It’s a bit complicated to construct but seems like a worthwhile venture.

The first time I read about Syrian Lingerie I was quite moved. In the West, we often think of Arab cultures as sexually repressed societies, when – in fact – it turns out that they are clearly leaps and bounds ahead of us in advancements in lingerie technology. Those of us in Western cultures have a thing or two to learn from the Syrians about gaudy electronic lingerie.

Henceforth, it became my mission to fast-forward lingerie technology in the West. I figured the first step in this critical mission was to replicate some of the advancements made in Syria. The article of lingerie that resonated most with my inner sensibilities was the clap-off bra. I immediately resolved to make my own clap-off bra as a springboard into Western lingerie innovation.

On a quiet morning, two years ago, I first set out to make a clap off bra in order introduce it to a much more conservative Western audience. After a long arduous process, I am finally proud present to you a reliably working prototype.

image via Instructables

via Lady Monster

Jailed gamer Justin Carter concussed, black eyed, left nude behind bars.

Paul Lawrance
Activist Post

The Texas teen whose sarcastic comment over Facebook led to his arrest has been the recipient of beatings and other cruel punishment behind bars, according to what his father Jack told NPR.

Teenager Arrested for Sarcastic Comment Over Online Video Game

“Without getting into the really nasty details, he’s had concussions, black eyes, moved four times from base for his own protection,” said Justin’s father.

He’s been put in solitary confinement, nude, for days on end because he’s depressed. All of this is extremely traumatic to this kid. This is a horrible experience.

A woman in Canada saw Justin's comment – a comment which has been described as being sarcastic by Justin and his father – and gave a tip to police.

In February, detectives searched his home and seized his computer.

Court documents indicate Carter replied with: “I think Ima shoot up a kindergarten / And watch the blood of the innocent rain down/ And eat the beating heart of one of them,” NPR reports.

The comment was in response to something a fellow League of Legends player said during an in-game dispute they had.


It has been reported that Justin followed his comments with ’lol’ and ‘jk’. (Laughing out loud and just kidding).

This lead to a Grand Jury indictment of a terroristic threat charge in April placing him in Comal County, TX jail.

Carter's Bail has been set at $500,000 dollars.

Carter's attorney, who in the past has represented everyone from murders to rapists, says he has never seen a bond at the price of Justin Carter's.

A petition titled ‘Release My Son Justin Carter – In Jail For A Facebook Comment’ started by Justin’s parents has 40,000 signatures.

A post on the petition's website from the teen's mother Jennifer Carter reads,

My son, Justin Carter, was arrested on February 14, 2013 (yes, Valentine’s Day) because of a sarcastic comment he posted on Facebook about a computer game which was then taken out of context by a complete stranger! Please sign my petition to help release my son, Justin.

Justin has become a victim of the war on terror. Anti-terror laws have put an innocent teenager behind bars for months without a trial.

This should alarm everyone speaking freely through a social media platform.

A new hearing has been set for July 16 to bring up issues of his abuse and to try to get his bond lowered so Carter can go home to await trial.

Listen to NPR’s interview with Jack Carter here.

Paul Lawrance writes for Eyes Open Report, where this article first appeared. 

Demand for ripped, distressed jeans is causing real distress in the garment industry. At least five factories in southern China are still using a widely banned practice of sandblasting—linked to an incurable form of lung disease—to wear out jeans, according to a new report (pdf) by a consortium of workers’ rights groups.

Sandblasting—a way of speeding up the process of wear and tear—took off among apparel makers when worn-out, pre-torn jeans became trendy in the 1990s and early 2000s. Many brands, including Armani, Levi Strauss, Benetton, Mango and Burberry, banned the use of sandblasting in 2004, after a Turkish doctor evaluating former denim plant workers for military service established a link between sandblasting and silicosis—a fatal lung disease caused by inhaling tiny bits of silica, a mineral found in sand. In 2009, Turkey—a major clothing manufacturing country—banned the practice, but activists believe garment makers have moved to other countries like Bangladesh, Pakistan or China and parts of North Africa. Alternatives exist like sanding jeans by hand with sandpaper, but they tend to be more expensive. A relatively new method called “surface activation” involves washing down the jeans before they are dyed.

Today’s report, commissioned by labor rights groups Students and Scholars Against Corporate Misbehaviour, the Clean Clothes Campaign, War on Want, and the IHLO, a Hong Kong-based trade union and workers rights group, was based on roughly 170 interviews in 2011 and 2012 with Chinese workers at six clothing plants in Guangzhou—the base for most of the country’s denim manufacturing. Workers said they manually blasted jeans with air guns loaded with abrasive sand, often worked 12-hour days and earned between 2,000 renminbi and 7,000 yuan a day ($330 to $1,140) (pdf, p. 18) to sandblast between 500 and 600 pairs of jeans.

According to the report, some of the factories supply to major Western clothing brands. The report says that a worker from a Zhongshan Yida Apparel plant claimed in November last year that sandblasting continued, despite the firm’s earlier pledge to stop the practice. Zhongshan says it provides 4% of jeans sold in the US and supplies to Levi, according to Levi’s most recent supplier list and H&M. (Levi and H&M banned the use of sandblasting for any of their products in 2010.) Yida did not return request for comment, but a Levi spokesperson told Quartz that the company had verified that Yida stopped the practice in 2009 and disposed of its sandblasting machines in February 2012.

The company also said managers at another Levi supplier mentioned in the report had sent photos in January of last year proving that all sandblasting equipment had been removed. The report said the factory, Golden City, had told workers to hide sandblasting machines when audits or inspections took place. H&M confirmed to Quartz that it works with Yida but that it hasn’t ordered sandblasted (pdf, p. 33) clothing from any suppliers since 2010. H&M said that Yida hand scrapes denim supplied to the retailer.