firehose

A secretly recorded meeting between media mogul Rupert Murdoch and the staff of The Sun, a U.K. tabloid owned by News Corp., has surfaced in which Murdoch admitted that he was aware for decades that journalists from his newspapers had been bribing both police and public officials.

ATLANTA—Taking a timeout during the third inning of Tuesday’s game against the Marlins, Braves left fielder Justin Upton reportedly realized he’d been at bat for more than four hours.

AJE: MORSI OVERTHROWN http://t.co/WFbIPlJe52—
Simone Foxman (@SimoneFoxman) July 03, 2013

The head of Egypt’s armed forces, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, has just made a statement on Egyptian television. The armed forces, he says, have heeded the call of the Egyptian people “not to hold the reins of power or to rule but to discharge its civil responsibility. This is the message received by the Egyptian armed forces from all the corners of Egypt.” And he has announced a “road map” that he says was agreed at a meeting by all the main political forces, consisting of the following moves:

• The constitution will be “provisionally suspended.”
• The chief justice of the supreme constitutional court, Adly Mansour, will be made the acting president, pending a presidential election (for which el-Sisi did not specify a date), and will have the power to hand down presidential decrees.
• A technocratic government will be put in place with the power to run national affairs and propose amendments to the suspended constitution.
• There will be a charter of ethics for the media.
• There will be a “national reconciliation committee” for all the main political parties.

Gizmodo This Thorium Reactor Has the Power of a Norse God | Jalopnik The World's Ten Worst Public Transit Systems | Kotaku Who Wants to Play As an Accused Murderer in Madden? | Jezebel How to Be the Perfect Houseguest

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Sexy spook Anna Chapman, busted in the summer of 2010 as part of a sleeper cell of Russian agents, proposed to fugitive NSA leaker Edward Snowden on Twitter.

CBC.ca

Mob rapes in Tahrir Square worry rights groups CBC.ca Human Rights Watch says at least 91 women have been raped over the past four days in Cairo's Tahrir Square, a central site of recent mass protests that have shaken the country's political leadership. The New York-based rights group reported on its website ... Human Rights Watch said Wednesday that 100 women have been sexually ...U.S. News & World Report all 217 news articles »

A pair of construction crews have utterly flattened a 5,000 year-old pyramid near Lima, Peru. A similar incident happened in Belize this past May, prompting archaelogists to ask, WHY THE F*CK IS THIS BEING ALLOWED TO HAPPEN?

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John Scalzi's no stranger to taking his clout as a successful (not to mention Hugo and Nebula award nominated/winning) science fiction author, the (now former) president of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, and a blogger with no small amount of renown and using said clout to do good things for women who create and are interested in science fiction, and sometimes even for women in general. He participated in the first Humble EBook Bundle, where fully half of the items available where created by women, was up for a photoshoot with Jim C. Hines, and when the Susan G. Komen Foundation for the Cure defunded Planned Parenthood for very clearly political reasons, he donated all proceeds from the sale of his ebooks to Planned Parenthood. Now the author, often asked to be a prominent guest at science fiction conventions, is issuing an ultimatum to any con that wants him on their floor that is as simple as it is firm: have specific, clear rules about sexual harassment and a path to report them, and make sure that everyone knows it.

Blogger Tikkido has created this simple recipe for ice cream sandwiches that look like the little round door to Bag End, home of Bilbo and Frodo Baggins. Tikkido breaks out some precious edible gold dust for a recipe that you can have for breakfast, second breakfast, elevensies, luncheon, tea, dinner, or supper.  Take a look at the wholesome hobbit hole the treats are based on for comparison, and head over to Tikkido's blog for the recipe if you want to make them for yourself.

Their Royal Highnesses, The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall (Prince Charles and Camilla to most of us Americans) got a special treat recently. They visited the set of Doctor Who with Matt Smith and Jenna Coleman as tour guides! Said Smith, “Showing them how to fly the TARDIS was a real treat and something I never thought I would be doing when I first took on the role. The Prince of Wales said he remembers watching the show when he was 15 and seemed very knowledgeable on the Who history, so it’s nice to think they are watching.” Watch Prince Charles get up close and personal with a dalek above, then hit the jump to see the couple flying the TARDIS.

I love charts

Some of the 20th century’s greatest actors have narrated Sergei Prokofiev’s symphonic story Peter and the Wolf, including Peter Ustinov, Alec Guinness, Ralph Richardson, John Gielgud, Basil Rathbone, Edna Everage, and one of my favorites, Boris Karloff. In 1978, David Bowie joined this illustrious company with his recording of the classic for RCA Victor with the Philadelphia Orchestra. (Find part one above. Click links for part two, three, and four. Or purchase a pristine copy online here.)

Bowie begins, as do all of the narrators, with a brief summary of how this symphony works, with different instrumentation representing the various characters (see here for full text of the story and description of themes):

Each character in the tale is going to be represented by a different instrument of the orchestra. For instance, the bird will be played by the flute. (Like this.) Here’s the duck, played by the oboe. The cat by the clarinet. The bassoon will represent grandfather. The wolf by the French horns. And Peter by the strings. The blast of the hunters’ shotguns played by the kettle drums.

Bowie has said he that he made the recording as a present for his son, Duncan, then 7. Prokofiev, commissioned by the Central Children’s Theatre in Moscow in 1936 to help cultivate the musical tastes of young children, wrote the symphony in four days. As Tim Smith points out in an essay for PBS, Peter and the Wolf has “helped introduce generations of children to the instruments of the orchestra and the concept of telling a story through music.” I know it will be a part of my daughter’s musical education. I’m pretty sure we’ll start with Bowie’s version.

Related Content: 

David Bowie Releases Vintage Videos of His Greatest Hits from the 1970s and 1980s

The Story of Ziggy Stardust: How David Bowie Created the Character that Made Him Famous

Rare 1946 Film: The Great Russian Composer Sergei Prokofiev Plays Piano, Discusses His Music

Josh Jones is a writer and musician based in Washington, DC. Follow him at @jdmagness

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One of the reasons former NSA contractor Edward Snowden was able to get away with stealing top-secret documents about government surveillance programs is because Washington’s system of classifying national security information is badly broken. So many entire categories of data are classified—from how surveillance programs like PRISM work to the altitude at which US warplanes fly—that an astounding 4.9 million people are required to have “Top Secret” clearances just to do their jobs as government officials or, like Snowden, as private-sector contractors working on defense and intelligence matters. The system of vetting these people for clearances is dysfunctional, and national-security experts like former House intelligence committee chairwoman Jane Harman have said recently that the Snowden case is a good example of that.

But the problems extend far beyond who gets security clearances. So says the latest annual report (pdf), published June 20, by the Information Security Oversight Office, whose job is to get agencies to classify fewer documents and to declassify many more of them while making sure that real secrets stay secret.

The ISOO estimates that the government and its contractors spent $11 billion last year on “security classification activities”—plus an estimated 20% more for the CIA, NSA and other agencies whose activities are too secret to even mention in the report. The good news is that this is 13%, or $1.7 billion, less than the year before.

But there’s a more important statistic. The report attributes the lower cost, in part, to a project launched by the Obama administration called the Fundamental Classification Guidance Review (FCGR), which pressures officials to set a higher bar for making things secret. Last year, the report said, US agencies reported 73,477 “original classification decisions” (i.e., the decision to classify something, and at what level)—a drop of 42% from the previous year.

Here’s the breakdown:

And if that seems like a lot, look at how much it has come down, especially since Barack Obama took office:

The report isn’t all good news. Overall, it says the government continues to generate classified information at historically high levels, especially through derivative classification, which means putting already classified information in a new document.

Here’s a breakdown of that:

And a historical breakdown, showing the huge jump when electronic documents were included:

Steven Aftergood, who heads the Project on Government Secrecy for the Federation of American Scientists, told Quartz that there’s a direct correlation between all of the over-classification cited in the report and the government’s inability to stop people like Snowden from stealing information. “The more secrets we have, the worse job we do in preserving them,” he says. But he says the 42% drop in the creation of “new secrets” is a glimmer of hope because it appears to be the result of a concerted effort that includes several Obama administration initiatives. “People are saying, ‘Wait a minute, do we need to classify this?’ in a way they had not been before,” Aftergood says. “It is a modest but hopeful sign, potentially a turning point in overall secrecy reduction.”

One thing the new report doesn’t do, though: Describe what kinds of information—the 42%—are no longer considered secret.

Completely negating the film’s message about inclusiveness and giving Oprah whatever she wants, Lee Daniels’ The Butler has been forced to pick a new name, after Warner Bros. successfully asserted that it owns the rights to the title because of a short it released in 1916. The decision was handed down through arbitration between The Weinstein Company and Warners, who complained to the MPAA’s Title Registration Bureau that the Weinsteins had not cleared use of The Butler with them first, and successfully argued that it could create confusion among fans of their classic comedy—fans who have so much on their minds as is, what with Wilson beginning conscription for the Great War and the growing threat of damnable Bolsheviks.

For its part, TWC has rejected the notion there could be any confusion between Warners’ silent short—in which Davy Don plays a servant who’s forced to ...

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CBS News

Apartment search yields evidence against Aaron Hernandez, cops say USA TODAY WRENTHAM, Mass. — Court documents indicate the search of a secret "flop house" leased by former Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez has turned up what police say could be key evidence in the murder case against him. NOT EVEN TEBOW: Could keep ... Tim Tebow Tried to Stop '07 Bar Fight Involving Aaron HernandezABC News Calif . cops twice went to Hernandez home for ' family disturbance ' callsBoston Herald (blog) Cops: Evidence found in secret Aaron Hernandez apartmentNewsday Honolulu Star-Advertiser -SportingNews.com -Boston.com all 1,592 news articles »

When NASA finds that teapot, you are all going to be so fucking embarrassed. x

4gifs:

Forgot how to cat

Boston University is seeking a ban on all iPhone, iPad, and MacBook Air sales based on a patent dating back 22 years ago that runs out in two years. ... Ironically, it was Boston University professors James Bessen and Michael J. Meurer who completed a study last year that concluded that patent trolls — organizations that develop or acquire patentable technologies but don’t produce any products — cost the United States a cool $29 billion a year.

Two-piece bands are far from ubiquitous, and though they’ve been riding high since The White Stripes hit it big a decade ago—and more recently Japandroids—they’ve always succeeded by keeping the music simple and affecting. Building on the same guitar and drums foundation is New Jersey’s Dads, but instead of acquiescing guitarist Scott Scharinger and drummer John Bradley push the limits this simple set-up allows. Dads’ 2012 album American Radass (This Is Important) dealt largely in quick-paced mathematics and well-groomed hooks with few deviations (the 7-minute “Shit Twins” being the most notable exception), and with the two sharing vocal duties the members compliment each other by moving in lock-step motions and taking their songs to the brink of collapse.

Dads has only grown in stature since American Radass’ release, touring relentlessly (currently out with The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid To ...

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Santa Monica, California-based Peter Javidpour, a designer at Naughty Dog, has imagined what the sitcom Frasier would be like with lasers eyes in episode 1 of Laser Frasier. Previously, we wrote about Peter and his edit of Mrs. Doubtfire as a horror film.

Frasier encourages congressional candidate Phil Patterson to confide in him.

submitted via Laughing Squid Tips

Toy company Goldie Blox is attempting to inspire a new generation of female engineers with a line of construction toys built just for girls. Goldie Blox toys are now available for purchase at Toys R Us, and the company has begun marketing them with this cute video starring little girls building homemade bike sidecars and attaching ballerina slippers to a skateboard deck.

GoldieBlox, Inc. is a toy company founded in 2012 by Debbie Sterling, a female engineer from Stanford University. Engineers are solving some of the biggest challenges our society faces. They are critical to the world economy, earn higher salaries and have greater job security. And they are 89% male. We believe engineers can’t responsibly build our world’s future without the female perspective.

GoldieBlox offers a much-needed female engineer role model who is smart, curious and accessible. She has the potential to get girls interested in engineering, develop their spatial skills and build self-confidence in their problem solving abilities. This means that GoldieBlox will nurture a generation of girls who are more confident, courageous and tech-savvy, giving them a real opportunity to contribute to the progress made by engineers in our society.

It’s 2013. It’s about time we opened our girls’ minds beyond the pink aisle at the toy store. It’s time to build a new story so our girls can help build our future.

image via Toys R Us

via The Mary Sue

Comedy duo Rhett McLaughlin and Link Neal of Rhett & Link have created “One Direction Caption Fail,” a music video where they sing the nonsensical YouTube captions that show up for popular One Direction songs. The single track for “One Direction Caption Fail” is available to purchase online from iTunes. It is also one of the many segments from episode 10 of The Mythical Show, Rhett & Link’s 30-minute comedy show.

video via Rhett & Link

submitted via Laughing Squid Tips