firehose

I’ve often heard creators who’ve worked on the comic-book adventures of Doctor Who comment that current showrunner Steven Moffat is somewhat dismissive of the contributions comics have made to the character’s extended canon. That said, last Saturday’s episode featured the recurring series MacGuffin “the Eye of Harmony,” which has Alan Moore to thank for around 50 percent of its backstory.

In his first season in charge, Moffat inserted an episode based upon the Doctor Who Monthly strip “The Lodger” by Gareth Roberts, adapted by Roberts himself. His second season featured the Ray Bradbury and Hugo award-winning “The Doctor’s Wife” written by Neil Gaiman, who’s been known to write a comic or two in his time. He’s returned to the series this season to write “Nightmare in Silver.”

Gaiman’s second script for the long-running sci-fi show is rumored to be something of a soft reboot for classic Who villains the Cybermen. The BBC has released the above promotional image as a teaser for the episode, due to air May 11 as the penultimate installment of the current season. The redesign of the Cyberman costume strikes me as very influenced by comics, specifically the work of Adi Granov. The art direction of the show hasn’t hidden the comic-book influences in its recent past: Bryan Hitch was hired as concept artist when the show relaunched in 2005, redesigning the TARDIS console room; then-showrunner Russell T Davies repaid the debt by having the assistant Rose Tyler essentially cosplaying as Hitch’s Jenny Sparks for a sizeable chunk of Season 1, and later freely admitted basing the look of two characters from the show upon designs lifted wholesale from 2000AD.

All this talk of the interplay between the Doctor, the Cybermen and comics reminds me that possibly the greatest-ever Who strip was Steve Parkhouse and Mick McMahon’s “Junkyard Demon.” Now who wouldn’t like to see that adapted for the small screen?

“The first commercial in the series follows Felicia the Goat (voiced by Tyler), who attacks a waitress after she fails to bring mass amounts of Mountain Dew. The second spot finds the goat eluding the police after a highway stop, and in the controversial third ad, the goat stands in a police lineup in the middle of five black men. The waitress, in bandages and on crutches, gets intimidated by the Felicia the Goat and runs out of the police station screaming. The image was too much to ignore for activist Dr. Boyce Watkins, who wrote a post on YourBlackWorld.net on Wednesday (May 1) taking Mountain Dew and Tyler to task for perpetuating a stereotype and what he described as “corporate racism.”
…
Tyler went on to thank Mountain Dew and even professed his love for the company, but today the Pepsi-backed soft drink giant yanked the ads and expressed their regret in a statement issued to MTV News. “We apologize for this video and take full responsibility. We have removed it from all Mountain Dew channels and Tyler is removing it from his channels as well,” the soda company said.”

- Tyler, The Creator On Mountain Dew Ads: ‘They Actually Liked It’ - Music, Celebrity, Artist News | MTV.com

JodyDigger/flickr

Marissa Mayer took a lot of flak when she nixed telecommuting at Yahoo yet built a private nursery for her own baby next to her office, on the heels of her earlier statement that she intended to work through a meager two-week maternity leave.

This week, however, she announced a decidedly family-friendly policy for Yahoos who become parents: doubling paid maternity leave for mothers (from eight to 16 weeks) plus granting eight weeks for fathers. New parents also can expect to receive a gift of $500 to welcome baby and spend on things like groceries, babysitters, house cleaning, and laundry.

The policy sends the message that Yahoo seeks to keep up with its Silicon Valley peers—especially Google and Facebook—in the competition to hire and retain top talent. It also signals that Marissa Mayer realizes not every working parent, even super-smart Yahoo engineers, possesses her super-human drive, so Yahoo will try to be one of those great places to work—for both moms and dads of newborns.

Related Story

Marissa Mayer's Job Is to Be CEO

The dad part of the policy merits notice. It appears Mayer absorbed one key response to Facebook CEO Sheryl Sandberg's command for women to "lean in" to their jobs and careers. Dads need to lean in at home and share diaper duty, said mothers, journalists, and scholars. That would encourage equally shared parenting particularly and gender equality generally.

The new Yahoo policy holds potential not only to change a father's behavior during the eight weeks he spends with the baby while on paternity leave, but also to inch the country toward parity between the sexes in parenting. Catherine Rampell, in The New York Times, explains how a family-friendly policy can potentially change social expectations and norms about acceptable "father" and "mother" behaviors:

One area where there seems to be a lot of potential is paternity leave, which still has a stigma in both the United States and Europe. To remedy this bad rap, countries like Sweden and Norway have recently introduced a quota of paid parental leave available only to fathers. If dads don't take it, they're leaving money on the table. In Germany and Portugal, moms get bonus weeks of maternity leave if their husbands take a minimum amount of paternity leave. All these countries have seen gigantic increases in the share of fathers who go on leave.

This might not sound like such a big deal, but social scientists are coming around to the notion that a man spending a few weeks at home with his newborn can help recast expectations and gender roles, at work and home, for a long time. A striking new study by a Cornell graduate student, Ankita Patnaik, based on a new paid paternity-leave quota in Quebec, found that parents' time use changed significantly. Several years after being exposed to the reform, fathers spent more time in child care and domestic work—particularly "time-inflexible" chores, like cooking, that cut into working hours—than fathers who weren't exposed to the reform. More important, mothers spent considerably more time at work growing their careers and contributing more to the economy, all without any public mandates or shaming.

Even more important, fathers' heightened engagement with their newborns ignites a process of role evolution. In other words, change behavior first and changes in expectations follow—not just wives' expectations of husbands but husbands' expectations of themselves. New roles are "enacted" this way and, at a social system level, new norms emerge. Dads doing more at home—even taking charge—becomes accepted and then expected. All because an employer like Yahoo offered—and dads took—a few weeks of paternity leave.

Discover Games: Tips for designing your first game!:

geargamedev:

1. Start really small and really simple.
2. Don’t worry if it’s good or not, just try something and try to see it through to the end! You’ll have more time and better experience after to make better games!
3. Try old concepts and ideas and just fiddle around with them! No harm in…

By Samit Sarkar on May 01, 2013 at 5:00p

Valve made a small addition to its Steam Greenlight catalog today, adding three games including Papers, Please and one piece of software to the user-chosen library of content.

The company previously greenlit six batches of games and software, and each of those updates tended to include 10-20 titles. But Valve said today that due to increased attention being paid to items in the Greenlight voting stage, going forward it plans to greenlight content in smaller groups like today's set.

Lucas Pope's Papers, Please casts players as a border-control agent for the fictional communist state of Arstotzka. Edge of Space, by HandyMan Studios, is a 2D open-world sandbox title set in space. Venetica is a fantasy RPG set in 16th-century Venice and developed by Deck13 Interactive. Also among today's batch of Greenlight content is Substance Designer 3, 3D texture software for game developers that is made by Allegorithmic.

There’s no gameplay in this video for The Silent Enemy, the new project being made by the creators of Papo & Yo. But, as you watch the various staffers of Minority Media face the camera or talk about their roles in the game, you realize that there's a good reason that gameplay takes a backseat.

Papo & Yo took the life experience of Minority’s Vander Caballero—growing up with an alcoholic dad—and made it into a poignant, playable fable. Silent Enemy has similar origins, spinning out of the teasing and harassment that creative director Ernest Webb endured because he grew up as the child of white and Cree aboriginal parents. But, the simple, silent acknowledgments echoed by his co-workers make it clear that Silent Enemy might have something to say to anyone who’s ever been bullied. Or even more importantly, it might even talk to the people doing the bullying. The game will be debuting exclusively on the Ouya console is in development for multiple platforms and will be out some time in the near future.

Update: Minority representatives got in touch to let Kotaku know that Silent Enemy won't be an Ouya exclusive. This post has been changed to reflect that.

Whisk Yourself Away Into the Faniverse!

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Tagged: Harry Potter , voldemort , t shirts , poorly dressed , g rated Share on Facebook

“Gay adoption is an idea he now supports, although the former GOP VP candidate still opposes gay marriage.”

- Paul Ryan gay adoption: Is his support a big deal? - CSMonitor.com

Chosen (by FineLeatherJackets)

Violet & Daisy TRAILER 1 (2013) - Saoirse Ronan, Alexis Bledel Movie HD (by MovieclipsCOMINGSOON)

“JEONG: It was a very magical shoot. My wife was going through breast cancer and chemotherapy at the time. [She recovered.] It was part of the reason I was so unhinged in the character; I think I was working out my own demons. Todd and Bradley were the only people who knew. Hangover got me through the most difficult time in my life.”

-

‘The Hangover’ The Uncensored Oral History

jesus

Joe Chernov and Robin Richards have created an infographic that illustrates the staggering number of sharks killed by humans every year. According to the infographic, sharks killed 12 people last year, but humans kill that many sharks every four seconds, adding up to an estimated total of 100 million sharks annually. Many sharks are killed by “finning,” a process in which a shark’s fins are cut off to be sold for shark fin soup. Organizations like the Shark Conservation Society, Stop Shark Finning, Humane Society International, documentaries like Sharkwater, and environmental campaigns on The Pew Charitable Trusts are all working to raise awareness of and ultimately prevent shark finning. You can view the full infographic at Chernov’s website.

infographic via Joe Chernov

via Under the Vast Blue Seas, I Love Charts

Curiosity: What's Inside the Cube is now officially down to its last 50 layers. Even Peter Molyneux is impatient for 22Cans' bizarre iOS experiment to end, telling Polygon: "Enough's enough, for crying out loud."

The game, which is about tapping to remove dots from a cube to reveal the "life-changing" secret within, features a countdown timer running toward the projected end of the experiment, when one person will clear the final layer.

"I thought six months was about the length of time that Curiosity should go on before it closed, and this is almost exactly the six month anniversary of the end of Curiosity," Molyneux told GameSpot. "Bizarrely, as part of that controversy, is that the end of the cube - the last layer of the cube - might well be, I mean probably if you look at our analysis of probability, the same day that the next Xbox is announced. Which would be a bizarre twist of fate." The next Xbox is due to be revealed May 21.

Or a bizarre twist of Pete? Regarding the coincidence, he told GameSpot, "There's an interesting opportunity, possibly, for me to ... well, I can't say any more than that. There may be some words from me around that time. I'm not saying any more." Confirmed: The next Xbox will come in a box made of billions of tiny cubes.

Along with today's news, 22Cans released the above video, which features visual proof that people like Curiosity at least enough to scrawl dirty words into the cube.

Curiosity's end may coincide with new Xbox reveal originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 01 May 2013 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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2headedsnake:

Ali Gulec

‘Room Skull’

Many have tried to get their crotch recognized for the inspiring piece of art that it is, but now, artist Karen Finley will make that happen for you.

Holly Jacobs has finally come forward and is filing the first ever criminal case against an alleged revenge porn distributor, who she believes to be her ex.

By Samit Sarkar on May 01, 2013 at 2:30p

StoryBundle, a Humble Bundle-like site for books, launched its Video Game Bundle today, offering video game fans the chance to pay a price of their choosing for as many as 10 digital books and other pieces about games.

Everything in the bundle is available in multiple DRM-free formats, so it can be read on computers, mobile devices, tablets and e-readers such as the Kindle. The collection of works was curated by Simon Carless, executive vice president of the UBM Tech Game Network, the organization that runs the Game Developers Conference. If you pay the minimum of $3 for the bundle, you'll get seven pieces of writing:

• The Making of Karateka by Jordan Mechner
• Generation Xbox: How Videogames Invaded Hollywood by Jamie Russell
• Constellation Games by Leonard Richardson
• Killing is Harmless: A Critical Reading of Spec Ops: The Line by Brendan Keogh
• Confessions of the Game Doctor by Bill Kunkel
• Kill Screen Magazine, Issue 2: Back To School
• Kill Screen Magazine, Issue 6: Change

Customers who contribute more than $10 will receive three bonus books: The Making of Prince of Persia by Jordan Mechner, Videogames: In the Beginning by Ralph Baer and 250 Indie Games You Must Play by Mike Rose.

Purchased separately, the 10 items are worth more than $100, according to StoryBundle. Buyers will also have the option to contribute 10 percent of their purchase price to one of two charities, Mighty Writers or Girls Write Now. The bundle is only available for a limited time, until 3 a.m. ET on May 22.

To make (nearly) all your Back to the Future fantasies come true, you can rent a street legal Back to the Future Time Machine DeLorean, a replica of the time traveling car used in the 1985 film. The rental is based in Minneapolis, Minnesota in warm season and in Las Vegas, Nevada for the cold season but can attend events in “practically any location in the continental United States and Canada.” Not to worry, this car “runs off regular unleaded fuel,” not plutonium.

image and video via Time Machine Rental.com

via ThisIsWhyImBroke

Microsoft shipped 900,000 Surface tablets during the recent quarter, according to data from IDC. Following rumors of strong initial Surface Pro sales, IDC says the combined total for Surface RT and Surface Pro was under just one million, with most of the units made up of Surface Pro. Microsoft entered into the top five vendors for tablet sales, with a Q1 market share of 1.8 percent. Meanwhile Apple continues to dominate with nearly 40 percent market share for its iPad devices, with Samsung in second place shipping close to 18 percent of all tablets worldwide.

While Microsoft's own Surface numbers are slow after six months, total combined shipments for Windows 8 and Windows RT tablets are also low and reached 1.8 million units in the recent quarter. IDC says Android surpassed iOS in the recent quarter to secure 56.5 percent of the market share, with iOS in second place with 39.6 percent. Combined shipments of Windows RT and Windows 8 total just 3.7 percent. IDC's figures are lower than recent estimations from Strategy Analytics. The research firm believes Windows-branded tablets have reached 7.5 percent in the recent quarter.

"Windows 8 and Windows RT tablets continued to struggle to gain traction in the market."

Microsoft has continued to keep its Surface sales under wraps. Windows CFO, Tami Reller, has previously suggested the company would "provide some updates on how things are going" in due course, but Microsoft has not yet provided any guidance. With questions over Windows 8 growth and the PC industry in general, IDC believes Windows-based tablets continue "to struggle to gain traction in the market."

The software giant recently revealed plans for smaller Windows tablets, but IDC rejects the idea of these becoming a saving grace for Windows RT and Windows 8. "Clearly the market is moving toward smart 7-8 inch devices, but Microsoft's larger challenges center around consumer messaging and lower cost competition," says Ryan Reith, an analyst at IDC. "If these challenges are addressed, along with the desired screen size variations, then we could see Microsoft make even further headway in 2013 and beyond."

• Source IDC
• Related Items surface sales figures market share idc research surface rt surface pro

One year after its high-profile launch on XBLA, Fez is available on PC via Steam, the Humble Store and GOG today for $10. For $5 more on Steam, grab the game and its super-cool original soundtrack by Disasterpeace, or grab the soundtrack by itself for $7. Steam: Giving you all the options to spend your money.

By April 13, Fez sold 200,000 copies on XBLA and we thought it was positively joyful. Creator Phil Fish suggests hopeful PC players purchase Fez via the Humble Store, since he gets 95 percent of that revenue, compared to 70 percent from Steam and GOG. If Fish insulted your grandmother and you really want to get back at him, go ahead and buy Fez through Steam or GOG and have a wonderful time playing it. That'll show him.

PSA: Fez flips platforms, lands on PC today originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 01 May 2013 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Xbox Live is home to a new Machinima app, allowing you to view that website's content, like Mortal Kombat: Legacy and everything else, through your Xbox. Joining that app are three more entertainment options, which we'd categorize as "interestingly eclectic."

Tune into the Events Player on Thursday, and you'll be able to watch the Revolver Golden Gods Awards Show, which is apparently some kind of rock/metal show, and which has apparently been going on for five years. The show is SmartGlass-enhanced, allowing you to fill out polls, see backstage interviews, and "Check out the award nominees in categories like "'Best Drummer,' 'Comeback of the Year' and 'Most Metal Athlete.'"

Starting May 10, Xbox Video will host new episodes of The LeBrons, an animated series about LeBron James based on Nike commercials. And in the indefinite future, a OneBeat app will be released on Xbox with a calendar of events, ticket sales and more for electronic dance music. Eclectic!

Machinima app, other wildly random entertainment on Xbox Live originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 01 May 2013 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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By Dave Tach on May 01, 2013 at 3:00p

A BioShock Infinite fan who runs an Etsy shop called Stormblood Curiosities has crafted two of the game's Vigor bottles in real life and posted pictures to her Facebook page.

You can see a close up of Stefanie Stormblood's handcrafted Undertow Vigor bottle above, which contains a "few design changes" to better fit the antique bottle she worked with. Stormblood also created a Murder of Crows Vigor bottle, which you can see below.

You can check out more pictures on the Stormblood Curiosities Facebook page and her other creations on Etsy. Neither BioShock Infinite bottle appears in the shop though, and a recent post on Facebook confirms that the Murder of Crows bottle has been sold.

• Source
• Stormblood Curiosities official Facebook page
• Stormblood Curiosities official Etsy page

This hack makes the virtual real by displaying your video game character’s health meter as a column of illuminated water.

The build video, which you’ll find embedded after the break, is really quite remarkable. The column is a clear piece of pipe anchored at one end by hand-tightened plumbing drain fittings. This allows [Bfayer] to attach a flexible bladder which he constructed for the project. An actuator pushes a hinged board up against the bladder to raise and lower the water level in the tube.

Alone that’s pretty impressive, but [Bfayer] went the extra mile and then some. He uses a four-way fitting at the bottom of the meter. One fork connects to the bladder, another allows air to be injected using an aquarium pump. The bottom of the fitting has a clear window so that an RGB LED array can shine into the water which was doped with highlighter ink to pick up the colored glow. To pull the whole thing together he coded the custom control interface seen above.

[via Reddit]

Filed under: classic hacks

Russian president Vladimir Putin has reintroduced an old Soviet-era medal this May Day. In a ceremony in St. Petersburg today he bestowed a Hero of Labor award on a coal miner, a lathe operator, a brain surgeon, an agronomist, and the director of the Mariinsky theater.

The Hero of Socialist Labor award was established by Stalin in 1938 to honor Soviet citizens for Stakhanovite feats of labor, as well as for cultural or scientific contributions to the state. Stalin himself was the first recipient. Putin’s version drops the word “socialist” from the title and replaces the old sickle-and-hammer insignia of the lapel pin with a Russian eagle.

Putin called the reintroduction of the medal “a step towards resuming the continuity of traditions, tighter ties between eras and generations.”

At a press conference last week, Putin denied that there were “any elements of Stalinism” in modern-day Russia, but insisted that “this does not mean that we should not have order and discipline.”

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The US Department of Defense is set to approve both Apple iOS devices and the Samsung Galaxy smartphone line for secure use by its more than three million total employees within a few weeks, The Wall Street Journal reports. Security approvals for Apple and Samsung would be a huge move for both companies, as presently, RIM's BlackBerry line dominates the US defense sector, as The Journal notes. However, the report states that the security approvals are unlikely to result in any new mass purchases of iPhones, iPads, or Galaxy phones in the short term.

---

RIM's BlackBerry line dominates the US defense sector

Only Samsung Galaxy phones that have Knox, the company's work and personal siloing software, are reported to be getting the security clearance for now. But Samsung has poured lots of money and time into wooing the Defense Department and other US government agencies, also is again said to be working on a ruggedized, tougher version of its new Galaxy S4 phone, nicknamed the Galaxy S4 "Active." As for Apple, it's unclear what, if any, security modifications the company is making to iOS to earn the clearance for its iOS devices.

The Defense Department has been publicly pursuing the idea of getting more commercial smartphones among its ranks for years, releasing a "mobile device strategy" document in the summer of 2012, in which it noted that already, "commercial mobile devices make up a majority of the products being piloted and employed" by its employees, though not securely. Just yesterday, the Defense Department noted that it aimed to have 100,000 mobile devices approved for access to "unclassified" agency networks, and that it was in the process of conducting 70 pilot programs for secure wireless data access by its employees. "Right now, our process is 9 to 12 months to approve a phone," said Air Force Major General Robert E. Wheeler in a Defense Department news release, adding he thought that was took long.

• Source Wall Street JournalDepartment of Defense
• Image Credit US Army (Flickr)
• Related Items department of defense defense department us defense department war combat security army us army military navy air force armed services Galaxy S4 iPhone 5 (GSM) iPhone 5 (CDMA) iPad (3rd generation, Wi-Fi + LTE) Apple Samsung Cellphones Tablets

Design Jargon Bullshit is a scalable webpoint that curates thoughtleadership in branding and design mediaspaces. Sorry, in English: Design Jargon Bullshit is a Tumblr blog that showcases the jargon-laced nonsense found in communications written by design and branding firms. Each excerpt is accompanied by a link back to the source so that the guilty parties can be identified. The blog is also on Twitter at DesignJargonBS.

“We designed a series of bubbles that represented both the idea of the consumer as having options and the letter “o”” tinyurl.com/aeoppub

— DesignJargonBullshit (@DesignJargonBS) February 13, 2013

“Ensures focus and consensus whilst encouraging maximum creative flexibility across multiple touchpoints” tinyurl.com/c9cf7g8

— DesignJargonBullshit (@DesignJargonBS) April 30, 2013

“Develop a deeply cohesive BrandWorld where all transmedia applications connect effortlessly” tinyurl.com/d4gqz9y

— DesignJargonBullshit (@DesignJargonBS) April 10, 2013

“A moody, sexy color palette and geometric font advance the personality of the brand and differentiate its identity” tinyurl.com/d5xseet

— DesignJargonBullshit (@DesignJargonBS) March 11, 2013

“Our digital dept may actually be made in binary. They eat, sleep & drink digital then regurgitate it into information” tinyurl.com/asnkqze

— DesignJargonBullshit (@DesignJargonBS) January 28, 2013

via Boing Boing

	rachel shared this story from The Atlantic Wire:
	For what it's worth, the guy who owns the boat doesn't want people donating money to replace it. He'd rather the donation go to the One Fund. <a href="http://is.gd/JI7sXE">http://is.gd/JI7sXE</a>

---

One of the new features of charitable giving in America is that we've cut out the middle man, opting instead to give directly to whatever cause we see fit. In the aftermath of Boston, some of the week's victims have had more success than others.

Those injured in the blasts, the family of the young boy killed at the race, and the guy whose boat was damaged are all potential recipients of hundreds of thousands of dollars. As of writing, people have contributed over $2.3 million to a variety of grassroots efforts to help offset bills and keep food on the table. Some, like Jeff Bauman, didn't have health insurance to offset the costs of his horrible injuries. Americans have been willing to help.

We found a half-dozen examples of fundraising efforts for Boston victims, and took a look at how they compared.

David Henneberry's Boat

Yesterday, the Boston Police heroically found the missing suspect behind the tragic Marathon Bombing. Thank God we got him! But unfortunately he was hiding in Watertown resident David Henneberry's boat, which was riddled with bullet holes in the standoff.

Let's pool some money for repairs! I'm putting in $500 myself to start this off. David's a modern American hero. The boat will probably be held up as evidence for some time, so if we're able to get up to $50,000 then he'll be able to get a brand new boat!

Amount raised: $13,099.26

Number of donors: 390

 

Martin Richard's family

N.B., The Richards have at least two sites.

On Monday April 15, 2013 - a day Bostonians celebrate, Patriots Day and the running of the Boston Marathon ended in tragedy for The Richard Family and many others. The Richard Family lost 8 year old Martin, and Mrs. Richard and her daughter were critically injured. This fund is set up to help Bill incur any costs (and I am sure there will be many in the coming months) of all this selseless violence.

Amount raised (total): $43,333

Number of donors (total): 754

 

Roseann Sdoia

Roseann Sdoia was severely injured as a spectator at the Boston Marathon on 4/15/13. Roseann suffered serious injuries as a result of the explosions and has lost a leg above the knee. She has undergone several surgeries; first, to stabilize her and perform life saving measures and also to remove shrapnel from her abdomen. Surgery was required to remove a portion of a tree that became a projectile and seriously wounded her left leg. And most traumatic, the amputation of her right leg and burns covering portions of her body. … She is a true Bostonian, living in the city and being one of the most loyal sports fans I know!

Amount raised: $268,629

Number of donors: 3,626

 

Celeste and Sydney

Celeste and Sydney were badly injured in the blasts at the Boston Marathon on 4/15/13. Sydney suffered severe injuries as a result of being hit with shrapnel and Celeste has lost both her legs below her knees. There is a long road ahead - both physically and emotionally - and we're hoping to relieve some of the financial burden by raising funds in their name. Please help spread the word and donate if you can. The outpouring of emotion and support has been nothing less than amazing and the family is extremely grateful for your prayers and warm words.

Amount raised: $631,280

Number of donors: 9,643

 

Jeff Baumann

We have created this fundraiser to raise money to help support our dear friend, Jeff and his family. As most of you know, Jeff was severely affected by the tragedy that had taken place at the Patriots Day Boston Marathon this year. Throughout this difficult time we want to help in every which way we possibly can to get Bauman back on track as soon as possible.

Amount raised: $655,761

Number of donors: 14,241

 

Patrick and Jess

On April 15, 2013 Patrick and Jess both sustained severe leg injuries after one of the bombs went off at the finish line of the Boston Marathon. This GiveForward page has been created by friends of theirs in order to give friends and family a place to post comments of love and support. We are also asking those who feel comfortable to leave a donation that will go towards the medical bills and out-of-pocket costs associated with both of their surgeries and rehabilitation.

Amount raised: $689,241

Number of donors: 11,813

 

The gold standard for these efforts, of course, is Karen the bus monitor.

Karen the bus monitor

Above is a video of a 68-year-old bus monitor named Karen Klein being verbally harassed by a group of middle schoolers on their way home from Athena Middle School in Greece, New York. Throughout the ten minute video, you can hear the kids verbally berate the woman ... Now, I don’t know about you, but that broke my heart. There’s even a point in the video where one of the kids touches Karen’s arm in an attempt to make fun of her. I’m not sure why these kids would want to bully a senior citizen to tears, but I feel we should do something, or at least try.

Amount raised: $703,168

Number of donors: 32,251

&&&&&

 

It's worth remembering that it isn't only charity cases for which people are going direct. People are also funding movies.

The Veronica Mars movie

I am currently the happiest blonde in a hamster ball the world has ever seen. [Ed - Etc.]

Amount raised: $5,702,153

Number of donors: 91,585

That's more than twice the amount raised by all of the charitable efforts, combined. Or, if we add it to the graph:

&&&&&

America is a generous country. But we're more generous in some ways than others. This morning, Zach Braff announced his own Kickstarter, aimed at raising money for a new indy film. It's already raised more than any of the charitable efforts above.

There’s little debate over what actually happened at a Minnesota club on Friday night, or at least the actual outcome: while on stage, a fan pulled down rapper Danny Brown’s pants, and attempted to perform oral sex on him. So far so gross. What there has been a lot of debate over, however, is whether or not this incident should be read as some sort of stereotypical display of hip hop masculine bravado, or, what we might normally call it if something like this happened in the real world, rape. See the picture here if you must.

It was the latter, Brown’s tour-mate and friend Kitty Pryde explains today in a convincing piece on Noisey, in which she addresses the slate of condemnations from both sides of the issue.

I’m mad that a person thought it was okay to pull another person’s pants down during their performance in front of about 700 other people. I’m mad that a person thought it was a good idea to perform a sex act on another person without their consent. I’m mad that nobody made her leave. I’m mad that Danny had to actually wonder what he was supposed to do at that point. I’m mad that when I went home and said I had no respect for that girl, I was attacked for being a “slut-shamer” (after literally leading a girl to his hotel room at 3AM at her request) and, even more outrageously, for being jealous of the girl who sucked his dick. I’m mad that when two dudes pulled my pants down onstage, other people got mad too, but when it happened to Danny the initial reaction was like one big high-five. I’m mad that people are treating “The Thing” like it’s some legendary event. I’m mad that even though they know exactly who the girl is, nobody in the media will even talk to her. I’m mad that I get a bunch of emails a day asking me to talk about my best friend’s “misogyny” and “classless behavior”, from people who have heard only rumors and seen only one very blurry and inconclusive iPhone photo.

There’s no question that someone performing an unwanted sex act on a person who isn’t interested in it is rape. The question of what is and isn’t appropriate contact at a hip hop or rock show, however, muddy the waters in a situation like this. Reaching out in desperation to grab the hand, or the arms, or the chest or leg of someone in the street is rightfully considered insane. But at a concert that’s just excitement. So where do we draw the line? Here’s a pretty good place to start: if your expression of fandom involves pulling off someone’s clothes and putting your mouth in their crotch, you’re probably way over the line. Don’t do that. Not only because it’s rape, but because wanting to have sex with someone whose songs you like very very much, so much so that you’ll perform said sex act in front of of other people, is gross and pathetic. I’m sure there are people who could argue that that sort of opinion constitutes slut-shaming. In this case the shame is well deserved. Get your shit together people.

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