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Daily Beast

Obama Threatens To Get Any Tattoo Daughters Get Daily Beast Sasha and Malia better think carefully about getting a tattoo. President Obama told the Today show that he and Michelle have told their daughters, “If you guys ever decided you're going to get a tattoo, then Mommy and me will get the exact same tattoo in the ... Sasha and Malia Obama and tattoos.LifeGoesStrong Obama Says No Tattoos for His DaughtersHispanicBusiness.com Obama: Michelle has often been like a single motherGreenville News GlobalPost -The Hollywood Gossip -Thegardenisland.com all 81 news articles »

The US Federal Reserve just announced that its redesigned $100 bills will go into circulation on October 8.

Conflict Kitchen is an aptly named take-out restaurant that “only serves cuisine from countries with which the United States is in conflict."

This is my favorite song

pfignaux writes with an interesting view on the place of centralized standardization in modern browsers. From the article: "When HTML first appeared, it offered a coherent if limited vocabulary for sharing content on the newly created World Wide Web. Today, after HTML has handed off most of its actual work to other specifications, it's time to stop worrying about this central core and let developers choose their own markup vocabularies and processing." Instead, the author proposes that CSS, Javascript+DOM, the W3C's accessibility framework, and Web Components are sufficient to implement the rendering of smaller, domain-specific markups.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

To mark the second anniversary of Dark Horse Digital, the publisher is making 50 first issues available for free with a single click of the “Buy Now” button. Sure, it’s not nearly the magnitude of last month’s 700-issue offer from Marvel and comiXology, but remember what happened with that.

The digital giveaway gets you $168.50 worth of comics, ranging from the first issues of 1994′s Hellboy: Seeds of Destruction and 2002′s B.P.R.D.: Hollow Earth to far more recent series, like The Massive, Mind MGMT and The Black Beetle: No Way Out.

Although no date is given for the end of the offer, Dark Horse cautions “this is a very limited time offer.” The publisher also announced this morning that it will offer comics from Dynamite Entertainment through its digital storefront.

Fans of anime legend Hayao Miyazaki, the wonderful works of Studio Ghibli, or just really good family movies, rejoice: A live-action version of Kiki's Delivery Service has been announced.

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How To Chart Good

Orestes Pursued by the Furies, John Singer Sargent

symbolset writes "In a unanimous vote the Provo Municipal Council has agreed to a plan to sell the city's troubled iProvo fiber Internet network to Google. Although this makes Provo, Utah the third city to embrace Google's ambitious gigabit fiber to the home plan the existing network will allow the residents of Provo to see faster installation than the others. Google had previously announced plans to proceed immediately on approval." They city handed the network over for $1, but there are hidden costs, from the article: "Provo taxpayers will still have to pay off a $39 million bond that the city originally issued to build the network. With interest, taxpayers still have to pay $3.3 million in bond payments per year for the next 12 years. ... The city will have to pay about $722,000 for equipment in order to continue using the gigabit service for government operations ... The city also has to pay about $500,000 to a civil engineering firm to determine exactly where the fiber optic cables are buried ... Google will lease the network to Provo city for free for 15 years."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Multiplatform game engine Unity is getting a little less multiplatform. "As of today, we will stop selling Flash deployment licenses," CEO David Helgason announced. " We will continue to support our existing Flash customers throughout the 4.x cycle."

Helgason said that the decision to stop supporting Flash was motivated by what Unity sees as a lack of commitment to Flash on the part of Adobe, because of player instability, canceled projects, and various other factors.

Besides which, "Developers are moving away from Flash, and while Flash publishing has gotten little traction, our own Unity Web Player has seen unprecedented growth in recent months."

Unity ending Flash support originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 24 Apr 2013 12:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Microsoft will reveal the next Xbox on May 21.

The event will have a global stream on Xbox.com, Xbox Live and Spike TV (US and Canada). No word yet if the Xbox 360 Pizza Hut app will also stream the event.

"On that day, we'll share our vision for Xbox, and give you a real taste of the future. Then, 19 days later at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in Los Angeles, we'll continue the conversation and showcase our full lineup of blockbuster games," said Xbox's community guru Larry "Major Nelson" Hryb.

The event is titled "A New Generation Revealed" and will occur at Microsoft's Redmond, Washington, campus on Tuesday, May 21 at 1PM Eastern (10AM Pacific, 6PM UK).

Microsoft to reveal next generation Xbox May 21 originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 24 Apr 2013 13:07:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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New federal legislation is looking to modernize an aging government assistance program aimed at telephones by turning it into a way for low-income consumers to access broadband internet. The Broadband Adoption Act of 2013 was introduced to the House of Representatives yesterday and would update Lifeline, an FCC-run program that offers subsidized phone service to citizens near the poverty line or enrolled in select government programs such as Medicaid. Under the new legislation, Lifeline would offer the option between discounted telephone, mobile, and internet services. The bill is supported by outgoing FCC chairman Julius Genachowski and was introduced by three Democratic representatives of California, Doris Matsui, Henry Waxman, and Anna Eshoo.

The legislation expands on FCC efforts to bring broadband to 100 million US homes by 2020. Last year, the organization implemented a pilot program that aimed to modernize Lifeline, and this legislation would expedite the process by effectively mandating that the program was adopted. The goal is to simultaneously overhaul Lifeline's usefulness and cut down on waste and abuse within the program.

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100 million Americans still don't have broadband internet at home

Representative Matsui attempted and failed to pass similar legislation in 2011, but the need for internet access today is just as evident: the FCC has estimated that broadband internet service is still absent in more than half of all households making below $30,000 annually. Funding for the Lifeline program comes from the Universal Service Fund, a fee that the federal government collects from telephone companies but is often passed onto consumers' phone bills. Though the costs could be a hurdle, the representatives are giving the legislation every shot of passing by changing as little from the status quo as possible: a broadband subsidy would become an option — not an addition that would increase costs — and measure would be put in place to ensure that the system isn't abused.

• Via Ars Technica
• Source Doris Matsui (US House of Representatives)
• Related Items doris matsui henry waxman anna eshoo house of representatives congress federal legislation fcc broadband adoption act of 2013 lifeline low-income subsidy internet access

If you’re planning to visit an art museum at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC, this summer, prepare to be disappointed. Starting May 1st, some of the exhibits at America’s premier art galleries will be closed, essentially at random, because of sweeping, mandatory federal government budget cuts known as the sequester. Worse still, even the staff at the Smithsonian’s six major art museums won’t know on any given day which exhibits will be closed, and the Smithsonian won’t be posting that information online or making it publicly available in advance.

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"you may show up and find that a particular exhibition is closed."

"The museums are going to be open seven days a week as always," said Helen St. Thomas, chief spokesperson for the Smithsonian Institution, in a phone interview with The Verge. "But you may show up and find that a particular exhibition is closed, because we didn’t have enough security for that area." The six art museums due to face random exhibition closures are the National Portrait Gallery, the American Art Museum, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, the National Museum of African Art, and the Freer and Sackler Galleries of Asian Art.

Together, they constitute a sizeable portion of the Smithsonian's 19 total museums, most of which are largely funded by the government and through donations (Cooper Hewitt in New York charges adult admission fees, but is currently closed for renovation). Over half a million visitors combined passed through these six museums alone in 2012. The Verge reached out to each of the six affected museums, but was referred back to St. Thomas for comment.

Ai Weiwei contemporary art installation at the Smithsonian's Hirshhorn Museum, courtesy the Smithsonian Institution.

To be clear, the Smithsonian isn’t laying off any staff, nor are any workers being furloughed — the controversial practice of forcing employees to take unpaid time off to balance the budget. That strategy is, however, currently underway among the Federal Aviation Administration’s air traffic controllers and the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) employees — all thanks to the $84.5 billion in federal spending cuts initiated on March 1st. The cuts, initially meant as a failsafe until lawmakers agreed on a longer-term compromise that never manifested, will now be enacted until at least the end of September.

So the Smithsonian — which is supposed to chop nearly 5 percent of its budget, or $42 million, this year alone — is cutting back on contracted security guards from the private firm AlliedBarton, which staffs the security detail at the Smithsonian’s six art museums in DC. Asked about how many security staff would be affected, AlliedBarton provided the following statement: "AlliedBarton Security Services does not release information related to client contracts. We work in conjunction with our clients to meet their ongoing needs for security officer services." The Smithsonian has also implemented a freeze on new staff hires, cut down on employee travel, and postponed maintenance at other major museums, including at the popular National Air and Space Museum.

Photo of the Smithsonian American Art Museum and National Portrait Gallery, courtesy the Donald W. Reynolds Center and Smithsonian Institution.

"these required reductions will be felt by our visitors."

"We have little budgetary flexibility remaining, and these required reductions will be felt by our visitors and those who are increasingly expecting services online," said G. Wayne Cough, the Smithsonian Institution’s Secretary, when he testified before Congress on the impact of the sequestration last week. Both Cough and St. Thomas repeatedly warned that if budget cuts become permanent through 2014 and subsequent years, they could "translate into permanent staff reductions," and result in museums "being forced to postpone or cancel exhibitions," as Cough put it in his testimony.

As for why the Institution won’t be posting information about which exhibits within the museums will be closed on which days, St. Thomas said it was because the decisions would be made on a day-to-day, case-by-case basis by museum directors and the heads of security at each museum. "The reason we can’t post [closing information] online is because we don’t know," St. Thomas told The Verge. "We won't know enough time in advance to do a web post."

"We won’t know enough time in advance to do a web post."

At the same time, the Smithsonian — which calls itself the largest museum and research complex in the world — is aiming to keep the rest of its operations as normal as possible, and its 13 other museums won’t be subject to random closures. St. Thomas sought to emphasize that "every museum is still open," but the decision to close some art exhibitions at random is largely unprecedented in the Smithsonian’s history. In 1986, a series of funding cuts forced the Smithsonian to reduce its museums’ evening hours during the summer.

Photo of the Smithsonian Freer Gallery courtyard at night, courtesy the Smithsonian Institution.

But that was almost 30 years ago, and the Smithsonian hasn’t felt a budget crunch like this since then. "In recent times, we haven’t faced anything this severe," St. Thomas said. Still, it’s unlikely the Smithsonian will alleviate the crunch by collecting admission at DC museums. The idea has been floated repeatedly by members of Congress and other parties throughout the Smithsonian’s 167-year history, but each time, the Smithsonian’s Board of Regents — the governing board of the institution — has summarily rejected it. "We will not be charging admission," St. Thomas said. "It doesn’t matter what your income is or what you can afford, you’ll be able to come here." With pressure mounting on and from within Congress to cut more, the challenges to the Smithsonian's admirably populist sensibility look to only be getting started.

• Source Smithsonian Institution
• Image Credit Smithsonian Institution
• Related Items art budget congress budget cuts museums smithsonian institution galleries sequester sequestration

When Zorg begins to choke on a cherry pit, in his panic he pounds a numeric keypad on his desk, clearly hoping that this will contact someone or help him in some way. His clumsy mashing instead causes a number of bizarre things to happen around his office; i.e. the doors lock, a lifejacket inflates (bearing the charming label “HEAD THROUGH HOLE”), a cactus raises and lowers, a Rolodex of photographs appears and spins wildly, a rack begins to shoot plastic wrapped tuxedo shirts into the air, cards spit out of a slot, and a strange piglet-sized, hairless pet with a trunk is roused from its napping place as it raises to the surface of the desk and stares at Zorg helplessly.

In the talk I give about the lines of influence between interfaces in sci-fi and the real world, I cite this as a negative example of affective computing.

If you’re unfamiliar with it, affective computing largely deals with giving computers a sense of emotion or empathy for their users. In this case, of course Zorg doesn’t want to summon his elephantito from its adorable genetically modified slumber. He’s panicking. He wants help. The joke in the scene is largely about how the unfeeling technology on which Zorg relies is of little practical value in a crisis, but we know that a smarter design would have accounted for this case of panicked mashing.

If (a bunch of key chords are pressed rapidly in succession) {summon help}.

Interaction designers should take care to learn from this fictional example that though some scenarios may be rare, they may be dire enough to demand design attention.

For a general analysis, I find the number pad to be the worst choice of input for this system. On the plus side it’s useful for arbitrarily-long combinatorial and chorded input. It’s for this reason the telephone network system adopted this strategy to provide access to any one of its 10,000,000,000 nodes. (And that’s only with a ten digit number.) Fine. If Zorg needs a phone pad for dialing numbers than give him a phone. But for this desk interface, it burdens his long-term memory, forcing him to remember the codes for the things he wants. If he really has only around a dozen or so things to control, give him individual controls that are well grouped, distinguished, labeled, and mapped. Also in taking this tack, someone in his service might have thought to give the vengeful, psychopathic industrialist an actual panic button.

More Ruined Photos At This is Photobomb

Squee! Spotter: Unknown

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ITV News

Businessman faces jail over fake bomb detectors ITV News A millionaire businessman is facing jail today after being convicted of selling fake bomb detectors, thought to be golf ball finding devices. James McCormick, 56, was found guilty at the Old Bailey of three counts of fraud after jurors heard the devices did not ... and more »

ABC2 News

25 accused of plot to smuggle contraband into jail - Lompoc Record Lompoc Record Federal prosecutors say 13 female correctional officers, seven inmates and five others with gang ties have been charged with plotting to smuggle drugs, cellphones and other contraband into the Baltimore jail and other corrections facilities. An indictment ... 13 corrections officers indicted in Md., accused of aiding gang's drug schemeWashington Post Thirteen Baltimore correctional officers indicted on racketeering chargesExaminer.com Thirteen Correctional Officers Among 25 Black Guerilla Family Gang Members ...Federal Bureau of Investigation (press release) all 20 news articles »

AFP

Senators raise concerns about government response to Boston bombing ... Fox News Government response to the Boston Marathon bombings, from local police efforts to the Obama administration's role, has won high marks in the aftermath of last week's intense manhunt that ended in one suspect dead and another in custody, but lawmakers ... Lawmakers ask if intel blocked before Boston bombsBoston.com Senators Say Case Indicates That Problems Persist in Agencies' Data SharingNew York Times Boston bombing investigation reveals intelligence failuresWashington Times Philly.com -The Guardian -AFP all 24 news articles »

Two disgruntled corgis dressed like pandas sit completely still in this video uploaded by OurDoggies.

via Nothing to do with Arbroath

mucholderthen:

Elizabeth Blackwell
1701-1785
A Curious Herbal

Notable both for its beautiful illustrations of medicinal plants and for the unusual circumstances of its creation.

Elizabeth Blackwell was a Scottish botanical illustrator and author who was best known as both the artist and engraver for the plates of “A Curious Herbal”, published between 1737 and 1739. The book illustrated many odd-looking and unknown plants from the New World, and was designed as a reference work on medicinal plants for the use of physicians and apothecaries.

Blackwell undertook this ambitious project to raise money to pay her husband’s debts and release him from debtor’s prison. She drew, engraved, and colored the illustrations herself, mostly using plant specimens from the Chelsea Physic Garden in London.

It was an artistic, scientific and commercial enterprise unprecedented for a woman of her time.

[ source:  Turning the Pages - National Library of Medicine ]

the-iridescence:

Art Aquarium Exhibition in Tokyo

Visitors watch “kingyo,” or goldfish, swimming in a polyhedral aquarium on the opening day of the Art Aquarium Exhibition in Tokyo. The annual exhibition produced by Hidetomo Kimura was the collaboration of Japan’s old Edo period atmosphere, modern technology and the kingyo, the organizer said.

Even al-Qaida gloats about what's possible under U.S. gun laws. In June 2011, a senior al-Qaida operative named Adam Gadahn released a video message rallying people to take advantage of opportunities those laws provide.

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By Alexa Ray Corriea on Apr 24, 2013 at 10:30a

Indie developer Winged Doom's 2D cyberpunk game Stealer is no longer in development, according to posts from the creators on the TIGsource forums.

Russia-based Winged Doom released demo footage for the title last December, describing the game as their attempt to create a "living world" with a retro aesthetic. According to forum posts, the game's creators are no longer interested in the game and decided to cease production.

"I lost the interest in development of this game, sorry," posted a developer under the alias "08--n7.r6-79.84." "Tried several times to start again and then fail."

The developer also shared several previously unreleased mock-ups and designs from the canceled title. Winged Doom's blog has also been taken offline.

The studio is also currently working on another retro game inspired by the Legend of Zelda series, Journey to Hammerdale. Those interested can check the title's development progress on its official website.