firehose

Some state dropping GED as test price spikes WGME KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Several dozen states are looking for an alternative to the GED test because of concerns that a new version is more costly and will no longer be offered in a pencil and paper format. Forty states have participated in a group that's ... and more »

Making Love: 1971 via Vintage Everyday

Nov. 29, 1971: In time for the holidays, the O of the famous “Love” sculpture, by Robert Indiana, was lowered into place — at Fifth Avenue and 60th Street — on a cold day that foreshadowed rain. Photo: Don Hogan Charles/The New York Times.

hypnosec writes "The majority of $35 Raspberry Pi production was shifted to a factory in Wales from China and the Raspberry Pi Foundation has announced this week that the factory in Wales has produced its half millionth unit in just over six months. The weekly production has shot up to 40,000 units in the UK factory and that number is 'set to climb further.' The Foundation is optimistic about the Welsh factory and said there will be 'more Made in the U.K. Pis in the world than their Made in China cousins.' The Foundation didn't reveal anything else apart from this but, we already know that it sold the millionth Pi back in January."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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1 (tie). Mississippi, March 29 Mississippi earns high honors on the list with its emphasis on low income and property taxes. The state boasts a top income-tax rate of 5% and property taxes averaging about $850 per person. Mississippi earns much of its revenue from a 7% sales tax, but a low corporate income tax also helps keep the overall burden on the light side.

1 (tie). Louisiana, March 29 Louisiana climbs to the top spot by keeping property taxes below $750 and collecting just a 4% sales tax, although local options add nearly 5 percentage points to that figure and make the state one of the highest-collecting sales-tax states. Although extensive activity from energy producers Chesapeake Energy (NYSE: CHK ) , Encana (NYSE: ECA ) , and Plains Exploration (NYSE: PXP ) in the Haynesville-Bossier shale play could boost incomes and lead to higher taxes, much of Louisiana’s sales tax revenue comes from out-of-state tourists visiting the state, leaving the actual amount borne by residents even lower. A 6% income tax isn’t enough to push Louisiana out of the top spot.

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These 6 States Tax You the Least (CHK, ECA, FDX, INTC, PXP)

big surprise, the two states with the biggest health, education, and infrastructure issues are the ones with the lowest taxes

David Sedaris wanted to buy a stuffed owl as a romantic gift, but tracking one down was only the beginning. In this exclusive tale, one of the world's greatest storytellers recalls his introduction to a weird world of dead kittens and preserved Pygmies

There's plenty of silliness sitting in the margins of illuminated manuscripts, and the Tumblr The Discarded Image collects some of the goofiest of the goofy: cats licking their junk, murderous bunny rabbits, prankster monkeys, amorous animals, and tongue-wagging jokesters. But perhaps the highlight of blog is its extensive collection of butts, and the poop and fart humor that goes with it. NSFWish images below.

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During his Reddit chat, a fan asked what Louis C.K. likes to cook for his daughters. Here's how he answered.

ProFantasy Software - TTC Special Offer for KARTAS listeners - map making for fantasy, modern and SF RPGs, and historical cartographers:

When we saw Jonathan Roberts beautiful maps for the Midgard fantasy campaign setting and the accompanying iPad Atlas, we really wanted to enable our users to create matching maps in CC3. Fortunately both Jon Roberts and Wolfgang Baur were so kind to make this possible with the Cartographer’s Annual 2013. Going one step further in cooperation, we are delighted to make Kobold Press customers a special offer: get CC3 at 50% off alongside any Cartographer’s Annual. Choose the current Annual (2013) to get immediate access to the beautiful new Midgard World drawing style as shown here. This offer is valid until May 15th 2013.

Rat Kidneys Made in Lab Seen as Step to Human Transplants - NYTimes.com:

Researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston have made functioning rat kidneys in the laboratory, a bioengineering achievement that may one day lead to the ability to create replacement organs for people with kidney disease.

Japanese artist Skulltoys has created “Skull Wars,” a two-piece series featuring Boba Fett and a Stormtrooper from Star Wars as ornately inked, skull-like figures. Both pieces were featured in the Rising Tide 2 exhibit at the Rotofugi Gallery in Chicago that ran from December 2011 to January 2012.

images via Rotofugi Gallery

via Lulu Bonanza

General Munro isn’t sure what’s going to come out of the other end of Mactilburgh’s process. He’s never seen a Mondoshawan and doesn’t know if they can be trusted. Fortunately for his sense of panic, there’s a built in kill switch on the control panel facing the nucleolab chamber. To activate the switch, he slips his multipass into a slot. While this card is in the slot, a small red LED lights, and the Big Red Button is active.

The interface is simple to read, which is nice. The button conveys a bit of its importance through its size and color. The order of operations is well laid out for a Western user: left to right, in the order of reading.

Three improvements

There are lots of questions about the security strategy, though. Single-factor authentication is too easy to thwart. Couldn’t someone just take his multipass and use it? How does the system know it’s really Munro? Better would be multifactor authentication, requiring both this token and either a knowledge token like a password, or an inheritance factor. Maybe it could require Munro to place his other hand on a handprint reader before the button activates.

Another problem is that the signal that this button is active is too tiny: that little red LED that’s associated with the slot rather than the button. If this is an undoable action, you’d hope that the input would convey the sense of risk. Maybe have the button glow, or surround it with a glowing red ring (think the Krell warning system)?

If it really is a kill switch, i.e. would kill the subject, a nice safeguard against accidental activation would be a press-and-hold button, requiring Munro to hold it down for a few seconds while a warning klaxon sounds. This would give Munro the opportunity to change his mind or move his hand if he’d placed it accidentally. If it triggers something nonlethal, like an incapacitating sticky foam, then no such delay is necessary.

CBS News

Justin Bieber's camp mum amid outrage over Anne Frank remark CNN International (CNN) -- While his comment about Anne Frank drew criticism from around the world, pop star Justin Bieber and his camp have remained silent on the issue -- and plan to keep it that way. There will be no official statement from Bieber or his representatives, ... Anne Frank House describes Bieber's visit as 'positive'USA TODAY Justin Bieber defended by Anne Frank museum over 'belieber' commentThe Guardian Justin Bieber's 'Belieber' Comment No 'Big Deal' To Anne Frank House, Howard ...MTV.com Hollywood Life -Washington Post (blog) all 397 news articles »

A DVD drive could be the next revolution in blood analysis, according to a team of researchers who have turned the mundane object into a laser scanning microscope, reports PhysOrg. The "Lab on a DVD" technology repurposes the laser, normally used to scan physical media like CDs and DVDs, into a cost effective and efficient cellular imaging tool. The research team reports that this tool can complete an HIV blood test analysis in only a few minutes, whereas laboratory results from blood tests today can take several days. Such blood analysis testing is traditionally performed on machines that cost around $30,000, but the team's DVD analysis tool could be produced for less than $200.

The major modifications needed to transform a commercial DVD drive into the blood analysis tool are relatively simple. ExtremeTech reports that two physical changes and a software alteration are required. A light sensor capable of reading information from blood samples is needed to replace the traditional one that reads CDs and DVDs, and a semi-translucent disc is necessary to hold the sample being analyzed. This disc must be customized for each specific disease however, allowing the disease being analyzed to bind to it. The Lab on a DVD technology was published in Nature this week, and its low associated costs could assist in the testing of HIV and other diseases in developing countries that are unable to widely afford the more expensive equipment.

• Via The Dish
• Source ExtremeTechPhysorg
• Related Items lab on a dvd hiv hiv testing disease testing laser scanner blood test blood analysis aman russom kth royal institute of technology

In New Orleans, political brawl over police, jail - Yahoo! News

During colonization, the mixed race came about because the priests boned the natives.

Fountain will supply water even in the dog days of summer. Photo by DCR.

Officials from the state Department of Conservation and Recreation and New Balance gathered in Artesani Park on the shores of the Charles this morning to cut a ribbon and official open a new year-round, three-faucet bubbler that will let thirsty runners, walkers and animals rehydrate, both through individual sips and by refilling their water bottles:

DCR Commissioner Ed Lambert loves that clean water. Photo by DCR.

sairobee:

noahbodie:

Egyptian war goddess Sekhmet as a modern avatar of destruction by Fiona Staples, created as part of an old art submission thread on Whitechapel

LOVE THIS

Yes. …You did NOT screw around with Sekhmet, as she would fry your entire civilization to a cinder in a heartbeat if she was really annoyed. There was one time when she got carried away during a sanction and nearly destroyed all of mankind before the Gods got her to stand down… which they did by getting her blotto on rivers of beer dyed red so that she would mistake it for human blood. Sekhmet, in short, represents Divine Retribution gone a little bit whacko.

Tenmyouji droppin’ knowledge

What else could it stand for?

BUY Virtue's Last Reward (PS Vita/3DS) and 999

Raph's Website » A Letter to Leigh:

I was hesitant to write a lot of this down, because while many found this year’s GDC to be the most inclusive ever, I also was struck by the degree to which GDC time was spent not with “the good guys winning” but rather with good guys fighting good guys. I found myself cast as an excluder because I am interested in definitions, and I am sure this article will land me there again. (In fact, the height of cognitive dissonance was having a lovely conversation about design with Cara Ellison at a late night party – about many of these same topics, in fact; and finding myself sort-of-namechecked the next day when Anna Anthropy read a modified version of Cara’s poem “Romero’s Wives” aloud — a version filled with righteous anger that is impossible to quarrel with). I literally had one indie developer whose work I admire run away from me in the street.

The deceptively simple Manhattan has everything you need in a cocktail—richness and warmth from the whiskey, the sweetness and complexity of vermouth, and bitters to balance everything out. This trio makes a perfect starting point for endless Manhattan variations.

mizstorge:

Archaeologists find 10,000 objects from Roman London

Discoveries include writing tablets, thousands of pieces of pottery and a large collection of phallus-shaped luck charms

Maev Kennedy - The Guardian, Tuesday 9 April 2013 15.09 EDT

Scores of archaeologists working in a waterlogged trench through the wettest summer and coldest winter in living memory have recovered more than 10,000 objects from Roman London, including writing tablets, amber, a well with ritual deposits of pewter, coins and cow skulls, thousands of pieces of pottery, a unique piece of padded and stitched leather – and the largest collection of lucky charms in the shape of phalluses ever found on a single site.

Sophie Jackson, of Museum of London Archaeology, said: “The waterlogged conditions left by the Walbrook stream have given us layer upon layer of Roman timber buildings, fences and yards, all beautifully preserved and containing amazing personal items, clothes and even documents – all of which will transform our understanding of the people of Roman London.”

This is fabulous stuff.

An anonymous reader writes "Hacker Benjamin Smith deconstructs the cycle of education, production, and rest that will be familiar to many software and hardware engineers. He breaks it down into four steps: 1) Focused effort toward a goal, 2) structured self-education, 3) side-projects to sharpen skills, and 4) burnout and rest. He writes, 'As my motivation waxes at the beginning of a cycle, I find myself with a craving to take steps towards that goal. I do so by starting a project which focuses on one thing only: building a new income stream. As a result of this single-mindedness, the content or subject of the project is often less interesting than it otherwise might have been. ... [Later], I almost always decide to teach myself a new technical skill or pick up some new technology. ... This is usually the most satisfying period of my cycle. I am learning a new skill or technology which I know will enhance my employability, allow me to build things I previously could only have daydreamed about, and will ultimately be useful for many years to come. ... [In the burnout phase], I'll spend this period as ferociously devoted to my leisure activities as I was to my productive tasks. But after a few months of this, I start to feel an itch...'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

I remember when people first realized how much funnier these comics were just without Garfield’s dialog, which Jon was never able to hear anyway. Garfield only ever communicated to us readers in thought balloons, after all. What we’re seeing here is Jon’s canonical reality.

By Megan Farokhmanesh on Apr 14, 2013 at 8:44a

A video game's visuals not only help drive gameplay, but are "60 percent of the game," Crytek CEO Cevat Yerli told X360 magazine during a recent interview.

Yerli said that people will say that graphics aren't important, but urges people to "play Crysis and tell me they don't matter."

"It's always been about graphics driving gameplay," Yerli said. "In Crysis 3 it's the grass and the vegetation, the way the physics runs the grass interact and sways them in the wind. The better the graphics, the better the physics, the better the sound design, the better the technical assets and production values are-paired with the art direction, making things look spectacular and stylistic is 60 percent of the game."

Crysis 3 launched Feb. 19 for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Windows PC.

meme4u:

http://memeblock.com/