firehose

The deal always seemed to be a strange one, but now we know why it went down .

National science standards likely to raise 'ruckus' USA TODAY Academic standards out Tuesday promise to revive simmering debates about how to teach science in the USA's public schools. In the works for two years, the "next-generation" standards push schools to teach fewer topics, but in a more integrated, coherent ... Sweeping new national science education standards headed to statesExaminer.com New US science education plan includes evolution and climate changeThe Verge Common Science Standards Make Formal DebutEducation Week News New York Times (blog) all 15 news articles »

The Xbox Live Deal of the Week is dropping prices on lots of great games over the next two weeks. This week, games like Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Dungeon Defenders, Prince of Persia Classic, Marvel vs. Capcom 2 and more are all 50 to 60 percent off. Next week, the same discount will be applied to Bionic Commando Rearmed, Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light, Hell Yeah and others. And, if you still don't have it for some reason, Geometry Wars 2 will be cut down to a measly $2.50.

Head over to Major Nelson to see all the available games and prices.

Huge XBLM sale slashes prices on Counter-Strike, Marvel vs Capcom, Lara Croft, more originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 09 Apr 2013 12:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Humble Weekly Sale has a quartet of titles from Blendo Games, featuring IGF nominees Thirty Flights of Loving, Flotilla and Atom Zombie Smasher, and educational children's game Air Forte. Pay more than $1 to get Flotilla, Atom Zombie Smasher and Air Forte, or pay above the average asking price (currently around $4) to add Thirty Flights of Loving to that list.

Buying a bundle includes the soundtracks for Atom Zombie Smasher, Air Forte and Thirty Flights of Loving, as long as the appropriate price is hit. The purchase price is divvied up among charity, the Humble Bundle or the developer, as with all Humble purchases. These Blendo Games games (games) will be available on the Humble Store for six more days, so go mix it up while you still can.

Humble Weekly Sale shakes it up with Blendo Games originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 09 Apr 2013 21:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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As a husband and wife development team, Alix Stolzer and Calvin Goble worked out a system that saw them through the first few years of crafting games: Calvin made their first two titles, Tiny Plumbers and IGF nominee Neverdaunt: 8Bit, while Alix worked a 9-5 job and provided input in her spare time. The situation was satisfactory, but eventually, Alix wanted more.

"While money was coming in from our games, it really wasn't enough to pay the bills," Alix told me. "We decided we'd rather reduce living costs and rough it, instead of one of us working a 'real' job. The opportunity came quickly."

A friend offered them the opportunity to be his "mountain neighbor" in Vermont - meaning they would live in a mountainside forest, in a home they'd craft themselves out of trees and tarp. There, they could survive on $150 a month, plus food. Alix and Calvin seized the moment.

"We sold our house and used as little money as possible to build a small house-tent thing eight feet off the ground, on a platform our friend had made out of four trees," Alix said. "We spent maybe $1,000 on it, really using thrifty things like greenhouse plastic, and making our own solar panels, etc. It's an awesome adventure, but the downside is it slows down game development."

The mountain, miraculously, hosted a strong cellular internet signal, and on sunny days Alix and Calvin were able to charge their laptops, one at a time, using the homemade solar panels. Cafes and the college campus in town, a half hour walk away, provided power and internet on cloudy days. Everything - food, heat, power, water - took extra time in the mountain home, Alix said, including video game programming and design.

But the tree house didn't stop their game development. As the studio Robot Loves Kitty, Calvin (the Robot) and Alix (Kitty) brought their latest game, Legend of Dungeon, to PAX East, using not a lot of money and earning wild success.

Continue reading Legend of Dungeon devs' secret to saving money: Live in a tree

Legend of Dungeon devs' secret to saving money: Live in a tree originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 09 Apr 2013 16:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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“Miracle Noodles” are imitation pasta made with shirataki, which is gel made of glucomannan, an indigestible fiber. They have no calories, no fat, no starch, and no sugar. And they taste mild, so any sauce you cook them in will overwhelm the slightly-off taste of the shirataki. Some dieters love these as a way to fill their stomach with very few calories. (The 450 customer reviews are overwhelmingly positive.)

They sound great, right? I wrote about them here because, not to mince words, if you eat indigestible noodles, you shit indigestible noodles. They don’t get digested. Depending on how much you chew these weird strings, you either shit clumps of tiny little white bits that look like maggots, or clumps of long, entangled white buttworms. Bon appetit!

During the week of GDC, the International Game Developers Association threw a party that featured underdressed, dancing women as part of the entertainment, prompting two IGDA members to resign and Executive Director Kate Edwards to issue a statement of regret.

Today, Edwards defined a new set of regulations for future IGDA gatherings, starting with the goal to cut back on "parties" and instead offer more "networking events."

"Building a community and providing networking opportunities are part of our core mission, and we want to create activities that provide that opportunity, and to do that in a way that will be appropriate and enjoyable for everyone," Edwards wrote.

If a specific IGDA chapter wishes to throw a party, it may, but the organization still expects "chapters to uphold the IGDA's values of inclusion and diversity, regardless of the type of event and locale." Edwards said the IGDA will be vigilant when dealing with partners in the future, to provide "comprehensive oversight" of the entire event: The dancing women at this year's GDC party were courtesy of party sponsor YetiZen, which said it hired "avid gamers, who happened to be models." YetiZen said the IGDA approved all aspects of the party, including the dancers.

Edwards outlined a set of actions for IGDA members to uphold while at other industry events, including a "walk out and talk out" policy for any party with content "contrary to the IGDA ideals, regardless of the potential value of being present."

"Our humanity makes us prone to mistakes, but that does not diminish our resolve to be a force of change," Edwards concludes. "I hope the IGDA membership will rise to the challenge, and keep working together to help our industry reflect the reality of our diversity, whether it's at events, in the workplace or in the games we create." Read her full missive here.

IGDA defines new rules for future industry parties after GDC 'mistake' originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 09 Apr 2013 20:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It's the amazing solution to a version of Snake, a genre of casual game going back almost 40 years, so old its original form is all but lost to memory.

A reader of Free Range Kids is in danger of having his six-year-old daughter taken into protective services custody because he let her walk a few blocks to the post office in their Ohio town. The kid, Emily, asked for a little independence, and was given permission to take some unsupervised, short walks. Neighbors and cops freaked out, detained her, detained her parents, sent CPS after them, and has made their life into a nightmare -- one that's just getting worse and worse.

Day 41: We are served with a complaint alleging neglect and dependency. The County wants to take Emily into “protective supervision” or “temporary custody.” The complaint contains many factual errors and inaccuracies.

There is also a motion for “pre-dispositional interim orders.” As I understand it, this is a mechanism by which CPS can intervene even before the merits of the case against us for neglect are even heard, but less decided. It is scheduled to take place more than a month before the hearing on the neglect charge. It asks the court to force my wife and I to “allow ______ County Children Services to complete an assessment with the family. This is including allowing the agency access in the home, allowing the agency to interview the children, and participate openly in the assessment process.” In other words, they want to search our house, interrogate the children, and force us to testify.

We are trying our best to raise Emily to be responsible, curious, and capable. We have chosen to include teaching her about using the library, navigating the neighborhood, and mailing letters as elements of her homeschooling. Needless to say, this entire ordeal has been quite distressing for the entire family, and we view it as a threat to our homeschooling her, our parental rights, and both my and Emily’s civil liberties. Since our family is being threatened by legal action, I have tried to confine my comments to a dispassionate statement of known facts.

As Lenore Skenazy notes, this shouldn't deter you from letting your own kids move independently about their towns: "I am posting this story NOT because it is common and we should all worry about being hounded by CPS if we let our kids go outside. I am posting it in utter outrage at the idea that a child on her own could be considered neglected or in danger when she is so obviously, clearly, and indisputably neither."

They're looking for pro bono legal assistance.

6-y.o. Who Walked Alone to Post Office May be Removed from Her Home

alizabug:

monster lady advice 

It could reach even No. #1, reports The Independent. In contrast to the rather unpleasant street parties, this strikes me as a more perfectly British detractors' send-off for the Iron Lady.

Margaret Thatcher's Ashes Scattered Over Free Market

By Megan Farokhmanesh on Apr 09, 2013 at 7:00p

Microsoft is reportedly discussing the possibility of ending its Kinect Sesame Street TV video games, according to the Wall Street Journal.

In Kinect Sesame Street TV, kids can interact and learn with different Sesame Street characters. WSJ has apparently spoken with "people familiar with the matter," who say that a lack of demand for the games is the root of the discussion. According to one source, some of the problem stems from children having trouble navigating the Xbox 360's startup screen on their own.

Microsoft declined to confirm or deny this claim, telling Polygon that it does "not comment on rumors or speculation."

Kinect Sesame Street TV launched in September 2012. Along with Kinect Nat Geo TV, it was part of Microsoft's attempt to create interactive TV programs for families to watch and play along with. Xbox Entertainment Studios was created largely for this purpose; the 125-person studio focused on creating "true interactive content," such as the Elections 2012 hub that aired during presidential debates.

• Source
• Wall Street Journal

By Megan Farokhmanesh on Apr 09, 2013 at 7:30p

Shadowrun Returns, Harebrained Schemes' Kickstarted tactical role-playing game, is currently slated for launch in June with physical backer rewards expected to ship three weeks later, according to a recent update.

As of today, backers will be able to receive emails from the developer with a link and password to the Harebrained Account website, where they can send their mailing information. Digital rewards will be released on the game's launch day.

Additionally, the digital edition of Shadowrun Returns will likely be released via Steam and all backers will receive a Steam key. According to the update, this will allow the developer to "provide up-to-date downloads and patching along with a vibrant ecosystem for developing community-created content and files sharing." The Harebrained Account website will also contain a downloadable version of the game to fulfill the developer's promise of a DRM-free copy.

Tablet and mobile versions of the game will be available on the Apple and Android app stores, and a Linux version is expected after launch.

Fundraising for Shadowrun Returns launched in 2012 and surpassed its $400,000 goal, achieving more than $1.8 million with the help of 36,276 backers. You can read the full update here.

Four ad execs who ran the first internet ad banner — an AT&T ad that ran on HotWired in 1994 — have all admitted that, basically, they now hate it.

By Samit Sarkar on Apr 09, 2013 at 5:45p

The offices of video download service Vudu were broken into recently, and hard drives with user information were among the items stolen, the company said today in a statement emailed to customers.

Vudu is headquartered in Santa Clara, Calif.; according to the company, the break-in took place March 24.

"Our investigation thus far indicates that these hard drives contained customer information, including names, email addresses, postal addresses, phone numbers, account activity, dates of birth and the last four digits of some credit card numbers," said Vudu chief technology officer Prasanna Ganesan in the email.

Vudu does not store full credit card numbers, and the company repeatedly said in a customer FAQ that there's no chance of credit card information being accessed by outside parties. However, the hard drives did include encrypted passwords for Vudu accounts, so if customers set a password on the Vudu website, their account may be at risk. Because of that, Vudu said it reset the password for any account that had a password created on the Vudu website.

Vudu is also giving affected customers — anyone whose password has been reset — a free one-year subscription to AllClear ID, an identity theft prevention service that alerts users to suspicious activity. It is the same service that Sony offered to people whose information was compromised in the April 2011 PlayStation Network hack.

As for preventing future incidents such as this, both physical break-ins and internet security breaches, Vudu said, "We have many measures in place to protect customers' data and we are implementing additional measures to protect against physical theft. We are also increasing the password strength requirements for Vudu passwords in order to ensure a greater degree of protection."

Vudu apps are available on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, as well as on smart TVs and set-top boxes. We've reached out to the company to ask if the information of users who only accessed the service through console apps is at risk due to this break-in, and will update this article with any response we receive.

Drone strikes don't just kill terrorists targeted by Washington. They're also kill the enemies of Washington's allies, Mark Mazzetti of the New York Times explains in his new book.

1951.

Alec Guinness.

If you thought that, between movies and television and video games, Comic-Con International has gotten awfully crowded for comic books, get ready to make a little more room: New Wave icon Adam Ant is using the event to launch his U.S. tour.

OK, the 58-year-old singer won’t actually perform in the San Diego Convention Center, but U-T San Diego reports the timing of the July 17 show (that’s Preview Night!) isn’t a coincidence: The concert’s promoters think there will be some crossover appeal. I’m not sure why they think con-goers would be interested in seeing someone wearing an ornate costume and funny hat … oh, wait.

The singer is no stranger to comic books, of course: As Michael May noted in December, Adam Ant briefly starred in his own comic strip in 1982.

From San Diego’s Balboa Theater, Ant’s North American tour travels through 22 states and Canada before wrapping up in September.

ABC News

Navy cancels Blue Angels shows for 2013 due to sequester Fox News The Blue Angels, the Navy's revered aerial acrobats, have been grounded for the rest of the year due to sequestration cuts. The Navy announced the cancellation Tuesday of over 30 shows for the stunt-flying team that were planned through November, citing ... Blue Angels scrap remaining 2013 scheduleFlorida Times-Union Blue Angels Cancel Remaining Air Shows in 2013Patch.com Budget cuts force Blue Angels to cancel Ft. Worth appearanceFOX 4 News Fort Worth Star Telegram -KQED (blog) -Leader-Telegram all 112 news articles »

Behold a collection of new shots of the crew of the Enterprise. Check out the slightly aged Chekov, Kirk's new haircut, and so many new kinds of regulation turtle necks.

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One of the most popular maps in the history of video games is called de_dust (seen below), and was created for Valve Software’s Counter-Strike — a game that has famously produced more Internet traffic than the entire country of Italy. Dust pits a team of terrorists against a team of counter-terrorists who must defuse the terrorist bomb (hence the “de” of the map’s title). It is one of the most played maps in all of gaming. Its creator, David Johnston, has a great post on its design, and the “luck and thievery” that went into it. It has been copied in tribute all over the world since being first released in 1999 — including in sand-castle form, as seen below (featured in Johnston’s post but first spotted by us in this interesting musing on how the map become so canonical). We’ve yet to feature a map of so local an imagined space here on the Atlas, but this  one is definitely worth it, for many reasons.

Sandcastle Dust:

Apr 9th 2013 By: Andy Khouri

Brian K. Vaughan announced via press release on Tuesday that the latest issue of his and Fiona Staples' popular comic book Saga will not be available to readers via ComiXology or other digital comics platforms for iOS devices such as iPad and iPhone; anything that's purchased in-app through the Apple App Store. As is its contentious and often unpredictable tradition, Apple seems to have objected to graphic sexual content again. In the case of Saga #12, that content is two very small images depicting explicit oral sex between men.

Published by Image Comics, Saga has become well known to readers for its graphic depictions of human(oid) anatomy in various states of "graphic" being, including a woman giving birth, complete with umbilical cord biting and breastfeeding; aliens with televisions for heads going at it "doggy style"; and multiple people getting destroyed in extremely violent ways that tend to include their guts falling out. There's also quite a bit of language my mother would characterize as "trashy" and "vulgar."

Nevertheless, every issue of the hugely acclaimed space opera series has made it through Apple's App Store until now. As identified by Vaughan in his press release below, issue #12's offending images are some very small but explicit images of male-on-male oral sex, including several so-called "money shots," which are displayed on the television head of Saga villain Prince Robot IV.

As has hopefully been clear from the first page of our first issue, SAGA is a series for the proverbial "mature reader." Unfortunately, because of two postage stamp-sized images of gay sex, Apple is banning tomorrow's SAGA #12 from being sold through any iOS apps. This is a drag, especially because our book has featured what I would consider much more graphic imagery in the past, but there you go. Fiona and I could always edit the images in question, but everything we put into the book is there to advance our story, not (just) to shock or titillate, so we're not changing s***.

(censored by us)

As Vaughan points out, Saga has included what many people would say is much more intense imagery than a blowjob. But then again we can't actually show you those pages because to do so would violate our own AOL guidelines for graphic content, so I suppose one's mileage may vary on that. Truthfully I didn't even notice either image when I read the review copy earlier today, so kudos to the eagle eyed App Store censor, I guess?

In any case, digital comics readers can still get their copy of Saga this week via several ways. ComiXology customers can purchase the issue at ComiXology's website, as opposed to within the iOS app. Doing so will not only allows you to read the comic on any of your ComiXology-enabled devices -- including iOS devices -- but it also bypasses Apple's App Store completely and puts more of your purchase price in the pockets of the comic creators and publishers. Vaughan offered additional suggestions:

1) Head over to you friendly neighborhood comics shop and pick up a physical copy of our issue that you can have and hold forever.

2) While you're at it, don't forget to support the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, which helps protect retailers who are brave enough to carry work that some in their communities might consider offensive. You can find signed copies of Saga at the CBLDF site right now.

3) Download the issue directly through sites like http://comics.imagecomics.com or on your non-Apple smartphone or tablet.

4) If all else fails, you might be able to find SAGA #12 in Apple's iBookstore, which apparently sometimes allows more adult material to be sold than through its apps. Crazy, right?

Anyway, special thanks to Eric Stephenson and everyone at Image for supporting our decision, and for always being so supportive of creators. Sorry again to readers for the inconvenience, but I hope everyone will be able to find an issue that Fiona and I are particularly proud of. And after you do, please check out PanelSyndicate.com , the new digital comics site I own with artist Marcos Martin, which remains 100% uncensored by corporate overlords.

Your pal,

Brian

“Fiona and I could always edit the images in question, but everything we put into the book is there to advance our story, not (just) to shock or titillate, so we’re not changing shit.”

– writer Brian K. Vaughan, responding to Apple’s rejection of this week’s Saga #12 because of two panels depicting pretty explicit, if relatively small, images of gay sex (they’re on Prince Robot IV’s head-monitor). There’s already debate online whether gay sex is Apple’s issue, or whether it’s explicit sex in general, but it’s worth noting that the company apparently had no problems with the comic’s previous obvious depictions of cunnilingus, and penetration (of the heterosexual variety, complete with erect penis), not to mention the assorted sex shots that left a little something to the imagination.

We’ll not talk about that giant’s pendulous scrotum, which has to be the most “explicit” thing to appear in Saga. Certainly the most disturbing.

Updated: ComiXology issued a statement saying that it, not Apple, rejected Saga #12.

““The Tonight Show is coming to us. We are not going to The Tonight Show.””

- Questlove Has All But Confirmed That The Roots Will Be on the ‘Tonight Show’ - Yahoo! News

““Game of Thrones” actress Natalie Dormer has lined up a new role on CBS’ “Elementary.” The actress will play Irene Adler opposite Jonny Lee Miller’s Sherlock Holmes, CBS announced on Tuesday.”

- Game Of Thrones Actress Natalie Dormer Headed To CBS’ Elementary As Irene Adler - Yahoo! TV

This is where Paul Revere’s midnight ride and the recent Maker’s Mark dilution row meet: In June 1973, without Twitter or Facebook to fuel grassroots outrage, a US mission to the European Communities in Brussels sent a cable to Washington titled simply, “THE BRITISH ARE WATERING OUR WHISKEY.”

Deep Sea Fauna… with Googly Eyes is a Tumblr blog that’s very true to its name — the blog posts pictures of sea creatures with the amusing addition of googly eyes.

images via Deep Sea Fauna… with Googly Eyes

via io9

Yesterday, actor Morris Chestnut — best known for his roles in Boyz in the Hood, the V reboot and American Horror Story — tweeted and Facebooked a picture of a Black Panther comic with the words, "It’s time to get familiar with the Black Panther character!" Is Marvel finally making a Black Panther movie? Have they already found their T'Challa? There's evidence on both sides.

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