firehose

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA—An online listing for a job at area marketing firm BizKo Solutions has left local man Ryan Urlich unsure whether he is truly dynamic enough to qualify for the position, sources confirmed Wednesday.

BOSTON—Boston residents once again hustled and bustled their way into the nation’s hearts this week as they continued playing their adorable little game of “Big City,” a live-action role-playing adventure in which Bostonians buzz a...

The President was forced to exercise his clemency powers to free Joe Biden last week after the Vice President called the White House at 3 AM from a prison pay phone.

By Alyse Nelson

Akua Schatz and Brendon Purdy’s dream was to live near relatives, but they couldn’t afford a home in Vancouver, BC’s Dunbar neighborhood. Instead of moving to the suburbs, they decided to build a 500-square-foot laneway home in Brendon’s parents’ backyard.

Brendon and Akua’s laneway home, view from the alley, photo used with permission from http://buildsmall.blogspot.com

A few years ago, this wouldn’t have been an option for the young couple. Rules for laneway houses, as these backyard cottages are called in Vancouver, were adopted in 2009. Laneway homes are small backyard cottages that face alleys in traditional single-family neighborhoods. The density is hidden from the main neighborhood streets, leaving the appearance of Vancouver’s single-family neighborhoods intact. But while you might not see this hidden density, it could have a huge effect on the number of people able to call Vancouver home – nearly 70,000 single-family lots are eligible for an additional dwelling unit.

The Vancouver regulations allow a one-bedroom 500 square-foot laneway house on 33-foot by 122-foot single-family lots. The larger 50-foot wide lots can have a two-bedroom 750 square-foot cottage.

As homeowners build small dwellings, they provide lower-cost housing within the existing fabric of their neighborhood, with no government support necessary. Vancouver’s planning director, Brent Toderian, sees this as the essential value of the trend towards small homes: “[It’s] about ordinary people. Thousands of individual homeowners can do it, one by one by one. It’s publicly propelled, not corporate-propelled densification. It’s gradual. It’s discrete. It’s green.”

Small homes combat neighborhood decline brought on by shrinking household sizes. Adding people can revitalize a neighborhood, allowing schools to stay open, giving neighborhood businesses more customers, making transit service cost-effective, and saving on infrastructure costs. Infilling neighborhoods with backyard cottages helps add more people to a neighborhood, without altering its character.

In a city where the average home price is $725,086, laneway homes can cost between $185,000 for an average home and $340,000 for an up-scale laneway dwelling.

The laneway home sits in the backyard of Brendon’s parent’s home, photo used with permission from http://buildsmall.blogspot.com

Schatz and Purdy spent about $280,000 to build their one-bedroom laneway home. Their home may be small, but it is only a 10-minute bicycle ride to Schatz’s office. When choosing between their backyard cottage and a larger house in the suburbs, it was a no-brainer: “You’re looking at three-hour commutes, and I just don’t want to spend my life doing that,” she told the National Post.

Upstairs view of Brendon and Akua’s laneway house.

There’s another plus to their backyard home: Schatz and Purdy recently gave birth to their first child and have babysitters just feet away from their front door. Their eventual plan is to switch places with Purdy’s parents and live in the larger home as their family grows.

Akua relaxes in the laneway house’s kitchen. Photos used with permission from http://buildsmall.blogspot.com

Schatz suggests redefining success: “It’s really a North American concept to have success tied to moving away or distancing yourself, so maybe we’re reinventing what it means to be successful, and that means keeping family close.”

This post is adapted from a full article published here: http://daily.sightline.org/2012/12/20/tiny-homes/

Bio: Alyse Nelson is an urban planner for a small town in Kitsap County, Washington. She is a Writing Fellow for Sightline Institute.

"H. Berthold first published Akzidenz-Grotesk in 1896. The design originates from the type used in Germany by job-setters and trade printers of earlier centuries. This early sans serif preceded the first weight of Helvetica by over 40 years. Throughout the years, H. Berthold has expanded this extremely popular and versatile family. AG Super, Extra, Super, Italic and Extra Bold was developed in 1968 by Günter Gerhard Lange and is an excellent choice for headlines requiring heavily-weighted strokes."

They’re edible, yes. But they don’t light up. That’s fine with us, since the process [Becky Stern] used to make these gummy candy LEDs taps into several techniques handy to have under your belt.

The first part shown in her video (embedded after the jump) is to make a mold for the candies. You probably have a few bags of LEDs in your parts bin. Those along with a trough made of foam core come together to create the form for the silicone mold. After mixing, pouring, and hardening, [Becky] peels the silicone off of the LEDs and sends it through the oven to make it food-safe. Mixing up the candy uses simple ingredients (gelatin, water, and ascorbic acid) but you’ll need to follow the methodology closely to get the taste and clarity you’re used to. Syringes are used to fill the tiny voids in the mold before adding leads which were 3D printed using PLA.

These will be a huge hit at your next hackerspace meeting!

[Photo: Johngineer]

Filed under: 3d Printer hacks

Gif your butt (!) over to Animal Gifs for MOAR cyoot and funneh on loop!

Submitted by: Unknown

Tagged: gifs , gifset , dogs , socks Share on Facebook

Stiletto writes "Business Insider and All Things D are reporting that Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer's decision to ban telecommuting was data-driven, as you'd expect out of the former Google exec. After spending months frustrated at how empty Yahoo parking lots were, Mayer consulted Yahoo's VPN logs to see if remote employees were checking in enough. Despite all the outrage and flak she's getting from those outside the company for the move, some ex-employees are praising the decision, citing abuse, slacking off, and general 'unavailability' of folks working from home."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Telegraph.co.uk

Botha, former Pistorius detective, off police force CNN International (CNN) -- Hilton Botha, the former lead detective in the Oscar Pistorius murder case, cited "private reasons" for resigning from the police force, South African Police spokesman Brig. Neville Malila said Thursday. Botha was pulled from the Pistorius case last ... Former Pistorius detective quits police forceUSA TODAY Column: Oscar Pistorius of old is gone for goodThe Associated Press Oscar Pistorius policeman resigns from the forceThe Times (subscription) Houston Chronicle -BBC News all 45 news articles »

Etsy shopowner GimmCat is selling wigs complete with unicorn horns and ears. The shop also has wigs and tails based on the popular cartoon My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, so if you’ve always dreamed of looking just like Princess Celestia, you’re in luck.

images via GimmCat

via Geekologie

The Breakfast Sandwich Maker by Hamilton Beach can make a multi-layered breakfast sandwich in the “comfort of your own home” in just 5 minutes.

Cooks every layer of your breakfast sandwich to perfection:

Top plate: gently toasts the bread on top and holds the heat inside
Egg layer with slide-out egg plate: cooks a fresh egg perfectly, right inside your sandwich
First layer: cooks the bottom half of your breakfast sandwich

via HiConsumption, Gizmodo

I am tired of rape culture in the gaming world.

I am tired of having men be the arbiters of who gets to be a “real” gamer.

I am tired of sometimes remaining silent because I don’t want to be dismissed as “that feminist who only talks about rape culture”.

I am tired of being in situations where I have to choose between feeling comfortable and starting an argument.

I am tired of feeling unsafe for the mere act of expressing an opinion.

I am tired of maintaining mental lists of “guys that are safe”, “guys that are probably safe”, and “guys that are not safe”.

I am also tired of maintaining mental lists of “guys that Get It”, “guys who mean well but sometimes fuck up”, and “guys it’s just not worth talking to”.

I am tired of not being allowed to have boundaries.

I am tired of feeling triggered and remaining silent because I don’t have the mental energy to deal with the bullshit that would arise from speaking out.

I am tired of hearing rape jokes.

I am tired of hearing my friends tell rape jokes.

I am tired of hearing friends who know about my experience of sexual assault casually compare game defeats to rape.

I am tired of sometimes having a moment of fear for my safety when I read particularly vociferous condemnations of me online.

I am tired of asking men to walk me to my hotel or my parking spot while I am at gaming conventions.

I am tired of not talking about the details of my assault, which happened at a gaming convention, because I know that I will be disbelieved, blamed, or both.

I am tired of game scenarios that feature rape.

I am tired of game settings that feature rape.

I am tired of game mechanics that feature rape.

I am tired of game creators and designers defending rape in their creations as “realistic” or “grim” or “gritty” or “historical”.

I am tired of men who write rape being praised for their “creative vision”.

I am tired of seeing people who speak out against rape in popular game material denounced as crazy fascists who hate freedom.

I am tired of gamers who complain when games that feature rape are banned, not translated, or otherwise not made available for English-speaking audiences.

I am tired of being happy that while I’ve been called fat, ugly, crazy, and gay, at least no one has ever threatened to rape me.

I am tired of knowing that men threaten to rape women who venture into gaming spaces, virtual or real, every day and face no consequences.

I am tired of seeing anti-harassment policies become the butt of jokes.

I am tired of men who argue against anti-harassment policies claiming that it will “criminalize just talking to a woman”.

I am tired of anti-harassment policies not being enforced.

I am tired of men who demand to see the tits of female gamers.

I am tired of men who send pictures of their penis to female gamers.

I am tired of men who confuse costumes with consent.

I am tired of seeing women that I admire being threatened, intimidated, and harassed.

I am tired of sometimes being so afraid for my daughter as a future gamer that I feel like I can’t breathe.

I am just SO. FUCKING. TIRED.

(I am tired. originally posted on Gaming As Women.)

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Versteckt auf der letzten Seite eines tollen Bloomberg-Artikels über Disneys Star Wars-Deal bestätigt George Lucas himself, dass Luke, Leia und Han offiziell mit dabei sind und bereits für Episode VII unterschrieben haben. Er rudert dann nochmal ein Stückchen zurück, aber ich denke, den Sack können wir zumachen:

Asked whether members of the original Star Wars cast will appear in Episode VII and if he called them before the deal closed to keep them informed, Lucas says, “We had already signed Mark and Carrie and Harrison—or we were pretty much in final stages of negotiation. So I called them to say, ‘Look, this is what’s going on.’ ” He pauses. “Maybe I’m not supposed to say that. I think they want to announce that with some big whoop-de-do, but we were negotiating with them.” Then he adds: “I won’t say whether the negotiations were successful or not.”

Disney verfügt jetzt auch über Lucasfilms eigene Star Wars-Datenbank, die über 17.000 Charaktere auflistet, verteilt über tausende Planeten in einem Zeitraum von 20.000 Jahren. Wahrscheinlich sowas wie eine Wookiepedia auf Speed.

His company maintained a database called the Holocron, named after a crystal cube powered by the Force. The real-world Holocron lists 17,000 characters in the Star Wars universe inhabiting several thousand planets over a span of more than 20,000 years. It was quite a bit for Disney to process. So Lucas also provided the company with a guide, Pablo Hidalgo. A founding member of the Star Wars Fan Boy Association, Hidalgo is now a “brand communication manager” at Lucasfilm. “The Holocron can be a little overwhelming,” says Hidalgo, who obsesses over canonical matters such as the correct spelling of Wookiee and the definitive list of individuals who met with Yoda while he was hiding in the swamps of Dagobah.

How Disney Bought Lucasfilm—and Its Plans for ‘Star Wars’ (via Daring Fireball)

[update] Wired hatte vor fünf Jahren eine ausführliche Story zum Star Wars Holocron:

Of course, Chee’s Holocron isn’t a Force-sensitive crystal. It’s a FileMaker database, a searchable repository of more than 30,000 entries covering almost every character, planet, and weapon mentioned, however fleetingly, in the vast array of Star Wars titles and products. The Holocron isn’t just for fun—when Lucas Licensing inks a deal with a toy company or a T-shirt designer, it vets those ancillary products to ensure they conform to the spirit and letter of the continuity that has come before and will continue afterward. In the past 31 years, Star Wars movies have grossed in excess of $4 billion worldwide. But retail sales of merchandise stand at $15 billion, and 20 percent of that has been earned since 2006, the year after the final film was released. Careful nurture of the Star Wars canon—thousands of years of story time, running through all the bits and pieces of merchandise—has kept the franchise popular for decades.

Nasa has now mapped every single square inch of Mercury

judgecorp writes "The Pirate Bay's announcement that it was moving to North Korea was a prank, making fun of gullible readers. Admitting the hoax, the site said 'You can't seriously cheer the 'fact' that we moved our servers to bloody North Korea. Applauds to you who told us to f*** off. Always stay critical. Towards everyone!'" The essence of a good troll: so absurd it could just be true.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

New submitter gewalker writes "Bowing to significant unfriendly customer feedback regarding its new 'no transfer' license for Office 2013, Microsoft has reconsidered and will now allow Office 2013 licenses to be transferred between computers. Actual license language will not be reflected for a few months for shipped products, but Microsoft will allow transfer of license effective immediately. Calls to customer support will be necessary, as the activation servers won't be updated for a few months."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

sciencehabit writes "In 1592, a British ship sank near the island of Alderney in the English Channel carrying an odd piece of cargo: a small, angular crystal. Once it was brought back to land, a few European scientists began to suspect the mysterious object might be a calcite crystal, a powerful 'sunstone' referred to in Norse legends which they believe Vikings and other European seafarers used to navigate before the introduction of the magnetic compass. Now, after subjecting the object to a battery of mechanical and chemical tests, the team has determined that the Alderman crystal is indeed a calcite and, therefore, could have been the ship's optical compass. Today, similar calcite crystals are used by astronomers to analyze the atmospheres of exoplanets—perhaps setting the stage for a whole new age of exploration."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Hugh Pickens writes writes "It's been said that social graces may be just as important as intelligence and engineering prowess to success as an astrophysicist or computer engineer. But how do you take someone who's grown up in the world of pocket protectors and get them thinking about suits, bow ties and the proper way to hold a wine glass. Now Jennifer Lawinski reports that MIT's Charm School just celebrated its 20th birthday with classes in alcohol and gym etiquette, how to dress for work and how to visit a contemporary art museum. 'We're giving our students the tools to be productive members of society, to be the whole package,' says Alana Hamlett. 'It gets them thinking about who they are and what their impact and effect is, whether they're working on a team in an engineering company, or in a small group on a project, or interviewing for a job.' At this year's Charm School students were free to drop in and participate in any of the 20-minute mini-courses being offered that day and students who participated in 10 of the mini-courses were awarded doctorates of charm. Computational biology graduate student Asa Adadey said the free meal was a draw and said he learned in one mini-course not to cut up all his meat at once before eating it. 'Who knows? Down the line I may find myself at a formal dinner.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

mask.of.sanity writes "Annual Canadian hack fest Pwn2Own is famous for leaving a trail of bloodied software bits and today it did not disappoint. Security researchers tore holes through all major web browsers, breaking Windows 8 and Java, too (though the latter feat is not remarkable). Thankfully for the rest of us, the cashed-up winners will disclose the holes quietly to Microsoft, Mozilla, Google and Oracle, and the proof of concept attack code will remain in the hands of organisers only."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

An anonymous reader writes "In as little as a few days, the British-made Surrey Training, Research, and Nanosatellite Demonstrator (STRaND-1) satellite will begin transitioning its key systems over to a completely stock Android Nexus One smartphone that's been bolted to the bottom of it. The mission is designed to test the endurance of off-the-shelf consumer hardware, and to validate Android as a viable platform for controlling low-cost spacecraft. STRaND-1 managed to beat NASA's own 'PhoneSat' mission to the punch, which will see a Nexus One and Nexus S launched into space aboard the April test flight of the Orbital Sciences Antares commercial launch vehicle, the prime competitor to SpaceX's Falcon 9."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Those of us that run Linux on a modern or nearly-modern PC know that it’s a capable operating system.  It’s also (at least in my case with Ubuntu) extremely easy to install on a semi-modern computer. On a mid-90s era PowerMac 7200, things aren’t quite so simple.

In a testament to both his technical ability, and possibly even more so his tenacity, [Chris] was able to get Debian 6.07 running on a PowerMac destined for destruction. He had slated a few hours to upgrade this 56 Megabyte monster, but it turned out to be a several-day event. Those that are well-schooled in Linux may find the hairy details useful, and some more background can be found in part one. This project was a stepping-stone to something else, so we’re anxious to see what the end result is.

If you find this interesting, feel free to check out the retro edition of our site. It’s not entirely about ancient computers, but it can hopefully be displayed on one.

via [twitter]

Filed under: computer hacks, software hacks

By Samit Sarkar on Mar 07, 2013 at 10:00a

Boy Scouts will soon be able to earn a merit badge in game design, the Boy Scouts of America announced today.

The organization spent two years developing the game design program with "volunteers from the game industry and game enthusiasts across the country," according to a press release announcing the badge, and will officially unveil it this weekend at the SXSW Gaming Expo in Austin, Texas.

The Boy Scouts of America recognizes the importance of play throughout human history — the press release highlights games from bowling in ancient Egypt to Angry Birds — and the merit badge will challenge Scouts to study all kinds of games and understand the importance of intellectual property before undertaking the program's main requirement: designing a game.

Scouts can design physical games such as those involving cards, boards or dice, or choose to develop one on a mobile device. They'll have to create a design notebook and then iterate on their idea, refining the concept through their own testing and outside feedback.

Game design will be the newest entry on the list of more than 130 available merit badges for Scouts to earn. You can check out the full cover of the game design merit badge pamphlet below.

• Source
• Boy Scouts of America on PRNewswire

Microsoft recently showed off some impressive new tech for the Kinect. Called Kinect Fusion, the software uses depth information from the sensor to to instantly create detailed 3D models. All you have to do is move the Kinect around an object, person or room and the model is automatically generated.

Kinect Fusion will be implemented in a future update to the Kinect for Windows SDK. The applications for game development are pretty obvious. Imagine being able to easily insert yourself as a playable avatar in a game, for example. Check out a video of Kinect Fusion in action after the break.

Continue reading Kinect Fusion creates 3D models on the fly, coming to Windows SDK

Kinect Fusion creates 3D models on the fly, coming to Windows SDK originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 06 Mar 2013 11:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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By Dave Tach on Mar 07, 2013 at 10:50a

Yesterday afternoon, only hours after it began, the Kickstarter funding drive for Torment: Tides of Numenera met its funding goal when nearly 17,000 backers pledged more than $900,000.

Not long after that, Kickstarter confirmed a second milestone on its official Twitter account: InXile Entertainment's old-school role-playing game, a spiritual successor to Planescape: Torment, had outpaced Ouya to become the fastest project to reach $1 million in funding.

In the midst of its rapid ascension from proposal to funded game, Polygon contacted the developers to get their reactions, learn about early high value donors and discuss their plans for stretch goals.

"I hoped it would hit fast, but I had no idea it would be as big as it is."

"I knew there was demand for this game, but I am overwhelmed by the support," creative lead Colin McComb wrote to Polygon. "I hoped it would hit fast, but I had no idea it would be as big as it is.

"I'm trying to put this in ways that don't sound like pregenerated phrases, but right now I'm kind of in shock and truly humbled by the reaction of our fans."

A significant portion of Torment: Tides of Numenera's early support came from high value donors. Fifteen backers pledged to the $1,000 tiers, two each pledged to the $2,000 and $5,000 tiers and five backers supported the game with $10,000 or more. Assuming the minimum pledges for each, that amounts to $79,000 — about 9 percent of the $900,695 shown on Kickstarter when it surpassed its goal.

By this morning at the time of this writing, those figures have risen: 28 have pledged in the $1,000 tiers, three in the $2,000 tier, two in the $5,000 tier and seven in the $10,000 tier. With $1,706,263 pledged of its original $900,000 goal, and assuming the minimum amounts for each donor, pledges from high value backers now account for at least $114,000 — about 7 percent of the current $1.7 million in total pledges.

We asked project director Kevin Saunders about those donors, and he told us that many were still unknown even to InXile.

"There are guys, like Notch, that we have heard of but we don't really know them very well, and there is one backer that we know personally," he wrote.

Notch confirmed that he is a donor in an email to Polygon.

"10k," he wrote. "Mostly because awesome."

Yesterday morning, Razer CEO Min-Liang Tan revealed on Twitter that he'd pledged $10,000 to the drive, writing, "If Torment: ToN is half as good as Planescape, I will die happy."

Kickstarter projects routinely use stretch goals to incentivize donations. By promising new features like multiplayer modes, iOS and Android ports, new gameplay modes and more, developers can use stretch goals to meet their funding goals or expand the scope of their games after reaching their funding goals.

"10k. Mostly because awesome."

Developers typically unveil those incentives weeks into Kickstarter campaigns. InXile's unique position has accelerated the original timeframe. Though they don't have anything to announce yet, the developers are working on stretch goals.

"We’ve planned a very scalable design and story structure for the game, so we have clear ways to really push the envelope in terms of RPG reactivity and choices and consequences by expanding upon various aspects of the story," McComb wrote. "We have many very talented writers and designers ready to join our team to allow us to deliver increasing depth.

"Besides that, we have some other specific features and enhancements in mind and we’ll begin sharing those soon. We have a strong core vision for Torment and we will continue to expand upon our goals for the game in ways that allow us to maintain our focus on the type of experience we’ve promised our backers."

For more on InXile's Torment: Tides of Numenera, be sure to read our recent interview with McComb and Saunders. Conducted before the Kickstarter campaign began, they discussed how the project started, its influences and how Kickstarter success convinced InXile to upend the traditional publisher/developer funding model by selling its projects directly to consumers — a strategy that has now paid off handsomely for the developer twice in under a year.

• Source
• Torment: Tides of Numenera Kickstarter

By Samit Sarkar on Mar 07, 2013 at 11:19a

SimCity developer Maxis is applying an update to the game that will disable "non-critical" features including leaderboards and achievements, in an effort to address the continuing server problems, the studio announced today.

"We are in the process of deploying a hotfix to all servers," said a Maxis community manager in a post on the EA Forums. "This includes various improvements and also disables a few non-critical gameplay features (leaderboards, achievements and region filters).

"Disabling these features will in no way affect your core gameplay experience," the community manager added. "Getting you playing is our absolute highest priority."

Maxis has not provided any timetable for restoring the disabled features.

The studio has been continually working on the SimCity servers since the game's North American launch two days ago. Initial problems included difficulties downloading and accessing the game through Origin as well as issues getting onto the game's servers. Origin representatives said they expected SimCity's international rollout, which began today, to go more smoothly.

But even though Maxis added servers and patched them yesterday to attempt to resolve ongoing issues, Australian SimCity players also had difficulty getting into the game when it launched in that territory today. Senior producer Kip Katsarelis said this morning that Maxis will continue to add servers over the next two days and work around the clock to fix all the problems players are reporting.

"This team has put everything into this game and won't stop until things are smooth," Katsarelis promised.

We've reached out to Electronic Arts and Maxis for comment, and will update this article with any information we receive.

Submitted by Patricio

tastefullyoffensive:

Overly Attached Dog

[via]