firehose

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KEYT

One dead in explosion at Fieldwood platform in Gulf of Mexico Reuters WASHINGTON, Nov 20 (Reuters) - An explosion at oil and gas operator Fieldwood Energy's Echo Platform in the Gulf of Mexico on Thursday killed one person and injured at least one, but no pollution was reported, a U.S. safety agency and the company said. Blast on Gulf of Mexico platform leaves 1 dead, 3 injuredRT Oil Rig Explosion In Gulf Of Mexico Leaves 1 Dead, 3 InjuredHuffington Post all 183 news articles »

New York Daily News

D.C. charges woman over armed protest Tribune-Review WASHINGTON — A Michigan woman remains in jail Saturday after being arrested with a gun during a protest outside the White House — the second person to be detained with a firearm in two days. April Debois, 23, of Mount Morris, was arrested about 30 ... Woman charged with having gun in holster near White House ordered detainedWashington Post all 428 news articles »

me at age 9: omg i cant wait to be a teenager, getting drunk and partying 24/7 with all my friends!!!!

me as a teenager: who the fuck just unfollowed me

betype:

y2&co Wall by Vincent Hachen

tastefullyoffensive:

[cheerupemokid]

becausebirds:

thalia-and-lestat:

((Bird snugs to make you feel a lil better)

It’ll be okay…

Hello, bird. You appear to be a seagull.

It's cool, we get it. We're not really sure why we're watching, either.

Such is the mood that when an executive from Hasbro, which makes Star Wars toys, tweeted that he was at Pinewood — where much of the shooting took place — his Twitter account disappeared. “The nondisclosure agreements these people have to sign have created a culture of terror,” says Chris Taylor, author of How Star Wars Conquered the Universe. “[His account] just vanished. It was completely Orwellian. It has that level of secrecy.” And when Stephen Fry, a British comic with nearly 8 million Twitter followers, quit the platform this year, it immediately was assumed that he had been on or near a Star Wars shoot (the truth is still not known).

A perfect example is that made-to-grab-headlines moment last week when Canseco said his reattached finger fell off during a poker tournament. Turns out Canseco made it up. It was a hoax, he admitted to TMZ Sports, inspired by Halloween. Canseco shooting off his finger isn't a hoax — at least as far as we know. But that odd Chapter Two, when it supposedly fell off and was caught on camera? Never happened.

The gunman who killed Miss Honduras has told police he murdered the beauty queen and her sister in a jealous rage because his girlfriend danced with another man.

Lou Ferrigno's wife, Carla, also told a disquieting Cosby story Thursday. Ferrigno said Cosby attacked her in 1967 while his wife, Camille, was home. She said she ended up at Cosby's home after going on a date with a friend of his.

The International Journal of Advanced Computer Technology, a predatory open-access journal, has accepted for publication the marvelously titled paper "Get me off Your Fucking Mailing List."

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For years, people have warned about corporations collecting your personal data. But no matter how much people insist that Google knows too much about you, we're willing to sacrifice privacy for convenience. Could the latest revelations about Uber finally get people angry enough to do something about rampant data collection?

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"Only when all astronomers feel welcome and supported in the profession can our discipline realize its full potential for excellence."

bihh:

victortattoo

Historical Map: Principal Railways of France, 1958

A page from a high school geography text book depicting the major railways and operating regions of France. Notable mainly for the eye-popping candy-striping of the regions. Although the source on Flickr says the book dates from 1958, I’m pretty certain it’s a reprinted edition of an older book, as the “train moderne” at the top of the page seems to be a streamlined “Pacific” 4-6-2 steam engine, popular in Europe in the late 1930s.

Source: Patricia M/Flickr

THE MEAN JEANS, MORONS, THE LONESOME BILLIES, KEPI GHOULIE
(White Owl Social Club, 1305 SE 8th) See My, What a Busy Week!

DEERHOOF, BUSDRIVER, GO DARK
(Doug Fir, 830 E Burnside) On La Isla Bonita, the 12th album from long-running experimental rock quartet Deerhoof, the band waste no time in diving into their unique and edgy blend of off-kilter pop on the opening track, "Paradise Girls." The song sees the group paying tribute to some of their favorite women rockers. While the Madonna reference in the album title is evident, drummer Greg Saunier cites other heros like Joan Jett, Janet Jackson, Kim Gordon, and Kathleen Hanna as inspirations behind the song. It shouldn't be forgotten that Deerhoof's own bassist/vocalist Satomi Matsuzaki could easily be included in that list of legendary shredders and singers. Along with Saunier, Matsuzaki has pushed the limit on how many ways a band can reinvent itself in the modern era. Unsurprisingly, La Isla Bonita is excellent. It's also one of the group's most vibrant releases in their two-decade-long career. CHIPP TERWILLIGER

J MASCIS, LULUC, PETE INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT
(Dante's, 350 W Burnside) I interviewed J Mascis a few years back, and if you've ever watched a video of the Dinosaur Jr. frontman getting questioned, then you have a pretty good idea how well it went. Often when you're interviewing someone, you can leave a few seconds of silence at the end of a question that the interviewee will end up filling, usually with a more interesting quote than the one he or she had just given you. Not so with Mascis. He's gonna sound like he just woke up, and he's not offering much more than two words per question. But here's what I did manage to pull out of him: He prefers playing drums, and he'd rather play with a band than solo. So it's probably a safe bet that putting out a second solo acoustic-guitar record wasn't his favorite thing. Unluckily for him, Tied to a Star is proof that he's pretty damn good at it. MATTHEW W. SULLIVAN

SUZUKI JUNZO, SPECTRUM CONTROL, MEMORY METAL
(Mothership Music, 3611 NE MLK) Japan seems to instill in its underground artists a sense of restlessness, consciously or unconsciously urging them to be as prolific and versatile as possible. Suzuki Junzo has certainly heeded the call over the course of his career. The guitarist is a member of at least four bands and has recorded with fellow eager spirits like Acid Mothers Temple leader Kawabata Makoto. Great as all that work is, I prefer it when Junzo's on his own, improvising cosmic psych-blues that feels akin to the wandering spirit of local hero Michael Hurley. Junzo arrives in town on the heels of a new album, simply titled 7, which finds him scraping and petting the strings of his guitar to coax out sounds both soothing and jarring. ROBERT HAM

DAVID BAZAN, PASSENGER, DAVID DONDERO
(Aladdin Theater, 3017 SE Milwaukie) In 1999, David Bazan played an after-school concert at my small-town high school north of Seattle under the name Pedro the Lion. That band's first album, It's Hard to Find a Friend, had just been out for a matter of months, but the hype around it—at least in the Seattle area—was unavoidable. While the guy playing painfully slow songs from the edge of the stage sounded little like the "band" on the album, the power of the bleak narratives was undeniable. On his latest release, David Bazan + Passenger String Quartet, Bazan collaborates with a Seattle chamber group to give new life to some old songs. The narratives are lyrically just as bleak as they've always been, but the Bazan who's singing them sounds very different. His voice no longer wallows in the dreariness of his tales, but approaches the songs with a passion and excitement he couldn't express 15 years ago. JOSHUA JAMES AMBERSON

MODERN KIN, THE GHOST EASE, KITHKIN
(Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi) It's been a journey for Drew Grow, to say the least. After several years of folk-based project the Pastors' Wives, a severe car crash, and thousands of dollars of hospital bills, Grow and two of the Pastors' Wives—Kris Doty and Jeremiah Hayden—reformed sonically and started Modern Kin. In roughly a year's time, it's taken impressive shape. Their catchiest number, "Abandon," somehow maintains an overarching cataclysmic tone with the underbelly of a straightforward vocal hook. What really puts it over the top is Grow's pure force. It's not just vocals coming from his diaphragm, but something cathartic, with a near gospel flair—remnants of the Pastors' Wives, perhaps. It's a release that has to be witnessed, and you can do just that at Mississippi Studios tonight. ROBIN BACIOR

SWIM SWAM SWUM, MONTHS, DOWN GOWN
(The Know, 2026 NE Alberta) Portland pop-rock trio Swim Swam Swum play a style of guitar-driven indie-rock that sounds like it was ripped straight from the basements of Chapel Hill in the early '90s. Echoing the spirit of great, early Merge Records acts like Superchunk and Butterglory, it serves as a hearty dose of comfort food for the mind and soul, while also providing a straight-up adrenalin shot to the heart. Swim Swam Swum's only album, 2009's Circumpolar Westerlies, is comprised of a dozen tuneful tracks that spill over with a heightened sense of youthful energy. Tonight marks the band's first show in over a year, and while they've got nothing else lined up at the moment, here's hoping they continue to warm bars and venues with their unbridled joy and vigor for the rest of the winter months. CHIPP TERWILLIGER

JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE
(Moda Center, 1 Center Ct) See My, What a Busy Week!, and read our article on Justin Timberlake.

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Excited to announce that I'm writing the next run of Tomb Raider comics with @DarkHorseComics, starting with #13 -> https://t.co/h7VtTR5Z4K

— Rhianna Pratchett (@rhipratchett) November 20, 2014

Rhianna Pratchett, lead writer on the Tomb Raider and Rise of the Tomb Raider games, will be stepping in to begin solo writing the Dark Horse title of the same name. Issues one through twelve were written by fan fave Gail Simone, and Pratchett will be beginning a new arc with issue thirteen, out February 25th.

Dark Horse says this issue will be a great jumping-on point for new readers, so if you’re curious about the title, you won’t have to wait much longer to get into it. For those of you (like me) who weren’t thrilled with Tomb Raider‘s art in the first few issues, Nicolás Daniel Selma has been swapping off with Derlis Santacruz, who will return in issue thirteen.

Here’s the official issue description:

Lara’s quiet life working at the British Museum is shattered as she finds herself drawn into a dangerous game with her friend’s life at stake—a friend who was thought to be already dead!

More lady writers in comics is always a good thing!

[UPDATE] A small clarification from Pratchett:

@TheMarySue @DarkHorseComics I should point out that Gail and I wrote issues #7-#12 together. I'm not taking over as much as I'm continuing.

— Rhianna Pratchett (@rhipratchett) November 20, 2014

Are you following The Mary Sue on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest, & Google +?

Last night, fantasy and science fiction writer Ursula Le Guin, author of The Left Hand of Darkness and the Earthsea series, won the medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters at the National Book Awards. She gave a speech about the importance of fantasy in a world of ugly realities.

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AP is reporting that in 2009, several senior NSA officials objected to the NSA call-records collection program.

The now-retired NSA official, a longtime code-breaker who rose to top management, had just learned in 2009 about the top secret program that was created shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. He says he argued to then-NSA Director Keith Alexander that storing the calling records of nearly every American fundamentally changed the character of the agency, which is supposed to eavesdrop on foreigners, not Americans.

Hacker News thread.