firehose

hellyeahsupermanandwonderwoman:

Wonder Woman sale on Comixology! Some of the best Wonder Woman stories told. Only 99 cents per issue! 

https://www.comixology.com/

Some great stuff on this list and for god’s sakes, at the very least, get New Frontiers for 99 cents a book! :)

You may well know the work of Portland based company Looptworks, who design and manufacture products made with only pre-existing materials, such as iPad cases made from excess belt leather, backpacks made from up-cycled polyester, and laptop cases from excess neoprene from the wetsuit industry. Their latest project is quite ambitious and involves 43 acres of leather re-purposed from Southwest Airlines when they underwent a large scale redesign of their cabins, which included replacing 80,000 seats with a more lightweight material, which leads to lighter planes, less fuel, and less pollution. This leather was then used to construct The Luv Seat Collection, a collection of three bags that are inspired by the shapes of the seats from which the material was derived. They are now available here for pre-order and will be delivered in time for the holidays. In the meantime check out the video below, which goes into more detail about the collection and the process by which it was made.

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In a 13-tweet “tweetstorm” this afternoon, Travis Kalanick, head of the car service Uber, appeared to issue an apology. It was anything but.

As BuzzFeed reported, Emil Michael, Uber’s VP of business development, had suggested at a dinner party that the company should hire a team to dig up dirt on journalists who criticize it, and threatened to reveal something in particular about Sarah Lacy, the editor of tech site PandoDaily.

Pumped out as a stream, Kalanick’s tweets have a certain breast-beating, apologetic rhythm, but when compressed into a block of text (thanks, Recode, for saving us that bit of trouble) they acquire a different flavor:

Emil’s comments at the recent dinner party were terrible and do not represent the company. His remarks showed a lack of leadership, a lack of humanity, and a departure from our values and ideals. His duties here at Uber do not involve communications strategy or plans and are not representative in any way of the company approach.

Instead, we should lead by inspiring our riders, our drivers and the public at large. We should tell the stories of progress and appeal to people’s hearts and minds. We must be open and vulnerable enough to show people the positive principles that are the core of Uber’s culture. We must tell the stories of progress Uber has brought to cities and show the our [sic] constituents that we are principled and mean well.

The burden is on us to show that, and until Emil’s comments we felt we were making positive steps along those lines. But I will personally commit to our riders, partners and the public that we are up to the challenge. We are up to the challenge to show that Uber is and will continue to be a positive member of the community. And furthermore, I will do everything in my power towards the goal of earning that trust. I believe that folks who make mistakes can learn from them — myself included. And that also goes for Emil.

There is a 14th tweet—”13/ and last, I want to apologize to @sarahcuda” (Sarah Lacy). The fact that it was misnumbered may be an inadvertent clue to how much of an afterthought it was. And aside from this tweet, the above is not an apology to the public or to the press.

Rather, it’s an internal memo to Uber’s staff. It’s an admonition to people to stick to their jobs (“His duties here at Uber do not involve communications strategy or plans… until Emil’s comments we felt we were making positive steps…”); a messaging stylesheet (“We should lead by inspiring… We should tell the stories of progress and appeal to people’s hearts and minds…); and a call to arms (“The burden is on us to show that… We are up to the challenge…”). It makes a nod to “values and ideals” and “positive principles,” but it doesn’t specify what those are. When you are talking to the troops, your values, ideals, and principles—whatever they might be—are taken for granted.

In short, it’s an instruction to other Uber staff about how to communicate, and a warning about what happens when they step out of line. It doesn’t look much like contrition.

San Francisco-based developer and self-described “tinkerer” Rolf Rando lives near a Muni light rail line and finds himself constantly checking online for train arrival times. Looking for a more pleasant way to keep tabs on the train, Rando turned an antique elevator indicator sign into a next train display. The Arduino-powered display indicates the wait for the next train using the sign’s floor numerals. An original elevator up/down button toggles between inbound and outbound trains. Rando has posted a making-of article complete with a detailed description of the project.

photo by Rolf Rando

via Muni Diairies

In the '60s, legendary scifi author Harlan Ellison wrote a Batman TV show script that would have introduced Two-Face to the show, but it was never filmed. But you can finally "see" the story tomorrow, thanks to this week's comics! Plus some very new Teen Titans, the end of Lumberjanes, and more!

Read more...

panpuru:

*gets coffee on my way to get coffee*

Tony Williams, 70, expressed "zero remorse" for not letting the two women near the ball when interviewed by the CBS crew, but a Saints employee delivered them another pigskin later in the game. Barrett's Bengals, of course, went on to win, 27-10, and afterward Gresham reached out to Christa's sister on Twitter. "When it comes our way, we jockey for the ball," Williams told the local TV station. "That's it. She was pleading for me to give her the ball, and I said, 'No, ma'am, I'm keeping the ball.'" The man's wife even backed her husband's actions. "It’s a free for all, something like with Mardi Gras," she said. "When a coconut is tossed or beads are tossed everybody goes for it."

Read 10 remaining paragraphs | Comments

@drewmagary RE: state tattoos, nobody tops this one we found in Talladega, AL. #thegunshinestate pic.twitter.com/ipVOV5uwzx

— Andrew Saunders (@a_saunders17) November 18, 2014

Want to find people who are proud of Florida? Just check the back of any shirtless person at any sporting event in Talladega.

It's okay, we'll wait.

Read on Ars Technica | Comments

Read 9 remaining paragraphs | Comments

Whatapp is now offering end-to-end message encryption:

Whatsapp will integrate the open-source software Textsecure, created by privacy-focused non-profit Open Whisper Systems, which scrambles messages with a cryptographic key that only the user can access and never leaves his or her device.

I don't know the details, but the article talks about perfect forward secrecy. Moxie Marlinspike is involved, which gives me some confidence that it's a robust implementation.

EDITED TO ADD (11/20): SlashDot thread.

Announcing Let's Encrypt, a new free certificate authority. This is a joint project of EFF, Mozilla, Cisco, Akamai, and the University of Michigan.

This is an absolutely fantastic idea.

The anchor for any TLS-protected communication is a public-key certificate which demonstrates that the server you're actually talking to is the server you intended to talk to. For many server operators, getting even a basic server certificate is just too much of a hassle. The application process can be confusing. It usually costs money. It's tricky to install correctly. It's a pain to update.

Let's Encrypt is a new free certificate authority, built on a foundation of cooperation and openness, that lets everyone be up and running with basic server certificates for their domains through a simple one-click process.

[...]

The key principles behind Let's Encrypt are:

• Free: Anyone who owns a domain can get a certificate validated for that domain at zero cost.

• Automatic: The entire enrollment process for certificates occurs painlessly during the server's native installation or configuration process, while renewal occurs automatically in the background.

• Secure: Let's Encrypt will serve as a platform for implementing modern security techniques and best practices.

• Transparent: All records of certificate issuance and revocation will be available to anyone who wishes to inspect them.

• Open: The automated issuance and renewal protocol will be an open standard and as much of the software as possible will be open source.

• Cooperative: Much like the underlying Internet protocols themselves, Let's Encrypt is a joint effort to benefit the entire community, beyond the control of any one organization.

SlashDot thread. Hacker News thread.

EDITED TO ADD (11/19): Good post. And EFF's blog post.

serpentar1us:

hitsuji-hime:

Gonna cut a bitch and be kawaii while I do it

OH MY FUCKING GOD YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND THOUGH

okay so these things are called “Jang-mi Kal” which is Korean for “Rose Knife”, exactly what it says on the tin

AND THEY WERE ADVERTISED AS BEING THE SHARPEST THING ON EARTH LIKE THERE IS NOTHING THESE BADASS MOTHERFUCKERS COULDN’T CUT

GIANT COW BONE? YOU BET

PADLOCKS? NO PROBLEM

STEEL PIPES? YEP

 

ITSELF???

HOLY SHIT

understandably, after these commercials aired, they took the korean internet by storm, and for a brief while jang-mi kal enjoyed ultimate meme status during which some glorious glorious parodies were made

they’re the strongest fucking weapon on earth

and that was your daily lesson on korean internet meme culture

Grantland's Bill Barnwell calculated the playoff odds for each team in the NFC South. The results were depressing.

The NFC South is arguably the worst division in the NFL. "Arguably," because people can hold argue anything opinion they like. But numbers are static, and by their immovable weight the NFC South far and away features the worst collection of four teams among any of the league's eight divisions.

The Atlanta Falcons beat the Carolina Panthers on Sunday to improve to 4-6 and, somehow, take hold of first place in the division. The only reason that the Falcons' record so good is that their division mates have been so bad. Atlanta is 4-0 in the NFC South, and 0-6 against every other team they have faced.

Currently, the NFC South owns a 6-20-1 record against teams from outside of its own division. If that .241 winning percentage holds, it will be the worst ever in NFL history, according to Football Perspective's Chase Stuart. The NFC South's level of suck may be one for the ages.

Grantland's Bill Barnwell handicapped the playoff race in the division using a mathematical simulation, and unsurprisingly was able to draw several depressing conclusions.

1) The NFC South winner likely won't have a winning record.

By Barnwell's model, the Saints have a 59 percent chance of winning the division with a projected 7.4 wins. Obviously, a team can't record four-tenths of a win outside of statistics. That means that, if we round to the nearest integer, the Saints could enter the playoffs at 7-9 overall.

The only other NFL team to ever enter the playoffs with a losing record is the 2010 Seattle Seahawks, who actually did well for themselves by beating the Saints in the wild card round. Perhaps the Saints can get revenge. Seattle is currently fighting for the No. 6 seed at 6-4 overall, and the Saints would be the No. 4 seed if they manage to win the division with a losing record.

2) The Falcons are shockingly well-positioned.

Barnwell projects the Faclons to win 6.6 games, and Atlanta ends up winning the NFC South in 33.1 percent of his season simulations. Most importantly, a 4-0 division record leaves it in great shape if the division crown comes down to tiebreakers. All Atlanta would have to do is beat the Saints in Week 16 to automatically hold a trump card over any division rival should records come out equal. In theory, Atlanta could make the playoffs by only beating teams in the NFC South, and losing to everyone else.

3) The Bucs' still have a shot.

A miniscule shot. Tampa Bay makes the playoffs in just 0.3 percent of Barnwell's 1,000 simulations. But that's technically a crack to push through for the 2-8 Bucs. Here's what they need to happen at a minimum:

1. The Saints and or Falcons go 1-5 or worse. The two teams play each other in Week 16, and assuming no tie occurs, one them will finish with at least five wins.
2. The Panthers go 2-3, winning their remaining games against the Saints and Falcons but losing against the Minnesota Vikings, Cleveland Browns and, of course, the Bucs.
3. The Bucs go 4-2 to finish the season to improve to six wins. Unfortunately for Tampa Bay, it will likely need to have the best record in the NFC South because its intradivision record can be no better 2-4, putting it on the wrong end of the most potential tiebreakers.
4. Take two-of-four against Chicago, Cincinnati, Detroit and Green Bay. A game against the Bears is winnable. The other three team are a combined 20-9-1 on the year, however.

Cam Newton's twitter account has been hacked, we're currently working to resolve the issue.

— Carolina Panthers (@Panthers) November 18, 2014

When it rains, it pours for Panthers quarterback Cam Newton. He's getting obliterated on the field, now his Twitter account isn't safe.

S/O to whoever hacked Cam Newton's Twitter lol pic.twitter.com/yKRJVkCTYH

— Tyler Persinger (@Tyler_Persinger) November 18, 2014

Hacked Cam Newton also said his fantasy team sucks, and tweeted "smh" which are all real things that he could be going through. One thing is sure: Fake Cam Newton Twitter is better than real Cam Newton Twitter, seen below.

The loyalty and the doubt. I’ll take it all. pic.twitter.com/7wjK6WJnuA

— Cameron Newton (@CameronNewton) November 10, 2014

★★★

Join FanDuel to earn big money in one-week fantasy leagues. Sign-up and earn a 100% deposit bonus.

More Klingons.

Skeleton Hand Hair Clips, from etsy seller Always Anchors…..(Read...)

“If you haven’t read any of Pierce’s books, stop reading this article and immediately go get the first book set in the medieval fantasy world of Tortall, “Alanna: The First Adventure.” Imagine Game of Thrones, but if there were several different series set in Westeros and they all had amazing female protagonists, including two lady knights, a WOC demigod who can speak with animals, a spy master, and a slum cop. Oh, and she wrote them ten years before Westeros was even a glimmer in GRRM’s eye.”

- Tamora Pierce On The Reason Her Brilliant Books Haven’t Been Brought To The Screen (Yet) | The Mary Sue | tamorapierce

Sweden-based industry trade group Dataspelsbranchen is researching a new content rating system for video games based on promotion of gender equality. The proposed ratings system, inspired by the Bechdel test, will examine how in-game female...

(via koboldkatze)

Toothpaste for dinner

Courtney shared this story from Super Opinionated.

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