firehose

tragedyseries:

tragedyseries:

More of my depictions of the cosmos are on offer this day from a fine purveyor of illustrated collectibles, for a mere pittance! It may very well counteract the grim proceedings of today’s tragic example.

Get your own stellar copy of the tragedy series hardcover!

“How was this never a thing?”

NEW PRODUCT – Monochrome 2.3″ 128×32 OLED Graphic Display Module Kit

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If you’ve been diggin’ our monochome OLEDs but need something bigger, this display will delight you. These displays are 2.3″ diagonal, and very readable due to the high contrast of an OLED display. This display is made of 128×32 individual blue OLED pixels, each one is turned on or off by the controller chip. Because the display makes its own light, no backlight is required. This reduces the power required to run the OLED and is why the display has such high contrast; we really like this graphic display for its crispness!

The driver chip, SSD1305 can communicate in three ways: 8-bit, I2C or SPI. Personally we think SPI is the way to go, only 4 or 5 wires are required and its very fast. The OLED itself requires a 3.3V power supply and 3.3V logic levels for communication. We include a breadboard-friendly level shifter that can convert 3V or 5V down to 3V, so it can be used with 5V-logic devices like Arduino.

The power requirements depend a little on how much of the display is lit but on average the display uses about 50mA from the 3.3V supply. Built into the OLED driver is a simple switch-cap charge pump that turns 3.3V into a high voltage drive for the OLEDs.

Each order comes with one assembled OLED module with a nice bezel and 4 mounting holes. The display is 3V logic & power so we include a HC4050 level shifter. We also toss in a 220uF capacitor, as we noticed an Arduino may need a little more capacitance on the 3.3V power supply for this big display! This display does not come with header attached but we do toss in a stick of header you can solder on. Also, the display may come in 8-bit mode. You can change modes from 8-bit to SPI or I2C with a little soldering, check out the tutorial for how to do so.

Getting started is easy! We have a detailed tutorial and example code in the form of an Arduino library for text and graphics. You’ll need a microcontroller with more than 512 bytes of RAM since the display must be buffered. The library can print text, bitmaps, pixels, rectangles, circles and lines. It uses 512 bytes of RAM since it needs to buffer the entire display but its very fast! The code is simple to adapt to any other microcontroller.

In stock and shipping now!

Courtney shared this story from Super Opinionated.

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Courtney shared this story from Super Opinionated.

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At the headquarters of Energy Control in Barcelona, Northern Spain, a nondescript envelope arrives. Hidden inside, between layers of cardboard and tape, are two fluorescent pink pills purchased from one of many eBay-style marketplaces on the dark web.

Early this year, some Target shoppers shared their frustrations at the toy aisles when they encountered ridiculous signs like these:

Annoying pic.twitter.com/09wPwk3nei

— ashe dryden (@ashedryden) March 2, 2015

Don’t do this, @Target pic.twitter.com/cfh3cp5Nqa

— Abi LocalMom Bechtel (@abianne) June 1, 2015

The signs above, which implicitly stated that building toys and LEGOs are, by default, for boys caused Target to face a lot of backlash over social media. Good news: Target listened to the critiques and is now implementing gender neutral signage in toy aisle, kids bedding, and children’s books! The toy shelf back-walls will be replaced with wood panels and their team is looking for other areas of their store to implement changes.

Clothing, they said, will maintain gender-based language to represent sizing differences. A Target spokesman also stated that their online store will maintain the gender references since it’s a popular search term. On the new arrangement, Target said:

We never want guests or their families to feel frustrated or limited by the way things are presented.

Target making an active efforts to make their store more inclusive instead of making excuses, or just taking the sign down and calling it a day, are really admirable and I hope other stores will take note.

(via Star Tribune)

—Please make note of The Mary Sue’s general comment policy.—

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She’s a graceful drunk, just like her mama.

Over the years, many big media companies have acquired promising startups only to inadvertently throttle their growth through excessive meddling. Condé Nast’s original policy of noninterference allowed Reddit to flourish early on, but it also let major problems fester.

American Hacker has new design that lets you turn a smartphone or tablet into a 3D hologram projector using the Palm Top Theater app and three CD jewel cases (their previous design used only one CD case).

“Feet Up” is the first single off astronaut Chris Hadfield‘s album Space Sessions: Songs From a Tin Can which he recorded during his time in space on board the International Space Station for Expeditions 34 and 35 from November 2012 to May 2013.

The album is available now for preorder through Hadfield’s website with merchandise bundles, or through iTunes and Google Play, and will be released on October 9, 2015.

On "Compton: A Soundtrack," a skit about murdering a woman and an Eminem punchline about rape bring to mind Dr. Dre's history of misogynistic violence. 

Washington NFL Team tries to buy absolution, Cheyenne River Souix Tribal Council says no.

A judge found that a NYC driver discriminated against a black family when he refused to pick them up—then stopped for two white women just feet away.

McAfee said he enjoys living in Lexington. "They have a Wal-Mart and a Walgreen's, which is all you really need." However, he said he started taking Xanax due to stress. "I live a very stressful existence. If you believe the stories and believe the Belizian government might still be after me, that's a very stressful situation."
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A staggering 24 million viewers tuned in to Fox News to watch the first major Republican US presidential debate, the highest-rated non-sports telecast in cable television history, Nielsen figures released Friday showed.

The viewership of the prime-time 9:00 pm to 11:00 pm debate, in which frontrunner billionaire Donald Trump squared off against nine of his top Republican challengers for the nomination, is by far the highest rating of any presidential primary debate.

"Fox had 24 million viewers last night. That is an absolutely monster number," tweeted Fox media commentator Howard Kurtz.

Ratings monitor Nielsen Media Research said that among the telecast's viewers, 7.9 million were in the 25-54 age range, the key advertising demographic.

By comparison, the first Republican debate of the 2012 primary season, on May 5, 2011, averaged 3.3 million viewers.

Numbers were also huge for the second-tier debate which took place at 5:00 pm Thursday and featured the seven low-polling candidates who failed to make the cut for the prime time event.

Some 6.1 million people watched the preliminary debate, Nielsen said.

The debate night appears to have been a multi-platform smash.
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During the Aug. 6 debate, Trump said of his nine fellow candidates: “Most of the people on stage, I've given to. A lot of money.” But state and federal donation records show Trump has only given to three of those nine candidates, and not in very large sums. He’s donated to just one of the other seven GOP candidates who weren’t included in the debate. And Trump has also given to Hillary Clinton, so of the 22 major declared candidates of both parties, Trump has donated to five of them.

Here’s a breakdown:

Scott Walker. Trump gave the Wisconsin governor $10,000 last year, when Walker was running for a second term. It seems to have helped, since Walker won. Still, it’s a tiny fraction of the $70 million or so Walker has raised during his five years as governor.

Mike Huckabee. In 2012, Trump gave $2,500 to the former Arkansas governor’s political-action committee, known as Huck PAC. As donations go, that’s a fairly small one.

Jeb Bush. Trump gave a mere $500 to Bush’s campaign in 2002, when Bush was governor of Florida. That’s not the kind of sum that gets you invited to the governor’s mansion.

George Pataki. The former New York governor wasn’t included in the main GOP debate, so Trump wasn’t referring to him when he said he’s given to most of the people on stage. But he did give at least $43,500 to Pataki during his years as governor, from 1996 to 2006.

Hillary Clinton. It’s certainly unusual that a presidential candidate of one party has donated money to a leading candidate of the other party. But Trump’s contributions to Clinton only total a modest $8,500. All of those donations came during Clinton’s tenure as senator from Trump’s home state of New York, from 2000 to 2009. Clinton has drawn close to $400 million in campaign contributions during her 16 years as an active politician, so if she attended Trump’s wedding solely because of the $8,500 he kicked in -- as Trump suggested during the debate -- she comes cheap. More likely, Clinton was there to take part in an A-list event where she’d bump into some of the most important people in her state.

Trump’s donations reveal a typical businessman looking out for his interests -- and what politicians can do to help him -- more than an ideologue backing like-minded candidates. He’s given money to New York-area politicians of both parties, for instance, including both of New York’s Democratic senators, Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, as well as local Republicans such as New York Congressman Peter King. Trump gave a token $2,500 to the Romney presidential campaign during the 2012 election.

Until 2008 or so, Trump gave significant amounts of money to both Democratic and Republican causes, but during the last five years he’s turned sharply Republican. Since 2010, he’s given roughly $500,000 to Congressional committees that back Republicans and to third-party GOP groups such as American Crossroads. Some of those groups have probably given money, in turn, to Republican legislators Trump is now running against, though Trump likely has no say as to where that money goes.

One other group has pulled in a lot of money from Trump: Florida Republicans. But none of that has gone to former governor Jeb Bush or current Florida Sen. Marco Rubio. Instead, most of the money -- about $235,000 during the last four years -- has found its way to current Gov. Rick Scott. No doubt that relates to Trump’s interests as a real-estate baron in Florida, where he owns the Mar-a-Lago and Trump Doral resorts.

For all his self-reported wealth, Trump is not a megadonor when it comes to politics. He’s given nearly $600,000 to federal candidates and third-party groups since 2010, but that doesn’t even place him close to the top 100 donors. That could change, however, since Trump has now committed to making lots of big donations to a new candidacy: his own. Trump better be as rich as he says, because he’s going to need the money.
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“Carly Fiorina ran away with it,” conservative radio host Laura Ingraham declared.

But before the debate, the Fiorina campaign appeared to make what could have been a costly flub, leaving a page from her debate notes behind in the hotel printer.

Sergio Gor, a spokesman for Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, tweeted a photo of what were then-unattributed prepared remarks.


Luckily, Fiorina seemed to have it memorized.

“Hillary Clinton lies about Benghazi, she lies about emails,” Fiorina said in her closing statement. “She is still defending Planned Parenthood, and she is still her party’s frontrunner — 2016 is going to be a fight between conservatism and a Democrat party that is undermining the very character of this nation. We need a nominee who is going to throw every punch, not pull punches, and someone who cannot stumble before he even gets into the ring.”



Yahoo News Video
From foreign policy to marijuana: Carly Fiorina talks about the issues
On the heels of launching a bid for the White House and becoming the first woman candidate to enter the 2016 GOP primary field, Carly Fiorina sat down with Yahoo global news anchor Katie Couric. From foreign policy to marijuana the former Hewlett-Packard CEO talked about the issues, why she's running and her new book "Rising to the Challenge: My Leadership Journey."
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"I don't care what his actual positions are. I don't care if he says the wrong thing. He says what's on his mind. He gives honest answers rather than prepared answers. This is more important than anything any candidate has done in years."
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In the presentation, Roberts and co presented demos of Star Citizen’s social, FPS, and multi-crew space combat modules. Each is being developed at a different Cloud Imperium Games studio, and it shows. Quality and relative completeness varies wildly between the three.
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Juror 17 said the issue of mental illness appeared to be the reason the juror refused vote to sentence Holmes to death. "There was no other concern," she said.

District Attorney George Brauchler said Friday that he was disappointed when the verdicts were read. He apologized to the families of the victims, but several relatives said at a news conference that he did all he could to secure a death sentence, and they appreciated his efforts.

"I still think death is justice for what that guy did, but the system said otherwise," Brauchler said. "I honor that, and I'll respect that outcome."
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"I knew that he was a wealthy, successful man and I remember asking my mother if I could write him a letter to ask him how he made his money so that I could do it too," Jessica, a data analyst, said.

Heilemann further asked the focus group what they believed a Trump presidency would look like.

“Classy,” Cheryl, a real estate agent, answered confidently.
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caseykelpthesnorks:

Idris Elba: The First Maxim Man

Ridiculously Uncomplicated Mac os x Python Statusbar apps.
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The Ferguson court clerk who was ultimately fired for the racist emails she sent to her coworkers has been hired by another St. Louis County municipal court, a few communities away from Ferguson, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Mary Ann Twitty's emails, which the Department of Justice uncovered during its civil rights investigation following the police killing of unarmed teen Michael Brown, found that she circulated a photograph of Ronald Reagan feeding a baby chimpanzee with the caption, "Rare photo of Ronald Reagan babysitting Barack Obama in early 1962."

Though Twitty sent that email, she has denied she is racist.

Twitty did not receive a severance package when she was fired from Ferguson, according to the Post-Dispatch. She is reportedly working as court clerk in Vinita Park, with a population of 1,880 people, three days a week, according to the newspaper.
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Long time fitness app maker Runtastic has been acquired by sportswear brand adidas Group. The news was announced today in a blog post. The deal values Runtastic at €220 million ($240 million). The transaction was signed and closed today.
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The flaw exploits Firefox’s PDF viewer and the JavaScript context to inject a script that can search for and upload local files. All you need to do is load the page with the exploit and it’ll silently steal files in the background.
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