Drawing from the personal financial statements filed by the 113rd Congress, MapLight’s Pamela Behrsin has assembled a spreadsheet that lists the politicians’ individual investments in nearly 2,000 public companies. It’s searchable by name and company.
The State Department has taken the unprecedented step of shutting down its entire unclassified email system as technicians repair possible damage from a suspected hacker attack.
Timber Press founded in 1978 in Portland, OR, focuses on gardening topics targeted at horticulturists, botanists, naturalists, and landscape professionals by publishing books from experts in the fields of gardening, horticulture, and natural history. It is owned by Workman Publishing.
Opinion/Notes: In case anyone is a hardcore horticulturist and has the full Timber Press collection: Yes, this logo has been out since early 2013 but as Timber Press creative director, Patrick Barber, explained to me, it has taken a full year for the logo to be printed on new titles and establish itself as the current identity. The previous logo was… a tree. Nothing more, nothing less. The new logo is a tree made out of timber (wooden beams), providing a new interpretation for the name that is both literal and allusive. It's a charming rendering that feels contemporary and smart and looks great on the spines, as if it's growing from the surface where the books are sitting.
Related Links: N/A
Before/after letterhead comparison.Before/after business card comparison.New business cards.Moleskine.Before/after spine comparison.New spines.Spines detail.
When it comes down to it, I feel like that’s why this show works so well as an exploration of adolescence and gender dynamics. Because it’s devoted to kind humor, it makes a space in which these kids can explore who they are and who they are going to be when they grow up without us as an audience feeling worried for them.
I’m never afraid that Tina will discover an amazing talent only for it to be laughed away by her family or for it to be retconned out of the show an episode later. When Gene dresses up as a woman, I never cringe and think that Bob is about to say something degrading toward women or tell Gene to “act like a man.”
As an audience member, I feel safe. I feel like it’s going to be okay. And that gives the show license to do more interesting things with the development of these characters. Which is surely a good thing. In a world where the typical teenage drama on the CW stars men and women in their mid to late twenties, and the only other well known animated teens are from Family Guy, Tina and Gene are worth their weight in gold. Moreso is the writing team who are able to write them, and write them well.
So yeah. Bob’s Burgers is back. You should probably watch it.
'Reinhard has since left her FCC position for a new job; she's now vice president of federal government relations at Verizon.'
Back in June, you may remember Last Week Tonight WithJohn Oliver had a great bit on net neutrality. Oliver poked fun at the FCC commissioners; he called Chairman Tom Wheeler, a former telecom lobbyist, a dingo. The internet had a laugh and, the day after, FCC employees went back to work.
As part of a Freedom of Information Act request sent by The Verge, the FCC sent email exchanges between employees that show how the FCC responded. The reviews: mostly positive, with some reservations.
Deborah Taylor Tate, a former commissioner who's now a "special envoy" at the International Telecommunication Union, saw the video and sent a free-verse email alert to her old colleagues.
Comm O was on a comic show
Last week tonight
HBo show
George foot??
He should watch it!!!
June 3. 930 pm
Mob shakedown etc goes on for 20 mini
Comcast stories etc
Called Wheeler a dingo
Wow
Who watches this?
Brian Roberts also lambasted also
"Comm O" apparently refers to Commissioner Michael O'Rielly, who takes some heat in Oliver's video; the "mob shakedown" refers to a joke Oliver makes about Comcast's negotiations with Netflix. "George Foot" is likely about a telecom lawyer who appears in the video (actually spelled "Foote").
Another email chain started with Anne Lucey, senior vice president of regulatory policy at CBS, who sent a link to the video to FCC employees Courtney Reinhard and Erin McGrath. They have a laugh at jokes about cable companies never showing up on time, and Reinhard suggests those companies weren't pleased about the video. Reinhard has since left her FCC position for a new job; she's now vice president of federal government relations at Verizon.
Lucey: Rather long, but quite entertaining ....... and your boss is featured -at around 1:18...!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpbOEo RrHyU
McGrath: We were watching this this morning. He is show twice, The second time is toward the end.
Reinhard: We had a good laugh about it. The cable companies... not so much.
Lucey: Love the Monopoly car....!
Reinhard: That was classic. I loved the comparison of the promise to comply with the NN
Lucey: Ha. And Nutflix pretty funny, too. Who knew NN could be fodder for comedy?
McGrath: I liked the Usain Bolt graphic. Then again, am stil touchy about the not showing up during specified hours thing. The whole clip was pretty funny.
But soon Oliver's call to action brought thousands of visitors to the FCC website, apparently causing it to shut down. In another conversation, Lucey forwards a CNET article called "John Oliver's Net neutrality response swamps FCC."
Reinhard: This cracks me up!
McGrath: Priceless!!!!!!
Lucey: Read via the link -it has the tweets the FCC sent out alerting the public to the jam-up
McGrath: Don't eat ma baby!
Lucey: Ok, gals, I wanna set the record straight: The dingo REALLY DID eat that woman's baby.
Reporters started flooding the FCC with questions about Oliver, according to the documents, and the FCC fielded dozens of media requests, telling reporters it was unclear if Oliver had crashed the site, but that they had experienced a traffic spike. One reporter asked:
Any comment from the chairman on John Oliver's suggestion that he protesteth too much and might ACTUALLY be a dingo?"
To which an FCC spokesperson responds:
Hey John, no, no comment on that :)
Two weeks later, Oliver made a followup video about the FCC's response.
Commissioner O'Rielly seemed to take it in stride, sending some of the staff a Recode article about the video and ribbing Chairman Wheeler about a press conference. (There's not enough context to say whether it was in good humor.) The entire note was a subject line:
after seeing the press conference, everyone could have this coming...unless maybe a dingo.
'as for that ratings dip? He chalks it up to an increase in DVR and iPlayer viewing'
Plus, he also has some interesting excuses for why the ratings this season might have dipped in comparison to previous years.
Earlier this week at a earlier this week at a Royal Television Society event, Moffat spoke to members of the press about how Doctor Who is always constantly changing from what it used to be, which is what keeps people coming back for more. From Radio Times: “A show dies when it’s reliable like a pair of old slippers,” he explained. “If any reviewer says that about a show that show is gone within a year. Shows die when people say: ‘Oh, it’s quite good. I quite like it.’ And the ‘new show’ is old now, so this had to be a reinvention.”
It’s worth pointing out that the word “quite” has a much different and less enthusiastic connotation over in the UK than it does when Americans use it (we tend towards saying it as a synonym for “very” and they use it as one for “kind of”), but still. Shows aren’t interesting when people say they like them?… That… explains so much.
Part of what’s making the show interesting this time around, Moffat added, is that the audience feels they can’t quite trust Capaldi’s darker, gruffer, Doctor yet. “If people say: ‘I’m appalled by the new Doctor!’ I say: ‘Yeah, yeah, and you’re watching it every week.’”
And as for that ratings dip? He chalks it up to an increase in DVR and iPlayer viewing: “Indisputably, without doubt, exactly the same number of people watch Doctor Who now as they ever did. There is no drop off in the ratings but the way people watch it has changed. They watch it on catch-up to a far higher degree.”
I would argue that an increase in DVR watching might also not be the best thing either—after all, people who are more excited (or worried about spoilers) are much more likely to watch something live rather than just wait for all the hubub to die down—but he’s definitely got a point about TV viewing habits changing at a more rapid pace.
What do you think? Did Capaldi’s newness change the show for the better?
HnT writes A new working paper shows strong support for what many have always suspected: your boss's technical competence is the single strongest predictor of workers' well-being, way ahead of other factors such as education, earnings, job tenure and public vs. private sector. On top of other studies which have already demonstrated that happy workers are more productive workers (e.g. this 2012 paper.), it does make you wonder how long organizations can afford to continue promoting incompetent bosses in today's very dynamic and competitive business world.
MojoKid (1002251) writes One of the disadvantages to buying an Apple system is that it generally means less upgrade flexibility than a system from a traditional PC OEM. Over the last few years, Apple has introduced features and adopted standards that made using third-party hardware progressively more difficult. Now, with OS X 10.10 Yosemite, the company has taken another step down the path towards total vendor lock-in and effectively disabled support for third-party SSDs. We say "effectively" because while third-party SSDs will still work, they'll no longer perform the TRIM garbage collection command. Being able to perform TRIM and clean the SSD when its sitting idle is vital to keeping the drive at maximum performance. Without it, an SSD's real world performance will steadily degrade over time. What Apple did with OS X 10.10 is introduce KEXT (Kernel EXTension) driver signing. KEXT signing means that at boot, the OS checks to ensure that all drivers are approved and enabled by Apple. It's conceptually similar to the device driver checks that Windows performs at boot. However, with OS X, if a third-party SSD is detected, the OS will detect that a non-approved SSD is in use, and Yosemite will refuse to load the appropriate TRIM-enabled driver.
An anonymous reader writes Debian developer Tollef Fog Heen submitted his resignation to the Debian Systemd package maintainers team mailing list today (Sun. Nov. 16th, 2014). In his brief post, he praises the team, but claims that he cannot continue to contribute due to the "load of continued attacks...becoming just too much." Presumably, he is referring to the heated and, at times, even vitriolic criticism of Debian's adoption of Systemd as the default init system for its upcoming Jessie release from commenters inside and outside of the Debian community. Currently, it is not known if Tollef will cease contributing to Debian altogether. A message from his twitter feed indicates that he may blog about his departure in the near future.
When it comes to tablets, Google doesn't even follow its own design guidelines." That's the upshot of Ars Technica writer Andew Cunningham's detailed, illustrated look at how Android handles screens much larger than seven inches, going back to the first large Android tablets a few years ago, but including Android 5.0 (Lollipop) on the Nexus 10 and similar sized devices. Cunningham is unimpressed with the use of space for both practical and aesthetic reasons, and says that problems crop up areas that are purely under Google's control, like control panels and default apps, as well as (more understandably) in third party apps. The Nexus 10 took 10-inch tablets back to the "blown-up phone" version of the UI, where buttons and other UI stuff was all put in the center of the screen. This makes using a 10-inch tablet the same as using a 7-inch tablet or a phone, which is good for consistency, but in retrospect it was a big step backward for widescreen tablets. The old interface put everything at the edges of the screen where your thumbs could easily reach them. The new one often requires the pointer finger of one of your hands or some serious thumb-stretching. ... If anything, Lollipop takes another step backward here. You used to be able to swipe down on the left side of the screen to see your notifications and the right side of the screen to see the Quick Settings, and now those two menus have been unified and placed right in the center of the screen. The Nexus 10 is the most comfortable to use if it's lying flat on a table or stand and Lollipop does nothing to help you out there.
schwit1 writes Glen A. Larson, the wildly successful television writer-producer whose enviable track record includes 'Six Million Dollar Man', Quincy M.E., Magnum, P.I., Battlestar Galactica, Knight Rider and The Fall Guy, has died. He was 77. From the article: Battlestar Galactica lasted just one season on ABC from 1978-79, yet the show had an astronomical impact. Starring Lorne Greene and Richard Hatch as leaders of a homeless fleet wandering through space, featuring special effects supervised by Star Wars’ John Dykstra and influenced by Larson’s Mormon beliefs, Battlestar premiered as a top 10 show and finished the year in the top 25. But it was axed after 24 episodes because, Larson said, each episode cost “well over” $1 million.
Jermaine Gresham tossed his touchdown ball to a Bengals fan, but got picked off:
That is COLD, Saints fan. Might even be pass interference.
After appearing to shrug off the larceny, the Bengals fan got to begging. Saints Man's not giving it back, though:
I don't think he even wants the ball. It's just spite at this point. A matter of principle. I kinda love it, to be honest. I hope he eats the whole football in front of her.
Odell Beckham Jr. is probably the best reason to watch the Giants through the second half of the season. He's only a rookie with limited reps, but Beckham may have the best hands in the NFL. We've been dazzled already this month by his one-handed catch practice routine, but this may be his best in-game reception.
The play was reviewed, and the catch was upheld, so ODB just had to show off.
shared because Overbey sent me an email about the Saints
Jamaal Charles ran over the Seahawks' run defense.
Though rarely discussed as one of the NFL's best teams, the Kansas City Chiefs showcased their strong defense and versatile running game against the Seattle Seahawks. In a tight game, they escaped with a 24-20 victory over the defending champs.
As has been their habit of late, the Seahawks missed several opportunities on the field through much of the first half. After quickly ending their first drive with a punt, Seattle was carved up defensively on a 15-play drive that culminated in Jamaal Charles' first touchdown of the day. He would have another later in the game. Kansas City's offensive line owned the line of scrimmage early in the ballgame, finding little resistance from the Brandon Mebane-less defensive front for Seattle.
But the direction of the game shifted just before halftime. A Travis Kelce fumble with under a minute remaining gave the Seahawks an extra possession deep in Kansas City territory. Russell Wilson scrambled for multiple double-digit gains, but the offense stalled near the goal line, and once again Seattle settled for a field goal. Seattle built on the progress early in the third, limiting Kansas City to a field goal on its first drive. They soon after forced a Charles fumble to take yet another extra possession on the Chiefs' side of the field, leading to a Tony Moeaki touchdown five plays later.
Yet it was Kansas City's game from that point out. Knile Davis ran in a score early in the fourth quarter to retake the lead, and that proved the final points of the afternoon. The Seahawks came close to pulling out a final drive, but Bob Sutton's unit stifled them near midfield.
Three things we learned:
1. Brandon Mebane's injury leaves a major impact on Seattle's run defense
When the Seahawks learned that massive, block-eating defensive tackle Brandon Mebane would miss the rest of the 2014 season with a torn hamstring, it was safety to assume opposing offensive lines could devote more resources to pass rushers Cliff Avril and Michael Bennett. That held true on Sunday, but Mebane's loss had a more dramatic impact on the running game.
On the Chiefs' opening drive alone, they ran at Mebane's vacated area six times, compiling 31 yards. Without Mebane in the middle forcing runs to the outside, Kansas City had free rein to exploit the middle of the Seattle defense, which has also played without middle linebacker Bobby Wagner for most of the season. Charles had multiple backbreaking runs running up the gut, including a 29-yard burst through the A gap. The trend continued throughout the game, with Davis exploiting Seattle's run defense for a score of his own in the fourth quarter.
2. Kansas City's red zone run defense intimidates Seahawks
The Seahawks possess one of the league's elite running attacks, with multiple backs capable of carving up defense. Darrell Bevell's offense is predicated on running the ball effectively, especially in the red zone. Common sense therefore dictates that Seattle would run Marshawn Lynch and company near the goal line, though that's not quite how things played out.
When the Seahawks passed their opponent's 20-yard line, they all but abandoned the run. Instead, the Bevell favored four- and five-receiver formations in hopes of spreading the Kansas City defense thin. Lynch did receive a few carries, but outside of two rush attempts stopped a yard short of the goal line he never sniffed the end zone. Still, Seattle didn't totally struggled in the red zone, with Wilson finding Doug Baldwin and Moeaki for touchdowns. But it was a different look for an offense that has become stall at times without the explosive Percy Harvin.
3. Seahawks reaching breaking point with injuries
In spite of all the planning and coordinating teams invest their time in, the NFL season usually boils down to a war of attrition. The squads that lose the fewest important players often find themselves at the top of the heap come the postseason. The 2013 Seattle Seahawks experienced few significant injuries, something that had a direct impact on their title run.
The 2014 edition hasn't been so lucky. Already, the Seattle has played without field tilters such as Wagner, Russell Okung, and Zach Miller for extended periods, with the aforementioned Mebane joining the list this week. Now, Seattle may be without Max Unger for some time, as the starting center suffered a lower body injury during the second half of Sunday's game. Unger had to be carted off the field by the medical staff.
While none of the Seahawks' injuries are of the same magnitude of a hypothetical Russell Wilson or Marshawn Lynch absence, the body count is spiraling out of control. Unless that trend changes, Seattle may no longer be a title contender come January.
This is an unusual image, in more than one sense of the word: it is a rare example of a selfie made by a person who decorated medieval books; and he is drinking on the job. Check out other selfies from medieval times - and the story behind them - in my new blog post: Medieval Selfies.
The United States Federal Trade Commission has met with Apple representatives several times over the past few months to discuss Apple's privacy practices covering health data collection, reports Reuters. The FTC is reportedly seeking assurance that Apple will prevent health data collected by the Apple Watch and other iOS devices via the Health app from being used without express user consent.
The two people, both familiar with the FTC's thinking, said Apple representatives have met on multiple occasions with agency officials in recent months, to stress that it will not sell its users' health data to third-party entities such as marketers or allow third-party developers to do so.
An Apple spokesperson told Reuters that the company "works closely with regulators around the world" to make its built-in data protections clear. "We've been very encouraged by their support," she said, adding that Apple's new health-focused initiative, HealthKit, had been designed "with privacy in mind."
While the FTC declined to comment, Reuters does not believe that the government agency will launch a formal inquiry into Apple's data protection policies, though it is clearly taking a great interest in the Apple Watch, which collects data like heart rate and movement, and HealthKit, which allows Apple's Health app to aggregate health-related data from various apps and accessories.
Though it hasn't even hit the market, other government officials have also taken an interest in the Apple Watch. In September, Connecticut Attorney General George Jepsen sent a letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook asking for information on what data Apple plans to collect with the device, how the information will be stored, and what Apple's policies are for apps that access health information.
Earlier this year, ahead of the Apple Watch's debut, Apple released new guidelines for HealthKit APIs, which also applies to the Apple Watch. In the document, Apple explains that HealthKit information will not be stored in iCloud and that apps attempting to store health-related data in iCloud will be rejected. It also clearly states that apps will not be able to share data with third parties without express user consent.
In recent months, Apple has attempted to make its privacy policies more transparent, creating a comprehensive new privacy site that details all of its privacy practices. Tim Cook also spoke on privacy in a recent interview, stating that users "have a right to privacy" and that the company "tries not to collect data." "Our business is based on selling [products]," he said. "Our business is not based on having information about you. You are not our product."
/cdn3.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/2463110/greshnope.0.gif)
/cdn2.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/2463116/pweese.0.gif)
/cdn2.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/2463258/ODB.0.gif)
/cdn2.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/2463256/odb2.0.gif)
