firehose

In 1993, Russian scientist Natalia Polosmak discovered the remains of a 25-year-old woman covered in tattoos who came to be known as the Ukok Princess. Now, an MRI has revealed that the young woman was suffering from breast cancer as well as a bone marrow infection at the time of her death, and scientists have stated that she most likely used cannabis to treat herself.

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"SimCity," the classic PC game that makes mayors out of middle schoolers, turned 25 last week. Well, actually that’s a common misconception  —  the IBM version of "SimCity" was released in October of ‘89, but the original came out in February. I found this out from Will Wright, the game design guru behind "SimCity" and the genre of games it spawned, whose mental history of the legendary game is far more accurate than the Internet’s. “I think everybody just puts too much trust in Wikipedia,” he said.

Gertjie the orphaned baby rhinoceros who cruelly lost his parents to poachers, adorably tries to imitate the hopping gait of his friend Lammi, a brown and white goat who makes sure that Gertjie is never left behind on the dirt road at the Hoedspruit Endangered Species Centre (HESC) in Limpopo, South Africa.

The HESC has documented Gertjie’s story from the beginning.

via reddit

The issue of online trolling is never too far away from public debate, but the UK government is gearing up to tackle the problem head-on by quadrupling the maximum sentence for those convicted of online abuse.

hellabaka:

never stop dreaming

Antiques Roadshow, the venerable BBC programme about valuing the public's collections, came a cropper during a recent event in Buckinghamshire when they were shown an incredibly rare prop from the original Star Wars - which much to their surprise, is worth quite a bit of money.

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What the United States eats

hodad

@robrill

From ancient times, men and women have embraced sacred music, different forms of prayer, religious vestments full of symbolism, gestures and rituals to express their innermost feelings of devotion to God.

The variety of these forms of expression is as wide and diverse as the human family. Yet all have the same ultimate purpose: to connect the believer with the object of their devotion in the most personal way—to draw close to God.

To those outside a particular faith, the rituals and clothing may seem unfamiliar. But for the participants they can stir the deepest feelings of the soul, motivate them to do good, even shape the course of a whole life of service.

The nun’s habit. The priest’s cassock. The Jewish prayer shawl. The Muslim’s skullcap. The saffron robes of the Buddhist monk. All are part of a rich tapestry of human devotion to God.

Not all such religious vestments are on public display. Some are seen only in places of worship. Temple robes of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, known as the robes of the holy priesthood, are worn only inside Mormon temples and reserved for the highest sacraments of the faith. White symbolizes purity. There is no insignia or rank. The most senior apostle and the newest member are indistinguishable when dressed in the same way. Men and women wear similar clothing. The simple vestments combine religious symbolism with echoes of antiquity reflected in ancient writings from the book of Exodus.

In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, there are no outer religious vestments in ordinary worship services.

However, many faithful Latter-day Saints wear a garment under their clothing that has deep religious significance. Similar in design to ordinary modest underclothing, it comes in two pieces and is usually referred to as the “temple garment.”

Some people incorrectly refer to temple garments as magical or “magic underwear.” These words are not only inaccurate but also offensive to members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. There is nothing magical or mystical about temple garments, and Church members ask for the same degree of respect and sensitivity that would be afforded to any other faith by people of goodwill.

Temple garments are worn by adult members of the Church who have made sacred promises of fidelity to God’s commandments and the gospel of Jesus Christ in temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

To Church members, the modest temple garment, worn under normal clothing, along with the symbolic vestments worn during temple worship, represent the sacred and personal aspect of their relationship with God and their commitment to live good, honorable lives.

The Historical Background of Temple Garments

Biblical scripture contains many references to the wearing of special garments. In the Old Testament the Israelites are specifically instructed to turn their garments into personal reminders of their covenants with God (see Numbers 15:37-41). Indeed, for some, religious clothing has always been an important part of integrating worship with daily living. Such practices resonate with Latter-day Saints today.

How should media report on temple garments?

Because of the personal and religious nature of the temple garment, the Church asks all media to report on the subject with respect, treating Latter-day Saint temple garments as they would religious vestments of other faiths. Ridiculing or making light of sacred clothing is highly offensive to Latter-day Saints.

Original Source

“There’s a lot of negativity around about ear-stretching,” he says. “We recently treated a golf professional who was joining the PGA [Professional Golfers’ Association]. They wouldn’t let him join with stretched ears. I’ve treated a man who was in a punk band but then became a teacher and needed his ears repaired. We even had a soldier on Wednesday who had 2cm tunnels in each ear. "His commanding officer told him of a new internal guidance that says anyone with ear tunnels of over 2cm would have to have them repaired, or there was a threat of discharge from the army.”

Time and Oak is a Portland-based startup with a fanciful idea. Their one and only product is a stick. Not just any stick but a laser-etched hunk of charred wood with maximal surface area that, when added to any whiskey, is supposed to enhance its flavor.

	Courtney shared this story from Lawyers, Guns & Money:
	...And everyone dismisses group 2 out of hand, thus pissing them off and pushing them further down the path toward group 1, without providing actual resources of support for the victims of abuse by group 1. So the same thing as usual.

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Hope LGM frequenter, Sly doesn’t mind being a front-pager tonight. I just want everyone to see his great summation of GamerGate:

Here’s a basic but somewhat detailed summation:

1. • • Most people who have been on-line long enough get to know about the various self-identifications that form the loose confederation of Organized On-Line Misogyny: Your Red Pillers, your Slymepitters, your MRAs, your Incels, your PUAs, your MGTOWers, etc. Though they differ in the details of their reason for being women-haters, they are unified to the extent that they (a) hate women and (b) use the Internet to talk to and organize with other women-haters. Feminists know them well. Veterans of the Skeptic-Misogyny conflicts got to learn over the past few years how they can’t stand women who have the temerity to bring their lady-brains into what they, the misogynists, assume to be de facto male spaces.

       Anyway, #GamerGate is essentially a repeat of what happened within the Skeptic/New Atheism movement. A subculture that was predominantly male and thus saturated with all the notions of masculinity that men are socialized to accept as natural, whether they are unhealthy or not, is becoming less predominantly male. The men who cling to those notions of masculinity, especially the toxic varieties, see that they are losing cultural capital among their peers. They feel marginalized, and those within the confederation of On-Line Misogynists find a new fora for their overtly toxic anti-feminism. Reactionary movement ensues to “take back” the subculture from the people who are ruining it. Many bystanders who have no idea whats going on get swept up as cannon fodder in a conflict they know nothing about and useful idiots for a ideology that they’d otherwise reject.

       It is in this context that Zoe Quinn’s ex-boyfriend posted his missive in which he alleged that Quinn traded sex for good press. The misogynists seized upon it, pointing out yet another instance of how women ruin everything. Doxxing/Harrassment/Threats ensued. When the allegation turned out to be bunk, the Doxxing/Harrassment/Threats had to be justified somehow, so more doxxing was done to find something to rationalize the initial breech. Quinn doxxed another charity (also false). Quinn slept with her boss for a promotion (also false). Quinn made up the doxxing/harassment/threats (plainly false). The conspiracy theories were rampant, and the campaign took on a new title when actor and wingnut jerkoff Adam Baldwin was the first to tweet one of the original conspiracy videos under the hashtag “GamerGate.”

       Various attempts were made to shield the harassers and conspiracy mongers from allegations of sexism, like organized donations to the charity that Quinn didn’t dox, the manufacturing of a “chillgirl” gamer mascot who, like, totally doesn’t need feminism because it’s not like it was 100 years ago – GAWD WHY DONT YOU JUST LET ME PLAY GAMES, setting up sockpuppet twitter accounts claiming to be women and minorities using the hashtag #NotYourShield, etc. All of this was deliberately organized as a means of public relations.

       Those of us who saw how utterly stupid and noxious this was started voicing our disgust. Leigh Alexander, a writer and Editor-At-Large for Gamasutra, published an article titled “‘Gamers’ don’t have to be your audience. ‘Gamers’ are over” in which she said that the changing face and mentality of the gamer identity is a welcome thing, because people who believe that they have a license to exclude others from the identity by any means necessary – up to and including waging campaigns of harassment – are a bunch of rabid jackals in the midst of a death rattle. Other on-line publications put out similar articles. This is ultimately what blew everything up, because if there’s one thing that reactionaries cannot stand is when you stop criticizing what they love and start criticizing them directly. They forgot about Zoe Quinn (GamerGaters now refer to her as “Literally Who #1,” or “LitWhoW1,” while Sarkeesian is “LitWho2″), and switched their harassment campaign to those critical on-line publications.

       Otherwise neutral parties were swept up into the “movement” as its Useful Idiots, misunderstanding the “‘Gamers’ are Over” message as an assault on anyone who plays videogames. These people likely now constitute a majority of GamerGaters, and is why so many GamerGaters claim they don’t support doxxing and harassment. To be fair they’re being honest, but they exist solely as a shield for the misogynists to voice and act upon their misogyny.

       And so, at the present moment, GamerGate, as a collective identity, is composed of two groups preoccupied with the following causes:

       Group #1: Scouring any tint of cultural leftism from gaming.

       Group #2: Disavowing Group #1.

       Group #1 survives by trading complicated conspiracy theories done up as 30-minute YouTube vidoes or 120000×80000 pixel MS-Paint images, linking articles from anti-feminist writers at Forbes and Breitbart to one another, and totally crushing on anti-feminist women like Christina Hoff Sommers (because, as everyone knows, you can’t be a misogynist if you’re a woman or agree with a woman who spouts anti-feminist gibberish). That, and trading cartoon kiddie porn and creepshots on 8chan.

       Group #2 survives by shouting “NOT ALL GAMERS ARE LIKE THAT!” without realizing that no one is talking to them.

America is the land of opportunity, just for some more than others.

popular shared this story from Wondermark.

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Catholic bishops scrapped their landmark welcome to gays Saturday, showing deep divisions at the end of a two-week meeting sought by Pope Francis to chart a more merciful approach to ministering to Catholic families.

The Scrabble dictionary is getting an update. But it’s not going so well, and the world’s best players aren’t happy.

invisiblelad:

lovelyandbrown:

thisiseverydayracism:

The prison-industrial complex is just a myth…right?

Jesus he didn’t even have us do the damn math. He just said it.

…yeah. I suppose there’s no point in finding flowery rhetoric for it. “Putting people in jail is good for business” is pretty much the size of it. 

It's often said that sci-fi MMO EVE Online isn't so much a game as a giant online spreadsheet and that people pay a subscription fee in order to have a second job they don't get paid for. While that's little more than a joke to the majority of EVE players, there are those for whom EVE is genuinely played on a massive spreadsheet. ... Gossamer DT discussed an interesting piece of custom software he develops called Region Commander that was designed specifically for organising player empires. The tool keeps track of starbase tower fuel, maintains a blacklist of players who have been kicked out of the coalition, and allows organisers to create and assign tasks to players in their command. Players who want to contribute to their alliance's industrial backbone can log into the system to take on work tasks due for completion, and the tool updates in realtime. The only thing missing is a punch card and a paycheck.

A Maine elementary school teacher was put on paid leave for up to 21 days, after parents expressed concerns that she could have been exposed to Ebola during a recent trip to Dallas, Maine School Administrative District #58 announced. “At this time, we have no information to suggest that this staff member has been in contact with anyone who has been exposed to Ebola. However, the District and the staff members understand the parents’ concerns,” the district said in a statement.

The Seahawks came right out with their surprise and displeasure over the Percy Harvin trade. Former Seahawk Golden Tate took a different tack.

Step 1: Retweet Kermit meme.

Step 2: LIVE Kermit meme.

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Enjoying this crisp fall evening in michigan. Excited for dinner with friends and family @elisepollard @j35ive #almostsunday #defendtheden

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(Related, if true.)

On Wednesday, Oct. 8, the three were rehearsing in Letterman’s backstage digs at the Ed Sullivan Theater when Mendez said he reacted to one of Scheft’s interruptions, telling him, “I know what I’m doing. Get off my back.” ... Mendez said he stewed all night and the next morning, when he got to work, he was literally at Scheft’s throat. “I just grabbed him by the shirt,” Mendez said. “He was very surprised. He didn’t say a word. He was cowering, his eyes were real big, he probably peed a little bit on his pants.” ... Scheft, a Harvard graduate originally from Boston, did not respond to a request for comment.

Randle was arrested for stealing underwear on Monday and hired as an underwear spokesman by the end of the week.

Joseph Randle is now a spokesman for an underwear company less than a week after he was arrested for stealing underwear, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter.

MeUndies announced a partnership with the Dallas Cowboys running back that will feature the company helping Randle to pay the $29,500 fine imposed on him by the team following his suspension. The endorsement will also Randle with plenty of underwear, which apparently he was in need of.

Randle was arrested Monday after surveillance cameras allegedly caught him attempting to shoplift underwear and a bottle of cologne at a Dillard's in Frisco, Texas. He is now facing a misdemeanor charge of theft valued at $50 to $500.

A fifth-round pick in the 2013 NFL Draft, Randle tallied just 164 rushing yards as a rookie and finished the year with 3.0 yards per carry. Through five games in 2014, Randle has 113 yards on just 16 carries for a 7.1 yards per carry average, although he hasn't yet found the end zone.

Crossed Swords (SNK/ADK- Neo Geo - 1990)

vgjunk:

I finally hacked my way through enough of Crossed Swords to get a GIF of mighty warrior and unofficial VGJunk mascot Satan Goat.

'Buffy The Vampire Slayer' Star Nicholas Brendon Arrested In Idaho After Comic ... KpopStarz "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" alum Nicholas Brendon was reportedly arrested on Friday night in Boise, Idaho after attending Tree City Comic Con. According to an arrest report by the Ada County Sheriff's Office, the 43-year-old actor was picked up by police at ... and more »

ABC News

New England Raking in Millions From Leaf Peepers ABC News On Mount Monadnock, hikers file up the 3,165-foot peak in lockstep, protected from drizzling rain by a luminous golden canopy of leaves. They're not just gazing at foliage — they're looking at cold, hard cash. Money really does grow on trees in autumn in New ... and more »