An illustrative nightmare from Romancing Saga 3, via Abobobo.
(Square - Super Famicom - 1995)
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14 Oct 22:42
Newswire: Chris Rock and Prince are both returning to Saturday Night Live
by Sean O'Neal
In a pairing that promises to be marginally more funky than last week’s Bill Hader and Hozier combo, Chris Rock will return to host Saturday Night Live on Nov. 1 with musical guest Prince. Rock has hosted only once since leaving the cast in 1993—primarily because he felt In Living Color was far hipper, but also, as he told Marc Maron, because he was frustrated with the limitations the show placed on its black performers (something SNL has become extremely conscious of lately). That hosting stint in 1996 featured the return of Rock’s best-known SNL characters and sketches, like Nat X and “I’m Chillin’,” and no doubt at least one of those is written on a bulletin board at Rockefeller Center right now.
For Prince, it will be his third time performing on the program in non-Fred Armisen form, following his debut in 1981, and his ...
14 Oct 22:37
Five Thirty Eight Digs Into Demographics Of Superheroes, Finds They're Still Overwhelmingly Men
by Matt D. Wilson
Here’s the good news: According to some recent research by FiveThirtyEight.com, the website that applies data to just about everything — most notably, US elections — the ratio of female to male characters in mainstream superhero comics is improving, and more LGBT characters are showing up in Marvel and DC’s pages.
That said, the numbers still aren’t great. “Female characters make up only 30.9 percent of the DC universe and 30.6 percent of the Marvel universe,” the site’s report states. In a world where women are 51 percent of all people, that’s not so representative.
Also of interest: Female comic characters tend to be neutral or good far more than they’re evil. “Bad-aligned men alone outnumbered all women combined,” the report states.
Of course, none of that happens in a vacuum. Marvel and DC have a particular audience they’re trying to maintain. In an interview with the site, Thor writer Jason Aaron said:
Over time, we started to appeal to the same, dwindling fans. I don’t say that derisively, because I’m at the heart of that dwindling group of fans, and always have been.
It’s not hard to figure out that Aaron is talking about white men, the demographic group that dominates the creative side of comics, too. We’ve done some of our own number-crunching on this front at ComicsAlliance; our Harvey-Renee Index noted just how often white men are over-represented compared to the wider populace, even in contemporary team books.
The FiveThirtyEight report states that it’s nearly impossible to figure out the demographics of comic book buyers, because they mostly shop at independently owned comic shops. That said, the audience that attends comic conventions is almost equally split between men and women.
That seems to be the key takeaway: There is an audience for comics — if comic book publishers would appeal to them.
Of course — and this is something that extra-comics media, researches and seemingly most of the non-comics-reading public does not take into account — not all comics are published by Marvel and DC, and not all comics are about superheroes. If FiveThirtyEight expanded its study to include other publishers and other types of work, the research would certainly paint a different picture.
14 Oct 21:08
This brutalist monolith will soon be an ebola treatment center
by CurbedStaff
Photo via The Charnel House
In the course of a few months, the ebola virus has spread throughout West Africa, causing some 9,000 deaths worldwide. Citizens are often turned away from over-capacity medical facilities or, fueled by hysteria, are fearful of the very nursing staff meant to help them. What's more, researchers say we'll see "much more suffering and many more deaths during childbirth and from malaria, tuberculosis, HIV-AIDS, enteric and respiratory illnesses, diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular disease, and mental health during and after the Ebola epidemic" as a consequence. Liberia, which has seen the deaths of 1,830 citizens, needs medical facilities—and international organizations are creating them in places like stadium parking lots and a 25-bed makeshift hospital.That's where Monrovia's defense ministry—or what would have been its defense ministry, if warfare hadn't halted construction in the '80s—comes into play.
When construction stopped in 1984, the government building was abandoned. In 2012, it was nearly demolished to build a $60M ministerial complex. It's unclear what stopped the redevelopment, but, in the end, the unfinished structure maintained its reported underground bomb hold, which, according to Liberia's newspaper once included "30-rounds of bombs and a pathway leading to the Atlantic Ocean for submarine to transport military equipment." It's also not the first time the building served as an emergency shelter; in 2005, it housed 394 soldiers and their families—or roughly 3,000 people total.
Photo via NPR
Nicknamed "The Pentagon" by the people who have lived and worked within it over the years, the structure seems to augur Liberia's social tumult, so the building's current iteration as an ebola treatment center is no surprise. Newly converted into an isolation compound by 150 local workers—in a partnership between WHO, the United Nations Children's Fund, and others—the structure is set to open by November with six large tents and over 200 new beds.
"It feels like we are building a little village," Jean-Pierre Veyrenche, a WHO coordinator, says. To build a functional medical center, the sewage system needed to be created beneath abandoned government building, and water tanks and generators had to be installed. The undertaking, while almost riveting in its remarkable adaptive reuse program, also speaks to larger issues of monolithic government projects during wartime and the real scarcity for fundamentals like functioning medical facilities.
Photo via WHO
Photo via WHO
• Under construction: another 200 beds for Ebola patients in Liberia [WHO]
• The U.S. Ebola Hospitals In Liberia Are Going Up ... Slowly [NPR]
• Quarantine architecture [The Charnel House]
• All Posts About Abandonment Issues [Curbed National]
14 Oct 21:07
Dracula Untold, Told
by OnlyMrGodKnowsWhy
OnlyMrGodKnowsWhyspoiler alert
12. Don’t get mad at me for telling you the wife dies; the wife always dies in origin stories. She might as well have been played by a big skull and crossbones, look at how IMMINENTLY DEAD she looks:
She’s BLONDE, which is never a good sign, and she’s constantly wearing linen shifts that are slipping off her shoulder while laughing merrily, and her only character traits are “I really love my husband with his sad, sad eyes” and “I’m English for some reason.” She is the purest and fairest blossom of Aryan Womanhood, which is an entirely fatal condition in movies about sad white men.
14 Oct 21:05
My Terrifying Night With Afghanistan's Only Female Warlord
firehoseBibi Ayisha, nom de guerre: Commander Pigeon
'The men put on chains and I put on a burka. Sharif said it looked strange. He explained: Don’t talk. Don’t smack gum. Don’t lean your elbow against the window like you keep doing. Cover your legs. Don’t get out of the car. Be a good girl. Most importantly, cover the hair. Hide your passport. We are a Tajik rock band and you are the singer going to sing for Commander Pigeon.'
...
'She dumped a bag of almonds on the ground and spread them around with her hands. She picked one up, cracked it open with her thumb, and sucked the meat from the shell.
“You guys don’t care about war. You will write your thing and go. I’m killing Taliban twelve months of the year.”
“Will you fight today?” I said.
Her hand dropped and she looked at Sharif. “What is wrong with her?”
“How often do you train?”
She sighed again. One of the children farted and Commander Pigeon started screaming at her.'
She was a woman and she killed men — while wearing a flowery dress.
14 Oct 20:58
VERY IMPORTANT PIZZA QUESTION
by hodad
firehose"18 kids and 26 parents. No dietary restrictions"
44 pepperoni pizzas
Next on my to-do list for this saturday’s birthday partie is figuring out how much #pizza to get. Help me avoid the gravest of errors a parent can make.
Already RSVPeed include 18 kids and 26 parents. No dietary restrictions. My plan so far:
3 large plain pies
2 large supreme meat-lover pies
2 large pepperoni pies
1 large veggies R us pie
1 large white pie
firehose likes this
14 Oct 20:57
Dogs team up in unimaginably cute fashion to retrieve ball
by Rob Beschizza
firehosevia Kara Jean
Either that, or the small merle one is unsuccessfully attempting to eat the large black one. Photo credit unknown!
14 Oct 20:55
Kesha Suing Dr Luke For 'Physical And Sexual Abuse' - MTV UK
firehoseTW: abuse
MTV UK |
Kesha Suing Dr Luke For 'Physical And Sexual Abuse' MTV UK Kesha has reportedly launched a lawsuit against her producer Dr Luke - who signed her to his record label in 2005. According to documents obtained by TMZ, the Crazy Kids singer is suing the producer - real name Lukasz Sebastian Gottwald - for sexual ... Kesha: Dr. Luke Molested Me; Producer Calls Brad Paisley, Ludacris' 'Rising ...Hallels all 464 news articles » |
14 Oct 20:54
Newswire: Black Flag’s Greg Ginn accused of child abuse
by Sean O'Neal
No stranger to either lawsuits or accusations of controlling and abusive behavior—though most of these have involved the other members of Black Flag—Greg Ginn is now facing allegations of child abuse from his ex-wife, Marina Ginn. In an affidavit picked up by Consequence Of Sound, she details what she claims is a pattern of “increasingly erratic” behavior from the guitarist and SST Records founder, one that has put the safety of their 7- and 10-year-old daughters in jeopardy. These allegations include “routinely denying them food and threatening them,” forcing them to perform chores until the early morning hours, and punishing them by locking them in rooms and “throwing cups of water in their face.” She also claims that Ginn is extremely critical of her young daughters’ weights and unnervingly interested in their bodies—including allegedly having whistled at them and said, “You’re hot.”
In the very emotional ...
14 Oct 20:54
Newswire: David Bowie debuts a new song on BBC Radio
by Katie Rife
As promised, David Bowie has released the new song produced especially for his upcoming compilation Nothing Has Changed, “Sue (Or In A Season Of Crime).” The song sees the ever-changing Bowie in a free-jazz mood, singing a loose melody over shambling, jazzy instrumentation. The song —all seven and a half minutes of it—premiered on BBC Radio 6:
Nothing Has Changed, a retrospective of Bowie’s 50-year career, will come in double LP, 2 CD, and special 3 CD editions, and will be available on November 28, a.k.a Black Friday. “Sue” will also be released as a 10” single with an exclusive b-side, “Tis A Pity She’s A Whore.”
14 Oct 20:52
Has A New Producer Ruined Your Favorite TV Show? That's Nothing New
by Charlie Jane Anders
Once upon a time, most fans of genre television series were blissfully unaware of who was working on those shows from behind the scenes. But nowadays, fans are hyper-conscious of who produces their favorite shows, and quick to blame newcomers for any missteps. What changed? Here's the history of fan backlashes against new showrunners.
firehose likes this
14 Oct 20:51
How Pappy Van Winkle Became King Of The Whiskeys
Since its first release in 1992, 20-year-old Pappy Van Winkle has become the most covetable whiskey on the planet. It's so popular that you've probably never seen it in the wild. How did it all happen?
14 Oct 20:46
Shirley Ann Jackson #ALD14 @findingada
by Kelly
Shirley Ann Jackson has had, and continues to have, a highly distinguished career as an American Physicist, Educator, Corporate Director, Government Administrator and more. In 1973, she became the first female African-American to earn her doctorate degree at MIT and is currently the President of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. The recipient of countless fellowships and government appointments, Jackson stands as one of the most renowned American scientists and educators of our time.
Read her NYTimes Biography here:
The Honorable Shirley Ann Jackson, Ph.D. became the 18th president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute on July 1, 1999. Dr. Jackson is a theoretical physicist. Since coming to Rensselaer, Dr. Jackson has led the development of the Rensselaer Plan (the Institute’s strategic blueprint), has begun implementation of much of the Plan, while restructuring processes and procedures; and secured a $360 million unrestricted gift commitment to the university.
Dr. Jackson’s career prior to becoming Rensselaer’s president has encompassed senior positions in government, as Chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission; in industry and research, as a theoretical physicist at the former AT&T Bell Laboratories; and in academe, as a professor of theoretical physics at Rutgers University.
Dr. Jackson holds a Ph.D. in theoretical elementary particle physics from M.I.T. (1973) and a S.B. in physics from M.I.T. (1968).
Dr. Jackson’s research specialty is in theoretical condensed matter physics, especially layered systems, and the physics of opto-electronic materials.
In 1995 President William Clinton appointed Dr. Jackson to serve as Chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). Dr. Jackson was Chairman of the NRC from 1995-1999. As Chairman, she was the principal executive officer of and the official spokesman for the NRC. She had ultimate authority for all NRC functions pertaining to an emergency involving an NRC licensee. The NRC is charged with the protection of the public health and safety, the environment, and the common defense and security by licensing, regulating, and safeguarding the use of reactor byproduct material in the U.S. This includes power reactors; research, test, and training reactors; fuel cycle facilities; reactor byproduct use in medicine, industry and research; the transportation, storage, and disposal of high-level and low-level radioactive waste; and the licensing of nuclear exports for peaceful uses.
October 14th is Ada Lovelace Day! Today the world celebrates all of the accomplishments of women in science, art, design, technology, engineering, and math. Each year, Adafruit highlights a number of women who are pioneering their fields and inspiring women of all ages to make their voices heard. Today we will be sharing the stories of women that we think are modern day “Adas”. We will also be referencing women from history that have made impacts in science and math. Please promote and share #ALD14 with your friends and family so we can promote and share with all of the world wide web!
Today everything in the Adafruit store is 10% off, just use the code ALD14 on checkout! Today’s the perfect day to spark the imagination of a future “Ada” with a gift from the Adafruit store!
firehose likes this
14 Oct 20:46
Gabriella Levine #ALD14 @findingada
by Becky Stern
Gabriella Levine is President of the Open Source Hardware Association, which she announced has received its non-profit status at this year’s Open Hardware Summit in Rome (photo above). From her site:
Gabriella Levine is a creative technologist, interactive artist and open-source hardware designer interested in the relationship between technology and ecology. She studied Biology and Piano at Cornell University and Oberlin College, then worked doing Cancer Research at Albert Einstein College of Medicine before abandoning the lab for the outdoors to become a wildland fire fighter based in Oregon. She holds a Masters degree in Design and Technology from ITP, Tisch School of the Arts, NYU. She creates sculptural and robotic works that mimic environmental phenomena and animal behavior. She is passionate about biomimetic robots, PCB’s, electromechanical actuation, wireless sensor networks, and coding. She is the COO of Protei Inc, manufacturing robotic biomimetic sailboats.
October 14th is Ada Lovelace Day! Today the world celebrates all of the accomplishments of women in science, art, design, technology, engineering, and math. Each year, Adafruit highlights a number of women who are pioneering their fields and inspiring women of all ages to make their voices heard. Today we will be sharing the stories of women that we think are modern day “Adas”. We will also be referencing women from history that have made impacts in science and math. Please promote and share #ALD14 with your friends and family so we can promote and share with all of the world wide web!
Today everything in the Adafruit store is 10% off, just use the code ALD14 on checkout! Today’s the perfect day to spark the imagination of a future “Ada” with a gift from the Adafruit store!
firehose likes this
14 Oct 20:42
assgod: YOU CAN TELL HE’S SO PROUD OF HIMSELF AND SO AM I
firehosemeanwhile, in Portland + autoreshare
firehose and -1 others like this
14 Oct 20:41
[UPDATED] Brianna Wu Describes “War On Women” In The Gaming Industry On MSNBC - Cosigned.
by Carolyn Cox
firehose"a cursory glance at the developer’s Twitter reveals she’s already been criticized for her appearance yesterday–even by Firefly actor Adam Baldwin."
Game developer and podcaster Brianna Wu appeared on MSNBC’s The Reid Report yesterday to discuss the ongoing harassment of women in gaming, and to share how male developers and journalists can help change that culture of misogyny from the top down. Wu’s words are especially admirable considering she and her husband were the target of 8chan death threats last week; in spite of having to leave her home after being doxxed, the developer has continued to speak up for women, first at our NYCC panel on Sunday, and again yesterday on the national news.
The significance of Wu’s promise that she “won’t be bullied out of the industry” might not be obvious for those uninitiated in the scarier aspects of gaming culture, but a cursory glance at the developer’s Twitter reveals she’s already been criticized for her appearance yesterday–even by Firefly actor Adam Baldwin.
This is actor @AdamBaldwin and the standards he holds himself to. pic.twitter.com/022TXNv3jX
— Brianna Wu (@Spacekatgal) October 14, 2014
Sigh. Thank you, Brianna, for speaking out against online violence and the industry’s perpetuation of misogyny. For anyone looking for another kick-ass lady’s perspective on #Gamergate, check out social researcher Jennifer Allaway’s thought-provoking dissection of her own harassment.
[Updated: CNN has now also released a video focusing on Wu's harassment and the threats faced by Anita Sarkeesian. Hopefully the scrutiny placed on #Gamergate by major news networks will not only mitigate the vitriol being directed at female gamers, but also bring people like Wu and Sarkeesian the positive recognition they deserve in their Industry.]
(via Polygon)
Previously in #Gamergate
- Watch Anita Sarkeesian’s XOXO talk in its entirety right here
- Hundreds of game developers sign petition to end hate in the industry
- A disheartening account of the harassment going on in gaming right now
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14 Oct 20:38
Tiny Corgi Puppy Does Her Best to Pick Up a Small Pumpkin With Her Teeth
by Lori Dorn
firehoseno satan only corg
A tiny corgi puppy named Maya who lives with a bunch of Pyrenean Mastiffs, does her very best to pick up a small pumpkin that’s probably just as heavy as she is. Although Maya is unable to successfully complete her task, she looks absolutely adorable in her efforts. If the music sounds a bit familiar, it’s the “Fall theme” from the classic Nintendo game Harvest Moon 64.
firehose likes this
14 Oct 20:36
American Voices: Facebook, Apple Paying For Female Employees To Freeze Eggs
firehose“I’ll be proud to show my children the browser plug-in that’s the reason they’re 9 and not 14.”
“What about the women who want to have kids now? Do they at least get offered a decent severance package?”
“Wow—I guess women who happen to work for one of these two companies really can have it all.”
Facebook and Apple have announced that they will begin subsidizing egg-freezing procedures for female employees, allowing them to pursue their careers and have children later in life.
14 Oct 20:29
Facebook And Apple Now Pay For Women To Freeze Eggs
With notoriously male-dominated Silicon Valley firms competing to attract top female talent, the coverage may give Apple and Facebook a leg up among the many women who devote key childbearing years to building careers.
14 Oct 20:28
Gillian Anderson Wants to Be Cast In the Female-Led Ghostbusters Right the Hell Now And Other Amazingness From Her Reddit AMA - GET ON IT, FEIG!
by Rebecca Pahle
firehosefollowup for people understandably allergic to clicking on reddit links/AMAs
To promote her new sci-fi book A Vision of Fire—because yes, Gillian Anderson writes sci-fi books, no big—the once and future QUEEN OF ALL REDHEADS did a Reddit AMA. And holy fishsticks, there’s some good stuff in there. First and foremost, upon being asked whether she’d like to be in Paul Feig’s female-led Ghostbusters reboot, Anderson responded:
OH MY GOD, I just looked it up online. Paul Feig, cast me now! Start a Twitter petition! I’m free!!!!! I’m free I’m free and I’m funny, goddamnit!
All bolding, italics, and exclamation points are hers. She really wants to be in that movie, and screw you, Ernie Hudson. Paul Feig, make it happen.
But that’s not all the amazingness to come out of her AMA. There’s also:
Gillian Anderson has good taste in film!
Gillian Anderson will give you tips on moisturizers!
Click all images to embiggen.
Gillian Anderson K N O W S!
Gillian Anderson loves your albino hedgehog!
Gillian Anderson demands milk precision!
Gillian Anderson gives kick-ass advice to young feminists!
GILLIAN ANDERSON IS A CHICKEN NUGGET QUEEN.
(via Digital Spy)
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![[link]](http://i.imgur.com/6cS0SbU.jpg){kind=link}
14 Oct 20:16
‘Reactions’ Explains the Delicious Chemistry Found in Pizza
by Justin Page
firehosebonus skeleton
The American Chemical Society’s web series Reactions (see previously) explains the delicious amounts of chemistry found in pizza during their latest episode. From the cooking of the tasty pizza dough to the bubbling melted cheese, there are plenty of chemical reactions that take place before the first slice even hits your mouth.
Whether it’s a plain cheese, a deep-dish stacked with meats or a thin-crust veggie delight, there’s just something about pizza that makes it delicious. There’s a lot of chemistry that goes into everything from dough to sauce to toppings to, of course, cheese. There’s also a very specific chemical reaction at work on every single slice, no matter what toppings you choose.
It’s called the Maillard Reaction, and it’s what causes the browning of the dough and toppings, as well as the release of some delicious compounds.
firehose likes this
14 Oct 20:11
OmniJobs
firehose"Omni is located in rainy Seattle, possibly the most beautiful city in North America. The air here is still clean, the people still friendly, local brands are still more popular than national brands, and music festivals still feel like they are for the people."
ha ha yeah ok
The Omni Group has job openings.
I’m still the newest person here. Make that not true anymore.
14 Oct 20:10
The Subtle Developer Exodus From the Mac App Store
by Soulskill
An anonymous reader writes: Milen Dzhumerov, a software developer for OS X and iOS, has posted a concise breakdown of the problems with the Mac App Store. He says the lack of support for trial software and upgrades drives developers away by preventing them from making a living. Forced sandboxing kills many applications before they get started, and the review system isn't helpful to anyone. Dzhumerov says all of these factors, and Apple's unwillingness to address them, are leading to the slow but steady erosion of quality software in the Mac App Store. "The relationship between consumers and developers is symbiotic, one cannot exist without the other. If the Mac App Store is a hostile environment for developers, we are going to end up in a situation where, either software will not be supported anymore or even worse, won't be made at all. And the result is the same the other way around – if there are no consumers, businesses would go bankrupt and no software will be made. The Mac App Store can be work in ways that's beneficial to both developers and consumers alike, it doesn't have to be one or the other. If the MAS is harmful to either developers or consumers, in the long term, it will be inevitably harmful to both." 
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Luciano, Tripartite and -1 others like this
14 Oct 20:10
waryjack: cranialgames: teapotsahoy: vassraptor coffeeandcock...
#ia ia windows fhtagnAlways make sure to start Wandows Ngrmadly.
I don’t think this boot looks promising.
Wandows
You’ll probably want to enable Fetwgrkifg, in case you have to dgwflged new drivers.
Infinull, Tertiarymatt and 2 others like this
14 Oct 20:10
The GOP Intensifies Its Attacks On The National Science Foundation
by Mark Strauss
Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX), the Chairman of the House Science Committee on Science, Space and Technology has repeatedly denounced the National Science Foundation for squandering taxpayer money on frivolous research. Now he's gone a step further, demanding personal political scrutiny of peer-reviewed research grants.