firehose

Ikea has come out with a new line of furniture that, according to the company, can be assembled within just five minutes. The new Regissör series, announced this week, includes a coffee table, bookshelf, and cabinets — all of which can be put together without any tools.

The key is a set of newly designed wooden dowels attached to the joints of each piece, replacing the annoying screws and locks that the company traditionally uses. These dowels are placed at a 45-degree angle along the wedged ends of each board, allowing for more natural support than the usual 90-degree orientation. The boards are also made of a lighter material, designed to lessen the stress on each corner.

The Regissör series goes on sale this month at US Ikea locations, with prices ranging from $139 for the table to $349 for the cabinet.

Wikimedia Commons user Tabercil

Celebrities who had their nude photos stolen last month are now threatening Google with a $100 million lawsuit unless the search giant does a better job of removing copies of the photos found on its various services, including YouTube and Blogger.

The threat was laid out in a letter signed by Marty Singer, a well-known Hollywood attorney, and acquired yesterday by The Hollywood Reporter and other Tinseltown news sites. In the letter, Singer says that Google has allowed the "blatant violations" to continue despite the fact that it's been four weeks since he first sent a takedown notice to the company.

"We are writing concerning Google's despicable, reprehensible conduct in not only failing to act expeditiously and responsibly to remove the Images, but in knowingly accommodating, facilitating and perpetuating the unlawful conduct," writes Singer. "Google is making millions and profiting from the victimization of women. As a result of your blatantly unethical behavior, Google is exposed to significant liability and both compensatory and punitive damages that could well exceed One Hundred Million Dollars ($100,000,000)."

Here’s some bad news for fans of cute lower-class boys who prove much more brave and charming than the snobby rich assholes who your parents want you to marry: After he finishes filming The Revenant—the movie where he gets mauled by a bear—Leonardo DiCaprio is going to metaphorically let go of your hand and let himself drop into the bottom of the ocean. In other words, he’s going to take a break from acting. This comes from The Hollywood Reporter, which says that—because of his decision to take this break—DiCaprio won’t be able to play Steve Jobs in Danny Boyle’s biopic about the Apple co-founder. So much for that The Beach reunion.

Losing DiCaprio is a pretty big setback for the high-profile project—it features an Aaron Sorkin script in addition to Boyle directing—but it sounds like the producers at Sony ...

http://bikeportland.org/2014/10/01/milwaukie-council-candidate-scott-barbur-faces-questions-facebook-post-111565

The problem with Barbur’s flimsy explanation and this argument is that his entire Facebook profile was littered with posts, dating from 2009 all the way through 2014, that in fact show he has NOT experienced growth in the 4 years since he made those disgusting comments. He gave us all plenty else to judge him on.

Scott Barbur August 7, 2009: “is upset that he’s a white, English-speaking male with no disabilities. Now I’ll never get appointed to the Supreme Court! Damnit!”

Scott Barbur March 10, 2011: “This environmental law class makes me want to hit myself in the face with a frying pan! Man, are these people whiny!”

Scott Barbur February 13, 2013: “The Kremlin, oops, I mean Metro’s latest ‘big Brother venture’”

Scott Barbur April 18, 2013: “This exchange actually took place at my referral group this morning: Banker: The bank never wants to take back the collateral on a loan. Say you default on a personal loan. You couldn’t just come in and put your wife on my desk. [Barbur]: But that would solve two of my problems!”

Screen shots of the above quotes have been shared with the author of this blog. There are others. Barbur’s statement is complete nonsense when held in the light of his other disdainful rants and “jokes.”

Tom And Jerry provided its young viewers with many valuable lessons that are still useful today, such as the fact that cats are bipedal and have easy access to guns and explosives, while mice are surprisingly resourceful sadists. But certain aspects are not so timeless—such as its occasional use of ethnic and racial stereotypes. And now efforts are being made to ensure a new generation takes these uglier facets of Tom And Jerry in the proper context, without allowing them to sully the fun of animal torture.

Amazon Prime has recently added a disclaimer warning viewers, “Tom and Jerry shorts may depict some ethnic and racial prejudices that were once commonplace in American society. Such depictions were wrong then and are wrong today.” While these depictions have involved gags such as characters suffering burns or mud splatters that turn them into black caricatures, as was the style at the ...

Last week, Urban Outfitters’ Calvin Hollinger issued a statement claiming to be the “world’s number one vinyl seller”—a statement that many bought from Urban Outfitters and took home, only to have it immediately fall apart. Most of us just took Urban’s word for it because it sounded so plausible: With its more than 400 locations, each with dedicated walls of vinyl, plus the thousands of titles that flow through its online shop, Urban Outfitters would seem to have little competition in that arena, easily besting the few vinyl racks reflecting the sad, lonely faces of Best Buy employees. But as is so often the case, we all overlooked the little guy. We forgot about Amazon.

While we were content with our Urban Outfitters-supplied information, no matter how ill-fitting, Billboard actually sought out authentically vintage “facts” by surveying various U.S. labels, distributors, and wholesalers. Its conclusion: While ...