firehose

Ten seconds before the shaking started early Sunday morning, an experimental warning system in a UC Berkeley lab sounded an alarm, counting down to the impending earthquake. It was the biggest test yet for a promising earthquake alert system that remains stuck in budgetary limbo.

The warning works by outrunning earthquake

The system works by leapfrogging the earthquake. Sensors near fault lines detect the first sign of an earthquake — the faster moving but less destructive P-waves — calculate the severity of the quake, and broadcast a warning before the more destructive S-waves arrive. That means that areas near the fault in Napa wouldn’t have gotten any warning, but the Bay Area could have received several seconds notice. Depending on the region and the size of the quake, researchers at the United States Geologic Survey, which runs the program in collaboration with several universities, say it could give warnings up to a minute in advance.

It might not seem like much, but even a few seconds notice could allow utilities to shut off gas lines, elevators to let people off at the next floor, and trains to slow down. The USGS cites the benefits a warning could give to a doctor in the middle of performing surgery. In 2012, BART adopted an automatic braking system linked to the program, called Shake Alert.

Shake Alert is stuck in budgetary limbo

Japan is a pioneer in earthquake warning technology. When a magnitude 9 earthquake hit in 2011, the warning system halted trains and students took shelter under desks. Richard Allen, the director of the UC Berkeley Seismological Laboratory, which is working on Shake Alert, points to the example of Oki Electric Industry, a chip manufacturer that lost $15 million in damage from two earthquakes in 2003. After linking up its factories to an early warning system that automatically isolated dangerous chemicals and shut down robots, two similar quakes caused only $200,000 in damage.

Last fall, California Governor Jerry Brown signed a law to turn Shake Alert into a statewide program, but the project has received only $10 million of the $80 million it needs in new sensors and infrastructure. After this weekend’s earthquake, those funds may be easier to find.

Mike Mozart / JeepersMedia

More than 1,000 US businesses have been infected with a malicious program that targets point-of-sale systems and steals credit- and debit-card data, the US government warned over the weekend.

The malware, dubbed "Backoff" after a term used in its code, began spreading as early as October 2013 and has typically escaped notice by antivirus defenses. The US Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT), the Secret Service, and the National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center (NCCIC) initially published an analysis of the malware in late July, but the groups updated their advisory on Friday with the estimated business impacted.

"Over the past year, the Secret Service has responded to network intrusions at numerous businesses throughout the United States that have been impacted by the 'Backoff' malware," the advisory stated. "Seven PoS system providers/vendors have confirmed that they have had multiple clients affected. Reporting continues on additional compromised locations, involving private sector entities of all sizes."

“We don’t yet understand why women with Lyme disease have consistently positive vaginal secretions, whilst semen samples are more variable. Obviously there is more work to be done here.”

Dr. Stricker pointed to the unknown risks of contracting Lyme disease raised by the study. “There is always some risk of getting Lyme disease from a tickbite in the woods,” he said. “But there may be a bigger risk of getting Lyme disease in the bedroom.”

Reference: The Journal of Investigative Medicine 2014;62:280-281.

\Presented at the Western Regional Meeting of the American Federation for Medical Research, Carmel, CA, January 25, 2014. http://afmr.org/Western/.

Additional information: officemanager@usmamed.com

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Marvel’s editorial staff knew they were heading for trouble when they hired Milo Manara. There’s no way they’re so out of touch that they thought that hiring a guy known for his extremely NSFW illustration style was a good move at a time when the company is actively trying to expand its female readership, right?

Well, maybe they are. Because they did.

Manara’s Spider-Woman #1 variant cover (“But it’s just a variant!,” cry the horny, unwashed masses) was released online last Monday, featuring our heroine crouched in a position best described as a child’s depiction of a “butt lady.” The cover immediately sparked heated online criticism, with Salon saying it looked “more like a colonoscopy than a costume” and io9 quipping that Spider-Woman’s position “is known in the animal kingdom as ‘presenting’.”

Issue writer Dennis Hopeless has distanced himself from Manara’s illustration ...

Last year Dave Chappelle headlined Funny Or Die’s Oddball Comedy Tour, during which he had a notably disastrous set in the city of Hartford, Connecticut. Barraged by hecklers yelling out “Rick James” and other clever Chappelle’s Show references, Chappelle left the stage after a terse 10 minutes. The next stop in Chicago saw Chappelle ravage Hartford, wishing that a nuclear bomb be dropped on the city by North Korea, and continually lambasting the “young, white alcoholics” that had derailed his set days earlier.

This past weekend, the Oddball tour made a return trip to Hartford—and surprisingly, so did Chappelle, where he took the opportunity to apologize to the city he’d wished such ill will upon just a year ago. Saying he’d regretted his behavior almost immediately, Chappelle explained how the anxiety that carried over to his Chicago date was just like a mousetrap in a ...

Prince will release not one but two new studio albums this fall. Both will hit stores Sept. 30, and while the first, Art Official Age, is a solo LP, Plectrumelectrum is a collaborative effort between the Purple One and his new band, 3rdEyeGirl.

Both albums are available now via ArtOfficialAge.com, with early purchasers gaining access to “instant grat” tracks. One of those, “The Breakdown,” is streaming below.

Prince’s last proper solo LP was 20Ten, released in (you guessed it) 2010 as an exclusive for readers of the UK’s Daily Mail and Daily Record newspapers.

I would think that you, who spend so much time pointing out the flaws and problematic areas in other people’s work, would be able to take one silly comic directed at your work and other likes it.

Normally I wouldn’t respond to this kind of thing publicly, but I’ll make an exception since you called me a shit.

Submitted by: (via The Punning Man)

Cruise ships have had a rough go of it lately, but today Royal Caribbean is finally debuting some remarkable technology on its long-teased ship — a little less "poop ship" and a little more science fiction. It's called "Quantum of the Seas," and is a remarkably high-tech vessel. Sure, some of the changes are just keeping up with the hospitality times, like online check-in and RFID luggage tracking. But then you walk aboard the 167,800-ton ship, sit down in the Bionic Bar, place an order on the Windows tablet built specially for the ship, watch a robot bartender mix your drink, and realize you're somewhere a little different than your average hotel.

You can play Xbox Live while you sit in a SeaPod in the SeaPlex (yes, these are all real things), thanks to the ship's apparently broadband-level internet. And in Two70, the huge showroom on the ship, there are six "Roboscreens" that show performances during every cruise, and on Vistarama you'll see huge projections of anything you can think of. There's also a "multidimensional performance spectacle" called Starwater. I don't know what that is. It all sounds a little like a scene out of Wall-E, the all-technology-everything world we fear and desire simultaneously. It sounds pretty wild.

Every room has USB charging ports (hey, it's the little things), and an 80-inch "virtual balcony" that lets you see the view even if you don't have one. The crew has tablets and apps specifically designed for this ship, and even the ship itself is designed to more efficiently use power and lighting. Basically, "Quantum of the Seas" takes the nerd cruise to an entirely new level for the 4,180 passengers at any given time.

The new ship debuts in November, sailing mostly in China, and the second Quantum-class Royal Carribbean ship is coming next year. Maybe the cruise industry is due for a reboot.

Here's the gist: the Twelfth Doctor, still in the throes of regeneration, accidentally got his TARDIS (read: time machine) stuck in the throat of a dinosaur, wherein they both traveled to the middle of Victorian-era London. While the Doctor recuperates (with the help of his confused companion Clara and the odd trio of reptilian detective Vastra, her human wife Jenny, and their bumbling servant Strax), the dinosaur is lit on fire to cover up the misgivings of Actual Episode Baddie, a misguided pilot who's seeking body parts to repair both his ship and his crew — all in the hopes of reaching "The Promised Land."

There's always something bizarre happening, and through sheer cleverness, lots of running, and (when all else fails) a sonic screwdriver, the Doctor and friends persevere. More importantly, this episode resets the interpersonal dynamic between The Doctor and everyone else in his life, so let's look at that.

1. The Doctor and his "friends." Showrunner Steven Moffat, who also co-created the new Sherlock, has long been criticized for not writing strong female roles. I think, however, Vox's Todd VanDerWerff described it best as "more a problem with his writing of characters who aren't the Doctor." That seems to have not changed here. The Doctor has always been somewhat curt with strangers, but for the past few seasons he's had a few recurring friends in the form of Vastra, Jenny, and Strax. Away from the Doctor, Vastra and Jenny get a few small chances to have more nuanced performances, specifically about their own relationship (although Vastra was given a number of grating one-liners, e.g., "[I stopped wearing a veil] when you stopped seeing it").

Around the Doctor, however, the three (plus Clara) devolve into a sounding board, openly belittled for not asking "the right question" (e.g. the not-obvious one) about a dinosaur that was set on fire (that would be, by the way, "Have there been any similar murders?"). The Doctor has, at various times in his various incarnations, looked down on those around him. That much hasn't changed.

2. The Doctor and his companion. Here is where I hope we see a lot change from seasons past. After running off in his pajamas to solve the dinosaur-on-fire mystery (which, again, was done by a former spaceship pilot-turned-robot collecting spare parts to repair his ship and crew), Clara eventually meets up with The Doctor at a restaurant full of robots pretending to eat dinner. (How her and The Doctor both got there, via an enigmatic message in a newspaper that no one will own up to writing, is part of the larger, likely season-long story arc.) It's the first time we really see Clara talk to the Doctor as he is now, versus pining over last year's younger-looking model. The banter here is more one of friendship, not entirely dissimilar to the Tenth Doctor (David Tennant) and companion Donna Noble (Catherine Tate). Gone is the sexual tension, replaced by something closer to her talking bluntly to an aloof friend. The script goes out of its way to harp on the difference, a goodbye to the flirtatious Doctor of old.

Later in the episode, we see one final moment with Matt Smith's Eleventh Doctor, via a phone call from the past to Clara in the present. It feels more than anything like fan service, but if it closes the thread on the companion being lovelorn for the Doctor, I'm all for it. There are still issues with Clara as a character, the so-called "Impossible Girl" who has traveled so long with the Doctor yet still seems surprised and confused about everything, but her relationship with him is at least in a better place.

3. The Doctor and his enemies. The Doctors of the modern era — Eccleston's Nine and Tennant's Ten, especially — have all harped on nonviolence, still wracked with guilt from their perceived actions in the so-called Time War that ended off-screen just before the show's revival. Yet all Doctors have also at times killed their enemies to varying degrees of guilt. When the new Doctor confronts the episode's antagonist (in a restaurant floating over London by way of a hot air balloon made out of skin), he claims that it's not in his "basic programming" to murder (much like it's not in the robot's "basic programming" to self-destruct). But then he also says one of them is clearly lying.

It's intentionally vague how the robot inevitably died — if he tripped and fell out of the makeshift airship or if the Doctor pushed him — but it almost doesn't matter: this is a Doctor that's much more cognizant of what he's capable of. "I'm the Doctor," he later says, "I've lived for over 2,000 years, and not all of them were good. I've made many mistakes, and it's about time I did something about that." Matt Smith's prior incarnation was labeled "the man who forgets," and Capaldi seems to be portraying him as someone trying to make up for those years of denial.

4. The Doctor and his showrunner. The final scene of note is the closing teaser, the hint at a larger mystery that ties into the android pilot, the "Promised Land," and probably the newspaper message that brought Clara and the Doctor (back) together. This is less about the Doctor and more about the meta relationship between the writer and the audience. Under Moffat, the past several seasons have tried to balance monster-of-the-week episodes with unifying season-long story arcs, with their success largely judged by how cleanly they tie up in the end (frankly, it's hit-or-miss there). So it's yet to be seen if Missy, who calls the Doctor her "boyfriend" and seems to provide an actual "promised land," will pay off in a satisfying way.

As far as the episode goes, "Deep Breath" is kind of all over the place in terms of story, but as an introduction to Capaldi, it works very well.

Ross

Usually a changing of the guard marks a good time for someone to pick up Doctor Who. In the modern era of the show, we've had three other Doctors — two that had a clean start (new companion, new showrunner, new everything) and one that carried with him the relics of the previous (David Tennant's Tenth Doctor). Capaldi's Doctor falls into the latter category, and it's the difference between feeling like a season premiere and a series premiere — which is to say, I wonder how people who are using this moment to start watching Doctor Who must think about the show. It kind of glosses over some key points (Victorian London is totally cool about a talking humanoid lizard) and assumes a lot of the audience, or at least it asks a lot of patience from the newcomers.

But okay, let's talk about it from the perspective of a Doctor Who fan. I'm excited for Peter Capaldi. It's hard to judge his character from the premiere — after all, he spent most of the time running in pajamas trying to find himself. But one scene I think is telling is when he's standing over the dinosaur shooting down everyone for asking the "wrong question." Clever but with a purpose — somewhat more serious, more prone to showing emotional baggage. I'm optimistic.

But then came one line that I openly groaned at. He immediately jumps in the water. Clara worries he'll drown. Vastra notes that he won't drown because he's on a case. How does conviction stop someone from taking in too much water. One longstanding critique of Moffat is that he sets up beautiful worlds for the Doctor to play in, and everyone else (male, female, and Strax) is a mechanical plot device in that world. I'll admit, I've never been a big fan of Clara, who has felt more "damsel in distress" than any of the more modern companions even when she is talking back to the Doctor. But that's something I'd have said last season, as well; the only new variable really is Capaldi, and that's looking great.

So yeah, hijinks, callbacks to earlier Moffat episodes (here: 2006's "The Girl in the Fireplace"), and hints of a larger mystery that'll loom over the full season. But most importantly, answer me this: what the hell was with that Looney Tunes sound effect when Vastra made the Doctor fall asleep?

Kwame

I've got nothing for you about the Looney Tunes sound effects, except that it kind of fit with the madcap tone in the early half of the premiere. But talk about throwing the audience right into the thick of it. This season opener is definitely doing some heavy lifting with its proper Twelfth Doctor introduction. The themes of "Who is this new Doctor?" and "He's ancient, even if his face is different" are ideas that hang over the entire plot all the way through to the big reveal at the end, and I think Moffat creates an interesting tension between the Doctor as a man who has stayed the same in some core way but has still inexorably changed. He's a bit like a broom in that way.

We've been promised that Capaldi's take on the Doctor would be darker and more menacing in this new series, and we saw hints of that. Yes, he spends the better part of the episode ranting, raving, and trying to rediscover forgotten memories (all while dinosaurs and cyborgs are wreaking havoc in London), but when he finally finds himself, Capaldi delivers with an almost palpable gravitas. The man is an excellent actor, and even if it was brief, he's immensely successful at blending weariness, darkness, and a hint of playfulness in a single scene. I have no doubt we'll see more of that going forward.

Clara, on the other hand, was left a bit on the back foot, I felt. Jenna Coleman definitely crackles when giving a speech and cracking wise, and she and Capaldi have some solid chemistry going on. Still, the character, more than ever really holding her own, seems to just actively throw herself into situations she needs rescue from. Which is a shame. Also, as necessary as it was, I wasn't terribly interested in her frustrated feelings for the Eleventh Doctor and her grappling with this change. I get it just as much as the narrative wants me to, but there are bigger fish to fry here.

And yeah. Of course Madame Vastra and Jenny are wonderful. You almost want them to get their own spin-off.

All told, I thought the episode was a little all over the place but mostly a successful introduction to this new status quo. I'm intrigued about this grimmer but less self-assured Doctor, and what new things he's discover about himself. As he says, this is a face he's seen before, but he doesn't know how he's seen it. We need answers!

Ross

Haha, the thick of it. Clever (intentional or otherwise).

I love Vastra and Jenny, but I do worry most of Vastra's lines were just clever for clever's sakes (rather than driving along the plot, e.g., "[I stopped wearing a veil] when you stopped seeing it"). Also, for all their screen time, I hope they play a huge role this season — if not, why did we spend so much time on them? Like you said, it felt all over the place. (Speaking of screen time, the whole will-he-or-won't-he-return for Clara is just silly... we know he'll be back or there's no show, give us something more interesting.)

In defense of Clara, her frustrations over the Eleventh needed to be addressed — arguably the choice of Capaldi was about moving away from the flirtatiousness of the last two Doctors and their companions. Whether she needed a phone call from Eleven to move forward is debatable (I'm not reading into that as anything more than fan service). What matters more is how the two move forward together. Will he be some odd kind of father figure? Will they be bickering friends (like Tennant and Donna Noble) who scorn even the thought of sexual tension?

Something I forgot to mention earlier: the Doctor and the android. One isn't capable of suicide. The other isn't capable of murder (it's not in their respective "basic programming"). Someone is lying. We never see who, but I'm gonna err on the side of the character that will be starring in all future episodes (and has, to be sure, killed many people in the name of nonviolence).

In terms of other "new Doctor" episodes, it's no fish-fingers-and-custard... but it sets up what it needs to. Episode two, when we'll get a better gauge of the rest of the season.

Kwame

Totally not intentional! I definitely need to see it, I've heard good things. (Thanks Hulu.)

The scene with the android was crucial, and I'm definitely inclined to think the Doctor is not above murder when the cause calls for it. That knowing stare in the aftermath broke the fourth wall perfectly, especially after you sensed the admittedly inexplicable fear in the machine's voice. (Or maybe that was just me?) It also leads perfectly into the new Big Bad and her probably-twisted-in-some-way vision of paradise that's sure to rear its head in future stories. Why keep a murderous cyborg around if not to use him in some dark plot?

Matt Smith's cameo was almost certainly fan service, but I'm also a little unsure about how to read it. Does Eleventh Doctor saying his reincarnated self is afraid of what's ahead undermine the character? Or does it add a more human depth to him? I'm not sure yet, but the Twelfth Doctor does seem a lot more unsure of himself than past ones. I'm genuinely interested to see where the new series takes him. So that's a definite sign of success here.

And I'm definitely hoping for a relationship that's more like what the Tenth Doctor had with Donna Noble. Let them be best mates and grow through their companionship. But that's not up to us, I guess.