happygoluckypug:

awwww-cute:

My friend wanted a dog so he went and adopted Hank. He is a little different

Hank is wonderful!

Jimmy Fallon and Christina doing Musical Impressions. This is fantastic.

The results of a major new trial, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, indicate that for children who are at risk of developing a peanut allergy, eating peanuts greatly reduces the chance of an allergy. This is pretty huge news.

All the babies were between 4 and 11 months old when they were enrolled, and all had either an egg allergy, severe eczema, or both-putting them at high risk of a peanut allergy down the road. Indeed, 98 of them were already heading in that direction: They tested positive for mild peanut sensitivity in a skin-prick test. This meant that these babies were already churning out antibodies to the peanut protein. Eating peanuts in the future could set off an allergic reaction.

The team divided the babies into two groups. Half were to avoid eating peanut products until they were 5 years old. The other half received at least 6 grams of peanut protein a week, spread across at least three meals, until they were 5 years old. Bamba was the preferred offering, though picky eaters who rejected it got smooth peanut butter.

Around the 5th birthdays of the trial subjects came the big test. The children consumed a larger peanut portion than they were used to in one sitting, and the results were clear-cut. Among 530 children who had had a negative skin-prick test when they were babies, 14% who avoided peanuts were allergic to them, compared with 2% of those who'd been eating them. In the even higher risk group, the children who were sensitized, 35% of the peanut-avoiders were allergic versus just over 10% of the peanut eaters.

Even if further studies confirm these results, will American parents start feeding their infants peanuts? I don't know...there are lots of similarities to vaccines in play here.

Update: Somewhat related: children in developed countries might be growing up too clean, making them more likely to develop allergies.

The findings are the latest to support the "hygiene hypothesis," a still-evolving proposition that's been gaining momentum in recent years. The hypothesis basically suggests that people in developed countries are growing up way too clean because of a variety of trends, including the use of hand sanitizers and detergents, and spending too little time around animals.

As a result, children don't tend to be exposed to as many bacteria and other microorganisms, and maybe that deprives their immune system of the chance to be trained to recognize microbial friend from foe.

That may make the immune system more likely to misfire and overreact in a way that leads to allergies, eczema and asthma, Hesselmar says.

(thx,paul)

Android Wear is a fantastic system with some great features when used with an Android device. Of course right now, it can only be used with an Android device. While iOS support would be great, the combo of Android and Android Wear makes for some cool functionality that many other smart watches don’t have. But what if you commonly switch between Android and iOS devices, what do you do with your Android Wear smart watch?

Thanks to developer Mohammad Abu-Garbeyyeh, using your Android Wear device with iOS might soon be possible. He has released a video of an iPhone getting a notification and a Moto 360 receiving it. He says that he sideloaded an original APK onto the Moto 360 to connect to the Apple Notification Center Service, which is similar to what the Pebble does.

This means that the Moto 360 and any other Android Wear device can be used with iOS devices without modification or sideloading of the iOS device. Unfortunately, this means that your smart watch becomes a simple notification viewer with no extra functionality, but it’s better than nothing!

The APK has not yet been released, but we’ll be sure to update you if it is. If you switch between devices, this can be useful. Unfortunately if you exclusively use iOS, this still may not be a good reason to buy a Moto 360.

Two LDS missionaries serving in Albuquerque, New Mexico were held captive for three hours last week. “The Spirit really comforted

I've long thought about putting a flamethrower on the front of a car to melt snow and ice before you drive across it. Now I've realized that a flamethrower is impractical, but what about a high-powered microwave emitter?

—Matt Van Opens

Believe it or not, your flamethrower idea is actually the more practical of the two. The flamethrower also has the advantage that, unlike the microwave, it won't interfere with wifi (unless you aim it directly at the router).

I'm writing this article from Boston, which is currently buried under a truly ridiculous amount of snow. We've had more snow in the past 30 days than Anchorage, Alaska usually gets in an entire winter.[1]Meanwhile, Anchorage is on Twitter wondering where their snow went and threatening revenge. Here's a neat visualization of the atmospheric pattern during these polar vortexes. Vortices. Whatever. Our transit system has broken down and our roofs[2]Tolkien prefers rooves. are collapsing. The mayor gave a press conference in which he announced, "I don't know what to say to anybody anymore. Hopefully it will stop eventually."

So snow removal is on all our minds.

But snow is hard to melt. (And we've been trying[3]I love that tweet because it sort of sounds like it comes from an alternate fairy-tale universe where cities farm snow and snow-melters form the base of the economy.) Your microwave idea certainly sounds like it should be more practical than a flamethrower. Microwaves seem clean and efficient; after all, we don't use flamethrowers in our kitchens.

But there's a big problem: Microwaves heat water very well, but they don't really work on ice.

Fortunately, there are other ways to get energy into the ice. In addition to your flamethrower suggestion, you could, for example, use infrared heat lamps or lasers.[4]Pick a frequency where snow has a low albedo; otherwise, the FBI may hunt you down for lasering aircraft. But whatever you use, you'll run into another problem: It takes an awful lot of energy to melt snow.

Melting a gram of snow takes about 335 joules of energy. To put that another way, a 60-watt lightbulb is capable of melting about a pound of snow an hour.

A foot of snow contains roughly the same amount of water as an inch of rain, give or take. Let's assume you've had a decent snowstorm of about a foot[5]For the record, by this standard, Boston has had a "decent snowstorm" every few days for the past month.—meaning an inch worth of water—and that you want to melt a 9-foot-wide swath while driving along at 55 mph.

Luckily, this happens to be one of those happy physics situations where we can just multiply together every number we're looking at, and the answer turns out to be the measurement we want:

\[55\text{ mph}\times1\text{ inch}\times9\text{ feet}\times\text{water density}\times335\tfrac{\text{J}}{\text{gram}}=574\text{ megawatts}\]

Unfortunately, it's not the answer we'd like. The nuclear reactor on an aircraft carrier, for example, produces less than 200 megawatts. To melt snow in front of your car, you'd need three of those.

What about your your original flamethrower idea?

Gasoline may have a phenomenally high energy density, but it's not high enough. No matter how big the tank on your flamethrower was, you'd run out of fuel constantly.

Gas mileage in the US is often measured in "miles per gallon" of gasoline. With your flamethrower guzzling fuel, your mileage would be about 17 feet per gallon.

You might be better off dropping the flamethrower entirely. Instead, take a cue from the rail agencies, who use jet-engine-powered snowblowers to clear train tracks.

In the end, it's easier to just move the snow out of your way.

[First image: Belle from Beauty and the Beast, looking angry.

Second image: Gaston, smirking.

Third image: Belle, rolling her eyes and speaking.]

(919): Learn some fucking English or leave me alone! “Your” is for something that belongs to you, like ‘your herpes’. And “you’re” is a contraction for “you are”, like “you’re not sleeping with me”.

Emma and I decided to make an igloo today. This is as far as we got. http://ift.tt/1Fhn2Fm

LOL! God bless Marina Sirtis. Yeah, that’s basically the reason, and then they have to come up with explanations to justify the limitations of reality :)

-Spenser

Spring http://ift.tt/1MIoyGd

Jed Henry and Dave Bull are the artists behind Ukiyo-e Heroes. Ukiyo-e Heroes takes classic video game characters and reimagines them in the style of traditional Ukiyo-e prints.

Ukiyo (or “Floating World”), which first came about in the Yoshiwara district, described an urban lifestyle of Japan during the Edo-period (1600-1867), and it was in this district where the Ukiyo-e prints originated. Ukiyo-e prints, or “Pictures of the Foating World,” depicted heroes, villains, and monsters, all filled with vibrant colour and creativity, which Japan is still known for today.

Reimagining their favourite characters in the style of Ukiyo-e prints allows Ukiyo-e Heroes to pay homage to Japan and the influence it has had on the video game industry. Continue reading past the break to view the prints in full.

Ukiyo-e Heroes

Renato García was a Puerto Rican boxer who spent much of the last few weeks of his life dressed in a Green Lantern costume. After his passing, his family decided to dress him in the costume one last time and stand him up at the wake as a tribute to how they viewed him as a hero in real life. His sister, Milagros García, told Primera Hora in a translated interview:

He was always very helpful. He was left anyone wanting. Never say no. You beckoned and he was always there. …I was going to a regular funeral for him, but the neighbors and the community had this idea. I know he would have liked it.

It wasn’t just family, but the community who also felt he was a hero.

Lots of mourners, relatives, friends and residents of the village of San José in Río Piedras, wore shirts alluding to the famous character, as a symbol of mourning on the death of Renato, who attributed all attractive qualities and virtues. Neighbors said that when Renato found a Green Lantern costume in the trash can and decided to dress and embody the character, nobody scoffed at him, and were sympathetic when they out found what he did.

See more pictures after the break.

(Primera Hora via Laughing Squid)

As part of 1111′s A-Z of Creatures. H is for Hyena. There are many different species of hyena, but it’s the Spotted Hyena which is recognized for its call which sound like hysterical giggling “hehehehe”

This stunning hand-sewn Legend of Zelda dress is perfect for your next con or even a ren faire. Etsy shop owner Frockasaurus painstakingly recreates this cosplay gown per order with the highest level of care and detail.

“This particular costume is made from 100% cotton, trimmed with crushed gold lamé and gold leatherette. Fully lined in polyester cotton, with 3 layers of net underskirting. Boned bodice, back zip fastening with corset effect lacing over the top. Top stitched in gold thread.”

Check out more beautiful images of the dress after the break…

Product page ($515.38)

Jeff Hunter:

Therefore, please consider changing the App Store 70% / 30% revenue split to a tiered rate, where Apple takes less of the developer’s first revenues. For example, perhaps Apple could take nothing from the first $100K in annual revenue for a developer, and 30% after that. Or maybe Apple could take 10% from the first $100K, 20% from the next $100K, and 30% after that.

This change would be a shot in the arm for Apple’s independent developers, and would allow more people to work full-time on creating software for Apple platforms.

Interesting idea, and I think Hunter is right that this wouldn’t cost Apple much dough. But I think Apple is locked into the simplicity of the 70/30 split.

Noticed this in the forecast. How much less is -0° than +0°? http://ift.tt/1Abg6d2

This is great!

This book will prepare you with a host of updated tools for today’s environment, as well as expanded coverage so you can confidently start using Ubuntu today.As a longstanding bestseller, Ubuntu Linux Toolbox has taught you how to get the most out Ubuntu, the world's most popular Linux distribution. With this anticipated new edition, Christopher Negus returns with a host of new and expanded coverage on tools for managing file systems, ways to connect to networks,techniques for securing Ubuntu systems, and a look at the latest Long Term Support (LTS) release of Ubuntu, all aimed at getting you up and running with Ubuntu Linux quickly.
(...)
Read the rest of Ubuntu Linux Toolbox: A $29.99 Value, FREE For a Limited Time! (61 words)

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