Tadeu

In many parts of the country, the departments of health require that eating establishments put up posters that instruct you what to do in case someone is choking. The posters are government-issued, but some people are putting up redesigned posters that fit in with restaurant decor. The Sideshow Podcast covers the trend and some of the ridiculous posters to come out of it.

For example, the official poster in New York, designed by New York Times graphics director Steve Duenes, is shown below. It's straightforward and to the point. The guy in the glasses also looks really smart.

Now here's one of Golden Girl Bea Arthur providing the Heimlich maneuver to a choking unicorn, by Jason O'Malley. The text is the same. The illustrations are different.

You know, the look of red fire extinguishers are starting to look a bit old and drab too. Someone should make custom covers for those things so that they don't stand out so much. That way during an emergency we won't get stuck scoffing at interior aesthetics anymore. Boom. Problem solved.

Tags: choking, redesign

darksilenceinsuburbia:

Villa Vals

Architects CMA and SeARCH were focusing on the question if it would be possible to conceal a house in an Alpine slope while still exploiting the wonderful views and allowing light to enter the building when planing the Villa Vals. They decided to build a central patio into the steep incline to create a large facade with considerable potential for window openings. The viewing angle from the building is slightly inclined, giving a dramatic view of the beautiful mountains on the opposite side of the narrow valley.

All images © Iwan Baan

micdotcom:

The cast of ‘Parks and Rec’ & Make-A-Wish made one man’s ultimate dream come true

Meet Joshua. He is surrounded by the cast of the TV series Parks and Recreation — and this is one of the best days of his life. 

Josh suffers from a life-threatening genetic disorder and was granted his wish by the Make-A-Wish Foundation to meet the cast, crew, writers and directors of the show as they filmed segments for the seventh season of the show. 

Amy Poehler even rapped for him | Follow micdotcom 

foxadhd:

Earth is the only planet that has wifi

Some fast food chains have always had secret menus, while others have recently come around to the idea thanks to In-N-Out’s success with their secret menu, which makes customers feel like they've really mastered the art of eating out.

You used to have to search around online for posts detailing the contents of these secret menus, but now there’s a website dedicated to these deluxe dishes, and they're doing their best to gather every secret menu in one place- Hack The Menu.

They've collected 15 menus so far, for places ranging from Jamba Juice to Sonic, and they've even put together a list of healthy secret menu options, in case you're looking for some guilt free drive thru.

-Via DesignTAXI

boesed:

laughinghieroglyphic:

Whoa. The MLA has officially devised a standard format to cite tweets in an academic paper. Sign of the times.

ebooks, Horse. (horse_ebooks). “Leg Butt” 18 Nov 2011, 12:38 PM. Tweet.

Courtney shared this story from Super Opinionated.

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Back to school

The slow descent into madness continues...

theodp (442580) writes With his Big History Project, the NY Times' Andrew Ross Sorkin reports that Bill Gates wants to remake the way history is taught (intro video). Last month, the Univ. of California system announced that a version of the Big History Project course could be counted in place of a more traditional World History class, paving the way for the state's 1,300 high schools to offer it. Still, not everyone's keen on the idea. "Is this Bill Gates's history?" asks NYU's Diane Ravitch. "And should it be labeled 'Bill Gates's History'? Because Bill Gates's history would be very different from somebody else's who wasn't worth $50-60 billion." Of the opposition to Gates, Scott L. Thomas of Claremont Graduate University explains, 'Frankly, in the eyes of the critics, he's really not an expert. He just happens to be a guy that watched a DVD and thought it was a good idea and had a bunch of money to fund it."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

New submitter Maxo-Texas writes One of the primary programmers, Wesley Wolfe (Wolvereness), who contributed over 23,000 lines of code to the Bukkit project (which enhances Minecraft server performance and allows others to write mods and plugins) submitted a DMCA request September 5th, preventing use of his code in the popular Bukkit or Spigot (and numerous other Minecraft plugins, mods, and other open source enhancements that depend on them). This has the effect of freezing all further development for multi-player server Minecraft based on these add-ons until the issue is resolved. The programmer says that Mojang must release the Minecraft server code to the public domain since decompiled, deobfuscated versions of the Java code are included in the Bukkit project before he will withdraw the DMCA. Mojang has never released the real source code and has stated they will not open source the server code to meet the GPL and LGPL licensing requirements. This approach might be a risk for other GPL and LGPL projects out there which are derivative of or enhance non GPL programs or products. Mojang COO Vu Bui writes in a post at the Bukkit forums The official Minecraft Server software that we have made available is not included in CraftBukkit. Therefore there is no obligation for us to provide the original code or any source code to the Minecraft Server, nor any obligation to authorize its use. Our refusal to make available or authorize the use of the original / source code of the Minecraft Server software cannot therefore be considered to give rise to an infringement of any copyright of Wesley, nor any other person. Wesley’s allegations are therefore wholly unfounded.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

[toothpastefordinner]

An anonymous reader writes: Even though 4k displays are just making their way into consumer affordability, manufacturers are already pushing beyond. Dell has previewed a computer monitor it calls a "5k" display. The resolution is 5120x2880, stuffing 14,745,600 pixels on a 27" screen. For comparison, that's more than seven times the amount of pixels in a 1920x1080 display. Pixel density is 218 PPI, roughly the same as a 15" Retina MacBook Pro. ExtremeTech suggests, "As far as we're aware, no one is actually making 5120×2880 panels, especially not at 27 inches diagonal – so what we're probably looking at is two 2560x2880 panels squished together as a 'tiled display.'" Unfortunately, it's pricy, expected to cost around $2,500. But hopefully it will help drive 4k display prices even further toward mainstream availability.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

The jiggles, man. Ryan Matthew Smith filmed Jell-O bouncing in super slow motion and it's weirdly fun to watch. Mostly because anything in slow motion is fun to watch but also because something as alien and flubber-esque and globby looking as Jell-O is just spectacular at bouncing.

Read more...

Last day to get a pluto shirt!

When someone says “beach” you probably think of yellow or white sand, rolling waves, bright sunlight and a beer or fruity cocktail. But beaches come in far more different shapes and colors than some of us might have expected. Here are 17 beaches that, in one way or another, might not be anything like the beaches you’re used to.

One of the most striking differences in many of these beaches are the different sand colors. Sand is generally formed out of whatever the waves happen to be banging against the shore, be they rocks, shells, corals, or glass. Rare green beaches can contain olivine, which is a remnant of volcanic eruptions, and black beaches are also generally formed by volcanic remnants. The pink beaches of Bermuda are colored by coral remnants.

If you have a photo of a unique beach out there that should be on this list, share it with us below this post!

Unique Glass Beach in California

Image credits: unknown

Image credits: digggs

The glass beach near Fort Bragg in California formed after the trash dumped there for years by local residents was pounded into sand by the surf. The dumping was eventually prohibited, but the glass sand remains.

Hidden beach in Marieta, Mexico

Image credits: dailymail.co.uk

Image credits: Miguel Naranjo

This beach in Mexico is said to have formed after the Mexican government used the uninhabited islands for target practice in the 1900s.

Maldives Beach That Looks Like Starry Night Sky

Image credits: Will Ho

Image credits: Will Ho

The lights on this beach in the Maldives are caused by microscopic bioluminescent phytoplankton, which give off light when they are agitated by the surf.

The Beach of the Cathedrals, Ribadeo, Spain

Image credits: imgur.com

The stunning cathedral-like arches and buttresses of this beach in Spain were formed by pounding water over thousands upon thousands years.

Pink Sand Beach, Bahamas

Image credits: greenglobe.travel

Image credits: luxuo.com

The idyllic pink sand of the Bahamas is pigmented by washed-up coral remnants, which are dashed and ground to tiny pieces by the surf.

Extreme Plane Landings at Maho Beach, Saint Martin

Image credits: Benny Zheng

Image credits: Kent Miller

Jokulsarlon, Iceland

Image credits: Manisha Desai

Image credits: D-P Photography

The black volcanic sand on this Icelandic beach contrasts beautifully with the white and glassy chunks of ice.

The Moeraki Boulders (Dragon Eggs) In Koekohe Beach, New Zealand

Image credits: Gerald Guerubin

Image credits: Farkul J

Image credits: arikairflight.blogspot.com

The boulders on this New Zealand beach are concretions – balls of sedimentary rock harder than the sedimentary earth that formed around them, which has long since washed away. These boulders get uncovered and smoothed by pounding waves.

Green Sand In Kourou, French Guiana

Image credits: Arria Belli

Papakōlea Green Sand Beach, Hawaii

Image credits: paradisepin.com

Image credits: Mark Ritter

The green sand on this beach in Hawaii is caused by the mineral olivine, which is formed by lava as it cools in the sea.

Giants Causeway Beach, Ireland

Image credits: Michael

Image credits: Stefan Klopp

The giant’s causeway was formed 50-60 million years ago when basalt lava rose to the surface and cooled, cracking into strange, large columns.

Punaluu Black Sand Beach, Hawaii

Image credits: hawaiitopten.com

Image credits: poco a poco

The black sand on Punaluu is formed by basalt lava, which explodes as it flows into the sea and rapidly cools.

Red Sand Beach, Rabida, Galapagos

Image credits: unknown

Image credits: Robert Peternel

The red sand at Rabida was formed due to the oxidization of iron-rich lava deposits, although it could also be due to washed-up coral sediments.

Shell Beach, Shark Bay, Australia

Image credits: australiascoralcoast.com

The water near Shell Beach in Australia is so saline that the cockle clam has been able to proliferate unchecked by its natural predators. It is this abundance of molluscs that floods the beaches with their shells.

Pfeiffer Purple Sand Beach, California

Image credits: Tom Grubbe | dfmead

Image credits: irene joy

The purple sand at this beach (which is only found in patches) is formed when manganese garnet deposits in the surrounding hills erode into the sea.

Vik Beach, Iceland

Image credits: Stephan Amm

Iceland is a land with a lot of volcanic activity, which is why black volcanic beaches are so common there.

Cave Beach in Algarve, Portugal

Image credits: Bruno Carlos

The Algarve coast consists of limestone, which is easily eroded and can form stunning sea caves like this one.

No, these aren’t light vomiting fish, though you would be forgiven for thinking so because that’s exactly what it looks like. What you’re seeing is the defense mechanism of a tiny crustacean called an ostracod, a shrimp-like organism about 1mm in size that some fish accidentally eat while hunting for plankton. When eaten by a translucent cardinalfish, the ostracod immediately releases a bioluminescent chemical in an attempt to illuminate the fish from the inside, making it immediately identifiable to predators. WHAT. Not wanting to be eaten, the cardinalfish immediately spits out the ostracod, resulting in little underwater fish fireworks. What an incredible game of evolutionary cat and mouse. The clip above is from a new show on BBC Two called Super Senses. If you’re in the UK you can watch it online in HD for a few more days. (via For Science Sake)

snazziest:

Responding to compliments