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Sweet Potato Dolls by Brendyll Meatland

Conrad Milster is the chief engineer at the Pratt Institute, which means he's in charge of the 19th-century steam engines that provide the school's heat and hot water. Dustin Cohen made this lovely short film about Conrad, an oddball who fits right into his life.

On the topic of New York, Conrad says, "It sucks, but it's the Big Apple!" (via acl)

Tags: Conrad Milster   Dustin Cohen   NYC   video

Read these thoughtful guidelines from GLAAD, and just try not to be an asshole about it. Read the rest

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His way of life is being threatened from all sides. The women who once brought him coffee and washed his underwear are telling him to go to hell.

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Mad Max: Fury Road makes fools of the mens' rights activists who saw earlier entires in the series as a glorification of powerful men. After all, they're wrong about that, too, as perfectly explained by Tina Turner, above.

Turns out, if you take Junkie XL's soundtrack to Mad Max: Fury Road and pair it with a train chase scene from Buster Keaton's silent film masterpiece The General, it works pretty well.

Tags: Buster Keaton   Junkie XL   Mad Max   movies   music   remix   The General

It’s hard to know whether the indictment of a bunch of FIFA officials by the U.S. Justice Department on Wednesday will be the first step toward a less corrupt FIFA — or the beginning of its end. On Thursday, Michel Platini, president of the European football federation UEFA, said its 54 countries might quit FIFA if Sepp Blatter is re-elected as FIFA president. Indeed, since FIFA inexplicably awarded the 2022 World Cup to Qatar, some of the world’s most well-off footballing nations have considered going rogue.

Other organizations, including the presidents of the African and Asian football federations, have publicly backed FIFA and Blatter since the indictments. But the UEFA threat is potentially a credible one. The European countries and a handful of others — Brazil, Mexico, United States, Japan and China — have a lot of economic leverage over soccer’s future. They’re disproportionately responsible for bringing revenues into FIFA, while FIFA’s current organizational structure, which gives Bahrain as much voting power as Brazil and distributes development funds about equally by country instead of in proportion to population or GDP, doesn’t give them much back.

FIFA claims to make about 90 percent of its money by selling licensing rights to its quadrennial men’s World Cup, the plurality of which comes through television licensing fees. There isn’t a lot of reliable reporting on exactly what networks around the world pay to televise the World Cup.⁹ However, we can come to some reasonable estimates of how lucrative each country’s TV market is.

Following the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, FIFA published detailed data on how wide an audience the World Cup reached on television in different countries. (FIFA has yet to report this data for the 2014 World Cup.) FIFA’s data is quite comprehensive, listing the size of TV audiences for more than 170 countries.¹⁰ All I’m going to do is take FIFA’s estimate of television viewers¹¹ in each country and weight it by that country’s per-capita, purchasing-power GDP.¹² This reflects that, for better or worse, a viewer in a country with high disposable income is more valuable to sponsors than one from a developing nation, making the wealthier nation’s TV rights more lucrative.

The 2010 World Cup reached more viewers in China than anywhere else, according to FIFA’s data. When viewers are weighted by GDP, however, the United States comes out slightly on top. Although the U.S. had slightly below-average World Cup viewership relative to its population,¹³ its large, wealthy population was enough to make up for that. In total, it represented 11 percent of the GDP-weighted audience for the 2010 World Cup, followed by Japan (9 percent), China (7 percent), Germany (6 percent), Brazil (5 percent), and the United Kingdom, Italy and France (4 percent each). Those eight countries alone accounted for more than half of the GDP-weighted World Cup audience. (You can see these figures for all countries that represented at least 0.5 percent of the GDP-weighted audience in the table below, or download them for all countries at GitHub.)

			IN 2010, SHARE OF …
	COUNTRY	BODY	GLOBAL POPULATION	WORLD CUP TV AUDIENCE	GDP-WEIGHTED AUDIENCE
1	U.S.	CONCACAF	4.5%	4.3%	11.3%
2	Japan	AFC	1.9	4.9	9.1
3	China	AFC	19.5	14.8	7.3
4	Germany	UEFA	1.2	2.9	6.3
5	Brazil	CONMEBOL	2.8	7.1	5.4
6	U.K.	UEFA	0.9	2.1	4.2
7	Italy	UEFA	0.9	2.1	4.0
8	France	UEFA	0.9	2.0	4.0
9	Russia	UEFA	2.1	3.1	3.5
10	Spain	UEFA	0.7	1.8	3.1
11	South Korea	AFC	0.7	1.8	3.0
12	Indonesia	AFC	3.5	6.7	2.9
13	Mexico	CONCACAF	1.7	3.2	2.6
14	Turkey	UEFA	1.1	2.3	2.0
15	Thailand	AFC	1.0	2.4	1.6
16	Argentina	CONMEBOL	0.6	1.5	1.6
17	Netherlands	UEFA	0.2	0.6	1.5
18	Poland	UEFA	0.6	1.2	1.3
19	Saudi Arabia	AFC	0.4	0.5	1.2
20	Taiwan	AFC	0.3	0.5	1.0
21	Canada	CONCACAF	0.5	0.5	1.0
22	Colombia	CONMEBOL	0.7	1.6	0.9
23	Venezuela	CONMEBOL	0.4	1.0	0.9
24	South Africa	CAF	0.7	1.3	0.8
25	Malaysia	AFC	0.4	0.7	0.7
26	Switzerland	UEFA	0.1	0.3	0.7
27	Nigeria	CAF	2.3	2.6	0.7
28	Belgium	UEFA	0.2	0.3	0.7
29	Sweden	UEFA	0.1	0.3	0.7
30	Vietnam	AFC	1.3	2.6	0.6
31	Iran	AFC	1.1	0.7	0.6
32	Chile	CONMEBOL	0.3	0.6	0.6
33	Romania	UEFA	0.3	0.7	0.6
34	Austria	UEFA	0.1	0.3	0.6
35	Singapore	AFC	0.1	0.2	0.6
36	Australia	AFC	0.3	0.3	0.5
37	Greece	UEFA	0.2	0.3	0.5
38	Portugal	UEFA	0.2	0.4	0.5

We can also aggregate these numbers by each of FIFA’s six continental confederations and compare them to the share of FIFA members each confederation has. In 2010, African countries represented about 25 percent of FIFA members but (even though the World Cup was played in Africa) only about 3 percent of the tournament’s GDP-weighted TV audience. By contrast, Asia and South America are underrepresented in FIFA. So is UEFA if you measure it by its GDP-weighted TV audience, although not if you measure it by population.

You can argue, of course, that it isn’t a bad thing for FIFA to give more representation to developing countries. I’d have a few counterarguments to make. First, it doesn’t square with FIFA’s decision to give the 2022 World Cup to Qatar, which has the world’s highest per-capita GDP by some estimates. And second, as my colleague Carl Bialik wrote this week, FIFA’s governing procedures happen to suit the interests of the plutocrats who run it very well.

And in some ways, these estimates make favorable assumptions for developing countries. Purchasing-power parity (PPP) GDP, the version I’ve used here, shows less stark wealth differences than GDP based on official exchange rates.

Furthermore, these figures reflect viewership for the World Cup, as opposed to club football, where a few countries are even more responsible for bringing an audience to the game and cultivating the world’s soccer talent. Of the 736 players on the roster for the 2014 World Cup, 563 (or 76 percent) played their club football in a UEFA country. Relations between the European club teams and FIFA are already tense, in part because a winter World Cup in Qatar would require interrupting the club season. (FIFA compensates the clubs for releasing their players for international matches, which they are not required to do.)

So how many countries would need to defect from FIFA to break it? UEFA represents 39 percent of the GDP-weighted World Cup audience; that’s a start. But it also includes some countries whose interests don’t always align. Russia, in particular, is extremely unlikely to break from FIFA, having been awarded the 2018 World Cup (Russian President Vladimir Putin responded to the indictments by accusing the U.S. of trying to derail Blatter’s re-election). And having European nations only would mean there couldn’t be a transcontinental competition to rival the World Cup.

But what if you used the 34 OECD members as the foundation of a new football federation? The OECD doesn’t include Russia but does have most of the large European economies, including Germany, the U.K., France, Italy and Spain. It also has the United States and a foothold in the Asia-Pacific region (Japan, South Korea, Australia) and Latin America (Mexico, Chile). These OECD members account for more than 60 percent of the GDP-weighted World Cup audience and about 80 percent of the club-team representation in the 2014 World Cup.

Convince Brazil and Argentina to join the breakaway foundation, and you’re doing even better. You’d be up to almost 70 percent of the GDP-weighted World Cup audience, and you’d have 11 of the 16 countries that advanced to the knockout stage of last year’s World Cup. You’d have more than reached critical mass, and you’d probably have your pick of whichever other countries — Colombia, Nigeria, New Zealand — wanted to flee FIFA.

It probably won’t happen; it’s probably just a bluff. But there are some parallels to the formation of the English Premier League, which occurred in 1992 when teams from England’s First Division resigned en masse from the then-104-year-old Football League to take advantage of a favorable TV deal. In the end, the change was relatively seamless from the fan’s point of view¹⁴ and meant a new period of prosperity for English club football. Institutional power is hard to break, but sometimes money can motivate change.

Shuttered storefronts. Abandoned retail locations. Small businesses that fall like the House of Cards & Curiosities on Eighth Avenue. These are the signs of urban blight we usually associate with economic downturns or poor, forgotten neighborhoods. But these shuttered storefronts are in one of America's wealthiest neighborhoods; NYC's West Village. As The New Yorker's Tim Wu explains, some urban blight emerges when economic times are too good and rents get too high. And we're not just talking about mom and pop here. Even Starbucks is closing some Manhattan locations due to rent hikes.

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Tags: cities   economics   NYC   Starbucks   Tim Wu

Federal regulators hope to bridge a yawning gap in Internet adoption by expanding a subsidy program for poor Americans that for years has helped millions connect to basic telephone service.

Tom Wheeler, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, will circulate a proposal to his colleagues Thursday that would radically update the 30-year-old aid program, known as Lifeline, according to FCC officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the plan is not yet public.

For the first time, the proposal would allow program participants to apply their discounts to standalone high-speed Internet service. Although Lifeline supports broadband when it comes bundled with phone service, it currently does not allow the poor to use the $9.25-a-month subsidy to pay for independent Internet plans.

The amount of the monthly credit will not rise under Wheeler's proposal, an agency official said. Rather, it will focus on expanding choices for low-income consumers so that they aren't limited to buying certain devices or plans. It will also establish a minimum standard for the kind of service available to Lifeline benefit recipients. For instance, the program could require service providers to offer Internet to Lifeline subscribers of at least a certain speed, or voice service with a certain number of minutes. The proposal will also seek to increase the number of telecom and broadband providers that participate in Lifeline.

"As communications technologies and markets evolve, the Lifeline program also has to evolve to remain relevant," said Wheeler in a blog post. "Broadband is key to Lifeline’s future."

The FCC could approve the measure by as early as its next meeting, on June 18. In so doing, Wheeler would be reinforcing his argument that the Internet is as crucial a tool for connectivity and development as phone service was in the 20th century.

[Should the government pay for people's iPhones?]

Ninety-nine percent of the wealthy are connected to the Web in some way, according to the Pew Research Center. But poorer Americans lag far behind. Top FCC officials have argued that greater Internet access would help pull these Americans out of poverty.

"Too many of our citizens are stuck in digital darkness," FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn said in a speech last week, "without the primary tool needed for seamless communications for health care, education, civic participation and professional advancement."

The lack of connectivity among low-income Americans disproportionately affects minorities and children. As many as 5 million U.S. households with kids do not have access to high-speed Internet at home, driving some to seek out WiFi at fast-food joints just so they can complete their homework.

Compared with their wealthier peers, families that make less than $50,000 a year and have kids ages 6-17 are roughly four times as likely to lack high-speed Internet, according to the Pew Research Center.

The agency's Democratic commissioners, such as Clyburn, are likely to welcome Wheeler's proposal. But it will provoke a fight with Republicans on the commission who believe that the fund supporting Lifeline and other FCC subsidy programs has grown too large, too quickly.

"If it's going to balloon the size of the fund, I think the vote will fall along party lines," said Robert McDowell, a former Republican FCC commissioner. But if the overall fund stays the same size, he added, "then there's the potential for a unanimous vote."

The debate is likely to focus on two key issues, analysts say. First will be how Lifeline recipients can apply their discount to broadband. Wheeler's proposal, which was first reported by the New York Times, is expected to offer program participants a choice of either phone service, broadband or "a mix of both."

Another point of contention is who should be responsible for determining participants' eligibility, and how. Telecom companies are required to perform checks to ensure that no Lifeline recipient is benefiting from the program more than once. But this approach places unwelcome burdens on companies, said the FCC, and the system has come under scrutiny amid allegations of waste and fraud in the program.

"The FCC has failed to manage Lifeline efficiently in its current form," said Sen. David Vitter (R-La.), who has sought to end aspects of the program with legislation. "I cannot support any expansion of a program that has so few safeguards in place."

The FCC has in recent years sought to eradicate duplication in Lifeline. In 2012, the agency began a series of reforms which it says has reduced program spending by 24 percent. Wheeler's proposal Thursday weighs whether to appoint a third party that can verify eligibility for Lifeline. Providers of phone service have requested that an independent third party be appointed to manage the process, and Wheeler's proposal is likely to address the issue.

"We look forward to working with the FCC as it evolves this critical program in a manner that is fiscally responsible as well as responsive to Americans’ reliance on mobile solutions," said Scott Bergmann, vice president of regulatory affairs for the wireless industry trade group CTIA.

The coming fight over Lifeline raises inevitable questions over who should help pay for the low-income discounts. The program is funded by fees from telephone companies and consumers. But with the FCC poised to add broadband to the program, it's possible that the agency could ask Internet providers to chip in, too.

For the moment, the FCC has explicitly decided not to do so. The agency is waiting for a formal recommendation on the matter from a bipartisan group of state and federal officials known as the Federal State Joint Board on Universal Service. But on the heels of the FCC's net neutrality rules — which technically open the door to fees for Lifeline and other aid programs — industry advocates fear Internet providers would be required to pay up.

Read more:

Sick of telemarketers and robocalls? The FCC is poised for a crackdown.

How the battle for the future of the Web is shaped by economics

In Kansas City, few poor people, renters sign up for Google Fiber

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28 percent decline

They should have given the franchise to Jan van den Hemel. [via The Verge]

This wonderful collection of late-eighties and early nineties computer animation would do great as a very large series of animated GIFs today.

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This inflatable plane could explore the clouds of Venus.

Since the craft is self-inflated, it would be light enough to stay aloft with little to no energy, but still be maneuverable enough to navigate Venus’s significant atmospheric winds and durable enough to withstand the sulfuric acid in the atmosphere. The VAMP is designed for NASA’s New Frontiers program, which looks for innovative approaches to space exploration. If NASA likes the craft enough to fund it, the VAMP could be exploring the clouds of Venus in just ten years.

The Tumblr Feminist Mad Max combines the feminist charms of the Ryan Gosling “Hey Girl” meme with the feminist charms of Mad Max: Fury Road. Read the rest

Our culture is quick to mock and exploit teenage girls (or pit them against one another), but new forces on the Internet are pushing back Read the rest

“George Miller’s chase scenes are based on the idea that everyone, no matter how powerful, is only a falling rock or stray bullet away from the same grisly death. By the same token, nobody, no matter how powerless, is harmless. Even if you’re part of a warlord’s harem, there’s a reason you’ve managed to outlive almost every other human being on Earth.”

- “Mad Max: Fury Road is the future of pulp” by Adi Robertson for The Verge

Nick Barnes is a football commentator for BBC Radio Newcastle. For each match he does, Barnes dedicates two pages in his notebook for pre-match notes, lineups, player stats, match stats, and dozens of other little tidbits.

Wonderful folk infographics. NBC commentator Arlo White also shared his pre-match notes. Both men say they barely use the notes during the match...by the time the notes are done, they know the stuff. (via @dens)

Tags: Arlo White   design   infoviz   Nick Barnes   soccer   sports

A Tumblog of Greatness “Documenting all male panels, seminars, events, and various other things featuring all male experts.” Read the rest

Hop on a bike and shed your monster. Cute.

This trailer for a female superhero movie is fake. This trailer for a female superhero show is real.

Many more posted to Imgur by Boogerfuker: Read the rest

He says, "I wonder if there's anything else up there."

I thought it was a parody.

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Stock image giant Getty will be offering a $30,000 grant program to users of photo-sharing platform Instagram to “document stories from underrepresented communities around the world.” Instagram has increasingly become a repository for some of the most facsinating visual material out there, with an army of citizen-shutterbugs and artists constantly posting a prolific quantity of images. And Getty, trying to reach out into the new frontiers of where pretty pictures come from these days, is challenging the reach and grasp of these vibrant Instagram communities, by seeing if they can step in where many established photographers cannot.  

“We’ve been thinking very much about our grant programs, and what kind of support we should give to photographers,” Elodie Mailliet Storm, senior director of content partnerships at Getty, told Time magazine. “We wanted to make sure that we reached communities that that are not necessarily being featured in mainstream media, not because their stories are not important but because they don’t have access to mainstream media.”

The grant will be awarded to three Instagrammers, who will each receive $10,000 and mentorship from a veteran Getty staff photographer. Selected applicants will also have their work featured at New York’s Photoville photography festival in September. According to the Washington Post, entrants’ work will be assessed by a panel that will include Kira Pollack, director of photography for Time, as well as a number of documentary photographers like Malin Fezehai, David Guttenfelder, Maggie Steber, and Ramin Talaie, the co-creator of @EverydayIran.

As Time reports, this is just one shot in a salvo of recognition for the platform’s reputation as a source for some of the world’s most interesting imagery:

Fezehai, an Eritrean and Swedish photographer, won a World Press Photo photojournalism award this year for a photo she shot on Instagram. “I know how hard it is to find support for work that might not be in the news,” she tells TIME. “So I think this new award is a wonderful thing, especially for underrepresented communities.”

The competition is using the hashtag #GettyImagesInstagramGrant, and applicants can submit their work for consideration until June 4.

I love Michael Jackson's music and this makes me love it even more.

In 1972 a man using the alias D.B. Cooper highjacked a commercial jet flying out of Portland, Oregon and jumped out with a parachute and $200,000 in cash.

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