BitWrench

Hurricane Season Trombone Shorty-Hurricane Season: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0x1zzQBeX0 via Kam-Yung Soh Originally shared by Ethan Siegel “In April, we found these storms are suppressed by water vapor in the lower layers of Saturn’s atmosphere. Being heavier than not only hydrogen and helium but also methane, the wet water vapor forms a layer underneath Saturn’s outer exosphere, insulating the inner part of the world. Eventually, the outer layers cool so much that they sink, allowing the inner, wet layers — and storms — to re-emerge.” Every twenty years or so, Saturn develops a tremendous storm, streaking white across its surface and eventually encircling the entire globe, lapping itself. The 2010-2011 storm outdid itself, lasting more than eight months and becoming the largest storm since telescope technology advanced to the point where we could view them. Four years after it ended, we finally figured out the secret to what causes them, and why they only emerge every 20-to-30 ...

Soon To Be A Major Motion Picture Originally shared by John Scalzi So, a bigot who doesn't like me wrote an ebook, of which large stretches of the text are bits whining about me. Alexandria Erin, writing under a pen name, parodized it in her own short ebook entitled "John Scalzi Is Not A Very Popular Author And I Myself Am Quite Popular." People asked me to do an audio version; I said I would if we raised $2,500 for Con or Bust, an organization which funds SFF convention memberships for people of color. We raised $10,000 in 48 hours. Here's the audio.  http://whatever.scalzi.com/2015/08/29/john-scalzi-is-not-a-very-popular-author-and-i-myself-am-quite-popular-the-audiobook-read-by-me-john-scalzi/ http://whatever.scalzi.com/2015/08/29/john-scalzi-is-not-a-very-popular-author-and-i-myself-am-quite-popular-the-audiobook-read-by-me-john-scalzi

Twenty Fifteen Intrepid Tech Pundit, Andy Ihnatko, reports on the joys of CMS twiddling on his CWoB. "Imagine a machine that cures all forms of cancer with just twenty daily treatments. Your doctor tells you how many units of treatment the machine should deliver for your specific diagnosis and stage of treatment. The machine’s keypad only has five buttons: 3, 7, plus, minus, enter. So if he says you need 18 units, you have to work out the math and then key in 7 PLUS 7 PLUS 7 PLUS 3 MINUS ENTER. You would do this, because it’s a machine that will cure your cancer in just 20 treatments. Most pieces of technology do not cure cancer. I’ve seen user interface choices that were so bad that they only possible explanation is that the person who made them was hoping that the TV exec responsible for the cancellation of ‘Firefly’ would use this some day." He has decided he likes this one: https://wordpress.org/themes/twentyfifteen/ Push the button, Frank. http://ihnatko.com/2015/08/25/w...

Non-Native But I apparently speak the local patois like one... Early and frequent exposure, I reckon. http://www.wral.com/five-terms-that-determine-a-true-raleigh-native/14858295/

Signs Everywhere, Signs of the End Times... The Midnight Rider is now a Gluten Free Juicer. No, not that kind... "I will tell you my recipe... a handful of kale, two beets, celery, and ginger root. Now you gotta be careful with the ginger, that stuff will burn ya tongue. Add some herbs like cilantro or parsley, two Granny Smith apples and two carrots for the taste. You don’t want to be drinking just kale juice; it won’t make it past your back teeth." Also, with two little yappy dogs. But, the band is tight, and I'm glad he's still around... http://gardenandgun.com/blog/gregg-allman-back-and-better-ever

Only In Ashvegas Yes, I'm mocking it.  Because Hipster Effing Biscuit. But, I'll probably have to go there. Because Flight of Gravy.  How could you not? http://gardenandgun.com/blog/build-better-chicken-biscuit

Eff UCI Besides all the Barbarella design touches, this may also be the answer to all the recent caravan disasters. Just let the motos be part of the race! I still like my Old School Y-Foil better, though. via Jens Reuterberg http://veryspecialthings.specialized.com/eff-you-see-eye-2/

Dietary Fiber Fiberglass, that is. Apparently two swimmers, a bag of Doritos, a waiter, and a sammich, were not enough for Bruce Shark, yesterday. Must have been hangry. http://m.seattlepi.com/news/article/Surfer-uninjured-after-shark-bites-her-board-off-6473912.php

A Day Of Rest Shalom aleichem, Oliver Sacks. Originally shared by Meg L   The splendid Oliver Sacks is gone. This was his final essay, written a week ago. He was one of the greatest teachers, even in death.  And now, weak, short of breath, my once-firm muscles melted away by cancer, I find my thoughts, increasingly, not on the supernatural or spiritual, but on what is meant by living a good and worthwhile life — achieving a sense of peace within oneself. I find my thoughts drifting to the Sabbath, the day of rest, the seventh day of the week, and perhaps the seventh day of one’s life as well, when one can feel that one’s work is done, and one may, in good conscience, rest. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/16/opinion/sunday/oliver-sacks-sabbath.html?mwrsm=GooglePlus

My Way "My guitar is my canvas. When I play, it’s like a big painting, and I have all these different colors to choose from. Like, I’ve got a little B.B. King color, a little Stevie Ray color, a little Jimi Hendrix, and a little Ritchie Valens, and when I mix them together, that’s what makes me. I’m not afraid to say those guys are my influences and my teachers. I’m not trying to be those guys, but I definitely learn from them every time I hear their music.” Because music, she’s a person in herself, and if you don’t respect her, she’ll beat the crap out of you." Henry Garza https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xvZTg8RhCs

Better With Butter Originally shared by Assia Alexandrova Here is the secret ingredient for good pesto, according to the late Marcella Hazan's husband Victor (shhhhh! it's butter!): "Marcella’s Pesto. The original components ought to be familiar to anyone who has made this rustic sauce. Basil (I clipped the leaves of two different varieties growing in Marcella’s herb garden), a mild olive oil (ours, like pesto itself, comes from Liguria, by way of Gustiamo), garlic (from Washington State, not China), freshly grated pecorino cheese (we use Fulvi’s), and Parmigiano-Reggiano (red cow Parmesan), pine nuts (Tuscan, also from Gustiamo). Is that all there is? No, wait! There is something else in the picture, Vermont Creamery’s cultured butter. Butter in pesto? How could that be? Did Marcella lose her bearings? Every year for the past forty-three, since she first published the recipe for pesto, in 1973, the Defenders of Authenticity have castigated her for the transgression. Most ...

Two Heads Are Better Than One Joni Mitchell-Twisted: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iisYw0epV_Q http://writerthereseoneill.com/2015/08/28/drownding-isnt-a-word-but-im-doing-it-anyway/

The (Un)Chosen One Originally shared by David Brin Ah gerrymandering! Business owners try to remove all voters from business district but they forgot one college student the city council created a special 'business' district. This district would be allowed to vote to create a half cent sales tax to pay for local improvements rather than using property tax increases. There is a special rule that says if no registered voters exist in an area, the property owners are allowed to vote BUT one U of M student registered at her CoMO address. And the county clerk has certified that she is the sole voter allowed in the up coming vote. Now the owners are barred from voting. Will have to raise taxes (if they want those district improvements) and raise them even more to pay off the debt they incurred to finance this deal. http://m.dailykos.com/story/2015/08/27/1415949/-Business-owners-try-to-remove-all-voters-from-business-district-but-they-forgot-one-college-student   This is a familiar th...

BBS Epithetic. http://www.ibtimes.com/who-ali-shukri-amin-virginia-isis-teenager-behind-pro-islamic-state-twitter-sentenced-2073208

Blowing Up The Joint "Employers will no longer be able to shift responsibility for their workers and hide behind loopholes to prevent workers from organizing or engaging in collective bargaining,” Hoffa said. "The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) warned it could “blow up” longstanding business models." http://thehill.com/regulation/labor/252124-obama-administration-issues-controversial-labor-ruling

Emergency! "“For somebody whose dream was going to be a firefighter, their dream was they are going to be rushing into burning buildings, and they get into it, and they’re like, ‘What do you mean I only put out a fire once a month?’ “ said Capt. Niels Tangherlini, a veteran paramedic." "Advances in fire-safe construction, among other things, have contributed to a national shift in fire departments away from fighting infernos and toward responding to medical emergencies." If SF actually will spend $230 M on homeless services, that would be $3.4K per person, per year. Originally shared by Steven Blatt http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/27/us/san-francisco-firefighters-become-unintended-safety-net-for-the-homeless.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur&_r=0

Good Job, Shrub! Expert Level: Dog's Breakfast Chef. Originally shared by MICHAEL STEWART CHUTZPAH http://goo.gl/news/L8qM7

I Wish I Were... An Oscar-Meyer Obelisk... Originally shared by Mattias Adolfsson Cosplay

Engineer Faster. Better. I use and approve of these devices. I got the Aeropress on the advice of Chris Babbie, author of Babbie's Rule of Fifteens: http://coffeegeek.com/forums/coffee/questions/543604 via Rod Uding Originally shared by SolidSmack American Inventor Alan Adler Tells the Stories Behind his Most Famous Inventions... http://buff.ly/1Uhnt9e

Takes A Licking... And Keeps On Ticking... Best use of "Over-Qualified". Originally shared by Kam-Yung Soh Your buddies at the Centre make them tough, John Baez ​. "A Singapore-made device thought to have been destroyed in a rocket explosion last year has been found intact and still operational. Last October, scientists at the Centre for Quantum Technologies (CQT), National University of Singapore, were horrified when the Antares rocket exploded just seconds after take-off from a launch pad in Virginia, in the US. [...] The CQT scientists thought their 300g device, embedded in a Danish satellite called GomX-2 in the rocket, and costing $12,000, had been lost. But they have been told that the satellite was found on a beach near the launch site and returned to GomSpace, the company in Denmark that built it. Assistant Professor Alexander Ling, a CQT principal investigator, told The Straits Times: "Just after the SG50 weekend, our Danish colleagues rebooted the satelli...

Sorry, Charlie... http://money.cnn.com/2015/08/27/news/companies/tuna-settlement/ I Swannee: https://www.tunalawsuit.com/home.aspx

No McMiscegenation http://www.latimes.com/food/dailydish/la-dd-mcdonalds-burger-king-mcwhopper-20150826-story.html#navtype=blogroll

Can You See The Real Me? Doctor? The Who-The Real Me: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7D0AEkyn80 Originally shared by Tim O'Brien

Back To Bleak House Don't be a bawbag... http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2015/aug/25/val-mcdermid-interview-splinter-the-silence-feminism-social-media-trolls

Exemplary Fiction Very short stories composed entirely of example sentences from the New Oxford American Dictionary. A project by Jez Burrows. Originally shared by Robert Rambusch You can look it up http://www.dictionarystories.com/

Triptych Originally shared by Rick Wayne (Author) Three photos, three stories. I would paste it all here except we can't do in-line images. It's a public post, so you should be able to see it even if you don't have an account. Here is the direct link: http://bit.ly/1JvUWXy https://ello.co/rickwayne/post/cRtYIBhhyX1Anc7c4QYtvg

#WordlessWednesday #wordlessonwednesday

Hands Up! The battle between Right Hand and Left Hand Driving will continue into the Far Future. Brace Yourselves... Originally shared by ****

Mooving The Needle Originally shared by Robert Rambusch Special snowflakes - bovine edition "Market tops and market bottoms are fundamentally herd behavior. And while I'm sure that every cow in the herd feels that she is special, just a little bit more insightful than the average cow, collectively they are a bovine mass." -- Megan McArdle http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-08-24/you-can-t-time-the-market

Ineffective Altruism Another example of the lack of Wisdom of Markets... Also, is it just me, or is it ironic that the webpage asks for donations at the end? Originally shared by Will Shetterly https://www.jacobinmag.com/2015/08/peter-singer-charity-effective-altruism/

More Signs of the End Times Belk's is being sold to Yankees... Not that there's anything wrong with that (much)... Another example of third generation business failure... http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/business/article32006829.html

Tell Me Why The Beatles-Tell Me Why: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGrmxlZsxvo Originally shared by Ralf Haring Good show, Financial Times web page developers.  ft.com/404 "Moral Hazard: Showing you this page would only encourage you to want more pages." "Speculative bubble: The page never actually existed and was fundamentally impossible, but everyone bought into it in a frenzy and it's all now ending in tears."

The Long Road Thomas Craven is a good guy, and a strong rider.  I'm happy for his success.  It's his dad's fault that I entered (and won) my first bike race, an early success that was not repeated often afterwards. http://velonews.competitor.com/2015/08/news/cravens-hincapie-racing-squad-on-the-rise_382114 Here's video of Thomas winning the Prologue of the 1989 Tour de Trump: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8_lcdKXINY Another article about his career: http://www.nytimes.com/1992/05/12/sports/cycling-life-on-the-racer-s-edge-survival-an-end-in-itself.html

Kneading Bricks Pickin' 'em up, Layin' 'em down... Originally shared by Alvin Stearns I'm laying bricks.  It's sweaty, stupid work.  I love it.  Make regular rows, don't butt the bricks together, don't make irregular rows.   It's boring work.  God, I love boring work. It makes something lovely, boring work.  You will never consider it, probably.  How your feet just fall upon the surface.  No pain, no wobbling.  The world is made for you, yes? The world is not made for you.  Every ounce of your certainty cost a pound of sweat. You are the crown of creation, and your footfalls go without notice, least of all by you.  Glory in that. I am laying bricks.  Row by row.  I think of my husband's feet falling upon them.  They must line up as perfectly as I can make them line up.  Given my stupidity and the environment--winter will un-do the best of my stupid efforts-it's all a "walk on it now!" moment. I kept dragging him over.  The husband....

IFF Originally shared by Tim O'Brien I always forget; which ear do you wear the earring if you're a robot?

Market Forces As much as I dislike Big Government, it is a lot better than Big Business... Originally shared by Damn interesting On this day in 1934 Gerald MacGuire asked General Smedley Butler to lead a coup d'etat against the US government. http://www.damninteresting.com/the-revenge-of-the-fighting-quaker

The Land of the Good Thief Are you looking for an alternative to the soulless sugar-coated banality of the average family day out? Or just somewhere cheaper? Then this is the place for you—a chaotic new world where you can escape from mindless escapism. Bring the whole family to come and enjoy the latest addition to our chronic leisure surplus—a bemusement park. This event contains adult themes, distressing imagery, extended use of strobe lighting, smoke effects and swearing. The following items are strictly prohibited: knives, spraycans, illegal drugs, and lawyers from the Walt Disney corporation. http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2015/08/dismaland/

Fire On The Mountain Marshall Tucker Band-Fire On The Mountain: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4a40FjB_sM Originally shared by David McKeever Mountain on fire in Tuscon, AZ

Freedom In better societies, one is free to be offensive. However, getting paid to be offensive? Most of us learned, earlier in our careers, that being cranky and controversial could affect one's employment. Still fun as a hobby, however. Professor of Sports Politics, indeed. Originally shared by **** My long-term employer, the University of Warwick, comes off quite well out of this. I don’t know whether anyone kept score, but I may have been the most-complained-about person in that institution. There is no space here to list the many issues and there were many outlets, with New Society and The Daily Telegraph being the most frequent. When I had succeeded in offending people, the various representatives of the university responded properly by saying it was my opinion and that I was entitled to express it while in their employ without their having to approve it in any sense. I certainly wasn’t ostracised. I might have suffered in terms of promotion (I was turned down several times...

Mirthful Marie Originally shared by Grand Comics Database Marie Severin (born August 21, 1929) is an American comic book artist and colorist best known for her work for Marvel Comics and the 1950s' EC Comics. She was inducted into the Will Eisner Comics Hall of Fame in 2001. Her brother John Severin is also an artist who worked for EC and Marvel. Severin was working on Wall Street when her brother John, then an artist for EC Comics, needed a colorist for his work there. Marie Severin's earliest recorded comic-book work is coloring EC Comics' A Moon, a Girl... Romance #9 (Oct. 1949). She would contribute coloring across the company's line, including its war comics and its celebrated but notoriously graphic horror comics, and also worked on the comics' production end, as well as "doing little touch ups and stuff" on the art. When EC ceased publication in the wake of the U.S. Senate hearings on the effects of comic books on children and the establishment of t...

Levittown http://www.capitalcentury.com/1951.html Malvina Reynolds-Little Boxes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_2lGkEU4Xs Originally shared by David McKeever Moving day in the suburbs, 1950s.

Amnesia The Fabulous Thunderbirds-Amnesia: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rj47q3R1hP4 https://plus.google.com/+YonatanZunger/posts/2JBvtJz8fXs

Spinning Wheel What goes up, must come down... Spinning wheel, got to go round Talkin' 'bout your troubles, it's a cryin' sin... You got no money and you, you got no home... Spinning wheel, all alone... Talkin' 'bout your troubles and you, you never learn... Blood, Sweat & Tears-Spinning Wheel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kK62tfoCmuQ via Steven Flaeck  Originally shared by Kate Savage This machine allows anyone to work for minimum wage for as long as they like. Turning the crank on the side releases one penny every 4.97 seconds, for a total of $7.25 per hour. This corresponds to minimum wage for a person in New York. This piece is brilliant on multiple levels, particularly as social commentary. Without a doubt, most people who started operating the machine for fun would quickly grow disheartened and stop when realizing just how little they’re earning by turning this mindless crank. A person would then conceivably realize that this is what nearly two mill...

Pull The String Originally shared by North Carolina Museum of History Fascinating story about what happened when one man returned to the home his father had to abandon in Czechoslovakia during World War II, and what he found hidden in the attic. http://www.littlethings.com/wii-family-attic-treasures/?utm_source=ISM&utm_medium=Facebook&utm_campaign=Fun

Da Dum Da Dum Da Dum Originally shared by Geo. Tirebiter the sfx guy that makes his kid the star of his movie shorts has come up with a new one, James vs the shark. The dad is amazing.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Y5c7YZVScE

Before We Were Wise And Unhappy Originally shared by Dirk Puehl “There are not many persons who know what wonders are opened to them in the stories and visions of their youth; for when as children we listen and dream, we think but half-formed thoughts, and when as men we try to remember, we are dulled and prosaic with the poison of life. But some of us awake in the night with strange phantasms of enchanted hills and gardens, of fountains that sing in the sun, of golden cliffs overhanging murmuring seas, of plains that stretch down to sleeping cities of bronze and stone, and of shadowy companies of heroes that ride caparisoned white horses along the edges of thick forests; and then we know that we have looked back through the ivory gates into that world of wonder which was ours before we were wise and unhappy.“ (H.P. Lovecraft, “Celephais”) #onthisday, 125 years ago, H.P. Lovecraft was born in Providence, R.I. Time for my annual Lovecraft remembrance, as it seems, this time with a repos...

#WordlessWednesday #wordlessonwednesday

I Cut It Twice, and It's Still Too Short! Originally shared by Tim O'Brien

Pump It Up Elvis Costello-Pump It Up: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opIL3Yt0Un8 Originally shared by Jennifer Ouellette Hummingbird tongues are tiny pumps that spring open to draw in nectar http://theconversation.com/hummingbird-tongues-are-tiny-pumps-that-spring-open-to-draw-in-nectar-46167   http://theconversation.com/hummingbird-tongues-are-tiny-pumps-that-spring-open-to-draw-in-nectar-46167

Things Old People Say Get Your Cat Videos amd 50 Shades Of Gray Off My Lawn! We now return to our regularly scheduled programming... Originally shared by **** We are doomed by a culture of mass idiocy, says Mario Vargas Llosa: http://btyw.info/1fp6hAA http://btyw.info/1fp6hAA

Didn't Everybody? Originally shared by Carolyn Curtis (Wenchkin) I wanted to be batgirl when I grew up.  http://yuccaflatsnm.blogspot.com/2012/02/wenchkins-coloring-pages-dia-de-los_14.html

Anomalistic Month Originally shared by G.K. Nelson ARITHMETIC   She is in the closet, counting. Twenty-six. Twenty-seven. "Dammit," she says. He looks up from the newspaper. "What?" "Twenty-seven black dresses." "Twenty-seven black dresses?! Who on earth needs twenty-seven black dresses?" "I do. I need thirty-one." "Thirty-one? For God's sake why?" "For when you die," she says matter-of-factly. "For when I die?" "Yes. I'm going to wear one black dress every day for a month after you die. Then I'll pile them up in the front yard and douse them in charcoal starter and burn them." He chuckles. "Then what?" "Nothing but pink," she declares. "Pink, pink, pink. Pink to spit in the face of whatever took you from me. Pink to let you know, wherever you are, flitting around like a winged idiot with a harp or shoveling coal with a pitchfork, I'm coming to pester you. ...

The Ghost Who Walks Not known, whether the Wagi swear the Oath of the Skull... Originally shared by Ben Towle http://rgfellows.tumblr.com/post/64933901142/so-in-my-art-history-class-today-my-professor

Bless This Mess What do you think about people coming in to take pictures of the store? Like, for Instagram? What do you mean, “Instagram”? It’s an app on your phone that lets you post pictures online for your friends to see. What do their friends care about the books you look at? Look, this guy’s taking a picture right now [he points inside]. I don’t get that. That’s a young person’s thing. But you admit that the store is a novelty. Yeah, it is. A lot of people will miss it. I’ll miss it, too. Do you have any regulars who stuck around for decades? Yeah. What are they like? They’re all right—they get older and then they die. Originally shared by **** John Scioli, Brooklyn's Most Eccentric Book Seller, Explains Why He's Cashing Out: http://btyw.info/1E1ilE6 http://btyw.info/1E1ilE6

Worth The Wait Originally shared by **** On the volunteers at Guilford County Animal Shelter In early November 2004, I launched a campaign in my home. It consisted of me emailing this photo to my husband multiple times a day, hidden behind a link that would say something like: I think our boys need this. What do you think? or  Looks like a good wor...

If It's Broke, Don't Fix It Not a problem for a Ford Red Belly... http://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2015/08/17/432601480/diy-tractor-repair-runs-afoul-of-copyright-law

Rangers Lead The Way https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2015/08/17/history-made-first-female-soldiers-to-graduate-army-ranger-school/

Get In The Groove! Originally shared by Tim O'Brien It's that most wonderful time of the year, again! Did everybody remember to bring their record player to the beach today? BTW: Just 366 more days until the next Bring Your Record Player To The Beach Day!

“It Wasn’t Art, All I Did Was Turn the Tape On.” Legendary Columbia producer, Bob Johnston, dead at 83. Bob Dylan: "Johnston lived on low country barbecue, and he was all charm." Bob Johnston: "My grandmother used to give me a dollar. I'd go to the store down there, and I'd get enough steak for six people. Some potatoes­ whatever we needed, for a dollar, I'd come back with it all. That's what I was raised on. She'd put a pound of lard into a big skillet, and she'd get this pound of steak, put it in flour, put it in there, and when it was as black as that chair, she'd take it out. Then she'd make us red eye gravy. You put white bread in your plate, flour, and ketchup, salt and pepper, in the grease. Mix it all up and a little bit of milk, get it bubbling hot, and pour it on my white bread, then put the black steak on top! Why I wasn't dead 50 years ago, I have no idea! You think McDonald's is bad­ wait ‘til you eat black steak and g...

Long Walk On A Short Pier "Well, they call me 'Semilla Yes, I rode in on a ship of fools I don't know where I came from Neither do you..." Sea Level-Canine Man: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfmAFLzrsdU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfmAFLzrsdU

I Was Afraid... Gloria Gaynor-I Will Survive: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Faf1ch7Q9XE

"Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes?" Originally shared by Ralf Haring "Here’s an example. I told Socrates, in our phone call, that I had read his blog. I assumed that once our conversation was finished he would go online and take down the blog, scrupulously doing what a smart surveiller would do once he realized he was the target rather than targeter — try to scrub the public domain of his existence to inhibit surveillance of him." "Yet the blog stayed up. In fact, he continued posting — once about a blockbuster movie series he disliked, another time about a short story he generally liked. I asked McNeill, the research editor, what she made of this, and she was surprised, too. Although I could not spy on Socrates in the way the NSA spies on its targets, I had done a lot and thought I understood him. In addition to the biographical and financial data I had mined, Socrates and I have an intellectual kinship as writers. After all, editors have killed stories I have wr...

Halal Haggis Originally shared by Kam-Yung Soh Interesting look at how Scottish Muslims have integrated. "WHEN Glasgow Central Mosque was commissioned in the early 1980s, the architect received an important instruction: “Make it Scottish”. [...] Now, facing renovation, it will get more Scottish still: there are plans to remodel it in the style of Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Glasgow’s favourite architect. Inside, people marry in kilts (the hem let down an inch, in keeping with the dress code for Muslim men) to the sound of bagpipes. Halal haggis is sold nearby, and across the River Clyde is the council office where in 2012 a new tartan was launched: blue for the Saltire, green for Islam. The relationship between Scottish nationalism and the Muslim community seems unusually harmonious. Six out of ten Scots believe Muslims are integrated into everyday Scottish life, according to a poll in 2010 by Ipsos Mori. A survey in 2011 by the Scottish government found Muslims in Scotland felt t...

Lovin' Their Elevator... "...they suit the “German penchant for reliability, efficiency and resistance to change. They are like Angela Merkel." Originally shared by Alex Scrivener The 12-year-old German-Serb schoolboy was on a roll, spending several hours one day last week riding the open elevator shaft known as a paternoster, a 19th-century invention that has just been given a stay of execution after campaigners persuaded Germany’s government to reverse a decision to ban its public use. That the doorless lift, which consists of two shafts side by side within which a chain of open cabins descend and ascend continuously on a belt, has narrowly escaped becoming a victim of safety regulations, has everything to do with a deeply felt German affection for what many consider an old-fashioned yet efficient form of transport. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/aug/14/elevator-germans-loopy-revolving-lifts-paternosters https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kTc0J5S4r4&feature=aut...

Destination: /dev/null "An unspecified problem emerged in a computer system that processes flight plans at the Washington Air Route Traffic Control Center in Leesburg, Virginia, forcing the FAA to temporarily halt departures for all planes at the D.C.-area's three major airports, the FAA said." "ZDC controllers handle some of the most complex airspace in the country. From the Carolinas up to New Jersey, including the busy arrival streams from the southeast into the three New York airports and Philadelphia, overflights to and from Boston, and the equally busy traffic flows to Atlanta, there is always something interesting going on at the Washington ARTCC." Stops my mind (or anything else) from wandering: The Beatles-Fixing A Hole: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0I2ZrBuFdQ

Why I Can't Dance Levers and a Ship's Wheel? This explains much... Originally shared by David McKeever 1938

Red Light District

Flushbunkingly Gloriumptious Originally shared by Kam-Yung Soh "Renowned children's author and occasional spy, Roald Dahl spent the last years of his life in a home located in the small English village of Great Missenden, and now his beloved village is home to an attractive museum devoted to his life and works.  [...] Today the museum holds all of Dahl's original manuscripts, as well as his "Idea Books" where he would jot down his nascent creations. In addition to celebrating his writing career, there are also displays covering his service in the RAF. However, the crown jewel of the museum is the recreation of Dahl's purpose built "Writing Hut," complete with the arm chair he had customized to write in." http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-roald-dahl-museum

"Surely We Can Do Better..." Originally shared by Rugger Ducky Whatever your feelings about Chelsea Manning (formerly known as Bradley Manning for those confused), you've should be appalled by this. If she is only getting toothpaste from the prison supply store, chances are it was expired at the time. Who doesn't go through a tube of toothpaste in 2-3 months? Solitary confinement should only be used in extreme situations, and then for very limited times. I broke my rule about reading comments, and for once I'm glad. This commenter (user New Mexico Mark) summed it up perfectly for me: Approved torture degrades a nation As a vet, I understand military discipline. However, like hazing and other forms of "discipline" there is a point where it simply becomes sadistic abuse. In fact, one of the differentiators between legitimate punishment and torture is a clear communication to the convicted of the sentence / punishment, including duration. Studies have show...

Things Go Better With(out) Coke Trey Ratcliff's repost of this can be seen here, with comments: https://plus.google.com/+TreyRatcliff/posts/j9rECLYreMw Interestingly enough, the Atlanta Police Department  chimed in that it wasn't them, but the Georgia World Congress Center Police that busted everyone.  Heh. Protecting and Serving, just as they did in 2009: http://www.stuckincustoms.com/2009/08/09/nearly-getting-arrested-in-downtown-atlanta/ http://www.photoattorney.com/2009/08/photography-not-allowed-32.html Originally shared by Russell Rowe #treyusa   Trey demonstrating how to handle the police breaking up a photo walk and showing off a mighty fine camera bag as he does it.

Takes The Cake http://ohnewsroom.tumblr.com/post/126657513208/reporter-of-weekly-to-editor-ive-got-to-take

Hear The Wind Blow The Foggy Mountain Boys-Down In The Valley: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJFfVB4Gilw

Can You Tell Me How To Get? How to get to Sesame Street? via Ralf Haring Originally shared by Allen Varney "Sesame Street was founded to help low-income kids keep up with their more affluent peers. That is literally why it exists. It succeeded beyond anyone’s expectations. And now it is becoming the property of a premium cable network; a program launched to help poor kids keep up with rich kids is now being paywalled so rich kids can watch it before poor kids can. "That in itself is not a tragedy or an injustice. Tragedy is the devastating funding cuts Head Start has suffered in recent years, affecting tens of thousands of young children. Injustice is the nationwide lack of subsidized high-quality child care and universal pre-K. In this context, relocating Sesame Street to the gated community of HBO -- even if that community's gates swing wide at nine-month intervals -- is only to be expected. There could be no more cruelly perfect metaphor for the ultra-efficient sorti...

Louisiana In Watts Walter Mosley talks about storytelling, and his connections to the South, and Louisiana: "I’m not saying that you have to be a reader to save your soul in the modern world. I’m saying it helps." http://www.npr.org/2015/08/13/432036048/he-grew-up-in-la-but-walter-mosleys-writing-is-soaked-in-the-south Socrates Fortlow is one of my favorite characters. http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/08/09/books/review/walter-mosley-on-louisiana-literature.html?referrer

Expiration Data Can you imagine if every inane conversation you've had over cocktails was archived? Every attempted bon mot? Every AOL ? Every rant on anything, even if you later amended or reversed your opinion? Originally shared by Andreas Schou Obliquely, because this does relate to my day job: Societies often conclude that certain facts about the outside world are constants. The police cannot see through walls. Maintaining social ties is difficult over a certain distance. Strong inferences cannot be made from trails of weak evidence. The past is transient, not permanent. When those putative constants become variables, the whole system surrounding them needs to be renegotiated, and it is not entirely clear where the new barriers -- policy barriers, not technical barriers -- should stand. It is in some ways impossible to recover the full value of the technical impossibilities which propped up large swaths of our culture, but it isn't entirely so.  As people concerned abou...

The Usual "I usually take my coffee with milk and without minor burns, so at this point, my interest cools." Originally shared by Robert Rambusch BE the change you wish to see in asset management http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/aug/12/kitchen-gadgets-review-handpresso-wild-a-coffee-dispensing-bike-pump Photo Credit: Fireproof gloves not included. Photograph: Christian Sinibaldi for the Guardian

Well Done Originally shared by Susanne Ramharter Good Morning Google+  your daily story about art: Last night we had a truly wonderful display of the Perseis meteor showers. Because these showers usually occur around August 10th, which is the Name-day of St. Laurentius, the showers are often referred to as the "Tears of Laurentius".  St. Laurentius was treasurer for the Church of Rome in the 3rd century, under Pope Sixtus II and in the reign of the Emperor Valerian.  In 257, Valerian began a wave of persecution against Christians, including the beheading of Sixtus II. It is still not really clear whether Valerian acted thusly from purely religious motivation - he did believe that it was important to keep up worship of the old Gods. However, financial reasons probably played a role as well. It is said that after the death of Sixtus II, Valerian ordered Laurentius to hand over the treasure of the Church of Rome. Laurentius instead distributed the treasure among the populace an...

Lean Over Here Level up, Cara Evangelista.

#WordlessWednesday #wordlessonwednesday

Life In La La Land When the word comes down from Parker Center, heads roll. Always good to hear from John Backderf... Originally shared by Richard Bensam Even if there was no substantiating evidence for Ted Rall's claims, the haste and enthusiasm with which the LA Times threw him under the bus is a dead giveaway there was more going on here than a question of supposed journalistic ethics.

Authentic Also: https://mobile.twitter.com/GOPTeens/status/630057686063816704 via Chris Galardi Originally shared by Colton James

Toiling At Tiling via Ralf Haring Originally shared by Alex Bellos Elation in tessellation-land. http://www.theguardian.com/science/alexs-adventures-in-numberland/2015/aug/10/attack-on-the-pentagon-results-in-discovery-of-new-mathematical-tile

Speed Bumps The caravan wasn't the problem here... Matt Brammeier was out of control before the turn. But the motos...  I don't think they made very good choices. Different angle, here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wv0rjqfKUZM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRM3bFXlyNk

Baby Elephant Walk Also, this one, from Hatari, with music by Henry Mancini: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yl0cjXDNO0 via Cara Evangelista Originally shared by Thund3rbolt Wild Elephants Walk Through Hotel Lobby to Get to Mango Tree Every year, during the month of November, a small herd of elephants casually stroll through the lobby of the Mfuwe Lodge in Zambia's South Luangwa National Park to reach a wild mango tree. src:  http://www.bushcampcompany.com/elephants_in_reception.php #elephants   #mango   #hotel

Spectrum Analysis Originally shared by Rick Wayne (Author) One of the fun parts of porting my blog to its new home this weekend was rediscovering some old posts I had forgotten, like this one on crayons as a marker of modern history. (also: testing share function.) https://rickwayneauthor.wordpress.com/2014/10/13/holy-crayola-modern-history-in-crayon/

By The Numbers Originally shared by John Scalzi For those of you interested in sales numbers and other nerdery like that, I look into the hardcover-era sales of Lock In and talk about what they might mean for me and for the genre. Feel free to share. http://whatever.scalzi.com/2015/08/10/the-state-of-a-genre-title-2015/ http://whatever.scalzi.com/2015/08/10/the-state-of-a-genre-title-2015

Universal Constant Originally shared by Chris Hallbeck A new comic about a signal. Support me on Patreon! http://www.patreon.com/chrishallbeck

e-SIM City http://www.mondaynote.com/2015/08/09/better-than-the-apple-mvno-fantasy/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+monday-note+(Monday+Note)

A Solution In Search Of A Problem Stop The Carnage Now! http://www.engadget.com/2015/08/09/breathalyzing-bike-lock//?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget&ncid=rss_semi

A/B Testing "The Democrats are the party that says government will make you smarter, taller, richer, and remove the crabgrass on your lawn. The Republicans are the party that says government doesn't work and then they get elected and prove it." P.J. O'Rourke

It's Who You Know... Hey, Let's Put On A Show! Originally shared by G.K. Nelson I may get flak for this, but it sure makes sense to me. http://www.alternet.org/media/lena-dunham-white-privilege-and-myth-anything-possible

Pretend and Extend http://international.sueddeutsche.de/post/125522613465/death-by-debt-my-response-to-the-german-finance

The Charge Of The Lightning Brigade "Something akin to a strobe light begins pulsing atop a small camp of unmarked military vehicles parked far outside a desert city known for its insurgent activities. These flashes gradual lengthen, both temporally and physically, lasting longer and stretching upward into the sky; the clouds above are beginning to thicken, grumbling with quiet rolls of thunder.  Then the lightning strikes begin—but they're unlike any natural lightning you've ever seen. They're more like pops of static electricity—a pulsing halo or toroidal crown of light centered on the caravan of trucks below—and they seem carefully timed. To defensive spotters watching them through binoculars in the city, it's obvious what this means: there must be a team of soldiers underground somewhere, using artificial sferics to navigate. They must be pushing forward relentlessly through the sewers and smuggling tunnels, crawling around the roots of buildings and maneuverin...

Hit The Accelerator If this article is correct, 8 billion was spent against 28,000 cases and 11,000 deaths. Originally shared by Carl Zimmer The new Ebola vaccine results are great news, but the fact remains that vaccine development is a mess. For my column this week for The New York Times​, I talked to some vaccine experts who want to change how things are done.   http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/11/science/for-vaccines-needed-in-an-epidemic-timing-is-everything.html http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/11/science/for-vaccines-needed-in-an-epidemic-timing-is-everything.html

Putting On The Brakes Originally shared by M Sinclair Stevens Women Work: Doctor, Pharmacologist, Director of Scientific Investigations at the FDA Although I had heard quite a bit about the the thalidomide horrors, I never knew who was responsible for saving countless American mothers and their children its effects until yesterday when Dr. Frankie Kelsey died at 101.  "Frances Oldham Kelsey, a medical officer at the Food and Drug Administration in Washington, who raised concerns about thalidomide before its effects were conclusively known. For a critical 19-month period, she fastidiously blocked its approval while drug company officials maligned her as a bureaucratic nitpicker." .... This is why we need strong government protections...because corporations care only about making money. "In Washington, she joined a corps of reform-minded scientists who, although not yet empowered by the 1962 law that required affirmative FDA approval of any new drug, demanded strong eviden...

Before Pay To Play "hearing Fleetwood Mac play to an empty room, seeing John Lennon throw a tantrum over a waitress, serving Janis Joplin drinks the night she died." http://www.chickenonaunicycle.com/Whisky-A-Go-Go%20History.htm

Four On The Floor Ty Templeton weighs in on the new Fantastic Four movie. Originally shared by Will Shetterly The only review you need to read of a movie I'm not going to see. https://tytempletonart.wordpress.com/2015/08/08/four-characters-four-panels-bun-toons-yay/

Stop and Go Originally shared by **** Montgomery, Alabama - Stop 155: The Birthplace of the American Civil Rights Movement People always say that I didn't give up my seat because I was tired, but that isn't true. [...] No, the only tired I was, was tired of giving in.   ~ Rosa Parks, Mother of the Civil Rights Movement, in Rosa Parks: My Story , 1999 Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. ~ Martin Luther King Jr., Where Do We Go from Here : Chaos or Community? ,  1967 From its inception, it was a people's movement. The cumulative effect of individual acts of passive resistance brought about modern democracy's finest hour. Most of those who made the movement weren't the famous; they were the faceless. They weren't the noted; they were the nameless - the marchers with tired feet, the protestors beaten back by billy clubs and fire hoses, the unknown women and men who risked job and home and lif...

It Ain’t Easy Being Cheesy Also, should probably fear the GMA more than the GMO. Originally shared by Dave DeBaeremaeker I found this article to be fascinating. Bit of a random topic tho. http://www.wired.com/2015/08/us-military-helped-invent-cheetos/

Trumpenstein "The Republican party and its allies at Fox, on afternoon radio and in the blogosphere have spent many years now whipping audiences into zombie-style bloodlusts. When it suited them, party insiders told voters across middle America that foreigners were trying to crawl through their windows to take their wives, and that stuffed suits in Washington and in the media were conspiring to enslave their children in Marxist bondage. Now all of that paranoia is backing up on them. They created this monster, and it's coming for them now. Trumpenstein lives. He is loose in the town and on his way to the doctor's castle. We may not be laughing two years from now, but for the time being, man, what a show." Originally shared by Ralf Haring Matt Taibbi on the potential unintended consequences of Republicans trying to single out Trump and bring him down. http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/republican-assault-on-trump-may-only-make-him-stronger-20150807

Open City Kurt Vonnegut: "As I was getting out of the car, one of the ladies patted me on the shoulder in motherly fashion: “I’ll bet you’d like to get over and kill some of them dirty Japs now, wouldn’t you?”" "For all the sublimity of the cause for which we fought, we surely created a Belsen of our own. The method was impersonal, but the result was equally cruel and heartless. That, I am afraid, is a sickening truth." http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20857.htm

On Being A Good Soldier "Killing Japanese didn't bother me very much at that time... I suppose if I had lost the war, I would have been tried as a war criminal.... Every soldier thinks something of the moral aspects of what he is doing. But all war is immoral and if you let that bother you, you're not a good soldier." Curtis LeMay via Ralf Haring Originally shared by John Baez As we remember Hiroshima, let's not forget that the US strategy of mass slaughter of Japanese civilians didn't start there.  70 years ago on March 10th, even more people were killed in the firebombing of Tokyo - a city where most houses were made of paper. 279 planes flew over the city and dropped 1,665 tons of bombs.  Most were 500-pound cluster bombs, each one releasing 38 incendiary bomblets at an altitude of about 2000 feet.  These bomblets punched through the roofs of people's houses or landed on the ground and ignited 3–5 seconds later, throwing out jets of flaming, sticky napa...

The Padded Room Eesh. "If you can't take a joke..." I'm not sure you can be really funny without pissing somebody off. You just have to pick acceptable targets. Like Costco. Originally shared by **** "They wanted comedy that was 100 percent risk-free, comedy that could not trigger or upset or mildly trouble a single student. They wanted comedy so thoroughly scrubbed of barb and aggression that if the most hypersensitive weirdo on campus mistakenly wandered into a performance, the words he would hear would fall on him like a soft rain, producing a gentle chuckle and encouraging him to toddle back to his dorm, tuck himself in, and commence a dreamless sleep—not text Mom and Dad that some monster had upset him with a joke." Via Al Clark​​​ http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/09/thats-not-funny/399335/

Read Between The Lines Sometimes Pen Pals are the Best Pals... Originally shared by **** There are millions of these hidden stories on the Web, stories of how the internet has led to friendships that would never have occurred without it. The common narrative in the media is one of scary tales about people meeting up with online ‘strangers.’ From a connection on a now defunct blogging site to feverish IM chats to a meet up in a pub and finally to a friendship that changed my life – the Web is a wonderful thing. http://thenextweb.com/opinion/2015/08/08/gnu-lucy-glennon/

Confederate Motorcycles In Birmingham, AL. "It's better to be shot out of a cannon than squeezed from a tube." Get one quick... Might be banned, any day now, for being racist... Originally shared by Meg L Haven't lusted over motorcycles in ages but these beauties are quite quite gorgeous. The devil, as they say, is in the detail. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nQqpHdh89A&feature=youtu.be

Make That Funky Movie, White Boy Just Add Bohunk. Roland Emmerich responds: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/roland-emmerich-responds-stonewall-whitewashing-813712 Originally shared by Jens Reuterberg I probably wont watch Stonewall the movie. Not because it's weird to make a feature film from a historic event - that's ok. "Make everything holy profane" etc. But because of the massive whitewashing. Or maybe "penis washing"? Or "gender conformist washing"? Whatever - they've scrubbed history to make it more palatable to the assumed audience who can't deal with reality. Fuck your audience - screw your attempts to cutesy up a riot and squeeze it into some nicely accessible narrative fit for consumption. What pisses me off more though is the fact that the LGBTQ community has slowly slipped away from its past in a similar manner. The Q and the T's has been removed. Anyone who isn't young, fit and into interior decorating has been si...