March 18, 2016
From Assult to Ziel
We hand-picked 30000 last names out of more than half a million, so you could easily find the perfect last name for a character! [more inside]
Real ninjas don’t tell you they’re ninjas.
Get ready, on Monday
One comet to swerve closer to Earth than any other comet in centuries An emerald-green comet will brush the Earth Monday, followed one day later by a kissing cousin that will swerve closer to the planet than any other comet in nearly 250 years.
The first member of the pair, known as comet 252P/LINEAR, is a bright green color from the carbon gas it’s puffing out, says the University of Maryland’s Matthew Knight. 252P will slide past Earth at a distance of roughly 3 million miles. That’s well beyond the moon but near enough to put 252P in the top 10 of closest-approaching comets. [more inside]
100 years ago today, the beginning of the end on WWI's eastern front
"It was an affair that summed up all that was most wrong with the [Russian] army." Largely forgotten by the west, the Battle of Lake Naroch (March-April 1916; Wikipedia) broke the Russian army's will to fight Germans. Eager to help their western allies being slaughtered at Verdun, the tsar's forces attacked a weak spot in the German lines in Belarus. Although the Russian army began with massively greater troop superiority, the offense was a spectacular failure, due to gross strategic and tactical incompetence. The results: awful casualties and no terrain gained. [more inside]
“When a rich man steals, he becomes a minister.”
Brazil in Crisis Brazil is suffering its worst economic crisis in decades. An enormous graft scheme has hobbled the national oil company. The Zika epidemic is causing despair across the northeast. And just before the world heads to Brazil for the Summer Olympics, the government is fighting for survival, with almost every corner of the political system under the cloud of scandal. (SLIntercept)
A Serving of Scores
Love the music from the Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars: Rebels? No? What about from Hell on Wheels or Making A Murderer? Perhaps Jane the Virgin? The composer behind these shows is Kevin Kiner and on his website, he's uploaded selections from his work on the above shows and a few more to listen to for free.
Can I Toast Whole Wheat in That?
From July 2007 to April 2013, Arstechnica writer Jeremy Reimer wrote a series of articles covering the History of the Amiga.
Now almost 3 years later, part 9 has been released. It covers the game changing (pun not intended but this is the Amiga) Video Toaster.
"How audacious."
The British Film Institute has compiled a list of 30 best LGBT films of all time in celebration of the 30th anniversary of their Flare festival. BFI has placed Todd Haynes's Carol at the top spot, forcing Slate to ask, is it really the best LGBT film of all time? [more inside]
Pizza launching unit does not appear on the feature list
Autonomous vehicles have been extolled as the first step in a new driverless future, and now New Zealand and Domino's Pizza are experimenting with robotic, autonomous pizza delivery. Capable of carrying 10 pizzas and with a 20 mile km range, the Domino's Robotic Unit (DRU), described as "cheeky and endearing," was developed with technology from Marathon Robots, who also produce robotic live-fire targets. No word on whether a combination target-shooting/pizza-delivery unit will be forthcoming.
In a fight between nurses and doctors, the nurses are slowly winning
Florida and West Virginia have joined the list of states that allow "advanced practice" nurses to practice what have traditionally been physician-only medical procedures, including prescribing drugs. The changes in West Virginia came about largely via an alliance of the AARP, the Koch-funded Americans for Prosperity, and the liberal West Virginia Citizen Action Group..
Is this Prime?
The Is this prime? game tests you as you sort numbers into prime and non-prime. Click Yes or No or type Y or N on the keyboard. Uses JavaScript. [more inside]
Johnny Ramone's last interview
"He's almost a father figure, or a mentor to me," says Robert Carmine, the twenty-one-year-old singer for Rooney, who one night slipped Johnny a demo tape that Johnny liked. "He never had a kid. The Ramones were his baby that he was obsessed with. When he retired, he needed something else to focus on, and that's his friends and his wife. He's given me a lot of great advice: Play to the back row, not the people in front; get a straight mike stand, not a boom stand; own your section of the stage; watch the money; learn what other people did that was cool. He's turned me on to such great old music, like Eddie Cochran and Gene Vincent.
"He's a much kinder person now than when he was in the band," Carmine continues. "But the thing with Joey is ongoing. We watched the documentary together in his house, and he couldn't stay in the room when they were talking about the Joey stuff. He's still got that pain and anger that he can't quite let go of and become the person he's mostly become."
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Step aside Nutella; there's a new spread in town
As Easter approaches and the thoughts of many turn to chocolate, Mars has usurped news of the Creme Egg crodough by announcing that Twix is now on sale as a spread. Available in Asda (the UK version of Walmart), the press release describes it as a “delicious chocolate and caramel spread with crunchy biscuit pieces” that can be “spread over warm toast or a crumpet, dunked with a breadstick, or topped on a cake or waffle”. Early reviews are cautiously positive. [more inside]
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how you yo-yo with K-Strass
In 2010 Kenny 'K-Strass' Strasser took the morning news airwaves by storm with his Yo-Yo mastery and environmental wisdom! Enjoy 20 minutes of a compilation of clips with the Zim Zam Yo-Yo Man sharing about his life, and .. um .. yo-yo stuff (plus an ad for Yo-Yo Balls). Things didn't go so well for K-Strass, so Eric Stringer, the Garth Brooks of yo-yos, stepped in, but that didn't mean K-Strass was down for the count. He came back in 2012 for a spot on Team Coco Live, but without the yo-yos. [more inside]
Resource Guide to Coming Out as Bisexual
Resource Guide to Coming Out as Bisexual. A PDF pamphlet released by the Human Rights Campaign for Bisexual Health Awareness Month with the cooperation of BiNet USA, the Bisexual Resource Center, and the Bisexual Organizing Project. [more inside]
"He’s not a normal gator. He has never been a normal gator."
A Florida woman (unknown if there is a relation to Florida man) said state officials are making her give up her beloved pet alligator — a gentle giant named Rambo who is potty trained, understands sign language and loves to dress up in costumes — because he’s grown too big.
Too "Joycean". This wasn't meant as a compliment
On the day after the greatest American Irish holiday, take a moment to celebrate the fact that you can finally read the greatest Irish novel in American! Er, . . . . english!
Woman Disappears During Live TV Interview. Aliens Suspected.
Out Here, No One Can Hear You Scream
The dangerous culture of male entitlement and sexual hostility hiding within America's national parks and forests. (slHuffPo/Highline) TW: disturbing stories of assault
The Billion Dollar Spelling Mistake - Digital criminals digital world
Following on from this recent post regarding the Hatton Garden heist with a value thought to be in the region of £35M (~$50M US) comes another Bank heist - this time on an all together much larger scale. Last month hackers thought to have utilised run of the mill script kiddie malware breached weak security controls at the Central Bank of Bangladesh. Multiple transfer requests totalling nearly $1 billion were then sent to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, allowing $81 million to transfer before one of the routing banks Deutsche Bank queried with CBB after noticing a spelling mistake on a fake end party ; Sri Lankan NGO Shalika Fandation not Foundation. Bank Chairman Atiur Rahman has unsurprisingly quit after trying to hide the loss from the Government and Board of Directors until the story leaked to a newspaper in the Philippines.
Sleep warm, Frankie
Francis Wayne "Frank" Sinatra, better known as Frank Sinatra Jr, died March 16th 2016 aged 72 of a heart attack while on tour in Florida. [more inside]
The mighty medieval capital now lost without trace
This is the story of a lost medieval city you’ve probably never heard about. Benin City, originally known as Edo, was once the capital of a pre-colonial African empire located in what is now southern Nigeria.
From the Series : Stories of cities
From the Series : Stories of cities
At this point we had no idea what that meant exactly.
January 2012 I received a call from Disney: The director Byron Howard, writer Jared Bush and production designer Dave Goetz pitched the premise for a movie called "Savage" (which should become "Zootopia" later) to me and I thought it was a genius idea: An animal movie with a twist: Humans have never existed and instead animals have evolved to human capacity and they had created a city built by animals for animals. Matthias Lechner, Art Director Of Environments for Zootopia, shares an extensive collection of concept art for ideas developed and discarded. A fascinating look at the creative process, showing the evolution of surviving concepts and glimpses at worlds that might have been. [more inside]
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