NotesOn Monday, a federal appeals court dismissed organic farmersâ lawsuit against the biotech firm Monsanto Company â but extracted a binding promise from Monsanto that they would not sue farmers whose crops were inadvertently contaminated with their product. Monsanto, which owns the patents to the vast majority of genetically modified staple crops in the U.S., devotes $10 million a year and a staff of 75 specifically to investigate and sue farmers who use their GM technology without paying royalties. To date, they have pursued more than 800 patent infringement cases. Unfurl
NotesYou may never get to drink at the Cantina â but you can still visit some real-life watering holes that celebrate your favorite stories. We've already shown you science-fictional bars we'd like to visit and people whose homes are based on spaceships, but here are real joints that boast a TARDIS, AT-ATs or the Martian landscape.Unfurl
Notes The story of the Sparkle Donkey â or El Burro Esparkalo as he is better known â began as little more than a local anecdote about a humble-yet-noble creature that, in dire times, delivered liquid salvation to many who were in need. But as time passed and word of his strange, lustrous aura and invigorating, ambrosial drink spread, the Sparkle Donkey became a powerful symbol of hope â an iconic and inscrutable totem that resonates to this very day. FeedEmbedUnfurl
NotesIf you've never read any of his books, read one of his books. Then read another. Even the bad ones were good, and the good ones were astonishing.FeedUnfurl
NotesDave asks some great questions about why the people who had power over these networks didn't blow the whistle instead of some anonymous insider having to do it. Here's one possible answer.Unfurl
NotesA new study focusing on low-income women in St. Louis, MO concludes that expanding access to free contraception â just as the health care reform law does through its provision to provide birth control without a co-pay â leads to significantly lower rates of unintended teen pregnancy and abortion. Researchers found that when women werenât prohibited by cost, they chose more effective, long-lasting forms of birth control and experienced many fewer unintended pregnancies as a result. Unfurl
NotesMy bet is that the joke is on us, that there is no great reveal. Bob Benson is a way for the writers to show us how, in the world of Mad Men, the very qualities that define a real go-getting American businessman, here, in this office, with these people, look like vile perversion. To propose that Bob Benson is a spy is, frankly, to dance on Dutch Reaganâs grave. If you suspect Bob, you suspect the backbone of American commerce. If you suspect Bob, you suspect opportunity itself.Unfurl
NotesStarting in 2003 I committed to the idea of creating a luxury apartment in the mall. Over the course of the years to come I systematically coordinated the movement of the core elements that start to define a home. The space in the mall achieved a base-level of comfort, with enough amenities to qualify itself as a livable domestic space. Life from within the mall was committed to the pursuit of normalcy and the purchase of objects and clothing that would help define me an active participant in the great things the mall has to offer. The apartment was a superb space for hosting guests and I only regret that we didnât have a working toilet. I will do my best to share thoughts about its creation and the aftermath with regular writing here.Unfurl
NotesFor 75 years, Finland's expectant mothers have been given a box by the state. It's like a starter kit of clothes, sheets and toys that can even be used as a bed. And some say it helped Finland achieve one of the world's lowest infant mortality rates.Unfurl
NotesAn old blog post about an âunknownâ Monopoly rule has been making its way around the Web the past few days, starting with a piece on BuzzFeed, then spreading to MSN, Yahoo, HuffPo, and a slew of other places. The gist is simple: When landing on a property, youâre allowed to auction it off, with the highest bidder paying the bank, rather than just purchasing it yourself.Unfurl
NotesThis is a game that provokes only existential angst in me through its reflection of endless maintenance within a system. I feel like if Franz Kafka had created a game, this would be exactly his kind of game.Unfurl
NotesREQUIRES PIBOW CASE â this is ONLY a replacement bottom layer. Laser cut from 3mm (1/8âł) acrylic.
The belt is made from 1.5âł nylon webbing (better-equipped hardware, sewing or camping stores will stock this and related fittings), but itâs also perfectly suited to most camera straps if you have a DSLR + Raspberry Pi project in mind. The USB battery pack is an item from the Adafruit shop, held in place with cable ties.FeedUnfurl
NotesTucked neatly between Yahoo! headquarters and Lockheed Martin is a row of unmarked warehouses. To the common passerby, it's nothing more than an office park surrounded by perfectly manicured lawns. But to those who are in on the secret, there's a place full of technology treasures waiting to be unearthed. It's called the Weird Stuff Warehouse, and for more than 27 years it's been providing the Bay Area with a surplus of old and new technology. It's not just a Goodwill for antiquated hardware, thoughâit's also a step back through time. Inside this warehouse, it's an era when RAID controllers were the size of a modern-day sound card and Windows 95 reigned supreme.Unfurl
NotesBut here's something you may not realize (or if you do, it's probably on a subliminal level): There are actually two different types of tabbed box-closure mechanisms out there. One is the kind described above, with a perforated slot. The other format involves two interlocking box flaps that snap together without the need for a perforated slot. You can see the differences between the two designs by looking here.Unfurl
NotesIf you simply remember how to do something, then all you can do is use it the same way over and over, but if you understand how it works, you can reason about it. Once you can reason about something in your mind you can contemplate why it is the way it is, you can apply your entire creative mind to making the most of it, and you can implement and question improvement â you own it intellectually.Unfurl
Notes On this Thanksgiving Day, let me say this: God Bless America the only country on this shitty planet where you still have the freedom to build AKs in defense of Motherland! The only country where a shit shovel can become an awesome weapon of death and destruction.Unfurl
NotesHarvard engineers have a devised a technique for designing and producing intricate microscopic models, called "hierarchical microarchitectures," and the tiny sculptures it produces are nothing short of incredible.Unfurl
NotesOnce upon a time, a boy met a girl. Then a short amount of time later, the boy decided to design and build a ring for the girl, because doing things in the most complicated way possible is just what he does to show the love. This is that story.Unfurl
Notes Add Clippy or his friends to any website for instant nostalgia. Our research shows that people love two things: failed Microsoft technologies and obscure Javascript libraries. Naturally, we decided to combine the two. Unfurl
NotesStealth Nighthawk F-117A is an easy to use XBMC device, with the same soc as the Raspberry PI, that makes it easy for you to run Open Source software that are supported by Raspberry PI, but with a nice, small and fancy design not bigger than your car keys.FeedUnfurl
Notes"With the theme of a full circle return to our electronic roots and equipment, everything seemed right, and like the buzz of something new it brought us back," Skinny Puppy's cEvin Key tells Rolling Stone.Unfurl
NotesA couple months ago I saw an article or video of the worldâs largest game controller and thought to myself âI bet I could make the smallestâ and so I did.FeedEmbedUnfurl
NotesParents are going to ludicrous lengths to take the bumps out of life for their children. However, parental hyperconcern has the net effect of making kids more fragile; that may be why they're breaking down in record numbers.Unfurl
NotesAn MPEG1 decoder sounded like a relatively simple and fun weekend project. While the real world use cases for this are of course a bit limited, I still learned a whole lot about video codecs in the process. The size of the source is just around 15kb gzipped and the performance is quite okay-ish - a 320x240 video easily plays with 30fps on the iPhone5.FeedUnfurl
NotesYahoo Inc. has been quietly trying to find a way out of its struggling Web-search partnership with Microsoft Corp., a person familiar the situation said, but has so far failed in that effort.Unfurl
Notesabstinence-only education programs have a long history of imparting harmful messages that shame youth about their sexuality instead of teaching them the facts they need to safeguard their healthUnfurl
NotesJames Socol is a force of good. He can usually be found getting shit done and pushing forward every day. Iâve worked with James for about four years as his manager. He possesses both sound principles and a wicked work ethic. He was reliable and never said, âthatâs not my job.â Heâs the kind of guy you want on your side.FeedEmbedUnfurl
Notes Never eat breakfast alone again as long as you have the Domo Toaster. This toaster is the quality kitchen appliance that not only resembles the loved Japanese cartoon on the exterior but also makes specialized toasts identical to Domo himself. Unfurl
NotesThis tomato haircut is a work of art by a hairdresser called Hiro who works in a hair salon in Osaka. It seems that this kind of haircuts are very popular among a group of trendy young people who hang out in the Amemura district in Osaka.Unfurl
NotesRetro gaming enthusiasts take note: this joystick is what you need to play any Atari game on the original console. It plugs right into the original console hardware and removes the need to choose the joystick, paddle, or keypad controller separately. You just leave this puppy hooked up and move your hands to the set of controls used on each game.FeedEmbedUnfurl
NotesâLeave me alone during this awkward period of beard growth.â ... âIâm going for a Mumford & Sons look. I want to look like I play the banjo.âUnfurl
NotesTo Creed, the partnership between Taco Bell and Frito-Lay is more than a one-off collaboration. Like Android is to Google or iOS is to Apple, Doritos-based flavors represent a whole new framework for Taco Bell to build on. "It's not just a product; it's now a platform--Nacho Cheese, Cool Ranch, Flamas," Creed beams. "We're going to blow everyone away in the next few years in terms of how big this idea and platform will become."Unfurl
NotesAt Chase Bank, we recognize the value of online bankingâitâs quick, convenient, and available any time you need it. Unfortunately, though, the threats posed by malware and identity theft are very real and all too common nowadays. Thatâs why, when youâre finished with your online banking session, we recommend three simple steps to protect your personal information: log out of your account, close your web browser, and then charter a seafaring vessel to take you 30 miles out into the open ocean and throw your computer overboard.Unfurl
Noteswhen it comes to making a beverage version of a dish that is typically assembled from french fries, gravy, and cheese curds, well, I guess there's only one company you'd think of, right?Unfurl
Notes I came to play Dungeons and Dragons a little later than most and as I look at the prices for the likes of the Playerâs Handbook and Monster ManualâŚI think I know now what the first thing I need to do is when I finally invent that time machine.Unfurl
NotesThe point is, Congressâs decision to lift the sequester was even more self-serving than you probably imagined. After casting their votes on Friday, most members raced to the airport and went home.Unfurl
NotesThe researchers aren't suggesting that high-fructose corn syrup is itself toxic to bees, instead, they say their findings indicate that by eating the replacement food instead of honey, the bees are not being exposed to other chemicals that help the bees fight off toxins, such as those found in pesticides. FeedUnfurl
NotesIn an ironic twist, modified code in the cracked version of the game ensures that pirate's in-game progress is constantly ruined by rampant piracy.FeedEmbedUnfurl
NotesâAt the time, I had been dating a girl for only three weeks and was terrified,â says Joshua Goldshlag (Eve name: Two Step), a 35-year-old CSM member and computer programmer from Massachusetts. âI certainly did not want to mention that I had been elected as an Internet space politician.âUnfurl
NotesThe Pizza Hut for Xbox app makes the chain's entire menu accessible to users, who can then build their own customized pizzas and place orders via Kinect motion controls, voice commands or the controller. Users can link their Xbox and PizzaHut.com accounts and save their order settings to streamline future purchases, as well as view and take advantage of deals at local stores.FeedUnfurl
Notes It may be hard to swallow but the extra effort and hours that you put into your job as a software developer does not usually amount to someone higher up thinking you should run the company. It has been my experience that good producers are more likely to be asked to continue to produce. If they moved you to a higher position and better pay then who would produce the software?FeedUnfurl
NotesIt might appear like gloom and doom (actually, if it doesn't, you're not looking), but really it's a massive opportunity. Again, anyone who uses a news reader can't imagine having to live without one, yet I see the feed ecosystem slowly deteriorating with no replacement in sight. That's the opportunity, in my mind. It's not about simply mimicking Google Reader (which I would never do anyways, as I've never liked it), but about bootstrapping off the system we have today, in order to create a new type of news reader for tomorrow. The future of news readers, so to speak. ;-)FeedUnfurl
NotesOf course thereâs a well known group of people that have made something of an art out of saving disappearing internet data â the Archive Team, headed by computer historian Jason Scott. Unfurl
Sparkle Donkey Tequila
Mad Men recap: Solving the mystery of Bob Benson. - Slate Magazine
The Secret Apartment in the Mall
BBC News - Why Finnish babies sleep in cardboard boxes
Monopoly auction rule: Official? Yes. Smart? No.
JavaScript is Web Assembly Language and that's OK. - Scott Hanselman
Pibow Belt Base for Raspberry Pi by pburgess ÂŤ adafruit industries blog
Make a plug hub for your Macbook - the future needs fixing - sugru
The Weird Stuff Warehouse is where old tech goes to retire | Ars Technica
Cereal Box Design: New Closure | New Republic
Play Misadventure, a FREE online game on JayIsGames
Project Longhaul - KdN - Kokes dot Net
API-CRAFT CONFERENCE
XBMC OS on Stealth Nighthawk F-117A TVDongle | Indiegogo
Ben's Blog Âť ÎźJoypad [+ ..]
A Nation of Wimps | Psychology Today
Ode to James Socol | morgamic.com
Atari Combo Controller has what you need for any cartridge
The Pampered World of Congressional Air Travel - Businessweek
Researchers find high-fructose corn syrup may be tied to worldwide collapse of bee colonies
The Escapist : News : Pirating Game Dev Tycoon Dooms Players to be Ruined By Piracy
Pizza Hut launching Xbox 360 app that lets console owners order pizza from Xbox Live | Polygon
The vanishing personal site â Jeffrey Zeldman Presents The Daily Report
A few thoughts about RSS news readers from someone who thinks about them way more than you probably do - Russell Beattie
