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from Bruce
ROBERT SOROKANICH: Neiman Marcus Missed 60,000 Alerts As Hackers Stole Credit Card Info (Gizmodo)
Remember how Neiman Marcus revealed that hackers accessed credit card info for brick-and-mortar store customers? Turns out, during the eight-month period when hackers were snooping around the company's system, they set off nearly 60,000 security alerts. That seems like a lot of pop-ups to casually dismiss.
ROBERT SOROKANICH: "Wheelchair-Bound Woman Walks Again With a 3D Printed Exoskeleton" (Gizmodo)
In 1992, Amanda Boxtel suffered a vicious skiing accident that left her paralyzed from the waist down. Doctors said she would never walk again. This week, she proved them wrong, with the help of the world's first 3D printed exoskeleton that gives her the ability to climb out of her wheelchair and walk once again.
Esther Inglis-Arkell: Why Hipsters are All the Same (io9)
Are you sick of so many bearded, flannel-shirted, thick-rimmed-eyeglass wearers slowing down the lines in your coffee shop before they crowd up your sidewalk as they scoot their way to their artisan butchery class? Are you tired of that quirkily homogeneous mass of humanity? We'll tell you why it exists.
Iain Ellis: "A User's Guide to Parody Religions: Dudeism, Invisible Pink Unicorns, and Americhrist Ltd." (PopMatters)
Plotting exposure, parody seeks to unveil rather than to mask, to offer truths where it finds lies, deceit, or hypocrisy. So why has religion proven particularly prone to this means of comedic put-down?
Leo Benedictus: What are the most popular swearwords on Twitter? (Guardian)
One in every 13 tweets contains a rude word. But what are people's favourites, what time of the day do people swear most - and which ones do women use more than men?
B.T. Doran: 5 Random Coincidences That Invented Modern Pop Culture (Cracked)
The ancient Greeks believed that inspiration came from the Muses, goddesses who came down from Olympus to help common mortals create great works of art. But nowadays we know that creative minds get their ideas from pretty much whatever random shit comes their way.
Frozen - A Musical feat. Disney Princesses (YouTube)
Frozen's Elsa and the Disney Princesses have had enough of being damsels in distress!
Moga: Drowning (Neatorama)
Cartoons.
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is taking care of business.
wrote:
answered:
Who Do You Think Will Win?
2014 Oscars
The Oscars are this coming Sunday, so now's the time to make your predictions of who will win what.
Send your guesses to Marty, by 11pm (est) , Saturday, 1 March, 2014.
Best Picture
"12 Years a Slave"
"American Hustle"
"Captain Phillips"
"Dallas Buyers Club"
"Gravity"
"Her"
"Nebraska"
"Philomena"
"The Wolf of Wall Street"
Actor
Christian Bale: "American Hustle"
Bruce Dern: "Nebraska"
Leonardo DiCaprio: "The Wolf of Wall Street"
Chiwetel Ejiofor: "12 Years a Slave"
Matthew McConaughey: "Dallas Buyers Club"
Actress
Amy Adams: "American Hustle"
Cate Blanchett: "Blue Jasmine"
Sandra Bullock: "Gravity"
Judi Dench: "Philomena"
Meryl Streep: "August: Osage County"
Supporting Actor
Barkhad Abdi: "Captain Phillips"
Bradley Cooper: "American Hustle"
Michael Fassbender: "12 Years a Slave"
Jonah Hill: "The Wolf of Wall Street"
Jared Leto: "Dallas Buyers Club"
Supporting Actress
Sally Hawkins: "Blue Jasmine"
Jennifer Lawrence: "American Hustle"
Lupita Nyong'o: "12 Years a Slave"
Julia Roberts: "August: Osage County"
June Squibb: "Nebraska"
Directing
David O. Russell: "American Hustle"
Alfonso Cuaron: "Gravity"
Alexander Payne: "Nebraska"
Steve McQueen: "12 Years a Slave"
Martin Scorsese: "The Wolf of Wall Street"
Original Song
Alone Yet Not Alone from "Alone Yet Not Alone" - Bruce Broughton and Dennis Spiegel
Happy from "Despicable Me 2" - Pharrell Williams
Let It Go from "Frozen" - Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez
The Moon Song from "Her" - Karen O and Spike Jonze
Ordinary Love from "Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom" - Paul Hewson, Dave Evans, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen
marty's picks:
Best Picture - American Hustle
Actor - Leonard DiCaprio
Actress - Cate Blanchett
Supporting Actor - Jared Leto
Supporting Actress - Lupita Nyong'o
Director - Alfonso Cuaron
Song - Let It Go (Frozen)
~
Marian's Oscar predictions
Picture - Twelve Years a Slave
Actor - Matthew McConaughey
Actress - Cate Blanchett
Supporting Actor - Jared Leto
Supporting Actress - Jennifer Lawrence
Director - Alfonso Cuaron
Original Song - "Let it Go" from Frozen (my grandkids fav)
~
Dale o de Diamondy Springs's Oscar Picks:
Picture - 12 Years A Slave
Actor - Matthew McConaughey
Actress - Cate Blanchett
Supporting Actor - Jared Leto
Supporting Actress - Lupita Nyong'o
Director - Alfonso Cuaron
Original Song - Let It Go (Frozen)
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
JD took the day off.
Visit JD's site - Kitty Litter Music
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny day, foggy night.
Decided it was time to finally invest in a laptop, and saw one advertised at Target.
Got to my local Target within hours of its opening on first day of the sale, but all the advertised laptops were already sold, and I was issued a rain check.
So, after almost 2 months of regularly calling, and even visiting 7 different stores, I still have no laptop.
This past Sunday, the day before the rain check expired, I visited the local store, again, only to be informed that the laptop was a discontinued model and I was shit outta luck.
When I asked why was a rain check issued on discontinued merchandise, I was told it was a courtesy.
So I asked why they considered lying a courtesy. And did they throw in the jerking around and wasting my time as an extended courtesy?
We're now in round 4 of an e-mail exchange.
Well, as much of an exchange as one can expect with form letters.
Why Cable Rates Are So High
Dodger Channel
Tuesday will be a landmark day for the Los Angeles Dodgers because its new cable network -- SportsNet LA -- will debut.
Unfortunately for Dodger fans, so far only Time Warner Cable -- which is partnering with the team on SportsNet LA -- is carrying the channel in this region. None of the other area pay-TV distributors, including DirecTV, Cox, Verizon, Dish and AT&T, are anywhere near a deal to carry the service.
The issue holding up distribution is price. Time Warner Cable agreed to an $8.35-billion, 25-year deal to run SportsNet LA, according to a valuation by the Dodgers and Major League Baseball. The annual fee that Time Warner Cable will pay to the Dodgers starts at $210 million this season and increases dramatically through the life of the contract.
To recoup that, Time Warner Cable has to get other distributors to sign expensive deals to carry SportsNet LA.
"Time Warner Cable has unilaterally decided to pay an unprecedented high price and now wants all of their own customers as well as those of their competitors, none of which who had any say in the matter, to pick up that tab," Dan York, DirecTV's chief content officer, told the Los Angeles Times last week.
Dodger Channel
AOL Shutting Down Dial-In Numbers 777-FILM
Moviefone
After 25 years of providing showtimes and tix over the phone, Moviefone will soon no longer be taking calls.
"Hello, and welcome to Moviefone! The 777-FILM numbers will no longer be in service in the near future," says the current recording at the numbers. Callers are directed to download the Moviefone app for the iPhone or iPad.
Moviefone was founded in 1989 as a dial-up service for checking movie times. The service's smarmy-sounding announcer was famously parodied in an episode of "Seinfeld": Kramer impersonates Moviefone after he starts receiving misdirected calls to his apartment (and after failing to determine one caller's touch-tone selection he blurts out, "Why don't you just tell me the name of the movie you've selected?").
The 777-FILM lines will be shut off sometime this spring, according to a source familiar with the situation. An AOL rep, reached for comment, declined to confirm when the phone lines will be officially terminated. For now, the numbers are still active. Moviefone has operated the toll-free (800) 777-FILM nationwide, as well as numbers in 67 local area codes across the U.S.
Moviefone
Where You're An Adult At 10
Disney World
The cost of going to the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World just got more expensive.
Disney World has raised the one-day ticket price to the Magic Kingdom by $4 so that it now costs $99 before taxes for visitors over age 9.
Single-day tickets for the resort's other parks - Epcot, Disney's Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom - also went up by $4. It now costs $94 to get into those parks for visitors over age 9.
For children under age 10, the cost is $93 to get into the Magic Kingdom and $88 to enter the other parks.
Disney World
Attraction Coming to London in 2015
'Shrek'
Fans of "Shrek" will now be able to visit the green ogre's swamp and fairy tale kingdom as part of a U.K. based attraction.
The upcoming London theme world is the first of six attractions based on the animated film series that will be constructed over the next nine years as part of a deal between producer DreamWorks Animation and Merlin Entertainments, the British operator of visitor attractions such as Madame Tussauds and Legoland.
The attraction will be called Shrek's Far Far Away Adventure and will open in summer 2015, the partners said. Its debut comes just ahead of the film's 15th anniversary and is another example of DreamWorks Animation's push to diversify away from purely releasing feature films and into television, consumer products and other businesses.
The attraction will be located at County Hall where Merlin has a number of attractions such as the London Sea Life Aquarium and the London Dungeon. It will be based on a brand new adventure written by DreamWorks Animation's creative team, and is being structured as an interactive walk-through in which visitors will meet Shrek and his swamp friends, along with characters from other DreamWorks Animation movies such as "Madagascar," "Kung Fu Panda" and "How to Train Your Dragon."
'Shrek'
Wins Lawsuit
Hank Azaria
Hank Azaria can raise up his voice in victory - most likely in a wacky fashion.
Azaria, who provides a number of voices on the animated comedy institution "The Simpsons," has prevailed in a lawsuit brought against "Leap Year" actor Craig Bierko over one of Azaria's characters, sportscaster Jim Brockmire.
Judge Gary Allen Feess granted Azaria's motion for summary judgment in the suit last week, finding that the Brockmire character is copyrighted material owned by Azaria and How to Pictures, Inc.
Azaria filed suit in 2012, asserting that Bierko had falsely claimed ownership of the character, jeopardizing a potential movie deal.
In 2011, Bierko's attorney sent a cease and desist letter to Azaria over the sportscaster character Jim Brockmire (who was featured in a 2010 Funny or Die video), claiming that the character had been created by Bierko.
Hank Azaria
Accused Of Punching Photographer
Sam Worthington
Police say actor Sam Worthington has been arrested in New York City on charges of punching a photographer after the man kicked Worthington's girlfriend in the shin.
The 37-year-old "Avatar" actor was arrested on an assault charge after the confrontation Sunday evening in Greenwich Village.
The Australian actor was released on a desk appearance ticket, with a court date Wednesday. His publicist didn't immediately respond to an inquiry Monday. It's unclear whether he has a lawyer.
The photographer, 37-year-old Sheng Li, was released without bail after his arraignment Monday on misdemeanor assault and harassment charges.
Sam Worthington
Almond Farmers Face Tough Choices
California
With California's agricultural heartland entrenched in drought, almond farmers are letting orchards dry up and in some cases making the tough call to have their trees torn out of the ground, leaving behind empty fields.
In California's Central Valley, Barry Baker is one of many who hired a crew that brought in large rumbling equipment to perform the grim task in a cloud of dust.
Baker, 54, of Baker Farming Company, has decided to remove 20 percent of his trees before they have passed their prime. There's simply not enough water to satisfy all 5,000 acres of almonds, he said. "Hopefully, I don't have to pull out another 20 percent," Baker said, adding that sooner or later neighboring farmers will come to the same conclusion. "They're hoping for the best. I don't think it's going to come."
There are no figures yet available to show an exact number of orchards being removed, but the economic stakes and risks facing growers are clear. Almonds and other nuts are among the most high-value crops in the Central Valley - the biggest producer of such crops in the country. In 2012, California's almond crop had an annual value of $5 billion. This year farmers say the dry conditions are forcing them to make difficult decisions.
California
Midnight Heist
The Big Mango
Thieves armed with heavy machinery and cranes made a daring midnight heist in northern Australia, stealing a 10-metre, seven-tonne mango monument, officials said Monday.
The Big Mango, a towering likeness of the fruit which is abundant in the statue's hometown of Bowen, in Queensland, is one of more than 150 "Big Things" erected as kitschy tourist attractions across Australia.
The famous fruit, which was unveiled in 2002, appeared to have been harvested overnight in an ambitious raid, said Bowen Tourism chairman Paul McLaughlin.
He said e thought it was a joke when he was first informed of the mango's abduction but "I've come out and sure enough the mango has disappeared".
"At the end of the day it's a bloody big mango and I'm sure someone will see it and we'll find it anyway," he told the Brisbane Times.
The Big Mango
Found on Teeth of 1,000-Year-Old Skeletons
'Microbial Pompeii'
A "microbial Pompeii" has been found on the teeth of 1,000-year-old human skeletons. Just as volcanic ash entombed the citizens of the ancient Roman city, dental plaque preserved bacteria and food particles on the skeletons' teeth.
Researchers analyzed dental plaque from skeletons in a medieval cemetery in Germany, and found that the mouths of these aged humans were home to many of the same bacterial invaders that cause gum disease in the mouths of modern humans.
The discovery of these bacteria also revealed clues to the dental hygiene and diets of these centuries-old humans, according to the study detailed today (Feb. 24) in the journal Nature Genetics.
Plaque is a dentist's worst enemy, but it turns out to be a great time capsule for preserving the bacteria (or "microbiome") and bits of food on the teeth of humans long after they die. The sticky bacteria on teeth trapped particles of food and other debris, and over time, the calcium phosphate in saliva - the same mineral found in bones and teeth - caused the plaque to calcify into tartar.
'Microbial Pompeii'
In Memory
Harold Ramis
Comedy actor, director and writer Harold Ramis, best known for his roles in movies such as "Ghostbusters" and "Stripes," died Monday at his suburban Chicago home after a four-year battle with an autoimmune disease, his talent agency said.
Ramis, 69, died early Monday morning of complications from vasculitis, which causes inflammation and damage to blood vessels, said Chris Day, a spokesman at United Talent Agency. Ramis was surrounded by family and friends.
Ramis was a key factor in some of the biggest blockbuster comedies in the 1970s and 1980s.
He co-wrote "Animal House," which starred fellow Second City alum John Belushi. He teamed up with Second City alums Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd on "Ghostbusters," in which Ramis co-starred and helped write.
He also co-wrote and directed "Groundhog Day" and "Caddyshack," and co-wrote "Meatballs" - all of which starred Murray.
More recently, he directed "Analyze This," starring Billy Crystal and Robert DeNiro.
Ramis was born Nov. 21, 1944 in Chicago. He is survived by his wife, Erica Ramis; sons Julian and Daniel; daughter, Violet, and two grandchildren.
Harold Ramis
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