Bone-Figs-N-Harmony

antwizzlesoloco: This applies to my Tumblr.

Sat, 25 May 2013 18:17:31 -0400

antwizzlesoloco:

This applies to my Tumblr.

liberalsarecool: The GOP hates students, loves their debt...

Sat, 25 May 2013 14:53:35 -0400

liberalsarecool:

The GOP hates students, loves their debt payments.

jayparkinsonmd: There’s currently a measles outbreak occurring...

Sat, 25 May 2013 14:43:45 -0400

jayparkinsonmd:

There’s currently a measles outbreak occurring in Williamsburg and Borough Park in Brooklyn. There have been 34 cases, 8 of which were in adults.

Here’a brief history of measles in America. This is what effective vaccines do:

Measles is coming back because of a quack of a doctor in the UK who admitted to publishing blatantly false data for fame and notoriety. He falsely connected autism with the Measles, Mumps, and Rubella vaccine. He’s since admitted it and has been banned for life from practicing medicine in the UK. Rightly so. The body count is up to 1155.

Measles is also coming back because of the anti-science movement (hipsters in Williamsburg?). The anti-vacciners are on par with the Christian Scientists believing that prayer will save your diabetes. If you are not vaccinating your children, you are simply rejecting science and one of the most remarkable inventions of humankind. On the same level as rejecting cars, planes, elevators, etc..

The issue of vaccinating your kids has very little to do with your kids, and everything to do with protecting the health of your community. Vaccinate your kids, and you’re doing your kid, your family, and your community a social favor. Don’t vaccinate your kids, and you are selfishly anti-social putting your kids, yourself, and your community at unnecessary risk of death.

iheartchaos: Saturday morning cartoons: Street FIghter...

Sat, 25 May 2013 10:49:19 -0400

iheartchaos:

Saturday morning cartoons: Street FIghter (USA)

Let’s just go ahead and throw this out then.

BISON!

I can be the best! Not just Ken….MEEEEE!!!

kqedscience: Teen Develops Computer Algorithm to Diagnose...

Sat, 25 May 2013 10:40:09 -0400

kqedscience:

Teen Develops Computer Algorithm to Diagnose Leukemia

“Brittany Wenger isn’t your average high-school senior: She taught the computer how to diagnose leukemia.

The 18-year-old student from Sarasota, Fla. built a custom, cloud-based “artificial neural network” to find patterns in genetic expression profiles to diagnose patients with an aggressive form of cancer called mixed-lineage leukemia (MLL). Simply put, this means Wenger taught the computer how to diagnose leukemia by creating a diagnostic tool for doctors to use.”

angelfire93: Alright, if you’re a consumer and you’re...

Fri, 24 May 2013 22:19:19 -0400

angelfire93:

Alright, if you’re a consumer and you’re considering picking up the new Xbox One console, then please, take a moment to listen to me. Before we begin, no, I am not a fanboy or a hater. I have no console Bias. I have a PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, and a Gaming PC. Each has their pros and cons but now onto business.

DO NOT BUY AN XBOX ONE. Why? See the reasons below:

Xbox Requires an internet connection. Here’s how it works: Every 24 hours your Xbox will try to connect to Microsoft’s servers for verification. If it is unable to connect, sucks to be you. You’re blocked from playing even single player games until it can connect.

Source: http://kotaku.com/xbox-one-does-require-internet-connection-cant-play-o-509164109

Do you like renting games, lending them to a friend, or even borrowing them from a friend? No longer possible. Every Xbox One game you get must be registered to your Xbox live account to be played. After that point it will only work for you. No one else can use it unless they pay a fee. Essentially it works like this. You pick up a used Xbox One game from somewhere or someone, pop it into your console. The system verifies it’s been registered to your account. Uh-oh, it isn’t! In order to play it, you have to pay Microsoft a fee, which is currently slated to be full retail price. Doesn’t matter how scratched up it is or how cheap you got it at gamestop or from a friend. You aren’t just buying the physical copies anymore. You’re paying Microsoft for a LICENSE to be allowed to play that game.

It is worth mentioning Microsoft is exploring ways for you to trade in and resell your used games. This is rumored to mean that you can sell your digital license to play the game (registration) back to microsoft, likely for microsoft points. You can then trade in the game at gamespot for some cash if you like. Either way, as it currently stands, the new owner would still have to pay a fee on top of the price of actually buying the physical copy.

Source: http://www.technobuffalo.com/2013/05/21/xbox-one-fee-for-buying-used-games-full-retail-price/

Is it worth mentioning that Microsoft if shafting Indie Developers as well? Where as on Playstation Network or (whatever the Wii has) Indie Developers can self publish their content easily. Playstation even encourages this. Microsoft however forces these Indie Devs to enter publishing deals with them to be allowed to market their content. You don’t go through them, you don’t get to sell what you developed.

Source: http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/05/22/indie-devs-cant-self-publish-on-xbox-one

I’m not quite done yet! Now, I’m sure you heard a lot about “TV TV TV TV SPORTS TV TV SPORTS SPORTS TV.” Yes, the Xbox is slated to be able to stream live tv, live sports, etc. So let me ask you this. You obviously already have something like cable or DirecTV. Do you really want to shell out hundreds of dollars more and pay a monthly subscription fee to have another television provider? Yes, I said hundreds of dollars, and I don’t mean the cost of the console. To view live TV from the Xbox you are required to purchase ANOTHER separate device for it to work. Why would you even consider shelling out more money for something you already have anyway? Even if you didn’t, DirecTV is cheaper. Or you could even subscribe you Hulu.com and watch live tv on your computer. FOR MUCH CHEAPER. You essentially have to buy another cable box if you don’t have one. And if you do… what do you need the Xbox One for?

Source: http://www.vg247.com/2013/05/21/xbox-one-live-tv-available-in-us-only-at-launch-requires-separate-device/

So far we’ve discovered that the Xbox One is not really a gaming console, at least… not a consumer friendly gaming console. It’s being marketed as an all-in-one home entertainment system. Something to replace all of the other devices in your house. But there are drawbacks even to that. Put on your tin foil hats for this part folks. Take from it what you will, all I’ll say is… possibilities…

The Xbox One’s features will not function unless the Kinect is plugged in and active. This is not an optional piece anymore.

Source: http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/05/21/xbox-one-will-not-function-without-kinect-attached

So imagine your Kinect piece breaks? Tough luck, no more Xbox for you. But you know what’s worse?

Pay attention, because this is important. The Kinect is always watching. Always listening. Even when the system is off.

Yes. One of the ways to turn the system on is to audibly say: “Xbox On” while the system is off. The Kinect, which is always on, hears you and turns it on. Now this might seem like a cool feature, but did you know Microsoft patented a feature that would allow the Kinect’s camera (It’s no longer just a sensor, but a camera) to spy on you for the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America?) While they may not actually do this, it is actually possible for them to do this now. It has a camera, and a microphone. The Kinect is always on. It is ALWAYS listening, ALWAYS watching.

An idea has been tossed around that by using this feature, it will allows game developers and movie produces to set a limited amount of how many people can be allowed to view the entertainment. So as a hypothetical example, you and three friends are watching a movie, which is the maximum allowed. A fourth friend enters the room and the Kinect’s sensor registers the fourth individual. The movie stops and you a prompted to pay a fee so that the extra individual may also view the film. Again, that is NOT currently the case, but these are the ideas currently being tossed around with the system’s current capabilities.

Source for listening: http://www.theverge.com/2013/5/21/4352596/the-xbox-one-is-always-listening

Source of spying: http://www.extremetech.com/gaming/139706-microsofts-new-kinect-patent-goes-big-brother-will-spy-on-you-for-the-mpaa

Now, just two more things and I’ll be done here!

This isn’t really a good or bad thing, but it’s annoying. It also explains how they can prevent you from playing a used game if you didn’t pay their fee. Xbox one no longer plays games off the discs, you HAVE to install them to the hard-drive in order to play them. I believe PS3 also has you do this (on a number of games but not always it seems), except that PS3 isn’t trying to Nickle and Dime you at every corner. It also seems according to this article there is something related to the Online portion at the beginning of this post. The option is there for Developers to require the Xbox to always be online to play their particular game. Well, it seems PC gamers and console gamers have one thing in common now… DRM.

(At least pirates on PC can bypass DRM easily. Not an option for Consoles.)

Source: http://www.theverge.com/2013/5/21/4352314/xbox-one-hard-drive-game-installs

And last but not least, another annoyance… Xbox One will not be compatible with any and all current headsets. Nope, companies will either have to make new headsets altogether specifically for the Xbox One, and they have to adhere to what Microsoft wants. Look forward to price gouging.

Source: http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/05/22/xbox-one-incompatible-with-current-gaming-headsets

Oh, one more thing… If you have an Xbox 360, don’t get rid of it. Why? Well if you want to keep playing your old 360 games you’ll need it. The Xbox One isn’t backwards compatible. At all. Not only that, but President of Microsoft’s Xbox Division Don Mattrick insults the very notion of backwards compatibility! He calls it: “Backwards thinking.”

Source: http://www.theverge.com/2013/5/21/4350662/new-xbox-has-no-backwards-compatibilty

Source of insult: http://www.polygon.com/2013/5/22/4355984/xbox-one-backward-compatibility-backwards-thinking-don-mattrick

That is all I have to say currently folks, and I hope you took the time to read this far. I’ll conclude with the following… please… PLEASE do not buy this console. Paying for this supports greedy and anti-consumer business practices. Speak with your wallet, and pass up the Xbox One. No matter what games it might have that you want, even if they are exclusive. Do the right thing and make a statement. Refuse to be nickle and dimed like this. Refuse to be seen as a mindless consumer who will buy anything tossed to them.

We won’t know much else until after E3, but as it stands now, the PS4 or a decent gaming PC is the best way to go.

If you are willing to do so, please spread this post around. Liking is not even remotely necessary, but do please share it if you agree with and acknowledge what you’ve read here. The more people know, the fewer of them waste their money.

Thank you, kindly.

~Dylan Jordan

(Originally posted on Facebook by one of my friends. He brings up many valid points. Mind you, I haven’t been a fan of Xbox in a long time and I will most likely get a PS4. But this confirms further for me that I won’t be getting an Xbox one any time in the foreseeable future.)

Opening night at Stapleton’s in Raritan.

Fri, 24 May 2013 19:31:28 -0400

Opening night at Stapleton’s in Raritan.

friendlyangryfeminist: useonce-and-destroy-: friendlyangryfeminist: In case it isn’t clear where...

Fri, 24 May 2013 16:16:24 -0400

friendlyangryfeminist:

useonce-and-destroy-:

friendlyangryfeminist:

In case it isn’t clear where I stand on abortion: abortions should be free, safe and available at any point during a pregnancy.

this ^ excluding the at any point part. honestly.

I really meant “any part” and without apologies or interrogating why someone would choose a late-term abortion because: not my body, not my business.

Damn right, Nerys.

Fri, 24 May 2013 16:15:45 -0400

Damn right, Nerys.

"Obamacare got some very good news on Thursday. In 2009, the Congressional Budget Office predicted..."

Fri, 24 May 2013 14:18:48 -0400

“

Obamacare got some very good news on Thursday.

In 2009, the Congressional Budget Office predicted that a medium-level “silver” plan — which covers 70 percent of a beneficiary’s expected health costs — on the California health exchange would cost $5,200 annually. More recently, a report from the consulting firm Milliman predicted it would carry a $450 monthly premium. Yesterday, we got the real numbers. And they’re lower than anyone thought.

…The California exchange will have 13 insurance options, and the heavy competition appears to be driving down prices. The most affordable silver-level plan is charging $276-a-month. The second-most affordable plan is charging $294. And all this is before subsidies. Someone making twice the poverty line, say, will only pay $104-a-month.

Sparer plans are even cheaper. A young person buying the cheapest “bronze”-level plan will pay $172 — and that, again, is before any subsidies.

California is a particularly important test for Obamacare. It’s not just the largest state in the nation. It’s also one of the states most committed to implementing Obamacare effectively. Under Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger — remember how that really happened? — California was the first state to begin building its insurance exchanges. The state’s outreach efforts are unparalleled. Its insurance regulators are working hard to bring in good plans and make sure they’re playing fair. If California can’t make the law work, perhaps no one can. But if California can make the law work, it shows that others can, too.

And perhaps others will. We’re beginning to see competition drive down proposed rates in some exchanges around the country. Remember Maryland, where CareFirst grabbed headlines with a shocking 25 percent proposed increase in rates? More plans have streamed in with lower bids. Kaiser Permanente, for instance, is only increasing its rates next year by 4.3 percent — a modest increase that will make CareFirst’s proposal almost impossible to sustain. My guess is when the exchange actually opens in October, CareFirst will have dropped its price substantially. If they don’t, then Kaiser and others will grab all the market share.

”

- The Washington Post, “Some Very Good News for Obamacare.”

Well, well, well.
(via inothernews)

tastefullyoffensive: [gemmacorrell]

Fri, 24 May 2013 14:14:45 -0400

tastefullyoffensive:

[gemmacorrell]

Photo

Fri, 24 May 2013 14:14:04 -0400

"We [Fraction and his wife, Kelly Sue DeConnick] were pregnant at the time, and while I was out there..."

Fri, 24 May 2013 14:09:11 -0400

“

We [Fraction and his wife, Kelly Sue DeConnick] were pregnant at the time, and while I was out there I started to realize that if I had a daughter, there would come a day when I would have to apologize to her for my profession. I would have to apologize for the way it treats and speaks to women readers, and the way it treats its female characters.

I knew that if we had a daughter, because I know my wife and I know the kind of girl she wants to raise and I know the kind of girl I want to raise, she was going to look at what I did for a living and want to know how the fuck I could stomach it. How could I sell her out like that?” Fraction continued. “That conversation is still coming, and I’m bracing for it in the way that some dads brace for their daughter’s first date or boyfriend. I became acutely aware that I had sort of done that thing that lots of privileged hetero cisgendered white dudes do. ‘I’m cool with women, and that’s enough.’ It’s not enough. It’s embarrassing to say, because we somehow have attached shame to learning and evolving our opinions, culturally, but I became aware that there was a deficiency of and to women in my work, and all I could do at that moment was take care of my side of the street.

”

- Writer Matt Fraction on his role on expanding the profile of female characters in the Marvel Universe. (via goodmanw)

trekgate: Spock and Profanity

Fri, 24 May 2013 08:08:54 -0400

trekgate:

Spock and Profanity

ego-x: 13aden: toxeh: cynicalsleeper: this is the best thing...

Fri, 24 May 2013 08:07:31 -0400

ego-x:

13aden:

toxeh:

cynicalsleeper:

this is the best thing that appeared on my dash today

I’m giggling like an idiot help.

I’m laughing like a total dork right now.

choking on my coffee because SCHMETTERLING hahaha xDD

Release the Krankenwagen!

michaeleisenstein: The Wholesale Meats & Fish console....

Thu, 23 May 2013 19:20:30 -0400

michaeleisenstein:

The Wholesale Meats & Fish console. #LettersToCleo #90s #neve (at East West Recording Studio)

sephirajo: “Do I get stress headaches at work? Yes,...

Thu, 23 May 2013 19:16:20 -0400

sephirajo:

“Do I get stress headaches at work? Yes, definitely. From the moment I get in, it’s “Denise we need this! Denise we need that!” Which is stressful… ‘cause my name is Linda. Denise is the other black woman that works here. By 10am, someone in the copy room makes a joke about Kobe Bryant, and everyone looks at me to make sure it’s ok. And I smile like it’s ok. But really, my head and neck are starting to throb. Then I spend the rest of my afternoon training my interns, and answering their questions, like, “Yes, black people use shampoo”, and, “No, I don’t know any good reggae clubs around here”, and, “Yes, Condoleezza Rice is very articulate, why do you sound so surprised?” And, “No, I can’t tell you where to buy weed!” And that’s when I reach for Excedrin.”

Presented without comment.

it8bit: Pixels In Real Life Created by acefecoo

Thu, 23 May 2013 17:29:12 -0400

it8bit:

Pixels In Real Life

Created by acefecoo

http://Let's Reinvent the 'Don't Be a Slut' School Dress Code

Thu, 23 May 2013 17:27:49 -0400

http://Let's Reinvent the 'Don't Be a Slut' School Dress Code:

robot-heart-politics:

stfueverything:

The classroom is not the beach, young lady. But it’s not a convent, either. So why are administrators and busybody parents so fascinated with teenage girls’ boobs, butts and thighs? We’re sick of adults imposing arbitrary moral standards on female students’ attire for fear they’ll “distract” their fellow classmates. The dress code itself isn’t necessarily the problem; it’s the reasoning behind it.

“Generation Fabulous” blogger Vivienne Wagner/most embarrassing mom of the week recently attended* her 8th grade son’s “Academic Awards Ceremony” (Fancy!) and was so shocked to find “exceptionally bright and disciplined” girls pursuing “hoochie-ism” that she took photos of said teen hoochies and titled them “examples of why I’m glad I don’t have daughters.”

SEXPAND

“Now it should be clearly stated that these must all be absolutely exceptionalyoung women,” she stressed. “Academic awards, after academic awards, after academic awards were claimed by these girls.” Which means…what? That a 14-year-old’s value doesn’t have anything to do with how many inches of thigh she’s showing at graduation?

SEXPAND

Lindy once reminded us that the definition of modesty is historically related to“womanly propriety.” (Blergh.) It’s a gendered term that implies certain behavior is appropriate for virtuous women and certain behavior (tube tops) is not. “The idea that society can tell you how much of your body to reveal or hide implies that your body does not belong to you,” Lindy wrote. Exactly. Parents like Wagner — or, way worse, school administrators — who impose rules mandating how much skin girls are allowed to show based on their personal beliefs regarding good girls vs. slutty mcsluts imply that women are responsible for covering themselves up so as not to tempt men (or, you know, general ruin).

RELATED

Female ‘Purity’ Is Bullshit

Everyone else on earth is as annoyed with “purity” as I am, right? The idea that there are two kinds of women—“good girls” and…Read…

Here are some recent school dress code controversies:

A New Jersey school prohibited girls from wearing strapless dresses to a dance; as a compromise, board members said they would allow single-strap gowns and clear spaghetti straps.Reason? Some parents said they were told that strapless dresses would be too “distracting” for boys.

A Northern California middle school banned girls from wearing tight pants.Reason? They distract boys.

RELATED

Middle School Bans Tight Pants Because They ‘Distract the Boys’

Instead of teaching students to respect each other, a misguided middle school in northern California is telling its girls to no longer wear pants… Read…

A Minnesota high school went one step further and banned girls from wearing tight pants with short tops. Reason?The look can “be highly distracting for other students.”

A Cincinnati high school asked two girls to leave prom for being “inappropriately dressed.” Reason?Appropriate dresses “can have no curvature of the breasts showing.” Too bad for adolescent girls who’ve progressed beyond training bra status!

Of course, not all school administrators who set dress codes are puritanical Scrooges who secretly jerk off to the skimpy tank tops they confiscate on the regular. Teen girls are systematically hypersexualized and objectified and some teachers (we hope) don’t want them to play into that and think they have to wear tight clothes to be admired. But if the purpose is not to hypersexualize or objectify, maybe don’t take photos of their headless bodies, or set arbitrary rules that seem geared towards making teachers feel comfortable rather than ensuring the well-being of teenage girls.

This is pretty basic stuff: teaching teenagers that girls shouldn’t wear certain clothes if they don’t want to distract or tempt boys is just like telling women to avoid dressing like sluts if they want to be raped.

Sexist middle/high school dress codes hold girls responsible for having girly bodyparts. But what does a nonsexist dress code look like? Certain attire isn’t appropriate for school — just like you wouldn’t wear a crop top to court (unless you’re in the Bling Ring) or workout gear to a wedding — but “appropriate” can’t mean “antithesis of whore.” I’m honestly not sure. Any teachers/know-it-alls (we kid, we kid) in the house want to share their thoughts?

*That link is care of my BFF Google cache; Wagner took the original post down a few hours after posting. Maybe the parents of her sons’ classmates weren’t super pleased that she was shit-talking their kids on the internet?

So here are a bunch of girls who have done really well in school, apparently are very smart, talented, and accomplished, and all we can talk about is what they’re wearing? Yeah, nothing wrong with that at all…

choosechoice: Source

Thu, 23 May 2013 09:58:20 -0400

choosechoice:

Source