The Weird, Random, and Interesting things that Fit Nowhere Else Thread

[Agiel]

[Bartimaeus]

I've always found it amusing that Poland, whose capital is Warsaw and whom the Warsaw Pact is named after, is now one of NATO's staunchest members.

[Azdeus]

So NASA got sick of all that conspiracy thing and released over 10,000 photos from the Apollo moon mission

 

And it's not going to change their minds, because all of those images "were taken in a studio and are fake". :/

 

I showed my friend the video of one of the astronauts dropping a feather and a hammer on the moon, and she still thought it was fake.

[Raithe]

For those programmers out there...

 

Tor - Apollo 11 Source code is full of easter egg jokes

 

 

We’ve long been bowled over by this iconic photo of software engineer Margaret Hamilton standing beside all of the code that landed us on the Moon, but little did we know what surprises awaited us in the code itself. In the 1960s, lacking the flight software for the Apollo 11 mission, programmers from MIT’s Instrumentation Laboratory had to invent a version of the esoteric assembly programming language (pages and pages of it, as you can tell from the photo). While the code has been available online since 2003—when tech researcher Ron Burkey transcribed every single line—the average software developer wasn’t really aware of it until this past week.

 

On July 7, former NASA intern Chris Garry uploaded all of the software onto GitHub, for programmers to pick through to their hearts’ content. And here’s the fun part: Even though the assembly language was intended to be understood more by computers than by humans, the original programmers left countless jokes, funny asides, ’60s references, and even a Shakespeare quotation in the comments.

 

Consider that the keyboard and display system program, which they nicknamed PINBALL_GAME_BUTTONS_AND_LIGHTS.s in the code, opens by quoting the Bard from Henry VI:

 

LUNAR_LANDING_GUIDANCE_EQUATIONS.s, aside from being what it says on the tin, also includes several irreverent asides, including a note about “crank[ing] the silly thing around” and a Wizard of Oz reference:

 

 

And if you noticed the BURNBABY in the above code, here’s the explanation for why one of the files is named BURN_BABY_BURN–MASTER_IGNITION_ROUTINE.s:

 

 

Maybe we’ll take a page from the Apollo 11 programmers and tag every post going forward with this:

 

Quartz has an awesome deep dive into the code; check it out!

[Raithe]

[Gfted1]

Drones Will Drop Vaccine-Covered M&Ms to Save Ferrets.

[Gfted1]

Drawing Eyes on Cow Butts May Ward Off Hungry Lions.

[Rosbjerg]

So due to a funny clause, Denmark will be presented with the opportunity to buy back the West Indian Islands next year (st Thomas and st. Jan).. 

 

Here's the check America wrote 99 years ago..

 

 

[Gromnir]

am not a cat person, though we do own one that belonged to our sister.

 

http://www.empiricalbrewery.com/cats/

 

https://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20151030/ravenswood/cats-patrol-north-side-brewery-protect-precious-beer-grain-from-rats

 

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-feral-cats-rats-abatement-met-20160407-story.html

 

anyways, is kinda a great solution to twin problems o' chicago's rat problem and what a no-kill shelter does with feral cats... though the birkenstock and patchouli crowd doesn't like feral cats 'cause they kill migratory birds.  can't make everybody happy. 

 

HA! Good Fun!

[Hurlshort]

I have been thinking about getting into brewing myself, might just need to adopt a cat along with the process.  

[Raithe]

Two kids play the Star Wars theme in front of John Williams house....

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ax_KcYR3KTI&feature=youtu.be

[Raithe]

Also, for the utterly random...

 

Hollywood Reporter - Behind Hollywoods closed doors: A-List stars are playing D&D

[Raithe]

[Raithe]

For the memories...

 

[Raithe]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-bnM5SuQkI&feature=youtu.be

[Raithe]

The Real Ashoka Tano wore an Ahsoka dress made out of lego...

 

 

 

 

The voice of Star Wars icon Ahsoka Tano, Ashley Eckstein, is also the brains behind Her Universe, the female-focused nerdy fashion company. Sometimes, those two sides of her life intermingle. In even rarer times, they intermingle and then get made out of Lego bricks.

Eckstein took to the floor at the Her Universe fashion show at Comic-Con last night, and did so in dazzling style wearing what would already a pretty fabulous dress emblazoned with Ahsoka’s appearance... before you realize that the whole thing is made out of Legos.

 

Ten thousand Lego bricks, to be precise, in a collaboration between Lego artist Nathan Sawaya and fashion designer Andrew Maclaine. Thankfully for Eckstein, the dress isn’t purely Lego, with the bricks sewn onto a regular dress. Stepping on a Lego brick is painful enough, I would imagine wearing 10,000 of them without a protective layer would also be a touch uncomfortable.

 

 

 

[Raithe]

From a certain point of view....

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dISzq4kIPc

Edited July 25, 2016 by Raithe

[Raithe]

How to handle racist mouthy t***ts

 

 

Good advice on what to do when you find yourself near a racist mouthy **** who is spouting out their crap at some unfortunate person.

NEVER engage the perpetrator. He (and it is usually he) is looking for confrontation. Instead speak to the person he is abusing. Say hello. Introduce yourself. Shake his or her hand. And just stand with them. Keep talking. About anything. Weather. Bus schedules. Football. This kind of bullying never works against a group of people having a conversation. Usually a single person travelling or a mom with a kid or maximum, two women are targeted.

Form a group of people with and around them if you can. Don’t tell them they are not alone. Just don’t let them be alone. I speak from experience. Once, I encountered a young girl wearing a hijab being abused as a terrorist by a drunk man on a train. I just went and sat beside her and started a conversation with her. After a while, the dude lost interest. I had a lovely chat with a young student from Qatar. She wanted to study literature while her dad was only prepared to pay for engineering or commerce as he wanted her to join the family business. It helped her feel safe and it expanded my horizons.

[Gorth]

The world is getting taller... just not at the same rate.

 

How humans have changed in height in the last 100 years

 

 

This paragraph made me laugh a bit:

 

"Meanwhile, Americans aren't quite as tall compared with the rest of the world anymore.

A century ago, American men ranked as the third tallest in the world, standing at 171 centimeters (5 feet 7 inches). Now, they place as the 37th, with an average of 177 centimeters (5 feet 10 inches).

Similarly, American women had ranked as the fourth tallest in the world at 159 centimeters (5 feet 3 inches). Now, they stand as the 42nd tallest in the world with an average of 163.5 centimeters (5 feet 4 inches).

 

 

While Americans didn't experience big gains in height, their body mass index "increased a great deal," the report found."

[Gfted1]

^Its good to be the king. /Louis XVI

[Raithe]

While this might slide more into the movie thread, since it's more about the changing nature of things I decided to throw it down here..

 

Why Emma Watsons flop wasn't meant to be a box office hit

 

 

Emma Watson’s films have made over $8.4bn at the worldwide box office. She boasts over 22 million followers on Twitter and over 33 million likes on Facebook. Yet earlier this month, her new thriller The Colony made just £47 in its opening weekend. That means fewer than 10 people in the UK came out to see it.

At first sight, it’s a disaster, a sign that Watson’s post-Hermione appeal is on the wane, and it’s led to some incredulous headlines worldwide, eager to report the fall of such a bright star. But here’s where some small print is required.

 

The film, which premiered to tepid reviews at last year’s Toronto film festival, is the latest in an increasingly long line that don’t rely on box office. In fact, the poor showing is of little consequence.

 

The Colony, previously titled Colonia, was only launched on three screens for one matinee showing a day and these cinemas were in Hull, Widnes and Burnley, meaning that anyone in the nation’s capital would have to drive for around four hours to see it. But, most importantly, The Colony was also released simultaneously on digital services, meaning that anyone with a smart TV or a laptop could watch the film at home instead.

 

Watson isn’t the only big star to have seen their work pushed down this route. Last November, Morgan Freeman thriller Momentum made just £4.60 per screen after a 10-site release, while last month, legal thriller Misconduct, starring Al Pacino and Anthony Hopkins, made less than £100 in its first weekend.

 

"Day-and-date releases minimise costs for a distributor," says Andreas Wiseman, Screen International’s head of news. "They only need to pay for a campaign once rather than at different stages throughout the windowing process. The growth in these kind of releases coincides with the proliferation of digital platforms. Distributor deals with platforms such as Netflix, LoveFilm, iTunes etc often require that a film is shown in a certain number of cinemas, so distributors will sometimes see the theatrical release as a box-ticking exercise."

The "day-and-date" release is not an entirely new concept. Smaller films have been launched on both theatrical and digital platforms simultaneously for a few years now, with some notable success stories. Last year, the Oscar-nominated drama 45 Years became the highest-grossing and widest-playing film to have utilised this strategy, making around £2m despite being available at home at the same time.

 

But the key difference is scale. At its highest screen count, the film was at 89 cinemas, many of them in key cities, a strategy in direct opposition to The Colony.

"What do you do with a small mainstream film?" asks box-office analyst Charles Gant. "In general, independent cinemas don’t want them, since these venues have limited screen space, and usually a wealth of arthouse titles to choose from. And multiplex bookers will want to know what kind of marketing support there is going to be."

Both The Colony and Momentum were released by Signature Entertainment, a UK distribution company started in 2011. Jon Bourdillon, the company’s chief operating officer, says the strategy exists to "give the film the widest possible level of distribution and exposure".

 

The Colony, thanks to its small theatrical bow, received the same level of attention as any other film released in cinemas that week, meaning it had reviews in print, an almost impossible result for a DVD release. It’s also advertised on digital platforms as being "in cinemas now", giving it a certain gloss in comparison to other direct-to-video options, and bears a slightly pricier rental tag.

 

"The main objective of a Premium VOD (video on demand) release is to try to get more income from VOD than you might expect from just a standard VOD release," says a source at Bulldog Film Distribution. "Misconduct definitely wasn’t a flop for us as a distributor, despite only making a few thousand pounds at the box office. Theatrical is just one area of the whole release and other areas, including PVOD, are much more positive."

 

It’s likely that the model will continue to shift, even for bigger movies. Napster founder Sean Parker has been developing a new format called The Screening Room, allowing people to watch blockbusters such as Captain America: Civil War or The Secret Life of Pets at home on the same day they’re released in cinemas.

"Consumption of film entertainment has become that much more immediate, fans simply can’t and won’t wait like they used to," says Bourdillon.

[Gfted1]

What Is the Biggest Thing in the Universe?

[Raithe]

GeeksAreSexy - Tara Strong cosplayed Harley Quinn at SDCC

 

 

For those not in the know, Tara Strong is the Voice of Harley Quinn (as well as a few others) in various animated DC series, so it stands to reason that the actress would visit SDCC as the character! A lot of people who asked to take pictures with her apparently had no idea who she was, which is kind of awesome when you think of it.

[Hiro Protagonist]

For the memories...

 

 

That reminds me of this article back in 2010.

http://www.originalprop.com/blog/2010/04/12/shall-we-play-a-game-original-imsai-8080-computer-movie-prop-from-wargames-to-be-sold/

 

[Leferd]

https://theringer.com/jason-mercier-world-series-of-poker-three-bracelets-309f6886491a#.d48wwkv95

 

I don't want Vanessa Selbst to be forced to sell her house, but then again...I really wanted Jason Mercier to win this 180-to-1 bet.