3-week-old lion cubs are feisty but cute during a routine weight check at the Oregon Zoo — via Youtube
A simple pattern for scale mail gloves, worked entirely in knit stitches and slightly modified knit stitches (photo tutorial for the technique included) to knit the scales right into the fabric of the gloves — via Ravelry
Recently, a keeper from Cotswold Wildlife Park, in the UK, became foster parent to an abandoned Clouded Leopard Cub. The young female cub was found, at one-day-old, shivering and close to death. Jamie Craig, a zookeeper at Cotswold Wildlife Park, decided to care for the orphan at his home. With the help of his young children, Mr Craig diligently tended to the cub, named Nimbus — via ZooBorns
If you think maps are a boring relic of a bygone age since the arrival of GPS, you obviously haven’t discovered the work of Herb Lester Associates. Which means you probably need to invest in the company’s latest work, The Raymond Chandler Map Of Los Angeles.
It’s another gem of a design, this time by Paul Rogers, with words by Kim Cooper. As you might have guessed it is a guide to Chandler’s LA, as well as the world of his alter-ego, private detective Philip Marlowe. So a mix of locations from the books, the films and Chandler’s personal life.
All of that on an A2 (folded to A6) map, which is litho-printed in England on 100 per cent recycled paper. If you want one, it’s new on, retailing for just £4 — via Retro To Go
We love Tom Baker. And we needed a new runner carpet for our hallway. Enter this easy DIY Doctor Who rug (for under $30). Our first project in our new house. This is a plain ol’ cheap beige runner carpet from Home Depot, painted to look like Tom Baker’s iconic Doctor Who scarf — via Our Nerd Home
There’s so much instant gratification on the internet it can feel like torture having to wait for a physical item to travel to my house. Can’t Amazon.com have an orbital warehouse that shoots objects down to your place? That sounds totally feasible with no possible downsides — via Minimumble
The publishing world may finally be facing its rootkit scandal
. Two independent reports claim that Adobe’s e-book software, Digital Editions
, logs every document readers add to their local library
, tracks what happens with those files, and then sends those logs back to the mother-ship, over the Internet, in the clear. In other words, Adobe is not only tracking your reading habits, it’s making it really, really easy for others to do so as well.
And it’s all being done in the name of copyright enforcement. After all, the great promise
of Digital Editions is that it can help publishers “securely distribute” and manage access to books. Libraries, for example, encourage their patrons to use the software, because it helps them comply with the restrictions publishers impose on electronic lending.
How big is the problem? Not completely clear, but it could be pretty big. First, it appears Adobe is tracking more than many readers may realize, including information about self-published and purchased books. If the independent reports are correct, Adobe may be scanning your entire electronic library. Borrowing a copy of Moby Dick from your public library shouldn’t be a license to scan your cookbook collection.
Adobe claims that these reports are not quite accurate. According to Adobe, the software only collects information about the book you are currently reading, not your entire library. It also collects information about where you are reading that book, how long you’ve been reading it, and how much you’ve read. Still disturbing, if you ask us.
Second, sending this information in plain text undermines decades of efforts by libraries and bookstores to protect the privacy of their patrons and customers. (Adobe does not deny transmitting the information unencrypted.) Indeed, in 2011 EFF and a coalition of companies and public interest groups helped pass the Reader Privacy Act, which requires the government and civil litigants to demonstrate a compelling interest in obtaining reader records and show that the information contained in those records cannot be obtained by less intrusive means. But if readers are using Adobe’s software, it’s all too easy for folks to bypass those restrictions.
Third and most depressing: this flaw may have been unintentional, but we probably should have seen it coming. As our friend Cory Doctorow has been explaining for years, DRM for books is dangerous for readers, authors and publishers alike. Whether or not Adobe actually intended to create this particular vulnerability, if your computer is collecting information about you, and then transmitting it in ways you can’t control, chances are you’ve got a security problem — via redwolf.newsvine.com
This cross stitch pattern is the Babel Fish entry from Douglas Adams’ The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, inspired by Rod Lord’s animations for the 1981 BBC television adaptation — via Etsy
Finland isn’t exactly known for hot weather. But as the climate changes and summer heat waves become more common in northern Europe, don’t expect to see more air conditioners in Helsinki: The city is pioneering a huge cooling system that uses cold water from nearby lakes and the sea instead of electricity.
Hundreds of feet underneath an ordinary-looking park in downtown Helsinki, a local energy company built a huge reservoir filled with nearly 9 million gallons of lake water. When the system is fully operational next summer, the water will be pumped to local buildings in the area to keep them cool. At night, the water will flow back underground, where waste energy will be used to cool it down again.
The tank is the latest piece of the city’s quickly growing cooling network, which already uses seawater to keep buildings comfortable. 300 buildings — mostly offices and commercial spaces — are connected to the network now, and as summers get hotter, the city plans to keep expanding the system — via redwolf.newsvine.com
Rica, the Southern Three-Banded Armadillo was only the size of a golf ball when she was born 24 August at Edinburgh Zoo, but she is progressing and developing, as she should, and now weighs in at 450g — via ZooBorns
The Prism coffee table, designed by Maurie Novak of MN Design in Melbourne, Australia, is an absolute stunner. The stainless steel frame surrounds strands of brightly coloured, loosely woven elastic, perfectly visible through the clear glass top. Like a true prism, one’s vantage point determines each unique, beautiful view — via Neatorama
— via Youtube
The Missing Scarf from Eoin Duffy on Vimeo
Narrator: George Takei
Writer / Animator / Director: Eoin Duffy
Live recording of the cast reunion/live table read of the script for The Middleman: Volume 5 – The Pan-Universal Parental Reconciliation
.
Crowdfunded in 2013 by legions of loyal Middlefans, the cast and writers of the ABC Family cult hit come back together — joined by special guest star Amber Benson — for a very special, one-time-only reunion to read the script for the new Middleman graphic novel — via Youtube
Fire Trucks originally uploaded by Red Wolf
Marmite you either love it or you hate it… But what about tigers, lions and leopards? Big Cat Rescue decided to find out and we got some funny reactions — via Youtube
Archie Baldprize, a croupier with the Federal treasury
Originally aired on ABC TV: 02/10/2014 — via Youtube
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