The gunshots came from the Las Vegas tower’s golden facade. But where was the shooter? And was there only one?
Tag: Reading.am
👓 Origin by Dan Brown review – fun in its own galumphing way | The Guardian
In his fifth blockbuster outing, professor of symbology Robert Langdon takes on the battle between science and religion
Interesting that this is the beginning of the first of things I’ve heard about this book in the press. Get ready for the onslaught…
And by the way, who doesn’t like the word galumphing?
👓 Ivanka and Donald Trump Jr. Were Close to Being Charged With Felony Fraud | ProPublica
New York prosecutors were preparing a case. Then the D.A. overruled his staff after a visit from a top donor: Trump attorney Marc Kasowitz.
Why are we not surprised at this? What happened to the generally higher moral ground that used to be held by public officials? These days I’d take a soupçon of Aristotelian-ism…
👓 Billionaire relents, kicks open his gate to popular Martins Beach | SF Gate
A billionaire landowner who had blocked access to a beach near Half Moon Bay opened the gate leading to the sandy shore Wednesday, two days after legal papers were filed demanding he comply with a court order. The decision by venture capitalist Vinod Khosla to finally allow the public to use the only road leading to picturesque Martins Beach was touted as a victory for surfers and sunbathers, but lawyers say it probably isn't the end of a decade-long battle over the sandy cove.
Oh, the never-ending battle between public beaches and rich people along the California coast.
They didn’t do a very good job describing the subtleties of the situation and the law here though.
👓 Anti-abortion Rep. Tim Murphy plans to retire amid sex scandal | USA Today
The announcement comes a day after the pro-life lawmaker allegedly asked his mistress to get an abortion.
The inconsistency of most Republicans and the anti-abortion crowd really kills me. It’s fine for them when the situation presents itself, but isn’t appropriate for anyone else?
If only the people who protest so vociferously and who spend money to fight abortion would instead spend their time and money to support the adoption and care of all these unwanted children, the problem would be so drastically different. You have to care about the lives after they are born or you’re just being hypocritical, otherwise, just what are you really saving? Do they want to save and add to the suffering in the world? Should they be called pro-suffering activists instead of anti-abortion?
🎧 This Week in Google 419 Foie Gras Lollipop | TWiT.TV
Google partners with Walmart to take on Amazon. Amazon's Whole Foods acquisition clears the FTC. Google Home gets phone calling and Bluetooth features. Supreme Court may have to decide if you can google that on Bing. New Chromebook Pixel and Google Home Dot? Google Assistant headphones? Treble might work on existing phones. Android Oreo is official. The Samsung Galaxy Note 8 is super expensive - unless you bought a Note 7. Terms of service controversies from Sonos, Plex, and Uber. Plus: Hamburger Helper, peanut butter Oreos, foie gras lollipops, queso, bisto, and chicken in a can.
- Jeff's number: What FB is paying and expecting for Watch episodes
- Stacey's thing: The Prepared
- Jason's tool: Google's Inbox can finally show multiple email accounts at once
🎧 This Week in Google 420 Low Irish Talking | TWiT.TV
Use the internet to help hurricane Harvey victims. Leo discovers ASMR. Google takes Tango down a notch with ARCore. New Pixel Phones 10/5. 2017 Eclipse Megamovie. Google Translate crowdsources Mr. Squidward Kim Jong Il. Should Estonia nationalize the internet? How the CIA made Google. Essential leaks customer drivers licences. Facebook's transparency mess. Amazon officially owns Whole Foods. Cortana and Alexa get all smoochy. Uber's new CEO is ready for a big job.
🎧 This Week in Google 418 I Want a Three-Tier Tiffen | TWiT.TV
Neo-Nazi site The Daily Stormer kicked off Go Daddy, Google, Cloudflare, Twitter, and more. Essential phone will be here next week. Pixel 2 passes the FCC, will feature squeezable sides. Allo on the web is still too limited. YouTube will show how many people are watching right now. Mark Zuckerberg's political ambitions. Ordering pizza on Facebook. Trump's DOJ wants 1.3 million IP addresses of people protesting Trump. Ikea smart bulbs work with HomeKit, Alexa, and Google Home.
- Stacey's thing: A New Way to Dinner
- Mike's tool: meetingbird
- Leo's pick: MoviePass
🎧 This Week in Google 417 Fire and Furry | TWiT.TV
Google engineer writes men's rights diatribe. Google fires him. Discussion ensues. Also: Deepmind vs. Starcraft, get a new phone every 30 days, Amazon's secret brands, Instagram depression, and the 8th best tech writer in the US.
- Stacey's thing: Mighty
- Jeff's number: 3 day podcast festival in NYC
👓 Vladimir Voevodsky, Fields Medalist, Dies at 51 | IAS
The Institute for Advanced Study is deeply saddened by the passing of Vladimir Voevodsky, Professor in the School of Mathematics. Voevodsky, a truly extraordinary and original mathematician, made many contributions to the field of mathematics, earning him numerous honors and awards, including the Fields Medal. Celebrated for tackling the most difficult problems in abstract algebraic geometry, Voevodsky focused on the homotopy theory of schemes, algebraic K-theory, and interrelations between algebraic geometry, and algebraic topology. He made one of the most outstanding advances in algebraic geometry in the past few decades by developing new cohomology theories for algebraic varieties. Among the consequences of his work are the solutions of the Milnor and Bloch-Kato Conjectures. More recently he became interested in type-theoretic formalizations of mathematics and automated proof verification. He was working on new foundations of mathematics based on homotopy-theoretic semantics of Martin-Löf type theories. His new "Univalence Axiom" has had a dramatic impact in both mathematics and computer science.
Sad to hear of Dr. Voevodsky’s passing just as I was starting into my studies of algebraic geometry…
👓 A Micro.blog #FollowFriday, Part I Among the Stones
For those of us wanting to leave Twitter and other silos behind and focus more on microblogging on our own domains, discovering new people to follow can be a little tricky. Manton Reece has a Discover tab on Micro.blog to find people, but the service is still in its infancy. Colin Devroe suggested a #FollowFriday movement. I’ll start off with two bloggers I’m enjoying. Feel free to use webmentions for your own lists! Please correct me if anyone else has started this, I haven’t had great connectivity for the last few weeks.
Jimmy has added me to his list of recommendations. Perhaps I missed the webmention/notification for it while I was moving, but I saw it organically anyway–since I follow him myself. His list has several people that I also follow pretty closely, so I’m honored to be included.
It also reminds me that I ought to get to work on keeping a following list of my own or add a follow post type to my site eventually. Perhaps something to think about over WordCamp LA and IndieWebCamp NYC this weekend?
📺 These 3D animations could help you finally understand molecular science | PBS NewsHour
Art and science have in some ways always overlapped, with early scientists using illustrations to depict what they saw under the microscope. Janet Iwasa of the University of Utah is trying to re-establish this link to make thorny scientific data and models approachable to the common eye. Iwasa offers her brief but spectacular take on how 3D animation can make molecular science more accessible.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9NDXk7Gs8Y
Visualizations can be tremendously valuable. This story reminds me of an Intersession course that Mary Spiro did at Johns Hopkins to help researchers communicate what their research is about as well as some of the work she did with the Johns Hopkins Institute for NanoBioTechnology.
👓 Ikea has bought TaskRabbit | Recode
Swedish home goods giant Ikea Group has bought TaskRabbit, according to sources close to the situation. The price of the deal could not be determined, but the contract labor marketplace company has raised about $50 million since it was founded nine years ago. Sources added that TaskRabbit will become an independent subsidiary within Ikea and that CEO Stacy Brown-Philpot and its staff would remain.
👓 How to Set a Default Fallback Image for WordPress Post Thumbnails | WP Beginner
Do you want to set a default fallback image for WordPress post thumbnails? Featured images also known as post thumbnails are very useful in engaging users and making your articles more noticeable on social media. In this article, we will show you how to set a default fallback image for WordPress post thumbnails.
I probably ought to be doing something like this, particularly for some of the social stream posts which re-use the featured image in other places on the site.
🎧 This Week in Google: #416 Mr. Nutter Butter Has a Message for You | TWiT.TV
US Digital Service - making government better. Alphabet Q2 earnings up, stocks down. Chrome's ad blocker is available to devs. Not everybody likes Google's plan to track offline sales. Is privacy a fad? Facebook hits 2 billion users. Bitcoin splits, and miners revolt. ACLU supports John Oliver. Millennials confused by discovery of broadcast TV. Jeff's Number: $600/head SV restaurant with gold-flecked steaks Matt Cutt's Thing: Hack the Pentagon! Kevin Marks' Stuff: IndieWeb.org, Liberty Foundation, extra thumb prosthetic
Awesome to see/hear Matt Cutts return to the show.