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Talk nerdy to me
Comedian Tom Franck on what it means to be a real geek
By Michel Miller 12/06/2012
Once upon a time, in a galaxy far far away, horn-rimmed glasses weren't cool. Disney didn't own Marvel Comics, and playing Dungeons and Dragons required a basement and writing utensils. Technology was not yet God, Lord of the Rings Legos didn't exist and geek was still a four-letter word — so was nerd, as most of those unfortunate enough to be identified as such knew too well. (Holding the record for most wedgies received in a given school year does not a popular kid make.) But times have changed. The comic book superhero saved the movie industry, and eyeglasses are a fashion accessory rather than a life necessity. The geeks have indeed inherited the earth; and while some of them may be prospering as a result, the rest are mostly annoyed. Enter Tom Franck. The comedian, artist and one of the world's leading collectors of Japanese toy robots isn't entirely happy about geekdom's benevolent takeover (he's also not a fan of The Big Bang Theory) but he's managed to find the humor in it. A living pop culture encyclopedia with the physique of a martial artist and a wit that would make George Carlin chuckle, Franck founded Comics and Comics, a group of slightly awkward, funny intellectuals (aka comedians) who share an obsessive interest in popular culture, in 2007. Six men form the molten core of Comics and Comics, but others (including the occasional female) are brought into the fold from time to time. "It's sort of like Justice League Unlimited," explains Franck. While they mostly perform their fanboy stand-up at comic book conventions, Comics and Comics have been appearing every so often at Hypno Comics in Ventura to polish their chops and test material. Covering the gamut of nerdy subjects with plenty of self-deprecation in between, the comics take turns at the microphone and conclude with a round-table discussion that's easily as funny as anything else you've seen on the mainstream professional comedy circuit. While it is a good idea to have some general familiarity with the content, neophytes will find plenty to laugh about even if the more obscure references go over their heads. Tom Franck took some time away from his many pursuits to speak with VCReporter about the good and evil aspects of technology and geek authentication.
VCReporter: What is the biggest threat to popular culture?
Tom Franck: Everything being bought up by a few entities. On the other hand, popular culture becomes more colorful with advances in technology. If you look at the film industry in the '70s it was the end of the big-studio era. That was mostly the result of cameras becoming smaller and cheaper. You are certainly seeing that with the Internet and technology and even CG movies. One is Rise of the Guardians, which is done by Dreamworks but is produced by Moonboot Studios, and it's very much like The Avengers in that you have these mythic characters teaming up like The Avengers do, and it has huge franchise possibilities. So you're going to see more of very creative people being given opportunities to cut out the middleman. Digital comic books will get even bigger. I think digital comic books are the future. Sequential storytelling is going to become more like Manga in that the stories will not be as dense and there will be more pictures. Manga is meant to be read on the subway, but it's also well-suited to being read on portable devices. I think the future bodes well for writer-illustrators. There are a lot of people who want to get into the comic book market, a lot of it for selfish reasons. They're not artists but they have a story.
What's the difference between nerds, geeks and dorks?
I have a very distinct definition that makes sense to me. The word geek to me connotes a quantitative amount of knowledge. It's not how enthusiastic you are but how well you have memorized facts backwards and forwards. A dork to me has to do with social skills. If you are on a first date and getting bad vibes from a girl and clumsily make a pass and get nowhere and slap your hand and say, "God, I am such a dork," it would seem wrong to say you acted like a geek. Geeky has to do with knowledge. A nerd I view as a combination of the two. You have the knowledge, and you act nerdy when you are also incorporating bad social skills. And the joke that I make about it is a guy at a party trying to impress a girl by reciting the laws of acquisition of the Ferengi. They are an alien race in Star Trek: the Next Generation. Trying to impress a girl by reciting that would fall under nerdom. Knowing it is geeky. How you apply it, if you use it dorkily, that would make you a nerd.
And how are those different from fanboys?
That is new slang. To me fanboy or fangirl connotes a level of enthusiasm, like, "Oh my God, I'm such a fanboy about The Walking Dead." That doesn't mean you've read every issue and can recite what happened and who the artist was; but you like it. It's like a martial arts dojo. You have to take all these different tests and pass all these exams in order to achieve black-belt status. Now, you can be a white belt and really love the martial arts and have a genuine passion for it, but it would be wrong for you to call yourself a black belt. And I would think the people who actually are black belts would be upset. All I'm saying is, I think that geek is being overused and incorrectly used.
Name something you must have done or a characteristic you must possess in order to authenticate yourself as a geek.
It's weird because I think geekdom has become a lot more about breadth of knowledge than depth of knowledge. And there is so much more media to consume than there used to be that the standards are different. You can be a complete Star Wars geek and not read comic books, but you can have geek street credibility in the Star Wars universe. In order to be a geek, if the category [you claim to be knowledgeable about] came up on Jeopardy, you better be able to answer the $2,000 question. A lot of geeky mindsets and collecting mentality is about nostalgia. It's sort of a recapturing what you loved as a child and I feel like the opposite sex plays a big part in that. Hormones kick in and you put all this effort into chasing after the opposite sex and then you realize you want to go back to that [stuff]. I never really lost it. There's been an uninterrupted stream of loving that stuff.
You're not a fan of The Big Bang Theory. Why?
There are things like I don't feel that the geek stuff is legitimate. The geek speak on the show is done through rapid Wikipedia research rather than a full understanding of what it means to be a geek.
Tell me a story from your childhood.
I had a paper route. I was always tracking down comic books and I found someone who had rare comic books. I cherry picked the whole thing. This kid who had this big collection — X-Men 95-109, Hulk 181, rare Avenger — sold me the comics that were worth a lot for $5, and didn't tell me they weren't his. Years later when I was 12, the owner tracked me down. I hid in my room and my dad said, "Just tell him you sold 'em."
Artwork for a Comics and Comics' appearance at Long Beach ComicCon by Tom Franck who has a series of large scale posters that recreate classic comic book covers.
Comics and Comics will perform at Hypno Comics, 1803 E. Main St., Ventura, on Friday, Dec. 7, 8 p.m. The lineup will include Paul Goebel, Klee Wiggins, Ed Galves, Andres Salazar, Erik Barnes, Ron Swallow and Tim Powers. Tom Franck will host. The show is free, seating is limited. For more information, visit www.comicsandcomics.net or Facebook.com/HypnoComics.
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Benjamin Irwin, the attorney for Teresa Carter, mother of Chavis Carter, joined Roland Martin this morning on the Tom Joyner Morning Show. Chavis Carter is the 21-year-old man who police claim committed suicide in the back of a police car while he was handcuffed behind his back.
The police have starkly defended this incident and even created a video to demonstrate how Chavis Carter could have committed the act. However, Irwin believes there's little credibility to the video.
Pointing out there could have been many edits and outtakes of the demonstration video before it was finally released, he said, "how many times did they try to do this, what other people did they try to use to do this with, this is not any easy feat by any stretch of the imagination."
Also, this week a state autopsy was released that confirmed the police's claim and also a toxicology report revealed that Carter had a mixture of drugs in his system including, marijuana, anxiety medication, a pain killer, and methamphetamines.
Despite this report, Irwin explains Carter's family is still searching for answers and wants to know what happened, he said the family is trying to put "pieces of a story together that doesn't make sense."
Irwin also defends the drugs found in Carter's system, saying the audio and video evidence shows that Carter was coherent during the incident. Alluding to the fact that the drugs found in his system should not be considered when evaluating the case.
Saying, "this was a young man who was able to spell his name accurately, answer questions, he was challenging questions…this was a man who seemed very self-aware of his environment."
According to Irwin, the family is exploring the option of a private autopsy but points out "certain pieces of this we have to tread delicately with" to protect the privacy of the family.
Irwin says the FBI is monitoring the investigation of the Jonesboro police but he asserts, "they are not calling me and keeping me up to date and I pretty much understand why."
Tonight there will be a prayer vigil in Jonesboro, Arkansas with Reverend Jesse Jackson and Chavis Carter's family who are standing behind their belief that Chavis Carter did not commit suicide.
Listen to the full interview here

subset: commoncrawl


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I have read that it is possible to grow your own yeast, but I have not been able to find exact instructions. I would like to grow my own yeast so that I don't have to spend money on those small sachets, which cost around $3.5 for 7 gr around here.
The first thing you must learn how to do is make a yeast starter. This is simpler than making beer but your sanitation must be very good, don't be intimidated.
Yeast Starter
Pour a little off the top and taste it before you pitch the starter into your beer. If it tastes off, do not use. Re-evaluate your sanitary technique.
Having a 2-3 liter Erlenmeyer flask is great for this because you can heat it directly and transfer right into a ice bath to cool, eliminating step 4 above. I cracked a flask on an electric burner, so be careful.
See also: Mr Malty's yeast starter FAQ
Quick Techniques
Now that you know how to grow yeast outside the beer fermenter, there are a few easy things you can do to stretch your yeast. The easiest way is if you buy White Labs pitchable tubes only use half or a third of a tube to make a starter. Spray the cap and threads with sanitizer and re-cap. Try not to get too much sanitizer into the tube.
If you buy the WYeast smack packs you can do something similar with a sterilized mason jar. Boil a quart mason jar & lid for 10 minutes, cool and pour the contents of the smack pack into it.
Yeast Washing
This is another easy way to get more out of your yeast. Instead of splitting and growing yeast before you make beer, washing cleans trub off yeast you have already used. There is an illustrated post on HomebrewTalk which I will summarize.
When you are ready to reuse the washed yeast, make a starter from one of the pint jars.
Culturing Yeast From Bottles
As topfermented explained here you can grow yeast out of bottles of beer. You need very careful sanitary technique because you are working with small quantities of good yeast.
I've grown my own yeast out of bottles before. Basically, all you're doing is making a very small yeast starter and pitching the dregs of a bottle into it and growing it up from there. I usually start with 25ml - 50ml out of a bottle and then step it up a couple of times until I'm making a 1000ml starter for a batch of brew.
I've had luck doing this with English-style ales and Belgian-style ales, both.
You'll want to make sure that you can sterilize the mouth of the bottle before you pour out of it, since that's the place that's most likely had some sort of other bacteria get to it. You can swab the mouth of the bottle with a small amount of isopropyl alcohol and burn it off for quick sterilization.
A few important things:
1) You must do this from bottle-conditioned beer. If the yeast has been filtered out prior to packaging, there will not be enough yeast in the solution for you to grow.
2) Not all bottle-conditioned beer is bottled with the same yeast that it was originally fermented in. Many breweries use lager yeast for bottle-conditioning, since they can then put the bottles into cold storage or cold shipping and it will still condition, ferment, and carbonate, just more slowly.
3) It has to be fairly fresh beer, as the yeast will suffer quite a bit of stress under packaging conditions (high pressure, not optimal temperature). You may not be able to culture yeast out of something that's been fairly aged, or what you do culture out may be a mutated strain.
4) Over time, yeast strains will mutate. Most commercial breweries will re-pitch yeast batch to batch for a few generations (6 - 10 is normal, I think), but at some point, if you're looking for consistency from your yeast strain, you'll want to wash your yeast and grow a pure culture up from scratch again, and this will be a pain in the ass without some sort of lab. Mind you, in a homebrewing environment this may not be much of an issue, so long as the mutations you get are pleasant.
I'm on my 4th generation of yeasts that I've grown out of bottles, now, and everything still tastes great. I have a yeast library of four yeasts that I've grown up from scratch - two belgian yeasts, one english-style (which I think is Whitbread), and one English-style combination (two bottles of different ales together).
That said, I still buy yeast for probably half of my batches, just for variety in flavor profile.
This is the best discription I've found yet on how to culture your own yeast. http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/slanting-yeast-133103/
I also have this book which teaches you handling techniques http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewing/first-steps-in-yeast-culture.html
You can also use yeast from batch to batch, though I'd recommend washing the yeast to prevent over pitching and remove trub. http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/yeast-washing-illustrated-41768/
I haven't actually harvested or grown my own yeast yet, though I really want to. It's about $7.95 per batch for me, and I brew about 3-4 times a month. Adds up for sure.
BYO Magazine had a great issue with a bunch of yeast techniques. If you can, find the September 2009 issue. They have a bunch of other articles online.
Hopefully TimWeber will chime in here. I know he got a 5000mL flask recently.


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I often start to read a huge file and then want to quit after a while, but there is a lag from pressing
Ctrl+C to the program stops. Is there a chance of shortening the lag by pressing the Ctrl+C key several times? Or am I wasting my keypresses?
After the first Ctrl-C, the program will receive
You're wasting them. All that happens is that once the server finishes with the screen output, it will receive multiple Ctrl-C. The first one will be used to kill the process, and the following ones will end up in your shell, which will then look something like
Short answer: If the process reacts to it.
Long answer: When you hit ctrl+c the kernel sends a signal to the process. Which signal can be determined by the following command:
See the man page of
It's the signal
You're right. The keypresses are being wasted. When you press Crtl+C and it gets detected, there are resources that need to be cleared, which is why it takes time. The one possible case I know where pressing Ctrl+C is required, is when you want to cancel a Yum update process, where Yum requires you to press Ctrl+C twice to confirm that you really want to cancel.
Although only one Ctrl-C is necessary in the general case, there are some situations where it may be necessary. Python, for example, traps Ctrl-C when a new thread is being spawned, and so if something goes wrong in the midst of starting up many threads, it is necessary to resend it multiple times in order for it to get through to the
I always have to press Ctrlc multiple times. I have never had it respond on the first press, and have to use it multiple times until the system actually realizes there's a Ctrlc being sent. Seems as though it actually misses/loses most of them.


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View Larger Map
The city is applying for a $151,000 grant to partially fund the construction of a greenway along Park Avenue from Empie Park to Audubon Boulevard.
The city posted an online survey for citizens to provide their input. The deadline to complete the survey has now expired, and the results will be released soon.
The greenway would allow people to walk, bike, jog, roller blade and roller skate safely along a separate paved path that would connect to the Gary Shell Cross-City Trail at Empie Park. This section of Park Avenue is a well-used part of the River to Sea Bikeway.
For more information, call 341-0107.


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El33t's Question of the Day: What were the top features and innovations of the last console generation?Written by: / / 14 Comments
Welcome to the latest Question of the Day!
If you have a Question of the Day that you would like to put to the community, mail it to oliver[@]el33tonline.com and we'll send it out, with credit of course!
Before we feel as though we can truly move forward in 2014, we're continuing this week by looking back at 2013 and previous generation consoles with today's community question: What do you think were the top game features and technological innovations introduced to the videogame world with the Wii, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3?
The popularisation of online networks of friends with Xbox LIVE? Motion gaming? The proliferation of Unreal Engine 3 and the use of cover-based shooting mechanics? The provision of a platform for independent game developers on consoles? Cross-game chat and Achievements?
What do you think were the best and most important innovations introduced during the previous console generation?
Let the community know about your favourite games, gaming habits and opinions with this week's previous Questions of the Day!
– El33t's Question of the Day: What were your top five games of 2013? (Let the Community Know)
– El33t's Question of the Day: Wii, Xbox 360 and PS3… What is your console of the generation? (Let the Community Know)
Tags: microsoft, nintendo, questionoftheday, sony


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I know this issue has already been addressed, but I do wonder: is it ok to post nude women's breasts if I replace the female nipples with male nipples?
Oh you! Only if they are hairy nipples and even then I don't know
Pretty rude question.
What about a pre-op male to female transexual? OH GOD ITS ALL FALLING APART.
Thanks for taking care of that for me Legend! Not sure why they disappeared though, but glad you were able to keep them alive.
It might be because bandwidth, or file size, or some other sciency stuff. idk because my 4.0 in Computer Applications came about as a result of raw charisma
also, np
~ posted from my Casio SK-1
Isn't the 3rd gif a known cartoon/game chraacter..
Cheshire Cat, Alice in Wonderland.
I thought it was some kind of "hey guys, I know who it is, do you?". Because it's pretty obvious.
You'd think.


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Under Armour Go Fight Cure Women's Tee Shirt
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Healthy Quinoa Salad Recipes (Slide 2)
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Recipe: Pear-Quinoa Salad
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Cherry, Wild Rice & Quinoa …
This whole-grain wild rice and quinoa salad recipe is perfect for toting to summer potlucks. It feat…View slide
Pear-Quinoa Salad
Quinoa is a quick-cooking whole grain with a slightly nutty flavor—a perfect partner for pears and…View slide
Quinoa Salad with Dried Apr…
This spicy salad with little jewels of dried apricot in the mix would be welcome at lunch or a simpl…View slide
Quinoa Salad with Oranges, …
Roasted beets and sweet dates, tangy oranges and juicy pomegranate seeds make this quinoa salad reci…View slide
Quinoa & Smoked Tofu Salad
We took the tangy fresh flavors of tabbouleh and paired them with smoky tofu and quinoa to create a …View slide
Toasted Quinoa Salad with S…
This scallop-studded quinoa salad gets an exciting texture from crunchy snow peas, red bell pepper a…View slide
Warm Quinoa Salad with Edam…
Quinoa, a super food from South America, is packed with protein and fiber. Toasting it gives it a sl…View slide
Snap Pea & Quinoa Salad
Snap peas and mushrooms are combined with the fresh flavor of lemon in this pretty, healthy quinoa s…View slide
Corn & Black Bean Quinoa Salad
Make this spicy poblano, corn, black bean and quinoa salad recipe to serve with whatever you're gr…View slide
Seared Tuna Tataki Quinoa Bowl
In this healthy tuna and quinoa recipe, tuna steaks are flash-cooked, sliced, then tossed in a quick…View slide
Roasted Chicken & Vegetable…
Mushrooms, carrots and onions are roasted with garlic and fennel seeds in this roast chicken and qui…View slide
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- Quinoa for dessert? Oh yes. Just wait'll you try this amazing quinoa blondie recipe
- Download a FREE Cookbook of Healthy Quinoa Recipes!


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pygame is
pygame.org is
Tsuki no Sakura
Tsuki no Sakura - .07
Lysander Daringer (lysander)
The summary pretty much says it all. The idea is to make a JRPG-style game in similar fashion to the older Final Fantasy titles, but with a slightly more complicated active-time-battle type of combat system that includes the ability to use 'combination attacks'. The game is hardly the most unique venture in the world, but building it from scratch is proving to be challenging to say the least. I currently have no idea at all about what kind of story the game will have, as I'm still far too busy with trying to get the systems programmed.
I only have two more goals to reach before I have all of the game systems worked out well enough to move into private production for content- the combat system and more complicated event handling for story/quest events. If anyone is capable and interested in doing pixel art for future revenue share, send me a portfolio link if you have one. It won't be long now until I reach the content-production stage (at this rate anyways).
Battle system is a little over halfway done, enough to try and it and see how things operate a bit. The code is really convoluted, I'm having trouble managing so many different things simultaneously. An RPG really is a monster of a thing to attempt for my first python project, a fact that's becoming increasingly clear to me, but I'm going to continue pushing forward. I'm planning for version .1 to be a playable demo that shows all of the different aspects to the game in perfect working order, so I've got my work cut out for me.
Open the chest immediately beside the avatar on load to see how the battle system operates (so far). Q and E switch between characters in battle, while the direction arrows and return/escape navigates the menus as always.
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I normally hate overused catchphrases in English, like "paradigm shift" and "out of the box thinking". But I was recently chatting (in Chinese) with a friend about an earlier situation in which someone had used "out of the box thinking". (The phrase was used by my daughter's teacher). I was at a loss to translate the idiom. Is there some appropriate 成语? A 成语 would be especially nice because the idiom in English is anecdotally thought to derive from a story of management consultants. In addition, like many 成语, the meaning is really non-obvious from the words alone.
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别出心裁 also known as 别出新裁 is one 成语 that fits the bill:
"别出" means out of the box
Example usage:
I think 天马行空 is the one.
but use it carefully,天马行空 does not always commendatory
"Thinking outside the box" can be translated to 奇思妙想, which is a 成语 and also a noun.
Your idea is great! That is really thinking outside the box. 你这主意太棒了!可真是奇思妙想。
"Think outside the box" can be translated to 打破常规,开动思想, or 打破常规思维, which both are common expressions, but not 成语.
You need to think outside the box to sovle this problem. 要解决这个问题,你得打破常规,开动思想。 要解决这个问题,你需要打破常规思维。
It is interesting that there are a lot 4-character non-成语 common expressions in Chinese, for example: 大步前进,树叶茂密,小河流水,奋勇向前,又大又圆,越越来好,etc. I think 4-character expressions sound more poetic and more pleasant to the ear.


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A fire at the chemical-making Chemplex plant about five miles south of Breckenridge rocked Stephens County on Monday.
According to the Breckenridge American, all 16 employees were accounted for at the plant that makes chemicals used in fracking operations – and no injuries were reported. All buildings remained intact.
Earlier in the day, big black smoke could be seen throughout Breckenridge.


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Between shooting scenes on location in Turkey, Daniel Craig and co-stars took time out to speak to the world's media and stand for a photo-call today...
Daniel Craig, Ola Rapace, Bérénice Marlohe and Naomie Harris have joined the 007 crew on location in Turkey this week to capture scenes for the forthcoming 23rd James Bond adventure, dubbed "Skyfall". Their arrival marks the third time that James Bond has shot on location in the country, with "From Russia With Love" and "The World Is Not Enough" having been set, in part, in Istanbul.
Above: (left to right) Sam Mendes, Naomie Harris, Daniel Craig, Bérénice Marlohe, Ola Rapace, Barbara Broccoli & Michael G. Wilson.
The cast and crew assembled at the Ciragan Palace hotel in Istanbul on 29th April, where Sam Mendes spoke about the history the Bond franchise has with this remarkable city, and about not wanting to adhere to clichés of a particular locale. "It's very frustrating when you see how a country can be reduced to cliché," says the director. "Obviously the goal is, in a very short sequence in a movie, to try to capture the essence of the country, both old and new. Both its traditions and its modernity... We looked at everything the city could give us and we feel we've chosen what's best for the movie and the story but also what's best for the city itself."
The producers were keen to emphasise the bond that 007 had developed with Turkey. The first time EON Productions took a picture to Istanbul was during the Spring of 1963, where Sean Connery and director Terence Young shot on location at the Grand Bazaar, Hagia Sophia and on the Bosphorus. 36 years later, the production team was back filming scenes for "The World Is Not Enough" at Galata Tower, Karakoy Customs Port, Kasimpasa Ferry Terminal, Kucuksu Kasri (Electra's Villa), Maiden's Tower, and sweeping shots of the Istanbul rooftops. The latter will be reprised in "Skyfall" with an intense action sequence involving motorbikes, which the second unit have been hard at work filming.
Above: (left to right) Ola Rapace, Bérénice Marlohe, Naomie Harris, Sam Mendes, Daniel Craig, Barbara Broccoli & Michael G. Wilson.
Daniel Craig explained how fruitful his collaboration with Sam Mendes became from the moment there was a possibility they would be working together: "We were in continued conversation, once Sam agreed to do it. We weren't supposed to talk to each other because MGM hadn't done the deal. But we couldn't shut up. It was a chance for us to reread Ian Fleming, and we started emailing each other, 'What about this and what about this?', and that's how it snowballed."
The 23rd James Bond
film, "Skyfall", commenced principal studio photography on 7th November
2011 for a UK
release on October 26th, 2012 and the USA on November
9, 2012. MGM will produce, finance and distribute 007's
23rd adventure in
partnership with Sony Pictures Entertainment.
Daniel Craig will
be returning as the legendary British secret agent, alongside Judi
Dench as "M", with Sam Mendes directing a screenplay written by Neal
Purvis, Robert Wade and John Logan. The cast will also include Bérénice Marlohe,
Javier Bardem, Naomie Harris, Ralph Fiennes, Albert Finney and Ben Wishaw.
The film will shoot at Pinewood Studios and on location in London, England;
Scotland; Shanghai, China and Istanbul, Turkey.
It will be the longest gap between Bond movies without
a change in the lead role. In addition, 2012 marks the 50th anniversary of
the EON Productions series of James
Bond films.


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See Change is a direct line to better information about how social change happens. With a highly trained ear, we listen to – and through – the stories emerging from efforts to create impact. With a focused lens, we observe and record the reality of what's happening on the ground. We triangulate, synthesize, and sort qualitative data into actionable knowledge for investors, grantmakers, and social entrepreneurs.
Stories alone are not enough. See Change gathers quantitative metrics when they are available. But stories are essential for understanding barriers to social innovation, ideal conditions for scaling impact, and the "human factor" that grounds all efforts at change. Metrics are the doorway. Stories are what's inside the room.
Storytelling in the social sector is misused. The plural of anecdote is not data. But it can be. Serious change agents rightly question the validity and value of one-off emotional appeals designed for fundraising. But stories that are systematically collected, thoughtfully analyzed, and critically edited are the most powerful tools for learning available in the social sector.
Story Science is the best of both worlds. We use both sides of our brains to design our work in the social sector. Let's also use both sides to understand our impact.


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Jamie C. Schalk-Browning, age 67, of Gibson City, Ind. and formally of Indianapolis and Decatur, Ind., passed away on Tuesday March 12, 2013 at the Gibson Area Hospital in Gibson City. Jamie was born on December 21, 1945 in Chicago, a daughter of Ralph B. and Patricia Calhoun Skinner. She married Edward A. Browning on April 12, 1991 in Indianapolis. He survives.
Jamie retired as an X-Ray Tech and Electronics Technician at Naval Avionics (Raytheon). She loved Jesus and enjoyed her grandkids and pets.
In addition to her husband, Ed, she is survived by five children: Lisa Schalk of Carmi, Jeff (Angie) Schalk of Fountaintown, Ind., James (Tina) Schalk of New Palestine, Ind., Stephen (Nikki) Browning of Indianapolis, Scott (Angel) Browning of Madison, Wis.; mother Patricia Flesher of Naperville; two sisters Ann (Allan) Griffith of Bloomington and Cathy (Dan) Bargerstock of Naperville; a brother William (Karen) Flesher of Monticello; and eight grandchildren.
She was preceded in death by her father, Ralph Skinner, and step-father, Burns Flesher.
A memorial service will be at 2 p.m. on Saturday March 16, 2013 at the Lamb Funeral Home with the Rev. Jerry Parmley officiating. Visitation will be from 12 until 2p.m. on Saturday prior to the service.
Memorials may be made to the Gibson Area Hospital. The family deeply appreciates the care and support given by the staff of Gibson Area Hospital during Jamie's finale days.
Arrangements are being handled by Lamb Funeral Home of Gibson City, Ind.
Location, ST | website.com


text: Unlike the description I gave you for D, there really isn't much to say about this anime character from the anime/manga Trigun. This black cat is simply there as a background figure. Even though there is really no purpose for her in the series, she still appears in every single episode of the anime version of Trigun, and randomly in the manga. This tutorial will show you "how to draw Kuroneko-sama", step by step. This is a very simple figure or feline to draw so I hope you do you enjoy this lesson as I did drawing.


text:
The 9 Most Hilarious Ways Criminals Were Caught
We know from watching Law and Order that detectives have a difficult job, tediously interviewing suspects and following one false lead after another in order to catch a perp. But it's not always that hard -- occasionally, the criminals will throw the cops a bone and just hilariously bungle their way into prison. For example ...
#9. Thieves Are Constantly Uploading Selfies from Stolen iPhones
So you've gotten your hands on the latest iPhone model, pilfered from an unwitting stranger. What's the first thing you do? If you said, "Find the nearest public restroom for an impromptu photo shoot," congratulations, you're a goddamn idiot. You're also, surprisingly, not alone.
If you've found yourself stealing phones to support your uncontrollable selfie habit, it might be good to know that lots of people have their phones set up to send all pictures straight to their email, or cloud storage. Albert Wilson didn't realize this, and after he snapped this charming portrait on the phone he stole, he was quickly apprehended.
He'd later claim Hannibal Buress was framing him.
And although she wasn't caught, much more hilarious are the photos of an as-yet-unidentified woman who stole Allen Engstrom's iPad. Engstrom returned the favor by posting the thief's glamor shots of Facebook.
Allen Engstrom/Facebook
There seems to be an unsettling correlation between phone theft and strabismus.
Then there is the Disney employee who stole Katy McCaffrey's iPhone last year while she was a passenger on the cruise ship he worked on. Katy gained Internet fame after she uploaded the photos that were streamed to her iCloud account to Facebook, narrating his life with sarcastic captions.
Kate McCaffrey/Facebook
Kate McCaffrey/Facebook
How does she know his name? Because in several pictures, his company name tag is clearly visible.
Kate McCaffrey/Facebook
And thanks to those tight pants, that wasn't the only thing.
Nelson wasn't arrested for the theft, but the company placed him on "administrative leave." For her part, Katy is hoping to score some free passes to Disneyland out of the ordeal.
#8. Multiple Criminals Have Butt-Dialed 911 While Committing Crimes
Accidentally dialing someone when your phone is in your pocket is one of those scenarios that sci-fi writers somehow never anticipated when they promised us personal communicators (you never saw Captain Kirk "butt-dial" the Romulans). And while it's bad enough when you accidentally call up an ex, it can't be much worse than what happened to Nathan Teklemariam and Carson Rinehart.
The pair were breaking into a car earlier this year when one of them butt-dialed 911. Confused by the voices that weren't directed at him, the dispatcher nevertheless stayed on the line, in case there was trouble. It wasn't long before talk of drugs, the sound of glass breaking, and discussion of just how exactly this car should be broken into made it clear to the dispatcher that it was in fact a police-type situation.
"Man, I hope no calls the cops about this Class-D felony we're currently committing."
"hhhmmm ..."
While the dispatcher stayed on the line, police used clues from their conversation to find the thieves and began following them in the car. Their panicked conversation can be heard on the recording, hilariously confused about how they were found out. After he was told about the damning call, however, one of the men coolly summed up the matter with, "We really called 911? Damn."
Incredibly, the same thing happened to Scott Simon just a few days later, when he accidentally called the police while discussing a murder he was planning to (and later did) commit. Seriously, guys, you turn your phones off at the movie theater, for Pete's sake, maybe be a little conscientious of them while you're discussing the details of your felonies?
"Only Facebook humblebrags from now on."
#7. A Criminal Tattoos an Entire Crime Scene on his Chest
Ryan McVay/Digital Vision/Getty Images
Planning the perfect murder isn't easy -- there can't be any witnesses or physical evidence for the CSI team, and you have to resist the urge to tattoo a confession right on your goddamned chest. That last one is what tripped up Anthony Garcia, a member of the notorious "Rivera-13" gang, who after a 2004 shooting of a rival gang member came up with the bright idea of permanently inking a play-by-play mural of the murder on his entire upper body.
Detectives were going over random snapshots of gang tattoos when they noticed something eerily familiar about the tats of one gang member who had been pulled over for a minor traffic offense. Well, what do you know; the tattoo was almost an exact representation of the scene of a murder that had gone unsolved for almost four years.
Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department
Pro Tip: Make sure to include your gang's name and the type of crime to cut down on confusion.
Definitely not one to skip on the details, Anthony Garcia had gone balls out on the drawing of the murder including details that could have come only from someone who had more than a passing interest in the crime. First were the tattoo drawings of the roof, windows and frames of the liquor store, which were the same as those of the liquor store where the murder was committed.
But the clincher was the image of a cartoon peanut-man being shot to death by an angry helicopter. While that's not exactly how things went down, it makes sense when you know that Garcia's gang referred to rival gang members as "peanuts," and Garcia himself went by the nickname "Chopper." The tattoo was so accurate that even the direction in which the shots were fired from the helicopter was exactly as it happened in the murder.
It's like "Pin the Tail on the Conviction."
As if investigators didn't have it easy enough, Garcia had gone ahead to include even more identifying details of the crime scene, such as the crooked streetlight across the road and even the street sign of the street.
Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department
If you look really closely you can even see the tiny tattoo guy working in the liquor store and regretting his life choices.
Cops arrested Garcia a second time, and he soon confessed to an undercover cop. That's probably a detail that he'll leave out of his next tattoo design.
#6. Terrorist Builds a Failed Car Bomb, Leaves his Keys Inside
Jupiterimages/Polka Dot/Getty Images
In 2010, Faisal Shahzad sought out to get himself a place on the FBI's Most Wanted list when he came to America to blow part of it up. He bought a cheap car, crammed it with a bunch of explosives and fireworks, and tried to set it off in Times Square. When the timer went off, however, the car didn't explode. It wasn't an act of God -- Shahzad was just really bad at being a terrorist.
U.S. Marshals Service
And really bad at facial hair.
Investigators combing through the failed bomb noticed that while he included fireworks, propane tanks, gasoline, and fertilizer in the car he didn't prep any of the components. Shahzad seemed to have taken a lesson from a Michael Bay movie and assumed that if a bunch of fireworks are close enough together they will ignite each other (they don't). As for the fertilizer, Shahzad apparently didn't realize that he needed to mix it with propane in order for it to do anything but feed a vegetable garden.
Unless your terror target's named "Tannen," this alone isn't accomplishing anything.
So that's why his act of terror didn't actually terrorize anyone. But the reason he was immediately caught is that Shahzad left the keys to his apartment in the car. So not only could the police trace him to where he lived, but he couldn't get into his apartment.
Oh, and along with his apartment keys were the keys to his getaway car, forcing him to take the train home. In the end, it's unlikely that he'll ever be the subject of a blockbuster by Kathryn Bigalow, unless she casts Will Ferrell in the lead.
#5. Man Flees into Police HQ
Hemera Technologies/AbleStock.com/Getty Images
Joseph Meacham decided to drive drunk one night in St. Louis, and this was just the first bad decision in a long string of fuckups. After he got pulled over by the police, he pushed the closest cop over and made a beeline for freedom, evidently assuming that the cops would balk at chasing him and forget the whole thing.
Without any kind of plan beyond putting as much distance between himself and the police as possible, Meacham ran into the first building he saw in an attempt to hide. He made it only a short distance before he noticed that a lot of the people working there had blue uniforms and badges. Yes, the building he'd chosen was the St. Louis police headquarters.
If only there'd been some type of warning.
Witnesses would later report that he flew into a decent impression of a bird trapped in a hallway, running in circles and bolting in different directions whenever he spotted a uniform. After a thorough yet brief tour of the police HQ, Meacham eventually ran down the wrong hallway and found himself at a dead end. The police, most of whom had no idea who this guy was or what he was doing there, cautiously closed in, expecting a struggle from what was clearly some kind of dangerous lunatic. Instead, he simply laid down on the floor and curled into a ball. It was like he finally triggered some failsafe in his brain that just shut down his limbs before he could fuck things up any further.