Geeking Out

An anonymous reader writes "Seth Ladd has an excellent write-up of Dart: 'When Dart was originally launched, many developers mistook it for some sort of Java clone. In truth, Dart is inspired by a range of languages such as Smalltalk, Strongtalk, Erlang, C#, and JavaScript. Get past the semicolons and curly braces, and you'll see a terse language without ceremony. ... Dart understands that sometimes you just don’t feel like appeasing a ceremonial type checker. Dart’s inclusion of an optional type system means you can use type annotations when you want, or use dynamic when that’s easier. For example, you can explore a new idea without having to first think about type hierarchies. Just experiment and use var for your types. Once the idea is tested and you’re comfortable with the design, you can add type annotations." Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Ellen McLain is a total badass! Not only is she the voice of GLaDOS in the “Portal” video game series, but she is also an opera singer and will appear in this summer’s Pacific Rim. And now, in the Kickstarter video below — in which she’s baking a cake! No lie! — she’s asking for monetary help for an upcoming independent film that starts shooting this summer. The movie, Winning Dad, is about a homophobic father who gets lured on a camping trip with his gay son, Colby. The twist, though, is that Colby has also invited along his boyfriend Rusty, a man who Colby’s father believes is his son’s heterosexual business partner. McLain plays Colby’s mother, and if someone pledges at the highest level — $7,500 — McLain will throw that person a party and bake them a cake, personally! The video will also be posted on YouTube and Vimeo and you’ll get to party with the rest of the cast and crew! Pledging ends on Father’s Day, appropriately enough! [Winning Dad - Kickstarter Page (Donate!) / via The Mary Sue]

New submitter QuantumPion writes "The Environmental Protection Agency released draft guidelines last month that could significantly relax radiation hazard standards in the case of a radiological event in the United States by using risk-based decisions. The goal is to have limits that make sense in an emergency that are different from the limits in day-to-day life. From the article: 'Currently, the only guidance are the extremely strict standards that apply for EPA Superfund sites and nuclear plant decommissioning, which are as low as 0.010–0.025 rem/year, far below the natural background levels in the U.S. of 0.300 rem/year, and even well below the average amount of radioactive materials that Americans eat each year. And these guidelines aren’t really different from the 1992 PAG, except in the area of long-term cleanup standards and, perhaps, standards for resettlement. What’s the big deal here? As radworkers, we’re allowed to get 5 rem/year. 2 rem/year doesn’t rate a second thought. ... No one has ever been harmed by 5 rem/year, so setting emergency levels at 2 rem/year is pretty mild and more than reasonable. ... Think of it this way. The situations covered by these new guidelines are similar to someone dying of thirst who has the chance to drink fresh water having 2,000 pCi per gallon of radium in it. While the safe drinking water levels are 20 pCi/gal for Ra, 2,000 pCi/gal is of no threat, especially if you’re going to die from imminent dehydration. Of course, a bag of potato chips has 3,500 picocuries, so go figure.'" Read more of this story at Slashdot.

People are using 3D printing technology for all kinds of things — even guns! Anjan Contractor thinks 3D printing can solve the world’s hunger problem, and NASA is backing him with a $125,000 grant to build his food printer. Since 3D printing food requires that food to be built in layers, what better food to start with than pizza? Contractor imagines a world where every home has a food printer loaded with shelf-stable powders and oils used to build food. NASA just wants to solve the problem of keeping food from spoiling on extended space missions like a manned mission to Mars. If the end result is 3D-printed space-pizza, then I think we all win in the end. A prototype of Contractor’s design was seen 3D printing chocolate back in November: The proposed system would use powdered versions of basic elements of foods. They would be combined with other powdered food elements, water, and oils and extruded through a nozzle. In the case of the pizza, the machine would first print the dough, which would cook while being printed. It would then add some version of tomato sauce and a “protein layer.” We’re willing to bet the first batch of 3D-printed space-pizzas won’t hold up when compared to some of our favorite pizza places here in New York, but since none of those are 3D-printed or can be prepared in space, we think Contractor’s pizza still might have the edge. Now how soon before we get the food hydrator from Back to the Future II? Also hoverboards. I want to skate around on a hoverboard and eat 3D-printed space-pizza. (via Quartz, image via Dario Alvarez) Relevant to your interests Michael Bay’s Ninja Turtles will be mutants not aliens (See what I did there) Learn the history of frozen food in less time that it takes to heat pizza rolls Now you can order a pizza without even putting down your Xbox controller

A big thanks to our friends over at Abrams Books who have graciously provided us with a copy of their comprehensive history of the bubble gum icon Bazooka Joe to giveaway to one lucky fan of bubble gum and great … Continue reading →

USB drives are the best wedding favors (GeekSugar) Two more Wolverine posters you’ll want to steal (The Mary Sue) Why Michael is the best Arrested Development character (Flavorwire) Oklahoman woman finds her dog on live TV during tornado interview (Mediaite) How video game logic can help you win at life (Guy Code Blog) Super Bowl L goes to San Francisco (SportsGrid) Say hello to the Lulz Liberator (The Daily Dot) (Title pic via Reddit)

Nerval's Lobster writes "Fresh off purchasing Tumblr for $1.1 billion, Yahoo has moved to the next stage of what's becoming a company-wide reboot: fixing Flickr, the photo-sharing service that it acquired in 2005 and subsequently allowed to languish. Yahoo boosted Flickr accounts' individual storage capacity to one free terabyte, revamped the Website's overall look, and launched a new Flickr app for Google Android, among other tweaks. Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer clearly wants her company to fight toe-to-toe on features with Google and Facebook, but she faces a long road ahead of her: not only does she need to streamline Yahoo's cumbersome corporate structure and product portfolio into something that resembles fighting shape, but she needs to reverse the general perception that Yahoo is teetering on the edge of history's trash-bin, with an aging customer base and unexciting features. The question is, could anyone actually pull it off? Is Yahoo capable of an Apple-style turnaround, or are its current actions merely delaying the inevitable?" Read more of this story at Slashdot.

You might have noticed that Christopher Tupa’s art has been appearing here on the site on a regular basis. In addition to these great pop culture pieces, Christopher is also working on other projects including his upcoming “Playing with Toys”. … Continue reading →

cervesaebraciator writes "According to Quartz, '[Anjan Contractor's] Systems & Materials Research Corporation just got a six month, $125,000 grant from NASA to create a prototype of his universal food synthesizer. But Contractor, a mechanical engineer with a background in 3-D printing, envisions a much more mundane — and ultimately more important — use for the technology. He sees a day when every kitchen has a 3-D printer, and the earth's 12 billion people feed themselves customized, nutritionally-appropriate meals synthesized one layer at a time, from cartridges of powder and oils they buy at the corner grocery store. Contractor's vision would mean the end of food waste, because the powder his system will use is shelf-stable for up to 30 years, so that each cartridge, whether it contains sugars, complex carbohydrates, protein or some other basic building block, would be fully exhausted before being returned to the store.' No word yet on whether anyone other than the guy trying to sell the technology thinks it'll make palatable food." Read more of this story at Slashdot.

By Clay N Ferno Back in the days before Red Bulls and when red eye meant a late night flight, not an espresso infused drink, some well to do movers and shakers saw a doctor for an energy boost in the way of a vitamin shot. The secret ingredient? Speed, amphetamines, uppers aka dope. Jim Cutler (Harry Hamlin) prescribes the shots for the yet unnamed agency in the latest episode and we see more running around and hear more phones ringing than ever. Read more »