Jack Klugman, American Actor (1922-2012)

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every one have a merry christmas and a happy new year

special kind of idiot

Wayne LaPierre: Schools With Armed Guards 'The One Thing That Would Keep People Safe'

The National Rifle Association executive vice president Wayne LaPierre during a news conference in response to the Connecticut school shooting on Friday, Dec. 21, 2012 in Washington. The nation's largest gun-rights lobby is calling for armed police officers to be posted in every American school to stop the next killer "waiting in the wings." (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)

Wayne LaPierre, the head of the National Rifle Association, made a second effort at selling his views on the Newtown school shooting massacre to the public in a contentious appearance on "Meet the Press" on Sunday morning.
Making his first public remarks since he spoke at a public relations debacle of a press conference on Friday, LaPierre stood behind his call to put armed guards in every school -- one of the most widely criticized parts of his earlier appearance.
"If it's crazy to call for armed officers in our schools to protect our children, then call me crazy," LaPierre said defiantly. "I think the American people think it's crazy not to do it. It's the one thing that would keep people safe."
LaPierre also strongly suggested that the NRA would fight any new measures that would limit gun purchases, calling them ineffective and denouncing the assault weapons ban as a "phony piece of legislation."
At one point, Gregory held up an oversized rifle magazine of the sort used by Adam Lanza in the shooting in Newtown, Conn., and asked if it was banned, "isn't it just possible that we could reduce the carnage?"
"I don't think it would make one difference," LaPierre replied. Instead, LaPierre attempted to shift the conversation to felons and "lunatics" who should be arrested if they try to purchase a gun.
"I know there's a media machine in this country that wants to blame guns every time something happens," LaPierre said at one point. "I know there's an anti-Second Amendment industry in this town ... I'm telling you what I think will make people feel safe, and every mom and dad will make them feel better: If we have a police officer in that school, a good guy that if some horrible monster tries to do something, will be there to protect them."

It was in many ways a reprise of the Friday press conference, in which LaPierre stunned even conservative news outlets with a remorseless diatribe that cast a wide net of blame for the shootings on just about everything but guns.
Among the causes LaPierre cited on Friday for school shootings were video games, environmental disasters and gun-free school zones.
"Politicians pass laws for gun-free school zones, and in doing so, they tell every insane killer in America that schools are the safest place to inflict maximum mayhem with minimum risk," LaPierre said at the time.
The idea of putting armed guards in schools has drawn criticism from many who point out that in at least one high-profile school shooting case, in Columbine, Colo., there actually was an armed guard, who tried and failed to stop two students from killing more than a dozen of their classmates and one teacher.
On Sunday, LaPierre said that he was speaking for the many members of the NRA who stand behind his approach.
"I said what I honestly thought ... and what hundreds of millions of people all over this country will believe will actually make a difference," LaPierre said. "The NRA -- we have 11,000 police training instructors, 80,000 police families, we're 4 million members, and we sat down and we said, 'What can we do that will actually make a difference today to make these kids safe?'"
During a separate interview on ABC's "This Week," Asa Hutchinson, the former Arkansas congressmen appointed by LaPierre to lead the group's post-Sandy Hook shooting initiative, defended the proposal.
"I think that when you look at school safety, you've got to put armed guards into the equation," Hutchinson said. "I've made it clear that it should not be a mandatory law, that every school has this. There should be local choice, but absolutely, I believe that protecting our children with an armed guard who is trained is an important part of the equation.

A Gloriously illuminated orange

This beautiful image comes from Caleb Charland, who creates all his images in-camera.

Recently one Sunday I spent the day at the kitchen table playing with oranges, copper wires and galvanized nails. My hope was that I could make this on going project work with a single piece of fruit. I tried cutting it into slices and wedges but that ever present voice in my head reminded me the SIMPLER IS BETTER. It only seemed logical to use the orange’s natural wedges as the cells for the battery. The wedges are held up-right with an armature of small wooden skewers. The LED is nestled with in the bounds of the orange wedges. I’m still amazed this worked…though it did require 14 hours of exposure

The Best and Worst Movies Based on Sci-Fi/Fantasy Books (Sez You)

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The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 enjoyed a blockbuster opening last weekend, but none of the sparkly vampire flicks in the series made the cut when we asked Wired readers to name their favorite movies based on books.

Maybe there just aren't enough Twi-hards among our snarky readers, who had plenty to say about other memorable book-to-screen crossovers. Most divisive: David Lynch's phantasmagoric 1984 adaptation of Frank Herbert's sci-fi novel Dune.

Wired's readers didn't stop at that books-based experiment gone wrong (or right, depending on your position). Click through our gallery for other speculative-fiction movies that commenters couldn't help but dissect. (For the record? The only reason we passed on Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange in our original list, "Novel Approaches: 10 Books That Became Great Sci-Fi and Fantasy Films," was so the director didn't hog the spotlight with 2001: A Space Odyssey.)

Above:

Dune

I love the Dune saga, and would kill for a good film adaptation. David Lynch has made some very interesting-looking movies, and I like a lot of them, but as a Dune fanboy, his film adaptation of the book is atrocious. —LHL2500

Which version have you seen? If you're talking about the original theatrical release, that was actually hated by Lynch himself, as the film company forced him to excise a lot of it to get within a specific running time. It's why he had his name withheld as director on it, and stuck the name "Alan Smithee" on instead, a tradition amongst directors who don't like the finished product. —Beeblebrox888

How can you miss David Lynch's Dune from Frank Herbert's classic? Although maligned by critics, IMO it ranks as one of the best sci-fi movies ever. —rpensotti

Lynch effectively invented the visuals associated with universe, even while deviating from the text's description significantly at times. I think that two consequent attempts of bringing Dune to the screen only highlight how much work was put into visuals. —LoudRambler

Worst ever? Dune. Great book, terrible movie. —Damian Brennan

A Clockwork Orange

Any list of best film adaptations of novels that includes 2001: A Space Odyssey (where the novel came after the movie) and has Starship Troopers but not A Clockwork Orange can't be taken seriously. —John Gaspar

To be honest, I'm kind of shocked that a Harry Potter film got on this list before A Clockwork Orange. —Jim Snider

Hell yeah! And all the more profound, in my opinion, because Burgess invented Nadsat as a language for the book, which was used in the film! —JP Marchant

War of the Worlds

One of my least-favorite book-based movies is War of the Worlds (all of them). Sadly, none of them have really captured what is a truly great novel in and of its own right. Both the '60s one and the newest one are pretty far off base. The only halfway faithful adaptation was done by The Asylum and was a low-budget, direct-to-video thing. It's not a bad movie except that the special effects are so laughable. It's a shame that the writer of the Asylum version couldn't get as big a budget as the Spielberg version. Then it would have been the best sci-fi movie of all time. —John Enfield

It's hard to get upbeat about a movie like that, especially after listening to Jeff Wayne's version narrated by Richard Burton. If you haven't listened to it, then get thee to a music store pronto, and shell out for it. It is worth it. —Beeblebrox888

I, Robot

The worst desecration of source material was Will Smith's I, Robot, supposedly based on the collection of short stories by Isaac Asimov. The entire reason Asimov wrote the Robot stories (collected as I, Robot and The Rest of the Robots) was to rebut what he called the Frankenstein Complex, the idea found in all fiction to that point that man would create robots and then the robots would turn on their creator. He believed robots were a tool like any other tool and we shouldn't fear robots turning on us.... In Asimov's world, robots were tools of positive, if misunderstood, good. So, what happened in the movie? Man creates robots who then turn on their creator. The movie was everything the author of the story thought was dreadful, stupid and silly. —MacAdvisor
Gotta agree. I'd add that, in I, Robot and the Elijah Bailey series of books, Asimov points out that, left to their own devices, with the Three Laws, robots are always looking at things with a benevolence never held by their human makers. The problems always come in when their human makers butt their oafish heads into the mix. The movie flips that on its head, and lambastes any points Asimov was trying to make. —Robert Hagaman

On the Beach

The author of this article should have a look at the book and the 2000 movie On the Beach. —pmarcantonio

Don't forget the original with Gregory Peck and Ava Gardner. They made it during the Cold War. —RobM111

Contact

Carl Sagan's Contact is one of my favorite books, and one of the books that I feel was best translated to the screen while staying true to the theme of the original. —DukeTG

The Illustrated Man

So The Illustrated Man isn't here? I can't understand how Starship Troopers, which is far and above one of the worst films I've ever seen, can be here, but The Illustrated Man somehow gets ignored. —Richard Veroszlinde

Jurassic Park

Jurassic Park was one of the few movies that I liked better than the book. Michael Crichton's characters were all strict stereotypes, but decent acting and excellent direction by Spielberg was able to move past the limitations of the book. —Anthony_F

The Andromeda Strain

I'd add The Andromeda Strain to the good list. —John Harden
The original movie. The remake was crapola! —krreagan

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

Its not sci-fi, but Hunter S. Thompson's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is a killer book and an even better film, thanks to the acid-trip visuals, Johnny Depp and Benicio Del Toro's hysterical acting and a pretty faithful adaptation of the book by director Terry Gilliam.

Logan, Short Film That Puts a Dark Spin on the Origin of Wolverine

Logan, a short film directed by fans Andreas Climent and André Hedetoft, puts an excellent dark Scandinavian spin on the origin and story of the Marvel Comics mutant character Wolverine.

A lone man locked inside a dark room is violently interrogated about his identity. When his captors finally find out who he is, they realize that he isn’t locked in with them, they are the ones locked in with him…

image via Logan Short Film

submitted via

A Custom Built Mecha Bowser Made Out of LEGO

Evergreen, Colorado LEGO enthusiast Zane Houston has custom built an incredible looking Mecha Bowser entirely out of LEGO for the Like A Boss contest on Flickr.

Years of battling Mario and Luigi has taken its toll on Bowser; to compensate he constructed this giant mechanical version of himself to do his bidding. Equipped with razor-sharp claws, spikes, and a flamethrower powerful enough to scorch that mustachio right off your face. Stay in your pipe, puny plumber!
This was a fun and challenging build for me; partly due to all the weird angles (especially the shell) and because this is my first build not using almost all dark bley so I was much more limited in my piece collection (and I used just about every yellow brick and slope I own). I hope you guys like it!

images

In Saturn’s Shadow, A Fantastic Image Captured by NASA’s Cassini

In October 2012, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft was perfectly placed in Saturn’s shadow and was able to capture this fantastic image, which has been titled

The End of the World as We Know It

The End by

A Blueprint: How to Build a Kaiju-Fighting Giant Robot

This blueprint shows the makeup of a massive kaiju-fighting Jaeger robot. (Click to enlarge)

Gigantic sea monsters, Godzilla, kaiju of all varieties — you just never know when you’re going to need a robot the size of a skyscraper to come bust up some gigantic beast from who knows where.

Luckily, we now have some blueprints to show us just how to make a kaiju-fightin’, population-protectin’ badass bot. These schematics, obtained by Wired, show everything that’s needed to build a Jaeger, like the giant robots used to defend Earth in Guillermo Del Toro’s upcoming movie Pacific Rim.

In these diagrams from the “Pan Pacific Defense Corps,” we see how the nuclear vortex turbine connects to the leg shaft, and how the leg shaft connects to the gyro-stabilizers, and how the gyro-stabilizer connects to the oceanic cooling vents, and so on. The schematics for the Gipsy Danger model Jaeger also show “conn-pods” and pilot rigs, a reactor core and something called a “plasmacaster,” which is capable of wounding and cauterizing kaiju anatomy and “sealing off toxic bleeds.”

A Robot That Plays Catch and Juggles With a Human Partner

This humanoid robot has been modified by researchers at Disney Research to play catch and juggle with a human partner. The robot uses a Microsoft Kinect controller to track the balls through the air, catching them with a mitt-like hand. The robot then tosses the ball back at the human partner (in juggle mode it does this very quickly). If the robot drops the ball, it performs a “failure animation,” such as shrugging its shoulders or shaking its head. The robot was developed for interactive entertainment research.

A Artist Makes Indoor Clouds Using a Fog Machine For Photo Series

These photos of miniature clouds floating in rooms are not faked. To create each photo, Dutch artist Berndnaut Smilde carefully adjusts the atmospheric conditions in the room before using a fog machine to unleash a cloud. The cloud lasts just long enough for Smilde to photograph it. To see how he does it, watch this behind the scenes video by Dutch newspaper Noordhollands Dagblad:

via

A Customizable Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device

The Customizable Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device at ThinkGeek is a 1:1 scale replica of the life-sized gun seen in the Portal video game series by Valve Corporation. You can fully customize the device with outer shell stickers and magnetic strips, switch the LED colors (red, orange, blue or purple) and let out a recognizable firing sound when the trigger is pulled. It is available to purchase at the ThinkGeek online store.

This life size, 1:1 scale replica of the Handheld Portal Device will make you feel like you’re really in the testing facility. Unlike previous versions, this one is fully customizable. One switch lets you toggle between the LED colors: red orange/yellow, blue, purple. The other lets you flip between color 1, color 2, and off. Set the switch to the type of portal you want and pull the trigger. Your chosen LED color will light and the firing sound will play. The Portal Device fits comfortably in one hand, freeing your off hand to hold your favorite talking potato or an ever-faithful Companion Cube.

and jesus wept...

 31 school shootings since Columbine...
 60,000 firearm deaths......
280,000,000 guns in the U.S.
and nothing will change......

The Lord of The Rings Poster Designs by Olly Moss

Artist Olly Moss has created two awesome The Lord of the Rings themed poster designs to celebrate The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey film coming out in theaters this week. A limited edition of both prints, produced by D&L Screenprinting, will be available to purchase at a random time on Thursday, December 13th at Mondo.

images via

Instant Regret, Extremely Hot Peanut Butter

 

Instant Regret is a type of crunchy peanut butter by Firebox that is described as “offensively hot.” It’s infused with capsaicin extracted from the King Naga chilli and to make it even hotter, they’ve added a dash of Habanero chilli extract. It measures 12 million SHU on the Scoville scale (super crazy hot).

Please Note:
HONESTLY, THIS REALLY IS HOTTER THAN WE EXPECTED. IT’S REALLY, REALLY HOT.
CAUTION: Hot Sauce contains extreme quantities of chilli and is not suitable for children, pets or the elderly.
CAUTION: Do not put in direct contact with eyes or downstairs area, and wash hands after handling.
CAUTION: This sauce has been made in a factory that regularly uses tree nuts and peanuts, although that’ll be the least of your worries once you try some.
DO NOT go overboard. Test your tolerance; otherwise you may ruin your BBQ.
DO NOT Give to unsuspecting people without warning, even if you don’t like them.
DO NOT Consume while driving or operating heavy machinery… or any machinery.
DO NOT Consume if you have a history of heart problems, chilli terror or any other concerns about spicy food.
DO NOT Consume without handy supplies of milk, yoghurt and other cooling food substances.
DO NOT Place on sensitive areas of unsuspecting people’s bodies.
Not suitable for children or persons under the age of 16… or over 16 for that matter.
OK, so you might be able to buy finer peanuts, but not many.

Man arms DIY drone with paintball handgun and shoots human cardboard cutouts

Milo Danger says:

Drones aren't just for the military and government anymore - regular citizens and makers are embracing drones at an amazing rate and creating some very interesting uses for this rapidly developing technology. Milo Danger designs, builds, flies & shoots an armed drone to determine just how safe - or dangerous - these machines are in the hands of a novice flyer.

Mark Frauenfelder is the founder

Post-Apocalyptic Sci-Fi Trailer Smackdown: Oblivion Versus After Earth

Two new trailers for upcoming sci-fi flicks offer wildly different visions of a future Earth. Neither looks particularly original, but both point to a planet pulsing with danger.
In Oblivion, Earth looks desolate after an alien invasion, a wasteland dotted with wrecked landscapes and malfunctioning machines. In After Earth, a boy finds himself in a Life of Pi-style fight for survival in a lush world filled with natural dangers akin to Avatar’s flora and fauna.

Tom Cruise works on a post-apocalyptic Earth in upcoming sci-fi film Oblivion.

Neither scenario looks very hospitable for the films’ protagonists, but which would be more life-threatening? And, perhaps more importantly, which speculative world will be home to the more captivating sci-fi story?
In Oblivion, Tom Cruise plays a drone repairman named Jack Harper. “Sixty years ago Earth was attacked,” says Harper in a voiceover in the trailer above, which was released over the weekend. “We won the war, but they destroyed half the planet. Everyone’s been evacuated. Nothing human remains.”
Nearing the end of a stint working in the harsh future environment — a career cliché if ever there was one — Harper soon discovers he’s not the only human on the planet. The trailer shows off plenty of slick-looking spacecraft before the usually comforting voice of Morgan Freeman delivers a menacing message. Then we get a terrifying glimpse of … something. Everything’s trashed and post-apocalyptic, which has led some to compare Oblivion to Wall-E.
By way of contrast, the world shown in After Earth looks beautiful, and the creatures on it look very Terran. The humans who crash-land on the planet — Cypher Raige and his son Kitai, first shown in a genuinely touching moment as a emergency ramps up aboard their spaceship — are played by real-life father and son Will and Jaden Smith.


In the After Earth trailer, embedded above, the elder Raige lays out the dangers ready to be encountered in the forests of the future. “This is a Class 1 quarantined planet,” Cypher says. “The threats we will be facing are real. Everything on this planet has evolved to kill humans.” Kitai encounters many wild beasts as his father’s reassuring voice outlines the difference between fear and danger, outlining what looks like a classic coming-of-age tale.
What you won’t get from either of these new teaser trailers is a smack in the face with the filmmakers’ names — there’s no glimpse of the wearisome “from the visionary director of” tagline here.
But the films are both coming from marquee directors, albeit ones hoping to bounce back from disappointing films. For Oblivion, that’s Joseph Kosinski, whose directorial debut, Tron Legacy, showcased a stunning visual style but failed to tell a compelling story. For After Earth, the man at the helm is M. Night Shyamalan, a talented director who’s on a bit of a losing streak (The Last Airbender, The Happening). Shyamalan co-wrote the After Earth screenplay with Stephen Gaghan (Syriana, Traffic).
Will either of these films deliver the kind of brain-teasing, soul-stirring story that make all the epic visuals worthwhile? We’ll have to wait till next year to see: Oblivion opens in April and After Earth follows in June

Cartoonish Coffins by Olaf Breuning

New York City-based artist Olaf Breuning hired Ghanaian casket artisans to make him these cartoonish coffins back in 2004. The coffins include a chocolate bar, snowman, and melting popsicle. Colorful fantasy coffins, which are as much sculptures as caskets, are a traditional feature of Ghanaian funeral culture. We’ve previously posted some of Breuning’s other humorous artworks.

via Beautiful/Decay & Neatorama

photos

things get ya killed in Leviticus

Milan - detail from facade of Duomo - Expulsion from Paradise. Image: Shutterstock.

An oldie but goodie single-purpose Tumblr listing things banned in Leviticus, the banny-est of all scriptures. The sex stuff you can imagine (no bonking animals, dudes if you are a dude, divorcées, your grandmother, or your own children), but here are some particularly weird non-sex items in the list:

• Eating any animal which walks on all four and has paws (good news for cats) (11:27)
• Picking up grapes that have fallen in your vineyard (19:10)
• Mixing fabrics in clothing (19:19)
• Cross-breeding animals (19:19)
• Eating fruit from a tree within four years of planting it (19:23)
• Trimming your beard (19:27)
• Getting tattoos (19:28)
• Not standing in the presence of the elderly (19:32)
• Mistreating foreigners – “the foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born” (19:33-34)
• Using dishonest weights and scales (19:35-36)
• Blasphemy (punishable by stoning to death) (24:14)
• Selling land permanently