RIP FriendFeed

louisgray.com: FriendFeed's Closure Another Painful Loss from a Vibrant Era of Social Media:

Amidst all the Apple watch hoopla today, FriendFeed's blog announced the long-ignored social networking pioneer was finally going to be taken out back behind Facebook's brilliant new campus and be put down for good.

Linsanity was foretold?

Friendfeed's Jimminy has prompted me to break out the ff embedder after a long hiatus:

Dalek-O'-Lantern

Building a Robotic Dalek Pumpkin - Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories

Best. Pumpkin. Ever.

Undying thanks to Friendfeed's Soup in a Tardis for sharing.

Blue sky and clouds for dessert

Unplugged Project ~ Sky @ Huber Hof Academy

Picture via Unplugged Project

I'm always trying to think of reasons to add maraschino cherries to things, so I immediately thought, "a strategically placed upside-down cherry with the stem still attached could look like an escaped balloon in there." Natch.

Via Friendfeed's comix

Cruel and unusual punishment

US prisoners refused all books except Bible | Books | guardian.co.uk:

Image via the Guardian

Prisoners at a jail in South Carolina are being denied any reading material other than the Bible, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.

Wrong on so many levels.

Via Friendfeed's Henry Winckelmann 

Let Cream be your sleep consultants (Not Friendfeed's Louis Gray)

How Little Sleep Can You Get Away With? - NYTimes.com:

So, for most of us, eight hours of sleep is excellent and six hours is no good, but what about if we split the difference? What is the threshold below which cognitive function begins to flag? While Dinges’s study was under way, his colleague Gregory Belenky, then director of the division of neuroscience at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research in Silver Spring, Md., was running a similar study. He purposely restricted his subjects to odd numbers of sleep hours — three, five, seven and nine hours — so that together the studies would offer a fuller picture of sleep-restriction. Belenky’s nine-hour subjects performed much like Dinges’s eight-hour ones. But in the seven-hour group, their response time on the P.V.T. slowed and continued to do so for three days, before stabilizing at lower levels than when they started. Americans average 6.9 hours on weeknights, according to the National Sleep Foundation. Which means that, whether we like it or not, we are not thinking as clearly as we could be.

Sing about it, boys:

Updated: Since the original embed disappeared, here's a link to a reunion version.

King of Rabbits: Ancient, Gigantic Bunny Discovered (Or, you may be spending too much time on Friendfeed if this makes you think of Steven Perez.)

King of Rabbits: Ancient, Gigantic Bunny Discovered | Island Gigantism | Rabbit Fossils | LiveScience:

Nuralagus rex. (Image via LiveScience)

Just in time for Easter, the skeleton of a giant rabbit has been discovered, one that was once about six times the size of today's bunnies.

The fossils of the giant were discovered on the island of Minorca off the coast of Spain, a fact reflected in the rabbit's scientific name, Nuralagus rex, 'the Minorcan king of the rabbits.'

The Hoan Kiem lake turtle in peril.

Vietnamese rush to save Hanoi's sacred turtle:

Image via SF Gate.

Some experts fear pollution at Hoan Kiem Lake is killing the giant freshwater turtle, which has a soft shell the size of a desk. It is one of the world's most endangered species, with only four known to be alive worldwide.

A little more background from Wikipedia.

Via FriendFeed's Anne Bouey 

13-year-old California girl fled home to escape arranged marriage in Pakistan

California girl fled to escape arranged marriage | Reuters: 

Jessie Marie Bender, 13.

(Reuters) - A 13-year-old Southern California girl who ran away from home to escape an arranged marriage in Pakistan has been taken into protective custody by child welfare authorities, police said on Thursday.

And, don't miss the obvious: what's wrong for fair-skinned, blue-eyed California girls is just as wrong for Pakistani girls. You can take your religious tolerance, respect for other cultures, or whatever you want to call it, if you're harboring such a feeling, and shove it. That girls brought up in a culture where they're brainwashed their whole (young) lives into believing this is acceptable may not know enough to resist, or have a single adult caregiver to stand up for them, does not make it right.

Via FriendFeed's CW™

"We're just traffic in between, you and I / And, if I knew my way, well, I'd be there / Now wouldn't I?"

This made me smile:

Monkey bead is awesome.

Lots of talented folks on FriendFeed, from photographers to ukulele players and almost anything you can think of in between. As a lover of monkeys though, I was extra impressed by this:

The Mucinex Mauler?: Teen Shoots, Hacks Gay Roommate To Death

BRUTAL MURDER: Teen Shoots Hacks Gay Roommate To Death After He 'Turned Straight Again' / Queerty:

Some people are mentally disturbed. And then there is Michael Anderson (pictured), a 19-year-old North Carolina man, who called 911 and told the dispatcher he had taken Mucinex cough medicine and then hacked his gay roommate to death with an axe after shooting him. 

Related: DXM

Via Friendfeed's Derrick. 

Beatle John Lennon meets Dalek

Beatle John Lennon meets Dalek | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

The quality of this photo illustrates why, a thousand years
from now, historians will think Scottie Pippen was a Beatle.

Via Friendfeed's Kevin Johnson.

Ancient Britons 'drank from skulls' (Don't give Danzig any ideas!)

BBC News - Ancient Britons 'drank from skulls':

Skullcup

The braincases from three individuals were fashioned in such a meticulous way that their use as bowls to hold liquid seems the only reasonable explanation.

Via Friendfeed's Eivind.

"He'd've looked you up and down and licked lips and gone grinning from ear to ear ..."

Maltese Falcon Alleyway located in San Francisco, California, US | Atlas Obscura | Curious and Wondrous Travel Destinations:

Image via Atlas Obscura.

In this alley you will find a plaque that could easily be mistaken for a record of historical importance. The plaque reads 'On approximately this spot, Miles Archer, partner of Sam Spade, was done in by Brigid O'Shaughnessy.' Of course Miles Archer, Sam Spade and Brigid O'Shaughnessy are not historical characters, but the creations of author Dashiell Hammett, and the death of Miles Archer just a moment in the film 'The Maltese Falcon.'

Via Friendfeed's Iván Abrego.

Sleep Debt Snatches

The hidden dangers of sleep deprivation | Life and style | The Guardian: 

But new research published this week says that lack of sleep can harm us in more direct ways than, say, falling asleep at the wheel of a car. Researchers at Warwick medical school published a study in the European Heart Journal that linked disrupted sleep patterns to major health problems. 'If you sleep less than six hours a night and have disturbed sleep you stand a 48% greater chance of developing or dying from heart disease and a 15% greater chance of developing or dying from a stroke,' said lead author Professor Francesco Cappuccio.

1. I'm still walking a tightrope here, even with the CPAP machine addressing my sleep apnea. My first New Year's Resolution: stop staying up late to watch movies on week nights.
2. Somebody please make sure Friendfeed's Louis Gray is paying attention.

Doctor Who Infographic (Anybody want a Jelly Baby?)

All sizes | Doctor Who Infographic | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Via Friendfeed's Bluesun 2600

The ominous (?!) rise of amateur ornithology

3,000 dead black birds and the ominous rise of amateur ornithology. - By Nathan Heller - Slate Magazine:

In fact, the re-emergence of bird-watching in the culture's limelight is an ominous thing—though not because of anything the birder does. The hobby rose to popularity in the unrest of the nuclear era, and it points toward a looming fear of ecological apocalypse. This makes sense. For bird-watchers, who are trying to keep track of the natural world without leaving a trace—to conquer nature without smothering it—the struggle not to uncoil one's strength destructively is constant. Birding is a steam valve for anxiety about nuclear-age strength and habits. Its prominence today can be seen as a measure of quiet alarm.

 I should ask FriendFeed's John (a.k.a. dendroica) if he's feeling anxious.

Century-old scotch returned from Antarctic trip

Century-old scotch returned from Antarctic trip - Technology & science - Science - msnbc.com:

Image via the Daily Dust.

The bottles are linked to famed explorer Ernest Shackleton's Nimrod expedition in 1907. They were found last year in a crate that had been buried beneath a basic hut Shackleton had used during his dramatic excursion, more formally known as the British Antarctic Expedition.

Via FriendFeed's CW™ 

Swiss whistleblower Rudolf Elmer plans to hand over offshore banking secrets of the rich and famous to WikiLeaks

Swiss whistleblower Rudolf Elmer plans to hand over offshore banking secrets of the rich and famous to WikiLeaks | Media | The Observer:

The offshore bank account details of 2,000 'high net worth individuals' and corporations – detailing massive potential tax evasion – will be handed over to the WikiLeaks organisation in London tomorrow by the most important and boldest whistleblower in Swiss banking history, Rudolf Elmer, two days before he goes on trial in his native Switzerland.

Via FriendFeed's Henry Winckelmann