Death By Lens Flare: Drink Into Darkness

The latest installment of Star Trek warps into theaters this weekend, compressing decades of canon into an action-oriented thrill ride. Regardless of whether or not you like what J.J. Abrams has done with the franchise, he has left an indelible lens-flared mark on it. Among Trekkies like myself, there is a game going around capitalizing on Abrams? flare for flare.

Let?s play Drink Into Darkness.

Lens flare typically occurs when you film an intense light source, and some of that light reflects and ricochets off the imperfections of the camera lens. It?s easy to create when shooting something like the Sun, but you can also induce it artificially with extra lights and mirrors. Abrams admits that he used extra flashlights and mirrors to create the numerous flares in 2009?s Star Trek. In fact, he used this technique so many times that he created his own meme.

To play the game, get to your local theater and surreptitiously bring in your favorite drink. We are going to take a sip every time we see a lens flare. If the 2009 movie was any indication, you are going to have a lot of fun playing Drink Into Darkness, or die.

Set Phasers to Stun

Now, I assume that anyone who chooses to play this game will drink responsibly, but what if you didn?t? What if a person actually took a sip of alcohol every time they saw a lens flare in Star Trek Into Darkness, as per the game stumbling around social media?

First, we have to assume a few variables. As alcohol content and body weight play huge roles in determining how drunk you get, I?ll use average US male and female weights, as well as an average beverage with 12% alcohol by volume (like wine). We?ll be conservative and only take a sip (a teaspoon) each time we see a flare. Next, we need the number of lens flares. One intrepid Trekkie counted 1,013 lens flares in the first film, so we?ll go by that standard (others have counted less, but let?s party). Lastly, it depends how fast you play the game, so we?ll assume you start at the beginning of Darkness and stop 127 minutes later.

With so many lens flares, you are going to get wasted, but we have to calculate just how wasted. Using our variables, we can plug them into the formula that the American Prosecutors Research Institute uses to determine blood alcohol content (BAC) in DUI cases.

Laying it all out over the course of the film, you get a graph that looks like this:

With so many lens flares, you?d be sipping on your drink about eight times per minute. At this rate, neither men nor women would make it out alive. But because body weight plays a big role in BAC, men would at least make it past the first act before their breathing fails. Men make it 85 minutes before trekking into darkness while women only make it about half that. That?s what happens when you beam over five liters of alcohol into your system.

People have made it past the 0.5% BAC cut-off that I used here?some even past 1%. But the 0.5% rule holds generally; if you don?t die outright you will probably be poisoned.

Of course, I am assuming a constant stream of flares, a certain kind of beverage, and that you are dumb enough to keep drinking even when you can?t feel feelings anymore. You could always just stop in the safe range, but then you still have a lot of ?not the Star Trek I know and love? to get through.

If you are dead-set on playing Drink Into Darkness, a Trekkie who wants to get tanked, you will end up a literal die-hard fan.

Image Credit:

Screenshot of a beaten-up Kirk from the Memory-Alpha Wiki, Graph by me.

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Watch a Column Emerge From a Block of Marble During an Ocean Voyage

It can take months for a cargo ship to cross from China to Europe. Over the course of the journey, it?s increasingly common for companies to transform ships into floating factories, where workers take advantage of the long crossing to complete a contract en route.

Read more...

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/MbOhkx8zoZ0/watch-a-column-emerge-from-a-block-of-marble-during-an-505922029

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Confessions Of A Web Editor ? An Inside Look | iPixel Creative ...

I?ve had many people ask me what I do for a living, and it?s quite difficult to explain. You see, I work from the ?comforts of home? and deal more with words and emails over the Web rather than face-to-face (with people). From an outsider?s point of view, that sounds like a sweet deal. You don?t have to face clients, your boss, your managers or your recruits (sounds like freelancing, doesn?t it?).

(Image Source: lnfectedxangelic)

Everyone asks me if I know of more jobs like this. In my head, I?d say, "No, thank goodness there isn?t any." Before you click away, trust me when I say this is not your typical tips to work from home type of write-up. In fact, it?s more of a horror story, less goth, more blood. When you have been in my position long enough (which in fact isn?t very long by Web standards), you realize the weirder sides of things from working online as a web editor ? things like:

Recommended Reading: Useful Tips And Guidelines To Freelance Writing

Time flies

You know how it is when parents get together and say, "oh how time flies", your kids are now in college and retirement is the next stage in life? This is different. On the Internet, time moves a lot quicker. Unlike the regular 9-to-5, unless you set your own routine, you blink once it?s Wednesday, blink twice and it?s Sunday. Ironically, the opposite is the same, spend a year on the Web and it feels like it?s been four.

(Image Source: janussyndicate)

Information covered two days ago is considered ?old?, and there is a perpetual need to always be on top of a new trend, news story or product release. In the same period it takes for you to mail a letter by post, you?d probably have gone through 6 different revolutions, uprising or scandals online. The Internet runs on a different time scale and whenever you get off the Web and check the calendar, sometimes you get a shock of how far into the year you?ve been.

What to Expect/Do

Have a routine. Always run reality checks by leaving the house, going for a run, catching up with friends or reading the newspaper (the kind that doesn?t update itself, and you can lend to someone else without fearing they?d run off with it).

Everyone hates you

This is true. If you?ve been on the Web long enough, you?d notice that hatred is the most widespread emotion you will come across. Apparently for most keyboard warriors, there are plenty of things to hate, an artist who turns up late for a concert, open letters that usually fight for a cause, even small erors (see that?) on blogposts get strongly worded emails.

(Image Source: BenHeine)

There isn?t really a reason behind it, some people just like to hate. It?s a perversion of the quote by Oscar Wilde,

"Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth."

Today?s man (and woman) is also full of unbridled hatred and a passion to be in someone?s face, virtually. Everyone has an opinion they would ?virtually die for?, and there?s nothing you can do to change their opinion, even if they want to change yours.

What to Expect/Do

Be prepared to take criticism even when you are not asking for any. If you cannot take criticism from people on the Internet, then you are better off working outside of it. Honestly, it?s not worth it. You can?t be angry all the time.

You Are Your Own Manager

If freedom is the reason you want to work from home, then the first few months will be very rough for you. There is no such thing as freedom ? what there is, is self-control, discipline and a lot of sacrifices.

You will notice a need for all this when you hear yourself give your reasons (or excuses) to clients or your boss when things are not getting done: I was distracted; The deadline is still a week off, I didn?t know the client wanted an early draft; I have to help with my daughter?s recital costume etc.

If you hated your strict supervisor in your last job, well you are going to miss the rigid atmosphere that he or she set up to allow you to work and achieve your goals. That kind of setting was optimized so you can focus on the task at hand.

Recommended Reading: 10 Tips To Make ?Working From Home? Work For You

No distractions, no calls from home, no interruptions inside that 9-to-5 zone. Your hands are tied but you get work done. And at the end of the day that is what clients and bosses look for: accomplishments.

What to Expect/Do

Be disciplined, deliver the goods, or go back the environment that allows you to do both. When will you know? When nothing gets done.

Scammers are everywhere

When receiving guest contributions (a lot of you are amazing writers by the way), I?ve come across a relatively small group of people who would do anything and everything to get a post on the site, anything except give good, original content.

Make A Stand

As an editor, it is very important to appreciate the effort your writers put into their writing. It is also equally important to demand it. Having worked with so many talented, hardworking people, I have little to no respect for writers who copy content from one site and try to pass it off as their own on another site.

As writers, we should show professional courtesy to a fellow member of the same trade, e.g. credit the person who came up with the original idea, give them a backlink to the site, mention them by name sometimes. Creativity is rare enough as it is, let?s try to not kill it off before we all stop writing altogether.

But perhaps they have their reason to resort to these actions: maybe they cannot come up with original content, maybe they think that rewording is acceptable (to them) or maybe they are literally practicing the "imitation is the best form of flattery? bit.

Go With Your Gut

Regardless of the reason, the bad thing about this is they will go with it until you catch them in the act. Sometimes you do, sometimes you don?t. But the repercussions exist ? and they hurt your reputation and your brand more than it does themselves.

Working from behind a computer screen, it?s hard to look for clues. In real life, you can study body languages, notice the pitches, stammers, and a-second-too-long replies, but not when all you have is text. So what is there for an editor to do? Roll with the punches and pray that that gut instinct of yours kicks in when it needs to.

What to Expect/Do

Be very careful(?). (I have no idea actually. I usually wait for my guts and/or short fuse to tell me what to do. Maybe you have a better idea).

It?s the People

For what it?s worth, working on the Web is really fun. You get to meet and communicate with a lot of enthusiastic people who are doing great things with their lives. No where else can you find an environment where there are so many young and old self-starters who would not let age, language or educational background limit them.

It?s an environment where only the strong and the persistent will survive, where prejudice and discrimination take a backseat to ?making things happen?. If you have a dream you want made come true, and you are working on the Web, you?re in the right place.

Source: http://www.ipixel.com.sg/blog/web-design/confessions-of-a-web-editor-an-inside-look/

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GWH News and Notes: April 28 I Believe in Wrestling event in ...

April 28 I Believe in Wrestling event in Orlando, FL

From Brian Slack:

?

I Believe in Wrestling will be at the Team Vision Dojo in Orlando, FL on April 28th. Advertised: JD Amazing defends the Florida Heavyweight championship against QT Marshall. Chasyn Rance defends the Florida Cruiserweight championship against Lince Dorado in a hair vs. mask match. "The Living Legend" Larry Zbyszko & Tim Zbyszko vs. Josh Hess & Justine Silver. Also scheduled to appear are Santana Garrett, Donovan Terrell, CJ O'Doyle, Aaron Epic, Maxwell Chicago, Wayne Van Dyke, Chico Adams, Gus Money, Carlos Rivera, Gersom Sanchez. Tickets are $10. Doors open at 4:30 and bell time is at 5:00. For more information call (407)334-2000.

Source: http://www.gwhnews.com/2013/04/april-28-i-believe-in-wrestling-event.html

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HTC Desire L revealed in Taiwan: 4.3-inch display, low-end specs, nostalgic branding

Despite all of HTC's talk about unified branding in the West, the company's model names are still diverse when looked at from a planet-wide perspective. This newest phone, the Desire L, appears to be a Taiwan-destined version of China's One SU, with the same low-end specs -- including a 4.3-inch 800 x 480 SLCD2 display, dual-core 1GHz processor and 5MP camera -- but a distinctly pre-One moniker. It's different strokes for different folks, just as with the Butterfly and Droid DNA -- though only a chosen few can boast the added distinction of coming in pink.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, HTC

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Via: Android Police (Twitter)

Source: HTC (Taiwanese)

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/nlmzH0IkSis/

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Texas fertilizer plant: Why was the blast so enormous?

The explosion at a Texas fertilizer plant had the force of a magnitude 2.1 quake. Here's a look at how the combination of fire and materials at the facility could have produced the blast.

By Pete Spotts,?Staff writer / April 18, 2013

A firefighter stands on a rail line and surveys the remains of a fertilizer plant destroyed by an explosion in West, Texas, Thursday. A massive explosion at the West Fertilizer Co. killed as many as 15 people and injured more than 160, officials said overnight.

LM Otero/AP

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Rescuers are combing through leveled homes and apartment buildings in the hunt for survivors following Wednesday night's fire and explosion at a small fertilizer and grain-storage company near Waco, Texas.

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Initial estimates put the number of fatalities at up to 15, with more than 160 people injured. The blast had enough energy to trip US Geological Survey seismographs as a magnitude 2.1 quake.

How did such a powerful explosion happen?

The plant in question, West Fertilizer Co., is said to have had some 54,000 pounds of anhydrous ammonia on-site, a key ingredient in making ammonium nitrate, which is widely used as fertilizer. It's also used in cold packs, as rocket fuel, and as an explosive.

The fire would have affected each compound in different ways, specialists say.

Typically, anhydrous ammonia, a gas, is stored in tanks with relief valves so that as hot weather heats the gas and it expands, the valves vent some of the gas to prevent it from bursting its tank, explains Matt Pearson, fertilizer containment and certification specialist with the Office of Indiana State Chemist & Seed Commissioner, based at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind.

The explosion could have occurred in part as heat from the fire caused the gas to expand far faster than relief valves could vent it. Direct ignition of the gas is unlikely, Mr. Pearson suggests, because the gas burns only at very high temperatures ? about 1,200 degrees F.

Ammonium nitrate may be the more likely candidate in the explosion.

In small quantities, the white pellets won't detonate, notes Ronald Willey, a chemical engineering professor at Northeastern University in Boston. Many drugstore cold packs use the compound because, when water is also put in the packs, the mixture absorbs heat from its surroundings.

But the compound begins to decompose into nitrous oxide and water when heated to temperatures above 150 degrees F. ? a process that itself releases heat. If temperatures rise to about 400 degrees F. or higher, as in a fire, decomposition can become explosive.

Indeed, the largest industrial accident in US history involved 2,300 tons of ammonium nitrate tucked in the hold of a cargo ship in Texas City in 1947. The ship was to deliver the fertilizer to Europe. A fire broke out onboard, and after about an hour of fruitless efforts to battle the blaze, the ammonium nitrate exploded.

The blast triggered more explosions and fires, including a blast on a nearby ship that also was carrying ammonium nitrate. The death toll has been estimated at 581 or more.

Shortly after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon in 2001, a fertilizer factory in Toulouse, France, exploded. The blast involved between 200 and 300 tons of ammonium nitrate pellets. Some 31 people died and more than 2,400 were injured. The blast left an enormous crater ? and a cleanup bill that reportedly reached 3.2 billion euros.

In the case of the explosion in the small community of West, the plant itself was destroyed, along with up to 75 homes, a middle school, and a nursing home in a four-block area nearby.

West Fertilizer Co. is bounded on the east by farmland. But to the west, a single set of railroad tracks is all that separated the facility from homes and the middle school.

Records from the US Environmental Protection Agency show that in 2006, the agency fined West Fertilizer Co. for having an inadequate plan to deal with risks at the site, according local press reports. The same year, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality issued a citation to the company for failing to apply for or qualify for a permit, after residents nearby complained about strong ammonia odors.

Following Wednesday's explosion, the US Chemical Safety Board and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives have sent investigators to determine a cause.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/hJmnRRv_QyI/Texas-fertilizer-plant-Why-was-the-blast-so-enormous

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Unknown number killed in Texas plant explosion

WEST, Texas (AP) ? A spokesman for the Texas Department of Public Safety says an unknown number of people were killed in a massive explosion at a fertilizer plant near Waco.

D.L. Wilson says it will be some time before authorities know the full extent of the loss of life and damage caused by Wednesday night's blast at the plant in West, about 20 miles north of Waco.

The explosion at West Fertilizer happened shortly before 8 p.m. and damaged buildings for blocks in every direction.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/unknown-number-killed-texas-plant-explosion-051223764.html

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