Following up on the Fairground Mixer released last year, Lego has just introduced another set that is sure to make you nostalgic for a childhood spent getting sick on carnival rides. Its new Lego Creator Ferris Wheel is almost two-feet tall and features twelve suspended gondalas capable of taking the ten included minifigs for a magical ride.
Have you ever wanted to play a classic 90s video game inside a tweet? Neither have I. But now, thanks to the Internet Archive, you can embed over 2,400 free MS-DOS games directly into tweets. Is it useful? I’m not sure. Is it awesome. Yup!
Today Epic Games and Valve have announced Unreal Engine 4 support for SteamVR with the HTC Vive virtual reality headset. While we’ve worked with an experienced Unreal Engine 4 with Oculus (to great effect) before, today Tim Sweeney, founder and CEO of Epic, suggests that Epic is extremely pumped up to move forward with development tools for SteamVR as well. … Continue reading
The beloved iFixit has already torn the Apple Watch apart, but those teardowns are meant to gauge repairability, not get gritty with the details on specs. While we might glean a thing or two from them, the overall aim is to let us know how much of a pain in the wallet it’s going to be when we bust our … Continue reading
Elon Musk may be the most famous tech billionaire with an interest in spaceflight, but he’s certainly not the only one. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos also has a company, Blue Origin, which is doing similar research into reusable craft to get us to-and-fr…
The partnership between tech giants Apple and IBM, which began last year, isn’t just about playing nice with each other. In Japan, the two companies just announced an initiative that will deliver up to 5 million iPads to Japanese senior citizens, at …
The latest in crazy selfie-taking gadgets is this weird fiberglass Selfie Arm that will make it look like you are not alone, even though you are. And this is exactly why you are alone! Who does that? Put the arm down and go find yourself a human companion!
Artists Aric Snee and Justin Crowe created this ridiculous gadget for the sad and forever alone. Think of it as a selfie stick and dummy arm in one. It creates the illusion that you have a friend who is taking the shot, which of course you don’t. What do you expect? You are taking a selfie with a dummy arm!
If you ever see anyone with this in public, either run for your life or give them a hug. They could use some human contact.
[via designboom via Laughing Squid]
At the gathering of The HSUS’s Board of Directors and National Council this past weekend in Philadelphia, it was impossible not to notice perhaps the tallest and most recognizable building on the city skyline from the broad window of our meeting room. This skyscraper is the home of Aramark, the largest U.S.-based food service company, with sales topping $15 billion. Aramark has become a remarkable partner with The HSUS, and today, I am so pleased to announce that the company itself has reached new heights when it comes to animal welfare – announcing a game-changing set of new policies to improve the lives of animals in its supply chain and setting the bar even higher for other corporate players in the world of food service and retail.
The Fortune 500 company–which runs the dining operations at thousands of schools and other institutions across the country–is tackling three key area where industrial agriculture has been badly failing in its production model: intensive confinement, painful procedures and practices, and unnaturally fast growth.
On confinement, the company is eliminating from its supply chain all cages for laying hens (within five years), gestation crates for mother pigs (within two years), and crates for veal calves (within two years). Aramark’s policy will ensure that millions of animals won’t ever know the suffering that comes from a lifetime inside a cage.
Especially within the pork, cattle, and dairy sectors, amputating parts of the animals’ bodies–without pain relief–is the norm, including castration, tail docking, and dehorning. Aramark sees this as unacceptable and is now working with its suppliers to either eliminate these practices or, at a minimum, use pain killers while its suppliers explore alternatives. For chickens and turkeys, the most painful acute welfare assault happens at slaughter when they’re dumped, shackled, and dunked upside down in an electrified bath while fully conscious – and Aramark is now going to work with its suppliers to end that archaic method of slaughter, as well.
The company is also addressing the hidden yet serious problem of unnatural growth forced upon farm animals, by eliminating the harmful feed additives and hormones pumped into cattle and pigs, including rBGH, zilpaterol hydrochloride, and ractopamine. It is reaffirming its commitment of refusing to buy foie gras, and will now work with its chicken and turkey suppliers to address welfare issues associated with genetic selection for rapid growth, which produces chronic pain and a lack of mobility in the animals.
The collaboration of Aramark and The HSUS may be one of the best examples to date of how a for-profit and non-profit can work cohesively to build a more humane society. In contributing to a humane economy, Aramark is making animal welfare a core tenet of its business model. My hat’s off to the company’s determined and caring staff for making the world a kinder place and reminding the nation that the biggest companies in the world can take bold action to help animals.
Support the work of The HSUS’ Farm Animal Protection campaign »
This article first appeared on Wayne Pacelle’s blog, A Humane Nation.
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As journalists, we dutifully report on what’s going wrong, from scandals and corruption to natural disasters and social problems. But far too often the media fails to show the whole picture, neglecting to tell the stories of what is working. From scientific breakthroughs to successful crime-reduction initiatives, the What’s Working Honor Roll highlights some of the best reporting and analysis, from a range of media outlets, on all the ways people are working toward solutions to some of our greatest challenges.
FiveThirtyEight: An Ex-Cop Keeps The Country’s Best Data Set On Police Misconduct
While politicians and officials struggle with ways to better monitor police behavior and cut down on police violence, one former officer is already taking major steps to hold cops accountable.
Criminologist Philip M. Stinson of Bowling Green State University has created a database unlike any other of police arrests, shootings, violence and other police crimes since 2005. Powered by Google Alerts, Stinson’s data collection also includes court records, videos and a comprehensive breakdown of officers by age and experience.
Stinson became interested in the topic in 2004 when he realized that there was little to no government tracking of police wrongdoing. His system now tracks some 270 different variables and has recorded 11,000 cases of officers being arrested. It is arguably the best out there.
“This isn’t anti-police,” he told FiveThirtyEight. “I hope to write papers and get things published that are helpful to law enforcement, not that bash law enforcement.”
His expertise and research have been used by a number of top news organizations to report on police misconduct. Like The Washington Post’s story earlier this month, which stated that of the thousands of deadly police shootings since 2005, only 54 officers have been charged. Stinson’s analytics are helping to surface and spread these stories, so that the issue is understood on a national level and officials can more effectively address the problem.
MORE:
The Fish Site: Two UK Cities Become World’s First Sustainable Fish Cities
PRI: An American surgeon pioneers surgery for kids in Uganda that helps kids in the US
If you know a story you think should be on our Honor Roll, please send an email to our editor Catherine Taibi via catherine.taibi@huffingtonpost.com with the subject line “WHAT’S WORKING.”
— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
By Alyssa Bird for Architectural Digest.
(photos: courtesy of Ashford Castle)
Few settings are more majestic than that of Ashford Castle, a 13th-century stronghold turned hotel presiding over 350 lush acres on the shores of Lough Corrib in western Ireland. The 82-room property recently reopened after a head-to-toe refurbishment, its volumes now enriched with custom-made wall coverings, antique artworks, and windows and period furnishings dressed in Brunschwig & Fils fabrics. The interiors weren’t the only spaces to receive the royal treatment: The tennis courts, falconry center, nine-hole golf course, and gardens have also been meticulously spruced up. From $240/night; ashfordcastle.com.
The hotel’s Connaught Room serves a traditional afternoon tea.
One of the hotel’s staterooms.
A guest room at the hotel.
Read more: Inside the Real-Life Castle Behind Downton Abbey
A stateroom bath.
The grand lobby.
A Lake View deluxe room.
More from Architectural Digest:
The Most Spectacular Libraries Around the World
New York City’s Most Beautiful Abandoned Spaces
Magical Photographs of Versailles
Inside Sarah Jessica Parker’s Epic East Village Townhouse
The World’s Most Popular Landmarks, Then and Now
Truly Inspiring Bedroom Designs
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