Just a few hours ago, private space agency Blue Origin conducted a fourth launch of its New Shepard rocket, once again successfully landing in an upright position after reaching the edge of space. This launch, which took place at roughly 10:30am ET, also saw several ‘firsts,’ including Blue Origin live streaming the whole event, as well as the crew capsule … Continue reading
NASA is working to shape the future of air transport, it has announced that it’s conducting research on a unique plane that’s powered by 14 electric motors. The plane NASA is working on is called X-57 or “Maxwell,” and it’s the agency’s first X-plane in nearly a decade. The plan with this project is to develop technologies that reduce emissions, reduce noise, and increase fuel efficiency.
“With the return of piloted X-planes to NASA’s research capabilities – which is a key part of our 10-year-long New Aviation Horizons initiative – the general aviation-sized X-57 will take the first step in opening a new era of aviation,” said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden.
NASA has named this plane after Jams Clerk Maxwell, the 19th century Scottish physicist, is going to be built by the Scalable Convergent Electric Propulsion Technology Operations Research (Sceptor) project. The plane is a modified Tecnam P2006T that’s kitted with 14 electric motors for propulsion.
The idea is to prove that using that many motors will reduce the amount of energy needed for the plan to reach a cruising speed of 175mph.
It’s obviously going to take a lot of time before this experiment leads to something concrete that can be used to replace existing planes, nevertheless, the work continues to craft a greener and more sustainable future.
NASA Testing Hybrid Plane With 14 Electric Motors , original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.
Mariah Carey just gave John Legend and Chrissy Teigen a night they’ll never forget.
During her performance in Las Vegas on Saturday, Carey brought the R&B singer up onstage for a very special moment, and it was awesome. While she sang the song “Touch My Body,” Legend enthusiastically jumped onto a bed and one of Carey’s dancers blindfolded him. Carey then proceeded to tease him with a hot pink feather, as you do.
Legend appeared to be having a great time — and was a really good sport.
Meanwhile, Legend’s wife was in the crowd loving the whole thing:
Same, Chrissy.
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NEW YORK – On Thursday, June 16th and Friday, June 17th, 50-something Jewish women, Ronna Glickman & Beverly Ginsberg (“You’ll Do A Little Better Next Time: A Guide to Marriage and Re-marriage for Jewish Singles”) hosted a live-show-version of their podcast, “Ronna & Beverly” in New York.
The Friday show was available to live stream at the time of the event, with the option to “watch again” if you missed it at 7pm.
How hysterically funny are @RonnaAndBeverly? Guest star @julieklausner can’t. even. #womenpodcasters #WerkIt pic.twitter.com/kwo2rxZxcA
— ruthannharnisch (@ruthannharnisch) June 18, 2016
According to The Greene Space, “the taping is part of WNYC Studios’ Werk It podcast festival, bringing together women in audio and digital media who are looking to hone their skills, meet others in their field, and learn from peers and experienced industry professionals.”
I was a guest on Ronna & Beverly’s show at the Bell House. It was unbelievable. I feel transformed. @RonnaAndBeverly are all-time funniest.
— scharpling (@scharpling) June 17, 2016
Bummed about missing the sold out show? It’s your lucky (Sun)day! The Friday live event was taped in high definition for your at-home streaming pleasure.
The video features interviews with Julie Klausner (creator and writer of Hulu Comedy “Difficult People”) and comedian Wyatt Cenac. Julie Klausner has a brilliant podcast of her own, “How Was Your Week.” Unfortunately, Thursday’s podcast with America’s Sweetheart, Tom Scharpling (“The Best Show” podcast) was not recorded.
“If it hadn’t been for Patton Oswalt, by the way, I would not be doing [“How Was Your Week with Julie Klausner”]. He very publicly suggested that I do a podcast, about [December 2010]. I hadn’t thought about it until then. And sometimes that’s all it takes – that’s a good reminder of how friends can be motivating. Every once in awhile you get encouragement or you get something that isn’t competitive or guilt-inducing from your peers, and it just turns a little light on. It makes it so the work that you do isn’t isolating and horrible. There are people who make your life and your work better, and that’s something I’m incredibly grateful for.” – Julie Klausner
Source: Whitney Matheson, “A chat with … podcaster Julie Klausner”; USA TODAY (May 21, 2011)
The hilarious duo credit Julie Klausner (almost as many times as they mention “Roots”) for the idea to take their UCB show “Ronna & Beverly” to the podcast medium. Beyond a mere suggestion, Klausner helped the 50-something Jewish women go shopping for their podcast equipment. She is their “Patton Oswalt.”
http://www.thegreenespace.org/story/video-webcast-ronna-beverly-live/
Thank you, The Greene Space. A “Ronna & Beverly” stream is the best way to use the internet.
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It may seem a bit unusual to hear a chief creative officer extol the virtues of paid search, but for Andreas Dahlqvist at Grey New York it’s “almost under-leveraged” for the purposes of promoting film content.
The agency leveraged this knowledge–and that of male search behavior–to inform its well-received Gillette commercial about reconnecting dads and sons on Father’s Day. Stating that 94% of teenagers seek out help on the Internet instead of asking their dads, the spot shows them entering search terms about cooking, fixing a flat tire and, yes, how to shave.
“We analyzed search behavior and the insight there is that pretty much every kid out there is turning to Google more than they do to their dads,” Dahlqvist says in an interview with Beet.TV. “We basically bought out all of the search terms around how-to videos. That’s a pretty interesting opportunity. I think search is to a certain extent almost under-leveraged as a medium when it comes to film content.”
One main benefit is that brands can serve up film that is not only relevant to what consumers are looking for but that co-mingles with their mindset. “It’s huge,” Dahlqvist says.
In his opinion, when it comes to marketing messages, “the shift is actually in favor of the consumer right now. The brands that care to listen the most will win.”
You can find this post on Beet.TV.
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When you walk into the lands of Woodbine Park on the east side of Toronto, it was transformed into this wonderland of amusement and sound for the second year of Bestival Toronto. Now running for 13 years in the United Kingdom lead by festival founder Rob Da Bank, Toronto was Bestival’s first venture in North America when it debuted last year. The festival, which was marred by some issues in 2015 with the ferry transportation when it was held on the island, felt much more at home with a logical move to the main land and the surroundings were beautiful.
From the moment you walk in, you are just hit with a refreshing dose of positive stimulation, and it gives you an outlet to just check out from the everyday world for a couple days and try to find something uplifting. “We’ve held up as a festival where you can go and have fun and escape from reality,” says Rob Da Bank about how Bestival stays relevant and branching off into Toronto. “I want this to have the same feeling. I want people to forget about normal life. So much bad shit going on in the world, it’s like you can come here and you can escape for the day and go home maybe feeling a bit more positive about things.”
(Bollywood Stage)
There’s all these moveable parts of Bestival, from the marching band parade, the flash mob, to this crazy traveling unicorn dance party. When asked what sets Bestival apart from other festivals, Rob Da Bank talked about something that I noticed from the moment I walked in, “It’s the attention to detail really. If you look around, the flags are handmade by artist in Spain. The bunting is handmade in England. All of our signs are hand painted. The bus over there is hand painted. Everything is really attention to detail.”
It’s the details that make this festival a great experience. While big names like The Cure, Grimes, or Tame Impala sell the tickets, it’s the smaller things that make all the time there worth it. It’s the free water tents that shows an air of concern and responsibility for their attendees. It’s the Balearics stage set up in the trees with a DJ playing where people can just chill out and vibe to the music. It’s the inflatable wedding church that people have actually gotten married in that brings whimsy to it all.
With all these great parts of Bestival that are like gears in a clock, it’s the music that is the center of it all. The way the three general stages are situated, you could have a completely different experience on day one then you have on day two. The Big Top stage, which looks just like a big circus tent, was home to more of the EDM style, while the Bollywood stage, which had the most extravagant of presentations, housed more of the techno artists. The Main stage is where the bands played, with Tame Impala headlining the first night and The Cure headlining the second.
Day one was much more of the EDM and techno experience for me with my day going back and forth from the Bollywood and Big Top stages. DJs likes Porter Robinson and Thugli shined in the Big Top stage, a place where people could get same shade from the hot, sunny weather but be entertained by bass-driven dance music all set to an amazing light and visual stage set up. At the Bollywood stage, Rob Da Bank took to his DJ duties running the gamut of dance music, even dropping a little Detroit flavor with Inner City’s “Big Fun”. Maya Jane Coles headlined the stage with a great showing, but it was the set from Grand Rapids, Michigan born, now transplanted to Berlin Jon Gaiser that really stole the show on day one.
On day two was more of Main stage band day for me, with excitement brewing to not only see legends like The Cure, but to finally get to see Grimes perform live. The big surprise for me of the whole festival was the performance from Daughter though, the three piece band from North London, England. Their music is just has emotive and beautiful live as it is on record.
Musically, my experience at Bestival was different on each of the days with mostly enjoying the dance music the first day and the bands the second day. It’s great that there was this organized variety with the lineups because it just makes this two day festival fresh throughout. When talking with Rob Da Bank after his set about organizing Bestival, he said that curating the lineups is a collaborative effort and feels because of that, they can stay on the pulse of what matters these days. Plus, he even hinted for next year doing a “legends of techno” lineup citing some of his favorites from Detroit include Juan Atkins, Rhythm Is Rhythm, Derrick May, Kevin Saunderson, Inner City, and Underground Resistance.
Between the big name headliners and the up and coming artists, along with all the smaller details of Bestival, when paired together, makes this festival truly a fun experience while making it special for the attendees. As Rob Da Bank expresses, “There’s plenty of other great festivals out there but I think hopefully people come away thinking those guys went the extra mile to look after us.”
(Photo Credits: Kelly Frazier)
For more information on Bestival Toronto, visit bestival.ca.
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Garip Ay’s masterpieces sometimes last only seconds. But thanks to the internet, they can now be remembered forever.
The Turkish artist painstakingly recreates two of Vincent van Gogh’s iconic pieces on water, in a video has now been seen more than 25 million times:
Ay uses the ancient Ebru technique, also known as paper marbling, to first reimagine the Dutch postimpressionist’s masterpiece “The Starry Night.”
After mixing carrageenan, a thickening substance, into a bowl of water, he drops different colored oils onto the liquid and manipulates it with a thin metal rod to create the image.
Within minutes, he’s finished his first piece — but then just swirls it all away:
Starting again from scratch, Ay then uses exactly the same method to recreate one of the painter’s best-known self-portraits.
Slowly but surely, the well-known image develops before the viewers’ eyes:
But after completing this piece, Ay decides that he does want a permanent, physical record of this effort.
So this time, remaining faithful to the traditional art of Ebru, he places paper over the water and waits for the glorious image to be transferred.
Ay told ABC News that the entire process took around 20 minutes, and that it was one of his most complicated projects yet because “the water, in addition to being thickened by carrageenan powder, was colored black for this project.”
He now plans to use the same approach to reimagine other famous painters’ works. “I want to do more to pay homage to the great artists who have inspired me and whose vision I feel I understand, just as I have done with my recent tribute to van Gogh,” he told CNN.
Ay uses the Ebru technique to magnificent effect. For instance, in this equally mesmerizing video, he creates and then rubs out a host of animals, characters and scenes.
Other artists around the world have recreated “The Starry Night,” which van Gogh painted in 1889 and which now hangs in New York’s Museum of Modern Art, in equally fascinating ways.
Microbiologist Melanie Sullivan used bacteria in a petri dish, YouTuber FlippyCat utilized falling dominoes and hardware store owner David Goldberg reimagined the famous piece with 1,250 doorknobs.
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In honour of Father’s Day and the traditions we enjoy because of it, this writing celebrates one of our founding fathers and his influence in the world today.
Alexander Hamilton – who by the way fathered eight children and is big news in pop culture right now. The hip-hop Broadway show about his life is credited with pushing the 70th Tony Awards television rating to the highest level in 15 years and with keeping Hamilton as the face of the $10 bill. Before this theatre success, Hamilton was best known as a Founding Father of the United States and America’s first treasury secretary. Less known is that he introduced the idea of federal taxes:
“As to taxes, they are evidently inseparable from government. It is impossible without them to pay the debts of the nation, to protect it from foreign danger, or to secure individuals from lawless violence and rapine.”
Looking back, I doubt Hamilton expected the taxes of those NEW United States to look anything like they do today, but today’s tax laws would have benefited Hamilton and his wife, Eliza. First off, the Hamilton’s would file a married filing joint tax return. This filing status provides the lowest tax rates and allows a higher income phase-out range for many tax credits and deduction. As for the children, each child would qualify for a $1,000 Child Tax Credit per year while under age 17. At one point, there were six children under the age of 17 for a total credit of $6,000. During the lean years, the Hamilton’s would also qualify for the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), which allowed a credit of up to $6,242 for a family with three or more children during 2015. While the boys attended college (women didn’t attend college during these times!), the Hamilton’s would also be eligible for the American Opportunity Credit of up to $2,500 per child. Finally, Eliza did a lot of charitable work throughout her life and both she and Alexander donated money to various charities on a regular basis. These contributions would be allowed as an itemized deduction on a tax return.
We are making many assumptions here for fun, but the point is – Alexander Hamilton, one of our Founding Fathers, believed in income taxes. After all, one of the popular rallying cries was “No Taxation Without Representation!” So let us wish Alexander Hamilton and all the Dads out there a Happy Father’s Day and get back to the job at hand – explaining to the family how to grill my Father’s Day meal.
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – If the U.S. Supreme Court in the coming days decides a high-profile immigration case in favor of the Obama administration, the ruling could have an unexpected beneficiary: Republican presidential contender Donald Trump.
The Obama administration is asking the high court to revive its 2014 proposal to protect up to 4 million people from deportation, a plan that was blocked by lower courts. The court could rule that a president has broad authority to interpret and enforce federal immigration law.
Such a ruling would allow Obama to implement his signature executive action on immigration, aimed at the parents of U.S. citizens’ children, before he leaves office. It could also help Trump, who has put forth his own sweeping and controversial plans on immigration ahead of the Nov. 8 election.
“To the extent the court has language about the president’s wide authority in immigration law generally, that would certainly strengthen Trump’s hand.” said Stephen Yale-Loehr, an immigration law expert at Cornell Law School.
The Supreme Court’s ruling will come at a key phase in the presidential election cycle, with candidates Trump and his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton trading jabs over immigration policy following the mass shooting in a Orlando nightclub in which a gunman killed 49 people.
Trump has proposed curbing immigration from countries with a history of terrorism, blocking the entry of Muslims and deporting the estimated 11 million people in the United States who entered the country illegally. If he wins the race for the White House, Trump might need to invoke his own executive authority – as happened with Obama – if the U.S. Congress does not approve his proposals, which have sparked outrage at home and abroad.
The current case is unlikely to provide any support for Trump’s proposal to bar Muslims, which legal experts say would face other legal hurdles because it targets people on the basis of religion.
But legal experts say it could help Trump if he seeks to block entry from certain countries under a provision of immigration law that gives the president the power to suspend entry of noncitizens whose entry “would be detrimental to the interests of the United States.”
That provision has previously only been used block entry of small groups of people, such as officials linked with foreign governments hostile to the United States. Applying it to entire countries could prompt a similar lawsuit to the one filed against Obama.
Clinton could also seize on an Obama victory in the case, but her own immigration proposals are more modest. She has said that absent action by Congress to reform the system entirely, she would keep Obama’s program in place and seek to expand on it.
Under the U.S. Constitution, Congress passes laws and the executive branch enforces them. In the immigration context, Congress has traditionally given the president considerable leeway to interpret how to implement the laws.
NARROWER GROUNDS
The high court, evenly split 4-4 between liberals and conservatives following the death of Justice Antonin Scalia in February, could decide the case on narrower grounds than the broad question of executive power.
It could avoid touching on immigration law at all by finding that the states challenging Obama’s proposal did not have legal standing to sue. The court could also split 4-4, which would leave in place the lower court decision blocking the plan but without setting any legal precedent.
U.S. presidents generally have discretion to enforce immigration law, but the plan’s challengers said Obama exceeded the limits of his authority by setting up a program that would allow millions to gain temporary legal status and work permits.
Critics say his plan was unlawful in part because it effectively granted relief from deportation to a much bigger class of people than had ever benefited from any similar programs in the past. Texas and 25 other states who filed suit said it was an unconstitutional abuse of power.
Obama’s lawyers told the Supreme Court that Obama was acting within the government’s exercise of prosecutorial discretion to decide who to deport.
(Reporting by Lawrence Hurley; Editing by Amy Stevens and Ross Colvin)
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Peter Beard occupies the last house on the East End, and from his perch the expanse of the Atlantic Ocean is compelling. Having made art, collages and photography for decades, both here and on exotic travels, and featuring an array of celebrities including Mick Jagger, Jerry Hall, Bianca Jagger, Lee Radzivill, the two Edie Beales, Karen Blixen, Kamante Gatura, his wife Nejma, and himself often with his head in a fish, he’s taken more than a note about fame from Andy Warhol, his erstwhile neighbor. At Guild Hall’s new exhibition, “Last Word from Paradise,” celebrities and animals mix it up: there’s more than a hint of nostalgia for travels to remote places. Beard’s artwork juxtaposes party photos from Studio 54 with pictures of endangered animals like the elephant, or alligators that live best in the wild suggesting lost worlds: What about precious, fragile Nature on our planet?
At Guild Hall’s opening, Beard held court in the garden, warmly greeting guests in a blue linen shirt. Patrick McMullan worked the crowded gallery rooms shooting clutches of models, and the Montauk contingent, including Cynthia Rowley and her daughter Kit Powers. Lee Radziwill paid homage to Beard in her recent book Lee (Assouline, 2015): “Peter Beard changed my whole life. He opened up so many windows for me, because he taught me to be insatiably curious.” At the time he was living between America and Africa often taking people out on safari: “Peter thought of everything as a photograph.” Displaying each of his worlds, the Guild Hall show is a valuable documentation of imperiled beauty.
A version of this post also appears on Gossip Central.
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