- Does Flickr still exist and if so, does anyone actually
care? The answers to those questions are yes and probably not – at least no one
who doesn’t work for Flickr. In fact, that probably explains why a photo
website that has looked extremely outdated for years has undergone a redesign. “Everything that
we’ve done in this new redesign has been about putting the photo front and
center,” Flickr VP Brett Wayn. The redesigned site launched Monday with a new
look that eliminates Flickr’s previously copious amounts of white space and
meta-data about photos that only the avid shutterbug really cared about anyhow.
To entice new users, Flickr is also offering 1TB of space for free. Yahoo, which
now owns Flickr, explained that if a person took a photo every hour of ever
day, it would 65.5 years to fill that space. Flickr’s overhaul also includes
users of Android devices, which is noteworthy because the site’s Android app has
lagged behind the iPhone until now. Android users on Flickr have surged ahead
for now and are the only mobile users with access to the new user interface.
The new UI fills the activity feed with a dynamically resized layout, which
includes a sorted photo feed that arranges images to create a solid wall of
photos. The photos aren’t cropped to achieve this effect, which should appease
photo takers. When a user uploads photos to the new Flickr, a key photo lands
in the feed with thumbnails for other uploaded photos right below it. These
additional images can then be viewed via the light box that Flickr is known
for, or in a slideshow with Ken Burns-style photo movements. Instead of miles
of white space, there are thin borders and backgrounds. Both the site and the
app feature infinite scrolling to allow creepers nonstop photo fun in the form
of commenting and sharing of images they like. Favoriting and sharing photos is
also inline and the Groups feature has been changed to Communities……..
- When coaching football at one of the most perennially
downtrodden Division I college football programs in America, one must go to
extreme lengths to make improvements. Eastern
Michigan coach Ron English has clearly embraced this idea and it’s the reason
he’s willing to jump out of a plane to raise money. English’s team needs new
restroom in its home locker room and he plans to skydive to raise the necessary
funds for the upgrades. English has pledged to skydive if EMU can raise at
least $60,000 through its golf outing June 8 and other donations and anyone
willing to pony up $5,000 gets to spend a day with English and staff members
and skydive with him. Whatever money is raised will go toward retiling the
bathrooms in the team's locker room and updating the fixtures and stalls. "Obviously
at Michigan you're not hurting for money when you're getting 100,000 in the
stands on Saturdays," English said, referring to his time at the defensive
coordinator at the nearby University of Michigan from 2003-07. "In the
Mid-American Conference, because of our following, the size of our stadiums and
TV contracts, you have to be creative in terms of finding ways to raise money
to help fund your programs." EMU has labeled the fundraising effort
"Time to Fly for the Eastern Michigan Football Team” and released a video
urging fans to get involved via social media. English is something of a
skydiving veteran, having taken the leap with the U.S. Army Golden Knights in
southeast Michigan two years ago. When the marketing firm Eastern Michigan uses
suggested it, he was willing to take the leap again and recruited four of his
assistants, including former Michigan running back Mike Hart, to jump if EMU
raises at least $30,000. That money and the better bathroom it is intended to
facilitate may or may not improve a team that was fired up to go 6-6 in 011
because that was its best record in 17 years. Of course, they fell back to 2-10
last season, so progress isn’t exactly plentiful in Ypsilanti……..
- Public prayers at town council meetings are the latest
battleground for religion vs. the opposition in America. The fight over public
prayers at town board meetings in Greece, N.Y. will make its way to the Supreme
Court in coming months after justices announced Monday the court will decide
whether the town should be allowed to continue what it calls
"inclusive" prayers at its town board sessions. Arguments won't
take place until later this year or early in 2014, with a ruling ready by the spring.
The town’s policy was first challenged a few months ago and the board responded
by inviting non-Christians including a Wiccan, to offer invocations. That
practice lasted for a while, but when it ended local citizens Susan Galloway
and Linda Stephens sued. A 2nd Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in New York sided
with the plaintiffs, ruling the board's policy to be an unconstitutional
violation of the Establishment Clause, which forbids any government
"endorsement" of religion. In response, the town board then
asked the Supreme Court to intervene. According to Galloway and Stephens, the
board almost always invited Christian clergy to open the meetings, usually with
sectarian prayers. The two are non-Christian and claim they felt
"marginalized" by the practice. They are being represented by Washington,
D.C.-based group Americans United for Separation of Church and State. AUSCD
attorney cited records showing that between 1999 and 2010, approximately
two-thirds of the invocations contained the words "Jesus Christ,"
Jesus," Holy Spirit," or "Your Son." They also allege that from
1999 through 2007, every meeting had a Christian-only invocation. Four other
faiths were added in 2008 following the first complaints from the plaintiffs,
with a Baha'i leader and a Jewish lay person included. However, Galloway and
Stephens say the Christian-only invocations resumed from January 2009 through
June 2010 and they claim that those invited to the monthly meetings were
selected by a city employee from a local guide that had no non-Christian faiths
listed. "A town council meeting isn't a church service, and it shouldn't
seem like one," said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, AUSCS executive director.
"Government can't serve everyone in the community when it endorses one
faith over others. That sends the clear message that some are second-class
citizens based on what they believe about religion.” So far, 49 members of
Congress, mostly Republicans, along with 18 state attorneys general have filed
supporting legal briefs backing the city………
- History be damned, Belize needs a new paved road. Countries
with ancient Mayan
pyramids generally value those pyramids on account of tourists paying lots of
money to see them and tourist dollars buoying their economy. Belize is not one
of these countries, as evidenced by the fact that a construction company has
essentially destroyed one of its largest with backhoes and bulldozers to
extract rock for a road-building project. When it came to a case of historical
significance (the Nohmul pyramid and temple platform, which date back about
2,300 years) and modern progress (a paved road making for quicker drivers
between the few places there are to go in a tiny, Central American nation like
Belize), it was a no contest. Although the Nohmul complex sits on private land,
Belizean law states any pre-Hispanic ruins are under government protection.
That means the government could step in and hijack the land for whatever use it
deemed fit. That use happened to be putting in a new road, a decision that left
the head of the Belize Institute of Archaeology with a rather sour expression
on his face. Dr. Jaime Awe says he was sickened by the destruction of the
pyramid and by photos of the portion of the structure that remained showing what
appeared to be classic Mayan-arched chamber dangling above one clawed-out
section. When the construction/destruction crews were done, there was virtually
nothing left of the pyramid. Only a small portion of center of the pyramid
mound was left standing and it seems unlikely that any tourist is going to stop
their car on the way into Belize City and climb up the vertical face of a steep
hill to reach the ravaged remains of what was once an historical Mayan pyramid……..
- How does that taste, Scott Weiland? Not only
was the longtime Stone Temple Pilots frontman fired by his band a few weeks back, but
he has now been replaced…..by none other than Linkin Park frontman Chester
Bennington. Bennington is going to hold down Wieland’s old gig without actually
leaving his current one. He’s going to front STP as his part-time, second job,
something that was revealed to fans attending the KROQ Weenie Roast in Los Angeles this weekend. Those fans were the
first to see Bennington perform with his new/other band in a seat that featured
STP favorites “Sex Type Thing” and “Vasoline.” Seeing one of the co-lead
singers of a former rap-metal band that is now some sort of weird industrial
jam band performing his songs had to feel a divorced guy like watching a new
guy sleep with his wife, live in the house he lost in the divorce and drive his
old sports car that the wife also got in the settlement. As part of their
40-minute set, STP also debuted a new song titled “Out of Time.” Stone Temple
Pilots members Dean DeLeo, Robert DeLeo and Eric Kretz confirmed the news of Bennington’s
addition on their website. "Chester has a one-of-a-kind voice that we’ve
admired for a long time," DeLeo wrote. "We know Linkin Park will
always be his priority, but we thought it would be cool to try something
together. We managed to find the time to record a song and we’re all really
happy with the result." In a sense, becoming the second gig for someone
who already has a band is sad for formerly respectable rockers like STP, an
admission that they’re desperately seeking any way to hang on and can’t find anyone
better who, you know, doesn’t already have a band. "I’ve loved STP since I
was 13 years old and they’ve had a huge influence on me,” Bennington said. “When
the opportunity came up to do something creative with them, I jumped at the
chance. The guys in Linkin Park have been incredibly supportive of me
undertaking this project while I’ve continued to work on new music with LP.”
The new STP will take the stage next on May 30 at Club Nokia in Los Angeles…….
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