Thingaverse user Skimbal designed and printed this Gothic cathedral play set on his Makerbot. The design is actually modular, so you can build as little or as big of a set as you want. I love the description:

Are you intimidated by the centuries long construction schedule, and the punishing job requirements of being a European Bishop during the Dark Ages?

Then We Have a Thing For YOU!

The Gothic Cathedral Play Set!

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Links related to the March 17 European Parliament hearing with Mustafa Dzhemilev, former Soviet dissident and Chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People: Dzhemilev's speech (.pdf file); an overview at Window on Eurasia; an overview at Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO); a written address by MEP Heidi Hautala at her Human Rights Diary; an RFE/RL article by Ahto Lobjakas - “Going Nowhere Fast — Crimean Tatars In The EU.”

The Large Hadron Collider , the so-called big bang machine outside Geneva, has eclipsed its own world record as the highest-energy particle accelerator in history. The collider, commonly known as the LHC, accelerated its twin proton beams to 3.5 trillion electron-volts, or TeV, Friday morning, according to a prepared statement from CERN , the European lab for particle physics that operates the LHC. [More]

Filed under: Crossover, Mazda, Diesel

Gallery: 2010 Mazda CX-7

Rumormill: Mazda considers offering diesel CX-7 in the States originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 19 Mar 2010 16:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Final Fantasy XIII fastest selling game in franchise, Square Enix claims originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 19 Mar 2010 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Final Fantasy XIII fastest selling game in franchise, Square Enix claims originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 19 Mar 2010 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

In a technologically advanced country such as Japan, who would have thought that a digital video recorder attachment for the PS3 would enjoy brisk sales? Well, apparently Sony’s Torne (the aforementioned digital video recorder attachment) is doing just that. The Torne allows you to watch digital terrestrial broadcasting on your PS3, as well as record them for later viewing, which is probably the Japanese equivalent of the European PlayTV. In case you’re tempted to import one of these Stateside, it’s certainly worth noting that it’s only capable of recording Japanese terrestrial TV signals, so it probably wouldn’t do you much good outside of Japan.

Permalink: Sony Torne For PS3 Selling Very Well In Japan from Ubergizmo | RSS Sponsor: Win a Fellowes Microshred Paper Shredder!

Big increases in minimum wage and reduction of voting age to 16 being considered for party's 'next phase of national renewal'

Labour will pledge an end to the era of extortionate credit in its election manifesto, and is considering big increases in the minimum wage, the introduction of free school meals for all and a reduction in the voting age to 16, Ed Miliband, the cabinet minister responsible for its drafting, reveals today.

In a Guardian interview trailing Labour's manifesto for an unprecedented fourth term, Miliband reveals that the prospectus will be about showing that Labour can lead the country to "the next phase of national renewal" and that the party "will reform both the market and the state".

The manifesto will also set out proposals for a new model of banking built round a People's Bank, drawing on the post office network, and a possible cap on credit interest rates.

Miliband said one aim would be to show that Labour's rights and responsibilities agenda "needs to go all the way to the top". The manifesto would "not promise the earth", but he said: "One of the profound issues in this election is: in a world of tough decisions, in whose interests do you make those decisions? We are going to be very clear about where money comes from in this manifesto."

The energy and climate change secretary likens the introduction of a People's Bank, in the wake of the banking crisis, to the creation of the Sure Start network of children's centres – an institutional reform that meets new demands in society and brings together poor and middle-class people. Built round the 12,000-strong network of post offices, the bank would provide capital for the hundreds of credit unions in the UK, he disclosed.

He argued: "Institutions are the things that define governments. The 1945 government was defined by its relationship with the NHS. The 1997 government was defined around rebuilding the fabric of communities through institutions like Sure Start. I think the idea of the People's Bank ... is one of those ideas."

Ministers are completing talks with the Post Office on the range of banking services to be provided, and the scale of its initial capitalisation.

Miliband said: "Frankly banks have let down low-income consumers. The People's Bank can be a very serious financial institution and a competitor to the conventional private sector. One of the exciting ideas is for the People's Bank to provide the network of credit unions access to funds, but it can also become a banking alternative for a significantly wider group than just the low-income consumers. It is part of a bigger reform we need in the relationship between individuals and financial institutions."

Some consumer groups have warned that a cap on interest rates might see the suppliers of credit refuse to provide it to poor people altogether. But access to an alternative supplier of credit would reduce that risk, making a cap easier to introduce.

Miliband said: "We are looking more widely at a cap on interest rates. There is a real issue about the way in which low- income groups are being ripped off."

A review into credit card companies this month proposed smaller-scale reforms, but government sources said the option of a cap was likely to be in the manifesto. Despite historically low Bank of England base rates, the average interest charged on a credit card has reached 18.8% – the highest level since 1998. Some consumers are now paying more than 40% on the cash they have borrowed.

Miliband has been working on the manifesto for three years, and says it will offer the country a radical response to the banking and political crises.

"What people do not want after these two events is a return to business as usual. They want a sense we have learned lessons from the past. They want the next stage of national renewal," he said. "The task of the manifesto is to show that when it comes to the national renewal we are the people to deliver it, not the Conservatives."

Miliband said he favoured the introduction of votes at 16 to be included as part of a package of constitutional reforms, including changes to the voting system. "Perhaps the opportunity was not there before, but expenses has so brought into focus a sense that politics needs to change and open up. There is a new appetite for political renewal."

He also indicated the possibility of a strengthening of the minimum wage, currently £5.80 an hour, saying that reforms would go beyond tighter enforcement to examining a radical increase in its level.

He also said that, subject to an affordability test, there was "a strong case for universal free school meals. It makes a big difference in terms of nutrition. It makes a big difference in terms of concentration in classrooms."

The manifesto would also contain proposals for a more open state in which the floodgates of government data are opened to the public, so changing the relationship between citizen and state.

In a speech on Monday, Gordon Brown may suggest making one welfare benefit available exclusively online as a way of encouraging Britain's 10 million digitally excluded towards the internet.

Miliband also trailed a more interventionist European industrial policy, including both infrastructure and green investment banks.

"The old view that the conventional private sector on its own would ensure our infrastructure was built, the right sort of companies were supported and people will get the banking services they need has not worked."

He promised the manifesto would offer fresh guarantees for citizens to seek redress if the health service, police or schools let them down. The government has already announced that it will offer a private sector alternative in the case of NHS failure, a parental ballot in the case of a failing school, and a right to a neighbourhood beat meeting in the case of police.

Miliband said: "We need to be stronger in terms of the redress we offer and you will see that in the manifesto, because people have to have a sense that they are meaningful and will give them power."

• Labour
• Manifestos 2010
• Ed Miliband
• General election 2010

What the crap? A French comic? Are the French even allowed to make comics? Aren't they too busy being snooty and smoking Gauloises and wearing inappropriate swimwear? Where do they find the time to make comics, anyway?*

Well, the French can do all those things as long as they keep making comics this good, I tell ya. West Coast Blues is a cracking good crime comic, not really noir but definitely a tale of bad people doing bad things to each other. It's also, oddly enough, very wryly humorous, in a way we don't often see in crime comics here in the States. It was a novel by Jean-Patrick Manchette in 1976, and in 2005, Manchette's old collaborator, Jacques Tardi, finally adapted it to comics (and then Kim Thompson translated it into English). Presumably, had DC's association with Humanoids continued, this would have been a DC book. As it is, Fantagraphics has published it in the States. Good for them!

The plot is deceptively simple, as for most of the book, we have no idea what's going and Manchette simply follows his main character around. We begin in the present with George Gerfaut, cruising around in his Mercedes in the middle of the night listening to West Coast style jazz (hence the name of the book - George digs the jazz!). After a few pages, we're introduced to another man, Alonso Emerich y Emerich, a Dominican of German descent who used to be in military intelligence. We have, initially, no idea what his purpose is, because we quickly get back to George, who is passed by two cars, one chasing the other. The first car crashes, the second car takes off, and George helps the first driver to the hospital. Then he returns to his house. A few days later, his family heads out on vacation. It takes us a few pages to realize that this is happening in time well before the opening scene, because Manchette doesn't give us any indication that we've flashbacked. That's okay, though - the transition between the "present" and the "past" is interesting because Manchette links them through George driving late at night. While we may be a bit lost initially, we quickly regain our footing.

George doesn't realize he's being tailed by two hitmen in the employ of Alonso, who goes by Mr. Taylor. Again, we don't know why they want to kill George (we can figure out it has something to do with the driver of the car, but we don't know what), but that's part of the fun. Because as the follow George to the seaside, the plot kicks into high gear. It's rather humorous - the hitmen can't kill George. Through, really, very little effort on his part, he manages to elude them. In their first attempt, he manages to grab one of the killer's balls, which of course tends to put him off. This attempt switches something on in George, and he abandons his wife and returns to Paris. The killers can never quite catch up with him, and when they do, he escapes again, killing one of them almost accidentally. Then he flees into the forest and ends up in the foothills of the Alps, where he's found by a slightly eccentric woodsman. And he simply stays there. He becomes someone else completely, learning how to be self-sufficient, hooking up with a woman, and changing his appearance by growing a beard. But the second killer tracks him down, and George ends up back in the world, ready to find out exactly why these two men were sent to kill him.

The fascinating thing about this story is the character of George. Actually, Carlo and Bastien, the two hitmen, are pretty interesting as well, but George is the central character, so he ought to be fascinating. As I pointed out, he doesn't escape from the killers because he's tougher than they are; he might be a bit smarter, but he's also really lucky. Manchette doesn't make it a ridiculous, corny kind of luck, but he does show that George happens to do things that throw them off the track without knowing he's doing it. This makes the pursuit rather odd and darkly humorous. The book is full of violent death, and it's definitely not a comedy, but just the fact that these two professional killers have such a tough time blowing away this rather inept sales manager makes it border on the surreal. Then, we think the book will be about George becoming more of an independent dude and less of a simpering whiner, as he's forced to live in the wild for so many months. But Manchette doesn't quite give us that, either. George is a complicated guy who realizes certain things about the way society is structured but still yearns for other things. By the end of the book, we're back on the freeway, but Manchette has made us see that George has changed, just maybe not enough that we would expect. West Coast Blues is, in my mind, very "European" in that regard - this is a broad generalization, but Europeans are more bound by history, both societal and personal, than Americans, so if this book had been written by a Yankee, it probably would have ended much, much differently. That it doesn't is a testament, I think, to Manchette's storytelling - he never takes the easy way out, even if George's fate might seem like he does. George has been affected by what happens to him, but in not so overt (American?) way.

Tardi's art is quite stellar, as well. He's amazingly detailed, but he doesn't pull any tricks on the reader - his work is very straight forward. He relies on very strong storytelling skills, as he simply takes us through George's story. We get a great sense of place from Tardi, either in the urban settings or, even more impressively, in the rural interlude George experiences. Tardi does masterful work with the characters, too - they look and move like people, stumbling when you might expect it, breaking bones when you'd expect it, acting like human beings. His best work might be with Carlo and Bastien, as George remains very low-key throughout (except for one brief scene). Carlo and Bastien, however, have a fun relationship, and Tardi helps with it. Manchette gives them good banter, but Tardi manages to portray their care for each other even as he keeps their faces impassive. It's a very verbose comic, but Tardi matches Manchette with panels that demand a great deal of attention - this is a visual feast as well as a literary one.

I suppose the only problem one might have with the book is its somewhat excessive narration, because often Manchette simply tells us what the pictures already do (and Tardi adapted it to comics, so why he didn't cut some more of it is beyond me). Occasionally, the narration is absurdly excellent - when Manchette lists all the weapons Carlo and Bastien have in their car, for instance, it's a comic mini-masterpiece - but occasionally, we can tell exactly what's going on and don't need to be told. Again, this is a comic adapted from a book into French and then translated into English, so there are many filters for it to go through. I don't have too big an issue with the words, but I should caution you that it feels bloated every once in a while.

Other than that, West Coast Blues is a very good crime comic. The fact that it has a slightly different sensibility than most American crime fiction makes it refreshing, and the fact that Manchette has a wry sense of humor about the material works well, too. And it looks great. And Ed Brubaker thinks Tardi is great. Dare you go against Ed Brubaker????

* Before you jump my shit, I'm joking. I am well aware of the long French tradition of comics, and cut my teeth on Asterix and Obelix before I had even heard of the X-Men when I was but a lad. Chillax, people!

Next: Can it be more Tardi? Well, of course it can!

Filed under: Motorsports, Hatchback, Volkswagen, UK, Racing

Gallery: AmD Milltek Racing Volkswagen Golf touring car

AmD Milltek Racing brings the Volkswagen Golf back to the British Touring Car Championship originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 19 Mar 2010 13:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

To those who fill out a quick survey.

Episodic adventure mastermind Telltale Games will give you a free episode of Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People on Wii if you take a couple of minutes out of your time and fill out a short survey.

Episode 2: Strong Badia the Free will be your prize, and free copies are limited, so apply post-haste. This promotion ends when there's enough data collected, which Telltale told Eurogamer should be around 300 responses.

The data, incidentally, hopes to shed a bit more light on European customers, particularly those in the UK and Germany.

Read more...

German firm Hipp says one in four consumers now grown-ups who find baby food easier to swallow and digest

Can't be bothered to chew your food? Too tired to cook and looking for a quick meal? You might consider opening a jar of baby food.

The world's largest baby food manufacturer has said an increasing number of adults are turning to its pureed meals because they find them easier to swallow and digest.

About one in four consumers of the more than 100 varieties of pulped food – from apple and cranberry breakfast, to vegetable and beef hotpot – made by the Bavarian-based firm Hipp are adults, according to its owner.

Claus Hipp said that, in recent years, the products had grown in popularity, particularly among elderly people, with stewed apple said to be their favourite dish.

He said the company – established by his father, Georg, 50 years ago and now producing 1.5m jars a day – was increasingly turning its attention to the adult market rather than babies as Europe's population ages.

"Not so long ago, we had twice as many births than now, and that, of course, has a knock-on effect. As our society gets ever older, baby food is showing that it has a future in the adult market," Hipp said at a company birthday celebration.

Despite the fact that birth rates have dropped in most European countries, most notably Germany, the company's profits rose by €90m last year to €500m (£450m).

Hipp said calorie-conscious new mothers who saw the meals – which are low in fat, sugar and salt – as a good way to help them lose weight after giving birth were also among the new customers it had won in recent years.

Sportsmen and women in need of nutritious meals that do not sit heavily on the stomach were also among its customers.

The company, which recommends its organic meals to babies "at the start of weaning to three years of age", and makes no mention on its packaging of anyone above that age, said it had no intention of relaunching the products for a separate market.

"Older people can often cope with the mashed baby food better than regular meals, but we're not planning to change our advertising to target them ... we want to keep our baby image," Hipp said.

Eileen Steinbock, of the British Dietetic Association, said pureed food could benefit people whose ability to swallow had been greatly reduced through old age, dementia or a stroke, and was already in widespread use in care homes.

But people who could still chew and swallow should continue to do so for as long as possible, she added.

"I wouldn't like to see people being given pureed food just because it's easier for a carer to give it to them that way. It should only be given when it's appropriate or essential," she said.

• Germany
• Food & drink industry
• Food & drink
• Older people

   Les communiqués du Quartet sur le Proche orient sont généralement courts. Et fades. Ils sont le résultat du consensus entre les parties (Etats-Unis, ONU, Union européenne, Russie).
   En général, Washington s’arrangeait pour que le “Quartet” reste dans la ligne.
Mais il semble que les Etats-Unis aient décidé de s’impliquer nettement plus. Les diplomates voient du changement. Si Obama n’arrive pas à faire pression sur Israel, alors Washington cessera de faire rempart aux pressions collectives.

   Le communiqué publié vendredi à Moscou est des plus directs. Cela fait longtemps que l’on n’a pas rappelé certains faits.
   - “The annexation of East Jerusalem is not recognized by the international community”.

   - “Unilateral actions taken by either party cannot prejudge the outcome of negotiations and will not be recognized by the international community. The Quartet urges the government of Israel to freeze all settlement activity, including natural growth, to dismantle outposts erected since March 2001, and to refrain from demolitions and evictions in East Jerusalem”.
 
    Le Quartet veut un réglement dans les deux ans. Et qui comporte un retour aux frontières de 1967…  Et avec une conférence internationale à Moscou !

lire le communiqué :

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Office of the Spokesman

For Immediate Release: March 19, 2010
2010/T25-2

MEDIA NOTE

Joint Statement by the Quartet

The Quartet – U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, U.S. Special Envoy for Middle East Peace George Mitchell, and High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy of the European Union Catherine Ashton – met in Moscow on March 19,2010. They were joined by Quartet Representative Tony Blair.

Last December I mentioned how the popular Giganews Usenet service had begun offering customers who subscribe to the Giganews‘ “Diamond” package a FREE VPN service called VyprVPN.

Since Giganews initially rolled out the VyprVPN beta, many connection and speed bugs have apparently been fixed. The beauty of it all is that VyprVPN brings the same privacy, security, and speed that you expect from the Giganews Usenet service to the rest of your Internet experience – a $14.99 value free with every Giganews Diamond Account.

That’s the best part – anonymity – especially these days with a number of countries contemplating “three-strikes” legislation.

Users will be able to encrypt their true IP address and protect themselves from the prying eyes of identity thieves, hackers, or especially irate copyright holders.

Many of you, myself included, are subscribers of a Usenet newsgroup service provider of one name or another. However, Giganews is usually the one most choose due to its lengthy data retention period that now clocks in at an amazing 575 days.

• Replacing your IP address with a VyprVPN IP from one of our many worldwide VPN Clusters
• Encrypting all of your Internet traffic (including web, e-mail, instant message, and newsgroup traffic) between your computer and the VyprVPN Cluster

• Private web browsing, e-mail, instant messaging, newsgroup reading, and more — totally secure from ISP, wireless or neighborhood eavesdropping
• The ability to choose a US or European online identity
• Protection from data snooping and identity theft on public Wi-Fi hotspots, iPhones, PDAs, and cable Internet
• The same access to all of your favorite applications you enjoy today

It’s really not a bad deal if you’re already a Giganews subscriber or are looking for a reason to jump ship.

Stay tuned.

jared@zeropaid.com

John Sheehan, a former Nato commander, sparks outrage over claims homosexual soldiers weakened the Dutch army

A retired US general's claim that gay Dutch soldiers were partly to blame for allowing the Srebrenica massacre has sparked outrage in the Netherlands.

John Sheehan, a former Nato commander who retired from the military in 1997, told a Senate armed services committee hearing in Washington yesterday that gay soldiers weakened the Dutch army, which failed to prevent Serb forces from massacring some 8,000 Muslim men in the Bosnian enclave of Srebrenica in July 1995.

Dutch caretaker defence minister Eimert van Middelkoop said today the claim was "damaging" and not worthy of a soldier. "I don't want to waste any more words on it," he said.

General Henk van den Breemen, Dutch chief of staff at the time of the Srebrenica massacre, called Sheehan's comments "total nonsense."

The comment shocked some at the Senate committee, where Sheehan was opposing a proposal to allow gay people to serve openly in the US military. The committee chairman, Carl Levin, told Sheehan he was "totally off target".

Sheehan said European militaries deteriorated after the collapse of the Soviet Union and focused on peacekeeping because "they did not believe the Germans were going to attack again or the Soviets were coming back".

Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and other nations believed there was no longer a need for an active combat capability, he said. "They declared a peace dividend and made a conscious effort to socialise their military that includes the unionisation of their militaries, it includes open homosexuality."

Dutch troops serving as UN peacekeepers and given the task of defending Srebrenica in 1995 were an example of a force that had become ill-equipped for war, he argued.

"The battalion was understrength, poorly led, and the Serbs came into town, handcuffed the soldiers to the telephone poles, marched the Muslims off, and executed them," Sheehan said. "That was the largest massacre in Europe since World War II."

Levin, a Democrat, appeared incredulous: "Did the Dutch leaders tell you [the fall of Srebrenica] was because there were gay soldiers there?"

"Yes," Sheehan said. "They included that as part of the problem." He claimed the former chief of staff of the Dutch army had told him.

Levin said some militaries might have focused on peacekeeping to the detriment of their fighting skills. "But I think that any effort to connect that failure on the part of the Dutch to the fact that they have homosexuals, or did allow homosexuals, I think is totally off target."

Levin supports ending restrictions on gay people serving in the US armed forces.

"The Dutch military, as you point out, were peacekeepers and not peace-enforcers. I agree with that," he said. "But what the heck that has to do with the issue before us is what mystifies me."

• Netherlands
• Nato
• US Congress
• US foreign policy
• US military
• United Nations
• US politics

With fewer places left to breed and live, European butterflies, beetles, dragonflies and damselflies are dying in droves, according to the latest update to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . [More]