Towletech v.124: Made in Space, Black Holes, MacWorld, Net Neutrality, Oculus Rift

Towletech v.124: Made in Space, Black Holes, MacWorld, Net Neutrality, Oculus Rift

Interstellar

BY KYLER GEOFFROY

A weekly round-up of the best tech, science, and geek-related news from around the web.

Road New Interstellar posters tease plot details of the upcoming Christopher Nolan-helmed sci-fi blockbuster. 

Road Early this morning, NASA launched the first 3D printer into space. The demo printer, created by California-based Made in Space, is off to the International Space Station to help aid in the understanding of the long-term effects of microgravity on 3D printing. Said Made in Space CEO Aaron Kemmer: “This is more than a 3D printer. It’s more than a machine shop in space. It’s a landmark for humanity. For the first time in the history of our species, we will be manufacturing tools and hardware away from the Earth. Now that we’ve made this breakthrough, the sky is no longer the limit for additive manufacturing – the era of off-world manufacturing has begun.” Check out a CNET video on the historic moment below:

Road X-Men spinoff film Deadpool gets a February 12, 2016 release date – with Ryan Reynolds expected to reprise his role as the “Merc with a Mouth.”

Road Longtime Apple magazine Macworld will be shutting down its print publication. 

BlackholeRoad Hubble Space Telescope finds supermassive black hole at the center of the smallest galaxies ever discovered. Via NASA: “The finding implies there are many other compact galaxies in the universe that contain supermassive black holes. The observation also suggests dwarf galaxies may actually be the stripped remnants of larger galaxies that were torn apart during collisions with other galaxies rather than small islands of stars born in isolation.”

Road Study finds over 99 percent of the 3.7 million comments submitted to the FCC about net neutrality were in favor of net neutrality. 

Virtual reality company Oculus Rift had its first ever keynote event yesterday – where the company announced its new prototype: the Crescent Bay and teased what the future holds for VR. Check out the conference below:

 

Road Scientists are re-engineering photosynthesis to grow more food. 

Road If you’ve ever flown Southwest Airlines, it can be a little jarring not having assigned seats on your flight. But as a recent episode of Mythbusters proves – there’s a method to the madness. Gizmodo reports: ” In another test, they boarded the plane in free-for-all fashion, without assigned seats, and found it took the least amount of time at 14 minutes, 7 seconds. Passengers gave it the least favorable score in comparison to the other methods tried. Southwest has been using this method since 1971.”

AlpsRoad Check out this amazing aerial footage from the top of the Swiss Alps taken by drones.

Road 5 tech startups that could radically transform our world

Road Tesla and Space X CEO Elon Musk says self-driving automobile technology still has another 5 to 6 years before full implementation – but once it’s here, we can expect our roads to be much safer. 

Road Check out this visual breakdown that shows why moon landing conspiracy claims are completely bogus. 

Road Mystery Science Theater 3000 has arrived on Vimeo. You owe it to yourself to check out (or revisit) this cult classic. 

Road Shocker: Texas is considering middle school textbooks that misleadingly teach students that there is significant scientific disagreement about the cause of climate change. Wonder if the Exxon Mobil logo will be on the front cover? 


Kyler Geoffroy

www.towleroad.com/2014/09/towletech-v-1.html

Erasure is Back With a New Album and a Still Sexy Gay Rock Star

Erasure is Back With a New Album and a Still Sexy Gay Rock Star

Their music was the voice of an LGBT generation, now the band has their 16th album, new loves, and a world tour. Andy Bell, the gay member of the two-man band, talks about music, life, and dating drama.

read more

Diane Anderson-Minshall

www.advocate.com/arts-entertainment/music/2014/09/21/erasure-back-new-album-and-still-sexy-gay-rock-star

How HBCUs Respond to a Call for Inclusion of LGBT Students

How HBCUs Respond to a Call for Inclusion of LGBT Students
For many who choose to attend an HBCU, the decision is about far more than just academics. Since the first HBCUs opened their doors in the years before the Civil War, they have offered black students an opportunity to pursue advanced studies in a space they can be certain will be supportive, welcoming and inclusive. It’s the very least that every student deserves, really—to be able to work, study and learn as part of a community that accepts them as they are.

www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/21/hbcus-lgbt_n_5857168.html?utm_hp_ref=gay-voices&ir=Gay+Voices

Inaugural Poet Richard Blanco Celebrates Marriage Equality in Stunning Tribute Poem: WATCH

Inaugural Poet Richard Blanco Celebrates Marriage Equality in Stunning Tribute Poem: WATCH

Marriage3

To commemorate the first decade of marriage equality in America, Freedom to Marry recently commissioned inagural poet Ricahrd Blanco to write Until We Could – which was then brought to life in a beautiful video narrated by actors Ben Foster and Robin Wright. 

The Daily Beast reports:

The poem and video was the initial brainchild of Peter Spears an actor, director, and producer — and FTM volunteer — whose had the idea to approach Blanco. “We shot it in Austin’s film community, and Texas is on the precipice of marriage equality,” says Spears. “There are real couples in the film — like the male couples in their forties with kids — and also actors. Austin was off the charts, they put all their talent and time into making this happen.”

See the heartwarming journey documenting how far we’ve come as a community, AFTER THE JUMP

Blanco, who read his poem One Today at President Barack Obama’s second inauguration, is the first immigrant, first Latino, first openly gay and youngest person to be an inaugural poet. 

Marriage4

 


Kyler Geoffroy

www.towleroad.com/2014/09/inaugural-poet-richard-blanco-celebrates-marriage-equality-in-stunning-tribute-poem-watch.html

Andrew W.K. Sings 'Sissy That Walk' With RuPaul

Andrew W.K. Sings 'Sissy That Walk' With RuPaul
Apparently we’re not the only ones who love RuPaul!

The Supermodel of The World stopped by TakePart Live last week while classically trained rock star Andrew W.K. co-hosted, and the singer is apparently a big fan of RuPaul’s music. A one point during the segment Andrew W.K. begins singing the intro of Ru’s hit “Sissy That Walk,” with Ru chiming in towards the end.

Andrew W.K. is a vocal supporter of gay rights. Last year he tweeted out, “If you don’t believe in gay marriage, then don’t marry a gay person. Otherwise, just keep partying and let everyone else keep partying too.” His wife is also Cherrie Lily, an icon within the queer community who just released a video with Cazwell.

www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/21/andrew-wk-rupaul_n_5852432.html?utm_hp_ref=gay-voices&ir=Gay+Voices

See The Super Gay Penis Doodle Uncovered In Leonardo Da Vinci’s Notebook

See The Super Gay Penis Doodle Uncovered In Leonardo Da Vinci’s Notebook

Besides the Mona Lisa, The Last Supper and the Vitruvian Man, it seems we also have Leonardo da Vinci to thank for this penis doodle.

Yes, the same genius who is credited as the archetype of the “Renaissance man” also seems to have had a thing for the men of the Renaissance.

Here’s the drawing that was uncovered in Leonardos’s notebook, which was actually drawn by his apprentice Salai (who was very likely also his lover):

tumblr_n2r8ezRavO1r5nul9o1_1280

The drawing shows two crudely drawn penises marching towards a mysterious hole. The hole, consequently, is labeled “Salai.” So either he picked an interesting place to sign his masterpiece, or there is much to be read from this historic piece of art.

If you have kids and ever find questionable doodles among their schoolwork, rest assured that some of history’s greatest minds operated the same way.

Leonardo's drawing of Salai.

Leonardo’s drawing of Salai.

Here’s some background on Leonardo’s sexuality from author and historian Ross King’s Leonardo and the Last Supper:

According to Lomazzo’s account, Leonardo’s passion for the beautiful Salai therefore reached its peak at about the time work began on The Last Supper in Santa Maria delle Grazie.
In the fifteenth century, Florentines were so well-known for homosexuality that the German word for sodomite was Florenzer. By 1415 the sexual behavior of young Florentine men had caused the city fathers such concern that “desiring to eliminate a worse evil by means of a lesser one” they licensed two more public brothels to go with the one they had opened with similar aspirations a dozen years earlier.

When these establishments failed to produce the desired results, and still “desiring to extirpate that vice of Sodom and Gomorrah, so contrary to nature,” the city fathers took further action. In 1432, a special authority, the Ufficiali di Notte e Conservatori dei Monasteri, or Officers of the Night and Preservers of Morality in the Monasteries, was formed to catch and prosecute sodomites. Over the next seven decades, more than ten thousand men were apprehended by this night watch.

According to Vasari, Salai was “a very attractive youth of unusual grace and looks, with very beautiful hair which he wore curled in ringlets and which delighted his master.” Giacomo seems to have served as a model for Leonardo. No definitive image of him exists, but art historians refer to a distinctive face that appears repeatedly in his drawings—that of a beautiful youth with a Greek nose, a mass of curls and a dreamy pout—as a “Salai-type profile.”

Leonardo was almost certainly homosexual by the standards of later centuries. Freud was no doubt correct when he stated that it was doubtful whether Leonardo ever embraced a woman in passion. Two years after the Saltarelli affair, Leonardo wrote a partially legible declaration in his notebook: “Fioravante di Domenico at Florence is my most beloved friend, as though he were my….” A nineteenth-century editor of Leonardo’s writings hopefully filled in “brother,” but the relationship may well have been more intimate.

Here is a video of King discussing the matter more:

via Dangerous Minds

Dan Tracer

feedproxy.google.com/~r/queerty2/~3/KIJcj3q0emY/see-the-super-gay-penis-doodle-uncovered-in-leonardo-da-vincis-notebook-20140921

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