Danny Puff

With the week winding down, you better get busy. Or maybe you could just look busy. Here s some help with that:

World-Changer: Just because you re wasting time doesn t mean you can t be productive. Create your own planet at planetmaker.wthr.us, an interactive site with tools for fiddling with the surface texture, atmospheric density and cloud cover, on the world of your choice. While adding rings to Mars, you can also pretend that you are learning something. Via Prosthetic Knowledge.

Add It Up: Turns out dog years are more complicated than the old multiply by seven rule, so the BBC has offered up a Dog Age Calculator. (Not enough choices on the breed menu, though.)

Best of the Worst: In other calculation news, consider The Wrongulator: The Calculator that Always Gives You The Wrong Answer! For more bad products, keep an eye on The Worst Things For Sale, which catalogs the Internet s most horrible items. Via Coudal.

Product of the Week: TV test card coasters. Via bookofjoe.

Art or Lulz? The Tumblr In Duplo examines the mysterious and liminal space that exists between how people present themselves and how the law presents them. More specifically, it juxtaposes mug shots and Facebook profile pictures. I know that sounds more like a Web stunt than an art project, but it does say liminal, so. . . . More at Hyperallergic.

Lulz or Art? Meanwile, the Tumblr Local People With Their Arms Crossed is just that. Nothing liminal about it or is there? Via Mashable.

Being Watched: Many people are paranoid about a world in which drones follow us around. But this Popular Science video introduces us to a company that hopes to serve those who want a drone to follow them around.

Listening To Cartography: For two hours and 47 minutes of pleasing instrumental music, enjoy the results of a collaboration between music site Disquiet and BLDG BLOG s Geoff Manaugh, which challenged musicians to interpret segments of a map as musical notations.

One Last Thing: Here is a link to a post about a tweet of a Vine of an Instagram of a Tumblr post of a Facebook post of a tweet.

Read More

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) It's a warning as familiar as a daily prayer for Tornado Alley residents: When a twister approaches, take shelter in a basement or low-level interior room or closet, away from windows and exterior walls.

But with the powerful devastation from the May 20 twister that killed 24 and pummeled the Oklahoma City suburb of Moore still etched in their minds, many Oklahomans instead opted to flee Friday night when a violent tornado developed and headed toward the state's capital city.

It was a dangerous decision to make.

Interstates and roadways already packed with rush-hour traffic quickly became parking lots as people tried to escape the oncoming storm. Motorists were trapped in their vehicles a place emergency officials say is one of the worst to be in a tornado.

"It was chaos. People were going southbound in the northbound lanes. Everybody was running for their lives," said Terri Black, 51, a teacher's assistant in Moore.

After seeing last month's tornado also turn homes into piles of splintered rubble, Black said she decided to try and outrun the tornado when she learned her southwest Oklahoma City home was in harm's way. She quickly regretted it.

When she realized she was a sitting duck in bumper-to-bumper traffic, Black turned around and found herself directly in the path of the most violent part of the storm.

"My car was actually lifted off the road and then set back down," Black said. "The trees were leaning literally to the ground. The rain was coming down horizontally in front of my car. Big blue trash cans were being tossed around like a piece of paper in the wind.

"I'll never do it again."

Oklahoma Highway Patrol Trooper Betsy Randolph said the roadways were quickly congested with the convergence of rush-hour traffic and fleeing residents.

"They had no place to go, and that's always a bad thing. They were essentially targets just waiting for a tornado to touch down," Randolph said. "I'm not sure why people do that sort of stuff, but it is very dangerous. It not only puts them in harm's way, but it adds to the congestion. It really is a bad idea for folks to do."

At least nine people were killed in Friday's storms, including a mother and her baby sucked out of their car as a deadly twister tore its way along a packed Interstate 40 near the town of El Reno, about 30 miles from Oklahoma City.

"We believe all the victims were in vehicles when the storm came through," Canadian County Undersheriff Chris West said Saturday.

More than 100 people were injured, most of those from punctures and lacerations from swirling debris, emergency officials reported.

Oklahoma wasn't the only state to see violent weather on Friday night. In Missouri, areas west of St. Louis received significant damage from an EF3 tornado that packed estimated winds of 150 mph. In St. Charles County, at least 71 homes were heavily damaged and 100 had slight to moderate damage, county spokeswoman Colene McEntee said.

Tens of thousands were without power, and only eight minor injuries were reported. Gov. Jay Nixon declared a state of emergency.

Northeast of St. Louis and across the Mississippi, the city of Roxana was hit by an EF3 tornado as well, but National Weather Service meteorologist Jayson Gosselin said it wasn't clear whether the damage in both states came from the same EF3 twister or separate ones.

Back in Oklahoma, Amy Williamson, who lives just off I-40 in the western Oklahoma City suburb of Yukon, said when she learned the tornado was moving toward her home, she piled her two young children, baby sitter and two cats into her SUV.

"We felt like getting out of the way was the best idea," Williamson said. "It was 15 minutes away from my house, and they were saying it was coming right down I-40, so we got in the car and decided to head south."

Williamson said she knows emergency officials recommend taking shelter inside a structure, but fresh in her mind was the devastation of the Moore tornado. Seeing homes stripped to their foundation made her think that fleeing was the best idea, she said.

"I'm a seasoned tornado watcher ... but I just could not see staying and waiting for it to hit," she said. She ended up riding out the storm in a hospital parking garage.

On Saturday, muddy floodwaters stood several feet deep in the countryside surrounding the metro area. Torrential downpours followed for hours after the twisters moved east up to 7 inches of rain in some parts and the city's airport had water damage. Some flights resumed Saturday.

The Oklahoma County Sheriff's Office said a man was missing from a vehicle near Harrah, east of Oklahoma City. Roadways around the area were crumbling because of water, especially near an intersection in northeastern Oklahoma City and in Canadian County south of I-40, between Mustang and Yukon.

When the storm passed between El Reno and Yukon, it barreled down I-40 for more than two miles, ripping billboards down to twisted metal frames. Debris was tangled in the median's crossover barriers, including huge pieces of sheet metal, tree limbs and a giant oil drum. The warped remains of a horse trailer lay atop a barbed-wire fence less than 50 yards from the highway.

The Oklahoma Corporation Commission reported more than 91,800 homes and businesses across the state remained without power Saturday.

___

Sean Murphy can be reached at www.twitter.com/apseanmurphy.

___

Associated Press writers Ken Miller in Oklahoma City and Jim Suhr in St. Louis contributed to this report.

Read More

(Reuters) - Former Beatle Ringo Starr is lifting the lid on a collection of previously unseen photographs of the Fab Four in their heyday from his personal collection, in a new photography book due out next month.

"Photograph," which will be released as an e-book on Apple's iBookstore on June 12, will coincide with a Grammy Museum exhibit on Starr, entitled "Ringo: Peace & Love," the book's publishers said on Wednesday.

A limited-edition hand-bound book signed by Starr will be available for purchase in December.

The book will include photographs from the musician's childhood in Liverpool, England, to his road to fame as part of the Fab Four, with Paul McCartney, John Lennon and George Harrison.

"These are shots that no one else could have," Starr, 72, said in a statement.

Highlights from the collection include behind-the-scenes candids of the Beatles in their daily lives and Starr's travel photography as the band toured the world.

Starr has also recorded videos featuring commentary to accompany the e-book.

(Reporting by Piya Sinha-Roy in Los Angeles; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

Read More

EVANSTON, Ill. (AP) Engineering students at Northwestern University are getting a leg up on the competition. They're learning to swing dance in a for-credit class called Whole Body Thinking.

Joe Holtgreive (HOHLT'-greev), an assistant dean at the McCormick School of Engineering, started the class to help future engineers break outside their comfort zone.

Holtgreive says the course, led by Northwestern University Professor of Dance Billy Siegenfeld (SEE'-gen-feld), is teaching students known for left-brain thinking to use more of the right side of their brains.

The students include biomedical, mechanical and chemical engineering majors who say they're learning more than dance. They say the class is teaching them to think on their feet and work collaboratively with dance partners skills they say will help make them better engineers.

See the video here: http://bit.ly/12O445R

Read More

LOS ANGELES (AP) Los Angeles County Sheriff's detectives are investigating Justin Bieber for reckless driving after witnesses including former NFL star Keyshawn Johnson complained about the pop-star's alleged freeway speeds in their gated community in north Los Angeles County.

At about 8 p.m. Monday, Bieber allegedly drove his white Ferrari at freeway speeds in what is a 25 mph zone, Sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore said.

Johnson was outside with his 3-year-old daughter who was preparing to get into a small electric car when Bieber zoomed by. Johnson was upset and got into his Prius, following Bieber to his nearby home. As the garage door was closing, Johnson put out his arm and stopped it, telling Bieber he wanted to talk about his reckless driving.

Whitmore said Bieber scurried into his home without speaking.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department received two calls and responded to the location. When they tried to talk to Bieber, however, they were also turned away.

"His security detail said he declined to talk to us based on the advice of counsel," Whitmore said.

Deputies interviewed two witnesses, including Johnson, and wrote up their report. They handed that off to detectives who are continuing to investigate the incident.

"Their eyewitness testimony to our deputies was definitive not only the speed, not only the vehicle, but Mr. Bieber was sitting and driving in the driver's side seat," Whitmore said.

Deputies plan to send a reckless driving report to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office to consider filing misdemeanor charges in the next week or two.

Bieber's publicist did not immediately return a call for comment. Johnson declined to comment via ESPN, where he now works as a TV commentator.

Prosecutors are also looking at whether to charge Bieber for battery in a separate incident involving a neighbor, who complained the pop-star attacked and threatened him.

"We take this very seriously and if this actually did occur, which it appears that it did, it is unacceptable behavior from anybody, anywhere, anytime," Whitmore said.

___

Follow Tami Abdollah on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/latams

Read More

REDMOND, Wash. (AP) Will gamers want One?

After four years of development, Microsoft unveiled the Xbox One entertainment console and touted it as an all-in-one solution for playing games, watching TV and doing everything in between. Microsoft wants the Xbox One to be central to your living room, so it packed the new Xbox with such features as the ability to change TV channels through voice commands.

Although the device won't go on sale until later this year, at a price that hasn't been disclosed yet, Microsoft invited attendees of Tuesday's announcement event to take a closer look at the system.

Based on limited time with the device, the Xbox One feels like an improvement over its predecessor. But it fails to include features some fans have demanded, including the ability to play games bought for the existing Xbox 360 system.

Of course, many particulars about the Xbox One could change between now and when it's released. The specific date hasn't been revealed. More details are expected in three weeks at the Electronic Entertainment Expo, the gaming industry's annual convention in Los Angeles.

For now, the system looks to be a thoughtful piece of technology, but there's still a lot that isn't known.

DESIGN: With contrasting matte and gloss finishes, the Xbox One is the slickest video game console so far, although we don't yet know what Sony's upcoming PlayStation 4 will look like. (Nintendo's Wii U is already out, although sales have fallen short of the company's forecasts.) The Xbox's outer shell, which Microsoft calls "liquid black," features vented flourishes and all the inputs and outputs one might need, including multiple USB ports and HDMI pass-through.

KINECT: The new version of the Xbox's camera-based Kinect system comes with better motion and voice detection, including the ability to recognize faces, tell if you're smiling or talking and gauge your heart rate. It appears as sexy as the Xbox console and has been overhauled under the hood. It's three times more sensitive and has a larger, 60-degree field of view. In a demo, the doodad's high-definition camera easily displayed crystal-clear 1080p video and could detect up to seven people, though it lagged as more folks stood in front of it. The basic motion detection appears vastly improved, but the voice detection feature wasn't made available to try out, adding to the list of unknowns.

PERFORMANCE: The system seems to work harmoniously together. For example, by combining the Kinect's face detection ability with the machine's wireless controllers, it recognized almost magically when users swapped controllers.

CONTROLLER: The new controller's layout is mostly unchanged, but the bulky battery bump is gone from the back. The smoother Xbox One controller boasts a new directional pad and vibrating trigger buttons. The triggers pulsated in tandem with such imagery as a character's heart beating and a car revving up during a demo with a prototype controller.

REQUIREMENTS: Luckily, the Xbox One won't require a constant connection to the Internet, but there's a possibility that some of the key features wouldn't work as well or at all. The Kinect system is required and will come with the machine, rather than sold separately as has been the case with the Xbox 360. The Xbox One also will feature privacy settings so it doesn't feel like the Kinect's camera is always watching you.

LIMITATIONS: Xbox 360 games won't work on the Xbox One because the underlying technology is different, according to Microsoft. Microsoft was vague about how the Xbox One will handle previously played games bought from other gamers, though it confirmed used games will work somehow. There had been talk that Microsoft might restrict used games on the new machine.

GAMES: What games? Despite the fact that such titles as "Call of Duty: Ghosts," ''FIFA 14" and "Forza Motorsport 5" were teased during Tuesday's flashy presentation, actual games weren't available to try out afterward. Microsoft said it plans to focus on Xbox One titles at the E3 conference, which starts June 11.

The Xbox One shows promise with a sleek shell and a new Kinect detector that seems to perform fine at least if you don't try to confuse it with too many people at once. But the lack of games is notable, as are lingering questions about what it can do without an Internet connection. There are too many questions about the Xbox One, even after experiencing not just hearing what Microsoft has planned. At this point, it's too early to say whether Microsoft or Sony is leading in the latest round of the console wars. They'll have to duke it out at E3.

___

Online:

http://www.xbox.com

___

Follow AP Entertainment Writer Derrik J. Lang on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/derrikjlang

Read More

By Padraic Halpin and Conor Humphries

DUBLIN (Reuters) - Ireland is preparing to officially reject accusations by U.S. Senators this week that it acts as a tax haven for large multinationals and launch a diplomatic offensive to repair the damage done to its reputation abroad.

Ireland has been forced to defend its low corporate tax rate after the Senate said last week that iPhone and iPad maker Apple paid little or no tax on tens of billions of dollars in profits channeled through Irish subsidiaries and that it had effectively negotiated a special corporate tax rate of less than 2 percent.

Irish ministers and officials have lined up to insist that their tax system is transparent and that other countries were responsible if Apple paid tax at such low rates. Finance Minister Michael Noonan said Ireland would not be the "whipping boy" for the Senate subcommittee.

The government will likely put its response on the record this week, two government sources said, and will tell the committee led by veteran tax sleuth Senator Carl Levin that Ireland is not a tax haven, nor did it cut Apple a special tax deal.

"Undoubtedly there's a risk of reputational damage if we don't defend our corner and set out the facts, so of course that's happening," Ireland's European Affairs Minister Lucinda Creighton told Reuters, referring to the response being drafted.

"I've no doubt there will be a strong response, and we will strongly defend Ireland as a safe, a legally sound and a good place to do business. What you see is what you get, and that is why so many global companies are headquartered in Ireland."

Creighton was speaking from Dublin airport ahead of a four-day trip to Washington and New York where she will meet business leaders and politicians and address the prestigious Columbia University.

While the trade mission was planned long before last week's revelations on Capitol Hill, Creighton said she and her fellow ministers would use every opportunity to put right the "misinformation" heard in the Senate last week.

Ireland has a network in place to quickly spread that message. After it took a financial bailout in late 2010, Dublin set up its Economic Messaging Unit to coordinate communications between all government agencies, departments and embassies.

Irish embassies from Beijing to Buenos Aires were issued rebuttal points last week, a normal practice for major stories, while Ireland's ambassador in Washington held a conference call with government departments and the state agency charged with attracting investment into Ireland to discuss the next steps.

DINNER JOKES IN BRUSSELS

Within weeks of coming to office in 2011, Prime Minister Enda Kenny summoned all the country's ambassadors to Dublin to brief them on how best to restore a reputation he said was in tatters.

The fresh assault will be similar, one diplomatic source said, adding that the key focus would be liaising with a strong network of contacts in the U.S. Administration and on Capitol Hill, where the leaders of Ireland and the United States traditionally meet for lunch to mark St. Patrick's Day.

While Dublin was able to call on ex-President Bill Clinton to tell U.S. companies last year that they would be "nuts" not to invest in Ireland, the task could be trickier this time with the criticism emanating from its normally friendly ally.

"That was a blindside for Ireland Inc. because we always thought we were on the same page as Anglo-American capitalism. We thought it would stick up for us," said Hugo Brady, senior research fellow at the Centre for European Reform in Brussels.

"The PR side of it is really bad for Ireland because Ireland and tax haven are going together in mainstream conversation in Brussels. It hasn't done our image much good when people start making dinner jokes about Apple being an Irish company."

While Ireland will concentrate its energy in the United States to keep attracting jobs from the likes of Apple, Google and Pfizer, it will also need to keep an eye out for any backlash in Europe where its low corporate tax rate of 12.5 percent has drawn criticism in the past.

One influential member of the European Parliament said that while Dublin should be given time to adjust, it should adopt a standardized European Union tax system and ultimately a minimum rate of corporation tax.

"Ireland should take its hands out of other countries' pockets. Ireland's tax system is designed to tax income other people have earned," Sven Giegold told Reuters, underscoring how emotive the issue will be in elections in his native Germany.

"If you want to heat up a room in an election meeting in Germany, you have to talk about tax avoidance. It has become one of the most emotional topics. People are outraged."

(Additional reporting by John O'Donnell in Brussels; Editing by Will Waterman)

Read More

BEIJING (Reuters) - Firefighters in eastern China have rescued an abandoned newborn baby boy lodged in a sewage pipe directly beneath a toilet commode, state television reported, in a case which has sparked anger on social media sites.

There are frequent reports in Chinese media of babies being abandoned, often shortly after birth, a problem attributed variously to young mothers unaware they were pregnant, the birth of an unwanted girl in a society which puts greater value on boys or China's strict family planning rules.

In the latest case the infant was found in the sewage pipe in a residential building in Jinhua in the wealthy coastal province of Zhejiang on Saturday afternoon after residents reported the sound of a baby crying, state television said late on Monday.

Firefighters had to remove the pipe and take it to a nearby hospital, where doctors carefully cut around it to rescue the baby boy inside, the report said.

The child is in a stable condition and the police are looking for his parents, state television added.

The case has been widely discussed on China's Twitter-like service Sina Weibo due to the graphic nature of the footage, with calls for the parents to be severely punished.

"The parents who did this have hearts even filthier than that sewage pipe," wrote one user.

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard and Sally Huang; Editing by Michael Perry)

Read More

WAYNESVILLE, Ohio (AP) An 87-year-old World War II veteran has parachuted from a plane in an Ohio to support his ailing great-grandson.

Clarence Turner of Fairfield made the jump Saturday with an instructor. He says he wanted to generate attention for the plight of 10-month-old Julian Couch, who suffers from a lung disease that could require a transplant.

WLWT of Cincinnati reports that (http://bit.ly/14RYHF1) Julian is hospitalized in Columbus. A fundraiser is planned for June 2.

Turner also made a jump at age 85 to fulfill a goal to experience freefalling and landing as he did in the Army. He served from 1944-47, and his last jump was in Japan.

Turner says he also hopes to someday make a parachute jump at an older age than former President George H.W. Bush, who's 88.

Read More

By Piya Sinha-Roy

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The doors of Dunder Mifflin's Scranton branch closed for the last time on Thursday as NBC's "The Office" wrapped up after a nine-season run with a nostalgic finale featuring a long-awaited wedding and the return of the show's biggest star, Steve Carell.

Emmy-winning mockumentary "The Office," adapted from Ricky Gervais' British series of the same name, saw a documentary crew filming the daily lives of employees at the Dunder Mifflin paper company, led for several years by hapless boss Michael Scott, played by Carell.

On Thursday's 75-minute finale, set six months after the fictional documentary was released, the colleagues all reunite for the marriage of Machiavellian office manager Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson), and accountant Angela Martin (Angela Kingsley).

Carell entered the episode as a surprise guest at the wedding, uttering one of Michael Scott's best-known phrases - "That's what she said."

Later as he considered the romances that had formed at the workplace, Carell's character told the camera, "It's like all my children grew up and they married each other."

Over nine seasons, audiences have been treated to numerous office fights, friendships and romances on the NBC sitcom. One of the most compelling storylines was the growing romance of Jim and Pam, played by John Krasinski and Jenna Fischer, as audiences watched them transition from friendship to marriage and parenthood.

For fans of the show, the season finale saw most of the long-standing cast members get their happy ending.

Stanley finally retires, Erin finds her birth parents, Andy capitalizes on becoming an unwilling viral video star, Kelly and Ryan run off into the sunset (albeit abandoning a baby in the process) and Jim and Pam decide to move to Austin, Texas.

The final scenes featured a montage of key moments, including Jim and Pam's romance and the numerous friendships that developed over the years.

"I wish there was a way to know you were in the good old days before you've actually left them," Andy Bernard, played by Ed Helms, said wistfully.

The cast also reflected on the documentary that captured nine years of their lives at the company, which Jim described as "this stupid, wonderful, boring, amazing job."

"Imagine going back and watching a tape of your life. You can see yourself change ... watch yourself fall in love, become a husband, a father. You guys gave that to me," Jim said to the cameras.

LAUNCHING STARS, FALLING AUDIENCES

"The Office," which first aired in 2005, began with a relatively unknown cast, led by Carell, whose breakout film "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" came out the same year.

The show made stars of many of its cast members, leading to high-profile movie roles, and its producers said last year that the outside success of "The Office" actors played a role in the decision to wind it down.

Carell left the show in season seven to focus on his rising film career, which has included roles in "Crazy, Stupid, Love" and "The Incredible Burt Wonderstone."

Helms also made the move to the big screen with roles in "The Hangover" franchise, and Krasinski starred in the recent film "The Promised Land" with Matt Damon.

Mindy Kaling, who plays office mean girl Kelly Kapoor, landed her own Fox sitcom "The Mindy Project," while Craig Robinson, who plays warehouse manager Darryl, scored film roles in "Pineapple Express" and upcoming "This Is the End."

After Carell's exit in 2011, audiences began to turn away from "The Office" and viewership fell to about 4 million last year per episode from a high of about 8 million in 2008.

The show's culmination comes on the heels of another NBC comedy, "30 Rock," bowing out after seven seasons in February.

Prior to the finale, an hourlong retrospective of the show featured cast members and producers talking about the impact of "The Office" on their careers and why fans were drawn to it.

"This is a perfect time for the show to come to a close," Wilson said. "There's a finality to it and a sadness to it."

Wilson had sought to create a spin-off show led by his character Dwight, but it was not picked up for broadcast.

The unlikely star of the show has been the city of Scranton, Pennsylvania, which prior to the show was known for coal mining but not anymore.

As the series drew to a close, tens of thousands of people gathered in Scranton earlier this month to give a rousing send-off to the sitcom that changed the image of the city forever.

"Thank you, Scranton," Carell told the crowd. "This all is because of you."

NBC is a unit of Comcast Corp.

(Reporting By Piya Sinha-Roy; Editing by Bill Trott)

Read More