It's hilarious and I love everything about it.

I like Chucks. I used to love them but over the past two years I got fed-up with the quality and pricing of these shoes.

To my knowledge I haven't changed anything about the way I wear them, I didn't gain weight, and I still rarely wear the same pair of shoes two days in a row; but whereas before I knew that a pair of Chucks would last me about 1.5 years, I've had pairs (low top and high top) that only held up a mere six months before they fell apart.
Add to that the fact that a pair of high top Chucks sells for a ridiculous € 75.– in German retail stores (I wrote about this in detail two years ago) while genuine high tops can be had for ~ € 16.– in Beijing (as I was able to see first-hand during a recent trip to China).

These experiences have changed my attitude towards the brand and the product for the worse and caused me to actively look for more durable, comfortable, stylish, and less overpriced alternatives (… to add to my evoked set). There are a couple of sneaker companies out there that make really nice, high-quality sneakers and shoes (Pointer, Boxfresh, Nike, etc.) and over the past two years, I've bought shoes from all of them.

About a week ago Converse/Nike introduced the first major update to this product line in nearly a century, resulting in the Converse Chuck Taylor All Star II. I'm not a sneaker fan, so the initial news/hype about the new version completely passed me by and I only got wind of it when I walked past a sneaker shop in Bonn.

A quick trip to the Converse website revealed the key features: a removable, well-cushioned Lunarlon sockliner (pretty comfortable Nike technology, if you ask me), a padded non-slip tongue that is held in place by two elastic bands, perforated micro suede lining, and Tencel® canvas on the outside, which, from experience, is more durable than cotton and regulates moisture more effectively.

I'm having trouble remembering if there was every time when where there wasn't at least one pair of Chucks in my shoe rack. I always liked that you can combine them with pretty much anything, that they don't look to extravagant and they're timeless shoes at this point. For this reason I decided to give the new version a chance.

My initial impressions after wearing them in a shop in Trier are that the Lunarlon sockliner has the potential to bea lot more comfortable than the footbed of the old version, the canvas feels nice, and the overall workmanship seems to have seen significant improvements, too.
While I'm not sold on the perforated suede and the padded tongue and ankles, the shoes felt so good on my feet that I found myself standing outside the shop 15 minutes later with a box containing vivid blue high top Chucks in my hands:

Time and wear will tell whether the overall quality and durability have been improved enough during the redesign, so I'll have an easier time convincing myself that paying € 80.– for a pair of Chucks isn't completely bonkers. Maybe I will even start keeping more than one pair in my shoe rack once again.

Scratching my head is what I've been doing for a couple of days now (also cursing, a lot of cursing) because viewing images stored in my Aperture library looked strange; slightly desaturated, overexposed, etc.

I thought something was wrong with my library or with Aperture itself. I tried many things to get this working again, because no matter what others say, to me there's still no alternative to Aperture's image database features.

So, if you're having the same issue, or if you find that you don't see guides when trying to crop an image, make sure that 'View > Onscreen proofing' is disabled.

While the quote that's attributed to Einstein might not be from him, if bee colonies continue to die at current rates, we're all going to be facing huge problems.

John Martellaro on The Mac Observer:

When the TMO team was in Breckenridge, CO last week for a writer's camp, I wrote the entire Particle Debris column, published on June 26, on the MacBook. That article was over 1,200 words, and I found the keyboard to be natural and precise. I now prefer it over any keyboard I have ever used.

I'm in the market for a new machine and when Apple announced the new MacBook in March, the new keyboard drew my interest. While I don't like typing on a touchscreen very much, I have no problems with flat but good keyboards. When I finally had the opportunity to try the keyboard, a few days after the MacBook was available in stores, it took me about 20 minutes of typing to realise that I wanted this keyboard in my Mac, yesterday.

Unfortunately for me, Apple seems to be using the new MacBook as a testbed not only for the concept of an ultra light laptop with just one port but also for this particular type of keyboard. Therefore, while a bit disappointing, it's not surprising that Apple didn't add the new keyboard to the MacBook Pro with Retina Display at the same time.

I hope that Apple will soon equip the rest of its line-up with this new type of keyboard.

As much as the U.S. Surpreme Court's decision to declare gay marriage legal everywhere in the U.S. is a deserved and long overdue win for the LGBT community, critics have rightfully pointed out that we as a people still have a long way to go to accept the 'B' and 'T' parts of that community (Bi-sexual, Transgender).

Brianna Wu posted some very good tweets summarising the situation transgender people are still in:

With all respect to LGB people, historically they’ve been lukewarm ally at best for transgender people. They’ve always put themselves first.

— Brianna Wu (@Spacekatgal) June 26, 2015

While #MarriageEquaility deserves celebrating, @cathexing has thoughts on what transgender people face. It’s not over pic.twitter.com/SXMh5tHVZp

— Brianna Wu (@Spacekatgal) June 26, 2015

Gay and lesbian allies need to step up their information and efforts to include bisexual and transgender people pic.twitter.com/W3EoudqPrR

— Brianna Wu (@Spacekatgal) July 3, 2015

John Oliver had a segment on Transgender Rights on the latest Last Week Tonight and I encourage everybody to watch it to get an inkling of the hardships these people face daily and to understand that we still have a long way to go.

This is the story of Frank, a snapping turtle who wandered into a neighbourhood to eat puppies.
It's really funny.

Read it on OhSweetFancy's imgur page.

Found on: Tastefully Offensive

Yes, this is soon going to be a reality.

The Wand Company’s Star Trek Original Series Communicator is the most accurate replica ever made, designed using the first ever structured-light 3D scans taken of the Alpha Hero Prop, crammed full of advanced technology, bringing new levels of action and immersion for Star Trek fans of all ages. • First fully working wireless Communicator • Bluetooth® Handset for pairing with Bluetooth® enabled mobile cellular phones • Made in response to countless requests from Star Trek fans all over the world. • Constructed from pressed metal, die cast metal, machined aluminum and textured ABS to replicate the original hero prop • Magnetic stand, with metal base and multi-colour LED charge status illumination • Built-in lithium polymer battery with wireless charging, just place on stand to automatically charge the power cell • High quality molded polyurethane foam-lined transit case • High quality speaker, great for hands-free calls and even playing music streaming from any bluetooth enabled audio player • high quality MEMS microphone for crystal clear call quality.

Uhm…

Found on: The Mac Observer

ohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygod.

(If you can't tell: I'm positively giddy with excitement.)

I took this shot on a very cold winter day during a walk outside. Really liked the atmosphere that afternoon.