Regional Connector: Audiophiles Freaked Downtown Subway Will Ruin Disney Hall

[shared via Google Reader from Curbed LA]

Monocle drop! The Regional Connector subway line could interfere with the high-brow entertainment up above at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, it turns out: “Experts who know the hall’s acoustics are worried that the listening experience in the main auditorium could suffer when subway trains begin running 125 feet below the parking garage in 2020,” according to the LA Times (the Hall is noted for its excellent acoustics). No less than building architect Frank Fucking Gehry says “It would be a disaster for Disney Hall.” Metro’s 2011 environmental impact report on the Regional Connector, which will in part run under Second Street from Hope to Central Avenue, “predicted there would be no audible impact on Disney Hall” and “calls for common noise abatement features that reduce vibrations from passing trains.” Their stated goal is to have absolutely no impact on the music. (Part of the issue is that trains need to be quiet enough to not interfere with recording, in addition to performances.) But Metro conducted an experiment in late April in Disney’s below-ground Thayer Hall, playing both a piano piece and a simulation of a passing train; the train noises were audible and now everyone’s really freaked out.

But Metro says that test was just “aimed at establishing the threshold at which subway noise ceases to be a problem.” They had to deal with similar issues in building the Red Line through Hollywood, since the area is thick with recording studios (and Red Line cars are heavier than the Regional Connector’s will be). Soundproofing aside, they could also set a 15 mph speed limit on the train in that area, but they don’t think they’ll have to do that.

Metro head Art Leahy promises “We are not about to do anything which in any fashion, however slightly, impairs or damages … Disney Hall or any other feature in that area.” County Supe (and “classical music buff”) Zev Yaroslavsky adds thats “Obviously Metro will not build a line that is going to compromise Disney Hall.”
· L.A. Philharmonic concerned about potential subway noise [LAT]
· Regional Connector Archives [Curbed LA]

Keeping it in your pants: Top 10 smartphone etiquette tips for a first date

[shared via Google Reader from Android Central - Android Forums - News - Reviews - Help and Android Wallpapers]

We’re geeks. We get it. Our phones, be they Android, BlackBerry, iPhone, or Windows Phone, are among the most important things in our lives. We use them for everything, all the time. But in some situations our phones can get in the way, like on a first date. So, from one geek to another, I’m going to share ten basic tips on how to keep your smartphone from ruining a potentially great new relationship… by keeping it in your pants!

Here are the bullet points, watch the video for the details!

read more

Calendar : The Oinkster's Burger Week is Back June 3 with Wendy's Baconator, McDonald's McRib, More!

[shared via Google Reader from Eater LA]

The Oinkster and chef Andre Guerrero’s third annual burger week is back June 3 with a slew of new fast food chain burger interpretations. In the past Guerrero has served up versions of In-N-Out, White Castle, and Jack in the Box burgers, and this year he’s kicking things off with Wendy’s Baconator aka the Oinkonator, and ending on June 9 with a re-imained McDonald’s McRib or the McRibster. Remember, each burger is available for just one day and on Thursday the Grill ‘Em All team will take over The Oinkster’s kitchen to serve their retired Weedeater Burger. Here’s the lineup:

1) Monday: Wendy’s Baconator aka Oinkonator
Two 3oz Square Beef Patties, American Cheese, 6 strips of Bacon, Ketchup, Mayo on a Kaiser Bun.

2) Tuesday: Bob’s Big Boy aka Nino Grande
Two 3oz Beef Patties, American Cheese, Big Boy Relish, Mayo, Shredded Lettuce on a Triple Bun.

3) Wednesday: BURGERLORD of The Rings
5oz Beef Patty, Homemade Onion Rings, Sriracha Cream Cheese, Pineapple Ring & Teriyaki Sauce on a Bagel Bun.

4) Thursday: Grill ‘Em All Weedeater:
Half Pound Burg, Jalapeño Bacon, Cheddar, Funyuns, Garlic Aioli & Seared Pulled Pork (in Mosh Pit BBQ Sauce)

5) Friday: Lumpia Burger aka Thrilla From Manila:
5oz Pork Patty with Shrimp & Mushrooms in a Lumpia Wrapper, Green Papaya Relish. Pork Belly & Sweet Thai Sauce on a Pan de Sal Bun.

6) Saturday: Bell Beefer aka Doritos Bell Beefer
Taco seasoned, Dorito crusted, 5oz Beef Patty with shredded Cheddar, Lettuce, Pico de Gallo, Ranch Dressing & Tapatio on a Burger Bun.

7) Sunday: McDonald’s McRib aka McRibster
Baby Back Ribs with BBQ Sauce, Pickles and Onions on a French Roll

The Fine Print:
Due to the increased volume during the week we’ve had to make some temporary rules to help make the week run as smoothly as possible:
-No substitutions or modifications
-We will stop the line 30mins before we close each night (Sun-Thurs: 9:30PM Fri & Sat 10:30PM)
-People can line up as early as they’d like (Doors open at 11AM every day)
-No saving tables
-No Phone or online Orders 6/3 - 6/9
-1 button per burger

Last year 180 attended all seven days and ate all seven burgers and this year those who attempt the same feat will be crowned with a Burgerlords t-shirt. Also, team Oinkster is organizing a social media scavenger hunt via Twitter and Instagram starting May 28. Three winners will nab front of the line passes plus one.
All The Oinkster Coverage [~ELA~]

Crime: Nine former employees are suing West…

[shared via Google Reader from Eater LA]

Nine former employees are suing West Hollywood gay bar Mickey’s for a slew of atrocities that include “lewd conduct, creating a sexually hostile work environment, racial discrimination and discrimination against heterosexual employees, and labor code violations.” Counsel recently went public with the suit, which was filed in July 2011. A trial is set for this coming October. [WEHOville]

Seamless And GrubHub Confirm Merger, GrubHub Co-Founder Maloney To Helm New Company

[shared via Google Reader from TechCrunch]

Today is turning out to be quite a memorable Monday — hot on the heels of Yahoo’s Tumblr acquisition announcement, online food ordering services GrubHub and Seamless have officially confirmed that the two companies will merge into one as we previously reported.

Many of the juicy details — like what this new entity will actually be called — are still shrouded in secrecy, but the announcement has shed some light on how the new company’s executive structure will be set up. GrubHub co-founder and CEO Matt Maloney will take the reins as the entity’s chief executive, while Seamless CEO Jonathan Zabusky is slated to become the company’s president.

As our own Rip Empson pointed out on Friday, the tie-up is set to take place as the online good delivery and ordering space has begun to heat up. A handful of new startups have their respective eyes set on cracking the market (think ChowNow and HealthyOut, just to name a few), while more entrenched players like Delivery.com continue to putter along.

Now that two of the most prominent companies in that space are dedicating to combining forces, we may soon see some of those small fries get pushed out. After all, by combining the resources of both companies (which jointly generated over $100 million in revenue in 2012), the new combined entity will have enough resources to grow its business both in the United States and in the U.K. where Seamless has maintained a foothold for some time. Of course, this whole shebang is still subject to regulatory approval, so it’s possible someone could raise those same sorts of anti-competitive concerns down the road. For now though, I suspect that more than a few people are just happy knowing that they’ll be able to order even more food from a single service.

Developing…

Tumblr’s Loss Is WordPress’ Gain As Thousands Of Users Jump Ship Before Yahoo Takes Over

[shared via Google Reader from TechCrunch]

In what can only be called an exodus, WordPress’ co-founder Matt Mullenweg posted on his blog Sunday night that over 72,000 new blog posts were imported within a single hour. This is a massive spike considering that WordPress usually just sees 400 to 600 imported posts on most Sundays. It’s a tiny percentage of Tumblr’s 50.9B posts but it’s an important consideration that Tumblr – and now Yahoo – cannot ignore.

Yahoo is officially buying Tumblr for a lot of cash. $1.1 billion to be precise. This move makes a few people very happy and very rich. But Tumblr’s content creators – you and me – are the primary reason Yahoo is buying the site. Unfortunately, that content engine isn’t very happy.

WordPress will likely have another banner day as even more Tumblr users look for alternative platforms to host their saucy Brony slashfic.

Tumblr is currently an unfettered corner of the Internet. Nearly anything goes, and with that users have enjoyed this freedom to create a vast variety of blogs and sites. Anything from questionable pornography to vegan cooking blogs are hosted on Tumblr. While Yahoo promises to keep Tumblr independent, it’s unclear whether this includes maintaining Tumblr’s loose posting guidelines.

This has happened before. A small percentage of Instagram users loudly quit the service when Facebook purchased the social network. Likewise, Facebook is losing users as it becomes an established service. WordPress is likely going to be the largest benefactor of Tumblr’s exodus. As Mullenweg notes, the two services have long enjoyed a close relationship. It only takes a few clicks to import a Tumblr site to a WordPress install.

Tumblr users are afraid Yahoo is going to ruin it. After all, Yahoo has set that precedent after scooping up sites like Geocities and del.icio.us only to abandon development and let the sites rot in the Internet sun. But the Yahoo of today is not the Yahoo of yesterday.

Yahoo is booming under Marissa Mayer. The company is a on buying spree, scooping up hot startups, resulting in the acquisition of content, talent, and, press coverage. If anything, Wall Street likes what Yahoo is doing as the company’s stock price is up nearly 71% for the year. But despite Yahoo’s frank promise that it will not screw up Tumblr, a social network is only as strong as its users and in a very direct way, Yahoo is already screwing up Tumblr.

It’s True, Thinking Hard Really Can Wear You Out

[shared via Google Reader from Lifehacker]

Some days, you leave work at 5 PM ready to pick up the kids, make a three-course meal, build a birdhouse, and hit the gym. Others, you walk in the door and collapse on the couch, begging for the sweet release of reality TV to soothe your inexplicably sore body along with a delivery pizza to fuel you up for a particularly intense eight hours of sleep.

Both days your “work” was just sitting at your desk, but one left you far more physically exhausted. Why? Well, were you thinking harder on pizza day?

Because as PopSci points out, a study headed by Samuele Marcora, a University of Kent Professor of Exercise Physiology, has proven that thinking hard really can leave your body exhausted. Researchers gave subjects one of two 90-minute tasks—one playing a mentally engaging computer test, and one watching documentaries on trains and Ferraris. Then they were asked to hop on a bike.

In almost all cases, the documentary watchers were able to peddle longer than those who’d been tested by a computer for an hour and a half. And in a twist of science, heart rate, respiration, and blood glucose levels were consistent between the two groups. (Apparently, there’s no known metric for force of will.)

But there is an important lesson we can learn, reading between the lines a bit. I find it particularly notable that as subjects hopped on the bike, both groups chose the same level of resistance—mentally fatigued or not. In other words, even though the mentally fatigued had less gas in the tank, they chose to work with the same level of challenge.

It means that when we’re mentally exhausted, we won’t always titrate our workload to fit.

The study’s authors believe their findings are most important to physical jobs, like military personnel. But I imagine, there really might be something to taking a leisurely day off work before a particularly taxing conference, set of meetings, or jewel heist. At least if you want the residual energy to party properly with your coworkers later.

Read the study here.

It’s True, Thinking Hard Really Can Wear You Out | Fast Company

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The Seven-Minute Workout Timer Guides You Through a Quick Workout

[shared via Google Reader from Lifehacker]

Last week we told you about the seven minute workout and showed you how to do each exercise. If you don’t feel like setting up your own 30 second timer for the workout, the Seven Minute Workout timer does it for you.

The timer is incredibly simple, but it does what it needs to. Click start, and the timer starts counting down for each of the different exercises. The site works on both desktop and mobile, so regardless of where you’re working out it helps you get the job done.

Seven Minute Workout Timer | via Hacker News

This Cheat Sheet Teaches You How to Match Shirt and Tie Patterns

[shared via Google Reader from Lifehacker]

Learning to match your shirts and ties together so they work well may be an art, but it’s one you can learn. This infographic from men’s designer footwear company Beckett Simonon shows you how to mix the riskiest kinds of shirts and ties: ones with patterns.

The graphic offers examples for a few rules of thumb, such as starting with the primary color of your shirt and pairing large patterns with smaller ones. One piece of advice I’m not so sure about is the tip to always wear a tie darker than your shirt (what if you’re wearing black?), but otherwise, these tips could help you avoid looking like an optical illusion.

Here’s the full cheat sheet for your pattern-combining reference:

How to match shirt and tie patterns. | Beckett Simonon

“Self-Delusion Is One of the Greatest Inventions in Human History”

[shared via Google Reader from Lifehacker]

At some point you’ve been told to fake it ‘til you make it, and that’s because with a little effort you can delude yourself into believing—and then becoming—whatever you hope to be. As A.J. Jacobs, author of Drop Dead Healthy, points out in this quote, we’re a lot more flexible and less stubborn than we may think. He explains:

Our behavior greatly affects our thoughts and attitudes. If you are feeling a lack of confidence or have an urge to change something within yourself, you must “act your way into a new way of thinking,” rather than trying to think your way into a new way of acting.

Not sure how to fake-act? A few body language changes can make a big difference.

Insights from A.J. Jacobs, Joe Gebbia, Charlie Todd, & More at the 2013 99U Conference | The 99U

Photo by VLADGRIN (Shutterstock).

Abercrombie CEO Sorry That People Didn’t Like When He Said Plus-Size People Don’t Belong In His Clothes

[shared via Google Reader from Consumerist]

A couple weeks back, the Internet found more reasons to hate Abercrombie & Fitch after people resurrected a 2006 interview in which CEO Mike Jeffries said his company deliberately avoids selling to the “not-so-cool kids,” which was his way of referring to people who aren’t skinny. Now Jeffries is apologizing, not for what he said, but really just because people are upset about it.

In the original Salon piece, Jeffries explained that, “In every school there are the cool and popular kids, and then there are the not-so-cool kids… Candidly, we go after the cool kids. We go after the attractive all-American kid with a great attitude and a lot of friends. A lot of people don’t belong [in our clothes], and they can’t belong. Are we exclusionary? Absolutely.”

He said that companies that offer sizes for a wide range of customers “are in trouble are trying to target everybody: young, old, fat, skinny.”

So after all of Jeffries’ interview was dredged up and dissected online, he felt compelled to issue a statement yesterday that is a perfect example of a non-apology:

“I sincerely regret that my choice of words was interpreted in a manner that has caused offense,” reads Jeffries’ statement. “We are completely opposed to any discrimination, bullying, derogatory characterizations or other anti-social behavior based on race, gender, body type or other individual characteristics.”

That being said, the company says it has no plans to offer larger sizes of clothing.

We’re not saying A&F needs to make sizes larger than 10; it has every right to sell whatever sizes it wants. The problem here is that Jeffries — not exactly a supermodel himself — chose to use insults to explain his company’s stance rather than merely point out that every clothing company can’t appeal to every possible customer.

Because unlike the school lunch room, where the “not-so-cool kids” rarely say anything when being excluded, they will speak up loudly when you mock them in the real world.

In the meantime, Jerry from Parks & Rec is here to tell everyone how you too, can be like the cool kids: