guardiancomment:

Now, I know that air travel is really just a portal to foreign climes: a privilege for people who can afford to go on holidays abroad, an efficient means of transport for those whose work enables them to travel, and maybe even, for some, a one-way ticket to a new and better life. I know this, everyone on the plane knows this, so why is the notion that air travel is the sexiest thing since records began still pushed on us by endless tedious advertising campaigns? Wouldn’t Richard Branson do better to put down the women he insists on picking up for photo opportunities and spend his money on food that doesn’t taste like a foot, instead? ‘Sorry, Virgin - sex and air travel don’t mix

Oklahoma: What are tornadoes, how are they classified and how are they formed? Experts including a meteorologist, storm chaser and pollster answer your questions on the Oklahoma City tornadoes.

(via Chelsea flower show at 100: A century of (newspaper) cuttings | From the Guardian | guardian.co.uk)

What’s so funny? 

Carey Mulligan and Justin Timberlake got a fit of the giggles last night attending the ‘Inside Llewyn Davis’ at the Cannes Film Festival. Take a look at more pictures from the evening while we wait for today’s highlights. Photograph: Dave J Hogan/Getty Images

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Game of gnomes

The Royal Horticultural Society has lifted its century-old ban on gnomes for this year’s Chelsea flower show. Here’s our pick of the best – from classic to combat – to kick off your collection

Photograph: Shawn Thorsson/Etsy 

Madge at the billboard music awards. From our picture desk:

“Is it just me or has Madonna forgotten something in the excitement of picking up an armful of trophies at the Billboard Music Awards in Las Vegas?”

Photograph: Jason Merritt/Getty Images

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marissamayr:

I’m delighted to announce that we’ve reached an agreement to acquire Tumblr! 

We promise not to screw it up.  Tumblr is incredibly special and has a great thing going.  We will operate Tumblr independently.  David Karp will remain CEO.  The product roadmap, their team, their wit and irreverence will all remain the same as will their mission to empower creators to make their best work and get it in front of the audience they deserve.  Yahoo! will help Tumblr get even better, faster.

Tumblr has built an amazing place to follow the world’s creators. From art to architecture, fashion to food, Tumblr hosts 105 million different blogs.  With more than 300 million monthly unique visitors and 120,000 signups every day, Tumblr is one of thefastest-growing media networks in the world.  Tumblr sees 900 posts per second (!) and 24 billion minutes spent onsite each month.  On mobile, more than half of Tumblr’s users are using the mobile app, and those users do an average of 7 sessions per day.  Tumblr’s tremendous popularity and engagement among creators, curators and audiences of all ages brings a significant new community of users to the Yahoo! network.  The combination of Tumblr+Yahoo! could grow Yahoo!’s audience by 50% to more than a billion monthly visitors, and could grow traffic by approximately 20%.

In terms of working together, Tumblr can deploy Yahoo!’s personalization technology and search infrastructure to help its users discover creators, bloggers, and content they’ll love.  In turn, Tumblr brings 50 billion blog posts (and 75 million more arriving each day) to Yahoo!’s media network and search experiences.  The two companies will also work together to create advertising opportunities that are seamless and enhance user experience.

As I’ve said before, companies are all about people.  Getting to know the Tumblr team has been really amazing.  I’ve long held the view that in all things art and design, you can feel the spirit and demeanor of those who create them.  That’s why it was no surprise to me that David Karp is one of the nicest, most empathetic people I’ve ever met.  He’s also one of the most perceptive, capable entrepreneurs I’ve worked with.  His respect for Tumblr’s community of creators is awesome, and I’m absolutely delighted to have him and his entire team join Yahoo!.   

Both Tumblr and Yahoo! share a vision to make the Internet the ultimate creative canvas by focusing on users, design — and building experiences that delight and inspire the world every day.

http://yahoo.tumblr.com/

Nice gifness!

More about the gifs on Guardian.