In this game of chess, black deploys the Sicilian Defence against 1: e4 to no avail, but follows adroitly with the Trash Talking Like An NPC Gambit. Will it be enough? The battle commences 40s in.Previously: Chess grandmaster takes on mouthy hustler Read the rest
What a surprise, top talent at Fox News fired for sexual misconduct. Again.Ed Henry, host of 'America's Newsroom,' has been terminated by Fox News following an investigation into sexual misconduct.The veteran anchor was fired after the network probed a complaint about “willful sexual misconduct in the workplace.”Here's the internal Fox News memo from Fox CEO Suzanne Scott and president Jay Wallace, via Aidan McLaughlin of Mediaite.More at CNN.Ed Henry was terminated following an investigation into sexual misconduct. Here's the internal memo from Fox: pic.twitter.com/jrBqJKL1En— Aidan McLaughlin (@aidnmclaughlin) July 1, 2020 Read the rest
In 1925, Swiss schoolteacher Aimé Tschiffely set out to prove the resilience of Argentina's criollo horses by riding two of them from Buenos Aires to New York City. In this week's episode of the Futility Closet podcast we'll follow Tschiffely's unprecedented journey, which has been called "the most exciting and influential equestrian travel tale of all time."We'll also read an inscrutable cookbook and puzzle over a misbehaving coworker.Show notesPlease support us on Patreon! Read the rest
The coronavirus is thrilled to learn that a bar owner in Texas is organizing a 'Bar Lives Matter' concert to protest the state's restrictions to slow the COVID-19 outbreak.Protesters are upset @GovAbbott shut down bars in order to help slow the spread of COVID-19. More than 30 bar owners are suing over the executive order. Protesters are demonstrating at the State Capitol and soon at the Governor’s Mansion. @KVUE pic.twitter.com/MaRSILqIxk— Jenni Lee (@JenniL_KVUE) June 30, 2020It's pretty nuts in Texas, where coronavirus infections and deaths are accelerating. HAPPENING NOW: The “Texas Bars Fight Back” protest is happening outside the Texas Capitol to protest the closing the bars statewide. pic.twitter.com/NPLen0fFmF— Kacey Bowen (@KaceyonFox7) June 30, 2020There was apparently an organized protest by other bar owners today at the Texas Capitol.'Bar lives matter' protesters descend on Texas capitol to oppose closures https://t.co/TeAMK1KDo0— Newsweek (@Newsweek) June 30, 2020From The Hill:A Texas bar owner who is one of several currently suing Gov. Greg Abbott (R) over reimposed restrictions on bars organized a “Bar Lives Matter” concert and protest Sunday.Tee Allen Parker, owner of The Machine Shed Bar & Grill in Kilgore, about two hours southeast of Dallas, hosted the gathering outside the bar Sunday. A second protest is planned on the steps of the capitol in Austin Tuesday, according to KLTV, a local ABC affiliate.“You can’t tell me that my tiny little bar is the problem. He’s the problem,” Parker, who is one of multiple Texas bar owners who have banned the wearing of masks in their establishments, said of Abbott in an interview with The Washington Post. Read the rest
“This is a battle to save the Heritage, History, and Greatness of our Country! #MAGA2020” —Donald J. Trump, on June 30, 2020.Donald Trump just tweeted a 14 word message that echoes the popular white supremacist slogan known as The 14 Words: "We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children."This is a battle to save the Heritage, History, and Greatness of our Country! #MAGA2020— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 30, 2020 Read the rest
Weeks after feds said 'Boogaloo' group members used Facebook to plan the murder of a federal agent, Facebook says they have removed 220 Facebook Groups and 95 Instagram accounts associated with the extremist movement.Facebook says 400 additional 'Boogaloo' related groups advocating armed violence that were tangentially associated with the movement would be taken down, too."Today we are designating a violent U.S.-based anti-government network as a dangerous organization and banning it from our apps. This network uses the term boogaloo but is distinct from the broader and loosely-affiliated boogaloo movement because it actively seeks to commit violence," a Facebook spokesperson wrote in a statement.Read the June 30, 2020 Facebook statement:Banning a Violent Network in the USReport Ben Collins and Brandy Zadrozny of NBC News,In May, federal officials alleged that Steven Carrillo killed a federal security officer during protests in Oakland, California, against the death of George Floyd while in the custody of Minneapolis police. Carrillo allegedly plotted the attack with a man he met in a Boogaloo Facebook group and aimed to use protesters to "support our own cause" of a second Civil War.The Boogaloo is a heavily armed, mostly conservative libertarian militia movement with extreme anti-government views that advocates for a violent uprising targeting mostly law enforcement. The movement, which has strong ties to current and former military members, grew to tens of thousands of followers since January, mostly in Facebook groups.Several self-professed "boogaloo boys" have been arrested in recent months, charged with crimes including the murder of law enforcement officers and planning terror attacks at Black Lives Matter protests. Read the rest
Yesterday, five large department stores in the towns of Lindsay and Whitby, Ontario, Canada had to temporarily stop ringing up customers because every item scanned at the register showed up as Mr. Potato Head. "A point of sale downloading error caused item names to appear incorrectly," said Cathy Kurzbock, manager of external communications for department store chain Canadian Tire. "It has since been corrected and the stores are operating normally."Apparently, they don't suspect this was a prank but, well, I wouldn't be so sure.(MyKwartha.com) Read the rest
Legendary comedian, actor, writer, and director Carl Reiner has died at age 98. Reiner is best known for performing with Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca on the 1950s TV variety program Your Show of Shows and later creating The Dick Van Dyke Show. He also directed George Burns in the classic "Oh God!" (1977), Steve Martin in "The Jerk" (1979) and acted in movies and TV shows like "Ocean's Eleven" (2001), "Parks and Recreation," and "House." From the New York Times:As part of a stellar supporting cast that also included Imogene Coca and Howard Morris, Mr. Reiner proved his versatility week after week on “Your Show of Shows,” which ran from 1950 to 1954 on NBC and established the template for sketch comedy on television. He played everything from a harried commuter to a frenzied rock ’n’ roller to an unctuous quiz-show host. But he is probably best remembered as an interviewer, solemnly posing questions to a mad professor, a spaced-out jazz musician or some other over-the-top character played by Mr. Caesar, and adding to the humor simply by being serious.Mr. Reiner contributed behind the scenes as well. He took part in the frenzied writing sessions that shaped the show, bouncing jokes off the walls of the writers’ room with the likes of Mr. Brooks and Neil Simon.“I became a writer because of that room,” he recalled. “I’d say something and somebody would yell: ‘What do you know? You’re not a writer.’ So I became a writer.” Read the rest
In a year of old-school dystopian catastrophes, here's one that's refreshingly futuristic: the UK is making it legal to use small electric scooters on Britain's roads, but not your small electric scooters. You must rent them, not own them.It is expected to recommend that helmets be worn, although they will not be mandatory, and vehicles will be limited to a speed of 15mph.Privately owned e-scooters will not be legalised.Under the new rules to be set out by the Department for Transport, e-scooter companies could launch scooter-sharing schemes in UK towns and cities and it will be legal to ride one of these scooters on the road from Saturday.The reality of rental scooters is that they become obstructions and annoyances, abandoned on pavements and in parking spots, with the companies running the schemes unable to track, recover or maintain them properly. The UK government has an ongoing scandal over cash-for-contracts and no political bandwidth available to close the loopholes, so cynicism may be warranted as well as sighs. Making a particular vehicle road-legal in the same breath as mandating they be rented from hinky tech startups is going to make a lot of money for someone. Read the rest
A few years back, my brother Rick Pescovitz came up with Under The Weather Pods, single-person pop-up shelters. (You may have caught Rick on Shark Tank.) Rick was sick of getting soaked at his kids' soccer games and was inspired by a portable toilet he saw by the field. Under The Weather Pods are designed for watching sports, fishing, and other outdoor events where it's raining, windy, or cold, but you are either obligated to watch or having so much fun you don't want to leave. When the pandemic began, my brother quickly made two new designs for hospitals and healthcare workers: The IntubationPod is a pop-up shield for medical procedures involving the head and neck area. It's apparently much less expensive than the rigid plastic boxes that are commonly used during intubation. Meanwhile, the ShieldPod enhances protection for physicians and nurses as they move through medical facilities treating patients. Both devices are now in use at several hospitals around the country. I'm proud of my brother Rick and his wife Kelly who is president of Under the Weather!Schools, businesses, and air travelers are now reaching out to Rick about the ShieldPod for use in classrooms, office settings, and on flights. Stay safe everyone.ShieldPod (Under the Weather) Read the rest
Jason Laska stopped at a Little Caesars to grab a pre-made "Hot-N-Ready" pizza for his family. When he got home, he and his wife discovered a (reverse) swastika made from pepperoni on the pie. Laska told CNN he tried to call the story but the number was constantly busy so he posted to social media.According to Little Caesar Enterprises spokesperson Jill Proctor, the two ignorant dumbfucks who made the pizza admitted to it and were fired."This is an example of what needs to change in our world," Laska said. "And we hope that people start to realize that and use their time to make those changes and not blast us for trying to do it." Read the rest
The Financial Times' latest chart of newly confirmed cases by state per capita, represented as a seven-day rolling average, suggests that the best place to go on vacation this summer is your own bed.There are concerns, however, that reported Covid-19 deaths are not capturing the true impact of coronavirus on mortality around the world. The FT has gathered and analysed data on excess mortality — the numbers of deaths over and above the historical average — across the globe, and has found that death tolls in some countries are more than 50 per cent higher than usual. In many countries, these excess deaths exceed reported numbers of Covid-19 deaths by large margins.US reporting appears excellent in general, notwithstanding the President's efforts to limit testing to work the numbers. You can't hide that many bodies for long. Florida is the obvious weak spot, with governor Ron DeSantis constantly in the news for statistical shenanigans. Read the rest
Taylor Lorentz is chronicling internet drama brilliantly for the New York Times, and her latest report is on the quasi-downfall of two high-flying YouTubers, Shane Dawson and Jeffree Star. They exemplify the stereotype of YouTube influencers--vacuous narcissists, tireless producers, canny businessmen--facing ruin after years of attention-seeking at the borders of racism, sexism and general abuse. The internet is a permanent record and the ground is liquefying underfoot.Dawson has racked up billions of views on YouTube, often by engaging in offensive humor. He has posted several videos in blackface, mocked those with disabilities, joked about bestiality, sexualized minors, and once spoke about “figuratively murdering someone.” On June 26, Mr. Dawson posted a teary apology to his channel, in which he tried to make amends for his past, declaring that he deserved to “lose everything.”No sooner had his apology video posted than a clip of him pretending to sexually gratify himself to a photo of Willow Smith, then 11 years old, resurfaced and began to get shared widely.That's just one of the most ostentatiously repulsive acts. The catalog of backstabbing, blackmail, and insider grossness is quite extensive and Lorentz packs in the links for anyone wanting to take a deep dive. What I like most about her work at the Times is how it illustrates a growing dissatisfaction at what social media companies actually did to the internet. They reinstituted the old hierarchies, then stocked them with all these perma-adolescent psychos.YouTube's tolerance for abuse caused two knock-on problems: YouTube (especially its comment platform) was ignored by media except as a video hosting site, the culture growing there was ignored as a result, and the people emerging from that culture were (temporarily, it turns out) able to quietly ignore their own earlier work after gaining broader exposure. Read the rest
The Associated Press reports that Trump was briefed on Russia's cash-for-corpses program in 2019. He kept it to himself then, and kept it to himself when he was briefed again earlier this year.Top officials in the White House were aware in early 2019 of classified intelligence indicating Russia was secretly offering bounties to the Taliban for the deaths of Americans, a full year earlier than has been previously reported, according to U.S. officials with direct knowledge of the intelligence.The assessment was included in at least one of President Donald Trump’s written daily intelligence briefings at the time, according to the officials. Then-national security adviser John Bolton also told colleagues he briefed Trump on the intelligence assessment in March 2019. Read the rest
Parler is a Twitter competitor that's attracting conservatives, including politicians, who think Twitter is biased against them. But it has bizarre terms of service suggestive of insober counsel and is already banning the wrong sort of people. Mike Masnick writes: Parler seems to be banning a bunch of people. And it has the right to do so. Which is great. But what's not great is the site continues to pretend that it's some "free speech alternative" to Twitter when it's facing the same exact content moderation issues. And, yes, some people are claiming that Parler's quick trigger finger is mostly about shutting down "left" leaning accounts, but as with Twitter's content moderation, I won't say that for sure unless I see some actual evidence to support it.It is impossible for a private company to guarantee you free speech, because they are vulnerable to legal, political, social, technical and financial pressures that fundamentally compromise that aim, however sincere or well-intentioned it is. And that (Zap! Pow! Dams burst! Bombs go off! Fireworks blast!) is just the way it is, folks. Read the rest
Major League Baseball announced its new rules driven by COVID-19 health and safety requirements. Notably, spitting is banned! I'd imagine that this will be tough to enforce—spitting in baseball is as American as, well, baseball. Here's the rule:• Spitting is prohibited (including but not limited to, saliva, sunflower seeds or peanut shells, or tobacco) at all times in Club facilities (including on the field). Chewing gum is permitted.It's also a good thing the spitball was outlawed in 1920. That said, the new rules also state that, "Pitchers may carry a small wet rag in their back pocket to be used for moisture in lieu of licking their fingers." Read the rest
Whether you’re working from home or working from the office, a few elements of the grind are universal. Emails never stop. Meetings go on way too long. And a bad monitor makes your day monumentally more difficult to tolerate.Staring at a screen that’s too small or isn’t bright or sharp enough can be enough to make you want to chuck the whole computer out the window. But before you start inflicting property damage and completely deep-six your productivity, check out a handful of monitors now on sale that might just soothe your nerves.AOC E2070SWHN 19.5" HD Monitor (Certified Refurbished) - $79.99; originally $98.99After stepping up to this 1600x900 HD resolution image with crisp detailing, sharp contrast and bright vivid colors, you’ll wonder why you waited so long. You also won’t have to deal with video blur or ghosting issues with this model’s speedy 5ms response time. AOC also allows you to feed in video playback from hundreds of other devices through its standard VGA and HDMI connections, offering top quality video and audio signal for your viewing. There’s even a LowBlue Mode that cuts down on potentially harmful blue light by controlling color temperature without compromising the monitor’s naturally vivid colors.This certified refurbished monitor has also been thoroughly tested and vetted to look and run as good as new, which means you get a monitor that originally sold for a lot more at a fraction of the price. HP EliteDisplay E223d 21.5" Docking Monitor- $229.99; originally $269HP EliteDisplay E243p 23.8" Read the rest
Some snakes have evolved the ability to glide through the air. For example, paradise tree snakes in southeastern Asia can launch off from a branch and fly as far as 10 meters. Scientists have known that the snakes flatten their bodies to gain lift but new research reveals that they also undulate their bodies as they're gliding in order to remain stable. Johns Hopkins University mechanical engineer Isaac Yeaton and colleagues from Virginia Tech put reflective tape on snakes' bodies and then used high-speed cameras to record their movements in the air. From Science News:Gliding snakes undulate their bodies both side to side and up and down, the researchers found, and move their tails above and below the level of their heads.Once the researchers had mapped out the snakes’ acrobatics, they created a computer simulation of gliding snakes. In the simulation, snakes that undulated flew similarly to the real-life snakes. But those that didn’t wriggle failed spectacularly, rotating to the side or falling head over tail, rather than maintaining a graceful, stable glide.If confined to a single plane instead of wriggling in three dimensions, the snakes would tumble. "Undulation enables gliding in flying snakes" (Nature Physics)image: Sri Lanka Flying Snake by Gihan Jayaweera (CC BY-SA 3.0) Read the rest
Chiptune musician @atarimae_400 learned that the jingles played at some Japanese railway stations sound similar to the tones generated by a certain model of pocket calculator. So @atarimae_400 performed some of the melodies on his own adding machines.As Kraftwerk sang, "I'm the operator with my pocket calculator." Read the rest
When you sit down on your couch to watch TV, the volume of options is truly staggering. However, a strange thing happens once you start cycling through page after page of Netflix suggestions and Amazon options. You invariably find yourself constantly considering the same set of giant Hollywood blockbuster films and major US television network offerings that you’ve watched for decades.But c’mon...how many times do you REALLY need to watch every episode of Friends or The Office?Topic is a streaming service curated specifically for smart, discerning viewers who look to veer off the beaten and over-trod path. They traffic in hand-picked series and films from around the globe, skimming the cream of the international entertainment world so you can get a look at all the best from every corner of the planet.These are the neighborhoods Netflix, Amazon, and the others too often ignore, but with Topic, you can explore critically acclaimed series like Pagan Peak (Germany), Lambs of God (Australia), Salamander (Belgium), Arctic Circle (Finland), Vernon Subutex (France), State of Happiness (Norway), Asako I & II (Japan), Columbus (United States), The Broken Circle Breakdown (Netherlands), and Wuthering Heights (United Kingdom). Meanwhile, Topic is also making a name for itself as home to a growing host of Topic exclusive original series, including Rough Draft With Reza Aslan, What’s Your Ailment?! from Maria Bamford, Soul City, The Virtues, and The Second City’s Last Show Left on Earth. Everywhere you turn, Topic is serving up new favorite dramas, laugh-out-loud comedies, festival-featured documentaries, critically acclaimed indie films, provocative talk shows, and stellar shorts that you won’t see on the other services. Read the rest
The world seems well on pace to putting a smart assistant in every home. Just during the first three months of 2020, over 28 million smart speakers were sold, a rise of over 8 percent from 2019. But while users all enjoy streaming music, getting information and controlling smart home functions through speakers like the Google Home, there’s still one standout problem these speakers haven’t fixed yet. They still need to be tethered to a wall, plugged into an AC outlet. For those who want to make their Google Home experience a little more mobile, the LOFT Battery Base for Google Home is like taking a dog off the leash, allowing you to tote your speaker virtually anywhere in your home effortlessly.So far, customers are responding big time to the LOFT’s ability to cut the Google Home free, giving the LOFT an impressive 4.4 out of 5 star rating on Amazon.The LOFT’s portable base packs a 4,200mAh lithium-ion rechargeable battery, enough to keep the Google Home powered up for up to eight hours of cordless roaming. Just slide the Google Home right on to the top of the LOFT for a quick magnetic connection, unplug the unit and you’re ready to go in literally seconds. In fact, it’s easiest to just keep the Google Home on the LOFT base at all times. The power cord will keep your LOFT fully charged at all times while still powering the Google Home. That shouldn’t be a huge problem because the LOFT’s metal grill finish fits with virtually any room decor. Read the rest
We humans are castaways on an ocean of uncertainty. Since the beginnings of history, our ancestors sought knowledge and understanding about their lives, their relationship with the cosmos, and perhaps take a peek into their future. In such effort—long before the answers of science—earthlings developed a rich variety of divination practices and systems. Many forms of divination survive to this day, and can't be easily dismissed as irrational nonsense, or mere curiosities of a bygone age. On the contrary, divination seems to be essential to culture.So much so, that perhaps our modern obsessions with predictive algorithms and numerical forecasts are best understood as a continuation of this ancient divinatory impulse. This is the provocative thesis of Alexander Boxer’s fascinating new book, A Scheme of Heaven: The History of Astrology and the Search for Our Destiny in Data. A Scheme of Heaven Astrology is indeed the most historically relevant of all divination practices, its aim having been nothing short of a systematic account linking the nature of the heavens to our own human nature. Across civilizations, human beings have proven to be superb stargazers. Entranced by heavenly patterns and periodicities—through sheer naked-eye observation—our ancestors were able to crack with uncanny precision the workings of the cosmos. Exact geometric relationships and precise mathematical elegance spoke of divine design and transcendent beauty.For a long time, astronomy and astrology were one and the same magical “enterprise.” Alexander Boxer, a data scientist, whose eclectic erudition includes a PhD. in physics from MIT and degrees in the history of science and classics writes:“Astrology was the ancient world’s most ambitious applied mathematics problem, a grand data-analysis enterprise sustained for centuries by some of history’s most brilliant minds, from Ptolemy to al-Kindi to Kepler.” Read the rest
The first trailer to Apple TV+'s series adaption of Isaac Asimov's Foundation is certainly gorgeous eye candy. It remains a mystery how they plan to adapt such an immense and complex space opera, but... fingers (toes and tentacles) remain crossed.On Quinn's Ideas, he offers his reaction to the trailer and discusses both this series and the forthcoming Dune film.Here's a decent little backgrounder on Foundation.Image: YouTube Read the rest
My dad used to enjoy combing the beach (and his backyard) with a metal detector, but unfortunately he never dug up anything like this 2,000-year-old Roman ingot that metal detector hobbyist (metal detective?) Rob Jones found in a field in Rossett, Wales, UK. The lead object is approximately one-half meter long and weighs 63 kilograms. The Wrexham County Borough Museum & Archives purchased the artifact for an undisclosed price and will put it on display. Once COVID-19 mandates permit, the museum and the University of Chester plan to conduct archaeological research in the area. From the Shropshire Star:The rare find is particularly significant for archaeologists and historians because of its potentially early date, the location of the find spot, and because of its unique inscription."We don’t yet know where this ingot has come from and we will probably never know where it was going to," [said local Finds Officer Susie White.] "However given the find spots of other ingots from Britain of similar date, it may have been destined for continental Europe, perhaps even Rome itself. The object could tell us a great deal about this important period of our past, a period which is still poorly understood in this area of the country.” Read the rest
The Kent District Library in Grand Rapids, Michigan is imploring its patrons to please not attempt to disinfect borrowed books by putting them in the microwave. The books contain metal RFID tags that will burn the pages and potentially cause a fire. From KIRO7:“I don’t know if it was something that they saw on the news — that they thought maybe the heat would kill COVID-19,” Kozlowicz told The Detroit Free Press.The library said it uses U.S. Centers for Disease Control guidelines to ensure safety for using library materials. It also keeps all materials in quarantine for at least 72 hours.For more on libraries' sanitization practices: "Do libraries fumigate books to disinfect them?" (Boing Boing) Read the rest
The Houston Association of Realtors is eliminating the phrases "master bedroom” and “master bathroom” from its real estate listings because of the slavery connotations of the word "master." Agents are still free to use the terms in their own marketing materials and descriptions but the Multiple Listings Services (MLS) will refer to "primary bedrooms" and "primary bathrooms." From Click2Houston:“It was not a new suggestion to review the terminology,” according to the statement HAR sent its members. “The overarching message was that some members were concerned about how the terms might be perceived by some other agents and consumers. The consensus was that Primary describes the rooms equally as well as Master while avoiding any possible misperceptions.”Related, the New York Times reports that the Court of Master Sommeliers will no longer refer to sommeliers who have passed the master's exam with the word "Master" before their surname. image: Amazon Read the rest
The Nigerian Prince Scam — also known as a "419 Fraud" — has a long, weird, and fascinating history. But the basics of it are pretty easy to understand: a random phishing message riddled with grammatical errors, from a stranger claiming to be Nigerian Prince (or representative of one), who needs help shifting some money around through US bank accounts. If you would be so kind as to help this Prince launder his inheritance or whatever it is, he will bequeath you with a substantial portion of his wealth as a token of his gratitude. All you need to do is provide him with all the information he would need to access your bank account, and in six months, you'll be tens of millions of dollars richer!It feels like an old joke at this point, but weirdly, it still works: in 2018, scammers managed to make nearly a million dollars off the ol' classic. There are other variations, of course, with wealthy orphans, lottery winners, et cetera. The trademark poor grammar is actually a deliberate mechanism used to help the victims self-select by weeding out false positives; basically, if you're smart enough to realize how poorly written it is, the scammers are better off not wasting their time with you. If you're gullible enough to fall for the fake bad grammar, then they know they have a sucker.I share all of this, because of an email I received today:TIRED: Nigerian Prince ScamsWIRED: Jeffrey Epstein's Financial Assistant Scams? Read the rest
This video compares the scenery and airframes in Microsoft Flight Simulator X to the forthcoming Microsoft Flight Sim 2020. Everyone has their own reasons for liking new things, but I'm a huge fan of Allec Joshua Ibay and other people who recreate airplane crashes in fastidious and terrifying detail (as opposed to the explosive fantasies of cable-TV recreations). I can't rightly say that air disasters YouTube is the best YouTube but it's about to get a massive upgrade. Read the rest
View this post on Instagram We’re officially living in a Parks and Rec episode. #WearAMask A post shared by Law ⚡ (@lawjsharma) on Jun 24, 2020 at 8:07pm PDTWho can tell real life from sitcom fiction anymore? This mashup video combines actual footage of angry citizens ranting about mandatory mask-wearing with TV's Parks and Rec. And... it's a little too perfect. Its creator, Lawrence Jay, captioned the video, "Wear a Mask! We’re officially living in a Parks and Rec episode. #WearAMask." this scene from parks and rec is literally the americans who are fighting back against wearing masks because their "freedom to breathe" is being taken away pic.twitter.com/yb2uDpRa6L— out of context parks & rec (@nocontextpawnee) June 24, 2020 Read the rest
There’s always been something romantic about train travel. Whether it’s the connection to a bygone age or just the slower pace of life on the rails, the reassuring click of those steel wheels gliding over mile after mile of track through both cities and countrysides offers a warm and true taste of the complete world around you.Of course, the only thing better than riding on a train is actually driving that locomotive yourself. And the only thing better than life as a conductor is life as a railroad deity, controlling the layout, conditions, and the entire environment for one specific train or even an entire railway system all under your control.Whether you’re a driver or a world-builder, the Trainz Railroad Simulator Platinum Edition Bundle offers you the chance to live out your locomotive fantasies. If you’ve never tried a Trainz game before, they’ve been a premier train simulator for nearly 20 years — and with the Trainz Railroad Simulator 2019 edition, they’ve continued to add to the realism of both train operations as well as crafting a photo-realistic world outside the train windows.Once you get the controls down, you can drive one of nearly 200 different steam, diesel and electric powered locomotives along hundreds of miles of track laid out along six meticulously cultivated routes.While there’s plenty to see and do while wearing the conductor’s hat, your true mettle as a railroad legend will be tested in the Surveyor world-building, where you can build literally any railway system you can dream up. Read the rest
I've owned every title in the XCOM franchise. I've played XCOM: Enemy Unknown on Windows rigs, my Mac, PS Vita, and, on my iPad. I won't relate the shameful number of hours that I've spent on these games: It makes me sad to think about it. But, for some reason, I can't tear myself away. I've been playing XCOM 2 since it was first released. When I got tired of the main storyline, I loaded up the Long War 2 mod. Perfection.As it's been a few years now, I've been hoping/waiting for a portable version of the game to play on plane flights or on the couch with headphones when insomnia gets the best of me. I assumed that it'd come to iPadOS, first. I was wrong: it came to the Nintendo Switch. On the morning of May 29th, I downloaded it on my lunch hour and started playing it, that night. I'm still playing it, between hits of Kentucky Route Zero and Borderlands 2, and working on my novel. However, in close to a month, I haven't been able to finish the game on my Switch.XCOM 2 keeps freezing up in the later stages of the game. Around the time that I'm equipped to take down a third Advent base, the software tells me to go and pound sand. If it crashed, I'd be less frustrated than I am. But no: instead, the game hangs up, mid-turn, leaving me to wonder whether or not it'll get through the crunch or leave me closing the game down once again. Read the rest
40,000 new Covid cases were reported yesterday in the United States, according to the Johns Hopkins data tracker, the worst yet in a pandemic that refused to go away and is once again surging. There are 2.42m cases reported in total and 124,415 people are dead. Cases are climbing sharply in California, Texas and Florida. Alabama, Texas and Nevada report hospitals close to capacity. The Washington Post reports more grim facts :• The number of Americans who have been infected with the novel coronavirus is likely 10 times higher than the number of cases reported, according to the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In a call with reporters Thursday, CDC Director Robert Redfield said, “Our best estimate right now is that for every case that’s reported, there actually are 10 other infections.”• A rush to reopen the nation’s economy without proper safety measures in place is behind this week’s spike in cases, Ashish Jha, director of the Harvard Global Health Institute, said Thursday on the “Today” show.• President Trump continued to push the discredited notion that coronavirus cases are increasing in the United States because of “GREAT TESTING” and complained that the news media was not spreading the word. While testing has increased, health experts say that in several states with rising caseloads, new cases are outpacing the spread of testing. Read the rest
This video from Ken Burns, featuring James Baldwin, will help you to call bullshit on anyone trying to tell you that tearing down a monument to racism is tearing down history.Image via Wikipedia Commons Read the rest
Impeached and obviously unfit acting U.S. president Donald Trump plans to kick off the Fourth of July holiday with pageantry and photo ops at Mount Rushmore. Native Americans who view the monument as a desecration of land stolen violently from tribes say they plan to protest.“Mount Rushmore is a symbol of white supremacy, of structural racism that’s still alive and well in society today,” said Nick Tilsen, a member of the Oglala Lakota tribe and the president of indigenous activist organization NDN Collective. “It’s an injustice to actively steal Indigenous people’s land, then carve the white faces of the conquerors who committed genocide.”From the Associated Press:Several groups led by Native American activists are planning protests for Trump’s July 3 visit, part of Trump’s “comeback” campaign for a nation reeling from sickness, unemployment and, recently, social unrest. The event is slated to include fighter jets thundering over the 79-year-old stone monument in South Dakota’s Black Hills and the first fireworks display at the site since 2009.But it comes amid a national reckoning over racism and a reconsideration of the symbolism of monuments around the globe. Many Native American activists say the Rushmore memorial is as reprehensible as the many Confederate monuments being toppled around the nation.Read more:Native Americans protesting Trump trip to Mount Rushmore Read the rest
The prediction market PredictIt is selling Biden bets for 59 cents. If Biden wins, you get a dollar. If he loses, you get nothing. A Trump bet costs 42 cents. A Kamala Haris bet is 3 cents. Read the rest
CEC Entertainment, owners of Chuck E. Cheese and Peter Piper Pizza, has filed for bankruptcy. The company reported $29 million in losses for 2019. From Reuters:Chuck E. Cheese’s bid to boost sales through delivery apps under the name “Pasqually’s Pizza & Wings” earlier this year only created more problems, as many customers thought they were ordering from a local business.As of Wednesday, 266 Chuck E. Cheese and Peter Piper Pizza restaurant and arcade venues were re-opened. The company expects to keep them open throughout Chapter 11 proceedings.image: Dan Harkless (CC BY-SA 4.0) Read the rest
We may not have Hollywood blockbusters back yet and the fall television season may be on hold until 2021, but somebody forgot to tell video game makers that COVID-19 was supposed to shut down the gaming world.On the contrary, gamers have been feasting on announcements of huge events still to come this year, including the release of giant AAA Spider-Man: Miles Morales and Star Wars: Squadrons games as well as the expected late 2020 release of the PS5, our first new next-gen console in six years.The gaming world never sleeps — and anybody can get involved. With training like The Hardcore Game Development and Animation Bundle, you’ll have the know-how to create your own amazing games that could spawn the new Peter Parker or Luke Skywalker of the 2020s.Over six courses featuring more than 24 hours of content, you’ll get a full video game building education, focusing in on the character and environment creation tools and techniques that are now elevating the industry to constantly more dazzling imagery.It all begins with Stylized Game Art: Character Sculpting for Video Games, learning the fundamentals of character creation and design as students get overviews of all the major gaming building software like Zbrush, PBR, Maya, Substance, Unity, and Unreal.In Character Modeling and Sculpting in Zbrush, students model and sculpt their own characters, props, and other 3D assets using Zbrush, an industry-standard app for crafting three-dimensional game elements. Or you could try your hand at building your stars and their world in the Forger iOS app with iOS iPad Game Development 3D Character Sculpting and Modeling. Read the rest
Police and emergency services evacuated a post office in the Bavarian town of Schweinfurt after employees reported a horrible smell emanating from a suspect package. Turns out it was a small shipment of durian, the horrifically pungent fruit popular in southeast Asia. From CNN:"A total of twelve postal workers who complained of nausea had to be taken care of on site," police in Schweinfurt said, adding that six were taken to the hospital as a precaution.Six ambulances, five first-responder cars and two emergency vehicles attended the incident. Three different fire departments were also involved.The fruit was eventually delivered to its intended recipient.image: مانفی (CC BY-SA 4.0) Read the rest
One of, if not THE, cutest cars of all time is the Austin-Healey Bugeye Sprite. This one looks ready for some paint.Bring A Trailer:This 1960 Austin-Healey Sprite is finished in white over a red interior and is powered by a 948cc inline-four paired with a four-speed manual gearbox. The car is said to have been sold new in the United States, taken overseas by a US serviceman, and eventually returned stateside. It then changed hands and subsequently sat dormant for more than 30 years. In early 2020 the car reportedly was serviced with rebuilds of the carburetors, distributor, generator, shocks, radiator, brakes, and more. This Bugeye is now offered in Oklahoma by the selling dealer with a clean Minnesota title. Read the rest
Stephen Colbert interviewed former National Security advisor John Bolton on The Late Show last night to talk about Bolton's new book, The Room Where It Happened. Colbert asked Bolton why he even considered working for Trump, and Bolton said "Because I couldn't believe it was that bad."Colbert snapped back, "But you're an international negotiator! How could you be naive? You've dealt with the worst people in the world."Image: YouTube Read the rest
The first Blockbuster Video location was opened in 1985, in Dallas, Texas, by Sandy and David Cook. David pulled together the scratch for the startup by selling off the assets of one of the subsidiaries of an oil services business that he owned. Once the Cooks saw the insane amount of cash their first store was bringing in, they said buh-bye to the oil industry entirely in order to focus on Please be Kind, Rewind stickers, full-time. Game rentals became a thing for them, in 1987 (after taking Nintendo to court to secure the privilege of being able to rent out their hardware and games). by 2004, there were 9,094 Blockbuster locations, worldwide. Thanks to cable networks offering video-on-demand and streaming and rental services like Netflix and the Apple iTunes Store drinking their milkshake, the number of Blockbuster locations began to decrease. By 2014, the last 300 corporate stores, owned by Blockbuster, had shut down. A few franchisees held out—for a while.Today, there's only one Blockbuster Video left on the whole damn planet, located in Bend, Oregon. While this video only details Blockbuster's locations within the continental United States, its a hell of a thing to see just how many there were until streaming video took them (almost) all down.Image via Wikipedia Commons Read the rest
Blockbuster opened its first store in 1986 and spread like wildfire across the country for the next 20 years. It peaked in 2004, then Netflix and streaming media came along and it was all over for the video rental chain. Here are six reasons why Blockbuster failed: Read the rest
Belgian police arrested a gentleman flying in from Jamaica for allegedly smuggling 127 grams of cocaine inside an artificial penis. That's quite a cock-up. The incident occurred in February and prosecutors have just asked for a three year sentence. The fellow's attorney argued that his client "has kidney failure and needs to exercise as well as follow a proper diet" so he is not fit for jail time. From the New Zealand Herald:The arrested man told investigators that he was visiting his mother in Jamaica when an acquaintance offered him cocaine.He said he took the drug for personal use only, planning to take it when he returned home.(Image: 3D png Judges Gavel, Chris Potter, CC-BY) Read the rest
Goldman Sachs has released its own eponymous font, Goldman Sans, a contemporary sans-serif that garnishes merciless formality with a charming typographic "wink" here and there [h/t Matt Round]. It is free of charge, but perhaps the least Free font on Earth, as its unique license forbids criticism of Goldman Sachs with it. The license is also booby-trapped: it can be changed and revoked unilaterally by Goldman Sachs, turning anything that ever uses it into a legal time bomb. (C)(2)(d) The User may not use the Licensed Font Software to disparage or suggest any affiliation with or endorsement by Goldman Sachs.(E)(2) Further, Goldman Sachs may terminate this License, without notice to the User, for any reason or no reason at all and at any time, completely at Goldman Sachs’s sole discretion. Read the rest
NASA has funded a new research collaborative research effort between Harvard, the Smithsonian Institutions, and the University of Rochester to search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI). This is the first NASA grant for SETI in three decades and the first ever to search for signs of ET that aren't radio transmissions. Instead, the scientists will look for technosignatures in the atmosphere that reveal the use of advanced technology on other planets. From Harvard:"Technosignatures relate to signatures of advanced alien technologies similar to, or perhaps more sophisticated than, what we possess," said Avi Loeb, Frank B. Baird Jr. Professor of Science at Harvard. "Such signatures might include industrial pollution of atmospheres, city lights, photovoltaic cells (solar panels), megastructures, or swarms of satellites." [...]"We pollute Earth’s atmosphere with our industrial activity," said Loeb. “If another civilization had been doing it for much longer than we have, then their planet's atmosphere might show detectable signs of artificially produced molecules that nature is very unlikely to produce spontaneously, such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs)." The presence of CFCs—or refrigerant—therefore, could indicate the presence of industrial activity. [...]"My hope is that, using this grant, we will quantify new ways to probe signs of alien technological civilizations that are similar to or much more advanced than our own," said Loeb. "The fundamental question we are trying to address is: are we alone? But I would add to that: even if we are alone right now, were we alone in the past?"image: "3D rendering of a Dyson sphere utilizing large, orbiting panels," Kevin Gill (CC BY 2.0 Read the rest
Boing Boing proudly welcomes Blue Ribbon Hemp as a sponsor.The new buzz word in all things health related is certainly CBD, less known as cannabidiol, one of the compounds found in a cannabis plant. Consuming CBD has become more and more mainstream, and the methods of consumption are changing with the times. Many people are interested in the much talked about health benefits CBD are thought to have, but they haven’t found the best way to take it without getting a hemp aftertaste. Well, remember those handy Listerine strips that always saved your breath but didn’t do much more? Now you can get the same minty freshness, and with the added benefits of CBD from Blue Ribbon Hemp. Blue Ribbon Hemp is a new CBD company specializing in products for seniors. Founded by Richard Cowan, a long-time CBD and cannabis advocate, and Dr. Igor Bussel, M.D., M.S., M.H.A is a clinician-scientist and ophthalmic surgeon. The two have crafted a range of high quality CBD products from oral strips to capsules and lotions.One of the fastest and easiest ways to consume hemp-based products with an immediate effect is through oral consumption. An oral strip, made of an incredibly thin layer of “paper,” is water soluble. Because of this, the amazing plant benefits packed into the small strip instantly get absorbed sublingually to your bloodstream. Instead of eating something and waiting for it to pass the digestive system, oral strips instantly dissolve upon contact with water or saliva. With the active ingredients being absorbed so quickly the beneficial effects can be felt almost right away. Read the rest
McSweeny's compiled a list of 759 reasons why Trump's cult followers love him so much.A few samples: October 11, 2016 – Tasha Dixon, a former Miss Universe contestant, accused Donald Trump of sexual misconduct. Dixon asserted that Trump walked into their changing room in 2001 while contestants were changing. On the Howard Stern Show in 2005, Trump said about the pageant, “I’ll go backstage before a show and everyone’s getting dressed and ready and everything else. And you know, no men are anywhere. And I’m allowed to go in because I’m the owner of the pageant. And therefore, I’m inspecting it. You know they’re standing there with no clothes. And you see these incredible looking women. And so I sort of get away with things like that. August 1, 2017 – The Trump campaign chose a noted white nationalist, William Johnson, to serve among California’s delegates for the next presidential election. Johnson leads the American Freedom Party, which operates with the stated mission of upholding “the customs and the heritage of European American People.” Johnson said after his appointment to the delegation, “I can be a white nationalist and be a strong supporter of Donald Trump and be a good example to everybody.”August 17, 2017 – Donald Trump lamented the removal of Confederate monuments, stating that such actions were “so foolish” and “sad.” He called these statues “beautiful” and spoke to the “history and culture of our great country being ripped apart.” Read the rest