I don't know what this fellow is saying, but I surmise that it's along the lines of "Unfortunately I have missed the train to Stockholm! Now I shall have to wait for the next departure." Read the rest

Folk Horror? In a rural seaside setting? With a stellar cast and, at first glance, some stellar cinematography? Where do I sign up? Unfortunately, The Third Day won't pop until this winter, so I suppose that I'll have to wait until then to find out. Read the rest

The official result of Belarus's presidential election was never in doubt, with President Aleksandr Lukashenko often described as "Europe's last dictator" and opposition ruthlessly suppressed. But it's clear yesterday's poll—officially won with 79% of the vote—went as badly for him as it could have, with protestors swarming into the streets as soon as the cooked numbers were announced.Earlier, the central election commission said Lukashenko, in power for more than a quarter of a century, won 80% of the vote in Sunday’s election, while Svetlana Tikhanouskaya, who emerged from obscurity to become his main rival, took just 9.9%.“The authorities are not listening to us. The authorities need to think about peaceful ways to hand over power,” said Tikhanouskaya, a former English teacher who entered the race after her blogger husband was jailed.Related Coverage“Of course we do not recognise the results.”Foreign observers have not judged an election to be free and fair in Belarus since 1995, and the run-up to the vote saw authorities jail Lukashenko’s rivals and open criminal investigations into others who voiced opposition. Footage from the streets is spectacular and alarming: vast crowds and violent cops. Amazing sight tonight in #Minsk. Best wishes to those on the streets this evening. pic.twitter.com/lornW6kNhe— The Intel Crab (@IntelCrab) August 9, 20202:30 in Belarus. There are mixed reports about what's going on, esp. in the regions but it seems that both sides decided to call it a day. It is clear for everyone that Lukashenko lost the election but he's not going to give in the power without a fight. Read the rest

The ever-prolific former Republican anti-Trumpers, the Lincoln Project, have another ad that stabs deep into the heart of the insanity of Trump support. It features audio from comedian David Cross' stand-up act.When you’re starting to regret your vote for Trump pic.twitter.com/hAofMi7qOz— The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) August 8, 2020Here's the Cross routine with the list of Trumpian transgressions that supporters were seemingly OK with that's minutes longer than what appears in the Lincoln ad. Along with the punchline of what was finally a bridge too far.Image: Twitter Read the rest

In movies of yesteryear, characters knew they were at a low point in their lives if Jay Leno is discussing them, brilliantly shown in this Buck LePard supercut.Movie characters watching Jay Leno talk about what is happening in the movie pic.twitter.com/fWpOeOLSm5— Buck LePard (@BuckLePard) August 5, 2020Luckily, it usually means the film's third act is about to start. So if you see Jay, one of the Jimmys, or a news anchor in a film, it's a good time to get in a bathroom or popcorn break, because things are about to get resolved in a thrilling denouement.Gene Hackman speaks for all film characters and watchers when he notes, "This is unbearable."Twitter / Buck LePard Read the rest

In a story about South Dakota governor Kristi Noem, by Jonathan Martin and Maggie Haberman for the New York Times:"I started laughing. He wasn't laughing, so he was totally serious. He said, 'Kristi, come on over here. Shake my hand, and so I shook his hand, and I said, 'Mr. President, you should come to South Dakota sometime. We have Mount Rushmore.' And he goes, 'Do you know it's my dream to have my face on Mount Rushmore?'"Trump has floated this idea before. Now it makes him look needy and creepy, he wants to deny it. But he desperately wants it, so attention given to that desire is a drug he cannot refuse. So we get a typical Trumpism, denying it and admitting it in the same breath.This is Fake News by the failing @nytimes & bad ratings @CNN. Never suggested it although, based on all of the many things accomplished during the first 3 1/2 years, perhaps more than any other Presidency, sounds like a good idea to me! Read the rest

Look up! The Perseids meteor showers are putting on their annual "shooting star" show in the sky, which will peak pre-dawn on August 12. NASA:The last-quarter moon will interfere with visibility of most fainter Perseid meteors this year, but you'll still be able to see a few brighter ones, including the occasional "fireball." The best time to look is in the pre-dawn hours on Aug. 12, but midnight to dawn any morning the week before or after should produce a few meteors. The Perseids generally appear to radiate from a point high in the north, called the "radiant." But you need only point yourself generally toward the north and look up.And while we're talking meteors, did you know many of these "shooting stars" come from comets? Most of the annual meteor showers we observe take place as Earth passes through trails of debris left behind by active comets orbiting the Sun, casting off little bits of dusty debris in their long tails. The Perseid meteors come from a comet called Swift-Tuttle, which orbits the Sun every 133 years.In July, a comet that was just discovered this spring by NASA's NEOWISE mission made an appearance in our skies, wowing observers on the ground and even in space! This comet has a nearly 7,000-year orbit around the Sun, so it won't be back this way for a long time, but it's possible a meteor you see some night in the future might just be a little reminder of comet "NEOWISE." Read the rest

At just 10-years old, Nandi Bushell is already somewhat of an internet rock legend, thanks to her infectiously energetic cover song videos; she's even jammed with Lenny Kravitz. In her newest video, Bushell shows off her multi-instrumentalist skills with the help of a BOSS RC-505 loop station, recreating Joy Division's classic "Love Will Tear Us Apart" instrument-by-instrument. Read the rest

It’s tempting for many young professionals to assume that because they’ve spent most of their lives posting links to Facebook or pushing selfies to Instagram that they have the skills needed to be a digital marketer.Creating compelling content is certainly important, but if you’re not up to speed on search engine optimization (SEO), how to understand YouTube metrics, or the importance of on-point tagging, you’re a long way from ready to assemble your own digital plan.But with the training in The Complete Digital Marketing Growth Hacking Certification Bundle, you’ll get a full overview of what it really takes to succeed across the web from social postings to paid ads to basic sales tactics that can make all the difference in how your product plays online.The nine-course collection with more than 40 hours of marketing dos and don’ts can start getting you conversant in all the varied platforms available across the web for driving sales, what the impact of each means, and how to determine what’s working and what isn’t in your online efforts.It all starts with The 2020 Complete Growth Hacking and Conversion Course, a 130-lecture collection that offers the inside tricks of the trade for successfully building your brand. The training includes ways to charge your growth and conversion rates up to 5 times higher, cultivate subscribers, generate solid business leads, and craft winning copy to perfectly execute your product message.Speaking of your product message, the 30 Actionable Branding Strategies That Will Triple Your Profit are just the well-defined, easy-to-follow steps you can use today to help carve out a smart and successful identity for your brand. Read the rest

With everybody working from home now, it’s natural to start thinking about careers where not going into the office is more the norm than the exception. Better yet, many are looking to start careers as freelancers, professionals who build their livelihoods around the scope of their talent and not the fortunes of one all-encompassing employer.Web developers can cultivate that gun for hire mentality, roaming freely from shop to shop as they ply their trade on projects that best fit their skill sets and what they want to accomplish. It’s a level of professional freedom we all envy — and with the average freelance web developer making a comfortable salary these days, it’s a path you can emulate with the help of training like The 2020 Ultimate Web Developer and Design Bootcamp Bundle.This package includes 11 courses packed with nearly 70 hours of instruction, aimed at bringing first-time coders all the basic training and starter opportunities they need to ultimately hang their own shingle as a freelance development or design pro.As the cornerstone of all webpage structure and layout on the web, HTML and CSS knowledge is fundamental, which is why nearly half of this training package centers in a solid understanding of these digital building blocks.Across courses like Modern Web Design Complete HTML & CSS, The Complete 2020 HTML5 CSS3 Course with Flexbox, Grid & SASS, The Ultimate HTML Developer, and Build Responsive Real-World Websites with CSS3 v2.0, you’ll learn how HTML serves as the skeleton of any web experience, while CSS provides the visual flair that elevates top work. Read the rest

“The way to have power is to take it.” -- Boss Tweed.We think an 18th-century political power broker probably had a different definition of power in mind when he made that statement, yet the sentiment still applies.We’ve all got devices all but falling out of our pockets and the need for power to keep them all happy is almost insatiable. But with the following list of 40 of the absolute best power banks, changers, and other charging accessories to be found, you can stock up and make sure your needs are covered, no matter where you are.And at savings of up to more than $100 per item, you can even save a mighty buck or two while you power up. So while you won’t actually be just taking power, it’ll kinda feel that way.Home Chargers (Under $40)RAVPower Fast Wireless Charger with Qi-Certified Charging Stand - $15.99; originally $25It’s wireless charging the best? Just drop the RAVPower charger on your favorite Qi-enabled iOS or Android device and watch up to 10 watts of power start flowing to your device without a cord in sight.Wireless Charger for Apple Airpods + Phones - $16.99; originally $49It’s got a perfectly sized indentation where your Airpods case should sit as it delivers all of its wireless charging power. Of course, it also handles charging for all the rest of your Qi-enabled devices as well.3-in-1 Apple Watch, AirPods and iPhone Charger (White/2-Pack) - $19.99; originally $69This power splitter should satisfy those who need to charge two Lightning devices plus an Apple Watch all at once. Read the rest

My friend and former colleague James Gaines, who previously explained how capsaicin works while eating a handful of chili peppers, worked on this SciShow video about tear gas. James is a great science writer who knows how to break down complicated science into bite-sized tidbits, and that skill is on display here — even if the subject matter is pretty harrowing. Read the rest

Charles DarwinSurvival of the "friendliest"? Charles Darwin's famous phrase may have been misinterpreted, a new book suggests. Duke University scientists Brian Hare and Vanessa Woods argue in Survival of the Friendliest: Understanding Our Origins and Rediscovering Our Common Humanity that factors like friendliness, partnership and communication are key to evolutionary success, not being big, strong, and/or mean.Here's an excerpt adapted from the book (via Popular Science):Arguably, no folk theory of human nature has done more harm—or is more mistaken—than the “survival of the fittest.” The idea that the strong and ruthless will survive while the weak perish became cemented in the collective consciousness around the publication of the fifth edition of Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species in 1869, in which he wrote that, as a proxy for the term natural selection, “Survival of the Fittest is more accurate, and is sometimes equally convenient.”But somewhere along the way, “fitness” became synonymous with physical fitness. In the wild, the logic goes, the bigger you are, and the more willing you are to fight, the less others will mess with you and the more successful you will become. You can monopolize the best food, find the most attractive mates, and have the most babies.Over the past century and a half, this mistaken version of “fitness” has been the basis for social movements, corporate restructuring, and extreme views of the free market. It has been used to argue for the abolition of government, to judge groups of people as inferior, and to justify the cruelty that results. Read the rest

A Japanese water beetle swallowed by a frog has figured out a great survival trick. It starts walking. In as few as six minutes, 93% of them walk right out the sloppy end of the frog's digestive tract, according to a new paper by ecologist Shinji Sugiurz.Via Wired, which has video of the behavior:Writing today in the journal Current Biology, Kobe University ecologist Shinji Sugiura describes how the beetle, locked behind the frog’s jaws, turns around and scrambles through its digestive tract. In carefully designed lab experiments, Sugiura found that 93 percent of the beetles he fed to the frog Pelophylax nigromaculatus escaped the predator’s “vent”—aka anus—within four hours, “frequently entangled in fecal pellets,” he writes. The quickest run from mouth to anus was just six minutes. The beetles then went about their day as if they hadn’t just spelunked through a digestive system, and even swam effectively.I wonder it the beetle hums this as it's walking: Read the rest

From CNBC:Top tech leaders and other billionaires would be forced to hand over billions of dollars in wealth they’ve gained during the coronavirus pandemic under a new bill introduced by Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y.The “Make Billionaires Pay Act” would impose a one-time 60% tax on wealth gains made by billionaires between March 18, 2020, and Jan. 1, 2021. The funds would be used to pay for out-of-pocket health-care expenses for all Americans for a year. As of Aug. 5, the bill would tax $731 billion in wealth accumulated by 467 billionaires since March 18, according to a press release. If passed, the bill would tax billionaires on wealth accumulated through the end of the year, however.Some people might think this sounds like a good and rational idea for a society where being a billionaire is inherently immoral because it's impossible to achieve without stealing or exploiting labor and goods. Others might argue that it's bad because what if *I* make tens of billions of dollars during a global pandemic with unprecedented unemployment and they tax those specific profits one time to help people and don't touch the rest of my money? And really, who's to say which side is right.Sen. Sanders proposes one-time tax that would cost Bezos $42.8 billion, Musk $27.5 billion [Lauren Feiner / CNBC]Image: James Duncan Davidson / Flickr (CC 2.0) Read the rest

If the last 50 years of education have taught us nothing else, it’s that it often requires different tactics to best reach different learners.To pick up a foreign language, some students take best to the old-school high school language lab method, using heavy repetition, verb conjugation and grammar emphasis to embed a new language.But for others, a little more context is in order to make the learning stick. And if your mind is already not attuned to memorization and processing lots of information, you might need a different take on learning a new language.The Complete Conversational Spanish Mastery Bundle approaches language acquisition from a different tact, emphasizing conversational speaking while you basically rewire your learning methods to be a better practitioner of your new tongue.This collection brings together three courses, surprisingly only including one centered around speaking Spanish. The other two focus on the way a student learns, offering helpful tactics to make the process of jumping into a new language more inviting to produce better results.The first course is Conversational Spanish Made Easy, including training that hones in teaching useful Spanish phrases that would be top of mind during a trip to a Spanish-speaking country. As students learn different ways of speaking about a room reservation, taking public transportation, or ordering a meal, they’re gaining essential confidence with Spanish phrases and vocabulary without getting bogged down in the daunting task of hyper-specific grammar or verb tenses.In the Brainspotting course, your training gets deeper into how you learn by trying to boost your language skills through Brainspotting. Read the rest

I never tire of watching these cats in Japan.From kagonekoshiro.com. Read the rest

Twitter and Tiktok had preliminary negotiations about a potential merger/acquisition, reported the Wall Street Journal on Saturday.It is unclear, the WSJ reports, if Twitter still plans to pursue a deal with the video-sharing app which is now suing the Trump admin over a recent executive order.TikTok is owned by China-baed Bytedance. Any Twitter deal would involve TikTok's U.S. operations.Other companies have previously entertained the possibility of buying the popular video app Trump hates so much. Microsoft seems to be one everyone's betting on at this point. Trump has demanded that his administration get a "cut" of any such deal, but nobody who isn't Donald Trump has any idea what that would really mean or how that would work.Wall Street Journal: Twitter, TikTok Have Held Preliminary Talks About Possible Combination ‘Untrusted’ Chinese apps like TikTok and WeChat must be banned from U.S. app stores, says Pompeo promoting 'Clean Network'TikTok to sue Trump admin over executive order banning app, NPR reports Read the rest

TikTok, the social media app from China-based Bytedance, plans to sue the Trump administration in a challenge to the president's executive order that bans the service in the United States.NPR News reports the lawsuit will be filed as soon as Tuesday, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California, where TikTok's U.S. operations are based:NPR has learned that the lawsuit will argue that President Trump's far-reaching action is unconstitutional because it failed to give the company a chance to respond. It also alleges that the administration's national security justification for the order is baseless, according to the source."It's based on pure speculation and conjecture," the source said. "The order has no findings of fact, just reiterates rhetoric about China that has been kicking around."The White House declined to comment on the expected litigation but defended the president's executive order. "The Administration is committed to protecting the American people from all cyber related threats to critical infrastructure, public health and safety, and our economic and national security," according to White House spokesman Judd Deere. More at NPR: TikTok To Sue Trump Administration Over Ban, As Soon As Tuesday‘Untrusted’ Chinese apps like TikTok and WeChat must be banned from U.S. app stores, says Pompeo promoting 'Clean Network'Trump says he'll ban Tik TokDoing business with TikTok's Chinese owner is banned under new Trump order Read the rest

For those who want a career in video games, there’s no reason to sit around and wait. EA and Rockstar Games probably aren’t going to seek you out and knock on your door with a job opportunity. But if you’re an indie developer with a good idea and some passion, you can create a really cool game that serves as the resume that might just bring the big boys to your doorstep.You can jumpstart that process now, even if you’ve never designed your own games before, with the training in The Build a Strategy Game Development Bundle.Across 10 courses, students are introduced to the techniques used by premium game developers as well as the cutting edge tools they use to help each creator fashion a game that is uniquely their own.Powered by Unity, the world’s most popular game creation engine, this training walks new users through all the basics of assembling your first game, whether it’s turn-based, involves real-time strategy, depends on managing your resources or even centers around creating a multiplayer extravaganza, this core instruction can be invaluable to help you set the framework for your project.While many course packages lead students through lectures and videos, this package is very hands-on, challenging learners to complete 12 standalone gaming projects, all centered around specific key learning areas. After tackling an introduction to Unity and building games, students are quickly pressed to create their first 3D game. With that complete, they must next master the foundations of strategy game development by creating a turn-based, micro-strategy game about building and managing a colony on Mars. Read the rest

Wavy Boats is a Miami-based YouTuber who chronicles the weekenders, vacationers, drunks, and other landlubbers who ply the large local waves in boats they have no business piloting."As Miami natives, we get the opportunity to view and experience some gnarly boat action. Join me as I capture boats ripping through sunny Miami beaches and inlets!"Much of the action happens at Boca Raton's Haulover Inlet, where tide and ocean current can create challenging conditions even on a sunny day.There hasn't been this much overconfident boating since Al Cervik piloted his yacht right into Judge Smails' christening.Image: YouTube / Wavy Boats Read the rest

During a Friday evening press conference at his Bedminster golf course, the esteemed President Donald J. Trump finally announced a momentous step in the sweeping healthcare reform plan he's been promising for years:Over the next two weeks I’ll be pursuing a major executive order requiring health insurance companies to cover all preexisting conditions for all companies. That's a big thing. I've always been very strongly in favor. We have to cover pre-existing conditions so we will be pursuing a major executive order requiring health insurance companies to cover all pre-existing conditions for all of its customers. This has never been done before.The decade-old Affordable Care Act that already did this was not available for comment.Trump considering order on pre-existing condition protections, which already exist [Caitlin Owens and Jacob Knutson / Axios]Trump teases order requiring insurers to cover preexisting conditions [Bret Samuels / The Hill]Image: Max Goldberg / Flickr (CC 2.0) Read the rest

The a-X sereies of portable workstations resemble the earliest laptops, but are fully contemporary beasts fitted with top-of-the-range AMD Threadripper CPUs, up to 256GB of RAM and dual GPUs. And price tags hovering around $8000. PC Gamer:Picture this: you sit down in a meeting alongside your colleagues. They pull out their Surfaces, iPads, phones, and whatever else. You place a briefcase down on the table with a deafening thud. Everyone turns to look at you. Read the rest

President Donald Trump's hand-picked Postmaster General Louis DeJoy launched a major overhaul of the U.S. postal mail service. Among the changes, the two top executives overseeing day-to-day operations have been let go and replaced with DeJoy's new picks, according to a reorganization memo released Friday.“The shake-up came as congressional Democrats called for an investigation of DeJoy and the cost-cutting measures that have slowed mail delivery and ensnared ballots in recent primary elections,” reports the Washington Post:Twenty-three postal executives were reassigned or displaced, the new organizational chart shows. Analysts say the structure centralizes power around DeJoy, a former logistics executive and major ally of President Trump, and de-emphasizes decades of institutional postal knowledge. All told, 33 staffers included in the old postal hierarchy either kept their jobs or were reassigned in the restructuring, with five more staffers joining the leadership from other roles.The reshuffling threatens to heighten tensions between postal officials and lawmakers, who are troubled by delivery delays — the Postal Service banned employees from working overtime and making extra trips to deliver mail — and wary of the Trump administration’s influence on the Postal Service as the coronavirus pandemic rages and November’s election draws near.It also adds another layer to DeJoy’s disputes with Democratic leaders, who have pushed him to rescind the cost-cutting directives that have caused days-long backlogs and steady the Postal Service in the run-up to the election. DeJoy clashed with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), Read the rest

Creating a fantasy world for a video or role-playing game is tough enough. In addition to all the game framework and functionality that goes into a build of any size, creators invariably sweat over the most minute details of every weapon, outfit, or other distinctive objects in their game. Even if your game is set in a fantastical world, every item your characters interact with has to be centered in realism, looking and functioning as it would in a real-life setting, requiring hours and hours and hours of work to get everything just right.Of course, if you’re going to spend that much time and effort designing and building a complete digital world, it’s smart to try to shave off as much time as possible. That’s where a package like this 600+ Fantasy RPG Game Icons and Assets Bundle can be an incredible time-saver and anxiety reducer.Created by the makers at Super Game Asset, this collection is a treasure trove of game creation bits and pieces, loads of sprites, weapons, armors and other game props that add a level of grandeur and style to your games, all without the usual hours of time spent in their creation.The entire package is sectioned into eight different categories, offering a host of different icon options to match your specific game-building needs. And each icon comes as a fully layered working PSD file, so you can go in and customize and tweak any item you want to use. If your RPG, board game, graphics, or even your website designs need a hyper-stylized sword or hammer, it’s here. Read the rest

We get it. You don’t have to go to the office anymore. That’s no excuse for letting your grooming go positively feral.We’re not saying you need to be GQ cover model-ready every Monday through Friday. But at least put in some effort to keep yourself relatively trimmed, clean, and on point. Even if you aren’t representing on Zoom calls, there are at least people in your day to day life that deserve to see you trying, right?To help, we’ve pulled together 10 different shavers and personal groomers, each at savings of up to 66 percent off, that tell everyone that, yes, you haven’t given up and you’re still fighting the good fight. Trust us...everyone will thank you for it.The Cut Buddy: Beard-Shaping & Hair-Trimming Guide - $11.99; originally $14Trimming your own beard and hair can get pretty scary, but this Shark Tank winning tool is all about perfectly trimming and shaping your various hairlines. Whether its beard contouring or mustache styling, this hair stencil keeps all the lines firm and clean top to bottom.Nose and Ear Hair Trimmer - $13.99; originally $41The nose and ear hair have to go...so the durable, sharp steel blades in this clipper shear down those unsightly hairs, while the micro-vacuum inside casually pulls all the clippings into an easy to clean chamber for disposal. It also won’t irritate your skin or feel like hairs are being plucked because...ouch.Modrn Man 2-Step Cosmetic Systems - $26.95; originally $37You might be getting older, but with this anti-aging solution, you at least don’t have to look it. Read the rest

With everybody cooped up inside right now, it’s no surprise that many houses are starting to get a little bit...well, funky. Yeah...they smell.With everybody running around and sweating and working and cooking and everything else, odors get trapped inside your home. And don’t even get us started on what happens when litter boxes and other pet smells get factored into the mix. Battling this new onslaught, there’s only so much that air fresheners and scented oils can do to combat the funk.As with any war, new opponents breed new weapons — and VentiFresh thinks they’ve come up with the next generation odor eliminator in the form of the VentiFresh Eco.On its surface, the VentiFresh looks like an air purifier, but a look under the hood shows an entirely different set of rules in play for this desktop-sized portable device. While most purifiers use filters to trap dirty particles in the air, the VentiFresh uses photocatalyst technology, the same methods used by NASA aboard the International Space Station.The VentiFresh draws in foul air and uses a natural photocatalyst process to actually break down odor and organic compounds into CO2 and water. Air also gets run through UV-C rays to eradicate and sterilize any airborne microorganisms, viruses, or other pathogens. So the VentiFresh not only eliminates bad smells but actually decomposes anything harmful that might find its way into your air.The VentiFresh is chemical-free, eco-friendly, requires no maintenance, and at 2 inches high and weighing less than 3 ounces, is so lightweight and portable that it can even live inside your gym bag to help combat that foulest of foul environments. Read the rest

This small frying pan from Carote has a natural stone non-stick coating that makes it excellent for cooking eggs or frying meat. It's very easy to clean. People on Amazon love this pan and it's cheap.. Read the rest

Expect to see ‘National Enquirer’ readers driving around in Rolls Royces and hopping private jets to their private islands.

Good news everybody! After close to five months, the U.S. Department of State has rescinded its "Do Not Travel Advisory". The Level four travel warning, which was pushed out last March, warned Americans to stay the hell within their borders because the rest of the world was waaaaaaay too full of COVID-19 for anyone to risk travelling abroad. Now, it's totally cool with them for folks to leave the United States, if they want to.From the U.S. Department of State:On August 6, in close coordination with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Department of State lifted the Global Level 4 Health Advisory. The Global Advisory, initially put in place on March 19, 2020, advised U.S. citizens to avoid all international travel due to the global impact of COVID-19.With health and safety conditions improving in some countries and potentially deteriorating in others, the Department is returning to our previous system of country-specific levels of travel advice (with Levels from 1-4 depending on country-specific conditions), in order to give travelers detailed and actionable information to make informed travel decisions. This will also provide U.S. citizens more detailed information about the current status in each country. We continue to recommend U.S. citizens exercise caution when traveling abroad due to the unpredictable nature of the pandemic.Awesome... provided where you want to wander is on the list of nations interested in seeing Americans within their borders. Right now, the said list is pretty limited. However, many of the locales willing to allow U.S. Read the rest

In this 2019 footage, patrons ouside the Grand Central Market in Los Angeles argue with some skateboarding kids. Though the youngsters aren't belligerent, a heavily-built man lunches at them, punching one youngster in the face. He punches another boy who tries to reason with him, and then a third. Bystanders do nothing to stop him attacking the children, including a man wearing a security guard costume. After the third punch, however, one of the kids whacks him in the head with a skateboard, and the crowd loses its mind. Here's the full video:Here's the footage. pic.twitter.com/CKJjwAKYdU— Rob Beschizza (@Beschizza) August 7, 2020Media coverage of the incident was steered by the bystanders' behavior. The Daily Mail, absolutely scandalized, cast the man as the victim under the headline "Teenager slams his skateboard over a man's head." His punches were "served" in response to provocation; their response a "forceful" attack.I wondered why this was going viral only now, a year later, and then it struck me: young people retaliating with shocking finality to unchecked abuse is going to be the story of the decade. Read the rest

A while back I posted a link to a Kickstarter campaign for Orangered's notebook called the BetterBook, which has an aspect ratio that matches a smartphone's. It turns out the BetterBook looks an awful lot like Studio Neat's Panobook, which was launched a few years ago. Core77 interviewed Dan Provost, co-founder of Studio Neat, to find out how he is dealing with being knocked off:Has Studio Neat ever been knocked off before? If so, what were the circumstances and resolution, if any?Yep, many times, to varying degrees. Sometimes it is a literal copy, down to the packaging. Sometimes it is something that is heavily "inspired" by something we have made. In the early days we would attempt to contact the guilty party, but we more or less ignore them these days.In this age of trolls, a pro-BetterBook troll would say, "Well, they added a new feature with the black border for easier scanning. So I don't think it's a knock-off." What would you say to that?Well, we actually do firmly believe that "everything is a remix." It is impossible to design in a vacuum; every new product or idea is undoubtedly influenced and inspired by things that have existed before. That's certainly true for Panobook. Where it gets uncomfortable is moving from "inspired" territory to "copied." But we are not in a position to litigate that, nor do we have much interest in that.I emailed Orangered three days ago to get their side of the story, but they haven't responded. Read the rest

@maria_warne Meet my granfer ❤️❤️ ♬ original sound - maria_warne Tom Warne, a 76-year-old dairy farmer from Cornwall, has become a hit on his granddaughter's TikTok because no one can understand what he is saying, other than westcountry folk who share his mellifluous dialect. @maria_warne Reply to @aliceiain ♬ original sound - maria_warne @maria_warne Reply to @sabrinajaybaby Granfer has a heat of gold ❤️ ♬ original sound - maria_warne Read the rest

On August 6th, the US State Department issued a warning for US citizens considering traveling to New Zealand, because the country has 23 active cases of COVID-19. Currently, the United States has over 2 million active cases, and in any case, New Zealand isn't eager to allow rat-licking Americans to invade their pristine island nation (unless you have a couple of million dollars to buy citizenship, that is).[via New Zealand Herald] Read the rest

Director Rob Savage got a reaction out of his friends last April with a jump-scare prank on Zoom. He told them he'd been hearing things in his attic, and, with them on the call, decided to investigate with a knife. The prank went so well, it inspired him to write and direct the long short film (under an hour) Host, which is now streaming on Shudder. I’ve been hearing strange noises from my attic, so I called a few friends and went to investigate… pic.twitter.com/CxmJAf44ob— Rob Savage (@DirRobSavage) April 21, 2020 From Mashable:Host’s premise revolves around a group of friends meeting up on Zoom to stay in touch while social distancing during the coronavirus pandemic. One of the friends, the uptight but justified Hayley (Haley Bishop), sets up the meeting as an “online seance,” calling in a medium to provide some low-key thrills for her friends. The seance goes about as well as any seance goes in a horror movie, though Host is far from typical in its brilliance and unique execution.Though Host takes place on a computer screen, it feels different from previous attempts at laptop horror because its principal photography actually took place using the devices used by the characters. In an interview with SF Chronicle, director Rob Savage explained that he got Zoom’s permission to use their software in the film, taught the actors how to set up spooky effects with fishing wire, and directed their performances over video chat. His authentic approach seeps into Host’s final product, making its quality all the more impressive. Read the rest

The quality of fake Rolexes has reached the point where people who want a real Rolex should buy a real Rolex and a fake one and keep the real one in a safe.Image: YouTube Read the rest

I've been watching this live feed of Main Street in Sturgis South Dakota, home of the famous annual motorcycle congregation. The street is already filled with parked motorcycles, and I have not seen anyone wearing a mask yet. It will be interesting to visit this live feed from time to time over the weekend as more people pour in.From Chron:"This is a huge, foolish mistake to make to host the rally this year," Sturgis resident Linda Chaplin warned city counselors earlier this summer, as a debate raged, according to the AP. "The government of Sturgis needs to care most for its citizens.""My grandma is absolutely terrified because she has diabetes and is in her 80s and has lupus," another resident told CNN. "If she gets it, it's a death sentence."But the spectacle in South Dakota's Black Hills is hugely important to the local economy, bringing in $1.3 million in city and state tax revenue last year, according to the Argus Leader. A mayor's letter overviewing Sturgis describes how the city "comes alive" with half a million visitors during a typical August rally, suddenly transformed into "the largest community in the state" with concerts and races. Read the rest

Like a toddler who only wants the toy that the other kid is playing with, this dog only wants food that the other dog (er, human) is eating. But, with just a bit of reverse psychology, said human gets his pooch to relish its doggie meal. Watch this simple trick. Read the rest

Enjoy watching this dramatic encounter in Halibut Cove, Alaska, where an otter frantically heads for a boat in hopes of escaping a pursuing orca. Eventually, the otter jumps up onto the transom of John’s vessel moments before the whale arrives at the surface just feet away. John, 37, revealed a game of cat-and-mouse followed, with the otter hopping back into the water in an attempt to get away, only for the orca to chase it back up again three or four times. His fellow captain, Chantrelle Major, also filmed the moment from her vessel nearby, with the orca then circling John’s boat in search of the otter. Eventually, once the orca had distanced itself from the boat, John, working with Coldwater Alaska, an exploration company providing boat trips in the area, headed for his next pickup in Halibut Cove Lagoon and when at a safe distance the otter plunged safely into the water. John later discovered the orca, ID number AT163, was the largest in its pod. Read the rest

Everything old is new again (also see). Folks, there's going to be a Knight Rider feature film! (Sadly, I think we can assume David Hasselhoff will not star.)Deadline:Spyglass Media Group has teamed with Atomic Monster’s James Wan and Michael Clear to develop a film based on the 1980s classic action series Knight Rider. TJ Fixman, a former video game writer, is adapting the screenplay.Created by Glen A. Larson, Knight Rider first aired on NBC from 1982-1986 and boosted David Hasselhoff’s career. It’s about a high-tech car named KITT that assists the mysterious crime-fighting driver Michael Knight (Hasselhoff)....Plot details for this latest installment are being kept under wraps but we hear it will be a present-day take that will maintain the anti-establishment tone of the original."Anti-establishment tone"? Tell me more.Just for fun, here's the show's original intro:Now for a giggle, watch Michael Knight (played by the Hoff, of course) flip out when he hears KITT's voice for the first time:"There's no need for increased volume"Of course the Internet has already figured out the film locale for that scene.KNIGHT RIDER MOVIE, YES!screengrab via YouTube Read the rest

A Florida man was charged Thursday with battery after demanding a child remove his mask and spitting in his face when he refused to, police say. The incident happened at a restaurant in Treasure Island, Fla., and reportedly concluded with the man saying "You now have coronavirus" to the child and being subdued by staff.According to his arrest affidavit, Copenhaver was described as "intoxicated" and was not wearing shoes. They said he approached the worker in a "threatening manner and attempted to strike him twice."The same worker took "physical control" of Copenhaver, walked him outside the restaurant, and held him to the ground until officers arrived, police said. Read the rest

This is terrific. Dallas Taylor, the host of the podcast Twenty Thousand Hertz, learns the origin story of Netflix's "ta-dum" sound (aka "sonic logo") from its creators.Mashable:In an episode dedicated solely to this sound, Netflix VP of Product Todd Yellin starts out by revealing that it's actually called "ta-dum" internally. Yellin is a former filmmaker with an affinity for sound design, and he led the process of creating the ta-dum: Something immediately sonically tied to the experience of watching Netflix....Yellin enlisted Academy Award-winning sound designer Lon Bender for the project, giving him descriptors that conceptualize this sound: Tension, release, quirky, and more. Bender came up with 20-30 sound effects in different styles. For a long time, the frontrunner was close to the current ta-dum, but also included a goat noise.(Digg)image via Twenty Thousand Hertz Read the rest

If you’re a big fan of ink, but not such a big fan of the forever side to tattoo body art or the pain, the Prinker S Temporary Tattoo Printer might just be your favorite creation of the century.Winner of 2020 Red Dot and If Design awards, the Prinker S is kind of like those temporary tattoos you used to get in a Crackerjack box...only even easier and much, much cooler.With the Prinker app on your smartphone, you can choose from over 5,000 unique tattoo designs, including everything from shapes to cartoon characters to eye-catching designs of every kind. Or you can even upload or sketch your own individual tattoo art right into the database. Once you’ve sprayed a quick skin primer over the area and downloaded the chosen design to the printer, just sweep the printer over your body -- and within three seconds, your full-color tattoo is painlessly applied.The FDA-compliant cosmetic ink is completely safe, non-toxic, waterproof, kid-friendly, and lasts up to two days, even though you can wash it off with a little soap and water.From parties to sporting events to music festivals, from sleepovers to bridal showers and beyond, the Prinker S is a fun, non-invasive way of decorating yourself — without having to worry about work tomorrow or what your mom will say!Right now, you can get a Prinker S Temporary Tattoo Printer with black ink only for $259.99, a $20 savings. Or you can get the complete set of colored ink for full-color tattoos for just $379.99, a savings of almost $70. Read the rest

Reuters published this interactive article Why time feels so weird in 2020 in early July. That was about a month ago, as of this writing; it was also about halfway through the bizarro time vortex hell year known as 2020. Between social media and quarantine, our shared temporal existence has become increasingly warped and disproportionate, but I'm pretty sure that's how the timeline works, anyway. Or at least, for now.And that confusion is precisely the focus of the article:The global coronavirus pandemic has heightened our awareness that time is subjective. For some people who enjoy working from home, the days have whizzed by. For others desperate to travel or visit a loved one, time has slowed to a crawl.Clocks were invented to help us track the passage of time - and yet in some moments when staring at a clock, we’re made aware of just how long a second can feel.Click through for some cool visualizations that explore the gaps between our personal relativity and the actual demonstrable passage of time. It might not change the strangeness of our world, but it's kind of comforting to know that you're not crazy, that our human brains just don't know how to function in a linear temporal existence.Why time feels so weird in 2020 [Feilding Cage / Reuters]Image: Public Domain via NeedPix Read the rest

Being John Malkovich and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind writer Charlie Kaufman recently published his debut novel, an similarly metafictional tome called Antkind. And now the first trailer for his next protect is already available. Written and directed by Kaufman, I'm Thinking Of Ending Things is based on the novel of the same name by Iain Reid. The official synopsis reads simply:Nothing is as it seems when a woman experiencing misgivings about her new boyfriend joins him on a road trip to meet his parents at their remote farm."Nothing is as it seems" feels like an understatement after watching this trailer. "I don’t set out to do a mindfuck," Kaufman recently assured Entertainment Weekly. And clearly, mindfucking comes so naturally to him that he doesn't have to try.I'm Thinking of Ending Things will be available on Netflix on September 4. Read the rest

If you want to understand what it takes to keep a company’s computer network happy and healthy in the cloud, the training found in The Complete AWS eBook and Video Course Bundle can go a long way toward making sure you know the ins and outs of the AWS environment.This bundle brings together five ebooks and another five videos with more than 13 hours of content, all zeroed in on different aspects of planning, building, managing, and growing a thriving network using AWS tools.The ebooks like Serverless Programming Cookbook and Implementing Cloud Design Patterns for AWS can help get any student started, explaining how the cloud model works and best practices for forging a rock-solid hub that is efficient, scalable and protected from everything the future holds. After a segue into machine learning and building an artificial intelligence workflow with Mastering Machine Learning on AWS, the remaining ebooks (AWS Certified SysOps Administrator: Associate Guide and AWS Certified Developer: Associate Guide) can get a user ready to take and pass the AWS SysOps and Developer exams, two must-have certifications to show mastery for working in the AWS environment.As for the videos, they’re chock full of insightful AWS training as well. From building your own apps in the public cloud (Reliability & Resilience on AWS) to developing and deploying AWS Lambda functions (AWS Lambda & The Serverless Framework: Hands-On Learning!) to using AWS CloudFormation to keep your network running smoothly and intact (AWS CloudFormation Master Class), it’s all in-depth AWS instruction based on practical hands-on knowledge. Read the rest

“The Senate on Thursday unanimously passed legislation to ban the use of the social media app TikTok on federal devices, weeks after the House approved a similar measure,” reports The Hill:The legislation, sponsored primarily by Sens. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Rick Scott (R-Fla.), would ban the app’s use on all federal government devices, following bans on the app already put in place by the Army and the Transportation Security Administration due to potential security threats. “In light of all we know, it is unthinkable to me that we should continue to permit federal employees, those workers entrusted with sensitive government data, to access this app on their work phones and computers,” Hawley said in a statement on Thursday. “I’m encouraged by the bipartisan support we have seen in this body to hold the Chinese Communist Party accountable and that includes, by the way, holding accountable those corporations who would just do China’s bidding.”He added that, “if I have anything to say about it, we won’t be stopping here.”In addition to Hawley and Scott, Senate sponsors of the bill included Sens. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), John Kennedy (R-La.), and Martha McSally (R-Ariz.).‘Untrusted’ Chinese apps like TikTok and WeChat must be banned from U.S. app stores, says Pompeo promoting 'Clean Network'China will not accept 'theft' of TikTok by Trump and the U.S, reports state-run China Daily Read the rest

Curious George unboxing a water bottle. from r/funnyGeorge the monkey is curious about his new water bottle. In this video you can see George remove a large metal water bottle from a cardboard box, unsuccessfully attempt to unscrew the lid, refer to the user manual (upside down), successfully unscrew the lid, peer into the bottle and sniff it, screw the lid back onto the bottle and immediately unscrew, and consult the user manual again.Image: Reddit Read the rest

This is a bit of a wormhole, so bear with me. But I think it illuminates some deeply concerning stuff about the right-wing Boomer propaganda machine.I saw a link on Twitter with the headline, "Colorado to strip its police force of qualified immunity: Countless officers discussing resigning." Naturally, I was intrigued at the suggestion of police officers throwing public tantrums over having the slightest accountability in their supposed duties to serve and protect their communities. So I saved the link to read later. When I opened it, I found a terribly cheap right-wing propaganda website called Law Enforcement Today, with a poorly written article that linked to a Denver Post article from a few weeks back about Colorado SB-217, which is supposed to restrict the use of tear gas and projectiles on civilians and introduce criminal charges for cops who don't intervene when they witness another officer exercising excessive force. The Law Enforcement Today coverage is long and meandering and doesn't even have an author listed; at the top of the article, however, there is an editor's note saying:Law Enforcement Today has received countless messages over the past few days from officers in Colorado. Many have asked for resources finding police jobs out of Colorado – many others have said they plan on leaving the field altogether.This is just the beginning. Here’s why.And that is the extent of information available at police threatening to resign over losing qualified immunity. So what was supposedly the main focus of the article — based on the headline — was just some hearsay tacked onto the top of it. Read the rest

A whistleblowing student at a Georgia high school was suspended after he posted a video of fellow students crammed into a hallway between classes, many of them without masks. After he was suspended, North Paulding County high school principal Gabe Carmona made an announcement over the school intercom, warning that "Anything that is going on on social media that is negative on our light... there will be consequences for both students or anyone who sends out those pictures, so please be careful." Read the rest