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If the supermarket tabloids truly have an inside track to Donald Trump's thoughts, should we be petrified by this week's tabloid promise that President Trump is poised to launch World War III?"Trump Declares War on Dictators!" screams the 'National Enquirer' cover, which also pictures the leaders of Russia, Syria and North Korea beneath the headline: "Dead Men Walking," alongside another bellicose headline: "Here We Come!"Inside, the 'Enquirer' reveals that "President Donald Trump has green-lighted a top-secret Pentagon plan to rid the Earth of ALL military madmen," promising that "the new administration will restore peace and wipe out the new axis of evil."Of course, that peace comes after more than a little bloodshed.Declaring that the world is on a "war footing," the 'Enquirer' promises that Trump's so-called Operation Clean Sweep "involves coordinated attacks on three continents."So America plans to launch attacks on three sovereign nations, according to the publication that claims to have a direct line to Trump, who wrote several articles for the magazine during the election campaign, and who is friends with 'Enquirer' chief executive David Pecker. Why would that be in the least bit disturbing?This comes as stable-mate the 'Globe' reports that "Crooked Hillary Is Putin's Spy," claiming that the erstwhile Democratic presidential hopeful was "bought and paid for by Kremlin blood money laundered through her sham foundation and a company with ties to her campaign manager!" Hillary Clinton and husband Bill allegedly "got mega-millions for engineering the sale of 20 per cent of America's uranium reserves to Russia - AND funneling key U.S. military technology to a 'Silicon Valley-like' research facility outside Moscow." The accusations come from Breitbart News senior editor at large Peter Schweizer, whose 2015 book and film 'Clinton Cash' claimed to expose the dark side of the Clinton Foundation. The 'New York Times' confirmed that companies expecting to profit from the uranium deal had donated millions to the Clinton Foundation while Hillary was Secretary of State - but that does not appear to have been illegal, and hardly makes her a Russian spy.The 'Globe' adds: "Trump blasted, 'She's a traitor!' says an insider, and insisted Clinton would be brought to justice!"Which would certainly detract from allegations of Russian collusion with Trump administration and campaign executives."Commander-in-Cheat" Bill Clinton has allegedly been "Caught With Young Hooker," reports the 'Enquirer,' showing a photo of the former president alongside a girl allegedly arrested for prostitution in Florida last month. It appears to be just one of the thousands of strangers Bill Clinton would have been photographed with while stumping for Hillary last year. There's no suggestion that the meeting was anything but innocent, but the 'Enquirer' captions its photo "Hot To Trot?" and quotes an unnamed source stating: "This is another sucker punch for Hillary." Right.Ever-vigilant to promote compassion and humanitarian causes with its mastery of global geo-politics, the 'Enquirer' devotes a two-page pictorial spread to the horrors of the alleged chemical weapons attack in Syria by President Bashar al-Assad, under the sensitive and balanced headline: "Obama's Shame!" Apparently Obama is to blame for the tragedy because of his "cowardly . . . refusal to battle evildoers . . . The past administration's weakness resulted in the death of at least 100 victims."Back in the world of show-biz, having repeatedly branded Britain's Prince Charles a "murderer" for allegedly masterminding the car crash death of Princess Diana, and predicting that Charles will be put on trial for the slaying, the 'Globe' now claims that a "bombshell psychological report" has been prepared "by experts who will testify at Charles' upcoming trial." What does this psychological profile reveal? That Charles "is a cruel, heartless murderous monster whose evil was created by his cold, distant and uncaring royal parents!" Which makes sense, except there is no trial, no psychological report, and no "experts" to quote. The 'Globe' claims that "top psychiatrists" examined Charles, and also "studied biographies of Charles" - which of course is all that the 'Globe' has done, delivering its headline: "Cold-Fish Queen Made Charles a Monster!"The 'Enquirer' also brings us Jennifer Aniston's "Secret Sex-Swap Shame!" Which amounts to her brother befriending a "transgender gal pal." Where's the shame in that? And why would Aniston even care who her brother befriends? No shame, no blame - unless we can blame Obama.Scarlett Johansson, going through a divorce, "Goes Back to Weed!" screams an 'Enquirer' headline - because the actress reportedly told a friend that she "wanted to break away and get over to Jamaica." Presumably because you can't buy marijuana anywhere in Los Angeles, and going to Jamaica is a blatant cry for good weed.The 'Enquirer' team of medically trained psychics is out in full force this week, intuiting the suicidal tendencies of celebrities based on photographs of their wrists. Actress Portia de Rossi is suffering a "Cutting Nightmare!" it reports, displaying a photo of her right wrist with what appears to be an astrological sign drawn in lipstick. "That's highly suspicious," says "noted physician Dr Stuart Fisher." I couldn't have put it better myself. Actress Amanda Bynes is also accused of "cutting herself" in another story where photos of her forearm "show signs of self-harm" . . . or maybe some skin ailment, or a kitchen accident, or one of a thousand innocent alternatives. Or you could just go with the 'Enquirer' headline: "Amanda Bynes Cutting Herself."The 'Globe' reports on rocker Eric Clapton's "tragic and lonely last days," because he used a wheelchair to navigate the long walk around the Los Angeles airport after cancelling two concerts due to severe bronchitis. Because as every tabloid reporter knows, if you're in a wheelchair that means you have just weeks left to live. And if you're dying, you must be lonely. Stands to reason.And let's not forget: It's been ten months since the tabloids gave Nick Nolte "four weeks to live." We're still waiting, Nick . . .Sometimes you just can't win with the tabloids. After devoting acres of newsprint to overweight stars supposedly ordered by their doctors to "Diet or Die!" the 'Globe' reports: "Health Fears For Skinny George!" after actor George Clooney reportedly lost 20 pounds. Actor Richard Dreyfuss is excoriated in the same publication for being "Fat, Broke & Miserable!" after reportedly becoming 40 pounds overweight. An unnamed "insider" tells the 'Globe': "Richard looks like a heart attack waiting to happen." That sounds like a trained medical opinion to me. Reality TV "star" Mama June, having reportedly lost 352 pounds thanks to gastric bypass surgery, is "now a skinnier dumbass!" reports the kind-hearted 'Enquirer.' which calls her "an inspiration to . . . NOBODY!" There's the compassion and understanding we've come to know and love in the tabloids.Fortunately we have the crack investigative team at 'Us' magazine to tell us that Duchess Kate wore it best, Kim Kardashian is selling a $98 pool float in the shape of her famous derriere, Jenna Elfman carries keys, sunglasses and lipstick in her Rebecca Minkoff tote, and that the stars as just like us: they drink water, take out the trash, and eat pasta. Makes me feel like I'm really living the celebrity lifestyle.'Us' also brings us two full pages boasting "25 Things You Don't Know About . . . HGTV's Property Brothers Jonathan and Drew Scott." Not only did I not know any of these 50 gems (they get 25 each: Jonathan is double-jointed and "can't stand the sound of brushing teeth," while Drew "can make a delicious lasagna" and loves board games) but I honestly don't care a damn about a single one of them. 'Us' continues its disconnect from reality by devoting its cover to the "reality TV hall-of-famers" Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag announcing their "Baby At Last!" After waiting ten years for a child, I can only marvel at 'Us' magazine still caring.'People' magazine waited only nine years to bring us its cover story this week: 'The Secret Life of Heath Ledger,' which merely rehashes everything that was written about this brilliant but troubled actor's life when he died in 2008, but which it hopes we've forgotten so that it can sound fresh again. Ledger "was like wildfire," says his childhood friend Kane Manera. "He couldn't be contained." But of course wildfire is routinely contained, extinguished, and burns itself out. Try another metaphor. Oprah Winfrey reveals that she has finally "learned to love the whole of me," which I'm pretty sure she's been preaching for decades. And "after weathering a cheating scandal" actress and reality starlet Toni Spelling welcomes "Baby No. 5," which she calls "a whole new beginning." I suspect her baby would agree.Leave it to the 'National Examiner' to tell us that the late NASA astronaut Lt Col Ellison Onizuka, who died in the Shuttle Challenger disaster, saw alien corpses on an autopsy table in a training film - though it may have been a "psychological test" and not real aliens. The "small, strange-looking creatures" were allegedly victims of the 1947 flying saucer crash at Roswell, New Mexico. Could that explain why the 'Examiner' and the 'Globe' this week carry full-page advertisements for your very own "Aliens" figurine of a "xenomorph" trapped in a glass display case, at 8 inches tall just the right size to burrow out of your stomach at family gatherings? "This Time It's War," says the ad. Apparently there's a lot of that going around in the tabloids these days.Onwards and downwards . . .

Here's a fascinating video made by a programmer from the US who decided to make an iPhone 6S practically from scratch. After thinking about this project for 9 months, he "dove in with both feet." He traveled to Shenzhen, China and went shopping in the bustling back alley markets of Huaqiangbei to find all of the many parts, having to return numerous times to exchange pieces that didn't work or to get even more parts.This project took him months, and it's a lot of fun to watch the process. He does have some help, from a friend of his who takes him around and translates when needed, to a cell phone repair shop that de-bubbles the screen and digitizer subassembly to a cell phone repair school that helps him with some of the parts he needs. He calls his video Strange Parts, and refers to it as "Adventures from the technological fringe." The amazing chaos of the city itself is worth the watch. A must-see for anyone interested in DIY and travel adventures.

Spoiler: a squid did it.

The owners of a massage parlor in an Austin, TX strip mall have been busted for offering more than just massages. The married couple, Juan Wang and her husband Joseph Emery, were arrested for "organized criminal activity and money laundering," after hundreds of condoms were found clogging a nearby drainpipe.Authorities were tipped off to the couple's prostitution business in February by a realty company who had just started running the property and discovered the rubber-laden pipe that connected the strip mall to the public sewer. They then discovered online ads that listed the parlor's special services, along with Wang's phone number.According to CBS News:Just two days before police got the tip from the property owner, Wang was stopped at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport on her way to China carrying $30,000 in cash. The station cited an arrest affidavit as saying she became nervous after telling police the money was for a medical procedure in her home country and that it came from her business, the Jade Massage Therapy parlor, where here stated income was just $20,000 per year. She was reportedly allowed to board the plane after providing authorities with a contact number.In the course of their investigation, police found a series of advertisements posted to the Backpage.com website -- featuring pictures of women and Wang’s phone number -- for the Jade parlor’s services.The moral of the story: Throw those dang condoms in the trash, not down the toilet. Seems like common sense.

United Airlines is already dealing with intense public backlash after a doctor was beaten, knocked out, and dragged off one of its plane for refusing to give up a seat he'd paid paid for because United wanted his seat for one of its employees. Now, the LA Times is reporting that another man, who'd purchased a full-fare first class ticket and was sitting is his seat on a United Flight, was threatened with handcuffs if he did't give up his seat for a "higher-priority" traveler.Snip:[Geoff Fearns] boarded the aircraft at Lihue Airport on the island of Kauai, took his seat and enjoyed a complimentary glass of orange juice while awaiting takeoff.Then, as Fearns tells it, a United employee rushed onto the aircraft and informed him that he had to get off the plane....“That’s when they told me they needed the seat for somebody more important who came at the last minute,” Fearns said. “They said they have a priority list and this other person was higher on the list than me.”“I understand you might bump people because a flight is full,” Fearns said. “But they didn’t say anything at the gate. I was already in the seat. And now they were telling me I had no choice. They said they’d put me in cuffs if they had to.”

Autodraw is a web app that looks at what you are drawing and offers up clip-art style images that resemble your sketch.

My friend Donald Bell produces and hosts a weekly video show called Maker Update.Each week in Maker Update, Donald will take a closer look at one of the tools the Cool Tools archive. This week, Donald checks out a plastic razor blade. It’s in the video above.Full show notes available on the Maker Project Lab blog.

Perhaps it's a rather dangerous idea but it is still creative and entertaining.(Gianco Whatever via Digg)

The MVP of last night's Miami Marlins-Atlanta Braves game was the cat who ran around the outfield before climbing a wall and watching the game from an animatronic home run sculpture. "He stayed up there for four innings," said (Marcell), the Marlins' left fielder. "Every time I went on defense, I looked up there and the cat was hiding its head. I said, `What are you doing up there?' In the last inning I didn't see it. I don't know where he went."(CBS News)

For years we've had silverfish darting around our guest bathroom. I bought some silverfish traps (little cardboard boxes with sticky goo to ensnare them) and they helped, but didn't stop them. A few weeks ago I read that lavender oil is a good silverfish repellent. It's only $5.59 for a small bottle on Amazon, so I decided to give it a try. I wetted the end of a Q-Tip with the oil and ran it around the perimeter of the bathroom floor, adding a little extra to a seam between the floor and the wall. It smelled nice and we have not seen a single silverfish since. I'm going to wait and see how long it takes for them to come back, and then create a maintenance schedule.Image: ACC1/Flickr

Tested visits sculptor Andrew Freeman who made these wonderfully creepy and hyperreal Ren and Stimpy masks!

Inmates in Ohio's Marion Correctional Institution smuggled computer parts out of an ewaste recycling workshop and built two working computers out of them, hiding them in the ceiling of a training room closet ceiling and covertly patching them into the prison's network. (more…)

Wordfence, a security research company, discovered that the reason Algeria is the country most often seen in attacks on Wordpress blogs is that the country's largest ISP distributes home routers that are locked in an insecure state, with an open port that lets attackers seize control of them and use them to stage attacks on higher-value targets. (more…)

As the scandal over a United passenger who was beaten unconscious and dragged off a plane when he refused to give up his seat for a deadheading crewmember unspools, there's a predictable torrent of bullshit about how United was in the right because something something private property, and let us not forget the great American sport of victim-blaming. (more…)

General the Great Pyreness decided he didn't want to stay in the Aquia-Garrisonville Animal Hospital, so he left. Opening serveral doors, all caught on security camera, on his way out. His family has him again.Via InsideNova:The dog’s amazing escape from the Garrisonville Road facility — opening several doors before exiting the building — screens like a jailbreak from the best Hollywood blockbusters.And the story has a Hollywood ending, too. The hospital reported late Monday that General was found safe and sound, resting in a neighbor’s yard.Hospital staff discovered Monday that the dog was missing, but how? Security video from the 4 a.m. escape was shared by WJLA.My Great Pyr, Nemo, does this an awful lot too.

The Federal Bureau of Investigations asked for and received a secret court order last summer to eavesdrop on communications between Carter Page, then a campaign adviser to candidate Donald Trump, as part of the FBI's investigation into connections between Team Trump and Russia. (more…)

Behold, Godzilla, King of the Monsters!https://youtu.be/EJp7tFGGRAwI was reading <a href="http://en.rocketnews24.com/2017/04/12/godzilla-speaks-interview-with-12-movie-veteran-kaiju-actor-haruo-nakajima%E3%80%90video%E3%80%91/">Rocket News</a> today and found a fascinating video from <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCajXeitgFL-rb5-gXI-aG8Q">Great Big Stories</a> about the man who was inside the Godzilla suit for the first 12 films. Two things you might not know: the monster’s name was actually Gojira before it was Anglicized, and there are 29 (!) Godzilla movies.The video of actor Haruo Nakajima, now 87, is interesting and artfully done. I had never seen him before, and he looks back fondly on playing the monster.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oBNEG8kLfQThe original Japanese version of the film, Gojira (which few Americans saw until a decade and a half ago when it appeared on DVD), was produced in 1954, a mere nine years after the atomic bombs were dropped, and the Americanized version came out in 1956 titled, Godzilla, King of the Monsters!About the Japanese version, Gojira, film scholar Tim Lucas wrote [the film is a] “dark, melancholy, crushing, and relentless” rumination on the horrors of the atomic age, in his late lamented magazine <a href="http://www.videowatchdog.com/home/home.html">Video Watchdog</a> (Special Issue 2, 1995/96). Godzilla is a creature who comes to exist only because of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. From Wikipedia: “Producer Tomoyuki Tanaka stated that, ‘The theme of the film, from the beginning, was the terror of the bomb. Mankind had created the bomb, and now nature was going to take revenge on mankind’.”The destruction Godzilla causes, though the special effects are primitive by today’s standards, is genuinely horrific. You might be one of those folks who chuckle at the marvelously-crafted miniature cities being destroyed, but if you think about what it really means, your laughter should catch in your throat. The film has a prominent anti-nuclear message and is one of the earlier films to shout it out loud.When an American distributor bought the rights to release the film in the U.S., the anti-nuclear message was mostly deleted and film was dubbed into English with dialogue being changed in the process. The original Japanese version runs 96 minutes; the American version approximately 81 minutes and is padded with scenes of Raymond Burr as a reporter filing dispatches throughout the film. So, if you remove all the scenes of Raymond Burr (many of them quite cleverly worked into the film with the use of doubles for the Japanese actors) even less of the original film exists in the English version.Both versions are worth experiencing, and quite different. The segments with Raymond Burr are surprisingly well integrated in the U.S. film, and his narration adds much. But it is the original Japanese film that fully reveals the insanity of using nuclear arms. If you haven’t seen the original Japanese film you’re in for a surprise, and as a warning against the use of nuclear weapons, it ranks with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Day_After">The Day After</a>, a 1983 telefilm from which scared the hell out of most of America—43 million people watched its original broadcast.The best way to watch both versions of Godzilla is the <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Godzilla-Criterion-Collection-Blu-ray-Takashi/dp/B005VU9LKE/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1491938022&sr=8-4&keywords=godzilla+blu+ray">Criterion blu-ray</a>, which has both versions and ample extra features.With North Korea engaged in a race to build and launch nuclear-armed Intercontinental Ballistic Misses, and world leaders with few ideas how to effectively prevent it, Godzilla is more timely than ever.

In her latest video, Luna Lee, master of the gayageum, plays a stunning version of the David Bowie classic.

German Member of the European Parliament Julia Reda (previously) has published an open-letter signed by UK MEP Lucy Anderson, raising alarm at the fact that the W3C is on the brink of finalising a DRM standard for web video, which -- thanks to crazy laws protecting DRM -- will leave users at risk of unreported security vulnerabilities, and also prevent third parties from adapting browsers for the needs of disabled people, archivists, and the wider public. (more…)

In a new meta-analysis published in PLOS One, researchers from Purdue, Stanford and the Canadian Council on Animal Care look at the different techniques used to induce laughter in rats in order to improve their wellbeing and capture their laughter, which is delightful. (more…)

Victor Pelevin's Omon Ra is an absurdist adventure in the Soviet space program. (more…)

The Kentucky Coal Museum in Benham, KY, spends $2,100 a month on electricity; to save money, they're putting in 80 solar panels, which will save them $8,000/year. (more…)

I bought the Dover edition The Moscow Puzzles in 2014, and it's still one of my all-time favorite puzzle books. Here are a few samples:Book description:This is, quite simply, the best and most popular puzzle book ever published in the Soviet Union. Since its first appearance in 1956 there have been eight editions as well as translations from the original Russian into Ukrainian, Estonian, Lettish, and Lithuanian. Almost a million copies of the Russian version alone have been sold.Part of the reason for the book's success is its marvelously varied assortment of brainteasers ranging from simple "catch" riddles to difficult problems (none, however, requiring advanced mathematics). Many of the puzzles will be new to Western readers, while some familiar problems have been clothed in new forms. Often the puzzles are presented in the form of charming stories that provide non-Russian readers with valuable insights into contemporary Russian life and customs. In addition, Martin Gardner, former editor of the Mathematical Games Department, Scientific American, has clarified and simplified the book to make it as easy as possible for an English-reading public to understand and enjoy. He has been careful, moreover, to retain nearly all the freshness, warmth, and humor of the original.Lavishly illustrated with over 400 clear diagrams and amusing sketches, this inexpensive edition of the first English translation will offer weeks or even months of stimulating entertainment. It belongs in the library of every puzzlist or lover of recreational mathematics.

Here's a good puzzle that Clifford Pickover found at CTK Insights:Is it possible to wrap the cube with a 3×3 piece of paper below it? Handling of the paper is subject to two conditions:1. The paper may be only cut or folded along the crease lines.2. The cutting should not cause pieces to separate.

An all-star cast, brave writers, and a catchy theme made St. Eleswhere a phenomenal medical drama. In the final moments of the series finale, however, a twist was introduced wherein a minor character, the autistic son of one of the lead doctors, imagined the events of the entire series.https://youtu.be/ZdNXBgces1QStarting with a cross-over on Homicide, it turns out Tommy Westphall likely imagined vast amounts of our television landscape. As of August 2016 there were 49 shows airing with connections to St. Elsewhere.The folks at Tommy Westphall Universe track it all.

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is now the most unpopular governor in America, according to a new poll by Morning Consult. Since September, when he was still Donald Trump's toady, Christie has picked up 3 percentage points in the unpopularity department. His disapproval rating now stands at 71%, with only a 25% approval rating. According to Business Insider:It's the continuation of a dismal polling trend for Christie, who found himself embroiled in the Bridgegate scandal during his second term in office, which ends early next year. In June, a Monmouth University poll found Christie's approval rating reaching an all-time low, standing at a dreadful 27%. A total of 63% of respondents disapproved of the job the governor is performing... After Christie, Brownback, and Malloy, the list of the top five most unpopular governors is rounded out by Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder and Alaska Gov. Bill Walker. Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker is the most liked in the country, followed by Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, Vermont Gov. Phil Scott, and South Dakota Gov. Dennis Daugaard.Morning Consult polled more than 85,000 registered voters between January and March for the survey. Photo by Gage Skidmore

https://youtu.be/_QndP_PCRSwThe dumb robots fall into the holes, while the smarter ones survive and breed.From the YouTube description:Chinese delivery firm is moving to embrace automation.Orange robots at the company's sorting stations are able to identify the destination of a package through a code-scan, virtually eliminating sorting mistakes.Shentong's army of robots can sort up to 200,000 packages a day, and are self-charging, meaning they are operational 24/7.The company estimates its robotic sorting system is saving around 70-percent of the costs a human-based sorting line would require.

I love these videos of color-blind people who become overwhelmed to see new colors when they put on EnChroma glasses.Previously:Man with colorblindness becomes overwhelmed when he tries on special glassesNew high-tech glasses promise to bring color to the colorblindColor for the Colorblind

Bioluminescence is a very cool natural phenomenon, but you're probably not going to fill a fish tank with those creepy, giant-toothed monsters with the headlamps and then just live in complete darkness. Dinoflagellates, on the other hand, are a type of marine plankton that emit a bright light when agitated, and are way easier to care for. In fact, they even come with their own bowl. The Dino Sphere contains a host of dinoflagellate microbes that absorb sunlight and nutrients from the included, specialized seawater to power their natural illumination.This microscopic, self-sustaining ecosystem is contained in a 4” glass vessel. Just give it a shake, and you’ll see a brilliant light show put on by the same organisms that cause red tide in certain coastal areas. You’ll never need to add anything or change out the water inside, just leave the Dino Sphere out in the sun to let the dinoflagellates do their photosynthetic duty.You can hold this glowing natural phenomenon in your hands and lure that cute coworker to your desk. The Dino Sphere is available in the Boing Boing Store.Explore more best-sellers in the Boing Boing Store:Protect Your Internet PrivacyTigerVPN ($29)Burn That Old Disney VHS Collection Onto Your ComputerVHS Digitization Software ($21)Jumpstart A New CareerLearn to Code: 2017 Bundle (Average Price~$23)

This biker starts off at the end of the line, until he puts himself into an acrobatic pose. He then zips ahead without even pedaling, and as he passes his fellow bikers you can see one guy's jaws drop. The funniest bit is at the end, when he passes a guy on a motorbike who decides to try the same stunt.

I recently completed an time-consuming project that was close to my heart, before which other endeavors took a back seat. Once done, though, I returned to my labyrinth of text files, PSDs and design documents, all now bearing a thick layer of psychic dust. (more…)

https://youtu.be/KPOkL2AH3IAJeremy Messersmith writes, "I have a new record coming out on Friday and I've released it early as a songbook over at my website (free with an email). It's called '11 Obscenely Optimistic Songs For Ukulele: A Micro-Folk Record For The 21st Century And Beyond.' It has songs about kittens, unicorns, wealth redistribution, critical thinking, and the power of love. I wrote it to be an antidote to all the toxic news as of late; a musical unicorn chaser. I'm also embarking on a 50 show, Atlas Obscura inspired sing-along tour; all free and in scenic public spaces. I've compiled a collection of songs that fans have covered so far into a YouTube playlist over at my website. Thanks for considering!https://youtu.be/8giXKykpelM?list=PL_DytgMcL6Vrli31E8CR34PxJ2vJ5HL8H

I used my grease splatter screen last night while frying tomatoes and garlic in oil. The food was sizzling and popping, but the screen kept my shirt, range, and countertop splatter-free. This screen also comes with a couple of pan scrapers as a free bonus. Available from Amazon for $12.

Between the officers in face masks and the sheriff's message to heroin dealers that "we're coming for you," there's something really creepy about this PSA, put out by the Lake County Sheriff's Office in Florida. In a message that reminds me of George Orwell's novel 1984, about a totalitarian regime that has constant surveillance on every citizen's actions and thoughts, Sheriff Peyton Grinell has this to say:“So, to the dealers, I say, enjoy looking over your shoulder, constantly wondering if today is the day we come for you. Enjoy trying to sleep tonight, wondering if tonight is the night our SWAT team blows your front door off the hinges. We are coming for you... We are coming for you. Run.”According to Miami Herald, Lake County "had 101 overdose deaths per 100,000 people in 2016, or around 300 deaths, according to County Health Rankings."Reactions to the PSA are mixed. Several people compared it to a terrorist video.“America’s Taliban,” one Facebook user wrote.“Christian ISIS,” wrote another.“Looks like an ISIS video,” said a third.Others said the issue of heroin is serious and therefore deserves the intense treatment, and they were glad to see the sheriff cared so much about getting drugs off the streets.Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/national/article143718184.html#storylink=cpy

Walmart is recalling a product described as "Organic Marketside Spring Mix salad" after decomposing vegetable matter was found around a dead bat it sold to a Florida customer.The company said it worked quickly with officials to remove the entire batch of salads from store shelves, and only one line of its products had been affected."Fresh Express takes matters of food safety very seriously and rigorously complies with all food safety regulations including the proscribed Good Agricultural Practices," a company statement said.

Joe writes, "Hungarians rose up in one of the largest protests against the seven-year rule of right-wing Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Sunday, protesting against new legislation that could force out of the country one of its top international universities." (more…)

A passenger at the Foire du Trone, an annual fair in Paris, somehow falls out of the bungee jump swing, but remains attached by her feet. As she rapidly swings back and forth, her head comes just inches from the platform. Bystanders try to grab her as she swings by, and finally help her as she slows down. Ugh, this is the kind of amusement park accident that usually only occurs in nightmares.

With companies like Uber betting billions on self-driving cars, amid competition from Apple, Google, Tesla and the major automakers, the shortage of qualified engineers is sparking vicious legal battles. (more…)

As Brexit shambles on, UK Tory Parliamentarians and Theresa May are spoiling for a re-run of the Falklands Island debacle, this time over Gibraltar, a British outpost at the tip of Spain. (more…)

[NSFW: violence] This man's suffering is not a joke. United customer service is a joke. Background.(United parody logo by @skolanach)

John Deere says that farmers don't really own their tractors -- even the ones they buy used! -- because the copyrighted software necessary to run those tractors is licensed, not sold. (more…)

Every dollar that the Trump administration takes away from Planned Parenthood in Maryland will be replaced by state funds (about $2.7M), which will save about $6 for every dollar it puts in, because when women are in charge of their own fertility, they don't end up raising kids they can't afford. (more…)

United Airlines had a passenger knocked unconscious and dragged violently from a full plane for refusing to yield his ticketed seat to an employee who wanted it. This is CEO Oscar Munoz's public apology, to those who needed to be re-accommodated.https://twitter.com/united/status/851471781827420160Hopefully they'll never have an overbooked plane again. (more…)

On FT's Alphaville, Izabella Kaminska takes note of the excellent, deep series on Uber's Ponzi-economics that Hubert Horan published last year on Naked Capitalism and calls out some juicy highlights. (more…)

What happens when you offer Reddit users a large digital canvas and allow each participant to place one pixel, every few minutes, on it? You'd think it would be a mess. But somehow, in 72 hours, the canvas turned into a complex mosaic of flags, symbols, messages, and even a sepia Mona Lisa. This article from sudoscript examines this marvel of massive, remote collaboration.Three kinds of participants emerged: Creators, Protectors, and DestroyersSnip:The rules were simple. Each user could choose one pixel from 16 colors to place anywhere on the canvas. They could place as many pixels of as many colors as they wanted, but they had to wait a few minutes between placing each one.Over the following 72 hours, what emerged was nothing short of miraculous. A collaborative artwork that shocked even its inventors.From a single blank canvas, a couple simple rules and no plan, came this.Snip:When Place was launched, with no warning, the first users started placing pixels willy-nilly, just to see what they could do. Within minutes, the first sketches appeared on Place. Crude and immature, they resembled cavemen paintings, the work of artists just stretching their wings.Even from that humble beginning, the Creators quickly saw that the pixels held power, and lots of potential. But working alone, they could only place one pixel every 5 or 10 minutes. Making anything more meaningful would take forever -- if someone didn't mess up their work as they were doing it. To make something bigger, they would have to work together.That's when someone hit on the brilliant notion of a gridmap. They took a simple idea -- a drawing overlaid on a grid, that showed where each of the pixels should go -- and combined it with an image that resonated with the adolescent humor of Redditors. They proposed drawing Dickbutt.

If there's one thing humans are good at, it's gaming systems. John Oliver goes after the dirty political practice of gerrymandering.In Pennsylvania, forty-four percent of the voters chose Democratic candidates for the House of Representatives in 2014, but 13 of the 18 districts, more than two-thirds, are represented by Republicans. In Ohio, about forty percent of the voters chose Democratic candidates for the House of Representatives, but 12 out of 16 seats, three-quarters of them, are represented by Republicans. Those numbers are way out of proportion to what people should expect. You wouldn't accept Neapolitan ice cream that was seventy-five percent strawberry. How is that okay? What perverts voted for this?

Move over, Florida! Oregon may supplant you as America's best source of mesmerizingly bizarre violent confrontations, if voters there overturn a constitutional ban on duels.Should ongoing discussions in Salem materialize, voters would see a question on their general-election ballots asking if a 172-year-old ban on dueling by public officials — as in, the old-fashioned way of resolving fights — should be erased from the Oregon Constitution. The constitutional ban in question is Article II, Section 9, which says anyone who offers, accepts, knowingly participates in a “challenge to fight a duel … or who shall agree to go out of the State to fight a duel, shall be ineligible to any office of trust, or profit.” (this is exact language from the constitution) ... Democratic Sen. Ginny Burdick, who chairs the Senate Rules Committee, kicked off the discussion by jokingly calling it “the bill I’ve been waiting all session for.”This wouldn't make consensual homicide legal, but it might make it fun.