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by Mark Frauenfelder on (#2JE4C)
https://youtu.be/xP1gtXNM844The best thing about Jurassic Park was the walking cane with the mosquito-in-amber knob. It turns out a lot of people have made replicas of the prop. Here's a very nice one that Peter Brown and Pocket 83 made.
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| Updated | 2024-11-24 21:16 |
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by Mark Frauenfelder on (#2JE1J)
I ride trains whenever I can, even though they can be expensive. The San Francisco Bay Area BART, for instance, charges over $20 for a round trip between Oakland and San Francisco. That's a lot of money for a daily commuter. (It's better to hitchhike instead.)Why are train tickets so expensive, especially compared to airline tickets? The largest expense is staffing. Amtrak employs one person for every 4 passengers daily, and the average salary of an Amtrak employee is $75,000. This video by Wendover productions takes a look at this expense and the others that go into running a passenger rail company.
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by Cory Doctorow on (#2JE06)
In 1980, Lal Bihari, a man from the poor Indian state of Uttar Pradesh whose cousins had bribed a local official to have him declared dead in order to steal the one-fifth acre of land he owned, founded Mritak Sangh, the "association of the living dead," for similarly situated people who spend decades (and sometimes their entire lives) trying to resurrect themselves in the eyes of the national bureaucracy. (more…)
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by Mark Frauenfelder on (#2JE08)
https://youtu.be/ZKh6z0X6KRw"Your research team has found a prehistoric virus preserved in the permafrost and isolated it for study. After a late night working, you’re just closing up the lab when a sudden earthquake hits and breaks all the sample vials. Will you be able to destroy the virus before the vents open and unleash a deadly airborne plague?"A fun Ted-Ed puzzle by Lisa Winer.[via]
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"Global Britain": the plan to turn post-Brexit Britain into the world's money-laundering arms-dealer
by Cory Doctorow on (#2JE0A)
UK Prime Minister Theresa May says that post-Brexit Britain won't rely on the EU, but will become a "Global Britain," turning to the rest of the world to bring the the billions the UK will lose when it departs from the European Union. (more…)
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by Rob Beschizza on (#2JDYQ)
Mountaineering disasters are fascinating, especially in how they illustrate extremes of human behavior and endurance—the way people get lost barely feet from safely. Written reports rarely make sense of the confusing geography of dangerous peaks, though, and screen depictions are mostly (and necessarily) visual fiction. So is it with awed delight that I ran across Explore-Everest.com, which allows me to climb Mount Everest in 3D from the safety of my desk.Experience the harrowing trek to the summit of the Earth’s highest mountain.There's a description of the recent Khumbu Icefall disaster, but you won't meet any of the mountain's permanent residents: they seem to be shooped out of the aerial shots, as far as I can tell. There are so many up there (NSFL!), their colorful sporty gear poking from the snowdrifts, that mountaineers supposedly call it the Rainbow Valley.Neat fact about Everest: the English name is a compound of "Eve Rest", but the American pronunciation "Ever Rest" was already the norm by the time I was growing up in Britain. It's apropos, in any case.
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by Cory Doctorow on (#2JDYS)
For four years, N313P, a modified Boeing 737 bizjet, flew people who'd been kidnapped by the CIA to secret torture-camps; it's only got 5,942 hours on it, and sports a customized seven-tank fuel reserve for long-haul flights. It's yours for a mere $27.5M. (more…)
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by Xeni Jardin on (#2JDYV)
In the War Room, the U.S President Merkin Muffley (Peter Sellers) is making a phone call to the President of the U.S.S.R. From Dr. Strangelove, directed by Stanley Kubrick (1964). (more…)
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by Cory Doctorow on (#2JDVS)
Deliveroo is a "gig economy" company that hires people to cycle around big cities, delivering meals, while pretending that all their riders are actually "independent contractors" running their own businesses through which they subcontract to Deliveroo, thus dodging any need to pay benefits or comply with basic labor, health and safety rules. (more…)
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by Rob Beschizza on (#2JDVV)
Soundtrack turns your FedEx tracking number into music and an animated depiction of the package's journey. If you don't have one, you can generate one; it's like a synthy toy where the controls are weights, measures and coordinates. The results are kinda MOR—think library music tracks overlaid upon one another rather than the raw beauty of generative melody—but if you told me 61290980541920196578 was the new face of EDM, who am I to disagree? Chances are you will have a 14-digit tracking number, which it will refuse due to the 12-digit limit. Skip the first two characters.Also note that the animation of your ghostly package ends close to the address it was delivered to. It would be easy enough to determine the real-world locations, despite the abstract representation. Share your song URLs at your peril.
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by Cory Doctorow on (#2JDVX)
Dominic Tarr is a developer who lives on a self-steering sailboat in New Zealand; he created Scuttlebutt, a secure messaging system that can run without servers, even without ISPs. (more…)
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by Cory Doctorow on (#2JDT5)
How, you say, could Pepsi have been stupid enough to run a TV ad that trivialized the popular uprising against the official murder of black people by American law enforcement? The answer is obvious: They Live. (via JWZ)
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by Caroline Siede on (#2JDT7)
In her debut music video “Hijabi,†independent artist and Syrian-American Mona Haydar makes a powerful pro-women, anti-Islamophobia statement. You can read more about Haydar and her music video (which she filmed while eight months pregnant) in this Huffington Post interview.
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by Andrea James on (#2JDT9)
One of the most striking sights in some Australian cities is the white ibis, an exotic-looking large bird that has adapted to city life as a scavenger. Here's a hilarious spoof of nature documentaries. (more…)
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by Caroline Siede on (#2JDTB)
With HBO’s Girls coming to an end, Jimmy Kimmel Live! imagines a second act for its cast: As The Golden Girls.
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by Richard Kaufman on (#2JDPY)
There’s a difference between the human who thinks and the human who does not. This human is not thinking, even though he may feel affection toward the turtle … the snapping turtle. Amusing and pitiful photos follow. Via Rocket News.
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by Caroline Siede on (#2JDQ0)
Pepsi found itself in a lot of hot water this week for launching an advertising campaign that featured Kardashian-adjacent Kendall Jenner using the aesthetics of social activism as a way to hawk soda (you can see the full ad here and some of its takedowns here). But as YouTube user Max Paolucci accurately observed, the commercial actually works best as one of those cheesy Mentos commercials from the 1990s:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQuIvDphAAc
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by Caroline Siede on (#2JDQ2)
The folks at the Monterey Bay Aquarium have been streaming this live jellyfish tank footage since March. And its soothing music and peaceful underwater seascape make it the perfect relaxing background video. There's also a live shark cam for those who want a little more variety in their sea creature video feeds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKioaTlfxc8
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by Andrea James on (#2JDQ4)
Roman Robroek takes beautiful photos at abandoned sites all over Europe, including the thousands of abandoned churches across the continent as much of Europe becomes more secular. (more…)
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by Andrea James on (#2JDQ6)
Cows love to rub stuff with their faces and bodies, so lots of farms like the Hof Butenland Foundation install these rotating cow brushes. Rescue cow Paul is no exception. (more…)
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by Boing Boing's Store on (#2JDNV)
Just ask this guy! The G-BOOM Wireless Bluetooth Boombox delivers 10W of balanced sound in a package that was built to live on your shoulder. It's like the loudest, most in-tune mechanical parrot you've ever owned.Bluetooth audio has vastly simplified the search for the right sound system. Many people don’t have the need or the space for a full-sized stereo amplifier, and Bluetooth speakers offer unparalleled portability and excellent sound quality at an affordable price. But what many lack is the power to score the outdoors or a loud party.The G-BOOM delivers, however, with the sound quality of a home stereo in a device you can carry comfortably in one hand. It puts out crystal-clear sound at full volume, with its array of speakers that include two full-range woofers, a dedicated tweeter, and rear-firing bass ports.You can kick out the jams all day long, with 7 hours of continuous playback on a single charge, and rugged construction that can take a beating on the beach, at the park, or in a crowded apartment.Get the G-BOOM Wireless Bluetooth Boombox here in the Boing Boing Store.
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by Caroline Siede on (#2JDQ8)
In this delightful new video, Going In Style stars Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, and Alan Arkin offer up some details—and some banter—about their lives.
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by Andrea James on (#2JDQA)
Get a rabbit's-eye view of bun-bun num-nums as these impossibly cute baby rabbits go to town on apples and other treats. Scroll around to feel surrounded by bunnies, or petter yet, but on your compatible VR and become a bunny. (more…)
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by Cory Doctorow on (#2JDH6)
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by Xeni Jardin on (#2JCXJ)
You knew it was coming. Trump's first war. It ended up being Syria. (more…)
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by Rob Beschizza on (#2JCEP)
The Inuit carve portable, waterproof, floating maps out of driftwood for use in navigating the littoral.These three wooden maps show the journey from Sermiligaaq to Kangertittivatsiaq, on Greenland’s East Coast. The map to the right shows the islands along the coast, while the map in the middle shows the mainland and is read from one side of the block around to the other. The map to the left shows the peninsula between the Sermiligaaq and Kangertivartikajik fjords.From The Decolonial Atlas, an antidote to all the other ones: Kurdistan in Kurdish, Lakota Territory, Agricultural Maps.
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by Rob Beschizza on (#2JCER)
Just when you thought it was safe to deep dream, along comes Bob Ross and his happy little glitchoggoths. (more…)
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by Mark Frauenfelder on (#2JC1W)
At 7pm ET (4pm PT) tonight, I'm giving an Institute for the Future presentation at Cornell University's ILR (Institute for Workplace Studies) School titled, "The Maker Movement: Finding Meaning in Work." You can watch a livestream here.Frauenfelder, founding editor-in-chief of MAKE Magazine, research director at the Institute for the Future, and co-founder of Boing Boing, will talk about what Makerism means in the 21st century and why it is so necessary as we rethink the future of work, April 6, 2017 as part of the ILR School's Future of Work series.
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by Rob Beschizza on (#2JC0G)
Paavo Toivanen wrote code that generates uncannily human, but utterly meaningless and illegible writing. Toivanen's thoughts on generative art are worth reading.Generative art should ideally retain two disparate levels of perception: the material and visual qualities of a piece of art, and then a creation story or script and the intellectual journey that led to the end result.The creation story is what's missing in most generative art, especially when it's presented as a representation of nature.
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by Andrea James on (#2JBZF)
Roof skating has been around for a while, but this worthy entry from Colin Read has it all: near misses, night skating, and a couple of moments that will make you flinch. (more…)
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by Caroline Siede on (#2JBZH)
In this new article for New York magazine, activist and writer Brittany Packnett challenges white women to bring more nuance to the fight for equal pay. After all, although the most commonly cited statistic about equal pay is that women make 80 cents for every dollar a man makes, that statistic only applies to white women. Black women make 65 cents while Latina women make just 58 cents. And as Packnett points out, “Asian-American, Pacific Islander, and Native women are often not even considered ‘statistically significant’ enough to be calculated.†Packnett also writes:Just like the “all lives matter†choir, the “but all women†crowd tends to shout women with marginalized identities along the lines of race, sexuality, class, and physical ability back into silence. They were there in suffrage. They overwhelmed the Women’s March despite the planners’ intentions. They repeatedly ignored our pleas on November 8 that Trump was exponentially more dangerous to the rest of us. They love to tweet me platitudes about color-blindness. They insist this is in the name of unity, but it feels awfully like the spirit of supremacy. We will not end supremacy by perpetuating it. You cannot dismantle oppression while you practice it. When I hear “but all women,†I’m reminded that these women are willing to fight for their dollar but not mine. Ignoring labor cries for a livable $15 an hour reminds women of color — who proportionally out-populate white women in labor fields — that they don’t matter to the cause.As people of color, our earning power is certainly harmed and our gaps increased because a smaller share of our populations are college educated — which is, of course, not an argument against the statistical relevancy of the race question, but rather an argument for the importance of admissions and financial support for students of color. But even college-educated black and Latina women make, on average, 70 percent of what similarly educated white men make — while white women make an average of 80 percent against the same measure. Not “all women†— just us. This disparity is not just a failure of morality — it is a failure of efficacy. And a movement that leaves women of the global majority behind is not an effective movement.You can read the full article on New York’s website.[Header image: National Women's Law Center Equal Payback Project]
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by Richard Kaufman on (#2JBRV)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9x-DQBuervcIf you're old enough, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is one of the greatest records ever released. There are enough of us who can recite the lyrics to start a revolution. And just when you think things can't get any better, you realize that they're getting better all the time.In honor of the 50th anniversary of the release of the original Sgt. Pepper album, the Beatles have produced an enormously "wantable" six disc CD/Blu-Ray combination package with replicas of all the original paper inserts plus a whole lot more.That's all I've got: watch the video. It's $149 at Amazon, but I bet the price will drop before release on May 26th.More detailed information for the obsessed!CD 1: New Stereo RemixSgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club BandWith A Little Help From My FriendsLucy In The Sky With DiamondsGetting BetterFixing A HoleShe's Leaving HomeBeing For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite!Within You Without YouWhen I'm Sixty-FourLovely RitaGood Morning Good MorningSgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)A Day In The LifeCD 2: Sgt. Pepper SessionsStrawberry Fields Forever—Take 1Strawberry Fields Forever—Take 4Strawberry Fields Forever—Take 7Strawberry Fields Forever—Take 26Strawberry Fields Forever—Stereo/Giles Martin Mix 2015When I'm Sixty-FourPenny Lane—Take 6Penny Lane—Vocal Overdubs and SpeechPenny Lane—Stereo / Giles Martin Mix 2017A Day In The Lif e- Take 1A Day In The Life—Take 2A Day In The Life—Orchestra OverdubA Day In The Life—Hummed Last ChordA Day In The Life—The Last ChordSgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band—Take 1Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band—Take 9Good Morning Good Morning—Take 1Good Morning Good Morning—Take 8CD 3: Sgt. Pepper SessionsFixing A Hole—Take 1Fixing A Hole—Speech And Take 3Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite!Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite!—Take 7Lively Rita—Speech and Take 9Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds—Take 1 And SpeechLucy In The Sky With Diamonds—SpeechGetting Better—Take 1Getting Better—Take 12Within You Without You—Take 1Within You Without You—George Coaching The MusiciansShe's Leaving Home—Take 1She's Leaving Home—Take 6With A Little Help From My Friends—Take 1Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise) Speech and Take 8CD 4: Sgt. Pepper in MonoSgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club BandWith A Little Help From My FriendsLucy In The Sky With DiamondsGetting BetterFixing A HoleShe's Leaving HomeBeing For The Benefit Of Mr Kite!Within You Without YouWhen I'm Sixty FourLovely RitaGood Morning Good MorningSgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)A Day In The LifeBonus TracksStrawberry Fields ForeverPenny LaneA Day In The Live—First Mono MixLucy In The Sky With Diamonds—Original Mono MixShe's Leaving Home—First Mono MixPenny Lane—Capitol Records Mono MixDisc 5 (Blu-ray): Sgt. Pepper in 5.1 surround sound and hi-res stereoSgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club BandWith A Little Help From My FriendsLucy In The Sky With DiamondsGetting BetterFixing A HoleShe's Leaving HomeBeing For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite!Within You Without YouWhen I'm Sixty-FourLovely RitaGood Morning Good MorningSgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)A Day In The LifeStrawberry Fields ForeverPenny LaneThe Making Of Sgt. PepperA Day In The LifeStrawberry Fields ForeverPenny LaneMenu / The Beatles / Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club BandAudio Menu / The Beatles / Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club BandSgt. Pepper's Audio Menu / The Beatles / Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club BandStrawberry Field Forever/ Penny Lane Menu / The Beatles / Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club BandVideo Menu / The Beatles / Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club BandMaking of Chapter 1 Menu / The Beatles / Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club BandMaking of Chapter 2 Menu / The Beatles / Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club BandVideo Setup Menu / The Beatles / Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club BandDisc 6 (DVD): Sgt. Pepper in 5.1 surround sound and hi-res stereoSgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club BandWith A Little Help From My FriendsLucy In The Sky With DiamondsGetting BetterFixing A HoleShe's Leaving HomeBeing For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite!Within You Without YouWhen I'm Sixty-FourLovely RitaGood Morning Good MorningSgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)A Day In The LifeStrawberry Fields ForeverPenny LaneThe Making Of Sgt. PepperA Day In The LifeStrawberry Fields ForeverPenny LaneMenu / The Beatles / Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club BandAudio Menu / The Beatles / Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club BandSgt. Pepper's Audio Menu / The Beatles / Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club BandStrawberry Field Forever/ Penny Lane Menu / The Beatles / Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club BandVideo Menu / The Beatles / Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club BandMaking of Chapter 1 Menu / The Beatles / Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club BandMaking of Chapter 2 Menu / The Beatles / Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club BandVideo Setup Menu / The Beatles / Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band Via Super Deluxe Edition
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by David Pescovitz on (#2JBRW)
Evidence of cannibalism among past human species goes back almost one million years. But what made our ancestors eat each other? Probably not so much our nutritional value as it's sorely lacking, says University of Brighton archaeologist James Cole. From Erika Engelhaupt's article in National Geographic:“When you compare us to other animals, we’re not very nutritional at all,†says study author James Cole of the University of Brighton, who published his work Thursday in Scientific Reports.According to his estimates, boars and beavers pack about 1,800 calories into each pound of muscle compared with a measly 650 calories from a modern human. That’s about what would be expected based on our overall size and muscularity compared to other animals, he says.So, Cole asks, if humans aren’t especially valuable in terms of prey, why eat them? After all, unless they are sick or dying, they wouldn’t be easy to hunt.“You have to get together a hunting party and track these people, and then they aren’t just standing there waiting for you to stab them with a spear,†says Cole.Instead, Cole argues that perhaps not all ancient cannibalism was for filling bellies; it may have also served various social functions for early humans and their ancestors...“I agree with [Cole] that Paleolithic cannibalism was probably more often practiced as a ‘choice’ rather than mere ‘necessity,’†(says anthropologist Silvia Bello of the Natural History Museum in London). “I think, however, that to find the motivation of the choice is a very difficult matter.â€"Cannibalism Study Finds People Are Not That Nutritious"
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by Mark Frauenfelder on (#2JBQR)
https://youtu.be/K-KeTNU-odsLegendary insult comic Don Rickles died today at the age of 90.From the LA Times obit:Well into his 80s, Rickles continued to headline in top showrooms and concert halls around the country with his patented brand of insult humor aimed at everyone in his audiences from unknown “hockey pucks†to big-name celebrities.A Las Vegas Review-Journal reporter captured Rickles' act in 1998 at the Desert Inn when the “balding pit bull of a comedian†was 72.To the strains of a bullfight trumpet fanfare as the curtain rose and a spotlight was trained on center stage, Rickles unexpectedly burst through a side door and immediately began pelting his audience with insults as he made his way to the stage.“Sit up,†he said to one audience member.“Who picks out your clothes, Ray Charles?†he said to another.“Look at the old broad,†he said. “I'm workin' a home here!â€Image by Drew Friedman from his book, Old Jewish Comedians.
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by Cory Doctorow on (#2JBQT)
58% of 28,113 people surveyed eat ears first: "33% indicated that they had no starting point preference, and 4% indicated that they started with the tail or feet." (via Marginal Revolution) (Image: Card Karma, CC-BY)
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by Cory Doctorow on (#2JBPA)
Federico Musto is the new CEO of Arduino; he was one of the original five founders, and created a scandal when it was revealed that he'd secretly secured an Italian trademark on the name "Arduino," behind his partners' backs. (more…)
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by Jason Weisberger on (#2JBPC)
Organize your pens and pencils rather than poke holes in your pockets! (more…)
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by Mark Frauenfelder on (#2JBKN)
Humble Bundle has a good sale on Python books right now. For $1 or more, you get three No Starch Python ebooks. There are more books offered at the $8 and $15 level.
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by Mark Frauenfelder on (#2JBGS)
Colbert is in top form here. First he interviews a regional director of H&R block ("Tell me about the lifestyle"), then puts on a disguise and becomes an insane hoverboard-riding tax professional, Otto Sanchez.
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by Jason Weisberger on (#2JBGV)
I remember Hee Haw as being unwatchable. I didn't remember it as a Soviet caricature of the worst in American culture.
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by Mark Frauenfelder on (#2JBGX)
Intrigued by Mastodon, a new open-source alternative to Twitter that has fine-grained privacy controls. Sean Bonner took a closer look at Mastodon's currents pros and cons. This is the best article I've read about Mastodon.I’d assumed that upon joining I could tell people “I’m @seanbonner on Mastodon just like I’m @seanbonner on Twitter.†That turns out to be incorrect. I’m actually @seanbonner@mastodon.xyz and if I want to be @seanbonner@mastodon.social or @seanbonner@mastodon.cloud or any of the other instances then I have to create separate accounts on each of those, and there is no way to sync them. This also means that some other Sean Bonner can go sign up as @seanbonner@anothermastodon.instance and judging by how much email I get from other Sean Bonner’s who apply for jobs and join dating sites and register bank accounts without knowing what their own email address is, that is going to be a huge problem at any kind of scale. This is the biggest flaw in my opinion because without the ability to claim your identity across an entire service there is huge potential for confusion and no way to embrace it as a home.I'm frauenfelder at Mastodon.cloud. I'm enjoying it so far!Previously: Mastodon - like Twitter, without Nazis
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A startup wants to fill your house with projection-mapped effects, which are the cooolest thing ever
by Cory Doctorow on (#2JBGZ)
The most reliably impressive technology I've played with this decade is projection-mapping: using powerful LCD projectors to paint 3D surfaces with images tailored to map exactly over those surfaces, turning plaster and paint into stone, wood, or animated surfaces. (more…)
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by Jason Weisberger on (#2JBH1)
Florida. Dude decided to dance around naked in his driveway with a bottle of wine. Failed to stand his ground when cops arrived. Florida.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfCWokpI0BEVia the Orlando Sentinel: A Florida man is in trouble for enjoying a bottle of wine while standing naked in his driveway.The Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office says deputies were called to the home of Bobby Hyde, 60, on Sunday evening after a neighbor reported a naked man was hanging out in front of his house near Fort Walton Beach.“Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office deputies responding to a complaint of a naked man making lewd movements outside his home found him standing in the driveway with a bottle of wine nearby,†the Sheriff’s Office posted on its Facebook page. “There were no clothes in the immediate area,â€Hyde, who stepped behind a trash can when deputies arrived, told authorities he was just taking out the garbage. He also said it was it was “hot outside.â€(h/t Leo)
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by Cory Doctorow on (#2JBE2)
75% surveyed by Ipsos/Reuters said, "they would not let investigators tap into their Internet activity to help the U.S. combat domestic terrorism"(up from 67% in 2013). (more…)
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by Mark Frauenfelder on (#2JBE4)
The Knack was a terrific power pop band. The Chipmunks' cover of "Good Girls Don't" is interesting only as a curiosity.Here's a video I took of The Knack in 2008, two years before frontman Doug Fieger succumbed to cancer:https://youtu.be/gx7EK2nWNwA
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by Mark Frauenfelder on (#2JBE6)
I got the Fagor Stainless-Steel 3-in-1 6-Quart Multi-Cooker ($95 on Amazon) in 2013 and I use it 3-4 times a week. It's a combo pressure cooker/rice cooker/slow cooker. I don't use the slow cooker often, but I use the rice cooker and pressure cooker all the time. It makes fantastic chicken broth from a carcass in 20 minutes. Unlike most pressure cookers it has an electric browning feature, which lets you brown beef, fish, or chicken right in the pot before you pressure cook it, greatly improving the flavor.The throw-everything-in-the-pot-and-push-a-button approach has broadened my cooking horizons. I’ve made rib roast in the slow cooker that had my in-laws coming back for thirds. I’ve made mouth-watering chicken stuffed with sun-dried tomato pesto, basil and goat cheese in a matter of minutes. I’ve made salmon with spinach and lemon sauce, fennel and Italian sausage, creamy risotto, and spicy Bolognese sauce. Thanks to an online army of pressure-cooker devotees, I’ll never run out of recipes.The only negative thing about the Fagor is that the user interface doesn’t make it clear when it is cooking. A couple of times I’ve set the timer and forgotten to press the start button, only to find out twenty minutes later that it never started. I’ve learned not to do that.
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by Cory Doctorow on (#2JBE8)
It started with companies sneaking their own certificates into the devices you used so they could spy on you private communications, even those with HTTPS-based encryption. (more…)
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by David Pescovitz on (#2JBEA)
Jalopnik posted spy photos of a Tesla Model 3 that that is likely "damn near production-spec." It makes me miss my 1986 Honda Accord hatchback.(photos: Brian Williams/Spiedbilde/Jalopnik)
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by Mark Frauenfelder on (#2JBEC)
I like modern Mini Coopers, but whenever I see a one of the originals (like the one I saw in Japan a few weeks ago, below) I wish they would have made the new ones look exactly like the old ones. I suppose there's a bunch of safety regulations that make it difficult to build exact reproductions of old cars (I wouldn't want my kids driving the no-front-end 1971 VW camper van I drove in high school). But I should have known that there are companies making near-faithful replicas of classic cars. They cost a fortune, but they look great. Core77 has an article about this trend, titled, "Beyond Retro Design: People Want New Things That are Old, or Old Things That are New."https://youtu.be/0Xc0SX1YiaACore77 wishes that this trend could take off in the consumer products space, too.Snip:While these cars are obviously out-of-reach by folks of average income, I wouldn't mind seeing this new-old or old-new trend applied to other original designs in the consumer products space. For example, after writing the History of Braun Design series some years ago, I became so smitten with their 1962 Sixtant SM 31 electric razor that I had to have one.I tracked down and found one on the secondhand market that had been shipped from Italy. It's heavy and substantial, has an internal voltage converter so works on 110V and despite being over 50 years old it still works like it's brand-new. It's one of my favorite possessions. I paid $23 for it and I will keep it forever. The only thing I don't dig is that it still smells like some Italian dude's cologne. If I could have bought a remanufactured version, I totally would have.
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by David Pescovitz on (#2JBEE)
Bad Lip Reading, Mark Hamill, and Jessica DiCicco -- what's not to love. May the Farce be with you.
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