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by Mark Frauenfelder on (#2AG1P)
https://vimeo.com/192681460From Nervous System - The Infinity Puzzle.The infinity puzzles are a new type of jigsaw puzzle inspired by topological spaces that continuously tile. Because of that, they have no fixed shape, no starting point, and no edges. They can be assembled in thousands of different ways.
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| Updated | 2024-11-25 04:16 |
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by Cory Doctorow on (#2AFMQ)
The New Jersey DA's office just announced that it had arrested New York's Habib Chaudhry in connection with a $200M credit-card fraud; Mr Chaudhry joins 19 others who've pleaded guilty to the frauds. (more…)
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by David Pescovitz on (#2AFMS)
Yesterday, the Oregon Ducks' Dillon Brooks and Utah Utes' Sedrick Barefield slightly bumped one another while Barefield had the ball. Hoping for a call against Barefield, Brooks then launched himself into one of the greatest, fakest flops of all time.
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by Cory Doctorow on (#2AFFB)
Hamildemos is a an eight-track Soundcloud set posted this week by Lin-Manuel Miranda, with the rough tracks for some of the best tunes from Hamilton; as Kottke points out, these are a lot more hip hop and less showtunes than the finished tracks. I'm especially fond of The Story of Tonight. (more…)
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by Cory Doctorow on (#2AFD9)
A 2009 rule created by Obama in his first days in office says that former executives and lobbyists can't be hired to work for the government in a capacity that gives them oversight over their former employers; they must wait for two years after leaving such employment before working in a regulatory capacity that relates to it. (more…)
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by Cory Doctorow on (#2AF9Q)
Revolution Messaging's White House Inc is a tool that connects your phone to the main switchboard of a random Trump property somewhere in the world, because "Until Trump steps away from his businesses for real, their property is no different from the Oval Office." (more…)
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by Cory Doctorow on (#2AF81)
In 2016, French prosecutors have brought more cases for "solidarity crimes" -- offering shelter, food, and assistance to migrants, refugees and Roma people -- than were brought in all the years 2012-2015 combined, despite the promise of the Hollande regime to end such prosecutions. (more…)
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by Rob Beschizza on (#2ADDA)
The song is "Chicken Dance 1" by Siksika Ramblers; the full track is embedded after the jump. The original "dancing dog" footage appears to be of a caged Alsatian or Eurasier trying desperately to escape from Russian pop music. (more…)
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by Jason Weisberger on (#2AD9E)
When America was truly great we had truly great people on TV. Calvert DeForest was one of the best.Here's another clip:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ou0fZOdrqnw
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by Rob Trevino on (#2AD4D)
I can’t cook.A few years ago though, I had the semi-crushing revelation that it’s not that I don’t know much about cooking, it’s that I legitimately can’t cook. I’m terrible at it. No piece of chicken would go uncooked to a leathery dryness that couldn’t even be passed as “jerk.†No meat sauce could be made properly spiced, just prepared with the desperate hope that crushed red pepper and more tomato paste could cure anything. It was my wife that graciously brought me the knowledge that I wasn’t just not-so-great at cooking, but I legitimately cannot cook to save my life or the lives of whatever poor group I was cooking for. I thank her for coaxing out this revelation of myself (and for being an amazing cook). I do, however, like cartoons. And the good news is that Bob’s Burgers isn’t a show about cooking, it’s a show about family and it’s quickly grown into one of the best shows on TV. Bob’s Burgers treads an amazing line between strange and sweet, highlighting the ridiculous exploits of the Belcher clan, a family of oddballs who love each other and are continually misunderstood by the rest of the world while running a small, boardwalk burger shop. Over the past few seasons each character has been fleshed out into people more real than anything you’ll find on your average lawyer or cop show. And it’s a lot funnier than most episodes of NCIS.The show’s success has prompted a good sized following, and when one member of fandom created a Tumblr dedicated to creating or recreating the fanciful burgers listed in each episode as The Burger of the Day fans were naturally interested. The creators of the show were just as tickled and soon partnered with its creator to create this lovely book that’s perfect for any fans of the show or adventurous burgers in general. You only need to bring an appetite, some buns, and a very healthy love of puns.The book contains Cole Bowden’s recipes for dozens of burgers, lovingly written up by creator Loren Bouchard and the writers of the show and featuring side dishes of show art and jokey asides that any fan can enjoy. The recipes run the gamut from the more ordinary (like the “Is This Your Chard? Burger†with Swish chard, caramelized onions, and creamy cheese), to the fanciful (such as the “Beets of Burden Burger†which features a dill-seasoned burger topped with a sautéed carrot and beet mix with smooth sour cream).The recipes are fun to read and fun to make, even if my attempt to recreate the “Baby You Can Chive My Car Burger†looked more like a three car pileup than something anyone would like to eat. But that’s not the book’s fault; like Bob one must be willing to try and try again, no matter how much humiliation the Louises, Genes, Lindas, and Tinas in your life may pile upon you, like so much Sriracha mayonnaise. So next spring I’m prepared to break out the grill and spatula again and give it another go with this delightful cookbook, which I think would make a great addition to any cook’s library. The book is fun enough to read on its own, but it also may help some of us even attain the skills that only the Bob's in each of our lives have (both on the grill and in the ability to put up with a pretty crazy family and town).So in conclusion, I’ll leave you with a bit of wisdom from the book itself that may help you along your culinary path: “Don’t have a fishmonger? Get one. Who are you going to trust to mong your fish if not a fishmonger.†Truly words that I and anyone who’s ever dressed up like a burger or written a song about zombie butts can live by.See sample pages from this book at Wink.The Bob's Burgers Burger Book: Real Recipes for Joke Burgers by Loren Bouchard and the Writers of Bob’s BurgersUniverse2016, 128 pages, 6.6 x 0.6 x 9.1 inches, Hardcover$13 Buy one on Amazon
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by Jason Weisberger on (#2AD1Z)
In an outrageous interview with the New York Times, Steve Bannon declared the press an "opposition party" and suggests it "keep its mouth shut." Talking Points Memo shares the highlights:Steve Bannon, the Breitbart News-chairman-turned-White-House-chief-strategist, said in a Wednesday interview that the media "is the opposition party" for President Trump and should "keep its mouth shut."“The media should be embarrassed and humiliated and keep its mouth shut and just listen for awhile,†he said in an interview with the New York Times.“I want you to quote this,†he said. “The media here is the opposition party. They don’t understand this country."Bannon railed against "the elite media," whose failure to predict Trump's election he called "a humiliating defeat that they will never wash away." He told the Times that no "mainstream media" journalists who reported on Trump's campaign were "fired or terminated," apparently suggesting that they should have been, and decried them as "outright activists of the Clinton campaign."He did not name any specific members of the press in that diatribe, according to the report.Bannon also dismissed questions about White House press secretary Sean Spicer's contentious relationship with the press. The Times noted Bannon initiated a phone call in order to talk up Spicer."Are you kidding me?" he told the Times. "We think that’s a badge of honor."He singled out the Washington Post and New York Times as examples of the media outlets he said missed the Trump phenomenon, and said that the New York Times in particular should be "absolutely ashamed and humiliated" for its coverage of Trump's candidacy.Despite all that vitriol, Bannon told the newspaper he has read the New York Times for most of his adult life.
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by Mark Frauenfelder on (#2AD0M)
For the last 10 years, I have purchased eyeglasses online for a fraction of the price I'd have to pay at a brick-and-mortar store. I always get the same Ray-Ban Wayfarer knock-offs (above) at Optical 4 Less. They cost $29 and shipping is free when I buy two or more. There are many other online eyeglass stores, so shop around.Today, Lifehacker has a good article on what you need to know before buying glasses online.Pupillary distance is the distance, in millimeters, between the centers of the pupils of both eyes. It’s a crucial measurement because your lenses need to be centered on your pupils. If they aren’t, the glasses will likely cause eyestrain and make it hard for you to focus.Your pupillary distance may be written on your prescription. If not, you can typically call whomever prescribed your glasses and ask, or simply go to your local optician’s office and see if you can get a measurement there. There may be a fee for measuring, but it isn’t likely to break the bank. You can also find plenty of online tutorials on doing this yourself, or your favorite online retailer may offer its own method for finding your PD. Warby Parker, for example, lets you submit a photo that its staff will examine to determine your proper PD.
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by Mark Frauenfelder on (#2ACXP)
Ayelet Waldman is a novelist, non fiction author, and former federal public defender. Her latest book is called A Really Good Day: How Microdosing Made a Mega Difference in My Mood, My Marriage, and My Life. I interviewed her this morning.Why did you start microdosing?I started microdosing because I was profoundly and dangerously depressed. I have a mood disorder and for many, many years my medication worked great. I took it, I did what my doctor told me and everything was fine. But at some point my medication stopped working. I tried all sorts of different things. And nothing helped. I was getting worse and worse and more and more full of despair and more and more full of rage and more and more unstable and I became suicidal. I started doing things like googling the effects of maternal suicide on children and I was so terrified that I was going to do something to myself, that I was going to hurt myself, that I decided to do something drastic and something that some people might think is crazy -- I decided to try microdosing with L.S.D.Did it work?Oh absolutely. It worked for sure. It's sub-perceptual. In fact, if I told you right now, "Hey Mark, I slipped a microdose of LSD. in your coffee," you wouldn't even know the difference. The effect for me was instantaneous. My depression lifted right away. The book is called A Really Good Day because at the end of that very first day, I looked back and I thought, "that was a really good day." It wasn't like everything was perfect. It wasn't like I was happiness and sunshine. I was still me, I was still cynical, I was still occasionally irritable, I would still sometimes make rash decisions, but I was stable and I was experiencing the kind of contentment and stability that people without mood disorders feel, and that really was quite nearly instantaneous.My wife and I fought each other over who got to read your book at night. We just tore through it. One thing I noticed was that as time went on, on the days you microdosed, it became a little tougher for you to deal with the physical sensations.Yeah, I got a little more irritable. I think if I were to continue I would probably take a smaller dose, maybe a five microgram dose every other day, rather than ten micrograms [every three days], because it made me a tiny bit irritable. Nothing like the way I was before I was using it, when I would fly off the handle and send rage-filled tweets and that kind of thing, but it definitely made me a little irritable, a little grumpy, a little agitated sometimes. Once I even told a physical therapist who was treating my frozen shoulder that I was microdosing. That was an impulse control moment. So there's definitely that side effect. The best day is the second day, the first day after you microdose. The protocol that Jim Fadiman, who kind of popularized microdosing, came up with is you dose one day, you don't dose for two days, and then you dose the fourth day. The second day is the day that I (and most people) felt the most positive results. There was less irritability and there was more equilibrium -- equilibrium, Mark, that's what I experienced that was so glorious. After your 30 day experiment, your supply of LSD was used up and you stopped. Did you look into continuing using something like morning glory seeds or Hawaiian baby woodrose seeds that contain psychedelics similar to LSD but aren't Schedule 1 substances? I'm not real chemist by nature. I'm not an experimenter by inclination, though I realize that I did try this experiment. So I'm not really comfortable trying things like that because I don't know what the effects are. I think that if I sink into that kind of depression I'll be willing to try anything, including those things. I'm hoping that we have a dramatic change in the law. My hopes for that are somewhat less than they were before November 8. But I think that as microdosing becomes more popular, and people start experimenting with those kinds of legal substances, then I might feel comfortable trying them.You know, anytime people come up with a medication regimen or a drug regimen that makes him feel better, the government tends to quickly criminalize it. So don't say "morning glory" too many times or the next thing you'll know you'll find it on Schedule 1.Yes, and you're speaking as a former federal public defender.And as someone who taught a class for seven years at the University of California Law School on the legal and social implications of the War on Drugs, and I was a consultant for the Drug Policy Alliance so when it comes to drug policy and drug law I know my stuff.You also did a great job sharing anecdotes about drug policy and harm reduction in your book. One of the most infuriating and heartbreaking anecdotes you included was about defending a woman who'd been entrapped by a Drug Enforcement Administration informant.This was a mother who never committed a crime in her life. She thought she had fallen in love with someone, and he was this vicious, vile person. He had been found not guilty by reason of insanity for the attempted murder of his wife. He'd escaped from prison. He became a CIA informant in Central America afterwards, and then the DEA hired him. He had stolen money from the DEA and failed a lie detector test. So they shifted him over to work in a different jurisdiction and that was the person who was busily setting up first time offenders. It was madness.The institutional sociopathy of the DEA and the CIA is really horrible and it makes me wish that, especially where we are right now, that you'd go back to being a federal public defender. We need people like you.A few months ago I thought, "What am I going to do next? Maybe I'll write a nice light hearted novel about something." Now I realize that what I'm going to do next is a book that is more policy focused. I think that the times call out for social activism, and I'm really glad that I have this book out now because this book isn't just about an experiment with LSD. It's about the drug war and the racist underpinnings of the drug war. And about the history of psychedelic drugs and other drugs and the problems with mass incarceration and the neurochemistry of psychedelics. It is a kind of social activism, and I feel like that's where we all need to spend our time in any way that we can, especially those of us who come from a place of privilege. An African-American who lives in Detroit and who is suffering the way I was suffering wouldn't be able to write this book and be so public because the risks to him would be so great. So people like me who benefit from white privilege have an obligation to use that privilege to help others, and that's what I'm trying to do.Image of LSD Blotters: Wikipedia
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by Cory Doctorow on (#2ACHK)
Nebraska is one of five states considering Right to Repair laws that would require companies to provide manuals and parts so that people could fix their own stuff, or get their stuff fixed by independent service centers, and the lobby groups for ATVs and motorcycles are pissed. (more…)
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by Cory Doctorow on (#2ACDJ)
Harvard has the world's largest university endowment, $35.7B, so much money that Thomas Piketty used its public investment records as a proxy for the likely investment returns of the super-rich in his Capital in the 21st Century. (more…)
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by David Pescovitz on (#2AC9S)
Sebastian C. Adams's Synchronological Chart from the late 19th century presents 5,885 years of history (4004 BCE - 1881 AD) on a magnificent 27 inch x 23 foot illustrated and annotated timeline. What a stunner. You can zoom and pan through the whole thing at the David Rumsey Map Collection or order a scaled-down print.According to the book Cartographies of Time: History of the Timeline, the Synchronological Chart "was ninetheenth-century America's surpassing achievement in complexity and synthetic power."(via Clifford Pickover)
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by Cory Doctorow on (#2AC7Y)
François Fillon is the French Republican Party's political candidate, the right-wing frontrunner against the neofascist Marine Le Pen. Following an investigation by the Canard Enchainé newspaper, French government investigators have announced an investigation into the period in the late 1990s and early 2000s when his British-born wife Penelope drew a salary of €7,000/month as his parliamentary aide; the newspaper alleged that Ms Fillon was not actually working in Parliament at that time and drew her salary for a "fake job." (more…)
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by Cory Doctorow on (#2AC5V)
Chuck Schumer is meant to be the leader of the Democratic resistance in the Senate, but he's inaugurated that role by meekly accepting Trump's nominees for CIA Director (avowed torturer Mike Pompeo); Secretary of Defense (General James Mattis, in an office that is required to be held by a civilian); and Secretary of Homeland Security (General John Kelly, who equates questioning any US war with disparaging the soldiers who serve in it). (more…)
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by Jason Weisberger on (#2AC5X)
Who trusts scientists anyways?Via the Washington Post:It's now 2 ½ minutes to “midnight,†according to the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, which warned Thursday that the end of humanity may be near.The group behind the famed Doomsday Clock announced at a news conference that it was adjusting the countdown to the End of it All by moving the hands 30 seconds closer to midnight — the closest the clock has been to Doomsday since 1953, after the United States tested its first thermonuclear device, followed months later by the Soviet Union's hydrogen bomb test.In announcing that the Doomsday Clock was moving 30 seconds closer to the end of humanity, the group noted that in 2016, “the global security landscape darkened as the international community failed to come effectively to grips with humanity’s most pressing existential threats, nuclear weapons and climate change.â€But the organization also cited the election of President Trump in changing the symbolic clock.“Making matters worse, the United States now has a president who has promised to impede progress on both of those fronts,†theoretical physicist Lawrence M. Krauss and retired Navy Rear Adm. David Titley wrote in a New York Times op-ed on behalf of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. “Never before has the Bulletin decided to advance the clock largely because of the statements of a single person. But when that person is the new president of the United States, his words matter.â€
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by David Pescovitz on (#2AC2X)
This is Keon the Irish wolfhound from Westerlo, Belgium who broke the Guinness World Record for the longest on a dog. Keon's tail is 76.8 cm (30.2") long, beating the previous record-holder also a wolfhound, by 4.5 cm (1.7"). (Guinness World Records)
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by Mark Frauenfelder on (#2ABTJ)
On Wednesday, all of the senior managers of the US State Department quit en masse. The Washington Post reports that it's "part of an ongoing mass exodus of senior foreign service officers who don’t want to stick around for the Trump era."“It’s the single biggest simultaneous departure of institutional memory that anyone can remember, and that’s incredibly difficult to replicate,†said David Wade, who served as State Department chief of staff under Secretary of State John Kerry. “Department expertise in security, management, administrative and consular positions in particular are very difficult to replicate and particularly difficult to find in the private sector.â€I'm sure the vacant positions will be filled by competent replacements.Image: Wikipedia/AgnosticPreachersKid
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by David Pescovitz on (#2ABRJ)
If I don't laugh, I'll cry. (Brandon Smith)
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by Cory Doctorow on (#2ABF9)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYQnnhVZMvEMistablik is an American high-school student who put his mind to finding alternate uses for the lockers that lined his school's hallways -- lockers that sit empty as students switch over to electronic textbooks -- and decided to build a tiny, secure, Arduino-based vending machine that would sell soda to his fellow students. (more…)
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by Cory Doctorow on (#2ABDG)
Obama's policy of allowing border agents to demand foreigners' social media accounts at border crossing has been expanded under Trump; now, people are being illegally profiled based on their religious affiliation and made to hand over their social media logins for data-mining and algorithmic suspicion-generation when they return home to the USA. (more…)
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by Rob Beschizza on (#2ABAX)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HP62Yk-YJVcOr perhaps he finally got his emacs the way he likes it. [via]
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by Cory Doctorow on (#2ABAZ)
The Belgian Parliament has voted to continue its decades-long practice of supplying free booze to lawmakers, despite several incidents of unpleasant, drunken behavior, because the alternative is going back to having to drag elected officials out of the local bars when it's time to vote. (more…)
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by Rob Beschizza on (#2AB6R)
This brief edit of last year's wonderful Gokchin sansei Cute Caique Parrot Bird Silly Walk, embedded below in full, is doing well on Twitter today.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYJB0zyjt70
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by Rob Beschizza on (#2AB6T)
He's fine. Fine and damnned lucky: "Turns out I am afraid of heights."Skier Devin Stratton managed to ski himself off of an unmarked 150-foot cliff last week in the backcountry of the Wasatch Range in Utah, and escaped without so much as a bruise.Stratton was capturing his run using a GoPro attached to his helmet, giving the world a first person POV of what it looks like when you accidentally find yourself skiing off a cliff. According to an interview with the Washington Post, he rarely wears the camera, but for some reason he flipped it on for this run. In the clip, Stratton can be seen hitting fresh powder with some nearby runs. A few ski trails in the snow lead to a small hill, but Stratton doesn't notice that they stop before it's too late and he's going over.Stratton turns his body as he's falling and manages to land on his back. According to the Post, Stratton credits the two feet of fresh powder and his packed backpack for cushioning his fall.
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by Caroline Siede on (#2AB50)
By Megan Nicole Dong of the blog Sharky Malarkey.
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by Andrea James on (#2AAS8)
If you're feeling demoralized by the assault on our environment under the current administration, you might find inspiration in the PBS profile of environmentalist Rachel Carson. (more…)
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by David Pescovitz on (#2A8VE)
Boeing revealed its new sleek and chic spacesuit designed for astronauts aboard the Boeing/Bigelow CST-100 Starliner spacecraft. Launched on Atlas V rockets the Starliner capsule will shuttle commercial crew members to and from the International Space Station and other low-Earth orbit locales. From Boeing:The Starliner spacesuit provides greater pressurized mobility and is about 40 percent lighter than previous suits. Its innovative layers will keep astronauts cooler as well. The touchscreen-friendly gloves allow astronauts to interact with the capsule’s tablets while the boots are breathable and slip resistant. Zippers in the torso area will make it easier for astronauts to comfortably transition from sitting to standing. In addition to protecting astronauts during launch and the return to Earth, the suit also helps connect astronauts to ground and space crews through the communications headset within the helmet. The suit’s hood-like soft helmet sports a wide polycarbonate visor to give Starliner passengers better peripheral vision throughout their ride to and from space.Video from Boeing:https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=l7tyJGC0n4MPhoto from Boeing:Photo from NASA/Cory Huston:
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by Andrea James on (#2A8N4)
Indian conservation group Wildlife SOS has a team of knitters that could put your grandma's afghan-making skills to shame. They create these colorful knitted sweaters for elephants in their care. (more…)
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by Futility Closet on (#2A8MQ)
In this week's episode of the Futility Closet podcast we'll tell two stories about people who spent years confined in miserably small spaces. North Carolina slave Harriet Jacobs spent seven years hiding in a narrow space under her grandmother's roof, evading her abusive owner, and Irishman Patrick Fowler spent most of World War I hiding in the cabinet of a sympathetic family in German-occupied France.We'll also subdivide Scotland and puzzle over a ballerina's silent reception.Show notesPlease support us on Patreon!
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by Peter Sheridan on (#2A8AS)
What does it take to be a tabloid reporter?Bare minimum requirements demand a Harvard medical degree, five years of psychic training, and a mandatory year spent working at an "I Guess Your Weight' midway booth at Coney Island.It's this impressive level of training that allows this week's tabloids to bring their impressive diagnostic powers to bear on the burning issues of the day: how much do Angelina Jolie and Bill Clinton weigh?"Dying Angie" is a sylph-like "76 lbs" - way down from the 87 lbs the tabloids put her at a few weeks ago - and on "hunger strike" after "divorce pushed her to breaking point!" claims the grammatically-challenged 'National Enquirer.'"Skeletal and near death, Angelina Jolie could survive only by having liquid food suctioned through her nose - and then stuffed down to her stomach," it reports. A mere layman might assume she could just pick up a fork and eat something, but the medically-trained experts at the 'Enquirer' know when force-feeding a liquid diet is a patient's only hope.Apparently in years past Angie would sometimes leave food untouched outside her bedroom door, and now "if she's really skinny, she must be doing it again," says a source. Must she? Who is that informed insider? It's "a source close to Brad's longtime psychic," the 'Enquirer' reveals. That's what qualifies as an unimpeachable source: someone acquainted with Jolie's estranged husband's psychic? Perhaps that's who's been telling President Trump that attendance at his inauguration broke all crowd records? It would certainly explain a lot.The 'Enquirer' accompanies its story with a series of photographs showing Jolie's "catastrophic collapse," allegedly falling to the ground. Except the images depict no such thing. On the set of her latest movie, she is shown waving her arms and leaning back dramatically while maintaining perfect balance - but she never hits the floor, because the photographer would have those images; they simply don't exist. Jolie is clearly demonstrating a move, not collapsing.It's akin to the 'Globe' headline: "Frail Betty White Collapses on 95th Birthday!" accompanied by a photograph of the actress seeming to trip momentarily and stumble a couple of inches before she regained her poise. But that's what qualifies as a "collapse" in the tabloid world these days.The 'Globe' team of medical reporters grab the cover story with Bill Clinton's "shocking 41 lb weight loss," claiming that the former president is "ravaged by Cancer & Alzheimer's," has "No Hope!" and that "Docs Give Him 7 months To Live." So much expert inside information! How do they know Clinton has lost 41 lbs, and not a mere 40 lbs? Clearly they have a remote monitoring device planted inside his bathroom scales. Cancer and Alzheimer's? Clinton has no doubt given his physicians permission to ignore patient confidentiality and talk freely to the tabloids. Seven months to live? You can take that to the bank. Years of medical reporting expertise ensure 100 per cent accuracy in their longevity predictions. Okay, so Nick Nolte was given "four weeks to live" by the tabloids back in June last year, but he's obviously not reading the tabloids closely enough, or he'd be dead by now.Forget "alternative facts." This week's tabloids shoot for an entire alternate universe.After years of compiling lists of stars enduring their "Sad Last Days," the 'National Examiner' this week devotes its cover to a host of stars "Too Tough To Die!" Apparently promised immortal life everlasting are Clint Eastwood, Julie Andrews, Kirk Douglas, Sophia Loren, Sean Connery, Valerie Harper and Willie Nelson. Plus there's the exciting news of a "Medical Miracle: New Pill Reverses Old Age!" I'm beginning to suspect that the median age of 'Examiner' readers is 95. Of course, there isn't an anti-aging pill, or injection, or any form of therapy yet - just experimentation into removing senescent cells which are associated with the diseases of aging such as heart conditions and eye problems, which even if successful won't make anyone live longer, only healthier. It's fascinating research, but so far hasn't progressed beyond some sprightly-looking mice.Among this week's plethora of alternative facts: George Clooney and wife Amal are "having a baby"' and Prince Harry has dumped girlfriend Meghan Markle, according to the 'Globe,' while the 'Enquirer' informs us that Kim Kardashian's stolen jewels are "funding terrorists" and Susan Sarandon's "Chipmunk Cheeks" are "clear evidence of plastic surgery." Expect Sean Spicer to soon be insisting on the veracity of all these stories from the podium of the White House press briefing room.After more than a year of flagrantly biased Trump-loving coverage in the tabloids, it's refreshing to finally see the 'Enquirer' cover this week promise to expose "Trump's top 7 advisers: What They'e Hiding!" Oh my! What scandals and horrors are Trump's inner circle keeping from us? The revelations are truly shocking: KellyAnne Conway "graduated magna cum laude with a degree in political science from Trinity College," Rex Tillerson is "a world-class player and deal-maker," national security adviser Michael T Flynn "served in Iraq and Afghanistan," Jared Kushner "proved his bones when he took over his father's New York real estate firm at just 27," and Stephen K Bannon is "a Harvard Business School graduate." It's about time that the public knew these ugly secrets. Thanks, 'National Enquirer,' Watchdog of the People. While exposing the darkest secrets of Trump's "outstanding team," the 'Enquirer' runs a photograph of the president's inner circle in the Oval Office, and takes the liberty of Photoshopping a framed photo of a smiling Trump onto the White House wall, between oil paintings of Abraham Lincoln and classic landscapes. It's a nice touch, producing an alternate reality in a way that would make our new Commander in Chief proud.Fortunately we have the crack investigative reporting team at 'Us' magazine to tell us that Olivia Culpo wore it best, that Milla Jovovich carries lipstick, makeup and fresh apples in her white leather Prada purse, and that the stars are just like us: they buy fruit, eat frozen yogurt, and haul furniture. Revelatory, as always.'Us' mag devotes its cover story to "The First Family," referring not to Adam and Eve, but to the Trump clan, bringing us four pages of old childhood photos and such insights as a friend assuring that Tiffany Trump "is a wonderful and kind person," that Donald Jr "partied 'pretty hard' at the University of Pennsylvania," and that President Trump "wasn't really interested in the children until he could talk business with them." What a great dad, an inspiration to fathers everywhere.People magazine exhumes actress Katherine Heigl from the "Where Are They Now?" file and puts her on its cover with an exclusive story on her "New Baby, New Life." It's her third child, so one can only imagine what a huge life-changing experience that must be, after living with just two children for all those years.In this alternate universe of alternative facts, at least some facts are indisputable, like the 'Examiner' report that Bigfoot has been sighted repeatedly in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Bigfoot, also known to his close friends as Sasquatch, was seen walking upright by the legendary beast's long-time hunter Shawn Mullins, who saw four of the creatures gathered together. Says Mullins: "I've told some people and they think I'm nuts," No! Say it ain't so. What's the world coming to when a man can't tell the world what he's seen with his own eyes - like the biggest inauguration crowd ever on Washington D.C.'s National Mall - without being called a liar?Onwards and downwards . . .
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by David Pescovitz on (#2A848)
Atlas Survival Shelters sells huge corrugated pipe shelters outfitted for living with air filtration systems, Co2 scrubbers, and power generators. A 10' x 20' shelter goes for $30-$40,000 and the "Hillside Retreat," a 10' x 51', runs as high as $109,000. Options include a big screen TV, electric fireplace, oak flooring, hatch camouflaged as a boulder, and many other fine amenities. From their pitch:The only bunkers manufactured today that has actually been tested against the effects of a nuclear bomb and has passed, is the round corrugated pipe shelters (used in the 1950s) by the U.S. Army Corps of Enginneers..The round shape worked then and still works today! There is little difference between the bunkers made 50 years ago and the bunkers made today except the addition of modern interiors, NBC air filtration systems, Co2 scrubbers, generators, and high-tech electronics. There is no other shape other then round that will allow you to reach the depth underground that you need for maximum protection for your family and to allow the climate to be controlled underground."Beware the Square". No pre-manufactured square metal bunkers passed the nuclear test and should only be regarded as a fallout shelter or tornado shelter at best! Atlas Survival Shelters (via Uncrate)
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by Xeni Jardin on (#2A83Q)
“How will you make it on your own?,†the theme song asked a “girl,†played by Mary Tyler Moore. “This world is awfully big.†She made it, after all. "Today, beloved icon, Mary Tyler Moore, passed away at the age of 80 in the company of friends and her loving husband of over 33 years, Dr. S. Robert Levine," her rep said in a statement. (more…)
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by Mark Frauenfelder on (#2A83T)
Larry Scheckel was a high school physics and aerospace teacher for almost 40 years, and he wrote a book called Ask a Science Teacher: 250 Answers to Questions You’ve Always Had About How Everyday Stuff Really Works that answers common questions on a wide range of topics. Why are we attracted to unhealthy foods? How does your heart pump? Why is chickenpox so much worse for adults than it is for kids? What is the lowest temperature known in nature? How does the moon affect the ocean tides? Why can't we create a perpetual motion device? Why don't school buses have seatbelts? What is quantum physics? Who or what built Stonehenge?The answers (they are 1-3 pages long) are clearly written, and filled with fun insights and anecdotes. This is a fantastic book for a curious kid or an adult such as myself who likes to learn how the world works.
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by David Pescovitz on (#2A7TJ)
'Bad Lip Reading: Inauguration Day.' (more…)
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by David Pescovitz on (#2A7JH)
There are certain languages that don't differentiate between the present and the future. Estonian is the classic example of a "futureless tongue." According to new research by Efrén O. Pérez, co-director of Vanderbilt University's Research on Individuals, Politics & Society Lab and Margit Tavits, professor of political science at Washington University, language has a sizable impact on how we think about future-oriented policies. As William S. Burroughs said, language is a virus. From their scientific paper in the American Journal of Political Science:Can the way we speak affect the way we perceive time and think about politics? Languages vary by how much they require speakers to grammatically encode temporal differences. Futureless tongues (e.g., Estonian) do not oblige speakers to distinguish between the present and future tense, whereas futured tongues do (e.g., Russian). By grammatically conflating “today†and “tomorrow,†we hypothesize that speakers of futureless tongues will view the future as temporally closer to the present, causing them to discount the future less and support future-oriented policies more. Using an original survey experiment that randomly assigned the interview language to Estonian/Russian bilinguals, we find support for this proposition and document the absence of this language effect when a policy has no obvious time referent. We then replicate and extend our principal result through a cross-national analysis of survey data. Our results imply that language may have significant consequences for mass opinion.
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by Cory Doctorow on (#2A7C6)
Charlie from Open Rights Group writes, "'I have made it clear in my campaign that I would support and endorse the use of enhanced interrogation techniques.' - Donald Trump, 15/2/2016." (more…)
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by Cory Doctorow on (#2A72J)
A bill that demotes domestic violence to a civic offense has passed Russia's lower parliamentary chamber, the Duma. (more…)
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by Cory Doctorow on (#2A6V2)
Lead pipes have a lifespan of about 75 years -- and America's lead pipe are about 75 years old. 3,000 American municipalities have 1.2m miles of lead pipe, and it's all overdue for replacement, but there's no plan in hand to do so, and any workable plan will cost about $1 trillion to execute. (more…)
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by Cory Doctorow on (#2A6V4)
"Nearly a dozen" White House staffers have told Washington Post reporters that Trump was "demoralized" by press reports that showed a poor turnout for his inauguration and a much larger turnout for the Women's March the next day, and overruled his advisors and aides' advice to let it go -- instead, he ordered press secretary Sean Spicer to tell a series of easily falsifiable lies to the media that misrepresented the turnout for the inauguration. (more…)
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by Caroline Siede on (#2A6Q9)
Comedian and former Daily Show correspondent Jessica Williams took to the stage during the Women's March at Sundance to share a story about her mother and celebrate black womanhood.[via Mic]
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by Rob Beschizza on (#2A6N2)
Due to infrequent but insistent requests for my unpleasant Photoshops of various politicians, I'm putting as many of them as I can remember here in one place. Sweet dreams! I'd make a calendar but the licensing fees involved would necessitate crowdfunding it, which sounds like hard work.There are a couple of extras here not seen before, such as Donald McNugget; and I likely missed a few too. (more…)
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by Cory Doctorow on (#2A6MJ)
Twitter is a great place for bots. Botherders like Shardcore produce amazing, politics, artistic bots that mine Twitter, inject useful information into Twitter, or just frolic on Twitter, making it a better place. Twitterbots produce entries in imaginary grimoires, conduct sociological research, produce virtual model railroads, alert the public when governments try to make bad news disappear, and much, much more. (more…)
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by Boing Boing's Store on (#2A6J9)
White hat hackers are a critical asset to information security, which is at extremely high risk in this day and age. Remember Target? Remember the DNC email hack? By discovering vulnerabilities in computer systems before nefarious actors can gain access, ethical hackers help protect private data and keep software safe for users. To enter this increasingly essential field, pick up this Pay What You Want White Hat Hacker Bundle.With just these online courses, I was able to get up to speed with the latest security practices. You'll familiarize yourself with network infrastructure to understand how secure systems are built and maintained. Mitigate common web threats by adopting safer coding techniques and get an overview of common attack strategies. Even put yourself in the shoes of attackers by hacking WiFi networks and building an Android Trojan virus.Through this wide overview of security skills, I worked towards becoming a Certified Information Systems Security Professional. The best part is that it's incredibly affordable. I highly suggest you name your price to get a great deal on this White Hat Hacker bundle.Explore other Best-Sellers on our network:CodingLearn to Code 2017 Bundle (Pay What You Want)Project ManagementUltimate PM Certification ($69)Music + EntertainmentBrain.fm: 3-Year Subscription ($29)Cord-CuttingGhost Indoor HDTV Antenna (57% off)
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by Andrea James on (#2A6JD)
After dismissing civil rights icon John Lewis as "all talk," Donald Trump catapulted Lewis' March trilogy comic on the civil rights movement back to the best-seller charts, where it has stayed all month. This week, it won four American Library Association Awards. (more…)
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by Rob Beschizza on (#2A6G9)
Who would win in a fight between a turtle-sized turtle and a dozen cow-sized-cows? [via r/funny.]
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by Caroline Siede on (#2A6JF)
This video from Verso Books author LA Kauffman breaks down the basics of direct action.
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