The apogee of Simpsonwave, by KingChritty in 2017: Thoughts,attitude,train,-Simpsons. The track is "trains.", by altitude. Read the rest

A fire raged for hours Tuesday at the NuStar storage silo farm by the Phillips 66 refinery between Oakland and Vallejo, Ca. There's an archived live feed from KRCA showing two of the silos burning; the embedded YouTube video shows the second silo exploding. (Jump to 1:15 and tilt head 90 degrees left). Speculation is that a minor earthquake triggered the blaze. Read the rest

We're going back out there, but it's dangerous out there and y'all better know it.Space travel is hard and unforgiving, but we have never been more ready to meet the unknown. Team members from NASA’s #Artemis program share the risks and rewards of this next era of exploration. Artemis will push the boundaries of human exploration and send the first woman and next man to the Moon by 2024, preparing for missions to Mars and beyond.SO. How about an awesome new space suit for exploring the polar south pole?At NASA Headquarters on Oct. 15, 2019, Administrator Jim Bridenstine introduced the Exploration Extravehicular Mobility Unit (xEMU) and Orion Crew Survival System suit which will be will be worn by first woman and next man as they explore the Moon as part of the #Artemis program. Read the rest

Extra-horny spiders is yet-another unexpected consequence of climate change. The warmer-than-usual weather has prolonged the male tarantula's annual mass booty crawl—and, by extension, their lives.The typical mating season for male tarantulas in the Bay Area runs from August to early October. They reach that tender age of 4-7 years old, molt their hairy husks for a shiny new shell (including a fresh set of "nuptial hooks"), then head out on the prowl, do the humpty dance, and die. "They’re not returning home," Cameron Morrison, supervising state park peace officer for Mount Diablo State Park, told ABC. Mount Diablo is home to a large tarantula population, and a popular tourist destination who are really into sexy tarantula voyeurism. "That’s their final voyage, basically."Government officials have been warning the public about the possibly-jarring sight of thousands of tarantulas searching for a mate. But not because they're dangerous to humans; in fact, it's the other way around. Although their bites do sting—they are quite large, after all—their poison is harmless to humans, and they're only really likely to bite if they feel threatened. "Hollywood and the media have made tarantulas seem monstrous, so to many people these slow-moving spiders appear ominous and threatening," explains the Mount Diablo State Park website. Nothing is farther from the truth; they are truly one of the gentle giants of the animal world."So if you see 'em, leave 'em alone while they get it on. Consider it a Halloween blessing. View this post on Instagram Bay Area Blonde Tarantula - As I was going for my DSLR shots... Read the rest

Get ready for the stream of your dreams, binge-watchers. There's a contest afoot, and at stake is a lifetime subscription to Netflix.All you have to do is sign up, and you're entered to win this ultimate Netflix plan. When does it expire? Only when you do.And hey, just in case you need something to watch all that TV on, here are some of the best deals currently going on smart TVs. It's hard to beat "free," but you can still take hundreds off of these home theater units.VIZIO SmartCast™ E-series 60" Ultra HD Home Theater Display™ The active LED zones on this 60" TV automatically adjust to backlighting to provide the best possible picture, and in UltraHD, that's plenty impressive. You can also stream content from your handheld devices or use them as remotes thanks to the SmartCast app. Take 20% off the MSRP on the E-Series today.LG B8 Series 55" OLED 4K HDR Smart TV One of Consumer Reports' best TVs of 2018 comes with an α7 intelligent processor and LG ThinQ® AI, both of which combine to maximize every pixel of its 4K resolution. Add Dolby Atmos® and you're talking about cinema-quality movie night, every night. The B8 Series has dropped from the previous sale price of $1553.99 to more than half off of the original cost.VIZIO E-Series™ 50" Class 4K HDR Smart TVThis home theater screen has plenty of bells and whistles, from Google and Amazon voice assistant compatibility to 10 dimming zones that adjust the backlighting dynamically to match the action onscreen. Read the rest

Longtime Washington Post food critic Tom Sietsema participated in a live interview at the Washington Post food lab. Within minutes, his fake mustache was falling off.Questions answered included which restaurant didn't deserve the stars awarded by Michelin (Plume at the Jefferson Hotel), how to get credit cards under a fake name (avoid too many questions by paying promptly), and how he got his job (the food critic at the time hired him, and Bob Woodward did not). Read the rest

Tom the Dancing Bug, IN WHICH Hollingsworth Hound finally achieves his dream and beats Lucky Ducky: billionaires now pay a lower tax rate than poor people!

Screensavers VR is out this week and will let you explore classic screensavers. I can't vouch for the "gameplay," but I learned I am powerfully nostalgic for 3D Pipes:Plunge your body into five screensavers inspired by the classics, and experience their evolution.Physically manipulate digital worlds! Explore each micro-universe through wild parameters and VR-only effects like scale.Kick back in the semi-authentic 90's office-den simulation and read original writing about the screensaver phenomenon.Warp through stars like never before! Experience and endless starfield in HD!Can you reach the end of M A Z E?Pipes are so real, you’ll swear you hit your head.Check out the trailer to see if your favorite made the cut: Read the rest

There are few things that you can rely upon these days: the love of your friends and family; that our leaders lie to us in the name of profit and, constant like the North Star, that Florida will always be the weird shit capitol of North America.From Canoe.com:Curtis Miller, 54, was arrested Monday on second-degree attempted murder charges stemming from a July 15 incident where he allegedly brandished a samurai sword to threaten a jogger during a fight over a wheelbarrow the victim claimed he found in a trash pile.The Broward County Sheriff’s Office released surveillance video which shows the suspect attacking the jogger, Todd Beavers, with a sword in Oakland Park, Fla., as he tried to pull the wheelbarrow away from him.According to Canoe, Miller and Beavers both spotted the discarded wheelbarrow at the same time. Miller felt the cart should be his. So did Beaver. Miller didn't grab the cart. Beaver did. As you know, disagreements over trash found at the side of road can get out of hand pretty quickly. So, honestly, Beaver shouldn't have been surprised to find that, as he rolled the wheelbarrow home with him, Miller would give chase with a big frigging sword in hand. Beaver ran faster. Miller gave pursuit.As the Broward County Sheriff’s Office mentioned, there's video of the incident. This would be it:As you can see, Miller totally went all in attacking Beaver with a flurry of awkward slashes, because wheelbarrow. When it was pointed out to Miller that he was on camera, the swordsman buggered right off, giving Beaver the time to call the cops. Read the rest

Australian Kitch is that rarest of things, a good Twitter account. Here are four gems it found from the newly-launched National Archive of Australia. Read the rest

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said late Tuesday the U.S. House is holding off on a vote to move forward with opening an impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump.Pelosi said Trump as the House investigates: “all roads lead to Putin.”“We are already doing an impeachment investigation,” said congressman Eric Swalwell on MSNBC shortly after the House speaker's press conference, referring to ongoing interviews on Capitol Hill of a host of individuals sought for information about the Trump administration's political “dirty tricks” efforts in Ukraine.Pelosi knows that if she comes out of an "impeachment meeting" the cable networks will air it live, so she's spending the first few minutes on a big political ad for her legislative priorities.— ryan teague beckwith (@ryanbeckwith) October 15, 2019Speaker Nancy Pelosi: "All roads seem to lead to Putin with the president." https://t.co/JsAo4rT8TM pic.twitter.com/52iWUykcLx— ABC News (@ABC) October 15, 2019House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will hold off on calling a full House vote for now to authorize a formal impeachment inquiry, a congressional aide confirms to CNN. She is not ruling it out, this source cautions, leaving her with the option to do so in the future. @mkraju— Shimon Prokupecz (@ShimonPro) October 15, 2019I don't know that this means there isn't ever an appropriate point to hold a vote. When the final referral moves to House Judiciary is probably the closest match to Clinton timing. That said, there are both pro and cons to the choice to delay for now. Read the rest

The Pot Brothers at Law are California attorneys who specialize in defending people arrested on cannabis charges. They have a YouTube channel where they offer short video tips, usually a variation of the cardinal rules of interacting with cops: shut the fuck up, never consent, and don't interfere.In this video, the Pot Brothers want you to know that the smell of marijuana in California doesn't constitute probable cause. If a cop smells weed and asks you about it, say "I'm not discussing my day." Period.Image: YouTube Read the rest

Taco Bell issued a press release announcing that it was recalling 2.3 million pounds of seasoned beef from its restaurants and distribution centers. The recall was prompted when a customer said they found a metal shaving in their food.The problem was discovered when a customer reported they found a metal shaving in their menu item. To ensure the safety of our guests, the company immediately partnered with the supplier to shut down the supply chain, remove the product from restaurants and distribution centers and notify the USDA.The product was produced at one plant location on only one of the two lines used to make seasoned beef. This product was sent to distribution centers in the following states: Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio and Virginia. Read the rest

[My EFF colleague Katharine is back with a very important message about a singularly stupid and dangerous legislative proposal that is steamrolling through Congress; even by the standards of stupid and dangerous Congressional copyright rules, this one is an exception -Cory] Every year, for a couple of years now, Congress has debated passing some version of the Copyright Alternative in Small-Claims Enforcement Act (CASE Act). It’s supposed to be the answer to artists’ prayers: a quicker, cheaper way to deal with infringement than going to court. But the way this bill is written (and re-written, and re-written, and re-written) doesn’t do that. It just makes it easy to bankrupt people for sharing memes.The CASE Act creates a small claims court for copyright claims. Sort of. The maximum amount that can be awarded is $30,000 per proceeding. And the CASE Act allows statutory damages for unregistered works, which is not permitted in courts—so you might actually end up owing more in the “small claims” framework than in a lawsuit. This might be a “small claims” framework in a legal sense, but for the almost 40% of Americans who would have trouble coming up with $400 in an emergency, it won’t feel that way.And it’s not a court, either. What the CASE Act actually creates is a Copyright Claims Board staffed by Copyright Claims Officers in the Copyright Office. That means your case won’t be heard by a real judge (much less a jury), and many of the hard-won protections you get in court—like a growing understanding of the importance of fair use—may not apply. Read the rest

I bought this wall-mounted magnetic strip in 2015 to have easy access to tools I need for simple household tasks: opening packages, hanging pictures, assembling furniture, tightening loose nuts, installing door locks, measuring things, simple plumbing repairs, etc. It's much better than keeping the tools in a kitchen drawer, because I can instantly find the tool(s) I need. The magnet is very strong, so I don't have to worry about a tool falling off. The strips come in various lengths. The one I bought is 24 inches long. The shortest I've seen on Amazon is seven inches. Read the rest

The US government has enlisted the aid of high tech companies to find and hound people it allegedly overpaid decades ago for food stamps and other assistance benefits. The letters inform recipients that they have no right to contest or appeal the alleged debts (often for thousands of dollars) because they were incurred over thirty years ago and the time period to appeal expired long ago. If the recipient of the letter doesn't pay, the state will tell the Department of Treasury to withhold tax refunds, military retirement pay, and social security disability checks.From The Guardian:In the private market, a zombie debt is a debt that is past its statute of limitations, not owed, paid in full, or otherwise contested, yet which has found its way into the hands of a collection agency intent on pursuing payment by any means necessary.Those agencies are known to harass, threaten and trick consumers into paying out-of-date private debts, which they buy for pennies on the dollar. In 1977, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act was passed to protect people against the aggressive tactics collection agencies use – calling at all hours, contacting employers, deception, publishing debtors’ names – and to require that creditors prove that a debt is actually owed.Unfortunately for Team 3335, the “overpayment” they’re battling is government debt; they enjoy none of these protections. If private zombie debt is surprisingly easy to kill – asking a collection agency for proof the debt exists can often make it vanish forever – government zombie debt is just the opposite, rising like a phoenix from the ashes of the most difficult times in people’s lives, over and over again. Read the rest

One of the coolest initiatives of the Electronic Frontier Foundation is the Electronic Frontier Alliance, a network of autonomous community groups that work on local issues with support from each other and EFF: everything from getting facial recognition banned in their communities to forcing local police departments to seek public comment on new surveillance tech initiatives.EFF is currently hiring a community organizer to run the EFF side of this effort: the gig involves traveling around to different EFA groups, training and mentoring community organizers, bridging between technologists and other EFF-affiliated groups and community activists and more.The Organizer will support the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s local advocacy efforts, and engage in outreach to community groups, with a focus on technical communities and hackerspaces. Working closely with the Activism team, the Organizer will spend part of their time traveling throughout the US to speak at events and facilitate workshops, and part of their time at our home office in San Francisco working to grow our national network by developing remote relationships with organizers and coordinating outreach to new groups. Regardless of location, a portion of this individual’s time will be spent documenting outreach efforts by conducting interviews and writing case studies.The ideal candidate will have passion for protecting digital freedom, value tools and resources that empower people to share knowledge and creativity freely, and have the ability to think critically and prioritize time effectively. You excel at bringing people together to work for a common purpose. You’re adept at implementing: finding solutions and adapting to changes as ideas turn into projects and campaigns. Read the rest

"Right now, most Americans are in a perpetual police lineup because they got a driver's license," says Clare Garvie, a Washington DC privacy expert. In this New York Times video, Garvie says that driver license photos are scanned and translated into a "face print" that face recognition software can use to compare photos and find matches. "Now any police officer can run searches against your face for any reason."Image: New York Times Read the rest

In early 2018, Apple SVP of internet software and services Eddy Cue and SVP of internet software and services Morgan Wandell instructed TV creators it had commissioned to produce content for Apple TV Plus to avoid plots and scenarios that held China and the Chinese state up in a critical light. Buzzfeed quotes an anonymous showrunner who says this is common practice in all of Hollywood's streaming giants, who fear that upsetting the Chinese state could result in a blockade of all their offerings (China permanently blocked Apple's Ibooks and Itunes Movies in 2016 over similar concerns).These were hardly the first of their kind. In the second half of 2018, Apple challenged or rejected just two of 56 app takedown requests from China, removing 517 apps at the government’s behest, according to the company’s transparency report. Apple said the vast majority of these apps were for porn and gambling, but it has also removed an unspecified number of virtual private networking and news apps. Apple provided customer data to the Chinese government 96% of the time when it asked about a device, and 98% of the time when it asked about an account. In the US, those numbers were around 80% and the US government did not make any app removal requests.In September, Apple seemed to brush off the seriousness of an exploit attack directed at the Uighur ethnic minority. “The sophisticated attack was narrowly focused, not a broad-based exploit of iPhones ‘en masse,’” Apple said in a blog post acknowledging the attack. Read the rest

Esmée Kramer is student in network and systems engineering. Check out this amazing raptor costume. I hope she skins it!Image: YouTube Read the rest

Monstrous Incantation makes dice containing items ranging from ghoulish, to beautiful, to adorable: You can peruse the shop or order a commission here. Read the rest

Sure has been one heck of a news week. And it ain't over yet. On air Friday afternoon on Fox News, anchor Shepard Smith (Shep Smith) told viewers he has requested that management release him from his contract, and says Fox has granted this request.“Even in our polarized nation, it's my hope that the facts will win the day,” he said in an on-air farewell.[ Read Rob Beschizza's post on Shep Smith's departure]Full video: Shepard Smith's final sign off from Fox News pic.twitter.com/5fgyM81Gbj— Jon Passantino (@passantino) October 11, 2019From Variety:“Recently I asked the company to allow me to leave Fox News and begin a new chapter. After requesting that I stay, they graciously obliged,” Smith said in a statement. “The opportunities afforded this guy from small town Mississippi have been many. It’s been an honor and a privilege to report the news each day to our loyal audience in context and with perspective, without fear or favor. I’ve worked with the most talented, dedicated and focused professionals I know and I’m proud to have anchored their work each day — I will deeply miss them.”The unexpected departure takes place just a day or two after Fox big boss Rupert Murdoch is reported to have had dinner with Donald Trump's manifestly corrupt attorney general and dirtywork-doer Bill Barr.Surely not related.Why did he leave?“Tensions with Fox's opinion shows was the breaking point for Shep Smith, a well-placed source confirms” to Brian Stelter at CNN. Read the rest

Macarthur "Genius" Kelly Link and her husband Gavin Grant are the forces-of-nature behind the amazing Small Beer Press ( Read the rest

13 years ago, World of Warcraft was embroiled in a scandal when company management backed up a moderator who punished a player for advertising an LGBTQ-friendly guild, who argued that advertising the fact that you're queer violated the game's hate speech laws by provoking homophobes to send hateful messages to group members.After a predictable amount of opprobrium, the company finally reversed itself, but apparently it has no institutional memory because it has literally done exactly the same thing again.A guild in World of Warcraft Classic called GAY BOYS just had its name summarily changed to Guild ZFXPK and its founder was temporarily suspended. When the players involved queried the action on a forum, a Blizzard representative confirmed that they'd been punished because advertising the fact that they are gay invited slurs: "Picking a name that you can identify with without also using words that would illicit [sic] a reaction from other players would be far more beneficial."The guild's members are awaiting a response to their appeal of the automated name change; they plan to march as their virtual selves on their WoW Classic server Blaumeux as an "in-game protest." Jilani forwarded Blizzard's notice about the guild's name change to Ars Technica, and it did not include any clarification about what rules the guild's name may have violated.World of Warcraft celebrates 15 years with a $100 Firelord statueBlizzard did not immediately respond to Ars Technica's questions about the affected guild's automatic name change or about how coordinated reports may have been gamed by abusive users to target a minority group within WoW. Read the rest

Apple can't seem to figure out how to kowtow to China without losing face in the US. Apple has banned the controversial Hong Kong protest app HKmaplive yet again, as our Cory Doctorow and Rob Beschizza each covered previously today. Tim Cook is reported to have sent around an internal email at Apple in which the CEO claims the banned app in Hong Kong “was being used maliciously to target individual officers for violence.” Yeah. That sure sounds like BS to me.Here's a pastebin link making the rounds that purports to be Cook’s company-wide email. It's been validated.“I’ve seen a copy of Cook’s company-wide email, and the copy reproduced here is accurate,” writes John Gruber at Daring Fireball. “Maciej Ceglowski — who has been in Hong Kong for weeks — responds...”[Writes Ceglowski here —-]The first allegation is that “the app was being used maliciously to target individual officers for violence”. This makes no sense at all. The app does not show the locations of individual officers at all. It shows general concentrations of police units, with a significant lag.As the developer and @charlesmok, a Hong Kong legislator, have pointed out, the app aggregates reports from Telegram, Facebook and other sources. It beggars belief that a campaign to target individual officers would use a world-readable crowdsourcing format like this.Moreover, what are these incidents where protesters have targeted individual police for a premeditated attack? Can Mr. Cook point to a single example? Can anyone? […]So not only is there no evidence for this claim, but it goes against the documentary record of 18 weeks of protests, and is not even possible given the technical constraints of the app (which tracks groups of police). Read the rest

Last month a Japanese entertainer named Ena Matsuoka was attacked in front of her home in Tokyo. Her alleged attacker, an obsessed fan, was able to figure out where she lived by zooming in on a high resolution photo and identifying a bus stop reflected in her pupils. According to Asia One, the alleged attacker "even approximated the storey Matsuoka lived on based on the windows and the angle of the sunlight in her eyes."Image: Twitter/matsuokaena, screengrab/Internet, Asia One Read the rest

Evolutionary psychologist Katja Liebal literally wrote the book on Primate Communication. A professor of developmental psychology at the Freie Universität Berlin, Liebal's research focuses "on the cognitive and communicative skills that might be uniquely human and those shared with other primate species." According to BBC Earth, Liebal observes chimps in "hopes to compile the world's first chimpanzee dictionary."I think learning chimpanzee should be an educational requirement beginning in elementary school to prepare our children for when, y'know, they take over.(via The Kid Should See This) Read the rest

A favorite kitchen chemistry (and physics) experiment of kids (and adults), Ooblek is the weird result of mixing cornstarch with water. Now, MIT engineers have developed a mathematical model that can predict and simulate how the non-Newtonian fluid switches between liquid and solid depending on the pressure applied to it. From MIT News:Aside from predicting what the stuff might do in the hands of toddlers, the new model can be useful in predicting how oobleck and other solutions of ultrafine particles might behave for military and industrial applications. Could an oobleck-like substance fill highway potholes and temporarily harden as a car drives over it? Or perhaps the slurry could pad the lining of bulletproof vests, morphing briefly into an added shield against sudden impacts. With the team’s new oobleck model, designers and engineers can start to explore such possibilities.“It’s a simple material to make — you go to the grocery store, buy cornstarch, then turn on your faucet,” says Ken Kamrin, associate professor of mechanical engineering at MIT. “But it turns out the rules that govern how this material flows are very nuanced...”Kamrin’s primary work focuses on characterizing the flow of granular material such as sand. Over the years, he’s developed a mathematical model that accurately predicts the flow of dry grains under a number of different conditions and environments. When (grad student Aaron) Baumgarten joined the group, the researchers started work on a model to describe how saturated wet sand moves. It was around this time that Kamrin and Baumgarten saw a scientific talk on oobleck. Read the rest

My friend Maureen Herman (former bassist for Babes in Toyland) is writing a book called "It's a Memoir, Motherfucker." Here's an excerpt in which she gives her account of living life with an invisible disability and how those who do not suffer can best support those in their lives who do. -- MarkI think when the chasm between who you really are and who people think you are is too wide, that's where true despair lives. It makes you feel so literally alone, to feel you are the only one who knows you. Loneliness of being unknown, that is the dullest, greyest, flattest, and most overwhelming of voids a human can experience. Prolonged periods of that dehydrate your soul. They may be biochemical, delusional, or situational, or some combination thereof, but what I do know is that at some point, it is literal agony.Short term gratification fills the gap. It gets you through. When people tell you how much you've accomplished, and what great things lie before you, it sounds like the teacher talking in the Charlie Brown cartoons. Blah blah blah. It means nothing. Some of us have minds live with no sense of the long game. So when people ask how someone could kill themselves when they had done such great things and had the world at their feet, I understand how they could. You don't take any of that into account. It's meaningless. Your only reality is how you feel right now, and when it is that deafening void, and no drink or drug or relationship or amount of positive attention can mute it, it feels permanent. Read the rest

I don't know who thought that "beating a black balloon with a bat" was the best way to decide and announce a baby's gender for them. But the balloon baby clearly looked at the available options and chose "ascension" instead.I hope the parents are happy with that, because I'm pretty sure this guy's not having any more kids after this.https://thumbs.gfycat.com/GloriousFineBergerpicard-mobile.mp4 Read the rest

Hunter Biden was getting $50,000/month to sit on the board of Burisma, an oligarch-controlled Ukrainian energy company, a job for which he had no qualifications, apart from his surname, which was part of a concerted effort to launder the company's reputation after the collapse of the regime of the oligarch-friendly, Russia-facing Viktor Yanukovych.But the prosecutor that Joe Biden got fired was another remnant of the corrupt Yanukovych regime, and he was extremely friendly to Burisma. When he got fired, it was bad news for the company that was paying Joe's sun Hunter $600k/year to rent out the family name.So Joe Biden wasn't trying to get a prosecutor fired to protect his son. But he was allowing his son to sell his family name to corrupt enterprises to help protect their reputations.Indeed, the Biden family -- like so many politically connected families -- have a long and dishonorable history of cashing in on their political connections. Joe's brother, James, courted investors by telling them that "We’ve got people all around the world who want to invest in Joe Biden...We’ve got investors lined up in a line of 747s filled with cash ready to invest in this company." (James Biden denies this but multiple sources with no reason to lie confirm it).Every family has its grifters and problem children: Hunter is clearly one of those, from his expulsion from the Navy after failing a cocaine test to his work with Bohai Harvest RST, who profited by investing in the facial recognition tech that is being used to round up Chinese Uyghurs and send them to torture camps. Read the rest

Most U.S. adults answer fewer than half questions correctly on digital know-how quiz, and many struggle with cybersecurity and privacy

Zebras may have evolved their distinctive stripes as a way to interfere with flies' vision. Flies have difficulty landing on black-and-white surfaces because the light polarization screws up their ability to decelerate.Recently, researchers in Japan painted black cows with zebra-like white stripes and discovered that flies stay away from them. Whoever painted the cows did good work, they look dapper. From CNN:A team of Japanese researchers recruited six cows and gave them each black-and-white stripes, black stripes and no stripes. They took photos of the cow's painted right side, counting the number of bites as they happened and watching how the cows reacted.While unpainted cows and cows with black stripes endured upward of 110 bites in 30 minutes, the black-and-white cows suffered fewer than 60 in the same period, researchers found.Image: PLOS/Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) Read the rest

Elly Blue has kickstarted a series of successful feminist bicycle science fiction anthologies; her latest is Dragon Bike: Fantastical feminist bicycle stories, for which she is seeking $6,000 ($10 gets you an ebook, $13 gets you a printed book, $15 gets you a book and a poster).Blue's anthologies pay the authors a proportional share of the income from the Kickstarters, and you can top that up by directly tipping the authors through your pledge.Blue adds: "Bikes in Space volume 6 is all about dragons...featuring heroines oozing with agency, dragons of the friend and foe varieties, and a fun mix of genres, from hard scifi to high fantasy to cyberpunk. This is the best of these yet, and it's a real emotional rollercoaster. Perfect for people who miss the drama of Game of Thrones but not the rapeyness. On a different note, we're asking all our backers to boost the value of their pledge by asking Kickstarter's senior leadership to voluntarily recognize their workers' wish to unionize. You can find more at kickstarterunited.org -- if Boing Boing were to write about this I know it would have a real impact."The stories for this volume are already in hand and they sound great:* A kid on a generation ship enlists the imagination of her community to save her moms' pizzeria* With the support of her coven, a talented witch works to redeem an unthinkable crime* Two elite dragonbike racers meet cute, and the stakes of winning change completely* Quarantined on a remote moon, a family makes some unusual allies* As a dragon terrorizes the countryside, a midwife faces an ethical dilemma* A bike mechanic with a vast hoard yields some treasures to those most in need* And much more! Read the rest

Being a global multinational sure is hard! Yesterday, World of Warcraft maker Blizzard faced global criticism after it disqualified a high-stakes tournament winner over his statement of solidarity with the Hong Kong protests -- Blizzard depends on mainland China for a massive share of its revenue and it can't afford to offend the Chinese state. Today, outraged games on Reddit's /r/hearthstone forum are scheming a plan to flood Blizzard with punishing, expensive personal information requests under the EU's expansive General Data Privacy Regulation -- Blizzard depends on the EU for another massive share of its revenue and it can't afford the enormous fines it would face if it failed to comply with these requests, which take a lot of money and resource to fulfill.Being a multinational is indeed hard, but it's cute to see global capitalism's potential downfall in the welter of jurisdictions the largest corporations seek to have a presence in so that they can maximize their profitability.o, if you want to submit a GDPR request, and live in the EU, you can use the following form letter, addressed to the data protection officer for Blizzard (DPO@Blizzard.com) or Activision (activisiion actually has an existing portal):To Whom It May Concern:I am hereby requesting access according to Article 15 GDPR. Please confirm whether or not you are processing personal data (as defined by Article 4(1) and (2) GDPR) concerning me.In case you are, I am hereby requesting access to the following information pursuant to Article 15 GDPR:* all personal data concerning me that you have stored;* the purposes of the processing;* the categories of personal data concerned;* the recipients or categories of recipient to whom the personal data have been or will be disclosed;* where possible, the envisaged period for which the personal data will be stored, or, if not possible, the criteria used to determine that period;* where the personal data are not collected from the data subject, any available information as to their source;* the existence of automated decision-making, including profiling, referred to in Article 22(1) and (4) GDPR and, at least in those cases, meaningful information about the logic involved, as well as the significance and the envisaged consequences of such processing for me. Read the rest

Humans contract the Guinea worm parasite by ingesting water containing fleas infected with guinea worm larvae. The devastating and nightmarish symptoms don't show up until around a year later:a stringy worm that is 60 to 90 centimetres erupts through the skin on the leg or foot. Its excruciatingly painful journey out of the body can take weeks. To relieve the burning sensation, many people wade into the nearest body of water — often the same pond from which they drink. When an adult worm enters the water, it releases larvae, and the cycle starts anew.Because scientists thought the parasite required on humans for transmission, it was believed that Guinea worm could be eradicated. In 1986, The World Health Assembly endorsed a plan targeting the parasite for extinction through the use of larvicides, and by educating people to use water filters and stay out of bodies of water if infected. The plan largely worked:An international partnership — led by the Carter Center in Atlanta, Georgia — has reduced the number of new infections from 3.5 million per year in 1986 to just 28 in 2018.Unfortunately, new cases indicate that animals might be able to transmit guinea worms after all. Cases in Chad may be related to dogs in a way scientists don't yet understand. Other pockets of contamination have also been discovered:The discovery in 2013 of infected baboons — a first — in a small forested area in southern Ethiopia also has researchers scratching their heads. Read the rest

Nature's li'l hackers break into security contractor's van

On a solo New York Comic Con panel this past Friday, Paul Reubens shared wonderful stories from his prolific career, prompted by questions from fans in the audience. One fan asked if Paul had any favorite moments working with Tim Burton, and that got him talking about how Pee-wee's Big Adventure became Burton's directorial debut (starts at 8:57). It's a long story, as he admits, but ultimately a real Hollywood fairytale. Shelley Duvall plays a part in the story, as does Maryedith Burrell. Sly Stallone plays a part too but may just now be finding out his influential role. As Paul tells it, back in the day, he offered Warner Bros. "150 to 200" names of working directors to choose from, they declined all but one. He was disappointed in their choice and stalled in the hopes of getting a better one. "I had just worked like 10 years to get to the point where I'm sitting in Warner Bros. office with the presidents... and I have the opportunity to make a movie, and that's like the wrong director. That's not the right director. And I was completely inspired... and I don't think he knows to this day that he was such a strong inspiration... I was, at the time, completely inspired by Sylvester Stallone because, I'm not kidding, you probably... know this story, maybe some of you don't... Sylvester Stallone, when he made Rocky, very famously said 'no' to every single opportunity... that didn't include him starring in it. Read the rest

Need earbuds that can last and don't sound like they're underwater? These Bluetooth earpieces can compete with the sound of AirPods and Beats Pro for a fraction of the price. From sleek ergonomic tech to long-lasting audio that's perfect for a hike, there's a set here for every lifestyle.CRESUER TOUCHWAVE True Wireless Stereo EarbudsA simple touch lets you answer calls or skip songs with these earbuds, made for those who like their audio equipment to be intuitive and unobtrusive. Bluetooth 5 connectivity makes sure the music comes through clear and non-stop, and the casing provides maximum protection from dust and moisture. A set of CRESUER TOUCHWAVE True Wireless Stereo Earbuds is now 33% off the retail price.Brio Phantom X7 True Wireless Earbuds + Charging CaseTalk about playtime: The Phantom X7s pack 8 hours of listening time on their own, but that stretches to 100 hours once you figure in the charging case. The case even charges wirelessly, and you juice up your smartphone or other devices with it by USB. Get yours now for a full 60% off the list price.xFyro ARIA True Wireless Bluetooth EarbudsHere's some tech for the true audiophile, designed by working sound engineers with CVC noise isolation. They're IP67 waterproof and fully compatible with Siri or Google Assistant for smooth operation. Take 60% off the retail price now on the xFyro ARIAs.XT9 True Wireless Fitness Headphones with Charging DockThese buds are designed to stay put, but the beat keeps going even if you take one out. Read the rest

Imagine sitting on the couch sippin ur drink and... pic.twitter.com/ipAYrWiNOx— Dj Candlest🕯ck (@candlestickem) October 6, 2019 Holy cow! Thank goodness no one was hurt!(h/t @NekoCase) Read the rest

“Shocking charge blows lid off 22-year cover-up” screams the cover of this week’s National Enquirer. “Diana’s Killer Found!”

My guest this week on the Cool Tools show is David Moldawer. David is a Brooklyn-based writer and book collaborator who spent more than a decade as an acquiring editor in New York City publishing. He was an editor on a number of books I've written. He also writes a weekly newsletter for nonfiction authors and experts who aspire to be authors called The Maven Game.Subscribe to the Cool Tools Show on iTunes | RSS | Transcript | Download MP3 | See all the Cool Tools Show posts on a single pageRaw transcript excerpts:FocusmateFocusmate has been transformative for me over the last few months. It’s very simple. It pairs you with a random person via webcam and you work together for 50 minutes at a time. So it’s like having a virtual coworking partner. So what happens is you have a calendar and you pick a slot. Let’s say I want to work at 9:00 AM — it’ll say “You’re working with John or Bill or Melinda at 9:00 AM,” and at that time I click start and it brings up a typical webcam, video-chat-kind-of window, and the other person’s there sitting at a desk and I’ll say “Hi, what are you working on?” They’ll say, “Oh I’m grading something because I’m a teacher.” And I’ll say, “Okay great. I’m doing some editing because I’m a book collaborator,” and that’s it. And then we’ll just sit there and work with the webcam going. Nobody really watches each other. Read the rest

Glenlivet capsules are edible, seaweed-derived pods filled with whiskey that you bite into. It's pretty stupid.First of all, you can't add a drop of water to bring the volatiles to the surface of the liquor.Second of all, you can't sip it.Third of all, whatever portability benefits can allegedly be derived from consuming whiskey in capsule form ("No glass needed," as Glenlivet has it) are wiped out by the need to keep these capsules in some kind of rigid container to keep them from being burst in your bag or pocket.Glenlivet is a division of the booze monopolist Pernod Ricard, a faceless multinational conglomerate that also owns Chivas, Wiser's, Lamb's, Hiram Walker, Absolut, Dubonnet, Fuel, Ballantine's, Kahlua, Beefeater, Malibu, Tia Maria, Jacob's Creek, Jameson, Stolichnaya, Mumm, Pernod, Redbreast, Bushmills, and many others.No ice. No stirrer. No glass. We're redefining how whisky can be enjoyed. Introducing The Glenlivet Capsule Collection #noglassrequired pic.twitter.com/F4MGErsfZM— The Glenlivet (@TheGlenlivet) October 2, 2019(via CNN) Read the rest

In Ecuador.That's a double scoop of nope here, thank you.Guinea pigs have long been a traditional food in various indigenous cultures of Latin America -- most notably in Colombia, Peru and Bolivia. In Ecuador, they're often roasted with salt and served with potatoes and a sauce with a peanut base. One adventurous food vendor profiled by AP is taking “cuy,” as the animal is locally known, to a new, cold level. Guinea Pig Ice Cream.Excerpt:“I was suspicious, but it was tasty,” said Marlene Franco, a 78-year-old retiree who tried a scoop at a stall next to a highway linking the Ecuadorian capital of Quito to the city of Sangolqui.The stall owner is María del Carmen Pilapaña, whose offbeat offering inspires disbelief and laughter among first-time customers. Pilapaña’s operation is small. It consists of two tables in an open area lined with dentists’ clinics and other businesses. Even so, demand is growing. Every week, the entrepreneur prepares 150 servings ($1 for a cone) of guinea pig ice cream.Cone or scoop: Guinea pig ice cream for sale in Ecuador [apnews.com, image: shutterstock] Read the rest

Over the years, there have been numerous proposals by the likes of MTV and HBO to bring Peter Bagge's seminal comic Hate to the screen. Here is a 1996 pilot short, directed by Steve Loter. While the art looks great, the voices are just... wrong. SO WRONG. Yeesh.(via r/ObscureMedia) Read the rest

Don't oversleep when you have jury duty. Deandre Somerville (21) received a 10-day jail sentence and a criminal record for oversleeping and blowing off his service. He was also put on probation for a year and given 150 hours of community service.From Boston.com:Somerville lives with his grandparents and helps care for his grandfather who recently had surgery and has trouble walking. Somerville helps him around the house and takes him to therapy and the grocery store while his grandmother is at work.He was out playing basketball when his worried grandmother called to say there was a police officer at the door with a court summons.“My grandfather said, ‘Just go in and be honest,’” said Somerville. “I’ve never had a criminal background, never been arrested, never been in handcuffs. The most I’ve ever gotten was a traffic ticket so I was thinking it wouldn’t be that bad.”Inside the courtroom, he said Judge John Kastrenakes explained that Somerville’s negligence delayed the court by 45 minutes.“They handcuffed me in the courtroom after that,” said Somerville, who spent the next 10 days in jail. He said his first jail experience wasn’t scary, but he prayed daily and wrote in a notebook.Deandre Somerville served 10 days in jail, is on probation for a year and has to complete 150 hours of community service as well as write a letter of apology.https://t.co/n8KBoYbRWW pic.twitter.com/xs5ucY3xW3— WFLA NEWS (@WFLA) October 3, 2019 Read the rest

My cat came inside soaking wet, so I did some investigating and found this. pic.twitter.com/s1ygmFQArp— Laura Lee (@Laura88Lee) October 3, 2019 You have been warned. Cats do take revenge. We did a further investigation, it was plotted revenge. pic.twitter.com/9lduGij4NI— Laura Lee (@Laura88Lee) October 3, 2019 Read the rest

As AOL's anime-haired "Digital Prophet", David Shing was often portrayed as a blatant poser, a voltron of web 2.0 buzzwords with a tellingly quiet social media following. But he was also a marketing director there. The excesses of the "Shingy" persona, with its silly TED talks and news appearances, dressed up a "fairly standard job" of running interference with advertisers.New York Magazine:Did the idea that anything you do can be taken out of context freak you out? Did you start second-guessing yourself?I definitely was cautious about it because when you get trolled several times, you’re kind of like, “I’m good. I’ll just put my head down and keep working and doing the work I need to do,” which is not to be invisible.Hundreds of meetings a year. I especially appreciate that "Digital Prophet" intentionally mocked the anodyne creepiness of the term Google and Facebook were using for the equivalent role—"Evangelist"—and feel rather like I should have noticed that at the time. He's absolutely a corporate talker of the marketing tribe, but what he was saying on stage (or to New Yorker profilers) was not what he was saying behind closed doors. What does Verizon get out of [AOL]?Incredible ad techHe has a 2-year-old and the 2-year-old is "screen-free." Read the rest