Do you remember when 120,000 Americans all died within a few months from Swine Flu and Joe Biden was president and he failed? Neither do I because it never happened.Here is what impeached and manifestly bonkers president Donald Trump said today, after waking up and watching some Fox News:Biden got failing grades and polls on his clueless handling of the Swine Flu H1N1. It was a total disaster, they had no idea what they were doing. Among the worst ever!The Swine Flu, or H1N1, killed an estimated 12,500 Americans. The novel coronavirus has killed at least 119,000 Americans and counting, in a far shorter timespan.A screengrab below, for posterity. Read the rest
Flux Capacitor fluxing!This 'Back to the Future' themed time machine bass by DONER DESIGNS was auctioned to raise funds for the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research, and sold to Arend Raby who recorded this tapping video on the day he purchased the bass.All images and videos courtesy Doner Designs. Read the rest
We all love home smart speakers like the Amazon Alexa. But as functional as this home assistant can be, it’s got one nearly indisputable flaw. The Alexa speaker itself just isn’t very good.Oh sure, for voice commands or asking questions or trying to order a pizza, the fidelity quality of the Alexa is fine. But once you fire up your favorite music, especially if it’s fueled with heavy bass or demands some serious power, those relatively puny speakers just don’t measure up.When the music you’re playing through your smart speaker matters, a major-league piece of equipment like the Marshall Stanmore II Wireless Smart Speaker is just the upgrade needed to make your listening epic. If you don’t trust us, trust the New York Times who called Marshall’s newest tech triumph “big and full of power, and it’s the speaker to get if you want the best-sounding Alexa speaker.”Before you even fire the Stanmore II up, its classic, wood-grain look in the legendary Marshall style just screams music power.But of course, it wouldn’t have the Marshall name on it if it wasn’t focused on the sound. This speaker pumps out clean and precise audio even at the highest levels, with advanced components, including a 15 watt Class D amplifier powering its tweeters and another 50-watt amp to drive its mighty subwoofer. Don’t let the compact frame fool you. This is a speaker that can not only fill a room, it can fill a whole house.And unlike the basic Amazon speaker, the Marshall lets you fine-tune the tunes, adjusting the volume, bass, or treble both through voice commands, the analog controls on the speaker’s top panel or even through a built-in equalizer in the Marshall Voice app. Read the rest
My teenage son and I are both lifelong model rocket nerds but we've never experienced the most dramatic failures seen above. We'll keep trying. Read the rest
During the anti-racist uprising, protestors in the US and England have been toppling statues of historical figures connected to slavery, colonialism, and oppression. (Above, Christopher Columbus taking a dip in Richmond, Virginia last week.) With these bronze figures weighing around 3,500 to 7,000 pounds, pulling them off their pedestals isn't an easy task to do safely. So Popular Mechanics asked for advice from mechanical engineer Scott Holland. And in case you're tempted, "Popular Mechanics is not encouraging anyone to remove any statues." From PopSci:...The OSHA-mandated upper force limit for horizontal pulling per person is 50 pounds of force—“but that’s for working every day,” he says, “so you could probably do twice that.”At 100 pounds of force, then, we’re talking about a 35-person job to drag the statue, Holland says. But to pull it down, “let’s assume twice the force—so you’ll need twice as many people.” So before you start toppling, you’d better recruit 70 buddies with a bit of muscle.Now that you have your crew, you’ll need the right tools. Holland suggests grabbing a few 4x4 recovery straps, which can be rated to over 32,000 pounds and are far less cumbersome than a chain. Once you’re properly equipped, you want to get leverage, Holland says, “so you need to get the straps around the head or the neck [of the statue].”To break the statue from its base, split into two teams on either side and work in a back-and-forth motion. Most statues are attached to the base by 2 to 3 feet of rebar, so you’ll actually be breaking it at the bronze above the rebar—not the rebar itself, says Holland. Read the rest
A woman in Glendale, California opened an Amazon box she was expecting but was surprised by the contents: numerous bottles of narcotics like oxycodone, hydrocodone and morphine, along with an invoice from the Drug Enforcement Administration. From KABC-TV:"Let me be clear, this package was not sent by DEA and these drugs were never in DEA custody," said Bill Bodner, special agent in charge in Los Angeles.Bodner says a pharmacy in New York was disposing the drugs through a Texas pharmaceutical company, a process that needs to be approved by the government, which is why the DEA form was included.But he suspects something went wrong in the delivery end."Likely, they used a third-party shipper to ship this package and somehow the shipping labels were switched at this third-party shipper," Bodner said. Read the rest
I almost always wear Native Jefferson shoes, which don't require socks. On those rare occasions when socks are called for, I wear these no-show socks. They sit well below the top of most shoes, and they have some little silicone rubber stripes above the heel that keep them from slipping. Read the rest
In 2018, legendary Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward wrote Fear: Trump in the White House, a brutal look at the current administration. As we know, the story was just beginning. In September, we'll get the follow-up, now listed on Amazon without a title or cover but described as "Bob Woodward’s second work of nonfiction on the Trump presidency." From CNN:In January, Trump announced in an interview with Fox News' Laura Ingraham that he had sat down with Woodward for the upcoming book. Trump's admission came as a surprise after he was openly critical of "Fear," despite being offered an opportunity to be interviewed."I was interviewed by a very, very good writer, reporter," Trump said. "I can say Bob Woodward. He said he's doing something and this time I said, 'maybe I'll sit down.'"image: detail of Fear book jacket Read the rest
“What we’re talking about here, it’s not the front page of the New York Times. It’s 'Tucker Carlson Tonight,' which is a commentary show,” Fox News lawyer argued, defending lawsuit from Karen McDougal
We’ve all had the dream at some point. You walk to center stage, ax in hand...and you shred. Thousands of adoring fans drink in every note from your six-stringed hammer of the gods — and the applause and adulation is deafening.The life of a guitar hero and rock idol has been a dream of every red-blooded American male dating back to the 50s. Even if you’ve now passed beyond your rock star admiration years, playing the guitar is still a great pastime, from the ability to play music to the creative outlet to just its positive effects on mental health. The training in The Complete Guitar Master Class Bundle may not make you into the next Eric Clapton or Jimi Hendrix, but it’s a fabulous means of improving your manual dexterity, soothing your active mind and impressing the hell out of a crowd at your next party.This collection includes seven courses that can unleash your inner musician, helping you learn patterns, chords, riffs, playing techniques, and more.The training kicks off with The Professional Guitar Master Class, a four-part, interactive, step-by-step, all HD video course including everything you need to play with complete confidence and control in any genre of music. As you get to know the instrument, understand music theory, and discover your own unique sound, you’ll be surprised how quickly you can transform from novice to competent, maybe even good, guitar player.But that’s just the start. Guitar: Master The Guitar Fretboard in 6 Easy Steps firms up simple guitar playing in about an hour; while Guitar: Start Playing Solo Guitar the Simple Way explores how to master the solo guitar technique that can have you improvising with other musicians. Read the rest
Video-calling app Zoom has been on the end of sharp criticism for security weaknesses. In response, they announced today a plan to offer end-to-end encryption for all users, with a trial to begin next month.End-to-end encryption update from Zoom - we have found a path forward to provide this feature to all users (free and paid) around the globe >> https://t.co/rjwCLYKDuJ⁰ <<— Zoom (@zoom_us) June 17, 2020Here's the company's announcement.Excerpt:Since releasing the draft design of Zoom’s end-to-end encryption (E2EE) on May 22, we have engaged with civil liberties organizations, our CISO council, child safety advocates, encryption experts, government representatives, our own users, and others to gather their feedback on this feature. We have also explored new technologies to enable us to offer E2EE to all tiers of users. Today, Zoom released an updated E2EE design on GitHub. We are also pleased to share that we have identified a path forward that balances the legitimate right of all users to privacy and the safety of users on our platform. This will enable us to offer E2EE as an advanced add-on feature for all of our users around the globe – free and paid – while maintaining the ability to prevent and fight abuse on our platform. To make this possible, Free/Basic users seeking access to E2EE will participate in a one-time process that will prompt the user for additional pieces of information, such as verifying a phone number via a text message. Many leading companies perform similar steps on account creation to reduce the mass creation of abusive accounts. Read the rest
The president of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernandez, is hospitalized with COVID-19 and is receiving treatment for lung problems associated with the disease, said Honduran health officials on Wednesday -- one day after the Central American president's coronavirus diagnosis was revealed. While his condition is serious enough to require specialized medical care in a military hospital, including receiving medicines via intravenous drip, the president is generally in good heath, Francis Contreras, a spokesman for Honduran health agency SINAGER, told reporters outside the hospital.When Hernandez announced his positive diagnosis late on Tuesday in a televised speech, he said his symptoms were mild and he was feeling better, adding that while his doctors recommended rest, he would work remotely and through his aides.More at Reuters. Read the rest
• Trump did not know Britain was a nuclear power, asked if Finland was part of Russia, Bolton writes. • Intelligence briefings were a waste of time, “since much of the time was spent listening to Trump, rather than Trump listening to the briefers.”• During Trump’s 2018 meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, according to John Bolton's book, Sec State Mike Pompeo slipped Bolton a little note dissing the president: “He is so full of shit.”Former Trump national security adviser John Bolton's new book says the House impeachment inquiry should have investigated Donald Trump not only for abusing his political power in Ukraine, but for other instances when Trump intervened in law enforcement matters for personal gain.The Justice Department is suing Bolton to block release of the book.Bolton says in his new book that the House in its impeachment inquiry should have investigated Trump not just on Ukraine but for a variety of instances when he sought to intervene in law enforcement matters for political reasons. https://t.co/bJmVSIWhI1— Peter Baker (@peterbakernyt) June 17, 2020During Trump’s 2018 meeting with Kim Jong-un, Pompeo slipped Bolton a note disparaging the president, saying, “He is so full of shit.” Pompeo later said the North Korea diplomacy had "zero probability of success."— Peter Baker (@peterbakernyt) June 17, 2020Trump didn’t seem to know that Britain was a nuclear power and asked if Finland were part of Russia, Bolton writes. Intelligence briefings were a waste of time “since much of the time was spent listening to Trump, rather than Trump listening to the briefers.” Read the rest
Accent expert Amy Walker evaluates British accents by American actors in Maleficent, Ocean's Thirteen, The Iron Lady, Mrs. Doubtfire, Bridget Jones' Baby, The Parent Trap, Shakespeare in Love, and Imagine Me & You.Image: YouTube Read the rest
Black Sabbath is selling a Black Lives Matter T-shirt inspired by the band's iconic logo.100% OF THE NET PROCEEDS WILL BENEFIT BLACK LIVES MATTER GLOBAL NETWORK FOUNDATION, INC.In support of Black Lives Matter, an official t-shirt themed after Black Sabbath’s iconic Master Of Reality album cover is now available. Read the rest
KCRW Radio station sent a microphone to David Lynch to improve the audio of his wonderful daily weather reports. In this video, he shows a wood stand and a protective box he made for it.Image: YouTube Read the rest
I don't know how effective this Trump ad will be against Trump's cult followers, who don't care how "weak, shaky, unfit" he is as long as he continues to embrace an ideology of hatred against non-whites. From The Week:This new ad delivers the deepest gut punch yet. Titled "#TrumpIsNotWell," it features a montage of Trump seemingly struggling with drinking a glass of water and walking down a ramp, as well as footage of him going up the stairs to Air Force One with what appears to be toilet paper under his shoe. The narrator calls Trump "shaky" and "weak," and says White House reporters should be covering Trump's "secretive midnight run to Walter Reed Medical Center." It's clear to everyone, the ad concludes, that now is the time "we talk about this: Trump is not well."Some people have argued that because Trump has mocked a disabled reporter and calls former Vice President Joe Biden "Sleepy Joe," frequently intimating he is cognitively impaired, Trump's own health is fair game and people should speculate away. Rebecca Cokley, director of the Disability Justice Initiative at the liberal Center for American Progress, disagrees. In an op-ed for The Washington Post published Tuesday, Cokley wrote that when people who do not have medical degrees diagnose Trump with various health issues, it hurts those who are actually disabled.See other Lincoln Project ads here: Read the rest
The 130-year-old Aunt Jemima brand is coming to an end, says Quaker Oats, which said “We recognize Aunt Jemima’s origins are based on a racial stereotype."From NBC News:Aunt Jemima is “a retrograde image of Black womanhood on store shelves," Riché Richardson, an associate professor at Cornell University, told the “TODAY” show on Wednesday. “It’s an image that harkens back to the antebellum plantation ... Aunt Jemima is that kind of stereotype that is premised on this idea of Black inferiority and otherness.”“It is urgent to expunge our public spaces of a lot of these symbols that for some people are triggering and represent terror and abuse," Richardson said.In a 2015 piece for The New York Times, Richardson wrote that the inspiration for the brand's name came from a minstrel song, “Old Aunt Jemima,” in which white actors in blackface mocked and derided Black people. Read the rest
There are times when I get tired of all of the major sites and apps that make up a lot of the seen Internet. Sadly, I was born too late to experience the wonder of Geocities and intricate handmade websites run by just a single person. But, on some evenings, I still search for those smaller websites that no one else normally sees. I find the wonder of coming across hidden blogs and pages really fun.It was a night like this when I stumbled across John Cartan’s writing about the Starmaze last year, and I quickly became fascinated. Unlike every other corner of the web, Cartan’s website wasn’t trying to sell me a useless product or tell me about news I’ve already heard a dozen times. It was instead a series of journal-like recordings about some strange discovery that he called the Starmaze. It started with a game he had come across on a computer years ago that involved a square divided into nine sections where each section could be turned on or off. The game began with the middle section of the grid turned on, and the outer eight sections turned off. Clicking one of the sections would turn on/off other parts of the grid in a predictable way, but you could only click the sections that were already turned on. The goal was to click the sections in a way to end up with the outer eight squares turned on, and the innermost square turned off.Being interested in games myself, this sounded familiar to me immediately. Read the rest
More than 116,000 people have died so far from coronavirus in the United States, and according to a model from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, the country is on course for another 85,000 deaths by October 1. The primary cause for the increase in deaths, according to the study, is due to "rising mobility and premature relaxation of social distancing in some states are the main reasons."From CBS News:"What's underlying that is two factors: The steady rise in contact rates, steady rise in mobility, and the likely continued relaxation of mandates over the course of the summer. Combined with the increasingly clear signal that seasonality is important," [IHME Director Dr. Christopher Murray] said.According to the IHME, "Higher mobility means higher transmission and more infections at the beginning of the expected second wave" in the fall.As COVID-19 cases continue to decline in New York, once the epicenter of the nation's outbreak, new hotspots are emerging in states across the South and West. Some health experts say we could be seeing the impact of reopening too early.Image: CBS News Read the rest
Want to see more of this? Fans of the various Star Trek series have been using FaceApp, the popular smart phone facial editing software, to alter the faces (and gender expression) of popular Star Trek characters.You can see many more on the Star Trek Shitposting Facebook group.Images: Facebook screengrabs Read the rest
I bought a set of four of these 8 x 11" flexible cutting boards a few years ago, and they've held up very well considering how much I use them every day to chop carrots, cabbage, turnips. and rutabagas. I discovered they're on sale, so I thought it would be a good time to replace them. Flexible cutting boards are nice because you can flex them to pour chopped ingredients into bowls. Read the rest
CNBC reports that the FBI and federal prosecutors in Boston charged six former members of eBay’s global security team with cyberstalking the publisher of an email newsletter that said critical things about the company.“Among other things, several of the defendants ordered anonymous and disturbing deliveries to the victims’ home, including a preserved fetal pig, a bloody pig Halloween mask, a funeral wreath, a book on surviving the loss of a spouse, and pornography – the last of these addressed to the newsletter’s publisher but sent to his neighbors’ homes,” the Department of Justice said on Monday.The group also posted on Craigslist that the couples were swingers and were looking for sexual partners, according to the lawsuit.The Justice Department said that it charged James Baugh, eBay’s former senior director of safety and security, and David Harville, eBay’s former director of global resiliency, with conspiracy to commit cyberstalking and conspiracy to tamper with witnesses.“In addition the following defendants were charged in an Information unsealed today: Stephanie Popp, 32, of San Jose, eBay’s former Senior Manager of Global Intelligence; Stephanie Stockwell, 26, of Redwood City, Calif., the former manager of eBay’s Global Intelligence Center (GIC); Veronica Zea, 26, of San Jose, a former eBay contractor who worked as an intelligence analyst in the GIC; and Brian Gilbert, 51, of San Jose, a former Senior Manager of Special Operations for eBay’s Global Security Team,” the Department of Justice said.“They are each charged with conspiracy to commit cyberstalking and conspiracy to tamper with witnesses and will make appearances in federal court in Boston at a later date.” Read the rest
Compare and contrast: Trump speaking during his June 2015 campaign launch speech vs. Trump speaking at West Point today, almost exactly five years later pic.twitter.com/qDFmkNBVmj— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 13, 2020With each passing day, Trump becomes more like his cult followers. Read the rest
The International Space Station will be outfitted with a new toilet later this fall. The current commode is based on 1990s technology used on the Space Shuttle. From Space.com:It can be clunky to use, particularly for women, and it is "sensitive to crew alignment on the seat," sometimes resulting in messes, according to [a new NASA review of the waste management system].So NASA has tried to keep the aspects that have gotten positive reviews while trimming mass and volume and making some design changes, like adjusting the shape of the seat and replacing the apparatus that compresses the waste.Another change mimics a feature of the toilet on the Russian side of the space station, where astronauts simply hook their feet into toe bars, rather than the thigh bars used on the American equivalent to anchor the astronaut in the microgravity environment."Development of a Universal Waste Management System" (NASA) Read the rest
On Saturday night I drove down Ventura Blvd, the main drag of Los Angeles's San Fernando Valley. As I passed through Sherman Oaks, I was surprised to see very crowded restaurants. No one was wearing a mask. For a lot of people, the pandemic is over. This graph suggests otherwise. Read the rest
In a letter to members of Congress, IBM says it will abandon the general-purpose facial recognition business, and that the company opposes the use of facial recognition for mass surveillance.In the letter, IBM's CEO says the company will no longer sell facial recognition services, and calls for a “national dialogue” on whether facial recognition should be used at all, citing concerns about “mass surveillance, racial profiling, violations of basic human rights and freedoms.” Excerpt:"IBM no longer offers general purpose IBM facial recognition or analysis software," CEO Arvind Krishna said in the letter. "IBM firmly opposes and will not condone uses of any technology, including facial recognition technology offered by other vendors, for mass surveillance, racial profiling, violations of basic human rights and freedoms, or any purpose which is not consistent with our values and Principles of Trust and Transparency."“Your turn, Amazon,” said Fabio Chiusi on Twitter.There's a lot more impact in this than a black square or a brandwashing tweet about Black Lives mattering.Then again, IBM was already responsible for human rights atrocities in a previous generation: they aided and assisted and provided technology for Adolf Hitler's Nazi regime, and made the process of killing Jewish people and others in concentration camps more effective and efficient.Read more:IBM is exiting the face recognition business [Ina Fried / Axios, via techmeme.com]"yeah, y'know, we already contributed to one of the most notorious genocides in human history by selling computers to literal Nazis. Read the rest
Opinion Editor James Bennet is out at the New York Times, resigning after the backlash to Tom Cotton's column calling for a military crackdown on Americans protesting police brutality.Mr. Bennet’s swift fall from one of the most powerful positions in American journalism comes as hundreds of thousands of people have marched in recent weeks in protest of racism in law enforcement and society. The protests were set in motion when George Floyd, a black man in Minneapolis, died last month after being handcuffed and pinned to the ground by a white police officer’s knee.The foment has reached other newsrooms. On Saturday night, Stan Wischnowski resigned as top editor of The Philadelphia Inquirer days after an article in the newspaper about the effects of protests on the urban landscape carried the headline “Buildings Matter, Too.” The headline prompted an apology published in The Inquirer, a heated staff meeting and a “sickout” by dozens of journalists at the paper.The fascist politics of Cotton's column were revolting and inappropriate for promotion by the Times, but Bennet's resignation can be overthought. He jumped on Twitter to lecture readers about appreciating "counter-arguments" and "public scrutiny", but it turned out he hadn't even read it himself before it was published. Performing this level of sanctimonious incompetence in public would be humiliating even if the column were about Spongebob Squarepants.the people rushing to defend an editor who only became known because of his multitude of fuck ups is astonishing but not as astonishing as those pretending he was fired for a bad take— Arash Karami (@thekarami) June 8, 2020 Read the rest
Director Stanley Kubrick wanted a transparent monolith for 2001: A Space Odyssey. He asked a UK plastics company to cast one from clear acrylic, but he didn't like the way it looked in a screen test. Instead, he used a monolith made of wood and painted black.According to Amusing Planet, the unused acrylic monolith [sat unused] in a warehouse for a number of years until an artist acquired it to make a carving for the Queen of England.The rejected Monolith sat in the Boreham Wood film studios for several years, gathering dust, until famed Slovak-born, London-based sculptor Arthur Fleischmann acquired it. Fleischmann, who pioneered the use of acrylic in sculpture, had received a commission to make glittering crown sculpture for the Queen’s Silver Jubilee Celebrations in 1977. At two tons, it was the largest block of acrylic ever cast. For three months, Fleischmann patiently chiseled away at the block inside a polythene tent near St. Katherine's Docks, in London. In June the same year, the Queen herself unveiled the sculpture.The recycled prop has been on public display ever since at St Katherine Docks. Read the rest
The world is holding its collective breath. As states begin cautiously reopening, no one is sure exactly what to expect. But one thing is clear: most Americans are worried about their bank accounts.By the end of March, the average American household was spending 40 percent less on their credit cards than they were one year before. No one is sure what’s to come, so in the meantime, almost everyone is hanging on to every dollar and finding every means possible to save money.While everyone knows they can phase out trips to Starbucks or cut back on services like yard work or the cable bill to save cash, far fewer people living in states with competitive electricity markets realize they actually have the ability to shop around for a less expensive energy supplier. By taking advantage of that, you can lower your power bill. Arcadia does that shopping around for you, offering a free online platform to potentially save money on your monthly power bill while also supporting renewable energy.Users open a free, no-strings, and no-fees Arcadia account, link it to their existing power company, then let Arcadia get to work. Using their relationships and the aggregate buying power of their members, Arcadia negotiates exclusively low rates from energy suppliers, saving their members up to hundreds of dollars per year. Depending on what they paid for energy previously, some members in competitive states save 20% on their electricity bills through Arcadia.Arcadia also matches each member with clean energy projects. Read the rest
Lars says: "Have a look at this guy's youtube feed. He's often live in the evenings. It's an "only in the internet age" kind of thing. He streams video of chases, unrest, whatever, feeds audio from police scanners, and periodically tokes up. Gives commentary (non-political as far as I can tell). Also gets attacked by his kitten 'Stinky' periodically. Answers his fans' messages. I've seen him with 10k live followers." Read the rest
Valerie Hammond was cooking a roast in her KitchenAid toaster oven when she smelled something burning, reports CBC. She discovered that the toaster oven had caught fire, causing smoke and fire damage to her kitchen. Whirlpool, which owns KitchenAid, replaced the unit, but when Hammond asked for $600 to fix the kitchen, Whirlpool told her she'd have to take it up with the company in China that manufactured the toaster oven.The 68-year-old called and emailed Whirlpool dozens of times over more than six months but got nowhere on her claim for the damage.Her oven was "not a Whirlpool product," a company representative told her via email, so Whirlpool wasn't liable for the damage. She was referred to Elec-Tech International.Hammond says she tried contacting the company in China using the phone number Whirlpool provided. Her calls would ring through but no one would ever pick up. Her emails also went unanswered.Out of frustration, Hammond contacted the media, and a reporter brought the matter up with Whirlpool. The company suddenly had a change of heart and ended up paying Hammond $5,000, six times the original amount she asked for.Image: Valerie Hammond Read the rest
Latonya Lark wrote on Facebook:My prior delimer... Mr Turtle was found at fault but he did not have insurance. He got escorted to the Wildlife reserve, I got stuck with the bill. So beware Savannah of flying turtle on the Truman Parkway. My brother almost lost his head. Besides my sugar going off the roof.. I am fine but disturbed..The Savannah NBC affiliate has some more details on the incident, which took place on Harry S. Truman Parkway near Montgomery Cross Road in Savannah. It's not clear how or why this turtle was airborne; and unfortunately, we won't have any answers soon — the turtle lost a leg in the incident, and passed away during treatment at Savannah Animal Care.Turtle smashes through Savannah driver’s windshield on Truman Parkway [Ashley Williams / WSAV] Read the rest
We’ve all been cooped up in the house for way too long. Even though we’re all trying to be more health-conscious these days, the confinement is likely doing a number on both the physical and psychological health of millions.Young or old, male or female, it’s time for many to take some proactive steps toward the sound and healthy mind and body that we all need. That wide-ranging focus on all aspects of healthy living is at the center of a universe of wellness programs found in the Shilpa Shetty Yoga and Fitness app.If you’ve never heard of Shilpa Shetty, then you aren’t a fan of Indian cinema. For the past 25 years, she’s been a huge Bollywood superstar, model, businesswoman, and fitness enthusiast. With the Shilpa Shetty app, she’s attempting to reach millions worldwide with a simple philosophy she’s made into a personal mantra and a household phrase in her native country: swasth raho mast raho, translated as stay healthy, stay happy.The app features customized, goal-based yoga and fitness routines mentored by experts and performed by Shilpa Shetty herself, all tailored to different audiences. Their goal: to help users lose weight, improve flexibility, strengthen core muscles, toned arms and legs, and more, all through easy, home-based workouts. If you’re suffering medically, there are also special aliment-based programs that focus on diabetes, low and high blood pressure, and sleep issues. There are even programs aimed at boosting your immunity system to help stave off illnesses.While most programs can show benefits for men and women, there are also several specially curated exercises just for women working through pregnancy, attempting post-pregnancy weight loss, or even combating menstrual pain. Read the rest
Lyndsay Tucker, 25, works at a beauty boutique in San Jose, California. Every day, her mobile phone rings or buzzes with texts, not for her but for Elon Musk. Tucker was randomly assigned Musk's old phone number that made its way online years ago and continues to spread. (It's not clear if Tucker's number is the one Musk accidentally Tweeted publicly back in 2017.) From Bobby Allyn's story on NPR:One woman volunteered to go to space with SpaceX. Another person sent a blueprint for a bionic limb. "Which is, No. 1, really cool," Tucker said. "But I have no idea how it's built."A South African businessman asked about buying 1,000 trucks. The Internal Revenue Service called about a complicated tax issue."I assumed I had messed something up," Tucker said about that call. "It was a huge relief they weren't looking for me."[...]NPR reached out to Musk to see whether he knew about his long-lost number. He replied with a short email."Wow," Musk said. "That number is so old! I'm surprised it's still out there somewhere."Some of those who texted Tucker said Musk himself provided the number to them. When NPR asked Musk whether he gave out that number to people he was trying to dodge, he did not respond. Read the rest
On January 4, 1910, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported on a wildly tragic incident that had occurred in Des Moines, Iowa.The strangest accident recorded in local history occurred here when Rhadamanthus, a duck which had taken prizes at the recent Iowa poultry show, exploded into several hundred pieces, one of which struck Silas Perkins in the eye, destroying his sight.The cause of Rhadamanthus' untimely explosion was a pan of yeast. This, standing upon Perkins' back porch, tempted the duck, which gobbled it all up. Upon returning from church, Mr. Perkins discovered his prize duck in a loggy condition. Tell-tale marks around the pan of yeast gave him a clew [sic] to the trouble.He was about to pick up the bird when it exploded with a loud report, and Perkins ran into the house, holding both hands over one eye. A surgeon was called, and it was found that the eyeball had been penetrated by a fragment of flying duck. He gave no hope that the sight could be saved.The Washington Post also reported on the incident several months earlier, noting that "A stiff northerly gale was blowing at the time and give dark brown duck feathers were wafted so far as Great Notch and fluttered into the open window of the smoker of that admirable Erie Railroad train." The Post also has a bit more detail on the late Rhadamanthus, who, they note, "was no ordinary or ornery duck." Rhadamanthus's grandfather, Nebuchadnezzar, was also renowned for this fortune-telling prowess. Read the rest
Four years ago I bought this inexpensive 8-inch Winco chef's knife. I'm still using it today, and it's my favorite kitchen knife. I like the heaviness of it, and it sharpens quickly and holds an edge for a long time. Read the rest
Simon Anthony is cohost of a sudoku YouTube channel called Cracking the Cryptic. In this video he solves a difficult sudoku puzzle with extra constraints. It's really fun to watch him solve it and get more excited as his sense of wonder grows ("This is like the universe is singing to us," he says as he begins to realize that it is solvable). I watching the whole 25-minute video.You're about to spend the next 25 minutes watching a guy solve a Sudoku.Not only that, but it's going to be the highlight of your day.https://t.co/gnuI31x0PT— Ben Orlin (@benorlin) May 17, 2020 Read the rest
A 69-year-old tai chi master ends up flat on his back, unconscious, after just 30 seconds into a competition (the action starts around 2 minutes into the video). His younger opponent, a former martial arts coach and amateur fighter, looks a little confused when he sees the master lying motionless on the ground. This embarrassing knockout might be what the master deserved.According to The South China Morning Post this was a “'kung foolery' moment." "Ma had made a name for himself on social media as he promoted what many observers called 'kung fu fakery.'"Ma had made a name for himself on social media as he promoted what many observers called “kung fu fakery”. And not long ago, he created a stir when he teased “stupid” mainland UFC strawweight champion Zhang Weili and even challenged her to a fight.Many observers have questioned Ma’s ability and the “fake kung fu going around” with “Mad Dog” MMA fighter Xu Xiaodong last year calling a tai chi “grandmaster” a fraud while vowing to expose “fake” martial arts. Read the rest
Russia: 'US attacks are untenable'A senior Russian official expressed support for the World Health Organization and Russia's ally China in an interview published Tuesday.On Monday, impeached U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to freeze WHO funding, and continued to push disproven conspiracy theories about the origins of the novel coronavirus in China. Tweets from Russian state media and from international media observing today's remarks, below.• PREVIOUSLY:The Lancet fact-checks Trump's letter to WHO and Dr. Tedros#BREAKING Russia slams US attempts to 'break' World Health Organization pic.twitter.com/csvTnNOG6a— AFP news agency (@AFP) May 19, 2020#UPDATE President Trump has threatened to pull the US out of the World Health Organization, saying it botched the global #coronavirus response and was a "puppet of China" -- prompting rebuke from Beijing which said Washington was "shirking responsibility" https://t.co/dXfCoAVeF1 pic.twitter.com/ulRRj8vhUj— AFP news agency (@AFP) May 19, 2020AFP: Russia slams US attempts to "break" World Health Organization amid pandemic— Patrick deHahn (@patrickdehahn) May 19, 2020#BREAKING | 'US attacks are untenable': Russia criticises Trump's threats against WHO https://t.co/wqPiafp8Ib#SputnikBreaking pic.twitter.com/l0e0JvSVLm— Sputnik (@SputnikInt) May 19, 2020Russia will oppose any "mock trial" of WHO, China over coronavirus, senate speaker says https://t.co/735igi0qLb— Newsweek (@Newsweek) May 19, 2020⚡️#Russia ?? has just been elected to the #WHO Executive Committee. We are ready for constructive work and substantive contribution to the work of the Organization and global cooperation in the field of health. pic.twitter.com/hmdl2Kqdu8— Russian Mission in Geneva (@mission_russian) May 19, 2020Permanent Representative of #Russia to @UNGeneva Gennady #Gatilov taking part in the opening of 73rd World Health Assembly #WHA73 pic.twitter.com/wq3TSYAYBm Read the rest