This summer, Curtis Whitson, his girlfriend, and 13-year-old son were hiking in Central California when they became stranded in a canyon near a waterfall with no way out. According to KSBW, "Whitson said he had rope to rappel down, but the river was running too swift and deep due to spring runoff. Backtracking was also not an option." Whitson found a green plastic water bottle, carved "HELP" in the side, put in a note, and tossed it over the waterfall. From CNN:Some time after midnight the trio was awakened by the sound of a California Highway Patrol helicopter overhead."This is Search and Rescue. You have been found," someone said over the loudspeaker.Whitson said he was told two men found the bottle with the family's note, floated down to the trailhead, then hiked a couple of miles and reached the campground where they alerted the camp host.That host told Whitson about the hikers, but added the two left before the rescue without giving their names. Read the rest

'To Be Taught, If Fortunate' Becky Chambers latest, set in the same universe as her Wayfarer series, revolves around one of my favorite 'time-travel' tropes, long space flights at near the speed of light.Augmented humanity is sent off to explore the stars, discover their secrets and report back to Earth-based humanity. During their long, long time away humanity has changed. What type of society will be there to welcome them back, or not? Have they been gone so long to have been forgotten?Becky Chambers writes the hopeful, charming and insightful fiction I want my daughter to read.To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers via AmazonPreviously:Becky Chambers' 'A Closed and Common Orbit' brought me to tears Read the rest

This pair of Indian ring-neck parakeets have a lot to say to each other.Image: YouTube Read the rest

I have to have this LEGO Snowspeeder kit from Empire Strikes Back. The snowspeeder is cool but oh, the minifigs!Lando Calrissian, Star Wars very own Fernando Lamas, is proudly offered with a Star Wars LEGO 20th Anniversary stand. Dax, one of the least appreciated Rebels, also is featured. Dax is the dude who successfully harpoons an AT-AT for Luke, then dies.The Snowspeeder was always a weird one to me. Why not just use the attack space craft? The AT-AT is useful in lots of places.LEGO Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back Snowspeeder – 20th Anniversary Edition 75259 Building Kit, New 2019 (309 Pieces) via Amazon Read the rest

david.li/paint is a spectacularly gloopy painting app online. You can set paint fluidity, bristle count and brush size, and of course pick any color you like. What I like about it (as opposed to pro apps like Corel Painter or Artrage that offer similar natural media simulations) is that it's just a loaded messy brush that doesn't make it easy or clean itself up for you. The limitations force you to work with it! Author David Li published the source code. Read the rest

Amazon has a good price on this ratcheting driver set: . It comes with 18 color-coded bits (slotted, phillips, and hex) and can be used in spots where there's only 1.4-inches of headroom. Read the rest

Since 1954, scientists have been using computers to search for three numbers that could be cubed and summed to equal 42. Every other possible number below 100 already had a known solution, but the solution for 42 wasn't found until recently. Here's Numberphile on the significance of this discovery.Previously: 42 is the sum of three cubes Read the rest

Only the very first version of Tetris, by Alexey Pajitnov and Vadim Gerasimov, doled out bricks at random. The result is a pure puzzle, but one with a high likelihood of frustrating (and even theoretically unplayable) sequences. Accordingly, developers have introduced bias and ratio management to balance short-term unpredictability with long-term playability. There's even a a history of Tetris Randomizers to enjoy, with code examples to show the various approaches.Here's the rule from Nintendo's definitive 1985 edition: To cut down on piece floods (repeating pieces) a history check was added to the randomizer. This simple check would,• choose a piece,• check if the piece was the same as the last,• If it was it would chose a new piece, but only once,• and whatever was the result, was the piece dealt.This still didn't fix the problem of piece droughts, which was solved by switching to virtual "bags" of pieces in 2001's Tetris Worlds, so the likelihood of getting a piece increases each time you don't get it, and vice versa, for each bag of pieces. But now it's rather easy to predict, so what next? Things get really complicated with Tetris: The Grand Master 3 - Terror-Instinct (2005).See also Bastet, a version of Tetris that simply calculates the worst possible piece for any given deal, and deals you it.My doubtless-unpopular opinion is that predictability is not only fine, but desirable. In fact, the sequence of pieces should be deterministic in competitive Tetris, in a way that a beginner can understand, that an average player can predict some of the time, that a master can predict most of the time. Read the rest

Anyone who’s visited France or who keeps track of the nation's doings through the news, knows that it’s a nation that’ll put up with a lot of bullshit -- being overrun by tourists, loud talkers, or smiling at strangers -- provided said bullshit doesn’t infringe on the quality of its citizens' lives. The Paris government is arguing that excessively loud vehicles falls on the infringement list. At first blush, it looks like they're trying to do something about it.From Engadget:Parisians with powerful cars might want to think carefully before showing off their rides. Parts of the city (most recently the suburb of Villeneuve-le-Roi) are testing a "noise radar" system from Bruitparif that can pinpoint loud vehicles and, eventually, ticket them. The system uses four microphones to triangulate the origins of a sound and link it with CCTV footage to pinpoint whoever's making the racket.Just shy of 40 of the devices are in use so far, primarily near bars in Paris' entertainment regions as well as 17 around major buildings.It sounds like a great idea, but I suspect that there might be something greasy going on here. The technology being put into use sounds suspiciously similar to the gunshot locator systems manufactured by ShotSpotter and a few other tech firms. ShotSpotter’s website provides a basic lesson on how the technology works:Acoustic sensors are strategically placed in a coverage area. When a gun is fired, the sensors detect shots fired. Audio triangulation pinpoints gunfire location and machine-learning algorithms analyze the sound. Read the rest

One of the world's great single-panel cartoonists, Gahan Wilson, is ailing and needs support for his care. His wife Nancy passed away in March, and his son-in-law has set up a GoFundMe, to which I contributed. Gahan drew wryly macabre cartoons for National Lampoon and Playboy (for over 50 years!) Even though he is showing signs of dementia, he still continues to draw cartoons:Take a look at some of the terrific cartoons he drew over his long career. Read the rest

Charmingly simple, and simply charming, Co Hoedeman's stop-motion short, "Matrioska," (1970) gives life and humor to eight wooden nesting dolls. I couldn't help smiling at a few parts of the film.[via The Kid Should See This] Read the rest

Trabzon is a northeastern province of Turkey. You'll find a lot of light industry there: small farmers, plantations growing tea and craftsman. It also happens to be home to some of the most sought-after honey in the world.Ibrahim Sedef, is a beekeeper who, along with his bees, works in the region, producing Anzer honey. It's aromatic stuff and is wildly believed to have curative powers—your healthcare mileage may vary. People love Sedef's honey. Unfortunately, so do a bunch of local bears.Sedef tried a number of solutions to keep the animals away from his beehives: he locked the hives up for the night. He secured his home against the animals breaking in. He even left out sweet fruit and baked goods for the bears to draw them away from his products. No dice. Over three years, he lost over $10,000 in profits. At this point, a lot of folks may have turned to having the animals killed, in order to protect their profits. Not Sedef: he enlisted the furry brutes to do a bit of taste testing for him, instead.Image via Flickr, courtesy of Beverly Read the rest

There's a Happy Mutant reality hacker on the loose in Berkeley, California... affixing "mysterious medallions" on the city's sidewalks.Berkeleyside reports:There is a person out there with a sly sense of humor, a way with words, a working knowledge of Berkeley history and a desire to impart pithy observations.He or she or they has been going around town the past few months affixing round metal medallions with clever sayings to sidewalks around Central Berkeley...No one seems to know the creator’s identity, even though the question has been posed on Facebook and Twitter and even on Tom Dalzell’s Quirky Berkeley website.“These days, just everybody – tout le monde – is talking about the mysterious medallions that are appearing in Berkeley’s sidewalks,” Dalzell wrote. “You read about them in Berkeleyside, you see them on Twitter, your hip friends are talking about them. “Plaque” might be a better word for what these are, but medallion gives us alliteration with mysterious.”images via a friend Read the rest

Future Punk did an incredible job making these alternate history commercials imaging iPhones from the 1980s and 1990s.Image: Future Punk/YouTube Read the rest

For years, it was just about impossible to see a film that Ed Norton didn't have something to do with. Then, just like Kaiser Soze, poof, he was gone. Except now he's back! Given that Norton will wrote, directed and is staring in Motherless Brooklyn, his absence from the big screen is totally understandable—that's a lot of work to shoulder. Bruce Willis, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, with Alec Baldwin and Willem Dafoe are on board to help bring this Jonathan Lethem's gem of a neo-pulp thriller to life. Read the rest

• RBG was treated for cancer at Sloan-Kettering.• Disease activity found on her pancreas.• Further tests showed no evidence of disease elsewhere in her body.The U.S. Supreme Court disclosed on Friday that Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, lovingly known to fans as “RBG,” has just completed three weeks of radiation treatment at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York.A statement from the court said that RBG's radiation therapy was conducted on an outpatient basis starting on August 5, shortly after a localized cancerous tumor was found on her pancreas. The treatment included the insertion of a stent in Ginsburg's bile duct."Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg today completed a three-week course of stereotactic ablative radiation therapy at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City," a statement from the Supreme Court read. "The focused radiation treatment began on August 5 and was administered on an outpatient basis to treat a tumor on her pancreas. The abnormality was first detected after a routine blood test in early July, and a biopsy performed on July 31 at Sloan Kettering confirmed a localized malignant tumor."As part of her treatment, a bile duct stent was placed. The Justice tolerated treatment well. She cancelled her annual summer visit to Santa Fe, but has otherwise maintained an active schedule. The tumor was treated definitively and there is no evidence of disease elsewhere in the body. Justice Ginsburg will continue to have periodic blood tests and scans. No further treatment is needed at this time."From NPR News:Doctors at Sloan Kettering said further tests showed no evidence of disease elsewhere in the body. Read the rest

America. Land of the free, home of the giant asshole. In this case: Marysville, Michigan city council candidate Jean Cramer.USA Today:“Keep Marysville a white community as much as possible,” said Cramer, one of five candidates vying for three open council seats in November.Cramer and the candidates were asked, “Do you believe the diversity of our community needs to be looked at, and if so, should we be more aggressive in attracting foreign-born citizens?”It’d come more than an hour into the forum, and Radio First Station Manager Scott Shigley, who moderated the event, had cited population growth across the Great Lakes region between 2000 and 2015, half of which he said were foreign-born residents.Cramer’s response, however, was the first of the group, and a brief guffaw fell over the council meeting room at City Hall before forum attendees heard from the other candidates. Read the rest

A successful program in Santa Monica, California is simply helping folks who need help.LAist: Read the rest

You can back up a lot of photos, songs, and documents with this 256GB USB 3.1 Flash Drive from Samsung. According to the manufacturer they are "water proof, shock proof, magnet proof, temperature proof, and x-ray proof." Amazon has them on sale right now for Read the rest

When two plain-clothes police officers approached a woman smoking a joint at the Gothenburg Cultural Festival in Sweden, they noticed a fellow sitting nearby toss what they say was a bag of weed. As they were moving in for the bust, a seagull snatched the bag and flew away. While the police were distracted by the bird, the man reportedly took off. “What the policemen did not expect was that a third party would interfere,” explained police spokesperson Stefan Gustafsson.My hope is that the man and the seagull were in cahoots.(The Leaf Desk)image: Ring-billed Gull photographed by Jiyang Chen (CC BY-SA 3.0) Read the rest

I played this once. I am crying. One of the greatest moments in television. Read the rest

The following email was sent today to the MIT community by President L. Rafael Reif.To the members of the MIT community,I expect you know that the late Jeffrey Epstein cultivated relationships with and supplied funding to leading researchers at several institutions, including MIT.I write to share some background on the gifts MIT received, to outline our next steps as an institution and to offer an apology.Here are the core facts, as best as we can determine: Over the course of 20 years, MIT received approximately $800,000 via foundations controlled by Jeffrey Epstein. All of those gifts went either to the MIT Media Lab or to Professor Seth Lloyd. Both Seth and Media Lab Director Joi Ito have made public statements apologizing to Jeffrey Epstein's victims and others for judgments made over a series of years.You may read their statements here and here. I appreciate their efforts to take individual responsibility for their past decisions.However, I believe the situation also requires a broader and deeper institutional response.MIT offers faculty great freedom in conducting and building support for their research; that freedom is and always will be a precious value of our community. Yet it is important to understand that faculty are not “on their own”; their decisions about gifts are always subject to longstanding Institute processes and principles. To my great regret, despite following the processes that have served MIT well for many years, in this instance we made a mistake of judgment.In response, I have asked Provost Marty Schmidt to convene a group to examine the facts around the Epstein donations and identify any lessons for the future, to review our current processes and to advise me on appropriate ways we might improve them. Read the rest

David Folkenflik of NPR News has a report today about how Jeffrey Epstein terrorized members of the press who sought to report on his activity, alternating between attempting to intimidate or buy off the media. One significant episode involved Vanity Fair, under former editor in chief Graydon Carter (pictured here). The sexual predator and accused global sex trafficker's methods included a severed cat's head, and a bullet on a doorstep.Vanity Fair under Graydon Carter was working on a story about Jeffrey Epstein's long-whispered-about sexual predation of young women and girls. Jeffrey Epstein found out, and wanted the story dead, so he applied various forms of pressure."He was torturing Graydon," says John Connolly, who was at the time a Vanity Fair contributing editor reporting on crime and scandal:Soon after publication, Connolly says, Carter called to share an ominous development: a bullet placed right outside his front door at his Manhattan home."That wasn't a coincidence," Connolly says.Even in the absence of any evidence Epstein was involved, Connolly says both Carter and he considered the bullet a clear warning from Epstein. Another former colleague, who spoke on condition of anonymity, recalls receiving an anguished call from Carter linking the bullet to Epstein. (NPR asked Carter repeatedly over the course of a week for his recollections of the bullet incident along with other elements presented here. After this story was broadcast and posted, his spokeswoman wrote to say Carter recalled the bullet appearing in 2004, not 2003.)In 2006, federal authorities compiled accusations against Epstein in Florida. Read the rest

Starting next year you won't be able to board a plane without REAL ID.

On Sunday, workers at a Safeway supermarket in King County, Washington found 48 pounds of cocaine hidden inside banana boxes stacked in the stockroom."This is an ongoing investigation as detectives try to determine where the bananas came from," the King Country Sheriff posted to Facebook. "Cocaine was also found inside similar produce containers in Safeway stores in Bellingham, and Federal Way."Once they peel back the layers, I'm sure they'll find that a smuggler really slipped up. I bet the buyer will be pissed when the sellers can't produce the goods. Man, I really crack myself up.(UPI) Read the rest

From the far-out folks at Flavor Paper comes Cannabliss, a subtly psychedelic scratch-and-sniff wallpaper that smells like weed. They write:We have nailed a very pleasant yet dank scent that is made from true flowering hemp terpenes to ensure we’re keeping it real. CBD for your eyes and ol factory. Dope.As Alex writes at Weird Universe, "Most of the people who will buy this already have rooms that smell like marijuana." Read the rest

No surprises in Jeffrey Epstein's social media accounts.His Spotify playlists included Louis C.K. and songs like 'Before You Accuse Me' and 'Hot for Teacher.'His Pinterest includes Peter Pan and Humpty Dumpty imagery for children's bedrooms, next to Roman and Greek “power dude” interior design images. Business Insider tracked the sex offender's public accounts down: “His tastes varied from Gospel music to Broadway show tunes to tracks by the disgraced comic Louis C.K. One of his playlists shares the name of the 24-year-old daughter of his ex-girlfriend.”A 2017 Supreme Court ruling allowed registered sex offenders to use social media. Before Trump, they were prohibited. In New York, where Epstein had one of his 4 or more (?) homes, sex offenders have to report social media accounts for the state sex offender registry.Excerpt:The contents of Epstein's public Spotify account, recently identified by Business Insider, gesture in a similar direction. They illustrate a wildly varied taste in music, from Beethoven to Elton John and Pitbull to Celine Dion. They also suggest a preference for hard-rock songs from the 1970s that emphasized male sexual conquest, as well as the odd song about sexual attraction between children and adults — Van Halen's "Hot for Teacher" and an Oscar Peterson performance of "My Heart Belongs to Daddy."Meanwhile, a Pinterest page includes a painting of Peter Pan, the boy who never grows up and leads a young girl and her siblings out of their home.Business Insider found three of Epstein's online accounts after reviewing his correspondence with the Florida probation officers who supervised his release in 2009 after serving 13 months in jail on charges that included soliciting a minor for prostitution. Read the rest

Just another day living under our very normal white supremacist government. Justice Department officials reportedly emailed immigration judges a white nationalist blog post that included various attacks on Jewish people.The National Association of Immigration Judges, the Justice Department’s Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR), emailed court employees the url for a VDare post in its morning news briefing earlier this week. VDare is a notorious white supremacist website. Anti-Jewish, Anti-Black, Anti-Latinx. The post included anti-Semitic attacks on sitting immigration judges. Couldn't be any more direct.The briefings are sent to court employees every weekday and include links to various immigration news items. BuzzFeed News confirmed the link to a blog post was sent to immigration court employees Monday. The post detailed a recent move by the Justice Department to decertify the immigration judge’s union.A letter Thursday from union chief Ashley Tabaddor to James McHenry, the director of the Justice Department’s EOIR, said the link to the VDare post angered many judges.“The post features links and content that directly attacks sitting immigration judges with racial and ethnically tinged slurs and the label ‘Kritarch.’ The reference to Kritarch in a negative tone is deeply offensive and Anti-Semitic,” wrote Tabaddor. The VDare post includes pictures of judges with the term “kritarch” preceding their names.Tabaddor said the term Kritarchy is a reference to ancient Israel during a time of rule by a system of judges.The Justice Department Sent Immigration Judges A White Nationalist Blog Post With Anti-Semitic Attacks[via TomNamako, Haleaziz] Read the rest

Joe Strummer was born on August 21, 1952 in Ankara, Turkey. The music he made in his 50 years on this rock changed damned near everything, speaking of rebellion, love and everything in between. He would have been 67 years old today. From all reports Joe wasn't a huge fan of being interviewed and man, I'm pretty sure that he wasn't thrilled with being interviewed by this fella. Despite constant being talked over, baiting, uninformed questions that no one should have to answer and a number of awkward silences, he managed to make it through this 22 minute interview with grace, calm and dignity. I'm not sure I would have been able to manage it, were I in his shoes. Watching this makes me love him, all the more.Happy birthday, Joe. Wish you were here.Image via Flickr, courtesy of John Joe Coffey Read the rest

The Sentinelese are one of the world's last "uncontacted" indigenous peoples, a hunter-gatherer tribe who live on the remote North Sentinel Island in India's Andaman Islands chain. You may recall that last November, a missionary named John Allen Chau, 26, obsessed with trying to convert the tribe to Christianity, paid local fishermen to help him get near the island. As soon as he illegally landed his canoe on the shore and started preaching, the Sentinelese fired arrows. He escaped with injuries but returned twice later and was eventually killed. In a long and fascinating GQ feature, Doug Bock Clark tells the whole tale. From GQ:From his kayak, Chau yelled in English: “My name is John. I love you, and Jesus loves you. Jesus Christ gave me authority to come to you.” Then, offering a tuna most likely caught by the fishermen on the journey to the island, Chau declared: “Here is some fish!” In response, the Sentinelese socketed bamboo arrows onto bark-fiber bowstrings. Chau panicked. He flung the gift into the bay. As the tribesmen gathered it, he turned and paddled “like I never have in my life, back to the boat.”By the time he reached safety, though, his fear was already turning to disappointment. He swore to himself that he would return later that day. He had, after all, been planning for this moment since high school. It was his divine calling, he believed, to save the lost souls of North Sentinel Island.And from GQ's summary of the article:The tribe had for centuries lived in isolation there free of disease, modern technology, and Western religion, ideals, and systems. Read the rest

Rabbits love getting stroked on their nose pic.twitter.com/aYOZGAY6kP— Dan Quintana (@dsquintana) August 18, 2019 His name is Mischief. (CNN) Read the rest

He's gainin' on you so you better look alive.He's busy revvin' up the powerful Mach 5. And when the odds are against himAnd there's dangerous work to doYou bet your life Speed RacerWill see it through.I'd rather base one off of a 308 GTS, tho. Read the rest

My friend gave me a bass guitar she didn't want any more because she was moving. It's a great bass but I don't have a way to store it. I just saw this great deal for a wall-mount guitar holder for just on Amazon, with free shipping. I doubt this deal will last. Read the rest

The World Health Organization (WHO) issued a new report titled "Microplastics in drinking-water" (124-page PDF) “Based on the limited information we have, microplastics in drinking water don’t appear to pose a health risk at current levels," said Dr. Maria Neira, Director, Department of Public Health, Environment and Social Determinants of Health, at WHO. "But we need to find out more. We also need to stop the rise in plastic pollution worldwide.”From WHO's press release:Further research is needed to obtain a more accurate assessment of exposure to microplastics and their potential impacts on human health. These include developing standard methods for measuring microplastic particles in water; more studies on the sources and occurrence of microplastics in fresh water; and the efficacy of different treatment processes.WHO recommends drinking-water suppliers and regulators prioritize removing microbial pathogens and chemicals that are known risks to human health, such as those causing deadly diarrhoeal diseases. This has a double advantage: wastewater and drinking-water treatment systems that treat faecal content and chemicals are also effective in removing microplastics.Wastewater treatment can remove more than 90% of microplastics from wastewater, with the highest removal coming from tertiary treatment such as filtration. Conventional drinking-water treatment can remove particles smaller than a micrometre. A significant proportion of the global population currently does not benefit from adequate water and sewage treatment. By addressing the problem of human exposure to faecally contaminated water, communities can simultaneously address the concern related to microplastics.Image: Oregon State University/Flickr. Read the rest

This clear sticker is made from a material that instantly sheds water. Why don't car manufacturers pre-treat the side view mirrors, and all the glass on cars for that matter, with this stuff? I suspect the effect wears off over time. Has anyone had experience with these?Rainproof car mirror stickerImage: Imgur Read the rest

In the absence of any regulation or meaningful action by the federal government to tackle the persistent and annoying scourge of robocalls, twelve of America's largest phone companies on Thursday agreed to implement new technology that helps block robocalls as part of an agreement between telecoms and 51 attorneys general.Across the country, illegal spam calls rang phones an estimated 4.7 billion times in July alone.Oddly enough, just as I was typing this blog post, I got one myself! A robocall on my mobile phone warning me that authorities “have an arrest warrant out for you.” The robocall suggested I please hold to claim my arrest warrant. Hey, even if it was legit, either way, it seemed unwise.From the Washington Post's Tony Romm:Under the agreement, the 12 carriers have agreed to implement call-blocking technology, make anti-robocall tools available for free to consumers and deploy a new system that would label calls as real or spam. Known by its acronym, STIR/SHAKEN, the technology takes aim at a practice known as spoofing, where fraudsters mask their identities by using phone numbers that resemble those that they’re trying to contact in a bid to get victims to pick up and surrender their personal information.Signing the pledge are larger mobile carriers, such as AT&T, Comcast, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon, which already have said they would implement such robocall protections and in some cases have started testing them around the country. Other carriers adopting the pledge include Bandwidth, CenturyLink, Charter, Consolidated, Frontier, U.S. Read the rest

The Justice Department today announced indictments for 80 individuals on charges they ran a massive business email and money laundering scam that operated in part out of Southern California.DoJ's 145-page indictment was unsealed Thursday, and charges 80 named individuals with conspiracy to commit mail and bank fraud, plus aggravated identity theft and money laundering.More than a dozen individuals were arrested during raids on Thursday, most of which took place in the greater Los Angeles area. News of the early-morning Southern California raids on Thursday were first reported by LA's ABC7 News.Zack Whittaker at TechCrunch:But it’s not immediately known if the Nigerian nationals will be extradited to the U.S., however a treaty exists between the two nations making extraditions possible.U.S. Attorney Nicola Hanna said the case was part of an ongoing effort to protect citizens and businesses from email scams.“Today, we have taken a major step to disrupt criminal networks that use [business email scam] schemes, romance scams and other frauds to fleece victims,” he said. “This indictment sends a message that we will identify perpetrators — no matter where they reside — and we will cut off the flow of ill-gotten gains.”These business email compromise scams rely partly on deception and in some cases hacking. Scammers send specially crafted spearphishing emails to their targets in order to trick them into turning over sensitive information about the company, such as sending employee W-2 tax documents so scammers can generate fraudulent refunds, or tricking an employee into making wire transfers to bank accounts controlled by the scammers. Read the rest

Tom Hegen (previously) is a photographer who specializes in aerial photography of landscapes, often with a focus on mass industrial activity that reshapes the natural world. His latest work is a series of photos of sea-salt production flats, where seawater is flowed into huge ponds to evaporate.During the process, bacteria forms and changes the color of the ponds -- and seen from above through Hegen's lens, they look like super weird organic Mondrian paintings. It definitely makes you ponder anew how we meatbag humans terraform the planet, as Hegen notes in this interview with Fubiz:I am interested in the concept of the Anthropocene. It is a term used by scientists suggesting that humans, in the recent centuries, have become one of the most important factors influencing the biological, geological and atmospheric processes on Earth. Some of the most significant changes in the Anthropocene include climate change, the ozone hole in the Antarctic, rapidly rising sea levels, and landscape changes caused by river shifts or the degradation of raw materials.In my photography, I explore the origin and scale of that idea to understand the dimensions of humans' intervention in natural spaces and to direct attention toward how we can take responsibility. There are many untold stories on this subject, and I would like to keep the focus on the overall topic of the relationship between people and nature.Tons more photos on Hegen's Instagram, and here's a short video showing his process:A few more pictures from Hegen's series ... Read the rest

Dress codes have long been used as a bullshit method of applying racism. A Portland man is suing a restaurant for just that.Oregon Live:An African American man has filed a $500,000 lawsuit against one of the owners of a Pearl District bar, claiming he was prevented from stepping foot inside because he was wearing “too many” chain necklaces.Ray Lamont Peterson, 34, claims that was just a pretext for keeping the bar predominantly white.Peterson’s lawsuit claims that Chris Lenahan, one of the owners of Splash Bar, would use a radio to tell security staff to start “arbitrarily enforcing a dress code against African Americans” when he thought the composition of customers was getting “too dark” at any given time. The suit claims that Lenahan referred to black patrons by using racist terms.Lenahan has had other problems in Portland. The Root shares more:Peterson’s lawsuit has merit, considering Lenahan recently reached an undisclosed settlement with another black man, Sam Thompson, for a similar incident at another one of Lenahan’s properties, which occurred in May 2017. In that instance, however, Thompson was prohibited from entering due to his attire being mistaken for gang affiliation.“In Portland, there’s not a lot of overt racism—it’s not a city where you run around and you get called the n-word,” Thompson told Oregon Live. “It’s more a place where systems and policies are in place that create that divide.”Adding further credence to Peterson’s claims are the eye-opening depositions that former employees of Lenahan provided in Thompson’s lawsuit. Read the rest

I have offered plenty of advice on caring for your cast iron cookware. Stop seasoning it in the house, use your BBQ.Seasoning this stuff in the oven (my favorite old way,) or on the stove smokes your house up. Just throw the shit on the grill.Super thinly put a coat of oil on your cast iron piece.Put the cast iron piece on the grill.Heat the grill up, let it run until the cast iron piece has stopped smoking.Turn off grill and let cool down.Repeat.I was able to perfectly season a set of cast iron Pie Irons with no problem. Read the rest

Accidents happen. And when they do, you're going to want a dash cam for a second pair of eyes. At the minimum, a decent dash cam can save you vast sums of time and money in case of an accident. But a really good dash cam can do a whole lot more. Here are six of our favorites.U-Drive: DVR Dash Cam with Night VisionWith 1280 x 720 high-resolution video, this affordable cam boasts surprisingly clear images. And that's not just true during rush hour: 6 infrared LEDs activate after hours, providing night vision video that records automatically whenever your car is on the road. You can get the U-Drive: DVR Dash Cam with Night Vision for $19.99, down from the previous sale price of $24 and half off the original cost.Papago GoSafe 366 Dash CamEven when your car is parked, the 366 has you covered from multiple angles. It records HD video in front and rear views, and you can easily view the footage on any phone with a Wi-Fi connection. The Papago GoSafe 366 Dash Cam is on sale for $249.99, a 16% break off the list price.GoSafe S780 Dash Cam with Sony Image SensorThe S780 comes with a sensor that automatically adjusts to compensate for low light levels, and also toggles between front and rear views if the car goes into reverse. Combine that with a stunning 150º field of view in the front - and 180º in the back - and you won't miss a thing. Read the rest

Peregrine falcons are the dive bombers of the natural world, flying at speeds over 200 mph to snag their prey. From KQED Deep Look:While known for being the world’s fastest bird–peregrines have been clocked at diving more than 200 miles per hour–these majestic birds were at risk for going extinct 50 years ago. Widespread use of pesticides such as DDT decimated native populations of peregrine falcons. By 1970, California’s peregrine population had dwindled to only two known nesting pairs statewide. The federal government banned DDT in 1972. And successful restoration efforts spearheaded by organizations like The Peregrine Fund helped revive their numbers. By 1999, they were removed from the federal Endangered Species List. Recent surveys estimate that there are now 300 to 350 nesting pairs in California and more than 2400 pairs nationwide. Read the rest

US interior secretary David Bernhardt is pushing a fossil fuel project that the lobbying firm he used to work for is getting paid from, these e-mails in a Guardian report today suggest.Bernhardt worked at the Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck before he quit to join the Trump administration in August 2017. At the lobbying firm, Bernhardt represented oil companies. Here's an excerpt from one of the leaked emails.Excerpt:Experts say Bernhardt is probably violating ethics guidelines issued by the Trump administration with the stated goal of “draining the swamp”. Based on these rules, Bernhardt should be recused from specific issues involving a former client for at least two years.The Jordan Cove Energy Project was proposed by the Canadian energy giant Pembina to transport fracked natural gas through Oregon to the international port at Coos Bay in the state. It would include a new 232-mile pipeline that passes through several dozen miles of interior department land.Several county commissioners from Colorado, where much of the gas is fracked, met with Bernhardt in Washington DC to boost the project in March. They included Mike Samson, Bernhardt’s former high school teacher.“Awesome time in DC he is totally behind the project and has people working on it towards completion,” Samson wrote concerning Bernhardt in a 7 March email to Ray Bucheger, a Jordan Cove lobbyist with the firm FBB Federal Relations. “He recognizes that time is of the essence and that meaningful progress needs to [be] made this year.”Revealed: emails raise ethical questions over Trump official's role in gas project [the Guardian, photo of David Bernhardt: Shutterstock] Read the rest

Google DeepMind co-founder Mustafa Suleyman has been placed on leave from the applied artificial intelligence lab he ran. No reason was given.Suleyman led a much-criticized unit that focused on applied AI and healthcare. Bloomberg's Giles Turner and Mark Bergen report:Mustafa Suleyman runs DeepMind’s “applied” division, which seeks practical uses for the lab’s research in health, energy and other fields. Suleyman is also a key public face for DeepMind, speaking to officials and at events about the promise of AI and the ethical guardrails needed to limit malicious use of the technology.[PHOTO: Foto: DeepMind DeepMind co-founder, Mustafa Suleyman - SHUTTERSTOCK]Mustafa Suleyman, cofounder of Google-owned AI lab DeepMind, has been placed on leave after controversy over some of the projects he led. https://t.co/jGDoojuxQj— Rob Price (@robaeprice) August 21, 2019This is extremely odd. Mustafa *is* DeepMind https://t.co/8CM56FTJKq— Olivia Solon (@oliviasolon) August 21, 2019 Read the rest

Contractors working for Microsoft say they listened to audio captured by Xbox consoles

A couple was flying a small plane at 6pm last night when they lost power and crashed near Northern California's Half Moon Bay. They skidded across water and amazingly escaped without injuries. They even managed to take some video of themselves while waiting for their rescue helicopter.According to NBC:The plane was one of two reported to be flying together in the area, and the pilot of the second plane reported the crash to air traffic control....NBC Bay Area reported that the pilot, whom it identified as David Lesh, was able to skip the plane along the surface of the water during the incident. A friend was in the other plane, according to the station.Unbelievable video from pilot David Lesh, of the moment they see @USCGPacificSW come in for the rescue. His friend was flying near them when they crashed, circled around, and was able to guide USCG to their location. pic.twitter.com/SPdsuJpLpY— Ian Cull (@NBCian) August 21, 2019 Image: YouTube Read the rest

A month after DoorDash promised to give workers the tips that customers leave for them, the company is still withholding them, reports Vox.At the time, CEO Tony Xu announced in a series of tweets that DoorDash would institute a new model to ensure workers’ earnings would “increase by the exact amount a customer tips on every order.” Xu promised to provide “specific details in the coming days.” The next day, Xu sent out a note to DoorDash workers, broadly outlining changes and letting them know “what to expect in the days ahead.”But 27 days later, current DoorDash workers tell Recode that the company’s pay and tipping policies have stayed the same. The company has not made any public statements about its worker pay and how it plans to institute the changes, nor has it offered a specific date when it will fulfill its promise.Image of dollar bill: Public Domain, Link Read the rest

Last week, Jimmy Kimmel joked about running for mayor of Dildo, a tiny unincorporated town in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, and even built a Hollywood-style sign on a nearby hill. Then, sex toy company Our Pleasure ran a promotional video featuring their dildos in front of Dildo landmarks. Enough is enough, say residents. Townspeople have started a petition urging Our Pleasure to cease and desist. From UPI:"If they had just casually mentioned the name on their site and didn't go to that extreme, we wouldn't have had a problem, but they went too far with this," (Dildo local service district committee member Andrew Pretty) said. "That's not what the town is about at all."Pretty said some residents have tried reaching out to Our Pleasure, but their concerns were dismissed. He said people are particularly upset that the company was taking photos of sex toys outdoors in daylight hours...Cathy Daniels, owner of Our Pleasure, said the company was careful to make sure no one was around when the photos were taken."In our industry, we're very sex-positive. But still, it's still a very taboo topic to talk about it," she said. "So, for us, for Dildo to be [in the media], although they were talking about the community, they were also talking about the object." Read the rest

Last week, the Modern Monetary Theory Podcast ran part 1 of my interview with co-host Christian Reilly; they've just published the second and final half of our chat (MP3), where we talk about the link between corruption and monopoly, how to pitch monetary theory to people who want to abolish money altogether, and how stories shape the future. If you're new to MMT, here's my brief summary of its underlying premises: "Governments spend money into existence and tax it out of existence, and government deficit spending is only inflationary if it's bidding against the private sector for goods or services, which means that the government could guarantee every unemployed person a job (say, working on the Green New Deal), and which also means that every unemployed person and every unfilled social services role is a political choice, not an economic necessity." Read the rest

Ted Suhl was serving his third year of a seven-year sentence for bribery and Medicaid fraud when Trump commuted his sentence and sprung him, at the request of Mike Huckabee; the White House released a statement explaining Trump's reasoning for the commutation, and, as Propublica documents, it is full of "half-truths and omissions" about Trump's new grifter pal. Propublica did the hard work of annotating the Trump statement to remove the bullshit and tell the true tale. Read the rest