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Updated 2024-12-21 12:17
Supreme Court strikes down abortion restrictions in 5-4 ruling
The Supreme Court today struck down Louisiana's restrictions on abortion, with Chief Justice John Roberts joining the liberals to form a 5-4 majority. Roberts wrote that the case is nearly identical to one decided recently that struck down Texas's restrictions. Though he dissented in that case, stare decisis.Breyer writes the lead opinion for the four liberal justices. Roberts concurs in the judgment on grounds of stare decisis, finding that Whole Woman's Health (from which he dissented) obviously controls. Here is Roberts' kicker. https://t.co/QGBYA7716K pic.twitter.com/QAYFPcbTll— Mark Joseph Stern (@mjs_DC) June 29, 2020The laws required doctors who perform abortions to have admitting privileges at a local hospital. Today's ruling appears to firmly end its use as a device to restrict abortion rights.Boy they are gonna absolutely lose it at Roberts.— Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) June 29, 2020 Read the rest
St Louis couple point guns at peaceful protestors on street by mansion
The photos show an angry white couple, barefoot on the lawn of their mansion, pointing guns at predominantly black protestors marching on the sidewalk and street nearby. In an age of reputation-ruining mistakes, this one – the man and woman are well-known in their community – might have more profound consequences.A couple has come out of their house and is pointing guns at protesters in their neighborhood #StLouis #lydakrewson pic.twitter.com/ZJ8a553PAU— Daniel Shular (@xshularx) June 29, 2020The mansion is in a gated community, but the street is not the mansion owners' property. Moreover, people who threaten others with guns in Missouri, even trespassers, are often charged with crimes. The Black Lives Matter march took that route, according to reports, because protestors were calling upon the city's mayor to resign and she lives nearby.An armed couple came out of their house and pointed guns toward BLM protesters in the Central West End #KrewsonResign #CloseTheWorkhouse #DefundPolice pic.twitter.com/owD4WDGVCL— Laurie Skrivan (@LaurieSkrivan) June 29, 2020Laurie Skrivan of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch covered the march and a small part of her definitive shot is cropped above. I think Laurie should win a Pulitzer: a crazed, bug-eyed white lady, saturday night special in-hand, shrieking at protesting black people getting too close to her mansion as her khaki-encased husband lurks in the background with a semi-automatic rifle. (It also takes real courage to point a long lens at people behaving like this.)Truly (via Twitter) the stuff of nightmares: Read the rest
I repainted a zombie gnome to see what it would look like and now I have a cowering gnome
Our zombie gnome was completely faded gray by the sun. I decided to repaint him "normally" to see what it would look like, and was enchanted by the cowering, fearful result. I placed him at a prominent place in the front yard that makes it impossible for passers-by not to chance across him. Read the rest
Bank card makes it easier for trans and non-binary people to display their true names
You'll rarely find me singing the praises of any major financial institution, but the new True Name Card from Mastercard does seem like a thoughtful way to catch up with reality:For many in the LGBTQIA+ community, the name on their credit, debit or prepaid card does not reflect their true identity. As a result, for the transgender and nonbinary community, the card in their pocket can serve as a source of sensitivity, misrepresenting their true identity when shopping and going about daily life.Mastercard is making a commitment to address this challenge by introducing the True Name™ feature. We are working with partners to bring products to market that will allow for chosen names to appear on the front of cards, helping ease a major pain point for the transgender and nonbinary community.BMO Harris Bank is the first partner to make this feature available on their consumer debit and credit cards as well as on their small business debit and credit cards.That partner bank, BMO Harris, adds in its own statement that, "Research shows one-third of individuals whose ID has a name that doesn’t match their gender presentation experience harassment and denial of service."While it's frustratingly remarkable that, "Respecting people by calling them whatever they'd like to be called" remains a controversial stance, it's still nice to see otherwise-amoral institutions putting in these small efforts to be more humanist and empathetic.True Name™ by MastercardInclusivity comes to credit cards: Mastercard creates ‘True Name’ for transgender, non-binary customers [Hannah Denman / The Washington Post] Read the rest
Trump tweets video of supporter yelling "white power"
To distract from news that he was sitting on intelligence that the Russian military had posted a bounty on U.S. and U.K. soldiers, Trump tweeted a video of one of this supporters yelling "white power". He left it up for several hours, then deleted the tweet, claiming that he "did not hear the one statement made on the video" while continuing to praise the "tremendous enthusiasm from his many supporters." Read the rest
Watching these Maker Mind Meld Masterclass videos will have you ready to create
The masterclass concept is a simple one — get a foremost expert in their field to sit down and verbally walk through their area of expertise with a room full of eager young learners. It’s a sound practice...because how better to learn the true tricks of the trade than from an absolute stone-cold master of their craft?Many tinkerers in the maker culture are in particular need of that guidance. With so many directions to take in DIY engineering and electronics, it’s easy to get lost or miss some simple, yet meaningful ideas. Last year, the 1st Maker Mind Meld Virtual Summit brought together 22 expert Makers to talk about how they turn electronics, software, wood, and plastic into entirely new creations.If you’re interested in building and solving problems, but missed the summit, The Maker Mind Meld Masterclass is truly the next best thing.This collection features the video presentations made by all 22 Maker Mind Meld experts, each focused on sharing their best advice and top strategies to help you become a better maker. Summit host and organizer Dr. Peter Dalmaris speaks with each expert as they explore their individual tech passions, including CSEduino, micro:bit. JSON, Internet of Things, and more.Over more than 30 hours, you’ll go deep on everything, from electrical engineer Jon Evans talking about getting involved in open source projects, to creative technologist Gil Posnanski discussing why Making is important to humanity, to instructor Richard Park on how to teach IoT concepts.Meanwhile, there are also several sessions that play more like how-to lessons for Making something cool of your own, including how Maker Mark Wilson created an Arduino version of the classic Flip clock or how engineer Karsten Schulz made a computer processor with a B4 kit. Read the rest
Wife trolls husband for a month with Alanis Morissette's "Jagged Little Pill"
Oh, the horror!Wife trolls husband by screaming Alanis Morissette song for a month pic.twitter.com/G8H9jeLxdY— The Dad (@thedad) September 14, 2018Image: Twitter Read the rest
Milton Glaser, legendary graphic designer, RIP
Milton Glaser, the graphic designer who defined the visual style of the 1960s and 1970s, has died at age 91 of a stroke. Thanks for all the color, Mr. Glaser. You've seen his work everywhere, from the iconic "I ♥ NY" graphic for a 1977 tourism campaign to the incredible poster included in Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits album in 1967. He was also co-founder of New York magazine. From the New York Times:“We were excited by the very idea that we could use anything in the visual history of humankind as influence,” Mr. Glaser, who designed more than 400 posters over the course of his career, said in an interview for the book “The Push Pin Graphic: A Quarter Century of Innovative Design and Illustration” (2004).“Art Nouveau, Chinese wash drawing, German woodcuts, American primitive paintings, the Viennese secession and cartoons of the ’30s were an endless source of inspiration,” he added. “All the things that the doctrine of orthodox modernism seemed to have contempt for — ornamentation, narrative illustration, visual ambiguity — attracted us.”Mr. Glaser delighted in combining visual elements and stylistic motifs from far-flung sources. For a 1968 ad for Olivetti, he modified a 15th-century painting by Piero di Cosimo showing a mourning dog and inserted the Italian company’s latest portable typewriter at the feet of the dead nymph in the original artwork.For the Dylan poster, a promotional piece included in the 1967 album “Bob Dylan’s Greatest Hits,” he created a simple outline of the singer’s head, based on a black-and-white self-portrait silhouette by Marcel Duchamp, and added thick, wavy bands of color for the hair, forms he imported from Islamic art. Read the rest
Contactless door opener and stylus
The no-contact door opener [Amazon] is a small brassy tool that levers open door handles, can be used to press buttons or as a stylus for payment systems, and is solid enough to subdue hysterical disease-spreading anti-maskers in grocery stores. It's small enough to fit on a keyring and has a wee hole for that purpose. There are many variations on the design to be found, but the one linked above is best because it's metal and many are just flimsy painted plastic. I ordered three six-packs and that's what everyone's getting for their birthday this year. Read the rest
This magnetic media enthusiast built an 8-track tape "walkman"
Over at r/cassetteculture, contributor TctclBacon shares this image of a wonderfully ridiculous homemade 8-track "walkman" they built from an old Realistic brand home deck. "When my local makerspace reopens I plan to 3D print a housing for the back to properly store the electronics and batteries, just to make it look more streamlined and less sketchy," TctclBacon writes.As one commenter notes, adding a cassette adapter would make the carrier a "true hipster king." Read the rest
Underwater scooters are a hot new way to enjoy your summer under the waves
After being stuck in the house for months, you’ve got to be thinking about planning at least one summer adventure somewhere. If that plan calls for some aquatic activities, this could be a good time to try out one of the hottest and most entertaining pieces of watersports tech around, the underwater scooter.When you go under the waves, just grab hold of the handles and the scooter will zip you through the water, cutting down all the time and serious exertion it takes to make a long swim.Over the past few years, Geneinno has become one of the premier names in the aqua-scooter game, powered by their Trident model ($549.99; originally $699.99). Fire up the Trident’s mighty dual propellers and this scooter has a pair of speed modes that’ll have you cutting through the water at over 4 mph, which is essentially just a touch faster than a world-class swimmer. At home in freshwater, seawater, or even in a pool, the Trident can dive up to 160 feet down and runs for up to 45 minutes on its removable, rechargeable battery. It’s even got GoPro and light mounts to capture amazing underwater footage.If you don’t need to move quite that fast, the Geneinno S2 ($359.95; originally $399) still humps up to an impressive 2.7 mph maximum speed from its deceptively small size. With up to 60 minutes of running time, it’s got enough juice to help improve any snorkeling, diving, or swimming outing. And in case you want to keep a close eye on the training of any young swimmers, the S2 has an app control feature that lets you change and record speed, depth, distance, and battery life, all from your phone. Read the rest
Bernband: explore a looming yet intimate alien city
My first moments in Tom van den Boogaart's Bernband (Free Download), a goalless exploration game set in the mazelike city of Pff, led me to expect an empty low-fi walking sim. A drab apartment in a looming building. A window view of city lights in darkness. A spartan hallway leading to an elevator. Then something happened: the elevator's doors spilled me out into a dense crowd of sprites, dozens of people right up in my face, jostling and stumbling around the forecourt. Covid-brain kicked in and I yelped, lurched from the screen, then laughed, amazed that a game had done that to me.Simple, stark and clear about what it wants to be, Bernband is small in absolute terms but packed with implication. It's experienced in the first person and heady in the way pixelated 3D walking sims often are. All you can do is look around and get lost in the sprawl and its weird connections. There's pubs, a subway station, a schoolroom, a child's recital, a courtyard garden, a chapel, and more, fragments of something vast. There's a sense of the city's secret boundaries, too, places sealed off by architecture yet full of strangers coming and going (perhaps on the subway trains whose doors never open). As charming as it is, with its cute aliens and flying cars zipping by at hyperspeed, the vibe reminds me of The Bridge and Unthank. Bernband toys with a grim but playful tradition of surreal possibility hidden in impassive urban forms, where ducts and serviceways are the fairy portals offering glimpses of the labyrinth, the places waiting to be remembered. Read the rest
Four years of Trumpist surrealism and horror in one Book: Into the Trumpverse, comics by Ruben Bolling
Ruben Bolling has two new Tom the Dancing Bug books coming out.
Hollywood hypocrites tearing America apart and rioters battling to destroy the United States, in this week’s dubious tabloids
The tabloids are like President Trump in the worst possible way.
The BentoStack PowerHub 5000 stacks all your Apple device needs together seamlessly
For those versed in world cultures, the bento box is a pretty familiar item. Used for centuries in Japan and exported to countries like Taiwan and Korea, the bento is a neatly arranged organizer for on-the-go meals. For adults going to work or kids going to school, your bento holds rice or noodles, fish or meat, and vegetables, all in one easy to pack and carry box.That’s the overarching principle behind the creation of Function 101’s BentoStack collection, an array of tech organizers built around the Bento idea for packing, storing, and transporting all your Apple devices and accessories.And the BentoStack PowerHub 5000 is the flagship of the line, a compact organizer that seeks to handle virtually all your Apple device needs in one minimalistic, cute little package.At less than 8 inches long, the BentoStack almost looks like a pencil case from the outside, but once you pop the lid, it’s an Apple-ready service station, including an 8-port type-C hub, a Qi-enabled wireless charger, and power battery and several compartments for storing all your cables, connectors and other accessories.The BentoStack cover is home to the 5,000mAh power bank with its own certified Qi charging pad for wireless charge-ups of any iPhone models from the iPhone 8 to the latest iPhone 11 and XR. And in case you’re rocking an older iPhone, no worries -- this also houses a USB-A port to traditional charging of all iPhones, iPad, and even Apple Watches.Inside, you reach the Type-C hub, including room to attach...well, Read the rest
This is the best pot scrubber
After trying out a lot of different scrub brushes, I think the OXO Good Grips scrub brush is the best. I prefer this palm-style brush to brushes with a handle because I can really bear down on the pots and pans. It's comfortable to hold and the bristles hold up well to rough treatment. I wish the brush was available via Subscribe and Save, because I'd get a new one every three months. Read the rest
Daughter of GOP candidate begs "Please for the love of God do not vote for my dad"
if you’re in michigan and 18+ pls for the love of god do not vote for my dad for state rep. tell everyone— STEPH (@streeganz) June 23, 2020Robert Regan is a Republican candidate for a Michigan State House seat. One person who will not be voting for him is his daughter, Stephanie Regan. In a recent post to Twitter she wrote, "if you're in Michigan and 18 + please for the love of god do not vote for my dad for State Rep tell everyone." Her tweet has been retweeted over 37,000 times, and has received almost 183,000 likes.Robert Regan, who is seeking the GOP nomination, says his daughter has become indoctrinated with radical ideas while at college.From The Guardian:“When they go off to college, quite frankly they get involved with these Marxist, socialist universities, and they start getting indoctrinated with things that are completely polar opposite from where you raised them,” Regan told local TV.Regan, who describes himself on his own website as “so conservative [he] makes Rush Limbaugh look like a liberal,” says he and his daughter have disagreed on systemic racism, white privilege and Black Lives Matter.“She’s a big believer in that,” he told the Hill. “The only place where I really see systemic racism would be the abortion clinic, because they seem to target the African American community.” Read the rest
Florida reports a massive surge in new covid-19 cases
Today Florida reported 9000 new coronavirus cases over the last 24 hours. As you can see from the chart this is a massive increase and bring the total cases to 122,960. In response, the Secretary of the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation announced that bars will no longer be allowed to serve alcohol.From Axios:By the numbers: The record surpassed Florida's single-day record from this week at 5,511. Deaths in Florida increased 1.2%, reaching 3,366, the report shows.Total hospitalizations in Florida rose 1.5%, to 13,987.More than 1.77 million people in Florida have been tested so far.The median age of new cases is from people in their mid-30s.Here's a video of some people in Ginnie Springs, Florida enjoying themselves on Memorial Day weekend: Read the rest
Video: Cops fired shots at protesters, including kids, as Trump was leaving Arizona rally
This is unbelievable. As Trump was leaving Arizona on Tuesday after his irresponsible rally, which packed 3,000 unmasked people into an indoor venue, police fired "flash-bang grenades, pepper balls and bursts of pepper spray" at protesters. This included a pepper ball that hit a child, and a 12-year-old who was pepper sprayed. In the video above, protesters were stepping back, as police had requested (forward to 3:30 in the video). They then began to chant, "We step back now you step back!" But the cops instead move forward. Immediately after a protester shouts, "We have kids at home! We have kids at home!" you hear the first shots fired (4:04). Chaos ensued. From AZ Central:"It was just instant chaos when all that happened. ... They instantly started shooting," said Keisha Acton, who was close to the line of police with her 12-year-old son, Isaiah. "We did not instigate that, nobody instigated that. Nobody assaulted an officer. That absolutely did not happen.""(Tuesday) was a glimpse of what we're fighting against," said Kristen "Poet" Byrd, who said he was part of the core group who organized the protest."We were being nonviolent, just like George Floyd was, just like Rayshard Brooks was, just like Breonna was," he said, referencing Black men and women who died this year at the hands of police.For full details go to AZ Central. Read the rest
It's Time for Silicon Valley To Finish Its Job of Disrupting the Racist Drug War
Boing Boing welcomes Real Tested CBD as a sponsor.Real Tested CBD shares the following essay by their co-founder, Richard Cowan.It's Time for Silicon Valley To Finish Its Job of Disrupting the Racist Drug WarIt Has Been Racist From The Beginning and Racism Cannot End Until It DoesBy -- Richard CowanMark Zuckerberg, the Icarus of the Internet, is debating his own employees about whether Facebook should be responsible for correcting the lies of certain high ranking politicians. The answer seems obvious, but are they really prepared to choose which lies require their personal attention?Icarus was undone by trying to fly too high and to be above it all, but there is another Greek myth that is more ¨down to Earth¨ literally.As I watch the seemingly inexhaustible torrent of prohibitionist propaganda, I am reminded of the Greek myth about Hercules and the stables of King Augeas.The term “Augean stables” means a huge mess, because King Augeas had a vast number of cattle, which were herded into the stables every night, but no one cleaned up after them. (Governments always expect other people to do their dirty work.)As a consequence, the stables overflowed with what the Greeks called “drug education.”As in Hercules’ time, the government provides the fodder at one end, and the other end –the Greeks called it the “media” – produced the inevitable product. It stank to high heaven, but it seemed impossible to do anything about it.Most people said it was beneath their dignity even to think about it, although not thinking did not stop them from writing about it. Read the rest
The world is putting America in quarantine
"Around the world, it is beginning to sink in how profoundly rotten the United States is," writes Ryan Cooper in The Week. "Unless America manages to turn things around, it will slide from the center of the international order to a peripheral, mistrusted basketcase, and it will deserve it."Cooper goes on to explain that the reason America has become a global pariah is the government neglected to adopt an effective containment protocol early on, and because "American public health experts spent weeks on a bizarre and scientifically illiterate crusade against masks — a study years ago found that even cheap homemade masks significantly reduce droplet-based infection — but even after plenty of new evidence has come in, Trump and most Republicans keep insisting a mask is a matter of personal choice. Instead masks got sucked into the conservative grievance industrial complex, becoming another postmodern cultural signifier for right-wingers trying to own the libs."Photo by CDC on Unsplash, US Map by By Original author User:Wapcaplet, modified by Angr - Modified from Image:Map of USA with state names.svg, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link Read the rest
347 risk analysts were asked: "What are the most likely risks for the world over the next year and a half?"
The World Economic Forum interviewed 347 risk analysts about the challenges the world could face in a post-COVID world. The experts weighed in on economic, societal, geopolitical, tech, and environmental risks (basically, a STEEP analysis). The four most likely threats are prolonged global recession at 68.6%, more bankruptcies/consolidation at 56.8%, industries fail o recover at 55.9%, and high unemployment at 49.3%.The website Visual Capitalist created an infographic that shows all of the risks that the analysts considered along with the likelihood that they will occur. Read the rest
How Ben Shapiro exploits Facebook's networks of "racial bias, religious bigotry, and violence" to reach a huge audience
Right-wing sourpuss Ben Shapiro's website The Daily Wire is the seventh-ranked publisher on Facebook, according to Popular Information. "On a per article basis," it reports, "The Daily Wire receives more distribution than any other major publisher." Here's how much better The Daily Wire performs than other well-know publishers:The secret to The Daily Wire's success? It's learned how to "convert bigotry and fear into shares and likes."Popular Information has discovered a network of large Facebook pages — each built by exploiting racial bias, religious bigotry, and violence — that systematically promote content from The Daily Wire. These pages, some of which have over 2 million followers, do not disclose a business relationship with The Daily Wire. But they all post content from The Daily Wire ten or more times each day. Moreover, these pages post the exact same content from The Daily Wire at the exact same time.The undisclosed relationship not only helps explain The Daily Wire's unlikely success on Facebook but also appears to violate Facebook's rules.The network of large Facebook pages promoting The Daily Wire are all run by Corey and Christy Pepple, who are best known as the creators of Mad World News. Facebook pages controlled by the Pepples include Mad World News (2,176,003 followers), The New Resistance (2,857,876 followers), Right Stuff (610,809 followers), America First (577,753 followers), and American Patriot (447,799 followers).The reach of these pages is massive. Content posted to these five pages has generated more than 31 million engagements on Facebook over the last three months, according to CrowdTangle, an analytics service owned by Facebook. Read the rest
Watch: Nothing like a good ol' disaster movie to distract us from our chaos
What better way to escape from today's madness than to watch a film about an entirely different kind of disaster: a humanity-destroying comet? If we were living in the pre-pandemic olden days of last summer, Greenland would already be in theaters (originally scheduled for release June 12th), surely marketed as a blockbuster. Starring Gerard Butler and Morena Baccarin, the big budget movie was rescheduled for July 31 due to, of course, the Covid-19 shutdowns. Then it was again rescheduled for its current theater release date of August 14th... for now. Read the rest
Digital synesthesia: Tricking your brain into experiencing smell as temperature in virtual reality
Synesthesia is the fascinating neurological phenomenon whereby stimulation of one sense involuntarily triggers another sensory pathway. A synesthete might taste sounds or hear colors. Now, computer scientist Jas Brooks and colleagues from the University of Chicago are creating a kind of digital synesthesia by using odors to trick your brain into experiencing different temperatures in virtual reality. For example, capsaicin, the chemical in hot peppers, triggers a warm feeling while eucalyptol elicits a cool sensation. Evan Ackerman explains in IEEE Spectrum:The trigeminal nerve [in your nose] connects your brain to most of your face, and it carries a bunch of sensory information, including both smell and temperature. The actual temperature-sensing mechanism comes from transient receptor potential (TRP) ion channels, and while we can skip over exactly how these work, the important thing to understand is that some of these TRP channels can get triggered by either skin temperature or certain kinds of aerosolized chemicals. You’ve almost certainly experienced this for yourself: When you smell peppermint, it feels cold, because the menthol in the peppermint is triggering a receptor in your trigeminal nerve called TRPM8 that responds to both the menthol and temperatures under 25 °C. On the other end of things, capsaicin (which you can find in hot peppers) triggers the TRPV1 receptor, which also responds to temperatures above 42 °C. That’s the key: One receptor that can be triggered by temperature or a chemical, but sends the same temperature sensory message to your brain. The researchers describe this as “a perceptual duality,” and if you aerosolize one of these chemicals and puff it up your nose, you’ll feel a temperature change.[...] Read the rest
Gentleman crashes his Lamborghini 20 minutes after buying it
A gentleman in West Yorkshire, England, shelled out around $200,000 for a 20-minute drive in a Lamborghini. The new sports car owner then totaled it on a highway. In all fairness, however, the car supposedly had "mechanical failure," according to the BBC, and suddenly stopped on the road. It was then hit from behind by a van, and crumpled up like a discarded aluminum can. A brand new Lamborghini has been wrecked in a crash on the M1 near Wakefield, just '20 minutes' after it was purchasedhttps://t.co/BP0w49ppiz— YorkshireEveningPost (@LeedsNews) June 24, 2020 Image: West Yorkshire Police Read the rest
Microsoft to permanently close its retail stores
Microsoft is to shut shop on the high streets and malls of America, permanently closing its 116 retail stores. Only 10 were overseas; flagship stores in New York City, London, Sydney, and Redmond will be remain as showrooms that do not sell the products. There will be no layoffs, Microsoft reports.Alarm bells rang when Microsoft shied from reopening stores as states gave up on Covid lockdowns, but quitting for good wasn't expected. Chris Welch:The decision partially explains why Microsoft had yet to reopen a single store after they were all closed in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. Last week, Microsoft told The Verge that its “approach for re-opening Microsoft Store locations is measured and cautious, guided by monitoring global data, listening to public health and safety experts, and tracking local government restrictions.” The company declined to offer an update on when any stores might open again.They were nice stores, but I have to admit that being able to check out a Microsoft Surface Studio in person showed how bad its pen latency was compared to iPad Pro and saved me from dropping thousands of dollars. Read the rest
Church of England refuses to allow foreign language on a gravestone, calling it a "political statement"
Margaret Keane was born in Westmeath, in the Republic of Ireland, and later moved to Coventry in the United Kingdom, where her and her husband raised six children. Throughout her life, Margaret remained active in the Gaelic Athletic Association, and after she passed away in 2018 at the age 73, her family wanted a gravestone that paid tribute to her proud Irish heritage.Margaret belonged to the Church of England, and was to be buried at St. Giles Church in Exhall. But her family received some pushback when they proposed a plot with a Celtic cross, which the diocesan advisory committee denied for being too large. The committee suggested that the family simply add an inscription of a Celtic cross to the headstone.The Keane family agreed to the compromise. But the Church of England pushed back again when they saw the planned inscription on the cross: "In ár gcroíthe go deo," which means, "In our hearts forever" in the Irish language. This didn't seem particularly radical, especially as there are already Welsh inscriptions in the same cemetery. But once again, the diocesan advisory committee denied the family's headstone proposal. "Given the passions and feelings connected with the use of Irish Gaelic," said a Church judge who is also a local government judge, "There is a sad risk that the phrase would be regarded as some form of slogan or that its inclusion without translation would of itself be seen as a political statement."After yet another appeal, the judge agreed to allow the Irish words only if they're accompanied by an English translation. Read the rest
The story behind Yello's "Oh Yeah," famously used in Ferris Bueller's Day Off
In 1985, Swiss synthpop duo Yello's quirky dance track "Oh Yeah" became ubiquitous on US radio after being used in the classic high school film "Ferris Bueller's Day Off." Above, Great Big Story shares the story of Oh Yeah straight from the mouths of the musicians, Boris Blank and Dieter Meier. Hear the whole track below. Ch-ka ch-ka. And for a little more Yello, here's "The Race" from 1988: Read the rest
Saxophone played into an empty pipeline
Armin Küpper offers up some Pipelinefunk: "Saxophone jam using a pipeline as natural delay and reverb"When I was preparing for my recording session on the tube, I got a visitor here and gave a little spontaneous concert."Here's Somewhere Over The Rainbow:And here with a guitar: Read the rest
The Smart Beat monitor knows and studies your baby’s breathing as they sleep
It’s a silent tragedy that no one ever wants to even consider. But the reality is that Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) claims the lives of nearly 3,500 babies in the U.S. every year. It’s a horror no parent wants to face, yet the threat of this heartless killer has newborn parents keeping as close a watch on their infants while they’re sleeping as when they’re awake.Nate and Sarah Ruben were those anxious parents when their first son was born in 2012. At a higher than normal risk for SIDS, Sarah got up five or six times a night for months to check his breathing, causing a lack of sleep that ultimately triggered severe postpartum depression.Following those troubling days, Nate created the Smart Beat Video Breathing Monitor as a way to offer parents peace of mind whenever their child sleeps.The system itself is incredibly simple — just sync the camera to the Smart Beat app, point it at your sleeping baby...and you’re done.How the system works, however, is decidedly less simple. In fact, Smart Beat is so sophisticated that it’s proprietary algorithm is actually analyzing the Smart Beat's video feed and measuring a baby's vitals, all without any wearables. The camera can spot 16 million color shades and looks for shifts in any of its 2 million pixels 20 times per second. That analysis can tell if there’s movement from the baby and whether that movement is breathing. That data can detect any clinical apnea or any above or below average breathing rates, literally chronicling and studying a baby’s every single breath. Read the rest
Glowforge laser cutter owners made over one million "ear savers" for hospital mask wearers
My friend Dan Shapiro is the CEO of Glowforge, which makes easy-to-use laser cutters. He sent this email to me yesterday about a cool project he set up to get one million "ear savers" made by Glowforge owners around the world.At the start of the COVID crisis, I did not believe hospitals would use homemade medical equipment. Turns out I was very, very wrong.We partnered with immunology experts, professors, and doctors to develop Ear Savers. It’s a simple design that prevents the bruising that comes from wearing surgical masks all day.Normally, mass-producing something even as simple as this can take months to design, produce, and distribute. But Glowforge did something different. We reached out to tens of thousands of customers, providing them with the designs for free so they could print them at home.Then, we reached out to everyone in the US with a simple message: if you’re wearing a surgical mask to take care of us, we can help.We built matchmaking software to connect the people in need with Glowforge owners who had the factories to make PPE – in their own homes! Finally, we spun up our own factories to join in the effort.We made more than one million ear savers together, in what I believe to be the first hyperlocal mass production exercise of its kind. This is like Diamond Age stuff: making the stuff we need at home, for our communities, in small batches that add up to factory-sized volumes. Read the rest
George Floyd Justice In Policing Act, Democrats' police reform bill, passes in House & heads to Senate
“House approves sweeping police overhaul from Democrats, responding to national outcry over George Floyd's death.” — AP
What does mean?
Glad you asked.
WATCH: Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo Unity completes 2nd flight from Spaceport America (mission recap video)
Definitely book me on the very first flight off this hell-planet 2020, yes please.This gorgeous short video from Virgin Galactic documents the mission that resulted in a successful glide flight that puts Virgin Galactic on the path for human space flight from New Mexico.The 3-minute-long clip takes you to the edge of space, which seems like kind of a nice place to be right now.From their press release, “Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo Completes Second Flight from Spaceport America,”On SpaceShipTwo Unity’s flight deck were Mark ‘Forger’ Stucky and Michael ‘Sooch’ Masucci. Both pilots are commercial astronauts, having each previously flown Unity into space on different flights. Piloting the Company’s carrier aircraft, VMS Eve, were Nicola Pecile and CJ Sturckow.This glide flight, flown at higher speeds, allowed the team to continue to evaluate systems and vehicle performance in advance of future rocket-powered space flights from the Company’s new operating base in New Mexico. Flying VSS Unity in glide configuration at higher speeds enables certain vehicle systems to operate close to the environment seen during phases of rocket boost on a spaceflight. The spaceship achieved a glide speed of Mach 0.85 after being released from the mothership VMS Eve at an altitude of 51,000 ft. Unity completed multiple test-points before touching back down smoothly for a runway landing at Spaceport America.Forger and Sooch performed a series of maneuvers with Unity designed to gather data about performance and handling qualities while flying at higher speeds. This data will be verified against similar maneuvers that were performed in the previous glide flight to enhance aerodynamic modelling. Read the rest
Odds are, your grill is disgusting and a wire brush won’t help but the Q-Swiper can
At some point this summer, we’ve all got our fingers crossed that we’ll be out on a patio, basking in a gorgeous day and smelling the delicious char of burgers, steaks, chicken, and other succulent meats grilling to perfection.But before that day happens, it’s probably time to consider the state of that grill. Actually, it’s likely well past time to think about what’s still seared into, caked-on and otherwise gripped to the grill that’s about to make contact with those raw meats and veggies.Real talk...it’s a Petri dish. Since your old, grimy grill brush has certainly seen better days, it’s also a good time to look at an alternative like the Q-Swiper BBQ Grill Cleaning Bundle.Men’s Health even speculates that your grill might be dirtier than a toilet seat, with old encrusted food-producing, gut-churning bacteria that can easily turn your next BBQ into stage 1 of intestinal distress, vomiting or even worse.The Q-Swiper is a bristle-free, wire-free brush that helps efficiently sweep grease, grime, and virulent nasties off your grill grates for a clean, healthy grill every time.You’ll get 65 Q-Swiper cleaning wipes to assure a fresh, clean wipe each time you attack the grill. The powerful omnidirectional 3D cleaning nodules wipe away tough grime while the moist food-safe wipes clean and absorb greases from cooking surfaces.The materials are all safe for use and the brush will never dislodge those potentially harmful steel wire bristles that can even end up in someone’s food. Read the rest
Splatter screens are welcome addition to frying pans
Anytime I fry something that requires oil, I cover the pan with a splatter screen. It keeps droplets of hot oil from shooting out of the pan while at the same time allowing steam to escape. It also doubles as a colander. The one I use is excellent. Read the rest
Disney is reimagining Splash Mountain's racist 'Song of the South' theme. Princess and the Frog will take its place
Disney's Splash Mountain ride, based on their racially offensive 1946 film Song of the South -- a controversial (not to mention seriously boring) movie that featured the popular song "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah" -- is finally changing its tune. Motivated by a change.org petition that 20,000 people signed, its new theme will revolve around last scenes from The Princess and the Frog.From CNN:The recent Black Lives Matter protests sweeping across the nation have spurred deep conversation and introspection in Hollywood regarding depictions of race in popular culture. Films like "Gone with the Wind" and TV episodes that included the use of blackface have been re-evaluated or, in some cases, pulled.Disney says the new Splash Mountain concept is "inclusive" and "one that all of our guests can connect with and be inspired by.""It speaks to the diversity of the millions of people who visit our parks each year," Disney said on Thursday.Disney added that the new ride — which the company has been working on since last year — will pick up the story of "Princess and the Frog" after "the final kiss" and will join Princess Tiana and her trumpet-playing alligator Louis "on a musical adventure." It will feature "some of the powerful music from the film as they prepare for their first-ever Mardi Gras performance."Disney hasn't announced when the reimagined Splash Mountain will debut. In fact, California's Disneyland and California Adventure parks, which had been set to reopen July 17 after a months-long coronavirus shutdown, are postponing their restart because of surging new Covid-19 cases. Read the rest
How could anyone resist this 7-inch model of a Murder Hornet?
Revoltech's 7-in model of the Vespa mandarinia (aka murder hornet) looks amazing. It's $105, but if you are a true murder hornet aficionado it's a pittance.Every part is articulated, from the antennae to the stinger. Articulated mandibles and mouth parts have been faithfully recreated. The large compound eyes are made of transparent material to enhance the vibrant coloration. The abdomen is also posable, and the body can be bent forward into an aggressive pose. The wasp's greatest weapon, its venomous stinger, can be retracted without replacing any parts. Wings are folded in its default pose, but can be replaced to recreate in-flight poses. Legs come equipped with joints for recreating various poses. Leg joints can be replaced with a fixed joint for better displayability. Includes a Display base, allowing you to choose between two types of GEO arms to securely display in both default and in-flight poses.Via Super Punch Read the rest
Why America's police look like soldiers
Vox made a video that explains why cops in the US look like soldiers. It's "the result of a decades-long buildup of military equipment among the country’s police departments. It began as a Reagan-era program to give police departments more resources to fight the War on Drugs, and has escalated ever since. Today, the idea of a militarized police force is baked into how American police see themselves."Image: YouTube Read the rest
The "Freedom to Breathe Agency"
Someone calling himself the FTBA (Freedom to Breathe Agency) has issued a "Face Mask Exempt Card" that appears to have been issued by the federal government for people protected by the Americans with Disability Act. But it's actually a bogus document for sociopaths who have no qualms about spreading a potentially deadly virus to others.Image: Reddit Read the rest
New York Times shows how the virus won
The New York Times has a good animated infographic the "traced the hidden spread of the epidemic to explain why the United States failed to stop it. At every crucial moment, American officials were weeks or months behind the reality of the outbreak. Those delays likely cost tens of thousands of lives."Restricting travel from China helped curb the spread at first, but infected travelers came in from all other parts of the world in February, leading to additional outbreaks. Tests developed by the CDC didn't work, which meant crucial tracking and tracing didn't happen. In late February and health experts recommended social distancing measures, but Trump ignored his health advisors and told Americans they should continue to fly, shop, work in offices and factories, and go about their normal lives. On March 2, New York mayor Bill de Blasio said, “I’m encouraging New Yorkers to go on with your lives and get out on the town.” At that point, a pandemic was inevitable. Read the rest
Skin whitening cream to be made less racist by changing its name
Unilever, the $143.8 billion vampire squid of toiletries and snacks, is promising to remove the word "fair" from the name of its skin-whitening cream "Fair and Lovely". It will also stop calling it whitening cream in marketing materials. Racism solved!"We recognise that the use of the words 'fair', 'white' and 'light' suggest a singular ideal of beauty that we don't think is right, and we want to address this.""The brand has never been and is not a bleaching product," Unilever added.The consumer goods giant also said that it had removed before-and-after impressions and "shade guides" on Fair & Lovely packaging in 2019. The skin care range is sold across countries such as India, Indonesia, Thailand and Pakistan.Unilever's move comes as cosmetics firms around the world reassess their product lines and marketing strategies in light of the Black Lives Matters movement, sparked by George Floyd's death. Read the rest
Nearly 1 in 3 pilots in Pakistan have fake licenses
Pakistan has 860 pilots working for Pakistan International Airlines and other carriers. Turns out, 30% of those people aren't actually qualified to fly and their licenses aren't legit."They don't have flying experience," said aviation minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan.According to CNN, the pilots paid others to take the required exam.image: Airplane! Read the rest
"They want to throw God's wonderful breathing system out": Comments from Florida anti-maskers
On Tuesday, just before Palm Beach County's board of commissioners voted to mandate masks in public spaces, the people had the opportunity to speak their minds. One of the citizens:“And they want to throw God’s wonderful breathing system out the door. You’re all turning your backs on it. Can you prove that it’s good for people to breathe carbon dioxide over and over and over again? God made it so that we would breathe in fresh oxygen, to go to our body, to every cell in the body. It has to have that to make energy. When you wear a mask, the nose is cut off, the mouth is cut off."Yesterday, the state of Florida reported a horrifying 19.97% positive rate for COVID-19. (The Daily Beast)thumbnail image: BreakShirts.com Read the rest
"Pokémon Go grandpa" has 64 smartphones attached to his bicycle
In 2018, Taipei resident Chen San-yuan, 72, had attached 15 smartphones to his bicycle so he could play numerous games of Pokemon Go at once. Dubbed the "Pokémon Go grandpa,” he has upped his game with a new total of 64 mobile phones in his array. Gotta catch 'em all, I guess.The phrase 危險行為請勿模仿 in the caption translates as: "Do not imitate dangerous behavior."(via The Verge) Read the rest
The chemist who made big bucks hoaxing ghost photos
The mid-19th century was the heyday for séances, mediums, and psychics. In Boston, a chemist and silver engraver named William H. Mumler saw an opportunity to mix the hot new technology of photography with paranormal activity to make some big bucks. So he announced that if you sat for a picture in his studio, your dead relative might just turn up for the photo opp. Mumler's secret? Ye olde magical double exposure that he stumbled upon after accidentally taking a self-portrait on an already-used negative. From Mysterious Universe:Typically, he would take a glass photographic plate that held the image of the dead person in life and simply place it over a new glass plate meant to hold the image of the customer. When the photo was then developed the two images would be fused together into a composite and voila, ghost photo. On many occasions Mumler did not have access to an actual photo of the deceased, and so he got creative, using other figures that were blurred just enough that the client could believe that it was the presence of the lost loved one, easy enough to do with a bereaved, gullible person who is willing to do anything to see them again.[...]Mumler might have been able to keep this going for many more years if he had been a little more careful. He started producing ever more outlandish ghost photographs, including even one of the dead president Abraham Lincoln photobombing a picture of his wife Mary Todd Lincoln. Read the rest
Former GOP Presidential candidate Carly Fiorina endoses Joe Biden
Four years ago, Carly Fiorina was Ted Cruz's running mate in the 2016 GOP primaries. This time around, however, the Republican businesswoman is voting for Joe Biden, the Democratic candidate.Fiorina is not going to keep quiet, write in another candidate, or vote third-party. “I’ve been very clear that I can’t support Donald Trump,” she told me, in an interview that can be heard in full on the latest episode of The Ticket. “And elections are binary choices.” She struggled with the decision, and whether to go public. But she said that this struggle is one Republicans need to have—including those who have rationalized supporting Trump despite their disagreements, because of some of his policies or judicial appointments.“As citizens, our vote is more than a check on a box. You know, it’s a statement about where we want to go, and I think what we need now actually is real leadership that can unify the country,” she said. “I am encouraged that Joe Biden is a person of humility and empathy and character. I think he’s demonstrated that through his life. And I think we need humility and empathy everywhere in public life right now. And I think character counts.” Read the rest
Facebook's new Fact-Checking policies have carved out an exemption for climate deniers
The CO2 Coalition is a non-profit climate denial organization with deep pockets supported by the Mercers, the Kochs, and other conservative fossil fuel financial interests. Despite the demonstrable unreality of its mission, the CO2 Coalition has already found favor in the White House.In August 2019, they posted an op-ed on Facebook from the Washington Examiner that was written by a known climate denier and disguised itself as legitimate and factual reporting about climate change. As Judd Legum's Popular Information Newsletter explained:The article claimed computer models used by climate scientists to predict warming have proved overblown, and thus shouldn’t be trusted. To prove it, Michaels compared “actual temperatures since 1979 with what the 32 families of climate models used in the latest U.N. report on climate science predicted they would be.”The comparison was flawed. Michaels compared the earth’s present temperature with past climate models that predicted more carbon pollution than actually occurred. If we had polluted as much as the models predicted, the world would have warmed as much as the models predicted.We know this because actual climate scientists have published research assessing the accuracy of climate models. […] Michaels’ analysis, on the other hand, didn’t go through any peer-review process, nor is Michaels climate scientist himself. What Michaels did was amateur Google sleuthing. What the scientists did was science.Regardless, the post was shared more than 2,000 times before it was removed by Facebook's Independent Fact-checkers.Then, according to E&E News:A "conservative" Facebook employee quietly intervened, overturning the fact check, and the misinformation was no longer labeled as false, according to the CO2 Coalition. Read the rest
Devin Nunes loses legal battle with fictional cow
U.S. Representaive Devin Nunes (R-Tulare) has lost his legal battle to unmask a fictional cow on Twitter. Though the case made news of Nunes' narcissism, it was months before a judge could bring an end to his thin-skinned legal shenanigans. It was an exercise in censorship, in chilling criticism with the expensive prospect of defending even absurd lawsuits.An interesting wrinkle: as the lawsuit suit named Twitter, its Section 230 immunity to defamation claims was how it rid itself of Nunes.Judge John Marshall said in a decision Friday that Twitter was “immune from the defamation claims of” Nunes, R-Tulare, due to federal law that says social media companies are not liable for what people post on their platforms.Specifically: "Judge Marshall [said] previous court cases had already settled that Section 230 applies even if the company does show bias in what content it allows people to post."Conservatives have made a big shit sandwich out of believing Section 230 somehow means the opposite of this, and they will be eating it for years to come. Read the rest
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