Beryllium is an element commonly found in stars' cores and, as it turns out, audio equipment as well. We won't bore you too much with the science involved, but beryllium possesses a host of qualities that, when used in audio components, like diaphragms, makes for uniquely high responsiveness and sound clarity.TREBLAB's new X2 Completely Wireless In-Ear Headphones use beryllium to create a next-level listening experience, and they're on sale for $66.99While many headphones focus on producing solely strong bass, this usually sacrifices crisp treble and mid-tones. TREBLAB's beryllium-backed buds give you crisp sound without compromise, and they even help you block out distractions through CVC 6.0 noise cancellation. They can also take calls directly and connect multiple devices, so you don't have to constantly unpair and repair.Treblab's X2 Completely Wireless In-Ear Headphones retail for $79.99, but you can get them on sale for $66.99 today.

The announcement is more than a year old, but Dan Brown, of The Da Vinci Code fame, is paying €300,000 to have Amsterdam's Ritman Library digitize thousands of books about "alchemy, astrology, magic and theosophy."

For centuries, scam artists, con artists, and magicians were the world’s leading experts on biases, fallacies, heuristics and all the other quirks of human reasoning and perception.On this episode, magician and scam expert Brian Brushwood explains why people fall for scams of all sizes, how to avoid them, and why most magicians can spot a fraudster a mile away.Download – iTunes – Stitcher – RSS – Soundcloud—This episode is sponsored by The Great Courses Plus. Get unlimited access to a huge library of The Great Courses lecture series on many fascinating subjects. Start FOR FREE with Your Deceptive Mind taught by neurologist Steven Novella. Learn about how your mind makes sense of the world by lying to itself and others. Click here for a FREE TRIAL.

A common misconception is that bitcoin transactions are anonymous. The truth is, unless you are very careful about covering your tracks, your bitcoin transactions can be connected to you. And the transaction records on bitcoin's public database (the blockchain) can never be changed or deleted, meaning they will forever be searchable by authorities or anyone else. Andy Greenberg of Wired reports that researchers were able to "connect someone's bitcoin payment on a dark web site to that person's public account."

Enjoy these inspiring self-improvement tips -- which feel like they were lifted from a 1964 issue of Reader's Digest -- from the man who lost his job after paying $45 million in sexual harassment settlements. The responses to O'Reilly's tips are even better.

When the news of two showstopping bugs in virtually every computer in use today broke, it was scary stuff -- experts predicted that mitigating these bugs would be difficult and impose severe performance penalties on patched systems; a week later, Google released research suggesting that the fear was misplaced, and that patching would be an orderly and relatively painless process. (more…)

Blockchain transactions are recorded forever and indelibly, and that means that all the Bitcoin transactions on early Tor hidden service marketplaces like Silk Road are on permanent, public display; because many people who made these transactions later went on to link those Bitcoin wallets with their real identities, those early deals are now permanently associated with their public, identifiable selves. (more…)

https://youtu.be/5glDp1A90VgTo remove fur from pets before it ends up on furniture and clothes, you need a Love Glove.

If you hit a dead link on the Financial Times' website, you get a 404 page that offers a series of funny possible explanations for the page's nonexistence, each corresponding to a different economic theory (like "monetarism," the "efficient markets hypothesis" and "trickle-down"), and many are linked to articles from the FT's archives that delve into the concept. (more…)

Trump has said that he is "looking forward" to giving a statement to special investigator "under oath" -- but talking to smart people under oath requires the kind of sustained, detail-oriented focus that our barely literate president is notoriously bad at. (more…)

Lloyd Khan runs Shelter Publications and was the shelter editor for The Whole Earth Catalog. At 82, he is quite active, as a skateboarder, paddler, home remodeler, and hiker. In a recent blog post, he reflects on 84-year-old author Philip Roth's observation that "...in just a matter of months I’ll depart old age to enter deep old age — easing ever deeper daily into the redoubtable Valley of the Shadow...”

It's been nearly a year since Trump killed the Trans Pacific Partnership by pulling the US out of it; last week, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that Canada and the other TPP countries would sign the agreement without the USA -- an announcement timed to coincide with Trump's appearance at the World Economic Forum in Davos, presenting the TPP nations as a kind of coalition of the willing for political moderation and maturity. (more…)

The appropriately named Jarrett Walker is the author of Human Transit, a seminal text on transportation and cities that draws on his decades of experience in urban planning; he has the distinction of being called "an idiot" by Elon Musk on Twitter, when he pointed out that Musk's Boring Company tunnel proposals could not possibly work due to their low capacity. (more…)

Dutch left-leaning daily de Volkskrant has published a remarkable -- but thinly sourced -- report claiming that a Dutch spy agency called the General Intelligence and Security Service of the Netherlands (AIVD) hacked into the network of a notorious Russian spy group called "Cozy Bear" or APT29, thought to be an arm of the Russian spy apparatus, and obtained direct evidence of Russian state involvement in the hacking of the DNC during the 2016 US election campaign. (more…)

In Elders React to VRChat, a group of senior citizens put on their VR headsets and explored the online social space of VRChat for the very first time. There are some amusing moments when other players say inappropriate things to them but, overall, they liked the experience.I think Libby nails it on the head when she said, "This is really good for people who don't want to go out and socialize. 'cause they can socialize in their own space."

This Ketchup and Mustard Cake by Shared Food seems like a really bad idea unless condiments are your life, like if you're a Wienermobile Hotdogger or something. The recipe is here and, yes, it uses actual ketchup and mustard.(Foodiggity)

The term "cuck", short for "cuckold", is used largely on America's right to insult men they consider to have been taken advantage of, willingly submissive, or otherwise weak. Among the more curious terms in the modern political lexicon, it is amusingly derivative of the term's use to refer to a porn category centered around men forced to watch their partners have sex with other men, often men of color. Sex researcher David Ley studied the cuckolding phenomenon as a whole, saw conservatives angry at reportage of this work, wondered if something interesting is going on in their heads, and found that yes, yes there was, if only because it's going on in a lot of people's heads.

Straight White Guy Listening is an experimental five-part mini-documentary and podcast series where host Graham High (the straight white guy) interviews folks who are different from himself.

This country is a slaughterhouse and the police are not, contrary to given wisdom, the pigs. [u/udzu via Reddit]

I'm a big fan of all the wee things that come out of Leafcutter Designs (previously). Now, for Valentine's Day, they've got tiny packages of TCHO chocolate in their shop. If you order 12 or more of them, you'll also get a 005 Micron pen so you can decorate the little bundles of chocolate-filled joy. Of course, if you want to mail these out, you'll have to put them in a larger mailer first.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UqpLfVEE_YEd Sienkiewicz is a councilman in Wolverine Lake, Michigan. Ed gets mad at people using the public lake access road by his house. A couple of years back, a local reporter put together this funny sting, getting secret-camera footage of Ed's bullshit—and the modifications made to the public area to make it as uninviting as possible.Fox 2 Detroit:

New York-based artist Shari Austrian of Etsy shop Little Brick Lane has been creating miniature homes since she was six years old. Her first one was constructed out of Play-Doh. Now, she uses LEGO bricks to make incredible replicas of people's homes. Apartment Therapy interviewed Austrian, who shares this about her inspiration:

Donald Trump wrote to the Guggenheim Museum asking if he could borrow a Van Gogh to hang in his living quarters in the White House; curator Nancy Spector wrote back and demurred, offering instead to lend him "America," Maurizio Cattelan's "18-karat, fully functioning, solid gold toilet" made as a "pointed satire aimed at the excess of wealth in this country." (more…)

The President of the United States, whose Bill of Rights bans the government from making a law "respecting...the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances," has told the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, birthplace of the Magna Carta and signatory to the European Convention on Human Rights, which guarantees the freedom of assembly, that he will only visit the United Kingdom if the residents of that country are legally barred from protesting his visit. (more…)

In 1978, Nick Belluso was running for governor of Georgia and hired a hypnotist for a TV spot. You can see a clip above. From the script:

I'm a big fan of Alex Norris's webcomicname, and now you can make your own by randomly mixing up panels.P.S. I recently realized that the dark magic of the Oh No comics is that the final "Oh No" actually restores hope in the absurd joy of life's struggle. Nothing is more savage than Oh No without the Oh No. For example:https://twitter.com/Beschizza/status/956619034895765506

Here's a good USB battery for traveling, because it also works as a wall adapter plug. It has a 10,000mAH capacity and plugs directly into an AC outlet for recharging. It has two USB outlets, so you can charge two phones or devices at the same time. It's $23 on Amazon when you use the coupon on the page.

Meet Courtland Sykes, Missouri's Republican U.S. Senate candidate. He posted on Facebook that he'd been asked if he supported women's rights. His response: “I want to come home to a home cooked dinner every night at six. One that she [his girlfriend] fixes and one that I expect one day to have daughters learn to fix after they become traditional homemakers and family wives — think Norman Rockwell here — and Gloria Steinham (sic) be damned."In his campaign video he says, "If you like president Trump then you and I see eye-to-eye."The Riverfront Times questions whether Sykes' campaign isn't a parody:

If you want a good example that shows how Facebook cares more about pleasing its shareholders than the it does about stopping fake news, look how this fake news story, which claims a CDC doctor says the flu vaccine is causing the flu outbreak, is spreading across Facebook (current number of shares: 691k). Remember, Facebook has complete control over the stories its users see in their timeline, and Facebook uses this power to encourage people to pay it to promote posts. It could just as easily use this power to throttle dangerous fake news like this, but that would mean less user engagement, and therefore less money to Facebook.

Why is this garter snake swimming around wearing a decapitated head of a trout? It certainly doesn't look like fun.A snake expert tells Inverse how the garter might have gotten into its grotesque predicament.

Days after Montana Democratic Governor Steve Bullock signed an executive order banning ISPs that violate Net Neutrality from supplying state government agencies, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (also a Democrat) has followed suit, with an even stricter executive order. (more…)

In the comments people are wondering if this was shot with a drone. One guy says "Probably not a drone. My guess is a second snowboarder with an DJI Osmo on a stick. My stick goes out 4 feet." However it was done, it's gorgeous.

I wanted a teal ink. Sailor Jentle Yama-dori is my new teal ink.I had some limited edition Mont Blanc teal ink that I liked, it ran out. I decided to try this Sailor Jentle ink. I like it better! The Sailor Jentle ink is a dark blue-green with a very nice sheen to it. The ink looks much better after 2-3 minutes of drying.[caption id="attachment_569163" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Image from Jetpens who no longer sells this ink for some reason.[/caption]On Doane Paper with my father's old medium nibbed Duofold the Yama-dori is just beautiful.The sheen after this ink dries is beautiful and includes greens and purples. Dad's Parker flows like the god damn Nile and the Sailor ink only gently feathers around the heaviest deposits. I am going to try this in my Levenger L-Tech, which has become my standard blue ink pen. The Levenger doesn't flow nearly as well as a Duofold, but the Sailor Jentle is water-based and seems pretty slick. I have been using Noodler's Luxury Blue but far prefer the muted tone of teal.The Sailor Jentle ink bottle is a trip. Follow the instructions on the side or be frustrated. Don't ask me how I know!Sailor Ink Bottle Yama-dori via Amazon

Physicists at BYU have demonstrated a volumetric projection system that works by using a laser to unevenly heat single cellulose molecules in order to shove them around in 3D space, then painting the positioned molecules with lasers that cause them to glow; by choreographic both sets of lasers, extremely high-resolution moving images can be attained. (more…)

Bari S:

In Ankara, Turkey, one person's trash is literally another's treasure. Garbage collectors started saving books once destined for the landfill and opened a public library.CNN reports:

Chris Notap bought some cheap hole-cutting bits on eBay and tried them out on a pane of glass, a mason jar, a ceramic bathroom tile, a mirror, and a coffee mug. The results are nice.

This is such a creepy video that at first I thought it had to be a parody. But no, the cuts in this strange Jehovah Witness anti-masturbation training video are apparently real, leaked from Watchtower, the JW religious magazine. This video is edited by Lloyd Evans, an ex-Jehovah's Witness writer and activist, from two induction videos, one for women and one for men, meant for "bethelites," or JW workers. Evans himself was trapped in the JW cult for decades, as he explains on his Patreon page:

Last year, Korean rules regulating abusive practices by online services went into effect, under terms set out in the "Amended Enforcement Decree of the Telecommunications Business Act Now Effective, Specifically Classifying and Regulating Certain Prohibited Acts of Telecom Service Providers." (more…)

Bobby Duke carved a pencil into magnificent recursion. He calls it "Pencil Inception."

Burger King's video on "Whopper Neutrality" (see Carla's earlier post) -- an analogy to explain Net Neutrality that's also obviously a marketing campaign for Burger King -- is a surprisingly great explainer, but even more importantly, it's an important bellwether for corporate America's perception of public support for Net Neutrality. (more…)

A new report from the New America Foundation uses the current fear that Russian government elements manipulated the 2016 US election to explore the relationship between advertising technology, surveillance capitalism, and "precision propaganda," showing how the toolsuite developed for the advertising industry is readily repurposable by even modestly competent actors to spread disinformation campaigns. (more…)

DoodleChaos combines wood blocks, dominoes, marbles made of metal and other materials, and magnets to create a delightful marble run set to Tchaikovsky's Waltz of the Flowers. (more…)

Although Net Neutrality – or its repeal if certain somebodies get their way – is an issue that affects everyone, not everyone is clued in to what it actually means. Enter Burger King's faux "social experiment" that explains Net Neutrality with a currency everyone understands: the Whopper sandwich. Want a Whopper for the regular price of $4.99? Fine but you'll have to get a "slow-access Whopper pass" and wait in the slow lane for up to 20 minutes. But no worries, if you're in a hurry you can still have it in a few minutes – it'll just cost you $26. This is the best explainer video I've seen in a long time.

Hours after CTV published the firsthand accounts of two women who say they experienced sexual advances and at least one assault from Ontario Conservative Party leader Patrick Brown, Brown has resigned, leaving the party leaderless shortly before a key election. (more…)

For the 10th anniversary of Breaking Bad (no, that's not a typo), Peruvian YouTuber Esther Bellido created this Super Mario-like animation that encapsulates the entire series in just one minute.(Likecool)

Musician Rob Scallon thought it would be cool to one-up the vinyl hipsters and record some metal on century-old Edison wax cylinder recording equipment. And he was right! (more…)

Thunder Tillman is a Swedish musician whose work lends itself to trippy animation, like this piece for Alignments by Mario Hugo and Johnny Lee. (more…)

Switzerland, Japan, Germany, Britain and Canada are the best places to live, reports U.S. News and World Report, with the USA lurking back in number 8.