Freeman Vines is a luthier in Fountain, North Carolina. For half a century, he's crafted beautiful guitars from wood taken from a tree used to lynch Black people. Vines deeply moving work is the subject of a new photography book, Hanging Tree Guitars, with tintype images by Timothy Duffy and essays by Zoe Van Buren and Lonnie Holle. Duffy is the co-founder of North Carolina's Music Maker Relief Foundation, "founded to preserve the musical traditions of the South by directly supporting the musicians who make it, ensuring their voices will not be silenced by poverty and time." From the description of the book, published by The Bitter Southener:An artist, a luthier, and a spiritual philosopher, Freeman Vines’ life is a roadmap of the truths and contradictions of the American South. He remembers the hidden histories of the eastern North Carolina land on which his family has lived since enslavement. From tobacco barns, mule troughs, and radio parts he creates hand-carved guitars, each instrument seasoned down to the grain by the echoes of its past life.Along with the book, the Foundation is also releasing a complementary album of blues and gospel songs about race in America. Read the rest

Over the years, I've become a fan of country music, from its Appalachian and Black roots to outlaw country and cosmic American. There's so much rich history and culture surrounding the genre(s) that I'm grateful for smart guides to the people, places, and stories behind the sound. Last month, I appreciated Elamin Abdelmahmoud's Rolling Stone piece "Rewriting Country Music’s Racist History." And over at Longreads, Aaron Gilbreath curated a collection of some great online writing about country music. Here are three of Gilbreath's picks:"Push Play" (Chris Dennis, Guernica, April 6, 2020)Dolly Parton is pure country but bigger than country, because she is bigger than life, and yet, you can’t talk about country music without talking about her. And are more sides to her career and influence than a hundred stories can contain. In this personal essay, one young man looks at his past tastes to explore the role Parton played in his ideas of masculinity and difficult coming out. “I think part of my magic, if I have any at all,” Parton once said, “is that I look totally fake but am so totally real.”“Branded Man” (Andy McLenon and Grant Alden, No Depression, November 1, 2003)Speaking of Bakersfield: When you sing ”Let’s go to Luckenbach, Texas, with Waylon and Willie and the boys,” let’s never forgot Merle Haggard. Yeah yeah, this song’s not about him, but country wouldn’t be country without him. For No Depression, the magazine that celebrated outlaw and underground country, two writers celebrated California’s rural poet, the son of cotton pickers, who brought a lot of poetry and rebellion to country, and made California a place for serious country music, as much as others had made it a place for pop songs and folk tunes. Read the rest

TheBackyardScientist built out a 200 watt laser and mounted it on the roof of his car. In his YouTube description, he wrote three paragraphs about why this experiment did not endanger any airplanes.Previously, he built a handheld 40 watt laser blaster: Read the rest

"As a result of a technical error in the Division of Taxation's automated refund check printing system, approximately 176 checks with invalid signature lines were printed and mailed to taxpayers on Monday 7/27/2020." said Jade Borgeson, Chief of Staff for the [Rhode Island] Department of Revenue. The checks, mostly corporate tax refunds, were signed by Mickey Mouse and Walt Disney, neither of whom are authorized to do so. According to Borgeson, "The invalid signature lines were incorrectly sourced from the Division’s test print files."That's really goofy. What kind of Mickey Mouse operation are they running down there!(NBC 10) Read the rest

Terence Eden found a turntable [Amazon] that cost only £30 (~$40): "I accidentally bought a load of vinyl records. So I decided to buy the cheapest, shittiest, turntable possible," he writes. For firty paands he even gets a USB port to rip the records directly to digital. Is it any good? Not really. It plays records 4% too fast and has the slight stereo shift that come with unbalanced tone arms. But it's not terrible, either, Eden reports. It's fine. Eden conducts a complete teardown on the device, which turns out to by mostly air in a plastic box.Vinyl is not a great format for high-fidelity audio.In the U.S., the cheapo Jensen "suitcase" turntable [Amazon, but don't] is actually cheaper than the widely-rebranded model Eden found shopping in the U.K. I tried one of the cheap suitcase models and it was just plain bad, requiring coins on the cartridge to keep the needle in the groove, etc. Read the rest

The summer of 2020 is the PERFECT time to auction off seized merchandise from the infamous Fyre Festival fraud. Dumpster fyres powers activate — form of t-shirts, hats, "tokens" and other shite souvenirs! Just don't expect a bargain. This merch is going for top dollar.CNN:The 126 minor items up for sale were seized by the federal government from Billy McFarland, the 28-year-old organizer of Fyre Festival, the 2017 event in the Bahamas that has become shorthand for scams in the age of social media."This Fyre Festival-branded clothing and other items that were seized from Billy McFarland were originally intended to be sold at the Fyre Festival itself but were kept by McFarland, with the intent to sell the items and use the funds to commit further criminal acts while he was on pre-trial release," US Marshal Ralph Sozio said in a press release."The proceeds from the sale of these items, all traceable to McFarland's $26 million fraud, will go toward the victims of his crimes," he said.(CNN)image via Gaston&Sheehan Read the rest

Building blocks are among a child’s first, and arguably, most important, toys. Once they start stacking one tentatively on top of another, the blocks not only spark waves of creativity, but actual real-world understanding of scientific principles like engineering and physics. It wouldn’t even be a stretch to call blocks on of the first true STEM toys.Of course, the wonder of blocks never really goes away as through adolescence and even into adulthood, constructing models and other miniatures is an engaging and even soothing pastime for many. Architect Damien Murtagh definitely still feels that desire, even going so far as pioneering an entire modular building system so users can create their own scale model homes and buildings. Thus were born the Arckits, various building sets that can help children and adults develop fundamental design skills and spontaneous creativity through actual hands-on model building with no cutting, glue or other messes.Little Architect Kids Model City Building Kit, 130+ pcs. - $44 after codeThis kid-friendly set starts with 32 unique pastel-colored components to start creating skyscrapers, roads, parks and more, each unlocking the fundamentals of architecture. The Little Architect kit also includes a starter guide to create some step-by-step builds — or just wing it and fashion a cityscape of your very own. By using the code BUILDINGKIT5 at checkout, you can save $5.99 off the regular price.Go Colors 2.0 Architect Scale Model House Building Kit for Kids, 160+ pcs. - $53 after codeGo Plus 2.0 Kids Architect Scale Model House Building Kit, 160+ pcs. Read the rest

Time management and self-motivation, the ability to stay on task and achieve in the office or when you’re working with home, is the true test of any person’s professional mettle. While that’s easier said than done, those skills can be taught and developed as you’ll find in The 2020 Work From Anywhere Hacker Bundle.The collection brings together seven courses covering nearly 100 hours of material aimed at maximizing your abilities in core personal skills like time management, working remotely, writing, and more.With courses like Time Management, Learn How to Get Stuff Done and 10 Soft Skills You Need, you’ll develop the skills that will enhance your productivity and efficiency, no matter where you’re working. The training will help you devise a personalized productivity plan to get your life in balance while you develop the people skills, communication, attitudes, and social and emotional intelligence to chart your own destiny professionally and personally.With Critical Thinking and Communication Strategies, you’ll develop key innovations using analytical thought systems and creative thinking techniques to further your goals. With all that in place, Learn Advanced Writing Skills and Building an Online Business can help further sharpen your vision, push your goals forward and maybe even strike out on your own as a self-made, self-driven web entrepreneur of your own.The training is regularly a $199 package, but right now, the entire path to understanding and working smart is available for only $29.99.Prices are subject to change.Do you have your stay-at-home essentials? Read the rest

It’s easy to be instantly dismissive about most Bluetooth speakers, especially small travel-sized units. Over the past few years, makers of every shape, size, and variety have started pounding out Bluetooth speakers, many barely able to sound much better than your smartphone speaker, let alone provide the bass and volume heft of legitimate portable speakers from name brands like Bose or Sony.But buyers of the Earhoox Dual Bluetooth Speaker Set are usually so charmed by this cute little tandem that they don’t even realize the quality of this package until it’s blazing away on their favorite tracks.And yes, this set includes two speakers, a pair of sound pumpers both equipped to trade-off solos and split the workload that can send lowlier speakers running. Crafted from brushed metal, PU leather and other premium materials, these six-inch powerhouses don’t look or feel like anything less than top-quality audio equipment.Of course, it’s only after they’re synced to your smartphone or other Bluetooth-enabled device that their true colors really come to the surface. Each built around a formidable double magnetic 16 core speaker with bottom passive vibration film design and enhanced bass capabilities, these units each come together to deliver their parts in a great surround sound tag team. While most portable Bluetooth speakers strain to deliver the full depth of the music, these two are perfectly synchronized partners, pounding out dynamic stereo audio separated as it should be.With 3 watts of power and 80dB intensity, these speakers have enough juice to be serving up your music while sitting on a desk, or hanging from the handlebars of your bike while trucking through the great outdoors. Read the rest

Modern Jazz musician Olivier Cong's two-part song "Delusion" inspire designer Kachi Chan to create a black and white space-themed series of visuals. Prepare to leave your body!Kachi has also done some gorgeous color work in the same vein, like Amelioration, a collaboration between visual designer Chan and fashion designer Matt Hui:It's a story about one tries to breakthrough his shackles and express his true self underneath. The fashion piece is composed of 2 pieces, the outer one is a metallic-look cape made with reflective PU material; the inner is a soft, light tulle dress with controllable LED lights. The runway performance depicts the process of the metallic shell being broken through and the inner true self is revealed as the tulle dress. The video as part of the performance interacts with the fashion model to stage the process of transformation.Image: Vimeo / Kachi Chan Read the rest

Documentarian Errol Morris made an acclaimed documentary series on eccentric people 20 years ago, and now you can watch it online for free. First Person includes a fascinating ep on Mark's high school classmate and supergenius pal Rick Rosner (shown above).The episode centers around Rick's fight over losing on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?What could possibly make a tormented teenage genius want to relive the horrors of high school … over and over again? Peek inside the mind of Rick Rosner to find out why the class Brainiac became a serial senior. And watch as Rosner prepares to take his place in the hallowed hotseat of TV game show “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” in what could turn out to be Rosner’s ultimate revenge for nerds everywhere.Image: YouTube / Errol Morris Read the rest

The always delightful Auralnauts have redubbed The Dark Knight Rises for 2020, with Bane urging all those he encounters to join him in wearing a mask.This isn't the first time Auralnauts has done Bane outtakes:Image: YouTube / Aralnauts Read the rest

In this tongue-in-cheek rendition to amuse their crew, The Edge does OK, and Bono has a couple of good moments, but the whole things falls apart a couple of minutes in.Bono explains why they have never tried it till now:There’s one annoying aspect of an Irish crew that has to be said. Wherever you go in the world, whatever venue you’re playing — whether it’s the Olympia, or 3 Arena, or Madison Square Garden — you walk into the venue and it’s a big moment, and you’ll hear a song that we said, "We’ll never, ever play this." And that’s right, "Stairway to Heaven." These professionals believe they play this better than the band. And you know, it might be true.For a chaser, here's Heart blowing the doors off the song in front of the band's surviving members:Image: YouTube / Dexmusic Read the rest

Did you know that you are free to change your auto insurance at any time? Maybe you do know that, but don't want to deal with the inconvenience of changing providers. Or maybe you simply already think you have a great deal. The fact is that your car insurance is one of those expenses that should stay under constant surveillance. Company rates shift constantly, so the carrier you’ve been with forever may not be offering you the best deal anymore. And cost isn't the only reason to make a change. Online insurance provider Clearcover helps set you up with the best plan at the best rates available, all right from your phone, laptop, or favorite digital device. You read that right: no speaking to a soul over the phone.And with their digital claims services, you can file a claim right through the Clearcover app immediately after an accident, expediting the process to resolve the situation and move on.If you’re in one of the eight states that Clearcover serves (Arizona, California, Illinois, Louisiana, Ohio, Texas, Utah, Wisconsin — with several more to come in late 2020), all you have to do is go to the Clearcover website, enter some basic information and see what they have to offer.As a company, Clearcover's mission is to serve low-cost premium policies with top-rated technology. So while there are no guarantees that Clearcover will beat your current provider, it’s not uncommon for new Clearcover customers to save $500 or more annually compared to their previous plans and get better coverage. Read the rest

“Grace,” the Black teen girl in Michigan who was detained because the school said she was not doing her online coursework, is to be released from detention “IMMEDIATELY.” The Michigan Court of Appeals issued the order late on Friday, and mom picked Grace up shortly thereafter.“We are elated. We are so happy for Grace to be going home. It is amazing that she is going to be able to sleep at home tonight.” -- Grace's attorney, commenting on the Court of Appeals decision today.BREAKING: “Grace,” the Michigan teen who was detained for not doing her online coursework, is to be released from detention “IMMEDIATELY,” according to an order from the Michigan Court of Appeals that I just received. pic.twitter.com/R3WdkK1tVp— Jodi Cohen (@Jodiscohen) July 31, 2020Wow, that was fast! Within two hours of the court order, Grace's mother arrived at Children's Village to get Grace. The teenager had her bags packed and was ready to go. They quickly left and were emotional and happy, according to her lawyers.— Jodi Cohen (@Jodiscohen) July 31, 2020Go read the full story at ProPublica by Jodi S. Cohen.And here's her original report at ProPublica: A Teenager Didn’t Do Her Online Schoolwork. So a Judge Sent Her to Juvenile Detention.Michigan mom sentenced to 7 days in jail for not following court order to vaccinate her children Read the rest

Yikes.

“Dzhokhar will spend his remaining days locked up in prison, with the only matter remaining being whether he will die by execution,”

I found this video absolutely mesmerizing. It in, a primitive tech enthusiast from the Pacific Northwest fashions some beautiful and lethal- and effective-looking arrowheads, knives, and tools using ground and polished slate.As he points out in the lengthy video description, he doesn't have access to the more superior, knappable flint in his area, so he learned the technique for grinding and polishing slate which has been used by indigenous people in that area and around the world for ages. It is astounding what you can make with a piece of slate, water and grinding sand, and a world of patience and time.Trigger warning: A skinned chicken was shot through with arrows and cut up with slate knives in the making of this video.Image: YouTube Read the rest

What's not to love about this gallery of images from the 1966 World Science Fiction Convention in Cleveland, OH? The cameras may have acquired color and the cosplay may have become a bit more sophisticated, but the spirit of the players seems to have remained unchanged.These images were taken by the late photographer, and sci-fi mega-fan, Jay Kay Klein. You can see the massive collection of Klein's photos and papers of science fiction fandom on the Calisphere website.Image: Composite of images from the Jay Kay Klein collection, via Cosplay Central Read the rest

Always looking to put a new spin on a cup of joe, infusing your coffee with a blast of nitrogen produces a thicker, more full-bodied, naturally creamy, frothy variation on java that has been picking up steam with fans for the past decade. Of course, most of us don’t have nitrogen injectors just lying around, so if we want our burst of nitro-fueled beans, we have to head over to a coffe shop and plunk down $4 or $5 a cup.Fortunately, the Royal Brew Nitro Cold Brew Coffee Machine and Dispenser offers perfect cold brew with all the nitro effects done right from your own kitchen or office.By injecting those nitrogen gas bubbles, the coffee takes on a smoother, sweeter, foam-like texture that many often compare to the taste of a thick beer like Guinness Stout. The Royal Brew was the original home nitro system based on dispensers used for stouts, creating a special gas blend and pressurized faucet valve to produce the iced, rich, heady brew on your own.Just add your coffee, shake well, inject nitro cartridges, then put it back in the fridge for about 90 minutes and you’re all set -- just tap your keg and serve.In addition to the 64 oz. keg and nitrogen holders, the whole system also comes with its own carry bag so you can take it anywhere.Regular coffee gets diluted with water, milk, and sugar, which also cuts down on your beverage’s caffeine potency. But nitro brewing makes the coffee so tasty it eliminates the need for additives like cream or sugar. Read the rest

"Impotus Americanus is one of the heaviest leaders in the animal kingdom, and is famously known to be an orange, ruddy color not found in nature." Read the rest

Customer 1 at a Staples store in Hackensack New Jersey was told by Customer 2 that she should wear a mask. Apparently Customer 1 didn't like being told to wear a mask, so she grabbed Customer 2's walking cane and then threw her to the ground, breaking her leg. Customer 2 had a liver transplant 4 months ago. Now, police are on the lookout for Customer 1.Image: YouTube Read the rest

One of the greatest struggles of the COVID-19 pandemic has been the fact that the entire world has to watch the normal scientific process happen in realtime. Scientists don't have the space to hypothesize, experiment, and discover new things before it all goes public. Everyone wants certainty; they want immediate answers. But that's not how science works.This new feature from the UCSF Magazine offers the most comprehensive, detailed, and surprisingly accessible breakdown of the virus so far, including that whole process of discovery — what we knew when, why that led to certain conclusions that were correct, and so on.In late January, when hospitals in the United States confirmed the presence of the novel coronavirus, health workers knew to watch for precisely three symptoms: fever, cough, and shortness of breath. But as the number of infections climbed, the symptom list began to grow. Some patients lost their sense of smell and taste. Some had nausea or diarrhea. Some had arrhythmias or even heart attacks. Some had damaged kidneys or livers. Some had headaches, blood clots, rashes, swelling, or strokes. Many had no symptoms at all.By June, clinicians were swapping journal papers, news stories, and tweets describing more than three dozen ways that COVID-19, the disease the coronavirus causes, appears to manifest itself.This includes a succinct explanation of how it works as a vascular (as opposed to respiratory) virus, and why that was such a jarring realization:The novel coronavirus, an RNA virus named SARS-CoV-2, has become notorious for its skill at breaking and entering human cells. Read the rest

The entertaining and delightful host of Technology Connections convinced me that impact lawn sprinklers are a lot cooler than I had previously imagined. Read the rest

America's colossal mishandling of the coronavirus pandemic means US Passport holders have limited options when it comes to international travel. According to this CNN infographic, countries that remain open without restrictions include:AlbaniaDominican RepublicKosovoMaldivesMexicoNorth MacedoniaSerbiaTunisiaTurkeyTwenty-three other countries are open with restrictions, such as having a negative COVID-19 test result, going into quarantine once you arrive, or paying a cash deposit.Image: CNN Read the rest

Cool Tools · 237: Steven DubnerOn my Cool Tools podcast, which I co-host with Kevin Kelly, we interviewed Stephen Dubner. Stephen’s an award-winning author, journalist, and TV and radio personality. He’s co-author of the Freakonomics books, which have sold millions of copies in 40 languages, and he’s host of Freakonomics Radio, which gets 8 million global monthly downloads and is heard by millions more on N.P.R. stations and other radio outlets around the world. Here are the show notes. Read the rest

The Tiny Sorter is a device you can make from an Arduino, a remote control servo, and some cardboard to sort marshmallow bits from a box of breakfast cereal. It's a clever mechanism that uses a laptop webcam and Google's machine learning software to learn the difference between marshmallow bits and cereal bits. Read the rest

Cartoonist R. Sikoryak's talent for mimicking other cartoonists, from Krazy Kat's George Herriman to Nancy's Ernie Bushmiiler, is uncanny. He has a new book out, called Constitution Illustrated, published by Drawn & Quarterly and I have been marveling at the illustrations. The publisher kindly gave me permission to run some samples so you can see the versatility of Sikoryak's work.A gifted pastiche and parody artist as well as a New Yorker cartoonist, R. Sikoryak’s perhaps best known for his widely lauded graphic novel adaptation of the iTunes Terms and Conditions agreement, where each page referenced a different classic comic. It is a triumph of cartooning, one that demonstrated the power of the comics medium to make the unreadable into a text the average reader could engage with. While the Constitution is hardly so dense, Sikoryak transforms it by interpreting it within 100 years of American pop culture icons, all dressed in period attire, naturally!The 13th Amendment is brought to life by Billy Graham’s classic 1973 comic book cover for Luke Cage, Hero for Hire, drawn by one of the few Black cartoonists in the Marvel bullpen. The Boondock Saints explain the Fourth Amendment preventing seizure. Earlier on, Cathy reminds us that money drawn from the treasury must be appropriately accounted for publically. And it’s pretty satisfying to see the cast of Alison Bechdel's Dykes to Watch Out For assemble in Section 4, as the Constitution lays out what meetings of Congress look like. Read the rest

In this essay titled "How I Read Two Books a Week," Anthony Draper offers "surprising and practical steps you can take now to read more." My favorite tip is using the downtime feature on your iPhone’s screen time settings.I’ve also adjusted some of my daily habits to further encourage reading. I turned on the downtime feature on my iPhone’s screen time settings so that all of my apps lock after 10 p.m. — with the exception of the Books app, Wildfulness (nature noises), and the clock (to set my alarm for the morning).Usually, I’d spend around 30 minutes (or more) watching YouTube in bed before I went to sleep. I saw that as an easy area to convert to reading time. The downtime feature prevents me from just pulling down on the home screen and accessing my Siri suggested apps (my iPhone knows I use YouTube every night, so it’s always right there) because once the downtime schedule hits, YouTube no longer shows up on that menu.I often get stuck scrolling Flipboard for an hour or longer before falling asleep at night. I'm might try the downtime feature to limit my phone to WaniKani and the Kindle App.Image: Jumpstory / CC0 Read the rest

It’s Sunday. You wake up after a very pleasant sleep. You feel good. You decide to check your email. You have one new email in your inbox; and what d’you know, it’s from Elon Musk! It contains clear evidence that your entire universe is a simulation; and the words ‘Don’t show this to anyone’.Your whole reality is simulated – everything you know, everyone you love, and even yourself are all an intricate collection of ones and zeros! What now?In this entertaining essay in Philosophy Now, Harry Whitnall provides a "survival guide to life in the simulation." His first piece of advice: "[T]o maximize your chances of survival, perhaps you should not show anyone the simulation proof, while frequently considering the possibility of one day telling everyone.[via The Browser] Read the rest

Over at Vanity Fair, Katherine Eban goes behind the scenes of the Trump administration's abject failure at coordinating mass testing for coronavirus — and perhaps unsurprisingly, in all connects back to Jared Kushner empowering all his trustfund baby friends, and Donald Trump's precious ego crushing every opportunity just to make some political gains:The plan called for the federal government to coordinate distribution of test kits, so they could be surged to heavily affected areas, and oversee a national contact-tracing infrastructure. It also proposed lifting contract restrictions on where doctors and hospitals send tests, allowing any laboratory with capacity to test any sample. It proposed a massive scale-up of antibody testing to facilitate a return to work. It called for mandating that all COVID-19 test results from any kind of testing, taken anywhere, be reported to a national repository as well as to state and local health departments.And it proposed establishing “a national Sentinel Surveillance System” with “real-time intelligence capabilities to understand leading indicators where hot spots are arising and where the risks are high vs. where people can get back to work.”[…]But the effort ran headlong into shifting sentiment at the White House.[…]Most troubling of all, perhaps, was a sentiment the expert said a member of Kushner’s team expressed: that because the virus had hit blue states hardest, a national plan was unnecessary and would not make sense politically. “The political folks believed that because it was going to be relegated to Democratic states, that they could blame those governors, and that would be an effective political strategy,” said the expert. Read the rest

Earlier this year, the Pentagon confirmed that Tom Delonge had actually leaked some legit UFO videos; and just last week, The New York Times buried even more UFO revelations on the 17th page of the print edition.It's definitely weird that the former lead singer of Blink-182 emerged from a paranoid painkiller addiction to become a legitimate UFOlogist, in communication with John Podesta and Hillary Clinton. It's even weirder that his colleagues in the To The Stars Academy of Arts and Sciences include a former Defense Department employee who may be lying about his involvement with the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program; the former head of the CIA's "men who stare at goats" program, who also claimed to scientifically "confirm" that Russian magician Uri Geller had actual psychokinetic abilities, even though Geller himself admitted it was a trick; and a scion of the Gulf Oil fortune who also worked for the DOD and involved in a UFO interest group with the co-author of the NYT articles about the Pentagon's UFO program. Or that TTA purchased supposedly "alien" metals from the billionaire owner of Budget Suites for America.But what's even more ridiculous is that the Canadian government has had most of their UFO information easily available for decades. The info they have is no more damning or exciting than that blurry Pentagon footage of a pill-shaped aerial vehicle that's probably just an unmanned drone or satellite. But the truth, as they say, is out there, nonetheless. From Toronto Star:The Canadian government hosts a publicly searchable archive of government records about UFOs dating back to the 1950s. Read the rest

The fantastic Drew Friedman says: "My latest book project will be one hundred black and white portraits of underground comix icons presented as they were during that most fertile era of underground comix, 1967-1977, from Z to A, ZAP to ARCADE (with some stops before and after). Short biographies and samples of their work will also be included."To me, this is a natural followup to my two Heroes of the Comics books that both focused on the great creators of mainstream comics, from the mid- thirties to the mid-fifties, now jumping a decade to the dawn of the undergrounds.Underground comix was a counterculture movement that produced iconoclastic and wonderfully forbidden, no-holds-barred comic books and other small press publications focusing mainly on sex, violence and drugs, and featured comix and graphix produced by some of the greatest artistic talents and satiric minds of the day, most prominently the "father of underground comix," R. Crumb.All of the essential players from that ten year era of undergrounds will be included: Frank Stack, Gilbert Shelton, Robert Crumb, Art Spiegelman, Bill Griffith, Diane Noomin, Denis Kitchen, Justin Green, Kim Deitch, Jay Lynch, Jim Osborne, Trina Robbins, Vaughn Bode, Howard Cruise, all the ZAP artists, the Bijou Funnies artists, the Air Pirates, etc, as well as several obscure, forgotten and black creators. This project should be completed by early to mid 2021 and published either later that year, or in 2022, depending on unforseen circumstances in the publishing world.I love everything Drew does, and I'm really looking forward to this one. Read the rest

Cops cannot search and arrest people just because they smell weed, Maryland's highest court ruled unanimously. Chief Judge Mary Ellen Barbera wrote, "The odour of marijuana, without more, does not provide law enforcement officers with the requisite probable cause to arrest and perform a warrantless search of that person incident to the arrest."From Growcola:This ruling builds on a previous one made last summer by the same court, which barred police officers from arresting and searching a person based on an observation of an amount of cannabis less than 10 grams, which is below the criminal threshold according to decriminalization policy made in 2014. Read the rest

"Wake Up," a short film by The Lincoln Project, depicts what it might be like for a republican to wake up after being in a coma for nearly four years and have his family tell him everything that's happened since Trump came into power. It was directed by Jon Turteltaub. Read the rest

Police charged this 30-year-old gentleman for allegedly trespassing at Australia's Sydney Zoo, stripping to his underwear, and diving into the big aquarium. His brilliant buddies recorded the hijinks and shared it on social media, helping police nab the suspect. According to 9News, "the Peakhurst man was issued a court attendance notice for behaving in an offensive manner, entering enclosed non-agricultural lands and interfering with business, and opening, entering or damaging an animal enclosure." Read the rest

The Twitter account of David Duke, former Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan and failed gubernatorial and presidential candidate, was suspended early Friday. "FUCKING FINALLY!," tweeted Sleeping Giants, a campaign dedicated to deplatforming bigots. "... We’ve only been asking about this for THREE AND A HALF FUCKING YEARS!"Twitter confirmed to Newsweek that the suspension was permanent. Duke has received at least one temporary suspension in the past."The account has been permanently suspended for repeated violations of the Twitter Rules on hateful conduct," a Twitter spokesperson was quoted saying by Newsweek. "This enforcement action is in line with our recently-updated guidance on harmful links."It's not clear exactly which tweet finally did him in, but the reference to harmful links makes it likely the final straw was his posting of a viral coronavirus conspiracy video that exhorts people to take an unproven medication to fight the disease.Among America's most notorious living racists and antisemites, Duke advanced Neo-Nazi conspiracy theories, defrauded his supporters, and even joined the Republican Party in pursuit of his aims. Read the rest

I'm a big fan of the Pudding's clever approach to infographics, and this latest piece examining 90s music does not disappoint. They surveyed thousands of people, collecting millions of data points to find out how well they recognized charting songs from the 1990s, and analyzed the results according to birth year. Pretty cool!Sinatra, Elvis, and Chuck Berry are emblematic of ’50s music, but what’s the ’90s equivalent? Using the recognition data we collected, we can begin to define the canon. These will be the artists and songs that Gen Z and beyond seem to recognize (and value) among all the musical output from the decade.First, it’s important to understand the general trends in the data. “No Diggity” knowledge peaks among people born in 1983, who were 13 years old when the track debuted in 1996. We also see a slow drop off among people who were not fully sentient when “No Diggity” was in its prime, individuals who were 5 years old or younger (or not born yet) in 1996.That drop-off rate between generations—in this case, Millennials to Gen Z—is one indicator for whether “No Diggity” is surviving the test of timeThe Instagram post below is only a small piece of the results; check out the Pudding's website for the full analysis, with all your favorite (and/or totally forgotten) 90s pop gems. View this post on Instagram Part 1 of 2—New project: 1) Gen Z is far more likely to recognize "Wannabe" than "No Scrubs." 2) Will Smith is falling into obscurity. Read the rest

The One Love Machine band is the brainchild of German artist Kolja Kugler, whose work focuses largely on moving sculptures. As he explained to CNN:When I build a band member I start obviously with the music-making parts. The fingers, plugging or playing, and then I build the character behind it.The special thing about my robots is that they do actually play the music themselves. My robots play the bass guitar, the drum kit and they play the flute. They've got an affinity for punk rock.My robots perform all around the world. Tech events, festivals, university lectures or TED Talks.That's fucking metal. And also punk.There's a punk band made completely of robots [Briony Edwards / Louder Sound] Read the rest

Pee-wee Herman for president? SURE, WHY NOT?! Stranger things have happened. At least Pee-wee's slogan is honest: "In your guts, you know he's nuts." Go to Pee-wee's new store for the "Pee-wee for president" buttons (and tees and pins and stickers and hoodies) but stay for that terrific animated banner! Francis, his running opponent, is taking a different route with his campaign slogan, the familiar "I know you are, but what am I?" oneimages via Pee-wee Store Read the rest

Where would we be without Alexa? Without Amazon’s virtual assistant, who would we ask to play back our favorite songs or tell us the weather or beatbox? No, seriously...ask Alexa to beatbox.Of course, Alexa does have her limitations. The biggest one being that she’s tethered to an electrical outlet. For the vastness of her all-knowing powers, Alexa, and the Amazon Echo she’s working through, are dependent on staying plugged in, which means their range only extends as far as the power cord.The SkyTote Battery Sleeve seeks to change all that, taking your Amazon Echo off the chain so Alexa can freely roam anywhere within your WiFi range.The SkyTote works with all second-generation Amazon Echo units. All you have to do is slide the factory casing off your Echo, open the battery cover at the base, slip the SkyTote over the top -- and now, your Echo is cordless. The two sync right up, so rather than getting a new Echo for every room in your house, you can now just take one room-hopping with you.The SkyTote sports a rechargeable 8,800mAh lithium-ion battery that lasts up to eight hours on a single charge. Unencumbered, the SkyTote even lets you take Alexa out of the house, so long as you can keep her connected to your vehicle WiFi or a smartphone hotspot.A set of four LEDs on the base always keep you aware of its current power levels, and a power button lets you shut the speaker down to preserve your battery life when it isn't in use. Read the rest

For years the British Royal Family has been nothing but a soap opera to the tabloids.

I bought a USB rechargeable lighter last year and will never go back to using matches or a butane lighter. I've used it to light many charcoal barbecues, candles, and stove burners. It works by making a small electric arc across two electrodes. It makes a barely perceptible hissing sound, but one of my cats can hear it from across the room and she runs away. It must sound like another cat hissing at her. Read the rest

Kids under the age of 5 who show symptoms of COVID-19 have higher concentrations of the virus than any other age group, according to a study published today in the JAMA Pediatrics journal.From Fortune:"One of the things that’s come up in the whole school reopening discussion, is: since kids are less sick, is it because they have less of the virus?," said Taylor Heald-Sargent, the lead author and a pediatric infectious diseases specialist at Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, and assistant professor of pediatrics at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine."And our data does not support that,” she told Fortune. As a result, "we can't assume that kids aren't able to spread the virus." Read the rest

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

Minnesota continues to be in the news for all the wrong reasons, this time thanks to a meme posted by the Wabasha County Republican Party comparing wearing a face mask to Jews forced to wear Stars of David under Hitler. Said official is no longer officially with the organization.Jewish Community Action led the local response, pointing out they support mask wearing:Given that Minnesota rabbis recently spoke out in favor of a mask mandate, comparing that mandate to the Holocaust feels especially disgusting. We ask the @MNGOP to tell Wabasha Republicans to stop using imagery like this. It betrays a total lack of both empathy and education. pic.twitter.com/xGMT3cUvvo— Jewish Community Action (@JCA_MN) July 27, 2020Earlier this month, a couple of Walmart patrons made the same analogy, which went over about as well.Image: City Pages Read the rest

Last week, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) gave a stirring response to now-disgraced Rep. Ted Yoho (R-FL) calling her a "fucking bitch."Yesterday AOC posted "behind-the-scenes details" of how she decided how to respond. She included a page from her dot grid notebook with a rough outline of her speech. (What kind of notebook is it?)I want to thank everyone for your immense outpouring of personal stories and support for one another after last week’s speech on the violence of misogyny and abuse of power in the workplace. I figured I’d share some behind-the-scenes details of what went into that moment.Many have asked me if my speech was pre-written. The answer is no. But in some ways, yes. Yes because this speech was a recounting of thoughts that so many women and femme people have carried since the time we were children. It flowed because every single one of us has lived this silent script: stay silent (why?), keep your head down (for whom?), suck it up (to whose benefit?). But my chosen words were largely extemporaneous. I got to the House floor about ten minutes before my speech and scribbled down some quick notes after reflecting on what had transpired over the last few days. Pictured here are all the notes I had, and from there I improvised my composition and spoke live.The evening before my speech, I did not know what I was going to say. I wrestled with this question: what is there to say to a man who isn’t listening? Read the rest

Earlier this month the US Government built a fence in Portland, which is blocking a bike lane. Last week, the Portland Bureau of Transportation sent a cease-and-desist notice to the Fed Gov, demanding it removes the fence. So far, the Fed Gov has not responded, and now the City of Portland is fining Fed Gov $500 for every 15 minutes the fence remains. The fine is approaching $300,000.This website has a counter that shows how much the feds currently owe Portland. Read the rest

TEKOI was a Cold War era United States government installation in Utah that tested the solid-fuel rocket engines that powered Minutemen nuclear warheads. The site has long since been abandoned, and in this video, CGP Grey presents the history of TEKOI, which used footage from the video above. Read the rest

"Is the government watching you through your computer camera? Does Google read all your Gmail? Does a strong password protect you from hackers? Will encryption keep my data safe?" Wired asked these questions to Eva Galperin, director of cybersecurity at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Read the rest