Google is reported to be under investigation by the United States National Labor Relations Board (NLRB.gov) for allegations of discouraging union organizing among workers, and for firing the so-called “Thanksgiving Four.” NLRB began an official investigation into Google after the recent firing of four employees, just months after the company reached a labor settlement with the federal agency.The investigation is expected to take roughly three months, Jennifer Elias at CNBC reports:An agency spokesperson confirmed to CNBC Monday that the probe, which will include whether Google violated labor laws when it recently fired four employees, has officially commenced. It will also look at whether Google discouraged employees from engaging in union activity. The investigation is expected to take roughly three months and be conducted by its regional staff based in Oakland.A Google spokesperson provided the same statement it’s been using since the firings of the four employees:“We dismissed four individuals who were engaged in intentional and often repeated violations of our longstanding data security policies, including systematically accessing and disseminating other employees’ materials and work,” the statement says. “No one has been dismissed for raising concerns or debating the company’s activities.”The latest investigation comes after four Google employees filed a federal complaint with the NLRB on Dec. 5, alleging unfair labor practices, which would violate a settlement made by Google. It also comes as Google’s parent company, Alphabet, just got a new leader in Sundar Pichai. Google now faces another federal investigation into its labor practice just months after a separate settlement with the NLRB. Read the rest

The 12 days of crustmas are upon us.

Cheap massage chairs are a common Christmas gift, but we're willing to bet they don't get a lot of actual use from the people who could really use a massage. We're talking about people with deep, chronic joint pain or anyone who does a serious workout on a regular basis.For that kind of soreness, there's nothing quite like a hand massager, and the ExoGun DreamPro Percussion Massage Device is one of the best.For one thing, it's the only unit of its kind that comes equipped with six speeds ranging from gentle pressure to deep tissue relief. There are attachments that allow it to really get in the contours of any muscle and deliver real therapy where your body needs it most - not just generalized comfort.And while the four-hour battery life is impressive, the exterior design is a real standout. The angle of the handle not only allows you to reach trouble spots, it lessens the vibrations from the motor so you can keep a firm grip.The ExoGun DreamPro is already on deep discount (almost 80% off retail), but you can take an additional 20% off that final price by using the holiday coupon code GREENMONDAY20. Read the rest

When you need tacos, you need tacos.

His name was not Santa Claus.

“Protip: If you’re gonna deliver 20 pounds of meth in an air fryer, make sure it gets to the dealer.”

Twin 4-year-old girls managed to survive a car crash that killed their father by unlocking themselves from their car seats and climbing an embankment to get help, say Washington state officials.The girls' dad Corey Simmons, 47, died at the scene after his car veered off a winding road on Friday evening and dropped off into a forest 200 feet away, reported KING-TV and CNN.The father sustained fatal head injuries. He wasn't wearing a seatbelt, USA TODAY confirmed.Police say the twins had non-life-threatening injuries, and were transported to a hospital after a woman who passed the crash in her car drove back to help and called 911. From king5.com:Family members told KING 5 the two 4-year-old girls in the backseat of the vehicle were Simmons’ twin daughters. The girls were able to free themselves from their car seats and climbed about 200 feet to the road for help after the crash.Trooper Axtman said a Good Samaritan passed the girls on the side of the road and turned around to help. The driver called 911 and the girls were transported to the hospital with minor injuries.Rebecah Crider is Esther Crider's daughter and Simmons' stepdaughter. She said her family searched for the Good Samaritan who helped her sisters after the crash.“We are so incredibly thankful, and we are desperately looking for who she is," Rebecah Crider said. "We would love to personally meet her and thank her.” On Sunday, Seattle authorities made contact with the Good Samaritan. Read the rest

I first met Bill Gibson in 1999 when I was profiling him for the Globe and Mail as part of a review of his book "All Tomorrow's Parties." Since then, we've become friends and colleagues, and I genuinely treasure every chance I get to sit down with him, because he's both fantastically clever and incredibly nice.Joshua Rothman's long, intimate insightful profile of Gibson was tied to the release of Agency, the forthcoming sequel to 2014's astounding The Peripheral -- a book that was repeatedly delayed when world events overtook its action (it was rewritten at least twice: once for Trump and once for Cambridge Analytica).Rothman digs deeper into Gibson's personal story than I've seen before -- getting him to talk about the deaths of his parents when he was young -- and into the racist Confederate revisionism that Gibson was spoon-fed as a child. He also connects deeply to Gibson's fascination with material culture -- fashion, technology, and ephemera, and devotes generous space to describing Gibson's library, basement and attic.All of this atmospheric and biographical material forms a spine for a fantastic bibliographic journey through Gibson's many modes -- young, poetic cyberpunk; contemporary war-on-terror chronicler; far-future dystopian. It's a fantastic build-up for Agency, which I offered some modest advice on during its drafting, and which is also Bill's best book since Neuromancer.Gibson has a bemused, gentle, curious vibe. He is not a dystopian writer; he aims to see change in a flat, even light. Read the rest

Shortly after Swati Runi Goyal (49) boarded an American Airlines flight from Florida to Nevada, a crew member told her she would either have to remove her shirt or get off the plane, reports Buzzfeed News.Goyal is a member of the non-theistic Satanic Temple, which is a recognized church.From Buzzfeed News:Goyal was shocked by the harsh response from the crew members, noting that she's worn the T-shirt many times in the past without incident, including on airplanes.Fortunately, her husband had two layers on, so he lent one to her. With the text of the shirt covered up, the crew allowed her to remain on the flight. Still, she said the crew avoided eye contact with her for the remainder of the flight, even ignoring her when the drink cart came around.American Airlines later apologized to Goyal and issued refunds to her and her husband.Image: Swati Runi Goyal Read the rest

Live. Eat. Shop. Reuse.“hey you’re bringing your briefcase today for your nationally televised impeachment hearing right?”“no no i’ll be fine with this.”pic.twitter.com/Uw27J337ra— j.d. durkin (@jiveDurkey) December 9, 2019 Read the rest

A team of researchers from Microsoft and Harvard's Berkman Center have published a taxonomy of "Failure Modes in Machine Learning," broken down into "Intentionally-Motivated Failures" and "Unintended Failures."Intentional failures are things like "Preturbation attacks" (previously), which make tiny changes to inputs that produce wildly inaccurate classifications; "Membership inference" (using a model to learn whether a given person's data was used to train it) and "Backdoor ML" (implanting a backdoor to the algorithm that attackers activate with specific triggers).Unintended failures include my personal favorite, "Reward hacking" (previously) (reinforcement learning systems discover a way to game the system and cheat their way to success); "Natural adversarial examples" ("Without attacker perturbations, the ML system fails owing to hard negative mining"); and that old favorite, "Incomplete testing" ("The ML system is not tested in the realistic conditions that it is meant to operate in").For engineers, we recommend browsing through the overview of possible failure modes and jumping into the threat modeling document. This way, engineers can identify threats, attacks, vulnerabilities and use the framework to plan for countermeasures where available. We then refer you to the bug bar that maps these new vulnerabilities in the taxonomy alongside traditional software vulnerabilities, and provides a rating for each ML vulnerability (such as critical, important). This bug bar is easily integrated into existing incident response processes/playbooks.For lawyers and policy makers, this document organizes ML failure modes and presents a framework to analyze key issues relevant for anyone exploring policy options, such as the work done here[5],[6]. Read the rest

Joseph "Smilin' Joe" Deluca (54) of Ohio will have to wait at three years before he gets another opportunity to throw hot McDonald's coffee in a person's face. That's because he's going to prison, where coffee doesn't come from McDonald's and it probably not very hot. Deluca was at a McDonald's drive-up window when a cashier asked to see his receipt because there was confusion as to whether he'd ordered one cup of coffee or two. Deluca got out of his car and tossed both cups of coffee at the employee, who suffered burns as a result.Newsweek reports that Deluca "has more than 20 prior convictions on charges including vandalism, intimidation, burglary, and grand theft... After his sentencing, Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael C. O'Malley said: 'Deluca appears to have an inability to control his temper. Hopefully he uses the next three years to learn to correct that problem.'" Read the rest

America is one of the only developed countries in the world that pays people to donate blood, much of it sold abroad (70% of the world's plasma is of US origin), and as commercial blood donations have soared, blood now accounts for 2% of the country's exports -- more than corn or soya. There's more growth ahead for blood products, expected to "grow radiantly" according to an analyst who was cheering 13% growth between 2016-17. One study found that the typical blood-seller derives a third of their income from selling blood. Princeton's Kathryn Edin called the commercial blood industry "the lifeblood of the $2 a day poor."Mintpress's interviews with blood-sellers reveal "a mix of disabled, working poor, homeless, single parents, and college students," who describe a system of arbitrary and predatory payments, which fluxuate wildly from day to day. Chronic bloodletting produces lethargy and cognitive impairment.Respondents all agreed that they were indeed being exploited, but in more ways than one. Desperate Americans are allowed to donate twice per week (104 times per year). But losing that much plasma could have serious health consequences, most of which have not been studied Professor Schaefer warns, stressing that more research is necessary. Around 70 percent of donors experience health complications. Donors have a lower protein count in their blood, putting them at greater risk of infections and liver and kidney disorders. Many regulars suffer from near-permanent fatigue and are borderline anemic. All this for an average of $30 per visit. Rachel described the terrible Catch-22 many of the working poor find themselves in: I got turned away twice – once for being too dehydrated and once for being anemic. Read the rest

Officials at Logan County Detention Center inspected a pair of Nike shoes and found three tiny cell phones hidden the sole of each shoe, reports Fox News.If you covet such a phone, AliExpress is awash in them. Do you think they might have malware on them?Images: Logan County Sheriff's Office Read the rest

"Fight the Traitors Together" (motto: "Hong Kong is part of China and this can't be meddled with by outside power") is a web-game that has attained new popularity in mainland China; it invites players to locate with caricatures of real Hong Kong protest leaders and slap them or pelt them with rotten eggs.In the game, amid a crowd of black-clad rioters wearing yellow hats and face masks, Anson Chan Fang On-sang, another leading opposition figure, carries a bag with a US flag, clutches a stack of US dollars and holds a loudspeaker to incite violence in the streets. The game also features Western faces, including characters that appear to be Julie Eadeh, a political unit chief of the US consulate general in Hong Kong.Game targeting Hong Kong ‘traitors’ popular on mainland social media [Hu Yuwei/Global Times](via Naked Capitalism) Read the rest

You? Me? Them? Everybody! Read the rest

Who's driving @ElonMusk or the Auto-Pilot?$TSLA pic.twitter.com/xvmyHPG8Ol— GuruLeaks (@Guruleaks1) December 8, 2019 If at first you do not succeed just tell people you have.The truck reminds me of a Gobot, you know the toy that made everyone want a Transformer. Read the rest

Santa Claus holds a monopoly on Christmas spirit that prevents fair competition in the free market. The time has come to break up his oligarchical empire and free the reindeer from the shackles of slavery. Universal Elfcare now! View this post on InstagramA post shared by jeremybgg (@jeremybgg) on Dec 6, 2019 at 9:25pm PSTImage via Danny Howard / Flickr Read the rest

That's some dada right there. Read the rest

Bustin' makes me feel good. Here it is with Finnish subtitles, courtesy of Sony Pictures Finland's YouTube channel. Read the rest

In my latest podcast (MP3), I continue my serial reading of my novella Party Discipline, which I wrote while on a 35-city, 45-day tour for my novel Walkaway in 2017; Party Discipline is a story set in the world of Walkaway, about two high-school seniors who conspire to throw a "Communist Party" at a sheet metal factory whose owners are shutting down and stealing their workers' final paychecks. These parties are both literally parties -- music, dancing, intoxicants -- and "Communist" in that the partygoers take over the means of production and start them up, giving away the products they create to the attendees. Walkaway opens with a Communist Party and I wanted to dig into what might go into pulling one of those off.The cop pulled the vice principal’s chair out from behind the desk and sat down on it in front of us. He didn’t say anything. He was young, I saw, not much older than us, and still had some acne on one cheek. White dude. Not my type, but good looking, except that he was a cop and he was playing mind games with us.“Are we being detained?” Somewhere in my bag was a Black Lives Matter bust-card and while I’d forgotten almost everything written on it, I remembered that this was the first question I should ask.“You are here at the request of your school administration.” Oh. Even when there wasn’t a fresh lockdown, the administration had plenty of powers to search us, ask us all kinds of nosy questions. Read the rest

Last summer, MD/journalist Elisabeth Rosenthal's husband had a bike accident and was seriously injured and taken by ambulance to an emergency room.Rosenthal's description of what happened next is a compact and infuriating statement of how grifty and crooked America's health-care system is, based on a set of lobbyist-legalized billing practices (ushered in under cover of 9/11) that would be considered fraud in any other industry.Rosenthal isn't talking about being billed thousand-percent markups on slings or over-the-counter medicines, either. That's just price-gouging. She's talking about massive bills for services that were never delivered, in a way that is, again, totally legal (thanks to intensive lobbying by the emergency medicine industry).For example: her husband was given a neck-brace (billed at $319) but after it was determined that he didn't need it, the EMTs removed it and kept it. Nevertheless, he was billed for the full price, as though he had walked away with it (perhaps thrifty cyclists could keep these neck-braces in their panniers so that EMTs could use that, saving them money, if they get into an accident). The final bill for a one-hour loan of a piece of hard plastic was $215, with $24 passed on to the Rosenthals as a "patient responsibility."Then there's the "cover charge" -- the farcical fees levied for just setting foot in the ER -- $3,400 for the ER and another $1,030 for the trauma surgeon.Though Rosenthal's husband had a single CT scan, they were billed for five scans ($1,400-$3,300) because the radiologist looked at five different places on that scan after it was complete. Read the rest

The 35th anniversary of Pee-wee's Big Adventure is nigh. So, soon, you'll not only be able to see the 1985 hit film on the big screen, but you'll also get to hear never-before-shared stories about the movie from Pee-wee's creator, Paul Reubens. Yes, please, and thank you! Pee-wee's Big Adventure 35th Anniversary Tour with Paul Reubens is headed to 20 U.S. cities in early 2020.Pee-wee Herman himself hipped me to this, dude.Previously: Now you can send shout-outs from Paul Reubens, aka Pee-wee Herman, to people you know Read the rest

According to Chipotle Mexican Grill CEO Brian Niccol, when their restaurant workers call in sick, they might have to talk to a nurse to make sure they're not fibbing."We have nurses on call, so that if you say, 'Hey, I've been sick,' you get the call into the nurse," CEO Brian Niccol said last week. "The nurse validates that it's not a hangover — you're really sick — and then we pay for the day off to get healthy again."Later, a Chipotle spokesperson told the New York Post that Niccol's statement wasn't entirely accurate: “You don’t have to call a nurse if you’re taking a sick day... All employees who call off sick for any reason receive paid time off.”After all, it isn't too tough to feign an illness over the phone.From CBS News:The CEO detailed steps taken to recover the trust of customers after a slew of high-profile safety scares that battered Chipotle's brand and led Niccol's predecessor, Steve Ells, to step down in late 2017...Chipotle handles things differently these days in its 2,500 restaurants, acccording to Niccol. "We have a very different food-safety culture than we did two years ago," he said. "Nobody gets to the back of the restaurant without going through a wellness check."Image: "The first Chipotle, near the campus of the University of Denver" by CW221 (CC BY-SA 3.0) Read the rest

Oh tidings of madness and woe. Gather 'round the Necronomicon, little cultists, and let's all sing these beloved holiday odes to Elder Gods. All the classics are here: "I Saw Mommy Kissing Yog-Sothoth," "Freddy the Red-Brained Mi-Go," "All I Want for Solstice is my Sanity," and "Awake Ye Scary Old Ones." And who can ever forget that rubber-room holiday favorite "Away in a Madhouse?"These songs were all created by members of the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society. You can hear more via this YouTube link. [H/t Geeks Are Sexy] Read the rest

Yes, this is real. Someone actually made a first-person shooter for the New Testament. From the game's Steam page:"I am Jesus Christ" is a realistic simulator game inspired by stories from the New Testament of the Bible. Get into old times and follow the same path of Jesus Christ 2,000 years ago. Game is covering the period from Baptizing of Jesus Christ and to Resurrection. Have you ever wondered to be like Him - one of the most privileged and powerful people in the world?Check if you can perform all famous miracles from the Bible like Jesus Christ. It is a simulation game and you can try to save the world as He did. Are you ready to fight with Satan in the desert, exorcising demons and curing sick people? Or calm the storm in the sea?I have a lot of questions. Like, why is it possible to beat the game without dying? Can you change the outcome of Bible stories, or do you just have to recreate it step by step? Does that mean you get to kick the crap out of a bunch of greedy bankers in the game? Do you actually get to fight Satan, too? Like physically? Does that mean Jesus has attack skills? Are there power-ups to boost the abilities with which you've already been divinely bestowed? Why is Jesus taking Polaroid pictures of everyone he helps? Why isn't Jesus shaking his Polaroid pictures to help them develop before placing them in the Bible? Read the rest

It's not the The New Adventures of Wonder Woman that I grew up with but it does have that Stranger Things/mallwave appeal, and a New Order song. It also has Steve Trevor who most certainly died in the first film but no matter. Read the rest

Legendary puppeteer Carroll Spinney, who brought Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch to life on Sesame Street, died today. He was 85. Here's the New York Times obituary. And from the Sesame Workshop:Caroll was an artistic genius whose kind and loving view of the world helped shape and define Sesame Street from its earliest days in 1969 through five decades, and his legacy here at Sesame Workshop and in the cultural firmament will be unending. His enormous talent and outsized heart were perfectly suited to playing the larger-than-life yellow bird who brought joy to generations of children and countless fans of all ages around the world, and his lovably cantankerous grouch gave us all permission to be cranky once in a while.In 2018, Spinney retired from Sesame Street. Below is Sesame Workshop's video tribute to him and the following is from a New York Times profile from the time:Although they had previously crossed paths in the 1960s, Spinney pinpointed a fateful encounter at a Salt Lake City puppeteers’ festival in 1969, when (Muppets creator Jim) Henson watched him try to perform a multimedia show that went gradually awry.As Spinney recalled, Henson came to him afterward to say, “I liked what you were trying to do.”Soon after, Henson invited Spinney to play two Muppet characters that were being developed for “Sesame Street,” which made its debut on public television later that year. One was Oscar, who was envisioned as a cranky, trash-loving purple character. (He was orange in his earliest appearances, before taking on his familiar green hue.)The other was Big Bird, who was performed in a full body costume and who, Spinney said, he was originally asked to play as “a funny, dumb country yokel.”After a few episodes, Spinney made a suggestion to the show’s producers. Read the rest

Looks like "Grace from Boston" has fallen on some hard times. It's not clear if she's pounding back that smooth Aviation gin during her year-long exercise binge, or after she realizes that her husband's seeming-generosity is actually some terrifying voyeurism. But at least she has some friends looking out for her, right?(Also, props to this actress and to Aviation gin for getting this out so fast) Read the rest

We only have a few days left until Verizon kills off Yahoo Groups, and the volunteer archivists who've been battling with the company to preserve its legacy have just been dealt a crushing blow.From the Yahoo Groups Crusade Headquarters: "The Archive Team (who is working with to save content to upload to the Internet Archive) was again blocked by Yahoo. The block is wiping out the past month of work done by hundreds of volunteers. This info was reported on their IRC channel."Yahoo banned all the email addresses that the Archive Team volunteers had been using to join Yahoo Groups in order to download data. Verizon has also made it impossible for the Archive Team to continue using semi-automated scripts to join Yahoo Groups – which means each group must be re-joined one by one, an impossible task (redo the work of the past 4 weeks over the next 10 days)On top of that, something Yahoo did has killed the last third party tool that users and owners have been using to access their messages, photos and files. (PGOlffine).. Note: not everyone who paid for the PGOffline license is being impacted by the problem. but the developer does not have a workaround. Here is their post about it.Yahoo’s own data tools do not provide Group Photos and, as in my case, for two IDs I keep getting the data from another Yahoo account.VERIZON / YAHOO! BAD FORM! [featheredleader/Yahoo Groups Crusade Headquarters](Thanks, Kelly Lewis) Read the rest

Jesus and his fam were refugees, so it's only fitting that the folks at Claremont United Methodist Church decided to put its nativity figures in cages behind razorwire.As Rev Karen Clark Ristine said, Jesus, Mary and Joseph were "the most well-known refugee family in the world. What if this family sought refuge in our country today? Imagine Joseph and Mary separated at the border and Jesus no older than two taken from his mother and placed behind the fences of a Border Patrol detention center."A separate nativity inside the church reunites the family. Nearly 70,000 children were imprisoned by the US government for seeking asylum in 2019.The nativity scene at Claremont United Methodist church. HT Rev. Karen Clark Ristine. pic.twitter.com/YRIl8me63y— Matt Rindge (@mattrindge) December 8, 2019(Thanks, Kathy Padilla!) Read the rest

American actor and singer René Auberjonois, who played early roles in in M*A*S*H and 1979's King Kong and later starred as Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's irascible and gelatinous security chief Odo, is dead at 79.Before his entry into Hollywood, Auberjonois worked in theater, earning a Tony for best lead actor in a musical for his role opposite Katharine Hepburn in “Coco.” He received further Tony nominations for 1973’s “The Good Doctor,” 1984’s “Big River,” and 1989’s “City of Angels.”Auberjonois was also known for his voice roles, particularly in 1989’s Disney Renaissance hit “The Little Mermaid,” in which he voices Chef Louis and sang the memorable “Les Poissons.” Fans of “The Princess Diaries” would recognize him as the voice of Mia Thermopolis’ father, Prince Philippe Renaldi, in an uncredited role. Read the rest

Matt Levine's consistently excellent newsletter for Bloomberg is called Money Stuff, and is typically focused on white collar crime and crime-adjacent behavior. Monday's edition looks at the New York Times' article on on the possible existence of Epstein-related incriminating videos, and attempts to explain why the story doesn't actually allege criminal behavior by the lawyers involved:It’s “a long way from extortion” in the technical sense that they were lawyers and knew the proper incantations to utter to make it not extortion. It’s not a long way from extortion in the sense that they were planning to go to rich men and say “we have compromising videos of you and we will publish them unless you pay us money.” But the incantations make all the difference!Monday's newsletter includes a summary of various ways bankers can be induced to aid financial crimes, and why Credit Suisse Group AG’s Mozambique scandal doesn't seem to fit the mold: the Mozambique case is even weirder than I thought, because the bribes weren’t just to motivate the bankers to get the deals approved, they were to motivate the bankers to cut the fees....It is honestly a bit mysterious to me how this could work. If you’re a banker and you come to your bosses with a hairy deal with a higher-than-usual fee, they will be repulsed by the hair but intrigued by the fee. If you come to your bosses with a hairy deal and a below-average fee, because you are pocketing a bribe-in-lieu-of-fees yourself, what’s in it for them? Read the rest

George Maschke from Antipolygraph.org (previously) writes, "Thousands of individuals are annually compelled to undergo a pseudoscientific polygraph screening ritual called the 'Test for Espionage and Sabotage.' The administration guide for this procedure, which is marked 'For Official Use Only' is now publicly available."Appendix F (“TES Outline”) will be of special interest, as it provides the basic script for conduct of the Test for Espionage and Sabotage. It is essentially a synopsis of the entire monkey drill.It should be noted that in a secret experiment conducted at the National Center for Credibility Assessment (then called the Department of Defense Polygraph Institute), 80 percent of subjects succeeded in beating the Test for Espionage and Sabotage after an hour-long training session.There is no documented instance of the Test for Espionage and Sabotage ever catching a spy or saboteur.The polygraph community is quite concerned about polygraphy’s vulnerability to simple, effective countermeasures that they cannot detect, and the TES therefore includes a “Countermeasures statement,” which the guide explains thus: 10.2. Countermeasures statement: It is important to provide some form of countermeasures statement to make the examinee aware that non-cooperation or deliberate efforts to influence testing will adversely affect the examination process. There are a number of approaches to this issue. The following is one such approach: 10.2.1. “It is not uncommon for people who have to take a polygraph examination to research information on the topic. Often, they come across sites or read articles that suggest they have to perform some activity to help them through their polygraph examination. Read the rest

Today, 800,000 Hong Kongers marched through the city in a demonstration commemorating their six months of protests. Thanks to landslide victories for pro-Democracy candidates in last month's election, today's march had an official police permit -- the first such permit issued since August.The protest was organized by the nonviolent umbrella group The Civil Human Rights Front (slogan: "You Can't Kill Us All"), and in online forums, protesters were promising direct action tomorrow if the Beijing-loyal administrator Carrie Lam does not respond to it."No matter how we express our views, through peacefully marching, through civilised elections, the government won't listen," said a 50-year-old protester, who gave his surname Wong. "It only follows orders from the Chinese Communist Party.""I don't know how long the fight will be," added another protester, who gave his first name as Kelvin. "So far I can't see the end but we won't back down."Cantonese popstar Denise Ho, whose music is blacklisted on the Chinese mainland, tweeted a video of the huge crowds with the caption: "Here's your majority Carrie Lam".Hong Kongers mark half a year of protest with mammoth rally [Jerome Taylor, Yan Zhao/Yahoo News](via Naked Capitalism)(Image: Civil Human Rights Front) Read the rest

The Bernie Blackout is a well-documented phenomenon: the press cover Bernie (far) less than other frontrunners, and when they do, they're (far) more negative than they are with other frontrunners.The Intercept's DC Bureau Chief, Ryan Grim, has been on the Sanders beat since 2015. In a short video, he points out one silver lining of the blackout: it means that Sanders might escape the backlash in coverage that every frontrunner faces when the media gets tired of lionizing them and switches to demonizing them, going through their backgrounds for transgressions to use in order to attack them.It's pretty cold comfort, though.I am a donor to both Sanders' and Warren's campaigns.Bernie Sanders faced a media blackout that helped sink his 2016 run for president. Ahead of 2020, the trend continues: Sanders gets less media coverage and a higher rate of negative coverage than his top rivals for the Democratic nomination. But this time, says The Intercept’s D.C. Bureau Chief Ryan Grim, the blackout could actually help Bernie win. Read the rest

Kentucky's Peoples Rural Telephone Cooperative came out of a local electrification co-op set up during the New Deal, and in 1949 it was expanded into a telephone co-op with more federal infrastructure money. Today, the PRTC has used Obama FCC funding to expand into public broadband delivery, wiring up all of Jackson and Owsley Counties, some of the poorest places in America, using a mule called "Old Bub" to haul fiber through inaccessible mountain passes and other extremely isolated places.Fiber buildout has created an economic miracle for the people served by the PRTC; working with the nonprofit Teleworks USA (which trains people for remote work, especially tech support and customer service), the coop has created high-paying, sustainable jobs in the counties, taking local unemployment from 12-16% to below 5.5%. People work doing customer service and tech support for "Hilton Hotels, Cabela’s, U-Haul, Harry & David, and Apple," and some people get paid to tutor wealthy Chinese children in conversational English ("We joke that there are going to be all these kids in China with Southern accents"). The fiber buildout cost $50k/mile, a price-tag that reflects the coop's commitment to serving every person in its region, no matter how remote. The result wasn't just hundreds of good jobs paying much higher than the counties' median wage, but also a closure of the regional "homework gap."The region's blazing fast broadband has made it a desirable place for siting all kinds of businesses, bringing in both call-centers and a helicopter rotor factory. Read the rest

Presumably coming soon to ESPN's "The Ocho" is some version of this 200-year old tradition in Malta held in honor of St Julian the Hospitaller:In the tournament, known as Gostra to the Maltese, a 16 meter-pole is covered by 15 liters of lard and fixed at an angle from the promenade into the sea. Competitors try to grab three flags at its end – a blue and white one dedicated to St Mary, a yellow and white one for the Vatican, and the Belgian tricolor, since St Julian is believed to have been born in the Belgian town of Ath in 7AD.The prizes for competitors "are nominal" but the risks huge:This photograph from the tournament is particularly great: View this post on Instagram #REUTERS Pictures of the Decade POY DECADE. A man runs up the "gostra", a pole covered in grease, during the religious feast of St Julian, patron of the town of St Julian's, outside Valletta, Malta, August 25, 2013. Picture taken August 25, 2013. REUTERS/Darrin Zammit Lupi/File Photo MALTA OUT. NO COMMERCIAL OR EDITORIAL SALES IN MALTA SEARCH "POY DECADE" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "REUTERS POY" FOR ALL BEST OF 2019 PACKAGES. TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY. #malta #oddly #tradition #gostra #gostraman #reuters #POY #POYdecade #tpx #picoftheday #toppix #pixoftheday #photooftheday #photosoftheday #imageoftheday #imagesofthedayA post shared by Darrin Zammit Lupi (@darrinzl) on Dec 3, 2019 at 12:25pm PST Read the rest

Every Christmas list has names you dread buying for. But hold up: Before you wave the white flag and get them yet another gift card, scroll down a few. We've got 15 items that run the gamut from stylish old-school lighters to cutting-edge audio tech, enough variety to please any Scrooge. And the best part? You can take an extra 20% off the final price by entering the online code GREENMONDAY20.Thonet & Vander® KIND Desk Sound System + FLUG Bluetooth ReceiverQuality audio doesn't have to involve wall-high speakers or even any wires. This desktop speaker set includes a 4" woofer and 2.75" mid-range for a crisp, balanced sound, and the 4.0 Bluetooth connectivity picks up signals from more than 30 feet away.MSRP: $129.99Sale Price: $60Price with GREENMONDAY20 code: $48Shure SRH440 Professional Studio Headphones DJs and producers have been swearing by Shure audio products for decades, and these headphones keep that pedigree very much alive. The impedance is tuned to handle output from the highest quality systems, and the collapsible build means you can take them just about anywhere.MSRP: $125Sale Price: $99Price with GREENMONDAY20 code: $79.20Gotek SoundTube Wireless EarbudsKnow a fitness junkie who hates to be tied down? The 25 hours of battery life on these earbuds can handle the longest workout. And with IP67 water protection, they're as durable outdoors as they are in the gym.MSRP: $99Sale Price: $79.20Price with GREENMONDAY20 code: $63.36Jane West CBD CapsulesWe've all heard the testimonials on the benefits of CBD (cannabidiol), but these THC-free nutrient-enhanced supplements are even more of a chill pill. Read the rest

I had hoped In the Valley of Gods, Campo Santo's follow up to Firewatch, was going to adapt some of the magic of the Indiana Jones and Brendan Fraser Mummy films, and add a modern sensibility. The trailer looked promising:From the team that brought you Firewatch, In the Valley of Gods is a sprawling narrative experience in remote, 1920s Egypt. You are Rashida, a disgraced former explorer and filmmaker given one last shot at the adventurous life you desperately miss. Somewhere, beyond the endless miles of dunes, ruins, and tombs lies an incredible archaeological discovery—but it can't be found without the help of Zora, the former partner you vowed never to work with again.GameplayA thrilling adventure in first personNavigate and rebuild a relationship with your companion, ZoraUtilize an authentic 35mm film camera to document the world and story around youClimb, explore and traverse the wonders of the ancient worldAlas, Campo Santo was acquired by Valve, and a statement was put out today that the project was "on hold" since the team had scattered to work on other Valve projects like Half-Life: Alyx. Duncan Fyfe, who had been thrilled to be working on In the Valley of Gods, tweeted a thread lamenting the apparent end of the project. You can read the entire thread about his time working for Campo Santo here. But the best part is Duncan's own adventure to read an obscure antiquity he needed to help his work on the game:I spent so much time with 19th century maps and guidebooks, cartouche diagrams and tomb plans, theses and excavation reports, figuring out creative solutions to narrative problems. Read the rest

We’re living in the age of Big Data. As the driving force behind everything from Google’s famed algorithms to self-driving cars, massive sets of complex data can be found at the heart of some of today’s most exciting and important technologies.The Ultimate SQL Bootcamp Certification Bundle will give you the skills and tools you need to thrive in this high-paying field, and it’s currently available for just $21.This extensive training bundle features six courses that will teach you how to work with a variety of go-to database management systems and platforms.You’ll learn how to gather, store, and analyze huge sets of data by using systems like SQLite, how to install and maintain a wide variety of server infrastructures, how to build customized programs using languages like Python, and much more.There’s also instruction that walks you through how to automate complex tasks in order to drastically cut down on your work time.Get the skills you need to join the Big Data revolution with the Ultimate SQL Bootcamp Certification Bundle for just $21. Read the rest

Sycamore Brewing received a spanking from North Carolina's Alcohol Law Enforcement (ALE), which will punish the brewery for making a beer can with cartoon reindeer having sex. From Vice:[T]he label likely violated the agency's rules prohibiting obscene material, and the brewery didn't submit it for approval before producing the cans either. As a result, Sycamore will most likely face a fine of between $500 and $1,000."We’re in a moment in our country where the president is up for impeachment, there are school shootings, there’s all this horrible stuff going on,” Sycamore co-owner Justin Brigham said. “And you know, seven-and-a-half percent (ABV) beer that tastes like cookies, with pixelated reindeer? That’s a nice reprieve I think.” View this post on InstagramA post shared by Sycamore Brewing (@sycamorebrewing) on Nov 23, 2019 at 4:41am PST Image: Sycamore Read the rest

Yesterday, r/redditsecurity announced that it believes leaked internal secret documents about trade agreement discussions between the United States and the United Kingdom were posted to /r/worldpolitics by Russians:Earlier this year Facebook discovered a Russian campaign on its platform, which was further analyzed by the Atlantic Council and dubbed “Secondary Infektion.” Suspect accounts on Reddit were recently reported to us, along with indicators from law enforcement, and we were able to confirm that they did indeed show a pattern of coordination. We were then able to use these accounts to identify additional suspect accounts that were part of the campaign on Reddit. This group provides us with important attribution for the recent posting of the leaked UK documents, as well as insights into how adversaries are adapting their tactics.In late October, an account u/gregoratior posted the leaked documents and later reposted by an additional account u/ostermaxnn. Additionally, we were able to find a pocket of accounts participating in vote manipulation on the original post. All of these accounts have the same shared pattern as the original Secondary Infektion group detected, causing us to believe that this was indeed tied to the original group.Image: CC0 Public Domain Read the rest

Connor Krukosky's lifelong hobby was collecting and refurbishing superannuated computing equipment, which is surprisingly cheap provided you have a lot of space -- Krukosky scored things like keypunch machines for a mere $7 (though he had to drive 1,000 miles roundtrip to get it home).In 2016, Krukosky, then 18, bought a 1,500lb IBM z890 mainframe from a university and brought it home (it took two trips, one with a trailer), and then got it into his basement (with help from his dad, who used a rototiller to excavate a larger basement entrance!). In this incredibly charming and engaging talk from Share 2016, Krukosky explains the challenges he faced in getting the mainframe up and running (including things like expired software licenses!) and finished up by ssh'ing into the mainframe live from the stage.This is great, makerspiration stuff: a scrappy kid using old documents scanned and posted as PDFs to resurrect a titan from a lost, heroic age. The original cost for the machine, 10 years before, was $350,000. He spent a total of $350 buying and refurbishing it.(via Memex 1.1) Read the rest

The Ramones were never a happy family. They never gave much of a crap for the political idealism that would come to be associated with the sound that they defined, either. This is especially of guitarist Johnny Ramone, a notorious conservative who celebrated the bands' induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame by declaring, "God bless President Bush."That was in 2002, but frankly, no one was surprised. Because the Ramones had already been singing about Johnny's brand of conservatism for more than 20 years at that point. Joey Ramone allegedly wrote the lyrics to "The KKK Took My Baby Away" after his then-girlfriend, Linda Daniele, cheated on him with Johnny.This is relevant not only because of my personal passion for weird underground rock trivia. But also because Linda Daniele went on to marry Johnny, and the woman now known as Linda Ramone is now embroiled in a lawsuit with Joey's brother, Mickey Hyman, over the rights to the Ramone legacy.Joey and Johnny are both dead now, of course. But Mickey has taken issue with the fact that Linda named her sprawling LA home "The Ramones Ranch," as if claiming it to be the official commemorative estate for a band that was quite famously from Queens. From Page Six:Under [private arbitrator Bob] Donnelly’s decision, Linda must use a less band-specific name for her home, such as “The Johnny Ramone Ranch” or “The Linda Ramone Ranch,” according to the filings.She must also go by Linda Cummings-Ramone, as opposed to Linda Ramone, in promoting future iterations of the tribute show if she wants it to include the work of the whole band. Read the rest

SCAN (Scientific Content Analysis) is a lie-detecting method invented by Avinoam Sapir, a former Israeli spook turned polygraph examiner that involves picking out small textual details from writing samples to determine when someone is lying. Sapir has used his method to determine the veracity of the Book of Genesis, and to conclude that Anita Hill might be a secret lesbian and that James Comey was likely sexually assaulted as a child.SCAN has no empirical support, and is so outlandish that it has hardly been studied by third parties at all. However, each time it was studied, it was found to perform no better than chance. For example, an Obama-era deep dive into investigation methods, the High-Value Detainee Interrogation Group, which drew experts from many fields who concluded that "SCAN did not distinguish truth-tellers from liars above the level of chance" and challenged SCAN's core assumptions, such as: "Both gaps in memory and spontaneous corrections have been shown to be indicators of truth, contrary to what is claimed by SCAN."Despite this, SCAN is widely deployed in the US and abroad, with customers in "Australia, Belgium, Canada, Israel, Mexico, the Netherlands, Singapore, South Africa and the United Kingdom," and within dozens (if not more) of US police departments, as well as the FBI, the CIA and the DIA.Why would a tool with "no empirical support" be so widely used by police departments and spies? The best explanation is offered by Northwestern University law prof Steven Drizin, whose research focuses on wrongful convictions: "A lot has to do with hubris — a belief on the part of police officers that they can tell when someone is lying to them with a high degree of accuracy. Read the rest

Oh look. A bunch of American police cadets giving a Nazi salute. Whom ever could have seen this coming?From the Charleston Gazette-Mail:Several West Virginia state employees have been suspended after a photo emerged depicting a training class of roughly 30 correctional officers performing a Nazi salute.Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety Director Jeff Sandy sent a letter to all employees Wednesday describing the photo as “distasteful, hurtful, disturbing, highly insensitive, and completely inappropriate.”The photo, on state letterhead, shows almost all of Basic Training Class No. 18 displaying the Nazi salute. Text above the photo reads: “HAIL BYRD!” [a reference to the trainees' instructor]This reminds me of something. It almost makes me feel a certain … animosity towards an automated contrivance.While it's good to know that a "number" of these employees have been "suspended," it would be far more comforting to know that they were all fired, along with all the other officers who condone such activity. But I'm not actually expecting much more than a few slaps on the wrist and one or two high-profile Fall Guys before the whole thing gets brushed aside and these Neo-Nazis end up patrolling the streets.WV employees suspended after photo emerges of correctional officers' Nazi salute [Jake Zuckerman / Charleston Gazette-Mail]Image via West Virginia state officials Read the rest

So you missed Black Friday and Cyber Monday? Well, there's one more holiday milestone coming up: Green Monday, on Dec. 16. It's one of the busiest online shopping days for the simple reason that it will be 10 days before Christmas, which is when last-minute shoppers start to stress.Our advice? Don't wait for that panic to set in. Here are 15 gift deals that are already on discount, and you can take an extra 20% off any of them today by using the online code GREENMONDAY20.SoulSound 2 Bluetooth 4.1 Over-Ear HeadphonesGot an audiophile on your list who wants to cut the cord? These comfortable headphones pack a microphone for calling and 17 hours of battery life.MSRP: $59.99Sale Price: $34.99Price with GREENMONDAY20 online code: $27.99Nix Mini Color Sensor V2Take the guesswork out of decorating with this widget that identifies the exact shade of any color and even matches it to paints by major brands.MSRP: $99Sale Price: $84Price with GREENMONDAY20 online code: $67.20Dive Portable Lungs Starter KitThis super-simple alternative to a full scuba rig includes a hand pump, regulator and more. Just fill it up and you're set to dive in up to 30 feet of water.MSRP: $695Sale Price: $549.99Price with GREENMONDAY20 online code: $439.99ExoGun DreamPro Percussion Massage DeviceAttack sore spots and recover quicker from workouts with this massager that comes equipped with 6 speeds ranging from gentle pressure to high-impact therapy.MSRP: $599Sale Price: $119.99Price with GREENMONDAY20 online code: $95.99Jane West Travel Collection Smoking KitsEnjoy a quick break with this efficient aluminum one-hitter, equipped with its own cleaning rod. Read the rest

AI Dungeon 2 is designed by Nick Walton to achieve an ambitious goal:Imagine an infinitely generated world that you could explore endlessly, continually finding entirely new content and adventures. What if you could also choose any action you can think of instead of being limited by the imagination of the developers who created the game?The screencap above is from an adventure Nick found posted at Hacker News.I decided to try a few games as The Mandalorian. For my first attempt I used the recommended fantasy setting, and chose to play as a knight named Mando. Here's what unfolded:You are Mando, a knight living in the kingdom of Larion. You have a steel longsword and a wooden shield. You are on a quest to defeat the evil dragon of Larion. You've heard he lives up at the north of the kingdom. You set on the path to defeat him and walk into a dark forest. As you enter the forest you see a large black dragon flying through the sky. He looks like it is ready to eat you> compare dragon's likeness to my bounty puckThe black dragon looks very similar to your bounty puck. The only difference is that this one has a red stripe down its side. You decide to take the dragon for yourself.> use grappling hook to climb onto dragonYou grab hold of the dragon's neck with your hand and pull yourself up onto his back. You then begin climbing up towards his head. Read the rest