On Back to the Future Day (that's October 21, 2015), a film short premiered at Universal CityWalk in Hollywood that imagined Marty McFly arriving to the future — meaning, October 21, 2015. Back to the 2015 Future reunited several original cast members (but used a Michael J. Fox impersonator) and, in the four years it's been online, has garnered over 3 million views. Now, YouTuber Pacto Copernico has made a deepfake version of the 15-minute short where Michael J. Fox's face is put on the impersonator's, Tyler Dunivan. There's still a decent amount of uncanny valley but, if you squint, you might be able to suspend your disbelief a little to enjoy this "sequel."Hurry, Watch all three before they get shut down:Back to the 2015 Future (not deepfaked):(Movieweb) Read the rest

"Nova Scopes" by David Sugich:My kaleidoscopes are not your typical everyday kaleidoscopes. I make a variety of 2-, 3-, and 4-mirror kaleidoscopes which are 2-, 2.5-, and 3-dimensional in nature. I use domestic, U.S.-made, colored glass as the decorative exteriors, and dynamically moving, sparkling oil for the object chambers at the end of the mirror systems. My kaleidoscopes create images reminiscent of fireworks, cathedral rose windows, outer space, and psychedelics.In motion, they remind me of Spock's entry into V'ger: お、おれの知ってる万華鏡とぜんぜん違う…Just a kaleidoscope made by some tripper named Dave Sugichhttps://t.co/rAIm2LhoYC作ったのは Dave Sugichさん。他の作品は後述のリンクでどうぞ。販売もしてるよ。https://t.co/gyd1wnwOjp pic.twitter.com/NBdzQmMzZS— ヤギの人（師走） (@yusai00) November 29, 2019 View this post on Instagram A look inside a Star Nova! Music by Spatial Distortion #kaleidoscope #novascope #handmade #stainedglass #artforsaleA post shared by Nova Scopes (@novascopes) on May 7, 2017 at 10:56pm PDTAvailable for purchase here and here. Read the rest

BrickinNick created this LEGO model of the new Tesla Cybertruck. BrickinNick posted it to the LEGO Ideas site. If enough people like the design, it could become an actual LEGO product. From the LEGO Ideas specs:While its design may not be for everyone, many different elements and functions of the Cybertruck lend themselves well to an electrifying LEGO build. At this time, only the frunk (front trunk) and tailgate function. Opening passenger doors, a full interior, fold or slide out ramp, opening charging ports, steering, suspension, the Tesla ATV, and more could all be integrated (and are being worked on for future project updates) making for an incredibly fun building experience. LEGO motorization could even turn this into a truly all-electric vehicle in brick form!Dimensions: 35.6 cm L x 15.2 cm W x 12.7 cm H (14" L x 6" W x 5" H) Read the rest

Truth be told, I'm not the biggest Star Wars nerd on my home world. I've seen all of the films and played the Star Wars: X-Wing miniature game. That's it. So, I don't know much of deeper lore, like what the hell a Mandalorian is. The origins of Beskar? Forget about it. I ended up watching a bunch of YouTube videos in search of answers. Most of them only left me confused and with more questions than answers. Once again, the Templin Institute offered up my favorite summary.[Image: Screen capture from the video] Read the rest

As scientists make great strides in their research on psychedelic therapies for depression, PTSD, OCD, addiction and other conditions, new ways to deliver the drugs are also emerging from laboratories. Oregon company Silo Wellness announced the availability of a new nasal spray for psilocybin, the psychoactive ingredient in magic mushrooms. The company conducted their research and formulated the product in Jamaica where psilocybin is legal. From the Silo Wellness press release:The key to the nasal spray is that it bypasses the gut, going directly to the bloodstream through the nasal mucus membranes and eventually the liver for metabolizing. “Many psilocybin patients, particularly women, complain of upset stomach or vomiting when taking high-doses of mushrooms,” Board Advisor and Silo Wellness investor Becky Rotterman, a Missouri pharmacist, stated. “We want to bring this wonderful natural medicine first to Oregon and then the flyover states – to those who would be afraid to eat a handful of fungi and who feel more comfortable seeing their medicine in a familiar delivery modality, such as a metered-dose nasal spray...."Regarding the expansion of legalization efforts, Arnold explained that “this is the sort of product that activists can discuss with their legislators to show that safe consumption is possible within a legal framework.”“With proof of concept in hand, we are taking pre-orders and entertaining licensing proposals for research abroad and manufacturing for the product in advance of jurisdictions coming online legally, similar to Oregon’s proposed medical-marijuana-like psilocybin initiative,” COO Scott Slay, of Eugene, Oregon stated. Read the rest

Weighted blankets are officially a thing. And if you've ever tried one, you know there's a reason for the fuss. Parents have known for generations that swaddling a baby has a profound calming effect, and the gentle pressure that blanket weights provide can have the same effect on restless sleepers.Pretty much all parts of the body can respond to this kind of treatment, which is why the Nodpod® Weighted Sleep Mask is poised to become just as essential for serious bedtime prep.The cotton/fleece covering is comfy enough, but inside the mask are four gently weighted, BPA-free microfiber pods. They cause the mask to hug the contours of your face without putting undue pressure on your eyeballs - just the right kind of pressure to make you feel secure. Want to sleep on your side? It's just as effective thanks to a pull-through slit that you can use to tie the Nodpod on. No hair-tugging Velcro here.Best of all, it's sale priced just in time to give you some much-needed holiday rest. You can take an extra 15% off that final price by using the discount code MERRYSAVE15. Read the rest

Kentucky Fried Chicken teamed up with Enviro-Log to bring back the 11 Herbs & Spices Firelog that apparently sold out in just a few hours last year. On its site, JFC uses big bold type to make darn sure buyers understand that this log is "NOT ACTUALLY FRIED CHICKEN." The 11 Herbs & Spices Firelog available exclusively at Walmart. 'natch. Read the rest

I don't have this particular LED tracing light box, but it's super cheap on Amazon when you use code HC37AVDP. (If you don't know what a light box is, you probably don't need one.) Read the rest

Why is it that people like Lee Baca, Paul Manafort, Bill Cosby, and Harvey Weinstein suddenly develop debilitating health issues when it's time to prosecute them? Variety reports that accused sex criminal Harvey Weinstein "hobbled into the downtown courthouse limping and relying, at times, on a cane or the help of an assistant. He was dressed in an ill-fitting light grey suit, his hair was thinning, and he looked pale and enfeebled." One of Weinstein's team of high-paid lawyers overflowed with sympathy for her client: " “This is tough on anybody going through this and dealing with the scrutiny not only in the courtroom, but in the court of public opinion.”Here is #HarveyWeinstein hobbling out of the courthouse with his defense. He walked in with a cane, but didn’t use the crutch on the way out. pic.twitter.com/HyJNYPFtLn— Elizabeth Wagmeister (@EWagmeister) December 6, 2019NEW: Harvey Weinstein left a New York courtroom as prosecutors sought to raise Weinstein's bail to $5 million cash over allegations he violated his ankle monitor conditions; A judge postponed the decision until next week. https://t.co/yRoNBOrZXT pic.twitter.com/f9jLtJIEO9— World News Tonight (@ABCWorldNews) December 6, 2019Harvey Weinstein appears in New York court for bail hearing where prosecutors asked a judge to increase his bail to $5 million for sometimes failing to wear the required tracking device https://t.co/6RUPNVGcPH pic.twitter.com/geRfjXi5fu— Reuters (@Reuters) December 6, 2019Image: Twitter/ABC News Read the rest

Yesterday the Netflix Twitter account issued a challenge to other brands: "What's something you can say during sex but also when you manage a brand twitter account?" Some E Cards collected a few of the responses, some of which are more risque than others: Read the rest

In a recent installment of his Plenary Session podcast, hematologist-oncologist Vinay Prasad observed that "There are interventions that disperse wealth, … and they give people jobs, and they send them out in the community; and there are implantable drugs, implantable devices, there are drugs, there are cancer screening tests, and we will always prioritize interventions that consolidate money in the hands of the few, over interventions that disperse money to the hands of many, with the same levels of evidence."The "unaffordable" interventions are things like more nurses, home visitors, and other policies that give small amounts of money to a large number of people to deliver health care.Dr Ray Poses, Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine at Brown University, has consolidated this into "Prasad's Law": "Medical goods and services that concentrate wealth can be paid for; medical goods and services that disperse wealth are 'unaffordable.'"I would state it more generally as "Spending that involves procurements will have vendors who will use excess revenues to lobby to increase that spending. Spending that merely pays employees to do the work of the institution has no such excess capital and will therefore be squeezed out over the long term."I first started thinking about this at an Orgcon some years ago, where I saw a rep from Reprieve present their research on civilian casualties from US drone strikes outside of theaters of war. These drone strikes are coordinated by the CIA (which is not a military organization, thus their activities are not an "act of war"), and the Agency knows next to nothing about who they kill. Read the rest

Here's Bond's wristwear from Dr. No to Spectre. While the Seiko M354 Memory Bank Calendar from Moonraker (1979) and the Hamilton Pulsar LED watch seen in Live and Let Die (1973) were high-tech icons of their age, it's the, er, timelessness of the Rolex Submariner from Dr. No (1962) that always feels so right now. Read the rest

Relatable, though.Tennessee police arrested a woman who they say pointed a gun at McDonalds workers who gave her ketchup instead of jelly.Asia Vester, 20, was arrested Tuesday and charged with aggravated assault and unlawful possession of a weapon.From the Associated Press:According to a Memphis police affidavit, Vester was in the drive-thru line of a McDonald’s last week when she received her food and realized her request for jelly was either forgotten or unheeded. She instead received ketchup.Words were exchanged with several employees. Vester was accused of pulling out a gun and pointing it at employees, the affidavit says. Surveillance video led police to Vester. From WREG-TN: Police were able to obtain video of the incident and developed Vester as a person of interest in the case. She was arrested Tuesday and charged with three counts of aggravated assault and unlawful possession of a weapon. Read the rest

A mom in Las Vegas got a shocking bill -- $3,000 -- after doctors removed a plastic doll shoe from her 3-year-old daughter’s nose. Kids do dumb stuff. Parenting shouldn't have to be this expensive, and our health care system in America really needs an overhaul.Their bill has since been reduced, after public attention following media reports.Nevada television news KTNV-TV reported earlier this week that Lucy Branson, 3, somehow managed to cram two pink Polly Pocket plastic doll shoes up her nose, one for each nostril.From the Associated Press:Her mother Katy Branson says she was able to remove one of the shoes but even urgent care couldn’t reach the second shoe.Branson says she then took her daughter to Dignity Health St. Rose Dominican Siena Campus in Henderson where physicians used a tweezer-like tool to successfully remove the shoe in seconds.The Branson family says they initially received a bill for $3,000 but the charge was reduced to $1,700 because of a high deductible medical policy.More from KNTV: Las Vegas girl gets toy shoe stuck in nose, hospital sends nearly $3K billPREVIOUSLY on Boing Boing: Hospital charges $2,658.98 to remove doll shoe from girl's nostril Read the rest

(Transcript starts at 19:29)Ray J: "They're unbreakable."Speedy: "Unbreakable?"Ray J: "They're unbreakable. Break 'em."Speedy: "Step on 'em."Ray J: "No, you step on 'em."Speedy: "It's your product."Ray J: "You step on 'em. Speedy, step on 'em."Speedy: "I can't do that."Ray J: "You can."Speedy: "I bet you I can break these."Ray J: "They're unbreakable."Speedy: "They're not unbreakable. Don't tell me they're unbreakable. Don't tell me."Ray J: "Listen..."Speedy: "Don't tell me they're unbreakable. I'm gonna break 'em."Ray J: "They're unbreakable. They cannot break. It's impossible."(Speedy snaps eyeglasses in two)Ray J: "I don't care. But it's fine. Don't worry, there's more."Image: YouTube Read the rest

Not cool.In Alaska, a dentist is accused of fraud, unnecessarily sedating patients, and performing a dental procedure on a woman while riding a wheeled, motorized hoverboard, authorities say.Seth Lookhart, 34, is charged with felony Medicaid fraud and reckless endangerment.From AP:A former patient testified Wednesday at his trial that she was angered when an investigator showed her an unauthorized 2016 video of Lookhart extracting one of her teeth while she was sedated and he was riding the hoverboard. Veronica Wilhelm was “pretty livid” about the dentist’s actions, she testified.“When did Dr. Lookhart get your approval to take out your tooth on a hoverboard,” prosecutor Joan Wilson asked in court.“He never did. I obviously wouldn’t have approved that. That’s dangerous,” Wilhelm said.Wilhelm also was angered that Lookhart sedated her son for a teeth cleaning, she said.Lookhart's defense attorney Paul Stockler described his client's actions as “absolutely stupid.” Read the rest

On Capitol Hill just now, the House of Representatives has voted to PASS the Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2019 to restore the Voting Rights Act of 1965.Advocates of vote suppression are not having a good Friday.The House passed a package of bills aimed at restoring protections of the Voting Rights Act rolled back by a key 2013 SCOTUS ruling.John Lewis—a former Freedom Rider who spoke at the 1963 March on Washington—sat in the chair to gavel in the final vote https://t.co/cqdpl5GdfG pic.twitter.com/wd6soGYJxO— POLITICO (@politico) December 6, 2019All but a single Republican (Brian Fitzpatrick) just voted *against* the Voting Right Act (!) restoration bill in the House.— Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) December 6, 2019The right to vote is a cornerstone of our democracy. But the Supreme Court's decision to gut the Voting Rights Act has meant democracy denied for far too many eligible voters in America. Proud to have voted for #HR4, the Voting Rights Advancement Act, to protect & #RestoreTheVote https://t.co/OQy4xHwinS— Congressman Tim Ryan (@RepTimRyan) December 6, 2019The right to vote is the heart of American democracy. #HR4 restores the integrity of the Voting Rights Act, and I was so proud to vote for its passage today.— Rep. Donna E. Shalala (@RepShalala) December 6, 2019Every House Republican but one voted against restoring the Voting Rights Act overturned by five Supreme Court justices despite strong bipartisan support in both houses of Congress. Looking on was @repjohnlewis, who was beaten trying to secure that right. Read the rest

Scroll your way to the bottom of the ocean. The deeper you go, the weirder the creatures become, with names to match: headless chicken fish, zombie worm, cosmic jellyfish, stoplight loosejaw, faceless fish. Read the rest

Jen "Klingon Pop Warrior" Usellis records covers of pop songs, translated into Klingon, the apex of which is surely her rendition of "Let it Go" ("yIbuSQo'") from Frozen. (via Borderlands) Read the rest

Share (previously) is an annual festival held in Turin and Belgrade and curated by Bruce Sterling and Jasmina Tesanovic; the 2020 Share Festival call for entries just went live, along with this year's theme, "Riots: Here we are."Here at Share Festival of Piemonte, the radical, cutting-edge art forms that we have long championed: tactical media, net.art, device art, code art, interactive installations and augmented experiences — are being legitimized, refined and civilized. All of our avant-garde artistic eccentricities are fast becoming twenty-first century mainstream lifestyles. Our Share Festival jury for the year 2020 is the wisest and best-briefed that we have ever assembled, for it includes the doyenne of the Piedmontese art scene, the globally-famed art collector and cultural activist, Patrizia Sandretto Re Rebaudengo. She is ShareFestival’s favorite Knight of Arts and Letters. We are really looking forward to a close discussion of your artistic entries this year. Frankly, our festival has never seen such a halcyon situation. We are the picture of smart-urban civility.However… here, below the dividing-line…. what about all those other cities, here at the turn of the decade? Crowds waves angry banner, subways are flaming, airports are besieged, lasers flare in the tear-gas clouds under the drones — urban mayhem smolders over every horizon! Leaderless crowds cry out their need to take back a control that seems entirely illusory; polarized parliaments howl abuse and demand impeachments, blockades and barricades abound to stop overcrowded caravans where all the wheels have fallen off…. Tech unicorns fall flaming in disgrace, and even the ultra-rich weep and tremble in public venues; social lynch-mobs abound, while enlightened scientists flee the trolls; upheavals are met with ominous silence as the Internet’s plug is pulled over vast, stricken provinces. Read the rest

DMARC is an anti-email-spoofing tool that mail-server administrators can enable; it's designed to reject emails with forged return addresses.Valimail, an email security company (and thus not a neutral party on this matter) probed the mailserver configurations of the three largest electoral districts in each state, and reports that 10 out of 187 of the servers they analyze have a properly configured DMARC system. The rest either do not have DMARC (66%) or had misconfigured it (28%). The researchers note that three key swing states (AZ, FL, NC) have no spoofing protection for the mailservers for their three largest districts.The worry is that attackers could use the lack of DMARC to impersonate legitimate email addresses to send targeted phishing or malware in order to gain a foothold on election networks or launch attacks, steal data or delete it altogether, a move that would potentially disrupt the democratic process.“It does not require a stretch to imagine attackers impersonating election officials via spoofed domains in order to spread disinformation, conduct voter misdirection or voter-suppression campaigns, or even to inject malware into government networks,” said Valimail’s Seth Blank, who authored the research. Most of the largest US voting districts are vulnerable to email spoofing [Zack Whittaker](via /.) Read the rest

The Lixada LED Handheld Flashlight is a $9 stocking-stuffer ($29 for 4): a six-LED/36 lumen flashlight that clips directly over the terminals of a 9V battery, forming an easy flashlight rated for up to 10,000 hours (battery life depends on whether you're switched to 6, 4 or 2 LEDs). One reviewer uses 9V batteries swapped out of smoke detectors as power-sources for these. (via Kottke) Read the rest

Walk through any office, and you will likely spot a few bobbleheads. These wobbly figurines are great fun to have around, although most celebrate people we will never meet. For something a little more personal, try Handmade Custom Bobbleheads. These mini caricatures are sculpted and painted by skilled artisans, based on any photo you provide. They make a great gift for family and friends, and a nice addition to your desk.There is nothing wrong with owning figurines of your favorite athletes and movie characters. However, having an artist create a bobblehead from your likeness is infinitely cooler. The process is pretty straightforward. You simply upload a photo of the person you want to see with a big, wobbly head, and choose a pose. This could be sitting behind a desk, standing proudly in superhero attire, or dressed ready for the catwalk.The image is then passed to a skilled model maker, who crafts a 3D caricature. The likeness is usually spot on, albeit with a clay complexion. You should receive your bobblehead around 4 to 6 weeks after placing an order.The Custom Bobbleheads make really nice gifts, and are an amusing way to mark your territory (think Dwight from The Office). They are normally priced at $105 each, but you can order now for just $42.49 with the festive discount code MerrySave15. Read the rest

If you're going to be in Singapore in December you can participate in "the Galactic Hunt" for Coca-Cola bottles with built-in light-up lightsabers: View this post on Instagram Keep your eyes on these Limited Edition Lighted Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker Coca-Cola No Sugar Bottles! In anticipation of the upcoming movie, we will be releasing 5 clues to 5 locations per day on our FB, IG, and website on where to get your hands on one over the next 3 weekends (Fri - Sun) from 6 to 22 Dec. Let the #GalacticHunt begin! >> Link in bio Catch Star Wars: #TheRiseofSkywalker in cinemas this 19 December. #StarWarsSG *T&C appliesA post shared by Coca-Cola Singapore (@cocacolasg) on Dec 4, 2019 at 5:00pm PSTOn designated dates, riddles will be posted online. Solve the riddle to figure out the secret location. Head to the location, find the gatekeeper and request a special pass, and then exchange that pass at a 7-Eleven for one of the special Kylo-Ren or Rey-themed bottles: View this post on Instagram Check out these awesome Coca Cola light up Star Wars lightsaber bottles exclusive to Singapore and launched at this years Singapore Comic Con 😮 Singapore only (only 8000 made) #Coca-Cola #sgcomiccon #starwars #jasonfreeny #StarWarsSGA post shared by Jason Freeny (@gummifetus) on Dec 4, 2019 at 6:52pm PST(Via Gizmodo.) Read the rest

On Tuesday, December 2, the current Attorney General and former Iran-Contra fixer gave a speech at the Attorney General’s Award for Distinguished Service in Policing in which he threatened to take away police protections from communities who refused to bow down and respect worship law enforcement.American people have to focus on something else, which is the sacrifice and the service that is given by our law enforcement officer. And they have to start showing, more than they do, the respect and support that law enforcement deserves ― and if communities don’t give that support and respect, they might find themselves without the police protection they need.There's the obvious problem here, which is that serving and protecting the public should not be contingent upon the public's lavish praise. That's not a service; it's blackmail. If police truly covet public veneration, then they should be selfless enough to serve and protect without the expectation of reward, and simply because it's the right thing to do.But the other, more ironic issue is about government dependency. Conservatives in the modern GOP love to give lip service to independence — to by-your-bootstraps self-determination. "People need to stop relying on the government, and take care of themselves!" they say. But here's Bill Barr, threatening to take away a government service as if it's a bad thing. We all know what "communities" he's referring to in this speech; they're the same ones that have been historically targeted, bullied, and oppressed by police. That's why these communities don't respect the police. Read the rest

Alan Moore is one of the most well-known names in modern comics. Even if you're not a comic book fan, you've probably at least heard of the guy. There's a good chance you have at least a passing familiarity with his wild, unkempt mane, or the fact that he's a practicing wizard.He's also known for being, erm, not the happiest person on the planet. He even voiced a parody version of himself on an episode of The Simpsons, reveling in the glory of his own crotchety reputation.This year, Moore celebrated his 66th birthday by announcing his plans to vote in a general election for the first time in 40 years, in order to stop "this ravenous, insatiable Conservative agenda before it devours us with our kids as a dessert." But the meaningfulness of his actions was largely overshadowed on social media by the fact that Moore is still a miserable old witch and did you know there's a great new Watchmen show out.Moore's voting pronouncement was made on the social media accounts of his daughter, Leah, who's a successful comic book creator in her own right. So Leah had to deal with a lot of these comments. And she made clear, she's had enough of people slagging on her father. Sure, she's aware of his faults. But if you understand where he's coming from, it will absolutely break your heart — just like his heart was repeatedly broken by the superhero comics he loved so much.He has also clearly never watched any of the rather enjoyable comics based movies, or experienced any of the joy, support or inspiration they bring to millions of people. Read the rest

You need red and blue lens to fully appreciate Insane51's murals like these commissions for Star Wars and Infinity War: View this post on Instagram ⬅️SWIPE LEFT⬅️ 🔵Finn / Storm trooper🔴 Commission I did at @redcinemasgso for @martykotis on my East coast trip. - 📸: Photos by @droos86 Location: Greensboro, North Carolina, USA 🇺🇲 Year: 2018A post shared by 🔴Insane51🔵 (@insane51) on Sep 23, 2019 at 8:00am PDT View this post on Instagram 🔴 Thanos / Ironman 🔵 I painted this piece of the epic scene from the Avengers: Endgame movie just a few weeks ago and waited a while to release it. I'm very sorry if you haven't seen it yet. Festival:@streetlifefestivallimassol Location : Limassol , Cyprus 🇨🇾 #streetlifefestivallimassol Love you 3000 ❤️A post shared by 🔴Insane51🔵 (@insane51) on May 16, 2019 at 8:06am PDT View this post on Instagram ⬅️⬅️⬅️SWIPE LEFT⬅️⬅️⬅️ I don't usually paint with my space suit on , but when I do... 🔴Double Exposure🔵 X-Ray style at @nassfestival. The actual piece was actually mounted on a wall ride together with some Red & Blue light to get the full effect without 3D glasses at night ! (Video coming up) Thanx again @upfest people for the invitation and 📸 : @streetartatlas making sure we look cool again 🚲: Rider at second picture is the amazing: @isaaclesser 📸: Shot of bmx rider by: @adamlievesleybmxA post shared by 🔴Insane51🔵 (@insane51) on Jul 16, 2018 at 4:00am PDTHis new print Falling In includes two pairs of anaglyphic glasses:You can see the print under different lights and try to win a copy at Instagram: View this post on Instagram ⬅️SWIPE LEFT⬅️ _ 🔵 PRINT RELEASE & G I V E A W A Y 🔴 _ 🚨SOLD OUT🚨 🎁 GIVEAWAY WINNER : @the.enthused 🎁 _ Get a chance to WIN this BLACK FRIDAY Limited Edition Print by following 3 simple steps: _ 1. Read the rest

WorkOf recruited 50 independent designers to create one-of-a-kind holiday ornaments for auction at website Paddle8. Proceeds will be donated to Scope of Work, "a social impact company with the purpose of making the creative industry more inclusive."In addition to RUD-075, The Neural Network Reindeer by Art and Guile, my favorites include Waterdrop Miniture Ornament, The Dark Crystal, Bag in a Tree, and Moonrise:See all the ornaments Paddle8">here.(Via Fast Company.) Read the rest

[The sale of the .ORG top-level domain to a private equity fund run by a bunch of Republican billionaires is a corrupt, revolting perversion. Here, my EFF colleague Mitch Stoltz does an excellent job of explaining what's at stake and how you can take action. -Cory]The .ORG top-level domain and all of the nonprofit organizations that depend on it are at risk if a private equity firm is allowed to buy control of it. EFF has joined with over 250 respected nonprofits to oppose the sale of Public Interest Registry, the (currently) nonprofit entity that operates the .ORG domain, to Ethos Capital. Internet pioneers including Esther Dyson and Tim Berners-Lee have spoken out against this secretive deal. And 12,000 Internet users and counting have added their voices to the opposition.What’s the harm in this $1.135 billion deal? In short, it would give Ethos Capital the power to censor the speech of nonprofit organizations (NGOs) to advance commercial interests, and to extract ever-growing monopoly rents from those same nonprofits. Ethos Capital has a financial incentive to engage in censorship—and, of course, in price increases. And the contracts that .ORG operates under don’t create enough accountability or limits on Ethos’s conduct.Take Action SIGN THE PETITION TO DEFEND DOT ORGSDomain Registries Have Censorship PowerRegistries like PIR manage the Internet’s top-level domains under policies set out by ICANN, the governing body for the Internet’s domain name system. Registries have the power to suspend domain names, or even transfer them to other Internet users, subject to their contracts with ICANN. Read the rest

This is super neat.It was originally uploaded in 2010, but became newly viral again this week and the source is so much better than the crapped-out clip that went meme.Enjoy, unmute, turn up the volume.From the original video description by AgentJayZ on YouTube:Rare opportunity to demonstrate a sound that no turbine tech wants to hear... ever!... because it means you have to get that thing you dropped in there back out. Jet engines are heavy and sensitive, so it's a big deal to lift one up and turn it over, just to hopefully drop out a small piece that some dumbass dropped in there.If that does not work, the engine must be disassembled to the point where the item can be retrieved. This will be an expensive process.... that's why it's a bad sound.Index of all videos: http://members.iinet.net.au/~tgard/[via] Read the rest

Women and girls, Uber at your own risk.In its first safety report released tonight, Uber disclosed the number of sexual assaults, murders and fatal crashes that happened through its ride-sharing platform. Uber says 3,045 sexual assaults involving Uber drivers and passengers were reported in U.S. rides just last year.Here's the official report in the Uber newsroom, which came out a few hours ago:Uber Delivers U.S. Safety ReportWritten byTony West, Chief Legal OfficerDoing the right thing means counting, confronting, and taking action to end sexual assault. My heart is with every survivor of this all-too-pervasive crime. Our work will never be done, but we take an important step forward today. https://t.co/i8W1fpiU97 (1/3)— dara khosrowshahi (@dkhos) December 5, 2019Today @Uber does what no other tech company has done: voluntarily publish a Safety Report detailing our greatest challenges and how we’re addressing them. Avoiding tough topics like sexual assault is common but we believe it’s time for a new approach.https://t.co/qFqKAlwcY5— Tony West (@tonywest) December 5, 2019Thanks for reaching out about the US Safety Report, @MitchGayns. Our Uber Support team isn’t able to answer questions directly, but you can learn more here: https://t.co/aVfEGlNZmV. If you’re interested in Uber’s overall approach to safety, see more at https://t.co/ckryXGfD7m.— Uber Support (@Uber_Support) December 6, 2019“The numbers are jarring and hard to digest,” Tony West, Uber’s chief legal officer, said in an interview with the New York Times' Kate Conger. “What it says is that Uber is a reflection of the society it serves.” Excerpt from the NYT:The report covered the safety of both riders and drivers. Read the rest

Well this is pretty great! Radicalized, my book of four novellas, is one of the CBC's picks for best Canadian fiction of 2019. It's in pretty outstanding company, too, including Margaret Atwood's The Testaments. Read the rest

The annual Germeval natural language processing event solicits German-language "shared tasks"; one of this year's proposed tasks from the University of Hamburg is Prediction of Intellectual Ability and Personality Traits from Text, which proposes to mine test subjects' essays as a predictor of IQ.The University of Washington computational linguist Emily M Bender does a good job explaining how this is all kinds of wrong, from supporting the racially biased junk science of IQ testing to the ethical implications of mining subjects' text to predict "intelligence."Bender also points out that one of the people before the shared task, David Scheffer, owns a "neuromarketing" consultancy that offers "automated personality analysis" and "automated personnel selection."A reply in the thread invokes Frank Pasquale's "Second Wave of Algorithmic Accountability," and Pasquale weighs in: "so much depends on where the corpora come from, what was people's intent when they wrote/spoke, what contestable cultural assumptions are built into assessments of complexity from text."The proposers of the shared task have posted a reply that is broadly dismissive of the ethical critique of their work, implicitly refusing to contemplate the possibility that it is unethical to undertake the kind of analysis they're doing for the purposes they're interested in, and instead are pleading with their critics for "dialog" about how it could be made ethical. This puts is pretty squarely in Pasquale's "Second Wave" discourse: asking whether something should be done, not how.During an aptitude test, participants are asked to write freely associated texts to provided questions and images. Read the rest

Greennet (previously) is the oldest ISP in the UK, tracing its origins back to Fidonet, where it was a hub for radical progressive political movements, which has attracted retaliations (in the form of DDoS attacks by repressive states) and surveillance (Greennet was one of the plaintiffs in a lawsuit against GCHQ over surveillance activities that ended with the spy agency "admitting clandestine hacking activities").Last month, Greennet was taken offline by a massive denial of service attack that it believes was aimed at suppressing this report from Papuans Behind Bars, which documents Indonesian political repression in West Papua, aimed at suppressing an independence movement.Greennet is calling on the wider internet to spread the word of this report so that the cowardly attempt to silence political reporting through denial of service is not successful.Numerous political arrests have taken place in 2018 and 2019 as the Indonesian authorities attempt to suppress political protests in West Papua and Indonesia. In particular, treason charges have been used to an unprecedented extent to arrest political activists during August and September this year, in response to an apparent increase in support across Indonesia for the West Papuan self-determination struggle. Foreign as well as local human rights advocates are being subjected to similar scrutiny. Papuans Behind Bars (PBB) documents and identifies Papuan political prisoners/ detainees in order to bring to light their cases, and also monitors for fair and free trials. The people involved in gathering the data are lawyers from non-profit, independent legal aid institutions in West Papua who also provide legal assistance to political prisoners, human rights advocates and activists. Read the rest

Cattle guards are designed to keep cows from crossing them. They don't work if the cow is as smart as this one.When it's not your first cattle guardImage: Imgur Read the rest

McKinsey made more than $20m helping ICE design its gulags, advising them to skimp on medical care, food and supervision in a cost-savings measure. But if Uncle Sugar really wants to save some money, it should fire McKinsey, which is by far the most expensive consultancy with a US government contract.Ordinary beltway bandits like the Boston Consulting Group charge $33,063.75/week for consulting from just-hired, recent college grads. But McKinsey bills out the same kind of consulting at $56,707/week ($2,948,764/year).As Matt Stoller (previously) writes, the one thing McKinsey is really good at is figuring out how to bill its government clients at rates that vastly exceed the caps set by law and policy, which is how they've grossed $956.2m in US government contracts from 2006 until now, a figure so high that the General Services Administration’s Inspector General recommended that all McKinsey contracts with the US government should be canceled (they weren't) (yet).Stoller explains how McKinsey used its insider contacts to overrule GSA managers who refused McKinsey's requests for a 10-14% hike on its IT services, finding a GSA Division Director who would lie to the inspector general, "manipulate pricing data, break rules on sole source contracting, and pitch various other government agencies, like the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, to buy McKinsey services" (that director was quoted as saying, "My only interest is helping out my contractor"). The reason that federal officials are happy to see McKinsey gouge all of us is that their departmental budgets are partly set through the Industrial Funding Fee, a Clinton initiative that was supposed to encourage "entrepreneurship" in federal contracting by awarding the GSA 75% of the funds it spent on contractors as a bonus to its budget (this has led to widespread collusion between GSA officials and contractors to raise prices). Read the rest

I grew up on RPGs, not tabletop strategy games, but the one exception was Car Wars, a dystopian science fiction game where you kit out vehicles with weapons and then fight them in giant duelling pits or in freeway battles. I loved Car Wars and played it like crazy.Now, Steve Jackson Games (previously) is kickstarting a sixth edition of Car Wars, set in a fallen USA in 2069, dominated by "wilderness lawlessness, banditry, regional dictators, and of the men and women who combat them." The sixth edition includes rules, detailed miniature plastic model cars, player dashboards, and card-decks for internal damage. Stretch goals include custom six sided dice (a set of 20!), extra tokens, a new collision system and a 36"x36" playspace -- at higher levels, they're going to add more minis and extra rules. $75 gets you the game, $140 gets you the game plus various expansion elements, $400 gets you the current game as well as reissues of the original pocket-box sets. It's Steve Jackson Games, so I'm totally sanguine about their ability to fulfill this, though of course crowdfunders are never guaranteed.After six years of design, development, playtesting, and constant refinement and improvement, we've completed the core of the new Car Wars Sixth Edition game and we're now ready for your support. The new core game includes:* 24-page rulebook, covering everything from building your car to movement and combat. All of the rules you need to start playing the game within moments of opening the box! Read the rest

The Kindle Unlimited program is $10 a month, and it gives you access to over a million books and comics on Amazon. Amazon is currently offering a deal: 3 months for 99 cents a month. The program includes a lot of popular books: the Harry Potter series, The Handmaid's Tale, the Hunger Games trilogy, the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and even comics, like Kelly Sue DeConnick's Captain Marvel and Neil Gaiman's Sandman. Read the rest

I was sure Bezos would have the number one spot in this animated comparison of billionaires' net worth. But $131 billion doesn't cut it.(I recommend watching the video at double speed. To do that, hover over the YouTube player window, click the gear, then click Playback speed and choose 2X.) Read the rest

In 2006, Aaron Patzer founded Mint. Patzer had grown up in the city of Evansville, Indiana—a place he described as "small, without much economic opportunity"—but had created a successful business building websites. He kept up the business through college and grad school and invested his profits in stocks and other assets, leading to a minor obsession with personal finance that saw him devoting hours every Saturday morning to manually tracking every penny he'd spent that week, transcribing his receipts into Microsoft Money and Quicken.Patzer was frustrated with the amount of manual work it took to track his finances with these tools, which at the time weren't smart enough to automatically categorize "Chevron" under fuel or "Safeway" under groceries. So he conceived on an ingenious hack: he wrote a program that would automatically look up every business name he entered into the online version of the Yellow Pages—constraining the search using the area code in the business's phone number so it would only consider local merchants—and use the Yellow Pages' own categories to populate the "category" field in his financial tracking tools.It occurred to Patzer that he could do even better, which is where Mint came in. Patzer's idea was to create a service that would take all your logins and passwords for all your bank, credit union, credit card, and brokerage accounts, and use these logins and passwords to automatically scrape your financial records, and categorize them to help you manage your personal finances. Read the rest

Cue "Thus Spoke Zarathustra." We've found Moonwatcher of the feline world.Cat Scientist from r/likeus Read the rest

Xeni just posted a link to the Washington Post's story about Trump's undocumented personal servants, who spilled the beans on his personal oddities. It revealed the brand of makeup he uses as Bronx Color, a premium-mediocre Swiss brand with a perfect "Alaska Fried Chicken"-esque name to evoke American panache for eurotrash customers.Here's a link to what I suspect is what's slathered on the presidential chops: the Nutmeg WPF06 Waterproof foundation [bronxcolors.com]. It's about 14 euros and heaven knows if they'll ship it to the States. It's occasionally found at Amazon but currently sold out.Bronx Color is already milking the mention, but to push a product that is too orange, even by Trumpian standards, to be the one he uses all over. Read the rest

Never let them see you sweat. Read the rest

I am a big fan of seeing what happens when a super-powerful force user is raised by a mass murderer. Read the rest

"Activation Lock" is a tool that uses Apple's trusted computing hardware to render systems inoperable if you don't have a login/password; nominally, this is used for theft-deterrence, but when Apple product owners fail to disable Activation Lock when they dispose of their equipment, it becomes effectively impossible to refurbish or repair, dooming it to become e-waste.This is exacerbated by Apple's own poor documentation and UI for Activation Lock, which is most prominently documented in a brief mention at the bottom of this support page. Many users are unaware of Activation Lock, and it's easy to overlook disabling it when wiping and disposing of a device.Activation Lock has been an Iphone-only feature, but as of this fall, Mac laptops equipped with the T2 security chip and running Apple's "Catalina" OS will have Activation Lock on by default, which means that a ton of Apple computers are about to join Apple's phones on the scrapheap.Activation Lock goes beyond the firmware lock that some Apple laptops have used to date -- repairers have been able to bypass firmware locks with a complicated procedure (using special tools similar to those that Apple has previously characterized as illegal under Section 1201 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which bans bypassing DRM), but that won't work for Activation Lock.Peter Schindler of the repair advocacy group The Wireless Alliance suggests that Apple could fix this by giving certified refurbishers unlock codes for the T2 chip (Apple is able to unlock T2/Activation Lock lockups in its own repair centers). Read the rest

Every year, Norway sends Britain an enormous Christmas tree in thanks for kicking out the Nazis, but this year they sent a hilariously sparse, shabby one."Britain's most famous Christmas tree" has been branded a turkey over its "sparse" foliage and "anaemic" appearance. ... The British Ambassador to Norway, Richard Wood said: "This is what 90-year-old, 25m trees in the wild look like."It is important to consider the symbolism of the tree rather than simply how many branches it has."Symbolism indeed. Norway isn't even in the EU but it's leading the way for next year's Brexit-themed go fuck yourself gestures from the continent.Tweets by trafalgartree Read the rest

Supporting Swing Left-Los Feliz and Field Team 6, Dana Gould will be hosting a fantastic night of entertainment as the loveable ape Dr. Zaius!Come see Christmas with a Z!From the release:EMMY AWARD-WINNER DANA GOULDAS “DR. ZAIUS” HOSTS“CHRISTMAS WITH A Z!”AN EVENING OF HOLIDAY MUSIC, COMEDY AND COCKTAILSTO BENEFIT FIELD TEAM 6WITH SPECIAL GUESTSNATASHA LEGGERO PUDDLES PITY PARTY KATE WILLETTTHE POUBELLE TWINS 2 HEADED DOG TOM KENNY TRACK IXANDY PALEY ORCHESTRA SEÑOR AMOR THE BACH STREET BOYSONE NIGHT ONLY!WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2019AT THE SATELLITE IN SILVER LAKEPRESENTED BY SWING LEFT-LOS FELIZ AND STAND UP 4 AMERICA Read the rest

In Roswell, New Mexico, a six-year-old elementary school student carried a loaded revolver to class. According to police, the student had "no malicious intent" but rather brought in the gun for show-and-tell. According to KOB4, the police confiscated the weapon, notified the New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department, and "escorted the parent and student to their home for further follow up and investigation."You'd think it goes without saying, but apparently not: If you have children in your house and insist on keeping firearms around, lock them the fuck up. Read the rest

My only complaint is that it doesn't end with "And introducing Baby Yoda as…THE CHILD!"Nothing has ever spoken to me like this 80’s version intro for #TheMandalorian. Nothing. 🔥🔥🔥Thank you, Gareth Wood.#StarWars pic.twitter.com/atT7ZZNu6X— 🎙Albert The Man(uel)dalorian (@albertmpadilla) November 30, 2019 Read the rest