Boing Boing

Ram Dass -- counterculture icon, psychedelic pioneer, and spiritual guide -- has died at age 88. After turning on with his Harvard psychology colleague Timothy Leary in the early 1960s, Ram Dass (formerly Richard Alpert) became an intrepid explorer of higher consciousness and dedicated his life to teaching what he learned to the world. From Tricycle:In Be Here Now, Ram Dass‘s first book for the masses, which has sold over 2 million copies since publication in 1971, he offered seekers an engaging, unconventional, slightly zany roadmap for finding a spiritual path and a more enduring connection to higher consciousness than a tab of acid could bring. From then on, in close to a dozen books and countless teachings, retreats, and podcasts, Ram Dass continued to share the wisdom of a journey that had long gone beyond personal transformation to embrace a cosmic worldview and social agenda...“My life has been a dance between power and love,” he observed after the massive cerebral hemorrhage in 1997 that left the charismatic, preternaturally articulate teacher groping for words. “First part, till Harvard: power, power, power, power. Up until drugs, I thought power was the end all and be all, because I was a little individual. Then drugs: love, love, love, love. My first mushroom trip was so profound that I saw radiance was inside, and I said, ‘I’m home, I’m home, I’m home.'” Read the rest

"China flight systems jammed by pig farm’s African swine fever defences." That headline from the South China Morning Post sums up this strange story. Gangs in China reportedly send drones to drop material infected with Swine Flu on pig farms. Then, the gangs buy the meat on the cheap and sell it to unwitting customers. (Swine flu rarely passes to humans.) From the South China Morning Post:The farm, in northeastern China, was ordered last month to turn in an unauthorised anti-drone device installed to prevent criminal gangs dropping items infected with the disease, according to online news portal Thepaper.cn.The device came to light after a series of flights to and from Harbin airport complained about losing GPS signals while flying over Zhaozhou county in Heilongjiang in late October. In some cases, the ADS-B tracking technology – which determines an aircraft’s position via satellite navigation – failed.(via Daily Grail)image: "Main symptoms of swine flu in swine" (Public Domain) Read the rest

Matt Shea has served as a state representative for Washington since 2008. He's also a violent religious separatist and a member of the extreme right-wing Patriot Movement. Shea was an ardent supporter of Cliven Bundy, the Mormon extremist who lead a face-off with the government over cattle-grazing fees and an admitted act of arson, and later joined in on the armed occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. He also has a history of violent road rage, and has been accused of physical abuse by multiple ex-wives. And then there was that whole thing with child training camps for an impending race war.Somehow, none of that has disqualified him thus far from serving in the Washington State House of Representatives. But that might change, thanks to a new report from an independent investigation into his activities. From NPR:Independent investigators commissioned by the Washington State House of Representatives found that Shea, as a leader of the Patriot Movement, "planned, engaged in, and promoted a total of three armed conflicts of political violence against the United States government" between 2014 and 2016.The report also concluded that Shea was involved in training young people to fight a "holy war." He created a pamphlet called Biblical Basis for War and advocated replacing the government with a theocracy and "the killing of all males who do not agree."Chat messages showed Shea, a lawyer who was first elected in 2008, condoned intimidation of opponents, political activists, government officials and Muslims. Read the rest

Ever since the glorious disaster that was Cambridge Analytica and the entire political climate of 2016, Mark Zuckerberg has been making the rounds from press outlets to private meetings with Republican donors to Congressional testimonies to more private meetings with Republican donors, all with increasing frequency. But he has yet to grant an audience to the Guardian since they broke the initial story with whistleblower testimony.So naturally, the Guardian enlisted the help of Botnick Studios to create a neural network trained on some 200,000+ words from Zuckerberg's interviews, speeches, and blogposts over the last three years. And they interviewed that instead.Perhaps unsurprisingly, this "Zuckerbot" sounds about as convincing as the real Zuckerberg — which is to say like an eerily fabricated alien simulacrum of a human being. For example, here's how it describes the purpose of Facebook:First, I want to thank you all for being a part of my mission. The purpose of Facebook is to bring about internet for people in the digital room. It is about advertising dollars to people who pay to be able to pay. We believe in building $8bn of voice on the platform for dads who are hungry for coffee.And on his secret meetings with Donald Trump:Is anything ever secure? Is anything ever secret? Guess what? The answer is a clear maybe. Or maybe not. I am going to say quiet words in your face just like I did with him and Congress. You can’t expect me to tell you a secret that I didn’t share with him but I am confident that we are sharing the same infrastructure. Read the rest

Kíla's music has been a huge part of my life for decades.In January of 2015, I was preparing to travel to Costa Rica, and Nicaragua to take some time away from the damp of a British Colombian winter and undertake a bit of travel writing. I'd read online that Kíla had a new album ready to pop. I was desperate to have a copy of it to use as my soundtrack for my 14-day trek. Contacting the band via Twitter and, later, by email, I explained to them how important their music was in my life and that, a trip to a new continent needed to be accompanied by their new music.Three days before I was set to fly away from Vancouver Island, a small parcel from Ireland showed up in the post: it was a CD copy of Suas Síos. I quickly ripped it to throw on my iPhone and sent them an emailed thank-you which I'm pretty sure wasn't nearly eloquent enough to capture my gratitude.The woman, who is now my partner in life, was working in Costa Rica as a dive master. We've been together for close to five years now, and married for almost three of those. I consider Suas Síos the album and, consequentially, Suas Síos the song, to be good luck charms, of sorts. I never leave the house for a pop down to the shop or an adventure like our upcoming trip to Morocco, without them.I hear tell that Kíla's got a new album on the way. Read the rest

While attempting to dock in Cozumel, Mexico, the Carnival Glory struck the Carnival Legend, and then narrowly missed a third ship. Turn up the volume on the video to hear the eyewitnesses' excitement at getting video turn to horror at realizing their own danger, and then return to enthusiasm for getting more video."You got the video?""He's going to hit us next!""Why are you yelling?!""He's going to hit us, get your videos."Carnival Glory just crashed into Carnival Legend and almost crashed into Oasis of the Seas at the Cozumel cruise port. #FoxNews #RoyalCaribbean #CarnivalLegend #CarnivalGlory #OasisoftheSeas pic.twitter.com/5ITBCfz99L— Matthew Bruin (@BruinMatthew) December 20, 2019ABC has a statement from the cruise line:"We are assessing the damage but there are no issues that impact the seaworthiness of either ship. We have advised guests from both ships to enjoy their day ashore in Cozumel," the statement added.Here's the overhead view of the collision:#carnivalglory 10 year anniversary cruise just crashed. License and insurance please! #carnivalcrash #10yearanniversary #cozumel #oopsie pic.twitter.com/s2gNUHcWSR— Wendy Brewer (@WendyBrew5967) December 20, 2019And here's a close up of the damage:Crazy from Carnival Glory - crashed into Carnival Legend as it attempted to dock in Cozumel pic.twitter.com/qJffndnHf6— christian maxey (@cmaxeyy) December 20, 2019 Read the rest

The Hellboy 25th Anniversary show opened December 14th at Copro Gallery. The artwork above is by Dos Diablos; David Igo, Kelly O'Neill, Anthony Mestas; and Natalie Hall. Here are a few more gems from the show:Mike Mignola.Chet Zar.Amilcar Fong, Casey Love.Bill Sienkiewicz. Read the rest

A good vaporizer is a preferred method for casual smoking for a reason. There's just something about the operation that's calming, and definitely preferable to lighting up.Combine that with CBD, and you've got a daily ritual that can not only melt your stress but chronic aches and pains too. This Jane West CBD Vape Pen is a great intro to cannabidiol that comes pre-loaded with a flavorful batch of the stuff.The pen itself is completely portable, less than five inches long. The battery is long-lasting and, like most Jane West gear, it delivers a clean puff consistently.This particular pen is actually a kit, and it comes pre-packed with 200 mg of CBD hemp farmed in Colorado, blended with rose terpenes that give it a smooth, aromatic edge. As with all CBD products, make sure you're at least 18, and check with your doctor and your state laws before purchasing.Best of all? The Jane West 200mg CBD Vape Pen is currently on sale at a full 34% off the MSRP. Read the rest

Though I keep buying the damned things, I've never liked any of the portable bluetooth (or airplay) speakers I've gotten: they're all too large, too daft, too boofy or too tinny, too fancy, too hinky. So when I was handed the JBL Go 2, my mind immediately turned to regifting it. I'm glad I didn't, though, because it's perfect. It's the right size, it's cheap, it works, it's waterproof, it can survive a drop, it doesn't look stupid, and it sounds good. That something with such basic and useful function hits all these notes makes it a perfect last-minute stocking stuffer. It's straightforward enough for technophobes, but even hard-to-shop-for gadget lovers will dig it as a no-nonsense EDC sidearm. If you order it today, it'll arrive before Christmas, at least on Amazon Prime. They're at Best Buy too, but only in black.The power switch, volume and pairing controls are embossed on the metallic rubbery finish, while the the non-waterproof AUX and USB ports are hidden under a flap. I got about 5 hours of playback on a charge. The box is about three inches square and an inch deep. It fits in my jean pockets but packed a good, bassy punch.The only thing I don't like is the big white JBL logo painted all over it. Annoyingly, while it comes in white, the logo is then dark gray. JBL Go 2 [Amazon]JBL Go 2 [Best Buy] Read the rest

"Anybody can be a creator.""All you need is something to say."Those are great platitudes when you're building up the confidence to start your YouTube channel or vlog, but let's be honest: If you want to be heard, you need to look and sound presentable first. And we're not just talking about your diction and wardrobe.Luckily, you don't need to shell out thousands for a professional movie camera. The guys behind the world's foremost microphone makers have introduced the Shure MV88+ Video Kit, which can turn any smartphone into a versatile shooting rig.It includes a Shure microphone, phone clamp, and mini-tripod that configures into modes that are ideal for selfies, field shooting, interviews or nearly any situation you want to capture. The mic pairs up with your smartphone by Lightning cable or USB — just set the gain levels and you're ready to go. Presets can help you quickly deal with crowd sounds, acoustic music or any kind of ambient noise.The entire rig is now available for almost 20% off the retail price. Pick it up and start creating content that's actually going to turn heads. Read the rest

Tammy and the T-Rex features Denise Richards (Tammy) and Paul Walker (Michael) as young loverbirds. After Michael is badly wounded by Tammy's ex-boyfriend, a mad scientist seizes his brain and inserts it into a robotic T-Rex. The movie was filmed with an R rating in mind, but the violence was removed for its initial release. That missing footage has now been reinserted to form the "gore cut." Birth Movies Death explains:While the body count in the kids’ version is (and I suspect I’m recalling correctly here) zero, the “Gore Cut” sees nearly ten minutes of additional footage added to the film, dotting the running time with deaths but mostly contributing two absolutely wonderful added/extended sequences. The best is a sublime bit of surgical slapstick in which Michael’s brain is profoundly mishandled on its way to its dinosaur housing, creating a surprising amount of chaos in a surprisingly small operating theatre. The other comes mid-film, as Michael’s Rexed-out rage increases and he rampages through a high school kids’ party. High schoolers get stomped on, chomped, and killed in more inventive ways I won't spoil, with a surprising quantity of blood spilled and laughter released. It’s amazing this material was cut, given how expensive it must have been, but on the other hand, it’s amazing the movie was even produced in the first place. The gore cut will be streaming on Shudder in January. Read the rest

A recent Boston Police report has revealed the probable plot to Ben Affleck's next crime movie:A 29-year-old male from South Boston, had stolen a box truck loaded with at least $10,000 worth of lobsters from a local lobster company located in Charlestown. Employees of the company were in the process of loading the truck at the dock when the suspect jumped into the cabin of the truck and sped off. Several employees of the lobster company gave chase in a second box truck and caught up with the suspect on Medford Street near Main Street. The suspect refused to stop but instead deliberately crashed the stolen truck into the second box truck. The employees of the lobster company were able to detain the suspect until police arrived on scene.To recap: someone left a truck running with $10,000 of lobster in it. And another guy just … got into the truck and drove away. So the employees hopped into another lobster truck and chased after him. The thief ultimately crashed into the truck that was chasing him, and the employees held him there until Boston's Finest showed up.The company in question turned out to be Buy New England Lobsters. Boston Magazine spoke with Peter Lagorio, the company's sales and marketing manager, who said, “It’s probably the most Boston thing that’s ever happened.”The fahkin Boston Fish Guys could not be reached fuh comment.Foiled Lobster Truck Heist in Charlestown “Was a Very Boston Experience for Everyone Involved” [Spencer Buell / Boston Magazine]Image via Wikimedia Commons Read the rest

Want to class up your walls? There comes a time when we all must move out of the dorm room and its comfortable movie posters. A time when we might even consider purchasing actual art by actual living artists.Believe it or not, there's tons of great art out there — and you might not even have to drop a month's rent to get it. Here are eight prints by artists with a distinctive voice, all priced way down for the holidays.Giant Art "In Trouble She Will" by Agnes CecileThis hypnotic figure is the work of Silvia Pelissero, better known in her native Italy by her nom de art Agnes Cecile. The massive 54" square print comes with stretchers and hardware to mount it appropriately in any room that needs a strong focus.MSRP: $552.00Sale Price: $441.99"Daughter" by Jenny Liz Rome (Framed Print White)This piece by Canadian artist Jenny Liz Rome was inspired by her experiences as a mother. It's a great fit for bedrooms, living spaces or anywhere that needs a touch of warmth.MSRP: $129.00Sale Price: $103.20Giant Art "Casual Fridays" by Hidden MovesHere's a curious visitor from Rhys Owens' "Hidden Moves" series of paintings, ready to hang out in your living room and spread a little whimsy. At 72" by 48", it may be casual, but it won't go unnoticed.MSRP: $552.00Sale Price: $441.99Giant Art "Space Cadet" by Hidden MovesWelsh artist Rhys Owens captures quiet cool with this large-scale print. Read the rest

In my latest podcast (MP3), I conclude 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.Here's part 1 of the reading, here's part 2, and here's part 3.We rode back to Burbank with Shirelle on my lap and one of my butt-cheeks squeezed between the edge of the passenger seat and the door. The truck squeaked on its suspension as we went over the potholes, riding low with a huge load of shopping carts under tarps in its bed. The carts were pretty amazing: strong as hell but light enough for me to lift one over my head, using crazy math to create a tensegrity structure that would hold up to serious abuse. They were rustproof, super-steerable and could be reconfigured into different compartment-sizes or shelves with grills that clipped to the sides. And light as they were, you put enough of them into a truck and they’d weigh a ton. Read the rest

Slate has dubbed the 2010s as the decade of Citizens United, the Supreme Court decision that paved the way for unlimited, anonymous corporate election spending. In 2010, the year of Citizens United, the largest political donors were Robert and Doylene Perry ($7.5m for Republicans); in 2019, it was Sheldon and Miriam Adelson ($122m).In the intervening years, we've seen dark money groups and Super PACs -- nominally independent of political candidates -- effectively run campaigns. Often these are helmed by former staffers or close family members of the candidate, making a mockery of the idea of independence. Despite this, courts have been reluctant to intervene, even when there's blatant coordination.Of course, the majority of dark money and Super PAC funds go to right wing candidates (mostly Republicans, but also finance/pharma/coal/oil-friendly Democrats). The right wing project is intrinsically elitist, grounded in the idea that some people were born to rule and that politics (monarchy, markets, theocracy, or other mechanisms) exist to elevate those people to a position of authority over the rest of us. This is a foundationally undemocratic idea, based on the subjugation of majorities by minorities, and the only way to effect it within a democracy is to convince the turkeys to vote for Christmas, by feeding them scare-stories about socialism, big government, taxation, freeloaders, abortion, white supremacy, homophobia, transphobia and misogyny. Citizens United unleashed a torrent of unlimited money used to fill every media channel, from Fox to Facebook, with disinformation campaigns aimed at getting low-information voters to cast ballots for candidates who will ruin their lives. Read the rest

Former Republican Governor of Kentucky Matt Bevin pardoned 28 prisoners on his way out of office, including Micah Schoettle, convicted of repeatedly raping a nine year old girl over a two year period, often while her sister was present. Bevin told a conservative talk-show host that he believed Schoettle had been falsely accused and convicted, citing his understanding that child rape survivor's hymen was intact (a peer-reviewed study of girls who survive rape found that only 2.1% of them had visible damage to their hymens; Bevin told an interviewer "This is perhaps more specific than people would want, but trust me, if you have been repeatedly sexually violated as a small child by an adult, there are going to be repercussions of that physically and medically").The rape survivors and their families now live in fear of their attacker, who, because of his pardon, will not have to register as a sex-offender.It's not clear why Bevin pardoned as many criminals as he did, or how he chose them, but at least some of them are related to GOP donors who hosted fundraisers to pay off his campaign debts. A partisan group of Kentucky lawmakers have called for an investigation into Bevin's pardons.Bevin was a trumpian official who often trafficked in conspiracy theories and disinformation while campaigning and in office. He served a single term before being narrowly defeated by Andy Beshear, a Democrat whose father was Steve Beshear, who served as Kentucky's governor for 8 years before Bevin took office. Read the rest

So you're building a brand. Ideally, you've got a website, but that's only half the battle. As any online marketer can tell you, the real work comes in getting that site to come up in internet searches, and come up prominently.That requires a lot of groundwork and more than a little technical know-how - both of which are laid out in the Pro Google SEO & SERP Certification Bundle.This 10-course package is a boot camp for any aspiring digital-age marketer, but it's also a road map to the top of Google's SERP (Search Engine Results Pages). There are courses that give a broad overview of marketing strategy before others dive into SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and how it's used in a variety of ways.You'll get strategies on how to build effective backlinks and navigate Google's Shopping and Merchant Center, to name just a few. You'll even learn how to gear your SEO toward emerging technology like voice search.The entire bundle is now on sale for 98% off the cost of the individual courses - and you'll get lifetime access to all 10. Read the rest

This commercial packs a lot of narrative into 29 seconds. Fred feeds Santa, Barney burglarizes Fred's home to steal food, and Santa convinces Fred to forgive Barney. Well, Fred seems to forgive Barney, but watch him only pretend to eat a mouthful of cereal at the end:Spotted by Michael Blaiklock, who has correctly been haunted by the implications of the commercial for years:Does anyone else remember this Fruity Pebbles Christmas commercial where, at the end, Fred Flintstone just starts chewing without ever putting the cereal in his mouth?? I‘ve thought about this for years. pic.twitter.com/Uk4FS2esoE— Michael Blaiklock (@LILmookieB) December 19, 2019 Read the rest

i have at least 75 answers to this question, this is one of them https://t.co/1zGgRRVjTv pic.twitter.com/mHxuUOjE5i— Jon Bois (@jon_bois) December 13, 2019SB Nation asked for recommendations for the best sports gifs of the decade, and boy they got some terrific responses.Elite skill:The exact opposite:Extreme effort:Irrepressible exuberance:Unwarranted confidence:Live broadcast moments both goofy:and mysterious:Enjoy many more responses here. Read the rest

Consider your every waking moment to be haunted, from this point on. Image via Pexels Read the rest

We'll say this about smoking: The act of asking somebody for a light is a minor bonding ritual all its own — and a great chance to make a first impression.And if it takes you a while to find a bon mot, don't sweat it: That's why they made these eye-catching throwback lighters.They're made by the guys at TSHOMX, and there is clearly a lot of work put into each one. We'd classify them as retro, but even old favorites like the flip-top Zippo didn't have this much swagger or attention to detail. They're each made from brass, hand-forged with a variety of distinctive covers and accents.Each one normally sells at retail for $99, but they are all nearly 25% off right now. Not only that, you can take an extra 15% off that final price by using the holiday coupon code MERRYSAVE15. Take your pick, and enjoy the attention. (Bear in mind that lighter fuel for these is sold separately.)Handcrafted Brass Carved Lift Arm Kerosene LighterThe cowhide cover on this one is classy, but we love the centerpiece. The intricate gearwork makes it the perfect accessory to your outfit at the steampunk cotillion.Classic Lighter with Eagle Coin SleeveFor something a little more understated, try this model in basic black. The centerpiece is an eagle coin, rustic but polished.Brass Carved Flint Wheel Kerosene LighterHere's the same gearwork accent and cowhide cover with a different lighting mechanism. The striker is a flint wheel operation, perhaps more familiar to the Zippo crowd. Read the rest

Whether you're an industry professional, IT worker or a budding entrepreneur, your worth boils down to one main thing: expertise. What you don't know can hurt you, and what you do know can only help your resume - and your bottom line.Granted, it can be hard to keep your skillset up to date in today's changing economy. That's where services like Whizlabs become invaluable.What's Whizlabs? Think of it as an on-demand vo-tech university, only a lot more expansive, accessible - and affordable. A subscription to the service gets you access to not just training, but certification in fields that are vital to today's workplace.That includes courses in cloud computing, cybersecurity, project management, marketing, and data analysis. They're all designed to allow you to operate on a range of platforms, and since the service is updated regularly, you know you're ready for the next big thing.A lifetime membership to Whizlabs Online Certifications is now over 90% off the MSRP. Read the rest

Doctors who accept pharma industry gifts (which can range from free coffees to lavish dinners to six-figure speaking fees) claim that they're not influenced by these bribes/gifts, which is possibly why doctors are taking more pharma bribes than ever.Now, an empirical study by Propublica draws on mandatory disclosure data on pharma gifts as well as prescribing data to show that "Doctors who receive money from drugmakers related to a specific drug prescribe that drug more heavily than doctors without such financial ties."The sample size is large. The effect size is large. The effects are consistent across multiple drugs. The size of the gift needed to change prescribing behavior is bewilderingly small. It's not the first such study, but it's an important, empirical addition to our understanding of the problems with this practice. Obviously, the pharma industry wouldn't spend all that money if they didn't think it made a good return on their investment, but industries often spend lavishly on useless things for long periods (for example, think of all the firms that entrust hedge funds with large sums of money, despite the fact that hedge funds generally underperform relative to a simple index-tracker). It's nice to have some outside validation.For some drugs that are household names, it was more common for prescribers to receive a payment than not to. More than half of doctors who prescribed Breo, an expensive asthma drug, to Medicare patients received payments involving the drug in 2016. This was also true for Invokana and Victoza, both of which are diabetes medications. Read the rest

In 2017, a string of reports revealed that data-brokers were acquiring and linking titanic sets of location data from apps and mobile carriers and mining that data (and sometimes selling it outright). The carriers promised they'd end the practice, but they were lying. A year later, fresh reports surfaced of both app- and carrier-derived location data being sold, often by companies whose lack of elementary security meant that the data was effectively available to anyone. Then we learned that carriers were supplying fine-grained, realtime location data that was ending up in the hands of bounty hunters, skip tracers, and crooks and stalkers (naturally Ajit Pai's FCC had helped them get away with it0.Now, the New York Times has obtained a file of app-derived location data of the sort amassed by brokers, composed of 50b location "pings" from 50m Americans' devices.In an extraordinary piece of journalism, the Times shows just how easy it is to positively identify people in the data-set and then follow them: whether that's senior political officials, celebrities, protesters, cops, or the families and friends of all of the above. The writers describe how they were able to identify overnight visitors to the Playboy mansion, follow journalists as they talked with sources, and watch who came and went from massage parlors, methadone clinics, the White House, and more. They followed a tech exec as he left his employer's campus and interviewed for a job at its major rival, and tracked the children of police officers as they went to school and to friends' houses. Read the rest

Until recently, Jackie Fielder was living in her van. At 25, the Stanford sociology grad couldn't afford rent in San Francisco.Now Fielder -- who is of Hidatsa, Lakota and Mandan heritage -- is primarying an establishment Democrat to represent District 11 in the California Senate. District 11 is a very safe seat, so winning the primary nomination is effectively the same thing as winning the seat.Fielder is running as a Democratic Socialist. Her opponent, Scott Weiner, has offered a string of solidly progressive initiatives while in office but whose record is marred by his support of pro-gentrification policies.Fielder backs transformative, left-wing policies, especially the creation of a public bank (previously) and with it, divestiture of public finance from institutions complicit in crimes against humanity, notably Wells Fargo, a major funder of the Dakota Access Pipeline.Fielder volunteered as a water protector at Standing Rock, and is also a #BlackLivesMatter activist. I donated to her campaign. I am a member of the Democratic Socialists of America.In February 2017, just as the last water protectors were forced from the camps at Standing Rock, Remle and the Seattle Defund DAPL movement succeeded in convincing the city of Seattle to divest $3 billion of the city’s funds from Wells Fargo due to their funding of the pipeline.The victory was short lived, however, when a little over a year later the city renewed its contract with Wells Fargo. It could find no other large bank willing to take on the high volume of depository services required by the city. Read the rest

In Las Cruces, New Mexico, police say they collected DNA from the spot where a suspect face-planted into a door while trying to escape. Police swabbed the door for possible DNA evidence, collected it, sent it to the New Mexico forensic laboratory in Santa Fe, where DNA was confirmed. That DNA profile was entered into CODIS (Combined DNA Index System) where it matched a known sample belonging to one Markell Deshaun Barnes, 19. The young man is now identified as the suspect responsible for two New Mexico armed robberies committed on the same day in June.Markell Deshaun Barnes, 19, of the 1800 block of Ash Avenue, is charged with one third-degree felony count of attempted armed robbery and one fourth-degree felony count of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Both charges are for the attempted armed robbery June 25, 2019, at the Pizza Hut at 2205 Missouri Ave.Barnes is also the prime suspect in another armed robbery earlier that day.The first robbery, police say, was about 12:15 a.m. at the Giant gas station, 1865 University Ave. The second robbery was reported that evening, about 10:30 p.m., at the Pizza Hut restaurant. No injuries were reported in either case.In the Pizza Hut case, police reviewed surveillance images and noticed the suspect tried running out a door that had already been locked for the evening. The suspect face-planted into the door, police say, before reversing direction and running out another exit.More on CODIS — the Combined DNA Index System: FBI.gov Read the rest

In New Mexico, Joseph Allen, 40, is facing charges after authorities say he stole a car without realizing that another guy was still sleeping inside the vehicle at the time. Joseph Allen of Las Cruces, New Mexico, was arrested and charged with stealing the running car in Vado, New Mexico, on Wednesday, reports the Las Cruces Sun-News.The Doña Ana County Sheriff’s Office says the sleeping guy, Ignacio Baca of Las Cruces NM, said it all started after he fell asleep in the back seat of his girlfriend’s 2006 Toyota Corolla, as one does. Mr. Baca said he'd dropped off his lady friend for her shift working at a truck stop, and decided to park the car and fell asleep instead of venturing further home.From AP:Baca told Doña Ana County Sheriff’s Detective Ileana Adame that he’d left the vehicle running while he was sleeping, and later woke up and realized the car was traveling east on Interstate 10. Baca said he asked the man who the was, and proceeded to punch and choke the stranger.Court documents allege Allen regained control of the vehicle and pulled over.Allen then pulled out a knife and slashed Baca on the left side of his rib, and upper right arm, deputies said.Baca eventually took the triple-edged knife from Allen, who then fled.More:Deputies: Man stole car while another man slept inside [apnews.com] Read the rest

A 3-year-old boy shot his father in his rear end with a gun the toddler found in their Erie, Pennsylvania home, say police. The father survived.Erie police say the shooting took place at 6:30 PM Thursday. The boy encountered a loaded, small-caliber handgun, and fired it at his father, who was 26 years old. Neither name has been released.The dad is expected to survive, and is being treated at a hospital for wounds not considered life-threatening. More: Police: 3-year-old boy shoots sleeping father in buttocks [apnews.com] Read the rest

UPS driver Bruce Slette found a goat in the back of his UPS delivery truck, and the images he snapped and sent to his daughter have now gone very viral.They're really quite funny.My dad is a UPS driver in rural North Dakota & today he sent me these photos with no context pic.twitter.com/DkwwHM0vpG— Maria Helen (@maria_helen13) December 19, 2019 “My dad is a UPS driver in rural North Dakota & today he sent me these photos with no context,” wrote Maria Helen.Oh yes there's video.But wait there’s more pic.twitter.com/jaeTXDm8jj— Maria Helen (@maria_helen13) December 20, 2019Business Insider has some funny related content about animals sneaking on to delivery vehicles:A goat snuck onto a UPS truck in North Dakota, and photos of the encounter are going viral as delivery workers share their own hilarious animal sightings[Twitter/@maria_helen13 ] Read the rest

One Georgia family's viral owl Christmas saga started began on December 12, with this Facebook post: “No joke, we just found a live owl roosting in our Christmas tree.” In the photo, an owl tucked in to the tree branches among lights and ornaments.The local paper identified the critter as an Eastern screech owl, and the family says the bird was discovered when Katie McBride Newman's daughter was trimming the tree with owl ornaments. The girl “was both terrified and delighted,” the newspaper wrote.From the Associated Press:Katie McBride Newman said Friday that she and her daughter spotted the bird on Dec. 12. They had bought the 10-foot (3-meter) tall tree from a Home Depot, brought it back to their Atlanta area home and decorated it with lights and, coincidentally, owl ornaments.“It was surreal, but we weren’t really freaked out about it,” McBride Newman said. “We’re really outdoorsy people. We love the wilderness.”The family opened windows and doors near the tree hoping the owl would fly away, but it didn’t.“The owl seemed to be pretty comfortable, and I thought, ‘Hey buddy, it’s not going to go well if you just stay here. There’s no food, I’m sorry,’” said McBride Newman’s husband, Billy Newman. So the family called a nonprofit nature center for help. The Chattahoochee Nature Center caught the bird and helped the family release it.More: Family finds live owl while decorating indoor Christmas tree with owl ornaments in GA [star-telegram.com] Read the rest

When Americans get their paycheck every month, there are a ton of deductions from it -- some represent money taken by state governments, some by the feds, but one of the largest line-items is the amount taken to pay a private insurance company for some of the most expensive, least comprehensive medical insurance offered in any country on the planet.The fact that this isn't a government-levied fee means that formally, it's not a "tax" -- but it is money that gets creamed off of your pay, and you don't really have a choice in the matter. Buying "cheap insurance" isn't an option, because there isn't "cheap health care" to step in when you have a heart attack.Other rich countries pay half as much per-capita on healthcare (10% of GDP rather than 20%), making America's health system the least efficient in the world. The good news is that this means that are tons of savings to be realized by eliminating the useless intermediaries -- health insurers -- and the useless work they create (administrators) and the worse-than-useless asshole profiteers (the private-equity backed medical services and pharma companies) that gouge the sick and injured.As economists Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman (previously) explains in The Guardian, replacing America's failing, expensive, lethal boondoggle with a publicly administered system would result in nearly all Americans having more money at the end of the month, not less -- and in addition, we'd halt medical bankruptcies and ensure that every American would have access to world-quality care.As one illustration, it’s possible to see how the tax plans of the leading Democratic primary candidates would affect tax rates for each group of the population. Read the rest

The Canadian Energy Center (AKA "The War Room") is a taxpayer funded propaganda outlet that the Alberta government -- dependent on the tar sands, the world's filthiest oil -- funds to deny climate change. It receives CAD30m/year in public funding.The least deplorable thing about all of this is that they're also plagiarists, having stolen the logo of Progress, a US-based multinational tech firm.After a public shaming, the War Room has announced it will change its logo.To help it choose a new logo, Twitter users are suggesting new plagiarised logos under the #WarRoomLogoContest hashtag.Great One by somebody else. #WarRoomLogoContest #ableg #abpoli pic.twitter.com/oN3CINfUTP— kaiuoti (@_kaiuoti) December 20, 2019 I'm hoping there's no copyright issues with this one but I'm not going to check... #warroomlogocontest pic.twitter.com/FZOa9q9f3t— Max Amerongen (@MaxAmerongen) December 20, 2019 #WarRoomLogoContest #ableg (it’s a wordmark but ╮ (. ❛ ᴗ ❛.) ╭ ) https://t.co/5JcridUIqN pic.twitter.com/jM7awde7c2— El Costello (@elcostello) December 20, 2019 #warroomlogocontest #WarRoomLogoChallenge https://t.co/X7Zoamoeu7— Clear Sight (@Huginzai) December 20, 2019 (Thanks, David Fingrut!) Read the rest

I must have this Baby Yoda!I want to see what happens when an incredibly powerful force user is raised by a person who disintegrates car thieves.Star Wars The Black Series The Child Toy 1.1-Inch The Mandalorian Collectible Action Figure, Toys for Kids Ages 4 and Up via Amazon Read the rest

If you have the right kind of drain TubShroom really works.My last home did not have a drain that'd accept a TubShroom. Every few months I'd have to run a slug of LiquidPlumbr to speed the drain back up. TubShroom returns a surprising amount of hair, for a bald guy, to the garbage rathen than my sewer lateral.TubShroom via Amazon Read the rest

In the journal Nature, University of Melbourne researcher Michele Acuto argues that what happens in our cities after dark has a tremendous impact on energy, sustainability, waste, and inequality "yet scholarship and policy often neglect these dark hours." According to Acuto, we need a coordinated and cross-disciplinary "science of the night" to gather data and build understanding if we hope to tackle societal-scale issues and build truly smart cities. From Nature:For instance, few analyses look to see whether policies exacerbate inequalities, which tend to be worse at night. The hospitality and entertainment sectors get most of the focus, even though more midnight workers are employed in logistics and health care. Work at University College London (UCL) demonstrated that night-time spaces for LGBT+ people (people from sexual and gender minorities) are important for community life, and are also at a higher risk of closing than other establishments. UCL also highlighted inequality in transport options: London’s celebrated 24-hour Night Tube serves bustling downtown and restaurant districts, and so does more to accommodate late-night revellers than low-income late-shift workers...Information about the night-time is also crucial for a sustainable planet. At the Connected Cities Lab, we are working with the Melbourne School of Design and the London-based design firm Arup to evaluate how cities are performing at night-time vis-à-vis the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. This is no academic exercise. Evidence that late-night and shift workers have higher risks of conditions such as heart disease, mental-health disorders and cancer reinforce other analyses calling for a higher night-time wage. Read the rest

Every year, I record a short podcast with my daughter, Poesy. Originally, we'd just sing Christmas carols, but with Poesy being nearly 12, we've had a moratorium on singing. This year, I interviewed Poe about her favorite Youtubers, books, apps, and pass-times, as well as her feelings on data-retention (meh) and horses (love 'em). And we even manage to squeeze in a song! Read the rest

Every year, the nonprofit Neural Correlate Society, an organization "that promotes scientific research into the neural correlates of perception and cognition," holds a competition for the Best Illusion of the Year. This year's winner is the above "Dual Axis Illusion" created by Frank Force (USA). "This spinning shape appears to defy logic by rotating around both the horizontal and vertical axis at the same time!" reads the description. "To make things even more confusing, the direction of rotation is also ambiguous. Some visual cues in the video will help viewers change their perception."Below, second prize winner "Change the Color" by Haruaki Fukuda (Japan) and third prize winner "The Rotating Circles Illusion" by Ryan E.B. Mruczek and Gideon Paul Caplovitz (USA). Read the rest

We received the Charmin Forever Roll with Stand [Amazon] as a joke gift but it has improved the quality of our lives immeasurably due to the sheer enormity of the roll, its portability, and the general improvement in bathroom logistics thereby facilitated. It is the best toilet roll holder.Essentially, it's a nice metal stand designed to hold the commercial-size toilet rolls that usually go in the boxes mounted in public lavatory stalls. The up-front cost of the stand pays for itself over time because you can buy commercial rolls by the dozen, and in the meantime you won't have to worry about running out of toilet paper, yelling for replacing rolls, shuffling around looking for toilet paper with your pants around your ankles, etc. Charmin's own Forever Rolls do fit it best, as they have a small-sized tube. But larger-tubed commercial rolls work just fine; they're just not quite as well-balanced or elegant on the tug. It can also hold normal rolls, of course, or anything else you might want to drape over it, such as newspapers. Read the rest

Knives Out is currently sporting a well-deserved 97% fresh score at Rotten Tomatoes, and now there's a solid reason to see it again in the theater--Rian Johnson created a director's commentary track:I’m thrilled to announce the #KnivesOut in-theater commentary! Yes, now you can enjoy another round of whodunnit goodness with me squawking in your ear. Did this on Bloom & Looper, happy to try it again. Audio file and instructions here. Read the rest

You don't have to hunt Youtube for bootleg copies of the teaser for Christopher Nolan's new thriller Tenet anymore. The official trailer has been posted:It may or may not be a story about the incredible power of palindromes. The expected release date is July 17, 2020. Here's the poster: Read the rest

The Jankó keyboard, named for inventor Paul von Jankó, compresses the standard 88-key piano layout into a thinner, four-row field of 264 keys. If this sounds like a solution to a different problem than the one addressed, you wouldn't be alone, but...The Jankó Keyboard caused a stir at the time of its invention, in large part due to its unique look and the intelligent design behind the keyboard. American piano manufacturer Decker Brothers put the keyboard into production around 1891, and the Paul de Janko Conservatory of Music was established in New York around the same time. There was even a manual written by W. Bradley Keeler called How to Play the New Keyboard.Despite all this, the Jankó keyboard never achieved wide popularity. Music educators were not convinced that the benefits of the new keyboard were enough to challenge the traditional keyboard. Few performers were prepared to relearn their repertoire on a new keyboard with entirely different fingering. Both reasons left keyboard instrument manufacturers afraid to invest in a redesigned keyboard which promised to have only marginal commercial success.In the video embedded above, Paul Vandervoort demonstrates the Jankó. Read the rest

Writing for EGM, Alexis Ong looks at Neurocracy, SCP Foundation, and other gameful hypertexts. It reminded me of SCP-3308, which describes a disturbing Ikea. The location seems to be a typical Ikea, but once you enter, you're transported to an infinite space that looks like, but is not quite an Ikea:SCP-3008-1 is inhabited by an unknown number of civilians trapped within prior to containment. Gathered data suggests they have formed a rudimentary civilisation within SCP-3008-1, including the construction of settlements and fortifications for the purpose of defending against SCP-3008-2.SCP-3008-2 are humanoid entities that exist within SCP-3008-1. While superficially resembling humans they possess exaggerated and inconsistent bodily proportions, often described as being too short or too tall. They possess no facial features and in all observed cases wear a yellow shirt and blue trousers consistent with the IKEA employee uniform.SCP-3008-1 has a rudimentary day-night cycle, determined by the overhead lighting within the space activating and deactivating at times consistent with the opening and closing times of the original retail store. During the "night" instances of SCP-3008-2 will become violent towards all other lifeforms within SCP-3008-1. During these bouts of violence they have been heard to vocalise phrases in English that are typically variations of "The store is now closed, please exit the building". Once "day" begins SCP-3008-2 instances immediately become passive and begin moving throughout SCP-3008-1 seemingly at random. They are unresponsive to questioning or other verbal cues in this state, though will react violently if attacked. Read the rest

Watch Dual Axis and see if it you can make it move clockwise, counter-clockwise, and up and down in your head. Trippy, huh? This mind-boggling optical illusion was recently awarded "Best Illusion of the Year" by the Neural Correlate Society, a nonprofit that "promotes research into the neural bases of perception and cognition."Frank Force, a game developer in Austin, Texas is behind the visual trick which took him one day of coding in Javascript to complete. He told Motherboard, “I've worked on DOOM, Red Faction: Guerrilla, Psi-Ops, and Starhawk... Recently I have been doing a deep dive into tiny coding with JavaScript. It's a type of art where you write small programs that do interesting stuff... Think of it as a programming haiku."Force has uploaded the code to Github and created an interactive demo to play with. Read the rest

I've heard it said that criminals get caught becasue the majority of them are far from being masterminds. Welp:From USA Today:Indiana state troopers almost called a tow truck for Joshua Anthony Lewis-Brown, 20, before identifying him as a suspected car thief Friday.By checking the Toyota Corolla's vehicle identification number, the troopers determined the car's owner had reported it stolen from State College, Pennsylvania, about 400 miles away. The owner had left the car running to keep it warm while he shopped at a grocery store, the Indiana troopers said in a statement. The car was missing when he returned Thursday.If he'd just used card stock and a Sharpie, he might have gotten away from it. Always spend the money on the right materials for the job. Obviously once the troopers saw that the Brown's license plate was nothing more than a low-rent arts and crafts project (although, admittedly, he was able to drive 400 miles with his fake plates without anyone noticing) they arrested him on a felony charge of possessing stolen property.I come from one of the colder parts of the world. A lot of folks leave their vehicles running in the winter time, unattended, in an effort to keep them warm—that the oil and gas industry supporters leave their rides idling here, year-round is a whole different load of bullshit for us to talk about. But given how easily a running care can be jacked and hidden with fifty cents worth of art supplies, it might be worth turning off your engine and putting up with a bit of a chill. Read the rest

Here's a terrifying new game that's one of the most popular apps in the United States, Photo Roulette. Up to fifty players allow the app to access their photos. Each round, a random photo from one of the player's galleries pops up on everyone else's phone. Players then race to guess whose photo it is.Julie Jargon rounded up some horror storiesfor the Wall Street Journal. Here's one:“I was kind of freaked out by it so I went to my camera roll to make sure there wasn’t anything embarrassing and I didn’t see anything too bad,” she said.But when she joined the game, the app displayed a photo of her Social Security number.And another:Emma Romney, a 20-year-old college student from Spokane, Wash., was playing Photo Roulette with her cousins, uncle and father during a road trip recently when a selfie she had taken a few years ago came up in the game. Read the whole article here, including a look at what information is shared with the app developers. Read the rest

A delightful moment of "Frère Jacques" performed by composer Luke Thering and comedian Ricky Gervais. More of Luke and Ricky below: Read the rest

Lorena Ariana Marin, a 22-year-old Subway sandwich artist in Las Cruces, Mexico, and Angelo Rey Espinosa, 19, allegedly robbed the Subway where Marin works. Police caught them quickly and Marin apparently confessed, telling police "she wanted to teach one of the employees a lesson about what could happen late at night in that part of town." From Las Cruces Sun News:Espinosa allegedly stood near the counter while Marin allegedly verbally and physically threatened the employees after hopping behind the counter. They ushered the employees to the back of the store but one employee ran to her car and got away. Both robbers then fled on foot, police said. After police arrived, one of Marin's coworkers identified her by her voice. Marin and Espinosa were arrested within minutes of the robbery, police said.image: Google Maps Read the rest

Roomba: [AUGHHHHHHH!!!!]Do unmute this one for maximum enjoyment.The Roomba That Screams When it Bumps Into Stuff[ Michael Reeves, May 2019, via] Read the rest

“I can’t change my birth name for you?!” said one user.

Yep.Sounds about right.The leading evangelical Christian publication Christianity Today, which was founded by the media figure and former presidential advisor Billy Graham, endorses the impeachment of Donald J. Trump, calling him “a near perfect example of a human being who is morally lost and confused.”Here's an excerpt from the Christianity Today editorial calling for the impeachment and removal of Trump:The reason many are not shocked about this is that this president has dumbed down the idea of morality in his administration. He has hired and fired a number of people who are now convicted criminals. He himself has admitted to immoral actions in business and his relationship with women, about which he remains proud. His Twitter feed alone—with its habitual string of mischaracterizations, lies, and slanders—is a near perfect example of a human being who is morally lost and confused.Trump’s evangelical supporters have pointed to his Supreme Court nominees, his defense of religious liberty, and his stewardship of the economy, among other things, as achievements that justify their support of the president. We believe the impeachment hearings have made it absolutely clear, in a way the Mueller investigation did not, that President Trump has abused his authority for personal gain and betrayed his constitutional oath. The impeachment hearings have illuminated the president’s moral deficiencies for all to see. This damages the institution of the presidency, damages the reputation of our country, and damages both the spirit and the future of our people. None of the president’s positives can balance the moral and political danger we face under a leader of such grossly immoral character. Read the rest