Aubry and Kale Walch run a vegan specialty food shop, called The Herbivorous Butcher in Northeast Minneapolis. In 2017 they applied to trademark the term "Vegan Butcher" with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Their application was denied, reports Business Journal. The USPTO told the Walches that the term was ineligible for a trademark because it was “merely descriptive.” But when Nestlé later applied to trademark the same term, the USPTO granted it to them.The Walches are challenging the decision. According to Business Journal, they "say they're trying to either get to keep using the phrase or to keep it in the public domain so that any business can use it. The case is entering the discovery phase and will go before an administrative panel next."Image: The Herbivorous Butcher website Read the rest

"It’s a custom-molded silicone-body bong with a glass bowl and downstem. The squeaker is the same type used in standard squeaky chickens." It squeaks "on every rip." It's from MSCHF. Read the rest

John Schnatter, the founder and ex-CEO of Papa John's pizza, resigned in 2017 when he admitted to using the N-word on a conference call. Now he's on TV complaining about the quality of the pizza that still bears his name. "I've had over 40 pizzas in the last 30 days, and it's not the same pizza," he told WDRB News, a Fox affiliate in Louisville, Kentucky.From Business Insider:In the WDRB News interview, Schnatter described his ousting as a "farce." He slammed Papa John's new leaders, including Steve Ritchie, who replaced him as CEO, and the board members Olivia Kirtley and Mark Shapiro, both of whom Schnatter said "should be in jail.""They stole the company, and now they've destroyed the company," Schnatter said.Schnatter told WDRB News that he believes the truth about his ousting has yet to emerge."The day of reckoning will come," Schnatter said.pic.twitter.com/UbCAv0VoN5— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) November 26, 2019 Image: WDRB News video screengrab Read the rest

In my latest podcast (MP3), I read my May, 2018 Locus column, "The Engagement-Maximization Presidency," where I propose a theory to explain the political phenomenon of Donald Trump: we live in a world in which communications platforms amplify anything that gets “engagement” and provides feedback on just how much your message has been amplified so you can tune and re-tune for maximum amplification. Peter Watts’s 2002 novel Maelstrom illustrates a beautiful, terrifying example of this, in which a mindless, self-modifying computer virus turns itself into a chatbot that impersonates patient zero in a world-destroying pandemic; even though the virus doesn’t understand what it’s doing or how it’s doing it, it’s able to use feedback to refine its strategies, gaining control over more resources with which to try more strategies. It’s a powerful metaphor for the kind of cold reading we see Trump engaging in at his rallies, and for the presidency itself. I think it also explains why getting Trump of Twitter is impossible: it’s his primary feedback tool, and without it, he wouldn’t know what kinds of rhetoric to double down on and what to quietly sideline. Maelstrom is concerned with a pandemic that is started by its protago­nist, Lenie Clark, who returns from a deep ocean rift bearing an ancient, devastating pathogen that burns its way through the human race, felling people by the millions. As Clark walks across the world on a mission of her own, her presence in a message or news story becomes a signal of the utmost urgency. Read the rest

For more than a decade, Britons have relied on Mysociety's Theyworkforyou to find out who represents them in Parliament (as well as the regional assemblies), find out what those people are doing and saying, and to get in touch with their lawmakers and their fellow constituents to hold them to account.Theyworkforyou was revolutionary when it launched and remains revolutionary today -- it's literally the best civic/political engagement tool I've ever seen, and there has never been a time when Britons needed a tool like this more. Today, more than 300,000 people rely on Theyworkforyou every month. The project is a nonprofit and relies on small-money, individual donations to sustain it.Now, the Mysociety team is planning a heavy year to come for Theyworkforyou, including the heavy post-election work of setting up new MP profiles, making it easier to show when an MP changes parties (suddenly much more common!), more explanatory detail on votes, and a ton of behind-the-scenes maintenance. They're looking for £25,000, and as of this writing they've got about £5,000 with 23 days to go. I just chipped in.As an independent service, TheyWorkForYou can do things the official UK Parliament site can't or won't. For example:* MP voting records summaries are one of the most used features on TheyWorkForYou – these are unlikely to ever be provided by an official service, as it requires manual reviewing and categorising of votes.* Email alerts, so you don’t have to come to the site to see what your MP is saying or how they voted, or when a subject you’re interested is mentioned: it drops straight into your email inbox instead. Read the rest

In early November, the New York Times published an article called "I Got Access to My Secret Consumer Score. Now You Can Get Yours, Too." Naturally, this struck my curiosity, and I decide to try and navigate the various labyrinthine processes to try and find out what kind of information the conglomerates have on me, and how I can potentially get rid of it.One of the main databrokers featured in the article is a company named Sift. They're reportedly easy enough to get your information from, and they're said to have a lot of it, too. I sent in my initial request, and they wrote back, saying they just needed to confirm my identity. Makes sense, I guess. I clicked the link, and they asked me to upload a photo of my Driver's License and scan the barcode on the back. Okay, fine; so I did it.The next step required me to confirm my identity with a selfie. I assume that I am giving them more data to feed their facial recognition algorithms, which in turn will be sold to other companies to use for who-knows-it. But again, I went along with it. I took my hat off, smoothed out my greasy bedhead, and took a selfie:Notice that little red alert at the bottom of the screen: "Make sure you are looking joyful or happy and try again."I think I look pretty "joyful" here, all things considered. Besides, I'm not smiling in my driver's license photo; in fact, I was specifically told not to smile. Read the rest

The Pursuit of Capyness [Amazon] is a coloring book featuring capybaras, the large and eminently peaceable rodents often observed just chilling, occasionally in hot tubs. The book is by psychiatrist John Terry, who knows what you need right now. Which is capybaras. To color in. There are more than 50 within, with lots of capybara facts, and a range of complexity to make it fun for kids and adults alike. Here's an inteview with Terry:Capybaras, in general, but especially on the internet, are associated with being very tolerant. There are all those photos of other animals hanging out and sitting on them. Their reputation is that they get along with everyone, making the emissaries of this really nice message.There was a day that was a particularly rough day in the world of news, and a lot of negativity online. In response to it all, I was compelled to post this photo of a capybara stretching, and the response to the photo was just unbelievable. I didn’t really expect anyone to notice, but I suppose it was the distraction a lot of people needed because it gained so many likes and shares. Moreover, it's for a good cause:What are some examples of how funds from this book will be used?• Toward a free medical clinic that provides care to 200+ people every Saturday. The clinic was recently featured on national news• Book donations to mental health clinics and shelters; we are currently discussing donating 300+ books to children at a women and children’s shelter• Free services for the uninsured, underinsured, students, and impaired professionals• Consultation to nonprofits serving mental health and primary care causes• Education for health sciences students, pre-meds, and more, with the goal to improve access and investment in our communities in the long-term• During furloughs and disasters, we have seen federal employees and displaced people for free• International disaster relief (such as recent volunteering with the World Central Kitchen after hurricane Durian) Read the rest

Two men were arrested in connection to reports of a "latex-clad gimp" prowling a Somerset village and have been released without charge, say local police. No further shenanigans have since been reported. Somerset Live reports:Terrified locals in Claverham spent the summer in fear after reports that a man clad in a black bodysuit and head mask was approaching people late at night. Residents of the village, near Bristol Airport, spoke of being scared to walk home alone with the latex clad pest on the loose - and various stories emerged about freakish encounters. Some then speculated the area had been plagued by the gimp for years - with police revealing they had already received numerous reports about the odd behaviour.Reminds me of those cosy 1990s-era U.K. comedy-drama mystery shows set in bucolic English villages where everything turns out to be fine, but weird. Quality Lovejoy Christmas Special material here.Previously. Read the rest

The Red Bull Rubik’s Cube World Cup was held November 17 in Moscow. Competitors squared off in four events:3x3 Speed Cubing- solving the Rubik’s Cube as fast as possible;Fastest Hand- a challenge that solves the Rubik’s Cube with only one hand;Re-Scramble- pits competitors trying to replicate a computer generated pattern from another cube as fast as possible and;3x3 Female- a track exclusively for female competitors.What an action-packed evening at the Red Bull Rubik’s Cube World Cup Finals from the Yota Arena in Moscow 🏆Congrats to our new World Champions Max Park, Philipp Weyer, Ricky Meiler and Juliette Sebastien https://t.co/OqnkbiKBNd#redbullrubikscube@Rubiks_Official pic.twitter.com/sRT2dBrJmz— Red Bull Mind Gamers (@redbullmindgame) November 17, 2019Here are highlights from the event, which was attended by Erno Rubik himself:When your brother beats you by 0.001 sec 🌬⏱Epic battle at our Rubiks Cube World Finals!#redbullrubikscube pic.twitter.com/0i07SBueKG— Red Bull Mind Gamers (@redbullmindgame) November 18, 2019Speed is the ability to take a decision in a few seconds ☝️Some highlights from our Red Bull Rubik's Cube World Cup last weekend!#redbullrubikscube@Rubiks_Official pic.twitter.com/sVyLtljBnl— Red Bull Mind Gamers (@redbullmindgame) November 20, 2019Red Bull has also posted a series of instructional videos on solving Rubik's Cubes: Read the rest

The Sound Archive posted a 1930s-era recording of a conversation in a British pharmacy. The received-pronunciation chatter isn't quite reality--it was recorded to teach English as a foreign language--but it's a stark and amusing insight into English as she was spoke. Madam. Would you like a hard brush, or a medium one?The recording also offers a glimpse of contemporary pharmaceutical products and terminology. Court plaster – as opposed, simply, to plaster or sticking plaster – is particularly intriguing and J.R. Firth’s endorsement of the brand New-skin ('you see what it is from what it says on the label') bears an uncanny resemblance to the famous 1990s TV slogan for Ronseal wood preserver (‘it does exactly what it says on the tin’). Finally, Lilias Armstrong’s use of good morning as a farewell might seem particularly unusual to modern ears.Photo: National Library of Ireland Read the rest

"Craft" is a buzzword that gets thrown around a lot these days, but what does it actually mean? Sadly, it's all too easy to fake craftsmanship when looks are all you have to go by.On the other hand, you know from the first cut whether you're handling a good chef's knife or not. And this Damasukasu Japanese 3-Piece Master Chef Hanshu Knife Set is sharp in more ways than one.There's a subtle alternating pattern to the carbon-rich steel that makes these knives worthy of display, but they are definitely made to be used. The steel is nitrogen-cooled to a Rockwell hardness rating of over 62, and the 12-degree edge means smooth cuts every time on a variety of meats and veggies.Each knife is full tang and balanced to exacting standards. And, they're corrosion and rust-resistant to ensure that they'll be your go-to knife set for many meals.The price has dropped on the three-piece set by more than $100 off the previous sale price, but you can take an additional 15% off that final cost by using the online code BFSAVE15.Don't wait for Black Friday—you can get these top-sellers at deep discounts today! Read the rest

In this video, a dad deep-frying a turkey for the first time spots a young family member wandering into the cooking zone, then successfully guides them away from danger. Have a happy and a safe Thanksgiving! Read the rest

Wireless speakers have been out on the market for a while now, and while they're popular, most people get them for convenience. Sure, it's better than listening to music on your phone, but they don't really carry the weight of an audiophile's expectations.The VIZIO SP30-E0 SmartCast™ Crave Go™ Wireless Speaker is definitely out to raise that bar.First and foremost, it delivers on sound. The custom drivers are equipped with DTS Studio Sound™ and TruVolume™, which means (among other things) that they can be cranked up to 88 dB while the bass stays crisp and low.As for the convenience, the SP30-E0 has things covered on multiple fronts. Its battery lets it put out up to 6 hours of continuous music. You can connect to any device with Bluetooth and control it with Google Home or the SmartCast app. Want to create a real home audio system? Set up multiple Crave Go™ speakers in your house and select one or all to play the music you choose.The SP30-E0 is already on sale for more than 65% off retail, but you can take an extra 15% off for Black Friday with the online code BFSAVE15.Don't wait for Black Friday—you can get these top-sellers at deep discounts today! Read the rest

Colin Miller spent four years photographing the apartments of New York's bohemian Mecca the Chelsea Hotel. The fruits of his labor have been collected in a new book, Hotel Chelsea: Living in the Last Bohemian Haven, from The Monacelli Press. Miller and writer Ray Mock document the amazing apartments and lives of some two dozen current residents.In this book, photographer Colin Miller and writer Ray Mock intimately portray the enduring bohemian spirit of the Chelsea Hotel through interviews with nearly two dozen current residents and richly detailed photographs of their unique spaces. As documented in Miller's abundant photographs, these apartments project the quirky decorating sensibilities of urban aesthetes who largely work in film, theater, and the visual arts, resulting in deliriously ornamental spaces with a kitschy edge. Weathering the overall homogenization of New York and the rapid transformation of the hotel itself—amid recent ownership changeovers and tenant lawsuits—residents remain in about seventy apartments while the rest of the units are converted to rentals (and revert to a hotel-stay basis, which had ceased in 2011). The opening image is of photographer Tony Notarberardino’s Hotel Chelsea bedroom.More images and details can be found in this New York Times gallery article.[Photo credit: All photos © Colin Miller/Courtesy of The Monacelli Press. Used with permission.] Read the rest

I recently started using Grandpa Witmer's Old Fashioned Peanut Butter Mixer to mix peanut butter quickly and without a mess.The kind of peanut butter I buy from Trader Joe's separates into two layers. The oil is on top, and the solid stuff is on the bottom. It's hard to mix with a knife or spoon. The oil is likely to spill on the counter or splash on my clothes. This hand-powered stirrer does a great job. I bought the model with a lid that fits my brand of peanut butter. The stirring rod slips through a rubber hole in the lid, and when I remove it, the rubber hole squeegees the peanut butter off so there's no mess. For me it was $12 well spent. Read the rest

Kevin Kelly and I host a weekly podcast called Cool Tools. For more than 5 years now we have invited notable and creative people to talk about their favorite tools. This year our Cools Tools colleague Claudia Dawson took the transcripts from the best 150 episodes and pulled text, added images, and laid it all out in a 300-page book titled Four Favorite Tools. It is now available on Amazon in both color and B&W ($12.99) versions. Inside the book are hundreds and hundreds of recommendations for apps, gadgets, and tools. Read the rest

We know that boutique baristas have introduced a lot of mad science when it comes to brewing, but believe us when we say there's nothing like a good pour-over coffee. As brewing methods go, it's not that complex but still not the kind of thing you can do (let's say) at the office before work.Until now. These ingenious Copper Cow Vietnamese Pour Over Coffee Sets come with their own filter and condensed milk, allowing you to get a cup of the good stuff virtually anywhere.What you get is a selection of six kits, each one with a different flavored creamer. Each of five packs in the kit contains a packet of coffee or tea with a filter that unfolds and fits right over your cup. Pour a little hot water, add the creamer and bingo. You've got a delicious Vietnamese-style cup of pour-over coffee.The creamers are a highlight, made with condensed milk and sugar. They run the gamut of Copper Cows most popular flavors: Chai, Churro, Mint, Lavender, Rose or regular Cream.The sets are already priced at 14% off the retail price, but you can take an extra 15% off for our early Black Friday sale by using the discount code BFSAVE15.Don't wait for Black Friday—you can get these top-sellers at deep discounts today! Read the rest

James Scott's 1998 classic Seeing Like a State describes how governments shoehorn the governed into countable, manageable ways of living and working so that they can be counted and steered by state bureaucracies. Political scientist Henry Farrell (previously) discusses how networked authoritarianism is touted by its advocates as a way of resolving the problems of state-like seeing, because if a state spies on people enough and allows machine-learning systems to incorporate their behavior and respond to it, it is possible to create "a more efficient competitor that can beat democracy at its home game" -- providing for everyone's needs better than a democracy could.China is a good example of this: both its proponents and its detractors say that with machine learning and ubiquitous surveillance, China is creating a sustainable autocracy, capable of solving the "basic authoritarian dilemma": "gathering and collating information and being sufficiently responsive to its citizens’ needs to remain stable."But Farrell speculates that this isn't actually what's happening -- China is actually incredibly unstable (wildcat strikes, seemingly unstoppable pro-democracy movements, concentration camps, debt bubbles, manufacturing collapse, routine kidnappings, massive corruption, etc). If machine learning and surveillance are helping to stabilize China, it's not (merely, or primarily) by allowing for efficient allocations that diffuse anti-authoritarian sentiment -- it's by spying on people so that they can be arrested and sent to prison and have their organs harvested.Pro-democracy theorists point out that political liberty is a stabilizing force because the "openness to contrary opinions and divergent perspectives" creates "countervailing tendencies to self-reinforcing biases" -- a means for the state to correct itself. Read the rest

After Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans was shock doctrined through a massive, neoliberal transformation, the centerpiece of which was a replacement of the public school system with a system entirely made up of charter schools.While these schools showed some initial promise, the overall performance of these schools has been in free fall for some time, and this year's state assessment of the district assigned a "failing grade" (D or F) to 35 of its 72 schools.Charter advocates blame changes to the assessment system and point out that the public system that New Orleans had before also performed poorly. They also say their schools are improving, pointing to a new metric -- year on year test score improvements -- as evidence that the schools are getting better.In the absence of extraordinary board action, prolonged failing grades for charter schools trigger automatic shutdown or absorbtion into better-performing schools.State Education Superintendent John White agreed.“New Orleans schools have made remarkable gains over the last decade, with stagnation in recent years," White said. "To reignite the pace of improvement, New Orleans schools will need to develop a strong pipeline of future school leaders, retain educators for longer periods of time, and support teachers in using the most challenging curricula, even with struggling students.”Although it's difficult to extrapolate citywide trends, there are some patterns in the data.Schools in both big and little charter organizations got D's and F's. Some organizations saw major changes. FirstLine Schools, which got D grades for four of its six schools, and Success Preparatory, which also earned a D, got new leaders. Read the rest

A wealthy Lebanese businessman based in Switzerland bought Nazi memorabilia, including Adolf Hitler's top hat, at an auction and donated them to a Jewish organization, reports The Independent. Abdallah Chatila wanted to keep the items out of the hands of neo-Nazis. At first he intended to destroy the items, but then decided to give them to the Keren Hayesod-United Israel Appeal group. From the article.“I did not want these objects to fall into the wrong hands and be used by people with dishonest intentions.”Mr Chatila will not see the items he purchased as they will be sent directly to the group.Keren Haseyod's European director said no final decision has been made on what they will do with the items, and they will likely be sent to the Yad Vashem memorial in Israel where a selection of Nazi artefacts reside.The head of the European Jewish Association, Rabbi Menachem Margolin, said he was “bowled over” by the businessman’s gesture, adding that it was a “noble act of kindness, generosity and solidarity.”Image: YouTube/i24 News Read the rest

Back in 2007, I wrote a science fiction novella called "The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrrow," about an immortal, transhuman survivor of an apocalypse whose father is obsessed with preserving artifacts from the fallen civilization, especially the Carousel of Progress, an exhibition that GE commissioned from Disney for the 1964 World's Fair in New York, which is still operating in Walt Disney World.The novella was collected into my 2011 Outspoken Authors book from PM Press.Bleeding Cool News's Jason Henderson is a fellow Carousel of Progress obsessive, and he asked me if I'd come on his Castle of Horror podcast to discuss the story, the Carousel, Margaret Thatcher, and optimistic corporate futurism's increasing absurdity in 2019's world.The conversation went great (MP3) and ranges over nuclear armageddon, environmental collapse, Epcot Center, cults of personality, Walt Disney's work-avoidance schemes, Alvin Toffler and the Singularity.The Carousel of Progress is a strange success story. It began its life as an exhibit developed by Walt Disney for General Electric at the 1964 World’s Fair. There the basic structure fell into place: a revolving theater moves around a stationary stage showing four scenes as the audience comes to rest in front of each one. Act One is the turn of the 20th Century, Act 2 is the 1920s, Act 3 is the 1940s, and Act 4 is roughly the present. In each scene, the father of a small family reflects on American life and culture and mentions the latest technological advancements—airplanes, electric fans, cars, “the rat race.” The attraction moved from the World’s Fair to Disneyland and then settled in 1975 at Tomorrowland in Walt Disney World, where it has remained ever since. Read the rest

Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee and the Web Foundation have launched a "Contract for the Web" for individuals, companies and individuals to sign onto, through which signatories promise to take concrete steps to make the web a force for good.Governments that sign on are asked to promise to "ensure everyone can connect to the internet," to "keep all the internet available all the time," and to "respect and protect people’s fundamental online privacy and data rights."Corporate signatories promise that they will "make the internet affordable and accessible to everyone," "respect and protect people’s privacy and personal data to build online trust," and "develop technologies that support the best in humanity and challenge the worst."Individuals are asked to "be creators and collaborators on the Web," "build strong communities that respect civil discourse and human dignity," and "fight for the Web."Each of these points is unpacked in detail, with examples and references to international documents. Signatories include EFF, the Open Data Institute, Reddit, the W3C, Google, Github, Reporters Without Borders, Telefonica, Twitter, Github, Accessnow, Facebook, Duck Duck Go, Microsoft, the Open Knowledge Foundation, the Indian Public Library Movement, and many others.I signed on.“The forces taking the web in the wrong direction have always been very strong,” Berners-Lee said. “Whether you’re a company or a government, controlling the web is a way to make huge profits, or a way of ensuring you remain in power. The people are arguably the most important part of this, because it’s only the people who will be motivated to hold the other two to account.”Emily Sharpe, the director of policy at the Web Foundation, said: “The web’s power to be a force for good is under threat and people are crying out for change. Read the rest

In TrojDRL: Trojan Attacks on Deep Reinforcement Learning Agents, a group of Boston University researchers demonstrate an attack on machine learning systems trained with "reinforcement learning" in which ML systems derive solutions to complex problems by iteratively trying multiple solutions. The attack is related to adversarial examples, a class of attacks that involve probing a machine-learning model to find "blind spots" -- very small changes (usually imperceptible to humans) that cause machine learning classifiers' accuracy to shelve off rapidly (for example, a small change to a model of a gun can make an otherwise reliable classifier think it's looking at a helicopter). It's not clear whether it's possible to create a machine learning model that's immune to adversarial examples (the expert I trust most on this told me off the record that they think it's not), but what the researchers behind Trojdrl propose is a method for deliberately introducing adversarial examples by slipping difficult-to-spot changes into training data, which will produce defects in the eventual model that can serve as a "backdoor" that future adversaries can exploit.Training data sets are often ad-hoc in nature; they're so large that it's hard to create version-by-version snapshots, and they're also so prone to mislabeling that researchers are always making changes to them in order to improve their accuracy. All of this suggests that poisoning training data might be easier than it sounds. What's more, many models in production use build on "pretrained" models that are already circulating, so any backdoors inserted into these popular models could propagate to other models derived from them. Read the rest

While I was familiar with the internet art of catfishing, I was not aware of the practice of catching catfish by hand, which is apparently called "noodling." Then I saw this video. And now I question what I've been doing with my life (moreso than usual).I don’t know what anything means anymore pic.twitter.com/y4f0UtmcSo— Zaku? (@ZinZaku) November 13, 2019I don't know what this is, or why it works. But I'm honestly surprised I never did this when I was in middle school. And somewhat disappointed with myself.Image via Michael Coghlan/Flickr Read the rest

Get ready to smile. Set List:"Now That I Found You""Want You In My Room""The Sound"For more Carly Rae Jepsen, check out Boy Problems, A Carly Rae Jepsen-themed heist tabletop RPG one shot:It is many years into the future. A wealthy and powerful person (or persons) has claimed a rare and much sought after prize: the “vault” of 200 unreleased (this is real!) songs from renowned Canadian pop artist, Carly Rae Jepsen.Hired by an anonymous sponsor, your team of highly trained individuals will raid a well-defended location to retrieve said item. From planning to set-up to execution, you will see this heist through to its completion, whether that be a success or failure. There will many twists and turns along the way, and don’t always trust the specialists by your side.By Colin Cummings, with art by Marcin Jastrzebski. Read the rest

Researchers at Sussex University have developed a 3D model with a single "pixel" -- a tiny white plastic bead that's quickly moved around the space inside a black box by an array of ultrasound speakers. A colored light source projects light onto the fast moving bead. The end result is that the bead draws "shapes in the air."[via Core77]Image: YouTube Read the rest

The Supreme Court will not hear a new trial for Adnan Syed, featured in the 2014 season of the podcast Serial. Syed is serving a life sentence for murdering his ex-girlfriend, Hae Min Lee, while they were both in high school.From Vox:The Supreme Court did not explain why it denied Syed’s petition asking it to review the case, and the Court’s denial of that petition does not mean that the justices believe that Syed’s lawyer behaved adequately — the Court takes only several dozen cases every year, and it rarely takes a case solely because it believes that a lower court erred.As a practical matter, however, the Supreme Court’s decision not to hear this case means that Syed is likely to serve his life sentence — though he could still seek relief from a lower federal court in a federal habeas proceeding.Image: Serial Podcast Read the rest

Burgess Meredith stars in this 1943 film produced by the United States Office of War Information to teach U.S. soldiers how to conform to the customs of British pubs. The film has an "Ugly American" type soldier doing all the wrong things while a uniformed Meredith shakes his head in shame.[via Nag on the Lake] Read the rest

The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists has published five leaked Chinese intelligence memos -- a lengthy "telegram" and four shorter "bulletins" -- from 2017, which detail the plans to enact a program of mass incarceration for members of predominantly Muslim ethnic minorities (especially Uyghurs) in China's Xinjiang province.The documents present guidelines for the creation and operation of the region's concentration camps (which now number more than 500 and house more than a million detainees) under the guise of "vocational training centers." In addition to setting out a number of logistical and planning guidelines -- such as sanitation and public health measures -- the documents detail a system of points-based "behavior modification" tools to punish and reward prisoners who modify their conduct to the specifications of the Chinese state. This points-based system runs in parallel to the "predictive policing" tools that the Chinese state uses to identify and target people for rendering to its camps.The documents represent an second leak of internal, high-level Chinese intelligence memos, and they also reveal the gap between the directions handed down from Beijing and the actual conduct of officials overseeing the camps: many of the memos' directives (including those on sanitation and public health -- but also on the minimum incarceration period of one year) have been ignored within the camps, according to eyewitness reports.Last week, the New York Times reported on another set of high-level Chinese leaks about Xinjiang that revealed President Xi's role in enacting a program of "no mercy" for ethnic minorities in the region, and the cruel governorship of Chen Quanguo, who was transferred from Tibet to Xinjiang to oversee the concentration camps. Read the rest

An 8-year-old girl was denied a school photo because her principal singled her out for hairstyle policy enforcement. The unjust treatment, with its racial edge—a middle-aged white man policing a young black girl's hair—could have led nowhere happy. But Chicago-area photographer Jermaine Horton got in touch with her parents, then arranged a photo shoot that put made sure Marion Scott stayed the star of her own story. [h/t Quori]"This is an 8-year-old girl who was singled out by her school," Horton said to CNN. "I'm a father and I'm tired of seeing injustices like this happen. I wanted to go out there and help build this girl's confidence."Earlier this month, Horton drove 4 1/2 hours to Michigan just to make it happen. His one request? Marian should wear her red, braided extensions for the shoot."I wanted her to be herself and to let her know that it's OK to be herself," said Horton.And Marian did just that. Read the rest

Feel the city breaking, and everybody shaking. Read the rest

Last week's local elections in Hong Kong were supposed to be a pro-forma affair, reaffirming the dominance of pro-Beijing "loyalist" politicians; instead, pro-democracy parties swept every district save one -- the rural Islands district, where seats are automatically handed to "pro-establishment rural chiefs."The election saw record turnouts -- so many first-time young voters cast ballots that incumbents who increased the number of votes they received still lost because new voters cast ballots against them, and in favor of pro-democracy parties. More than a million new voters registered for this election, and it saw a 71% turnout of registered voters (only 47% voted in 2015).Despite the surge of younger voters, the pro-democracy victories are owed to a flood of pro-democracy votes in every kind of poll: "in poor and rich neighbourhoods, in both protest-prone and non-protest-afflicted districts and, in downtown areas as well as the suburbs." The ballots were hand-marked on paper and counted in public.The results come as a shock to Beijing. The Chinese state had been so certain of a victory that it had already prepared news-stories about it. While it's fun to imagine the frustration of the officials who directed the brutal crackdown on protesters in Hong Kong, it's sobering to recall that the Chinese state's most brutal crackdowns have historically followed on from surprises in which senior officials' most cherished initiatives failed.The politicians swept to victory include numerous young protest leaders, including five or more Occupy activists and people closely associated with the Hong Kong protests that started last spring. Read the rest

Watch $1bn or so go up in smoke on his way to 3-5%. ATTN Mike: ads@boingboing.net. Read the rest

President Richard Nixon had the honor of welcoming Earthlings to the moon, but speechwriter William Safire had prepared an alternative for use in the event of a moon-landing disaster. A team at MIT deepfaked the dead president into this alternative timeline.In Event of Moon Disaster will premiere at IDFA DocLab on November 22, 2019 in the form of a physical installation designed to re-create a 1960s era American living room.This project is a production of the MIT Center for Advanced Virtuality. I've been trying to make this exact artifact for months, without success! Making people do things they didn't is much harder than the usual generative fare: the voice, physical consistency, the emotions, and the historical details all conspire to subvert the "easy" part of making someone's chops move. A lie is harder than a joke, which is why lies are posed as jokes. The achieved result, though, is magical and disquieting -- look how they make Nixon choke up! And a warning. Read the rest

There are DIY projects, and there are HOLY CRAP HE MADE A VIKING AXE REPLICA. This is one of those.This is what the guy started with.From WoodworkingIsLife, an example of the splendid results you can get with talent, patience, and time -- and the right woodworking tools.It all started by wanting to just clean up this old axe head and put a new handle on it. I found this old rusty rockaway axe head lying in some manzanita bushes in my backyard.Go check out the entire gallery, which shows very detailed step-by-step images -- and a photo of a cat sitting on his wife's head, because of course.Viking Axe I made (OC) Read the rest

I've often wondered what having Jörg Sprave as a neighbor would do for your home's property value. Read the rest

Relax with these enormous rodents as they plop into a hot tub. 長崎バイオパークと伊豆シャボテン公園は共にカピバラの露天風呂が有名ですが、その伊豆シャボテン公園から長崎バイオパークにたらいがプレゼントされました。長崎バイオパークに訪れた際に、ちょうどたらいの湯のイベントがありましたので、撮影してみました。期間限定のイベントかもしれません。見に行かれる際は事前に確認を。打たせ湯の下でお湯が貯まるたらいの中は、湯温が高くてカピバラたちに大人気のようです。Capybaras enjoy hot spa in woody washtub. But it is little too small :-pPREVIOUSLY: Capybaras relaxing in a spring-fed hot tub Read the rest

You never knew you needed it. Now you have it.“Pop-tarts and Fine Whiskeys, a Pairing Guide,” by IMGURian @acetech09. Yes, it includes rums and sake and other liquors.Pop-tart: Cookies & CremeSpirit*: Zacapa XO, Guatemala RumThe creamy, chocolately, and surprisingly tasty richness of this pasty is quite satisfying. Zacapa XO is an equally decadent rum that is aged in an array of wine casks. This slightly tannic fruitiness that is imbued in the spirit compliments perfectly with the pastry.Enjoy the whole gallery.Pop-tarts and Fine Whiskeys, a Pairing Guide Read the rest

Back in 2010, I did book-tour appearance in Seattle with a great indie band called "Pillow Army," whose music I'm still listening to today; in 2013, Pillow Army's frontman Tim Franklin had started recording angry, atheist Christmas carols and now he's got a whole band devoted to the genre: The X-Misses, whose music is a mix of funny, angry, noisy, and singable new Christmas music that makes for a great complement to other nontraditional seasonal music like DJ Riko's Merry Mixmas mashups. You can buy the album Christmas Reminiscences as a download, or get the whole vinyl album along with a download card that's hole-punched so you can hang it as a Christmas tree ornament. (Thanks, Tim!) Read the rest

SRSLY Wrong is a "research-based comedy podcast" run by a pair of Canadian fellas with a background in radical politics, occupy, and the Pirate Party; in a three part series, hosts Aaron Moritz and Shawn Vulliez; in a series of three long podcast episodes (1, 2, 3), the pair elucidate and elaborate a utopian vision for the future that they dub "Library Socialism."It's not clear that the hosts themselves know exactly what they mean by "Library Socialism" and much of the episodes -- which take the form of didactic riffs interspersed with comedy sketches depicting life in a library socialist future -- is taken up with thinking through its meaning and implications.I just finished listening to about six hours' worth of this, and I'm very excited, though I don't know that I can crisply articulate a definition of Library Socialism, I can give you a sense of what they're getting at:* First, libraries have some nexus with socialist principles; they are public institutions, devoted to efficient allocation of resources, through which you can get the benefits of owning vast quantities of books and other materials without the downsides of having to organize, store, or maintain them. They are available to all comers at no cost, and they are provided as public services.* Second, librarianship is imbued with several ethos that are adjacent to socialist principles, such as "to each book its reader and to each reader their book" -- that is, there's a book that suited to each reader, and a reader that's suited to each book, and librarianship is in part the art of consummating the encounters between books and readers. Read the rest

Post 10 is a vlogger who devotes his channel to "videos of unclogging culverts and drains, trains, experiments, machines, animals, trailcams, howto, aquariums, reviews, things I love and much more." I just spent an hour watching this fellow unclog storm drains during ferocious rain storms and marveling as he created gigantic whirlpools that despatched lake-sized puddles in parking lots and roads, leaving behind navigable surfaces. It's not just soothing TV, it's also inspirational to watch this guy play Anarchist Department of Public Works and freelance his town's hydrology problems. If you enjoy Mr 10's videos, you can celebrate them with a DRAIN IT! tee. (via Metafilter) Read the rest

Want to get an early jump on your holiday shopping and avoid the Black Friday in-store madness? We've got you covered. We tracked down 15 gifts priced under $100, running the gamut from housewares to high-tech audio. And the best part? You can take an extra 15% off the final price on any of them by using the Black Friday discount code BFSAVE15.TripWipes Anti-Bacterial WipesGermophobes don't need to be shut-ins. This one-month supply of wipes come in easy-to-carry packs so that you can stay clean wherever your adventures take you.MSRP: $17.00Sale Price: $17.00Price with BFSAVE15 code: $14.45WRAPS Talk Wearable Headphones with MicWired earbuds deliver great sound, but the wires themselves can be a hassle. WRAPS turns those wires into a fashionable asset: They're made from a tangle-free braided material that you can wrap into a wristband when not in use.MSRP: $24.99Sale Price: $16.99Price with BFSAVE15 code: $14.44GO-TOUGH Power Bank with LED FlashlightWant to stay connected? This power bank packs a 5,000 mAh capacity that's good for over 600 charges. Want to go off the grid? It's also a waterproof LED flashlight equipped with a signal blinking function.MSRP: $49.99Sale Price: $39.99Price with BFSAVE15 code: $33.99AtomXS 3+ Hour Emergency Keychain ChargerNever lose power again with this ultra-portable charger. It's small enough to fit on any keychain, yet its 1,300 mAh battery can juice up your phone with over 3 hours worth of operating time.MSRP: $49.99Sale Price: $39.99Price with BFSAVE15 code: $33.99Portable 12V Handheld Auto Vacuum CleanerKnow someone who spends more time inside their car than out of it? Read the rest

Alan Lowe was Executive Director of the Lincoln Presidential Library, and as he struggled to help the debt-saddled institution survive, he hit on the idea of renting out Lincoln's original, handwritten text of the Gettysburg Address to noted colossal asshole Glenn Beck.Lowe was fired for doing so. The Inspector General got word of the scheme when a whistleblower sent in a tip that Lowe was "pimping out" the library's treasures (including the Declaration) to Glenn Beck's "conservative museum," Mercury One. Illinois governor J.B. Pritzker fired Lowe for violating the rules of the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency as well as state law, which Lowe violated by allowing Beck to pay for his travel (and that of his COO) to Texas.By Beck's own admission, he did not exhibit the Declaration at his museum. In 2014, I helped rescue the only known surviving copy of the original Disneyland prospectus from Beck's hoarding; Beck bought it at auction but did not plan to allow others to see it, and I obtained a very high resolution scan of the document and deposited the 4GB file with the Internet Archive, and also provided a copy to archivists at the Walt Disney Company.Beck recorded his handling of the items — fully aware of the rarity of having them in his possession.“This collection was not in public view,” Beck was recorded saying.And the museum has noted the address needs special attention such as room temperature and more, saying in a video:“It is very susceptible to light. Read the rest

There's a scene in my novel Homeland (the sequel to Little Brother) in which the first 1,000 digits of Pi are featured; when it came time to produce the audiobook edition, poor Wil Wheaton -- the narrator -- ended up reading out Pi for four solid minutes, with some entirely understandable difficulties. Nick Land set the reading to music, creating quite a delightful little tune!(Image: Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA, modified) Read the rest

Try not to die of cuteness from watching these four fluffy puppos strutting to "Stayin' Alive" on an airport autowalk. I don't know the full story here but this is quality content that needs to be shared far and wide. Read the rest

68% of the 1600 residents of of Baldwin, Florida -- where the median income is $44k/year -- voted for Trump in 2016, and in the years since, they've lost their only grocery store, which has been a particular hardship for the large number of seniors who live there, many of whom are no longer able to drive.So the town did the logical thing: it opened a city-run grocery store that operates on a break-even basis, with the clerks, stockers, butcher and other staff all drawing a paycheck from city hall. This is unquestionably a socialist enterprise, but the town's residents don't see it that way. As Mayor Sean Lynch, a retired Navy vet, told The Washington Post: "We take the water out of the ground, and we pump it to your house and charge you. So what’s the difference with a grocery store?"Not a thing, Mayor Lynch, not a single, solitary thing. Indeed, America's most important institutions -- power, water, roads, libraries, schools, even the Navy -- are socialist in nature.White Americans vote against welfare benefits and publicly provided healthcare because the Republican Party and Reagan's "welfare queen" campaign convinced them that "welfare" is "undeserving Black people, Native Americans and immigrants" being helped out by the state. Of course, the majority of public spending in America goes to white people, so racism is used to harm racists themselves -- as well as the racialized people at the margins who are also punished by cuts.The good news is that things like Baldwin Groceries are an opportunity to de-brainwash reactionaries and racists, showing them that the "socialism" they're been terorrized with all their lives is actually the stuff they love best about America: the letter-carrier they see every day, the VA that takes care of them, the library and the high school and the roads. Read the rest

The past two years have seen a tremendous shift in the public perception of capitalism and socialism, the character of philanthropy as reputation-laundry rather than generosity, and the nature of wealth as an indicator of sociopathy, not virtue or cleverness.The "Overton Window" -- the slate of policies that politicians are willing to discuss and propose in public -- has shifted quickly and profoundly to the left, with the likes of Bernie Sanders anchoring a new outer bound as to what can be said in polite society, reinforced by other Democratic Socialists like AOC -- opening the political space for the likes of Elizabeth Warren to sounds like a relative moderate when she insists that capitalism is good, but needs extensive reform.How did Overton Window come to shift? Writing in Time, Anand Giridharadas (previously) persuasively argues that capitalism discredited itself, starting with the 2008 crisis. More recently, it was Trump insisting that he was capitalism's flagbearer and explicitly linking capitalism to corruption, ignorance, belligerence, greed, cruelty, xenophobia, racism, sexism and homophobia; Jeff Bezos pulling out of his plan to build a second HQ in NYC because "in a city where a significant number of people struggle to keep up with rising costs and stagnant pay, many weren’t excited by the idea of the state and city giving his company a few billion dollars in tax breaks that wouldn’t be available to a regular Joe starting a business."Then there was the college bribery scandal in which the inventor of "impact investing" (using capitalism to make the world a better place) stands accused of bribing college officials to get his mediocre loin-fruit into an elite university at the expense of the kind of person whom "impact investing" was supposed to benefit. Read the rest

Alex Gwynne has paper toys available via Patreon and has also made several paper toys available for free download. Currently available toys include characters from Death Stranding, Ape Out, and Attack on Titan:Check out the dozens of free toys, become a patron, or commission your own paper toy here. Read the rest

Don't wait for Black Friday — you can get amazing holiday deals right now without leaving your couch! Avoid the holiday madness and save yourself the headache (and a few dollars too) by checking out these awesome finds instead:DudeRobe: Luxury Men's Hooded BathrobeThis Kickstarter-approved robe is made for maximum comfort, with a few extra tweaks to suit the guys. They include extra-deep pockets for phones, remotes or other essentials, plus a belt that's ingeniously attached to the lining.MSRP: $95.00Sale Price: $76.00Price with BFSAVE15 code: $64.60B10 Wired Glass Touch KeyboardThis tempered glass keyboard may turn heads, but its beauty serves a very real purpose. Not only is the profile slim, but the surface makes it safe from spills and crumbs.MSRP: $299.00Sale Price: $239.00Price with BFSAVE15 code: $203.15Retro Phonograph Bluetooth Speaker & RadioThe look of this speaker is straight out of the ragtime era, but the Bluetooth connectivity lets it play your choice of tunes from a device up to 50 feet away. It's even equipped with a radio function if you want to go full retro.MSRP: $69.00Sale Price: $51.75Price with BFSAVE15 code: $43.99Spark HeadphonesKeep the beat going all night with these distinctive headphones. The sound is enhanced by noise-canceling tech and wires that can be set to glow consistently or in a pulse to the rhythm of the beat.MSRP: $99.00Sale Price: $49.50Price with BFSAVE15 code: $42.08Genius PipeThe magic of this super-compact pipe is all in the design. Read the rest

Does your favorite movie feature two women discussing something other than a man? Bechdelgrams are a beautiful and useful way to illustrate the conversations in a movie:A Bechdelgram is a graph where the vertices are named characters and the edges are conversations between them. Here is Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) pic.twitter.com/78ghO1lvpz— qntm (@qntm) March 16, 2019Time for another Bechdelgram, this one's Blade Runner (1982). Specifically the Final Cut although I don't think it makes a difference pic.twitter.com/HUmERkWBlp— qntm (@qntm) November 21, 2019Another Bechdelgram, this is for The Hunt For Red October (1990). Couple of notes on this one follow... pic.twitter.com/7hJ5Y03P9T— qntm (@qntm) March 17, 2019The Bechdelgrams are by Qntm, who has written a terrific series of short stories about a team of agents fighting a variety of memory-killing monsters. Start with this story. Read the rest