Love Hultén took a Korg Minilogue 4-Voice Polyphonic Analog Synth and modded it with a wooden case inspired by the Commodore SX-64 (1984). Read the rest

The China Law Blog (previously) reports on the kinds of questions that western businesses operating in China are raising; China's serious economic downturn and rising authoritarianism have turned the site's normally businesslike posts into a glimpse of a kind of cyberpunk stranger-than-fiction dystopia (for example).A new post on the site describes the consequences of a sharp downturn in the Chinese economy: a new mood among many Chinese businesspeople that they are at the end of the long Chinese boom and that there's no reason not to burn their bridges with non-Chinese firms, because they're not going to be doing business with them for much longer no matter what.The site's author, Dan Harris, compares the mood in China today with the situation in Russia in the 1990s, when outside businesses would get repeatedly ripped off by their Russian partners, and would go away mystified that these partners would take the short term payouts of burning a foreign partner, at the expense of the much larger upside they could realize from an ongoing arrangement. For these Russian entrepreneur/bandits, Harris says, "They do not believe they will be able to operate freely five years or even one year from now. So though you see them as having irrationally sacrificed massive long term gains for much smaller short term rewards, they see themselves as having quite rationally grabbed what they could while it was still there."Western firms hiring Chinese manufacturers find themselves taking delivery of junk that is totally unlike the samples they received before placing their main orders; discovering that their trademarks have been registered in China by their manufacturers (which means they can't change suppliers, since the crooked manufacturer now owns the exclusive right to produce their products); finding that their manufacturers have disappeared (or that they never existed in the first place); and claims by Sinosure, the Chinese state-owned insurer that is supposed to protect Chinese manufacturers who've been stiffed by foreign partners, have exploded, as the insurer's foreign offices file legal claims against Western businesses that are having disputes with manufacturers. Read the rest

Nandi Bushell channels drummer David Grohl as she drums to Nirvana's "In Bloom." From Ipswich, England, she "has been posting drum covers to her YouTube channel for over two years. She's covered the likes of Beyoncé, Metallica, Joan Jett," according to Mashable. Is she really just nine years old? Here she is jamming with Lenny Kravitz earlier this year:Today I had the most beautiful experience playing with a young drummer I saw on Instagram named @Nandi_Bushell. You are inspiring and I look forward to seeing you shine in the future. Love and respect. pic.twitter.com/wR1b9rTaGJ— Lenny Kravitz (@LennyKravitz) June 12, 2019 Read the rest

Roger Stone was found guilty of lying to a Congressional House committee about his involvement with Wikileaks and for witness tampering. The jury deliberated for eight hours before convicting him of all seven counts. The 67-year-old felon could serve up to 50 years in prison.NPR:In the indictment, Stone was accused of lying to the House Intelligence Committee about his efforts to discover what WikiLeaks planned to do with thousands of hacked Democratic emails it had in its possession. The House committee was conducting its own investigation into Russia's interference in the 2016 election. WikiLeaks ultimately did release the emails during the campaign, which became a major talking point of the election that Donald Trump went on to win.Washington Post:In arguments and testimony over the past two weeks, prosecutors revealed a series of phone calls at critical times in 2016 between Stone, Trump and some of the highest-ranking officials on the Trump campaign — Stephen K. Bannon, Paul Manafort and Rick Gates.Gates and Bannon took the witness stand, describing how the campaign viewed Stone as a sort-of conduit to WikiLeaks who claimed — even before the Russian hacking was known — to have insider information. Gates testified to overhearing a phone call in which Trump seemed to discuss WikiLeaks with Stone, calling into question the president’s assertion to Mueller’s office that he did not recall discussing the organization with his longtime friend.New York Times:Mr. Stone, 67, joins a notable list of former Trump aides convicted of lying to federal authorities. Read the rest

Roger Stone, advisor to Donald Trump and longtime political "ratfucker", was convicted today on all counts, including obstruction of justice, lying to congress, and witness tampering. Axios:The big picture: Prosecutors alleged in closing arguments that Stone lied to congressional investigators because he "knew that if this information came out it would look really bad for his longtime associate Donald Trump," the New York Times reports.CNN notes that the most significant revelation from Stone's trial was "the extent to which Stone was in touch with Trump directly and other campaign officials, and how they eagerly anticipated WikiLeaks' releases of hacked Democratic emails in 2016."Those communications also allegedly involved a July 2016 phone conversation between Stone and Trump in which the two discussed future WikiLeaks email dumps, former deputy campaign manager Rick gates testified.Stone, 76, joins other Trump aides and officials Paul Manafort, Michael Flynn, Rick Gates, Michael Cohen and George Papadopoulos among those convicted of crimes related to his presidential campaign and presidency. Read the rest

While former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch's testified this morning during the public impeachment hearing, Trump bashed her in a couple of tweets. And when Yovanovitch was later asked by Rep. Adam Schiff how these tweets might affect other "witnesses' willingness to come forward and expose wrongdoing," she said "well, it's very intimidating." She then said, "I can't speak to what the president is trying to do, but I think the effect is to be intimidating."In one tweet, Trump says, "Everywhere Marie Yovanovitch went turned bad. She started off in Somalia, how did that go? Then fast forward to Ukraine, where the new Ukrainian President spoke unfavorably about her in my second phone call with him. It is a U.S. President’s absolute right to appoint ambassadors."Everywhere Marie Yovanovitch went turned bad. She started off in Somalia, how did that go? Then fast forward to Ukraine, where the new Ukrainian President spoke unfavorably about her in my second phone call with him. It is a U.S. President’s absolute right to appoint ambassadors.— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 15, 2019 And in the other: "....They call it “serving at the pleasure of the President.” The U.S. now has a very strong and powerful foreign policy, much different than proceeding administrations. It is called, quite simply, America First! With all of that, however, I have done FAR more for Ukraine than O."....They call it “serving at the pleasure of the President.” The U.S. now has a very strong and powerful foreign policy, much different than proceeding administrations. Read the rest

Princeton's Center for Information Technology Policy is a marvellous interdisciplinary research center, and it is advertising for "visitors" for one-year stints: postdocs, policy fellows and visiting IT professors.The positions are onsite at Princeton; as Laura Cummings-Abdo writes on Freedom to Tinker: "For all visitors, we are happy to hear from anyone working at the intersection of digital technology and public life, including experts in computer science, sociology, economics, law, political science, public policy, information studies, communication, and other related disciplines."Hiring [CITP/Princeton] Read the rest

I've spent a lot of time in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo. It's a beautiful place, filled with friendly people and an insanely low cost of living... if you're from somewhere further north in North America. In my experience, Mexicans are a hard-working people. They want to earn their way. That's not easy to do in a nation where many citizens, when they can find work are forced to work for pauper's wages. In some cases, the only compensation for doing your job in Mexico comes in the form of tips from those willing to help you get by. The folks that bag groceries and other consumer goods in big box stores like Walmart? Nothing but tips, baby. With any luck, at least in Cancun, this could soon change.From Riviera Maya News:With the support of la Confederación Revolucionaria de Obreros y Campesinos (CROC) workers at Walmart stores including Sam’s Club, Bodega Aurrerá, Superama and Walmart demanded a salary for their work.The workers, who are grocery baggers at the various Walmart outlets, are not paid anything beyond tips. El Comité Ejecutivo Nacional of CROC says that the Walmart chain has refused talks to solve the lack-of-pay issues with its workers.El Comité Ejecutivo Nacional says the American chain store violates their labor rights. The workers protested outside a 24-hour Cancun Walmart where they demanded a salary and legal benefits for the packers since their tips have drastically decreased due to the ban on plastic bags.Hard work for a fair wage? Read the rest

Eli Pariser is the author of The Filter Bubble, a book which lent its name to a recent Congressional bill about social media transparency. He’s also one of the co-founders of Upworthy (and, full disclosure, my former boss).In other words, Pariser has spent most of his professional life obsessing over how to harness the power of the internet for good, particularly when it comes to positive community building. In a new TED Talk (below), he takes an almost anthropological approach to solving the many, many issues faced by major social media companies right now. It’s a useful and insightful perspective, particularly for a time when Facebook is cowering under the pressure of conservative conspiracy theorists, while Twitter took the approach and ended up empowering oil companies by throttling climate activists.I think there’s something to be said about building online communities in the same way we build urban ones. As much as people might long for the peace and quiet of a nice home in the suburbs, it also changes your relationship to the people around you. Look at cars, for example—they’re a necessity in most places, and undeniably convenient, but they also isolate us in our commuter bubbles. By contrast, public transportation forces you to interact with other kinds of people who you might otherwise not cross paths with. That can help create empathic bonds (even if that bond is built upon complaints about public transportation). This is not to say that one is necessarily better than the other; in his speech, Pariser also cites the community meetings he attended growing up in a small town in Maine as one model for building mutual respect, even when people are being obnoxious. Read the rest

Political books by random MAGA people are a hot genre, but Donald Trump Jr's "Triggered" lands in a saturated market. Morevoer, Trump fans generally prefer the attention dance of Fox News and social media to hours spent curled up with a bad book. So how did it get to number 1 on the New York Times Bestseller list? Vast bulk purchases, leading the Times to list it with a "dagger" symbol insinuating fraudulent or suspicious activity. “It has the big dagger [symbol] next to it, which means a large portion of the sales came from bulk orders.”The source added: “It’s known in the industry as the ‘deadly dagger.’ A rare penalty that is only called for flagrant fouls,” such as when an author or someone close buys large quantities.It’s at Times editors’ discretion when to plunge the dagger. Fine print below the best-seller list explains, “Sales are defined as completed transactions by vendors and individual end-users during the period on or after the official publication date of a title. Institutional, special interest, group or bulk purchases, if and when they are included, are at the discretion of The New York Times Best-Seller List Desk editors based on standards for inclusion that encompass proprietary vetting and audit protocols, corroborative reporting and other statistical determinations. When included, such bulk purchases appear with a dagger (†).”Scientology perfected this trick in the 1980s. It's extremely costly, reports the LA Times, but the benefit is clear: L. Ron Hubbard atop the bestseller lists for decades. Read the rest

A typical security camera can give you peace of mind. But that might be offset by the nagging feeling that it's watching you, too.The best kind of security system is one that protects both your home and your privacy, and the blurams Dome Pro 1080p Security Camera is one rare model that's set up to do both.The HD lens on the blurams is equipped with a 360º field of vision, and it can be set to record any preset area with an Auto-Cruise mode. All footage is uploaded to the cloud, and you can choose to get alerts on any unauthorized motion or human detection - even in the dimmest conditions, thanks to the night vision functionality. You can even record your own alert video.But all the while, you get to decide what areas get recorded and who sets off alerts. The blurams' voice and facial recognition technology can distinguish between pets or authorized family members to avoid false alarms. Want to keep some privacy? The camera can even be set to cover up and shut down when it detects you. You can even set up your own house-wide security system and view up to four cameras on the accompanying app.Right now, the blurams Dome Pro 1080p Security Camera with Facial Recognition + Night Vision is 16% off the regular MSRP, but you can take an extra 15% off that final price by using the online code BFSAVE15, for a final price of $42.49. Read the rest

Three Indiana judges got in a fight. Two were injured, all were suspended. NPR's Laurel Wamsley reports "an incident brimming with colorful details."The altercation apparently started sometime after 3 a.m., when one of the judges, Sabrina Bell, raised a middle finger at two men yelling from a passing SUV, and ended after one of those men shot two of the judges.In between, the three judges took a number of actions that "discredited the entire Indiana judiciary," according to an opinion posted by the Indiana Supreme Court this week, suspending the judges.The court found that the three — Andrew Adams, Bradley Jacobs and Sabrina Bell — had "engaged in judicial misconduct by appearing in public in an intoxicated state and behaving in an injudicious manner and by becoming involved in a verbal altercation." Adams and Jacobs engaged in further judicial misconduct "by becoming involved in a physical altercation for which Judge Adams was criminally charged and convicted."The judges will be in the sin bin for two months. The shooter's been charged with felony aggravated battery.UPDATE: I read the ruling and it's fantastic, the reason we're here is because Judge Bell just stood there blabbing to the cops instead of shutting the fuck up. Read the rest

If #UntitledGooseGame was released on PS1made with #GodotEngine #gamedev pic.twitter.com/xDFai1Tcgt— Miziziziz (@miziziziz) November 13, 2019Untitled Goose Game is the hit title where you play an obstreperous bird menacing a bucolic village. Game developer Miziziziz wondered what it would look like as an even lower-poly game on the originaly Playstation.It gives me Silent Hill vibes now, which is just perfect. Read the rest

I've lost weight with keto—the only thing that's worked for me—but face two ongoing problems. First, I get bored of eating fat and leaves. Second, keto clones of normal snacks tend to be weird, mealy or downright unpleasant to taste. Quevos [Amazon link] are the first keto chips I can just sit and eat and eat and eat until I realize I've gone though three packets. My toddler steals them, too, so it's not just the carb-starved incentives of a keto dieter making me like them.They're made from egg whites, and come in two flavors: Sour Cream and Onion and Quevos Rancheros. There's 120 or 140 calories a bag and 2 or 3 net carbs (full nutritional info is at the website). There are other non-keto flavors (salt and pepper, sweet barbecue and cheddar) with 10 or 11 carbs a bag.They work, I think, because they're honest to what they are, which is baked egg chips, and aren't trying too hard to taste like potato chips. They flavors are unusual as well, suggesting a lot of experimentation. What is "Rancheros" flavor, exactly? The taste of tests.They're not perfect. The mouthfeel is dry and dusty, and you're getting a full load of sodium. The Quevos are small, probably because they're brittle and would arrive in fragments were they any larger. The latter point is a reviewer in search of a quibble, perhaps, so I'd like to stress that these are the first keto snacks I've tried that didn't taste like "keto snacks" and a must-try for people managing carbs. Read the rest

This footage of mysterious, distant howling is going viral, with Internet Experts In Everything assuring all that it's definitely not wolves, bears or the other usual suspects.Stargell Blackstar: "me, my wife and grandson went grouse hunting about 45km from Sioux Lookout Ontario, Canada when we heard these screams, it lasted for around 5 minutes but we only got 3:05 minutes of video and we have 2:15 minutes of it here. happened on October 3, 2019 at 6:50pm CST."Clearly a Yautja. Read the rest

(Stop reading now to avoid spoilers)Devon Ivie interviewed Great British Baking Show 2019 winner David Atherton and finalist Steph Blackwell for Vulture. Among other things, David described some of the terrific moments edited out of the show: Were you bummed that certain moments of your “fun” side weren’t included?Kind of. My absolute favorite moment didn’t make the cut. When I made my cinnamon rolls during Bread Week, I baked a whole new set of cinnamon rolls for the crew and the other bakers because I had the time. They all came around my desk, had a roll, and we chatted for a bit. I could have spent more time doing my bake, but that’s me. I’m not competitive. I loved the buzz of the tent and being with everyone. I bake for people! I guess it wasn’t part of the story Baking Show wanted to show.It’s funny because I remember seeing a handful of scenes of you hanging out in the background with your completed bakes, while the other bakers are freaking out and racing against the clock. I don’t recall that happening much in the past before. Did you always finish so early?Pretty much every time. [Laughs.] I always thought I could be doing more things, but I didn’t want to overthink it. People always said my bench was the cleanest, and that’s because I had nothing else to do. Obviously the edit made it seem like everyone was down to the wire, and lots of people were, but I finished early on almost every single bake. Read the rest

The moment when the collective decision is made; you're about to see one of those, but for people. Read the rest

Congratulations to Disney on the exciting new merchandising opportunity of bounty pucks:I swear these are three different scenes:And if bounty pucks don't prove popular, there's the less sophisticated tracking fob: Read the rest

A coke stash hidden in the woods by suspected drug dealers was destroyed by boars, report police in Tuscany. The drug stash was hidden in a forest area in the Valdichiana valley. The law enforcement probe, which spanned between September 2018 and March 2019, discovered one of the gang members was allegedly distributing drugs via a nightclub in Arezzo.The suspects traded approximately two kilograms (4.4 pounds) of cocaine every month, which netted the gang the equivalent of between $90 and $120 per gram, Il Tirreno reported. An unknown number of boars allegedly dug up and destroyed the gang's packages, dispersing their contents in the woods.It was not immediately known what happened to the curious animals.Screenshot: Barry Young Read the rest

Not everything is legal in New Jersey: Uber has to pay the state of New Jersey $650m in unemployment and disability tax for the employee drivers that it pretended were contractors. Uber is appealing. It will lose. Uber drivers in Jersey are now entitled to unemployment insurance. (via /.) (Image: Quotecatalog, Ervins Strauhmanis, CC BY, modified) Read the rest

Mysterious Galaxy is a wonderful, longstanding science fiction bookstore, host to readings for the Clarion Workshop, designated bookseller for Comic-Con signings, and much more.And while the 27-year-old bookstore is profitable, with 5-10% year-on-year sales growth and mounting profits, it is still operating on thin enough margins that it is vulnerable to shocks, and now the store has lost its lease, a shock that has endangered the store's future.In an email to customers and stakeholders, owner Terry Gilman has offered the store for sale on a "turnkey" basis, seeking offers before November 20th. The store has 60 days to vacate its location and unless a new owner and location have been found by then, Southern California will lose one of its most storied, best independent bookstores, and science fiction and fantasy will lose one of its greatest, longest-standing genre bookstores.The staff of Mysterious Galaxy just received notice that they are losing their lease for their Balboa Avenue storefront, and will need to move in 60 days. It is with heavy hearts that we share that unless a new buyer and new location are found immediately, Mysterious Galaxy will be forced to close its doors. For nearly 27 years, Mysterious Galaxy Bookstore has been a vibrant part of the book community in San Diego, and a safe and welcoming place for those with a passion for books. The past several years have seen 5-10% growth in sales and increasing profits. The store's participation in regional and industry conventions, and its stellar in-store events, have earned it a special place in the hearts of authors and readers alike, and created a well-respected brand in Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror, and Mystery praised throughout the publishing and bookselling industry. Read the rest

Jeremy Corbyn's Labour Party have pledged universal, free broadband and a nationwide fibre buildout by 2030 if elected; they plan to renationalise parts of BT and tax Big Tech to pay for the fibre rollout.BT under private ownership has been a catastrophe, especially the privatised, spun-out installation business Openreach, whose bureaucratic incompetence, arrogance, hostility and sheer, pig-headed idiocy make them seem like something out of a poorest-quality farce comedy. Labour proposes to re-nationalise this embarrassment of a company and make it pull its fucking socks up for literally the first time since it was privatised.Boris Johnson's Conservatives have pledged a £5b fibre rollout; Labour has priced the rollout at a much more realistic £30b (BT estimates the cost at £40b, but they also estimated my broadband speed at 20mbps and rarely delivered 5).I am a member of the Labour Party and a proud donor to Jeremy Corbyn's campaign. The plan includes nationalising parts of BT - namely its digital network arm Openreach - to create a UK-wide network owned by the government."We're putting the money in and therefore we should own the benefit as well," said the shadow chancellor.He said the roll-out would begin with communities that have the worst broadband access, followed by towns and smaller centres, and then by areas that are currently well served.A Labour government would compensate shareholders by issuing government bonds. He said Labour had taken legal advice, including ensuring pension funds with investments in BT are not left out of pocket. Read the rest

Often remembered but rarely seen: The Star Wars Holiday Special is a variety show most remarkable for how unenthusiastic, or inebriated, the cast was. It is currently viewable on YouTube.Recently referenced in The Mandalorian, Life Day is faux Wookie Christmas; apparently uncelebrated for 41 years. I have a friend who is still grousing that the Hulk was held up for this genre mash-up nonpareil.Pretty sure shitty Life Day presents is how we got Kylo Ren. I hope Lumpy is the surprise reveal in Rise of the Skywalker. Lumpy is cool. Read the rest

Oops. Awkward.An Italian council was flooded immediately after rejecting new measures to address the climate crisis that threatens to sink the city, and wreak havoc throughout the world.The regional council of Veneto is situated on Venice's Grand Canal. On Tuesday night, the office flooded for the first time in its history, right after rejecting measures to fight climate change.Here is a post on Facebook with images.Venice has been hit this week by the worst flooding in over 50 years.Reporting by Gianluca Mezzofiore, CNN: And the council chamber in Ferro Fini Palace started to take in water around 10 p.m. local time, as councilors were debating the 2020 regional budget, Democratic Party councilor Andrea Zanoni said in a long Facebook post. "Ironically, the chamber was flooded two minutes after the majority League, Brothers of Italy, and Forza Italia parties rejected our amendments to tackle climate change," Zanoni, who is deputy chairman of the environment committee, said in the post, which also has photographs of the room under water.Among the rejected amendments were measures to fund renewable sources, to replace diesel buses with "more efficient and less polluting ones," to scrap polluting stoves and reduce the impact of plastics, he said.Italian council is flooded immediately after rejecting measures on climate change [cnn.com]Previously: Venice is flooded right now and it looks miserable Read the rest

Spoiler: The idea is you want to get to day two, alive.“How you going to beat up a man gifting you handmade seasonal accessories?”Excellent advice on all the things you should definitely not do on your first day in prison.This character is priceless, as is his advice, may you never need it.From We The Internet TV, starring Grizz Chapman.More: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram[VIDEO LINK] Read the rest

Donald Trump has long made a sport of mocking Amazon founder and Washington Post newspaper owner Jeff Bezos, and Jeff Bezos is well aware of this. Microsoft just won a $10 billion so-called “war cloud” contract with Donald Trump's administration for Pentagon cloud-based computing. Amazon wanted that $10 billion Pentagon contract.Amazon, the company founded by Jeff Bezos, plans to dispute the contract process, claiming “unmistakable bias.”Amazon filed a formal protest in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, which deals with financial claims against the federal government, reports the Associated Press on Thursday:Amazon’s competitive bid for the “war cloud” project drew criticism from President Donald Trump and its business rivals. The project, formally called the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure, or JEDI, pitted leading tech titans Microsoft, Amazon, Oracle and IBM against one anotherIn a statement, Amazon said that “numerous aspects” of the bidding process involved “clear deficiencies, errors, and unmistakable bias.” It did not elaborate.Amazon added that “it’s important that these matters be examined and rectified.”Microsoft has not yet commented on the matter.Amazon to protest $10B Pentagon contract won by Microsoft [apnews.com] Read the rest

Sous vide cooking: It sounds fancy, but it's actually one of the easiest and most reliable ways to cook. It's the reason why many restaurants are able to put out delicious dishes with a consistent flavor.All you need is the right equipment, and that hasn't always been available to those outside the resto crowd. Now that the secret is out on sous vide, gadgets like the Curtis Stone Sous Vide Cooker & Beverage Chiller are letting home chefs prepare their meals in a whole new way.Sous vide is French for "under vacuum," and that's the secret to the consistency. To use this device, all you do is put your beef, poultry or seafood into an airtight bag, then drop it into a pot of water. Clamp the cooker onto the side, select your temperature on the LED display, and wait. It's that easy to get your entrees cooked evenly and all the way through, the same way every time.With a simple switch, you can even turn this one into a beverage chiller for impromptu party coolers. Best of all, the Curtis Stone Sous Vide Cooker & Beverage Chiller is available now for 20% off the retail price. Read the rest

Smack that ham.PHOTOS: Pablo Rochat. Follow Art Director @pablo.rochat on Instagram. View this post on Instagram Lunch🍴A post shared by Pablo Rochat (@pablo.rochat) on Nov 14, 2019 at 7:43am PST Read the rest

PayPal on Thursday says it has halted payment support for models with PornHub, the online adult site, after Paypal says it found that Pornhub made certain payments without PayPal's permission.“Following a review, we have discovered that PornHub has made certain business payments through PayPal without seeking our permission. We have taken action to stop these transactions from occurring,” PayPal said in an email statement.PayPal hasn't explained why, beyond that.From Reuters:PornHub, owned by Luxembourg-headquartered company MindGeek, said it was “devastated by PayPal’s decision to stop payouts to over a hundred thousand performers who rely on them for their livelihoods”. MindGeek did not respond to a Reuters request for comment. RELATED READING on our blog:Banned from Youtube, Chinese propagandists are using Pornhub to publish anti-Hong Kong videos [Cory Doctorow, Thu Nov 14, 2019] Read the rest

“It would be the right (thing). But it’s not up to us to decide,” Putin said.

A federal court ruled today that an atheist gentleman from Kentucky should be permitted to get a personalized license plate from the state with the phrase “IM GOD” on it. The man is committed to his cause -- this only took three years of legal fighting.Here is the legal opinion from a U.S. District Court in Frankfort, Kentucky. The ACLU and ffrf.org fought on his behalf, and won.From the Associated Press:Court documents show Ben Hart, a self-identified atheist, set out to get the Kentucky plate in 2016. But Hart’s request was denied by the state transportation department on the basis it violated antidiscrimination guidelines. News outlets report similar plates had been approved before, including “TRYGOD” and “NOGOD.”Kentucky’s American Civil Liberties Union and the Freedom From Religion Foundation got involved to help Hart challenge the decision. In an opinion Wednesday by a U.S. District Court in Frankfort, the judge ruled “vanity plates” are private speech protected by the First Amendment and that the state had violated Hart’s rights by denying him the plate.US court rules Kentucky man can get ‘IM GOD’ license plate [apnews.com]With Freedom From Religion Foundation and ACLU-KY Backing, Kentucky Man Wins Right To Have "IM GOD" License Plate [aclu-ky.org]PHOTO: aclu-ky.org Read the rest

10-week-old puppy Narwhal has tail-like appendage growing from forehead

Wow. This person paints amazing art on Vans sneakers for friends and family, and it's truly amazing.“I’ve hand painted a bunch of Vans for friends and family,” says IMGURian @zcaimbeul. “Figured I’d share! Hope you enjoy.”They don't seem to have an online business, or any interest in creating one. But I'd totally buy a pair![via IMGUR STAFF PICKS]I’ve hand painted a bunch of Vans for friends and family. Figured I’d share! Hope you enjoy Read the rest

The first rule of kindness club is be kind.This is a seriously impressive Mister Rogers cosplay right here. “The world is better because of you, Mr. Rogers,” says IMGURIAN iliketopointoutthingsinthebackground. “I am a better person because of you.” Like him, I also grew up watching Fred Rogers and Mister Rogers' Neighborhood on PBS. As did pretty much everyone my GenX age.Actor Tom Hanks gets to cosplay Mister Rogers in the new movie, “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood,” in which he stars as the kind man from TV with whom my generation grew up.Here's the movie trailer.[via STAFF PICKS] Read the rest

Whose house? Nancy's house.The Speaker stopped a speech to explain what "exculpatory" means to the national dolt.Holy crap. 😂 Nancy Pelosi stopping her statement to the press and taking a moment to explain what the word "exculpatory" means to Trump is a whooooooleass mood. 💀💀💀 #Thursdaythoughts pic.twitter.com/nfjJRbc1oy— Holly Figueroa O'Reilly (@AynRandPaulRyan) November 14, 2019 Read the rest

TempleOS was one of the last bizarre wonders of the Internet, a 64-bit operating system made entirely from scratch by one man, Terry Davis, in pursuit of singular religious goals. Davis was mentally ill and died tragically at 43. The BBC's Elizabeth Ann Duffy set out to find out what he made, and what made him: "Perhaps we shouldn't think of TempleOS as a technical achievement, but an artistic one."When a homeless man was accidentally killed by a train on the 11/08/18 in The Dalles, Oregon, no one realised how many people it would effect. The man was a computer programmer called Terry Davis and he was on a mission from God.He'd designed an entire operating system called Temple OS and according to Terry its creation had been a direct instruction from God himself. As a fellow programmer explained it, 'you can imagine how over time one man might build a house, but this is like building a sky scraper, on your own!' And this was all done while Terry battled a diagnosis of schizophrenia.Aleks Krotoski searches the emails, web posts and live streams to piece together the life of a remarkable individual who's work touched so many and is now celebrated not just as a technological achievement but an artistic one.Devotion: artist/illness [BBC] Read the rest

A double whammy for those who use .org domains: ICANN removed price restrictions on .org domain names, and then the registry in control was promptly sold to a private equity group, Ethos Capital.While Internet Society might not have wanted to raise prices, a private equity company surely will try to maximize the value of the registry.In a release about the deal, Internet Society noted:"Today’s news has tremendous benefits for both the Internet Society and PIR. The transaction will help the Internet Society to secure its future through more stable, diversified and sustainable financial resources than it has at present, allowing the organization to plan for the long term and advance its vision of an Internet for everyone on an even broader scale. It will also enable PIR to continue expanding its mission and important work under new ownership — including its goal of keeping .ORG accessible and reasonably priced — while further strengthening and deepening its commitment to the .ORG Community."We’ll have to see what “reasonably priced” means. Certainly, the goals of Ethos Capital are very different from Internet Society.Say what you want about the tenets of private equity, at least it's an ethos.Here's Google's guide on moving domains without losing search profile. Read the rest

Graphic designer Reagan Ray compiled more than 100 logos of videogame consoles from 1976 to 2017. (Just a handful seen above.) Oh how I miss the days of the, um, Fairchild Channel F and the Bandai Playdia. Ray writes:This list covers the second (1976) through eighth (present) generation consoles. According to Wikipedia, there were 687 first-generation consoles produced, so I decided that was a rabbit hole I didn't want to enter. I had fun designing the page to look like an old video game ad or one of those posters that came in Nintendo Power. The TV screen borders even made me nostalgic for playing games on an old crappy 19-inch TV. Video Game Console Logos (ReaganRay.com) Read the rest

In 2016, Bennie L. Hart applied for a vanity license plate emblazoned with "IM GOD." The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet refused to issue the plate, apparently because it was related to religion. With the support of the ACLU and the Freedom From Religion Foundation, Hart took the matter to court. And finally, U.S. District Judge Gregory F. Van Tatenhove ruled that the First Amendment limits the state's power to put the kibosh on the plate. From WDRB:(The judge wrote) that courts have ruled that such plates convey a “personalized message with intrinsic meaning … specific to the owner.” Even the state’s own statute establishing the program describes such plates as consisting of “personal letters or numbers significant to the applicant,” the judge wrote.Further, the judge wrote, if the cabinet’s permission to use a vanity plate constituted a “stamp of approval” from the state, the government would be “babbling prodigiously” and “saying many unseemly things...."“If the Transportation Cabinet genuinely wants to avoid controversy on Kentucky’s highways by preventing ‘promotion of any specific faith, religion, or anti-religion’ from appearing on vanity plates,” the judge wrote, “then it should have denied 'IM4GOD', 'ASKGOD', 'GR8GOD', 'LUVGOD'. But it did not," (Van Tatenhove wrote.) Read the rest

NBC News, as many people as loudly saying, can "go fuck itself" for publishing an item that claims the impeachment hearings lack the "pizzazz" necessary to make news. But what if NBC reporter Jonathan Allen was not in fact a towering smarmy moron but had simply made a typographical error? Because when you think about it, is it not true that the impeachment hearings could do with more Pazuzu, the Mesopotamian demon king of the southwestern wind, the bearer of storms? Read the rest

Laurent Simons is pursuing a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering at the Eindhoven University of Technology (TUE) in the Netherlands. He's 9 years old. After graduation, he intends to earn a PhD in electrical engineering along with a medical degree. His longterm goal is to develop artificial organs for transplant. From CNN:While Laurent comes from a family of doctors, his parents have so far not received any explanation as to why their child prodigy is capable of learning so quickly.But (mother) Lydia has her own theory."I ate a lot of fish during the pregnancy," she joked.The TUE has allowed Laurent to complete his course faster than other students."That is not unusual," said Sjoerd Hulshof, education director of the TUE bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, in a statement."Special students that have good reasons for doing so can arrange an adjusted schedule. In much the same way we help students who participate in top sport." Read the rest

In 1917, Swedish steamer ship Kyros was traveling from France to Russia when a German U-boat sunk it in the Baltic Sea. The shipwreck was discovered in 1999 but it wasn't until the last month that a team of divers from Ocean X and iXplorer have hauled up the sunken treasure: 600 bottles of De Haartman & Co. cognac and 300 bottles of Benedictine (now Bacardi) liqueur meant for Tsar Nicholas II. From Smithsonian:(Expedition leader Peter) Lindberg and his colleagues have sent samples of both the cognac and the Benedictine to a laboratory to gauge whether the alcohol is still fit for consumption. They are optimistic regarding the outcome of these tests, according to Metcalfe, as the Baltic’s freezing waters are actually ideal for storing spirits. Although some of the bottles contain sediment, many remain sealed. Several cognac bottles even have intact tin seals...As Lindberg tells CNN’s Gianluca Mezzofiore and David Williams, he and the rest of the team detected a slight scent of sweetened herbs coming from the Benedictine bottles...Earlier this year, two bottles of 17th-century wine discovered by Ocean X went up for auction at Christie’s. And in 2011, a 200-year-old bottle of champagne found in another Baltic shipwreck sold for a record-breaking $43,000.images: OceanXTeam on Instagram Read the rest

Knowledge is power. It's a cliché, but sometimes things turn into a cliché because they're true. If you're making your way through the world of business and entrepreneurship, it only makes sense to read about the insights of people who have climbed that ladder before you.Trouble is, the modern workday doesn't leave a lot of time for reading - especially for those go-getters who might benefit the most.That's where services like Readitfor.me can be a real life-saver, giving you the meat of self-help or business books in minutes rather than days or weeks.The book summary service gives laser-focused breakdowns of some essential titles in the nonfiction world - bestsellers like The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, To Sell is Human, 10% Happier and many more. The current library has over 300 titles and is growing at around 100 additions every year.Summaries are accessible as animated videos that distill the big ideas and water-cooler facts into bite-sized chunks that you can absorb over a quick lunch, coffee break, or lazy commute. That's a ton of time freed up to actually act on all that great information.There's a number of plans available, but you can get access to them all on sale now. Pick up a 1-year subscription for $19.99, 5 years for $49.99, or a lifetime for just $99.99 today. Read the rest

Nick Gillespie of Reason interviewed filmmaker Errol Morris about American Dharma, his new documentary about Steve Bannon. I'm looking forward to seeing it.When Errol Morris debuted American Dharma, his documentary about Stephen Bannon, last year at the Venice Film Festival, he received an ovation. But after early reviewers accused the Oscar-winning director of letting the former Breitbart.com head and adviser to President Trump "off the hook," Morris found it impossible to get a distribution deal in the United States.It was the first time in decades that the acclaimed director of The Thin Blue Line and The Fog of War couldn't get a movie into theaters. "The experience was so damn weird," Morris tells Reason. "People became so angry with me and with the movie, they certainly wanted to deplatform not just Bannon, but they wanted to deplatform me."But now his film, American Dharma, is finally in theaters.Nick Gillespie sat down with the 71-year-old Morris, whom Roger Ebert called "as great a filmmaker as Hitchcock or Fellini," for a wide-ranging conversation about the censorious first reactions to his new film, his history with Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos, and what he learned—and didn't learn—about Steve Bannon's philosophy. He also talks about why he thinks we're in a golden age of documentary filmmaking, his heated grad-school confrontations with philosopher Thomas Kuhn (detailed in his recent book The Ashtray: Or the Man Who Denied Reality), and Wormwood, his 2017 Netflix docudrama series about the CIA's notorious MKUltra mind-control program. Read the rest

Today, we are told that the bigness of Big Tech giants was inevitable: the result of "network effects." For example, once everyone you want to talk to is on Facebook, you can't be convinced to use another, superior service, because all the people you'd use that service to talk to are still on Facebook. And of course, those people also can't leave Facebook, because you're still there.But network effects were once a double-edge sword, one that could be wielded both by yesterday's Goliaths and today's Davids. Once, network effects made companies vulnerable, just as much as they protected them.The early, pre-graphic days of the Internet were dominated by Usenet, a decentralized, topic-based discussion-board system that ran on UUCP -- AT&T's Unix-to-Unix Copy utility -- that allowed administrators of corporate servers to arrange for their computers to dial into other organizations' computers and exchange stored messages with them, and to pass on messages that were destined for more distant systems. Though UUCP was originally designed for person-to-person messaging and limited file transfers, the administrators of the world's largest computer systems wanted a more freewheeling, sociable system, and so Usenet was born.Usenet systems dialed each other up to exchange messages, using slow modems and commercial phone lines. Even with the clever distribution system built into Usenet (which allowed for one node to receive long-distance messages for its closest neighbors and then pass the messages on at local calling rates), and even with careful call scheduling to chase the lowest long-distance rates in the dead of night, Usenet was still responsible for racking up some prodigious phone bills for the corporations who were (mostly unwittingly) hosting it. Read the rest

I highly recommend McKinley Valentine's email newsletter, The Whippet. In each issue she presents interesting ideas, art, videos, and articles. Here's an item from the latest issue (#85):How to survive solitary confinementI like to read things like this, keep it in my pocket, so I worry less about what if it happens.The recommendation is more or less -- you'll go crazy anyway, so go crazy with intention, to protect your brain.The human brain does very badly in social isolation - we're not built for it, and people start hallucinating and dissociating very quickly when it's complete. It's actual torture, but people don't expect it to be because it sounds so low-key.So the people in this article - both people who've survived solitary, and psychologists - suggest using a lot of visualisation. Imagine yourself in a much bigger space than you are, get to know it. Have a "workspace" where you train, maybe practice a sport in your mind. Every day, regularly, like you were outside and had a proper life. Imagine meeting a friend and having conversations with them.Part of what makes you go crazy in isolation is the lack of external cues and structures, so it has to be structured visualisations, not just panicked uncontrolled daydreaming.From someone who survived 7 years in almost total solitary confinement (again, this is torture, it is amazing he came out of it relatively okay):"He he used to kill time for hours working out detailed visualizations of himself in a vivid alternate reality, where he could inhabit open spaces and converse with people. Read the rest

In Episode 5 of this podcast on the future of humanity, co-host Eva Kelley travels to meet transhumanist pioneer and neurologist Dr. Phil Kennedy, who recently had a brain-computer interface installed in his own head. Dr. Kennedy tells Eva all about that experience (including gory footage from the operation), compares his approach to brain-computer interfaces with those being developed by people like Elon Musk ("they forgot the brain doesn't like electrodes"), and discusses the implications of this technology on human evolution. Eva and co-host John Holten close by reading an excerpt from Dr. Kennedy's self-published novel, which features a sex scene between a life support robot and his longtime wife.The Life Cycle is a production of Klang Games, creator of Seed, the planet colonization MMO -- watch the new trailer here. Subscribe to The Life Cycle on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and Spotify. Follow The Life Cycle on Twitter and Instagram. Read the rest

Infuriate your racist Facebook uncle this Thanksgiving with a Leopard RBG shirt. Read the rest

Toothbrushes might seem like a good idea for scrubbing small areas, but they are not angled properly for the job and they wear out fast. The OXO good grips deep clean brush set ( on Amazon) has two brushes and a wiper blade designed for cleaning tile grout and other hard to reach areas. Read the rest

An Australian woman's creepy, violent ex-boyfriend hacked her phone using stalkerware, then used that, along with her car's VIN number, to hack the remote control app for her car (possibly Landrover's Incontrol app), which allowed him to track her location, stop and start her car, and adjust the car's temperature.It's a great leap forward in spousal abuse, leapfrogging the analog days in which abusive partners had to be content with using odometer counts to track how far their victims were traveling. Now, with in-car apps -- no better secured than other apps -- abusive partners and ex-partners can follow them around in realtime and even immobilize their vehicles. Stalkerware is now a factor in the majority of spousal abuse cases; since stalkerware compromises mobile devices, and since these devices can be used to control a wide range of other devices (vehicles, thermostats, medical implants, door locks, etc), an abuser can leverage their stalkerware infections to turn their victims' lives into digital Kafka novels.She didn’t know it then, she said in court, but that mid-evening break-in was far from the first time he had stalked her — he’d been doing it for months, in real time, authorities said. The man, whom she dated for six months, allegedly weaponized simple technology and smartphone apps that allowed him to remotely stop and start her car, control the vehicle’s windows and track her constantly.“I am still trying to come to terms with the scope of violation and trauma I have experienced,” she said. Read the rest