Boing Boing

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

Chris Wallace of Fox News was impressed with Ambassador William Taylor's testimony in today's impeachment hearings:"William Taylor was a very impressive witness and was very damaging to the president. First of all, as you pointed out, he took very copious notes at almost every conversation... I think very nonpolitical. He went out of his way to talk about what he knew, what he was specifically testament to. The only thing he talked about was a strong feeling that it was in the U.S. national security interests to support Ukraine in the fight against Russia. But he certainly wasn't taking any partisan position."Chris Wallace: "I think William Taylor was a very impressive witness and was very damaging to the president." pic.twitter.com/QvCe5FEqL9— Lis Power (@LisPower1) November 13, 2019 Read the rest

Gibby Haynes, frontman for legendary psych band the Butthole Surfers, penned a young adult novel, "Me and Mr. Cigar," to be released in January. And no surprise, it sound fantastically far fucking out. I can't wait to read it. Here's the description:Seventeen-year-old Oscar Lester is never without his dog, Mr. Cigar. The two have made a pretty good life for themselves in North Texas, organizing drug-fueled dance parties with Oscar’s best friend, Lytle Taylor. The only real grownup in Oscar’s life is Carla Marks, protégé of his deceased father and the genius behind the enigmatic IBC Corporation. (Oscar’s mom spends all of her time with her new boyfriend.) Carla doesn’t approve of Oscar’s nefarious activity, though his parties provide an ideal environment to test-run some of IBC’s more freakish technology. As for Oscar’s older sister, Rachel . . . she’s been gone for the past five years, having fled after Mr. Cigar bit off her hand.But Oscar knows that his dog is no menace. Mr. Cigar is a loyal protector: a supernatural creature that can exact revenge, communicate telepathically, and manipulate car doors and windows with ease. So when Rachel—now twenty-two and an artist living in New York—calls out of the blue and claims that she’s being held hostage, Oscar sees an opportunity to make things right between them . . . at least until Carla Marks warns Oscar that Mr. Cigar’s life might be in danger, too.Suddenly Oscar finds himself on the run with his dog and his best friend. Read the rest

It's frustrating to buy an article of clothing from a store, then get home and discover that the ink-filled inventory control tag is still attached. This happened to the Lock Picking Lawyer, but instead of wasting a lot of time returning to the store, he was able to safely remove the tag at home in a fraction of a second by holding a neodymium magnet against it.Image: YouTube Read the rest

Here are audio samples from a neural network based system that can analyze a 5-second recording of someone's voice, then have that same voice say anything you want it to say.Someone made a version of the software that you can download from Github. Read the rest

Casio G-Shock and Transformers are releasing an Optimus Prime action figure that contains a G-Shock wristwatch in its chest. More than meets the eye, the Optimus Prime also transforms into a fancy pedestal for the watch when it's not on your wrist. The ¥30,000 JPY (US$275) set will only be available in Japan. G-SHOCK DW-5600TF19-SET (Hypebeast)＼新製品情報／G-SHOCK × トランスフォーマー 第二弾！闇に堕ちた戦士「マスターネメシスプライム」を具現化しました。バンドには、裏表で色が異なるブラックとブルーグリーンの2色成形バンドを採用。印象的なカラーリングを再現したスペシャルモデルです。https://t.co/mkZA4bgFYp pic.twitter.com/tuZzPO5mJe— CASIO カシオ計算機株式会社 (@CASIOJapan) November 7, 2019 Read the rest

Instead of feeding high school kids who were too poor to pay their lunch bill, a high school in Minnesota humiliated the students in front of the other students by throwing their hot meals in the garbage and giving them cold food instead, reports NBC News. After the school was exposed, they decided an apology was in order. "We deeply regret our actions today and the embarrassment that it caused several of our students," the district wrote in a statement Monday. "We have met with some of the students involved and apologized to them."Richfield Superintendent Steven Unowsky told KARE the actions of cafeteria staff were "inappropriate."“There are multiple failures we had in this situation and our job is to fix it. First and foremost [in] the way we treated our kids. We should never leave kids with the feeling they had from the experience,” Unowsky said.It seems like a decent apology. You can donate to the school district's meal account here. It's kind of difficult to do, so follow the directions closely.Image: U.S. Department of Agriculture - Fruit-bar-pic---Web, Public Domain, Link Read the rest

This is the most cyberpunk thing I've seen for a while: Chilean protesters using lasers to take down a drone. pic.twitter.com/tLSgj7YSB6— NetSec Focus (@netsecfocus) November 13, 2019 As William Gibson wrote, "The street finds its own uses for things."More in this vein:• Hong Kong protesters use lasers to blind security cameras• After student arrested for carrying laser-pointers, Hong Kong protesters stage "stargazing" laser-protest(Thanks, UPSO!) Read the rest

The privacy-focused web browser Brave has finally launched a 1.0 version, bringing it officially out of beta.The beta version of Brave, which promises “faster, more private and secure” than other browsers, had 8 million monthly users, say the developers. Now, a full stable Brave 1.0 release is available for Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and iOS users. Brave also has a plan to pay users and publishers for ads, reports Aliya Chaudhry at The Verge.Excerpt:Brave promises to prioritize security by blocking third-party ads, trackers, and autoplay videos automatically. So you don’t need to go into your settings to ensure greater privacy, though you can adjust those settings if you want to.Several browsers have taken steps to block trackers and ads, but in many cases, they’re limited or need to be enabled. Firefox started blocking some trackers by default earlier this year. Safari goes a step further by blocking almost all third-party trackers from sites you don’t visit frequently while allowing trackers from sites you check regularly but limiting their duration to 24 hours.Microsoft Edge is still testing a feature that also only blocks some trackers by default, which should arrive on January 15th. Google announced in May that it plans to launch tools that would let users see cookies stored by the Chrome browser and select which trackers to block, but we haven’t heard anything else about those tools, including when they’ll be available. Brave 1.0 launches, bringing the privacy-first browser out of beta Read the rest

A number of popular health-related websites in the UK are reported to be actively sharing sensitive user data with dozens of third parties, including Google and Facebook, but also various adtech firms and data brokers.Not good. An important new investigation from the Financial Times reveals symptoms, drug names, and terms like 'abortion' are shared with hundreds of third parties.The scariest ones in this list aren't just Google, Amazon, Facebook, Oracle, Scorecard, or OpenX, but the ones you've never heard of, who receive even less scrutiny over data privacy and security practices.Excerpt:Using open-source tools to analyse 100 health websites, which include WebMD, Healthline, Babycentre and Bupa, an FT investigation found that 79 per cent of the sites dropped “cookies” — little bits of code that, when embedded in your browser, allow third-party companies to track individuals around the internet. This was done without the consent that is a legal requirement in the UK.Google’s advertising arm DoubleClick was by far the most common destination for data, showing up on 78 per cent of the sites tested, followed by Amazon, which was present in 48 per cent of cases, Facebook, Microsoft and adtech firm AppNexus.“These findings are quite remarkable, and very concerning,” said Wolfie Christl, a technologist and researcher who has been investigating the adtech industry. “From my perspective, this kind of data is clearly sensitive, has special protections under the [General Data Protection Regulation] and transmitting this data most likely violates the law.”How top health websites are sharing sensitive data with advertisers [ft.com]An FT investigation has shown that people’s most sensitive health data, including their medical symptoms, diagnoses and period and fertility information, are being traded with dozens of companies around the world, including Google, Amazon and Facebook https://t.co/QlqHq0qCtj pic.twitter.com/dypdo2AZHG— Financial Times (@FinancialTimes) November 13, 2019Ugh. Read the rest

New Yorkers paid nearly a quarter of a billion dollars in 2018 to settle lawsuits filed against the New York Police Department. And that's the good news! It's down from the $335m paid out in 2017. The Daily News reports on the staggering price tag attached to New York City's notoriously violent and uncontrollable cops. The NYPD sees it a normal operating cost to be managed.Police spokeswoman Sgt. Jessica McRorie said the reduction in claims shows the department’s ability to fight frivolous cases and provide top-of-the-line training to its officers.“These gains represent another example of how the NYPD is building greater trust and respect with the community to collaboratively solve problems, drive down crime, and enhance public safety,” McRorie said.Critics say the numbers in the report are not indicative of a reformed police department. Read the rest

#ImpeachmentHearings have begun. Let loose the bowels of trumpian treason.The House Intelligence Committee held its first open hearing of the impeachment inquiry against President Trump today, Wednesday, November 13, 2019. Democrat and Republican lawmakers in congress heard testimony from William Taylor, Acting U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine, and from Deputy Assistant Secretary of State George Kent. VIDEO: CSPAN. Read the rest

After years of poorly-received MacBook Pro models, Apple's new sixteen-inch model has a lot riding on it. The 2019 MacBook Pro (available today at Apple.com) will have a larger screen, latest-generation innards and, yes, an entirely new keyboard design. Prices start at $2399.Early reviews are appearing.The 16” MacBook Pro comes configured with either a 2.6GHz 6-core i7 or a 2.3GHz 8-core i9 from Intel. These are the same processors as the 15” MacBook Pro came with. No advancements here is largely a function of Intel’s chip readiness. The i7 model of the 16” MacBook Po will run $2,399 for the base model — the same as the old 15” — and it comes with a 512GB SSD drive and 16GB of RAM. It's only 2% larger for the extra inch of display. Keyboard's better, but ... maybe wait a few months.Apple is calling it the Magic Keyboard in homage to the iMac’s Magic Keyboard (but not identically designed). The new keyboard is a scissor mechanism, not butterfly. It has 1mm of key travel (more, a lot more) and an Apple-designed rubber dome under the key that delivers resistance and springback that facilitates a satisfying key action. The new keycaps lock into the keycap at the top of travel to make them more stable when at rest, correcting the MacBook Air-era wobble. And yes, the keycaps can be removed individually to gain access to the mechanism underneath. And yes, there is an inverted-T arrangement for the arrow keys. Read the rest

A post called "The Right Way to Reduce Your China Product Costs" on China Law Blog (previously) sounds like pretty anodyne stuff, but it turns out to be a catalog of several technothrillers' worth of ultra-weird, real-world skullduggery and chicanery from the world of late-stage capitalism and trade war.Background: Trump's tariffs have kneecapped Chinese manufacturing, and Chinese manufacturers are responding by slashing prices to their western customers. This has given rise to a wave of requests for discounts from those western companies, and Chinese manufacturers, already bleeding, are taking desperate steps to stay in business as customers leave or demand unrealistic discounts as a condition of staying.The first one is plain old kidnapping (China Law Blog has written extensively about how kidnapping and ransom are a normal part of Chinese debt collection). Chinese manufacturers, working with local officials, have begun to kidnap representatives from western businesses, citing (possibly imaginary) debts or tax liabilities and holding those reps to ransom as a bargaining chip for keeping foreign business and/or extracting an exit payment from those that they lose.Then there's product cloning: it's not merely that your Chinese manufacturer might steal your product dies and go into business cloning your product and selling it to your wholesalers (though that's happening!). It's also that your Chinese manufacturer might have taken out patents and trademarks on your business and its products. These don't just stop you from sourcing an alternative supplier after you part ways -- some western companies have found that their products are being seized at the Chinese border as counterfeits after anonymous businesses (presumed to be their former manufacturing partners) made patent and trademark claims with customs officials. Read the rest

Marble Machine X is an ongoing project by Martin Molin of the band Wintergatan to create an amusingly-complex mobile marble-powered instrument.His videos documenting the project receive hundreds of thousands of views, and plenty of enthusiastic and helpful feedback. In this video from September 2018, he shows off an earlier stage of the build, and emphasizes various safety measures he added in response to helpful Youtube comments:The videos in the series find a great balance between being edited to remove the boring parts, while also being quite informative about the fine details of the build:You can support the project via Patreon, or by purchasing merchandise here.(Via Andrew Fraystive.) Read the rest

Something went wrong with my archival encode of the Utah State-LSU game, and all the audio is pitch-shifted down 100%. Which resulted in this. pic.twitter.com/AmispkZO9q— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) October 10, 2019Sports reporter Timothy Burke writes that "Something went wrong with my archival encode of the Utah State-LSU game, and all the audio is pitch-shifted down 100%. Which resulted in this." Read the rest

As much as some of us fear the loss of our jobs to robots, there's one job we're pretty sure they are welcome to: vacuuming. There's nothing quite like kicking back and watching a robot vacuum do one of the most time-consuming tasks on the household chore list.And there are few 'bots that do it quite like the Roborock S6 Robot Vacuum & Mop.The power on this thing is a big highlight, combining 1500 rpm of suction with soft bristles that spin at 1350 rpm. It's a combo that makes short work of nearly any mess, and there's even a mopping function that gives hardwood floors an extra shine.With a 32-bit quad processor, the Roborock S6 has brains as well as brawn. Its 14-sensor array helps it build a complete 360-degree view of your room, then plan the quickest route to get every inch. Want it to avoid the dog dish? It's a simple matter to draw virtual barriers in the accompanying app - no magnetic strips required.The Roborock S6 Robot Vacuum & Mop with Adaptive Routing is now available for 7% off the regular retail price, but you can take an additional 15% off by using the online code BFSAVE15. Read the rest

Spanish surrealist Salvador Dalí was no stranger to pop culture, even appearing on a TV game show. So, it's not a complete surprise to find out he created an entire 78-card tarot deck. Originally conceived as a prop for the for the 1973 James Bond film, Live and Let Die, his tarot cards didn't end up in the movie but were issued later as a set.Hyperallergic:Albert R. Broccoli, a producer for the 18th James Bond spy thriller, approached Dalí with an offer to create the tarot deck for a scene in the film. The cards were needed as props for the character of Solitaire, played by Seymour, a psychic who works for a menacing drug lord. As Bond films typically go, the psychic changes sides to become the spy’s collaborator and love interest.Dalí accepted the offer and started working on the cards, possibly encouraged by his mystically inclined wife Gala, but it was rumored that the contract fell through when the artist demanded an astronomical fee that was too high even for the film’s $7 million budget.But, even though the deal fell through, Dalí did complete the deck. He worked on its art for 10 years before it was issued to the public in 1984. Now, for the first time since then, Taschen is making the deck, and its instructional booklet, available. Dalí. Tarot has a a release date of November 15 but is now available for pre-order ($54). (Colossal) Read the rest

At Field Mag, Andrew Szeto explains the fundamentals of building a basic A-Frame cabin. He writes that you can get it done for about $8,000, not including land.The most major lesson learned is I should have gone bigger. Don't get me wrong, the cabin is awesome, but heck, an extra 5-10 feet in both directions would have been a game changer and made it a little more habitable. But to see a thing you built come to life is the greatest gift you can give yourself in my opinion. A strong theme is not to go cheap on materials: don't use thin plywood for the interior, don't use polycarbonate roofing, don't build without properly levelling the land under it. Read the rest

With the launch of the Disney+ streaming service, all eyes were on The Mandalorian, the new sci-fi western set in the aftermath of Return of the Jedi. But the original Star Wars movies are also availabe in 4K, and someone noticed that they've yet again tinkered with the scene where Han Solo shoots Greedo to avoid being abducted by him. Director George Lucas famously edited the scene in the 1990s to depict Greedo shooting first, making Han's killing him an act of self-defense and sanding a rough edge off a classic cinema hero. The latest cut, which Disney reports was made by Lucas himself, has the two rogues firing simultaneously. Oh my god. This is not a joke. pic.twitter.com/RMkh7Blg7D— Star Wars Visual Comparisons (@StarWarsVisComp) November 12, 2019In the newly edited scene, Greedo says something to Han before shooting (Maclunkey!), although no subtitle appears at the bottom of the screen. Han proceeds to shoot once. This is followed by “a new explosion [that] covers a transition from them shooting to Greedo hitting the table, removing the Greedo dummy altogether.”The account also discovered while scrubbing through the footage that it appears “the timing has been adjusted farther and they now shoot on the same frame.” It’s possible that these changes were made to improve the pacing of the scene since it’s different from what was originally used.The Han-Greedo scene is the Oak Island Money Pit of movie scenes: it's been excavated and flooded so much that it's become more of an idea than anything else, its truths forever beyond our grasp. Read the rest

BigBread's No Destination is a "game" in the classic spirit of Desert Bus, and you don't even have to make the occasional steering adjustment. Just sit and enjoy the journey, looking out of a train coach at the procedurally-generated hills and woods of wherever it is you are. It's just the first entry I've checked out from from the 2019 ProcJam -- "Make something that makes something" -- and there are dozens more experiments, artworks and according-to-Hoyle games to enjoy.An endless train ride, a sitting simulator.Just a relaxing timeLeft mouse button to sit in a seatRight mouse button to hide the cursorwasd to move aroundspacebar to get upescape to quit / close the game Read the rest

I'm in a private Slack with some other media/journalist people, and someone brought up the idea of pay transparency. After all: if you don't know what your colleagues are being paid, it's hard to negotiate for a fair rate. We're all conditioned to believe that our financials should be private, but as far as salaries are concerned, that secrecy only ever tends to work in favor of your employer.So this particular someone made a Google Form and a corresponding spreadsheet where journalists and other media professionals could anonymously add their salary information. And in barely 24 hours, it's spread to CJR and Bloomberg and even inspired Mike Cernovich to go off on some completely unsubstantiated rant to set off his army of loyal trolls because apparently all journalists are scum and also trustfund babies even though there isn't any proof of that (and I can personally assure you that my personal information is on that list and that my public school teacher mom and print salesman dad are not rolling in the dough).As of this writing, more than 200 people have responded. On one hand, it is admittedly difficult to verify the claims contained within the data. On the other hand, there's still lots of eye-opening information to glean. Unsurprisingly, there are pay disparities across race and gender; but the same thing happens across geographic location, and work experience. Perhaps the most shocking revelation so far is just the absurd range of income of people working in news media. Read the rest

Last November, Jered "Threatin" Eames hired some musicians, booked venues on the strength of inauthentic social media profiles, then played to empty halls and angry proprietors who soon outed the hustle. His viral fame was short lived, but now he's back—for real, this time, at least for certain values of reality—playing to paying customers. Vice sent a critic to a UK gig: "It was as weird as you could imagine," writes Hannah Mylrea. Jered is clearly an accomplished guitarist (his vocals, less so) and his band for the evening are slick, but due to the complete lack of crowd interaction and Jered’s wannabe rockstar swagger, it makes for an uncomfortable watch, even without all the ridiculous pre-cursors. Clearly too uncomfortable for some, as the crowd noticeably thins out throughout.After 45-minutes Jered finishes the show by smashing up the stage – ripping down his banners and decapitating the mannequins – and then giving a mock bow before walking off stage. That’s the last the crowd and I see of him.Ladies and gentlemen, Threatin.Here’s some close ups of the doll pic.twitter.com/YdUVR4eESb— Hannah Mylrea (@HannahMylrea) November 1, 2019 Read the rest

In Tiny Islands, by David King, you're dealt cards that let you "draw" particular landscape features on a grid, with occasional breaks to draw coastlines around the forests, mountains, villages and churches you place. Once you've gotten through the deck, your archipelago is scored based according to rules of proximity and placement. It's simple, frustrating and very addictive, with games over in a few minutes and a better high-score always at hand. I've managed to get in the 60s (check out the hashtag for more)—what about you? Read the rest

Aestetix writes, "Our 13th conference is taking place next summer in a brand new location as you've probably heard. We expect it to be bigger and better than ever with lots more activities and space - all without leaving New York City! Since this is #13, we figured we'd make an initial batch of tickets available on November 13th at precisely 13:13 Eastern Time (that's 1:13 pm for those who don't do 24 hour clocks)."It's been a rocky time for 2600 Magazine and its venerable Hackers on Planet Earth con -- so unbelievably awesome to see HOPE back in 2020! Initial Ticket Sales Wednesday! [HOPE/2600] Read the rest

Back in 2017, EFF, ACLU and ACLU of Massachusetts sued the US government on behalf of 11 travelers whose devices had been subjected to warrantless, suspicionless searches by Customs and Border Protection at the US border.Now, a federal court in Boston has found in favor of the travelers, affirming that CBP cannot conduct searches of border-crossers' devices without particularized suspicion of illegal contraband.The judgment has the potential to stem the rising floodtide of warrantless border searches of devices -- up 400% in just three years.International travelers returning to the United States have reported numerous cases of abusive searches in recent months. While searching through the phone of Zainab Merchant, a plaintiff in the Alasaad case, a border agent knowingly rifled through privileged attorney-client communications. An immigration officer at Boston Logan Airport reportedly searched an incoming Harvard freshman’s cell phone and laptop, reprimanded the student for friends’ social media postings expressing views critical of the U.S. government, and denied the student entry into the country following the search.Federal Court Rules Suspicionless Searches of Travelers’ Phones and Laptops Unconstitutional [EFF] Read the rest

The European Medicines Agency approved a vaccine for the deadly Ebola Virus Disease. The vaccine has already been administered to hundreds of thousands of people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, saving countless lives during an ongoing epidemic there. From Nature:The decision by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) to allow US pharmaceutical company Merck to market its vaccine means that the product can now be stockpiled and, potentially, distributed more widely, in particular in Africa. In 2015, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance — a global health partnership that funds vaccine supplies in low-income countries — told Ebola-vaccine manufacturers that it would commit to purchasing vaccines once they had been approved by a “stringent health authority” such as the EMA...“This is a vaccine with huge potential,” said Seth Berkley, chief executive of Gavi in Geneva, Switzerland, in a press release after the EMA decision. “It has already been used to protect more than 250,000 people in the DRC and could well make major Ebola outbreaks a thing of the past.” Image: "Ebola virus virion" by CDC/Cynthia Goldsmith (Public Domain) Read the rest

I really like these 'ergonomic' JoyCon replacements.The tiny JoyCons are a pain to hold. These replacements make holding the Switch while you play a lot easier for my carpal tunnel suffering hands.Everything works like the stock JoyCon, except there is something substantial to hold on to.Wireless Controller for Switch, BestOff Neon Red Neon Blue Controllers Compatible for Nintendo Switch Console via Amazon Read the rest

In Mumbai, India, the Western Railway deployed a police officer dressed as Yamarāja, a Hindu god of death, to educate commuters about railway safety and enforce the laws. From Zee News:Railway Ministry's handle warned the people in Hindi, "Do not cross the track in an unauthorised manner, it can be fatal.""If you cross the track in an unauthorized way, then Yamraj will be standing in front of you," Railway Ministry added.In 2018, as many as seven people on an average lost their lives on a daily basis due to carelessness in crossing railway tracks illegitimately. At least 1,476 people had lost their lives while crossing the railway tracks while over 650 people died after falling off the trains. Read the rest

This is one of the more WTF videos I've seen in a while. It starts with a jack-in-the-box getting tossed off a school(?) bus in New York(?) and ends with one of the greatest reveals since Nicolas Roeg's 1973 psychological thriller, Don't Look Now. It may very well be staged because it's just too good.OMG I don't even know what to do with this! pic.twitter.com/Yl7MDwHNs8— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) November 12, 2019Image: Twitter[Updated 11/12/19 4:03pm PT] Indeed, it's a skit by Daniel Jean: Read the rest

The Argentine sub San Juan vanished in 2017 and its wreckage was found only months later, but from the search mission's outset rescuers suspected what had happened. The sound of an implosion—"a singular, anomalous, violent, non-nuclear event"—was picked up hours after the vessel's last transmission. If you are horrified by the idea of a huge metal can being suddenly crushed by water pressure, this computer simulation of the San Juan's demise may well rationalize and deepen your conviction never to set foot on a sub. Read the rest