Boing Boing

Just about everybody from small-time app developers to big database administrators loves Linux. But just because it's open-source doesn't mean its secrets are open to everybody.For that, you need a comprehensive training program like the Complete Linux System Administrator Bundle.If you're chasing any kind of career in coding, this is the online regimen that will put you on the quickest path to system admin.The seven-course bundle includes a broad overview of Unix and Linux that will give beginners a firm foundation and can even teach experienced coders a few new shortcuts. You'll also get a variety of specialized classes, including a comprehensive look at the versatile and widely used Red Hat Linux platform and tutorials on bash scripting and app development.Before long, you'll move on to top-level courses on the admin side of Linux. Classes on Python and OpenSUSE will enable you to maintain and protect even the largest networks.All in all, it's nearly 120 hours of training that will serve you well on any IT resume. The entire package is now on sale for more than 95% off the list price. Read the rest

Earlier this year, Boing Boing favorite artist Darren Cullen (previously) and Gavin Grindon created a Museum of Neoliberalism in Brighton, England -- now, he's fundraising to open it up again in London for six months.The Museum's inspiration was "the official and sycophantic 'Margaret Thatcher Centre and Library'" -- Cullen and Grindon want to rival it with an anti-Thatcher museum that rebuts the idiotic slogan, "There is no alternative."The London version opens next week, on Nov 16, in Lewisham.Museum of Neoliberalism [Darren Cullen and Gavin Grindon/Spelling Mistakes Cost Lives](via Marginal Revolution) Read the rest

NZ Green Party MP Chlöe Swarbrick was giving a speech in favour of stricter carbon emissions standards when the 50-year-old National Party Climate Critic Todd Muller heckled her; without missing a beat, she fired back "OK Boomer" and moved on to making a rather good and eloquent point about need for intense action on climate.Muller's National Party are the authoritarian money-launderers who ruled NZ under John Key, whose party used the Christchurch earthquake as an excuse to ram through their monumentally unpopular copyright/internet disconnection legislation, allowing an MP to hold up aid to people dying under the rubble unless the disconnection law was reintroduced at the same time. Key's Nationals also oversaw the transformation of New Zealand into a financial secrecy haven whose role in global money laundering was revealed by the Panama and Paradise Papers. In the 2017 national elections, the party was destroyed by Jacinda Arden's Labour Party."OK Boomer" is a viral zinger deployed by millennials and Gen-Z'ers when they are concern-trolled and mocked by their elders, including (but not limited to) baby boomers (older Xers like Muller are clearly fair game).Swarbrick's no-eyelashes-batted-nor-fucks-given use of the phrase made a lot of elderly snowlflakes angry, including the noted reactionary William Shatner, who called it "childish," proving Swarbrick's point. Muller tweeted an incoherent vat of weaksauce that focused on the fact that he was too young to be a boomer. Hilariously, the NZ Parliamentary captioning service transcribed the phrase as "OK, Burma" and later promised to hold weekly meme briefings to prevent a similar occurrence. Read the rest

Koko the gorilla (RIP) amazed the world when she learned to communicate with humans, but now there's a dog whose learned to "talk." Not with sign language, but with a soundboard. According to her speech-language pathologist person, Christina Hunger, Stella the dog has already learned 29 words and several phrases. By pressing her paw on the pre-programmed buttons, she has learned to say what's on her mind. People:One day, the [18-month-old] pup was whining at the front door and started pacing back and forth. Hunger assumed that she needed to go outside. Instead, Stella walked to her device and tapped out, “Want,” “Jake” “Come” then stood in front of the door until Hunger’s fiancé, Jake, came home a few minutes later and then Stella immediately pressed “Happy” and rolled over for a belly rub.Here are a few videos of Stella doing her thing: View this post on Instagram Hello there everyone!! 🤗 Welcome to the Hunger for Words community! I’m THRILLED you’re here! I feel completely honored by this outpouring of enthusiasm and inspiration ✨✨ Here is a fun Stella series to kick off this new chapter! • Jake and I were discussing taking Stella to Petco. She was certainly listening...! • Video 1: Stella said “Goodbye outside.” This is the third time in the past few weeks that Stella has combined “good” and “bye” to say “Goodbye” instead of just “bye”! • Video 2: Jake said he wanted to hang our spice racks first, started the project, and Stella told him, “Later Jake” 😂😂 (Translation: Do that later, I want to go!) • Video 3: Stella came full circle with her message and told us she was REALLY ready to leave by saying, “Bye bye bye good bye!” (Looks like we have ourselves a little @nsync fan 😜) • I hope you all have a great day! Read the rest

If you want to be an app developer for Android, there's never been a better time. Languages like Kotlin are tailor-made for functionality, and the Jetpack suite of tools makes the whole process easier.The only hurdle is learning your way around these tools, and that's where the Android Jetpack & App Development Certification Bundle can pave your way to a career on the creative side of the tech economy.These linked courses not only teach you every aspect of these platforms but get you certified in their use. Check out what you get:Android Jetpack Masterclass in Java - A complete walkthrough on Jetpack's functionalities, including (most importantly) the latest on its vast array of libraries.State-of-the-Art Android App Development in Kotlin - Kotlin is the language behind a range of tools that you'll need for any kind of development, both server and client-side. This course gets you familiar with its core concepts and how it works with JSON, Dagger 2 and other key programs.Build a Twitter-like App for Android - There's no education like experience. This hands-on walkthrough will let you use your newfound Kotlin and Firebase knowledge to create a working social media platform.Android Jetpack Masterclass in Kotlin - The perfect course to show you how well Jetpack works with the primary Android coding language. By the end of the lectures, you'll have first-hand understanding of concepts like data binding and the AndroidX libraries.Build a Tinder Clone for Android from Scratch - Ready to put your skills to work? Read the rest

It's not official, by any pronouncement or claim, but this is reportedly the provisional design for Mike Bloomberg's presidential campaign logo. (UPDATE: denied by the campaign; it's apparently the work of a Mike Bloomberg fansite)̧̝͛̇ͦ̓Z̹̞̗͍̐ͪ͛̈̊͋Á̻͖̼̙̺̔ͧ͂ͫͅL̼̦̯͇͈̕G̫͔̦̰̬͇̅ͩ̐̈ͭ̉Õ̬̓͂̈̾ͭͮ!̞ͥ Read the rest

"Who bought this? Who wanted this?"Seattle-based novelty company Archie McPhee is bringing out the weird with a new web series that is reminiscent of the low-budget cable shows of yore, and I mean that in the best way possible. The Archie McPhee Archives with Mr. Q premiere starts with a guy in a leopard-print fez and a black sweatshirt emblazoned with a big white question mark ("Mr. Q") digging through cryptically-marked banker boxes in the company's warehouse. We're then shown each of the bizarro items he chose, one by one. Of course, he saves the best for last. Two words: Mutant. Farm.As someone who has toured that very warehouse and has dreamt about rifling around in each one of those boxes, I really appreciate this new show. Can't wait to see what they showcase next.The series was inspired by the items they share in their "too weird" for their "main [Instagram] account," Cult of Bibo. Here's a taste: View this post on Instagram Inspiration for 2020A post shared by Bibo Weirdmaker (@cultofbibo) on Sep 1, 2019 at 10:12am PDT View this post on Instagram Usually everything is better with googly eyes. Usually. #thrifthorrorA post shared by Bibo Weirdmaker (@cultofbibo) on Nov 7, 2019 at 8:59am PSTLong live, Archie McPhee! Read the rest

This week, 99% Invisible and Rose Eveleth focus on chili peppers. Picking chili peppers is back-breaking work, and increasingly farm owners can't find anyone willing to do it:Farms across the United States are reporting shortages of labor. Since 2002, the number of immigrants coming into the United States to work in agriculture has dropped by 75 percent. In California, one survey found that 56 percent of farmers were unable to hire enough workers.Green chili peppers are particularly difficult to pick:Green chilis are just unripe red chilis which means that the seeds inside of them aren’t ready to germinate yet, so the plant doesn’t want to give the fruit up, and it holds onto it more tightly.As a result, farmers are planting fewer chili peppers:In 1997, New Mexico farmers planted over 30,000 acres of chilis. Last year, there were only 8,400.Efforts to design chili pepper-picking robots have largely failed:Instead of picking the peppers off the plant, the machine would literally rip up the entire plant and try to stuff it in its mouth, like some kind of mechanical toddler choking on a toy. Another machine they tested had the opposite problem — it was so gentle that it left 40 percent of the fruit on the plant.So, scientists have set out to design a chili pepper that's easily-picked by a machine (like the Moses 1000 seen above):Walker’s special peppers will need to have a few key traits, like stronger, deeper roots, more fruits hanging on the outside of the plant, and of course… good flavor. Read the rest

Inspired by an illustration of the Notorious B.I.G. by Adam Rosenlund:Rafael Phillips created the Notorious MODOK:He has since made it available in a gray version: View this post on Instagram Taking pre-orders for the grey NOTORIOUS M.O.D.O.K. ! $75.00 per unit! If you’re interested, message me at Raphaelp3d@gmail.com . The gold chrome is still $250.00 per unit, but now we got options baybeeee! Let me know which one you want in the email 🤙🏾 . . . #raph3d #sculpture #collectibles #biggie #lightboxexpo #statues #marvel #hiphop #3d #instaart #modok #3dprinting #sla #fineart #marvelcomics #zbrush #digitalart #3dmodeling #sculptorA post shared by Raphael Imhotep (@jehutysan) on Sep 6, 2019 at 1:26pm PDTAnd now he is working on Jay-Z as Galactus:Jaylactus, starting this back up! 💪🏾 pic.twitter.com/1PlnMvwVcq— big meh (@Jehutysan) November 6, 2019 Read the rest

Need a power solution for your devices that won't quit on you after it bends the wrong way? We've all been frustrated with cheap charging cables, but a more permanent solution actually isn't much more expensive. Here are 10 sale-priced charging cables that can actually stand up to daily use.Nylon Braided iPhone Lightning CableThe reliable 8-pin connector keeps things charging safely while the Kevlar fiber core keeps the wiring safe and flexible. It's the perfect 3.3-foot cable for any Apple device.Sale Price: $9.99MSRP: $15.99Voice Reactive LED Glowing Data Cables: 2-PackThe sound-activated chip in these cables allows it to pulse with colorful lights in time to any ambient music. That's not just cool-looking, it's constant reassurance that they're working and keeping your gadgets charged.Sale Price: $16.99MSRP: $29.99Nomad 0.3M Lightning CableThese Apple MFi-Certified cords are braided with ballistic-grade nylon, but they're protected against more than just tearing and stripping. They've also got an extra dose of RF shielding that makes your data transfers that much faster.Sale Price: $10.99MSRP: $24.95JunoPower Kaebo Braided Anti-Tear Charging Cable: 3-PackTake these cables on the go and breathe easy. The nylon cloth covers hold up miles better than typical lightning cables, and the slim aluminum heads fit into most iPhone cases.Sale Price: $13.00MSRP: $29.99Just Mobile AluCable Duo for iOS & Android DevicesThis 5' cable offers plenty of length, but that's the least of its conveniences. The adjustable cables work with both Micro-USB or Lightning ports, making it great for families who own both Apple and Android devices. Read the rest

Lisa Rein writes, "Today, Saturday November 9th is Aaron Swartz Day all over the world. We have events going on all over the world here - with a Zoom channel andGitters set up for questions that will be monitored from San Francisco all day (The San Francisco event details are here for FOIAPALOOZA).Also we have a ton of projects, that folks can hack on from anywhere - even the comfort of their own home. These include SecureDrop & Open Library, which Aaron co-created, and also, for journalists and researchers, we've collected all the documents from our Police Surveillance Project." Read the rest

The misogyny and male-centric myopia that lurks barely beneath the surface of the tabloids is proudly strutting its stuff again this week.

When Blizzard Entertainment president J Allen Brack opened this month's Blizzcon with a carefully worded apology over the company's suspension of Blitzchung, the Hearthstone champ who was punished for his in-game support of the Hong Kong protesters, what he didn't say (the words "Hong Kong" or "China") was just as newsworthy as what he did.It turns out that paying attention to Brack's omissions is key to understanding his approach: though he apologized for his handling of the Blitzchung affair and promised to do better, he did not promise to rescind Blitzchung's suspension, something that was strongly implied by the apology and the promise. And, true to form, he has not lifted that suspension.In a PC Gamer interview, Brack says that Blitzchung was suspended for making a political statement during a match, and not for offending the Chinese state, on whose largesse Blizzard depends for billions in annual revenue. Brack promised that any Blizzard tournament player who made any political statement would have faced similar punishment. It would be great to try this out! Let's get some Blizzard competitors to try saying things like "China has a good government" or "American democracy is a noble experiment" or "I am cautiously supportive of European financial union" or "Happy Canada Day" and see what happens.PC Gamer: I wanted to revisit the statement you made at the beginning of the opening ceremony yesterday. You said Blizzard is "committed to everyone's right to express themselves in all kinds of ways and all kinds of places," and you made a commitment to do better going forward and that your actions are going to matter more than words do. Read the rest

An Orlando county Sheriff's deputy was fired on the spot after video showed him grabbing a teen girl by her hair and yanking her head backwards. The video shows the deputy, who the agency has not publicly identified, taking a girl into custody Thursday afternoon in the parking lot of the Summerset apartments off Oak Ridge Road in south Orange, about a block from the middle school. The girl screams as the deputy pulls her head backward.Later in the video, which has been viewed more than 45,000 times on Facebook, the deputy brandishes his baton at a crowd that gathered. Near the end of the encounter, he yells at the crowd that they are all “stupid little children."The Sheriff's office is, however, refusing to release the deputy's name.Asked under what exemption to Florida’s Sunshine Law the deputy’s name was being withheld, the agency acknowledged the question but did not provide an exemption or further explanation Friday. Read the rest

Starting Monday, you can enroll in a free massively open online course from Coursera on inequality: "Most countries are getting more and more unequal. But the core of democracy is political equality: that everyone should have an equal say in how their country is run. Can we really expect these things to go together? Can people have equal political power while economic inequality grows and grows? This course takes students through the issues. It covers the reality of economic inequality, and how corporations and wealthy individuals are able to convert economic into political power. Students learn about lobbying and campaign finance, tax avoidance and capital flight. The course discusses the value of democracy, and the possibility of alternatives to our current economic system. This is an interdisciplinary course combining politics, philosophy, economics, history and law. The course is for anyone looking for an accessible introduction to these topics: concerned citizens, or those in fields such as politics, media, education, government or law. Although the topics are unusual, the difficulty level is similar to the first-year of an undergraduate degree. No prior knowledge is assumed." (Image: mSeattle, CC BY) (via Crooked Timber) Read the rest

Does your company do data analytics? Chances are that at least part of that infrastructure is coded in R. There's simply no better programming environment for working with statistics, which makes it invaluable in an economy where data equals money.Want to put your coding skills to the best use? The Complete R Programming Certification Bundle can help get you in the door as a valuable member of any data analytics team.This 6-course training bundle tackles all the main functionalities of R, including several that can be essential to machine learning. You'll learn how to sort and classify massive chunks of data, then wrangle and visualize it with tools like Dpylr and Ggplot2.You'll also learn the same techniques used by major tech companies to mine social media platforms for valuable data. And a comprehensive course on regression analysis will let you sift through that data for meaningful answers.The full course package contains 35 hours of lectures and hands-on workshops. The entire bundle is now on sale for 97% off the MSRP. Read the rest

A worker at what appears to be an art studio scolded her co-workers for tricking her with an ersatz doorknob and a phony computer display.What's wrong with my computer from r/Unexpected Read the rest

Can you believe racist Jefferson Beauregard Sessions is running to come back to the Senate? Sessions has no respect for himself in the way he's singing Trump's praises who embarrassed him, called him a "dumb southerner", & threw him under the bus. What a mindless wonder!— Maxine Waters (@RepMaxineWaters) November 8, 2019 I love Maxine Waters. Read the rest

In Episode 4 of this podcast on the future of humanity, hosts John and Eva go in search of transhumanist hero Dr. Phil Kennedy, who back in 2015 had a brain-computer interface installed in his own head. As Wired's Daniel Enger reported at the time, the procedure almost caused Dr. Kennedy to lose his mind. So what's happened to him and his brain interface since then? Eva takes a transatlantic trip to find out...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

OnlyBabyCare will no longer be able to sell children's clothes with the phrase "Daddy's Little Slut" through the Amazon Marketplace, reports TMZ. Amazon removed the item from its database after people on social media said the thought the shirt was inappropriate.From TMZ:The product description is pretty rich ... with OnlyBabyCare claiming the garment was suitable for "playing outside, birthday party, baby shower, baptism, wedding, baby photography, daily wear, family day."At least there's no sexism when it comes to these sluts ... the manufacturer said the shirt was unisex and suitable for "little girls or boys."This brings to mind the kid's overalls I saw at a store in Tokyo called "Slut": Read the rest

SanDisk's official Nintendo Switch 128GB micro SD card is on sale at Amazon today for . This is the same price as the unbranded version. Read the rest

In this video, produced by the Mihama Veterinary Clinic in Fukui, Japan, you'll learn how to transfer the contents of a fertilized chicken egg to a plastic cup so you can watch it develop into a live healthy chick. As the narrator says, "The process of the growing egg is like a magic, don't you think so?"[via Twister Sifter] Read the rest

I lost it when he licked his hand pic.twitter.com/YktVwohYPT— Blankzy (@Blankzy_) November 6, 2019Watch this guy give Patrick what's coming to him in an expertly choreographed fight scene.Image: Twitter Read the rest

Tourists in China recorded a video of an unusual-looking fish. A woman can be heard on the video saying "See the fish has become a fairy, it has a human-like face."Image: Live Leak Read the rest

If you have a pulse, you've seen memes starring "Hide the Pain Harold," an older man sitting at a desk, one hand holding a coffee cup, the other on a laptop keyboard. He is smiling, but his eyes tell a different story, one filled with regret, self-doubt, fear, and sadness. The man behind the meme is András Arató (74), a former electrical engineer, who says he is actually a happy person. He wrote an essay for The Guardian about what it is like to become accidentally famous. Wisely, Arató took control of the meme by starting a Facebook fan page and uploading videos and stories to it.That started everything going. People noticed that I had taken ownership of the meme and got in contact to offer me work. I was given a role in a television commercial for a Hungarian car dealer. In one of the adverts, I travelled to Germany to buy a used car and it broke down halfway home; if I had bought the same car through their company, the brand claimed, it wouldn’t have happened. The fee for that commercial changed my wife’s mind about the meme.Now my life has changed dramatically. People ask me to talk about my story, to demonstrate the power of memes. A football website flew me to England to make a video about Manchester City; I got to tour the ground and watch them play a Champions League game. The German mail-order giant Otto flew me out to make commercials for them. Read the rest

Scientists at Oxford and Fudan University in China have developed a way to make fake rhino horns from horse hair. They hope these phony horns will be used to "confuse the trade," and make poaching less lucrative.From BBC:The scientists say the "horn" of a rhino is not like the horn of a cow, but is formed from tufts of tightly packed hair that are glued together by secretions from the animal.And the team of zoologists in Oxford and molecular scientists in Fudan University in Shanghai have developed a way of compressing and moulding horse hair in a way that looks and feels similar even when the "horn" is cut.If credible fakes could be produced cheaply, the scientists say it would cut prices and reduce the incentive for killing the rhinos."It appears from our investigation that it is rather easy as well as cheap to make a bio-inspired horn-like material that mimics the rhino's extravagantly expensive tuft of nose hair," said Prof Fritz Vollrath, from the University of Oxford's Department of Zoology.He said he hoped the technique could be used to "confuse the trade, depress prices and thus support rhino conservation".Image: CC0 Public Domain Read the rest

In making No Country for Old Men, the Coen Brothers were concerned that the implacable, affectless hit-man Anton Chigurh would be too reminiscent of Arnold Schwarzenegger's legendary turn as The Terminator. So they tasked actor Javier Bardem with approaching the role as a murderous eccentric, a performance that would earn a Best Supporting Actor nod at the following year's Oscars. And now, a decade later, the face of Arnold himself, deepfaked into the movie's most famous scene.Voice over by Joe Gaudetctrl shift facePatreon: https://www.patreon.com/ctrl_shift_faceTwitter: https://twitter.com/ctrl_shift_faceYou know, the gas station scene is the most misunderstood scene in modern cinema. Consider this: you're a hitman on the way to a $3m job, you just killed a cop and a bystander, then stole a car, and pulled into a gas station on a stretch of desert road hundreds of miles long. A nosy attendant makes a point of having seen you and where you came from. You, a criminal who does it for a living, would kill him immediately. Not this weirdo:Here's the original: Read the rest

A pickup truck was blocked in by a wall and three cars. Amazingly, the driver was able to maneuver the truck out of the tight spot.Caption this .... from r/ThatsInsane[via r/ThatsInsane] Read the rest

LEGO offers us the opportunity to build Harry Potter's Knight Bus.Generally a wild time for Harry, the triple-level Knight Bus comes with Stan Shunpike, Ernie Prang and Harry minifigs.With Ernie at the wheel, how can things go wrong?LEGO Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban Knight Bus 75957 Building Kit, New 2019 (403 Pieces) via Amazon Read the rest

Donald is throwing Gordon Sondland under the Trump bus.You knew this was inevitable.Remember that time Sondland gave him a million dollars?Speaking to reporters on Friday at the White House, Donald Trump went into denial mode on Gordon Sondland.“I hardly know the gentleman”, said Trump of Gordon Sondland, whom Donald appointed as Ambassador to the European Union, and who donated $1 million to his inauguration.Here's the video.Trump on Sondland: "I hardly know the gentleman." pic.twitter.com/gz7v2DaSoP— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) November 8, 2019And observations from reporters.At least 3 other people Trump did this “I barely knew him” thing to, were convicted of felonies & served time in prison - Papadapolous, Manafort, Cohen. Take note Mr. Sondland (& Rudy). https://t.co/k9mKShxzbc— Mimi Rocah (@Mimirocah1) November 8, 2019Trump on Gordon Sondland: “I hardly knew the gentleman.”!!!— Abby D. Phillip (@abbydphillip) November 8, 2019There it is. @POTUS on Ambassador Gordon Sondland, the political appointee who gave $1 million to Trump’s inaugural committee and whose revised testimony lays out a quid pro quo: “I hardly know the gentleman.”— Willie Geist (@WillieGeist) November 8, 2019According to his closed door testimony, Sondland had the ability to call Trump directly, and he did so multiple times as Amb. to the EU. https://t.co/cS8pwzvStJ— Shelby Holliday (@shelbyholliday) November 8, 2019Alas, poor Sondland, I hardly knew thee.— 𝐎. 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐧 𝐍𝐨𝐛𝐥𝐞 (@TheAlanNoble) November 8, 2019Trump says of his ambassador to the EU, Gordon Sondland: “I hardly know the gentleman.” When he thought Sondland’s testimony would be good for him, he called him a “really good man and great American.”— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) November 8, 2019Gordon Sondland, a major donor and now ambassador to European Union and who spoke to Trump multiple times in recent months. Read the rest

Mary Cain, a champion middle-distance runner, reports that her male coaches' constant demands she get “thinner, and thinner, and thinner” hurt her health and career. The crux of the problem: she joined a program operated by Nike, whose priority is selling shoes, not training athletes.The New York Times:The problem is so widespread it affected the only other female athlete featured in the last Nike video ad Cain appeared in, the figure skater Gracie Gold. When the ad came out in 2014, like Cain, Gold was a prodigy considered talented enough to win a gold medal at the next Olympics. And, like Cain, Gold got caught in a system where she was compelled to become thinner and thinner. She developed disordered eating to the point of imagining her own death.“America loves a good child prodigy story, and business is ready and waiting to exploit that story, especially when it comes to girls,” said Lauren Fleshman, who ran for Nike until 2012. “When you have these kinds of good girls, girls who are good at following directions to the point of excelling, you’ll find a system that’s happy to take them. And it’s rife with abuse.”It's a big warning to young athletes: if Nike comes calling, you're being selected as a mannequin, not a champion. The head coach, Alberto Salazar, would weigh her in front of her teammates and humiliate her if she failed to reach his arbitrary targets.Consider how even after years of constant scandals, this sort of abuse, and this sort of man, still thrive at the place two opposed goals meet. Read the rest

“They shouldn’t be having public hearings,” said acting president of the united states Donald J. Trump today, about a week after he demanded public hearings.Trump today said Democrats should NOT be holding public hearings, which contradicts what he and his Republican toadies were pushing for last week -- they were complaining that the hearings should NOT be done behind closed doors.Okay, Boomer. Whatever.In the same mouth-diarrhea spew today, Trump also said he's thinking of visiting Russia soon for state ceremonies honoring Soviet heroes at May Day. More on that below, from the poor journalists covering this spectacle live in Washington.After weeks of Republicans demanding that Schiff open up the doors and allow the public to see the impeachment proceedings, Trump says this morning: “They shouldn’t be having public hearings.”— Manu Raju (@mkraju) November 8, 2019Trump tells reporters this morning that he’s considering visiting Russia in May. Putin invited him to the May Day parade; Trump is thinking about going— Manu Raju (@mkraju) November 8, 2019Trump says Democrats should not have public hearings, which is odd because I thought the Republicans were pushing for hearings to NOT be done behind closed doors?— Oliver Darcy (@oliverdarcy) November 8, 2019Trump calls people who testified against him “Never Trumpers”; there’s no evidence for this (he seems to be redefining the word to mean anyone who criticizes him). He says nobody has firsthand knowledge here (wrong). He calls the phone call “perfect.”— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) November 8, 2019One rock-solid consistency of Trump is deference to Russia: expressing admiration for Putin, taking his word over that of US intel, delaying Russian sanctions, downplaying Russian aggression, echoing Kremlin talking points. Read the rest

Grab your headphones.Haven't had a chance to read the entire Mueller Report on foreign interference in America's 2016 presidential elections? It matters even more now that the impeachment of Donald Trump is proceeding.Now the report has been adapted to podcast form, by Lawfare, featuring a special group of journalists. Really worth a listen, whether or not you've read any of it.“Here it all is,” tweeted Lawfare Executive Editor Susan Hennessy. “The entire Mueller Report adapted into a podcast narrative, told by the journalists who broke the stories and experts providing legal context.” “15 episodes, 13.5 hours. Give it a listen. It matters now more than ever.” From the show's tease:On April 18th 2019, the Justice Department released the redacted Mueller Report to the public. The 448 page document details a story that has captured America's attention. From Russian plots to interfere in our election to constitutional questions of executive power, the Mueller Report is potentially one of the most important and consequential documents of our time. But there's a problem. Very few people have read it.There is still so much confusion about the Report. What it says, who it implicates, and what it means for our country. At Lawfare, we are distilling the report into a multi part audio narrative series, telling you the story of what is in this document, the story Mueller wants you to understand.Produced by Goat Rodeo for/with Lawfare. They did a great job on the production! Read the rest

No touchie snek.Snek no like Lil Pump.Photos here. They're yucky.Rapper and noted idiot Lil Pump was shooting a music video on Thursday night, with, for no good reason, a live snake. Snakes aren't props. They're living creatures. TMZ (I know, I know) reports that the attack “left him a bloody mess.”From TMZ:The rapper was shooting a music video Thursday night and the crew was handing off a snake to Lil Pump, who was sitting on some sort of stair-like throne. Then, it happened.The snake, out of nowhere, whipped around and sunk its fangs into Pump's left hand. The scary moment was captured by podcast host Adam Grandmaison -- aka Adam22. You can see Pump flail as he extricates himself from the reptile. He then shows off the gnarly injury.LP's left hand is covered in blood. And, if you look closely near the end of the vid ... it appears as if the snake's setting its sights on a second victim.Good news for Lil Pump ... he doesn't seem that hurt, saying, "I just got bit by a snake WTF." He threw in a snake emoji on the caption and a few laughing ones before adding, "I can't f**k [with] no snakes. I hope I don't die."Totally deserved it. Team snek. Read the rest

It's on.The 'Baby Trump' political art protest balloon has followed Trump around the world, mocking him mercilessly. Baby Trump is reportedly headed to the site of this weekend's football game between University of Alabama and Louisiana State University, at which Trump is expected to be booed loudly again.WE DID IT!!! Baby Trump is coming to Tuscaloosa! Thanks for making this endeavor a thing. All extra funds will he donated to the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery. Will update once we have a location. He needs a lot a space seeing as he is a big baby. https://t.co/3Ygh44Aw5r— Ñic Gulas (@Nic_Gulas) November 7, 2019From The Hill:Organizers raised more than $4,000 in about 12 hours on a GoFundMe page to bring the “VIP (very important protestor)” to an area near Bryant-Denny Stadium on the Alabama campus, which is hosting the game that President Trump is expected to attend.Nic Gulas, who organized the effort, told The Hill the fundraiser had already brought in $700 more than the needed funds to transport and set up the “Baby Trump” balloon.As of 11 a.m. the fundraiser had exceeded its goal by $1,045.The fundraiser will remain open until 5 p.m. CST, and all additional funds will be donated to the Equal Justice Initiative, he said.'Baby Trump' balloon heading to LSU-Alabama game [thehill.com]PHOTO: Michael Reeve, 'Trump Baby blimp rises over London’s Parliament Square.' July 13, 2018, CC by-sa/2.0/ Read the rest

An unknown number of mobile phone users in America received weird texts on their phone on Wednesday. Nobody's sure where they came from, but the problem seems to have been that a bunch of texts sent months ago were suddenly delivered months later. In some cases, long after a bad breakup.“Friends who hadn’t talked to each other in months were jolted into chatting. Others briefly panicked,” the AP reports:The best explanation seems to be that old texts sent in the spring suddenly went through. Two people said they figured out the original messages were never received. It’s not clear why this months-long delay happened. Phone companies blamed others and offered no further explanations.Stephanie Bovee, a 28-year-old from Portland, woke up at 5 a.m. to a text from her sister that said just “omg.” She immediately thought something had happened to her newborn nephew at the hospital.She started calling everyone. Her sister and her sister’s husband didn’t answer. She woke up her mom, freaking her out. It was three hours before she learned that everything was fine and the text was an odd anomaly.“Now it’s funny,” she said. “But out of context, it was not cool.”A Sprint spokeswoman told a reporter a “maintenance update” for messaging platforms at multiple U.S. carriers was to blame, and T-Mobile called it a “third party vendor issue.” Verizon and AT&T would not respond to the reporter's questions.People puzzled by peculiar texts, and no one can say why [apnews.com, photo: pexels] Read the rest

Gfycat is a site that people upload GIFs to so they can share them with other people reliably. Used most conspicuously to host memes, clips from other media, and animated porn, it announced Wednesday that it was planning to permanently delete old, anonymously-posted images within days. Archive Team, a web preservation initiative coordinated by Jason Scott, set about archiving the site's soon-to-vanish content. So Gfycat's CEO, Dan McEleney, threatened it with a lawsuit, describing archival of the memes it hosts as a "denial of service attack" and demanding compensation.The fallout is ongoing on Twitter, with users of the site panicking about their old content and the company asking for (and being refused) private negotiations with Internet Archive, which Scott points out is not the same entity as the legally-threatened Archive Team. Read the rest

We all knew that 3D printing was too cool of an innovation to stay out of the hands of the masses for long. Sure, there are makers out there who are willing to save up for a decent SLR printer, but when will we have something that hits the trifecta: Easy to use, affordable and a quality end product?Looks like that leap is happening sooner than we thought. The SparkMaker Original SLA 3D Printer Starter Bundle is on the market, and it definitely lives up to the crowdfunding hype.The SparkMaker guys promised plenty when they raked in over $500,000 in Kickstarter pledges in 2018, and they seem to have delivered. Their starter bundle boasts a max molding size of 3.9" x 2.2" x 0.5" and it makes the most of it. Designs can be rendered in 100µm XY resolution and up to 20µm Z layer thickness with no fuss. In other words, it's packed with some incredible tech that produces amazingly sharp designs. Just press the button and watch as an LED light keeps tabs on your progress.Designs are fed to the SparkMaker via a simple SD card, which means you can print offline. Best of all, the whole package is available for well under the $500 you might expect. Even the UV LCD resins it uses are affordable.The SparkMaker Original SLA 3D Printer Starter Bundle is now available for nearly 25% off the MSRP. Read the rest

Mac Pierce created a simple wearable to challenge facial recognition: do a little munging to an image of a face, print it on heat transfer paper, iron it onto see-through mosquito netting, slice, and affix to a billed cap -- deploy it in the presence of facial recognition cameras and you'll be someone else. It's the kind of "adversarial example" countermeasure that fools computers pretty reliably but wouldn't work on a human. (via JWZ) Read the rest

This Sunday, November 10th, see the wonderful science fiction writers Charlie Jane Anders (previously) and Annalee Newitz (previously) in conversation with Terry Bisson at the always-great SF in SF lecture series; doors open at 6PM at the American Bookbinders Museum (366 Clementina Alley) ($10/$8 students) with a post-show podcast from Somafm, and books on sale from our friends at Borderlands Books. Read the rest

Tech-wise, the modern office employee has never had so much freedom. More and more businesses are kicking away from the desk and getting work done remotely on tablets, laptops, and phones.That's great for the worker. But for management — and especially IT — it can be a real hassle configuring settings, installing security protocols and keeping up with updates.For Apple users, there's an easy fix with Jamf Now. For those out of the loop, Jamf Now is a mobile device management solution that's perfect for businesses of all shapes and sizes. It works specifically with Apple products and can deploy company apps directly onto your team's devices with minimal fuss. After it's installed and settings are tweaked to management specifications, Jamf Now keeps everyone on the same page by automatically taking care of updates and license changes.All of this gets done remotely, taking a ton off the plate of management and the IT team. Need to make a major change or switch out team members? Jamf Now ensures you're still in the driver's seat with the ability to lock devices or set restrictions.It adds up to huge savings in time and money. And with a new deal that allows companies to manage three devices for free, Jamf Now is definitely worth checking out. Read the rest

Billionaire and former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg is expected to designate himself as a Democratic candidate in the 2020 Presidential election, according to The New York Times. Bloomberg, a 77-year-old centrist, "would present a grave and instantaneous threat to former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., who has been struggling to raise money and assemble a ideologically moderate coalition," says the Times.Image: by Bloomberg Philanthropies - https://www.flickr.com/photos/bloombergphilanthropies/29828795984/, CC0, Link Read the rest

Once when I was on a train in Tokyo, I saw a sumo wrestler board and take a seat. He looked like a real life superhero and moved with grace that defied his massiveness. One of the things that made him look otherworldly was his topknot hairstyle. In this video, we meet Kato Akira, who had been the hairdresser for elite sumo wrestlers for over 50 years. He uses both hands and his mouth to tie knots in the wrestlers' hair, and uses a number of beautiful wooden combs.Image: YouTube Read the rest

The Avontuur's cook, Lasse Scharz, is accustomed to making food under less-than-ideal conditions. In this video, the camera is fixed to the ship, so we don't see it rock. Instead we see Scharz comically leaning as plates fly off the counter as if enchanted.[via Neatorama]Image: YouTube Read the rest

The New York Police Department should be commended for keeping 106 pounds of psychoactively inert hemp off the streets, where it might have fallen into the hands of unsuspecting weed smokers simply wanting to get high. Even though the hemp had been tested and certified to contain less than the legal limit of THC and had been legally FedExed with the proper documentation by a licensed hemp grower to New York, the NTPD couldn't resist the thought of a big drug bust to brag about, so they set up a trap and arrested the recipient.After the arrest, the police officers set up an forced perspective photo that made the 106 pounds of innocuous plant material look like it was a major haul.From the NYPD 75th Precinct FaceBook account: "Great job by Day Tour Sector E yesterday. Working with FedEx and other local law enforcement, they were able to confiscate 106 Lbs. of marijuana, and arrest the individual associated with the intended delivery."The man who was arrested in the bust replied in the comments: "These officers tossed out all the legal documents that was in each box. They were emailed by the farm that is registered by the dept of agriculture food and market. They have no clue about the new laws and if that was the case then every corner store and deli should be locked up too. They messed up bad this time."[via Reason] Read the rest

Karen Wang launched a Kickstarter campaign yesterday for custom gaming dice with a modest funding goal of $20,000. Twenty-four hours later she's raised $1.66 million and the number continues to go up. I am especially enamored of the enamel pins she made: Read the rest

I enjoy r/delusionalcraigslist, where people post ads for overpriced crap they found on Craigslist. Here's one where something is hoping to sell 8 bite-size Snickers bars, "including the elusive 'C' and 'K.'" Read the rest

The Chinese government is concerned that children are spending too much time playing computer games, reports The New York Times. It has issued new regulations forbidding young people from playing games after 10pm, and limiting playtime to 90 minutes on weekdays. Spending on in-game merchandise is capped at $28 - $57 a month. To ensure compliance, players must use real names and identification numbers.From the article:Chinese officials said the regulations were meant to combat addiction.“These problems affect the physical and mental health of minors, as well as their normal learning and living,” the National Press and Publication Administration said in a statement that was published by Xinhua, the official news agency.Analysts said the regulations had been largely anticipated by the industry and were unlikely to hurt revenue. Many of the biggest technology companies, including Tencent and Netease, have already imposed limits on younger users.Young gamers are also likely to find ways around the regulations, such as using a parent’s phone and identification number.“There are always going to be loopholes,” said Daniel Ahmad, a senior analyst at Niko Partners, a research and consulting firm. Read the rest

I bought a few of these touch sensor lights years ago to put in closets without lights, and we use them all the time. To turn the light off, you just touch the contacts on the light. They are battery-powered and have an adhesive backing to stick them to walls and under shelves. They cost on Amazon. Read the rest