"Americans have gone from having access to most of the world to being banned from most of it," writes Indi Samarajiva for Medium Politics. "An American passport is now worthless."The world now looks at Americans as unhygienic, arrogant, willfully ignorant, science hating, magical thinking, untrustworthy, selfish rule-breakers.The most reliable projections are saying 200,000 dead and 50 million infected by election day in November. Even these projections struggle to account for completely irrational federal actions like denigrating masks, pushing to reopen early, and pushing students back into schools. This is not the absence of public health, this is its opposite.It is, in effect, governance by COVID-19. Not a failed state. A plague state.Even after election day, Donald Trump will still be in power for nearly 3 months, until January 20th. Besides impeaching a dead-duck President, there’s nothing America can do but wait, while COVID-19 grows ever stronger. Grows completely out of control. In a pandemic, days matter, hours matter. A year is entirely too late.America will be lucky to exit this pandemic with less than a million dead and 100 million infected. The living will be lucky to exit their country within the next five years. Read the rest

New Zealand lifted restrictions on social distancing and public gatherings after reporting no new cases for 2 weeks. They are also keeping their borders closed.How did New Zealand managed to contain the virus, when so many others, most notably the United States, have failed miserably? Pretty simple, they agree to take the necessary precautions to keep the disease from spreading. From the BBC:New Zealand first went into lockdown on 25 March, setting up a new four-stage alert system and going in at level four, where most businesses were shut, schools closed and people told to stay at home.After more than five weeks, it moved to level three in April, allowing takeaway food shops and some non-essential businesses to re-open.As the number of community cases continued to decline, the country moved into level two in mid-May.The move to level one comes ahead of time - the government had originally planned to make the move on 22 June, but it was brought forward after no new cases were reported for 17 days.Image: Devonport, NZ in 2003 by Mark Frauenfelder Read the rest

What could have been a disaster turns out to be a joy ride for this screaming passenger. Found on reddit, it's not clear where or when this took place. Read the rest

The New York Times reports that researchers in Singapore have invented a device that fits in a window and can reduce loud noises from the outside by 10 decibels. “If you sit in the room, you get that same feeling like when you flick on the switch of noise-canceling earphones,” says Bhan Lam, a researcher at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore that developed the Anti-Noise Control Window.Their results were published on Thursday in Scientific Reports. The prototype is not yet the most practical device in real world conditions, but it points the way toward the development of technologies that may help ease the strain of noisy city living.Borrowing from the same technological principles used in noise-canceling headphones, the team expanded the concept to fit an entire room by placing 24 small speakers in a window. The speakers emit sound waves that correspond to the incoming racket and neutralize it — or, at least some of it. Read the rest

The Lincoln project, a political group founded by Republican nevertrumpers, released an ad this weekend that takes a look at Trump's claim that he's a law and order president.Trump’s campaign manager is a felon.His deputy campaign manager is a felon.His national security advisor is a felon.His foreign policy advisor is a felon. His personal lawyer is a felon.His long time advisor is a felon.It’s not a campaign, it’s a criminal enterprise.Image: YouTube Read the rest

There's a reason that the United States has the highest Covid-19 death toll in the world with more than 135,000 coronavirus fatalities so far. And there's a reason that Florida broke the record for highest cases of coronavirus in one day. Just take a look at this video, taken at an anti-mask rally at a restaurant in Windermere, Florida (but of course), and you'll see the broken logic that is behind "freedom" defenders' rights to spread and catch coronavirus. Rather than give up their "freedom" by simply wearing a mask, they'd rather risk losing a bigger freedom by filling hospitals to full capacity (as they did in, er, Florida), shutting down international travel (because other countries are turning Americans away who try to enter), shutting down cities and states with a high coronavirus caseload, and obliterating our economy. With that kind of logic, Americans should be permitted the freedom to drive drunk or race cars on public streets. Read the rest

I had no idea there was such a thing as tactile Rubik's Cubes. Here's Big Wendy, an accomplished Rubik's Cube artist, making a portrait of Rubik's Cube inventor Erno Rubik using 400 tactile cubes while blindfolded. She says, "The actual portrait took me around 7 hours to finish and the prep took around 3." Read the rest

Ghislaine Maxwell, the alleged pimp and procurer for pedophile billionaire Jeffrey Epstein, is being regularly moved to keep her alive, according to The Daily Mail, which also wants you to know she isn't "Cruella De Vil."Maxwell’s allies have told The Mail on Sunday that she:Is not the person who introduced billionaire Epstein to Prince Andrew;Fears dying of Covid-19 while in prison;Insists she and Epstein had not met in person for 15 years;Weeps over friends who have lost jobs because of their association with her;Has not had a haircut in a year and is being moved ‘from cell-to-cell’ for her own safety.The Mail is a notorious fabricator even by the dismal standards of U.K. tabloids, with recent form for misleadingly edited photographs, outright fake news and even falsifying its own historical stories. The point is that it is about the last outlet you'd expect an anonymously-sourced woe-is-her sympathy piece about Ghislaine Maxwell to appear right now. To paraphrase the Bolsheviks, who fucks whom? Read the rest

Even among the many global varieties of alcoholic beverages, tequila comes with an exceedingly complicated history. I mean, it’s not like bourbon spawn articles like 19 People Share The Reason They’ll Never Drink Tequila Again or 11 Reasons Why We Have A Love / Hate Relationship With Tequila.Look, we get it. Tequila and its unmistakable burn is absolutely an acquired taste. But just like other connoisseurs, the men and women who truly get excited at the prospect of top-shelf tequila know their stuff -- and appreciate when it’s offered.If you’re a tequila fan or think you’ve got it in you to become a tequila fan, these CaliFino 100% Ultra Premium Blue Weber Agave Tequila varieties not only give you a window into the wide world of tequila experiences, but they’re all between 10 to 15 percent off right now.Tequila varieties are all classified by how long they’ve been aging in barrels -- and sourced from the highlands of Arandas, Jalisco, Mexico, CaliFino has collected some of the most distinctive tastes and tequila styles anywhere.Blanco is un-aged tequila bottled shortly after distillation -- and CaliFino Blanco ($32.99, 10 percent off) brings all that raw passion to the glass, with a fresh, crisp agave smell and a smooth, full bodied taste accented by hints of vanilla and sweet lime citrus.Meanwhile, Reposado is aged less than a year, which is long enough for CaliFino Reposado ($36, 10 percent off) to pick up traces of the lightly toasted American white oak barrels, offering a taste with deep hints of baked agave and sweet fruits. Read the rest

Police in Allentown, Pennsylvania, were filmed brutalizing a black suspect this weekend. One officer knelt on the man's neck, the same form of "restraint" used to kill George Floyd in May. An investigation is underway, according to Allentown Police Department, which has refused to name the officers involved.GRAPHIC VIDEO: @AllentownPolice held down this man’s face to the pavement and then one of its officers placed their knee on his neck!! This happened yesterday and is exactly what led to #GeorgeFloyd’s death. We need this officer’s name and badge # NOW. #ICantBreathe pic.twitter.com/3qSlKGSgF4— Ben Crump (@AttorneyCrump) July 12, 2020After all that's happened this summer, it isn't just bad tactics, police brutality or racial violence. He's sending a message to all that see it: talk of defunding or reforming us is a joke and my knee is the punchline. Read the rest

Now for something completely different. Listen to Japanese Zen Buddhist monk Yogetsu Akasaka take beatboxing to a whole new place.VICE:The 37-year-old went viral in May, after posting his “Heart Sutra Live Looping Remix,” a video that’s relaxing like ASMR, and engrossing like a DJ set. With the loop machine, he layers sounds and chants all coming from one instrument — his voice.screengrab via Yogetsu Akasaka Read the rest

The Washington Redskins will "retire" its name today, according to a report in Sports Business Daily. Its owners long declared their intention to keep the racist moniker irrespective of criticism, but this summer's widespread unrest over police violence rattled the team's advertisers and sponsors, who in turn liquefied the ground under their feet. The move comes 11 days after stadium naming-rights sponsor FedEx’s public statement asking for a change to the controversial moniker. The new nickname will not be announced immediately because trademark issues are pending, the sources said, but insiders were told today that the “thorough review” announced July 3 has concluded. The team felt it was important to remove any doubts as to the future of the name, one source said.Fans seem to be ready for a switch, with many saying they're eager to become Redtails, in honor of a famous squadron of black WWII fighter pilots.For the #Redskins name change, I am all for the Washington Redtails. Redtails was the nickname given to the Tuskegee Airmen - the first black military aviators. This name would honor black American history & heroism instead of degrading Native Americans. pic.twitter.com/cAiF1XbfZ1— Scott Challeen (@ScottChalleen) July 13, 2020 Read the rest

Meditation seems simple. Just sit on the floor, clear your mind, and zen out. But have you tried sitting cross-legged on the floor without moving for even 10 minutes? It starts getting mighty uncomfortable after a while. And if you’ve got a few years on you, the knees and thighs are going to be barking loudly if you aren’t positioned or your posture is off.Much like your bed is the key to better sleep, the right meditation cushion is the key to a better, more comfortable session of self-reflection and clarity. Walden confidently calls their high-end pillows the best meditation cushions on Earth, created as a way to support each user’s spiritual mind and body journey.More practically, Walden figures if you’re comfortable, you’re much more inclined to make a meditation session part of your daily habit. That’s why their Walden Meditation Cushion is engineered to provide better stability and balance throughout your body while you go deep inside your mind.These cushions aren’t just some dime-store throw pillows either. Walden cushions are made by expert craftspeople in New York City and are constructed with premium state-of-the-art, durable materials for a superior experience.Crafted using gel-infused memory foam as well as organic and hypoallergenic buckwheat hull sourced locally, a Walden cushion helps raise your hips, allowing for a firm, yet comfortable position without detracting from your mental pursuits.Each cushion adapts to your particular body type with a water-resistant, antimicrobial zippered shell covering with easy-to-clean coating to make sure your cushion lasts forever. Read the rest

Unless you’re doing a lot better than most of us these days, having a personal masseuse on call isn’t really financially doable. And of course, how many masseurs are still doing house calls or accepting visitors during all this time of medical uncertainty?With skilled human hands mostly out of play right now, it falls to mechanical help in your own hands to handle bringing soothing relief to aching, tired muscles and joints. Since they debuted 10 to 15 years ago, massage guns pounding deep tissue pain into submission have become almost standard issue equipment to quell inflammation. But unless you’re one of those Rockefellers we talked about earlier, you probably aren’t ponying up for the Cadillac of massage guns, the $700 Theragun.Not to worry. We found deals on 10 massage guns that will help quiet aching body parts — and won’t even cost you half of the Theragun’s price.Handheld Massage Gun for Deep Tissue Percussion - $74.99; originally $88.88If you need a post-workout recovery, this handheld unit should be able to help, digging deep into strained muscles to find deep relaxation. With five replaceable heads to target specific body areas, this gun is also cordless with up to three hours of battery life on a single charge.Aduro Sport Elite Recovery Massage Gun - $79.99; originally $199.99With six intensity levels to adjust massage pressure, this unit with an ultra-quiet motor is ready to attack different muscle groups with just the right amount of power and pressure. Read the rest

With the cancelation of live events for the foreseeable future, the rave community has been facing serious withdrawals. No hypnotizing light shows to get lost in, no desert playground to run around in, and no trading kandi with strangers.In an attempt to comfort the EDM community, famous event organizer Insomniac, whose festivals include the Electric Daisy Carnival, has been hosting virtual raves.But, it may have done little to soothe a raver's EDM heart.Ravers aching to get back into the scene pulled up to Insomniac and Restless Beats' “Park ‘N Rave” event at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports in Chandler, Arizona on June 26 and 27.In a way, this socially distanced version of raving seems more luxurious than it is traditionally. One guest described her experience on edmmaniac.com saying,“Our personal dance floor was ample space for us to set up our viewing station. We were allowed to bring our own lawn chairs, blow up couches, air beds, and beer pong tables. As a grandma raver, being able to chill from time to time between sets without leaving my group or having to walk away from the stage was awesome. Guests were also encouraged to bring decorations, so many personalized their space with tapestries, flowers, Christmas lights, totems, and flags that made it feel like a camping festival. There was so much space for flow arts! I saw so many hoopers, levi wanders, glovers, and staffers doing their thing without being afraid to run into people!Being able to bring our own food and alcohol was a real game changer! Read the rest

An instantly infamous gun-toting St. Louis couple, filmed menacing protestors passing by their mansion, are already well-known for bizarre and threatening shenanigans by locals. Jeremy Koher reports that they likewise threatened one of their neighbors with guns, are relentless litigators, and were accused of trying to use HOA rules to get a gay couple kicked out of the neighborhood. The man reportedly sued his own dying father. In an ongoing suit against Portland Place trustees in 2017, the McCloskeys say they are entitled to a 1,143-square-foot triangle of lawn in front of property that is set aside as common ground in the neighborhood’s indenture. It was that patch of green protesters saw when they filed through the gate. Mark McCloskey said in an affidavit that he has defended the patch before by pointing a gun at a neighbor who had tried to cut through it. ...One of the rules prohibited unmarried people from living together. Several neighbors said it was because the McCloskeys didn’t want gay couples living on the block. The trustees voted to impeach Patricia McCloskey as a trustee in 1992 when she fought an effort to change the trust indenture, accusing her of being anti-gay.Their own lawyer, Albert Watkins, became part of the story when reporters noticed his website bio boasted that a client's accuser committed suicide after Watkins was done with her.Addendum: I never expected this tweet to take off so much, but the attention to the site appears to have led him to remove the last line of the fourth paragraph: “The woman committed suicide thereafter.” Read the rest

"Go home. Go home," says marathoner and running vlogger Kofuzi, trying to shake off an unfamiliar farm dog who wants to join in on his daily run in Dyersville, Iowa. "Go, go on! I'm going to be on a busy road later, you can't go. Come on." He continues to argue with the dog, but his conversation falls flat as the frisky pup keeps following him. He says his new running buddy kept up with him for 2 1/2 miles out of his 11.46-mile run, and after all his efforts trying to ditch the dog, admits that he was a little sad once the dog stopped following him. Read the rest

This video and website from Una Kravets presents ten website layouts that use just one line of CSS. Beautiful and amazing! Read the rest

Ronald Reagan spoke often of America as a shining city on a hill: a prosperous, free, and virtuous model for the nations of the world. Is Trump's Republican Party living up to that vision of our potential? Read the rest

In May, Harbor Freight recalled certain Pittsburgh-branded jack stands due to a defect in the ratchet that could lead to them collapsing under load. Unfortunately, some of the newer models have a welding defect, and are also being recalled. There is full list of the affected models.The text of the recall is embedded below. Read the rest

Japan Today reports that 42-year-old Japanese rapper Kan a.k.a. GAMI (real name: Kunihiko Kawakami) was arrested for possessing a half gram of cannabis. Police say informant contacted authorities to let them know Kawakami was in possession of the cannabis.This is the second time this year Kawakami has been arrested this year for possessing weed. He could be facing prison time, because Japan has some of the strictest drug laws in the world. According to Vice magazine, "Under Japan’s Cannabis Control Act, weed possession can lead to up to five years in jail, or seven if there’s a suspected intent to profit, and a potential fine of up to $18,000." If that seems bad, consider the penalty for weed possession in Dubai: "Keith Brown, a British youth worker and father of three, was sentenced to four years in jail in 2008 after he was found with 0.0003 grams of cannabis stuck to his shoe in the Dubai airport. The weed was the size of a grain of sugar."How much is half a gram? I took the above photo of a half gram of dried oregano next to a quarter. Read the rest

Of COURSE one of the first people to understand the power of HyperCard was @kevin2kelly! Now I want to find a copy of the Electronic Whole Earth Catalog and spend a day browsing around. pic.twitter.com/FMYZ4aA6NN— Drew Coffman (@DrewCoffman) May 26, 2020Wired co-founder Kevin Kelly's first job was at the Whole Earth Catalog. Here's a video from the 1980s that shows Kevin describing the HyperCard version of the Whole Earth Catalog. (Try it here!)I feel fortunate to have worked with and become a friend of Kevin's. We've known each other since the late 80s when we traded subscriptions for bOING bOING (when it was a zine), and the Whole Earth Review, which he edited. About 20 years ago Kevin started Cool Tools, which is an outgrowth of the Whole Earth Catalog and for the last six or seven years, I've been Kevin's business partner there. The Electronic Whole Earth Catalog is a bridge between the print version of the Catalog and Cool Tools. Also, I miss HyperCard. I wish it was still around and that it was the way to make websites. Read the rest

Like a trailer to a psychological thriller along the lines of Francis Ford Coppola’s The Conversation, in which a wire-tapping detective played by Gene Hackman struggles with mounting paranoia until he has a full-on break down, this Lincoln Project video goes beyond your usual anti-Trump ad. This one isn't for the Republicans against Trump, and it's not for waffling Independents. It's only for an audience of one -- Trump himself. Meant to goad, it's sure to exacerbate his already spiraling affliction with delusions and paranoia. Read the rest

Thank the maker for this Nylabone pacifier and teething ring! View this post on Instagram Watch as the adorable @electra___cute chews. #puppyA post shared by Jason Weisberger (@jlw) on Jul 3, 2020 at 12:00pm PDT We have an insanely cute new puppy, her name is Electra. You may follow her on Instagram @Electra___Cute. She is teething and, I understand Golden Retrievers chew a lot anyways. Bitter Apple and an endless supply of chew toys have been employed. The most popular is the Nylabone pacifier.I have recently renovated a shotgun shack. The puppy is the piece de resistance for my new life. I had forgotten and/or ignored the challenges of new puppy ownership. Electra seems to want to chew the corners of the new cabinets, the edging on the new rugs, and literally anything else she can get into her mouth. My daughter and I take shifts keeping wires, chair legs, and patio umbrellas out of Electra's mouth.Most toys get picked up and dropped, the endless energy of a young puppy moves on to find something else. While she has occasionally stopped to gnaw on a Kong or pair of sandals, jamming the Nylabone pacifier in her mouth usually gets a few moments of peace. Occasionally she settles down with it and chews until she falls to sleep.Right now time and this pacifier are the only hope for my furniture.Nylabone Just for Puppies Extra Small Pacifier Bone Puppy Dog Teething Chew Toy via Amazon Read the rest

A statue of famed abolitionist Frederick Douglass in Rochester's Maplewood Park was vandalized on the anniversary of the "What to a slave is the Fourth of July?" speech that he gave in Rochester in 1852.Given the current cultural conversation that the United States is having around statues and memorials that commemorate people who did terrible things alongside their other accomplishments, this unfortunate act is being held up as some kind of monolithic indicator of the eeeeeeevils of "cancel culture" and whiny liberals who want to get rid of statues. Consider these tweets from Yascha Mounk, a contributing editor for The Atlantic and Senior Advisor for Protect Democracy:"Removed" is quite the euphemism here, by the way. As best I can tell from this terrible news report, it has been smashed to pieces. https://t.co/qMgUwazdRl— Yascha Mounk (@Yascha_Mounk) July 6, 2020As of this writing, it's not clear who destroyed this statue — one of fourteen Douglass statues in Rochester, where Douglass lived and was buried. In 2018, two drunk college kids also destroyed a Frederick Douglass statue in the city. Eyewitnesses claimed the students were shouting racial slurs, but the vandals themselves insist they were just drunk and did it for the lulz. They pled guilty, and had to participate in a restorative justice program to learn more about Douglass and his contributions to the world.In other words, even that situation wasn't an indicator of anything other than the seeping subtleties that empower entitled white dudes to do dumb shit and get away with it. Read the rest

Video editor Matt Dent posted this video to Twitter showing the LA skyline on July 4th, fireworks ablaze, to the tune of Vangelis' 1982 Blade Runner soundtrack. The footage was from KTLA.More LA as real-world Blade Runner. [H/t Laurie Fox] Read the rest

Within an hour after a Martinez, California community came together to paint -- with the city's permission -- Black Lives Matter on the street, a hateful MAGA man (oops, that's redundant) and Karen sidekick begins to cover it in black paint.People are shouting at the couple to stop what they're doing, to which the red-capped man says, among other things, “We’re sick of this narrative...The narrative of police brutality, the narrative of oppression, the narrative of racism. It’s a lie. It’s a lie.”“Your ancestors aren’t from here,” Karen says. As if hers are.After much back and forth, and after the B and L are painted over, a woman grabs the paint away. Now the Martinez police are looking for the vandals.From The New York Times:“The community spent a considerable amount of time putting the mural together only to have it painted over in a hateful and senseless manner,” Chief Manjit Sappal of the Martinez Police Department said in a statement. “The city of Martinez values tolerance, and the damage to the mural was divisive and hurtful.”The mural was painted on a one-block stretch of Court Street in Martinez, which is about 35 miles northeast of San Francisco. The city selected the location after Mr. Gomez, the lead organizer for Martizians for Black Lives, asked the city for permission to paint the message, he said.“We asked to do it on our city’s main street,” Mr. Gomez said. The city, he said, offered the street in front of the Wakefield Taylor Courthouse instead. Read the rest

I'm looking forward to playing Hideous Abomination [Kickstarter], because it combines two of my favorite things: games where you build something piece by piece out of cards or tiles, and grotesque cartoon creatures that defy the imagination.Hideous Abomination is a tile-laying game for 2-5 people, aged 12+ (but with simplified rules for younger players), generally running about 15-30 minutes. You’re in fierce competition with the other players to construct and complete an abomination that matches certain criteria - some of which are randomized per game! You’ll take turns rolling the die and playing, stealing and bolting tiles. There's plenty of player interaction and end-game scoring. It's fast-paced fun for social gamers, but the randomized win conditions and variables mean it's deep enough for more strategically-minded gamers, tooHere's how it's played:The creator, Judson Cowan (previously at Boing Boing) is responsible for the gameplay, the artwork, the milieux, the song in the ad, the everything, which is why it already has such a coherent and finished look to it and why I have no doubt it'll ship promptly. Hideous Abomination [Kickstarter] Read the rest

At this point, Pizza Hut had just begun franchising out from their original Wichita, Kansas location. But this commercial was created for that OG red roofed joint. Put put! Read the rest

Samara Ginsberg performs Sylvester Levay's Airwolf theme tune — originally intended for orchestral presentation but now a synth classic — on eight cellos. Stringfellow would be so proud!Bonus: Ginsberg's done Bernard Hoffer's Thundercats theme too:Previously: Knight Rider theme performed on eight cellos Read the rest

From New Scientist:As the caterpillar of the moth Uraba lugens grows, it sheds its exoskeleton – but rather than getting rid of the previous head section, it stays attached to its body to create a bizarre “hat”.This has earned it the nickname the mad hatterpillar, after the Mad Hatter in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll.[…]U. lugens moults up to 13 times while in its caterpillar phase, with the tower of heads starting to be built from the fourth moult. As the caterpillar grows, each empty head is bigger than the last.The headpiece isn’t just for show, however. “The function is to protect them from predators – they use it to bat predators away,” says photographer Alan Henderson of Minibeast Wildlife, an invertebrate resource centre based in Queensland, Australia.I know butterflies are the aspirational metaphor for most caterpillars, but maybe more of us should aspire to remain in our larval forms as long as we can wear our 13 empty old heads as hats. It's even more fashionable than those fancy butterfly wings!Weird caterpillar uses its old heads to make an elaborate hat [Gigi Li / New Scientist] Read the rest

Italian composer Ennio Morricone is dead at 91.Morricone acquired fame scoring Westerns but transcended genre to become one of the world's masters of the form. "His music was always outstanding," writes Hans Zimmer, "and done with great emotional fortitude and great intellectual thought."His 1960s scores for Sergio Leone, backing a moody Clint Eastwood in the Dollars trilogy, were huge successes and came to define him: with their whistling melodies, and blend of symphonic elements with gunshots and guitars, they evoke the entire western genre. “The music is indispensable, because my films could practically be silent movies, the dialogue counts for relatively little, and so the music underlines actions and feelings more than the dialogue,” Leone has said. Morricone has said his own best work was for Leone’s 1984 film Once Upon a Time in America. Read the rest

Americanism has a weird obsession with vague notions of "law and order." At its core, there's nothing unique about a society whose existence depends on a collective respect for its own internal rule system — indeed, that's basically just a society. But those who buy the narrative of Good Ol' American Jingoism love to toss around their platitudes about being a "nation of laws," without giving much thought to what that actually means, or who is served by that law and order. Whatever the status quo they got used to, that's the way things have always been, and thus, it is right.Consider the US Department of Justice. I've never even given much thought to its founding; I hadn't thought much about the origins of police departments growing out of slave patrols until it was explicitly brought to my attention either.But Smithsonian Magazine has a great new piece about the origins of the DoJ, which began on July 1, 1870 — exactly 150 years ago this month. And it turns out, it's a direct extension of Reconstruction-era struggles, and was created specifically to enforce racial equality by fighting voter suppression and the KKK:In 1870, the United States was still working to bind up the nation’s wounds torn open by the Civil War. During this period of Reconstruction, the federal government committed itself to guaranteeing full citizenship rights to all Americans, regardless of race. At the forefront of that effort was [Amos T.] Akerman, a former Democrat and enslaver from Georgia, and a former officer in the Confederate Army. Read the rest

As the summer surges forward, grilling and evenings in the backyard may be the only serious outdoor excursions many of us take this season. Yet even with all of our current problems, there’s one group who doesn’t care a bit about COVID-19 and will still look to make any trip you make outside into an uncomfortable disaster. Mosquitoes. You hate ‘em. I hate ‘em. We all hate ‘em. The Centers for Disease Control calls them the world’s deadliest animal. And even though there may be some unknown environmental impacts, scientists say a mosquito genocide might not be a horrible thing for the planet.You can help get that mass extermination started right in your yard with the Kinkoo Moskiller Mosquito Killer Lamp.Rather than slathering yourself in mosquito repellant, the Moskiller takes an innovative approach to eliminating pesky, disease-carrying mosquitoes without the use of chemicals and other harmful substances.Rather than depend on just one trick, the Moskiller actually employs four different technologies to thin out your backyard mosquito horde. The unit emits 360-degree wrap-around UV light waves and bionic temperatures that attract mosquitos from a wide range of over 200 square feet. Once they get close, a seven-leaf fan creates a strong peripheral vortex airflow that essentially sucks its prey right into the Moskiller’s anti-escape storage box. There, a physical air-drying method puts the final zap on mosquitoes, dehydrating them and killing ‘em dead. Meanwhile, the Moskiller handles its responsibilities in virtual silence, so you can also keep it running while you work or sleep. Read the rest

In "Seduction Of The Innocent," the inimitable Sid Davis tells the harrowing tale of Jeanette, who falls in with the bad crowd and through peer pressure gets into marijuana, pills, and ultimately sells her body for heroin.Sid's most famous film is "Boys Beware," the anti-gay scare film made the same year, also with the help of the Santa Monica Police and the same deadpan narrator.Voa A/V Geeks Read the rest

Oakland Symphony was forced to cancel its season but they've continued to rehearse through Zoom. In lieu of its regular in-person concert, they performed their version of "This Land is Your Land" and posted it on YouTube. Its conductor, Michael Morgan, says of the song choice, "It's often misinterpreted as just another patriotic ditty. The reputation of its composer, Woody Guthrie, is smoothed over and sanitized. But the fact is, it was written in 1940 when many patriotic songs seemed to either exclude or present a very narrow vision of what it was to be American. 'This Land is Your Land' comes out of the bedrock of the social justice movement. It was an anthem of inclusion when inclusion was not mainstream. This song is radical. Woody Guthrie was a socialist, if not a communist, and his song is for everybody..."Yes, he's talking about the same Woody Guthrie who had a sticker on his guitar that read, "THIS MACHINE KILLS FASCISTS":screengrab via Oakland Symphony/YouTube; image via United States Library of Congress/Wikipedia Read the rest

With all due respect to our vegetarian friends, there might be nothing more intrinsically linked to the 4th of July holiday than a big ole cookout. Sure, fireworks and celebrating the birth of a constitutional republic are great too, but showing off your cooking prowess with a brilliantly seared, mouth-watering slab of grade-A American beef is the true measure of a peak summer holiday.Of course, cooking perfection doesn’t happen without the right tools — and right now, a July 4th sale is shaving hundreds off the price of one of the hottest steak grills on the market today, the Otto Lite 1,500°F Professional Steak Grill.Otto’s Steak Grill won the prestigious German Design Award in 2018 for its outstanding product design by doing one thing exceptionally well: delivering prime cooking conditions for steak quickly and easily.The real secret to the stainless steel Otto Lite isn’t really a secret at all: it’s this unit’s extreme heat. Unlike most barbeques that aren’t capable of hitting the extreme temperatures needed, the Otto Lite fires up to an insanely hot 1,500°F in just three minutes.With the Otto Lite’s blistering, radiant heat distribution technology, you can sear a steak quickly to give it a delicious, flavor-sealing crust while your meat remains tender on the inside. That means depending on the size of your cut, you can go from sparking the grill to finished, plated meals in less than 10 minutes.The Otto Lite also brings some versatility with its game, featuring six slide-in slots allowing safe height adjustment of the grate; as well as two simultaneously controlled radiant infra-red burners so you can dial in the ideal temperature for your meat. Read the rest

screenshot.rocks fits any image you upload into a web browser-style frame and gives you a new image of the composite. It's perfect for turning photoshopped web design ideas into mockups so people know what they might look like in real life. Or simply as a cute frame for your favorite images, for sharing on the internet. Read the rest

LEGO is jumping on the mosaic art craze with the LEGO Art poster series, out this fall. Sets will include Andy Warhol portraits of Marilyn Monroe, The Beatles, Iron Man, and a Star Wars series of Sith Lords.The sets also come with collector's style booklets, and some include music options for listening while assembling.Via Brothers Brick:LEGO hopes that LEGO Art will be “a new canvas for creative expression” that allows adults to relax and give them a chance to create and display art based on their passions. The structure of each portrait is comprised of 9 new 16 x 16 stud mosaic plates which can be connected to each other with Technic pins to form the larger portrait. Each set comes with two new Technic wall-hanging elements as well as a new black separator specially crafted to assist in quickly reassembling mosaics into alternate versions.The pieces will come pre-sorted by color, and the instructions will feature a “color by numbers” grid for assembling each mosaic plate. Each set comes with a unique printed 2×4 signature tile and additional black pieces to build a frame around the final portrait.Image: YouTube / Lego Quick Review Read the rest

In a video posted to Tiktok, a shopper asserts her constitutional right not to wear a mask in Costco, then her constitutional right to plant her rear on the floor. @keeping.up.with.kris Karen at Costco #karen #costco #YouGotIt #nomasknoservice #nomask #dumptrump #covid19 ♬ original sound - keeping.up.with.kris Read the rest

In this sobering video made for the Movement For Black Lives, Hamilton actor Daveed Diggs asks that we look at what Independence Day really means for Black people right now. It was inspired by Frederick Douglass’ 1852 speech "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?" and was written by Safia Elhillo, Danez Smith, Lauren Whitehead, W. Kamau Bell, Angel Nafis, Idris Goodwin, Pharoahe Monch, Camonghne Felix, and Nate Marshall.What, to my people, is the Fourth of July? My people, who are failed every day by every country, sleepless in the long night, terrorized by fireworks, we who have cried salt baths for our kin.Look at all we have borne for you: arms, armistice, the sweetest fruits, flesh of children hidden away from the ugly summer of their own blood — we are on the front lines. Help me, tell me, what do we tell the children of your Fourth of July? What is death to a daughter? What is river to a sea? Where is the country where my people are safe?Ancestors set the table send dream mares in high supply. Too heavy, too spent, too hot to cook, no promise beyond the sparkly simple bombs. Keep your holiday, your hunger, the blood in your teeth. Police parade down streets, proud descendants of the slave patrol. Theater of denial, a propaganda pageant, and we are on the front lines all summer. My uncle can’t sleep and he was born free. And he ain’t never been. Read the rest

When you sit down to play a new AAA video game like The Last of Us 2, you probably assume it was created by gaming experts with insane levels of artistic and technical talent. And...you’d be right. Top developers are craftsmen of the highest order, pouring literally thousands of man-hours into creating the greatest gaming experiences possible.But even if you haven’t been coding and manipulating game engines since your middle school years, it’s still within your grasp to create a thrilling video game of your own all by yourself. In fact, the tools of game creation have become so democratized that anyone can teach themselves how to craft a really cool game without any formal coding knowledge. GameGuru was created specifically for those who aren’t programmers, designers, and artists and still want to put together a really awesome game. With the training and assets in The Complete GameGuru Bundle, that process gets a whole lot easier.GameGuru has developed an entire system for allowing anyone to try their hand at video game design. Starting out with the GameGuru: Game Making for Everyone course, invested learners will get a complete starter’s guide to DIY video game development. Using the GameGuru tools, you’ll learn how to build your own game world and design male, female and other fun characters and creatures, each with their own unique looks and movements. You’ll learn just how simple it is to find any item you want in the GameGuru asset library — and just click and drag it into your game. Read the rest

“This flight was a dream come true for me. For six years I’ve been chasing the out-and-back world record, and this year, all the pieces of the puzzle finally came together beautifully.” — Owen Morse, hang glider pilot

I'm a little late to the party as I've just discovered the fantastic world of YouTuber Pickitup's ska covers! K.K. Slider himself would be impressed by his ska-jazz cover of the Animal Crossing: New Horizons theme. Now, if that's not your thing, Pickitup's got a huge catalog of other ska/[insert music genre here] covers on his channel Ska Tune Network that are sure to delight. From his Patreon:I have been given this gift and love for music, and i've chosen to do the most important thing I can possibly think of with it, and that's to create ska covers of various songs. This entire journey began on christmas of 2016, when I jokingly posted on facebook saying I should make a bad ska cover of a christmas song, and everyone encouraged me to actually do it, so I did it and people loved it, so since then I've been using my resourses to record myself playing guitar, bass, trumpet, trombone, saxophone, keyboard, and sometimes unconventional instruments like viola, ukulele, euphonium, and honestly anything I can get my hands on to create covers of songs I find interesting or songs other people tell me I should do! Here's another fun one: A ska-punk one of Billie Eilish's "Bad Guy."screengrab via Ska Tune Network Read the rest

Shannon LaNier is a television reporter, actor, author, and a direct descendant of Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States. He's also a Black man — the sixth great-grandson of Jefferson and Sally Hemings, an enslaved woman who had six children with the Founding Father. Dressed in period clothing, LaNier recently stepped in front of the camera of Drew Gardner, a photographer who painstakingly re-creates portraits of historical figures with their direct descendants. His ongoing Descendants project is a commission by the Smithsonian.Shannon LaNier chose not to wear a wig while posing as his great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather. “I didn’t want to become Jefferson,” says LaNier, who has gone to reunions at Monticello and co-authored the book Jefferson’s Children: The Story of One American Family. “My ancestor had his dreams—and now it’s up to all of us living in America today to make sure no one is excluded from the promise of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” LaNier also had this to say about his famous relative:“He was a brilliant man who preached equality, but he didn’t practice it. He owned people. And now I’m here because of it.” Watch the behind-the-scenes video of this portrait being made. (Smithsonian Magazine)screengrabs via Smithsonian/Drew GardnerThanks, Isabel! Read the rest

Photographer Drew Gardner created a photo series depicting descendants of historical figures, each posed as their ancestors. Isambard Kingdom Brunel, Napoleon Bonaparte, Charles Dickens... It's surprising how uncanny the resemblances often are. But none are so fascinating as his portrait of Shannon LaNier, the great^6-grandson of Thomas Jefferson.The recreation was based on the famous portrait of Jefferson by American painter Rembrandt Peale, and Gardner shot his portrait using a Fujifilm GFX 50S and a Zeiss Otus 85mm f/1.4 lens. LaNier, a black man who descended from Jefferson and his slave Sally Hemings, tells Smithsonian that he has complex feelings about being a Jefferson descendant, and he chose to not wear a wig to more faithfully recreate his great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather’s portrait.“He was a brilliant man who preached equality, but he didn’t practice it,” LaNier tells the magazine. “He owned people. And now I’m here because of it.”The series was commissioned by the Smithsonian; click through for a making-of video. Read the rest

Earlier this year, we learned that Python had finally accomplished a feat other programming languages had failed for decades, to surpass Java as the second most-used coding language in the world. For its versatility and ease of use alone, its ascent among programmers isn’t hugely surprising. Then when you factor in its key role in emerging technologies like artificial intelligence and machine learning, the question becomes how soon until it knocks off JavaScript to become no. 1?Either way, Python mastery is a significant talent worthy of any web creator’s skill set — and The Complete Python eBook and Video Course Bundle can offer that learning impactfully and at your own pace.This collection comes with five videos and five ebooks, each exploring different facets of Python and its application across some of the fastest-growing tech job sectors anywhere. Python’s explosive rise goes hand in hand with the emergence of data science and data analytics, mining key findings from large data sets. Each video, all between two and four hours in length, bring users through various Python uses, starting with Learning Python for Data Science, as users learn data analysis, manipulation, and visualization using the Pandas library, then create statistical plots using Matplotlib and Seaborn to find all insightful patterns hidden in the data.From there, the other video courses dig into other major Python uses, from how to build neural networks using deep learning techniques in PyTorch (Deep Learning with PyTorch) to a full understanding of artificial intelligence (Advanced Artificial Intelligence Projects with Python) to using the scikit-learn library to design and build model pipelines to make machines actually think for themselves (Hands-On Machine Learning with Python & Scikit-Learn). Read the rest

Several weeks ago, I put out a call in my weekly maker tips newsletter, Tips, Tools, and Shop Tales. A friend who works in a shared workshop was being called back to the job and he was curious to know what sorts of safety guidelines other shared shops were implementing. So, I asked my readers.One respondent, Jeff Powers, works in a architectural modeling shop in London. He submitted this list of their COVID-era shop practices. I thought it was useful enough to also share here on Boing Boing.***We are an architectural workshop/model shop in London and have a similar issue. We luckily have multiple workshop spaces (2 workshops, separate computer areas, a 3D print room, and CNC room). While some of the solutions are specific to our situation, hopefully some of them can help others.1. Realisation by the team that the workshop is always an inherently risky place, and we should be used to taking precautions when we work anyway. From cleanliness, safe operation, and use of PPE, these habits just become slightly modified for COVID. Taking care and extra time before beginning a task and after it ends – to assess risk, cleanliness etc – is all the more important now, but should not significantly change any workflows. Safe operation is especially important during these times, you never want to go to the hospital with a workshop injury, but especially during these times, extra care should be observed so we don’t put any more unnecessary strain on the health care system. Read the rest

Mr Beast, creator of Finger on the App, a game in which players vie to be the last one to keep their finger on their smartphone screen (and occasionally move it to a new spot indicated by the app, to prevent cheating) announced that he is ending the competition with four players remaining.He tweeted:Dear the four remaining contestants with your finger still on the app, I’m ending it here. Three days is insane! You ALL win and will ALL receive $20,000! CONGRATULATIONS!Dear the four remaining contestants with your finger still on the app, I’m ending it here. Three days is insane! You ALL win and will ALL receive $20,0000! CONGRATULATIONS!— MrBeast (@MrBeastYT) July 3, 2020GO TO SLEEP!— MrBeast (@MrBeastYT) July 3, 2020 Read the rest

A man tried to hitch a ride on a jet by hiding in one of the engines. It's a good thing he was caught before the pilot started it up.Image: YouTube Read the rest