One night in September 2018 the food delivery service Deliveroo went haywire. It sent some customers the same food order several times, and other customers got nothing. In this video, Tom Scott explains that this was a classic example of the "Two Generals" problem, and how Deliveroo's "Night of the Multiple Orders" could have been mitigated -- by using something called an "idempotency token," which allows a transaction to only happen once.Image: YouTube/Tom Scott Read the rest

Joe Navarro is a body language expert and a former FBI agent. In this Wired video, he explains the body language and facial expressions of mobsters like Bugsy Siegel, Mickey Cohen, and John Dillinger.See also: A former FBI spy catcher shows how to read body languageImage: YouTube/Wired Read the rest

New biohacking from the Four Thieves Vinegar Collective (previously): the Pegleg, a stripped-down Piratebox (previously) based on a Raspberry Pi 0 with needless components removed and an extra wifi card soldered on.The whole thing is coated in an implant-safe material and sewn under your skin, where it can be powered by an external battery that uses an induction coil to transmit power to it.Like a regular Piratebox, the Pegleg is a meshing file-server that you fill with any files you want to share or keep, and which can be fetched from nearby wifi-enabled devices.Unlike the Piratebox, the Pegleg can't be (easily) confiscated at a border crossing or other checkpoint, and the Constitutionality of compelling disclosure of keys or logins is more complex and muddled (possibly to the benefit of the bearer) than with other devices.The device measures 2.56" x 1.18" x 0.196" and has so little metal that it hasn't set off airport metal detectors in field tests. The first Pegleg was implanted in Lepht Anonym, and at least two other people have been implanted since. The creators liken it to Johnny Mnemonic's implant in the William Gibson story and film of the same name, and speculate that it could be used to transport data that the bearer couldn't decrypt. Esha Bhandari, a staff attorney with the ACLU Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project, says a device like the Pegleg raises concerns similar to those surrounding implanted Internet-connected devices, such as a “smart” pacemaker. Read the rest

Stephen Wolfram's podcast features a 90-minute lecture that he delivered at the 2019 Wolfram Summer School (MP3), recapitulating the history of mathematics from prehistory to the present day.This is a fascinating lecture, and it also epitomizes Wolfram in that it is a magnificent feat that would have benefited immensely from editorial reflection. Wolfram announces that's he's giving the lecture off the top of his head, and as far as that goes, it's incredibly impressive. And yet...it makes you wonder, if he had actually prepared a detailed crib or even written the speech out, how much more fluid would it have been? Would the transitions be smoother? Would he spend less time fumbling for names or dates, or backtracking?It's basically a spoken-word illustration of the problems with his incredible (and incredibly difficult) book A New Kind of Science which was literally too large to read without a special stand, and which was both brilliant and rambling and unstructured, and would have benefited immensely from a hard edit.(Thanks, Swede!) Read the rest

Behold the AmazonBasics Alexa-Equipped Microwave, a $40 item whose low price is belied by the fact everything you say to it is held in contingent perpetuity in an Amazon datacenter. [via]AmazonBasics Microwave simplifies cooking by letting you microwave using your voice and an Echo device. Just say, “Alexa, reheat one cup of coffee,” and Alexa will start reheating with the appropriate power and time settings. Quick-cook presets mean there’s no need to guess cook times or heat levels when you’re defrosting vegetables or microwaving a potato. Plus, Alexa is always getting smarter and adding new presets.If you want a cheap 700w mini-microwave from Amazon, this retro Daewoo model is adorable. Read the rest

Some folks can sleep anywhere. Others, while traveling, need the comfort of a pillow brought with them from home in order get a bit of shut eye. For the privileged handful that have journeyed into space, taking a snooze is, well, like nothing else on earth.In this video, former NASA astronaut Mike Massimino provides some insider insight on what it takes to catch a few Z's in zero-gravity. Read the rest

"Killing in the Name" has never been played quite like this! Thanks to Rockin'1000, a thousand musicians from around the globe gathered at the Commerzbank-Arena in Frankfurt, Germany to play Rage Against the Machine's 1991 hit song together. In some ways, it's a hot, loud mess. In others, it's a beautiful, beautiful thing. Judge for yourself (or not, you don't have to do what I tell you).Rockin'1000 previously on Boing Boing Read the rest

The 1980s were a pretty sweet time to be a lower-middle class kid in Ontario. Marineland (which I now know was a terrible place for the whales, dolphin and deer they held captive there) and African Lion Safari were only a few hours away, for most of us. Canada's Wonderland, our first major theme park, opened its gates in 1981 and there were miniature golf courses, freaking everywhere. Not a one of them held my Star Wars-focused attention like Tour of the Universe did.Housed in the basement of the CN Tower, Tour of the Universe was a space flight simulation ride set in the far-flung year of 2019. Upon entering Spaceport Toronto, passengers would be issued a round-trip ticket to Jupiter before passing through security, intergalactic customs and being subjected to a medical—inoculation against the Ganymede Rash and Alien Dropsy were a must. Upon entering your shuttle to Jupiter and strapping in, you'd be subjected to a quick, immersive space adventure: the 'trip' took place on a large screen inside of the cabin built out of the bones of a 747 flight simulator that was moved around on hydraulics in time to the action on the forward display. It was the first ride of its kind, anywhere in the world. American kids would have to wait a number of years for a similar experience when Disneyland picked it up and retooled it as Star Tour.Image via YouTube Read the rest

I wrote earlier this year about Lorem Picsum, a site that provides random placeholder images for use in design projects in the spirit of Lorem Ipsum, the classic jumbled-up latin passage used likewise for text. It's taken off. Creator David Marby explains what it's like to serve a billion images a month of a budget.Processing images is very CPU intensive. As Lorem Picsum runs on a very small budget, to cope with all the requests as the service became more popular, we wanted to avoid doing so as much as possible. This meant adding caching to multiple layers of the architecture. We added two separate layers of caching: A CDN in front, as well as a second cache layer using Varnish Cache. To make the image processing as efficient as possible, we decided to use libvips, as it's very fast and resource-efficient.As part of making Lorem Picsum as easy to use as possible, we've never required any registration, API keys, or enforced any usage limits. This has generally worked out well, but once in a while a high traffic site deploys production code calling our API, usually accidentally, which leads to [problems] Read the rest

Prompted by a Stranger Things reference, YouTube guitarist 331Erock created this instrumental metal version of The Neverending Story theme song. One astute commenter calls it "The Evershredding Story."P.S. Head to Germany if you want to ride Falkor IRL.(Likecool) Read the rest

Flights in and out of Hong Kong's airport have halted as protesters filled the airport; many of the protesters at the airport are new to the protests, who have stepped off the sidelines after being exposed to video of police brutalizing other protesters, which inspired them to choose a side and take action. As I type this, local social media is filled with reports of increased riot police presence on the scene and protesters with young children are evacuating. (Image: Erin Hale)Extremely impressive turnout at Hong Kong airport demo against police violence - location is only spot police haven’t fired tear gas pic.twitter.com/fyvUFwAULn— Erin Hale (@erinhale) August 12, 2019 Read the rest

I typed up the following partial transcription of the subtitles:SEAL: geaaaaghSEAL: ggegSEAL: gigphphSEAL: d'egffSEAL: mibphSEAL: guhSEAL: miuhffSEAL: murph!SEAL: d'eggSEAL: egg!SEAL: egg!SEAL: mmnghphpSEAL: fibshSEAL: lliggkSEAL: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA Read the rest

Even by the indifferent standards of licensed video games, the athletes' voice acting in NBA 2K15—unaccustomed as they are to public speaking—was something else. The train will be humming in no time.A convincing explanation from a Reddit commenter: "the players are contractually obligated to be there and have zero interest in the project. You’re probably going to get one or two takes per line, and that’s it" Read the rest

Damn near every region in the world has a well of traditional music that they're able to draw cultural water from. Some musical traditions are better known than others. Most folks have likely heard Tuvan throat singing, but aren't able to put a name to it. I can't count the number of subway stations, markets and streets that I've walked through where buskers were filling the air with Sanjuanito. Where such tunes are played and songs are sung, a snippet of cultural history is passed along. Sadly, in a world that all too often favors the new over what has brought joy in the past, the music that once defined a people, even when played often and well, can easily pass into irrelevance. While it's important to maintain the sound of traditional music as a part of our shared cultural history, it's just as vital to find new ways to interpret the melodies of the past in a way that lends it an immediacy to modern listeners. Martin Hayes, one of the finest fiddlers to have come out of Ireland in the past 100 years, seems to understand this.I've talked about Hayes' work here in the past: his moody style of playing is just as much the result of his upbringing in County Clare at the feet of his father, famed fiddler P.J. Hayes, as it is his own genius. In 2015, Hayes's band, The Gloaming, won the Meteor Choice Music Prize for Album of the Year, beating the tar out acts like U2, Hozier and Damien Rice in the process. Read the rest

In 2017, science fiction author Christopher Brown burst on the scene with Tropic of Kansas, an apocalyptic pageturner about martial law in climate-wracked America; now, with his second novel, Rule of Capture, Brown turns everything up to 11 in a militarized, oil-saturated, uninhabitable Texas where private mercs, good ole boys, and climate looters have plans to deliver a stolen election to a hyper-authoritarian president.Donny Kimoe is a lawyer who switched sides: once, he was the kind of federal prosecutor who rated a high-level security clearance, now he's a court-appointed defense attorney for the kinds of secret military tribunals where everyone in the room needs clearance (and where the prosecution still redacts most of the state's evidence from both the defense attorney and the judge Read the rest

Security research Matt Wixey from PWC UK tried putting different kinds of consumer speakers -- noise canceling headphones, smart speakers, parametric speakers -- in an anechoic chamber after infecting them with malware that caused them to emit tones beyond those intended by the manufacturer.In addition to being able to generate tones loud/high enough to damage your hearing, with one smart-speaker, Wixey was able to generate tones so loud that its internal components started to melt.Additionally, attacking the smart speaker in particular generated enough heat to start melting its internal components after four or five minutes, permanently damaging the device. Wixey disclosed this finding to the manufacturer and says that the device maker issued a patch. Wixey says that he is not releasing any of the acoustic malware he wrote for the project or naming any of the specific devices he tested. He also did not test the device attacks on humans. Hackers Can Turn Everyday Speakers Into Acoustic Cyberweapons [Lily Hay Newman/Wired] Read the rest

Imagineering In a Box is a free lecture series on Khan Academy that covers a broad swathe of elements involved in storytelling in built environments, from theming a land to landscaping, architecture, sound design, robotics, smell design (!), color, material science, food-based theming, ride design from pitch to execution, animatronic programming, queue management (MY FAVORITE!), costuming, etc.There's even an educators' guide. This is an incredibly cool thing. Immersive built environments are one of my favorite art-forms and they're growing in complexity and reach (with things like Santa Fe's Meow Wolf) even as they are becoming more homespun and idiosyncratic (with local escape-rooms). Lesson 1: Build your own worldThis lesson addresses the question: where do you want to go? It introduces the idea of experiential storytelling and the difference between an amusement park and a theme park. We’ll explore how storytelling and theme impact every decision made in the design of a land and how they engage all senses.You'll walk out of this lesson with a theme and high concept for a land of your own design along with a mood board and map that conveys the land.Exercise requirements: All activities can be done with physical materials.Time requirement: 2 hours minimumLesson 2: Build your own attractionsThis lesson addresses the question: what do you want to do in your themed land? It introduces students to the range of possible attractions within a themed land with a focus on dark rides. It exposes the importance of theme and storytelling in attractions in general. Read the rest

After a massive trove of leaks revealed deep corruption in the Brazilian "anti-corruption" heroes who put the popular left-wing presidential candidate Lula in jail and paved the way for the election of the fascist strongman Jair Bolsonaro (a crisis that engulfed Sergio Moro, the judge who jailed Lula and went on to serve as Bolsonaro's public security minister), the Bolsonaro regime retaliated with a federal criminal investigation of Glenn Greenwald and The Intercept Brazil.Now, minister Gilmar Mendes has handed down a preliminary judgment on behalf of the nation's highest court, ending the retaliation. The ruling is broad and unequivocal, characterizing any Brazilian state investigation into similarly situated journalists as "an unambiguous act of censorship" and continuing: "The immediate right of free speech is the right to obtain, produce, and disseminate facts and news by any means. The constitutional secrecy of the journalistic source makes it impossible for the state to use coercive measures to constrain professional performance and to impede the form of reception and transmission of what is brought to public knowledge.""A free press is a pillar of any democracy because it is one of the few tools for shining a light on the corrupt acts carried out by society's most powerful actors in the dark," said Greenwald. "That's precisely why those same powerful actors so frequently want to punish journalists for doing our jobs, as Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro and his Minister of Justice and Public Security Sergio Moro have been explicitly threatening to do in response to our exposés."'Huge Victory for Press Freedom': Brazil Supreme Court Bars Bolsonaro From Investigating Glenn Greenwald and The Intercept [Jake Johnson/Common Dreams]Brazil Top Court Prevents Investigation Into US Journalist [AP/NYT](via Naked Capitalism) Read the rest

Bernie Sanders has raised more money than anyone else standing for the Democratic nomination; more importantly, he's raised that money from more people than anyone else in the race, and even more importantly, he's raised that money from more people in swing states that the Democrats will have to flip or hold in order to take the presidency in 2020.Sanders' lead is, in the words of the New York Times, "huge." Sanders' lead is to massive that the only way to visualize the other candidates' fundraising is to produce sub-maps that exclude Sanders' fundraising. Otherwise, his lead renders their efforts to date effectively invisible.The Times spins Sanders' small-money support as a deficit, noting that the average Sanders donor puts in $46, unlike the average of $80 for Biden and Harris. Sanders has raised $36m from 746,000 donors -- a commanding lead over the second-place Elizabeth Warren campaign, which has raised $25m from 421,000 donors.The data comes from the Democratic party fundraising system Actblue, and is current as of June 2019.I am a donor to both the Sanders and Warren campaign. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont has a huge lead over other Democratic presidential candidates in the number of individual donors they have each accumulated so far.This is the first time since the primary race began in earnest that we can estimate how many individual donors each candidate has attracted — a key indicator of how much they are catching on with voters. Read the rest

Between 2010 and 2016, the FDA approved 210 new medicines and every single one was produced at public expense, part of a $1T US government investment project in medical research. Despite this massive public subsidy, the pharma industry has only grown more concentrated and rapacious, raising prices and diverting the profits to their execs and investors, who now pocket 99% of industry profits: the industry made $500B in profits between 2006 and 2015, and during that time, the US government pumped $33b/year into pharma research.The history of Big Pharma's big business is beautifully told in a long piece by Alexander Zaitchik in the New Republic. Zaitchik describes how the NIH changed its policies in 1968, ending the rule that forced publicly subsidized researchers to assign their patents to the federal government and allowing them instead to flog them on the open market. This created a new kind of academic research program, focused on using public money to develop patented products that would be exclusively assigned to pharma companies who'd be guaranteed monopolies over life-saving medicines.That's when the Chicago School -- the origin node of neoliberalism and the worship of markets as self-correcting, self-optimizing systems that cannot and should not be regulated -- got involved, seeding a network of think-tanks and journal articles that decried competition as "wasteful duplication" and celebrated monopolies for their efficiency.These articles created the fiction of mass private-sector investment in pharma, downplaying the taxpayer's role in subsidizing the industry and lionizing the few pennies that escaped the grasp of execs and shareholders. Read the rest

Good news, everyone!If you live in New York City and your personal information wasn't already compromised by the recent, massive hack of Capital One's customer database, there's still an excellent chance that at least some of the sensitive information in your life has its ass hanging out for the world to see, courtesy of the Fire Department of New York.From Gizmodo:An estimated 10,253 people who used the FDNY’s Emergency Medical Services between 2011 to 2018 had their data exfiltrated well over a year ago, when an “employee, who was authorized to access the records, had uploaded the information onto the personal external device,” which went missing sometime thereafter, according to a statement by FDNY.A personal hard drive! That's been missing! For a year! I'm sure it's fine! The FDNY would love it if you believed this to be true. To make sure that those possibly compromised in the breach, they sent out a letter, via snail mail (I mean, you obviously can't trust computers), talking the those who received medical care from the Fire Department during the aforementioned, seven-year period:What happened:On March 4, 2019, the New York City Fire Department (“FDNY”) was notified that an FDNY employee’s personal portable hard drive was reported missing from an FDNY facility. This hard drive is a portable electronic data storage device that can be attached to a computer. It belonged to an employee authorized to access FDNY patient information and contained confidential personal information about patients who had been treated and/or transported by an FDNY ambulance. Read the rest

Everybody wants to rule the world, but only one video game lets you do it in style - and even peacefully if you're savvy enough with your cultural dominance. Sid Meier's Civilization is on its fifth sequel and counting for good reason. No two games are alike thanks to the random mapping and numerous special scenarios, but they're all a test of your resource management and ruthless diplomacy.Want to see what Meier's cult following has been raving about, or catch up on an old favorite? You're in luck. Full games and expansion packs for the latest versions of Civilization are on deep discount for PC (and for Mac users, via Steam).Sid Meier's Civilization V: CompleteThe graphics boost and hexagonal tiles of Civilization V were a big shot in the arm to the series when it launched in 2010, and this version is still a favorite with many players. This strategist's dream edition not only includes that game but complete versions of Civilization III and IV plus the hit spinoffs Beyond Earth and Beyond Earth - Rising Tide. The entire set of Sid Meier's Civilization V: Complete is now available for $12.50, almost 80% off the original price.Sid Meier's Civilization VI: Gold EditionAfter a long wait, the latest edition of Civilization arrived in 2016, tweaking and improving the formula on previous iterations with a new technology system and an increased focus on the terrain. A series of DLC releases capitalized on the changes, and this Gold edition contains enough of them to keep would-be world-beaters challenged for months. Read the rest

These aren't the chalky little marshmallows you'll find in Lucky Charms cereal. Thanks to a collab with Jet-Puffed, large, soft versions of the cereal's hearts, moons, stars, and clovers will be available nationwide indefinitely in September. Fun fact: According to an old General Mills press release (via Wikipedia), each of the marshmallow's shapes have magical "powers."Hearts – power to bring things to lifeShooting Stars – power to flyHorseshoes – power to speed/slow down timeGreen Clovers – luck, but you will never know what kind of luck you will getBlue Moons – power of invisibilityRainbows – instantaneous travel from place to placeRed Balloons – power to make things floatUnicorn – according to the inaugural cereal box, unicorns can "cleanse water with a touch of their horn," "heal whatever troubles you," and "always know when you are telling the truth"Moon – power to change alternate gravityIt appears you'll only be able to harness the powers of the pink hearts, blue moons, yellow stars, and green clovers with this new product.(People) Read the rest

Adversarial Fashions have a line of clothes (jackets, tees, hoodies, dresses, skirts, etc) designed to confound automated license-plate readers; one line is tiled with fake license plates that spell out the Fourth Amendment (!); the designers presented at Defcon this year. (via JWZ) Read the rest

The Washington Post's Drew Harwell takes a deep look at the the use of facial recognition products like Bunk1 at summer camps, in a deliciously terrible piece that alternates between Bunk1's president Rob Burns and Waldo Photos's founder Rodney Rice explaining that everyone loves this and it makes everyone happy, and counsellors, parents, campers and photographers (as well as child development experts and civil libertarians) explaining how it is just fucking terrible, which Rice dismisses as "privacy hysteria."The facial recog summer camp drill goes like this: photographers follow you children around all the time, taking their photos. The facial recognition tool figures out which camper corresponds to which parent and sends the parents pocket-buzzes every time it senses a new photo of your kid, and then you can look at your kid. You can also call your kid if you think they look unhappy or if you are unsatisfied with them in any way and nag them.So kids mob photographers with big, fake smiles and beg to be photographed so their parents won't harass them. The companies have "privacy policies" that grossly overreach, giving them perpetual licenses to distribute all the photos they take forever, for any purpose. They claim to have super-secure data-centers, but won't describe what makes them so sure their data centers are more secure than, say, the NSA's, Equifax, or any of the other "super secure" data centers that have been breached and dumped in recent memory.And while parents enjoy all this looking at their kids while they're away in theory, they also report a kind of free-floating anxiety because they know just enough about their kids' lives at camp to worry, but not enough to assuage their worries. Read the rest

Jeffrey Epstein is dead. The convicted sexual predator committed suicide overnight at MCC Manhattan, the federal lockup where he had been held pending trial on federal sex trafficking charges, law enforcement officials told ABC News. He was on “suicide watch,” but the MCC jail failed, twice, to prevent attempts of suicide. The second time, his attempt to escape justice through death worked. The Miami Herald has confirmed that accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein has committed suicide in jail in Manhattan. Story to come. @MiamiHerald— julie k. brown (@jkbjournalist) August 10, 2019From ABC News:Billionaire financier Jeffrey Epstein has died by suicide in his Manhattan jail early Saturday morning, three law enforcement officials told ABC News.He was being held without bail at the Metropolitan Correctional Center awaiting trial on charges of conspiracy and sex trafficking. He pleaded not guilty to the charges, and a judge said he wouldn't face trial before June 2020.He's accused of arranging to have sex with girls as young as age 14 in the early 2000s at Epstein's residences in Manhattan and Florida.The 66-year-old was also hospitalized in July after he was found unresponsive in what appeared to be a possible suicide attempt.Assistant U.S. Attorney Alison Moe urged a June trial date, saying there is "a public interest in bringing this case to trial as swiftly as possible." But Epstein's lawyer, Martin Weinberg, said the case is far from "ordinary," adding the defense team won't be ready before Labor Day 2020. Read the rest

When it comes to travel, Genius is one company that sweats the details. If you've never owned one of their suitcases or carry-on bags, they feature dedicated compartments for everything you could imagine and often incorporate compression technology to fit more of it in there. If you're planning for one last summer trip, here's a nice list of what to pick up for a total luggage upgrade.Genius Pack Aerial Hardside Carry On Spinner This carry-on bag squeaks in under the domestic and international carry-on size requirements, but it's scratch and stain-resistant material makes it lighter than bags half its size (6.2 pounds!). Inside, you'll find perfectly-sized compartments for all your necessities including socks and chargers, plus a separated area for dirty laundry. And with 360-degree spinning wheels, you'll be able to breeze through the airport with ease. Get the Genius Pack Aerial Hardside Carry On Spinner in a variety of styles for $159, a drop off the previous sale price of $199 and more than 45% off retail. You can get it in the below color options:Genius Pack Aerial Hardside Carry On Spinner (Jet Black)Genius Pack Aerial Hardside Carry On Spinner (Matte White)Genius Pack Aerial Hardside Carry On Spinner (Hunter Green)Genius Pack Aerial Hardside Carry On Spinner (Brushed Chrome)Genius Pack Compression Packing Cubes Set For a big trip, these packing cubes are a lifesaver in more ways than one. Not only does the stretch-top nylon mesh compress clothes and other items by as much as 60%, but they'll also keep those shirts wrinkle-free in the bargain. Read the rest

"Insurance doesn't usually cover this," said Snowmass, CO police.

“Gentle cromch.”From IMGURian @Lanabear110, who asks, “Anyone else have a dog obsessed with carrots?”Oh yeah. Our goldens love 'em, and they're fantastic treats for dogs.Those little bags of raw carrots are such special cromch nuggets.Gentle cromch Read the rest

🐱🌀🐈Hosico Cat lives in Russia with a woman and man who care for him very much. “I’m Hosico! Fluffy cheeks! Golden boy, Scottish straight. I like boxes, a bit shy.” Subscribe to their YouTube, or enjoy their Instagram. View this post on Instagram Good morning! 🌟A post shared by Hosico Cat (@hosico_cat) on Jul 28, 2019 at 12:17am PDT Read the rest

Banning Nazis from Twitter should be against the law: Trump, basically.

Gideon Irving's fantastic video, "Woke Up Looking" was made without computer graphics in just one take. The video below shows how he did it.Here's another wonderful one-take video of Gideon's. It only has 135 views! Read the rest

Election Systems & Software (ES&S) is America's leading voting machine vendor; they tell election officials (who are county-level officials who often have zero cybersecurity advice or expertise) not to connect their systems to the internet, except briefly to transmit unofficial tallies on election night.This is a stupid idea to begin with. These systems shouldn't have modems, and they shouldn't ever be connected to the internet, at all. But as it turns out, lots of election officials, including many in heavily contested districts that have determined the outcomes of national elections (cough Florida cough) just leave their machines connected to the internet all the time, while denying that this is the case, possibly because they don't know any better.A team of ten leading security experts, including some affiliated with NIST's election cybersecurity efforts, have used internet-wide scanning to locate dozens of these systems, live on the internet, and because it's the internet, they're not even sure who all of them belong to, and can't alert the relevant officials. Many of these systems have been online for months; some have likely been online for years. ES&S has downplayed the risk, using incredibly misleading definitions of "not connected to the internet" (for example, insisting that "behind a firewall" is the same thing as "airgapped"). The company's account of its security best practices, training and maintenance are belied by their own public documents as well as authenticated whistleblower's accounts. In one case -- Rhode Island -- it appears that every vote cast in the state is tallied on a single system that is often available on the internet. Read the rest

As protests in Hong Kong enter their seventh week, protest organizers are worried that the police might be infiltrating Telegram groups; instead, they've taken to organizing protests by sending messages over Tinder and Pokemon Go, and by using Apple's ad-hoc, serverless Airdrop protocol.This poster inviting people for a game of Pokémon Go appeared on Reddit-like forum LIHGK. Besides hunting Pokémon, people were also invited to participate in other activities such as sightseeing to defy the assembly ban. (Picture: lihkh.com)techhong kong protests [Masha Borak/Abacus](Thanks, Don!) Read the rest

King of King Court is "a memoir that is both devastating and restrained in detailing Travis Dandro's childhood growing up in Western Massachusetts with an addicted and unstable father and a mother incapable of keeping him at bay," Julia Pohl-Miranda Drawn and Quarterly says. "What's such a gut-punch about this book is how revealing it is about the everyday slog of having mentally ill or abusive family members, the seeming inevitability of intergenerational trauma repeating itself."Drawn and Quarterly kindly gave me several pages from King of King Court to run here: Read the rest

Here's what artist Ryan Heshka says about his show that opens tomorrow (August 10, 2019) at Corey Helford Gallery in Los Angeles:"The overall theme that weaves all the work together is the celebration of individuality, and celebrating our individual weirdness, quirks, the things that make us who we are. The political climate, the actual climate, and questions about privacy and reality have been heavy on my mind this year. I didn’t necessarily want to do a show that literally explored these themes, but rather have these themes drive my exploration of individual freedom and the evolution and shift of our relationships with each other as we continue to race forward. The show itself is split three ways: a) the original art from Mean Girls Club: Pink Dawn, b) the debut of my new comic book, Frog Wife (with a new print and a large oil painting and art from the comic book), and c) a series of new paintings. The narratives in all these works varies, but there is a thread of rebellion, of flipped or evolved stereotypes, and turning figures inside out to reveal an inner self. The show started as an excuse to exhibit my comic book art, but soon took on a life of its own." He adds, "The show is heavy on the comic book art (close to 60 spreads, or 120 pages), which I have never shown before. There are also two large oil paintings, one of the Mean Girls Club, and one of Frog Wife. Read the rest

Court documents unsealed in New York on Friday provide the first detailed look at how Jeffrey Epstein operated what appears to be a vast global sex trafficking racket with the help of alleged madam Ghislaine Maxwell, “and a number of other powerful business and world leaders,” reports the Miami Herald.The documents released Friday are part of thousands of pages in a 2015 federal defamation case involving one of Epstein's victims. The contents are graphic and disturbing, with details on how Epstein and accomplices trafficked teen girls mostly from the U.S. Russia and Sweden. They also detail Ghislaine Maxwell’s role as a co-abuser, and very effective recruiter of vulnerable girls.One accuser said a court deposition that Maxwell “recruited her under the guise of a legitimate assistant position, but asked her to perform sexual massages for Epstein, and punished her when she didn’t cause Epstein to orgasm”.Another deposed person “testified that [Maxwell] contacted him to recruit high school-aged girls for Epstein, and also testified that Maxwell and Epstein participated in multiple threesomes with Virginia Giuffre”.A man working as Epstein's butler “witnessed, firsthand, a 15-year-old Swedish girl crying and shaking because [Maxwell] was attempting to force her to have sex with Epstein and she refused”, the court documents claim. The 15-year-old girl said Maxwell “tried to force her to have sex with Epstein through threats and stealing her passport”.From the indefatigable Julie K. Brown, without whom Jeffrey Epstein would not be in jail today:Some of the testimony is difficult to read, as when one 15-year-old Swedish girl, shaking and crying in despair, tells a butler who worked for one of Epstein’s closest friends that she had been taken to Epstein’s island in the Caribbean and forced to have sex with him and others. Read the rest

Amazon has the 24-pack of Sylvania LED light bulbs on sale again for . That's cheaper than an incandescent bulb, which you don't need unless you're A) a climate science denier who wants to trigger the libtards or B) the owner of an Easy Bake Oven, which would make these bulbs of little use to you. Read the rest

Fifty years ago today, the Manson Family carried out the grisly Tate-Labianca murders that essentially crushed the hippie dream with a tragic nightmare starring failed songwriter and psychopath Charles Manson. At Manson's trial, prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi argued that the cult leader was inspired by his misreading of The Beatles' White Album. Indeed, "Healter Skelter” [sic] had been smeared in blood on the LaBiancas’ refrigerator. Over at Rolling Stone, Kory Grow does a track-by-track analysis of Manson's bizarre misinterpretation of The White Album. From Rolling Stone:Although he would deny being into the Beatles years later (“I am a Bing Crosby fan,” he declared in 1985 – despite inmates at a prison Manson stayed at in the early Sixties claiming he was obsessed with the Beatles), Manson discussed the group enough with his followers that his warped reading of the Fab Four’s most adventurous album resounded throughout the trial. Bugliosi interviewed several Manson Family members, including those who were not facing criminal charges, and found consistency in their descriptions of his mythology surrounding the White Album and the garbled connections he made between it and the Book of Revelations, which depict end-times.“This music is bringing on the revolution, the unorganized overthrow of the establishment,” Manson told Rolling Stone in 1970. “The Beatles know [what’s happening] in the sense that the subconscious knows.”“From the beginning, Charlie believed the Beatles’ music carried an important message – to us,” Manson Family member Paul Watkins wrote in his book, My Life With Charles Manson. Read the rest

In the 1930s photographer Dorothea Lange was hired by the U.S. government’s Farm Security Administration (FSA) to take photos of farm workers affected by the Great Depression. She took this photo of Florence Owens Thompson with her children in 1936 in Nipomo, California and titled it "Migrant Mother." “I saw and approached the hungry and desperate mother, as if drawn by a magnet," Lange said years later in an interview. "I do not remember how I explained my presence or my camera to her, but I do remember she asked me no questions. I made five exposures, working closer and closer from the same direction... She and her children had been living on frozen vegetables from the field and wild birds the children caught. The pea crop had frozen; there was no work. Yet they could not move on, for she had just sold the tires from the car to buy food.”According to Moma, however, "Thompson later contested Lange’s account. When a reporter interviewed her in the 1970s, she insisted that she and Lange did not speak to each other, nor did she sell the tires of her car. Thompson said that Lange had either confused her for another farmer or embellished what she had understood of her situation in order to make a better story."Image: Dorothea Lange. Public Domain Read the rest

Amateur astrophotographer Ethan Chappel was using his telescope to look for Perseid meteors on Wednesday night when he happened to capture an image of something very large slamming into Jupiter. It was most likely a massive meteor. From Sky and Telescope:After running the camera data through a program designed to alert the user to just such transient events, Chappel spotted a flash of light in the planet's South Equatorial Belt (SEB). It expanded from a pinpoint to a small dot before fading away — telltale signs of a possible impact based on previous events observed at Jupiter....If confirmed this would be the 7th recorded impact at the solar system's biggest planet since July 1994, when 21 fragments of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 slammed into the planet in succession to create a rosary of dark impact boils visible in amateur telescopes. Imaged Jupiter tonight. Looks awfully like an impact flash in the SEB. Happened on 2019-08-07 at 4:07 UTC. pic.twitter.com/KSis9RZrgP— Chappel Astro (@ChappelAstro) August 7, 2019 Read the rest

Actor-cum-philosopher/historian Jon Voight believes the "black community" and the "angered left" needn't worry about "words of racism," because this "has been solved long ago by our forefathers, for peace and love. It seems that the angered left and the angered minorities want to hold President Trump accountable for past lives. You see, we have been gifted with truth, and as I see it, anger is among the old chains that were binding the people of slavery. Old wounds that still seem fresh. Let me talk about old wounds. The Holocaust. That, my friends, are wounds that live among the Jewish and non-Jewish that lost lives. But this is not about color, race, religion. This is about the United States of America."Huh?Jon Voight’s message for America. pic.twitter.com/xCTOpLPDA4— Jon Voight (@jonvoight) August 4, 2019Image: Twitter Read the rest

One of the wonderful and terrible things about the internet is how it allows people seeking others with hard-to-find traits to find them: advertisers can find people thinking about buying a refrigerator; people who think they might be trans can find others in the same boat and make common cause; people with the same rare disease can form support groups, and Nazis can find sociopaths to march through the streets of Charlottesville carrying tiki torches and chanting "Jews will not replace us."This has been especially pronounced in human sexuality. Anonymous access to porn lets people explore different sexual activities. Online dating services lets people find those who share their kinks, interests, or special needs. Enter 3fun, an online dating service for those seeking group sex with others. While there is nothing wrong with this activity, and while it's one that dates back to antiquity and probably before, there is still substantial social stigma associated with it, so apps are a great way of finding partners without exposing yourself to retaliation from employers, family, peers and friends.That is, unless 3fun is designed with security as an afterthought in a way that exposes its users to snoops who could use the data it leaks to harass, blackmail, or expose its users.Guess what!Pen Test Partners's audit of 3fun revealed "probably the worst security for any dating app we’ve ever seen."The audit revealed vulnerabilities that would allow attackers to enumerate all 3fun users, including sexual orientation, preferred matches, usernames, ages, partners' usernames, full-rez profile photos, and some dates of birth. Read the rest

My friend, That Farmer Guy, send me the following news about soy sauce:Based on nothing but my empirical observation, the garden variety Kikkoman seems to dominate the international soya sauce market, but this other Kikkoman product (Shiboritate) is the nama-shoyu version (raw, fresh-pressed) and is packaged with an interesting hack that prevents oxidation and tastes different (fresher? better? you decide). The trick is a special cap that attaches to a bladder that holds the sauce inside the squeeze bottle, and prevents the sauce from air contact, at least until you use it.Image: That Farmer Guy Read the rest

Working with The Hamilton Project, the BBC has drawn six charts that serve as both a snapshot of the state of US immigration and provide historical context for migration today versus US immigration in both the recent and distant past.Immigrants also tend to have a positive impact on US finances - paying more in taxes than they receive in government services, when compared with native-born workers.It is particularly striking that among low-skilled workers, immigrants are more likely to be employed and less likely to receive government benefits than those born in the US.Since its founding, immigrants have been an integral part of the fabric weaving together the US economy and society writ large.Understanding who they are and what role they have in the US can help shape the debate around those who make it their home in years to come.Six charts on the immigrants who call the US home [Kriston McIntosh, Ryan Nunn & Jay Shambaugh/BBC and the Hamilton Project] Read the rest

Singapore would also be a fine call, buddy. Read the rest

The NRA's internal finances have come under close scrutiny this past year, after Oliver North launched a failed coup intended to unseat longtime CEO/cult leader Wayne LaPierre, triggering so much internal strife that the organization's dirtiest laundry ended up getting aired in retaliatory strategic leaks by each camp.The latest revelation to come from New York State's investigation into the NRA's abuse of its nonprofit status is that the NRA paid LaPierre's crony marketing firm, Ackerman McQueen (previously) $70,000 to consult on which mansion LaPierre should purchase.The transaction was booked in the most fraudulent, grifty way possible, with a "vague description, company didn’t exist and address of business was the home of the Chief Accounting Officer of [Ackerman McQueen]."LaPierre was reportedly looking to buy the mansion because he was afraid of getting shot and he wanted a secret bolt hole to hide in after the Parkland, Florida massacre. LaPierre's wife, Susan, led the mansion project, choosing the property and guiding renovations.The NRA says that LaPierre returned the funds. Ackerman and the NRA are suing each other over the former's billings to the latter.But a document obtained by ProPublica shows that NRA money was used to help facilitate the purchase of a 10,000-square-foot Texas mansion for LaPierre, setting off alarms within the nonprofit. In response to questions about the transaction, the NRA on Thursday did not provide a comment or say whether the funds were eventually returned.NRA accountants flagged a $70,000 payment to WBB Investments LLC in a document titled “List of Top Concerns for the Audit Committee.” They asked the audit committee to examine the payment, which they said was not properly documented. Read the rest

Mom put this lid over a glass bowl and nuked the shit out of that rice for 20 minutes. I'm pretty sure there was water in there.It was effortless and perfect.These are easy to clean, amazingly reusable, wonderful in place of plastic wrap over a bowl and all kinds of great as a frisbee.Agile-Shop Steam Ship Silicone Steamer Lid Food Covers, Pack of 3 via Amazon Read the rest

If a hacker targeting connected cars in Manhattan could randomly stall 20% of them during rush hour, total gridlock would ensue. “This isn't just bad traffic where you are an hour late. It becomes impossible to get from point A to point B,” says Georgia Institute of Technology researcher Peter Yunker who ran a study on the "cyberphysical risks of hacked internet-connected vehicles." From IEEE Spectrum:Not all cars on the road would need to be self-driving and Internet-connected for such paralysis to occur. For example, if 40 percent of all cars on the road in Manhattan were online and autonomous, hacking half of those would suffice....Cities without large grids—-Atlanta, Boston, and Los Angeles, to name a few—were more vulnerable to gridlock from such attacks.Yunker and his colleagues cautioned that they considered only static situations where roads were either blocked or not blocked. Future research with more dynamic models would likely show that blocked roads would spill traffic over into other roads. Given such effects, it might be possible to trigger gridlock by stalling much less than 20 percent of all cars, Yunker says.image: Shutterstock/View Apart Read the rest

@jonty_pressinger was unhappy that the live action/CGI remake of The Lion King was set in the Uncanny Valley so he "attempted to fix (it) by doing an AI style-transfer using @ellejart amazing fan art." Read the rest