Boing Boing

The BBC reports that Canada's election watchdog claims that advertisements saying climate change is real may break the law, because it is a political opinion and "issue" advertising is partisan political activity.Canada has strict regulations on partisan advertising during the election period, whether they be from candidates, parties or third-party organisations. ... Keith Brooks, programme director for advocacy group Environmental Defence, says Elections Canada told him that because one candidate denies that climate change is an issue, any ad urging action on climate change, or calling climate change an emergency, could be considered partisan. ... Mr Cornish says it is "absolutely ludicrous" that charities are barred from advocacy work on climate change during the election just because one of the party's platforms denies it is an issue."We're talking here about someone's opinion overruling scientific consensus around the need to adapt to climate change," he said. Read the rest

If you're marketing on the web, your Google-fu needs to be strong - and up to date. Without a firm grasp on what drives traffic, you'll never be able to take the wheel. That's why even if you know where to put your keywords, a little extra effort goes a long way on any marketer's resume. If you want a certification that proves your marketing savvy, a couple of online courses are key.For data analytics, there's Google Analytics Certification: Get Certified In 2 Days. This 2-hour boot camp targets all the insights covered in the exam: How to monitor ads, build reports and model the wealth of data that Analytics can give about any site. In all, the package includes 20 lectures and hundreds of practice questions. It's available for $13.99.For those looking to turn that customer data into clicks, the Ultimate Guide To Google AdWords is an essential course. Suitable for beginners, it teaches users how to build an AdWords account from scratch, then use it to optimize any marketing campaign by integrating keywords into company language across the board. Packed with 18 hours of content, the course is $12.99. Read the rest

In my latest podcast (MP3), I read my essay "A Cycle of Renewal, Broken: How Big Tech and Big Media Abuse Copyright Law to Slay Competition", published today on EFF's Deeplinks; it's the latest in my ongoing series of case-studies of "adversarial interoperability," where new services unseated the dominant companies by finding ways to plug into existing products against those products' manufacturers. This week's installment recounts the history of cable TV, and explains how the legal system in place when cable was born was subsequently extinguished (with the help of the cable companies who benefitted from it!) meaning that no one can do to cable what cable once did to broadcasters.In 1950, a television salesman named Robert Tarlton put together a consortium of TV merchants in the town of Lansford, Pennsylvania to erect an antenna tall enough to pull down signals from Philadelphia, about 90 miles to the southeast. The antenna connected to a web of cables that the consortium strung up and down the streets of Lansford, bringing big-city TV to their customers — and making TV ownership for Lansfordites far more attractive. Though hobbyists had been jury-rigging their own "community antenna television" networks since 1948, no one had ever tried to go into business with such an operation. The first commercial cable TV company was born.The rise of cable over the following years kicked off decades of political controversy over whether the cable operators should be allowed to stay in business, seeing as they were retransmitting broadcast signals without payment or permission and collecting money for the service. Read the rest

New Hampshire's Supreme Court has ruled that calling someone a "patent troll" is not defamatory because "patent troll" is a statement of opinion and can neither be factually proved nor disproved.The case was brought by Automated Transactions Limited, who claims a broad patent on machines that dispense cash (ATL founder David Barcelou invented some unsuccessful gaming machines in the 1990s and received several patents they say cover the normal operations of ATMs and other common machines). ATL has made millions demanding patent license fees.Bob Stier, a lawyer who represented some of ATL's targets, was quoted in a 2013 interview in which he called ATL a "patent troll" and repeated the characterization on his firm's website. The Credit Union National Association also called ATL a "patent troll" in presentations they gave about demand letters served to their members.This prompted ATL to file suit against Stier, CUNA, the ABA and others in 2016, claiming that the terms "troll," "shakedown" and "extortion" were all defamatory. The case made it to the New Hampshire Supreme Court, who dismissed ATL's case and said that ""The challenged statement, that ATL is a well-known patent troll, is one of opinion rather than fact. The statement is an assertion that, among other things, ATL is a patent troll because its patent-enforcement activity is 'aggressive.' This statement cannot be objectively verified."Officially, the ruling by the New Hampshire Supreme Court only applies in New Hampshire. But state courts do pay attention to rulings in other states. Read the rest

Samuel R "Chip" Delany is a science fiction pioneer: a brilliant literary stylist with dazzling ideas who was one of the field's first openly queer writers, and one of the first Black writers accepted into the field. He is one of the fathers of afrofuturism.Delany's work is hugely influential on generations of writers, and I've been writing about his work here for nearly two decades (!). In 2013, he received a well-deserved honor when the Science Fiction Writers of America named him one of the field's Grand Masters. More recently, journals were published after a crowdfunder. I got to have drinks with Chip last fall after a speech at Swarthmore, and was charmed and delighted by his company.So it's very exciting to see him profiled at length in the New York Times by the queer novelist Jordy Rosenberg, who describes the influence that Delany's work exerted over their career and provides a brief guide to reading Delany.The emotional dynamism of Delany’s sentences has been perhaps less acknowledged than his world-building, or the sweep of his vision. But when asked to speak about writing as a practice, Delany himself often turns to the art of sentences, and of how to imbue words with such “ekphrastic force” that they summon the material presence of an imagined world. When Korga and Marq return to themselves they are awe-struck, struggling to narrate the intensity of their own transformative experience. It is impossible not to hear in that a metatextual echo of the obsession of Delany’s practice: that of creating the most immersive possible aesthetic experience for us, his readers and devoted enthusiasts. Read the rest

The American ransomware epidemic shows no signs of slowing, as the confluence of underinvestment in IT and information security and the NSA's reckless stockpiling of computer vulnerabilities means that petty criminals can extort vast sums from distant municipalities by seizing their entire networked infrastructure.Currently, more than 20 towns and cities in Texas are being held ransom by criminals. The state believes all of the hijackings -- which all landed Saturday morning -- are the work of a single "threat actor."Update on August 2019 Texas Cyber Incident [Texas Department of Information Resources] Read the rest

The Daily Beast reports that a water polo team from a California high school sang Nazi songs during an awards ceremony.The video was uploaded to Instagram by one of the athletes, who also posted lyrics to the song in his Instagram bio. After the video expired, the athlete removed the reference. He did not respond to requests for comment. A spokesperson for the Garden Grove Unified School district where Pacifica High School resides said the school administrators first became aware of the incident and video four months later in March, but did not say if they disciplined anyone. Amazing how just a few years ago, people thought that the internet -- the loss of privacy, context collapse, a permanent record of misbehavior -- would make indiscretions that once destroyed careers and lives become trivial. Now everyone is seeing that the receipts are in fact loaded with potential, a drumbeat of recrimination so powerful that new civil rights are imagined in its wake. I often feel like younger conservatives, especially, are alarmed at the prospect of their teenage USENET accounts and forum identities being uncovered. But I'm also told that facts don't care about my feelings. QED. Read the rest

It's easy to think of climate denial as a right-wing phenomenon, but a growing and ultra-violent strain of white-nationalism also embraces climate science, in the worst way possible.Several of the recent white nationalist mass killers have described themselves as "ecofascists" and/or have deployed ecofascist rhetoric in their manifestos. The short version of ecofascism is that it's the belief that our planet has a "carrying capacity" that has been exceeded by the humans alive today and that we must embrace "de-growth" in the form of mass extermination of billions of humans, in order to reduce our population to a "sustainable" level.In some ways, ecofascism is just a manifestation of "peak indifference": the idea that denial eventually self-corrects, as the debt built up by a refusal to pay attention to a real problem mounts and mounts, until it can no longer be denied. Eventually, the wildfires, floods, diseases (and ensuing refugee crises) overcome all but the most dedicated forms of bad-faith motivated reasoning and self-deception, and people start to switch sides from denying science to embracing it.But there's an ugly side to peak indifference: that denialism can give way to nihilism. As activists seek to engage people with the urgent crisis, they describe it (correctly) as an existential threat whose time is drawing nigh. Once people acknowledge the threat, it's easy for them to conclude that it's too late to do anything about it ("Well, you were right, those cigarettes did give me lung-cancer, but now that I've got it, I might as well enjoy my last few years on earth with a cigarette between my lips"). Read the rest

The LEGO Tantive IV is a must have for my family LEGO display.Even far, far than the Escape pod.This set comes with a 1769 piece Tantive IV and 5 minifigs including Bail Organa.LEGO Star Wars: A New Hope 75244 Tantive IV Building Kit, New 2019 (1768 Pieces) via Amazon Read the rest

President Barack Obama opened his summer reading list post with encouragement to read or re-read Toni Morrison and then suggested ten other titles including the following:• Sometimes difficult to swallow, The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead is a necessary read, detailing the way Jim Crow and mass incarceration tore apart lives and wrought consequences that ripple into today.• Exhalation by Ted Chiang is a collection of short stories that will make you think, grapple with big questions, and feel more human. The best kind of science fiction.• Haruki Murakami’s Men Without Women examines what happens to characters without important women in their lives; it'll move you and confuse you and sometimes leave you with more questions than answers.See the rest of President Obama's picks here.image: President Barack Obama and daughters Sasha and Malia shop for books at Politics and Prose in Washington, D.C., on Small Business Saturday, Nov. 29, 2014. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza) Read the rest

Daniel Pantaleo used fatal chokehold during the 2014 arrest of Eric Garner

Agent King is an adult animated series about Elvis Presley as a government spy. Priscilla Presley and rock singer John Eddie created the show for Sony and Netflix with Archer's Mike Arnold as writer and showrunner. John Varvatos is designing Elvis's animated outfits. From Spin:Agent King... imagines Elvis Presley trading his white jumpsuit for a jet pack as he’s inducted into a secret government spy program to help battle dark forces that threaten the country he loves — all while holding down his day job as the most famous rock ‘n’ roll star on the planet...“From the time Elvis was a young boy he always dreamed of being the superhero fighting crime and saving the world!” said Priscilla Presley, who was married to Elvis from 1967-73. Read the rest

In Ohio, a racist 20-year-old man was arrested over the weekend for threatening to attack a Jewish community center, in a post on Instagram.The image in this blog post is a screengrab of that Instagram post, which bizarrely remains publicly visible and hasn't been removed from view.The FBI's Violent Crimes Task Force raided Reardon’s house on Friday, and seized multiple semi-automatic weapons, dozens of rounds of ammunition, gas mask, and bulletproof armor, local news WYTV reported.Tasneem Nashrulla reports for Buzzfeed News:James Patrick Reardon, 20, was held at the Mahoning County Jail on charges of telecommunications harassment and aggravated menacing, according to jail records. His bond was set at $250,000 and he is set to appear in court on Monday.New Middletown Police began investigating Reardon after he posted a video on Instagram on July 11 that showed a man shooting a semi-automatic rifle, accompanied by sirens and screams, WYTV reported.(...) As of Sunday, the post on the Instagram account that appeared to belong to Reardon remained public. The account’s bio section describes him as, “Just a local IRA man trying to live his life,” and contains posts filled with anti-Semitic slurs, derogatory comments against minorities, and guns.The FBI Violent Crimes Task Force raided Reardon’s house on Friday and seized several semi-automatic weapons, dozens of rounds of ammunition, a gas mask, and bulletproof armor.Authorities also recovered anti-Semitic and white nationalist propaganda from his house.Reardon participated in the 2017 Charlottesville Nazi rally, of which President Trump said “there are very fine people” on the Nazi side of America. Read the rest

The City of Santa Monica is looking to displace a year old homeless feeding program because it is too successful.ABC7:Steve Petramale has been feeding at least 100 homeless people every week at Reed Park for more than a year.Santa Monica officials told Petramale the park is not a good location for his food program. They had threatened to issue a citation if he served meals this Sunday.Petramale says he's willing to work with the city to find a new location, but he wants to make sure the meals continue."I'm more than willing to make this work so everyone is happy and especially that these people eat," he said. "That's my main concern."Some neighborhood residents have complained."Neighbors are concerned about the amount of people, the lack of play space," said Alisa Orduna, an advisor on homelessness with the city of Santa Monica. "The lack of space to be able to stretch out and have their activities."Petramale says he's sympathetic."I understand your concern and why you're upset but I really do feel, regardless, everyone needs to eat," he said.You may donate to Petramale's organization FamilyFood.us via Venmo. Read the rest

"I saw light,” said Horry County, South Carolina resident Romulus McNeill said a few days ago after a lightning bolt just missed him. “I tried to get up out of there like the Roadrunner."(WSOC-TV) Read the rest

Illegitimate, popular vote losing, and manifestly unfit United States President Donald Trump said on Monday that at a recent dinner with Tim Cook -- what, you didn't think they hung out and shared meals? -- the Apple CEO made a “very compelling argument” that Apple may lose its competitive edge to Samsung because of Trump's tariffs on goods from China. As Bloomberg News reported, Samsung won't be hit by those same tariffs when exporting goods to the U.S., because Samsung makes them in Korea.Trump, who is an idiot, spoke today as if finally realizing that China tariffs will end up harming American technology companies more than they harm China.“It’s tough for Apple to pay tariffs if it’s competing with a very good company that’s not,” Trump said.Tim Cook had chat with Trump about Apple rival Samsung. Majority of Apple’s products, made in China, due to be hit with 10% tariffs in next weeks/months. Samsung products won’t be subject to tariffs when imported by U.S. because made in South Korea.https://t.co/DNcHEqimxb— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) August 18, 2019Trump again admits the tariffs China was supposedly paying are actually borne by U.S. companies -- this time while talking about Applehttps://t.co/0DSIqZJKm6— Aaron Blake (@AaronBlake) August 19, 2019🤯Here, President Trump says Apple is paying the tariffs, which makes it harder to compete w Samsung. Previously he said China is paying the tariffs. & Navarro said yesterday China is paying the entire cost of the tariffs & they’re having no effect on US companies and consumers. Read the rest

The Mooch is gonna organize a team of disgruntled former cabinet officials to take down our unhinged and unqualified President. That'd be Donald Trump.The Hill:Former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci said on Monday that he’s assembling a team of former Cabinet members to speak out against President Trump in an effort to find a Republican challenger to the president in 2020.“I'm in the process of putting together a team of people that feel the exact same way that I do. This is not a ‘Never Trump’ situation, this is not just screeching rhetoric. This is, 'OK, the guy's unstable, everyone inside knows it, everyone outside knows it, let’s see if we can find a viable alternative,'” Scaramucci said Monday on CNN’s “New Day.”“Moreover, I’ve got to get some of these former Cabinet officials in unity to speak up about it.” Scaramucci would not reveal names of former officials that he said feel that Trump is unstable. But he said he expects more to come out publicly in upcoming months. Read the rest

Kan was clear: snatch the pebble and GTFO. Read the rest

Science babies, science.MedScape:Adding nuts to a regular diet significantly improves orgasmic function and sexual desire in healthy young men, according to the FERTINUTS study.The randomized controlled trial, which was recently published in Nutrients, showed a significant increase in the orgasmic function (P = .037) and sexual desire (P = .040) of men of reproductive age who received the nut intervention in comparison with an age-matched control group.The researchers found no significant between-group differences in changes during the intervention in erectile function (P = .192), intercourse satisfaction (P = .473), and overall satisfaction (P = .333). In addition, there were no significant correlations between changes in erectile dysfunction parameters and in biochemical parameters during the intervention, write Albert Salas-Huetos, PhD, from University Rovira i Virgili, Reus, Spain, and colleagues."None of the possible mechanisms explored (nitric oxide and E-selectin, as surrogate markers of endothelial function) seem to explain the beneficial effects observed on orgasmic function and sexual desire," they write. They add that the study "did not provide enough evidence to support the main mechanism for these improvements, however, an absence of evidence does not mean evidence of no effect." Read the rest

Mister Rogers sings "Won't You Be My Neighbor?" on the February 19, 1968 debut of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood and then on the final episode August 31, 2001. Read the rest

A judge says that NYPD officer Daniel Pantaleo should be fired for his “reckless” use of a banned chokehold—and for lying about it after his victim Eric Garner, an unarmed black man selling cigarettes on the street, died.The judge, Rosemarie Maldonado, who has recommended that Officer Pantaleo be fired, concluded that he had been “untruthful” during the interview, according to the opinion that grew out of a departmental trial that ended in June. A final decision about Officer Pantaleo’s fate rests with the police commissioner, and will come five years after the death of Mr. Garner — who uttered “I can’t breathe” 11 times — first galvanized the Black Lives Matter movementPictured here is Eric with his family. Read the rest

It's the case of the vomiting vultures: a vacation home returned to only to find it occupied by vultures, and all the things that come out of vultures.Siobhan Casimano described the smell as “like a thousand rotting corpses.” The vultures have destroyed screen enclosures and have overtaken the pool and barbecue. The few times the family has visited, they’ve had to park their car in the garage to avoid the birds pecking at them with their beaks.It gets worse, because someone is feeding the vultures, because of course they are, it's Florida.“Imagine 20 vultures trapped, biting each other — and they can bite through bones,” she said. “They would bang against my windows running away from a bird that was attacking them. Blood was everywhere. It was a vile, vicious, traumatic event. And it was Memorial Day, so no company I called would come out to help me.” Read the rest

In 1983, a crew of young, DIY documentarians visited Long Island's Roosevelt Field Mall to study mall culture. This is Mall City. (via r/ObscureMedia) Read the rest

Whether you're running low on ammo defending Wyoming from antifa or tearing toward the Canadian border while your passenger plinks out the orange lightbars of the pursuing Trumpstapo, baby's butt will be smooth and clean. [via Joel]• Fast-Deploy Wipe Pouch – Holds a single pack of standard disposable wipes and features a wipe dispenser slot under the flap• MOLLE-Compatible Design – Tactical baby wipe holder designed for modular customization; MOLLE-compatible with all your accessories and patches• Effortless Reloading – Quickly resupply whenever you’re running low thanks to the seamless zipper closure and smart open-front design Tactical Baby Gear MOLLE Baby Wipe Pouch 2.0 (Black) [Amazon link] Read the rest

Usually I like to find something to start Monday that reflects our growing sense of anxiety and unease at the accelerating failure of the American Republic, but his week I've got a nice relaxing video of Andy Phillip turning a big ol' chunk o' stump into an attractive vase on the lathe. Enjoy! Read the rest

Want to keep the dentist away? A little tooth care at morning and night isn't bad, but it won't keep the stains from smoking or fried foods at bay for long. If you enjoy your food and want to avoid the consequences, an upgrade from that old analog toothbrush can make a huge difference.Among sonic toothbrushes, there are not many contenders like the Aquasonic toothbrush. And the Aquasonic PRO is definitely worth the investment.The brush packs 40,000 vibrations per minute, which might be a little intimidating if you've never tried an ultrasonic brush. Luckily, you can ease in with a soft mode for gentle cleaning. There are four modes in all, including a massage setting for gum care.When you're done, the space-saving rinse cup doubles as a wireless charger for the lithium-ion battery. And the entire setup is good to go for vacations, thanks to a travel case that holds two extra brushes.The Aquasonic PRO Toothbrush includes 6 ProFlex Brush Heads, Wireless Charging Glass & Case for $54.99 - a full 45% off the MSRP. Read the rest

The 2019 World Science Fiction Convention is being held in Dublin, and tonight, the con presented the annual Hugo Awards, voted on by the attendees and supporters of this year's con.The winners included:Best Novel: The Calculating Stars, by Mary Robinette Kowal (Tor)Best Novella: Artificial Condition, by Martha Wells (Tor.com publishing) Best Novelette: "If at First You Don’t Succeed, Try, Try Again,” by Zen Cho (B&N Sci-Fi and Fantasy Blog, 29 November 2018)Best Short Story: “A Witch’s Guide to Escape: A Practical Compendium of Portal Fantasies,” by Alix E. Harrow (Apex Magazine, February 2018) Best Series: Wayfarers, by Becky Chambers (Hodder & Stoughton / Harper Voyager) Best Related Work: Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative WorksBest Graphic Story: Monstress, Volume 3: Haven, written by Marjorie Liu, art by Sana Takeda (Image Comics) Best Professional Editor (Short Form): Gardner DozoisBest Professional Editor, Long Form: Navah Wolfe Best Professional Artist: Charles Vess Best Semiprozine: Uncanny MagazineBest Fanzine: Lady BusinessBest Fancast: Our Opinions Are CorrectBest Fan Writer: Foz Meadows Best Fan Artist: Likhain (Mia Sereno)Best Art Book: The Books of Earthsea: The Complete Illustrated Edition, illustrated by Charles Vess, written by Ursula K. Le Guin (Saga Press / Gollancz) Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book: Children of Blood and Bone, by Tomi Adeyemi (Henry Holt / Macmillan Children’s Books) John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer: Jeannette NgBest Dramatic Presentation, Long Form: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, screenplay by Phil Lord and Rodney Rothman, directed by Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey and Rodney Rothman (Sony) Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form: The Good Place: “Janet(s),” written by Josh Siegal & Dylan Morgan, directed by Morgan Sackett (NBC)"I see you. Read the rest

The Koch brothers are quite an enigma: on the one hand, they owe their vast fortune to extremely long-range planning: Charles Koch is famously contemptuous of entrepreneurs who take their companies public, believing that the public markets insist on such short timescales that they undermine real growth; and he grew his father's hydrocarbon empire by investing heavily in automation systems with extremely long amortization schedules.But cutting against this commitment to a hyper-rationalist, long-range thinking is the brothers' slavish devotion to neoliberal orthodoxy and a reflexive, irrational phobia of state intervention, despite that fact that states are often an important long-range counterforce to the short-termism of the markets.Where these two forces collide, the results are bizarre: the application of the Kochs' long-term thinking to heading off any kind of long-term planning by states. Nowhere is this more manifest than in the Kochs' overt and covert campaign against climate science, whose rationalist, empirical conclusion is that urgent, coordinated, non-market action is a hard requirement to avert a catastrophe that could result in the extinction of the human species (which would also result in significant falls in the Kochs' fortunes). There is no rational version of long-range thinking that says that climate denial will produce a good outcome; the majority of climate denial is centered around the kind of short-termism that Koch deplores, where the returns to capital over a couple quarters are more important than the long-term ruination of firms, enterprises (and civilizations).In Kochland: The Secret History of Koch Industries and Corporate Power in America, veteran investigative business journalist Christopher Leonard delivers a deep (700+ page) look at the Kochs, revealing newly unearthed evidence of the Kochs' involvement in the very earliest stirrings of organized, corporate climate denial campaigns, providing the black money for the first climate denial events and publications. Read the rest

Virtual Vultan, Prince of the Hawkmen is less popular but no less awesome than the Jack Burton-bot. Read the rest

Phil Torrone from Adafruit told us about Consumers Should Immediately...: "This uses a live data feed from The United States Consumer Product Safety Commission (USCPSC) to randomly display thousands of products recalled for reasons such as fire, electrocution, entrapment, choking and a variety of other unintended dangers. Every two minutes the embedded screen lists the name of the product, the identified danger, the product manufacturer, and the original recall date. The electronics are enclosed in an actual recalled children’s unicorn boot, along with an embedded rechargeable battery, allowing for an uninterrupted stream of recalled products in any location." Read the rest

If your office works at all, it uses Microsoft Office. Those icons for Word, PowerPoint, and Outlook are as familiar around some workplaces as the coffee machine. So familiar, in fact, that they get taken for granted - and rarely used to their full potential.Whether you need a crash course in the essential tools of Office or you really want to jumpstart your productivity, the Mega Microsoft Office 2019 Course Bundle can open up loads of new uses for your favorite platforms.What you get is a comprehensive look at the most popular software apps for Office, suitable for beginners but useful to even old hands at the stuff. Courses on Word and PowerPoint will spotlight tons of time-saving shortcuts, while those on Outlook will teach how to customize and streamline your email. You'll make tighter spreadsheets quicker with Excel, set up cleaner databases with Access, and even learn how platforms like VBA can link up with those spreadsheets and automate your work.It's 11 courses in all, packed with 120 hours of videos and exercises. Get the Mega Microsoft Office 2019 Course Bundle for $39 today. Read the rest

Yes, really.Although we're deep in the heat of summer, Hormel Foods is busy promoting their new fall pork product: Pumpkin Spice Spam. That's (sp)iced h(am) spiced with cinnamon, clove, allspice, and nutmeg. For a limited time, you'll be able to get cans of it at Walmart and the Spam online store come September 23. CNN reports that "Spam recommends topping waffles with it, adding it to a fall vegetable hash or baking it into a cornbread muffin." (No, thank you.) Read the rest

Porthcawl in Wales will install public toilets with systems to prevent people from having sex inside including an alarm, doors that spring open, and a water sprayer. It seems the possibility of false alarms makes this a real, er, shitty idea. From CNN:Movement sensors inside the toilets will respond to "violent" activity, while weight sensors will be installed to detect the entrance of more than one person, triggering the deterrent measures. The toilets have also been designed to prevent rough sleepers taking shelter inside: If a user remains in the toilet for too long, a warning message will play, while the lights and heating will switch off.Weight sensitive floors to detect more than 1 user? What baseline weight are they using? I'm easily the weight of 2 teenagers! And what about people who need assistance? I have to go in with my kids. Porthcawl public toilet plan includes anti-sex measures https://t.co/un00GEjO04— Leah (@Leah_B_H) August 16, 2019 This is absolutely terrifying. I'm a disabled person who falls a lot and occasionally needs assistance. Am I going to have to need to start looking up whether I'll be able to use public conveniences without violent and humiliating consequence, because of moral panic?— GNU/sophia (@pylonfan) August 16, 2019 Read the rest

It's a great time to be a maker. 3D printers are on store shelves for anyone to buy, and coder kits like Arduino and Raspberry Pi are letting kids as young as 9 or 10 dive into the Internet of Things. Here are a few examples of our favorite tech toys, all priced low enough that even a mad scientist in training can afford them.RoboxDualâ„¢ 3D PrinterThis workhorse printer is designed to get you creating right out of the box with an impressive dual-head system that allows you to print with two materials at once. Operation is clean and safe for even first-time students, and there are no stray strings on your design thanks to nozzles that cut off the flow of material before pulling away. Pick up the RoboxDualâ„¢ 3D Printer for $449.99, almost 70% off the list price. Toybox 3D Printer Deluxe BundleHere's one toybox that won't ever run out of toys. Designed for kids but full-featured, this 3D printer gives you access to a catalog of blueprints and the option to upload your own inventions to a companion app. The Toybox 3D Printer Deluxe Bundle is now $314.99, more than 30% off the original cost.Elecrow Raspberry Pi 3 Starter KitRaspberry Pi systems are already a great introduction to computers and DIY gadget-making, and this kit makes that intro even more painless. The LCD touchscreen and multiple display modes allow you to surf the web your way, from scratch. Grab an Elecrow Raspberry Pi 3 Starter Kit now for $108. Read the rest

McMansion Hell (previously) continues to tear through America's most affluent ZIP codes with trenchant commentary on realtors' listings for terrible monster homes; in the current edition, critic Kate Wagner visits Campbell County, Wyoming, home to some of the most ill-considered monstrosities in America. As always, she is laugh-aloud funny as she tackles the "Divorce Lawyer house," a 6,000 square foot house from 2002, listed for a mere $700k. Read the rest

Leaked emails reveal that Washington state rep Matt Shea has "close ties" with Team Rugged, a white nationalist/Christian fundamentalist terror organization that trains children, teens and young men to fight in an apocalyptic race-war against Muslims and communists.In a leaked email, Team Rugged leader Patrick Caughran describes its mission as "[providing] patriotic and biblical training on war for young men...There will be scenarios where every participant will have to fight against one of the most barbaric enemies that are invading our country, Muslims terrorists." The training included knife, pistol and rifle combat. Team Rugged's ideology comes from the white nationalist preacher John Weaver, whose writings glorified the Confederacy and slavery and condemns "interracial" marriage.Shea had already openly supported Team Rugged and appeared with child soldiers the group had trained in promotional videos, praising their training, saying, "I love the fact that you guys looked like almost an acrobatic special-forces team out there." Shea had also acknowledged his authorship of "Biblical Basis for War," a manifesto calling for a "holy war" (he denied that it was a manifesto and claimed instead that it was a "sermon" about "war in the Old Testament").However, leaked emails and messages from Team Rugged's Facebook group have revealed that Shea's ties with the group run deeper than suspected. The state House of Reps has hired private investigators to produce a report on Shea's promotion of terrorism.Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich, who has urged fellow Republicans to denounce Shea as an extremist, compared Team Rugged to the Hitler Youth of Nazi Germany. Read the rest

Crystal Liu is the actor who plays Mulan in Disney's live-action reboot; on Weibo, she has been publishing messages in support of the Hong Kong police, who have been brutally attacking pro-Democracy protesters and tacitly collaborating with organized crime gangs.Her Weibo messages included "I support Hong Kong's police, you can beat me up now" and "What a shame for Hong Kong." She's been using the hashtag "#IAlsoSupportTheHongKongPolice." In China, state media outlets have made memes out of Liu's statements and are circulating them widely.In response, supporters of the Hong Kong protests have called for a boycott of the Mulan reboot, and #BoycottMulan is trending on multiple platforms.The boycott was initiated by users of Lihkg, a Reddit-style online discussion forum in Hong Kong that has somewhat served as information central for the leader-less protest movement, wielding notable mobilization capability and members/readers across all ages and walks of life — including local police monitoring the posts to gather intelligence. Members of the Lihkg community have organized local protests and demonstrations and launched GoFundMe operations for overseas promotions of the movement that have raised millions.While the Hong Kong box office is tiny compared with the mammoth Chinese one, the world’s second largest, the boycott's organizers appear to be hoping for international support for their campaign, calling for worldwide filmgoers “who support freedom and democracy” to join in.The boycotters’ complaints were not only directed at Liu, but also at Disney. Some users of Lihkg expressed their dismay with the entertainment conglomerate for hiring someone who they believed "condones violence" and "suppresses people who are fighting for democracy and freedom but curries favor from powerful authorities," writing that “the image of Disney will be tarnished” and “Disney, you can do better."Hong Kong Protestors Call for Disney Boycott After 'Mulan' Star Voices Support for Police Crackdown [Karen Chu and Patrick Brzeski/Hollywood Reporter] Read the rest

And check out the book she was reading.

The solution to gun violence is putting mentally ill people in those detention camps, too. Right out of the Nazi playbook, illegitimate U.S. president Donald Trump today said it's time to put the Lebensunwertes Leben, the useless eaters as Hitler called them, where they belong. In detention centers, along with the refugee children.Reporter: What executive actions are you prepared to take on guns?Trump: I do want people to remember the words 'mental illness'. These people are mentally ill.. I think we have to start building institutions again.. We can't let these people be on the streetsReporter: What executive actions are you prepared to take on guns?Trump: I do want people to remember the words 'mental illness'. These people are mentally ill.. I think we have to start building institutions again.. We can't let these people be on the streets pic.twitter.com/t4kBmw00JZ— POLITICO (@politico) August 15, 2019President Trump suggests opening more mental institutions to deal with mass shootings https://t.co/Nfx2YRUlFZ pic.twitter.com/5eFWjPNbMT— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) August 15, 2019How dare you put the problem in our country on “lack of institutions” for people with “mental illness” when you won’t even admit our legacy of white supremacy. https://t.co/Ibdj7UPzEO— Kaitlin Curtice (@KaitlinCurtice) August 15, 2019It's almost like they're trying to expand the groups of people Americans are willing to accept as belonging in prison camps. https://t.co/UxW2dd3SnO— Matt Bors (@MattBors) August 15, 2019Trump today — over opposition of medical groups, who say he’s wrong and missing the point — again tried to link gun violence to mental illness and called for bringing back mental institutions. Read the rest

44-year-old actress Emmy Tayler lives in Oxford, UK

Trump said to have floated idea of buying ice-covered autonomous Danish territory between North Atlantic and Arctic oceans

The Electronic Frontier Foundation has announced the winners of this year's Pioneer Award (rechristened the "Barlow" in honor of EFF co-founder John Perry Barlow: sf writer William Gibson, anthropologist danah boyd, and activists Oakland Privacy.The Barlows will be awarded at a ceremony in San Francisco on Sept 12, emceed by Adam "Mythbusters" Savage. Tickets for the Pioneer Awards are $65 for current EFF members, or $75 for non-members.I'll be there!danah boyd has consistently been one of the world’s smartest researchers, thinkers, and writers about how technology impacts society, especially for teens and young people. Currently, boyd is focused on detecting and mitigating vulnerabilities in sociotechnical systems. To better understand these vulnerabilities, boyd has been examining the challenges surrounding the 2020 U.S. Census. In 2013, boyd created Data & Society, an independent nonprofit research institute that is committed to identifying thorny problems at the intersection of technology, culture, and community, and advances understanding of the implications of data technologies and automation. danah’s most recent books—“It’s Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens” and “Participatory Culture in a Networked Age”—examine the intersection of everyday life and social media, and have helped families around the world navigate technologies like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram. In addition to her work as a partner researcher at Data & Society, boyd is also Principal Researcher at Microsoft Research and a Visiting Professor at New York University.William Gibson coined the term “cyberspace.” Neuromancer, his first novel, won the Hugo Award, the Nebula Award, and the Philip K. Read the rest

Tabloid reporters must live in a constant state of paranoia if this week’s offerings are any indication.

There are many reasons one may not have the ability to open a jar. This Robo Twist has lowered my usefulness around my mother's kitchen.It is loud, but the jars get opened. Can't have it all.Robo Twist Jar Opener via Amazon Read the rest

I made this chart after reading about Opaque Couche. Read the rest

Several injured when black pickup truck drove into protesters at Donald W. Wyatt Detention Facility on Wednesday night.

A Florida woman who "pulled a small alligator from her yoga pants" was sentenced to probation after admitting four charges related to illegally possessing wild animals.Florida prosecutors say a Charlotte County sheriff’s deputy stopped a pickup truck in May after it ran a stop sign. The driver, 22-year-old driver Michael Clemons, told the deputy he and his 25-year-old passenger, Ariel Machan-Le Quire, were collecting frogs and snakes under an overpass. He gave the deputy permission to search bags in the truck. When the deputy found 41 3-stripe turtles in a “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle” backpack, he asked if Machan-Le Quire had anything else. She pulled the 1-foot (0.3-meter) gator from her pants.After all these years, they finally found the interior crodocile alligator, driving a Chevrolet movie theater. Read the rest

A Federal appeals court today upheld an order that requires Trump immigration authorities with the US Customs and Border Patrol to provide detained migrant kids with the humane basics: food, water, bedding, toothbrushes, soap, and conditions in which children can be expected to sleep.“Assuring that children eat enough edible food, drink clean water, are housed in hygienic facilities with sanitary bathrooms, have soap and toothpaste, and are not sleep-deprived are without doubt essential to the children’s safety,” said the court. A lot of ICE agents are gonna haz a sad tonight, as will Donald Trump's White House concentration camp advocate Stephen Miller.From Maura Dolan at the Los Angeles Times:A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected an appeal by the Trump administration to an order by a federal judge in Los Angeles who found the government was violating a 1997 settlement by failing to provide detained minors with safe and sanitary conditions.U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee issued the order in 2017 after finding that minors in U.S. Customs and Border Protection custody were held in conditions that deprived them of sleep and did not have adequate food, clean water or basic hygiene items. The settlement, known as the Flores agreement, required the children be given safe and sanitary quarters.The government appealed, arguing the order changed the settlement agreement. The original settlement said nothing about allowing children to sleep or wash themselves with soap, the federal government said.The 9th Circuit disagreed, saying the enumerated items ordered by the judge fell under the settlement’s requirement that children be kept in safe and sanitary conditions. Read the rest