Romain Langlois sculpted this enormous forbidden snack out of bronze, carefully texturizing it to take on the appearance of a boulder cracked-open to reveal a delicious gooey interior. It's at the Artistics gallery in Paris and part of a series of similar works. If you have to ask, you can't afford it. Read the rest

In 1996, Intel released USB (Universal Serial Bus) 1.0 and we have been annoyed ever since. National Public Radio spoke with engineer Ajay Bhatt who led the team that unleashed the perpetually frustrating non-reversible plug on the world. From NPR:"The biggest annoyance is reversibility," Bhatt told NPR. Nonetheless, he stands by his design.Turns out there's a very specific reason for the USB's lack of reversibility.A USB that could plug in correctly both ways would have required double the wires and circuits, which would have then doubled the cost.The Intel team led by Bhatt anticipated the user frustration and opted for a rectangular design and a 50-50 chance to plug it in correctly, versus a round connector with less room for error..."In hindsight, based on all the experiences that we all had, of course it was not as easy as it should be," Bhatt said. Read the rest

Simplified racing with weapons: it's not all about Super Mario Kart. the genre is surprisingly diverse and persistent, all the way back to the mid-70s. The genre got very crowded, very fast at the turn of the century. Roughly two dozen kart racers came out across all platforms from 1999 to 2001. Every man and his dog who had a decent character license decided simultaneously that a generic kart racer was the best video game investment. As a result, we had kart games for Woody Woodpecker, Mickey Mouse, Looney Tunes, South Park, The Muppets, LEGO, Nickelodeon, Star Wars, The Smurfs, Crash Bandicoot, Konami, and more.Most of these were either irredeemably terribleIt got to the point where cart racers were as abundant and formulaic as MUGEN fighting games. But people were paying money for them! Until they weren't, that is. Read the rest

The "business analytics" firm Mixpanel has released its figures estimating the total usage of Facebook (liking, sharing and posting) since the Cambridge Analytica scandal broke; they showed usage falling off 10% in the first month following from the news of the scandal, and continuing to fall, with overall usage down by 20% since April 2018. Mixpanel's figures roughly coincide with Emarketer's stats, which have daily usage-minutes falling from 41 minutes/day/user in 2017 to 38 now.Facebook's own figures are much rosier: the company claims increases in daily and monthly active users over the same period. Facebook's figures are not subject to independent scrutiny. Facebook previously engaged in widespread, systemic, long-term usage-statistics fraud.It's possible to reconcile the gap between Facebook's picture of increased usage and independent auditors' claims of a decline: it may be that people still feel like the must use Facebook to coordinate with other Facebook users (they are unable to overcome the collective action problem of convincing their friends to leave Facebook all at once and shift their discussions of their little league games, family reunions and rare diseases somewhere else), but they no longer use it to "share" with friends, only to perform the utility functions that they must use the service for.Sadly, it's likely that users who do leave Facebook will take their business to Instagram (a Facebook subsidiary); not least because Facebook has used the dirtiest of dirty tricks to crush rivals like Snapchat, depriving their users of an escape to a superior service. Read the rest

"Let's follow the power cord and see where it goes," the narrator says, and you know it's going to be good, but then find out that it's really good.Here's an update from 7 years later: Read the rest

While I travel, one of the biggest pains in the ass that I fret over is the possibility of having to get my hardware repaired. This past winter, the closest Apple-certified repair depot to where my wife and I set up camp (the work laptop supplied to me is a MacBook Pro,) was three hours away. Just taking my laptop in to drop it off is a six-hour round trip. I could have it shipped off, but that takes an ass load of time as well. According to The Verge, this pain-in-the-ass could very well be demoted to a simple pain-in-the-neck: Moving forward, 1,000 Best Buy stores across the United States will be able to fix all of the Apple-branded shit that I can't.From The Verge:Best Buy has offered Apple repairs at many locations for some time now, but the completed expansion brings that number up to nearly 1,000 stores. “Best Buy’s Geek Squad has nearly 7,600 newly Apple-certified technicians ready to make same-day iPhone repairs or to service other Apple products,” Apple said in a press release. There are Best Buy stores in neighborhoods that might not have an Apple presence, so this is a nice option to have at the ready. Most Best Buy locations have Apple showcase sections with the company’s iOS devices, MacBooks, HomePod, and other products.At its own stores, Apple has recently been pushing to speed up keyboard repairs for its MacBook, MacBook Air, and MacBook Pro laptops, promising a next-day turnaround in many cases. Read the rest

Can't help but get choked up watching Freddie Mercury belt out this recently unearthed, and undeniably poignant, "Time Waits For No One:""For the first time ever, after four decades buried deep in the vaults, a previously unreleased version of ‘Time’, recorded in 1986 by Freddie Mercury for the concept album of the hit musical of the same name, has finally emerged after two years of work by the globally successful musician, songwriter and producer Dave Clark, a long-time friend of Freddie’s, using the song’s full title, ‘Time Waits For No One’."Goosebumps. Read the rest

Does your résumé need an upgrade? These online learning bundles teach everything from project management skills to music production, and they're all on deep discount as part of our semi-annual sale. Take a gander:The Complete Learn to Code Master Class Bonus BundleNo matter what the program, this 11-course overview will have you fluent in its most important functionalities. You'll get deep dives into Javascript, Python, Ruby and more - all geared toward first-time programmers. The Complete Learn to Code Master Class Bonus Bundle is now $25, down from the previous sale price of $59.The Ultimate Logic Pro X Music Production BundleEverybody's got a song in them, and Logic Pro X is the best way to bring it out. You'll learn to mix and produce everything from home podcasts to hit songs, and even get pointers on music theory so you can write your own. Pick up the Ultimate Logic Pro X Music Production Bundle for $19, on sale from the already-discounted price of $29.The Cloud Computing Architect Certification BundleKnowing how to navigate the cloud means knowing how to build critical, safe infrastructure for any business. Get that knowledge with this package that includes tips on specific applications for AWS and Google Cloud. The Cloud Computing Architect Certification Bundle is now $29, formerly $59 on sale.Complete Microsoft Azure Certification Prep Bundle 2019Microsoft Azure is one of the top cloud platforms used by Fortune 500 companies, and this bundle not only gives you a valuable walkthrough on how to implement it - it gets you certified as an expert. Read the rest

Jeff Crilly and his friends were participating in a mako shark fishing tournament off the Jersey Coast when a different kind of shark came by for a snack of chum. Yes, they're gonna need a bigger boat. John Chisholm, a shark expert at the Massachusetts Division of Fish and Wildlife, estimates the 16- to 18-foot Great White weighs as much as 3,500 pounds. From the Asbury Park Press: Chisholm keeps a running database of great white sharks he's identified by certain features, such as markings. Crilly's shark had white markings on its gills, which Chisholm found no matches for in the hundreds of sharks logged in the database. "She wasn't in there. I was able to determine it was a new shark and if we ever see it again, we'll be able to identify her," Chisholm said. Chisholm invited Crilly to name the animal and he dubbed her Sherri. After his mom. Read the rest

"What if he never left? What if we locked him out here with us?"July 4. Read the rest

Idiot in car drives in circles around a supermarket parking while a cop on foot tries to shoot out the car's tires in the presence of bystanders.I don't know who's the bigger idiot here... from r/IdiotsInCars[via IdiotsInCars] Read the rest

Here's an amazingly huge collection of "tape experimentation, industrial, avant-garde, indy, rock, diy, subvertainment and auto-hypnotic materials" posted to archive.org. Completists who want this on a hard drive or USB stick can download the entire collection in a tar file here. Here's the torrent file.This collection is a compilation of underground/independently-released cassette tapes from the days when the audio cassette was the standard method of music sharing... generally the mid-eighties through early-nineties. The material represented includes tape experimentation, industrial, avant-garde, indy, rock, diy, subvertainment and auto-hypnotic materials. Much of this material defies category, and has therefore not been given one. The bulk of the tapes in this library were donated to the project by former CKLN FM radio host Myke Dyer in August of 2009. The original NOISE-ARCH site was hosted and maintained by Graham Stewart and Mark Lougheed. [via Obscure Media] Read the rest

Despite all they've achieved for Trump and Putin, it really does seem like The End is beginning for the National Russian Association.The NRA's woes got woe-er today, as group accused its second-in-command and top lobbyist Christopher W. Cox of complicity in the recent failed coup against chief executive Wayne LaPierre. From the New York Times:The accusation came in a lawsuit filed Wednesday night in New York State Supreme Court against Oliver North, the N.R.A.’s former president, who led the attempt to oust Mr. LaPierre shortly before the group’s annual convention in April. The complaint provides fresh detail about the effort against Mr. LaPierre, but it is the involvement of the organization’s No. 2 official, Christopher, W. Cox, that will reverberate.In the suit, the N.R.A. said that text messages and emails demonstrated that “another errant N.R.A. fiduciary, Chris Cox — once thought by some to be a likely successor for Mr. LaPierre — participated” in what was described as a conspiracy.The court filing includes text exchanges in which Mr. Cox and a board member appear to be discussing an effort to oust Mr. LaPierre, though the full context is unclear. The N.R.A. is conducting an internal review of the matter, and a spokesman, Andrew Arulanandam, said on Thursday that Mr. Cox had “been placed on administrative leave.”Responding to the accusations against him, Cox said in a statement today: The allegations against me are offensive and patently false. For over 24 years I have been a loyal and effective leader in this organization. Read the rest

Dozens of demodex mites live inside the pores of your face skin. The little arachnids are fairly harmless, feasting on sebum by day, and crawling across your face to find other demodex mites to mate with.[via The Kid Should See This] Read the rest

I've been using my Weber Rapid Fire Chimney Starter for about 7 or 8 years. It's the best way to get charcoal barbecues started. No starter fluid needed. Just add the briquettes, put two crumpled sheets of newspaper (I save newsprint junk mail for this) in the bottom, then light the paper. In about 30-40 minutes, the coals are ready. Amazon has it on sale today for . Read the rest

Use the first reset sequence if:Your bulbs are running on firmware version 2.8 or later (you can find your bulb firmware version by tapping on the device in your C by GE app).We recommend counting with Mississippi (1 Mississippi, 2 Mississippi, 3 Mississippi, etc.).Start with your bulb off for at least 5 seconds.1. Turn on for 8 seconds2. Turn off for 2 seconds3. Turn on for 8 seconds4. Turn off for 2 seconds5. Turn on for 8 seconds6. Turn off for 2 seconds7. Turn on for 8 seconds8. Turn off for 2 seconds9. Turn on for 8 seconds10. Turn off for 2 seconds11. Turn onBulb will flash on and off 3 times if it has been successfully reset.If the factory reset above was unsuccessful, you might have an older version of the C by GE bulb. Please follow the instructions below to reset.Bulb Reset Sequence – for firmware version 2.7 or earlier:We recommend counting with Mississippi (1 Mississippi, 2 Mississippi, 3 Mississippi, etc.).Start with your bulb off for at least 5 seconds.1. Turn on for 8 seconds2. Turn off for 2 seconds3. Turn on for 2 seconds4. Power off for 2 seconds5. Turn on for 2 seconds6. Power off for 2 seconds7. Turn on for 2 seconds8. Power off for 2 seconds9. Turn on for 8 seconds10. Power off for 2 seconds11. Read the rest

The classic pressure cooker was the instant pot before there was an instant pot.Want to turn shoe-leather style brisket into a wonderful pulled-beef sandwich filling in 25 minutes? Get out the pressure cooker. Simply throw food in the pot, make sure you've got a good seal, and let it cook.This pressure cooker easily stores with your pots and pans. It is simple to clean, easy to use and I haven't found anything that makes me wish for an instant pot.A pressure cooker has been a fantastic addition to my car camping kit.T-fal P2614634 Secure Aluminum Initiatives 12-PSI Pressure Cooker Cookware, 6-Quart, Siver via Amazon Read the rest

New York's Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) seems to be pretty open to sexually related ads, like this one for a mail order Viagra company: View this post on InstagramA post shared by Advertisements in NYC (@advertisements_in_nyc) on Jul 19, 2018 at 3:30pm PDT But the MTA rejected ads for Dame, which makes sex toys for women. From TNW:In September 2018, the MTA approved of Dame’s tasteful and balanced ad campaigns which featured their products, slogans such as, “Toys, for sex,” and testimonials from customers. But by late November, after Dame had reportedly spent $150,000 on the campaign, the MTA had rejected Dame’s ads citing it had updated its own guidelines preventing sexually oriented businesses from advertising.Examples of rejected Dame ads:Dame's response: "So, we’re suing the MTA. NYC’s transit agency perpetuates a harmful double standard. They rejected Dame’s exciting new subway ad campaign, citing vague and sexist reasons. Their message: There’s plenty of space for erectile dysfunction drugs, but none for innovators making sex enjoyable for women. So we’re going to court to #DerailSexism!" Read the rest

Formed in 2014 by civilian volunteers caught up in the depravity of the Syrian Civil War, the Syrian Civil Defense (SCD), commonly known as The White Helmets, worked to move vulnerable non-combatants from harm's way. They delivered essential services such as first aid and the delivery of humanitarian supplies to areas that foreign NGOs fear to tread. It's thought that since the SCD's inception, they've been responsible for saving well over 100,000 lives, with 204 White Helmet volunteers dying in the process. At most, those working the debris fields of what were once proud Syrian cities on behalf of the SCD were paid $150, per month. Aside from this stipend, it's largely thankless, incredibly dangerous work. For their efforts, the White Helmets came under threat from the Syrian government and their influence-horny Russian allies. With much of the financial and logistical support that had been offered to them by the west drying up as the Syrian Civil War wound down, SCD volunteers were left with few safe places to hide, few resources and seemingly, few allies. Then, something amazing happened.As reported by the BBC, in July of 2018, the Israeli military yoinked 100 White Helmet volunteers and their families--a total of 422 people--out from under the noses of the Syrian military and their allies. The Kingdom of Jordan was cool with giving the White Helmets a place to hang, so long as it was on a short-term basis. Canada offered to grant 10 of the White Helmets and their families asylum. Read the rest

After eight years, Marijuana Pepsi Vandyck has earned her PhD in higher education from Cardinal Stritch University. And yes, Marijuana Pepsi is her real given name. From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:Her mother, Maggie (Brandy) Johnson, who still lives in Beloit, (Wisconsin) picked out her name and proclaimed that it would take her around the world. Her sisters, one older and one younger, got relatively common names, Kimberly and Robin.Teachers, classmates, bosses and other people in Marijuana's life pushed back against her name and teased her. Some suggested she go to court and change it. Some flat out refused to call her that or insisted on Mary, which she rejected.As much as people blamed and judged her mother for the name, Marijuana credits her mom with making her the strong, balanced, entrepreneurial woman she is today...But mostly she embraces the name as proof that you can overcome any obstacle in life and achieve your dreams...It's fitting that an African American woman who has gone through life as Marijuana Pepsi chose as her dissertation topic: "Black names in white classrooms: Teacher behaviors and student perceptions.""Yes, her name really is Marijuana Pepsi, and now she's Dr. Marijuana Pepsi to you" by Jim Stingl (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel) Read the rest

Grayson Fritts, a Tennessee detective and pastor of what appears to be a very intolerant church, gave an awful sermon asking for the murder of LBGTQ community members. Knox County has offered a string of excuses, while apparently allowing Fritts a payout for retiring early.Cracker Barrel, however, won't let his congregation in.Cracker Barrel had this to say about an upcoming group event planned by Mr. Fritts "All Scripture Baptist Church:"We work hard every day to foster a culture that is welcoming and inclusive. Please see our full statement below. pic.twitter.com/1bpsJ0YmCn— Cracker Barrel (@CrackerBarrel) June 18, 2019 Read the rest

As part of research on how to make better prosthetic legs, Vanderbilt University engineers put people on a treadmill and made them stumble. Over and over. By better understanding peoples' stumble reflex, they hope to improve the computer-controlled stumble response in prosthetics. But to learn how people catch themselves, they had to trip them first. And that required building a stumble device into a treadmill. From Vanderbilt University: Andrés Martínez strode briskly on the treadmill, staring straight ahead and counting backwards by seven from 898, a trick to keep his brain from anticipating the literal stumbling block heading his way: a compact 35 pounds of steel specifically designed to make him fall.Special goggles kept him from looking down. Arrows on an eye-level screen kept him from walking off the sides. A harness attached to a ceiling beam kept him safe. Sure enough, when a computer program released the steel block, it glided onto the treadmill, and the Vanderbilt University PhD student struggled to stay on his feet...“Not only did our treadmill device have to trip them, it had to trip them at specific points in their gait,” said Shane King, a PhD student and lead author on the paper. “People stumble differently depending on when their foot hits a barrier. The device also had to overcome their fear of falling, so they couldn’t see or feel when the block was coming.”"A novel system for introducing precisely-controlled, unanticipated gait perturbations for the study of stumble recovery" (Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation) Read the rest

And I thought the people with six fingers on one hand were impressive! Watch below. Read the rest

VidAngel bought off-the-shelf DVDs, censored them, then offered them for resale.Engadget:A jury has ordered "family-friendly" movie service VidAngel to pay $62.4 million to Hollywood studios for pirating their content. Disney, 20th Century Fox and Warner Bros. sued the company over copyright infringement. VidAngel bought retail DVDs of mainstream movies and ripped the video file. It pulled out adult content, cursing, sex and violent aspects and streamed the films to users. It claimed it was legally allowed to do this under the Family Entertainment And Copyright Act, which legalizes tech to censor certain aspects of movies, but the studios and the jury disagreed.Should the judgment hold up through appeals, that's probably enough to put VidAngel out of business, according to Variety, since it has $2.2 million in hand. When the studios sued the service, VidAngel entered into Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. VidAngel was forced to stop the aforementioned streaming practice a few years ago, though it's still around, running a service that pulls what it thinks are morally questionable parts out of Amazon Prime, HBO and Netflix shows and movies. Read the rest

This is the title sequence for The Roman Holidays, a Hanna-Barbera Productions cartoon that lasted for 13 episodes in 1972. It was quite similar to The Flintstones which itself was inspired by The Honeymooners. From Toonopedia:The show's title came from the setting (ancient Rome) and the protagonists' family name (Holiday, which was just ever so typical a family name back then). Dad's first name was Gus and Mom's was Laurie. They had a teenage daughter named Groovia, an in-house son-in-law named Happius (usually called Happy) and a younger daughter named Precocia. Their pet cat, Brutus (no relation), was actually a lion. Like modern nuclear family heads, Gus went to work every day, where his boss was Mr. Tycoonus, and came home each night to the Venus de Milo Arms, where his landlord was Mr. Evictus (Dom DeLuise! -ed.). (via r/ObscureMedia) Read the rest

Ceci n'est pas une ministre. It's a scammer in a silicone mask."Everything about the story is exceptional," said Delphine Meillet, lawyer to Mr Le Drian, who is now France's foreign minister. "They dared to take on the identity of a serving French minister. Then they called up CEOs and heads of government round the world and asked for vast amounts of money. The nerve of it!"Why Jean-Yves Le Drian was chosen has not been fully explained. A well-respected local politician is elevated to one of the most powerful positions in France, but keeps his head down and gets on with the job instead of making an international media personality of himself. The perfect target for a most audacious identity theft. Read the rest

If you've decided to investigate treatment options for your mental health, your health insurer will cheerfully refer you to a list of hundreds of providers -- but as STAT's Jack Turban discovered, this "network" of providers is actually a "ghost network," filled with wrong numbers that ring in McDonald's restaurants and jewelers. If you happen to reach an actual mental health professional, they'll probably tell you they're not accepting new patients.An NIH study tried calling 360 in-network Blue Cross Blue Shield providers in Houston, Chicago, and Boston, with a 74% failure rate -- that is, only 26% of those numbers rang in the office of a provider who would make an appointment. For pediatric psychiatrists, the failure rate rises to 83%.Maybe that's just a coincidence...but maybe not. A federal judge found that Unitedhealth was systematically, illegally gaming the system to deny mental health care to its insured customers in order to improve the company's profitability.It's not hard to find a shrink who'll see you -- for $250/hour. But the for-profit health-care industry is signally uninterested in helping Americans take care of their mental health, and since people struggling with mental health issues are often easily discouraged (this is literally a symptom of depression), these hurdles are likely to be terrific money-spinners for the companies and their shareholders. As Turban writes, "Imagine realizing (or acknowledging) that you have depression — a defining feature of which is loss of motivation — and start looking for a psychiatrist. After calling a McDonald’s, a jewelry store, and providers who say they don’t take your insurance but will be happy to see you for $250 per hour that you must pay out of pocket, you’ll likely be inclined to give up."Friedman told me a story about a Massachusetts parent who struggled to find an in-network psychiatrist for her son who was hearing voices. Read the rest

If you've been holding off on buying a Telsa Model 3 until you found out whether the car's arcade functionality was worth the electric ride's asking price, wait no more. In this video, The Verge breaks down its experience with the Model 3's in-car gaming system. From what I can see, you can have damn near the same player experience with an iPad and some duct tape in the drivers seat of a 1998 Volkswagen Jetta. Read the rest

YETI's insulated coolers are built like a tank and keep the stuff inside of them cold for eons. They are also prohibitively expensive--it's hard to justify spending hundreds on a piece of gear that many people may only use a few times every year. Happily, YouTuber Steve Wallis figured out how to make a cooler for under $100 that has similar cooling properties. if you've got the time, don't mind getting a bit dirty and would rather spend your cash on steaks than a container to keep said meat chilled, step right up and press play. Read the rest

The escalating tariff slap-fight between the United States of America and the People's Republic of China is messing with so many bottom lines that the only people playing the market and making bank are those with companies that make red ink in their portfolios. Even Apple, a company that pretty much prints its own damn money, isn't immune. In a week where Chinese telecom and computing giant Huawei declared that they'd be making billions less than forecasted, signs that the fruit flavored phone floggers may be looking to shift their operations away from mainland China have cropped up.From the Nikkei Asian Review:Apple has asked its major suppliers to evaluate the cost implications of shifting 15% to 30% of their production capacity from China to Southeast Asia as it prepares for a fundamental restructuring of its supply chain, the Nikkei Asian Review has learned.The California-based tech giant's request was triggered by the protracted trade tensions between Washington and Beijing, but multiple sources say that even if the spat is resolved there will be no turning back. Apple has decided the risks of relying so heavily on manufacturing in China, as it has done for decades, are too great and even rising, several people told Nikkei.The Nikkei Asian Review goes on to talk up the fact that a slowing birthrate, concerns over dependency on centralized production in one locale and rising labor costs are a part of driving Apple's wandering industrial eyes to look on over yonder. Read the rest

Look closely at that hanging lamp.Big Star Wars fanatic? Then, these are the furniture pieces you are looking for.ELLE Decor:There’s never been a shortage of officially licensed Star Wars furniture on the market; most pieces, however, have been intended for kids’ rooms. But that changed in the fall of 2018, when designer Kenneth Cobonpue launched his own higher-end, higher-design Star Wars furniture collection, initially for sale only in Cobonpue’s native Philippines. Now these pieces are available for the first time in the United States, at select retailers and showrooms in 11 states across the country plus the District of Columbia. (Alas, online ordering is not yet an option.)$2700 TIE Fighter chairs, anyone? See the entire collection, which includes a Chewie rocking stool and a Vader armchair, at the Kenneth Cobonpue site. (ELLE Decor)images via Kenneth CobonpueThanks, Heather! Read the rest

New data visualization project to reveal bias in media coverage on transgender topics could use your support.

This all-in-one computing solution packs a healthy dose of processing power packed inside a 21.5" HD LED display. It also features an Intel Core i3-2100 Dual-Core 3.1GHz CPU with 4 GB of DDR3 RAM for next-level multitasking and an impressive 250 GB SATA hard drive that can safely store your important files and media.So whether you're streaming your favorite content in crisp detail or want to game in stunning clarity, this Certified Refurbished Apple iMac 21.5" Intel i3-2100 Dual-Core 3.1GHz 250GB is just what you need to have your most productive year. Usually, this Apple iMac is $1199, but you can get it here for $379.What Does "Renewed" Mean?Renewed products have gone through extensive testing and have been verified to be completely free of defects by Apple Authorized technicians. Every item has been wiped clean and triple checked internally to give customers the assurance needed when purchasing a new machine. It is also backed by a 1-Year Complete Hardware Warranty. Read the rest

If you’re having a heart attack, forget an EKG in the ER. Instead, have doctors check your legs in the hospital lobby.

Since the days of David Cameron, the UK has been pressing ahead on a plan to force every British person who wants to see pornography to register as an adult through a private-public partnership (administered by a Canadian porn monopolist that pretends to be a Luxembourg company) before they could see sexy times on the internet.This plan was so stupid, it burned. First of all, kids in the UK could simply avail themselves of a VPN and handily evade the No Sex Please We're British scheme. Second of all, anyone foolish enough to partake of this scheme would be voluntarily compiling a database of kompromat that when -- not if, when -- it leaked could be used to comprehensively compromise them from a[rse|ss]hole to appetite.The only reason that the British public was not furious about this was that no one knew it was in the offing: the scheme was meant to go into effect on July 15, but as of March, 76% of the country didn't know about it. The plan has been brought forward and then delayed innumerable times. Now, it seems, it has been shelved "indefinitely" (whatever that means in a country with no effective leadership that is steamrollering towards the most spectacularly idiotic act of political suicide in living memory). The government has made no announcements, but when the Guardian chased up a rumour from Sky (backed by various anonymous sources in the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport), HMG "did not deny" that the plan had been scrapped. Read the rest

John Overholt from Harvard's Houghton Library spotted a paper towel dispenser whose prominent EULA prohibits refilling it with non-Tork brands of towels, with Tork vowing to "enforce its rights under applicable laws and agreements."This is basically the plot of Unauthorized Bread, the first story in my new book Radicalized, where toasters use vision-systems to verify that their users are not trying to toast non-manufacturer-compliant bread. However, there is a difference between products like this stupid paper towel dispenser and other products that try to bind their customers to buying only certain brands of consumables. If you put someone else's paper towels in this towel dispenser, Tork would have to prove that you had violated a contract with them (for example, you might be a tenant in a commercial building whose landlord had promised Tork only to use its towels, but you never made that promise, and depending on your lease, your landlord may or may not be able to force you to honor its agreements). But with digital products, all that the manufacturer has to do is add a "technical protection measure" (that is DRM) that checks to ensure that you're using the product in ways that benefit the manufacturer's shareholders (even if that makes the product worse for your purposes). Because breaking the DRM is illegal, and because "trafficking in DRM-breaking tools" is also illegal, you're not allowed to defeat that measure, even if it works really poorly and is easy to bypass.Thank Section 1201 of 1998's Digital Millennium Copyright Act for this absurdity: though the law stipulates that the "technical protection measure" has to control access to a "copyrighted work" that won't help you -- even though paper towels are not copyrighted, the software that checks which brand of paper towel you're using is. Read the rest

A 12-pack of chicken flavor Maruchan Instant Lunch ramen noodles is just on Amazon. Not a bad price for nearly 3,000 calories of salty goodness. Read the rest

The Immigrant Resource Legal Center offers multilingual, printable templates for "red cards": bust cards adapted for use by immigrants being targeted by ICE squads. Donald Trump launched his 2020 re-election campaign by promising a roundup of 11,000,000 people, even as he has handed millions to Beltway Bandits to build and operate concentration camps on US soil. These could not be more timely.They're available in English, Arabic, Chinese, French, Hmong, Spanish and Vietnamese. They read "I do not wish to speak to you, answer your questions, or sign or hand you any documents based on my 5th Amendment rights under the United States Constitution.I do not give you permission to enter my home based on my 4th Amendment rights under the United States Constitution unless you have a warrant to enter, signed by a judge or magistrate with my name on it that you slide under the door. I do not give you permission to search any of my belongings based on my 4th Amendment rights.These cards are available to citizens and non-citizens alike."The the reverse they say:You have constitutional rights• Do not open the door if an immigration officer knocks on your door.• Do not answer any questions if the immigration officer attempts to speak with you. You have the right to remain silent. You do not need to give your name to the immigration officer. If you are at work, ask the immigration officer if you are free to leave and if the officer says yes, leave. Read the rest

On a nice afternoon in Lakewood, Colorado, parents attending their seven-year-old children's baseball game decided that the best way to deal with a controversial call made by the 13-year-old umpire was to storm the field, scream, and hit one another.From Deadspin:Lakewood (Colo.) Police handed out issued four citations for disorderly conduct, and are still seeking suspects for potentially more serious charges, after 15–20 grown-ups got into a big ol’ brawl in the middle of a 7-year-olds’ baseball game this weekend.The cause of the fight? According to police, one parent was upset with calls made by the game’s 13-year-old umpire. Things devolved quickly, and in a really depressing moment at around four seconds of the video, you can see the children in the field fleeing for safety.In the background, you can hear a woman making a personal request to Jesus Christ to stop the brawl. The video ends before we can see whether or not the son of God arrived and intervened. Read the rest

Millennial dad nailed it.“hey, I would like to buy a candy bar with my membership card.”“sure thing. that will be $345.”“WTF?! $345?!!!!”“well, without the card it’s $5,450 dollars.”“oh...that’s not bad I guess.”^that’s the American healthcare system— millennial dad (@partofaplan) June 18, 2019 Read the rest

Hold a bulb of garlic in one hand, a paring knife in the other. Jab the knife into a clove and lever it out of the husk.As someone who makes a lot of Korean food, this is the best method for getting garlic peeled!👌 pic.twitter.com/14GGJDQhRj— 𝖛𝖆𝖑𝖊𝖓𝖙𝖎𝖓𝖆 ✣ 𝖑𝖔𝖗𝖉 🌑 (@VPestilenZ) June 17, 2019Image: Twitter Read the rest

Tom the Dancing Bug, IN WHICH President Trump welcomes the Russian military into the USA, in what some critics are calling an "invasion."

KPMG is one of the "Big Four" accounting firms: that means that whenever a plan for a business or a public project has a box that says, "Make sure no one is cheating," it means that you hire KPMG or one of its rivals to come in and check the books and make sure that everything is on the level. If you can't trust the accounting firm, the whole thing falls apart.You'll never guess what happened next.For more than a year, regulators have known that KPMG employees had been stealing regulatory information and using it to cheat on inspections of its audits -- they'd steal the FEC's list of upcoming inspection targets and revise their work to make sure the inspections didn't find any flaws. The SEC was set to hand down a $50m fine.Then, yesterday, the SEC announced that they'd found a second, even more disturbing pattern of cheating, one that went right to the top, with KPMG's most senior staff cheating on their integrity exams (!!), sharing answers in advance, and hacking the tests to lower the score needed to pass it (the tests were delivered online, and in the URL for the test was a variable that set the percentage needed for a passing grade: "MasteryScore=70" -- by lowering this value, cheaters could turn any number of right answers into a pass). Some auditors "passed" their ethics exams with a score of only 25%.These exams tested auditors on their ethics, their expertise, and their mastery of the continuing education courses they were required to take to remain licensed to practice. Read the rest

The University of Chicago Business School's Promarket blog has run a transcript of former antitrust enforcer Sally Hubbard's June 11 testimony before the House Judiciary Committee on June 11, 2019, where Hubbard discusses the ways that the monopolized and concentrated tech sector have eroded the margins of the news business, creating a "decline of American journalism."Hubbard describes how algorithmic upranking or downranking can make or break a media outlet, while ad targeting gives Big Tech the power to command better ad rates than news media can attain; she accepts Big Tech's claim that its machine-learning persuasion technologies can "learn what messages people are susceptible to, whether ads or propaganda" and then create public opinion (I'm skeptical of this claim -- I don't know why we'd take Big Tech's sales literature at face value).Hubbard then lays into Big Tech's anticompetitive activities, like the buying sprees that have them snapping up hundreds of small companies every year, and the use of "monopoly power to exclude competition." In response to all this, Hubbard calls for the whole suite of antitrust remedies: forcing selloffs of Big Tech's acquisitions, banning future purchases of small companies that take Big Tech into new lines of business, and an end to "exclusionary practices."I'm pretty much in favor of all of that, but I was also disappointed by the narrowness of the frame that Hubbard uses to describe news media's woes, and not just because of her belief in Big Tech's ability to turn surveillance data into a mind-control ray. Read the rest

The Elago Mac Mini Silicone Case [Amazon] is a remarkable entry in the annals of "advertising vs. reality". Above, the product shot. Below, the Elago IRL. Read the rest

A year ago, Trump FCC Chairman (and former Verizon exec) Ajit Pai killed Net Neutrality, leveraging illegal, fraudulent industry dirty tricks to ram his rule through the process; all along, he claimed that Net Neutrality was a drag on investment, competition and service improvements, and that Americans would see immediate benefits once he was done killing Net Neutrality.It's been a year, and while Pai has touted major gains in broadboand investment, these were also a fraud, with the big telcos slashing investment, slashing jobs, sucking up massive tax subsidies (no, even more massive), while continuing to deliver the slowest, most expensive data in any developed country.Veteran telcoms journalist Rob Rogoraro digs into Pai's claims in depth, finding them to be baseless: since the slaughter of Net Neutrality, investment and service are worse, and prices are higher. Now, it's also true that the throttling and paid prioritization deals we worried about are also not in evidence, but as Karl Bode points out at Techdirt, that's likely because dozens of states' attorneys general are suing to the FCC to restore Net Neutrality, so any throttling/prioritization deals that the teclos struck would have to be unwound if the AGs prevailed (a ruling is expected any day now, and then it will likely head to the Supreme Court).Gigi Sohn, a net-neutrality advocate who served as counselor to Tom Wheeler, Pai’s predecessor as FCC chairman, called throttling and paid prioritization “one half of the picture.”She pointed to privacy issues, as seen in the discovery that all four wireless carriers—Yahoo Finance’s corporate parent Verizon (VZ) among them—had sold location data to third-party brokers. Read the rest

But not yet.