This warm and welcoming missile silo and command bunker, built in the 1970s, could be your new home. Located just 30 minutes south of Canada in Fairdale, North Dakota, the 50-acre site will go up for auction on August 11. Bring your contractor! From Pifer's auctions:Site needs some repair, but could provide that extra privacy, security and protection when needed. The site is surrounded by dual fences and sits on 3 parcels totaling 49.48 acres. There is a cement entry building, a command bunker, and 14 sprint launch tubes. Current owner utilizes portable power and water tanks. Power is available nearby and a well could be drilled for water requirements.(via Atlas Obscura) Read the rest
Mysterious packages of seeds have been turning up in American mailboxes, mailed from China. The consensus is that vendors are using the seeds to create "completed shipment" data as cheaply as possible to run up their ratings on Amazon and other online marketplaces.Though officials worried the seeds might include invasive species, tests so far show they are "innocuous", reports CBS News. Mustard, cabbage, morning glory, mint, sage, rosemary and lavender are among the gifts falling from the cracks in the Amazon Marketplace. Nonetheless, don't plant them, experts say. Read the FAQ posted by the USDA as a nice convenient PDF.Robin Pruisner, a state seed control official at the Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship in Iowa, told Reuters that she has heard reports of a coating of possible insecticide or fungicide on the seeds, which could prove especially harmful to crops.And if you receive them, it means someone knows enough about you to mail stuff to you and use the delivery confirmation to pose you as a verified customer on some online platform or other. Read the rest
As the next generation of game consoles get ready to roll out, a good friend has opted to give me the long-term use of his PS4.I am so totally stoked.During a rough financial patch, a few years back, I had to sell mine in order to keep the heat on and put food on our table. I've missed it, ever since. Over the past couple of weeks, I got to finally finish Fallout 4 (with all of the DLC!) as well as Batman: Arkham Knight. But there's still like, almost five years of games out there, that I've never had the opportunity to play. I'm betting scads of them are less expensive to purchase now, as well—Once we're out of our sublet and back into the RV, storage will be at a premium, so I'll likely go digital downloads only. As we'll be living in seclusion on Vancouver Island, this fall and winter, having the console to help keep me from going insane (or at least building on the level of insanity that I've already achieved), is going to be such a welcome comfort.I've got a copy of Red Dead Redemption III to noodle with. Any advice on what titles I should pick up? I like story-driven RPGs and open-world games. Straight ahead shooters and online games aren't my thing. Read the rest
Justin T. Brown's Donald Trump is the Dumbest Man in America² cleverly edits Trump's catastrophic interview with Jonathan Swan so that Trump is arguing with himself. It's so good, The Lincoln Project ganked it on Twitter. Read the rest
As a young child, I was by told my mother that skin color didn't matter—everyone's the same. Almost all of the faces I encountered on a daily basis, were white. Two of my mother's friends from her job at the local university were from southeast Asia. They came to our lower-middle-class home, on occasion, for dinner, or a bit of coffee. My memory is terrible. However, I recall them being lovely individuals. It wasn't until I was in grade three that I someone my own age whose skin was a different shade than mine. She was from China. She was in my class. She played flute and, looking back, seemed so nervous of her English, that her voice cracked with emotion every time she spoke. I didn't always understand what she was saying, entirely, but I liked her a lot. Most kids my own age thought I was a little spooky and stayed the hell away from me. She didn't have any shits to give. We remained friends for years before losing touch. I never noticed that most of the other kids didn't want to bother with her, either.When I entered grade seven, I saw a Black kid for the first time. She was tall, friendly, and a little churchy. Despite my being a troublemaking little shit, we always had a smile for one another and worked on class projects together frequently. Everyone seemed to like her. However, it wasn't uncommon to see her cry in our school's hallways or outside at recess. Read the rest
Congressman William Lacy Clay held Missouri's 1st district for nearly 20 years after inheriting it from his father, Bill Clay, who had held it for 32 years. Last night he was defeated in the Democratic Party's primary by a progressive challenger, Cori Bush, who proceeds to a virtually assured victory in November's general election. Ryan Grim:Bush’s win is monumental in a number of ways. Unlike Bowman, she did not have the luxury of an opponent who fled his district and told a hot mic that he only wanted to speak at a Black Lives Matter rally because he had a primary to worry about. ... Clay, however, is not old (he just turned 64, a decade younger than Engel), white, or lazy. Clay did not remotely take Bush for granted, launching a full-scale negative campaign to try to take her down, and has been focused on her as a threat since her loss to him in 2018. He is a fixture of the community, and he and his father, Bill Clay Sr., a civil rights activist and co-founder of the Congressional Black Caucus, have continuously held the seat since the 1960s. Read the rest
In 1890, French inventor Louis Le Prince vanished just as he was preparing to debut his early motion pictures. He was never seen again. In this week's episode of the Futility Closet podcast we'll consider the possible causes of Le Prince's disappearance and his place in the history of cinema.We'll also reflect on a murderous lawyer and puzzle over the vagaries of snake milking.Show notesPlease support us on Patreon! Read the rest
Three men were rescued from a tiny South Pacific island after they wrote a giant “SOS” sign in the sand, later spotted from search aircraft above, authorities say.From the Associated Press:The men had been missing in the Micronesia archipelago for nearly three days when their distress signal was spotted Sunday on uninhabited Pikelot Island by searchers on Australian and U.S. aircraft, the Australian defense department said Monday.The men had apparently set out from Pulawat atoll in a 7-meter (23-foot) boat on July 30 and had intended to travel about 43 kilometers (27 miles) to Pulap atoll when they sailed off course and ran out of fuel, the department said.IMAGE: In this photo provided by the Australian Defense Force, an Australian Army helicopter lands on Pikelot Island in the Federated States of Micronesia, where three men were found, Sunday, August 2, 2020, safe and healthy after missing for three days. The men were missing in the Micronesia archipelago east of the Philippines for nearly three days when their "SOS" sign was spotted by searchers on Australian and U.S. aircraft, the Australian defense department said. (Australian Defense Force) Read the rest
With more and more companies moving all their operations into the cloud, the need has never been greater for those with the skills to map exactly how an organization reconstitutes itself in that new environment.Network architects responsible for determining all the communication, storage, and infrastructure needs of an expansive organization are among the most sought-after pros in computer science today, bringing home salaries of over $135,000 a year in many cases.The journey to a role like that can begin with training like the knowledge found in The Complete Computer Networking eBook and Video Course Bundle. The collection is your very own computer networking reference library, including five ebooks and five videos covering over 14 hours of content on a truckload of critical topics, including DevOps, programming, AWS, CCNA, and more.For every important decision about how to administer a network, there are a dozen different paths to a solution — and this training takes that into account, examining several of the most popular tools for managing and growing a busy network.The ebooks start you off with a smattering of training from across the discipline. Want to know how to run a Linux network? The Hands-On Linux for Architects ebook has everything you need. Maybe you’re doing all of your coding in the C programming language — in which case Hands-On Network Programming with C explains utilizing network sockets, implementing internet protocols, designing IoT devices, and more with C. Or the AWS Certified Advanced Networking: Specialty Exam Guide can help you develop technical skills and expertise to automate AWS networking tasks and advanced skill sets to build effective AWS networking solutions of your own. Read the rest
COVID-19 sure has created some weird shortages. Clorox disinfectant wipes are one such product.American grocery shelves won’t be fully restocked with Clorox’s disinfecting wipes until next year, CEO Benno Dorer told Reuters, “as the world’s biggest cleaning products maker struggles with overwhelming pandemic-led demand for its top product.” Excerpt:Since the start of global lockdowns, makers of hygiene goods have seen a sustained boom in sales. While California-based Clorox typically holds aside excess supply for flu seasons, it says it has been unable to keep up with a six-fold increase in demand for many of its disinfectants.The company is currently understocked across much of its portfolio, which includes Glad trash bags and Burt’s Bees lip balm. Supply for most products, like liquid bleach, will improve dramatically over the next four to six months - but not wipes, Dorer said on Monday.Clorox products are used in Uber vehicles and United Airlines planes, and are sold by major retailers like Walmart, Amazon and Kroger.“Disinfecting wipes, which are the hottest commodity in the business right now, will probably take longer because it’s a very complex supply chain to make them,” Dorer said. More at Reuters. Read the rest
Graham Clark, the 17-year-old Florida boy accused of pulling off the big Twitter hack, pled not guilty to charges on Tuesday. During the security breach, top accounts including Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and Tesla/SpaceX CEO Elon Musk were taken over to push a bitcoin scam.Young Mr. Clark told Circuit Court Judge Christopher Nash in Tampa today he was not guilty of the 30 felony counts of fraud prosecutors have brought against him, according to court records.From Reuters:Clark is scheduled to appear in court again on Wednesday for a hearing on a request to change his $750,000 bond and conditions of release. Clark’s attorney, David Weisbrod, did not immediately return a call seeking comment.A 19-year-old British man and a 22-year-old man in Orlando, Florida, have also been charged under U.S. federal law with aiding the attack, the Justice Department said.Clark netted at least $100,000 from the scheme by using the celebrity accounts to solicit investments from unsuspecting Twitter users, state officials said.Mason Sheppard, a 19-year-old from Bognor Regis, Britain, who used the alias Chaewon, was charged with wire fraud and money laundering while Orlando-based Nima Fazeli, 22, nicknamed Rolex, was accused of aiding and abetting the crimes, according to a Justice Department statement. Read more at Reuters.How the Twitter hacker got inMajor Twitter hack pushes bitcoin scam on Obama, Joe Biden, Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Apple, Uber, Biden accounts, collects $$$$ Read the rest
This song and video crossed my transom last week and it's been haunting me ever since. Lee Hazelwood allegedly wrote this song (and others) at the request of Frank Sinatra in an effort to help boost daughter Nancy's career and send it in new directions.The video and duet with Hazelwood and Sinatra premiered on her 1967 TV special "Movin' with Nancy." That night, Lee and Nancy also performed "Jackson" and Sinatra performed "Sugar Town," "This Town," and several other Hazelwood compositions. Lee Hazelwood would end up writing most of Nancy Sinatra's hits."Some Velvet Morning" is a strange mash-up of country and pop psychedelia with apparent references to sex, drugs, and Greek mythology. Hazelwood said that he was fascinated by mythology at the time and was particularly interested in the character of Phaedra, a tragic figure in the Greek mythos. Hazelwood said he felt sorry for her and decided to invoke her spirit in a song.Bonus Track: There are a zillion covers of "Some Velvet Morning." Here is Rowland S. Howard and Lydia Lunch's take:Image: YouTube Read the rest
Trombonist Martyn Stroud offers this humble disclaimer on his rousing watering-can rendition of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s "Flight of the Bumblebee," "This is not an art form. It’s not even going to be accurate, but it is good fun." That striped yellow-and-black shirt he's wearing is a nice touch.(Neatorama, ClassicFM)screengrab via Martyn Stroud/Facebook Read the rest
Researchers at West Virginia University have recently discovered how, exactly, the fungus Massospora hijacks cicadas into acting as its zombified parasite drones:Massospora manipulates male cicadas into flicking their wings like females – a mating invitation – which tempts unsuspecting male cicadas and infects them.It’s a recent discovery into the bizarre world of cicadas plagued by a psychedelic fungus that contains chemicals including those found in hallucinogenic mushrooms. The research, “Behavioral betrayal: How select fungal parasites enlist living insects to do their bidding,” was published in the journal PLOS Pathogens.[…]These actions persist amid a disturbing display of B-horror movie proportions: Massospora spores gnaw away at a cicada’s genitals, butt and abdomen, replacing them with fungal spores. Then they “wear away like an eraser on a pencil,” Lovett said.[…]“Our previous literature always mentioned the strange behaviors associated with Massospora and some closely-allied fungi but what was missing was a synthesis of all this new information that had come to light,” Kasson said. “The most interesting finding is the things we still don't know. We realized that there were some possible scenarios for infection that we had not considered before.”The researcher suspects that this fungus has also adapted to lie in wait for 17 years, so that it can emerge into the world alongside the 17-year cicada cycle.In related news, the year is still 2020, and this reality keeps happening.Return of the zombie cicadas: WVU team unearths manipulative qualities of fungal-infected flyers [WVU Today]Image: WVU Photo/Angie Macias Read the rest
Please like and share this piece of art that I made. pic.twitter.com/g2lFTC0UHv— Nick Hutson (@NickHutsonMusic) August 4, 2020Q: What is a "Mah Nà Mah Nà"?A: The question is, "Who cares?"(Thanks UPSO!) Read the rest
If you do soldering work, I recommend getting a pair of these micro flush cutters. They'll cut copper wires flush with the blob of solder, making your work look tidy. Read the rest
@sciencing_bi was a well-read Science Twitter account, a queer Native American professor with a unique perspective on science and university life. They reportedly caught coronavirus and and died of Covid, drawing tributes from online admirers, some of them prominent academics. But it was only the final straw in a haybale of suspicion for people who knew BethAnn McLaughlin, a white woman that @sciencing_bi often spoke of. It turns out, with grim predictability, that it was her all along, catfishing the academic pond.The anonymous account, @Sciencing_Bi, was an active participant in the corner of Science Twitter that frequently discusses issues of sexual misconduct in the sciences. It claimed on at least one occasion to have grown up in Alabama, to have “fled the south because of their oppression of queer folk,” and to have attended Catholic school. The account began to pointedly make reference to being Native American and, earlier this year, began to identify as Hopi. ... In April, @Sciencing_Bi began to undergo a drama that belonged solely to her, announcing the coronavirus diagnosis in a tweet. It was Ms. McLaughlin who announced that the anonymous professor had died.Twitter banned both McLaughlin and her sockpuppet, but there's a lot more to unravel. An interesting element of the sockpuppet was posing @sciencing_bi at Arizona State University. One of the largest universities in the U.S., ASU has a six-figure roster of students, academics and staff, a daunting prospect to any researcher trying to track the account author down. Read the rest
I used to think the 1970s was a bad decade for pop culture. But the 70s gave us A Clockwork Orange, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Deliverance, Jaws, Taxi Driver, The Buzzcocks, Fishbone, The Ramones, Earth, Wind & Fire, Breakfast of Champions, and Surfacing.It turns out the 1980s was the terrible decade for entertainment, as evidenced by this video "tribute to '80s Entertainment." Read the rest
"Hammer Time" becomes "Sanitize" when Dr. Quentin J. Lee an Alabama principal, "sings a rap song about Covid to MC Hammer's classic hit of 'Can't Touch This.'" Read the rest
Someone attached a "Trump 2020" sticker to a bear's tracking collar in North Carolina and an animal rights organization called Help Asheville Bears is offering $5,000 for information.From CNN:"Whoever put these political stickers on these bears is cruel and heartless," HAB wrote in a Facebook post. "HAB and our followers hope to stop and expose you. This is now the second bear this happened to, which can only mean either someone in the study is doing this or it is someone in the public. Either way, a full investigation needs to be done."Image: CNN Read the rest
James Lovelock, the NASA scientist who came up with the theory that the Earth is a self-regulating system (known as Gaia theory) recently celebrated his 101st birthday. In this BBC interview, Lovelock discusses the Coronavirus, and how the human race is an "opportunity for the virus. If you go on building at the population, it's almost inevitable that something is going to say, geez, there's a lot of stuff to eat there. Let's go get it."He also talks about entering his second century of life: " I've never been so happy. I had always thought the moment you passed 100 life started going downhill and it was miseries and staggering all over the place. Well, I may stagger, but I couldn't care less, it's really enjoyable." Read the rest
For the five years that my wife and I have traveled around North America in our 40' motorhome, I've been throwing all of our cutlery, unorganized, into a single drawer, like some kind of animal.It's not that I don't want to find a fork when I need one. The drawers you'll find in most motorhomes and trailers are small. The sorts of cutlery trays y'all use at home typically won't fit into them. In the past, I've considered building an organizer into the drawer we use for cutlery. It didn't happen in the end: Just because you want to keep your knives and absinthe spoon in a drawer now, doesn't mean the storage space won't be used for something else down the road, later.After years of looking for a solution, I finally came across this adjustable cutlery tray on Amazon. Problem soved. Read the rest
Researchers successfully revived ancient microbes, some more than 100 million years old, that were buried in the seafloor. During an expedition to the South Pacific Gyre, the scientists from the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC) and their colleagues drilled into the ocean sediment almost 6,000 meters below the surface. “Our main question was whether life could exist in such a nutrient-limited environment or if this was a lifeless zone,” JAMSTEC senior scientist Yuki Morono said. “And we wanted to know how long the microbes could sustain their life in a near-absence of food.”From a JAMSTEC announcement:With fine-tuned laboratory procedures, the scientists, led by Morono, incubated the samples to coax their microbes to grow. The results demonstrated that rather than being fossilized remains of life, the microbes in the sediment had survived, and were capable of growing and dividing.[...]“What’s most exciting about this study is that it shows that there are no limits to life in the old sediment of the world’s ocean,” said [URI Graduate School of Oceanography professor Steven] D’Hondt. “In the oldest sediment we’ve drilled, with the least amount of food, there are still living organisms, and they can wake up, grow and multiply.”The Daily Grail warns, "Lovecraftian horrors await us in 2021 don’t they…"More: "Aerobic microbial life persists in oxic marine sediment as old as 101.5 million years" (Nature Communications)image: JAMSTEC Read the rest
A classic in its own right, Everything Is Terrible's supercut of people in the '90s saying "It's the 90s" is viral again today. After all, it's the '20s again, and history is in a repetitive mood. Read the rest
In 1971 the great Sammy Davis Junior told Dick Cavett about the time he bombed on stage in Osaka in a nightclub attended by "elderly Japanese people." Davis gives quite a performance merely recounting the story.Image: YouTube Read the rest
Gum Soft-Picks do a better job than toothpicks or floss for cleaning food and plaque from between my teeth. For me, it's just much more convenient than using dental floss. The rubbery green brush pushes out all the gunk without hurting. You can buy them in packs of 50, 100, 150, or 300. Read the rest
A man who refused to wear a mask in a store, stole two cigars, fired a handgun at the clerk and later an AK-47 at cops coming to arrest him, injuring one of them, was "not handling the pandemic well," says his lawyer.Adam Zaborowski, 35, was taken into custody after the shootout with officers in Bethlehem Township, Pa., police said. Lehigh Valley Live reports the kind of day that only some of us can get out of alive.The 35-year-old Slatington man was charged Saturday with attempting to kill seven police officers near his home at 801 Main St. That shootout followed an incident Friday where Zaborowski allegedly shot at a clerk at Cigars International in Bethlehem Township. He allegedly refused to wear a face mask in the cigar store despite the threat of COVID-19. ...“He just wasn’t dealing well with the loss of his job, the loss of his child, just not handling the pandemic well,” Waldron said. “I think he was getting stretched too tight.” Read the rest
Casey William Kelley, age 42, enjoyed the good life for a few days when he came up with the idea of printing phony checks, say police in Florida. They accused Kelley of using one of the fake checks to buy a swell-looking Porsche 911 Turbo for $139,203.05, and another check for $61,521 to buy three Rolex watches.From The Palm Beach Post:However, the jeweler kept the watches until it could be determined if the check would cash. Thursday, it was reported to WCSO that the check was a fake.When arrested Wednesday afternoon, Kelley told investigators he printed out the cashier’s checks from his home computer and did not get them from his bank.Kelley was transported and booked into the Walton County Jail without incident. Read the rest
An Austrian visitor to the Gipsoteca Museum in Possagno, Italy posed for a selfie while sitting on an original plaster cast sculpture created in 1804 by Antonio Canova. The gentleman managed to snap off two of the figure's toes before making a hasty exit.Via The Art NewspaperThe tourist, identified as Austrian by the museum, “sat on the sculpture of Paolina Bonaparte… then left the museum in a hurry without reporting the incident”, officials say. The museum adds that guards discovered the damage “a few minutes later and raised the alarm”. One commentator responded on Facebook however: “How can you sit on a sculpture? We need to put up more security… You can’t get this close.” Read the rest
Freeman Vines is a luthier in Fountain, North Carolina. For half a century, he's crafted beautiful guitars from wood taken from a tree used to lynch Black people. Vines deeply moving work is the subject of a new photography book, Hanging Tree Guitars, with tintype images by Timothy Duffy and essays by Zoe Van Buren and Lonnie Holle. Duffy is the co-founder of North Carolina's Music Maker Relief Foundation, "founded to preserve the musical traditions of the South by directly supporting the musicians who make it, ensuring their voices will not be silenced by poverty and time." From the description of the book, published by The Bitter Southener:An artist, a luthier, and a spiritual philosopher, Freeman Vines’ life is a roadmap of the truths and contradictions of the American South. He remembers the hidden histories of the eastern North Carolina land on which his family has lived since enslavement. From tobacco barns, mule troughs, and radio parts he creates hand-carved guitars, each instrument seasoned down to the grain by the echoes of its past life.Along with the book, the Foundation is also releasing a complementary album of blues and gospel songs about race in America. Read the rest
Over the years, I've become a fan of country music, from its Appalachian and Black roots to outlaw country and cosmic American. There's so much rich history and culture surrounding the genre(s) that I'm grateful for smart guides to the people, places, and stories behind the sound. Last month, I appreciated Elamin Abdelmahmoud's Rolling Stone piece "Rewriting Country Music’s Racist History." And over at Longreads, Aaron Gilbreath curated a collection of some great online writing about country music. Here are three of Gilbreath's picks:"Push Play" (Chris Dennis, Guernica, April 6, 2020)Dolly Parton is pure country but bigger than country, because she is bigger than life, and yet, you can’t talk about country music without talking about her. And are more sides to her career and influence than a hundred stories can contain. In this personal essay, one young man looks at his past tastes to explore the role Parton played in his ideas of masculinity and difficult coming out. “I think part of my magic, if I have any at all,” Parton once said, “is that I look totally fake but am so totally real.”“Branded Man” (Andy McLenon and Grant Alden, No Depression, November 1, 2003)Speaking of Bakersfield: When you sing ”Let’s go to Luckenbach, Texas, with Waylon and Willie and the boys,” let’s never forgot Merle Haggard. Yeah yeah, this song’s not about him, but country wouldn’t be country without him. For No Depression, the magazine that celebrated outlaw and underground country, two writers celebrated California’s rural poet, the son of cotton pickers, who brought a lot of poetry and rebellion to country, and made California a place for serious country music, as much as others had made it a place for pop songs and folk tunes. Read the rest
TheBackyardScientist built out a 200 watt laser and mounted it on the roof of his car. In his YouTube description, he wrote three paragraphs about why this experiment did not endanger any airplanes.Previously, he built a handheld 40 watt laser blaster: Read the rest
"As a result of a technical error in the Division of Taxation's automated refund check printing system, approximately 176 checks with invalid signature lines were printed and mailed to taxpayers on Monday 7/27/2020." said Jade Borgeson, Chief of Staff for the [Rhode Island] Department of Revenue. The checks, mostly corporate tax refunds, were signed by Mickey Mouse and Walt Disney, neither of whom are authorized to do so. According to Borgeson, "The invalid signature lines were incorrectly sourced from the Division’s test print files."That's really goofy. What kind of Mickey Mouse operation are they running down there!(NBC 10) Read the rest
Terence Eden found a turntable [Amazon] that cost only £30 (~$40): "I accidentally bought a load of vinyl records. So I decided to buy the cheapest, shittiest, turntable possible," he writes. For firty paands he even gets a USB port to rip the records directly to digital. Is it any good? Not really. It plays records 4% too fast and has the slight stereo shift that come with unbalanced tone arms. But it's not terrible, either, Eden reports. It's fine. Eden conducts a complete teardown on the device, which turns out to by mostly air in a plastic box.Vinyl is not a great format for high-fidelity audio.In the U.S., the cheapo Jensen "suitcase" turntable [Amazon, but don't] is actually cheaper than the widely-rebranded model Eden found shopping in the U.K. I tried one of the cheap suitcase models and it was just plain bad, requiring coins on the cartridge to keep the needle in the groove, etc. Read the rest
The summer of 2020 is the PERFECT time to auction off seized merchandise from the infamous Fyre Festival fraud. Dumpster fyres powers activate — form of t-shirts, hats, "tokens" and other shite souvenirs! Just don't expect a bargain. This merch is going for top dollar.CNN:The 126 minor items up for sale were seized by the federal government from Billy McFarland, the 28-year-old organizer of Fyre Festival, the 2017 event in the Bahamas that has become shorthand for scams in the age of social media."This Fyre Festival-branded clothing and other items that were seized from Billy McFarland were originally intended to be sold at the Fyre Festival itself but were kept by McFarland, with the intent to sell the items and use the funds to commit further criminal acts while he was on pre-trial release," US Marshal Ralph Sozio said in a press release."The proceeds from the sale of these items, all traceable to McFarland's $26 million fraud, will go toward the victims of his crimes," he said.(CNN)image via Gaston&Sheehan Read the rest
Building blocks are among a child’s first, and arguably, most important, toys. Once they start stacking one tentatively on top of another, the blocks not only spark waves of creativity, but actual real-world understanding of scientific principles like engineering and physics. It wouldn’t even be a stretch to call blocks on of the first true STEM toys.Of course, the wonder of blocks never really goes away as through adolescence and even into adulthood, constructing models and other miniatures is an engaging and even soothing pastime for many. Architect Damien Murtagh definitely still feels that desire, even going so far as pioneering an entire modular building system so users can create their own scale model homes and buildings. Thus were born the Arckits, various building sets that can help children and adults develop fundamental design skills and spontaneous creativity through actual hands-on model building with no cutting, glue or other messes.Little Architect Kids Model City Building Kit, 130+ pcs. - $44 after codeThis kid-friendly set starts with 32 unique pastel-colored components to start creating skyscrapers, roads, parks and more, each unlocking the fundamentals of architecture. The Little Architect kit also includes a starter guide to create some step-by-step builds — or just wing it and fashion a cityscape of your very own. By using the code BUILDINGKIT5 at checkout, you can save $5.99 off the regular price.Go Colors 2.0 Architect Scale Model House Building Kit for Kids, 160+ pcs. - $53 after codeGo Plus 2.0 Kids Architect Scale Model House Building Kit, 160+ pcs. Read the rest
Time management and self-motivation, the ability to stay on task and achieve in the office or when you’re working with home, is the true test of any person’s professional mettle. While that’s easier said than done, those skills can be taught and developed as you’ll find in The 2020 Work From Anywhere Hacker Bundle.The collection brings together seven courses covering nearly 100 hours of material aimed at maximizing your abilities in core personal skills like time management, working remotely, writing, and more.With courses like Time Management, Learn How to Get Stuff Done and 10 Soft Skills You Need, you’ll develop the skills that will enhance your productivity and efficiency, no matter where you’re working. The training will help you devise a personalized productivity plan to get your life in balance while you develop the people skills, communication, attitudes, and social and emotional intelligence to chart your own destiny professionally and personally.With Critical Thinking and Communication Strategies, you’ll develop key innovations using analytical thought systems and creative thinking techniques to further your goals. With all that in place, Learn Advanced Writing Skills and Building an Online Business can help further sharpen your vision, push your goals forward and maybe even strike out on your own as a self-made, self-driven web entrepreneur of your own.The training is regularly a $199 package, but right now, the entire path to understanding and working smart is available for only $29.99.Prices are subject to change.Do you have your stay-at-home essentials? Read the rest
It’s easy to be instantly dismissive about most Bluetooth speakers, especially small travel-sized units. Over the past few years, makers of every shape, size, and variety have started pounding out Bluetooth speakers, many barely able to sound much better than your smartphone speaker, let alone provide the bass and volume heft of legitimate portable speakers from name brands like Bose or Sony.But buyers of the Earhoox Dual Bluetooth Speaker Set are usually so charmed by this cute little tandem that they don’t even realize the quality of this package until it’s blazing away on their favorite tracks.And yes, this set includes two speakers, a pair of sound pumpers both equipped to trade-off solos and split the workload that can send lowlier speakers running. Crafted from brushed metal, PU leather and other premium materials, these six-inch powerhouses don’t look or feel like anything less than top-quality audio equipment.Of course, it’s only after they’re synced to your smartphone or other Bluetooth-enabled device that their true colors really come to the surface. Each built around a formidable double magnetic 16 core speaker with bottom passive vibration film design and enhanced bass capabilities, these units each come together to deliver their parts in a great surround sound tag team. While most portable Bluetooth speakers strain to deliver the full depth of the music, these two are perfectly synchronized partners, pounding out dynamic stereo audio separated as it should be.With 3 watts of power and 80dB intensity, these speakers have enough juice to be serving up your music while sitting on a desk, or hanging from the handlebars of your bike while trucking through the great outdoors. Read the rest
Modern Jazz musician Olivier Cong's two-part song "Delusion" inspire designer Kachi Chan to create a black and white space-themed series of visuals. Prepare to leave your body!Kachi has also done some gorgeous color work in the same vein, like Amelioration, a collaboration between visual designer Chan and fashion designer Matt Hui:It's a story about one tries to breakthrough his shackles and express his true self underneath. The fashion piece is composed of 2 pieces, the outer one is a metallic-look cape made with reflective PU material; the inner is a soft, light tulle dress with controllable LED lights. The runway performance depicts the process of the metallic shell being broken through and the inner true self is revealed as the tulle dress. The video as part of the performance interacts with the fashion model to stage the process of transformation.Image: Vimeo / Kachi Chan Read the rest
Documentarian Errol Morris made an acclaimed documentary series on eccentric people 20 years ago, and now you can watch it online for free. First Person includes a fascinating ep on Mark's high school classmate and supergenius pal Rick Rosner (shown above).The episode centers around Rick's fight over losing on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?What could possibly make a tormented teenage genius want to relive the horrors of high school … over and over again? Peek inside the mind of Rick Rosner to find out why the class Brainiac became a serial senior. And watch as Rosner prepares to take his place in the hallowed hotseat of TV game show “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” in what could turn out to be Rosner’s ultimate revenge for nerds everywhere.Image: YouTube / Errol Morris Read the rest
The always delightful Auralnauts have redubbed The Dark Knight Rises for 2020, with Bane urging all those he encounters to join him in wearing a mask.This isn't the first time Auralnauts has done Bane outtakes:Image: YouTube / Aralnauts Read the rest
In this tongue-in-cheek rendition to amuse their crew, The Edge does OK, and Bono has a couple of good moments, but the whole things falls apart a couple of minutes in.Bono explains why they have never tried it till now:There’s one annoying aspect of an Irish crew that has to be said. Wherever you go in the world, whatever venue you’re playing — whether it’s the Olympia, or 3 Arena, or Madison Square Garden — you walk into the venue and it’s a big moment, and you’ll hear a song that we said, "We’ll never, ever play this." And that’s right, "Stairway to Heaven." These professionals believe they play this better than the band. And you know, it might be true.For a chaser, here's Heart blowing the doors off the song in front of the band's surviving members:Image: YouTube / Dexmusic Read the rest
Did you know that you are free to change your auto insurance at any time? Maybe you do know that, but don't want to deal with the inconvenience of changing providers. Or maybe you simply already think you have a great deal. The fact is that your car insurance is one of those expenses that should stay under constant surveillance. Company rates shift constantly, so the carrier you’ve been with forever may not be offering you the best deal anymore. And cost isn't the only reason to make a change. Online insurance provider Clearcover helps set you up with the best plan at the best rates available, all right from your phone, laptop, or favorite digital device. You read that right: no speaking to a soul over the phone.And with their digital claims services, you can file a claim right through the Clearcover app immediately after an accident, expediting the process to resolve the situation and move on.If you’re in one of the eight states that Clearcover serves (Arizona, California, Illinois, Louisiana, Ohio, Texas, Utah, Wisconsin — with several more to come in late 2020), all you have to do is go to the Clearcover website, enter some basic information and see what they have to offer.As a company, Clearcover's mission is to serve low-cost premium policies with top-rated technology. So while there are no guarantees that Clearcover will beat your current provider, it’s not uncommon for new Clearcover customers to save $500 or more annually compared to their previous plans and get better coverage. Read the rest
“Grace,” the Black teen girl in Michigan who was detained because the school said she was not doing her online coursework, is to be released from detention “IMMEDIATELY.” The Michigan Court of Appeals issued the order late on Friday, and mom picked Grace up shortly thereafter.“We are elated. We are so happy for Grace to be going home. It is amazing that she is going to be able to sleep at home tonight.” -- Grace's attorney, commenting on the Court of Appeals decision today.BREAKING: “Grace,” the Michigan teen who was detained for not doing her online coursework, is to be released from detention “IMMEDIATELY,” according to an order from the Michigan Court of Appeals that I just received. pic.twitter.com/R3WdkK1tVp— Jodi Cohen (@Jodiscohen) July 31, 2020Wow, that was fast! Within two hours of the court order, Grace's mother arrived at Children's Village to get Grace. The teenager had her bags packed and was ready to go. They quickly left and were emotional and happy, according to her lawyers.— Jodi Cohen (@Jodiscohen) July 31, 2020Go read the full story at ProPublica by Jodi S. Cohen.And here's her original report at ProPublica: A Teenager Didn’t Do Her Online Schoolwork. So a Judge Sent Her to Juvenile Detention.Michigan mom sentenced to 7 days in jail for not following court order to vaccinate her children Read the rest
I found this video absolutely mesmerizing. It in, a primitive tech enthusiast from the Pacific Northwest fashions some beautiful and lethal- and effective-looking arrowheads, knives, and tools using ground and polished slate.As he points out in the lengthy video description, he doesn't have access to the more superior, knappable flint in his area, so he learned the technique for grinding and polishing slate which has been used by indigenous people in that area and around the world for ages. It is astounding what you can make with a piece of slate, water and grinding sand, and a world of patience and time.Trigger warning: A skinned chicken was shot through with arrows and cut up with slate knives in the making of this video.Image: YouTube Read the rest