The cults we hear about are the ones that explode or implode, not the ones chugging along quietly long after their Rolling Stone cover story moment. Guinevere Turner has fond memories of the Lyman Family, but also unsettling ones, too, incidents and patterns far over the line of abuse. To relate them makes her want to apologize. My Childhood in a Cult.Today, as a fifty-year-old screenwriter, I’m drawn to the stories of cults and their behavior. My next film, “Charlie Says,” focusses on the women who killed for Charles Manson and the time they spent in a prison isolation unit. One thing I wanted to show was how keeping these women in that unit trapped them for years in the echo chamber of Manson’s manipulations. I’ve always been struck by the sensationalist and reductive way that sixties and seventies cults are portrayed in the media. In a nation fixated on individualism, cults and communes are easy objects of disdain—and perhaps envy. Their members are breaking the rules, discarding the sacred nuclear family. It’s libertarianism plus sex and drugs, and it’s wrong, but do tell me more.The truth is far more complex, though no less insidious. As individuals, how well are we positioned to say which systems of belief are right or wrong?Further reading: I've bookmarked "The Lyman Family’s Holy Siege of America", the 1971 Rolling Stone article that did not make them famous. Read the rest

Companies have always prioritized cutting costs and boosting efficiency, but it wasn't until the past few years that Project Managers grew into big demand. PMs use industry-approved methodologies to reduce waste, streamline workflows, and ensure projects are executed on budget and on time. And they often earn a pretty penny for their services.While demand may be high, so is competition for these positions, which is why entering the market with a few certifications is a smart move if you're serious about becoming a project manager. The Project Management Professional Certification Training Bundle can prepare you to ace several of the industry's most respected certification exams, and it's on sale for $49 in the Boing Boing Store.This 9-course collection delivers more than 100 hours of training for a host of certification exams, including Project Management Professional (PMP) and Risk Management Professional (PMI-RMP). Jump in, and you'll familiarize yourself with fundamental concepts, like identifying project risks, mitigating threats and capitalizing on opportunities, as well as reducing defects and streamlining team communication. Make your way through the entire training, and you'll be that much closer to entering the market as a certified project management expert.You can take the first step toward a career in project management with the Project Management Professional Certification Training Bundle, on sale for $49 in the Boing Boing Store. Read the rest

What better way to celebrate 2019, the year before the Neo-Tokyo Summer Olympics, than to revisit Katsuhiro Otomo's classic manga in a book club format with the Cartoonist Kayfabe crew, Ed Piskor, Jim Rugg, and Tom Scioli . Miss the earlier videos? No problem:For more videos and deep dives like this make sure to subscribe to the Cartoonist Kayfabe YouTube channel Read the rest

Bernie Sanders' latest campaign plank is a suite of agricultural reforms similar to the ones proposed by Elizabeth Warren in March, including a national right-to-repair law for agricultural equipment, antitrust breakups of agribusiness seed, meatpacking and fertilizer monopolies, patent law reform to curb abuses of seed patents, reform of US trade agreements to support "domestic food security", rationalized supply management and a grain and feed reserve, national disaster coverage, relief for family farm bankruptcies, pro-diversity policies for 4H and other agricultural pipelines, incentives for regional co-ops, and a suite of climate change remediation measures.While Sanders' policy is similar to Warren's, it's even more detailed and more comprehensive. I am loving the idea of the two most progressive candidates for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination locked in a race to the top to produce the most detailed, bold policy proposals. This is a race that everybody wins.Sanders has some catching up to do: Warren has unleashed a flood of amazing policy proposals, each better than the last.(I am a donor to both Sanders' and Warren's campaigns)Our mid-size and small towns have been decimated. Local businesses were replaced with national chains, many schools and hospitals shut down and good jobs left at an alarming rate. The next generation of rural Americans is finding better opportunities outside of the small towns where they grew up in.Fundamental change in America’s agricultural and rural policies is no longer just an option; it’s an absolute necessity. Farmers, foresters, and ranchers steward rural landscapes, which benefit all Americans. Read the rest

Evil Clippy comes from Dutch security researchers Outflank: "a tool which assists red teamers and security testers in creating malicious MS Office documents. Amongst others, Evil Clippy can hide VBA macros, stomp VBA code (via p-code) and confuse popular macro analysis tools. It runs on Linux, OSX and Windows." Evil Clippy's magic depends in part on some awesomely terrible undocumented Office features, including "VBA Stomping": "if we know the version of MS Office of a target system (e.g. Office 2016, 32 bit), we can replace our malicious VBA source code with fake code, while the malicious code will still get executed via p-code. In the meantime, any tool analyzing the VBA source code (such as antivirus) is completely fooled." (via Eva) Read the rest

Tonight at 7:30PM, I'm giving a presentation about my new book, Radicalized, as part of the Ottawa Writers Festival, at Christ Church Cathedral (414 Sparks St.) -- I haven't spoken in Ottawa for years (maybe a decade?!) so I'm really looking forward to it.From there, I'm heading to Berlin for May 7, where I'm keynoting at the Re:publica conference with a talk about surveillance and monopolies, followed by a launch and signing for the German edition of my novella Unauthorized Bread (I'm doing a smaller AMA earlier in the day about the aftermath of the catastrophic European Copyright Directive vote).On May 8th, I'm speaking at Otherland, Berlin's science fiction and fantasy bookstore at 8PM.Then I'm off to Houston for a weekend at Comicpalooza, including a panel about copyright on May 10 at 12:30PM; presenting a keynote talk on May 11 at 12PM; and then another copyright panel on May 12 at 10:30AM.Hope to see you! Read the rest

Tomorrow, Tuesday, May 7th I'll be keynoting Berlin's Re:publica festival, as well as doing a signing for the German edition of my novella Unauthorized Bread, and an AMA about the EU Copyright Directive (International Space, 1230h) and then a general AMA (Deutschlandjahr Booth, 1345h). On Wednesday, May 8, I'll be at Otherland, Kreuzberg's sf bookstore, talking about the book some more.After that, I'm off to Houston for a weekend at Comicpalooza, including a panel about copyright on May 10 at 12:30PM; presenting a keynote talk on May 11 at 12PM; and then another copyright panel on May 12 at 10:30AM.See you soon! Tschüß!(Image: Re:publica, CC-BY) Read the rest

If you've taken a busted car to a new mechanic, you know the drill. They take a while to find what's wrong, then find four other issues that need attention. You take their word for it, and an arm and a leg later, you start saving up for the next breakdown.No wonder more the KOBRA Wireless Car Scanner is getting four stars from more than 700 Amazon reviewers. Basically, it's an electronic middleman between you and the repairman, letting you diagnose your own car problems before they escalate.It's easy to use and compatible with any car made after 1996. Plug it in, and it accesses the same data that mechanics use to spot problems, rendering that into one of more than 3,000 OBD (on-board diagnostic) codes. Then, it delivers that reading back to you wirelessly on your phone or other wi-fi enabled device. In concert with apps like DashCommand or OBD Auto Doctor, it can save you tons of cash by spotting issues before they become terminal - not to mention keeping the mechanics honest.Right now, you can get the KOBRA Wireless Car Scanner at a 70% discount for just $14.99. Read the rest

In February, Liberal Party opposition MPP Michael Coteau introduced Right to Repair legislation after he was charged $400 to fix the cracked screen on his daughter's Samsung phone; that bill is now dead, as are dozens of Right to Repair bills introduced in US state houses, after Conservative MPs, heavily lobbied by US Big Tech firms, killed it before it could proceed to committee.Coteau identified the murderers of his bill, as they weren't shy about it: the cause was led by the Electronics Product Stewardship Canada (EPSC), fronting for "Apple, Panasonic, and other major tech companies" and by senior lobbyists from Apple, Samsung and Panasonic directly representing their companies.The companies fronted the same bad-faith, barely coherent arguments they'd made in the USA: independent repair is unsafe, a threat to "intellectual property", etc. But the real reasons were on display for all to see: Conservative MPPs said that they wanted Ontario to be "open for business" and that meant big, offshore business, not Canadian repair shops that helped Canadian people get more out of their own property.Remember: recycling a ton of electronics creates 15 low-skilled jobs and mountains of toxic e-waste, while repairing that same ton creates 200 high-waged, local jobs (no one sends their phone or fridge out of the country for repairs). That's money that stays in the community, too, because most repairs are undertaken by small businesspeople.The Tories are not the party of jobs and they're not the party of business. They're the party of oligarchy. Read the rest

With 2,700 replies and counting, All On Medicare's tweet asking When did you become radicalized by the U.S. health care non-system? is now one of the most thorough (and thoroughly depressing) collections of evidence of the need for healthcare reform you're likely to encounter.The title story of my new book Radicalized is about angry men whose most cherished family members are condemned to slow, painful deaths after their insurers refuse to cover lifesaving treatments by classing them as "experimental." These men are radicalized on message boards where there's always someone standing by to welcome people who are suicidal in their grief by urging them on, saying "Do it! And take some of those fuckers with you." In the story, America is shaken by a wave of terrorist violence as angry, traumatized white dudes start to suicide-bomb health insurance companies and take shots at senators funded by them. These white guys are not classed as terrorists -- not at first, anyway -- because the color of their skin dictates that they be called "lone wolves" and the victims of their crimes are not the most charismatic people in America.Reading this thread took me back to the research I did on the story, looking through Gofundme pages for people who only wanted to die knowing that their death wouldn't impoverish their loved ones. American health care is the most broken system in the world. I grew up with Canadian socialised medicine, then lived with the UK NHS for 13 years and now I'm in the USA and insured by Cinga (insert anguished scream here), and I'm here to tell you that Americans suffer under a system that no one else in the rich world has to tolerate. Read the rest

Next weekend, PEN America is throwing its World Voices Festival, including a McSweeney's-sponsored panel on algorithmic bias called The Bigot in the Machine, featuring poet/media activist Malkia Cyril, and Equality Labs founder Thenmozhi Soundararajan, moderated by investigative journalist Adrianne Jeffries: it's on May 11 at 2:30 at Cooper Union's Frederick P. Rose Auditorium. Tickets are $20. Read the rest

I am totally, utterly reliant on Creative Commons images for Boing Boing, and mostly I use Google Image's mediocre search tool for this purpose, but no more! Creative Commons's new search engine is out of beta, and contains more than 300,000,000 images, along with tools to make attribution easier! (via Kottke) Read the rest

'Come on, angry claw puppy! Play with me!'So cute.Clover the Aussie Pup has an Instagram worth following. View this post on Instagram Catto, please be my friend🥺 #chesterragdoll @chesterandollieragdollsA post shared by Clover The Aussie Pup (@aussienamedclover) on May 2, 2019 at 1:08pm PDT [via] Read the rest

Just wait.Wait.Wait for it.Jesus Christ, that's art.Wait for it.[via] Read the rest

“The lithe, 42-year-old tech founder has become a one-man Goop.”Oh yeah. It's that real.In the New York Times, a profile of Twitter and Square (yes both companies) CEO Jack Dorsey presents the man as a 'lifestyle guru' akin to Gwyneth Paltrow, leading followers on to trends he's found interesting. Fasting. Cryotherapy. 'Optimum cognitive performance.'You'd think with all that optimum cognitive performance, Twitter wouldn't be such a mess, but whatever.Mashable has a related item about how Jack “recently purchased a sauna that is an electromagnetic field-shielded "little tent" with a freestanding stool in the middle.”"No radiation EMF from power, from Wi-Fi, from cellular" gets through, Jack Dorsey observes about his in-home electromagnetic field-shielded infrared sauna, a device considered by scientists to be completely bogus."[It] feels a little bit different because you're not getting hit by all the EMF energy.""I feel a lot more energized," Dorsey said of his EMF-free man-tent on a recent podcast. "I feel a lot cleaner."From the Nellie Bowles profile in today's New York Times:“[Jack] Dorsey finds time for himself. For 10 days a year, he sits in silence at a meditation retreat. Before getting dressed each morning, he experiments with using his home infrared sauna and then an ice bath, sometimes cycling through both several times before he leaves home. He walks five miles to work. He eats one meal a day and has said that on the weekends when he fasts from Friday to Saturday, “time slows down.”He talks about starting each morning with salt juice — water mixed with Himalayan salt and lemon. Read the rest

Hagoromo Fulltouch Chalk is highly coveted around the world by mathematicians, who say it's superior to other kinds of chalk because it has an almost buttery texture and erases easily. When Hagoromo announced it was ceasing production, many mathematicians bought lifetime supplies, like one professor who has a four-stick-a-day habit. But a Korean company bought Hagoromo and has faithfully reproduced the original recipe so there is no longer a need to stockpile it. It's sometimes available on Amazon from third-party resellers. Read the rest

When Bernie Sanders was mayor of Burlington, Vermont, he had a cable access show called Bernie Speaks. In this 1988 episode, Sanders spoke to a couple of affable goth kids about capitalism, fashion, politics, anarchy, and society.From Reason:The episode originally aired in March 1988, and it mostly consists of Sanders playing roving reporter at the Burlington Square Mall. About halfway through the program, he starts talking with a couple of friendly punk-rock kids. He asks them what they don't like about society. They reply with a collection of complaints, some vague and some highly specific, that—speaking as someone who in March of 1988 was 17 and listening to punk rock and sometimes hanging out in malls—is as good a condensation as you're ever likely to find of a particular teenage worldview in that particular historical moment. "People are not open-minded enough," one says. "They think that in order to be stable in society you have to have money, you have to live in a suburb, you have to do the 'set' things, such as have so many people over for dinner…a week, or you're not socially acceptable. You've got to dress a certain way to be socially acceptable. And I don't believe in having to belong to anything to be a person. I can do basically what I want with my appearance, with my attitude, and it doesn't matter."They both identify themselves as anarchists, as 1980s mall-punks were prone to do. But most people's politics are a mish-mosh, and that's true here too. Read the rest

Damon Beres notes that the situation with folding displays is quickly going to hell. Enter Samsung’s Galaxy Fold, a kind of metal and glass taco that could define a new category of personal device — provided the company can get the thing to work. Several tech writers accidentally broke the gadget’s foldable display shortly after receiving review units, which led Samsung to delay the Galaxy Fold’s launch indefinitely. On Monday, the company said it would provide an update in the “next few weeks.” (Samsung’s official preorder link for the Galaxy Fold now leads to a 404 page.)But even if Samsung eventually says it has worked out the kinks, you shouldn’t buy one. Not yet, anyway. There are the obvious problems that go beyond the breakable display. The Galaxy Fold is gut-blastingly expensive at $1,980, and review units contained design flaws that were revealed in a teardown by iFixit. (Facing pressure from Samsung, iFixit later removed its examination “out of respect” to the partner that leaked the phone.) Unrepairable at any cost short of buying a new one, too. Read the rest

Q: Which website did Chewbacca get arrested for creating?A: Wookieleaks###And a few more funnies to support your Star Wars Day celebration tomorrow:###Q: Why does Princess Leia keep her hair tied up in buns? A: So it doesn't Hang Solow! ###Q: Which program do Jedi use to open PDF files?A: Adobe Wan Kenobi###Luke and Obi-Wan walk into a Chinese restaurant. Ten minutes into the meal, Luke’s still having trouble with the chopsticks, dropping food everywhere. Obi-Wan finally snaps, “Use the forks, Luke.”###Q: What do you call stormtroopers playing Monopoly? A: Game of Clones ###Q: What do you call Chewbacca when he has chocolate stuck in his hair? A: Chocolate Chip Wookiee.###RIP Peter Mayhew Read the rest

I've owned quite a few vegetable peelers, and the Kuhn Rikon model is my favorite. The blade is very sharp and it easily skins sweet potatoes, butternut squash, and even jicama. They are really cheap, too. Buy a 3-pack and share them with your friends. Every time they accidentally cut their finger using it, they'll think of you. Read the rest

Australian Northern Territory Parks and Wildlife service rangers found this 40cm snake with three functional eyes near the small town of, um, Humpty Doo which is about 40 km from, um, Darwin. The Northern Territory Parks and Wildlife posted on Facebook:The snake is peculiar as an x-ray revealed it was not two separate heads forged together, rather it appeared to be one skull with an additional eye socket and three functioning eyes.It was generally agreed that the eye likely developed very early during the embryonic stage of development. It is extremely unlikely that this is from environmental factors and is almost certainly a natural occurrence as malformed reptiles are relatively common.(via Daily Grail) Read the rest

My daughter just returned from a 4th grade field trip to the Sierra Nevadas to learn about the California Gold Rush. The program included a chance to pan for gold and before she left, I jokingly said that I expected her to come home with at least several ounces. Sadly, she didn't strike gold. It wouldn't have entirely been out of the realm of possibility though according to this fascinating Mel Magazine feature about lone prospectors like high school teacher Dan Hurd who is keeping the gold rush dream alive (and sharing his adventures on YouTube). From Mel:The claim to mine this half-kilometer stretch of the Fraser (River in British Columbia) belongs to Hurd, and it’s become a fast favorite of his. “I’m keeping this claim kind of secret because the amount of big gold I’ve found here is significant compared to any other claim,” he tells me, describing a multi-gram nugget he picked up off the ground last year. “I’ve already pulled a half ounce of gold out of this claim, which, for a prospector, is a lot. That’s around $900 Canadian.”...Hurd has found plenty of gold in his roughly two-dozen claims over the years, and uncovering several thousand dollars’ worth of the metal in an annual season isn’t unusual, though it takes a lot more time and failure than people expect, he jokes. “There’s a lot of delusions of grandeur out there. A lot of people think they can go out there, spend a day and pull $1,000 of gold out of the ground,” Hurd says. Read the rest

Josh Foer is the author of Moonwalking With Einstein, a book that recounts how he practiced different memory techniques to win the United States Memory Championship. In this video, Josh shows how he learned to memorize an entire chapter of Moby Dick. He used a mnemonic technique called the memory palace. It took Josh four days to memorize the chapter, and he spent 3-4 hours practicing each day.Via Open Culture Read the rest

Beginning May 5, Petersen Auto Museum in Los Angeles is displaying 40 famous science fiction movie cars in an exhibit titled Hollywood Dream Machines. Images: Petersen Automotive Museum Read the rest

My dear pal Barbara Rushkoff embroiders fantastic minimal portraits of musicians and other artists, writers, and thinkers whose work has inspired her over the years. I love the seeming simplicity of her illustrations that still beautifully convey the essence of her subjects! Also, the name of Barbara's Instagram account has me in, er, stitches: yr_resting_stitchface Above: Robert Smith of The Cure. Below: Billie Eilish, Kate Pierson and Cindy Wilson of the B-52's, Nilufer Yanya; Mark Hollis of Talk Talk; Joy Division's Ian Curtis; St. Vincent; Debbie Harry; and David Bowie. Read the rest

In the 1600s the Dutch East India company offered people the chance to share in the profits of international trade by funding ship voyages. By accident, it created the first stock market. In four-and-a-half minutes, this TED-Ed video explains the function of stock markets. Read the rest

The Austin Public Health Department and the CDC studied the safety of e-scooters and came to the conclusion that if you ride them you should wear a helmet. One in 5,000 e-scooter rides results in an injury and 48% of those are head injuries. From Ars Technica:This study actually discovered a higher rate of head injuries compared to the LA study—48 percent in total. But multiple injuries were common; 70 percent also suffered injuries to the upper limbs and 55 percent to the lower limbs. More than a third (35 percent) broke a bone, and 19 percent broke more than one, not counting finger and toe fractures.Injuries resulted from a wide range of scenarios. Fifty-five percent were injured riding in the street, but 33 percent were injured riding on the sidewalk. Sixteen percent of injuries involved another vehicle, but only 10 percent were from actually colliding with another vehicle. An equal proportion of injuries (10 percent) involved a curb, and 7 percent were the result of hitting an inanimate object, like a lamppost. Injuries were more common on the weekend (39 percent) and between the hours of 6pm and 6am (39 percent). But only 29 percent reported consuming alcohol within the 12 hours leading up to their injury. Thirty-seven percent blamed excessive speed, and 19 percent believed that a scooter malfunction was to blame.Image: Rachid Jalayanadeja/Shutterstock Read the rest

For more than 50 years, Roger Steffens has traveled the electric arteries of the counterculture embracing mind-expanding experiences, deep social connection, and unadulterated fun at every turn. And he’s captured it all on film. After serving in Vietnam during the final 26 months of the ‘60s, where he won a Bronze Star for founding a refugee campaign that raised over 100 tons of food and clothing, he spent a year lecturing against the war before settling in Marrakech. Finally returning Stateside in 1972, he immersed himself in the vibrant bohemias of Berkeley, Los Angeles, and beyond, touring his highly-acclaimed one-man show, “Poetry for People Who Hate Poetry.” A psychedelic polymath, Steffens worked as an actor, poet, editor, archivist, lecturer, author, NPR radio DJ and interviewer and, yes, photographer. Driven by his own insatiable curiosity and passion, he was on a perpetual quest for the eccentric, the outlandish, the transcendent. Just as often, it found him, smiling, a camera in one hand and a joint in the other.Roger Steffens is an intrepid explorer of the fringe but he’s also a family man. He met his wife Mary under a lunar eclipse in a pygmy forest in Mendocino, California while on LSD. Soon after, they conjured up a daughter, Kate, and son, Devon. Family vacations took the foursome up and down the West Coast, from the gritty glam of Hollywood’s Sunset Strip to reggae festivals in Humboldt, fiery protests in Berkeley to the ancient redwoods of Big Sur and the wilds of Death Valley. Read the rest

Launch control on the BMW S 1000 RR is the motorcycle equivalent of BASE jumping. Read the rest

Starting with a 1984 version of snooker (kind of like pool with more balls and smaller pockets) for the Commodore 64, Nostalgia Nerd shows how videogame versions of the game have evolved over the years. Even though the latest versions are hyperrealistic, I think the simple C64 version is the most appealing, but as Nostalgia Nerd points out, the physics and collision detection are laughable. Read the rest

Slack is a chat platform that promotes passive-aggressive behavior and misunderstanding at the office! I have found that logging off of Slack never to return solved 80% of my problems with this workplace chat platform. The other 20% of my problems magically resolved when my colleagues stopped using Slack as well.VOX:It can mean a few things: A vibrant discussion is taking place in which you and your colleagues are excitedly collaborating around a central topic. Important news is breaking and everyone wants to know. Or, more often, a nonlinear argument is unfurling as everyone tries to get the last word in first, and chaos envelops the very system meant to keep you organized.“Slack is where work happens,” reads the company’s website copy. “Imagine what you’ll accomplish together.”But an increasing emphasis on new technology to moderate our workdays isn’t necessarily making our work better or making us more productive. If wielded poorly, it can even make it worse.Image via Wikipedia. Read the rest

To say that this video depicts "video game physics IRL," as I have in this headline, is quite stupid. At least in the sense that the world should not be taken to resemble its simulation, even in jest, lest our grasp on reality be further undermined. And yet they so clearly need to work on the collision detection before this goes gold. Read the rest

Elizabeth Warren wants to break up Big Tech, a thoroughly excellent idea with many devils in the details: AOC backs her play: "Facebook as a basic communications platform while also selling ads and also being a surveillance platform. Those functions should be broken up, but how that gets levied and how that gets approached is what we need to take a fine-tooth comb at." Read the rest

From the fevered imaginations of Wil Wheaton and R. ("Diesel Sweeties" Stevens: The Trek Side of the Moon tee: $28. Read the rest

"Collateralized Debt Obligations" (CDOs) are a financial derivative that is a kind of bond that pays out based on revenue generated by a pool of assets: for example, a giant hedge fund might buy thousands of homes whose owners went bankrupt and suffered through foreclosure, and then rent them out at the highest possible rent with the least possible maintenance, and this generates thousands of revenue streams. Small slices of the revenue streams from many properties are pooled together into individual CDOs and these are sold to investors: when you buy one of these, you get a little bit of the rent from each of the tenants in the hedge-fund's holdings (other assets can be pooled together too, like payments on car loans, student loans, etc etc).Financial engineers use complex (and utterly bogus) mathematics to choose which income streams are mixed together in which proportions, supposedly ensuring that the debt is safe, on the theory that lots of people with very different life circumstances would all have to stop paying rent or interest all at once for the whole CDO to become worthless.A "synthetic CDO" is an even more complex, griftier, more bullshitty financial derivative that bundles together wagers on the peformance of real CDOs -- for example, some financier might bet that a certain number of people whose debt is flowing into a CDO will go broke and if he's right, he gets a payout, and if he's wrong, he has to pay. The income from these wagers are then bundled together (again, using bogus mathematics) in ways that supposedly ensure that all the risk is hedged and investors will get paid no matter what. Read the rest

Attorney General Bill Barr, plainly described as a liar by the House Majority leader, is only the latest "respectable" Republican to disgrace themselves by association with Trump and Trump's political survival. Susan B. Glasser:Barr’s whole performance, in fact, was so over the top, so Trumpian, that it immediately led to an array of tweets and op-eds wondering why Barr, a once-respected figure in conservative legal circles and a relatively uncontroversial Attorney General during the Presidency of George H. W. Bush, would choose to end a distinguished career in such a fashion. After all, Barr, like Graham, hadn’t even liked or supported Trump when he ran for President.The most scathing take of all came from the former F.B.I. director James Comey, whose firing by Trump led to Mueller’s appointment. Writing in the Times, in a piece titled “How Trump Co-opts Leaders Like Bill Barr,” Comey posited that Barr’s conduct and that of others around Trump was a consequence of their having chosen to serve the President. “Amoral leaders have a way of revealing the character of those around them,” Comey wrote. “Accomplished people lacking inner strength can’t resist the compromises necessary to survive Mr. Trump and that adds up to something they will never recover from.” It doesn’t happen right away but over time, Comey wrote, in a series of compromises along the way. “Mr. Trump eats your soul in small bites.”The thing we're describing as reputation (or Comey as "soul") is of no value to them because they don't care about what anyone thinks of them. Read the rest

At the height of her fame in 1943, movie star Gene Tierney contracted German measles during pregnancy and bore a daughter with severe birth defects. The strain ended her marriage to Oleg Cassini and sent her into a breakdown that lasted years. In this week's episode of the Futility Closet podcast we'll describe Tierney's years of heartbreak and the revelation that compounded them.We'll also visit some Japanese cats and puzzle over a disarranged corpse.Show notesPlease support us on Patreon! Read the rest

South Dakota governor Kristi Noem (R) is governor non grata at Pine Ridge after her support of new "riot boosting" laws that target indigenous people opposed to oil infrastructure on their land.From The Lakota Law Project: “The Oglala Sioux Tribal Council voted unanimously this week to inform South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem that she is not welcome at the Pine Ridge Reservation in the wake of her support for new "riot boosting" laws that unfairly target tribes and their allies who oppose new oil infrastructure on treaty lands.”It's a wonderful read. Here's the embedded letter, below, and [PDF Link].Noem Disallow Letter by on ScribdPHOTO BY AARON HUEY, courtesy lakotalaw.org[via girlsreallyrule] Read the rest

Journalists “end up amplifying falsehoods.”

Reacting to a storm of derision on the internet following the release of Sonic the Hedgehog's first trailer, the filmmakers have promised to redesign the CGI title character before it hits theaters. A lot of work for the animators, and little time to complete it.Thank you for the support. And the criticism. The message is loud and clear... you aren't happy with the design & you want changes. It's going to happen. Everyone at Paramount & Sega are fully committed to making this character the BEST he can be... #sonicmovie #gottafixfast 🔧✌️— Jeff Fowler (@fowltown) May 2, 2019Sure, Sonic mk. 1 was bad. But much of the hate is ironic and meaningless, and the real hate can't be addressed from the position the producers are in: exploiting nostalgia for a video game mascot whose cachet is defined by the weird emotional blank slate it presents to Gen Xers. CGI Sonic's good or badness is immaterial to its appeal—unless you were already in hell before you even saw it.Which leads me to my point, which is that the Sega game movie we actually need is a camp as hell vaporwave Space Harrier movie.How about a grim, nasty, almost dialog-free Golden Axe pitched somewhere about Valhalla Rising and the Polanski Macbeth? Noice. Read the rest

Five senior execs at Insys Therapeutics (manufacturer of Subsys, a type of fentanyl), have been convicted of criminal racketeering and fraud charges stemming from the company's practice of bribing doctors to overprescribe their incredibly addictive and dangerous product, and for defrauding Medicare in the process.John Kapoor, Richard Simon, Sunrise Lee, Joseph Rowan and Michael Gurry were convicted by a jury that deliberated for 15 days. Kapoor founded Insys, and his participation in the racket made him a billionaire. All defendants are out of bail and could face 20 years in prison. Their lawyers say they will appeal.The conviction was secured with the help of Insys's former President and CEO Michael Babich and former VP sales Alec Burlakoff who pleaded guilty and provided evidence against their former colleagues.The federal charges are just for starters. Dozens of states across the US are preparing to prosecute opioid vendors, including the notorious Purdue Pharma, manufacturers of the killer drug Oxycontin. Purdue has already settled in Oklahoma, paying $270m, while Johnson & Johnson, Teva Pharmaceuticals and Allergan are headed to trial. New York State is seeking to recover the funds that Purdue funneled to the Sackler family, who were made billionaires through the company's Oxy sales, and the state claims that the Sacklers have hidden their money offshore while quietly starting a new opioid company, Rhodes, which is continuing the practices pioneered by Purdue."Just as we would street-level drug dealers, we will hold pharmaceutical executives responsible for fueling the opioid epidemic by recklessly and illegally distributing these drugs, especially while conspiring to commit racketeering along the way," Lelling said after Thursday's ruling. Read the rest

Latch is a leading vendor of internet-of-things "smart" doorlocks that are in increasing use in rental housing (the company claims 10% of all new multiunit construction incorporates their product); they allow entry by keycode, keycard, and Bluetooth.Latch's privacy policy is the usual IoT dumpster fire, allowing the company to harvest a vast amount of information from you and also share that information with a wide array of third parties, including (sometimes) your landlord. Almost every method of unlocking your Latch requires an app in the loop (even PINs that you use with a numeric keyboard are delivered by app) and the app gathers huge amounts of information on you. Moreover, landlords can choose to configure Latch locks to require the app.Latch says it doesn't actually use any of the information it gathers, and isn't actually sharing the data that it reserves the right to share, and has promised to revise the policy, but companies come and companies go, and leadership changes, and firms pivot (recall that for Facebook's first ten years, the company billed itself as pro-privacy and promised never to spy on its users). Centrally controlled, building-wide smart locks are also a powerful tool for landlord harassment. A tenants' rights group in Hell's Kitchen claims their landlord is using the telemetry from smart locks on common areas to monitor which tenants are participating in meetings to address their grievances with the building's management, and is targeting those tenants for harassment in an attempt to force them out of their homes. Read the rest

We shouldn't be surprised that sponges - the very things you use to clean dishes - are breeding grounds for odor and germs. It's a sponge, after all. It absorbs things, including all that muck from your plates.Which is why calling the Better Sponge a sponge is a bit of a misnomer. It's definitely better - but unlike those bacteria farms in your sink, it cleans without absorbing grime.The Better Sponge is made from silicone, cleaning with bristles that are capable of scrubbing tough stains off pots and pans without scratching. And best of all, after you're done they simply rinse clean - no muck, no odor. Thanks to the material, they're equally effective as a pet brush or a grip for opening stubborn jars. And since they're heat-resistant, you can even use them as oven mitts. After use, simply stick them to the side of your newly clean sink with their built-in suction cup.It's a game changer for tidy kitchens everywhere, and it's currently 50% off. Pick up a 6-piece variety pack of Better Sponges for $20. Read the rest

Peter Mayhew, the actor who played Chewbacca in the Star Wars films, died on April 30. He was 74 years old. Several years ago, my son, then 10, and I had the good fortune to meet and briefly chat with Mayhew; he was kind, warm, personable, and unhurried with every single kid (and adult) who approached him. According to a statement from Mayhew's family, "there will be a memorial in December (in Los Angeles) for fans set up with his family in attendance, personal effects, and collection at EmpireConLA." The family asks that fans consider donating to the Peter Mayhew Foundation, "devoted to the alleviation of disease, pain, suffering, and the financial toll brought on by life's traumatic events."Rest easy, Chewie.The family of Peter Mayhew, with deep love and sadness, regrets to share the news that Peter has passed away. He left us the evening of April 30, 2019 with his family by his side in his North Texas home. pic.twitter.com/YZ5VLyuK0u— Peter Mayhew (@TheWookieeRoars) May 2, 2019He was the gentlest of giants-A big man with an even bigger heart who never failed to make me smile & a loyal friend who I loved dearly-I'm grateful for the memories we shared & I'm a better man for just having known him. Thanks Pete #RIPPeterMayhew #Heartbroken @TheWookieeRoars pic.twitter.com/8xbq9HEWF2— Mark Hamill (@HamillHimself) May 2, 2019"We are deeply saddened today by the news of Peter Mayhew’s passing. Since 1976, Peter’s iconic portrayal of the loyal, lovable Chewbacca has been absolutely integral to the character’s success, and to the Star Wars saga itself."-Kathleen Kennedy. Read the rest

Ed Piskor and Jim Rugg discuss a few comics from one of the best cartoonists of their generation!Eleanor Davis' books:• You & A Bike & A Road• Libby's Dad• BDSM (Frontier 11)• How to Be Happy• Why Art? Eleanor Davis art & comics on InstagramSubscribe to the Cartoonist Kayfabe YouTube channel for more comics vids and analysis like this. Read the rest

Facebook says the ban rollout took longer than planned.

Yahoo bought Tumblr in 2013 for $1.1bn, then Verizon acquired Yahoo. Now Verizon, after purging Tumblr of adult material and watching its traffic plunge as a result, is trying to sell whatever's left. The process is still on-going, and it's unclear whether it will result in a sale or what price Verizon is hoping to get for the web site, according to the report which cites anonymous sources."Would anyone like to buy this cat I just drowned?"https://t.co/Dwbn8Mh01p— Rob Beschizza (@Beschizza) May 2, 2019 Read the rest

Verizon wants to divest itself of Tumblr, having squandered much of the goodwill that made the platform so beloved by creating literally the stupidest censorship regime in the history of the internet; Tumblr became part of Verizon through the sale of Yahoo's media assets, and is part of a group Verizon dubbed "Oath" because everyone who encounters it ends up swearing. Verizon has admitted that it made a stupid, multi-billion dollar mistake when it bought Tumblr and its sister companies. (via Mitch Wagner) Read the rest

Chris Advansun is sleep writer. He writes bedtime stories for grownups. The secret to writing a good sleep story, he says, is to gently hook the reader without including anything jarring or surprising.From Oddity Central:“I would say the biggest difference is just the lack of conflict,” the sleep writer said. “In fact, it is imperative that there really isn’t any conflict in my stories, and in sleep stories in general. In traditional storytelling that is a story — a story is drama. And drama is the pursuit of a goal in the face of obstacles. And those obstacles need to be bigger and more crazy as you go along. So I had to really unlearn that feature of storytelling.”Although he admits that the idea of writing a story with the goal of listeners never reaching its end was weird at first, Advansun says that he has since understood that this type of stories have a different goal, and as long as they are helping people, he is satisfied. Read the rest

I use a password manager to create and manage all my passwords. In this video, Dr. Mike Pound explains how password managers work and why it's a good idea to use one. Read the rest