I've got to have this LEGO version of Slave I, the instantly recognizable spaceship flown by infamous bounty hunter Jango, and his clone-son Boba, Fett.The 1007 piece set also comes with Han, Leia and some other character minifigs.I am certain this project will soon adorn one of my bookshelves.LEGO Star Wars Slave I – 20th Anniversary Edition 75243 Building Kit via Amazon Read the rest

This is some artful cop dodgery. The low-key curb sit is a perfect touch.(r/videos) Read the rest

Architect Douglas Wan transformed a small Melbourne apartment (built in the 1950s as housing for nurses) into a versatile living space. He used plywood to divide the 300 square foot space into different living areas. Read the rest

While 5G mobile networks promise to provide tremendous wireless speeds with low latency, they may also make it more difficult for meteorologists to provide weather forecasts. That's because 5G's neighboring frequencies are used by satellites that detect water vapor in the atmosphere, data that informs weather models used by meteorologists. From Nature:Astronomers, meteorologists and other scientists have long worked to share the spectrum with other users, sometimes shifting to different frequencies to prevent conflicts. But “this is the first time we’ve seen a threat to what I’d call the crown jewels of our frequencies — the ones that we absolutely must defend come what may”, says Stephen English, a meteorologist at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts in Reading, UK.They include the 23.8-gigahertz frequency, at which water vapour in the atmosphere emits a faint signal. Satellites, such as the European MetOp probes, monitor energy radiating from Earth at this frequency to assess humidity in the atmosphere below — measurements that can be taken during the day or at night, even if clouds are present. Forecasters feed these data into models to predict how storms and other weather systems will develop in the coming hours and days.But a 5G station transmitting at nearly the same frequency will produce a signal that looks much like that of water vapour. “We wouldn’t know that that signal is not completely natural,” says Gerth. Read the rest

There's a certain elegance to the troll here. Knowing that Twitter doesn't moderate racist terms of abuse, and realizing that Uber's Twitter support account is a dumbly overfamiliar auto-response bot, it was easy for someone to make it say anything they wanted it to. And what they wanted it to say was that. (Most cunning of all, once Uber Support had tweeted, the troll changed their name back to something innocuous, removing the obvious echo.)We'd like to sincerely apologize for the offensive tweet that was sent earlier. We're investigating what happened to make sure it doesn't happen again.— Uber Support (@Uber_Support) April 29, 2019 Read the rest

Mail A Letter...online is just like sending email, but it imprints your message onto a thin, highly portable lignin-cellulose substrate using a solution of carbon black in petroleum distillates. Then it envelops the resulting document to protect it, prints the recipient's address on that, and then apparently something else happens and it eventually arrives. For this they want at least $1.52. Attention hackers: apparently it is possible to do all this without even using a website! You can get your own cellulose preparations and inscription chemicals. Yet it is still not free of charge to "send" the result? Some soldering skill might be required too, I haven't looked into it. (via HN) Read the rest

The Marvel universe blockbuster became the fastest movie to earn $1bn, reports the BBC, hitting the $1.2bn mark in five days.In the US alone, Endgame - which stars Robert Downey Jr as Iron Man - brought in a record $350m, and also enjoyed the UK and Ireland's biggest opening ever with takings of £43.7m.Empire's Helen O'Hara explains: "we're desperately invested in everything that happens to [the characters]." Read the rest

Above is the audio from a music/announcement cassette played at Kmart stores in October 1989. At Archive.org, Mark Davis writes:In the late 1980's and early 1990's, I worked for Kmart behind the service desk and the store played specific pre-recorded cassettes issued by corporate. This was background music, or perhaps you could call it elevator music. Anyways, I saved these tapes from the trash during this period and this video shows you my extensive, odd collection.Until around 1992, the cassettes were rotated monthly. Then, they were replaced weekly. Finally sometime around 1993, satellite programming was intoduced which eliminated the need for these tapes altogether.The older tapes contain canned elevator music with instrumental renditions of songs. Then, the songs became completely mainstream around 1991. All of them have advertisements every few songs.Coming soon: a limited-edition, "blue light" vinyl reissue. Just kidding. I think?Hear dozens more from Davis's collection at Archive.org: Attention K-Mart Shoppers (via r/ObscureMedia) Read the rest

As a method of testing battery output, it seems a bit elaborate, but racing AAs down coiled copper tubes looks like a lot of fun. Mr. Michal:Duracell, Varta or Energizer, Which Will Be the Best? In this video you'll see two races between aa batteries. Infinite loop and DRAG RACE. How to make the simplest electromagnetic train in the world ? It's very easy. You only need these three parts. 1. copper wire raw 2. battery ( AAA, AA or C ) 3. and two neodymium magnets ( it must be larger in diameter than battery ) I figure as a benchmark, you'd need to immobilize the tube for comparisons to be fair? Say, if you wanted to create a whole YouTube channel dedicated exclusively to well-controlled battery races. Read the rest

This man's calling is to unclog drains in public infrastructure. As you can see from this footage, he's rather good at it. I was walking by this place and saw that the drain needed to be cleared so I had my father drive me up here the next day, this time with a pair of tall boots. I cleared the drain in about a half an hour. Those logs are heavier than you think, their waterlogged which makes them heavier than a regular log. Also the leaf debris was being held down with a lot of suction and was hard to remove. I returned today and the lake had dropped about 5 in and the Culvert was no longer raging. The water level is back to normal. Thanks for watchingThings get exciting about 4 minutes in. Read the rest

After the 2008 economic crash and the ensuing foreclosure crisis, AbdulAziz HouHou ran a ponzi scheme that bilked other Kuwaitis out of millions that were spent buying and flipping foreclosed houses across America, particularly in hard-hit rustbelt towns like Buffalo and Rochester.HouHou -- now serving a 10-year prison sentence in Kuwait -- lured in investors with promises of worry-free, 15% returns on their money, which he said he would spend buying up distressed properties and then renting out to desperate people who would tolerate minimal maintenance while paying high rents.Apparently that didn't work out -- or perhaps HouHou never intended it to work out -- and instead, HouHou bought houses and left them vacant, boarded up, not paying taxes on them. Sometimes he sold the same house to multiple investors. Sometimes he didn't even own the houses he was selling.The scam went on for years, thanks to HouHou's ponzi tactic of paying existing investors out of the money coming in from new ones, guaranteeing a sterling reputation in Kuwait.Even before the scam was revealed, cities were suffering as a result of HouHou's fraud. He didn't pay property taxes, and his empty houses sometimes burned down, or attracted squatters, or simply rotted away, lowering the value of peoples' nearby homes. Since HouHou was busted, some of America's poorest, most cash-strapped cities have had to spend tax dollars razing them, or dousing their fires, or rousting squatters. The houses themselves are often sold for pennies on the dollar, and many are uninhabitable thanks to neglect, which leads to catastrophes like frozen and burst pipes. Read the rest

On May 8, Gig Workers Rising is organizing a nationwide shutdown of Uber, with drivers turning off their apps in protest over low pay: so far, seven cities' drivers are signed up: Philadelphia, Chicago, San Francisco, San Diego, Minneapolis, LA and DC. Uber and Lyft have both slashed pay for drivers and raised prices as they try to assuage the capital markets. Read the rest

We've all had it stuck in our head: That catchy song, sometimes a favorite but mostly out of nowhere, endlessly looping just on the tip of our tongue. It can be annoying, but it was only a matter of time before somebody put the addictive properties of music to good use. And the name says it all with the Earworms Musical Brain Trainer, a series of lessons that uses a tuneful hook to teach foreign languages.This software has already gotten raves from Wired magazine, who praised Earworms' innovative and painless approach. In a series of laid-back lessons, users are encouraged to just absorb snippets of speech in a variety of languages including Spanish, French, and German. Subtly layered under the phrases is a soundtrack that simultaneously relaxes you and sneaks the syntax into your aural cortex, where it can easily be recalled. The result is a quicker way to learn even the most difficult languages.Available for a variety of languages, the Earworms MBT Language Learning Bundle Vol. 1-3 is on sale at $14.99, 50% off the MSRP. Read the rest

In Downey, California, southeast of Los Angeles, a gentleman breaking into a car was chased off by a neighborhood watch-coyote. Video evidence above. My favorite part is the thief peeking around the cars to see if the coyote was awaiting his return. Read the rest

A year ago, Facebook -- wracked by the Cambridge Analytica scandal (and many, many others) -- promised a "Clear History" feature that would allow its users to wipe clean the nonconsensual dossiers that the company had compiled on them, a promise uttered by Mark Zuckerberg himself during the F8 developer conference.A year has gone by, F8 is here again, and Clear History is nowhere to be found. The company says it will roll it out in 2019. But who knows? Remember, Facebook has also promised a suite of privacy-oriented services without providing any schedule for their delivery.Philip Michael from Tom's Guide points out that there's really only one way for Facebook to demonstrate that it is taking privacy seriously, and that would be for Mark Zuckerberg to step down. After all, Zuck has spent literally his entire tenure at the helm of Facebook making and then egregiously breaking privacy policies, then mouthing hollow apologies, making new promises, and then breaking them.I don't think that Zuck's departure would be enough. Mark Zuckerberg didn't personally design and implement all of the invasive tools that have produced scandal after scandal (though he may have signed off on all or at least most of them). He had a literal army of managers, product designers and engineers who built those systems in full knowledge of what they were doing. Changing the guy in the CEO's office without changing out the rest of those complicit people will have no meaningful effect on the company. Read the rest

After Star Trek was cancelled, Nichelle Nichols, aka Lieutenant Uhura, volunteered her time to help NASA recruit women and minorities to join the space agency. The 1977 video above is from that era. Nichols' impact can't be overstated. From Wikipedia:Among those recruited (by Nichols' NASA special project) were Dr. Sally Ride, the first American female astronaut, and United States Air Force Colonel Guion Bluford, the first African-American astronaut, as well as Dr. Judith Resnik and Dr. Ronald McNair, who both flew successful missions during the Space Shuttle program before their deaths in the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster on January 28, 1986. Recruits also included Charles Bolden, the former NASA administrator and veteran of four shuttle missions, Frederick D. Gregory, former deputy administrator and a veteran of three shuttle missions and Lori Garver, former deputy administrator. Read the rest

Haven't tried CBD yet? We get it. CBD (or cannabidiol) is a non-psychoactive compound derived from the cannabis plant that has loads of testimonials about its stress-busting properties, but whose products can you trust in a largely unregulated field?Sunday Scaries are emerging as a pretty good bet.The company was started by two avid users of CBD who were just as concerned about the lack of real information regarding the products they saw. They source their CBD directly from family-owned Colorado farms, infuse it into naturally-sweetened gummies and fortify them with vitamins B3 and B12 for an extra boost to the immune and nervous system. And to cap it all off, their products are fully organic. Take 2-3 gummies a day to beat back a variety of ills including anxiety, sleeplessness, and nausea. Be sure to check state laws before you buy, and as with any medicine, be sure to check with your doctor.You can pick up a 20-gummy jar of Sunday Scaries for $29.99, a full 25% off the list price. Read the rest

**UPDATE** Joel Rubin has said the cut was legit. It was a legitimate commercial break. They had me on again after the break. https://t.co/2jjoVsELld— Joel Rubin (@JoelMartinRubin) April 28, 2019 Fox News abruptly cut off former assistant secretary of state Joel Rubin for explaining that Trumpism led to today's shootings in Poway.I was watching Fox coverage of the synagogue shooting in Poway.Former assistant secretary of state Joel Rubin was making a point.Joel, Joel, Joel the announcer said.Then the control room took the commercial for the Salonpas pain relief patch.This is what I saw: pic.twitter.com/ztFsxA7esh— Glenn Kubish (@Kub64) April 27, 2019 Read the rest

Dan Lipiniski is the worst Democrat in Congress, a man who literally inherited his seat from his father and has spent his career in Congress opposing minimum wage laws, access to abortion, and rights for LGBTQ people, taking massive contributions from literal railbarons in exchange for fighting railroad safety rules.Lipinski sits in one of the Democrats' safest seats, meaning whomever wins the Democratic primary in his Illinois district automatically gets sent to Congress, so the only way to oust him is to defeat him in a primary race.Enter the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, who have banned any primary challenges to any sitting Democrat in 2020, with a policy that says that no DCCC-backed candidate may procure services from consultants or suppliers who work on a primary challenge. The DCCC and the Democratic establishment have a long history of backing Lipinski, and in 2018, they helped fend off a primary challenge by Marie Newman (@Marie4Congress, donate here), a progressive, small-money-backed Democrat.Newman (whose 2018 challenge fell short by 2.2%) wants to challenge Lipinski in 2020, and the DCCC has already begun to sabotage her campaign. Last week, Campaign Pro's Laura Barrón-López announced that she was quitting Newman's campaign because of pressure from the DCCC. Newman has also lost the services of two mail firms because of the DCCC's ban.The DCCC's ban on primary challenges has the full support of the party establishment, including Nancy Pelosi.I have just donated $200 to Newman's campaign. Read the rest

There are some mysteries in the court documents related to the college admissions scandal: a pair of mystery students whose parents paid $1.2m and $6.5m in bribes to get them into top US educational institutions.Now the identity of one of those students has been revealed: Sherry Guo, AKA "Yale Applicant 1," whose case has not resulted in charges, despite the fact that her family paid $1.2m to get her into Yale. The bribe went to Rudolph Meredith, the former Yale women's soccer coach, who has pleaded guilty to accepting the money in order to falsify a history of soccer playing for Guo, thus gaining her admission to Yale (Yale has since kicked her out).$1.2m is much higher than the other bribes disclosed to date -- for example, wealthy heiress and "Instagram influencer" Olivia Jade Giannulli was admitted to USC for a mere $500k. Guo's lawyer, James Spertus, says that this is evidence that William Singer -- who ran the bribery operation -- was praying on naive, super-rich Chinese people. Spertus that that Guo's (as yet unnamed) parents did not realize that this was a bribe at all, and also that they paid too much.Mr. Spertus said the large size of the payment suggested that Mr. Singer was exploiting Ms. Guo’s family and their lack of knowledge about the college process.“The amount alone shows that he was preying on the Chinese community,” he said. “The donation was made to help underprivileged youth. They were not aware that the money went to Meredith. Read the rest

Having trouble sleeping? A sleep mask can be the solution for many, but it's an imperfect one. Too tight of a fit, and it's uncomfortable. Too loose, and it can come undone or let in outside light.The industrial designers behind the Manta Sleep Mask have clearly thought about this a lot, and they've given light sleepers a very happy medium.The innovations in their Manta Sleep Mask are simple but crucial. First, the memory foam eyepieces are velcro-adjustable, allowing you to position them for a perfect fit on your face. That means no outside light whatsoever. What's more, the convex shape of the eyepieces ensures that there's no pressure on your eyes - something that can interfere with REM sleep. Comfortable elastic bands and micro-velcro adhesive ensures a perfect wrap around your head without getting stuck in your hair, and it even comes with blackout strips for those tiny lights on the various devices in your room.All in all, it's a complete kit for the perfect night's sleep. The Manta Sleep Mask & Blackout Stickers are currently $29.99, a full 24% off the list price. Read the rest

Battletech: A Game of Armored CombatBattleTech Beginner BoxCatalyst Games, $60 (core set), $20 (Beginner's Box)Catalyst Games was kind enough to send me a bundle o' new BattleTech goodies. They sent the new BattleTech: A Game of Armored Combat (the core game), the BattleTech Beginner Box, the BattleMech Manual, and the Map Pack expansion.The Beginner Box is positioned as a convenient and cheap way of getting people into the game at a third the price of the new core box. In the Beginner Box, you get 2 Mech miniatures and 8 cardboard standee Mechs. The stater rules are somewhat streamlined with no heat management/Heat Phase, no Internal Structure Diagram (ISD), and no torso movement. All of the movement and attack modifiers are retained from the original game. The rules still have those clunky and crunchy old-school mechanics under the hood, but like OGRE and Car Wars, for those of us with fond memories of this game, however cumbersome, that's maybe now part of its old-school charm.The hardbound Mech Manual is lovely, well-designed, and laid out for easy reference. The Core Box comes with 8 beautifully sculpted Mech miniatures, a 56-page rule book, a 16-page Universe Primer, Pilot stat cards, a pad of Mech record sheets, two terrain maps, dice, and additional standees and terrain markers. The core system does retain the ISD, heat manangement, and torso movement rules. Both boxed sets also include novellas, which is kind of a nice way of immersing oneself, especially newbies, in the BattleTech universe before play. Read the rest

Described by Booklist as an "essential part of any science fiction collection,” Dan Simmon's Hyperion is on sale at a very low price in the Kindle edition on Amazon today. I've been wanting to read this for a while, so I grabbed it while it's cheap.Description:On the world called Hyperion, beyond the reach of galactic law, waits a creature called the Shrike. There are those who worship it. There are those who fear it. And there are those who have vowed to destroy it. In the Valley of the Time Tombs, where huge, brooding structures move backward through time, the Shrike waits for them all.On the eve of Armageddon, with the entire galaxy at war, seven pilgrims set forth on a final voyage to Hyperion seeking the answers to the unsolved riddles of their lives. Each carries a desperate hope—and a terrible secret. And one may hold the fate of humanity in his hands. Read the rest

Britain is free of rabies; the specter of it being imported from Europe was an omnipresent whisper of menace in public information ad spots and print ads when I was a lad. Here's are three chipper segments from the early 1980s that I recall. Here's another!And another! Read the rest

Mesa, Arizona police busted a man for driving in the HOV lane with a dummy as his passenger."Another one Busted! Don't let this be you.... A driver was cited for HOV lane violation along the SR 202 at Alma School, for having a dummy masquerade as a passenger," tweeted the Department of Public Safety.You'd think people would realize that the fuzz are onto this by now. At least he invested in a real mannequin unlike the below, from a classic gallery of "15 Hilariously Awful Dummies Used by Busted Carpool Lane Cheaters as Fake Passengers": Read the rest

The Roxy 8 Movie Theater in Dickson, Tennessee changed the title of Hellboy to Heckboy on its marquee. From WZTV:(Owner Belinda) Daniel told FOX 17 News that she has never displayed any words on the sign that may be seen as profanity, especially since the Roxy is next to Oakmont Elementary School...“As it turned out, our play on words became a little more exciting than we expected,” Daniel said. “We are glad that we could share a small bit of our great community while also sharing a laugh with the rest of the world...”Daniel said the sign is the only place where the movie’s title was changed. It appears as “Hellboy” both on the theater’s website, and on the billboards posted on the front of the theater. Read the rest

This footage was shot in 1991 but it could easily be today. From Gary Broyhill's YouTube post:Fans of the endless loop cartridge met at Delilah's in Chicago to trade tapes (no selling!) and talk shop. Interview with Russ Forster, editor of 8-Track Mind magazine and director of the 8-track film "So Wrong They're Right.'Want more? Fast-forward your way to 8-Track Heaven Read the rest

I had misassigned the "Gar-On-Tee" to Chef Paul Prudhomme for some reason. Justin Wilson is the chef who filled my kitchen with empty promises. Read the rest

Dogs are the best people.The little dude can walk stairs like a biped. I nominate this dog for president.Can't be any worse, right?"Look at me, I'm a human."[via] Read the rest

A youth pastor threatened to call federal immigration authorities on an underage girl and her family while he was coercing the girl into non-consensual sexual acts, say Florida police.Luis Clarke, 38, was a youth pastor at now closed Abraza tu Sueno Church in Pembroke Pines, Florida. During his time there, he sexually assaulted a teen girl numerous times over six months, the Broward Sheriff's Office said.The assault began when she was 15 in August 2016 until February 2017 when she was 16, an arrest report said.The girl “never reported the sexual acts to her parents and went along with [Clarke’s] request because he threatened to report her and her family’s illegal status to authorities,” according to the report.Another child who was forced to witness the multiple rapes reported them to authorities. The boy went to police on April 3, and the man was arrested last night, April 25, per reports. Excerpt:One time, Clarke picked up the girl and a 15-year-old boy at a Hollywood park, took them to his residence where he activated his home alarm so that they couldn’t leave without triggering it and forced the boy to watch Clarke have sex with the girl, according to the arrest report.“[Clarke] continued to yell at [the boy] demanding that he watch the sexual act,” Detective Alkie Lewis-Siminies wrote in a police report.During the sexual assault, Clarke repeatedly shouted at the boy, called him gay and proclaimed more than once that the girl “belongs to him,” the boy told investigators. Read the rest

While speaking at the National Rifle Association convention in Indianapolis, Indiana just now, President Donald Trump spoke to pro-weapons advocates about a failed coup against him. “I didn't need a gun” to ward off a coup by Robert Mueller, Donald said.He said the FBI was “trying to infiltrate the White House,” and urges an inquiry into the investigation surrounding his contacts with Russia.Trump claimed “corruption” at the “highest level” of the Justice Department, and called U.S. law enforcement “a disgrace.” Video below.Donald Trump at NRA today escalates “coup” smear against opposition party: "They tried for a coup, it did not work out so well. [Applause] I did not need a gun for that one, did I?... They were trying for an overthrow and I caught 'em." https://t.co/BxX8JGHUo7via @atrupar @cspan pic.twitter.com/yFatoR34Ro— Xeni (@xeni) April 26, 2019The president also withdrew from a global arms treaty, and survived the apparent tossing of an object toward the stage.Also today, Russian agent Maria Butina was sentenced to 18 months prison minus time served for acting in an influence operation that targeted the NRA and Trump.The use of the “coup” language by Trump has escalated since the release of the less-redacted version of Robert Mueller's report.TRUMP: "This was a coup. This wasn't stealing information from an office in the Watergate apartments. This was an attempted coup. Like a third world country. Inconceivable." pic.twitter.com/3g8LBIstLS— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 26, 2019Trump accuses Hillary Clinton of "destroying the lives of people that were on our campaign. Read the rest

Ed Piskor and Jim Rugg have long mentioned wanting to get their hands on a nice collection of Jamie Hewlett's Fireball comics from Deadline Magazine, so Jim decided to make one on his own. In fact, he hand bound three books before this recording.BOOK BINDING TUTORIALS:DIY Comic Book Binding with dozymuppet! This is the tutorial that led Jim to make some books. Highly recommendedSewing Printed Signatures - Part 1. This video gives a clear demo of how to kettle-stitch signatures--------------Subscribe to the Cartoonist Kayfabe YouTube channel for more vids celebrating the medium of comics. Read the rest

As Donald Trump spoke at today's National Rifle Association convention in Indianapolis, someone threw an object on stage. Also at the NRA convention today, Trump went on a bananas rant about a failed “coup,” and told the audience at the NRA’s “leadership forum” he will “never, ever let [them] down.”Oh. And Trump also announced the U.S. is withdrawing from a global arms treaty.Here's the tossing of the purported phone, or whatever it was.Someone threw an object at Trump during his talk at the NRA convention in Indianapolis. Various unverified reports it was a phone. Here's video by @realBradBrewer. https://t.co/sgfIZ4Zv8a pic.twitter.com/ZLKmbraFQN— Xeni (@xeni) April 26, 2019Now about that arms treaty:President Donald Trump said that his administration is withdrawing from a global arms treaty that set rules for sales and transfers of small arms, missile launchers and warships.“My administration will never surrender American sovereignty to anyone. My administration will never ratify the UN Arms Treaty,” Trump said Friday at a National Rifle Association conference in Indiana. “We’re taking our signature back.”Also, from Trump's remarks today, this quote: "No matter how many centuries go by, how much the world changes, the central drama of human history remains the same. On one side are those who seek power, control and domination. And on the other side are patriots....”Trump to the NRA: "No matter how many centuries go by, how much the world changes, the central drama of human history remains the same. On one side are those who seek power, control and domination. Read the rest

PepsiCo is suing four small farmers in India for growing a type of potato exclusively reserved for its Lays potato chips, reports CNN. The global food giant is demanding each farmer (whose farms are only a few acres) pay 10 million rupees ($143,000). Pepsi told the farmers it would drop the suit if they either stop growing the potatoes or agree to become assimilated."That was a discussion that happened in the court today," a PepsiCo spokesperson told CNN. "We told them, why don't you join our program and we will provide seeds ... Either join us or grow other potatoes. That way, we are willing to let go of the case."...Farmers' associations and activists in India called on the Indian government to step in and take action against PepsiCo. In a letter to the government published earlier this week and shared with CNN Business, they said the farmers' rights to grow and sell registered crops are protected under India's agricultural laws. Read the rest

Jimmy Fallon and Paul Rudd remade Dead or Alive's classic 1984 new wave club anthem "You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)." Original below. Pete Burns, RIP.From Wikipedia:According to Burns, the record company was unenthusiastic about "You Spin Me Round", to such an extent that Burns had to take out a £2,500 loan to record it, then once it had been recorded "the record company said it was awful. It was unanimous – it was awful, it was rubbish." Burns stated that the band had to fund production of the song's video themselves. Read the rest

Now that he's running for president, accused groper Joe Biden thought it would boost his image by finally calling Anita Hill on the phone -- 28 years after he let her twist in the wind during the confirmation hearings for Clarence Thomas -- and convey “his regret for what she endured” (as a spokesperson for Biden described the call). Hill told The New York Times that she doesn't consider his call to be an apology and that he has never taken responsibility for his role in making sure Hill wasn't taken seriously when she testified and for not allowing other corroborating witnessed to testify.From The New York Times:In recent interviews, Ms. Hill and others involved in the confirmation fight portrayed Mr. Biden’s handling of the hearing as at best inept and at worst deeply insensitive. They fault his refusal to seriously investigate her accusations and take public testimony from other potential witnesses who said the future justice had acted inappropriately with them. Justice Thomas has denied any inappropriate behavior.One of those potential witnesses, Sukari Hardnett, a lawyer in Silver Spring, Md., said in an interview that she decided to come forward while watching the hearing when she “saw what they were doing to Anita Hill and how they were literally trying to trash her.” Ms. Hardnett wrote a letter detailing her own experiences and submitted it to the committee through the dean of her law school, expecting to be called to testify. But she said she was not. Read the rest

Butina 'jeopardized this country's national security' says judge

Attention, Droogs! A sequel to Anthony Burgess's A Clockwork Orange has turned up in the author's archives. According to Andrew Biswell, director of the International Anthony Burgess Foundation, the 200-page manuscript, titled "The Clockwork Condition," "provides a context for Burgess's most famous work, and amplifies his views on crime, punishment and the possible corrupting effects of visual culture." From the BBC News:Burgess himself described the work as a "major philosophical statement on the contemporary human condition", outlining his concerns about the effect on humanity of technology, in particular media, film and television.It also explains the origins of his novel's unusual title."In 1945, back from the army," an extract reads, "I heard an 80-year-old Cockney in a London pub say that somebody was 'as queer as a clockwork orange'."The 'queer' did not mean homosexual: it meant mad... For nearly twenty years I wanted to use it as the title of something... It was a traditional trope, and it asked to entitle a work which combined a concern with tradition and a bizarre technique..."Prof Biswell, who is also professor of English at Manchester Metropolitan University, said the author abandoned the manuscript when he came to realise "he was a novelist and not a philosopher"."Unseen Clockwork Orange 'follow-up' by Anthony Burgess unearthed" (BBC Bews)image: cover art for "A Clockwork Orange" (Penguin Books, 1972) by David Pellham Read the rest

What do you get when you pay a global management consulting firm $32 million to redesign your website? Not a website that works, of course, but something much more interesting: an energetic finger-pointing performance complete with excuses, scapegoats, and bleating sacrificial lambs. At least that's what Hertz is claiming happened when it hired Accenture to redesign its website and is now suing Accenture for failure to deliver.From The Register:Among the most mind-boggling allegations in Hertz's filed complaint is that Accenture didn't incorporate a responsive design, in which webpages automatically resize to accommodate the visitor's screen size whether they are using a phone, tablet, desktop, or laptop.That has been standard website practice for years and was even included in the contract that was signed, but the boffins at Accenture decided that only desktop and mobile versions were needed, according to Hertz. When the rental giant's execs asked where the tablet version was, Accenture "demanded hundreds of thousands of dollars in additional fees to deliver the promised medium-sized layout."It actually gets worse.The specs called for a common core of libraries to be "a fundamental principle of the design" so that the company could share information and structures across all its companies' websites and apps. And Accenture, well, completely ignored that, according to Hertz."Accenture deliberately disregarded the extensibility requirement and wrote the code so that it was specific to the Hertz brand in North America and could not be used for the Hertz global brand or for the Dollar and Thrifty brands," the lawsuit alleged. Read the rest

ETA Prime happened to drive past a thrift store a while back so he stopped in and bought a broken Toshiba laptop for $5, a 19-inch display for $5, a PS3 controller for $10, and some cables for $4. He took them home, installed game console emulation software, and ended up with a decent gaming system. Read the rest

The measles epidemic isn't a scare! This incredibly contagious disease was once thought eradicated by the miracle of modern vaccines, but if you get enough under-educated folks fearing debunked hype in one place the whole system falls apart.CBS:Nearly 300 students and staff at two major southern California universities are under quarantine as health officials warn they might have been exposed to measles. CBS News correspondent Carter Evans reports that at Cal State Los Angeles, 198 are quarantined. Seventy one students and 127 staff members might have been exposed in a campus library.At the University of California, Los Angeles, 76 students and six faculty are still at risk after a contagious student attended classes.Officials at UCLA said a student contagious with measles attended classes for three days earlier this month, potentially putting hundreds at risk."It's crazy to see that that's happening in a place that I spend time studying. It was supposed to be eradicated," said Nolan Origer, a UCLA student.The university has identified dozens who may have been exposed. They're being quarantined until medical records can prove their immunity. Read the rest

Sourdough pizza crust is as stress-free as it is delicious.If my sourdough starter is on the counter when I want pizza, I will make sourdough pizza dough. I simply take my regular Neapolitan crust recipe and substitute 1/4 cup of starter for the 2 tsp of active dry yeast. I will reduce the amount of water I mix the starter into by 2-3 Tbs and add it back as I work the dough if needed. Generally, I do not need to add much back.I let the dough rise and work it exactly like any other pizza.Pineapple and pepperoni is my daughter's go-to pizza. I like chevre and prosciutto, but I am happy to help her finish the pineapple and pepp. Read the rest

Only a few working cabinets exist of Akka Arrh, an early-80s Atari arcade game that failed in test markets and was not mass-produced. Tucked away in private collections, no ROM image existed of the otherwise fully-functional prototypes—until, the story has it, a repair worker dumped and exfiltrated them.One well-placed arcade collector with direct knowledge of the extant Akka Arrh cabinets and their owners (who asked for anonymity to "avoid burning bridges") told me "it does sound like this really happened." That source tells me that the victim of the alleged theft is sharing essentially the same story as atariscott with other Akka Arrh owners (who, unsurprisingly, all know each other)."They were told it was theft from the tech who had access, and apparently there were rumblings about this tech being shady ahead of this release," the collector tells Ars. "It wasn't their board that was dumped, but [they] were pretty upset when the ROMs were released, given the rarity of the machine."Or,Arcade Heroes blogger and arcade owner Adam Pratt has his own take, which he shared with Ars: As it comes across online, it sounds like something is missing... That a technician would come in to a collection to fix something else, break into the Akka Arrh machine, pull out all of the ROMs, burn them one-by-one (which requires a ROM burner and a computer), then put everything back unnoticed doesn't seem plausible to me. Chances are, [Evans] or one of the other two collectors happened to have backed up the ROMs when they first got the machine and that backup either got out, or one of the collectors finally decided to anonymously upload the ROMs. Read the rest

Streamers are adopting peculiar makeup patterns designed to look good—or at least achieve specific effects—when processed through app filters, reports the South China Morning Post. Some commenters are aghast at the supposed vanity and artificality of the youngsters doing the streaming, but it strikes me as very similar to old TV makeup from the black-and-white era. If the image is distorted, correcting the distortion becomes a science and manipulating it an art. Read the rest

This video depicts a man walking a presumed-stolen ATM down the street, then trying to haul it onto a bus. "I'll split it with you," he says to the bus driver. The bus driver closes the doors, thereby declining the offer. "We coulda made money together!" the man remonstrates as the bus pulls away. Read the rest

Nearly everyone who has sat at a desk knows about Microsoft Excel. But if you're picturing a simple, boring spreadsheet in your head, that's only scratching the surface of its capabilities. Just for starters, Excel is an essential tool in the field of data analytics, allowing users to collate disparate mounds of data, visualize trends and chart a course for new business plans.The capability to do all those things is the difference between a simple clerk and a highly paid data analyst. And no matter what your experience with Excel, the Ultimate Microsoft Excel Certification Training Bundle is the fastest way to get that knowledge - and the job that goes with it.The six-course bundle kicks off with a primer on Excel's broader capabilities before diving into complex functions like pivot charts and macros. There are a couple of dedicated courses on data analysis, including the Power Query and Data Analytics Expressions (DAX) tools. All in all, it's more than 30 hours of lessons, examples, and resources, with a full certification waiting for you at the end.Right now, the full Ultimate Microsoft Excel Certification Training Bundle is $34. Read the rest

Pepsi has confirmed that it has files lawsuits against four farmers in India who grew a variety of potato that was registered as being for the exclusive production of the company's Lay's potato chips.Activists say that the company sent private investigators after the farmers, and that they posed as buyers for the proprietary lifeform.It's not clear what the cause of action is: all the news stories on places like The Hill and The Daily Beast source their reports to this CNN Business article, which calls the potatoes both "trademarked" and "copyrighted" (it is more common for lawsuits over proprietary crops to be brought on patent grounds).Unnamed food sovereignty activists quoted in the CNN Business article said that India's law protects "farmers' rights to grow and sell trademarked crops.""We believe that the intimidation and legal harassment of farmers is happening because farmers are not fully aware of [their] rights," the letter said. The letter also claims PepsiCo sent private detectives to the accused farmers posing as potential buyers, secretly recording video of them and taking samples of the potatoes.PepsiCo did not comment on those allegations. PepsiCo is suing farmers in India for growing the potatoes it uses in Lays chips [Rishi Iyengar/CNN Business] Read the rest

Tom Scocca discovered that a blog post he'd written had been turned into a weird video in which the text of the post was superimposed "meme style" on a set of five rotating static graphics, set to music ("wordless vocals and a sort of jazzy guitar and beat").The video -- which only used about half of the text of Scocca's post -- had zero views. It belonged to an account called smokaj0000, whose videos are "a solid wall of “No Views” videos, sprinkled here and there with videos that have gotten some tiny number of views" -- it posts hundreds of them every week.Smokaj0000 is mysterious. If you try to post its videos to your own account, you'll get an automated copyright takedown from HEXACORP LTD for the audio track, which is apparently titled "cool-mbia." Hexacorp's website is a word-salad of business grifterspeak: "Deliver high end solutions & services, collaborate customer data & people by adapting latest technologies & tools establish customer friendly process and create effective solutions with focus towards ‘Best Services Interest’ and ‘Maximum Value for Money.'"So what the actual fuck is going on? It's a mystery. As Scocca says, "Whatever smokaj0000 is doing, it is not producing content for human consumption. It is aggressively, chillingly ahuman, a machine signaling to machines for some algorithmic purpose whose human-centered antecedents are long lost. It is not even fake; it simply exists outside any realm where reality might matter."Why Did a YouTube Bot Make an Unwatched Video of Our Blog Post? Read the rest

The CTIA is America's top telcoms lobbying organization, and they're trying to kill AB1699, a proposed California law that would ban carriers from throttling firefighters' internet access, as Verizon did in 2018, then lied about, then launched a charm offensive to defend.The CTIA sent a letter to state lawmakers warning that the bill would result in "serious unintended consequences, including needless litigation."The CTIA is the only organization that opposed the bill."California is a place where we have multiple disasters on a regular basis," Meston said. "We rely on our cell phones; we rely on Internet data to an extreme degree. When we go to an emergency incident, we need information about the incident action plan, photographs of what happens, mapping, who's available, [and] where they're located, and all these things now are done by cell phones."The California Professional Firefighters group told legislators that firefighters "cannot afford the added danger—to the safety of the public as well as their own safety—of unnecessary interferences in the technology they rely on to do their jobs and keep civilians and themselves safe."Wireless carriers fight ban on throttling firefighters during emergencies [Jon Brodkin/Ars Technica] Read the rest

Ed Piskor and Jim Rugg continue to dissect the turbulent comic book speculator boom on the 1990s while looking through antique copies of Wizard Magazine.Some of this issues contents:• Jae Lee takes center stage and talks Youngblood: Strikefile, WildCATs Trilogy, Namor, John Byrne, and more!• Liefeld interview 2: Youngblood, Bloodstrike, Brigade, Prophet, Image, editors, publishers, and late books• Star Trek comics• Ray Bradbury comics at Topps and the all-star lineup of artists drawing them: Richard Corben, Al Williamson, Mike Mignola!• Topps' Kirbyverse comics: Steve Ditko draws the Secret City!• The Comics Code, Mike Allred in Palmer's Picks, and Wizard's editor vows to never read manga - a proclamation that upsets Jim and Ed so much that they make a new t-shirt in response: • PLUS - the winners of the Cable cover contest in Brutes & Babes!Subscribe to the Cartoonist Kayfabe YouTube channel for more vids celebrating the medium of comics. Read the rest