Boing Boing

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

Jobs done, quickly and messily

Scarlett Johansson was only 17 years old when she co-starred with Bill Murray in Lost in Translation (2003). In this video, Howard Stern interviews her about what it was like. Watching this reminds me of why Stern is such a great interviewer -- he only asks questions he's truly curious about.[via Doobybrain] Read the rest

'Healthy Holly' author in a heap of trouble

CBD-infused snacks could soon join the product line that includes Chips Ahoy cookies, Cadbury chocolate, and Nutter Butter cookies.Mondelez, the company that makes Oreo cookies, is reportedly considering adding the cannabis compound CBD to some of its cookies and snacks. CBD stands for cannabidiol, and it's a calming/anti inflammatory component of (some but not all) marijuana plants. It doesn't get you high.“Yes, we’re getting ready, but we obviously want to stay within what is legal and play it the right way,” CEO Dirk Van de Put told CNBC on Wednesday:Although he dashed hopes that consumers would get CBD-infused Oreos, saying that the non-psychoactive compound in cannabis might not be a fit for the company’s family brands, the company could add the ingredient to other products or even create new product lines.A number of start-ups have already started selling CBD-infused food and drinks, but larger companies such as Mondelez and Coca-Cola are still sitting on the sidelines while federal health officials weigh new rules regulating the industry. Van de Put predicted the ingredient will hit the mainstream food market in the “not-so-far future.”In December, President Donald Trump legalized most products containing CBD when he signed the farm bill into law. Since then, retailers such as Walgreens and CVS have started selling a limited number of CBD products such as lotions and creams. However, the Food and Drug Administration prohibits adding the compound to food or beverages. In response to pressure from Congress, the regulator has set its first date for public hearings on the matter for next month. Read the rest

I'm one of the guest instructors on this year's Writing Excuses Cruise, a nine-day intensive writing program on land and at sea, departing from Galveston and putting into port at Cozumel, Georgetown, and Falmouth, with a roster of instructors including Brandon Sanderson, Piper Drake, Kathy Chung, K Tempest Bradford, DongWon Song, Mary Robinette Kowal, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler. The program starts with a two-day workshop at a Houston hotel and then sets sail, running Sept 22-30 altogether. I've taught many other workshops, but this is my first Writing Excuses Cruise and I'm really looking forward to it. I hope to see you there! Read the rest

Shawn Woods was testing out a no-spray skunk trap, but things didn't go as planned, and he got squirted with eau de moufette. Read the rest

Genius musician Jeff Tweedy of Wilco and Uncle Tupelo fame has been cast in the forthcoming season of Larry David's comedy “Curb Your Enthusiasm!" This will be the show's 10th season. No word on whether Tweedy will play himself or someone else entirely, but no matter because I'm sure hilarity will ensue. From Variety:Tweedy is said to be good friends with Jeff Garlin, who stars on “Curb Your Enthusiasm” as Jeff Greene in addition to executive producing.This will not be Tweedy’s first acting role, as he previously appeared in the role of Scott Tanner in multiple episodes of “Parks and Recreation.” He also portrayed himself in two episodes of “Portlandia” and in the feature film “Hearts Beat Loud.”Also, don't miss Tweedy's new and much-loved memoir "Let’s Go (So We Can Get Back)." Read the rest

U.S. attorney’s office to seek 11-year prison sentence for Jones, 26, on Friday May 3.

Facebook just announced it has permanently banned a number of “dangerous" alt-right and anti-Semitic trolls, including Louis Farrakhan, Alex Jones, Paul Joseph Watson, Milo Yiannopoulos, and Laura Loomer.From CNN:Facebook had removed the accounts, fan pages, and groups affiliated with these individuals after it reevaluated the content that they had posted previously, or had reexamined their activities outside of Facebook, the company said. The removal also pertains to at least one of the organizations run by these people, Jones’ Infowars.“We’ve always banned individuals or organizations that promote or engage in violence and hate, regardless of ideology. The process for evaluating potential violators is extensive and it is what led us to our decision to remove these accounts today,” Facebook said in a statement. Read the rest

Gosh, it only took 'em 4 whole years

Alphabet, parent company of Google and YouTube, told a U.S. House panel that it spends hundreds of millions of dollars on reviewing content each year, and claims to have identified at least one million “suspected terrorist videos” on YouTube in the first quarter of 2019.Alphabet/Google/YouTube disclosed this information to lawmakers in an April 24 letter that was made public on Thursday. The letter claims that a “manual review” by YouTube content moderation workers found that 90,000 of the videos identified as “suspected terrorist videos” violated YouTube's terrorism policy.From Reuters:In March, following the live-streaming on social media of a mass shooting in New Zealand, the chair of the U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security urged the top executives of Google, Facebook Inc, Twitter Inc and Microsoft Corp do a better job of removing violent political content.After a briefing in March, Representative Max Rose, who chairs a subcommittee on intelligence and counter-terrorism, asked the four companies in an April 10 letter to disclose their budgets for counter-terrorism programs and number of people working solely on counter-terrorism programs.Rose said in a statement Facebook has not responded and the other firms did not fully or directly answer his questions.Twitter said in an April 24 to Rose that “putting a dollar amount on our broader efforts is a complex request.”Twitter said a “substantial portion” of its 4,100-person global workforce are involved in reviewing content.Google spends hundreds of millions of dollars on content review: letter [reuters.com][via techmeme] Read the rest

Nine people have been injured using Starbucks/Bodum French Presses after the plunger handle snapped off, causing the stem to stab or cut them. As a result, Starbucks is recalling 236,000 of the presses.From CBS:Co-branded by Starbucks with Bodum, the eight-cup French press has a cylindrical glass beaker with a screen and a plunger held in place by a plastic dark gray frame with locking lid and a light gray handle and knob. Made in Portugal, the recalled product measures about nine inches high and four inches wide, and has the number 011063549 printed on a white label on the bottom of its base.Consumers should stop using the presses and contact Starbucks about how to obtain a refund in the form of store credit. The Seattle, Washington-based company said it is not accepting returns at its stores.Image: US Consumer Product Safety Division Read the rest

Kelsey Ables explains how social media killed art communities. It's not just a statement of fact, but a history of the parts of the web that mainstream users might have only seen in the periphery as it happened, but whose loss is now keenly felt.And while artists have made their mark on all of the major social-media networks, these new, bigger sites have changed the way we communicate and consume. Algorithms steer us back to similar content in echo chambers that inhibit both critical and creative thinking. Platforms incentivized to keep users scrolling discourage long-looking and render users as passive consumers, rather than active seekers of inspiration. They aren’t a space for productive feedback, either: Art takes on a different tone when it’s surrounded by dog GIFs, political memes, and your cousin’s baby photos.The blanding out of art hosts like DeviantArt and ConceptArt are the big ticket items, and the decay of tumblr into a "joyless black hole" exemplifies the process. But I feel things on a smaller scale are more instructive. Left unsaid, but also important: when audiences migrated to Facebook and other social media platforms, what was left behind on once-vibrant small community sites often went toxic fast. Read the rest

During a test ride of the GaleForce rollercoaster at Playland’s Castaway Cove in Ocean City, New Jersey, two dummies flew out of their seats and crash-landed on the roof of a nearby hotel. The theme park's vice president Brian Hartley blamed the accident on the dummies and says that the rollercoaster is "100 percent safe." From NBC10:Hartley said the dummies had leaks that went undetected and they lost their mass and shape, causing them to fall.“Obviously it’s not something that would ever happen with a person in it,” Hartley said. “You know you don’t lose rigidity in a person. The lap bar comes down. You’re secured in there.”The rollercoaster remains in operation.(image: Martin Lewison, CC BY-SA 2.0) Read the rest

This is more impressive to me than being able to solve it in 1.2552 nanoseconds or whatever the current record is.(GlobalMagicians) Read the rest

A few days ago, two little robots arrived at the International Space Station to help astronauts with simple tasks. Called Astrobees, the cube bots are 12" x 12" x 12" and propelled around the microgravity environment by small fans. The bots are named Honey and Bumble. A third, Queen, remains on Earth. From NASA:Working autonomously or via remote control by astronauts, flight controllers or researchers on the ground, the robots are designed to complete tasks such as taking inventory, documenting experiments conducted by astronauts with their built-in cameras or working together to move cargo throughout the station. In addition, the system serves as a research platform that can be outfitted and programmed to carry out experiments in microgravity - helping us to learn more about how robotics can benefit astronauts in space.(via Space.com) Read the rest

This is pioneering computer scientist and US Navy read admiral Grace Hopper (1906-1992) explaining the concept of a nanosecond. From the Computer History Museum:(Hopper) held a B.S. in mathematics and physics from Vassar College (1928) and an M.S. (1930) and Ph.D in mathematics (1934) from Yale University.Hopper began her career teaching at Vassar and taught there from 1931 to 1943, when she joined the u.s. Navy Reserve. Her first assignment was to work with Professor Howard Aiken of the Harvard Computation Laboratory on problems of military significance.Hopper remained at Harvard until 1949, when she joined the Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation, led by the designers of the groundbreaking ENIAC computer system. There, she developed one of the world's first compilers and compiler-based programming languages. In 1959, Hopper played an important role in defining a new easy-to- use programming language. The result was COBOL, probably the most successful programming language for business applications in history.(via Kottke) Read the rest

The Build Cave is a California-based prop-maker whose Etsy store is focused on decor for haunters with an emphasis on haunted, vintage elevators (!!), and which includes these delightful resin skull fence-toppers designed to be affixed to PVC pipe verticals and painted; they're $95/dozen. (via Creepbay) Read the rest

Puerto Rico has endured decades of looting and austerity from the finance sector who then used the pretense of Hurricane Maria to impose radical financial policies on the island, dismantling the statistics agency that would track how those reforms punished the people of Puerto Rico, while filling the streets with armed, anonymous mercenaries.Puerto Rico was drowning in both debt and seawater, and America threw it an anchor (a bipartisan anchor at that). But not everyone was willing to destroy the lives of Puerto Ricans to help billionaires add another zero to their balance sheet: since 2017, both Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders have been demanding that the American citizens in Puerto Rico be afforded the aid and dignity that any mainlander would expect. (I am a donor to both Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders' 2020 election campaigns).Now, Elizabeth Warren has added another plank to what is fast becoming the best platform in the 2020 Democratic nomination race: debt relief for Puerto Rico, eliminating the island's antidemocratic "manager" and restoring its elected democratic leadership, and allowing it to write off its debts while preferentially paying off the government bonds used by Puerto Ricans themselves as retirement savings, while sending offshore looters to the back of the line to get redemption from their bonds.This legislation would give U.S. territories like Puerto Rico the option to terminate their debt if they meet certain criteria, like being struck by a disaster, suffering major population loss, and staggering under overwhelming debt. Read the rest

[Harry Tynan posts on our forums as Moose Malloy. Earlier this week, he messaged me about his fun, self-published kid's book, written as a series of bedtime stories for his kid (a tradition I'm very fond of -- it's the origin story of The Borribles!). The book is so much fun that I invited him to write a short introduction and choose a excerpt for your edification. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did! -Cory]The great Umberto Eco once wrote, in a marvellous essay about Casablanca, that "Two clichés make us laugh. A hundred clichés move us. For we sense dimly that the clichés are talking among themselves, and celebrating a reunion."And hey, who doesn't love Casablanca?I'm no Umberto Eco, but a while back I wrote a science fiction novel out of love for my son and out of love for the SF genre itself. Freed by love, I poured my heart into this short tale of a boy and his dad (plus his two accidental, argumentative clones, plus his dad's childhood dog accidentally yanked forward from the 1970s for their own, very tail-waggy reunion).For my son's amusement, I unselfconsciously stuffed each of my quick, cliff-hanging chapters with my favourite SF clichés from a lifetime of fandom. I smushed in some 'gritty history' and some light moral lessons and some Shakespeare and some counterfactual frolics. I had huge fun bashing out 500 words nightly on an old laptop after everyone else hit the hay. Read the rest

With the news that scandal-plagued American Media Inc. plans to sell its tabloid empire including the ‘National Enquirer’ and ‘Globe,’ the rags’ hacks seem to have given up all pretense of trying to inject reality into their fact-challenged offerings this week. The ‘Enquirer’ pulls out all the stops in trying to scare off a prospective purchaser, with a clutch of dubious stories.“Aretha Franklin Was Murdered!” screams its cover story. No, she wasn’t. “Queen of Soul EXHUMED after nine months” the cover proclaims. No, she wasn’t. Franklin is still interred, and no coroner or law enforcement agency has made moves to dig her up, “Millions missing!” No - Franklin made a police report last year that $200,000 had been purloined from her bank account, but her death ended the police investigation. And $200,000 isn’t exactly “millions."“Kinkster Kevin [Spacey] Caught Up in Murder Scandal!” No, he isn’t. Linda Culkin, one of the first to accuse Spacey of molesting young boys, was struck and killed by a car while walking near her Boston-area home. “Investigators have launched a murder probe,” says the ‘Enquirer.' No, they haven’t - the driver remained at the scene and no charges were filed. Culkin was crossing a road against traffic that had a green light. There is no “murder scandal,” and Spacey is not "caught up” in it. The rag also fails to mention that Culkin was obsessed by Spacey, and was jailed in 2013 for making bomb and anthrax threats against the actor.George Clooney has saved his marriage “from the brink” of divorce with a second honeymoon. Read the rest

1mb.site is a simplified hosting service for personal websites with all the bells and whistles: custom domains, SSL, databases and an online code/content editor. It's free of charge so long as you don't have more than 1mb of stuff.1MB is a free website host designed to make web development feel more approachable. You do not need to browse through complicated settings menus or juggle a bunch of server credentials here. You can edit your site directly inside your browser. 1MB has a custom code editor with some useful features such as starter templates, live site previews, and themes. 1MB gets you online fast by letting you focus on coding.This is great and I hope it'll be a hit, because setting up cloud hosts is a frustrating experience. That said, having had to so often, I know useful things you'd not figure out from a service like 1mb. Read the rest

Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley -- who served as Trump's Ambassador to the UN, where she resigned on America's behalf from the Human Rights Council before resigning her post -- has got a new, lucrative side-hustle: serving on the Board of Boeing. Read the rest

Wireless headphones aren't a mind-bending thing anymore now that Apple made them the standard thing-to-be-outraged-over-in-the-new-iPhone fare, thereby killing the cool factor. But let's be reasonable here. Wires really are a pain when you're running, trying to get off the bus, or even just standing up from your desk. Wireless headphones make sense, they just don't always sound great. FRESHeBUDS is shifting the paradigm, however, with their Air Bluetooth 4.1 headphones.Bluetooth 4.1 delivers crisper, clearer sound in the Airs, eliminating the spots and static that plague a lot of other wireless headphones. Their weather- and sweat-proof design are conducive to wearing in the rain or beneath the shameful amounts of sweat you expel on a run. You can even take calls on them when somebody gives you a reason to stop.The FRESHeBUDS Air Bluetooth 4.1 Earbuds are currently 72% off at just $24.95. 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.What to expect in this issue:* Malibu's Ultraverse is announced!* Chris Claremont's life after X-Men. An interview.* Joe Quesada is talking is hopes and dreams about wanting to leave a mark on the industry.* Ron Wagner, the Morbius Artist, cuts promos on the series writer, Len KaminskiSubscribe to the Cartoonist Kayfabe YouTube channel for more comics vids and analysis like this. Read the rest

[Matt Polotsky's new book, The National Security Sublime, is a tour through the look-and-feel of mass surveillance, as practiced by the most unlikely of aesthetes: big data authoritarian snoops and the grifter military contractors who wax fat on them. This is a subject dear to my heart. -Cory]The US National Security Agency is big, really big. But it’s unlikely that most people outside the government can (or would even try to) quantify its size or powers with any specificity. The agency is just massive, a quality that can produce in those who try to contemplate it the overwhelming sense of awe and wonder called the sublime. Triggered by an encounter with something grand (towering mountain peaks) or verging on the infinite (the number of stars in the universe), it describes a generally pleasurable feeling of cognitive breakdown, the sensation that you just can’t wrap your head around an object or idea so vast and boundless.The sublime was an important touchstone for Romantic painting and poetry of the early nineteenth century (think windswept peaks, crumbling castles, and misty vales), but it made a striking comeback in the years after the 9/11 attacks, when the surveillance activities of the NSA and other agencies first became common knowledge to the American public. As I argue in my new book, : On the Aesthetics of Government Secrecy, the sublime offered a valuable resource for artists, writers, filmmakers, and television showrunners during the War on Terror. Images of vast size and unimaginable scope gave aesthetic form to the feeling of living under seemingly limitless surveillance. Read the rest

Just look at it. (Thanks, Matthew!) Read the rest

Senior Google employees Meredith Whittaker and Claire Stapleton were key organizers of last year's string of googler protests, including the 20,000-employee walkout over the company tolerance and rewarding of execs who engaged in sexual harassment; last month, Whittaker and Stapleton revealed that they had been targeted for retaliation by the company; now, a group of googlers around the world have staged another walkout in solidarity with Whittaker and Stapleton, this one a "sit-and-knit" that was also held in solidarity with women who've had their sexual harassment claims mishandled by Google. Read the rest

Our Boing Boing pal Joe Sabia made a video for Vanity Fair in which he gave screenwriter Emily Carmichael seven minutes to write a scene from a sci-fi thriller from scratch. It's interesting to hear her thought process as she writes the scene. After she writes it, the scene is critiqued by a studio exec, who gives her notes so she can write a second draft.Who would have thought a video about someone writing a script would be so much fun? Read the rest

Over the weekend, someone set fire to two dozen bee colonies in Alvin, Texas belonging to the Brazoria County Beekeepers Association. The perpetrator also dumped some of the bee boxes into a nearby pond. The Beekepers Association and the police are offering rewards for information leading to the conviction of the idiot who did it. From KTRK-TV:"We're looking at 500,000 to 600,000 that have been destroyed out of that environment," said (beekeeping supplier Steve Brackmann)... "It takes a long time to establish a colony," Brackmann said. "It can take a year to get a full one, but the queens were probably killed, which means those that survived have nowhere to go." One comment on Facebook referred to it as ecoterrorism, and Brackmann doesn't disagree with that. Bee populations are dropping rapidly across the country because of insecticides and herbicides which take away the plants on which bees forage. More at the Brazoria County Beekeepers Association's Facebook page. Read the rest

Hawaii Senator Mazie Hirono burned Bill Barr to a crisp at today's bizarre Capitol Hill hearing.“You lied to Congress,” Senator Hirono [D-HI] said to Trump's handpicked Attorney General and coverup guy. “America deserves better. You should resign.”Sen. Mazie Hirono to Attorney General William Barr: "Now we know more about your deep involvement in trying to cover up for Donald Trump ... America deserves better. You should resign" https://t.co/UyviQ1DWt6 pic.twitter.com/jOqsQv5uXT— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) May 1, 2019"Being attorney general of the United States is a sacred trust. You have betrayed that trust. America deserves better," Sen. @maziehirono tells Attorney General William Barr. "You should resign." pic.twitter.com/m7VwKdmatw— PBS NewsHour (@NewsHour) May 1, 2019[via The Washington Post] Read the rest

Russia claims did not tell Venezuela's Maduro to flee, disputes Pompeo and Bolton

My old 100-foot extension cord seemed to have wriggled out of my sight like a shy snake. I bought a replacement, from the AmazonBasics line. It coils nicely and is fairly lightweight, which doesn't bother me, because I'm not using it to power an electric kiln or an industrial clothes drier. Right now Amazon is selling it for a couple of bucks less than the usual price. Read the rest

If you went to a showing of 'Avengers:Endgame' last Thursday/Friday in Southern California, read on, there's a list of showings that authorities say *may have been* exposure sites for measles.The LA Times reports that “Orange County officials say a woman with measles may have exposed others in the region to the contagious disease, including people who were at a midnight showing of "Avengers: Endgame" in Fullerton late Thursday/early Friday.”This is a highly contagious disease that is fully preventable by a decades old vaccine.Almost all cases of measles in the U.S. begin with people who traveled to countries where measles is prevalent.The latest measles outbreak in L.A. County this year began when an area resident visited Vietnam earlier in 2019 and contracted measles, officials say. That contaminated individual then spread measles to three other people in L.A. County.From the Los Angeles Times:The patient, the first to come down with measles this year in the county, lives in Placentia and contracted the illness when she traveled to a country with an outbreak, officials said. They did not say whether she had been vaccinated against measles.This patient appears to have gone to work for a few days and seen a movie — likely the opening night midnight showing of “Avengers: Endgame” in Fullerton — before realizing she was sick.The warning comes amid several major measles outbreaks nationwide and the highest number of measles cases across the nation in more than two decades. Officials in L.A. Read the rest

The Atari 800 was released in 1979. I wish I'd bought one at the time because apparently it will never become obsolete.(via Weird Universe) Read the rest