A 46-year-old woman died after eating at a Michelin star restaurant, and 28 others became sick with food poisoning. Morel mushrooms might be the culprit.The diners had all eaten at RiFF, in Valencia Spain, which "conjures up innovative cuisine," according to Michelin.According to the BBC, the woman who died had eaten at the restaurant with her husband and 12-year-old son, "both of whom also had diarrhoea and vomiting." Officials tracked down 75 people who ate at the restaurant between 13 and 16 February, and learned that a total of 29 had suffered food poisoning, including three families.This included a 46-year-old woman who ate out with her family on Saturday night and died at home in the early hours of Sunday morning...Some reports have suggested that morel mushrooms may have been to blame, but officials told local media they were waiting for the test results to come back before singling out any particular ingredient. "Regardless of the reason that may have caused this situation, I want to convey my deep regret for what happened, hoping that soon all these facts can be clarified," Bernd Knöller, RiFF's owner and head chef, said in a statement. The restaurant is closed "until the causes of what happened are established."Image: by https://www.flickr.com/photos/berndhknoeller/ - https://www.flickr.com/photos/berndhknoeller/4014385532/, CC BY-SA 2.0, Link Read the rest

He's the guy with the half-nude woman in this photo.

As soon as you sign up for free Ganbreeder account you can start creating algorithmic monstrosities simply by clicking "Make Children." I feel just like Billy Mumy in the Twilight Zone episode, "It's a Good Life." Read the rest

Scientists believe that the "CRISPR twins," who had their genes edited last year before birth, will now have an easier time learning and memorizing. Apparently, the gene alteration, which was meant to make the girls immune to HIV, also altered their brains.According to Technology Review:Now, new research shows that the same alteration introduced into the girls’ DNA, to a gene called CCR5, not only makes mice smarter but also improves human brain recovery after stroke, and could be linked to greater success in school.“The answer is likely yes, it did affect their brains,” says Alcino J. Silva, a neurobiologist at the University of California, Los Angeles, whose lab has been uncovering a major new role for the CCR5 gene in memory and the brain’s ability to form new connections. “The simplest interpretation is that those mutations will probably have an impact on cognitive function in the twins,” says Silva. He says the exact effect on the girls’ cognition is impossible to predict, and “that is why it should not be done.” There is no evidence that He Jiankui, the lead scientist from the Southern University of Science and Technology in Shenzhen, China, set out to alter their intelligence. He is now under investigation for the controversial experiment that "has been widely condemned as irresponsible."Image: by Max Pixel/CC0 Public Domain Read the rest

Actor Jussie Smollett claimed to be the victim of an attack by white men who poured chemicals on him and uttered racial and homophobic slurs. After weeks of rumors and leaks from the investigation—and the arrests of two men who didn't fit the description— Smollett himself is now being charged with filing a false police report: sources reportedly say he paid the men. With a check.Jussie Smollett was taken into police custody hours after he was charged with disorderly conduct after allegedly filing a false police report about an assault on him last month in Chicago, authorities announced early Thursday morning.“Jussie Smollet is under arrest and in custody of detectives,” Chicago Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi tweeted.The authorities did not provide any additional details about Smollett’s arrest, but Gugliemi had said Wednesday, after Smollett was charged by the Cook County state’s attorney’s office, that police would “make contact with his legal team to negotiate a reasonable surrender for his arrest.” Read the rest

Posted on YouTube without description, via Reddit, where commenter VikingMart identifies the location as Anegada in the British Virgin Islands.The local fishermen that dive conch throw away their shells here most of the time. With the amounts that they dive and have dived up, its probably a good idea since having a bunch of conch shells scattered around everywhere could be an eyesore.These shells aren't as pretty as you probably think they are. Most of of them are defaced. This is because in order to get the conch meat out, fishermen usually make a hole by the "nose" of the shell. This is to reach and loosen the snail muscle (with a screwdriver or knife), and then pull it out. This leaves these conch shells defaced and one would probably have a hard time selling them.Based on VikingMart's description, I think I found it on Google Maps: Read the rest

I shalln't call it instant justice but it does serve to remind us that criminality is best performed calmly, like you're supposed to be there, the way the rich do it. Justice was served the proper way: 58 days in jail.Alicia Treat had pleaded guilty to the thefts in January with alleged accomplice Brian Devere. The maximum prison sentence was 60 days. ... Treat, 37, is homeless, on disability, and has three kids. Devere, 39, has a lengthy criminal history that includes convictions for identity theft, burglary, and auto theft. Read the rest

While vacationing in Kauai, my pal Otto von Stroheim spotted this informative primer on local Hawaiian culture, right on the side of a reusable Foodland supermarket bag.I dug around Ebay and discovered it's part of a series called "You Know You Local."Here's the holiday edition:lead image via Otto, 2 + 3 image via ebay, 4 +5 image via ebay Read the rest

Presidents' Day was Monday and what better time for an 8-foot-tall statue of a shirtless Abraham Lincoln to be making the rounds. On Twitter, @MuseZack rediscovered this gem of a sculpture.Reminder that the Los Angeles federal courthouse has a statue of Abraham Lincoln where he's a shirtless young stud suggestively tugging at his waistband like a Sports Illustrated swimsuit model: pic.twitter.com/32bjqEERYi— Zack Stentz (@MuseZack) February 20, 2019Witty names like "Honest Abs" and "The Gettsyburg Undress" are being used to describe it. And @PKtje has dug up "shirtless Lincoln" fanfic.And, yes, it's real. "Young Lincoln" was sculpted in the late thirties by James Lee Hansen (who may or may not be this James Lee Hansen). A year out of art school and frustrated by his lack of success in the real world, a friend prompted him to enter a sculpture competition at the Federal Building. From a Los Angeles Times article dated March 13, 1941: “I don’t know,” Hansen replied, “I’ve only done one piece of sculpture in my life.”He was interested, however, and checked up—only to find that the contest, under way for several months, closed for the model entries in a week. Hansen got a supply of plaster and made a small figure of Lincoln. Like the other contestants, he submitted it anonymously to the Fine Arts Section of the Federal Works Agency.No one was more surprised than Hansen when he was notified his entry has won $7,200 and a commission to do the Lincoln statue. Read the rest

Last year while I was on tour in Australia with my novel Walkaway, I sat down for an interview with legal scholar Rebecca Giblin (previously), whose Authors' Interest project studies how we would craft copyright (and other policies) if we wanted to benefit creators, rather than enriching corporations; we talked about the power and limits of copyright to benefit authors, and how other policies, like antitrust, are crucial to getting authors their fair share. Read the rest

Iowa State Representative Gary Carlson [R-91/gary.carlson@legis.iowa.gov] introduced House Study Bill 185, co-drafted by lobbyists for Midamerican Energy, one of Iowa's regional energy monopolists, with a long history of trying to subvert the "net metering" rules that allow Iowans to put solar panels on their roofs and sell power back into the grid when they are generating more than they are using.The Midamerican/Carlson bill guts net metering, which will add about $300/year to the power bills of households that install solar panels, using a common anti-solar argument that falsely claims that solar users are more expensive for utilities to service and thus receive a subsidy from households that do not have solar (in reality, part of the installation cost of solar paid by homeowners includes the infrastructure costs to connect to the grid).Kerri Johannsen from the Iowa Environmental Council called this "a clear attempt to monopolize the sun in Iowa."800 Iowans earn good, middle-class livings as solar installers.MidAmerican’s characterization of the costs of solar to the grid and, in particular, the idea that solar customers are “super-users” is alarming and seems to rely on average Iowans not understanding how the grid works. In fact, the poles and wires that deliver power to our homes are the same ones that deliver power to the grid. Solar customers are not given special or different wires and using the grid in both directions does not put added stress on that equipment. That’s just not how it works. Solar customers also pay for interconnection costs, including any necessary upgrades to the system, up front. Read the rest

After tax, you're clear of two grand. Behold the Galaxy Fold:Samsung is using a new 7.3-inch Infinity Flex Display that allows the phone itself to have a tablet-sized screen that can be folded to fit into a pocket. The main display is QXGA+ resolution (4.2:3), and when it’s folded, a smaller 4.6-inch HD+ (12:9) display is used for the phone mode. Samsung is using 512GB of Universal Flash Storage 3.0 (eUFS) for fast speeds, alongside a Qualcomm 7nm octa-core processor and 12GB of RAM. Samsung has even built two batteries for its Galaxy Fold, that are separated by the fold but combined in the Android operating system to represent a total of 4,380 mAh.I suspect the charm will wear off quickly and leave us with a middle-of-the road phone that turns into a middle-of-the-road tablet, but I'm delighted Samsung is making something completely, unambiguously new. Sony used to do this sort of thing, then abandon it; maybe things will be different now. Read the rest

Sesame Street is turning 50 years in November. As part of the yearlong celebration, they've posted this fun compilation of well-known musicians parodying their own songs over the years. (I'm actually ok with not being able toget REM's "Happy Furry Monsters" out of my head because it's adorable.)A YouTube commenter listed all the musical artists with their Sesame Street-ed song:* 1973 - Stevie Wonder | Superstition (0:00)* 1978 - Paul Simon | Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard (5:09)* 1979 - Ray Charles | I Got a Song (1:40)* 1984 - James Taylor | That Grouchy Face (3:41)* 1988 - Smokey Robinson | U Really Got a Hold on Me (4:02)* 1988 - Billy Joel | Just the Way You Are (0:38)* 1988 - Marlee Matlin | Just the Way You Are (0:38)* 1996 - Melissa Etheridge | Like the Way U Does (4:15)* 1996 - Spin Doctors | Two Princes (1:15)* 1998 - Tony Bennett | Slimey to the Moon (2:48)* 1999 - REM | Furry Happy Monsters (1:24)* 2000 - Hootie & the Blowfish | Hold My Hand (2:01)* 2000 - The Goo Goo Dolls | Pride (1:05)* 2002 - Dixie Chicks - No Letter Better Than B (2:20)* 2003 - Sheryl Crow | I Soaks Up the Sun (1:48)* 2004 - Norah Jones | Don't Know Y (0:18)* 2005 - Andrea Bocelli | Time to Say Goodnight (2:27)* 2007 - James Blunt | My Triangle (5:00)* 2008 - Feist | 1234 (3:00)* 2009 - Jason Mraz | Outdoors (4:47)* 2011 - Elvis Costello | (A Monster Went and) Ate My Red Two (3:27)* 2012 - Train | Five By (3:11)* 2015 - One Direction | What Makes "U" Useful (4:31)* 2015 - Macklemore | Grouch Thrift Shop (3:53)Just try and tell me that didn't make you smile, even a little. Read the rest

Use a single password for every website, and you're compromising your security. Use a different one each time, and you're bound to lose track of them. The solution? RoboForm Everywhere, a catch-all tool that will not only manage the passwords on every site you visit but generate better ones.As a simple password database, it's comprehensive enough for even the most forgetful online citizen. It saves and protects log-in data from any site with AES 256-bit encryption, and can even encrypt text notes for offline or WiFi passwords, all searchable and easily organized. You can import from all major password managers or a basic CSV, and choose a trusted friend to share your info with in case of emergency. But RoboForm will also generate random passwords and audit them for safety, making sure you've got the most airtight log-ins on every site - all of which can be set to auto-fill with a click.Right now, a 5-year individual subscription to Roboform Everywhere is 33% off the list price at $29.99. Read the rest

There are old-school DJs and then there's DJ Amelia Foxtrot of Austin Phonograph Co. in Texas. Her turntables are antique hand-cranked phonographs and her records are scratchy-sounding 78s. Of course, I was immediately charmed all of this. I reached out to her and she shared: I've been doing phonograph DJ work for 7 years. I started in 2012 because I wanted to buy a phonograph. Being an entrepreneur at heart, I thought if I created a business DJing with it, my hobby would fund itself. And I got to buy two!She mostly plays private events like seances (!), weddings, and fancy birthday parties. Though, on March 24, you can catch her at the Jazz Age Sunday Social in Dallas. Amelia also co-owns and runs Sweet Ritual, a popular dairy-free ice cream shop in Austin. Additionally, she teaches Cool School for budding vegan ice cream parlor owners.photo by Sam OrtegaThanks, Maggie! Read the rest

Moe Berg earned his reputation as the brainiest man in baseball -- he had two Ivy League degrees and studied at the Sorbonne. But when World War II broke out he found an unlikely second career, as a spy trying to prevent the Nazis from getting an atomic bomb. In this week's episode of the Futility Closet podcast we'll follow Berg's enigmatic life and its strange conclusion.We'll also consider the value of stripes and puzzle over a fateful accident.Show notesPlease support us on Patreon! Read the rest

Wilson X was the sports manufacturer's entry into the market for smart basketballs, but maintaining the app that made sense of the telemetry from your sensor-equipped roundball was expensive and stupid and so the Wilson X app is no more, and the "B" in "B-ball" stands for "bricked." But wait, there's more! If you shelled out $350 for Nike's self-tying shoes, you got burned this week when Nike updated its shoe-tying app leaving it unable to pair with the shoes' "advanced power-lacing system" and thus the shoes no longer lace themselves and dynamically adjust their tensioning in response to your movement.The shoes? Also bricks.The ball still bounces, and you can still tie your own shoes, of course, but the sensor packages and their accompanying control infrastructure are gone."app wont pair with left shoe," reads one such review from Feb. 17. "paired with sneakers right after unboxing then completely crashed after last update."Others encountered a similar problem."the app has less functionality than the iOS app, and the first software update for the shoe threw an error while updating, bricking the right shoe," reads another. "needs serious work." Nike just bricked its self-lacing shoes by accident [Jack Morse/Mashable](via Four Short Links) Read the rest

The Truth-In-Billing, Remedies, and User Empowerment over Fees Act [TRUE Fees] has been introduced by Rep Anna Eshoo [D-CA] and Sen Ed Markey [D-MA]; if passed, it will force ISPs and cable operators to advertise the true costs of their packages, including all surcharges.As Karl Bode writes on Motherboard, the bill seeks to remedy an epidemic of the kind of false advertising that is banned in Europe, but which American firms regard as "the height of capitalistic creativity," from hotels who use hidden "resort fees" to jack up prices over advertised rates to the misleading "regulatory recovery" fees on phone or utility bills that falsely suggest that they are the result of some statute, not the company's greed.And of course, no one practices this deceptive art with the virtuosity of the cable/ISP industry, whose monopolism, contempt for customers, and price gouging are legendary. “This legislation is simple, straightforward, and effective,” Consumer Reports said of this latest legislative effort. “The TRUE Fees Act would address the out-of-control fee problem in the telecommunications marketplace and deliver much-needed transparency for cable and internet providers’ unnecessarily-complicated billing practices.”The government’s apathy has come with a steep price for cable and broadband customer wallets. Many of these fees have been jacked upwards of 241% in just the last few years, leaving American consumers paying even higher rates for what’s already some of the most expensive cable TV and broadband prices in the developed world.New Bill Would Stop Internet Service Providers From Screwing You With Hidden Fees [Karl Bode/Motherboard] Read the rest

The twitter account @TheScaryNature posted this image with the caption "these two Bull Moose died in battle and became frozen in ice", and the only thing I can think of is "Toxic mooseculinity."The photographer, as revealed by Google's reverse image search feature, is Brad Webster:Webster says there are several theories on what happened to the moose, but the most likely scenario to play out is that the two moose were fighting over a female when one was knocked unconscious or suffered a broken neck, taking the other one down with it."There was a fight and one of them won, and they both lost," Webster said. "Once it's knocked out or once it's dead, you've got a live moose that won the fight, but the other moose is dragging you down into the water."I've already made a joke of it, but there's a weird power to Webster's photo and I can't stop thinking about it.UPDATE: Found Brad's website.Another word that I would [use to describe Alaska], [and] would take probably more explanation would just be: culture. … The culture of the village; the culture of the people; the beauty of the language and the beauty of the traditions and the heritage and the knowledge that’s been passed down. And wanting to learn from it and respect it, but still in a way that respects the people to continue to be who they are. Some kind of a weird balance, of an outsider coming in and wanting to see and experience those things, without imposing or changing the experience for them. Read the rest

Is the National Enquirer running scared? There’s not a mention of either Amazon chief Jeff Bezos or president Donald Trump in this week’s edition. Could it be that the threat of investigation and possible prison time for hacks accused of extortion and blackmail against Bezos and burying sex scandals about Trump have finally silenced the nattering nabobs of negativism? Bezos and The Donald escape lightly this week, but others aren’t so lucky.Prince Charles “Disowns Harry!” proclaims the Globe cover. Prince Harry reportedly refused Charles’ demand that he divorce wife Meghan, and in the ensuing row Charles raged that DNA tests have proven he’s not Harry’s father. Which would explain why Charles allegedly said: “You’re a common-born bastard.” Aren’t we all? The odds that this conversation actually happened? Infinitesimally small. The odds that the Globe has a source inside Kensington Palace revealing this private conversation? Even smaller.The Globe claims that serial killer Ted Bundy’s daughter has been "found hiding in Britain" under an assumed name. No, it’s not “Meghan Markle.” And the woman their reporter approached said: “I’m sorry, I’m not the person you’re looking for.” Sounds like an admission of guilt if there ever was one.“Scientology Leader’s Missing Wife Found After 13 Years!” declares the Enquirer cover, though the headline above the inside spread is far less confident, asking: “Is This Shelly Miscavige?” It’s definitely a photograph of a dark-haired woman, reportedly seen disembarking a Scientology cruise ship and heading to Florida, which as we all know is a state where Scientologists have been known to live. Read the rest

Six months ago I could not do a single chin-up. I got this chin-up bar and went to work. Perseverance developed body strength, and my vanity has pumped up a notch!I read something that said an average guy in my weight range should be able to do 10-12 chin-ups. There is a chin-up bar at a park I walk my dogs past, and I found I could not even manage one. I was doing 30+ push-ups and set after set of core abdominal exercises on the floor, but chin-ups were out of my range.I also learned that my 'frozen' right shoulder hurt so badly I couldn't maintain more than 1-2 seconds hanging on the bar with my hands facing out, as for pull-ups. Just trying a pull-up may be laughable for others, I was wincing with pain.I got a chin-up bar and installed it in the doorway of my home office. I can not walk in or out of my workspace without seeing the bar. This encourages me to use it.About a week of hanging on the bar and trying to get that first chin-up paid off. A pull-up seemed impossible. I watched some Youtube videos for technique. Strength was my problem, screw form.Another week went by and I was able to do 3 chin-ups and maybe kind pulled off a second set of two. My daughter, a USA Gymnastics Level-4 competitor started using chin-up competitions with me to get out of chores.A month into this project I was able to do 2 sets of 10 chin-ups but still could not pull off a single pull-up. Read the rest

Doesn't take a lot for me to imagine that creepy dancing Fleegle killing folks.Bloody Disgusting:In a bizarre move that was surely inspired by the success of Five Nights at Freddy’s, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment and Syfy are bringing back the characters from Hanna-Barbera’s variety program “The Banana Splits Adventure Hour” for… a horror movie?!As reported by Deadline, kid-friendly (originally, at least) animal characters Bingo, Fleegle, Drooper and Snorky will return in an original movie that’s set to “premiere this year from Blue Ribbon Content, Warner Bros Television Group’s digital studio, via a Warner Bros. Home Entertainment release that will be followed by the television debut on Syfy.”In the upcoming horror thriller, “A boy named Harley and his family (brother Austin, mother Beth, and father Mitch) attend a taping of The Banana Splits TV show, which is supposed to be a fun-filled birthday for young Harley and business as usual for Rebecca, the producer of the series. But things take an unexpected turn — and the body count quickly rises. Can Harley, his mom and their new pals safely escape?” Read the rest

After Twitter user @gabbytropea is accidentally locked out of her house, her cat gets to work by removing a sliding door stick so that she can open the door. Yay for smart cats. My sister accidentally locked me out of the house so I went to check if the back door was unlocked and this happened pic.twitter.com/2zkjeyFJk5— Gabby Tropea (@gabbytropea) February 18, 2019 Read the rest

I don't suppose you've seen those two boiled eggs I left sitting on the kitchen sideboard by any chance? pic.twitter.com/dV2YSbZL6R— Stevie K (@1StevieKilner) February 17, 2019I love the look on that puppy face. Read the rest

Philly.com: Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote the court's opinion in favor of Tyson Timbs, of Marion, Indiana. Police seized Timbs' $40,000 Land Rover when they arrested him for selling about $400 worth of heroin.Reading a summary of her opinion in the courtroom, Ginsburg noted that governments employ fines "out of accord with the penal goals of retribution and deterrence" because fines are a source of revenue. The 85-year-old justice missed arguments last month following lung cancer surgery, but returned to the bench on Tuesday.The Times:Civil forfeiture is a popular way to raise revenue, and its use has been the subject of widespread criticism across the political spectrum.The Supreme Court has ruled that the Eighth Amendment, which bars “excessive fines,” limits the ability of the federal government to seize property. On Wednesday, the court ruled that the clause also applies to the states.There's an element of insanity to it all: it's so difficult to believe that police are allowed to seize and sell people's property that it was correspondingly difficult to get people to accept that it is a widespread practice, rather than some kind of swivel-eyed libertarian conspiracy theory. Virtually every faction in American politics was firmly against it: the left, liberals, libertarians, movement conservatives, even Trumpkins. In fact, the only person I ever met who sincerely defended civil forfeiture was a self-described "moderate", a centrist. Read the rest

Over 100,000 marine animals die every year after getting trapped in plastic, but this little fish got lucky. A diver in Phuket, Thailand found the creature trapped in a plastic bag and, after a bit of gentle shaking and maneuvering, was able to free set it free. It might just be a tiny fish, but I was sitting on the edge of my seat watching this video. Read the rest

The president of a company called Pooch Patch, which sells tiny patches of grass meant for dogs to do their business on, was not pleased when one of his customers, Vanessa, returned the product. Rather than give her a refund, he emailed her and called her "Fatty McFat-Fat."This was after she wrote a negative review about the product on Google. The president, who signs his letters "Adam & Shanks (The Border Terrier) told Vanessa that he looked at photos of her online and that he thinks she's chubby."Looking a little chubs in that profile photo!!!"When she told him she reported him to Consumer Protection Canada he said, "lol Ooo so scared chubby wubby. I reported you to Jenny Craig."Vanessa then got a threatening legal letter, but when she researched the lawyer, Alyssa Steiner, she realized there was no such licensed lawyer in Ontario. When Global News contacted Pooch Patch for a response, their first reply was "Hahahahahhha hahahahahahah. I'm dying. This is pure gold. Pure gold!..." But later a manager tried to wiggle out of their outrageous behavior by pointing to the call center in India that they use. Customer service at its finest. Read the rest

Gildan crew T-shirts are very inexpensive and comfortable. Amazon just knocked the price down to what seems like an all-time low. With shirt this cheap I can slurp my curry with abandon -- if a shirt gets stained, it goes into the cleaning rag / painting / work clothes drawer. Read the rest

The auto-magic braking feature on Teslas appears to work.I believe Elon Musk's face pops on the dashboard TV screen and says "told you so!" Read the rest

Here's how Alexis Madrigal sets up his excellent Atlantic essay about why online protests usually flop:There is an Instagram account called FuckJerry, which grew by taking jokes and memes created by other people and posting them, eventually growing an audience hungry for ever more jokes. The account spawned a media company, Jerry Media, and desperate ad executives from the world’s biggest companies now pay to be seen on FuckJerry, on the premise that that’s where they’ll reach young people who don’t have their eyeballs on the places they used to.A call to unfollow FuckJerry (#FuckFuckJerry) for posting memes without credit resulted in its follower count dropping from 14.3 million to 14 million. In other words FuckJerry will suffer no economic hit. Why did the campaign fail? First of all, the world's biggest brands and platforms need FuckJerry. Madrigal: The economic system undergirding the influencer economy -- the advertising agencies, marketers, companies -- wants the FuckJerrys of the world to exist. So do the big platforms, which profit from these accounts’ ability to serve up and accelerate crowd-pleasing memes.The problem isn't FuckJerry. It's the way social media has been designed and deployed to support a desperate-for-attention economy:Really going after FuckJerry would require implicating the whole economic system of attention. In a world in which distribution power gets built through viral influence by any means, the FuckJerrys of the world will exist.Here's an original comic by @WholesomeNsuch that FuckJerry stole and turned into an Instagram ad for @hesstoytruck without payment or permission on one of their many accounts, "discojerry." #FuckFuckJerry pic.twitter.com/G6xyqzpqL9— Megh Wright (@megh_wright) February 20, 2019FuckJerry: Easier To Steal#FuckFuckJerry pic.twitter.com/MTAhN0t5Uo— Vic Berger IV (@VicBergerIV) February 1, 2019Image: Roman Samborskyi/Shutterstock Read the rest

This Person Does Not Exist (previously) generated frighteningly convincing images of human faces. This Cat Does Not Exist, well, it generates frightening cats. Read the rest

While on a Singapore Airlines flight, Vitaly Kamluk, noticed a camera in the seatback media system. He took photos and posted them on Twitter:Just found this interesting sensor looking at me from the seat back on board of Singapore Airlines. Any expert opinion of whether this a camera? Perhaps @SingaporeAir could clarify how it is used? pic.twitter.com/vy0usqruZG— Vitaly Kamluk (@vkamluk) February 17, 2019Here's Singapore Airlines response to Kamluk's tweet:Hi there, thank you for reaching out to us. We would like to share that some of our newer inflight entertainment systems provided by the original equipment manufacturers do have a camera embedded in the hardware... We have no plans to enable or develop any features using the cameras.Hi Peter, the cameras are in selected Business, Premium Economy and Economy Class. We would like to share that they have been permanently disabled on our aircraft and cannot be activated on board. We have no plans to enable or develop any features using the cameras. Thank you.— Singapore Airlines (@SingaporeAir) February 19, 2019Hi there, these cameras on our newer IFE systems were provided by the original equipment manufacturers. We have no plans to enable or develop any features using the cameras.— Singapore Airlines (@SingaporeAir) February 19, 2019It's not a bad idea to cover the camera with post-it note, anyway.Image: Twitter Read the rest

That's a lot of sea flap-flaps right there.

He's either very content, or high.

She has no experience in the news business, but plenty in Trump business.

Move over, Australia: in the internet pantheon of unpleasant wildlife, Brazil has one up on you: cities infested with swarms of venomous scorpions.São Paulo is a dense city, with scarce green space and little to no animal life — no squirrels, no raccoons, not even a lot of birds. So I was astonished when, in January, I learned that scorpions had infested my neighborhood.It turns out, people across the city and São Paulo state were having the same problem with these dangerous, venomous bugs. Statewide, scorpion stings have increased threefold over the last two decades. Read the rest

The Supreme Court today unanimously rules for Tyson Timbs, a small-time drug offender whose $42,000 Land Rover was seized by the state of Indiana as a civil forfeiture.In its opinion, the Supreme Court rules that the U.S. Constitution's 8th amendment clause on excessive fines clause applies to states and local governments, and curbs their power to levy fines and seize property. Here is a link to the full Opinion by Justice Ginsburg.This is the first time the highest court of the nation has weighed in so directly on the issue of excessive fines and civil assets forfeiture, an issue that has grown increasingly controversial as awareness of cases such as Timbs' grows online.Breaking: Supreme Court rules that excessive fines clause applies to states and local governments and limits ability to impose fines and seize property. Ginsburg write for unanimous court. this was the case: https://t.co/RNstzRXbug— Robert Barnes (@scotusreporter) February 20, 2019BREAKING: Supreme Court rules that excessive fines clause applies to states and local governments, curbing their power to levy fines and seize property. Opinion by Justice Ginsburg.— Greg Stohr (@GregStohr) February 20, 2019Today's SCOTUS opinion in Timbs finally subjects civil asset forfeiture to constitutional scrutiny and should rein in some of its most egregious abuses. Criminal justice reformers should be very happy right now. https://t.co/XxuXwb13Rh— Mark Joseph Stern (@mjs_DC) February 20, 2019Gorsuch comes out as a Privileges or Immunities Clause fan, which will delight libertarians and Clarence Thomas. https://t.co/XxuXwb13Rh pic.twitter.com/bUqcjLup4l— Mark Joseph Stern (@mjs_DC) February 20, 2019BREAKING: the Supreme Court unanimously applies the 8th am "excessive fines" clause to the states. Read the rest

On Wednesday, the TV network France 3 was forced to cut off a live Facebook broadcast from a desecrated Jewish cemetery in eastern France when trolls swarmed the feed and filled it with anti-Semitic hate comments.You could say there's a problem with anti-Semitism in France.The night before on Tuesday evening, roughly 20,000 people and lawmakers from across the political spectrum gathered to denounce anti-Jewish hate at the Place de la Republique in central Paris. Other protests were held throughout France.From Reuters:France 3 said it went live from the cemetery in the village of Quatzenheim on Tuesday as President Emmanuel Macron was visiting to pay his respects after more than 90 graves were vandalized with swastikas and anti-Semitic abuse.But as it broadcast footage online to its more than 1.3 million Facebook followers, the feed was inundated with anti-Semitic commentary and abuse.“We are talking about explicit death threats, comments that were openly anti-Semitic and racist, including “Heil Hitler”, “dirty Jew” or “dirty Jews”, comments that were addressed at Emmanuel Macron and representatives of the Jewish community,” the channel said in a statement explaining its decision.“Within minutes, the number of vile and illegal comments had gone well beyond our capacity to moderate them,” it explained, adding that it would have taken 10 or 20 staff to handle the onslaught. “We refuse to traffic in hatred.”The cemetery attack is only the latest hate crime in France in recent weeks.Macron spoke to members of the local community at the cemetery, and promised a tough response. Read the rest

Nest is the Internet of Shit company Google bought and steadily expanded from "smart" thermostats to the current home security product, "Nest Secure," which has an undisclosed microphone -- but don't worry, it wasn't intended to be a secret, Google just forgot to mention it, and "the microphone has never been on and is only activated when users specifically enable the option." Read the rest

“Overkill is an understatement,” the family’s lawyer said.

Angela Lashbrook has followed the online recommendations for vacuum cleaners and found them wanting. The high-end brands that never get consideration in roundups of vacs are much better at sucking your carpet clean of filth. A simple task like cleaning my kitchen or vacuuming my rugs may seem small and relatively unimportant. But research shows that feeling control over elements of one’s life can help reduce stress, so is it any wonder that our generation is so attracted to the concept of home improvement? The capability to transform a chaotic environment into an orderly one can take my anxiety from a nine to a five or four; having a vacuum I don’t have to fight makes my pursuit of tidiness and eventual mental peace closer to effortless.This is, of course, why you don't see a professional cleaners or hotel mails hauling around a $100 Hoover Linx or whatever piece of crap Wirecutter recommends, but you do see them with models like the Miele Compact C2 [Amazon link] she recommends. It's currently $400 for the hard-floor model and $600 for the pet-hair model. Oof!When my Dyson broke I needed a cheap vac in a hurry, checked craigslist, and ended up with a barely-used Sebo X1 for less than a hundred dollars. It was and is a complete revelation: just whipping it around that first golden day filled its bag with stuff the supposedly premium Dyson couldn't even sniff. It's a discontinued model, but the current equivalent is about a grand new so, haha, you cheapskates should probably just get a Miele. Read the rest

National emergency? Nah. Just some "Border Lies," according to Randy Rainbow's latest song parody. Gurl. Hit that Adderall. Then go get your border wall.Terrific, as always. Read the rest

Never buy a new pillow insert without first delivering a solid, forceful karate chop. If you're in a rush, my favorite chop is at 2:20m, with others at 1:00m, 1:30m, 1:50m ("it's made to be karate chopped"), 2:50m, and 3:20m. [via] Read the rest

r/vintageCGI is my new favorite subreddit. Embedded above is a collection of the rendered scenes from 1983 laserdisc game Star Rider, reputed to have cost Williams $50m in development, production and marketing costs. Below, Ronald Peterson's 1988 image demonstrating a ray-tracing package.Here's the Compleat Angler:And here is DISK.GIF:Finally, I made DISK.GIF.JPG for you. With luck WordPress's CDN will make it even worse. You're welcome. Read the rest

Magic Lantern is a replacement OS for your Canon EOS camera that you load via a SD card; in addition to a suite of video-recording tools, Magic Lantern allows fine-grained gain adjustments, selection of input sources, wind filters, audio monitoring, and better tools for everything from white-balance to exposure presets to overlays to help with exposure and other settings. The source is available for inspection and modification, of course. (via Four Short Links) Read the rest

MG has built a proof-of-concept malicious USB cable with a tiny wifi radio hidden inside of it, able to wirelessly exfilatrate stolen; he calls it the O. MG, and while the prototype cost him $4k and took 300 hours, he's working with a team on a small production run for other security researchers to play with. (via Four Short Links)You like wifi in your malicious USB cables? The O•MG cable (Offensive MG kit)https://t.co/Pkv9pQrmHtThis was a fun way to pick up a bunch of new skills. Not possible without help from: @d3d0c3d, @cnlohr, @IanColdwater, @hook_s3c, @exploit_agency #OMGCable pic.twitter.com/isQfMKHYQR— _MG_ (@_MG_) February 10, 2019 Read the rest

Riley's Farm is a staple of Los Angeles overnight school trips (my daughter visited last year with her elementary school); it's an apple farm with a pick-your-own apples sideline that branched out into civil war re-enactments, with some students staying overnight in tents.The farm's owner, James Riley, uses his Facebook and Twitter accounts to air Trumpian political views that complain about "black supremacy" ("If there's a problem in America today, it's BLACK supremacy. Farrakhan, Obama, LeBron James, etc"), nonbinary gender identity, etc.As news of Riley's political beliefs spread, parents in the Claremont Unified school district asked that their kids not be brought into contact with him. Claremont Unified decided not to bring their students back to Riley's Farm, sending Riley a letter that explained that they had "no obligation to expose children to an individual who engages in these crude and tasteless comments."Riley has sued Claremont Unified and various officials (trustees, principals and a superintendant), seeking $10m in damages for violations to his 1st and 14th Amendment rights. Other school districts are investigating whether they will continue to send their students to Riley's Farm, and Riley has pledged to "[put more] fear in public officials."Riley attends Tea Party rallies dressed as Patrick Henry and gives political speeches. He has called himself a "conservative Christian strawman that has to be burned in public." He says that his political beliefs do not influence the historical re-enactments at his farm.Riely's court filings say that his farm brings in $4.2m/year, with half of that coming from school groups. Read the rest

Last August, Florida's prison system announced that it was switching digital music providers and would be wiping out the $11.2 million worth of music that it had sold inmates -- music they'd paid for at $1.70/track, nearly double the going rate for music when not purchased from prison-system profiteers.The move was part of a switch to notorious prison contractors Jpay (previously), a division of the even-more-notorious Securus company (previously). Jpay is the company that gouges prisoners and their families for emails and calls, selling them absurd "digital postage stamps" and crazy transaction fees for prepaid commissary accounts.Now, 74 year old South Florida Reception Center inmate William Demler has filed a class-action suit against the Florida Department of Corrections, backed by the nonprofit Florida Justice Institute and the Social Justice Law Collective. Josh Glickman from the SJLC called the change in providers a "confiscation of these individuals’ lawfullypurchased property for no reason other than to turn a profit."The suit describes how the Corrections Department advertised heavily to inmates, a literal captive audience, encouraging them to buy vastly overpriced, underpowered $100 MP3 players and music to go with them, saying that they would "always own" the music they bought. If certified, the class could be sprawling in scale. Inmates filed grievances aboutthe mp3 program so frequently that the Department of Corrections created aseparate category in December 2017 to track hundreds of related grievanceappeals at the administrative level.The fallout from the media player contract is one example of how inmates areoften on the losing end in the Department of Corrections’ various dealings withthe private companies that do profitable business in state prisons. Read the rest

With the help of her mom, a Girl Scout in Colorado has turned Samoas into "Momoas." Cookie sales have skyrocketed for fifth-grader (and "Top Cookie CEO") Charlotte Holmberg of Highlands Ranch since she and her mom started gluing a shirtless photo of beefcake Aquaman star Jason Momoa on Samoa boxes. Charlotte's mom, a marketing professional, was inspired by a meme photo she saw on the internet of Momoa and started designing new box art. This one's for the ladies. (and the fellas) #elfontheshelf2018 #nottheelf pic.twitter.com/Tk2egiE15S— Matt Hayduke (@mightybajah) December 13, 2018KUSA:...so her and Charlotte got to work printing out the pictures and gluing them on dozens of boxes of Girl Scout cookies.They put it on Facebook, and you can guess what happened next."The moms are getting really excited and they're saying that they need them," Charlotte said.Even other Girl Scouts are hitting up Charlotte, asking to buy some. Now you know why they call her the Top Cookie CEO.They say Thin Mints are the most popular Girl Scout cookie. That might now be a thing of the past.A statement has not been issued from Momoa. images via Girl Scouts of Colorado(Vice) Read the rest

The social media-driven #grombre movement celebrates the natural phenomenon of grey hair (and silver, salt-and-pepper, white, and so on).