Boing Boing

For two years, researchers from USA Today, The Arizona Republic and the Center for Public Integrity have been ingesting the bills introduced in all 50 state legislatures, yielding a corpus of more than 1,000,000 bills, and then consumed months of computer time on a large cluster, comparing these bills to "model legislation" promoted by lobbyists, using a text-mining engine that could identify paraphrases, synonyms, and other techniques used to file the serial numbers off of these bills.They found that more than 10,000 bills that were notionally authored by elected lawmakers drawing a salary at public expenses were actually authored by lobbyists; more than 2,100 of these bills became law. These bills are a wishlist of special-interest legislative favors: limits on your ability to sue a company that injures you, limits on your right to protest, limits on your right to abortion.Many of the lawmakers who signed onto these bills as cosponsors say they had no idea they were supporting "copycat" legislation. Though copycat bills are sometimes right wing, sometimes left wing, and sometimes about enriching a specific industry, the most common political valence of the bills is right wing, and familiar names like ALEC (previously) lead the charge. These bills are given deceptive names ("The Asbestos Transparency Act didn’t help people exposed to asbestos. It was written by corporations who wanted to make it harder for victims"); and they are supported by an ensemble cast of "experts" who rove from hearing to hearing, testifying on the bills; they are often used to overturn local legislation (such as state laws that overturn city ordinances on Airbnb, higher minimum wages, limits on plastic bags, etc); and are a source of enormous profits for the companies that support them ("One that passed in Wisconsin limited pain-and-suffering compensation for injured nursing-home residents, restricting payouts to lost wages, which the elderly residents don’t have."). Read the rest

Named the Can Opener due to its ravenous appetite for tall trucks, the 11' 8" bridge in Durham, N.C. has cameras trained on to capture incidents. This week, however, it captured something else: the sound (and blast wave) of a nearby industrial explosion.It is operated by Jürgen Henn who runs 11foot8.com -- a website that compiles videos of trucks getting stuck under the bridge. The website is called 11foot8.com because the clearance of the bridge is 11 feet, 8 inches.In Wednesday's video, you can hear the sound of the explosion and see the camera shake. The explosion killed 1 and injured several more.[h/t Justin Runyon] Read the rest

Tacklife makes good low-cost power tools. I've bought a lot of different tools from Tacklife and use them all the time. If you use code B797VDYT you can get this Lithium-Ion Rechargeable Cordless Screwdriver with 32-piece screw bits and USB charging cable for about half the already low price. Read the rest

In this very long 2014 essay for London Review of Books , Andrew O'Hagan wrote his experiences as a ghostwriter for Julian Assange.I am sure this is what happens in many of his scrapes: he runs on a high-octane belief in his own rectitude and wisdom, only to find later that other people had their own views – of what is sound journalism or agreeable sex – and the idea that he might be complicit in his own mess baffles him. Fact is, he was not in control of himself and most of what his former colleagues said about him just might be true. He is thin-skinned, conspiratorial, untruthful, narcissistic, and he thinks he owns the material he conduits. It may turn out that Julian is not Daniel Ellsberg or John Wilkes, but Charles Foster Kane, abusive and monstrous in his pursuit of the truth that interests him, and a man who, it turns out, was motivated all the while not by high principles but by a deep sentimental wound. Perhaps we won’t know until the final frames of the movie.Via LinkmachinegoImage: By Andreas Gaufer - 26c3 Wikileaks, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9478203 Read the rest

Ketamine has been used as a horse tranquilizer, infant anesthetic, recreational drug, and most recently, a surprisingly effective treatment for depression (which the US Food and Drug Administration approved last month). Now researchers are starting to understand how ketamine works: by rebuilding connections between neurons lost during stress.From Chemical and Engineering News:In a new study, researchers took a close-up gander at neurons in live mice under chronic stress, a condition that models depression in rodents. They found that a dose of ketamine helped first restore electrical activity and then rebuild physical connections between neurons that were lost during stress (Science 2019, DOI: 10.1126/science.aat8078). The observations suggest ketamine has both immediate and more sustained effects on how neurons function in the brain.Neuroscientist Conor Liston at Weill Cornell Medicine and his colleagues implanted a prism into the frontal region of the rodents’ brains that, combined with a specialized microscope that captures images at extremely high resolution, allowed them to observe branches of nerve cells called dendrites in great detail over several weeks. They could even see tiny nubbins on the dendrites called spines, which form the synapses connecting nerve cells.Image: Public Domain, Link Read the rest

The 1960s is the culprit behind the neverending barrage of clerical sex abuse incidents plaguing the Catholic Church, writes retired Pope Benedict XVI. Apparently, the 1960s is a Manson-like monster that brainwashed innocent Catholic clergy to commit unspeakable acts under its command. The 1960s must be captured and brought to justice. The 1960s should be punished for victimizing the clergy under its spell, perhaps by subjecting it to strappado, interrogatorio mejorado del agua, or one of the many other benevolent forms of treatment invented by the Catholic Church to encourage sinners to see the light.From BBC:Retired Pope Benedict XVI has published a letter which blames clerical sex abuse on the "all-out sexual freedom" of the 1960s.He said that cultural and historical change had led to a "dissolution" of morality in Catholicism.The sexual revolution in the 1960s had led to homosexuality and paedophilia in Catholic establishments, he claimed.Some allegations of child sex abuse by priests that have emerged date back to decades before the 1960s.The only solution to the problem, the former Pope said, was "obedience and love for our Lord Jesus Christ".Image by Rvin88 - Own work, CC BY 3.0, Link Read the rest

Portsmouth, Virginia police officer Eric Rodgers' blood alcohol concentration was twice the legal limit when he crashed his car into Mashia Williams, leaving her severely injured. He was driving at night but his car's headlights weren't on. Seven months after Rodgers ran into her with his car, Williams has not fully recovered and hasn't worked. A judge just let Rodgers off scot-free.From Wavy.comRodgers' attorney Thomas Hunter argued evidence showed his client passed all the field sobriety tests without showing any signs of being drunk.Hunter argued the only reason why his BAC was taken was because Portsmouth Police didn't want any bias towards one of its own. Anyone else would have been cut loose."Everybody knows that alcohol affects bodies differently, so a reading in itself, if you just went on a reading, science has also proven that that's false," Hunter said. "It's not completely accurate. It's an indicator."The judge agreed, and found Rodgers not guilty.Image: Wavy.com Read the rest

San Dimas High School, famed alma mater of Bill S. Preston, ESQ. and Ted "Theodore" Logan, is ready to host The Wyld Stallyns, if the new Bill and Ted 3 needs a high school location.CBS:TMZ reports that according to the Bonita Unified School District, Reeves, Winter, and the rest of production are welcome to film any high school scenes at San Dimas High School, the actual school portrayed in the film.BUSD officials told TMZ “while the district hasn’t been contacted by anyone in the production so far, they’d be thrilled to provide a backdrop in the upcoming installment and would accommodate any filming.”Although parts of the Bill and Ted film took place at San Dimas High School, most of the high school scenes were actually filmed in Arizona, says TMZ.Even if filming doesn’t end up happening at the high school, BUSD told TMZ that Keanu and company are welcome there any time. Read the rest

A prequel to the iconic 1971 musical and 1978 movie Grease is in development at Paramount. Written by John August (Big Fish, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory), the new film, titled Summer Loving, will tell the story of Danny and Sandy's summer romance at the beach as famously recounted from two different perspectives in the original movie's song "Summer Nights." I only wish Summer Loving would be an animated feature in the style of John D. Wilson's incredible opening titles to the original Grease and star John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John:(Holywood Reporter) Read the rest

The "sovereign citizen" movement is a grifty, anti-Semitic/white-nationalist-adjacent cult whose conspiratorial beliefs include a bunch of reasons that neither law enforcement nor courts have jurisdiction over them, and also that the federal government is not allowed to own land (this being the rubric for the Cliven Bundy terrorists' seizure of the Malheur Oregon Wildlife Refuge.When cops try to arrest "sovereign citizens," the arrestees flee, threaten violence, enact violence, even pull guns on the cops ("sovereign citizens" are also confirmed musketfuckers, with massive personal arsenals). When "sovereign citizens" are dragged into court, the given irrelevant conspiratorial speeches about the court's illegitimacy, the illegality of gold tassles on flags, and so on.This poses a problem for the cops and the courts, because this is a movement of overwhelmingly white people, and when white people are violent and disruptive, cops somehow manage not to murder them or simply lock them up indefinitely. Court appointed defense attorneys wish they'd stop giving judge-enraging speeches, and cops are leery of murdering them. Some cops are getting special advice to allow them to engage with "sovereign citizens" without murdering them. By contrast, racialized kids get special high school classes in how not to get murdered by cops.Dr. John Hamilton — a retired Kansas City, Missouri, police officer and Park University professor — said officers need to be familiar with the group or things can turn ugly."You don't know what you are dealing with either." said Hamilton, who teaches criminal justice at Park. Read the rest

Dig that, ya squares! (via Weird Universe) Read the rest

Bloomberg reporters learned that -- despite public pronouncements to the contrary -- Amazon has an "annotation team" of thousands of people all over the world, charged with reviewing recordings made by Alexa devices in the field, with both staffers and contractors listening to conversations that Alexa owners have had with and near their devices.The annotation team's goal is to improve Alexa voice recognition and command parsing.The team has sometimes encountered evidence of criminal conduct, such as a recording of a sexual assault, but were advised by their superiors at Amazon not to take action.Amazon defends the practice by saying that only a small proportion of the material gathered by Alexa devices is reviewed by the team, and says that "strict technical and operational safeguards" and "a zero tolerance policy for the abuse of our system" mean that customers have no need to worry about privacy violations. The recordings the team reviews are tagged with the customer's first name, account number and the serial number of their device. Recordings are made any time an Alexa device detects an activation word, like "Alexa" or "Echo" or "computer." Sometimes recordings are made inadvertently when these words are used in other contexts, or are misinterpreted by the devices.Apple and Google also have human teams that review audio from devices, but with different privacy safeguards.The team comprises a mix of contractors and full-time Amazon employees who work in outposts from Boston to Costa Rica, India and Romania, according to the people, who signed nondisclosure agreements barring them from speaking publicly about the program. Read the rest

The 30-year rule of Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir is over after a military coup this morning toppled his government. Defense minister Awad Mohamed Auf announced Bashir's arrest on state TV and promised elections in two years, with a military council running the country in the interim.The country's autocratic leader is understood to be under house arrest with several aides at the presidential palace, along with a number of Muslim Brotherhood leaders. The move to oust him from power comes after months of anti-government protests against his 30-year rule, in anger over a struggling economy.Bashir is wanted by the ICC over atrocities in Darfur. Read the rest

Tonight (Thursday, April 11), I'm headlining a free event celebrating the 40th Anniversary of the Friends of the San Diego Public Library from 7-9PM: it's at the Central Library's Neil Morgan Auditorium (330 Park Blvd., San Diego 92101). The tl;dr of my speech: "libraries as one of the few remnants of a world where people were valued because of their humanity, not their money, and how that works in the current moment of extreme inequality, epistemological incoherence, and fear of imminent collapse."The event is free, but seating is limited; the Friends of the San Diego Public Library will hold you a seat if you pre-order a copy of my new book Radicalized from their bookstore.Then on Friday, April 12 I'll be at UCLA from 7-930 for After Disruption, a panel and workshop sponsored by README and the LA Cryptoparty, with Britt Paris from Data & Society, Sarah T. Roberts from the Department of Information Studies, and Saba Waheed from the UCLA Labor Center. Our theme is: "A conversation on Big Tech, the future of labor, and how systems have successfully been co-opted in the past" and "A collaborative, participatory workshop led by README and LA Cryptoparty where audience and speakers join together to re-imagine how platforms function." It's also free to attend but the organizers would like you to RSVP. Then on Sunday, April 14 I'm appearing at the LA Times Festival of Books for a conversation with John Scalzi, moderated by Maryelizabeth Yturralde from Mysterious Galaxy books. Read the rest

Teen Vogue continues its run of excellent, progressive political reporting with Kim Kelly's potted explanation of capitalism, and not a minute too soon, as Kelly explains: "the reason many millennials haven’t been investing in mutual funds or building up their own financial nest eggs isn’t because they’re too broke, or that they lack personal responsibility — it’s because they think our current economic system, capitalism, will cease to exist by the time they are in their 60s."The kind of impact that capitalism has on your life depends on whether you’re a worker or a boss. For someone who owns a company and employs other workers, capitalism may make sense: The more profits your company brings in, the more resources you have to share with your workers, which theoretically improves everyone’s standard of living. It’s all based on the principle of supply and demand, and in capitalism, consumption is king. The problem is that many capitalist bosses aren’t great at sharing the wealth, which is why one of the major critiques of capitalism is that it is a huge driver of inequality, both social and economic.What “Capitalism” Is and How It Affects People [Kim Kelly/Teen Vogue](via Naked Capitalism) Read the rest

In the past week, Europol and the French government's L’Office Central de Lutte contre la Criminalité liée aux Technologies de l’Information et de la Communication (OCLCTIC) have sent 500 "terrorism" takedown demands to the Internet Archive demanding the removal of tens of millions of works: the entire archive of Project Gutenberg; an archive of 15 million texts, the entire Grateful Dead archive, the Prelinger Archive of public domain industrial films (much beloved by the MTV generation as they were the source of the channels classic interstitial animations), and the Archive's collection of recordings from CSPAN.The takedowns come in just as the EU is getting ready to vote on a proposal that will force platforms to remove "terrorist" content within one hour or face censorship through national firewalls, fines, and criminal sanctions.Even if it was possible for the Internet Archive to sift through tens of millions of documents in a collection targeted by one of these takedowns in one hour to figure out if the takedown notice is valid, the timezone problem means that they would have to be ready to do this in the middle of the night in San Francisco, when the EU agencies most typically send their demands.Even without this absurd law, the situation is dire. The French authorities gave the Internet Archive 24 hours to comply with its demand or face a nationwide block. And, as the Archive explains, there's simply no way that (1) the site could have complied with the Terrorist Content Regulation had it been law last week when they received the notices, and (2) that they should have blocked all that obviously non-terrorist content. Read the rest

Banjo Guy Ollie's cover of the Shadow of the Beast theme tune is perfect. Composed by David Whittaker for the 1989 Commodore Amiga game, most covers of it are bad because modern synths and DAWs offer high-quality but uncannily electronic flutes, whereas the original's texture depended on a rough simplicity imposed by technical limitations. Most covers take on a slick "Pure Moods Vol. XIII" vibe at odds with the original's low-fi mix of disco and world music (cf. the so-called "ethnic electronica" that would emerge in the 1990s). Ollie not only nails it on its own terms, but transposes it to his own musical language. Now, do the whole OST!Go to Ollie's Patreon and give him your money. Read the rest

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors' latest UK house price survey blames Brexit for continued declines in property prices in London and the southeast, "the worst slump since the financial crisis," with far more supply than demand. (via Naked Capitalism) Read the rest

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange was arrested today in London and removed from Ecuador's embassy there. He was taken from the embassy—video shows a cuffed Assange dragged by several men through its doors—after his asylum was withdrawn and officers invited in.Assange stayed in the embassy for six years to avoid a sexual assault case in Sweden that was eventually closed, but still faced arrest for skipping court dates. The U.K. Foreign Office admitted, however, that his arrest today was made at the behest of U.S. authorities over "computer crimes" charges that await him there.WATCH: Julian Assange gets arrested by Met Police after being expelled from the Ecuadorean embassy https://t.co/SqoTLtsSQV pic.twitter.com/2qvXzq7cD2— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) April 11, 2019Ecuador's president Lenin Moreno said it withdrew Mr Assange's asylum after his repeated violations of international conventions.But Wikileaks tweeted that Ecuador had acted illegally in terminating Mr Assange's political asylum "in violation of international law".Home Secretary Sajid Javid tweeted: "I can confirm Julian Assange is now in police custody and rightly facing justice in the UK. The U.S. charges are unclear but likely relate to Wikileaks' publication of documents and videos showing U.S. war crimes, misconduct and a plethora of other embarrassing and classified information. Wikileaks maintained that Assange's detention and asylum ultimately concerned these plans to extradite him to America. UPDATE: It's confirmed that the arrest is "at the behest" of the U.S. government.British home office confirms Assange was arrested at the behest of US for “computer related” offenses pic.twitter.com/bUnKFIDu91— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) April 11, 2019Nearly 7yrs after entering the Ecuadorean Embassy, I can confirm Julian Assange is now in police custody and rightly facing justice in the UK. Read the rest

Yesterday, scientists revealed the first ever photo of a black hole. Three years ago, Katie Bouman, then a computer science grad student at MIT, led the development of a key algorithm that helped make this historical image possible. In the TED Talk above from 2017, she explained "How to Take a Picture of a Black Hole." "No one of us could've done it alone," Bouman told CNN yesterday. "It came together because of lots of different people from many backgrounds."In September, Bouman will start her teaching career as an assistant professor at the California Institute of Technology. Read the rest

In 1974, Wyn Cooper, one of my Madonna's fellow students at Adams High School near Detroit, invited the 16-year-old pre-material girl to star in his experimental film. The Super 8 short is titled "The Egg.""We developed a friendship and hung out," Cooper, now a poet in Vermont, has said. "I had a Mercury Capri with an eight-track tape player. Madonna and I would hop in the car, drive around and listen to Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars while enjoying a little marijuana."(via r/ObscureMedia) Read the rest

From Deep Look:The quills of North American porcupines have microscopic backward-facing barbs on the tips. Those barbs make the quills slide in easy but very difficult to remove.Researchers at Harvard are looking to porcupine quills for inspiration in designing a new type of surgical staple that would also use tiny barbs to keep itself lodged into the patient’s skin. This helps because traditional staples curve in under the skin to keep the staple in place. This creates more damage and can provide a place for bacteria to infect the wound. Read the rest

Ladies and gentlemen, the twisted imaginations of Wil Wheaton and Bonnie Burton. Read the rest

Sometimes, the universe provides. Deadline is reporting Kate McKinnon will play everybody's favorite deep-voiced blood grifter Elizabeth Holmes in a limited series for Hulu based on the ABC documentary/podcast The Dropout. McKinnon will also serve as an executive producer. Emmy-winning Saturday Night Live star McKinnon will play the disgraced wunderkind entrepreneur Elizabeth Holmes and will executive produce the limited drama series, whose length is expected to be between 6-10 episodes.She executive produces with the ABC News trio behind The Dropout podcast: host /creator Rebecca Jarvis, who is ABC News chief business, technology and economics correspondent, and producers Taylor Dunn and Victoria Thompson.Jennifer Lawrence will play Holmes in a movie based on John Carreyrou's bestseller Bad Blood, expected to be released in 2020. (Photo: Glenn Fawcett/Wikimedia Commons) Read the rest

When my father upgraded to the latest Apple Watch, he gave me his old Series 3 model. I wasn't sure if I'd use it, but after a few months, I've decided it is a net plus in my life.The best thing about it is responding to text messages by simply holding the phone up to my mouth and talking. The natural language processing is excellent. This feature saves me a lot of time every day.I also like getting alerts about upcoming appointments, turn-by-turn directions (with vibration) when I'm walking in an unfamiliar city, flight change alerts (via TripIt), paying for stuff with Apple Pay, buying Starbucks by pointing the watch at the counter scanner, pressing the "Find my iPhone" button (which makes my iPhone beep so I can find it), and checking time with the world clock.Right now Amazon has the 42mm model at a really low price, much less than the smaller 38mm model. Read the rest

They're pro-life, you see.

No, not that one above -- that's an iconic still from 'Blade Runner,' which today's Trump shot reminds me of.Below, a jaw-dropping photograph from Associated Press photographer Pablo Martínez on Twitter. The media are seen reflected in eye of President Trump as he answers questions on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, before boarding Marine One helicopter, . (AP Photo/Pablo Martínez Monsiváis) #realDonaldTrump @realDonaldTrump #WhiteHouse @AP_Politics @AP_ImagesI cannot recall seeing an image that so perfectly captures the relationship between our 45th President and the free press our Constitution protects. The media are seen reflected in eye of President Trump as he answers questions on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, before boarding Marine One helicopter, . (AP Photo/Pablo Martínez Monsiváis) #realDonaldTrump @realDonaldTrump #WhiteHouse @AP_Politics @AP_Images pic.twitter.com/DySbAx9f6u— Pablo Martínez (@Pablo3names) April 10, 2019[Shared by the photographer on Twitter.] Read the rest

It's time to cook.

Whoosh whoosh whoosh go the tiny fuzzy paws.Li'l guy is an Akita, I presume -- a large dog breed dog that originates from Japan's northern mountainous regions. There are two separate varieties of Akita: a Japanese strain, commonly called "Akita Inu", or "Japanese Akita"; and an American strain, known as the "Akita" or "American Akita".Kita puppy swimming in the air[via] Read the rest

Shut up and take my money, @sableglass. Get a load of this gorgeousness.This is an example of the “Reticello marble handmade glass art,” according to the maker. It's an Italian decorative glassblowing technique that involves merging two bubbles (one inside the other), in which the straight canes were twisted in opposite directions. Once merged, those two opposingly twisted canes cross over one another and creates that pattern that looks like a net. When done in the traditional fashion, small air bubbles become trapped in a grid pattern between the crossing molten glass canes. View this post on InstagramA post shared by sableglass (@sableglass) on Mar 31, 2019 at 6:41pm PDT View this post on InstagramA post shared by sableglass (@sableglass) on Apr 2, 2019 at 12:28am PDT View this post on InstagramA post shared by sableglass (@sableglass) on Mar 31, 2019 at 8:57pm PDT View this post on InstagramA post shared by sableglass (@sableglass) on Mar 31, 2019 at 7:52pm PDT View this post on InstagramA post shared by sableglass (@sableglass) on Mar 27, 2019 at 12:01am PDT [via] Read the rest

It's not clear why this fellow put a chainsaw in his pants. Was he succumbing to an unspeakable urge? Was he providing ill-advised self-treatment for pruritis of the groin? Was his bladder filled with gasoline and he was simply filling the chainsaw's tank as a pay-it-forward gesture for the person who buys it? We'll probably never know the truth, because he walked out of the store with the chainsaw still in his pants and has not been seen since.Image: YouTube Read the rest

Facebook is notorious for absolving itself of responsibility for bad behavior by offering up an algorithm as a scapegoat (examples here, here, here, here). This time Brian Fishman, Facebook’s policy director for counterterrorism, told Congress at a closed-door briefing that the New Zealand shooter video that Facebook streamed was not gruesome enough for its naughty, misbehaving algorithm to flag so please don't get mad at Facebook.From The Daily Beast:The members of Congress who gathered for a closed-door briefing had lots of questions for Brian Fishman, Facebook’s policy director for counterterrorism. One of the biggest: Why didn’t Facebook’s counter-terror algorithms—which it rolled out nearly two years ago—take down the video as soon as it was up?Fishman’s answer, according to a committee staffer in the room: The video was not “particularly gruesome.” A second source briefed on the meeting added that Fishman said there was “not enough gore” in the video for the algorithm to catch it.Members pushed back against Fishman’s defense. One member of Congress said the video was so violent, it looked like footage from Call of Duty.Another, Missouri Democrat Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, told The Daily Beast that Fishman’s answer “triggered something inside me.”“‘You mean we have all this technology and we can’t pick up gore?’” Cleaver said he told Fishman. “‘How many heads must explode before they pick it up? Facebook didn’t create darkness, but darkness does live in Facebook.’”Image: Wax figure of the famous Mark Zuckerberg from Madame Tussauds, Siam Discovery, Bangkok. Read the rest

Foxconn gave Wisconsin hard-line GOP governor Scott Walker and Donald Trump a great story to tell about the triumph of their ideology: that with enough corporate welfare, high-tech manufacturing jobs could come back to America, in the form of an LCD factory in Wisconsin that would employ 13,000 people.Two years later, Foxconn has been handed billions in subsidies, despite its long history of broken promises on factory rollouts, through which it absorbed titanic fortunes from governments and then delivered only a fraction of what it had promised (or nothing at all).Foxconn is holding true to form in Wisconsin: after receiving huge infusions of public money, after convincing cities to bulldoze people's homes to make way for its "factory," after flip-flopping on whether there will be a factory, the company has no definite plans.Instead, Foxconn keeps on fronting little convincers, like announcing that it is buying a bunch of buildings around the state to use as "innovation hubs" or "incubators," then either quietly reneging on the purchases, or leaving the buildings sitting empty.Meanwhile, it's painfully obvious that the local and state governments got scammed. Foxconn is not going to build an LCD plant in Wisconsin because there is a global gut in the supply of LCDs and Foxconn is operating its own LCD plants well below capacity due to the lack of demand. The fact that Foxconn is promising an "AI 8K+5G ecosystem" -- a meaningless buzzword only missing the word "blockchain" to score a perfect Gartner Hype Cycle bingo -- should ring alarm bells for anyone who's paying attention. Read the rest

In a 232-190 vote, Congress has passed H.R. 1644, the Save the Internet Act, which directs the FCC to restore the Net Neutrality protections that Trump's FCC Chairman Ajit Pai stripped away through a fraudulent, corrupt process in 2017.What's more, the Act passed without being substantially watered down or poisoned by sneaky amendments, thanks to widespread citizen action that put lawmakers on notice that such conduct would be noticed and punished at the ballot-box.The bill goes to the Senate next. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has promised that it will be "dead on arrival," but if it gets to a recorded vote, anything could happen. Net Neutrality enjoys incredible, bipartisan support -- 87% of Americans favor it -- and GOP lawmakers are keenly aware that they will be fighting for their seats in 2020, while voters flock to the polls to make the election a referendum on Trump, Trumpism, white supremacy and corporate corruption.Even if the bill dies in the Senate, that will give Democratic senate-race challengers a powerful stick to beat GOP incumbents with. No one wants their internet made worse, and voters are increasingly willing to punish lawmakers who sell them out on internet issues.The Save the Internet Act was written to restore the strong and hard-fought protections of the 2015 Open Internet Order. Americans overwhelmingly support an Internet where Internet service providers (ISPs) have to treat all the data transmitted over their networks in a nondiscriminatory way. In other words, where ISPs don’t act as gatekeepers to the Internet and where you, the user, decide how and what you want to see online. Read the rest

Sasaki Fumio has been an extreme minimalist for about 5 years. He wrote a book called Goodbye, Things. He owns approximately 150 things, including his soy sauce and vinegar bottle. In this Asian Boss interview, he describes his lifestyle. He says he became a minimalist because he is a naturally untidy person, and if he had a lot of stuff, his place would be a mess. Before he became a minimalist he says "All I did was drink and play video games," and now he is much happier. Read the rest

Mark Risher adapts his viral Twitter thread about the security advantages of security keys like Ubikey and Google's Titan Security Key, and how they are game-changers for information security.As Risher tells it, two factor authentication is supposed to require "something you know" (like a passphrase) and something you have (like a dongle, or a phone, etc). The problem is that most 2FA systems are actually about two things you know: your passphrase, and the six- or eight-digit code generated by your phone or security dongle. Wily hackers have figured out how to intercept your entry of that second factor and replay it into online authentication forms, and that's before we get into the intrinsic insecurity of SMS. Don't take this as advice to give up on traditional 2FA! This man-in-the-middle business is generally reserved for targeted attacks (where someone specifically wants to compromise your security), and traditional 2FA is still a powerful disincentive to opportunity attacks (where someone just wants to compromise anyone's security). In that case, you don't need to be faster than the bear.But for those who can use them, security keys -- which engage in a complex protocol directly with the remote server -- are game changing. As Risher puts it: "SKs basically shrink your threat model from 'anyone anywhere in the world who knows your password' to 'people in the room with you right now.' Huge!"I agree, but there's an important caveat. Security keys usually have fallback mechanisms -- some way to attach a new key to your account for when you lose or destroy your old key. Read the rest

Katherine Ellen Foley writes that the "complex clitorises" of dolphins are key to understanding their sex lives.Although these preliminary findings don’t definitively prove that dolphin reproduction can also be for pleasure, they do add evidence to the argument that for dolphins, sex isn’t entirely about reproduction. Sex can serve several different functions, like social learning or establishing dominant hierarchies, says Orbach. Male calves frequently mate with their mothers, and “a lot of the [dolphin] mating we see in the wild is homosexual mating,” she says. “It could be males establishing who’s the leader in the group.”Before Orbach and Brennan submit the study to a peer-reviewed journal, they’re waiting to find a few more dolphins that died of natural causes to add to their sample size. Read the rest

"The terrible sound you never want to hear when working on turbine engines," because fishing it out isn't going to be easy. If ever I am in charge of an airline, this noise shall replace the "Captain speaking to the cabin" ding. Read the rest

Helvetica Now, redesigned by Max Miedinger, Charles Nix, Jan Hendrik Weber and others for Monotype, is the first revision of the tasteful typeface in 35 years and comes in 48 styles.Creative Boom: The Helvetica family has been used by countless brands and creative professionals, in millions of designs since its inception. The typeface embodies clean and versatile design, and the Helvetica Now typeface continues the tradition established by the Helvetica and Neue Helvetica families while introducing a number of improvements.If you want anything from a Helvetica derivative except conspicuous mediocrity, what you really want is Univers. Read the rest

Tom the Dancing Bug, IN WHICH is asked the question Who acknowledges that climate change is a reality? and the question Who doesn't?

Learning a new language was never meant to be about rote memorization. If you want to speak in a different tongue, first and foremost you need to speak - and when possible, interact with other native speakers. But if you can't afford that trip abroad, the Mondly app offers plenty of interactivity on its own.This language learning app was voted Editor's Choice in the category by Google Play and Best of 2016 in the App Store, with good reason. It offers a curriculum in one of 33 different languages that focus on conversation, and it does this by exposing you to chats between native speakers. You'll pick up phrases quickly through short, easily digestible lessons while Mondly fine-tunes your pronunciation through the latest speech recognition technology. You'll also get essential tools like a verb conjugator, and those with an Android phone can even practice naming objects IRL with the MondlyAR functionality.A lifetime subscription in a language of your choice to Mondly is $39.99, over 80% off the list price. Read the rest

The House Judiciary Committee held a hearing on white nationalism this morning and Republicans wasted no time making themselves look like idiots. GOP committee members invited Candace Owens, communications director of Turning Point USA and creator of the hilarious fail Blexit, to testify that white nationalism is all just a bunch of scare tactics ginned up by the Democrats to keep minorities in line. Owens did exactly that, telling the committee, "We hear over and over again about black conservatives, who have the audacity to think for themselves and become educated about our history and the myth of things, like the southern switch and the southern strategy, which never happened." The idea that the Southern Strategy is a myth has been pushed in recent years by people like convicted felon Dinesh D'Souza, even though former RNC chairman Ken Mehlman apologized to the NAACP for it. Rep. Ted Lieu was having none of Owens' bullshit. And it was glorious. Democrats need to do more of this. More often than not, Republicans are their own worst enemy. No need for a big song and dance when you can simply press PLAY. (Photo of Candace Owens: Gage Skidmore/Flickr. Screengrab of Rep. Ted Lieu via @jbendery) Read the rest

Since it's illegal to take your dog on a subway in New York if it's not shoved into a "carrier," this man shoved his large dog into a tiny burlap sack, if that's what you can call it. But the conductor doesn't buy it, and bans the creative dog owner from boarding the train. Saw this guy arguing with an @MTA conductor about bringing his dog on the subway. Dude said the dog’s burlap sack was a bag; conductor said nope, wouldn’t let him on the train. @Gothamist @A_W_Gordon @2AvSagas #NYCSubway pic.twitter.com/qjgN5anKV3— Will Sabel Courtney (@WillSCourtney) April 7, 2019So much for over-the-shoulder hammocks.Via Mashable Read the rest

A 67-year-old retired teacher is working out at the gym in Culver City, California when a red SUV bursts through the glass wall and and shoves his treadmill across the room. Although it looks horrifying, he amazingly survives without any major injuries.According to Inside Edition:Moments after the crash, the shoeless driver emerged from the car to see what had happened. She then tried to get back in her SUV, but an off-duty cop who was working out at the gym stepped in. She reportedly told police her brakes failed. When cops arrived on the scene she was not taken into custody and was not charged. "I got thrown back and I could see the treadmill coming at me and I was afraid of being crushed," the man on the treadmill told Inside Edition. "I rolled to the side and I think that is what saved me." Read the rest

[[Editor's note: I was the Electronic Frontier Foundation's first-ever European Director, which was a crazy and amazing job at a time when the organization was much smaller; now EFF is much bigger, and international issues are a much bigger deal for us, with bad policy ideas ricocheting around the globe and needing a coordinated response; the below is from my colleague Rainey Reitman, EFF's Chief Program Officer; you can find the formal listing here -Cory ]]EFF is hiring an International Policy Director to help us defend digital rights beyond the United States borders! The ideal candidate will act as a bridge between EFF's legal strategy and our international policy work. We're especially looking for someone with deep expertise in the European lawmaking process, with a specialization in global copyright law and intermediary liability issues. The role combines strategy, management, coalition building, and policy analysis.This role will be key in helping to guide EFF's future engagement around technology policy in Europe in the coming years. If this role seems like a good fit for your expertise, please apply! And if not, you can still help EFF by sending it to your qualified friends and posting this to social media. We'll be accepting applications until April 23.International Policy Director [EFF/Bamboo HR] Read the rest

The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada funded Screening Surveillance project: a trio of Creative Commons licensed short science fiction films about "everyday issues around big data and surveillance." The movies run about 10 minutes each, and come with classroom materials.The movies were produced under the auspices of Queens University's Surveillance Studies Center as part of sava saheli singh's postdoc; singh is married to SF writer Tim Maughan, author of the wonderful recent debut novel Infinite Detail (Maughan also wrote one of the movies):Blaxites follows the story of a young woman whose celebratory social media post affects her access to vital medication. Her attempts to circumvent the system leads to even more dire consequences. (written by Nehal El-Hadi) In A Model Employee, to keep her day job at a local restaurant, an aspiring DJ has to wear a tracking wristband. As it tracks her life outside of work, she tries to fool the system, but a new device upgrade means trouble. (written by Tim Maughan) In Frames, a smart city tracks and analyzes a woman walking through the city. Things she does are interpreted and logged by the city system, but are they drawing an accurate picture of the woman? (Written by Madeline Ashby)Screening Surveillance project [The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada/Queens University's Surveillance Studies Center] Read the rest

I was sent some small-batch, whole grain, locally sourced flour. I baked some bread.One of my oldest friends recently went BreadCore on me. He is baking beautiful loaves, paying attention to hydration and scoring some cool designs with a fancy schmancy lame. To thank me for being his on-call baking consultant, he sent me 7.5 lbs of two different small-batch flours that he loves.I am a no-stress it'll all work out in the bake, baker. I am over a decade into delicious bread, pizza, pretzels, waffles, and bagels and I don't like to stress over baking. Baking is a relaxing and fun food preparation method. I guess this is the opposite of everything a highly technical Breadcore baker wants to hear. I do not weigh my ingredients. So, my first thought about specialty flour was "Fuck, this'll complicate things!"I was wrong.I opened the bag of Hard Red Spring Wheat. I baked my first loaf at 70% Trader Joes AP flour and 30% HRS. I did reserve some flour from the initial mix, as I was afraid the HRS would drink more water than market flour. I ended up adding it all in and developed a very sticky ball of dough that rose very well. It baked up beautifully.On this bake, I lowered my oven temperature 5 degrees. In my mind, I was holding back one Kadam for the imaginary Hebrew god to whom my parents dedicated the 12th year of my life. In reality, I'd noticed that my friend who baked at the same temps I did got a much less explosively crumbastic crust on his loaves. Read the rest

Did you know that Ken's theme from Street Fighter II is a bit infringey-whingey when it comes to a Cheap Trick song from the Top Gun soundtrack? Somehow I went for decades without noticing this—or any of the other infringey-whingey examples offered in this set of "Video game themes that sound familiar." Granted, not all of them are quite so cut and dry as the Capcom lift.Many of the soundalikes emerge from a very specific period in the early 1990s. It might just be the stuff that the video's creator grew up with, but the earlier examples tend to be straightforward covers (such as Spy Hunter's 1983 rendition of Henry Mancini) while later ones are more lawyered (sticking the intrumentation and beat but changing melodies). There was a magic point where they were still making ephemeral kids' entertainment, yet making it very well, but before they realized that it wasn't so ephemeral.Embedded below is one that's not in the video: Friendship's Let's Not Talk About It (1979). I won't name the culprit, but I guarantee you'll know the lift when you hear it. Read the rest

Twitter and Square CEO Jack Dorsey (42) walks 5 miles to work every day, eats only one meal a day, fasts all weekend, and tries to meditate two hours a day. CNBC looked at 11 of his "wellness" habits, which he discussed on a recent episode of the Ben Greenfield Fitness podcast.From CNBC:“Nothing has given me more mental confidence than being able to go straight from room temperature into the cold,” Dorsey says. ”[E]specially in the morning, going into an ice-cold tub from just being warm in bed is — it just unlocks this thing in my mind and I feel like if I can will myself to do that thing that seems so small but hurts so much, I can do nearly anything.”Image: By cellanr - https://www.flickr.com/photos/rorycellan/21834269682/, CC BY-SA 2.0, Link Read the rest

Public Sans is a free, open font (available in weights from 100-900) from the federal United States Web Design System with a Github project that you can contribute to: it's billed as "A strong, neutral typeface for text or display." (via Four Short Links) Read the rest