Science teacher Bruce Yeany demonstrates a ramp walker he made from a pizza box and some scrap cardboard.Ramp walking toys have actually been around for quite a while, the first ones were metal elephants produced back in the 1800s. In the 1930 and '40s the popular material was plastic made that was made into Disney and other popular characters. Recently there has been a surge in wooden ramp walking toys. The wooden toys are very durable but require woodworking tools for making them. While less durable it is also possible to make these toys out of paper and cardboard. Here is an example of ramp walkers made out of used pizza boxes. In future videos. I will show additional ramp walkers made from recycled materials that are easy to build with simple hand tools. Read the rest

I don't know who created this cursed chart but they are responsible for a lot of suffering on the internet this morning and should be brought to justice. [via Megadestructo]I saw it. Now you have to see it, too. pic.twitter.com/dUxb5uryqk— Eric C. (@Megadestructo) May 25, 2020 Read the rest

COOPH put together a video featuring DIY smartphone video rigs put together with stuff lying around the house.Want to make your smartphone footage more creative than ever? In our latest video the COOPH photographers share some of their best hacks on how to create stunning images and videos with your smartphone and everyday tools, no expensive gear required! From smooth time lapses and steady shots to an easy DIY gimbal – this video has it all! Disposable DIY rigs and jigs are essential for learning what works and what's possible creatively. If I spend money on something I'll be less likely to push it, to risk sacrificing the investment for self-improvement's sake. But if I'm already familiar with what a tool actually gets me, I won't be intimidated or disappointed when I buy a decent one. Read the rest

First, they were all about serving a protective necessary function. But now, about 10 weeks after the explosion of the COVID-19 outbreak, face masks are beginning to serve a different role. Just like all the fashion accessories that came before them, face masks are now showing off a little piece of ourselves to the everyday world, making a quick, mouth-and-nose-covering statement to all those who cross our paths.Since face masks appear to be sticking around for a while and you might as well make the best of it, we’ve got a variety of cotton face mask four-packs available. Each comes with a fun print that says, hey, just because I’m covering up doesn’t mean I’m okay with some boring white N95 mask.No, these sets each come with a distinct vibe to them, so like the rest of your wardrobe, you can match your personal fashion sense with your particular mood or style. Each is made from premium cotton to stay soft, breathable, and comfortable with a pair of adjustable earloops to keep your mask firmly secured.And the looks...well, that’s what it’s all about, right? Beyond the life-saving protection, obviously. With the Kid in You four-pack, you get a boldly-colored set with paint splotches, a rainbow-colored animal maw and even the ever-popular gray camo look.Meanwhile, the Tie-Dye set is a bit more muted, yet still artistically vibrant. They may not inspire true 60’s flashbacks, but the hippie aesthetic is alive and well here.The Fun with Kids pack is, well, made for the kiddies...or Read the rest

Food manufacturers will be permitted to substitute ingredients in products without changing the labels. The FDA posted a "temporary flexibility policy" permitting inaccurate labels, claiming it is necessary to "support the food chain" during the Covid-19 pandemic.The FDA is providing flexibility for manufacturers to make minor formulation changes in certain circumstances without making conforming label changes, such as making a change to product ingredients, without updating the ingredient list on the packaged food when such a minor change is made. Other temporary flexibilities that FDA has issued address nutrition labeling on food packages, menu labeling, packaging and labeling of shell eggs and the distribution of eggs to retail locations.An interesting thing about me not saying what was in the food is you not proving what was in the food. Read the rest

There have been modern designs for portable Commodore 64s, and the official portable Commodore 64 you perhaps didn't even know about, but none of them are as handsome as Cem Tezcan's.The Adafruit Blog:As a part of my monthly product design practice, I decided to make an handheld Commodore 64 that uses “mini cassettes” to load programs or games.I inspired by most of the old Commodore electronic products to create this dream device All it needs is a giant leather holster. Read the rest

Samara Ginsberg (previously at BB) performs Stu Philips' Knight Rider theme tune on eight cellos. PREVIOUSLY: Alternate version of the Knight Rider theme tuneBONUS: Australian beer ad ☟ Read the rest

Former Apple and NASA engineer turned YouTube sensation Mark Rober (previously) decided to spend his quarantine birdwatching until his neighbourhood squirrels defeated his supposedly squirrel-proof birdfeeders.Realizing that squirrels are way, way smarter than one may think, he went ahead and set up a Rube-Goldberg-and-Wipeout-inspired course that, if completed successfully, would provide a nutty nirvana to the furry contestants, while allowing the birds to feast unhindered, watching the mayhem unfold.Rick, Marty, Frank and Gus - his four contestants, were indeed up to the challenge, and what follows is some of the best backyard games and feasting you're likely to see this weekend.Find Mark's many other engineering-centric projects on his YouTube channel. Read the rest

Promoting products is almost nothing like it was back in the Mad Men days. In fact, the digital landscape has changed the ad game so much that it barely even resembles early Grey’s Anatomy days anymore. Marketing a product digitally isn’t about the right ad slogan or color scheme. It’s about crafting the narrative around that product through blog posts, social media, videos and other legitimate content that demands a potential customer’s attention and motivates action.Did you know Facebook is the primary content distribution channel for marketers today? Or that those marketers usually create unique content for up to three completely separate audience segments? Or that digital marketing is now a $100 billion per year business?Reaching just the right audience on just the right platform with just the right message is just as tough as it sounds. However, the training in The Complete Digital Content Marketing Certification Bundle will help you find your people, hone your message and take advantage of the strengths and weaknesses of each platform to craft the messaging story you want around your product.This collection features eight courses including 40 hours of instruction as you learn everything you need to know to craft a fully-formed digital content strategy.The Certified Facebook Marketing 2020 (Complete Masterclass) opens your tutelage with a look at the no. 1 digital content hotspot on the web, including how to create an optimized home for your brand, proven Facebook marketing tactics, a Facebook Ads primer and how to reach Facebook groups to drive sales on the platform. Read the rest

Concept artist and illustrator Vlada Monakhova (artstation, ko-fi) reports that a family acquaintance is "stuck in a hotel in Saudi Arabia" but has been given a menu to work their way through until the pandemic lockdown lifts.So my mother's friend's husband is stuck in a hotel in Saudi Arabia and this is the order menu they gave himDo I have any Arabic speaking followers that can help make sense of this but also, tag yourself, I'm "Normal doubt" pic.twitter.com/MVemyCCON9— Vlada ✨?✨ (@vladadraws) May 24, 2020I'd like to try the she is suspicious of cheese, please. Read the rest

Every once in a while, we see a new product come along that’s so versatile and elegantly simple that it’s strange no one’s ever gone there before.Portable lights themselves aren’t new, but there’s something about the MOGICS Coconut Light that’s so seamlessly well-designed and adaptable that it feels startlingly original.The Coconut is basically just an orb of light. Yet the more than $105,000 this portable, foldable light source generated during its enthusiastic run on Kickstarter proves that its appeal goes far beyond its humble origins.Made from durable, non-toxic, kid-safe silicon material, the Coconut Light is a minimalist perfect sphere of light that can adapt to almost any situation. The Coconut self-inflates and sports four different lighting modes, so whether it’s serving as a desk light, a table centerpiece, a camping accessory, or poolside ambiance, it effortlessly conforms to your environment.The silicon sturdiness and clever engineering mean you don’t have to handle the Coconut Light with kid gloves. In fact, with its inflatable, balanced, durable construction, it’s practically like having a glowing rubber ball shining in the darkness.The three-point design subtly creates a balance, so if the Coconut Light is set on a table, it doesn’t roll away. At the base, the invisible switch can toggle through normal, flash, breathing, and warning light modes.In case you’re skeptical about carrying a rubber ball around with you, don’t worry -- the Coconut Light folds down to about a sixth of its original size. Then once you pop it out of its carrying case, the Coconut’s unique valve design expands it to its regular dimensions. Read the rest

LG makes a 86-inch 3840 x 600 display—that's a 58:9 aspect ratio—and you can buy it for abour four grand [Amazon]. I was thinking of having them send one over to do a deadpan serious Gamer Review of it. Imagine this 7ft monster vesa-mounted on a 5ft desk, with little computer speakers stuck awkwardly on arms out to the side. Would many games even run at that resolution? It was suggested to me further that I review it in portrait orientation. Read the rest

With the U.S. cautiously reopening, it’s probably time to take stock of where you're at. After spending all these weeks in the house, you’ve likely already assembled a little list of items you either realized you were missing or need to replace. And those kinds of revelations probably apply to nearly every room.We got you. From the bedroom to the kitchen to the bathroom, we’ve put together a list of some cool items all under Memorial Day discounts right now. On top of that, use the code SUMMERSAVE20 during checkout and you’ll get an added 20 percent off everything. Load up!The BedroomComfort always starts with some great sheets, so the Bamboo Comfort 4-Piece Luxury Queen Sheet Set ($26.39 after discount, originally $109) offers a high-quality microfiber and bamboo blend that’s soft, breathable, hypoallergenic, and wrinkle-free.Of course, wrinkle-free is easier said than done...but the problem of wrinkled sheets and mattress toppers gets crushed by the Bed Scrunchie 360° Fitted Sheet Tightener, Holder & Extender ($25.59 after discount, originally $59.95), the world's first 360-degree all-in-one bed tightening system. Clip it to the edges of your sheets, tighten the clamps and you’ve got a flawless hotel bed look and military corners in seconds.And if you’re having a little trouble drifting off to sleep, the LectroFan High Fidelity White Noise Machine ($31.99 after discount, originally $49.99) sports 20 unique digital sounds with pinpoint volume control to mask noises, focus your mind for relaxation, and get you a more peaceful rest each night. Read the rest

When the COVID-19 threat hit in March, most Americans didn’t have much of a choice about their new work-from-home existence. But now that a majority of the workforce have settled into their new routines, it may be hard for many to snap back to the daily commute and the office grind again.And the numbers spell it out — remote working...well, works. A survey found remote workers actually logged almost 60 more hours of core work per year than those in an office. And remote workers saved anywhere from 2 to 5.5 hours a day without commuting and time-consuming in-person meetings. With results like those, the only real question is how do you ensure your core work hours are truly time well spent? With The Remote Work and Productivity Bundle, you can learn the techniques that will help keep you focused on your key tasks so you can enjoy the work from home lifestyle with zero guilt.This package collects seven courses that bolster both the physical and mental approaches to working remotely so you can do high-quality work in less time and with less hassle.With How To Be Hyper Productive In Your Home Based Business, you’ll develop the disciplines and habits needed to take your home-based job or business to be both highly productive and highly profitable. Meanwhile, the Coronavirus and Remote Work: Tools and Tactics for Business Continuity course take that training a step further, minimizing work disruption, managing expectations, and feeding your creativity and innovation, all from home. Read the rest

After two months, all those stockpiled snacks and days spent indoors have likely taken their toll. If you happened to pick up a few pounds during quarantine, join the club.However, you may be thinking that it’s time -- or maybe, well past time -- to get back on that fitness horse. Rather than heading down to that recently reopened, but likely still deeming with possible infection neighborhood gym, we’ve pulled together a handful of equipment and services that can help get your body moving and on the road to a fitter you.And just so we can leave you with a fitter wallet as well, you can use the code SUMMERSAVE20 at checkout and that’ll slice another 20 percent off your total. GearIf you’re ready to work out, gear up first. For yoga and Pilates regulars, this Non-Slip Yoga and Pilates Towel with Bag ($18.39 after discount; originally $75) is designed just for you. The towel is created to stay on top of the mat without slipping, catching all the sweat so you aren’t sliding all over. Thankfully, it dries quickly and can be stowed in the mesh bag for washing.The Men's Z-Liner Antimicrobial Orthotic Insoles ($19.19 after discount; originally $29.99) can save your feet from ill-fitting or broken down shoes. Crafted with ZL Hexcore and breathable mesh fabric, these insoles cradle and form to your feet, keeping them cool, dry, and odor-free. They’ve even got arch support and an adaptive heel-cup for better balance and stability while reducing common pains. Read the rest

Journalist Patrick Radden Keefe has done plenty of extensive and gripping longform journalism, including his most recent book, Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland (which I could not recommend more highly). His newest project is a slight departure from covering topics of crime and radical separationists, but still deals heavily with espionage and subterfuge.It's about the Scorpions, the English-speaking German rock band who rocked you like a hurricane. And also the CIA.Here's the official blurb:It’s 1990. The Berlin Wall just fell. The Soviet Union is on the verge of collapse. And the soundtrack to the revolution is one of the best selling songs of all time, the metal ballad “Wind of Change,” by The Scorpions. Decades later, journalist Patrick Radden Keefe heard a rumor: the song wasn’t written by The Scorpions. It was written by the CIA. This is his journey to find the truth.Told through exclusive interviews with former CIA officers, on the ground reporting, and more - this podcast embodies the traditional tones of investigative journalism while keeping listeners on their toes through its cinematic pacing, simulating the theatricality of the critically acclaimed film Argo in a podcast. This 8-part series follows Patrick’s search for the truth, a 10 year investigation that traces the 70 year history of our government's meddling into pop music, including everyone from Louis Armstrong and Nina Simone, to Bon Jovi and the Beach Boys.I've listened to the first two episodes available so far (which is also embedded below), and I'm absolutely hooked. Read the rest

From NPR:Deaths from motor vehicle crashes and fatal injuries are the biggest source of organs for transplant, accounting for 33% of donations, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing, which manages the nation's organ transplant system.But ever since the coronavirus forced Californians indoors, those accidents have declined. Traffic collisions and fatalities in the state dropped by half in the first three weeks of shelter-in-place restrictions, according to a study by the University of California, Davis. Drowning deaths dropped 80% in California, according to data compiled by the nonprofit Stop Drowning Now.From March 8 to April 11, the number of organ donors who died in traffic collisions was down 23% nationwide compared with the same period last year, while donors who died in all other types of accidents were down 21%, according to data from UNOS.Well this is awkward.Organ Transplants Down As Stay-At-Home Rules Reduce Fatal Traffic Collisions [April Dembosky / NPR]Image: Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons Read the rest

We've been writing about Lea Redmond since 2009 here on Boing Boing. She's just one of those kind of people who consistently makes neat things — a real Happy Mutant! Well, her latest creative venture is Home Sweet Home, an activity deck for kids (and the young at heart). It offers inspiring prompts for whimsical, reflective mini-adventures in and out of the home. Half the deck is available now for free download, and the second half will be available as part of a full physical deck (when it's safe to get them printed). Read the rest

Last year, over 43 million Americans hit the road to celebrate Memorial Day, the unofficial start of summer. That was the second-highest travel volume this century, according to AAA, but with COVID-19 fears and quarantine orders only now starting to ease, it’s safe to say this year probably won’t attract numbers anywhere close to that high.However, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have your car prepped with a few essentials for that day soon when you do need to hit the road. To help, here are 20 car accessories that can help make your trip an easier one -- and when you use the code SUMMERSAVE20 when you purchase, you’ll get an additional 20 percent off your total. Car Trouble?Emergencies happen on the road all the time -- and with the 5-in-1 Emergency Car Tool with Portable Power Bank ($15.99 after discount; originally $25.99), you’ll be ready for them. It includes an LED flashlight, a red SOS light, an emergency seatbelt cutter, a glass breaker, and a portable power bank with 2,200mAh battery capacity. Or you could go with the Kelvin.7 Automotive Emergency Multi-Tool ($31.99 after discount; originally $49.99) which, in addition to those earlier talents, also adds four built-in magnets and a hand-crank power generator to your multipurpose roster of abilities.Unless you’re a mechanic, car trouble can be frustrating and mysterious, but the THINKCAR 1S: OBDII Full-Systems Car Scanner with a Free Lifetime Subscription ($29.59 after discount; originally $54.95) is like having your own diagnostic computer that syncs up with your phone. Read the rest

IT'S ABOUT TIME!!CNN:To ensure the crayons accurately reflect the world's array of skin tones, Crayola partnered with Victor Casale, CEO and co-founder of cosmetics maker MOB Beauty.The Colors of the World crayons will come in packs of 24 and 32, with the 32-pack also including four crayons each for hair and eye colors, according to the company. Each pack will also include a side panel that serves as a color reference, while each crayon label lists the color name in English, Spanish, and French.These "Colors of the World" crayons will be available in July.Thanks, Tracy!images via CNN/Crayola Read the rest

According to a new study from the Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour in the Netherlands, our speaking voices actually register subtle changes along with our gesticulating limbs.It’s all about acoustics: the pitch and volume of a voice change together with the movement of arms and hands. "That change is very subtle with a wrist movement," says Pouw. “It is less subtle with an arm movement. The pitch jumps up slightly whenever a movement slows down.”According to Pouw, there are two different causes for these acoustic differences. One of the causes is the creation of vibrations. The forces involved in a movement cause vibrations in your body. Through the connective tissue that holds your body together, vibrations end up in your lungs, affecting the pressure in your lungs.The second cause is muscle tension around your lungs that is needed to maintain balance. We do not merely use our arm muscles when we move our arms. “When starting the process of stopping your arm from moving, for example, other muscles are suddenly addressed to prevent your body from falling over. These muscles that maintain balance include muscles around your lungs.”Pretty cool!Acoustic information about upper limb movement in voicing [Wim Pouw, Alexandra Paxton, Steven J. Harrison, and James A. Dixon / PNAS]Body language can also be heard [Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour]Image: Public Domain via NeedPix Read the rest

It doesn’t do you much good to come up with a brilliant concept that you can’t translate into a working real-world prototype. Whether you’re thinking about building a home, a mechanical tool or a toy, that’s where the magic of computer-aided design and drafting software like AutoCAD comes into play. The longtime leader in the field, AutoCAD by Autodesk is used by architects, designers, engineers, and loads of other professionals to help flesh out 2D drawings into 3D structures, all crafted to scale. In the right hands, AutoCAD can turn creativity into practical reality and show everyone exactly how to do it.As with most ultra-powerful software tools, AutoCAD mastery comes with a fairly steep learning curve. However, the instruction in The Ultimate AutoCAD Training Bundle makes this versatile software accessible, helping everyone from first-timers to advanced users take full advantage of all the drafting and modeling tools AutoCAD has to offer.This training features 12 hours of content covering everything AutoCAD can do. Once you’ve got AutoCAD installed and you’re comfortable with the user interface and basic tools, the course guides learners into actual project work, drafting small objects to get a feel for all of the software’s capabilities.But as you advance through the course, the training wheels come off as students are challenged to improve their abilities and find better ways to fashion cleaner, more effective plans. With modeling skills on the rise, users will craft 3D structures of their design ideas, then get a deeper understanding of how AutoCAD’s roster of features can translate those items into blueprints for real-life builders and manufacturers. Read the rest

Memorial Day has always been the traditional start to the summer season — and there’s never been a summer with more people more ready to get out and enjoy life outside their home than this one.Of course, food will be a big part (if not the centerpiece) of all of our summer celebrations, so to make sure you’re prepared, we’ve assembled a few dozen of the best kitchen, food, and food prep items available with some healthy savings right now. And if you use the code SUMMERSAVE20 at checkout, you’ll get an extra 20 percent discount off each of these handy kitchen helpers. Be versatile Counter space is always at a premium, so every appliance there needs to be a multipurpose tool like the A4-Box Induction Cooking Device ($175.99 after discount; originally $249). It features a non-stick grill pan and flat pan perfect for everything from grilling and sauteing to baking, all in one compact, convenient, and stylish package that keeps the pots and pans juggling under control.Speaking of versatile, sous vide cookers that expertly regulate cooking vacuum-sealed food in a water bath are all the rage right now — and the SOUS°V Pot Precision Sous Vide Multi-Cooker ($88.80 after discount; originally $129.99) is a great introduction. With easy to set DualAccuTemp technology for controlling temperatures needed for any ingredient, your meal will be done when you want it and how you want it, no matter whether you’re sauteing, cooking rice, steaming, boiling, or even making yogurt.Meanwhile, the Mellow Sous Vide Precision Cooker ($159.99 Read the rest

This interview presents a conversation with Ignatz award-winning cartoonist Noah Van Sciver (Fante Bukowski, Grateful Dead: Origins, Disquiet, Please Don’t Step On My JNCO Jeans, One Dirty Tree, Blammo, Saint Cole, More Mundane, Constant Companion, 1999, The Hypo: The Melancholic Young Lincoln) about his life, art and work.Jeffery Klaehn: In addition to winning an Ignatz award in 2016 for your autobiographical mini-comic, My Hot Date, you were nominated for multiple Ignatz awards throughout 2010 to 2016 for Outstanding Comic (Blammo #6 and #8), Outstanding Artist (Saint Cole and Disquiet), Outstanding Graphic Novel (Saint Cole), and Outstanding Minicomic (The Death of Elijah Lovejoy). You were nominated for an Eisner Award in 2016 for Best Writer/Artist (Fante Bukowski) and A Perfect Failure: Fante Bukowski Three was nominated for an Eisner in the Best Humor Publication category. How do you define success at this point in your career, Noah? What does it mean for you?Noah Van Sciver: Success in comics to me is a publisher and readers that have faith in you and the stories that you want to tell. A publisher that is happy to help you put your ideas together no matter what they are. Those aren’t things that come easy, and you’ve really got to earn them!JK: Your The Complete Works of Fante Bukowski released earlier this year from Fantagraphics and is available in both hardcover and digitally via Kindle. It’s 450 pages and collects all three volumes of your Fante Bukowski graphic novels, with extensive bonus material. Read the rest

In this U.S. Navy video, the USS Portland (LPD 27) conducts a Laser Weapon System Demonstrator Test in the Pacific Ocean off Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.#USSPortland (LPD 27) conducts Laser Weapon System Demonstrator Test in Pacific: https://t.co/zZJglgDIcf @USNavy @USNavyResearch #NavyLethality pic.twitter.com/K8xtcEWiRz— U.S. Pacific Fleet (@USPacificFleet) May 22, 2020pic.twitter.com/jQsmR6CpqN— U.S. Pacific Fleet (@USPacificFleet) May 22, 2020The test aboard USS Portland - LPD 27 in the Pacific, which resulted in successfully disabling an unmanned aerial vehicle, was the first system-level implementation of a high-energy class solid-state laser.More on the laser weapons systems test at the U.S. Navy website:Amphibious transport dock ship USS Portland (LPD 27) successfully disabled an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) with a Solid State Laser - Technology Maturation Laser Weapon System Demonstrator (LWSD) MK 2 MOD 0 on May 16.LWSD is a high-energy laser weapon system demonstrator developed by the Office of Naval Research and installed on Portland for an at-sea demonstration. LWSD's operational employment on a Pacific Fleet ship is the first system-level implementation of a high-energy class solid-state laser. The laser system was developed by Northrup Grumman, with full System and Ship Integration and Testing led by NSWC Dahlgren and Port Hueneme.“By conducting advanced at sea tests against UAVs and small crafts, we will gain valuable information on the capabilities of the Solid State Laser Weapons System Demonstrator against potential threats,” said Capt. Karrey Sanders, commanding officer of Portland.The U.S. Navy has been developing directed-energy weapons (DEWs), to include lasers, since the 1960s. Read the rest

CNBC's Megan Graham set up a website full of scraped news from other sites. Most ad networks she submitted it to approved it for ad placement.I only put a few hours of work into this site, but I don’t do this for a living. Real bad actors can get a lot farther than this with only a little more work. For instance, they can set up a site with actual original content, get approved, and only then start scraping content. Or, they can easily buy an existing website that’s already monetizing with adtech partners, and just flood it with plagiarized content. They can buy fake traffic to conduct traffic arbitrage, a fancy way of saying that they pay less for traffic than they gain from the ad impressions. They can set up more automated means to keep scraping huge amounts of automated content to keep the website looking fresh.Google appears to be the only platform that rejected her site. Implicit in this is the fact that Google would not have given her scraper site any respectable placement in search results, and would not have let it into Google News at all. Which gets us to an important omission from the story: she made $0. Ad networks should not have approved her in the first place, but the real check happens when a check is cut. The shadyness in all this deserves a deeper dive. Read the rest

Kremlin sent 45 Aventa-M ventilators to the United States after Trump and Putin call

Write-Only is a "typewriter", in that you can type but you cannot delete. You can copy what you've written to the clipboard and go full-screen, and that's it. Read the rest

Democratic Presidential candidate Joe Biden, on Friday, May 22, addressed a remark he made during an interview with Charlamagne Tha God: "I should not have been so cavalier. I have never ever ever taken the African American community for granted.""I shouldn't have been such a wise guy," he added.“No one should have to vote for any party based on their race, their religion, their background." He was apologizing for saying "you ain't black" if you're deciding between Biden and Trump.A testy exchange at the end of the interview with @cthagod. Biden, clearly frustrated by the insinuation he hasn't done enough to help the black community, tells him "If you have a problem figuring out whether you're for me or Trump then you ain't black" https://t.co/7u1IReMy6B— Marianna Sotomayor (@MariannaNBCNews) May 22, 2020JUST IN: In a call with Black business leaders, @JoeBiden apologizes for his AM comments to @cthagod: "“I should not have been so cavalier. I've never, never, ever taken the African American community for granted." (more)— Ed O'Keefe (@edokeefe) May 22, 2020 Read the rest

Like a third-rate children’s party magician who’s given up caring, this week’s tawdry tabloids indulge in some heavy-handed misdirection.

Trump: 'I will override the governors' if they stop houses of worship from reopening

Gel-based super glue is much easier to use than regular super glue because it's thick and easier to control. You can apply a dab to a vertical surface without having it drip. It's also slightly tacky to begin with, which helps to keep parts sticking together without holding them. And because it's thicker, it works well on porous surfaces, like the ones on this elephant coffee creamer that one of our cats broke. The kind I use is Gorilla Super Glue Gel. Read the rest

My pal Shalaco sent me this video he made with the following message: As a photographer I lost 100% of my income due to the Covid-19 crisis. I applied to every form of financial support out there and recently had a lot of success. I want to share what I've learned with the community with these tips for applying for financial resources for photographers, creatives, or really anyone. The amount of epic resource lists out there can be overwhelming, this video focuses on walking people through the process. Read the rest

"NVIDIA GameGAN is a powerful new AI model created by NVIDIA Research and was trained on 50,000 episodes of PAC-MAN to produce a fully functional version of the classic without an underlying game engine." Read the article about it was done here.Image: Nvidia Read the rest

In this segment from the 1980s Australian television program Curiosity Show, the host shows you how to make accurate drawings of natural history specimens using graph paper. You place the specimen (in this case, a spider) on a piece of graph paper. Then you use another sheet of graph paper to draw the spider, using the grids as a guide. You can use enlarged graph paper to make a larger-than-life drawing of the specimen, as the host does here. Read the rest

Coffee expert James Hoffman tried a bunch of different supermarket instant coffees to find out which one tastes the best. He entered into the test with a strong bias against instant coffee for two reasons 1) "convenience, by and large, results in a sacrifice of quality," and 2) "instant wants to be cheap." But he was still curious, so he went to a delivery website and ordered every kind of instant coffee they stocked. After receiving 38 different kinds of coffee, he tried them all. The winner was Little's Colombian Premium Instant Coffee, but he reminds viewers that instant coffee is just a "snapshot" of fresh ground coffee. Read the rest

Big Wendy makes stop motion animation films by placing Rubik's Cubes onto a large square frame, taking a shot, changing the cubes, taking another shot, again and again. Big Wendy said it took her about a week to make this video commemorating the 40th anniversary of Pac-Man and Rubik's Cube. Amazing!Image: YouTube Read the rest

Documentary maker Michael Moore was right when he predicted Trump would win the 2016 election, despite most polls favoring Hillary Clinton. Now, Moore is predicting Trump will call off the 2020 election.Here's what he told Vanity Fair:“There will be no November 3 election if things keep going the way they’re going right now,” Moore said. “I think he would have figured out a way, even without the coronavirus, but this is a gift to him because I think he never really intended on leaving in the first place. He admires dictators. He admires strongmen, wishes he was one. I think the writing is on the wall right now that he is in deep electoral trouble.”Image: Jumpstory/CC0 Read the rest

Want a Jason Voorhees mask from its legendary creator? Complete with a fabric backing to reduce the likelihood of viral transmission? Tom Savini is taking orders. Via iHorror:Savini has worked on two of the Friday the 13th films, the 1980 original as well as Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter in 1984. Baker was responsible for the visual effects on The Dark Knight Rises. If anyone can create a fashionable and functional mask for the health and safety of others, it’s this duo! Now horror fans can don the infamous hockey mask as they protect themselves, and others, from COVID-19. The masks are being sold for $60. However, if you want your mask autographed by the father of horror make up effects himself, Savini’s signature will grace your Voorhees mask for an additional $40.You asked, we answered! “Hockey mask” personal protection masks now available. Contact/ DM @bakingjason for details. #tomsavini pic.twitter.com/uNywnJ7Kyy— Tom Savini (@THETomSavini) April 29, 2020 Read the rest

When my friend and Cool Tools partner Kevin Kelly turned 68 a few weeks ago, he posted an essay to his website titled "68 bit of unsolicited advice." (I posted it to Boing Boing.) Kevin's advice quickly went viral, and this week he was the guest on the Freakonomics podcast, where he talked about the list, among other things.KELLY (reading from 68 Bits of Unsolicited Advice): Learn how to learn from those who disagree with you, or even offend you. See if you can find truth in what they believe.DUBNER: So the value of doing this one seems obvious, especially in a moment where so many people are so quick to take offense, and to be offensive. Can you give me an example of where you’ve actually done this?KELLY: There are parts of my books where I’ve written something, and somebody will say something very strong, about, “That’s dumb,” or it’s stupid, or wrong. And that’s pretty harsh. But my take is to say, “Let me see if there’s any truth to that.” Sometimes there’s not. Sometimes there may be some sliver of something. And what I’ve learned to do is to respond to that little sliver. To try to get underneath why they’re saying it and where is it they’re coming from. I don’t have to necessarily always agree with them or change it, but I have to pay attention to that signal. And so I’ve learned to treat these things as signals rather than as insults. Read the rest

How do you take a song that's already brooding and spooky, and turn it into something infinitaly creepier? Read the rest

Repeating the word "fuck" actually can reduce your experience of pain, according to a new study by Keele University researchers. The psychologists ran an experiment in which subjects underwent a cold pressor test, a common method to pain threshold and tolerance by immersing your hand in freezing cold water for a minute. (See above video for actor Brian Blessed's demonstration, unrelated to this current research.)According to the researchers' scientific paper, their data "replicate previous findings that repeating a swear word at a steady pace and volume benefits pain tolerance, extending this finding to pain threshold."Don't think any old word will help though. They found no benefit when their subjects exclaimed made-up words like “fouch” and “twizpipe." "Swearing as a Response to Pain: Assessing Hypoalgesic Effects of Novel 'Swear” Words" (Frontiers in Psychology) Read the rest

The BBC filmed a Boston Dynamics robot dog attemping to herd sheep in New Zealand. A robot dog designed for search and rescue missions has had a go at herding sheep in New Zealand.Technology company Rocos is exploring how the Spot robot - made by US-based Boston Dynamics - might be put to work in the agricultural industry.The BBC's choice of music is uplifting and jolly in an unusually effortful way. I can't help but wonder if this is because footage of a robot dog stalking prey animals is fundamentally alarming. By way of illustration (below), I swapped the music for the sinister Danny Elfman track used in the Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy trailer and replaced the BBC's "isn't this wonderful?" text with some indistinct robot chatter. Read the rest

If there's something strange, in your Mumbai 'hood, who you gonna call? Indian author and strange phenomena investigator Jay Alani has started a helpline for people freaked out about "ghosts, spirits, black magic or anything related to the paranormal world." Alani says he receives eight to 10 calls each day. From the Hindustan Times:He has been receiving various calls of people claiming to see a ghost, hearing some unusual noise, or feeling that someone is constantly watching them, during this quarantine period.“In most of the cases, I have found that person who claims to experience any such unusual incident has been watching horror films and series during this lockdown period. After questioning them about their daily routine, family history, past trauma etc, I and my team of psychologists found out that many of them actually create a fictional ghost in their mind”, said Jay Alani who has been a full-time paranormal investigator for last many years and has investigated over 100 haunted locations and looked after over 150 paranormal cases[...]As per Jay Alani, “The main motive behind this helpline number is to provide scientific solutions to those who are encountering any unusual incidents or have any question about the paranormal world. We see that black magic and mesmerism are propagated and advertised openly in India. People usually fall in the trap of such Babas, Tantriks and Ojhas due to lack of knowledge.” Read the rest

On the same night that he fired State Department Inspector General Steve Linick, a watchdog who was allegedly investigating Secretary of State Mike Pompeo over any number of potentially corrupt activities, Trump also terminated a watchdog working for the Department of Transportation. As Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington explains:At DOT, the acting IG was overseeing a high profile investigation of Secretary Chao’s alleged favoritism benefiting her husband Senator Mitch McConnell’s political prospects, but has now been replaced with a political appointee from within the agency. The acting IG’s ouster calls into question the future of the Chao-McConnell investigation, other critical oversight, and whether the watchdog was dismissed for unearthing damaging information.[…]Trump’s decision to sideline DOT acting IG Mitch Behm (who has 17 years of experience with OIG) was lost in the shuffle of outrage following the announcement that Trump planned to fire the State Department IG, but potential conflicts of interest abound. The most high profile is the DOT OIG’s review of allegations that Secretary Chao gave Senator McConnell’s constituents special treatment and helped steer millions of federal dollars to Kentucky as he is facing low approval ratings and a tough reelection bid.Secretary Chao also served as Deputy Secretary of Transportation under President George HW Bush and Secretary of Labor under President George W Bush. Her father is a wealthy and successful Chinese-American shipping magnate who has donated tens of millions of dollars to Senator Mitch McConnell, even before he married Chao in 1993 (McConnell's first wife, Sherrill Redmon, is a feminist scholar at Smith; neither she or their Democrat daughters discuss their relationship with McConnell). Read the rest

Floating out of your body and looking down on it. The story of your life flashing by before your eyes. Seeing a bright light at the end of a dark tunnel. These are just two of the most common experiences that people report after a near-death experience (NDE). For some people, NDEs are a transformative spiritual or mystical experience. But what's the source of the phenomena? That's a question that fascinates Dr. Christof Koch is president and chief scientist of the Allen Institute for Brain Science who studies the neuroscience of consciousness. In Scientific American, Koch surveys the science of near-death experiences and what they can tell us about how our brains work under extreme duress. From Scientific American:Modern death requires irreversible loss of brain function. When the brain is starved of blood flow (ischemia) and oxygen (anoxia), the patient faints in a fraction of a minute and his or her electroencephalogram, or EEG, becomes isoelectric—in other words, flat. This implies that large-scale, spatially distributed electrical activity within the cortex, the outermost layer of the brain, has broken down. Like a town that loses power one neighborhood at a time, local regions of the brain go offline one after another. The mind, whose substrate is whichever neurons remain capable of generating electrical activity, does what it always does: it tells a story shaped by the person’s experience, memory and cultural expectations.Given these power outages, this experience may produce the rather strange and idiosyncratic stories that make up the corpus of NDE reports. Read the rest

It annoys me that the nail's owner keeps trimming it. Read the rest

In 2017, musician/activist Toshi Reagon began creating an operatic stage adaptation of Octavia Butler's The Parable of the Sower — the 1993 Afrofuturist sci-fi novel about an America in the year 2020 that's ravaged by climate change and income inequality and greedy politicians who appeal to imaginary racists pasts while also promising to build a wall around the wealthy.Octavia E. Butler's Parable of the Sower: A Concert Experience received renowned productions from Boston to New York to Los Angeles. And now — since it is 2020, and we're living in an America ravaged by climate change and income inequality and greedy politicians who appeal to imaginary racists pasts while also promising to build a wall around the wealthy — the arts program at Emerson College (my alma mater) has announced a year-long residency with Reagon called Parable Path Boston, which will continue to explore Butler's work alongside real-time climate activism in Boston.To kick off the program, ArtsEmerson will be hosting a one-night screening of the show on Friday, May 22 at 6pm, followed by an online talkback with Toshi Reagon. I'm pretty sure it's free, but you have to register ahead of time for a link.I have some friends who were involved in the early workshops of the play, who still talk about it as one of their most formative artistic experiences. I know what I'm doing Friday night; but if you're not convinced to join me yet, there's more links below.Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Sower [Toshi Reagon / ArtsEmerson]Parable of the Songwriter: Toshi Reagon Explains Why an Octavia Butler-Inspired Opera Is More Relevant Than Ever [Maiysha Kai / The Root]A Prescient Sci-Fi ‘Parable’ Gets Set to Music [Jeremy D. Read the rest

this is the greatest thing ive seen all day pic.twitter.com/f4wSSPFHoG— glitch! @ tired (@GlitchyFur) May 20, 2020I hereby dub this genre: "Appliancewave." Read the rest

David Lynch has finally uploaded FIRE (POZAR), the experimental animated short he did in 2015, to his new David Lynch Theater on YouTube.To create it, Lynch shared the still drawings he'd done for the piece with composer Marek Zebrowski (who did the music for Lynch's Inland Empire) and didn't share any further details. After Zebrowski had composed the music, animator Noriko Miyakawa put together the final animated short.Image: YouTube Read the rest