Boing Boing

Elizabeth Holmes, the "millennial Madoff" who built a $9 startup on a non-existent technology, gets her vanities tossed into a bonfire by Vanity Fair's Nick Bilton:Holmes had always enjoyed a certain lifestyle. From the early days of the company, she had insisted on flying in a private jet. As the company’s legal problems mounted, its costs skyrocketed, but Holmes had a hard time weaning herself off certain luxuries. She still had her own personal security detail, drivers, personal assistants, and a personal publicist who was on retainer for $25,000 a month, according to one of the former executives. Theranos had an indemnity agreement with Holmes and Sunny Balwani, the company’s C.O.O., with whom she had been romantically involved. (They are no longer dating.) Theranos paid all their legal bills, which totaled millions of dollars a month, according to both executives.By late 2017, however, Holmes had begun to slightly rein in the spending. She agreed to give up her private-jet travel (not a good look) and instead downgraded to first class on commercial airlines. But given that she was flying all over the world trying to obtain more funding for Theranos, she was spending tens of thousands of dollars a month on travel. Theranos was also still paying for her mansion in Los Altos, and her team of personal assistants and drivers, who would become regular dog walkers for Balto.But there were few places she had wasted so much money as the design and monthly cost of the company’s main headquarters, which employees simply referred to as “1701,” for its street address along Page Mill Road in Palo Alto. Read the rest

The Velogemel is a wooden bike that was invented in Grindelwald, Switzerland in 1911. It looks like a lot of fun to ride on down a snowy mountain at a speed of 25 mph. No brakes, though. You have to use your feet to slow down.Image: YouTube/Great Big Story Read the rest

On Tuesday morning, an Australian pilot took some artistic liberties with his flight path. ABC News:The Diamond Star plane, operated by Flight Training Adelaide, spent a little over three hours in the air on Tuesday to draw the letters over South Australia.The message was not seen by people on the ground, but was visible to aviation followers watching live flight tracking programs and websites.It is believed the pilot, who was working out of Parafield Airport, north of Adelaide, was "running in" a new engine.The FlightAware website captured the pilot's work between 8:53am to 11:57am.The pilot flew several loops, creating some somewhat explicit graffiti along the coast, before tracing "I'm bored" over the Princes Highway.Retired Qantas A380 pilot Chris Wilson said he thought the message was "harmless".screenshot by Flightaware via ABC News(Gizmodo) Read the rest

The BBC, citing Estonia's Postimees, reports that workers there "bundled a wild wolf into their car" thinking that it was a dog. In any case, the big fella was in big trouble out in the ice.Speaking to the Estonian newspaper Postimees, one of the men, Rando Kartsepp, said: "We had to carry him over the slope. He weighed a fair bit. ... He was calm, slept on my legs. When I wanted to stretch them, he raised his head for a moment," he added. ... The wolf recovered from its brush with death within the day and, after being fitted with a GPS collar by researchers from the national environmental agency, was released back into the wild."We are so happy for the outcome of the story, and wish to thank all the participants – especially these men who rescued the wolf and the doctors of the clinic who were not afraid to treat and nurture the wild animal," EUPA said. Read the rest

Zombie deer disease is a clicktastic term for chronic wasting disease, a spongiform ecephalopathy suffered by ungulates. Much like Mad Cow Disease, Scrapie in sheep, and Creutzfeldt-Jakob's disease in humans, misfolded proteins slowly destroy the brain, causing listlessness, discoordination, dementia and finally death. Now, what if you were to eat Zombie Deer?On March 13, 2005, a fire company in Oneida County, New York, fed the meat of a deer that tested positive for chronic wasting disease to 200 to 250 people. The company didn't know the meat was from a diseased deer. Laboratory tests for one of the deer served came back positive for CWD later. ... in a study published in the peer-reviewed medical journal Public Health, researchers found the group had "no significant changes in health conditions."The only significant outcome of eating Zombie Deer is subsequently "eating less venison." Read the rest

Oh no, here's something we definitely didn't ask for: sweet-and-savory meat-flavored cereals. On March 7 (to sync with National Cereal Day), Post is releasing two new limited-edition Honey Brunches of Oats flavors, Chicken & Waffles and Maple Bacon Donut. Both will be available at Walmart stores for a limited time.Popsugar:...the Chicken and Waffles cereal will feature mini chicken drumsticks and tiny waffle shapes, while the Maple Bacon Donuts flavor will feature doughnut-shaped cereal sprinkled with individual "bacon" bits. Boxes will sell for $2.98 each, and once they're gone, they're gone for good.(Geekologie) Read the rest

The waves of protests and walkouts that swept Google last year had many grievances and concerns, from the company's Pentagon contract to supply AI for drones to the secret creation of a censored search tool for the Chinese market, but one central flashpoint was the revelation that the company had paid Android exec $90 million to quietly leave the company after a string of disturbing sexual harassment and abuse incidents came to light.The Rubin incident was compounded by the company's practice of forcing its employees to accept binding arbitration contracts as a condition of employment (binding arbitration clauses mean that you surrender your right to seek justice in court, including as part of a class-action suit, and instead agree to have your disagreements heard by a corporate "aribitrator" paid for by the company you're upset with, who generally -- unsurprisingly -- sides with that company). The binding arbitration contracts meant that women who had suffered systematic discrimination and abuse at Google could not sue the company, especially not collectively through class action suits, which are often the only economically feasible way for groups of people to get redress from giant, powerful corporations -- under binding arbitration, women who'd been abused at Google couldn't even sue to be released from their confidentiality clauses so that they could publicly discuss their experiences.Last month, a group of activist googlers launched the #endforcedarbitration campaign, which actively made the connection between #metoo and forced arbitration. Though the activists' long-term goal was the elimination of forced arbitration clauses in all employment contracts, their first target was Google's employment contracts, and they scored a hit on that first attempt: Google has retroactively waived all existing binding arbitration clauses in employee contracts, expanding on the company's November 2018 decision to remove arbitration from new hires' contracts. Read the rest

Pro Idee's £369 Paper Bed is made of folds of rigid paper that collapse to a narrow sliver and then expand to 200cm length when needed; the materials are lightweight (total weight, 14.5k) and it can support up to 300kg, and the manufacturer claims it's comfortable, albeit with the addition of a foam pad. (via Yanko Design) Read the rest

I am hoping this is medical and not government surveillance.NBC:The World Health Organization says that an epidemic of measles in Madagascar has caused more than 900 deaths.According to WHO figures, there have been more than 68,000 cases of the disease, in which 553 deaths were confirmed and 373 suspected from measles since the outbreak began in September.Madagascar has launched a nationwide campaign to try to bring the outbreak under control, through mass vaccination campaigns and surveillance. Read the rest

“No, Mr. Stone, I’m not giving you another chance,” Judge Amy Berman Jackson said. "I have serious doubt whether you learned any lesson at all."

"Until Google can protect our brand from offensive content of any kind, we are removing all advertising from YouTube," an AT&T spokesperson told CNBC.

Monkees star Peter Tork, who played bass and keyboard on hits like "Daydream Believer" and co-starred in the band's popular 1960s comedy TV show, has died at 77. The bassist and singer played with The Monkees from their earliest days as a made-for-TV sixties pop band, through their recent reunion performances. Tork died Thursday of causes that have not been publicly detailed. He was 77. Tork’s sister, Anne Thorkelson confirmed his death to The Washington Post.“I am told he slipped away peacefully,” his Monkees bandmate Michael Nesmith said in a statement. “Yet, as I write this my tears are awash, and my heart is broken. Even though I am clinging to the idea that we all continue, the pain that attends these passings has no cure.” Read the rest

“The Chinese authorities turned to a Massachusetts company and a prominent Yale researcher as they built an enormous system of surveillance and control.”This is a heck of a story about how genetic surveillance, powered by American know-how, is being used to oppress the Muslim minority Uighur population and others in China, from the New York Times.The Uighur people of China are mostly Muslim, and China does awful things to make them comply with state rule. More than a million people, many Uighur, have been detained in what Xi Jinping's administration calls “re-education” camps. Now, DNA technology has become a useful weapon.China used Thermo Fisher’s equipment to map the genes of its people, according to five Ministry of Public Security patent filings. Authorities in Xinjiang said that Thermo Fisher's machines are important for DNA inspections in criminal cases and have “no substitutes in China.”— Sui-Lee Wee 黄瑞黎 (@suilee) February 21, 2019Thermo Fisher is the Massachussetts-based firm highlighted in this report. They're on Twitter. And Yale geneticist Kenneth Kidd is the American whose expertise was so central to the plan. Excerpt from Sui-Lee Wee's NYT report:Collecting genetic material is a key part of China’s campaign, according to human rights groups and Uighur activists. They say a comprehensive DNA database could be used to chase down any Uighurs who resist conforming to the campaign.Police forces in the United States and elsewhere use genetic material from family members to find suspects and solve crimes. Chinese officials, who are building a broad nationwide database of DNA samples, have cited the crime-fighting benefits of China’s own genetic studies. Read the rest

Evan from Fight for the Future writes, "It seems like every day we learn more about the creepy things big tech companies are doing with our personal data. But so much is still shrouded in secrecy. That's why we're launching a new campaign calling on employees of Silicon Valley companies to blow the whistle on unethical uses of technology. And poetically, we're crowdfunding and using Facebook's own microtargeting system to target video ads directly at employees of the biggest tech companies. We need to show people who work in tech that we'll have their back if they stand up for what's right. Check out the video and please share! Read the rest

During a recent power outage, deprived of espresso, I was lucky to have a Stanley French Press on hand.When the power went out at 3am and the various squeal of whatever the hell devices squeal when electricity disappears (smoke detectors?) woke the dogs, my night's sleep was shot. The road was flooded, power was out, and my espresso machine a useless block of stainless steel. Tea was not going to provide the miracle I needed.I still did not wish I had an Aeropress. They are just fine, but not what I choose.In my camping gear, I keep a hand grinder and a Stanley French Press. I braved the rain and fetched it from my VW camper.The super sturdy thermos-type shell of the Stanley keeps coffee drinkable for 2-3 hours. Long ago I tired of breaking glass French Press carafes. Slightly smaller than a full 12-cup pot of coffee, one of these is pretty much my morning as a solo adult camper with the kid in tow. At home, with two bored dogs and a cat that wished the dogs were not bored, I went through quite a few pots waiting on PGE.Stanley Classic Vacuum French Press, 48 oz, Hammertone Green via Amazon Read the rest

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.