Boing Boing

Jerry of JerryRigEverything takes apart the new PlayStation Classic, a miniature replica of the original Playstation that comes preloaded with 20 games.Image: YouTube/JerryRigEverything Read the rest

Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit behind Sesame Street, isn't afraid to keep it real for kids. Last year they introduced Julia, the first muppet with autism. Now they've launched an initiative called Sesame Street in Communities that, amongst other things, will bring the first muppet to experience homelessness. Her name is Lily and she was originally introduced in 2011 as a character whose family was struggling with hunger. Unfortunately, Lily’s path is common for many children experiencing homelessness.“We know children experiencing homelessness are often caught up in a devastating cycle of trauma—the lack of affordable housing, poverty, domestic violence, or other trauma that caused them to lose their home, the trauma of actually losing their home, and the daily trauma of the uncertainty and insecurity of being homeless,” said Sherrie Westin, President of Global Impact and Philanthropy at Sesame Workshop. “We want to help disrupt that cycle by comforting children, empowering them, and giving them hope for the future. We want them to know that they are not alone and home is more than a house or an apartment—home is wherever the love lives.”CNN:"When Lily was first launched, she came out as part of the food insecurity initiative. So she's not brand new, but this seemed like a really perfect extension of her story, so that we could use her to help children identify with," Westin said. "With any of our initiatives, our hope is that we're not only reaching the children who can identify with that Muppet but that we're also helping others to have greater empathy and understanding of the issue."Although her journey with homelessness will not appear in televised episodes of "Sesame Street" at this point, she will be in separate videos and materials in the initiative. Read the rest

Good news everybody! If you're in the Navy or Marines, it's now illegal to throw you in the brig and feed you nothing but bread and water as a punishment.Yes, The American military is still into this sort of bullshit.From Task & Purpose:As Navy Times’ Geoff Ziezulewicz reports, the Obama-era Military Justice Act of 2016 and subsequent Trump administration amendment in March 2018 will outlaw the archaic punishment after Jan. 1, 2019.The military’s Uniform Code of Military Justice previously allowed Navy commanders to confine personnel in the grade of E-3 and below who were attached or embarked upon a vessel to receive only bread and water for up to three consecutive days.“Rations furnished a person undergoing such confinement shall consist solely of bread and water. The rations will be served three times daily at the normal time of meals, and the amount of bread and water shall not be restricted,” the order reads.In order to offset the lack of nutrients, personnel that were subjected to the all-you-can-eat penal buffet (get your minds out of the gutter) were, as part of the Uniform Code of Military Justice's deal, to be excluded from any sort of duties or physical exercise. So that's nice. From what I understand, the punishment was a rare one--but not that rare. According to The Navy Times, the Commanding Officer of the USS Shiloh submitted the cruiser's sailors to it so often that the Shiloh's crew, the base it sailed out of, and even taxi drivers plying their trade in and around the base knew the ship as the "USS Bread & Water."That the punishment is coming to an end has got to be a good thing: convicted civilian criminals get Nutraloaf when they're locked down for misbehaving. Read the rest

People who steal other people's packages off porches are the frigging worst. They've no idea of what's in the box they're swiping: they don't care what they get, so long as they get something. It's burgling a house blindfolded. It's the laziest form of break and enter. It's one of the lowest forms of causal criminality going. Also, it's wicked hard to stop. With the holidays coming on like a freight train, more packages than usual are showing up on front porches, ripe for the picking. This year, in at least one city, the cops are ready to put a stop to the package poaching nonsense.From The Associated Press:Police in Jersey City, across the Hudson River from New York, are teaming up with Amazon to install doorbell cameras and plant dummy boxes with GPS tracking devices at homes around the city.They didn’t have to wait long Tuesday for someone to take the bait.“We had a box out on the street for three minutes before it was taken,” said police Capt. James Crecco, who is overseeing the mission. “We thought it was a mistake at first.”The suspect was caught, Crecco added.Jersey City Police Chief Michael Kelly told The Associated Press that locations for cameras and boxes were selected using the city’s own crime statistics and mapping of theft locations provided by Amazon.“Most of the package thefts we’ve made arrests on revolve around (closed-circuit TV) or private surveillance cameras that give us a still image,” Kelly said. Read the rest

A coalition of shipping industry associations has published The Guidelines on Cyber Security Onboard Ships, laying out best practices for the giant ships that ply the seas, and revealing that these behemoths are routinely infected with worms, ransomware, and malware spread by infected USB devices.The document recounts incidents in which infected ships were stranded because malware caused their computerized navigation to fail, and there were no paper charts to fall back on; incidents where fleet owners paid off ransomware demands to keep ships at sea safe, and where the entire digital infrastructure of a ship at sea failed due to malware that spread thanks to weak passwords.The report includes details of two incidents where USB thumb drives have led to a cyber-security incident, delays, and financial damage. 1) A dry bulk ship in port had just completed bunkering operations. The bunker surveyor boarded the ship and requested permission to access a computer in the engine control room to print documents for signature. The surveyor inserted a USB drive into the computer and unwittingly introduced malware onto the ship's administrative network. The malware went undetected until a cyber assessment was conducted on the ship later, and after the crew had reported a "computer issue" affecting the business networks. This emphasises the need for procedures to prevent or restrict the use of USB devices onboard, including those belonging to visitors. 2) A ship was equipped with a power management system that could be connected to the internet for software updates and patching, remote diagnostics, data collection, and remote operation. Read the rest

Maria Butina, 30, stood in a D.C. federal court this morning and told the judge that she “knowingly engaged in conspiracy against the United States.” Then, one hour into the hearing, she stood again and said one word: “Guilty.”The accused Russian spy acknowledged that she acted "under direction of" a Russian official who has been identified as Alexander Torshin. She has signed a plea agreement with the U.S. She is expected to plead guilty to the charges against her when the (ongoing) hearing concludes.Prosecutors say Butina acted under the direction of Russian bank official Alexander Torshin (who has disappeared) and U.S. right-wing operative Paul Erickson, to establish back-channels with the NRA and U.S. political officials -- all with the goal of advancing Russian power and interests in the United States.Butina's promised cooperation could be the key that unlocks the bigger question of whether and how the NRA, the GOP, and Trump were linked together in a criminal conspiracy with Russia. While the accused Russian spy has been locked in jail awaiting this plea hearing, she told the judge she had a conversation with a journalist, and on that call -- which was surveilled and made available -- she complained that her court-appointed U.S. public defender lawyer was acting as a go-between with news media, passing on messages to journalists. Butina's case is under a gag order. The judge in her case addressed Butina's complaint before the hearing got under way.We had a pretty good idea before today that she was a foreign agent for Russia. Read the rest

These stunning felted-wool witch hats are the handiwork of a Kentucky-based fiber artist named Kate. The world of fantasy felted creations is her full-time job now. On top of creating them, which she sells in her shop Felt Wicked Art, she also teaches felting workshops all over the United States and offers downloadable tutorials to would-be hat makers. But she writes that she nearly gave up after making (and selling) her first hat at a craft fair:I made a few "normal" hats before making my very first witch hat. It would be unrecognizable today as my style, with just a few wrinkles and some embellishments. At that point it was really more of an experiment and I was actually a little self-conscious of it. I took it to a craft fair though and it to my surprise it sold that day. It was a relief that someone else thought it was interesting too, as some part of me still just wasn't sure. And I almost didn't make any more. I didn't want to go through that vulnerable process of making something unique and then asking people to give me money for it. In the end though I just couldn't stop myself from making another one, and then another one, not necessarily because I even wanted to sell them but just because I loved the hats so much! I'm glad I stuck with it."We're glad you did too!Kate's bewitching hats are available through her Etsy shop and her website. Read the rest

Today in the Mojave desert, Virgin Galactic had a successful test flight that reached 50 miles above the surface of the earth, meeting the Federal Aviation administration's definition of space. This places the company one step closer to the long-awaited goal Richard Branson promised: space tourism.SpaceShipTwo, welcome to space.— Virgin Galactic (@virgingalactic) December 13, 2018Lovely shot of takeoff! WhiteKnightTwo and SpaceShipTwo take to the skies pic.twitter.com/JFcSDVB9jR— Virgin Galactic (@virgingalactic) December 13, 2018Breaking: Virgin Galactic reached suborbital space for the first time in a test flight Thursday, bringing Richard Branson’s company closer to flying its customers beyond Earth’s atmosphere. https://t.co/1DZ4dYYOYZ— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) December 13, 2018On the flightline @virgingalactic @TheSpaceshipCo pic.twitter.com/5PyOpnnxV2— Richard Branson (@richardbranson) December 13, 2018 Read the rest

It's been a year and a half since London's Grenfell Tower burned and at least 72 people died.The fire's deadliness was attributed to a combination to a combination of bad advice once the fire broke out and renovations to the building to sheathe it in Reynobond aluminum composite cladding from Arconic, a measure that was taken to make the building more attractive to people in nearby luxury towers.Now, Arconic's lawyer has told a Parliamentary committee that the panels were not to blame: he says the fire was so deadly because the building had been renovated with PVC windows, synthetic insulation, and different decorative panels used elsewhere in the building.He claimed that "a simple fire extinguisher in his hands would have made a big difference to the outcome."Hockman said: “The external spread of flame was substantially exacerbated by combining ACM PE with combustible PIR [polyisocyanurate] insulation without any horizontal or vertical bands of non-combustible material to limit spread.“The PIR insulation ensured the fire would spread to new portions of the building.”He said this “meant that not only did the fire exit from the flat much more quickly than anyone would have expected, but it contributed to an increase in temp within the cladding system cavity.” If the insulation foam had been non-combustible, the London fire brigade might have been able to put it out, he said.Arconic also argued that if internal features had been different, including fire doors, lack of sprinklers, the ventilation system, “then the fire would have penetrated the building much less rapidly and thus all or at least much of the tragic loss of life would have been spared”. Read the rest

Adobe's design software catalog is essential to any graphics program, as much for their simplicity as their versatility. Anyone can be an effective graphic designer with tools like Illustrator and InDesign - and the right training in their potential. That's where the Adobe CC A-Z Lifetime Bundle comes in.Whether you're getting your feet wet in graphic design or want to dive deeper into the functionality of the Adobe suite, this is the resource. The full 12 courses here cover both beginner and master classes in the essential tools like Illustrator and InDesign, but that's just for starters. You'll also learn all you need to know about web design in Adobe XD and video production with Premiere Pro and After Effects.That's more than 100 hours of exhaustive training and resources, and it's available for (potentially) a 99% discount. The Adobe CC A-Z Lifetime Bundle is now on sale for a pay-what-you-want price. Read the rest

(Previously: A bicycle snob takes on an e-bike)Last time around, we met the e-bike, and discussed how it came to pass. I was starting to feel comfortable with how it rode, and I was curious to see how it handled my commute.Speed, or lack thereofThe first lesson in e-biking is that it isn't really about speed (that is, on a legal in Canada, pedal assist bike). Yes, there are circumstances where you're moving dramatically faster than you would on a non-e-bike. But overall, if you're a somewhat fit cyclist, your speed on flats will not be much greater than what it would be on a regular bike. At times, I found myself getting dropped by fit guys on road bikes. They most definitely would have dropped me if I was on a regular bike, and perhaps a bit more quickly, but it is far more embarrassing to not keep up when a motor is assisting you. I would feel an urge to rush off after them to explain the challenges of a 32 km/hour speed limit, but that would have required an ability to push through that limit (which is more or less impossible due to all of the additional weight and resistance of an e-bike).Almost immediately, one of the main premises of my experiment was shot. No matter how I sliced it, the e-bike was going to be a fair bit slower than a car and not much faster than a regular bike. Still, the scientist in me required rigorous documentation to prove this out. Read the rest

When eight- and nine-year-old students at Hyde England's Flowery Field Elementary School walked into class last week, they were confronted with a crime scene. Behind the police tape was chalk outline of an elfin figure and a desk smeared with blood. Their assignment? Solve the mystery of the murdered elf. Apparently it was a writing exercise. And surprise! Some parents were pissed. "My daughter came home and she was absolutely traumatized," one parent said. "I'm not the only parent who felt like that. A lot of the kids in Year 4 were unsettled by it."Apparently, that did not discourage head teacher Ian Fell who encouraged the students to continue their detective work. "I have been a teacher for 30 years and this is, in my judgement, an appropriate, engaging and exciting thing that children aged eight and nine have done," Fell said. "They have been so up for it."(UPI and Manchester Evening News) Read the rest

State-owned TV network Russia-24 ran a story about an impressive humanoid robot named Boris that wowed attendees at a youth technology conference. Turns out, Boris the Robot was actually a man inside a commercially-available, high-end robot costume. From The Guardian:A photograph published by MBKh Media, the news agency founded by the Vladimir Putin opponent Mikhail Khodorkovsky, appeared to show the actor in the robot suit ahead of the forum on Tuesday in Yaroslavl, a city about 150 miles north-east of Moscow.The organisers of the Proyektoria technology forum, held each year for the “future intellectual leaders of Russia”, did not try to pass off the robot as real, the website reported.But whether by mistake or design, the state television footage did just that. “It’s entirely possible one of these [students] could dedicate himself to robotics,” an anchor reported. “Especially as at the forum they have the opportunity to look at the most modern robots.” Read the rest

There's been a lot of money thrown around to determine the future of the Internet in the EU, but despite the frequent assertion that every opponent of the new Copyright Directive is a paid puppet for Google, the numbers tell a different story: according to the watchdog Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO), the entertainment industry are the biggest spenders by far, and they have obscured that fact by using dodgy accounting to make it look like Google is buying out the European Parliament.The fight over the European Copyright in the Single Digital Market Directive has been a long one, but it boiled over last spring, when control over the Directive passed into the hands of the German MEP Axel Voss, who reversed his predecessor's decision to drop one of the Directive's most controversial clauses (Article 11, the "link tax" that forced publishers to charge for licenses to include more than a word or two in links to their news stories) and jettisoned the compromise work on the other controversial clause (Article 13, which makes online platforms liable if their users post anything that infringes copyright, even for an instant, which will require expensive black-box algorithmic censorship to accommodate). Since then, the lobbying and public debate has been fierce. Roughly speaking, there are three sides: Large corporate rightsholder organisations and collecting societies, often allied with creators' rights groups, who are largely in favour of Voss's version of the Directive (though a large group of powerful corporate rightsholders completely hate it; The tech sector, a mix of smaller EU tech companies that couldn't afford to comply with Articles 11 and 13, and US "Big Tech" platforms, who largely oppose it (though YouTube isn't actually that worried, because they're closer to having a filter than any of their competitors); and Unaffiliated civil society groups: 70 of the world's top tech experts (including the "Father of the Internet" and the inventor of the World Wide Web); a diverse coalition of human rights groups, academics, journalists, scientists, and others; legal and economic scholars; leading academics; Europe's library associations; free press advocates; the UN's special rapporteur on free expression, and of course, those four million Europeans who signed the Change.org petition against it. Read the rest

While researchers continue attempts to build practical insect-size flying robots, engineers at the University of Washington have prototyped a backpack for real bees that outfits the insects with sensing, computing, and wireless networking capabilities. From UW News:“We decided to use bumblebees because they’re large enough to carry a tiny battery that can power our system, and they return to a hive every night where we could wirelessly recharge the batteries,” said co-author Vikram Iyer, a doctoral student in the UW Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering...Because bees don’t advertise where they are flying and because GPS receivers are too power-hungry to ride on a tiny insect, the team came up with a method that uses no power to localize the bees. The researchers set up multiple antennas that broadcasted signals from a base station across a specific area. A receiver in a bee’s backpack uses the strength of the signal and the angle difference between the bee and the base station to triangulate the insect’s position...Next the team added a series of small sensors — monitoring temperature, humidity and light intensity — to the backpack. That way, the bees could collect data and log that information along with their location, and eventually compile information about a whole farm...“Having insects carry these sensor systems could be beneficial for farms because bees can sense things that electronic objects, like drones, cannot,” Gollakota said. “With a drone, you’re just flying around randomly, while a bee is going to be drawn to specific things, like the plants it prefers to pollinate. Read the rest

Check out this incredibly dedicated animated flipbook re-creation of all the booby traps in the 1990 holiday scare-'em film HOME ALONE, starring Macaulay Culkin and Joe Pesci.It's a supercut flipbook! I can't stop watching it.This is the creation of IMGURIAN theflippist, and you can see more of their wonderful work at TheFlippist.com.From The Flippist:The booby trap scene from Home Alone already feels like a cartoon, so turning it into a flipbook was natural! It especially works great with the amazing sound effects. This took over a month to draw/color, but has always been one of my favorite movies so I had a lot of fun making it. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you all! Thanks for watching :)[via] Read the rest

In the first part of the 20th century, classical music was stripped of its majesty and injected with a healthy dose of discord and dissonance by avant-garde pioneers like Arnold Schoenberg, Pierre Boulez, and John Cage. Then in 1950s California and New York, a new form of contemporary classical music emerged: minimalism. "Tones, Drones and Arpeggios" is a terrific two episode BBC Four documentary on American minimalism pioneers La Monte Young, Terry Riley (above), Steve Reich, and Philip Glass who reimagined "classical" music and had a massive and continuing influence on punk, experimental, ambient, and electronic music.Watch Episode 1 below. More about the documentary here: "Tones, Drones and Arpeggios: The Magic of Minimalism" Read the rest

Tabloid headlines are from Mars, tabloid stories are from Venus. That’s how far removed are this week’s stories and the headlines that top them.“Scott Peterson murdered 2 other women!” screams the National Enquirer cover. No he didn’t, says the story inside, despite the spread headline: “Scott Peterson a Serial Killer!” Convicted wife-killer Peterson is nothing more than a possible suspect in two cold case deaths to which he has the most tenuous of connections.“Jen Garner Recruited by Hollywood Cult!” proclaims the Enquirer. No she wasn’t, says the Enquirer story. Rather than being recruited, actress Garner is simply the subject of an alleged crush by Scientology chief David Miscavige. Garner herself appears unaware of any interest in her by Scientology, but that’s enough for the Enquirer to say: “Friends fear she’s vulnerable to recruiters.” Right.“Money-hungry Meghan turns back on America!” yells the Globe cover. “Gives up U.S. citizenship to avoid taxes!” No, she hasn’t, says the story inside. The Duchess of Sussex “is still an American citizen,” an IRS source reportedly tells the Enquirer. And if she were to relinquish her U.S. citizenship it wouldn’t be to avoid paying taxes, but to avoid exposing the sources of her income – Prince Harry and the Queen – to unwanted scrutiny by America’s IRS. The Palace tells the Enquirer “there’s no truth” to the story. Indeed.Cindy Crawford and husband Rande Gerber face a “billion dollar divorce shocker!" reports the Enquirer. No, they don’t. She’s simply been photographed without her wedding ring, for which there could be a hundred rational explanations not involving a marital split. Read the rest

What a wonderful time to be alive. A photo ID card issued to a young Vladimir Putin has been publicly released by Germany's BTSU, the Federal Commissioner for the Records of the State Security Service of the former East Germany, and subsequently published in the German news outlet Bild. Here it is. Russia is denying that Putin was ever issued a KGB identification card, which naturally means it's legit.From the New York Times:The German tabloid Bild’s publication of a photo ID card issued to a young Mr. Putin by the Stasi, East Germany’s secret police, pulls back the veil on one part of his tenure in Dresden, causing a ripple of excitement on social media and raising questions about his presence in the former German Democratic Republic.The Putin ID card was also released on Wednesday by the Federal Commissioner for the Records of the State Security Service of the former East Germany. Printed on green passport-style paper, the card bears a black-and-white photo of a young intelligence officer identified as Major Putin, who would have been 33 at the time.It was issued on the last day of 1985, and has validation stamps for each quarter except one — the last quarter of 1986. The ID also bears what appears to be Mr. Putin’s signature.The Stasi building was a stone’s throw away from the villa where the K.G.B. had its offices.[IMAGE: The photo ID card issued to a young Vladimir V. Putin by the Stasi.] Read the rest

Taylor Swift used facial recognition technology at her live performances so that technicians running the system could then check those face scans against a private database of her stalkers. The company that provided the scanning and analysis service appears to be this event counterterrorism division of Oak View Group, which has received a fair amount of press.Part of the reason they've been in the press so much: all the deadly attacks at big entertainment events around the world lately.There is now big demand for serious security at live events the size of a Taylor Swift concert. There have been so many bombings and mass shootings at music concerts over the past year to even remember without Googling. Fear of being killed at a music concert is something people factor in to the decision to buy tickets and go to live events. The demand for security is real.So is the potential for misuse and abuse of the technology, including by third parties -- hackers, foreign enemies, who knows.Steve Knopper at Rolling Stone:Taylor Swift fans mesmerized by rehearsal clips on a kiosk at her May 18th Rose Bowl show were unaware of one crucial detail: A facial-recognition camera inside the display was taking their photos. The images were being transferred to a Nashville “command post,” where they were cross-referenced with a database of hundreds of the pop star’s known stalkers, according to Mike Downing, chief security officer of Oak View Group, an advisory board for concert venues including Madison Square Garden and the Forum in L.A. Read the rest

Welcome back to The Bureau. This week will be a holiday segment. Above the fold you'll see this week's comic and playlist, and you can catch up here on the current story. While the main office building gets covered in gasoline and the intruders pounce upon The Brain, we're reminded of this time of year and the basic need of giving thanks and appreciations. Part of this series has been to acknowledge electronic instruments that impact our lives positively. We've already highlighted the work of Metasonix and Soma Labs, as well as the RF Nomad and SSL's Scat Talker, but there are some incredible pieces never made for mass production. Easily one of the most interesting categories of electronics is circuit bending.When asked about the weirdest thing in the studio, I'm happy to point to an unassuming set of toy guitars. One is a Hot Lixx guitar by TYCO and the other is a generically titled "Electronic Guitar" by Radio Shack. To certain friends with shared interests, the phrase "These are modified guitars by Mr Quintron" is usually all the introduction needed to elicit immediate interest. These are treasured items that I acquired about 15-20 years ago when he put them up for sale. First, let's meet the guitars without modification.By themselves, these toys are pretty damn funny and obnoxious. Here's a TV commercial from TYCO from 1989:The TYCO Hot Lixx Guitar promises you'll PLAY IT IN A MINUTE with its computerized buttons. Read the rest

The latest episode of the always-outstanding Adam Ruins Everything (previously) is my favorite yet: a wide-ranging look at the way that tech has exploited policy loopholes to monopolize control over repairs, features, parts and consumables; to spy on users; to use predatory pricing to crush competitors; to avoid taxation; and to become a force for oligarchic control.But it's not a counsel of despair! Adam and his guests discuss how Big Tech can be cut down to size, using traditional tools like antitrust law, which will not make tech's leaders any less prone to evil fantasied -- but it will limit their ability to turn those bad impulses into bad deeds.You can see the whole episode if you're a Trutv subscriber, but in the meantime, the production has published a couple of great clips. Disclosure: I'm proud to say I pitched this to Adam and his team, and I'm delighted to see how it turned out! Read the rest

In the last three days of the Sri Lankan civil war, as thousands of people surrendered to government authorities, hundreds of people were put on buses driven by Army officers. Many were never seen again. In a report released today (see here), the International Truth and Justice Project for Sri Lanka and the Human Rights Data Analysis Group showed that over 500 people were disappeared on only three days --- 17, 18, and 19 May. To be clear, these people were not killed, we did not include people who were confirmed as dead. The estimate includes only people last seen in custody of the Sri Lankan authorities. I wrote the statistical parts of the report.The report begins with seven lists of people reported as disappeared. The lists were compiled by the UN, families of the disappeared, and Sri Lankan officials, among others. It then uses a method called Multiple Systems Estimation to estimate the "dark figure," that is, the people who were disappeared but have not been reported. From 443 people reported on one or more list, we estimate a total population of 503 victims in a two-tailed 95% credible interval from 468 to 554 (it's Bayesian!); see the figure for the posterior distribution of the estimate).The report contains several references to the academic literature in mathematical statistics that explains how this method works and what the assumptions are. In short, the intuition is that with multiple, independent lists, the more often they document the same people, the fewer people remain undocumented. Read the rest

The company that owns The National Enquirer tabloid will not be prosecuted for its efforts to protect Donald Trump during his presidential campaign.AMI, which owns the tabloid National Enquirer, admitted to making a $150,000 hush money payment, and will cooperate with investigators. AMI chief David Pecker is (was?) a longtime friend of Donald Trump, long before the campaign. Pecker has been granted immunity. He is singing. Trump should be worried. The U.S. Southern District of New York reached a non-prosecution agreement with AMI, in which the firm admitted it made "catch and kill" payment to Trump's alleged ex-paramour Karen MacDougal. AMI admitted that it paid her “in concert with” the Donald Trump presidential campaign.Said the SDNY prosecutors, “AMI admitted that it made the $150,000 payment in concert with a candidate’s presidential campaign, and in order to ensure that the woman did not publicize damaging allegations about the candidate before the 2016 presidential election.” Prosecutors say AMI admitted “its principal purpose in making the payment was to suppress the woman’s story so as to prevent it from influencing the election.”Excerpt from the SDNY press release.The Office also announced today that it has previously reached a non-prosecution agreement with AMI, in connection with AMI’s role in making the above-described $150,000 payment before the 2016 presidential election. As a part of the agreement, AMI admitted that it made the $150,000 payment in concert with a candidate’s presidential campaign, and in order to ensure that the woman did not publicize damaging allegations about the candidate before the 2016 presidential election. Read the rest

Jack Sparrow impersonator Amanda Teague married the ghost of a pirate coincidentally named Jack. Nearly 50% of all marriages end in divorce. Similarly, the Teague/dead pirate union did not last.The newly divorced pirate enthusiast warns folks away from casual spirituality.Irish Post:Amanda Teague, 46, from Drogheda, Co. Louth, married the Haitian pirate named Jack earlier this year.The wedding to her ‘soulmate’ took place on board a boat in international waters off the Irish coast. However the Irish Mirror reports the couple have called it a day after less than a year.WARNINGTaking to social media, Amanda said: “So I feel it’s time to let everyone know that my marriage is over.“I will explain all in due course but for now all I want to say is be VERY careful when dabbling in spirituality, it’s not something to mess with.” Read the rest

If you live in an area where grocery stores are easily accessible, count yourself lucky: there are large areas in the United States where food choices are limited to what can be found at fast food joints or the highly processed, canned and frozen "foods" available in corner shops. These areas are called food deserts and they suck. If you have the means to pay for the monthly upkeep of a vehicle, leaving the food desert you live in is a cinch. For low-income families or anyone else subsisting on a fixed income, however, that's just not possible. Unless they're close to public transit and have a few hours to kill to pick up some ingredients to make healthy meals at home, they're forced to eat at burger joints or sit their kids down to whatever less-than-nutritious meal they're able to scrap together from the freezers at the back of a 7-11. Lyft, the ride share company, is trying to do something about that.From The Verge:Lyft is partnering with a nonprofit organization in Washington, DC to give rides to local families living in food deserts. The pilot program will offer some families access to heavily discounted, shared Lyft rides to grocery stores.The partnership, with the nonprofit Martha’s Table, hopes to reduce time and effort spent shopping for food. For $2.50, qualifying families can ride to and from the limited number of grocery stores in their region, including Safeway, Giant, and Martha’s Table’s lobby market. The discount can’t be used on rides going to any other destinations. Read the rest

If you have an avid gamer on your holiday gift list, here are some great game gift recommendations for 2018. You can also find plenty of other candidates in the "What's new in tabletop gaming" pieces I posted this year. Also, check out the Boing Boing Toys and Games gift guide for a few additional suggestions.Wildlands ($57)Game design doyen Martin Wallace is probably best known for railroad and civilization-building games (Age of Steam, Railways of the World, Brass, London, Struggle of Empires). His latest, Wildlands, is a grand and glorious departure. The game, published by Osprey, is gorgeous, easy-to-learn, fun to play, and very replayable, with lots of play choices and tactical depth (and already emerging expansions). Designed for up to 4 players, Wildlands is a card-driven fantasy skirmish board game with 20 beautifully-detailed, primed, and pre-washed miniatures. Four different factions, with different strengths and abilities, attempt to collect “arcane crystals” scattered over one of a two-sided game board. A hand of action cards, with multiple choices on each card, determine what each faction can do on each turn in their quest to vanquish foes and acquire crystals. The mechanics are elegant, the action, relentless and tense. Like last year’s Betrayal at Baldur’s Gate, Wildlands is a great way to introduce timid newbies to the world of fantasy miniature gaming and light dungeon delving.BuyAxis & Allies & Zombies ($33)If you like Axis & Allies and want to try throwing a wrench (or in this case, hordes of brain-eating undead) into the typical mechanics of the game, then you'll likely find Axis & Allies & Zombies a fun new twist. Read the rest

Donald Trump's longtime “fixer” and personal attorney has been sentenced to to 36 months (3 years) in federal prison, plus an additional 3 years of supervised release, in a case in the Southern District of New York.Judge William H. Pauley of SDNY also sentenced Cohen to 2 months for lying to Congress, to be served concurrently to his primary 36-month sentence.He also issued an order for $500,000 in forfeiture, payment of $1.39 million in back taxes, and a $50,000 fine.Judge Pauley also ordered an additional $50,000 fine, for lying to Congress. There are additional terms of imprisonment, but all will be served by Cohen concurrently. Cohen will be able to voluntarily surrender, he was not taken into custody as the hearing ended. — — —Federal prosecutors asked for a "substantial" prison sentence of about 3 and a half years. Cohen asked for time served. He could face up to five years, based on sentencing guidelines for his crimes.“We respectfully submit that the case calls for a full consideration of mercy,” Michael Cohen's defense attorney Guy Petrillo said during the hearing. Petrillo argued that Cohen should receive a lenient sentence in part because Cohen “came forward to offer evidence” against Trump. "I don't really understand the strident tone of the memo,” Petrillo said, referring to the Southern District of New York's filing. Implying that his connection to Trump was the reason for the strident tone, Petrillo added, “Mr. Cohen had the misfortune to be counsel to the president.”This, of course, implies that Cohen's position at Trump's side was not something over which Cohen had any choice. Read the rest

Today, in a debate scheduled to run between 18h-20h GMT (10AM-12PM Pacific), Theresa May's Conservative Party will vote on whether she will remain leader of the party and thus Prime Minister.If May loses (technically if 158 or more MPs vote against her, but practically speaking it's likely she'll step down if it's at all close), Conservative Party members will vote on the next PM; the frontrunners are Boris Johnson, Michael Gove, Amber Rudd, Andrea Leadsome, Jeremy Hunt and Sajid Javid.The hardline Brexit Leave campaign has been urging its supporters to join the Conservative Party in anticipation of this vote, so there's a real chance that the next PM will be a pro-Brexit "ultra" like Johnson. Naked Capitalism has an excellent roundup of analysis of the likely outcomes, and the comments are especially good today. The assumption above is that the party will gravitate around a centrist, which is how May had positioned herself, and reject Boris. I believe Gove has tried to position himself that way, so I am not sure he should be written off so quickly, particularly since he has more Cabinet experience than Javid, who is still pretty wet behind the ears.Financiers and businessmen on the whole presumably prefer Remain, but that does not make them representative of the members of the party. And as the comment above indicated, the Tories have not yet come to grips with the idea that there isn’t even time for a referendum, even if the EU were to give an extension to the end of June, the longest time that multiple sources have said they’d be willing to offer. Read the rest

Leafcutter Designs of Oakland, California now has adorable mini metal mailboxes ($18 each) made to stuff full of their tiny letters and packages. Wee key included. You may already know that Leafcutter's founder Lea Redmond is behind the popular World's Smallest Post Service. This mailbox “bank” is perfect for sending tiny mail within your household, or for use as a keepsake box. Children and adults alike can have fun redistributing tiny mail by way of this super cute, sturdy collection box.Image: Leafcutter Designs Read the rest

Irene O'Shea of Athelstone, Australia just broke the world record for the oldest female skydiver. She's 102 years old. This isn't her first jump though. This badass centenarian started two years ago when she turned 100.ABC reports:Sunday's skydive, which broke the world record, "went smoothly," SA Diving said, describing her as "an absolute joy to have in the dropzone."O'Shea's daughter died of motor neurone disease years ago, according to SA Diving. She saw this year's skydive as the "perfect opportunity" to raise money and awareness for the Motor Neurone Disease Association of South Australia.O'Shea jumped from 14,000 feet at SA Skydiving's Langhorne Creek Dropzone with instructor Jed Smith, a 24-year-old paramedic who she made her previous jumps with. The pair fell at about 136 mph before the parachute was deployed, according to SA Skydiving.Wow. (VICE) Read the rest

Tom the Dancing Bug, IN WHICH we pay tribute to one of the Great Contributors to Science: the ample gut of Donald J. Trump!

Businesses of any size continue to use PDFs despite - and perhaps because of - their stubborn resistance to simple editing. But for those who need a little flexibility on their documentation, the search is over for alternative software. PDF Expert for Mac is the catch-all solution for wrangling those PDFs, and it's available at a one-time low price.PDF Expert for Mac is Apple's Editor's Choice for good reason. It makes editing PDFs as easy as it should be, with a smooth interface that allows you to open and read large files in a jiffy. Sign your documents, edit images or text, change links, add outlines or annotations - it's all at your fingertips. When you're done, the app makes it simple to share your PDFs across multiple devices, and you can even password-protect specific documents for added security.The top paid app in the Mac App Store, PDF Expert for Mac is currently 75% off at $19.99 - the last time you'll see it at this price. Read the rest

Being able to dance and dodge my way out of attending the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas every January is one of the most important acts of self-care I commit to all year long. While it's always nice to catch up with colleagues at CES, the crush of human misery, drunk assclowns looking to cheat on their partner while they're off the leash in Vegas, and the multiple viruses that make the rounds each year at the event are a few of my least favorite things. This year, however, I almost regret turning down the opportunity to eat at Toby Keith's I Love This Bar & Grill every day for a week in between appointments and trips to the Las Vegas Convention Center: LG Electronics is said to be unveiling a fancy new home beer-brewing kit.From Tom's Guide:Similar to other home brewing systems, the HomeBrew uses capsules that contain everything you need—malt, yeast, hops, and flavoring—which you insert into the machine, add water, and press a button.The machine then sets the correct brewing temperature and time, and in about two weeks, will produce up to 10.5 pints (1.3 gallons) of beer.At launch, five packets will be available: American IPA, American Pale Ale, English Stout, a Belgian Witbier and a Czech Pilsner. The HomeBrew also has a self-sanitizing process, to ensure that your batch of beer isn't skunked. An app will also let you monitor the progress of the brew. It takes a lot of the guesswork out of making beer at home. Read the rest

A feature-length documentary about the making of the 1988 cult classic Beetlejuice is in the works. The film is being made and directed by French Beetlejuice superfan Fred China and produced by Adam F. Goldberg (The Goldbergs) and Lee Leshen (Back in Time, Ghostheads).Here's its trailer:They're currently running a second crowdfunding campaign to cover the cost of more interviews. (To note: For €25 you can get the doc's movie poster --shown above-- which was created by Kyle Lambert, the creator of Stranger Things art.)(Cult of Weird) Read the rest

Ret. Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn is asking for no prison time. A memo from the former Trump national security chief's legal defense team was filed tonight, just before his scheduled sentencing.They're asking a federal judge to spare Flynn from prison time, Flynn offers to do 200 hours of community service, and they want less than a year's worth of probation with minimal supervision, all in response to the government's sentencing memo. HERE IS A COPY OF MICHAEL FLYNN'S 'DEFENDANT'S MEMORANDUM IN AID OF SENTENCING.'In the memo (courtesy of CNN) Flynn says his cooperation with special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation "was not grudging or delayed."Rather, it preceded his guilty plea or any threatened indictment and began very shortly after he was first contacted for assistance by the Special Counsel's Office," wrote his team.We know from other recent court filings that Flynn met with federal investigators 19 times, and spoke to them for more than 62 hours.The court filing was made available on Tuesday night, and includes references from multiple retired military officials, including General Jack Keane.Interesting color here about Flynn's January 24, 2017 interview with Peter Strzok and another FBI agent to discuss his communications with Russians. "One of the agents reported that General Flynn was 'unguarded' during the interview and 'clearly saw the FBI agents as allies.'" pic.twitter.com/D2h0GFrt6Z— Natasha Bertrand (@NatashaBertrand) December 12, 2018Flynn files his sentencing memo, asking for probation and not jail time: https://t.co/4y7RiDTDQl / Last week, Mueller already said that his office was OK with no jail time: https://t.co/QKwqqIHntZ pic.twitter.com/orj7wpMt5n— Chris Geidner (@chrisgeidner) December 12, 2018This Flynn sentencing memo spends page after page reminding the court of what a model soldier he once was. Read the rest

There are few things finer in 2018 than being able to hunker down with a few friends, in person or online, and beat the living crap out of each other over the course of an hour playing Nintendo's Super Smash Bros. For those without a Nintendo Switch, this live action video featuring professional stunt actors beating each other down Super Smash style is the next best thing. Read the rest

A judge in Canada today granted $10 million bail for Meng Wanzhou, the CFO of China electronics giant Huawei. She has to remain in the Vancouver area, where she has a home. The United States has requested her extradition. China is not happy. Huawai's response follows..BBC:Meng Wanzhou could be extradited to the US to face fraud charges linked to the alleged violation of sanctions on Iran.A judge in Vancouver set her bail at C$10m (£6m; $7.4m) including C$7m in cash.Meng was arrested in Vancouver on 1 December. Her detention has angered China and threatened to worsen its trade war with the US.Here is Huawei's official statement on her release, which came out around 6pm ET Tuesday. Read the rest

A U.S. judge today postponed Maria Butina's plea agreement hearing until Thursday. Butina is expected to plead guilty of being a Russian agent who conspired with Russians and Americans to throw the election to Trump, funnel cash to the NRA and other political figures, and soften U.S. foreign policy towards Moscow. Thursday will be an important news day if this plea hearing schedule holds.She was charged in July, and originally pleaded not guilty. The court considered her a high flight risk. She's been in jail for months.From Reuters, on the Tuesday court hearing schedule change:U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan did not specify a reason for the delay.Butina was jailed awaiting trial. Moscow has labeled the case against Butina “fabricated” and called for her release.Prosecutors have accused Butina of working with a Russian official and two U.S. citizens to try to infiltrate the NRA, which has close ties to Republican politicians including President Donald Trump, and sway Washington’s policy toward Moscow.The federal prosecutors in the case against Butina are not from the office of Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating Russia’s role in the 2016 U.S. election and whether Trump’s campaign conspired with Moscow.Seen this Vladimir Putin video clip? No wonder she's flipping. The Big Boss ain't happy.Путин о Бутиной: Ей грозит 15 лет лишения свободы! За что?! Я когда про нее услышал, опросил всех руководителей спецслужб. Кто такая?! Никто о ней ничего не знает! pic.twitter.com/8KcFwNBIeV— Дмитрий Смирнов (@dimsmirnov175) December 11, 2018In this news clip, the Russian President says, “[Maria Butina] faces 15 years of imprisonment! Read the rest

Because it's always a good time to flog a dead horse.Chris Geidner of Buzzfeed writes, “The Trump administration went to the Supreme Court on Tuesday, seeking an order that would allow it to enforce its new policy barring asylum claims by those who cross into the country without authorization.”“On Dec. 7, the US Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit denied the Justice Department's request to put the district court judge's injunction on hold.”Follow Chris on this story.BREAKING: Trump administration goes to #SCOTUS seeking an order allowing it to enforce its asylum ban. https://t.co/fnCGP70YeV pic.twitter.com/T9326f5KCQ— Chris Geidner (@chrisgeidner) December 11, 2018 Read the rest

Stormy Daniels must pay $293,052.33 in attorney's fees, costs and sanctions to President Donald Trump's lawyers, a California judge has ruled in the defamation suit attorney Michael Avenatti brought against Trump earlier this year.Trump attorney Charles Harder asked for about $780,000 from Stormy Daniels, the porn name of adult film actor and director Stephanie Clifford. That amount broke down to $389,000 in attorney fees plus $389,000 in sanctions, in a hearing last week.Harder called today's ruling "a total victory for the President.""The court's order, along with the court's prior order dismissing Stormy Daniels' defamation case against the President, together constitute a total victory for the President, and a total defeat for Stormy Daniels in this case," Harder said.JUST IN: Federal judge orders Stormy Daniels to pay President Donald Trump $293,052.33 in attorneys' fees in her defamation case against the president, which the judge tossed out. pic.twitter.com/MIfHSijuF9— Chris Geidner (@chrisgeidner) December 11, 2018From CNN:The defamation suit -- separate from the original lawsuit about the non-disclosure agreement Daniels signed with former Trump attorney Michael Cohen that's now at the center of a federal criminal case against Cohen -- was brought earlier this year after Trump called an allegation by Daniels that an unknown man threatened her in a parking lot to keep quiet about her alleged affair with Trump a "total con job" in a tweet. Trump has denied having the affair.Federal District Judge James Otero tossed out the case in October and, as part of that decision, ordered Daniels to pay a portion of Trump's attorney fees. Read the rest

Gillian Brockell is very brave.We are so sorry for your loss, Gillian.“An open letter to @Facebook, @Twitter, @Instagram and @Experian regarding algorithms and my son's birth,” on Twitter:Earlier:Some sad personal news pic.twitter.com/ZkBOB7oqUq— Gillian Brockell (@gbrockell) November 30, 2018 Read the rest

Why do humans have so little hair, at least compared to all other primates? At Smithsonian, Jason Daley shares the latest genetic research on the biological factors that result in humans' minimal body hair and its unusual distribution. Daley also surveys the fascinating current theories about why we evolved into the only naked apes. From Smithsonian:One popular idea that has gone in and out of favor since it was proposed is called the aquatic ape theory. The hypothesis suggests that human ancestors lived on the savannahs of Africa, gathering and hunting prey. But during the dry season, they would move to oases and lakesides and wade into shallow waters to collect aquatic tubers, shellfish or other food sources. The hypothesis suggests that, since hair is not a very good insulator in water, our species traded in most of our fur for a layer of fat. The hypothesis even suggests we might have developed bipedalism to become more effective waders. But this idea, which has been around for decades, hasn’t received much support from the fossil record and isn’t taken seriously by most researchers.A more widely accepted theory is that, when human ancestors moved from the cool shady forests into the savannah, they needed better thermoregulation. Losing all that fur made it possible for hominins to hunt during the day in the hot grasslands without overheating. An increase in sweat glands, many more than other primates, also kept early humans on the cool side. The development of fire and clothing meant that humans could keep cool during the day and cozy up at night. Read the rest

Several weeks ago, Ted Pilkey of Westford, Vermont installed this massive wooden middle finger sculpture on his lawn atop a 16-foot-pole. From Boston.com:“I’m not trying to cause hate and animosity to the people who live in that town, because there’s very good people in that town,” the 54-year-old Westford native says of his fellow residents in the 2,000-person town. “All the people are very good people.”With the exception, Pelkey says, of the Westford Selectboard, Development Review Board, and other town leaders, who have blocked his efforts to get a permit to build the 8,000-square-foot garage, so he could move his truck repair and monofilament recycling businesses in nearby Swanton to his own property.Officials say Pelkey’s applications have fallen short of the town’s standards, but he thinks they’re biased against him...Although the structure is visible from a state highway, it is outside of the State Right of Way and not within our jurisdiction,” Jacqui DeMen, a spokeswoman for the agency, told Boston.com in an email. “The structure does not meet the statutory definition of ‘sign’ and thus can’t be regulated under the Vermont Billboard Law.”Perhaps Pelkey was inspired by a similar sculpture outside the Italian stock exchange in Milan. Read the rest

Trafficking guns and explosives to the Irish Republican Army, running a massive criminal enterprise for years in Boston, extorting drug dealers so that they could do business on his turf, acting as an FBI informant and oh, so many murders: James “Whitey” Bulger's life was both colorful and poisonous, to say the least. His long career as a professional criminal came to an end in 2011. After over a decade on the FBI's Most Wanted Fugitives list, Bulger was located and charged with murder, conspiracy to commit murder, extortion, narcotics distribution and money-laundering. He was convicted and thrown in the clink in 2012. This past October, Bugler, 89 years old and confined to a wheelchair, was stabbed and beaten to death by his fellow inmates at the United States Penitentiary, Hazelton, in West Virginia.While it might be difficult for a lot of folks to have sympathy for a man responsible for so much pain, Bulger's family wants to know what happened inside of the penitentiary: why was Bulger sent to the cell block he was killed in? Why wasn't the murder, involving multiple inmates, stopped? They've filed a lawsuit to find out.From The Boston Globe:“It’s important for the family and the public to know why the prisons decided to wheel an 89-year-old man with a history of heart attacks into one of the most dangerous prisons in the country,” Hank Brennan, Bulger’s attorney of seven years, told the Journal.The Globe reported in late November that Bulger had wished for a “peaceful death” in a series of letters written over the past several years to a former convict. Read the rest

Jary, a police dog in South Dakota, puts on quite a performance as he tries out a brand new set of snow boots. Just a little practice and he'll be running with the best of them.Via AP, who found this from a post by The Rapid City Police Department Read the rest

Comcast offered to get internet service to (96% of) the good people of Charlemont, Mass in exchange for a $462,123 subsidy; instead, the town of 1300 voted to reject the offer and spend $1.4M to build their own super-fast fiber network.The town will charge $79/month for symmetrical gigabit access with no data-caps, and people can add phone and TV service for an extra payment.If enough townspeople sign up, there will be no extra taxes levied for the network rollout as they will be able to cover the whole costs through subscription fees.Go Charlemont! Today, you are the smartest people in America.An increase in property taxes would cover the construction cost. But the town would also bring in revenue from selling broadband service, and potentially break even, making the project less expensive than Comcast's offer."With 59 percent of households taking broadband service, the tax hike would be 29 cents [per $1,000 of assessed home value], similar to that for Comcast," a Recorder article last month said. "But if 72 percent or more of households subscribe to the municipal-owned network, there is no tax impact, because subscriber fees would pay for it."Comcast rejected by small town—residents vote for municipal fiber instead [Jon Brodkin/Ars Technica] Read the rest

It started when Tumblr flagged one of my retrospective posts (a five year old post about the right of British schoolkids to opt out of fingerprinting) as porn.So I made another post, making fun of the pornbot's shitty judgment. It got flagged. Undaunted, I made another post complaining about the pornbot's shitty judgment about its own shitty judgment. Guess what happened?Naturally, I couldn't let that slide. YOU WON'T EVER GUESS WHAT HAPPENED NEXT!I can keep this up all day, you know!Who says you can't win an argument with a computer? Read the rest

I've always had a soft spot for Marvel Ultimate Alliance and Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2. They were met with middling enthusiasm from critics, but they served up a whole lot of what I wanted: the ability to build my own team of Marvel heroes to open cans of whoop ass on the forces of evil. Long before Diablo 3, the Ultimate Alliance games allowed me to scratch my "quest for gear" itch, without having to log on to World of Warcraft and deal with other people. Providing me with juuuust the right combination of mindless button mashing, light tactics and story to keep me coming back, they used to be among my favorite games to turn to when I needed to switch my brain off for an hour or two.Soon, there'll be a new addition to the franchise for me to play.From The Verge:Nintendo has announced Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order exclusively for the Switch. The game was announced through a trailer shown off at The Game Awards, which are currently in progress; it’ll be out in 2019. Team Ninja, the studio behind Ninja Gaiden, Dead or Alive, and Nioh, is on board as developer, marking its first Nintendo collaboration since Metroid: Other M.I'm curious about how it'll work for the Switch. The PSP version of the first installment in the series was playable, but often felt cramped on the portable console's tiny display. I guess I'll have the opportunity to find out in 2019. Read the rest