Poolboy nails one of the three most pernicious forms of marketing trends: the ironic self-deprecating brand run by some douchey social media manager:brand makes self aware joke pic.twitter.com/41KyLMyBeT— poolboy (@oypoolboy) September 29, 2018The other two manipulative trends separating the gullible from their cash on Twitter are influencer marketing and cynical "we care"/issue marketing, for those keeping a list of who we line up first in front of the slicey bois.• brand makes self aware joke Read the rest

Kingsley is a famous internet weiner dog from Australia. Sometimes he gets to chase kangaroos. Sometimes he's just not sure about them.You can see lots more of him on Instagram. View this post on Instagram Only in Australia will you see a sausage chasing a roo 🙈🤭 #kingkingsley #onlyinaustraliaA post shared by 👑The King Of Dachshunds 👑 (@kingkingsley__) on Sep 16, 2018 at 12:06am PDT View this post on Instagram Okay... guys.. this is my backyard.. I’ve told you this before 😳🤦🏼‍♂️ #kingkingsley #australia #onlyinaustraliaA post shared by 👑The King Of Dachshunds 👑 (@kingkingsley__) on Aug 21, 2018 at 3:57am PDT Read the rest

Three years ago the DEA sent one of their top-ranking officials, Richard Dobrich, to South America to put an end to agents having sex parties with prostitutes hired by Colombian drug cartels. Unsurprisingly, Dobrich is now under investigation for directing "Colombian drivers working for the U.S. Embassy in Bogota 'to procure sex workers,' according to a copy of the complaint obtained by The Associated Press and one current and one former law enforcement official." Dobrich sounds like a real piece of work:From AP:Dobrich’s tenure as the top executive in Colombia began in 2015, when he was brought in to restore order after a blistering Inspector General’s report found several DEA agents had participated in “sex parties” with prostitutes hired by Colombian cartels. That scandal prompted the suspension of several agents and the retirement of Michele Leonhart, the DEA’s administrator at the time.Prior to Bogota, Dobrich oversaw the DEA’s military-style FAST teams that battled drug traffickers in Afghanistan and Latin America, and were criticized for a series of fatal shootings in Honduras in 2012, including one in the town of Ahuas that left four civilians dead.The DEA disbanded the Foreign-Deployed Advisory and Support Team last year following a joint State and Justice Department inspectors general probe that found the DEA — and Dobrich — misrepresented significant aspects of the shooting to Congress and government investigators.I'll let you known when the DEA's next top-ranking official tasked with stopping DEA sex parties with prostitutes paid by drug cartels gets investigated for initiating DEA sex parties with prostitutes. Read the rest

News reports and personal accounts from people who knew him show that Brett Kavanaugh lied again and again at his Senate confirmation hearing. How can this sputtering, raging, serial liar possibly be considered for the role of a Supreme Court justice? In last Thursday's confirmation hearings, Kavanaugh lied repeatedly about Dr. Christine Blasey Ford’s testimony that she was sexually assaulted by him at age 15. Kavanaugh repeatedly lied that her account had been “refuted” by witnesses. He also lied about his behavior in high school and college. And he lied many times about policies he worked on during the presidency of George W. Bush. “Kavanaugh is such a brazen liar that many of his false claims have been entirely refuted by reporting,” Media Matters for America says in this comprehensive list of his lies under oath before the United States Senate.Here are some of Kavanaugh’s lies:Kavanaugh repeatedly claimed Ford’s accusation has been “refuted” by others who she said attended the party -- even though the other attendees have said no such thing. Kavanaugh seized on the word “refuted” when responding to Ford’s report, claiming in five instances that the three people who Ford says were at the party when Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her had “refuted” her account. That’s an obvious misrepresentation of what those people have said. They have actually all said that they don’t recall the party in question -- a major difference from saying something didn’t happen. And Ford’s friend Leland Keyser has said that although she doesn’t remember the party in question, she believes Ford is telling the truth. Read the rest

Tax Reform 2.0 was rammed through the House at the literal exact same moment that everyone in America was watching Brett Kavanaugh caper and gibber for the US Senate.It's a tax gift of $3.1 trillion over ten years, with the major beneficiaries being those with more than $3.9 million in annual income.The cuts will still have to pass the Senate.In House debate on the bill, Democrats continued to denounce the existing tax law and new proposal, and repeatedly pounded on their impact on the mounting $21 trillion deficit. The Republicans will seek to fill the hole by cutting deeply into Medicare and Social Security, Democratic lawmakers warned."This is all borrowed money that will go to corporations and high-income earners," said Rep. Richard Neal of Massachusetts, the senior Democrat on the Ways and Means Committee. The new legislation "is another reckless tax cut for the wealthy that leaves behind average, hardworking families."House passes GOP bill to make new tax cuts permanent [AP](Image: Jeff Stein/Washington Post] Read the rest

My guest in this edition of the After On podcast is British Astronomer Royal, Martin Rees. And just to state the obvious? Astronomer Royal is such a cool title. And it’s just one of a long list of positions and honors that Sir Martin has earned over his five decade career in astrophysics. That said, most of today’s conversation is not about the stars. It’s mostly about how we could possibly survive this century in the face of multiple "existential risks." Along with Bill Joy (who wrote a highly influential Wired cover story on the topic), Sir Martin helped kickstart this urgent conversation back in 2003, with the release of his amazing book Our Final Century? (which had the more breathless title Our Final Hour in the US). You can hear our full conversation by clicking below:Despite the interview's main thrust, I couldn't help to ask Sir Martin about two really cool deep space topics. Toward the start of the interview, we discuss the most violent events that have occurred in the universe since the big bang itself - roughly one of which detonates with ZERO warning somewhere in the observable universe, daily. It’s crazy, and fascinating stuff.Then toward the end of the interview, we discuss a truly eerie phenomenon called fast radio bursts (FRBs). These are intensely strong radio wave sources with utterly mysterious origins. And while this will sound breathless, it's not out of the question that advanced extraterrestrials could be causing them. Now - astronomers have discovered across many mysterious celestial phenomena in the past, which now have well-understood natural explanations. Read the rest

Amazon is eliminating monthly bonuses and stock awards for warehouse workers and other hourly employees, apparently to help pay for raises. The internet retail giant pledged earlier this week to raise pay to at least $15 an hour.Bloomberg spoke to sources familiar with Amazon's pay policies who say that before this week's much-publicized minimum pay increase, workers used to be eligible for monthly bonuses that might add up to hundreds of dollars each month, and they could receive potentially valuable stock awards.Sure would be interesting if the workers of Amazon.com decided to unionize. From Bloomberg: The company informed those employees Wednesday that it’s eliminating both of those compensation categories to help pay for the raises, the people said.Amazon received plaudits when it announced Monday that the company would raise its minimum pay. The pay increase warded off criticism from politicians and activists, and put the company in a good position to recruit temporary workers for the important holiday shopping season.Even after the elimination of bonuses and stock awards, hourly operations and customer-service workers will see their total compensation increase, the company said in a statement.“In addition, because it’s no longer incentive-based, the compensation will be more immediate and predictable,” Amazon said.Workers whose pay was already above $15 per hour will get hourly raises of $1, according to two people familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified discussing the company’s compensation practices. Some long-time workers expressed frustration that their raises are small compared with newly hired workers who will see hourly pay bumps of as much as 40 percent. Read the rest

The wonderful people of the Internet Archive have posted a scan of the 1983 edition of Cupola, the yearbook of Georgetown Prep, alma mater of a rageaholic blackout drunk widely favored by Republican Senators for a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court of the United States Senate.Before today, only some of the yearbook pages — like Kavanaugh’s and that of his close friend Mark Judge — were published by a small number of news organizations, including The Intercept and the New York Times. “By providing access to the 1983 Georgetown Prep yearbook, the Internet Archive is serving its mission as a library, helping people more fully understand the context of Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court,” said Mark Graham, the director of the Wayback Machine at the Internet Archive, which provided a statement to The Intercept to explain the decision to publish the yearbook (which is unredacted, but not a complete copy — some pages relating to faculty and lower classes are missing).Kavanaugh has sought to downplay the yearbook’s relevance to his nomination, denouncing the public’s interest in it as “absurd.” But journalists and politicians have suggested the yearbook paints a more frank picture of Kavanaugh’s high school years than his testimony, or even his calendars, do.Cupola 1983 [Georgetown Prep/Internet Archive]The Internet Archive Publishes Brett Kavanaugh’s 1983 Yearbook, a Key Document in Nomination Battle [Peter Maass and Alice Speri/The Intercept] Read the rest

Somehow, my orange handled scissors disappeared from my desk and no one in the family is fessing up to taking them. I gave up looking for them. I just bought this 4-pack of 9-inch titanium blade scissors on Amazon for $8. The deal runs out soon, so if you want some, get them now. Read the rest

This video uses footage of real life police interrogations to reveal the psychological tricks that cops use to get people to incriminate themselves. Best advice in the video: "Talking to cops is always a bad move." That said, cops will use every trick in the book to get you to talk, and this video shows how good they are at extracting confessions.[via Dooby Brain] Read the rest

I just received my first Orange Alert! That being one of the unblockable, effectively unavoidable text messages from President Trump that we are assured has no potential for future political misuse. P.S. That's an iPhone 4S—I dropped my iPhone SE and it died—and I am happy to report that it does indeed upgrade itself to a version of iOS that renders it too slow and broken for any purpose other than basic calling and messaging. P.S.S. I assumed the number there was from a scam caller (almost all of my incoming calls from unknown numbers are scams) but it turns out that number is--get this--an anonymous online stalking/phone pranking service operating under various names like ComedyCalls.com and CallSpin.com. The callers are unlikely to know it's me, as it's not my main number. Still, it's strangely refreshing to assume one level of casual, everyday evil only to find that it is of a kind more despicable than I imagined was legal or even practical to implement. Read the rest

After discovering a snake sunning itself, presumably on its turf, this squirrel went all NIMBY on its legless interloper. Behold: a death of 1,000 nibbles.Admittedly, the camera work here is kinda lousy, but the fight is absolutely fascinating. I knew that squirrels could be vicious, but the careful, prolonged attack the rodent dishes out on what you'd have assumed would be the more dangerous of the two species involved in this scuffle is really something else. Read the rest

I jumped, too! GIF here. Read the rest

Here'a a study from 2013 that recently resurfaced on Twitter. If you suffer from angst and are willing to ruin your liver, Tylenol can ease the "anxiety brought on by pondering the meaning of life." One group of participants was instructed to write two paragraphs about what would happen to their body after they die and how they would feel about it. The others were asked to write about dental pain, which would be unpleasant, but likely wouldn’t invoke any existential anxieties. All of the students then had to read a hypothetical arrest report about a prostitute and set the amount for bail on a scale of $0 to $900.In this type of setup, researchers typically expect people to set higher bonds after faced with existential thoughts, suddenly feeling a need to assert their values. As anticipated, those who took the sugar pill and were forced to think about their own death tended to set bail over $500.The placebo group who only wrote about dental pain, on the other hand, set the prostitute’s bond at $300 – the same amount that people who took Tylenol and then thought about their earthly body’s putrid decay settled upon. The researchers think the Tylenol’s acetaminophen may have numbed their existential pain and made them more lenient towards the imprisoned prostitute, LiveScience writes.I wonder if aspirin and ibuprofen have the same effect. (Also, no matter how angsty I felt, I would set the prostitute's bail at $0 and shake my fist angrily at the criminal justice system for arresting him or her in the first place.)Now feels like a good time to remind everyone that Tylenol has actually, seriously, for realsies, been clinically proven to reduce feelings of existential angst and overwhelmed paralysis at the futility of existence https://t.co/EaXsXYJc3D— your friend Helen (@hels) October 1, 2018Image: Shutterstock/Chip Chip Read the rest

The announcement from Read the rest

Ontario's "A Plan for Fair Workplaces and Better Jobs" (AKA Bill 148) legislates leave for domestic abuse survivors, provides for 10 days of paid emergency leave, three weeks paid vacation after five years' employment, and a ban on employers requiring their employees to wear high heels.The Retail Council of Canada and the Ontario Chamber of Commerce have joined forces to lobby Ontario premier Doug Ford (previously), a laughable trumplefuck elected on promises to lower the cost of beer to $1 and to eliminate mentions of homosexuality from the provincial sex-ed curriculum (his dead brother, Rob, disgraced the province when, as Mayor of Toronto, he embarked on a series of drug-fueled, racist, misogynist escapades).Ontario businesses are riding high, enjoying record profits and luxuriating in the recent news that Ford had killed the province's $15 minimum wage.The previous rules only allowed workers to take five paid days. As part of Bill 148, employees or their children facing or experiencing violence can take an additional five days of paid leave on top of the previous five, and up to 15 weeks of unpaid leave.The Retail Council of Canada is calling on Ford to cancel these changes and roll-back Bill 148. In a CBC article, they said the protections “were ill-considered, harmful to business”....The Ontario Chamber of Commerce complained the government “jammed a bunch of things into a bill that are causing significant problems”.Ontario Business Lobby Calls Additional Domestic Abuse Leave, Other Rules “Harmful to Business”, Begs Ford to Repeal It [North 49](via Reddit) Read the rest

Motherboard's Sofia Barrett-Ibarria talks to sex-worker advocates about the early history of sex-work and the net; after economically sustaining the alt-weekly industry and its excellent local journalism, sex workers found themselves increasingly unwelcome in their ad sections and moved online, pioneering the internet as we know it today.Early classified sites, early web design and hosting, early e-commerce -- they all owe their success to sex-workers and their pioneering move to the internet. Note that this isn't because sex work makes you more (or less) likely to be interested in tech -- rather, the more expensive it is for you to use mainstream communications systems, the more incentive you have to expend the money and time to master new ones. That's why early adopters of technologies are a grab-bag of people who are frozen out of normal communications channels: kids, people with weird politics, sex workers, marginalized people, conspiracy theorists, terrorists and anyone else whose ideas are not welcome in the easy-to-use, cheap-to-use mainstream of technologies.Sex-work was key to the early adoption, growth and progress of the internet, but the internet has a short memory. Companies pushed out sex-workers as they matured and gained respectability, and then came SESTA/FOSTA, a US law that essentially banished sex-workers from the online world, forcing them back onto the street, where, scant months later, they are facing skyrocketing rates of violence, sexual violence and murder, and being captured by the pimps they were able to evade when they worked through digital systems. Read the rest

The Altoids tin is something of a gold standard for teeny-weeny casemodders, artists, campers and other ingenious maker-types. Then there's Shank, who is documenting their project to shrink down all the components in a Wii Portable to fit (and work) in an Altoids tin. As Shank notes, "his portable is not logical, comfortable, or practical. But it must be done... for the memes." The whole face is packed tightly, so there is literally no room for error. I have measured all of the components with calipers and fit them into a vector of their exact placements. The components' outlines will be removed, and left with only the vectors of the holes. This will then be cut on a vinyl cutter to make a decal template. The decal will then be stuck to the tin to have a way to perfectly line up the holes. All the holes other than the screen are round, and can then be drilled using a drill press. The tin itself is malleable, so a 3d printed or wooden block will be inserted below to prevent the tin from bending while being drilled. The square hole will be done with either nibblers or a file. Kill Mii [Shank/Bitbuilt](via Meifi) Read the rest

Whether you're looking at art for a career, a passion or (ideally) both, the only way to learn is by doing. And thanks to online learning, there's an easy way to make sure you're doing it right. The Fundamentals of Drawing Bundle brings a studio full of established painters, portrait artists, and illustrators to your desktop, armed with all the techniques you'll need to jump-start your art career.The opening tutorials in the 7-course pack lay out the fundamentals for any beginner - pencil grip, light lines and texture. Then you'll progress through classes that focus on shading, portraiture (both human and animal), and figure drawing. You'll even learn the specific secrets that top comic book artists use to create world-renowned heroes that leap off the page.That's more than 35 hours of content, lessons, and lectures for $39 - much less than the cost of the individual courses. Sharpen that pencil and grab The Fundamentals of Drawing Bundle today. Read the rest

Many bands have gone the branded booze route, but not Korn. They've gone ahead and launched their own branded coffee (sorry, Koffee).Lambgoat:Korn has announced today's launch of their new coffee brand, Korn Koffee. Created in partnership with J. Gursey Coffee Roasters, Korn Koffee is available now.Made entirely with Certified Fair Trade whole beans, Korn Koffee is a distinctive blend of Ethiopian Yirgacheffe, Guatemalan Huehuetenago, and Organic Peru beans mixed with J. Gursey Coffee's popular Vintage Black Diamond blend. Korn personally curated the creation of Korn Koffee, a process that saw the band members tasting multiple variations before ultimately selecting the perfect roast and blend.Indeed, each bag of Korn Koffee will feature a special message from Korn: "After almost 25 years of touring, making records and playing in front of all of our amazing fans (you), one thing has remained a constant in our daily routine: coffee. The ritual, the brew, the aroma and most importantly, that very first cup every morning that sets the tone, is something we look forward to every day. Because of our passion, we've gotten together with a roaster and handcrafted our very own blend of Koffee. We hope you enjoy, share, and join us in savoring many cups of Koffee for years to come."A bag of their dark roast is available for pre-order at the online Korn store for $14.99.Thanks, Andy! Read the rest

69-year-old Earle Stevens Jr. drove his car "over and over" into another motorist's vehicle at a McDonald's drive-through lane in Vero Beach, Florida. Police pulled him over, noted the smell of alcohol, and asked him about that open bottle of bourbon in the passenger seat, wrapped in brown paper. When I asked him where he was drinking he stated, "Stop signs." He further explained that he was not drinking while the car was moving and only when he stopped for stop signs and traffic signals. I asked him again how much had had to drink today and he stated, "Four drinks." This was more than his original statement of three drinks.Well, he'd been pulled over and the vehicle was stationary. Of course he'd had another! He blew .15 and was charged with misdemeanor DUI, according to reports. [The Smoking Gun and The Miami Herald] Read the rest

In 1897, shortly after Zona Shue was found dead in her West Virginia home, her mother went to the county prosecutor with a bizarre story. She said that her daughter had been murdered -- and that her ghost had revealed the killer's identity. In this week's episode of the Futility Closet podcast we'll tell the story of the Greenbriar Ghost, one of the strangest courtroom dramas of the 19th century.We'll also consider whether cats are controlling us and puzzle over a delightful oblivion.Show notesPlease support us on Patreon! Read the rest

Hasbro has announced its latest Play-Doh set. It's called "Poop Troop."It's kind of like a Mr. Potato Head except that instead of a plastic potato body, you stick the arms, eyes, and other anthropomorphizing pieces into a squishy, emoji-like poop swirl of Play-Doh. Who's in your poop troop?! from giggle-worthy poop monsters to creations like the famous emojis, kids can create a rainbow of their own hilarious Play-Doh characters. You might make a face at the idea, but making silly faces for your characters is literally what it's all about! to start the fun, use the poo mold, tools, and Play-Doh colors to create your character's body. Grab the eyes, arms, mouths, and other accessories and plug them in different places to make all kinds of silly faces. Mix them up for a giggling good time again and again, and don't forget to clean up after yourself!Some people aren't happy:The set is available for $14.99. To note: Four of the 12 jars of Play-Doh are brown. Previously: There's a toilet plunger that looks like the poop emoji Read the rest

Trump will text every American tomorrow, as the Federal Emergency Management Agency conducts its first presidential-level Wireless Emergency Alerts test. There is apparently no way to prevent the orangeware from infecting your phone, unless you root the operating system and disable emergency alerts.From SF Gate:FEMA said in a press release recently that it will begin testing its WEA system at 2:18 p.m. ET to assess its "operational readiness" and make improvements if need be. The WEA test will be broadcast over the course of about 30 minutes and sound the same as an Amber Alert. Users can't opt out of the WEA test, according to the agency.Cellphone users who have their phones turned on, are within range of a cell tower and whose wireless providers are included in the WEA system will receive the text message.Unanswered question: If I turn of my iPhone on Wednesday will Trump’s message be waiting for me, like Rupert Pupkin at a payphone? Read the rest

Umair Haque (previously) is on fire: If the Point of Capitalism is to Escape Capitalism, Then What’s the Point of Capitalism? "You can see it in stark, comic terms. What are Bezos and Musk doing? Trying to flee to Mars. What’s Gates doing? Recommending you books to read, and trying to save the world with charity. LOL — how ironic. These are different forms of freedom from capitalism. Maybe on Mars, we can build a better world. Maybe through ideas and philanthropy, we can solve the problems that corporations can’t. All the capitalists I see are trying to win freedom from capitalism, in one way or another. Aren’t they?" (via Kottke) Read the rest

Now seems like a fine time to read this Scientific American article titled The Art of Lying by Theodor Schaarschmidt. According to a study conducted by UC Santa Barbara psychologist Bella M. DePaulo and referenced in the article, people make up around two stories every day. Apparently, children "initially have difficulty formulating believable lies, but proficiency improves with age. Young adults between 18 and 29 do it best. After about the age of 45, we begin to lose this ability." From Scientific American:Current thinking about the psychological processes involved in deception holds that people typically tell the truth more easily than they tell a lie and that lying requires far more cognitive resources. First, we must become aware of the truth; then we have to invent a plausible scenario that is consistent and does not contradict the observable facts. At the same time, we must suppress the truth so that we do not spill the beans—that is, we must engage in response inhibition. What is more, we must be able to assess accurately the reactions of the listener so that, if necessary, we can deftly produce adaptations to our original story line. And there is the ethical dimension, whereby we have to make a conscious decision to transgress a social norm. All this deciding and self-control implies that lying is managed by the prefrontal cortex—the region at the front of the brain responsible for executive control, which includes such processes as planning and regulating emotions and behavior."The Art of Lying" (Scientific American)image: screenshot of Pinocchio film trailer, public domain Read the rest

Sara from MIT Sloan Management Review writes, "MIT SMR is unlockedfor all visitors on October 2 and 3. For almost 60 years, MIT SloanManagement Review has been dedicated to providing evidence-basedinsights to your most pressing and complex business issues. Tocelebrate our history and our readers, we’re unlocking our site for 48hours. Every article, report, video, and webinar is free to access.Don’t know where to start? We’ve put together a list of article recommendations for you." Read the rest

It's almost time again for Boing Boing's favorite annual music event, the Treasure Island Music Festival (TIMF), taking place October 13 and 14 on the San Francisco Bay! This year, the festival takes over the Middle Harbor Shoreline Park in Oakland, California! As always, the stellar lineup is wonderfully eclectic, featuring Tame Impala, A$AP Rocky, Lord Huron, Santigold, Sharon Van Etten, and a dozen other artists. Orchestrated by our pals at Noise Pop and Another Planet Entertainment, the festival will offer plenty of artisanal food and drink to fuel you along with DIY activities, art installations, and indie vendors. Dig it.Buy tickets: Treasure Island Music Festival Read the rest

After Glen Matlock left the Sex Pistols in 1977 (to be replaced by Sid Vicious), he formed a band with Midge Ure called Rich Kids. They only made one album, Ghosts of Princes in Towers, and it bombed on the charts, but it's a power pop masterpiece. (I bought the LP when it came out and I still have it.) Here they are on the British TV show Revolver in 1978 playing two of their songs. (I spotted a very happy Billy Idol in the crowd at the 52-second mark.) Read the rest

In April, Molly Ringwald penned a piece for the New Yorker about the sexual harassment and assault in classic 1980s teen films like Sixteen Candles and the Breakfast Club, in which she starred. (Prime example in the clip below.) This weekend, NPR aired an interview with Ringwald in which she revisited the subject. A few highlights:You know, when I made those movies with John Hughes, his intention was to not make Porky's or Animal House. But I think, you know, as everyone says and I do believe is true, that times were different and what was acceptable then is definitely not acceptable now and nor should it have been then, but that's sort of the way that it was ... I feel very differently about the movies now and it's a difficult position for me to be in because there's a lot that I like about them. And of course I don't want to appear ungrateful to John Hughes, but I do oppose a lot of what is in those movies...I believe that there is still a lot of good in the films and there's a lot that I'm proud of. And I feel like in a lot of ways they've touched teenagers and sparked a conversation that is important. And having a teenage daughter myself, I know that it's not always easy to get teenagers to talk. But these films sort of break through that. You know? There's something that really touches teenagers, especially The Breakfast Club I feel like sort of gives them permission to talk about their feelings — says that teenagers' feelings really matter. Read the rest

French illustrator Linda Bouderbala did a fun exercise where she gathered some of her favorite characters from geek and pop culture and organized them by color.Her Instagram has plenty of other fun mashups, too:• Linda Bouderbala (Instagram) Read the rest

In 2006 2016, Trump tweeted, ″Why would the people of Texas support Ted Cruz when he has accomplished absolutely nothing for them. He is another all talk, no action pol!” A man in Texas, Antonio Arellano, has enlarged the tweet and put it on the side of a truck that he's driving around the state to remind voters what Trump used to pretend to think of Cruz, compared to what he pretends to think of Cruz now. Via Washington Post:So far, the truck has set up at the Dallas Cowboys season opener Sept. 9 and a concert featuring Beyoncé and Jay-Z at AT&T Stadium in Dallas, Arellano said.There have been few negative responses, he said, although one incident in Houston involved a man who pulled in front of the truck and suddenly stopped to block it. The truck drove around him, Arellano said.Arellano started a GoFundMe page to fuel the effort after Trump announced the yet-to-be-confirmed Texas rally. Donations soared. Arellano was subsequently joined by David Hogg, a former student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., who got involved after catching wind of the image on Twitter.I’m so glad I moved to Texas and I am SO excited to vote!#TrumpTweetTruck pic.twitter.com/5H5GlvZwaG— Maria Stanley (@Msnazzzy) September 16, 2018 Read the rest

Lisa Stout of Bellvue, Ohio was exploring Loch Ness via Google Earth when she found this fantastic shot of Nessie. The Scottish cryptid has previously been spotted on Google Earth but this a much more compelling image. From the Official Loch Ness Monster Sightings Registry:"I had been searching for Nessie on and off for the past few weeks, spending an hour or so a week on Google Earth as well as other places I like to visit in the app. I had seen some of the latest Nessie sightings and thought that I can definitely find a better image of her than that which I used for motivation to challenge myself to find her. On the 13th at 9.45am, I had got my daughter off to school and began to search for Nessie when I noticed a cluster of pictures taken by an Underwater Earth Contributor all in one area near the Loch Ness Highland Resort in Fort Augustus. I noticed what I believe may be the creature known as Nessie – or at the very least what makes up for most of the accounts of Nessie sightings that residents/tourists are seeing and reporting.”(via Deadline) Read the rest

I mean, it looks like an elk to me, but it could be a deer, too. In any event, I don't think I've ever felt as strong about leftovers as these two beasts do. I'm not advocating that anyone go out and take a bite out of a chunk of festering roadkill, but it does make you think. Read the rest

Andy Brown says: "Caught on my dash cam in Cardiff city centre... Turns out he was being chased by Police after being spotted in an altercation wielding a hunting knife!" It's interesting to see how pedestrians work together without any planning to stop an unsavory character from making a getaway. Read the rest

This cute little squid can change its color from gray to clear and back to gray in the blink of an eye.Squid turns transparent Read the rest

Kevin from Mozilla writes, "MozFest -- the annual internet festival hosted by Mozilla in London -- is all about software. Right? Not so. The festival explores the future of the internet. As such, there are a whole slew of sci-fi and fantasy sessions and workshops planned for the Oct. 26-28 gathering. The event is open to everyone and all ages. It's a chance for sci-fi fans of all stripes to geek out and chat with experts."For example: A workshop, led by MIT, about creating interplanetary messaging tools.A how-to course on identifying pulsars using LOFAR data.An exploration of machine learning's impact of society. (The session title? "Rage Against the Machine Learning.")And, a chance to co-create the first-ever VP Afrofuturist Museum. Read the rest

After more than 800 Harvard Law School alumni signed a letter asking the university to drop Brett Kavanaugh as a lecturer, Kavanaugh threw in the towel. The judged, accused of sexual assault, has been teaching at Harvard for about 10 years and was supposed to teach a course, “The Supreme Court Since 2005," next semester. Although the students hadn't yet submitted their letter, they were informed last night by a member of the law school curriculum committee that the Supreme Court nominee "... indicated that he can no longer commit to teaching his course in January Term 2019, so the course will not be offered.” “Now more than ever," the students wrote, "HLS must send a clear message that it takes sexual violence seriously. The accusations against Judge Kavanaugh, including those by Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, are credible and grave. They seriously call into question his character and morality, and should disqualify him from . . . any position of esteem, including lectureships at HLS.” According to The Washington Post:A Harvard Law School spokeswoman shared a message from [Dean John] Manning sent to students Friday, saying these had been painful, difficult times for the nation and their community, with the battle over the Supreme Court confirmation bringing into sharp focus “questions about sexual assault, fair process, fitness and character for high office, the integrity of the political process, and more.”Image: by CSPAN - https://www.c-span.org/video/?181538-1/judicial-nominations, Public Domain, Link Read the rest

The End of Trust will be McSweeney's issue 54, the first-ever all-nonfiction issue of McSweeney's, with more than 30 contributions on "surveillance in the digital age."Contributors include Edward Snowden, Cindy Cohn, Myke Cole, Joanna Howard, Bruce Schneier, Madeline Ashby, Trevor Paglen, Gabriella Coleman, Virginia Eubanks, Julia Angwin, Douglas Rushkoff, Ben Wizner, Ethan Zuckerman (and me!).The issue was guest-edited by EFF staffers (and a few contractors like me), and is a thought-provoking, challenging, and incredibly smart collection on a subject of real urgency.The whole issue will be released on Nov 20 under a permissive Creative Commons license, and will also be instantiated as one of McSweeney's unmissable gorgeous physical publications (pre-order here).We also recruited some of our favorite thinkers on digital rights to contribute to the collection: anthropologist Gabriella Coleman contemplates anonymity; Edward Snowden explains blockchain; journalist Julia Angwin and Pioneer Award-winning artist Trevor Paglen discuss the intersections of their work; Pioneer Award winner Malkia Cyril discusses the historical surveillance of black bodies; and Ken Montenegro and Hamid Khan of Stop LAPD Spying debate author and intelligence contractor Myke Cole on the question of whether there’s a way law enforcement can use surveillance responsibly.We’ve read and reviewed every piece, and without spoiling anything, we can say that it’s smart, thought-provoking, entertaining, and altogether freakin’ awesome. What’s even better is that McSweeney’s has agreed that the content should be available to be freely shared under a Creative Commons license. You’ll be able to download that from us when the quarterly launches on Nov. Read the rest

Future brides and/or Halloween costume makers take note: cement bags can be repurposed to create long-trained wedding dresses. Oddity Central:28-year-old Lili Tan has never taken fashion design courses, and spends most of her time farming, not creating wedding gowns, but looking at the amazing dress she created on a rainy day, when she couldn’t work in the fields, you could swear she makes dresses and accessories for a living. Using 40 discarded cement bags, the contents of which had gone toward renovating her village house near Longnan city, in China’s Gangsu province, Tan was able to create an elaborate wedding dress like the ones she saw in magazines, an impressive train for it, as well as a fancy hat. She showed them off on social media in a video which instantly went viral with several millions of views. Read the rest

Chase Quarterman writes, "In early 2016, I began working on a graphic design thesis project that explored Mississippi history and symbolism, relating to a re-design of the Mississippi flag (I'm a native of Jackson, MS). After two years of research, survey questions, and design development, I have created a flag for your consideration: The Mighty Magnolia Flag. The final design is simple, but full of symbolism that is unique to the state of Mississippi. I have collaborated on a short animation that details these unique symbolic attributes." Read the rest

Authors Nicola Griffith (So Lucky) and Kate Ristau (Clockbreakers) and bookseller Annie Carl (The Neverending Bookshop) presented at last week's Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association on the ways that increasing accessibility can result in higher profits for booksellers.Starting from the CDC's estimate that one in four Americans has a disability that impacts major life activities, the trio reasoned that if your bookstore is not accessible, then those 61 million people might not be able to shop there.The three presented a series of recommendations for improving physical and sensory accessibility, summarized both on Griffith's site and as an easy-reference PDF.Level entry. No stairs, of course, but also no lip: even 1″ can be insurmountable. (In ascending order of expense and difficulty: if you do have a threshold lip, you can buy heavy duty rubber threshold raps/mats online for just lips 1″- 2.5″ for around $100, depending on brand and size. If you have outside steps, you can buy and install a Garaventa wheelchair lift like the one at Elliott By Book Company–this is what I have at my house; I found it secondhand for less than $7,000.)Accessible counter height at point-of-purchase. (If if would cost too much to replace your splendid, chest-high edifice, just add a low table to one end that someone in a wheelchair can see over. And clear space at one end for someone to approach from the side.)Reading nook w/space for a wheelchair (because people in wheelchairs, too, like to settle in and take a deeper look at a potential purchase without being banged into or bothered)Accessible bathroom on ground floor or accessible via elevator (one small thing you could do immediately: install grab bars in a stall). Read the rest

The Seattle Police Department, having coped with two (thankfully) nonlethal swatting incidents since June, has announced a registry where people worried they might be swatted (previously) can sign up; the registry is a modification of the existing, third-party, private-sector Smart911 system, and the SPD says that if your name is on it, they will tread extra-carefully in evaluating SWAT-like reports of hostage-taking, active shooters and other high-risk crimes at your home or office. (via /.) Read the rest

Amazon, including subsidiaries such as Whole Foods and temp work programs, will pay $15 an hour or more to all its U.S. workers.This comes as Amazon is facing increasing scrutiny over how its workers are treated and paid. Senator Bernie Sanders, for example, recently introduced legislation to end what he calls “corporate welfare” — and it’s pretty clear who he had in mind, since the bill was titled Stop Bad Employers by Zeroing Out Subsidies (BEZOS).Now unionize. Read the rest

The Pew Center reports that there's been virtually no growth in US adoption of broadband, computers, mobile devices, or smart home devices for two years, and not just because of saturation: the top culprit is substandard, unavailable and/or overpriced broadband; also prominent is older peoples' fear of their own technological illiteracy. (via /.) Read the rest

We haven't talked about Nicaragua for a while. But things still aren't going well down there, so let's get back on that shit. According to the Financial Times, Nicaragua's national police released a statement on Friday that declared demonstrations--of which, in Nicaragua, there are many--to be illegal. The day after making this declaration, riot police were employed to break up a gaggle of protesters prepping for a march. It's just another step down the country's short, bloody road into becoming a fascist, autocratic state. Nicaragua's been in turmoil since last April, as protesters took to the streets to first sound off about some pretty shitty reforms to their pension system and other important issues such as a lack of government response to imminent threats from forest fires and the nation's eroding infrastructure. As the protests fell on deaf ears, the protesters started to demand the resignation of the nation's oh-so-corrupt president, Daniel Ortega. Once this happened, it didn't take long for the peaceful protests to turn violent, thanks to the actions of the police and masked paramilitary types loyal to the Ortega government. Defenseless students were fired on whilst taking refuge from the police in a Catholic church. Academics and other individuals deemed to be a "terrorist threat" to Ortega's rule have been carted away by paramilitary units. Hundreds have died in the months since these clashes began. The Nicaraguan economy, which was never all that strong to begin with, is circling the drain as investment in the country has been scaled back in the face of its uncertain future. Read the rest

As seen here in photos taken by Tariq Butt and provided to the BBC, a man in Stockport, England, stuffed foliage into his car, then attempted to drive it. The driver was stopped on Stockport's Heaton Moor Road. PC Andy Monaghan said he had "never seen anything like it" and the man risked "seriously injuring someone" after his visibility and access to the gear lever was blocked. The man, aged in his 40s, was reported for a number of driving offences.If you're doing yard work, get a truck. Read the rest

Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp (previously) embarked on an aggressive voter suppression campaign in 2017, purging 10% of the voter roll, some 591,000 Georgian voters.Now, after a litigation threat by investigative journalist Greg Palast, Kemp has provided a list of the purged voters, which Palast has assembled into a searchable database.Here's how to register to vote in Georgia.(via Naked Capitalism) Read the rest

California Republican Congressman Devin Nunes (previously) has been one of Trump's most ardent supporters, who has used his office as Head of the House Intelligence Committee to promote the evidence-free conspiracy theory that Obama's FBI spied on the Trump campaign.Historically, Nunes has set himself apart from his fellow Republicans: willing to compromise on immigration reform, and hailing from the predominantly Democratic state of California.Nunes's Californian roots have been key to his electoral success; his campaign literature, press interviews and public appearances make great hay out of his family's dairy farm in California.What Nunes's materials don't mention is that his family secretly relocated the family farm to Iowa in 2006, to the town of Sibley (a town best known for having unsuccessfully sued a resident for putting up a website complaining about the "rotten blood and stale beer odors" produced by a dog-food factory).Esquire's Ryan Lizza went to Sibley to investigate the Nunes family's move and its shroud of secrecy and found himself mired in an American gothic small-town mystery, shadowed everywhere he went by Nunes family members in SUVs (he put Gopros in his car and used them to record his watchers, who creepily circled every spot he parked; he was later able to identify them on Facebook).Lizza spoke to multiple sources who described the town and its dairy industry's dependence on undocumented labor (including multiple sources who claimed direct knowledge of undocumented workers employed on the Nunes family farm), and the town's growing disenchantment with Donald Trump and their Congressman, Steve King (previously) a white supremacist xenophobe who is the Republican's strongest anti-immigration advocate (Sibley is in Osceola County, and was the county's strongest Trump-voting district, going 79% for Trump) (Nunes's father has only ever donated to two federal candidates: his son, and Steve King). Read the rest