Boing Boing

In this video from Cariacica, Brazil, bus drivers sit on stationary bikes as a bus whizzes past. Why? To give the drivers a visceral sense of what it feels like when a 30,000 metal behemoth flies by less than two meters from your exposed body. The goal is to educate the drivers on why they should respect the mandatory 1.5 meter gap. (Bicycling via Weird Universe) Read the rest

When I was growing up, any spider in my home was to be killed on sight. I never had a problem with the incredibly helpful little critters, but my mother did. Her arachnophobia was so strong that even seeing a spider web would trouble her. A spider hanging out in her vicinity would result in screams of panic and a murderous broom-aided killing spree. After leaving home, it took me years to get to the point where I didn't feel the need to kill a spider if I saw one in my home. That said, never in all of my spider-smooshing years did I even come close to burning the house down.From KETV Omaha:A house caught on fire after a man tried to kill spiders and get rid of webs, according to a fire department.Fresno firefighters said the man was house sitting for his parents and used a blowtorch against black widows, KFSN-TV reported.Fire department spokesman Capt. Robert Castillo said the man used the open flame outdoors, starting at a brick veneer section of the approximately 4,000-square-foot home. He eventually noticed smoke coming from the attic.Fire trucks inundated a street by the home Tuesday night. About 27 firefighters responded.It caused an estimated $10,000 in damage.Image via Flickr, courtesy of The U.S. Army Read the rest

With the midterm elections creeping up, everyone in the media's been busier than a cat trying to bury a turd in a marble floor watching for signs of Russian interference. Given the amount of chaos that Russia's cyber operatives have been responsible for over the past few years, this is totally understandable. However, it might be a good idea for the media to keep an eye on China's online comings and goings, as well. According to a report released by the French government, Chinese cyber operatives have been hard at work attempting to compromise or enlist thousands of well-placed professionals and intellectuals online to leverage in the real world.From IntelNews: The report describes Chinese efforts to approach senior French scientists, business executives, academics and others, as “widespread and elaborate”, and warns that it poses an “unprecedented threat against the national interests” of the French state. It goes on to state that nearly 4,000 carefully selected French citizens have been approached by Chinese intelligence operatives via the LinkedIn social media platform. Of those nearly half, or 1,700, have leading posts in French industry, while the remaining 2,300 work in the public sector. In their totality, those targeted are involved nearly every area of industry and government administration, including those of nuclear energy, telecommunications, computing and transportation, said the report. Uh Oh.In many cases, the Chinese operatives used fake identities, pretending to be headhunters for overseas corporations and think tanks on LinkedIn. As part of the ruse, the ops would invite their targets on all-expenses-paid trips to China for job interviews or research symposiums – whatever turned their target's crank. Read the rest

Since its publication in August, Anand Giridharadas's Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World has been tearing through the world, changing the way we think about inequality, philanthropy and elites; Giridharadas is an Aspen Institute Fellow who's long traveled in elite circles, but who concluded that the philanthropy of the super-rich isn't just an inadequate substitute for a fairer world -- it's actually part of the system that perpetuates the gross unfairness of mass inequality.I've just started reading Giridharadas's book, and I'm enjoying it immensely. But even if you don't get around to reading it, I strongly recommend watching his one-hour talk and discussion at Google, where he opens by saying that Google's founding principles are exactly the kind of thing he's criticizing in his book and that's why he's going to keep the lecture part as brief as possible and focus on discussion with the attendees.(via Four Short Links) Read the rest

This self-inflating lumbar back pillow got me through over 24 hours of international travel in coach.I spent a lot of time in coach over the last week or so. My back can't really take a lot of these shenanigans, but I came prepared. I knew exactly where in my kit the McKenzie AirBack was stowed, so I could grab it as I hit my seat. Helping preserve my lumbar lordosis while I sit in terrible airplane seats is a must.Depending on your own back you can put a little, or a lot of air into the pillow. I do not inflate it very much, a little goes a long way. Remember, as cabin pressure decreases, your pillow will inflate more! Becareful not to over inflate!Similarly, I find it easier for stowage to deflate the pillow at the beginning of descent, the lower pressure makes it easier to get the pillow packed tiny at sea-level.Using this while flying leaves me with less pain radiating into my legs. I purchased a self-inflating when my last OG Airback was lost.The Original McKenzie® Self-Inflating AirBack Lumbar Support by OPTP (710) - Back Support Pillow for Travel via Amazon Read the rest

Some people can't stand the slightest scratch on their car, insisting on getting it repaired asap.Image: Daily Motion Read the rest

This is by far the scariest animated clown prop for Halloween that I've seen. The sign by it's feet says it's $199.00, but it's nearly impossible to read which store it is in, and the YouTube description doesn't clue us in. But I think this monster clown at Spirit is the same one, at the same price. Let the nightmares begin. Read the rest

In 2014 Google investigated a claim that Andy Rubin, the creator of Android, coerced a Google colleague to perform oral sex on him. Google found the claim to be credible. Instead of unceremoniously booting Rubin out of the company, it eased him out with lavish praise and $90 million. This New York Times investigative report reveals a sleazy underside of the company.“I want to wish Andy all the best with what’s next,” Larry Page, Google’s chief executive then, said in a public statement. “With Android he created something truly remarkable — with a billion-plus happy users.”...Mr. Rubin was one of three executives that Google protected over the past decade after they were accused of sexual misconduct. In two instances, it ousted senior executives, but softened the blow by paying them millions of dollars as they departed, even though it had no legal obligation to do so. In a third, the executive remained in a highly compensated post at the company. Each time Google stayed silent about the accusations against the men.The New York Times obtained corporate and court documents and spoke to more than three dozen current and former Google executives and employees about the episodes, including some people directly involved in handling them. Most asked to remain anonymous because they were bound by confidentiality agreements or feared retribution for speaking out. Read the rest

A new study unsurprisingly shows Americans overwhelmingly know they are sharply divided.Via TPM:The newly released survey found that more than 8 in 10 Americans think the country is greatly divided about important values. Just 20 percent of Americans say they think the country will become less divided over the next few years, and 39 percent think things will get worse. A strong majority of Americans, 77 percent, say they are dissatisfied with the state of politics in the country.The poll was conducted Oct. 11-14 in the final sprint to the midterm elections, in which President Donald Trump has been rallying his supporters to turn out to vote in November. Overall, 59 percent of Americans disapprove of how Trump, a Republican, is handling his job as president, while 40 percent of Americans approve.A clear majority also think the President is a failure, while few hold out hope that we'll settle our differences. Read the rest

I'm delighted to report that Boing Boing pal Bob Mould (Hüsker Dü) has a new rock and roll platter on its way February 8! Above is the title track from the punk pioneer's new album, Sunshine Rock. If this catchy psychedelic number is any indication, expect the album to be a burning light of gritty punk optimism in these dark times. “To go from [2011 autobiography] See a Little Light to the last three albums, two of which were informed by loss of each parent, respectively, at some point I had to put a Post-It note on my work station and say, ‘Try to think about good things,'" Bob says. "Otherwise I could really go down a long, dark hole. I’m trying to keep things brighter these days as a way to stay alive.”Bob Mould plays the history Fillmore in San Francisco on March 2 as part of the Noise Pop Festival 2019. More tour dates here.Below, Bob Mould on Boing Boing Video, an interview and performance from 2014 produced by the talented team at Remedy Editorial:photo: Alicia J Rose Read the rest

Back in 2012, Symantec researcher Bryan Varner bought some used US voting machines on Ebay and found them to be incredibly insecure and full of real, sensitive election data; in 2016, he did it again and things were even worse.Voting machines are terrible in every way: the companies that make them lie like crazy about their security, insist on insecure designs, and produce machines that are so insecure that it's easier to hack a voting machine than it is to use it to vote.Varner paid less than $100 each for two voting machines. Once he unscrewed the nonfunctional "tamper-proof screws," he found a Windows CE machine with open USB ports, still bearing their "property of" seals from the government entity that had sold them, filled with voter data. He was able to trivially backdoor them and points out that it would be easy for anyone to do this and then put the machines back on Ebay for sale to other voting authorities.Varner places the blame for the woeful state of voting security with the states' insistence on autonomously administering their own elections rather than having a national set of security standards. I recognize that states are fiercely protective of their rights. But there’s an opportunity here to develop nationwide policies and security protocols that would govern how voting machines are secured. This could be accomplished with input from multiple sectors, in a process similar to the development of the NIST framework—now widely recognized as one of the most comprehensive cybersecurity frameworks in use. Read the rest

Probiotics are as likely to surprise you with their contents as they are to fulfill their marketing promises.Via the NYT:Probiotics have the potential to improve health, including by displacing potentially harmful bugs. The trouble is that the proven benefits involve a very small number of conditions, and probiotics are regulated less tightly than drugs. They don’t need to be proved effective to be marketed, and the quality control can be lax.In a recent article in JAMA Internal Medicine, Pieter Cohen, an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, urges us to consider the harms as well as the benefits. Among immune-compromised individuals, for instance, probiotics can lead to infections.Consumers can’t always count on what they’re getting. From 2016 to 2017, the Food and Drug Administration inspected more than 650 facilities that produce dietary supplements, and determined that more than 50 percent of them had violations. These included issues with the purity, strength and even the identity of the promised product.I have more confidence in my dog's veterinarian supplied supplements than I do in my OTC ones. Read the rest

Even if you were nothing more than a twinkle in your father's eye in 1983, you will feel pangs of nostalgia for this Archive.org scan of a UK magazine called Your Computer. This 1983 issue has ads for games and productivity programs, as well as lines and lines of BASIC code for you to hunt-and-peck into your keyboard and then spend hours in a fruitless bug and typo session. Read the rest

If you ever hear an announcement on a Disneyland or Walt Disney World PA calling for a "HEPA cleanup" it means that someone has just dumped a dead person's ashes in a ride. Again.Obviously the Haunted Mansion is a prime locale for this, but the lawns, the water rides, the castles, and every other place get their share of cremains. It's cathartic for the ash-scatterers but seriously gross for the custodial staff.To get ashes past the bag-search, it's best to hide them in pharmaceutical pill bottles or makeup compacts. The "HEPA cleanup" code replaces an unofficial and now banned castmember euphemism: "Code Grandma."Though ash-scattering is a misdemeanor, it doesn't seem like anyone's ever been arrested for it. Human ashes have been spread in flower beds, on bushes and on Magic Kingdom lawns; outside the park gates and during fireworks displays; on Pirates of the Caribbean and in the moat underneath the flying elephants of the Dumbo ride. Most frequently of all, according to custodians and park workers, they’ve been dispersed throughout the Haunted Mansion, the 49-year-old attraction featuring an eerie old estate full of imaginary ghosts.“The Haunted Mansion probably has so much human ashes in it that it’s not even funny,” said one Disneyland custodian.A Disney spokeswoman said, “this type of behavior is strictly prohibited and unlawful. Guests who attempt to do so will be escorted off property.” Disney World’s Big Secret: It’s a Favorite Spot to Scatter Family Ashes [Erich Schwartzel/WSJ](Thanks, Don!)(Image: Benjamin D. Read the rest

Last night, referring to the nine (so far) suspicious packages, some of which have included pipe bombs, that have been sent to his critics, Trump momentarily pretended to act presidential, saying, "Those engaged in the political arena must stop treating political opponents as being morally defective." And yet, within the last week, according to NPR, he revved up a Texas crowd with the tired mantra, "Lock her up!" and called Maxine Waters a "low-IQ individual, and in Montana fantasized about a fight with Joe Biden, saying "He'd be down so fast."But, sadly, and as we all know, last week wasn't an anomaly. The above montage of the many instances Trump has welcomed violence with relish is a disturbing reminder of what a thug our "president" truly is. Even more disturbing is the fact that the video is from March 2016 – I can't imagine how long this montage would be if it were made today. Via Huffington Post Read the rest

Georgia voters are in a battle against their own Secretary of State for the right to vote. This week a Federal court tried to ensure citizens forced to provisional ballots are given the ability to confirm their vote, and to contest claims their signature was not their own.Via USA Today:"The court does not understand how assuring that all eligible voters are permitted to vote undermines integrity of the election process," May said. "To the contrary, it strengthens it.""Permitting an absentee voter to resolve an alleged signature discrepancy ... has the very tangible benefit of avoiding disenfranchisement," said the judge, a nominee of President Barack Obama.May gave lawyers until noon Thursday to comment on whether the language in her order is “confusing or will be unworkable.”Her decision was applauded by Sophia Lakin, an American Civil Liberties Union attorney.“This ruling protects the people of Georgia from those who seek to undermine their right to vote," Lakin said. "It’s a huge victory, especially with the midterms just days away."Candice Broce, spokeswoman for the Georgia secretary of state’s office, declined to comment and referred all questions to the attorney general’s office. Read the rest

CIA director Gina Haspel listened to audio of Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi's torture and execution in Istanbul's Saudi embassy, reports the BBC.They say Ms Haspel was allowed to listen to the audio during a visit to Turkey earlier this week....Soon after the murder on 2 October, Turkish media quoted officials as saying they had audio recordings of Khashoggi's interrogation and death, but gave no details about the contents or how the audio had been obtainedGina Haspel somehow getting to listen in on Khashoggi being tortured is like when the editor of a travel magazine somehow gets to spend a month in Bali. Read the rest

I recently caught Demetri Martin's latest comedy special on Netflix and loved it. I loved it so much that, while watching it, I started texting friends to tell them I thought they'd love it. I don't know if they listened, so now I'm telling you. Watch this Ellen clip to get a sampling of that special. It's like a five-minute 'best of' reel. I think you'll love it but no hard feelings if you don't.But if you do like it, and want more, watch that Netflix special or catch him on his Wandering Mind Tour which begins on January 18 in San Antonio, Texas. Read the rest

Neuroscience researcher Guillaume Riesen put together this video in 2011 but it's just as mind-blowing today. In it, he shares a trick that allows you to see the blood vessels in your own eyeball! It works, I tried it. (reddit)image via bigalid Read the rest

Can't stop scrolling though. Read the rest

She's Harriet the singing donkey, and she belts it out from a pasture in Ireland. Got a better singing voice than I do.Sound ON.She became an internet sensation when Martin Stanton, who lives not far away and has visited Harriet the donkey regularly for more than a year, posted a video of her singing on Facebook last week.“She lives about 20 minutes away from me in Toureen, Connemara,” he told ABC News. “I know the family who own her and I bring carrots, bread and ginger nut biscuits. She never hew-haws like other donkeys.”“I try to visit whenever I can because she is adorable, so friendly and gentle,” he said. “I found the video funny so I just posted it. I didn't think it would go viral.” Read the rest

Zombies, the pumpkin launcher, a new fan firing six-gun, and our old friend the crossbow all make appearances in this trailer for Fortnite's "Fortnitemares" Halloween celebration.I can not wait to play.In Season Three the hardest damn challenge, over all 10 weeks, was to get a crossbow kill. Bringing that thing out of the vault is pretty cruel, but maybe they've improved it. I can see how a fan firing Colt Peacemaker type revolver would be a lot more fun than the former Fortnite revolver. That thing was a piece of junk and belongs in the vault.My Xbox is updating now. Read the rest

Without the slightest sense of irony or self-awareness, the National Enquirer gives away the secret to its journalistic excellence in this week’s remarkable story under the headline: “How To Lie & Get Away With It.”In an article that could easily have been penned by Enquirer fan Donald Trump, the rag proclaims: “Face it – honesty isn’t always the best policy!”Its advice, borne out by decades of experience:• "Sprinkle in some truth” to make lies “more plausible.”• “Keep it simple” without too many facts to complicate matters.• “Play to your audience” by capitalizing on their knowledge and fears.• “Don’t show remorse or guilt.”• “Be prepared” and plan your lie in advance, not on the fly.Following these sterling precepts, the Enquirer tells us that “Evil ISIS Plots Kidnap Horror” for pregnant Duchess of Sussex Meghan, with terrorist plans to cut her “unborn child from her womb!” The “plot” is nothing more than online postings on “terrorist chat forums” – presumably where terrorists gather online to discuss their favorite Star Trek episodes and debate which comic book heroes deserve their own movies. These chat forums allegedly include a photo of Meghan "with a blood red ‘X’ over her stomach.” And we all know what a red “X” means: Cut the baby out! What else could it possibly mean?The Enquirer piles on to the young Royals with its story “Harry & Meghan Cheat Death in Sabotaged Jet!” Their private jet was struck by lightning last week, and the rag claims: “Terrorists planted device to attract lightning bolts & blow up plane.” An unnamed “highly placed British counterterrorism expert” tells the Enquirer that the jet would never have been hit without being sabotaged – but this is errant nonsense. Read the rest

Cathay Pacific started investigating a potential breach in March; by May they'd learned of breaches to a system with 9.4 million travelers' data on it, then for some reason they didn't tell anyone about it, until now: "The following personal data was accessed: passenger name; nationality; date of birth; phone number; email; address; passport number; identity card number; frequent flyer programme membership number; customer service remarks and historical travel information." They are sorry if you are upset: "We are very sorry for any concern this data security event may cause our passengers." Read the rest

In 2013, music teacher Tom BetGeorge of Tracy, California created his first holiday light and music show, the "Christmas Can Can". It quickly became a viral hit, landing him two spots on Good Morning America. He's continued to create epic shows like these on his home and has even started a business to create them for others. His team, known as Magical Light Shows, has now created this impressive synchronized Halloween show which is a fun musical tribute to Michael Jackson. Read the rest

Once I tried an air vent magnetic phone mount I got rid of all my other phone mounts. These are by far the most convenient way to use your phone in a car. Aukey is selling them for $3.84 when you use code B8HNNVPG. Read the rest

How much better is a $4,000 EOS R than a $500 Rebel T100? Peter McKinnon invited a professional photographer to look at photos taken with both cameras and try to tell which camera was used. He didn't do a great job. Read the rest

A record number of women are running on the Democratic ticket for Congressional office, over 200 in fact. This scarf depicts each and every one of these sheroes in hand-drawn illustrations by artist Alexandra Posen. The Herwave silk wrap is available for $125 at Resistance By Design. 100% of its profits will go to organizations supporting Democratic women in government.(swissmiss) Read the rest

Steve King is a virulent, ardent, violent, authoritarian member of the Read the rest

Wolf Intelligence is a German state surveillanceware company founded by Manish Kumar, selling tools that independent researchers described as "very shitty and it’s just copy paste from open source projects," used by governments to spy on their citizens.At the Virus Bulletin conference in Montreal, researchers from CSIS Security revealed that they had discovered a massive trove of 20GB of Wolf Intelligence's data, including "recordings of meetings with customers, a scan of a passport belonging to the company’s founder, and scans of the founder’s credit cards, and surveillance targets’ data."Motherboard quotes several sources in the state malware sector who describe Kumar as a "scammer" and a "criminal of the worst kind." Kumar claimed the data had been leaked by a contractor, a claim that is denied by the researchers who discovered the leak.The researchers said they were able to find a Windows, an Android, and an iOS variant of that RAT, and figured out that it was produced by Wolf Intelligence. They also found data belonging to several victims in countries such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey. One of the victims, they said, is a human rights defender.The malware itself, according to the researchers, is pretty rudimentary.“It’s very shitty and it’s just copy paste from open source projects,” Ancel told Motherboard in a phone interview, referring specifically to Wolf Intelligence’s iOS malware. Motherboard did not independently analyze the malware, and Kumar stopped responding to Motherboard soon after I began talking to him.During the public presentation in Montreal, Ancel said that Kumar “seems to be the kind of criminal who try to scam people with a shitty product.”Government Spyware Vendor Left Customer, Victim Data Online for Everyone to See [Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai/Motherboard] Read the rest

Alex Stamos stepped down as CSO for Facebook in August, after a career in which he rather fearlessly and bluntly warned about deficiencies in Facebook's security (this was totally in keeping with Stamos's character; he seems to have walked out on his job running security for Yahoo rather than building an NSA backdoor for them, making him something of a human warrant canary).Stamos is now at Stanford's "Information Warfare group" where he's leading interdisciplinary teams "studying the misuse of technology" (they're producing some pretty alarming warnings). In a wide-ranging interview with MIT Tech Review, Stamos talks about the problems of deputizing Facebook and the other platforms to police the speech that their users post, whether it be in the name of preventing harassment or hate-speech. Stamos warns that these powers will not be exercised solely on behalf of good, legitimate states, but also on behalf of autocracies (according to Stamos, more than half of Facebook's users "live in either non-free countries or democracies without protection for speech"). But more importantly, when you put Facebook in charge of speech policing, you're saying "We want you to have more power to control what other people say and do."Instead of giving Facebook more power, Stamos recommends other measures, like "advertising transparency" and federal legislation to limit ad targeting. Stamos is skeptical of breaking up the platforms: he says smaller platforms are harder for states to monitor and lack the resources to effectively secure their users' data. I take his point, but disagree. Read the rest

When the first mailbomb turned up, Democrat leader Chuck Schumer posted screenshots of two headlines. One concerned a broken window at Republican leader Kevin McCarthy's office that police and the victim blame on thieves. The other was the first of the mailbombs sent to prominent Democrat targets. "Make no mistake," he wrote. "Despicable acts of violence and harassment are being carried out by radicals across the political spectrum—not just by one side. Regardless of who is responsible, these acts are wrong and must be condemned by Democrats and Republicans alike. Period."The Dems can't win. They stare at the bombs on their doorstops and their first act is submission to imaginary conservative equivocations before they are even uttered.Update: The utterances have begun. Read the rest

Ecuador plans to stop intervening with the British government on behalf of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, reports Reuters today. His situation as an asylum beneficiary in the South American country’s London embassy may be ending, the statement from Ecuador’s foreign minister on Tuesday suggests.Excerpt from the Reuters report:Foreign Minister José Valencia said in an interview with Reuters that Ecuador’s only responsibility was looking after Assange’s wellbeing, after the Australian national sued the country over new conditions placed on his asylum in the London embassy.“Ecuador has no responsibility to take any further steps,” Valencia said. “We are not Mr. Assange’s lawyers, nor are we representatives of the British government. This is a matter to be resolved between Assange and Great Britain.”The UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment after normal business hours.Greg Barns, an Australian lawyer advising Assange, said in an email that “developments in the case in recent times” showed the need for Australia’s government to intervene to assist “one of its citizens who faces real danger.” Read the rest

Alabama ranks 46th in the nation for health care, 47th for education, 44th for employment, and 48th for opportunity (Source: USA Today). Newsweek succinctly sums it up: "Alabama has the worst poverty in the developed world."With such abysmal rankings you'd think the state's government would want to spend its money improving its status. Instead, it prefers to do things like this: locking up a man who had $10 worth of pot for 15 months, at a taxpayer cost of $21,000.From Civilized Life:Enforcing cannabis prohibition costs Alabama taxpayers approximately $22 million per year, which would be enough to fund an additional 191 preschool classrooms or pay 571 more K-12 teachers, according to a joint study from the Alabama Appleseed Center for Law and Justice and the Southern Poverty Law Center. But instead of investing in the state's children, those tax dollars are being used to slap residents with criminal records that severely limit their access to education and diminish their job prospects. Image: Shutterstock/Dan Henson Read the rest

The Bklyn BookMatch is a free service that matches readers with custom lists of recommendations: fill in a webform with "the titles, authors, and/or types of books you enjoy, and why" as well as "movies, TV, games, and other interests" and any books you dislike, as well as format and age preferences and within two weeks, a librarian will send you a customized reading list that you can check out of the Brooklyn library (or your own local library -- the service seems to be open to everyone!). (via Kottke) Read the rest

A recent Pew poll challenged subjects to distinguish between factual statements and statements of opinion in news articles; it found that there is a large gap in accuracy between 18- to 49-year-olds (32% of whom correctly labeled 100% of the facts, and 44% of whom correct labeled 100% of the opinions) and those aged 50 and up (20% correctly labeled all facts; 26% correctly labeled all opinions).Young people performed well regardless of the ideological nature of the facts and opinions, while older subjects' ability to sort fact from opinion was more likely to struggle when such sorting cut against their ideological bias.For example, 63% of 18- to 49-year-olds correctly identified the following factual statement, one which was deemed to appeal more to the right: “Spending on Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid make up the largest portion of the U.S. federal budget.” About half of those ages 50 and older (51%) correctly classified the same statement. Additionally, 18- to 49-year-olds were 12 percentage points more likely than those at least 50 years of age (60% vs. 48%, respectively) to correctly categorize the following factual statement, which was deemed to be more appealing to the ideological left: “Immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally have some rights under the Constitution.”Among the opinion statements, roughly three-quarters of 18- to 49-year-olds (77%) correctly identified the following opinion statement, one that appeals more to the ideological right – “Government is almost always wasteful and inefficient” – compared with about two-thirds of older Americans (65%). Read the rest

The students in David Stein's Political Statistics class at Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring, Maryland have built a statistical model for predicting the outcomes of the upcoming midterm elections: the model makes assumptions about voter turnout and the way that polling data will translate into votes in 2018.More interesting than the choices that the class made for its model is the thorough and thoroughly accessible documentation of those choices: the class's explanatory notes of their statistical assumptions are the best I've seen -- the kind of thing that we usually only get after the fact, when trusted predictions fall short of the mark and pollsters set out to explain how they got it so wrong.Getting this kind of information with the predictions themselves, ahead of time, gives us a way to understand conflicting predictions and decide whether and which we'll trust.At this point, we have predicted vote shares and standard deviations of vote shares, so it might seem that calculating the overall chance that a party gets a majority of seats is rather simple. However, this is not the case.In order to avoid excessive computations or calculating an exact number, we simulate the entire House election 10,000,00010,000,000 times each time we run our model. The probability that each party wins a majority of seats in the House is then about the number of simulations in which this happens divided by 10,000,00010,000,000.A naïve approach to use here would be to simulate each district separately, using the numbers we already have. Read the rest

Artist Noah Deledda uses sandpaper to remove the paint from aluminum cans and then uses his hands to bend and shape pleasing patterns into them.Via Oddity Central:In an interview with WEDU Arts Plus, the artist said that the most common response to his art is people saying that they have never seen anything like it before. He considers it ironic, because of course they have; people see crushed aluminum cans all the time, just not this way. Deledda sees his art as proof that a generally destructive force such as crushing can actually be creative and presented as art. View this post on InstagramA post shared by Noah Deledda (@noahdeledda) on Nov 20, 2017 at 1:43pm PST View this post on InstagramA post shared by Noah Deledda (@noahdeledda) on Nov 8, 2017 at 1:16pm PST View this post on Instagram Hanging around #artstudio #sculpture 📷 @zkrstofrA post shared by Noah Deledda (@noahdeledda) on Mar 31, 2018 at 10:00am PDT View this post on Instagram Dent...photograph...repeat. #stopmotion #sculpture #artbasel #yborcityA post shared by Noah Deledda (@noahdeledda) on Apr 22, 2017 at 12:28pm PDT Image: YouTube Read the rest

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS STORY, AND WILL BE UPDATED. Authorities in New York are holding a press conference on what they say are a series of 6, potentially 7 pipe bombs sent to political figures around New York, and in other parts of the United States. Targets include former first families the Obamas and the Clintons, NY governor Andrew Cuomo, philanthropist George Soros, the headquarters of CNN in New York, and former Attorney General Eric Holder. Another package is now said to have been intercepted at a U.S. Congress mail facility, which is not located on-site at the offices of congresspersons. The bomb sent to Holder ended up being sent to the return address of Florida Democratic congresswoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, in Florida. There was no package addressed to her, but multiple packages had her address as the return address.The CNN package got all the way into the mailroom.During the live TV briefing, New York governor Andrew Cuomo revealed that his office in Manhattan also received an explosive device.NYPD said the device sent to CNN was “a live explosive device,” with the capacity to kill. An ATF official said during the press conference that the device sent to CNN was a pipe bomb.Feds wouldn't disclose during the press conferences exactly what was in the package, but said 'it was consistent with the other packages.'The investigation is ongoing. Authorities appear to be saying that various devices sent to the Clintons in New York, the Obamas at one of their addresses, George Soros in New York, and Debbie Wasserman-Schultz were similar in nature and capacity. Read the rest

For years we have chronicled the tireless fight of rogue archivist Carl Malamud (previously) whose Public.Resource.org has devoted itself to publishing the world's laws, for free, where anyone can see and share them.The principal that the law must be both readable and writable is as old as the idea of the rule of law itself, dating back to the Magna Carta and beyond. But in recent years, governments have begun to integrate commercially developed standards into their laws as their official safety code ("The plumbing code of East Dingleberry County shall be version xyz of the Unified Plumbing Standards Body's Master Code"), and thereafter, people who want to read the law -- to make sure they're obeying it, to investigate whether someone else has violated it -- has to pay (often thousands of dollars) to get a copy of their own laws.Malamud's position is that once a standard is part of the law, it is no longer copyrightable and he can publish it. Despite the obvious justice of this position and its long precedent, he often finds himself on the receiving end of dire legal threats and even lawsuits. And when that happens, it's usually the Electronic Frontier Foundation that steps up to defend him.Last week, Malamud and EFF scored a massive victory in this fight: the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit struck down the state of Georgia's bid to suppress the publication of its laws, upholding Malamud's right to publish them. The appeals court's decision was unequivocal in its support for the position that the law is free for all to read and write -- and that Georgia's bid to make its laws pay-to-read was unconstitutional and illegitimate. Read the rest

There are many rudimentary Microsoft-style themes for Linux, but Chicago95 fastidiously recreates the ineffable beauty of Windows '95 right down to the finest details. It's a perfect melding of the historical Windows and modern Linux experiences. Creator Grassmunk (who also made a less-precise but still-beautiful MacOS Classic theme) writes:I was unhappy with the various XFCE/GTK2/GTK3 Windows 95 based themes and decided to make one that was more consistent across the board for theming.Included in this theme: New icons to complete the icon theme started with Classic95 Edited Redmond XFWM theme to more accurately reflect Windows 95 Edited Xfce-Redmond by dbbolton to be more accurate and include XFCE panels Created GTK-3.0 theme from scratch (based on Win 10 and Mate themes) Plymouth theme created from scratch An MS-DOS inspired theme for oh-my-zshYou've got some work to do! Here's a video tutorial. Read the rest

Martin Hayes is arguably one of the greatest fiddlers to come out of Ireland in the past 100 years. His soulful, moody interpretation of well-known Irish traditional music is unlike anything else out there. It's slow moving, slow to build, and beautiful in a way all its own. I've mentioned his primary band, The Gloaming, here in the past. But he's also got another group going on the side: The Martin Hayes Quartet. At first listen, their music sounds like more of the same (which is a wonderful thing!). But take the time to plumb its depths and the personality of the musicians playing, the voice of the instruments, and the choice of tunes will make you understand that, while it may seem like you're trekking familiar country, the ground beneath your feet is a very different territory than where you've walked before. This video of the making of the quartet's first album, The Blue Room, is as beautiful as the band's music is calming. I've watched and listened to it many times since I first found it. I hope you dig it as much as I do. Read the rest

As soon as I chanced upon The Art of Point-and-Click Adventure Games [Bitmap Books] today I knew what I wanted for Christmas: 460 pages of full-bleed screenshots from decades of computer gaming, with dozens of feature articles about the best and the more obscure alike.A visual celebration of one of the most loved genres in gaming history, The Art of Point-and-Click Adventure Games is a sumptuous 460 page, hardback coffee table book packed with the very best pixel art and classic scenes from the most defining games of this genre. It will also contain extensive and exclusive interviews with the key developers, designers and artists behind some of the most beloved games and characters in the history of the medium. The book starts with a foreword by Gary Whitta (PC Gamer magazine/Rogue One: A Star Wars Story).The book covers titles such as King’s Quest, Myst, Toonstruck, Discworld, Blade Runner, Gabriel Knight, Flight of the Amazon Queen, Simon the Sorcerer and of course other classics, such as The Secret of Monkey Island, The Dig, Maniac Mansion and Full Throttle. All of the most famous and iconic point-and-click adventures are going to be covered, as well as some lesser-known games and home-brew efforts.Here's an interview with the editor, Sam Dyer.What made you focus on a specific genre this time around, as opposed to a particular console or system?Sam: A book focussing on point-and-click adventure games has been something I’ve wanted to do for a while. I was surprised that not many books existed on the genre and saw an opportunity to do something. Read the rest

Apple will be plopping out new hardware at their second fall event, come the end of the month. Those that spend their days puzzling out what trillion dollar companies will aspire to sell us next think that there's a good chance that we'll see a refresh of the iPad Pro (possibly with a USB-C port baked into them) and refreshed MacBooks. Good stuff, all around, especially if they can figure out how to fix the hot mess that Apple currently has the nerve to call a keyboard. But what's down the road? Ming-Chi Kuo thinks he knows. Kuo is a supply chain analyst for IT International Securities. It's part of Kuo's gig to try and figure out what products a company plans on making, based on the components that they order. According to Kuo, a new iPad Mini is a-coming.From The Verge:Kuo says that the new iPad Mini will get “an upgraded processor and a lower-cost panel,” which would seem to position it as a smaller option for those considering Apple’s entry-level iPad model rather than a miniature version of the iPad Pro. An iPad Mini update has been a long time coming — Apple last updated the device with the iPad Mini 4 back in 2015.Kuo also says that Apple is still looking at either late 2018 or early 2019 for the AirPower charging mat along with the rumored AirPod update that would add a Qi-compatible case. It’s still not clear whether those will be showing up at next week’s event, or if Apple will even mention the still missing charging pad at all. Read the rest

The UK's housing crisis is much like the one in certain American cities — nimbyism, runaway housing prices, political paralysis — but with a British flavor of madness that allows for deeply unpleasant solutions. The local delicacy: car-dependent exurban developments made of uncanny cookie-cutter housing clusters in the middle of nowhere, with no shops, pubs, schools, cafés or public transport, surrounded by highways and austerity.Jenny Raggett, researcher at Transport for New Homes, said: "We were appalled to find so many new housing developments built around the car with residents driving for almost every journey.“As those cars head for our towns and cities they clog up existing roads. Commuter times get longer and longer. Car-based living of this kind is not good for our health or quality of life.”Pictured above is a street view of Prior's Hall Park, near Corby, a new subdivision surrounded by three industrial parks and apparently inspired by childrens' drawings of bricked-up Victorian tenements. Welcome to the center of the venn diagram of J.G. Ballard, Minecraft and $6-a-gallon gasoline. Read the rest

In 1882, a mysterious man using a false name married and murdered a well-to-do widow in Essex County, New York. While awaiting the gallows he composed poems, an autobiography, and six enigmatic cryptograms that have never been solved. In this week's episode of the Futility Closet podcast we'll examine the strange case of Henry Debosnys, whose true identity remains a mystery.We'll also consider children's food choices and puzzle over a surprising footrace.Show notesPlease support us on Patreon! Read the rest

Tom the Dancing Bug, IN WHICH you are trapped in a house with Donald Trump, who is either a charming master manipulator using subtle trickery to make you doubt your own reality, or a shouty liar.

The assassination and dismemberment of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi (previously) finally accomplished what decades of detailed reports of human rights abuses and years of increasingly grave details of a brutal proxy war in Yemen could not do: it made the Saudi royal family into international pariahs, even among the plutocrat class who had fattened themselves off of Saudi money.But not everyone is willing to write off the House of Saud and its current leader Mohammed bin Salman, AKA "Mister Bone Saw," the man widely believed to have ordered Khashoggi's murder. While many of the world's elites pulled out of the "Davos in the Desert" conference (previously) that was supposed to bring the Saudi royals closer to western business interests, many attended on the delusional basis that this conference would not be used to burnish the credentials of a murdering crowned thug.Of course, this was obviously not true, and the 3,000 attendees at the "Future Investment Initiative" were treated to a surprise visit by the butcher-prince, and dutifully rose to their feet to give him a standing ovation.Among those in attendance: Tally Zingher, chief executive of Dawsat; Ken Moelis, the founder and chief executive of Moelis & Co; Henry Biner, an executive at the Boston-based P/E Investments; officials from Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, and Citigroup; Michael Slater of Northern Trust; Lubna S. Olayan, the deputy chairwoman of the Olayan Financing Co; journalists from Sky and RT, and others. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin travelled to Riyadh to meet with the prince but did not attend the conference. Read the rest

The tombstones at the Haunted Mansions in Disney's themeparks are a kind of credit reel that pay tribute to the Imagineers who made the Mansion possible; in this short Disney video, you get some potted biographies of the honorees, from Claude Coats to Marc Davis to Harriet Burns to the incredible and weird Rolly Crump. Read the rest

The Groundlings — the comedy troupe that boasts top-notch alumni like Paul Reubens, Cassandra Peterson, Phil Hartman, and many more — are now producing original sketch comedy shorts on YouTube. Here is a look at what they've got so far:If you're in the Los Angeles area, check out their live sketch comedy Halloween show this Friday or Saturday. Read the rest