Boing Boing

If quantum computing becomes practical, it will be able to crack encrypted data in an instant. Forbes has created a good two-minute video that gives a high level overview of quantum computation.If you want to know more, Simon Singh's fantastic The Code Book gives a much more in-depth (yet still easy to understand) explanation of how quantum computing works. I can't recommend this book highly enough. Read the rest

In 1993, Trent Reznor/Nine Inch Nails composed music for the first station ID for MTV Japan created by the inimitable Shinya Tsukamoto, director of cyberpunk/horror films like Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989). Of course, Reznor later penned the below theme song for Tsukamoto's 2010 film "Tetsuo: The Bullet Man." (via r/ObscureMedia) Read the rest

What happens when you keep your television off for about two months? Sometimes, once you turn it back on, you'll find it has become home to an ant colony, at least for one guy who posted this video on reddit, showing a city of ants busying themselves behind his television screen. He asks the reddit world what he should do to get rid of them.One commenter suggested leaving the TV on with bright white light, which would supposedly encourage the ants to move to a darker place, while another commenter said he might try taking the television apart and cleaning it, but damaging the set would be a risk. Another said there was no other solution but to toss this TV and buy a new one.And why are there ants in the TV set? Maybe they are "raspberry crazy ants," which are drawn to electrical equipment. According to Wikipedia:Infestations of Nylanderia fulva in electrical equipment can cause short circuits, sometimes because the ants chew through insulation and wiring. Overheating, corrosion, and mechanical failures also result from accumulations of dead ants and nest detritus in electrical devices. If an ant is electrocuted, it can release an alarm pheromone in dying, which causes other ants to rush over and search for attackers. If a large enough number of ants collects, it may short out systems.It is unclear why colonies of Nylanderia fulva, like many species of ants, are attracted to electrical equipment. They may sense the magnetic fields that surround wires conducting electric current, or they prefer the warmth produced by resistance to the currents in the wires. Read the rest

Patrisha Organo (24) is a Philippine Airlines flight attendant. She was working on a flight on November 6 when she heard a baby crying, "a cry that will make you want to do anything to help," she wrote on Facebook. She asked the mother what the matter was and the mother told her that she'd run out of baby formula. Organo led the mother and baby into the galley and breastfed the baby. "I saw the relief on her mother’s eyes," she wrote. "I continued to feed the baby until she fell asleep. I escorted her back to her seat and just before I left, the mother sincerely thanked me."Image: Facebook Read the rest

In the 1980s, Pennsylvania-based Michele Mercure was composing music for theater, film, and TV animation. After a trip to the Netherlands, she became inspired by the German kosmiche music scene of Kluster, Tangerine Dream, and the like. But Mercure cut her own path into experimental electronic music, weaving her synthetic, rhythmic soundscapes with strange samples and cut-up vocalizations, resulting in tracks that move between abstract and ambient dreamscapes and mechanized intensity. For decades, Mercure's self-released cassettes (under the name Michelle Musser) moved through underground trading circles but many of those recordings will now reach a wider group of heads. Beside Herself is a gorgeous 19-track Michele Mercure retrospective released today by the esteemed curators at RVNG Intl. and Freedom To Spend labels. To celebrate the release, Mercure and Mary Haverstick created the wonderful "Electronumentary" above. Below, one of the album tracks. From RVNG:Mercure’s artistic path never ran through creative meccas New York, San Francisco or Los Angeles. Raised in Springfield, Massachusetts, and then moving to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, in her twenties, Mercure was already an adept musician when she encountered a local and lively theater scene, and was asked to score an unorthodox performance of Waiting for Godot. The experience was pivotal in marrying music and image for Mercure, and so she began making music for film, television, dance, and theater. It wasn’t until a long sojourn in Eindhoven, however, that she became transfixed by electronic music (ala Conrad Schnitzler, whom she would correspond with for years) that would inform her music to come. Read the rest

If you're bored with fugu, give feseekh a try. According to Great Big Story, "Feseekh, or fermented mullet fish, can cause poisoning or even death if not prepared properly."Image: YouTube Read the rest

For readers, Scribd has long been a fount of content, and it's only growing. With 40 million titles to choose from, this service has plenty to offer to its more than 750,000 subscribers.Whether you're into audiobooks, novels, nonfiction or magazines, Scribd is the only subscription service with access to titles from all "Big 5" global publishers. That's more than one million books from the classics to new releases, accessible on your browser or mobile app. The more you use it, the more Scribd stokes your curiosity with curated reading lists and personalized recommendations. Create your own virtual bookshelf, download your favorites - it's all there for bookworms to burrow into. Even if you plow through two books a day, you'd never get to the bottom of Scribd's deep well of content.Various options are available, but there are discounts on a 1-year subscription to Scribd ($85) or 6 months ($45). Give it a spin and start reading today. Read the rest

Leave it to Texas to have high school varsity teams dedicated to barbecuing. Here's a story about how some students at a high school in northern Texas are learning to compete with meat. WFAA reports:Horticulture teacher Tommy Copeland helped start his team at [Ennis High School] after discovering an annual state tournament in Burnet where over 100 schools compete...At Ennis High, the barbecue team is like a Texas hybrid of metal shop and home economics. The students fabricate and weld their own cooker together then use it to compete.Copeland and other vocational teachers assist the students in learning how to be pitmasters. Teachers or instructors aren’t allowed to help students during cook-offs, and they’re judged on best beef brisket, pork ribs, ½ chicken, best beans, dessert, best pit, most school spirit, and best t-shirt....he only requirements to be on the barbecue team? Maintain a passing average and be a senior.However—that doesn’t stop Copeland from mentoring aspiring juniors who have interest in the team like Marshall Sladecek.Before Ennis’ home football game against Corsicana, he and some other juniors got some ‘ribs practice’ outside the stadium. “We all barbecue, why not take it to the competition level?” Sladecek said. “Every guy needs to know how to do it.”...“When these boys leave here, they are kings of their grills,” Copeland said. Read the rest

Vancouver indie rock band Said The Whale spent over 80 hours putting together the music video for their song "UnAmerican." Impressively, zero digital effects were used to stop-motion animate the 2,250 different photos. The band painstakingly did that all by hand. Wow! (Nag on the Lake) Read the rest

Emile Ratelband, a Netherlands media personality and motivational speaker, is 69 years old but believes he has the body of someone 20 years younger. To fix the perceived discrepancy, he has now brought forth a lawsuit to legally change his age. The Dutchman wants to be seen as younger to get better jobs and to have better luck connecting with ladies on Tinder. He compares his plight with being transgender. Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf quotes him as saying, "You can change your name. You can change your gender. Why not your age? Nowhere are you so discriminated against as with your age."And also, "When I'm 69, I'm limited. When I'm on tinder and it says 69, I don't get an answer. When I'm 49 with the face I have, I'll be in a luxurious position."The Dutchman describes himself as a "young god."In four weeks, a local court in Arnhem will make its decision on his case. If the court rules in his favor, the "young god" has said he'll give up his pension.BBC: Dutchman, 69, brings lawsuit to lower his age 20 yearsimage via 360Nobs.com Read the rest

I've just published a comprehensive explainer on Medium about the EU's new Copyright Directive, which was sabotaged at the last minute, when MEP Axel Voss snuck in the long-discredited ideas of automatically censoring anything a bot thinks infringes copyright and banning unpaid links to news articles.After a million Europeans signed a petition calling for a debate on the new proposals, a divided opposition failed to kill them. But hope is not lost: the new Italian government has changed position on the proposals and now the opposition constitutes a potential "blocking minority" that could kill the whole thing -- provided they could work together.The new Directive is now in the “trilogues” — closed-door negotiations between the E.U.’s Parliament and individual national governments. Normally, these are a formality that takes place out of public view. However, the current trilogue is both more contested and more public than any in the E.U.’s history.The European Court of Justice has ruled that Europeans are entitled to know what happens in these trilogue negotiations, and German Pirate Party MEP Julia Reda has pledged to publish the negotiating documents (and she’s kept her word).What’s more, the trilogues coincide with political changes in Italy, and the Italian government has withdrawn its support for Articles 11 and 13. This brings the proportion of Europeans who oppose these articles past the critical threshold of 35%, a theoretical “blocking minority” that could scuttle the entire proposal (assuming they can avoid the trap the opposition fell into last time: agreeing that these rules aren’t appropriate but disagreeing on what to do about it). Read the rest

The MIT Media Lab's Spatial Flux Project was created by Carson Smuts and Chrisoula Kapelonis to imagine and prototype soft inflatable robots that would be designed to operate in zero-gee, where there is no up or down and "we do not have to contend with architecture's greatest arch-nemesis, gravity."Their work is a set of shoes-on-a-snake weird pneumatic tentaclebots are brilliant and Gigeresque. In the City Science group, we explore the diversity of formal arrangements necessary to accommodate the spatial gradients of our lives—at work, rest, and play. We are in the process of developing a full-scale, multi-modal kinetic space (escPod); the moment the human body surrenders itself to space is our inspiration: sitting at a desk, lounging on a couch, or in a deep slumber. How do we define surface architecturally when our current gravity-based vocabulary was not born of zero gravity and will not suffice? What opportunities can this state of flux provide for architects when designing for the body? Architects are married to an XY (north/south) cartesian grid, with Z (gravity) being the main point of reference for many architectural elements. We would like to force ourselves to imagine these elements without an XYZ reference, rethinking our descriptions of them.Spatial Flux: Body and Architecture in Space [Carson Smuts and Chrisoula Kapelonis/MIT Media Lab](via JWZ) Read the rest

Proud Democratic Socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez ran an insurgent campaign (working nights as a bartender in NYC with her campaigning clothes stashed in a paper bag behind the bar, changing after her shift and working the streets) that conquered New York, went national, and emboldened a "progressive caucus" of new Democratic legislators: now she's going to Congress to serve as the youngest woman ever elected to the lower house. Only one problem: she can't afford to rent a DC apartment for the three months between the election and her swearing-in, when she'll start drawing her Congressional salary. Read the rest

If you paid extra for Windows 10 "Pro," Microsoft had an unpleasant surprise for you: a misconfiguration in the company's license server resulted in the oldest Win 10 Pro installs (that is, those owned by Microsoft's earliest adopting customers) being downgraded to Windows 10 Home, with users' screens plastered with watermarks chiding them for not paying for their licenses (this went over great for everyone who was standing in front of an audience giving a presentation, apparently).After a period of initial confusion, Microsoft finally admitted something was broken. Read the rest

Canadian turnkey e-commerce giant Shopify has kicked its farthest-right customers off the service, banning made-in-Canada racists like the Proud Boys, but not wink-nudging white supremacists like Breitbart. Read the rest

Internet funnyperson Choire "Awl" Sicha (previously) has a new gig: New York Times advice columnist; Sicha is not fucking around either: "The only circumstance in which you can ask this woman out is if she sends you a literal ink-on-paper invitation to do so, like, in calligraphy and maybe with a seal stamped in wax, which would be awesome. (Also might mean she’s a vampire?) But, sure, you can totally ask her out if you don’t care about (1) her security about working with men in any capacity forever or (2) your career! Then have a blast, cannonball as many lives as possible on your way down the trash chute." (via Kottke) Read the rest

In 1918, there was plenty of speculation about 2018; in 2018, no one is talking about 2118. Bruce Sterling discusses the relationship of industrial design to science fiction; the New Aesthetic and Turinese architecture; and many other subjects with Benjamin Bratton. (via Beyond the Beyond) Read the rest

You're wheeling your haul out of Costco only to be accosted by the receipt-checker at the exit. You're fine, though, because you're not shoplifting anything. That slightly annoying feeling that the store assumes you're a criminal, it turns out, is tragically unwarranted, because those guys don't even care if you're shoplifting. In fact, the receipt-checkers are some kind of internal store Gestapo keeping tabs on the checkout cashiers.Writes one former employee: “Trust me, we’re not loss prevention, we have loss prevention in the store and that’s not us. We’re literally just trying to make sure our cashiers do the job right, and when we DO catch it, all the information gets stored. Who did it, what time, etc...and those cashiers get spoken to. This is not to benefit anyone but the member to improve the experience overall.” It's useful to remember that everything is not only worse than you think it is, but in ways you haven't yet considered. Read the rest

Perhaps strange things will yet again be afoot at the Circle K.From Comicbook.com:"Well, we're in pre-prep and are set to shoot in early 2019," Winter told The Hollywood Reporter. "So right now, all systems are go. My old line when Blockbuster was in business was that I'd never believe a film was a go until the video was at Blockbuster. But I don't know what to say anymore...Netflix?"Not long after the first official synopsis was released and Bill and Ted Face the Music looked like it was going to become a reality, Winter's co-star Keanu Reeves made some comments that chilled some of the heat fans were generating, essentially saying that the film was still looking for funding -- a consistent problem for years now. Shortly thereafter, Winter spoke at the Television Critics Association this week and told fans that despite Reeves's words of caution, the project is still moving forward a the same pace as it was.The threequel, which will see a middle-aged Bill Preston and Ted Logan trying to figure out why the future they were promised has still not happened."The fan response has been enormous. It helped us get the financing because there was an overwhelmingly positive response to the idea of us doing this," Winter said. "Even in the age of internet comment trolling, we haven't really encountered any pervasive negativity. The concerns that I've encountered are totally valid - don't screw up the tone of the first two, make it a real Bill & Ted movie. Read the rest

Who's the VC you most admire? Is it "super angel" investor Marc Andreessen, the 47-year-old billionaire behind over 40 successful startups? Or maybe it's Mary Meeker, the legendary VC who Forbes listed as the 77th most powerful woman in the world in 2014.Whoever it is, TouchBase has got your investor worship covered with their new line of VC trading cards. They look like baseball cards -- stats and all -- but are much, much better.VCtradingcards.com is the leading online seller of TouchBase investor trading cards.We carry vintage and rare cards from the 1994 Sand Hill Road Series, the 2010 Gig Economy Series, the 1992 Private Equity Series, the 2015 Unicorn Series, and more.Some of our rarest VC cards include Don Valentine (Sequoia, investor in Atari), Mike Markkula (Angel, investor in Apple), and Jenny Lee (GGV, investor in AliBaba). You never know which cards you'll get in your packs.Many of the VCs featured have had multiple exits, but are on their way to more. This makes their cards highly collectible.And, if your favorite investor, or founder, isn't yet on a card, you can ask the company to print them on a future one.These are real. A VC Trading Cards five-pack is available for $59.99. Steep for ordinary folks, yes, but not Silicon Valley wheelers and dealers. Get'em while you can!Thanks, You! Read the rest

Julien's Auctions is running a large auction of Playboy founder Hugh Hefner's stuff, including several pairs of his pajamas, board games, a pipe, and this sharp smoking jacket. Described as "a scarlet silk damask smoking jacket with shawl collar and self-tie belt closure," the high estimate is $5,000 but I bet it goes for much more. According to Julien's, "All proceeds of the sale will benefit the Hugh M. Hefner foundation in support of organizations that advocate for and defend civil rights, with special emphasis on first amendment rights and rational sex and drug policies since 1964."Hugh Hefner Bespoke Smoking Jacket (via Uncrate) Read the rest

Grant Morrison's "The Invisibles," the groundbreaking magickal 1990s comic series about a secret society fighting for our freedom in a world of high weirdness, will come to the small screen as part of the artist/writer's deal with Universal Cable Productions. From Variety:UCP is currently in production on Season 2 of “Happy!,” based on Morrison and Darick Robertson’s graphic novel of the same name. The Syfy series is executive produced by Morrison and Brian Taylor who also co-wrote the pilot. The series follows Nick Sax (Christopher Meloni), a corrupt ex-cop turned hit man whose life is changed by a relentlessly positive, imaginary blue winged horse named Happy (voice of Patton Oswalt).UCP, along with Amblin Television, is also working with Morrison, Taylor and David Wiener on adapting Aldous Huxley’s iconic dystopian novel “Brave New World.” Morrison serves as a writer and executive producer. Read the rest

Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker, Trump's replacement for fired Attorney General Jeff Sessions, thinks that if you're not Christian, you shouldn't be a federal judge. Judges should be "people of faith" and need to have a “biblical view of justice," and Whitaker would like to see a person's "world view," because if they have a secular world view, he'd be "very concerned with how they judge."Whitaker revealed his ignorance with these remarks during a 2014 conservative forum while vying for the Republican US Senate nomination in Iowa.The takeaway from this: According to the acting Attorney General of the United States, if you're open-minded, don't be a judge. Read the rest

This is just a glimpse of a photo Charlie Sorrel took of a new iPad Pro affixed, by no greater power than that of magnetism, to his fridge.I wouldn’t do this regularly. It’s far too scary, and the consequences dire, especially as a kitchen often has the hardest of all floor coverings — tiles — ready to smash the screen of your beautiful new 2018 iPad Pro. Read the rest

I might be 12, but my brain went straight to the gutter when I saw this weird banana-filling gadget. This thing is marketed to kids, even though it seems rather inappropriate!So, this is how the $27 "Banana Surprise" works. You cut off the tip, just the tip. Then, you rest the fruit in the "Yumstation." Now, this is where the fun begins. You get out the tool and jam it into the end and then quickly pull out. And now, according to the directions, it's time to fill that hole with some sweet syrup, fruit puree, or cream. Surprise, you have an oozing, dripping piece of phallic fruit!It's just a banana. It's just a banana. It's just a banana.Related: The phallic pop-up egg-on-a-stick cooker gadget(Geekologie) Read the rest

The biggest single improvement to my sourdough baking hobby has been using a pre-heated dutch oven.Baking sourdough in a dutch oven works amazingly well. I'm seeing improved oven spring, ridiculous crusts, and better bread in general.I've been baking with sourdough since 2010 or so. The very first boule I baked came out of the oven perfect. I then spent years trying to figure out why I couldn't consistently repeat that loaf.First thing I blamed was proofing times. It took me a while to figure out the natural rhythm of the starter I made, and while I now know sort-of when and where this yeast is in its cycle. Working with your starter a lot is the only way I know around this. Until I figured it out, I made amazing sourdough waffles, pretzels, but the bread might be dense, or suffer from any other myriad ferment related problems. Pretzels and waffles don't need the yeast to rise much.For a while, I blamed my kneading of the bread. I tried the stand-up mixer, then I tried no-knead recipes. I found the Breadtopia method most right for my style of baking, but I ignored the dutch oven part of the recipe. I had baking stones and pizza steels and spray bottles of water to keep things damp -- what could a dutch oven do for me? View this post on InstagramA post shared by Jason Weisberger (@jlw) on Oct 7, 2018 at 11:03am PDT View this post on InstagramA post shared by Jason Weisberger (@jlw) on Oct 8, 2018 at 12:03pm PDT View this post on InstagramA post shared by Jason Weisberger (@jlw) on Oct 7, 2018 at 10:01am PDT View this post on InstagramA post shared by Jason Weisberger (@jlw) on Oct 8, 2018 at 5:03pm PDT View this post on InstagramA post shared by Jason Weisberger (@jlw) on Oct 26, 2018 at 11:02am PDT I highly recommend using parchment paper to transport your proofed dough into the dutch oven. Read the rest

When Disney's Captain Marvel put out a PSA encouraging their fans to vote, they also, unwittingly, encouraged people to call a sex hotline.In their get-out the-vote ad, Captain Marvel lead Brie Larson is standing in a phone booth surrounded by Rock the Vote posters. "CAPTAIN MARVOTE IS A BAD PUN BUT NOW THAT I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION PLEASE VOTE TOMORROW," she says in a tweet.CAPTAIN MARVOTE IS A BAD PUN BUT NOW THAT I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION PLEASE VOTE TOMORROW pic.twitter.com/ZhXk5Qzkt5— Brie Larson (@brielarson) November 5, 2018But along with her encouraging words is a phone number displayed on the booth's telephone, a number which was obviously photoshopped by the folks on the Captain Marvel promotional team. Obvious because the number – 1-800-654-2192 – was an ABC number ("It used to appear in shows like The Suite Life of Zac and Cody, and if you called it, you got an automated message from the network," according to Daily Dot). And ABC is a subsidiary of Disney, who distributes Captain Marvel.Of course some Marvel fans were intrigued by the number and gave it a call, but rather than connecting to a superhero, they were greeted by a recording that says: “Welcome to America’s hottest talk line. Guys, hot ladies are waiting to talk to you—press 1 now. Ladies, to talk to interesting and exciting guys, free, press 2 to connect free now...." Either ABC is looking for new ways to turn a profit, or they dumped the number but forgot to delete it from their phone book. Read the rest

Chris Christie's not my first choice to watch being dragged naked and whimpering to the White House lectern and then chained to a ring on it, but beggars can't be choosers.Former Gov. Chris Christie is being considered to replace Jeff Sessions as attorney general, according to a CBS News report that cited “two sources familiar with the matter.”Christie is among several candidates reportedly on the list of those being considered after Sessions, who had a tortured relationship with President Donald Trump, was forced out Wednesday as the nation's chief law enforcement officer. Read the rest

A Breaking Bad movie will start production this month in Duke City, New Mexico according to the New Mexico Film Office. The film, currently identified as "Greenbrier," "tracks the escape of a kidnapped man and his quest for freedom," according to the Albuquerque Journal:This is the first project for Vince Gilligan – who created “Breaking Bad” and co-created the spinoff, “Better Call Saul” – after signing a three-year deal with Sony Pictures Television in July...Details on which characters will be returning from the TV series to the film have not been released."Yes, there appears to be a movie version of 'Breaking Bad, but I honestly have not even read the script," Bryan Cranston said on The Dan Patrick Show. "I have not gotten the script, I have not read the script. So there's the question of whether or not we'll even see Walter White in this movie. Think about that one." Read the rest

"I hadn't quite understood the full extent of this," Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union Dominic Raab said, "but if you look at the UK and you look at how we trade in goods, we're particularly reliant on the Dover-Calais crossing." [via James Felton]Raab hopes to find a "bespoke arrangement" which "recognizes the peculiar, frankly, geographic economic entity that is the United Kingdom."Islands, Dominic. They're called islands. Read the rest

Chain reaction artist Kaplamino used rubber bands to add fun surprises to his latest tilted table marble video. Read the rest

Sacha Baron Cohen became Borat for a day to ask Republican voters some questions, like "Who are the fake news people who say [Trump] is not a racist? I'm a racist and it's nice." Read the rest

Airline in-flight safety videos are now more creative than ever.First case in point: Taiwanese airline EVA Air is using interpretive dance in their safety video, over five long minutes of it. According to the airline's press release, it was choreographed by Bulareyaung Pagarlava, a member of Taiwan's indigenous Paiwan community. They describe the video as "a work of art that’s as captivating as it is informative." Sure.And, second, here's a brand new one from Air New Zealand. It's got a tune ("It's Kiwi (Safety)") that sounds an awful lot like RUN-DMC's "It's Tricky." Their version was filmed in several New Zealand locales with a cast of 600! It "stars well-known Kiwi actor Julian Dennison (Hunt for the Wilderpeople, Deadpool2), local musicians Kings, Theia and Randa as well as talent from 30 community groups across the country."(Nag on the Lake) Read the rest

Trump fired Jeff Sessions the morning after the midterm elections and appointed lawyer Matthew Whitaker as acting United States Attorney General. Whitaker has a long history of sucking up to Trump and saying Mueller's Trump/Russia investigation must be stopped. Quartz has assembled a list of the times Whitaker has been critical of the investigation and of Mueller.Here are a few quotes from Whitaker's op-eds, tweets, and media appearances:“Hollow calls for independent prosecutors are just craven attempts to score cheap political points and serve the public in no measurable way.”“there is no criminal obstruction of justice charge to be had here [against Trump].” “I could see a scenario where Jeff Sessions is replaced, it would [be a] recess appointment and that attorney general doesn’t fire Bob Mueller but he just reduces his budget to so low that his investigations grinds to almost a halt.”"Note to Trump's lawyer: Do not cooperate with Mueller lynch mob"Worth a read. "Note to Trump's lawyer: Do not cooperate with Mueller lynch mob" https://t.co/a1YY9H94Ma via @phillydotcom— Matt Whitaker 🇺🇸 (@MattWhitaker46) August 7, 2017Image: Twitter Read the rest

Put some floating disembodied heads on your gift wrap this year with Gift Wrap My Face. They will make you wrapping paper custom made with your face on it... or someone else's. Here's what Abraham Lincoln looks like on some Christmas paper: And here's what I look like on one of their Thanksgiving designs:Maybe I should have centered my photo better in their template but you get the idea.There are a lot of background designs to choose from and prices start at $9.95.(The Awesomer) Read the rest

This video is really gorgeous and trippy. Animator Henning M. Lederer (previously) has once again taken vintage paperbacks and put their op-art covers in motion. There are 66 animated covers in total this round. (swissmiss) Read the rest

Microsoft Office tools were created to save you time. We take that for granted in the modern office, but if you truly want to learn how to spur those old Office warhorses like Excel and PowerPoint, there's no better investment than the A to Z Microsoft Office Bundle.This online training course is suitable for the Office newbie but goes far beyond the basics. You'll get a boot camp in Word and essential tips in PowerPoint design, but the bundle does more than just help make your presentations look pretty. You'll learn to effectively wrangle your data with Excel and Access, then integrate that data into those same PowerPoint shows and Outlook messages in a way that gets everyone on the same page. Lastly, you'll learn to manage corporate reports with Power BI for a birds-eye look at any company mission.That's all packed into 8 courses, covering everything you need to navigate the modern workplace. Grab the A to Z Microsoft Office Bundle for $29 today. Read the rest

You've probably never seen a bowler knock down a strike quite like this. I mean, what are the chances?Wasn't planned or done over and over, it just happened. Triggers asthma at the end.(digg) Read the rest

Wells Fargo is America's most scandal-haunted bank, which is quite an accomplishment in a heavily competitive field; now the bank has started closing its branches and cutting jobs (after pressuring employees to commit mass fraud on pain of being fired and blacklisted from the industry).The company has also declared itself to have an "excess of capital" and has committed to spending $40.6 billion on stock buybacks -- a form of financial engineering that drives up stock prices without improving the company's underlying financials or business. Some of Wells Fargo's largest individual shareholders are its executives, who've effectively just voted to give themselves massive, multi-million-dollar raises.The buybacks come on the heels of Trump's latest round of tax-cuts, which he said would boost jobs and wages, despite the fact that they encourage financial engineering of the sort that leads to business units shutting down, their workers being fired, and the responsible execs pocketing tax-free fortunes.Wells Fargo has laid off 26,500 employees since the Trump tax-bill passed. It is notable that Wells Fargo’s CEO describes the company as having an “excess of capital,” despite the fact that it is laying off workers, outsourcing jobs, and continuing to pay its employees nearly poverty-level wages. A fair wage for front-line bank workers is a critical part of the improved working conditions required to create an accountable financial institution that Wells Fargo has committed to being. Fair pay for workers helps companies attract and retain a qualified, committed workforce. It also provides economic security and autonomy, preventing workers from living paycheck to paycheck and being forced into a dependent work relationship that keeps them from speaking out when executives, like those at Wells Fargo, push them to commit fraud. Read the rest

At least 13 are dead after a gunman opened fire at a crowded bar in Thousand Oaks, California. The dead include the shooter and a Sheriff's sergeant who tried to stop him.A man, identified by authorities as Ian David Long, 29, entered the Borderline Bar and Grill at 11.20pm, threw smoke grenades into the crowd, then fired dozens of rounds into it, eyewitnesses say. Long was reportedly dressed entirely in black and wearing a mask.Authorities do not know what his motive was, but Ventury County Sheriff Geoff Dean told reporters that he has "no reason to beleive there was a link to terrorism" and that the only weapon recovered was a "modified" .45 Glock handgun. The sergeant killed in the attack was a 29-year veteran about to retire, according to wire reports.Thousand Oaks is an upscale LA exurb listed as one of the safest places to live in America. The Borderline Bar & Grill is described by Google as "a lively spot with Western decor & dancing" hosting country and salsa theme nights.Pepperdine University in nearby Malibu reports that some of its students were there attending a "student night" event.Updated at 10 a.m. with the shooters' name and weapon. ABC News says Long was a USMC veteran. Read the rest

I still have Indian dust on my shoes from the city of Bangalore, where I spent almost a week at the international literary festival.I was mind-boggled at the scale of this national Indian event: literature, politics, activism, feminism. There was music and even street art, but what a crowd. Sixteen thousand highly literate participants, roaming from one outdoor stage to another, and engaged with every atom of their souls.Literary culture persists in this part of the world, where people still believe that leafing through books is a transformative spiritual experience that can change the world.Authors of the first world, beset with Internet and economic crisis, often seem like plastic vanity-toys kept past their sell-by date, but maybe what they lack most keenly is a creative readership. As a passionate reader, I often claim it is more difficult to read a book well than it is to to write one. As a less passionate writer, I know that even one ideal reader is enough to motivate a decent book.The beautiful literary carnival -- held on the broad, leafy grounds of one of Bangalore’s finest hotels, an oasis of glamor and privilege -- contrasted with the crooked streets of Bangalore where the sacred cows, pariah dogs and torrents of honking traffic live with a passion for survival. This was not my first visit to India, so I was ready for the epic scale of grandeur and abject poverty, but it was still a culture shock.The jet-set’s digitized skyscrapers tower like phantoms over vast bazaars seething with a seize-the-day human vitality. Read the rest

Docubyte's Visual History of Computing 1945-1979 is a mix of superb staging, outstanding photography, and intense nostalgia, and it just made my day.(Thanks, /nev/dull!) Read the rest

Canada's Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau -- a man who is willing to say the most progressive, laudable things imaginable, provided he doesn't have to do anything -- has steadfastly refused to cancel Canada's planned $15 billion sale of antipersonnel weapons to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, despite the incipient genocide in Yemen and the Kingdom's practice of dismembering critical journalists.Trudeau's excuses for staying in the deal would be laughable, if they weren't so terrible.But Canadians are way out ahead of their PM on this one: 9 in 10 Canadians surveyed by Angus Reid want no future arms deals with Saudi; 76% say Canadians companies should be banned from selling arms to Saudi; and 46% want the current deal cancelled (a share that has grown by 6% in a year).Trudeau came into power on wings of hope, replacing a catastrophic petro-Tory regime that spent 12 years imposing austerity, denying climate change, and sabotaging science. Trudeau's record since? Increasing digital surveillance; breaking promises on the crises of Canada's First Nations and on reconciliation for the horrors of the past; selling billions in arms to genocidal maniacs; being more pro-pipeline than Trump; and presiding over the rise and mainstreaming of far-right hate groups and overt white supremacists and the Ontario election of a virulent hate-monger authoritarian whose gerrymandering might doom the province to a decades-long interregnum of hate, stagnation and ignorance. While a majority of Canadians (63%) say they have followed the news of Jamal Khashoggi’s murder, it does not appear to have an impact on views of the Saudi Arms deal. Read the rest

The White House has suspended the press credentials of CNN's Jim Acosta after President Trump clashed with the reporter during today's batshit crazy press conference.In a statement from Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Acosta is accused of putting his hands on the intern who tried to take away his mic. Video clearly shows that did not happen. UPDATE: After an outcry from several media outlets and the White House Correspondents Association, Sarah Sanders doubled down on the claim that Accosta manhandled the intern who tried to take his mic. You'll notice the timing is a bit off in the video. That's because the video has been sped up to make it look like Acosta "chopped" the intern's arm. The source of the edited video Sarah Sanders used? Paul Joseph Watson of Prison Planet/Infowars. Read the rest

In the video above, the always-fascinating Paola Antonelli, architecture and design curator at New York's Museum of Modern Art, takes us through the history of the hoodie, "a humble masterpiece," beginning in ancient Greece and Rome. Read the rest

Hundreds of #ProtectMueller protests and other events are planned for Thursday, November, 8, at 5pm local time. Here is a list by state and town.From the organizers, civic.moveon.org:NOBODY IS ABOVE THE LAW—MUELLER PROTECTION RAPID RESPONSEPROTESTS CALLED FOR THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 5 PM LOCAL TIME.Donald Trump has installed a crony to oversee the special counsel's Trump-Russia investigation, crossing a red line set to protect the investigation. By replacing Rod Rosenstein with just-named Acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker as special counsel Robert Mueller's boss on the investigation, Trump has undercut the independence of the investigation. Whitaker has publicly outlined strategies to stifle the investigation and cannot be allowed to remain in charge of it. The Nobody Is Above the Law network demands that Whitaker immediately commit not to assume supervision of the investigation. Our hundreds of response events are being launched to demonstrate the public demand for action to correct this injustice. We will update this page as the situation develops.Donald Trump just crossed a red line, violating the independence of the investigation pursuing criminal charges in the Trump-Russia scandal and cover-up.Trump putting himself above the law is a threat to our democracy, and we’ve got to get Congress to stop him.We're mobilizing immediately to demand accountability, because Trump is not above the law.Please make note of the date, time, and description below to confirm that the host is able to organize the event on such short notice! In general, rallies are suggested to begin @ 5 PM local time. Read the rest

The Committee to Protect Journalists says authorities in Tanzania have forcibly detained Angela Quintal, Africa program coordinator at the Committee to Protect Journalists, and Muthoki Mumo, CPJ's sub-Saharan Africa representative. Their passports were seized.From CPJ:Officers who identified themselves as working with the Tanzanian immigration authority detained Quintal and Mumo in their hotel room in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, this evening, according to Quintal. The officials searched the pair's belongings and would not return their passports when asked. Quintal and Mumo were then escorted from the hotel and have been taken to an unknown location. They were in the country on a reporting mission for CPJ."We are concerned for the safety of our colleagues Angela Quintal and Muthoki Mumo, who were detained while legally visiting Tanzania," said Joel Simon, CPJ's executive director. "We call on the authorities to immediately release them and return their passports."PHOTO: Tanzanian immigration authorities detained CPJ Sub-Saharan Africa Representative Muthoki Mumo, left, and Africa Program Coordinator Angela Quintal in Dar es Salaam on November 7. (CPJ) Read the rest

GIF: John Keats, 1785-1921. Enjoy this beautiful, creepy, ethereal short ambient ambient video loop by Bill Domonkos, a filmmaker, GIF maker and stereoscopist. 'Limbo' brings to life 20 animated masks from the Laurence Hutton Collection of Life and Death Masks. This video is silent. [Vimeo Link]From the artist:LIMBO is an ambient video of 20 animated death/life masksfrom the Laurence Hutton Collection of Life and Death Masks.This video loop is designed for exhibition on a wall mounteddigital display or projection. This video is silent.Animation, editing and compositing by Bill DomonkosFor best experience view fullscreen.List of masks as they appear in the video:Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1749-1832John Keats, 1785-1921Giacomo Leopardi, 1798-1837L'Inconnue de la SeineJohn C. Calhoun, 1782-1850George Washington, 1732-1799Queen Louisa of Prussia, 1776-1810Ben Caunt, 1815-1861Dante Alighieri, 1265-1321Mary, Queen of Scots, 1542-1587Felix Mendelssohn, 1809-1847Jean Paul Marat, 1743-1793John Lawrence Sullivan, 1858-1918Henry George, 1839-1897Edward Kean, 1787-1833Abraham Lincoln, 1808-1865Elizabeth I, Queen of England, 1533-1603Ludwig van Beethoven, 1779-1827John James Audubon, 1785-1851Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, 1769-1821 Read the rest

Chacalall Orozco is a graphic designer from Mexico. “All of my work comes from self-exploration, pure expression, and intuition.”Here's his Tumblr, and his Behance. [via crossconnectmag.com] Read the rest

I've played enough of Rockstar Games' Red Dead Redemption 2.I didn't remember much of the first Red Dead Redemption. RDR was a massive "open world" western game. You could wander all over the map and do whatever you wanted.I found Red Dead Redemption kinda boring.I know I played it! The game was a big deal at the time. Friends in my small community of life-long video game aficionados were super excited to see this new installment: a modern massive "open world" western game.Red Dead Redemption 2 depresses me in the range of 2000's dreary movie Requiem for a Dream. Everything in the old west goes to shit for everyone. Nothing is working out well for you, or any NPC you meet.Life super sucks in the old west.You start the game as a grizzled and worn Old West bandit. Apparently your character is the #2 in a gang of broken down heist pullers who are on the run. Your leader, Dutch, really screwed up your last job, got some people killed or captured, and lost the loot. You are destitute and hunted by the law.Things don't get a lot better. The nature of western gunslingers is that death can come at any moment, so in RDR2 you are surrounded by it. Most encounters, even if you are working incredibly hard to be a nice guy and move through your world without too much violence, turn into murder.Roaming around the open world resulted in some dark adventures:I went to help a young journalist collect some research and ended up killing most of the people he needed me to interview. Read the rest