Punk rock label of note, Dischord, has made their entire 40-year catalog of music available on Bandcamp for free. While free, they're hoping listeners will chip in to support the artists. Bandcamp has waived their sales fees for three months so that all of the money will go to the artists.From the piece on Farout Magazine:While the foundations of punk music have multiple different influencers, seminal Washington DC punk label Dischord have always had their say. The independent label, co-owned by Ian MacKaye and Jeff Nelson, founded the company in 1980 in order to release Minor Disturbance by The Teen Idles. From there, Dischord focused on a nationwide network of underground bands and continued to spearhead the punk movement with their uncompromising approach to the music industry.“We don’t use contracts, lawyers, any of those kinds of things,” MacKaye once commented on the ethos of Dischord Records. “We are partners—they make the music, and we make the records.”Nelson, echoing MacKaye’s sentiment, added: “From the beginning of this label, people have said that the way we do things is unsustainable, unrealistic, idealistic, and we were just dreaming,” he said. “Well, the dream is now 35 years old, so they can go fuck themselves.”Read the rest here.First Demo by FugaziFirst Demo Tape by Minor ThreatUpdate: Just to be clear, the catalog is free to listen to online. If you want to download the records, you still have to pay. But hey, do that. Support artists! Read the rest

This is the AmazonBasics Folding Bike Lock. It's $28. Don't buy it."Because this can be opened so quickly with low-skill attacks, it should go without saying that I see this as a product to avoid," says the LockPickingLawyer. Read the rest

Wow. Voice actor Dee Bradley Baker is an incredibly talented man.Great Big Story:We are about to take you on an audio odyssey unlike any other. It’s kind of like ASMR for people who find the sounds of squealing pigs, angry squirrels and raging dinosaurs soothing. And it’s all from the mouth of Dee Bradley Baker, one of Hollywood’s top voice actors. Baker specializes in creatures and animals, and you know his voice. You’ve heard him as Perry the Platypus on “Phineas and Ferb,” Klaus the Fish on “American Dad” and Daffy Duck in “Space Jam.” A vocal genius, Baker invites us into his recording studio, where he improvises a series of sounds.screengrab via Great Big Story Read the rest

Spoken Word with Electronics is an audio series delivering to you a two side recording of unusual stories paired with vintage modular electronic soundsWelcome back, everyone. This week this series concludes the six part tribute to Paul Krassner. You'll find all the previous tracks in episodes 2,3,4, and 5. I will be collecting all of these tracks into an album later on Bandcamp. A link to that, if interested.Paul was a terrific human. In lieu of flowers, I recommend donating to his GoFundMe for his wife Nancy and other family.This episode is on the importance of dishonesty, distortion, and rumor spreading as personal freedoms to challenge authority, and the fun involved in such practices. So, LET'S GET FAKE!Spoken Word with Electronics · SPOKEN WORD WITH ELECTRONICS #8: Fake News NowSpoken Word with Electronics · Episode 8, Introduction: "FAKE NEWS NOW"Spoken Word with Electronics · Episode 8, Side A: Paul Krassner on "The Parts Left Out Of The 1967 LBJ Story"Spoken Word with Electronics · Episode 8, Side B: "Optimism" (Everybody You Meet is Relevant) — A Good Bye to PaulMay all the change you want in the world be the kind where you fake it til you make it.Talk with you next week, Continued Best - Ethan (Bandcamp/Soundcloud) Read the rest

From Paul Romer's website:Imagine a world in which the only way to get a soda is to get your doctor to write a prescription. It costs $20 per can. Your insurance company pays. The economy produces about 100,000 sodas each day.If you lived in this world, do you think you could get people to scale up the production of soda to a level of millions of cans per day? It would be a challenge, but not because it is hard to produce and distribute soda.Because they have to keep total costs from running out of control, insurance companies, health care providers, and government regulators have cobbled together a system that limits access to soda. One part of this system is an expensive regulatory process that has to approve:the ingredients in each particular brand of soda;the insert that comes with the soda informing patients about its risks and benefits;the delivery system used by the soda supplier, be it a glass bottle, an aluminum can, a paper cup, etc.Then, everyone decides that they want more soda. Why, they ask, can’t the nation produce enough soda for everyone to have some each day?[via The Browser]Photo by Jonny Caspari on Unsplash Read the rest

A few years ago I decided to piece together my own Peloton-compatible stationary bike, it has been a fantastic investment in me. Building your own is easy and significantly cheaper than buying the bike Peloton sells!Ironically placed in a window overlooking the Pacific for its first few years of service, my Sunny Bike was in storage for the last 12 months and I ached to get it back. When I packed my life into storage last April I thought I would be living in a new home by the end of summer, and haphazardly packed stuff into boxes as labeled by a madman. I did not take my cycling shoes, shorts, heart-rate monitor with me.Of the 11,000lbs of crap I had in storage, I spent a year missing 3 cardigans, my espresso machine, and the fakey-Peloton. I was thrilled when I saw the movers haul it out of the truck and bring it into my home. It took three days to find the espresso machine.In the months before going into storage, my physical therapist told me I had to stop riding the Sunny Bike as often as I had been. I was riding 5-6x a week and he suggested some of my back problems might be alleviated by riding less and doing more core building strength exercises. I find that riding the bike not only helped me burn calories, and maintain a better level of cardio fitness than I had in years, it was a huge emotional release, and frequently as I pedaled my heart out, I would just start to laugh or cry. Read the rest

The Trump White House today decided to ban Dr. Anthony Fauci and other members of the coronavirus task force from testifying before Congress for the next month, unless the chief of staff gives specific approval.What are they trying to cover up about Trump's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, besides literally everything?SCOOP: White House bars Fauci, members of the task force from testifying before Congress for the next month, except at the approval of the chief of staff.— Philip Wegmann (@PhilipWegmann) May 4, 2020White House stopped Fauci from testifying last week. New guidance will apply to all members of the task force for May. The goal is to make sure "task force members have the time they need to focus on the task at hand." https://t.co/F0HsCAkymq— Philip Wegmann (@PhilipWegmann) May 4, 2020Rep. DeLauro questions why White House is blocking Fauci from testifying before House panel https://t.co/9vZoWgETUJ pic.twitter.com/TsvF3GPp8u— The Hill (@thehill) May 4, 2020 Read the rest

His threatening social media posts attracted the attention of federal investigators

"Drawing used to be a civilized thing to do, like reading and writing. It was taught in elementary schools. It was democratic. It was a boon to happiness." - Michael KimmelmanWith so much chaos in the world, it’s never been more important to find activities that center us and bring us joy. And while we already know that the artist’s brain is different than the norm — literally — it doesn’t take being a classically trained artist to enjoy the process of picking up a pencil or pen and trying to represent life, either on paper or even on a digital canvas.Whether you’ve always loved to draw or even if you never thought you had a talent for it, The Complete Creative Art and Science of Drawing Bundle can develop your love, offer some fundamentals and possibly reignite a passion.This collection includes 12 courses and a combined 56 hours of instruction that can help any artist or even just an enthusiastic dabbler refine their talent and maybe even start seeing the work in a whole new way.After a brief introduction, coursework immediately gets down to focusing on some drawing basics, including how to properly sketch in your framework; represent perspective and show depth, incorporate detail and texture; and use dynamic markings to bring a basic form into sharpened reality. You’ll even find two courses on correct shading techniques as you understand how light plays across multiple different objects, and drawing accurate animal portraits.Of course, people are usually never far from most illustrations, so in addition to a basic course on the intricacies of figure drawing, you’ll get more in-depth explorations like mastering the rules for drawing a human head. Read the rest

A hacker is accused of bribing an employee of the game Roblox and gaining access that allowed the hacker to see user account info, reset passwords, and grant virtual in-game currency, by way of the back end customer support panel of the massively popular online video game.Roblox claims more than 100 million monthly users.Reports Joseph Cox at VICE Motherboard:With this access, the hacker could see users' email address, as well as change passwords, remove two-factor authentication from their accounts, ban users, and more, according to the hacker and screenshots of the internal system. The screenshots shared with Motherboard include the personal information of some of the most high profile users on the platform.The hacker could have looked up information on many users, although it appears they limited their actions to a handful of accounts. The news highlights not only the risk of insiders at companies exploiting their access to user data, but, with Roblox catering to a large audience of minors, how hackers may access the data of children."I did this only to prove a point to them," the hacker told Motherboard in an online chat. Motherboard granted the hacker anonymity to speak more candidly about a criminal incident.Roblox is available across PC, Xbox, and mobile devices. Users can create their own games with their platform's engine or play others' creations. Roblox also leans heavily into microtransactions, with users able to buy game-passes to access more powers and abilities, or they can purchase cosmetic items for their character with in-game currency. Read the rest

Utah Highway Patrol reports on an interesting traffic stop.One of our Troopers in Weber Co. initiated a traffic stop on what he thought was an impaired driver. Turns out it was this young man, age 5, somehow made his way up onto the freeway in his parents' car. Made it from 17th and Lincoln in Ogden down to the 25th St off-ramp SB I-15.One of our Troopers in Weber Co. initiated a traffic stop on what he thought was an impaired driver. Turns out it was this young man, age 5, somehow made his way up onto the freeway in his parents' car. Made it from 17th and Lincoln in Ogden down to the 25th St off-ramp SB I-15. pic.twitter.com/3aF1g22jRB— Utah Highway Patrol (@UTHighwayPatrol) May 4, 2020 Read the rest

Five years ago, a farmer in Anhui Province, China buried the equivalent of $280,000 on his property. Unfortunately when he recently dug up the cash, the bills were completely falling part. Apparently, employees at the Agricultural Bank of China did the best they could separate the mess of deteriorated paper bundles but he still lost about 25 percent of his savings. From UPI:According to the People's Bank of China's regulations, bills that retain 75 percent of their original features can be exchanged at full value, but bills disfigured such that only 50 to 75 percent of the note is recognizable, can only be exchanged for half the amount.FYI, here are United States Treasury Department's similar rules:Lawful holders of mutilated currency may receive a redemption at full value when:• Clearly more than 50 percent of a note identifiable as United States currency is present, along with sufficient remnants of any relevant security feature and clearly more than one-half of the original note remains; or,• Fifty percent or less of a note identifiable as United States currency is present and the method of mutilation and supporting evidence demonstrate to the satisfaction of the Treasury that the missing portions have been totally destroyed.image: Wikipedia Read the rest

Coronavirus isn't done killing people yet, but Carnival Cruise Line said Monday it will begin to phase-in cruises again starting August 1.Eight Carnival ships will be departing from Miami, Port Canaveral and Galveston. This seems rather ambitious.The best rate Carnival is offering on those departures is about $28 a day, including food.Are they going to Galapagos to learn about Charles Darwin? https://t.co/UXA4gAG1yk— Julia Ioffe (@juliaioffe) May 4, 2020 Read the rest

Nicholas Cage is to star in a Netflix TV show as Joe "Exotic" Maldonado-Passage, a roadside zookeeper jailed for animal abuse and for trying to arrange the murder of a prominent critic. Exotic's egomaniacal rise and fall, as charted in a recent reality TV show, gripped the nation in the early weeks of the coronavirus pandemic.Netflix’s documentary series Tiger King was a major surprise hit, spawning countless memes and tributes, plus an ill-advised aftershow episode. Unsurprisingly, the series’ success has rapidly inspired the development of more Tiger King-based projects, including a limited series (based on the Joe Exotic podcast) starring Kate McKinnon as Carole Baskin.The latest news is even more unbelievable, as Variety reports that none other than Nicolas Cage has signed on to play Joe Exotic in a scripted series from Dan Lagana (American Vandal showrunner) and Paul Young.Photoshop: Rob Beschizza Read the rest

The Facebook group Rock and Blues Club has a fun photo album of rock n' roll icons when they were youngins. See baby Brian May clutching a teddy bear, Neil Young looking like Huckleberry Finn, and Charlie Watts and Ron Wood looking like... Charlie Watts and Ron Wood.Image: Screengrabs Read the rest

Will Shortz might have a little competition. Smithsonian Magazine is piloting a new crossword puzzle section, and their first puzzle (partly shown above) came out today. This one is part of a test-run of four puzzles. I tried it and it's kind of like The New York Times Monday puzzle, but smaller and maybe a little easier. To get the full puzzle click here. Read the rest

Fellow ancient nerds like myself likely have fond memories of Steve Jackson's now-classic game of global conspiracy and high-weirdness, Illuminati. I still have, and cherish, my copies of the original pocket box games, the reissues, and way too many of the New World Order collectable cards.Now, Alex Yeager of SJ Games has posted a draft version of a set of rules for playing Illuminati solo. He describes it as a "game-play adjacent" experience. This means that it's not going to give you an experience equal to a full game of Illuminati against opponents, but it will (hopefully) be a satisfying session of Illuminati solitaire, and a way of enjoying the game even if you can't have mates around to play with.Image: Cover art Read the rest

Mitch McConnell is terrible. I've known this for a long time, though it probably first came to my attention personally after his open commitment to making Obama a "one-term president," which was near a decade before he started gleefully referring to himself as the "Grim Reaper." But while it's been no surprise to watch his Machiavellian enabling of Trump, I've never really understood how any rational human could look at McConnell and see someone worth rallying behind. He revels in the destruction of all social fabric and proudly caters to corporate interests that do objectively demonstrable harm to human life. Even if you take Republican voters at their word about the things they claim to care for, McConnell still disavows it all.Most private American citizens could probably reach a general consensus on the things that are wrong in Washington, even if they continue to disagree on the solutions — but Mitch McConnell embodies every single one one of those problems, and doesn't even try to hide it. Worse, he prides himself on it. He is a walking nuclear bomb, branded with corporate logos, who says, "Government is evil and will destroy your lives, and if you vote for me, I'll prove it."I recently read (or more accurately, listened to, via Audm) two longform articles that really dig into the Lovecraftian horror that is Mitch McConnell's overall existence. And while I emerged from these articles with an even more profound disgust for the man, I have at least come to a better understanding of his special brand of nihilism. Read the rest

I don't know anything about the context here except that Topeng Monyet — forcing macaques to wear human clothes and ride bicycles for entertainment — is a somewhat-common practice in Jakarta that's also (understandably) frowned upon by the animal rights community.When I frame it that way, I can kind of understand why this badass monkey is so pissed.(Just a heads-up: it's a strong, scary monkey going after a kid.)Ini pasti monyetnya tukang ribut di sekolah pic.twitter.com/niitXnmvwZ— ptr (@peteerh) May 3, 2020As of this writing, this video has nearly 11 million views, because it's just so WTF.Top image: Anton Ardyanto / Wikimedia Commons (CC 4.0) Read the rest

Someone beat Hemingway's challenge by a single word. pic.twitter.com/qtgzYo2zkK— mugrimm (@mugrimm) April 29, 2020Top image: JD Hancock / Flickr (CC 2.0) Read the rest

Twenty Thousand Hertz is a very cool podcast hosted and created by Dallas Taylor that explores the stories behind iconic sounds — from cartoon voices to tape reel mastering to the backmasking tactics of the "Satanic Panic." And just in time for May the 4th, they've just released a teaser for their upcoming episode that focuses on the sound design behind the Star Wars universe.Because everyone's familiar with the mod specs on Han Solo's coveted BlasTech DL-44 blaster pistol. But the actual real-world origins of that iconic pkew pkew sound are less well-known. Check it out: As it turns out, sound designer Ben Burtt quite literally stumbled onto the tone by accident while he was out hiking. After his backpack got caught on a guy-wire in the Poconos, he knew that the twang of elasticity was right — he just had to find a way to replicate and perfect it. Along the way, he also found the sound of a Y-Wing engine.The full episode will be available on May 13th, with Burtt and host Dallas Taylor going even more in-depth into the physical and material voices that brought the Star Wars galaxy to life. But for now, this little clip is a nice snack for May the 4th.Twenty Thousand Hertz PodcastImage: Jon McCormack / 2ok Hz. Used with permission. Read the rest

Science fiction author Kim Stanley Robinson (Red Mars, New York 2140, Aurora) has a fascinating piece in The New Yorker on how the pandemic is opening our thinking up to new possibilities, both good and bad, as we suddenly find ourselves in a world we only used to know in dystopian fiction. Imagine a heat wave hot enough to kill anyone not in an air-conditioned space, then imagine power failures happening during such a heat wave. (The novel I’ve just finished begins with this scenario, so it scares me most of all.) Imagine pandemics deadlier than the coronavirus. These events, and others like them, are easier to imagine now than they were back in January, when they were the stuff of dystopian science fiction. But science fiction is the realism of our time. The sense that we are all now stuck in a science-fiction novel that we’re writing together—that’s another sign of the emerging structure of feeling.Science-fiction writers don’t know anything more about the future than anyone else. Human history is too unpredictable; from this moment, we could descend into a mass-extinction event or rise into an age of general prosperity. Still, if you read science fiction, you may be a little less surprised by whatever does happen. Often, science fiction traces the ramifications of a single postulated change; readers co-create, judging the writers’ plausibility and ingenuity, interrogating their theories of history. Doing this repeatedly is a kind of training. It can help you feel more oriented in the history we’re making now. Read the rest

Today, most people want to live a socially conscious lifestyle and minimize their impact on the world. While companies are addressing this need by embracing sustainable farming and sourcing recycled materials, many financial services firms only provide account holders with a secure place to store funds.Aspiration is a financial firm with a conscience, that puts customers first. They guarantee 100% of deposits will not be used to fund companies involved in fossil fuel refinement, private prisons, and firearms companies.Their core offering is the Spend & Save account which is a cash management account that provides up to 1.00% APY on deposits, unlimited fee-free withdrawals at over 55,000 Allpoint ATMs, and a zero-fee policy that covers overdrafts, check deposits, inactive accounts, and debit cards.What really sets Aspiration apart from traditional financial firms, however, is that they are built on a foundation of fairness. They use a “pay what is fair” model for monthly fees, allowing account holders to set their monthly account fee, even if it is $0. If a user chooses to pay a monthly fee, Aspiration donates 10% to charity.Account-holders also gain access to the Conscious Coalition™ cashback program which offers up to 10% cash back at socially responsible companies such as Toms, Warby Parker, Reformation, and Arcadia Power.Aspiration also makes it easy for account holders to have a significant positive impact on the world. For example, debit card users can opt-in to the “Plant Your Change” feature that rounds up purchases to the nearest dollar. Read the rest

On Saturday a giant crane mounted on a ship collapsed. Constructed to build wind farms at sea, the crane crumpled while lifting a 2,000 ton barge during a test in a German harbor. In the video above you can see the crane fold in half, then collide with the base. The damage caused is estimated to be between €50 and €100 million. The company said that a few people had minor injuries. Image: YouTube Read the rest

The hands-down best moment of Star Wars. Read the rest

What makes this trick awesome is how impressive it looks for such a simple setup. Something fun to bring to your next Zoom hangout. Read the rest

Keep fucking that chicken! Read the rest

The LockPickingLawyer has no trouble picking the lock on this AmazonBasics folding bike lock. He says, "the core is, without question, the worst I have ever seen in a bike lock of the type." Read the rest

This woman thought her face mask wasn't comfy enough, so she customized it. And then she stoops down under the plastic protection window as she talks to the clerk. Let's hope this is a joke (if it is, it's pretty funny!), but it looks darn real to me. Read the rest

The Saudi sovereign wealth fund bought a $500 million stake in Ticketmaster, the much revilved ticket service with a long history of being terrible to venues, performer, and fans. On his Pluralistic blog, Cory Doctorow says the Saudi fund is controlled by Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman...That is, the Mister Bone Saw widely believed to have personally ordered the kidnapping, torture and dismemberment of journalist and regime critic Jamal Khashoggi.So now, every time you see a gig, you directly contribute to the enrichment of a torturing, murdering dictator.Extremely on brand that in the future when you use Ticketmaster you will be propping up a murderous dictatorship https://t.co/x35jhwBuMM— Casey Newton (@CaseyNewton) April 27, 2020Image by John Weiss (17xx-1843) - http://mortiquarian.com/2010/09/18/mr-weiss-and-his-instrument-of-certain-death/, Public Domain, Link Read the rest

It's been 14 years since amateur radio operators were expected to be able to tap out five words a minute in morse code to qualify for an Extra Class license, but this fellow didn't get the memo. Bielefeld, GermanyHe is very skillful at high speed keying with a straight key.Straight keys are still widely available [Amazon]. Read the rest

Clipped from his show last night, Don Lemon offers a class in how to get under Trump's skin. He does this by asking a simple and incisive question: what is it about Barack Obama that gets under Trump's skin? Read the rest

Billy Mitchell, the onetime Donkey Kong champion removed from the record book after evidence emerged that he used emulators to rack up his scores, is suing the website that bounced his name from its charts. He threatened to do so in September last year, but it turns out he had already filed without publicity. The lawsuit was filed under Williams' full name and with a spelling error that made it unlikely to turn up in searches.Mitchell and his lawyers said in a statement they would be forced to "resort to legal recourse" if Twin Galaxies didn't rescind its decision and reinstate Mitchell's scores. But court filings obtained by Ars Technica show that Mitchell had already filed suit against Twin Galaxies in a Los Angeles County court as early as April 2019.Mitchell's defamation lawsuit—misfiled as "William James Mitchell vs. Twin Galexies, LLC [sic]" and not reported in previous press accounts—has been slowly building to a planned July anti-SLAPP hearing, where Twin Galaxies will make use of a statute that lets defendants quickly strike down lawsuits that threaten "public participation." Twin Galaxies says in court filings that its statements regarding Mitchell's scores were not defamatory and that finding in Mitchell's favor "would have chilling effects on the freedom of speech."There are subtle discrepancies between how emulators and original hardware refresh Donkey Kong screens. Mitchell was denounced after they were observed in a high-scoring video he posted. Read the rest

I was invited to participate in the Face Shield Art project and draw illustrations on a face shield. The one I scribbled on, along with other face shield art, is up for auction on eBay.Proceeds from the auction sales will go toward protective equipment for healthcare workers. Read the rest

As parks in upscale areas were packed with sunbathing yuppies, NYPD spent the weekend arresting those who failed to social-distance on the streets. In this video, an unmasked plain-clothes officer is seen brandishing a stun gun sideways like a movie gangster, then attacking a bystander watching an ongoing arrest.Eyewitness News ABC 7 NY reports that the officer was placed on "modified duty" after the video emerged.As a couple was being arrested, video shows one of the officers break away from that arrest to walk up to a bystander with his taser drawn -- swearing and telling him to move back.Video showed the plainclothes officer, who was not wearing a protective face mask, slapping 33-year-old Donni Wright in the face, punching him in the shoulder and dragging him to a sidewalk after leveling him in a crosswalk.The man attacked by the officer was reportedly Donni Wright, 33. Wright was charged with assault on a police officer, menacing, resisting arrest and other crimes, reports NBC. NYPD would not confirm that Wright is the man attacked by the officer in the video.Same city. Same police force. Passing out masks to white folks not social distancing, while literally having their foots on our necks. This is beyond ridiculous at this point. pic.twitter.com/pY6kSGVEaZ— zellie (@zellieimani) May 3, 2020UPDATE: The original arrest was caught on CCTV was similarly violent and unnecessary. Two people not socially-distancing are approached up by the same officer, who pushes one against the wall before being joined by other plain-clothes cops who arrest both in shambolic fashion. Read the rest

After admitting that the U.S. Covid-19 deaths could reach 90,000, Trump bemoaned critics and claimed that Abraham Lincoln got better press."I am greeted with a hostile press the likes of which no president has ever seen," Trump said at the Fox News town hall Sunday night."The closest would be that gentleman right up there," Trump said, pointing to the 16th President's statue. "They always said nobody got treated worse than Lincoln. I believe I am treated worse."The previous estimate of up to 60,000 deaths was conclusively surpassed over the weekend. As of monday, Johns Hopkins University tallies 67,687 deaths from Covid-19 in the U.S. The true toll is higher still, as the official death toll accounts for only a portion of the excess deaths occurring since the coronavirus pandemic began.Look how CNN editorializes the remarks, in the second paragraph: "Trump's comments ... are likely to further polarize the raging politics of a current crisis that is stretching national unity."The real story is never the story itself but how many sides there are to it, which is two. Read the rest

Conor Burns, Britain's trade minister, quit Monday after it was revealed he had used his position to threaten a member of public in a financial dispute with his father.The committee's report found he had made "veiled threats" to use privilege to "further his family's interests" during the financial dispute involving his father. In February, Mr Burns had written to a member of the public connected to a company with whom his father was in dispute over the repayment of a loan. He wrote: "I am acutely aware that my role in the public eye could well attract interest especially if I were to use parliamentary privilege to raise the case". Read the rest

There’s a reason why Polaroids were so popular for so long. Even now, in a world where you can take a picture and send an exact copy to a friend in seconds, there’s something appealing about having a tangible, real-world representation of your image in your hand in seconds, ready to be saved for all time.Of course, between the cost of ink cartridges and their prohibitive size and lack of mobility, a regular printer doesn’t quite scratch the same itch. However, the Mini Magic Wireless Photo Printer checks all the right boxes, offering an easy portable method of printing up your favorite pictures all without the hassle of ink.This palm-sized printer uses thermal printing techniques, seamlessly transferring your image from your iOS or Android phone directly on to a thermal paper roll. Without the use of ink, you can print a pocket-sized version of all your favorite pics in a matter of seconds.The printer connects to your phone via Bluetooth or USB, then you open your image in the free PeriPage app. There you can edit your image, then hit print and watch your picture spool out. Of course, the beauty of this printer is that it doesn’t just print images. With the app, you can easily set up this printer to print virtually anything, including text. You can use it to print notes, create a shipping label or any of a hundred different uses.Build with sturdy construction and an ergonomic design, this makes a great travel accessory for a business person or a fun toy for a picture-obsessed teen. Read the rest

So...exactly how many years away are we from a real, honest-to-goodness working Star Trek universal translator? You know, a device that will actually interpret and convert another language into our own so we could carry on a regular conversation with a foreign speaker with little to no interruption? We aren’t there yet...but we’re making moves.In fact, we now have a version of that all-encompassing translation tool covering virtually everything — and it’s already online now. And if you think Google Translate is the height of what online language translators can handle these days, LingvaNex Translator is ready to shock you.Just like Google Translate and others, LingvaNex can handle your text, a document, or a website and instantly translate all of it into any of 112 different languages.But where LingvaNex truly shines is when it gets turned loose on everything else. Used on your phone, LingvaNex can facilitate a voice-to-voice conversation between speakers with a language barrier, translating spoken word into your preferred language. Its auditory skills also allow you to play an audio file or a podcast and get a complete translation of the file’s contents.In case that isn’t enough to impress, LingvaNex also tackles images with ease, identifying words in a picture and providing you with their meaning. Another impressive feature is the augmented reality mode, which allows you to put your mobile device camera on foreign text and have it virtually translated on your screen. The value of that feature alone while traveling in another country could be incredibly valuable. Read the rest

The past six weeks have been a whole new world for those who have spent years investing on Wall Street. Massive swings sparked by the COVID-19 outbreak have triggered one of the most volatile markets in world history, soaring and plunging day-to-day, often with almost no discernible rhythm or reason.With instability as the new normal in financial centers worldwide, one thing should be crystal clear to anyone interested in investing and trading stocks. Now, more than ever, you better do your homework.For those feeling brave enough to dip their toe in investing right now, The Wall Street Survival and Stock Trading Guide Bundle can be the background you need to make all the difference between assembling a solid portfolio and losing your shirt.The course pulls together eight courses focused on building an understanding of how Wall Street works and how to create profit through day trading.The entire package is led by a full-time day trader and investor Travis Rose. Over the past five years, Rose has watched all the highs and lows of trading and constructed these courses to help make sure new traders don’t make some of the mistakes he made toward achieving financial freedom.Under Rose’s instruction, students will open with a step-by-step beginner's guide to getting started with stock market investing, including everything from how to get an account started, understanding price fluctuations, and what you should look for to find your first winning stock.Through lectures, quizzes, ebook studies and more, first-time investors will explore tactics for creating a trading plan that minimizes risk, simple technical and fundamental analysis for high-probability trades, how to read the stock "tape" like a professional trader to land a competitive edge ,and even trading psychology and tips to keep emotions in check during high-pressure sessions. Read the rest

Fifty years ago today at Kent State University, the Ohio National Guard gunned down four students and wounded nine more during a demonstration against the invasion of Cambodia. The tragedy inspired Neil Young to write the epic social commentary "Ohio" for his band Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. (Video below.)Above is the Isley Brothers's masterful and moving medley of "Ohio" and Jimi Hendrix's "Machine Gun" from their 1971 album Givin' It Back. If you don't know, now you know.From John Lombardi's coverage of the Kent State Massacre in Rolling Stone's June 11th, 1970 issue:“A lot of the Guards were young and they looked scared,” [24-year-old Howard] Ruffner remembers, and then some kid with a black flag was down in front of them trying to get the students to charge. “Kill the pigs! The pigggs!!” he was screaming and the gas blew in clouds. But this time the students were picking up the canisters and throwing them back, and it didn’t even matter that the gas wasn’t having much effect, was in fact blowing up and over the heads of the combatants in the strong wind and back toward the football field where it managed to burn the eyes and lungs of some people who wanted nothing to do with any of this, including a blind student and his girlfriend who were crawling along the Spring grass in panic, digging at their tearing eyes and vomiting. A lot of kids who had just been standing around watching began to yell then, and everything got louder.The Guards had run out of tear gas and were retreating up the hill, to the left of Taylor Hall, when some of the students began to throw rocks. Read the rest

Back in 1982, John Warnock couldn’t get his employer Xerox to see the true value of new specialized printing software for graphics. Instead, he gathered some colleagues and formed Adobe in his garage. His vision led to innovation and almost 40 years later, the Adobe Creative Cloud suite of apps has over 18 million subscribers and is synonymous with all forms of digital creation. If you aren’t intimately familiar with Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign, then you probably need a firm guide to help you navigate those powerful, yet occasionally treacherous waters with the training in The 2020 Adobe Graphic Design Certification School of courses.This three-course collection sears right into the heart of the Creative Cloud, offering up a 40-plus hour, top to bottom look at three of the most widely used digital creative venues anywhere.Everyone everywhere has at least heard of Adobe Photoshop — but mastering the world’s most popular photo editing software is another story. In this beginner-friendly training, students earn fast, practical, in-depth knowledge of creating in Photoshop from importing images to adjustments to composition and filters. Users also develop the design skills required to produce eye-catching images and how to turn them into new and original digital creations.Adobe Illustrator shifts the focus from images to vector graphics -- and over nearly 100 lectures, you’ll master the Illustrator interface and all the tools for crafting sharp, scalable illustrations of any type, including drawings, paintings, logos, typefaces and more. Even beginning Illustrator users will have the background to create special effects that will work for both conventional printing as well as electronic publishing. Read the rest

Orange County, Florida police arrested Richard J. McGuire, 42, who had been illegally camping on the abandoned "Discovery Island" at Disney World. All Disney parks are closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and, besides, Discovery Island has become overgrown and the structures decayed since it closed as an attraction in 1999. (Above is 2017 video of the property.) From the New York Times:As a deputy arrived, Disney staff members were helping a small boat with Mr. McGuire aboard to shore, according to an arrest report.Mr. McGuire told the authorities that he had reached the island on Monday or Tuesday to go camping and that he planned to stay there for “approximately one week,” the report said.Told that the area was restricted, Mr. McGuire said he was unaware of that and described the island as looking “like a tropical paradise,” the report said.(Thanks, Charles Pescovitz!)image: detail of photo by Gmaletic (public domain) Read the rest

Every week, we scare up a couple dozen awesome new deals for you to jump all over in the Boing Boing Store. Sometimes, you do, sometimes, you don’t, but with everything happening, it’s not uncommon for at least one or two to slip past your radar in a given week. Hey, it happens. We get it. It still doesn’t mean you should sleep on some of this cool stuff though. Therefore, we’re showcasing some of the week’s latest and greatest offers here all in one place so you don’t forget. It’s the least we can do. You’re welcome.Get outsideLook, one of these days soon, the world is going to ramp back up again, so these items should help you accelerate back into the great outdoors.The Splat 3N1 Flexible Tripod ($18.99; originally $24.99) has five flexible and extremely durable legs that can adjust to any surface and hold action cameras, regular cameras, and smartphones in countless positions to help you snap the perfect shot, no matter where you are.Of course, if you’re out and about, sturdy protection like the Active Rugged Case for iPhone 11 ($39.99; originally $49.95) with a sleek design wrapped in hydrophobic leather will keep your iPhone safeguarded against unexpected splashes, sweaty workouts, and any other potentially dangerous adventures.Also built to survive the outdoors, the Active Strap Modern Leather Strap for Apple Watch ($49.99; originally $69.95) uses waterproof Heinen leather from Germany designed to thrive in tough workouts without snapping like those cheap plastic watch bands. Read the rest

Deadliest day comes as state officials reopen parts of economy and stay-at-home orders expire

Well, that's curious.Something's oddly different about the message delivered by the American president on World Press Freedom Day. It's very different than the messages sent by other heads of state from around the globe. Can't quite put my finger on it. Something about Trump's tone.Here are Press Freedom Day messages from a few other heads of state: leaders from Greece, Namibia, Lithuania, and the Maldives. pic.twitter.com/LcyCS56tzx— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) May 3, 2020 Read the rest

The Ghanaian Pallbearer meme strikes again. Meet the Luxyboyz, a dance troupe from Taipei that incorporates hiphop and online pop culture stuff into their work.At this nightclub in Taipei, they bring out your bottles as the Ghanaian Pallbearers and it’s fucking lit pic.twitter.com/yHtJnQQjEr— Andrew Kang (@Rewkang) May 2, 2020If you get too drunk, they carry you.Looks like this video was shot at the Omni in Taipei. Looks fun!#CoffinDance #coffinmeme #champange #leddance #funny #OmniNightClub pic.twitter.com/6s7fUPqAbf— Luxyboyz Official (@Luxy_boyz) May 3, 2020The entrance is ? pic.twitter.com/aB8OashnGs— Andrew Kang (@Rewkang) May 2, 2020Get too drunk and this is what happens pic.twitter.com/E4R4mqvWVx— Andrew Kang (@Rewkang) May 2, 2020 Read the rest

The miniature model supercomputers that Cray salespeople carried sometimes hit eBay, and they're getting quite pricey. This 3.75" tall scale model of the Cray X-MP, once the world's fastest computer, is on offer for $700. I wonder, if you put a Rasberry Pi in it, would the resulting machine be faster than a Cray X-MP? The X-MP offers four processors and 800 megaflops, according to Wikipedia; a Pi 4, with four cores, cracks 2 gigaflops in this benchmarking roundup. In this test, a Pi Zero (240 megaflops) outpaces a Cray 2 at calculating digits of Pi, but the consensus seems to be that the Cray would roast it at linear algebra, the sort of work supercomputers were made for.This listing is for a Cray salesman's kit model used for sales calls for potential X-MP customers. The X-MP was Cray Research's second computer, following the Cray-1. It was the world's fastest computer from 1983-1985.This Cray X-MP scale model comes in four pieces. The computer floor is made from a 12.25"x7.5"x0.25" black Lucite. The Lucite has a white "felt" fabric has squares laid out that represent 2 foot square raised computer room floor tiles. The largest part of the model is the X-MP processor. The diameter of the "C" is 5.5". This, and the other two X-MP pieces, are all 3.75" tall. The second piece that connects to the X-MP with two arms is the SSD (Solid-State Device). The third piece, which sits part from the X-MP/SSD complex, is the IOS (Input-Output Subsystem). Read the rest

From South Korea's Cheongwadae, the executive office and official residence of the Republic of Korea's head of state, a cryptic statement about North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un's recent absence from public life.'Kim Jong-un appears not to have undergone surgery.'Speculation ranged from coronavirus to surgery to death.From South Korea's Yonhap News Agency:North Korean leader Kim Jong-un appears not to have undergone surgery, a presidential official said Sunday, flatly denying speculation over Kim's health."There were media reports speculating about Chairman Kim's surgery, citing a change in the way he walks," a senior Cheong Wa Dae official told reporters, saying the presidential office judges this not to be true.When asked whether the North Korean leader did not even go through a relatively moderate medical procedure, the official replied yes.The official, who asked not to be named, however, refused to unveil the grounds that this judgment was made upon.[IMAGE: North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (C) cuts a ribbon for the completion of a fertilizer factory in this photo released by the Korean Central News Agency on May 2, 2020.] Read the rest

“More than 3.44 million people have been reported to be infected by the novel coronavirus globally and 243,015 have died,” Reuters calculated as of 0200 GMT on Sunday, based on public health data from around the world.At least 66,441 people in the U.S. are confirmed to have died of COVID-19, as of May 3.There is widespread understanding that the U.S. death toll undercounts coronavirus deaths, in part because of problems with access to testing.Does this look like a flattened curve? Does this look like a good time to lift restrictions? Read the rest