This image shows how a woman's silicone breast implant deflected a bullet fired at close range, likely stopping the slug from killing her. University of Toronto surgeon Giancarlo McEvenue and his colleagues report on this curiouse case in the SAGE medical journal. The shooter was never identified. From CNN:"The bullet wound entry was on the left breast, but the rib fracture was on the right side. The bullet entered the skin on the left side first, and then ricocheted across her sternum into the right breast and broke her rib on the right side," he explained."The implant caused the change in the trajectory of the bullet," he said.The woman suffered a gunshot wound, broken ribs and broken implants, but otherwise was remarkably unscathed."On the left hand side is the heart and lungs -- if the bullet would have gone into the chest, she would have had a much more serious, possibly life-threatening injury," McEvenue added.Here is the full report in SAGE, including graphic images of the surgery: "Life-Saving Silicone Breast Implant After Firearm Injury: Case Report and Treatment Recommendations" Read the rest

Built in the late 1980s, Biosphere 2 is the human habitat in Oracle, Arizona that was meant to help scientists understand how humans might live in space. In 1991, eight people went inside for two years of experimental quarantine inside the vivarium. The premise, and much of what happened, would make for a great JG Ballard novel. Spaceship Earth, a new documentary about Biosphere 2 directed by Matt Wolf, promises to tell the real tale, warts and all. It premieres online May 8. From Neon, the indie studio releasing the film:The [Biosphere 2] experiment was a worldwide phenomenon, chronicling daily existence in the face of life threatening ecological disaster and a growing criticism that it was nothing more than a cult. The bizarre story is both a cautionary tale and a hopeful lesson of how a small group of dreamers can potentially reimagine a new world. Read the rest

These were made by artist Chezka Sunit. And as excited as I am about that new live-action Dune movie, I'm already craving an anime version using this artwork 'cause it's gorgeous. View this post on Instagram Dune Series #5 Paul Atreides of House Atreides. 🏜 I'm planning to do two versions of Paul, this and him being the Muad'Dib of the Fremen. #dune #frankherbert #paul #atreides #digitalart #scifi #artnouveau #artdecoA post shared by Suumum (Chezka Sunit) (@suumum) on Feb 12, 2020 at 12:09pm PST View this post on Instagram Re-upload. The first quality was so bad. Sorry. Dune Series #9 Alia Atreides (St. Alia of the Knife) Thank you for being patient and always supportive of this series, lately I've been swamped with work plus this lockdown is kinda driving me nuts. I miss cycling and hiking. I had a real blast doing this, I love Mongolian, Tibetian, Bedouin, Slavic traditional clothes a lot. I use them for inspiration all the time! Also insects and plants! Hoping everyone is well! ✨💖🗡💖✨ #dune #frankherbert #alia #atreides #fremen #stillsuit #arrakis #digitalart #scifi #artnouveau #artdecoA post shared by Suumum (Chezka Sunit) (@suumum) on Mar 21, 2020 at 10:50am PDT View this post on Instagram Dune Series #8 Reverend Mother Jessica (Jessica Atreides) of the Fremen of Arrakis. 🏺💧🏜 Tough day for most of us (specially if you're from where I'm at), with everything that's been happening lately. All these news surrounding this epidemic, I hope you still have it in you guys to press on for the next weeks/months. Read the rest

Send a message about how you're feeling to this website or read messages others have sent. If there are no messages sent within a 24 hour period, "This website will self destruct." From the explanation:Hi,I’m a website. I’ll be gone soon, and that’s okay.You can send me messages using the form below. If I go 24 hours without receiving a message, I’ll permanently self-destruct, and everything will be wiped from my database.That’s okay though.Until then, let me know how you’re doing. Other people will be able to read what you write, but your name or identity won’t be attached to anything, so feel free to say what’s on your mind.It’s been a rough month.With love,ThisWebsiteWillSelfdestruct (dot) comPS. I don’t collect any data about you other than the text you send me. I don’t believe in tracking people, so no analytics are kept about users. Consider this my privacy policy and terms of service. Read the rest

In this footage, the exhalations of Alpacas catch sunlight to offer the impression of fire hanging in the air. The Alpacas, lost in a moment of quiet scintillation, wonder if they are dragons. Read the rest

We all know it’s a different world out there now than the one where we made New Year’s resolutions and waited for the end of winter just a few months ago. If you weren’t a germaphobe then, it’s likely the onset of COVID-19 has at least made you much more conscious of the spread of dangerous germs and other bacterial contaminants that live in the world around us every day.And if we’re all being honest...it’s probably got you a little freaked out.The only way to combat the spread of harmful germs is to limit exposure, which is why the CleanKey Antimicrobial Brass Hand Tool was invented.The virus that causes COVID-19 can live on common surfaces for several hours or even several days, so the CleanKey helps limit the number of times you have to touch or potentially be infected by a contagious countertop, door handle or push button.The CleanKey barely measures over 3.5 inches long. Yet, by using the CleanKey to press buttons, open doors and pull levels, you reduce your point of contact area with potentially contaminated surfaces.Its ergonomic design slips into your hand comfortably and with the retractable carabiner, it hooks easily to your house keys, purse or other items.The CleanKey also works with touchscreens, allowing you to push buttons or even sign your name safely and without causing any damage to the screen.These days, every little bit of precaution helps — and it could save you from a body-wrecking illness or worse. Read the rest

Bryan Keith took a flight over the airport in Victorville, California, which has become a storage site for jumbo jets grounded for spring and likely summer too.[Victorville is] currently one of the largest airplane parking lots in the world due to the Covid-19 pandemic. In this video, in coordination with air traffic control (ATC), I fly a dramatic low approach in my Grumman Tiger over the closed runway that is currently home for over 400 unused jets. After that, we fly over the peak bloom of the Antelope VallHe flies over the runways four minutes in. Read the rest

A woman in North Carolina was arrested this week in November 2019 after opening fire on workers maintaining a cellular tower near her home, reports WSOC TV in Charlotte. None of the workers were hit.[The woman] was charged with assault with a deadly weapon after court documents show she fired a a 22 revolver pistol. We can hear the 911 call made from the tower this weekend where a crew of three people were doing work south of Taylorsville.The woman has prevously contacted authorities to inform them of "hearing voices from the tower", says local Sheriff Chris Bowman. Her gun is legally owned.CORRECTION: The incident happened months ago, not last week. Read the rest

Tom the Dancing Bug, IN WHICH Hollingsworth hounds that Lucky Ducky back out to work, but you just know he'll still find a way to win

On the web, security is always critical. But when a company feels its systems have been infiltrated by a hacker or outside force, usually the only recourse is for their IT security team to start the long process of pouring over data logs, building analysis tools and rooting around for unusual behavior.Thankfully, Amazon Web Services is now helping with this laborious task with AWS Detective, a tool available to their users that uses machine learning to automate the entire search for security issues and potential breaches.It’s just another area where the web’s leading cloud services provider is pushing the boundaries of cloud-based systems. If you’ve got IT aspirations or just want to understand how cloud computing really works, The All-Level AWS Cloud Professional Bootcamp can give you the background.Across six courses with more than 30 hours of instruction, new users get a full explanation of AWS operations. Whether you have sights on a career in cloud IT or need to understand how to migrate, oversee and secure your company’s entire IT infrastructure in AWS, this package covers all the basics.The AWS Cloud Practitioner Certification Guide for Beginners gets the fundamentals out of the way, exploring the controls, formatting, and features of the AWS platform. Then AWS Master Class: Databases in the Cloud with AWS RDS and AWS MasterClass: Networking & Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) delve into what it takes to construct these bedrock cloud domains for yourself. And since every company has an app these days, AWS Deployment for Node.js Read the rest

Watch the clip embedded here, featuring a news report on a coronavirus patient broadcast by ABC News 7 in New York City. I apologize for the baity title, but cannot ruin this for you in any way. Not in the figurative sense, but in the quite literal sense. Read the rest

The Yorkshire Museum is issuing "curator battles" to to other museums. Their first salvo is #CreepiestObject. Yup, these and others in the thread, are pretty damn creepy.Our #CreepiestObject has to be this ‘mermaid’... 😱💀🧜‍♀️ #CURATORBATTLE #TroublingTaxidermy pic.twitter.com/GMSosyuqIX— Natural Sciences NMS (@NatSciNMS) April 17, 2020Thanks for thinking of us @HottyCouture and wow, will we be having nightmares tonight with all these #CreepiestObject|s ! Here is the one we just can't hide from you, one of our many creepy gems – our Plague Mask (1650/1750)! #curatorbattle pic.twitter.com/JrMjqAJSIM— Deutsches Historisches Museum (@DHMBerlin) April 17, 2020GUYS we know we have already won. This severed lower leg by Kerry Jameson has sprouted its own legs and a rather beastly head. @COCAYork #RethinkCeramics pic.twitter.com/Ip84aNacUX— York Art Gallery (@YorkArtGallery) April 17, 2020Just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse, we present .... MC 294No need to thank us, it was honestly our pleasure #CURATORBATTLE #CreepiestObject pic.twitter.com/kgAA2ePMIr— Egham Museum (@EghamMuseum) April 17, 2020[H/t Stacie Votaw]Image: Screengrab Read the rest

In a coronavirus briefing at the White House just now, impeached and manifestly unfit United States President Donald Trump wished North Korea's murderous dictator Kim Jong Un “good luck.” In so doing, Trump expressed greater concern for Kim than he has at any point so far for the nearly 45,000 Americans who have died of COVID-19.It's very curious, isn't it? President of the United States.Said Trump today of the North Korean leader: "I can only say this, I wish him well.""I have a very good relationship with him.".@BretBaier: "North Korea. What can you tell us about the status of Kim Jong-un?"President Trump: "We don't know...I've had a very good relationship with him...I can only say this; I wish him well."Full video here: https://t.co/5xqvbQIhJx pic.twitter.com/MivyWqW0JM— CSPAN (@cspan) April 21, 2020The president wishes Kim Jong Un good luck, following recent reports of a possible health crisis that reportedly placed him in “grave danger.” Asked about Kim Jong Un's condition, Trump says "I've had a very good relationship with him" and claims America would be at war with North Korea is he wasn't elected. He ends by bashing CNN. pic.twitter.com/A14KZlz2r9— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 21, 2020The President says he wishes Kim Jong-un good luck pic.twitter.com/SEzUh4mzA9— Acyn Torabi (@Acyn) April 21, 2020Previously on Boing Boing:North Korean leader claimed to be "in grave danger" after heart operationTrump wishing murderous dictator Kim Jong Un well...says they get a long great— Clara Jeffery (@ClaraJeffery) April 21, 2020TRUMP: I just have to say to Kim Jong Un, I wish him very good luck ... Read the rest

Note: Not actually a great idea to let your cat inside the dishwasher, please don't try this at home.“Places Oliver Shouldn't Be,” a delightful gallery of cat portraits by @lovethecapybara. Oliver has a very lucky human who loves him, and these are some very funny photos of a cat who enjoys being inside cozy little boxy places around the house, or maybe just nestled into a stack of frying pans or whatever.“Saw a post earlier about someone's cat being in the dishwasher licking plates and got shut inside (the cat was ok) and decided to share all the places my cat Oliver goes.”Love it. Check out the whole cute thread on IMGUR.Places Oliver Shouldn't Be Read the rest

U.S. coronavirus deaths reached 45,000 on Tuesday, doubling in a little over a week. The total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases climbed to more than 800,000, according to a Reuters count of available public health data. From the report:The United States has by far the world’s largest number of confirmed coronavirus cases, almost four times as many as Spain, the country with the second-highest number. Globally, cases topped 2.5 million on Tuesday, with North America accounting for one-third of all cases.Deaths increased by more than 2,600 on Tuesday alone with a few states yet to report.New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Michigan each reported their highest single-day coronavirus-related death tolls on Tuesday - over 800 between the three states. New York state, the epicenter of the U.S. outbreak, reported 481 new deaths.Coronavirus-related fatalities in the United States hit a peak of 2,806 on April 15, the deadliest single day of the epidemic.U.S. cases were at 809,000, up 23,000.New reported U.S. cases appear to be slowing this week, rising by less than 30,000 a day for the past three days. The United States had a record 35,392 cases on April 4. Read more:U.S. coronavirus deaths top 45,000, doubling in little over a week: Reuters tally Read the rest

“We’re going to have the flu epidemic and the coronavirus epidemic at the same time” — CDC director Robert RedfieldWinter is coming. As a number of states rush forward to reopen their economies, Director Robert Redfield of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday a likely second wave of the novel coronavirus will be far more dire, because if it hits in the winter as predicted, it will coincide with onset of flu season.“There’s a possibility that the assault of the virus on our nation next winter will actually be even more difficult than the one we just went through,” CDC Director Robert Redfield told the Washington Post today. “And when I’ve said this to others, they kind of put their head back, they don’t understand what I mean.”“We’re going to have the flu epidemic and the coronavirus epidemic at the same time,” he warned.Excerpt:Having two simultaneous respiratory outbreaks would put unimaginable strain on the health-care system, he said. The first wave of covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, has already killed more than 42,000 people across the country. It has overwhelmed hospitals and revealed gaping shortages in test kits, ventilators and protective equipment for health-care workers.In a wide-ranging interview, Redfield said federal and state officials need to use the coming months to prepare for what lies ahead. As stay-at-home orders are lifted, officials need to stress the continued importance of social distancing, he said. They also need to massively scale up their ability to identify the infected through testing and find everyone they interact with through contact tracing. Read the rest

Coronavirus package injects $321 Billion more into SBA relief program

“We immediately disabled the impacted portion of the website, addressed the issue, and relaunched the application portal.”

"There are more important things than living,” said the Lieutenant Governor of the great state of Texas about Americans who are dying of COVID-19.“There are more important things than living ... I don't want to die, nobody wants to die but man we've got to take some risks.”TX Lt Gov Dan Patrick: "There are more important things than living ... I dont want to die, nobody wants to die but man we've got to take some risks" pic.twitter.com/dRTF8Moav4— Andrew Lawrence (@ndrew_lawrence) April 21, 2020Got it.important to clarify that when he says "we've got to take some risks" he means you...you've got to take some risks— Andrew Lawrence (@ndrew_lawrence) April 21, 2020 Read the rest

SeinWave by AbelardIn recent weeks, I've shared the joy of Seinfeld with my teenage son. To reciprocate, he's been turning me on to the myriad incarnations of vaporwave, vaporfunk, chillwave, and other desktop electronica microgenres of the last decade. Finally, today, he decided the time was right to reveal an unholy hauntological overlap of our interests: "Seinwave" (2015) by Abelard. Listen above. From Abelard:Seinwave is a rework of the iconic slap bass infused pop-click theme of the classic Seinfeld sitcom TV show. Created on a whim, Seinwave holds its own as a funky, danceable track, exploring new melodies, sounds and hooks, whilst retaining the faded sitcom hues and tones that we all remember. Read the rest

As many of us all settle into our new home office situations, there’s a distinct possibility this could be the new status quo for quite some time. A bad chair or a less than ergonomically supportive posture might have been passable when you sat at your home office desk for an hour or two here and there, but now that it’s your home base for 8-plus hours a day, you need to be thinking about long-term comfort as well.If you’ve never experienced carpal tunnel syndrome, it’s very real — and can be very painful. Luckily, using a mouse designed to mitigate that and other awkward work postures like the Sinji Ergonomic Mouse can make that one of the new order concerns that won’t plague your day.Rather than the traditional mouse shape, the Sinji is designed vertically, a patented shape that supports your hand in an upright neutral position, reducing the rotation in your lower arm and makes your whole arm more relaxed. With that kind of support, you avoid the pain and damage that comes from the overextending and twisting that natural mouse movements put on your wrist and forearm.Created for both Mac and PC users, the wireless, battery-operated Sinji also sports adjustable buttons and LED light-emitting edging so you can see in low light situations. It even lets you adjust the speed of your cursor in case you need to speed up or low down your pace.While cars are redesigned every year with more user-friendly features, the old-school mouse design is 40 years old and played out for function, efficiency and user comfort. Read the rest

When I was in junior high school, I joined the Science Fiction Book Club. One of the books I got from the club was an anthology that included several stories by Fredric Brown (who was primarily a mystery writer but occasionally delved into science fiction). Some of Brown's stories in the anthology were a mere page or two, and I loved their humor and surprise endings. As soon as I could, I went to the Boulder Public Library to load up on as much Brown as I could find. It turned out the library had just two of his science fiction novels: Martians, Go Home (1955), and What Mad Universe (1949). They were both terrific.In Martians, Go Home a race of cartoonish little green men invade Earth for the sole purpose of being hideously bothersome pests, behaving very much like Internet trolls and Second Life griefers. (Artist Kelly Freas perfectly captured the personality of the martians in his cover painting for Astounding Science Fiction.) In What Mad Universe a man gets thrown into a parallel universe and has to figure out how to get back home. Both books are semi-parodies of science fiction novels (the protagonists in each novel are science fiction writers), with plenty of Brown's signature wry humor. If you've not read these novels, I highly recommend them both.It wasn't until I was in high school that I scored a copy of The Mind Thing (1961), which is probably my favorite Brown novel, even though it is not as well-known as the other two novels, and could be arguably be classified a horror novel. Read the rest

For tips on making your own sourdough starter, start here!My new pandemic starter has had a couple of weeks to settle down and it is performing pretty much how I would expect.Feeding your starter every day really helps it out. I've been feeding this blob since 3/16. I have reduced the amount I keep going on my counter and only feed 1/4 cup of flour and slightly less than 1/4 cup of water per feeding. This saves me ½ cup a day of precious flour.Feeding the starter twice on bread baking day really increases my chances of turning out a good loaf. I've learned that unlike my former, trusty Muir Beach starter this new Dog Town starter has an hour shorter cycle after feeding for when it is truly ready to be used, but I am figuring it out.You will find many related posts on Sourdough and baking here! Read the rest

"When they were putting a chip in your brain they sunk it deep, didn’t they?"With the help of an insider, Conan O'Brien crashed an online strategy meeting for TIBCO Software in Silicon Valley, surprising its attendees. The late-night host then proceeded to troll the Palo Alto-based company by ruthlessly roasts its CEO, its team members, and its website's corporate doublespeak. Savage! Read the rest

In the 1990s, Australian urologist Helen O'Connell performed the first magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans on aroused women's clitorises. She found that the clitoris is 10 times larger than most anyone suspected. In this video, science journalist Rachel Gross, who is currently writing a book called Lady Anatomy, shares some medical history and takes us on a tour of the "clitoral complex." "The Clitoris, Uncovered: An Intimate History" (Scientific American) Read the rest

View this post on Instagram 人肉サイコロ作りましたA post shared by doooo (@doooo_cds) on Mar 28, 2020 at 4:00am PDTArtist doooo made this die that looks like like a living eyeball inside a cube of human flesh. View this post on InstagramA post shared by doooo (@doooo_cds) on Apr 6, 2020 at 6:56am PDT Image: Instagram Read the rest

Military.com reports that a study of Chloroquine, the president's favorite quack remedy for Covid-19, didn't just fail to help sufferers. "About 28% who were given hydroxychloroquine plus usual care died, versus 11% of those getting routine care alone."Researchers analyzed medical records of 368 male veterans hospitalized with confirmed coronavirus infection at Veterans Health Administration medical centers who died or were discharged by April 11. ... Hydroxychloroquine made no difference in the need for a breathing machine, either. Researchers did not track side effects, but noted hints that hydroxychloroquine might have damaged other organs. The drug has long been known to have potentially serious side effects, including altering the heartbeat in a way that could lead to sudden death.A chloroquine study in Brazil was reportedly canceled after 11 patients died.The physicians in Brazil noticed arrhythmia (significant extension of the so-called QT interval) within two to three days in patients receiving the high dose. On the sixth day of the trial, 11 patients died and the phase II trial was stopped immediately. Read the rest

The coronavirus shutdown offers us ample time to conduct the science experiments we never had the time for before. Such as this time-lapse video, which reveals approximately how long it takes for a shitload of mealworms to eat a McDonalds Big Mac and fries. Read the rest

You are probably familiar with these little tile slide puzzles with 15 tiles that slide around in a 4 x 4 grid. The object is to slide the tiles around so that the tiles marked 1 through 15 are arranged in numerical order. The card that comes with the puzzle shows a number of different ways to arrange the numbers, including arranging the tiles in reverse numerical order. In this episode of Numberphile we learned why this particular arrangement is impossible.: YouTube Read the rest

In 1927, Henry Ford decided to build a plantation in the Amazon to supply rubber for his auto company. The result was Fordlandia, an incongruous Midwestern-style town in the tropical rainforest. In this week's episode of the Futility Closet podcast we'll describe the checkered history of Ford's curious project -- and what it revealed about his vision of society.We'll also consider some lifesaving seagulls and puzzle over a false alarm.Show notesPlease support us on Patreon! Read the rest

Coronavirus is like a big stinky onion with yet another layer just revealed: COVID toes. A symptom doctors are finding mostly in young people that causes their toes to swell, turn blue and purple, itch, burn, and become "painful to touch." According to Dr. Ebbing Lautenbach, chief of infectious disease at the University of Pennsylvania's School of Medicine, “This is a manifestation that occurs early on in the disease, meaning, you have this first then you progress. . .Sometimes this might be your first clue that they have COVID when they don’t have any other symptoms.”From USA Today:“COVID toes” in some people can disappear in the course of a week or 10 days, while others progress to respiratory symptoms, he [Dr. Lautenbach] said.Experts say there are two running hypotheses on what could cause “COVID toes." One possible explanation, Ebbing said, could be that there is an inflammatory response more localized to a patient’s foot and toes. Or it could be a clotting of blood vessels.“The short answer is nobody knows,” he said.Dr. Susan Wilcox, chief of critical care for the emergency department at Massachusetts General Hospital, said another condition could also explain “COVID toes.”She saw the purple lesions on her most critically ill COVID patients and believed it was purpura fulminans. This occurs when inflammation from a severe infection causes the body to make micro clots in tiny blood vessels located in the toes, fingers and even nose, she explains.Ebbing warns that if you come down with this symptom, self-quarantine, no matter what your test results are -- COVID toes usually appear in the early stages of COVID-19, when patients are most likely to test false negative. Read the rest

Campus Univers Cascades (CUC) is a French school for stunt performers for film and live experiences. The coaches and students created this wonderful video titled "Fightcovid CUC." Read the rest

Family Affair by Iggy PopToday is Iggy Pop's 73rd birthday! In celebration, he released this cover of Sly & The Family Stone's classic "Family Affair" (1971). Listen above! Who's playing bass? Ah, the name is Bootsy, baby! The great Bill Laswell produced. From Pop's Bandcamp page:“To all Poptimists! [this track] made me feel good and it was good company and I hoped I could put it out and it would be good company for someone else too.”image credit: Aaron Rubin (CC BY-SA 4.0) Read the rest

From the Orphaned Wildlife Center: "To help you pass the time in your quarantine, here is a bear (Jenny) in a swing, not caring about quarantine and being oh-so-zen. Namaste my friends." Read the rest

Literally boing boing, courtesy of security camera footage compiled by police in Adelaide, South Australia. Read the rest

This is the way. Or some way, anyway. Read the rest

It's customary to jump about a third of the way into a video to get to the interesting bit. Here, you must either endure every tension-filled second of Dakidd Hilarious's physics project, or go right to the end to enjoy the results. Read the rest

Blade Runner already had a reputation for its various edits, between the theatrical cut, Ridley Scott's director's cut, and the various special editions that exist. But now filmmaker Leon Chase has taken it another step further with Blade Runner: The Lost Cut, a uniquely postmodern take on the canon. As the Verge describes it:The Lost Cut is a recut version of Blade Runner created by splicing in other films that star Blade Runner cast members, plus more films starring those films’ co-stars, resulting in a masterfully edited cinematic rabbit hole where Rick Deckard is hunting down a cast of replicants including Gene Hackman (via The Conversation, one of Harrison Ford’s first films), Steve Martin (via The Jerk,which stars M. Emmet Walsh, who plays Deckard’s boss Bryant), and John Belushi (via The Blues Brothers,which features Ford’s Star Wars co-star Carrie Fisher).The film follows Blade Runner’s broad story beats, but its narrative drifts wherever the added footage leads, like some kind of Burroughsian cut-up version of Ridley Scott’s film.It's worth noting that this mash-up masterpiece is the direct result of coronavirus quarantine. People are finding themselves with too much time on their hands … and sometimes, in a weird way, maybe that's a good thing.Watch the weird cinematic rabbit hole that is Blade Runner: The Lost Cut [Adi Robertson / The Verge] Read the rest

Klara Sjöberg bought a katana from Ali Express and recorded beautiful high-frame rate video (embedded below) of it being put through its paces.Testing a katana from Ali Express pic.twitter.com/ybarySAZQJ— Klara Sjöberg (@klara_sjo) April 20, 2020 Read the rest

Watching gender reveal videos makes me feel like a Darwinian super villain. Natural selection is real, and it has made its stance on self-important gender obsession very clear.And if you're going to be an asshole gender-obsessed parent-to-be, at least keep 6 feet apart, for everyone's sake.I can’t stop watching this...pic.twitter.com/mW4tsGqYBT— Rex Chapman🏇🏼 (@RexChapman) April 16, 2020 Read the rest

If you’ve always wanted to try your hand at designing your own video game, there’s a pretty intimidating learning curve ahead. With so many different languages, platforms and philosophies in play, it’s tough for first-timers to get a real sense of what they should tackle first.Instead of letting all that uncertainty slow you down, attack a project with a rock-solid structure that comes with a definite beginning, middle and end.Multiplayer Battle Royale games like Fortnite dominate the gaming world, so to start your education, begin by building a 3D Battle Royale style game from scratch, following every step along the way to assembling your own working game that includes everything.The Build a Battle Royale with Unity and Blender training is just that course, a beginner-friendly road map through all the steps in constructing your own immersive world gaming experience.While we’d never say a project like this is easy, this 9-level course is constructed so even first-timers can follow along, learning coding basics and all the necessary skills and steps on the journey to fleshing out your multiplayer game idea.Instructor John Bura knows what he’s talking about. A 25-year veteran of the video game industry and owner of his own game development studio Mammoth Interactive, Bura guides you through the full process. From more than 300 lectures covering more than 55 hours of content, Bura explains all the core knowledge, from coding in the C# language to navigating the Unity game engine to using the 3D modeling capabilities of Blender. Read the rest

In this helpful video, Brent of Goobertown Hobbies recreates one of his painting ah-ha moments when he first realized how to paint highlights on objects that don't have edges. Everyone new to miniature painting knows the joys of finally figuring out how to successfully paint undercoats/shading, basecoats, and highlights. And then the next level of being able to do competent edge highlighting and other final highlighting.But then there's the next level of things like painting dimensionality on large, smooth surfaces and surfaces that don't really have discernible edges. In the video, Brent shows his process for tackling this aspect of mini painting. He runs through it (using some shield-wielding Warhammer lizardmen) in a way that should make it easy for painters of any intermediate skill to master.I love Brent's calm and quiet demeanor (he's been called the Bob Ross of mini painting) and his chill approach to what can seem a daunting process: "We might not end up with exactly what we had in mind, but we'll probably end up someplace cool." Read the rest

Over the past decade or so, Lauren McLaughin (previously) has written a handful of outstanding YA novels, each dealing with difficult issues of gender, personal autonomy and the casual cruelty of teens, starting with Cycler (and its sequel, Re-Cycler) (a teenaged girl who turned into a boy for four days every month); Scored (a class-conscious surveillance dystopia); The Free (a desperate novel about a teen car-thief in juvie) and now, her best book yet: Send Pics, a gripping thriller about sextortion, high school, revenge and justice.

It's Hitler's birthday! Trump tweeted moments ago that he plans to temporarily suspend all immigration, legal or otherwise, to the U.S.In light of the attack from the Invisible Enemy, as well as the need to protect the jobs of our GREAT American Citizens, I will be signing an Executive Order to temporarily suspend immigration into the United States! Read the rest

A newspaper operated by defectors from North Korea claims that Kim Jong-Un is gravely ill following heart surgery.Daily NK, a speciality website run mostly by North Korean defectors, cited unidentified sources inside the isolated state saying Kim is recovering at a villa in the Mount Kumgang resort county of Hyangsan on the east coast after getting the procedure on April 12.CNN writes that US intelligence services are monitoring reports.Kim recently missed the celebration of his grandfather's birthday on April 15, which raised speculation about his well-being. He had been seen four days before that at a government meeting.The National Security Council and Office of the Director of National Intelligence declined to comment when reached by CNN on Monday. CNN has also reached out to the CIA and the State Department for comment and sought comment from the South Koreans.Gathering intelligence out of North Korea is notoriously difficult -- one of the most challenging targets for US intelligence.Kim is only 36 years old, but South Korea's intelligence services claim he is increasingly obese and lives an unhealthy lifestyle of binge eating and drinking. Anna Fifield, the Washington Post's Beijing bureau chief, tweeted that his poor health is now obvious and wrote last year that he was a "heart attack waiting to happen." Read the rest

Even if you’ve been using Microsoft Office for decades, you know there’s more. And for every insider trick or time-saving tip you’ve picked up over the years, you can be sure there is a veritable fountain of execution and efficiency gems that you never knew existed in these battle-tested core productivity apps.We all know Office is never going anywhere, so you might as well start unearthing every trick and tip in the book with the training found in The All-In-One Microsoft Office Professional Suite Certification Prep Bundle.This training includes 12 courses and over 70 hours of instruction in the proper care and feeding of Office’s most popular and most productive apps. With the help of lectures, worksheets, quizzes, videos and more, you’ll expand your knowledge in five Office staples to elite level, which should help you conquer just about any business task you have ahead of you.It may seem like everyone has used Microsoft Word, but the Introduction, Intermediate and Advanced courses here break down the word processing cornerstone like never before. From formatting, headers, footers, and spell checking to placing and sizing images, wrapping text and adjusting page orientation and layout to complex bibliographies and indexes, comments and change tracking, this deep-dive explains it all.Microsoft Excel is still the spreadsheet gold standard, and the three-course collection digs into it everything, all the way up to advanced formulas and macro training that elevate data manipulation to a whole new level.The rest of the coursework includes dual-course packages delving into three more Office hotspots. Read the rest

In this episode of the 8-Bit Guy, David does a video survey of 108 types of storage media that we modern humans have used to store information.He divides the media into three categories: mechanical media, magnetic media, and optical media. He starts at the Edison Wax Cylinder and ends up at Bubble Memory.This whole episode brought back fond memories of Bruce Sterling's dead Dead Media project.Image: YouTube Read the rest

Ronan O'Rahilly, founder of Radio Caroline, the first pirate radio station off the coast of the UK has died. O'Rahilly, who lived in Ireland, died from the vascular dementia he was diagnosed with in 2013. He was 79. Here is a brief obit on BBC News.And here is a funny bit of O'Rahilly history, his 1965 appearance on "To Tell the Truth."[H/t Matthew Hawn]Image: YouTube Read the rest

The host of Project Farm compared the results of using a bunch of different knife sharpeners ranging in cost from nine dollars to $900. It turned out that the $9 sharpener was pretty good. His favorite was the Lansky sharpener, which costs about $45.From the YouTube description:Knife sharpeners tested: Lansky, Wicked Edge Gen 3 Pro, Spyderco, Fiskars, Rada, Chef's Choice Trizor Edge, Model 15XV, Edge Pro Apex, and a Whetstone. Knives used for testing: Mercer Culinary Millennia 8-Inch Chef's Knife, which were dulled, then sharpened using each knife sharpener. Stropping leather used on knives sharpened with Lansky, Wicked Edge, Spyderco, Edge Pro Apex and Whetstone. Once sharp, knives were tested using a knife sharpness tester. Image: YouTube Read the rest

Atlas Obscura recorded the sounds of Times Square, Covent Garden, Grand Central Station, LAX airport, and other formerly noisy, people and traffic filled urban spots. Now all you hear is wind, a few cars, and recorded announcements. It's like a real world adaptation of "There Will Come Soft Rains."This recording was taken at LAX airport during morning rush hour. Cars passed by strangely fast, construction crews continued to work, and the few remaining TSA agents were busy with their phones. For the hour I was there recording, nobody asked me to move my car. The vibe was creepy. There was almost no one else there, save a single traveler with a roller bag and someone collecting bottles and cans. Read the rest