Boing Boing

Game of Shrooms, that hide-and-seek/scavenger hunt for mushroom-themed art is happening again! It was started last year by Attaboy of Hi-Fructose and was such a huge success that he's doing it again. To play, simply make an art piece inspired by mushrooms and then hide it, leaving clues on its location through your Instagram feed with the hashtag #gameofshrooms. Or, on game day, just go find art other people have hidden. It was supposed to all go down on June 13, but COVID changed that. So now on that date, artists will reveal their intention and location and actually play the game on August 15. View this post on Instagram important announcement about this year’s #GameofShrooms! Because of the current crisis, it’s best to postpone the world wide art show and scavenger hunt a few months. so! On June 13th I’d like to invite all participating artists to Announce their intentions and location so that a global map can be created for all Shroom hunters. On August 15th: The Shroom Drop Happens (where it is safe to do so). It kills me to me the event date but it’s best to be on the safe side, right? Meanwhile, please keep posting preview photos of your creations, tagging #gameofshrooms so that we can follow along. Come august, the world may need a world wide art show and event to reset our perspective, no? Thank you to all and please keep sending me what you are working on. What I’ve seen is fantastic. Read the rest

You know how in movies where there's a mad genius tech-wizard/hacker (often a precocious teen) who can make the most fantastical creations with seemingly no effort? It's such a great fantasy with little analogue in the real world. Sam Battle, he of Look Mum No Computer strikes me as a character from one of those films, except he is very real. Sam has given us the Furby Organ, the Sega Mega Drive Synth, and the Circuit Bent Bible -- among many other jaw-dropping creations.Now, Sam has made mad magic again, this time with an old Nintendo Power Glove. First, he converted the glove so that it can control his home-built synth. That was ingenious enough, but he was finding it hard to isolate his finger movements. So, he decided to download the InMoov robot's 3D printable arm, print a copy, and use it to control the synth through the Power Glove. Welcome to the future, cyberpunks.Image: YouTube Read the rest

In a continuation from Trump's Do-As-I-Say-Don't-Say-As-I-Do approach to mail-in voter ballots, the Republican National Committee has sued the state of California in an effort to stop their vote-by-mail outreach ahead of November's election.From CNN:The suit comes after California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, announced this month that the state would move to encourage all voters to cast their ballots by mail in November -- the most widespread expansion of vote-by-mail that has been announced as a result of the pandemic and in the nation's most populous state.The RNC's lawsuit challenges that step, marking a significant escalation in the legal battles between Republicans and Democrats that are currently being waged in more than a dozen states."Democrats continue to use this pandemic as a ploy to implement their partisan election agenda, and Governor Newsom's executive order is the latest direct assault on the integrity of our elections," said RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel in a statement."Newsom's illegal power grab is a recipe for disaster that would destroy the confidence Californians deserve to have in the security of their vote."To be clear: encouraging people to vote is not a power grab. Nor is it illegal. It is, in fact, a core tenet upon which the foundation of a functioning democracy — even a Representative Democracy! — is built. Curiously, it's also one of the only issues that make Republicans err on the side of extreme caution, infringing on clearly-stated Constitutional rights just in case a single vote ever goes awry. Read the rest

The Last of Us is a game about surviving in America after a pandemic. The sequel is out this summer, and as part of the marketing effort, Sony is offering a "The Last of Us Part II" skateboard with an attractive "post-pandemic distressing" effect. [via @ckunzelman]Build a deck with some real character, complete with post-pandemic distressing. Made of 7-ply Canadian maple. Individually cold-pressed. You wouldn't want the distressing to look pre-pandemic, would you? Read the rest

Just as in almost any industry that seeks high-demand, well-trained workers, certification often becomes key. For project managers, that means anyone who’s serious about serving in that role with a respected company knows they’re going to need the seal of approval in one of the field’s most recognized methodologies before they stand much of a chance of getting on a payroll. Since the 1960s, the project management field has been dominated by its preeminent professional organization, the Project Management Institute (PMI). By the 1980s, they’d written the book on project management — literally — with the Project Management Book of Knowledge (PMBOK) and began certifying those who proved they understood that methodology.As a benchmark among peers, the training in the Project Management Certifications Tests and Courses Bundle can help any new PM prospect earn the knowledge to get certified as a PMI-recognized and endorsed pro, ready to take on a business’ most critical initiatives.It all starts with the Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM) Certification course, leading first-time students through 14 hours of training over the basics of project management, including all the terminology, the structure, and the step-by-step procedures they’ll need to know. Using the PMBOK as the core text, practitioners tackle 5 mock tests with 750 different questions to discover if they’re ready to move forward. But Project Management Professional (PMP) Certification status is what students truly covet. So this next course builds off those teachings, covering everything a PMP has to understand if they want to ace the all-important PMP test. Read the rest

Dr. Steven Levine is a renowned New York plastic surgeon, best known for his face-lifts and breast augmentation work. And apparently, as he told The Cut, he's received a lot of requests for in-home service during this pandemic:The volume of calls, and level of intensity, is probably higher during COVID than not COVID. Almost every virtual consult ends with “How quickly can you do this?” They want to take advantage of this perceived downtime. It seems like the perfect time to recover from a procedure like a face-lift, where you need at least two weeks to lay low (whereas for breast augmentation, you only need a few days to rest at home).[…]Extremely successful people are used to getting what they want, when they want it. That is the reality of their life. One very well-known entrepreneur wanted to come to my office on the Upper East Side and get her face done, like, yesterday. She offered me more than four times my usual fee, all cash, and told me she’d have her lawyer draft a nondisclosure that she wouldn’t tell anyone we did it. I told her, “I love you to death, but no.”Beyond the obvious arrogance of this whole scenario, it also sounds like a horror movie waiting to happen. More at the link.My Wealthiest Clients Are Begging for Plastic Surgery in Quarantine [Steven Levine as told to Alyssa Shelasky / The Cut]Image: April L. Sanders / Flickr (CC 2.0) Read the rest

In 1981, Damaskas (Daniel E Hollomb) of The Dr. Demento Show recorded this wonderful parody of DEVO's "Mongoloid" about the arcade game Asteroids. According to Dr_Deirdre_Airlines who posted it in r/ObscureMedia, Damaskas has said "he never played the game, but instead watched people playing the game failing miserably at it."Damaskas was most cult famous for his rollicking ditty "Making Love In A Subaru" (1977), below: Read the rest

What are Perler beads and why might you want to buy a big tub of 22,000 thousand? They are tiny colorful plastic cylinders. Each bead is a pixel that you place on a Perler pegboard to make a piece of art. Once you've placed all the beads down, you use a clothes iron to fuse the beads together, so your artwork doesn't fall apart.The above video shows you a smart way to stack beads on a toothpick for faster beading.Here are some great Perler bead drawings from around the world:Perler Bead Majora's Mask by EP-380Floppy disks by larriekingMario Perler beads by TheBeadLordMobile phone case by Lovely CraftsDIYPerler beads Stormtrooper Star Wars by L000lzPerler bead camera coasters by Maker CratePerler beads tree and mobile by Idee Creative8-Bit Pixel Art Christmas Baubles by adamcrockettPlus, imagine the fun of sorting 22,000 Perler beats by color! Read the rest

Trump and Trump Junior are tweeting accusatory nonsense about the death of a woman, and her widower asked Twitter to delete the hurtful messages because the tweets are in violation of Twitter's terms of service. But Twitter has made it clear that Trump can tweet anything he wishes with impunity, so the best it can do is say “We are deeply sorry about the pain these statements, and the attention they are drawing, are causing the family.”From AP:[Timothy J. Klausutis called his wife's] death “the single most painful thing that I have ever had to deal with” and said he feels a marital obligation to protect her memory amid “a constant barrage of falsehoods, half-truths, innuendo and conspiracy theories since the day she died.”Klausutis said Trump is among the conspiracy theorists spreading “bile and misinformation” on Twitter “disparaging the memory” of his wife and their marriage.Trump’s tweets violate Twitter’s community rules and terms of service, he said.“An ordinary user like me would be banished,” Klausutis wrote.In a statement, Twitter said it was “deeply sorry about the pain these statements, and the attention they are drawing, are causing the family.” Read the rest

From designer Nate Shirley, a "personal hygiene product intended for cleaning your ears. It uses disposable spiral cleaning heads that spin at a constant speed."I wish he would Kickstart it!Image: Nate Shirley Read the rest

A woman who was exercising her God-given right to release a miasma of aerosolized saliva in a confined space during a deadly pandemic was shouted at by other shoppers in a New York supermarket.Image: YouTube Read the rest

If you misplace something, say a pair of headphones, think about its surface texture and the way it feels rather than what it looks like. This will help you remember where you last left it, says Jason Fischer, Ph.D., a cognitive neuroscientist at Johns Hopkins University’s Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences.From Well and Good:The study reached this conclusion by asking participants to identify items in a sea of clutter. Those who looked for a given object by remembering tactile traits—like hardness or softness—won at the impromptu game of I Spy about 20 percent faster than their counterparts who focused only on visual traits like color and shape. “What makes the finding particularly striking from a vision science standpoint is that simply knowing the latent physical properties of objects is enough to help guide your attention to them,” Dr. Fischer tells Medical Xpress. “It’s surprising because nearly all prior research in this area has focused on a host of visual properties that can facilitate search, but we find that what you know about objects can be as important as what you actually see.”Image: Jumpstory/CC0 Read the rest

Bill Gates has designed tiny location-tracking microchips that he plans to implant into hundreds of millions of people when they get the COVID-19 vaccine. Only 26% of Republicans surveyed believe the preceding sentence is false.From Cnet:A conspiracy theory that Gates is planning to use a future COVID-19 vaccine to implant microchips in billions of people in order to monitor their movements has gained supporters particularly among Fox News viewers and Republicans, the survey found.The representative survey of 1,640 US adults by YouGov for Yahoo News found that half of respondent Americans who say Fox News is their primary television news source believe the conspiracy theory. It's the largest group responding this way, followed by self-described Republicans and "Voted for Donald Trump in 2016" -- 44% of both those groups said they believed the conspiracy theory was true. Twenty-six percent of respondent Republicans said it was false, and 31% said they weren't sure.Image: Yahoo/YouGov Read the rest

In Cincinnati, Ohio, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection intercepted more than $250,000 in counterfeit US bills on its way from Shenzhen, China to Guthrie, Oklahoma. From Fox19:The money, which was not washed or bleached, was printed from a high-end printer on regular paper.Officers say the currency number was the same for every bill, and on the back of the bill there was foreign writing in the location where one of the security features would exist.Translated, the "foreign writing" read: Made in China. Just kidding on that last part. I think.(Thanks, Charles Pescovitz!) Read the rest

To my disappointment, North Korean state media stated that Kim Jong Un did not use his family's mastery of magic to teleport or time travel out of the public eye.“In fact, people can’t disappear and reappear by folding space," stated a report in the Rodong Shinmun, the newspaper of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea. From Mysterious Universe:Chukjibop, literally a “method of shrinking the earth,” is described as the ability to quickly move towards the blind spot of an enemy at a speed so fast that the attacker seems to temporarily disappear. The mythical version of a concept in East Asian martial arts has been attributed to several figures in Chinese and Japanese mythology, and more recently depicted in Japanese animation, or through the use of special effects in Chinese Kung Fu movies.According to myth, [Kim Jong Un's grandfather] Kim Il Sung was able to use the chukjibop technique to win a battle against imperial Japanese soldiers during the time when Korea was a colony of Japan (1910-1945), when he was purportedly leading Korean guerillas in exile[...][Last week's] report marked the first time that state media flatly denied that a Kim family myth was true, South Korea’s Unification Ministry said.“We need to pay attention to the current leader’s denial of the mythification of his predecessors, including his criticism of them in October, at Mt. Kumgang,” a ministry official told reporters. Read the rest

Dalton and Kanaan Dern turned their Apopka, Florida abode into a skatepark. Watch them shred the house. Don't tell mom.The brothers won the "Murder Your House" contest sponsored by Liquid Death and The Berrics. The prizes included six months of mortgage payments (up to $10,000) but not the new roof that they'll likely need sooner rather than later. Read the rest

From the stately and elegant Batmobile Cadillac seen in the 1943 movie serials to the latest militaristic models, this is the on-screen history of Batman's Batmobile. Of course the true high point was the 1955 Lincoln Futura tricked out by George Barris for the 1960s TV series. Read the rest

Popping a new battery in a smoke detector or adding salt to your water softener are easy fixes. But if you run into trouble or a necessary repair in a cramped, tight place, sometimes with no obvious fix or easy access, it can be a pretty frustrating exercise.Since flying blind is the absolute worst, having a solid, dependable borescope camera to see inside hard-to-reach places and spot problems you couldn’t see otherwise can be vitally important. Right now, you can add that piece to your toolkit with a versatile inspection camera like the Sinji Flexible Borescope Camera for Android and iOS. Whether you want to see under floorboards, assess what’s blocking a drain, or just poke around in the smallest nooks and crannies, this cam with nearly 6.5 feet of reach can do the job.Once you download the Sinji app to your phone, tablet, or laptop and sync up, you're all ready to go. The 2-meter cable can snake its way into the darkest of places, but equipped with six powerful adjustable LED lights, you’ll get a crystal clear, HD quality view on your device screen of exactly what you’re up against.With its WiFi compatibility, you can also snap pictures or capture video, then save the footage right to your device. The 8mm camera lens gives you a full look with a 70 degree viewing angle at the end of the MicroUSB to USB cable. And considering many of those pipes and drains are probably pretty nasty, wet places, the Sinji camera is IP67 waterproof certified. Read the rest

Snapdragon seeds have a famously macabre appearance; Karin Jones took a closer look. (CC BY-SA 2.0) Read the rest

Sweden didn't lock down much at all, whereas the UK seems consumed with lockdown theater. This chart, from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, paints a bleak picture either way. Read the rest

Matt Round created an AI-driven face generator specializing in UK Ministers of Parliament: This MP Does Not Exist. The results have the special look of British portrait photography, political culture and nutritional standards, and (unusually for neural-network driven generators) the small pool of source images only heightens the results' inbred luster.Using MPs’ official photos, we trained a neural network to generate a whole new UK Parliament Read the rest

All points of the controversy thoroughly and thoughtfully addressed. Read the rest

In the 1930s, Sinto boxer Johann Trollmann was reaching the peak of his career when the Nazis declared his ethnic inferiority. In this week's episode of the Futility Closet podcast we'll describe Trollmann's stand against an intolerant ideology and the price he paid for his fame.We'll also consider a British concentration camp and puzzle over some mysterious towers.Show notesPlease support us on Patreon! 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 to Spoken Word with Electronics. This week we're in a good David Wojnarowicz mood. Which I mean to say David is a strong energy force for when you are upset and want to focus it into making work. In this Covid era, David's message about government neglect and illness is especially profound. He died of AIDS in 1992, which is awful. And he was one of the coolest people to have ever walked the planet, which is wonderful.In this tribute episode, hear a discussion of his art, specifically a focus on his music, both the band 3 Teens Kill 4 and his amazing collaboration with Ben Neill, ITSOFOMO. A review of the book A Definitive History of Five or Six Years on the Lower East Side is also provided. Along the ride we discuss the late evening drive in highschool when our car was haunted by David Bowie's Suffragette City and play a track from The Cicadas. SPOKEN WORD WITH ELECTRONICS #11: A Tribute to David Wojnarowicz View this post on Instagram I’m sure we’ve posted this pic before, but it’s just too good. Happy belated bday to our dear friend Donovan Pierce. Thanks for all your help over the years at sb ❤️A post shared by Sacred Bones (@sacredbones) on Mar 24, 2020 at 1:28pm PDT Like what you're hearing? Tell others about the show. Read the rest

Firing up the engines each morning and attacking the day with gusto and purpose can feel like a mighty tall order sometimes. We’ve all been there. But on those sluggish, why-don’t-I-just-stay-here-in-bed-all-day kinda days, it might just take a rational, calming, reassuring nudge to make it happen. No matter what it takes to keep you motivated and on point, Quotely has your back. Holder of a solid 4.9 out of 5-star rating in the Apple App Store, Quotely Daily Motivational Quotes is all about cultivating good thoughts and sending them your way to brighten and broaden your universe, one life-affirming quotation at a time.With a subscription to Quotely, you decide when and how often you’d like to see inspiration reminders delivered as well as the look and feel you like. Assembled from a database of literally thousands of quotes, Quotely then serves up words of comfort, motivation, and self-determination right when you need them the most. You can set up Quotely to serve up a pick-me-up each morning as your daily mantra to help sharpen your resolve and focus on what’s ahead. When you’re not receiving quote notifications, you can also browse their 10,000-strong library of inspiring sayings from nearly 20 different categories, including everything from life lessons and sayings to depression beating quotes to philosophy from mankind’s greatest minds to stellar film lines.You can also use Quotely to find motivational books, customize your presentation, share great quotes with others, or to your social media pages and more.A lifetime subscription to Quotely usually comes with a $280 price tag, but with this offer, you can keep yourself feeling positive, focused, and ready to achieve your dreams each and every day forever for only $29.99 Read the rest

Richard Branson's Virgin Orbit failed on its first rocket launch attempt, which took place out of the Mojave Spaceport in Southern California. Here's a quick shot from takeoff. pic.twitter.com/7nt1u58ogs— Virgin Orbit (@Virgin_Orbit) May 25, 2020The small satellite launcher's first live launch test took place on Monday, May 25, the Memorial Day holiday in the United States.In a series of tweets, the company stated:In this first launch demo, we successfully completed all of our pre-launch procedures, captive carry flight out to the drop site, clean telemetry lock from multiple dishes, a smooth pass through the racetrack, terminal count, and a clean release from the aircraft.LauncherOne maintained stability after release, and we ignited our first stage engine, NewtonThree. An anomaly then occurred early in first stage flight. We'll learn more as our engineers analyze the mountain of data we collected today.As we said before the flight, our goals today were to work through the process of conducting a launch, learn as much as we could, and achieve ignition. We hoped we could have done more, but we accomplished those key objectives today.The team's already hard at work digging into the data, and we're eager to hop into our next big test ASAP. Thankfully, instead of waiting until after our 1st flight to tackle our 2nd rocket, we've already completed a ton of work to get us back in the air and keep moving forward.Here's our next rocket, built and ready for system-level testing in our final integration area as it waits for its turn to fly to space. Read the rest

The cruelty is the point.Impeached and manifestly unfit president Donald Trump spent Memorial Day 2020 doing what he does every other day. Tweeting disinformation about the coronavirus pandemic that has killed nearly 100,000 Americans and shows no sign of stopping, despite Trump's repeated lies.“Great reviews on our handling of Covid 19, sometimes referred to as the China Virus,” tweeted Trump on Monday, May 25, 2020. “Ventilators, Testing, Medical Supply Distribution, we made a lot of Governors look very good - And got no credit for so doing. Most importantly, we helped a lot of great people!”There is no bottom.This one from Trump last night sounded better in the original Russian, as noted by the experts:Schools in our country should be opened ASAP. Much very good information now available. @SteveHiltonx @FoxNews— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 25, 2020America nears the 100,000 deaths mark. Trump's just getting started. Read the rest

You may not realize it, but one of the fastest-growing employee benefits over the past several years is one that’s keeping thousands of workers feeling happier and healthier. Back in 2013, only 13 percent of employers were willing to provide or subsidize standing desks for their workers, but by 2019, that number had exploded to 60 percent.Part of that increase is directly tied to research that’s shown a standing desk that encourages workers to spend less time sitting can help attack a variety of health problems, including back, knee, shoulder and elbow pain, poor circulation, muscle fatigue, headaches, and even sexual performance issues.With endorsements like those, it may be worth picking up an item like the RiseUp Electrical Height Adjustable Standing Desk. This desk from Uncaged Ergonomics is all about finding each user’s sweet spot. From a standard sitting height, three-stage lifting columns can elevate this steel and wood product frame almost 4 feet with the push of a button. With that much range, it only takes a little work to determine exactly what elevation is the proper height for each person to optimize their sitting and standing postures.Once you’ve found the spot that sings for you, the memory keypad can lock it in, one of four positions the desk can memorize and serve up for immediate adjustment.The dual powerful motors raise and lower the desk quickly and smoothly, all while holding up to 250 pounds on your desktop, more than enough to hoist a computer monitor, phone, and other assorted desk bric-a-brac with no problem. Read the rest

White House adviser Kevin Hassett said the quiet part out loud just now: “Our human capital stock is ready to go back to work.”White House adviser Kevin Hassett: "Our human capital stock is ready to go back to work." #HumanCapitalStock pic.twitter.com/Yl9KwJf6KP— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 25, 2020[Captured by Vox media journalist Aaron Rupar] Read the rest

The World Health Organization said on Monday that parts of the world where coronavirus infection rates are declining may face an “immediate second peak” if they prematurely loosen restrictions to slow the spread of the virus that causes COVID-19.From Reuters:The world is still in the middle of the first wave of the coronavirus outbreak, WHO emergencies head Dr Mike Ryan told an online briefing, noting that while cases are declining in many countries they are still increasing in Central and South America, South Asia and Africa.Ryan said epidemics often come in waves, which means that outbreaks could come back later this year in places where the first wave has subsided. There was also a chance that infection rates could rise again more quickly if measures to halt the first wave were lifted too soon.“When we speak about a second wave classically what we often mean is there will be a first wave of the disease by itself, and then it recurs months later. And that may be a reality for many countries in a number of months’ time,” Ryan said.“But we need also to be cognizant of the fact that the disease can jump up at any time. We cannot make assumptions that just because the disease is on the way down now it is going to keep going down and we are get a number of months to get ready for a second wave. We may get a second peak in this wave.Read more at Reuters:WHO warns of 'second peak' in areas where COVID-19 declining Read the rest

The U.S. Department of Justice is reported to now be investigating the shooting death of Ahmaud Arbery as a possible hate crime.White House reporter Yamiche Alcindor of PBS NewsHour tweeted:Confirmed: DOJ is officially investigating shooting death of Ahmaud Arbery as a possible hate crime, according to Arbery’s family’s attorney. US Attorney met w/ the parents Thurs & told them DOJ also investigating county & state response for possible equal protection violations.— Yamiche Alcindor (@Yamiche) May 25, 2020Previous Boing Boing posts on the killing of Ahmaud Arbury are here. Read the rest

This foldable step stool is 11 inches high, and is only 1.5 inches thick when folded up. It has replaced a non-folding plastic step stool that we'd kept in on the floor in the closet. It feels very sturdy when I stand on it. Read the rest

When ex-jewel thief Larry Lawton went to prison, he learned a lot of useful skills, which he is now sharing on YouTube. In this video, he teaches you how to boil water with a "stinger," made from two shower drain covers, an electrical cord, and a few other odds and ends.Image: YouTube Read the rest

The Universal Serial Bus specification was introduced by a consortium of large tech companies in 1996 to standardize the way peripherals connect to computers. In this episode of Nostalgia Nerd on YouTube, you can learn about the history of USB, and why the connector configurations change so frequently. This 20-minute video was more interesting than I thought it would be, mainly because not a single day in my life since 1998 has gone by that I haven't plugged in or unplugged a USB connector, and I really knew nothing about them until now. Now I know everything I want to know about them.Image: YouTube Read the rest

Science teacher Bruce Yeany demonstrates a ramp walker he made from a pizza box and some scrap cardboard.Ramp walking toys have actually been around for quite a while, the first ones were metal elephants produced back in the 1800s. In the 1930 and '40s the popular material was plastic made that was made into Disney and other popular characters. Recently there has been a surge in wooden ramp walking toys. The wooden toys are very durable but require woodworking tools for making them. While less durable it is also possible to make these toys out of paper and cardboard. Here is an example of ramp walkers made out of used pizza boxes. In future videos. I will show additional ramp walkers made from recycled materials that are easy to build with simple hand tools. Read the rest

I don't know who created this cursed chart but they are responsible for a lot of suffering on the internet this morning and should be brought to justice. [via Megadestructo]I saw it. Now you have to see it, too. pic.twitter.com/dUxb5uryqk— Eric C. (@Megadestructo) May 25, 2020 Read the rest

COOPH put together a video featuring DIY smartphone video rigs put together with stuff lying around the house.Want to make your smartphone footage more creative than ever? In our latest video the COOPH photographers share some of their best hacks on how to create stunning images and videos with your smartphone and everyday tools, no expensive gear required! From smooth time lapses and steady shots to an easy DIY gimbal – this video has it all! Disposable DIY rigs and jigs are essential for learning what works and what's possible creatively. If I spend money on something I'll be less likely to push it, to risk sacrificing the investment for self-improvement's sake. But if I'm already familiar with what a tool actually gets me, I won't be intimidated or disappointed when I buy a decent one. Read the rest

First, they were all about serving a protective necessary function. But now, about 10 weeks after the explosion of the COVID-19 outbreak, face masks are beginning to serve a different role. Just like all the fashion accessories that came before them, face masks are now showing off a little piece of ourselves to the everyday world, making a quick, mouth-and-nose-covering statement to all those who cross our paths.Since face masks appear to be sticking around for a while and you might as well make the best of it, we’ve got a variety of cotton face mask four-packs available. Each comes with a fun print that says, hey, just because I’m covering up doesn’t mean I’m okay with some boring white N95 mask.No, these sets each come with a distinct vibe to them, so like the rest of your wardrobe, you can match your personal fashion sense with your particular mood or style. Each is made from premium cotton to stay soft, breathable, and comfortable with a pair of adjustable earloops to keep your mask firmly secured.And the looks...well, that’s what it’s all about, right? Beyond the life-saving protection, obviously. With the Kid in You four-pack, you get a boldly-colored set with paint splotches, a rainbow-colored animal maw and even the ever-popular gray camo look.Meanwhile, the Tie-Dye set is a bit more muted, yet still artistically vibrant. They may not inspire true 60’s flashbacks, but the hippie aesthetic is alive and well here.The Fun with Kids pack is, well, made for the kiddies...or Read the rest

Food manufacturers will be permitted to substitute ingredients in products without changing the labels. The FDA posted a "temporary flexibility policy" permitting inaccurate labels, claiming it is necessary to "support the food chain" during the Covid-19 pandemic.The FDA is providing flexibility for manufacturers to make minor formulation changes in certain circumstances without making conforming label changes, such as making a change to product ingredients, without updating the ingredient list on the packaged food when such a minor change is made. Other temporary flexibilities that FDA has issued address nutrition labeling on food packages, menu labeling, packaging and labeling of shell eggs and the distribution of eggs to retail locations.An interesting thing about me not saying what was in the food is you not proving what was in the food. Read the rest

There have been modern designs for portable Commodore 64s, and the official portable Commodore 64 you perhaps didn't even know about, but none of them are as handsome as Cem Tezcan's.The Adafruit Blog:As a part of my monthly product design practice, I decided to make an handheld Commodore 64 that uses “mini cassettes” to load programs or games.I inspired by most of the old Commodore electronic products to create this dream device All it needs is a giant leather holster. Read the rest

Samara Ginsberg (previously at BB) performs Stu Philips' Knight Rider theme tune on eight cellos. PREVIOUSLY: Alternate version of the Knight Rider theme tuneBONUS: Australian beer ad ☟ Read the rest

Former Apple and NASA engineer turned YouTube sensation Mark Rober (previously) decided to spend his quarantine birdwatching until his neighbourhood squirrels defeated his supposedly squirrel-proof birdfeeders.Realizing that squirrels are way, way smarter than one may think, he went ahead and set up a Rube-Goldberg-and-Wipeout-inspired course that, if completed successfully, would provide a nutty nirvana to the furry contestants, while allowing the birds to feast unhindered, watching the mayhem unfold.Rick, Marty, Frank and Gus - his four contestants, were indeed up to the challenge, and what follows is some of the best backyard games and feasting you're likely to see this weekend.Find Mark's many other engineering-centric projects on his YouTube channel. Read the rest

Promoting products is almost nothing like it was back in the Mad Men days. In fact, the digital landscape has changed the ad game so much that it barely even resembles early Grey’s Anatomy days anymore. Marketing a product digitally isn’t about the right ad slogan or color scheme. It’s about crafting the narrative around that product through blog posts, social media, videos and other legitimate content that demands a potential customer’s attention and motivates action.Did you know Facebook is the primary content distribution channel for marketers today? Or that those marketers usually create unique content for up to three completely separate audience segments? Or that digital marketing is now a $100 billion per year business?Reaching just the right audience on just the right platform with just the right message is just as tough as it sounds. However, the training in The Complete Digital Content Marketing Certification Bundle will help you find your people, hone your message and take advantage of the strengths and weaknesses of each platform to craft the messaging story you want around your product.This collection features eight courses including 40 hours of instruction as you learn everything you need to know to craft a fully-formed digital content strategy.The Certified Facebook Marketing 2020 (Complete Masterclass) opens your tutelage with a look at the no. 1 digital content hotspot on the web, including how to create an optimized home for your brand, proven Facebook marketing tactics, a Facebook Ads primer and how to reach Facebook groups to drive sales on the platform. Read the rest

Concept artist and illustrator Vlada Monakhova (artstation, ko-fi) reports that a family acquaintance is "stuck in a hotel in Saudi Arabia" but has been given a menu to work their way through until the pandemic lockdown lifts.So my mother's friend's husband is stuck in a hotel in Saudi Arabia and this is the order menu they gave himDo I have any Arabic speaking followers that can help make sense of this but also, tag yourself, I'm "Normal doubt" pic.twitter.com/MVemyCCON9— Vlada ✨?✨ (@vladadraws) May 24, 2020I'd like to try the she is suspicious of cheese, please. Read the rest

Every once in a while, we see a new product come along that’s so versatile and elegantly simple that it’s strange no one’s ever gone there before.Portable lights themselves aren’t new, but there’s something about the MOGICS Coconut Light that’s so seamlessly well-designed and adaptable that it feels startlingly original.The Coconut is basically just an orb of light. Yet the more than $105,000 this portable, foldable light source generated during its enthusiastic run on Kickstarter proves that its appeal goes far beyond its humble origins.Made from durable, non-toxic, kid-safe silicon material, the Coconut Light is a minimalist perfect sphere of light that can adapt to almost any situation. The Coconut self-inflates and sports four different lighting modes, so whether it’s serving as a desk light, a table centerpiece, a camping accessory, or poolside ambiance, it effortlessly conforms to your environment.The silicon sturdiness and clever engineering mean you don’t have to handle the Coconut Light with kid gloves. In fact, with its inflatable, balanced, durable construction, it’s practically like having a glowing rubber ball shining in the darkness.The three-point design subtly creates a balance, so if the Coconut Light is set on a table, it doesn’t roll away. At the base, the invisible switch can toggle through normal, flash, breathing, and warning light modes.In case you’re skeptical about carrying a rubber ball around with you, don’t worry -- the Coconut Light folds down to about a sixth of its original size. Then once you pop it out of its carrying case, the Coconut’s unique valve design expands it to its regular dimensions. Read the rest

LG makes a 86-inch 3840 x 600 display—that's a 58:9 aspect ratio—and you can buy it for abour four grand [Amazon]. I was thinking of having them send one over to do a deadpan serious Gamer Review of it. Imagine this 7ft monster vesa-mounted on a 5ft desk, with little computer speakers stuck awkwardly on arms out to the side. Would many games even run at that resolution? It was suggested to me further that I review it in portrait orientation. Read the rest

With the U.S. cautiously reopening, it’s probably time to take stock of where you're at. After spending all these weeks in the house, you’ve likely already assembled a little list of items you either realized you were missing or need to replace. And those kinds of revelations probably apply to nearly every room.We got you. From the bedroom to the kitchen to the bathroom, we’ve put together a list of some cool items all under Memorial Day discounts right now. On top of that, use the code SUMMERSAVE20 during checkout and you’ll get an added 20 percent off everything. Load up!The BedroomComfort always starts with some great sheets, so the Bamboo Comfort 4-Piece Luxury Queen Sheet Set ($26.39 after discount, originally $109) offers a high-quality microfiber and bamboo blend that’s soft, breathable, hypoallergenic, and wrinkle-free.Of course, wrinkle-free is easier said than done...but the problem of wrinkled sheets and mattress toppers gets crushed by the Bed Scrunchie 360° Fitted Sheet Tightener, Holder & Extender ($25.59 after discount, originally $59.95), the world's first 360-degree all-in-one bed tightening system. Clip it to the edges of your sheets, tighten the clamps and you’ve got a flawless hotel bed look and military corners in seconds.And if you’re having a little trouble drifting off to sleep, the LectroFan High Fidelity White Noise Machine ($31.99 after discount, originally $49.99) sports 20 unique digital sounds with pinpoint volume control to mask noises, focus your mind for relaxation, and get you a more peaceful rest each night. Read the rest

When the COVID-19 threat hit in March, most Americans didn’t have much of a choice about their new work-from-home existence. But now that a majority of the workforce have settled into their new routines, it may be hard for many to snap back to the daily commute and the office grind again.And the numbers spell it out — remote working...well, works. A survey found remote workers actually logged almost 60 more hours of core work per year than those in an office. And remote workers saved anywhere from 2 to 5.5 hours a day without commuting and time-consuming in-person meetings. With results like those, the only real question is how do you ensure your core work hours are truly time well spent? With The Remote Work and Productivity Bundle, you can learn the techniques that will help keep you focused on your key tasks so you can enjoy the work from home lifestyle with zero guilt.This package collects seven courses that bolster both the physical and mental approaches to working remotely so you can do high-quality work in less time and with less hassle.With How To Be Hyper Productive In Your Home Based Business, you’ll develop the disciplines and habits needed to take your home-based job or business to be both highly productive and highly profitable. Meanwhile, the Coronavirus and Remote Work: Tools and Tactics for Business Continuity course take that training a step further, minimizing work disruption, managing expectations, and feeding your creativity and innovation, all from home. Read the rest

After two months, all those stockpiled snacks and days spent indoors have likely taken their toll. If you happened to pick up a few pounds during quarantine, join the club.However, you may be thinking that it’s time -- or maybe, well past time -- to get back on that fitness horse. Rather than heading down to that recently reopened, but likely still deeming with possible infection neighborhood gym, we’ve pulled together a handful of equipment and services that can help get your body moving and on the road to a fitter you.And just so we can leave you with a fitter wallet as well, you can use the code SUMMERSAVE20 at checkout and that’ll slice another 20 percent off your total. GearIf you’re ready to work out, gear up first. For yoga and Pilates regulars, this Non-Slip Yoga and Pilates Towel with Bag ($18.39 after discount; originally $75) is designed just for you. The towel is created to stay on top of the mat without slipping, catching all the sweat so you aren’t sliding all over. Thankfully, it dries quickly and can be stowed in the mesh bag for washing.The Men's Z-Liner Antimicrobial Orthotic Insoles ($19.19 after discount; originally $29.99) can save your feet from ill-fitting or broken down shoes. Crafted with ZL Hexcore and breathable mesh fabric, these insoles cradle and form to your feet, keeping them cool, dry, and odor-free. They’ve even got arch support and an adaptive heel-cup for better balance and stability while reducing common pains. Read the rest

Journalist Patrick Radden Keefe has done plenty of extensive and gripping longform journalism, including his most recent book, Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland (which I could not recommend more highly). His newest project is a slight departure from covering topics of crime and radical separationists, but still deals heavily with espionage and subterfuge.It's about the Scorpions, the English-speaking German rock band who rocked you like a hurricane. And also the CIA.Here's the official blurb:It’s 1990. The Berlin Wall just fell. The Soviet Union is on the verge of collapse. And the soundtrack to the revolution is one of the best selling songs of all time, the metal ballad “Wind of Change,” by The Scorpions. Decades later, journalist Patrick Radden Keefe heard a rumor: the song wasn’t written by The Scorpions. It was written by the CIA. This is his journey to find the truth.Told through exclusive interviews with former CIA officers, on the ground reporting, and more - this podcast embodies the traditional tones of investigative journalism while keeping listeners on their toes through its cinematic pacing, simulating the theatricality of the critically acclaimed film Argo in a podcast. This 8-part series follows Patrick’s search for the truth, a 10 year investigation that traces the 70 year history of our government's meddling into pop music, including everyone from Louis Armstrong and Nina Simone, to Bon Jovi and the Beach Boys.I've listened to the first two episodes available so far (which is also embedded below), and I'm absolutely hooked. Read the rest