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Kremlin sent 45 Aventa-M ventilators to the United States after Trump and Putin call

Write-Only is a "typewriter", in that you can type but you cannot delete. You can copy what you've written to the clipboard and go full-screen, and that's it. Read the rest

Democratic Presidential candidate Joe Biden, on Friday, May 22, addressed a remark he made during an interview with Charlamagne Tha God: "I should not have been so cavalier. I have never ever ever taken the African American community for granted.""I shouldn't have been such a wise guy," he added.“No one should have to vote for any party based on their race, their religion, their background." He was apologizing for saying "you ain't black" if you're deciding between Biden and Trump.A testy exchange at the end of the interview with @cthagod. Biden, clearly frustrated by the insinuation he hasn't done enough to help the black community, tells him "If you have a problem figuring out whether you're for me or Trump then you ain't black" https://t.co/7u1IReMy6B— Marianna Sotomayor (@MariannaNBCNews) May 22, 2020JUST IN: In a call with Black business leaders, @JoeBiden apologizes for his AM comments to @cthagod: "“I should not have been so cavalier. I've never, never, ever taken the African American community for granted." (more)— Ed O'Keefe (@edokeefe) May 22, 2020 Read the rest

Like a third-rate children’s party magician who’s given up caring, this week’s tawdry tabloids indulge in some heavy-handed misdirection.

Trump: 'I will override the governors' if they stop houses of worship from reopening

Gel-based super glue is much easier to use than regular super glue because it's thick and easier to control. You can apply a dab to a vertical surface without having it drip. It's also slightly tacky to begin with, which helps to keep parts sticking together without holding them. And because it's thicker, it works well on porous surfaces, like the ones on this elephant coffee creamer that one of our cats broke. The kind I use is Gorilla Super Glue Gel. Read the rest

My pal Shalaco sent me this video he made with the following message: As a photographer I lost 100% of my income due to the Covid-19 crisis. I applied to every form of financial support out there and recently had a lot of success. I want to share what I've learned with the community with these tips for applying for financial resources for photographers, creatives, or really anyone. The amount of epic resource lists out there can be overwhelming, this video focuses on walking people through the process. Read the rest

"NVIDIA GameGAN is a powerful new AI model created by NVIDIA Research and was trained on 50,000 episodes of PAC-MAN to produce a fully functional version of the classic without an underlying game engine." Read the article about it was done here.Image: Nvidia Read the rest

In this segment from the 1980s Australian television program Curiosity Show, the host shows you how to make accurate drawings of natural history specimens using graph paper. You place the specimen (in this case, a spider) on a piece of graph paper. Then you use another sheet of graph paper to draw the spider, using the grids as a guide. You can use enlarged graph paper to make a larger-than-life drawing of the specimen, as the host does here. Read the rest

Coffee expert James Hoffman tried a bunch of different supermarket instant coffees to find out which one tastes the best. He entered into the test with a strong bias against instant coffee for two reasons 1) "convenience, by and large, results in a sacrifice of quality," and 2) "instant wants to be cheap." But he was still curious, so he went to a delivery website and ordered every kind of instant coffee they stocked. After receiving 38 different kinds of coffee, he tried them all. The winner was Little's Colombian Premium Instant Coffee, but he reminds viewers that instant coffee is just a "snapshot" of fresh ground coffee. Read the rest

Big Wendy makes stop motion animation films by placing Rubik's Cubes onto a large square frame, taking a shot, changing the cubes, taking another shot, again and again. Big Wendy said it took her about a week to make this video commemorating the 40th anniversary of Pac-Man and Rubik's Cube. Amazing!Image: YouTube Read the rest

Documentary maker Michael Moore was right when he predicted Trump would win the 2016 election, despite most polls favoring Hillary Clinton. Now, Moore is predicting Trump will call off the 2020 election.Here's what he told Vanity Fair:“There will be no November 3 election if things keep going the way they’re going right now,” Moore said. “I think he would have figured out a way, even without the coronavirus, but this is a gift to him because I think he never really intended on leaving in the first place. He admires dictators. He admires strongmen, wishes he was one. I think the writing is on the wall right now that he is in deep electoral trouble.”Image: Jumpstory/CC0 Read the rest

Want a Jason Voorhees mask from its legendary creator? Complete with a fabric backing to reduce the likelihood of viral transmission? Tom Savini is taking orders. Via iHorror:Savini has worked on two of the Friday the 13th films, the 1980 original as well as Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter in 1984. Baker was responsible for the visual effects on The Dark Knight Rises. If anyone can create a fashionable and functional mask for the health and safety of others, it’s this duo! Now horror fans can don the infamous hockey mask as they protect themselves, and others, from COVID-19. The masks are being sold for $60. However, if you want your mask autographed by the father of horror make up effects himself, Savini’s signature will grace your Voorhees mask for an additional $40.You asked, we answered! “Hockey mask” personal protection masks now available. Contact/ DM @bakingjason for details. #tomsavini pic.twitter.com/uNywnJ7Kyy— Tom Savini (@THETomSavini) April 29, 2020 Read the rest

When my friend and Cool Tools partner Kevin Kelly turned 68 a few weeks ago, he posted an essay to his website titled "68 bit of unsolicited advice." (I posted it to Boing Boing.) Kevin's advice quickly went viral, and this week he was the guest on the Freakonomics podcast, where he talked about the list, among other things.KELLY (reading from 68 Bits of Unsolicited Advice): Learn how to learn from those who disagree with you, or even offend you. See if you can find truth in what they believe.DUBNER: So the value of doing this one seems obvious, especially in a moment where so many people are so quick to take offense, and to be offensive. Can you give me an example of where you’ve actually done this?KELLY: There are parts of my books where I’ve written something, and somebody will say something very strong, about, “That’s dumb,” or it’s stupid, or wrong. And that’s pretty harsh. But my take is to say, “Let me see if there’s any truth to that.” Sometimes there’s not. Sometimes there may be some sliver of something. And what I’ve learned to do is to respond to that little sliver. To try to get underneath why they’re saying it and where is it they’re coming from. I don’t have to necessarily always agree with them or change it, but I have to pay attention to that signal. And so I’ve learned to treat these things as signals rather than as insults. Read the rest

How do you take a song that's already brooding and spooky, and turn it into something infinitaly creepier? Read the rest

Repeating the word "fuck" actually can reduce your experience of pain, according to a new study by Keele University researchers. The psychologists ran an experiment in which subjects underwent a cold pressor test, a common method to pain threshold and tolerance by immersing your hand in freezing cold water for a minute. (See above video for actor Brian Blessed's demonstration, unrelated to this current research.)According to the researchers' scientific paper, their data "replicate previous findings that repeating a swear word at a steady pace and volume benefits pain tolerance, extending this finding to pain threshold."Don't think any old word will help though. They found no benefit when their subjects exclaimed made-up words like “fouch” and “twizpipe." "Swearing as a Response to Pain: Assessing Hypoalgesic Effects of Novel 'Swear” Words" (Frontiers in Psychology) Read the rest

The BBC filmed a Boston Dynamics robot dog attemping to herd sheep in New Zealand. A robot dog designed for search and rescue missions has had a go at herding sheep in New Zealand.Technology company Rocos is exploring how the Spot robot - made by US-based Boston Dynamics - might be put to work in the agricultural industry.The BBC's choice of music is uplifting and jolly in an unusually effortful way. I can't help but wonder if this is because footage of a robot dog stalking prey animals is fundamentally alarming. By way of illustration (below), I swapped the music for the sinister Danny Elfman track used in the Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy trailer and replaced the BBC's "isn't this wonderful?" text with some indistinct robot chatter. Read the rest

If there's something strange, in your Mumbai 'hood, who you gonna call? Indian author and strange phenomena investigator Jay Alani has started a helpline for people freaked out about "ghosts, spirits, black magic or anything related to the paranormal world." Alani says he receives eight to 10 calls each day. From the Hindustan Times:He has been receiving various calls of people claiming to see a ghost, hearing some unusual noise, or feeling that someone is constantly watching them, during this quarantine period.“In most of the cases, I have found that person who claims to experience any such unusual incident has been watching horror films and series during this lockdown period. After questioning them about their daily routine, family history, past trauma etc, I and my team of psychologists found out that many of them actually create a fictional ghost in their mind”, said Jay Alani who has been a full-time paranormal investigator for last many years and has investigated over 100 haunted locations and looked after over 150 paranormal cases[...]As per Jay Alani, “The main motive behind this helpline number is to provide scientific solutions to those who are encountering any unusual incidents or have any question about the paranormal world. We see that black magic and mesmerism are propagated and advertised openly in India. People usually fall in the trap of such Babas, Tantriks and Ojhas due to lack of knowledge.” Read the rest

On the same night that he fired State Department Inspector General Steve Linick, a watchdog who was allegedly investigating Secretary of State Mike Pompeo over any number of potentially corrupt activities, Trump also terminated a watchdog working for the Department of Transportation. As Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington explains:At DOT, the acting IG was overseeing a high profile investigation of Secretary Chao’s alleged favoritism benefiting her husband Senator Mitch McConnell’s political prospects, but has now been replaced with a political appointee from within the agency. The acting IG’s ouster calls into question the future of the Chao-McConnell investigation, other critical oversight, and whether the watchdog was dismissed for unearthing damaging information.[…]Trump’s decision to sideline DOT acting IG Mitch Behm (who has 17 years of experience with OIG) was lost in the shuffle of outrage following the announcement that Trump planned to fire the State Department IG, but potential conflicts of interest abound. The most high profile is the DOT OIG’s review of allegations that Secretary Chao gave Senator McConnell’s constituents special treatment and helped steer millions of federal dollars to Kentucky as he is facing low approval ratings and a tough reelection bid.Secretary Chao also served as Deputy Secretary of Transportation under President George HW Bush and Secretary of Labor under President George W Bush. Her father is a wealthy and successful Chinese-American shipping magnate who has donated tens of millions of dollars to Senator Mitch McConnell, even before he married Chao in 1993 (McConnell's first wife, Sherrill Redmon, is a feminist scholar at Smith; neither she or their Democrat daughters discuss their relationship with McConnell). Read the rest

Floating out of your body and looking down on it. The story of your life flashing by before your eyes. Seeing a bright light at the end of a dark tunnel. These are just two of the most common experiences that people report after a near-death experience (NDE). For some people, NDEs are a transformative spiritual or mystical experience. But what's the source of the phenomena? That's a question that fascinates Dr. Christof Koch is president and chief scientist of the Allen Institute for Brain Science who studies the neuroscience of consciousness. In Scientific American, Koch surveys the science of near-death experiences and what they can tell us about how our brains work under extreme duress. From Scientific American:Modern death requires irreversible loss of brain function. When the brain is starved of blood flow (ischemia) and oxygen (anoxia), the patient faints in a fraction of a minute and his or her electroencephalogram, or EEG, becomes isoelectric—in other words, flat. This implies that large-scale, spatially distributed electrical activity within the cortex, the outermost layer of the brain, has broken down. Like a town that loses power one neighborhood at a time, local regions of the brain go offline one after another. The mind, whose substrate is whichever neurons remain capable of generating electrical activity, does what it always does: it tells a story shaped by the person’s experience, memory and cultural expectations.Given these power outages, this experience may produce the rather strange and idiosyncratic stories that make up the corpus of NDE reports. Read the rest

It annoys me that the nail's owner keeps trimming it. Read the rest

In 2017, musician/activist Toshi Reagon began creating an operatic stage adaptation of Octavia Butler's The Parable of the Sower — the 1993 Afrofuturist sci-fi novel about an America in the year 2020 that's ravaged by climate change and income inequality and greedy politicians who appeal to imaginary racists pasts while also promising to build a wall around the wealthy.Octavia E. Butler's Parable of the Sower: A Concert Experience received renowned productions from Boston to New York to Los Angeles. And now — since it is 2020, and we're living in an America ravaged by climate change and income inequality and greedy politicians who appeal to imaginary racists pasts while also promising to build a wall around the wealthy — the arts program at Emerson College (my alma mater) has announced a year-long residency with Reagon called Parable Path Boston, which will continue to explore Butler's work alongside real-time climate activism in Boston.To kick off the program, ArtsEmerson will be hosting a one-night screening of the show on Friday, May 22 at 6pm, followed by an online talkback with Toshi Reagon. I'm pretty sure it's free, but you have to register ahead of time for a link.I have some friends who were involved in the early workshops of the play, who still talk about it as one of their most formative artistic experiences. I know what I'm doing Friday night; but if you're not convinced to join me yet, there's more links below.Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Sower [Toshi Reagon / ArtsEmerson]Parable of the Songwriter: Toshi Reagon Explains Why an Octavia Butler-Inspired Opera Is More Relevant Than Ever [Maiysha Kai / The Root]A Prescient Sci-Fi ‘Parable’ Gets Set to Music [Jeremy D. Read the rest

this is the greatest thing ive seen all day pic.twitter.com/f4wSSPFHoG— glitch! @ tired (@GlitchyFur) May 20, 2020I hereby dub this genre: "Appliancewave." Read the rest

David Lynch has finally uploaded FIRE (POZAR), the experimental animated short he did in 2015, to his new David Lynch Theater on YouTube.To create it, Lynch shared the still drawings he'd done for the piece with composer Marek Zebrowski (who did the music for Lynch's Inland Empire) and didn't share any further details. After Zebrowski had composed the music, animator Noriko Miyakawa put together the final animated short.Image: YouTube Read the rest

It's been over a hundred years since the Titanic sank, and its wreckage in the North Atlantic Ocean has been protected by an International Agreement between the United States and the United Kingdom. But since 2000, that agreement has specifically forbidden anyone from cutting into the wreckage or detaching any part of it. In other words, the wreckage itself must be preserved, even as researchers explore and salvage around it.From CNN:Virginia's eastern district court amended that order "for a unique opportunity to recover an artifact that will contribute to the legacy left by the indelible loss of the Titanic, those who survived and those who gave their lives in the sinking," Judge Rebecca Beach Smith wrote.[…]The Marconi device and the artifacts associated with it face "significant threat of permanent loss," the judge said in her approval of the expedition.The radio isn't a blackbox, per se — it's not like modern planes that record the final fates of people on board. But it certainly has historical significance. Even though, on the surface, "Rescuing the radio but not the Titanic" sounds like a depressing metaphor for watching the world fall apart all around you.Radio used by the Titanic to call for help can be salvaged, judge rules [Kay Jones, Sheena Jones and Theresa Waldrop / CNN] Read the rest

Okay, now THIS is a quarantine crafting project.An amazing terrarium coffee table, shared by IMGURian @timsterrariums206.Go see the entire gallery.I made a terrarium coffee table[source: IMGUR] Read the rest

Pro-democracy lawmakers denounced the plans as “the end of Hong Kong”.

These two little bear cubs are play-fighting, but they look beary serious.Scary up close bear fighting!! pic.twitter.com/hKRka6A6Gd— Josh (@Pasta_Josh) May 21, 2020 Read the rest

• Ruairi O Leocháin of Athlone Wildlife Apiaries decided to make a lego beehive "just for a bit of craic" A beekeeper in Ireland put their coronavirus quarantine time to good use by crafting an elaborate, fully functioning beehive out of LEGOs.Here's the original story published by Westmeath Independent:A beehive which an Athlone schoolteacher and wildlife activist made out of lego has been creating a real buzz since video footage of it was shared online in recent days. Ruairi O Leocháin of Athlone Wildlife Apiaries decided to make a lego beehive "just for a bit of craic", but a video clip he shared of the bees in their colourful new home has been hugely popular and is about to surpass 100,000 views on Facebook. "To be honest, I wasn't expecting such a big reaction," he said."I have had people getting in touch with me from China, America, and elsewhere saying that they love the idea." LEGO Beehive Read the rest

Your concerns about the privacy and security risks of using state-run coronavirus contact tracing apps? They're reasonable concerns.This new report from mobile privacy firm Jumbo Privacy says the official North Dakota contact-tracing app is sharing location data with Foursquare and an advertising ID with Google. Writes Steven Melendez for Fast Company:The app, called Care19, and produced by a company called ProudCrowd that also makes a location-based social networking app for North Dakota State sports fans, generates a random ID number for each person who uses it. Then, it can “anonymously cache the individual’s locations throughout the day,” storing information about where people spent at least 10 minutes at a time, according to the state website. If users test positive for the coronavirus, they can provide that information to the North Dakota Department of Health for contact-tracing purposes so that other people who spent time near virus patients can potentially be notified.According to the app’s privacy policy, “location data is private to you and is stored securely on ProudCrowd, LLC servers” and won’t be shared with third parties “unless you consent or ProudCrowd is compelled under federal regulations.”But according to the Jumbo report, the app sends the random ID number, along with a phone ID used for advertising purposes and apparent latitudes and longitudes of places visited by the user, to Foursquare, a leading location-data provider. The app also sends the random ID to servers run by Bugfender, a Barcelona-based service used by app makers to track and diagnose software malfunctions, according to Jumbo, which monitored internet traffic generated by the app. Read the rest

Trump's pick follows 9/11 truther and QAnon conspiracies

William “Roddie” Bryan Jr. charged with Felony Murder & Criminal Attempt to Commit False Imprisonment.

At some point in the future, global communications networks will likely reach one standardized protocol that everyone uses. If you look back over the past few decades, there’s a decent chance that when the story of digital networking is finally settled once and for all, it’s Cisco and Cisco-based systems that the globe will be using.As a worldwide leader in network technology, Cisco hardware and software are everywhere. If you’re an IT professional or an aspiring IT professional, a strong familiarity with how to manage and administrate Cisco systems, particularly with some certification credentials to back you up, could go a long way to ensuring your value in any organization. With the training in The Premium Cisco CCNA and CCNP Lifetime Certification Prep Bundle, you’ll be well on your way to being a respected networking pro.Including seven courses packed with almost 100 hours of instruction, this training is focused on getting you ready to take and pass the Cisco CCNA and CCNP certification, two of the most sought-after credentials in the field.With Cisco CCNA 200-301 Bootcamp and New Cisco CCNA (200-301) Volume 1: The Complete Course, you’ll first get some training in passing the Cisco CCNA 200-301 exam, the test created earlier this year by Cisco consolidating several previous training areas into one all-encompassing networking basics exam.Through hands-on labs and other exercises, students will learn how routing and switching technologies work under real work conditions to help you build your knowledge to install, manage, and grow networks using Cisco routers and switchers. Read the rest

Last weekend, the Schantz family was on a drive in Caroline County, Virgina when the car in front of them swerved to avoid a bag in the middle of the road. The Schantzes stopped to pick up the bag and noticed another in a nearby ditch. Assuming the bags were garbage, they tossed them in the back of their truck to throw away later. They eventually discovered that the bags contained nearly $1 million in cash. From CNN:Within the two larger bags were smaller ones, each containing some information on where the money should have been deposited."Inside of the bag, there were plastic baggies and they were addressed with something that said 'cash vault,'" Emily Schantz told CNN affiliate WTVR.The Sheriff's department conducted its own investigation before turning it over the United States Postal Service, which is now looking into the matter [...]"It's really a credit to just the character and fiber of the family," [Caroline County Sheriff's Department Maj. Scott] Moser said. "I'm sure it'd be difficult to make that decision. It's almost $1 million in cash. But they did the right thing."image: Caroline County Sheriff's Department Read the rest

Joni Mitchell's "River," from her 1971 masterpiece, Blue, has long been one of my favorites of her compositions. The sad, dreamy imagery of a wintertime love lost and the desire to skate away on an endless frozen river forever has got to be one of the most potent evocations in popular music.In this isolated vocal from that track, we get to hear just how pure, powerful, and expressive Joni's vocals were on this recording.[Via Far Out Magazine]Image: YouTube Read the rest

Astronaut Chris Hadfield explains how astronauts wash their hands in the microgravity of space. Formerly the commander of the International Space Station, Hadfield spent nearly six months offworld. (via The Kid Should See This) Read the rest

I bought a Durascoop cat litter scoop about five years ago because the little plastic scoop I’d been using for a couple of years had gotten flimsy from use and would often buckle at the handle.The Durascoop is made from cast aluminum and will never bend. It easily shaves off hardened clumps of litter from that litter box that would cause a plastic scoop to fold in half. It’s actually a beautiful looking tool, too. If Raymond Loewy designed a scoop, it would look like this (except maybe the handle wouldn’t be covered with textured plastic). Read the rest

The robot is your shepherd. In collaboration with cloud robotics firm Rocos, Boston Dynamics demonstrates how their robot dog Spot can herd sheep and handle other farming tasks. From the video description:The use of autonomous robots in agriculture is increasing the efficiency of food production. Robots, like Spot from Boston Dynamics, increase accuracy in yield estimates, relieve the strain of worker shortages, and create precision in farming.More on the Rocos/Boston Dynamics collaboration here.And some context, albeit from 2018: "As Immigrant Farmworkers Become More Scarce, Robots Replace Humans" (New York Times) Read the rest

As part of HiloBrow's Movie Objects series of essays, Jonathan Lethem writes about Burt Lancaster's hammer in the 1958 movie adaptation of George R. Stewart’s almost last-man-on-earth novel, Earth Abides.Earth Abides surrounds a feral-looking Burt Lancaster, fresh off the set of John Huston’s The Unforgiven, with a cast of New York stage actors and unknowns, among them a young Gena Rowlands and the unforgettably eccentric character actor Timothy Carey. The material of Stewart’s Earth Abides is a lot less doomy, actually, than the Shute — despite 95 percent of the world population being extinguished in a viral plague, as the title suggests, it’s a book about survival and contemplation. The main character, Ish (Lancaster), wanders the emptied streets scouting for food and companions, but also meditating on the profound and lyrical encroachment of the natural environment over humankind’s works, and the persistence of life and meaning in the absence of societal certainties.Those who know don't ask, and those who ask don't know. Read the rest

The inimitable Jimmy Slonina cloned himself four times to lip-sync The Temptations' "I Can't Get Next to You."(Thanks, Pat!)Image: YouTube Read the rest

"In lieu of flowers, please pay someone's open bar tab." That's the request to those mourning the loss of one Randall Jacobs of Phoenix, Arizona, who died at age 65. According to his obituary, RJ, aka Uncle Bunky, "told his last joke, which cannot be printed here, on May 4th, 2020." He sounds like a real character and will be greatly missed by those who knew him. From Legacy.com:When the end drew near, he left us with a final Bunkyism: "I'm ready for the dirt nap, but you can't leave the party if you can't find the door."He found the door, but the party will never be the same without him.In lieu of flowers, please pay someone's open bar tab, smoke a bowl, and fearlessly carve out some fresh lines through the trees on the gnarliest side of the mountain.(via Fark) Read the rest

"The glove remover is a simple device that reduces the risk of contamination when changing protective gloves while increasing efficiency and convenience."The website has a link to the 3D model so you can print your own (if you have a 3D printer or access to one). Read the rest

Kevin Kelly alerted me that Jamis MacNiven, owner of Buck's, the "famous and famously weird, restaurant in Woodside at the end of Sand Hill Road," has shut down the restaurant for good because of Covid-19. "Instead," says Kevin, "he is doing this weird newsletter/blog about all the exotic Pacific islands you will never visit." Read the rest

My friend Nik Shulz (aka L-Dopa) creates beautiful designs and illustrations. I hired him when I was an editor at Wired and at Make. In recent years Nik has branched out into furniture making, and his work is just as beautiful as his illustrations.In his newsletter, Nik linked to an article by Joshua Farnsworth on how to make a collapsible Viking camp chair.Image: YouTube Read the rest

A Volkswagen ad posted to its official Instagram account depicted an enormous disembodied white hand dragging a black man away from a Volkswagen Golf, then flicking him into a building signposted "Petit Colon", which translates as "little colonist". Volkswagen soon removed it an apologized."We posted a racist advertising video on Volkswagen's Instagram channel," the VW brand's head of sales and marketing Jürgen Stackmann and group head of diversity Elke Heitmüller said in an apology posted on social media. "We understand the public outrage at this. Because we're horrified, too," they added. How odd that through the whole process of commissioning the ad, filming and editing it, approving the results, transcoding it to mobile-friendly formats, and posting it to social media, no-one realized it was racist. But as soon as it went live, they say "we're horrified, too."Last year, VW apologized after CEO Herbert Diess used the expression "Ebit macht frei," or "Ebit sets you free," at a management event. Ebit is short for earnings before interest and tax and is a measure of company profits. The phrase sounds similar to "Arbeit macht frei," which was inscribed on the gates of Auschwitz and other Nazi concentration camps during World War II.There is a culture problem at VW. Read the rest

Spanish explorer Alvaro Cerezo emailed me about the recent Guardian story titled "The real Lord of the Flies: what happened when six boys were shipwrecked for 15 months."He said:It was the most read article last weekend in The Guardian. But I actually got the document on video.It's the real Lord of the Flies returning to his island where he was stranded for 15 months when he was a kid.Kolo Fekitoa, one of the six castaways alive, had terminal cancer and a dying wish to survive again on his beloved island of Ata where he was shipwrecked with his five friends when he was a boy in 1965.In 2015 I made the 24-hour boat journey to bring Kolo to his Island, and to maroon ourselves for 10 days with only limited food, water, and supplies – surviving in the same way Kolo did decades before.Kolo finally passed away two years later in 2017. He was one of the last real castaways alive, and Ata is one of the only few real desert islands remaining on the planet.Cerezo is launching a documentary about the Tongan castaways this summer.Image: YouTube Read the rest

I have a soft spot for Wheatus's "Teenage Dirtbag," mostly as a fun karaoke song that namedrops Iron Maiden and a boyfriend who's a dick. But I've always been surprised by its lasting endure — it's even by covered by One Direction, and the band re-recorded a translation in Irish Gaelic. Not bad for a song that never even charted in the US.But apparently — as I learned after reading this Rolling Stone article — there's a lot more going on in that tune than realized. Singer/writer Brendan B. Brown genuinely considers it to be his sort of magnum opus, loosely inspired by a horrific murder in his hometown, and he himself has never grown tired of it. In fact, he's been in the process of meticulously re-recording the band's entire first album — including "Teenage Dirtbag," with (ideally) all of the exact little cellphone trills — to make-up for the fact that the master tracks went missing. This isn't just about revisiting a 20-year-old album to make it sound better; it's about recreating it to exacting perfection (which is perhaps even more impressive when you realize that the album was recorded in Brown's mother's basement).Brown’s re-recording project has cost him countless thousands of dollars, and hundreds of hours spent obsessing over bass lines and synth sounds fans almost certainly never noticed in the first place. His quest has sent him scouring the internet for gear that most closely resembles what the band originally used to record the album. Read the rest

I've always been a big fan of Caitlin Doughty and her Ask a Mortician YouTube channel, but I especially liked this almost 40-minute mini-doc she did on the disastrous voyage of the Essex, the Nantucket whaling ship which served as part of the inspiration for Herman Melville's classic, Moby Dick. I knew some of this story, but Caitlin provides all of the bone-chilling, marrow-sucking details. Image: YouTube Read the rest

Live long and prosper — by social distancing! Potter Tom Edwards knows what's up. His new "Kirk and Spock's Social Distancing Alert! Mug" ($40) sends the message of "stay away!" loud and clear in an old-school Star Trek way.Be sure to check out his other wares, including this bowl ($35) that announces that there's LSD in the dip... a little too late.(RED)Thanks, Marcia! Read the rest

We’ve all grown accustomed to the new world order. And until we can go out and experience the world again like we used to, we’ll settle for the next best thing: bringing the world to our door.And if ever there was a time for wine (and lots of it), it’s now.So even if you don’t know a bung from a sommelier, you can get yourself fully versed on wine by sampling some of the world’s best with this $155 credit towards 12 bottles of wine delivered directly to you courtesy of Winc Wine Delivery.Winc’s been up and running for almost a decade, curating a spectacular collection of the world’s top wines. But their stockpile isn’t what brings fans back over and over again — it’s Winc’s game-changing ability to determine the exact wines that you’ll actually like before you even taste a drop. Using a simple six-question survey, the wine experts at Winc customize choices that fit your exclusive tastes. Armed with Winc’s recommendations, you can let them curate a 12-bottle experience of wines you’re likely to love, or you can go rogue and pick ‘em all on your own.Whether you’re a Chardonnay fan, a Pinot Noir devotee, or a connoisseur of the Merlot (unlike Paul Giamatti in “Sideways”), you’ll have over 100 different varieties to choose from. Whether you want a classic from France, a homegrown California specialty, or an adventurous vintage from Italy, Spain, or Argentina, they’re all here.Meanwhile, Winc wants to offer a little education with your booze as well, including a host of flavor notes, vineyard backstories, and food pairing ideas to go along with each and every bottle. Read the rest