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My, how the tables have turned.Many Americans are relocating from their homes to far-flung places to escape the coronavirus outbreak. This, public health officials tell us, only worsens the outbreak -- they can carry the virus without any symptoms. A growing number of people in Mexico want their government to crack down on the reportedly growing number of American citizens who are fleeing south to escape Trump's colossal mismanagement of the worsening U.S. outbreak. Customs and Border Protection quietly requested 1,540 military personnel to assist with border enforcement, citing migrants' "potential to spread infectious disease" per DHS memo leaked to me.1,000 troops would go to the Canadian border: https://t.co/ARxTjp3MWF pic.twitter.com/1H4jrwkVSU— Ken Klippenstein (@kenklippenstein) March 26, 2020From BBC News:Residents in Sonora, south of the US state of Arizona, have promised to block traffic into Mexico for a second day after closing a checkpoint for hours on Wednesday. They wore face masks and held signs telling Americans to "stay at home".Mexico has fewer than 500 confirmed Covid-19 cases and the US over 65,000.The border is supposed to be closed to all except "essential" business, but protesters said there has been little enforcement and no testing by authorities.The blockade was led by members of a Sonora-based group, Health and Life, who called for medical testing to be done on anyone who crosses from the US into Mexico.Jose Luis Hernandez, a group member, told the Arizona Republic: "There are no health screenings by the federal government to deal with this pandemic. Read the rest

Wouldn't it be amazing if the United States did this?Britain’s finance minister Rishi Sunak said Thursday all self-employed citizens will receive a taxable grant of 80% of their average monthly profits as part of the government’s coronavirus response plan. From Reuters:“The government will pay self-employed people who have been adversely affected by the coronavirus a taxable grant worth 80% of their average monthly profits over the last 3 years up to 2,500 pounds per month,” Sunak said at the government’s daily news conference.“It will be open to anyone with trading profits up to 50,000 pounds,” he added. Read the rest

Stuck at home? Us too. And all anyone can think about is food.Stuffing your face for hours on end is definitely not a good way to stay healthy right now, but if you're going to do it anyway (let's be real—your original stash is already gone), why not improve what you're snacking on?No, we're not saying to munch on baby carrots and call yourself satisfied. Instead, drop the guilt but none of the enjoyment and snack on this electrolyte-infused popcorn.An organic, low-calorie, gluten-free and tasty treat, lytepop has more fiber and fewer calories (just 70!) per 14g serving than Smartfood popcorn, these portion-controlled bags are the key to balancing your nutrition routine while you're spending a heck of a lot of time doing a heck of a lot of not much.Popcorn, in general, is a great snack. Because it's a whole-grain food, it's naturally high in several important nutrients and helps boost heart health. And because of its fiber content, you get digestive health benefits along with the bonus of feeling fuller, which is super helpful for bridging the hunger gap between meals and for keeping you from way overdoing it on snack calories.This lytepop version is made with a superior kernel variety that produces larger, fluffier pops with exceptional taste, so you'll still get that same snacking joy. The added electrolytes provide the body essential minerals that aid in hydrating to help prevent fatigue and muscle cramping, which will you do some good whether you're conference calling from your couch or you're still committed to your fitness routine (high five to you, btw). Read the rest

Canada is not super cool with plans by impeached U.S. president Donald Trump to send a thousand (maybe fewer) U.S. troops to the U.S.-Canada border. Trump says militarizing the border is good because he's worried things will become so desperate in the U.S. with the pandemic, Americans will flee north to escape the oncoming coronavirus hellscape. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Trump's plan is unnecessary because it makes no sense as a response to the coronavirus outbreak, and that it would damage relations between the two countries. From Reuters:Trump is expected to send fewer than 1,000 troops to the Canadian border, two U.S. government officials told Reuters. They would help enforce the ban on non-essential crossings due to the coronavirus pandemic, one of the officials said.It would be “an entirely unnecessary step that we would view as damaging to our relationship,” Canada’s Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland told reporters at a news conference. She said she had first heard about plans to deploy troops “a couple of days ago”, and said Canada had made its position clear to various members of the U.S. administration.Earlier, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also discouraged militarizing the border. “Canada and the United States have the longest unmilitarized border in the world and it is very much in both of our interests for it to remain that way,” Trudeau said. “We have been in discussions with the United States on this,” he told a news conference, without giving details. Read more:Canada calls Trump plan to deploy troops at border unnecessary and damagingCanada says it is strongly opposed to the US putting troops on the border https://t.co/CCp5lTm6XR Read the rest

Keep on doing your part by staying inside and keeping a safe distance from one another. For those who don’t have that option for whatever reason...thank you and stay safe❤️ #FlattenTheCuve #QuaratineLife pic.twitter.com/5OiJf4MvDc— The Flippist (@TheFlippist) March 21, 2020The Flippist presents "Social Distancing... A Flipbook," inspired by Kirsten Lepore's wonderful "Hi Stranger" (2017) and Juan Delcan's "Safety Match" (2020). Read the rest

There are those who don't take coronavirus seriously enough, and then there is this gentleman. Could he not have taken the cup with a gloved hand, and then drenched it in whatever solution he's using once the cup was in his car? Instead, he showers the cup with his spray, which also squirts into the drive-thru window. As if he isn't rude enough, he then tosses the lid into the window as well before driving off. Read the rest

Rosie and the Originals' "Angel Baby" (1960) is a classic doo wop ballad, beloved (and covered) by John Lennon. Lennon was a fan of the flipside of that record too, "Give Me Love," but only because it's wonderfully awful. From Jonathan Cott's book Days That I Remember: Spending Time with John Lennon & Yoko Ono: "This is really one of the greatest strange records,” [Lennon] remarked. “It's all just out of beat, and everyone misses it. The A side was the hit, 'Angel Baby'— which is one of my favorite songs — and they knocked off the B side in ten minutes. I'm always talking Yoko's ear off, telling her about these songs, saying, 'Look, this is this! This is this... and this... and this!'"(via r/ObscureMedia) Read the rest

Yes, that is actually Space.com's brilliant headline on this story about a new discovery from data collected in 1986 by NASA's intrepid spacecraft. When the probe neared Uranus (heh heh), it measured the planet's surrounding magnetic field. Recently, NASA scientists Gina DiBraccio and Daniel Gershman analyzing Voyager's old data found a "wobble" in Uranus's magnetosphere indicating a plasmoid, a bubble of plasma traveling away from the planet. From Space.com:Scientists have studied these structures at Earth and nearby planets, but never at Uranus or its neighbor Neptune, since Voyager 2 is the only spacecraft to date ever to visit those planets.Scientists want to know about plasmoids because these structures can pull charged particles out of a planet's atmosphere and fling them into space. And if you change a planet's atmosphere, you change the planet itself. And from the "plain language summary" of their scientific paper published in Geophysical Research Letters:Uranus possesses an intrinsic magnetic field that encircles the planet and influences the local space environment. The solar wind plasma, made up of charged particles, flows away from the Sun and interacts with Uranus' magnetic field to form what is called a “planetary magnetosphere.” By understanding dynamics of the magnetosphere, we are able to learn how changes in the Sun can impact the planet's space environment but also how magnetic fields and plasma are circulated throughout the system. In this work, we analyze data from the Voyager 2 spacecraft during the Uranus flyby in 1986. The data revealed a helical bundle of magnetic flux containing planetary plasma, known as a “plasmoid,” in the tail of the magnetosphere. Read the rest

Boris and the Bomb was a fantastic way to spend a night not thinking about the coronavirus.Boris is my kind of hero. He mostly just wants to be left the fuck alone.Boris and the Bomb is an absurd action-adventure, directed by David Kronmiller and focused on a reluctant former KGB agent who just happens to have been hiding the nuke he stole on his way out the service for 30 years.J. Anthony McCarthy plays Boris, a lumbering Russian bear of a man who has evidently spent the last 30+ years hiding the fact that he has a nuke. For some reason, now is the time Boris needs to get rid of the bomb and so he hops in a rideshare and the adventure begins.The film is part slapstick, part absurdist comedy. Boris and the Bomb's non-stop action reminded me of the recent DC Harley Quinn movie and the humor reminds me of the legendary Hudson Hawk. The action rolls, giant gaping plot holes, and unexplained god knows what occurs... but you do not care at all because the pace just keeps screaming along!I understand that only about $3000 of the $10k raised to make this film was able to be used on actual production (permits and food are evidently a thing.) Color me impressed!The film is available gratis if you are an Amazon Prime member.Boris and the Bomb via Amazon Read the rest

Ed Yong's article in The Atlantic, "How the Pandemic Will End," is the best piece I've read about why we were so unprepared for the covid-19 pandemic, how it will end, and what life after the pandemic will be like for everyone, including the newly-coined Generation C cohort (people born after February 2020).Yong writes that there are three endgame possibilities: "one that’s very unlikely, one that’s very dangerous, and one that’s very long."The first is that every nation manages to simultaneously bring the virus to heel, as with the original SARS in 2003. Given how widespread the coronavirus pandemic is, and how badly many countries are faring, the odds of worldwide synchronous control seem vanishingly small.The second is that the virus does what past flu pandemics have done: It burns through the world and leaves behind enough immune survivors that it eventually struggles to find viable hosts. This “herd immunity” scenario would be quick, and thus tempting. But it would also come at a terrible cost: SARS-CoV-2 is more transmissible and fatal than the flu, and it would likely leave behind many millions of corpses and a trail of devastated health systems. The United Kingdom initially seemed to consider this herd-immunity strategy, before backtracking when models revealed the dire consequences. The U.S. now seems to be considering it too.The third scenario is that the world plays a protracted game of whack-a-mole with the virus, stamping out outbreaks here and there until a vaccine can be produced. Read the rest

British inventor James Dyson announced that his company has spent the last week designing a new ventilator for COVID-19 patients and will ship 10,000 of them early next month to support the UK's National Health Service. He's also donating 5,000 more of them to international initiatives. From CNN:Dyson said the company had designed and built an entirely new ventilator, called the "CoVent," since he received a call 10 days ago from UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson.,P"This new device can be manufactured quickly, efficiently and at volume," Dyson added, saying that the new ventilator has been designed to "address the specific needs" of coronavirus patients...."The core challenge was how to design and deliver a new, sophisticated medical product in volume and in an extremely short space of time," he added. "The race is now on to get it into production." Read the rest

NBC's Montana reporter Deion Broxton had a real scare this morning when he noticed – not a group of coughing hikers – but few bison looking for a snack. Once he made it to safety he was able to catch them on video as they leisurely munched on some weeds. Phew, close call!Here's the video of the bison I shot once I got a safe distance away lol pic.twitter.com/uL3XiR2ISR— Deion Broxton KTVM (@DeionNBCMT) March 26, 2020 Via Digg Read the rest

Triscuits. In this staple of American snacking life, what does the "Tri" stand for? One assumes, perhaps, that it refers to there being three layers, ingredients or some other triple quality of the snack itself. Sage Boggs emailed Nabisco, and amazingly Nabisco itself no longer remembers — it acquired Triscuit's manufacturer in 1928 and the records are long gone — but it does assert that the Tri is not a reference to "triple" or other three-related terms.Boggs sleuthed it out based on the 1903 ad embedded above; read his Twitter thread for the spoiler.OK, buckle up. I wanna talk to you about Triscuit. pic.twitter.com/Tg7334OSbc— Sage Boggs (@sageboggs) March 26, 2020 Read the rest

Nine Inch Nails released two new albums today, Ghosts V: Together and Ghosts VI: Locusts. They are follow-ups to 2008 Ghosts I-IV. [via Christian Eede at The Quietus]TWO DIFFERENT RECORDS FOR TWO DIFFERENT MINDSETS. DOWNLOAD NOW FOR FREE. STAY SAFE! Read the rest

Last July, NASA released this wonderful composite image of the galactic center of the Milky Way.The central region of our galaxy, the Milky Way, contains an exotic collection of objects, including a supermassive black hole weighing about 4 million times the mass of the Sun (called Sagittarius A*), clouds of gas at temperatures of millions of degrees, neutron stars and white dwarf stars tearing material from companion stars and beautiful tendrils of radio emission.The region around Sagittarius A* is shown in this new composite image with Chandra data (green and blue) combined with radio data (red) from the MeerKAT telescope in South Africa, which will eventually become part of the Square Kilometer Array (SKA).Read more about the Chandra X-ray Observatory and it's 20th anniversary, also celebrated last July.Image credit: X-Ray:NASA/CXC/UMass/D. Wang et al.; Radio:NRF/SARAO/MeerKAT Read the rest

In an unscheduled break from Covid, here's a corvid ruining a cat's day. Read the rest

With the world in the midst of unprecedented upheaval, there’s plenty to be concerned about out there. But while there are obviously far weightier issues facing us all right now, a true golfer will admit that being cooped up inside and missing the fairways and greens is its own little personal tragedy.To help soothe those pangs, check out these six accessories to help make your favorite course seem not so far away.Putting was never this much funThe short game can always use some work — and thankfully, the backyard is perfect for something like the Izzo Golf Sharp Shooter Putting Trainer and Game Set ($23.99; originally $29.99). The hanging and swinging targets promote precision while helping you develop just the necessary speed control as well. There are even variable game formats, so putting practice can actually be fun at the same time.Improve your short game under real-world conditionsUnlike many cheap knockoffs, the Callaway Executive Putting Mat ($39.99; originally $49.99) is made from high-quality materials that actually make you feel like you’re on a true putting surface. This mat doesn’t put up the creases and folds, so you get truer rolls that require you to gauge your speed just like on a real course. This mat even has a cup that’s a quarter-inch smaller than regulation, tricking you into further sharpening your aim that’ll work like a charm on the larger actual cups. Tricky, Callaway!Chipping practice...but with bettingYep, it’s really like golf and cornhole had a baby. Read the rest

It was initially reported that the $2 trillion Economic Aid package would include $1,200 per person making under $75,000 (less than a month's rent is many cities) and extend unemployment benefits by four months. But people like Sen. Rick Scott complained that a few lucky poor people might get a teeny bit more than they deserve. And the GOP can't have that. Oh no.So Senator Sanders took to the floor and made a rousing speech about the GOP's constant and compulsive need to punish and humiliate the poor at all costs..@BernieSanders ON FIRE on the Senate floor: "And now I find that some of my Republican colleagues are very distressed they're very upset that somebody is making $10-$12 bucks an hour might end up with a paycheck for four months more than they received last week... pic.twitter.com/WIMD7Lzp69— People for Bernie (@People4Bernie) March 26, 2020He's right. If a trillionaire suddenly decided to give $100,000 of their own money to every American, the GOP would stop them for fear that it might benefit one or two poor people who (they believe) is lazy and mooching and thus morally undeserving of the cash. Punishment takes priority over progress, every time. It's why an actual, functional Universal Basic Income package would never pass in this country — even if it was fiscally responsible, and ultimately reduced the National Debt, the GOP simply couldn't sleep if there was one single poor person who used it as an opportunity to sit back and relax. Read the rest

More than a thousand people have died in the U.S. from Covid-19, with at least 70,000 testing positive for the virus. Johns Hopkins University currently records 1,031 fatalities, up from 827 the day before. 487,648 diagnoses are registered worldwide, with the true number of infections far higher.The number of deaths in the U.S. has reached 1,041, according to the latest data from Johns Hopkins University.New York City has the highest number of fatalities at 280, followed by 100 in King County, Washington State. The total number of cases in the U.S. was at 68,960, according to the data. Read the rest

Whether you’re a worried preparer for the worst or just a little concerned about what’s ahead, you may have...overdone it during your last trip to the store. Maybe you picked up some extra frozen goods or a larger stockpile of cheeses or dairy products than usual. And your fridge or freezer is now likely packed to the gills as a result.And Lord, if you made a Costco or Sam’s Club run, then all bets are really off.Under the circumstances, it may be time to consider some extra refrigerator and freezer space to handle all that overflow. Right now, German manufacturer ICECO, who has made a name for themselves for decades as makers of quality portable refrigerator and freezer units, have three of their best models on sale.To top it off, each model is also a Red Dot Design award winner, an international honor given to items that truly changed the game for product design. So you know these units are cool in more ways than one.ICECO Go12: 12.8L Mini Portable Freezer ($319.99; originally $399.99)If you’ve got some extra perishables you don’t want to go to waste, this ice chest-sized cooler-freezer might do the trick. Engineered for vehicle travel, this 12.8L capacity unit sports a robust SECOP compressor and a pair of cooling settings, so your food can quickly reach freezing temperatures and maintain that temperature even while the freezer saves energy. The Go12 can also be controlled via the Car Fridge app, so you can always check the state of your food and adjust accordingly, no matter where you are. Read the rest

The Cheesecake Factory, with more than 200 restaurants across the U.S. and more than $2bn in annual revenues, today warned its landlords they will not be getting rent in April.The Calabasas Hills-based company informed all of its landlords in a letter dated March 18 (reproduced below) that a severe decline in restaurant traffic has decreased its cash flow and “inflicted a tremendous financial blow” to business. Cheesecake Factory’s affiliated restaurants, such as Rock Sugar and North Italia, will also not make April 1 rent payments.Company chairman and CEO David Overton writes, “Due to these extraordinary events, I am asking for your patience, and frankly, your help.” He continues, “we appreciate our landlords’ understanding given the exigency of the current situation.” The letter says that the company hopes to resume paying rent as soon as possible. Read the rest

In this thoughtful and heartwarming little video message, astronaut Chris Hadfield (the man who brought you Bowie from space), shares some tips on coming to grips with isolation and ends with the wonderful, "Take care of yourself, take care of your family, take care of your friends, and take care of your spaceship." Simple words to live by.Image: YouTube Read the rest

The Mars InSight Lander has a ton of tools for exploring the Red Planet next door, including a 15-inch digging probe (also known as "the mole") meant to burrow into the Martian soil and take measurements.Unfortunately, the mole got stuck. From Popular Science:A rock could be in the way, but the more likely culprit appears to be the Martian soil. Previous observations had led the German Aerospace Center engineers who designed the probe to expect that it would be digging through loose sand. They built the mole to bounce up and down like a jackhammer, sinking with each stroke and threading its way around any modestly sized rocks it encountered. But the probe has found soil that seems more dirt-like than sand-like; It sticks together and doesn’t collapse around the mole to give it enough friction to dig. What the mole needs is a little nudge.So what did they do to get the mole unstuck? They used the shovel-like scoop at the end of one of the InSight Lander's robot arms to pin down the mole. "The move is risky," Popular Science explained, "because a delicate tether that provides power and communications from the lander attaches to the back part of the mole, and a hard whack could damage it."Fortunately, it worked.Who knew that the "Why are you hitting yourself?" game would be such a useful tool for space exploration?At long last, NASA’s probe finally digs in on Mars [Charlie Wood / Popular Science]NASA fixes Mars lander by telling it to hit itself with a shovel [Dan Robitzski / Futurism]Mars InSight Lander to push on top of mole [NASA]Image: Public Domain via NASA/JPL-Caltech Read the rest

Every new year, people vow to read more. Of course, it seldom actually happens, but we all wish we had more time to slow down, pick up one of the books off the bedside table we’ve been meaning to get through, and dive in.If we can find any silver lining to all the COVID-19 craziness and self-isolation, it might be that your wish for more reading time may finally be here. But since you’ve only got so many options at home and a trip to the library isn’t really practical these days, how about a library’s worth of great books all available on your smartphone or tablet -- and all digestible in just a few short minutes?You can not only satisfy that reading jones right now with all of these services but also explore loads of interest areas in a fraction of the time. You’ve got time on your hands...so you may as well make sure it’s time well spent.BookNotes Book Summaries ($29 for a lifetime subscription; originally $299.99)From finance and love to career and happiness to fiction and even documentaries, BookNotes boils them all down. Spin through hundreds of available titles, then let Booknotes’ concise 15-minute summaries extract all the key insights of the book and serve them up. And if you’d rather just listen, BookNotes summaries come in audio versions as well, so even if you venture outside your home, you can always be learning.SumizeIt Book Summaries ($19 for a lifetime subscription; originally $99.99) Read the rest

Chef Floyd Cardoz, age 59, known for his NYC restaurants Tabla, Bombay Bread Bar, and Pao Walla (and former winner of Bravo's Top Chef Masters) died today of COVID-19. According to CNN:"It is with deep sorrow that we inform you of the passing away of Chef Floyd Cardoz," according to a statement from Hunger Inc. Hospitality, where Cardoz was the culinary director.Cardoz tested positive for Covid-19 on March 18 and was being treated for it at Mountainside Medical Center in New Jersey, the statement said...Cardoz admitted himself to the hospital on March 17 after feeling feverish.He had recently returned from India, where he was filming the Netflix series, "Ugly Delicious" with actor Aziz Ansari. He posted a selfie on Instagram that day.Cardoz posted this on March 17 from a hospital in New York on Instagram after panicked fans had heard that he was hospitalized for the coronavirus: View this post on Instagram Sincere apologies everyone. I am sorry for causing undue panic around my earlier post. I was feeling feverish and hence as a precautionary measure, admitted myself into hospital in New York. I was hugely anxious about my state of health and my post was highly irresponsible causing panic in several quarters. I returned to New York on March 8th via FrankfurtA post shared by Floyd Cardoz (@floydcardoz) on Mar 17, 2020 at 1:34pm PDT Unfortunately the world has lost a pioneering chef who had many decades ahead of him. RIP Chef Cardoz. Read the rest

The sounds of 93 KHJ "Boss" radio coming from car speakers in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood was a great highlight from the movie. If you want to hear more KHJ from its heyday, here are two segments from The Real Don Steele's show on KHJ Los Angeles, from June 15 and July 4, 1968.And here's a YouTube video the sights and sounds of KHJ: Read the rest

“You can’t just come in and say let’s close up the USA,” Trump said, again falsely stating coronavirus is no worse than flu.

A good toilet paper is hard to find these days, thanks to everyone's totally irrational coronavirus panic buying. But that's not the biggest problem for our butts.No, worse is that alt-TPs are messing with our septic systems, which makes an even bigger mess for everyone.My colleague Doug Mahoney has a great new blog post over at Wirecutter that explains why you shouldn't flush anything but toilet paper down your porcelain throne, and also recommends some handy alternatives (and disposal methods) in case you do have a problem finding those cherished rolls of soft white butt scoopers. Toilet paper is very fragile and is designed to self-destruct in water with very little agitation. Tissues, on the other hand, are made to stand firm against a 100 mph sneeze discharging from your nose. Although the two products might have the same general look and feel, this video shows the difference in their durability. It takes less than 30 seconds of agitation for the toilet paper to be almost completely broken down. The tissue, however, remains fully intact. In plumbing, the bits of toilet paper can speed down the waste lines, but tissues remain big enough to catch on something, contributing to a clog.Out of Toilet Paper? You Have Other Options. Just Don’t Flush Them! [Doug Mahoney / Wirecutter]Image: Public Domain via PxHere Read the rest

Spoiler: Yes, he is responsible. No, he won't begin to act responsibly any time soon.

KUOW, a public radio station in Washington state announced on Twitter that it will no longer air live Trump briefings because the gentleman in the oval office is a prevaricator:"KUOW is monitoring White House briefings for the latest news on the coronavirus — and we will continue to share all news relevant to Washington State with our listeners. However, we will not be airing the briefings live due to a pattern of false or misleading information provided that cannot be fact checked in real time."A member of Trump's loyalty cult demonstrated his blind fealty to the liar-in-chief by telling The Hill:“It’s not surprising, but also a failure of their duty to the American people, that some media outlets would choose to block their audiences from receiving accurate, up-to-date information on President Trump’s whole-of-government approach to slowing the spread of COVID-19,” Judd Deere, a White House spokesperson, told The Hill.He added that “no other Administration has been as transparent and as accessible as this one, and we will continue to make sure this Nation hears from its leaders and top health experts during this global pandemic.” Read the rest

Watch Quick test! from atinyworld on www.twitch.tvWhat the world needs now are tardigrades, sweet tardigrades.'A tiny world' is a fun little internet window into the microscope with Julie Laurin, who lives in Ottowa, Ontario. They recently set up a Twitch feed with some adorable little tardigrades that Julie collected during a recent rainstorm. Check 'em out!Good morning! Here's a little Tardigrade that I collected in a sample of balcony water yesterday. :)@tardigradopedia pic.twitter.com/hwcC0cOMxv— A tiny world (Julie Laurin) (@atinyworldorg) March 25, 2020Another lockdown science challenge: if you live in an apartment, go out to your balcony and collect some of the water that gathers in the concrete grooves. This is where my tardigrades live. Can you find some on your balcony, too?#balconychallenge #science https://t.co/iCwDkGnR0h— A tiny world (Julie Laurin) (@atinyworldorg) March 23, 2020A Tardigrade! Read the rest

On March 17, Amazon employees complained that not enough safety precautions were in place to protect them from COVID-19. Cut to a week later, and Amazon employees from ten different warehouses in the United States have now tested positive with the coronavirus.From The Washington Post:In the past few days, Amazon workers tested positive for covid-19, the disease caused by the novel virus, two in New York City; Shepherdsville, Ky.; Jacksonville, Fla.; Katy, Tex.; Brownstown, Mich.; Oklahoma City; Moreno Valley, Calif.; Joliet, Ill.; and Wallingford, Conn., according to Amazon and local media reports. In some cases, Amazon shut down facilities for cleaning, and some co-workers who were in close contact with their infected colleagues have been quarantined.At least 1,500 Amazon workers globally signed a petition within the last week asking for more regulations to prevent the spread of the disease after company employees in Spain and Italy had been infected. They complained that "Amazon pushes them to meet the per-hour rate at which it wants orders fulfilled, a practice that they worry discourages safe sanitary practices such as washing hands after a cough or sneeze. Others have complained about “stand-up” meetings, where workers stand shoulder-to-shoulder at the start of each shift," according to The Washington Post.Amazon has increased pay by $2/hour until May and is currently looking to hire 100,000 new workers to help with the staggering demands that have erupted since the outbreak. Let's hope they have an endless supply of face masks and gloves to last through the season. Read the rest

Oops the proletariat did it again. View this post on Instagram Communion goes beyond walls 🌹🌹🌹A post shared by Britney Spears (@britneyspears) on Mar 23, 2020 at 12:42pm PDTBritney's bluntly communistic instagram post is not her own original material; rather, it's a quote and image she stole from writer/artist Mimi Zhu, creator of the write 2 heal newsletter. It's surprising to see a pop star of her calibre suddenly sharing red roses, but in hindsight, "Toxic" was very clearly about the ills of capitalism, and we just didn't realize it at the time.Workers, bitch.Image: Peter Cruise / Flickr (CC 2.0) Read the rest

View this post on Instagram sorry for posting my face twice in a row but here’s an old one that seems relevant rn 💅A post shared by Aiden :) (@aidenarata) on Mar 24, 2020 at 4:49pm PDTImage via EFF / Flickr (CC 2.0) Read the rest

The handsome and timely "Go Away" Doormat [Amazon] is made of coconut fibers and described as "environmentally" friendly if not particularly friendly in other respects. As death's hand knocks louder, however, you might want to segue to more assertive messaging with the "Fuck Off" Doormat. [h/t Rusty] Read the rest

O'Reilly Media's events, from the old Emerging Tech Conference and OSCON to FOO Camps and Strata, have long been energized and productive gatherings of geeks from around the world. Communities were forged there and emerging ideas were accelerated to action. I have fond memories of those real-world scenes, including the 2005 ETech Conference, one of the very infrequent times Xeni, Mark, Cory, and I were all in the same place. Photo evidence below. Sadly, O'Reilly president Laura Baldwin has announced the shutdown of O'Reilly's in-person events division. That marks the end of an era in computer culture. From O'Reilly:It has been a rough few weeks as we’ve seen the COVID-19 virus take a toll on our livelihoods, our families and the world economy. People are losing their lives, and businesses are suffering in the shadow of revenue losses and a volatile stock market. The virus has had a material impact on O’Reilly’s in-person Events division as well. We previously made the painful decision to cancel our Strata California and Strata London events. Today, we’re sharing the news that we’ve made the very difficult decision to cancel all future O’Reilly in-person conferences and close down this portion of our business. Without understanding when this global health emergency may come to an end, we can’t plan for or execute on a business that will be forever changed as a result of this crisis. With large technology vendors moving their events completely on-line, we believe the stage is set for a new normal moving forward when it comes to in-person events. Read the rest

Make is kicking off Family Maker Camp this week, and the timing couldn't be better for this free, at-home guided week of fun activities that families can enjoy together.Dale Dougherty, founder of Make, says:Family Maker Camp encourages making and hands-on learning at home. Making is fun and engaging for kids as well as adults.What is making? It can be many things and use all kinds of materials and tools. Making is usually defined as a project shaped by your ideas and interests. Making is as much about the process of taking an idea and bringing it to life. Making integrates science and technology as well as arts and crafts.Family Maker Camp provides inspiration, guidance and an opportunity to share what you do with others online. We have many projects that will help you get started and continue to develop new skills and a maker mindset.Most importantly, Family Maker Camp will connect you with a community of makers of all ages who have a broad range of interests and skills. We will introduce you to makers online and have them talk about their projects and their process. Read the rest

My friend and Cool Tools partner, Kevin Kelly created a 36-part lecture series about the future for China Mobile. He's running them on his YouTube channel. The first one is about the future of the Internet in China.There are three big challenges in the Internet space that all countries must face in the near future. China's approach to the challenges will impact not only Chinese Internet users, but potentially all Internet users. What interface follows the smart hone, whether it be AR-enabled glasses, foldable screens, or wearable projectors, will not only be influenced by China's substantial Internet-using population, but also by their manufacturing. Privacy, as it relates to online information collecting and sale, has consequences for broader community standards, and there is no one-size fits all approach to this issue. China must engage their own ethicists, community, government and technologists to develop a solution that works for China. Finally, globalization. Most of China's internet success has been within China, but as China begins to consider how it might attract users from outside its borders, it will need to consider dialing back the protections that have held foreign Internet companies at bay. Read the rest

CuloClean is a portable gadget that turns a plastic bottle into a bidet. I can't vouch for its efficacy but it seems like a useful alternative to wiping your bum, especially as toilet paper has become a high-value currency. Apparently CuloClean supplies are also running low but it seems like you could make one yourself that would at least approximate this $9 gadget's utility. From CuloClean:You can easily regulate water intensity by exerting more or less pressure to the bottle. This way you will get perfect results, better than using toilet paper or wipes. Read the rest

Elisha Nochomovitz, 32, was disappointed that the Barcelona Marathon was cancelled due to the coronavirus so he ran the distance on his apartment balcony instead. His girlfriend fueled him up with soda and candy along the way. From UPI:Nochomovitz said it took him 6 hours and 48 minutes to complete the approximately 3,000 laps that it took to run the distance of a marathon.The runner, who has completed 36 official marathons, said the balcony run was more challenging than his previous runs because the short track made it impossible to build momentum or speed while running. Read the rest

With so much chaos happening in the world at the moment, this may not seem like the right time to start a new hobby.However, we would argue that now is actually the perfect time to dive into something new. Things are changing — and while there’s plenty happening that’s worthy of genuine concern, there’s also an opportunity here to change and grow personally.So if your dream has always been to pick up an ax and shred like you’re Eddie Van Halen, the Jamstik 7 Guitar Trainer can help make it happen, even under the present conditions.Lightweight, wireless, and portable, the Jamstik 7 looks like one of those Guitar Hero-style push-button guitar toys, but it’s anything but. It’s actually a home-based, innovative guitar training system that bypasses the hassles of in-person guitar lessons and gets right to the heart of your desire: playing music.Once you’ve plugged the Jamstik into your iPhone, iPad, Mac or Google Chrome device, all your sound is filtered through your device as you tackle lessons through Jamstik-enabled software.The Jamstik features all-new patented FretTouch finger sensing technology and Infrasense optical string pickups. That may all sound like tech-speak, but while you’re actually playing on real, high-quality custom guitar nickel steel strings from D'Addario, the Jamstik actually senses when and how hard your fingers are breaking light beams.A capacitive touch PCB sits right below the fretboard, catching your finger positioning, then showing your fingers on your device screen in real-time as you’re playing so you’ll always know if you’re hitting the right note. Read the rest

Some strategies for combatting the spread of coronavirus probably wouldn't go down to well in America. Such as banging on people's doors and threatening them if their phone goes dark and they can't be tracked.My phone, which is satellite-tracked by the Taiwan gov to enforce quarantine, ran out of battery at 7:30 AM. By 8:15, four different units called me. By 8:20, the police were knocking at my door.— Milo Hsieh (@MiloHsieh) March 22, 2020My phone briefly ran out of battery at 07:30, and in less than an hour, four different local administrative units had called. A patrol was dispatched to check my whereabouts. A text was sent notifying that the government had lost track of me, and warned me of potential arrest if I had broken quarantine.I returned to Taiwan last Thursday to experience the island's zero-risk take on coronavirus.Since I was coming back from Europe, I am subjected to a mandatory 14 days home quarantine. Before I had my passport checked, I had to pass through a booth set up by the Ministry of Health and Welfare. I filled out a document detailing places I had visited in the last fortnight, my phone number, landline and address. They notified me that my phone would be "satellite-tracked" for enforcement.A thought to consider: the more the current administration in the U.S. bungles it, the more reasonable it will seem to propose draconian, unconstitutional measures to prevent disaster. Trump and the GOP have always wanted those things, so coronavirus creates a perverse incentive for them to cultivate crisis. Read the rest

If they're sunbathing in March on Shepherd's Bush Green, reason is a questionable faculty to appeal to. But I do like seeing cops ask nicely, as opposed to "you have 20 seconds to comply" or whatever they're going to end up saying in Alabama as an immediate prelude to watercannonading the locals.Perhaps tutting played loudly over the public warning systems would be more effective? Just someone's mum tutting and occasionally sighing. This could be an incredibly effective wide-area suppression system in the UK. Read the rest

Prince Charles, 71, is disaplying "mild symptoms" after testing positive for Covid-19, the fast-spreading novel coronavirus that has killed nearly 20,000 people and has the world on lockdown.Charles and Camilla are now self-isolating at Balmoral. Buckingham Palace said the Queen last saw her son, the heir to the throne, on 12 March, but was "in good health". The palace added that the Duke of Edinburgh was not present at that meeting, and that the Queen was now "following all the appropriate advice with regard to her welfare". Read the rest

This isn't the first time that we've been dicks to one another by grabbing as much of everything, all at once, that we possibly can. This video primer provides an overview of how we've fucked one another over for what should be plentiful resources throughout the 20th century. Read the rest

Tom the Dancing Bug, IN WHICH Super-Fun-Pak Comix features "Sully's Place," "Nutso Kaputo" and more

Via IGN:Japanese schools have been closed for over two weeks due to COVID-19 and, with the Japanese school year ending in March, it's meant many students won't have their graduation ceremonies, according to SoraNews24.However, graduates from one elementary school found they could use Minecraft to create their own ceremony. Without any school or parental oversight, kids designed their own assembly hall, and gathered on a server to play out their graduation online.一日中オンラインで集まってゲームをやって笑い転げている。楽しそうで良いねぇ。 pic.twitter.com/sYqoJ1zYaj— 柏原周平 (@backyennew) March 14, 2020Read the rest of the piece here.[H/t Ted Tagami]Image: Screengrab Read the rest

It was announced today on the Facebook pages of Robert Fripp of King Crimson, KMFDM, and several other bands, that celebrated industrial and progressive rock drummer, Bill Rieflin, has died. He apparently died of influenza. Robert Fripp posted to his Facebook page:Call from Tracy Rieflin in Seattle. Bill Rieflin flew from this world c. 18.50 Pacific, 18.50 UK. Tracy told Toyah and me that the day was grey, and as Bill flew away, the clouds opened and the skies were blue for about fifteen minutes. Fly well, Brother Bill! My life is immeasurably richer for knowing you.Ministry posted to their page:Today we lost a wonderful artist, tremendous human being, and an integral part of Ministry’s developments and success… Safe travels my brother on the way to your next universal gig. Jared Louche of the band Chemlab (and a Pigface) wrote:Bill Rieflin, one of the most fascinating, complicated, and creative drummers we’ve had the pleasure of watching evolve, has just died, confirmed by his friend Robert Fripp. As if 2020 wasn’t bad enough already. Fuck me.Here is Bill and Chris Connelly performing Robert Wyatt's Sea Song.Sail on, Bill.Image: Jeff Henry, NC 2.0 Read the rest

Cocaine, as they say, is one hell of a drug. In fact, it was recently shown in a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science to have greatly helped the re-wilding a good chunk of Columbia.How you might ask?Pablo Escobar's hippos, which are still hanging around breeding in Columbia today, were bought with cash made from selling massive amounts of nose candy. Instead of simply shitting in the water and troubling anything that moves, they've been busy fulfilling the role of long-absent megafauna in Columbia's ecosystem.From Gizmodo:“While we found that some introduced herbivores are perfect ecological matches for extinct ones, in others cases the introduced species represents a mix of traits seen in extinct species,” study co-author John Rowan, a study co-author and biology researcher at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, said in a statement.Pablo’s hippos, for instance, are similar in diet and size to the now-extinct giant llamas that once roamed the area. They’re also similar in size and semiaquatic behavior to another extinct species, notoungulates, which have been gone for thousands of years. That allows them to fill two long-vacated roles in the Colombian ecosystem they were introduced to after Escobar died and they began to roam the countryside.According to Gizmodo, it's not just hippos jazzing up local ecosystems where they don't belong. The study also looked at 72 other invasive species to see if their introduction to an ecosystem had been a boon or a blight. In 64% of the cases that the study examined, the introduced species showed the potential to fulfill the roles of long extinct animals in a given ecosystem that could have a effect on the ecosystem's overall health. Read the rest

While all of us face the daily challenges and major concerns surrounding the coronavirus epidemic and accompanying societal lockdown measures, there are also handfuls of smaller-scale crises sparked by the outbreak. Like...what do I do if I can’t go to the gym?Gyms and workout facilities in many areas are already closed until further notice, so how do you keep from comfort-binging mint chocolate chip ice cream and watching your fitness goals fall off a cliff in the meantime?Well, these six workouts and full-body wellness programs might help do the trick. And right now, you can also save an additional 15 percent by entering the code SPRINGSAVE15 during checkout. We’re all in this together, people. Stay strong.iBodyFit Premium Diet & Workout Plan: Lifetime Subscription - $42.49 after discount; originally $499From the weight room to the living room, iBodyFit workouts can help keep you toned up, no matter where you do the work. Ranked no. 1 in online fitness by TopTenReviews.com, this premium plan includes the entire iBody package, including all 400 online workouts, all 40 custom diet plans and all the daily support and feedback you need from the iBodyFit team. So whether you want to do a 4-week Fat Burner plan, an 8-week Muscle Toner plan or the 12-week Beach Bod Shredder plan, you’re covered.The Complete Fitness Trainer Certification Bundle: Beginner to Advanced - $24.65 after discount; originally $2,200Maybe the best way to maintain all your lofty fitness goals is to just become a trainer yourself. Read the rest