Wow.Zeke Miller, White House reporter for Associated Press, tweets from a Very Trump Coronavirus Visit to Arizona:The president is wearing safety goggles but no mask on his tour of Honeywell PPE manufacturing lineYes, peak Trump, all day, every day, until as many Americans die as possible of COVID-19.The president is wearing safety goggles but no mask on his tour of Honeywell PPE manufacturing line pic.twitter.com/e6RD3BXu3n— Zeke Miller (@ZekeJMiller) May 5, 2020? @ZekeJMiller Read the rest
Twitter is reportedly testing a prompt for iOS users that will ask them to consider editing a tweet they are writing if the system detects that they are using “harmful” language.When things get heated, you may say things you don't mean. To let you rethink a reply, we’re running a limited experiment on iOS with a prompt that gives you the option to revise your reply before it’s published if it uses language that could be harmful.— Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) May 5, 2020From reporting for Verge by Nick Statt:Twitter describes it as a limited experiment, and it’s only going to show up for iOS users. The prompt that is now supposed to pop up in certain situations will give “you the option to revise your reply before it’s published if it uses language that could be harmful,” reads a message from the official Twitter Support channel. Who asked for this?No one.Prove this is being applied to Donald and Elon or gtfo with this bs https://t.co/ohu90LqsEg— wearing jeans is for outsiders. (@JGfromOC) May 5, 2020Read more:Twitter tests a warning message that tells users to rethink offensive replies[via techmeme.com] Read the rest
Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong recorded this rocking cover of Kim Wilde's "Kids in America" (1981). It was a birthday gift to Armstrong's bandmate, bassist Mike Dirnt, who turned 48 yesterday. It's the latest in Armstrong's "No Fun Mondays" series of cover songs that also includes his duet, below, with Susanna Hoffs on "Manic Monday," penned by Prince and made famous in 1986 by Hoff's band The Bangles. Read the rest
Apparently this thing is called a Roebling device, and is used to calculate wire resistance per foot based on wire diameter.A very interesting little engineering device, for a highly specialized use. Just looks really cool, too.From IMGURian @silvercatbob.Roebling device used to calculate wire resistance per foot based on wire diameter Read the rest
The United Kingdom now has the most deaths in Europe from the coronavirus pandemic, recording more than 29,427. It surpassed early Covid-19 hotspot Italy on Tuesday, according to figures released by the government.The latest total for Italy, previously the highest in Europe, now stands at 29,315.Experts say it could be months before full global comparisons can be made... BBC head of statistics Robert Cuffe said Britain reached this figure faster in its epidemic than Italy. But he said there are caveats in making such a comparison, including the UK population being about 10% larger than Italy's.The BBC is really hammering on this idea that the UK's larger population makes this somehow inevitable. It's such absolute horseshit. Germany's population is much higher than the UK's, and they've only recorded 8,000 deaths. Read the rest
Journalist and novelist Sally Quinn's bestselling 1991 novel of romance and intrigue, Happy Endings, is about fictional presidential widow Sadie Grey who falls for a sexy medical researcher working for the National Institutes of Health on a new AIDS treatment. Yes, the alluring government scientist with the "low, melodious, sexy, almost hypnotic” voice, as Quinn described the character, is none other than Dr. Anthony Fauci. From Benjamin Wofford's article in Washingtonian:Part searing romance, part roman à clef, “Happy Endings” made the bestseller list during a year when HIV-related deaths were then the highest ever recorded in the United States. By then, Fauci was the government scientist best known for combatting the virus’s spread as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.It was around this time that Quinn first encountered the real-life Fauci, at a Washington function where the two were paired as dinner partners. With his tie askew and from behind enormous glasses, Fauci left an impression of earnest brilliance, enough to inspire the main character of Quinn’s upcoming novel.“I just fell in love with him,” Quinn told me recently, recalling their evening together. “Usually those dinners, you make polite conversation, and that’s it. But we had this intense conversation, personal conversation. I though, ‘Wow, this guy is amazing.'”[...]“He was so different from most Washington people, because he’s so self-effacing. He’s not in it for the glory or the name recognition,” Quinn recalled. She decided to have Grey “fall in love with this doctor who does this amazing work, and doesn’t get a lot of publicity.” Read the rest
My friend Joshua Glenn is a voracious reader of adventure novels. He's turned me onto tons of great books, and he recently compiled a list of 250 great adventure novels from the 20th century. Many of these books are available on project Gutenberg and other public domain book and audiobook websites. I really appreciate that josh found cover art from early editions of the books, rather than the usually terrible art found on contemporary editions. I want to read them all, starting with Black Magic: a Tale of the Rise and Fall of the Antichrist! (audiobook | e-book)Marjorie Bowen’s supernatural fantasy adventure Black Magic (1909). In medieval Flanders, Dirk Renswoude, a lonely craftsman of noble birth, meets Thierry, a young scholar who shares Dirk’s fascination with the black arts. Against a background of violent storms, mysterious comets, and a Walpole-esque mood of gothic horror, the two experiment with mystic circles, arcane incantations, and the summoning of demonic visions. Although Thierry is afraid of blasphemy, Dirk is ambitious — and has sworn allegiance to the Devil in return for worldly power. In fact, Dirk aims to become the Antichrist and Satanic Pope! Nevertheless, Dirk is not entirely villainous — he risks everything for Thierry, with whom he has fallen in love… and his backstory reveals a surprise twist that makes us sympathetic to his desire for the agency and independence denied to him by his family. Ysabeau, a cold-blooded schemer and murderess character, also becomes a sympathetic and even heroic figure; and Jacobea, the novel’s tormented heroine, is also well-portrayed. Read the rest
If you always thought you'd be, like, really good at making music as a producer or maybe even a DJ, you've probably wished you knew the ins and outs of Ableton software—and that you had the time to learn them. Well, lo and behold, here you are with all the quarantime in the world and a chance to check out this 6-part online Ableton Live 10 training.Led by certified Ableton instructor J. Allen, these top-rated classes (none come in under 4.5 stars) offer all the techniques and tricks to producing and performing great music. Over 16.5 hours, the Complete Ableton Live 10 Music Production Bundle takes you on a musical journey that starts with the basics, making it perfect for beginners.You'll learn how to work the Ableton Live interface and how to use it with some standard audio and MIDI recording, which is a great place to start. After that, lessons (220 in total!) cover things like hardware needs and setup—pretty key to getting this whole thing down—plus advanced recording techniques like warping; all kinds of producing and editing tips and tricks that you'll learn through the use of drum samples to edit, arrange, and create unique beats; a deep dive into all of the Ableton Live Instruments; how to incorporate synths and samplers; and more.And if you're seriously into the idea of hosting your own DJ set (or, perhaps, battle) on Instagram live, you won't want to miss the final two courses that are dedicated to the art of the modern grandmaster. Read the rest
Police procedural novelist Michael Connelly is a connoisseur of jazz music so it's no surprise that his most famous character, LAPD detective Hieronymus 'Harry' Bosch, is also a deep enthusiast of the genre. (Connelly has a page on his personal Web site all about the "music in the novels.") Illustrator Russell Walks took those cues and his own penchant for Los Angeles noir and mid-century design to create a terrific series of imaginary Michael Connelly albums released by Blue Note Records. "Most of these pieces were influenced or inspired by the work of Reid Miles, the designer who created somewhere around 500 covers for Blue Note Records in the mid-twentieth century," Russell writes. "I’m not breaking new ground here; Miles’ work has been the launching point for a thousand other designers and artists. Still, there’s something about the way these mid-century colors & typefaces just seem to fit Harry’s L.A., a place where shadows and sadness are as common as sunshine.""The Bosch Series" (Russell Walks Illustration) Read the rest
I tried to start Adobe Acrobat today, part of the Creative Cloud suite, and it wouldn't start unless I agreed to new Terms of Use. But to read the Terms of Use, I had to agree to the Terms of Use first. This video shows me haplessly clicking the "Terms of Use" link only to be prevented from reading them because, of course, I had not agreed to the Terms of Use.Few people read these documents, but there's a difference betweeen didn't read the agreement and can't read the agreement. It's surely just sloppy work from the masters of rented software, but also seems to have disturbing implications. Can Adobe hold me to a contract I could not read before agreeing to it? After all, I have agreed not to sue them!14.1 Process. If you have any concern or dispute, you agree to first try to resolve the dispute informally by contacting us. If a dispute is not resolved within 30 days of receipt by us, any resulting legal actions must be resolved through final and binding arbitration, including any question of whether arbitration is required, except that you may assert claims in small claims court if your claims qualify. Claims related to the Terms, Services, or Software are permanently barred if not brought within one year of the event resulting in the claim. Read the rest
America's ultrarich recently trotted out talking puppet Chris Christie to make the case that allowing as many people to die from coronavirus every day as were killed in the 9/11 attacks is a good bargain for United States economy.From Complex:[On CNN] Christie was also asked specifically about the fact that a Trump administration model is now projecting an estimated daily death count of up to 3,000 people by the start of June. Asked if the American people "would be able to accept" the reality of reopening following such news, Christie said, "They're gonna have to."(Image: Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 2.0,modified) Read the rest
On Sunday night Fox News interview Trump standing in front of the Lincoln Memorial. Trump pointed at the statue of President Lincoln and said, "I am greeted with a hostile press, the likes of which no president has ever seen. The closest would be that gentleman right up there. They always said Lincoln, nobody got treated worse than Lincoln. I believe I am treated worse.” (Worse than being assassinated? Trump is a strange person.)Broadcasting from his living room, Stephen Colbert dedicated 10 minutes to his show talking about the Fox interview, and explaining why Trump actually isn't like President Lincoln. For one thing, Colbert said, Lincoln's admirers followers did not wave confederate flags. Read the rest
In 1996, the wonderful outsider musician and artist Daniel Johnston, who died last year, recorded this lovely and moving cover of Carole King’s “You’ve Got a Friend." Johnston's childhood friend Dale Dudgeon, drummer Dave Jungen, and the Butthole Surfers' Paul Leary played on the track, produced by Johnston's friend Brian Beattie. They recorded the song for If, a still-unreleased Johnston album.According to a Vulture article from last year, Beattie said Johnston, who suffered from mental health issues and excessive fluid in the brain, "was an emotional wreck at the time and desperately wanted this reunion. A few days later, he was hospitalized."(via r/ObscureMedia) Read the rest
The Los Angeles Times has reported on a study out of Los Alamos National Laboratory that discovered a new strain of Covid-19 that is supposedly more contagious and spreads faster than the first version of Covid-19. It became dominant in the United States mid-march, and "may make people vulnerable to a second infection after a first bout with the disease." According to the LA Times:The new strain appeared in February in Europe, migrated quickly to the East Coast of the United States and has been the dominant strain across the world since mid-March, the scientists wrote.In addition to spreading faster, it may make people vulnerable to a second infection after a first bout with the disease, the report warned...Wherever the new strain appeared, it quickly infected far more people than the earlier strains that came out of Wuhan, China, and within weeks it was the only strain that was prevalent in some nations, according to the report. The new strain’s dominance over its predecessors demonstrates that it is more infectious, according to the report, though exactly why is not yet known...“The story is worrying, as we see a mutated form of the virus very rapidly emerging, and over the month of March becoming the dominant pandemic form,” study leader Bette Korber, a computational biologist at Los Alamos, wrote on her Facebook page. “When viruses with this mutation enter a population, they rapidly begin to take over the local epidemic, thus they are more transmissible.”Whether or not the new strain is actually more fatal wasn't determined in the study, "but it could still complicate efforts to bring the pandemic under control," says the Times. Read the rest
Alright, you've got our attention, Mattel.For their adult collector's market, they've created a Jean-Michel Basquiat X Barbie Doll.Barbie celebrates esteemed artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, whose prolific body of work played an essential role in elevating street art from the underground to gaining well-deserved acclaim in the upper echelons of the art world. His brilliant paintings are an infusion of graphic poetry, cultural dichotomies and compelling social statements that still inspire today. In a stunning tribute to the artist, this collectible Barbie doll wears a head-to-toe ensemble featuring many well-known elements from works spanning Basquiat's career. From the gleaming golden crown atop her head to the bespoke suit emblazoned with artwork, Jean-Michel Basquiat X Barbie Doll is a curated collaboration bridging two cultural icons.Love it or hate it, the doll sells for $50 (and has already sold out).(Hyperallergic)images via Mattel Read the rest
A 43-year-old store security guard was fatally shot in the back of his head after he told a 45-year-old woman that her daughter could not enter the store without a face mask, reports BBC.After the initial verbal altercation at the store, Genesee County Prosecutor David Leyton told a news conference on Monday, Sharmel Teague shouted at and spat on Mr Munerlyn before driving away in a red GMC Envoy.She returned a short while later with her son and husband before the fatal confrontation ensued, according to officials.It was the son who allegedly pulled the trigger.The prosecutor told reporters: "The death of Calvin Munerlyn is senseless and tragic, and those responsible will be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law."Image: Genesee county prosecutor's office Read the rest
“Semantic satiation is a psychological phenomenon in which repetition causes a word or phrase to temporarily lose meaning for the listener, who then perceives the speech as repeated meaningless sounds.” Read the rest
When I was a teenager, I worked at the Eli Whitney Museum and Workshop in New Haven, Connecticut — which, as far as teenage work went, was pretty formative and fantastic. While the campus is based in Eli Whitney's original factory, the museum itself is more of an experimental learning workshop that uses alternative teaching methods to celebrate and explore the intersections of engineering, design, and innovation. And yes, that man above was my boss, who hopes to enjoy his well-deserved retirement soon, depending on how this pandemic plays out.On the weekends, we'd host birthday parties at the museum for younger kids, where they'd get to do some hands-on woodworking projects that also introduced them to simple machines or electricity (like a single Christmas light and a battery; we weren't monsters). We had a series of projects loosely based on the books of Leo Lionni, including one very simple project for 5-year olds that was based on the story of Frederick the Mouse. The basic idea of the story is that all the other mice accuse Frederick of being lazy while the rest of them are busy getting ready for the winter. They're all gathering wood and straw and nuts and stone so they can hide away in comfort when it gets cold out — and Frederick just sits there, insisting that he, too, is collecting things like colors and stories and sounds.This, understandably, irritates all the other hard-working mice. But when the winter finally comes, and they're all trapped in the cave together, going out of their little mouse minds, that's when Frederick finally pulls his weight. Read the rest
Universal Music Group is auctioning off a percentage of the royalties to three Michale Graves-era Misfits records: American Psycho (1997), Famous Monsters (1999), and Cuts From The Crypt (2001). The royalties include sales, streaming, and sync rights, and last for the life of the author + 70 years. According to the auction page:Earnings for this 20-year-old catalog grew year-over-year for the past four years. Last year’s total royalties increased by 27% compared to the prior year alone.This catalog collects royalties from three types of use, but mechanical earnings are the foundation with 83% of last year’s total. Public performance royalties follow with 16% of earnings. All three royalty sources grew by double digits or more in the last year, with mechanical earnings increasing by 27% and public performance by 17%.Royalties for the top three earnings tracks are also growing, by 30% or more in the last year. All were released in 1999 or earlier. The top-earning song “Saturday Night” (1999) — accounts for 38% of last year’s returns — an increase of 48% over the prior year.Last year, this chunk of royalties brought in more than $12,000. Bidding is currently up to $107,200 (as of this writing), and it ends today. So if you want to own a piece of (revivalist) Horror-Punk history, now's your chance.Misfits Publishing Royalties [Royalty Exchange]Image: Jonas Rogowski / Wikimedia Commons (CC 3.0) Read the rest
According to CNN 18% of Wendy's restaurants in the United States are no longer able to sell hamburgers or other meat-based items because of the national meat shortage. The restaurant chain is focusing it attention on promoting chicken sandwiches, wrote Stephens analyst James Rutherford. CNN asked McDonald's and Burger King whether they were experiencing shortages, but neither chain immediately responded. Read the rest
When asked to wear a facemask, this customer at a Dollar Tree Store in Michigan responded by saying “Here, I will use this as a mask” before wiping his nose on an employee's shirt.The Holly Police Department released this video on Facebook and has asked Public to help identify the gentleman with the runny nose. Read the rest
Trump complained about White House reporters Weijia Jiang and Paula Reid in a new interview, saying “It wasn’t Donna Reed, I can tell you that. ... Paula Reid, she’s sitting there and I say, ‘How angry. I mean, What’s the purpose?’ They’re not even tough questions, but you see the attitude of these people, it’s like incredible.“In response:The President told me to be “nice and easy” three out of the last four times I asked him a question. https://t.co/RfptoMczVG— Weijia Jiang (@weijia) May 5, 2020President Trump tells @nypost I am nothing like 50's American archetypal mom Donna Reed. Fact-check: True. pic.twitter.com/sUTgWwsNX9— Paula Reid (@PaulaReidCBS) May 5, 2020People are assuming that when he says "Donna Reed" he means demure and submissive, but it's just as likely he means dead. Read the rest
“I painted a happy little scene from Animal Crossing. Doomguy is there too!”This video is from Two Ruru Paints, IMGURian @tworuru's YouTube show in which he paints landscapes and scenes from video games and pop culture.“If you like the idea of watching a heavily-accented Kiwi-Aussie hybrid do paintings while making jokes, HIT THAT SUBSCRIBE BUTTON! RING THAT BELL! God, I hate myself for even saying it ironically, but seriously, please do it. It helps keep me in bread and electricity.”I painted Animal Crossing. And Doom Eternal. In the same painting. Read the rest
Britain and the United States said on Tuesday in a joint warning that government-backed hackers are attacking healthcare and research institutions with the goal of stealing valuable information about the response to the novel coronavirus pandemic.The statement does not name which countries, but Russia, Iran, and China are widely blamed.State hacking groups “frequently target organizations in order to collect bulk personal information, intellectual property and intelligence that aligns with national priorities,” the statement from Britain’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency reads.“For example, actors may seek to obtain intelligence on national and international healthcare policy or acquire sensitive data on COVID-19 related research.”From Reuters:In a statement, Britain’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) said the hackers had targeted pharmaceutical companies, research organisations and local governments.The NCSC and CISA did not say which countries were responsible for the attacks. But one U.S. official and one UK official said the warning was in response to intrusion attempts by suspected Chinese and Iranian hackers, as well as some Russian-linked activity.The two officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss non-public details of the alert. Tehran, Beijing and Moscow have all repeatedly denied conducting offensive cyber operations and say they are the victims of such attacks themselves.Read more:State-backed hackers targeting coronavirus responders, U.S. and UK warn[Jack Stubbs, Christopher Bing, May 5] Read the rest
In 2015, Charlie Brooker deconstructed economics news reports in this grimly amusing pastiche — a sequel to his earlier boiling-down of feature news reports. I'd like to see Charlie and Emily Surname do this for Covid-19 updates. Read the rest
One takeaway you may have discovered about your new WFH lifestyle is that you probably need a couple of new pieces of tech to get your home office running more smoothly.Since Zoom meetings and more VoIP (voice over Internet) communication is probably in your future, now’s the time to start taking this new workflow into consideration. If you’ve already got a sturdy set of headphones, the Antlion ModMic Business attachable noise-canceling boom microphone can be just the addition to take your presentation to the next level.The ModMic is a flexible choice for Skype, Google, or other VoIP calls with lifelike audio fidelity and noise cancellation. That clarity and performance make the ModMic perfect for professionals that require clear audio whether they’re on a conference call or in a noisy environment like a call center — or when the kids aren’t respecting the please be quiet rule.The ModMic includes a powered USB adapter for use with any computer or VoIP application. The USB input also actually improves the call quality without the need for dedicated sound cards, mixers, or other audio interface devices.The unit features a mute-switch, allowing you to quickly mute and unmute your microphone when on a meeting or just holding. It’s also adaptable, connecting via USB or an old school 3.5mm jack, depending on your headphone or microphone port.Speaking of adaptable, the ModMic attaches to most on-the-ear or over-the-ear headphones, turning your favorite headphones into a high-quality, comfortable headset especially suited to those longer than average calls. Read the rest
A man in Florida was filmed headbutting a guest in a restaurant and subsequently being restrained by another, larger guest. The clip did the rounds but, in a world beset by more ostentatious insanity and rancor, didn't quite reach the viral heights it might once have achieved.But it's gone viral now due to the Streisand Effect: someone attempted to get the video removed from social media with a copyright claim, ensuring that all eyes were immediately upon it. Torrentfreak reported it out:Last summer, Steve Heflin was on business in Fort Lauderdale [and] encountered “two guys in suits” sitting at the bar. Steve tells us that after one left the other was involved in a dispute and was asked by the management to leave. Things didn’t go well.Due to the apparent level of intoxication, the valet wouldn’t return “drunk guy’s” keys, informing him that his car would be safe where it was parked and he should get an Uber home instead. There was an altercation and the valet ended up hiding behind the manager. The confrontation escalated and as can be seen in the video embedded below, something pretty awful happened to the first person in line.The awful thing was an ineffective headbutt.The widespread assumption is that the copyright claimant is the headbutter in the video, as a publized depiction of the copyright claim asserts that this is the case. But something about this has me suspect that someone is identifying that person via the fraudulent DMCA takedowns in order to humiliate them. Read the rest
19世紀に作られたマウストラップ、ヤバすぎでしょhttps://t.co/3nSlFJGmbu pic.twitter.com/yzM0KIsuRj— いけさん ィェィㇴ太郎 (@is_ikesan) May 4, 2020Mouse trap expert Shawn Woods writes that this device is known as "the 1862 Mouse Killer". It is an uncompromising example of the genre. [via Brian Ashcraft] Read the rest
In 1957, an English doctor was accused of killing his patients for their money. The courtroom drama that followed was called the "murder trial of the century." In this week's episode of the Futility Closet podcast we'll describe the case of John Bodkin Adams and its significance in British legal history.Well also bomb Calgary and puzzle over a passive policeman.Show notesPlease support us on Patreon! Read the rest
“I'm my own best friend,” she says.A very cool cosplay by IMGURian @vudumommajuju.Today is the 4th of May, a special day for Star Wars fans -- May the Fourth Be With You!It's also a day when it's worth remembering the 1987 parody sci-fi film 'Spaceballs.''The Schwartz' was a play on 'The Force.' 'May the Schwartz be with you.' May the Schwartz be with you. Read the rest
Punk rock label of note, Dischord, has made their entire 40-year catalog of music available on Bandcamp for free. While free, they're hoping listeners will chip in to support the artists. Bandcamp has waived their sales fees for three months so that all of the money will go to the artists.From the piece on Farout Magazine:While the foundations of punk music have multiple different influencers, seminal Washington DC punk label Dischord have always had their say. The independent label, co-owned by Ian MacKaye and Jeff Nelson, founded the company in 1980 in order to release Minor Disturbance by The Teen Idles. From there, Dischord focused on a nationwide network of underground bands and continued to spearhead the punk movement with their uncompromising approach to the music industry.“We don’t use contracts, lawyers, any of those kinds of things,” MacKaye once commented on the ethos of Dischord Records. “We are partners—they make the music, and we make the records.”Nelson, echoing MacKaye’s sentiment, added: “From the beginning of this label, people have said that the way we do things is unsustainable, unrealistic, idealistic, and we were just dreaming,” he said. “Well, the dream is now 35 years old, so they can go fuck themselves.”Read the rest here.First Demo by FugaziFirst Demo Tape by Minor ThreatUpdate: Just to be clear, the catalog is free to listen to online. If you want to download the records, you still have to pay. But hey, do that. Support artists! Read the rest
This is the AmazonBasics Folding Bike Lock. It's $28. Don't buy it."Because this can be opened so quickly with low-skill attacks, it should go without saying that I see this as a product to avoid," says the LockPickingLawyer. Read the rest
Wow. Voice actor Dee Bradley Baker is an incredibly talented man.Great Big Story:We are about to take you on an audio odyssey unlike any other. It’s kind of like ASMR for people who find the sounds of squealing pigs, angry squirrels and raging dinosaurs soothing. And it’s all from the mouth of Dee Bradley Baker, one of Hollywood’s top voice actors. Baker specializes in creatures and animals, and you know his voice. You’ve heard him as Perry the Platypus on “Phineas and Ferb,” Klaus the Fish on “American Dad” and Daffy Duck in “Space Jam.” A vocal genius, Baker invites us into his recording studio, where he improvises a series of sounds.screengrab via Great Big Story Read the rest
Spoken Word with Electronics is an audio series delivering to you a two side recording of unusual stories paired with vintage modular electronic soundsWelcome back, everyone. This week this series concludes the six part tribute to Paul Krassner. You'll find all the previous tracks in episodes 2,3,4, and 5. I will be collecting all of these tracks into an album later on Bandcamp. A link to that, if interested.Paul was a terrific human. In lieu of flowers, I recommend donating to his GoFundMe for his wife Nancy and other family.This episode is on the importance of dishonesty, distortion, and rumor spreading as personal freedoms to challenge authority, and the fun involved in such practices. So, LET'S GET FAKE!Spoken Word with Electronics · SPOKEN WORD WITH ELECTRONICS #8: Fake News NowSpoken Word with Electronics · Episode 8, Introduction: "FAKE NEWS NOW"Spoken Word with Electronics · Episode 8, Side A: Paul Krassner on "The Parts Left Out Of The 1967 LBJ Story"Spoken Word with Electronics · Episode 8, Side B: "Optimism" (Everybody You Meet is Relevant) — A Good Bye to PaulMay all the change you want in the world be the kind where you fake it til you make it.Talk with you next week, Continued Best - Ethan (Bandcamp/Soundcloud) Read the rest
From Paul Romer's website:Imagine a world in which the only way to get a soda is to get your doctor to write a prescription. It costs $20 per can. Your insurance company pays. The economy produces about 100,000 sodas each day.If you lived in this world, do you think you could get people to scale up the production of soda to a level of millions of cans per day? It would be a challenge, but not because it is hard to produce and distribute soda.Because they have to keep total costs from running out of control, insurance companies, health care providers, and government regulators have cobbled together a system that limits access to soda. One part of this system is an expensive regulatory process that has to approve:the ingredients in each particular brand of soda;the insert that comes with the soda informing patients about its risks and benefits;the delivery system used by the soda supplier, be it a glass bottle, an aluminum can, a paper cup, etc.Then, everyone decides that they want more soda. Why, they ask, can’t the nation produce enough soda for everyone to have some each day?[via The Browser]Photo by Jonny Caspari on Unsplash Read the rest
A few years ago I decided to piece together my own Peloton-compatible stationary bike, it has been a fantastic investment in me. Building your own is easy and significantly cheaper than buying the bike Peloton sells!Ironically placed in a window overlooking the Pacific for its first few years of service, my Sunny Bike was in storage for the last 12 months and I ached to get it back. When I packed my life into storage last April I thought I would be living in a new home by the end of summer, and haphazardly packed stuff into boxes as labeled by a madman. I did not take my cycling shoes, shorts, heart-rate monitor with me.Of the 11,000lbs of crap I had in storage, I spent a year missing 3 cardigans, my espresso machine, and the fakey-Peloton. I was thrilled when I saw the movers haul it out of the truck and bring it into my home. It took three days to find the espresso machine.In the months before going into storage, my physical therapist told me I had to stop riding the Sunny Bike as often as I had been. I was riding 5-6x a week and he suggested some of my back problems might be alleviated by riding less and doing more core building strength exercises. I find that riding the bike not only helped me burn calories, and maintain a better level of cardio fitness than I had in years, it was a huge emotional release, and frequently as I pedaled my heart out, I would just start to laugh or cry. Read the rest
The Trump White House today decided to ban Dr. Anthony Fauci and other members of the coronavirus task force from testifying before Congress for the next month, unless the chief of staff gives specific approval.What are they trying to cover up about Trump's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, besides literally everything?SCOOP: White House bars Fauci, members of the task force from testifying before Congress for the next month, except at the approval of the chief of staff.— Philip Wegmann (@PhilipWegmann) May 4, 2020White House stopped Fauci from testifying last week. New guidance will apply to all members of the task force for May. The goal is to make sure "task force members have the time they need to focus on the task at hand." https://t.co/F0HsCAkymq— Philip Wegmann (@PhilipWegmann) May 4, 2020Rep. DeLauro questions why White House is blocking Fauci from testifying before House panel https://t.co/9vZoWgETUJ pic.twitter.com/TsvF3GPp8u— The Hill (@thehill) May 4, 2020 Read the rest
"Drawing used to be a civilized thing to do, like reading and writing. It was taught in elementary schools. It was democratic. It was a boon to happiness." - Michael KimmelmanWith so much chaos in the world, it’s never been more important to find activities that center us and bring us joy. And while we already know that the artist’s brain is different than the norm — literally — it doesn’t take being a classically trained artist to enjoy the process of picking up a pencil or pen and trying to represent life, either on paper or even on a digital canvas.Whether you’ve always loved to draw or even if you never thought you had a talent for it, The Complete Creative Art and Science of Drawing Bundle can develop your love, offer some fundamentals and possibly reignite a passion.This collection includes 12 courses and a combined 56 hours of instruction that can help any artist or even just an enthusiastic dabbler refine their talent and maybe even start seeing the work in a whole new way.After a brief introduction, coursework immediately gets down to focusing on some drawing basics, including how to properly sketch in your framework; represent perspective and show depth, incorporate detail and texture; and use dynamic markings to bring a basic form into sharpened reality. You’ll even find two courses on correct shading techniques as you understand how light plays across multiple different objects, and drawing accurate animal portraits.Of course, people are usually never far from most illustrations, so in addition to a basic course on the intricacies of figure drawing, you’ll get more in-depth explorations like mastering the rules for drawing a human head. Read the rest
A hacker is accused of bribing an employee of the game Roblox and gaining access that allowed the hacker to see user account info, reset passwords, and grant virtual in-game currency, by way of the back end customer support panel of the massively popular online video game.Roblox claims more than 100 million monthly users.Reports Joseph Cox at VICE Motherboard:With this access, the hacker could see users' email address, as well as change passwords, remove two-factor authentication from their accounts, ban users, and more, according to the hacker and screenshots of the internal system. The screenshots shared with Motherboard include the personal information of some of the most high profile users on the platform.The hacker could have looked up information on many users, although it appears they limited their actions to a handful of accounts. The news highlights not only the risk of insiders at companies exploiting their access to user data, but, with Roblox catering to a large audience of minors, how hackers may access the data of children."I did this only to prove a point to them," the hacker told Motherboard in an online chat. Motherboard granted the hacker anonymity to speak more candidly about a criminal incident.Roblox is available across PC, Xbox, and mobile devices. Users can create their own games with their platform's engine or play others' creations. Roblox also leans heavily into microtransactions, with users able to buy game-passes to access more powers and abilities, or they can purchase cosmetic items for their character with in-game currency. Read the rest
Utah Highway Patrol reports on an interesting traffic stop.One of our Troopers in Weber Co. initiated a traffic stop on what he thought was an impaired driver. Turns out it was this young man, age 5, somehow made his way up onto the freeway in his parents' car. Made it from 17th and Lincoln in Ogden down to the 25th St off-ramp SB I-15.One of our Troopers in Weber Co. initiated a traffic stop on what he thought was an impaired driver. Turns out it was this young man, age 5, somehow made his way up onto the freeway in his parents' car. Made it from 17th and Lincoln in Ogden down to the 25th St off-ramp SB I-15. pic.twitter.com/3aF1g22jRB— Utah Highway Patrol (@UTHighwayPatrol) May 4, 2020 Read the rest
Five years ago, a farmer in Anhui Province, China buried the equivalent of $280,000 on his property. Unfortunately when he recently dug up the cash, the bills were completely falling part. Apparently, employees at the Agricultural Bank of China did the best they could separate the mess of deteriorated paper bundles but he still lost about 25 percent of his savings. From UPI:According to the People's Bank of China's regulations, bills that retain 75 percent of their original features can be exchanged at full value, but bills disfigured such that only 50 to 75 percent of the note is recognizable, can only be exchanged for half the amount.FYI, here are United States Treasury Department's similar rules:Lawful holders of mutilated currency may receive a redemption at full value when:• Clearly more than 50 percent of a note identifiable as United States currency is present, along with sufficient remnants of any relevant security feature and clearly more than one-half of the original note remains; or,• Fifty percent or less of a note identifiable as United States currency is present and the method of mutilation and supporting evidence demonstrate to the satisfaction of the Treasury that the missing portions have been totally destroyed.image: Wikipedia Read the rest
Coronavirus isn't done killing people yet, but Carnival Cruise Line said Monday it will begin to phase-in cruises again starting August 1.Eight Carnival ships will be departing from Miami, Port Canaveral and Galveston. This seems rather ambitious.The best rate Carnival is offering on those departures is about $28 a day, including food.Are they going to Galapagos to learn about Charles Darwin? https://t.co/UXA4gAG1yk— Julia Ioffe (@juliaioffe) May 4, 2020 Read the rest
Nicholas Cage is to star in a Netflix TV show as Joe "Exotic" Maldonado-Passage, a roadside zookeeper jailed for animal abuse and for trying to arrange the murder of a prominent critic. Exotic's egomaniacal rise and fall, as charted in a recent reality TV show, gripped the nation in the early weeks of the coronavirus pandemic.Netflix’s documentary series Tiger King was a major surprise hit, spawning countless memes and tributes, plus an ill-advised aftershow episode. Unsurprisingly, the series’ success has rapidly inspired the development of more Tiger King-based projects, including a limited series (based on the Joe Exotic podcast) starring Kate McKinnon as Carole Baskin.The latest news is even more unbelievable, as Variety reports that none other than Nicolas Cage has signed on to play Joe Exotic in a scripted series from Dan Lagana (American Vandal showrunner) and Paul Young.Photoshop: Rob Beschizza Read the rest
The Facebook group Rock and Blues Club has a fun photo album of rock n' roll icons when they were youngins. See baby Brian May clutching a teddy bear, Neil Young looking like Huckleberry Finn, and Charlie Watts and Ron Wood looking like... Charlie Watts and Ron Wood.Image: Screengrabs Read the rest
Will Shortz might have a little competition. Smithsonian Magazine is piloting a new crossword puzzle section, and their first puzzle (partly shown above) came out today. This one is part of a test-run of four puzzles. I tried it and it's kind of like The New York Times Monday puzzle, but smaller and maybe a little easier. To get the full puzzle click here. Read the rest